Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the positive changes, including the change in the allowance, but we are missing a policy. We need a policy that is positive, sets out specific targets and is based on legislation. Our neighbour, Scotland, has managed to do this. Surely we could take the best lessons from it. I appreciate the Minister's efforts, but there was a change in Governments and Departments after this process was set in progress and now it lies with her.

There is a serious issue with the declining population and the Irish language. I come from a constituency that has four islands, the three Oileáin Árann agus Inis Bó Finne. I mBéarla, Inishbofin has been struggling for years to get a basic service like a primary care centre.

All the good things mentioned by the Minister are being done in a vacuum. We cannot continue to operate in a vacuum with regard to our island communities. Not alone are they struggling, and I would like to put it in a more positive way, but they have shown us the way forward in terms of sustainabe living, creative projects, energy renewal and so on. They are not asking for handouts or anything like that, but a policy based on legislation that recognises their intrinsic importance to us if we are going to survive.

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