Islay and the rest of the Highlands and Islands are facing a “calamitous” fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, one of Scotland’s leading historians has warned.
Speaking to The Ileach ahead of his participation in this year’s online Islay Book Festival, Professor Jim Hunter said the collapse of tourism under lockdown underlined the need for new thinking on how to diversify island economies and unlock their full potential.
“For the first time since the second world war we have had a spring and an early summer without any tourists and that has had consequences that are clearly already very adverse,” said Hunter, the Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
“As the government furlough scheme begins to wind down (from August onwards), these consequences could rapidly become pretty calamitous in terms of unemployment.”
Hunter, whose career has also included stints as director of the Crofters’ Union and as chairman of Highlands and Island Enterprise, said the grave situation should serve as a wake-up call about how vulnerable rural communities become if they are overly dependent on one sector.
“We saw that of course in the 1980s and 1990s when mining and steelmaking and so on suddenly ceased to exist and jobs vanished practically overnight.
“Barring further lockdowns tourism isn’t going to disappear. But a lesson to draw is that a much bigger effort needs to be made in the years ahead to diversify the economy of these localities.”
Hunter said tourism’s positive impact in terms of jobs and general prosperity was increasingly being offset by its negative impact on the supply of affordable housing.
“If you have a situation where more and more of a community’s houses are being taken out of local use for holiday lets and second homes, that is clearly a bad thing,” he said.
“Yes there is a demand for self-catering accommodation but there are some localities in Spain and elsewhere that now insist if there is to be that sort of accommodation provided, it must be purpose-built for that purpose and the local housing supply kept for the local community.”
In his latest book, Insurrection: Scotland’s Famine Winter, Hunter recounts how the arrival of potato blight in the country in 1846 resulted in people starving to death over the following winter in parts of the Hebrides and Western Highlands.
Fearing a similar fate, northeastern coastal communities from Wick to Aberdeen rose up in a wave of violent protests at rising oatmeal prices and succeeded in forcing the authorities to ensure that locally-produced grain was released at accessible prices rather than shipped away to the highest bidder in the Lowlands or England.
This forgotten chapter of Scottish history, Hunter believes, provides a reminder that, in exceptional times, radical solutions can be found for what seem to be intractable problems.
“Diversifying the economy is easier said than done, of course, but what is absolutely essential is to utilise the technologies now available that make it possible for people to do things in island communities that, in the past, couldn’t be done.
“Clearly there are limits to the number of people who can run a computer consultancy out of, say, Barra. It’s not going to be enormous but anything of that sort needs to be expanded.”
A long-standing champion of land reform, Hunter believes the region’s fundamental problem is a lack of local control over key resources.
“If Islay was a self-governing, autonomous republic, the only problem it would have to face economically would be what to do with all the money it would be making from taxing whisky,” he says with a smile.
“Leaving aside whisky, which may be quite controversial, if you think about the wind farms which are proliferating across the Highlands and Islands – there is a huge difference between ones which are under local control and generating cash for the local community and ones which are under the control of a distant company. They may pay a community benefit but it is only a fraction of what the community would get if it owned the wind farm itself.
“All of that needs to be thought about. Fishing, which is in the melting pot because of Brexit, is another instance: if the Hebrides had a 200-mile exclusive fishing zone, it perhaps would not be as good a source of revenue as Islay whisky – but it wouldn’t be far behind.”
Jim’s book festival chat about his latest book and the events of 1846–47 will be available to watch on YouTube over the weekend of August 27–30.
by Angus MacKinnon
Na h-eileanan gu bhith a’ dèiligeadh ri buil ‘mì-shealbhach’ Covid
Tha eilean Ìle agus an còrr den Ghàidhealtachd ’s na h-Eileanan gu bhith a’ dèiligeadh ri toradh “mì-shealbhach” bho ghalar-sgaoilte Covid-19, tha aon de phrìomh luchd-eachdraidh na h-Alba air rabhadh.
A’ labhairt ris an Ìleach ro a chom-pàirteachadh ann am Fèis Leabhraichean Ìle air-loidhne na bliadhna seo, thuirt an t-Àrd-Ollamh Seumas Mac an t-Sealgair gun robh gèilleadh turasachd fon dian-ghlasadh, a’ dearbhadh an fheum air modh smaoineachaidh ùr a thaobh na dòigh air eaconamaidhean nan eilean iomadachadh agus an làn chomais fhuasgladh.
“Airson a’ chiad uair on dàrna cogadh mòr, bha earrach agus toiseach samhraidh againn às aonais luchd-turais sam bith agus tha buil sin gu follaiseach glè mhì-shealbhach,” thuirt Mac an t-Sealgair, Àrd-Ollamh Emeritus ann an Eachdraidh aig Oilthigh na Gàidhealtachd agus nan
Eilean.
“Mar a tha sgeama fòrlaidh an riaghaltais a’ tòiseachadh air seacadh (bhon Lùnastal agus às a dhèidh), dh’fhaodadh na builean sin fàs fìor dhona a thaobh cosnadh gu math luath.”
Thuirt Mac an t-Sealgair, a chuir seachad tìde na dhreuchd mar stiùiriche air Aonadh nan Croitearan agus mar chathraiche air Iomairt na Gàidhealtachd agus nan Eilean, gum bu chòir don t-suidheachadh throm-chùiseach seo a bhith mar ghairm rabhaidh a thaobh cho so-leònte
agus a tha coimhearsnachdan dùthchail a’ fàs, ma tha iad ro mhòr an eisimeil aon roinn.
