Why have the benefits of the rural electrification scheme been withheld from the most rural of the rural, namely, the people who live on islands off our coast? Why have they not been able to get electricity on the same terms as people who live in boreens or on the side of a mountain?

I do not accept that there has been any discrimination against the islands. On the contrary, specific schemes were introduced for the islands.

Is the Minister not aware that the cost per unit of electricity for people on many of the islands off our coast, and many of the Gaeltacht islands, is considerably higher than the cost per unit available to people who benefit under the rural electrification scheme?

This question relates to the subsidisation of the cost of installation rather than the cost per unit.