Development group restoration goes on

VALENTIA Island Development Company Ltd Chairman Michael Lyne writes as follows in the Valentia Island Newsletter of 2017:

“The Valentia Island Development Company Limited was formed in 2009 to promote Valentia Island in every way and to create an environment for increasing employment in the area in an effort to stall the continuous downward population trend. Its membership is made up of about 10 local people who are in various local enterprises and it is a non-profit company which has just been granted full charitable status.

“To date, the company has been involved in promoting local projects such as the Marina, helping with fundraising for the local hospital which was in danger of closing and it was also very much involved in a campaign to save the local Valentia Radio Station which was threatened with closure. Five years ago we opened the Tourist Office with the support of the local community. In 2016 we hired a Development Officer, funded mostly by Kerry County Council, to help us promote the island and generate full time sustainable jobs. VIDCLG then took over the Lighthouse and opened it up to the public. Tremendous work has been going on there and over 15,000 people visited the Lighthouse in 2017.

“There is an ongoing restoration programme and it is hoped to develop it into an interpretive centre in the coming years. We have also helped to set up an energy co-op which will reduce our carbon footprint. We have supported the development of Bray Head and we are engaged in talks with BT with a view to bringing high-speed broadband to the island. VIDC has recently been approved for charitable status by the Charities Regulator. At present we are involved in an effort to get the transatlantic cable at Valentia recognised as a UNESCO World Industrial Heritage Communication Site.”