Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. She referred to her trip down to the Beara Peninsula. She popped to Bere Island for a quick visit. We could have brought her to so many islands on that visit, including Cape Clear, Sherkin Island, Long Island and Dursey Island, which she is also very familiar with. All those islands have common challenges. The Minister referred to many of them. In the first part of question, I would like to refer to the challenge of housing. Island communities are trying desperately to attract people to live on them. This is referred to in the action plan the Minister spoke about but I would like to elaborate on it. I am aware there are calls for a special approved housing body with a focus on the islands and that there has been a call for a specific action plan on housing. There was a very innovative idea for Cape Clear, which was to build what was called "gateway housing". All the locals wanted to build was four houses but they were refused planning permission by Cork County Council. If they had been granted planning permission, the four houses would have been used as a gateway for young families, couples and others who wanted to try island life. These people would have been incentivised to move to the island and would have lived in the houses at a very low rent. It would have given them an opportunity to get a flavour of island life. These are the types of initiatives I would love to see us pushing.

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