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TV3 GROUP RELEASE
IMMEDIATE: Monday 13th April, 2015.
TV3 captures a forgotten way of life in new documentary series - ‘Islanders’
Funded by TV3 and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, ‘Islanders’ is a four-part series produced by 3Studios.
From Arranmore in Co. Donegal to Whiddy Island in Cork via Inishturk in Co.Mayo, this revelatory series captures the fight for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
In the series premiere we visit the island community that Ireland forgot existed; we witness a mother’s heartbreak as her son leaves the island at 12-years of age and meet fishermen near extinction due to “harsh regulations”.
The series premiere of ‘Islanders’ airs this Wednesday at 9pm on TV3.
Interviews are available on request
Islanders is an emotional series following the lives of native islanders across an entire year. Filmed in 2014, this observational documentary is the biggest in-house production undertaken by 3Studios. From Arranmore, Co. Donegal via Inishturk in Co. Mayo to Whiddy in Co.Cork, this four part series captures a way-of-life rapidly disappearing.
Set within breath-taking landscapes, the islanders’ stories are emotive, uplifting and told with honesty and frankness. Narrated by Irish actor Andrew Bennett (‘Angela’s Ashes’, ‘Garage’, ‘The Stag’), this is a landmark series for TV3, supported by the BAI.
Episode 1 begins 14 kilometres out from the Mayo coast, where the beautiful island of Inishturk reveals itself. With just 55 residents, it is home to Bríd Heanue (33) and her son Nathan (12). Bríd’s eldest son Chris (16) lives and schools on the mainland.
With no secondary school on Inishturk Nathan will be leaving the island in September to join his brother at Rice College in Westport. It is a day Bríd dreads.
“In September, Nathan is leaving to go to school. That’s a very emotional subject with me. It’s going to be heart-breaking for me as he’s been my little baby here at home. I’m going to find that very hard. All of our family are going to find that hard.”
Nathan’s leaving in September is going to affect the whole family – his mother will be losing her son, whilst the island will be losing another islander.
The series premiere also brings us down the coast to County Cork and in Bantry Bay, Whiddy island is the home place of twenty-two people. Here we meet two contrasting brothers: fisherman Danny O’Leary (51) and his brother Tim O’Leary (44), who is the islands publican, ferryman and post-man.
Last year the brothers got a rude awakening when they travelled to Inis Oirr on the Aran Islands for the first time. They were taken aback that other islanders had never heard of Whiddy. The few that had heard of Whiddy didn’t think there were people living and working on it. The brothers were shocked and when they returned home they vowed to put their island and community back on the map.
Northwards, in the Donegal Gaeltacht, sits the stunning island of Arranmore. Just three kilometres from the coast, Arranmore has two car ferries, two co-operatives, a fire-service, a secondary school and even a nightclub! Outwardly it seems perfect but it has a problem, a problem emblematic of many islands – its population is in swift decline.
Dr Shirley Gallagher (early 40s) is a typical Arranmore Islander, born off the island in London whilst her island parents were working there, the family were reared on Arranmore. Shirley is well-travelled, well-educated and well able to speak her mind. Working in Sustainability & Environmental issues, Shirley returned home two years ago to apply all her learning and experience to her own home. She believes there are those on the island that don’t want to see change whilst others are apathetic:
“When I saw the statistics on population decline I was truly shocked. You see the empty houses and derelict homes all around the place but it didn’t really trigger. I thought I need to do something about this – and here I am.”
Also a resident of Arranmore is mild-mannered fisherman Neilie Kavanagh (mid 40s). Although preparing for the busy season ahead, Neilie is heartbroken over the decline of the inshore fishing industry in Arranmore. The ‘injustice’ of what has happened to his fishing village is deeply felt and it is hard not to feel sympathy for him. He explains the Catch-22 of the ‘harsh regulations’. If he is caught fishing illegally his licence will be revoked and his father’s family boat will no longer be able to fish. He is the custodian of the boat – the St. Anthony, built by his father on Arranmore over 40 years ago. Neilie has never worked or lived off Arranmore.
With many twists and turns along the way, Islanders will follow the lives and stories of these characters over a tumultuous year, to learn what threatens their survival, to discover a different way of life, and to share in what it means to be an islander.
The series premiere of ‘Islanders’ airs this Wednesday at 9pm on TV3.
