On The Today Show, Deirdre Kenny, Advocacy Director with One in Four, a support group for survivors of abuse discussed the revelations about Cardinal Brady’s role in the Brendan Smith affair with Clare FM’s Gavin Grace. Last night a BBC documentary revealed that the Cardinal had information about other children who were being abused at the time, but failed to act. The documentary suggests that many children could have been protected from the sexual predator if Cardinal Brady had not been so invested in protecting the Church. Executive Director of One in Four, Maeve Lewis has said “It will be heartbreaking for survivors to realise that their suffering could have been avoided if only action had been taken”. One in Four provides psychotherapy and advocacy services to men and women who have experienced sexual violence.
Dr. Bernadette McMahon is the Director of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. The group has partnered with MABS, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service to launch a web app to allow households to calculate the cost of their minimum essential standard of living. The tool also enables the household to calculate the gross salary needed in order to afford the minimum standard. According to the VPSJ the minimum essential standard of living is one that meets a person’s physical, psychological and social needs, which is based on needs not wants. For details see www.misc.ie
Dr Máire Finn of the Ennis Family Medical Centre joined The Today Show for her weekly medical feature. This week Máire focused on headaches. She talked about the different forms a headache takes, such as tension headaches, migraine and cluster headaches. She also spoke about the most common reasons for getting a headache such as dehydration, hunger, tiredness and stress. If you have a medical query for Dr. Finn you can email [email protected]
Marie Connole, a Visual Artist from Liscannor joined Gavin Grace in studio to discuss a new project entitled Re-possession. Faber Studios (made up of Caelan Bristow, Marie Connole and Aaron Lawless) presents Re-possession for Ev+a 2012. They are inviting members of the public to let them record their personal experiences of lost and or stolen objects. They hope to create an inventory of lost and found objects from Garda storage as well as other organisations. Then from May until August they will run a series of workshops recreating the objects. The primary concern of Re-possession is to promote the value of re-use and the culture of exchange in the community. If you would like to take part you can email [email protected] or see their facebook page.
Dr. Colm Moore, Technical Manager with Initial Washroom Solutions discussed a new study into the cleanliness of handbags finds the most unhygienic item in your handbag is your keys, followed by the buckle or zip on your purse, your phone and then your handbag zip itself. The study, which measured the biological contamination of ten handbags, found that the door and car keys tested were on average 33 times dirtier than what is considered to be a clean surface.
If you have a comment or query for The Today Show please email [email protected] or text the show – Clare FM followed by your message to 53030
