Rathlin O'Birne () is an island located to the south west of the district of Glencolumbkille,
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
Saint Assicus spent the last seven years of his life on Rathlin O'Birne. Assicus was the first Bishop (and subsequently the Patron Saint of
Elphin, County Roscommon
Elphin (; )Placenames Database of Ireland (see archival records) is a small town in north ). Assicus was said to have been a favored follower of St Patrick and served as his goldsmith. The remains of Assicus's hermitage can be found on Rathlin O'Birne island.
Lighthouse
Rathlin O'Birne
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Ligh ...
went into operation on 14 April 1856. In 1974, a
radioisotope thermoelectric generator
A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), or radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the Decay heat, heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material i ...
was installed, making it home to Ireland's first
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
ed lighthouse.
However, by 1987, the power output of the RTG had dwindled to an insufficient level and the lighthouse was converted to
wind power
Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...
, which was in use until 1991, at which point it was converted to
solar power
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...
.
A road, with a cut stone wall on both sides, runs from the beach to the lighthouse to protect the lighthouse keepers as they made their way across the island.
Accidents
*On 7 January 1975, the trawler ''Evelyn Marie'' sank on the west side ("the rock") of Rathlin O Birne with the loss of 6 crew.
*A year later, in November 1976, the trawler ''Carrig Una'' sank in the same spot with the loss of 5 crew.
*In July 2017, two men died when their
RIB
In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...
ran out of fuel close to the shore of Rathlin O'Birne, after having been rescued from the same area four weeks prior.