English-born Kerry woman shipwrecked off Irish coast 50 years ago becomes citizen

Peel Whillock-O'Leary from England at the Citizenship Celebration ceremony in the INEC Killarney on Tuesday. Picture: Michelle Cooper Galvin

An English woman who was nine when she and her four siblings were shipwrecked off the Irish coast with their parents has gained Irish citizenship after 50 years.

Peel Whillock-O’Leary was the eldest of five daughters whose parents stopped in Cobh, Co Cork on a planned round-the-world sailing expedition in 1973. The Cork Examiner published a story at the time about the intrepid young couple, Paul and Pat Whillock, and their plans to circumnavigate the globe with their children.

But the family, the youngest of whom, Eilish, was just one, got caught by a force 10 storm en route to Kilkeel, Co Down. Their boat, a renovated fishing vessel called the Lyon, hit rocks necessitating a rescue by a nearby commercial ship.

“I remember the storm,” Mrs Whillock-O’Leary told the Irish Examiner. “We had to cut the yacht that we were towing loose, and we tried to get around the lighthouse the wrong way and got smashed off the rocks. The keel was badly damaged. 

“When we arrived into harbour, I remember climbing up a big rope ladder and there was a big ship and they took us on board.” 

Unable to afford a new boat, the Whillock family’s plans to travel the world were put on hold and the family settled in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork before moving to Farranfore in Co Kerry. Mr Whillock worked in Irish Steel for a period of time, amongst numerous other jobs. He died in 2013.

Mrs Whillock-O’Leary, who was nine at the time of the shipwreck, has remained in Ireland ever since. She is married to an Irish man, Colman O’Leary. Two of her sisters now live in the UK and one in France, while her youngest sister also lives in Ireland.

Peel Whillock-O'Leary with her husband Colman. Picture: Michelle Cooper Galvin

This week, 50 years after her dramatic arrival in Ireland, Mrs Whillock-O’Leary participated in a citizenship ceremony in Killarney, alongside nearly 4,000 other people from 139 countries who received naturalisation certificates over two days of ceremonies presided over by Judge Deirdre Murphy.

“It has taken 50 years to make this commitment to Ireland,” Mrs Whillock-O’Leary said, speaking after the ceremony in the INEC convention centre. She said she, like the 410 other former UK passport holders who received Irish citizenship this week, was motivated to finally complete the citizenship process in part by Brexit travel restrictions.

Mrs Whillock-O’Leary said the ceremony was “very moving” and that she had taken great delight in singing the national anthem in Irish “like the proud Irishwoman that I am.” “It was a brilliant occasion,” she said. 

“My heart has always known I belong here. Now it’s official.”