Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It will help people in rural Ireland. This is a one-off chance to capture and capitalise on remote working. It is the decentralisation of people, not buildings. I am really excited about it. Much work is going into it and it contains many exciting actions that will make a difference.

The Deputy is not the only person living in the middle of nowhere. I live in the middle of nowhere too and I fully understand the importance of one-off rural housing. In fact, my daughter is building a house as we speak. I am delighted she is doing so. She will move in and revitalise Aghabog with another new family. If we did not have that opportunity, a rural community would start to go into decline. That is not happening there, however, which is why we are reviewing the rural housing guidelines. That is important because there is a balance.

The Deputy and I are not advocating scattergun ribbon development. That is not what we are about. We are about our parishes and mine happens to be Aghabog. I want to see young people who belong to the community building and living there and farming and going to the local co-operative. I went down to the local co-op recently and it was a hive of activity. It does one's heart good to see it. I am on the same page as the Deputy.

I absolutely agree with him on town and village renewal. We will have to incentivise people to move into the centres of towns. The question is how we do that. Let us face facts; it will cost more to do up some of these town centre houses than they will be worth when they are finished. We will have to look at that gap and see how we can bridge it. We will have those discussions on town centre first policy.

The Deputy mentioned the equalisation of the spend in terms of public transport per capita. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, is absolutely committed to investing in our public transport. Then, of course, as the Deputy will be aware, we have the public service obligation, PSO, which is rolled out to providers to offer those services in areas where it is not profitable to do so.

Another issue straight off is credit unions. We are on the same page on this too because I believe we need to support our credit union movement. There is no better example of a fantastic social enterprise than the credit union movement. I want to see them supported in terms of what we can do in order that they can offer financial services to the communities in which they operate.

I know Inis Oírr is close to the Deputy's heart. He has raised this issue on many occasions over many years. The good news is that the business case has been approved. I met with the Deputy a month or so ago about this. The business case for Inis Oírr has been approved and they are allowed to go out for tender. The next step is that this be included in Project Ireland 2040, which, of course, is under review. I would like the Deputy to help me when I make my pitch to make sure it is included and that we get the money to get the pier sorted.

Regarding the island policy, we have much engagement and consultation with them. It is not easy living on an island. It is not easy living in a remote part of rural Ireland but it is a heck of a lot harder to live on an island. I was delighted that the RRDF announcement yesterday mentioned Burtonport in County Donegal, from where the boat that brings people out to Arranmore island departs. I have been on that boat. They will have a remote working space and they are going to improve the facility where people get tickets and make bookings. That was an RRDF announcement yesterday. I promised the Deputy that I would go and visit one of the islands. As soon as I break free, I will be over to see one of the islands because it is not easy for them. It is difficult and we need to support them in every way we can.