On today’s Afternoon Show Gavin Grace spoke with Patricia Byron, CEO of the Personal Injuries Board. The Injuries Board is raising concerns about the growth of ‘claims farming’ here, after figures showed a jump in insurance claims. The latest annual review by the Injuries Board shows compensation awards rose to 218-million euro last year – an increase of 3.9%. Motor claims made up the majority of the increased claims – they rose by 6.7% in 2012 and by one third over the past five years. Claims farming is when a middleman encourages people to make compensation claims, and then sells those claims on to a lawyer. Solicitors here are banned from advertising for personal injuries, but the Injuries Board is warning that other companies – housed by qualified but not practicing solicitors – can harvest claims and then sell them on. To contact the personal Injuries Board you can call 1890 829 121 or see their website www.injuriesboard.ie.
John Carmody is with ARAN – the Animal Rights Action Network. He joined the show to highlight how every year the group receives hundreds of complaints about people who leave dogs outside in the cold. Although they are equipped with fur coats, dogs and other animals can still suffer from frostbite and exposure, and they can become dehydrated when water sources freeze. Cold weather spells extra hardship for “backyard dogs," who often go without adequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care, and it can also pose challenges for wildlife.
Gavan Reilly is a Staff Writer with TheJournal.ie and spoke to Gavin about a Hollywood movie scam perpetrated in the UK. Five people – including an Irish actress, have been jailed in Britain for pretending to make a Hollywood movie in a bid to defraud tax authorities of millions of pounds.
Actress Aoife Madden (31), with an address in west London, was among the five who were given prison sentences for trying to claim major tax breaks and incentives for shooting a Hollywood-style film in the UK.
Molly Muldoon is the Deputy Editor of Irish Central and joined the show for a review of the major news events that are affecting the Irish Community in the United States. Today she discussed the US Vice Presidential visit to Ireland by Joe Biden this year, immigration reform in the States following remarks by President Obama on St. Patrick’s weekend.
Fiona Henehan is a 2nd Year Business Studies & Event Management Student at Limerick Institute of Technology and let listeners know about a special event in Dell on Good Friday. The LIT students will host The CoderDojo Generation Game on March 29th from 12-5pm in Dell, Raheen. It’s a charity event that offers introductory coding workshops for children as well as seminars for parents on technology awareness. There will be vintage games for adults, coding workshops for 7 to 17 year olds and fun games for the under sevens. Cyber bullying seminars will aim to tackle some of the technology issues parents are faced with, and will bridge the gap for parents and IT. All proceeds are being split down the middle – 50% for CoderDojo kids to buy refurbished laptops and 50% to help the Midwest Simon Community.
Nathalie El Baba is an Artist based in Scariff and spoke to Gavin about the final week of “Continuum”, an exhibition by a group of recent art college graduates from Clare, Galway, Offaly and West Meath. The exhibition explores the reflective changes in their work, now that they are free from the influence and institution of college. Artists taking part are: Caroline Egan, Nathalie El Baba, Phyllis Haran, Aileen Kavanagh, Catherine Keneally, Patricia Lysaght, Mark McLoughlin, Elaine O’Shaughnessy, Patsy Preston, Elaine Quinlan, Sheila Quinn, Mary Ryan, Emma Stewart-Liberty. The exhibition continues to run in The Gallery, Scariff Library until April 2nd.
To contact the show please email afternoon@clare.fm
