The WWI wreck located off the Kerry coast had been colonised by anemones, oysters and brachiopods.

Paddy Grehan and Paul Fleming manned the large diesel-powered water pump at a newly built dam beside The Park estate. “We’re up all night,” Paul said. “If that pump breaks down, we are gone,” he said.

A massive new deep-sea coral reef has been discovered off the west coast.

There may be a marked absence of girls in grass skirts, and there are certainly no tropical temperatures, but Ireland can offer one tangible link with the exotic islands of the South Pacific - its own coral reef.