“Chunnaic sinn sin anns na 1980an agus 1990an nuair a sguir mèinnearachd agus toradh-stàilinn is eile a bhith ann gu h-obann, agus chaidh obraichean às an t-sealladh cha mhòr thar oidhche.
“Gun bhacadh dian-ghlasaidhean eile, chan eil turasachd a’ dol a dhol às an t-sealladh. Ach is e an leasan gum feumar oidhirp mòran nas motha a dhèanamh sna bliadhnaichean ri teachd gus eaconamaidh nan nàbaidheachdan sin iomadachadh.”
Thuirt Mac an t-Sealgair gun robh buaidh dheimhinneach turasachd a thaobh obraichean agus soirbheachas san fharsaingeachd, gu mòr ga lùghdachadh le a bhuaidh àicheil air solar taigheadais aig prìs reusanta.
“Ma tha suidheachadh agad far a bheil barrachd is barrachd de thaighean coimhearsnachd gan toirt a-mach à feum ionadail mar thaighean saor-làithean agus dàrna dachaighean, tha e follaiseach gur e droch shuidheachadh a tha sin,” thuirt e.
“Tha iarrtas ann airson àiteachan-fuirich fèin-fhrithealaidh ach tha cuid de nàbaidheachdan san Spàinn agus eile a tha a-nis a’ cumail a-mach ma thathar gu bhith a’ solarachadh a leithid sin de dh’àite-fuirich, feumaidh e a bhith air a thogail a dh’aon ghnothaich don adhbhar sin agus solar
taigheadais ionadail a chumail don choimhearsnachd ionadail.”
San leabhar mu dheireadh aige, Insurrection: Scotland’s Famine Winter, tha Mac an t-Sealgair ag innse mar a rinn gaiseadh a’ bhuntàta a thàinig don dùthaich ann an 1846, toradh ann an daoine a’ bàsachadh leis an acras thar a’ gheamhraidh às dèidh sin ann an ceàrnaidhean de na h-Eileanan A-muigh agus Taobh Siar na Gàidhealtachd.
Le eagal gum biodh a leithid eile an dàn dhaibh fhèin, dh’èirich coimhearsnachdan air an oirthir bho Inbhir Ùige gu Obar Dheathain ann an suaile de ghearanan fòirneartach air sgàth meudachadh ann am prìs min-choirce, agus bha iad soirbheachail ann an toirt air na h-ùghdarrasan gu a dhèanamh cinnteach gun robh gràin a bha air fhàs gu h-ionadail ga reic aig prìsean reusanta seach a bhith ga chur air falbh chun an tagraiche a b’ àirde air a’ Ghalltachd no ann an Sasainn.
Tha Mac an t-Sealgair a’ creidsinn gu bheil a’ chaibideil dhìochuimhnichte seo ann an eachdraidh, a’ toirt gu ar cuimhne gun gabh aig amannan neo-abhaisteach, fuasglaidhean radaigeach an lorg do cheistean a tha a’ coimhead do-dhèante.
“Tha iomadachadh an eaconamaidh nas fhasa a ràdh na a dhèanamh, ach ’s e an nì a tha dha-rìribh deatamach, na teicneòlasan a chleachdadh a tha a-nis rim faotainn agus a tha ga dhèanamh comasach do dhaoine nithean a dhèanamh ann an coimhearsnachdan nan eilean, nach gabhadh an dèanamh san àm a dh’fhalbh.
“Tha e follaiseach gu bheil crìochan air an àireamh de dhaoine as urrainn seirbheis co-chomhairleachaidh a ruith a-mach à can, Barraigh. Chan eil e gu bhith ana-mhòr ach feumaidh nì sam bith den t-seòrsa sin a leudachadh.
Mar ghaisgeach fad-amail a thaobh ath-leasachadh fearainn, tha Mac an t-Sealgair a’ creidsinn gur e dìth smachd ionadail air prìomh ghoireasan, duilgheadas bunasach na sgìre.
“Nan robh Ìle na poblachd fèin-riaghlach, neo-eisimeileach, is e an t-aon duilgheadas ris am feumadh i dèiligeadh gu h-eaconamach, dè a dhèantadh leis an t-sùim airgid a bhiodh air a thoradh bho chìseadh uisge-beatha,” thuirt e le fiamh-ghàire.
“A’ fàgail uisge-beatha gu aon taobh, a dh’fhaodadh a bhith gu math connspaideach, ma smaoinicheas tu air na tuathan-gaoithe a tha ann an lìonmhorachd air feadh na Gàidhealtachd agus nan Eilean – tha diofar fìor mhòr eadar feadhainn a tha fo smachd ionadail agus a’ togail airgid don choimhearsnachd ionadail, agus feadhainn a tha fo smachd companaidh air astar.
Dh’fhaodadh gum bi iad a’ pàigheadh buannachd coimhearsnachd ach chan eil an sin ach mìr de na gheibheadh a’ choimhearsnachd nam biodh seilbh aca air an tuathan-gaoithe fhèin.
“Feumar smaoineachadh air a h-uile nì a tha sin. Is e iasgach, a tha ann am breisleach an-dràsta air sgàth Brexit, eisimpleir eile: nam biodh sòn toirmeasgach 200-mìle aig Innse Gall, dh’fhaodadh nach biodh e na stòr teachd-a-steach cho math ri uisge-beatha Ìle – ach cha bhiodh e fada às a dhèidh.”
Bidh còmhradh fèis leabhraichean Jim mu dheidhinn an leabhair as ùire aige agus tachartasan 1846–47, rim faotainn airson an coimhead air YouTube thar deireadh-sheachdain 27–30 Lùnastal.
le Aonghas MacFhionghain