The case made by Aran islanders for a new pier at Inis Oírr has been bolstered by a delay in collecting referendum vote boxes from the island.

Four Aran island boxes did not arrive at the Galway West count centre in Leisureland, Salthill, until just after 10.30 am on Saturday due to weather conditions.

It is understood that boxes had been collected successfully from two of the three Aran islands on Friday evening, but easterly to north-easterly winds made the Inis Oírr pier far too dangerous for landing.

As a result, the Aran boxes were not delivered to the count centre until Saturday morning.

Sorting of over 200 boxes with votes cast in the Family and Care constitutional amendment referendums in the Galway West constituency was by then underway.

Under new legislation, offshore islanders can vote on the same day as the mainland, and this is the first time this has been put into practise.

Weather factors which could result in delays in transporting boxes had been cited as the main reason in the past for island communities on the Atlantic seaboard being obliged to vote several days before the rest of the State.

The change had been championed on behalf of islanders by former Government minister and Galway West TD Eamon Ó Cuív (FF), who had been responsible for improving island transport services during his term in office.

A long campaign by Inis Oírr residents for a safer pier led to a commitment by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys last summer to ensure works would take place.

She said it was a “key priority”, shortly before a tender for the works was issued by Galway County Council.

The tender published last September sought expressions of interest for new pier improvement works on Inis Oírr comprising a 90 metre (m) pier extension, a 20m inner breakwater, a 160m outer breakwater, 2,500 cubic metre rock dredging, and ancillary works.

Shipments of water to the Aran island of Inis Oírr and overnight restrictions on the public supply have been lifted by Uisce Éireann.

The agency says that water reserves on the southernmost Aran island have recovered and are “currently sufficient to ensure a continuous water supply into the winter”.

“Uisce Éireann and Galway County Council will continue to monitor and maintain the supply for our customers on Inis Oírr,” it says in a statement.

Tobar Éinne or Éanna's well on Inis Oírr, overflowing even as shipments of water were sent to the island until early November

“We would like to thank residents, businesses and visitors to the island for their conservation efforts during the restrictions,” it says.

Justin Doran of Uisce Éireann said the restrictions between 11 pm and 7 am were “necessary over the summer months to ensure a continuous daily water supply was available for residents and businesses for hygiene and other essential purposes”.

“ Supplies were increased by a significant amount of tankering of water by sea from Ros-a-Mhíl over the past number of months,” it said.

Thankfully, water reserves on the island have recovered and are currently sufficient to ensure a continuous water supply into the winter. Uisce Éireann and Galway County Council will continue to monitor and maintain the supply for our customers on Inis Oírr.

The island co-op has sought a long-term solution for well over a decade, amid growing frustration over the apparent lack of a strategy and large expenditure by the State on short-term solutions.

Inis Oírr, which has a population of 340 people, has long suffered from shortages due to lack of groundwater sources.

For well over a decade, it has experienced regular droughts due to relatively low rainfall, and the difficulty of drilling wells that are not contaminated by seawater.

Visitor numbers can reach several thousand during the tourist season, which is now running well into October, and this has put a strain on the existing supply.

A hydrogeological study conducted in 2015 proposed capturing excess winter rainfall to ease the summer shortages.

A plan was drawn up to install raw storage tanks, requiring planning permission. Large areas of the Aran islands are protected under the EU Habitats Directive.

It is understood that Uisce Éireann and Galway County Council had sought land and tendered for up to three storage tanks, but islanders then heard that this plan was abandoned on cost grounds.

Resident Paddy Crowe had said while everyone on the island was happy that water is being delivered, there remains a question mark over a long-term plan.

“Shipments are expensive, and wouldn’t money be better spent on a long-term cure?” he has said.

Uisce Éireann would not divulge the cost of the shipments, stating that “this is commercially sensitive information”.

It said that specialised maintenance works to resolve an issue at the Inis Oírr water treatment plant were scheduled over this past week.

Islanders on Inis Oírr are being shipped water several times a day, even during this period of heavy rainfall across Ireland.

As The Sunday Independent reports, Uisce Éireann has not yet resolved the island’s water shortage issues.

The island co-op has sought a long-term solution for well over a decade, amid growing frustration over the apparent lack of a strategy and large expenditure by the State on short-term solutions.

The southernmost Aran island, which has a population of 340 people, has long suffered from shortages due to lack of groundwater sources.

For well over a decade, it has experienced regular droughts due to relatively low rainfall, and the difficulty of drilling wells that are not contaminated by seawater.

Visitor numbers can reach several thousand during the tourist season, which is now running well into October, and this has put a strain on existing supply.

