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philipb-h.bsky.social
A piece of Ireland’s cultural heritage many will remember fondly is being lost to #climate change.

#RTECountrywide
#Speirgorm
April 29, 2026 at 7:10 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Not even Bull McCabe could stand in the way of #Climate Change. I talked to the owner of the most famous field in the country about how it’s being lost to landslides and flood erosion.
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
May 2, 2026 at 9:51 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Angel Sharks are in real danger of going extinct locally, which would speed up their demise globally, because of the way the Irish government is issuing tangle net licences.
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
February 21, 2026 at 12:15 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
When it comes to protecting rivers and lakes there’s really good and bad farmers. What if neither is the real problem? What if it’s the system?
#RTÉcountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 dj.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
July 4, 2026 at 10:18 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
“Oh, that sounds like hope”

Sounds of Spring montage in the last three minutes of this piece.
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
March 1, 2026 at 12:44 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Israeli army salting the earth in Lebanon with glyphosate.

Russian drone attacks on orchard workers in Ukraine.

Leaving fields unplanted because of rising fertiliser costs as people die of starvation around you.

Warzone farming on #RTECountrywide today.

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
June 20, 2026 at 3:43 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
I went Stone Lifting with David Keohan. Archaeologist, anthropologist, strong man, and great company.
#SpeirGorm #RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
June 27, 2026 at 10:48 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
It’s #WorldOceansDay

We just did a full #RTECountrywide on why Marine Protected Areas are now critical.

Listen: 👉 dj.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

The map is a Spillhaus Projection of the globe I keep on my office wall as a reminder of why the oceans matter.
June 8, 2026 at 8:57 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Marine Protected Areas are a tricky balancing act. Last chance for marine habitats versus last straw for fishing industry.
The science is absolutely clear. Remove human activity, especially bottom trawling and they will restore.
#RTECountrywide #FairSeas
🧵

Listen:👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Do Marine Protected Areas work?
Marine Biologist, Ben Harris, has scientific evidence that MPAs work.
www.rte.ie
June 6, 2026 at 11:10 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
With 90% of the food we produce leaving the country, and 90% of the food we actually eat being imported into the country, do we need to shift farming subsidies?
#RTECountrywide #Speirgorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
What does food security look like?
Philip speaks with farmers Seamus Bradley in Ardclough, Co Kildare and John Keogh in Co Carlow to gauge their understanding. Later, food analyst Sinead Mowlds joined him in studio.
www.rte.ie
May 23, 2026 at 9:48 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Each week on #RTECountrywide we tackle a pressing question affecting rural affairs/farming/environment.

For mischief I’ve started asking newest #AI models the same question. All consistently really really badly wrong. On facts, orgs, conclusions … everything.

Not hallucinating, just rubbish.
February 18, 2026 at 7:45 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
“You don’t treat a flood where it ends up, you treat it where it starts. Upstream at the top of the catchment”

How to use the land more cleverly to adapt to changing weather and future floods.
#RTECountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Flood Prevention
Is the way we are farming partly responsible for flooding, and what changes might decrease damage in the future? Geomorphologist Prof Mary Bourke. Sligo Farmers Eddie Davitt and Joe Leonard. Farming F...
www.rte.ie
February 7, 2026 at 10:49 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Ireland is being taken to the European court for failing to protect its raised bogs. Potential fines in the tens of millions if the state loses.

I talked to the people still extracting the peat. TLDR: It’s nuanced. #RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
June 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Over two years delay to ACRES environmental payments for some is undermining faith in future eco schemes.

The anguish in the voices of proud men unable to pay their bills is palpable.
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/podcas...
ACRES cheques delays
Farmers on financial stress of delays in Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme cheques.
www.rte.ie
February 22, 2025 at 11:50 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Price of a pint versus cost of a pint

While you can pay up to €10 for one, barley farmers will get no more than 2.5 cents a pint. All kinds of crazy social, environmental and financial impacts from pricey pints
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
January 24, 2026 at 12:32 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
“Loss of nature is a loss of what it means to be Irish”. A clear statement of people’s values following a year long consultation. Translated into a plan for nature jointly devised by farm orgs and enviro NGOs.

