Fingal County Council Arts Office launches 94.3 HIDE FM

Fingal County Council has launched 94.3 HIDE FM,  a major new art work by renowned artist Garrett Phelan powered directly from landfill energy extracted from the former Balleally landfill now referred to as Rogerstown Park.

A 24 hour radio station, 94.3 HIDE FM  sees Phelan imagine and perform the role of a bird watcher in the field observing the birds that inhabit the Rogerstown Estuary in Lusk from The Hide Sculpture located at the Park.

94.3 HIDE FM will broadcast continuously, over 24 hours, 7 days a week over the 28 day period of broadcasting from March 24^th to April 20th 2025

HIDE FM is part of Phelan’s wider project entitled The Hide Project which began in 2006.  Phelan has committed himself to the The Hide Project for his lifetime. It is comprised of four parts, HIDE FM , The Hide Sculpture, the website WWW.THEHIDEPROJECT.COM and The Hide Suite – Series of prints.

94.3 HIDE FM is commissioned by Fingal County Council’s Arts Department through its Per Cent of Art Scheme. It is the first time in the history of the state that a local authority has been issued a broadcast licence by Coimisiún na Meán and the first time a radio station has been powered by recycled energy from a landfill. The Per Cent for Arts Scheme is an important source of Government funding for the arts and can provide significant budgets to enable artists to imagine and create new and ambitious work across all art-forms and arts practice areas.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Brian McDonagh praised the concept saying “Fingal County Council always pushes the boundaries of what art can be and what can be more available and more democratic than an artwork that can be enjoyed through the medium of radio. 94.3 HIDE FM is a fantastic way of celebrating the landscape and wild birds of Fingal, accessible to anyone nationally & internationally.”

Supporting the project Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Ann Marie Farrelly commented “I recognise the positive impact that works of art and artists have on promoting Fingal as a unique place to work and live as well as through works like Hide FM and The HIDE Project highlighting Fingal as a destination to visit to audiences nationally and internationally.” 

Public Art co-ordinator Caroline Cowley reflects on the natural development of 94.3 HIDE FM , “The Hide Project is an ambitious, durational work of art that could only have been realised through the trust and dedication that has been shared between Fingal County Council and the artist who has a deep connection to the Rogerstown Estuary landscape. The four elements of The Hide Project are aligned with the changing landscape of the former landfill as it transforms into a public amenity. Over the past ten years, one element The Hide Sculpture has animated and invited communities and guests into the environment both physically and remotely for a range of activities from learning, birdwatching, drawing and musical performance as away to keep the significance of the artwork and the location celebrated and active during the parks regeneration”

Artist Garrett Phelan said of the work  “As someone invested deeply in this area, I have seen an increasing unpredictability to the bird species that can be viewed from The Hide Scuplture over the past ten years and more.  HIDE FM allows an imagined space where our biodiversity is not vulnerable or changing, and that contemplates the full range of birds that should be calling Rogerstown Estuary their home. The bird watcher needs to retreat from the site to the imagination. Birds have always been an enduring fascination to me as a quiet, often unvalued presence in our environment, one that can tell us much about our own behaviors, prejudices and mistakes when we take the time to listen.  ” – Garrett Phelan 2025

94.3 HIDE FM  will be launched on Monday 24^th of March at the stunning new Lusk Cultural Venue where communities will get a chance to listen to the broadcasts in the company of some of Phelan’s prints from The Hide Suite.  This additional exhibition will run until April 20^th.