Podcast Corner: Focus on the wonders of the Maharees in Co Kerry
Neart na Machairí (Creative Coastal Resilience) is a community-led Creative Climate Action project led by Maharees Conservation Association.
Hannah Donelon’s There's a Lot I Haven't Asked, released earlier in the year, revolved around stories, scenes, and memories from the Irish diaspora in Manchester and the impact of its legacy on the present day.
There’s a similar community building on display through the myriad voices heard on a seven-part series available on mahareesconservation.com.
- a reference to the weather - was created by artists Emer Fallon, Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green, and Silke Michels as a creative response to Neart na Machairí, a two-year project run in partnership between Maharees Conservation Association CLG and Dingle Hub, funded by the Creative Ireland Programme under its Creative Climate Action Fund II.
It weaves together voices of fishers, surfers, sauna owners, conservationists, food-growers, business owners, and visitors with those of climate, ecology and biodiversity experts, to reflect on past and future challenges and celebrate what they hold precious about Maharees - a tombolo located on the northern side of the Dingle Peninsula.
Interwoven throughout are lapping waves, music, birdsong - the cries of visiting curlew - and the rumble of farming machinery. It all adds up to a delightful listen.
Three episodes, clocking in at 33-45 minutes, have been released so far, focusing on the stories of the various generations who call the Maharees home; food growing, farming and economics; and a deep dive into the Atlantic Ocean.
One fisherman early on in the first episode says the Maharees was a great place to make a few pounds because “there was periwinkles, carrageen moss, and ribbonweed as well, even the seagrass, the dillisk, it was all bought at that time”. The sea was good for them, but now, though, that sea market is gone.
On the third episode, one fisher who's been going out to sea for 50 years laments how "everything goes to Europe" though he is still entranced by the area. "On a fine day, honest to God, you couldn't get a nicer place... it's a piece of heaven. But that changes fast if you're not landing a few fish," he laughs. "It can be the very opposite very quickly and a bit of bad weather changes that completely."
The remaining episodes will drop every Friday until December 19. As the series looks forward, local conservationists lay out a practical vision for the future of the Maharees, sharing the action they’ve already taken against coastal erosion in the hope of providing a blueprint for other vulnerable coastal communities
As the podcast makers say, is a special artistic collaboration with the place and community.
