Island and coastal communities, from Mayo's Erris to Connemara's Errislannan, could benefit from a transport service proposed by a Co Galway aviation expert. Mr Pat Joyce, a helicopter engineer based at Shannon, believes existing island helipads could be developed or relocated for an efficient link to the mainland.
The Department of Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands is carrying out a feasibility study on development of island airstrips, similar to those on the Aran Islands, Co Galway. This was commissioned after a commitment by the former junior minister in the Department, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, to improve transport to and from the islands.
However, Mr Joyce believes the costs and environmental headaches associated with construction of airstrips could be avoided if helicopters, rather than fixed-wing aircraft, were used. His company, Island Air Services, made that point in a recent meeting with the new Minister of State, Ms Mary Coughlan.
Her Department's feasibility study is on the three Aran Islands; Inishbofin, Co Galway; Inishturk, Clare Island, Co Mayo; and Tory island, Co Donegal. It has commissioned the Air Transport Group at the Cranfield University College of Aeronautics in Bedfordshire, England, to look into the capital cost and options in developing airstrips and ancillary services on Inishbofin, Inishturk, Clare Island and Tory Island, and the socio-economic case, if any, for scheduled air services to each of the seven islands.
The group has also been asked to examine who should manage the airstrips. It should also examine "with whom the ownership of the airstrips should eventually rest", according to the draft terms of reference.
Curiously, the terms of reference make no mention of the Clifden airstrip, recently given planning permission by An Bord Pleanala, but without approval for a passenger terminal and car-park. The stated basis for the Clifden venture, backed by local business, is to provide an air link to Inishbofin. The appeals board ruling did specify that no development should take place at Cloon and Laghtanabba townlands, six miles north of Clifden, until work had started on an airstrip on Inishbofin for which permission was granted in 1999.
The board said this was to ensure that the development was permitted "for the stated primary purpose of providing air access to Inishbofin" and was "not carried out other than for that primary purpose".
Udaras na Gaeltachta had been asked by Ms Coughlan to continue with plan ning work on airstrips for the islands, including the English-speaking communities. Tory Island already has a limited helicopter service subsidised by the North Western Health Board and Udaras.
Mr Joyce believes the sensible option is to extend helicopter cover to the islands, with the higher costs cancelled out by the saving on expensive airstrips.
A native of Clifden, Co Galway, Mr Joyce has been involved with helicopter and aircraft operations for over 30 years, and holds a private pilot's licence. He is a helicopter engineer with CHC Ireland (formerly Bond Helicopters) in Shannon.
He says islanders deserve better in this millennium than total reliance on ferry services, which are subject to Atlantic weather conditions.
He says construction of helipads at two onshore locations, Louisburgh in Co Mayo and Clifden, would be sufficient, complementing the island helipads already in place. He proposed two scheduled flights for each island, every day on a year-round basis.
Significantly, between these scheduled flights the helicopter would be available for search-and-rescue duties as a back-up to the Irish Coast Guard helicopters at Shannon and Finner/Sligo, and would also provide emergency medical support and unscheduled flights.
This would tie in with the long Helicopter Emergency Medical Service campaign run by Dr Jerry Cowley, a Mayo general practitioner. The campaign, which is supported by a number of GPs, including Dr Marion Broderick of the Aran Islands, argues that lives could be saved if victims of serious accidents in remote areas could be flown to hospital, rather than taken by road. "Letterkenny hospital is 24 miles on a bad road from the Rosses in Donegal," Mr Joyce says. "Yet that distance can be flown in 12 minutes by helicopter."
He has also drawn up a proposal for a service to the Donegal islands of Tory, Arranmore, Inishbofin and Gola. Helipads could be built on all the islands (Tory has one for the existing limited service) and also at Falcarragh and Dungloe. The helicopter would use Carrickfin airstrip as its base for fuel and maintenance.
He estimates that the Donegal service would cost about £0.5 million a year for the five-seat twin-engined helicopter envisaged. In Galway, Mayo and Donegal the Eurocopter 105 would be most suitable for the job as it is "well proven along the west coast".
Mr Joyce has visited the islands and identified problems with the outline plans . On Clare Island, for instance, where Udaras na Gaeltachta has applied for planning permission, the location for the proposed strip is at the base of a hill, causing down-draught. "On the Lofoten Islands of Norway an aircraft crashed after an airstrip was built in the lee of a hill. The service is now run by helicopter there," he says.
His proposal states that a temporary helicopter service - provided by any one of four established helicopter services in the State - could be flying within three months of approval, with a full service in nine months. "It will be far more appropriate to islanders' needs, and far kinder to a fragile environment," he says.
