Should Ireland appeal the Apple ruling? And can we really claim back €13 billion, plus interest? Those were the questions that Morning Focus asked at the opening of the show.
The Finance Minister's to seek Cabinet approval today (Weds. Aug. 31) to appeal a European Commission ruling that says Ireland must claim back taxes of up to thirteen billion euro from tech giant Apple.
Yesterday, it published a finding saying Apple's tax treatment by Ireland was "illegal" and amounted to 'State aid'.
Sinn Féin says there shouldn't be an appeal and is also demanding a public inquiry into the issue.
For its part Apple's accused the European Commission of threatening future investment and job creation in Europe and says it's confident of overturning the ruling in the European courts.
Gavin debated the issue with MEP Sean Kelly, Ireland South; and Cllr Mike McKee
SF member of CCC for Shannon MD
There was a warming over slump in job growth from the organisation representing small to medium businesses in Ireland. The government has welcomed the latest drop in unemployment.
Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar says good progress is being made, as the joblessness rate fell from 9.1% in August 2015 to 8.3% in August 2016.
But is the progress good? ISME is pointing out that job creation is slowing down, and is blaming business costs. Gavin spoke to the CEO of ISME, Mark Fielding.
Returning to the Apple tax issue, Gavin was joined on the line by Irish Examiner Special Correspondent Michael Clifford who discussed some of the potential political implications.
Moving to more local topics, Morning Focus heard that the Cliffs of Moher has already attracted 1-million visitors this year. The world-famous attraction's reached this landmark three weeks earlier than it did last year.
For the last three years in a row, the site has succeeded in breaching the 1-million visitor barrier.
Gavin was joined on the line by Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre
We then heard that complaints against taxi drivers have risen by almost 14 percent so far this year with the increase largely arising out of disputes over fares.
That's according to figures published by the National Transport Authority (NTA) which show that 562 complaints were made by members of the public against taxi drivers up to the end of July — up from 494 over the corresponding period in 2015.
Disputes over fares which now account for a third of all formal complaints made to the NTA.
To discuss the local angle, Gavin was joined by Martin White, Triple-A Taxis, Ennis.
'Tom' got in touch with the show to voice concerns about overgrown hedges in the Moyasta area. He believes they're creating a danger for road-users. He says he's been in touch with the Kilrush area office of Clare County Council who said they'd send an engineer out. Tom says that was some week's ago and that nothing has happened since then.
Gavin's next guest breathed fresh life into a series of images of this county captured in the 1950s by the American, Dorothea Lange. The famous photographer created thousands pictures of County Clare, including the famous shots of Michael Kenneally from the Mount Callan area. Now, Martina Cleary has unveiled her own exhibition at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon which contains 25 prints by Lange, as well as a number of works made in collaboration with participants from a community-based project responding to Lange’s images, conducted in Kilkeedy with the assistance of the Creating Space Project Grant 2015.
The exhibition runs until September 16.
As part of Culture Night 2016, Gerry Mullins (who's published a book of Lange's photos) and Martina Cleary will also discuss the topic of Photography, Memory & Place in Lange’s images of Clare – 8pm, September 16.
This edition of Morning Focus rounded off with our Ask the Vet slot with John Underhill of Burren Vets.
