‘Bleak islands’ to be depopulated

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.

Inis Turk and Inis Turbot were described in a Land Commission memorandum as “small, lowlying (sic), bleak islands situate (sic) about half mile off the Galway coast, near Clifden”.

The memo continued: “There is no priest, doctor or nurse on the islands and Mass is said on each island only on one Sunday per month. There is no electricity; some islanders use bottled gas for lighting and cooking.