I want to highlight a serious housing crisis, not alone on Oileán Chléire, one of our most culturally important and geographically vulnerable Gaeltacht islands, but also on all islands in west Cork and throughout Ireland. Cape Clear is facing a future on a knife edge, with homes in desperately short supply and the long-term viability for the community under real threat. Despite the presence of dozens of vacant houses, families cannot find a single home to rent or buy. This small island has become a stark microcosm of the wider national housing crisis. One of the most pressing issues is the mismatch between housing stock and housing availability. Many houses lie empty, unused for years, functioning as second homes or left derelict. Almost none of them is available for year-round families who want to live, work and raise their children on the island. This is contributing directly to the population decline and places vital services such as primary schools at risk. Research by UCC has made it clear that housing availability and affordability are central to sustaining life on all our offshore islands. Challenges such as old and deteriorating housing stock, the high cost of building or renovating on an island and the displacement of permanent residents due to second home ownership are creating a perfect storm. Despite this, the community is doing everything in its power to survive. Under the Government's ten-year strategy for offshore islands, it is currently working with homeowners to bring a small number of houses back into long-term use, including two homes being made available for affordable rental from this year. This is welcome but it is nowhere near enough to address the scale of the crisis. Cape Clear is fighting for its future. Without immediate and targeted accelerated refurbishment supports and incentives for year-round occupancy and stronger measures to tackle vacancy this unique Gaeltacht community risks losing its population, culture and way of life. I call on the Minister for housing and the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht to intervene urgently, with bespoke, island-specific housing measures that reflect the reality on the ground. If we lose communities like Cape Clear, we will lose irreplaceable pieces of our national heritage. Cape Clear, Sherkin Island, Bere Island, Whiddy Island, Dursey Island, Long Island - I can name them all in west Cork - all face the same crisis of a loss of population with no social housing programme. It is the same situation the length and breadth of the country. I also want to speak on behalf of my colleague in Independent Ireland, Councillor Noel Thomas who is a candidate in Galway West. I want to raise serious and growing concerns from the communities of Cregmore, Claregalway and Grange regarding the proposed solar farm and battery energy storage development. Councillor Thomas has met residents and stood with them at their protests outside county buildings and has listened carefully to the very real fear and uncertainty people are now living with. Families in this area are not opposed to renewable energy; far from it. However, they are opposed to being asked to shoulder all the risk while clear regulations and proper safety structures are still missing. At a meeting of Galway County Council, Councillor Thomas highlighted a critical point that there is still no robust regulatory framework governing large-scale battery-energy storage systems, despite their rapid expansion nationwide. These are industrial-scale units placed in close proximity to homes, schools and farms and the community is expected simply to trust that everything will be fine. Trust alone is not enough. Councillor Thomas reminded the council that three firefighters remain out of work following the battery fire in Claregalway. This was a relatively minor incident. The community asked the very reasonable question of what happens if a much large system goes on fire. Who carries the risk, who bears responsibility and where is the independent safety assessment that reassures the people who live beside these units every day? He has called for updated independent safety assessments, not reports produced by developers, but truly impartial evaluations that put community welfare first. He has also called for a strengthened planning framework, one that ensures that developments of this scale are properly regulated, monitored and located. Communities deserve certainty and safety and deserve to be protected, not sidelined. Councillor Noel Thomas has made it clear that renewable energy must proceed but it must do so responsibly and never at the cost of the safety or peace of mind of the people who live with the consequences.

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I could keep going.

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