¹Wood-Martin, W. G. Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland. Vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1902. 225.
The fear gorta ("man of hunger") is a phantom resembling an emaciated human. Fear gortach, "hungry grass," a patch of dead grass which appears where someone has died of hunger. Anyone who walks across it gets the same sickness. "According to Yeats' Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry the fear gorta walks the earth during times of famine, seeking alms from passers-by. In this version the fear gorta can be a potential source of good luck for generous individuals." (Wikipedia)

²Poitín is a traditional Irish alcoholic drink that for centuries was illegal in the country. Traditionally distilled from malted barley grain or potatoes, it is one of the strongest alcoholic beverages in the world. In 1997 it became legal to sell poitín in the Republic of Ireland, and two distilleries produce a far weaker product than its illegally distilled ancestor. (Wikipedia)

³A retired schoolmaster, Seán Burke was interested in antiquarian and folkloric studies. Unfortunately we have no photographs of Burke, nor a recording of our conversation.

⁴Ciortan appears in the Ulster Cycle legend of the Táin Bó Flidhais. Another legend of the area was retold by Rev. Caesar Otway in 1850: A sea-king named Fergus came on a plundering raid to Erris, which was then owned by the giant Donnell Doolwee who lived at Glencastle. Fergus came to Donnell's castle where he charmed Donnell's faithless wife, Munhanna. She then found out the secret to Donnell's invincibility, a ringlet of the hair of the Morrigan tied around his loins.
"Donnell was made drunk - he slept in sottishness - his knot was cut - [his enemy] admitted - he drew his sword, and Doolwee's head was severed from his body, and sent rolling in all its ghastliness down the steep sides of the Doon; and the morning sun, as it rose over the eastern bill, saw the raven banner of the sea-king floating over the ramparts of Dooncarton." (Otway, Caesar. Sketches in Erris and Tyrawly, Illustrative of the Scenery, Antiquities, Architectural Remains, and the Manners and Superstitions of the Irish Peasantry. Dublin: T. Connolly, 1850. 39-42.)

⁵"Corrib Gas Pipeline: Environmental Impact Statement." Web. 29 Sept. 2011.
The "non-technical summary" of the EIS may be read here.

⁶Otway, Caesar. Sketches in Erris and Tyrawly, Illustrative of the Scenery, Antiquities, Architectural Remains, and the Manners and Superstitions of the Irish Peasantry. Dublin: T. Connolly, 1850. 337-38.
Earlier in his book the author complains about a different monument wantonly destroyed: "The head and foot stones of what has been called a giant's grave still remain here, near the Doon - it is about forty feet long - also a cromleach--but as this lay in the way of the new road, the iligant [sic] engineer ordered it to be upset, and there the ruin lies and may lie, for stones are cheap, as a monument of a projector's taste, who would not deflect his road half a perch, in order to preserve it." (pp. 38-9)