Mr. Des Joyce:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist sin. Most of the islands have water for most of the year but Inis Oírr, in particular, does not have water all year round. It runs out. The islands, basically, catch what falls out of the sky. Inis Mór tends to be able to have enough water which is caught in underground fissures and cracks, and so forth, which we can use. There are some springs on Inis Meáin. That is not so much the case on Inis Oírr - there is simply not enough water there. We have raw water storage out there so we fill the tanks when the water is there but when it is not there, we have no choice but to provide tankers.

On the long-term vision, we have set about a feasibility study which will look at the three islands, together with Inishbofin and Whiddy Island, which are in a similar situation in that they do not have water all of the time. I cannot say what that vision will be but it could be many things. We will certainly look at whether we can transfer water out there, desalination, whether we can improve the raw water storage that is available, or a mixture of all of these. That study is about to start and we will probably appoint consultants later this year. We have done a good deal of work over there but this is a much more comprehensive review which we will be undertaking to determine what the long-term future for water supply for those islands will be.