Return to Inishkea, 1988 part 1/3

Tá dhá h-oileáin Inis Cé ina luī amach ó Leathinis an Mhuirthead.

The two Inishkea islands lie off the Mullet peninsula

bhí cónaí ar na hoileáin go dtí tús na dtríochaidí

There was habitation on the islands until the beginning of the thirties.

ach faoi lár na dtríochaidí bhí siad bánaithe

but by the mid-thirties they were deserted.

go gairid roimhe sin

shortly before that

tharla an tubaiste atá go doimhin i gcuimhne na ndaoine

The disaster happened that is deeply in the memory of the people.

nuair a báthadh deichniúr fear a bhí ag iascach as curracha i bhfoisceacht leathmhíle den chladach

when ten men who were fishing from currachs were drowned within half a mile of the shore.

d'fhág sin an t-oileán faoi na coiníní na caoirigh agus na kachin

That left the island to the rabbits, the sheep, and the kachin.

na géabha fiáine a thaganns anseo ón artach gach geimhreadh

the wild geese that come here from the Arctic every winter.

ar an ngob theas de leithinis an mhuirthid

on the southern tip of the Mullet Peninsula

tá an fód dubh

the sod is black

agus an caladh beag óna bhfágann na báid le dul go hinis gé

and the small pier from which the boats leave to go to Inis Gé.

an mhaidin bhreá seo

this fine morning

thug muid cuireadh do cheathrar fear a d'fhág an t-oileán breis agus leathchéad bliain ó shin

We invited four men who left the island more than fifty years ago.