Evacuation of Blasket re-told

A new book on the social history of the Great Blasket Island contains photographs taken by The Cork Examiner of the evacuation of the island almost 60 years ago.

The 600-page book by former journalist and broadcaster Micheal de Mordha, a native of Dunquin, also features several previously unpublished photographs and material about the island.

Titled Scéal agus Dán Oileáin (The Story and Fate of an Island), it deals especially with islanders’ pleas to be transferred to the mainland and the eventual “abandonment” of the island.