Mr. Simon Murray:

In the general context of the conversation so far, it is important to bring it back to something the Chairman mentioned. He referred to his visit to Inisbofin, which was longer ago than we care to remember, as we met up when he visited the island. I showed the Chairman the shoe box that was our health clinic, the disgraceful clinic that it was. I must say that the same clinic is still there today. We got a small bit of money to do it up because asbestos was discovered in the ceiling. Why do things like that take so long? Planning permission was granted for a new clinic, which was allowed to run out by the HSE. We are now shopping around for another site. Going back to the housing issue, when the Chairman visited the island, there was a turnkey property up for sale but the council would not purchase it. Why can the council not buy a turnkey property and house people immediately rather than going down the planning route? Excuses are made about trying to find funding and the house never gets built. It is a never-ending story. There is a touch of Groundhog Day in some of the conversations we are having. As islanders and representatives of islanders, we have been saying many of the same things for a long time now. We are looking for ongoing solutions to these problems.

I am delighted at what the Deputy said about the fibre-optic broadband and that it is the preferred option. My fear is that they will find every excuse in the book to tell us that they cannot manage it for some reason. However, as the Deputy is aware, fibre-optic broadband is the solution. Broadband through wireless will always have its limitations, it its capacity, first and foremost, and under also under difficult weather conditions. What we are trying to achieve here in the main, and the expectation at this stage, which may be an expectation that is wrongly held on our behalf, is that when we are dealing with the islands division or any bodies that have a responsibility over the islands, including the Minister and Ministers of State and everybody, there is a grasp of the understanding or a wish to grasp that understanding of island life and the difficulties and costs that are associated with it. The question is whether we want people to continue to live on the islands or not. If we do, there is a hidden cost from the State's perspective. It will take funding to continue life on the islands, but you could argue that about any way of life across the country. Our case is unique, because what is the option? Looking at our neighbour island of Inishark, it was depopulated in 1960, as were many islands up and down the west coast. Reference has already been made to the population collapse and how shocking that is. At the last meeting I recommended that members watch Bás Oileáin "Death of an Island". For anyone who has not seen it, I strongly recommend it, just to give some hint of what it is like for life on an island to end. We are in the position of trying to keep islands alive. It is a documentary about what happens when life on an island comes to an end. It is something that needs to be in the mindset of those in Government authorities of any description in relation to trying to help. The objective is to ensure that it does not happen again. I would hope that that mindset is there and that there is a willingness to help the islands, and to keep the populations alive on the few that are left. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.