 It's beginning to fade. Do you know this Christmas song's in the charts already? Exactly. Thanks very much, Greg. Greg. Yes. The first thing I said to you, that your teeth look white. Did you get... Did you get... Did you get something done? I'll leave you awake on their whiter... Your shirts white? Yeah. They're whiter than white. I don't know. You must have used Daz or something. New toothpaste? New toothpaste? You can't use Daz and your teeth kids. No, I know you can't. That's a... One word. It was not a funny joke or nothing. But it is. Let's not be woke either. No, no, but I... Okay. What kind of toothpaste are you using? I don't remember. You don't remember? It's recommended by the majority of dentists. What is the sense of dentists having, though? I don't know. I don't know myself. Come here. I'll leave you awake, right? Yeah. And we talked about this before, about dreams and stuff. And we said, oh, we must get somebody on. And the week that I'm off, what do you have on the radio? You have the expert talking about dreams. Dreams? Yeah. And what... Do you have any recurring dreams? I can't remember. Seriously? I probably do have dreams. I obviously do, but I just can't remember off now on the spot. See, the thing about interpreting dreams, apparently you need to have a big long conversation and I just want answers, do you know? Yeah. Did you throw anything at her? Do you know off the radio? Do you know by the way I dream away about this? No, no. I do it on the radio. Yeah. And what's she say? What are you doing about that? Oh, all the dreams mean something like, you know, you have to dig a bit deeper to find out what they mean. Like, I wanted, like, if your dream of falling, I wouldn't mean... It means that. Do you know what I mean? Right. Anyway. Yeah. She was good then, wasn't she? I heard a wee bit this evening. Yeah, it was, it was interesting. But we'll do it again. Yeah, good. We'll review it. All right, okay, new year. All right, good to have you back. Good luck to you. You all your work for Christmas now. I know what I'm going to get you now for Christmas. Well, sunglasses for my teeth. I'm going to spend... Let me see. I'm going to spend E3. You're going to buy your toothbrush for Christmas. I don't need one. You said my teeth are looking good. No, but you need to keep it up. All right, Gucci. Have a good Monday back with us tomorrow morning. Of course, it's 6.30. It is 9 though now. A minute passed. In fact, let's get a news update. It's over to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. A public meeting is being held next week as concerns over Lettercanny University Hospital continue. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is to visit the hospital this week in response to serious issues raised by GPS and consultants with regards to patient safety in the hospital's emergency department. The meeting organized by the Lettercanny Hospital campaign group will take place at 8 p.m. on 13 November the 30th at the Mount Arigal Hotel Lettercanny. The group's chair, Mary T. Sweeney says the government needs to listen also to the concerns of the patients attending the hospital. If the government only talks to one side of the concerned group, which is the medical core, then they must also look at the community as well to bring all those concerns together to really discern what has to be addressed and what has to be a priority to have a more successful hospital that we can all have confidence in. It's been recommended an extra seat be allocated to the Midlands Northwest constituency ahead of next year's European Parliament elections. The Midlands Northwest constituency will be expanded to include the counties of Leish and Offley also. Following a month long public consultation, the Electoral Commission concluded that an additional 14th MEP be allocated for the upcoming elections stemming from Ireland's growing population and EU rules on the European Parliament's composition. Donegal Senator Nioblainy announced his intention earlier this year to contest 2024 European elections. Elderly people in one estate in Latter-Canary are effectively trapped in their homes during the winter months as they are afraid to leave their properties due to the absence of lighting. Residents in Mockish Avenue are said to feel unsafe within their homes also as there are no external lights in the area. It's led to calls from Councillor Jeremy Monagol on Donegal County Council to install additional lighting as a matter of urgency. These people have been living here for a long, long number of years and the lighting is totally insufficient now and we need to restore their confidence and make them feel safe in their homes and indeed when they leave their homes they go to a local shop or to the neighbours. So I've asked the council to look at this and see if we can speedily put these lamps, these street lights in place. Farmers using quad bikes must wear helmets and undergo safety training from today. The new quad bike law is one of the first of its kind in Europe. It comes as a health and safety authority launches a campaign encouraging farmers to think about their health and well-being on the farm. Finally for weather fresh and breezy today with a mix of sunny spells and shards. Shards will be widespread this morning but will become more isolated during the afternoon with highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock until then you can keep up to date with the latest local news on our website HighlandRadio.com. Good morning. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello good morning to you. It's approaching five minutes past nine on this Monday it's the 20th of November 2023. How are you all keeping? I hope you had a lovely weekend and we look forward to company over the next three hours on this program and throughout the day here of course on your number one local radio station. Not a pleasant morning for traveling. That isn't damp, wet and windy. Can't help anyone standing out waiting for a boss but anyway hopefully you all get safe to wherever you're going. Right, we have our lines open for you right now for you to get involved in the conversation. Start your own conversation. What issues do you want to talk about? Is there something you wish to raise with us? Well, feel free to getting touch with us on 08 660 25000. That's our WhatsApp and text number and you can send your voice notes to that number as well. 07 491 25000 is the number to give us a call on. We have Caroline of course taking your calls and Shannon on the program as well and if you want to email its comments at Highland Radio dot com and an early reminder for you that you can join us on the TV as well. Maybe you've got the house to yourself and you want to watch local content. Well you can open up the YouTube app on your smart TV or your fire stick and put in Highland Radio Ireland and watch us live there on your big screen or across your mobile devices on the same app. We're also on Facebook, Highland Hobo, Highland Radio News and Sport and on X formerly Twitter, of course. Right. So now let's get to the newspapers. The Donegal News this morning eyebrows were apparently raised at a business conference in Burt when prospective Finance Minister Pierce Doherty emphasised the challenge of low wages faced by workers in Donegal and the wider region addressing the concerns of the local Sinn Fein The issue didn't sit well with delegates, many of whom insist that paying staff remains their foremost challenge. Terry Hughes, proprietor of a filling station on the Balashan and Baleek border, shared his perspective with the Donegal News stating that sustaining a business has become almost impossible. Getting stuff is difficult and wages continue to creep up, he said. On to the Dairy News this morning and two young Dairy women who saved two teenagers from drowning have been honoured for their bravery and their heroic act. Rebecca Ebs and Zara Reed each received a prestigious Water Safety Ireland Seco just in time award at a ceremony in Dublin Castle on Tuesday evening. The pair saved two girls who had gotten into difficulty in the water and were in danger of drowning at Bunkranna Shorefront back in May. Congratulations to them. On to the Nationals now let's go to the Irish Times first and the influence of the so called doesn't say so called, but it's labeled far right. The influence of the far right in Ireland is growing as tech companies, particularly X, fail to enforce their own guidelines against misinformation and hate speech, according to a new wide ranging study of Irish online communities. Researchers from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue analyzed 13 million posts from 1640 accounts over the past three years and found misinformation is growing across all platforms having originally coalesced around COVID-19. The study funded by the European Media and Information Fund examined the spread of disinformation that's information shared with the purpose of deception and misinformation information spread regarding less of attempt to mislead by far right conspiratorial figures in Ireland. It found the pandemic brought together diverse groups such as right wing extremists, anti-vaccine campaigners and New Age spiritualists around various COVID-19 conspiracy theories, although some of those conspiracy theories have turned out not to be as such and I'm not partaking in it or amplifying it, but I do find it quite interesting when they do these types of studies. I mean, what kind of opinions and feelings are they talking about? Are they talking about people who perhaps didn't believe lockdowns were the right way to approach things and you can see now sometimes the government might suggest that at times maybe those weren't the right decisions or keeping children out of school, for an example, I think it's generally accepted now that that may well have been a mistake. Well, reading on here, these links didn't disappear when the pandemic was declared over at said research, Eva Gallagher and again, I'm not I'm not contesting the findings of it as such. I would like to read the report, but they say that then people have conspiracy theories over refugees, asylum seekers and the LGBT community. And I think sometimes maybe what's seen as misinformation is really just other people's views that maybe others don't agree with. But as I say, that was the findings that's on the front of the Irish Times. If you want to view on that 08 660 25000, I just think we have to be careful to be able to have open and honest conversations that aren't designed to be offensive, but where different views are discussed rather than different views in inverted commas being labeled as one thing or other. But anyway, on to the Irish Independent, the consumer watchdog has warned retailers it will be actively inspecting them to ensure they're not offering fake discounts in the run up to Black Friday. And it's not just on in person. It's online as well. I had just for the crack, believe it or not, I had put a number of items, three items that I was interested in that are hard source locally in my Amazon basket. And just as Black Friday was approaching, I went back into the basket and none of the items were available at the lower price at which I had put them in the basket. And now I wait with interest to see if the price returns down lower closer to Black Friday because what seems to be happening online is that as Black Friday approaches in the weeks in advance, the prices of these three electrical items that were increased up by 30 or 40 euro. And I watch with interest to see how they come down and be presented as bargains at Black Friday, even though they may well be. And I'll report back to you. They may well be listed at the same price they were before they were increased, if that makes sense. But this focus is on in person shopping here. The consumer watchdog has also called on retailers to tell if a competitor is offering fake discounts. The competition and consumer protection commission is the enforcement body for new rules that come in last year on price reductions. Retailers face fines of up to 5000 euro of discounts they claim are on offer in sales, but it's not genuine. But I mean, it's not hard to make it genuine. And a lot of these discounts that you see on TVs and what have you are actually passed on not necessarily from the retailer, but from the television provider. And I think at times it can be quite hard for companies to recoup that discount from those suppliers. On to the Irish Daily Mail and media committee chair Neve Smith has demanded an explanation from the media regulator on Ryan Tauberty's new radio deal amid concerns it could threaten Irish jobs. The Fina Faulty Diaz said she would discuss with members of the Erachtis Media Committee whether common man should be summoned to explain why it greenlit the controversial deal that will see Tauberty's new UK radio program syndicated on five regional Irish stations. Ryan Tauberty announced this week he will be hosting a three hour mid morning show on version radio UK five days a week in the slot after Starty J Chris Evans the program will be simultaneously broadcast on Dublin's Q one or two station every weekday with a two hour Tauberty weekend show to be broadcast on the Dublin stations as well as on Limerick Live 95 LM FM in Meath and Louth and on Cork's 96 FM, which I say raised my eyebrows a little bit last week because as I say I do recall there were two radio stations that were the one radio station but had to share programming and I seem to recall the BEI weren't happy with it at all and I'd be interested in to go through some of the licensed decisions that were made because I was almost sure it was brought up and yet we have now one show going across five stations so obviously attitude or policies have changed there. If the Irish Daily start this morning the rate of increase of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland over the past 12 months was ten times higher than the average increase in numbers fleeing to the EU over the same period according to new figures. Official statistics published by the European Commission show that there has been a 72.1% increase in the number of Ukrainians seeking international protection in the Republic in the 12 months to the end of September 2023 as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine over the same time frame that number of Ukrainian citizens seeking refuge across the EU rose by 7.2% so it rose by 72.1% here in Ireland and 7.2% across the EU. The figures were published shortly after Tshaklyov Radkar said the government had to take action to slow down the number of Ukrainians coming to Ireland. It's the second highest rate of increase among the 27 EU member states over the past year after Romania where the number of refugees from Ukraine have effectively doubled to around 140,000 euro but we aren't a great deal behind there either. And finally, sorry actually there's two more pages to go. We'll go to the Irish Daily Mirror now and a deal to release Israeli hostages in Gaza is close. Qatar's Prime Minister says Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulaman al-Itani said he is growing in confidence over an agreement which is understood to involve up to 50 women and children being freed in return for five days ceasefire. It's thought they would be released in small groups every 12 hours. There were around 240 hostages. A senior US official has suggested a ceasefire deal is needed to ensure the delivery of desperately needed aid in Gaza and it is desperate over there listening to the WHO. We know it's desperate anyway but just to hear it described as is is that shocking altogether. And lastly Ben Don who passed away from a heart attack on holiday in Dubai had been given a clean bill of health after a full medical checkup a few months ago. This according to the Sun. The business tycoon who was 74 was sitting by the pool while on holiday at the popular Jumeirah beach hotel with his son Mark when he suffered a massive heart attack. The paper says that the medical check was a follow-up in the operations he'd had to have Stence put into his heart. He had been telling friends he was in great shape and had never felt better. One pal said he was delighted with the results of his checkup and said that he felt the best of health. Sadly the heart attack was so sudden and strong that there was nothing anyone could do to save him. So that's Ben Don who has passed away following a heart attack in Dubai and that was a run through some of the stories in the newspapers today. Right just before we take a break and welcome on next guest. I want to give you news of a quiz that's running on the show today. It is the Silver Tassie that we're working with on this and it is a cracker. You've got chances every day to enter the overall price is given on Friday. Here are the details if you want to get involved in this competition. On this week's show with thanks to our sponsors the Silver Tassie Hotel and Seascape Spa we're giving you the chance to win their relaxation heaven package. This luxurious two and a half hour package includes an aromatic steam session and cocoon room, a hot towel, foot and back cleanse, an indulgent full body massage, a mini escape facial with scalp massage all followed up with snooze room relaxation time and refreshments. To begin with the chance of winning this fantastic prize on Friday simply answer the following question. What is the day after Thanksgiving known as in terms of shopping deals? Is it A. Black Friday or B. Blue Friday? Text or WhatsApp your answer name and address to 086 60 25000. Christmas party nights at the Silver Tassie drinks reception 4-course festive meal live music by the Logue's Gemma Devine and more Prior to Your Elbow for dates and bookings called the Silver Tassie Hotel proud sponsors of today's show. What's the matter with you? What do you want? What are you doing? What do you do to get your passion to be a good girl? What do you do to get your passion to be a good girl? What do you want from the people who you are? Go to HeritageCounsel.ie by funding For people too lightly gained. Do you suffer from high cholesterol, menopause symptoms, digestive issues, anxiety, aches and pains, or a lack of energy? The highly trained team at the Natural WayLIport, can provide advice on natural remedies for a number of individual health issues. The Natural Way, also has its own brand of herbal treatments to help fight fatigue, relieve digestive discomfort, maintain a healthy immune system, and alleviate common menopause symptoms. natural way, letter can a shopping center. Your one stop health shop. Do you need a UK address? Save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with Space Hub Dairy. We provide a full virtual office address mailbox service for all your business and personal use. Save your business hundreds possibly thousands on custom charges with Space Hub Dairy. Call 048-7187-8077 for more details. If you know me, I do like a home that's warm and cosy during these cold winter months. In fact, the warmer and cosier the better. That's why I insist on Willow Warm long burning briquettes. They're grown and made here in Ireland and they're 100% carbon neutral. So Willow Warm briquettes are good for the environment, for the country and for pocket. Willow Warm the brighter, cleaner, greener way to a cosy home. See willowwarm.ie for stockists. It's flu season and while anyone can catch the flu, it can cause serious illness in children. The flu virus spreads easily from person to person. That's why children, age two to twelve, can now get a free flu vaccine. It's given to a nasal spray and provides safe and effective protection from the flu. So don't delay. Book a free appointment with your GP or pharmacist and protect your family from the flu this winter. Visit hse.ie forward slash flu for more information from the HSE. Highland radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Lettac, entity Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time ask. OK, the time is approaching 20 minutes past nine. Now, there's about 4,000 of you, not shy and 4,000 of you who are still operating under a boil notice. A boil notice, a boil water notice was issued for customers in Donegal, supplied by the Cranford Public Water Supply and Downings. It follows consultation with the health executive, Ishka Aaron, issued the boil water notice for the areas supplied by the Cranford Public Water Supply, including Carragart and Downing areas, to protect public health. It says approximately 3,734 people are affected by it and it was issued due to disinfection processes issues at the Cranford Water Treatment Plant. Now, as I say, this has been ongoing for quite some time. So we got in touch with Irish Water to see if anyone would explain, you know, what actually caused this? Is everything still in place? What should people should be doing? How can you protect older people? How can you protect younger people? When might it be lifted? What's