Donegal Radio Pirates in the 1940s

Donegal has had a rich pirate radio history especially due to its proximity to the Northern Ireland border and the city of Derry. But the county's spot in pirate radio history stretches back to the early days of radio. Here are two stories from that early period.

In 1945, as the Second World War ended and the Emergency as it was known in Ireland was wound down, Radio Nuala was reported to be broadcasting on medium wave from the Beehive public house in Ardara in Donegal. Part of their complaint was that the Radio Eireann signal was poor in the area and that they were being 'bombarded' by the signals of the BBC's Six Counties Service. 

Some years later in 1947 a row between Donegal fishermen and a private fishery business about who had the rights to fish on the Irish side of the River Foyle from the Sea to Lifford would end with a High Court Case.  The local fishermen in an attempt to raise the finance to fight the case in Dublin and to highlight the issue within the community operated a mobile radio service to broadcast their message. They even managed to cross the border briefly to broadcast in Strabane in County Tyrone

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