Aran Islands.
From the archives of “The Irish Times”
JOE JOYCE
FROM THE ARCHIVES: A series of articles by Malachy Hynes in 1953 described a visit to the Aran Islands and noted aspects of life there like the small appetites of the islanders (in spite of the hard manual work they did), the absence of rheumatism (in spite of frequent wettings and the rainy climate) and their general longevity. One of the pieces in the series also carried this sidebar under the following headline “Latest News from Inishmore”.
If you were in Inishmore now, this is what you would hear the people talking about”.
POTATOES
The crop is very bad. The dry spring weather is blamed. Though rather small, Aran’s potatoes are usually very good; sometimes there is even an exportable surplus, as the heat-retaining limestone warms their abundance. The Blight never visited Aran, so mainland starvelings in Black 47 found sustenance in the isles’ lucious potatoes. Now they’re worrying about them.
TURF
Fuel prospects are almost as disconcerting as those of the potatoes. Only two boatloads had so far reached Kilronan when I ’phoned a few days ago. Very bad turf it was – “muck,” an islander told me. The price was £11. It is expected to go higher. Last year, a hookerful (not quite 3½ horse-creels) cost £13. The war-time peak was £14. Two loads, at least, are needed for each household’s annual supply.
EMIGRATION
They’re worried, too, about the number of young people fleeing abroad. Between 30 and 40 left Inishmore last year – mostly to England, not to Boston, nowadays. But the bulk of the £600 exile remittances that came to this island last year came from Boston. When talking of emigration these days, Inishmore people always lead up to the most celebrated emigrant of recent times . . .
PAT MULLIN
Having re-married (to a Welsh lady) a few years ago, Pat moved to England. His daughter, the actress Barbara, is there. The big news around Kilronan is that Pat, to hosts of tourists for many a decade the epitome of Aran’s epic individualism, will return this summer. Pat, who was production manager of the Man of Aran film , wrote books on Aran’s classic heroes of old.
Like his father, John, before him, Pat was Inishmore’s chief guide. So was his grandfather, Pat, who guided Sir Samuel Ferguson in his explorations of the archipelago in 1852. Pat’s son, Peter Joseph, still holds the Mullin fort at Kilran, is still the island’s chief Cicerone.
FISH
The news of fishing is good now. But, on all Aran, there are only three native-owned motorboats for fishing. The curraghs are not much use against the big fleet of modern steam trawlers which get most of the fish. More trawlers for the islands would mean a hope of prosperity.
