The Blasket Islands ( ga, Na Blascaodaí) are an uninhabited group of

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

s off the west coast of the

Dingle Peninsula The Dingle Peninsula ( ga, Corca Dhuibhne; anglicised as Corkaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The last island to hold a significant population,

Great Blasket Island The Great Blasket () is the principal island of the Blaskets, County Kerry, Ireland. It was home to a small fishing community of Irish speakers until the island was abandoned in 1954 when living there became unsustainable. Geography The is ...

, was abandoned in 1954 due to population decline and is best known for a number of gifted Irish language writers who vividly described their way of life and who kept alive old Irish folk tales of the land.

History

The islands were inhabited until 1954 by a completely Irish-speaking population and today are part of the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

. At its peak, the islands had 175 residents. The population declined to 22 by 1953. The government evacuated most of the remaining residents to the mainland on 17 November 1953 because of increasingly extreme winter weather that left the island's ageing population cut off from emergency services.Stagles, Joan and Ray, ''The Blasket Islands: Next Parish America''. Dublin: O'Brien Press, 1980 (new edn. 1998). The evacuation was seen as necessary by both the Islanders and the government. The Ó Suilleabháin family were reluctant to leave, and became the final family to depart

in 1954. The islanders were the subject of much anthropological and linguistic study around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries particularly from writers and linguists such as Robin Flower, George Derwent Thomson and Kenneth H. Jackson. Thanks to their encouragement and that of others, a number of books were written by islanders that record much of the islands' traditions and way of life. These include ''An tOileánach (The Islandman) and Allagar na hInise (Island cross-talk)'' by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, ''Peig and Machnamh Seanamhná (An Old Woman's Reflections)'' by Peig Sayers, ''Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing)'' by

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (; 19 February 1904 – 25 June 1950), anglicised as Maurice O'Sullivan, was an Irish author famous for his Irish-language memoir of growing up on the Great Blasket Island and in Dingle, County Kerry, off the western c ...

and ''Letters from the Great Blasket'' by Eilís Ní Shuilleabháin. In 1974 politician

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

purchased

Inishvickillane Inishvickillane or Inishvickillaun ( meaning 'Mac Killane's island') is one of the Blasket Islands of County Kerry, Ireland. History and Archaeological Significance Referred to by Blasket islanders as "The Inis",J. & R. Stagles, ''The Blaske ...

from the descendants of the Ó Dalaigh family, who had lived on the island 70 years prior. As

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the of ...

, Haughey used the island as a summer retreat and hosted many prominent visitors, including French President

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

. In 1989, he introduced legislation to turn the Blasket Islands into a national park, including powers of

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

. This was ruled unconstitutional by Justice Kimberley Budd in 1998 The archipelago's westernmost island, Tearaght, was inhabited by lighthouse keepers until 1988, when the lighthouse was automated.

Geography

The six principal Blasket islands, in order of largest to smallest, are: *

(''An Blascaod Mór'') * Inishtooskert (''Inis Tuaisceart'') *

(''Inis Mhic Uileáin'') * Inishnabro (''Inis na Bró'') * Tearaght Island (''An Tiaracht'') * Beginish (''Beiginis'')

Conservation

The Blasket Islands are an important breeding site for

grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" o ...

s in Ireland and have at least 13 species of breeding seabird. The islands and the surrounding waters are designated by the European Environment Agency as a

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respecti ...

special area of conservation and five of the islands (not Great Blasket Island) are also designated as a special protected area.

Modern transport

There is a ferry service that calls only to the Great Blasket and sails from Dún Chaoin. This ferry service is mainly for day-trippers. People can also camp on the island overnight. Passengers are transferred to a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) once the ferry gets close to the island, as there are no adequate landing facilities for a larger vessel.

Gallery

File:Great Blasket (2019).jpg, Great Blasket File:Tiny Cove on Beginish Island.jpg, Beginish File:Inishnabro.jpg, Inishnabro File:Inishvickillane.jpg,

File:Tooskert.jpg, Inishtooskert File:Tearaght.jpg, Tearaght

References

External links

The Blascaod Centre in Dún ChaoinThe last of the Blasket evacuees: ‘We weren’t great mixers on the mainland’
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20190910005004/http://www.blasketisland.com/ blasketisland.com {{Authority control Special Protection Areas in the Republic of Ireland