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

I would be happy to meet the representatives of the organisation the Deputy mentioned to discuss this issue. If we do that, I would also like to broaden the discussion because I think there is a lot we can learn from the islands. As the Deputy mentioned, there are island-specific skills. Islanders have the ability to be innovative and flexible. They do a variety of tasks that often involve the community coming together. We want to protect and enhance that. We want to deploy some of those things on the mainland as well as maintaining their existence on the islands.

I do not want to give false hope when going into such a meeting. We are talking about grant levels of 50% and 80%. In fact, for the warmer homes scheme and other projects, the grant level is 100%, which means the full cost is covered. That will still apply to a lot of the housing on the islands. Anyone on an island who is in receipt of the fuel allowance, disability allowance, living alone allowance or any other allowance will be able to get that 100% grant.

I do not think it is necessary, to make the leap we need to make, to have a separate grants system for the islands. I agree with the Deputy, however, that islanders face particular circumstances, and I am keen to support them in whatever other ways I can.

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