A hydrogeological study conducted in 2015 proposed capturing excess winter rainfall to ease the summer shortages.

A plan was drawn up to install raw storage tanks, which would then require planning permission. Large areas of the Aran islands are protected under the EU Habitats Directive.

It is understood that Uisce Éireann and Galway County Council had sought land, and tendered for up to three storage tanks, but islanders then heard that this plan was abandoned on cost grounds.

Resident Paddy Crowe said while everyone is happy that water is being delivered, there is a question mark over a long term plan.

“Shipments are expensive, and wouldn’t money be better spent on a long-term cure?” he said.

Uisce Éireann will not divulge the cost of the shipments, stating that “this is commercially sensitive information”.

It said that specialised maintenance works to resolve an issue at the Inis Oírr water treatment plant are scheduled for the week after next, November 6th.

Read The Sunday Independent here

One of two Galway students who survived a 15-hour ordeal overnight on paddleboards in stormy waters almost three years ago returned to the Aran islands for a unique exhibition opening yesterday.

As The Irish Independent reports, Ellen Glynn (20) was warmly welcomed by residents of Inis Oírr, who had been out searching for her on the night that she and her cousin, Sara Feeney, were declared missing at sea.

“It’s not triggering any more,” Glynn told the newspaper shortly after alighting from a bumpy ferry crossing from Ros-a-Mhíl to the southernmost Aran island.

Paddleboarder Ellen Glynn going blue for drowning prevention day at the Buoys Art Exhibition on Inis Oírr and below Ellen with one of the exhibits Photos: Cormac Coyne

Glynn was just 17 and Sara Feeney was 23 when they survived 15 hours on paddleboards in thunder, lightning and a north-easterly gale after they had been swept some 33 km from Furbo beach out the mouth of Galway Bay.

A key factor in their survival was their mental fortitude - they sang Taylor Swift songs to keep their spirits up.

In spite of exhaustion, they found the strength the following morning to secure their boards to floats marking crab pots set by Aran fisherman Bertie Donohue off Inis Oírr. At this point, they had been at sea overnight, wearing lifejackets and swimming togs.

After Claddagh father and son Patrick and Morgan Oliver located them on their fishing vessel that next morning, they landed them onto Inis Oírr pier, from where they were flown by Irish Coast Guard helicopter to hospital in Galway.

When Inis Oírr arts centre director Dara McGee decided that buoys collected by local fishermen should provide material for an artists’ exhibition this summer, he extended an invitation to the two women.

Sara Feeney is in New Zealand, but Glynn, who is studying at University of Galway, was a special guest at yesterday’s opening of “Buoys” at the island’s arts centre, Áras Éanna, along with her parents, Deirdre and Johnny.

McGee says the idea arose after the success of Áras Éanna’s “Curracha” exhibition in 2021 which saw 21 artists decorate 21 currachs displayed throughout the island during that Covid-restricted summer.

The “Buoys” exhibition came about after island fishermen had retrieved dozens of abandoned pieces of gear.

Roger Sweeney of Water Safety Ireland, who spoke at the opening, said that the exhibition “connects so well” with World Drowning Prevention Day on July 25th.

“It’s a reflection on the wonderful story that belongs to Ellen and her cousin, Sara, and it’s a remembrance of those who were not so lucky,” Sweeney said.

“It’s also an inspiring call to action through the arts that people need to make water safety part of their conversation with loved ones,” he said.

Sweeney said that 41 people have drowned so far this year in Ireland, but the overall annual figures are declining. While Ireland had 207 drownings on average every year in the 1980s, the ten year average is now 105 at a time when the population is increasing steadily.

Ellen Glynn, along with her parents, Deirdre and Johnny at the Buoys Art Exhibition on Inis Oírr Photo: Cormac Coyne

Sweeney noted that 80 per cent of people wear a lifejacket when involved in aquatic activities, which is up from 66 per cent in his organisation’s survey of 2017.

That survey also found that four in five people say that swimming and water safety education are “necessary life skills” which the Government, corporate sector and all sectors of society “must respond to”, Sweeney said.

All of the painted buoys have been hung along the stone walls leading to Inis Oírr’s lighthouse and have also been photographed for Áras Éanna by island photographer Cormac Coyne.

Participating artists include Michael Mulcahy,who was one of Inis Oírr’s first artist in residence, Galway city artists in residence Margaret Nolan, Siobhán O’Callaghan, Páraic Breathnach, Mary Fahy and Esther Stupers.

