Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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923. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the estimated date for the publication of the islands action plan. [13512/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government established an Interdepartmental Committee for Island Development in July last year and, following meetings of this committee, a work plan was agreed for the preparation of an islands policy and subsequent action plan. 

As part of this process, a consultation paper, with input from relevant Government Departments was prepared and published. This consultation paper set out information on services that are currently being provided to the islands which would form the basis for the consultation process.

Since January this year, officials of my Department arranged a series of consultation meetings to provide island communities the opportunity to offer their views and opinions on a future islands policy and to discuss island necessities.

To date, meetings have taken place on eleven islands as follows:

The public consultation element of the process has had to be temporarily postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The next step in the process will be to arrange meetings on the remaining islands and with relevant stakeholders, including state bodies who provide services to the islands. Once this aspect of the work has been completed, it is intended that the new Islands Policy will be agreed by Government and published, following on from which an action plan based on the policy will be developed.

The Deputy will be pleased to learn that this work has been identified as a priority in the recently agreed Programme for Government. 

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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924. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her views on putting in place funding to provide public toilet facilities on each offshore island. [13513/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The provision of public toilets on the islands is, in the first instance, a matter for the relevant Local Authority.

However, my Department’s funds a small works programme for the islands whereby an allocation is set aside annually to fund small infrastructure projects on the inhabited offshore islands.  This is done in conjunction with the relevant Local Authorities who submit a list of the proposed works to the Department.

In order to maximise effectiveness of the funding available, my Department provides 75% of the total capital cost with the remainder paid by the relevant Local Authority.

If an application were to be received from a local authority for the provision of public toilets on an island, it could be evaluated in the contest of the demands on the aforementioned scheme and the financial allocation available under same.