Letters to the Editor: A delightful day rambling on Dursey
Ireland's only cable car and the only cable car that traverses open seawater in all of Europe, the Dursey cable car connects the tip of the Beara Peninsula and Dursey Island in West Cork. Picture: iStock
On a recent Friday, I went over to Dursey Island for a ramble at my leisure.
It was one of those very warm and beautiful days with a deep blue haze that cast a real romantic aura over that beautiful Island at the very tip of the wonderful Beara Peninsula.
The island is approximately four miles long and a mile wide. It attracts the old, the young, and the very young.
It was such a joy watching couples tagging along hand in hand occasionally looking at one another in awe whilst discovering the spectacular views of the mainland from there and that of the Crow Head which is jutting out into the wild North Atlantic on the approach to the Dursey Sound.
It was heartwarming to watch young innocent children playing carefree and leaping backwards and forwards over the road and picking the odd flower here and there that was missed by the sheep. Just like a newfound wealth of liberty that they had discovered whilst parents were admiring the natural and romantic beauty that lay all around.
Moving along the undulating roadway we came upon a jewel, a first on Dursey Island, the Kilmichael cottage.
An original house that has been magnificently renovated together with a brand-new extension of a restaurant complete with toilets which only just opened days ago complete with internal and external seating all thanks to the visionary youthful partners of David Murphy and Ciara Manley which deserves the greatest of praise and respect for putting life back into that wonderful part of our Beara Peninsula on Dursey Island. It shows what can be done with forward thinking.
It was mind-blowing to watch the delight on the face of young children with their ice creams and minerals as they played in a carefree garden, no such a thing as be careful or watch the traffic.
After indulgence in the necessities and I went on my outward journey towards the head of the Island. There was so much to jog our memories of days gone by with the relics of old decency, it is far beyond what I can say here.
Sitting at the top of the Dursey head, I was looking out into the wild North Atlantic which was so still, not a ripple to be seen, and there stood the remains of the tower of the Calf Rock lighthouse which was destroyed by a violent storm on November 27, 1881.
Looking further to the north you have the Cow Rock and beyond that stands the majestic Bull Rock lighthouse which today has an automated lighthouse.
The light of the Bull Rock was the last light in Ireland seen from the Titanic on her maiden and fatal voyage to the US.
During my wonderful few hours spent on the island, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with some visitors from as far away as Copenhagen, Switzerland, Vermont, Philadelphia, Dublin, Carlow Kilkenny, Cork, Walthamstow in North London, and many more at the beautiful new facilities on the island where in times to come many a tale will be exchanged.
The exciting part of my interaction with the visitors was how taken aback they were by the sheer friendliness of people; the beautiful scenery coupled with that deep magical and haunting romantic beauty of the Island which cannot not be found easily on any mainland.
Time doesn’t exist in the islanders book; everyone is so relaxed it doesn’t have a logical explanation.
In response to Michael Moynihan’s column I would have to say that I entirely agree with all points addressed — ‘Dog licences? Some people need behavioural permits to be outside’ (Irish Examiner, August 14).
‘What is wrong with people?’ — is a question I regularly ask myself. As a student studying a bachelors honours degree in Fine Arts I am all up for, and in support of, people being strange and unusual but it would appear that all social and ethical skills have been cast aside in today’s ‘new normal’.
Yes, pets in cafes and restaurants are absolutely repulsive but it seems clear that these pets carry themselves with a finer comportment than most people. I only say this as pets are unaware of social standards but people have a general understanding of what is fine by other people’s standards and what is not.
I myself have been unable to avoid certain challenging situations with people this summer. Situations that have tested every cell in my body from collectively reacting in a not so mannerly fashion.
I have been welcomed, not with a ‘hi, how are you?’, but with a ‘Jesus Christ you’ve put on some weight’, this was the pinnacle of my summer shock.
A not so shocking but equally annoying scenario is the new trend of yoga practice in swimwear at my local pool and steam room. I am not altogether sure about others but I find this utterly unnecessary, especially the heavy breathing and so, for one hour myself, my husband, and innocent swimmers are subjected to what feels like a soft porn movie that we have to watch under the glaring eyes of the parish priest.
But I wonder what can we do about this? Should we be able to say ‘sorry excuse me but can you not do that please?’ or does this put us into a difficult position of being told to ‘fuck off’ by said annoying persons. Which leads me to question that if they can so courageously tell us to ‘fuck off’ then perhaps we should just go straight to the ‘fucks’ ourselves?
Should we embrace these behavioural faux pas? Who knows, it is an option worth investigating.
The various political strategists have an unenviable task. They must anticipate the flow of transfers in what the late Brian Lenihan famously referred to as “the vagaries of proportional representation”.
The three large parties now command approximately two thirds of the national vote between them. Only one of them has a presumptive nominee to date. Presidential elections often diverge from general election trends and patterns. Presidential campaigns are also susceptible to our old pals “newly emerging information” and “events”.
From Dublin footballers to long-standing political stalwarts the hats landing in the ring are most certainly fascinators.
Is it too soon to delegate this decision to AI? It would probably generate two candidates and call them ‘triumph’ and ‘disaster’.
I have an ageing desktop computer here that says common sense is an uncommon thing. The algorithm reckons there’s only a half pound of it in the world.
Billy Kelleher, on wishing Jim Gavin well on his presidential bid, stated on X that he is looking forward to “a robust debate about how we put forward the values of Fianna Fáil in the coming campaign and also the vision for the presidency”.
The values of Fianna Fáil?
About the best one can argue is that the party aligns perfectly with the Irish weather: Changeable but depressing overall.
Regarding Darragh McDonagh’s article — ‘Priest criticises Tuam excavation describing nuns who ran mother and baby home as “outstanding”’ (Irish Examiner, online, August 28).
As a survivor of the Irish Industrial schools era where nuns and priests sexually abused many of my siblings including myself. I am appalled that this so-called representative of the church can state that nothing bad happened in Tuam.
Lets hope the remains are examined properly to show how many of these babies suffered — and probably died of malnutrition. At the end of the day, this home was a money making business. Feeding severely ill children and proper Christian burials burial would have cost the church money.
Sometimes the lunacy of our way of doing things is impossible to ignore. Beef and lamb, traditional staples in this country, are moving beyond the reach of many people because they have become too expensive. Yet we — as in European taxpayers — subsidise around 133,000 Irish producers to the tune of something north of €1.2bn a year.
To what end? So we can see the vast majority of Irish farm produce exported or pushed into the category of luxury goods? That we absorb 100% of the escalating environmental destruction involved in this export business just rubs salt into the wound.
