 on the BBC. Yeah, so I'll presume we'll do that from Dublin. I would say stay over. Piece of cake. You could do it in Dublin. Do you use these shows anywhere, Kyle? Alright, maybe another job will come up for us, who's to say, huh? Alright, that's Lee Goose back with you tomorrow morning for his last show of the week. Can you believe Friday again already tomorrow? Okay, let's get Thursday's 9 till noon show underway after we get a news update now from Michaela Clark. Thanks Greg. Good morning. Private Sean Rooney is to be honored today at the United Nations headquarters in New York. A ceremony is taking place as part of a series of events to mark the 75th anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping. Irish ambassador to the United Nations, Virgil Meitham, will receive an award, a medal on behalf of the family of Private Rooney who died in Lebanon last December. Medals will be awarded posthumously to 103 military, police and civilian peacekeepers who lost their lives serving under the Yen flag last year. Tenegal County Council is being urged to write to the Department of Housing ahead of the imminent publication of the revised effective block redress scheme. Councillor Martin McDermott, chair of the Council's Defective Block Redress Committee, is calling for the building condition assessment requirement to be revised. The department recently proposed 11 changes to the draft regulations. One of those requires the homeowner to provide a certificate of planning and building control before progressing with the scheme. Councillor McDermott says that is simply unattainable. Those certs that you go looking for will cost a considerable amount of money and there's no clear answer as to whether that money can be took back or the client can get that money back. So I was asking that that regulation be changed and go back to the way it was in the legislation and the way it was in the first draft and take out their need because there is no need to hang it. It's one that does not need to happen, it's going to make life far far more difficult for homeowners to try to get on the steam. Attorney-gold Deputy Has said that the University Hospital is buckling under strain due to years of lack of investment in the North West. Deputy Thomas Pringle says there are multiple factors that are impacting care at the hospital including long wait times in the emergency department and the recent sudden resignation of two consultant and doctorinologists from the hospital. He says it appears the government is moving closer and closer to privatising healthcare. Fortunately I think that what the government is actually dealing with is preparing the privatisation of the services. But it's interesting where Lederkenny Hospital is losing consultants there for eight and a half years. There's more private hospitals opening up in Lederkenny to facilitate CAT scans and everything else that's required there. So what is actually the programme here is the programme to privatisation by stealth. The enterprise minister has defended three Finnegeal junior ministers as tension bruised among coalition parties. Tonneshammi Hall-Martin told a Finafall parliamentary party meeting last night that junior ministers writing opinion pieces undermines the budgetary process. He was referring to minister Peter Burke, Jennifer Carl McNeill and Martin Haydon who wrote an opinion piece calling for a 1,000 euro tax break in the next budget. Minister Simon Coveney has defended his colleagues saying the article reflects Finnegeal policy. Michael McGrath is a good finance minister, highly competent and he'll put a budget together this year for next year. But that doesn't mean that a party as large as Finnegeal isn't going to have internal debate around how budgets are formed and what priorities are focused on and that we'll talk to the public about that. That's what politics is about. Whether I dry today and quite cloudy at times with some occasional sunny spells, highest temperatures of 15 or 16 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Picnic tickets are sold out. Or are they? Every week in Aldi, be in with a chance to win your weekly shop and electric picnic tickets. Just spend 25 euro or more in Aldi. Take a photo of your receipt and upload it to aldi.ie forward slash electric picnic. Imagine one moment you're strolling through Aldi, the next you're singing your heart out. So pitch up in Aldi to win big. Aldi, every day amazing. 18 plus only ends August 20th. Excludes alcohol, prizes and vouches and sees Aldi.ie forward slash electric picnic. The county's number one talk show, The Ninetal Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest. The Ninetal Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello and a very good morning to you. It is five past nine on this Thursday the 25th of May. Very welcome along to The Ninetal Noon Show here on Highland Radio. It's good to be back with you and it's good to let you know that the lines are open for you right now. If you want to comment on the items we've got lined up for you to raise your own topics or issues, you know what to do, don't you? WhatsApp or text 086 60 25,000 086 60 25,000 or give us a call on 07491 25,000. Now, if you're outside the Republic for either of those two contact details, you drop the 0-00353 and away you go there. You can email us to comments at Highland Radio.com. We love getting your emails from wherever you are. And don't forget just to remind you, you can watch the program on the social medias, Charlie, Marie, Elaine already with us watching on YouTube and Facebook. On YouTube it's Highland Radio Ireland, your smart TV, Firestick, Phone or Tablets and the same applies for our Facebook pages as well. Right, Thursday morning, so lots of papers out. A story we'll be covering for you in a little while that your Colonel Tribune have it on their front page. The carelock of the Council, Councillor Liam Blaney, has described potential job losses at Maui, Ireland's salmon processing plant in Fannad as a major blow for the local economy and the workforce. Some of the workers have been with Maui for many years and depend on it for a livelihood. Staff at the plant were called to a workplace meeting on Friday afternoon to be told about the proposed redundancy sources close to the Rhinmore plant told the Tribune that the sector immediately affected is infilleting fish where there are around 35 to 40 jobs since the weekend. The community has been alive with concerns about the number of redundancies involved and it appears that Maui has not revealed their target figure required to meet their streamlining objectives. Plenty of coverage, as I say, on the front of and inside the Chicano Tribune of that story today. The Donegal News, a leading Donegal Doctor and member of the GP subcommittee of the Irish Medical Association, has warned that government plans to expand free GP care will lead to chaos in practices across the county. Dr Dennis McCawley said GP practices in Donegal are already struggling to provide care for patients who are becoming increasingly frustrated at lengthening waiting times for appointments. He said if free GP care is introduced it will be a disaster for a service that is already struggling to cope. The Democrat this morning, the family of beautiful Jasmine McGonagall, have vowed that her memory will live on. Richard Burke was jailed for 14 years for her manslaughter on Monday by Mr Justice Paul Burns at the Central Criminal Court, Jasmine, aged 28, when she was found in a pool of blood in the kitchen of her home at Forest Park, Killy Gordon, following a three-hour standoff between Burke and armed Guardi. Burke, a 32-year-old of Killy Gordon and formerly Donegal Tan, was found not guilty of murdering Ms McGonagall, but guilty of her manslaughter earlier this year. Jacqueline McGonagall, the mother of, the devoted mother of two, has told of their world falling apart on January 4th 2019. The Dairy News this morning tells us that in a statement, a spokesperson for the Republican group, Siri, said Siri representatives in Dairy have been contacted by a number of concerned parents. They stated this came following a meeting with paid community workers in the Cregan area where it was revealed that young people between the ages of 13 and 16 have been working as what has been turned juvenile covert human intelligence sources. The statement continued. The revelations came as Siri representatives have been working with parents and community workers in Cregan in a bid to stop a rise in antisocial behavior, having initially met with parents and community workers. Concerns were relayed about an increase in drug use amongst young people. Questions were raised as to where these young people were getting the money from to purchase drugs, particularly in such a harsh time of financial crisis. They stated that further meetings were held with the parents, community workers and the young people of concern. Now let us have a quick look at the farmer's journal this morning. A massive price gap has opened up between cattle slaughtered in the north and south in the last three weeks. 380 kilogram U3 bollocks slaughtered in Northern Ireland this week is making 2,306 euro, while 2,059 is being paid for the same bollock in Ireland. A gap of 65 cent per kilogram or 247 euro per head. The UK market, Ireland's main destination for beef, has been going from strength to strength with demand exceeding supply. On to the national census. You can imagine all the front pages have a mixture of stories but they include pictures of Tina Turner who very sadly has passed away. One second here now. I'll talk more about that in a moment but the main story in the front of the Irish times is that META expects to cut up to 490 jobs from its Irish operation in the latest round of redundancies to hit the social media giant. The anticipated job losses at the company which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp would equate to about 18% of roles in its hub in Ireland. They came on top of hundreds of previous job cups at META as well as losses at other tech giants such as Microsoft and Twitter and it's no doubt tech companies are using the global situation to reverse the mistakes that they've made in terms of employing too many people. I've noted already some people are starting to panic a little bit if you are planning on going to Dublin Airport because there's no car parking spaces. Let us know if this affects you. I'll wait 60, 25,000. I've seen a few posts from people saying that they're looking for lifts or what have you because they've got flights that are outside bus times or aren't convenient to them and there's nowhere to park the car. Well Dublin Airport management has warned passengers that there are no more spaces at its car parks for the coming days. Yesterday the operator said all its short and long-term parking was sold out for much of this week as summer season begins. Separate parking spaces are held for drop-off and collection. The closure of a privately owned car park near the airport that had previously accounted for about one-fifth of total capacity has been blamed for a collapse in availability. Although passenger numbers are now back to pre-COVID levels 6,200 spaces have been taken out of the system following the sale of the Quick Park facility. These spaces are also unavailable last summer. DAA which operates the airport has placed a successful bid to purchase the facility. That move is under review by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission which must approve the deal but that's down the line. If you're traveling to Dublin Airport over the next couple of days there's nowhere to park your car. As I say does that affect you? What are you doing in order to deal with that situation? Let us know 086625,000. Now this is a story that's been a lot of conversation about. Not one we've discussed in great detail on this programme so if you want to get involved in this conversation or to start the conversation or to expand it let us know 086625,000. WhatsApps and texts as you know or call 07491 25,000. The GAA says it will bring sanctions against those involved in providing any form of competition for players under the age of 12. An email from GAA headquarters at Croke Park to clubs around the country outlines that at under 12 level and under 12 level and under there is a ban on all competition, blitzes or events that involve knockout stages or the handing out of winners or runners up medals trophies awards or prizes. Now what do you think about this? I mean I think we really have to be careful that we don't raise a generation of snowflakes. I can understand about inclusion and what have you but I mean is it not good at a certain age to sort of learn about winning and losing and achieving your goals and success and maybe even dealing with a little bit of failure you know like if you are on a losing team is that not an emotion that you need to sort of work on and learn early on? I mean we're protecting the children and I get that no one wants to do that more than I but I'm just I just wonder at what point do you start educating them about the life that comes at you so bloody quickly doesn't it? We have to so much to deal with you know when young people have to deal with everything in life that they do they have to deal with the stresses and strains that the parents are going through they have to deal with bereavement sometimes with a granny on grandad or something you know and I'm not sure exactly what the logic is I presume is to foster an atmosphere of inclusion and everyone is a winner but at what point do you sort of start educating children that life is not just a bed of roses and that sometimes you win sometimes you lose and you have to deal with it responsibly either way anyway have you any views on it? Reading on here though the move is likely to once again stoke the debate over whether there should be facility for competition at a younger age grade than currently exists as it stands all football and hurling games played at under 12 level or below are held under the banner of go games which are intended to be non-competitive this go games initiative has been in place for several years and has been part of the GEA's bid to tackle the practice of teams nurturing the best players and neglecting the rest again come on now right what do you think get involved in that one we might put a poll up there on our social medias on that one as well I think it could be useful to get the public's view on it as they say I just have a concern now at this point that we're insulating children to such an extent that what are the consequences for them when they get to the as I say the harsh realities of life which can come at you really quite quickly and early the Irish Daily Mail this morning tarnished Amihal Martin has criticised finnigale ministers of a budget kite flying saying this was not helpful the phenol four leaders spoke out after three finnigale ministers wrote an article for the Irish Independent calling for a 1000-year-old tax break at the next election Finance Minister Michael McGrath was not informed of the article's publication in advance the phenol four TD for Cork South Central told reporters yesterday that he would not be bullied by such public requests now I think also he needs to be careful with this language that's a a very strong word in this day and age with strong connotations so I understand the point he was trying to make but I think you could have used a different word but anyway the move by finnigale to publicly engage in budgetary negotiations has raised eyebrows across government it's unusual as I say six months out from the budget finnigale are pretty much saying that if there is any break for the squeeze middle the working families that there are fingerprints and DNA will be all over it and phenol four obviously are not going to be too happy about that because if phenol four it's really quite clever if you think about it from a finnigale perspective if phenol four their finance minister doesn't deliver that tax break for hard-pressed working families well it looks very bad for phenol four and and and offers some sort of a separation you could say between finnigale and phenol four which is sometimes hard to see and if they do if they do include it in the budget well then you can thank finnigale for it can't you it's very very clever and you can see why it might cause a little bit of or a lot of tension in a coalition because either way finnigale in coming out early they either throw phenol four under the boss if it's not delivered or they can take the credit if it is and that's how politics work that's how public relations work it's as simple as that the star this morning the search at a reservoir for evidence in the madeline mccann case was spot by information from a very credible source the tip-off was reportedly made by an informer registered with the german equivalent of the fbi officers are reportedly searching for any fragments of madeline's pink amore mns pajamas she was wearing when she vanished in may 27 2007 the search area of the remote site in portugal is roughly the size of a football pitch but by early evening yesterday officers were concentrating their search on a 50 by 50 foot clearing in a wooded area alongside the water their search continues today they did remove some evidence yesterday what that is we certainly don't know at this point if you are a netflix subscriber and inclined to share your passwords or maybe someone has your password and you've forgotten well then you will have been receiving an email reminded from netflix telling you very naughty don't be doing that so if your sister or your auntie or your brother down in cork or gallway or doblin or your young one is down at college it is likely that they might start putting blockers on it because they need more money netflix is emailing irish users reminding them not to share their accounts with people outside their household that's the building effectively because they can geolocate where it's being watched the streaming giant said those wanting to pass on their details must pay an extra $4.99 it comes after the company which has lost subscribers recently began a crackdown on account sharing last year in countries including Costa Rica and Peru now it's Ireland's turn on Tuesday netflix posted a stern statement detailing the tough new policy online it read starting today we'll be sending this email to members who are sharing netflix outside their household in Ireland a netflix account is fused by one household I got the email I don't think I share it I know I don't actually in fact and it's not for any righteous reasons I just don't anyone I know who has it has it themselves but there you go if you are sort of sharing it with a relation or maybe it's your partner who doesn't live with you or maybe it's a young person down in college in Galway or Dublin or wherever it might be you might find you're having to stomp up an extra $4.99 and as I say all papers covering the passing of a person described as simply the best Tina Turner music legend Tina Turner who sold 100 million records in a career spanning seven decades has died aged 83 she found fame with abusive husband Ike in the 1960s before becoming a superstar in her own right after her divorce Mick Jagger said she was truly an enormously