CountryWide
Episodes
Safety at sea
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board is the body that investigates accidents and incidents at sea. It says that fatalities and injuries remain too ...
The latest on avian flu
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Several cases of avian have now been confirmed here in Ireland, and that means it’s more important than ever to stick to strict biosecurity measures...
Countrywide Full Episode 15/11/2025
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 15/11/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Countrywide Full Episode 08/11/2025
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 08/11/2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A visit to the repair café in Tullamore
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Across Ireland, repair cafés are springing up. The idea is simple: reduce waste, reuse what you can, and give old items, from clothing to furniture, ...
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Reynolds is a writer based in Wexford. She’s been thinking about how our concept of nature has shifted over generations and wants to introduc...
Séamus Boland
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, Séamus Boland became President of the European Economic and Social Committee, an EU body that gives voice to workers, businesses, farmers...
Protecting Donegal Tweed
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the moment, anyone across the world can use “Donegal Tweed” to describe their fabric, whether it was made in Donegal or not. This might all sto...
Nick and Cass McCarthy's Lúnasa Farm
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, Nick and Cass McCarthy set up Lúnasa Farm on 30 acres of land in Co. Clare. Neither of them comes from a farming background. Nick’s an eng...
Efforts to eradicate bovine TB
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last month the government allocated €157 million of public money in Budget 2026 for the Department of Agriculture to continue their efforts to eradi...
A poem for Manchán Magan
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A poem by Janet Heeran, remembering Manchán MaganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Land value
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two very large farms that have just come on the property market, and the asking prices for both say all kinds of fascinating things about the value we...
Careful restoration brings a Wexford cottage back to life
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Up on Forth Mountain in Wexford, a group of volunteers and craftspeople have been slowly restoring an old cottage, a place that was once the centre of...
Countrywide Full Episode 01/11/2025
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 01/11/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why flea treatments for cats and dogs are threatening river life
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
London-based vet Sean McCormack tells us why flea treatments for cats and dogs are threatening river life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...
How Sweden responded to Storm Gudrun
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Saturday 8th January 2005, a powerful storm swept past the northwest of Ireland before gaining ferocious strength as it reached southern Sweden.See...
How Marie Hannah Curran storm-proofed her life
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Marie Hannah Curran and her husband moved to a windy spot in East Galway, and quickly realised they’d have to adapt their home if they were going to...
Civil Defence: How volunteers help deal with emergencies
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The backbone of communities is neighbours helping each other, but also the teams of volunteers who are trained in dealing with emergencies.See omnystu...
Countrywide Full Episode 25/10/25
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 25/10/25See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How we should prepare for extreme weather
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
October is the start of storm season. So how should we prepare for extreme weather?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Comfort can sometimes be shaped like a hedgehog
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maria Moynihan reflects on how she found comfort in nature, while grieving the loss of her firstborn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
Why are beef prices going up?
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Philip visits Balla Mart to see who is selling and the prices cattle are making.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Irish Farm Book in colour
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrating publication of the Irish Farm Book in colour, we visit Kinvara to see a uniaque collection of photos from the 1950s.See omnystudio.com/lis...
Impact of the Blackwater fish kill on people living and working along the river
11 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the week, Countrywide went to the lower reaches of the river catchment and talked to a few people who describe the Blackwater as part of their ...
Fisherman in Iceland on the technology he uses to monitor water
11 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Haraldur Eiriksson runs a salmon fishing business 45km outside Reykjavik. The technology he uses gives him live readings of what is going on in the ri...
Blackwater river fish kill
11 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Barry Fox, Deputy CEO of Inland Fisheries; Tom Ryan, a Director of the EPA with responsibility for environmental enforcement; Rick Officer CEO of the ...
Walls of Arainn
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Poet Jane Clarke reading Walls of Arainn, one of her poems from a new book called The Hare’s Corner.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...
The Hare’s Corner: Making Space for Nature
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Hare’s Corner: Making Space for Nature by poet Jane Clarke and journalist Catherine Cleary, is a celebration of the quiet, hopeful revolution ta...
Seventy Years in the Wild West
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Seventy Years in the Wild West is the story of Dhulough Farm, published by Mayo Books. It is a chronicle of the human disaster behind creating the big...
The Living and the Dead
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Conor W O’Brien’s book The Living and The Dead, tales of Loss and Rebirth from Irish Nature is published by Merrion Press.See omnystudio.com/liste...
Countrywide full episode: A special programme on new books about farms, rural life and nature
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A special programme on new books about farms, rural life and nature.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
James Rebanks is a farmer turned author in England’s Lake District. In his farming memoirs The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral, he tells his ...
