On Wednesday's edition of Morning Focus with John Cooke
French investigators are beginning to sift through the scattered wreckage of the Germanwings Airbus A320 which crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday. Flight 4U9525 crashed shortly after it took off from Barcelona en route to Dusseldorf. – there were no survivors. The leaders of France, Germany and Spain are due to visit the crash site, near the small town of Seyne-Les-Alpes is preparing to receive the families of the 150 passengers and crew who died in the crash.
One of the plane's black box flight recorders has been found which could explain what caused its eight-minute descent before crashing. Lara Marlowe is the Irish Times Paris Correspondent, she travelled to the Southern French Alps and reported live on Morning Focus.
It's emerged that Irish Water anticipates the first round of its water bills will contain inaccuracies. Bills go out from next month and up to 150-thousand households with private wells may be billed mistakenly and it's likely there may be incorrect details on the number of people in many houses. Households have been given more time to sign up for water charges. Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly told the Dáil there's a new deadline of June 30th to avail of the 100 euro grant. Meanwhile, according to the Irish Independent, a householder who refuses to engage with Irish Water could be taken to court and the charge could be registered against the property. This means it could not be sold until the debt is paid. Juno McEnroe
Political Reporter Irish Examiner explained to John what exactly this all means for households.
Michael Duffy is a Charted Engineer from Kilfenora, who contacted the show on Tuesday following our discussion with Gravedigger John Flaherty on the Draft burial ground bye-laws from Clare County Council that outline grave depth should be 8FT. Michael says there are additional concerns the council should be aware off, that is, the pollution of ground water. As the grave contents disintigrate, its toxins pollute the water and in many cases that water is connected to underground rivers that supply our water.
Michael Guerin, Chairperson of Clare Daffodil Day made an appeal on Morning Focus for volunteers and fresh daffodils to supply collections across the county on Friday March 27th, Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Day. If you have fresh daffodils to donate, you can drop them to Guerin's Shop, Hermitage Ennis or be at the square Ennis on Friday morning ahead of the collection, which takes place between 9 am and 6pm
Organ Donor Awareness Week kicks off this Saturday March 28th until April 4th, to mark it, Morning Focus spoke with Sarah Keogh a young college student from Tullycrine who is currently awaiting a Transplant. Sarah outlined her daily routine which involves home dialysis and explained that keeping a positive attitude is key to living a full life. Peggy Eustace is the Treasurer of the Clare Branch Irish Kidney Association, she explained the work they do, including offering support to patients and their families.
Robert Bennett from Ennistymon and of the Humanists Association of Ireland joined John in studio ahead of a lecture talk by Dr. Chris Exton who is holding a talk on "Ethics in Secular Society" in the Rowan Tree on this Thursday evening at 7.30PM. Robert Bennett outlined what Humanism is and its aims. Robert also outlined a letter sent to Education Minister Jan O Sullivan, by the Mid West Humanists – looking for the introduction of state secular schools
Next, Morning Focus Animal Matters with John Underhill of Burren Vets. Today, John focused on arthritis in animals and the popular causes and treatments for this. John, also answered some of your pet queries.
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