Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We need to stress that planning permission was given. It is the same operable planning permission for Inis Oírr in 2008. This is 2021 and I have to stress that this pier is incredibly dangerous, because of overtopping and because boats cannot tie up safely in the severe winter weather. I ask the Minister of State to clarify whether after getting the foreshore licence it will take nine months to do the tendering. Has he a timeline for when he expects contractors on site? The fastest thing in construction nowadays is the building. Even though that might take two years, at least one can go down every week and see the progress. Can the Minister of State give a timeline to the people of Inis Oírr as to when it is expected construction will commence on the pier?

Regarding Inis Meáin, the Minister of State mentioned the skippers. The skippers are hugely important because they bring in the boats. However, another group seems to be getting overlooked here and they are important for two reasons.

I refer to the islanders themselves. The first reason is that they live there. The second is that fishing in those waters has given them an incredible wealth of knowledge of the seas around their island. The islanders have made and keep making one point. They have made it to the Minister of State's colleague, the senior Minister in the Department, Deputy Heather Humphreys. The islanders believe it is vital that some indication is given to everybody regarding the funding available. Are we talking about €50 million or €100 million? There is no point in just saying funding is available, because that would be like telling someone to design a house without giving any indication of the budget. It is as foolish as that, and anybody who did that would be very foolish indeed. The issue, then, is whether the Department can give everybody concerned some indication of the potential budget for them to work off. That would allow for the maximum impact, because whether the project involves digging in or working out into the sea will depend on how much money there is to spend.

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