Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Chair. Our islands are absolutely vital. We have done quite a lot of work on them. We have increased funding to the non-Gaeltacht islands and to the co-ops and organisations on those islands in the previous number of weeks to bring them in line. The funding allocation is €11 million in current and €5 million in capital, which represents an increase. The majority of our current expenditure goes to subsidised transport to islands and we are currently subsidising 27 passenger, cargo and air services to 19 of our offshore islands. A lot of work has been done by the unit in recent years on that expenditure and ensuring it is as relevant as possible.

We just announced funding of €828,000 for small island capital projects such as roads, piers and public facilities. We have a number of major capital projects identified for some specific islands. We work closely under the Gaeltacht side of things for the Gaeltacht islands as well, which have additional supports for their activities.