On today’s edition of The Friday Panel on The Afternoon Show Máire Moynahan was joined by Claire Gallagher from The Clare People, Aidan Courtney, Writer and Illustrator and Brian O’Neill from the Rowan Tree Café Bar and Hostel. They tackled the main stories of the week, in particular Donald Trump, US Billionaire and property tycoon, who came to Clare this week. Donald Trump arrived in Ireland earlier this week in his Gold plated Boeing 757 to visit his Doonbeg Golf Club. He began his trip by suggesting that the golf club would host the Irish Open. The Trump organisation bought the Golf Club earlier this year for €15 million however, the site was originally worth €300 million. He spoke during the week about his plans to invest €45 million on the Golf Club. The venue currently employs 250 people and he has promised that their jobs would be kept as well as suggesting that employment could double.
They also discussed an ongoing issue, that of Ireland’s relationship with alcohol. A report from the World Health Organisation has revealed that Ireland has the second highest rate of binge drinking in the world. The global status report on alcohol and health found that 39% of all Irish people aged 15 and over had engaged in binge drinking, or “heavy episode drinking” in the last month. The figures put Ireland ahead of Britain’s 28% and just behind Austria’s 40.5%, out of 194 countries.
They also talked about how Irish charities are continuing to take a hit. Two out of three Irish charities have seen public donations plummet by as much as 10% since the Rehab and Central Remedial Clinic scandals emerged. The finding, made by a nationwide survey of 297 leading charities across the country, was revealed at a day-long conference on the ongoing crisis yesterday. Out of an anonymous survey of 950 different organisations, the group said 61% have seen their fundraising efforts badly damaged by the legitimate negative publicity in recent months, with almost half of these saying donations have fallen by up to 10% since November. As a result of the problems, which it placed firmly at the feet of those involved in the Rehab and Central Remedial Clinic affairs, the umbrella group said one third of charities asked have had to “cut back or suspend services in the past year”.
