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

I thank the witnesses. It is well recognised by the islanders that housing is a major issue. The witnesses have given an even better insight into it. My experience is that when we look at islanders who can establish a housing need and who apply for planning permission on their own sites or on an acquired site, the problems seem to be wastewater, archaeology and ecology. These have to be taken one by one. Wastewater disposal on the Aran Islands is a major issue but it needs an agreed technical solution to overcome it.

The issue of housing need on the islands goes to planning and four different local authorities approach it in four different ways. These are the local authorities in Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Cork. We need clear national guidelines. I have been suggesting, and I will be interested to hear the response of the witnesses on this, that anybody who lives full-time on an offshore island - in other words, it is the place of residence where a person might have their boat or where they are living - should be deemed to have a social and economic connection with the island. This is as long as they can prove within reason that they are likely to remain and they have not done it solely for the purpose of getting planning permission to have a holiday home. We need to set this out fairly clearly. I have seen people who have been living on an island for six or seven years still run into trouble and not qualify as having a housing need. This covers the main issue we are coming up against for non-islanders trying to settle on islands permanently. These people might be teachers. They could be anybody on an island with a very good job but they cannot prove a housing need.

I agree with the point on approved housing bodies. It would have to be a different type of approved housing body from that with which we are familiar. It would not just be for affordable and social housing. It would have to include ordinary purchase housing for those who have better jobs and who want to avail of the schemes. All of the islands, including all of the Donegal islands and the three Aran Islands, which population-wise are the vast majority of the islands, but with the exception of Inishbofin in Galway, the Mayo islands and the Cork islands other than Oileán Chléire, come under the remit of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Because of the economic ability of that organisation it should be part of setting up this approved housing body and should be central to it. There is no point in reinventing the wheel. We are better off using the strong agents that we have.

These are practical things that could be done now. I always look for the things that people can get on with and get done that would make a significant difference. The Croí Cónaithe scheme has an extra top-up for the islands. This should become automatic for all schemes such as housing aid for older people, mobility grants, adaption grants, the help-to-buy scheme and any scheme that is introduced in future that gives assistance to people on the mainland. There should automatically be a 30% top-up on the island rate because of the extra cost of transport. People underestimate the transport difficulty. There may be ro-ro facilities on Árainn Mhór and on Bere Island but the other islands have lo-lo. Items brought to the piers on those islands must be loaded on the boat. When it is taken off the boat at the other end it must be unloaded and transported. Two motor vehicles are required, one at each end. It is a lot more expensive. It is not just the freight cost of the boat. Even if that were eliminated in total it would not solve the problem. There is still a lot more handling and handling is money.

From the document and from work I have been doing myself I am interested to hear from the witnesses whether these issues could make a significant start in trying to move forward. We know where we would like to be but we need to get there. On some of the islands if we amended the Act slightly, and that is a job for the coiste Gaeilge, Údarás na Gaeltachta could use the land it owns and other lands it might buy for housing as well as for industrial purposes.