On today’s show Gavin Grace spoke to Personal Finance Editor of the Irish Independent Charlie Weston. It follows comments by the Taoiseach who’s told banks to "get up and do it now" and engage with mortgage holders in distress. It’s after the head of banking regulation claimed financial institutions were behaving like teenagers in dealing with the arrears crisis. Enda Kenny’s told the Dáil that if banks don’t engage on a case-by-case basis with every distressed borrower, then the personal insolvency legislation is on the way.
Ed Farnan is Political Correspondent with Irish American newspaper and news site Irish Central. He spoke to Gavin following last night’s second US Presidential debate. Commentators are broadly in agreement that US President Barack Obama won last night’s TV election debate against challenger Mitt Romney. He argued with Mitt Romney over energy policy, the economy and Libya, during a town-hall style event in New York. Those who watched said it wasn’t a bad night for Romney, but it was a better one for Obama – who performed dismally in the first outing in Denver recently.
Also on today’s programme we found out your views on yesterday’s announcement that town councils are to be abolished. Environment Minister Phile Hogan announced plans to abolish 83 authorities – nearly all of them town councils – in a move to save 420 million euro. The number of Councillors will also be slashed by 42% – from over 1,600 to 950.
Liam Ryan from Ballina was also in studio to talk about his personal story of battling cancer.Liam has published a new book based on his experiences – “Cancer 4 Me 5: After Extra Time”. In 2002 Liam was diagnosed with a massive cancer tumour in the middle of his head. He was given very little chance of survival. His consultants considered that he was beyond treatment, but his fighting spirit convinced them to give it a go. He underwent a life-threatening 12-hour operation, followed by 7 weeks of extensive chemo-radiotherapy. During his treatment he also got bacterial meningitis twice and a deep vein thrombosis, all of which nearly killed him. Liam had always been an amateur runner and he used the spirit of running to help him though his long and difficult recovery. Now, in 2012, 10 years later, he is going to run his first marathons post-cancer. His aim is to raise €3 Million to continue the fight against cancer. The funds raised will help existing cancer services, help new cancer patients get the treatment they need and fund the research that will one day find a cure for this disease. For more details on Liam and his fundraising see http://liamryancancerappeal.weebly.com/index.html or email him at [email protected]
Paul Kelly is the Chairman of the Gum Litter Task Force. He joined The Afternoon Show to talk about how educating and influencing the behaviour of young people regarding littering will be to the fore as a high-energy and innovative awareness programme gets underway in schools across Clare this week. Organised by the Gum Litter Taskforce, the “Bin It!” campaign began on Monday, September 24th and will visit more than 50 post-primary schools across 23 local authority areas. The campaign has already visited three schools in Clare including Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, the Holy Family Junior School and Colaiste Mhuire in Ennis.
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