A parliamentary committee has selected Arranmore Island, Co Donegal, for its first-ever public meeting outside of the Oireachtas.

The islands perspective on key national issues is the focus of the meeting by the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands.

Chaired by Independent TD Denis Naughten, the meeting will take place in Gairmscoil Mhic Dhiarmada, Leabgarrow, Arranmore, and will also be broadcast live on Oireachtas TV, this coming Friday, September 22nd.

The schedule includes modules on climate neutrality and biodiversity on the islands, with Avril Ní Shearcaigh of Comharchumann Fuinnimh Oileáin Árann Teoranta (CFOAT) (Aran Islands Renewable Energy Cooperative).

Housing and sustaining communities on Offshore Islands with Dr. Conor Cashman, UCC School of Applied Social Science, Máire Uí Mhaoláin, CEO of Comhar na nOileán and Nóirín Uí Mhaoldomhnaigh who is bainisteoir of Comharchumann Oileán Árainn Mhór and member of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann

A third module on eHealth and living longer on islands will involve Dr Ian McCabe, project manager in the HIVE Lab (Health Innovation Via Engineering) at University of Galway. Manager of the Home Health Project, the Healthy Islands Project, and the Virtual Hospital project.

Also speaking will be Dr Jennifer Doran, research physician in the HIVE Lab and Dr Noreen Lineen Curtis, who is a GP serving Clare Island and Inishbiggle, Co Mayo.

Mr Naughten said it would be an “historic occasion as it is the first time a Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting is going to be held outside Dublin”.

“The fact that a live Oireachtas committee broadcast is taking place on an offshore island, clearly shows how the use of technology can bring democracy directly to the people,” he said.

The link to live transmission this Friday can be found on www.oireachtas.ie

Many of my memories from fifty years of journalism in all sectors of the media, from local weekly newspapers, to national dailies, radio and television, involve lifeboat stations.

In tragedy and celebration that has been the focus of coastal communities, places always welcoming. informative and a major part of the maritime sphere.

In years past many were old buildings, but some of which reeked of dampness and cold in winter weather. Meeting crews that had returned from emergency rescue call-outs, I marvelled at how they wound down after the stress and pressure of being at sea in tough conditions. That did not, to me, seem easy in the conditions of station buildings that needed upgrading.

The improvement of RNLI stations, often through the commitment and funding of local communities, has been impressive and needed - and a great pleasure to be asked to do the formal opening of one, in the fishing port of Castletownbere in West Cork.

Arranmore Island RNLI Lifeboat Station

My memories of lifeboat stations include, in years past, being aboard Baltimore Lifeboat as it launched, down the slipway inside the old station, a metal building support with a sign that said “mind your head” flashing past as the boat hit the water at speed. Doing the naming ceremony for Kilrush Station’s new rigid inflatable in the Shannon Estuary is recalled in a photograph on the wall of my ‘Den’ at home where I write this. Another photograph recalls a visit to Achill station – and there are many more, so I follow closely what happens at lifeboat stations, where one of the oldest remaining in the country is to be replaced. That is on Arranmore Island off Donegal.

The RNLI has operated a station there since 1883 when the first lifeboat Vandeleur was powered by sail and oars. One of the island’s previous boathouses was in Aphort, where the bodies of those recovered from the Arranmore Disaster in 1935 were laid out. A yawl carrying twenty passengers that left Burtonport Harbour for Arranmore ran onto a rock and nineteen drowned. The only survivor was the late Paddy Gallagher, who himself lost his father, four brothers and two sisters in the tragedy.

The current Arranmore boathouse is at Poolawaddy, used since 1994, partially funded with a donation from the relatives of students who lost their lives off Arranmore in 1989. Four Edinburgh University students were drowned when their dinghy sprang a leak and sank while crossing from Arranmore to the Isle of Iochtar. Two survived.

One of the station’s most famous rescues was in December 1940 when Arranmore lifeboat rescued 16 sailors from the Dutch merchant ship, Stolwjick, that got into difficulty in bad weather. The lifeboat crew were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands for their rescue.

Niamh Stephenson, RNLI Media Manager Ireland, describes the new facilities to be provided at Arranmore in this Podcast.

Mark Boyle who was born on Arranmore returned to the island from America last April. This will be his first Christmas on call for the RNLI. He follows in the footsteps of his late father Charlie, a former Station Mechanic and his grandfather Jack, who was awarded the RNLI’s gold medal for gallantry for his role in the rescue of the 18 Dutch crew in 1940.

Mark Boyle holding his grandfather's RNLI gold medal for gallantry

Donegal County Council has approved the demolition of the old lifeboat station to make way for the new two-storey development on the same site at Poolawaddy.

The inquest into the drowning of diver Ann Howard has heard how she disappeared only feet from the safety of rocks off Arranmore Island.

The Irish Times reports that Howard, 41, was part of a team of eight divers from Manchester on an excursion at the popular Paradise Cavern dive site on 9 May 2008.

Howard and her 'dive buddy' Lee Harvey became separated from the rest of the group and were unable to locate them due to strong surface currents. When the pair got into difficulties, Harvey managed to scramble onto rocks and attract attention of passing boats. But when he returned to the water, Howard has disappeared.

Following an unsuccessful Coast Guard search, a Garda dive team found Howard's body 22 metres below on the seabed the following morning, close to where she had been last seen. Pathologist Dr Katriona Dillon found that her death was due to drowning.

Howard, from Ashton-under-Lyne, had 10 years' experience as a SCUBA diver, and according to her boyfriend had been familiar with her equipment used since 2002.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

The pod, which had been observed in waters between Arranmore Island and Burtonport during the week before they stranded themselves on a beach on Rutland, were also believed to be the same pod monitored off the South Uist, off the Hebrides. Shortly before that it was feared that the whales may have also attempted to beach themselves.

Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) said he could not rule out sonar interference for confusing the whales and leading to their beach deaths. For information on the IWDG logon to www.iwdg.ie