Care to live on an island? Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI) could make it happen. In conjunction with the Sherkin Island Development Organisation, RRI has established a programme under which families will be helped to move to Sherkin, off the south-west coast, to begin a new life. Sherkin is the next island to Cape Clear, the Gaeltacht island, and is every bit as beautiful. The prospect of settling on Sherkin is exciting. It has the potential to give a new lease of life to city slickers. And if there are children involved, Sherkin Island National School will benefit as well. But it is exciting too for the islanders. New, and hopefully permanent neighbours, can only be a positive thing. The islands are well known to most people during the summer months. For the remainder of the year, though, things are not as hectic. When the winter Atlantic swells are running, the tourists are long gone. The islands, therefore, must develop their own strategies to ensure their future. That's the aim of the Sherkin project, And if it is successful, it will be repeated on other islands.
The resettlement organisation is working with Cork County Council as well as with the island development group on the initiative.
Families with school-going children will be offered first choice of the available housing. There could be a good deal of interest when children from an urban background, or at least from a non-island one, join fellow school-goers who know only island life. If the take-up is sufficient, it is hoped that other islands experiencing population decline will be in a position to join the scheme. Sherkin's national school could do with a new intake - its register boasts only nine students. But the ageing population of the island numbers no more than 90. The island, measuring 1,400 acres, has 45 holiday homes and about 40 permanent homes. Tourism and fishing are its main sources of income.
Rural Resettlement Ireland was started in 1990 and has assisted some 302 families, mostly from the Dublin area, to move to 19 rural counties. In the past seven years the resettlement success rate has been 80 per cent, and there is now a total of 3,600 families who have filled in the questionnaire and are on the waiting list. The organisation receives 60 per cent of its core funding from the Department of the Environment; the remainder is provided through voluntary donations. Two years ago, RRI launched a five-year parish initiative in Athlone, designed to encourage rural parishes all over Ireland to find one house every year, for five years, which could be used for resettling families. The move, it is hoped, will empower local communities to chart their own survival.
RRI is working with local associations throughout the State to get more families into rural areas. The fight is against rural depopulation - not an issue to command much attention in our bustling cities. As families prepare to move, they are advised on what to expect and can avail of courses on issues such as mortgages, housing problems and first aid.
After the move there is a continuing back-up service.
Irish Americans are increasingly involved in the resettlement process. An organisation known as RRI (USA), has now been granted charitable status in America and has directors in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. The Ireland Fund regards the project as one of its flagships. Working with the Bank of Ireland, RRI has also launched a scheme to give fixed, low-rate mortgages to unemployed people.
According to RRI, some 64 per cent of families on its waiting list are in Dublin local authority dwellings. A further 8 per cent are housed by local authorities in other parts of Ireland. Some 13 per cent of those who have applied for placement live in Britain and 1.5 per cent in Northern Ireland. Of those who returned questionnaires to the organisation, 7.3 per cent are unemployed. The scheme has meant that more than 160 houses - worth more than £8 million - have been handed back to local authorities, mostly in the Dublin area.