It is about as far as you can get from Northern Ireland, and the distance has often made it seem, for the locals, like a problem in another country.
Even recently there has been little passion about the North in pubs and cafes in the south-westerly tip of the country. Everyone, it appears, is going to vote Yes tomorrow. All the usual reasons will apply for this affirmative vote. Self-interest is part of it: peace in Northern Ireland will undoubtedly provide a boost to the tourism industry, which means so much to West Cork.
"Most people will be voting Yes except for the odd person with their own agenda," according to Donal O'Driscoll, from the Beara Peninsula. "From what I have heard of the agreement it is the best that can be done. There has to be compromise, although of course there are a few who say: to hell with compromise, we want a united Ireland".
Just days earlier the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had been in the area calling for a Yes vote. "The North is so far away from us. We tended to think it did not impinge on us. But it's bigger than that, and what happens in the referendum will be the resolution of a national issue," said Mr O'Driscoll, chairman of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation.
At the time the peace agreement was signed Vivion O'Callaghan was apprehensive about how it would be received among certain sections in West Cork.
"Fianna Fail would traditionally be right of centre in relation to republicanism. I anticipated resistance to the changes to Articles 2 and 3 among the old order. But that appears to have been swept aside, and there is general acceptance," said the Bantry Fianna Fail councillor and hotelier.
He believes an acceptance of the agreement will prove a huge boost to tourism in West Cork. "When people are thinking about holidays, if there is hassle involved they just decide to go somewhere else. If the Belfast Agreement is accepted, as well as the Amsterdam Treaty, I think it will mean a huge amount for tourism here."
On Hare Island off the coast between Baltimore and Schull, John Desmond says the way the agreement is structured is "all or nothing", which he believes has made people focus properly on it.
He has discussed it with friends, and all, he said, are of the same opinion. "If we do not do it this time, it will be another 30 years before things are sorted out. Will this generation ever be forgiven for that?"
John, who runs Island Cottage restaurant, has no problem with the proposed constitutional changes.
In Ballydehob there is little talk of the peace agreement, according to Annie Barry, proprietor of Annie's Restaurant. "I haven't heard one solitary person mention it."
Annie was undecided how she would vote. "To be honest I have no idea. But I have all the information that came through the post. I will have to weigh it up and decide what to do. Generally you do not hear people talk about the North around here.
"I suppose that is because it is so far away. We get tourists from the North and they are lovely people but they don't mention the situation at home when they are down here. It is the same with some people I know who have moved down here. They simply don't mention their previous life. It appears they want to leave it behind."