 Take home popcorn trays with sealed homemade popcorn, drinks and sweets plus other take home cinematic treats. Re-order yours via messenger, email or by calling Eclipse Cinema's Lifford Straban. Greg's hope that fate are there. Come here. You mean business today? You're fairly slurping that cup of coffee yet? Coffee, yeah. It's business stuff. Time now, yeah. Time to put the big boy pants on, Lee. Oh, then how big is your pants? Big boy size. I bet your mind's bigger than yours. Oh, that's a wild thing to be saying. I mean pants. Right, you're looking forward to tonight? Yeah, at all wheelie, I'm going to get a gluten-free pizza and we're going to sit up and watch the late show. I don't know if it'll be probably a bit too late for him, you know, half-night. I think it is a late start, isn't it, which is a little unfortunate because I think a whole lot of parents will be sitting there in the Christmas pyjamas watching it by themselves with sleeping children covered in popcorn. Yeah, he'd be nudging them. Come on, watch this. This is a good part. You know what I mean? It sure is great. It's a bit of a crack, isn't it? So we have a good weekend. You have a great weekend. You yourself look forward to seeing you on Monday. OK, it's the 9 o'clock noon show just around the corner. Let's get a news update first though and it's over to Donna Marie Daherty. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. 34 people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Dublin City last night. The Guard of Commissioners says thousands of hours of video and CCTV footage will be analysed in order to identify the people involved. The scenes followed a stabbing incident in Parnell Square earlier yesterday afternoon in which a five-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s were seriously injured. Commissioner Drew Harris insists the Guard of Response was not a failure. We have seen a group of people who take literally a fumble full of facts and make a bathtub of assumptions, hateful assumptions, and then conduct themselves in a way which is rares and disruptive to our society. We then have to respond to that in terms of our tactics and training. But there's no failure here. There's no failure. This is regrettably how protests have moved on and now we have to graduate and have a proportionate response. The Education Minister has extended her support to the victims of yesterday's stabbing. Minister Norma Foley says a number of measures are in place to support the school and those connected to the incident. Our school psychologists will work with the schools as long as the schools are needed. All of our schools across the country will have what's called a critical incident plan. We would hope that they would never, ever have to invoke that. But in instances like a court yesterday, the critical incident plan is invoked. Then over the coming days, there will be a critical incident management team within the school and NEPs will work to support them, to support the children. Police in Derry are investigating a burglary within the area of Drumlack Gardens in the city. It's believed to have occurred between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday last. Those who noticed any suspicious activity in the vehicles in the area or of any information relating to the matter are asked to contact 101. Meanwhile, the officers from the foilside and the Murat neighbourhood policing team carried out a road safety operation with the driver and vehicle agency as part of ongoing road safety efforts. A number of offences were detected surrounding vehicles' road worthiness. As a result, approximately 20 fixed penalty notice were issued. Officers also spoke with several taxi drivers during the evening operation and compliance checks. All was found to be in order of respect of most of these vehicles. However, enquiries are being made in respect of six vehicles who are believed to be operating as illegal taxis. A further two vehicles also suspected to be operating as an illegal taxi were seized. Looking now to the weather, a cold and somewhat cloudy start this morning but it's mostly dry. The cloud will gradually break up sunny spells developing by this afternoon. The weather will gradually freeze while mean temperatures will struggle with highs of just six to nine degrees. That's all for now from Highland Radio News. The next news updates at 10 o'clock. In the meantime, keep up to date with the latest local news on our website highlandradio.com. From myself and the news team, good morning. The EuroMillions mega draw is back. And it's a biggie. It's actually the biggest ever. On Friday the 1st of December, the EuroMillions jackpot guaranteed 200 million euro. It's just too big to miss. The National Lottery. It could be you. Play responsible, play for fun. The county's number one talk show. The 9 to noon show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest. The 9 to noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello and a very good morning. It's just turned four minutes past nine on this Friday the 24th of November, 2023 and you're very welcome along to the 9 to noon show. And we have a very busy program as always for you today coming after coming up after 10 o'clock. We'll have a conversation with the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, who is in Donegal to turn the sod on the letter. New community hospital also to meet with GPs and consultants. So we'll be talking about that a little in this hour as well. That's entertainment comes up after 11. We'll be talking about the launch from you'll see here at Highland as we lead up to Christmas that and so much more besides what we begin as we always do on a Friday with our Friday panel where we run through some of the big stories of the day and week. Can we say good morning first to me whole column of Gullinazburg. Thank you so much for joining us. Me whole column. How are you keeping margin? Why did you Greg? Good to have you with us, Michael White of the Green Party, and Michael, great to have you back on the show. Good to go back. And last but not least, of course, Declan Meahen, community campaigner. Hi, Declan. Good morning. Great to have you on the show. Right. A five year old girl remains in a critical condition in hospital following an attack outside of school in Parnell Square in Dublin yesterday afternoon. Two other children and a carer for the children also sustained injuries in the stabbing instant. A six year old girl is being treated for head injuries and is due to undergo a five year old boy who suffered minor physical injuries has been discharged from hospital. The children's carer remains in a serious condition in hospital though we understand her condition has improved somewhat overnight. The suspect for the attack was wounded and remains under guard in hospital this morning. He's an Irish national who moved here over 20 years ago. What can be said in relation to an alleged perpetrator in a crime like this is very little because of due process and all that type of stuff. People might not like it, but it is what it is. Declan, I'll start with you. That's okay. And we will move on to what we saw in Dublin last night. And maybe it's just an instinctive response to me, but I just feel like I woke up this morning or went to bed last night in a kind of like a different Ireland, if that makes any sense. Yeah. I think that what we saw yesterday from start to finish was just an absolute disgrace, the attack on small children outside an inner city school and very, very young people, young kids was just chilling and to see and to hear about that really was very disturbing and obviously what followed thereafter I guess was just graceful in a different way. And I think that when we are reading about everything that happened today, I think it's very important to reflect on the fact that the thugs and criminals and far right people who lined the streets last night to wreak havoc on our capital city under a false pretence of patriotism do not reflect who we are as a country and do not reflect Dublin as it is as a city and in fact it's the people who rushed to the aid of the children to protect them, to reflect who we are as a country and who Dublin is as a city. You had Dubliners of all nationalities by the way, rushing to children's aid to apprehend the perpetrator of the crime and also just random people who were walking by on the street trying to circle children to protect them. They didn't know those children the delivery biker from Brazil who apprehended the stabber didn't know those children and it's that which reflects who we are as a society not those people who talked to the streets last night in a disgraceful and disgusting display of thuggery. Well we'll talk about someone feel the two events are separate but obviously they are linked. Michael White, I'll come to you just in relation to the awful experience that those children are caring. Unlockers went through yesterday it's just horrendous, isn't it? It is but this re-iterates what Deco was saying the fact that those far-rights writers have tried to link their actions to what happened prior to that and it's kind of knocked on the head but as you said there was a Brazilian delivery driver that stepped in and arguably saved lives and also the lady that was attending the Stardust inquired that crossed the street like most of us would try to avoid trouble she crossed the street and I think with an American tourist they helped to protect the attacker to make sure as she said the quote she had said we are not savages in this country the rights afterwards it'll take a while to unpick a lot of this stuff you're saying you feel like you woke up in a different country this has been brewing for a while and I think there were protests around East Wall earlier this year like the same people seem to be in the background manipulating things there's a few other points I think all of us are just thinking this through but one of the other points is the kids that are riding they're not university students living in a drama fox rock it's happening in a particular part of Dublin it's had really serious issues earlier this year but there's a bunch of things that part of Dublin needs to be focused on another issue is that there weren't sufficient Gardie and there aren't sufficient Gardie in that part of Dublin and it took five minutes I think before the Gardie arrived at the scene of the attack there needs to be more Gardie if you go to cities like Lisbon you feel safe walking around nobody feels safe walking around Marlborough streets or Talbot streets in that part of Dublin so there's a bunch of things happening here the guys that are riding it's related to the area that they're from they're not doing it in nice areas like Fox Rock or Dundrum it's similar in some ways we had it Oakley here, riding in Derry at the time that Lyra and McKee was killed that wasn't kids in the nice part of Derry that was kids from a fairly tough area so that needs to be looked at just a bunch of issues it's depressing but it needs to be nailed on the head Ireland hasn't changed but we need to make sure it doesn't change the guys that are stirring this crap up because I'm arrested and there's closer to home than this as well we'll come back to that just put it up there on the areas that this is coming from that deserves a little bit more explanation because though the areas perhaps most underserved by the government that your party is a member of that's what you're talking about just because someone's from a certain area that they act in a certain way are you no I'm not but I was saying that from parts of Dublin what you call areas that are deep social and economic deprivation where I think more than 40 people died of heroin overdoses in Dublin in the last few weeks was barely hit the headlines these parts of the city have really issues and it's not unconnected so that most of the people partaking in those riots last night are coming from those areas and there's a linkage there they're not using it as a justification they're not saying I understand it or approve it but there is a connection of some sort and if we want to make sure that this doesn't get worse we need to address that simply arresting people and throwing them in choking isn't going to start this out but in addition to understanding this or trying to investigate we need more Guardian that would have made things a lot simpler last night because there's a bunch a lot more Guardian on the street all right we'll come back to that and I'll come to you Mihal Column Adrian Weckler is a tech editor with the Irish and Sunday Independent and I'm not sure if you've had any sleep Adrian because I know you were on five live last night and numerous other stations so I appreciate your time you've lived in London for decades you've lived in Dublin for decades you've never seen anything like this how can you describe what you witnessed or how do you use to describe it sorry yeah it was chaos so I was spent most of the time I spent several hours in and around the area around O'Connell Street which as everyone knows is the main street in Dublin and that's where there was just Jason to Parnell Square where the stabbing incident happened and I got on the scene at about six o'clock and there was already quite a lot of tension there there was a crowd that had gathered and it was clear that there could be trouble then you know over the next half an hour to 45 minutes the crowd got bigger and bigger and bigger more and more people were arriving most of them seemed to be young men between the ages of 17, 21, 22 that kind of age group many of them had scarves around their faces and what happened next was it just all kicked off things started to be attacked, looting started windows were smashed I was standing in Parnell Street beside a couple of guard cars and a couple of other young lads started to attack the guard of the cars and one guy got a burning cardboard box opened the back of the guard car and threw the burning box in the whole car went up in flames there were people in apartments right beside that burning car they were very, very concerned finally the guardie came and they charged the street and the mob was sent down Marlborough Street towards Cal Brewer Street so what was happening was people would be wrecked and then the guards turned up they moved the mob to another street they would kind of wreck that street as well I saw the same thing from Parnell Street happened in Cal Brewer Street then in Abbey Street all the way down on the south side through the other in the Temple Bar to Parliament Street which was semi ablaze by the time I got down there an hour and a half later so I've never seen anything like that in Dublin obviously we're all aware we get the impression from what we're motivating these people that it was in response to it was in response to what happened earlier or that effectively the keg had been lit and it was an opportunity for anti-social behaviour so I think there's an interesting distinction there the majority of what I people involved in the attacks was more the latter scenario more opportunistic than to be clear there was some political chanting particularly at the beginning when I got there and there did seem to be elements there who were seeking to stir things up with some political chanting mostly of a far right nature but subsequent to that a lot of the young folks I saw like losing shops they were laughing as they were doing it it just seemed like a free hit on the city I mean it just seemed like a purge it was a weird atmosphere happening and I did see people go down injured it didn't feel that individuals were I didn't really feel that I was going to be attacked at any moment either even though it was a journalist there so it was a very very serious there was violence it was objectively scary there were a lot of things on fire there was a lot of damage done but it sort of felt like it was just ok Adrian this won't hold you any longer you've been very busy thank you for your time we normally speak to Adrian on tech matters but he was on scene for that yesterday and me whole column I appreciate your patience it was just when Adrian was available to us there I want to bring you in now with your comments if that's ok yeah the first thing I'd say is I cannot I'm kind of but I talked to you about yesterday because I kind of missed a lot of this because of mine to open up his grandfather's bar last night my uncle and I ended up missing a lot of this until I really came home last night and I went through some of it and trying to catch up early this morning as I was saying to Caroline earlier shocking scenes in Dublin an individual scumbag irrelevant of where he's from attack on children and other human beings is just it just saddens me it angers me we've seen this over many many years where men play out their hatred and rage at their partners and their children this is not something new to us in terms of the way that attack was done yes it's certainly different compared to maybe a father maybe drowning themselves with children and shooting and all that there that we've seen through the years the violence against women and children it's absolutely shocking and desperate and that's a conversation that really needs to be had more I've listened a lot after that poor jogger down in the Midlands was attacked and how it was coming back from Dublin actually and I'm in relation to the issue of race and racist attacks and I was listening and horrified in terms of that court case and how these three journalists or two journalists was on and they were talking about how everyday living for women and connecting that with children and it's just okay just on your point because I know people will be texting and I do have to take a quick break and we'll come back to this but you know people would say yes of course there has always been violence in this country there's always been knife crime there's always been this stuff has happened but last night's incident this is what some might say and the conversation is happening around the place yesterday's incident may not have happened or the awful murder of Ashley Murphy may not have happened we had tighter border controls now whether you like it or not whether I like it or not that's the conversation that that's the point someone's going to put to you yes there is a history of stuff it happens all the time but some of it could be avoidable at me hold column if we were a little bit more stringent on who we let into the country that's the national conversation that's happening at the moment what do you say to that I think yes that is the conversation that's happening right across the 26 counties right now of course as that conversation is happening right across Europe we've seen latest elections we've seen borders been closed up in the eastern part or the northern part of the Europeans to Europe to Russia but we have to be realistic about this here and we have to be realistic it's only a number of years ago that an Irish man in Belgium a woman on fire doster and petrel does that mean that every single Irish person must be chased on hammered out of Belgium no it doesn't reflect the reality that the vast majority of people who are here and it does and this is like a wet dream for the far right what happened yesterday unfortunately they've been waiting for the legs of this but yet they refuse to march in terms of the child abuse that happens on a daily basis around our own communities they refuse to march on houses that we know that women and children are being abused and battered all you have to do is talk to the women's refuge in any part of our country right across the whole 32 they refuse to talk about other issues that affects every day living individuals and families but what this is like I said it's a wet dream for them in the sense that they've been waiting for the legs of this attack if this was an Irish person who don't such horrific horrible horrific act we would not have seen these things yesterday and what has to be bear the mind this certainly has