In September 1979, Pope John Paul II became the first pope in history to visit Ireland. The then 57-year-old pontiff touched down at Dublin airport on the morning of September 29th 1979, where he was met by the Irish president, Dr Patrick Hillery and a host of religious leaders. Before travelling to Drogheda he was flown to Phoenix Park in Dublin where he delivered an open-air sermon to more than 1.25 million people - nearly a third of Ireland's entire population, the largest gathering of Irish people in history. He told the people why he felt called to visit Ireland and the Irish. He reminded the crowd of how St Patrick heard the "voice of the Irish" and came to help us. So did he. "Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, Like St. Patrick, I too have heard "the voice of the Irish" Later that day, he was met by a crowd of over 300,000 in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Preparations had been taking place for weeks. The entire Dublin police force had all leave cancelled for the duration of the visit, bunting in the papal colours of yellow and white had been hung across country and people have travelled from all over the country to catch a glimpse of the dynamic Polish priest. The rest of his trip included a visit to Galway and the Marian shrine at Knock in County Mayo where he was met by an estimated audience of almost 500,000 people. The following day he travelled to visit St Patrick's College at Maynooth and then, by helicopter, to Limerick before leaving for Boston airport to begin a tour of the United States. Pope John Paul II's fond farewell to the Irish people: "Dia agus Muire libh! May God and Mary be with you and with the Families of Ireland, always." Presented and poduced by Derek Mooney First broadcast Sept 29th 1999. An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries

Keiko (1976 - December 12, 2003) was a male orca who starred in the three Free Willy movies, and was perhaps the most famous of captive orcas. Keiko was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the Icelandic aquarium in Hafnarfjörður. Three years later, he was sold to Marineland in Ontario, where he first started performing for the public. He was then sold to Reino Aventura an amusement park in Mexico City, in 1985. The plan to return him to the wild was a topic of much controversy. Keiko died from pneumonia in Taknes Bay, Norway while under the care of personnel from Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society on December 12, 2003. He had become lethargic, had a loss of appetite and died at 27 years of age. Presented and produced by Derek Mooney An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries

Turning white in winter to blend in with the white background of snow is a very successful adaptation. Stoats, hares and arctic foxes have perfected this way of living but not everywhere. At the end of the last Ice Age these mammals, along with others, spread northwards, colonising all suitable habitat. However Ireland soon warmed up from the tundra stage, which immediately followed the melting of the ice. Long snow covered winters became a thing of the past. The hare and the stoat adopted an Irish solution to an Irish problem and stayed brown during the winter. The Arctic fox didn't adapt however and so is no longer part of our fauna. In this documentary Eanna follows him north to another island - Iceland - to see if being isolated on an island makes the Icelandic arctic fox different to those on mainland Europe. And of course they are. Their main item of diet on mainland Europe - the lemming- is completely absent from Iceland and so the arctic fox there must learn an Icelandic solution to an Icelandic problem. Do they have to turn white in the winter if they are not creeping up on unsuspecting lemmings? What do they eat anyway if there are no lemmings? And how can they manage to survive in temperatures of minus forty degrees? The wild and beautiful Iceland forms a background to this whimsical look at the arctic fox - an animal that was once here but fell a victim to global warming the last time round. Produced by Derek MooneyAn Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries

Some creatures are so ridiculously beautiful that they just don't belong in the real world. The Halcyon, or Kingfisher, was a favourite of the Gods. Kingfishers nest underground in river-banks. The nests are never seen and the ancient Greeks thought that the birds must lay their eggs out on the sea. The waters around Greece are usually tranquil for a few weeks around the summer solstice. This was because the Gods calmed the sea to allow their special bird to nest; hence the expression 'halcyon days'. Irish birds are, by international standards, a dull unpretentious lot, the avian equivalent of the 'plain people of Ireland'. The Kingfisher is so glamorous that it looks out of place here. Its extraordinary colours are more appropriate to the tropics than to a cloudy overcast island. Glamour has its downside. It's not always wise to attract attention to oneself and, for a bird to do so, can be fatal. Flamboyant costumes may impress your neighbours but they make you an easy target for your enemies. Kingfishers, therefore, must have a very good reason to dress up. Wasps have painful stings and wear yellow and black football-jerseys to frighten their enemies away. Are Kingfishers doing the same? Perhaps a hawk, which eats a Kingfisher, finds the flesh so unpalatable that it never catches one again, a case of 'once bitten, twice shy'. This is just one of the intriguing question raised in this radio documentary on Kingfishers. New ways of persuading kingfishers to nest have been developed at the Rye Meads nature reserve in London. The discoveries there were used with spectacular success this summer in Wicklow. Presenter Dr Richard Collins and producer Derek Mooney visit the RSPB site at Rye Meads and Druids Glen in Wicklow to talk to experts about the life and times of Ireland's most glamorous bird. Presented by Richard CollinsProduced by Derek MooneyAn Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries