Morning Focus – 13/11/18

Marie Clare Gorman, Parent of a pupil at Clarecastle NS & Martin Moloney, Principal, Clarecastle NS

Morning Focus kicked off with some audio from the terrible fires which engulfed California in the last week.

We heard about Clare County Council’s plans for data centre development in Ennis. Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council saw plans unveiled for a new data centre which the Council hopes will be built on the outskirts of Ennis.  The local authority says 1,100 jobs will be created during the construction phase, and that once fully operational, the facility would support 400 direct and 600 indirect jobs. Gavin spoke with President of Ennis Chamber, Diarmuid McMahon, Council Director of Services, Liam Conneelly, and Kilmaley Fianna Fáil Councillor Tom McNamara who was part of a delegation that traveled to Lulea in Sweden to visit a similar data centre.

Kevin Doyle, Group Political Editor of Independent News & Media discussed if there is a Brexit deal on the horizon. Simon Coveney has said that the main issue is avoiding a hard border with the North.

CONTINUE READING BELOW

In the second hour of Morning Focus we had our regular segment ‘Financial Advice’ with Tommy Corbett, Carey Corbett Financial Services, Roslevan. This week’s subject dealt with investing lump sums.

Listen back below:

We heard about Clarecastle NS’s special agreement that no child will have sole ownership of a smartphone. Over 80% of parents have signed up to the school’s ‘Internet and Technology Agreement’ which was drawn up with input from staff, pupils, parents and social media safety expert Dr Maureen Griffin.

Listen back below:

Ruairí Ó Conchúir, Community Water Officer – Clare, Limerick & Tipperary informed us about the public meeting in Gunning’s Bar, Kilbane to discuss local water quality. The meeting will take place tomorrow night (November 14) at 7:30pm. The community meeting is entitled “What’s happening in the Upper Broadford (Glenomra River) Catchment?” and everyone is invited to attend.

After that, Clare County Dog Warden, Frankie Coote was live in studio for his regular item Animal Welfare update.

In the final hour of the show Eamon Ansboro discussed the probe launched after UFO sightings reported to Shannon Air Traffic Control. The Irish Aviation Authority is investigating the sighting of a UFO by a number of planes off the south west coast of Ireland last Friday.

Listen back below:

Concertina player Chris Droney and Orla Flanagan, Director, glór were live in studio to talk about Chris winning the Morglór Award 2018. The Bellharbour native has previously received the CCÉ Bardic Award, a Teastas award, the Clare Person of the Year Award and the TG4 Grádam Saoil award for lifetime achievement.

Listen back below:

The show concluded with a vox-pop on veganism from our reporter Ryan Hanton. He took to the streets of Ennis to fond out what public opinion is on being vegan in comparison to those who are vegans. Ryan also visited Peckish which is a vegan café in Ennis to see what a plant-based diet entails.

Listen back below: