Ennis and Gort appear to have missed out on new Primary Care Health Centres flagged by the government
Both locations were on a list of 35 possible locations for new centralised health facilities announced by Minister James Reilly as part of a government stimulus plan in 2012, but haven’t made the cut in the final 16 centres to be approved this week
Controversial locations in the Minister’s own constituency also failed to be approved, and Limerick is the only Mid-West location on the list of projects to be developed through public-private-partnership at a cost of 115 million euro
On Tuesday’s Morning Focus John Cooke spoke with Clare Deputy Michael McNamara of the Labour Party.
The Minister for Finance says the Department of the Environment will allocate money to demolish around 40 ghost estates around the country
Michael Noonan says the amount is small and will be spent on JCBs and bulldozers which will be used to clear dangerous sites in unfinished estates
Most of the estates are in the west and the midlands and the developers in question are unlikely to be able to pay for the demolition
Minister Noonan says the estates need to be knocked in the interest of safety
Expert in regional and spatial analysis Professor Rob Kitchin of NUI Maynooth, gave his take on this.
There’s been a broad welcome to the news that President Michael D Higgins will make an official state visit to the UK next year
Mairead Collins asked people in Ennis what they thought of the news
Professor Bernadette Whelan, Head of the History Department at the University of Limerick, spoke with John about the significance of this visit in a political and historical context.
Sharon Cahir, a solicitor with Cahir and Co. in Ennis and volunteer at the Free Legal Advice Clinic of Clare Citizens’ Information Service joined John in studio with some legal advice for listeners
Today Sharon spoke about the issue of online Data Protection issue arising last week- she covered the issue that arose and how it affects consumers and what to watch for
She also stressed the obligations on businesses so they comply with the data protection provisions and don’t fall foul of the regs also in their own businesses.
The Riverdance 20th Anniversary Tour is starting in UL in January in Limerick as part of the City of Culture programme
John spoke with Moya Doherty, Riverdance Co Founder and Producer, about the past twenty years, the phenomenon of Riverdance and how it can contribute to the City of Culture celebrations next year.
Bushypark Treatment Centre are holding a fundraising Concert on Thursday at 8 pm in the Temple Gate Hotel
This promises to be a relaxing, reflective, spiritually uplifting concert to sooth and calm
Gerry Murphy, Addiction Counselor at Bushypark Treatment Centre, joined John in studio
Tickets are €15 and can be obtained from Gerry Murphy, Ellen O’Neal or by phoning Bushypark at 065-6840944.
Clare ISPCA Warden Frankie Coote joined John in studio to speak about animal welfare
He mentioned new legislation making animal welfare part of local authority remit – probably in 2015
Contact Clare ISPCA Shelter on 065 6820393.
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