A Government Minister yesterday made good his promise to treat all island communities equally regardless of size when he officially opened a €300,000 pier on an outpost which has a mere five inhabitants.
Three generations of the Gavin family will benefit from the new pier on Clynish Island, which lies about a mile from the mainland, near Rosmoney, along the inner rim of Clew Bay, Co Mayo.
The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Eamon O'Cuiv, received fulsome thanks from the extended Gavin family, who live in two houses on the island, for making the new facility possible.
Mr Patrick Gavin Snr, who will be 80 in November, and his wife, Teresa, occupy one dwelling. Nearby live their son, Patrick, his wife, Dorothy, and their 15- year-old son, Padraig.
Mr Gavin Snr told reporters he was particularly grateful for the new pier as he is confined to a wheelchair.
In order to get medical treatment on the mainland, he had to be carried over the rocky shore in a bucket attached to a tractor to the shoreline and onto a rowing boat which carried him to the motorboat which took him to the mainland.
The new pier, which was jointly funded by the National Development Plan (NDP) and Mayo County Council, means the motorboat can go right into the island.
"It's a huge improvement," Mr Gavin said. "Over the years, especially in winter, we were often marooned for up to a week."
The new pier means that Padraig Gavin, a third-year student at Rice College in Westport, is unlikely ever to miss classes.
The people of neighbouring small islands in Clew Bay came in a flotilla of small boats to join in the Clynish celebrations.
Mr O'Cuiv made it clear to the large gathering that he cherished all island communities, no matter what their size.
"One of the things I am proud of is that we are as much concerned about an island with one person living on it as we are about an island with 900 inhabitants," the Minister said. "Everyone is treated inclusively," he added.
The Minister recalled that in the 19th century there were 16 families on Clynish but this had now dwindled to one extended family who had "stuck it out against all the odds".