On Monday’s Morning Focus, we looked at how Dublin’s Airport’s ‘predatory’ remarks on Ryder Cup has caused major offence in this county. Over social media posts that occurred late last week, The Dublin Airport Authority have suggested that their facility would be the major gateway for the Ryder Cup which will be hosted at Adare Manor in 2026.
The golfing tournament, which is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world promises a multi-million euro boost for the entire region. As you heard on this show on Friday, CEO of Adare Colm Hannon, is already on record as saying the estate is looking forward to working on the Shannon Airport ahead of the tournament.
We spoke to Dep Timmy Dooley Fianna Fail TD for Clare about the situation and what this could mean with Brexit looming.
Helen Downes, CEO of the Shannon Chamber of Commerce also joined us on the program to discuss the issue.
It’s been revealed that the main cause of dissatisfaction for patients and family dealing with the health services is ‘not being listened to’.
The Sage Summer School in Mullingar has heard that of the 2,018 cases currently on the advocacy group’s books, the most common complaint was that medical personnel are not listening to their patients’ concerns.
The Patient Advocacy Manager for Sage said the cases currently being dealt with range from being unable to change a GP to infant and stillborn births which have not been investigated.
Older people also voiced their concerns that they weren’t given enough time to help them fully understand their diagnoses and other issues concerning their care.
Roisin O’Leary, Senior Patient Advocate from Sage Advocacy joined us on the show to explain whats been going on.
If you’ve ever lined a sports pitch, you’ll know just how much work is involved – it certainly isn’t a quick or easy job. The next guest that featured on the program though, a sports-mad North Clare man, is involved in a very interesting enterprise which uses robot technology that can line a pitch in under an hour, in all weathers and even in the dark.
Micheál Nolan from New Quay has used his custom-programmed robot to precision line seven playing pitches that are a hotbed of activity for the Renault GAA World Games this week at the Waterford Institute.
It’s the first time ever that playing pitches in Ireland have been marked using the Intelligent Marking and Micheál believes it will be a Godsend for contractors, colleges, universities, large sports facilities or for any sporting facility that regularly has to repaint lines. Micheál joined us on the show to tell us how he came across this intelligent marking.
We had our weekly Garda Focus section with Sgt Tríona O’Rourke who is a the Clare Crime Prevention Officer. Today Tríona discussed the day of action that happened last week where 5 people where arrested after a number of stolen and illegal items where seized. Tríona is also appealing for a number of witnesses to a variety of thefts and scams that have happened across the past week.
If you were listening last week, you may have heard a couple of in-depth reports we had on the welfare of greyhounds. These featured the Clare Greyhound Sanctuary, which re-homes retired dogs and those deemed unsuitable for sport, and saves significant numbers from being put down.
Morning Focus producer, Fiona McGarry, who spoke to Petra Meyer who runs the sanctuary also heard from Ger Dollard, DEO of the Irish Greyhound Board about efforts to tighten regular and improve welfare.
Today she’s been speaking to a local man who is passionate about the greyhounds he keeps, and that’s Leonard McNamara from Ballynacally, Former Chairperson of the Ennis/Clarecastle Coursing Club.
If you’re a regular listener to this show, you’ll have heard us speaking to the team behind the annual Winterage in the Burren. That’s the traditional practice of moving cattle to the limestone uplands before winter and it’s unique in Ireland.
Around 1,000 farm families live and work in the Burren region and many continue to follow the pastoral traditions of their ancestors, in particular the out-wintering of cattle on the rough limestone grasslands. By doing this, they continue to produce exceptionally good, healthy free range livestock which are in great demand from buyers across Ireland and beyond.
But these traditions also have a wider relevance: winter grazing systems have been scientifically proven to be critical to the survival of the Burren’s famous flowers and fabulous fauna. Earlier this month, the Winterage was added to a national list of what’s referred to as ‘Ireland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage’.
Congella Maguire of Clare County Council and writer Michael Houlihan were instrumental in this process.
Hurling was also recognised, thanks to the efforts of Lissycasey man Daniel McCarthy, who was manager of the GAA’s Heritage Framework Policy which identified the merits of seeking UNESCO designation for hurling, and worked alongside Sixmilebridge man and Clare GAA team doctor, Dr Padraic Quinn.
It’s a major achievement and today we had some of the team involved in securing recognition for the Winterage join us.
Michael Davoren of the Burren’s Irish Farmers Association and Dr Brendan Dunford, Manager of the Burren Programme joined us live in the studio to explain all that’s been happening.
Would you believe that the ever-popular Rose of Clare Festival is now in its 40th year. The event gets underway next Saturday and runs until Friday August 9. As always, the festival will cater for all ages and tastes and this year sees a number of new activities added.
The highlight as ever will be the selection of this year’s Rose of Clare. The interviews will be held over two nights, with fourteen Roses from towns and parishes around the county, taking part, together with their escorts. This year’s festival theme is Reeling in the Years as we celebrate forty successful years of the Rose of Clare.
Ger Kelly joined us on the show to tell us how the organisation of the event is going.
To end the show we were joined by our very own Darren Kelly from Clare FM Sport for our Monday Sports Panel. Darren brought us through all the weeks sporting action as well as whats to look forward to this weekend.
