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00:00Hello and welcome to Ear to the Ground and a very happy new year to all of you.
00:05Coming up on the show this week, Stephen meets two men who've made solar farming work for them.
00:11I think we're doing the right thing. I can manoeuvre energy. It's the way to go.
00:16Dara is in Sligo with a young couple in love with sheep farming.
00:20It's an addictive lifestyle really isn't it?
00:23Huge amount for just liking them and liking working with them.
00:25And after 75 years of the Irish civil defence, I'll be joining one volunteer to learn why he wants to do his bit.
00:32Do you think it's her influence on you that has led you down this path?
00:36Yeah, I'd say she had a big influence on me, yeah. She stuck a chord.
00:55A nuclear attack on Britain was launched at midnight. By 6 o'clock in the morning, the fallout has reached Sligo, but the civil defence forces are ready for it.
01:08The civil defence has been part of Irish life since it was set up 75 years ago in response to the threat of nuclear war.
01:17Since then, its role has evolved to provide support during emergencies such as severe weather, extreme flooding and missing person searches.
01:28Mayo Civil Defence has its branch headquarters in Castle Bar. Fran Power is the officer in charge.
01:35So we've been involved with four missing person searches since last Wednesday.
01:40Four missing persons in the last few days?
01:42Yeah, yeah. So we provided remote support to Galway Civil Defence. They had two incidences in one night.
01:48So we provided some mapping support for them. And then we had two local missing person searches
01:53over the weekend here in the Mayo area, which we responded to both with drones, boats and search teams.
02:00Thanks very much guys for coming to our weekly training.
02:03To maintain readiness, regular training exercises are carried out. Today's scenario is searching
02:09for a missing person. Jim, you're going to operate the drone as normal.
02:14Full-time civil defence officers like Fran are employed by local authorities.
02:19Do we know where he was saying this?
02:22But the vast majority of members are volunteers, people like Tony McGing.
02:26Earlier in the day, I visited him on his farm in Newtown.
02:32Careful down here a little. Keep them near the wall.
02:36When I arrived on a very wet morning, he was letting out his cattle for a few hours.
02:41Are these all in calf? Yeah.
02:43Right.
02:43He keeps a dozen beef animals on 12 acres.
02:49This farm originally belonged to Tony's aunt, Bridget Burke.
02:54Tony was one of four children, but not long after he was born, he went to live with Bridget.
02:59Bridget reared me since I was 10 days old and I stayed with her all my life.
03:05So she had a family, you were brought into the family, you were very much part of the farming side of things.
03:10Tell me about Bridget, the farmer.
03:13She started off with a few cows and ended up with 14.
03:18She milked them by hand morning and evening.
03:21Herd worker, she'd have breakfast made and lunches made before she'd go out in the morning.
03:26Come back up, do her housework, baking, bread, cooking dinners, everything like that.
03:31Amazing.
03:32Yeah, amazing, yeah.
03:32She was a very strong, independent woman.
03:36Reared the family and reared me then again afterwards.
03:41Bridget passed away in 2013 at the age of 100.
03:47You were then given the land by her.
03:49When you heard about that, were you surprised?
03:53Yes and no, because I was with her so long.
03:55I was 53 when she passed away, but I was with her all my life, I suppose,
04:00and I was always doing the jobs here.
04:01I shouldn't, I don't think she was the type of question, does it leave you doing the work if
04:06she didn't think anything of me, do you know what I mean?
04:10Tony and his wife Adele raised their three children here.
04:14As well as looking after the farm, Tony has a full-time job with a medical products company.
04:19But he has still found the time to volunteer.
04:23His initial motivation goes back a long way.
04:26When I was 19, I was working on CAE, after having the dinner one evening, the doorbell started ringing
04:34and he was in med and we said, James, who's this or what's wrong?
04:37And we went out to the front door and there was an elderly gentleman there
04:40and he said he thinks his wife is getting a heart attack.
04:43We didn't know what to do.
04:44So the lad next door used to be in the Red Cross and we got him and he came over
04:49and there was nothing we could do, the lady had passed away.
04:52So I said, I felt stupid, I didn't know what to do.
04:56Tony did a first aid course and subsequently joined the Red Cross,
05:01where he spent 10 years before volunteering for the Civil Defence in 2015.
05:05He is now also a qualified first responder.
05:12What was that feeling you got from being able to volunteer and help and potentially save lives?
