Morning Focus – Monday September, 12, 2016
As you've been hearing in recent days, Garda numbers are to be boosted with the recruitment of 800 new members next year.
There's been a broad welcome for the news, but the main farmers' union is insisting that the additional resources must be allocated fairly across rural and urban areas.
The IFA says many farmers and other rural dwellers are living in fear for their personal safely and the safety of their families. The union is calling for the continued recruitment of new Garda members, and their allocation in rural areas, or the reallocation of experienced Gardaí to rural areas – measures it says would go a long way to restoring a sense of security to rural dwellers.
Jer Bergin IFA National Treasurer spoke to Gavin on the showcase
Do we leave room for the Irish language in modern Ireland? Questions about the teanga have been raised in recent days following remarkable claims about a pub in Cork.
These have come from Cormac ó Bruic, a native of the Kerry Gaeltacht, who has said he was forbidden from speaking in Irish to the customers that visited the Flying Enterprise pub in Cork. Cormac claims that for eight months, he was instructed by the owners that “this is an English-speaking business”.
Speaking last week, pub owner Finbarr O’Shea said that the issue of language is similar to that of a dress code. He said that he wanted to keep English as the working language “because it’s a hospitality business”. A subsequent statement from the pub insisted the matter is "not about the Irish language" and described it as an "internal HR matter".
Clare FM presenter Domhnall O'Loinsigh was in studio to discuss this.
Most of us think twice before popping a pill or taking a tablet – whether it's been prescribed by a doctor or not. Recently, however, a worrying trend has developed which sees thousands of people risking their health by by passing their GP or pharmacist and buying medication on the black market. Seizures of counterfeit drugs have spiked sharply and it's largely tranquilisers and other anti-anxiety medication that feed into a lucrative black market. The IMO GP committee is warning that people are taking a huge gamble by consuming medication that's often adulterated and liable to cause irreversible damage.
Gavin spoke to Lahinch IMO GP committee member Dr Michael Kelleher
On our Garda Focus slot, Sgt Joe Downey, Crime Prevention Officer, Ennis Garda Station was in studio looking for listeners help in solving some recent crimes in the county.
If you can offer someone a listening ear and an open mind, have you ever considered becoming a Samaritan?
The Ennis & Clare branch of Samaritans is looking for new volunteers. They're not asking for qualifications or specialised experience. Anybody (18 years old and over) can become a volunteer as long as they have an ability to listen without prejudice and remain open minded.
**Volunteers pledge to attend special induction training and continuing ongoing training. All volunteers commit to sign up for three hours a week and one overnight duty each month. In the course of a duty in addition to answering the confidential phone lines Volunteers in Ennis may deal with email contacts and face to face callers in the centre.
**Information sessions will be held at 8p.m. on Tues. 13th & Thurs. 15th September at Sunville, Kilrush Rd., Ennis for people who are interested in joining.
Daire O Criodan – Chairperson of the Ennis and Clare Samaritans was in studio to talk to Gavin.
If you're involved in keeping your community clean, whether that's with a tidy towns or any voluntary group, your ideas are being sought for a new biodiversity plan for Ennis. Biodiversity is the variety of animal and plant life and boosting it means a more pleasant – and generally cleaner – environment.
**The biodiversity plan workshop takes place at the Old Ground Hotel on September 14 at 7.30pm. This will be one of two workshops, hosted by Dr Janice Fuller, aimed, the second will be held on September 28.
**Those planning to attend can email [email protected] or get in touch on Facebook. The workshops are free-of-charge.
A lorry with a load of hay became trapped in the Limerick Tunnel on Sunday and Declan Cahill, General Manager of Direct Route Limerick spoke to Gavin about the incident and the affect it was having on motorists and traffic through the tunnel.
Clare FM's Derrick Lynch and Peter O'Connell from the Clare Champion were in studio to discuss the weekend sport in County Clare.
Those of you who enjoy a bit of hill-walking are being invited to consider turning a hobby into a valuable fundraiser for sick children.
The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation, which provides home nursing care and respite to 281 children across the country from birth to 4 years old, is asking people to climb a hill in the month of September, and to raise €16 to fund one hour of home nursing care for a sick child in this home county. Money raised in Clare stays in Clare. Registration, which can be made on www.jackandjill.ie, costs €16.
Mags Naughton is a Specialist nurse with the foundation and she explained the need for the fundraiser and told us about the work she does.
'Lough Derg and its Islands' (by Gerard Madden & Shane Creamer)
Gerard Madden Historian and tour guide from Scarriff was in the studio to tell Gavin about the new book about Lough Derg.