the process once it's lifted? How long would it take? You know, basic questions that I think, you know, 4,000 of you deserve to have answered. But unfortunately, one, two, three, four, five, six, six word response. Apologies, I don't have a spokesperson available. So unfortunately, you will remain in the dark, other to know, other than to know that you should not be drinking that water. And I tried to get some further information, but unfortunately, not forthcoming for you. But anyway, we'll endeavor to find out more for you. Right, let's go to health now. And a public meeting to address the escalating and continuing concerns at letter Kenny University Hospital is going to be held at the Mount Aragile Hotel Thursday, the 30th of November at 8 p.m. Mary T. Sweeney's chair of the National Kenny Hospital campaign group and aim to rep in Donegal and joins us on the program. Now, good morning to you, Mary T. Thanks for your time. I can't hear you. I can. Right. Okay. So I mean, I think it's quite obvious the reasons, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't go through them. Just before we get to that, I mean, we do know that the Health Minister is coming to Donegal on Friday. He's going to be meeting with hospital representatives. GPs consultants, one would presume any words of a meeting or any engagement with patients, representative groups or anything along those lines at this point? I know a number of the representative groups have put on a request as we have. And we also went through Charlemagne Conlogue looking for a request, but we've had no word back. But we remain optimistic. Yeah, we had intended inviting them to the meeting on the 30th. Because at that stage, he hadn't when we arranged this, he hadn't yet confirmed a date of availability, it actually not been available for Donegal. So now that he has confirmed the date, but we will still be inviting them along on the 30th on that night as well, because we will have a range of people from advocacy groups in attendance. I presume you're welcome, the meeting with the consultants and the and the interjection to buy the consultants and the GPs, but you believe there is a another group of people that need a voice in this crisis? I think letter Kenny Hospital is a community hospital. It is a collective that we all own and share and must take responsibility for whether it's for the fundraising to raise necessary facilities and services up there, or whether it's just to generally support the staff and the difficult work that they do. And as I say, that if one part of it, one part of the working team get a voice, then it must ensure that the full team is heard. So in order to get the best possible solution to address any issues of concerns, then you should listen to every voice in the room to make sure that all voices are heard equally. And the sooner we get progress on this, the better because it's very important, I believe that this is port talked about publicly. But at the same time, I don't I'm sure you don't and neither the doctors or consultants want to cause any undue stress or anxiety in patients. We don't want to pee off the staff thinking that all we ever do is talk about negative stuff. Even though I think it's generally accepted this is all about improving the situation for staff and so on. You know, like we want to get to a point, don't we where there's always going to be issues in an acute hospital, but where we can move past these critical problems and talk about why it's such a great facility and why everyone who needs to go there should go there just as soon as they need to. Of course, completely. And we wouldn't have the fantastic facility that we have. If it weren't for people like friends of Letter County Hospital down through the years, and I only did a small bit to support them. And many years ago, in the early days of getting the first CAT scan on that, it was many years ago, it was friends of mine's got me to do auctions and that just to raise funds. But every bit contributes, every bit helps. And likewise, when we had six children in Cromland, we did, we did a massive big campaign, family members to raise money for Cromland at that time. So as I say, as needs must, and this is a big need for our community to come together and support not just the doctor's voice, but the patient's voice. And as I say, there's nearly 30 years ago, I first campaigned to get an advocacy in the hospital. And I don't think one person is enough. And people need to be informed that there is a person there to help you understand the message has been relayed. And that's a really positive stand. But people often don't realize that there is somebody they can ask to come down and sit and listen with them when the doctor is explaining what they're being told to put it in layman's term that they can completely understand it. Because when you're sick, you can't speak out for yourself. And when families are nursing somebody or nurturing somebody that's been ill or sick, you do need support at that time. Now just down to the timing of this last is just with respect but to have every every card on the table. Obviously we had the the letters that came from the doctors and the GPs at the start of October. And now they've secured this meeting. Well, they had the meeting with with Seattle to representatives and now they have a meeting with the Health Minister on Friday. And we heard also from GP representatives that look at they're going to give it to the new year. And if things don't improve, all options are on the table to including calling the people out on on to the streets. Is there any concern or do you have any concern that this might seem like a a that we could be splitting sort of the movement so to speak in having this public absolutely absolutely not great. The exact opposite we're looking to do. We're looking to jail and to bring unity and community behind our doctors and staff of the hospital and the patients collectively. And that's what this is all about. And it would be like I would like to think that our campaign and the snow and ice of last January or January past there is what really started to kick this all off. We have written to doctors we've had awful problems with the emails because we're not we don't have an approved email for health services. They've all bounced back. So can I please let all the doctors know that we have invited you but we're having difficulties in getting these emails to go through and the health service email system. But we're writing out posting letters to some of the key speakers and the doctors and consultants and we will be finishing that this week. Some of them have already been written to anybody that feels you need a voice or a platform. This is your opportunity and we're providing that platform. We've also had people from advocacy groups like the MS Stony Gold Group and there's people from parents with children with autism that I've been working with for the last year to try and get something collectively together. And then I found out that there is an advocacy group that they didn't know about. You know so this is really we need there are basic things in our community we need to bring together to make a better cohesion or a service that's more visible and easy to find because I had to do quite a lot of research when I people asked me to represent to find them out about this or in relation to health services. There's quite a bit of trawling of the internet to do Greg as you will know and it's not always easy. So we need to make these services easier and have a one-stop shop and that if you go to the front desk in the hospital there's a free page there with all the groups in the Dany Gold community that you can look up and if you have a condition particular medical condition that you don't have to run to the department and get a leaflet if it's to do with your liver or if it's lungs or if it's oncology there should be a one-stop shop there at the front of the hospital. Like a citizen's advice that if you have a concern you go in there and you can get that without it being difficult. OK, one last difficult question Mary T but I do have to ask. Obviously we are you're an election candidate we are in an election cycle. Are other political representatives going to be invited to speak at this conference now? I know you will say it's not political that you hear as chair of the letter Kenny Hospital campaign group but we are as I say leading up to the to the local election. So is this a political or other political figures being invited to speak? Greg I'm inviting today anybody that feels that they and we have discussed an actual fact Greg where I have no qualms about standing back from anything I do because what I do I'm doing for my community. I have no big political affiliation in the sense that I have an ego politically. This is about services that I have experienced that I have personally been through or have helped other people to get through and to navigate the health services and all that any of us in this committee and we all the wonderful thing about your advice in the early days of this campaign was to keep it a political so I've actually met some wonderful new people and some of them don't even live that far from me that we've come together because of your own advice and it's been fantastic and some of those people have medical quite severe or serious medical conditions themselves. So as you know you have to be very delicate and how you can you know encourage people to speak about something so personal and this is an opportunity that I would love the consultants the doctors the nurses that have spoke out to take your part on the podium and what we have decided is because often people on the floor are very emotionally involved and want to express a story that the very fair way to accommodate their stories will be to invite people to write your personal. It can be a positive story. It can be a concern that you have in your experience in dealing with the health service and write that story down and if the minister comes we will give them to him on the night and if he doesn't make our meeting we will photocopy those documents those personal stories and we will give them to the head of the sales group who is responsible to manage our hospital and we will personally deliver them to the minister to say these are the voices of the people of Donegal who need your support to improve and expand on the services that we have in our hospital to give us all confidence for the staff. If we can't retain our staff Greg we have to change tactics. And just to recap again to the reason what not the not the reason but the reason why things like this are happening is because we heard from consultants 11 initially and they've sent another letter where there's 28 29 of them as well we were hoping to speak about that but obviously with with the health minister coming up but anyway in the first letter it said that if something wasn't done really quickly and I think at that time they were looking for a plan within the next eight or nine weeks that there was a risk of service collapse at letter cannon university hospital and that was a warning from the senior medical staff within there so we can't ignore that that can't be brushed under the table we can't bury our heads in the sand of pretend it's not happening when the consultants are saying that we do have to talk about it and I know it's not all not all of the staff are on board with this and they just want to get on with the work I get that and we don't want to discourage anyone that needs hospital to go to a hospital but when we're hearing that from the consultants it simply just cannot be ignored and that's why this meeting is happening I presume Mary T. Sweeney to row in behind them and say right okay you've you know we hear what you're saying we share those concerns and this is a public public platform to talk about it too completely completely and Greg the reality is that somebody has to kick this off and I would like to think that our meeting in the January past has kicked it off because if we continue to our community many people in the community are saying to me we're losing our community spirit there are so many people that have migrated into dunny goal whether it's from abroad or from other counties that we're very much we must be cognizant of the responsibility we have to maintain a community strength and unity to protect the the main services that we have like the hospital like our community centers like our sports centers you know we need to work together to retain those things don't just happen by chance you know and it's so imperative that so if there's anybody that is really I would invite everybody to write their stories to bring them along on the night some people will get personally speaking from the floor but the podium will be there for the advocacy groups to say what they think they need because that will be collectively hopefully the easiest way to get the most stories told that can be recounted and fed back to the minister okay that meeting takes place at the Mount Aragile hotel on Thursday the 30th of November so it's Thursday week and it's at 8 p.m and it's an open invitation from the Latter-Kina Hospital campaign group for we have set up a Facebook page that's just getting finished off today so again if people would look up the Facebook page we'll put the details on there and the contact details as I say I'll have that finished by this evening but it's just been set up there in the last couple of days and we're just getting the don't know the secretary runs that so she'll be able to communicate and contact anybody that gets on the Facebook page yeah all you can contact through me let us know okay listen thank you very much for that I appreciate your time that is Mary T. Sweeney there who is speaking there in a role as Chair of the Latter-Kina hospital campaign group right Sam again don't want to keep talking about the same things but my phone has blew up from people on various platforms talking about traffic in T. Sweeney apparently lots of you are late for lots of things and a lot of messages saying the same thing we were patient but we're not moving this morning so if you're sitting in your cars I'm sorry I can offer you no comfort other than to say that there is a reason and that's there is a collision on the pole star roundabout so it is holding traffic up causing severe delays so on this occasion it's not down to light sequencing or what have you that there has been a collision on the pole star roundabout and that is slowing things down so that's what I can say to help you understand what's going on there any further information on that by the way text us or wait 660 25 000 watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com Christmas party nights at the Silver Tasse drinks reception four-course festive meal live music by the Loogs Jim Devine and more prior to your elbow for dates and bookings call the Silver Tasse hotel pride sponsors of today's show it's hard to picture the damage high blood pressure can do so imagine a balloon the pressure building causing increased strain on your heart damaging it and other major organs and putting you at risk of a stroke the pressure building until it's too late two in three adults over 50 have high blood pressure and half don't know it once detected it's easily managed get your blood pressure checked by your GP or local pharmacy before damage is done a message from the Irish Heart Foundation it's the Black Friday sale at right price tiles and wood flooring we're offering our Black Friday deals all week get up to 70% off all tiles all wood flooring and all bathware everything's reduced and everything's in stock the 70% off Black Friday sale at right price tiles and wood flooring stores nationwide sale now on hi Nathan Carter here and i'm delighted to say i've just had two installations from cherry wall kitchens and bedrooms and i have to say their attention to detail is second to none with their sleek design and craftsmanship your dream kitchen is just a visit away so why not head over to cherry more kitchens and bedrooms and let the magic begin cherry more kitchens and bedrooms Donegal town more kitchens your way since 1996 visit cherrymore.ie or call 97258822 to pick your free design appointment if you need advice on what's best for coughs or colds or what's best for sore throats or flu just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy if you need advice on the best vitamins and tonics to put a pep in your step just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy whether it's about back aches head aches or tummy aches your Brennan's pharmacy team can help if you need advice from someone you trust we're here for you at your local Brennan's pharmacy Montcran, Tlamani and Creaselaw to help with the cost of heating your home during the winter months the fuel allowance scheme is now available this allowance is paid at a rate of 33 euro a week for 28 weeks to find out more and check your eligibility visit gov.ie forward slash fuel allowance the quickest and easiest way to apply is online at mywelfare.ie one payment per household a government of Ireland initiative brought to you by the Department of Social Protection around the northwest will be live this Monday from the Mount Erigal Hotel at Erkenney to mark the official start of the buy donegal campaign which runs from November 20th until December 22nd tune in to find out about the buy donegal campaign which showcases the best of donegal business to a global audience that's this Monday on around the northwest from 12 midday okay so mixed reports on whether or not there was a collision it was nothing serious in any case at the pool star roundabout causing traffic chaos some people have traveled through the roundabout and said there's no sign of a collision so we'll just try and get to the bottom of that and it will help if more of you the listeners get in contact with us did you see a collision there or is it light sequencing please let us know right amary joins us on the program now amary thanks for your time today thank you greg we were speaking to good morning to you amary we're speaking to a lady last week whose son older son was waiting for an ent appointment at letter kenny university hospital cleta was her name of course you could hear the distress in her voice and it was clear the anxiety he was going through he had a particular condition that was causing great distress to him um you were able to relate to that conversation amary were you uh totally related to it greg uh it's an absolute disgrace what the young people here and i've shown and the surrounding areas has to go through waiting on an appointment to get in to see an ent specialist which doesn't apply to anybody here because they have to travel to slag i think is the nearest hospital my son was on a witness for several years he has had three ent surgeries since he went down the witness here he keeps getting out these forms to say do you still want to avail of the service he signs them sends them back again maybe in six months time and get another one now he was told that he could go cross border which he did he went to a hospital here across the border and he had a procedure done which wasn't not a success he paid for it himself and he climbed it back through the cross border now he he's had another surgery done in london which he funded himself because it was affecting his mental health like his issues with mental health as well i can relate totally to colette is that the lady's name yeah and colette's son had a particular condition um that made her his her son's head sorry feel full all the time it you can hear your heart beating you can hear your when you speak you can hear your own voice is this the same condition your son had well the only way that i can describe it greg is if you put your head under water right that's exactly yeah at that sensation the whole time so like obviously you've been using the pool and you've got water in your ear now it will go away for us but that sensation is there the whole time morning noon night now and no one seems to be listening at all to the condition or to the the people like i'm not a racist person but i think it's got to the stage now that we have to be looking after our young people here in ireland because if we don't what's going to become of them to be suffering from mental health issues alone as a serious serious condition but when you have complications from another illness which is adding to the mental health something has to be done now to ring down to the hospital you'll get first of all you'll get an answering machine they'll ring you back which they have no recollection of anybody ringing on the past it's just past the book from one to the other now the series see just we'll get to that the secondary see this series of operations he's had well firstly did these did the operation in harley street offer him any relief yes okay so he's improved now has he yes okay but