been led by the far right but the far right are not talking about the very fact that Carlos this Brazilian man if you want to use the word foreigner to our country and to mean yesterday it will not talk about this I'll come back on this issue it's just the time of the year I have to take these breaks stay where you are I'll be back with more on this subject in two to three minutes have you got a one for all gift card that you've yet to spend now is the perfect time spend with any of our retail partners nationwide or online before December 31st and you could win one of three 5000 euro prizes simply spend your gift card and visit oneforall.ie forward slash redeem for your chance to win turns of editions apply the one for all gift cards issued by GVS Prepaid Europe Limited GVS Prepaid Europe Limited is 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bringing you the time the time's 11 24 we're in the company of Declan me and Michael White me whole column are going to ask do you know in the first 20 minutes this program far right, we've heard the phrase far right far right used an awful lot right but right that might be the what people might see as agitators or whatever but there's conversations happening around breakfast tables and dinner tables last night in every house in Ireland and many of them are saying this country's changing I'm fearful there's something that we need to do do you know what I mean to sort of suggest that this is just a far right element I don't think people need to wake up to the I hate that phrase I've just used it but anyway that this is a broad conversation that's happening right across the country now people aren't acting out like some are acting out but people have a concern look as I think that what we are experiencing and what we've seen particularly over the past number of years is a more emboldened far right a cleverer far right they're smarter they're becoming better organised they've been given more leeway in media they've been given more leeway publicly and I think that that kind of creates a false narrative that this is a conversation that happens perhaps more regularly than it actually does I think that while we're discussing this now and we're discussing what the root cause is of those riots were last night absolutely are people concerned about an increase in the number of to quote foreign nationals coming into the country I think that that concern certainly exists but I don't think it exists in such a pernicious way where people think that their safety is at stake or anything like that I think that a very very small very loud very misguided minority are deliberately leveraging this for their own political aims I get you Declan but I'm on about organic conversations that are happening at homes you know what I mean that people aren't that if you're not on twitter right you don't really get very much exposed to the far right in this country I would argue or certain Facebook groups but you know I don't think it's pervasive throughout the entire country I wouldn't agree with that that's fine but I just what I'm saying I think some of these concerns are being born of people's own experiences and interpretations that they're not being manipulated I genuinely think though and I'll come back to you me whole column that there are people who will be saying this morning we need to be careful who we're letting into this country we need to keep that is grow we've seen it we're only five years perhaps behind Holland do you know what I mean we can't pretend it's not happening I think though that to say that you know the far right manipulation doesn't exist off social media it is incorrect okay I accept that no problem because I think when the far right are agitating and they're conducting arson attacks locally in Donegal on particular facilities and accommodation facilities that's manipulation by the far right because it makes the headlines so whether you're sitting in a kitchen list or whether you're scrolling through your phone on twitter we are being manipulated by the far right and we're being exposed to their rhetoric we're being exposed to their aims I think that when we're talking about the organic conversations that are happening absolutely they are happening but the reality is this the vast majority of crime perpetrated in Ireland north and south is perpetrated by people who are from Ireland and that is the case today and it was the case 20 years ago and it'll be the case again in 20 years to come so we have to be careful about how we discuss this 100% the statistics back you up completely if you look at the demographics of this country and the race of them if you wish if you even wanted to dig down into that it's a tiny percentage of the population that are non-white let me put it you know as simple as that and I will come to you Michael but Micheal Collin just wanted to come in there on a particular point I presume what did you want to say Micheal Collin there's quite a few points I'd like to come into there but it's hard to figure out where I'm going with this here and I fully agree with what Declan's saying there and it's interesting and it's scary and it's sad and upsetting what's happening at the moment and as Declan was saying clearly there in terms of attacks on asylum centres and the born in our places it's not that long ago that we've seen the Sinn Fein TD down in Lyttham as car had been burnt out to my understanding there had been a number of other attacks on his home since it's only a matter of weeks ago within my own community that two Palestinian men two Palestinian men returning from a bar who were drinking two bottles of our cancer red bull just to get out of the direct division centre that they're in was walking home and was set upon very violently and sent to hospital the very same centre who has had that I'm told a number of death threats and I suppose one of the things that really concerns me and I'm not sure if it was that journalist you were talking about that says never seen the likes of it before in Dublin that's actually not true I was in Dublin during the Love Ulster march and I've seen what was happening during the Love Ulster march when pro British militia decided to march on Dublin loyalists as we call them who came down to the capital to incite hatred and we've seen then what we've seen then and what we've seen last night were two very different responses and this is something that has to be talked about and when I mean that in terms of responses it was a response from the guard the guards during the Love Ulster march was literally in the middle of it as response was very different from the response that we've seen last night are you saying there were two heavy handed last night just to get to the point or what no what I'm saying is that there were two very different response the Love Dublin or the Love Ulster as they called it the March that came down to Dublin was a very different response from the guards in terms of the arrests in terms of their response to those that were involved in part of our action what's the point you're making for those who don't know right my point is that Drew Harris which I believe should resign from his position for many reasons and as you know I've had a motion in the council in relation to this but if you look at the approach that he has taken in relation to the far right rise and his very clear pro imperialist position on this and approach shows you clearly where he stands in relation to the rise of the far right very very very different and Michael White was talking about Eastwall earlier on I've been involved in antifascist movement for a very very long time last Saturday I spent most of my day in Dublin having conversations with other progressive people in relation to the rise of racism and fascism within the state and I specifically listened to one of the main people in Dublin that came from Eastwall and how he talked about how Eastwall situation started to grow and how strangers from the area came in and started manipulating working class communities I'm not looking around with Michael White today and I'd be more than happy to have that around another day but I was very disappointed with the working class communities in Dublin and I think talking about areas of social deprivation it wasn't to talk about communities with various deprivation like he says I didn't come on top today but at the same time he's entitled to make a respite respite but the point being is that the approach that the guards have been taking if you look at are you saying you're comparing last night versus the Lavolster situation are you saying the Guardi were too light touch last night too heavy handed just for those who don't know the comparison you're making what issue do you have with what the Guardi roll last night well like I said when they come on to the radio this morning is that I missed a lot of this because I'm opening up at the bar so I have to catch up on a lot of it but what I'm saying is that it's the overall approach that the guards even within our own country in terms of the far right look the reality is and I don't want to give the money coverage because I believe them to be scumbags that are marching or not marching but as they say community watching certain parts of our community in our county that by definition is very simple is fascist and the guards approach because if this was Republicans doing what they're doing the approach would be very very different extremely heavy handed I appreciate that and your point well made and I give you loads of time there Michael though right again the opposition to your guys views you're similar but different right in your views right though that's what I'm trying to get at here and it just so happened that this happened yesterday and you are our panel Michael but I think a significant proportion of the population that have their concerns as I said to Declan that are worried or they want answers or they need stuff explained to them or whatever it might be they're not far right they aren't far right and every time we have these conversations and all people are going well I have my concerns but I'm not far right so do you get where I'm coming from so yeah I think absolutely there's a few things people should be able to have a discussion without fear of being accused of being bigots or far right however the conversation can be steered in different directions where non issues suddenly become trumpeted as if there's a reality so I think Declan made the point if you're a Declan a crime is going to be an Irish guy this is me doing the crime it's not going to be an immigrant statistically it wasn't Brazilians looting Arnett's last night it was local Dubliners so I think you're right people can have conversations as long as those conversations are well informed but it's you also mentioned the fact that Ronny Faggier's behind Holland I disagree that guy Geert Wilders that's in Holland there isn't an equivalent to that extreme right wing party in Ireland yes now in the last election I think extreme right wing people got less than 1% of the vote across the country hopefully it stays that way the reason I say things like that Conor McGregor who would be a hero to perhaps many of the people that were out in the street last night he says you reap what you sow Ireland we are at war innocent children ruthlessly stabbed by a mentally well I can't read that because it could compromise a trial and on it goes calling out all the parties the president saying enough is enough we need to do this that and done a figurehead like that if they step forward I think they'd make a lot of progress in the 4 to 5 years but anyway we don't want to split hairs on that but I just think we're closer than perhaps maybe well he did mean there's a real issue with Conor McGregor I won't say what I think about it but there's also some issues with political leadership so during the week we have yeah we're just going to make a very brief point we all call him just about Thomas Pringle rightly called us Danny Heavieray and there's an example of somebody in politics in the parliament saying something Danny Heavieray come out with anti-immigrant crap at the same time his family make money from renting accommodation to refugees so it's important your point Greg about people around the down table this this discussion has to happen and has to be influenced by well-minded people who want to establish a consensus that we Ireland so far has always had a consensus in this and we do discuss stuff and we stay in the middle so we don't want to get close to the extremes and so the conversation is important but it also needs to be influenced by politicians other people of influence we don't even need to Conor McGregor's or his crap the other thing too is on the point of politicians etc like the Minister for Justice needs to revisit she walked down Talbot street to streets like a couple of blocks away from where this happened yesterday during the summer saying building site self evidently isn't safe and that needs to be addressed going back to the point about areas of social depredation and some underlying issues there that contributed I thought I mean we don't want to go on too much but I thought Adrian Mechler and your points about whether this is driven by far right or was it opportunistic last night you know mainly just kicked off by the far right but it was opportunistic that was kids raiding by Ernest or Robb you don't you don't block off hospitals set the Lewis on a fire, set buses on fire and set Guardi on fire and set fire to your own city because you're afraid of what immigrants might do to your city I mean that you know what I mean it's very easy to work that you know the kids are doing this from a background where they don't think they've got anything to lose there's a whole bunch of stuff needs to be sorted out. Thirty seconds me I'll come before a break. I'd like to come in I'd like to come in on that there and Michael White I think you're making a point there surely but we cannot and we must not and we have been for many years been misleading or not misleading sorry miss we're on the mind actually the rise of the far right in Ireland the reality is that the far right are rising in Ireland they're organising most of them are coming from a very very dangerous and criminal background if we look at some of the parts of East Wall of Ballymon and these are some of the areas that I know I spent many many years working in Ballymon I was a youth worker on the streets in Ballymon and I would know them areas not as much now obviously clearly as I would have done back in the day so we must not underestimate the rise of the far right we must not think that the fact is that what happened last night was an issue of social deprivation I get you but I'm going to have to just because I do have to take a break but again you see what this conversation with the continuous words of the far right and there are far right agitators and what have you agitators it means people that have genuine concerns that don't have any racism at all feel that they can't express themselves in any way shape or form because they will be labeled far right and we need I think we're never going to get anywhere unless we get past that and we can actually have conversations and I think Michael and fairness and fairness to Michael White earlier he said that in terms of labeling and I think we need to be very careful in terms of the use of language I know a lot a lot of people who have concerns about foreigners coming into our country no doubt the same way as people in other countries have huge concerns about the vast immigration from Ireland to their country and we can't and we shouldn't label every single person as racist and far right who have these concerns I fully agree with that but we must talk about the reality about the fact is that there are agitators for example if you take the legs of Herman Kelly from the Irish Freedom Party who has been concentrated heavily on Dunigal this last month or so a man who is extremely close to Nigel Farage who has been strongly suggested extremely close to loyalism he's not he's not here to respond I understand that and who has been targeting areas as people in Derry would call him a draft dodger and somebody who has been targeting our communities solely to peddle a far right agenda to drive a wedge that he works for I'll let you say for one second here I just can't go down that road at the moment with you Declan did you want to come back in there Asec? Just what I wanted to say was we're talking about far right manipulation versus opportunism and a lot of people who were involved last night opportunistically taking the opportunity to raid Footlocker or any other shops to loot opportunism is the currency of the far right and that has been historically always the case they're trying to tap into disaffected population for whatever reason and they're trying to leverage their actions to bolster their own numbers to bolster their own causes and I think that's really important to bear in mind the two are not separate and the left aren't innocent of that either too it's just you know that happens there as well I take your points okay back with more short watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com Your one stop shop this Christmas gift vouchers for the Silver Tassie Hotel and Seascape Spa are available online at SilverTassieHotel.com or from Hotel Reception The Silver Tassie pride sponsors of today's show I am making my Holy Queen this year I'm wearing some mac and cheese I got everything I needed my dress, tiara, bag and cheese I had an amazing time so many beautiful dresses and mum was able to pay a deposit with a perfect communion dress for your reunion day go to Mako Honey's Baguio Fe visit seah.ie to find out more about our 241 Open Event from October 23rd to November 5th Great Things Common Threes at DMG Motors, Duneygull Town Terms and Conditions Apply 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% of all tiles all Wood Flooring and all Bathware everything's reduced and everything's in stock 100% off Black Friday sale at right price tiles and wood flooring. Stores nationwide. Sale now on. Stay warm for less this winter with Homeland. I'll cast Energy Wood Pellets 10kg by 10 bags yet one free. Kill and drive softwood logs by 2 bags for 14 euro. Nationwide delivery available. Shop in store or online at homeland.ie The Black Friday sale is now on at the Cope Dunlowe with massive savings in our homeware department. Up to 50% of selected furniture. There's 20% of all mattresses, 25% of all rugs and massive savings on household electronics. See the Cope Dunlowe on Facebook and Instagram for more. If you're doing some shopping today and fancy taking the weight off your feet or forgetting about having to cook when you get home, take a seat at Kelly's award-winning diner in Litterkenny and select from a menu that's packed with great value family favorite choices. Relax over a coffee and sandwich, maybe a bite of lunch, something for dinner or a treat from the dessert menu. Great food and great service every day at Kelly's diner, mountaintop Litterkenny. OK, you're welcome back to the program. It's the Friday panel Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is in Litterkenny together today for a number of engagements and meetings. This morning he'll turn the sod at the site of the new Litterkenny Community Hospital on Kilmachron Road. Later he'll have a series of meetings at Litterkenny University Hospital as well as meeting hospital management and senior Seattle personnel. Minister Donnelly will also meet with GPs and consultants. Last month both groups wrote to Minister Donnelly and the consultants have issued a subsequent letter, almost 300 of them, outlining their grave concerns for the safety and well-being of their patients, particularly in the emergency department. I think that's going to be a testy meeting, but I think Minister Donnelly is going to take the consultants on in terms of, you know, what are they doing maybe to sort of