Our nation’s biggest graveyard lies offshore

THE memory is barely a decade old yet it remains patchy and misty, shrouded in a veil of sadness and sorrow.

I can still recall, though, that lump-in-the-throat moment when hundreds of mourners gathered in the parish church at Ardmore, Co Waterford, to reflect on the life and mourn the death of a young fisherman.

He had everything to live for: a beautiful wife, a newlyborn son and a job he loved. He shared a small trawler with his first cousin — and best friend. They fished together when weather allowed and socialised when it didn’t.