completely but but his life's more tolerable okay but the series about the three surgeries he had here and maybe it was four with the cross border one uh were they like grommets and stuff or they just were doing the wrong thing or what was going on there no he only had one surgery here he's on the list he had one surgery here and he's had two cents applying the what i'm making what i'm trying to say is here he's had three procedures done from he went down the witness here i get you now one across border and then the other of course over in London i get you um and he went on the one just yes we simply don't have the staff in ent services to probably even maintain the list let alone reduce it well you see that's what the issue is yeah but the issue is why do we not have the staff like we don't have an ent specialist and let a county hospital we don't have an eye doctor and let a county hospital we have no facilities around here for anything you have to travel to slago when you get to the opportunity of going that far and of course we're going to be taking it we're going to be taking it surely because we're waiting that long yeah yeah okay it is uh i can totally sympathize like it's not only when you're dealing with someone with issues with their ears there's no their nose and the throat it all goes under the one category so it does but you have to remember they cannot fly because of the hearing issues that they have there's a possible they don't know what's wrong with their ear so there's a possibility that if they get on a narrow plane that it could be an honorary thing it could you can't just can't fly and the thing about it to amary is this that this is similar to other um issues that we've talked about in the past there are hundreds if not thousands of individuals across tonigol affected by this but they're all singular voices in other words we have what's going on in your family in the awful stress and distress that's caused then we have colette's house where she's gone through an awful lot with her son and the anxiety and the stress that's caused and you can dot those houses all across this region but because they're individual cases it's individual battles with the hsc and again it's if people could come together under one umbrella and say right that it's unacceptable what's happening in ent services maybe something could be done but unfortunately at the moment these all come across as individual cases but i'm sure there are hundreds of people out there and hundreds of families that are going it's the exact same for us or they've just got a 10 or 11 year old diagnosed and they're wondering is he or she going to be 18 or 20 or 25 before they get their problems solved do you know what i mean and and it kind of suits to some extent the hsc because you're all a big string of individual voices yes yes you know you get where i'm coming from we don't have to be listened to because i just send you a letter that shuts you up i'll send a letter a letter that shuts us up but if there were a hundred or a hundred and fifty saying look enough is enough we can't go through this any longer then you can't ignore that voice but who's going to listen to that what do we do or where do we go or how do we all get together to sort this out i do understand well listen the the parents of of children looking to access ot services and what have you they got together and have made great inroads so maybe something like that is required and rie i don't know and i don't know who the person is to do it but we we are all our friends and our neighbors and our community we're all fighting these individual battles on our own and it's just so distressing because you're concerned about your son clets concerned about her son and there's other families all concerned about their loved ones and they all feel alone and isolated and it's horrendous well thanks me to god greg my son is a lot better good he has gone and he has paid private for his treatment what happens if you can't afford that you're suffering silence or you don't and that's the that's the tragic thing because clets on uh according to clets he's expressed in the past that he doesn't know how long he can continue living the way he's living yeah you know and and and i have to be really careful with how i say things and if anyone has any issues like that they they need to get uh help from the appropriate agencies but we don't know the extent of this and i'm not i mean that's from colette she's worried about her son far beyond this this awful sensation he has and stick your fingers in your ear and see and go through an entire day with both fingers jammed tight into your ears and that's giving you some indication of what life is like and there's no respite or recovery from it and i don't think that even tells the full story amary but it might give people an idea of what the likes of your son was going through and and colette was going through one instance as you know roll up a better roll and stick it into your one of your ears not the two ears i tried it here just to see what the experience of it is and um you can hear it's like a sensation all the time it's like a ringing in your ear so it must be intolerable to have to love with that so um then it affects your equi equilibrium as well because our ears are incredibly important to our balance or you know uh the slots okay you hope in colette and her family gets some resolution to their issues soon too i would love to hear that they get some some kind of answers and some kind of treatment all right amary for so listen thanks for that i'm glad to hear things are for improved for your somebody had to go to harley street for that and uh he was lucky to be able to fund it uh costs thousands and as you quite rightly point out as you quite rightly point out not everyone can afford that amary thank you for your time today the nine to nine show with the silver taffy hotel the perfect venue for a christmas get together serving festive lunch afternoon tea dinner and drinks throughout december follow silver taffy hotel on facebook and instagram the government's connecting arland rural mobility plan is rolling out more public transport nationwide this year 36 noon enhanced tfi local link bus services and four noon enhanced bus air and routes have launched with 22 more to come before the year ends that's more than one a week rail services are also being upgraded with the greener cleaner fleet each time you choose public transport it helps reduce arlands transport emissions wherever you're going your journey counts visit gov.ie forward slash your journey counts brought to you by the government of arland i wonder will it smell this christmas because i wonder how i'm going to eat the house wonder will i have enough left over for food and toys for families facing poverty this is the wonder of christmas please support the st vincent paul annual appeal donate at sbp.ie or call 0818 176 176 for fantastic black friday deals visit rossview interiors in letter kenny where there's amazing offers on a large range of sofas in stock and ready for delivery before christmas there's also huge savings on bedroom and occasional furniture dining sets and hollywood mirrors with dressing tables the perfect christmas gift that's right now at rossview interiors the home of better deals at rossview business park letter just off the pool star roundabout there's bingo every monday night at halfway house bingo burnford doors open at seven thirty with eyes down at eight thirty two thousand five hundred euro muskoe the snowball is now two thousand euro one forty five numbers are less if you're not in you can't win that's halfway house bingo tonight at eight thirty quiltsha cares for arlands forest sustainably as our country seeks to combat climate change we'll do more our ambition is to create new forests manage our existing forests for greater carbon capture and provide more habitats to enhance biodiversity we'll support creating new homes by delivering sustainable irish wood products and we'll increase the number of beautiful forest recreation spaces for everyone to enjoy quiltsha forests for climate nature wood and people for a greener future for all highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant from condensing oil and hfo biofuel boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating you can trust grant to heat your home visit grant dot i e okay fresh and breezy today with a mix of sunny spells and showers showers will be widespread this morning but will become more isolated during the afternoon with long dry spells developing maximum temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees in fresh and gusty northwest winds now we bid huge congratulations to counsellor Troy gala her good morning to you Troy good morning Greg good morning to you and all your listeners you were nominated and bestowed a freeman of the city of london by past lord mayor alderman vincent keveney and call brian k for outstanding service to public life and community how does it feel correct how does it feel yeah it feels great to be honest and also really honored but at the same time quite humbled and yeah something i never expected when i first came over in 95 moved along in 99 and as i was i said to friends afterwards and in my space uh well a few words after the investiture that i was thinking about mom and dad i'm a late mom and dad who lived in a live in finnsbury park mom worked in london zoo dad worked building the barbican and non- construction building roads etc and reminded me actually back then that that would be inconceivable for many Irish people to uh have and also for the many Irish people that built britain and um can't be over the years so it's equally as much i accept the word on not just for what i've done but for all the unrecognized work Irish people have done over that has 60 70 years great yeah and i'm sure your mom and dad were watching on incredibly proud of you as well uh i got the impression that much of the work uh you do do in terms of trying to help people in london you would be doing uh anyway but it is uh it's good that you have you know elected office to be able to perhaps do it more effectively if that makes sense like a lot of these if you work on your passion about outside of politics in any case yeah that's right greg and i suppose been been a councillor gives me that level of influence and access in order to achieve that the the social change that's needed whether it's uh tackling poverty build more social housing bonhill and my own work has a highest level of social housing built in the last 10 years we're due to build another 200 under social housing under private pay for the social but equally equally what is very important is to be able to give that platform towards i wish diaspora and i wish issues to around here because for the last 10 15 years whilst a lot of good work's been done by tonic uh tonic vaden tonic ellie so many other people in the health sector in the construction they don't always get the recognition that they deserve and equally for the younger generation coming behind they don't have that they don't have that level of that level of support for when they do have challenges and mental health as but you're over for my gala ball you're in highland and you know i spoke then about the mental health issues including the issue of suicide that affects young men particularly in montaibish as well and that is something that's not going to go away and as equally as i said before it's prevalent in tonic all yes of course and then we have those that move from island over to london made their lives there and then maybe they acquire a long-term illness or disability or age and and even though they've lived there all of their lives or much of their adult lives you can then start feel quite isolated and alone and you know what happens next you know what i mean that's also an area that you and and others over there are really quite conscious of absolutely and i think you can be very very successful and you can be on six seven figure salary in london and still be very lonely even if you have a partner and family or even if you're a single and loneliness is quite a silent colouring around london which is why and since since the pandemic many people have decided actually to leave london to move out for a number of various reasons i know people have said mortgage paid off i'm retiring from whatever i'm doing i spend more time with family moving back to ireland and you know i'm very keen for those people as with my work with the diaspora to stop the brain drain and any if there are people that want to move back to ireland to be able to support them to do that and be able to contribute to our society and community wherever they may choose to live and that's equally important to continue trying to tackle immigration but you and i've spoke before about people young people leaving ireland with the lack of housing more so than employment and that's something we really need to get to grips with and i think if there's anything that people like myself and other people who are involved and and that sort of work have some of the solutions that can be utilised by government local councils etc we should be able to do that there and have and feed that back and have some some contribution from experience okay brilliant stuff so as a with as a free man of the city of london what does what what can you herd sheep across london bridge or or yeah i think you are going to come out with that well i have to ask what the benefits are for you know it's all about the benefits too and try well there was and you know we're too well obviously i'm too predictable go on in the old days there was loads of benefits towards that there so you could you could drink freely in the city and and and have a free free travel home you could be able to carry a sword around in order to protect the city or protect oneself but now yeah the ceremonial is driving the sheep across the london bridge and on that too as well i think what i would like to do this year would be my first one is to work with trying to speak to tom kelly who was honored last year for freedom facility of london to see if we could do some for our charities get a number of done-a-goal people to walk across with us on the on the sheep uh driving sheep over london bridge that sounds like another that sounds like another highland radio trip to me uh try i don't know what you're thinking okay brilliant well listen you'll give us more details so we can we can publicize that when you get it all buttoned down obviously oh well great could i just say one quick thing as well if you don't mind please go ahead and i heard i heard in highland this morning that um council mcmonichael raised raised the issue about more street lighting for muckish avenue and i have to say obviously i'm over and back to muckish and that is very much a live issue that was raised with me and it is very very dark at night i'm given that we have got long-term residents there one of the issues is you could there's cracks on the pavements and there's crack on the sides of the road and it is quite dangerous for elderly people walking across lebanon wet leaves when there is no light and i really welcome council mcmonichael raising this and i hope that that kind of council does all join them to sort that out because that is something that is very much on residents mind and for their own safety for their own safety and equally to cry and create more light and as a deterrent for anyone who may have less than generous of noble intentions in and around muckish avenue brilliant stuff okay thanks very much Troy again congratulations that's Labour Councillor Troy Galler who is freeman of the city of london back with more after the news and obituary notices all eight of the great concealer are amlas basket weaving falconry illan piping when it comes to heritage we put our money where your passion is if your organisation supports Ireland's heritage you may be eligible for a heritage organisation support fund grant applications now open at heritagecouncil.ie forward slash funding supported by the department of housing local government and heritage suffering from hearing loss at kingsbridge hearing care in ballet Kelly our expert audiologist are ready to see you our brand new clinic location within kingsbridge northwest offers a full range of hearing aid provision including enhanced hearing assessments and earwax removal treatment so what are you waiting for don't let hearing loss hold you back call us on 028 7707 6050 or visit kingsbridgehearingcare.co.uk to book your appointment today the high on die electric family designed for yours the ionic five with a range of up to 507 kilometres the all new kona with a range of up to 514 kilometres and the ionic six with a range of up to 614 kilometres high on die our family designed for yours your local dealer is dibbers high on die canal road letter kenny call 9122 600 see 80s pop sensations to pow live for one night only friday 24th of november sent columns all daring performing all their hits heart and soul valentine and their number one classic par ballad china in your hand plus many many more this is a night not to be missed see to pow live in their only airy show friday 24th of november sent columns all daring tickets available from musiccapital.org and to pow.co.uk live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning i'm akilah clark with the news at 10 o'clock a public meeting next week will discuss the ongoing concerns over letter kenny university hospital health minister steven donley is to visit the hospital this week in response to serious issues raised by gps and consultants with regards to patient safety in the hospital's emergency department the meeting organised by the letter kenny hospital campaign group will take place at 8 p.m. on thursday november the 30th at the mount arigal hotel letter kenny the group's chair mary t sweeney says the government needs to listen also to the concerns of the patients attending the hospital if the government only talks to one side of of the concerned group which is the medical core then they must also look at the community as well to bring all those concerns together to really discern what has to be addressed and what has to be a priority to have a more successful hospital that we can all have confidence in it's been recommended an extra seat be allocated to the midlands north west west constituency ahead of next year's european parliament elections the midlands north west constituency will be expanded to include the kindies of leash and awfully also following a month-long public consultation the electoral commission concluded that an additional 14th m.e.p be allocated for the upcoming elections stemming from arnan's growing population and eu rules on the european parliament's composition denigal senator nyle blaney announced his intention earlier this year to contest 2024's european elections israel says it's working to finalise the terms of a deal that could see dozens of hostages held by hamas freed a pause in fighting is likely to be agreed in exchange with guitar acting as a mediator spokesperson for the israeli military major liby vice says they will facilitate any political agreement that is reached on hostages something that's certainly on the political and diplomatic level will have to be decided but we in the military will facilitate whatever decision is made and i should say that the fastest way for the hostages to come home would be for hamas to release them immediately without any terms or conditions or demands elderly people in one estate and latter kenny are effectively trapped in their homes during the winter months as they're afraid to leave their properties due to the absence of lighting residents in moghish avenue are said to feel unsafe within their homes also as there are no external lights in the area it's led to calls from councillor jeremy monegal on denigal county council to install additional lighting as a matter of urgency these people have been living here for a long long number of years and the lighting is totally insufficient now and we need to restore their confidence and make them feel safe in their homes and indeed when they leave their home they go to a local shop or to visit neighbours so i've asked the council to look at this and see if we can speedily put these lamps the street lights in place letter kenny native troi galhur says he's honoured and humbled after being awarded the freedom of the city of london councillor galhur was bestowed the freedom at a ceremony on saturday for outstanding service to public life and community he told the nine till nine show a short time ago that he accepted the freedom of the city of london on behalf of all the diaspora who contributed to britain society i was thinking about mom and dad i'm a late mom and dad who lived in 11 fenbury park mom worked in london zoo dad worked building the barbeque and non- construction building roads etc and it reminded