Vol. 558 No. 3
169 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if the Government has received the report from the forum on the future of the Great Blasket Island; if it is intended to seek to have the Great Blasket Island included in the list of world heritage sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19314/02]
The then Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, apprised the Government on 26 March 2002 of the recommendations of the forum on the future of the Great Blasket Island.
A management group comprising the landowners, Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department, and the local authority, Kerry County Council was subsequently established, to progress the recommendations made in the forum's report. One of these recommendations was to seek to have the Great Blasket Island included in the list of the world heritage sites, and this issue is being considered by the management group, in the context of the overall conservation and development of the island.
