The very faintest tinge of pink in the sky heralds the dawn in this picture. Around 5.30 am in the morning a couple of weeks ago, I stood on the coast road that overlooks the harbour on Inishbofin island hoping that the sea fog would blow away. Sometime after 6am, it began to fade, revealing the stars above. In the foreground (left of picture), Cromwell’s Fort – once a jail used to incarcerate priests during the jihad against the Catholic population of Ireland in the 1700s – as well as the lighthouse that marks the entrance to Bofin Harbour. Above, the constellation of Orion as well as, just above the fort, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.