Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Ministers for appearing before the committee today. The Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, said that approximately €700,000 of his budget remains to be spent. This might be an ideal opportunity for him to spend a little more of that budget on education and housing. My constituency has eight islands off the coast of west Cork. People are coming to my constituency clinics and I am going to Sherkin Island, Hare Island and other islands. They are finding it difficult and costly. The schools have been closed on both those islands. The parents are trying to work. They are leaving early in the morning. There is nobody to bring their children to school on the mainland other than perhaps an aged grandparent. The schools were closed because of the falling numbers on those islands. This issue has been going on for some time. They have been looking for a chaperone or some resolution to the issue but none is available. I met parents who are being charged for bringing their children from the island to the national schools on the ferry. I respect that the ferry operators need to survive. Part of the budget should be set aside to address these issues because the education of the children on our islands is very important.

Housing on islands is being totally ignored. If social housing is repeatedly overlooked in budgets, there will be no future. Young couples and young single people are leaving the islands and not returning. The census shows falling population numbers on all the islands. The Government must find some way to turn this around. The only way to do so is to make life a little easier for those who have to leave the island to work every day by ensuring the do so in the knowledge that their children are brought to and from school. On the mainland, schoolchildren are given bus transport. On the islands, parents are asked to pay the ferry operator which causes serious financial difficulty for some of them. They also need somebody to accompany the children on their way to and from school. In schools, special needs assistants and all sorts of other help are provided to children who have difficulties. Maybe something along these lines could be considered to help people on the islands.

As Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said, we met representatives of Conradh na Gaeilge today. I am not very fluent in Irish and I will not point the finger at anybody who can speak the language. I wish I could. Maybe down the road I could tune up on it a bit. The language is in need of extra funding because it is dying on its feet as we speak. We might have an opportunity next Tuesday to turn that around. I ask the Minister of State to look at that. I know we are in the dying hours before the budget and I presume many decisions have been finalised. Investment in our language is vital for this country. Most other countries are very proud of their languages. We also should think along those lines.