28 Aug Ire­land — Plans afo­ot for the fir­st com­mu­ni­ty radio on Bere Island

Plans are being fina­li­zed to set up the fir­st com­mu­ni­ty radio on a Cork island (Ire­land), and, also for the fir­st time, to live stream the All-Island Foo­tba­ll Cham­pi­on­ships, whi­ch will be held the­re. Com­mu­ni­ty radio will be laun­ched on Bere Island befo­re the end of the year and its pro­gress will be moni­to­red, over a three-year peri­od, by Uni­ver­si­ty Col­le­ge Cork (par­t­ner of the Gra­s­sro­ots Wave­len­ghts pro­ject) aca­de­mics, to see what bene­fit it has for island com­mu­ni­ti­es. It is being dri­ven by Bere Island Pro­jects Gro­up, whi­ch is fun­ded by the Depart­ment of Arts, Heri­ta­ge, and the Gael­ta­cht.

During the event orga­ni­zed at the Bere Island Heri­ta­ge Cen­tre, pro­ject coor­di­na­tor John Wal­sh inter­vi­ewed Conor Line­han and Lau­ra Maye from Uni­ver­si­ty Col­le­ge Cork abo­ut the Gra­s­sro­ots Pro­ject, fol­lowed by two “pho­ne-ins”, one with the CRA­OL Trai­ner, Dar­ra­gh Par­ker from You­ghal Com­mu­ni­ty Radio (east Cork), who is coming next week for two day trai­ning ses­sions. Dar­ra­gh tal­ked abo­ut his expe­rien­ce over the last 35 years of Com­mu­ni­ty Radio and what he will be cove­ring in the 2 days at end of next week. The other pho­ne-in was from Jim Han­ley with regard to the upco­ming GAA foo­tba­ll all-island cham­pi­on­ships to be held on Bere Island in ear­ly Sep­tem­ber 2018.