A host of Irish towns are gathering in Ennis today for a ‘Going for Purple Flag’ workshop
The Purple Flag is an indicator of where to go for a good night out and brings positive publicity for successful centres and praises the management of town centres in the evening and at night
Ennis is the first town in Ireland to be accredited with the award and representatives from many areas including, Cashel, Carlow, Galway and Westport to receive advice and guidance from an experienced Purple Flag Coordinator
On Wednesday’s Morning Focus Marian Egan was joined in studio by Ennis Town Clerk Leonard Cleary and Purple flag concept creator Paul Davies from the Association of Town & City Management in the UK who explained the accolade.
Clare County Council has launched an innovative scheme to facilitate landowners in cutting their hedges – the Community Hedge Cutting Grant Scheme
It’s the first of its kind to be developed in Ireland, is the result of a consultation process involving local farmers and the local authority
The €20,000 initiative, which is being made available to communities, is intended to deal with Local Road networks during the Winter/Spring season
The Council says it will complement ongoing maintenance of roadside boundaries by landowners throughout Clare by providing grants of €25 per kilometre of hedgerow
Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, explained.
Andrew Dundas, Chairperson of the Clare branch of the Irish Farmers Association welcomed this development saying they would support any initiative that provides assistance to landowners and farmers in carrying out very essential works like hedge cutting.
Bodyke Councillor Joe Cooney – Chairperson of Clare County Council’s Transportation & Infrastructure SPC – said the problem with overhanging hedges and trees is a huge road safety concern to all road users and welcomes this initiative and hopefully there will be a large uptake that will significantly reduce the problem.
A new study says there is a ‘lack of transparency’ in how schools are being funded by the Government
The report by the Economic Social Research Institute is focused on the governance and funding of Ireland’s post-primary schools – and says there’s a disparity in the money available to different types of schools
It’s found that two-thirds of voluntary school funding comes from the Government – compared with about four-fifths in vocational and community or comprehensive schools
The ESRI says voluntary schools are forced to use these funds on crucial services
Marian got more details on the findings from Professor Emer Smyth of the ESRI
Full details on www.esri.ie
A survey of 500 teenagers has yielded some interesting attitudes among young people when it comes to their health Details of the survey by Behaviour and Attitudes were revealed to coincide with the launch of the second year of the Pumped Schools’ Video
- As many as three in five teens eat fast food at least weekly
- One in three have soft drinks at least daily
- Only half of teens eat five servings of fruit and vegetables
- Only one in three identified the national guideline of 60 minutes’ physical activity every day
Eimear Flannery – Irish Heart Foundation Schools Health Promotion Co-ordinator – discussed the findings with Marian
See www.pumped.ie
The Feakle Health Conference – held as part of the Gathering in August – has been short listed for an "oscar" in the Irish Medical Times-Irish Healthcare Awards taking place on 7th November – it’s running for receiving an award in healthcare for Best Patient Education Project
The conference entitled The therapeutic effects of Irish set dancing in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease was extremely well attended and received a lot of international attention
The organisers are hosting a follow up event – a specific weekend training course for set dancing teachers and therapists and will be held in Feakle on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th of November
Feakle Health Conference Manager Breda Collins and Pat Hayes of East Clare Tourism spoke with Marian
See www.glor.ie or call 065 6843103 for more information.
Paul Wolfe of the Clare Citizens’ Information Service joined Marian in studio to answer listeners’
Contact 0761 07 5260 for more information.
If you have a story for Morning Focus email Focus@clare.fm