But will government fund it?
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Nature Restoration Plan
Farmers and environmentalists have agreed an ambitious plan to restore nature. The only open question now is will government give it the funding it needs.
www.rte.ie
March 28, 2026 at 10:38 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Oil companies are making $30m an hour in windfall profits. The Irish taxpayer is supporting oil exposed businesses with 3/4 of a billion € to avert disaster for just four months.

How do we avert future crises completely?
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
1/5
Impact of government's relief package on contractors
Philip visits a farm with contractor Irvin Rothwell, who is spreading slurry near Ferrycarrig in Co Wexford to find out what impact the government's recently announced relief package will mean for him...
www.rte.ie
April 18, 2026 at 5:21 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
A moment of zen with Sean Ronayne.
#RTECountrywide #Speirgorm #TimelineCleanse

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Whats in a birdsong?
Ornithologist, Sean Ronayne, on how important Marine Protection Areas are for Seabirds and his passion for capturing bird sounds
www.rte.ie
June 7, 2026 at 10:49 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
For #RTECountrywide I talked to the farmers who don’t and won’t grow wheat and those who do. To crop scientists about the possibilities their research creates. And to bakers about the ever upwards cost hikes incurred by being import dependent.

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/listen/clip/...
Food Security: Bread
Only the tiniest fraction of the flour needed to bake the 50kg of bread we eat a year is grown and milled in Ireland, and the cost of what we import is sky rocketing. We take a look at what needs to b...
www.rte.ie
October 3, 2026 at 1:38 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
How to save nature and cut turf at the same time.

This will annoy the purists but it is also what Just Transition looks like. #RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Carbury Bog
At Carbury bog in Kildare, a local community group has cracked the problem of simultaneously protecting nature while allowing people who can’t afford not to – to keep cutting turf to heat their homes....
www.rte.ie
March 7, 2026 at 3:16 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Why the weather wobbled?

Dr Jennifer Francis is one of the best #climate science communicators anywhere. She simplifies the incredibly complex forces degrading the Jet Stream to explain why our weather is increasingly getting stuck. #RTECountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
The Jet Stream is stuck
Leading Jet Stream expert Dr Jennifer Francis explains how the fast-moving current that used to ensure changeable weather is increasingly getting stuck.
www.rte.ie
February 7, 2026 at 11:04 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Unique collaboration:

Robert McFarlane is the foremost living writer on the natural world in the English language. Sean Ronayne is the most dedicated field recordist of birdsong in Ireland. I got Robert’s words and Sean’s recordings together.
#RTECountrywide
Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
An avian treat
Author of The Book Of Birds, Robert McFarlane and Cork-based ornithologist and field recordist, Seán Ronayne collaborate to bring you the exquisite sounds of birds and some interesting anecdotes and i...
www.rte.ie
May 9, 2026 at 10:34 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Did we burn Bog Bodies to create electricity?

The gruesome answer seems to be, we did. Albeit not on purpose. #RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Up in Smoke?
26 years ago, a team of archaeologists followed in the wake of Bord Na Mona’s peat harvesting machinery to rescue artefacts revealed by the milling. It raises the possibility of bog bodies having bein...
www.rte.ie
March 7, 2026 at 3:38 PM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Why is Ireland failing on climate and nature targets?

Govt has shied away from releasing the national plan that would provide clear direction on what goes where. The Land Use Review remains unpublished 17 months after completion.
#RTECountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Where is the Land Use Review
There isn't enough land in the country to do all the things we have set targets for. 17 months ago government received a report setting out what land uses needed to be prioritised. Where is it?
www.rte.ie
May 30, 2026 at 10:57 AM
philipb-h.bsky.social
Only culling badgers was never the answer.

Opinion polling shows farmers are very far in front of the farm organisations on recognising TB won’t be suppressed unless the cases hidden in cattle herds are tackled properly.
#RTECountrywide #SpeirGorm

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Beating TB
An opinion poll of farmers shows they are prepared to go much further than farm leaders or politicians in trying to eradicate bovine tuberculosis. Liam Guinan, Farmer, Birr Co Offaly. Dr Deirdre Rober...
www.rte.ie
March 1, 2026 at 11:09 AM