Inishtrahull: Difference between revisions

|coordinates = {{coordWikidataCoord|55.430019|-7.23381|dim:100000_region:IE|format=dmsQ935871|display=inline,title}}

'''Inishtrahull''' ({{lang-langx|ga|'''Inis Trá Tholl'''}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.logainm.ie/14546.aspx|title=Inis Trá Tholl/Inishtrahull|website=Logainm.ie[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]|access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref> meaningpossibly "island of the hollow/empty beach") or 'Inis Trá Thuathail' as used in County Donegal by speakers"island of [[Ulsterthe Irish]], meaning 'Island with theyonder beach")<ref>Greenwood, onMargaret. the opposite or contrary side''The asRough is clear when comparedGuide to otherIreland''. islandsRough on the Irish coastGuides, where2003. the landing place always faces the mainland,p.611</ref> is the [[Extreme points of Ireland|most northerly island]] of [[Ireland]]. It has an area of {{convert|0.3484|km2acre|ha|order=flip}}<ref>[http://www.ub.ntnu.no/formidl/utgivelser/til_opplysning/to_nr16.pdf Per Ivar Haug, Gazetteer of Ireland, Trondheim University 2007.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419000003/http://www.ub.ntnu.no/formidl/utgivelser/til_opplysning/to_nr16.pdf |date=19 April 2008 }}</ref> and lies about {{convert|10|km|minmi|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} north-eastnortheast of [[Malin Head]], [[County Donegal]], and just over {{convert|50|km|nmi|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} southwest of the island of [[Orsay, Inner Hebrides|Orsay]], in the [[Inner Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]]. The most northerly landfall of Ireland, the Tor Beg rock, is another one kilometre to the north.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ireland - Geographical facts and figures | work= Travel through the Ireland story...| url=http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/extremities.html | access-date=2007-09-15}}</ref> Inishtrahull is home to [[Inishtrahull Lighthouse|Ireland's northernmost lighthouse]]. The island had a resident community until 1929 and the lighthouse was mannedstaffed until 1987. Today it is uninhabited and has been designated a [[protected area]] due to its wildlife.

The island is formed of a [[Granite|granitic]] [[gneiss]], a type of [[metamorphic rock]], which is known as Inishtrahull Gneiss. It is dated at 1.7 billion years old, making it [[Paleoproterozoic]] in age, and is the oldest known rock on the Irish Islands. The Inishtrahull Gneiss is considered to form part of the [[Rhinns complex]] that is also exposed on the islands of [[Islay]] and [[Colonsay]]. The Rhinns complex is correlated with the Ketilidian metamorphic belt of southern Greenland and the Svecofennian of Scandinavia.<ref name="Muir">{{cite journal|last=Muir|first=R.J. |author2=Fitches W.R. |author3=Maltman A.J.|year=1994|title=The Rhinns Complex: Proterozoic basement on Islay and Colonsay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, and on Inishtrahull, NW Ireland|journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences|volume=85|issue=1|pages=77–90|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8344451|access-date=15 September 2012|doi=10.1017/s0263593300006313|s2cid=131108674 }}</ref>

==BiologyFlora and fauna==

Among the algae present at Inishtrahull, ''[[Bonnemaisonia asparagoides]]'', ''[[Callophyllis laciniata]]'', ''[[Kalymenia reniformis]]'', ''[[Sphaerococcus coronopifolius]]'', ''[[Lomentaria articulate]]'', ''[[Lomentaria orcadensis|L. orcadensis]]'', ''[[Rhodymenia pseudopalmata]]'', ''[[Plumaria plumose]]'', ''[[Ceramium shuttleworthianum]]'', ''[[Heterosiphonia plumose]]'', ''[[Nitophyllum punctatum]]'', ''[[Hypoglossum hypoglossoides]]'', ''[[Drachiella spectabilis]]'', ''[[Odonthalia dentate]]'', ''[[Osmundea pinnatifida]]'', ''[[Polysiphonia lanosa]]'', ''[[Polysiphonia stricta|P. stricta]]'', ''[[Enteromorpha intestinalis]]'', ''[[Ulva lactuca]]'', ''[[Fucus serratus]]'', ''[[Fucus spiralis|F. spiralis]]'' and ''[[Ascophyllum nodosum]]'' have been recorded.<ref>Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. ''Bulletin Irish Biogeographic Society'' '''27''': 3 - 164</ref>

