Achill Island's Heinrich B÷ll Committee may now be able to realise its ambition to buy the home of the German writer at Dugort. It has just been promised £60,000 by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, as part of its fund-raising effort.
B÷ll was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1972, and it was on Achill that he lived and worked.
The island is described in detail in his book, An Irish Diary, published in 1957, and this has attracted many visitors to a location which has also inspired creativity among landscape artists.
Since 1992, his cottage at Dugort has been used as a residency for artist and writers. It has been run by a local voluntary committee in conjunction with Mayo County Council, the Arts Council, the Heinrich B÷ll Foundation in Germany and the B÷ll family.
The guest writers have visited schools and community organisations, and have given public readings during their stay. Mr John McHugh of the Achill Heinrich B÷ll Committee says there has been broad recognition of the value and benefit to the community of the B÷ll cottage residency, and there is support in the parish and at county level for the project.
The B÷ll family would like to sell the cottage to the committee, but the overall budget for purchase and renovation is £192,000. The committee has raised £10,000, and it has approached Mayo County Council for financial help. Now that the Minister has rowed in with £60,000, it is hoped the local authority will make up the balance of the purchase price of around £100,000. Various fund-raising efforts will be held to raise money for the renovation work.
The committee is delighted with the Minister's gesture, as it says it will guarantee the continued benefits of the cottage to the Achill community - and to the State. It says the residency is "a living, growing and creative way to celebrate the work and achievement" of the Nobel laureate.
In providing such a tangible support structure for creative artists, it represents "a most appropriate memorial to a writer such as Heinrich B÷ll".