Chronicle of Clare Island launched

A colourful community biography chronicling four generations of life on Clare Island, Co Mayo, was launched on the island at …

A colourful community biography chronicling four generations of life on Clare Island, Co Mayo, was launched on the island at the weekend.

Father Ned Crosby, the island's last resident priest, now based in Peru, undertook the project while ministering on the island.

According to islander Ms Ciara Cullen, a sociologist and a director of the Centre for Island Studies, Glimpses of Clare Island "is an important contribution to the archive of life on Irish islands".

"While this long overdue collection is a cross-generational, village by village family album, it most significantly gives a cohesive voice to the ghosts of many narratives who figured prominently as folk heroes or 'characters' throughout the 20th century," Ms Cullen said.

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At the launch, long-time principal of the island's national school, Ms Mary McCabe, said "the book was a gift to future generations of islanders".