Seascaoes comes from Wicklow, where the competitors in the Round Ireland Yacht Race are gathering ahead of setting out on the 700 mile trip.

On this weeks show we're in Clifton to welcome the new RNLI lifeboat and we hear from the Coast Guard Service on their safety campaigns, recruiting and their response to recent claims at a recent Oireachtas committee hearing.

Seascapes tonight speaks to James Morrissey about his book A History of the Fastnet Lighthouse. Norman Freeman recounts how the sea plays an important role in most of the works of the great playwright, Eugene O'Neill and Fergal Keane visits Cobh in Cork Harbour.

Seascapes this week visits Howth, where Lorna Siggins learns about the Howth School of Fish from Sean Doran. Norman Freeman has the story of the liner the Principessa Mafalda, which sank off the coast of Brazil. And we have an interview with Senator Gerard Craughwell about the Oireachtas Transport hearings into the Irish Coastguard Service.

We look at the story an IRA unit in Cork that attempted to hijack a Royal Navy ship. Recently, the Irish Coastguard Volunteers Representative Group spoke at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport & Communications hearing. And we take a look at TV series, the Great Lighthouses of Ireland.

Seascapes this week visits the K Club in County Kildare, where the hotel hosted a group of transition year students from CBS James St, are taking part in a fishing project organised as part of their Gaisce programme in the school. And in the latest of our series on Irish lighthouses, Noel Sweeney visits Mine Head lighthouse in County Waterford.

Seascapes visits the National Maritime Museum to hear about a new exhibition commemorating one of Ireland's most renowned sea captains, Captain Robert Halpin.

We visit Strangford in County Down and the Viking Festival which was recently held there. We also hear how celestial navigation can still be used at sea and how it can be relatively easy to learn, and we hear about lobster pots and how they are constructed and used.

Seascapes tonight comes from the Irish Sailing Awards, held in Dun Laoghaire last weekend. We hear from Olympic medallist Annalise Murphy, on her life after sailing, Sailor of the Year, Finn Lynch and from the winner of the Irish Sailing Leadership Award, Mary Duffy, amongst others.

Seascapes tonight visits the Skipper Expo, the country's biggest ever show for the commercial fishing sector.

Fergal is joined by the owner of Coast Line Shipping Joe Howes and Irish woman Stephanie Hyde-McIntyre who has made a career in the shipping business.

Seascapes tonight reports on the recent Offshore Renewable Energy conference held in the National Maritime College.

We meet Jim Scofield who recently completed a solo trans Atlantic race on his home-built 19-foot yacht. Jim took part in a race with five other boats and you can follow his blog on the whole adventure and the build here: http://liffeysailor.blogspot.com/ Also, Dr Karen Weekes has just completed a seventy day row across the Atlantic. She speaks to Lorna Siggins and you can read about her trip here: https://shecando2021.org/?cn-reloaded=1

On Seascapes tonight, Joanna McNicholas is on Cross Beach in Belmullet, County Mayo, with beachcomber Fergus Sweeney. Having solved the mystery of the shotgun cartridges found on an earlier trip, we now hear about some of the other unusual items found on beaches. And we hear how five super trawlers have arrived in Irish waters this week to fish for Blue Whiting. The controversial ships can take thousands of tonnes of fish and stay at sea for weeks. John Hourston of the lobby group, Blue...

Seascapes tonight hears about the working conditions of some non-EU fishers in the Irish Fishing Industry. They were speaking as the International Transport Workers Federation was making a submission on their work conditions to the Department of Justice this week. We hear of workers' very long working weeks, little time off, minimum wage or less and living on board their trawlers. The workers and the union want the Atypical Work Permit Scheme they work under changed to allow them to move...

