Morning Focus Wednesday November 14

On Wednesday’s Morning Focus Brid, a listener from Ennis, contacted the programme and spoke with John Cooke about her experience of delays with third level grant applications for her daughter.

Yesterday the Taoiseach admitted for the first time that delays in processing third level grants are unacceptable
A new system for processing the grants has seen major backlogs, with less than a third of 66,000 applications processed and only 3,000 payments have been made
Enda Kenny told the Dáil that an extra forty staff have now been hired, and all payments will be made by the end of the year
John also spoke with Cat O’Driscoll, Vice President of the Students’ Union Ireland to get their reaction.

All this week we have 5 €30 lunch voucher for two vouchers for Durty Nelly’s to give away so tune in!

CONTINUE READING BELOW

Today is World Diabetes Day
John was joined in studio by members of the Clare branch of Diabetes Ireland
Grainne Flynn from Ennis has type 1 diabetes and John O’Laughlin from Clarecastle has type 2 diabetes
The diabetes centre for people in Clare is in the Mid-western Regional in Limerick
Management of diabetes revolves around matching doses of insulin to the food we eat- a dietician is responsible for teaching people with diabetes and parents of children with diabetes how to measure the food eaten and learning how to match insulin
According to Diabetes Ireland, Limerick does not have a dedicated dietetic service for adults or children with diabetes, despite the fact that the funding has been provided since 2010 and the posts have not even been advertised
Also in the Diabetes Centre in Limerick, there are no education courses for people with Type 1 diabetes or access to insulin pump therapy to adults or children, despite many professionals stating that they are the way forward for children with diabetes.
There is a free screening event taking place this Sunday from 1-5pm at Clarecastle National School – See www.diabetes.ie

The Galway Roscommon University Hospitals Group has expressed it’s sympathy to the family of a woman who died at University Hospital Galway last month, following a miscarriage
Savita Halappanavar was 17 weeks pregnant when she presented at the hospital on October 21st – she was told she was miscarrying and died of septicaemia a week later
Her husband says she asked for a termination a number of times – but was refused because the foetal heartbeat was still present
In a statement this morning, the Hospital Group says it will launch a review of Savita Halappanavar’s death – John spoke with Fionnan Sheehan of The Irish Independent who is covering the story in today’s paper

Galway Pro-Choice believes that Ireland must legislate for freely available abortion for all women
John had a word with Sarah McCarthy of Galway Pro-Choice who said that deaths like Savita’s are the most severe consequence of the criminalisation of abortion, yet it has countless adverse effects
She said that we must reflect long and hard on the implications of Savita’s tragic and untimely passing, and we must act to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

Kincora Kids in located on New Street in Killaloe and is a community based crèche that provides support and affordable childcare for children of low income families
They opened in January 2011 with the assistance of government funding, however the budget has since been cut by 30% and they are now struggling to stay open
They are one of the four local charities set to benefit from Clare FM’s 50 Cent Appeal 
Deirdre Mowat of Kincora Kids joined John in studio to speak about the work they do.

The committee of the Gort Playground are delighted to announce that after seven years their playground is now set to open- they are inviting people to come along to the official opening this Saturday
We spoke with Martin Aherne, Director of the Gort Playground, back in May when they secured a site for the playground – John had a word with Martin again this morning, ahead of the official opening.

If you have a story, comment or query for the Morning Focus team email [email protected]