Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their opening submissions. The numbers are stark and jumped out at me, particularly the reduction in population from 34,000 to 2,627. The root of the problem with getting representation is the small number of people that live on the islands and how fragmented the islands are across local authorities and in different areas. It makes it difficult to make the case stand up. In a previous session someone, and it could have been Mr. Walsh, recommended that committee members watch "Inis Airc - Bás Oileáin" on the TG4 player. I took that recommendation. It sets out in the starkest terms the challenges of maintaining life on the islands. It is well worth watching.

A number of issues jump out and I will start with energy. It may be the issue that sits most comfortably with me. There are opportunities. Mr. Walsh spoke about microgrids. I am interested to know whether he is looking at vehicle-to-grid options to run power. Storage is always a problem with renewables because of the intermittency. One thing the islands have plenty of is wind but perhaps not always. Are the witnesses looking at vehicle-to-grid storage? It would mean that if there were a couple of electric vehicles, EVs on the islands, they would provide that kind of backup. The islands should be energy exporters but the most valuable thing they can do is keep the energy on the islands as much as possible. This is the greatest value-add. It is something I am interested in hearing about. The Chairman referenced the potential for e-health. There is potential for e-health, e-pharmacy and e-prescribing.

To come back to housing, at a previous meeting the witnesses referenced the housing approach on the Scottish islands. I had a look at this. I am not sure it directly maps but certainly there is an awful lot that could be learned. The idea that jumped out at me was the empty homes officer. I started by speaking about fragmentation. Each individual council has somebody in its housing department that looks at this. Would it make more sense to have somebody in a role that looks at all of the islands in terms of housing rather than it being split into the various councils? Would this be of benefit?

We are here to discuss this in the context of the Our Rural Future document.

I think there are three policies that sit together like the legs of a stool: Housing for All, Our Rural Future, and Town Centre First, which was launched a few weeks ago. Perhaps there is an opportunity to apply that thinking to the islands. The fact that the policy is entitled Town Centre First seems to exclude most of the islands. That whole structure of building town teams could be easily replicated with island teams. I imagine they probably already exist on each of the islands. I wonder if that could be a way for the islands to access the type of support that is going to be available in Town Centre First, particularly the support of a town centre officer, which is going to be a key role within the Town Centre First structure at a council level. Perhaps that is something that would be useful for the organisations represented to pursue in order to make a bit of elbow of room in the Town Centre First policy so that they can access that level of supports. Certainly, the community networks are already in place. It would be a shame if that third leg of the stool in terms of rural redevelopment was missed out on because islands do not necessarily have town centres.