an carraig ed1 2014

SEAI Funding-Better Energy Communities-Coming Soon

Welcome to An Charraig, Arranmore’s latest newsletter. Failte Romhat go dti an Charraig The newsletter is to promote the island activities with a focus on its survival and Future Job Opportunities. The newsletter will promote community events, stories and an update for islanders at home and abroad so that we can remain attached wher-ever we are. We hope it will be a one stop shop for people interested in Arran, its way of life and promoting its future.

The newsletter will include stories from abroad that may help the promotion of Arran and its longevity. It will link in with out, and out with in. Contact [email protected] or 00353 85 8555792 or fb Shirley at-syspro. Articles not credited are written by Shirley Gallagher

Issued on a quarterly basis and at present it is self funded by

Shirley Gallagher, Editor, Adrian Begley, WebMaster

Edition 1 Marta 2014

150 ATTEND PUBLIC

HEALTH CRISIS

MEETING

More on page 5

Inside this Issue Public Health Crisis

3

CoderDojo 4 Better Energy Communities

1

KickTrike 5 Gaeltacht Act 6 Foreshore plan-ning

7

Island Council 7 Clonmany see Red

8

Island Songbird 10 12 12

SEAI is seeking partnerships, e.g. public and private sectors, domes c and non‐domes c, commercial and not‐for‐profit, for the delivery of energy efficiency measures.

€13.5 million is available for pro jects in March 2014, Projects will be required to be implemented

and completed by Fri‐day 31st October 2014.

PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING

on Be er Energy Community Scheme

Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 4.00pm

Ionad an Chrois Bhealaigh

REDUCE COST, CARBON & Work with Energy Group to achieve like Aran Is. €1 million savings

buíochas speisial-ta ár gcairde i Inis Mór chun cuidiú

leis an BEC

An Charraig has a Global Distribu on‐LATEST

IE, UK, USA, ES, Ca, DE, SE, DK, FR, GR, AU

>2000 views to date

SysPro is submi ng a joint venture with CFFAM and Energy Wise Consultants on behalf of the island par cipants. Energy Wise Consultants are building on their knowledge from 2013 programme on the Aran Islands recently broadcasted on Earth Horizons ‘Eco Eye’ with Duncan Stewart. Working with local consultants to build on known issues working on building from our strength as a community. FUNDING Funding will be available from SEAI for 30—100% funding depending on what is being re‐quested and who for. For example, for people on fuel allowance, there is 100% funding available for certain houses for certain products. For public build‐ings, matched funding is required, therefore it is important to reach out to funding bodies to ensure our energy consump on can be re‐duced. To ensure grant aid, different types of buildings and uses will be required.

Continued from front page An Charraig

HELP with

Reducing

Bills

Now

Available

REQUIREMENTS People and organisa ons wishing to get involved will require a minimum of a year’s worth of energy data, preferably 3 years data. A le er can be wri en to the electricity supplier, and other suppliers on their behalf. A er the retrofit of the building, the energy data will be required for a further 3 years. This will show us, SEAI and Europe the changes that have tak‐en place as a result of posi ve ac on towards reduc‐ing energy costs. Community type projects which include domes c upgrades on Energy Poor homes As the SEAI are seeking innova ve and pioneering partnerships for delivery between e.g. the public and private sectors, domes c and non‐domes c sectors, commercial and not‐for‐profit organisa ons and en‐ergy suppliers, we believe we have a strong case to act as a showcase for other communi es. BEC 2013 PROJECTS can be downloaded here. 2013 Area Based Programme can be downloaded here. WHAT CAN BE GRANT AIDED?

• Insula on

• Solar Panel

Heat/PhotoVoltaic

• Transport

• Heat Pump

• Wind Turbine

• Storage

See more at: h p://

www.seai.ie/Grants/Be er_Energy_Communi es/

To register your interest in The Arainn Mhor Be er Energy Com‐muni es 2014 Programme please contact Shirley by or email [email protected] or a end the public informa on mee ng at

Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 4.00pm

Ionad an Chrois Bhealaigh

Friends of the Earth (www.foe.ie) have began a European wide project examining the challenges in crea ng Community Power.

