Island Communities

Baineann mo cheist le polasaí na n-oileáin arís. Tá súil ghéar á choinneáil agam ar an dul chun cinn atá á dhéanamh leis an bpolasaí sin. Thart ag an am seo anuraidh a foilsíodh an polasaí sin.

This time last year came the welcome news that we had the policy for the islands. I am keeping a very close eye on the implementation of that. It is a ten-year policy with rolling three-year action plans. What progress has been made in that regard?

As the Deputy said, I launched Our Living Islands - National Islands Policy 2023-2033 in June last year. Our Living Islands is a substantial document, a ten-year policy backed up by rolling three-year action plans. It has time-bound commitments so Departments and agencies across government can be held to account for its implementation.

Following the publication of the policy, I established a monitoring committee, chaired by my Department, to engage with key Government Departments, agencies and local authorities with regard to the implementation of the action plan. The committee includes representatives of the island communities and representatives of Departments and State bodies which have key roles in the delivery of the policy and action plan. The most recent meeting of the monitoring committee was held in Galway on 6 March. The relevant Departments and agencies provided progress updates at that meeting, particularly in respect of actions with a timeline of quarter 3 or quarter 4 of 2023. Further updates are expected at the next meeting of the monitoring committee, which is scheduled for 23 May.

Some examples of the progress being reported to date under the action plan are as follows: a new search and rescue contract for the Irish Coast Guard, to include services to the islands, has been awarded by the Department of Transport; remedial and upgrade works have been carried out at the airports in Conamara and on each of the Aran Islands, at a total cost of €890,000; face-to-face presentations on road safety education were delivered to 60 transition year students on Árainn Mhór island, Donegal, by the Road Safety Authority; 20 applications have been received to date by local authorities for the Croí Cónaithe grants which provide a 20% top-up for vacant or derelict properties on the islands; and ring-fenced funding for islands is being included in schemes within my Department such as LIS, CLÁR and town and village renewal. For example, in January, I approved €73,000 in CLÁR funding for Inis Mór blue flag beach seating area and over €50,000 for an electric bus on Inis Oírr.

Progress is being made and I will be publishing a full update shortly. The committee is having a meeting shortly. It has to approve the minutes of the last meeting and they will go up on the website.

I welcome the fact there is a monitoring committee and that the islands are represented on it. My difficulty with the monitoring committee is that it is inputting into a report. I would have thought the monitoring committee would carry out the report as a body outside watching the progress. Is it the Department that will carry out the report and the monitoring committee will input into that?

I welcome the progress. I welcome the electric bus on Inis Oírr and the other progress being made, as well as the ring-fenced funding. However, the background is important, as always. Back in 1996, there was a task force and it has taken an eternity to get to having a policy that is not based on legislation. The implementation is extremely important.

If I have time, I will come back to the outstanding issues, such as the Caladh Mór pier on Inis Meáin, the pier on Inis Oírr, the lack of a primary care centre on Inishbofin which, as the Minister knows, has taken forever, and the primary care centre on Árainn Mhór. These are crucial things that were included in the plan.

I had a question disallowed in regard to planning for Gaeltacht islands within the policy. The document, which has several strengths, is weak in terms of planning for the Gaeltacht Islands. The response I received when the question was ruled out of order is that this is the responsibility of the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, Deputy Catherine Martin. The Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht does have responsibility for language planning but, obviously, the challenges facing island Gaeltacht communities are very particular to them and different from the challenges faced by mainland Gaeltacht communities. I had hoped for an opportunity to discuss that further. More needs to be done between the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht. I do not think Our Living Islands properly plans out or has an adequate strategy to ensure they are sustainable communities but also that the language thrives with them. What needs to happen, from the Department of Rural and Community Development's point of view, is community development but, naturally, that community development should, to the greatest extent possible, be through the means of Irish. Greater engagement is needed between the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to plan a specific strategy for those communities.

To go back to Deputy Connolly's question, we have waited a long time for the islands policy. The purpose of the monitoring committee is to ensure that the specific measures in the Our Living Islands policy and its associated action plan are put in place and acted on by the relevant Government Departments and agencies.

The committee has a role to play. If it is not being acted upon, that will obviously be highlighted. The reports were prepared by the officials, but the monitoring committee is there to oversee it and make sure that the things that are not happening are acted upon and highlighted. The committee has a very important role, and I will be watching closely what it is doing.

On my Department's funding schemes, there has been a great deal of dedicated funding for the islands. I announced the LIS last week. There was huge investment across the country. There is dedicated funding in that allocation which has to be spent on the islands. One of the things the islanders said to me was that when the local authority gets the LIS, it spends it all on the mainland and does not have any left for the islands. Ring-fenced money is now in place. They never got a look-in before, so the money has to be spent on the islands. That is just one example. As the Deputy is aware, I am doing many other things. I take on board the urgency of this matter. There is no doubt about that.

The Minister takes a hands-on approach, and I welcome that. I have always said that. With regard to the islands policy, it was dragged out, was it not? Eventually we got it. It is not based on legislation. It includes timescales and objectives that must be adhered to.

I have only less than 40 seconds left. I repeat that the matter relating to Caladh Mór pier has been going on for 20 years. I do not expect the Minister to provide an answer in that regard because it is a very specific issue. Then we have Inis Oírr, which is coming up later. I understand that Caladh Mór has moved on to a preliminary business case. If you look at the background, however, you can see that has taken 20-plus years. We are barely moving on to phase 3. It is the same with the other one.

The primary care centres are the most basic unit with regard to health. They take the pressure off the hospitals. The transfer of land has been going on forever. I keep asking separate questions about the transfer of land from one Department to another and on to the HSE and about putting in place a primary care centre on Inishbofin. The one on Árainn Mhór is not being mentioned at all.

I understand people's frustration. I have pushed this on as much as I possibly can. I am absolutely committed to supporting our islands. I will get an update on Caladh Mór for the Deputy. There will be a question about the matter later. Progress is definitely being made on Inis Oírr and Inis Meáin. I have been out there and am aware of the need for investment in the piers.

Roads were a big issue initially. I think I have managed to make good progress on the roads. Remote working has been a game-changer for some of the islands. For example, on Clare Island, they are doing great work in the context of ehealth. I was in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day and I visited the Cisco headquarters there. I met a fellow from Clare Island and he was talking about all the great things they are doing there with regard to high-speed broadband and ehealth. Islands can embrace new technology.

On Deputy Ó Laoghaire's question, we engage with the Minister for the Gaeltacht and the Department regarding the importance of the Irish language on our islands and the need to support it. I did not see the question, but I will have a look at it again. I may be the able to get the Deputy a written response.