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

Housing can be divided into two issues. There is local authority housing and the issue of planning. The quickest way we can deal with planning is through the rural housing guidelines that are to come out soon. We should take that up with the Minister. On the islands, unless they own a house already, permanent dwellers should be considered to have what is termed a housing need for planning purposes. That should apply across all islands and local authorities. The local authorities have to work within the national guidelines so if we do it nationally, even though there are different plans for each county, it would have to be incorporated. It could be done within existing structures. We talk an awful lot in this country about changing structures but often we waste a lot of time changing them rather than making the existing structures work to deliver what we want.

We would support the proposal that Leader and SICAP be done as previously through Comhdháil na nOileán or on a bid basis but as an islands lot. That is important. On another matter, the biggest cost of putting cables into islands is the dredging cost. Would the witnesses agree that there should be a co-ordinated approach to provide extra energy connectivity through electricity cables, the fibre cable and in some cases even the water pipes at the same time? It should be possible to get the one dredger in, survey the whole thing, dredge the seabed, put the cables or pipe in and then have the job properly done. Central Government through the Department with responsibility for the islands is the only body that can put all of that together. Any necessary funding over and above what the agencies put in will be provided by the Government through that Department. That is what it was set up to do.

I was very interested in what Ms Moran was saying about local networks. There is only one way of transporting electricity off an island, through the cable. EirGrid, which controls the whole flow of electricity through the country, could arrange with islands that when it does not want island energy, rather than turning off the wind generators or whatever means of energy generation is on the island, the electricity generated could be stored internally on the islands in very simple ways. It could be used to charge all the electric vehicles on the islands in the down periods with very cheap electricity. Effectively they would have their own electricity if they controlled their own generation. It could be used to heat the water and houses in winter by storage at times when the island had literally free electricity and when it is a choice of turning off the wind generators because they do not need the energy on the mainland or using it on the island.

I understand a pilot project is being considered on one of the islands for the use of hydrogen. That is a way of storing energy. I understand there is a project exploring the production of hydrogen from solar energy. We already have buses in the city here and in lots of places operating on hydrogen. The technology is going to develop quite rapidly. It is a possible future energy source for aircraft, ferries and other vehicles. If the islands controlled their micro-generation, they could export energy when they had surplus and the grid needed it and could also store energy on the island and have very cheap electricity. If we have to turn all the generators off they will just be sitting there doing nothing. This could provide for people to really dramatically reduce their heating and transport costs. The other big advantage is that very little would have to be brought on to the island in the form of diesel, kerosene or petrol compared to now.

Are the witnesses as shocked as I am by the reply a Minister gave to a parliamentary question I tabled which suggests the islands are not automatically included in the 20% reduction in public transport costs? I would have assumed the islands would be at the top of the list for that since people cannot get in and out except by public transport. I would have assumed air and ferry fares would automatically drop by 20% on 1 April. It seems like an early April fool's joke that it was not automatically included in the decision. I suggest to the Chair that we write to the Minister after this meeting and demand that there is equity of treatment for islanders in this case as there will be for all the rest of the people in the State.