Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Kelly, for coming to the House to take it. I know he is aware of some of the issues which are affecting funding for the non-Gaeltacht islands. There has been a differentiation with regard to the funding for Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht islands. The former are primarily funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, while there is a patchwork of funding streams for the non-Gaeltacht islands which dates back to the time of the rainbow coalition which held power from 1994 to 1997. The latter was the first Administration to commit to provide funding for non-Gaeltacht islands. Funding was originally provided by the then Department of Social Welfare and was very modest in nature. From 2001 to 2009, funding was provided by the then Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht affairs. Since 2009, funding for non-Gaeltacht islands has been delivered by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government via the local community development programme. Each of the islands in question would have service level agreements with Comhar na nOileán and Comhdáil Oileán na hÉireann, the Irish Islands Federation.

Much of the funding in question would have related to community development officers on a few of the islands. Some of those officers would have overseen multiple islands in the context of the provision of after-school services, play groups, services for the elderly, youth services, employment support, advocacy services, rural social schemes, rural transport and tourism projects. Such services are provided by a range of agencies on the mainland and tend to be taken for granted by citizens. The community development officers to whom I refer built up quite a track record in the context of delivery. In Civil Service speak, it might be stated that they had developed a competency or capacity in this regard. Essentially, this means that they were trusted by the relevant agencies and Government Departments to provide a one-stop-shops facility in the context of the delivery of State services. This has been the position on the non-Gaeltacht islands for some years. I recall stories to the effect that decades ago, before the funding to which I refer was put in place, the local national school teacher or parish priest would have been the go-to person in terms of getting what was required for a particular island. Those days are gone. The challenge for the islands is to obtain funding through the community development officers, who have done a fantastic job.

The Minister is aware of the difficulties being encountered by island residents, whether in terms of putting their children through national school, fighting for access to services and trying to obtain acknowledgement to the effect that life on offshore islands can be quite difficult and challenging. The maintenance of development funding, to be disbursed by community development officers, is critical not only in terms of the day-to-day running of the islands but also in the context of maintaining population levels and fighting to obtain additional services. Successive Governments have for too long seen the islands as being a burden on the State. That is not the case; they are a resource which should be funded.

I look forward to the Minister's reply. I am aware he has done a great deal of work on this matter. I thank him for facilitating dialogue in respect of it between his Department and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Progress has been made but there is more to be done.

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