me actually back then that that would be inconceivable for many Irish people to have and also for the many Irish people that built Britain and contributed over the years so it's equally as much accept the word on not just for what i've done but for all the unrecognised work Irish people have done over that has 60 70 years great weather night fresh and breezy today with a mix of sunny spells and shards shards will be widespread this morning but will become more isolated this afternoon highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees that's all from highland radio news for now we'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock until then you can keep up to date with the latest local news on our website at highland radio dot com good morning the obituary notice is for this monday morning november the 20th the death has occurred of Teresa Burke neck coil beechwood nursing home leiland bridge carlo and formerly the newton conning him doneigall Teresa's remains will repose at the eternal light chapel of rest at mountaintop letcher kenney this evening from six o'clock to eight o'clock funeral mass in all sins church newton conning him at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning fall by interment in the adjoining cemetery the death has occurred of michael mickey broadly less fun and fawn michael's remains are of housing at his home removal from there tomorrow morning at quarter past ten to st mary's church car kill for recreation mass at 11 o'clock fall by interment in the adjoining graveyard recreation mass can be viewed on church services dot tv family time please from 11 p.m. to 2 p.m. and on the morning of the funeral family fliers only please donations in louis if desired to the doneigall hospice care of any family member or murphy funeral directors the death has taken place of an steward naikwin 55 crohan heights livered and formerly of brocker reposing at her home funeral leaving her home to more morning at quarter past 10 for recreation mass in st patrick's church murlock at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the recreation mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam the death has taken place of fred codlip du dinings his remains are opposing at his late residence funeral from there today going to the church ups in john the baptist carry guard for recreation mass at 11 o'clock full band hermit in the adjoining cemetery family time before the funeral this morning for family information and more details regarding wigs and funerals please go to highland radio dot com okay you welcome back to the program good morning if you are just tuning in where have you been we had an interesting first hour but we'll move on with the second and lots of your calls coming in here no collision at the poll star roundabout just an absolute joke sat for nearly 40 minutes this morning and my daughter's boss was late for college trying to get into that Kenny this morning on the special new special needs school boss 40 minutes delay says another listener thank god i'm far away from the poll star roundabout today but i'm pretty sure the collision was caused by the confusion inappropriate lights at the roundabout well we've had more information suggests that perhaps there was a breakdown briefly at around a quarter to nine but no collision came out of letter kenny 10 minutes ago there was no crash at that point and nothing moving inwards way out managerial carriage way back to way up collin road and larky brach this is not down to a collision another just through the poll star two cars with hazards on stopped at the exit towards nilty blaney road caller says there was a car broken down at the lights at the poll star roundabout at 8045 this morning which is being confused as a collision but the traffic is still congested and backed up to the drum or exit on the lyford road also tail backs up the larky back road caller is unsure if the car is still stuck or if tail backs are as a result of the lights letter kenny traffic our lights out on the poll star says another 20 minutes on larky brach greg what's going on with the traffic the queue is crazy coming in the dual carriage way sitting 20 minutes and the queue must be as far back as the halfway point of the dual carriage way another traffic is an absolute disgrace in letter kenny this morning another dual carriageway this morning to letter kenny absolute joke 45 minutes and nowhere near the lights will someone please try and sort this mess out and on they go lots of unhappy drivers this morning look we are i think everyone's been given plenty of time to see how things are working we will get back in contact with the engineers and find out have they been tweaked is this it is this the norm are there other things that we can expect to happen to improve the traffic people need to know at this point so we'll make those inquiries and find out if this is the new norm that we need to become accustomed to or are they still tinkering with the lights you would think two three weeks on at this point that the sequencing would be optimized but clearly off the back of so many texts and calls on a monday morning it is not the case a petrol station is charging 125 euro extra every time you fill your car and the money goes back into your account after 24 hours this has been going on for a month is it legal called contacted the garage and the person he was talking to hung up on them he said they're trying to blame this on the banks but the bank said it's nothing to do with them we've had this before and it's pre-approvement on a card and often it is service stations whereby there is no attendant or shop and you put your card in and you fill up your tank and then you're charged however much you charge but we have had reports in the past and we've talked about in this past where there is a hold of 125 euro pot and someone's card and it often doesn't go back until the next day they're not overcharged to get the money back but it's pre-approving it as you know if you do it with other company can be a one or two cent but seemingly when you use some of these stations they lock off your card the maximum your average person is likely to put into their car although that's well and above that but you know what I mean so that seems to be the issue it hasn't gone away I thought it had we talked about it extensively but if anyone else wants to get involved in that conversation please let us know Greg there was an accident there this morning in the guardie with a then a car broke down which is added to the lay which added to the delays please have a little patient says a listener right we want to keep you on the road with free fuel we're going to try and do that now with our friends at kelly's centre at the mountaintop in letter canning because they're getting ready for santa season and are celebrating uh the community this christmas they'll be working with little angels and raising funds over the festive season the team will have a number of giveaways in store and on social media and there'll be golden tickets in their store at the mountaintop with discounts and a grand prize and you may see the mountain about with a very special guest today one lucky listener is going to win a 50 euro fuel voucher to fuel up at their local circle k and the question is as follows what traditionally orange vegetable is considered good for your eyesight text your answer your name and where you're from to 08 660 25 000 of course it's free for you to enter what vegetables normally uh orange and is normally good for your eyesight 08 660 25 000 we'll keep those lines open for a bit one of you will win a 50 euro fuel voucher for circle k uh so again just to remind you of the question what orange vegetable is considered good for your sight text a whatsapp 08 660 25 000 with your answer and your name and where you're from so we know how to contact you and uh we'll pick a lucky winner out in the not too distant future so stay tuned for that and it's all about the giveaways today because we have uh our friends at the silver tassie have a really cracking end of week prize and it's great to have them on board again here on the show here are the details as we head towards the bingo numbers on this week's show with thanks to our sponsors the silver tassie hotel and seascapes bar we're giving you the chance to win their relaxation heaven package this luxurious two and a half hour package includes an aromatic steam session and cocoon room a hot towel foot and back cleanse an indulgent full body massage a mini escape facial with scalp massage all followed up with snooze room relaxation time and refreshments to begin with a chance of winning this fantastic prize on friday simply answer the following question what is the day after thanksgiving known as in terms of shopping deals is it a black friday or b blue friday text or whatsapp your answer name and address to zero eight six sixty twenty five thousand it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's monday the 20th of november you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s11 it's game number 47 the numbers are 20 46 2 4 28 58 80 55 83 and finally 77 phone your claim to nine one zero four eight double three before eight tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get on your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com it's your local sports club but it's much more than that it's a social hub a source of community pride a place to get passionate about texaco support for sport awards five thousand euro to a sports club in every county that's any sport every county all you need is a valid games and sports exemption number and a lot of passion enter before 31st of january 2024 and make your club the star for more info terms and conditions see texaco support for sport dot com thinking of changing your floors why not see what florid letter kenny has to offer florid have a large selection of solid semi-solid and laminate click vinyl wood flooring together with a fantastic choice of park a herringbone flooring all at incredible value don't delay call florid today on zero eight seven one six one seven double zero eight hi kate appleby here just wanted to let you all know my exciting new autumn shoe collection is available nationwide in all good shoe stores kate appleby dot com hope you enjoy my shoes looking for a good night's sleep rest x beds has you covered located at mountaintop letter kenny they are the best in the northwest to get a quality bed or mattress come visit them today and wake up feeling rested and refreshed rest x beds mountaintop letter kenny the nine to nine show with the multi award winning silver tassie hotel planning dream weddings for generations email weddings at silver tassie hotel dot i for a brochure for your private show around all right more of your texts coming in here shocked with the delays in traffic in letter kenny this morning almost 10 a.m and still not in work what's going on why were you supposed to be in at nine my god that's bad hi greg traffic queue all the way back at the dual carriageway at 10 a.m traffic lights great job well that's not down to a collision or a breakdown if you're still at the dual carriageway at 10 a.m traffic in letter kenny unbelievable queued halfway at the dual carriageway and part of the donnago motor club people complain about rally weekend there's never been traffic as bad as now today as a town counsellor emergency serve ask a town counsellor emergency services can't get into town another there's a collision on the pole star although we're having mixed views on that and that was at 845 it's now 10 hi greg just heard you chatting about the traffic in town it was it has become a nightmare they've the town destroyed with traffic lights and it's a big deal you know for people looking to get in and out of work in and out of hospital appointments but also of course you know we need to be able to get our emergency services in and out of letter kenny as well listen thanks for all of your calls coming in on that and so much more besides we'll get to more of those as the morning progresses but we're joined on the program now by uh majella old donnell good morning majella thanks so much for joining us great to speak to you good morning greg you too how are you keeping majella and very well good great thank gosh not a bother all right and looking forward to the letter kenny university hospital northwest breast cancer charity ball in aid of breast cancer research at letter kenny university hospital it's on friday the first of december at the beautiful silver tassie and of course majella this is um uh an event and a cause that you're more than happy to be involved in i'm sure absolutely i am it's been going on for quite a few years now and it's a great event i have to say it's great fun that um lots of interesting people charity is going to be presenting it uh well should i say she's the guest of honor and of course noel conningham our wonderful noel will be the mc for the evening um you know i would just kind of come on really to say to people it's a fantastic way of supporting you know breast cancer in the northwest in our own region it's specifically for letter kenny general hospital um it's a great evening you don't have to buy a long dress to go uh you know you can go in your sunday smart or you can go all out up to yourself but it's a great event and it's a great way of the said of supporting local um breast cancer fundraising because we do an awful lot of research or they do an awful lot of research in the hospital and you know i would ask people to please you know consider going out and get a ticket on friday the first of december and the tickets are 50 euros so that's you know for a very reasonable price considering you're getting your your meal and everything and the entertainment and money is going to the charity as well yeah and just to recap that it's a four course meal and dancing then to the red alert band and the dj afterwards so you get an awful lot for your 50 euro but also uh you can be comfortable in the knowledge that you supporting uh these great courses and research in any cancer uh and particularly uh will not exclusively breast cancer it's so important isn't it um that we absolutely find ways to beat this awful disease absolutely i mean you know one and two of us and you know people are yet you know neighbors whatever are getting diagnosed every second day you know it's so so common and you know i just think you know it's a lovely way of giving to charity i mean you could just give 50 euro but to actually you know that's what i always think of it as a donation and what you're getting for your donation is a fantastic evening of entertainment and food and lots of great company so you know that's a very fair exchange i think for 50 euro so i would encourage everybody if they can to to go and get tickets and it's in the silver tassi um letter kenny and has been you know for quite a few years now so they've been fantastic supporters as well yeah and it is a beautiful setting as well and it's a time to celebrate and it's also a time to remember magella this is it actually nail on the head craig you know for for all those people this year that may be passed with cancer for people that were diagnosed or whatever it is a great way of remembering and celebrating and and as i said looking forward and and to more cancer you know um what do i say better outcomes yeah yeah exactly more cancer treatments better treatments i mean even myself now i'm 10 years thank god this year i was um you know cancer free if you like and even in that 10 years the amount of research at the amount of um you know forward work that has been done uh with new treatments is phenomenal even in 10 years and that's why we need to keep you know throwing money at this cancer unfortunately because one day we will beat it for sure we just got to keep at it yeah we are making those inroads and i understand the statistic that you you used because it's one that is is really stark that one in two of us will get cancer we all get it really in a way and i'm not doing anyone who's actually gone through it like yourself at a service and we never know what's ahead of us but it is our partner or our mom or our dad or our brother or sister i mean is all of us that are affected now obviously those that get cancer themselves it they're affected in a different way but this is this is a concern for all of us this is true absolutely you know the children partners and parents sisters brothers they're all affected by it and sometimes even what do they say you know harder for them because they don't think there's nothing they can do you know what i mean there's all they can do is be there um if they're needed be there to support you know obviously when someone you love gets cancer you you want to do everything you can you want to take it away from them but you just can't do that all you have to do is is be there to support them so it is a difficult journey for them too i have to say and that's why very often the person with the diagnosis ends up being the counselor for everybody else uh majella in saying all the okay it's not that bad yeah we'll get through this yeah you know what i mean it's uh it's just the nature of us as humans okay listen it's going to be a wonderful night of celebration of remembrance for 50 and they've actually moved the date so it didn't clash with the uh with the um the toy show which i thought was really quite nice but it's just 50 euro per ticket you get that beautiful four course meal you get to dress up as well as you like or whatever in whichever way you feel comfortable as well we don't care exactly band red light play yeah modesty has to be covered that's the only okay listen majella have a have a wonderful night of course you mentioned the mc in null and the special guest uh as well in kira which is fantastic all right majella thank you for your time thank you take care of yourself bye bye lovely to talk to you as always that's majella oh donal there just to remind you some tickets still available for the northwest breast cancer charity ball it's a native breast cancer research letter kenny university hospital friday the first of december in the beautiful silver tassie hotel and because of the date it's going to have a sense of uh a christmas party as well uh because i'm sure the dj and the band will have a few festive treats for people to enjoy so um get along to that if you can right some more of your comments here hi gray from a letter kenny business owner could you please address the dogfiling along our letter kenny footpaths and entrances to businesses it's worsening and it's absolutely appalling where the regulations are enforcement regarding this issue it seems to be very bad this week main street and port road are you a business a fellow business owner in letter kenny or uh someone using the highways and byways of letter kenny most notably it seems the main street and port road are you seeing an increase in dogfiling you would think we'd be getting better wouldn't you but of course according to that testimony there were not i call us as people talk about increases in costs i bought a sandwich on friday 680 the same sandwich used to be four euro so what cost me 20 euro a week is now 34 euro is it any wonder businesses are closing who can afford this size of an increase now you can shop around 680s a lot but there are i mean you can get a lot for in some places for five euro uh in regards to the hsc in hospital appointments they need to set up a website all appointments records and videos need to be accessible in the one place even in years to come so that people can access these things the hospital campaign meeting in the mount arigal on the 30th is a great idea and a great opportunity for everyone in donagall to row in and support the doctor staff and patients to save our services and improve conditions for all i'd not be able to speak publicly but the opportunity to write down your story and experiences allows all voices to be listened to there's nothing like working together for the common cause uh just a question here about prescription tablets with our local chemist when i go back to get monthly supplies i can have different brands of tablets so i have to go back to change them for the right ones wondering does anyone else find this is happening to them at the local pharmacy i take a tablet uh and sometimes you get one brand and sometimes you get the other it's all the same that's in them you're getting probably a mixture of generic brands there some people worry about i don't to be honest the i've absolute trust in the chemist if they're replacing it with one tablet with another uh i'm pretty confident it's the same product but obviously not everyone is the same it does happen i know because i experienced it myself but any other listeners have an insider review on that let us know on 086 60 25 000 just wondering if you could look into something uh just wanted to know if there's any truth