Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to support the motion from my colleague and I Deputy Connolly commend her for tabling it. Like her, I am disappointed with the amendment and I ask the Government to withdraw it, not push it to a vote, and to accept and work on her motion by setting a date in September to set up a committee. As a city dweller, I only have limited knowledge of what it is like to live on one of our offshore islands. However, I saw a report on television yesterday on a trial to use drones to deliver vital medical supplies when bad weather makes it impossible to access an island. That brings home that the particular issues and needs of island communities. That is why it is essential that there be representatives from the islands on the interdepartmental committee. There should be people who live on the islands and know the issues and the needs of their communities. This is a perfectly reasonable demand from a community that has been continuously ignored. There is a problem with not having community representatives on an interdepartmental committee. Why not change the format to allow representatives on a task force that has the legislative power and funding to implement a policy and follow it through with an action plan?

There is currently no policy for the islands and that is a threat to the future of these communities. Between 2011 and 2016, there was a 5.4% decline in their population and a decline in Irish usage as a daily active language. The Minister should be especially concerned about that, since he went a long way to try to re-educate himself on the language for his brief. The 1996 report of the interdepartmental committee did not include island representatives, which is a key factor in that report's recommendations not being delivered on. A key demand of the these communities is recognition of our offshore islands as a region, which would allow access to specific EU funding and programmes for island regions. In 2018, Scotland passed an act to recognise its islands as a region. One consequence of that has been an increase in their population.

The motion seeks to address housing, health and schools. It is incredible and discriminatory that the special DEIS grant for pupils learning through Irish is denied to all five island post-primary schools, which are multidenominational. In contrast, that grant is paid to voluntary all-Irish schools run by Catholic religious orders, often in quite affluent areas. That is a stark reality for the islands and it is a disgrace. An issue raised in the motion that caught my attention is energy and climate change. The islands offer a unique opportunity as a model for community-based co-operatives to develop renewable energy. This could be a model for smaller rural communities and deal with concerns and opposition to developer-led windfarms. I commend the motion to the House and ask the Minister not to move Fine Gael's amendment.

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