Find out more at

www.communitypower.eu

An Charraig

Island Fights Back As Public Health Nurse Job Saved By Local Action Group The cartoon from Donegal Democrat was created by islander Chris Ward in the 1980’s regarding the issue with the delay in the ferry pier, a ferry, ‘the Misneach’ was purchased in 1979. However on Tuesday 28th January, the HSE has reversed its decision to replace the public health service Nurse Susan Garvey on the island, a loss of service which was due to come into effect on Friday 31st Jan. Local TD's Thomas Pringle (Ind) and Pearse Doherty (SF) visited the island on Monday morning the 27th, as well as RTE’s Eileen Magner who interviewed islanders Kathleen Boyle, Margaret Sweeney and Jerry Early (RTE player Six-One News Mon 27th Jan 2014 at 32.50 minutes). An action group was set up, chaired by Jerry Early, chairman of Comharchumann Oileán Árainn Mhór, one of the is-land's co-ops, to highlight concern for the welfare of the islands inhabitants who were strongly op-posed to the HSE's initial decision. Speaking after the Saturday meeting, Jerry Early said that ‘the strength of numbers at this evenings meeting was a strong indication of the opposition there is of the HSE's plans and the campaign to fight the loss would be stepped up. Arranmore Island has had this service since 1907 and it has been and remains vital to the people of the island. We will in no way accept a reduction in this service and we plan to fight tooth and nail to save our current service. This turnout we have seen shows how im-portant the service is both to young children and the elderly, who will suffer if this plan goes ahead as will many others including people in our community with physical disabilities and mental health issues. The island population can swell to over 1500 at certain times of the year and to not have an adequate healthcare support for the island is simply not acceptable.’ The online campaign of support indicated the community spread far and wide with its face-book page ‘Save Our Public Health Nurse Service’ with 1023 likes within 36 hours of setup.

The Public Health Nurse works mainly with the youth, the elderly and the long term/chronic illnesses in a specific region. The ageing island’s population is close to 40% in comparison to the national average of 11.8% and many of the elderly are in frequent contact with the Public Health Nurse.

Adrian Begley

Reports

Ta si ag teacht agus

nil si ag imeacht

She is coming and

she is not going

Ta si ag fanacht!

‘She’s staying!

on the need for high speed broadband for rural areas & specifically islands, h p://www.engage‐interreg.eu Clip h p://youtu.be/neWlMu15taQ The public authori es par‐cipa ng in the project

developed a declara on to affirm commitment to es‐tablishing a digital infra‐

LATEST ON BROAD-BAND Séamus Ó Cnáimhsí, Bain‐isteoir Chomharchumann Forbartha agus Fostaíochta Árainn Mhór, Seamus Bon‐ner, CFFAM supports high speed RuralBroadband as a result of losing 5 residents due to the lack of adequate facili es on the island. He recently recorded an inter‐view for ENGAGE‐Interreg

structure in Rural Eu‐rope that meets the ambi ons and needs of its ci zens, businesses, and public authori es. If you share our vision for the digital future of all of European Union, we invite you to give us your support. Sign up online ‐ EN‐GAGE Manifesto

Happy Birthday to Coder Dojo Árainn Mhór by Séamus Ó Cnáimhsí

An Charraig

Support Initiative by writing letter of support

CoderDojo Árainn Mhór passed its second birthday in January, being one of the first dojos set up in the country. The CoderDojo movement has since spread far and wide and has branches around the world. The dojo is a free, informal coding club which meets every Saturday in Ionad an Chrois Bhealaigh from 1pm to 3pm where children aged 7 and upwards learn about applications, coding, scripting, hardware, software, interfaces and other fun stuff.

