Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I remind the Deputy that responsibility for housing persons with mental or physical disability rests with my colleagues, the Ministers for Health and Children and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. However, with regard to the context in which the Deputy has tabled the question, he should note that the development of new piers in recent years both on the island to which he refers and the adjacent mainland has satisfied a key remit of my Department to provide safe access to the island in question. In addition, his reference to the abandonment of a cable car project to the island — incidentally, the only island to which such a service is under consideration — is inaccurate.

The facts are that a grant of €1.84 million was approved by me to the relevant local authority for the provision of a cable car and associated services to the island. Furthermore, the local authority was recently authorised by me to purchase lands which had been the subject of compulsory purchase order processes so that all realistic options for providing the cable car service could be usefully explored.

In addition, my Department has engaged in discussions with Ireland West Tourism and the local authority with a view to ascertaining the tourism potential of the project and is actively examining the feasibility of securing partners from the private sector to build and operate the facility.

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