560 families are applying for rent-free accommodation in Inis Main under the new scheme

IRELAND: For a year of free rent on Inis Meáin, more than 560 applications have been submitted.

The offer was made earlier this week by the local community development organisation, Comhlacht Forbatha.

A SCHEME TO house a family on Inis Meáin for a year with free rent has garnered “huge interest” from applicants in Ireland and abroad.

The scheme is aimed at a family with a functional level of Irish, with children in pre-school or primary school.

Mairéad Ní Fhátharta, the caothairleach of Comhlacht Fobartha Inis Meáin (the Inis Meáin development body) and the principal of the island’s secondary school, told that the response to the advertised scheme has been overwhelmingly positive.

It is looking for a family to reside there for a year with kids in school and "functioning" Irish.

Inis Meáin also has a high speed broadband working hub, and this is an effort to combat the declining school enrollment on the islands off the Galway Coast.

These are typical Irish families who desire to live in rural areas for a while in order to experience it, immerse themselves in the culture, and learn the language.

There are preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools on Inis Meáin, one of the three Aran Islands.

Source: Alamy

Several international candidates, including "great interest from Canada," she continued, had applied, and an Australian radio station had contacted the Comhlacht to spread the word about the programme.

Students from all throughout Ireland attend Coláiste Naomh Eoin through boarding grants and supported programmes, but this is the first time the rent-free portion for a family has been utilised.

But she said that the family will still need to make ends meet because "rent free does not equal bill free."

Families that are chosen will be able to relocate to Inis Meáin in September, and candidates with "a command of the [Irish] language" will be given priority so they can fit in with the neighbourhood and school.

For remote workers, there is a newly opened remote working center on the island as part of the Gteic scheme for Gaeltacht areas.

Ní Fhátharta said: "Living on an offshore island is not something you can decide to do one day without some sort of incentive."

But "the benefits are huge - to master the Irish language, to experience something unique."

Last date for receipt of applications is August 10.