Ms Aisling Moran:

Yes, the Senator should know more. From our point of view and from the point of view of Sherkin Island a small committee runs it and DIT puts a lot into it. Over the last 18 to 24 months we were in real danger of losing the programme. All of our energy and focus were going into trying to save it and contacting local people. When one is focusing on trying to fight a fire it is hard to try to promote it and tell everybody what we are doing. That becomes secondary because one is worried about whether it will be in place two months hence. That was our reality until May this year. That is why we were invited to speak here. It has been sorted. We are delighted with our funders in the Department and Cork County Council but the future is the issue. It is a community of 90 people and we must find a sustainable method of funding so the members of the community, who got up off their bums and did something positive, do not have to find €60,000 up front to fund it. That is not sustainable for a small community in rural Ireland. We need to have a meeting where everybody can discuss how to do this and whether there is a way of pre-funding it. It is the same thing year in, year out. We are providing the same reports and all the information is available so the issue is how, with our partners and funders, we can come up with a solution to this. Working together is the only way forward.