During the early 1970s there were several political "clandestine" stations operated by various nationalist and loyalist organisations however most of these were short lived. Later there were several attempts to establish commercial pirates in NI but the authorities quickly moved against these too. (Penalties for pirate broadcasting under UK law were a lot harsher than in Ireland.) Some of these stations subsequently moved across the border and broadcast into Northern Ireland from the Republic. At one point there were over 15 stations doing so. Surprisingly there were only a handful of (mostly short lived) "political" stations South of the border as it was felt that the authorities were less likely to be tolerant of such stations. One such station transmitted to Fermanagh and South Tyrone during the Westminster election of 1981 that saw IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands elected as an MP. The longest running illegal station in Northern Ireland was Belfast's Irish language station "Raidió Fáilte" (lit. "Radio Welcome"). In 2005 the authorities decided to license Raidió Fáilte, an action which would have been unthinkable before the Northern Ireland Peace Process Offshore Radio While offshore pirates were rarer in Ireland, they still existed, and many notable UK offshore stations had a connection with Ireland. Both Radio Atlanta and Radio Caroline were built on board ships that were docked in (and made initial test transmissions from) a private Irish port at Greenore in the Republic of Ireland. The Dutch stations Radio Paradijs and REM island were also fitted out in Irish ports while Laser 558 had some Irish staff and financial backing. Another offshore station located at various locations off the coast of Scotland in international waters, later identified itself as Radio Scotland and Ireland when its radio ship moved to anchorage off the west coast and within range of Ireland (for a time they anchored off Northern Ireland). During the mid-1960s there were unconfirmed reports of test broadcasts from Irish offshore stations like "Radio Shannon" and "Radio Lambay" but such transmissions if they ever took place were probably the work of land-based radio enthusiasts. Some UK offshore stations, particularly Radio Scotland and Radio Caroline North had a sizable following in Ireland. See also Pirate radio in Kerry Wireless Telegraphy Acts Law concerning pirate radio. References Further reading Radio Radio, Peter Mulryan, Dublin Borderline Publications External links A–Z of Irish Pirates Radiowaves.FM A long-running Irish radio tribute and resource website