Ear to the Ground visits Croagh Patrick

RTÉ’s popular farming and rural affairs programme, Ear to the Ground, is back for its 29th season tonight (Thursday, October 28) at 7 p.m. on RTÉ One.

Episode one sees Ella McSweeney travelling to Mayo to visit Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s most famous mountain, but also its most damaged one.

Croagh Patrick has suffered very significant degradation over the years. But what can be done? Should Croagh Patrick be closed to the public in order to save it? Or can a balance be struck?

Ella spends the day with people working to save the mountain stone by stone as part of a scheme run by Mayo County Council to repair the damage done.

This evening's episode will also look at peat imports, an Irish solution to an Irish problem: with peat harvesting now significantly reduced in Ireland, peat processors have found it necessary to import thousands of tonnes of peat to fulfil the needs of Irish growers.

Transported by lorries and ships the carbon footprint of imported peat appears at odds with the savings of our now quiet bogs. Darragh McCullough visits our imported peat mountains and asks if we're failing industry and our climate targets.

Irish consumers spent €31m on apples in 2019 (Bord Bia). That should be good news for Irish apple growers. Incredibly, though, some 95% of those apples were imported.

Helen Carrol visits the Little Irish Apple company whose apples go to Aldi, Bulmers and local markets.