alleviate the situation there. I'll come to you first if that's all right, Declan, me and I've already had an opportunity to speak to Stephen Donnelly. I had to pre-record it a little earlier on today and he's putting up, he says hospital budgets increased. There's more staff, 49 additional beds, gynecology has been expanded. There's a new stroke unit, new maternity theater, new endoscopy theater, new MRI scanner delivered in October 2023. So that's what, you know, that's the approach he's coming up here with. Yeah, that's the approach that he's coming up with, that's the approach you would certainly expect. I'm just conscious that it's 9.45 so the GPs are currently 45 minutes into their meeting with the minister. My husband being one of those. So just obviously I think fair play to the doctors for flagging these concerns, for organizing and, you know, speaking out on patients' behalf. The reality of the situation is this. We've heard Charlie McConnelo say the same and now obviously we have the minister in person talking about the increase in funding that Letter Kenny University Hospital has enjoyed over the past number of years, but the reality is the same. Patient outcomes are not improving. Degradation of service delivery in Letter Kenny with the removal of key services to Galway, which is a 500 kilometer round trip. The reality is that patients in Donegal have poorer health outcomes than elsewhere in the country because of their proximity and distance from a grade four hospital. So there is a systematic degradation of Letter Kenny University Hospital under sale to management and that is both in the watch under the watch of sale to but also of this minister and these past ministers for health that have come from this government and various iterations of government of Finnegeal, Finnefall and Grings. That is reality. We haven't had any other, I suppose, trend in terms of Letter Kenny University Hospital other than a downward trend and that is very concerning for the citizens of Donegal and for patients in the county. So the minister can trump us as has Charlie McConnelo and other Finnefall spokespeople and the increase in funding, but the reality is that's not working. And the reality is that the funding levels in Letter Kenny University Hospital are still far from where they should be. Those are some of the points that I put to the minister, but Michael White, you know, I kind of felt like the bad guy that's kind of, you know, partly my fault for highlighting these issues, you know, not striking a balance, scaring people, not recognizing that the hospital to a great extent is great. Now I've very little of a very small role to play in any of this, other than, you know, platforming the views of GPs consultants and the wider public. I don't think I'm the big bad wolf. But what say you because the impression I got is that Stephen Donnelly is not coming with, you know, a bag full of money here. He's effectively saying, you know, the hospital is doing really quite well here. You know, I don't think there's going to be any silver bullet in the conversation today. Let me put it like that. Yeah, well, I'm not in the group. We're not in the Ministry of Health. What I would say is this, the GPs are right. The facts are correct. Waiting times and treatment have degraded. And the question is how do you fix that? Stephen Donnelly has said that there's been sufficient investments. So it's not a money problem. And I don't know enough to know what the GPs actually said is that the proposed scaling ambition of plans laid out by hospital management weren't good enough. So that appears to be a criticism of sales in the hospital management. I'm not an expert in this. The only thing I would say is that earlier this year, it's been highlighted a few times that Waterford Hospital doesn't have the issues that a number of other hospitals do. And I don't understand why letter Kenny can't replicate some of the management operational processes using Waterford. Would that help fix things? Or is it purely an investment? And I don't know nothing. Is it purely lack of money? Or is it the way it's being run? And if it's a way it's being run, who's fault is that? Yeah, and Declan referenced having to go to Galway for certain treatments and services. And I think the Minister and I don't want to do him a disservice seem to be taken aback that you can't really get to Galway. You know what I mean? You have to get a taxi. You can't really get up and down from Galway on public transport here at the right times. Do you know? Anyway, me he'll call him. Sorry, I just want to say that any experience behind my family I've had with other Kenny have been bringing this has been really good. No, of course. Yes, many ways to dismiss that there's a serious problem. GPs are really concerned in the East Bay address. Every time we talk about it, we try and clarify that that is the case. But that does not mean we cannot ignore when someone could have a lesion that's cancerous, a skin cancer lesion. And there's no dermatologist to see them here. And they have to go to Sligo and he's down there saying I can't see I can't look after the list that's here at the moment. And I don't even have a light that I can have a decent look at what's going on in someone's skin to make a diagnosis so we can't ignore that. But that doesn't mean we we don't recognise the fantastic work at the hospital either and the brilliant staff who are probably at this point sick and tired of listening to it being discussed. But what can we do? Cancelor me he'll call him last word to you because I do have to I'm gonna have to jog. Sorry. No, your grant. First thing I'd like to apologize for not remembering as since more free name earlier on, somebody text me given it to me there and they were right to do that. Look, from paramedics to to to cleaners to secretaries to nurses to doctors right across Lichcan hospital. I took my hat to them and their everyday work right down to the people that the work in all aspects of our healthcare. But the big thing that we need to really, really talk about is community care. He talked earlier on there, Greg, about a pre recording with the minister. Unfortunately, the minister just wouldn't have. I won't say it to come on. Okay, it was scheduled. It's completely it's completely unedited. Okay, I will concede there's a scheduling issue here to be fair to the minister. I will in fairness, Greg, the minister wouldn't come on and have this discussion with myself and Declan and making the feature. So, you know, they do avoid this. Given to the ministers, but the point being is, you talked earlier there about gynecology, we fought very hard for a whole year to get gynecology returned when they took that away and highly really was absolutely second to none. And in terms of our campaign at the time to to to get that reintroduced into a whole year, which we never got, but we did get another element. So we won and we won half the campaign and lost the other half. But the point being is that we need to look at it from a broader perspective in terms of not just focusing on Liddie Kenny, Liz Cannon itself, which is important to discuss. Of course, it is and it needs to be challenged when it needs to be challenged. But we need to talk about what services are being put or not be put into community. And do you know what we're going to do? We'll come back and have a specific conversation about that, because I think that's incredibly, incredibly important. But unfortunately, time has caught up with one point. One point and one point is that we also need to recognize and I would say that specifically to Michael, in terms of his party, because they are in government, they do sit at the trough, right? Is that this move is to downgrade hospitals and our health care right across the whole free state is very deliberate, because that's deliberate because of the ideology of privatization and not move to privatization. Well, that's discussed. That's a 3.25 million was sent to private hospitals from Liddie Kenny University Hospital last year alone. Declan, me and I want to mention if briefly, if you don't mind, but importantly, the event on Monday night. Yeah, so can I just say, by the way, I wanted to do this interview with, do you know, like a yard brush sitting on the top of your lip here? You know, with it being November, but we're going to have to do without it. But anyway, go on. And so on Monday evening, Ned Flanders, I'm thinking, something like that would suit me. Milford District Resource Centre, we're hosting a November check-in. So it's a men's health event, which has taken place in our new premises, the Gallaglass Community Centre on the Kilmocran and Road in Milford. And we have a number of speakers around mental health, physical health, sexual health, everything. And definitely try and make it. It's a very, very worthwhile event. It's free. It's very important. We're also organising a women's health event in the new year, but absolutely come along on Monday at seven o'clock. All right, brilliant stuff, Dachlan. I'm sure there'll be a huge turnout. I hope there will be, because it's really, really important across the whole range of mental and physical health. Thanks so much, Dachlan. Lovely to see you as always. Take care of yourself. Thank you. Michael White, thank you so very much for joining us today. I really do appreciate it. Thanks, Chris. Thank you. And last but not least, me, Hall Column. Have a lovely weekend. Take care. Good to meet you. Slán, slán. Back with the weather. The 9 to 9 show with the multi-award one in Silver Tassie Hotel, planning dream weddings for generations. Email weddings at silvertassiehotel.ie for a brochure or your private show around. Hello, Jadward speaking. Sorry, Edward speaking. Hey, bro, I'm glad you picked up. Who is this? It's me, John. I'm literally outside in the landing. I don't know any, Sean. Lose my number. Hello? Edward, don't hang up. I'm sorry for saying a handyman could fix the gas boiler. Please forgive... Always use a registered gas installer or you could risk everything. Find one at orgi.ie. In this week's RTE Guide, Patrick Kilty on the twists and turns of hosting the toy show and the joyful chaos of family life. Entertaining and educational, we dive into the 20 must watch kids shows right now. And seasonal gifts for all in our Christmas gift guide, Everything and More, or TEE Guide on sale now. 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 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 online at mywelfare.ie. One payment per household. A Government of Ireland initiative brought to you by the Department of Social Protection. At Connect Hearing, our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for hearing tests and wax removal services at our letter Kenny clinic in the Courtyard Shopping Centre. From now until the end of November, we are offering a free wax removal service for all those over 60 years of age. Our hearing is our social sense. Are you finding hearing more of a 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. We're turning Black Friday red in the Virgin Media Playhouse. Get 1GIG Superfast Reliable Broadband for just €45 a month for 12 months with no activation fee. And when you add TV for €15 a month, the Xbox Series S is your Red Friday gift. Get your play underway with 1GIG Broadband and TV for €60 a month. Switch in store or at virginmedia.ie. Virgin Media, it's playtime. Subject to location and availability, terms and conditions apply, see virginmedia.ie. Offer ends the 29th of November 2023. Visit grant.ie. OK, so a cold and somewhat cloudy start this morning, but it's mostly dry. The cloud will gradually break up with sunny spells developing by this afternoon. A cool, northerly breeze will mean temperatures will struggle with highs of just six to nine degrees. Now, stay tuned. Coming up in the next hour, we'll catch up on some of your comments, incredibly busy on the programme this morning. And we'll also have that sit-down interview with the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly. But we're going to take a break now for the news and obituary notices. Stay right where you are. Give joy. Selected stores and booths to buy e-subject to availability offer ends 3rd December. Pandora's Black Friday promotion is here. Save up to 30% on charms and jewellery and make this Christmas unforgettable. But hurry, this offer won't be around for long. Ends 27th of November. Available in participating stores and online at pandora.net while stocks last. Terms and exclusions apply. Easy living furniture present their massive Black Friday sale with huge discounts of up to 60% off. That's right, up to 60% off everything until Sunday. With absolutely everything reduced including sofas, dining, bedroom and mattresses, and with 0% interest-free finance available with no deposit, the choice is easy. Black Friday sale ends Sunday at Easy Living Furniture, presently Retail Park. With the TFI GO app from Transport for Ireland, paying your bus fare couldn't be easier. Simply buy your ticket on the app, tap to activate, show it to your driver and go. Fares are up to 30% cheaper than cash and you can save your payment details and favourite journeys for easy future purchases. Download the TFI GO app today and use on participating TFI services including bus airing, TFI local link and go ahead Ireland commuter as well as participating commercial bus services. Visit transportforarland.ie for terms, conditions and more. Hi, Tommy Bo here. I'm here in store to check out my new 15 Kings clothing collection available in Premium Gents Outfitters nationwide and at 15kings.com Have you always dreamed of that free upgrade? Let Loganair make it a reality this Black Friday weekend. Book flights with us by Monday 27th November and get all the benefits of our fly flex fare for the price of a standard fly ticket at no extra cost. That's a 23kg hold luggage allowance, upgraded flexibility and free seat assignment as standard. Travel from 19th February 2024 subject to availability. Excluded routes and terms and conditions apply. Lie on air, online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning, it's Donna Marie-Dorty with the news at 10 o'clock. 34 people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Dublin City last night. The commissioner says thousands of hours of video and CCTV footage will be analysed in order to identify the people involved. The scenes followed a stabbing incident in Parnell Square earlier yesterday afternoon in which a five-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s were seriously injured. Commissioner Drew Harris insists the girl's response was not a failure. We have seen a group of people who take literally a family full of facts and make a bathtub of assumptions, hateful assumptions and then conduct themselves in a way that is rather disruptive to our society. We then have to respond to that in terms of our tactics and training. But there's no failure here. There's no failure. This is regrettably how protests have moved on and now we have to graduate and have a proportionate response. Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris says parents across the country will be thinking of the young girl critically ill in hospital. I think we also cannot forget yesterday afternoon at 1.30 when literally tens of thousands of parents would have been picking their kids up from schools across the country. Three children were stabbed. One little girl, five, is critically ill and indeed her carer, somebody who works in her school and we're thinking of all of them and I think every parent in Ireland is thinking of the image of the little school bag on the pavement beside that little girl. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is in letter Kenny today for a number of appointments and meetings. This morning he'll turn the first thought at the site of the new letter Kenny Community Hospital on Kilmock-Rennan Road and later he'll have a series of meetings at letter Kenny University Hospital. As well as meeting hospital management and senior sale to personnel Minister Donnelly will also meet with GPs and consultants. Last month both groups wrote to Minister Donnelly outlining grave concerns for the safety and well-being of their patients particularly in the emergency department. They are to discuss the challenges of developing green aviation fuel in the coming years. Medan's Northwest MAP column Marquis' warning air travel is to shoot up in price unless more sustainable aviation fuel is made. Airline executives including Ryan Aries CEO Michael O'Leary are attending his conference in County Meath today to discuss the issue. MAP Marquis says fossil fuels are driving up the cost of airline fuel. Currently aviation is using all fossil fuels and as a result of taxes imposed on fossil fuels that's going to drive the price up. So at European level there's a requirement to include 5% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 and currently we're on less than 0.05%. That's 100% of the ambition. So if we don't change this the cost of flying is essentially going to go up. Police in Derry are investigating a burglary within the area of Drumlack Gardens in the city. It is believed to have occurred between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday last. Those who noticed any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area or if any information relating to this matter are asked to contact 101. Meanwhile the officers from the foilside and the Murr neighborhood policing team carried out a road safety operation with the driver and vehicle agency as part of ongoing road safety efforts. A number of offences were detected surrounding vehicles roads worthiness. As a result approximately 20 fixed penalty notices were issued. Officers also spoke with several taxi drivers during the evening operation and conducted compliance checks. It was found to be in order in respect of most of these vehicles. However inquiries are being made in respect to six vehicles who are believed to be operating as illegal taxis. A further two vehicles also suspected to be operating as illegal taxis were seized. Looking now to whether a cold and somewhat cloudy start this morning but it's mostly dry the cloud will gradually break up with sunny spells developing by this afternoon a cold and northerly breeze will mean temperatures will struggle with just of highs of six to nine degrees. That's all for now from Highland Radio News. The next news update is at 11 o'clock and in the meantime keep up to date with all the latest on our website HighlandRadio.com from myself and the news team. Good morning. The obituary notices this Friday morning November 24th. The death has taken place of Theresa Doherty Coulmore Manor Derry and formerly of Tier Horn Clonmani remains are posing at Komsky's funeral premises at 2.30 today. Funeral from there tomorrow at 9.45 a.m. going to St Mary's Church Clonmani for funeral mass at 10 a.m. with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Mass can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. The death has taken place of Breida Jacob Nebuckley Ashlyn Glee Blatter-Kennie and formerly of Castle Lyons County Cork. Breida's remains are posed at late residence from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. today and from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. tomorrow. Funeral from there on Sunday going to the Church of Irish Martyrs Latter-Kennie for rakeway and mass at 9.30 a.m. followed by cremation at 2 o'clock at St. County Cavern. Funeral mass can be viewed on Church of the Irish Martyrs YouTube channel. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu if desired to the intensive care unit Latter-Kennie University Hospital care of any family member or Charlie McLeafordate funeral directors. The death has taken place of Rodney Ralston, Court Milford and formerly of Rose-Mount Kil-McRannan on the mountain top Latter-Kennie from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today where you may pay your respects. Funeral service tomorrow at 2 p.m. in St. Paul's Church Remelton. Cremation on Sunday in Lakelands Crematorium Cavern at 3 p.m. