 No, you don't. No, you don't. If you went into a shop... Oh, here we go now. What's this? It's not a big one. If you went into a shop, right, and you fancied something sweet, right, and I know you have certain things you can't eat, OK, but what chocolate bar would you go for if you could just pick one up? You're at, you know, the counter. Oh, I used to love star bars. You're a wee... See, I thought I was a wee bit odd. Do you like star bars, too? Well, I said I'd go for Snickers. And Caroline and Eve looked at me as if I said I would go for, I don't know, a bottle of vodka for a sweet or something, you know? Yeah, but the bar's like the whisper bar now, isn't it? We took the bar to the whisper bar we got years ago. We're clever now because you can get the double Snickers. It's like a duo, but really, it's finally just a proper size. So Snickers, you're one, is it? I thought so, yeah, but now I'm... What do you mean you thought so? I've been shamed into... I don't think I can ever do it again. They looked at me like I would have two heads. Can your teeth handle the nuts, can I? Wouldn't you like to know? All right, Lee, come here. Good time for you back. Thanks very much. You were complaining that we had the place all messy and stuff. No, it's not you. All right. It's a Tuesday morning problem, saying nothing. Oh, here we go now. We'll go on that note, Colov. All right, good luck. All right, it is the 9th of the noon show coming up late because Lee's back. The efficiency of Marty Frill is lost to us now, so it's late again. A minute past nine, and it's a very good morning now to Donna Marie Daherty. We'll tell you what's coming up on the show. After the news headlines, hi, Donna Marie. Hi, Greg. Good morning. The Enhanced Effective Concrete Block Grant Scheme has commenced. With more details, here's Tara Duggan. Minister O'Brien has announced the commencement of the Enhanced Effective Concrete Block's grant scheme. It's said to provide grants of up to 420,000 euro for affected homeowners in counties Donegal, Mayo, Limerick and Clare. The scheme is now open to new applications, transitional arrangements for the transfer of applicants from the current scheme to the new scheme are in place. This includes a retrospective benefit from enhancements made in the new scheme. The housing minister says it will mark a new beginning for those who need to remediate their homes. Three men have been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a PSNI officer in Turone earlier this year. DCI John Caldwell was shot multiple times at a sports centre in Oma on February 22nd. The PSNI say three men aged 45, 47 and 58 were arrested in Newton Abbey, Coal Island and Belfast this morning. They've been taken to the Musgrave serious crime suite for questioning under the terrorism act. It brings the number of arrests in connection with the attempted murder so far to 31. The HSE says the development of a crisis resolution team is a key priority for Donegal next year. There's been a cautious welcome to confirmation that work is in progress to secure the resources necessary. Currently, there is five crisis resolution pilot schemes underway across Ireland. Councillor Jerry McGonagall, however, says there's been no guarantee that a team will be in place for 2024. When I probed that there a bit more and asked how confident there would be that there would be a crisis resolution team in place in Donegal for 2024, they said no, that that wouldn't be the case. That there was a number, I think, of five pilot schemes being run around the country at the minute and they're going to take a learning from that and out of that they'll decide where other crisis resolution teams need to be located. We'll get an idea later of how much money the government will have to spend on budget day. Ministers Michael McGraw and Pascal Donahue are expected to reveal a surplus of around 10 billion euro when they were released their summer economic statement today. However, the finance and public expenditure ministers are likely to stress much of that is because of a boost in corporation tax receipts which can't be relied upon into the future. Looking now to whether this morning sunny spells and frequent heavy showers to start off today, some may merge to longer spells of rains at time. Dryer intervals will spread from the northwest through the afternoon with highs of 14 to 17 degrees and a moderate to occasionally fresh west to northwest wind. That's all for now. We'll be back again with the next news update at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Balances the bad and good bacteria to help support their gut microbiome. Search for Purina One's Blue Pack online and in store. Happy 4th of July to our American listeners so people from America or whatever it might be. It's good to have all of you on board for a very interesting show. I hope you'll agree we've got our usual features such as community guard information that's coming up for you just after 10 for those who don't always tune in. That's your first opportunity to hear. That's your first opportunity to hear the latest appeals and information from ungodly shiokanon live. We'll be back later on in the program. Father Sean Daherty will be joining us to have a conversation as well about his recent ordination. Looking forward to that very much indeed. If you have any messages you want to pass on to Sean. Might not be able to get to them all on air but certainly we can leave them with him. And also we're going to be having an analysis of the announcement finally of the enhanced in inverted commas defective concrete block scheme. I think people waking up this morning there's going to be a mixture of when people go through it and we're going to try and break it down and go through it for you. Some people it's going to be relief. It's going to be a pathway. It's going to be hope for others. It's just going to be that's no good for me. That's not going to work where am I going to find the extra money. We don't know really who's affected in what ways. As I say we're going to have a panel on or plenty of guests on to try and get through all of that and try and make some sense of it though I believe it probably might take some time to sort of get to the ins and outs of all of it. But anyway, that's what we're doing here. That is our public service broadcasting to you in our local Northwest region. Okay, how do you get involved in the conversation or pass on your messages in the Republic? It's 0 8 6 60 25 thousand. If you want to text a WhatsApp from Northern Ireland 0 0 3 5 3 8 6 60 25 thousand or anywhere outside the Republic. Caroline and Neve taking your calls and 0 7 4 9 1 25 thousand again if you're dialing from outside the Republic 0 0 3 5 3 7 4 9 1 25 thousand and if you're emailing from anywhere no crazy codes, it's just comments at highlandradio.com so no excuses not to get involved in the conversation. Lots to come up. Alright, let's have a look at what's making the front pages today. We'll start with the Donegal Democrat. The body of a man was recovered from the water near Sleeve League on Monday morning. Donegal Live, Donegal Democrat understands that Guardi and the Coast Guard returned to the area late on Sunday night. The body was removed to Letterkenny University Hospital for post-mortem examination. The state pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan was notified and is travelling to Letterkenny to conduct the post-mortem examination. The results will of course determine the next steps in the investigation which could be escalated to a murder probe and as I said on the show yesterday morning as we revealed this news, I would say we'll probably get that information at some point today. An incident room under the direction of a senior investigating officer has been set up at Balochan and Garda Station. It comes after a week of intense speculation in South West Donegal following what was described as an alleged assault. The Sleeve League Cliffs were closed to the public for much of last week as Guardi combed the area for clues and it's clear it's a complex story. I think everyone has a version of it. We here choose to only deal with the facts as the newspapers are the same situation but I know there's intense conversation and speculation out there. All shall become clear in the not too distant future. The Dairy Journal this morning recent census data from the CSO has shown the population numbers of towns and villages across has shown with Burnfoot the youngest area to an average age of 35. Malin the oldest at 48.7 there's still only nippers at 48.7 aren't they? Population data from census 2022 shows the Bunkrana has a population of 6,971 with the average age of 39.2. Coron Donna population there of 2,768 with an average age of 38.1. Well worth picking up the paper this morning if you're in the Inner Shown Area. I think that's where I love that kind of stuff statistics and they've combed through them all which is a piece of work in and of itself. So if you like facts and figures in that paper today. On to the Irish Times now and it's been an awful few days for loss and tragedy abroad. Guardi have been dispatched to the Greek to the Greek Island of Ios to aid in the investigation into the death of two Irish teens in separate instances. Andrew O'Donnell and Max Wall both aged 18 and both students of St Michael's College in South Dublin died within 24 hours of each other while in a holiday with classmates celebrating the end of the leaving certificate. That is the front story on the Irish Times. On to the Irish Independent today and I'm purposely trying to weed through all the RTE stuff. There's going to be more of that later in the week with various hearings and what have you but there's still tons of coverage but I'm trying to pick out other things just for this morning anyway. More than 78,000 children aged six and seven are to be given free GP care in the coming weeks the Irish Independent has learned well everyone's learned it if the truth be told meanwhile another 400,000 people will qualify through an easier means test however due to the pressures on GPs this will be faced in over the coming months now consistently we get complaints from people who actually it depends on the GP practice and where you are I get through straight away if I'm honest and normally it doesn't take too long to get an appointment that's my experience but I know it depends where you are and other people have a very very different experience all I'm saying is I'm conscious that it's not quite across the board some people struggle to get an appointment with the GP some people struggle to get through to the GP now when you have an additional 78,000 children and 400,000 other people able to qualify for a free GP card it's invariably inevitably isn't it going to put further pressure all GPs don't necessarily have to sign up to this but it's very lucrative I would imagine in fact I have a fair idea that it is so it will be very interesting what impact this might have on access to GP care more generally and we're going to hopefully if not today certainly tomorrow try and get a rep on from the GP's representation body to sort of see what they say about all this the IMO have signed up for it so there's obviously enough in there for them well what this means is a saving up to 70 euro a visit although patients will still have to pay for medication the conclusion of talks with the Irish Medical Organization in recent days has paved the way for the long delayed roll out of the extra GP visit cards Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is expected to announce the move today following the finalization of lengthy discussions with the IMO which will see substantial extra supports for practices so I mean with the financial penalty removed you're probably more likely to even air extra air on the side of caution to go along and get that antibiotic or to get that thing tested aren't you all checked if you don't have to face that charge it sounds like a strange thing to say but I think that's a reality I talked about avoiding the RTE story but I can't completely clearly mail today and just interesting comments from Micheal Martin I thought Micheal Martin is not in favour of salary caps at RTE saying they can prove problematic in time and said he instead wants to improve average pay at the national broadcast and now I would say what he's referenced and there is the concern that currently at the moment a lot of the radio stations employ people on contracts you know whereby they're external contracts they're limited companies it's not like that in stations like this I don't think anyway it's certainly not the case as far as I know here but what that does mean is is that say you know your morning show is starting to slip a little bit or you're having a problem with the presenter it's easy to move them on but if you have them on the salary okay it's very difficult to move them on and I wonder is that's what he's referring to it being problematic but anyway the tarnished as comments come as the scandal surrounding RTE enters its twelfth day since it emerged that payments to Ryan Tiberty were underrated the tune of three hundred and forty five thousand euro the government's expected to outline its view today on private members bill introduced in the channel in a bid to cap the pay for RTE's top stars at a hundred and ninety five thousand we were speaking to Senator Mullins on this yesterday the tarnished has said it's simplistic it's popular to say pay should be capped but the actual working out of that over time can be more problematic than people might think his view could give an indication of the government's position on the bill so just to give you an idea of the top public jobs versus the top presenter's jobs in case that you find that interesting so the HSE CSO's on four hundred and twenty thousand euro for running that basket case Ryan Tiberty five hundred and fifteen top civil servant Robert Watt controversial enough character he's pulling in 295 euro but Joe Duffy for his hour and a quarter in the afternoon he's getting three hundred and fifty one thousand the chief justice gets two hundred and ninety six thousand Claire Byrne trousers two hundred and eighty thousand the God of Commissioner Drew Harris has to survive on two hundred and seventy thousand euro a good friend Merriam O'Callaghan two hundred and sixty three thousand a hospital consultant bags two hundred and fifty two grand Ray Darcy for his work two hundred and fifty thousand euro and on it goes on it goes where it stops nobody knows right okay we have Pascal Donahue commenting on what may or may not be in the budget he's in the sun today the government will not make the mistakes of the past and Waste Ireland's bumper corporation tax hall public expenditure minister Pascal Donahue has said the coalition is actively aware or acutely aware of the risks in spending a record government surplus of eight billion taken in last year he said what is critical in all of this is while there is a once in a lifetime opportunity in some ways regarding the higher level of tax receipts that are coming in I am actually conscious that we have been here before that fifteen years ago there was a further spike in tax receipts that we assumed would be with us for the foreseeable future and it turned out not to be that being said so what effectively they're saying this is really what you're not supposed to do is spend temporary money on permanent things like housing like health like teaching because then what happens when the money runs out you can't keep up that level of spending I don't know that has to be a way but anyway that's always the argument there let us look at the mirror do you like your passport do you like the harp on the front of your passport I wonder if I had asked you before I said that would you have known there's a harp on the front of your passport I like it I want my maroony looking passport with the harp on the front but it could be going and I wonder how much it will cost in a consultancy fee to design whatever replaces it but anyway the Department of Foreign Affairs is considering changing the harp on passports to a design highlighting our diverse natural environment a consultation was launched last week with any design change expected in the next few years Red Sea has launched an online survey on the department's behalf which takes around five minutes to complete the list of animals suggested in the survey includes the curlew, the red squirrel the bumblebee, irish hair and the barn owl meanwhile plants include the shamrock the bluebell, heather st patrick's cabbage the blackthorn and primrose so would you like any of those things on the front of it instead of a the harp maybe a little red squirrel for yourself perhaps st patrick's cabbage or should we just leave it as is and spend the money it would take invariably on something else now it wouldn't hand your passport in and get the new designed one it would be as you renew them but still I think that's just someone's trying to come up with a problem that doesn't to fix a problem that doesn't exist there childhood friends of Derry Girls created Lisa McGee have spoken of the mind blowing success of the show ahead of the opening of a new exhibition the new Derry Girls immersive exhibition which opened to the public in the Tara Museum in Derry