‘Greenland is beautiful’: Cork man’s fear for nation he loves

Let’s face it, in the depths of chilly January, Greenland is hardly a destination that crops up on people’s go-to lists if they are seeking a break away.

Sun-seekers would be extremely disappointed to find just three hours of daylight at this time of year, with some parts of the north of the Arctic country currently in the middle of a four-month black-out with no sun at all! Er, may as well leave the Ambre Solaire at home, girl.

When U.S President Donald Trump put it on the map, by bizarrely (and worryingly) declaring he wanted to take the sovereign territory for himself, the outrage was met by a sense of bafflement among many people outside the geopolitical bubble.

Greenland? What the...?

Well, there is a Cork man who has visited that Arctic ice behemoth twice, and he can provide an insight into the natural wonders of the country.

Rónán Collins, originally of Kinsale, is a mad-keen fisherman whose hobby has brought him to some of the world’s most stunning wildernesses.

In the course of two lengthy fishing holidays in Greenland, in 2019 and 2021, he fell in love with the country and its people.

Greenland is vast, at 2.17 million square kilometres, the largest island in the world - you could fit 31 Irelands into it - and much of it is totally uninhabitable, but Rónán saw enough of its raw beauty and gaping wilderness to be bewitched.

“I would compare it a little to Connemara,” he says, “it is unspoilt and there are very few roads. People prefer to travel by boat - they are very good seamen.

“The Inuit people who live there are very friendly,” adds Rónán, who now lives in Dublin and is a professor and expert on strokes - work for which he was recently named Cork Person of the Month.

On both occasions he visited Greenland, Rónán went with fishing friends. The first time, he took a plane from Dublin to Reykjavík in Iceland, and on to Narsarsuaq Airport in southern Greenland. For the second trip, he flew to the island from Copenhagen in Denmark, long recognised as having a sovereign stake in Greenland.

Unsurprisingly, the main diet on Greenland is fish.

“We were living off the land,” says Rónán, “and caught our own food, like cod. They eat venison too, and wild mushrooms, herbs for soup, and berries in season. We were living in log cabins in the wilderness.”

He says the locals have to be experts of the sea, navigating rough waves, tides, and ice.

On one trip, he took a helicopter ride and was amazed to see blue ice - so-called because it is compressed so much that it has its air removed, leaving a brilliant sparkling blue colour.

Rónán’s first trip in 2019 was organised by a remarkable man, then in his late nineties, David Whitren, who died aged 102 last year, and owned a fishery on the Boyne river.

David owned the Stella club in Dublin where he gave Rory Gallagher some of his first gigs in the city.

Rónán was accompanied in 2021 by Bob Hurley, of Kinsale, Glenda Powell, of Kilmurry, Jeff Featherstone, from Clonakilty, and David McCann, of Bandon.

He has been fishing all his life, since a grand-uncle, Tom Kerrigan, taught him in Kinsale as a child.

His passion for it has brought him to Russia, Norway, Iceland, West Africa, Tobago, and Venezuela - another country which has had a recent run-in with Trump.

Rónn says the pastime “is great for mental wellbeing, and takes you away from technology and noise”.

Its big attraction is that it has taken him to some of the world’s most wild and beautiful places - like Greenland.

On his visits there, he noticed a U.S air base, at Thule in the north-east, which dates back to World War II, and is a symbol of how Denmark was willing to share its strategic location with its American allies.

Those days seem to be at an end.

When I mention Trump’s recent comments about a land grab for Greenland, Rónán is indignant.

“Greenland is its own country,” he says, “it deserves the same respect for its sovereignty as all countries.

“I’m not a politician, but we need international law to exist or we will have the law of the jungle.”

While acknowledging Trump’s interest extended to the nation’s resources, he said that the whole outcry was “quite mad” and he worried that “the world will walk itself into World War III”.

We can only hope that this Greenland grab is just more bluster from the dangerous Donald Trump.

Although he has been away from Cork all his life since an internship at the Mercy Hospital, Rónán is a regular visitor to Kinsale to see his parents, who still live there.

As for being nominated for a Cork Person of the Month award in December, he said: “It’s really nice to be well thought of by people in Cork. I am a very proud Cork man.”

He was recognised for his work in treating, preventing and raising public awareness of stroke, as well as his important contributions to wellbeing and healthcare for the elderly in Irish society.

Rónán has been a Consultant in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Tallaght University Hospital since 2005, and is also Clinical Lead at the National Clinical Programme for Stroke.

Through this latter role, he has been a leading figure in developing the National Stroke Strategy 2022-2027, which provides a framework for the management of the disease across the health service.

The Cork Person of the Year for 2025 was chosen at the annual Gala Awards Lunch at the Metropole Hotel, Cork city, yesterday.