Sir, – David McWilliams’s warning about the survival of the Aran Islanders exposes a glaring failure of State policy (“From dereliction to Airbnb, the Gaeltacht is being destroyed by the housing crisis”, Opinion, October 17th).
A young islander whose family has worked the same patch of ground for generations faces years of planning hurdles to build on it, while the house next door is auctioned online to an investor in London, New York or anyone with the money to bid.
Our housing is a global marketplace, however, people rooted on that island for thousands of years are left queuing for permission slips on land they already own. We rightly regard the abandonment of the Blasket Islands as a historic government failure. To watch the same fate befall the Aran Islanders – this time with every means to prevent it – would be unforgivable. – Yours, etc,
PETER McCARTHY,
Dublin 3.
Source: The Irish Times · Tue Oct 27 2026 - 06:00 • 1 MIN READ
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