On Tuesday’s Morning Focus –Our very own Gavin Grace and Padraic Flaherty travelled to New York and received a Gold award for Gavin’s documentary on Jim Warny ‘The Rescue’.
‘The Rescue’ is an revealing insight into a remarkable rescue that saw Jimmy, the Ennis man who joined international divers to safely extract 12 boys and coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. This award was amongst the 100’s of radio stations that applied from 40 different countries.
Gavin spoke to Pat Flynn this morning about the win and why it means so much.
We looked at the rising costs of Communions and is it causing us to lose sight of the sacrament. The average amount of money children received on their Communion day this year was 617 euro. This is up 10 per cent on last year, according to Ulster Bank’s annual Communion Survey. Almost a quarter of children received €800 for their First Holy Communion.
Elizabeth Arnett from Ulster Bank says the amount being forked out has soared in the last year and Producer Fiona McGarry’s spoke with the Parish Priest of Mullagh, Fr Donach O’Meara on the pressure this puts people under.
Violet-Anne Wynne is a member of a political party often associated with the Catholic struggle for civil rights in the North of Ireland. She herself is of the Protest tradition and says that this has never been an issue for her as a Sinn Féin representative for West Clare.
Originally from Tullamore in County Offaly, Violet Anne and her family came to West Clare under the Rural Resettlement Scheme, setting down roots in Kilrush and running in the recent local elections. Interestingly, Violet Anne says that while being a Protestant has always been something of a ‘label’ in Irish society, it has never been an issue for her within Sinn Féin, and she has never experienced the ‘sectarianism’ she often sees in other aspects of political life. Violet Anne Wynne West Clare rep for SF, former Local Election candidate joined Pat Flynn in the studio.
As you’ll have been hearing over the last couple of weeks, there have been calls for clarity on the status of Moneypoint as the station ceases coal burning in six years time (2025). Well in advance of that deadline, workers fear for their futures, with temporary contracts being scaled back and, in some cases, cut altogether. The good news today is that Independent TD, Dr Michael Harty, has secured a meeting with senior executives, including a Senior Manager from the ESB Generation and Trading Directorate in Dublin as well Moneypoint Station Manager Seán Hegarty. He joined Pat to explain what is to be discussed in this meeting.
Tommy Corbett of Carey Corbett Financial Services at Roslevan in Ennis gives advice and answers your question on making insurance claims.
A 5,000-year-old murder mystery from the Burren in County Clare is the subject of an exhibition opening tonight at Clare Museum in Ennis. The ‘Death on the Burren’ exhibition will be launched by Dr. Ann Lynch, who led the excavation of Poulnabrone in 1986 making some intriguing finds, including the suspicious death of an individual who was buried there. The free exhibition, which will run until the end of 2019, provides an opportunity for families to get their detective caps on to help solve the ancient mystery by examining the evidence from scientific analysis of a hip-bone with an arrowhead embedded in it. Dr Ann Lynch Senior Archaeologist at National Monuments Service spoke to Pat Flynn about how important this exhibition is.
Frankie Coote, the Clare Dog Warden gives an update on the dogs in the community.
