Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

105. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of each of the policy measures detailed in the ‘Our Living Islands -Action Plan 2023-2026’; when the updated progress report will be published; to report on the April 2025 meeting of monitoring committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26332/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Programme for Government commits to ensuring that Our Living Islands - the national islands policy - is fully implemented to support sustainable development for island residents.

Our Living Islands, which was launched in June 2023, is a ten-year policy backed up by rolling three-year action plans, with the first of these covering 2023 - 2026. The Action Plan has time-bound commitments so that Departments and agencies across Government can be held to account for its implementation. The policy serves the communities of all our populated offshore islands, both Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht islands.

Our Living Islands is a policy for the whole of Government. My Department chairs the Monitoring Committee which was formed to oversee the implementation of Our Living Islands.

The Monitoring Committee continues to engage with key Government Departments and state bodies in relation to progress on implementation of the action plan. The most recent meeting was held on the 5th of May, at which the minutes of the previous meeting held in December 2024 were approved. These have now been published on the Our Living Islands page on gov.ie.

The next meeting is due to take place in September 2025, following which the minutes of the most recent meeting, including any updates that were provided at that meeting, will be published.

I understand a progress report for the first year of implementation was published by my predecessor last summer. I also intend to publish a progress report later this summer.