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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
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.
01:08The 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.
01:28Mayo Civil Defence has its branch headquarters in Castle Bar.
01:32Fran 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.
01:43So we provided remote support to Galway Civil Defence.
01:46They had two incidences in one night, so we provided some mapping support for them.
01:50And then we had two local missing person searches over the weekend here in the Mayo area,
01:56which 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.
02:08Today'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, don't you really keep them near the wall.
02:35When 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.
02:43Right.
02:44He keeps a dozen beef animals on 12 acres.
02:49This farm originally belonged to Tony's aunt, Bridget Burke.
02:53Tony 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.
03:10Tell 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.
03:33She was a very strong, independent woman, reared 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.
03:56I was 53 when she passed away, but I was with her all my life, I suppose, and I was
04:00always doing the jobs here.
04:02I don't think she was the type of person, does it leave you doing the work if she didn't think
04:07anything of me, do you know what I mean?
04:09Tony 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, his initial motivation goes back a long way.
04:28When I was 19, I was working on CAE, after having the dinner one evening, the doorbell started ringing mad,
04:34and we said,
04:35James, who's this, or what's wrong?
04:37And we went out to the front door, and there was an elderly gentleman there, and he said he thinks
04:41his 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, and we
04:48got him, and he came over,
04:49and there was nothing we could do with her, the lady had passed away, so I said, I felt stupid,
04:54I didn't know what to do.
04:56Tony did a first aid course and subsequently joined the Red Cross, where he spent 10 years,
05:02before 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, whether whatever it is, Civil
05:22Defence 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, and 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? I mean, are you getting people from 18 upwards or not?
05:57The challenges with the younger cohort of people, I suppose, that they often move away to college
06:01or 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 who 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.
06:40If 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 things at
06:51times,
06:51you 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.
07:04While 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 a 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, 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
07:37know, 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 that, yeah, it probably is, yeah.
07:46Yeah, just to be helpful and help somebody out.
07:49And, yeah, I'd say she had a big influence on me, yeah, without it being obvious, like, yeah, she stuck
07:57a chord.
08:02Well, that's it for part one.
08:04Coming 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.
08:58Ten 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.
09:12It had cattle in it or sheep.
09:13Basically, there was a nine-acre field and a ten-acre field, and we just took all the fencing down
09:18when they came in.
09:19And it was all on 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, and then the more
09:29I thought about it,
09:30I thought there'll be a few pounds, a steady income, and give you a little bit of a pension.
09:35Gilbert's farm is close to an electricity substation, so what's ideally suited as the power generated here can be easily
09:42connected to the grid.
09:43He is two years into a 30-year lease.
09:46What would you say to anyone who says solar panels shouldn't go on farmland?
09:50Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
09:52For me, I would be saying, and I've had loads of people start thinking about doing it,
09:57and I would say to him, well, I don't think you're going to get the money out of keeping the
10:00sheep 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.
10:1642 acres are under solar.
10:19I was a bit sceptical at first, to be honest, but when I actually thought about it, financially it made
10:25total sense.
10:26I mean, the way farming is going, it's getting more and more difficult.
10:28I mean, we were told to diversify, think of other things, and it just worked really well.
10:35You're still farming as well.
10:36Still 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 switching station.
10:44Like 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 because
11:00index linked.
11:01But I presume the sheep also help keep the grass down?
11:04Oh yeah, that's part of the agreement.
11:07We have to keep it below 500 mil.
11:09How much is that worth?
11:11It's 150 an acre.
11:12As 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.
11:31It is operated by a French renewable energy company, Neowen, who also have two larger sites in Ireland.
11:37Ciarán O'Brien is the Managing Director of Neowen's Irish Operations.
11:43Ireland have committed to 8 gigawatts of solar by 2030.
11:48And that means the scale of which solar parks like this one are being developed needs to increase substantially.
11:54So 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, if that 8 gigawatts of solar is met, it will still be
12:140.1 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 that
12:22we 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.
12:35If current solar plants in development deliver the estimated 21 gigawatts, much more land will be required under solar over
12:42the next 15 years.
12:45These solar farms will be significantly larger in scale.
12:48Some of the projects going through planning at the moment is 4, 5, 600 acres.
12:53Why is that?
12:54One of the big reasons is access to the grid, access to the network.
12:59And the available capacity for connections just like this, smaller connections, are no longer available.
13:05Where capacity is available is for the larger connections.
13:09And by virtue of connecting at a larger point of network, the park has to be bigger.
13:15And those grid connections can be quite expensive to connect.
13:19So, again, to make that investable, it needs to be a bigger park.
13:23Presently, planning for solar farms is submitted under general planning regulations to the relevant council or directly to Ankhomishin Panala.
13:32Planning for Milladale 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.
13:49And if we do want communities to host assets and infrastructure like this, we need to make sure they're happy
13:55about it.
13:55This is an issue faced by all infrastructure.
13:57And it's really important that 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.
14:10Larkham Roach-Kelly is business editor with the Irish Farmers Journal.
14:14What kind of typical objections to solar farms are you hearing?
14:18On a 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.
14:24But you get that with any development in a community, you'll see those kind of things.
14:27But also, you've got them people who object because they don't want the land to be lost to agriculture.
14:32And in the agriculture communities, that's a huge thing.
14:34We see it a lot in forestry, whereas as someone's planting forestry, people are very upset that this land is
14:38now lost.
14:40But I'm seeing sheep graze underneath the solar panels.
14:43And the farmers are saying that they're still farming that land.
14:46So is it really taken out of farming?
14:48I think if you graze sheep on it, that's fine.