talent performer and she's achieved so much she came through so much to achieve what she did achieve she's a world record holder she played played to the biggest ever paying audience she was in the Guinness Book of Records 180,000 people in South America watched her perform and I think for lots of you listening there she's been a never-present in your life we'll play a track from Tina a little later on in the programme so we want to know what is your favourite Tina Turner song just what text or what's up but which song would you like to hear and the one that's mentioned the most is the one we'll play a little later on in the programme so what Tina Turner song would you like to hear and as well if you have any memories maybe it was a song that you got married to or maybe it was a song that was played at an important time of your life let us know share your stories and tributes if you wish to the late great Tina Turner 08 660 25,000 whatsapps and texts and don't forget to pick your favourite Tina Turner song and we'll play that out a little later on in the programme right okay we had this message passed on to us and I want to read it out here my auntie had an incident in her car yesterday morning this was actually the morning before so that would have been Tuesday my auntie had an incident in her car on Tuesday morning on her way to Mass she mistook the corner at the road diversions in Stranoller and ended up giving her wheel a bad bang on the curb and the tire began to go flat the car behind her which had originally flagged her out of courtesy to go ahead of her seen what had happened and followed her until she was able to get pulled in she was quite shook from the bang and realised something had happened the car and he took his time to calm her down offered her to sit in his own car while he changed the wheel for her and got her back on the road she and we as her family were so very grateful for this help and felt it deserved recognition there are many many kind people helping others day to day and we felt it was important to share these positive experiences and how appreciated they are so fair play to that gentleman he saw what happened he followed the lady in her car when she pulled over he got her into his car and then changed the wheel for her and centre on the way and calmed her down as well too which I think was quite important so fair play to that person who helped that lady out and the family got in touch with us just to mention that and we love messages like that by the way acts of kindness any positive news get them into us and we are more than happy to we are more than happy to share them out across the north west including Ireland's best-selling car the Tucson Hyundai a class apart the two three two celebration week is now on at Diverse Hyundai canal road letter canning until Sunday the 28th the world is getting a little more more but maybe more could mean something else more means more proactive green energy solutions more means more wind turbines and more recycling more means more biodiversity and more energy storage more means more hydrogen and more solar farms because more clean energy means more efficient living means more thriving communities means more energy autonomy that's why we're more than moana learn more at morethanmoana.ie born in moana Raymond Sweeney here to let you know about some great value laptops we now have 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canny medics we listen if you want to talk highland radial time checks with expressway travel route 32 from letter canny to doublin when you book online and travel for less expressway bringing you the time ass it's 25 past nine now the Irish second level students union welcomes the recent announcement from the department of education and state examinations commission regarding the leaving cert results date and further adjustments the issu alongside various bodies in the education and higher education sector had lobbied heavily for the leaving cert results to be moved to an earlier date as was the case pre-covid 19 cassie lambs donagall regional officer for the Irish second level students union cassie good morning to you thanks so much for calling up good morning Greg how are you I'm doing good how are you keeping I'm great thank you right okay so your union is welcoming this move and I suppose an early announcement too ahead well is it ahead of exams are the leaving cert started yet no they're signed by two weeks yeah so it's good to have this information in advance of that isn't it it's great news to hear the this is tell us why this is good news for students from a students perspective well from my perspective it's a great news because if you compared say last year's date in 2021 their date was September 3rd that's when they got the results pre-covid they got the results on August 5th in 2019 but now thankfully they'll get the results on August 25th and this is really helping because if you compare with the UCAS some universities will ask and evidence for where's your results and to make accommodations for yourself and this is not helping students so now it's great they'll have the results before September and just their universities will be happy enough now yeah and it gives a bit of breathing space isn't it just removes some of that anxiety and so it's good and fair play to the the department to get this news out nice and early because as I say it's a stressful time with exams it's a stressful time I suppose if you had enough to college for the first time you don't need any extra stresses and anxieties exactly also too you mentioned accommodation as well if there's a little bit of certainty as to where you might be going it hopefully although it's going to still be difficult to find accommodation relieve a little bit of pressure in that regard oh yeah because like say some shins if you want to go to for example Dublin if you can get a combination for housing then you might have to travel up to Dublin maybe every four days each week and that's usually in public transport and using all that money that could spend one night in a hotel for example but maybe you just can't afford it and it's great now but hopefully there might be some accommodations but the government really needs to look at that in my own perspective yeah now I think you're dead right and what I like about this whole conversation as well is the voice of the student being heard and it's great to see press releases out and people like yourself being put forward to speak about it for because for too long and I've said it on this program many times before it felt like we were talking about students and not to them and listening to them yeah exactly and that's what the ISSU are here to do we're made by shins for students like for me example I'm here to represent uplift and defend shun voice all across Donegal that's my job and that's what I'm here to do and say for example in the ISSU have a seat in the department of education we're usually called like you there can't be any conversations about us without us that's what we are said and that's what we're told so now it's great that we are more in part of the department's education decisions and it's just great news overall yeah and again of credit where it is due the department of education seem to be listening to the concerns and following through on them Cassie yeah definitely so overall the ISSU we really do welcome the new decision all right brilliant stuff okay before I let you go I know you're a sports person yourself and I mentioned just at the start of the show that GEA is warning it'll sanction clubs holding competitive games for children under 12 now I'm down it's like buy one get one free right I bring you in to talk about the changes to the leaving start but I get this for free right yeah so what's your view what is your view so now as a young person also as a sports person well you see I've been playing Komogi in Ireland since I was boy four and Komogi in Ireland they're competitive and it's the same with Go games it's a competitive sport it's a great sport and it's just hard to believe that here you won't get a county title in under 12 and then you go to under 14 and you can go for county level and you could win Ulster finals or even get to the All-Ireland final like I did for county and yet they won't even get the experience of winning a final or anything like that you know it's not going to toughen them up and say here everyone's a winner you know when that's not how it goes you have to work so in a way what they seem to be trying to do is protect under 12s but you think it's kind of holding them back because there's certain elements of sport and competition that they're missing out on and then it comes as opposed then right at them as they get to over 12 levels yeah because for my experience like you always will have a good day or you'll have a bad day and even with the under 12 I remember I'd come home and I'd be angry with myself and my dad he's probably my biggest inspiration for Komogi in Ireland he's my coach and you know he would always say you know you have to keep your head up even when I was about 10 or 11 he would say you're not always going to win and that's the problem you're never always going to win and that's it's a hard pill to swallow sometimes but really it toughens you up and it really brings you into the real world saying yeah it's part of it's part of maturing isn't it yeah exactly because like it's really told me if you want something really badly you have to keep working hard for it and if you want to keep winning games you need to practice you need to work harder yeah you know and that's how it goes that's what I've seen one of the arguments and I won't keep you much longer Cassie one of the arguments is is that you know coaches might you know you were you're your handy player right coaches might go right Cassie's got a big future here and over focus on you and then other students who might be a little bit weaker or need a little bit more coaching might get left behind can you understand that concern I mean maybe a different style of coaching would fix that but not necessarily removing the competitive element from it because if you remove the competitive area of it say someone's weaker players how are they going to get motivated maybe to get a bit stronger or to get a bit faster they're not really going to get motivated without that bit of competition because if they see say myself or something like that if they see you winning they might get a bit jealous and they're like it just clicks drives them on yeah I want to do and also too in terms of identifying the best players if the best players aren't sort of experiencing competition and that desire to win are they going to reach their full potential by the time they come into the under 14s etc as well I would argue not because they could lose interest and maybe try and seek out that competitive buzz in a different sport yeah I agree because like some parents might say it's either you win or you lose and in some parents be like oh everyone's a winner you know you just keep doing what you're doing but really you need competitive in life that's how it goes life is just competitive for jobs or for college or anything so you really it really just says say for Kmoge you do need to have competition and I mean even when you think and I get it because even when you think of an exam it is a competition oh it is you know what I mean so even when you start doing your first exams in secondary school for an example if you've got a very passive attitude to it you know are you going to get the best out of yourselves but if you've had some you know if you understand the importance of sort of that competition and you're competing with yourself effectively well then maybe you might do better in your exams I just don't think it's fully thought through Cassie I think you seem to be of the same view yeah it's with the exams like you were saying like say your friends you might have a big competition with them and if you're really close you're like oh I want to get higher than you in Irish or I want to get higher than you in English like even school the world is a competitive place and just in the education sector if someone needs a little bit more attention or assistance we hope to provide that maybe that in the sporting and arena that's the way to do it as well all right Cassie listen it's been really interesting thanks very much for coming in and talking to us on both issues we'll chat to you again I'm sure that's Cassie Lam Donegal Regional Officer for the Irish Second Level Students Union 14 years of age in second year at Loretto Secondary School letter Kenny Wright you better get back to the next class I better okay we'll be back with more shortly watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com at FNF there's 25% of all clothing until wednesday 31st of may with your Tesco Club card or app that's 25% of your new summer dress collection now that's worth popping in for FNF fashion at Tesco products subject to availability available in the majority of larger stores are the signs of aging creeping up on you are you not happy with the way you look or feel at letter Kenny Medics private clinic we're here to help you offering botox anti-wrinkle injections derma fillers skin bio injections botox 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government of Ireland Dunning All Tiles Centre are celebrating 35 years in business and are holding a massive three-day sale this Thursday, Friday and Saturday during which they're offering 35% discount of selected items wall tiles are reduced from 16.95 a square yard to 11 euro with timber effect floor tiles reduced from 22.95 a square yard to 14.90 there's vanity units down from 460 euro to 2.99 and freestanding bath reduced from 1,230 euro to 7.99 stock is limited so don't delay for these genuine bargains get along this week to Dunning All Tiles Centre we lost few business park letter Kenny just off the post around about now I'm pleased to welcome back onto the program Liam O'Dwyer international and migration advisor with the Red Cross good morning to you Liam thanks for joining us good morning Greg good to talk to you again yeah it's good to have you back on the program right now a meeting was held last night for those affected by the Chrysler tragedy what was the purpose of the meeting Liam? there were two reasons the first was to report back to the community as to the level of income that the fund had received and the expenditure and then what we had spent the money on and how much we had given to the various groups in terms of the families of the bereaved people who were injured people who were made homeless people who lost their jobs or were out of work for a while and a whole variety of payments that had been made and then to discuss with the community the remaining sum of money which is 236 000 euros so what we were doing was firstly just accounting for ourselves and for the money and secondly then looking to consult with the community in relation to the final expenditure which we want to target at the community itself to meet the needs of the community themselves yep such was the public generosity because so many people were so moved by these awful events 1.9 million euro came in and there are still bits coming in up until now 1.64 million euro has been paid out now obviously not getting into the the details specifics of that because this is in support of private individuals at a very difficult time but as much as you're comfortable as outlining Liam how was that 1.64 million distributed to the to the benefit of people well there were the first section was up to Christmas so up to Christmas this was very much emergency payments to people to get them over obviously the Christmas period but to immediately compensate for lots of jobs lots of income and obviously lots of homes for some people and then all of the various travel and medical expenses and funeral expenses that were involved so that was the first tranche and that was largely led by a number of our members here in Donegal and with then we put a member of staff Nike in place so he was there every week to meet people and to ensure that all the needs were being met and then the second tranche then which is what we have been working on for the last two months we set up an advisory committee with a representative from the community and also with an independent financial advisor and then some of our own leaders leadership and board and what we designed was a framework to enable us to give what we described as bereavement recognition payments so to look at the various needs of people who had been bereaved in terms of a loss of a breadwinner or loss of a child and all the knock on effects on a family so that was done to make certain this was very clear and objective and it was the same for everybody people who were bereaved and people who were injured and we met with the families individually and we discussed that with them both Nile Keane and me and we explained therefore the amount of money that each would be given and I'd have to say that was very well received so we have given that money out at this stage there's probably about two or three payments yet to come out once we get the bank account details and then that phase will be ended so what we're now targeting is very much the community and that's what the community said to us day one at the very first meeting they said look you make certain that the families of the bereaved and those who are injured are looked after first and then come back to us with whatever's left and so that's what we did last night to say that you know we have just we've obviously 236,000 some more monies I'm sure will come in and we're looking now to the community to direct us in terms of how best to use those funds Yeah and that I would imagine Liam is a little bit complicated because you know say for instance someone might propose something in a particular area that might require a planning or there might be plans for something else in that particular area and really that's kind of an area that Red Cross is not going to get involved in it's about sort of you know distributing this money in with the agreement and the satisfaction of all of those who attended that meeting for last night so it's not necessarily it's not overly complicated either but it's not necessarily either completely plain sailing I would imagine No and we're also conscious to be to be very fair the local authority and we are in touch with them the local authority are together making plans with the community for I suspect more infrastructural areas which would be way beyond us our fund is a humanitarian fund and we want to try and target aspects of the community that you would with the humanitarian fund now so for instance areas like trauma and having someone available on a more long-term basis within the community to provide trauma support to HSE or obviously providing counselling but this would be someone who is there to do a lot more than that to do training within the community as well as working with various community groups as well as individuals and then we looked at other ideas such as the the various activities we might support from a youth perspective I think the at the very first meeting again there was a real focus on youth you