Also participating were artists Alissa Donoghue, Aisling Nic Craith, Martin Keady, Mykayla Myers, Philip Jacobsen, Rachel Towey, Sian Costello, primary school pupil Niamh Ní Dhonnacha and Natasha Mc Menamin.

Emma O’Grady and McGee collaborated for their buoy, which is illustrated with a poem written by O’Grady, entitled “Past the point of Rescue”.

It was inspired by the paddleboarders’ ordeal, O’Grady explained, before reading it at yesterday’s event.

“Buoys” is on display as an outdoor trail from the lighthouse on Inis Oírr from now until the end of September.

A parallel exhibition, entitled “Cloch” or “Stones” at Áras Éanna involves the work of photographers Cormac Coyne, Jacqui Reed of Donegal and Hwan Jin Jo of Jeju island, south Korea.

The photography in their exhibition reflects stone wall work on the Aran island and the similar dry stone wall tradition shared by the Korean island, where the south Korean residents work with volcanic rock.

Read more in The Irish Independent here

Buoys retrieved from the sea and repurposed as works of art have been put on display on the southern Aran island of Inis Oírr.

The new exhibition, curated by Dara McGee of Áras Éanna arts centre on Inis Oírr, involves some 16 established and emerging artists from diverse backgrounds.

Galway paddleboarder Ellen Glynn was guest of honour at the opening today.

McGee says the idea arose after the great success of Áras Éanna’s “Curracha” exhibition which saw 21 artists decorate 21 currachs displayed throughout the island during the Covid restrictions of the summer of 2021.

The fishermen of Inis Oírr did a coastal clean-up of the island, gathering washed up nets, broken fish crates and an abundance of sea buoys, he says.

The participating artists include Páraic Breathnach, who “returns to his first love,visual arts” for the event, and who is best known for his street creations “The Spanish Arch” commissioned by Galway Arts Festival in 1986, and “Gulliver” commissioned by Dublin Millennium Celebrations in 1988.

An exhibit at the Aras Éanna - Buoy exhibition on Inis Oírr Photo: Cormac Coyne

Michael Mulcahy was the first ever artist in residence at Áras Éanna, and is one of Ireland’s most famous expressionist artists an a member of Aosdána. It was after his winter on the island in the 1980s that the idea of the arts centre in an old weaving factory bore fruit.

Philip Jacobsen spent some of his childhood living in Inis Oírr and has been a frequent visitor to the island since. His forthcoming exhibition involves the shipwreck, the Plassey, which he has witnessed the deterioration of and is keen to preserve its memory in art form.

Martin Keady from An Spidéal, Conamara, has attended art and craft classes in a training centre in Casla, and says he loves painting, animation, film, ceramics and woodwork. He says he loves to use bold colour and vibrant imagery, and the fish he painted on the buoys are inspired by the creatures of the deep sea.

Sian Costello completed a one-month residency in partnership with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in the summer of 2022 and is a multidisciplinary artist based in Limerick city. In her work, Costello says she uses performative self-portraiture, drawing, and the camera obscura, to re-evaluate the hidden role of patience in the history of portraiture and figure painting.

Rachel Towey is a scenic artist with a career spanning 30 years in the theatre/TV and film industry. Hailing from Inishowen in Donegal and currently residing in Galway, she continues to work as an artist in theatre, as well as running a small business called MaraBay Deco.

Margaret Nolan is a Dublin-born artist who has had numerous solo exhibitions and group shows throughout Ireland. As Galway City Council’s Artist- in- Residence for many years, she produced many well-known murals that have left their mark on Galway’s urban landscape, and she has been leading curator of street art in the city. Her more recent work has shifted into new directions, concentrating on the body within the context of increasing abstraction and pigment layering.

Natasha Mc Menamin was born in Donegal and was studying in Galway to develop her artistic skills. She is known for her love of nature, which inspires her, her very detailed style, and the way she uses colours.

Siobhán O’Callaghan is a Dublin-based artist, who says she is invigorated by art’s capacity for storytelling, documentary and commentary. Her work centres around connection in various forms – shared experiences, intimacy, how we relate to our environment. She graduated from NCAD in 2015 and continued her training at Florence Academy of Art. Exhibitions include Alchemical Vessels, 126 Gallery (2023), RHA Annual Exhibition (2021, 2022, 2023), Utopia Dystopia, dlr Lexicon (2019), and Caoláit, Burren College of Art (2019).

Alissa Donoghue is originally from Wisconsin, grew up surrounded by forests, but has grown to love living surrounded by the sea. Having spent her first fourteen years on Inis Oírr dismissing sea swimmers as “mad”, she took it up as a hobby herself during the heatwave of 2018. This has deepened her layered relationship with the sea, she says, and some of its more “difficult” creatures.

