‘Lifeboat baby’ Niamh champions island life

A PIONEERING Cape Clear woman will feature on a new RTÉ series beginning on July 11th. 

Niamh Ní Dhrisceoil will be one of three people featured in Mealladh na Mara, a three-part Irish language programme looking at the different individual lives on the water around Ireland. 

Niamh’s life has been tied to Cape Clear and adventure from the very start. ‘My mother wanted to be at home with family for Christmas but she agreed to go hospital on St Stephen’s Day. The weather was poor so the ferry couldn’t operate. The lifeboat had to bring my mother to the mainland.’  It earned Niamh the nickname ‘the lifeboat baby’.

She works as the ‘muinteoir i bhfeighil’ (teacher in charge) at Gaelcholáiste Choilm in Ballincollig. But her background is steeped in the history of Cape Clear – Oileáin Chléire. ‘I live in Cork but I’m back in the island as much as I can. My mother Cecilia was the principal of the school on Cape Clear for 39 years,’ said Niamh. 

‘My father is Patrick C and he has been a fisherman, farmer, worked with the ESB, and on the ferry. He is one of only two people who were actually born on the island.’

Niamh has continued the tradition of both parents. While she is a teacher in Ballincollig, she also works on the ferry between Baltimore and Cape Clear in the summers off, and she is believed to be the first female ferry skipper in Ireland, having started studying for her exams when just 20 years old.

She is also the chair of the Comharchumann Chléire Teo, which is dedicated to maintaining island life and the sustainability of life and future proofing the safety of island living on.

Indeed her work with the co-op saw her earn a nomination for the social entrepreneur of the year at the Image businesswomen of the year.

Mealladh na Mara also features search and rescue diver Conall Ó Domhnaill, and surfer and GP Dr Eoin McCarthy Deering.

The programme is on RTÉ1 on Tuesday July 11th at 7pm and is also on RTÉ Player.