Morning Focus – Tuesday 21/08/18

Today (Tuesday August 21st) saw the World Meeting of Families get under way in Dublin.

The highlights of the week long celebration are the Pope’s visits to Dublin and Knock at the weekend. The celebration is still in many ways overshadowed by fresh clerical scandals that came which prompted to write a letter on the matter yesterday (August 21st). In the Killaloe Diocese they will be hosting a prayer liturgy on this evening at 7pm in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Nenagh for the Eve of the World Meeting of Families 2018. Pat spoke to Fr Brendan Quinlivan the Killaloe Diocesan Director of Communications and attendee of events with the Pope come the weekend.

Then the show had an exclusive interview with the host of the 2019 Irish Open, professional golfer Paul McGinley. The event will be held in Lahinch for the first time in history and some of the biggest names in golfing are expected to descend upon Clare from July 4th to 7th next year. McGinley has a history with Lahinch having previously won the South of Ireland title before turning pro. Clare FM Sport’s Derrick Lynch made the trip out to Lahinch to see what progress preparations have made.

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Finally the hour ended with Paul Bailey, the Head of Marketing and Communications for the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU). He discussed a new survey from the group which showed 58% of parents in Munster will cut spending on clothing or other goods to help fund third level education for their children. (Nationally that percentage is 48%.) Furthermore, 84% of parents in the region will help fund their child’s college education while 34% will cut spending on groceries and food to help cover costs.

Sticking with college into the second hour we heard from Terry Twomey, Registar and VP for Academic Affairs at LIT. Terry offered advice for the approximately 1,200 students who received CAO offers yesterday. Ahead of the deadline to accept first round offers this Friday (August 21st) Terry discussed how students accept an offer, how much time they have to make a decision and what to do if they get the offer they don’t want.

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How has North Clare changed? It’s always been a place that attracts thousands of visitors and tourists but how did it change with the arrival of television in the 1960s or with tourism and romance in the 1970s? Acclaimed actor and winner of the best actor award at the Galway Fringe Festival in 2017 Gerry Conneely is exploring the changes of North Clare between the 1950s and 1970s with his new one man show coming to Kilshanny House this Friday (August 24th). He joined Pat in studio to discuss the details.

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Then, Heritage Week continues to be celebrated with a new event at Carrigoran House. Tomorrow (August 22nd) a free community event will celebrate the history of children’s games with traditional games, like ‘push penny’ or ‘elastics’, that predate today’s PlayStations and Xboxs. A ‘Little cookbook of Favourite Recipes’ will also be launched with all proceeds going to the centre. Aodhnaid Lennon, the Manager for the Health and Wellness Centre at Carrigoran House had more details.

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Lastly the show ended with our weekly animal welfare update with Frankie Coote, Clare County Dog Warden.