Ms Bairbre Nic Aongusa:

I might start with the last comment about the islands function coming into the Department of Rural and Community Development. Very recently, the islands unit has been moved under my area of responsibility, which is community development. That is a very positive development because islands are first and foremost about communities. They are about trying to ensure that communities are sustainable, inclusive and empowered, which is the theme of our five-year strategy for the development of the community and voluntary sector. Since the islands unit has been moved into community development, there has been huge potential for the sharing of ideas and the sharing of expertise in terms of how can we best support community development. For example, one of our schemes is the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. It got additional funding in yesterday's budget announcement, which will enable us to do more work with disadvantaged communities around the country. SICAP is also delivered on some of the islands.

The Deputy mentioned remote working. The inclusion of the islands in the Department's plans for the broadband connection points has been a huge achievement in the last couple of years. Of the ten island broadband connection points that are in the plan, eight have been delivered to date. Broadband connection points are a wireless temporary high-speed broadband connection for public use and the majority of its costs are covered by the Government. They provide long-term digitally enabled community assets and on-site Internet use by the public. They can be used for remote work, study, e-health services, arts and culture activities, skills training and digital literacy. To date, the broadband connection points have been delivered on eight islands.

The Department is also working on a number of pilot projects in the field of e-health. The Deputy mentioned that health centres and e-health virtual consultation rooms are being developed within the broadband connection points on both Tory Island and Clare Island. We hope that they will be operational before the end of the year. The digital innovation section in the Department is very engaged in rolling out the broadband connection points in rural Ireland, including the islands.

There are five remote working hubs located on the offshore islands. Again, we hope to have them connected very shortly. Recently, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, awarded funding for connected hubs where four of the offshore islands received funding to add to their capacity.

As Deputy Ó Cuív has said, a lot has changed in the last two years in terms of our understanding of the potential for remote working and connectivity in general for everyone. For the islands it would make an even bigger difference, particularly in terms of enabling people to take part in meetings, consultations and health activities. We hope to continue to work closely with the digital inclusion unit to develop services further.

The Deputy mentioned the small works programme. Last week, I was concerned when it was said here at a meeting that there was no small capital works programme anymore because that is not the case. Last May, the Minister announced a total of €1 million in small capital works funding for the islands for a range of different projects, many of which are roads but some are piers, across the islands of Donegal, Cork, Mayo, Galway and Sligo. Last August, in a further announcement, a smaller amount of money was made available. My colleague, Ms Ní Chonghaile, can provide further information.