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to the Donegal Hospice care of any family member or Patrick Sweeney funeral directors. The death has taken place of Ann-Laureth Clathamore Latter-Kennie and formerly of Bay-Harbour Islands Florida and Kiltivan-Ross Common. The wake will take place at our home in Clathamore between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. today housed private to family at all other times and on the morning of the funeral. Funeral mass will be in St. Finans Church Full Cara tomorrow at 12.30 p.m. followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only if desired, to medical to Lether Kenney University Hospital, care of Marley Funeral Director's Lether Kenney. The death has taken place in London of James McCarter, husband of Margaret Doherty, Billy, Ballemina, Culkinny, Mallon. James's remains are opposing at the home of his sister-in-law Mary Doherty, Billy, Ballemina, Culkinny, where you're welcome to pay your respects to the family. Funeral masks for James will take place today at 12 noon in St Barry's Church Lag Mallon, followed by burial in the adjoining graveyard. The death has occurred of Deirdre Gallagher for Ard Cranon-Gortley Lether Kenney. Deirdre's remains are opposing at her late residence. Funeral from there tomorrow morning for Ray Queen Mass at 11am in St Union's Cathedral Lether Kenney, followed by Intermond in Newlake Cemetery. Funeral masks can be viewed live on churchservices.tv, family time from 11pm and on the morning of the funeral tomorrow. The death has occurred of Willie Harkin, 189 Drum Lega Road, South Newton Sturt, opposing at his late residence. Funeral from there this afternoon at half past one for Ray Queen Mass at 2pm in St Mary's Church Dregesh, Intermond afterwards in Dregesh New Cemetery. For family information and more details regarding wakes and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. Alongside festive favourites like Muppet's Christmas Carol, Merry Christmas everyone, Home Alone and Die Hard, Yippee-ki-yay, streaming this season on Disney Plus, 18 plus subscription required, season seas apply. Alright, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. You're very welcome back to the programme, I did say that, didn't I? Right, we have a competition running Kellys in the Association of Kellys, do you have those deeds? You're going to get them for it. Everything is, I'm not going to fall out with you on Air Caroline, but everything's stapled together. Okay, I'll dig through it here because it is a brilliant competition, we've got running for you, but I'll have to come back to that. Right, 08 660 25000, the WhatsApp and text number, we've been very busy on the programme with all of you texting in now. Because of the nature of today, I'm not sure how many of them I'm going to get to, and it's such a sensitive subject, I want to say this out in front, I will come back to this on Monday morning. So if you took the time to text in and I don't get to them, because we've got a half an hour interview with Stephen Donnelly, if you, if you're sent in the text, don't think I'm not reaching it out for any reason, they're not being, you know, picked out for some sort of an ideology or anything like that, that's not how I roll, that's not how I play. If I don't get them to the day today, it's going to be a significant story on Monday as well, of course, and we will get to them then as well. OK, so please bear with me on that. But we are going to take a break because very soon after we're going to be joined by the Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly. He's just had a meeting there with GPs. He's currently turning the side of the community hospital. Then it's meeting consultants. So obviously, I had to come in this morning to pre-record that. So we'll get to that just after this break. Right. OK, we'll take that break. The Counties number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Friday, the 24th of November. You're playing on the yellow sheet. The reference number is S15. It's game number 47. The numbers are 16, 36, 18, 23, 20, 37, 68, 62, 14 and finally, 59. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight. Leave in 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 all your NCBI Bingo information at HighlandRadio.com. Make your big night in better with Dunn Stores. Choose any takeaway style Dunn Stores pizza and a garlic pizza bread for just five euro. Treat yourself to half price on a variety of soft drinks and snacks, like Pepsi Max 2L, Pringles and a range of Nestle, Cadbury and Mars chocolate pouches. Plus, with a 10 off 50 grocery voucher, you save even more. Make Christmas for everyone at Dunn Stores. For day-to-day health care needs, generations have trusted the experienced staff at McGee's Chemist Letter Kenny. From coughs and colds to aches and pains, from vitamin supplements to first aid essentials. McGee's have what you need when you need it, with a full prescription service available daily. McGee's Chemist Main Street Letter Kenny. For health care help and advice, you can always trust. Last Christmas, millions in cash prizes were won by people playing the National Lottery's Christmas Scratch Cards. This year, you could scratch and win up to 100,000 euro instantly. Play the National Lottery's range of Christmas Scratch Cards. The National Lottery. It could be them. Gift responsibly. And on footwear. Check in store and online for details. 20% off Adidas running spikes. And 20% off Under Armour and Adidas clothing. 30% off Dunnegal GEA Domain range. Black Friday discounts at Brian McCormick Sports & Leisure and on BMC Sports.ie. Christmas party nights at the Silver Tassee. Drinks reception, four-course festive meal, live music by the Loogs, Gemini Divine and more prior to your elbow. For dates and bookings, call the Silver Tassee Hotel. Pride sponsors of today's show. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. OK, we're joined on the program now by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. Minister, thank you very much for joining us. We do appreciate your time today. Thanks Greg. It's great to be in Dunnegal today. Yeah, now before we get to the matters you'll be discussing today, I must ask you a quick word on the awful events in Dublin yesterday. And foremost in my mind is the attack on these three innocent young children. One very, very seriously ill and of course their care. It is horrendous, isn't it? It's horrific. It's absolutely horrific. I've got three young children myself. And the idea that young children five years of age were lining up outside of school and some lunatic came over with a knife and started to attack them and attack the woman they were with, the carer they were with. It is every parent's worst nightmare. And my thoughts are with the children, my thoughts are with their families. I can't begin to imagine what their families are going through. And indeed with the woman in her 30s who was with them, who I understand was their carer as well, who was seriously injured. Our thoughts are with her and with her family. It is literally the stuff of every parent's nightmare. And then of course we saw the events that followed, something we've never really seen in Dublin on the scale before bosses burnt out, guard cars burnt out, members of the guardie corraled and attacked hospitals having to put out posts suggesting that please don't come here unless it's completely unavoidable. What's your reaction to last night's activity? It's just wantonthuggery and criminality, isn't it? I know there's a far right element there who are trying to whip up racism and bigotry, but this isn't about ideology, this is just pure tuggery and hatred. And those tugs screaming racist slogans up and down the streets of Dublin, the streets I grew up on, it'll be lost on them that the very healthcare workers you're talking about who are running our hospitals, that if any one of them got injured last night there's every chance that it would be a foreign healthcare worker, a foreign nurse, a foreign doctor who would be helping them. And I was getting updates as you can imagine yesterday and this morning from our healthcare services as to the status of the hospitals in Dublin, our healthcare workers including many foreign healthcare workers responded as we always see them do, which was very admirably. But at the same time I was looking at some posts from some of our international doctors and other healthcare workers and what they were hearing about what was being chanted on the streets of Dublin, there is absolutely no place for any of that. It is going to feed though into a narrative that's out there, and it is going to spawn a conversation even though the alleged attacker over 20 years living in Ireland an Irish citizen and we don't know more about the background other than that, but it is going to amplify a conversation and it is also going to, you know, embolden or encourage perhaps certain elements. Is there a conversation that needs to be had about immigration, about integration, about the situation that's in Ireland? This could be the sort of first incident of many. I don't think we can ignore it either, not to be forced into the conversation by these actions, but it just seems inevitable that we are going to have to have that conversation on a national level, perhaps more seriously. Well, do we have the conversation whenever an Irish man murders somebody? We don't. Do we have the conversation about people in Dublin when a Dublin man attacks somebody? We don't. Do we have a conversation about a Dunny Gaul when a Dunny Gaul man attacks somebody? We don't. So why do we need to have a conversation about someone who was born anywhere, right? The reality is what happened in terms of this attack is completely unacceptable. It's horrific. And inevitably, the far right, the racist, the bigots, the cowards, the thugs will try to exploit this, not for any thought-out ideology. I think, Greg, if there is to be a national conversation to be had, I think it's a different conversation. The young people today are brought up on a diet through television and, you know, turn on Netflix. And every second thing you see will be, you know, a series or a movie about someone with a gun killing a load of other people with guns. We have social media platforms now where the algorithms are feeding people, the majority of whom are young people, feeding them hatred and bigotry and racism. And by the way, a lot of mental health issues around eating disorders, suicide ideation. We have plenty of evidence from all over the world that shows that the algorithms, the latest, was an amnesty international report just in the last two weeks showing that the algorithms on the social media platforms, at least in this case, I believe it was TikTok, are targeting people with negativity. Well, what do we do? Because we have to move on, but briefly on that, you know, a lot of those companies are based here. We make it really quite favorable for them to be here. We theoretically should then have a great deal of influence in that regard. What can be done? There are several things happening. You'll have seen Norma Foley has brought in his support for a smartphone voluntary ban in primary schools that actually originated in my hometown and in Wicklow. I think I would like to see a smartphone ban across schools generally. There's a new media commission and a new online safety commissioner and there's a new binding code being brought in next year. There are things we are doing, but your question is around, do we need to have a national conversation? And I think we do, but not on that topic, right? Any more than we need to have a national conversation on people in Kerry or Donegal or Wicklow if there's an attack, you know, from there. But we've got to reflect on the fact that young people growing up today, when you and I were growing up, I'm probably a bit older than you, but when you and I were growing up, we couldn't turn on the telly and just have series after series after series streamed into our sitting rooms with the glamourized violence and guns and death and murder. And I think that's the conversation we need to have. That being said, many of the on the streets last night, there are heroes would be the likes of Econa McGregor and his ex-stroke Twitter timeline makes for a very interesting reading. But anyway, we must move on. You're here for good news, the turning of a sod on the side of the New Letter County Community Hospital in Kelmer Crenham Road. We'll talk about that, but I must talk to you about the letter sent to you by 78 GPs on pre-sidential peer Stephen. Almost 300 consultants now have written a letter to you outlining the serious situation at Letter County University Hospital. And I know you'll want to talk about significant investments and improvements that are there, but I also have the words of the consultants ringing in my ears saying that if something is not done and something's not done quickly, we are looking at a service collapse. GPs are nervous about sending patients to the hospital. Patients themselves are opting to avoid treatment because of previous experience. What can you do as the boss to address those concerns? Thanks, Chris. Well, as you say, I'm here for two reasons. We're turning the sod after this interview. We're turning the sod this morning on a new community nursing unit directly across the road from the hospital. It's a 110-bed unit. It's going to be state-of-the-art. And one of the things that that will do is help in terms of discharge from Letter County Hospital because there's delayed discharge. And one of the best ways to deal with delayed discharge is through having community beds available to them. So that's the first thing I'm doing. I'm delighted to be doing that. There's also an 80-bed unit is opening up shortly in Bally Shannon. There's new community nursing units. And these are going to help in terms of... Take the pressure off. Exactly, in terms of the hospital, right? Part of the solution, as you'll know, Greg, is investing in community care because any emergency medicine nurse or doctor will tell you the solution to trolleys is not in the emergency department. It's before the emergency department. With respect, the ED is one thing. And I appreciate what you're saying is in relation to what we're talking about actually being cared for. There's one urology consultant to provide cancer services to patients. 1.75 cardiologists, same number of oncologists, three fewer full-time radiologists than there have been in the past. There's a delay in providing chemotherapy. There's only one surgeon actively doing rectal cancer work. I could go down the list, but we don't have time. We have no dermatologists. The dermatologist in Slago was blindsided. He wasn't told that the dermatologist in the Letter County University Hospital was retiring. He's having to take on the caseload from Donagall now. He's concerned that we're missing cancers. We're missing the stress that he's put in teenagers with acne problems through. He says he simply can't maintain the list that's there. I presume you're aware, Stephen Donnelly, that same dermatologist, he's been trying to get an inspection for three years and doesn't actually even have that right. And now he's taken on the Donagall workload. So I appreciate looking at ED, taking the pressures off, home care packages and all that. But in terms of actually getting care, the people are in the hospital to do that. They are in the hospital to do it. So let's talk about that, right? There is a relentless negativity that I hear in terms of the discussion on healthcare in Donagall. And I'm here to challenge that. It's not to deflect from the fact that there are real issues when we talk about individual doctors, right? I fully accept that. But let's talk about what's actually happening in Letter Kenny Hospital. And the fantastic job that our healthcare workers in that hospital are doing, right? The reduction in the inpatient list, the number of people waiting for surgery in the hospital just in the last year has fallen by a third. Think about that. That's probably never happened before. The reduction in the number of people waiting for a day case procedure has fallen by 25% just in the last year. That's probably never happened before. The reduction in the outpatient list has fallen by 16% just in the last year. It's probably never happened before. Gynecology, an area we've invested in, this fantastic work going on. Believe it or not, the gynecology list has fallen just in the last year by 32%. Now, why is this happening? Two reasons. We have fantastic healthcare workers doing a really good job, notwithstanding there are pressures. I fully accept that, Greg, right? But the first reason is we've good healthcare workers doing their job. The second is Letter Kenny Hospital is in the middle of the biggest investment it has ever had. And in fact, Dunne Gaul is in the middle of the biggest healthcare investment it's ever had. So just for your listeners, very quickly, right? In the last few years, the budget's gone up by 30%. Staffing has gone up by 410 whole-time equivalents. There's nearly 50 more beds. The gynecology service has been expanded. There's a new stroke unit, a new maternity theater, a new endoscopy. But that's important, Greg. But you're comparing that to 2016. No, I'm comparing it to this government. In the lifetime of this government. But you have to understand that we, Letter Kenny University Hospital, we're way, way behind other hospitals. Like, say for instance, in terms of funding, we get the same funding as Slago University Hospital. Yet we've got a far greater demographic. So in other words, you divide the amount of attendees into the budget for Letter Kenny University Hospital. It's far, far less than that of Slago University Hospital. Like 14th, yet we are the fourth or fifth with the busiest hospital that just escapes me at the moment. So how can Letter Kenny University Hospital expect to survive on the same budget as Slago University Hospital with a far greater demographic using those facilities? So Letter Kenny Hospital is not surviving. It's growing. And it's growing at a level it has never grown at before. I won't go back through all of the figures, right? Can I just, in relation to those figures, how has that been achieved? Is that through the National Treatment Purchase Fund? No, through this government investing in healthcare and Doney Garner-Pedek. So you're saying all of those additional operations happening down in Letter Kenny, those treatments that you're saying, that's happening in the hospital? The reductions that you talked about. Well, the capacity obviously is, right? The 410 people, the 49 beds, the new Guineas service. Of course I understand that. All of that is. The reduction in the waiting list is two things. The reduction in the waiting list is partly activity within the hospital and partly using the National Treatment Purchase Fund. We invested 3.25 million last year into the NTPF. Would that money not be better off? Or a lot more than that. But from Letter Kenny University Hospital? Well, a lot more nationally, yeah. From that one hospital, 3.25 million. Would that not be better off spent within that hospital growing services trying to attract consultants in? Here's the question. For the people who are listening to you and I right now, who are waiting in pain, who need a new hip or a new knee or whatever it might be, what do you want to say to them? Do you want to say to them, we'll invest in the hospital. But that takes time. With the best will in the world, that takes time. And you just sit there now for two or three years and we get to you. Or do you want to say what this government has done, which is we are investing in the hospital at a level that has never before been seen. And at the same time, we're going to use every ounce of, hang on, every ounce of private capacity to get you the treatment you need