Turbot Island, Co Galway, has a very important place in aviation history being the first sighted land for the very first trans-Atlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown on June 14 and 15, 1919.

On June 15, 1919, Alcock and Brown landed in Connemara, 16 hours and 28 minutes after leaving Newfoundland.

It is hard to imagine now when strolling around Omey Island's sand-dunes and marshes that the island was once home to 397 people, writes Dan MacCarthy

TWO Co Galway islands now considered tourist hideaway havens were considered only in gloomy terms as the 1973 coalition prepared to move the inhabitants to the mainland.