CountryWide

Countrywide Full Episode 31.10.26

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Forest School Leader Laura Kennedy on getting kids out of the classroom and living life by the Celtic Calendar.

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Of Waterford City and County cemeteries manger, Paul Flynn.

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If a sustainable life is possible, might it also be possible to die a sustainable death. Rachel Breslin talks to Green Coffins owner, Colin McAteer, in Fanad, Co Donegal.

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On the day when the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest crows and ravens passed freely between the realms. Roger O'Reilly, author of Birds Of Ireland: Symbolism, Myth and Folklore on why we continue to believe there is something sinister about corvids.

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Most pumpkin farms were badly hit by the summer drought, except (eerily) Tom Dillon's farm at the foot of the hill where Samhain was invented. He enjoyed a climate beating, bumper year for his 30,000 pumpkins.

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Countrywide Full Episode 24/10/2026

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The Agriculture faculty in UCD is 100 years old this year. Philip meets their newly appointed Dean of Faculty, Professor Karina Pierce to find out what her department is doing to meet the challenges of the next 100 years

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With EU funding for farming with nature in retreat is this the moment that private finance might fill the gap. Ronan Doherty has transferred his fundraising skills from the renewable energy sector to nature conservation with the charity Hometree. He believes we are the cusp of a breakthrough in private sector funding for high nature value farming.

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There are 52 EU funded LIFE projects currently running in Ireland with ambitious climate and environment goals. But the funding for these could be wrapped up over the course of the next two years as Europe shifts its political priorities. Mayo farmer and tourist guide, Colum Ginnelly, sees what good they have done and what their loss will mean.

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The wormhole on Inis Mor is ever more popular with tourists thanks to viral cliff diving social media posts. But few are aware how dangerous it is to even walk around it. Lorna Siggins talked to everyone involved in a recent rescue that very nearly went badly wrong.

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Countrywide Full Episode 17/10/2026

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As our landscape changes, due to development, climate and new uses of land, the names of fields are being lost. Treasa Bhreathnach reports from Rahara, Co Roscommon on a project to record field names before they are lost forever.

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Ireland’s record on climate action is on course to be the worst in Europe. Why have efforts to cut farming’s greenhouse gasses come to a standstill.

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Poet Jane Clarke’s work is a firm favourite among farmers. Her new collection asks awkward questions of all of us about what we are allowing to happen to the natural world.

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On Hawthorn Hill Farm in Roscommon Keith Brennan contemplates the unearthly call of the amorous fallow deer

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How the seas and ocean around Ireland shape our lives and could change our future.

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Prof John Bell flips Ireland's idea of itself on its head. The country is not a peripheral island on the edge of Europe. It is a large maritime nation that could become a bio-economic super power.

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The Creative Ireland visual arts project "Dunmore Through a Lens" has captured the Waterford fishing village's people and their memories.

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Surfer and Academic Dr Easkey Britton believes that both we and the ocean will benefit by adjusting our relationship with the marine world.

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