If ever an island were misnamed it must be the small Cow island which lies 2.5km off Dursey Head on the Beara Peninsula.

An environmental group has warned that a €7m tourism project to promote Dursey Island in west Cork will threaten the existence of an endangered species of bird.

The Government has announced that Cork is to receive an investment of €290 million to deliver fibre broadband to almost 75,000 homes in the Intervention Area (IA).

A proposed new tourist facility on an island off the Cork coast has been likened to a “space station” by one of two environmental groups opposed to the project.

This bank holiday weekend, many people will be out on coastal headlands, hoping to catch a glimpse of whales, dolphins, porpoises, and other ocean residents.

For sheer unadulterated exhilaration, it is hard to beat a boat excursion to the Bull Rock off Dursey Island, Co Cork.

The islet of Rockall captured the public interest last month as the periodic claims of its nearest neighbours (ourselves and Scotland mainly) were laid out in stark detail.

The man, who was the only person on board the vessel, got into difficulty while navigating in heavy fog through the Dursey sound off the Beara peninsula.

The guitar-shaped Ormond’s Island lies close to the Cork/ Kerry border on the mountainous Beara Peninsula with the Kingdom just able to claim it by dint of a few kilometres.

Cork County Council is set to seek planning permission in the next few weeks for an iconic €7m project aimed at transforming the country’s most south-westerly island into a tourist mecca.

Mallow Castle, the Ring of Kerry and Lough Gur are among 78 outdoor recreation projects which are to share an €11 million investment in greenways, blueways and walking trails around the country.

On the morning of November 28, 1881, the people of Dursey Island, Co Cork, looked out on the Calf Rock to an extraordinary sight. The tower of the lighthouse was gone, swept away in one of the most severe storms of the century. The lighthouse had been constructed in 1866 with its light 136ft high.

An old map proves to be a clue to an amazing story. The old Ordnance Survey maps, which are available online, offer fascinating information about our history.

Carrickfern’s high-flying owners are selling up and heading home to Canada, hoping to take with them happy memories of times spent at their West Cork home, bought only a few years ago, reports Tommy Barker

Well, of course, we did have bears, but not on Bere Island. The island is named after the peninsula and is derived from the Spanish princess Bera who was married to the first king of Munster, Eogan More.

Life must surely be worth living for anyone that opens their eyes to the beauty all around us. And, often, we don’t have far to go, writes Donal Hickey.

When Michael Moynihan heard that one of Ireland’s remotest GAA clubs had put together an account of its last 70 years, he set out to find Declan O’Sullivan - the man who wrote it.

Dan MacCarthy talks us through the Saltee Islands, named by Viking seafarers.

Tributes have been paid following the sudden death of the man who operated Ireland’s only cable car for over 20 years.

Proposals have been put in place for an €8m double cable car and visitor centre to further boost tourism on the country’s most south-westerly island.

An ocean version of the highly successful community bike-rental scheme — but using kayaks — is being planned for the seven inhabited islands of West Cork.

The Smiddy report on the amalgamation of the two local authorities in Cork has recommended the ratio of councillors to constituents be altered, especially in West Cork where their number has been reduced but the area of representation significantly increased.

An experienced fisherman swept off rocks in West Cork said yesterday if he had not been wearing a lifejacket he would be dead.

RTÉ bosses will take Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way with them when they travel to Cannes on the French Riviera in October to sell new programmes on the international market.

The mayor of Cork County was almost left stranded on an island off Cork at the weekend after getting caught up in a last-minute problem with its cable car summer schedule.

Vital funding for Ireland’s non-Gaeltacht islands has been secured for the year.

It was surprising to read that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government plan to end funding from December 31 for five community development offices for the non-gaeltacht islands of Bere, Clare, Whiddy, Sherkin, Dursey, Long, Heir, Inishturk and Inishbofin. 

Communities on nine non-Gaeltacht islands have expressed concern at the news that the Department of the Environment, Community, and Local Government is to terminate funding to their five community development company offices from the end of next month.

SHEEP’S HEAD POINT, WEST CORK

An attempt to save a whale beached in Ballyheigue in Co Kerry has failed.

A MYSTERIOUS noise is heard occasionally in the southern oceans and off the coast of Australia.

Regarding the Government’s proposed abolition of all of the country’s town councils, I believe abolition is no substitute for reform. The Putting People First document is in fact putting people last and is a move away from the present model of local government to a centralised system.

The cliffs of the Seven Heads in west Cork are garnished with confections of sea pinks in full bloom, blankets of yellow kidney vetch and mantles of golden bird’s-foot trefoil.

With HSE plans to change ambulance cover, West Cork knew it had to act, writes Eddie Cassidy

Ireland’s loneliest island is appealing for an entrepreneur to set up a restaurant, B&B or hotel to help boost tourism.

OFF the south west tip of the Beara peninsula in West Cork, Dursey Island is known for the cable car connecting it to the mainland.

Cash-stricken Cork County Council cannot afford to fix some of the “appalling” and “impassable” roads on its seven inhabited islands.

For the first time the population of the seven inhabited islands off the Cork coast have elected a joint community council which they hope will give them greater clout when it comes to gaining vital inward investment.

Livestock have been banned from travelling on the country’s only cable car, sparking fears for the future of farming on a West Cork island.

A FARMER has claimed that a number of in-calf cows face starvation on an island off the south-west coast if a dispute over weight restrictions on a cable car is not quickly resolved.