It was announced
that the orderbook for the Arnish Fabrication Yard is once more empty,
people have been laid off and the big yellow crane, used for loading and
unloading ships, has been taken away off the island. Over the whole of
the period this blog has been in operation, the Fabrication Yard has
been highlighted as the salvation of the island’s economy.
Unfortunately, that has proven to be a red herring.
There are a couple of factors that stand in the way of long-term
security for jobs at the yard. First of all, its geographical location.
Anything made at Arnish has to be shipped away (unless it’s for use in
Lewis or Harris). Officially, there are only 6 days in the working week;
a comment on a previous posting has intimated that work is being done on a Sunday, but nobody talks about that.
The Eishken windfarm looks set to commence construction next year,
2013. Its owner, Mr Oppenheimer, has announced that it could be expanded
further. When it comes to building the project, this has to be put out
to tender. Any contract valued at more than a few hundred thousand
pounds, has to be put to tender on an EU-wide basis. It is not possible
to circumvent this requirement, I believe. So, assuming that work on
this windfarm will be done by local companies is a wrong assumption.
Much like the schools project, now nearing completion in the islands,
it looks likely that companies from outwith the Hebrides will be
awarded the projects. The schools project too has had to be put out to
tender, and the most suitable bidder was selected to do the work. It is
regrettable that local companies lost out, but their bids will not have
been good enough. Doing a financial sleight of hand in order to favour
local contractors, would have fallen foul of EU regulations - and this
country is still in the EU.
Finding a long-term solution to the economic problems of the Outer
Hebrides remains a difficult task, and a quick and easy fix, such as
windfarms, turns out not to be a true fix.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Sunday, 13 May 2012
A tribute
From across the Minch and through the medium of Twitter, news has
reached me of the death of Mary Beith at her home in Sutherland.
Although I never met Mary in the flesh, I was in touch with her through
Twitter, where she operated as @igrannie. Her last posting there was on
26 August last year, and I gather that her health started to deteriorate
earlier through last year.
Mary is better known in the North West Highlands through her writings on the subject of Gaelic medicine in the West Highland Free Press and has also published books.
I would like to dedicate this post to Mary’s memory, and convey my condolences to her family and friends.
Mary is better known in the North West Highlands through her writings on the subject of Gaelic medicine in the West Highland Free Press and has also published books.
I would like to dedicate this post to Mary’s memory, and convey my condolences to her family and friends.
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