know we want to be sure that our young people are going to be okay after this so we looked at various aspects working with Feroaga working with the local GAA and the other the other sports and social clubs and the schools obviously who would play a leading role so they were some of the areas and I suppose what's now agreed is that the community association will take those areas that they initially identified and that we have added to they will have their own facilitation meeting within the community and then we will meet together at the end of June to decide on the best approach Yeah and I mean obviously just to get a sense of what you're saying and maybe at the move from the meeting obviously this is all incredibly still very very recent and still people very much in the grieving process and will continue so for a long time but I get the impression that there was a focus on the future as well and protecting and sort of embracing the young and building the future of Chrysler through them is that kind of the sentiment that was there? Yeah that's what was there I think there was a recognition that infrastructure will work with the local authority will materialize in time so this was more focused on the future I know on that we certainly discussed areas like educational bursaries we discussed the use of the playground because there's a wonderful wonderful playground there in Chrysler and then supporting facilities for younger people not so much facilities activities I should say for younger people but the trauma piece I think is important because having somebody there within Chrysler and we would have noticed it with having a member of staff there because once someone is there they can pick up the needs very very quickly and the mood so this is to put somebody then in place from a trauma perspective who could offer support in that area over a longer period and again have them associated with the community association And Liam obviously some of the stuff that we'll be putting as you just mentioned the trauma person and activities and what have you for the young people that will continue into the medium to long term but in terms of the Red Cross's role in this at this point I'm not sure how it normally works do you have an exit date in terms of making decisions for this 236,000 euro and then taking a step back or how does that process work normally Liam? Well I suppose we would take a step back from certainly from the perspective that we have a member of staff who has been down for one or two days every week for the last number of months but we have members here who are very active in the community and they won't be going anywhere and they will be working very closely with the community so there is no sense of the Red Cross walking away I think what the Red Cross would like to do at the same time is make certain that the money that it has been given has been spent or at a minimum allocated so that we're not dealing with the money issue anymore it's more we're dealing with how to enable the community to move on from that awful tragedy and of course finally I'm dealing with lots of people that deal with things themselves in very different ways are you as happy as you can be that particularly in dealing with those bereaved or injured that they'll be satisfied with the engagements of the Red Cross now? Look Greg, it's hard to comment on that certainly all the feedback we have received has been very positive that doesn't mean that everybody is satisfied no, that simply is not and you couldn't meet every single need but I think generally people are satisfied that we've thought it through we've put a framework in place and I think having both a number of our volunteers available and in particular having a member of staff whom I think people were delighted with that was there on a weekly basis I think has made a great difference Okay and we appreciate you making yourself available so soon after that meeting and given us those details Liam thanks very much for your time I do appreciate it okay that's Liam O'Dwarr International and Migration Advisor with the Red Cross that's off the back of that meeting last night with the community increase and people affected by the Chrysler tragedy and there are some obviously from outside the community and that's just outlining how that money has been distributed with respect to not getting into the intimate details because that might reveal private information as it relates to those who were most directly affected by it Summer is here and so is the hottest sale of the year at Easy Living Furniture get ready to transform your home with incredible deals during our sizzling summer sale with absolutely everything reduced why not spruce up your living room with a stylish sofa create the perfect dining experience with our stunning collection of dining sets and relax in comfort with our cozy bedroom furniture the spectacular summer sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture present Link retail park planning on renovating your garden this summer then look no further than deal site garden furniture with a full range of sizes and garden sheds summer houses playhouses outdoor canopies fencing and much more deal site garden furniture lift made to measure and one-off designs are our speciality find us on social media itchy eyes running nose wheezy and a mean hay fever is back on the attack as pharmacists Brennan's have a wide range of allergy remedies to come to your rescue and we can advise you on how to lessen those hay fever attacks so come in for a chat and we can talk through your options and private if you like you'll be back to enjoying summer in no time for expert hay fever advice advice you can trust without the weight we're always here for you just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy check out these special offers at simpson super market Glencar letter Kenny there's nicky toilet roll nine pack three euro lucasade sport four pack three euro Kellogg's conflict 720 gram two euro 50 and there's surf tropical itty wash now 10 euro at simpson super market Glencar letter Kenny why there check out Peggy's kitchen coffee for great food tea and coffee only two minutes from letter Kenny hospital simpson supermarket for great value every day sleek smooth safe modern oh you want to hear more do you want to drive the most modern car in johnny gall there's a reason why it's our county's favorite car the brand new diesel Kia Sportage the multi-award winning SUV is available at iMotors now our team will take care of all of your needs visit iMotors.ie or call into us today because how you feel when you drive is important to us okay you're very welcome back to the program now comments coming in directly towards the end of and after our interview there with Liam McColler says I was a very close member of a family that was killed in Creasel and I've not received a penny from the Red Cross and yet family members have can he explain why now we'll try and deal with that off air because as I say I only got that after the the interview had concluded but we can try and get some clarity for you off air if that's okay another can he clarify how only certain members of families were given care while others were not I just couldn't face going to those meetings and I know that is the difficulty and it's one I tried to I can't involve myself in it and I have to be careful and sensitive but I do know that for some it was too difficult to actually attend the meetings in Creaseland I'm not really quite sure and it's not for me to say I'm not really quite sure how that was dealt with but in this listener's view they couldn't face going to the meetings and looking for clarity as to how only certain members of families were given care while others were not hi Greg they say right I'll come back to that because I don't want to jump from such a serious issue to comments on other things but we are moving on to a story that is broken on the front of the Chicano Tribune today grab the paper extensive coverage on the front of and inside it on this story Maui released a press release saying it's with great regret that Maui Ireland if I'm pronouncing that correctly has announced that it's begun a program of consultation with staff regarding reduction in employee numbers following a global reviewer decision has been reached to streamline a number of processing plants which are under capacity this will result in secondary fresh processing ceasing in Ireland by October 2023 leading to a number of redundancies at the company's Rynmore base in Fannad the 30-day consultation program begins on Friday May 19th the consultation exercise will be used to establish if staff who currently work in secondary production can be deployed elsewhere within the company's Donegal headquarters until this engagement is concluded the company cannot provide a figure as to the final number of redundancies Maui Ireland intends to grow other aspects of operations in Ireland later in the year and the overall business outlook remains positive and healthy Maui Ireland would like to put on record its gratitude to all its staff for their exemplary commitment to the company and intends to provide every support possible through the consultation process Councillor Liam Blaney is Coherlock of Donegal County Council and the local rep there as well of course Liam thanks for taking the call this morning Good morning Greg Right, so this is going to have if it's followed through on and the sort of tone of that press release suggests is this is going to affect an awful lot of individuals and their families in the area it seems Well, first of all you know it's devastating use for the area and for the surrounding areas as well for those people a lot of people are employed by Maui but you know I'm saying that they want to deploy some of them and the other parts of the business and the both of them really don't hopefully there won't be too many if any that will be displaced from being employed there Do you think that I did Go ahead Liam, sorry I did make contact with Minister McCormill who's the Minister for Marine and I'm hoping to get a meeting with himself and Maui in the very near future to make sure that everything can be done as far as he's concerned as well as from Reed to find and secure the rest of the jobs that are there because it's very, very important to the whole area that's at the front of an excellent and as I said to the surrounding areas that for me I'm a employer on finance and I'm being an employer nearly from the front of Toledo, Kenny and I think it's important that what can be secured there will be secured and that the people that I work on here will be made aware of it as soon as possible Can you read between the lines a little bit in their press release and their plans like what is happening in the industry that has led to them making these cuts as far as you can determine is it clear to you? Well there's a lot of speculation Greg and there is speculation that maybe there's a plant for processing start-up on Scotland it's supposed to take a number of years before we get there and a lot of questions come up from Scotland too the final plan as I say a lot of speculation and I'm not going to wonder whether on Toledo how make them up from then they'd be able to understand what the problems are right now In terms of other employment options for those that might lose their jobs is there anything can be done maybe through the Department of Marine or other agencies of the government to find alternative work for anyone that might find themselves losing their jobs that maybe a move or voluntary redundancy doesn't suit them Yeah well hopefully they'll be able to apply most and that's not them all that doesn't go for voluntary redundancy but I'd say that you know yourself you're well aware of this area and to get employment of any kind that's very difficult but as opposed to one option may be because of all the extra housing that's going to come on board and the very near future that there could be extra jobs and construction but in a minute people will be on the scale as far as the construction is concerned I don't know Yeah and many people working here Liam would have been working here for a long time wouldn't they? They'd be they're most of their working life would have been at Moe I would have been that's there as long as I can remember that'll be over 40 years I can't say exactly when I started but that's after that'll be over 40 years in the area and I've employed a lot of people during the years Yeah because as you sort of said hopefully we'll be on the future sorry Liam as you said in your conversation with John as well you know there aren't an awful lot of alternatives if you've talked about maybe construction being an option for some but in rural areas with few job opportunities we don't want to see any further depopulation do we? You know what I mean? You want as many people to stay around stick around and be employed in the local area as possible because then it starts having impacts on on other areas of local life That's a fun fact about some of the on the area too and as you say the rural areas the population is to be cleaned all the time in them and some some some ones has been forced on them by by planning regulations and things like that but if we can keep jobs in the area at least there's some chance of keeping the people in the area as well so let's get more depopulation and the rural areas to try and keep people there Yeah to try and keep that employment there for them Yeah exactly okay well listen thanks for your time this morning and an update there that is Councillor Liam Blenicke here like of Donagol County Council there and that consultation period is ongoing and hopefully we'll get more information once that has concluded and it's a tough old time when this question marks over your employment and all those people too if many of them have families of course and bills to pay and what have you so any one who has an insight into the process that's ongoing there by the way if you're an employee and you want to speak to us off the record or give us an insight into it please get in touch with us in confidence to 08 660 25000 WhatsApp or text or give us a call on 07 491 25000 okay you tuned to Thursday's 9 till noon show and can you believe we're already an hour into it we've got so much to get in over the next two hours so what we'll do is we'll take a quick break for the news and the obituary notes please stay right where you are we want to maintain your company after this break Are you tired of the daily grind of commuting to work long for the flexibility and freedom of remote working then G tech digital hub term and carry guard may be the perfect solution join G tech digital hub today and start living and working on your own terms find us on Facebook Charge into summer with Tui secure your holiday today with savings for families and adults flying from Dublin Cork and Shannon holiday sorted Tui live happy why leave all the magic moments or great scenes you've captured on your phone sitting there or in the cloud when you can have them printed at McGee's chemist using the McGee's app or one of the in store kiosks you can upload your photos from your phone Google photos Facebook or Instagram and have them printed instantly within an hour or in by 10 and ready by five see McGee's.ie for more details hold your memories in your hand with McGee's chemist letter Kenny summer is here and so is the hottest sale of the year at Easy Living Furniture get ready to transform your home with incredible deals during our sizzling summer sale with absolutely everything reduced why not spruce up your living room with a stylish sofa create the perfect dining experience with our stunning collection of dining sets and relax in comfort with our cozy bedroom furniture the spectacular summer sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture present link retail park Join us for the high undie 232 celebration week May 22nd to 28th celebrating ionic six winner of world car design of the year world electric car of the year and overall world car of the year 2023 and the ionic five winner of the same awards in 2022 visit the high undie 232 celebration week to order your new high undie from our multi-award winning range including Ireland's best selling car the Tucson high undie a class apart the 232 celebration week is now on at Diverse High Undie canal road Leather Kenney until Sunday the 28th live on air online and on the Highland radio app this is Highland Radio News Good morning I'm Akilah Clark with the news at 10 o'clock Maui has confirmed the job cards are on the way at its Rynmore base in Fannett the company says the decision has been taken following a global review to streamline processing plants which are under capacity with secondary fish processing set to cease in Ireland in October in a statement Maui says as a result a number of staff will be made redundant in Donegal a consultation process has commenced with a view towards redeploying staff elsewhere within the company Kierlock of Donegal County Council Councillor Liam Blaney says it's important that every effort is made to retain as many roles as possible the whole area that the Fannett and Angstam and as I said to the Australian Newries that for me employer and Fannett for me being employer and nearly from Fannett to Leather Kenney and I think it's important that what can be secured there will be secured and that the people that I work on here will be a little aware of that as soon as possible Private Sean Rooney is to be honored today at the United Nations headquarters in New York a ceremony is taking place as part of a series of events to mark the 75th anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping Irish ambassador to the United Nations for a gummathum will receive a medal on behalf of the family of Private Rooney who died in Lebanon last December Medals will be awarded posthumously to 103 military police and civilian peacekeepers who lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year The surplus of the Red Cross's Chrysler Fund will go towards providing trauma support a meeting took place in the town last night to discuss what the 236,000 euro remainder will go towards 2D at 1.4 million euro of the fund has been spent on compensation for job loss income and homes to cover travel medical and funeral expenses as well as bereavement recognition payments Liam O'Dwyer international migration advisor with the Red Cross that told the 9 to 9 show this morning that their focus is on providing support for those affected into the future We want to try and target aspects of the community that you would with the humanitarian fund now For instance, areas like trauma having someone available on a more long-term basis within the community to provide trauma support to HSE or obviously providing counselling but this would be someone who is there to do a lot more than that to do training within the community as well as working with various community groups as well as individuals Telling God County Council is being urged to write to the Department of Housing ahead of the imminent publication of the revised effective block redress scheme Councillor Martin McDermott chair of the Council's defective block redress committee is calling for the building condition assessment requirement