Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 13: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will consider introducing a scheme whereby island residents who are mentally or physically impaired are offered a relocation or rehousing option on the mainland to enable them to avail of necessary services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22706/05]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I remind the Deputy that responsibility for housing persons with mental or physical disability rests with my colleagues, the Ministers for Health and Children and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. However, with regard to the context in which the Deputy has tabled the question, he should note that the development of new piers in recent years both on the island to which he refers and the adjacent mainland has satisfied a key remit of my Department to provide safe access to the island in question. In addition, his reference to the abandonment of a cable car project to the island — incidentally, the only island to which such a service is under consideration — is inaccurate.

The facts are that a grant of €1.84 million was approved by me to the relevant local authority for the provision of a cable car and associated services to the island. Furthermore, the local authority was recently authorised by me to purchase lands which had been the subject of compulsory purchase order processes so that all realistic options for providing the cable car service could be usefully explored.

In addition, my Department has engaged in discussions with Ireland West Tourism and the local authority with a view to ascertaining the tourism potential of the project and is actively examining the feasibility of securing partners from the private sector to build and operate the facility.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I welcome the Minister's reply because many people on the island in question believe the cable car project is dead. I acknowledge his comments in this regard and welcome any progress on the project. The late Pól Ó Foighil — God be good to him — was very proactive on this issue and the Minister has visited the island on many occasions. I also welcome improvements in the piers and in access to the island, without which islanders would be stranded.

People with illnesses experience considerable difficulty travelling to and from the island and have been looking forward to having a cable car facility, which should have been developed a long time ago. Constituents of mine have suggested that in light of the length of time required to develop the facility and the problems it has experienced, it might be preferable for them to be rehoused on the mainland. What are the Minister's views on islanders suffering from illness moving to the mainland? While I appreciate that housing people with disabilities is the responsibility of other Departments, will the Minister consider facilitating people with cancer who may need to move to the mainland for a period or older people who wish to live close to medical services which are unavailable on the island?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Unfortunately, as the Deputy will be aware, only a small number of people live on Inishbiggle, an island which has experienced a significant population decline in recent years. I doubt if anybody on the island is in any doubt as to the Department's position on the cable car project, given that I visited the island during my most recent visit to County Mayo and spent more than an hour explaining the precise position and the parameters within which I was working. I also promised islanders that I would inform them if the Department had approved the project once my discussions with Ireland West Tourism and others had concluded.

The tragedy is that the cable car project could have proceeded many years ago had it not been for various local difficulties and objections lodged at various stages. While people are entitled to object, the Department had to wait until all the problems were overcome before issuing compulsory purchase orders and so forth. The scenario I faced in spring was that, on the one hand, I had a report on my desk indicating that the cable car facility could not be justified purely as an island project while, on the other, I was facing a deadline as regards the decision to purchase the land required for the project. I took the decision that the deadline was too close and I had not done enough homework in terms of examining the project's tourism potential to defray some of the costs of constructing a cable car facility. As a result, I instructed my officials to inform Mayo County Council that it should proceed with the purchase of the land in question to ensure the project would remain intact.

The Department will have to make a decision on the issue. I have always believed, conditional on a wide range of factors falling into place, that the project has island potential as well as significant tourism potential, particularly in light of the development of Ballycroy. This development potential will only be realised, however, if the cable car operator drives it.

The question of old people living on the island who need to move to the mainland is a catch-22, although it was not meant as such, in that if I am seen to be proactively encouraging or assisting people to leave the island, others on the island will argue that my intention is to kill the island. However, if I do not get proactively involved in assisting those who need to leave the island, I will be accused of not looking after people's needs. If someone is seriously ill, the local authorities should look favourably on an application from that person and I would make a strong case that if there were good medical or social reasons for a person to leave the island, the fact that he or she has a house on the island should not be a reason for not giving that person a house on the mainland. I would articulate that view on behalf of someone on an island who needed mainland residence because of illness if I was asked to. I do not want someone saying that because a person has a perfectly good house, he or she can stay there. If illness is involved, and if it would be better for his or her health to stay on the mainland, it would be right and humane and I would make that point to any local authority. My experience, however, is that local authorities are sympathetic. They are trying to keep the same balance as us — not to depopulate the island in a driven fashion and to take a social view of individual circumstances.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I appreciate that the Minister was on the island and that he is sincere but people have been waiting for so long that they do not believe what they are told.

Dedicated helicopter emergency medical services would make people feel much more secure on the islands. The Minister knows of the tragedies that have occurred on the islands. There is currently a delay in getting the definitive medical treatment the helicopter emergency services would bring to the islands. Would the Minister support this? It does not fall within the remit of his Department but he might ask his colleagues to support helicopter emergency medical services. They would be a great boon to older people on the islands and a reason for people to stay there.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Inishbiggle has one of the best helipads in the country and my Department put it in. I recognise that helicopter evacuation in terms of illness or other emergencies is vital. Doctors based on the islands full-time always tell me they get an excellent service from both the search and rescue helicopter and the Air Corps.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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When they are available to give the service.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I have kept in touch about this. There is more than one doctor on the Arann Islands and I have not received any complaints about availability, particularly from the Arann Islands, which have the largest population and the most calls out. Other doctors on the west coast have said the same.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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It is not just a question of availability but having the right equipment to do the job. People have been become hypothermic while waiting for intensive care medical treatment that helicopter emergency medical services would have but the Air Corps and search and rescue units do not have. I worked on Clare Island and Inishturk and I can vouch for the fact that while the service is welcome, it is not dedicated and its availability and the equipment it carries depends on the other jobs it must do. The helicopter emergency medical service would be a flying intensive care unit that would bring definitive medical treatment to people on the islands.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is trying to lead me into a wider issue that would be just as pertinent on the mainland as on the islands.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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It is particularly important for the islands.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Lift time into a hospital from the islands because of the provision of helipads and the willingness of rescue services to provide the service would be considerably quicker than in large parts of the mainland in my constituency.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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That is true.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I am not a doctor, I cannot argue about one service but the helicopters and helipads are available and there is quick lift time from the islands.