- 2 days ago
Ear To The Ground - Season 33 Episode 8
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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, like renewable 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 effort is 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
00:32do 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.
00:59A nuclear attack on Britain was launched at midnight.
01:03By six o'clock in the morning, the fallout has reached Sligo, but the civil defence forces are ready for
01:08it.
01:09The civil defence has been part of Irish life since it was set up 75 years ago in response to
01:15the 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
01:25searches.
01:27Mayo Civil Defence has its branch headquarters in Castle Bar.
01:32Fran Power is the officer in charge.
01:36So we've been involved with four missing person searches since last Wednesday.
01:40Four missing persons in the last few days.
01:43Yeah, 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 for a missing person.
02:10Jim, 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?
02:21But the vast majority of members are volunteers, people like Tony McGing.
02:28Earlier in the day, I visited him on his farm in Newtown.
02:33Careful, Tony, keep you 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?
02:43Yeah.
02:44He 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.
03:00Bridget 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
03:10of things.
03:11Tell me about Bridget, the farmer.
03:12And she started off with a few cows and ended up with 14.
03:18She milked them by hand morning and evening.
03:21Hered workers, 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.
03:34She was a very strong, independent woman.
03:37Reared 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. When you heard about that, were you surprised?
03:53Yes and no, because I was with her so long. I was 53 when she passed away.
03:58But I was with her all my life, I suppose, and I was always doing the jobs here.
04:02I don't think she was the type of person that would leave you doing the work,
04:06if she 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.
04:20But he has still found the time to volunteer.
04:24His initial motivation goes back a long way.
04:28When I was 19, I was working on CAE. After having the dinner one evening,
04:33the doorbell started ringing mad, and we said,
04:35James, who's this, or what's wrong? And we went out to the front door,
04:39and there was an elderly gentleman there, and he said he thinks his wife is getting a heart attack.
04:43We didn't know what to do, so the lad next door used to be in the Red Cross,
04:47and we got him, and he came over, and there was nothing we could do with her.
04:51The lady had passed away, so 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,
05:00where he spent 10 years before volunteering for the Civil Defence in 2015.
05:07He is now also a qualified first responder.
05:11What 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,
05:21whether whatever it is, Civil Defence or Red Cross.
05:24There's someone here that knows what to do now, even though people are in awful trouble.
05:27They 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,
05:48means that a decision to join cannot be taken lightly.
05:52What about young people coming through? I mean, are you getting people from 18 upwards or not?
05:57The 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
06:12members
06:12in 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.
06:40If you let it get you down, you wouldn't come out?
06:42Yeah.
06:43You know so.
06:44There's a lot of peer support, you know, and it is necessary because you do see some unpleasant
06:50things at times, you know, and experience some unpleasantness, and peer support is very,
06:55very important.
06:57Not least on a day like this.
07:00Everyone was very glad to get back to base.
07:04While today was a routine exercise, when called upon for real, volunteers like Tony are always there to
07:11help.
07:12What would your aunt, Bridget, think now of your life?
07:16I mean, you're full-time working.
07:18You're farming her land.
07:19What was her land?
07:20You are in the Civil Defence, helping your community.
07:25I hope she thinks she was proud of me.
07:30She'd always tell you to help people, like even neighbours.
07:33Like if someone was making hay, go back and give them a hand or bring the tractor and help them
07:36bringing in the hay or, you know, that can do it.
07:39And do you think it's her influence on you that has led you down this path?
07:43Because lots of people don't volunteer.
07:44Yeah, I know.
07:45Yeah, it probably is, yeah.
07:46Yeah, just to be helpful and help somebody out.
07:51Yeah, I'd say she had a big influence on me, yeah.
07:55Without it being obvious, like, you know, 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.
08:22You 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.
08:32But while solar farms are transforming our energy system, they're also transforming our landscape.
08:40Solar plants in development or going through planning should deliver over 21 gigawatts of electricity.
08:47Many of these projects, though, will attract objections.
08:51As 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
09:07solar farm.
09:09What was this field originally used for?
09:11This field was just grazing. It had cattle in it or sheep.
09:14Basically, there was a 9-acre field and a 10-acre field, and we just took all the fencing down
09:18when they came in.
09:19And it was all in grass.
09:21Do 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.
09:35Gilbert's farm is close to an electricity substation,
09:38so it was 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.
09:52And for me, I would be saying, and I've had loads of people start thinking about doing it,
09:57and I would always say to them, well, I don't think you're going to get the money out of
10:00keeping the sheep and cattle that you'll get for the solar panels.
10:02So that's my view on it.
10:04At the same time as Gilbert was approached, so too was his neighbour, organic farmer Trevor Johnson.
