Mr. John Walsh:

I agree with Ms Moran. It is difficult to control the selling of houses. Various actions are needed to solve the housing crisis on the islands. The islands policy will help in this regard. If we say to people that they cannot sell their house to a certain person, that will have huge implications for island communities. When we looked at the SDGs as we were developing our own strategic plan for Bere Island, Whiddy Island and Dursey Island, two main things came into into view for us. SDG 6 is for clean water and sanitation. In the last month I have visited three islands: Whiddy Island, Inis Oírr and Clare Island just yesterday. None of the three have drinkable water, which is a shocking thing to say in this day and age.

Regarding infrastructure, on my way to Clare Island yesterday I was shocked at the state of Roonagh Pier. It is disgraceful that there is not a proper facility for people coming from Inishturk or Clare Island to land on. It goes to show that since 2015 the SDGs do not take the islands into account. I was on Inis Oírr pier a few weeks ago. It is probably the busiest pier in Ireland. My colleague Paddy Crowe spent many years trying to get the pier done. Chloe O'Malley is working on it at the moment and hopefully there will be news soon.

SDG 5 is to do with gender equality. On the islands we do not have access to services like family resource centres. I live on Bere Island, which is the only island with any service on this nature. We work with Beara west family resource centre. I do not think any other island gets family support worker services. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, is supposed to be for every resident of the State. West Cork islanders can avail of that programme because Cork County Council made a lot of the islands. When it was being tendered out, Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann was able to apply for it. Many of the other islands do not have that service. Therefore, the State is remiss in its services to the islands under social inclusion. It is important to make that point.