We have around 12-14 regulars and they have been learning Scratch, HTML, Python, Raspberry Pi, UNIX terminal commands and working with hardware. If you would like to give it a try come along at 1pm on a Sat-urday.

We are always looking for mentors who can spare an hour or two to help out, there are quite a few island techies about so call in for a spell, any help would be appreciated.

Also if there are any companies or individuals who would like to sponsor some equipment such as Raspberry Pi Leap Mo on or some USB lanyards for the children please get in touch!

Telephone 07495 20024.

Seamus Bonner/Séamus Ó Cnáimhsí, Bainisteoir Chomhar‐chumann Forbartha agus Fostaíochta Árainn Mhór,

Bhí Seamus ag labhairt faoi go bhfuil easpa seirbhís leathan bhanda sásúil ag cur isteach go mór ar dheiseanna fostaíochta ar an Oileán.

RnG Link h p://www.rte.ie/radio/u ls/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!type=radio&rii=17%3A20514215%3A1748%3A28%2D01%2D2014%3A

Island gets a KickStart By Shirley Gallagher

An Charraig

The German Con-stin patented KickTrike was taken on a tour of Ire-land in January. It travelled accompanied by Mr Axel Pohle from Cork to Dublin Airport and onto Howth. In Howth Yacht Club it was the highlight of the c o n f e r e n c e , e n t i t l e d ‘Ammunition for Suc-cess’, which was hosted by Tangible Ireland on Thursday 9th January 2014. There were 13 speakers on a broad range of topics including Nigerian oil, Historical Irish Gun running and the energy project, ‘An Island Initia-t i v e ’ . Dr Gallagher explained SMILEGOV, an Intelligent Energy Europe funded project. SMILEGOV is working together with many islands including Arranmore Island (Oilean Arainn Mhor) to enable islands to reach the Europe-an Union’s 20:20 vi-sion. 20:20 means reducing carbon emissions, increas-ing renewable energies by 2 0 % b y t h e y e a r 2020. SMILEGOV is an acronym for Smarter Mul-ti Level Governance and brings all stakeholders around the table to envisage the 20:20 objective, politi-cians at local, regional, national and European lev-el, investors, inventors and communities. This pro-vides a scale not seen be-fore on islands ranging from Malta, Sicily and of c o u r s e A r r a n m o r e . Dr Shirley Gallagher pre-sented the Island Initiative big picture vision and was followed by an exciting enterprise using a battery pack sys tem ca l led GreenPack and electric vehicles. Mr Axel Pohle, a

German designer, presented the Kicktrike, highlighting the ease of use by demonstrating its capability. Many were most impressed at the ease of use as well as GreenPack battery replacement and the clean lines and robust feel of t h e K i c k T r i k e . There was time to check out the view at Howth summit before travelling cross coun-try to Ardee, Co Louth before arriving in Burtonport, Co Donegal. There was a contin-gent (20 delegates) of Done-gal County Council, the local authority waiting and many test-drove the KickTrike prior to taking the ferry onto the island. Island leaders were waiting to trial the electric vehicle with many being du-bious about its ability to man-age the hills. Arranmore has a number of hills which are not high but have steep gradi-ents ranging from 40-65%. Whilst they proved challenging and needed some assistance from Axel, the KickTrike is after all a scoot-er, it was capable of both hills tested including the school and Jimmy Wards. In total, 30 islanders tried the Kick-Trike for ease of use. There was excitement in the meeting which increased significantly when handling the vehi-

cle. There were many ques-tions; the most frequent was ‘how much is it?’ followed by ‘how far can it go?’, ‘how long does the battery last?’ ‘Where can I get one?’ The term ‘boys and their toys’ was used fre-q u e n t l y ! The prototype is well made, sturdy and strong, the large standing board allows the user to use it like a snow board and yet it is safe and comfortable to use on roads. During the test drive it sustained 30kph from the top of the school brae (hill) until the base of Jimmy Wards; this confirms the manufacturers guide in the brochure. Island cars gener-ally drive at this pace as the roads are narrow and there are many children, cyclists and walkers on the road. Many were surprised that the KickTrike could be compacted so that it can fit into most cars. The demonstration concluded with many disappointed with not having seen it. The feasibility of building KickTrikes in Ireland is being examined and target-ed. The return trip to Cork brought the KickTrike to a final demonstration for a

