Brendan Begley has recorded a simple and wrenching version of this song on his newest album, Fé Scáth (In the Shadow). One reason the song is so powerful is its simplicity, both in terms of economy of words and also the juxtaposition of the simple, everyday images.

Which brings me to my question. Every word and image in the song adds to its overall strength, except--for me--the word "neighbours." I can make little sense of the line "as they go searching for their neighbors." My first impression was that their neighbours might have been lost at sea and the Conneeleys were searching for them. But that's highly unlikely--you search on the shore for people who have been lost at sea. Maybe shoals of fish are their neighbours? Maybe they are fishing for the community and their neighbours?

Can anyone help me with this?

Cheers,

David