Rachel Donnelly

@racklette The Ocean & Environment, writer in residence Rachel Donnelly. DISPATCH #2: Tracing the Intertidal on Long Island. @samyelyel ** creativeplaceswci.ie ** This is the second in a series of written reflections that follows the Ocean & Environment projects as they unfold over 2026/2027, connecting the themes of the project across the islands to wider questions of how to build resilience in the face of climate change. The Ocean & Environment artists are Samuel Arnold Keane, William Bock, Eoin Heaney, Saoirse Higgins and Louise Manifold. Writer in residence for the project is Rachel Donnelly.

Dispatch #2 from the @cpwestcorkislands Ocean & Environment project is now live! In which @samyelyel and I take a trip to Long Island and attempt to walk the perimeter along the intertidal zone. Featuring thoughts on the seaweed wars, the Rundale farming system, the Congested Districts Board and the almost magical aura that clean drinking water from the land now has. Read at the link in bio! With thanks to @cpwestcorkislands who commissioned the work.

Listen to an excerpt from 25.5 Hours on Whiddy Island, a new audio essay broadcasting Thursday 26 March on @dublindigitalradio at 18:00 A collaboration between Rachel Donnelly (@racklette ) and Eavan Aiken (@_irrealis_mood_ ), commissioned by @cpwestcorkislands as part of their Ocean and Environment initiative. Featuring the voices of: Rachel Donnelly, Tony Fry, Robert Collins (@rob_makes_things ), James Gibson, Shane Finan, Aisling Phelan (@aisling_phelan ) and Viva Dean (@vivadean ). This audio essay is a response to the first AGON gathering which took place on Whiddy in summer 2025, exploring ideas around the design of digital infrastructures, agency, the right to repair, civic spaces and speculative futures. Whiddy’s complex history framed these discussions - the site of a strategic military base for the British in the early 1800s, and in the 1970s the site of a tragedy when an oil tanker exploded and cost 50 lives. The still-active oil refinery lies sunk into the land on the west end of the island and has experienced several changes in multinational ownership in recent years, while the military batteries lie abandoned. AGON was hosted by Robert Collins and Paul O’Neil and featured contributions from Shane Finan and Loes Damhof, Seán Finnan, Cliona Harmey, Micheál O’Connell and Aisling Phelan. With thanks to the West Cork Islands Creative Places Partnership.

Incoming! Listen to an excerpt from 25.5 Hours on Whiddy Island, a new audio essay. Broadcast dates: Thursday 26 March on @dublindigitalradio at 6pm. Monday 30 March on @eistradio at 11.30am. Sunday 5 April on Bere Island Community Radio @bere_island at 1pm. A collaboration between myself and Eavan Aiken (@_irrealis_mood_ ), commissioned by @cpwestcorkislands as part of their Ocean and Environment initiative. Featuring the voices of: Rachel Donnelly, Tony Fry, Robert Collins (@rob_makes_things ), James Gibson, Shane Finan, Aisling Phelan (@aisling_phelan ) and Viva Dean (@vivadean ). This audio essay is a response to the first AGON gathering which took place on the island in summer 2025, exploring ideas around the design of digital infrastructures, agency, the right to repair, civic spaces and speculative futures. Whiddy’s complex history framed these discussions - the site of a strategic military base for the British in the early 1800s, and in the 1970s the site of a tragedy when an oil tanker exploded and cost 50 lives. The still-active oil refinery lies sunk into the land on the west end of the island and has experienced several changes in multinational ownership in recent years, while the military batteries lie abandoned. AGON was hosted by Robert Collins and Paul O’Neil and featured contributions from Shane Finan and Loes Damhof,, Seán Finnan, Cliona Harmey, Micheál O’Connell and Aisling Phelan. With thanks to the West Cork Islands Creative Places Partnership.

This Saturday @cecas.ie in Leap, we’ll be talking about seaweed, community activism and the foreshore as perhaps the last vestiges of ‘a commons’ in Ireland. As licensing laws on our coastline evolve with the birth of the new Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) last year, and the large-scale development of wind power infrastructure in train, how will our relationship with the shoreline be affected? To discuss these and other ideas, we’re looking forward to welcoming our four brilliant panellists on Saturday, for a discussion to follow the West Cork premiere of Forest Beneath the Waves. This compelling documentary by @habitatproductions looks at the community campaign launched to halt industrial-scale extraction of kelp in Bantry Bay, after a licence was granted to one company in 2014. Each panellist brings with them a particular relationship to seaweed and our coastline. Karin Dubsky is a marine ecologist, co-founder of Coastwatch and long-standing champion of a citizen-science based approach to guarding our coastlines. Cathal Dowd Smith is an environmental historian and Curator and Collections Manager of Newbridge House and Malahide Castle. He has been researching seaweed’s history as a contested resource in Ireland for a number of years, particularly the period known as the ‘seaweed wars’ in the 19th century. Dolf D’hondt is a resident of Bantry and has been closely involved in the Bantry Bay - Protect Our Native Kelp Forests community campaign since its beginnings, helping to bring the case to the high court. He is also on the steering committee of Fair Seas, a group calling for the protection of 30% of Ireland’s ocean territory by 2030. Samuel Arnold Keane is a forager, illustrator and performer. His foraging practice is not only a way to obtain food, but also a means of deepening his relationship with the landscape, and exercising his right to access public space along the coast. Tickets to the event are available through Eventbrite at the link in my bio, or on CECAS.ie, and booking ahead is strongly advised. // Images 1. Still from Forest Beneath the Waves 2. Karin Dubsky 3. Cathal Dowd-Smith 4. Dolf d’hondt 5. Samuel Arnold Keane

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History collects in our bodies, and can be read there. As part of @projectartscentre ’s Future Forecast, @nosemiguel has made a beautiful film about this intensified moment we’re living through, starring his granny and her hands. Made during lockdown in the aftermath of months of protests in Chile. Get the link to watch in Project’s bio.