to be revised The department recently proposed 11 changes to the draft regulations one of those requires the homeowner to provide a certificate of planning and building control before progressing with the scheme Councillor McDermott says that is simply unattainable Those checks that you go look for will cost a considerable amount of money and there's no clear answer as to whether that money can be took back or the client can get that money back so I was asking that that regulation be changed and go back to the way it was in the legislation and the way it was in the first draft and take out their need because there is no need to hang it it's one that does not need to happen it's going to make life far far more difficult for homeowners to try to get on the schemes Thor Tb recommends introducing significant fines for people carrying out illegal evictions in a response to a request by the housing minister the residential tenancies board has made a number of recommendations to crack down on unfair evictions they include giving Gardie the power to arrest without a warrant anyone participating in an illegal eviction Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Oana Bryns says the law needs to be clear on Gardie's role in evictions The landlord or an estate agent has again happened in Lucanoni last week is changing the locks unlawfully the guards can't intervene and even where a tenant has been physically removed from a property it's a very very grey area and I've spoken to some guards who attended illegal evictions and they themselves are very conflicted because the law not helping clarify the situation Whether or not I dry today and quite cloudy at times with some occasional sunny spells highest temperatures of 15 or 16 degrees that's all from Highland Radio News for now we'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock until then, good morning The obituary notices this Thursday morning May 25th The death has occurred of Vincent Gavigan Common, Ardra His remains will repose at McCabe's funeral premises this evening from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. Funeral from there tomorrow afternoon at 2 40 p.m. Going to the Church of the Holy Family, Ardra for funeral mass at 3 p.m. Funeral premises is private to family only pleas The death has occurred of Owen Martin McGonigal Ken Valley Crowey, Burton Port His remains will be reposing in McGlynn's funeral home this evening from 7 p.m. with Rosary at 9 p.m. followed by removal going to his late residence Reposing at his residence tomorrow Removal and wake are private to family and close friends only pleas Funeral mass on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at St Columbus Church Acres with interment afterwards in Belchurch Cemetery The death has taken place in Glasgow of Sally O'Neill Nidoherty Carol Moore Glenn Toher Karen Dunna Her remains are reposing at her brother Jerry and wife Joan Doherty's Removal from there tomorrow morning at 10.15 a.m. going to the Church of the Sacred Heart Karen Dunna for Rayquia Mass at 11 a.m. with interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery Rayquia Mass can be viewed live on ChurchMedia.tv The death has taken place of Kathleen Murphy Nick Griffin drum the whole letter Kenny Kathleen's remains will repose at her late residence today from 12 noon until 10 p.m. with Rosary tonight at 9 o'clock Funeral from there tomorrow morning at 10.15 a.m. going to St. Union's Cathedral letter Kenny for 11 a.m. Rayquia Mass followed by private cremation at Lakelands crematorium Cavern Funeral can be viewed live on ChurchServices.tv House private on the morning of the funeral pleas The death has taken place in Glasgow of Rosemary Sheridan formerly of Crevary Rathmullen Reposing at her home in Crevary Rathmullen from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday Funeral from there on Sunday at 12 noon for 12.30 p.m. Rayquia Mass in St. Joseph's Church Rathmullen followed by interment in the adjacent cemetery Family time on the morning of the funeral pleas The Mass can be viewed on MC and TV St. Joseph's Church Rathmullen For more details including any family health guidelines for wicks and funerals please go to HighlandRadio.com Every year about 2,600 people in Ireland get bowel cancer Bowel screening helps to reduce your risk of developing it If you're aged 60 to 69 you can register today for a free bowel screen test kit Once you've done the test at home return it by free post and we'll test your sample for levels of blood If you need any more tests we'll let you know Register today at hse.ie forward slash bowel screen or free phone 1-800-45-45-55 from the HSE With all the stories that matter across the Northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 9 to noon show on Highland Radio And you are very welcome back too The program, good morning if you've just joined us it is 9 minutes past 10 on this Thursday the 25th of May 2023 Coming up soon we're going to be having a chat to Senator Eileen Flynn I suppose just reflecting on her career I suppose balancing that career and family life and dealing with the I suppose the pressures that come with public office any questions or comments by the way get involved in that conversation I'll wait 60, 25,000 or give us a call on 07491 25,000 I would like to mention that there's a coffee morning taking place in the station has letter Kenny this morning between 11am and 12 noon and it's to raise funds for Irish guide dogs so if you wish to get along to that and have a nice cup of coffee and support that please do and I also want to mention a tractor run that is coming up it's an aid of T.J.'s wish to walk on Bank Holiday Sunday the 4th of June it's a great day guaranteed the tractor run starts and finishes at Rosie's Bar that's in Drumkeen of course registration is from 1.30pm and there's a raffle and refreshments afterwards so that's a tractor run on that Bank Holiday Sunday June 4th a great day guaranteed and you will be supporting little T.J.'s wish to walk right so that's those two things mentioned Hi Greg they say there is no money about try and book a hotel any weekend in Ireland and see what you'll pay for a hotel room it's unreal there are plenty there's plenty of money around yep there is plenty of money but in any economy like ours you'll have people who are very well off people who are poor very poor and then you get people in the middle who are sort of ticking along to some extent so there'll always be people with money I was chatting to someone not so long ago who was charged and actually paid believe it or not 450 euro for a hotel on the weekend of the rugby final and Katie Taylor's fight 450 euro I just couldn't someone earlier on remember we were talking about wine called me tight I must be tight I certainly wouldn't pay that amount of money right okay I'm going to take this break now and I'm going to get to your calls and comments coming in as the morning progresses but we're going to be joined by Senator Eileen Flynn so stay right where you are that's all coming up after we have the bingo numbers the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on Highland radio it's time for NCBI bingo on Highland radio it's Thursday the 25th of May jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 17,400 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is s4 it's game number 21 the jackpot number is number one this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your daily numbers 76 6 54 74 66 58 72 37 48 and finally 24 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leaving your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highlandradio.com our new arrivals click on bmcsports.ie for your free delivery is here and so too are the new arrivals at Green Shoes shop in store or online now from best selling brands like Doc Martens Una Healy and Echo also Ryker Kate Appleby Tommy Bow and many more shop lk and one for all gift cards accept it in store visit Green Shoes and discover the perfect footwear to compliment your style Green Shoes at Market Square Leta Kenny Shopping Centre Fulcara and online at greenshoes.com looking for the best place in the northwest to get a bed or mattress rest x beds and mountaintop letter Kenny had a great selection and great prices rest x beds has everything you need for a good night's sleep visit them today and sleep better tonight okay you're very welcome back to the program it is the 9 till noon show here in Highland Radio hi Greg I work as a home help support in Leta Kenny just wanting to give a big shout out to a group of people non-Irish they say who I see every Sunday morning doing a litter cleanup in the Old Town and Old Donlan Park area to do a great job worth acknowledging thank you no problem non-competitive games for all sports is always the way forward the streamlining of children on ability that is judged by so-called elite coaches should not be acceptable every child develops at different ages and the biggest example is the 11 plus sport is for enjoyment and in a lot of cases the least talented of your children go on to be the best volunteers within any sport club the elite players never seem to come back and help their former clubs maybe the case being they've lost the love of the sport always remember children are the most important part of any sports club as Bruce Springsteen says nobody wins unless everyone wins okay let's see if I can say hello now to our next guest and that is Senator Eileen Flynn hello Senator can you hear me hi Greg how are you I'm good it's good to have you on the show how are you keeping I'm really good sorry I'm just moving from one case to another just a committee really good thanks for having me on the show this morning to speak game about being in politics and being a modeler as well yeah no it's good to have you on and you settle yourself there Eileen obviously in a busy environment and we'll just wait for that mobile signal to settle there all right let's see what our connections like okay so Eileen tell us a little bit about yourself as much as you're comfortable to talk to us about just your life maybe before politics yes before politics I was living in the Valley Firmish before I got married as well obviously I was always an activist and well involved in human rights and equality in Ireland and involved in many campaigns so that was really my life before I moved to Donegal I got involved in politics and when I got involved Billy my oldest little girl was five months old when I campaigned to and lobbied for the seats that I have now and I got in when she was nine months old actually and it's just been sometimes it gets very overwhelming because you know you're trying to balance out the home life with the political life as well and I am a full-time modeler but unfortunately I only get to spend half the week with me kids and the other half then in work so I stay in Donegal four nights a week and in Dublin three nights a week and actually this is a really tough week because I'm in Cork tomorrow speaking about women in election and I think there's many barriers that face women in general and even women without kids obviously entering into politics but from my own experience as a mother again overwhelming you know like you feel a lot of your time feeling sorry that you can't be there with your kids and then you do look at the brighter future that you're trying to make for your children too but that doesn't mean that it's easy now I know for Lacey and Billy when I left Monday evening actually because Lacey's getting a little bit older now she's a year and a half and the two of them just sobbed crying you know and that's really tough because again you feel that you're only obviously you're only there half the time with them and you don't want your kids to be feeling rejected you don't want your kids to be being abandoned either you know so for me personally I don't know what it's like for other women that's where I'm at I presume it's like I presume it's a constant emotional battle in that you know you have that maternal pole ride but then you sort of try and make yourself feel a bit better as we all have to because you sort of say well I have to also look at the bigger picture but one I presume one emotion is always competing with the other you don't you know you don't leave in a mundane then everything's all right till you get back I mean it is it's a tough one none of us like to leave our children for any extended period of time and then I do think there's different roles that men and women take on in the house as well you know like when I go home on the Thursday it's it's the cleaning it's the washing it's the preparing for the following week ahead making shoulders and food and while men are brilliant and tried our very best you know I think it's a lot of it it's left to women really to make sure that everything is done so well listen we could be we could be getting into dangerous territory here so we'll be careful I mean but there is no way there's no doubt in most cases there's a man cleaned house and then sometimes the other half can come around and do the proper job I think a lot of people out there might sort of relate to that yeah to be fair to me my aunt walked in on a wet floor on a Thursday evening and you know it's brilliant he's really good to be fair to him and what I will say from even talking to other politicians when they did it going back when their kids were younger it would be similar experience and it's the same for women who are nurses who are doctors who are in professions as well that eight to eight job or the job happened to leave the kids like you know you still have the chores that other women a lot of women will do anyway and again I just find it as you said emotionally tough you have I know in my case I organised the childcare I organised that like you know and again I know Liam could do it if I wasn't there but sometimes we we put that pressure on ourselves as well and listen I mean obviously and I hate to use sort of particular terms that separate us all out but I have to sort of for the purpose of this question often and we'll get to it but often when we we might speak to you or we hear from you you're advocating for the traveller community and it might be the treatment from the settled community towards you or the traveller community and then we get sort of then that argument that happens within it but I'm just curious as to how you feel that you're perceived by the traveller community you know what I mean because your life is very different to that of what people might perceive to be if you know what I mean in terms of working in politics is what I'm saying you know you've moved out of Dublin and spent much of your time in Donegal so how are you or do you have a sense of how you're viewed by fellow members of the traveller community okay you have 200 members in Leinster House and I'm the only one that's a member of the traveller community and for the other 200 for the over the other 200 they get to share out the responsibility they're not all held accountable for the actions of settled people and in my case you know I'm held accountable for over 40,000 people and I also have to be very realistic that travellers have that are interested in politics and have their own views and the political system and in politics in general and obviously I don't speak in for every single member of the community to be fair to Donegal travellers and to the likes of David Freel Hughie and they're really good support in Donegal and that national level as well and I have great support from traveller activists that have a national level but I will say Greg I do an awful lot of work with the traveller community with people with disabilities try my best but in Donegal and in our draft where I live as well migrants and refugees also and really it's sometimes it can get very much because they're trying to tackle as many issues as you can and any week or in any day that presents you know Yeah and as you mentioned as the sort of soul I mean mothers might say that they've made representations but as the sort of what would be seen as the sole voice of the traveller community in the Rockers it's difficult when you raise an issue as specifically if it's a traveller specific issue because then you have the what about tree that begins okay and it's really so in other words you recently talked about you recently talked about your experience of trying to get a taxi to a halting site and then it's like yeah but what about what might have happened to that taxi driver in the past or what about pizza delivery companies not going into them or what about the time I drove past one and something happened do you ever feel that you are going to struggle to make progress because it's almost you're like a lightning rod for anti-traveller sentiment to some extent so when you speak up trying to benefit the community it almost actually brings more anti-traveller sentiment out does that make do you get where I'm coming from I wouldn't like to find myself in that position because I'd be afraid to speak but you know like again like you can be targeted because of what you're trying to do as well like I remember a few months ago I said things were getting worse for refugees and people came after me it wasn't because of my language or the word I used it was really because of the issue and you were saying that Worcester isn't in the English dictionary you know and that's fine with me but I got attacked because of using that word and I think many politicians attacked for their political views whatever for me it's always will be live and let live no matter what your gender is your community is your way of life once you're not important another human being and to a certain extent like I don't care I don't go around thinking all day or you know about trans people I don't go around thinking all day about black and brown people people of colour do you know I want to get up and live my life as well but I don't want anyone to hurt people because of their identity and maybe that's because I know how it feels to be hurt it's to be rejected because of my identity because of who I am as a person so you do have all those layers like I'm nearly three years into Shanat and if I sat my hands for three years and did absolutely nothing you know I was to change I made change I was part of the change but you know I'm a very active person politician and as I said I try my best at the moment I'm working the thing and I guess every local authority park in the country to have swings and facilities for children of special needs in our drama my own community I'm trying to get in exercise equipment so into the around the park and you know so you're trying to be everything to to every community as well and I absolutely love my job I'm privileged to have the job and the girls are getting a little bit older now which is which is you know they're a little bit more independent and Billy is off she's doing brilliant Lacey I've got a little way to go with them you know and the hardest part of the job for me is actually leaving the kids I'm in Cork as I said tomorrow and there's an event in Cork tomorrow at one o'clock with young people and because you're because they heard you were down and it was around diversity that's an extra their pressure because I've been invited with now I want to go