to arland's debt we owe about 250 billion give or take but arland have donated or loan money to america over the years to about the same uh i haven't heard of us also owning money to america to be honest we are writing down that debt to some extent that was part form part of the the budget maybe are you confusing our contribution to our look into it for sure maybe you're confusing our contribution into the EU we did well out of the EU for many years but now we are net contributors and that amount that we contribute to the EU is increasing disappointed that the second consultant had to be removed and causing anxiety to patients at the hospital waiting and cancellations i don't know what's happening there it's hard to get information i understand uh greg it's shocking that a video was doing the rounds of people walking with children with suitcase in the in the early hours of this morning any shown is one of the most dangerous areas in donagall for road fatalities who thought it was okay to drop these people off uh like that now there as i say there is a video doing the rounds i'll see for those of you who are watching here if i can show you this video i'll keep the volume down but it does seem really quite dangerous now i'm not sure who these people are or what they might be doing but they are walking on both sides as it turns out of what appears to be a very narrow and dark road it's not safe at all i don't know what they're doing there but they are carrying bags and as i say it is not no lights no high vis and it does seem particularly dangerous so i don't know precisely what's going on there but there's children there as well which is particularly worrying for me the business post reported that under new migration and asylum packed islands will be responsible for the largest portion of asylum seekers based on our gdp we need a referendum now to get some leverage on negotiations well we are opting into a lot of that stuff by the way uh the you know we choose to in certain cases good morning greg why don't we ever hear you or other media talking about the far left when we talk about people pushing the trans movement and immigration for examples the people of Ireland are finally waking up and are being labeled far right this is pushing pushed by our lefties government shows the contempt they have for normal citizens what i find left and right is a little bit like a horseshoe in that they end up meeting in the end in the middle i don't really subscribe to the left and right stuff i don't talk about far right stuff particularly or far left stuff either so i've been this liberal conservative i don't know how you might describe it i think when people talk about far left and far right there's many people just tune out and go well what's that i don't subscribe to an ideology i just have my views but as i say and particularly you can see with people stance on what's happening in the middle east and russia that horseshoe tends to meet in the middle uh sounds like the employer wants people to work for nothing so we can make a profit is he aware of how much the cost of living is increased could he live in a minimum wage that's in response to that article in the paper today uh from a business owner that sites so difficult to get staff but also the pressures of wage increases on employers uh yeah four a.m this morning two miles outside of plamani men women and children walking in the dark on unsafe roads a few view messaging in on that uh it's clear the boss drivers are no longer going to enter tans because of demonstrations okay they seem to be implying that these might be um emigrants i don't know the ins and outs but i just look at it from a road safety perspective and it doesn't look safe at all okay um we'll be back with more in the 90 noon show shortly watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com Christmas party nights at the silver tassay drinks reception four course festive meal live music by the loogs jim divine and more prior to your elbow for dates and bookings call the silver tassay hotel proud sponsors of today's show it's beginning to look a lot like a national trust christmas see the augury sparkle and the new winter illuminations trail wrap up for the return of row allen's beautiful mule tide market hop aboard the road train and visit santa at castle cool with cancer connect n i follow the festive trail and settle in for story time in the bookshop at march duart come and enjoy the cozy christmas village at castle ward and you'll find gigantic christmas spirit at the giant's causeway for an unforgettable christmas search national trust n i ah work was a nightmare how about you love dropped my phone in the loo hmm disaster life's discomforts are no match for the advanced comforts of the citron c4 and the new c4x hydraulic cushion suspension filters out road imperfections while our advanced comfort seats create an experience that isn't just comfort it's advanced comfort the citron c4 and new c4x book a test drive today the black tag event is now on at curries treat them or treat yourself with the dyson v15 detect absolute cordless vacuum cleaner now only 599 save 150 euro i save 80 euro on the 15 inch hb laptop with intel core i5 processor now 419 get in store our online at curries the mass of black friday sale is now on at patterns the hall livered massive discounts on kitchens beds sofas dining sets and giftware there's up to 50 off selected mattresses in our sleep center hundreds of products in stock and ready for delivery or collection open monday to saturday 9 a.m till 5 30 p.m with hot launches serve dilly in our coffee shop get yourself down to patterns massive black friday sale today do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with space hub dairy we provide a full virtual office address mailbox service for all your business and personal use save your business hundreds possibly thousands on custom charges with space hub dairy call 04871878077 for more details around the northwest will be live this monday from the monterey glow tell letter kenny to mark the official start of the buy dunig all campaign which runs from november 20th until december 22nd tune in to find out about the buy dunig all campaign which showcases the best of dunig all business to a global audience that's this monday on around the northwest from 12 midday you're very welcome back to the program we're in studio now with our head of sales Sean Quinn Sean good to have you back in good morning Greg how are you i'm good before we talk about what we're launching a just quick update if you don't mind on the home for christmas initiative the the lines are still open for nominations for that what's the response been like so far in credible really okay incredible i think there's nearly most of the countries in the world with uh i hadn't realized there's so many people from dunig all living in different parts of the world we're everywhere we are everywhere and we've got some brilliant entries um i don't know how we're going to pick it but we're going to have to do it so it's it's another the first of december is the closing date for that if you're thinking about it i would say act on it now do it as quick as you can so just to to recap because it is a great initiative in that it's bigger than better than ever this year we're inviting people from wherever they are in the world who can't get home to get in touch with us and tell us you know their story why they want to come home where they are and that type of stuff and we're also looking for people who are living here and who have loved ones away who can't get home they can also so you can nominate yourself to return home or you can nominate other people to come home and how do you do that the easiest way is fill the format on the website is that in the outlet or separate it's no it's actually on the front page of the website yes so if you go to highlandreader.com you'll see it there home for christmas very simple form to fill out give us as much details as you can though because um obviously we want to if there's a story we want to hear about the story as well so the more information you give the better we've got a few written letters that means why they can't come home perhaps or how important it would be or maybe it's how long since you've seen them or all of that kind of as much information as you you can yeah absolutely right and and it's not complicated but it's much simpler if you just go to the website and you'll see exactly who applies how you apply and all that type of stuff because you can nominate yourself or someone can nominate you and we need the contact details for both parties but anyway i just wanted to give that a mention in case you just happen to be maybe watching the live stream from somewhere or listening online as well or listening on the radio across the northwest right now separately highland radios hospitality wards 2024 take place in february it's an association with mcm brands and this is a brand new initiative show it is and it's it's kind of off the back of our customer service awards they were so successful that we looked and said where else could we go and reward what people do on a daily basis so the the obvious one was the hospitality because i think we're very good at that in this county and so what we've done is today we're launching an opportunity for for for this day our listeners to vote for their favorite where it be a hotel where it be restaurants or be the tourism attractions i mean go through in more detail into what exactly what we're doing with them but if you go somewhere and you enjoy it and you think it's the best that that that you get from a from a service point of view or it could be food then here's a great opportunity now to vote for them and an opportunity for you to say thank you as well and hospitality is so big in this country because it's a in this county particularly it's a huge employer it's a huge driver of our domestic and also our tourism economy economy and sometimes i don't think it gets the support and credit it deserves so this is a great opportunity to nominate your favorite hotel your favorite restaurant tourism and entertainment bar and pub and i can think in my head you know a short list in my own mind of in each of these categories and it's a really simple way to say you know well thank you or well done or you're you have a great member of bar staff for you for particularly nice particularly nice overnight stay experience yeah and it's you know it's it's everybody strives to to deliver the best service that they can and the best project produce that they can and i think that we do this well but we're something you're a hundred percent right great we don't always recognize and i think we all use these little takeaways or restaurants or we go into bars and we go in and we go again without saying that was lovely thank you very much and so you know i think that's good for business a good it's good for the people to give an opportunity to actually reward the businesses not just in monetary terms but in recognition terms yeah okay so let's run through the categories and there are four categories so it's really quite simple hotel yeah so what we have is um we've got the hotel of the year we're the best hotel spa best hotel breakfast uh i could name quite a few of those ones subcategories of course they are yeah so you've got uh the best family hotel wedding coordinator of the year so it's individuals as well and the best hotel manager receptionist of the year and the best hotel bar and best corporate facilities within a hotel and also your best guest house and b and b stroke um air b and b and then your leisure center because a lot of hotels have leisure centers once i give an opportunity to i mean obviously you know people will stay within the county uh but often you use services within a hotel so it could be the leisure center it could be that engagement with the the bar manager because a lot of hotel bars and public bars as well so in other words you don't have to necessarily stay in a hotel it can be your local hotel but you just use it as your local entertainment venue exercise venue or spa venue whatever it might be absolutely and it's it's i mean there's so much choice there that it would be it'd be great to if you if there's one that you really enjoy and you go back and use in a regular basis give them a vote today all right now your best eatery now is the next one you're calling it restaurants well it's it's yeah it's there's a mix of actually both here because the one that i'm looking forward to is it eatery covers it okay okay well okay i should be in these meetings the uh restaurant of the year we've put the best dining round just ignoring you most do best cafe uh one that's going to be interesting is the best fish and chips yeah best takeaway best takeaway you've got the best burger casual dining and family dining so there's everything there encompassed into that it's all inclusive and i'm not just saying this because i work here but it is all inclusive because you know we don't often recognize what is the best takeaway or what is the best fish and chips we often talk about you know you know in inverted commas fine dining but the majority of us you know the majority of us probably eat takeaways as well so it's good that the restaurant category includes all as always best casual dining best hotel restaurant and on it goes tourism entertainment sector two again this is a broad ranging all-encompassing category as well again i just do really well on this one i must say because it goes from best saint patrick's day parade best caravan camping glamping experience best coffee shops the best santa experience as well which is really quite timely at the moment best family value tourism attraction of the year in other words if you want to recognize someone in tourism and entertainment there's going to be a slot there for you to insert absolutely and there's a little quicky ones as well we even put a golf club in there as well because i think they provide a very good service and there's we've got top-class courses across the country and it's not just about the course it's about the experience afterwards when you go into the club house and they should be recognized for the service that they provide for us um so yeah i don't think we've left anything out there i think there's a great opportunity for a mix of businesses across their entertainment and our tourism and then finally the bar and pub sector this is the one that uh this will go for all age groups so you've got the best pub of the year so it might be your local pub it could be a country pub who provides the best food uh who's got the best music venue bar person of the year best sports bar they're very popular nowadays and a traditional bar and that i could i can meet up on my head i can count a three or four that i know of of lovely traditional bars and then you're off license of the year best pint of Guinness now i couldn't judge that one because i don't drink Guinness but uh i know of friends of mine that always say that's as good a pint of Guinness as i ever tasted is there a section for best bar with 18 screen showing a game of dance from 18 years ago why don't you switch the bloody telly's off we'll put that in the sports department right no okay i'm only messing uh right okay so it's right across the board so we're inviting the public to say you know what uh spread a bit of love thank one of your uh thank one of your hotel restaurant uh tourism and entertainment bar and pub uh but also too is that i mean it's a good opportunity maybe for some of these venues to say hey over here you know absolutely you know no shame in that game we talked about this with the last awards you know there's it's say listen you know we're doing a a job here be lovely to get a little bit of recognition and i do encourage it and if you're working there and you're proud to work there give your business a vote because what will happen is those that are shortlisted will be in for an amazing night on the 4th of February i guarantee it if it's if it's any if it's half as good as what we had for our customer service awards this will be a night to remember in Jackson's hotel uh yeah brilliant venue as well Jackson's Hotel Ballet Buffet uh and great to see it being hosted around the county as well all right so uh there's plenty of time but also there's not plenty of time because it's a busy time of year for everyone as well nominations close on Monday the 13th of December and the event it takes set itself takes place uh in February so really get your nominations in put out your calls for nominations get on it now in the run-up to uh Monday the 13th of December because there's a lot of work goes into uh picking the winners here and we do it in a very transparent and thorough way uh Sean as was shown with the last set of awards yeah absolutely so we'll have independent judges who again will do each section and they will they will matter it based on the comments that come in from the uh from the people from the customers um but they'll also look and search the actual business as well and do some research on it and they'll make their their independent decision based on those um and as I said those who are shortlisted um will all be hopefully in the room on the fourth um I would also like to thank with four sponsors with our main sponsor which is MCM Brands you see you mentioned at the start there Greg our categories the whole hotel section is is sponsored by safe tech the restaurants is by northwest gas tourism and entertainment is sponsored by eye heating and cooling and the bar and pub section is sponsored by Camille Tai so to them thank you um we we couldn't do it without sponsorship it's great to have that um and do you know what Greg and fairness it wasn't a hard sell for us I think on the back of what we've done before people wanted to be involved with us okay so when uh can people or how do people apply so they can apply from today um so after 12 o'clock today everything will be up live on our website the nomination forms will be there to fill out they're very simple to do you'll see it on our website in the front page not yet though it's going to be after 12 12 o'clock 12 o'clock will be live from today um and they can download and they send it's just a an entry is there's no printing out you can fill it online um and it'll come straight into our system there but you've only got until the 13th it's quite a small window so if it's in your head do it today if you can or do it over the next week um because the last time I think with over 17 000 nominations and will we have anything downloadable for businesses any templates that they can you read my minds because one thing that happened the last time as social media went mad and I would encourage people to download we have a vote for me poster that they can download they they can share on to their facebook pages as well those that did that the last time did very very well because people reacted to it straight away and we could see it yeah exactly but also um and this is not to contradict you but if you look through the list of winners in our last set of awards don't be discouraged if you don't have a huge social media following either because the system is designed in such a way as well that um it accounts for all of that in other words it's not necessarily a popularity contest there's judges that will consider everything as well because we saw businesses with huge social media followings and others that perhaps didn't have the same footprint but they were all treated equally as absolutely as well so don't be discouraged if you just don't have the same level of traction maybe as a a competing business or what have you that's okay the judging system is such that uh it accounts for all businesses of all backgrounds and sizes and the simple thing is if your customer's happy with the service and the food or the experience that they've had ask them to vote for you exactly say it with your face don't be shy all right then listen Sean thanks for that uh you've got until the 13th of December the web page portal goes live uh from 12 Christmas party nights at the silver tassay drinks reception four course festive meal live music by the loogs jimmy divine and more priority your elbow for dates and bookings call the silver tassay hotel proud sponsors of today's show uno dos tres a henadoa three one two three the orona the ateka and the terraco three great suvs from seat and when you order during the seat 241 open event each one of those is available with a free three year service plan three years tire insurance and three years roadside assistance visit seat.ie to find out more about our 241 open event from october 23rd to november 5th great things come in threes at dmg motors dunigold town terms and conditions apply gift joy at boots with hundreds of amazing gifts available on three for two we've a huge range of brands like number seven ted baker and soap and glory and with home