`I heard terrible screams and shouts in the darkness and knew that something had happened to our companions . . . Later there was further terrible screams, and I thought we were lost ourselves as we made no headway. For 12 hours we continued to row and at last, when we abandoned all hope, a wave threw us up safe on Boffin beach."

When Inisbofin, Co Galway, remembers this and other accounts of the Cleggan disaster in which 25 fishermen perished in 1927, the sadness is invariably tinged with a small sense of security. Never again, it seems, can the elements claim so many lives.

After this week's fire in which three elderly sisters died in a house near the harbour, the Atlantic - which also took the lives of two young US students 23 years ago - no longer represents the greatest danger. The full impact of that reality was just beginning to sink in on Inisbofin on Thursday evening. Even as a sea mist enveloped the community awaiting the removal ceremony, news filtered through that a 25-yearold waiter had been charged with manslaughter and arson at Mrs Eileen Coyne's home.

"People in An Cheathru Rua must have felt like this when that schoolgirl was found dead," one Connemara woman with strong Inisbofin links said after the Mass for Eileen Coyne (82), Brigid McFadden (76) and Margaret Concannon (72). She was referring to the case of 17-year-old Siobhan Hynes, found dead on Tismeain strand last December. "You think these things happen in cities, not where we are among the fulmars and the fairies out here."

Since a seventh century argument within the church over the style of monks' haircuts and the precise date for Easter put Inisbofin on the map, the north Connemara island has been witness to much controversy. Granuaile's ruined fortifications, the barracks built after Cromwell subjugated one of the last resisting outposts, and the castle built by pirate Bosco are evidence of an often violent and turbulent past.

Located eight miles off the north Connemara coast, Inisbofin had its harsh experience of the Famine. Like so many coastal communities, lack of suitable fishing gear prevented it from living adequately off the sea.

Latterly a centre for a developing sunfish or basking shark industry, its fleet lost confidence and never quite recovered from the Cleggan drownings. However, proximity to the coast on a relatively sheltered stretch of water has allowed the growth of other economic opportunities, such as tourism. The 200strong community can treble during summer months.

Named after the apocryphal white cow, said to have been driven by a woman who struck it and turned it into stone, Inisbofin has not always been in Co Galway. Ironically, it was on the services issue that a vote was held four years ago to transfer allegiance to Mayo. "We are orphans. We want to return to Mother Mayo," a statement issued by 38 islanders read in March 1995.

JOANNE Elliott, then editor of the Inisbofin Enquirer, had proposed the motion on the basis that the population was being neglected. As the only non-Gaeltacht island in Galway, it was not benefiting from the subsidies extended to the Aran islands to the south. It was also casting envious eyes at Inishturk and Clare Island to the north, believing the communities on these islands were faring far better under the watchful eye of the local authority in Mayo.

It wasn't as if there had not been a precedent. The island had only been in Galway for the previous century and a bit. Inisbofin was in the Mayo barony of Murrisk until - in the words of one prominent islander - "some fool handed us over to the barony of Ballynahinch" in 1873.

Ms Elliott was one of those voicing criticism this week of the inadequate fire-fighting provision on the island, after some years of lobbying. She believed that at least two of the three women caught in the fire in Middlequarter could have been saved if there had been adequate equipment which the islanders had been trained to use.

Galway County Council has confirmed it had received submissions and that a recommendation for basic equipment had been made by senior fire officers. However, the Galway county chief fire officer, Mr John O'Shaughnessy, said that from evidence received by his staff early on Tuesday morning there might have been little that anyone could do to save the three women, even if a fire service or equipment was available.

A review of local authority fire cover has been ordered by the Islands Minister, Eamon O Cuiv, who attended the funeral of two of the three women yesterday. Since his appointment as first dedicated minister with island responsibility, Mr O Cuiv has been working steadily to improve the lot of some 28 offshore communities. Transport has been a priority, and he has made no secret of his wish to provide air links, similar to that provided by Aer Arann for Galway Bay. Meanwhile, mains electricity has been provided by the ESB, most recently to both Inisbofin and Clare Island in Co Mayo.

AT a meeting with the Irish Islands Federation, Comdhail Oileain na hEireann, last Monday, transport and the hazards of uninsured cars were the main issues. Patricia Quinn of the federation confirmed that fire services tended to arise during discussions on general improvements in local authority services. However, funding has been investigated by islanders, she added. The federation discovered that EU LEADER grants, which have been used for many recent initiatives in the context of Common Agriculture Policy reform, cannot cover such safety equipment.

Through the federation, the islanders have been finding a voice. Planning, which has been the subject of much controversy, received an airing at a conference on Inis Mor last year. Some 160 island women who have been participating in the EU-funded NOW programme have been acting with a new sense of empowerment. As a result,the federation hopes to see more women on its board.

Shortly before the local elections, the federation exchanged views with the Minister of State on the possibility of an island council, which would provide for the local authority needs of all such communities. This may be given a fresh impetus when the dust settles after this week.

Island communities, like those elsewhere, require basic onshore emergency services. Atlantic outcrops are far more accessible than they were a decade ago. And even the most exposed and distant do not offer much quarter to those seeking refuge from a changing and troubled world.