Ms Tuuli Rantala:

I will quickly give a practical example. I totally agree with some of the comments made. The sustainable development goals, SDGs, are not just environmental. There are also social and economic aspects to them. They are interconnected and, therefore, collaboration between the different silos is required.

I am originally from Finland and one example from my previous life is where we did research benchmarking cities and city planning and development. There was an example from the Netherlands where they had to changed the whole organisation, with roads, housing, education and services being area-specific with representation from each sector, which they said was very painful but very fruitful. Maybe that is something to consider.

I will give an example of how progress on all of these goals is needed, especially for offshore islands. If I was lucky enough that I could buy a property on an island, despite the current holiday home prices, and I could get a grant to refurbish a derelict house, I would also be in the situation where if I had children or wanted to start a family on the island, I would not have full-time childcare, so I would need to decide whether I or my partner would stay at home. That obviously impacts the income level of the family. I would do this knowing that when my children reach 12 years of age, I would need to leave the island, because there is no secondary school education on the island, or I would need to pay €100 per week to a stranger to take care of my child on the mainland and get a grant, or establish a whole other household on the mainland and have two places for one family.

As for transport, I do not have a car. We do not have a public transport service on Inisbofin, for example, because it is way too expensive and non-viable from the insurance perspective as the tourism season is limited. Thankfully, I have good neighbours who help me out but every time I need to go to do the so-called "big shop" in Clifden, I pay a total of €50 to get there and back by ferry and taxi.

All of these things are linked but hopefully with collaboration some of the things mentioned by Deputy Ó Cuív, for example, could be solved in the future.