 A tantal me stress, Cooch. How do you do that? Breathing exercises, drink. No, I'm only joking. No, I don't. I'm stressed all the time, but it's good. No, you're not stressed at all. I am, are you? But how do you deal with that? You don't, it's just who I am. I don't try anymore. No, no, we should try. You want me too stressed out? It'll be grand. You're going to have everybody stressed out in this programme? No. I'm a calming influence. Let me braze, will you? Are you stress, Cooch? No, I'm grand. How do you cope with your stress? I do exercise, but then I said... I want to see this is the problem I take. I'm going to take the stress. No, we see. No, but I do exercise. I do a bit, right? Three times a week. But then I said that to somebody one time and says, oh, how do you deal with stress? And I said, I'll do exercise. And I says, that's not dealing with stress. No, but I did... Of course it is. I tell you what I did do, right? Can I have time to tell you? About a few months ago, right? We're a train, right, to do this restorative yoga, right? And it's just, it's not yoga, yoga, but it's just all these comfortable positions for an hour. And you leave all your baggage at the door, meaning I clear your head and you just, it's breathing techniques. Mindfulness. Mindfulness. And I have to say, you come out super relaxed. Really? Honest to God. And I did it on a Friday. What's your heart rate go down to? I don't know. But I started to snore and sleep and stuff. And you take a blanket with you, it's cosy. It's totally relaxation to the most highest. Right. And even the tone of your voice, you'll come out and you'll be talking in a lower tone because you've been nice and relaxed. And you'd pace someone, not pace someone, that's a class you go to. Yeah, well, I only done it about four times, but it's... It empowers you then to do it at home? No, no, you go home, so you're going into like... So I'm saying it's one hour and then you're away. I know. OK, well, more life advice and relaxation tips from Lee Gooch at the same time tomorrow. Thank you very much. Thanks, Greg. Have a good one. Could become a regular future. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. The wrong advice. All right, OK. Just after nine now, let's get a news update from Makayla. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Minister Charney McCollough says a number of major-skill projects and initiatives remain on schedule and he's confident they will not be delayed. He was speaking after Education Minister Norma Foley said that Gil Skull Nagar Maistri in Donegal Tyne is the only Donegal project which has been stalled as a result of a review of costs by the Department of Public Expenditure. Asked about Movil Community College, where works have been outstanding for a lengthy period, Minister Foley said it continues to go through the normal processes. That's been echoed by Minister McCollough. The final tender for the main contract has been identified. The ETP now are waiting for final go-ahead in relation to the electrical-mechanical subcontracts. Half of the school is in prefabs. It doesn't have the facilities at a school of a stature and of its educational service provision or students or staff deserves. The T-shock says the government was well aware of an exodus of small landlords when it decided not to extend the evictions ban. However, Leo Radkirk admits it wasn't aware of the exact number of termination notices issued prior to the decision being made. It comes as the ORTB estimates up to 15,000 landlords could leave the private rental sector this year. While in Donegal, 88 eviction notices were reactivated following the lifting of the ban at midnight on Friday. Donegal Deputy Pierre Stohorty says one family is facing having to sleep in their car. In one conversation that my office had with the family was the case of that they have nowhere to go. They're nowhere available to them to rent at the price that they can afford and they're talking to the local authority about sleeping in their car. This is just not acceptable that you would have a family in the Northwest in that situation. But this was always the reality when the government decided to end its eviction ban without any plan in place. An initial encounter believes the old health centre in Clomane could be repurposed for use by local sports clubs. The facility on Binyon Road has been lying vacant for a number of years now while remaining in possession of the HSC. Councillor Albert Doherty says priority needs to be given to place the building on the open market. I have now put it to the HSC capital and states that they must go through the requirements that are necessary and order that if there's no interest internally that the HSC now prioritise putting this building under the be open to an interested community group. Whether or not some rain and drizzle this morning but it will become mainly dry today with high as temperatures off 11 or 12 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. It's not just that Sarah can't rely on the rains to come this year. It's not just that the only water left could cost her her life. It's not just that she has seen all her crops destroyed and she is struggling to feed her little boy. Like thousands of parents living in regions devastated by drought, Sarah is living in fear and it's not just. This lends your health can make all the difference. Visit trochra.org or call 1-800-408-408. Trochra, together for a just world. The county's number one talk show, The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning. Six minutes past nine, Tuesday the 4th of April, 2023. How are you keeping? We're going to hope you're very well indeed this morning. And we want your company for the next three hours. We're going to keep you informed, entertained, close to talk about... We're in the garden, actually, for the first time for the year, by the way. So if you're looking out, if you're lucky enough to have a house in this day and age, but if you're lucky enough to have a bit of grass or whatever out the front or some planting pots or whatever it might be, maybe you want to use the little extra time you might have over Easter to get cracking. Is it the right time to do so? We've got a bit of frost coming overnight later in the week, but anyway, we are going to be in the garden answering your questions. So if any of them come into us on 08-6-60-25,000 WhatsApps and texts, or give us a call on 07-49-1-25,000, community garden information where you'll hear all the latest appeals and information from Mon Goddess Yukana first here live on the Nine Till Noon Show. That's just after 10, that and so much more besides. And whatever you want to talk about as well, comments come into us at comments at highlandradio.com and you can watch the program. Maybe you have your home for Easter or what have you. Maybe you've taken time off to be with the children, whatever it might be, where you can open up your smart TV. Most people have them now. Go to the YouTube app, search Highland Radio Ireland or Facebook Watch, though it's disappearing off the far stick for some reason. But anyway, you can watch the show there or on your tablet, your laptop, on our website, highlandradio.com. It's just more ways to keep you informed as captions on the stream as well for those who are hard of hearing and want to stay up to date with what's happening around the Northwest and beyond as well. It's local, regional, national and international. Let's go to the Dairy Journal this morning. There were only 57 properties available to let in Donegal as the ban on evictions ended on Friday. The lack of rental housing supply in the county was highlighted by independent TD for South Slago, sorry for Slago, leech from South Donegal, Marion Harkin, who told the door last week it was a particular problem in the Northwest. Ms. Harkin said, according to daft.ie, this evening, that was last Tuesday, there were now just 15 places to let in Slago, which is six fewer than were available a week ago in Donegal. The number is 57, which is the same as last week while the number of houses available in Roscommon is 12, which is one less than a week ago. So there's a severe lack of property for long-term rents here in the Northwest in Donegal, 57 available. That being said, not wishing to upset anyone in the market, there are currently, even with the Easter holidays on and people already visiting the county, there are currently 1,000 full homes to rent in Donegal on a short-term basis on Airbnb, 1,000 homes. Now those aren't rooms, those are a mixture of small houses, townhouses, big houses, chalets, there's a number of them, about 70 out of them, but over 1,000 houses to rent in Donegal in April, if you don't, if you wanna do it for a week, two weeks, but there is 57 if you need a house over your head for a long-term. Is that right or wrong? I don't know what the answer to that is, 08, 6, 60, 25,000 WhatsApps or texts. I mean, it's people's property. Are they entitled to do with it what they wish? The Donegal Democrat, they're covering the story, comments from the chair of the regional health forum West. The chair has described as shocking that the report into flooding which occurred at Letherkenny University Hospital in 2013 and 2014 has not been made available to the public, Sinn Féin, Councillor Jerry McGill was informed that legal advice has been sought as to the publication of that report. Let's go to the nationals now, and I mean, obviously I don't see how it ends. Housing is the big story on the front page of most of the papers this morning. The majority of notices to quit in the last quarter of 2022 were given by landlords intending to sell their property amid projections that the private rental sector will shrink further this year. Some 2,513 notices out of an overall 4,329 were issued for this reason, accounting for almost 60% of the total, according to figures revealed by the Residential Tenancies Board. Though it must be said there is quite a chunk of those that are going to remain in the rental market. Now, when we talk about 4,329 notices to quit, that isn't individuals, that's properties. So that figure could be 20, 30,000 for all we know. There are going to be people in properties on their own, but there are going to be others, families of six, even more perhaps. Well, anyway, the figure they say will increase pressure on the government to prevent the wave of notices translating into a surge in homelessness and to make good on its promises to support both landlords and renters, estate agent Sherry Fitzgerald predicted yesterday that 15,000 tenancies could be lost from the private rental sector this year. Now, are you someone affected by that? Have you been given a notice to quit? What does it mean to you? Why don't you help us get the story out there and help people understand the reality of this situation, 08, 6, 60, 25,000. That's your WhatsApps and texts, or call 07, 491, 25,000. Is this the reality facing you? Maybe you might want to share your story, as I say, to help the general population understand what exactly is going on again. If you are a landlord exiting the market and we have heard from more for the last couple of weeks, maybe you want to explain the reasons as to why and why maybe you feel that the system is unfair to you. On to the Irish Independent now. And the state is being sued over two cases of alleged misdiagnosis of fatal fetal abnormalities which resulted in abortions, it was confirmed yesterday. This is a very uncomfortable story. The cases have been lodged with the state claims agency. There were also, or there has also been, 133 alleged adverse instances reported since January 1st, 2018 to February 28th this year relating to termination of pregnancy. The figures were provided in a parliamentary response to Aintu, TD, Patatoubine. A previous case arising out of a misdiagnosis at the National Maternity Hospital was settled in the High Court in June 2021. It comes as a review of health regulations of terminations of pregnancy Act 2018 has been completed and is being examined by the Department of Health. It's expected to recommend that the mandatory three-day waiting period for women having a medical abortion be relaxed. Meanwhile, in a series of parliamentary responses, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said, reviews also underway to decide if remote consultation for women seeking a medical abortion with their doctor introduced during the pandemic should become permanent. But the headline story there is two cases being taken. Now that doesn't mean it represents every case that happened, but two cases being taken by people who had abortions as a result, they say, of misdiagnosis of a fatal fetal abnormality. On to the Irish Daily Mail now, and the most recent car-buying figures have been released, and they show that the number of new electric vehicles sold so far this year was up nearly 50% on a year ago. A total of 3,421 new electric vehicles rolled off four quarts in March, compared with 1,924 in the same month last year. The sharp increase may be related to the fact that the grant towards buying an electric car has been cut by 30%. Currently the maximum grant is 5,000, but from July 1st it'll be 3,500. I don't believe that's got anything to do with it. I think if you're buying an EV, you're not gonna rush out and buy one in March because you'll save 1,500 euro. I really don't think that's the case. But anyway, that's what the paper concludes. So far this year, 9,303 new electric cars have been registered. That's a 49% increase on the same period in 2022. According to new statistics from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, there were 58,000 odd new cars sales in the first three months of the year. It's 16% ahead of a year ago. But petrol and diesel, let's see where the breakdown goes. Petrol continues to remain dominant at almost one in three new cars. So for those of you buying cars, a third of you buy petrol. Diesel's still pretty popular, 22%. Hybrid, 20.6%. Electric, 16%. Plug-in hybrids, 8%. So in real terms, the sales so far this year when you cut through all of the gobbledygook, 16% of new car sales so far this year, electric, all electric, 33% petrol, 22% diesel. So electric's still well behind diesel. And then when you get into plug-in hybrids and hybrids, I believe I think that's a different kettle of fish and I'm glad to see those figures are being separated out clearly there. Your grocery bills, everyone's noticed it, haven't you? I think everyone's had the conversation in the house after coming back from your shop or getting your shopping delivered, which more people seem to be doing now than ever. That you just don't seem to be getting as much bang for the buck anymore. That bill that would have been 80s now, 120, or it feels like that, or if you're of a bigger family, the bill that was 150 is now 200. Have you felt that, oh wait, 60, 25,000? And I want to say this one more time again, the cost of food is driving inflation, the increased cost, the increase in the price of food is driving inflation. And normally, profits, the company's profits account for about a third in terms of contributing to inflation on food prices, okay, at the moment it's two thirds. So what that means effectively, unless someone proves me wrong is that a lot of the shops, many of the shops, particularly the big boys, I suppose, that have most of the market, they're making more now than they ever did. Their profits are having a far bigger influence on inflation, which I think should be noted and I think it's something they need to look at. But the cost of the annual groceries continues to soar with analysts, the warning homes now face over 1,200 euro more than last year. A data firm that monitors grocery market share in Ireland warned in February that families' yearly bills would be 1,100 euro more than in 2022. But it released new figures yesterday to show costs now estimated to rise by 1,211 if shoppers do not change their shopping habits. Amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, the Kantar company revealed that grocery price inflation rose again last month to reach 16.8% up from 16.4% in February. A spokesperson said, grocery inflation continues to rise and now stands at the figure I mentioned, 16.8%. And I don't know why they put so many figures in articles because people just, you lose interest then. There's no need for the numbers and the percentage. Give us one or other and put it into context somewhere else in the article. But anyway, bottom line is 1,200 euro of an increase in your shopping bill, which is incredibly significant. That could be the holiday that you're scrimping and scraping for, scrimping and saving for a short break somewhere. And now you can't do it because of the price of food going up. And as I say, quite a lot of that increases and increase in profits. It's not all about their input costs and blah, blah, blah, blah. They could give us back a bit more, I think. Some do quite well on that, by the way. I'm not lumping everyone into the same basket, pun intended, but you know what I mean. Another big problem here, I was staring daily mirror and it's not a big problem if it doesn't affect you, right? So if you don't need to do a driving test or if you don't have someone in your house that is waiting to get a driving test, this doesn't matter. You don't know who cares, right? But if you've got a young person that wants to get to and from work or if you yourself have been offered a job and you need to be driving to get to and from work because of our poor improving, okay, improving but poor public transport network, you're gonna have to wait forever. It's crazy, right? It's absolutely crazy. There's companies being paid a fortune to provide this service and it's just accepted that people have to wait 20 weeks, five months, can you imagine? Five months from application until you get your driving test. That's absolutely unbelievable. It's a disgrace. Well, wait times of nearly a year to sit driving tests, the steering learners away from the road. Instructor Kevin Horgan, who has more than 28 years of experience said the problem would get worse before it gets better. Figures released RTE from the Road Safety Authority said the average time to get an invitation for the driving test was 20 weeks but Kevin said for a busiest centre such as Tallah South Dublin, this was, it was significantly longer. Mr. Horgan, who founded the Lady Bird Driving School told the Irish Mirror the RSA needs to increase testing capacity. And damn right, they need to as well. So you can imagine the excitement of getting your theory, getting your lessons in. I mean, we have to do these lessons now which should probably make sense but they're of great expense even though you can't go out in the frost in the eyesore at night. But anyway, and then you're waiting to get on the road probably for work or whatever. And there's nothing you can do either. You can't appeal. The only time you can get any way fast tracked is if you are a HSE employer or you work in a care setting you can apply to get fast tracked but not to go into from work. It's only if you drive at work. You have to drive at work. And anyway, so all bets are off after Daniel O'Donnell exclusively ruled himself out of the running for the Late Late Show. By coincidence, perhaps maybe not, all bets are off because Claire Byrne is a near cert to become the next presenter of the Late Late Show. The talent pool in this country must be and I have no problem with Claire Byrne, by the way and I think she's immensely talented but the talent pool in this country must be a incredibly shallow. So there's only three people capable of doing any job for RTE, the company that you out there pay for that you provide, you pay for it or they're in a bubble down there and they don't want to see maybe there's someone that's not working for Court Red FM or Shallonside or I don't know, wherever. Maybe there's a blogger or someone on the internet that could do a fantastic job for this but instead what do they do? They look at the same familiar two or three faces and they pick out of that. I mean, and everyone just accepts it because it's, anyway, Claire Byrne is a dead cert to become the next presenter of the Late Late Show. Bookies have stopped taking bets on the star to take over from Ryan Tiberty after his shock decision to quit. Ladbroke said there was a rush of bets placed on Claire despite her super-slim odds of one to three before they pulled the market yesterday but let me tell you, Claire Byrne will take over and through no fault of her own, the ratings will go through the floor because we live in a very different world now. The ratings will go through the floor and that show will be scrapped in its current form after the next season. Mark my words, Tuesday 4th of April, 2023, she'll have one season at it and it will be either scrapped in its current form or scrapped altogether. All right then, we have our own show to do here. Let's worry about that back with doing it after this break. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountaintop Letter Kenny, the 2022 C-Store National Off-Licence of the Year. Hurry, the last few days to enter our mega holiday giveaway. Buy a ticket for the Highland Radio holiday mega draw today and you could be the lucky winner who will walk away with 10,000 euros to spend on a holiday of a lifetime and 5,000 euro in cash. Simply go to highlandradio.com and click on Winner Holiday. Winner will be announced on Thursday on the 9 to noon show. House to Home, Bridge End, Donegal. Our modest front door opens onto two floors of Irish made furniture, suites, beds, mattresses, dining and occasional furniture. Step into our showroom and see how we can transform your house into a home. House to Home furniture, flooring, slide robes and interiors, Bridge End, Donegal. With the brighter days, it's only natural to think about freshening up the paintwork in our homes, bringing color and vibrancy to our living spaces. But the important thing isn't just the colors we choose, it's the paint. Fleece Wood use the highest quality ingredients for a richer color and smoother finish that lets you wipe away the marks of everyday life and it's Irish made, designed to work with the ever-changing Irish light. Would one range of paints transform your home? Fleece Wood Wood, naturally. Is the appearance of your staff important to your business? It's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises. At C&M and Broitery in Letter Kenny, they have a huge range of clothing, covering all areas of the workplace. It's widely known that customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well. Have your company name and broidered or printed on all your work uniforms. Contact C&M and Broitery on 07491 28097 and get your staff looking their best. Highland Radio, time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Letter Kenny to Dublin. Expressway, bringing you the time at... 23 minutes past nine. Now, some of you will be off Good Friday. Others may not. It is a public holiday for some, not for others. Senator Marie Sherlock once, the Plating Fields leveled. She said Labour's works right to spokesperson and joins us on the programme now. Good morning to you, Marie. Good morning, Greg. How are you? Good to have you with us. I'm good. Thank you. Right, so you believe the current situation is unfair. So how are people differentiated as it relates to being off or on? Yeah, I look, Greg, I suppose, you know, the first point to say is this is about a basic fairness and equality for all workers. I think every Good Friday there is a confusion about whether it is a public holiday or not. And obviously, 20 years ago, almost everything was shut in Good Friday, but it has evolved very dramatically through a situation of where in some sectors it's a normal day of operation, like in retail or hospitality. And in other sectors, let's say like the banks, they were closed last Good Friday. I presume they'll be closed this Good Friday. We know the public libraries will be closed. And there are other state institutions that will close as well. And there's a basic inconsistency here. And I suppose my primary concern is that we, you know, we spent a lot of the time during the pandemic talking about wanting to recognise the previously unseen workers, let's say like retail workers, frontline workers, security workers, cleaners and to be honest, very little has been done for them now three years on since the start of the pandemic. And they're the people who have to go to work on Friday. Whereas there's lots of people in higher income jobs who actually have the benefit of a day off. And I think, you know, as you say, we want to level the playing field, make sure it's a public holiday. And if people have to go and work on that Friday, then they are recognised in respect of the public holiday and paid accordingly. That, of course, has a significant impact on already struggling businesses, though, doesn't it? You know, it's not just the stroke of a pen with no consequence. And, you know, everyone's treated equal. There is a significant impact on businesses, especially heading into maybe the tourism season. If it's starting now, start of a long weekend, you know yourself. Well, I suppose this this is this is the thing like is in good Friday is a unique day in that, you know, there is a very significant chunk of workers that are off, so they get to enjoy the, you know, I suppose our villages, towns and cities in a way that those who are working don't get to. So there is, on one hand, additional business in certain sectors or additional and increase in trade in certain sectors. And of course, Easterbank holiday weekend has always been, you know, a very busy time, particularly in retail and hospitality or in hospitality, at least. And I suppose the key issue is, like, is in, you know, are the workers working in that sector who tend to be low paid? Are they being recognized according? So, you know, first and foremost, and I always say this, like, is in, you know, my primary interest is that businesses are open because businesses are not open, then there are no jobs and people don't have livelihoods. So that is number one. But number two, people have to live as well. And the key issue now, and we're seeing it now, like, you know, I based here in Dublin, but I know even in parts of Donegal, there is, like, is in, you know, shortages in terms of places to rent affordability issues and how do we support particularly low wage workers? And I suppose this comes back to the point that they have to go out and work a normal day on Friday, whereas many of the rest of us, you know, you know, it's treated like a day off. Do you think that government missed a trick in that when we added an additional bank holiday at St. Bridget's Day, I think it is around the start of February that it should have perhaps been switched to Good Friday and recognise the workers that you talk of. I mean, that's what that's what it was its motivation to begin with. Yeah. Yeah. And look, you know, it was very welcome that we have an additional public holiday now in Loyola, Breda and St. Bridget's Day. But the reality actually is that Ireland tends to be at the bottom of the rankings when we compare Ireland across every other EU member state with with the number of public holidays that we have in this country. So we have 10 public holidays now. The average across the EU is about 13. And and I think, you know, like there's a debate about whether we should have more public holidays, but I suppose going back to my original point, some businesses and some workplaces treated like a public holiday and others do not. And you have some you have some businesses where within it, depending on when people started or not, that it is a public holiday for some and not for others. And listen, you know, this week, every year, I usually get a whole litany of inconsistencies or, you know, but people telling me, you know, stories of their workplaces closed, but this other workplace is open. So, you know, ultimately, you know, it's to say if you want to open as a workplace fantastic, that's great. But but but but let's have a look at, you know, what workers are actually paid on that day. And ultimately, this is part of the wider conversation about about how we support all workers, but particularly low paid workers in this country. And there is a very serious and chronic issue. So are you saying really this is what what the the net result of this might not it might not be more people off the realities and the people that you're talking of, it's people who might get a day in lieu or get extra pay for actually working that day anyway, mostly perhaps in the services industries. And what have you put precisely, Greg, like is in the reality is particularly since the change in the licensing laws, you know, like is in the, you know, with regards to Good Friday, that, you know, Good Friday is a typically a very good day for for many in the hospitality sector. Like I know myself that there's certain events scheduled actually scheduled for Good Friday because of the uniqueness of the day. So so ultimately, it is not about seeing more places closed, but actually ensuring that the workers, those who have to work on Good Friday are recognised accordingly. OK, we'll see. I mean, it's a it's a nice call. I can't say the government doing anything on it in the in the short term anyway, but it opens up a conversation to see what the general public think as well. But thanks for your time this morning. Thank you, Greg. Have a nice day. Senator Marie Sherlock labor workers, right? Spokesperson, would you be in favour of Good Friday being a public holiday for all? We'll wait six, 60, 25,000 WhatsApps and texts to that number. Just to remind you once again, for the first time this year, I believe Paul McLaughlin of Balakdur Garder Centre, a garden centre. Garden centres in Letterkenny is going to be in studio with us a little later on, taking all your gardening questions. As I say, that's that time of the year where if you are lucky enough to have a garden or perhaps even some indoor planting, whatever, a window box is probably too early for that. But we'll find out what you could, should be doing in and around the house to brighten the place up, I suppose. But any questions that you might have, get them into us now. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. That's for WhatsApps and texts. So give us a call and 07, 4, 9, 1, 25,000. Did you know and recently we were, as you know, did a show in Brussels and a conversation came up in Brussels about pickpockets, the sign up on windows of various presidents, I can't speak today. My apologies, premises saying pickpockets operating in this area. And maybe if you go to London or Brussels or Paris or Barcelona, you might think that you're not safe. But when you come home, you are. Maybe not because Ireland is actually in the top 10 list of pickpocketing holiday destinations. Travel insurance experts quote zone have revealed their pickpocket index. According to the mirror, it ranks the most popular European holiday destination by the proportion of pickpocketing mentions in visitors' reviews. Italy and France have the two highest numbers of mentions. Ireland comes in ninth with 30 mentions of pickpocketing per one million visitors, a very low rate, but we're in the top 10. And often we go away and we're all worried about what might happen to us. Have you perhaps maybe sometimes you're in more at more danger at home. Who's to say, oh, wait, 60, 25,000 if you want to get a view on that. Right, I want to say hello to a gentleman's wife and daughter. It's Tommy Redmond. His wife and daughter are holidaying with his wife's parents at their home just outside Caragart this week, Caragart this week. They listen to the show every morning and I was hoping you could arrange for mention for my wife, Claire Redmond, my daughter, Freya, and my in-laws, Dominic and Janice McGehan. Dominic and Janice. You're very welcome to Donagall again. I know they are enjoying their time together. So if you could say hi from Stuart, Stuart and in Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland, that would be wonderful and really make their day. Claire and Freya, Claire and Freya return home on Thursday. So we got the mention in on time. So I hope you have another lovely time here in Donagall up in Caragart. And I know you listen to the show. It's great to have you listening if you are here in Ireland. OK, enjoy your stay and enjoy the area. OK, let's take a quick break. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best and brightest in the business world for the Highland Radio Customer Service Awards in association with Peeja Mireland. From your local community center to your favorite pet shop or your friendly dentist, we're recognizing the businesses who are making a difference in your community. This award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life. But you better act fast. The deadline for entries is just around the corner. So visit our website and nominate now. Nominations close this Friday, the 7th of April. I remember you. Hi, this is my McFatty chair. Come and see me at the Delay for Olivia and I in a happy medium at the Alley Theatre in Sturban on the 13th of April. Join me for a laugh. I enter the spirit world and reveal all tickets from the Theatre Box Office or online. You could run, you could dance, or you could just breathe. The Bernardo's big active, supported by Alley is happening in schools across Ireland right now, and it makes doing good feel great. It gets classmates of all ages active while supporting their mental health and well-being. The Bernardo's big active, supported by Alley, will raise vital funds to help Ireland's most vulnerable children. Sign up today at Bernardo's.ie forward slash big active. The groom goes free, the groom goes free. Yes, you heard it. The groom's room, evolve clothing, Larry Kenny Retail Park, the groom goes free. Calling today, terms and conditions apply. OK, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here in Highland Radio. And we're joined on the program now by Mark. Good morning to you, Mark. Morning, Greg. Good to have you on the program. OK, right, so obviously we've been talking about the housing crisis this morning and it's not going to go away anytime soon. You spotted something in your area that doesn't sort of make sense, I suppose, in this environment then. No, I don't have a camera, but it just happened to be around the phone quite a lot. And there's a social housing scheme there on development for the COVID. I guess it was not going to go on. And then there's houses that have been lying in motion for Christmas. And there's been no further work done on them. I asked some of the people, the local people, and said it's a bother to unbox. I just want to be able to change. Mark, Mark, unfortunately, this and I can't hear a word you're saying there. I don't know if it's the telephone line or how you're holding the phone. Do you want us to reconnect with you or can you maybe get into a more sheltered area? Well, yeah, no, I can't. We'll reconnect with Mark. Is that OK, Caroline? My apologies, it's just I simply just can't hear him. And if I can't hear him with headphones on, there's just no chance that you listening wherever you are might be able to do so. And it's an important point. OK, just a quick reminder, by the way, because there's only a couple of short days left for you to be with a chance to win 15,000 euro prize here at Highland Radio. It's a 10,000 euro travel voucher in association with our friends at Atlantic Travel and five year, five thousand euro cash described as spending money, but you can do with it what you wish, of course. You can win that prize worth 15 grand in total by buying a ticket in our holiday of a lifetime with Highland Radio competition. Just go on to our website, by the way, Highland Radio dot com. You can get one ticket for a tenner if you wish, and if you can afford it, of course, you know, if you want to get six, you can pay 50, so the cheaper. If you want to get 10, you can pay 80. So if you want to gift them out or group in with other people and get them cheaper at the time, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say that. But anyway, but I know that's what I would do. If there was six people in the house, I'd say, well, listen, I'll buy the tickets. You will give me the eight euro, wherever it is as a deduction. But anyway, by the by, I'm just tight. The lines close on Thursday morning and the draw will be made thereafter. So if you want to be with a chance to win, get in. Now, this is not a, you know, 60, 70, 80,000 entry competition here that you might see on Facebook, what have you. This is our competition here for us in the Northwest and other people can enter, of course, but you know what I mean. So you're in with a good chance of winning, a better chance of winning. So should I say, I don't want to misrepresent it. Highlandradio.com, click on winter holiday, answer a simple question, then choose whether you want one, six or 10 tickets. And if you don't want to, it's perfectly safe and secure and quick and easy. But if you want to give us a call 07491 25,000 will sort you out that way as well right now. So we'll be giving that money away, actually, on Thursday morning, 15 grand in total, a 10,000 euro, a 10,000 euro voucher for one massive holiday or multiple smaller holidays and 5,000 euro in cash. Right, I stopped watching the late, late show years ago. I would just occasionally tune in to try and get back into it. But all of the shows and RTE of the same faces now, it is typical RTE and their nepotism that no one else got a look in. And they all just seem to look after their own. I don't understand it either. But you see what it is, is someone's afraid to make big decisions. Like even the Dancing with the Stars, I don't watch that show. But it was a presenter on their radio station that won it. Do you know what I mean? I mean, what does that do to the wider public? And not an awful lot of people listen to that radio show either. But anyway, I say if they should be brave, throw the net wider and see who they could get in, launch new talent, make a new superstar. I mean, who made the superstars the likes of Amon Andrews, you might remember, Graham Norton, Terry Wogan, you know, and the list is endless. They got Jerry Kelly and on and on and on. You know, people that did very well here and then went on to sort of international success. They're not doing that now. It's the same pot of older people, too, by the way. And can I say, I can say that, right? Because I'm in the ballpark of Robert E. and Claire and the others that have been considered for that. You know, give someone in their early thirties a chance or late 20s. Or I don't know, do you know what I mean? Be brave, but they're not. It's the same old, same old faces. And if you don't get the late, late show job, you're going to get an interview on it anyway, such as the small pool that they draw talent from. Why can't they just get good driving instructors from different countries to go to other countries and get all the waiting lists down? It's common sense. Gets all those waiting to learn to drive a chance to. OK, but they tried that with the NCTs. They tried to, they tried to change some of the dynamics. So who works in NCTs and bring other people in? There was a resistance from unions to that. Could that be the same in this sector? I don't know. I call it says, I doubt they are in a bubble at RTA government bubble. Nobody else gets a look in. Right, OK, he's marked back with us now. Hi, Mark. Hi, Gary. All right, that's a little bit better because it's an important point you're making. Right, OK. So you were, you're from Ladder, Kenny, but you noticed a project being developed in RFO. Talk to me about it. That's been going on for most at least three years. And it didn't seem to be any real move on the start, you know, like that quick on the bone. And then the left turn came along and after the left turn, it started to open up again. And if that's more, if there's more work to be done on the handshifted stuff, the wonders are done, being plastered. But just then, the boulders went away and there's been a fence called around the site there, so it's a whole Christmas time. And nobody's come back near it now. And from what I know, the boulders were embossed. And the council doesn't seem to have any shape to make a move on the site. All right, I just thought, personally, I don't know this. I don't know the status of the builder. But these are fine houses. It doesn't look like it would take an awful lot to to get them into use. I don't think, I don't think it's the right shape. They look like they've got, it's like grass and slabs and services and stuff that you'd be good to go. But I believe there's a lot of work to be done on the site. They're just more or less shells. They're just empty shells. Right, OK. But still, with the with the wonders away. Actually, sorry. If there was a will, there would be a way to get them in to to use very quickly. I don't know. Well, according to the fashion plan, if you think there's a move on these to get them from the stop and get people moved down. Yeah. OK, listen. I've been talked about in the radio this morning, but it's there. I don't think that's a plan the way as well. 100%. 