Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for dealing with this Topical Issue matter today, which is very serious. Last week the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Griffin, attended a meeting in Sligo on the matter of boats landing on Inishmurray. Representatives of Fáilte Ireland attended, as did boat owners, skippers and families from Inishmurray. Up until 1957 people were living on the island and people have been landing there for hundreds of years. The MSO has done these people a disservice. The monastic site has been mentioned. There is also a graveyard on the island and families go back out to tend the graves of their deceased family members. I understand that it was once more difficult to embark and disembark on Skellig Michael than on Inishmurray. Perhaps if "Star Wars" had visited the latter, we would not be in this situation.

We have an obligation to those skippers who have paid up to €200,000 for their boats. Why would they risk their boats in terms of landing on the island? They have their own insurance for passengers to embark and disembark at Inishmurray. One of the boat owners had 30 groups scheduled to visit Inishmurray during the summer, but unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, only ten of those scheduled visits took place. Would a disclaimer suffice until such time as the island receives funding for proper landing facilities? We need a common-sense approach to resolving this matter. Sligo is part of the Wild Atlantic Way which is being promoted to tourists. Inishmurray is a major hub in north Sligo and it is vitally important that the Minister would ensure that those in the MSO who made this decision reverse it immediately.

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