Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I had a question disallowed in regard to planning for Gaeltacht islands within the policy. The document, which has several strengths, is weak in terms of planning for the Gaeltacht Islands. The response I received when the question was ruled out of order is that this is the responsibility of the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, Deputy Catherine Martin. The Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht does have responsibility for language planning but, obviously, the challenges facing island Gaeltacht communities are very particular to them and different from the challenges faced by mainland Gaeltacht communities. I had hoped for an opportunity to discuss that further. More needs to be done between the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht. I do not think Our Living Islands properly plans out or has an adequate strategy to ensure they are sustainable communities but also that the language thrives with them. What needs to happen, from the Department of Rural and Community Development's point of view, is community development but, naturally, that community development should, to the greatest extent possible, be through the means of Irish. Greater engagement is needed between the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to plan a specific strategy for those communities.

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