Sir, - What a sad indictment of our "modern" society that it has taken a tragedy of the proportions of the Inisbofin fire, with the deaths of Eileen Coyne and her two sisters, to invigorate the relevant authorities into action. Their inertia has not changed very much over decades.
Fifty years ago, three fishermen from nearby Inishark lost their lives in a drowning accident. Subsequently, the islanders asked the then Government for a decent pier. That was refused. They requested a simple radio communications kit. This also was refused. The only response from the Church and State was to break up the islanders' self-sufficient community by taking them off the island to rehouse them on the mainland.
In the mid 1950s, Eamon De Valera visited Inishturk in a currach and a bainin sweater. He promised the islanders an extension to their pier. The next dignitary to visit was Charles Haughey when he arrived on the island to launch electricity in the mid 1980s. He arrived in a dapper suit and a £6 million Dauphin helicopter. They were waiting for their new pier for over 30 years when the government finally built it.
Mr De Valera's grandson, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, Minister for State for the islands, has said he will look "favourably" on submissions from islanders looking for basic equipment. The Bofin people and islanders in similar circumstances are not asking the politicians for a "stroke" or a favour. Joanne Elliott of the Bofin Development Committee articulated their frustration when she indicated that a length of hose and an axe could save a life. Fire-fighting equipment is a basic right.
It is worth noting that, one night about nine years ago, Eileen Coyne's next-door neighbour watched helplessly with his fellow islanders as his house was gutted by fire. On that occasion, as in Mrs Coyne's cases, the nearby hydrant failed. Subsequently, little or nothing was done by Galway County Council. But then nobody perished in that fire. So it wasn't a tragedy. - Yours, etc.,
John Carlos, New Row Square, Dublin 8.