During the 19th century, many Irish people left the country to make new lives in Australia. Now, a tiny island off the coast of Donegal wants their descendants to come back.
The people of Arranmore have written an open letter to the people of Australia. They write that the island now has high-speed internet connections “as good as any office in Sydney or Melbourne”. As the island is only 22 square kilometres, “your commute, wherever you are, will only ever be five minutes”.
“The ambition is to stimulate employment and reverse over a century of emigration that has seen the island’s population drop to just 469 people,” Adrian Begley of the Arranmore Island Community Council told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Neil Gallagher, a mobile games developer, has moved back to Arranmore from Australia. “The setup is as good as any city in the world, but the view is so much better,” Gallagher explained.