Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 April 2023
188. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development to provide her response to the recommendation in the UCC report Housing and Sustaining Communities on the west Cork Islands to support young families on the islands through services and infrastructure, including free ferries where access to schooling is not available on the islands; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18608/23]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, my Department is currently finalising a new National Islands Policy. This policy will set out the Government's vision for supporting and sustaining our island communities.
Officials from my Department have engaged with the authors of the report concerned in order to discuss its findings. The report’s recommendations are now being considered by my Department in the context of the forthcoming National Islands Policy, in consultation with various stakeholders across Government Departments and State bodies, including the Department of Education, as responsibility for school transport schemes is within the remit of that Department.