delivery and click and collect it's never been easier to tick everyone off your christmas list boots gift joy selected stores and boots dot ie subject to availability cheapest free offer ends 24th december delivery charges may apply black friday deals at brian mccormick sports and leisure 20 discount on hoca brooks new balance and on 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maximum temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees in fresh and gusty northwest winds now a number of dunigold motists were put off the road after they failed to turn up in court to pay fines for parking in disabled parking bays the drivers had received fixed penalty notices but failed to pay them uh these cases come up at a special sitting of letter candy district court this week the drivers failed to show and uh the judge in question kieran liddy hit the drivers with fines costs and also issued them with uh driving bans mary migrenra is a service coordinator at the irish world chair association in letter candy uh thank you very much for joining us mary you can't hear me mary can you right okay i'll come back to mary in a moment i think that might be an issue on my end uh so i'll resolve that in a second oh wait six six two twenty five thousand by the way if you wish to have your say uh on what we're about to talk to i'll bring mary back in in a second just a couple of uh we were in contact with gardi by the way as it relates to uh the delays in letter candy this morning there was a traffic collision on the pole star roundabout and it was cleared as best as possible but what gardi had to do was wait until such time as uh trucks came to remove those vehicles so i'm not saying it was responsible for all of the issues but it certainly was responsible for some of them mary i presume you can't hear me can you know you can't okay um we'll get back to mary again as i say when we can uh greg in regards to we might get mary on the phone if that's okay uh greg in regards to the pole star roundabout bravo to the donagol candy council they made a mess of everything for a start off the roundabouts far too small for the amount of lights on it there's not enough distance between each set of lights you would think somebody would have had the brains to realize that i don't think it's the cancels for precise it not uh is it um i i think it's not ti i responsible for that i had an experience with the card at a petrol station i used the revolute card and if you only put 50 of petrol in then it only takes the 50 euro as opposed to your debit card uh that new bridge needs to be built asap in letter kenny it's not good enough for councillor cabinet to come on and say people will have to wait until 2030 for a bridge to be built he lives in the town and doesn't drive i was told if i had a job elsewhere i'd be avoiding lk what's the chamber uh why is the chamber not speaking up uh on behalf of businesses christmas will be lost says a listener what local councillors can't say when they can sort of say when they're told that bridge will be built but they have no power over expediting it or speeding it up okay sorry mary it's good to have you on the program uh service coordinator at irish wheelchair association look at i don't think any of us want to see people find or put off the road but if you insist on parking in these spaces and then don't take responsibility for your actions well then you can expect the full weight of the law what do you think about uh this uh judges actions uh yeah i actually seen it yesterday and you know like you i don't want to see anyone put off the road however uh this is something you know that is highlighted on a regular basis we all know that we shouldn't park in an accessible parking bay unless we have a valid parking disc and therefore you know we should expect as they say the full wrath of the law um you know sometimes i think is a lack of education as in the people who seem to know about it are those of us who are in the sector and you know you think if we did more on the education side highlighted more maybe more tv ads and funny i often think that's where we're missing the visual has a great impact uh you know if you had a short ad on tv and see the visual impact of someone with a disability not being able to get into a parking bay because you or i are using it and the ramifications of it's not just getting into the parking bay it could make the difference between you know getting your shopping done getting a bill paid getting to an important appointment and accessible parking bays are not plan to fill anyway you know it's not as if they're all over the place so even for people you know we'd often say to people okay if somebody can leave you off you know let them leave you off in the bay and park somewhere else and leave the bay free for somebody who may need it even more than you um we do have a campaign every year locally called back in five because one of the things that people will say and you know maybe if we all looks very deep into ourselves we may or may not have been guilty of it at some point you know oh i was only there for a couple of minutes i'll be back in a couple of minutes but that's a couple of minutes that somebody else who needs that bay may come along and they don't get parked and very often what you find is then these people get frustrated and they end up parking somewhere they shouldn't you know like a double yellow line and that causes another problem yeah but mary is it possible sometimes people will make a mistake okay and not realize but i don't think that happens too often is it not the case that someone who is going to park in one of these spaces may also be inclined to throw a takeaway bag out the window of a car or to allow their dog to poo on a footpath and the only way to get through that to them and i i support you in in getting as much information out there as possible but sometimes the only way to to is to show that there is enforcement to hit them in the pocket to put them off the road you know because we do try a lot of everything else and as i say it's a tiny minority i think of the population but maybe this is the only way to get through to them oh yeah absolutely it may well be the only way and it's an interesting one now to look at and see will it be replicated right in the country you know other judges may take a lead from this uh but you know it's it's frustrating that it has to come to this and it's interesting you know that there were two at the one you know in the one week and you think right okay so how many more at it you know that are mean got uh it really is frustrating and again that's not a kenny town you know what about bunkrana don't they go to town all the other time that's just a small snapshot in time and we we certainly don't have any statistics you know for how big an issue it is but we do know anecdotally speaking to service users and other people who come into contact it is a big issue i've spoke to people that simply have stopped going places because they do three or four laps they can't get parked they get frustrated to go home and then they end up being isolated in their home because it's just not worth and people park your people parking too close so that people can't maybe unload a wheelchair you know there's lots of examples and i think you hear from them but you don't see them because they just simply a lot of people go i'm not even i can't i'm not i'm not taking that on today and as you say this is not an anti-electric anything it's right across the region oh yeah and as people they just you know as you rightly say is it the same person that throws a chip bag out of the window or whatever quite possibly it is you know quite possibly some people just don't care you know always i try to believe that somewhere everybody cares but yeah possibly they just don't care you know it's not affecting them their business is most important you know i need to get into the space i need to do whatever a b or c and no thought for the person who really needs to get into the space and on the subject that you just raised there about people parking too close you know for somebody has to unload a wheelchair whether it's out of the back of a vehicle or some vehicles actually unload to the side but more often than not out of the back that's a real issue and you know again it's one that i often think if parking bays were a bit bigger it might actually help that because unfortunately we don't seem to be able to rely on the public to keep their distance yeah and you know like just squeeze into a tatus space available but we as a public also firstly it could be also any stage but also have to think of the challenge that people may already be facing and then to be doing this but anyway look these people have been hit heavy in the pocket and off the off the road for up to six months so they won't do it again i'd imagine mary listen thanks for helping us highlighted i you would hope to think so exactly and like to think so right mary thank you mary mcgrana a service coordinator at the arch wheelchair association what do you think uh do you think maybe it was too stern a punishment or do you welcome it uh two people appearing or fail to appear in court um and they were charged hundreds of euro banned from three months uh to six months for parking in a disabled bay the nine to noon show with the silver tassie hotel the perfect venue for a christmas get together serving festive lunch afternoon tea dinner and drinks throughout december follow silver tassie hotel on facebook and instagram any shown development partnership and collaboration with the hsc are holding a health and social care recruitment and education fair on tuesday the 21st of november in the any shown gateway hotel bonkrana discover exciting career opportunities in the health care sector connect with industry professionals and explore educational pathways don't miss this chance to shape your future in health and social care that's tuesday the 21st of november in the any shown gateway hotel bonkrana from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. what if you could send a free chocolate bar in secret to someone special just to you know give them a little lift with the cadbury secret santa postal service you can send free chocolate secretly from a poster they're popping up all over the country from great big cities to quaint little towns look out for a poster near you or search cadbury secret santa to find out more 18 plus free service on selected products while stocks last until december the 24th for full terms of conditions visit cadbury.ie screw fix black friday deals are here save 100 euro on the Bosch 18 volt impact driver bear unit now only 64 95 and get the titan 20 liter wet and dry vacuum for under 60 euro for more black friday deals shop now must end 27th november delivery charges apply join us in donningall town this christmas for a special shopping extravaganza 100 plus boutique shops discounts galore and late shopping capture the festive atmosphere at the donningall town shopping spree friday first and saturday second of december hi tommy bow here get in store to check out my new 15 kings clothing collection available in premium gents outfitters nationwide and at 15kings.com brian adams is back on tour in 2024 join highland radio on our trip to dublin to see the man himself at the three arena on tuesday the 21st of may 2024 your trip includes luxury transfers bed and breakfast at the four-star carton hotel blanchestown your standing ticket to the show and a shopping trip to dublin city centre the following day this is an ideal christmas gift find out more on the outlet at highland radio dot com or call us on zero seven four nine one 25 000 with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the nine to noon show on highland radio all right still another hour to come this monday morning on this program but first let's get a news update at 11 o'clock and it's over to mikaela clark thanks gray good morning people who have attended letter kennee university hospital are being asked to outline their experiences as concerns over the hospital continue health minister steve and donnie is to visit the hospital this week in response to serious issues raised by gps and consultants over patient safety in the hospital's emergency department a public meeting meanwhile organized by the letter kennee hospital campaign group will take place at 8 p.m on thursday november the 30th at the mount harrigal hotel in letter kennee it's been recommended an extra seat be allocated to the midlands northwest constituency ahead of next year's european parliament elections the midlands northwest constituency will also be expanded to include the counties of leash and offley following a month-long public consultation the electoral commission concluded that an additional 14th mep be allocated for the upcoming elections stemming from ireland's growing population and EU rules on the european parliament's composition a former drugs minister claims irish society shows more concern for cattle than heroin users an injection center plan for doubling is due to open in september next year this year is in the spotlight after a number of overdoses last week elderly people in one estate in letter kennee are effectively trapped in their homes during the winter months as they are afraid to leave their properties due to the absence of lighting residents in muckish avenue are said to feel unsafe within their homes as there are no external lights in the area letter kennee native troi galahur says he's honored and humbled after being awarded the freedom of the city of london kennee galahur was bestowed the freedom at a ceremony on saturday for outstanding service to public life and community he told the nine tonne show earlier that he accepted the freedom of the city of london on behalf of all the diaspora who contributed to britain's society and over 14 percent of the misinformation shared online is in relation to health a recent study by the institute for strategic dialogue find false dialogue by covid-19 and vaccines was the most common within the category the largest spike in online health misinformation was seen at the beginning of december 2021 when several protests over vaccine mandates and masks were taking place those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update again at 12 noon mackayla thank you very much indeed we'll be back with more after a short break the department of social protection is working to improve disability payments in ireland there is currently a consultation on how these payments might work better in the future we want to hear your views on how the system might be improved to find out more please visit gulf.ie forward slash disability payments reform a government of island initiative brought to you by the department of social protection the county's number one talk show the nine tonne show on highland radio traffic dominating an awful lot of your views out there this morning a caller says i've been driving for 40 years many of them as a hgv driver i've never driven in a worse town than letter kenny terrible traffic management and planning for years only answer is the bridge over the swilly and bypass the town everything going north donagall in the west could be catered for they've been taking uh talking for 30 years about this promises will be flying now with the election coming up and more bs has them again is this another issue maybe the public has a role to play in this do we uh i know there are campaigns and fair play to them and that's what's needed if that's what people feels needed but do we i mean could people be doing more i wonder what's wrong with putting a guard down there with a white glove directing traffic surely that would be an answer to the backlog of traffic they had a guard direct traffic years ago same thing should be done now i'm not really quite sure how that might work with so many entries and exits i think you would need a number of guards but the guard he aren't responsible for traffic management they're pretty busy doing everything else and uh there is the the ti i there's roads authorities there's all different manner of uh organizations that uh have a responsibility while the guards have other things to be had as well i left lurgy bracket 10 to 10 i'm still not even at the to to garage there's a backlog right up to the top of lurgy brach and at the very least at the very least what today's instance exposes if in fact there was some sort of a collision that letter kenny you can drive it to a grind it to a halt with one little instant it's uh it's it's crazy we've seen that in the past with collisions on the old four lanes uh but things haven't improved you see one small bumper to bumper on the pull star roundabout at quarter to nine and people are still queued up uh lurgy brach uh two and a half hours later all right mary's with us now hi mary we were talking before 11 there just about uh a judge seemingly getting tough on people who don't turn up to court to answer charges of parking in disabled bays or accessible bays or however they might like to be described but it's not just those bays is it the parents bays are also often taken up oh yeah hi good morning greg uh yeah the last uh well i've seen it before but maybe more so in the last uh number of weeks because it's just i would go to the shop there with one of my grandchildren on while going to pick the other one up and you just can't get into one of the spaces and there was a gentleman putting in a car one day and i said to him this was a you you know like this is i said i don't see you with a child on and he just looked at me and another lady was parked one other day and i when i went into the shops and come back out again she came out and her car was just full of stuff and i went down and i actually said to her i said you don't look as if you have a child on there and she just she just looked at me like you know when reversed out and drove off like you know i mean there is only a few of them at the the supermarkets here down here and i show on anyway like you know so i mean it's not and then i just don't get it like i mean that they can't walk a few feet like you know to the shop because i have my sister now at the minute on crutches and i do call them to to let her out to go to do her shopping or to the post office but i hate pulling them to the third office because i think well i'm okay but um it's just the young fella too one other day popped in and i said to nothing you don't look because if there's anything wrong with you i'm just going on for something to eat i'm going well why are you parked there like i mean you're well able to walk like but um i've taken the other parking there were other parking spaces further from the door mary not that that's any excuse oh yeah but it was just there was yeah yeah they decided otherwise they just parked there for handiness yeah it's just a matter of well to me i think it's a bit of laziness like you know there's no other excuse if you if you're able bodied you don't have a child with you and you use them it's only laziness there's no there's no other motivation is it um and even even when i go to do my own shopping like i mean it's very seldom i would park close to the door anyway because i think well maybe somebody else is not so able bodied as me so i'll uh i'll park further away and just let them space is closer to the door for somebody else but uh and the reason it's it's no questions the closer to the door because it's it's awkward you know we have to nowadays but someone might not be able to get a child minder there could be a single parent or whatever it might be or there could be a couple it doesn't matter but the reason they're there is because it's it's tough to go shopping with a child and sometimes you don't have a choice uh and they're there for that reason do you know what i mean to to uh get better access um safer access yeah have you you know i mean they're not there for the good of the health i i don't know i wouldn't have the the guts to park in one i'm and it's not necessarily because i'm an angel or a saint don't get me wrong mary but i wouldn't have the neck to pull into one of those spaces and walk off i'd be too afraid of someone like you coming up to me if you know what i mean i don't i don't understand how people have to have the neck to to do it right yeah you know exactly i just i just i just don't get it like i'm thinking like you know what if you just take a look around there is only there is only a few at each of the at each of the places i think there's only two two child ones uh at one of the supermarkets and i think there's either two or four at the other one but you just see them coming and pulling in like you know and you know i just think like why could you not leave that for a family like me or somebody's coming because i know for me i think a lot of my car as some of the rest of my family do and i mean you're in a tight spot and you're trying to get a door open you don't