Aran island resident Micheál Ó Goill was all of six years of age when he saw the Naomh Éanna making its first sailing in from Galway to Inis Mór.
That was April 1958, and in August of that year, it was involved in the search for any survivors of the KLM Dutch airline crash off the Irish west coast.
As he recalls, the ship had its own sick bay, and a bar, but it was not a good weather boat, and the island piers weren’t built for a vessel of that size – hence currachs helped with unloading.
Naomh Eanna capsized in Grand Canal Basin Photo: DublinLive/Twitter
Anyone going to Inis Oírr could have a six to seven-hour sail ahead of them, and there were times when the weather would force the ferry to turn around and head back to Galway. Islanders, therefore, have mixed memories of the former CIÉ-owned ferry.
However, recent aerial shots of its listing in the Grand Canal Basin’s graving dock have reignited a debate about its future. Ó Goill has one excellent suggestion – he spoke to Wavelengths about it at Trá na Leachtaí on Inis Mór.
You can listen to him on Wavelengths below