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ENDS
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NOTES TO EDITOR:
Cast biographies
WHIDDY ISLAND, CO.CORK
Danny O’Leary (51)
Danny O’Leary is the beating heart of Whiddy Island. Gruff, tough and non-compromising on the outside he also has a big heart that beats for his island, his family and his community. In contrast to his brother Tim, Danny is direct – sometimes too direct. But he is also very straight forward.
Danny is married and has three children with his wife Margaret. Their eldest Connie has left Whiddy and is studying in Limerick. At the start of the series (Jan 2014), their daughter Maighread is in her leaving cert year and youngest son Jimmy is in 5th year. They are both living at home. His children idolise their father and follow in his footsteps wherever he goes.
Danny is a traditionalist at heart – he’s not overly fond of the modern world but says ‘There’s nothing you can do about it – the modern world is here to stay.” Danny believes in the benefits of work – that you get nothing “….if you don’t put in a shift”. His love is fishing and he’s damn good at it. He’s been fishing his father’s boat since the late 1980s. Together with his deckhand Curly they leave Whiddy around 4am or 5am and head out into Bantry Bay to pull pots of shrimp and prawns. Danny takes the islands fortunes very personally and sees his own worth aligned with the islands name. As the Bainisteoir for Whiddy Island football teams he was majorly put-out when visiting the Aran Islands in 2013 for the All Island Football Competition – he learnt that other islanders didn’t even know Whiddy existed or that families still lived & worked there. He really took this to heart and on return home vowed to change the islands fortunes.
Tim O’Leary (44)
Born and bred on Whiddy Island, Tim is the younger brother of Danny who also appears in the series. They come from a family of five children. A typical islander, he holds down multiple jobs and roles; he operates the island ferryboat, The Lantern II, he is responsible for the water supply on the island, he is the Whiddy Postman and he dabbles as a farmer. Also together with his partner Kathleen he runs the epicenter of life on the island – The Bank House pub.
Along with his brother Danny, Tim is deeply passionate about the island and its fortunes. The island has been his home for most of his life and, with his brother; he wants to see its name restored to the public conscious and remember the past history before it’s all forgotten.
In 2013, Tim & Danny visited Inis Oirr on the Aran Islands for the first time as part of one of the greatest amateur GAA competitions - the annual ‘All Island Football Championships’ which has been run each year for over 20 years. Whilst they were there they were shocked by the fact that locals didn’t know that people lived on Whiddy – what’s worse, some of them had never heard of Whiddy. When they returned the two brothers decided that the island was slipping out of public consciousness and needed to have its name restored.
Tim’s goal this year is to make the name of Whiddy ring out in Ireland AND further afield. Both to attract tourists but also to remind the public that there are people living and working on Whiddy, that were there generations before them who also worked hard to make a living and who are in danger of being forgotten. He wants to make people remember his forgotten island and restore its rightful place amongst all the islands of Ireland.
INISHTURK ISLAND, CO.MAYO
Brid Heanue (33)
Brid’s story is the lynchpin of the four episodes of ‘Islanders’. No other island character goes on a journey as dramatic as Brid’s. It is a defining year for her, for her family and for the island itself.
Brid is the mother of two island boys. Christopher (16) and Nathan (12). She has brought the boys up on her own with the help of her family – particularly her Mum, Mary Catherine Heanue. Brid describes her relationship with the boys in very clear terms “They are my world. We are like a little pack of three – so close, they mean everything to me.” Although it may have been easier to live on the mainland bringing up two young boys alone, Brid wanted them to have the life that she and her brothers had living on this little-known unspoilt piece of heaven 9 miles out into the Atlantic.
However this year will bring change. Chris lives predominantly on the mainland as there is no secondary school on Inishturk. And this year Brid’s baby and youngest son, Nathan, will finish primary school and now have to move to the mainland too. A new romance blossomed last year and may open up a whole new life for Brid. But will it be on or away from the island? The responsibility to keep the island population afloat is felt by all women of child-bearing age. And Brid is keenly aware that the population of Turk is slowly dwindling. If families don’t settle on Inishturk it will have no long term-sustainable future.
Editor note: Chris & Nathan’s father is not involved in the production and does not live the trio.