Remnants of Our Past
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Walking during lockdown Deirdre O’Neill noticed how visible the fingerprints of history are on our landscape. This inspired her to chronicle as many...
Come October
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the Burren in County Clare, farmers are preparing to move their livestock up onto the limestone pavement winterage in the hills. This traditional w...
Féile na bPuiteachaí
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Féile na bPuiteachaí is a celebration of the blackberry on Inis Meán ar nOileann Arainn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Heritage apples from orchards in Roscommon, Clare and Cork
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hundreds of farms across the country have taken advantage of support from the ACRES scheme to plant native apple trees on their farms, including varie...
Countrywide Full Episode 27/09/2025
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 27/09/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How to restore river health
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The report on the River Blackwater fish kill published this week was inconclusive, with no enough evidence to say what was to blame for the largest fi...
Harvesting rye
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rye is in the same family as wheat and historically was used in distilling and thatching. Nowadays most farmers are planting rye for animal feed. With...
Listen up Irish
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A brand new language school which creates an on line community of Irish language learners who audio-read a book together. Lorna Siggins took a look in...
Nature and Wildlife Farm Plan
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is a scheme generating a lot of inquiries, the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s Farm Plan scheme. Tailored plans and financial support to...
Country vets crisis
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is a real concern that the local vet in rural Ireland, on call all hours of the day or night, to tend to farm animals on hillsides or in farmyar...
Ploughing Championship Townhall
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Minister Martin Heydon addresses the concerns of Farmers expressed during the RTÉ Townhall during ploughingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...
An essay by Maura McElhone
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maura, from Co Derry, married a farmer from Leinster and now lives on the farm in Kildare. This morning she tells us about the changing seasons of her...
Countrywide Full Episode 13/09/2025
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 13/09/2025. (For copyright reasons the full musical tracks are not available in the podcast)See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
First ever female young farmer of the year in Cork
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in the 26 year history of the Macra Na Feirme Young Farmer of the Year competition, the overall winner is a woman, Aileen Sheehan.S...
Harmony in Connemara
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Music Network has been bringing live music performances to venues in towns and villages across the country for decades, fostering interesting collabor...
The cost of nature restoration
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the 90s, the introduction of Special Areas of Conservation created mistrust among some farmers, and now there is fear that history is about to...
Dr Dara Stanley on pesticide use
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Dara Stanley, Associate Professor in Applied Entomology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Earth Institute, at UCD.See omnystudio.c...
Countrywide Full Episode 06/09/2025
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 06/09/2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Turtles in Irish waters
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The temperatures of waters off the west coast of Ireland have been heating up, resulting in a lot of changes to marine life. Six months ago, we heard ...
Supporting women entrepreneurs with the ACORNS programme
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ACORNS (Accelerating the Creation Of Rural Nascent Start-ups) is a free initiative for early-stage female entrepreneurs based in rural Ireland. Centra...
Reducing the amount of pesticides going in to lakes and rivers
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Uisce Éireann is running a pilot project to reduce the amount of pesticides going in to lakes and rivers. They think it will be easier in the long ru...
A farmer on TikTok
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fin Walsh is a dairy farmer from Patrickswell, Co Limerick who has amassed over 150,000 TikTok followers, with posts about daily life on the farm.See ...
The Spindle Tree turns red
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you go down to the woods today, particularly the woodland created by John Normanly in County Sligo, you are sure to see all manner of wild life. To...
Minister Michael Healy-Rae
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide speaks to Michael Healy-Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Fores...
Inside the Gate: Farming for Nature's Open Farm Day
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The people at Farming For Nature have asked 21 of their farming ambassadors all around the country to open the gates to the public tomorrow for guided...
Countrywide Full Episode 30/08/2025
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 30/08/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A milk churn time capsule unearthed in Ballsbridge
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1988 the Guild of Agricultural Journalists put together a time capsule in a milk churn. Inside, they placed articles of the day from the main Irish...
Restoring the Ash tree in the Irish landscape
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The fungus that causes Ash trees to die arrived here in 2012, with devastating consequences for 90% of the population. But now scientists have been in...
The Rural Cycling Collective
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re a child in rural Ireland, will it ever be an option for you to cycle safely to school? The Rural Cycling Collective, which is part of the ...
Roscommon entrepreneur John Stapleton
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ella McSweeney speaks to entrepreneur, investor and food king, Roscommon’s John Stapleton. Go to johnstapleton.eu for more information.See omnystudi...
On board a traditional barge travelling along the Grand Canal from Sallins in Kildare
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide decided to hop on board a traditional barge which travels along the Grand Canal from Sallins in Kildare, joining other passengers to explo...
