Vol. 531 No. 1
24 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the number of islands offshore; the number and location of those inhabited; the number of those not inhabited; the number of those in both public and private ownership; if she can give an assurance that uninhabited islands will be protected and used in a way best suited to meeting ongoing cultural and heritage needs and requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4911/01]
I regret to inform the Deputy that the number of offshore Islands is unknown to the Department, to the Central Statistics Office or to the Ordnance Survey Office. Of course the question encompasses both islands such as Inis Mór, Blaskets, Rock Islands such as Skellig Mór and the Skerd Rocks. As one can imagine, the actual number could be very large. In this regard, I can address the question only on the basis of the number of islands dealt with in my Department.
While there have been exceptions, in general, only islands satisfying the following criteria can normally be considered for the purposes of assistance from the islands division of the Department: islands lacking a bridge connecting them to the mainland; islands cut off from the mainland daily by the tide; islands which are currently permanently inhabited; and islands which are not in private ownership.
Since responsibility for the islands was transferred from the Department of the Taoiseach in 1997, the islands that have received assistance from the Department are identified in Annex 1.