100%. All right, Mark, thanks for your point. I appreciate you coming on again. Apologies, the line wasn't great. Mark's busy. We appreciate his time this morning. Good morning. Can you get some info on ESB smart meters that are to be fitted? What are they? How do they work? Thank you. Well, we did a feature on those when the rollout began and was well underway, not so long ago. Maybe it is something we can revisit. Hi, Greg. Just wanted to highlight if people see in the video circulating on social media regarding the door staff in the nightclub in Northern Ireland where he looks to headbutt a young man thought it was sickening to watch when these people are there to protect you. Hope our door staff in this county do not act in the same manner. For the most part, no, of course not. It is sickening. It happens though. It happens regularly. That one was filmed. But those videos, I don't watch them personally because I couldn't really like to see someone get hurt like that. But it does happen. That's just the bottom line. Hopefully the license premises is held to account for it. Well, Greg, I believe you should be able to do as you please with your property. If that means you want to turn it into an Airbnb so that you can have your place back at short notice, why not? Housing is a government issue. And it's not fair for housing solutions to be pushed upon the likes of you and me. I know you don't have a second property, Greg, but that doesn't mean it won't happen someday. You could potentially be left property in a will. You've got some rich listeners out there. I don't think we're going to left one in a will either. But no, I do understand your point. And I have made it on a couple of occasions here on this show that people don't tell you what to do with your pension or other investments. And I know some people invested in property or found themselves with a property and we've spoken to them. The government already has an awful lot of control over what you can do with it. Make no mistake, they soon to be established. If they can get it across the line, and as soon to be established rules as it relates to Airbnb, the net effect of that is that they can decide where housing need is most and effectively switch the tap off on Airbnb and coerce or encourage homeowners to give that property for long-term rents. And that's not for everyone either. But that's effectively what that law would do. It was initially to be in rent pressure zones and then they've sort of spread it out to be wherever. And if they say, right, we need more properties in Donegal, well, they don't issue the planning commission for Airbnb's in Donegal. And then people will say, right, well, we need some return from it. So what we'll do is we'll put it into the long-term rental market. So it's coercion, if it's not control at least. Some people though think that's the right thing to do. I mean, we asked independent Thomas Pringle what he would do if he were in power or had influence. And he said, no tax or very little tax for long-term renters and tax Airbnb providers to the hilt. So there is that a political mindset out there as well and made no bones about it either. All right, okay. Parke joins me on the program now. Parke, thanks for taking the call today. Are you there, Parke? You are? Hello? No, I don't have Parke. Let me take a break while we get him. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best and brightest in the business world for the Highland Radio Customer Service Awards in association with Peeja Myerland. From your local community center to your favorite pet shop or your friendly dentist, we're recognizing the businesses who are making a difference in your community. This award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life. But you better act fast. The deadline for entries is just around the corner. So visit our website and nominate now. Nominations close this Friday, the 7th of April. Wheezing or sneezing? When you're feeling under the weather, your local Brennan's pharmacy can help. Rest, fluids and simple pain relief are the most effective remedies for a common cold. But if you find that you're coughing so hard that your chest hurts or if it's disrupting your sleep, just ask our pharmacist to recommend the best solution for a speedy recovery. For all your pharmacy needs and advice you can trust, we're here for you. At Brennan's Pharmacy, Moncranagh, Lonani and Creaselaw. At Hickey, Clark and Langan Insurance Brokers, they compare quotes from all the leading insurers so you get a great price. Home, motor and van, farm, quality home, travel and liability insurance, they quote them all. So if the worst happens, you're covered. For a competitive insurance quote today, call Hickey, Clark and Langan on 9-1-2-6-8. Or pop into their office at Bally McCool Letter Kenny. Hickey, Clark and Langan General Insurance is limited. Trading as Hickey, Clark and Langan is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Highland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family, flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland West Airport, don't just take off, take it easy. OK, some rain and drizzle early this morning but it will become mainly dry. This afternoon though, rain will develop in the west and will spread right across the region, highest temperatures of 11 or 12 degrees with moderate to fresh southerly breezes. Now, Kieran Sheridan is with the Health Division of SIPDU for Donagall. Good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. Kieran, thank you for joining us. Right, now, retired SIPDU members, representatives are presenting themselves to HSC officers in Manor, Hamilton in a step-up in their campaign over pension arrears so what's the background to this action, Kieran, please? Greg, as a background, I work in health in Donagall but I also am a coordinator of the Sligo Leeds from Emerson Garmin District Council and we've retired members' committee and there is issues that's relevant to retired personnel. Our committee met last week and members had expressed concerns about monies that were pension rises that they were owed as far back as the 2nd of February, 2022 and they haven't received them and they can be all aware of the cost of living crisis and the cost of energy and inflation and they've even seen a figure of 13% for food inflation last week. Our pensioners are under pressure and this is money that they're owed that they've made contributions to and there's a member that I spoke to last week and this will give you the personal element of it. A gentleman, a very, very proud member who gives decades of exemplary service and I do stress decades of exemplary service who was actually caught up in the scenario he was going to have to contact family members for a help-out, for a handout because he was actually struggling to pay another trustee bill and that does the human effect. Now this isn't a top-up or a bonus or a boost. This is money that was agreed but has yet to be paid. Yes, Greg, I suppose if you go back in time pensions would have been linked to pay rises, you know what I mean, not index linked but as pay progression proceeds to the public service there's a set fee also goes to pensioners so if I get 2% as a public servant the pensioner also should get 2%. So on the last pay deal just to give you the figures those 3% agreed from the 2nd of February 1.5% from the 1st of October, 2022 and 2% from the 1st of March just gone and there's been no payment issued. None whatsoever. Has there been any explanation issued? We issued a correspondence last Friday to the HSE advising that we have a delegation going to Manor Hamilton this morning and we asked two questions. One was the reason for the delay and two, a timeline for payment. We received an ambiguous email that has actually raised more need for clarification than given us any definitive answers to say that they're quoting a circular that ceased to exist from 2020 on and they're basically saying they're looking after 44,000 retirees across the country and they have to go through everyone on an individual basis. This is shocking in the extreme because we would have understood with payroll systems and the massive capital investment into payroll structures and pensions you would imagine that there is financial governance and proper audit and once all those rules are met you would think it would be a simple version of important data and the computer system should be able to come out with results rather than individually going through every individual person. There are 44,000 retirees across the country and we understand it's affected by this. We're going up there this morning at half ten through the delegation we believe at the eleventh hour it was indicated to us that there was nobody available but I think this was just an effort to avoid actually meeting our members and because members were going to give personal narratives of how it's affecting them. Alright, so we hear one of those if that's okay. Excuse me, is with us and is a pension holder and affected by this. Parig, thanks for taking the call this morning. No problem, thanks very much yourself. What's your situation Parig as much as you want to talk about and how this is impacting on you? The main reason that I'm going to Manor Hamilton this morning is that this pay increase is due on the second of February 2022 and I suppose if you put that into perspective for your listeners that's three weeks before Russian invaded Ukraine and you know we're all aware of all that has happened in the world since then it's been a long time nearly 15 months at this stage and the cost of living increases has been substantial and I'm not any more than anybody else my wife is a pensioner the same as I am and we have been reasonable we understood that when I was a worker I always understood that the workers got their pay calculated as their increases and the pensioners were a little bit behind but I don't think it's reasonable I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that after 15 months we develop a real cost of living it has been well over a year now as you've just outlined and we heard there from Kieran and it seems to be that what the HSC is saying is that they have to go through every one of the 44,000 people individually to check their I don't know how long that would take to me it doesn't make much sense I mean I'm sure you are aware of the paper system that was put into place and I mean we were told after all the millions and millions that it cost that anything could be done just at the press of a button that this was going to be the real deal for the future so I can't understand I really don't I really can't understand why they would have to go through everybody's pension because I retired a while ago and I mean it took three months nearly for my pension to be paid to me when I retired so I mean there was quite a lot of effort for them to calculate my pension I have no doubt it was correct and I cannot see why they just don't have the percentage increase to it one would imagine that it is as we were told at that stage that anything that for the future that this was future proof that all it took was the push of a button and anything could be calculated at that stage so I have issues about that I just I worry about where it's leading I suppose we're all kind of half-paranormal at the moment that somebody is trying to take something off us I know different than everybody and at the end of the day too when you are different to other people in this way in that we are most of us are feeling the pressures of inflation you quite rightly referenced all the increases and costs it's even worse for you though because your income is much less than it should be so you're feeling the cost of living crisis the inflation situation worse than the cost of living crisis the cost of living crisis has affected everybody in Ireland I would arguably say and I'm not saying the corner of the market that it has affected pensioners as much if not more because pensioners are trying to do the best by their families how many and I'm sure you're well aware of too how many people have come back to live at home in the last year because they can't get accommodation in Dublin or they can't afford to live in Dublin and they're coming back and they're living with their parents and the parents are trying to have them out with mortgages or they're trying to have them out with deposits with their living but that's the same with their deposits or even with money to live from week to week with the cost of time care and the cost of everything else you know it's kind of extremely difficult for people to live at this stage the grandparent and the pensioners are always there to help out but you know they're feeling the pension themselves you also have to have you also have worked very hard and contributed to best assure yourself and you did believe you were doing so to give you a decent standard of living in your retirement so you can enjoy the time with your wife and that's been taken from you because of the delays in this money being given to you thank you for helping us understand that Kieran Sheridan with the health division of SIPTU for Donagall I mean do you believe especially given that most latest response that the can has been kicked down the road this has been pushed on to a different administration or do you believe that the system simply aren't there to process to process these increases as you would like to see I'd be shocked if the systems aren't in place Greg because as Porrick said there's been massive investment you know we're here in anecdotal stuff that does the staffing crisis and pensions and you know maybe if that's true it needs to be addressed but we actually believe at the minute it's kicked the can down the road for two metres and three weeks time that's not acceptable we've been more than reasonable as Porrick has said we've 15 months waiting there's money zoned there's people living week to week I'm not going to say I repeat what Porrick said but a crisis is more people cannot go on it's shocking it's having a massive negative impact on the quality life after decades of exemptly public service that presentation representations are being made at 10.30 so we'll let you go thanks for your time this morning thank you Greg Keir and Sheridan there and Porrick back with more after the news and obituary notices Hi, Paddy here at Shane Connick Cars in Donegal Town are you looking to upgrade your car? With Shane Connick Cars you'll find mix and models for every budget great finance options and we also accept trade ins check out ShaneConnickCars.com or call on to us at Shane Connick Cars from London Road, Donegal Town for the most effective remedies for a common cold but if you find that you're coughing so hard that your chest hurts or if it's disrupting your sleep just ask our pharmacist to recommend the best solution for a speedy recovery for all your pharmacy needs and advice you can trust we're here for you at Brennan's Pharmacy Moncranna, Lonani and Creaselaw Transform your garage with an electric roller garage door from Gorolla it's time to modernize with a fully fitted roller door from just 997 Euros with 21 colours to choose from will even take your old garage door away book your free survey today call 1800 827 515 or visit Gorolla.ie a special recipe ice cream family run, helpful staff and service with a smile sure it's all go with Kellen's live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News good morning it's 10 o'clock Donald Kavanaugh at the Highland Radio News Desk Minister Charlie McConnelog says a number of major school projects in in Shown remain unscheduled and he's confident they will not be delayed he was speaking after Education Minister Norma Foley said that Gwelsk and Nagara Mushry in Donegal Town is the only Donegal project which has been stalled as a result of a review of costs by the Department of Public Expenditure asked about Mobile Community College where works have been outstanding for a lengthy period Minister Foley said it continues to go through the normal procedure that's been echoed by Minister McConnelog Minister for the main contract has been identified the ETB now are waiting for final go ahead in relation to the electrical mechanical subcontracts the school has made a massive difference in North and he's shown when it was built 20 years ago but the school has never been finished half of the school is in prefabs it doesn't have the facilities of the school of a stature and of its educational service provision or students or staff deserves Ishka Aaron says it's investigating reports of water supply disruptions in Klonmani and surrounding areas with more information to follow local people have told Highland Radio News it's the second day of disruption with breaks in supply in some areas since lunchtime yesterday there may be traffic disruptions as the cause of the issue is investigated the Thyshock says the government was well aware of an exodus of small landlords when it decided not to extend the evictions ban however the overall says it wasn't aware of the exact number of termination notices issued prior to the decision being made it comes as the RTB estimates up to 15,000 landlords could leave the rental sector this year the Thyshock says he's satisfied that continuing the ban would have made the problem worse not the exact number but we did know and I think everyone knows that for a number of years now we've seen an exodus of small landlords from the rental market we were certainly aware that that was an issue and that's one of the things that's contributing to the housing crisis and continuing the ban for longer would have caused more landlords to exit the market making the problem worse in Donegal 88 eviction notices were reactivated following the lifting of the ban at midnight on Friday Donegal W. Pierce Doherty says he's aware of at least one family which is now facing having to sleep in their car in one conversation that my office had with the family was the case of that they have nowhere to go there's nowhere available to them to rent at the price that they can afford and they're talking to the local authority about sleeping in their car and that situation but this was always the reality when the government decided to end its eviction ban without any plan in place and then it's shown Councillor believes the old health centre in Tlamani could be repurposed for use by local sports clubs the facility on Billion Road has been lying vacant for a number of years now while remaining in the possession of the HSE Councillor Albert Doherty says priority needs to be given to placing the building on the open market I have not put it to the HSE that they must go through the requirements that are necessary in order that if there's no interest internally that the HSE now prioritise putting this building and that they be open to an interested community group 4 out of every 5 ambulances spent over 30 minutes at an emergency department last year before offloading a patient and getting back on the road the HSE's target is less than half an hour that was only met in 20.8% of cases last year according to freedom of information files and it totally we're told it's a regular problem at Lether-Kenny University Hospital David Hall the chief executive of Lifeline Ambulance Services the problem is caused by overcrowded emergency departments the emergency departments are under immense pressure and then you have sick people coming in via ambulance on top of that and physically having somewhere to put people having an asusable place within the emergency department to put somebody and having the staff and the time the ambulance staff and paramedic staff is causing a knock on effect of a delay and that ambulance is now off the road Ryanair has called on the transport minister to make sure anti-drone equipment at Dublin Airport is ready for the busy Easter period hundreds of thousands of people are expected to fly in and out of the airport over the next two weeks with more here's Stephanie Rowan Flights at Dublin Airport had to temporarily stop 6 times in the first 8 weeks of this year due to illegal drone activity the government's promise new anti-drone technology to tackle the problem but it's not in place yet Ryanair is now calling on the transport minister to make it ready for this week and next during the busy Easter period a spokesperson says Aimee and Ryan must protect passengers so they don't suffer any closures or disruptions over the next few weeks for the forecast there was some rain and drizzle this morning that's easing and it will become mainly dry for the rest of the day with highest temperatures on today Tuesday of 11 or 12 degrees celsius and that's island radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team good morning the obituary notice says for this Tuesday morning April the 4th the death has taken place of Owen McCullough 156 Brookfield Terrace Mallon Owens remains will repose at his home from 5 o'clock this evening funeral leaving his home on Thursday afternoon on a quarter past 12 for one o'clock funeral service in St Mary's church like Mallon followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery family time please from 11pm until 11am and on the morning of the funeral family flowers only donations if desired to their coronary care unit letter Kenny University hospital care of any family member Owens funeral service can be viewed live on the Mallon head community facebook page the death has taken place of Kathleen Doherty 3 Millfield Bunkerana and formerly of Karen Mallon Mallon head removal from Murphy's funeral home burn foot this afternoon at 3 o'clock going to her late residence at Karen Mallon Mallon head funeral from there to more afternoon at half past one going to the star of the seat chapel Mallon head for a recreation mass at 2 o'clock with interment afterwards in the cemetery Mallon the death has taken place on the Mallon head community home burn lack removal from the eternal life chapel rest mountain top letter Kenny at 12 noon today going to his home wake from half past three this afternoon and from 1 o'clock tomorrow afternoon rosary at 8 o'clock nightly house private after rosary and on the morning of the funeral funeral service in Chappahubble column kill knock fuller on Thursday morning at 11 o'clock with interment afterwards in the cemetery the funeral service can be viewed live on Kearnorthy funeral directors Facebook page family flowers only donations in late to the children's ward letter Kenny University Hospital care of any family member or Kearnorthy funeral director. The death has taken place of Yvonne Hines nail Gorman 15 old Mill Court sign mills reposing at her home funeral leaving her home to death. The death has taken place of Bridget O'Donnell nail Walsh crows and dimes sligo and formerly of Dunlowe Dunningall mass of the resurrection will be celebrated at Centresa's church sign mills at 11 o'clock fall by interment in the adjoining cemetery donations and lay of flowers please to multiple system at trophy care quickly funeral directors family time please from 11 p.m Resurrection will be celebrated at Centresa's church sligo today at 12 noon and will be live