05:17People kind of look to you when you come in and you're wearing the jacket,
05:20whether whatever it is, Civil Defence or Red Cross.
05:24There's someone here that knows what to do now.
05:26Even though people are in awful trouble, they can relax for the few minutes until the ambulance comes.
05:31The Irish Civil Defence has just under 2,000 volunteers.
05:36Joining requires a good deal of commitment.
05:40Being on call day and night, going out in all weathers
05:44and often having to deal with traumatic circumstances
05:47means that a decision to join cannot be taken lightly.
05:52What about young people coming through?
05:54I mean, are you getting people from 18 upwards or not?
05:58The challenges with the younger cohort of people, I suppose,
06:00that they often move away to college or move away, you know, after school or whatever it might be.
06:04So to get commitment sometimes from that age group can be difficult.
06:07But in saying that, we welcome all ages from 18 up and all the way up into some of our members
06:12who are in their 70s.
06:13Mike Oscar, one to control, over.
06:15The Civil Defence is funded by the Department of Defence and Local Authorities.
06:20Can you check the bank of the river, the fair side of us?
06:23These days units are equipped with high-tech equipment such as command and control vehicles
06:29and drones with thermal imaging cameras.
06:34But at the end of the day, volunteers still rely on each other for support.
06:39If you let it get you down, you wouldn't come out?
06:42Yeah.
06:42Do you know so?
06:44There's a lot of peer support, you know, and it is necessary because you do see some unpleasant
06:50pains at times, you know, and experience some unpleasantness and peer support is very, very important.
06:57Not least on a day like this, everyone was very glad to get back to base.
07:03While today was a routine exercise, when called upon for real, volunteers like Tony are always there to help.
07:12What would your aunt, Bridget, think now of your life?
07:16I mean, you're full-time working, you're farming her land, what was her land?
07:20You are in the Civil Defence, helping your community.
07:25I hope she'd think she was proud of me.
07:27She'd always tell you to help people, like even neighbours, like if someone was making hay,
07:34go back and give them a hand or bring the tractor and help them bringing in the hay or, you know,
07:38that can do it.
07:39And do you think it's her influence on you that has led you down this path?
07:42Because lots of people don't volunteer.
07:44Yeah, I know that, yeah, it probably is, yeah.
07:46Yeah, it was to be helpful and help somebody out and, yeah, I'd say she had a big influence on me,
07:53yeah, without it being obvious, like, yeah, she stuck a chord.
08:02Well, that's it for part one. Coming up after the break, a busy day on a Sligo sheep farm.
08:08It's a bit hard to get a day off, but like, sometimes on a Sunday.
08:11And why we'll be seeing more fields of solar panels across Ireland.
08:15You might have noticed solar farms like this popping up all around the country.
08:27Solar energy is well on its way to meeting its 2030 Climate Action Plan target.
08:33But while solar farms are transforming our energy system, they're also transforming our landscape.
08:39Solar plants in development or going through planning should deliver over 21 gigawatts of electricity.
08:47Many of these projects, though, will attract objections.
08:52As legitimate as those objections may be, it creates challenges for any farmer looking to go solar.
08:59Ten years ago, farmer Gilbert White was approached about using 19 of his 125 acres in County Wicklow for a solar farm.
09:09What was this field originally used for?
09:11This field was just grazing. It had cattle in it or sheep.
09:13Basically, there was a nine-acre field and a ten-acre field,
09:17and we just took all the fencing down when they came in, and it was all on grass.
09:21But you didn't have any hesitation in taking that land out of farming as such?
09:25No, because the fact that they said that we could still graze it with our sheep,
09:28and then the more I thought about it, I thought it would be a few pounds, a steady income,
09:32and give you a little bit of a pension.
09:34Gilbert's farm is close to an electricity substation,
09:38so what's ideally suited as the power generated here can be easily connected to the grid.
09:44He is two years into a 30-year lease.
09:47What would you say to anyone who says solar panels shouldn't go on farmland?
09:50Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and for me, I would be saying,
09:54I've had loads of people who are thinking about doing it, and I would always say to them,
09:58well, I don't think you're going to get the money out of keeping the sheep and cattle
10:00that you'll get for the solar panels. So that's my view on it.
10:04At the same time as Gilbert was approached, so too was his neighbour, organic farmer,
10:09Trevor Johnson. He farms just over 100 acres, a mix of sheep and tillage. 42 acres are under solar.
