Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator.

The Bill provides in section 3 for the inclusion in the Third Schedule in the Freedom of Information Act 1997 of section 18 of the Western Development Commission Act 1998. The effect is that this provision, which relates to a prohibition on the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, can no longer be cited as grounds for refusing access to records sought under the Freedom of Information Acts.

I am also taking the opportunity in the Bill to make a number of technical amendments to the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Powers and Functions) Act 2003

The amendment of section 2 of the 2003 Act will enable my Department to pay subsidies in respect of travel by island students to second level schools on the mainland, which are outside the radius of 120 km of the terminus in respect of which provision is currently made. This will enable my Department to address issues that have arisen in respect of students on Inishbofin. My Department had been subsidising, as part of the Inishbofin subsidised ferry service, a bus service on Sunday and Friday afternoons between Cleggan Pier and St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, which is within the aforementioned 120 km radius of Cleggan. In the past couple of years, however, St. Jarlath's has ceased taking first year boarders. This means students from Inishbofin now attend Garbally College, Ballinasloe, instead. This has created a difficulty in that Garbally lies outside the 120 km radius of Cleggan, thus prohibiting payment of a subsidy in respect of the bus service to that location. I should add that it would be only in exceptional circumstances such as this that my Department would be required to use the provision proposed in the Bill. Any regulations made in respect of such cases would be following consultation with the Minister for Education and Science, and with the consent of the Ministers for Finance and Transport.

I am also providing for the amendment of section 3 of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Powers and Functions) Act 2003. This will clarify the Minister's remit in respect of specified functions relating to both existing and new aerodromes and ancillary facilities connected with the provision of air services between the islands and the mainland. My Department recently took legal advice on the use of the words "any such" in sections 3(1)(b) and (c) in the 2003 Act and the advice was that this wording could be deemed to restrict the Minister to performing these functions solely in respect of existing aerodromes acquired in accordance with section 3(1)(a) of the 2003 Act.

The Bill also provides for the repeal of the Arramara Teoranta (Acquisition of Shares) Acts 1949 to 2002, following the transfer of the State shareholding in the former commercial State body, Arramara Teoranta, to Údarás na Gaeltachta with effect from 16 October 2006. That decision should have been made years ago because we have an industrial authority which holds the shares. There should not have been a separate State authority for this small seaweed factory. Alginate Industries (Ireland) Limited was established in 1947 as a company limited by shares and changed its name to Arramara Teoranta by certificate in 1955. The principal activity of the company is to produce seaweed meal for use in the alginate industry. The State's involvement arose from the acquisition of shares in the company, as provided for in the Arramara Teoranta (Acquisition of Shares) Acts, over a period from 1949 to 2002.

In 2006, Government decided to transfer its shareholding in Arramara Teoranta, which is located in the Connemara Gaeltacht at Cill Chiaráin, to Údarás na Gaeltachta, the State body with responsibility for the overall economic development of the Gaeltacht. It is within this context that the repeal of the Arramara Teoranta (Acquisition of Shares) Acts 1949 to 2002 is proposed.

It is my view that the transfer of Arramara Teoranta to Údarás na Gaeltachta has been positive for the body. Arramara's seaweed business is a good fit with the focus of Údarás na Gaeltachta upon indigenous and natural resources in the Gaeltacht. As a result of this action, Údarás now holds the entire shareholding of the company and its stewardship will offer scope for expansion of the existing business into more value added products. In the longer term, this move will achieve optimum coherence in respect of State investment in industry in the Gaeltacht, in addition to greater flexibility in regard to the development and future of Arramara.

In addition, therefore, to facilitating a number of amendments to existing legislation, the legislative proposals I am presenting here today will provide a firm and more coherent statutory basis for the wide-ranging functions and responsibilities currently assigned to the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I thank all those with whom I have worked with in the past five years in respect of these functions. In particular, I thank Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas for their support and assistance over that period.

Molaim an Bille don Seanad agus beidh mé lán-sásta, ar ndóigh, tuilleadh eolais a sholáthar feadh mo chumais maidir le gné ar bith de na forálacha. I commend the Bill to the House and I look forward to the Senators' contributions to the debate on its provisions.