10:11He farms just over 100 acres, a mix of sheep and tillage. 42 acres are under solar.
10:19We were a bit sceptical at first, to be honest, but when we actually thought about it,
10:24financially it made total sense. I mean, the way farming is going, it's getting more and more difficult.
10:28And we were told to diversify, think of other things, and it just worked really well.
10:35But you're still farming as well.
10:36I'm still farming. That's the main thing. I can still farm away.
10:39You know, grass is still there. It's virtually 100% grazeable, apart from the roadway and the
10:43switching station.
10:45Like 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?
10:55Per acre, start off with a grade of 1,000 per acre. But we're getting a bit more now,
11:00because index-linked.
11:01But I presume the sheep also help keep the grass down.
11:04Oh yeah, that's part of the agreement. We have to keep it below 500 mil.
11:09How much is that worth?
11:11It'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 Millvale Solar.
11:22It is the first large-scale ground-mounted solar farm to supply the Irish grid and has over 33,000
11:29panels. It 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 eight gigawatts of solar by 2030.
11:48And that means the scale of which solar parks like this one are being developed needs to increase
11:53substantially. So we have made a great start, but there's a lot more to do.
11:58Is 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,
12:09if that eight gigawatts of solar is met, it will still be 0.1 of Ireland's available land.
12:17And to put that number into context, that will be five times less than the number of golf courses
12:22that we have here.
12:23To deliver Ireland's target of eight 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.
12:35If current solar plants in development deliver the estimated 21 gigawatts,
12:39much more land will be required under solar over the next 15 years.
12:45These solar farms will be significantly larger in scale.
12:48Some of the projects going to be planned at the moment is four, five, 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. So again,
13:19to make that investable, it needs to be a bigger park. Presently, planning for solar farms is submitted
13:26under general planning regulations to the relevant council or directly to Ankhoma Shunpunala.
13:32Planning for Millvale Solar received over 20 objections before it was approved by Wicklow County Council.
13:39As 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 that we do engage and make
14:01sure that the views of communities hosting infrastructure are heard. Under the current planning process,
14:07anyone can submit an objection. Larcham Roach Kelly is business editor with the Irish Farmers Journal.
14:14What kind of typical objections to solar farms are you hearing? On the small scale, you've got people
14:20who are worried about the glare from the solar farm. You've got people worried about the visual
14:23immunity of the area. But you get that kind of any development in a community, you'll see those kind
14:27of things. But also, you've got them people who object because they don't want the land to be lost to
14:31agriculture. And in the agriculture communities, that's a huge thing. We see it a lot in forestry,
14:35whereas the summer's planting forestry, people are very upset that this land is now lost.
14:40But I'm seeing sheep greys underneath the solar panels and the farmers are saying that they're
14:45still farming that land. So was it really taken out of farming? I think if you graze sheep on it,
14:51that's fine. You can't grow a crop of barley on it. You can't build milking cows on it. But you
14:55have
14:55to look at the sustainability of agriculture as an industry. The reason we're not getting young
14:59people into farming is because the income isn't there. So we don't need to have all these farms,
15:02small farms in the country, who are producing incomes of 15 to 25,000 euros a year. But you
15:08need a sustainable industry. And if solar can be part of that, and get a constant think about it,
15:12but that kind of blends over the volatility and farming incomes we see, that will actually make
15:16the industry as a whole more sustainable. As the sight of solar panels becomes more common
15:21across our landscape, more 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.
15:37Ten 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.
15:56It's a damp, misty August morning in the foothills of the majestic Ben Bulban in County Sligo.
16:04It'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,
16:16Jaz Williams. While Carol was born and bred in these parts, Jaz is from Herefordshire in the UK.
16:24My 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
16:34it,
16:34you're probably as well to stick at it and try and make something of it. How did you first meet
16:39or come across Jaz? I make some content on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook, and Jaz does a bit as
16:46well. Obviously, I noticed her page. We still do argue about who noticed who first. Oh, you definitely
16:51slid 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,
17:03and didn't get back into it after that. So it wasn't actually until I got to university that
17:10I decided to try and really get back into it myself. I studied something else, but I used my
17:15holidays, like my East holidays, for example, to go lambing and get a bit of experience and
17:20see if it was something that I wanted to pursue. And I lasted about six months after I finished uni,
17:24before I went, no, you know what? Life's too short not to do something that you really enjoy.
17:30It's an addictive lifestyle really, isn't it? Huge amount for just liking them and working with them.
