Morning Focus began the show by discussing that funding of 10 million euro has been announced for rural Ireland. The 'Town and Village Renewal Scheme' aims to regenerate places with populations of less than 5-thousand-people. It's hoped the money will make small towns and villages across the country more sustainable. Up to 200 towns and villages will benefit from the scheme this year. Minister for Regional and Rural Development Heather Humphreys says its up to local communities to decide how the money is spent. *Already, there's been some criticism of the allocation per county – €380,000. This will fund a maximum of eight projects per county, meaning they'll get less than €50,000 each. Neil Garvey From Inagh, Muintir na Tire.
Priests under pressure in Killaloe Diocese A new pastoral plan for the Killaloe Diocese makes a number of suggestions for facing the future in climate of falling vocations and increased involvement of lay people in the Church. Significantly, it's also highlighted the pressure current members of the clergy are under in the diocese. The plan has resulted from extensive consultation (questionnaires and interviews) with priests and finds that they've been affected by “a number of major shocks in the lives of clergy”. According to the document, these include has “the fall off in vocations, the fall-off in regular religious practice, and especially the revelations of clerical child abuse and related cover-ups”. For some priests, these issue have resulted “a crisis of identity, a grieving for what has been lost in terms of trust, a state of shock”. The plan also reveals a desire on the part of priests for a focus on how they're coping in the midst of this situation. Fr Ger Nash Diocesan Secretary spoke to Pat.
Do you know how to check your pulse? Give it a go now… It's a simple thing to do, but most of us simply don't know how to do it correctly. For those of us over 50, it's particularly important – particularly if you have an irregular heart beat, a condition called Atrial Fibrillation. AF affects up to 40,000 Irish people over 50, yet a new Irish study has revealed that the majority of Irish people don't really understand this heart condition. AF is an irregular heartbeat and can be associated with 30% of strokes in Ireland every year. A new Pulse Check campaign is encouraging adults to check their pulse daily as a form of prevention. Dr John Keaney Consultant Cardiologist from the Mater Private spoke to Pat.
The Milford Hospice Harvest Fair now in the 31st year is a major fundraising event with up to 20,000 attendees expected from across Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary. As one of the biggest fundraisers’ in the Care Centre’s annual calendar the organisers, of the 2016 Harvest Fair have said that this year’s event will be one of the most crucial to-date, given the expected commencement of the new Mid-West Hospice development in the latter quarter of this year. The organisers are still seeking donations of good quality items such as Books, Toys, Bric a Brac and Fancy Goods for the stalls which can be accepted from Tuesday the 2nd of August until Thursday (Aug. 11) and there will be direction signs to the drop off bays located at Milford Care Centre.There is also an appeal for donations of new and unused items for the perennial favourite The Wheel of Fortune. Pat Quinlan CEO Milford Hospice discussed the matter.
The great-grandparents of my next guest left Kildysart for Buffalo, NY in the 1850s. She now lives in Cincinnati where she and her husband founded an Irish Heritage Center seven years ago. The centre hosts leading Irish musicians acts as well as authors, poets, historians, storytellers, dancers, artists, comedians, professors and dignitaries from all walks of life. This year it's sponsoring Ohio’s Rose, Kathleen Rose O’Donnell (Centre volunteer) in the Rose of Tralee competition and will attend the Rose events August 17 – 24 as well as the Dan Furey Dance Festival in Labasheeda, from 2-4 September before returning to the USA. Maureen Kennedy Has Kildysart roots – founder of Irish Heritage Center in Cincinnati came into studio.
The sounds of Clare in an age of rebellion – lecture and book launch There's no doubt that Clare enjoys an international reputation as a storehouse of Irish traditional music. But what were the events that shaped our unique 'soundscape'? A forthcoming lecture by the renowned Professor Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin will shed light on the debt that Clare music making owes to factors including Irish revolutionary nationalism, the Catholic Church, and the military bands of British garrisons stationed throughout the county in the years leading up the Rising of 1916. Focusing on the sounds of rebellion, as opposed to the written records of rebellion, this lecture – which will also see the launch of Prof Ó hAllmhuráin's book 'Flowing Tides: History and Memory in an Irish Soundscape' – examines the eclectic roles of music and music makers in Clare’s transformation from colonial outpost to revolutionary county. *The lecture, entitled 'God, Crown and Country: Clare’s Soundscape in the Age of Rebellion' takes place at the Old Ground at 7pm tomorrow (August 11) Professor Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin Lecturer at the School of Irish Studies, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec spoke to Pat in studio.
79 members of the St Louis Irish Arts Incorporated touched down in Shannon Airport this weekend. These musicians and dancers are one of the first U.S. groups to fly over for the well anticipated Fleadh Cheoil Na hEireann. Siofra Mulqueen spoke to Chairperson of the Fleadh Executive Committee, Michael O Riabhaigh, who was there to welcome them, organiser of the St Louis group, Helen Gannon and some of the musicians in the group.
