The quiet revolution on Irish islands continues apace with the support of European funds. The most recent episode was a weekend meeting on Inishbofin, Co Galway, attended by some 80 women from Germany, Scotland, and this coastline. It was hosted by Comdhail Oileain na hEireann, the Irish Islands Federation, which is running an EU New Opportunities for Women (NOW) programme.
The NOW programme has been focusing on the issues and difficulties associated with living in offshore communities. It has been funding development courses to cater for island women's requirements - with trainers travelling to islands, rather than the women having to travel out.
The very different needs of the offshore communities were again highlighted at the meeting, according to Mrs Mary Lavelle, a mother of two and the administrator of a community development project on Inishbofin. "Our main concern here is employment, whereas the Aran island of Inis Oirr is involved in heritage development, and Sherkin, in Co Cork, is tied up with training," she said.
"Here, also, we would like to be able to keep our children on the island when they reach secondary level. At the moment, they have to go to the mainland, and in some cases parents of girls have no option but to book a school in the midlands. With boys it is a little easier - there are boarding schools in Galway and in Tuam."
There are issues in common, she adds. "We aren't big enough for, nor do we want, mass tourism. No one wants a second Inis Mor. No island wants to be walked on by tour operators based on the mainland. And no island wants to have to cope with the waste problem associated with the tourist season."
Among the activities organised at the weekend was the first meeting of the Inter-Island Women's Group. This group has been established with representation from the larger islands to address issues common to all, and relating specifically to women - such as health, childcare, education, training and employment. Already, discrepancies in the approach taken to islanders by health boards, county councils and vocational education committees has been highlighted during the debates.
It is hoped the group will continue meeting and working together after the NOW funding runs out. The links made during the informal social events on Inishbofin, and during previous meetings, are likely to endure beyond the EU programme.
The four women from a similar EU project in Barth, north-east Germany, and the two visitors from Arran island in Scotland, were made so welcome that some of them didn't want to take the boat, bus, plane, train - and boat again - back.
