Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have to go through the document as I have not yet read it, but I was at the AGM and the issues relating to the islands are clear to me. There is the need to attract young people back to the islands. Planning permission is a significant issue. The islanders are concerned they cannot get planning that would allow young people to return. I was given the example of a young man who was coming back from America but could not get planning permission to build a house on the island. There is no doubt there are environmental issues but I do not see why we cannot address these things. What make islands are people, including young people. They are looking at issues relating to schools and additional funding for teachers who work on the islands. I said I would raise that with the Minister, Deputy Foley.

The point is that this island policy means that I have to hold other Departments to account. I want to make sure I get strong commitments from each Department as to how we can improve the situation on islands. There is no point in having a policy unless we have strong commitments and then I have to keep their toes to the fire to make sure they deliver on these commitments. We are working with them on that particular issue to get the policy finished and get the commitments from all the different Departments.

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