Countrywide Full Episode 23/08/2025
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 23/08/2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A New Yorker returns to a Sligo farm
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the country, although the vacant property grant has breathed new life into old, empty homes, plenty still sit untouched. In the town land o...
The demise of small abattoirs
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The demise of small abattoirs around the country has been decades in the making, but farmers producing small quantities of meat for local consumption ...
Growing seaweed in West Cork
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The economy of many coastal communities has changed in recent decades from fishing towards other marine-based industries. Lorna Siggins went to West C...
Celebrating Irish native rare breed farm animals
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday, the Irish Native Rare Breed Society will have a celebration of all their animals at Bunratty Castle in Clare. On 24th August they’ll be a...
Harvest 2025
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All around the country you might have seen combine harvesters and tractors on the roads and in the fields cutting the crops and bringing them in. Over...
Fears of fish wipeout on the Blackwater river in Cork
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week, reports emerged of a fish kill on the river Blackwater, initially believed to affect an eight-kilometer stretch between Mallow and ...
Fuddlefest
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Preparations are in full swing in Fuddlestown, Co Wexford, for an on-farm local music festival taking place on the last weekend in August. Fuddlefest....
Countrywide Full Episode 16/08/2025
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 16/08/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What becomes of retired racehorses?
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For quite a few years, the Sport Horse industry has been trying to help the Racehorse industry with one of its knottiest problems. What becomes of ret...
Breeder Mary McCann
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mary McCann is something of a legend in Sport Horse circles, having bred some of the most successful showjumpers in the history of the sport. She brou...
Class 93 - The Working Hunter Pony
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the programme, we keep an eye on Class 93 - The Working Hunter Pony (Starter Stakes).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chef d'équipe Michael Blake on the Aga Khan Trophy
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The centre piece of the Dublin Horse Show is the Nations Cup for the Aga Khan Trophy. The man behind the Irish team is Michael Blake from Tuamgraney.S...
An essay by Janet Heeran
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Janet Heeran writes about life as it unfolds on her husband's farm and in the classroom where she teaches. Here she remembers the 1954 Dublin Horse Sh...
Countrywide Full Episode 09/08/2025
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 09/08/2025, live from the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Cat Candy
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Cat Candy is a tan and white pony, owned by David Kelly, and ridden by 11 year old Freya Kavanagh. This year, it is competing in Class 93 - The Wo...
Two new donkey foals born in Clifden
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donkeys are not native to Ireland, but were brought here from the Middle East and North Africa in the 17th century. A century ago there were 250,000 o...
Farmers step up to protect the corncrake on Inishbofin
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the corncrake today, Ireland is a hostile place. In response to the threat of their extinction here, just under €6 million in public funding was...
Access to Irish walking trails
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
While there are more walking routes and trails around the country than ever before, access to the Irish countryside depends on the goodwill and cooper...
On a walking trail in Mayo
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2008, the Walks Scheme was set up to help open up more walking routes across the country on private land. Last weekend, about 7,000 people mad...
Trump’s Tariffs: What’s the impact on agricultural exports to the US?
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over 4.2 billion euro of goods and services cross the Atlantic every day between the EU and the US, and including Irish butter, cheese and whiskey. Fo...
Countrywide Full Episode 02/08/2025
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Episode 02/08/2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Enjoying a long table dinner at Ballyholey Farm
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
John Graham is a vegetable farmer near Raphoe and over the last few years he’s run an honesty box, a farm shop and sold his vegetables in Letterkenn...
CAP negotiations panel discussion
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Denis Drennan, President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association; Karen Mannion, CEO of Forum Connemara; Ruth Hegarty, Director of Food Polic...
EU farm subsidies proposals
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bartosz Brzezinski, Brussels reporter with the global news organisation Politico, brings us up to date with the EU farm subsidies proposals.See omnyst...
A visit to 26-year-old Sophie Bell's farm in Cavan
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sophie Bell is 26 years old and she farms 59 acres just outside Virginia in Cavan. Having studied agriculture in Harper Adams University in the UK, sh...
Celebrating summer rituals with Vincent Woods
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Poet, playwright, and broadcaster, Vincent Woods grew up on a small farm in County Leitrim in the 1960s and caught a glimpse of the summer rituals.See...
Countrywide Full Programme 26/07/2025
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Countrywide Full Programme 26/07/2025See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Countrywide Bog Special
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ella McSweeney looks at how our relationship with the bog has changed over the past few years, from one of extraction and peat production, to one of c...
Saving Abbeyleix Bog
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
25 years ago, 37 locals protested to save Abbeyleix Bog, now a local centre for locals, tourists and nature.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...
A visit to Carbery Bog
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ella McSweeney visits Carbery Bog, which the community has owned and managed for 120 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.