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Fury at Minister’s deliberate exclusion of Argyll islands from Steering Group

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Island councillors Robin Currie from Islay and Mary Jean Devon from Mull made a formal request to Argyll and Bute Council to represent the Argyll islands at the  islands conference held last week at Kirkwall in Orkney.

The three councils organising the event, Orkney, Shetland and Eilean Siar [Western Isles] welcomed the presence of Argyll and Bute. Council Leader Roddy McCuish and Councillor Currie then took part in a forward thinking and energetic event.

Scottish Government Minister for Local Government, Derek Mackay was a key figure at the meeting.

The Western and Northern isles Councils have already made contact with Brussels to discuss their representation at the European Committee of the Regions – for which they would require to be given regional status.

They have also enquired about representation within that of their national member state, whether that is the UK or Scotland.

Their aim is to acquire substantial devolved powers for themselves.

Jean Didier Hache, Executive Secretary of the Islands Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions,  who was present, was both informative and  encouraging.

On the first day  of the two-day conference. Councillor Currie asked the other three councils about the inclusion in the fast formalising strategy of Argyll and Bute – with its 25 inhabited islands in the Clyde and Inner Hebrides. Robin Currie;s point was that all islands face the same challenges so why exclude Coll and Tiree and the Inner Hebrides?

The answer was that they would be happy ‘to talk to Argyll and Bute on an issue by issue basis’.

On the second day of the conference, Council Leader McCuish put the same question to the Minister, pointing out that Islay contributes millions to the Treasury and that Argyll and the Isles has 14% of Scotland’s renewable energy resources.

Interestingly, Derek Mackay became the first Scottish Minister openly to accept that an independent Scotland would have to re-apply for EU membership.

In explaining this he pointed out that this situation would create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a new treaty to be ore favourable to all of Scotland;s islands – and then to be more favourable to the creation of a Minister for the Islands.

The first observation that has to be made here is, if it is recognised that the islands share concerns and challenges specific to their island nature, why are we waiting to appoint a Minister for the Islands?

This is necessary regardless of the outcome of the Independence Referendum and there is absolutely no impediment to  the Scottish Government in so doing.

The Minister’s answer to Councillor McCuish’s question was that he had no responsibility to set up a ministerial post and at the moment the ministerial Steering Group would include the 3 island councils and would be more than happy to have Argyll and Bute along on an issue by issue basis.

The result of this has been what we can only call fury amongst the island councillors.

Mull’s Councillor Mary Jean Devon is making personal contact with Derek Mackay to make her feelings known to him direct.

She is incensed at the flat exclusion of the Argyll islands from the minster’s Steering Group ['How dare he exclude us from a seat on the Steering Group.'], pointing out that Islay is a major contributor to the economy of Scotland and that Mull is Scotland’s No 1 destination for wildlife tourism. She is passionate about what the Argyll islands have to bring to collective self-determination and infuriated that this seems to be discounted absolutely by the Minister.

With this particular Minister heavily involved in the serial shambles that his party has forced on the SNP Group’s leadership of Argyll and Bute Council, the question of why the SNP Governemnt seems to ‘have it in for Argyll and Bute’ is being asked.

Councillor Devon, in her anger, says that Derek Mackay. from Renfrew, has no personal experience of island life and no understanding of it. The inability in government even to know what you don’t know is not a phenomenon exclusive to Scotland but it is a constantly damaging one.

In population terms, the Argyll islands, including Bute in the Clyde, adds up over 14,950.

The populations of the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland are respectively, 26,080, 21,530 and 23,210.

And then there is the Isle of Arran and the Isle of Skye with its skirting Small Isles of Rum. Muck, Eigg and Canna.

Given the geographical reach of all of the island groups and their populations, there is a very strong argument for regional status being given to two distinctive groups – the west coast islands and the north coast islands. This would have the advantage of building on affiliations that already exist, rather than trying to ram them all into one organisation.

The Minister ought to consider establishing Steering Groups for each of these. They are very different from each other, in place, culture, resources, challenges and needs.

Orkney and Shetland share a specific maritime location and cultures; and the islands of the west coast share the same type of influences, but different in nature. We are already on the record as saying that we do not believe that a combination of the Western Isles with the Northern Isles is a good match. But together there is a shared heritage between the west coast islands and between the northern islands.

Councillor Currie says: ‘ It was important that we had a presence at the conference and that we made the point that we felt all of the Scottish Islands should be part of the campaign or maybe, more correctly, the campaign as we understood it at the start. I think as the first day progressed, the joint authority that they seemed to be talking about, was probably not us.

‘However it was important that we got our voices heard – and we did, and nobody was in any doubt that we made a strong case and that the case would have to be dealt with by both Governments.’

Councillor McCuish says: ‘I would like to make it clear I am 100% behind what the 3 island councils are trying to achieve and would support them on this – but not at the exclusion of Argyll and Bute. We have a lot to offer and the slogan ‘Our islands, Our future’  should maybe read ‘All our islands, All our futures’.

‘The sea should not be seen as a barrier but as a resource.  And some of the speakers at the conference recognised the need for the inclusion of Argyll and Bute.’


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