A British tabloid has faced fierce criticism from a popular Arranmore resident after claiming the Donegal Island was “anti-British” following a recent campaign launched by the Islanders.
In a recent Daily Mail article, Associate Global Editor, Jake Wallis Simons, branded the island as ‘a tiny outcrop off the Irish coast’ before going on to say how Arranmore ‘snubbed’ the British and ‘begged’ Americans to move there.
It comes following an open invite to attract more residents to visit and work on the island.
Arranmore is home to 469 people and measures just five by three miles.
But it recently acquired uncontested 100MB high-speed internet to make it an attractive destination for remote workers to come and visit.
Originally, calling out to the people of the United States and Australia, the Islanders, according to the journalist, have ‘upset their nearest neighbours Britain’ by failing to extend the invite to them.
However, Islanders say the letter has spiralled beyond their control and the lack of invite for Britain was only ‘an oversight’.
One of the authors of the letter told MailOnline: “We can’t handle new arrivals and I’m sure that many of them couldn’t handle island life, especially in winter.”
“We never meant for them to move to Arranmore.
‘”it’s not that they’re not welcome, but there just isn’t the infrastructure. We only meant for them to come visit.”
Meanwhile, one popular resident, Jerry Early, has already made his disdain known towards the article.
Speaking after it was published, Early, who owns Early’s Bar on the island, said the tabloid was ‘bang out of order’.
He said: “Somehow this journalist made out that the people of Arranmore were/are anti-English, this could be no further from the truth.
“And if (this) goes unchecked then perhaps it could be construed as being the case.
“The fact is, every other newspaper, radio, and TV station that reported this story has reported it in a positive light, yet the Daily Mail put their own slant on this story that is neither accurate or fair,” he added.
“Adrian Begley and Seamus Bonner are two men of the highest standing and have the full support of Arranmore Islanders home and abroad in their endeavours to address the population decline on the Island.
“Some may say that when the media is used to gain positive publicity then it’s fair game to put a negative slant on a story but when the story is full of lies and inaccuracies then it’s wrong,” Early said.
“Arranmore Island has a proud history of welcoming visitors and residents from all over the world.
“The Daily Mail is bang out of order in my opinion.”