The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill will come before the Seanad today after passing through the Dail on Thursday night
If the bill is defeated, it may be returned to the Dail for another vote, tightening the window the government has to pass it before the summer recess
Members of Seanad Eireann have warned however that they will be seeking amendments
On Monday’s Morning Focus John Cooke spoke with Senator Tony Mulcahy of Fine Gael who said he will support the legislation
He added that he thinks the legislation doesn’t go far enough with regard to fatal foetal abnormality.
Sadness has been expressed in the community of Meelick after the tragic death of a local teenager at the Ardnacrusha Reservoir on Friday
17 year old Joe Killeen from Meelick was recovered from the water near Barry’s Cross on Friday evening, after he failed to resurface while swimming with friends at the Ardnacrusha site
The teenager was pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick, a post mortem is due to be carried out today
Meelick Councillor Cathal Crowe spoke with John – he knows the family personally and taught Joe in school
He paid tribute to him and his family
Councillor Paschal Fitzgerald also sympathised with the family and said that flowers have been laid at the scene in Ardnacrusha and that no one went into the water over the weekend.
Clare Water Safety Officer Liam Griffin renewed appeals to Clare people to exercise extreme caution in the county’s bathing spots this weekend as this local tragedy brings the five the number of waterway fatalities in the country last week.
The ‘Keep VAT at 9%’ regional campaign will be launched later today in Limerick by the Restaurants Association of Ireland
VAT at 9% was introduced in July 2011 by the Government as part of job creation measures and according to the RAI it has been incredibly successful
Randy Lewis of Randaddy’s, Lahinch and spokesperson for the Restaurants Association of Ireland had a word with John about the importance of retaining this VAT level and how business is going for him.
Garda Niamh Browne of Ennis Garda Station appealed for the public’s information with crimes committed in the past week
Contact Ennis Garda Station on 065 6848100.
Kilkee Parish celebrates 50 years of its churches and will host a number of prayer and religious events in the parish from today until Monday 22nd July to mark the 50th Anniversary of the two parish Churches
Fr Gerry Kenny – Kilkee Parish Priest- joined John in studio to discuss the history involved
In the early 1960’s a unique event occurred in the West Clare Parish of Kilkee with the decision to build two churches on new locations replacing the existing Churches of the parish
See www.kilkeeparish.com
Ian Dinan – Chairperson of the Clarecastle Gathering – spoke with John about the two Guinness World Records they set over the weekend
The Clans of Clare series
The Tribe of Dal gCais is a new 15 part series in which 15 Clan names were chosen who’s origins are based in Co. Clare. Each Clan name descends from the The Tribe of Dal gCais who were a powerful network of Families from the 10th Century that ruled the Kingdom of Thomond.
The series was produced by Denise Woods and we’ll be featuring a different tribe each day over the next three weeks
Today we looked at the McNamara Clan
Wildlife expert John Murphy, Chairperson of the Clare branch of Birdwatch Ireland, joined John in studio to answer listeners’ bird and wildlife queries.
If you have a story for Morning Focus email Focus@clare.fm