17:35Yeah. Carol and Jaz own a flock of 150
17:39yields spread across both mountain and bogland. It's the animals on this lower stretch of land that
17:45are going to be sheared today. We're going to get half the team starting at the top and half the
17:50team starting at the bottom. We'll just come on in and we'll meet in the middle. And then when we
17:54have the bunch of sheep, we'll bring them up and out the gate and into the pin. And you've got
17:58added up a motley assortment of friends and neighbors here. Yeah, we do. They're the farming
18:01avengers of there. You 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. Not only that, he travels the
18:29country with his mobile unit, contract shearing for others. Across the summer months, he can shear
18:35as many as 13,000 animals. I've got my shearing shoes and I've got my shearing gear and I'm ready
18:41to go then. So all the kit is quite specialised. What's wrong with the boots? Well, there's a couple
18:48different reasons why you wear them. So number one, it's a small thing, but there's a sole in these.
18:53So that brings up a couple inches off the ground. And it mightn't seem like much, but if you're bent
18:58over the day, having to bend those couple inches makes a difference. There's better grip with them
19:03as two. And then the third thing is shearing is kind of an art form where your feet are very
19:08important.
19:09They have to be in on the sheep and you have to keep adjusting and you need to be nimble
19:12with your feet.
19:19In years gone by, wool was a substantial source of income for farmers. But the massive rise in the use
19:26of cheap and versatile synthetic clothing in recent decades has put pay to that.
19:32Farmers have told me as we go around shearing, they tell you stories of back when wool was a good
19:36trade.
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 loss making 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. He even has an apprentice on hand today
20:02in the form of Archie Kells from Emmysgillam. How long have you been at this gig?
20:08Three years. Three years. And what age are you? Fifteen.
20:12See, because you're starting young, huh? Yeah. And you enjoy it, do you? I love it.
20:16Yeah. And are you into competitions and all that kind of carry-on as well? Yeah, I love them too.
20:21And like, is this your sport now? Do you have time for anything else? No, I'll shear them.
20:26Really? A whole lot. It 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,
20:46and sometimes if you wake up late and you get away with it. Sometimes on a Sunday?
20:50So you're normally working six days a week? Depends. Like, if it's wet weather, then, you know,
20:55rainy day, because I got a day off. You get a day off. And I can see you're a bit
20:58of a pro there.
20:59You know how to move sheep, yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:01What age were you when you were first putting a pen, herding sheep?
21:05I suppose me kind of a grasshopper. Really?
21:08It's all been, especially my whole life. Yeah, 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. As it came near finishing time for the day,
21:23Jazz and I went for a short hike up Troskmoor Mountain.
21:29She's been living here now for nearly two years. For her, it's a way of life she's had to find
21:35her way into.
21:37I know you said it isn't always like this, but man, oh man, when you stand up here and the
21:42sun is shining,
21:43we're looking across. You can see the beach, you can see the sea. The bay there, these soaring slopes all
21:49around.
21:49I mean, it's beautiful, isn't it? It's absolutely stunning. It takes my breath away.
21:53There's certainly nowhere else I'd rather be. You say that now, but I mean,
21:58it's never easy, is it, to uproot yourself and move to another country. You're starting from scratch.
22:05Yeah, you are. The idea of moving and being in a new place didn't phase 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 that you wouldn't
22:18realise until you're here, that take a bit of adjusting. And I'll be honest, I did find it really
22:24difficult. You're moving away from your friends, from your family, from familiarity. And it wasn't
22:29just that that I was changing. I was also moving away from a type of farming that I was really
22:34familiar
22:34with. And I felt like I was having to learn in every avenue of my life. I was having to
22:39learn new things.
22:40But it's just fantastic. I absolutely love it. Well, I guess it's those tough times that make
22:46days like this a little bit more special, don't they? It is. It's so special. Personally, I find it
22:51beautiful up here, even on a miserable day. But 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? Yeah, it's good for the
22:59heart
22:59and good for the soul. Yeah, it certainly is. Yeah.
23:06Well, that's it for the show coming up for you next week. Dara is in Kerry with a farmer recovering
23:11from the theft of almost two thirds of his sheep flock. So when I started gathering, I knew those big
23:16problems until then I found the reality of what was after happening. Stephen is in Donegal meeting
23:22a group of farmers who are looking after their health and wellbeing. Primarily it's involved in
23:27the programme to get a wee lifestyle change and get in and get moving, get in and get talking,
23:31get in amongst each other. And I'll be seeing how a pampered breed of cattle is dealing with life
23:36on the Burren. I really wanted to try something different and to see how it would work here in Clare.
23:45Don't forget that this programme will be repeated on Sunday at lunchtime after the
23:49farming weather. You can follow us and contact us on social media and you can hear more farming
23:55stories on Countrywide this Saturday morning on RTE Radio 1.
24:28Transcription by CastingWords
Comments