Michael O'Connor - former resident Spike Island, Cork harbour, Ireland. 'VOICES OF SPIKE 1/10' Cobh

Spike Island has a rich history as a former home to a 7th century monastery, huge 1700's fortress built to defend a empire, centuries of social life and a huge prison on 4 occasions in the 1600's, 1800's, 1921 and 1985 - 2004. Today the island can be visited by ferry as one of Ireland's premium ways to discover Irish history and heritage. This video is an interview with former resident Michael O'Connor, 1 of 10 with former residents. In 1938 Ireland took back control of the island from Britain and Irish families lived a wonderful sheltered life off the mainland from 1938 - 1985. These stories give us an idea what life was like for the residents of this island hamlet. See the rest in the series in our 'Voices of Spike Island' playlist and to hear the story of some of our prisoners, see our 'Letters from Spike Island' playlist.