The Dáil Committee on Education and Skills has been told that a comprehensive and coordinated national island education policy is urgently required, to provide long-term sustainable education on Ireland’s offshore islands.
Tomás Mac Pháidín of the Galway and Roscommon Education Training Board, said that the absence of any clear policy or coordinating unit regarding island education for either primary or post-primary schooling has caused difficulty for island schools' development.
This was as it is not clear to offshore island schools' Boards of Management which person or section within the Department of Education and Skills has responsibility for these schools.
As a consequence, island schools' challenges fall between several stools within the system, as island schools are treated as similar to all other small schools.
There are problems because of the teaching allocation system which does not recognise the specific problems faced by small island schools.
Island schools also have difficulty in hiring and keeping suitable qualified teachers, as living and teaching on an island does not suit everyone.
Hiring suitably qualified staff, competent at speaking Irish and who are willing to teach on an island is extremely challenging, and can involve a high degree of turnover of teaching staff.
Island teachers have to pay the additional costs involved in commuting to and from the islands.
Island schools' budgets do not reflect the heavy additional costs of cargo transport, travel costs, school servicing and repairs and other additional costs.
Island schools are overly burdened by the additional travel costs when pupils attend events on the mainland, which is part and parcel of school life, as all events are "away" fixtures.
Micheal Ó Cualáin, principal of Coláiste Naomh Einne, Inis Mór, highlighted some of the difficulties regarding budgetary issues, recalling an incident last year where the school had to pay for a plumber whose call out charge included five hours spent on the quay side in Doolin, waiting for the tide to turn before he could travel out to the island.
The committee were also told that the lack of availability of additional school-related services through Irish generally, particularly with regard to the Islands, cause additional hardship and disadvantage.
These include mental health services, and medical services.
There are also problems regarding access.
The aggregate total cost of the required enhancement and allocations is estimated at €590,905 per year, across two Government Departments.
This investment does a lot more for the islands than the figure suggests.
The additional value to the islands and contribution to island life of this investment in the five island schools is immeasurable.
