The next item on the Adjournment is a matter which was referred to me by Deputy Michael D. Higgins, the subject matter being the transport services to the Aran Islands. The matter is in order. The Deputy has some ten minutes to present his case and the Minister has some five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Aran Islands Transport Services.
Tá stair ag baint leis an bhfadhb seo, agus níl sé ar intinn agam an milleán a chur ar an Rialtas ná ar aon Aire atá ann faoi láthair. Thosnaigh na fadhbanna seo i bhfad ó shin. I 1978 cuireadh tuarascáil le chéile faoi na deacrachtaí a bhí ann i leith taistil. I 1984 bhí tuarascáil ann agus bhí cruinnithe ag na hoileánaithe agus na coistí atá acu agus na Teachtaí in a measc, an Teachta Molloy, an tAire anois, agus mé féin. Táimid bréan de chruinnithe. Bhuaileamar le triúr Airí agus níl aon rud le feiceáil as.
As I have just said, it is not my intention to place the blame on the present Minister, whom I wish well and this is my first opportunity of doing so in his new ministry. However, there is an urgency to the issue, and I am very grateful, Sir, that you have allowed me to raise it, of the present position in the Aran Islands. I will list the points I think important.
First of all, it seems that in relation to the basic Transport Acts the State transport company, CIE — under those Acts that was their title when they were mentioned — are in breach of their statutory obligations to provide a service from the islands to the mainland. I want to take the question particularly as far as it affects the people of Inishmean and Inisheer. Elderly people on those islands now have no service and if they wish to avail of the air service they have to pay £30. Approaches have been made to the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Social Welfare, to see if he would be willing to take account of the fact that elderly people's transport costs, under their rights as I understand them to be there by statue, could be met.
People, and not only such elderly people — I am sure other Deputies in the constituency have the same experience in this as I — if they are to avail of their rights under the Health Acts would again have to pay air fares of the order I mention in order to avail of what they are entitled by statute. Already they face difficulty in arriving at an overcrowded and neglected health service by not being sure they will be seen immediately or even on the day they arrive. Consider the difficulty of a mother and child on either of the two smaller islands. They are faced with enormous expenditure to avail of something that one would accept in a normal part of this country would be the rights of a citizen as established. I have given the example of the Health Acts and I could give many more examples.
I want an answer this evening about a specific matter. As one of the Deputies of the constituency, I, and others, attended a meeting on Inishmore, the largest island, at Kilronan. On that occasion a commitment was given to the islanders. The history of this revealed that B & I produced a report in 1978. In March 1984 there was another report. I have spread in front of me here a sample of the literature that has unfolded. The Comhaircumann Inis Mean Teo were writing to me in November 1984 with a copy, having received the interim report. I have a long set of literature here in from of me of several pages addressed to the Office of the Minister for Communications, then Deputy Jim Mitchell. This literature of 1986 and 1987 was, of course, accompanied by Dáil questions and items raised on the Adjournment by people, including Deputy Molloy, who is listed in several of them, and me when I had an opportunity. It led to us, the islanders' elected committee and ourselves, making at least three visits to three different Ministers.
Matters worsened greatly because the Naomh Eanna, which had been serving the islands, then failed to pass its test and was regarded as not entitled to be given a clearing certificate to operate its service to the islands. They then lost that service. CIE, after considerable pressure, leaving a great deal of time in which there was no service at all, provided a temporary service by the Barrdick. The Barrdick has been described, to put it mildly — I would prefer to be polite so late at night — as an old boat. It was bought in a clear state really without adequate fittings but it was passed as fit by the surveyor. It was not passed fit by the surveyor initially; it was not insured. It was certified for carrying four crew members; it carried nine, and in the same hold — the worry of the local health board — commodities, fuel and people were all carried together in the one basic part of the boat. In this CIE treated their staff with no great respect for the long years of service they had given. They were simply laid off.
I do not want to give a negative picture and I want to extract as much positive progress as we can out of this. The islanders after many discussions met together and presented proposals they had all agreed on, which was quite difficult, on all three islands for a roll-on roll-off service. At one stage we were told this was being examined by consultants, then by CIE, then by the Department themselves who had their own response, and this was all done before the three meetings took place with the Minister of the day. That service is still not there.
I attended the annual meeting of Comhdháil na nOileán in Spiddal. Deputy P. Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, was there. We recall that these issues were raised. They are basic because they affect the ability of people to avail of normal services to the mainland.
Will the Minister reply to me? Does he agree that the islanders have rights under the Transport Acts and that CIE cannot escape from their social obligations under those Acts? If CIE did so, have the islanders not still direct rights under the Transport Acts? I am reluctant to threaten the Minister, but I would advise an islander at some stage, if this continues, to seek a mandamus order to make quite sure these services are delivered.
