Clare Island mourns passing of Máirtín Moran

THE community on Clare Island has bade farewell to a man who was at the heart of life on the island.

Máirtín Moran of Ballytoughey was laid to rest yesterday (Tuesday) in the island cemetery following Mass celebrated in the Church of the Sacred Heart.

Many tributes have been paid to him for his warm, welcoming nature, which many visitors to the island experienced.

His contribution to island life and the loss being felt by all whose lives he touched was summed up in a tribute on the Clare Island Facebook page.

It read: 'It is with great sadness that we grieve the loss of a pillar of the Clare Island community, Máirtín Moran.

'Máirtín lived on the north of Clare Island all his life, where he ran his family farm. A softly spoken, highly intelligent man, Máirtín was a committed member of numerous community organisations: Clare Island Drama Group, Granuaile Comhaltas, Clare Island GAA and Cliara Development Company, to name but a few.

'In the great Clare Island tradition, Máirtín was a beautiful reciter of verse, and his recitations were always a special highlight of traditional sessions.

'As the director of numerous dramatic productions and as a regular Fear an Tí at Granuaile Comhaltas sessions, Máirtín was the heart and soul of so many good things.

'Our deepest sympathies to his wife Beth, his sons Oisin, Donal, and Matthew, his brother John, and the wider Moran family on their loss. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.'