Meeting of the Parliament 21 May 2025
Yes, indeed. After many years of trying to get help from Government, some is now forthcoming; however, it is late, and the replacement needs to happen a bit faster than is currently the case. It is not one ferry, but the whole fleet, that needs to be replaced to bring it up to date. For example, it is not acceptable that people with disabilities are not able to access the ferry.
We should ensure that we are never in that position again. Our islands have much to offer—they provide the green energy that we need, and when we perfect wave and tidal energy technology, that potential will be even greater. At the heart of that, we have the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. I should also add that Heriot-Watt University has sent members a briefing about its work and its concerns about the future, given the funding pressures on further and higher education.
Basically, all of that is crucial to the wellbeing not only of our islands but our whole country. We need to provide homes for young people to live in, because young islanders are being forced out of their communities due to the lack of affordable housing. Although I welcome initiatives such as the key housing fund, it does not help those young people who are already there. People with capital can come in and outbid them, which means that they can no longer stay on the island.
In health and in local government, we have the distant island allowance for workers, but colleges do not get that as part of their funding package. Paying such an allowance would make them even more financially precarious, but not paying it means that college staff are worse off than their mainland counterparts.
I could go on. The Scottish Government could, and should, take steps to deal with those issues. I urge it to do so, and to empower our island communities.
I move amendment S6M-17598.1, to leave out from first “welcomes” to end and insert:
“notes the first ever national islands plan; believes that much more needs to be done to support island communities; recognises that depopulation is a major issue impacting the islands and that not enough work has been undertaken to counteract this; notes that the Scottish Government has not used the powers available to it to ‘island proof’ policy, resulting in the need to shelve policies such as Highly Protected Marine Areas, the ban on wood burning stoves, and the island bonds plans; believes that the Scottish Government-caused ferry fiasco has had a disastrous effect on the economy, wellbeing and future of many islands; further believes that a new procurement plan that ensures the timely replacement of all ferries is vital; recognises that islanders are best placed to make the decisions affecting their communities, and calls, therefore, on the Scottish Government to empower island communities and ensure that there is proper local representation on ferry boards for CalMac and CMAL.”
15:43Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.