Welcome to The Sperrins: Mining, Power & Community in Northern Ireland
A podcast examining the realities behind a proposed goldmine and the decisions shaping one of Ireland’s most contested landscapes.
From the heart of the Sperrin Mountains, this series follows the intersection of mining, political power, and community experience, unpacking what happens when global demand meets local lives.
Through in-depth conversations, we explore:
the public inquiry process and who it really serves
the environmental and health risks of extractive industry
the voices of those living with the consequences
the wider questions of accountability, transparency, and justice
This is a story about how decisions are made, who bears the cost, and what is at stake for communities, land, and future generations.
If you’re interested in environmental justice, planning systems, or the realities behind large-scale development, this podcast offers insight, clarity, and lived experience from the ground.
For the air we breathe, the water we drink, the earth that supports us and the health of community now and for generations to come we hold the line.
Site
RSS
Apple
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
Discover shows related to The Sperrins: Mining, Power & Community in Northern Ireland, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
#No.42 Dalradian’s New Marketing Campaign: A Reality Check
Season 2 · Episode 42
Saturday, April 11, 2026 • Duration 09:42
In this solo episode of the Save Our Sperrins Podcast, Save Our Sperrins responds to the latest marketing campaign released by Dalradian Gold, offering a calm and forensic examination of the claims being made about jobs, prosperity, and regional regeneration.
Set against rising living costs, pressure on public services, and growing climate instability, this episode explores how extractive industries use narrative, timing, and emotion to position private mining projects as solutions to public crises. The episode contrasts promotional messaging with documented evidence from Ireland, highlighting what is often omitted from corporate storytelling: environmental risk, public cost, long-term liability, and community impact.
Sos is calling for honesty, evidence, and long-term thinking in decisions that will shape landscapes, water systems, and communities for generations.It is if you like, a clear-eyed reality check and a reminder that some lines are worth holding.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast #JusticePodcast
#ActivismPodcast
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story -Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
This episode sits at the start of a series of conversations about water in the Sperrins where it comes from, how it moves, and what happens when it’s put at risk.
Cahal’s family has lived for generations in and around Greencastle. He farms part-time, runs a plumbing business, and knows the land . He speaks about water, ground, and responsibility in the way people do when they’ve spent their lives paying attention.
What you hear here comes out of day-to-day reality, from a place carrying a lot of unanswered questions, and from someone thinking carefully about what’s being handed on.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast #JusticePodcast
#ActivismPodcast
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
# No. 31 99th Day: The Cost of the New Mining Rush with Gerry McGovern
Season 2 · Episode 32
Saturday, January 31, 2026 • Duration 01:24:57
In this episode, I’m joined again by Gerry McGovern to talk about his new book, 99th Day.
We stay with what the book is really about, the mining being driven by the energy transition, the waste that follows modern technology, and the communities who end up living with the consequences long before any promises are made, and long after the attention moves on.
It’s not an easy conversation, and it doesn’t try to be. We talk about scale, about damage, and about the uncomfortable feeling that comes from understanding how we in the Global North are causing pain and suffering to those in the Global South .
For anyone living in a place under pressure or trying to make sense of what progress is imposing on ordinary communities this one will stay with you.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast
#JusticePodcast
#ActivismPodcast
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
#LivingUnderExtraction
#TheCostOfTransition
#MiningAndCommunities
#WhatProgressLeavesBehind
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story -Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
•Monday 2nd Launch in Feakle, Clare 12noon to 5pm
•Tuesday 3rd Galway City, Tonn an Clé
•Wednesday 4th Cork, tbd
•Thursday 5th Louisburgh, Mayo BooksatOne
•Friday 6th Sligo, tbd
•Saturday 7th Navan, Meath, CAIM social
•Sunday 8th Baile Ghib, Meath??? 3pm to 5pm
•Monday 9th Dublin, tbd
•Tuesday 10th Belfast, Antrim, Queen's University
•Wednesday 11th Tyrone, book signing event, An Creagán
•Thursday 12th Inis Eoghain, Inishowen DP - Change makers, tbd
•Friday 13th, Leitrim, tbd
•Saturday 14th, Cloughjordan, Tipperary, Ecovillage
•Sunday 15th, Wicklow tbd
#No.30 At the Turning of the Year: A 2025 Round-Up
Season 1 · Episode 31
Wednesday, December 31, 2025 • Duration 16:06
End of Year Round-Up: 2025 | Save Our Sperrins
In this special end-of-year episode, Save Our Sperrins looks back over a pivotal year in the campaign to protect the Sperrin Mountains from gold mining.
