Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said this was not the responsibility of the Department of Education and Skills. I wish the Minister with responsibility for this issue was here to answer questions because we need answers to them. This programme needs an annual input of €60,000 each year to deliver the BA. For €60,000 in investment, funders receive a programme valued at approximately €415,000. As a direct result of this programme, an economic spin-off to the value of €150,000 is generated. The €60,000 investment funds one full-time and three part-time jobs located on Sherkin. The in-kind voluntary contribution by the Sherkin Island community has been valued at €40,000, with the Dublin Institute of Technology contributing an estimated €311,000 to the programme delivery. The financial management group has estimated that the BA course in visual arts, as part of the island of the arts, generates in the region of €150,000 for Sherkin Island per annum. DIT proposes to undertake social and economic benchmarking of the impact of the provision of the course on Sherkin Island.

The figures speak for themselves. I ask the Minister to meet the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy McHugh, and to get everybody to sit around the table, including the local authority, the Minister, DIT and local public representatives who want this to continue. It is an invaluable course to the island and five people who did the course last year have continued to reside on the island. That is island life and it is what we have been fighting for over many years. The money is small in the scheme of things.

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