Series 33, Programme 8
RTÉ One 7:00pm Thursday 8th January, 2026 – 1:10pm Repeated Sunday 11th January, 2026
Civil Defence
Tony McGing inherited his Mayo farm from his aunt in 2013. It’s a traditional west of Ireland set up, and Tony runs it in the same manner his aunt did as he goes about raising his small herd of beef cattle.
Ella McSweeney travelled to Claremorris in Co. Mayo, to meet Tony and learn about his farm, but more so to find out more about Tony’s long term involvement in the local Civil Defence unit. She finds out how vital the Civil Defence is in small towns like Tony’s, providing trained volunteers to help save lives and protect communities in rural Ireland.
Solar
Ireland is well on its way to meeting its Climate Action targets for solar energy. But as our demand for renewable power increases, more land will have to go into solar and new solar farms are scaling up in size.
Stephen Robb visits two farmers in Wicklow who have leased their farmland to a sixty acre solar plant which is now connected to the national grid. Operational for two years they talk to Stephen about their renewable journey and how they feel about putting good pasture land into solar.
Sheep Shearing
In August of last year, Darragh Mc Cullough headed to Benbulbin in Co Sligo, to join Karol Devaney and his partner Jaz on the day they rounded up their sheep for shearing.
Stretched out over bog and mountain, the flock was slowly brought together for this annual event in the farming calendar. Over the course of the day and some hard work, Darragh learned more about what makes this young couple so optimistic about the future of sheep farming in the west of Ireland.
Ear to the Ground is produced by indiepics for RTÉ.
