Bertie Ahern
Question:3 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach if he will consider establishing a single agency or authority to co-ordinate the provision of State services, including local services, to the islands. [4892/96]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers - Offshore Islands Development.
The report of the Interdepartmental Co-ordinating Committee on Island Development is a comprehensive assessment of all the issues which affect the lives of the communities on our offshore islands. Many of the issues considered by the interdepartmental committee are, by their nature, complex and necessarily involve a number of Government Departments, State agencies, local authorities and local development organisations.
In its report, the interdepartmental committee concluded that the addition of a further body or organisation would serve only to add to the complexity of administrative and funding arrangements with which island communities have had to deal in the past and about which they have expressed particular concern. The view of the committee is that island communities would be better served by improved co-ordination, consultation and co-operation between existing organisations at national, regional and local level.
In this regard, the committee has made a number of recommendations to ensure that, when the relevant organisations at national, regional and local level are formulating and implementing policy, the unique circumstances of the offshore islands will be fully taken into account. In particular, the recommendations of the report include the development of appropriate mechanisms to ensure that organisations involved in development at regional and local levels work in tandem with island communities to maximise the benefits from available resources. New mechanisms have also been put in place in order to deal in a strategic and integrated way with the key issue of access to the islands.
The interdepartmental co-ordinating committee has been given a mandate by the Government to oversee the implementation of the recommendations in the report, including issues of co-ordination, and it will submit a progress report to Government annually.
The approach of more effectively utilising existing structures, expertise and resources is the correct one. The strategy for the development of our offshore islands as set out in the report will, I am confident, have a very real impact on the living conditions of our offshore island communities.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply and the Government Chief Whip for agreeing to make time available to debate this important report, which I have read, in the House. While I am aware that these are its conclusions there is a need to establish a single agency or authority to co-ordinate the activities of the bodies and groups concerned, some of which I have met during the past 12 months. Because of the difficulties created by the geographical location of the island communities, weather conditions and other factors, there is, as the Minister of State said, a need to improve co-ordination. The purpose in commissioning the report, in which I was prominently involved in Government, was to try to find a way around the difficulties of the 4,000 people directly affected.
While they are doing their best, local authorities and other agencies are unable to co-ordinate the services in a desirable manner. The report is useless because there is not a single agency or authority focused on island communities, there are at least eight agencies involved. The Minister of State should disregard his reply and during his term in office co-ordinate the activities of island communities under a single agency.
I am grateful for the Deputy's support and concern for island communities, but from his long experience as a Minister he must realise the difficulties involved in getting even two Departments to agree on a matter.
Or three partners.
I do not know how such an agency would improve matters. I am surprised to hear Deputy Ahern talking about setting up another agency when Deputy O'Rourke claims there are too many.
I did not say that about the special one of the Minister of State.
The Leader of the Opposition is saying one thing and the Deputy Leader is saying the opposite.
What will the Minister of State say?
The interdepartmental committee, established by Deputy Andrews, set out in 1993 to deal with this difficult problem, but each effort to establish a single agency failed. I am satisfied the interdepartmental co-ordinating committee in the Department of the Taoiseach is the best way to resolve a very difficult problem. The agencies already involved include Údarás na Gaeltachta, Bord Fáilte, Teagasc, CERT, FÁS, BIM, local authorities and the Departments of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltachta, the Marine, Transport, Energy and Communications and so on.
All doing nothing.
I succeeded in getting the interdepartmental committee to work. The report may not have been produced in the timeframe I outlined to the Deputy——
That is for sure.
——but it has been produced and it is working.
Working? The Minister of State should tell us one thing it achieved.
I met members of the islands' committee in Cork who told me they are satisfied with the progress being made. I visited Donegal last week to announce the building of a new pier on Tory Island at a cost of £4.6 million.
The Minister of State should give answers, not jokes.
I am satisfied with the progress being made. The method I have adopted, with consultation between Departments and agencies, is a satisfactory way to progress.
I do not wish to quarrel with the Minister of State on this issue. A useful report, that reflects on the difficulties facing island communities, has been published. Many Deputies know more about them than I, but from speaking to people in different parts of the country I am aware of the difficulties faced by island communities for many decades in dealing with various agencies. This report, which will be debated in the House, is unworkable. Unless there is co-ordination and a proper set of principles, the same point will be made in ten years' time. Will the Minister of State ignore his reply and examine the possibility of establishing an agency to deal with island communities?
I must dissuade Members from the notion that we can have a debate on this matter now. At Question Time questions should be succinct.
The establishment of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann has integrated Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht island communities who work together under a Leader programme. The interdepartmental committee's report acknowledges the role played by that island federation and the report's recommendations are the best way forward for island communities. While I thank the Deputy for his interest in the matter, let us wait and see if this works and if the financial resources are adequate. If not, perhaps we could consider the establishment of a single agency for the island communities, but I am satisfied with the existing position.
Will the Minister of State accept that the islands are everybody's problem but nobody's concern? Everybody has responsibility but nobody takes it. Will he accept that the interdepartmental committee, to which he glowingly referred, took more than three years to produce a report which could have been produced in three months? Will he accept that the questions asked about the needs of islanders in the past three years were not answered because of the pending interdepartmental report? Will he also accept the suggestion made by those with many years' experience of offshore island communities that there is a need to set up an authority, be it a section of a Department or an agency as suggested by Deputy Ahern, to deal with the problems faced by those communities? We are talking about a population of approximately 3,000 with basic needs.
I am responsible for the island communities and chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Island Development. I am also responsible for the report and the island communities contact me directly.
Why did it take three years to produce a report?
Members of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann will confirm this. The islanders' initiative in setting up a federation made progress possible. As a former Minister of State in the Department of Energy, Deputy Molloy could have established a State agency to deal with these problems, but he would have faced similar difficulties with Departments who do not want to relinquish individual responsibilities.
Is the Minister of State saying the system is not working?
The interdepartmental committee has made progress and has improved the quality of life for people on the islands.
Will the Minister of State confirm that the number of people concerned is approximately 4,000, 3,000 of whom live on Gaeltacht islands and 800 on non-Gaeltacht islands? Furthermore, will he confirm that the Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann must deal with two sets of agencies, one for Gaeltacht islands and another for non-Gaeltacht islands? Will he also confirm that there was not the political will in the Taoiseach's Department to co-ordinate island communities under one agency?
Will he say why it was not possible to bring all the islands together under a new Department, An Roinn Ealaíon, Cultúir, Gaeltacht agus Oileain, so that the 800 non-Gaeltacht islanders would be brought under the ambit of Údarás na Gaeltachta? In this way one agency would have responsibility for the islands instead of four groups having responsibility for transport and two or three groups having responsibility for piers. Will the Minister confirm this is what the islanders have been seeking?
When I took up office I inherited an interdepartmental committee set up by the Department of the Marine which had not been getting effective responses from other Departments. The Taoiseach in his wisdom appointed me as chairman of the interdepartmental committee, which has produced its report. Even though some were reluctant, we managed to get all the relevant people to attend meetings.
In the immortal words of a man who used to be in this House, the Minister of State has a great welcome for himself.
I am a nice fellow. I also inherited an inequitable system under which Gaeltacht islands enjoyed much better standards than non-Gaeltacht islands. The interdepartmental committee has successfully dealt with the position of both sets of islands without intruding on the exclusive rights given over many years to Gaeltacht speaking islands which deserve the support they get given that they are preserving our heritage and culture. We have put together a financial package which will improve the lives of island communities in the long-term, without any loss to Gaeltacht islands.
Are boarding school grants available to students on all the islands?
Yes.