"We are not planning for our children and the children of the future to live in Connemara, and we are now in a very serious situation." The words of school principal and community activist Mr Leo Hallissey, who has called for a concerted effort to tackle the housing crisis facing young people in the region.
Mr Hallissey, who hosts the 15th annual Connemara Sea Week which opened this weekend in Letterfrack, Co Galway, says the provisions for social and community housing contained in the Government's new Planning Bill are a step in the right direction. However, he is proposing a radical plan which would involve the co-operation of financial institutions and local authorities.
Mr Hallissey says that a three-pronged initiative is required, whereby the county council would buy land and develop 10 or 12 serviced sites which could be sold back to the community. These sites would be laid out attractively and design guidelines would be sympathetic to the local environment and traditional architecture. Banks and credit unions would support the scheme with low-interest loans, backed up by a type of "mentoring or hand-holding". Banks have done well in the west of Ireland, and have a "moral obligation" to help the weaker members of society, he says.
The third strand of the initiative would involve examining the resources available in the local communities of Connemara. In Letterfrack, for instance, almost none of the food consumed by thousands of visitors during the tourist season is locally produced.
Mr Hallissey is already on record as a critic of the second-home syndrome - the explosion of holiday homes in the west which has had a dramatic effect on property prices.
In Galway city, the first tranche of "affordable" homes is to be available for occupation at the beginning of December under the new scheme. A total of 90 applicants were deemed eligible for the 70 affordable houses, following public invitation. Lots were then drawn last July at Galway City Hall, and the 20 unsuccessful applicants put on a reserve list.
Earlier this month Galway County Council also granted planning permission for a co-operative scheme which would provide "half-price houses" for 35 couples less than 12 miles from the city close to the village of Turloughmore. Under the scheme, the prospective house purchasers form a co-operative, buy the land, and if planning goes ahead the contract then goes out to tender.
Artist Barrie Cooke opened an art exhibition in Letterfrack at the weekend as one of the public events during the Sea Week. The exhibition, which sold some 50 per cent of the work on the opening night, involves the work of two locally-based artists, Pam Berry from the US and Hardy Langer from Germany.
Yesterday was children's day, with a book fair, facepainting, juggling, magic and a mini-regatta, winding up with music. Throughout the week, many sporting events are planned, including soccer, Gaelic football and chess. And there will be visits to local schools by environmentalists.
The Sea Week conference begins next weekend in Letterfrack National School on the theme of the quest for adventure. Among the speakers will be Galway hooker sailor Paddy Barry; Everest mountaineer Frank Nugent; and whale and dolphin expert Simon Berrow, who worked with the British Antarctic Survey. The British climber and author Joe Simpson has had to cancel his lecture, but he will be replaced by the distinguished mountaineer, writer and journalist, Jim Perrin.
Field trips will be run throughout the weekend by ecologist Mike Miller, and music workshops will be convened by Frank Custy, who taught both Sharon Shannon and Mary Custy, and other musicians.
Poets participating include Mary O'Malley and Louis de Paor. The programme winds up on Monday, October 25th, with a meeting of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
For further details, Leo Hallissey can be contacted at (095) 41034 or 43443 or fax (095) 41112.
