Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In my experience of dealing with islanders, the biggest barrier to housing is planning. What discussions did the Department have with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage about planning? There are new rural housing planning guidelines coming out. My view is anybody who can establish that he or she is or is likely to be a permanent dweller on the islands and likely to remain so should be eligible under housing need. We are not suffering from an explosion of population on the islands. There is pressure on population but it is downwards.

Ms Nic Aongusa mentioned broadband connection points. I believe in e-hubs, but I am afraid the islanders are in the same place the rest of us are in. They want broadband in every house and they want it tomorrow. My good colleague, the Chairman, has done a lot of work on this. He is aware of my impatience, but I think he is equally impatient. The islanders do not want to get a second-class service. They do not want to get 30 Mbps, 50 Mbps or even 100 Mbps on a radio system; they want fibre. What negotiations and discussions has the Department had with National Broadband Ireland, NBI? Has it discussed with NBI the possibility of co-funding the extra cost that would be involved in putting fibre into the islands in order that islanders too may join the fibre revolution that future-proofs communities? I think the Chair knows I have been fighting this one for a long time, that 30 Mbps is old hat. This is the problem with a lot of what we are doing. By the time we get there the technology is out of date. Thankfully, the solution for 98% - the witnesses might give me the accurate figure - will be fibre because it is the only show in town.

Broadband connection points are worthy but there is a broadband connection point in a certain village near to where I live and the people in the baile fearainn - as we call them - tá siad ag dul craiceáilte mar tá siad ag iarraidh go mbeidh sé ina dtithe féin acu mar go dteastaíonn uathu a ngnó a dhéanamh ansin. Nílim ag rá nach dtiocfaidís go e-hub agus nach mbainfidís úsáid as ó thráth go chéile, ach ní cóir go mbeadh sé mar mhalairt ar a bheith sa teach ach mar rud breise. When I see areas being given these connection points, I worry that they are at the bottom of the list. I presume, and I have not yet been proven wrong, that any area that was gifted one of these things was being gifted a long wait for what it was looking for, that is, fibre to the home. Our guests might provide a list of the co-funding of small works on the islands year by year since 2000.

It is awful easy to produce renewable energy on an island because it has wind in abundance. We are back to the same problem, however. There is a great renewable energy comharchumann on Inis Mór ach caithfear an fuinneamh a thabhairt go dtí an mórthír. It has to be brought to the mainland. Has the Department had negotiations with the ESB about co-funding the provision of upgraded electric cables? Most islands have electric cables. This would have two benefits; it would allow the export of surplus electricity and give resilience. We saw what happened in Ireland when somebody pulled the cable of an anchor of a boat or something and cut off the islands. Has the Department discussed with the ESB the idea of providing a cable that would be capable of taking the export of electricity produced renewably on islands? Our guests mentioned Inishark. Tá sé in aice le hInis Bó Finne. It is only 1 mile away. There is also the possibility of producing renewable energy there but cable is needed. If the cable were to go to Inishbofin, that would not be a great stretch. It might be economical for somebody to run it across that mile.

What is the projected date for the extension of the pier on Inis Oírr to Inis Meáin? What other major marine works, say, of more than €1 million or €2 million, are in train in terms of planning, from Tory Island to Cape Clear? Given the time it is taking to develop them, there would need to be a fair pipeline of them if we are ever to get the job done. There is a crisis on many islands in respect of piers and of matching piers on the mainland. Roonagh Pier is an obvious one. We did some work on that but there is a need for a major investment there or in some alternative adjacent to both Inishturk and Clare Island. It takes a long time to get these projects rocking and rolling. Inis Oírr has had planning permission since 2008. In the 13 years since, it still has not got the contract.