Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is maith go bhfuil an plé seo ar bun. I understand that negotiations are taking place and that it would not be appropriate to go into the details of the negotiations, but it is important to lay down a few basic markers which should guide the Oireachtas, the Government and the local authority. We must consider this not from the view of any company or authority but from the viewpoint of the need to sustain our islands. It is a clear Government policy and every party has stated that it wishes to sustain the islands. Fundamental to that is the need to provide a good transport service to every island at a fair cost. When I was appointed a Minister I set about ensuring that. For example, at that time there was no contracted service to any non-Gaeltacht island. I brought it all under a single system to ensure that every island had a good transport service. When I left the Department every island with a significant population of 12, 20 or more had a service and there was a maximum fare for islanders of €8 and €5 for students. That was in recognition of the fact that there is no choice of getting into a car and driving somewhere - one can only get on or off the island by boat or aeroplane.

My second comment is to the county council. A thing can be legal but still not be right. We must accept that, according to the courts, it is the council's legal right to what it did. I would dispute whether it was right. I dispute whether the council was right or whether the Department was right. The authorities let the islanders down. Why do I think that? It is a charge on the islanders and a charge on transport to the island. Some people might say, "It is a once-off visit at 80 cent so what difference does it make?". First, tourists can be notoriously price sensitive. Second, one would think that the only non-islanders who visit the islands are tourists. However, the washing machine service person and other service personnel go to the islands. The council is charging them the 80 cent. The HSE use it very frequently and its people are being charged the 80 cent. The Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board, GRETB, which runs the schools, use it all of the time, as well as all of the ancillary services that come to the island. Many people, including politicians, go to the islands on a frequent basis. A large amount of business into and out of the islands is not once-off but repetitive. Imagine the outrage if every time somebody from outside Connemara who travelled beyond Moycullen had to pay 80 cent for the pleasure of doing so. It is a cost on the island. Every time one charges or makes it more expensive to do anything on the island there is an impact on the island.

Who should have borne the cost? First, I do not accept all the costs given by the manager or chief executive. The reason is that he has control over many piers in County Galway and he funds those out of the rates, general taxation and all the other money that comes in from the State. Many of those costs would have arisen on any pier he controls, but he does not have levies on those piers. There are extra costs involved in running the pier in Cill Rónáin, and rightly so. I must compliment the county council on radically improving the way that pier is organised.

It has been a bumpy road getting there, but most people would say that the islander and tourist experience of landing on the pier is much safer, more organised and better than it was in the past and also that we need a harbour master. However, I believe that the State should have picked up the tab and that this should not have fallen on the islanders. It undermines the principle behind the €8 and €5 I had laid out. I think it is €10 and €6 now since the last Government.

I will raise a few key issues. An féidir le muintir na n-oileán - go mórmhór an bheirt anseo as Inis Mór - a dheimhniú go bhfuil sé de riachtanas, má thagtar ar shocrú an tseachtain seo nó an tseachtain dar gcionn, go mbeadh an táille €10 i gceist do dhaoine fásta agus €6 do gasúr agus scoláirí scoile? An bhfuil an ceart agam go bhfuil sé riachtanach amach is amach go dtiocfadh sé sin i bhfeidhm láithreach in aon shocrú nua agus nach mbeidh sé inghlactha ar chor ar bith, dubh, bán nó riabhach, do mhuintir an oileáin má dhéantar socrú nach bhfuil sé sin mar chuid dó?

Tá ceist agam ar an Uasal Ó Cualáin. Nuair a bhíonn na scoláirí atá ar scoláireacht sa scoil ag dul isteach agus amach, an n-áirítear iad mar oileánaigh don tréimhse scoilbhliana nó an n-áirítear iad mar thurasóirí nó daoine ón taobh amuigh? Bheadh tionchar ollmhór aige sin ar an gcostas atá orthu. Tacaím go hiomlán leis an éileamh atá ag an Uasal Ó Cúaláin i dtaobh chúrsaí oideachais. Mar is eol dó, bhí sé mar chuid den pholasaí oileánda a d'fhoilsigh muid ag an toghchán deiridh. Seasann muid leis sin. Ní mór é sin a dhéanamh agus é a dhéanamh go sciobtha.

Finally, I will say to Mr. Simon Murray that one thing I have learned in life is that one cannot forecast the future. We have elections so that Governments can change policies. Sometimes they change them very much for the worse rather than for the better, but that is the choice of the electorate. It is not possible to absolutely insulate oneself from the future. It is important, however, that there would be a clearly articulated island policy. It is important that the islanders and the people of Ireland know what the various parties stand for when it comes to the islands and that they know whether we are willing to make what is actually, financially, a very modest contribution to ring-fence special things, as we did for example with the car tax on the islands and so on. There were many examples of how it can be done without any significant impact on the national budget. To put it in context, Mr. Ó Cualáin mentioned a cost of €300,000 to put a package together to sort out the secondary education difficulties on the island. The sum of €300,000 out of €58 billion is the equivalent of a family that has a take home salary of €58,000 committing 30 cents a year to something. That is the proportion.