Carrying just seven passengers on Wednesday morning, the Aer Arann twin-prop Islander plane takes flight from Minne Airport in south Connemara to make the seven-minute journey to Inis Oírr.
With a stiff northeasterly wind, the plane makes its approach from the south, descending to a tiny airport set among the karst limestone, sandy dunes and hardy vegetation of this treeless, windswept island home to 300 people.
And thus begins one of the more unusual canvasses of any Irish election.
Aboard is Seán Kyne, Fine Gael Senator and a candidate in the Galway West byelection that takes place later this month.
Leaving the airport, Kyne’s tall lean frame strides purposefully towards the port. Visible is what looks like a North Sea oil rig just off the quay, complete with a tall derrick. It is the platform to construct a new quay for the island, which is the most westerly of the Aran Islands.
