"Bád Eddie," the iconic Donegal shipwreck that appeared in the music video for the U2 and Clannad song "In a Lifetime," is in danger of disappearing for good.
Meaning 'Eddie's Boat,' "Bád Eddie" has been a feature of Bunbeg's Magheraclogher beach in Gweedore, Co Donegal for 50 years and is visible to anyone landing at Donegal Airport.
Built in France, the ship - officially named "Cara na Mara" - was beached by local fisherman Eddie Gillespie in 1977 to carry out repairs.
It has remained on the beach ever since, becoming an iconic feature on the Donegal coastline.
However, decades of harsh coastal winds and rain have taken their toll on the iconic wreck, which is now in danger of disappearing altogether.
Locals have launched a rescue plan to salvage the wreck in hopes of ensuring its survival for generations to come.
An ongoing local campaign aims to build a replica structure of the shipwreck which will preserve the wreck in stainless steel and protect it from the elements. It will also serve as an artwork in its own right, according to the Bád Eddie Committee.
Sonia Nic Giolla Easbuig, a member of the committee, told the BBC in 2020 that the structure will allow future generations to "peer through the stainless steel monument into the remains of the old boat."
The Bád Eddie committee teamed up with researchers at Queen's University Belfast to design a replica sculpture, with experts providing advice on how to save the structure in the short term before it is encased in stainless steel.
Researchers at Queen's took a 3-D scanned image of the shipwreck in 2021 and intended to use the 3-D data to create a full-scale replica model before the ship succumbed to the elements.
However, the plan to build a full-scale replica is dependent on additional funding that is not currently available, a Queen's spokesperson told Irish Central in September 2023.
The spokesperson added that additional public funding is required if the project is to progress.
In 2022, local councilor Michael Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig obtained safety signage to warn people not to climb on the shipwreck.
The signage, which was erected in August 2022, aims to protect the shipwreck and prevent serious injury.
In the past, young people visiting the beach would have traditionally played inside the famous wreck.
However, Mac Giolla Easbuig said there are concerns that someone will get "seriously hurt" playing on Bád Eddie given its current condition.
"I would ask people not to be climbing on the boat," he told Donegal Daily last August. "It's in bad shape and unfortunately it's deteriorating constantly, that is the natural process."
The Bád Eddie committee launched a GoFundMe in 2020 to help raise funds to build a full-scale replica model, raising more than €12,400 to date.
"The Bád Eddie committee would like to raise money to preserve and design a structure to replace Bád Eddie whenever the inevitable happens that her structure collapses," the group said in a post on GoFundMe.
"Thousands enjoy Bád Eddie when they visit Gweedore and we as a committee would like your support to preserve what is left of her and to design a structure that will combine the bones of what is left of the boat with a replica structure designed to be a permanent fixture on the beach in Bunbeg."
For more information, visit the Bád Eddie GoFundMe.
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