Irish Examiner view: Island life needs to be minded

An aerial view of An Blascaod Mor.

The depopulation of Ireland’s islands is something we can recall — collectively as a nation — with great sadness and a sense of wistfulness as we revive thoughts of a unique culture being lost to the prevailing winds of modernity.

Memorable archive footage of the last residents leaving An Blascaod Mor in 1954 still seems to cast a stain on our heritage. This one island alone was an anthropological and linguistic source the likes of which we had not experienced — and have not since — in our short history as a nation. It was also a haven of cherished literary achievement.