A year without Fungie: What life is like in Dingle since the famous dolphin disappeared

Noel Sweeney reflects on what life is like in Fungie's hometown of Dingle, one year after his disappearance

Jeannine Masset from Anascaul with Fungie the Dingle Dolphin. Picture: Rudi Schamhart

For near-on 38 years, Irish and foreign tourists alike flocked to a harbour town in southwestern Ireland for a glimpse of one particular bottlenose dolphin.

How crazy is that when you consider just how densely populated Irish waters are with dolphins? There are tens of thousands of dolphins in Irish coastal waters, of which about 300 to 500 are believed to be of the bottlenose species.