Morning Focus – Thursday 4th July

On Thursday’s Morning Focus we witnessed an incredible feat of logistics, involving hundreds of professionals and volunteers as the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open teed off early this morning at Lahinch Golf Club.

Four days of competitive action will be beamed around the world, showing North Clare in all its glory. The event also offers Lahinch and Clare significant international exposure, as well as an immediate boost for the local area in the form of tens of thousands of spectators who will be in attendance over the weekend.
John Gleeson is Chairman of the Tournament Committee for Lahinch Golf Club and Gavin spoke to him earlier about the week to come.

A series of recent changes to the speed limit on the N68 route between Kilrush and Ennis prompted a huge amount of discussion on this show, and is continuing to irk those who travel the route regularly. One of those is Ind TD for Clare, Dr Michael Harty who joined Gavin over the phone to discuss what can be done with the road.

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This week we’ve been looking at the challenges facing disabled people in Clare in terms of finding a suitable home and living independently. Morning Focus Producer Fiona McGarry’s been speaking with a number of members of the Irish Wheelchair Association about their experiences.
We’ve heard from Martin Mounsey (who has had to live in a nursing home at the age of just 45) and Desirée Stevenson. On today’s show we heard more from the people Fiona spoke to.

Then next guest got in touch with the show yesterday to warn others to be careful when buying tickets online. Angela was planning to take her husband to the Dubai Irish Open Pro-Am yesterday (Weds, July 3).
Her husband is a wheelchair user and a Wexford man and they’d been hoping to catch a glimpse of Davy Fitz. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out.

We got some regular parenting advice from Dr Toby Sachsenmaier who is a Clinical Child Psychologist.

An Oireachtas Committee has been hearing this week about a story that I’m sure will concern many listeners and that’s the dramatic decline in certain bird species.
Birdwatch Ireland who addressed the committee on culture and heritage this week said some species groups have seen their numbers fall by 50 percent since the 1970s.
It’s blamed the significant drops on climate change, agriculture, hedge cutting, pollution and burning of scrub. Tom Lynch from the Clare branch of Birdwatch Ireland, Tom tells us that some of the species that are in decline are Lapwing, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye and Pochard.
It says that there has been an almost complete extermination of farmland birds like the Corncrake.

As the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open gets underway in Lahinch today (Thurs, July 4), Gavin heard from Clare FM’s Darren Kelly who has been following all of the action on the opening day of the tournament.

Siobhán Mulcahy who is the Clare County Arts Officer gives us the run down of what art events are going on across Clare.

Launch in Ireland of a second poetry collection from Miltown native Anne Casey ‘Out of Emptied Cups’ published by Salmon Poetry in Ennistymon.

There are a number of events for the book coming up in Clare:

6 pm on Saturday, 6 July – Book launch at Salmon Literary Centre, Ennistymon
4 pm on Sunday, 7 July – Book launch at the Board Room, GAA Fields, Miltown Malbay as part of Willie Clancy Week
6.30 pm on Sunday, 7 July – Poetry Reading with Anne and acclaimed poets, Eleanor Hooker and Ron Carey at Áras Oidhreacht an Chlair, Flag Rd, Miltown Malbay.