We get to the bottom of the mystery about all those shotgun cartridges washing up on Irish beaches. Mairead Staunton of Clean Coasts has been finding hundreds of shotgun cartridges while cleaning beaches in Mayo and she doesn't know where they come from. But Professor Ian Jones, Professor of Biology at Memorial University in Newfoundland believes he knows where they originate. Cork TD Christopher O'Sullivan tells us about a €35 million EU fund being made available to local authorities to...

On Seascapes tonight, Joanna McNicholas is on Carrowmore Beach in County Mayo to see some of the fascinating pieces of flotsam washed up on our coasts. Joanna meets Mairead Staunton, winner of the individual Ocean Hero of the Year award last month, to hear about her work and the types of things she has found on beaches. And we hear about the industrial dispute in the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority which is due to lead to a 48 hour work stoppage next week. The SFPA is tasked with...

On Seascapes tonight we visit the historic Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse in County Cork. Noel Sweeney meets former lighthouse keeper, Gerald Butler and gets a tour of the building from resident attendant Alan Boyers. And we hear from artist Eve Parnell about a unique project to mark the 75th anniversary of the Irish Naval Service. Eve went on board the LE James Joyce to oversee the actor Niamh Cusack performing a poem about the Navy which you can watch on the following link:...

On Seascapes tonight, we hear the latest on the bid by Cork to host the 2024 America's Cup. The proposal became mired in rows over costs in recent weeks, but work is continuing in the background to bring the world's premiere sailing event to Ireland. Eoin English of the Irish Examiner says that the tide may be turning on the proposal and America's Cup could still be held in Cork. Regular contributor, Norman Dunlop, recalls the brutal and inhumane history of the whaling industry. And Matt...

Tonight we are on the banks of the River Inny in Co. Westmeath. Fergal Keane goes winter fishing for pike with renowned angling guide Mick Flanagan. Mick can be contacted on http://www.midlandangling.com/ or on facebook. The pike is a protected species and is the most ferocious predator on our inland waterway system. We also visit the once-thriving Eel Smokehouse in Rathown on the banks of the river and hear from John Rogan who ran the business until a change in government policy forced its...

We visit the Ernest Shackleton Museum at the Athy Heritage Centre, Kildare. Shackleton was one of the great Antarctic explorers from the early years of the last century. The centenary of his death comes in January of next year and a number of events are planned to mark it. Fergal Keane meets Kevin Kenny from the museum and hears about Shackleton's life, his commitment to his crews and takes a look around a replica of one of his ships, the Endurance. We also hear a piece of music commissioned...

We visit Dublin Port and hear about ambitious expansion plans from the port Chief Executive Eamonn O'Reilly. The plans involve a new container terminal alongside the ESB's old Poolbeg Power Station and a new bridge across the river Liffey. Details of the plan can be found at: https://www.dublinport.ie/masterplan/3fm/ And we are also at the Dublin Bay swimming spot in Seapoint, to hear of concerns about the water quality in the Bay. Gerry Jones of SOS Dublin Bay is one of the leading...

We stop off at Fenit Lighthouse in Co Kerry, operating since 1854. Noel Sweeney met tour operator Mary O'Brien Browne and got a history lesson from John McGibney. Also on the show, an Irish team, Row Hard Or Go Home will take part in the Row the Atlantic 2022 event.

We visit a couple in Leitrim who have opted for life on board, on our inland waterways. Tom Lewis is a renowned singer of sea shanties and a folk singer who is well known in folk circles. Tonight, he and Lynn show us around their new boat on the Boyle River and speak about their lives. You can find more about Tom on his website: www.TomLewis.net

On Seascapes tonight, we hear about the 21st Shackleton Autumn School, coming from the Shackleton Museum in Athy, County Kildare, this weekend. Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes speaks to Lorna Siggins about Shackleton's legacy and his own upcoming adventures. https://shackletonmuseum.com Lighthouse Storybook is a new children's book, written by very young writers, about the great lighthouses of Ireland. 12-year-old Holly Lawlor reads her own story, The Night The Light Went Out. Lighthouse...