Today on Morning Focus we heard from Paul McGinley as he presented Scoil Mhuire National School, Lahinch with €60,000 last Friday (Nov 8).
Paul McGinley has presented a total of €75,000 to two local community groups in North Clare, as a thank you to the community for their work in making the Dubai Duty Irish Open a success. McGinley’s Foundation raised the money on the week of the Irish Open in Lahinch in July, and on Friday he returned there to present €60,000 to the local national school, with that money going towards the installation of a new Astroturf facility.
A further €15,000 will help support services including counselling at the North West Clare Family Resource Centre. Michelle Lynch, Manager of North West Clare Family Resource Centre. Helen Nolan and Bryan Curry, Principal and Deputy Principal of Scoil Mhuire National School spoke to Gavin also.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
Before that, we heard from Liam Conneally, Clare County Council Director of Services as no application is to be made for special European funding to deal with employment issues in Clare, at least for now. Calls had been made for an application to be made under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund at last Friday’s special meeting at Clare County Council’s Ennis Headquarters. However, this did not happen with some speakers, including Clare Fine Gael Junior Minister Pat Breen, saying it was premature. Liam agreed with this assessment as he outlined the work that is being carried out by the task force established in the wake of the announcement of Molex’s plans to close its Shannon plant.
Next on Morning Focus, Denis O’Rourke, Principal of St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, Co. Clare, joined us in studio to return to an issue we discussed on the show previously. The pressure is being put on the Senior and Junior Ministers in the Department of Education to resolve an issue which means a number of students attending secondary school in Kildysart are still unable to gain access to school transport. A handful of students of St. John Bosco Community College who had been unable to gain access to buses are now being accommodated, but it’s understood that around eight more still don’t have a bus to school in the morning. Denis outlined how many more students are impacted as he spoke with Gavin.
Next on the show, Sgt. Tríona O’Rourke, Clare County Arts Officer, joined us in studio for this week’s Garda Focus update.
Áine Mae Crowley, Fighting Blindness Ambassador, joined us in studio ahead of the Fighting Blindness Retina 2019 Conference which is to take place in Dublin Saturday the 16th of Nov. The conference will give members of the public the opportunity to ask eye experts any questions they may have as part of Fighting Blindness’ forthcoming Public Engagement Day.
Retina 2019 is a three-day international gathering of researchers and clinicians from all over the world which this year celebrates 20 years of bringing together the foremost minds in vision research. It provides a valuable opportunity for delegates to share knowledge on global research efforts and technologies to find treatments and cures for a wide range of conditions causing vision impairment and blindness.
The event takes place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8 and members of the public can register their attendance at www.retina.ie
If you missed our chat with Áine, you can listen back below:
Next, Roisín Garvey, Inagh-based Green Schools Ambassador and elected Councillor joined us in studio, along with Neil Coffey. He is the father of one of the children from Ennis NS who travelled to school on a ‘Cycle Bus’ scheme this past Friday. It’s believed to be the first scheme of its kind in Clare.
To wrap up today’s show, Mairéad Scanlan, Captain of the Scariff Ogonnelloe Camogie team joined us on the line following their Munster Final win at the weekend. Clare FM’s Darren Kelly also joined us in studio to wrap up all of the weekend’s sporting action.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