Check out Group

SUSTAINABLE islands on

facebook/Linkedin

Procurement Manager of a large multinational company based in Galway. Investors are required for the next stage in the Kick-Trike’s life and it is envisaged that ß testing a bank of Kick-Trikes on the island of Ar-ranmore will provide a platform for other islands to follow suit providing a beacon for the rest of the world in our push towards a lean, green economy.

FUNDING TO KICKSTART THE KICKTRIKE FUND WAS REFUSED BY DONEGAL COUNTY COUNCIL REPRE-SENTATIVES WHEN DEVEL-OPMENT FUND INITIATIVE APPLICATION WAS TURNED DOWN ON 3RD MARCH 2014.

Shínigh an tUachtarán Acht na Gael‐

tachta 2012 ar an 25 Iúil 2012. Faoi

Acht na Gaeltachta 2012, beidh leas‐

uithe a ndéanamh ar an mhiniú a bhe‐

as ann feasta don Ghaeltacht agus

beidh leasuithe a gcur i bhfeidhm i

dtaca le struchtúr agus feidhmeanna

Údarás na Gaeltachta. Beidh an Ghael‐

tacht bunaithe ar chritéir theageolaío‐

cha seachas ar limistéir thíreolaíocha

mar a bhí go d seo. Cialaíonn seo go

mbeidh stádas Gaeltachta bunaithe ar

an teanga atá in údáid sa phobal. Go

d seo bhí stádas Gaeltachta

bunaithe ar ceantair nó teorainn

faoi leith. Beidh an phleanáil teanga

ag leibhéal an phobail lárnach má tá

ceantair atá aitheantas Gaeltachta

acu faoi láthair ag iarraidh an stádas

Gaeltachta atá acu a chosaint. Beidh

ar an phobal plean teanga a ullmhú

agus é a chur faoi bhráid an Aire. Má

ghlactar leis an phlean, beidh dul

chun cinn an pobail i dtaca leis na

spriocanna teanga a bheas ann a

mheas ag an Aire Tugann Acht na

Gaeltachta 2012 feidhm reachtúil

don Údarás I dtaca le cur i bhfeidhm

na Straitéise 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge

2010‐2030 sa Ghaeltacht. Go d seo,

tá sé curtha in iúl ag beagnach leath

den phobal ar an oileán gur mhian

leo bheith páirteach sa phróiseas

pleanála teanga.

mi ed to the Minister for approval.

Following the acceptance by the

Minister of the plan the progress of

the community in rela on to lan‐

guage goals will be assessed. Údarás

na Gaeltachta, is the statutory agen‐

cy for the implementa on of the 20

Year Strategy for the Irish language

in the Gaeltacht 2010‐2030 . To

date, almost half of island residents

have expressed an interest in par c‐

ipa ng in the language planning

process.

The Gaeltacht Act 2012 was

signed by the President on 25 July 2012.

In accordance with the Gaeltacht Act

2012, the future boundaries of the Gael‐

tacht will no longer be determined by

geographical areas, but by the language

of use of the community. Amendments

will also be made in terms of the struc‐

ture and func ons of Údarás na Gael‐

tachta. In the future , language planning

at community level will be vital in areas

where the community wish to retain the

current Gaeltacht status of the island.

According to the Gaeltacht Act, a lan‐

guage plan must be prepared and sub‐

An Charraig

GET IN CONTACT

AND WATCH THIS

SPACE

Acht na Gaeltachta 2012 by Nóirín Uí Mhaoldomhnaigh

www.sustainableislands.eu An Intelligent Energy Europe Ini ‐a ve

Services provided by this new island based business includes both commercial and domes c cleaning and power washing

Please call Thomas

M: 0878608776.