streamed via mcnmedia.tv burial follows in sligo cemetery family flowers only please by request family home private for more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals please go to hinderedio.com cracking Easter offers from Aldi Cadbury dairy milk chunky egg 400 gram 999 plus super six fresh Irish meat and fish offers like smoke coley fillers save 13% only 259 and milk chocolate filled mini eggs for 79 cent which saves even more of your Easter bunny money nah I don't like it like that I love it Aldi every day amazing chunky egg offer limited to two per customer last some of your comments coming in so far this morning RT we're never going to look at the building for a presenter of the late late show it's a national disgrace that an organization which is funded by the people is absolutely no transparency in how it operates a big percentage of the employees are sons or daughters of previous employees who've retired I pay my license for every year but hardly any of my friends have ever paid they say this is due to the total total lack of originality and variety in programming and the extraordinary amount of cookery programs on every day of the week but the majority of the programs from morning until quite late are British programs or American programs programs you can watch for free on ITV2 or great TV or any of those channels anyway good morning good Friday everyone should work if someone wants to take one hour off the service then back to work they should be okay oh no we wouldn't want that would we I'm off good Friday I think between 10 and 11 off on Friday the pension on payment to retirees they should refer it to the pensions ombudsman's office I would hope they've done that already a caller says that she has no idea of what her HSE pension actually is and no idea when there are due to a rise of what the story is she received a call seven years into receiving the pension to say she was being paid short for the whole time and she was old ten thousand euro but how can you really they say just phone up but that doesn't work since when you call they tell you they cannot give you the information I don't know the answer to that I presume if you're in the same space as Parg was you would you arise February last year but that might you might be in a I would imagine sorry really what I'm trying to get to here I'd imagine the whole pensions and payment systems within the HSE are incredibly complex I wonder if they still wouldn't using Windows 11's computer Windows 11 computers in the HSE they were up until quite recently there's no water in the Urus area of Clonmani since yesterday evening does anyone know what's going on I don't know what's causing I do know Irish water no they say at this time that they are investigating it that they're aware of the problems with updates to follow those updates never actually follow it seems let me see what they say here when they posted this right 45 minutes ago so maybe they're only getting to it now no one rang in we're currently investigating reports of a supply disruption to Clonmani and surrounding areas more information will follow 15 hours ago though 15 hours ago they posted we're currently investigating reports of a supply disruption to Clonmani and surrounds more information to follow okay so in 15 hours they've gone from investigating reports to continuing to investigating reports and the more information to follow was them reposting the same information so unfortunately I'm hamstrung I can't help you any further in that regard but we'll get in contact with them see if we can get any updates but they recognize the problems there so what's the government's plan asks a caller and tourism many people depend on a holiday let for an income why should the people be forced to house the homeless while the government does nothing for the homeless and that book does nothing to the homeless one what would you guys think but actually with the ring bells barking up the rotten tree with this one and I don't believe I was misquoting him he wanted no tax or very little tax for long-term renters big tax for people who are in the air bnb he's not alone he's not on that lawyer there are many in opposition that are of the same view this caller says I was sitting Two men then sat very close beside them, which seemed strange, and one of the men leaned over to see if there was anything in one of the lady's jacket pockets. As she was turned toward her friend, the man spotted that I was watching, and they then boarded the Lewis. The area around there and the Lewis doesn't seem to be safe. Looks like they're identifying a couple of pickpockets there. Do you know if many people are having difficulty receiving a bill from Electric Ireland? asked this listener. I'm supposed to receive a bill monthly and haven't had a bill in two months. I called him yesterday, and they just stated that they're experiencing problems issuing bills to some customers, and they will get back to me at some stage. Thanks. It sounds like they may have answered the question for you, a bizarre one. Any other Electric Ireland customers out there? They are the biggest company for electricity provision in terms of customers. So maybe you can cast a bit more light onto that issue. A caller says, I genuinely thought Miriam or Sarah would get the late, late show. But I do remember that Claire Byrne mentioned I'd love a crack at Sean O'Rourke show when she had her weekend show in May and she got it in August, okay? But you can't forget Swingate. As I was in a car and five minutes later, I thought it was actually gift grub. I almost had to check my homework afterwards. The last time a quiz fronted by fellow blonde, followed by a TV soap, Teelo. Okay, that's Kevin from Dunlowe, who's always a bit cryptic. Slightly too cryptic for me this morning, Kevin. She goes on to say, though, although CB wasn't in the A team. Thanks, Kevin. Appreciate your input and your time. I want to say a request now, if that's okay, for Mary Bagley. She's in Ballyhurt Fannard celebrating her birthday today. Best wishes to you, Mary, from Susan and Seamus. And a very quick reminder for you, just if you're tuned in here. We've two days left on our 15,000 Euro competition. That's what it's worth, effectively. It's a 10,000 Euro holiday voucher, travel voucher. So it doesn't have to be for holidays, by the way. You can use this to go back and forth to visit family, to your blue in the face really effectively, if you wanted to. Until the 10,000's expired. It's a 10,000 Euro travel voucher, 5,000 Euro in cash. We've labelled it spending money. I mentioned last week maybe it could be a new bathroom or part of a new kitchen or whatever it might be. It's all in association with Atlantic Travel. You can get your tickets on our website now, right now, highlandradio.com. Click on win a holiday, answer a simple question. You can buy yourself one ticket, and it could be the lucky ticket, 10 Euro. I think the last winner was a single ticket, but one of the prices was anyway. But if you want to, you can get six for 50, 10 for 80, so they're cheaper. And that's even if you want to group in with other people. Just to let you know that the lines will close, those entry lines will close in terms of access. 11 a.m. on Thursday. Draw will be made half an hour later on this show, so someone will win 15 grand effectively. If you want to give us a call too, you can get your tickets that way, 07491 25,000. Right, coming up shortly, a little later on, in fact. Paul McLaughlin, he's back with us. The gardener is back. Balakdur Garden Centre is Paul McLaughlin. We're going to be talking gardening. I haven't a clue, haven't even looked at it. Mine is not really alone. It's kind of a field with shortened grass. Cows seem to go in there, which is a problem, but anyone who cares. And also, I do like my potted plants. I think it's all a bit early for that stuff. But we'll ask Paul, what's in trend? What's coming up? What could we be doing? What should we be doing? What should we hold back on doing? A lot of people are getting their first cut done. Is it too soon? I don't know. I don't know, but we'll get answers to all of those questions for you. So stay tuned for that. And get them into us, 0866025000. I want to make sure your questions are answered. A caller says, I often hear young ones telling me they don't feel appreciated in their jobs here. A little praise would go a long way and they certainly would appreciate their jobs. So to be honest, I've heard that's another reason our young are leaving. They don't feel valued. Look it, there are some employers, sorry, that are afraid to praise their employees. They're afraid to say, well done. Good job. Nice one. They're afraid of them coming back and saying, is there any chance of a pay rise? He said I was doing good in my work. I think there's an awful lot of that in Irish business that people are afraid to praise their workers for fear it could cost them in the pocket. Is that part of the problem? Wonder, 0866025000. There's also a general acceptance that you're on minimum wage in certain jobs. So if you're 1617 and you want to get a start, you'll for the most part get the basic bottom dollar. And then as you get older, it increases. I think people would get more out of workers if they rewarded them a little bit. If you gave them that extra 70 cents to a 17 year old, it's a big deal. How much might you get back in terms of productivity? This caller says, I'm so sick of all this chat about landlords. I have a tenant for two years. In the beginning, a model tenant. We had a good relationship. He paid the rent and I had no issues. In return, I filled the tank with oil in the winter free. And at Christmas gave him a month's rent free. Wow, that's really generous. Then all this chat about wealthy landlords started and he just stopped paying the rent. When I said I need to pay a mortgage, he doesn't care and threatens me with all kinds of violence on social media and social media campaigns. So he's being evicted to say, he's gonna go on social media to say he's being evicted. I can assure you when I get him house, this house, which has to be my pension plan will be sold. So when I get him out, sorry, this house, which is my pension plan, will be sold. It's so unfair to me and my family. So that sounds like a model landlord there. The tenants started playing up a little bit and now they want to get him out, get the house sold and get the money out of it. All right, we'll be back with Community Guard information after these. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Tuesday, April 4th. You're playing on a brown-coloured sheet. The reference number says seven. It's game number 14. The numbers are, the number one, 62, 18, 15, 30, 24. The number four, 69, the number two, and 28. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 p.m. tonight. Leave in your name, contact number, and the name of the shop where you purchased your book. Get all your NCBI Bingo information at HighlandRadio.com. Great photos into beautiful gifts at McGee's Camus Lattecanny. Different gift ideas include canvas prints, freestanding or ready-to-hine art blocks, and personalised photo books. Perfect to mark any occasion. There's also jigsaws, calendars, mugs, and much more. For details, visit McGee's.ie. Turn your favourite moments into something truly special with McGee's Camus Lattecanny. Are you still struggling with slow and unreliable broadband? Imagine is connecting thousands of homes to high-speed broadband in your area right now. So why wait? With Imagine rated excellent by Trust Pilot, you'll soon be working from home with ease, streaming your favourite shows and sports uninterrupted. Join the thousands of connected homes and businesses today at Imagine.ie. Service subject to availability, terms and conditions apply. Call at Loganair.co.uk. Travel from the 29th of April. Subject to availability, exclusions apply. Loganair for all the times. The Community Guarda information slot is brought to you by Sheridan Security Systems, protecting what you value most. Call today and get your zero-wire alarm system from 299 Euro. Sheridan Security, 9-1-26025. Alright, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. It is 22 minutes past 10 on this Tuesday, the 4th of April, 2023. It's time for our latest edition of Community Guarda information. And back in studio with us is Garda Nal Maguire of the Milford Garda District. Good morning to you and thank you so much for calling in. Thanks for having me on, Greg. Great to have you. Right, OK, quite a bit to get through, so we'll start with the appeals if that's OK and Garda, you're looking for the public's help in relation to an assault in Lederkenny at the end of March. Yes, we've a few crime updates this morning, Greg, that we need the public assistance with. The first one is an assault at Lower Main Street Lederkenny at approximately 11.40pm last Wednesday, the 29th of March. A man was assaulted outside of licensed premises by another man. The injured man was taken to Lederkenny Hospital by ambulance to receive treatments for injuries after he was assaulted, none of which are believed to be life-threatening. So a standard appeal in relation to a usual assault, unfortunately, on the Main Street Lederkenny. If anyone saw this assault or thinks they may know the other party involved, please contact my colleagues in Lederkenny 0749167100 and also because we have the exact time, Greg, 11.40pm, anybody that was down the Main Street with a dashcam with the police, mind handed over to the garage. And again, with dashcams, you can just hand over your memory card and we'll swap it out with a new one. Yeah, OK, and let's not talk to this particular case, because a person being assaulted and not having life-threatening injuries doesn't always tell the full story, does it, Nala? And as I say, we're not talking of this particular case, but it can be quite serious at times, too. Yeah, it's all too common, Greg. We see a lot of assaults outside public houses, usually as a result of intoxication. And some of the injuries you see, Greg, it doesn't have to be anything life-threatening, but it can be serious for the person involved, you know, missing teeth, broken jaws. Broken eyes. Yeah, that's the kind of typical thing that we see, Greg, unfortunately. Yeah, it's horrendous, really, isn't it? OK, let's talk now about some criminal damage which occurred in Koldaaf. Yeah, a temple moille Koldaaf between 11pm on Wednesday past and 8.15am when it was discovered on Thursday past the 30th. A car was parked at the front of a house and it was damaged overnight. Two of the tyres were slashed and the back window was broken. We appeal to anybody who may have observed any suspicious activity at Temple Moille Koldaaf between 11pm on Wednesday and the following morning, Thursday the 30th to contact my colleagues in Bunkrana on 0749320540. Yep, criminal damage too being investigated in Lifford. Yeah, Clonley Park, a very worrying one for the occupants of a house on Tuesday the 28th of March at approximately 11.30pm. The residents, I'm not sure if they were in bed or not, but it was 11.30pm, they heard a loud bang and they realised that a rock had been thrown through the upstairs bedroom window. When they went downstairs, they realised that another pane of glass had been smashed in the downstairs living room window and four panes of glass were smashed in another downstairs bedroom window and also the rear one screen of the car had also been smashed. So a very deliberate action here. Greg, three people were seen leaving the estate at that time and they had their, they were wearing dark clothes and they were wearing gloves and they had their heads covered, I'm not sure how, possibly with hoodies. These people were observed leaving the estate immediately after the incident. So if anybody knows who these people are, please contact my colleagues in Lifford or again they can contact the Guard of Confidential from 1-800-666-01. So that's the, and Clonley in Lifford between 11pm and midnight last Tuesday March the 28th. Yeah, and these people could have been running. They're going to be walking quickly. I mean, it's quite a specific time. These stories are a concern because it's incredibly stressful for the families you mentioned. But I mean, people might have a cot under a window or the couch under a window and massive shards of glass, not to mention the item being thrown in of itself. I mean, these people might think they're roughing up the house or something but one of these days this is going to be a fatality or incredibly serious injury and you just wonder, are they aware of their actions? Yeah, Greg, good point. We've had it before. You've probably heard us on it before. There has been, you know, children playing and sleeping behind windows that have been broken and unfortunately glass has gotten into their cot and their playpen. So you're right, it's just a matter of time if this kind of behaviour keeps going. This is the rest they're undertaken. So I don't know what was going on there and clearly Parker, what the issue is, but that doesn't matter. We would like to speak to anybody that can help us solve this one. So please contact my colleagues in Lifford. Yeah, and just to reiterate as I said before, you're not necessarily looking for people that saw it happening as such. That would be very useful. That would be helpful. But it's any information, any sightings, any dashcam footage in and around the area all the time that might help progress the investigation further. Yeah, it's a very localised, very, very local area. You know, it's a small community, so fingers crossed we'll get this one solved, Greg. Yeah, okay, fingers crossed indeed. Criminal damage in Newton, Cunningham this time. Yeah, quite a serious one, Greg. Monetary value in this one on the 1st of April between 6pm and 8pm. It's not on April Fools now, unfortunately. Shortly before 8pm, Guardi received a report that two truck cabs were on fire at that location. The fire service attended the scene but unfortunately the two lorry cabs were completely destroyed as a result of the fire. It is believed that this day it was started deliberately. So we ask anybody who travelled in that area at Main Street, Newton, Cunningham on Saturday 1st of April between 6pm and 8pm, please contact my colleagues in Wetterkinny, 074-9167-100 or indeed the Guardi Confidential Line again 1-800-TREVAL-6-TREVAL-1 just leave a message. Alright, another one of big monetary value. It's time affecting the farming community of the last one might have as well. It's the theft of livestock. Yeah, I suppose theft of livestock. It's normally sheep we're talking about in this case, though it's Charlie Heffers from land that Casualenin killed McCranon, which is through Terman on the way to Kresla as you're heading towards Lost Salt. It's a very rural area. But yeah, a lot of money involved for this injured party. So this happened on March the 31st between 4pm and Saturday April the 1st at midday when it was discovered. So I have a description of the Heffers too, where white full-bread winling Heffers and two cross-bred winling Charlie Heffers. So, you know, the winlings means I suppose that they're only young, they're under a year old. So they're quite small, even though the Charlie would be a big breed, but these are quite small. So two white full-bread and two cross-bred winling Charlie Heffers. One of which is snow-white and the other is brown. So, Gary here, I've just been hearing from anybody with any information. That's the Gardson Milford looking after that. 0749153060 Alright, your colleagues in Bunkrana are investigating the theft of the pub sign. Yeah, this is from a closed licence premises in Bunkrana. It's a large Smithx pub sign, Greg. It's one of these round kind of, they look like, I suppose maybe two foot in diameter. It's one of the, it looks like a kind of pocket wash kind of sign that hangs off a bracket off the wall. You know the signs that are the round Smithx ones that are green background. It's quite an old sign. Just because the licence premises closed doesn't mean that nobody is allowed to this. Somebody owns it. So if anybody knows or has been offered this sign for sale or knows where it is, it belongs to somebody and would like it back and it can be left back to to the any any Guard of Station and if anybody knows any information who took it, please contact the Guard in Bunkrana, 0749320540 Alright, okay. I mean, you know the Guard are there to keep denying things but we have to be the ears and eyes as well of our own community community alerts are an important element of that. So talk to me a little bit about community alert. It's a community safety program primarily for rural areas with an emphasis on vulnerable and more aged population assists with lots of things including visits to elderly persons and security screens to make sure that they have lights etc. and basic security precautions. It operates in partnership between the community and Guard of Shiaqana and Munchinatira which is community and voluntary charity organisation. It works on the principle of shared responsibility for crime prevention and reduction. We have several community alert programs locally and we hope to foster the process of community development and reduce opportunities for crimes to occur and I know there's a specific emphasis on the Bunkrana district at the moment, the district officers there Superintendent Barry Doyle is quite understood and setting up community alert programs in Bunkrana so if anybody is