‘This will destroy Wexford for the next 50 years’ – council calls on government to issue national guidelines on solar farms

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Fine Gael councillors have been accused of “gutting” a motion which seeks to prevent the development of a 300-acre solar farm in rural Co Wexford. The motion was submitted by New Ross councillors in response to a planning application made by Gen7 Renewable Energy Limited for the development of a solar farm on a 121.5 hectare site in Gusserane.

That application was submitted in September 2025 and, in response, Wexford County Council (WCC) has requested further information on the access points of the farm, the cable networking, the proposed containerised transformers and PCUs (solar power conditioning units), information on the maintenance of the panels, and evidence of community engagement.

In December of last year, residents from Gusserane staged a mass protest outside Wexford County Hall and, in the intervening months, county councillors have explored ways to tighten up solar farm regulations and, potentially, prevent Gen7 from carrying out this development. While a varation of the County Development Plan would alter the criteria required to get planning permission for solar farms, there are fears that any such changes would come too late for the people of Gusserane.

However, at the March meeting of of Wexford County Council (WCC), Councillors Michael Sheehan, John Dwyer, Marty Murphy, Bridin Murphy, John Fleming and Pat Barden submitted a motion which they hoped would help speed up any such process.

"In an effort to protect valuable agricultural land and support our farming community while meeting our obligations of achieving sustainable and renewable energy targets, this council directs the executive to start the process of a variation of the County Development Plan 2022-28 to identify, amend and regulate what lands are protected from large scale planning application while we are awaiting national guidelines,” it read.

"Furthermore, the council calls on the Minister for Housing, Local Government, and Heritage to immediately issue Solar Farm National Planning Guidelines as a matter of urgency.”

And Cllr Dwyer, who is the chair of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD), said the government has “deliberately” chosen not to issue national guidelines for solar farm developments.

“Perhaps it needs to be prompted to do so,” he said. “The industrial-sized models we’re now witnessing were never envisaged. In theory solar farms are brilliant, it’s green energy; but the industrial-sized model we’re seeing more and more of is going to destroy Co Wexford for the next 50 years.”

For Cllr Barden the most concerning element of this, and other potential solar developments, is that they are being constructed on prime, agricultural land.

“In most countries you don’t put these farms on the best land, but, for some strange reason, we do it differently here,” he said. “The big fear is that this will only be an anchor project, in the application made to WCC there is a stipulation that they can expand and expand and expand, where is this going to end? How big will it get?”

For the fourth meeting in a row, representatives from the Gusserane Community Action Group (GCAG) were present in the gallery, and they were aghast to hear Cllr Oliver Walsh (Fine Gael) suggest the motion be amended.

“Can we delete the first part of the motion and just focus on the second section?” he asked. “The first part needs further work. I’m not sure where it would leave us in terms of having any solar farms in the county, and is that what we want?”

“If you amend the motion it will be effectively gutted," argued Cllr Dwyer. “The motion seeks to prompt discussion in the county about our classification of lands which can be used for farms. What’s happening in Gusserane is going to extend way beyond that community, this will be an industrial-style solar farm.”

However, further opposition came from Fianna Fáil’s Pip Breen.

“We’re talking about being worried over electricity prices, solar power will alleviate those prices,” he said. “We have to remember too that an awful lot of tillage farmers are losing money, this is an alternative for them; they are choosing financial security.”

“We can’t dictate to farmers what they can do with their land,” agreed Cllr Frank Staples. “Maybe some of them are depending on this (income). They might not have someone to take over the land.”

With Cllr Barden protesting that the “whole fabric of country life” was at stake, chief executive Eddie Taaffe reminded councillors that the current provisions regarding solar farms took into account some of the concerns those in Gusserane had raised.

"Currently applications for solar farms in lowlands area of the county will be considered on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “This includes an assessment of the cumulative impact on the landscape and on agricultural land. The County Development Plan (CDP) states that any solar farm should not result in the undue loss of productive agricultural land.”

In order to strengthen those provisions further, a variation of the CDP is required, a process which involves discussion by the strategic policy committee, a draft proposal, and finally, public consultation.

In their motion, the New Ross councillors had called upon WCC to start “the process of a variation of the CDP”, but Cllr Walsh requested that the motion be amended with that section removed. The amended motion, seconded by Cllr Anthony Donohue, read: "The council calls on the Minister for Housing, Local Government, and Heritage to immediately issue Solar Farm National Planning Guidelines as a matter of urgency.”

Councillors were then asked to vote on whether to approve Cllr Walsh’s amended motion.

Voting in favour were Cllrs Pip Breen (FF), Trish Byrne (FG), Anthony Donohue (FG), Tom Forde (SF), Pat Kehoe (FG), Leonard Kelly (IND), Donal Kenny (FF), Garry Laffan (FF), Darragh McDonald (FG), Barbara Anne Murphy (FF), Frank Staples (FG), Robbie Staples (FG), Joe Sullivan (FF), and Oliver Walsh (FG).

Voting against were Cllrs Pat Barden (Wexford Independent Alliance), Vicky Barron (LAB), NIcky Boland (WIA), John Dwyer (IND), Mary Farrell (IND), John Fleming (FF), Lisa McDonald (FF), Bridín Murphy (FG), Aoife Rose O’Brien (SF), and Biddy Walsh (LAB).

With 14 votes in favour versus 10 against the amended motion will now be sent to the housing minister’s office.