The Gaeltacht Act 2012 by Nóirín Uí Mhaoldomhnaigh

Foreshore Development Planning Permission - by Nóirín Uí Mhaoldomhnaigh

Island Council based on Muin r It is believed it will unite the community in a spirit of community service, neigh‐bourliness and self reliance in working for the common good. It will promote wel‐fare through an organisa on that is non party poli cal and non sec onal. The coun‐

James O'Neill, Muin r na Tire and John Walsh, Chairman of Irish Islands Federa on/Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann from Bere Island are coming to the island to share their knowledge and experience of crea ng community coun‐cils. This is a result of SMILE‐GOV ini a ve, that Arainn is considering se ng up an

cil will foster a sense of re‐sponsibility to the needs and problems of the local com‐munity and to devise pro‐grammes of ac on and de‐velopment par cularly those based on co‐opera on. Both Munster men, James and John will answer any queries and ex‐plore the op ons. John will share his experience from

SAVE THE DATE 29th MARCH 2014 ISLAND COUNCIL DISCUSSION

ISLAND COUNCIL

An Charraig

a place

we can

live,

work and

play

together

DCC Planning file no 13/51531

A Natura Impact Statement is now required by Donegal Co Co to as‐sess the impact the proposed development of the shorefront at Lea‐bgarrow may have on the area. Any proposal that may impact on a Special Protec on Area (SPA) or Special Area of Conserva on (SAC) must be subject to a screening process to see whether an Appropriate Assessment is required. If an impact on an SPA or SAC cannot be ruled out at screening stage then an Appropriate Assessment must be carried out. These assess‐ments are wri en up and provided to a planning authority as a Natu‐ra Impact Statement.

It is proposed that the

island council will be based

on Muntir na Tire council

concept (www.muintir.ie).

This movement that was set

up in 1937, it was designed

to raise the standard of living

of rural Ireland in social,

economic, cultural and rec-

reational based on participa-

tion of people themselves to

promote the welfare of their

own community.

Objectives of Council 1. To unite Irish communities in a spirit of community

service, neighbourliness and self reliance in working for the common good.

2. To promote the welfare of the Irish people through an organisation that is non party political and non sectional.

3. To foster a sense of responsibility to the needs and prob-lems of the local community and to devise programmes of action and development particularly those based on co

Bere Island, who have ran an elected island council since 2004.

Further Infor‐ma on

iwww.muintir.ie www.bereisland.net

The Lithuanian vessel, the Margaris (KL‐855) entered Irish waters approx. 60 nau cal miles (nm) south of Cork. She is heading WSW to area outside the Irish 200nm limit where Norwegian fleet are currently ac ve in the Blue Whi ng fishery. Lithuania have a quota for 120 tonnes Mackerel in this area (ICES V, VII, VIIa,b,d,e) along with a quota swap giving them 5000 tonnes of Blue Whi ng in ICES XI‐XIV. . Contacts The Skipper for News and Updates

SuperTrawler-Coming to a Coastline near YOU!

The vacancy for cleaner/caretaker is be‐ing re‐adver sed as there were no appli‐ca ons for the posi on. Hours of work will include evenings and weekends. Up to 25 hours per week. Rate of pay: up to €15.00 per hour for applicant with rele‐

BAILE SAOIRE STAFF VACANCY

An Charraig

Clodagh Barry raises funds riding from Arainn to Malin

RED ISLANDER BRINGS HOME GOLD FOR CLON-

Congratula ons to Edward Mary Eddie ‘RED’ Gal‐lagher on winning the World Championship TugoWar with Clonmany in Castlebar, Co Mayo in February 2013

Red said ‘it’s nice to come home with this lot!!! had the me of my life at the world championships, it will stay with me forever’.

WELCOME PARTY In Killeen's on EASTER Monday

To Edward and Clonmany B Team from 2pm

Edward Gallagher worked hard training for the last number of months along with his Clon‐many teammates to achieve a World class perfomance in in‐door tugowar.