The evacuation of the community from Inistrahull took place [[wikt:en bloc|en- bloc]] in 1929. The matter was raised in a [[Dáil]] debate on [[illegal fishing]] in November, 1929 by the [[Teachta Dála|TD]] for the area, [[Frank Carney (politician)|Deputy Frank Carney]].<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0032/D.0032.192911140028.html 14 November 1929 Dáil Debate] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607110327/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0032/D.0032.192911140028.html |date=7 June 2011 }}</ref> The Deputy stated that Inishtrahull was one of the few places in the country where the population had actually increased by almost 100% from 1881 to 1901. He said that the people on the island had a school and a graveyard and earned their livelihood from the fishing industry with very small boats for inshore fishing and that they could line fish and fish with nets during the [[herring]] season. Deputy Carney said that, ordinarily, they were able to make a reasonable living. However, he said that because of illegal fishing by "Scotch and English trawlers and French fishing smacks" the islanders had been compelled some weeks earlier to evacuate the island, desert their homes and leave only a lighthouse keeper behind.

Responding, the Minister for Fisheries, [[Fionán Lynch]] TD said that he did not agree that the people had left the island because of illegal fishing and was making enquiries as to their current circumstances. The Minister said that he "would like to feel that everything was being done to keep them from being a permanent charge on home assistance." The Minister later sent a Principal Officer from his Departmentdepartment to report on their circumstances. The Minister then reported in the Dáil that "four of the [six Inistrahull] families derived their livelihood from the Irish Lights boat service to the island, in which they are still able to engage" and that there was no case for state intervention. He also said that his Officer's report indicated that the resettled Islanders were not in "poor circumstances."<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0034/D.0034.193004100006.html 10 April 1930 Dáil Debate] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607110414/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0034/D.0034.193004100006.html |date=7 June 2011 }}</ref>

|footnote= Source: {{cite web |url= http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?Maintable=CNA17&Planguage=0 |title= CNA17: Population by Off Shore Island, Sex and Year |author= Central Statistics Office |website= CSO.ie |access-date=October 12, 2016}}

Inishtrahull is home to the most northerly Irish lighthouse run by the [[Commissioners of Irish Lights]]. The lighthouse was first put into operation in 1813 largely because ships of the [[Royal Navy]] had begun to use [[Lough Foyle]]. Today its light flashes every 30 seconds.<ref name="multiref1">[http://cil2.adnet.ie/index.php3?LighthouseID=39 Irish Lights Commissioners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528222505/http://cil2.adnet.ie/index.php3?LighthouseID=39 |date=2008-05-28 }}</ref> The ruins of the old lighthouse as well as [[Inishtrahull lighthouse|a new (1956) lighthouse]] can be found on the island. Automation of the lighthouse was completed in March 1987 and the last three Lighthousekeepers left the station on 30 April 1987.<ref name="multiref1"/>

The island's geographical location and lighthouse attract many unusual birds, as well as a population of [[grey seal]]s. The island and its adjacent 90-metre depth tidal sound attract basking sharks and cetaceans in large numbers during the summer months. Many scuba-divers use the Islands Port Mór as a lunch spot while out surveying the hundreds of wrecks off its shores. Access to the island is limited by the dangerous tides and currents around [[Malin Head]] and the island itself. There are landing restrictions enforced by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and theThe [[Commissioners of Irish Lights]] (present owners of the Island). Particular care is requested by visitors during the breeding bird period of May–July. {{As of|2015}} there are two [[Geocache]]s on the island.