Over my years focusing on maritime affairs I developed when I presented SEASCAPES on RTE Radio, the use of the description…. “an island nation…”It has become part of the lexicon of language, often referred to by politicians and business figures. I realised it had made impact when I heard Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary used it in part of his regular hyperbole. However, I wonder if the Irish public generally, fully appreciate that they live on an island and cannot get off it unless they cross water. When they get aboard a Ryanair flight, or that of any other airline, or avoid the awfulness of crowded airports by sailing away from the island on a ferry, do they then appreciate that they live on, by geographical placement, a relatively small island by international perception, on the western periphery of the Atlantic and the approaches to the European mainland?

He had to remind government of the “strictly independent” nature of the DPP’s work.

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