14:51You can't grow a crop of barley on it.
14:53You can't build milking cows on it.
14:55But 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.
15:01So we don't need to have all these farms, small farms in the country, who are producing incomes of 15
15:05,000 to 25,000 euros a year.
15:07But you need a sustainable industry.
15:09And if solar can be part of that, and get a constant thinking about it, but that kind of blends
15:13over the volatility in farm incomes we see.
15:15That will actually make the industry as a whole more sustainable.
15:19As the sight of solar panels becomes more common across our landscape, more and more farmers could be playing a
15:25part 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 peace of
15:43mind.
15:44It's just a regular income, and I think we're doing the right thing.
15:48I can renewable energy.
15:49It'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.
16:10This morning, Carol Devaney is getting ready for the job at hand, along with his partner Jazz Williams.
16:17While Carol was born and bred in these parts, Jazz is from Herefordshire in the UK.
16:23My 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.
16:33You know, if you like it, you're probably as well to stick at it and try and make something of
16:37it.
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.
16:48We still do argue about who noticed who first.
16:51Oh, you definitely slid into my DMs.
16:53Come to Ireland, he said.
16:56You'll love it, he said.
16:59My dad was a dairy farmer, but he lost the farm to foot and mouth in 2001 and didn't get
17:04back into it after that.
17:06So it wasn't actually until I got to university that I decided to try and really get back into it
17:13myself.
17:13I studied something else, but I used my holidays, like my Easter holidays, for example, to go lambing and get
17:19a bit of experience and see if it was something that I wanted to pursue.
17:22And I lost about six months after I finished uni before I went, no, you know what, life's too short
17:26not to do something that you really enjoy.
17:30It's an addictive lifestyle, really, isn't it?
17:32Huge amount of it is liking them and liking working with them.
17:36Carol and Jazz own a flock of 150 yos 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, they're the farming avengers out there, but you couldn't get much better than them.
18:08These are hardy, black-faced hill sheep.
18:11They'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.
18:30Contract 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.
18:42So, like all the kit is, it's quite specialised.
18:44I mean, like, 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,
18:58but if you're bent over the day, having to bend those couple of inches makes a difference.
19:02There's better grip with them as two.
19:04And then the third thing is shearing is a kind of an art form where your feet are very important.
19:08They have to be in on the sheep and you have to keep adjusting and you need to be nimble
19:12with your feet.
19:20In 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 has put pain to
19:30that.
19:31Farmers have told me as we go around shearing that they tell you stories of back when wool was a
19:36good trade.
19:37And they say, like, that they could have put a deposit on a new farmer land, bought a car, bought
19:41a tractor.
19:42Like, the wool was a significant check for the farm, but not anymore.
19:46Not anymore. Now it's just a lot to make an exercise, but it has to be done for the welfare
19:50of the animal.
19:52Carol has plied his trade as far away as Australia and New Zealand
19:56and has won prizes at agriculture shows across the country.
20:00He even has an apprentice on hand today in the form of Archie Kells from Etniskillam.
20:05How long have you been at this gig?
20:07Three years.
20:08Three years. And what age are you?
20:10Fifteen.
20:11Fifteen, 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 steer them.
20:26Really?
20:27The 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 Anne.
20:37During your summer holidays, is this it? You're working with sheep all the time?
20:41Well, yeah, it's a bit hard to get a day off, but, like, sometimes on a Sunday, and sometimes if
20:47you wake up late and you get away with it.
20:49Sometimes on a Sunday? So you're normally working six days a week?
20:53Depends. Like, if it's wet weather, then, you know, rainy day, because I go to the day off.
20:57And I can see you're a bit of a pro there. You know how to move sheep, yeah?
21:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:01What age were you when you were first putting a pen, herding sheep?
21:05I suppose me kind of a grasshopper.
21:08Really?
21:08It's all been basically my whole life, like.
21:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:12For Heather Anne, Carol and Archie, who all come from this kind of background, this is clearly a world they
21:18know and love.
21:21As it came near finishing time for the day, Jazz 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're standing up here and the
21:42sun is shining, we're looking across.
21:44You can see the beach, you can see the sea.
21:46The bay there, these soaring slopes all around. I mean, it's beautiful, isn't it?
21:50It's absolutely stunning. It takes my breath away. There'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 and 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 phase me too much, but actually when you throw
22:11in that you are in a different country, even though, you know, we speak the same language,
22:15but there's so many things that are actually different that you wouldn't realise until you're here, that take a bit
22:21of adjusting, and I'll be honest, I did find it really difficult.
22:24Cool. You're moving away from your friends, from your family, from familiarity, and it wasn't just that that I was
22:30changing.
22:30I was also moving away from a type of farming that I was really familiar with, and I felt like
22:36I was having to learn in every avenue of my life.
22:38I was having to learn new things, but it's just fantastic. I absolutely love it.
22:43Well, I guess it's those tough times that make days like this a little bit more special, don't they?
22:48Yes, it is. It's so special. Personally, I find it beautiful up here, even on a miserable day, but when
22:53we're treated to the good weather, I mean, you can't not be in a good mood when the sun is
22:57shining, can you?
22:58Yeah, 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. 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.
23:14When I started gathering, I knew those big problems, and until then I found the reality of what was after
23:19happening.
23:20Stephen is in Donegal meeting a group of farmers who are looking after their health and well-being.
23:26Primarily, it's involved in the programme to get a wee lifestyle change and get in and get moving, get in
23:30and 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.
23:45Don'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, and you can hear more farming stories on Countrywide this
23:57Saturday morning on RTE Radio 1.
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