because I haven't been in Cork in three years but again as I get home to the car go from get to train to Cork to Dublin then back to Donnie Gove and it'll be late tomorrow night and I have to make that journey back because I told my child I'd be home Friday and that's where the the abandonment come from where if you tell them you'd be home a day and they're not home it's the following day you know so like again I've made some good changes in here that I that I don't ever get the opportunities to speak about like the bill and like the the bill that I brought forward January of 2022 to change the wording of child change the wording of child pornography to child sexual abuse by materials and I'm hoping that bill will go to second stage in the in the dog after the recess and you know change takes time and I'd like to think that I'm not just the one trick pony that like while traveling of qualities is at the heart of what I do and yeah you're right as soon as I write up about it as soon as I tweet about it I get attacked left right in center but I will say one thing it's okay because at the end of the day you're still educating people and some people can't be educated some people are always going to be racist are always going to try for other people down and that's the sad world that we live in so we have to keep trying to raise above that and keep going as from my case as an activist as a mother you know all I want like you're sad there with your own young son and your family is a better life for from each country yeah indeed how have you been received by fellow politicians you know because you are an appointee you were nominated by it was it was at Micheal Martin at the time he was the t-shock at the time you were nominated by him it's off the back of the advocacy work that you do but not everyone in the the channel is elected but you weren't elected and people might point out that you were elected for particular reasons whether that is is true or false I would say it's false did you have any pushback from politicians on your appointment and in the work that you're doing I got seventy six first press revolts I committed number six and the panel of of eleven there were twenty two candidates and the same panel so like considering I did extremely well you know I did get the nominees from Micheal Martin and to be fair Greg I had one negative experience where a senator said I was a token seat and I fit all of the tokenistic like you know I was a woman I was a member of the traveller community like someone from my minority group and I had to get up and get on with that because you know I'm not that full of my own importance I get on really well now there is some some people that would kind of not even speak to you you know what I mean and I say hello to absolutely everybody on the corridor I try my best for people I I haven't had any negative experience with Fina Gale or Fina Fal Sinn Fein and a labour at a personal level you know when you're on the corridor when you're having something to eat and I just get on because at the end of the day if we want change we're going to have to be civil whatever civilised is and to get on with people and get to know people as well at a human level you know like I would get on pretty good now with the county council now with the county councillors and Dhoni Ghal the Nile Blaney I get on really well with TDs as well and that's Sinn Fein Fina Gale and Fina Fal like so I actually met John Hughes Mam and Dad yesterday here and it was lovely to to have that you know like him making the effort to introduce me to his mother and father was nice and you know I worked with Thomas Pringle and myself and Thomas worked really well together and you know we do a lot of campaigning together and we just fished like me and Thomas would just make a good team and there's only two was you know but we great team behind us and what was two so like you know I couldn't ask for a better team and the majority of my team are from Dhoni Ghal so yeah well what happens next as a as a nominee at the end of this Shana term pardon my ignorance Sailin but if I always if I don't know the answer to the question I don't like to pretend I'll just ask it straight out so what happens next and when 90 days after the the Dahl is finished and has to be for gone for re-election for the new term we finish and that's it that's my term done so basically it's up to me it's a personal choice if I want to go for dead be on a panel again and go around countless and county counselors to to vote me in I don't I don't know if you'd be lucky enough to get the t-shocks nominee twice I I don't know and I wouldn't put my hopes on it just like the first time around I wasn't hoping that I would get in that way I tried very hard to get it on my own but if I was to go again I would I would like to get it by the support of of the people who can vote for me but we have to look at reform and the shannot where ordinary people can vote for the shannot as well yeah but when you haven't decided yet whether or not you're going to seek re-election to the shannot then no and the reason why Greg it's not until 20 2025 now see today like I'm missing me children I have to I'm going to car tomorrow now they're brilliant events absolutely fantastic and I could just be bad move and say no I wouldn't run and then tomorrow everything could be hungry Dory and you're like oh god Billy's getting older they're getting much bigger maybe I I will run do you know what I mean so I'm I'm I'm in that predicament of do you know if I at least I'm I'm privileged to have the opportunity if I want to run I can do it and I will say I've built up great relationships some with some with deputies and as I said you know me second Thomas we work really really well together so it's good to have that network as well and have that and relationship all right well there is there is doll elections coming up European elections as well and there's an extra potentially an extra seat in this part of the world could you see yourself perhaps running for the doll or for Europe and once I was going to run for Europe actually and I was in Donegal at the time but you know I was approached by a party and I think that was setting me up to fail now this is going back like you know obviously I was much younger at the time and I was like no around the general elections I'm going to support a pedicelist of all Thomas to go in the generals and I wouldn't put myself forward most definitely now and I think Donegal people are very like travel community actually and I have your listeners might laugh at that because you know Donegal people do vote for their own and I obviously I respect that so I wouldn't run for for the general elections in in in Donegal and no maybe in 10 or 15 years maybe something if I was still alive and well whatever and maybe something to think about but you know why fix something if it isn't broken I genuinely believe and that because I have a good personal relationship but I believe Thomas is doing a really good job and I'm going to be able to to support him like I've supported many people but what if his machine what if his machine would get were to get behind you for a run at Europe was that something that sounds a little bit more interesting to you then at this time no you know because Donegal is home for the Guards and it's tough enough coming up it's probably probably will be easy probably will be easier actually to go to Europe certainly than it is to Cork anyway well I spoke to a few MEPs when we were over there recently and it seems like even if you don't have a family like you have responsibilities it seems like a glamorous lifestyle but it's not really and a lot of them have to live outside Brussels itself because of accommodation there's an awful lot of travel and an awful lot of loneliness there's two once the doors locked of an evening which I got my eyes opened a little bit to that life finally before you let you go Eileen we're talking about the struggles that you're experiencing and all other politicians I think Dublin based from rural areas would having to split family and work I think it is and I think it's great to be honest and say I think it's definitely more difficult for women but that's because the way we do it at the moment and even if you were in the council Eileen you would be days two or three days a week that you would see they'd probably be in bed by the time you got home is we need does it you spend a lot of time in Dublin that you probably don't actually need to be there if we looked at things a different way why is the no push on to sort of try and blend things a little bit so people can spend more time at home but still be productive yes yeah I like you know sometimes I joke and say just move Lentz for house to Donegal you know to be able to have the opportunity to talk at a local level and still be a senator or a deputy for many people but you know Greg like they sit the three days a week it's there's little or no support from the arrektis and from our council level for childcare you know and like I put Billy's name in for childcare in Donegal going back like over the three years ago and I still haven't got the call saying that she got a place or she didn't get a place she she as far as I know she's still on the waiting list and I haven't took her off the waiting list even though my children has got a time-minded or empty and you know they couldn't be what a better person so like you have to make services much better for especially for women in politics and as well parents in politics too because our children are not shouldn't be obstacles or our children should be should should be part of the progress and part of the journey as well but again like we can be more productive from a local level but again that comes with reform and shannot it comes with getting more women from Donegal from Royal Arden to be in there to be in a local level as well and and my like my my view is that like you know 40% of the quote and now in every single political party while women make up 50% of the population in my opinion that's an insult you know what I mean so even by our political parties it's we're still treated 10% less than what men are and obviously obviously I think women should be supporting women and again like we talk about women in politics it's genuinely about getting the right women in politics the women who are you know who do believe in human rights and equality because you know I work with women every day and there is at least one woman in Lentzter House that you know that I wouldn't see would be very women equality friendly funny enough and we don't need people like that in our in our political system at a local level our national level maternity leave for county councillors as well and I will say like county councillors are in craft money for the work that they have to do and that needs to be looked at as well like they do need to look at giving county councillors more power too because it's the local authority you're going into a system there's only so much you can do when you're local councillors as well and people don't understand that because county councillors are no no powers not to want a very very poor wages as well so that all needs to change Yeah indeed and how many great people are we missing in positions of power because they've had to make a decision over being a parent or a family person and a politician I mean it's finally how did the that whole story with your taxi experience finish in the end did you speak to the taxi driver subsequently or was anything clarified or what happened after that Eileen No I am I just told them told the story I haven't heard from them Greg to be honest and as I said one part of me like would sit back and regret it because the amount of has to like off from it and I do guess fair as well but you know if you compare me to another senator in in the house not one of them have to have that kind of experience you know and I think it's important that we share that and like my life is not a struggle if you want you know what I mean like I I love my life I have a great partner I've I love you too children my husband's really good and you know I just get up and get out and with some days it is really tough when you have to keep leaving the kids and stuff but they do know it's it's a better future for them too so yeah All right thanks for all your time today Eileen enjoy your trip to core can hopefully you get back safe and sound for Friday take care of yourself bye bye okay that's senator Eileen Flynn just to get an insight into her life and we might focus on another politician down the line just to have a chat and see what life is like for them oh wait 60 25 000 we are going to be talking history soon with Dr Joe it's always a really popular item on the program and we're going to be talking about the famine because a very important anniversary is upon us so any questions or comments with Dr Joe of course get in touch watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com why did i choose ulster i wanted a university who could give me the biggest possible future but also the best possible time now somewhere i could make friends and have good crack but also to set me up for the best job possible i'm planning to take up one of the study abroad options and then my big plan is to specialise in media law in l.a but for now n.i has one of the lowest student living costs in the u.k so night markets here i come learn why over 30 000 students choose ulster at ulster.ac.uk slash go north apply now for this september preparing for a special occasion serento shoes has the finishing touch shoes and bags in pastel shades bling or classic neutrals serento shoes available in all leading shoe stores tommy maren here writer of it's the real mccoy and three hell marys join me at on grain on letter kenny for my new show celebration ardent saturday may 27th hilarious sketches sing songs and so much more celebration ardent on grain on letter kenny saturday may 27th book on 074912077 or on grain on dot com around the north west with john braslin will be live this friday from the amry schwill chair association in glenn few business park letter kenny for a celebration of their community day services come along and find out about their assisted living service employment opportunities community employment scheme volunteering opportunities with advice and a demonstration of an adapted vehicle that's used to support driving lessons there's also light refreshments and giveaways that's this friday from 12 noon at the arish wheelchair association center glenn few business park letter kenny all right you're very welcome back to the program typed i'll start that again time to talk history with our historian in residence doctor joe kelly joe good morning to you thanks so much for joining us imagine why greg the chain that goes the luck they should that good morning to yourself and to your listeners air and highland radio all right okay now last sunday marked the 175th national commemoration of the famine which was held in milford we had president michael d higgins and minister jack chambers and our own kahirlock lee and blaney in attendance and good time now for us to discuss the famine before i get into it i'm going to start with a big one here we talk about it easy on yeah no but we call it a famine right and you know we have a modern sense of what a famine is a famine isn't a description of it it's where crops fail it's where you know there's nothing to eat that there's there's no rain that there's no growth in the land but there was food in arland and that food was taken from the irish and exported i'm not sure and you can tell me to a point whereby that was one of the main reasons why people were starving but was it how do you define it joe with your background well that's a very interesting question and maybe with the way we're going with ireland and the peace process it's probably very politically sensitive matter as well and it's very interesting that tony blair 25 years ago during the good friday agreement when things were trying to be bedded down apologize to the nation of ireland for the neglect of the famine by the british government see one needs to remember that in the 1801 the act of union so the famine was 1840 the worst year was 1847 so some four decades after the act of union when we lost our own government we were really british in that sense so it was a british famine as opposed to an irish famine and we didn't have a government and so we were controlled by westminster and they did some very positive things but not enough and i think the famine the policy that england had led to our famine to some degree and what people maybe don't understand is that england was had gone through an industrial revolution and there was an urbanization of england and the policy in england then by westminster was that ireland would become the breadbasket for england to feed it with its agriculture so ireland wasn't to be developed with industry and in that way we were hamstrung by british policy which was to their own benefit and not to ours and so there is that question and sessel wotam smith she wrote a book and she actually had said that she was one of the first that it wasn't a famine that it was actually a genocide that it was neglect by the british government because they controlled us in their policies that led us to our and do you agree or does the truth lie somewhere in between that claim and what we would know as a famine well it's very easy to judge again from sitting back here from the perspective of history and having more knowledge and understanding of what actually how it played out but the reality is that they did do things they did import grain and that was peels bremstone peel was the prime minister and then during the middle of the famine Lord Russell he became the prime minister he did bring in public works building bridges piers roads many of those piers and roads are here in dunneague all the day that we use they also set up soup kitchens but their attitude was that you shouldn't get free food without having to give labor okay and we'll get onto that because that's where the work houses come from and i'm interested in your assessment in that but just finally on how we phrase it and how we view it have we had or do we need a national conference conversation or something convened where we settle on that part of our history even if that is politically controversial that'll be a very interesting question i would be more interested in settling on what has the effect of the famine being on us on our soul on our psyche on our understanding and who we are like i remember number of people but one woman for example from fanat down in kind of law it was known as Nellie Beck and her parents were alive during the famine so my memory of the famine is within one generation of someone knowing people that grew up on the famine and we're all about five or six generations in real terms away from the famine historically 175 years ago now saying that someone is 50 that means that's 125 years away in that sense it is not or sorry 150 years away it is not a very long distance historically but it has impacted on our soul and back to the the thing and I have to be very careful about England Daniel O'Connell wanted home rule and one of his biggest opponents was Isaac Butt who was a Norwich man who was a Protestant who was of landed gentry and who was totally opposed to him and Daniel O'Connell said to him someday you're going to jump across to my side and you will be arguing for home rule and actually he did Isaac Butt who became the father of Irish nationalism and home rule he changed his mind after the famine as an orange man as a Protestant he realized that England were interfering in the normal economics and social development of Ireland and he realized that we needed our own government and this is back maybe to understanding our history and how England will always serve its own interests first and we have always suffered because of that and so when you talk about the famine and do we need to have a conversation I think we need to talk about our own self worth and our own self understanding of what happened to us the impact on the famine in Ireland right away a million people died a million people left the country the Irish language was the beginning of the decay or the decline of the Irish language it was the beginning of a lot of diaspora a lot of effects of the famine but here's what it really did it robbed us of our poets or fiddlers or shannity it robbed us of the a cleaned out lot of the older generation do you know what that reminds me a little bit of and I was in and it's completely different and I'm not equating this with anything but just in terms of how culturally you can lose so much I was in a I can't remember which one it was a German city knock with doing flights to it or whatever I went over there and I'm just speaking to tour guides and talking to people and because of Nazi Germany and because of wanting to forget the past and this is for different reasons of course anything that was even remotely associated with or could be a Nazi Germany was wiped you know be it architecture but also songs pieces of music writings drawings nothing tons and tons of stuff that wasn't actually directly to do with Nazi Germany a Hitler in itself a massive swathe of two or three generations of of art and culture or what have you gone and it's kind of and there is some some attempts to try and weed all that and bring some of it past but it was erased from from German history for understandable reasons and the same happened here from a different reason because of a natural disaster you know how much was lost Oh I think it's going to take us and I've said this before we've had 800 years of colonialism and then at the end of that period of colonialism with a famine that basically wiped out the natural people that would pass on tradition tradition in Latin tradition to hand on so the language the music the folklore all these people that had died those people that would have all that story all that history when we came out of the famine we were battered and bruised psychologically socially spiritually and it played a big lot on our soul and our psyche so much so that I think that you know our housing crisis today and different issues that we had today everybody wants to own their house because somewhere in our psyche we didn't have people are very generous in Ireland we'd never want to see anybody without and we're very generous for trochra and collections and when we hear of famines and other countries because we know deep down in our own psyche we were once that down trodden broken people so whether we're aware of it like you know not if we all we don't have the awareness we can't help but that is the what's been handed down in the only two, three, four, five short generations passed that hangover that shadow still affects us even if we don't have the awareness to understand that that might be why we are the way we are in certain ways and I think that's got to do with part of our lack of confidence in ourselves lack of belief in ourselves and you know the politicians of that time let us down and we knew that and maybe we're still like that thinking like that that politicians just should let us down where we should be expecting higher standards from those that are appointed to make our country a better country and that's not a criticism and that anybody I know it's a it's a conversation on the people it's not I know you're not referencing the politicians but look the time is just going to go so quick so I just like had I mean presumably there'd been failures of potato with the past did they lead to famine death disease previously obviously not on the 1847 scale that being the worst year but it it must have happened in the past of course yes famine was regular in Ireland I mean in my own parish in 1839 there was a severe famine and the priest in Ghidor for example Father Doherty had written about this famine that nine-tenths of the population were starving famines were regular there were a number of famines in 1850 and in fact I would argue as a historian the 1880 famine that was in Donegal was possibly worse than the 1847 famine we say when we think of the famine we think of it nationally but for example during that time in 1880s 34,000 people in Donegal were on food lists there was such a bad famine in 1880 but maybe that's for another day talking so famines were a regular occurrence and see what basically happened was within industrialization of England and the need for more food etc etc Ireland had a system of dividing subdividing the land and the population was growing growing about a million every 10 years that's an amazing growth rate in the 1800s so when we get to the famine Irish population is growing one million every 10 years and this is down to the simple potato the delumper you didn't need a lot of land and you could produce a lot of spuds and feed your family and what people maybe don't realize the spot itself is a super food it's an amazing it's it is more potassium than a banana I mean if you lived on a diet of spuds you will be actually very very healthy it prevents cancer it it helps strengthen the bones it relieves stress it is vitamin c vitamin b6 it's a sodium you know to help you for keep you from cholesterol it's cholesterol free you know it's an amazing food so this super food was a diet for they estimated about four and a half million people in Ireland at that time and so when the blight came in 1846 they didn't have this fallback food this was what they were living on you know the blight had other parts of Europe as well but they were not as dependent they diversified to some extent whereas we were very reliant upon it and that led them just basically to the perfect storm so how now were we going to feed ourselves and the reality is that food and this is what various historians have proven and shown wheat and corn were still being exported from Ireland during the famine it's hard to believe that but food was exported from Ireland but who was making that decision because someone had to make a decision because every every action has a reaction there's consequences for all the action someone or a group of people must have said we are taking this food and it will lead to the starvation and death of hundreds of thousands of people and it ended up being in the millions not to mention forcing us to scatter around the world to try and seek out some and I think sometimes we need to remember that element of our history that we fled this country and we landed in other countries with nothing and we weren't safe at home we were landed in countries at nothing and to a great extent the doors were open for us and we were allowed to make lives there and we celebrate that now as a part of our history but maybe all the roads come back to you not wanting to criticize the English and if that's the case I get that right but we were thrown under the boss to some someone had to decide to say right this we are going to continue to make the money from exporting this food from Ireland and that means people will starve as a result well do you see it was the kind of the prevalent economic philosophy at the time not just in England but in France and in other parts of Europe it was called lazy fair lazy alley in other words let things be the way they are and water kind of finds its own level so if there's poverty leave it the way it is and people will have to work their way out of poverty if there's people making money leave it the way it is and let them make money I mean if you go back into the 80s with Margaret Thatcher she talked about there's no such thing as society it was only the individual and you must support the individual to become very wealthy she broke the unions so that was a philosophy that people had that if you were poor if you were hungry it was your own fault Joe are you up to your ears or could you come back after 11 for 10 minutes before I go why did we not grow carrots and turnips and catch fish and eat that and I'm not being facetious right but you know our lakes and rivers and seas are plentiful there is you know could we not have grown other root vegetables vegetables and eating fish or meat well there's a few answers to that number one is those other foods wouldn't have given you what the Spud would have given you to feed your family that's the first thing secondly was farm husbandry your farming methods they wouldn't have had the knowledge or the technology or the know-how and the availability for them it wasn't what they were used to and when you mentioned fishing like the population in Torrey Island and Donegal increased during the famine because they had fish and that probably was the same I get you it was like a lifeboat effectively then yeah but most people Donegal didn't know how to fish didn't have boats to fish I get you so I mean asking them to fish when they didn't know how to or didn't have the equipment to fish and didn't have boats so therefore you know there was that problem of how to transfer from being dependent on a potato to other types of food all right now I thought that question didn't come across as insensitive but I think sometimes it's best just to ask because I'm sure there's kids of eight or nine years of age have put the hand up in class and asked the exact same question right Dr Joe Kelly's going to stay with us we are going to take a break and then the news and then we've got some questions that we want to run through with him so stay right where you are Joe thanks very much for the time you've time to grab a cup of tea back in about two minutes with the news in this week's Ortee guide today shows Sinead Kennedy on long distance relationships and how parenthood has changed her life from biking to bathing our out and about issue is bustling with tips for things to do this summer and from Barbie to Oppenheimer we preview summer's big movie releases everything and more ortee guide on sale now why did I choose Ulster? I wanted a university who could give me the biggest possible future but also the best possible time now somewhere I could make friends and have good crack but also to set me up for the best job possible I'm planning to take up one of the study abroad options and then my big plan is to specialise in media law in LA but for now NI has one of the lowest student living costs in the UK so night markets here I come learn why over 30,000 students choose Ulster at Ulster.ac.uk slash go north apply now for this September this summer enjoy the tastiest burger in town for less at Kelly's Diner letter Kenny with Jake's famous burgers there's your choice of burger beef, chicken or veggie all freshly prepared with your pick of delicious toppings and sides selected burger deals every weekend find the best value burger in town Jake's burgers at Kelly's Diner mountain top letter Kenny Dunfanny Golf Club on the North Atlantic coast come join us with opens on Wednesday and Saturday come challenge your game against the links course that will test you with incredible value and great prizes put Dunfanny Golf Club on your playlist this summer to book call 074-9136-335 Dunfanny Golf Club just magical Dunningall Tiles Centre are celebrating 35 years in business and are holding a massive three-day sale this Thursday, Friday and Saturday during which they're offering 35% discount of selected items wall tiles are reduced from 16.95 a square yard to 11 euro with timber effect floor tiles reduced from 22.95 a square yard to 14.90 there's vanity units down from 460 euro to 299 and freestanding baths reduced from 1,230 euro to 799 stock is limited so don't delay for these genuine bargains get along this week to Dunningall Tiles Centre we'll ask few business park letter Kenny just off the post around about watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com Okay, Dr Joe Kelly will be back with us shortly but first let's get a news update and it's good morning to Makayla Clark Thanks Greg, good morning Mai has confirmed the job cuts are on the way and it's written more base in fan it the company says the decision has been taken following a global review to streamline processing plants which are under capacity with secondary fish processing set to cease in Arnund in October in a statement they say as a result a number of staff will be made redundant in Dunningall Private Sean Rooney will be honoured at the United Nations Headquarters in New York today the Irish ambassador to the UN will receive a medal on behalf of the family of the Irish peacekeeper 23-year-old Private Rooney was killed while on duty in Lebanon last December A portion of the surplus of the Irish Red Cross Creaselog Community Support Fund will go towards providing trauma support a meeting took place in the town last night to discuss what the remaining 236,000 euro will go towards To date 1.4 million euro of the fund has been spent on compensation for loss of jobs income homes to cover travel medical and funeral expenses as well as bereavement recognition payments A rise over the budget is causing tension among government parties five months out from when it's due to be delivered it comes after Finnegale junior ministers published an opinion piece in a newspaper calling for 1,000 euro in tax cuts for middle-income workers Finnegale ministers believe the move is unhelpful and designed to heap pressure on finance minister Michael McGrath to the county council is being urged to write to the department of housing ahead of the imminent publication of the revised defective block redress scheme Councillor Martin McDermott chair of the council's defective block redress committee is calling for the building condition assessment requirement to be revised and the RTB recommends introducing significant funds for people carrying out illegal evictions in a response to a request by the housing minister the residential tenancies board has made a number of recommendations to crack down on unfair evictions they include giving Garde that prior to your arrest without a warrant anyone participating in an illegal eviction those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update at 12 noon Thank you, Michaela Dr Joe Kelly thanks very much for holding on right so let's talk about landlords in Donegal how did they respond to the appearance of the famine well that's a very interesting question and maybe to set it in context when Engman were looking at they realized that there was a serious problem in Ireland and they set up a commission a poor investigation committee in 1838 and it did his report and found that there was about two and a half million people on the poverty line all the time with a want of food and they said well how are we going to address this we have a problem in Ireland and so the solution was they suggested first of all not to use the English system of poor law the workhouse system in England that this wouldn't work in Ireland but the government in England at the time didn't want to hear this and this is no we're going to extend what we have in England into Ireland it fits in England so it fits in Ireland and it was totally inappropriate and so what they did is they set up workhouses throughout the whole of Ireland about 130 and there was eight unions here in Donegal like Milford that where we had the commemoration there at the weekend and don't fanny he different grantees in different places like that and they said that would be the system by which we will alleviate the poverty the problem with this was that local people had to pay for the upkeep of those houses so the poor people in these areas had to pay for the poor people in these places and the way they worked it out was that if you had a farm worth four pounds you must pay rates and those rates that tax would go to the maintenance of the workhouses so that was the philosophy but if your farm wasn't over four pounds, valued four pounds then you didn't have to pay rates well in the case of for example in Falkara four pounds in those times was nine hundred and sixty old pence the average holding in Falkara and Clawhanili was about four hundred pence so there were half ways way below half ways of the poverty line and Gadoard was even worse their farms were worth about 240 pence now the poverty line was nine hundred and sixty pence so most people were so poor that they couldn't pay for these rates so the thing was then it was left to the landlords to pay and this is where the problem arised so if a landlord had a busy workhouse he was having to pay for it so the moral of the story was you need to evict the people get them out of your land get them away for you because you don't want to have to pay for them and so what happened during the famine because of the poor law system many people upwards of a million people were evicted in Ireland because of the bureaucracy of the British poor law system and rather than helped us it actually exasperated and made worse the situation for the order I mean we have another situation where a government makes a policy that impacts the poorest most absolutely absolutely so how then could those people find their way to a workhouse to feed themselves well the problem was when you went to the workhouse you had to give up your farm and you never got back to it again so the landlord took possession of your farm so now you are without a home and without land so your choice was either to die or to emigrate and you mentioned something very wonderful there but you know our own history in emigration when people come back immigrants come back you know what they stand for me and we have statues to remind us of the famine and national commemoration statues and all the rest but when I see someone come home from abroad they remind me of the famine because they were the people that had to leave and they have the memory of the famine maybe greater than us because they know why they are where they are partially many people had left before the famine for the famine Well listen and as you say earlier on we have been conditioned or because of our recent history in how we are generous and we're welcoming an opening and also that sense too at a certain age it seems either by choice or necessity to travel the world and try and bet yourself those seeds were planted around famine time as well How many people can we estimate died in Donegal as the result of the famine and our population now say for instance is around about 163, 64 it's probably actually close to 170,000 now with new residents but do we know what the population of Donegal was at famine times and do we have a number as to how many passed away Yeah well the