Rté - Made In Ireland

Until the 1700s in Ireland, fallow and the native Red deer had two predators to worry about: wolves and humans. We’ve hunted deer for millenia - a recognition of the value of venison meat that’s extremely low in fat, but packed full of protein and iron.

Twenty years ago, there were 1,000 abattoirs across the country. Today, there are 200 left and of them, only a small amount are small scale abattoirs connected to local butcher shops.

When it comes to lace making, Ireland is on the map particularly Carrickmacross and Limerick lace. But there is another tradition of lace making, a unique way of making lace that was nearly lost to a new generation of lacemakers.

Poitin is long associated with illegality: first outlawed back in 1661, it was relatively recently, in 1997, when the Revenue Commissioners permitted the licensed sale of it within Ireland.

High up in a field in the middle of Waterford City live 84 goats in the wild. These are the Bilberry Goat herd and they have lived on the rock for over 300 years.

They come out to mark respect for life’s significant moments. Go to a wedding, funeral, graduation or christening and you’ll be sure to see people wearing hats.

Ella talks to Noel Burke and Mike De Hoog. They spend their days working with wood, ebony, abalone shell, silver, Mongolian horse hair and lizard skin to create bows for musical instruments such as violins, cellos and violas.

It’s thought there are about 12 silversmiths left in the country. Ella McSweeney has visited two of them - Seamus Gill and Cork-based Eileen Moylan.

A small, rotund, white floury bap tells the story of the French Huguenots who arrived in Waterford in the late 1600s.

Evan Connon shows Ella his studio and his favourite piece of Harry Clarke work in North Dublin. She meets Willie Earley and sees one of his last pieces of work in Co. Meath.

It’s a fact all too well known if you farm sheep for a living, but it’s still a surprise to those of us who don’t, to learn that Irish wool, once a premium product, is hardly ever used in knitting anymore.

Leather working in Ireland.

Episode 1: Microwaved Wood When you burn wood in the absence of oxygen, what’s left is a powerful substance that can burn at 2,700 degrees Celsius.