now. Greg, it isn't an either or. We have people waiting for care. We're waiting too long. It's not acceptable to me. It's not acceptable to this government. And therefore, we are using every healthcare asset we have in this country to get people. I understand what you're saying is fine, but you have 300 consultants down in that hospital that you're going to have to meet that take on board what you're saying, but still say that services could collapse at the hospital. What do you say to the people of Donegal who can't get an appointment with a dermatologist? What do you say to people of Donegal who can't get the same treatment for diabetes, for an example, that can be experienced in other parts of the country? You know, these are life-changing situations for people. We've got fewer radiologists, as I mentioned. There is a huge delay in providing chemotherapy. This is life and death stuff that isn't numbers printed on a piece of paper. I know you get it, right? But there is death by geography, it feels up here. What we need is, I understand you coming up and having the back of the staff in the hospital, but that's not going to help because we need the penalty drop in Dublin that's a particular issue here in the northwest that needs addressing. And you're saying, actually, not really, because everything's somewhat rosy in the garden. Let me say a few things in response to that, Greg. I have great respect for you and I have great respect for your show and the work that you do. But that kind of language around death by geography and some of the language you're using is simply not correct. And I really don't think it is helpful and I don't think it is fair on the healthcare workers who are providing these services. The idea, I've been to Letterkenny Hospital. I'm going back to Letterkenny Hospital today. I'm talking about the services. I don't want you to frame, as if I'm having to go with the hospital staff down there who I stand shoulder to shoulder with. I'm on about the services that aren't there. Not all I would ask, Greg. That's fine. All I would ask then is, can I just ask that we all reflect on the language that we use, right? Because the idea that Letterkenny Hospital is dangerous or some of this language is being used is simply not the case. I never said that. Hang on. You started, Greg, hang on with respect. You started this interview by saying that the GPs are saying they're scared of sending their patients into Letterkenny. Right, implicit in that is that there is some safety issue with the people who are providing the services. The long delays in the ED, the 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 hours, they are saying from a clinical perspective that is more damaging to their patients than sending them home. I'm not saying they're going into the hospital and poorer treatment is harming them. I'm not saying that at all, Mr. What the GP said to you is that the weights are so long down in the ED that they believe that it is detrimental to their patients. So let's be clear. Let's step back for a second, OK? Because we're all trying to achieve the same. I agree. I know that there has been a deficit of investment in healthcare in this county for many years, right? That's why this government has turned that on its head. Can we solve everything in two or three years? No, no government could. But what are we doing? We're investing in the hospital at a level that has never before been seen. We've brought in a new consultant contract. I'm very aware. The last time I was in the hospital, the consultants and the managers told me about the real issues they had, for example, in geriatrics, hiring in new consultants. I brought that back to the HSC. The HSC sent up a team to help with some of that. But we now have a public-only contract that pays about two and a half times more than the consultants in Alton and Galvin and Derry get, right? So hiring into letter, Kenny, has never been more attractive in terms of consultants. We talk about the ED. One of the things that got raised with me last time was the time ED consultants. The advice I have is that there are three new consultants starting shortly. And this is how we solve the problem. But my information is there's three unfilled posts that no consultants have actually been selected for those posts yet. That's not my understanding. I'm very open to being corrected. I've been reading a lot of material on it. But my understanding is that there is something... Freaking foreign posts. I'm not sure that there have been... My understanding is that there is something good happening. But let's stick with this for a moment, right? Let's knit all of this together because nobody wants to spend too much time in an emergency department. So I sent up a specialist team, as you'll be aware. When the GPs wrote to me, I immediately sent up a specialist team. I spoke with Charlie McConnelogue, spoke with Niall Blaney. And what we agreed is I'd send in the team so I'd get an expert view. I'm not a doctor. I'm not an ED expert. I'd get an expert view on what more can be done. And then I would come, meet the GPs, meet the consultants, meet the hospital managers, which is exactly what we're doing today. One of the things that the expert team has come back to me is they've said that nearly one in two admissions into the hospital are being discharged the next day. And what they are saying is that's a very, very high figure. And it suggests that there's a level of admission into the hospital going on with people who probably can be cared for by their GP, by their primary care team in their home. So they're going to be working with the hospital now to see what can happen. But let's come back to the three ED consultants. Because one of the ways that you reduce unnecessary admission is you have the senior decision makers on the floor. The more junior staff or the locum staff will tend to be more risk averse, and they'll tend to admit people who a more senior consultant might not admit. So these are the kind of real practical things now that we're doing to make sure that the trolley situation gets dealt with. Because one thing where we absolutely do agree, Greg, is on the emergency department. I was looking again at the figures this morning. In the last year presentations are up 11%. That's a lot. And admissions are up 3%. Now the trolleys versus 2019 are only up 1%. That's still moving in the wrong direction. Don't get me wrong. We have to fix it. So I recognize the challenges. It's why I'm here. It's why we're investing so much money. And I want to be honest with you and I want to be honest with your listeners. These are issues. As everyone in Donegal knows, these are issues that have been building up for decades. They have indeed. And while we can't solve them all in the term of one government, we can turn the ship around into a much more positive direction. Last year, for example, I opened three of the seven primary care centers in Donegal. There's another one under construction. And another one coming. And it's that kind of investment, not just in the hospital, but in community care that is going to ultimately help. I get to you. I get to you. And I think, you know, you accuse me of being overly negative or whatever. But the one thing I have to... I'm just looking for a bit of balance. A bit of balance, great. That is all I do is balance, right? Yeah. But when I've got someone that rings me from Fannad in South Indochone or in North Donegal, right, and they get a hospital appointment, a referral to Galway, because that's the Seattle Plan for 10 o'clock in the morning. And there's not even a bus. You know, there's no buses that can get you from Donegal to Galway for an appointment in the morning and back in the evening. There is not. They're spending 200 or 300 euro on a taxi. Oh, they're not going at all. So how do I offer that person balance, minister? And it's not just one person. Greg, I need to know the circumstances. I don't know why they're going down to Galway. There's no buses to Galway. They're being referred to. The Seattle Plan is, well, we can't provide all these services everywhere. So you go down to see a consultant because there's none up here, right? You're sent down to Galway. To the greatest extent. Are you aware of that? Yeah, to the greatest extent possible, what we're doing is trying to get people to care that they need where they are. That's why we've invested in GP practice. GPs in Donegal and around the country, for example, now have access to chronic disease management programs that didn't exist even three years ago. So if you have diabetes in Donegal, if you have cardiovascular disease in Donegal, if you have respiratory issues, COPD in Donegal, your GP now has access to consultants and specialist care that they didn't have three years ago. That's the first line of defense, if you like. The second line of defense is these new state-of-the-art primary care centers. As I said, there's three brand new ones have opened, another one in construction, they're coming. They have X-rays in them, not all of them, but a lot of them have diagnostics in them. They've advanced nurse practitioners. They have integrated care. That's the second line of defense and it's going from strength to strength. Like I say, we can't solve all of this in just a few years. The third line of defense then is the hospital. That's why we're investing. It's why we're also investing in the community beds to be able to discharge. But inevitably break. You told me the last time I spoke to you and I won't keep you very much longer. You told me the last time I spoke to you that an extra 30 million had gone into Letter County University Hospital. As it transpired, that money was just to stand still. That was to really, all that covered really effectively was pay increases in energy and all that type of stuff. Okay, I'll go back to the funding. But sorry, just on that. If you don't mind, can I just come back to that? Of course. That's hard to reconcile with the fact that workforce has gone up by over 400. That's not standing still. The new Guiney service is not standing still. The new maternity services is not standing still. The reduction in the waiting list is not standing still. Like we have to, let me be clear, I fully accept that, and it's your job to point out what isn't working, right? And I accept and I respect that, right? All I'm saying is a narrative that somehow Letter County Hospital is not doing a good job very simply is the waiting list are falling. There is no narrative along those lines. It is our hospital. It's my hospital. If you get through the doors of the hospital, the treatment is excellent in many, many cases, okay? And we talk about that all the time. The staff are amazing. But we are also talking about some really serious issues here. Like when we're hearing it from consultants, it's not me making it up. It's not like, I don't have a problem with the government. You know, I might have been told otherwise, but I don't, right? I am only here trying to reflect the views of the public, the consultants, the GPs. And when they say, when they say that the services are on the brink of collapse, that's not my words. But how do I offer balance to a consultant who tells me that if you don't do something, there could be a service collapse at the hospital. Where do I get the balance from there? I get it from you, of course. Yeah, that's what we're doing right now, but you can't get access at times. Just very, very finally, funding. You talk about investment. I have to come back to the comparing ourselves to Sligo University Hospital. The head of CLT don't like me doing this, but I'm going to do it anyway, right? Sligo University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, Lederkeny University Hospital, similar budgets. The catchment area for Sligo University Hospital, 90,000 people. Lederkeny University Hospital, 150,000 people. So notwithstanding all of what you've said, Lederkeny is effectively a model 3.5 hospital, not that such a category exists. No, you're right. It is, though. Can you not look at the funding? This would alleviate an awful lot what we're talking about. We can't survive on the same funding as Sligo. We're a massive area up here. Yes, is the answer. And the answer is not, yes, we will look at that in the future. The answer is, that's exactly what we've been doing for the last three years, right? So let me just go back. In the lifetime of this government, investment in Lederkeny Hospital has increased by 30%. In the lifetime of this government, the workforce in Lederkeny Hospital has increased by a quarter. Greg, that's never happened before. So the core challenge you are very rightly putting to me is, we in Donegal, you in Donegal, have not had the level of investment that the good people of Donegal need and deserve. That's the core of what you're saying. And I am saying you are absolutely correct. And I, and Charlie, and Niall, and everyone in government, we stand shoulder to shoulder with you and say we agree, and that's why there has never been as much investment. But critically, not just in the hospital, but in community, because a lot of the solutions to the pressures in the hospital are treating people in their own community, and that's what we're doing. Is there more to be done? Absolutely. And that's why I'm here today. Partly, as you said, to turn this on, another 110-bed unit, that'll matter. But I'm here today to listen, to listen to the healthcare workers, to listen to the hospital managers, and say, OK, there's been record investment. More is needed. Let's talk about how and where that needs to go. I'm not the enemy, by the way. I know, Greg. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, thanks very much for your time this morning. Thank you. Christmas get-together, serving festive lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and drinks throughout December. Follow Silver Tassie Hotel on Facebook and Instagram. Are you ready for dealer day November? Irwin Expert Electrical are bringing you mega savings this November on your favourite brands, like LG, Samsung, Dyson and Fitbit. Shop smart, save big, and stay tuned to Irwin Expert Electrical on social media for the exciting Daily Deals, all eligible for the Christmas Layaway service. Christmas boost for bee finishers. Inside this week's Farmers' Journal, we reveal how factories are scrambling to fill best orders. 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Highland Radio Weather Updates brought you by Grant from condensing oil and HVO biofuel boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating. You can trust Grant to heat your home. Visit grant.ie The weather forecast for today, let's have a look at that for you. I can tell you that the cloud will gradually break up with sunny spells developing by this afternoon. A cool, northerly breeze will mean temperatures will struggle with highs of just 6 to 9 degrees. Just three people on trolleys from the University Hospital today, which is great news. If not a little bit quintessential, but I know I'm good to see. Right, OK, let us talk about now the big car draw. It is back, and Sean Quinn is back in studio to talk about it. It's the Christmas car draw. Is that what you call it? It's the big car draw. It's all going to be wrapped up before Christmas, or is it? It's our Christmas draw, but it's obviously the car. This will be our fourth car that we've actually given away over the Christmas period. And today I'm here to launch officially, that as of now, you can go on to HighlandRadio.com and you can buy a ticket. It's a beautiful looking car. Talk to me about it. Yeah, so courtesy of DMG Motors. We have gone this year for a Skoda Comeek. It's a 1.1 TSI. It's a lovely car. It's in grey. It's an SUV. It's five doors, air con, touch screen, all mod cons within the cockpit. Beautiful car, as I said, worth over 30,000. Wouldn't that just be nice to win that on the week of Christmas, Greg? Yeah, fantastic. It is a beaut. It looks really, really modern, of course, and your daytime running lights and all that kind of stuff. It's a real beaut. Right, okay, so you know the score. It's easy to enter if you want to. You can go on to our website, and you'll see it there on the front page. I'm showing it to those who may be watching on our socials. And it's really, really simple. You simply go to the card, you click in. There's no products in the card yet because I haven't gone down and bought my ticket, which is just cross-slightly down. So you can buy a single ticket for a tenner. You can get two. You can get a free ticket by buying six for 50. Or if you want to buy them out, and this is what I would do, you know, spread them out as presents. You buy eight, you buy six, you buy eight, you get two free, so you get ten for 80. So it works out eight euros per ticket when you do that one. Eight euro per ticket if you want to do it that way, fantastic. And the great thing is also you can put eight different names on it as well. So if you are ten names on it, so if you want to gift it for Christmas, then you can put individual names. It's on the right-hand side as you scroll down. And you would then receive every single ticket on your email. So it's important that you have an email address in online to enter. And everything will come through at your email instantaneously. When you click the send button, everything will go through. And of course, if there's any issues in that regard, we're always here, by the way, during office hours. We're always here though. You know, if there's any uncertainty or need to check anything, we want to make it as easy for you as possible. But it's perfectly safe, perfect, secure, couldn't be any simpler. So the most you'll pay for a ticket is a tenner. You get six for 50 or ten for 80. So it's only inviting those who can afford to and can play with it and have a bit of fun with it to do. So obviously, you know, for some people it might not be suitable for you. So it's only for those of you who can afford the ten-year-old pont. And that's the most you'd have to pay. Right, OK, so you go onto our website, HighlandRadio.com. It's a beautiful car. Run through the car for us again because people who can't see it won't get it. So we want to describe it for them. Yeah, so it's a Skoda Camik. It's a one-litre TSI. And it has all mod-cons including air-conditioning, touchscreen. As I said, it's a five-door. It's got alloy wheels. It's a class machine. It's beautiful. It's metallic grey. We're actually hoping to have it in the shopping centre in the next week or so. So if you're going to let it go to any shop and send it, you'll see it there. You can apply online where some lucky person will get a call from yourself on the 22nd of December. And as I always say, if you're not in, you can't win. Yeah, you invented that. I never heard that one before. And just so you know, by the way, that's going to be a really busy week. Loads of you winning stuff as well and lots of fun shows we're going to be out and about in the community. We're going to have loads of special guests. In that run-up to Christmas, we're going to make it really, really special. There's also a small matter of home for Christmas as well. So it's going to be a really fun week as we lead up to Christmas with lots of fun, lots of crack, lots of giveaways, lots of OBs and all that type of thing. Right. There's one thing I wanted to mention about this competition. What was it again? Oh, yeah. There's got to be other stuff. You can't reveal it yet. Is there going to be other stuff? I would say... Get your tickets early. Buy your tickets early. I'm not going to go into but there's something coming which is going to be brilliant. So I would say if you want to buy a ticket, get in early. And you'll be in for the other stuff as well. There is other stuff coming today but it's going to be well worthwhile because, yeah, just buy early. Yeah, okay. Right, folks. The way this works, it's really, really simple. You buy your tickets online. We print off your number. We put it in the draw