Oldest Blasket islander dies at the age of 94

The oldest Blasket islander, Dr Mike Carney, has died at the age of 94.

The Blasket Island Foundation said that Dr Carney was "the most trenchant and influential advocate for the conservation of the unique heritage of the Great Blasket".

Born Micheál Ó Ceárna in 1920 , Dr Carney spent his first 16 years on the island before leaving, first for mainland Ireland and then later Springfield, Massachusetts, where he emigrated in 1948.

In his memoir From the Great Blasket to America, published in 2013, Dr Carney recalled the Blaskets as having “no police department, no courthouse, no post office, no general shop, no doctor, no electricity, no running water, no church, and no pub”.

His older brother Seáinin died from meningitis in 1947 without the services of a priest or a doctor, as the island was cut off from the mainland due to bad weather.

Campaigning

Following his brother’s death, Mr Carney became a campaigner for evacuation.

He wrote to the then taoiseach Éamon de Valera, imploring him to help his parents and to visit the island, telling him that the old people “can’t walk against the hill anymore”.

This intervention ultimately led to the evacuation of the Blaskets in 1953.

Secretary of the Blasket Island Foundation Lorcán Ó Cinnéide described Dr Carney as a "wonderfully warm, intelligent and indefatigable" person and paid tribute to him as " a friend to the whole of the West Kerry community".

He also praised “his ability to simultaneously immerse himself completely in the American way of life . . . while at the same time maintaining a level of engagement with Ireland and west Kerry and the community he had left behind”.

He is survived by his three daughters, Kathleen, Noreen, and Maureen, son Mike and extended family.