any interested in it they can research it on any of the websites Munchinatira which is Munchinatira so it's M-U-I-N-T-I-R or indeed Guarda.ie The community operates the text alert scheme which is basically a number that you can contact the guards on directly and you can also receive alerts sort of group alerts for maybe if somebody has a verified suspicious vehicle in there or whatever again it's a very rural thing. Our community alerts and text alert scheme as active and popular as they once were I just don't hear about it as much now that could be because they're working really well and no one is in the complaints but I see the signs I can't hear the conversations about texts and all that kind of stuff Gronja looks after and let her come here and I spoke to Gronja this morning and I was asking her at that point and she was saying it is in decline and she gets a lot of contact on Facebook from people so it's kind of maybe substituted a bit but still people do use the community alert and it is a good one particularly for suspicious very localised somebody seen as a vehicle pulling into somebody's yard with that particular community rather than sort of being broadcasted out to hold on to God or whatever you know I think what happens with an awful lot of those it's a very small core group of people that sort of keep them going and operating and maybe if they then have other things to do it can fall by the wayside but as you say quite rightly I think it's really important Yeah unfortunately it's a text based scheme so how many times are we using text now it's kind of fun not a lot of people use text now not a lot of people that aren't using smartphones they still have kind of the old sort of push button phones I think we don't want to if there's a vacuum or we lose something something else often can come in its place Right okay you're looking for colleagues the latest God or treatment competition over on the 24th of March Yeah I suppose the guards are pushing this one hard the candidates can apply at publicjobs.ie that's the procedure you have to go through you have to apply through that website not through the guard website and it's kind of have to be completed by 3pm on the 14th of April so that's in 10 days time Guardi Gurgaunya and our colleagues from the community police unit in Latter-Kinney will be holding an information stand at the Latter-Kinney shopping centre tomorrow Wednesday April the 5th between 12 and 2 so between 12 and 2 in the Latter-Kinney shopping centre with a specific emphasis on recruitment and given any advice to anybody that wants to come in and have a chat with my colleagues there please feel free to do so or indeed you're very welcome to and I would recommend it myself that you call into any guarda station and you can speak directly to the people at the front Further to that Greg just before I go I just want to mention the upcoming bank haul the weekend and the sort of road safety messages you want to get across bank haulies and Donegal are never good when it comes to road accidents they bring a much higher volume of traffic because of our nature of our tourist area and as well as that too I'm sorry to interrupt your flow too at this time of year we're starting to see there's agricultural vehicles that there's more young animals that maybe they could escape or have you bikes caravans motorhomes even boats we're seeing a different type of traffic heading into the sort of April public holiday weekend I think then we might you know sort of ones maybe in the depth of winter and that all creates additional challenges yeah yeah like I said Greg it's traditionally been a bad time for us in Donegal we've had many fatalities on specifically on bank haul the weekend so please I would love it if we didn't have to knock on somebody's door this common week to bring bad news so just you know times prices for everyone so please use the road responsibly our key messages are slow down where your seatbelt and never ever drink or drug drive and you know mobile phones can wait until you get to your destination or pull over if you need to look at a message or take a phone call and if you've been drinking never safe to drive and you know be careful the morning after don't risk it as always we have road safety plan in place and the roads police unit will be conducting high visibility speed and drink driving and drug driving checkpoints over the weekend but I suppose to wish everybody have a safe and enjoy the Easter. Yeah you too indeed although I think a lot of holiday times have been cancelled amongst you and your colleagues has it? Yeah for next week we don't know what's happening yet Greg but yeah we've just been told just been told to turn up on Mondays. Listen thanks as always for turning up on a Tuesday we appreciate it. That's Garda Nal Maguire of the Milford Garda District that was the Community Garda Information and it's back with you next Tuesday just after the 10 o'clock news and we'll be back with more after this break. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com SuperOms.ie and start your journey to a SuperOm today. Grants offered are provided by the Government of Ireland through the SEAI. You can register today at ruralenterpriseskillnet.ie and empower yourself to create change. Rural Enterprise Skillnet is co-funded by Skillnet Ireland and network companies. Skillnet Ireland is funded from the National Training Fund through the department of further and higher education, research, innovation and science. Easter sale now on. Evolved clothing Superstore. Two floors of men's essential styles and fashions. In casual wear, street wear, formal wear and suiting. Plus over 200 people. Easter sale now on. Evolved clothing Letty Kenny Retail Park. When planning a break this year, why not consider the huge selection of quality tours on offer from Boys Travel Remelton. Choose from Kilkenny or Kilarney. The ploughing championships are an overnight trip to bloom. Call Boys Tours on 9151043. The Euro Millions Jackpot is an estimated 40 million euro. Clear responsibly in-store, in-app or at Lottery.ie The National Lottery. It could be you. OK, you're very welcome back to the program. Plenty to come on the show. Don't forget, Paul McLaughlin of Balakdur Garden Centre is going to be in with us answering your gardening questions, which are coming in quite quickly, which is good to hear. Right, OK, we're joined on the program now by Sheena Mitchell, who's a pharmacist. Hi Sheena. Hello, how are you doing? Great to have you and thank you so much for joining us. I think this is a good conversation to have in public, because I think a lot of people, when they take the newborn home, are kind of a little bit uncomfortable with people coming up and touching it and kissing it or past the parcel kind of stuff, and fingers playing with lips and that kind of and people don't really have the defence to sort of put up a defence and know how to broach that. But anyway, before we get all that, what is your advice to new parents and kissing and contact with the baby? From others, obviously, we're talking about. Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's a really, really difficult situation to navigate and parents are very vulnerable when they first bring a baby home. You know, they're tired, they're exhausted, they're overwhelmed. And that's just dad. And that's just dad. Oh, don't start me on that debate. I'm joking. Go ahead, Sheena. Continue. I jest. No, no, no. But yeah, everyone in the household, siblings and everyone, everyone is kind of out of place. There's a new human in your household that you have to try and adjust to. So it's a mad time at best, you know. So the way I have started this conversation is just by looking at the facts, because I think it's really important that parents are informed and then hopefully, if they're armed with the actual medical information, they can then make decisions and feel a bit more confident in them. And then we can kind of talk about how we have those conversations. So in terms of kind of medical risk to a newborn and when I'm talking about a newborn, I'm talking about a baby who's kind of two to three months of age. So anything onto the three month mark it's really important to remember that a baby at that age is still developing their immune system. So they don't actually have the physical capabilities to defend themselves as an older child would. So the argument of, oh, we can't wrap them up in bubble wrap. We need to kind of let them be exposed to a little bit of illness. It doesn't stand up for a child under three months of age because they're not able to. So all you're doing is endangering them. So do we need before we go into that, do we then need as a society start to view then the first three months of life as the fourth trimester is such if you know what I mean in terms of the child's development, and that's kind of a contradiction in terms, but in terms of the child's development that it is still attached to mom and growing as part of almost the pregnancy, albeit outside her. I completely agree with that. The fourth trimester is a huge thing and especially for mom as well, you know, you've carried this baby for nine months. You have a lot of physical change going on in your body and it's not a case that you're pregnant one day and happy to go out with your baby and have life kind of sorted the next. So it's a real period of adjustment and everyone needs a little bit of time and even for mom obviously the hormones are changing but it's the same thing for the baby like they're having serious that's why you'll often see things like a baby will have a fine head of hair when they're born and then suddenly it'll all fall out and that's all due to changing hormone levels. So it really is a fourth trimester and even for things like establishing breast feeding and bonding and a lot of moms will have kind of baby blues if you you know in the early weeks after after giving birth. So it is a time that we should definitely protect moms but also you can understand and look I had three kids under three and a half myself and on tiring days there was nothing that I enjoyed more than having visitors and showing off my baby because every mom gives birth to the best baby that has ever been born you know so there's an element of you want to share and you want to be excited but at the same time you kind of you know your innate need to protect the child. Yeah and I think it's about really the physical content or contact sorry or being over droplets the baby for a prolonged amount of time stuff like that and we'll get to that but also I suppose you want to strike a balance here especially for the the people you described who are a bit nervous it's all new and what have you we're not talking here about locking your front door for three months and not leaving either and not letting the baby out and the baby is vulnerable and all that type of stuff because obviously you know people are so afraid now because the media is conditioned them to be afraid for starters this is about a balance here isn't it Sheena and I want you to describe that balance so you're not talking about you know put your life on hold for a further three months here this is about I think bringing things that can harm them maybe to the baby yeah like it's really really important to you know let a mother and baby or father and baby develop at their own pace and kind of re-interact with the world at their own pace visitors are really important but you know as I always say to people rather than asking to come over and kiss and you know cuddle the baby in when it's a week and a half old maybe you could make a cup of tea like there's ways you can be helpful when you're visiting a household that having you baby and you can show your support and chat and listen to the stories about how the baby isn't sleeping or the baby's a bit windy you know people absolutely are really really important at that time you need the support and especially from other moms a lot of times people will have little bits of advice to kind of offer and you know we used to say a village raises a child and unfortunately that mentality is kind of gone because people are isolated living in areas where they maybe didn't grow up so they don't know people around them and more families have working and two parents working so it makes it more difficult to just less people home and you know what I mean we're obviously going to go on to talk about you know some of the serious things and in most cases you know with medical intervention everything's going to be okay and all but I think anyone will know a snotty nose in a very young baby how distressing that is and I think they have the ability to you know even you know if they're taking a bottle or if they're on the breast you know what I'm on about it gets you inside you know what I mean and that would just be a snotty nose so we want to avoid particularly the more serious stuff as much as possible and as we go into that too I think maybe in our heads people might think it's grannies and grandad's and sometimes the little two or three or four year olds where you say be gentle and they're playing with their little petri dishes walking around the place as well so it's not I don't think it's necessarily age specific so what would we hoping then to prevent this precious little newborn from catching Sheena okay so there is a few things here so first of all one of the simplest one that any age person can bring into the household is a colesaur and that could even be the moment themselves and the colesaur is caused by the herpes simplex virus and while it's normally very straight forward in an adult or older child it can actually cause severe severe illness including death in children under kind of well under four weeks they're most at risk of it so you know for any visitor coming to the house it's absolutely essential that they're not kissing the baby and also actually that they're doing an awful lot of hand hygiene because it's very easy to touch your lips subconsciously and then touch the surface that someone else could come along then and touch and spread you know infection to the baby with neonatal herpes which is what happens when it manifests in a young baby it can actually affect all of their organs and you know many babies will end up in hospital for many weeks on IV antivirals as a result of this but you know some do die from that condition so this is where it's like well we're actually dealing with fact here this really is a high risk you know situation there's other viruses and you talked about the kids there and certainly any child who is in crash or school or preschool anything or mixing at all are very possibly carrying diseases by illnesses like RSV and hand foot and mouth RSV we're coming to the tail end the season but there are still cases reported every week and that can cause extreme breathing difficulties in babies and it can be really really really damaging it's the leading cause of hospitalization in children under four so they're the illnesses really that we're talking about but as you said there were blocked noses you have to remember if a baby is trying to feed whether it be on breast or a bottle they can't breathe and feed and a baby needs to spend an awful lot of time latched on so you know it's damaging the risk of dehydration a small baby not getting liquids for a very small amount of time can be really quite problematic that if you've got a toddler or something and you get one morgue or bottle into them you know that gives you a bit of space but with a newborn baby if it's not getting in liquids for a reasonably short amount of time it can be problematic so even something as on the face of it simple as a blocked nose can be problematic can't it absolutely yeah so again this is precautionary if there's new moms or dads listen and we don't want to scare the living daylights out of them but knowledge is power okay this is about best ensuring it doesn't happen or be it rare but you can almost you know very very very very much reduce the risk if you take some of this advice but how do you implement this okay because we're afraid to offend people we're afraid to upset people we might have one sister that would go I know exactly what you're on about and then one that would go oh you know and push back because they'd be thinking about themselves and not you do you know what I mean and that could be a man woman it doesn't matter so how do you have the conversation do you just have to bite the bullet and get it out there yeah it's a delicate one all right and you may well ruffle feathers but there's definitely some approaches that you can do so first of all if you're talking about in laws I always say that's your partner's job that's not your job let them deal with that that's a row before we've even got a round to talk that's a row before we've even got a round to talking about it Sheena exactly just a highlight like you know share the responsibility and the other thing is a little heads up before visitors come so generally when your baby's you know a newborn it's people coming to you in a lot of cases so maybe just a little kind of WhatsApp or text message beforehand to say by the way the baby's still really really little so we we don't want you kissing the baby if that's okay if it's grandparents absolutely you might want to let them hold the baby because you know some grandparents are elderly and this is a really really big deal for them having a grand child and no one is taking the joy away from that for from any grand parent so just maybe ask them to use the hand sanitizer before they hold the baby tell them not to come over if they're not feeling well and do insist on the no kissing rule so you know it's not forever it's only for kind of the two to three month period if anyone's coming over that has kids like say you're talking about your sister or brother and they're bringing their children remind them not to bring them if they have any sniffles or if they're not feeling well and then remind them to talk to their children before they come over so that that conversation is had in their home not in yours so say you know that we're going to see the baby but realistically today we're not going to be able to cuddle and hold the baby we can have a little look at the baby from a distance and then when the baby when they come over with your children you can have a lovely conversation with those kids then about how important they're going to be in the baby's life when the baby's older and how they're going to be able to teach the baby how to play and you know show them the value in that way once children get a little bit of attention in that scenario so they lose interest very quickly and go off playing and read the read the room too don't overstay you're welcome if you are the visitor either you know because it's you you know it could be due a nappy change or it could be due a feed and everyone has conf levels in relation to that right okay so take the lead from from the parents and and if you go to leave and they say please I'd love you to stay for a bit then you'll know but they might be glad that you're heading off now so terrible but do you know what I mean like totally and like people might you know you might have a woman maybe on her own at home who's nervous about going out for a walk but they'd love to do it with company and you know let it go at their pace maybe you could join them for a slow you know stroll around the neighborhood or whatever I think you're right though I think look I always say just make sure to go in and make the cup of tea maybe bring some food with you people always say what do I bring to a household that I have a new baby I'm like lasagna or something else that can be shoved in the freezer food is the best gift it always is and as you said respect the boundaries and just make it easier for parents to have their own I suppose wishes and concerns safeguarded well but but then there are some that will want a trusted one or two people maybe a sister that's very close or a mom right or dad but you know what I mean I mean you can you have to make a judgment call as well on the balance of everything don't you so if you have someone who gets it right you're not saying hold the baby tight and don't let anyone near it but this sort of the general population coming in touching breathing all over particularly kissing with the with the the herpes is a particular concern of mine but use your own instinct it's like when you're trying to raise a baby you have to you do have to use your own instinct to and nothing matches that often and that's particularly for if you bring your child to a doctor's if your instincts telling you something other than what's happening there go with your instinct that's what I would suggest I'm not saying you'd say that either Sheena but I think you know particularly the maternal instinct it's really important to listen to that yeah absolutely and I think that's the one thing because it's really about what the parents are comfortable with so there's no right way of parenting there's different people's views as a parent of what they're at home with and if someone is pushed out of their comfort zone it's stressful and that's the last thing we need to do to a new parent to stress them out so ultimately like you know if you have say a very close friend or someone who's very important in your life and you do want them to be able to hold the baby that's not a problem just ask them to do their hand gel ask them to make sure that they're feeling well