I have not mentioned at all that many elderly people, who over the years had to travel in the Naomh Eanna, which spent 75 per cent of its time tied up, at sea or whatever, preferred that mode of travel, however antiquated it was, to the air. They are now conscripted to use air travel at a price for which they are getting no assistance. No one in this House needs a lesson from me on expressing £30 as a proportion of an old age pensioner's pension or in relation to somebody with a family. I have not spoken at all about people, for example, who might want second or third level education for their children.
The first question the people want answered is in relation to their statutory entitlements. Their next question relates to the status for the proposal for a rollon/roll-off service. The third point is that at the meeting on Inis Mór the people were told by the Minister of State at the Department of Education that their requirements would figure in a submission to Europe. That news was not greeted by these very intelligent people with the sort of enthusiasm the Minister of State may have expected. I am asking whether proposals have been made to alleviate the problem I am highlighting.
On the question of communications, it is possible to have a connecting point between the new services based on tele-sats and so on. For a basic cost of between £1,000 and £3,000 we can link people on the islands to television communication. They would consider these sort of facilities luxuries but the fact remains that the people of the three Aran Islands are deprived of connection to the mainland. They are being deprived also of their rights.
The last thing these people wish to be told is that they should make the tedious journey to Dublin once again only to be told at the end of whatever meeting might be arranged for them that some new study was taking place within the Department. I suggest that their time not be wasted in this way. What they want to hear is whether the Department are accepting their proposals and if there will be an end to their long wait, a wait that began in 1978 with the first report. In the past two years the difficulties of these people have been made a great deal worse by the going out of operation of the Naomh Éanna service and the putting in its place of the tug which is not suitable.
The Aran islanders deserve an answer. Brave people have gone to those islands and have taken the risk of locating their industries there. They have had to write letters asking why their materials have to be carried in this unsuitable boat. Something must be done to relieve the hardship which, I regret to say, the State by not fulfilling its obligations is inflicting on the islanders.
Ba mhaith liom i dtosach mo bhuíochas a ghabháil don Teachta Higgins as ucht an ábhar seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall seirbhís níos fearr a eagrú le haghaidh mhuintir Árrain chomh luath agus is féidir ach tá orm suil ghéar a choimeád ar na costasaí.
I assure the Deputy that I am very aware of the concerns of the islanders and of their public representatives about the question of the continued provision of adequate ferry services between the mainland and the Aran Islands.
As the Deputy is aware, the islanders have been concerned for some years now about the quality of the ferry services to the islands. They have been pressing, through their public representatives, for the provision of a modern service more in keeping with their needs and with the tourism potential of the islands. It has been accepted by all concerned that the service provided by the CIE vessel, Naomh Éanna, was less than ideal as it approached the end of its useful life.
The question of replacing and upgrading the ferry service has been under consideration for some time. As the Deputy says, CIE, who are responsible for the provision of these services, submitted proposals for the replacement of the Naomh Éanna. The islanders themselves also submitted a report, prepared for them by marine consultants, which set out their ideas for a new improved service.
A proposal for consideration by the Government was formulated last year but, regrettably, it had to be put aside due to budgetary constraints. CIE were then asked to continue to provide the best possible service within the resources available to them. In the meantime, CIE have continued to maintain some services to the islands by arrangement with local ferry operators.
The failure of the Naomh Éanna to have its passenger certificate renewed in October 1988 added a new dimension to deciding on future transport arrangements to the islands. As a result, the board of CIE were requested by my predecessor to prepare a comprehensive report on the matter generally and on the various proposals put forward by all the interests concerned, including the private sector. That CIE report has been under examination in my Department.
Among the proposals, and some of these were received only in recent months, is the provision of a roll-on/roll-off service, involving two vessels. It is estimated that this option, and it remains an option, would cost substantially in excess of £5 million when account is taken of the necessary infrastructural developments and related equipment.
As substantial costs are involved it is essential that the matter be fully and carefully assessed from an economic and commercial point of view and also, I accept, from a social point of view.
I can tell the House this evening that my consideration of these proposals is almost finalised and that I will be making a submission shortly to Government on the whole question. The Deputy will be aware of the high costs involved in any of these kinds of projects and of the need to take this factor into account. It is necessary to take not only a sea view, as it were, of the question but to take into account the question of integrated transport to the island, that is, both air and sea transport combined and passenger and freight transport combined. I can assure the Deputy that I spent many of my younger days on the Naomh Éanna. I know the islands well, so there is no lack of goodwill on my part in the matter of reaching a solution to this problem. I have found the comments put to me by the Deputy and by other Deputies, including my colleague, the Minister for Energy, on previous occasions to be very helpful. I will have further news for the Deputy when I have had an opportunity to put the submission to Government.
The Dáil adjourned at 1.35 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 November 1989 until 10.30 a.m.