On 22 September the island will be the venue of an official sitting of the Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands.
If you would like to attend this event, please feel free to email the committee. Please note that places may be limited at the meeting venue.
The meeting, the first official Oireachtas business to be held on an offshore island, signifies the importance of involving all the people of Ireland in the democratic process.
The Committeee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, chaired by Deputy Denis Naughten, is tasked with scrutinising the work of the work of the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Rural and Community Development and their respective agencies. It also has a special remit to consider matters of relevance to Ireland's offshore islands, a unique and important rural community in itself.
Committee meetings have been held outside the Leinster House before, notably as part of a series of debates before Ireland voted on acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty, but advances in telecommunications infrastructure and rural communications will enable proceedings to be conducted and streamed live from an offshore island for the first time from Árainn Mhór.
Speaking about this unprecedented event, Deputy Naughten said this live broadcast of Oireachtas business being conducted outside Dublin for the first time shows "the huge potential that broadband and technology have in bringing democracy and the operations of Leinster House to the people right across this country". He also noted how unique and positive it is that a national initiative is for the first time being commenced on an offshore island rather than in another part of the country.
The Committee's meeting will cover three strands:
- Module 1: Climate neutrality and biodiversity on the islands. A discussion with Avril Ní Shearcaigh of Comharchumann Fuinnimh Oileáin Árann Teoranta.
- Module 2: Housing and sustaining communities on offshore Islands. A discussion with Dr. Conor Cashman, UCC, Comhar na nÓiléain on a new national report that is an expansion of Housing and Sustaining Communities on the West Cork Islands.
- Module 3: eHealth and living longer on islands. A discussion with Dr. Ian McCabe, Dr. Jennifer Doran and Dr. Noreen Lineen Curtis on their Digital Health Project.
The Committee's meeting on Árainn Mhór coincides with Culture Night 2023, when Leinster House opens its doors and allows people see the lesser-seen and storied history of their Parliament building. Along with the sitting on Árainn Mhór, it is an indication that location is secondary to the business of Parliament, the people involved in that process and the importance of seeing democracy in action.
Image: Arranmore/Árainn Mhór | Photo © Kenneth Allen (cc-by-sa/2.0)