Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

At this stage, will the Minister still consider that this might be one of those unique sites? It is not just because of the national monument on it and that the OPW should have an interest. The NPWS should also have a critical interest in the island. The recent scientific analysis from the island shows it is a spectacularly important location with 4,000 breeding pairs of storm petrels and an important colony of Manx shearwaters. Seabirds are one of the most threatened species. The seabirds on this island travel to the north Atlantic to feed. We are in a row with Scotland about Rockall. If we want to show we are serious about what is happening in the north Atlantic and preserving its ecology, it is important the NPWS takes ownership of islands like this and manages them.

Last summer, I was on the beautiful Inishkea Islands, similarly located off the far west coast. There is a real problem there of overgrazing, even though it is isolated and hard to get to. We need to manage certain particularly sensitive sites. High Island is one of the most sensitive of them all, not just for its archaeology but for the birdlife on it. There is a prospect of managing this if we owned it.

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