drum or the trombola. You can call up to us here at the radio station as well. We'll help you out in that regard or give us a call. We'll sort you out one way or other. All of the tickets physically go in and you watch the show and you see the ticket being pulled out. It couldn't be any clearer, any more transparent because we're going to have the car, of course, and other stuff, so stay tuned for that. So if you want to treat yourself or get a gift for someone else, one ticket for this car, 10 euro, you can get six for 50 or 10 for 80. You can individualise those. There's been a lovely mix show with various competitions that we've done where the person themselves have won or someone that they've nominated has won. It's all mixed in and it's always a local winner as well. Listen, you see some of these competitions elsewhere where multiples of over a hundred, 200,000 people enter. You don't know where the prize is going. This is on a different scale. You're in with a chance. Do you know what I mean? And they've all been won locally as well too. Not that that matters, but for some people it might matter and I think it's important. This is for us here. This is for us to have fun with. Absolutely and you're 100% what you said there. They've all been won locally and there's a certain area which is probably a bit luckier than others, but heading towards the initial one on the right-hand side. But yeah, so if you're in Balibuffet, Donegal, Town, Khalid, Beggs, or wherever you are, it's your turn. It's your turn. You'll hear more about it of course. We've just officially launched it there. It's the car draw, it's a beauty and you can enter right now on our website HighlandRadio.com. You'll see the link there. Or give us a call if you need some assistance or if you wish. Though we prefer you to do it online of course, but if you wish to call in, we can sort you out there as well. Sean, thanks very much for your time. Thanks Greg. Best of luck. Back after the break with the news headlines. A source of community pride. A place to get passionate about. Texaco Support for Sport awards 5,000 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 texacosupportforsport.com. These are not just tins. No, no. These are M&S light up Christmas tins. Tremendous gifts for fairies and humans alike. Subject to availability, selected stores. The Euro Millions Jackpot is an estimated 75 million million dollars worth of Christmas tins. It's the most expensive Christmas tins in the world. It's the most expensive Christmas tins in the world. It's the most expensive Christmas tins in the world. It's the most expensive Christmas tins in the world. It's Christmas tins in the world. Premon♡answers is an estimated 75 million euro. Play responsibly in store, in app or at lottery .ie. The National Lottery. It could be you. Let calfry prepare you for a rewarding career in the food and drink sector. Apply to study an innovative degree course at Lockry, Cafe Specialist food focused campus. global food production challenges. You'll also establish valuable industry connections. Applying OI through UCAS, visit CAFRE.SE.UK and discover food degree courses. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the Lidlid toys show. But wait, Eclipse Cinema's Lifford Straban are offering kids take home popcorn trays with sealed homemade popcorn, drinks and sweets, plus other take home cinematic treats. Pre-order yours via messenger, email or by calling Eclipse Cinema's Lifford Straban. Black Friday week at Sony Center Letter Kenny, the best deals on Sony TVs, soundbars, cameras, Bluetooth speakers and headphones. Sony Center Letter Kenny, the destination for Sony in the Northwest. RSVP Country Magazine, Christmas edition, packed full of fantastic features and some of Ireland's biggest performers. Daniel O'Donnell shares his excitement around his new album and fills us in on his Christmas plans. We catch up with the Wolf Tones following their phenomenal performance at Electric Picnic and the Tumbling Patties reflect on their 2023 success and what's next for the group. Plus, your chance to win tickets to see Michael English New Year's Night with overnight stay for two with the Woodford-Dulman Hotel Carlo. RSVP Country on sale now at all usual usations. And now, IMMROSE 2023 best local or regional news program, The Voice of the Northwest, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes. Okay, we have another hour to come on the program but at 11 o'clock let's take a news update and cross over now to Donnery Daugherty. Thanks Greg, good morning. The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is visiting Letter Kenny today. This morning the minister turned the first sod at the site of the new Letter Kenny community hospital in Kilner Crennan Road and met with GPs and consultants who wrote to him outlining concerns for safety and well-being of their patients, particularly in Letter Kenny University Hospital Emergency Department. Speaking to Greg Hughes on the Nine Till Noon Show, Minister Donnelly says he's here to challenge their relentless negativity surrounding healthcare discussions in the county. A Castle Finn councillor says more must be done for those who earn too much to qualify for social housing, but not enough to qualify for a mortgage. Councillor Gary Doherty says those who fall into this category are stuck in a cycle of hopelessness. At present, Donnelly Gull does not qualify for the local authority affordable purchase scheme, something Councillor Doherty disagrees with. Police in Derry are investigating a burglary within the area of Drumlack Gardens in the city. It is believed to have occurred between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday last. Those who notice any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area or if any information relating to this matter are asked to contact 101. Nightly road co-losures that were in place along the L1-551 and from Clonmanite Fireplace Centre to St Columbus Church and Strait have been lifted three weeks early. It was closed to see works complete under Ishka Arendt's Legate Reduction Programme. A traffic light system will be in place for the foreseeable future until the remaining works are completed. And finally, the festive season is set to get underway in Derry this evening at half past six and in Sturban tomorrow from five o'clock. There will be some delays to traffic with the duration of both parades, which are estimated to last one hour. Additional time should be considered for journeys and those not wishing to attend the events may consider an alternative route. Parades routes and further information can be found on our website highlandradio.com. That's the latest from Highland Radio News, the next news update will be 12 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Night, Donna Marie. Thank you very much indeed. Okay, we're going to ease off the pedal a little in terms of all the serious stuff and move into the realm of entertainment. And it's more just to have a chat and relax really, isn't it? Relaxing conversation as much as anything else. Stay with us or join us for that entertainment coming up after a break. That's entertainment and we're joined on the program today, as we always are, by always are, by the ever present Michael Lenny, writer and blogger. That's a great thing. Yes, it is. It's great to be here. Of course, our guest reviewer this week, Mark Daharty, manager of Century Cinema and Letter Kenny. Mark, great to have you up. Thanks for calling them. Yeah, welcome. It's good to be here. And it's a busy hour this one. They're all busy, aren't they? But we're also going to be telling you out there about the various Christmas light switch on and events and what's happening across the region as well. So the guys here are giving up kindly of their time as well. Right. Okay, I'll start with you, Mark. Shall we start with the cinema? Are we in a good period? Is Christmas seen as, do you know the way the release films? Yeah. You know, we've got the summer blockbusters. Is Christmas a hot time too, where they hold stuff back or release or what's the story? Yeah, they do. They tend to hold them back a wee bit and then they start to roll them out just before Christmas. And there's always a couple of really big films of the year that they aim for the Christmas market. It's a good time. People are off. They're on holidays. They're looking for things to do. So Christmas is a good time for good family films and the big ones that they're teeing up for the rest of the year. I see Hunger Games is back. That's one. Actually, I wouldn't mind going through the earlier ones. I'm not a massive fan of, you know, one, two, three and four, with the exception of a few. Hunger Games was one of those ones that I enjoyed it, because it told a long story over a period of time. And it's back with the balance of songbirds and snakes. Yeah, they're looking at, they're taking us back to where President Snow came from. Where did this character come from? Where did he develop from? And he's back as a young guy whose family have fallen on hard times. And he gets this young guy to mentor from, of course, where else are you going to be, but District 12. So, you know, they're tying it nicely together. And it shows you where this guy came from. What took this normal human being and twisted him that he ultimately became, ultimately became this dictator. And is it familiar cast back, or if they recast it or not? No, recast it, because this is probably what must be maybe 20, 30 years before the first Hunger Games. So it's a completely new cast and new characters there. But apart from Snow, he's the guy. So it's a borderline reboot, probably. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, there's probably a couple more films on it. And they probably put us one out here to see what the reaction was going to be to it. So it seems to be pretty positive so far. Box office onward has been pretty good for a reboot that doesn't have any of the original cast. It's trading on the name and promos and what have you. Are you a Hunger Games fan? Yes, Michael. Yes, I came to the original franchise quite late, but I think they re-released them. I think there was a, there was like, yeah. So I think that's when I jumped in. So I got to see like one a night for three nights. So that was me seeing them for the first time. And then we had to wait six months for the final. The fourth one was part two of the third book. So it's a four-part trilogy, especially the way to do it. So yeah, it's a reboot without Jennifer Lawrence. And I gave it a thumbs up as well. I saw it on Sunday evening. Oh, you've actually been to see it? Yeah. And yeah, I liked the new cast. And what's important about the Hunger Games movies is it gives you the core concept of, you know, these young people fighting to the death in the arena type scenario. It has that quite early on. That's the hook. And then it makes you care about the characters and good casting. Jason Swartzman by Ola Davis. And of course, Peter Dinklage, who almost, I think steals the movie from, you know, from Game of Thrones, he's probably best known, but a great performer who can do just anything. As another reviewer said, I was reading, he can raise an eyebrow and it can change the whole meaning of his hair. I love Peter Dinklage. And all those scene stealers add a lot to the new film as well. Yeah. And scale. I like films with scale. You know, sometimes I'm in a mood. But do you know where you feel like you're watching a big film? Do you know what I mean? Like, I sometimes need that, you know, I'm not massive into sort of character-driven films often. I don't mind dipping into them now and again, but sometimes you want an event. Yeah. You've got to go see Napoleon. Right. What's that about? Is it as obvious as it sounds? Yeah, it's as obvious as it sounds. It's that story of Napoleon, where he came from, where he finished. The battle scenes in that are just, the scale of them was just fantastic. You know, it's Ridley Scott that was really, really best and those epic scenes of battle and conflict. But then he takes it back down again and the other end of the film, the other storyline, which is this love between himself and Josephine. So if you want the epic, if you want the scale, if you want that dramatic, cinematic feeling, Napoleon's your movie. Yeah, that's out now. Yeah. I know. It starts today. All right. Okay. Great cast there as well. What's the guy who was in the Joker's? Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix, yeah. It's one of those films too, you'll probably be guessing, is that CGI or is that real? Did they actually do that? There's a bit of both. There has to be. But nowadays it's getting hard to tell the difference, you see. Well, I mean, where are you going to get the four or five thousand horsemen to have a battle? Are you sure that's CGI? Well, I'm on the back row there somewhere, I think. Definitely CGI. But as I say, even just watching the trailer here, it's not easy to see. Those lines are blurring a little bit, aren't they? Very much so. Right. Okay. So, Napoleon out there, if you want the big screen, big battles, dramatic, with the obviously obligatory love line in there. That's in the cinemas at the moment. And some of these films, I mean, you could argue and I'm sure you would mark that, you know, these films were made for the big screen and the big stand, and that's where they should be seen. But then there are some that stand out more so in that category, if that makes sense. And I think these ones are, you know, they're built for a screen that fills a wall. Of course they are. I mean, they're built for that epic scale. You know, you can't squeeze that film down onto a mobile phone, for example, but you lose all the depth, you lose the characters, you lose the scale of the whole thing. I said, that's what you need the big screen for. You need it for that. You need it for the sound kick and all the way around that you feel your right in the middle of it. Yeah. All right, that's Napoleon and also Hunger Games, the new movie, which is in the cinema at the moment. Do you want to go a little bit more detail into the Hunger Games? I didn't know it was on your list. Want to say a little bit more, I do mean a little bit more. A little bit more, okay. So basically, it takes us back, I think it actually takes about 50, 60 years. Donald Sutherland was the bad guy of the original trilogy. Okay. And so you have Tom Beleith, I think is his name. And he is taking on the part. And to his considerable credit, as he's a performer, I do not know, he really does make snow his own character. You know, you do, if you were a fan of the trilogy, you'd be locked into your mind. It's, you know, Donald Sutherland is such an amazing performer, but this guy makes the part his own. And then the lady who is the female lead, Rachel Zegler, who was in the West Side Story that was done in 2021, Steven Spielberg's movie. So they're the core characters and he's mentoring her. And it sets it up really quickly. You find out his backstory, and then the young people arrive in the capital to to partake in the, I think they're up to the fourth or 10th, the early days of the Hunger Games. Yeah, 10th, yeah. So it's the early days of the Hunger Games. And basically he's forced to become her mentor. So you have this guy and it's sort of the whole thing of what Star Wars did with Darth Vader when it brought out the prequel trilogy back 20 something years ago. This is the problem with you reviewing films here. You were doing so well. I was doing so well. But it's going under the skin of the bad guy. It's going under the skin of the bad guy. And I think they've accomplished it very well. I give it something like an eight out of 10. I really enjoyed it. And it's based on a newer novel. I wonder if you were watching these like say for instance, an Egypt like me who wants to do the the four part trilogy. Watch this first and then move on to that or watch that first. I wonder are these films made to actually watch after the fact or they made maybe. Oh, I think you started the first one. Yeah. Is this the first one? No, this would be. Yeah, I mean chronologically, yeah, I know where you're coming from. Maybe they're not written. They're not written that way. Not written that way. And it's a bit like Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. You can watch the prequel which came second. But you're going to miss out on certain things. There's great there's great storytelling. Oh, I know. Now I see why he later becomes like this. Yeah, that's the joy of these films. I've I realized I never actually really watched it at all and it might have been my loyalty to Jack Bauer. I started watching as my little side piece that I have 24 legacy. Oh, what do you mean? Did you just get sick in your mouth a little bit? It's not that bad. It's not that good. Well, it's it's it's 24 though. It's on mistakenly 24. If you haven't watched the original series for quite some time and it's on Disney plus. Thanks, leave your password. It's on Disney plus. It is actually really quite open. It's quite all the bits in there that you'd want. There were elements in it that I liked. But there were elements I didn't like the hero's brother and the hero's wife. That storyline didn't work for me. I'm one of an amazing memory. One thing I watched this before and I didn't even know those people existed and you're able just to tap straight into what you did five or six years ago. But what I didn't like was one of the great things about 24 is that it was plot driven and it really hit the ground. But they just replace his daughter. They're just Jack's daughter. I know. Yeah, well, that's a very good point. Yeah, that's all they are. But you had those stories where, you know, the hero is off saving the world like others just bombs exploding. But this the show stopped for these conversations where she's in the room with me. She's like, you're not paying attention to our relationship. And you're like and you're like Africa. God's sake, Mrs. I know there's bombs going off. Leave the man. Leave it till tomorrow. I can guarantee he'll have nothing to do tomorrow. But today is a very busy day. Leave him alone. I know, but you could have said that all the time. Like why did Jack Barra's daughter do stupid things at eight o'clock in the morning? Just because she was attacked by one Cougar. Just one Cougar. That's all. I was gonna say Cougar in this stage. I didn't even think of a cat. Right. Okay, we'll be back with more from my time. Christmas party nights at the Silver Tassie drinks reception, four course festive meal, live music by the Loogs, Jim Devine and more prior to your elbow for dates and bookings. Call us Silver Tassie hotel pride sponsors of today's show. I will do rail-high drinks special to. I will do raid on he ever a Mlockley. He had a nice foot. You know, I'm a bit of a jokey. I'm a spirit. The fail of the bra every being in the look. So, I'll do scene and quarter of she is the alien. The blame on the only Mlockley. I'm not just far, the bedner. I'm willing to club. I'm young. I'm a shin. I'm closer. I'm lean. I'm Mlockley. I'm not a fan of the Kaila niche. I visit Dublin. A public service announcement from Donegal County Council. Did you or a family member work in Scotland between 1940 and 1990? Do you have photographs or memories from your time there that you will be willing to share? If so, the Culture Division of Donegal County Council would like your help with an exhibition on the working conditions and types of employment that Donegal men and women found in Scotland. If you have photographs of Donegal people at work in Scotland or a story to tell about your work there, please contact the County Donegal Heritage Office on 07491 72576 or by email to heritage at DonegalCoco.ae Donegal County Council, serving the people and preserving the heritage of Donegal. Check out these special offers at Simpson Supermarket Letter Kenny. There's Lion's Original Tea Bags, 164 Euro, Nikkie Toilet Roll, 32 Pack, 10 Euro, Fairlog 10 Pack, 12 Euro, and there's Neil's Flower 3KG, 3 Euro. See your massive range of goodies for the late late Toy Show Fest. Plus, we are now taking orders for your Christmas turkey. While there, check out Peggy's Kitchen Coffee for great food, tea and coffee. Only two minutes from Letter Kenny Hospital. Simpson Supermarket, rate value every day. Last Christmas, millions in cash prizes were won by people playing the National Lottery's Christmas Scratch Cards. This year, you could scratch and win up to 100,000 Euro instantly. Play the National Lottery's range of Christmas Scratch Cards. The National Lottery. It could be them. Gift responsibly. Highland Radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Letter Kenny to Dublin. When you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time up. 18 minutes past 11. I'm with Michael Leady. I'm with Mark Daherty. I'm with Morag McCafferty. Good morning, Morag. We're going to start doing a run-around of stuff that's coming up for Christmas. How are you getting on, Morag? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Everything's going well. Super stuff. Tell us what's happening in Minelec. Right. Okay. So it's the 2nd of December. Saturday afternoon between 1 and 5. There's 25 plus crafters, local homegrown crafters who are fantastic, except for what they do. And the Christmas fair has been running for the guts of 20 years. And so there's always huge support and huge thanks to everybody that does come along to support the event because it is very magical and it's the largest part of the world at basically. And it's the Christmas lights will be going on, the Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and lots of fun for the kids. Carol, singers, birds, old wine. And yeah, loads and loads of crafters are the same. Roads of arts and crafts. All right. That's in the Minelec Christmas fair. So you don't have to travel all over the country for a wonderful Christmas shopping experience. It's between 12 and 5 p.m., which is a lovely time of the day. And it's on the 2nd of December. Well done, Morag. Thanks very much for your time. Take care of yourself for rides. Let's go to Dukery and say hello and good morning to Janice Ward. Good morning, Janice. Good morning, Greg. Right. Tell us what's happening at Dukery Village. Well, this coming Sunday, the 26th of November, between 1 and 4, Dury is hosting our annual Christmas market. And we've got over 20 stalls booked. There's all sorts of different crafters. And we've got a tombola stall with some fantastic prizes. Local businesses have been very generous with the prizes they've given us. And we've a raffle where for 100 euro shopping voucher for Super Value as well. Santa's going to be there. And the kids can come and write a letter and post it to Santa. And then they can go and visit Santa. So there's lots to do and there's lots to buy there. And it must cost a fortune to get in. Janice. No, it's free to get in. And there's going to be hot drinks for, you know, the stall holders. And it's generally going to be a really nice day. The last two years we've had the crafter there. The same Sunday every year. And they've been a role in success. So we're hoping that this year is going to follow soon. I'm not surprised. I'm sure it will. Santa's lovely, Janice. A lovely experience to have close to home, but it also in a beautiful setting. Take care of yourself. Thank you. Bye. Jerry's with us. Hi, Jerry. How are you doing, Greg? I am doing fantastic. Now, Christmas lights going on in Balear. Tell us more. Well, I just brought the Christmas lights. I started them about seven years ago. And I started to do charity work, just to pick up a donation box. And that's where I started from there. I've been doing charity work for four years now. And it's a very good display. And I do it for local charities like the hospice and little angels and things like that. So this year is the hospice. I'm doing something we're doing for two-wordly charity. And talk us a little bit about the display, what people can see and look at to get themselves right into the Christmas spirit. Well, there's everything. You know yourself, Santa Claus is in there. And Santa Claus will be coming on tomorrow night and it's free to get on. You just make us wall donation. Euro, two-year-olds, no problem. And everybody gets their back seats on the way out. And Santa Claus will be there to switch on the lights. Brilliant stuff. And then people don't... They can come then at later dates as well when are the lights on after Saturday? The lights will be on six o'clock to ten every night. Brilliant. That's every night then. And it's worthwhile seeing it. Even just to look at it. And you'll not miss it, I would say if you're in the Balear, are you? I don't think you'll miss it, though. You won't dare to miss it. You'll have to take a look at your rundown yourself. I'm going to Gerry, I'm going to Love Lights and anything that gets plugged in effectively. All right, I'll come down and see you. I promise you that. And it's free to go and enjoy. And you're invited to make us a donation that you can afford. And it goes to Donegal Down Syndrome and the Donegal Hospice this year. Enjoy it too, don't you? It takes an awful lot of effort and organisation stuff. Don't forget to come down. Good luck, bye-bye. I'll be there, Gerry. Not sure about Saturday, but I'll certainly be there one of the evenings leading up to Christmas. All right, I am starting to get in the mood, Mark. You like Christmas, don't you? That's a good bit of fun. When has it started for you? God, I probably started a bit of August. I like Christmas as well, but I think you need your head looking at. I started to plan way back then. What's your favourite Christmas film? Oh, God. I think any of the Santa Claus. I just think... Oh, or A Wonderful Life. I think the only Wonderful Life has to be right up there, but I do love A Good Santa Claus movie. And then, of course, there's the... The last number of years I've had to endure love actually over and over again. So far, I've avoided that anti-tanic and there's a few others as well. I fell victim to the bodyguard, but, you know... I've managed to avoid the rest of them. And what's a really good children's Christmas film? Because Hodson's just at the age now whereby he will sit down and enjoy a film, the new Paul Petro movie. He absolutely adored that, right? Or is it the odd one? I can't remember which one it was. So I would like him to watch a film. We'd like him to watch a film with Santy in... I wonder... It doesn't have to be animated, but what's the best Santy film known for toddlers? I'm a wee bit biased this year. Bad Santa? No, I don't think you can take him to Bad Santa. You might enjoy it after you watch the film. You enjoyed yourself a few beers and you'll have a good time with Bad Santa. But I think probably the one I fancy at the moment is they've actually re-released it this year in Santa Claus movie from 1985 with Dudley Moore. So that I'm looking forward to seeing that again. Yeah, so I try to do it better when it's already been done really, really well. Yeah, you know, everybody wants to have a go at making a Santa Claus movie on Christmas. And of course, don't forget about Home Alone. Home Alone is a normal one. It always becomes synonymous with Christmas. I don't want to be teaching him any further bad habits. Well, stick to Santa Claus. Home Alone may be three or four years, but we'll see. Home Alone is just quintessential Christmas, isn't it? And it's a classic. Actually, maybe Home Alone would be fun because it's all slapstick. We'll give that a go. And Michael... What about you? You're a bit of a scrooge. I don't know. You like horror films and Christmas themes. I've done that in the past. Good memory. Good memory. In previous years, I've done a Christmas marathon. Do you remember that stage? Every film you recommended had like adult school uniforms and all this kind of stuff. You went through an awful stage. Yeah, it was just the Saint Trinians. Oh, I love those. Yeah, they're great fun. Yeah, the original is in the new ones. Yeah, in previous years, I've watched some darker Christmas films, but then at the same time when you have... The one I think was the highlight for me last year was 1983's A Christmas Story with Darren McAven and Peter Billingsley. And it's set in the 1940s and it's based on a true story. The book was written. The guy who wrote the book narrates the film and it's his childhood growing up in America and it's all about getting this thing, a BB gun and using psychology to convince his mother that it's the toy that he should get. And it's one of the loveliest, funniest films. And they've actually done a sequel with the same cast that anyone that was still alive, and the kid growing up. They did it last year in America and I haven't seen it yet. But A Christmas Story is a wonderful, heartwarming... Just a wonderful... My favourite line of the review so far is they did a sequel with any of the cast that's still alive. I mean, it's just really quite simplistic. Let's go to Cara and Donna because they always put on a great show and this show ain't no different. Porig Kelly, Christmas tree committee in Cara and Donna. Hiya, Porig. Hi, Greg. How are we getting on? I'm doing fantastic Sunday, the Diamond 5.30pm. That's the place to be. Talk to us about what's going on. I know it's pretty self-explanatory but I just want as many people in the area to know about it and to get out and support the great efforts of the committee because a lot of work goes into this stuff from an early time in the year as well. I'm always thinking about it. So what's happening on Sunday, Porig? Right, sorry, just before we go to that can I just say first of all, it's our 50th anniversary which is a major milestone. Congratulations. It's amazing. It is amazing. Some of the regional committee are still there which is great. As the years were done, you would have thought maybe this would die when the committee gets over whatever but it's actually the opposite. I think the current committee is probably very proud of that. Very proud of the end product they produce and should be very proud of themselves for what they do. Quite rightly you say this just doesn't happen in a couple of days or whatever it starts at the beginning of October with the erection of your over-pavement light and check-in of lights, miniature trees are erected and so on. Our tree arrives at the town then a week beforehand and then it's all house to the pump to get that ready for our lightning on Sunday. Now, our tree used to be massive in fact one year had the distinction of being the tallest tree in Ireland at just under 70 feet which was in 1987. After that it was decided maybe to reduce the size a bit because it's a bit easier to decorate and make a little bit more spectacular but I say that our tree this year is still 40 foot. So it's still quite a big tree. Again, as you know yourself it's probably impossible to go out to a forest tree and get a perfect tree so a lot of work including extra branches will be suspended onto the trunk in the required places. The tree will be draped in the nest from top to bottom with lights attached. You will have lighting probably every three to four inches so on the 43 you're talking there Greg, over 10,000 LED lights on this tree. Right, you might not have the highest tree in the country anymore but is there a tree in Donegal with more lights than 2,000 lights on it? I don't know, I think you might have another record there in the bag boric. Well yeah, there's over 10,000 lights on the tree and it makes it, but it does when the nest draped and the lights are on it makes it sort of pretty picture perfect. So a lot of work is on behind the scenes. As the name will tell you obviously it's carried on a Christmas tree committee so the emphasis is very very much on the tree but not at the middle left of the rest of the streets, there's about 3,500 meters of overpavement lighting and there are 28 decorative trees metal made trees mounted in the diamond to supplement the Christmas tree theme if you like so the committee should be really really proud of what's presented. I'm really looking forward to getting a photo from the video afterwards. Fantastic stuff. Okay brilliant, that's the current on the Christmas tree lights switch on go on ahead Padraig. No sorry the switch on is actually at six o'clock with the entertainment with the brass band and the local folk group will start from 530 and there will be kids entertainment at six o'clock we have a big switch on at 6.05 Santies hours will arrive in town to arrive he will then arrive by fire engine which is quite spectacular with the searchlight on them or whatever I love it I love that stuff Brilliant very spectacular Congratulations on 50 years it's going to be a cracking weekend there's no doubt get there for 530 for the build up with the big switch on at six and all the entertainment yeah thanks very much Bye bye Padraig Christmas tree committee member good morning to the Aussie Outlaw random stuff it's random enough that is commenting no idea why YouTube recommended this channel to me but I'm Australia's biggest real YouTuber good day, good day Aussie Outlaw and good day to Liam Darty chair of the Maville Christmas tree committee 26 years you've been at this crack now Liam good morning to you Good morning Greg 26 years we're not at Cairns level yet but we're getting there you're halfway there you're halfway there and Sunday's the big day as well in beautiful Maville tell us what's going on yeah well we've kind of an all day thing this year we've combined with Maville or St Judy's Hall and they're going to have like a cinema club from two o'clock showing Christmas movies and cocoa and stuff for the kids it's all free as well and then we'll have a DJ and stuff in the square from about four o'clock at five o'clock in summer at Cairns Sam Dall arrive with the fire engine and stuff on his sleigh and he does the switch on and then he goes on to his throttle and all the kids then will receive a free present and like the way through and the DJ playing throughout to kind of present about eight o'clock so it's a family fun day for all day sort of and it's completely free so all right okay and of course the main man Santa as you said coming up the town at five o'clock on the sled and he's looking forward seeing all the lovely children mummies and daddies, granny and grandads for this winter wonderland it sounds like it's going to be a brilliant day Liam number 26 and long way they continue thanks so much for sharing it and I'm sure you'll have a big turnout so you want people to be there at what time at ideally well as I said the thing starts and St. Eugene's Hall at two o'clock sort of just to make it a day thing if the kids want to go down and watch a Christmas movie and it's on the club but they sort of start to gather with us from about four o'clock on the DJ will be there from four and count down to five and then the grotto after that for the parents brilliant all right enjoy it Liam good man all right take care of yourself bye bye all right let's take a quick break watch the show live now on YouTube Facebook and at Highland Radio dot com Christmas party nights at the Silver Tassé drinks reception, four course festive meal live music by the Loogs, Jim Devine and more prior to your elbow for dates and bookings call a Silver Tassé hotel proud sponsors of today's show your voice matters and your vote is important local authorities are updating the electoral register and it's your responsibility to ensure that your details are current and correct even if you're already registered to vote now is the time to check and either confirm or update your details by providing your PPSN aircode and date of birth to have your say on shaping Ireland's future you must be on the electoral register checking is easy simply go to CheckTheRegister.ie the easy way to secure your say brought to you by the Government of Ireland get money off vouchers every week and the real rewards up too share the magic this Christmas with Supervalu enjoy all corresponding T's and C's apply Hiya gang, it's me Silly Billy from Jack in the Beanstalk the biggest panda in all the land I can't wait for you to join me and my friends at the Millennium Forum from the 30th of November until the 31st of December book now at Millennium Forum Duck code at UK and start practicing your silly faces sponsored by the Richmond Centre Ho Ho Ho Ho Santa Claus speaking It's me Santa, your trusty elf I've got an urgent message from Coonies Christmas Shop Oh, my golly goodness what's happening at Coonies Well Santa, they've gone all like this year their Christmas Decker is bigger and better than ever Visit Coonies Christmas Shop letter Kenny retail park and feel the magic of Christmas Santa proved With our Black Friday sale get 20% off everything excluding current offers and Sunday At Michael Honeys wishes do come true you can now create your very own wish list in store and online at MichaelHoneys.com See something you love like it, love it, heart it Ladies, start dropping the hints now Gentlemen, the Michael Honeys team are here to help share your Michael Honeys wish list with Santa Celebrate the 12 days of M&S exclusively with Sparks and be in with a chance to win 5,000 euro when you open a door every day M&S are giving away thousands of free gifts and daily festive offers from the 1st to the 12th of December Don't miss out Sign up today with the M&S app Terms and conditions apply Yeah, we're getting a real festive feel going on the programme today We're in the company of Michael Letty and also Mark Daherty Managing Manager of the Century Cinema who very kindly Mark has given us an extensive list of every film that's ever been made and is also likely to be released next year It runs to close on 78 pages Thanks very much You're nothing but thorough Yes, yes We'll try and get through one more of those Yeah Bear with us because they're always out in front You don't have to wait till Saturday You don't have to wait till Sunday for the Bunkrana Christmas lights My word, all you have to do is turn up tonight Nicholas Crossen Imagine why, how are you getting on? After that intro I do hope it is tonight You're switching the lights on Well, yes The most anticipated date of the year with the children We have a fabulous and I only can say a fabulous display of lights We have succeeded in beating last year and I think the people of Bunkrana will be surprised because we have tried to keep it under wraps as good as possible with the different buildings that up this year we have Main Street ex the lights in the Main Street and it's going to be a great night It's a dry night and we want everybody to wrap up well and turn up Santa's on his way and as usual it's very very clear the lights will go on at 7 o'clock No, not a minute before, not a minute later it's exactly 7 o'clock as of our time to do it This is another thing now Nicholas where, you know, don't be early Don't be late But get there early, get a good position but on the mark of 7pm because it might be coming close to bedtime routines and what have you And then just for everybody's safety as well Greg, as we say we're barricading off the mark of square and the road around it so Santa can go around and talk to all the children there Every child will get to talk to Santa just to be patient with it Please please go with the stewards and we've put enough of the planning under this, we're thankful to Garde Shikana and the Fire Brigade that are turning up tonight and they're delivering Santa and we're very lucky to get Santa this time of year, but he's going to be there tonight so we want the people we want the mommies and daddies to stay outside the barracks where everybody's understood and safe today and it will be a fabulous night I didn't see all the lights myself it's the best kept secret that I've seen so we want the people to come along to Bonkrana any time before 7 o'clock but be there for 7 o'clock because you're going to get the big and we have a few