Wednesday’s Morning Focus began with Gerry Murphy of the Bushpark Addiction Treatment Centre in Ennis.
He warned Junior Cert’s of the danger of underage drinking ahead of tonight’s celebrations following the release of the Junior Cert results. He also emphasized that parents have the strongest influence on their children’s attitudes to alcohol.
Then Gavin spoke with Alan Kelly, Labour TD for Tipperary. They discussed the recent report on the CervicalCheck scandal from special investigator Dr Gabriel Scally. A premature leaking of details of the report prompted Vicky Phelan to call it a ‘whitewash’ and members of the opposition and the Taoiseach described it as ‘disgusting.’ While Scally didn’t believe a full commission of inquiry the health minister said he would proceed with an investigation.
The hour ended with Liam Ryan from Doonbeg and Gavin discussing Trump’s Doonbeg visit in November. It is uncertain whether the visit will happen at this point because while the Irish government indicated there would be no visit due to ‘scheduling reasons’ but the White House seemed to indicate that the possibility is still on the table.
Opening the second hour of the show was Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign. She responded to the recent Pro Life Campaigner dinner in which former Taoiseach John Bruton took issue with comments made by Minister Simon Harris and called for the government to be more mindful of those with conscientious objections to abortion. We also got her view on the fact abortion legislation will come before the Dáil in October with abortions being available come January.
Then the spotlight was turned to Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). AMD is the number one cause of sight loss for those over 50. Novartis is offering free AMD eye testing on a bus travelling the nation. The bus will be in the Abbey Street Car Park in Ennis from 10:00am to 1:00pm and Lahinch Promenade from 2:00pm to 6pm.
Then we heard from Clare McGrath, Water Safety Officer for Clare County Council. This weekend will mark the beginning of the European Championships for Junior Lifesavers. The Championships will see 134 Junior Lifesavers from across Europe pitted against each other in a series of pool and beach simulations of situations Lifeguards face. The Championship will run from September 10th to 15th.
Ending the hour we heard from show regular Michael Vaughan, Lahinch Hotelier. He defended the 9% VAT rate in place for the tourism sector once again.
The last hour of the show began with Morning Focus producer Fiona McGarry paying a visit to Carrigoran House in Newmarket-on-Fergus for Heritage Week. There, day centre-visitors celebrated the week reminiscing about childhood games they used to play.
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After this Clare FM’s music man, Brian Flynn played a selection of the best tracks dipping into music that many wouldn’t have heard before including Jonathan Kelly’s 1969 song Denver.
We then spoke to Niall Allsop who is the publisher of an assortment of tales written by Michael Welsh in 1943. His grandson edited the stories and has produced a book which will launch next Thursday, Sept 20 at 6:30 pm in the DeValera Library, Ennis.
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The show concluded with our regular Ask the Vet segment from John Underhill of Burren Vets, Ennistymon. John answered a range of livestock and pet-related questions.
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