Great Blasket accquired by Government

National park status looms for the Great Blasket Island

The way have finally been paved for An Blascaod Mór, the Great Blasket Island which lies off the coast of West Kerry, to become a national park.

The future of the Island, was sealed this week when Irish Minister of State Noel Ahern announced that a contract for the Government's purchase of the Island had been finalised between the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the main Island landowner group.

The Great Blasket Island is the most westerly point in Europe, the largest of a group of islands located three miles off the tip of the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht, thirteen kilometres west of Dingle town in Co. Kerry.

This is considered a major breakthrough as local groups, such as the Blasket Foundation, have been campaigning for the Island to be elevated to National Park status for almost two decades

The properties on the Island that the Government will acquire will comprise the majority of the core conservation area, which contains special flora and fauna and the OPW are expected to spend almost €8 million on its rejuvenation.

The area also contains significant structures and houses which will be preserved as national monuments, including the homes of writers Peig Sayers, Murisis Ó'Suilleabháin and Tomás Ó'Criothan who coined the famous phrase, "Ní bheidh ár leitheidí ann arís" (our likes will never again be seen.)

"After long and extensive discussions on the future of the Island with one of the interested parties, it is now expected that the acquisition of these holdings, and those belonging to the other landowners, will now proceed" said Minister Ahern.

An Bhlascaod Mór, as it is known in Gaelic, was home to almost 150 islanders at the turn of the 20th century. Emigration, poverty and a lack of basic facilities and amenities decimated the population, forcing the then Taoiseach, Eamonn De Valera to rehouse the Islanders on the mainland in 1953. Hopes are high that the proposed upgrade of the Great Blasket to national park status will serve to preserve and protect the immense heritage of the island.