want to have the other person's car and you're trying to get a child out you're trying to get a disabled person out just doesn't make sense but as i say some people just don't think they just they don't want to know how there are so it's frustrating though but febby you're you're we need to get you a cap or something mary uh you're going to go to the show walking up to people uh but listen you know you have to yeah sometimes you have to call it and and you've no one's got oh i'm sorry uh sorry they've always got an excuse or a look no because there was a couple of people coming out of this there was one there was a person sitting in the car one of the car is farther over and there was another person coming out and they're going oh fair play to you fair play to you and i go well there's absolutely nothing wrong we have to get up and walk like you know to to like to park up there and walk into the shop like because there is a few people that i do know like comes on and does need the spaces like yeah but as i say i didn't take pulling into them now myself because my sister's on on crutches at the minute like you know but most times i will look them in i've only packed them a couple of times because she's just gone into the post office but she is on the crutches and i do need the space for her to get out but it's not for you so i would say though mary i'm going to have to say because others are going to text in that if you don't have a badge or you don't have a child with you you shouldn't be parking with all spaces yourself yeah exactly greg exactly i but but one day i did like you know because it was really heavy listen mary listen this yeah that's me knocking on the driver window saying mary come on now yes yeah exactly greg exactly and i totally i totally agree 100 percent um yes i shouldn't have done but because she was on the crutches i know but i wouldn't have dropped her out i wouldn't have minded all right mary but i take your point listen fair play to you thank you so much for joining us and it's just a wee bit of consideration mary we're asking for isn't no one wants to see people off the road i don't think no i don't it wouldn't go that far now but i would stick a fine on them all right like you know i think we should give a donation to charity or something cool yeah or education courses someone else suggested sorry education courses you know maybe have maybe have a venue whereby a couple of people with a disability or that need those spaces could sit in front of drivers that have been fan parked in them and just explain how it affects them in their lives or how it could inconveniences them maybe we could educate people that way you know what kreg of kreg if people have to be educated for that there that's how driving on the road there's something seriously wrong i hear you okay because all the need is a all the need is a brain to use that you don't park there you're you're well able to walk okay mary listen thanks for your time have a lovely day best wishes to you and all i work in a shopping area and i use the mother and baby spaces because of the tightness of parking spaces and i don't care who would a noise my car's been damaged a number of times at someone and you know fair play for texting in saying you know stuff and i'm going to use them good to hear the judges cracking down on these inconsiderate people and also showing no respect to the court also those poor parking in mother and baby spaces and not a baby in sight the parents and spaces some of us dads do shopping as well but listen i take your point okay we're going to be talking about some startling figures as it relates to contacts made to mens aid over the course of the last year that's coming up after these your one stop shop this christmas gift vouchers for the silver tassie hotel and seascape spa are available online at silver tassie hotel dot com or from hotel reception the silver tassie pride sponsors of today's show the government's connecting our land rural mobility plan is rolling out more public transport nationwide this year 36 noon enhanced tfi local link bus services and for noon enhanced bus air and routes have launched with 22 more to come before the year ends that's more than one a week rail services are also being upgraded with the greener cleaner fleet each time you choose public transport it helps reduce arlands transport emissions wherever you're going your journey counts visit gov dot ie forward slash your journey counts brought to you by the government of arland make your christmas party's magical this year with leadle roll out the red carpet with our frozen party time range like vegetable spring rolls only 119 and pour pure indulgence with leadle plus wine of the week 20 percent of peyote merlot now 949 wishing you a magical christmas with leadle get the facts between gov is a drink aware dot ie donnie gall local development company is hosting a showcase event celebrating donnie gall businesses in the central hotel donnie gall town on friday the 24th of november from 1 to 7 p.m this event is free to attend and features the best local start-up businesses find your perfect christmas gift perfect tradesman beauty product or outdoor 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stock and 50% of selected clothing inner ladies and men's departments see the coped on low on facebook and instagram for more highland radio time checks with expressway travel route 32 from letter candy to doblin when you book online and travel for less expressway bringing you the time ask the times 1115 now men's aid is ireland's only dedicated organization supporting men and their families experiencing domestic violence minister for justice helen mackinty last week launched men's aides 2022 annual report mark international men's day and i hope her kathrina bentley CEO of men's aid island can hear me you can't hear me okay right that is an issue we are having there i might have to reboot or something or figure out what's going on there right so you'll have to stay tuned for that i'll come back to it because it is an important issue i don't know what's going on there with the sound on the zoom at the moment but anyway i will have a look at that and if not we'll switch to the phone i call us say so recently i was recently in hospital and three of us in the same ward had private health insurance and we were seen immediately and given all the required scans yet a public patient was sitting in the same room for days waiting on the same scans yet indeed it's not ideal is it to say the very least st colonels is not the first time the hospital files have been found in the town does anyone remember when hospital fans that files were found around letter kenny indeed we were talking about that as well when were we talking about that last week some of those queries came in on to the next call no mention of the refugees walking the roads at 4am being left to find the house they're being put into on their own well we did actually already mention that so far this morning so hopefully that is covered if there's anything additional that we need to speak about do let us know and we will there's nothing we don't hide from anything here on this program my son was working as a waiter last night customer started shouting at him in aggressive and intimidating way could you highlight this please the importance of treating staff with respect and of course it is imperative because it could be your own children or whatever you wouldn't want them treated with if you could get them to log back in there caroline please Greg a few months ago I wrote to you about the reluctance of bars to stock Guinness zero I want to state that nothing has changed it's virtually impossible to get the non-alcoholic pint in most pubs Guinness are spending a fortune promoting this drink but for some reason bar owners not responding the usual reason I get when I ask why is people don't come in here to drink non-alcohol insert your own word here I'd like to have a pint but can't because of silly notions that some people still hold I'd love if a survey was done to ascertain the uptake maybe I'm drinking in the wrong bars well I've seen it quite extensively around the place and I saw one particular snazzy piece of equipment which I would imagine is which I'd imagine is better for bars in that it was a unit where cans were placed into some sort of a system and that worked okay I wonder can we go to Katrina Katrina can you hear me this time I wonder no okay we're still experiencing sound issues with that today don't know what the story is Katrina can you hear me now no you can't hear me don't know what's going on right phone time Caroline it's we're due to go on the phone but you can stay connected to zoom there and we'll just take the audio from the telephone line just to remind you of how you get in touch with us 08 660 25 000 is the WhatsApp and text line 08 660 25 000 or give us a call and 07 491 25 000 now Katrina Bentley apologies CEO of men's aid on and it's good to have you on the program good morning thanks very much thank you right now as I said in the preamble and I've been waffling little since just till we got the connection with you almost 10 000 contacts made to the service in 2022 and I'm not going to lie to you I wasn't really overly familiar with or perhaps as familiar as I should be with men's aid Katrina so I just wonder if that figure might be greater if there was even more awareness absolutely well our research research shows one in four women and one in seven men would experience some level of domestic violence or domestic domestic abuse during their lifetime so it's it is a national issue and I suppose our our report shows that the increase in the men coming forward is very welcomed because they're starting to talk and what what are they coming forward and stating is the issues the two key areas was emotional abuse and psychological abuse and coercively controlling behaviors and then physical abuse economic abuse and sexual abuse so in particular the emotional psychological and what I mean by that would be you know walking on egg shells at home living in a state of fear and intimidating behaviors humiliation and issues around access with the kids and and disclosures of substance abuse etc and is there any other trends that you can sort of pick out from from these figures in that you know I presume are they that most of the the issues they are saying are perpetrated by women 91 percent of the callers of the nine and a half thousand callers were disclosing a female abuser after that then would be same sex some members of the LGBT communities and then family violence so that can be bidirectional or it can be an adult child within the family unit in terms of what support you can can offer obviously there's a listening ear maybe some sign posting but beyond that yeah so um what the helpline is first and foremost and for many men it can take a couple of rings and attempts to ring and we can see the on the software that men ring and hang up and ring and hang up and then eventually they have the courage to come forward and just to mention the men are each in between 18 and early 90s so it's the younger male adult 18 to 23 maybe in college university first-time girlfriend etc the main cohort is between 40 and 55 married kids perhaps waiting to the kids go into college before they move out or move on etc and then the older cohort of the 65 plus who has been living with domestic abuse for for decades and decades so first and foremost is the helpline and being validated and for someone to listen and hear their story and what's happened to them and then to empower them to make their own decisions as to what's what's the best next step for them might necessarily be a family law route and it might actually be keeping them safe safety plans and and we have counselling and psychotherapy work and peer group and court support and outreach as well for appointments yeah I think there's something particularly heartbreaking about someone needing help getting as far as dialing the number of the couple of rings and hanging up hanging up because then there's so many others that actually don't even get that far given the prevalence we know the nine and a half thousand is actually only the tip of the iceberg so I suppose this weekend had been International Wednesday yesterday we're very much trying to highlight about having the confidence and feeling encouraged to pick up the phone to talk to us or to talk to a friend or a family member to confide and trust somebody that you trust and I often when we talk about domestic violence or whatever it might be towards women people will often say yeah but what about men and I don't see any great advantage in pitching one against the other these are people out there that are are enduring this but is it the case though that we have made good progress in terms of you know guard of training or whatever it might be that women feel more comfortable not all the way there but more comfortable in coming forward but there still is that stigma maybe that sense that they won't believe be believed or maybe that they won't be sided with that might stop men coming forward absolutely the stigma the shame the silence the stereotypes over the decades and decades so I think what's important and that we see on our helpline are many moms and sisters who ring because they're worried about their son or their brother so both as a female us women have a we have a role to play play in that as well our service is victim centric so we support women men any person who rings or is in need of an appointment so we just really encourage anyone to come forward yeah what do you have any particular advice or I mean I know you're CEO of men's aid and I'm not sure if you're on the phones but you have a team that's on the phone so rather than getting into specifics but you know parental alienation or withholding access to children or that being used and abused does that make up many of the calls I know you did reference this a little earlier on but like what can be done in relation to that because it comes up time and time again and it still feels like the system is not designed to recognise or address that I think it's improving whereby the children are being used as access you know weapons and we hate the term parental alienation whatever it's toxic the toxic term it's not a it's not a term I'm terribly fond of myself yeah it's not going to help anyone you know but using the children to get back at another parent you know targeting upset your partner is impacting the children and sometimes parents forget that the children are experiencing domestic abuse they're not witnessing it and they're very clever and they pick up on these things so the best number one is to try and speak with your partner year they're half and for parents to be reasonable it's not the children's fault that the relationship has broken up you know relations break down and try and put the kids first and foremost and then if you are going illegal route and access orders are being breached to follow through with the breaches of the access orders to go back into court unfortunately in terms of men that need to get out of the home we know there's a struggle too in women domestic violence services and availability of property but there are systems there to try and accommodate people do we have any men's shelters in Ireland or on the island of Ireland we don't have enough refuge for women and we don't have any refuges for men as yet there is a pilot program with two housing bodies one on the east coast and one in towards the midlands the two are working with ourselves and another agency to start kind of piloting for one for better word there isn't as many men come and form with children because the children are predominantly with mum so there hasn't been a huge need for accommodation as yet but there has been some bespoke there has been some issues Greg and where the men have been in touch with us we've been in touch with our partners and we've helped them get to safety well what do you say to someone who feels they are being emotionally abused psychologically abused or if they're the children are being weaponized or however because I think for some men and whatever I'm sure women feel this too when it's in their direction they can't necessarily identify it as abuse or they just see it as it's just the relationship or is it just you know what I mean like is it the case to ring up and have that conversation say is this situation I'm in a form of abuse that's correct a lot of the calls are those calls so men don't recognize that the abuse can happen to them because there is assumptions made that domestic abuse is a male on a female so for the men's experience and if they're in the fog of it a lot of the calls would be men questioning is this domestic abuse because a lot of men do not want to be labeled as victims of domestic abuse because it's not comfortable with them so we recognize it's very sensitive it's a very complex issue it's a very personal issue as well but those calls are very welcome very very welcome and in terms of answering those calls we mentioned right at the beginning men's aid is Ireland's only dedicated organization supporting men and their families are you able to answer all of the calls no of the nine and a half thousand we missed thirteen hundred calls last year and is that a resources issue uh Katerina yeah funding funding and resources no person there at the time does it help that you have the minister for justice Helen Macinty launching this in that you know it's a perfect opportunity to say well thank you minister but by the way yes yes and she was there on Friday and the week ahead we have to submit our funding for 2024 so our application comes at the right time for what's the better word and she certainly reiterated her support for all victims and in our case the male victim Katerina thanks for working with me through the the technical issues I do appreciate it it's just sometimes you get days like that all right thank you very much indeed that is Katerina Benkley CEO of men's aid Ireland 9,524 contacts made to the service in 2022 it's a big increase on 21% up by a quarter one in four calls were first-time callers unfortunately 1,300 calls went unanswered the experiences shared by men include emotional psychological physical financial and sexual abuse with high levels of coercively controlling relationships disclosed the gender of the abuser 91% female 7% male 2% both okay there you go now what will happen is over the course of the next week some months and I get it by the way these people will say well you never talk about you never talk about domestic violence against men well we do we do and we just have right okay 08 660 25000 if you want to comment on that last conversation as well and it's not easy you know because as I say people don't want to admit that they're in that type of a situation or they might feel that they're weak or whatever they shouldn't so I'm just saying that that might be common reasons for people not to say right you know what off is enough or or I can do better than this or I need to get out of this situation but if you want to share any views on that please get in touch with us 08 660 25000 that's the whatsapp and text number or give us a call on 07491 25000 watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the 9 to 9 show with the multi-award winning silver tassie hotel planning dream weddings for generations email weddings at silvertassiehotel.ie for a brochure or your private show around it's your local sports club but it's much more than that it's a social hub a source of community pride a place to get passionate about texaco support for sport awards 5000 euro to a sports club in every county that's any sport every county all you need is a valid games and sports exemption number and a lot of passion enter before 31st of january 2024 and make your club the star for more info terms and conditions see texaco support for sport dot com do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on custom charges 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challenge call ursula today on 07491 13296 to make an appointment good hearing helps us to connect to our family friends and loved ones connect hearing connecting you to life this fire grits burnt out again i told you get a heavy duty grate from fire grits donnie gall but i need one right away sure they have them in stock and ready to go for stoves open fires back boilers ranges and they even make them to measure okay what's your number hold on a minute i'll go and get it fire grits donnie gall call 086 8602012 or find them on facebook fire grits donnie gall also deliver to your door she couldn't beat that now um there's a special in conversation event at the everglades hotel dairy next thursday november 30th at 7 30 p.m it's an aid of the lawna burn children's foundation supported by a partnership with africa and taking part will be lawna burn who is author of