Gearóid Ó Catháin was the last child living on the Great Blasket when the Island was evacuated.
Gearóid 'Cheaist' Ó Catháin has published the story of his childhood on an island of old people titled 'The Loneliest Boy in the World : The Last Child of the Great Blasket Island'.
Just six years old when the Great Blasket was evacuated.
He was the only child on an island devastated by emigration.
In 1948, a journalist and photographer visited the Blasket Island and a young boy became the focus of international attention. The story depicted a life where Gearóid Ó Catháin only had seagulls for friends. The photograph and article were syndicated around the world and the young Blasket boy became an overnight celebrity. Parcels flooded in with gifts for Gearóid Ó Catháin from all over the world.
Comics, cowboy books, clothes, motor cars, every type of toy.
The nearest person in age to him was thirty, now Gearóid Ó Catháin is now just one of nine islanders still alive today. He has written his story in gratitude to the old men and women who looked after him. as a child.
I was very happy. Never felt lonely.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 30 May 2014. The reporter is Seán Mac an tSíthigh.