Mary Catherine Heanue (56)
Mary Catherine is the soft-spoken but powerful matriarch of Inishturk. As well as managing the islands largest B&B, she also performs the vital role of Development Officer on Inishturk. And when she’s not doing either of those roles she manages her immediate and extended family as well as keeping a watchful eye on Brid and her boys. Mary Catherine is originally from neighbouring Galway island Inishbofin and moved to Inishturk when she married local fisherman Bill Heanue. Now she’s as ‘Turk as the rest of them. Like all other fishermen in the series, Bill is up at 4am and returns late in the evening. So it is left to Mary Catherine to manage all other aspects of island and family life. That means she has little-or-no time left for herself.
This year Mary Catherine’s job as Development Officer is set to become even more challenging. The islanders are in talks with BIM about the possibility of a super-sized fish-farm being located offshore.
There is no doubt that the fish-farm is the most talked about and important project to affect Inishturk in years. It has universal public support, outwardly at least, on the island. She is also taken up with repair work to the island following the storms of December 2013 and January 2014. Not hit as bad as neighbouring Inishbofin, Turk has suffered damage to its small tidal harbour Portdoon. It’s up to Mary Catherine to get the funding to repair it. She is also campaigning to replace the nurse on the island – the existing nurse has retired. As well as infrastructure Mary Catherine is also responsible for everything else on ‘Turk: Tourist numbers, organising events, publicity, marketing and maintaining services and infrastructure. It’s no wonder she has absolutely no time to herself – EVER!
ARRANMORE ISLAND, DONEGAL
Dr. Shirley Gallagher (early 40s) is a force of nature. Typical of many of Arranmore islanders she was born off the island and has lived on and off it her whole life. Her parents are islanders who moved to the UK ‘tattie-hoking’ or potato picking and started a family before moving back home to Arranmore. Like most other islanders Shirley left to pursue university education and then moved onto a career in sustainability. She has been on and off the island ever since. Two years ago she moved back permanently in a desperate bid to turn-around Arranmore’s population decline.
Over thirty years, Arranmore has seen its population halved as another generation leave for employment whilst the demographic of existing islanders is aging with over 40% of residents now over 65 years of age. When she learnt of the severity of the statistics Shirley was shocked and moved back to try to arrest the decline. She believes that the island is disunited, with separate interest groups that aren’t interested in working together for a better good and that most people want to protect their own private interests.
Shirley’s goal this year is to try and unite the island, to galvanise them into one group that will bring all the pockets of interest together. And that is going to bring her into lots and lots of conflict. Something Shirley doesn’t flinch at. Shirley is direct, uncompromising and wears her heart on her sleeve. She is up-front and shoots from the hip which makes for some pretty dramatic encounters as she tries to change the islands apathy and disinterest.
Neilie Kavanagh (mid-40s)
Neilie is one of the few Arranmore islanders to have never left Arran for work. His father built the trawler the St.Anthony with his bare hands in the shed near Neilie’s home. Now Neilie works the boat along with the three other trawlers currently operating out of Arran. He also works as deck-hand on another fishing boat lifting crab pots.
Once there were thirty or forty fishing boats – now they have all but gone. Neilie is fast becoming a relic of a sustainable way of life that is disappearing. That disappearance is felt keenly in North West Donegal and in particular on Arranmore where the salmon ban of 2006 has all but destroyed viable income for a large number of families. Coupled with catch and species restrictions the fishing industry in Arran is on its knees. Most working men have left the island to go tunnelling where the money is better but as Neilie says:
“I love fishing – I’d rather go fishing and earn €30 than go mining away & earn €300.”
This soft-spoken, leather skinned softie struggles when expressing his anger at the way coastal fishermen have been treated by the EU and Irish Government. He rejects any suspicion of over-fishing by inshore fishermen
“We have been fishing here for over 100 years in these little boats – how can they now turn around to us and say we’re overfishing. It’s nonsense and it’s not fair.”
But Neilie isn’t taking things lying down – he’s decided if the politicians won’t come to Arranmore to engage with him he is going to go to them. So he and a number of other Arran fishermen are campaigning for better rights for island fishermen – but is anyone listening?
Neili is also father to four year old Muireann who attends school in the Irish loyal area of Aphort, Arranmore. He is engaged to be married this year to his partner & Muireann’s Mum Donna. Donna is reticent about the life of a fisherman’s wife to be and as Muireann becomes older she feels her father’s daily absence more than before.
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