Cape Clear isn’t dead yet — but what will it take to keep it alive?

With just four children enrolled and homes in short supply, Cape Clear’s future rests on a knife edge once again

An aerial view of Cape Clear's north and south harbours. While the island hasn’t died and is not uninhabited, it is yet again at a crossroads. Picture: Neil Michael

Cape clear is dying, person by person, year by year, slowly but very definitely, dying.

So opens the late Bill O’Herlihy’s particularly doom-laden episode of RTE’s current affairs series 7 Days about the future of the West Cork island.