News that Skellig Michael, the remote island off the County Kerry coast is to reopen, is welcome after its closure due to Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland, as elsewhere. The ancient monastic site is the responsibility of Ireland’s Office of Public Works, for its protection, management and maintenance.
There is a wealth of reminiscences and folklore about the ballrooms of Mayo, the county that Jimmy Higgins called the land of a thousand dances. Now thankfully all these recollections and folklore has been collected and documented in audio-visual format by Henry McGlade with the excellent technical assistance of Tommy Stenson.
I naively believed that by now I would have been released from the current lockdown and would have been enjoying my normal way of life, pre-pandemic. But alas, circumstances beyond my control have determined that I shall remain in mental bondage for the present and beyond.
