On Fridays Morning Focus; Marian Egan was sitting in for John Cooke today. The show began with a debate on obesity solutions. An Ennis Councillor is calling on the HSE to name the fattest town in Ireland. Fianna Fáil's Brian Meeney says a ranking system similar to that used for Tidy Towns would help in the allocation of funding in the treatment of obesity. Cllr Meeney says the league table is used in several other countries – and would help save money in the long run. David McDonagh is a Qualified dietician, fitness trainer and fitness lecturer who has specialised in weight loss for over 15 years. Motivation and weigh loss are 2 areas that David specialises in. He doesn't think this idea will help people.
Up next Alan Kelly, Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport. The Junior Transport Minister says he's confident a new development and marketing strategy for Lough Derg will be a success. Alan Kelly launched the document in Ballina/Killaloe last night, after it had been developed by Fáilte Ireland and the Lough Derg Marketing Strategy Group, which included a range of local authorities along the lake as well as interested government groups. The four-year, ten million euro strategy aims to market Lough Derg as a tourist destination, and includes proposals for a signage strategy and projects along its shoreline – among them a new water park at the UL activity centre in Ballycuggeran.
David Fitzsimons, Chief Executive of Retail Excellence Ireland, based in Ennis. SIPTU has served notice of industrial action at Aer Lingus as well as Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. A four hour work stoppage will take place at all of the airports from 5.00 a.m. to 9.00 a.m. on Friday the 14th March, ahead of the St Patrick's bank holiday weekend. Davis spoke to Marian and says in the context of a fragile domestic economy where many businesses are struggling to keep their doors open this threat of strike is highly irresponsible and damaging. The scheduling of the strike action at the start of Saint Patrick's weekend will undermine a festival which is worth over €120million to the local economy.
Dr Maire Finn from Ennis Family Medical Centre joined Marian in studio for our Morning Focus Health Matters. This week's topic was epilepsy. Dr. Finn answered listener's questions and queries. You can always send us your thoughts and queries by email focus@clare.fm, but if you have concerns or queries about your own health right now please contact your local GP.
Some live drama in studio next The West Clare Drama Festival will take place as planned from Saturday the 1st to Monday the 10th of March at Doonbeg Community Hall with a host of drama groups from around the county and around the country taking part. Charlie Killeen, Mark May and Ken Blowers performed s short piece from the Cavalcaders. It's set in a shoe shop where the four lads Terry, Rory ,Josie and Ted work by day. By night they form a barber shop quartet where they sing a range of songs. They are joined by Breda and Nuala who both have an impact on the story! The Cavalcaders was written by Billy Roche from Co Wexford and is set on mid 1990s.
Finally Joss Lowry member of the steering group at Clarisford Park spoke to Marian about National Tree Week, which is organised by the Tree Council of Ireland and supported by SSE Airtricity, will take place this year from 2 – 8 March 2014.
If you have a story, comment or query for Morning Focus email Focus@clare.fm or write to us – Morning Focus, Clare FM, Francis Street, Ennis, Co. Clare.
