Ms Máire Uí Mhaoláin:

Ms Moran has outlined the issues regarding the RRDF and the town and village fund. I will say only a few words. Those things are measured using the criterion of the maximum benefit for the maximum number of people. We will never be at the races when we make an application in that context. I do not know if anyone ever worked on one of those applications, but it requires six months' work. A huge body of work is required. It is no problem for us to do it, but the same problem arises with all these programmes, including the farming-related programmes. If we make an application for one of those programmes, we will be up against the whole country as well. One of the big challenges we have, therefore, is that we are always competing with the mainland in applying for any programme. That includes the town and village renewal programme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and all of them. None of them are specific to the islands or island-proofed.

On the dispersed nature of our population, an interesting statistic is that the demographics are much better on all the Gaeltacht islands and that is simply because we have second-level education available. It is so important. It is the reason that Ms Ní Ghoill and I are living on an island. We had our children, but many people will not stay on the islands when they have children. They leave when their children reach the age of 12. It might have been different back in the day because there were boarding schools. Those do not exist anymore. That means that we are now talking about sending our 12-year olds to live in bed and breakfasts, or something like that. It is a very important aspect. It is a formative part of a child's life and involves the embedding of the language for the Gaeltacht islands and island culture for all the islands. The years from 12 to 18 are a crucial formative time in that regard. Any chance we have of people coming back is bound up with that period. If we can keep them that long, then the chances are that they might come back to the islands.