VIDEO: State must protect island life and culture, says President

President Michael D Higgins has stressed the need for the State to protect and sustain the life and culture of Ireland’s islands.

He was speaking yesterday during his first official visit to sun-drenched Cape Clear, eight miles off the Cork coast.

During his term as minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins had put in place a policy which provided support to Ireland’s 30-plus island communities, now represented today by the Irish Islands Federation.