Ireland's newest citizens: 'I had to hold the wheel to stop the ship going into the rocks'

Almost 4,000 people attended citizenship ceremonies in Killarney this week. Ellie O’Byrne meets Ireland’s newest citizens – including one woman whose incredible story saw her shipwrecked here four decades ago

Some of the attendees of citizenship ceremonies in Killarney this past week

Of nearly 4,000 individual stories at this week’s Irish citizenship ceremonies in Killarney, amongst which are many tales of adversity, the story of the woman who arrived in Ireland when shipwrecked here as a child must be one of the most dramatic.

Peel Whillock-O’Leary was the eldest of five daughters born to the intrepid Paul and Pat Whillock, who decided to embark on the voyage of a lifetime and take their family on a round-the-world sailing trip in a fishing boat, the Lyon, that they had purchased.