From the suspension of the Public Inquiry in January, through moments of international solidarity, creative resistance and legal challenge, to the relinquishing of mineral prospecting licences in October, this episode traces the key events of 2025 month by month.
We also reflect on the launch of the Save Our Sperrins podcast itself — why we started it, what we’ve learned about the importance of telling our own story, and how it has become both a source of ongoing updates and a living archive for communities facing extractive pressure.
The episode closes by looking ahead to Season Two, and sharing why the podcast will pause during January to prepare for the next phase of conversations and solidarity.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast #JusticePodcast
#ActivismPodcast
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story -Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
#No.29 Extractivism, Emissions and the Reality Behind COP30- A Conversation with Lynda Sullivan
Season 1 · Episode 30
Saturday, December 27, 2025 • Duration 42:52
In this episode of the Save Our Sperrins Podcast, I’m joined again by writer and activist Lynda Sullivan, fresh from COP30 in Brazil.
Lynda spent just one day inside the official Blue Zone, focusing instead on the People’s Summit and the global gatherings organised by Yes to Life, No to Mining, alongside thematic forums examining the mining and extractive economy. She reflects on the stark contrast between these spaces — one dominated by lobbying and polished messaging, the other grounded in lived experience, solidarity and shared concern.
We talk about what she witnessed, the limits of the COP process, and the growing understanding among frontline communities that responsibility cannot be endlessly deferred. When governments fail to act with urgency, communities are left to stand up and act where they live.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast #JusticePodcast
#Cop30
#Belem
#ThePeoplesSummit
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story -Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
#No.28 One Landscape, One Fight: Cross-Border Resistance to Fracking & Mining
Season 1 · Episode 28
Saturday, December 20, 2025 • Duration 01:12:37
In this episode, we sit down with two men who helped shape one of the most remarkable grassroots movements on the island of Ireland: the cross-border resistance to fracking along the Leitrim–Fermanagh border.
Back in 2012, when few understood the scale of the threat, farmers, families and community organisers began to join the dots between their wells, their rivers, their land and the industrial plans unfolding around them. Eddie Mitchell and Michael Gallagher were among those who stepped forward early Eddie through community organising and later political leadership, Michael through the farming networks that became central to the campaign’s power.
Together, they helped build a movement that reached across a border steeped in history and division, creating a unity that old politics could never have achieved. What mattered was the land, the water, and the shared responsibility to protect what could not be repaired once damaged.
More than a decade on, the same regions are now facing the prospect of gold mining and the new pressures brought by the Critical Raw Materials agenda. Eddie and Michael reflect on the parallels between then and now, what legislation helped and what failed during the fracking years, and how communities can once again find their strength in each other.
What happened in Leitrim and Fermanagh became a blueprint for us in the Sperrins: act early, work together, ignore old divisions, and build a movement stronger than the industries trying to divide us.
This is an episode about solidarity, courage and the extraordinary power of rural people when they refuse to be divided.
It’s a reminder that borders may exist on maps, but the land tells a very different story.
#dontmineus #SaveOurSperrins #notoxicmining
#EnvironmentPodcast #JusticePodcast
#ActivismPodcast
#IrishPodcast
#HumanRights
#No.27 Raised by the Hills – A Conversation with Kelan Grant
Season 1 · Episode 25
Saturday, December 13, 2025 • Duration 54:39
This week’s podcast features Kelan Grant, a successful professional mountain biker — and a childhood friend of my own children, with family ties that stretch back over forty-five years.
Kelan has been on bikes almost since he could walk. He grew up in Knockmoyle, at the edge of the Sperrins, and now lives and races professionally out of Morzine in the French Alps. I’ve watched his phenomenal progress over the years, from those first tentative wobbles to the accomplished rider he is today.
