9. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has, in conjunction with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, considered a policy around land use and development due to the increased competition for arable land in areas such as north Kildare, for new technologies such as solar farms. [13821/25]

Sentiment score: 0.09

I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. As a fellow Kildare man, we are obviously having more success off the pitch than on it but well done to him. Have the Departments of agriculture and local government considered a policy on land use development due to the increased competition for arable lands in areas such as north Kildare - I use my own rural constituency as an example - for new technologies such as solar farms?

Sentiment score: 0.47

I welcome the Minister's response. He mentioned a number of topics and the very positive innovation introduced in the previous Dáil, which means there is no need for planning permission for the installation of solar panels on barns and sheds around the country. That has been really positive. Through the TAMS process, a lot of people continue to take advantage of that. That is something of which I am very complimentary. At the heart of the response was that discussion about the competition between the importance of the land for tillage and the question around solar farms. That is where we are seeing it arising. As someone who was a councillor for many years, I have been through a lot of county development plans, zonings and everything else and where solar farms fit in that. We are very clear on certain segments and certain sections, be it commercial land, but we are now seeing solar farms. That is why it has become a very hot topic in our area.

Sentiment score: 0.37

I thank the Minister again for his response. This Government and in fairness, this country, has always had a very strong agricultural backbone. It is hugely important to our name around the world and that is why we are here on both sides of the House to support it. In this time where renewables are changing and the world is changing around us, we have to take every positive step both from a renewables perspective and an agricultural perspective. This is about setting out the plans such that, into the future, they meet holistically and well and that we are actually planning for the future as opposed to having something meet us afterwards and deciding we could have done something better. I know the Minister is on top of this and I know it is something he is dealing with, but it is important for us all to discuss it, to raise it and to see how we can progress it best into the future. I thank the him for his time and the detail he has given.

Sentiment score: 0.56