Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Táim thar a bheith buíoch dó as teacht isteach ar an ábhar seo. The ferry service to the Aran Islands and Inis Mór in particular is in effect the highway for people living on the island because it provides their access to and from the island. Until recent years there was a subsidy available to the operators of the service to serve all three islands. The Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy McGinley, decided to unbundle that contract so that the service to Inis Meáin and Inis Oirr continued with a subsidy but there is no subsidy available for the service to Inis Mór. The logic was, I suppose, that because many tourists go to Inis Mór, it is a busy service and would be self-sustaining. It appears that is not the case.

Members of Comharchumann Forbartha Arann have raised this with me. They are very concerned. They met representatives of the Oireachtas in January and asked us to raise this issue. The local Deputies on the Government side assured us at that meeting that they would seek a meeting with the Minister of State on this issue because it is very serious. That has not happened. What engagement has there been between the Minister of State and the people of Inis Mór on this issue? The major issue raised by Comharchumann Forbartha Arann is that an unsubsidised ferry service cannot be guaranteed during the winter months, and it asks that this route be advertised for tender as soon as possible. The company running the service commercially says it is losing money during the winter months. There is no obligation on it to provide a service during the winter months and therefore the people of Inis Mór could be left without any service whatsoever.

The comharcumann also has a problem with levies imposed by Galway County Council and has asked the Minister of State to intervene. As islanders they feel this is an unfair tax and they vehemently oppose it. They have asked the Minister of State to intervene with the local authority to try to come up with another solution instead of a levy, which they maintain has an adverse effect on the numbers travelling to the island. The numbers have dropped dramatically and they have written to inform the Minister of State about this. They feel that Galway County Council as a public body should work in the interests of the island and not impose a tax on travel to the island. This Government abolished tax on flights in and out of the whole island because it was detrimental to tourism but allowing a county council impose a tax on people travelling to a smaller offshore island raises the same argument, as the figures show.

The co-op also notes that no other coastal island has such a levy, and the loss of between 40,000 and 50,000 people per annum travelling from Doolin to Inis Mór is due to this levy. This is generating a great deal of negative publicity and ticket prices will probably increase due to this levy, resulting in fewer people travelling. This is a serious problem for the people of the Aran Islands. They have forwarded the statistics to the Minister of State on the fall in visitor numbers. They feel the locals are being penalised because the cost of travelling from Inis Mór to Rossaveal has increased as a result of the subsidy's being discontinued.

It is unacceptable that since the meeting in January the Minister of State has not met the Comharchumann Forbartha Arann on this issue. I will call on him to have that meeting as soon as possible to see what can be done to rectify the situation. The tenders for the ferry service at least could be advertised to see what type of operators would pitch for them, how much it would cost and whether a subsidy could or needs to be reinstated for the ferry service.