A couple who went to live on Long Island off the west Cork coast three years ago will leave for Sweden this weekend claiming that they have suffered intimidation.
But the allegation is denied by local people.
The tiny island, with a population of only 12 native islanders, was chosen by Mr Rolfe Turner (35) from Yorkshire and Ms Leana Mansson (30), from Sweden, as a quiet retreat.
The couple are interested in organic farming and met in Germany before moving to west Cork. Mr Turner raised geese and goats and grew organic vegetables.
Ms Mansson said she interested herself in local issues and was involved in a women's group in the Schull area. She was described as very popular, but Mr Turner was said not to have fitted in well on the island. They have decided to live instead on the island of Oland off the Swedish coast.
Claiming intimidation, Mr Turner said the last straw was when the couple returned from an evening out some weeks ago and found a hangman's noose on the gate of their rented farmhouse.
While he did not fear for his personal safety, he said yesterday he was intimidated, as was his partner, and felt there was no further point in remaining on Long Island.
Mr Patsy Whooley, a Long Island fisherman who also runs the small boat linking Long Island to the mainland, denied suggestions of intimidation. He said Mr Turner's problems were all self-induced, mainly because he did not get on with people.
His problems were of his own making, he added.
Mr Turner, on the other hand, said he had lived in the Canadian wilderness for some years but had never experienced anything like the hostility which he had found on Long Island.
His partner said the time had come to leave Long Island because the intimidation had become too much. "We want to get out, we have had enough of it," Ms Mansson said.
It is understood that a formal complaint concerning the hangman's noose on the gate has been lodged with the Garda and that an investigation is under way.
Mr Liam Chambers, of the West Cork Islands Association, said yesterday that he regretted the incident, which he described as "deplorable and unacceptable". The couple will leave Cork Airport for Sweden tomorrow.