A local group has called on the Government to introduce a tax-free status for 11 non-Gaeltacht islands off the Co Mayo coast in order to encourage industrial development and stem population decline.
Donal O'Shea, chairman of the Mayo Islands Committee, says the incentive is needed to create jobs to match the qualifications of young islanders who are in second and third-level education.
He called for the development of small to medium environmentally friendly enterprises to employ graduates.
"But how does one convince a company on the mainland to move to an island with all the disadvantages of access, weather and extra costs?
"I think the key here is to make the islands tax-free centres so as to give industrialists the incentive to set up on the islands," Mr O'Shea said.
A study of the 11 islands, commissioned by the committee, which was published last month shows the population is just over 300, compared to more than twice that figure just over a century ago.
On Inishbiggle Island, between Achill and the mainland, the current population is 32, mostly elderly, residents.
This represents just 15 per cent of the island population in the late 1800s.
Earlier this year, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, established a €250,000 grant fund for enterprise for the non-Gaeltacht islands.
A tax-free incentive to go with this would be an excellent incentive, Mr O'Shea said.