He has competed on some of Europe’s toughest enduro trails, and, in his own words, “the freedom, resilience and discipline the Sperrin uplands gave me as a young person is what sustains me today in my professional career.”
Kelan’s story is one of courage, connection, and deep respect for the land that raised him.
He speaks candidly about the serious back injury he suffered earlier this year, and how it made him see the importance of that connection in a new light.
His voice is a powerful reminder of why wild, open spaces matter — for health, for hope, and for the spirit of the next generation.
#No.26 Business, Human Rights and the Battle for Accountability a Conversation with Chris O Connell Trócaire .
Season 1 · Episode 24
Sunday, December 7, 2025 • Duration 01:05:17
Chris O’Connell, Trócaire
In this episode of Protecting the Sperrins – Voices from the Frontline, Marella Fyffe speaks with Chris O’Connell, Senior Policy Advisor at Trócaire, about the growing global movement for a UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights.
From decades of work across the Global South, Chris brings a deep understanding of how deregulation benefits corporate power, how trade agreements can quietly undermine democracy and the environment, and why binding rules for business are urgently needed.
Their conversation moves from the global to the local — from Geneva to the Sperrins — exploring how these issues touch the lives of communities here at home who are already facing the consequences of corporate freedom without accountability.
Chris also reflects on the rising tide of social movements and ‘change elections’ taking place across the world, offering insight — and hope — for those standing up to power in their own backyards.
A wide-ranging, grounded, and deeply relevant conversation about justice, responsibility, and the kind of future we choose to create.
#No.25 How Small Food Producers Strengthen a Rural Economy: Dart Mountain Cheese
Season 1 · Episode 27
Saturday, November 29, 2025 • Duration 01:03:55
In this week’s episode, I sit down with Julie from Dart Mountain Cheese, an artisan cheesemaking company rooted deep in the foothills of the Sperrins. What begins as a story about cheese quickly becomes something much bigger: a conversation about place, sustainability, and how to build a meaningful livelihood in a rural landscape often written off as economically limited.
Julie shares how Dart Mountain Cheese began, why the Sperrins were the only place that felt right, and how clean air, clean water and healthy soil are at the heart of everything they produce. We talk about the realities of small-scale food production, the challenges and rewards of adding value locally, and how collaboration with other local producers—from goat farmers to craft food makers—can create a thriving network and even a genuine food trail in the region.
We also explore a counter-story to the dominant narrative of extraction: what a regenerative, long-term rural economy can look like when it grows from skill, craft, community and the land itself.
This is a gentle, grounded and surprisingly expansive conversation about food, landscape and the future of rural life in the Sperrins.
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
📣 Share, review, and help amplify our story -Have a listen, and if you have time hit the follow button 5 stars and a review on the podcast app , and please share if you can. it really makes a difference to the algorithm
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
Mining in Ireland is a contentious issue, with 19% of the Republic of Ireland and 27% of Northern Ireland’s land area issued in prospecting licences. While mining companies claim to bring jobs and development, communities like those near Tara Mines and Gypsum Ltd have faced significant environmental and social impacts. Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (CAIM) is an all-island network resisting prospecting and extraction.
The Yes to Life, No to Mining website is a global hub for communities resisting destructive mining projects. It shares stories from the frontlines, practical resources for local campaigns, and research that exposes the true costs of extraction. The network connects people around the world who are protecting their land, water, and ways of life, and promotes alternatives grounded in care for nature and community wellbeing.
Do Irish people know that Ireland has been selected as a Green sacrifice song for the so-called green technology, renewable energy transition from the beautiful wilds of Clare, Wicklow and Leitrim to the outstanding natural beauty of the Sperrin mountains of Tyrone. Rural Ireland is on Big Mining's chopping block.
This podcast is about the power of community, about how communities of Ireland are organising to stop this disaster happening. For short term returns, the government wants to sell Ireland to mining interests as silently and quietly as possible. Let's make some noises. We will try to unravel why the Irish government is doing this
LINKS TO Greencastle People’s Office(GPO) Facebook Page - and the site of the GPO ( The GPO is a humble caravan which has become a hub for the campaign against the goldmine )
