The Last Leprechauns of Ireland

There were once millions of leprechauns in Ireland until the middle of the 19th century when they started to disappear. Today only 236 still survive in Carlingford Co Louth. The author, known locally as McCoillte, Gaelic for (The son of the woodman) got them protected as a species by the E.U. in 2009.The story traces the geological upheaval in Ireland over 50 million years ago. They experienced the coming of the ice age and witnessed the arrival of the first humans to Ireland from central Europe ten thousand years ago. From that time on, they relate the story of their lives to McCoillte, telling him of their interaction with Druids, and High Kings. The arrival of Christianity through St Patrick, the coming of the Vikings and then the Anglo Normans, about Ireland up to the famine in 1845 when millions of people died and as many more emigrated. Leprechauns would disappear too if they did not contact humankind. This is their story.