Morning Focus – Wednesday 25/07/18

This morning’s show began with Maria Ryan, mental health and drug activist from Ennis. Maria has been campaigning for quite some time to see increased resources at the acute psychiatric unit in Ennis and is currently organising a meeting to address the state of drug addiction and mental health in Ennis. The meeting will take place tomorrow (Thursday, July 26th) at 7:30pm in Treacy’s West County Hotel. She’s gathered a number of Sinn Féin politicians, all with a personal story to tell, to address the gathering.

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Then there were calls for improved EV (Electric Vehicle) infrastructure in Clare. Cllr Alan O’Callaghan is leading the charge and the major shortfall of EV infrastructure is the lack of charging points. According to an EV driver from East Clare, Colm O’Brien even the chargers that do exist can be buggy and often out-of-service. He gives the specific example of the charger at the Topaz station on the Limerick Road. Colm is calling for the ESB to upgrade and better maintain the network and notify consumers when chargers are down while Cllr O’Callaghan is pushing for a new fast charger, a charger which can fully charge a car in 30 minutes, to be implemented in Ennis.

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Ending the show’s first hour was Paul Madden of Club Clare talking to us in preparation for Clare and Galway’s clash come the weekend.

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Opening our second hour was Spraoi by the Sea in Doonbeg, a weekend of family activities aimed at raising money for the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation. The weekend of fun includes raft-building, a village quiz trail, a display on sea mammals, a helicopter rescue demo and a talk on the Spanish Armada. However things kick of on Friday (July 27th) with a novel fundraiser. The main attraction of the event is the 24 Hour Life Raft Challenge, where people are challenged to stay in a raft moored at Doonbeg Bay from 7pm to 7am with money being raised for each hour spent.

Then Clare FM’s Brian Flynn returned for another segment of The Greatest Song You’ve Probably Never Heard. This week’s selection was Homburg by Procol Harem.

From music to film we then heard from three Clare based film makers trying to win a prestigious film award. Dale Clancy writer, Martin Casey director and Jack Downes producer have entered their short film: ‘Live to Regret’ into the My Rode Reel film competition. The film follows a failed author in 1960s Ireland and deals with issues such as mental health and suicide. There are many categories with a multitude of prizes on offer but for the boys to win the People’s Choice award they need our support. If you’re interested in voting or even just checking out the film click here.

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Finally, John Underhill of Burren Vets, Ennistymon returned for Ask The Vet.