The Blasket Islands

The Secret of Roan Inish is loosely based on the evacuation of the Blasket Island, which are 6 islands that are visible on the shore of Ireland.  In the movie at the begining they are at their mother's funeral, and then soon after the island of Roan Inish is evacuated.  This is very similar to what happened on the Blasket Islands.  Life on the islands was hard because they can only get to the mainland on less than half of the days in a year due to inclimate weather.  In 1946 right before Christmas Sean O Cearna was out getting a sheep for their Christmas feast when his 24 year-old son, Seainin collapsed.  He became more ill over the next few days.  They had no telephone and there was no doctor and to make things worse no boat could cross to the mainland.  The people were stranded and could do nothing for the poor young man as he died due to meningitis.  The death of this young mand broke the will of the islanders forever.  Some left after that and by the time the government forced those still on the island to relocate to the mainland there were only about 22 left to relocate.  The island was fully evacuated in 1953 and the government provided some of the islanders with cottages by the sea so they can still see the Blasket Islands and remember their time on the island.