10:18I was a bit sceptical at first, to be honest, but when I actually thought about it,
10:24financially it made total sense. I mean, the way farming is going, it's getting more and more
10:28difficult. And we were told to diversify, think of other things, and it just worked really well.
10:34But you're still farming as well.
10:35I'm still farming. That's the main thing. I can still farm away.
10:38You know, grass is still there. It's virtually 100% grazeable, apart from the roadway and the
10:43switching station. Like Gilbert, Trevor is signed up to a 30-year lease.
10:48They both receive a quarterly payment for use of their land.
10:52What does that work out as on a yearly basis?
10:54Per acre, I started off with a grade of 1,000 per acre. But we're getting a bit more now,
10:59because index linked. But I presume the sheep also help keep the grass down.
11:04Oh yeah. Yeah, that's part of the agreement. We have to keep it below 500 mil.
11:09How much is that worth? It's 150 an acre.
11:13As part of that, farmers also have to control the weeds in these fields.
11:18Gilbert and Trevor's land on their lease is called Millville Solar. It is the first
11:23large-scale ground-mounted solar farm to supply the Irish grid and has over 33,000 panels.
11:31It is operated by a French renewable energy company,
11:34Neowen, who also have two larger sites in Ireland.
11:38Ciarán O'Brien is the managing director of Neowen's Irish operations.
11:43Ireland have committed to 8 gigawatts of solar by 2030. And that means the scale of which
11:50solar parks like this one are being developed needs to increase substantially. So we have made a great
11:56start, but there's a lot more to do. Is this the most efficient use of this land to put panels on it?
12:01I think we have to put it into perspective, how much land is actually being used for solar.
12:07And bringing it back to those 2030 targets, if that 8 gigawatts of solar is met,
12:12it will still be 0.1 of Ireland's available land. And to put that number into context,
12:18that will be five times less than the number of golf courses that we have here.
12:22To deliver Ireland's target of 8 gigawatts by 2030 will require over 17,000 acres of land.
12:30But Ireland's solar story is set to scale up in a big way. If current solar plants in development
12:37deliver the estimated 21 gigawatts, much more land will be required under solar over the next 15 years.
12:45These solar farms will be significantly larger in scale.
12:49Some of the projects going to be planned at the moment is 400, 500, 600 acres. Why is that?
12:54One of the big reasons is access to the grid, access to the network, and the available capacity for
13:01connections just like this. Smaller connections are no longer available. Where capacity is available
13:07is for the larger connections. And by virtue of connecting at a larger point of network,
13:13the park has to be bigger. And those grid connections can be quite expensive to connect.
13:18So again, to make that investable, it needs to be a bigger park. Presently,
13:24planning for solar farms is submitted under general planning regulations to the relevant council,
13:30or directly to Ancomission Panala. Planning for Milladale Solar received over 20 objections
13:36before it was approved by Wicklow County Council. As solar scales up, might local opposition become more vocal?
13:45It's right and proper that those communities can contribute to the process. And if we do want
13:50communities to host assets and infrastructure like this, we need to make sure they're happy about it.
13:55This is an issue faced by all infrastructure, and it's really important
13:59that we do engage and make sure that the views of communities hosting infrastructure are heard.
14:05Under the current planning process, anyone can submit an objection.
14:10Larcham Roach Kelly is business editor with the Irish Farmers Journal.
14:14What kind of typical objections to solar farms are you hearing?
14:18On the small scale, you've got people who are worried about the glare from the solar farm,
14:21you've got people who are worried about the visual immunity of the area, but you get that,
14:24kind of any development in a community, you'll see those kind of things. But also you've got
14:28them people who object because they don't want the land to be lost to agriculture. And in the
14:32agriculture communities, that's a huge thing. We see it a lot in forestry,
14:35whereas as someone's planting forestry, people are very upset that this land is now lost.
14:39But I'm seeing sheep graze underneath the solar panels, and the farmers are saying that they're
14:44still farming that land. So was it really taken out of farming?
14:48I think if you graze sheep on it, that's fine. You can't grow a crop of barley on it. You can't
14:53build milking cows on it. But you have to look at the sustainability of agriculture as an industry.