Page 8

An Charraig

Photo Restoration By Moira O’Brien

Photographs often become damaged with age (fading, spots, etc) or with handling (tears, scratches, stains etc) and most of these problems can be overcome by scanning the photo and digitally recon-structing the image to produce a new enhanced print.

Photograph © 1930 Mickey Chait Ward, na Thuarrai with Nappy Kelly on their engagement day at her house,

Upper Leabgarrow. Patsy and Maureen Mc Glanaghey live there now.

This is a badly damaged photo taken from another photo with tears, creases and general degrada-tion of the surface of the photo.

The most important part of the photo are the faces and that was the hardest part because of the se-vere damage. The creases and tears are relatively easy to reconstruct though it is time consuming. The faces however are a problem as there is a lack of information in the photo to determine what they should look like, so great care has to be taken in redrawing the features. From a photo taken 40 years later I was able to get the shape and main details of the faces.

Moira O’ Brien has been taking photographs for some 45 years having started with a box Brownie camera in the late 1950's. On the introduction of digital photography, it became a passion. Moira has been a professional photographer since 2003.

Prices for start from €25 for a simple restoration including the restored print together with an jpeg electronic copy plus post and packaging.

In order to give an estimate of cost I need to see a copy of the photo from which I can give a guide price. Please contact for further information by

E: [email protected] M: 087 621 4532 W: www.moiraobrien.com

Facebook page Moirajane Twitter MOBPhoto

Pan Celtic is a festival between the six celt-ic nations of Brittany, Manx, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland. The National competition is in Carlow. Where one song will be chosen to represent Ireland which will then compete in the International final on the Thursday after Holy Week in the Millennium Forum, Derry.

Brighdin Carr first won the Pan Celtic with ‘Seolfaidh mé abhaile’ in 2006. Interest-ingly, Frances Boyle (Dungloe) was drafted in to play the bodhrán, her Mother is from also from Arran Bina (Charlie Mickey) Gallagher. Her new song is written about the island ‘Ar an Oileain’.

In her own words by Brighdin Carr My dance and drama club, the Blue Ribbon Arts Club was founded after Nikki died as a coping mechanism for the kids in the school, I set it up as an affordable hobby where kids could explore and find their niche. Our ethos is 'team' which is why 'Foireann Brí' is suitable for our Pan Celtic group, which comprises of Blue Ribbon

adults. Co-operative games and mixing with one another is first priority, our kids and families tend to be all about inclusion, acceptance and teamwork. This means that I've been lucky, getting to work with amazing talented children, and now lately, adults too, who not only sound and look good, but have a great camaraderie - they all look out for one another, and motivate each other to perform well.

There was a documentary on BBC World as a result of winning the competition. We played live on Ar-dán on RTE in 2006. We have sang and danced our way from Camp Gleo, Arranmore to Harringay, London, to Paris Eurodisney and Irish pubs there, to San Remo Italy in Global Education Festival theatre show We have danced in Pineapple London, Helix, Dublin and regularly perform at Junction one, Bel-fast, but the highlight is always Arranmore in the Summer. I hadn't been back for 16 years since my Gran moved to Letterkenny after John's death, but my son was relentless in his desire to see the place I was always talking about. He wanted to explore my cove on Chapel Strand, and see for himself the rock in the middle of the sea which I called my island, . Blue Ribbon Arts has produced 6 CDs for charity and this Christmas, featured on Shaun Doc's Christ-mas Eve show with my song 'Just Believe'

I was a full time teacher who took a career break to write the music programme for national schools, 'Ready to Rock' , pub-lished by CJ Fallon, a kind of 'Music for Dummies' programme of which I am really proud. There's lots of local children singing on the cds involved, a

good mix of Irish and English material, and more importantly, it was an opportunity to write original material aimed for children.

