June 2024

The Community of Blacksod on the Mullet Peninsula will commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day on Thursday, 6th June.

Blacksod lighthouse played an essential role at the end of World War II as a weather station supplying Britain with meteorological reports under an agreement dating back to the 1921 Treaty.

On June 3, 1944, the lighthouse keeper Ted Sweeney and his wife Maureen delivered a weather forecast that unwittingly changed the course of the war.

On that day, they phoned that there was a warning: a Force 6 wind and a rapidly falling barometer at his weather station.

D-Day was scheduled for June 5, but the landing was delayed by one day because of the meteorological report.

On June 4, a new report delivered from Blacksod lighthouse indicated the weather was clearing, which decided the eventual go-ahead for the landing on June 6 in Normandy. That is the date we all remember: D-Day.

Maureen's grandson, Fergus Sweeney, has organised a day-long programme of events to honour this significant contribution.

The event will start with a dawn remembrance ceremony, engaging exhibits, guest speakers, musical entertainment, and a special aircraft flyover.

• 5 am: Dawn Remembrance Ceremony at Blacksod Lighthouse

• 10 am: Exhibits open (Met Éireann, An Post, Military Archives, Irish Lights, and Saving Private Ryan props)

• 11 am: Guest Speaker Ron Howko (US Forces on D-Day)

• 12 pm: Guest Speaker Donal Buckley (Irish Neutrality, Then and Now)

• 1 pm-2 pm: 1940s Music by Bridget McMahon

• Afternoon:  Aircraft Flyover (weather dependent)

• 5 pm: Combined Talks at SOLAS Visitor Centre, Eachléim, chaired by Michael Kennedy