yesterday have you been let us know what it was like features props and set pieces from the BAFTA winning sitcom which follows the teenagers living in Derry in the mid 1990s during the final years of the Troubles fans of the show will be able to view parts of the original sets including the Quinn's living room and kitchen as well as props like Spice Girl costumes from season three the child of Prague statue and Mar Mary's rosary beads so it looks like fun you can go in and sit in there and get a picture taken have you been do you intend to go let us know 08 660 25,000 your whatsapps and texts to that number or give us a call on 07 491 25,000 right okay we are going to try now as best as we can it's an extensive document and there's lots in there but we're going to now after this break try and see what's in this enhanced defective concrete blocks grand scheme that's what the government's calling it that's coming up after we take our first break of the morning please stay right where you are the newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra mountaintop letter Kenny the 2022 C store national off-license of the year the 90 new show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today rejuvenate your skincare routine this summer with the Clarence big beauty gift at Michael Hennies purchase two or more Clarence products you can buy it at the mall's dresser or serum and receive a choice of three free travel size products purchase a third Clarence product and receive two make-up essentials offer available in store at Michael Hennies and online at Michael Hennies.com until July 16th while stocks last be on strong a bill letter which is hard to go and it's the day to have a contour to the garden Martyn, what are you doing where do the customers live I'm here at the three stores in the last eight years for special services in SB networks to the store Phang Lan or Rangel Etchers Do you need a little extra help staying in your home at Bluebird care we offer a wide variety of qmark-approved personalized home care services across Donegal and our fully trained and committed staff will meet your care needs with kindness, compassion and dignity. To get your personal home care assessment plan visit bluebirdcare.ie or call our care team today on 07491 29562 and bring care home. Highland Radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Lettacanity Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway bringing you the time. Okay, time is 21 minutes past nine. Now we're going to talk about the as it's called enhanced effective concrete blocks grant scheme. We have invited Minister Dara O'Brien on to the show. It remains to be seen if he will. He's unavailable. Okay, this is right. That's not going to go very well. Then it's not available at all. And also we invited Minister Charlie McConnelogue on to the show, but he still has he still has a block on it. So we're not here from either of those two ministers, unfortunately, and we guarantee that we'd have given them a fair enough hearing. But anyway, that is what it is. We are joined though by people who are prepared to speak to the program, Professor Paul Dunlop, Research Director for Geography and Environmental Sciences and also University and a homeowner, of course, Professor, thanks for your time this morning. I greatly appreciate you joining us. Thanks for helping me on Greg. And also Lisa Hohlen, Chair of the Micah Action Group. Lisa, good morning to you. Thank you. Thank you also for joining us. Hi Greg. Thanks for inviting me on. Right, I'll start with you, Lisa. I mean, is this the type of document that it's going to take some time to go through and sort of really find out if it's going to be a benefit of a lot of people? Or do you have a fair idea at this point, what this enhanced scheme actually means for people? I think there's two levels there, Greg. I think in broad terms, we understand what the scheme is. I mean, obviously, we're familiar with the legislation, we're familiar with the regulations, and there's not a huge departure as we would expect for the scheme in terms of what it's going to deliver or not deliver for homeowners. I think you rightly point out that there is a lot of detail. There's a lot, you know, there's big documents and there is a lot of detail. And we've always said the devil is in the detail with regard to this. So, yeah, we've only just had the documentation yesterday evening like everybody else. So we've had time to sort of have a initial sort of read, but there's an awful lot of detail, especially with regard to the implementation that's not clear yet. And there's a lot of follow-up and a lot of questions that need to be asked of government and also the local authorities in terms of how this works for homeowners. So just a couple of simple questions and pardon my if some of these questions are so obvious, it's silly. But there's a couple of things that we've talked about over the years, right? So say, for instance, the issue whereby it's externally, phone-ly, but all the problems that come from doing that, whether an engineer might sign off on it or not, whether you can get insurance on it, has that been resolved? Because, you know, like our engineers, for example, going to sign off on just outer leaves, all now is at all demolitions. Has anything in relation to that been addressed? Well, the five options still exist in the scheme. So theoretically, homeowners could actually proceed forward with any of those five options. Now, the reality is that homeowners are those that are getting into the issue. I mean, there's a lot of homeowners there who still are coming to this very fresh and need to get into the detail. But the homeowners that are familiar with this issue are buying for advocating for option one, which is demolish and rebuild, because they know the reality of, you know, the science that's going on here, and I'm sure Professor Dunlop is going to speak more about that later. But the reality is that we're dealing with an issue that is fundamentally not free for this is to do with what's in the blocks and whether it's external whether it's internal. So as far as you know, Lisa, if if if someone opts for full demolition, can the scheme say, Well, no, you don't qualify for that. It's outer leaf only. Well, ultimately, it's going to be done to the housing agency to decide what option the homeowner goes forward with. So there's a slightly different way of going about things now. Previously, homeowners had to commission their IS465 report and then that went into the local council. And it was the technical team at the council that then decided looking at the report and obviously with the submissions of the homeowners engineer, how the homeowners should go forward or not. And now what what is going to happen now is that the homeowner has to commission what they call a building condition assessment report. That's almost like the first section of what the engineers would do with regard to the IS465 report. And should you meet all the criteria on that, then you will be able to put an application into the housing agency via the local council. And they will then commission the whole sort of suite of testing and assessment. And it will be the housing agency through their engineers and their technical teams that then decide what option they feel is appropriate for the homeowners. Would either. Is there any reference to foundations in this new enhanced scheme? Because even if you were okay to proceed with the demolition, I know I wouldn't be building it on the old foundations, but I also know I couldn't afford to put new foundations in. So I would be banjaxed. So is there any reference to foundations in this enhanced scheme? Well, Greg, you just that you've just highlight one of the absolute main issues with this scheme. It's absolutely one of the most serious flaws in the scheme in that it does not address the issue of foundations. So at the moment, we just don't have sufficient scientific research because government has, you know, not commissioned it. Finally, after huge amounts of pressure and obviously huge credit to Paul for actually pushing on that one. But you know, there is research going on now. But we just don't have the inside. Yeah, but who would lay a block? Who would lay a block? Sorry, Lisa, I just want to move along. I hope you don't believe me to be ignorant. That's not my intention. But who would lay a block or a brick on the foundations that have just tossed these crap blocks off of? I mean, no one's going to. But I don't think anyone. Well, maybe they might, but I agree. I entirely agree with you. I entirely agree with you, Greg. And that's a fundamental issue because the reality is, is that homeowners do not know whether the foundations on which they are being pushed to build on are fit for purpose or not fit for purpose. That is the fundamental question. And the government at the moment is not addressing that they're just giving out a blanket statement saying expert opinion is that foundations of purpose. However, that opinion is not scientifically reinforced. So we have this situation where the government wants to push the scheme and push homeowners down a route. But yet the homeowners are understand that how can I possibly build on a foundation if I if I don't know whether it's fit for purpose or not. And it is one of the major major roadblocks in this scheme as it stands at the moment. And you rightly say there's a whole lot of homeowners who will not proceed either because they can't they don't know what to do. They don't have the money to finance it. The government should have taken a far more conservative view with regard to not having the scientific information available. It should have been if in doubt, take it out support the homeowners to move forward with that 100% assurance that what they're building on is fit for purpose. And this issue down the line is never going to reoccur again. Like I'll come back to you know, I want to come back to you because we've got a bit of time and hopefully you to I just think it's really remarkable. I'm not asking or expecting you to comment on it. But I think it's absolutely remarkable that we have a multi billion euro scheme finally announced for this problem. And this problem is primarily at least started in Donegal if we're not the worst affected. And you don't have either the local minister or the housing minister prepared to come on and welcome it or talk about it. I've never experienced anything like that in my life. I don't know if that's telling or just people happen to be busy or whatever the case might be. But it certainly throws up quite a lot of questions for me. I mean, you should be coming on and going wow, we finally brought this through we finally delivered it. And yet, it's announced and no senior government reaction to it at all. It's really quite remarkable. Professor Paul Dunlop is as I say, research director at Frid Geography and environmental scientists at Ulster University and of course an affected home on a pole. Your initial reaction to this as I say, I don't know if there's any surprises, but we actually have this document now we have this, this scheme. What's your, what's your initial reactions? Was my initial reaction would be at least now people have final clarity about what's available to allow them to either move on or at least calculate where they're going to be. So that's that's my initial thought because there's been this has been a very long delay thing since I remember being in the in the door last year, given scientific evidence to the housing committee, you know, for the day that was meant to be pre-legislative scrutiny, which it wasn't. But you know, the whole idea that was that we need to get this through quickly because we need to get people's homes, facts, but I mean, there's been information dropped throughout the public the last year and nothing has really changed. But at least it's there. It's black and white. So people can now go on to see the rates that you get for your homes. So if your homes up to 180 square meters, you get 2045 euro per square meter above that, you get less. So interestingly, they've brought on a sliding scale again. You know, there was a lot of kickback from that, if you remember. But effectively, that's what's been brought on again. So my initial feeling at the minute, without having much insight into what buildings cost, is that if you're on the smaller end of the scale, you're going to have a better chance of a grant that might get you moving again than if you're in a larger house, you know, like, it won't take you long to have the cap at a quick calculation. So if your house is up to 180 square meters, you'll get 368,100 pounds. And then there's a cap of 420. So above that, you've, above that house size, you want to get 51900 to play with. You know, you don't have much more. So I think people on bigger homes are going to be really disappointed by this because they're going to be left significantly short in terms of a redress scheme that's been promising to get people 100%. It's not, it's definitely not smaller homes, but probably could be there there about defending on the sort of specific cases they have in their home. But, you know, you got to remember to take out, you got to take out the people who went through stage one already, you're going to lose six grand or there, thereabouts from your testing fees that you've got to, that comes off the top of your grants. Then you got to take on the fees for your engineer or your architect or your, what are they called? There's like three different types of professionals, a quantity surveyor, a chart surveyor can be part of as well. So it depends on what their fees are, that's going to get chunked out of the grant as well too. And then if you decide, for example, that you're not prepared to build on your foundations, because your foundation concrete can't have the same suppliers, your blocks, it's your houses falling apart from, then that's an additional cost. So I think in the next few months, you're going to get a clear idea of how this grant's going to fall out for people. But there are at least a bit of hope now today that people can go and actually start calculating what they're going to get and they can start talking to builders and see if they're going to be there or thereabouts. In relation to this being 100% scheme, we revisited all of this because the 9010 scheme wasn't a 9010 scheme at all. I'm just confused as to in terms of, you know, the demolition, you know, inevitably foundations having to be changed and the rebuild cost, what kind of a house, how big a house, because you can't build a smaller house than the one you've knocked down, how big a house could you build for 420,000 euro with all the additional costs? I mean, maybe if you've got a three bedroom bungalow, could you possibly change the foundations and rebuild the house back to the way it was before you were infected with this this effective material? I mean, do we know? Could you build a three bedroom bungalow? If that's what you actually had? I mean, what can you get with everything that would have to be spent for 420,000? It's a good question. I mean, I think I think it would be really good if you could get an architect or a quantity surveyor on the program and talk to them because they should know the details of this. I mean, I know that's ultimately defective homeowners have been given a rate by this, the the SCSI rates. But I mean, well, that reflects reality on the ground, you know, they could tell you better than than something like myself, you know, on that end of things. But, you know, if it's definitely clear that the rates that are being given are higher for the smaller end of the homes in Donegal than the higher end, the ones that are larger. And, you know, I do feel really sorry for the people who invested early on. They have a sort of larger home. They're going to be out when you see the thing is, is I'll bring Lisa back into a second, especially with this slide and scale being brought back in. It doesn't really talk to how things work in this county, how people might afford to or to build a larger home, because it sort of presumes that if you have a larger home, you have you are better resourced, but that's not always the case that you might have someone who lives their life somewhat differently, or is very handy that's able to build a larger home compared to what I might be able to, because I'm going to have to sort of get contractors and stuff to do it. But this sort of talks to the fact that if you have a larger square footage, then clearly you've got better resources, or at least you should have, but that's simply just not a reality here. I mean, it's really flawed assessment from the government, the facts, what they're thinking is, you know, ultimately, it doesn't matter if people build bigger houses or smaller houses, you know, your circumstances are what your circumstances are. And if you're early on, you could afford to build a larger home. It's absolutely no fault of yours that you were supplied defective blocks from aggregates that were non-compliant under EU regulations, and your houses now fall apart. I mean, it's a real travesty, you know, people have been ultimately, when you go back to the root source of this, I mean, people have been really badly impacted by failure of government to regulate the construction industry in Ireland. That's what this problem is. And it doesn't matter if your house is by a thousand square foot home, you bought the material and good faith, and you were sold at effective product, and they should have put that right. But they went down, as you know, they went down every route possible to make this as difficult as possible for homeowners. Lisa, I mean, obviously, you know, we compare this to other schemes that have been there. And we've been doing that over the course of the last couple of years, how Donegal homeowners are being treated differently to other affected homeowners. We celebrate that other people affected by the likes of Pyrite and what have you got a better deal. But we, it is literally geographical discrimination why our homeowners in Donegal and the other affected counties not being treated the same as they say, we're not having to pump this money out now. We're not having to dig into all of our reserves. This is a multi year scheme with lots of clawback as well in it. Let's not forget as well in terms of creating employment, but also that and all that kind of stuff. It still doesn't really, we still don't know Lisa why Donegal and other homeowners are being treated to other homeowners whose houses and flats and apartments deteriorated through no fault of their own. I just think the reality is unfortunately geography plays a huge factor in the way that we're treated. Unfortunately, we're not on the doorstep of Lester house. We are four hours down the road. Donegal is often being referred to as the forgotten county. And this crisis really underlines that, you know, when it comes to crunch matters like this, that is unfortunately very true. Also, just if you think about the political representation here, unfortunately, we don't have a huge wave of government ministers and TDs within the county. I think there is a calculated risk gone on here in terms of how much they're prepared to lose potentially politically. And those in Lester with regard to pirate or those in Lester with regard to defective apartments, they have far greater political sway purely by the fact of their geographical location. And it is but it is this is this is a civil rights issue. It is a civil rights issue because the homeowners who are victim to this issue, which is regulatory and market surveillance failure on behalf of the state, which supplied defective product into the market for years and years unchecked. We are the victim in the same way as anybody else, whether it to be defective apartments, victims of pirate and floors. But yet we are being treated very, very differently. And we are not anywhere near the 100% redress that the government is continually talking about. And it is discrimination. And it is a civil rights issue. Yeah, but but I mean, like, it is what it is. As I say, you know, let's say, for instance, people wait to find out some clarity on on the on the foundations, for an example, that postage also pushes us ever closer to a general election, for an example. So are people going to say, right, well, by the time if we ever get clarity on the foundations, I might as well wait another year because the opposition has made these amazing promises. It'd be unbelievable if they were able to follow through on those. But also we've got the the efforts ongoing in Europe. We've got the court case that's that is taking place. Is anyone going to roll the dice and spend an additional 50, 60, 70, 80,000 euro engaging in this scheme when there are a few other irons in the fire? Do you know what I mean? And this is not I'm not criticising the scheme. I don't know. I'm just simply trying to tease out the reality of people's lives here in Donegal. I mean, who is going to not sort of say, well, let's see how Coleman legal get on, or let's see how our European devours get on, or let's see if Sinn Fein actually back back at what they're saying, because they've promised the sun, August the moon, August the stars. What what what? How do you think the public will react, Lisa? And I'll ask Paul the same question once you've finished. I think it's very much going to depend on each homeowner's individual take and circumstance. There are homeowners who just literally cannot wait. They feel that they have to move forward because they're in desperate circumstances and time is not on their side. And they basically have to move forward. There are all those who I think, as you point out, may sort of hedge their bets and see what happens down the road. That's if they have that luxury of maybe being in a home that's not so badly affected. So I think personal circumstances are going to dictate how people move forward and also means and resources. That's also going to dictate. There are many people who's they're so badly impacted with regards to their mental health. They just can't bear the thought of actually having to deal with this for this prolonged amount of time. And to be honest, even if they're having to put considerable resource of their own into it to get to the other side to have this issue out of their lives. There's many homeowners that we've talked to are in that situation. They just say, it's really difficult. I don't really have the resources, but I'm going to do everything I can to get to the other side. And I'll use the scheme in the best way I can to support that and go forward. Paul, I've got the same question to you. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, I think that people who can afford to move on will move on. That's what I think. I mean, we're all caught in quite a sort of horrific situation where your family home is ruined, but there will be people who can afford to move on. And I think that they will. And for the people who can't afford to move on, they're going to be stuck in limbo. And their only hope really for 100% redress and for the affordability of this game is if coalman legal works, do you know what I mean? Even though they're in the Evers in Europe are happening, those in the Evers are really about trying to stop this happening again in the future. Like the European Commission, from my understanding of being there with them, they will not be acting in retrospectively or trying to go back to the Evers government going, you know, you actually need to do right by these people and give them a full 100% address. This is clearly about one thing only from their point of view is to understand market surveillance in Ireland and ensuring that it's not a paper exercise, but it's something that is working effectively. And we clearly know that it's not because we've seen myriad feeling from the market surveillance office down in Dublin stating that it's a national emergency. So I think just ask you a question if you can afford it, I think you will. And I totally agree with Lisa. There are people who are just absolutely in dire straits mentally trying to look at their home, falling apart, run their ears and will have no choice but being they have to do this. I think that it would be good if you could get the 100% address focus groups on and talk about that. There's a yeah, well, we'll over the coming days for sure. Yeah, because there's a group doing work on the backing side and the finances is this, you know, and what's really disappointing in this legislation is that the backing sector and the insurance sector have got off completely scoff free. So, you know, they need to come to table to help people move on with their lives as well, too. Okay, Professor Paul Donlop. Thanks for your time. I really do appreciate you taking the invite. Are you all right to hold for a second, at least, are you? Yeah. Okay, all right. I've got to take a very quick break and then if Councillor Martin McDermott is going to be joining us then as well. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. The Night on Noon show is brought to you by Letterkenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie I got my new answer result. I was like, what am I going to do now? Like, there wasn't, I was a little bit stuck for a while. I didn't really know what path I was going to go down. I'm so glad like I did the PLC instead of going into a course that I wasn't 100 percent sure on. And I really enjoyed it. Like, I'm literally like reckoning it to all my friends now. Choose the path that's right for you. Choose further education and training. Learn more at ThisisFET.ie Transform your home with a visit to McGinley's furniture, Letterkenny, located at the Port Link business park just off the Port Road. You'll find a huge selection of top quality suites, beds and mattresses. Also, slide robes and custom made dining and occasional furniture with prices to suit every budget. See the great choice for yourself at our showroom. McGinley's Furniture Port Link Business Park Port Road Letterkenny. Click McGinley's Furniture dot com. We're sorry to inform you of yet another delay. No, not the train this time. It's John. He's delayed getting his eyes tested. If he's accidentally sat in your lap, knocked over your suitcase or kissed you instead of his wife, we can only apologise. John has now been informed that I test sunglasses from the 69 Euro range of speck savers are free with PRSI or medical card. So there's no need to delay booking an appointment. Find out more at specksavers.ie. John, can you get off my lap? OK, so as I mentioned, just just to be absolutely fair, believe it or not, I do try and be. We invited Minister Charlie McConaughe on, but he sent a text. He's not available to come on. He says I would love to, but as I've made it very clear previously, I'll be not taking any further. Sorry, I'll be not talking any further to Greg Hughes. As I've made it clear that his show is infused and dominated by his views on all issues and is biased entirely towards his own views on every matter of importance. It's an unfortunate situation that our county can't get impartial coverage when he's presenting on what is the only morning show in the county. So that's Minister McConaughe's review of this show. Not not glowing, I have to say. Now, what I would suggest is you listen to any program, be it LiveLine, Claire Byrne, any show whatsoever, where issues of the day are discussed and those issues are not driven by the presenter. They're driven by listeners, concerned groups, families that represent people with with with with autism trying to get services, people who are trying to engage with the health service, people who are campaigning for roads infrastructure. It seems now that if you give those people a voice that you are being seen as being impartial or you're seen and that personally, if I am, I apologize. I certainly it's never my intention. That's not what I come across. Oh, that's not what I try to do. I'm not a shock jock. It is literally to give the people of Donegal in the Northwest a space where they can express their views, not for me to express my views. If there is glaring issues, it's impossible not to comment. Will you listen to any other show, any other show and it is precisely the same. Any other independent station, any other calling show, listen to it and you'll hear it is presented pretty much in the same fashion. But anyway, I fully respect the minister's views in that regard. Right. Councillor Martin McDermott. What's your and I do appreciate you speaking to me, Martin. What is your views on all of this? Not when I say on all of this, I don't I don't I'm certainly not going to stick it to you. I don't mean the text, Martin. I what's your views on all of this as it relates to the more important issue of of this scheme and the people it affects. Good morning, Greg. Good morning, Lisa. I think it's an important day, Greg, for a lot of families, because, you know, over the last particularly over the last six months, we've been in a situation where we've been constantly waiting on regulations to be enacted and families that have went ahead and started work, started balding, demolishing and rebuilding, remediating their homes. Dependent that regulations is going to be enacted in March, April, May, June, now it's July, taking that chance of going ahead, thinking that extra money would be available and finding themselves in very, very, very difficult circumstances. So it's an important day for those families because they've taken the chance and as I say, found themselves whittin' and whittin' and whittin' on the regulations to come out so that they could get the extra money. Look, the regulations, the guidelines, they're all out there now, I suppose they're nothing particularly massively new what we had going back to March time. There are some changes there was over the last three or four weeks there's been quite a lot of engagement with the department. I suppose from our perspective, from Dunneagall County Council's perspective, we would have been disappointed that the engagement with ourselves has been so late in the day and the leavens are. We would have thought and we would have expected engagement with the local authority at a lot earlier basis than what had happened. But look, it has happened and we have had engagement with officials from the department. Our officials from the council have had quite a bit of engagement with officials from the department in the last three or four weeks to try and streamline some of the process that we're going to have with this new scheme. And one of the big issues that we touched on this yesterday, Greg, was the building condition assessment and the issue in relation to planning compliance in relation to building regulation compliance. That building regulation compliance has now been removed. The planning compliance is still there. That will be something that people will have to think about and make sure that the house that they are going on to the scheme with is planning compliant. And if it's not, that was something that will have to be dealt with before they do enter the scheme through the local authority and through the housing agency. So was that something that we would have been trying to remove as well but it was something that the department weren't prepared to take out the planning. They did, as I say, remove the one for the building regulations. There are other elements as well, Greg, that we do need to keep the pressure on and try to change and try to move forward with one in particular in relation to the kind of house that's been passed on from a family member dies to another family member. That has to be the principal private residence. We don't feel that that's right. We think that's something that needs to change. The department have given us a commitment that they will engage with us on a regular basis now once the scheme is enacted. But I suppose over the next two or three months, the big emphasis from a council perspective is to get the applications that are... People are live on at the minute that are building their houses and the applications that people have done remediation over the last two or three years to get those people their money back, to get them the money that they have to get to 247 was the last amount that they were getting and now they're being paid up to a max of $420,000 less the auxiliary cost. So I think that's the most important thing that the council have to do in the next couple of months is to get that money paid back to those people and particularly the people that's, as I say, that are building their houses. So Martin, I mean, obviously, other than the stuff that the work will continue on, I mean, do you think for everyone? I mean, some people, this is going to be, it will get them back into a house with hopefully a minimum of money out of the pocket. For many, it won't. Yeah. Is this 100% scheme? Is this the scheme we were promised? Do you rate this a good scheme? If that's a fair question for the majority of people? Well, is it 100% for everyone? No, it's not. I think it will have to be clear. It's not 100% for everyone, Greg. It's 100% for people that have a certain size of house, for people that have a house that's somewhere over 2,300 square foot. Those families will certainly have to dip into their pocket. There's no way out of that. So to say it's 100% for everyone, I think we'll be wrong. It's not. It's certainly a much, much better scheme than the 9010 scheme. It certainly brings a lot of extra people onto the umbrella of being able to afford to remediate their house. It has made the process a lot more simpler at stage two and stage three, where you won't have to go through the process of the stage two. Particularly it's been very cumbersome in the 9010 scheme where you had to get all your costs and divide them all out into different elements and that had all to be done through the local authority. That has been taken away. So the process at stage two will certainly be simpler. But to answer your question, it's not 100% for everyone, absolutely not. All right, okay, with the work continues. All right, thank you very much indeed, Martin. I appreciate it. I genuinely do appreciate you coming on the show and I hope me and you always have a fair and balanced exchange. Thanks, thank you very much. Take care of yourself, Martin. Right, Lisa, last word to you then. As I say, you know what? I think Paul made some good suggestions about looking at the other avenues and working groups that are ongoing. But at least we have some sort of, at least we have some sort of, we have something now and we can, people can see what is in it for them, how they can make it work, whether they wanna work with it. That sort of anticipation in the last minute we have, Lisa, at least that's, we have something we can get our teeth into, whether it tastes good or not. Yeah, I think so. I think like the insertion to the endless delays, the misdeadlines, I think that's been a very, very cruel process for homeowners, very frustrating process for homeowners. And I think there is relief that even though it's not everything that homeowners wanted and needed, it certainly is definite. And now they can get to grips with, obviously, you know, the reality of a scheme as opposed to promises and pledges, this is real now. And for those people who have not even been able to go near the scheme, there is an opportunity there now. There's a lot of people locked out because they just plainly could not afford, you know, thousands of euros to commission IS465 engineers' reports. For those people now, there is a pathway forward. So I think now, you know, we need to take this away. We need to digest. Everybody concerned needs to, you know, read the questions and answers, read the guidelines, get into it. Probably the your questions and answers is probably the most friendly version if homeowners are thinking, how does this work? Where do I start? I would recommend them to go to that. And then they will understand how it affects their particular situation. OK, Lisa, thanks for your time this morning. I appreciate it. Take care of yourself. Lisa Holn, there's chair of Micah Action Group. OK, we'll be back with more on your 9th El Nune show. After 10, we've got community guard information. Then later on, Father Sean Daherty will be joining us for a conversation. Stay tuned for all of that. We're heading towards the news now. The 9th El Nune show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from Letter Kenny Credit Union. Call us on 074 910 2126 or apply online via our app or in office today. For great valuing suits, visit Watson Men's Wear in Letter Kenny. Top labels like Rimasumo, 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 Watson Men's Wear, open seven days a week on Main Street, Letter Kenny. See Watson Men's Wear dot com. Planning on renovating your garden this summer, then look no further than Dale Sight Garden Furniture with a full range of sizes and garden sheds, wooden and steel, summer houses, playhouses, outdoor canopies, fencing and much more. Find us on social media. Made to measure and one-off designs are our specialty. Call today on 087 11247 666. 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With stores at Main Street Letter Kenny and the Letter Kenny Shopping Center or online at armaculloch.com you can choose from their quality product range in a relaxed atmosphere and their sales staff will be happy to help you make the right choice, whatever the occasion. Armaculloch eulers, making moments magical for generations. Castings throughout the Northwest and across the world online. This is Phylon Radio. Dogu Dostachu, Highland Radio. Air online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning, it's 10 o'clock. Donald Kavanaugh at the news desk. The Enhanced Defective Concrete Block Scheme has commenced with more detail of its operations and the regulations. Here's Tara Duggan. Minister O'Brien has announced the commencement of the Enhanced Defective Concrete Block Scheme. It's said to provide grants of up to 420,000 euro for affected homeowners in counties Donegal, Mayo, Limerick and Clare. The scheme is now open to new applications. Transitional arrangements for the transfer of applicants from the current scheme to the new scheme are in place. This includes a retrospective benefit from enhancements made in the new scheme. The housing minister says it will mark a new beginning for those who need to remediate their homes. And there are more details of the scheme, of course, on our website, highlandradio.com. Well, Defective Blocks Ireland and Coleman Legal have reiterated that their High Court action is going ahead. The closing date to join the legal action is this coming Friday, July 7th. There has already been 2,400 people join the case. They say this landmark case is intended to protect the rights of all those impacted by the Defective Concrete Crisis and endeavours to achieve full redress, ensuring the complete restoration of homeowners' losses. That action is also being supported by the Micah Action Group. Well, on this morning's 9 till noon show, it's chairperson Lisa Hohn discussed the issue in depth with Greg Hughes, and she stressed this is not a political issue. It's a civil rights one. This is a civil rights issue. It is a civil rights issue because the homeowners who are victim to this issue, which is regulatory and market surveillance failure on behalf of the state, which supplied defective product into the market for years and years unchecked. And we are not anywhere near the 100% redress that the government is continually talking about. It is discrimination. Lisa Hohn there, that was part of a lengthy conversation that Greg had with both Lisa and Professor Paul Dunlop about the redress scheme, about the legal action and other elements of the Defective Block Crisis. You can listen back to that entire conversation now on our website, highlandradio.com. Of course, later on in the early afternoon, the 9 till noon show will be podcast and available across our website, our social media channels and on our YouTube channel as well. Other news in three men have been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a PSNI Senior Officer Interone earlier this year. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot multiple times at a sports centre outside Oma on February 22nd. The PSNI say three men aged 45, 47 and 58 were detained in the Newton Abbey, Coal Island and Belfast areas this morning. They've been taken to the Musgrove serious crime suite for questioning under the Terrorism Act. It brings the number of arrests in connection with the attempted murder so far to 31. Free GP care will be provided to an additional half a million people under new plans being brought to cabinet. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly says from next month, children aged six and seven will be able to avail of the free GP visit card while those earning up to the median household income of 47,000 euro a year will be included later. Minister Donnelly says it's a move toward universal health care. There are many in the middle who simply cannot afford it and we do not want a situation where people put off going to see their GP. So this is a really important measure, half a million men, women and children and it's in two parts. So it includes now children aged six and seven, all children aged six and seven and it includes up to the median household income. The HSE says the development of a crisis resolution team is a key priority for Donnelly in 2024. There's been a cautious welcome to confirmation that work is in progress to secure the resources necessary. Currently there are five crisis resolution team pilot schemes in operation across the country. Councillor Jerry McMunnigal however says there is no guarantee that a team will be in place here next year. When I probed out there a bit more and asked how often they would be that there would be a crisis resolution team in place in Donnelly Gull for 2024. They said no, that that wouldn't be the case, that there was a number I think of five pilot schemes being run around the country at the minute and they're going to take a learning from that and out of that they'll decide where other crisis resolution teams need to be located. The government is being warned another giveaway budget could risk overheating the economy. The summed economic statement is expected to reveal a 10 billion euro surplus this year. However, finance and public expenditure ministers are expected to outline that the extra money is coming in through corporate tax which they say can't be depended on into the future. However, Sunday Business Post columnist John Walsh says the coalition parties might be tempted to announce a bumper budget in October. We're one of the strongest growing economies in the EU. We're projected to have a budget surplus of about 10 billion this year and 16 billion next year. So in that context it was always going to be very, very difficult for politicians to say let's exercise some fiscal restraint maybe it's not a good idea to spend too much money but the problem is we're in an election cycle and you know politicians need to spend if they want to get re-elected. With the forecast sunny spells and frequent heavy showers at first some of those showers may emerge to longer spells of rain as the day goes on. drier intervals will spread from the northwest through the afternoon highs to day 14 to 17 degrees Celsius in moderate to occasionally fresh west to northwest winds. That's Helen Redion News Back with news again at 11 o'clock. Until then, from the news team. Good morning. The obituary notices this Tuesday morning, July 4th. The death has taken place of Joe Mullen, 15 Cronview, Strabane, reposing at his home tomorrow from two o'clock. Funeral leaving his home on Friday at 9.25 a.m. Barraque and Mass in St Mary's Church, Melmont at 10 a.m. Entearment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Donations in lieu of flowers please to the Foilside Hospice care of Quigley Funeral Directors, Strabane. Family time please from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. The Rakeway and Mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam. The death has occurred of Father Carlo Centra, the Shilling Church Bray Fawn. His remains will be reposing at his late residence today from three o'clock. Removal on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m., going to St Mary's Church Cock Hill, arriving at 3 p.m. for reception prayers. Rakeway and Mass on Friday morning at 11 a.m., followed by Entearment in the adjoining cemetery. Family time please from 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu if desired to Bunkrana Community Hospital and Nazareth House Fawn care of any family member or Murphy Funeral Directors. Father Centra's Rakeway and Mass can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv. The death has occurred of Tessie Dolan Nimaq, 23 Treenamongan Road, Ahyarn. Remains are reposing at the family home. Funeral from the family home tomorrow morning at half past 10 for Rakeway and Mass at 11 a.m. in St Patrick's Church, Ahyarn. Entearment afterwards in the adjoining church yard. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu if desired to Palliative Care at Nagelvin Hospital care of any family member. Family time please from 10 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow morning. The death has occurred of Cecil Greer, Hillcrest Remelton Dunny Gall. Remains are reposing at his late residence. Funeral service in Remelton Presbyterian Church at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon followed by interment in Bank Cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu to Dunny Gall Hospice care of any family member. The death has taken place of Union Care, Chrysla Beg, Chrysla, and formerly of Munya Fanad, Dunny Gall. His remains are reposing at his home. Funeral mass in St. Michael's Church, Chrysla tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. with burial afterwards in Doe Cemetery. Mass can be viewed on mcnmedia.tv. Family time please from 10 o'clock tonight and on the morning of the funeral tomorrow. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu if desired to the COPD Foundation care of any family member or James Harkin Funeral Director. The death has occurred of Denise McDade, Mindauren Klonmanee. Her remains are reposing at her parents' residence, Mindauren Klonmanee. Funeral from there tomorrow morning at half past 10 going to St. Mary's Church Klonmanee for requiem mass at 11 a.m. and interment afterwards in the new cemetery. Family time please from 10 o'clock tonight. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to Ard Avon Alzheimer's unit or Karn Donna, care of any family member or McPhilly Funeral Directors. Denise's funeral mass can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. The death has occurred of Maj Boil Stra Castle, Glentys. Her remains are reposing at her residence. Funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in St. Connell's Church Glentys with burial afterwards in the local cemetery. Family time please from 11 p.m. Funeral mass can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. For more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. Whether it's golfing, gardening, or going for a new personal best, at Neurofen we know sometimes body pain can stop you in your tracks. Time for the power of new Neurofen long lasting for body pain relief that lasts up to 12 hours day or night. So you keep doing what you're doing and we'll do the long lasting body pain relief. Up to 12 hours pain relief refers to a 2 by 300 milligram capsule dose. Neurofen long lasting 300 milligram pro long release hard capsules contain ibuprofen. For backache and muscular pain and period pain, always read the label. Okay, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. A very good morning if you just have to joining us. It is 10, 11 minutes past 10 now on Tuesday, the 4th of July, 2023. Coming up shortly, we'll have community guard information for you later on. Father Sean Daharty joining us for a chat as well. Like lots of you have texted in off the back of Minister Charlie McConnell's decision whether or not to participate in conversations. And it's a mix. I'll read, I have to agree with Charlie says Helen. Sadly, I totally agree with an opinion expressed by Charlie McConnell, I agree with Gregory, not just about his issues, but in general, I've said this to colleagues many times, fair play to Charlie McConnell, about time people took a stand against rude and biased presenting. And then there's considerably more that have a different point of view. But I don't think I'm going to read them out because I don't want to get involved in anything. We're talking here about an issue, a real genuine issue that affects thousands and thousands of people's lives here. And that's what we do every day in this program. What I'm going to say is this, I've read out a few of the ones that agree and I appreciate the ones that don't, but I'm not going to sit here and read them out and because it's unfair. Do you know what I mean? I don't want to be engaged in any spat or I'm not going to use this platform. I'm not going to use this program to sit and read a load of comments critical of someone else. I just don't think that would be fair. So I've read some of the ones that are coming in that agree. I think that's fair, isn't it? And I appreciate the ones that disagree, but I'm not going to, as I said, I just don't think it's right to sit here and read them out because I just don't think that would be fair on Minister McConnell for an example. But I'll read you general comments that come in on an everyday basis. Hey, Greg, but as I said, I genuinely appreciate someone taking the phone out and going to the mother of text. Now, I hope you understand my reasoning, do you? Hi, Greg, we've just received the OK to... I'm a very normal, actually, very normal part I don't... I'm not really interested in being... I genuinely try and come in here and use this platform to try and do something positive. It's not agenda-driven. Anyone who knows or works around me, I presume the people that work closest with me, know my political views. I'm completely apolitical. I've no political affiliation. I've no political friends. I've never benefited from anyone in any political way, shape or form. I've never done anything been told to say or do anything for any particular reason. The only thing that's ever happened is that people have tried to stop me saying certain things at very... In very... Particularly in the context of what's going at the moment in RTE in very strange ways, all right? Let me just put like that there. But I don't want to get involved in anything whereby it's me or someone else that we're talking about and not the actual issues as to why I come to work every day. It's the only reason I do it anyway. Greg, we've just received the OK to demolish. Unfortunately, we cannot wait for the science on foundations because the scheme states we must start rebuilding in 18 months and it must be completed within 15 months from commencement. So they're sort of in a catch 22 there, aren't they? High 3,200 square foot house. Our tenders have come back for our rebuild to A-rated standards without foundations as not required in previous stage two applications as 700,000 plus architect fees, 7K, engineering fees from start to finish around 30K, QS fees where quotes from 17K for a full QS, that quantity, survey or service from start to finish. I'm in work, hence the approximate fees. We've been told our house probably won't be worth what we will pay for it when it's finished. So am I reading that correctly that for a 3,200 square foot house it's going to cost you 700,000 plus to rebuild? I presume that's what that's saying. Minister McConnelog stated in the current on a community town hall meeting earlier this year that the sliding scale would not form part of the new revised scheme. He was adamant that the sliding scale would be abolished on the day that the new rates were announced and it was actually the sliding scale which was formed the basis of one of myself and Mr. McConnelog's last conversations. Remiker scheme, has there ever been clarification around how the debris from all these houses to be rebuilt is going to be dealt with? How and where will it be disposed of? There doesn't seem to be much discussion around this. Well, we actually discussed this yesterday and that's going out to tender and it is believed that there will be a commercial venture that there might be two or three companies involved and they will be the agents for disposing of this material. That is currently ongoing at the moment. It hasn't actually been finalised or formalised but councillors are speaking with the executive about that just as we speak. So you might expect to have two or three people that will have the licences for the transportation and disposal of this from this waste. So that's literally an up-to-date position on that question that you had there. Old-age pensioners, can there be a discussion about how badly pensioners are treated in this country? In order for your pension not to be affected you're not allowed to have more than 20,000 It seems that you get rewarded for squandering your money and punished for holding on to it. That's a separate issue there. Hi Greg, can you ask if we have applied have application number with Donegal County Council will they contact homeowners? We'll try and get some clarity on that for you. I myself had stated process but couldn't get engineered to test houses they have pulled out of for a scheme. I'm now waiting for second scheme which is now active for you. The foundation blocks of the new government are defective concrete, says a listener. Another morning Greg, do you know if landlords can avail of the new scheme? There is a provision in it as it relates to RTB registered properties. Bottom line is no one in government can add example. 231 square meters, HSC government allowance, 2045 per meter squared, up to 180 meters squared, 368,100, 1,250 after 180 meter squared, this is the sliding scale, equals 63,750. Total, 4,331,850. Max grant, 420,000. Shortfall already, 11,850. Actual cost to rebuild at least 550,000 euro. Overall shortfall, 130,000 euro. How is this 100% redress they say? I just noticed that 100% redress is just not really a buzzword or it's not really been used at the moment. I would love the harp to stay on the passport but change, cover to dark green. Yeah, that would be nice. Leave the harp alone on the passport, says another. Why don't they design a passport cover? You put your passport in, have whatever you want and it's up to the individual if they want to waste their money. What do you see? I suppose you have to conform internationally, don't you? And the issue being that you will see when you're at an airport, though it's a long time since I was at one, they ask you to even remove it from any case. You know, some people have some nice little covers for them but I think you have to normally take them off, don't they? Well, don't you? Greg, the harp's okay. We don't need to change everything for diversity. I'm not sure it's to do with diversity because the shamrock could replace the harp or a red squirrel could replace the harp. Those are the options that are being considered. Greg, maybe a green coloured passport with a wee leprechaun on it would be nice. Okay, I'm not sure if you mean that or not. But anyway, don't want the stories. Okay, let us take a break. We've so much to get through today and we want to get on to community guarder information as well too to see what help you can offer or help on Garda Siakana. They'll be joining us with that very shortly. Stay right where we are. It's been one of those mornings. Stay right where you are. We have the bingo numbers coming up for you right now. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Tuesday, the 4th of July. You're playing on a brown coloured sheet. The reference number is S12. It's game number 27. The numbers are 84. 61. 13. 62. 27. 82. 64. 63. 58. And 65. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 p.m. tonight, leaving your name, contact number, and the name of the shop where you purchased your book. Get all your NCBI radio bingo information at highlandvideo.com. HomeStoreAndMore.ie. New store now open in Frascati Centre, Black Rock Dublin. HomeStoreAndMore. A happy home. You're now 20% off. Just book your wedding suits before August 31st and get a whopping 20% off. Don't stand still. Evolve. Letty Kenney Retail Park. Turns and conditions apply. Share it in security systems, protecting what you value most. Call today and get your zero-wire alarm system from 299 Euro. Share it in security, 911-26025. Now, 22 minutes past 10 on this Tuesday, the 4th of July, 2023. Time for community guard information. And I'm really pleased to welcome back on to the show Garda Sean, Swinney Attached to the Bunkrana Guarder Station. Hi, Sean. Great to have you on. Morning, Greg. Thanks for having me. It's a busy item today. And, Garda, more information and reissuing in appeal as it relates to the alleged assault in Sleeve League last weekend. Yeah, this investigation is continuing in the circumstances of the alleged assault that was reported to have occurred in Sleeve League, Killebake's area on Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th of June. So yesterday morning, Monday the 3rd, Garda E with the assistance of the Coast Guard recovered a body from the water at Sleeve League. An incident has now been established, the Balashana Guarder Station under the direction of a senior investigating officer. So the investigating Garda E continues to appeal to anybody who traveled in the area of Killebake Sleeve League between the afternoon of Saturday the 24th of June and the evening of Sunday the 25th of June and observed any activity which drew their attention to come forward. We ask any road users who travel in these areas at those times who may have dashcam footage to make this available to Garda E and anyone any information to contact the Balashana Guarder Station on 0719858530 the confidential line on 18006118 or need any Guarder Station. Now an appeal as it relates to a burglary in Burnford, Sean? Yes, it occurred in the area of Tuben, Burnford on Tuesday the 27th of June between the hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. approximately. So a philosophy arrow, electric scooter was stolen from an unlocked shed of the property in that area between those times. The scooter in question is black in colour of the word philosophy arrow and a small Italian flag on the body of it. This particular type of scooter is very distinctive. It has a seat and handlebars which can be removed to convert it to a skateboard. It also has very large wheels. So if anybody has any information in relation to the current location of the scooter or any other relevant information we ask them to contact on CRANA on 0749320540 again the confidential line 18006611 on our Facebook page today. So you say really quite distinctive and that will become apparent when that picture is posted. OK, the public help being sought in relation to a burglary now in Carindona? Yes, this occurred in the business premises in the business park in Carindona. In the early hours of Thursday the 29th of June at approximately 3.55 a.m. The glass side door of the business was smashed open with a brick. Two people entered the building and stole a quant-free confectionery. So we appeal to anybody who travel in that area who has dashcam footage making it available and any other relevant information please contact GERDI and MOKRANA on 9320540. Alright, so now investigations into criminal damage in Letter Kenney. Yes, this occurred at Beechwood Road in Letter Kenney Town between Monday the 26th of June at 6.30 p.m. and Tuesday the 27th of June at 1.30 p.m. Carers parked in that location between those times damages caused the driver's window, door and steering column. If anybody observed any suspicious activity we asked them to contact with GERDI and Letter Kenney on 9167100. Alright, okay, now we'll move on to criminal damage in the Green Castle area, I believe. Yeah, this happened on the lower road through Green Castle between 11 p.m. on Wednesday the 28th of June and 6.30 p.m. on Thursday the 29th of June. The front of a house at that location was repainted and a rear window smashed. No one to risqué into the house so we're appealing to anybody who may have observed any suspicious activity in that area between those times contact GERDI and Moncranagh again 9320540 over the confidential line 18006111. Alright, now that third criminal damage appeared, it's down to Letter Kenney again. Yeah, this occurred in One Mile View shortly after 3.00 p.m. on Sunday the 2nd of July. A male entered the driveway of a house in that area and he proceeded to smash the back one screen of a car before leaving a foot. So again, we're appealing to anybody who may have travelled that area whose dashcam footage to make it available and any relevant information to GERDI and Letter Kenney on 9167100. Right, okay, now theft of tools I believe at Neil T. Blaney Road. Yeah, this occurred between midnight and 1.00 p.m. on the morning of Wednesday the 28th of June. Number of tools were stolen from a yard that's located just off the poster around a bit across from the tourist office. The tools that were stolen include a bell, orange, wacker plate, a yellow rock breaker, a steel, orange, white console. We appeal to anybody who may have noticed any sort of vehicle pulling to that location between those times to make contact. Again, if anybody passed that area whose dashcam footage between midnight and 1.00 p.m. we ask them to make it available and should anybody come across those tools for sale on a second-hand basis over the coming days or weeks please alert GERDI and Letter Kenney on 9167100. Yeah, because vehicular activity would not be unusual except for the time so if it's stood out in someone's mind and as I say, you know, those are reasonably significant in size, those items so it would take a bit of moving. Alright, okay, any information to GERDI and Letter Kenney you just heard from Sean there now. Theft of a van now in a shone. Yeah, this was Blue Volkswagen as a part of registration of 06DL80 it was taken from Mintala Balimagan, Moqrana between 11 p.m. on Monday the 26th of June and 6.30 a.m. on Tuesday the 27th at which time the van in question was located at Ned Point in Moqrana. Damage being caused to the van and it was discovered abandoned on the slipway with the lights on by an early morning swimmer. We would like to hear from anybody who believes they may have observed this van been driven at any stage between those times. Again, anybody related to the theft or the criminal damage caused to this we ask them to contact GERDI and Moqrana on 9320540. Alright, and a follow-up now in relation to an appeal from last week, Sean? Yeah, this appeals in relation to the theft of a vehicle from McMahan Villas between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Tuesday the 27th of June. The current question is awaiting us on March registration of 162D 28892 This vehicle was then located in fire in the area of College Farm Road in Latter-Kinney shortly after 9.30 a.m. on June the 27th. So if anybody travelled in the area of McMahan Villas between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Tuesday the 27th or in the area of College Farm Road between 8.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. you may have dashed campfire as we asked to contact GERDI in Latter-Kinney on 9167100. Alright, and there was some interesting information important information as it relates to vehicles, what vehicles can be vulnerable or how you can protect your vehicle on the item last week so well worth listening back to that if that's in relation to you. Right, okay criminal damage in Bunkrana now. Yeah, so each year artwork was erected for the Feel Good Fortnight yarn bombing around the town of Bunkrana. It's the most global annual event both in Bunkrana town and a massive amount of time and effort was into making the event excess. As part of this event artwork was placed around a tree beside the public library on St Mary's Road on the 24th of June and sometime between then and the 29th of June it was pulled down and discarded in the car park beside the library. It has been recovered but has been damaged. If anybody has any information in relation to this incident we ask them to please contact GERDI in Munkrana on 9320540. Yeah, and look at all the appeals as victims and we feel for them all but particularly then when you get these instances that feel like attacks on the community it's particularly sickening. Is that all of it or is the one other item? Okay, that's it, so Granny has us both in check then. She has. Alright, stop. Right Sean, listen, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for calling in, it's great, we appreciate it. Alright, that was Garda Sean Sweeney of the Bunkrana Garda Station and that was Community Garda Information for this Tuesday the 4th of July 2023. If you missed anything, of course we'll be carrying the items in our news but it will also be available for you to re-watch back on our Facebook page and on Garda Sean Sweeney's Facebook page a little later on and it's back with you live on the radio after 10 next Tuesday. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com Place the domesic lead pipes which may result in lead in your drinking water it's important to replace them for you and your family's health Grants of up to €5,000 are now available to help cover the cost of replacement. Apply for the domestic lead remediation grant scheme today through your local authority. 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Summer offers now on, 10% off everything for the month of June. Wall and floor tiles, all sizes from small to extra large. Brand new selection of wood flooring in stock. Over 60 bathrooms on display. Tile and bathware clearance available outside. Late night opening on Thursday till 8, closed Saturdays. Crawford Tiles and More, Castle Finn. Right, let's get to some of your comments as we welcome our next guest onto the programme, or before we do. Greg, I'm just wondering, could the original plans of the houses affected not be secured from the original builders, even if they've gone out of business? This would reduce the need for additional architect fees, etc. That comes in from Barbara. Thanks for your suggestion, Barbara. A caller says, you cannot legally dump material with reactivine sulfite minerals in landfill. DCC do not want to deal with this because of this. However, it is their responsibility whether they like it or not. And I presume that's why they're going through the tendering process to get agents who will dispose of it in the correct manner. Now, Paul Watson is captain of the Paul Watson Foundation, an anti-poaching and anti-whaling strategist. Good morning to you, Paul. Good morning. It's amazing to who we've had sightings of certain whales off of Ireland's coast at the moment. There was a really big whale in Donegal Bay here. We find them fascinating. We've got a great affinity with them, but they are greatly under threat still, aren't they? Hopefully not in our waters, but around the world. Yes, whaling operations continue illegally, actually, in Japan, Norway, Iceland and in the Danish Barrow Islands. Which is heartbreaking, isn't it? Because they're such big, dull soil animals. And I mean that in a positive way. I'm not sure if it comes across as such, but why are whales illegally targeted like this? The International Whaling Commission passed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. It's still in effect, but Norway, Japan and Iceland have consistently ignored that regulation. And Iceland is the most concerned because they're hunting endangered fin whales. And so I don't understand exactly how they get away with this. It just seems to be a complete lack of enforcement on the part of international agencies or even in the European Union. Now, the reason we invited you on is to discuss Iceland suspending its cruel whaling practices. I mean, can we take that on face value? Are they? A few hours after we arrived in Icelandic waters, the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture called a temporary ban on whaling, which is to go to August 31st. Christian Lawson, who's the probably the world's last remaining Captain Ahab type character as an obsession with killing whales. So he intends to start going out on September 1st. It doesn't make any sense, really, because he could only kill whales for about two weeks before the season is no more. But I think he just wants to do it out of defiance more than more than anything else. But we're standing by and if he does return at the end of August, then we'll be there in Iceland to meet him again. You have a history with Iceland, don't you? Take us back to the mid 80s. Well, 1985, I went to Reykjavik and I told them that they had to abide by the international regulations. That is a global moratorium on whaling. And if they didn't, that we would come back. And they didn't. They killed 96 whales in 1986. So we sank half their whaling fleet in Reykjavik Harbor, destroyed the whale processing plant and shut them down for a number of a number of years. What were the consequences of that? Well, there were no consequences really. I had I flew to Reykjavik on January of 1988. And I said, you know, you've been saying that this is a crime. It's a ecoterrorism. They called it. I said, so here I am. What are the charges? And they took me into interrogation. And they said, are you admitting to sinking these ships? I said, yes, we did. And we're gonna sink the other two at the first opportunity. And the escort of me to the airport told me he kicked me out of the country. There were no charges. And there says they knew that to put me on trial would be to put Iceland on trial for their illegal activities. I remember the justice minister saying, actually saying, who does he think he is? He comes into our country and demands to be arrested. Get him out of here. Although there were no consequences. So as far as I'm concerned, if there is no charges, no trial, no conviction, there was no crime. And with that in mind, I suppose you fired shots across the bow with a threat for more action. If you're, well, if laws aren't complied to was going to say if your demands aren't heated, but I mean, effectively, this comes down to laws being not being broken. If they go, if lawson goes wailing at the end of August, he's still in violation of the International Wailing Commission's regulations on commercial wailing. He may be able to get approval older in Iceland. He's trying to actually overturn the decision and even threatening to have the minister fired. He's threatening to recruit 32 members of parliament to overturn the ban. That could happen. And we're only a few days away if it does happen. But right now we're focusing in on the end of August as the possibility that he might return. You've also offered to buy them out effectively. The remaining ships. An interesting move again as well. Well, the boats really have no use that they're not wailing. So if the ban is becomes permanent, then he'll have to do something with those boats. I don't think he'll sell them to us, but we certainly put the offer in for them. And I presume, do we know what the Icelandic people's views are on all of this? Sometimes we can live in a country, even if it's engaged in such activity in blissful ignorance. Do you know what I mean? I wonder, is this high on the agenda of Icelandic people this issue? Very much so. In fact, about over 50% of the people of Iceland are opposed to this. Whale watching has become a very lucrative industry in Iceland. And so people prefer to do that. The whale meat is 95% of it is being sold to the Japanese. And the whale meat that is sold in restaurants in Reykjavik are primarily to American and European tourists, really, you know, the Icelanders don't really eat it anymore. So the older generation probably supports it, but younger Icelanders are pretty much against it. All right, finally, just to remind us, where are we at then? So what have you, what have you, you know, what is the status of this disagreement? And when is the deadline? What might happen next? The temporary ban is till August 31. So the possibility is that Christian Lawson would resume whaling on September 1 and we'll be ready if he does. There's also the possibility he could overturn the decision if he managed to get enough votes in parliament overturn that decision and fire the Minister of Agriculture. She took a very courageous stand in making this temporary ban. And, you know, they called to a meeting there were 200 angry people in this room, you know, attacking her calling her names. And at the end, she said, I think it was a very good meeting. But she's standing her ground on this. And finally, Paul, this this must be your life's work. You must you must be dedicating pretty much all of your time and presumably significant resources to protect these mammals. Yes, I started, you know, opposing whaling in 1974. And we made a lot of progress. Oh, during that time, we shut down whaling operations in Australia, in Spain, in Chile, in South Africa, shut down all the pirate whaling operations that were in the Atlantic, I hunted down and rammed the pirate whaler Sierra off of Portugal in 79 and permanently ended its career. So it's been a lifelong thing. My, my, my lifelong ambition is to eradicate whaling, just to stop the killing of whales completely. And I would say that 90% of the job is done. Are you on a boat as we speak? Yes, we're actually in the harbor off of a kill, killy bags in Ireland. We just got refueled and we're heading up to the Faroe Islands. And I'm just up the road from you here. Okay, hopefully you were able to disembark and enjoy beautiful killy bags. Well, we did. We had a couple of days there was very nice. You know, I used to get my crew back on the ship. So I keep them out of the box round them up. There may be a few saw heads. Okay, well, there's a couple of local chemists as well, Paul, if you need anything to assist in that regard. All right, safe onward journeys towards the Faroe Islands. Thank you very much for your time. I do appreciate it. Well, thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. Happy safe sailing. Okay, thank you very much indeed. Captain Paul Watson, who is on his vessel docked at killy bags there, right? We ask you about this consultation on the moment as it relates to passports. The caller says, Hi, Greg, relating to the passport, how many choices for gender are there? We see it's nothing like that. You know, I do understand how we kind of try and get all these stuff into the big issues of the day. It's about foxes, not foxes, it's about squirrels and, and St. Patrick's cabbage and stuff. I don't think there's any, I don't think there's any, I don't know if they're what does the heart represent? That's a problem with it. Maybe I'm ignorant to history. I don't know. I'm not ignorant to all history, but the history of this. A caller says all passports could have the flag of whichever or whatever country issued them as covers. Yeah, you can do that. All right. Let me see. With respect to the reps from the Micah Action Group, there is absolutely no point in promoting a scheme which does not include the foundations and clearly is not 100% redress. Who in the right mind would build upon a foundation which almost certainly contains defective materials and will inevitably crumble due to damage from groundwater? They should be rallying the people to begin the protests and not let up until 100% is achieved like that received in the Pyrite scheme and that recently given to the apartments, one of which Leal for Outcome might have an interest in. Yes, indeed, that is the big problem. And I'm already getting messages and texts in saying people with 3200 square meters or foothouses, they're getting bills or quotes for 650, 700,000 and their families in mid to late 40s, three or four kids in some cases, they'll have to find 300,000 euros saying, well, where are we going to get that? Who's going to give us that mortgage? How long might we be paying that mortgage? How could we afford to pay such a mortgage? Again, hopefully over time we'll sort of get to the point where we can understand who actually might be able to get away with using, with evading of the scheme. I don't know. I'm asking people who know better than I their views on it. So I'm not saying the scheme is a pile of, you know what, I don't know, because currently I'm not a, well, anyway, all I'm saying is, is it remains to be seen from the people who know more than this than I might, if this is a good or workable scheme. Okay, back with our next guest very shortly. 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If it suits you, you know, if you're at home or whatever it might be, you can watch us on your big screen if you want on YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland, most smart TVs now have, most people have smart TVs and most have the YouTube app and you can watch us on your Firestick as well across our Facebook pages, Highland Radio News and Sport or Highland Hub. Okay, now, the term obesity should be renamed to change the way the disease is talked about. Changing the name would help the public, we're told, and policymakers understand what the condition is and how to treat it. Now you would know, we've spoken to many professionals from the local hospital here and elsewhere who have been fighting for us to have the conversation that obesity is indeed a disease and maybe changing the name might get a better understanding of that. Dr. Margaret Steele is a post-doctoral researcher in UCC's School of Public Health and joins us now. Thank you very much, Dr, for joining us. Good morning. Hi, nice to be here. Thank you. How would changing the terminology, do you think, assist in the conversation, Margaret? Well, I think it really is against the backdrop of what you just said there about, you know, the push to understand obesity as a chronic disease and that's, you know, really the consensus among doctors and patients and people living with the condition, but the problem is that I suppose in our culture the word obesity is kind of already taken and it refers to high BMI or it might just be seen as kind of a euphemism for fat really. So the problem with that is that that's really not the essence of the disease because, you know, you can be heavy, you can be in a higher in a bigger body and not have the disease and you can be reasonably slim and still have the disease and I suppose we want to put across that distinction that it's not that everyone above a certain BMI threshold has a disease. So outside of weight then, when we're saying obesity is a disease. Sorry, Dr Steele, outside of weight then, how do you describe the disease of obesity, right? So because, as you say quite rightly, people will be associated instantly with someone who's a bigger size. So how is obesity diagnosed if we aren't talking about weight specifically then? Well, I mean, weight can be a factor of course, right? If you have the disease, I mean, there's a reason it's confusing and there's a reason these terms are tangled up. So very often a patient who has the disease will present with a high weight, but it's really a question of why are they at a higher weight? Because if it's a case that they're constantly feeling hungry, if it's a case that they find it physically uncomfortable to eat the suggested portion of a food, say, if they just do that and they still feel hungry all the time, if they find it really difficult to ignore a cue to eat. So like when they see a food at it really grabs their attention. There's a possibility that what's going on there is something, not really in the fat cells, but something in the brain originally, that they're genetically vulnerable at the level of neurochemistry to overeating and not just to kind of that they get to a higher weight in adulthood and they just kind of stay there, but that they're continually gaining weight and they're not really able to change their behaviour because their behaviour is being determined at a brain level. It's below the level at which we kind of have any free will or self control, you know? Yeah, I get you. Right, so I mean it's going to take a while to sort of change public attitudes and all that type of stuff of course, but I'm just wondering from a professional perspective, as I say, I'm speaking to Dr Steele now and you explain it very clearly. We've had, as I mentioned before, consultants up from Latter Kenny over, I've spoken to them over many years that are really trying to get this point across. So does the health service or health services need to change its approach to treating obesity and we'll get to what it might be called alternative as a disease? Do you know what I mean? Is it a group of individuals like yourself and although like minded or is it across the health service? In other words, like we might have an action plan for cancer or an action plan for dementia or whatever it might be, is do we, in an organised way within the health service, treat obesity as a disease and have a plan and finances and the expertise to deal with that, to make people better? We have a plan, so there is, there are national clinical guidelines for treating obesity that came out earlier this year or last year. We have an obesity policy action plan at a national level for prevention, you know, that's looking at the food environment and different factors that might contribute to triggering those mechanisms in the people who are vulnerable. But what we don't have is maybe sufficient funding in certain areas, so there's a lot of people, you know, my co-author on this paper, Francis Finucan is an endocrinologist, he'd be working in bariatric services and probably faces a lot of the same challenges that those clinicians you spoke to from Lesha Kenney would be facing where, you know, it's very difficult to get medication for a patient with obesity, it might be difficult to get surgery, even if it really seems like a very clear case that a person is likely to benefit from a medical point of view, the funding just wouldn't be there. I think the situation is improving, it seems to be the case that the HSE and various government and departments and especially I think doctors and patients and public health people like are all becoming more and more aware of this, so I think the impetus is there and the will is there, but maybe the funding is a little bit lacking on the treatment side and then I do think we're still lagging a bit behind where we need to be on the prevention side too, which is of course a whole different area. But on that, I can't think of another disease whereby it's actively in the media and through companies like antiperspirant companies or whatever it might be where, and I understand where it comes from, but I can't think of any other disease, particularly one that can be life limiting and deadly and what have you, where it's enabled or encouraged through sort of like a body positive movement, if you understand where I'm coming from, and I've mentioned this on the program before and apologies to people who think I have an axe to grind, I certainly don't, but I'm just thinking from someone within the medical professional, you know, it does seem to be that people, you're saying look, there might be something here in your brain that we need to work with to try and get you to a healthy weight or a healthy BMI or whatever it might be, but there is, you sit down and watch any adverts or open up a newspaper, what have you, and as I say, I can't think of another disease where people might be able to watch ads or read articles that say, actually, you know, the doctors are wrong, I should be what I want to be and be happy in my skin. How do you square that circle? Well, I suppose that's partly why I think it might be helpful to give them disease a different name, because if you put on an ad for antiperspirant and there's somebody ice skating and they're faster, they're in a bigger body or whatever, however people want to say that, like, there's no reason to assume that that person has the disease of obesity. They may not. I know, but it's, yes, but it's how it's how that might be interpreted. I do understand exactly what you're coming from, and I'm not, I don't want to sound like I'm actually judging people, because I'm on about what it might create in the viewer's mind. Well, I suppose when you're saying something about, like, promoting obesity, I mean, first of all, you have to think of what it's a reaction to. It's a reaction to decades of complete fat shaming where nobody in a bigger body was depicted as anything other than the boss of the joke. Yeah, true, true. So, you know, people aren't going to suddenly see one model who's, you know, slightly bigger body and go, Oh, okay, it's okay to be fat. The other thing is that, like, that kind of assumes that people are making decisions around this stuff, that people are deciding, I want to be skinny or I want to be fat and I'm going to make, I'm going to take the actions to pursue that. And that might be true in a certain sense, but over the long term, most people really are not able to control their weight just by how they choose to eat an exercise. You know, sometimes like you'd hear the thing of, Oh, some people, their weight is genetic, right? But really, strictly speaking, all of our weight is genetic. Everybody's weight is kind of predetermined to be within a certain range. And the environment then is either going to kind of facilitate that by giving you lots of food so you can eat as much as your body tells you you need or it's going to resist it by there not being enough food in the environment. But the bottom line is that that doesn't have that much to do with the disease in a sense. Because really, I think what we want to get across is the disease is about quality, not quantity. It's not about the amount of fat you have. It's not about the amount you eat. It's about, you know, how is your body handling that? It can be more people, you can or you can, can you not be predisposed though to obesity? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So and you can be predisposed to the disease as well as to higher weight. You can be predisposed to either kinds of obesity. Yeah. Okay. So then it's coming up with an alternative terminology though, because you know, it can't be because we've had it with different things that are changed to more simpler, more easier to understand words or phrases. So, you know, what might be a better way of referring to it that can change how we talk about it? Well, one possibility would be to use a term that was proposed by some groups of endocrinologists a few years ago. They suggested ABCD, a depositive based chronic disease. And that would be a way of distinguishing the disease from body size. I that's not necessarily, I'm not saying that's definitely the best option, but it's one possibility that's been floated. I think anything that helps people to understand that what's being treated when a person, say, takes a maglutide or goes to a bariatric clinic, it's not the fact that they're fat. The goal from a medical point of view is not to make them thin. In fact, it's very rare that somebody actually undergoes treatment for medical, you know, chronic severe obesity and actually ends up skinny, because that's not the goal. That's supposed to really the problem. Conversations like this, even us talking about the possibility of how we refer to, I think are really useful, like I'm listening to you. And you know, maybe I had views or, you know, but they're changing. Do you know what I mean? I feel I'm getting a better understanding of the way you've explained certain things to me, I think has given me a better understanding of how I might approach conversations like this going forward. Do you know that sort of way? So I think as whilst we're talking about it as well in this type of way where it's not about shaming anyone or not shaming anyone or anything, I think this is these kind of conversations too, I really, I find them really useful. I presume you do too, Dr, you wouldn't engage in them. I do. Yeah, of course, but I just think it gives us all a better understanding. I really appreciate your time, Margaret. Thanks so much for joining us. And as I say, I found it very informative, which is, that's good for me. All right, thanks very much, Dr. Margaret Steele. Thanks so much. Take care of yourself. Dr. Steele is a postdoctoral researcher in UCC's School of Public Health, 08660, 25,000. That's a WhatsApp and text number. From the North or outside the Republic, 0035386, 6025,000. Of course, it says Captain Paul is brilliant. We need him to save Atlantic Salmon too. It's, I just like I approach that interview like with calls and go, oh, you can't, can you really say that you'll take ships out that are involved in whaling? So, well, we did it in the 80s. We'll do it again. The Icelandic people, the authorities couldn't do anything about it because they didn't want a trial about their whaling practices. And he's getting in the boat out of Kili Begs and heading to the Faroe Islands, then on to Iceland. And he says, I'll buy the boats or I'll sink them. Crazy, not crazy. He's not crazy, but it's just crazy to be having that conversation. You know what I mean? Just so out in front. The 90 noon show is brought to you by letter, Kenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie It's the 50% off mega summer sale at right price tiles and wood flooring, up to 50% off all tiles. Wood flooring, outdoor porcelain tiles, cladding and bathware. Everything in store has been slashed in price. The right price tiles and wood flooring, 50% off mega summer sale stores nationwide. Sale now on. Did you know Kill Kids Sligo have the biggest range of baby equipment in the northwest with 25 years of baby expertise? Kill Kids Sligo take deposits on your baby bundle. 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Cutting Through the Spin The Ninetal Noon Show on Highland Radio Okay, we're into the last hour of the show. Plenty to come in this hour, including a conversation with Father Sean Doherty. But first, let's get a news update. This good morning now to Donna Marie Doherty. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Gardie have again appealed for information in relation to an alleged assault in the Sleeve League area. A body was recovered from the water yesterday morning. Anyone who believes they have information that may assist Gardie inquiries are asked to get in touch. The enhanced effective concrete block grant scheme has commenced. The details of the sick game can be found on our website highlandradio.com. Meanwhile, defective blocks Ireland and Coleman Legal have reiterated that the closing date to join their legal action is this coming Friday. The High Court Action has grown in support with over 2,400 participants joining the case. The action is being supported by the Micah Action Group. On this morning's Ninetal Noon Show, its chairperson Lisa Hohn said this is not a political issue. It's a civil rights issue. Three men have been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a PSNI officer in Taron earlier this year. DCI John Caldwell was shot multiple times at a sports centre in Oma on February 22nd. The PSNI say the three men were arrested from Newton Abbey, Coal Island and Belfast this morning. A number of appeals for information were made this morning regarding three separate criminal damage incident A house was spray painted in a car damaged in Green Castle on Wednesday last. Meanwhile, Letter Kenny seen the damage of two cars in separate incidents on Beechwood Road and Windmill View. More details on these separate incidents can be found on highlandradio.com Free GP care will be provided to an additional half a million people under new plans to be brought by cabinet. Health Minister Stephen Donley says from next month children aged 6 and 7 will be able to avail of the free GP visa card. While those earning up to the median household income of 47,000 euro a year will be included later. And finally the government is being warned another giveaway budget could risk overheating the economy. The summer economic statement is expected to reveal a 10 billion euro surplus this year. However finance and public expenditure ministers are expected to outline that the extra money is coming through corporate tax which they say can't be depended on into the future. Those are the headlines. We'll be back again with more headlines at 12 o'clock. How many headlines? More headlines. How much did you want to clear your throat during the headlines there? Oh my goodness I thought I wasn't going to get through it. It's horrible isn't it but just do it. Give me your thumbs up. I'll pull the mic. Come here. Later on in John show what's coming up? We have Natalie Barry from Seal Rescue Ireland and it's about the dos and don'ts because it's coming into poppin season now so there'll be lots of little cute baby puppy seals that have a nasty bite so don't go near them. Yes and it's part of this documentary series you're doing feature series or whatever you might call it. Talk to us about that. It's ours to protect and it's a focus on the little changes that people can make in their lives to create a more sustainable planet because it's very easy to kind of say oh well you know there's factories in China and you know that's causing all the damage but there are wee things that we can do and every little helps. Yeah helps us, helps the environment, helps the wee puppies the wee seal pops. And if you you're early into the process have you has it opened your eyes a wee bit or we always kind of definitely I would say I was big into sustainability back in college like I was I had the tote bags I had the reusable bottles and everything but I think whenever COVID had you know you were so conscious of even the reusable mask I was like no I'll just keep taking you once I kind of kind of went out the window to be honest but now you're coming back into it and kind of bit of reset all right keep up the good work and if people don't hear it on John's show is it in our playback section it's in the playback section there's an ours to protect section on the website as well and they can also get it on don't get ahead of yourself either Donna Maria I think of we change of attitude I think this you're expanding kind of your career is kind of getting to your head are we but just you know excuse me all I'm saying is keep grounded I'm sure you'll do that for me brilliant stuff Donna Maria thanks so very much indeed all right take care of yourself that's half 12 Donna Maria isn't it yeah okay half 12 on around the north west with John Breslin and then on playback your leisure okay we're joined on the program now by James who's a simple question via text is casualty department in letter Kenny now just operating nine till five James in your own time and in your own words tell us the experience you and your wife have been through and and what made you pose that question well Greg I would not pass out to Kelly after six o'clock and they she would have gone and she was three yards and this is our you'd rather go home because that Dr. Roy home I was running a have a sore wrist or whatever she has and she could have been there a couple of days ago but she didn't want to be passing a casually but now it's it's not going away you know so and then she had to come the whole way back done his own this morning or last night and then I had to get up early this morning before we work and take her right back to the Kenny like what can I have a system going yeah I think so I think some of us we need to come on and explain them so what can I what can I show you're running you see unfortunately we've spoken to people in the past James and I spoke to the family of a younger person and they landed there it's five and they sat there till 12 and then they were told that the particular disciplines the particular people that work with fractures or potential fractures or things like that there it doesn't it doesn't operate overnight so they'd wasted their time and use have been opened down if you'd known advanced James you could have timed when you arrived a little bit better and when I work it all day they're gonna get yeah can't leave your work you know and your simple question is is it 2023 is it 1960 you believe it's a ridiculous carry on exactly ridiculous I also I also was was uh chapter two three others are out around the little woman are walking around the car park and she says they don't know if I have a body in desk or a sub desk and she says they want me to suck a chair and they don't want to have hard chairs she says it's like it's so it's so it's so it's running here oh right James listen we're gonna try we'll put it we don't seem to give a shit okay we'll put an inquiry into the hospital and see what what they're stating for for everyone's interest what happens as it relates to when you can get the type of issue that your wife had when you can get it seen too thanks James I won't delay any more of your working day I hope your wife gets better really soon in a way she delayed it because she didn't want to be a burden on the ED when she eventually went down there there was no one there to help her in any case all right exactly all right that's a joke yeah leave it with us we'll get an answer and find out categorically what the situation is thanks very much indeed James 08 660 25000 hi Greg can you say a big hello and thank you to Caroline Carroll in West Meath who's taking care of our dogs while we are on holiday she listens to your show and to Lee every morning from her sister and brother-in-law picking you up loud and clear in Dumbrovnik by the way where's Dumbrovnik pardon my ignorance and it's great to have you on board Caroline why in West Meath are you listening to us up here in the North West Tellers it's great to have you on board but I always find that really interesting because we've got people from outside of this area that do listen to this show they stumble across it either on the social media or online it's brilliant to have you all on board and let us know where you're listening from and why you listen I'd really appreciate that just because it's great it's a lot of being connected with people and obviously across the North West here but if you're listening in a different county or a different country and you've chosen this show we're really interested to find out why okay so Martin thinks we can dip into our pockets beg your pardon yes of course yeah Martin thinks we can dip into our pockets well that is not going to happen because people just don't have that kind of money and why are some being looked after better than others can you ask Chancellor McDermott now that his home's application has been fast tracked well I can't read that because I have no basis to know what the situation is isn't there what personal people's situation is so I'll have to fact check that and get back to it okay but thanks for your text you guessed about obesity is laughable how come there's no such thing as obesity 20 30 years ago people eat too much and do not exercise that's the issue but it's not you see that's the problem that's the purpose of all these conversations we have but that's your view as well okay Father Sean Doherty is going to be joining us after the break stay where you are the county's number one talk show The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio The Nine Till Noon Show with Letter Kenny Credit Union Simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from Letter Kenny Credit Union Call us on 0749102126 or apply online via our app or in office today The Lennon Festival Remelton from the 6th to the 10th of July Get ready for a fun-filled pre-festival event taking place tonight The Multicolor Fun Run starting at 7 from the Salmon and Car Park and remember to wear white for all of this year's festival events including big band nights and singing pubs check out Lennon Festival Remelton on Facebook at half price get your quality mattress at half price and sleep like a king Better Value Furnishings Main Street Mavel See our Facebook for more details We love summer at Dunn Stores with 20% off bottles of wine and champagne like Whispering Angel Nineteen Crimes and Villa Maria Savignon Blanc Share a four pack of indulgent Ferrero Rocher or Raffaello Ice Creams only five euro plus with our five of 25 grocery vouchers you save even more Dunn Stores Always Better Value Terms and Editions apply Voucher can be used to next insure grocery shop with 25 euro or more Voucher excludes alcohol please drink sensibly Highland Radio Time checks with Expressway Travel Route 32 from Lettich, N.E.D Dublin when you book online and travel for less Expressway bringing you the time at Okay the time is 11 minutes past 11 I kind of wanted to but I wasn't going to because it's a different part of Father Sean Daugherty's life but to fire your old to fire your old intro Father Sean because it was just the start of tens and tens and tens of thousands of people's day for 27 odd years or however long you had that introduction that dun, dun, dun, dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun and also what popped up on my memories Father Sean is it's six years ago in 10 days so the 14th of July I believe when we had the program that was you saying goodbye to Highland Radio which is unbelievable and what a six years it has been for you Talk to me about that Yeah Good morning Greg Hey I like your mugs by the way I never got these look at this You're spoiling A nine to noon show This is much swanker than I have been I know Yeah What was the question? The question was how has the last six years been for you? Well I just it was just bringing memories back because my last day in here I was sitting there at the end of the show I had not got a clue as you know there everybody was upstairs and they'd flown my twin in and Murray and my sister and all friends and you know all my colleagues and there was this big surprise party and last end of the broadcast upstairs and I was I was asked to go outside and I thought what's going on here I had a clue and I went up the stairs and everybody was there there was I don't know how many and it was it was a wonderful a wonderful thing and I was so shocked but how has it been well it's been a journey but life's a journey isn't it Greg you know so this was just been another part of the journey of my life very significant obviously change in my life which I'm very grateful for you know you don't often suppose imagine you're going to get chances to change the direction of your life so dramatically you know so I'm very grateful that God has given me this chance to to serve him in a different way and we'll talk a little bit more about that that journey but I just want to talk about the the ordination on Sunday it was an amazing thing to be a part of and I was just trying to put myself in what it must have felt like for you because obviously you had the bishop there and you had all your brother priests there and behind you dependent on what part of the the process it was you had a packed cathedral and then this moment that you've built yourself up towards where you are finally ordained and how that must have felt and how you could have been in the moment so that you can reflect on it and like what was Sunday like for you? Yes I mean you wake up the same as you wake up in any morning you know with that kind of time in the morning and then it you know triggers in that there's been so much preparation done