Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to come back to Ms Nic Aongusa on the e-health pilot. That is a positive development that is taking place on the islands. If it is successful, there is no reason it cannot be rolled out to the other island communities and on the mainland as well. Sadly, the shortage of GPs is not only an island problem now. It is right across this country.

Another investment the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications undertook over a decade ago was to bring high-speed broadband to every second level school. The committee is concerned that has not been exploited to the full extent it should be in terms of broadening the subject choice at second level. We would be grateful if, in Department's engagement with the Department of Education, Ms Nic Aongusa would bring that concern to its attention.

An issue relating to second level schools that was also raised this morning is that two of the five post-primary schools on the islands have small school status but the other three do not. We have only five second level schools on the islands and surely they should have equality of treatment in terms of that small school status. Will Ms Nic Aongusa bring that to the attention of the Department of Education as well?

In the context of the Department's engagement with local authorities and other Departments, the committee is strongly of the view that if there is investment to improve the water supply to the islands, ducting for fibre-optic and electricity transmission cables would be installed in conjunction, and if the electricity transmission cable is being upgraded, provision would be made to improve the water supply and the fibre-optic cable. The big part of the cost in terms of delivering those two pieces of infrastructure is the physical ploughing of the seabed to lay the cable. Surely, from an Exchequer, cross-departmental and value for money point of view and from the point of view of developing the islands, there should be co-ordination in that regard. Sadly, the regulatory and planning mechanisms do not facilitate it, but through engagement with other Departments and local authorities, we should be able to come up with a broad-minded strategy that would achieve the targets that are set by the island communities to maximise the infrastructural investment when one project is taking place. We would appreciate it if those matters could be taken back and fed into the interdepartmental working group.

On behalf of the committee, I thank Ms Nic Aongusa and her officials for the engagement we have had with the Department, not only on the current work programme but in terms of the other engagements we have had with the Department to date. We look forward to working closely with the Department in the production of our report in the short term and our ongoing engagement on the development of island communities. Gabhaim buíochas leo, unless Ms Nic Aongusa has something to add.