Today marked the second of the 2016 general election debates on Morning Focus. Joining Gavin this morning were Mary Howard, Fine Gael; Michael McDonagh, Fine Fail; Michael McNamara, Labour; Ann Norton, Independent; and Fergal Smith, Green. The candidates discussed a variety of topics including employment, crime, third-level education, and mobile phone and broadband coverage.
Morning Focus producer Fiona McGarry spoke to Dr Siobhan O’Connor, coordinator of Ennis CDP Primary Health Care Programme for Travellers in Ennis and Clare, about an initiative to boost Clare Traveller women’s health. Women in the Travelling Community in county Clare are being urged to take action to avoid heart disease and stroke. The Ennis CDP Primary Health Care Programme for Travellers is spearheading action against these conditions which are the number one killer of Traveller women. Together with the Irish Heart Foundation, they’ve developed an information flyer on heart health that’s specifically for Traveller women. The flyer which will be launched in Ennis today (Tuesday, February 9th), and across the county in the coming days, will be used by trained Traveller Community Health Workers to spread the heart health message.
Next on the show was Ennis man Kieran O’Loughlin. Kieran threw himself into the Irish Heart Foundation’s ‘On the Dry’ campaign in January after the sudden loss of his father to a heart attack in August of 2015. Kieran says there were no signs his father was at risk, before he passed away tragically aged just 64. And so he decided to take on the ‘On the Dry’ challenge as a tribute to his dad. He raised 1,175 euro in sponsorship pledges via Facebook and through the donations he received from work colleagues and extended family.
Anna O’Neill, from Clare Community Drug and Alcohol Service, spoke on Morning Focus today about a drugs briefing for North West Clare families. North West Clare Family Resource centre has organised a talk for parents of teens and pre-teens to provide them with information around drug and alcohol misuse. The talk is supported by the Mid West Regional Task Forum and will cover the signs and symptoms of teen use of drug and alcohol; current drugs on the street; how to recognise drugs and paraphernalia and how to support your teen including supports and services available. Anna says cannabis is still the most commonly used drug amongst younger teens. However, the trend is now towards the use of weed rather than resin and this has a higher incidence of dangerous psychological side effects. Alcohol is still the most widely misused substance and the evidence suggests that most drug-taking occurs in the same setting. The talk takes place tonight (Tuesday, February 9th), from 7-9pm at the Falls Hotel.
Generate the State is a film that documents the ambitious building of the Shannon Scheme in the newly established Irish Free State of the 1920s. Gavin spoke to the film’s director, Johnny Gogan, and historian of the Shannon Scheme and author of ‘High Tension – Life on the Shannon’. The scheme revolutionised electricity production and supply in Ireland – it was 100 per cent renewable. The scheme involved the construction of the hydro-electric power station Ardnacrusha at the cost of IR£5 million, one fifth of the Irish state’s annual budget, at a time of tremendous economic difficulties. Constructed by the German company Siemens-Schuckert, the plant was completed in 1929 and provided the base for the construction of a national power grid while also symbolising a determined forward-thinking independent nation. The film will be screened on TG4, tonight (Tuesday February 9th), at 9.30pm.
Kit O Ceirin, author of ‘Wild and Free – Cooking from Nature’, spoke to Gavin today about foraging for your food. Kit and her late husband, Cyril, wrote the first edition of ‘Wild and Free’ in 1978. It became a best-seller and inspired a generation. It was reprinted in 2013 and a third print run had just been reissued, and this one has an introduction by renowned food critic Sally McKenna.
Lastly, on the show, Gavin spoke to Geraldine Creegan, a Food Technologist with O’Connor’s Bakery, about Pancake Tuesday.
