THE book about Father Diarmuid O Peicin's single-minded fight to save Tory Island from becoming a "deserted rock" in the face of indifferent and often hostile authorities is off the presses. A film deal is being signed. Paul Newman and Richard Harris are, being mentioned as possible stars.
Islanders - The True Story Of One Man's Fight To Save A Way of Life, it's called, written by Father O Peicin with broadcaster Liam Nolan. "The book's got everything except sex, says Cresta Norris of London publishers Harper Collins, "and that's made up for by its spirit and romanticism. It should make a wonderful film."
Islanders boasts a great set of characters - heroes and villains - Charles Haughey, Clannad, Irish bishops and priests, local Donegal politicians, Ian Paisley, John Hume, Tip O'Neill and the many men and women of Tory who sacrificed much to save the island.
Neither church nor State emerges well from the telling.
The 80-year-old priest, a Dublin native who served as a missionary in Africa and Britain, retired in 1980 aged 64. His wish was to settle in Ireland and learn Irish, which is how, the same year, he ended up on the island nine miles off the coast of Donegal. He went on a day-visit, but ended up as Tory's, pastor for four tumultuous years.
What he found in Tory in 1980 was a dispirited people and an island awash with rumours that soon all the families would be forced to give up the battle of living on a "lonely rock".
I met him around that period and he enlisted me and the paper I then worked for, the Donegal Democrat, to support the campaign. He could be a difficult and obstinate man but his cause was just and his heart was good. Old Testament zeal was needed to challenge the authorities, and the Jesuit had it in spades.
During that period I unearthed an official document which seriously suggested Tory's population of 200 should be re-housed on the mainland, and the island used as a holiday home for American tourists, or a high-security prison, or a quarantine centre, or a firing range for the Army.
The proposals revealed a breathtakingly negative mindset that was pretty prevalent at the time. Remember, this was a period when the death of their Blaskets and other islands was still being lamented. Yet Tory, an astonishingly beautiful island of great lore, of craftspeople, boat-builders, musicians and artists, was being ignored.
Around the same period, Tarlach de Blacam of Inishmaan also produced a study, urging support for the island. Unfortunately, Donegal County Council's response was to begin the evacuation process by housing a dozen families - a quarter of the island's population on the mainland.
Its disingenuous justification was that the families applied for the housing and that there had been no duress. What they failed to acknowledge was that the council and central government had refused to provide facilities the islanders desperately needed, such as a water supply, proper sanitation, a ferry, a harbour, proper electricity and so on, which might have given the islanders a reasonable choice in the matter.
Father O Peicin railed against all this, galvanising some of the islanders, firing off heated missives to church and State figures, confronting them directly, insisting on reasonable conditions for Tory.
It was a grand and epic light. Father O Peicin travelled to Europe and the US, securing the support of such diverse characters as Tip O'Neill and Ian Paisley. He organised manic summer festivals involving local musicians and the group Clannad, who have many relations on Tory, and whose music is inspired by the island.
Media interest grew. The story was being related around the world. In his book O Peicin deals with the tension, excitement and wonderful madness of that period. Pressure was being brought to bear on the relevant local and central authorities, and slowly it was bearing fruit.
But then in 1984, Father O Peicin's superior, Bishop Seamus Hegarty, then of Raphoe, had him replaced as curate, stating that this was a routine diocesan move. O Peicin did not accept it was a routine matter but Jesuits are sworn to "obedience and he left, feeling, as he said, "bruised, fragile and angry, and in an emotional quagmire".
This was a time when, whatever, about church interfering in State, the reverse seldom happened. Nonetheless, when I put in a request for a comment from Charles Haughey, than in opposition, he rallied to Father O Peicin's aid by questioning the wisdom of the bishop's decision. Haughey had a gut feeling for O Peicin and the island, even though his support won him no kudos with the hierarchy.
The pressure made no difference. Father O Peicin was never re-appointed to Tory but nonetheless he, eventually picked himself up and continued his work on the mainland for Tory and for the other islands. The fire had been lit and gradually conditions did improve.
TORY now has a ferry, a water scheme, electricity, a hotel even, a community centre, and it is at last to have a harbour which will give fishermen a safe berth for their boats, and allow them to exploit the rich waters around Tory. "A happy ending," as Cresta Norris says.
Had it not been for this radical, rambunctious priest who wouldn't accept no for an answer, the island would have gone under. But neither the priest nor the islanders would allow Tory become another Blasket.