Speaking of family, my mum is Kathleen Greene, daughter of Mickey Greene and Bridget Kelly. There were eight in her family, Hughie, Patrick, Mick, Eddie, John, Kathleen, Madge and Annie.

Island Song Bird, Brighdin Carr with 'Foireann Brí' sings ‘Ar an Oileain’ in National Champion-

An Charraig

Arranmore fisherman Neily Kavanagh explaining the nature o f t h e i s l a n d s w a t e r s t o I a n M a c K i n n o n (photo. fieryspirits.com)

A meeting of Donegals island fishermen was held on Sunday (23rd Feb) on Arranmore Island to discuss sus-tainability of the industry and ideas for moving for-ward in the sector. The meeting came in the wake of a recent report by the Joint Sub-Committee on Fisheries which looked at promoting sustainable rural coastal and island communities.

The meeting which seen up to 50 fishermen in attend-ance from different Donegal islands was called by an action group made up of people who work in the in-dustry which had formed several years ago following a ban on salmon fishing that had a detrimental effect on the coastal communities of Donegal.

Speaking following the meeting, spokesperson for the group and Arranmore Islander Jerry Early said he was very heartened by both todays meeting and the report by the Joint Sub-Committee on Fisheries. “Todays turnout at the meeting just goes to show the passion with which the fishing communities on Donegals islands have for what is not only their

industry but their way of life. Their support to protect it and indeed see it grow shows that we can have great hope for the future and the content of the recent report by the Joint Sub-Committee also gives us great hope for the future” Mr Early said.

The meeting, held in Ionad an Chrois Bhealaigh and which went through the contents of the report seen much positive interaction from those attending and the topics discussed ranged from making the industry sus-

tainable to safety. The meeting also discussed ways of moving forward and from that it was decided that the group would form to become an organisation so that Donegals native is-landers and people living on the islands who had an interest in the fishing industry could join together and work for their common goal. “Following on from the report we are very pos-itive that the government and the EU have an interest in seeing our communities survive now” Mr Early said. “The ban on salmon fishing has had a huge and negative effect on the is-lands communities and has caused both job losses and the forced emigration of our youth in search of work who in the past would have stayed at home and made a living from fish-ing.

“It means a lot to us that the report acknowledges that the deci-sions made in the past by our governments in relation to fish-ing have had a detrimental effect on Donegals islands and we appreciate the fact that the authors of the report seem willing to help us re-bulid our communities once more.

“The islands fishermen have always known the importance of how marine protection and sustainability of our industry go hand in hand and we are glad that the report also acknowledg-es that our community organising within itself to make that sustainability happen is the way forward. The report has come from the continued efforts of those in our community who have fought long and hard for several years for the government to recognise us and our requirements for survival. It has been a long hard road of meetings, both at local, national and Europe-an level. It has involved many people, not just the fishermen, but supporters within our communities and everyone from those who made space available to us to have meetings and those who simply showed up to make tea and show support. But despite many knock backs and dark days everyone stuck with it and we now see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Concluding, speaking of the new organisation called 'Donegal Islands Marine Resource Organisation' (DIMRO) Mr Early said “DIMRO, the organisation of Donegals island fishermen we have formed, will continue on now to build our industry back up and continue to fight for the rights of our fishermen, their families and communities and we hope that other fishing communities will follow suit and if so we really look forward to engaging with them also and building an even bigger sup-port base for the fishing industry and ensuring the sustainabil-ity of that industry and our marine resources.”

Donegals Island Fishermen Moving Forward-Le Cheile By Adrian Begley

An Charraig

The island of Arranmore in Co Donegal has a programme of measures to ensure that it can become independent of imported energy, create and safeguard jobs on the island and keep money in the island economy.

The IEE funded project Smarter Multi Level Gov-ernance (SMILEGOV) is examining the major barri-ers to creating a low carbon society on islands. It is bringing together the various stakeholders and the multilevels of governance required to achieve the EU target of 20% reduction in Carbon and 20% in-crease in renewable energies by the year 2020, ie less than 6 years from now. The crux of the project is to engage all stakeholders including islanders to agree to the Pact of Islands. The pact asks for com-mitment to examine and agree an island energy ac-tion plan within 12 months of signing the document. The project will showcase 50 projects during its lifetime; we want to be one of those 50.

