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Displaying items by tag: Sail Training Ireland

Writing in the Irish Independent on Saturday, WM Nixon welcomes the introduction of Sail Training Ireland as a big step towards getting Ireland back into tall ship sailing.
Nixon also pays tribute to Ireland's previous square-rigger, Asgard II, which held its own among taller competitors for almost three decades before its sinking in the Bay of Biscay in 2008.
That ship was also remarkable for being "one of the very few government owned and run sail training ships in the world".
In the wake of Asgard II, a new approach is being taken with Sail Training Ireland - which is an officially recognised voluntary trust, actively supported by the Irish Sailing Association, that is open to anyone and free to accept donations and corporate endowments.
irishsailtraining.ie
"The sailing community and all those interested in promoting maritime affairs now have an opportunity for self-reliance," writes Nixon, who notes that while we get back on the road to having our own tall ship, Sail Training Ireland will be able to place Irish trainees on other ships already sailing for invaluable experience.

Writing in the Irish Independent on Saturday, WM Nixon welcomes the introduction of Sail Training Ireland as a big step towards getting Ireland back into tall ship sailing.

Nixon also pays tribute to Ireland's previous square-rigger, Asgard II, which held its own among taller competitors for almost three decades before its sinking in the Bay of Biscay in 2008.

That ship was also remarkable for being "one of the very few government owned and run sail training ships in the world".

In the wake of Asgard II, a new approach is being taken with Sail Training Ireland - which is an officially recognised voluntary trust, actively supported by the Irish Sailing Association, that is open to anyone and free to accept donations and corporate endowments.

"The sailing community and all those interested in promoting maritime affairs now have an opportunity for self-reliance," writes Nixon, who notes that while we get back on the road to having our own tall ship, Sail Training Ireland will be able to place Irish trainees on other ships already sailing for invaluable experience.

Published in Tall Ships

Sail Training Ireland, the new body established by Cosite an Asgard and the Irish Sailing Association is looking to appoint a part-time manager to help with the development of a business plan for the new sailing organisation that will be officially launched in Dublin Port in a fortnight.

The appointment is offered on a self-employed basis for an initial period until 31 December 2011 after which this new position in Irish sailing may be reviewed subject to funds available. The deadline for receipt of applications is in three weeks time.

The role is on a part time basis of the equivalent of 1.5 days per week. A degree of flexibility is required.

Remuneration will be at a rate of €200 pw.

The full text of the advert publisherd today reads:

STIYD Manager

Sail Training Ireland is looking to appoint a part-time manager to help with the development of a business plan and the day to day running of the organisations affaires. 

Background

Since the Department of Defence declared they no longer had an interest in sponsoring the continuation of the Asgard Sail Training Programme, and the subsequent decision of the Board of Asgard to wind up the Company, a working group supported by the ISA has been working to establish a National Sail training Association.

Sail Training Ireland for Youth Development Ltd. has been established as a limited company recognised by Sail Training International as the representative body for Sail Training activities in Ireland.

The aims and objectives of the organisation are:

  • To promote the development and Education of young Men and Women on the Island of Ireland in and through the Sail Training Experience regardless of Nationality, Culture, Religion, Gender or Social Background
  • To promote Sail Training in the Island of Ireland and Worldwide having special regard to the promotion of and  support for Sail training Vessels and their Training programmes
  • To promote and encourage knowledge of all subjects associated with the sea and matters Maritime
  • To sponsor and support sea-going Trainees
  • To co-operate and engage with other Sail Training Associations and Organisations on the Ireland of Ireland and Internationally
  • To work with Sail Training International to establish a recurring STI endorsed Tall Ships Maritime Festival every 3/5 Years.

Membership/Affiliation

Membership if STI will be open to:

  • Irish Sail Training Operators

Organisations that may already exist and/or may be set up in the future.

  • Supporting Organisations

Organisations that do not operate a vessel, and who support the aims and objectives of STI.

That have an interest in the development of sail training in Ireland

  • Personal Members

Who would like to support the development of sail training in Ireland.

Business & Development Plan

In order to ensure the sustainability of STI, it is important that a credible plan and feasibility study is developed. This will require professional/contracted resource - funds for which may be raised through the existing goodwill and support for Ireland’s Sail Training Programme.

