Inishark or Inishshark (Irish: Inis Airc), sometimes called Shark Island, is a small island neighbouring the larger Inishbofin in County Galway, Ireland.
Now uninhabited, the last 23 inhabitants of this former isolated fishing and farming community were evacuated in October 1960.[1] The islanders had been unable to leave for months in winter and the government opted to resettle them on the mainland rather than build an expensive pier on the island.
Like Inishbofin, Inishark is composed almost entirely of Silurian slates and shales. It rises to 100 metres above sea level.
In 2009, Boston College's Irish Studies program (in cooperation with Irish Film Institute) screened Inis Airc, Bás Oileáin (Inishark, Death of an Island) (filmed in 2006)[2] as part of the Irish Studies Film Series telling the evacuation story from the surviving islanders viewpoint.
The island's patron saint was Leo of Inis Airc, who lived there sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries. The remains of a 19th century church named after him lie on the island today. [3]