Features
Organic Living on the Aran Islands
If you ask Dara Molloy why he began an organic gardening initiative ten years ago on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, he will quote Mahatma Ghandi as his inspiration. "Despite all his commitments, Gandhi used to set some time aside every day to spin wool. At the time the English were taking all the wool and sending it abroad so the spinning was a political statement, a statement of empowerment if you like" Dara explains. "That's how I feel about gardening. It's not just a personal passion for me. I want to be in control of my own needs. The more people feel empowered the more they will take control of their own destiny".
Growing Tradition
Since then several islanders have renewed their interest in gardening and, under the auspices of Bia árainn, at least five new polytunnels will adorn the landscape of the island this year. "The tradition of growing was never really lost here and we all grew up with it" says Enda Gill who has just erected a large tunnel. "We have an advantage on the mainland. We are generally four to five weeks ahead here" he says as he digs his first early potatoes well ahead of any outdoor crop in Ireland. "We were nearly always organic so this was a small step for us. I can see many people going back to producing their own food. I think it's a reaction to how bad a lot of mass produced food is".
Pádraic Ó Tuairisg concurs. He is also the proud owner of a new tunnel and has always been a keen gardener. "People should have their own food and not be totally dependant on supermarkets" he says. "Even as a child in my home place we always had a garden. All we used for fertiliser was farmyard manure and seaweed. Now, it's so much easier to go to the supermarket than to produce it yourself. I could spend hours in the tunnel. There's great satisfaction in producing food from scratch. It's far healthier than what you buy".
Island living
In Ireland, we often complain about the difficulties of being an island nation relative to mainland Europe and just about everywhere else. It's refreshing then to meet islanders off the Irish coast who are, in the main, happy with their lot. "Island living is a state of mind" says Pádraic "We are not really isolated and there is access to all the services we need".
A number of state agencies look after the interests of island communities. "There is funding available for any reasonable needs that we have" As Dara says. "the Comharcumman here is very committed and Udarás na Gaeltachta, Cómdháil na n-Oileán and Leader provide help when we need it". Following a meeting last year, Cómdháil na n-Oileán set up a project to get all of the islands involved in organic growing. "This came from our project here" says Dara. "One thing spawns another; you just never know how it may take off. Organic growing enhances everyone's life and the quality of service to islanders and outsiders as well".
Tourism dangers
On Inis Mór on a summer's day its difficult not to get carried away with the romantic image that attracts up to 2,000 tourists a day during peak holiday season. Quiet roads, picture postcard fields and an unpolluted environment are just some of the attractions that the island offers. Most visitors however, are day trippers who come for the quick island experience and the majority return to the mainland on the ferry after a few hours stopover. In his work running the heritage site at Dún Aengus, Pádraic meets many of the tourists who visit the island. "Very few Irish come to visit relative to non-nationals" he says. "Mostly it is continentals, French, German and Italian. Tourism has brought material wealth but it needs a tight rein. We need to promote eco-tourism and the natural environment. Inis Mór has some wonderful pre-Christian and early Christian sites to visit". Dara agrees. "There are dangers from tourism" he says. "We have to be careful that the native culture doesn't die out altogether. Currachs are gone, knitting is gone. We want the type of tourist who engages and we must provide leisure activities and courses to attract them here".
Irish language
Protecting the heritage and culture of the island and the Irish language is a recurring theme among islanders. This concern isn't difficult to understand when you sit in a ferry full of third level students leaving the island after the weekend and listen to the hybrid 'Ros na Rún' Irish that the young people speak. "Since the leaving cert course was introduced here some years ago a lot more young people are going on to third level" Enda says. "It used to be that young people left school early and went fishing but now the fishing has declined. It is difficult to see many of them returning to live on the island. The language is being eroded but there is a greater consciousness of that and the need to nurture the language among people".
Cargo
One of the main difficulties for any island community is the logistics of getting cargo on and off the island and this is the single biggest issue that Aran Islanders have at present. Getting cargo delivered is prohibitively expensive. "The Government spends a lot of money subsidising the service but islanders are still paying through the nose" says Enda. A meeting was held recently with the Minister for the Gaeltacht requesting a free delivery service for essential goods. "People have to be able to afford to live here and travelling to the mainland is expensive".
Recycling waste
One cargo leaving the island that has reduced considerably in the past few years is waste going to landfill. A state of the art re-cycling facility was built to cater for the island's needs and has been in operation for the past three years. Olwyn Gill has been managing the facility and she says that it has made a huge difference to the way islanders dispose of waste. "The incidence of burning rubbish has decreased hugely and we send much less to landfill now" she says. "Plastics, cartons and cans go for re-cycling. Glass is crushed and used here on the island for concrete foundations. We turn food waste and paper into compost". The compliance rate has improved over the years and is now very high Olwyn says. The compost is produced in an in-vessel aerobic system. Fresh air is forced in and stale air is expelled from the vessel. A rotating arm constantly turns the compost and it takes two weeks to break down and a further two to mature. The resulting compost is sweet smelling, crumbly and unrecognisable from its original state. "We hope to expand to other products like a commercial potting compost eventually" says Olwyn. "Tests on the compost show a consistently high rate of nutrients". There are plans to expand the re-cycling facilities further and a financial return from aluminium could be generated if a can crushing could be done on the island.
Happy lives
t home.Despite the obvious difficulties of travelling and distance you won't find an islander who would change their situation. "It's a better quality of life" says Enda. "I couldn't see myself anywhere else other than here". "My background as a priest gave me the motivation to come here twenty years ago" Dara says. "The old celtic monasteries got something right. The communities were totally self sufficient and were the centre of arts and culture at the time while bringing about a revolution in agriculture".
Pádraic ó Tuairisg puts it poetically "I can sit out there on the wall on a summer's night with no sound except for the sea and look at the lights reflected across the bay. It's as close to heaven as you can get here".
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