Key Responsibilities

1.    Administrating the STI Bursary Scheme for 2011

a.    Managing the payment of bursaries

b.    Liaising with bursary recipients

c.     Collating Reports from recipients

2.    Developing a set of Rules for the Association

a.    Membership/affiliation Structures

b.    Procedures at meetings

c.     Election of the board etc

3.    Managing the accounts of the Association

a.    Keep records

b.    Processing of payments/income

4.    Charitable Status

a.    Apply for charitable status

5.    Management of the Website/ liaising with the webmaster

a.    Maintenance and management of content

6.    Board Meetings

a.    Organise meetings (venues dates etc)

b.    Send out agenda

c.     Take minutes

7.    Business & Development Plan

a.    Source/research required information

b.    Draft plan

8.    Membership/Affiliation

a.    Develop membership/affiliation application system

b.    Develop membership benefits

c.     Administrate applications

d.    Maintain database

9.    Funding

a.    Identify sources of funding, revenue generating opportunities

10. PR and Media

a.    Develop media plan for STI to raise the profile

11. Queries

a.    Respond to queries relating to Sail Training in Ireland

Terms and Conditions

The appointment will be offered on a self-employed basis for an initial period until 31 December 2011after which the position may be reviewed subject to funds available.

The role is on a part time basis of the equivalent of 1.5 days per week. A degree of flexibility is required.

Remuneration will be at a rate of €200 pw.

Applications

A letter of application and CV should be sent by email to:

Harry Hermon, [email protected], titled: “STIYD Application”

Closing date for applications is: Friday 22nd April. It is anticipated interviews will be held on Thursday 5th May.

Looking for further reading on Tall Ships in Ireland? Click the links below:

Click this link to read all our Tall Ships Stories on one handy page


Previewing Ireland's Tall Ships 2011 Season


Can Ireland Get a New Tall Ship?

Published in Tall Ships

The new umbrella organisation Sail Training Ireland includes a number of key sailing people involved in sail training in Ireland including the chief executive of the Irish Sailing Association Harry Hermon and Seamus McLoughlin the head of operations of Dublin Port Company. The group also includes Kalanne O'Leary, a former member of Coiste an Asgard, the state board that ran Asgard II. The full group, chaired by Sheila Tyrrell, has been named as follows: 

Sheila Tyrrell, Chair
Harry Hermon, ISA Chief Executive
Philip Cowman ISA Director, Ex Harbour Master Waterford
Kalanne O'Leary, Irish Representative on Sail Training International
Seamus McLoughlin, Head of Operations, Dublin Port
Sean Flood, Sail Training International Ambassador – Ireland.

Looking for further reading on Tall Ships in Ireland? Click the links below:

Click this link to read all our Tall Ships Stories on one handy page


Previewing Ireland's Tall Ships 2011 Season


Can Ireland Get a New Tall Ship?

 

Published in Tall Ships

A sailing initiative aimed at Irish participation in next year's Tall Ships Races in Waterford has been announced by a newly formed national organisation Sail Training Ireland.

Since the sinking of the Asgard II and the decision to wind up Coiste An Asgard, the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has been facilitating a steering group with the aim of establishing 'Sail Training Ireland'.

The steering group has been working with Sail Training International to establish a sustainable organisation that will work with training providers and host ports to build Ireland's Sail Training Programme in the future.

The Tall Ships Race that visited Belfast last year is due to return to Waterford in 2011 and Dublin in 2012 is clear recognition by the race organisers of Ireland's popularity as a destination, and a credit to the host ports who are able to facilitate such a great occasion.

The working group are preparing for the launch of Sail Training Ireland in a few weeks and are currently putting together a feasibility study and business plan for the organisation that may be presented to the Minister in the New Year.

Sail Training International has awarded a bursary to Sail Training Ireland which will provide funding to support the participation of young people in The Tall Ships Races 2011 and 2012.

"The small group that has been working on this will put together a sensible, practical but ambitious plan to ensure the legacy of Coiste an Asgard...." explains Nigel Rowe, Chairman of Sail Training International, "....it will enable Irish youth to continue to benefit from the sail training experience".

Sheila Tyrrell, Chair of the steering group, who has a long history with sail training and in particular the Asgard remarks "The bursary from Sail Training International is very welcome and endorses the credibility of our plans to re-establish a national sail training programme. The steering group will be in a position to effect the launch of Sail Training Ireland this side of Christmas."

Looking for further reading on Tall Ships in Ireland? Click the links below:

Click this link to read all our Tall Ships Stories on one handy page


Previewing Ireland's Tall Ships 2011 Season


Can Ireland Get a New Tall Ship?

Published in Tall Ships
Page 5 of 5

Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

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