On Tuesday’s Morning Focus we heard about the story of a young East Clare man who sustained life threatening injuries after jumping into Lough Derg.
Francis Kelly, also known as Francie, sustained serious injuries after an accident that took place last month. He is now due to turn 19 and will be celebrating his birthday in the spinal injuries unit in Dublin’s Matter Hospital. His sister, Anna Kelly and friend Michael Guiheen, joined Gavin in studio to talk about the support that has been given following the release of their ‘A Little Something for Francie’ gofundme campaign.
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To start off the show, Gavin tackled a topic that had people talking recently. It has been revealed that parents are now paying more than half of primary school funding and running costs. Each year, Irish parents are paying 46 million euro out of their own pocket to keep schools open. Joe Killeen who is President of the INTO discussed this issue with Gavin and, Morning Focus listeners also heard from local parents on the matter.
In recent days, it’s been revealed that 50 calls a day are made to the Womens Aid helpline, from women experiencing domestic violence. At an event to mark the publication of the figures, questions were raised over the new legislation aimed at tackling domestic violence with one family law expert saying the Act read well but was only as good as the support system put in place to enforce it. One of the architects of that legislation is former Clare senator Tony Mulcahy and he joined Gavin on the line to talk about the legislation and the reactions to it.
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The show continued to look at a row within Clare FF over the selection of General Election candidates. Rita McInerney who is a businesswoman and a hopeful in Thursday’s convention joined Gavin in the studio.
Gavin welcomed the Money Doctor back onto the show when the second hour of Morning Focus began. John Lowe who is an Independent Financial Advisor, had some handy tips on making extra money.
Patrick Bourke Menswear was founded by Patrick Bourke in 1928 on the corner of ‘The Square’ in Kilrush. He sold menswear, ladies wear and children’s clothes. His son Michael joined the business in 1950 and continued to develop it. The business at this stage was an old Drapery shop. In 1974, Michael’s son, Patrick- the third generation- joined the family business and expanded the Kilrush shop to two floors and then opened a second shop in Ennis in 1994. Patrick in 2007, opened their flagship store in Ennis which consisted of 4 floors of quality menswear from international and local brands to suit all tastes and all ages. Patrick joined Gavin in studio to chat about the store celebrating 90 years.
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Concerns have been voiced by some Clare GAA supporters over changes to pricing structure for games by Munster GAA. The changes will see fans attending games at Cusack Park paying more for terrace tickets than those attending matches elsewhere in the region. Councillor Joe Cooney, Chairperson Clare County Board and, Ed Donnelly, Communications Manger – with Munster GAA, joined Gavin to address people’s concerns about the changes.
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As is routine on a Tuesday, Clare County Dog Warden, Frankie Coote, came into studio to give his regular, regional animal welfare update on the Morning Focus show.
Clare’s most romantic man has been revealed after the release of an adorable song and wedding video. Barefield Blossom is written by Mike McNamara from Ardnacrusha for his sweetheart, Leola Lillis who hails from Barefield. At their reception, Mike who is a Barefield balladeer, unveiled a video to accompany a song he had written – Leola had never seen it before. The pair are now enjoying their honeymoon however, Gavin still got the chance to speak to Mike about the video.
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To close the show, Gavin chatted with Eoghan Corry who is the Editor at TravelExtra.ie about holiday trends in 2018. Nearly 90 per cent of Irish people say they’ll take 2 or more holidays abroad this year. Three quarters say they’ll have a holiday that will last up to two weeks, while 60 per cent say they’ll get away to the sun.
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