14:58The reason we're not getting young people into farming is because the income isn't there. So we
15:01don't need to have all these farms, small farms in the country, who are producing incomes of 15,000 to
15:0625,000 euros a year. But you need a sustainable industry. And if solar can be part of that,
15:10and get a constant thinking about it, that kind of blends over the volatility and farm incomes we
15:15see, that will actually make the industry as a whole more sustainable.
15:19As the sight of solar panels becomes more common across our landscape,
15:23more and more farmers could be playing a part in Ireland's renewable revolution.
15:29If you got more in, it would have been a better payday probably, or a better income.
15:33But I'm happy with what I've got, and have no regrets, I have to say.
15:3610 years ago, I didn't regard it as a kind of retirement package. But now there's kind of
15:43peace of mind. It's just a regular income. And I think we're doing the right thing.
15:47I can manoeuvre energy. It's the way to go.
15:57It's a damp, misty August morning in the foothills of the majestic Ben Bulban in County Sligo.
16:03It's at this time of year that many upland farmers bring down their sheep for the annual shearing.
16:11This morning, Carol Devaney is getting ready for the job at hand, along with his partner,
16:16Jazz Williams. While Carol was born and bred in these parts, Jazz is from Herefordshire in the UK.
16:22My parents are sheep farmers, so from a family of nine, and we were just brought up on the farm.
16:29So it's kind of in your blood, and it's all I was doing growing up. You know, if you like it,
16:34you're probably as well to stick at it and try and make something of it.
16:38How did you first meet or come across Jazz?
16:41I make some content on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook, and Jazz does a bit as well.
16:46Obviously, I noticed her page. We still do argue about who noticed who first.
16:50Oh, you definitely slid into my DMs. Come to Ireland, he said. You'll love it, he said.
16:59My dad was a dairy farmer, but he lost the farm to foot and mouth in 2001,
17:04and didn't get back into it after that. So it wasn't actually until I got to university that I
17:10decided to try and really get back into it myself. I studied something else, but I used my holidays,
17:17like my Easter holidays, for example, to go lambing and get a bit of experience and see if it was
17:21something that I wanted to pursue. And I lasted about six months after I finished uni before I went,
17:25no, you know what? Life's too short not to do something that you really enjoy.
17:28It's an addictive lifestyle, really, isn't it? A huge amount of it is liking them and working with them.
17:36Carol and Jazz own a flock of 150 yews spread across both mountain and bogland.
17:42It's the animals on this lower stretch of land that are going to be sheared today.
17:47We're going to get half the team starting at the top and half the team starting at the bottom.
17:51We'll just come on in and we'll meet in the middle, and then when we have the bunch of sheep,
17:54we'll bring them up and out the gate and into the pin.
17:57And you've gathered up a motley assortment of friends and neighbours here, yeah?
18:00Yeah, we do, yeah. They're the farming Avengers up there.
18:03You couldn't get much better than them.
18:08These are hardy, black-faced hill sheep. They'll spend almost their whole lives out on these hills.
18:15Shearing is one of the few occasions when they're gathered in from the mountain.
18:22Unlike most sheep farmers these days, Carol does his own shearing.
18:27Not only that, he travels the country with his mobile unit, contract shearing for others.
18:33Across the summer months, he can shear as many as 13,000 animals.
18:38I've got my shearing shoes and I've got my shearing gear and I'm ready to go then.
18:41So all the kit is quite specialised. I mean, what's wrong with the boots?
18:47Well, there's a couple of different reasons why you wear them.
18:49So number one, it's a small thing, but there's a sole in these.
18:53So that brings up a couple of inches off the ground and it mightn't seem like much,
18:57but if you're bent over the day, having to bend those couple of inches makes a difference.
19:01There's better grip with them as two. And then the third thing is shearing is a kind of an art form where
19:06your feet are very important. They have to be in on the sheep and you have to keep adjusting
19:11and you need to be nimble with your feet.
19:12In years gone by, wool was a substantial source of income for farmers.
19:24But the massive rise in the use of cheap and versatile synthetic clothing in recent decades
19:29has put pain to that.
19:30Farmers have told me as we go around shearing that they tell you stories of back when wool was a good trade.
19:37And they say like that they could have put a deposit on a new farm in land, bought a car,
19:41bought a tractor. Like the wool was a significant check for the farm, but not anymore. Not anymore.
19:47Now it's just a lot to make an exercise, but it has to be done for the welfare of the animal.
19:52Carol has plied his trade as far away as Australia and New Zealand,
19:56and has won prizes at agricultural shows across the country.
20:00He even has an apprentice on hand today in the form of Archie Kells from Etnis Gillam.
20:06How long have you been at this gig?
20:08Three years.
20:08Three years. And what age are you?
20:10Fifteen.
20:11Seems like you're starting young, huh?
20:13Yeah.
20:14And you enjoy it, do you?
20:15I love it.
20:16Yeah.
20:17And are you into competitions and all that kind of carry-on as well?
20:20Yeah, I love them too.
20:22And like, is this your sport now? Do you have time for anything else?
20:25No, I'll shear them.
20:26Really?
20:27A whole lot.
20:28It takes about two minutes to shear each sheep.
20:31Keeping a steady supply coming is the job of Carol's 14-year-old sister, Heather Ann.
20:37During your summer holidays, is this it? You're working with sheep all the time?
20:41Well, it's, yeah, it's a bit hard to get a day off, but like, sometimes on a Sunday,
20:45and sometimes if you wake up late and you get away with it.
20:49Sometimes on a Sunday? So you're normally working six days a week?
20:52Depends. Like, if it's wet weather, then, you know, rainy day, because I get a day off.
20:56You get a day off.
20:57And I can see you're a bit of a pro there, you know how to move sheep, yeah?
21:00Yeah, I guess, yeah.
21:01What age were you when you were first putting a pen, herding sheep?
21:05I suppose, me kind of a grasshopper.
21:07Really?
21:08It's all been basically my whole life, like.
21:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:12For Heather Ann, Carol and Archie, who all come from this kind of background,
21:16this is clearly a world they know and love.
21:19As it came near finishing time for the day,
21:23Jaz and I went for a short hike up Troskmoor Mountain.
21:29She's been living here now for nearly two years.
21:32For her, it's a way of life she's had to find her way into.
21:37I know you said it isn't always like this, but man, oh, man, when you're standing up here
21:42and the sun is shining, we're looking across.
21:44You can see the beach, you can see the sea.
21:46There are these soaring slopes all around.
21:49I mean, it's beautiful, isn't it?
21:50It's absolutely stunning.
21:52It takes my breath away.
21:53There's certainly nowhere else I'd rather be.
21:56You say that now, but I mean, it's never easy, is it, to uproot yourself
22:02and move to another country.
22:03You're starting from scratch.
22:05Yeah, you are.
22:06The idea of moving and being in a new place didn't faze me too much,
22:10but actually when you throw in that you are in a different country, even though, you know,
22:14we speak the same language, but there's so many things that are actually different
22:17that you wouldn't realize until you're here that take a bit of adjusting.
22:22And I'll be honest, I did find it really difficult.
22:24You're moving away from your friends, from your family, from familiarity.
22:28And it wasn't just that that I was changing.
22:30I was also moving away from a type of farming that I was really familiar with.
22:34And I felt like I was having to learn in every avenue of my life.
22:38I was having to learn new things.
22:40But it's just fantastic.
22:42I absolutely love it.
22:42Well, I guess it's those tough times that make days like this a little bit more special, don't they?
22:48It is.
22:48It's so special.
22:50Personally, I find it beautiful up here, even on a miserable day.
22:53But when we're treated to the good weather, I mean,
22:55you can't not be in a good mood when the sun is shining, can you?
22:57Yeah, it's good for the heart and good for the soul.
23:00Yeah, it certainly is.
23:01Yeah.
23:06Well, that's it for the show.
23:07Coming up for you next week.
23:09Dara is in Kerry with a farmer recovering from the theft of almost two-thirds of his sheep flock.
23:14When I started gathering, I knew those big problems.
23:17Until then, I found the reality of what was after happening.
23:20Stephen is in Donegal meeting a group of farmers who are looking after their health and well-being.
23:25I'm primarily involved in the programme to get a wee lifestyle change and get in and get moving,
23:30get in and get talking, get in amongst each other.
23:32And I'll be seeing how a pampered breed of cattle is dealing with life on the Burren.
23:37I really wanted to try something different and to see how it would work here in Clare.
23:44Don't forget that this programme will be repeated on Sunday at lunchtime after the farming weather.
23:50You can follow us and contact us on social media.
23:53And you can hear more farming stories on Countrywide this Saturday morning on RTE Radio 1.
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24:29.
24:33.
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