The Islands of Ireland: Exiting rat-race for River Fergus

Maritime trade was once so plentiful on the Shannon that countless ships bringing all manner of goods from the four corners of the earth would have had no shortage of rats 

Rat Island, centre, Fergus Estuary, Co Clare. Shannon Airport is on the right.

You could probably throw a stone from the sliver that is Rat Island in Co Clare and land it on the comparatively enormous Deer Island in the Fergus Estuary. However, while Deer Island once supported a population of 133 people in 1841, Rat Island has almost certainly never had a resident.

We have many islands named after animals most notably, Horse, Sheep, Cow, Gull, Fox etc, but just two Rats. The other is in Lough Egish, Co Monaghan. There was a third in Cork Harbour (also known as Coney Island) but it was subsumed into Haulbowline Island when that island was expanded.