Islanders reject ministerial move to resolve funding cuts row

English-speaking island communities say they are “not one bit happy” with a move by two government departments to temporarily avert funding cuts for development offices.

Representatives from nine offshore islands, who had to organise boat trips and bed nights in Dublin to make their case, said that a promise by two ministers today to extend funding for three months of next year was a “sop” and insufficient.

Some hours before the islanders’ press conference, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Joe McHugh announced that funding for non-Gaeltacht islands would continue to the end of March 2015.

He promised that in the meantime, both his department and the Department of Environment would examine ways of “supporting the continuation of these vital island structures and services”.

The islands have called on Minister for Environment Alan Kelly to provide core investment under a dedicated islands development programme which would secure vital services, such as educational training and childcare, waste management, management community buildings, festivals and tourism projects.

Inishbofin off Co Galway, Inishturk and Clare Island off Co Mayo, and the Cork islands of Bere, Sherkin, Dursey, Whiddy, Long and Heir are the main communities affected by the funding cut this December.

The island development programme put in place by a Fine Gael-led coalition government from the mid-1990s was discontinued in 2009.

A 1996 interdepartmental report on islands chaired by former Fine Gael junior minister Donal Carey had identified the Leader programme as the mechanism for supporting the programme.

Since 2009, English and Irish-speaking islands have availed of separate funding streams.

A current Department of Environment alignment of government-funded programmes under county boundaries affords no dedicated representation to island communities in certain areas, the islanders point out.

Islanders have been told that a new funding stream, known as Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), will be available from April 2015.

However, they say that the tendering process is so difficult that only “very big players” can apply.

Irish Islands Federation/ Comhdháíl Oileáín na hÉireann secretary Rhoda Twombly of Inishlyre off Co Mayo said that the total cost of €600,000 for the five community development offices now under threat was very good value.

“Community offices have become the heartbeat of the Islands,” West Cork island representative Tim O’Leary said.

“ If the funding is pulled on December 31st, these services will go into terminal decline, resulting in a hugely negative impact on island life,” Mr O’Leary said.

"The islands are key economic drivers in their respective regions and are a major draw for tourism in Ireland, " Michelle O'Mahoney of Clare island, Co Mayo said.

“They are of added importance as a symbol of and link to the promotion of the Wild Atlantic Way which relies on the island connection to create a complete

experience of the west,”she said. “The inhabited islands off the Irish coast are a unique reservoir of arts, culture, identity and heritage.”