The Scottish Islands Federation, founded in November 2007, claims that it aims to promote, publicise and advance the interests of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
's islands. It grew out of the informal Scottish Islands Network, which had existed since 2001.
The inaugural conference was held at Craignure on the
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull ( gd, An t-Eilean Muileach ) or just Mull (; gd, Muile, links=no ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Arg ...
. A survey of islanders found that nearly 90% believe that all of Scotland's 90 or more inhabited islands should be able to speak with a common voice and that 77% believe that the
Scottish Government should include a minister with specific responsibility for the islands. There was also overwhelming support for a forthcoming pilot scheme to introduce road equivalent tariff that could reduce ferry fares. It was also noted that Scotland's islands have a combined population of nearly 100,000 but have no special government provision, whereas the 3,000
Irish islanders do.
Willie Roe, the Chairman of
Highlands and Islands Enterprise speaking at the conference said that here was a new feeling of self-belief among islanders, encouraged by community-based developments on, for example,
Gigha,
Eigg and
Harris and that "our islands are quite exceptional in world terms".
Jim Mather, the Scottish
stated that "I think it is a self-evident truth that Scotland hasn't properly valued her islands… but we are seeing a quiet revolution".
[Ross, David (17 November 2007) " 'Prosperous islands' prove value to nation, says Highlands Enterprise boss". Glasgow. ''The Herald''.]
See also
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Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
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Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...
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Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
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Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
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List of islands of Scotland
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List of Orkney islands
This is a list of Orkney islands in Scotland. The Orkney archipelago is located north of mainland Scotland and comprises over 70 islands and skerries, of which 20 are permanently inhabited. In addition to the Orkney Mainland there are three gro ...
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List of Shetland islands
This is a list of Shetland islands in Scotland. The Shetland archipelago is located north of mainland Scotland and the capital Lerwick is almost equidistant from Bergen in Norway and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Shetland archipelago comprises ab ...
References
{{Islands of Scotland
Islands of Scotland
Non-profit organisations based in Scotland