The island is one of a pair, Inis Gé Thuaidh being the northern counterpart to Inis Gé Theas, and like many of the small islands scattered along this coastline, it was inhabited and used by communities whose relationship with the sea shaped every aspect of daily life, including where and how the dead were laid to rest.

Island burial grounds of this kind are relatively common along the western Irish seaboard, though the circumstances that produced them varied considerably. Some grew up around early medieval ecclesiastical sites, established by monks or hermits who sought the isolation these places offered. Others served as the practical burying places of small farming and fishing communities who lived on the islands seasonally or permanently before depopulation, whether gradual or sudden, emptied them out. Without further detail it is not possible to say precisely which tradition this ground belongs to, though the pattern of such sites in County Mayo suggests a long continuity of use, often stretching from early Christian times through to the nineteenth century or beyond.

The island's remoteness means access depends on sea conditions and the availability of a boat from the mainland. Inis Gé Thuaidh sits in waters that can be unpredictable, and any visit requires local knowledge and appropriate planning. The burial ground itself, as with many such sites on uninhabited islands, may be unmarked in any obvious way to the casual eye, with grave slabs or enclosure walls slowly merging back into the landscape around them.