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

I am surprised to hear that a family member of an islander, in other words somebody who grew up on an island, would not be classified as having a housing need as long as they are coming back to live on the island. I am highly critical of things in Galway at times, but as long as you could establish you were coming back permanently you would be considered to have a housing need if you were from the island. The problem we have is that the islands are not self-sustaining without bringing in teachers and all sorts of people. That is the challenge we seem to be facing. I am very surprised that any local authority would not deem someone as having a social and economic connection if you were returning full-time to the place you grew up. That is normally defined in the rural planning guidelines as is, as qualifying for rural housing. I am a little puzzled as to how that became a problem.