before they come over and you know do insist that the no kissing rule but you know sometimes because you mentioned the hand gel a couple of times and I'm a warrior right okay I would be we be concerned with someone just rubbing hand gel on their hands and they even just holding the baby's hand just with their skin versus the toxicity of the lotion and I don't know it's background that's just me I don't know if you subscribe to that I would just be we be worried about that personally yeah contact dermatitis is can be very difficult obviously you can you know washing hands is the easiest scenario but sometimes you're not going to get someone to do that and it's easier to okay you can just let it dry in yeah alright so this we're speaking about this because you had maybe people could forward your podcast it's only a short ten minute podcast to the family just say hey listen to this see what you think right but where can people listen to it Sheena yeah so this is exactly blame me that's it so as Sheena said this it's not me you know like she's she said it she's an influence professional what can you do yeah so it's you can find my podcast it's called wondercare podcast and it's on all of the mainstreaming platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify or if you don't kind of really get the whole podcast movement you can just go onto my website wondercare.ie and there's a tab up there for podcasts it's all there and very finally what there's all in this day and age there's always a pushback against stuff you know what I mean that people will think that you're wrong your approach is wrong the world's gone mad back in my day so on and so forth if you had to sort of review the feedback you've had from this people I mean you can't argue with science but what are people saying so very few people have pushed back but there has been kind of people who've said well what would you say to the older generation who think you're bonkers and I am a very level headed non-sensationalist person so anyone who knows me knows that this is not you know something that I'm dramatizing the reality of the situation is years ago babies died of measles years ago babies had a high mortality rate so we're learning how to protect our babies and if you're telling me that a mother 80 years ago who lost her baby due to an infectious disease wouldn't have welcomed this medical information and you know I wouldn't believe you we're here in a you know we've progressed and there are other parts of the world progressed as us and there's a much higher mortality rate in children so it's a living reality for someone in the world right now and I think that really emphasizes your point strongly Sheena, great to have you on the program have a lovely day that is Sheena Mitchell who's a pharmacist this caller says Greg it's amazing how newborn baby advice has changed when mine were born I was told that baby had natural immunity for mother for six weeks but alas with my fourth have found out that's not to be so and I hope if you suffered a loss in that regard I'm really really sorry to hear that it's not quite clear from your text message but that's the sense I'm getting and as I say if that is the case I'm incredibly sorry for what you had went through look there is no doubt that we know the advantages of say for instance if someone can and it's Dante's individual breastfeed that the protection the additional protection it can offer the baby is born with some immunity that's given to its mother from its mother sorry just to set it out on its pathway but clearly it's not exposed to new things that are going around or different things that are going around that the mother maybe didn't have contact with during her pregnancy really even if she did we're talking about particularly coal source and different types of things that can come into a house we're not asking much in that interview I'm not asking anything it's up to use what you do but what we're talking about is just for the first two to three months until you know yourself when a baby goes from that newborn stage to there's a little bit to it do you know what I mean in terms of its strength and resilience and you can see that and as I said instinct trust your instincts 5000 euro in cash simply go to highlandradio.com and click on winner holiday winner will be announced on Thursday on the 9 to noon show transform your garage with an electric roller garage door from Gorolla it's time to modernize with a fully fitted roller door from just 997 euros with 21 colors to choose from will even take your old garage door away book your free survey today called 1800 827 515 or visit Gorolla.ie the annual Easter commemoration will take place on Easter Sunday 9th of April pierce doherty will be the main speaker and all are welcome to attend please assemble a johnson's coroner struner at 3pm the world is getting a little more more but maybe more could mean something else more means more proactive green energy solutions more means more wind turbines and more recycling more means more biodiversity and more energy storage more means more hydrogen and more solar farms because more clean energy means more efficient living means more thriving communities means more energy autonomy that's why we're more than learn more at more than all footwear is reduced to clear in the big closing down sale at McGarregle shoes letter Kenny all men's shoes and boots must go also all ladies footwear at knockdown prices in the closing down sale now on at McGarregle shoes mean street letter Kenny Highland radio weather updates with Ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family flight to alicante Malaga Faro Lanzarote, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair Ireland west airport don't just take off take it easy okay let's have a look at the weather forecast I don't have do you have a weather forecast with you Michaela no you don't I can remember highest temperatures of 11 to 12 degrees you don't care you're going on holidays maybe dry some rain and drizzle early this morning which is cleared now becoming mainly dry this afternoon rain will develop in the west and spread to all areas highest temperatures of 11 or 12 degrees as you heard from Michaela there with moderate to fresh southerly breezes join us this Wednesday on a ride the northwest with John it is 11 o'clock it's time for a news update good morning to Michaela Clark thanks Greg good morning Garde are seeking to identify three people dressed in dark clothing seen fleeing a housing estate in Lifford after a number of windows of a house were smashed on Tuesday night last the residents of the property in Clonley Park heard a loud bang and subsequently discovered a rock had been thrown through an upstairs bedroom window it further emerged that a pane of glass had been smashed in the downstairs living room window where windscreen of the car had also been smashed meanwhile Garde believe a weekend fire which destroyed two truck cabs in Newton Cunningham was started deliberately the two cabs were destroyed in the blaze which is reported to have been started between 6 and 8 p.m. on Saturday in a yard in the main street area Minister Charlie McConn-Look says a number of major school projects in Inneshawn remain on schedule and he is confident they will not be delayed he was speaking after education school Nagar Maestri in Donegal Town is the only Donegal project which has been stalled as a result of a review of costs by the Department of Public Expenditure. The T-Shog admits the rental market is in a terrible state due to an exodus of small landlords but Leofrant Corsese government wasn't aware of the exact number of termination notices issued prior to its decision to end the evictions ban. Retired health workers in Donegal are in Manor Hamilton today to highlight the fact to which they have been entitled to since last year have not yet been implemented. Karen Sheridan of SIP2 says the last pay deal reached in the sector saw pay increased in three increments since February the second last year and that should also be reflected in the pensions paid to the retired workers in the same sector. Investigations are continuing after Man was assaulted in letter Kenny last week. At around 11.40 p.m. in the lower main street area of the town, a man was attacked outside a license premises by another man. He was taken to letter Kenny University Hospital for treatment to his injuries. A guardian appealing for information after a car was damaged overnight in Kildaf on Wednesday last. Sometime between 11 p.m. and 8.15 a.m. in the Tampa-Moyle area, two tires were slashed and a window in the vehicle broken. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back with an update at 12. Thank you, sir. Just to let you know. Choose technology. Choose versatility. Choose experience. Carcher pressure washers now available at your local hardware and electrical retailer. Choose Carcher. Do you ever have one of those days? That's today is one of those where I'm speaking at the wrong time and pushing the wrong buttons. But anyway, it'll all be okay tomorrow. We'll get through this hour and we'll get started. And then I was actually going to say to you before I interrupted our friends at Carcher there is that we have six last minute places on the Highland Radio Glasgow trip from the 1st to the 4th of May. It's a twin or double room, 575 Euro per person sharing. So if that fits the bill for you, we holiday the start of May. Six last minute places with twin or double room have to the 4th of May. 575 per person sharing. Okay. Let us see now. Paul McLaughlin of Balakdurr Garden Centre in Retter County is on the way. Do we, I think we have other people in as well. There's a bottle of wines turned up here with Paul's head on it. So I don't know what's going on there. May contain alcohol. We'll get someone in to have a sip of that and get the story behind that. I think he's brewing himself. Do you brew wine? I don't know, you brew beer. I don't know what you do with wine. Fermented, having a clue. Paul will tell me, though. Read the HSC advising upcoming retirees that they will be a three month delay before pension payments commence is illegal. It's an ombudsman's issue, says that caller. Another, I don't work and I think Good Friday should be a public holiday and if anyone has to work it, then they should have the choice to attend the 3pm mass if they wish to do so. Another is the workers that work Good Friday entitled to the public holiday. Holiday, will you see? It's not a public holiday so there's no actual entitlement to it. Now there's an old phrase to do with employment like traditions and practice or something. I can't remember what it is whereby people traditionally got Good Friday off and if that's established as part of their working year then that continues but new employees or employers that have redrawn the boundaries so to speak, then there's not an entitlement to it because it's not actually a public holiday. Now hundreds of young people from all over Ireland to get an opportunity to voice their opinions on issues that are important to them. It's part of the biannual national showcase event at Croke Park. Kirlen Ogre, I believe it is their youth councils that allow young people to have the opportunity to engage with decision makers and influence key policies at a local and national level. We're joined on the programme now by Kira Gilmour, representative of the Domegol Youth Council in Glen Manning. Good morning to you, Kira. Hello. Thanks for joining us. Right, okay, so why are you heading to Croke Park? We're in Croke Park today to show off everything that we've completed over the last two years as a youth council. And what are the big issues are you getting a sense of for young people down at the event? I'm definitely mental health is the topic that most scholars are working on. So in other words, that's the feedback from right around the country. Yes, definitely. And are you getting the sense that that's generally speaking or it's a worsening problem coming through and past Covid? It's probably a worsening problem coming through. Some of the other issues, social media and body image, that's been around for quite a bit, not getting any better. I don't think judging by what you see on social media nowadays, what's the impact of that on young people? Young people are using social media all the time every day and having a major impact on them and as a corner ourselves, we created a video to try and promote that not everything on social media is real and to focus on real life instead. I think to some extent that that argument is getting easier with the more sophisticated filters are becoming and that the elephants sort of the cats out of the bag so to speak to me and I think that's almost helping this whole argument that people presume that there's filters being used and filters are so fantastic. I'm coming from in that regard. Yeah, people are definitely starting to realise that like so-called social media influencers aren't perfect and that they are using a lot of fashion and filters on their social media posts. Where does the climate and the environment sit in the consciousness of young people at the moment? Young people are starting to realise that it's definitely a big issue and especially in rural Ireland, like with our lack of public transport and all the rest and as a corolla we also try to work with that. And we also have this situation whereby an environmentally minded young person in Donegal would not have the same options as an environmentally minded person in Dublin for example. Do you know what I mean? If you decided Kira that living in Donegal was for you but you didn't want to have a vehicle for an example you couldn't probably make that decision here in Donegal but someone as a similar mindset as you in Dublin would have numerous options so there's an equality there. Yeah, definitely. There's definitely a real lack of public transport in Donegal. Bullying obviously is also an issue. I presume that's kind of also potentially tied into the whole social media body image space as well. Yeah, definitely. Right, talk to me about the campaign back to mental health. Talk to me about the campaign you were involved in. So as a corolla we took part in the organisation of the Mind Your Melon Mental Health Festival online and we basically sat on the team and helped come up with ideas and helped promote the campaign as well. Alright, brilliant stuff. So when did they call and know actually start? You're down there now, is it ongoing today? Is it a one or two day event or what's the story? It started at 10 o'clock this morning and we're here all day. Alright, and what about getting to the ears of those that make decisions? Are there government reps, HSE reps, those type of people there that you can speak to? Yeah, there's definitely a couple of ministers coming today anyways and the Taoiseach as well I think is making an appearance. Alright, okay, that's good stuff. Kira, enjoy the day, well done to you and the rest of the Donegal Youth Council, she's from Klun Mani and it's a big event, it's once every two years. Would you know if Moff Village Road is still closed to traffic at night, asks a listener and you know we endeavour to get answers to your questions. Let me see if I can make sense of this. Right, the temporary closing of roads, Moff Village nighttime closure runs from the 27th of March to the 31st of March, that is past and from the 3rd to the 4th of March, 6pm to 6am daily. So the regional road through Moff Village from the Texaco filling station to the Circle K filling station will not now be closed on Sunday night the 1st of April and Sunday night the 2nd of April but it will be on the 3rd and 4th. I'm not sure you've helped there Caroline because I'm more confused than when we started. Let me review that and get back to you. Can we do that? Is that alright? There is definitely an issue with the bills from Electric Ireland at the moment. I got an overdue bill for 106 Euro and I knew I didn't know anything. When I called them up I was right, I didn't owe anything and my next bill wasn't due until May. They just said they were having a billing issue. Is there a debit there because could they have potentially taken that money out of your account or was it just a bill that was wrong? I'll be worried about that. I've had no electric bill since November. I've rang them three times, still no bill. Another, Greg, I got a reminder from Electric Ireland for a bill I didn't get yet. Okay, that's very confusing. Hi Greg, I can identify with your text to re-Electric Ireland. I should have had a bill in mid-February and it hasn't arrived yet. I don't know what's the matter that's coming in from Mary. So, listen, lots of you with the same problem. There's definitely an issue there. I'm particularly concerned though if they're billing incorrectly, especially if that direct debit could come out before you've flagged it because you haven't had the bill. I'd be worried, just keep an eye on that. Does anyone know why the treatment plant in Mahirnenan is making so much noise again all night last night? Anyone out there with an insight? Another, I work in a shop and we used to close for Good Friday service but in later years the shop stayed open. We didn't have a customer come into the shop. Things have changed now, haven't they? Former President Carter is on his death bed. If he dies, President Biden will not be coming to Ireland. My Washington contacts say, okay, well, that could be an issue. I don't know if he's actually on his death bed. Listen, I think he's in end-of-life care but that doesn't mean he's necessarily at end-of-life. We shall see. You've got contacts, I don't. Re-Eviction painting, strange how Fianna Fawle and Finnegale only got annoyed until an opposition TD retweeted the image. Very poor effort of deflection regarding the ever-increasing housing crisis. Perhaps this Fianna Fawle, Finnegale Government think that shouting all sorts at the opposition will sort out the homelessness and evictions. Well, it's a two-way street that's shouting back and forward to get you. I think that painting story has gone to bed. I think from going forward you would hope all politicians whether in government or not will just think twice and think of the consequences and sometimes words are needed just for context but anyway plenty of miles made out of it in political commentary on the TV and radio I suppose. Okay, it is almost time for us to take off our shoes, pull on our wellies maybe even throw a waterproof cape on and head out into the garden because Paul McLaughlin of Balakdura Garden Centre in National Kennies on his way in. Calla hands gala and go Burt your one-stop family shop with over 50 years of experience we pride ourselves in providing a top class customer experience keen fuel prices, convenience shop, hot deli, hardware and for us these famous special recipe ice cream family run, healthful staff and service with a smile. Sure it's all good calla hands. Visit the Enichon Co-op HomeBuild event at the Enichon Gateway Hotel on Saturday April 15th from 11am to 5pm. Meet the suppliers with good advice on all your home build needs. Make a support available on the day. See Facebook for more details. Could it get any better as a senior citizen? No sitting in traffic trying to get to work. Heading off on midweek breaks out for a bite to eat whenever it suits and now that bite to eat costs even less at Kelly's Diner in Etter Kenney with 15% off after three every week day when you spend 15 euro. Meet up for a chat and a bite on Monday to Friday with an extra 15% off the menu for all senior citizens at Kelly's Diner Mountaintop Etter Kenney. Don't miss Jimmy Buckley at the Highlands Hotel Glenties on Good Friday 7th of April. Doors open at 8pm with early dancing to Conor O'Donnell. That's dancing to Jimmy Buckley at the Highlands Hotel Glenties on Good Friday the 7th of April. Highland Radio time checks with Expressway. Travel route 32 from Letter Kenney to Dublin. Expressway bringing you the time at Time at quarter past 11. We're in studio now with Paul McLaughlin of Ballack Durg Garden Centre in Letter Kenney. How was your winter? Ah, not so bad now. Everything's already good. Everyone's swimming. Plenty of stuff coming through for spring in there. Absolutely. It's just like just two weeks almost like somebody switched on the light. Everything just burst into life and we're flat out again. A lot of people are getting the the lawns mowed. The grass cut too soon. Ah, do you know why we haven't mowed mine yet now? It's sort of as grand if there's not frost during the next few days. Wednesday and Thursday night. Yeah, so because you've got all you can do is just turn it What does what exactly answer the question and you and I think what people try and do they try and get the big hit, don't they? So it looks gorgeous, right? Really tight frost comes in bish bash bosh. Pretty much it's at a time when the grass is sort of weak like it hasn't had the power of the sun over the over the winter months basically and by cutting it you're sort of buttoned in the shock away but and then it leaves a wee bit just closer to that microphone. It leaves it more susceptible to the frost. But you're not scolding anyone that has. Absolutely not. If you're on the fence Yes, I would tend to leave it. Next week I think you know, I think this will be the last week of frost. Yeah, and there are plenty of time to be spent cutting grass too. Yeah, forget Karlo weather and Donagall weather channel. This is Lahey weather