She has a life-long interest in art making, enriched in recent years with art classes through Áras Éanna and many hours spent creating with her three children.

An exhibit at the Aras Éanna - Buoy exhibition on Inis Oírr Photo: Cormac Coyne

Niamh Ní Dhonnacha is a native of Inis Oírr and will be entering 6th class at Scoil Chaomháin in September. She loves art, especially painting and drawing. She mounted her first solo exhibition in 2022 at Teach an Tae.

“I made my buoys on the theme of the nature of Inis Oírr,”she says. “One shows wild flowers and a stone wall and the other buoy is the ocean with lobsters and seals. I had lots of fun doing this project.”

Mykayla Myers is a young Traveller girl aged 15 who had loved to draw from a young age.She is a pupil in Galway Community College and her goal is to do her Leaving Certificate and continue her education in University of Galway. She already has a well developed portfolio of her art work.

She is very interested in drawing portraits and hopes to develop this further. She is very proud of her Traveller background and heritage and won the overall Galway Traveller Achievement Award in 2023 for her artwork.

Esther Stupers is from the Netherlands, but made Ireland my home 13 years ago in Co Mayo. She studied as a gold and silversmith but after moving to Ireland she became more involved in welding and bigger projects. She has been working with Macnas for the last few years and was involved in the currach exhibition at Áras Éanna. She also paints and builds sets for local musical societies. She says her inspiration for this project are “the smallest one celled animals that live in our oceans “grabbing” onto the buoy, as in protozoa”.

Megan McMahon is a multi-media artist from Limerick, and studied at the School of Design and Creative Arts at GMIT. This is her first public exhibition. She is inspired by murals and street art in urban landscapes. Currently she is exploring contrasting colours to express emotion in her work, she says. She works on Inis Oírr during the summer months.

Bríd Ní Chualáin is an Inis Oírr native. She studied Foundation Art in NCAD, and has been working in various Irish language revitalisation initiatives. Bríd is also a talented musician who can be heard frequently playing in sessions on Inis Oírr.

Aisling Nic Craith was born and raised in Dublin, and I left at 18 to study art and design in Letterkenny, Co Donegal. From there,she moved to New York, Japan and Korea, and this had a large influence onher artwork, before moving back to Bray, Co Wicklow.

“I paint with encaustics and weave tapestries. Having only recently moved to Inis Oírr, I am inspired by the ever-changing sea, stunning light and stone landscape,” Nic Craith says.

Mary Fahy graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design, and her degree show was awarded the Revenue Commissioners Purchase Prize and selected for The Young Contemporaries exhibition, Belltable Arts Centre. She has been shortlisted twice for the Markievicz Medal Award for Painting, and has won the Larkin Memorial Award and the Irish Times Award.

“Buoys” is on display as an outdoor trail from the lighthouse on Inis Oírr from now until the end of September.

More here

A long-awaited project to improve safety at the pier on the Aran island of Inis Oírr may begin by the end of the year, Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys has said.

She announced this week that Galway County Council will begin the tender procedure to identify a contractor for the work.

As Afloat reported in 2021, the project is said to be a “key priority” for the Department of Rural and Community Development.

It is listed as one of the Government’s infrastructure commitments in the Project Ireland 2040 plan, the minister said.

She said that the work “will address safety issues that have arisen over the years, in particular in relation to the risks posed from waves breaking over the pier”.

It is expected the tender procedure will take about six months.

“The development of the pier at Inis Oírr is an extremely important project and one that I know the community is anxious to see completed,” she said.

“I anticipate that I will be in a position to approve the awarding of this contract before the end of the year,” she said.

“This will enable the contractor to begin the construction of this important project in 2024,” Humphreys said.

Overnight water restrictions have been lifted on the southern Aran island of Inis Oírr, Irish Water has confirmed.

However, the “do not consume” notice remains in place for water in An Spidéal, parts of na Forbacha and Ros-a-Mhíl due to the presence of manganese over a month after it was issued to over 5,600 people in Co Galway.

The night-time restrictions on Inis Oírr between 11 pm and 7 am were introduced to conserve low water resources on the island, where water supplies have been a long-running issue.

Water was shipped by tanker from Ros-a-Mhíl during the summer months, but Eoin Hughes of Irish Water said that services on the island had recovered sufficiently to ensure a continuous supply into the autumn.