population of Donegal would have been a lot higher then they reckon in Ulster and remember a lot of as in Belfast more urban areas didn't have the same famine results as we had as in death and the estimate not to about 111,000 people died during the famine and in Donegal it's somewhere in the region of 13,000 people 13,000 people and in 1847 alone that number was 5,000 so 5,000 of the people of Donegal died and the population would have been a lot lot higher then than it is now it would have been probably about 240, 250,000 I'd imagine at that time so you know over a period say from 545 to 51 somewhere in that region about 40,000 out of Donegal people either left or died How much higher might that be without the workhouses? I don't think the workhouses achieved a terrible lot see the problem with the workhouses but people were able to feed themselves though I mean you talked about was it 14 or how many did you say was in Donegal but in any case 14,000 died in Donegal Yeah but in terms of the workhouses people were able to work and to feed themselves surely that would have would it not have prevented further? Yeah that's very interesting I mean again there's a number of historians have done research and published books about the workhouses and just from my own my own understanding and listening to for example the priest that wrote at that time a lot of the people didn't want to go to the workhouses because they were very harsh people weren't very well fed there the workhouses were overstressed they had maybe three times the capacity that they were built for and the landlords that were paying for these workhouses and to feed them didn't want too much money spent so a lot of people actually died in the workhouses and what happened in the workhouses as well was fever came into the workhouses and it killed a lot of people so people were afraid to go to the workhouse in case the worst of all the malnutrition and then fever and what maybe people don't understand is fever killed more people than actually starvation what happened was obviously your immune systems down because of the lack of food because of malnutrition but then the fever gets in easily enough and it killed loads of people in Donegal fever killed people more than hunger itself and so what people didn't want to go to the workhouse and what actually did happen was people built little turf huts outside their own homes and they fed people with fever on a shovel and you either lived and survived or you died and you were buried but they didn't have them in the house and they were hoping that the fever would pass and that's the way they would treat them and there's a lovely story told about Down and the folklore collection of 1947 on the 100th anniversary of the famine they sent people out to gather folklore of the living memory and there's one story told by a woman down there in the Manchera that's there in Crowley and down beside Tessie's and Leo's down that direction and she talked about how people when the fever got into the house nobody went and visited their house it reminds me a wee bit of COVID nobody would go and visit and one by one people died and what happened then she described how hungry dogs went round and they ate some of these remains and then when people came back to themselves she said they went and they burned their houses because of the disease and the bacteria or whatever disease would be in that so rather than going to the house they burned the houses they gathered the bodies the remains the bones and buried them and burned the houses so look it was a horrific vista when you think in it like that and suffering I want you to define because we have obviously some of the workhouses have been knocked down some remain pretty much intact and we know the sites of the others what do they stand for in our history in other words what should if we were to put something to commemorate on that site is it is it death and disease and hardship or if you were if I asked you to go into Donegal Town now and define that workhouse and how we should treat it in our history how would you do it look we can't change our past and I think we need to be very aware of it and understand it and be and be very much tied into the emotion of what happened and to be very very cognizant of just the pain the suffering the loss and all that but you know what you see this is where you have to have hope that should be a transformative experience and make us better human beings and I think the Irish people strangely we are better people because of our famine we are more generous and kind and welcoming and understanding and friendly we know what loss is we know what suffering is and if I were to put in any kind of of symbol I think of the children of Leur that were converted into swans it's a famous mythological story and like set free so to speak in a way we need to liberate ourselves from this and it's going to take us about two or three hundred years to move on from the psychological that's why I talked about us having a national conversation because I think sometimes you can only move forward when you're actually determine where you're at and you settle on a history and then you can say right from here we go forward and you know and a happy birthday to a lady Ireland's oldest person 109 she celebrated her birthday this year her mother or father would only have to have been 85 for them to be able to tell that lady who's living right now while it was like to live through the famine that how it just it came to my mind to articulate how recent this is to us the oldest lady in Ireland her one more dad would only have to be 75 to have been 10 through the worst of of the famine just very finally Corley says that their impression is that famine is the famine is regarded as a southern Ireland issue and they believe there's very little about the famine in Northern Ireland you've already referenced we do have figures across Ulster 111,000 people died but the famine but is that is there something to what the listener says is that slightly complicated because of the political makeup of Northern Ireland as well and how you how we were struggling maybe to discuss it it's even more complicated maybe for for elements of the community in Northern Ireland well first of all the potato blight didn't work because you were Catholic or Protestant across to everybody the farm husbandry of planters were always far more advanced than us that's just a historical reality they planted hedges they had fruit you know apples and pears they knew this you know they were very very organized very clean very good farm husbandry we didn't have that and we didn't have the knowledge that they had but having said that and this is very very important it's very easy to point the finger and blame the lannards there were a lot of good lannards Hamilton in in Dunneagall town he was a recklessly generous lannard he spent all his money offered in Valley Connell in Falkara and Hill they spent about four thousand pounds of their own money feeding people there were a lot of good lannards and as regards in Northern Ireland the London Dairy Ladies Association they were work women in London Dairy Association in in Dairy they raised money and sent it into Dunneagall for example they sent 15 pounds to the people of Bonkranagh and that would have been a lot of money back then the Quakers the Society of Friends they brought in I think it was about 1920 big soup boilers into Dunneagall to feed the people of Dunneagall you know the Cabries and the Barnvilles they were very generous and they were motivated by their religion and their sense of common humanity so one has to be very careful when one is talking about this not to be pointing and blaming there were policy deficiencies but you know what there were also brilliant people that stood up and did what they could even the for example Catholic priests many not many but a number of them here in Dunneagall some of them got the fever themselves from the route visiting the people and some of them died they weren't immune to this either so you know there's that whole side of it as well and I think too if you don't mind me saying and you can associate your compliment yourself with these comments or otherwise in that we started this conversation talking about the famine and the fact that food was taken from this country that perhaps could have helped to sustain the population we should reflect on that I think as a nation when we have hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty 200,000 when we have so many people accessing food banks we know the food banks across Dunneagall are under pressure at the moment the shelves are running dry and there are in the high hundreds families who are now regularly having to go to food banks to feed themselves before maybe sometimes we look back at history and go oh look what the Brits did to us maybe we should say that should be a reminder to ensure in a country that we're reminded constantly of how wealthy it is that we're kind of guilty of doing that to our own people right now Joe I agree with you and again I think it's back to maybe our own psyche that we expect so little from people and leadership we expect so little from people that are in charge of us and we think that oh they're not listening or they don't have to be accountable to us and that's maybe our fault we need to start believing in ourselves and say no we deserve better we have a right to have better and just maybe to put it in a context worldwide if I'd have been talking to you say 10 years ago I'd have been saying to 80 people 80 individuals fit into double-decker bus had more money than half the population now it's down to it wealthy men have more money than half the population of the world while people are starving and hunger and poverty and war I don't know how those people can live with the with their conscience no I don't know how I don't know how and set themselves up as as heroes too in some regards and also we as a people I believe really need to hit the reset button and start being together because we are allowing ourselves to to be divided so you will have people who are working going oh look at them people on social welfare they should be doing this that and the other we have others go and look at why should we have these people homeless and these people are coming in and taking this that and the other and it works if you're if you're in the political elite and you don't you know you want to keep the status quo it's perfect because you've got the population arguing amongst each other and spit and divided you know we the people need to start pulling together because if you talk about holding a government to account whichever government that might be a divided people will never do that because they're arguing over what the government is doing wrong you know what I mean and I think people need to start focusing on what unites them more than what's divided them and we need to get that sense of community that Irish community back that now you have to go to Dubai or London or New York or Brisbane to see and it's there alive and well Joe that sense of community is there still but it's being lost in this country and it's getting worse all the time well I think I've had this debate with you before and going back to the famine we were ruled from Westminster it was an Irish famine for Irish people to solve even though we didn't have the government that was supposedly our government allowing us to do anything about it and if you look just for example last week alone and our own government they brought in for example their questioning our neutrality they've put in under the back door people aren't aware of it a new sex ed program that's just horrific they're bringing in new the speech law I talked to you before hate speech they're bringing in all these laws by an agenda from the top and at the bottom the everyday Joe soap who's talking about electricity prices who's talking about food prices who's fighting for the real issues that matter it's not been done from the top no with the you see I don't agree with everything that you've said there in terms of my views and yours might differentiate and a couple of those issues but that's fine that doesn't matter that the way you can have a chat and sort it out and you might change my views and God forbid I might even change yours if we did but my point is as you see then when you get down to it right people we don't just let's have a debate on hate speech what happens is this then it's hate speech so that you can't criticise trans people or it's hate speech so that you can't criticise migrants right that's not what it's all about and as soon as this as soon as we start Daisy chaining the issues the debate disappears because it's piggybacked and it's it's hijacked no I'm not saying it's not relevant to those issues right but it's perfect because you have the population arguing not about hate speech they start arguing about trans rights or immigration or migration and the governor sit there and go well look at we can just introduce this because these people have no clue what they're around about so we need to start talking about issues yes we can use examples but I think when we start grouping a number of issues in together then it becomes liberalism versus convert you know being conservative we just end up in this endless loop and cycle and we get nowhere and all the while the big boys can do whatever they like Joe well I mean the political elite are running the world you know just talk about the wealthy people why is it not a worldwide wealth tax they talk about you know they can come together for a cop and for environmental and climate change can they not come together and introduce a wealth tax worldwide these multi-billion billion billionaires that are making such money and nothing's been done about it because it doesn't suit the people we have the world's richest man in Elon Musk who I actually don't have a problem with he is loaded by the people who have nothing as the saviour not only that they give him eight euro a month for the pleasure right of listening to his words humanity what hope is there when the richest man in the world is seen as a hero to the poor and people don't but Elon Musk he's challenging the status quo to whose benefit he's driving traffic he's not he's driving traffic to to save his 44 billion and he might frame it up as being free speak it's not how can free speech cost eight euro a month Joe don't tell me you're drinking that Kool-Aid no I'm sorry I don't spend the it's not the euro on it listen come here my children you know we're looking for money for Xboxes and top ups and on the computer games and I say to them where's this money going it's going into some very wealthy people come here let them enjoy the Xbox all right come here I have to go but listen back to just back to the family briefly look at as a nation we have to have that conversation as you mentioned and we have to think a lot more about it there's a lot of sad stories there but there's also a lot of hope if we think about it in a positive way and how we are a better people for us and finally just to mention that one of the areas that were most hit by the famine and there's a lovely book called the outer edge of Ulster edited by Breton lecture Professor Breton McSivna called the outer edge of Ulster and it describes what happened in Fannett during the famine how it basically went from 10,000 people down to three or four thousand people and how the whole social fabric of Fannett was was kind of fell apart because of it and just to say that it was at Fannett the weekend a big shout out to Anya Peter McConnagley who launched a book about Fannett and it ties in with that famine era last weekend so it's a a big plus for Fannett and to congratulate her and the people of Fannett for this lovely wonderful book that was launched there last weekend and I think I see a picture of you in the paper at that event if I'm not mistaken have a lovely day Joe that's Dr Joe Kelly historian there right okay I have to take a four minute break please stay where you are because an interesting topic just around the corner for grid valuing suits visit Wants and Men's Wear in Etter Kenny top labels like Rima Zumo white label Spectre and Daniel Grail for the finishing touch there's also a great choice of shirts ties and fruit wear extra reductions for all wedding parties at Wants and Men's Wear open seven days a week on Main Street Etter Kenny see WantsandMen's Wear dot com Paul Mooney in this week's Irish Farmers' Journal we reveal how a massive price gap has opened up between factories department mapping peak lands for new cap rules state body snaps up 1500 acre hill farm for one million euro tee shot concern rewetting law goes too far we reveal how your co-op ranks in our milk price review and find out who you can cut your tax when transferring your farm all in this week's Irish Farmers' Journal comes with Mastercard debit card for use in 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the young man he was a very kind and compassionate young man we're very proud of all he achieved in his short life and of course we are so proud that he's receiving the un medal i believe he's so deserving of it senator jerrick crochwell crochwell joins us on the program now senator thanks for taking the call delighted and good morning to you and good morning to your listeners obviously this is a fitting recognition of private rooney absolutely 100 percent the award of of an honor like this is a tangible recognition of the sacrifice this young man gave to in the name of peace and from my perspective the thompson minister for defense should ensure that shawn's family are actually in the un on the day the award is made for them to receive it personally after all the young man did give it like in the name of peace do we know if that invitation has been extended senator no we don't i'm making inquiries today through the thompson office but i would certainly think that it would be right and sitting i attended the funeral in dundalk and went on to go on for the internment of the young man and i have rarely been as anything so moving and to see that young man's mother and the devastation that she felt on the day it's the least we could do for her okay well you might let us know how those inquiries progress but for now senator jared quachwell thank you very much for joining us on the program 08 6 60 25 000 is the whatsapp and text number on to some comments now as late of the 50s and 60s people had nothing says a listener and still now there are those that don't greg talking about famine when the government is doing their best to stop farming where will the food come from it will cause hunger and starvation and at the moment people are feeding it so about the climate change that's totally untrue they believe climate change isn't a thing but the world's a different place now that being said if you can't produce your own stuff you are always at the beck and call aren't you a suppose of of other countries greg i went to china on a secondary school program there were a few irish and a few from other european countries when it came to dinner we would have asked the waiter for more potatoes when they ran out none of us noticed but the people from other countries did and it became a running joke i read