‘Coughlan has vividly illustrated the lives — some within living memory — of a remote Mayo community.’ Dick Hunter, Family and Community History.
‘Coughlan has produced a judicious and insightful analysis that sensitively examines the circumstances in which ten Achill Island tattie-hokers died after toxic fumes engulfed their place of residence in Kirkintilloch …. Those who find the materialism of modern Celtic Tiger Ireland a bit hard to tolerate might find a suitable antidote for their condition in a reading of this work.’ Tom Hunt, Irish Literary Supplement.
‘This work by Brian Coughlan is an interesting local study because, unlike most local studies, it focuses on two localities – one on Achill Island and one in Kirkintilloch in Scotland. Having two localities to study makes it a more difficult task but Coughlan seems equally adept at researching in and writing about both locations’, Liam Kelly, Breifne: The Journal of the Cavan Historical Society (2006).
