Morning Focus Friday July 19

Over 500 students are still awaiting the payments of their student grants from last year
The Tanaiste says most of the delays in payments from SUSI is because students haven’t yet sent in their payment details

On Friday’s Morning Focus John Cooke spoke with Joe O’Connor, President of the Students’ Union of Ireland, to get his reaction.

Cycling bodies have given a cautious welcome to plans to introduce fines for cyclists who do not obey the rules of the road
Clare FM’s Tommy Mescall asked people in Ennis what they think of the new fines

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John was joined by Patrick O’Donoghue of the Burren Cycling Club who thinks it’s a great idea to regulate cyclists on the road but added that fines would be difficult to enforce
He suggested that more needs to be done to provide cycle lanes, better road surfaces to keep cyclists safer.

Paul Edson of the West Clare Cycling Club and Cycle Ireland coach also spoke with John
He thinks this is more of an urban issue – cyclists in Dublin for example can behave very dangerously
He added that cyclists do have a responsibility to uphold like all road users.

There’s a lot of bales of hay being stored now – Miltown Malbay landowner Michael Sexton spoke with John about his concerns about the way some people are stacking their bales – like tins of peas- this is a safety hazard as they are heavy and sometimes the gap between them cannot be seen
This follows news of two farming accident fatalities this morning.

In our Morning Focus Health Matters slot we speak with Dr Maire Finn of the Ennis Family Medical Centre from the Ennis Family Medical Centre
Today Dr Finn spoke about health issues in hot weather

Doctor Maire Finn is from the Ennis Family Medical Centre, and will be joining us again next Friday for more medical advice
You can always send us your thoughts and queries by email [email protected], but if you have concerns or queries about your own health right now please contact your local GP

Bernard Gloster, HSE Area Manager for the Mid West, spoke with John to advise people in the Mid West to always be satisfied that people presenting at their home as HSE staff are genuine
All HSE staff carry official I.D. – most people have an ongoing relationship with their HSE staff in the Community and this is not a problem
However when a home visit is taking place on a one off basis or new staff are appointed, the public don’t necessarily know the staff involved.
For more tips on staying safe in the sun see www.hse.ie

The Clans of Clare series 
 
This is the second week of our ‘Tribe of Dal gCais’ series which examines 15 Clans whose 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 on Morning Focus.

Today we looked at the Hogan Clan

The Kilkee Maritime Festival takes place this weekend
The Plundering Pirate 5-10k charity run/ walk takes place on Saturday in aid of Crumlin Children’s’ Hospital
Johnny Redmond had a word with the details of what will be happening
See Maritime festival Kilkee facebook page for more details.

This Sunday the 27 cyclists and support crew from the Clare Crusaders ‘2013 Charity Cycle will roll back into Barefield after their 550km tour which took them to Dungarvan and Kilkenny
To welcome them home, the Clare Crusaders have organised a free family fun-day with everyone welcome
Gearoid Mannion spoke with John to encourage people to come along.

Elizabeth Greehy of the Loophead Gathering Festival, Cross Committee spoke about the Loophead Gathering Festival Cross beginning today and running until Sunday.

If you have a story for Morning Focus email [email protected]