MSP WELCOMES INVESTMENT TO PROMOTE SCOTTISH ISLANDS

MSP WELCOMES INVESTMENT TO PROMOTE SCOTTISH ISLANDS

SNP MSP for the Western Isles, Dr Alasdair Allan, has today welcomed a major investment by the Scottish Government towards promoting Scotland’s Islands. A total of £1.82 million has been allocated to promoting 2011 as Scotland’s Year of Islands Culture. This includes £820,000 which has been obtained from the European Regional Development Fund.

The announcement was made in Lewis today by Minister for Culture, Fiona Hyslop.

Dr Allan said:

“Fiona Hyslop took the opportunity today, while visiting the Morvern Gallery in Lewis, to announce that the Scottish Government, Scotland’s Island Councils and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, together with other public agencies, will be allocating this major sum towards promoting Scotland’s islands to Scotland and the world in the coming year.

“The fund will be co-ordinated nationally by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and will seek to bring visitors to Scotland’s islands from Shetland to Argyll and to promote their unique cultures to the wider world.

“Taken together with the fact that the Mod will be in the Western Isles in 2011,  this investment provides a real chance for the Western Isles to develop further its capacity for tourism and to develop facilities that go with that. I look forward to working with the Government and the Comhairle in the coming months as more details emerge about how this fund is to be invested.”