Ella mcsweeneys international award

Ear to the Ground presenter, Ella McSweeney received the highly commended TV Category Award at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists awards for Broadcast and Digital media for their story on the increasing risk of antibiotic resistance.

Ella commented: “It’s such an honour to get any award for the work we do on Ear to the Ground, but particularly this one.

'I feel very lucky to get the chance to do this kind of work on RTÉ, and I’d like to thank them for supporting me. Antibiotic resistance is an alarming global issue which affects each and every one of us. The farmers and other contributors who agreed to talk to me should be commended for their honesty and willingness to tackle what is a public interest issue.”

Ear to the Ground producer, Paula Williams, said: “It’s great to see Ear to the Ground being recognised for the work it put into the story about antibiotic resistance. The continued over-use of antibiotics poses a serious threat to human health unless urgent worldwide action is taken.

Fuelling this resistance is the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture.

'It is important for Ear to the Ground as a farming programme, to look at the type of antibiotics being used on Irish farms, especially for the prophylactic treatment of infections like mastitis.

We did this at a time when dairy quotas were coming to an end and looking to the future where there would be significantly more animals in Irish herds and therefore further use of antibiotics.“