Uplift has recorded 697 signatures to date in a petition calling for Irish Water to issue an official notice and apology to households affected by the “do not consume” notice in An Spidéal and extending to parts of Na Forbacha and Ros-a-Mhíl.

It is also calling for more information on the health risks of manganese in water, compensation for damage of electrical appliances, and provision of safe water.

Irish Water says that alternative water supplies in the form of bulk tankers are being replenished daily at five locations between Na Forbacha and Ros-a-Mhíl.

The Uplift petition is here

Islanders on Aran’s Inis Oírr have been informed that a “do not consume” notice for its public water supply has been lifted.

Irish Water had issued the notice after detecting elevated levels of manganese in the public water supply.

About 257 residents were affected by the notice on Inis Oírr, which was also issued for An Spidéal in Co Galway.

Irish Water said on Monday evening that Inis Oírr residents could resume using the public water for drinking, preparing food and brushing teeth.

Irish Water drinking compliance specialist Dr Pat O’Sullivan acknowledged the impact on the island community and said the agency sincerely regretted the inconvenience.

The situation would continue to be reviewed by Irish Water and the local authority/Health Service Executive liaison group, the agency said.

Anyone seeking further information can contact its customer contact centre, which is open 24/7, on freephone 1800 278 278, and further information is available on www.water.ie

The Aran island of Inis Oírr has been issued with a “do not consume” notice for its public water supply, which also applies to An Spidéal in Co Galway.

The notices were issued by Irish Water after detection of elevated levels of manganese in both public supplies, and following consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE).

About 257 residents are affected on Inis Oírr, while about 5,676 customers are affected in An Spidéal, Irish Water says.

It says it is especially important that mains drinking water is not given to bottle-fed infants.

Boiling water will not reduce manganese levels and is “not a suitable measure to make the water safe to consume”, it warns

It says alternative water supplies will be put in place, and further details of the locations of the supplies will be provided.

“Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from the tanker and to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure,”it says.

Meanwhile, the water issue on Clare island has been resolved and islanders can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth, it says.

Clare island’s notice was issued on September 11th to protect the health of customer following issues with the disinfection process at Clare island’s water treatment plant.

The “do not consume” notice for Inis Oírr and An Spideál means that drinking water should not be consumed at all.

It affects :

• Drinks made with water
• Food preparation, washing or cooking of food,
• Brushing of teeth
• Making of ice
• Children under 12 months old should not drink this water

In particular, children under 12 months old should not drink this water. This water should not be used for making up infant formula for bottled-fed infants.

It says that if bottled water is used to make up infant formula it should be boiled once (rolling boil for 1 minute), and cooled in the normal way

Ready-to-use formula that does not need added water can also be used.

Domestic water filters will not render water safe to drink, Irish Water says.

It says that caution should be taken when bathing infants to ensure that they do not swallow the bathing water, and advises that ice cubes and filtered water in fridges and freezers should be discarded.

Irish Water says the public water can be used for personal hygiene, bathing, flushing toilets, laundry and washing of utensils.

It says its Customer Contact Centre, is open 24/7 on freephone 1800 278 278, and further information is available on www.water.ie

Night-time water restrictions on the Aran island of Inis Oírr have finally been lifted after six months of rationed supplies.

Irish Water said the restrictions from 11 pm to 7 am initiated last May have been eased as of this weekend.

Water had been tankered out to the southernmost island by sea from Ros-a-Mhíl for the past three of those six months.

However, reserves on Inis Oírr have now recovered sufficiently to ensure a continuous water supply into the autumn, Irish Water spokesman Tim O’Connor said.

He said Irish Water and Galway County Council “will continue to monitor and maintain the supply” for customers on lnis Oírr.

“We would like to thank residents, businesses and visitors to the Island for their conservation efforts during the restrictions and we would also like to remind customers that it is important to continue to follow the HSE guidance on handwashing,” O’Connor said.

With a population of just under 300, Inis Oírr has endured periodic water shortages over the past decade.

The community has had to receive shipments of water during many summer periods, but the extent of the shortage at an early stage of 2021, with fewer visitors at that point due to Covid-19, took the community by surprise.

There was also concern among residents about the availability of water for hand-washing during the pandemic.

It is understood a site was acquired for new storage tanks and it was then deemed too expensive to construct them.

Irish Water says it is committed to a “ long term solution for the provision of drinking water on Inis Oirr”, which “will be developed” as part of a national water resources plan.

However, it is expected this will take some time, as submissions on a national draft framework plan for water resources are currently being reviewed.

Irish Water says four regional water resource plans will involve public consultations later this year, and each plan will be subject to strategic environmental assessment and “appropriate assessment”.