is telling you. Yes, that's it. Next week there's no frost. Okay. Right. Okay. So what could we be doing or should we be doing now? Pretty much now March April is the perfect time for there's a lot going on in the garden. The first thing I would do is generally just do a general tidy up first. So by doing a tidy up you're sort of taking stock of what you have and then sort of seeing what direction you want to go in the future. But in terms of starting seeds, I think that pretty much now is perfect time for starting that. Seeds for what? Seeds even fruit, vegetables, flowers, whatever. Right. In the ground or pots? Generally at this time your depends on the varieties you're using peas, beans, onions, that sort of stuff can go straight into the ground. How do we prepare the ground though? Because let's say it's been sitting there for the winter. Yeah, pretty much if it's a new area, give it a dig over put the grass down basically and then just cultivate it as best you can and give yourself sort of what they call a fine tilth to make a nice seed bed. I'll get a rake even and back and forth with it. Exactly. And if you're doing a bigger job you get a higher thing like a rodovator or something like that. Like an area for potatoes or something. All right. Okay. So you get that sorted. What do you put in their onions? Pretty much if you're only starting out even starting out with kids there, stuff like peas, beans, onions are all perfect and fairly foolproof. All the stuff they want to eat. Pretty much. Yeah. Anything your kids want to eat you can plant now. That's a big thing as well. Keep an eye on or try and tailor to what you will eat. There are a lot of easy stuff like radishes and stuff that you can grow very easily but in my experience nobody really wants it as much. Just about the children and all. But you know what if you involve them in that whole process and the cooking and preparation even for fussy eaters there's quite a school of thought that that helps them appreciate and understand it and bypass the taste buds to some extent. Absolutely. I've seen it in practice in my own house that the kids actually if they're involved in the growing of the thing they are much more engaged with it and they're much more actually much more likely to eat it. Right. Okay. So in terms of fertilizing areas of your garden so you're cleaning up, getting rid of dead leaves whatever else might be there and then so where could you be putting fertilizer down now or what should you be doing? Now's the prime time for if you have existing beds get some sort of like an organic product that you can put onto the ground and just give it a general fertilize. Now that as the growth is taken off it'll really shove it on so it's just a handful per plant. But it's important to use the sort of more organic stuff than chemical fertilizers. You have a tendency to overdose whereas the more organic ones are slow release and it sort of takes the risk out of us. Pulture manure is one of your favorites. Pretty much. It hasn't kind of had a fog in 2023. Absolutely not. Mulch. A lot of people have that around the place. What is mulch and how do you create it or where do you get it? Mulch, you can generally use a lot of products from mulch and such as the most popular one probably bark mulch which is just the bark of trees. If you spread it out over the ground it helps to suppress the weeds because it cuts out the light and it actually through the summer months helps to retain moisture too. But a lot of people use their own sort of homemade compost that they've made from their food waste and that stands perfectly. Grant mulch the ground with two. Alright okay. Now in terms of you know anything potted certainly we're nowhere near window boxes or stuff like that or maybe with certain varieties but not a lot of people doing it so what could people be doing who don't have a lawn or beds you know but they maybe have a little space at the back or a windowsill. Is there anything that you can be doing now? This time that you have you couldn't up until now? Yeah, there is plenty of sort of flowers you can be starting from seeds from like some nasturtium something like that they'll be ready for the summer period. You can buy ready-made stuff in garden centres primrose is that sort of thing be just to brighten up the place now or what's very popular for potted months herbs actually you can start your herbs now and then you have them especially in the windowsill you have them for your cooking I mean it's nothing better than if you are cooking to be able to pick something off your own pot and throw it into the pan like. Absolutely. You can throw it yourself at the freshness and it's not cheap either you know listen the accessibility to certain herbs now and they come in little pots but the pots really aren't designed to don't think for their continued growth the more of a delivery mechanism but if you buy them on a regular basis they're not inexpensive no absolutely it all mounts up and say a perfect example would be rosemary there we used to have a big one in the garden and it was like two and a half feet high but that would be plenty to keep you going for years and years and years. Yeah and it would keep going and it would replenish. Okay I think that's a really sort of accessible thing people can do right okay so with the garden and all that kind of stuff done there was another question I wanted to ask that in relation to it I keep looking at your bottle of wine here we're going to get to that in a moment we'll get so I don't drink wine much but we'll get some so we've covered that tidying a bit of fertilizer some stuff can be planted that's the majority of what we can be doing at the moment pretty much it's a good time as well if your lawn needs attention what can we do to the lawn for crying out lawn pretty much if once again it's been a wet enough won't there's so moss it's about well it was the wettest march in history so moss has a huge problem as it always is at this time of year so the best thing to do like what's your tidying go out give it a good rake over sort of remove any leaves and debris lying over over the winter time and basically see where you are at treating moss or even fertilising yet but you at least should know where you stand with it and sort of take it from there and what about you know trees that maybe have sprung up over a couple of years and they're casting you know shadows that never sort of go away from your grass I mean that will help to sort of develop moss and all can you cut hedges and trees back at this time of year I haven't a clue you're not actually the period that has passed you have from the 1st of September to the 1st of March don't touch anything folks you legally can't do it I have Japanese knotweed growing around my house and I know I cannot touch it or cut it but it's spreading rapidly and I'm worried that it's going to start damaging my street and maybe even my home is there anything that can be done at all even to slow down it's spread now when they say they can't cut it or touch it is that I know you can't I know that you see the signs right this is dangerous stuff don't cut it replant it close but presumably you can take any action that you see fit to around your house can't you the only problem with cutting it is it can actually grow from 0.7 of a gram of a leaf so by cutting it and removing it to some other place where you dump the stuff it's going to grow up as well you see so the first thing to do in a case like that the first of all is don't panic that a while out of the stuff about Japanese knotweed has been blown out of proportion so it has it's not as like it is very treatable it's probably it's a long term project to treat it and it can be expensive to treat it but it is very treatable generally by using chemical means or there actually a few more coming onto the market now there is a few more organic means of getting rid of it and using actually especially the simplest way of describing would be the equivalent of a welder but this idea that it's going to tear up your drive and destroy your foundations that's very sensational there are a few reasons that I could go into it but why that sort of thing came about but it became this big demon sort of thing you've got to hold it for starters and it sort of became actually a big part of the reason was this is my conspiracy theory now but it became a thing in England back 2008-2009 to refuse to give you a mortgage if you had it in the property but with the credit crash they didn't want to give you the mortgage anyway so it became an excuse I thought you were going to say that it was Japanese knotweed were actually little 5G transmitters but you didn't go down that road well you fight the bottom of the garden you didn't quite get out of that road with your conspiracy theory listen we're not going to brush over the moss your advice is sound on the knotweed have a look around and see what's available I think contact the county council they've had good success in dealing with the long road a few trials and stuff wasn't there let's do the moss in a little bit more detail because I know there's a lot of people listening and that's the bugbear so we'll ask this question and we'll get to it from that can you please ask Paul the age-old question how can I eradicate or treat moss as it is it looks very unsightly I've used treatment for grass fertilizer and moss but to no avail it come back now ahead of its first cut what shall I do and you know what that looks like when you cut it down you've got a little bit of carpet a little bit of grass absolutely I know me owns no better so it's nice the best thing you can do probably this time first of all give it a good rake over remove any debris that sort of reveal what you have some people go down the sulphate of iron or the chemical treatment roots what you'll do is put it on pretty much from the next two weeks or so you can put it on leave it two weeks the whole lawn generally goes black and then you can hire a machine called a scarifier which rips out all the moss basically what you're doing is with the sulphate of iron that you're killing off the moss and then it's breaking up the bond with the ground and what the scarifier then pulls it out you can actually if you want to go chemical free just use the scarifier in a tool yeah that could leave patches though that will leave patches it's very important to deal with them patches so how do you deal with the patches then basically by using the machine or even using a rake you have tore up the ground just pretty much put seeding tap if you really want to you can actually mix that seed with some soil because if you scatter seed just on top of the ground and it comes very dry for two weeks the seed will probably burn you'll see in golf course and stuff maybe sometimes they have a mixture of sand, soil and seed which is not hard to get your hands on to do a proper job like do you mix that in a wheelbarrow mix it up in a wheelbarrow exactly and scatter it on that way generally at this time of year the seeding at home is perfect because there's enough moisture going about it's not going to blow off or stuff like that alright so there is hope now is that something you have to do annually you're probably going to have to face up to looking at that job early April most years are you pretty much either sort of two schools of thought and some people are looking forward to the golf green sort of long going on which is nice to have as well other people just choose to live with the moss to an extent and obviously try and treat it and reduce it as best you can but sort of it's just the climate we live in alright we'll get to more questions in a moment what's this here I have in my hand that appears to every started growing their own food they've taken it a step further they've taken their own drink Wind Bush Wine I tried that at the spring now I'm not going to lie to you and I'm sure it tastes delicious but it looks like you just kept that bottle beside the bed Paul not quite so what I caught so it's made from wind bush yes wind bush flour so it is basically as to say are you there because we're going to get on you to have a taste when she's back there's no panic relax no it's just basically cleanser pallets before she drinks this I've tried it a few times just using various fruits and stuff to make wine over the years and just taking it one step further now but using actually the flour Arnie's going to join us here now so in the fermenting process I think my father did this once there's big massive glass jars is that not jars whatever you might call them yeah Demi John I think is the technical term right Arnie sit down here do you want to drink wine I do yes occasionally and obviously when it's appropriate let's see what you think of this stuff well that glass is not the cleanest I hope not so do you want to do the honors here Paul so this is made from what is a wind bush? wind bush flour just reading up stuff over the winter looking for what you can possibly make wine so you're drinking a wine made from something you can possibly make it from there's plenty of raw materials out there Arnie just maybe what's the nose of it like just before you what's it's my love it sounds kind of fruity yes are you glad no it's not too bad okay she's drinking it what's it like that's actually lovely can it taste like a juice nearly you have little faith it'll actually be very light it hasn't actually fermented that long altogether how much alcohol might be in this I don't like promoting alcohol because it's dangerous yes I would say around 7% it doesn't really have much that's troubling Lee easy to drink for some but it does have a little thing of it as well look at the wee head on the bottle there for anyone who's watching that's really quite nice how many bottles of that did you make I only made about 10 or so most of them have disappeared do you need a top up Arnie you'll sit on that we'll leave that there for now listen Arnie thank you what would you give it out of 10 sorry I would give it a 9 out of 10 that's pretty good it's very easy to drink so you'd be able to drink it all night well again we do not promote such activity here but you understand where Arnie is coming from alright Arnie listen thanks for being a good sport we really appreciate it that's Arnie's Sweeney there yeah it's actually there is quite a nice taste it is a wine as well so what what is a wind bush what does it look like Gorsher would be what fancy people would call it it's not the one with the yellow flowers on it is it that's made from it there must be a ton of sugar in it though and anything else wee bit lemon just garsh flowers you can actually get the slight wee into that it's only tiny wee garsh flowers taste of coconut but very mildly so it would actually give it any flavour alright there you go okay well done alright we're going to be back with more questions from Paul and it does bite do we sting off it not in a bad sting but you know what I mean like a little aftertaste lemon I only had a dribble okay we'll be back with more from Paul if we're all still standing up after these watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com ladies and gentlemen it's time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best and brightest in the business world for the Highland Radio Customer Service Awards in association with Peeja Meyerland from your local community centre to your favourite pet shop at Highland Radio we're recognizing the businesses who are making a difference in your community this award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life but you better act fast the deadline for entries is just around the corner so visit our website and nominate now nominations close this Friday with 7th of April new trainers from your favourite brands new Hoca Clifton 9 has a wider toe box and it's softer giving you that Hoca spongy feeling making your run more responsive step into our safe size experience, have your feet measured and update your gait analysis Brian McCormick Sports Main Street Letter Kenny look the part, play the part on bmcsports.ie if you're having any hearing difficulties at Donegal Hearing Clinic we can help if your hearing loss is slight but you want to look into it or it's got to the point where you have no other choice we'll do what it takes to resolve your problem it may be as simple as a wax removal Donegal Hearing Clinic, Pierce Road Letter Kenny and Milltown Business Park, Bunkranna call us on 07491 88470 or visit DonegalHearingClinic.ie life sounds brilliant with Donegal Hearing Clinic, Letter Kenny and Bunkranna have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner chairs director's lounge VIP rooms pizza and hot food served to your seat have a glass of wine and enjoy the film on the big screen try it for yourself at Eclipse Cinemas Bundorn and Lifford Sturban where the stars shine brighter by the way the pizzas are amazing you can book your seat anytime at eclipsecinemas.ie okay Paul's windbush wine just managed by the skin of it's teeth to survive the ad break he's still with us we'll get to some of your questions now hanging baskets how soon should we have them ready how soon generally we would never put in a holdout before the first of May so wouldn't and mid-May is perfect see I always find our first conversation of the year is about managing our ambitions and expectations yes and what I got now it's really you have to just garden with the seasons and like I said they're going to be frosted at the end of this week so any sort of hanging baskets it's just going to not last the night so that'll be our next convo I think the next time you're in when is the best time to put sulphate of iron on the lawn sulphate of iron you can pretty much from now on you can do it generally anytime between April and September but I would leave it about two weeks till the temperature comes up a wee bit first is last year's compost fertilizer in my planter okay for now to grow vegetables in this year or do I need new stuff please generally last year stuff would be grant and the pot I would freshen up the top of it a wee bit with some new stuff just to give it more nutrients and if you use an old compost like that depending on what you're growing give it a good check first for the likes of slug and snail eggs because if they're over generally they're like we things about maybe two millimetres across like we eggs and they're clear so they're see-through but if any of them there because obviously once they smell your vegetables they're going to hatch out so just keep an eye for them even around the and around the inside room you don't want them smelling your vegetables what type of carrots should I buy to set what type of carrots should you buy to set and because carrots aren't actually orange really no per se no you get all sorts of we have been conditioned to buy orange carrots and that's why they're orange I wouldn't have any people have grown carrots and chucked them out thinking they were off or something yeah pretty much a friend of mine does a lot of sort of organic growing that and he was specialising like yellows, whites and purple carrots and actually once again for the kids it's much better to actually get them involved because cause it's a bit weird they'll eat it okay so a particular there are a few different varieties they're mixed them up maybe pretty much I because to be honest I'm the wrong person to be asking because I have grown everything in my life except carrots never work out for me so they don't they're a new sort of development of carrots and you can take a look for them where as they're actually big problem of carrots is that you have to thin them and then that brings pests about because they can smell them as you thin them so they're labour intensive then are they? they can be a bit but what a new invention for them now is like the seeds are actually spaced out and like almost like a tea bag and a big roll of tip and you roll it in so that's at the perfect setting so it's just worth keeping an eye out for them I call this is don't be cutting grass until June let the dandelions and wild flowers grow we and the bees need them without the bees pollinating our fruit and vegetables the world would die yeah and I know that's something you're interested in as well Paul and more people are maybe reducing the size of the lawn or actually just having it sown wild as well so you know but at the end of the day people want to cut the lawn and we're at the stage where we discourage them to just get a slight bit of joy out of looking out of the window at a cut lawn I'm not advocating for that I get where the list is coming from but some people are already sort of splitting it off a little bit I suppose it's all matter of choice if you know what I mean dandelions are an important source of early pollen and nectar for for bees and stuff you know but it's like I say it's a matter of choice yeah I mean listen look at the fields the hedgerows and our bogs right and see what's happening to them on the scale that it is and that's why I'd be kind of reluctant to make someone feel guilty for having a lawn but I get where the list is coming from when you can strike a balance recommendations for a first fast growing ever evergreen hedging something that's cost effective and that will provide privacy yes probably our most popular one by far would be Grislinia which is like it's got a limey green leaf generally it will grow up to maybe 8-10 feet if you let it it's very manageable to keep it down