Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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41. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development further to Parliamentary Question No. 401 of 19 January 2023, the status of the examination of the draft Islands policy by her Department; when she expects to bring the approved policy before Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9082/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is committed to publishing an islands policy, as per the Programme for Government commitment and the commitments made in Our Rural Future.

I received a draft of the policy before Christmas. While it’s clear that a lot a work has been done in getting the draft policy to this stage, I believe there’s more work needed to firm up the text and, more importantly, the actions.

I’ve committed to publishing an action plan along with the policy, as I did with the rural development policy, Our Rural Future. We can see the difference that is making across the country, transforming our rural communities, town and villages, whether it’s in Galway or Monaghan or Cork, and I want to make sure that we do the same thing for our islands.

As Minister with responsibility for the islands, I am determined to ensure the policy is delivered. Our island communities have been waiting a long time for this policy and I’m not going to settle for more of the same from State bodies if that doesn’t deliver anything better for the islands. I want to see them committing to meaningful actions in this plan.

On that basis, I’ve gone back to my officials and asked them to re-engage with colleagues across Government Departments and agencies to revisit the document and make sure that this Islands Policy is accompanied by a robust Action Plan.

I’m determined that this policy will be finalised as soon as possible, so that I can bring it to Government for approval and get it published. But I won’t do that until I’m satisfied that it contains credible actions that will make a difference to our island communities.