Points of Interests

Information Gathering. Dr Shirley Gallagher has recently attended the Power Summit, CEF hosted Energy Seminar, Erasmus+ European Educational Funding, Education and the inspiring talk by Alastair McIntosh "Spiritual Resilience and Com-munity Empowerment". Where he spoke on climate change being a major threat to planetary wellbeing and how best to strengthen our natural and human ecologies to be able to bounce back from unex-pected knocks. Alastair McIntosh weaved his story based on his work in Scotland with both rural land reform and urban regeneration, forming the Isle of Eigg Trust and GalGael in Govan, Glasgow.

We have engaged with Enterprise Ireland, Donegal County Council, Leargas, Templederry Community Wind Farm, Friends of the Earth, FEASTA, Envi-ronmental Pillar, SECAD, Muintir na Tire, our par-ish priest Fr Pat Ward and various islanders around the world and a number of private companies to drive the programme to the next phase.

The format of the local authorities is changing along with the format of funding for LEADER and social inclusion projects. These multi million funds will now be managed by the Local Community Develop-ment Committee (LCDC). It is expected that the LCDC will consist of 15 people, 8 will be from the environmental, community and voluntary sector, 2 will be elected county councillor representatives. These will be responsible for the management of funds on a county level and will come into being

after the local elections in May.

We have a strategy to work with the media, including hopeful-ly a year long fly on the wall documentary with TV3, close c o n t a c t w i t h I r i s h R a d i o I n t e r n a t i o n a l (www.irishradiointernational.com) and Rosses Radio http://www.rossesradio.com/ and our blogspot An Charraig ) as well as our facebook groups Sustainable Islands and Linkedin Sustainable Islands as well as Twitter @shirleyatsyspro. The hashtag is #cyclisle. There will be a series of academic papers based on the journey culminating in a book. An international TEDx conference with a theme of Sustainable Islands will take place during Earagil Arts Festival in 2015 (www.ted.com).

There have been several presentations by Shirley Gallagher, on the topic of island regeneration in the last year including the following

The Irish and in particular the Islands have a story telling tradi-tion, we are using our natural talents and working with others to gain a solution to the uncertainty that awaits the world.

We have arranged a meeting with respect to applying for SEAI Better Energy Communities (BEC) fund for Wednesday 5th March 2014 at 4pm at Ionad an Chrois Bhealaigh. We hope to incorporate public bodies including the local authority, the cooperatives, HSE, schools and the church along with fuel poor and private homes in the application. We are considering an application across the parish and have invited mainlanders to the meeting as well in what we hope is a joint venture. We are interested in employing locals should we receive grant aid. This journey has been made easier as a result of information gathered from Inis Mor-maith leat. www.sustainableislands.eu

Date Place In Con-junction with

Title

March 2013 Mullingar Bioregions in Ireland-WCD

An Island Perspective

April 2013 Mullingar Bioregions in Ireland-WCD

An Island Perspective for Stakeholders

September 2013

National Parliament, Aland

IEE-SMILE-GOV

Future Job opportunities in Arainn mhor

November 2013

Arranmore Island, Co Donegal

IEE-SMILE-GOV

Future Job opportunities in Arainn mhor

November 2013

London Tangible Ireland

Fishing for a Future

December 2013

Cork TEDx Cork Women

Freedom from Conformity

Promo Video

http://youtu.be/nmRJPSnrdPE

January 2014

Howth Tangible Ireland

Arainn Mhor, An Island Initiative

SMILEGOV UPDATE BY SHIRLEY GALLGHER

An Charraig

an carraig ed1 2014

Social Media

funding funding

energy group

energy consump

funding available

energy wise consultants

energy community scheme

island fights

island activities