Statement issued by Michael Martin – Chairman Spike Island Heritage Committee; 28th July 2009

The reported announcement by the government that it is intended to hand over Spike Island to the Cork County Manager for future development as a visitor attraction is warmly welcomed. If realised this decision could become one of the most important milestones in the development of the whole harbour area as an international iconic site attracting vast numbers of visitors to the region.

Spike Island with its fourteen centuries of heritage embodies and reflects all the major themes of Irish history. The ecclesiastical period during which Ireland was referred to as the island of saints and scholars saw the establishment of a monastery there in which there is a possibility that a renowned ecclesiastical manuscript of uncertain origin may have been written.

The arrival of the Vikings and their impact on Irish society and the Cork area in the early 9th century may well have been first experienced by the monks on the Island.

In the late 12 th century the arrival of the Normans into Cork resulted in their recognition that Spike Island offered outstanding strategic advantage in the protection of their interests in the greater harbour area. The British fear of attack in the wake of the American and French revolutions resulted in the construction the classic star shaped Fort Mitchel. Throughout Irish history the ongoing struggle for independence was reflected in the fact that the garrison was used on many occasions as a place of incarceration and imprisonment. The most important theme of Irish history, the great famine resulted directly in the island being opened up as a so called ‘convict’ depot in 1847 when the number of people coming before the courts and receiving convictions had quadrupled largely as a result of them stealing food. This use forever links the island with the emergence of an important element of Australian history where Irish men and boys were transported for sometimes minor offences to the other side of the world.

It is fitting that Spike Island be preserved and presented to future generations of Irish and overseas visitors alike. My friend and colleague Rich Wederman chief of events at Alcatraz in San Francisco recreational region said yesterday that since Spike had ‘so much more history than Alcatraz, a unique education opportunity will now be realised. I am overjoyed with the news.’

The diversity of history on Spike Island is an international treasure. The willingness of government to release it and the county manager to take it on has to be commended.