placenamesPollatomish
Poll an tSómais
A contemporary news report records the disruption and emergency work following the movement of Dooncarton mountain.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Poll an tSómais · Irish · main form · validated name
- Pollatomish · English · main form
Place & story
Rain and the mountainside
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 20 September 2003 documented the aftermath of a landslide above Pollatomish, or Poll an tSómais. Exceptionally heavy rain had destabilised part of Dooncarton mountain. The report captured residents’ accounts of an event they described as unlike anything they had previously experienced, preserving contemporary testimony from the affected community. [2]
Damage around the bay
Mud blocked bridges and roads, homes were flooded, and part of the graveyard overlooking Sruwaddacon Bay was destroyed. RTÉ reported that hundreds of people were stranded. The damage affected both domestic buildings and the routes connecting the settlement, making the landslide a disruption to the wider community as well as to individual households. [2]
The emergency response
The same report followed emergency services working overnight to reopen roads, rebuild bridges and restore water and electricity supplies. Superintendent Tony McNamara of Belmullet Garda Station emphasised that no lives had been lost. Gareth O’Connor’s broadcast records the immediate recovery effort; it does not establish when every repair was completed or describe the area’s later condition. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Pollatomish. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Natural Disaster2003: Mayo Landslide, report broadcast20September2003 · Gareth O’Connor, RTÉ News; RTÉ Archives description
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.