Mr. Simon Murray:

I wish to cover the issue in the overall context of the collective, which is Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, the federation for the offshore islands. I will start with a very simple question. How many people in this room can name a depopulated island? I am sure everybody can think of one, two, three or maybe four. How many of those have been repopulated? The answer is none. That is why we are here.

The islands collective is facing an uncertain future. It is being phrased in the media as "death by a thousand cuts", and that is not too far off the mark. Sometimes they are little things and sometimes they are huge things. They relate to education, health, arts, culture, heritage, fishing, farming and all aspects. Small things can sometimes go an awfully long way in small island populations. We are under 3,000 people between all of the islands combined and we are not heading in the right direction. We are effectively trying to hold on to who we are and how we are defined in Irish society. I am not too sure where that lies at the moment. We have been dealing with successive Governments and we still do not have a proper policy from Government level on the organisation and management of our islands that translates from one Government to the next.

With regard to transportation services, we are seeking the infrastructural work that needs to be done on the islands. The operational side of it is the running of the co-operatives and the community development projects across the islands, which are front-line services on behalf of the State on each island. We are seeking a budget of between €12 million and €15 million per year to take care of many of the constant outstanding issues that are ongoing with the islands each day. That would protect what we have just spoken about - the ferry services, the air services and the ones to be developed and the infrastructure that needs to be developed, such as the piers that are still outstanding and which need to be done in the future. If there is a roll-over budget every year, the great work we have done with our partners in the council in the past can continue. However, there cannot be a famine or feast situation, and I am not just talking about the recent past. In the 1990s, the early 2000s and even before that the islands were starved of funding. There was a flash in the pan for eight or nine years in which great work was done, but then we were abandoned again. There must be a consistent approach, at both council and Government levels. The council cannot do it if it does not get the money.

It is not a huge amount of money, but what would it mean? The island way of life would be protected. It is clear from the Dáil records and elsewhere that this State abandoned the islands when the State was needed most. As most of the members know, I live on Inishbofin. Inishark beside it was depopulated in 1960. The next two islands to us are Inishturbot and Inishturk South, which were depopulated in 1978. Our three nearest neighbours are gone. Those islands will never be repopulated. It is a huge issue. It is not just about money but about what we want to do as a nation. Not every country has islands. Many of our European partners in the European Small Islands Federation value their islands. Scotland pumps a great deal of money into the infrastructure and maintenance of its islands. That is true of France and other countries as well. However, we are discussing our islands. We must take a new and realistic look at the question of whether we want to ensure that our island life continues. There is no point in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport trumpeting the Wild Atlantic Way and the islands when six other Departments are cutting the legs out from under us. That is what is happening. The case with Inis Mór is a complicated situation but if a proper subsidy had been put in place at the start, would the question have arisen now? I do not believe so. The aeroplane service operating across the three Aran Islands is still in jeopardy. There is no guarantee. The one in Inishbofin never got off the ground, if the committee will excuse the pun. The infrastructure is there and will be there for the next 400 or 500 years. Why can we not get a small budget from somewhere to run the service?

I have been a taxpayer since I was 18 years of age. I own a few companies and they all pay tax. I never complain about my taxes being spent anywhere else in this country, but I would like to see some of them coming back to the islands. We elect a Government for two fundamental reasons. One is the protection of the State internally and externally from a security point of view. The other, which is really contentious now, is the collection and redistribution of tax. A large amount of tax is collected on the islands. If one considers the islands collectively, even from the tourism perspective, they give the State a very large amount of money. We are only seeking our share back to try to maintain the infrastructure, transportation, education, health and essential services we need. We are not asking for a hospital to be built on any of the islands, for example. We are being realistic as we know what can work. The most disappointing aspect of all of this, and Cathy Ní Ghóill touched on it earlier, is that sometimes the last people who are ever asked about anything are the islanders. We have survived on our islands for 5,000 or 6,000 years. We know how to live there, so what about talking to us first to see if something will work before it is implemented from the top down? That is the key principle of sustaining island life. A consistent plan should be put in place so we do not have to keep appearing in the media, as Cathy Ní Ghóill said. It sounds terrible in some cases and people say, "Oh, they are at it again". However, I never complain about my money being pumped into a motorway which I will hardly ever use. There are plenty of them in the country on which I have never driven. I would like to see some of my money coming back to sustain our islands.

There must be a consistent annual budget for the islands through the island section in the Department. That would cure many of the problems that are arising on a regular basis. If we reach that point, we will acknowledge that the islands are worth something from the perspective of our culture, arts, heritage, who we are and our history. I believe we are worth that.