at a lower level too and what's the name of that hedge that kind of became the North Korea riff hedges yes the lillandies that's gone out of very much out of fashion we've gone well it's looked after though it's beautiful but yes it's just sort of a big green wall but it's just the problem is if it gets out of hand at all it can be very unmanageable it really has gone out of fashion the last 10-15 years but is it cheap and fast growing to be honest it's not actually that much cheaper it is fast growing alright but once again faster growing you have more maintenance costs further down the road you have to cut it twice as much as I say it's fantastic but if it goes out of hand it goes out of hand so what other hedges would you suggest Grislinia or Laurel probably would be quite good okay Paul my hydrangeas haven't bloomed in two years lots of foliage but very little blooms we haven't fed them anything and pruned them back two years ago but still no blooms we don't have a problem with frost Jack wants your solution probably the first solution would be to say that they haven't fed them recently so probably we feed would do no harm you can actually get ericaceous feeds geared towards hydrangeas of that which would be good or just general touch with a product called potash if he says there's plenty of foliage nitrogen's not the problem because so if you get a balance fertilizer or someone's fairly high in potash it actually clears the nutrients towards the flowers as opposed to the foliage so hopefully that should kick in because there is a science to all of it some of the stuff simple some of it just requires a little bit of pretty much I would give it a wee light pruning now as well just not too hectic what is light pruning? light pruning would be sort of reduced to be probably less than a third from the tips obviously a lot of people with hydrangeas the same year can cut them back quite hard but if you're looking specifically for our blooms if there's anything I can plant in my garden that would soak up a lot of moisture my garden tends to flood quite often with rainfall I'm just wondering if there are any bushes, hedges or plants that are good for taking in a lot of moisture I don't think planting is going to solve that problem possibly not it can help to reduce it in a good way probably the most common thing for that would be willow in a big way willow or those around here that would call them sows to an extent but by planting willow you get quite ornamental ones and drink a huge amount of water you mean to tell me I was beaten with a willow stick and not a sally rod exactly yeah it depends how fancy you are I suppose would Paul consider giving advice on using natural household products ingredients to combat garden problems to help save biodiversity well listen I remember doing items like this years ago and it wasn't necessarily with you either where everything was a chemical response now more and more we're talking about and you've already been a strong advocate for natural fertilizers and what have you and I find in our conversations Paul the last place you go is something that's harmful or damaging and I think that's a trend in gardening now isn't it we're always looking but there comes a point where there is something that if you need to get rid of it you're going to have to get on a chemical route even in the garden center we would always try and give a natural remedy or sort of even some of the companion planting to give a natural thing there are occasions where chemicals are such as your hair color but not weed yeah but we we use that now as a last yes exactly but not even from when I started in the industry to know the amount alternatives out there and about the emphasis on chemicals has less in food you and your bloody washing up liquid and stuff like that that's a thing me garlic spray your garlic spray yeah exactly well listen we'll get to much more of those types of advice as things start to really brighten up and liven up for us and to grow my garden I'm trying to grow my garden size listener and it's in its very early stages so what's good to set now I think maybe something that gives them a bit of impact you know what I mean it makes them feel like they're making a bit of rapid progress pretty much I'd say the first thing to do is just actually sit for a couple hours and look at your garden and see where you see it because where some people would see garden as vegetables not other people see flowers but the always reckon the good thing to start with the garden is sort of hedges I think it would be a great shelter frame it off pretty much the hedges really by cutting the one that really increases what you can grow but the other thing would be go to your local garden and take a walk around and see what catches you right I think people don't realise how amenable you guys are to someone coming in and having a chat and painting a picture and you'll walk around the various samples that might be there and say this could work in this area and that do you know what I mean that's part of your love of your work too absolutely even technologies you're going to design their garden for them don't get your own but there's going to be some good solid advice in that the way technologies come on like 99% of people come into the garden to have a picture in the phone of their garden or you can actually even look at it on Google Earth and get an idea of the size and scale where it's facing so people are more and more to help advise people and say if you are going to look for advice bring a few pictures with you and it gives the person your chatting to see what's going on alright listen come here we went easy on you for our first gardening item of the year Paul but as I say now in the next six weeks maybe is it next month really things are starting to crack on aren't they absolutely everything sort of kicks off from here really St Patrick's Day is all traditionally the start of the garden I think I can also coincide with when you start seeing the daffodils though isn't it as well and it kind of all ties in doesn't it exactly the daffodils and the next thing you see now is that you start noticing around the country is the cherry blossoms are coming out and then people sort of associate that with almost the spring start of summer alright listen Paul it's always a pleasure you can chat to Paul and his colleagues at Balagdur garden centre in Lettric Kenny and wherever you are around the canteen region you're bound to have a garden centre close to you as well hopping chat to them they're humans and they are and you might even have a bottle of wine well I think all yours is gone so don't go to the garden centre in Balagdur looking for wine because Paul's got shot of it all in one way or other alright listen Paul as always thank you so very much that was the gardener slot gardener slot I am having a nightmare of a day a gardening slot we'll be back with more on the 9 till noon shows we'll head towards noon after these mega draws today and you could be the lucky winner who will walk away with 10,000 euros to spend on a holiday of a lifetime and 5,000 euro in cash simply go to highlandradio.com and click on win a holiday winner will be announced on Thursday on the 9 till noon show transform your garage with an electric roller garage door from Gorolla it's time to modernize with a fully fitted roller door from just 997 euros with 21 colours to choose from will even take your old garage door away book your free survey today call 1-800-827-515 or visit Gorolla.ie I remember you hi this is my McFatty chair come and see me the delightful Olivia Nash in a happy medium at the Alley Theatre in Sturban on the 13th of April join me for a laugh I enter the spirit world and reveal all tickets from the theatre box office or online one thing in the last year it's that falling into debt can happen to anyone luckily I heard about the ISI the insolvency service of Ireland their professional advisors can help you restructure or even write off your debt the first thing they said to me was every debt problem has a solution I can still feel the relief so if you're worried visit their website backontrack.ie or free text get help to 50015 the ISI together will get you back on track that's the objective of the Government of Ireland Highland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family Flight to Alley County Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair Ireland West Airport don't just take off take it easy OK mainly dry at the moment but rain will develop in the west and spread across the region to all areas highest temperatures today of 11-12 degrees with moderate to fresh southerly breezes Martha Sweeney is manager education and is with us now imagine why a very good morning to you thanks for joining us and good morning to you too it's great to have you with us because we're speaking in the context of DrinkAware launching a new campaign to reduce harm related alcohol consumption as new research shows the age people are having their first drink at in Ireland is getting lower 14.8 years I believe you don't ever kind of want to see trends in this day and age with all the information that's out there in that direction do you you know it's like seeing an increase in smoking you just don't want to be seeing that nowadays we should know better that's true but the good news is that more young people also are abstaining from alcohol but the concern is the number of young people in Ireland in terms compared to other European countries that the incidence of drunkenness is higher the concern is that when young people drink that they're drinking more and the long-term consequences of that is very significant now the difference between for instance research that was carried out by for us by behavior and attitudes found that those who were 50 years of age on average they had their first drink at 17 years whereas those in their 30s had their first drink at 14.8 which is very young and our campaign is very much a parent's campaign now every parent wants their child to be happy and healthy and in that regard in relation to alcohol parents can be enablers of their child being happy and healthy or they can be enablers of alcohol consumption we'll get to that and taste that out a little bit because what's kind of interesting for those aged 50 plus the average first drink was 17 years now we have the knowledge of how the young person's brain and body is still developing and the negative impact even small levels of regular alcohol intake can have on brain development for example it's not all done and dusted at 15 they're still developing and sometimes the perception is that it's okay for them to be having their odd drink that even under 18 years of age the reality is that alcohol should have no place in childhood the brain is still developing their bodies, their bones every organ, everything is developing in the young person and especially during adolescence which can be a time of sunshine or shadow for young people and they often turn to their peers they have this need to move away from parents and to have a sense of belonging and sometimes parents feel that their peers have more influence on them than they have but the reality is that young people themselves in research we carried out in 2016 and this is born out by other research the young people themselves have identified parents they said parents 95% of young people of third years in 2016 said young people are the most influence parents are the most influence parents and family members have the most influence in terms of deterring their young person from taking the first drink and in research that was carried out by the University of Manut it found that 57% of third years who were taking a drink had their first drink in their own home or somebody else's home. I want to talk to you a little bit more about that but let's not forget not being killed Joyce here lots of people drink in moderation and so on and so forth but we have to remember that alcohol is a carcinogenic and we also have to understand too that in other countries such as Canada and a growing number of countries now there is no amount of alcohol that is seen as safe we still here have this four or five pints which is a green light to drink up to that whether people like it or not that's how it's perceived right the Canadians have gone down a different route but I think once you say that any alcohol is okay even though they don't quite say that it is a green light to drink to that amount even though however it's not no risk the HSE guidelines are low risk guidelines they're not no risk yes but I'm on about perception and that's why I believe the Canadians have gone down the route that they have three pints if you drink three pints in one sitting three pints are six standard drinks six standard drinks are more in one sitting is actually binge drinking and that's once a week is it not as well that's not daily I believe that's once and over a period of a week the allowance for the low risk guidelines are that a woman shouldn't have more than 11 standard drinks in a week and a man 17 because their bodies are different eight or nine pints but these are guidelines they're not targets to be met and it also says that there should be two free days and these are for adults there are no low risk guidelines for young people under 18 years let's get back to them then too because if you don't mind sorry Martha I think sometimes we look at this as black at white black and white right so you get a group where they don't drink at all the parents won't let them and then you get another group that drink because the parents don't care I don't really think that's where a lot of these people come from I think there's a big gray space in the middle right where you'll hear parents say a firstly I think they're more likely to be friends with their children than they might have been in the past but B that I prefer them to have a couple of drinks in the house where I can keep an eye on them and they build a respect for alcohol then going out and tearing up and I don't know what they're doing I think that accounts for quite a lot of this underage drinking assumptions distort perceptions of reality and making assumptions for instance parents and you're right parents can assume that it's good to give them the drink at home and to teach them how to drink at home we're not like countries and the Mediterranean where young people grow up with drink the climate everything is very very different but even there there are problems with young people drinking but in terms of that perception research has shown that those who start drinking at home in those circumstances are also liable to drink outside in the park and it creates this pre-drinking culture if you like that they're going to drink before they go out and then drinking when they go out but coming back to parents it's not easy being a parent and it's certainly not easy being a parent of teenagers and there's no perfect parent and there's certainly no perfect child and we want to support parents to have the conversation with young people about alcohol and it needs to begin young as young as five years of age little children develop expectancies around alcohol from what they see happening in the home and outside of the home there are various influences on young people in terms of alcohol and we want to support parents to have a conversation with a young person and it to be an informed conversation now I have workshops with parents they're very enjoyable they're non-judgmental we're not asking parents to look at you know to tell us their own stories is actually about alcohol but we're asking them to look at their attitudes and beliefs about alcohol beliefs and beliefs about young people and to recognize that they're the strongest influence in their young person's life around delaying the age of first drinking and I think it's it's more difficult for young people now on a couple of levels well actually three at least that I can think of firstly how many people listening to this program when their parents went for a drink sat out in the car and were given a bag of Tato and a Coke or something I think lots of people listening there was that separation right that was what mom and dad doing there what used to out here secondly the amount of drinking that happened in the whole we've gone through this transition all the pubs that are closing now people think the licenses are expiring they're not they're all being bought up by off sales that's where the licenses are going right so we're having more and more drinking in the home so children are exposed to that it's normalized a lot of people don't smoke in the house but they'll have a glass of wine why don't you smoke right okay so and also to we have to support our young people because it's our fault we are bringing them into a society that has a drink culture that winning losing happiness sadness everything is medicated or treated or enjoyed with alcohol that's the way it is our perception around the world we've seen re recently we are associated with the boozing young people are being pressured into drinking so rather than blame them or criticize them which you're not and it's not all children the majority of young people this age don't drink we have to support them and understand the world that we're bringing them into what we're exposing them to as well are we giving them the best chance and I suppose in terms of that and you know the culture we can change the culture we you know the way we say celebrate St Patrick's day should be about art music all of these things not about about alcohol we can change that culture and culture has changed the culture in Ireland around wine I mean when I was growing up people wouldn't be coming to your house bringing you a gift of a bottle of wine but that has all changed you know since then and it's the impact of other cultures as well but in terms of young people we need to protect our young people and parents have a key role in the protection of young people we have partnered with my kids time and we're delighted to have done so and they carried out research for us and we asked them who had the most influence on young people's decisions around alcohol and number one they listed their friends number two peer pressure and number three parents so if we don't believe as parents that we have an influence we're not going to have an influence so self-efficacy is about believing in my power as a parent and that's what the webinars we're going to hold for parents nationwide and also the workshops will empower parents to have the conversation and to realize the young people need boundaries they need to be monitored they need good role modeling at home and it gives parents the opportunity it'll give them the opportunity to discuss and to relate with other parents key to all this is good communication with their child and coming back to what you said if a young person sees their parents using alcohol to cope with stress and difficulties and disappointment it's very easy to model that behavior equally it's as easy if they see their parents doing really positive things to cope with disappointment stress go on to talk into somebody so at a young age if a 15-year-old starts drinking and continues to drink they're four times more likely to have an alcohol related problem later in life so we need to protect that and also we need to give them the skills to develop resilience to be able to cope without alcohol to know that it's okay to fail to know that it's okay to be disappointed or to be hurt or let down and just finally do you think there's a party which is designed to highlight the dangers of alcohol destruction, gorge and what have you and we've talked about there's no there's no no risk advice in relation to alcohol that drink aware kind of potentially could send out the wrong message is it time for a name change I well that's something random I'm just curious if you had a personal opinion I know a drink aware that sometimes people talk to us about drinking water so it sounds to me like I'm not going to drink right but be aware of this I just think in this day and age that the messaging is just not necessarily on point with the direction of traffic that as to say I'm not trying to put you on the spot Martha and I hope you don't believe I am that's fine but it is making people aware of alcohol and that's one of the things that I would have found in working with parents working with adults who will say when they come to the workshops it's very interactive they're engaged in activities rather than it being talk and talk and one of the things they'll say is they've actually reconsidered they've began to look at their own attitudes their own behavior you have to look in the mirror don't you in terms of that it is awareness understood understood and as I say it's just it's marketing and something is that area is just something I'm interested in Martha Sweeney people can get on to drink aware the website to have a look at the new resources that are available for parents including the talking matters and presumably notification of upcoming seminars webinars as well the seminars and webinars if the contact me Martha at the webinars and the workshops Martha at Drink Aware will you have a lovely day and thank you so much for joining us thank you bye bye take care of yourself okay that was Martha Sweeney there of drink aware and that is where we have to leave it on today's show thank you so much for listening and taking part back with you tomorrow morning at 9