retreats for kids when they come along as well Alright, great stuff, thanks we're going to cross in there Bonkrana Christmas lights going on tonight at 7pm all should come if this isn't about or has something to do with Elvis I'm going to be royally disappointed Yes, this is the new LMDG musical production which is on this week, it's on from Tuesday the 28th to Saturday the 2nd and it is loosely based Thank you very much loosely based on this is going to surprise Greg it's loosely based on Shakespeare's 12th night you didn't see that coming this hip swinging lip-curdling musical fantasy will have you jumping out of your blue suede shoes with classic hits such as Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock and I'm going to ignore Mark I'm just going to keep talking I'm mentioning this but it's pretty much sold out I think you need to really get on if you haven't sorted yourself out so tickets are in very, very, very, very scarce supply for this is going to be a great crack the shows that they put on are always of a really high standard great talent to cast I haven't been involved behind this sometimes I'm not a musical person on stage I don't sing, whatever my talents are but I have been in previous years along for rehearsals and things like that I've not this year so I have no idea what to expect but I have no doubt that it will be absolutely stellar I'm just getting to end Yeah, next year too, looking forward to next year cinema releases because people might have been forgiven when they talk about writer strike and all that kind of stuff there's going to be some sort of a delay I'm interested in because I watched Deadpool 2 there not so long ago and there's a bit during the credits of Deadpool 2 where he uses time hopping to right wrongs, whatever it's not clear if that's done stereotypically or for the story progression I suspect it's just messing about with Logan and all that kind of stuff but anyway Deadpool 3, that's going to be huge anything else you want to pick out there? I'm looking forward to doing I haven't seen doing part 1 so that's another one I love his book I read this is where the action really kicks in this is where the fighting starts the battle starts I'm really looking forward to that you were saying you like a film on an epic scale this should be it this should be one to look out for next year again with these fantastic battle scenes and scenery so I'm looking forward to seeing doing some great kids films running around Kung Fu Panda inside out stuff like that and then Kingdom of the Planet of the it's myself Michael we're talking about he's looking forward to it I know but glad he ate it too yes that's post later in the year again looking flat we're at Lee Scott and of course Paul Mescal on it and he plays Lucius so he's a grown up Lucius I've never seen him in a bad film I like a bit epic as well particularly later in the year very much later in the year we'll get to more of that and non because we're sharing our time today because we're gracious people with Nicola Mahan who's a member of the Kalei Community Park and Tidy Tans committee Nicola good morning to you good morning Greg Sunday Sunday week I'm terrible when we're crossing a month so it is Sunday the 3rd of December at 5.30pm what's gonna be happening Kalei well we got low key this year because we're at the foundation stages of the community hub and mummy's place but we have Sansa arriving to switch on the Christmas tree lights and he will be giving all the children a gift and we will have the children singing and dancing too for us so should be a lovely evening out so next Sunday the 3rd at 5.30pm just after the sun has set as well nice dot but not too late either one for all the family Nicola thank you very much indeed Sansa in the community park in Kalei Sunday the 3rd of December at 5.30pm let's go to Alia football clubs chair Steven O'Donnell good morning to you Steven morning Greg how are you I'm doing good right what's happening in Burnfoot then well we're doing what we we take Sansa on tour of the parish every Christmas so this is happening on the following Sunday Sunday the 10th of December and what we do is Alia we start off at the Alia football club clubhouse and then we have Staps then we take Sansa and he goes and he stops at in Jailand there at the brig he moves on down there into Fawn Staps down there at the bottom of the church bray where the big Christmas tree is and then we go to the Halfley house NFR Wyndham co kier brilliant idea for those who maybe you know can't get to where Sansa is Yous have I don't know how you secured this deal with him anyway Steven but I think maybe cause you've left it another week has got maybe a little d back in town but you're bringing him around the community we take him around the community Kana kicked off this kind of post covid I think the first year after COVID, we didn't really want to have large gatherings. So we came up with this as an alternative, and we stopped in the different areas. And if there's any kids that are seriously ill, we kind of go round to them as well, and then maybe an odd club member who's done something exceptional throughout the year, Santa Monica, we present to them. But at every stop, we have a gift for the kids at every single stop. The fair does some of the local businesses have always fallen on behind. They've always helped to alleviate the cost of it a wee bit. And at that time of year, Stephen, is Santa... Is he patient? Is he a bit crabid? Is he hard on behind the scenes? So what's the story? Santa's good every day. He's always good. You're only saying that because you don't want to be on the naughty list, Stephen. I know. Well, I have to try and find out. I'm trying to make it up. I've been on the naughty list all year, trying to push out in the last couple of weeks. That's it. Leave the hard slog for the last couple of weeks. Well done, Stephen. You're on the good list. Chair of Alia Football Club, lovely initiative. Thank you. Is there information of the stops on your Facebook page or internet or anything, Stephen? It will be. It hasn't been published yet, but we always put it on. So mark the diary for Sunday the 10th and then have a look back. Sunday the 10th, starting at six o'clock, and we will... It'll be on our Facebook page, and we will have notification under the local schools. But it's available to all the children in our parish, not just ones that are members of Alia Football Club. Stay good, Stephen. Thanks very much for that. The Nine Till Moon 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. At the Central Statistics Office, we're trusted to gather all sorts of information. So, we count exports, imports, airports and seaports. We count schools, pools and how many are tools? We count emissions, permissions and social conditions. We count beds, sheds and newlyweds. We count families, growing trees and diversity. Because this data informs important decisions on everything from economic activity to housing policy to what to call a new baby. And we can't do it without you. CSO, count on us, we count on you. The Black Tag event is now on at Curries. Treat them or treat yourself with the Sony PlayStation 5 disc version. Now, 449, save 100 euro. Or save 70 euro on the MetaQuest 2 VR gaming headset with 128 gig storage, now only 299. Check out our great bundles in-store and online at curries.ie. The move to Electric is on with Kia powering ahead in electric vehicle technology. Take the stylish Kia Nero EV, the multi-award-winning EV6 or the all-new EV9 with space for up to seven people. Order your 2-4-1 model now to avail a flexible finance options, a free home charger and a 500 euro super-value gift card. 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For more, visit dldc.org. Highland Radio Weather Updates brought to you by Grant from condensing oil and HVO biofuel boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating. You can trust Grant to heat your home. Visit grant.ie. All right, now, Claude will gradually break up with sunny spells developing by this afternoon, a cool, northerly breeze, which will mean temperatures will struggle with highs of just six or nine degrees. And look, what do you mind? Would you look what the cat dragged in? Tony, Tony Finula-Rabbit, the MD or CEO of Highland Radio and president of Letter Kenny Chamber. I know. Good morning to you. Good morning to you too. Okay, Letter Kenny Christmas lights are being switched on on Sunday. Tell us more. Absolutely, I was getting so jealous when I kept hearing of all the other fantastic events that are on this weekend in Donegal. Who says Santa has nothing to do until Christmas Eve? He's going to be wrecked. It's a bit like you, actually, all over the place. I know. It's a good job. He's magic because he definitely is going to need it to get absolutely everywhere that he's going. So we have the Chamber are hosting the lighting of the Christmas lights here in Letter Kenny on Sunday. 5.30, get together, six o'clock, start. We've got our own Keith Fletcher in charge of the festivities, so he's always... I don't want that to... Don't let that put you off. You're going to have a great time. Get along there at 5.30. I mean, have you seen the suit? Oh, I know. I'm sure you're wearing the suit. I don't know. He hasn't... Oh, we know it's going to be festive. I think we don't see anything festive. Normally, he unveiled his outfit earlier in the month before the thing comes. But we haven't seen it yet now, so this particular outfit could be phenomenal. It's always happened to me. Exactly. It's always an exciting time. So we have the Pine Hill Studio Dancers. We have the local pipe band are going to be there. We have singer Callum Kevney is going to be entertaining everybody with some carols and songs. If anybody was there last year, they know that it was a great night. The kids really enjoyed it. We usually managed to, you know, talk to the Perg Bill in charge. And we get a kind of bit of snow going and all this kind of thing, really, just to get the atmosphere going. So everybody should just get your Christmas jumpers out, get yourself ready, get your hats, get it all together. And we will see you at the Market Square at 6 o'clock on Sunday. Yeah, OK. And you must be excited. Your trombola's coming back. I know. I'm very excited. We just launched all of our teams. Colouring competitions coming back. I know. It's very good. I'm just a little bit gutted now because I'm not going to be around myself first because I'm going to be away for a few weeks. So I won't be up in Letter Kenny. I just had a little bit of a health issue that I needed to get sorted. And that will be done in December. And my new grandbaby is coming, which is very exciting. So I'm going to be in Galway. So I won't be sadly won't be up in Letter Kenny for all of these exciting times. Get your NCT. Yeah. Come back in a nice and gentlemen. I know I'll be back in January in full form. But I look forward to being sent all of the colouring competition. Oh, yeah, you're not looking like you can go with this. I know, I know, I know. There was a big conversation in the management recently, a meeting recently about getting together the prizes because that's a big thing. Oh, yeah. It's all the prizes for the competition and she's still going to do it even though she's not going to be here. I know. I'm going to smith this afternoon with my trolley. Oh, you're actually going to go with it? Oh, yeah. No, no, I totally am not. You're going to just keep threatening on the way. I know. I don't want to. I know. I can't. No, I can't do it online. I'm going to have to go call down there to... I just love walking around it and I just like to... I like to... You know when you do your Christmas grocery shop and it's like overflowing. Yes. I like to do that, but in smiths. I'm just going to inhale it. I don't really want to do the Christmas. I just like to do the smiths. I'm going to inhale Christmas this year. I'm just going to eat everything so cold. Oh, I know, but you're so lucky now as well because you have the Hudson and it's going to be so exciting. It's nothing nice in the hand. Maybe another year, Cleopel drops because I'm trying to push the Santa thing, you know, and you know what I mean? Oh, I know, but you're... When Santa comes, when Santa comes, if he's good. Yeah, if he's good. I have no scarring on my face for the first time in quite some time, so I'm doing all right. OK, that's fantastic. Stay where you are. You might as well see out the rest of the hour. I want to go to our old Rory Farrell as well. Good morning to you, Rory. Morning, Greg. Morning, Vanuah. How are you, everybody? Doing fantastic. Right, let's fast forward and not rewind. To Sunday, the 26th at 3.30 p.m. What's happening? Yeah, Sunday the 26th, the lights have been turned on in the Twin Towns, so things will be kicking off around 3-ish. There's going to be Christmas markets. There's going to be a Christmas parade. I'm going to be up there on the stage as well. I'm going to wait until tonight. I want to see what Kailty does on the toy show and I want to sort of get some information so I don't actually know what I'm going to wear yet. So I want to try and get some inspiration from him and see what he does. And does anybody have a Christmas hat I could borrow, by the way? I'm having real trouble getting my hands on a Santa hat. Really? Yeah. OK. Right, I'm surprised at that. They're all over the place. Well, if anyone knows where this Christmas hat's available in and around, I'm going to put it out there, all right? If anyone wants to bring one along on Sunday, absolutely bring it along. Are you looking for someone to sponsor your Christmas hat, your tight get? Well, you're looking at mine as well. Right, it's an opportunity. I'm not getting them to this with you now in the radio. I know, I know, I know. And come here, Balabuffet lends itself well. Balabuffet strollers well, of course, because there's great access around it. And we have a hat. Exactly. We have a hat for you. When is it Sunday? It's already done. The power of radio. All right, you've got a hat, so don't worry about that. We'll be here for you tomorrow. How's that? Great stuff. All right, OK, looking forward to seeing everybody. Yeah, everybody in the car park and Santa, of course, will be with us as well, with his reindeer in tow. So we're really looking forward to seeing everybody. It's going to be, as always, a great event. Superstuff and a great MC on the night or on the afternoon evening as well. Thanks, Rory. That's Rory Farrell. He's on with you tomorrow for Rewind, of course. So that's it. Yeah, we've done... You can't say we've left anyone out. We asked people to get in contact with us. They're having great numbers, Mark. So is Kevin Bridges in the cinema? We've all asked, we can. What is that? Is that one of these CCTV jobs, is it? No, it was recorded in, I believe, July or August in Cork when he performed down there. He was very good and then he did a sort of ten-minute piece exclusively for Salamas as well. Wow. So I enjoyed that. Is that going to be a big thing going forward? We've seen the Westlives, whatever you do, the civil cast. You're going to see much more of that next year. You're going to see an awful lot of concerts, an awful lot of gigs, an awful lot of comedians, an awful lot of plays that are going to be broadcast live. One night only. They'll do it one night, maybe. Of course, yeah. And then away they go. Well, Taylor's roughed in the last three or four weeks. I mean, concerted on to the Salamas. Sick of the phenomenon. It's great to see even though you see the opera and the play. Caroline, can I have the competition winners, please? Caroline, competition winners, please? I mean, don't see a couple of plays. Some of them were very good. Joan of Arc, good to see you. Oh, I saw the National Theatre in the cinema. Andrew Ruiz coming this Christmas. Oh, wow. Have we got a Fluffish Garage? Can I do a little bit of housework and then I'll come back to you? Because thanks to our friends at Kelly's Centre at the Mountaintop, you know they're getting ready for Santa season and have been celebrating the community. They do it all year round, but particularly for Christmas. And they're working with little angels and raising funds over the festive season. They have a number of giveaways in store and across their social media, golden tickets in store, discounts and a grand prize. And you may see them out and about with a very special guest. And we asked a question today, what colour are sapphires? Clearly at this point, any effort to come up with questions has just been forgotten now at this point. What colour are sapp- It was what colour are remolds the other day? What's the relevance? I don't know. But anyway, they are blue. And Anthony Walsh and letter Kenny, you have won a 250-year-old voucher for Circle K. Well done to you. And a big prize that was being run thanks to our brilliant friends at the Silver Tassie Hotel and Seascape Spa. They have given away a relaxation heaven package. It's a luxurious two-and-a-half spa package that you can book yourself for a bit of self-love. Don't get me wrong, that's been running all week. Hundreds upon hundreds of you entered. The winner of that two-and-a-half hour spa is... Jacinta McCarran from Drum Freeze, Clan Mani. Congratulations, Jacinta. You correctly answered the question, it being Black Friday. I can't recall the question, but that's besides the point. And you're the winner. So thank you to the Silver Tassie. I've plugged them left, right and centre. And did I get offered a free package? No, Miss Al, for you. I've never had a full body. I'm sure it's fantastic and I will pay for it. I'm sure it'll be fantastic. Anyway, that's a joke, by the way, because it's been a funny year for complimentary things. So let me emphasise that. People in your position. Exactly, exactly. In my position, in front of a mic, but that's the only thing we have in common. So, Fnula, we're not going to hear from you. Well, we'll hear from you here and there. But we wish you all the best out in Gullway to get yourself back to 100% and also the best of luck with the new arrival. You will never get a better Christmas present. I know, I know. I'm looking forward to it now being Granny for the first time. So I'm leaning into that now while I go through the other thing. But no, I want to wish everybody a very happy Christmas and enjoy the celebrations and enjoy tuning into Highland and all the fantastic prizes and gifts the team here have a lot of big plans that are coming out. Sean only just touched on it there and putting you in charge of Sean because he would give away the kitchen sink if I let him go. So you're in charge of making sure that we still have chairs left and he hasn't thrown it in as a prize over the next few weeks because it's very exciting, all the stuff that we have in place for people. So just want to wish all the listeners have a fantastic, safe, happy Christmas and see you all in the new year. And as always, thank everybody for all their support. And we wish you lots of love and support. You're very highly thought of around here and I'm sure by our listeners as well, so we can't wait to have you back on Monday. I'm indifferent to you returning next Friday, Michael. I can expect no less. It is what it is. It is what it is. Thank you so very much, Chef Michael, as always, for being great fun and also sharing your time with the various committees and festivals around the place. And Mark as well, Mark Daharty, manager of Century Cinema Letter Kenny, there's something for everyone on down there and continued success with your expansion. And it's go, go, go, isn't it? All right, folks, have a lovely weekend. Have a lovely weekend. There's still, I think, a ticket or two available for DV's Ball tonight in the Mount Erickle, by the way. So if you want to night out, I'd highly recommend that. I'll see you there. Have a lovely one, folks. Bye-bye. You're one stop shop for this Christmas. Gift fighters for the Silver Tassie Hotel and Seascape Spa.