Last night Clare County Council became the first local authority to agree to put in place a ban on fracking in its county development plan
At a highly charged January meeting of the council, the 32 members voiced their complete opposition to fracking taking place in the county
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial technique to extract natural gas from shale
Before a packed public gallery at the council chamber last night, the members voted unanimously to amend their county development plan to put a halt to all intrusive fracking or shale gas extraction-related activity
On Tuesday’s Morning Focus we heard the reaction of some members of the public
John Cooke spoke with Dr Aideen McLoughlin, a bio chemist from Leitrim who gave the presentation to Clare County Council last evening- she has been involved in raising awareness of the potential side effects of fracking in the North West
We heard from Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes and West Clare Councillor Gabriel Keating who proposed the motion and believes people in West Clare need to be fully informed of any possible risks or repercussions of the practise of fracking
Roisin Garvey of Clare Fracking Concern welcomed the ban wholeheartedly.
Clare Fracking Concern is a group, which has 90 members so far, and was set up for the following reasons:
• To look and deal with the concerns that people in Clare have over the potential risks of Fracking ( hydraulic fracturing)
• To become fully informed and up to date, to the best of our ability, on this method of extracting gas from shale rock and the government’s process of dealing with exploration licenses
• To engage and empower local communities to take control of what happens in their area with regards to the possibility of Fracking
They have organised a number of events in the coming weeks to highlight this issue and to make farmers and residents aware of what exactly Fracking is and why they should be concerned about it
An outright ban on the smacking of children by their parents is under consideration by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald
A new law to ban corporal punishment in the home is one of two options under consideration
The other is an amendment to existing laws to restrict the circumstances in which parents can plead a defence of “reasonable chastisement” of their children
Clare FM’s Dermot Hogan asked people what they think of smacking and if it should be banned?
John discussed this with June Tinsley, Advocacy Policy Officer with Barnardos
clare.modus.ie online poll – As the government considers new child protection laws, should smacking children be banned?
• Yes – 29%
• No – 64%
• Don’t know – 7%
The Junior Health Minister has confirmed she intends to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol in an effort to curb the problem of excessive drinking in Ireland
The price of cheap alcohol sold in supermarkets and off licences is to increase by as much as 50 percent
However the exact price hikes have yet to be decided
Minister Roisin Shorthall says alcohol abuse is costing the State around 4 billion euro a year and therefore the problem must be tackled
Fiona Ryan of Alcohol Action Ireland welcomed this.
Marguerite Philips, a volunteer solicitor with the Clare Citizens Information Centre’s Free Legal Advice Clinic discussed the topic of employees rights and entitlements with regard to Redundancy
The Young Scientist Exhibition is taking place this week- Clare has a proud tradition in the competition with eight local schools entering
We’ll speak with them this week and began today with Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna that’s entered projects in the Young Scientist competition for the past 23 years
John had a word with teacher John Sims about the entries this year and transition year students David Sims, Katie Connole and Roisin Kelly
David’s project is entitled Do voting patterns change during an economic downturn? and examines the voting patterns in Galway West and Clare to see if they are affected by an economic downturn
Katie’s is about the Mapping of Defibrillators in Co. Clare
She wants to map the defibrillators in Co. Clare and produce a website with their location and access details
She believes there are many defibrillators in Clare but only a few people know where they are in an emergency
Roisin’s project is about Japanese Knotweed – Is it spreading in North Clare?
In this project she is mapping Japanese Knotweed in North Clare and estimating the expansion rate of clusters using data from previous research
This project is in intermediate individual section of the Biological and Ecological Sciences
Frankie Coote, Clare ISPCA Warden, joined John with some advice on the proper care of animals and owners legal responsibilities. Contact Frankie on 087 622 5253.
Contact the Morning Focus team on Focus@clare.fm
