A series of events will mark the 50th anniversary today of the evacuation of the Great Blasket island off the coast of Kerry.
The events take place while a question mark hangs over the bulk of some €8.5 million announced prior to the last general election for conservation and development work on the island, it has emerged.
Led by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, a library trail of the islanders books will begin at Dingle public library and proceed to the Great Blasket heritage centre, Ionad an Bhlascaoid, overlooking the island.
There are about 40 books that were written about the island by inhabitants and visiting scholars. Many of the best known, Tomás Ó Criomhthain's AtOileánach and Muiris Ó Suilleabháin's Fiche Blian ag Fás, have been translated into English, French, and other European languages.
At today's events the Minister will announce a seminar on linguistic diversity across Europe in March to be hosted by his Department in Killarney. The seminar will be attended by all member-states and accession states.
Raising the Blasket's profile internationally is in line with the aspirations of the management group put in place to steer the island towards world heritage site designation. So far, the group has successfully brokered a plan between the island's landowners and the relevant public bodies on conservation and future planning issues.
Among the priorities are a new pier, a ban on camping, the preservation of the buildings, the management of tourism and the protection of the island's diverse ecology from seals to birds. Agreement has been reached on the building of a new pier, with the old pier preserved alongside.
But there is some doubt over €8.5 million in funding announced by the then Minister for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms Valera, and Mr O'Donoghue in March 2002. While some €2.5 million of the funds seem secure for the new pier, the remainder is under review by the Department of the Environment.