Mr. Jerry Early:

I thank Senator Ó Domhnaill. Many of the things he said reflect where we are going. My main response is to Deputy Ó Cuív's point on how representatives of the islands must come together. This is our third time in this forum. When I first came here, I came as an islander and was very intimidated by what I was about to face. I was very intimidated by the people to whom I was to make my presentation. However, I quickly realised that I should not be intimidated because I knew more about the needs of the islands than the people I was addressing. When we started this campaign seven years ago a wise man told us that we were wasting our time. I do not believe we wasted our time.

However, on the back of what Deputy Ó Cuív said about representatives of the islands coming together, since the report was launched on Inisír, the representatives of the Donegal islands - mainly two, even though we were joined by people from Tory slightly - came together as a group and formed the Donegal Island Marine Resource Organisation, DIMRO, which incorporated all the islands, which is up to eight islands, off the Donegal coast. We have moved away from focusing just on Donegal islands to focusing on marine resources, which is the key point, as Deputy Ó Cuív has just mentioned so eloquently. It is a resource that is our resource. I know the Deputy said we could not go to Europe - to France, Germany or Spain - and ask for something back because it would not happen.

The salmon was not taken from us by the French, the German or the Spanish but by our own people. They can give it back to us.

Since DIMRO was established we have been getting the islands to come together and form one large group, exactly as Deputy Ó Cuív proposed. We cannot speak for the coastal organisations. We have been active on the ground. We have been here for seven years so if the seeds sown by this report come to fruition in another five I and everyone here can walk away leaving a legacy.

I congratulate the Chairman. He has been very fair and thorough and many good things can happen with his guidance. We are well aware this is a process and we are prepared to stay with it however long it takes. Each day, month and year we lose people from the islands which needs to be examined urgently, sooner rather than later.