into it and it is a phenomenon in countries who experienced food shortages right okay on to some other things hi greg there are two manhole covers that need to be fixed one over drum wall road at bonnigie there are four cones around it one for every week that it's laying like that terrible and the other in refo that's sticking up like a spike god help whoever drives over it thanks now obviously there's a problem recognized in bonnigie if it's surrounded by cones we'll see what the story is there and i'm not familiar with the situation in refo but the caller says the manhole cover you can still call them that can't you is sticking up like a spike they say following on from our conversation with senator eileen flinn people don't realize being a working mum is having two full-time jobs expectations for the level of housework etc river remains the same but what is that down to just speaking more generally like is that acceptable 08 660 25000 can you repeat the guide dog event please i missed the beginning thanks it's i'm off the top of my head because it's buried in a lot of comments it's i don't want to give the wrong wrong place i can do this during an ad break okay i'll get it for you sorry for all the rattling noise it's just that it runs only called 12 i have it here yes it's a coffee morning in the station house hotel in letter kenny it's running until 12 noon all funds raised for irish guide dogs morning why in the past was leah virard car not interested in housing her own citizens people lying on the streets for years people on housing lists for years families struggling for homes why or why did he and the rest of them not get all gone whole like they are now money that's why they're getting paid to take in many migrants it makes me sick take what families we can surely but we're bursting at the seams and he's on about taking more are there many migrants in double and four i wonder again i i don't want to get dragged involved in that conversation again but there's enough money if there is a will to to house migrants i mean i don't think homeless irish people want to go into disused office buildings or to spend the rest of their lives in a hotel they want proper accommodation that has to be built and that's not being slowed down because of migrants it's a lack of will although the government is saying they're reaching and exceeding targets again you see what's happening is is we and people are focused on migrants and protesting outside places where migrants are going and you will know from the discussions on this show that it's understood and we talk about it right and i'm not taking a position one way or other but there's no protest outside the door to the politician saying hello excuse me where are our houses it's it's outside accommodation for 30-odd migrants if you're in government it's perfect because you can label the people that are protesting in a certain way you can make yourself look like you're doing all you can for the migrants but really you know people aren't protesting what the issue is here and this is a lack of housing for all although as i say i recognize the government says that it is building more houses now than it has for a long time and exceeding targets but do you get where i'm coming from all right okay we're going to take a break our head of sales Sean Quinn i think is going to be joining us very shortly stay right where you are watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com every year we donate millions of euros hundreds of hours and thousands of items to good causes the charities regulator keeps a record of every charity in Ireland so if you want to give to a charitable cause go on our website and check so you know what you're giving will be put to good use click check give check your giving to a registered charity at checkacharity.ie the charities regulator please give confidently why did i choose Ulster i wanted a university who could give me the biggest possible future but also the best possible time now somewhere i could make friends and have good crack but also to set me up for the best job possible i'm planning to take up one of the study abroad options and then my big plan is to specialise in media law in LA but for now N.I. has one of the lowest student living costs in the UK so night markets here i come learn why over 30,000 students choose Ulster at ulster.ac.uk slash go north apply now for this September the groom goes free the groom goes free yes you heard it the groom's room evolve clothing Larry Kenny retail park the groom goes free call in today terms and conditions apply i've just had the Eclipse cinemas experience wow they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner chairs director's lounge VIP rooms pizza and hot food served to your seat have a glass of wine and enjoy the film on the big screen try it for yourself at Eclipse cinemas Bundorn and Lyfford Sturban where the stars shine brighter by the way the pizzas are amazing you can book your seat anytime at eclipsecinemas.ie join special guest Majella O'Donnell at Divers Hyundai this Friday 26th for Divers Relay for Life coffee morning everyone's welcome to come along for a cup of meet Majella and help raise money for the Irish Cancer Society that's 10 to 2 this Friday at Divers Hyundai Letter Kenny Mick Flavin 50 years in country music show at the Mount Derrigal Hotel Letter Kenny on Monday the 12th of June with special guests Fulhamina Begley Ray Leinem Declan Ernie Shuny Cramsey and Patsy Kavanaugh tickets now on sale from the Mount Derrigal Hotel on 07-4 9-1 2-2 700 Rightio a bit of self-promotion going on now and why not and it's not really actually self-promotion I shouldn't phrase it like that because it is the promotion of the amazing service that our business and the business community provide across the region and we'll talk about where this came from but it's about recognizing that and there's a massive appetite there amongst the public as was clear from nominations and votes and what have you to recognize what our businesses do and Sean Quinn as I mentioned joins us now because we're heading towards the big ceremony on Sunday and you know it was huge it turned out to be huge I mean you might sit there and say yeah we always knew it was going to be I don't know Sean you're in sales so I don't know what what you'll say I'll tell the truth honestly yeah now but all jokes aside like I mean did you think it was going to become what it has become no this actually was an idea about seven eight months ago where myself and Fanula sat down and we looked and we thought this is an opportunity and we launched it on the 13th of March and we were absolutely blown away couldn't believe the initial reaction we got but the continuous reaction that ended up just short of 16,000 nominations 1300 businesses slightly around that figure were actually nominated in this process and it went right across the county there's there's no little town that wasn't involved in this absolutely blew us away no it gave us extra work well it's a headache really isn't it because I mean that has to be whittled down yeah and that's a process that we had external help with and it was all done incredibly independently as well and we'll go through some of that in a moment a big amount of work like I would say if you said to people there was 1300 businesses in Donegal they might go really do you know what I'm on about because it's not a figure you would have ever have calculated in your mind so for that amount of businesses to be nominated in and of itself is amazing and every single one of those businesses was nominated because someone who avails of a service or a product or what have you thought the service or the quality was of a standard that they took their time to do it so I think every nomination there is important not to mention then those that got the the multiple nominations yeah and you know it's I suppose we're going with the times and it was all online and there was people that hadn't you know we got phone calls how do I do this we spoke people through the process of how do you do it I mean it's simple as possible but yeah just to get the imagination of thoughts and the amount Greg of people who actually took time to write things about that business and why they were nominating them and it actually helped the judges big time because they were able to actually put that into part of their process and it was it was huge absolutely huge and even down to the last couple of days there were still people were nominating and still new businesses coming in that you know we hadn't seen and people left it as usual to the last minute so it's we were delighted to that part absolutely delighted so the thing about these awards too was about the inclusivity and they were guided the categories to some extent were guided by the nominations because I mean how do you cover just the thirteen hundred so there was headline categories and then subcategories now we can't go through them all right but we have broken them down into and I'll mention the judges at the time same time we broke the headline categories down into retail and Charlie Boyle is the judge in that area in health and beauty we have the services of Emma Morristilist house and home Noel Cunningham is our judge there in lifestyle Sandra Deveney is on board in terms of motor we have Michael Brennan and community and professional services Deirdre McClone I mean those are some fantastic names and completely independent as well and they have whittled them down to short lists in a number of subcategories and the winners will be announced on Sunday Sean yeah and I was I was so glad we didn't have to do that part yeah it's been a nightmare you can't even agree in the colouring competition so certainly wouldn't let you loose on this one we can't just when we come in here we can't you can't judge colouring you're not going to be fit to judge this but I'm so glad I'm out the loop because it was it's the right way to go independently because they can take their time they can review they can and they can give what their valued opinion because that is that keyword is valued because they are recognised names and again we're we're happy to get them on board it just adds credibility to the whole thing as well yeah now also before we talk about what's coming up on Sunday just want to mention the sponsors as well who got on board with this PGIM main sponsor HealthWise Pharmacy Group iHeating and Cooling Donegal Airport MCM Brands Hickey Clark and Langan and of course our good friends at iMotors have got in behind this and an important too and it's good brand recognition for them as well everyone's a winner so that's really good especially given the level of interest that was in this and also too before we talk about the night again it's business customers as well but our listeners as well embraced this as well drove huge traffic to our social media and to our website and bought into it and got involved and it wouldn't be possible without them certainly on this scale Sean oh they've made it for us because they engaged with us from day one and you know they embrace what we were doing and took time to go online there was a few people that as I said they rang there's a couple of people actually wrote in as well so without them we wouldn't had the 16,000 there's no two ways about that but it also recognizes that the jobs that businesses are doing out there they're doing something really positive that people will take that time and it's great that on the evening there's be 121 businesses in the room there can only be a winner on each section but it's great that they'll be recognized it's a great networking opportunity as well yeah and I think the timing is right too because this is about supporting business and we're talking in the context this week heading into the awards where sentiment surveys amongst small and medium businesses which many of these are where there's more optimism in that sector as well about the future that maybe we've hit a ceiling in terms of overheads and what have you so we're heading into this when there is also seemingly in small and medium enterprise an increased positivity going forward and as I say before scratch record incoming these are the businesses that we go to for our sponsorship that we ask to buy this, that and then or back our local team or whatever it might be that employ our young people that employ us and our friends and families and no harm to multinationals or online shopping but these businesses many of them are the bread and butter of our community and again that makes it extra special for me that we're recognizing it in this way right so it's a set up folks there is a big awards ceremony taking place at the Mount Oracle Hotel this Sunday things kick off at 6pm with a drinks reception yeah so it's a we'll ask people to come for six o'clock and there's a great opportunity to network with other businesses as I said there's people who have never met other people before from all over the county I think we've covered everywhere in the county so yes six o'clock and then we will try and get them in as quick as possible for dinner at 7pm so sitting down for dinner there's about 520 people there so there's a lot of a lot of food to go out on tables and the whole night kicks off really from when you walk in the door and we're hoping that it's going to be great crack high energy, good buzz absolutely dinner at 7 so you've got two hours to eat because the awards kick off at 9pm sharp by the way so we are going to then go through the various categories and the winners introduce the guest the judges of course to those in attendance and I think it's going to be good fun it's going to be a great crack I hope lots of people have taken Monday off I well I haven't but I might have been here at 9 o'clock but well I will because if I'm not there's no show so unlucky there Greg yeah you know what no harm no harm I'm looking forward to being here at 9 o'clock no I think the whole just you know a couple of years ago we couldn't do this now we can and you know I think the it's the location is perfect it's a great size room it'll be a high energy from when you walk in the door great food and then you know carried on by the awards actual ceremony and you know hopefully there's loads of cheering in the room and people get involved and I'm sure they will I am sure they will absolutely and anything afterwards yeah just go afterwards yeah if you're still got not sure when you're age there energy left well well we're gonna get a band but I thought no we'll do a disco all right good stuff do a disco okay so you can party into the early hours as well and it's all at the Mount Arigal Hotel as I say there's a sellout at this stage over 500 will be in attendance if you want to be part of it right but you can't be there and you want to see the glitz and the glamour as well by the way please make sure to if you don't already follow us on our social media because we've got a brilliant social media here team team here as well there'll be some interviews going up some videos some pictures and stuff and we want you know because the dress code is sexy right dressed to impressed no sexy are you doing sexy are you I'm doing I'm gonna dress up I'm gonna dress up to the nine so that's it are you gonna give me a hint or I'm gonna wear a suit okay I'm gonna wear a suit so yeah it's gonna be good fun and as I say if you can't be in attendance hopefully there's there's gonna be loads of stuff on there yeah absolutely as well for people to sort of feel part of it as well and see as I say the glitz and glamour because during the evening there will be loads of things happening on social media we've a full team there so you're 100% right there Greg if you can't be there it'll feel as if you are there just tune into our Highland Radio Facebook page and you won't miss much yeah and Insta and as well I'm sure okay sure this is well done to you and your team for pulling this together is this the first of an annual thing now or is the jury out on that oh absolutely but I asked me again that in Monday okay I'll ask you no I know absolutely but if we've got the response this time around yeah I think we can meet this an annual right back with more after these at F&F there's 25% off all clothing until Wednesday 31st of May with your Tesco club card or app that's 25% off your new summer dress collection now that's worth popping in for F&F fashion at Tesco product subjective availability available in the majority of larger stores summer is here and so is the hottest sale of the year at Easy Living Furniture get ready to transform your home with incredible deals during our sizzling summer sale with absolutely everything reduced why not spruce up your living room with a stylish sofa create the perfect dining experience with our stunning collection of dining sets and relax in comfort with our cozy bedroom furniture the spectacular summer sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture present link retail park Milford tiles wood flooring on baths where Milford retail park now open large range of wall and floor tiles on display and in stock over 70 different laminate floors to suit every pocket tileers and wood footers available new bathware showroom now open Milford tiles wood flooring and bathware 083-091-0707 National Heritage Week returns from August 12th to 20th and this year celebrates living heritage organize an event by exploring and sharing the traditions crafts and skills passed down through generations in your family or community visit heritageweek.ie for more National Heritage Week supported by the local authorities Heritage Officer Network and the Department of Housing local government and heritage itchy eyes running nose wheezy and a mean hay fever is back on the attack as pharmacists Brennan's have a wide range of allergy remedies to come to your rescue and we can advise you on how to lessen those hay fever attacks so come in for a chat and we can talk through your options and private if you like you'll be back to enjoying summer in no time for expert hay fever advice advice you can trust without the weight we're always here for you just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy Okay Greg I gave you a preview for the break Greg simply the best is the most iconic Tina Turner song it is but it takes on different guys who's over the years for me what Tina Turner simply the best is is back when I used to watch the boxing as a young person with my father and brothers and what have you and it was Chrissie Bank at that time was the anti-hero and of course I followed him and that was his entrance and the iconic entrance just when that started become a thing another simply the best clear winner that's coming from the team from all the votes a few people suggesting Proud Mary it's such a party song many happy memories I'm sure you're going to hear Proud Mary before the end of the program but I promised at the top of the show right but it's been so busy that we're leaving it really late so what I'm going to do for you I'll tell you what I'll do actually firstly because we're pretty much near the end of the show I'm going to say goodbye to people watching on social media because of copyright reasons we can't play music out so thank you so much for watching we'll be back with you of course online from