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

I thank the Deputy very much for raising this. I am pleased to inform him that I launched Our Living Islands, an ambitious new ten-year national policy designed to support vibrant and sustainable island communities, in June of this year. Our Living Islands is the first whole-of-government policy for the islands to be published in 27 years. It is accompanied by the first action plan for the period 2023 to 2026 and includes 80 new time-bound actions that have been agreed to and will be implemented by various stakeholders, led by a nominated Department or State agency. Our Living Islands is underpinned by five high-level strategic objectives, identified by islanders themselves as being of key importance for the sustainable future of their communities.

The action plan has a real focus on improving housing and water infrastructure, better access to essential services in health and education, delivering high-speed broadband, supporting remote working, and further developing outdoor amenities and sustainable tourism.

Our overarching ambition for this policy is to see more people living on our islands, more people working on our islands and more people choosing to raise a family on our islands. The ambitious policy has been developed following an extensive consultation process with island communities and other stakeholders, which enabled them to express their views as to the challenges and opportunities associated with living on islands. Our Living Islands is a whole-of-government policy. I acknowledge the co-operation and support from colleagues across other Departments in its development.

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