Independent councillor Mícheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig has urged the government and Donegal County Council to review the level of funding for the Donegal Islands.
Last August, €359,000 had been allocated to all the Donegal Islands, a reduction of 25% in funding levels to the year prior.
Speaking to Donegal Daily after visiting residents on Gola Island, Mícheál Cholm said serious investment and support was needed for the islands before it was too late.
“The islands are very important to the county and I have spent a lot of time and focus over the last five years on them,” he said
“For me, they are very important and I hold them close to my heart and they have been neglected by successive governments and councils in Donegal, which isn’t right or fair to the people who spend their lives there.
“And the vast majority of our councillors don’t bother with the islands because they see it as politically irrelevant, that’s the truth of the matter.”
Cllr Mícheál Choilm on Gola Island on Sunday
“It is about treating people equally right across Donegal and those islands have a massive influence on our culture and history.
“Walking through Gola (Island) on Sunday you could see clearly the lack of investment and not just on the infrastructure but into the people themselves who have been neglected for generations.
“But what excites me now is the new group of young people that are starting a return to the island and see themselves, just like their ancestors before them, as islanders.
“So, the powers at be, need to be supporting these young people at every opportunity and, we as a council and as a state, need to be doing far more than is being done at present.”
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