On today's Morning Focus with Gavin Grace
John Fitzgerald is the head of Grid Development in Eirgrid. Eirgrid has announced that it is to pursue a "regional option" to deliver the Grid Link project, meaning a proposed overhead 400KV line from Cork to Kildare will not go ahead. The regional option uses a technology, known as "series compensation", which enables more power to flow through existing lines, and so does not require new overhead lines. It proposes to use the existing 400kv grid infrastructure from Moneypoint to the greater Dublin area instead of constructing any new overhead or underground solutions for Grid Link. An underwater cable across the Shannon estuary is required in addition to some upgrade works to existing transmission lines. (*A cable will go in at the end of the month – foreshore licence in March). The controversial Grid Link project had encountered stiff opposition from anti-pylon groups.
Wheelchair users accessibility issues – On foot of yesterday's item with quadriplegic Stephen Cluskey, who features in a TV3 documentary tonight, we received a number of comments about accessibility for wheelchair users in County Clare. This morning, we're looking at that issue in more detail. We received a letter from Siobhan McMahon who is a wheelchair user and mother-of-three (youngest is 12 weeks old) living in Ennis because access is better than in Kilfenora. Margaret Kinnane from Inagh is also a wheelchair user and a board member of DPOC.
Volkswagen have been in hot water recently. German prosecutors raided Volkswagen’s headquarters and other offices on Thursday as part of their investigation into the carmaker’s rigging of diesel emissions tests. Prosecutors from Braunschweig, close to the German company’s home town of Wolfsburg, said they were targeting documents and data storage devices that might help with their inquiries. Volkswagen said it was supporting the investigation and had handed over a “comprehensive” range of documents. Almost three weeks after it confessed publicly to rigging US emissions tests, Europe’s largest carmaker is under huge pressure to identify those responsible, fix affected vehicles and clarify exactly how and where the cheating happened.
The number of fines and penalty points issued by the Garda Síochána to motorists using hand-held mobile phones while driving has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to new figures. Provisional figures from the Garda show 20,684 notices were given to drivers in the first seven months of 2014, with just 17,191 for the corresponding period this year, a reduction of 16.9 per cent. The Automobile Association blamed the decline partly on a fall in the number of Garda checkpoints. Conor Faughnan from the AA Roadwatch discussed this with Gavin this morning.
The County Hurling Final Preview was on this morning and gavin was joined by the Sixmilebridge side; Flan Mullane, Chairman and Colm Honan, former all-star with Clare and vice Chairman and the Clonlara side; Paddy Meehan, Chairman and John Corbett.
Gavin was joined by Paul Madden from the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis; Sharon Cahir of Cahir and Company Solicitors; and Con Woods a retired guidance counsellor in St.Flannan's for the panel this morning. They discussed all the big news locally and nationally this week.
Michael O’Dwyer, founder of the cloud-based service Tyrecheck will feature on the fourth episode of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, next Monday on UTV Ireland at 7.30pm. Michael is a proud Clareman who relishes that fact that he has kept his rapidly growing business within Munster. Throughout the episode he admits that being based in Leinster would make travelling decidedly easier, but it is while out walking in the Burren with his dogs that he realises that he has made the right choice with his company. TyreCheck is now the global leader in this market and is predicted to grow by 100% each year to 2018. Their products are now used in 20 countries, are available in 13 languages and three of the world’s top five tyre companies are customers of the business.