angels in my hair lawna good morning to you good morning my pleasure to be talking with you and it's been set up for me to ask or this has been entitled a conversation about if you believe in angels now clearly you do but what is what are angels if you know what i'm on about because i think we all have our own view of it so when we talk about angels existing what are we talking about angels are what would i say they're a light and i always remember asking god you know what is the difference between a human being and an angel and i was just told that god created angels long long ago and that they are light and that they are creatures and i know that's a strange kind of word to to be used but they are light and i i see the garden angel with everyone and i see the thing is i i see the angel physically with everyone as if i was there in the studio with you you would see me physically and they're just very very beautiful everything about them is kind and gentle and there are in so many different fates right across the world as well sometimes they're called by different names but your garden angel is one that is with you every second of your life and never leaves you and just loves you unconditionally no matter what you may think about yourself to your garden angel you are its number one and you know your garden angel is a gift from god so why should you ignore it are you of the view that every person is assigned to garden angel on birth because some people might wish that their angel is you know their mother or their father or their son or their daughter you know what i mean but but is that the case or not the case no your your mom or your grandmother or your uncle or that can never be your garden angel and the angels love when we say you know our loved one is an angel in heaven they they love that because it's such an expression of love and it is in the sense of how how we think of angels you know as something you know kind and good but you and I and everyone out out there is more than an angel ever could be because we all have a soul that spark of light of god so i'm afraid the angels i love i love this but i'm afraid the angels have us on a higher pedestal than we actually have the angels so what is their function then and their function is you know to how would i say it your garden angel is the gatekeeper of your soul you know and its function mainly is to help to guide you through your life to keep you as what would you say on the right path as much as possible but i suppose the human part of us in a sense don't doesn't always believe we have a garden angel and we don't always you know listen to that in our voice or whatever way your garden angel communicates with you so a lot of the time we ignore that guidance but a lot of the time is well we do hear it and we go by it and we don't realize that we have been even given that guidance ourselves and again it's but some might say well then is it really just an extension of our consciousness and not necessarily a blessing from God no i would have to say it's not an extension of your consciousness i'm i'm severely dyslexic so i can't read you know so i haven't been educated in the same way as yourself sometimes i even say things backwards and i have all kinds of codes to help me find my way through through the world here and and by right you know i always remember when angels in my hair was published i a lot of college students and that and still today the same thing happens you know they say lorna if you could do it then then we can you know and i think it's it's about as well given giving hope to people you know and the world today needs hope and and we need to have more compassion and love in in in our lives it's not your conscious mind it's it's beyond that i see the angels physically and to me i can't understand why you can't what's their physical representation that part is hard to to describe i know i describe them as a light but within that light they give a human appearance and sometimes it can be male or it can be female and sometimes it's neither but the one thing i love about angels and that is you know the way we have a human body and we dress ourselves with clothes and the clothing that an angel wears is the is part of the angel in in the sense like the body in that in that way so they don't have to which i think be great if if we could do the same thing you know they don't have to take on and off clothing and an angel has such depth as well you know they're they're just such a brilliant light and i just see them in the world today you know helping so many people and helping us all to see you know that light of hope because so many people all around the world are feeling lost you know in that in that way and some might feel and particularly i think with children forsaken in some way or other is that what would you say to someone who's that emotion what do you mean well in that well how can my guardian angel or so many guardian angels allow such terrible things to happen for an example and i'm on it i'm not questioning i'm just asking the question as to people might go well you get me i i do and and i understand and i often would give out to god about that why are so many horrific things happening in the world and children being hurt but it's not god or the angels doing it i'm afraid it's us human beings doing it and that's the only way i can answer so we were given will and i suppose we it's it's what we choose to do with our will and unfortunately some people do it poorly do you communicate with with people's angels or can you communicate with them or or or relate information or or what can you do if someone's sitting in front of you as it relates to their their guardian angel what would i say well sometimes when i'm giving a talk and we have questions and answers and you know someone you know puts their hand up and they ask a question if i'm given the answer for them i'm i'll give it to them but i would always say i'm not a fortune teller you know it's no point asking me are you not trying to frame it in that way yeah yeah can you see my guardian angel through this call no i can't and i would love to but i can't i would have to be in the same room as well that's okay it was not to challenge you yes it wasn't a question or challenge it was just to sort of see if it works like that recently it would be great if it did yes of course recently in my photos i've seen an orb the orb is orange in colour my friends tell me that orbs are a sign of an angel can you ask launa to tell me more about that and if different coloured orbs mean anything um i i love that because science already has picked up orbs you know in in the air and everything like that if it wasn't your camera or your phone then it could be a sign from your guardian angel to help you but you'd have to be sure whether it was your camera or your phone wherever the photograph is is coming from and an angel can use an orb as a sign for you as well a caller asks are numbers angel numbers of any significance um i i hear a lot about about that and i always notice that sometimes a person gets so fix stated if i'm saying that word properly you are yeah on on numbers and what i would say to that person if it is a number that is a sign for you don't get fix stated on it as such don't keep going looking for it because more than likely you're making a mistake it'll just pop up when it's needed a caller says i sometimes feel like someone's laying in bed beside may i feel like there is a presence it's not one i fear could that be your angel well that that could be her her guardian angel or the soul of a loved one you know giving her comfort in the sense of you know reassurance but it may not actually be the angel or the soul actually lying in the bed beside her but she just feels the presence so i'm going to use just the the words that are associated with these things because it's the easiest way to describe it like do do could you have i mean do you are ghosts a different thing to angels do you believe in in ghosts um i spirits you know what you know spirit world you know what i mean i was just trying to use the right word but to get the point across many an angel isn't the ghost for a start let's let's just just clear that but you know sometimes we use the the word a ghost or sometimes we use the word spirit and sometimes it is a soul that is just you know visiting or passing by or somebody sees the soul of someone you know that died a while ago and they're going to visit someone and sometimes that's allowed to happen or sometimes it can even be seen in a photograph you know someone looking at a photograph and it suddenly changes and just for a brief second in that in that way and sometimes you know I met a lady recently and I just smiled at her and she just said you know when she was out on the crowded street she had lost her her beautiful daughter and a young woman was walking up towards her in her direction and for just a split second she thought she was seeing her daughter and I said to her that more than likely was the soul of your daughter you know how can I say it's stepping into the human being for a brief second on the face and and you saw your daughter for a brief second yeah now then you would believe in signs be it a robin a feather I even spoke to someone who was at a funeral and a a crisp packet through across the grave that was the person's favourite crisps and in that moment they believed that that was a sign so and and that's a just one particular example that was related to me so if people believe if people believe that there's something in their mind saying that means something and it connects me to that other person well then surely you would suggest they have to trust that because if that's what it feels then that's probably what it is yeah I would say most of the time trust that completely like you know God and the angels give us many many signs and and you know how hard it is you know even to prove that God exists you know even science is having a row over that you know the spiritual side of us and it's it's in a sense based on faith you know where the student or a person has faith that they can run the marathon and they do it you know so I I think it's again that word you use trust to have trust because it gives you courage and strength as well callers are asking how you can better tap into your guardian angel or how you can tap into your guardian guardian angel to me it's it's very simple and people are asking that all over the world so just lately I'm saying to them you know when you wake up in the morning just say good morning to your guardian angel and just you know ask your guardian angel to help you through the day and maybe when the end of the day comes you can sit down and think about your day and see where you may believe that your guardian angel gave you a helping hand or you may at some stage say well my guardian angel didn't seem to help me today and that's okay numbers again I keep seeing the numbers 888 is that anything to do with angels I know you're kind of we're a bit reluctant when I ask it a number related question earlier because it depends on your time zones and there's so many variables that probably that are that are outside the relationship that you're talking of that I I find it hard that it could be part of the influence but anyway that's just my observation yeah I'm what would you say an awful lot of people are into numbers as such but as as you said numbers relate to so many different things and that's why I'd say to people you know don't focus on numbers as such in in such a way that it's ruling your life but you also would imagine you know you would also imagine that obviously some people can't use numbers through dyslexia or whatever it might be you would also thought that if what we are talking of is true then that they would have been able to overcome that the people would not be excluded because of a difficult also some people never educated as to to numbers most people in this world don't even have access to the internet another call yeah my mom passed away in January I miss her terribly her name was Roseline I've been seeing the letter R everywhere I go even in the supermarkets I see the letter R and all the products is this a sign from her or am I crazy well you're not crazy it's it could be a frequency illusion which is something similar to that you you never see Renault Clio until you buy a Renault Clio and then you realise that every second car on the road is Renault Clio so at the very least it could be a frequency illusion so you're not going mad please listener but do you believe there's a significance beyond what I've just outlined Lorna no I think what you've outlined is is very clear very beautiful as well and her her mother has you know just passed away it's not long and her name was Roseline so the the letter Rose you know is forefront in her mind so sometimes maybe it is a sign but maybe as well you know it's just coming forward all of the time she's seeing it everywhere just as as you said the Renault but if it's giving her comfort I would say to her if say in a year's time or something you know when she has got through a little bit more of the grief because she's really missing her mom really hard so that means she has a what would I say a calmness in in her chest and grief is different for everyone so it could take her a long time yeah and and yeah it is a very difficult experience to lose someone and and you have to allow yourself the space don't you to see the wood from the trees as well because that could become obsessive and actually just feed into the grief it's not to disprove it but you would just have to be careful wouldn't you Lorna that this doesn't get sort of attached to your grief in a way yeah and I would say that it's just like the numbers don't get fixated on it you know in that in that way she the best thing I would say for that might help her with her grief is is write a letter to her mom you know physically write it and and read it out loud to herself what she has written you know and and and cry and talk about your mom you know your mom loved you you know and I know her mom Rose Rosalene I love the name I haven't heard it in years my best friend as a child was called Rosalene and so it's beautiful to hear but to know that the soul of her mom is in and around her at different times helping her through through this grief but the grief never really heals we just learn how to live with it you will always miss your mom but I know she's in heaven and I know she's happy and I know she's young again lastly I have polycystic ovary syndrome I've struggled to conceive for years I've been having recurring dreams of my grandmother holding a beautiful baby girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes I feel so drawn to this baby as if it is mine is my grandmother sending me a message is she helping me get pregnant well I I love that you know and I know this this woman is trying to become pregnant and I know it's very hard to become pregnant with I can't pronounce the condition we talked on yes the condition as as such you know but remember there's loads of children out in the world I'm being told to say to her that want a mom and they don't have a mom and they want the love of a mom so don't pass not being a mother by just wanting to carry your own child and I know that can hurt some some people because they only want to carry their own child because I've met many women who just focused on wanting to become pregnant I never did God didn't send them a little so and then it was too late for them to become a mom to adopt the child or foster a child you know there's so many children out there in the world that need a mom and a dad just need that love you can hear more from Lorna Byrne at a special conversation event at the Everglades Hotel Derry it's next Thursday November 30th at 7 30 p.m it's an eight of the Lorna Byrne Children's Foundation supported by a partnership with Africa where's the best place for people to inquire about tickets Lorna and well I know you can buy tickets at the door and if you just lock up Lorna Byrne.com as well and we have Waterstones Bookshop is supporting us as well and I think it's in Fallen's side and not very good Fallen's side, yep no that's perfect Yes, shopping centre so it's lovely to have a bookshop support us as well and there's so many children out there in the world you just have to watch the news the child's saying what did I do wrong I did nothing wrong just very finely a listener was visiting a graveyard after having a second miscarriage on the path in front of her were two white feathers lying it brought me such solace does Lorna think that was from the souls of the babies well if she felt that then that's exactly what it was Yes, yes that that is exactly what it was I hope she picked them up and put them in her pocket and leased or held them in her hand Take care of yourself Lorna thanks for your time Thank you very much and a pleasure talking with you God bless You too Lorna bye bye that's Lorna Byrne some of you may or may not agree or may not agree with what Lorna has to say I'm here to just ask questions not to judge and lots of people will get comfort from that as well all right we'll be back with the weather and a wrap-up actually after the break Christmas party nights at the Silver Tasse drinks reception four-course festive meal live music by the Loogs Jim and Divine and more prior to your elbow for dates and bookings call us Silver Tasse Hotel proud sponsors of today's show make it a roast dinner to remember with done stores enjoy bored be a quality assured beef sirloin roasts from just 14.99 each a selection of show-stopping sides like cauliflower cheese and potato gratin any two only five euro 50 cent and your choice of delicious desserts like lemon roulade or strawberry cheesecake two for 10 euro plus with our 10 or 50 grocery voucher you save even more make Christmas for everyone at done stores terms and conditions apply voucher can be used to next grocery shop a 50 euro or more Donegal County Council would like to invite residents of the Donegal Town and Balibo Faye Strunarder areas members of the public and other interested parties to participate in the third public consultation for the Barnesmore Gap Greenway Project the project is currently in phase two option selection and the purpose of the consultation is to inform the public of and invite feedback on the emerging preferred root corridor that has been identified and is being considered the public consultation will take place in Jackson's hotel Balibo Faye on Monday 20th of November and in the Abbey Hotel Donegal Town on Tuesday the 21st of November between 12 midday and 8pm each day Donegal County Council staff and their design consultants will be present on both days to listen to and to register your views for additional project information please visit the dedicated project website at BarnesmoreGapGreenway.ie or contact the Donegal National Roads Office on 074 97 245 00 or by email at design at dnrdo.ie Remember a loved one with a personalized memorial acknowledgement or wallet cards from Bizprint using your choice of wording and background call in and speak to Catherine at Bizprint Portrait Letter Kenny or call 911 779 55 You know me I do like a home that's warm and cozy during these cold winter months in fact the warmer and cozier the better that's why I insist on willow warm long burning briquettes they're grown and made here in Ireland and they're 100% carbon neutral so willow warm briquettes are good for the environment for the country and your pocket willow warm the brighter cleaner greener way to a cozy home see willowwarm.ie for stockists Highland Radio weather updates brought you by Grant from condensing oil and HBO biofuel boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating you can trust Grant to heat your home visit grant.ie Fresh and breezy today with a mix of sunny spells and showers becoming more isolated during the afternoon with long dry spells developing temperatures 10 to 12 degrees in a fresh and gusty northwest wind congratulations to Maggie Nesbitt and St Johnston you correctly said that carrots are good for your eyes or carrots are good for your eyes you've won a 50 euro fuel voucher from Kelly's Mountain Top we'll have another one up for grabs tomorrow now just to let you know that you should stay tuned to around the northwest with John Breslin today live from the Mount Arigal Hotel from 12 of course it is part of a celebration of hashtag by Donagall the 2023 campaign will run from Monday November 20th and run for five exciting weeks until December 22nd providing ample opportunity for festive stocking fillers stay tuned to being with a chance to win a 100 euro one for all voucher with John Breslin on around the northwest courtesy of our friends at Virgin Media who are turning this Black Friday red with amazing offers find out more at virginmedia.ie see you tomorrow at 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