beforehand and all by other people you know people as you know were preparing all kinds of things surprises for me and everything else which I find out about later on but during the all just before the ordination I arrived at the cathedral and the priests were arriving and you mentioned Bishop Dolan and Bishop Boyce graced us with this presence of course too which was beautiful and I then forgot what I had to do in my head and I said I can't remember what I've got to do now and so oh you'll be fine everyone was saying all the priests were saying you'll be fine you'll you know it'll all come to you or we'll look after you you know and it did go you know it did go fine and yeah there's a lot of peacefulness happening and the laying on of hands and and at the same time you're sometimes you're conscious of what you have to do next but somehow it just happens There was a couple of lovely moments and maybe it's normal at ordinations but obviously this was the first I'd been to where the bishop embraces you that was it was so emotional I don't know what it was like for you but it was like it was if say he was saying to you you know I don't know what but it was and then there was another moment to where you after that you sat down and I don't know which which priest it might have been but he just simply put his hand over onto your hand and it was just a reassuring tap as if to say right that's it or I don't know what he was trying to say little moments that you know you could feel I felt the hair stand up on my neck Yeah and quite a number of people said that particularly about that moment with the bishop when he does the they call it the kiss of peace but it was a real embrace It was just as if to say welcome or I don't know but it was just beautiful That's it Yes and of course that's what it's about you know as a brother priest he is of course my bishop but we're brother priests and he's it was a lovely moment and you mentioned the tap on the shoulder Yeah because they've all been through that moment you know most of them of course are much younger age than me but they know what that feels like you know and how it feels but you are carried along you carried along I mean I was of course I was carried along by the prayer of all the people who came and as you know Greg and your lovely partner Ashling was there as well who I'd never met before and just to have so many people from all areas of my life you know he was the multiple families you talked of Oh yes which I thought was a great way of phrasing it and in the different stages of your life Yeah and they were there from the beginnings of my life with my family of course and my twin sister and all of my family and my sister and flew in from New Zealand my brother Jimmy who's listening and watching now because I've just had a message from him with a picture Hi Jimmy and all my family came you know and I think there was a moment too if I'm not mistaken that this is the first time all of your family had gotten together I think I heard one someone reference 35 years and another reference ever ever it was a remarkable thing as well and it makes it another special occasion on such a special day well it was because I mean we had my my own brothers and sisters and also we hadn't all been together because when my mother died in 1988 and I was only 22 then you know and as a matter of fact just as a sort of an aside here my mother I found out from being in the cathedral that was baptized married confirmed married and buried from the cathedral you found that out last week yes for definite I knew she was married and very I wasn't I thought maybe could have been long tower but for the baptism but it wasn't it was all in the cathedral so it made it very very even more I suppose significant and special in that sense that there was this this beautiful link where my beautiful wonderful mother and also there were cousins there from my mother's side and my father's side that I'd never we'd never all been together and you know Father Daniel my cousin he's my father's brother his son his father Daniel and he's based in Scotland so he was there with his family and he vested me so that was very special and he came over especially for it and a number of other priests came and traveled and the vice rector of Rome came last night for the first mass but to have all of my family there was was just quite special and we'd never had it before because when my mother died my sister Anne lived in New Zealand and she had missed he hadn't got back in time and when my brother died he was only 42 and he only lived for a short time with cancer and Anne had come over and she was on the plane back and he died while she was on the plane so she well so there was never that link of everybody together Greg but there was for this and you know that's it it's a very very special special moment yeah and as I say just learning that information about your your mom as well we'll come back to that but just maybe a little bit back to the start because you have a very distinctive voice instantly recognisable and that is obviously from your many many years living here but also your birthplace of Stoke and Trent you talked to me about your family moving to the Northwest John well my mother and father would have gone to live in England when they married so that was a long time ago my mother was born in 1928 so you know we're probably talking what in the early 50s or whatever she moved to England with my father and I think they were in Morkham at the beginning so my father worked in the mining industry and he had a job where he sunk the shafts of the coal mines which meant he travelled a lot with his jobs that meant when he went he was usually given a house with it you know that's what happened in those days I don't know if it does now and so some of the family were born in Salford I think including Jimmy who's who's listening in England now and others of us were born in Newcastle under Lyman Staffordshire which is next to Stoke on Trent but every time I say Newcastle I say oh is it Newcastle on time or is it Newcastle County now but it's it's near Stoke and you know a good number of us were born there because a big family there was there was five sisters and three brothers Patricia died when she was six in Salford which was an enormous burden for my my parents you know they it was a very very difficult time for them clearly my father had died just before my brother died so my mother was was dead before my brother died but they'd had to deal with this tremendous cross and then my own yeah so that was like that that was a big family of us you know they moved there and they travelled to different places to live but we ended up then as a family located mainly in Newcastle on the Lime and Anne moved to New Zealand when she was married and she has two sons who are living in New Zealand and so Matthew and Christopher great golfers they lived on a golf course so they've got brilliant they're a brilliant golf players and lovely lads and they came to live in England for a time which nearly broke Anne's heart and then they've moved back now and now Anne's got her own grandchild so it's all worked out beautifully because you know when you're over in New Zealand and even you've got your husband and your sons which is your family your main 100% it's a draw there's a drag isn't there there's a connection there it always was and as far as I've been you know we still love her that she's in she's back at home in England now with the family and so that's how Ellie lives in a different part of England but most of us live around the Newcastle on the Lime area and so we have Maria and Christopher and Jimmy and Margaret and Ellie and Anne and Sharon of course and so they were then their husbands and partners and various nieces and nephews were there too you know which is which is lovely so that's how we all ended up there and I came to Dairy in my early 20s and my mother came back with me eventually but it was it was you came first but she was very ill she'd got cancer and it developed she'd had cancer when me and Sharon were born actually and so throughout her life it was always I think something that she was acutely aware of because she was always had to go for these checks you know which I know we should give a terrible anxiety understandably and it was always a worry but you know unfortunately she was obviously only in her late 50s in fact she was my age and younger when she when she developed the cancer again and she came to Dairy and I I mean obviously it was a great blessing for me that I was able to look after my mom and my auntie Allen who's who's gone to her reward as well looked after my mom and her family and she died with me and Dairy when she was just 60 so some of my family the last time they were in the cathedral was at her funeral and next time was at my ordination you know but yeah so that was it and then I I did but you know I had a different career then because I had a bit of acting theater experience from England you know and I'd done a bit of that stuff always always loved the church and loved my faith and it wasn't something I was obviously broadcasting about necessarily people knew I'd gone to Medjugorje and places like that but I was going to get to that when you present a program like this as you did and you clearly have a strong faith and we'll pick the story up back there and fast forwarding a little bit do you do you have to keep it in check or is it a challenge in that regard in that you don't want to come across as I mean you want to you know represent how caring you are and your understanding and your faith but the same time you don't want you to be presenting a show that maybe it's perceived as being through the prism of your faith was that a tough line for you to walk or something you were able then to do subconsciously Father Sean I think you're right it's subconscious and you know this I mean you're asking the question but I know I know you know the answer because you have to do it and it is a difficult one but something that I always was very conscious of from the day one that I began broadcasting here that I wanted to be fair now I know being fair doesn't always mean that you know you stay completely you know it's kind of can be a cop out as well to just you know let other people do then not you and I know you particularly are not afraid to give your opinion you know and be strong and they take courage to do that today's not the great day to mention that it's not it's not necessarily an opinion why what if I missed it I don't know I don't I don't miss it it's I well maybe I do but I don't actively it's not that I give my opinion I think it's really more it's more the the line of questioning which I would say most of the times devil's advocate but maybe it's perceived as opinion but anyway this is not about this is not about me it's back to you I think it's a it's a quality actually you know and because I think it stands now obviously not if your opinion becomes a show I'm not talking about that but that you you have the courage to say no well isn't it this way isn't it that way and sometimes you have to do that you know so you did too yeah yeah for sure I mean you held people to account for for the for you know when I think when you when you've got these earphones on Greg yeah you don't know what's coming and you know and sometimes you know you'd be in the middle of an interview and then the story develops you have to adapt don't you yeah and then also to you know be conscious of the other person if there's a debate on two people or a lessoners are having a debate you know that you're conscious of if somebody and you know you have to say well hang on you know exactly and that was important and I hope I was fair I tried to no you are everyone that is the one thing that that always comes back to you is a your empathy be your understanding see your ability I'm not I'm not including everything so you certainly achieved that but in terms of religion playing a very important part in your life and when you were doing the bit of acting and that type of stuff and then as you moved into into media in the early part of your life did you consider the priesthood I mean was that something that you considered or was it just that you were a strongly religious person I think I had a tremendous grounding in the faith as a child you know I really did I went to St. Wollstone's Catholic School in Newcastle underline and I had great people you know I was an altar boy the priesthood was tremendous Father Carr Father McCabe was my earlier priest and Father Carr I served a lot with him because he was more at that age when I became sort of 9, 10, 11 whatever it was and he was a lovely man a great priest and so these people all had a strong influence on me plus others and of course some of the teachers as well and sisters the sisters who who sisters of mercy actually who looked after the the school as well and so I had a good grounding and then at about I think I was I've been about 14 I thought maybe 15 I thought I'd like to at least pursue the possibility of looking at this and yeah and there was a weekend retreat in I think it was St. Ulborn's and there was sacred brothers and priests and I thought I'll try that and I went down and I absolutely I thought this was it you know I loved it and they were very very interested in in me pursuing it and I thought at that time I don't think I could do this academically you know I was it wasn't a faith thing it was the the academic I was no confidence you know I just didn't have confidence I wasn't a confident young person and I you know I was probably was insecure and everything and I thought oh I don't know if I could do this and I mean that stays with you you know yeah you know you your nature changes in some ways but not they self doubt all your your core personality traits so with you your whole life aren't they yeah and and basically I thought well I don't know if I could do it now they didn't think like that they kept writing to me but I just I don't have the confidence that was really and fear and you never should let fear you know if I let fear start me I'd never be sitting here today as a Catholic priest it was fear well you know stops do you wish you could have half an hour with your 14 year old self yeah and no in some ways no because I think that because I have had the experiences in life that I've had now it has given me an opportunity to understand and empathize with people in a much different way yeah wouldn't have happened if I like that so there's no regrets you can reflect on the decisions perhaps you could have made at 14 but also you can say you know what maybe everything happens for a reason and now look at the person that you are and what you can bring with your life's experience we're all the same Greg I mean I of course I've got many regrets and I've made many mistakes yeah we all have and you know and and that because I've I'm human and you know in my human nature you know I've made many mistakes and and I've you know I've got I'm aware of that and as a result of that we should be and as a result of that and and the pains and the difficulties you go through in life and everything else and and you know you understand what I'm talking about in terms of bereavement as well and and all of that it it gives you then hopefully and through the mistakes some empathy for others in their pain and their difficulties and because I'm doing what you're doing I did what you're doing now you develop techniques for listening to people and I think in ministry you need to listen and as a broadcaster the best gift that you can give anyone is to listen to them and that people feel listened to and you know when you're having a conversation with somebody they know when you're listening to them when you're not you know and and that's what I think a lot of people in our society today many of our our us need is is someone that will just listen without judgment without saying oh no you should do this by doing that way listen to people first listen to what their story is because we don't know what their story is you know and we all make judgments like I mean I'm no different than anybody else but then I have to reflect and think well hang on I don't know what what happens to people in their lives and what makes them the way they are or makes for person you know we just get we clash off each other and all these things and then I reflect hang on Sean you know cop yourself on you know you have made mistakes and I think when you when you get older you realise that more and if I'd have if I'd have been a I don't know the answer to this but if I'd have been a priest as a young man you know if I'd joined that sort of order then who knows you couldn't have the knowledge that you have now it would be impossible that's not to say that young priests just I can't do that because God will give the grace when it's needed but I do feel what I think I'm trying to say is that God will always and does turn our mistakes heating you were called when you were ready as the person you've become through everyone that's influenced you for every good thing for every mistake we've all made and now was the time that that it may you had to make really big decisions so you have to make those decisions with some guidance you couldn't it'd be very difficult to make the decision to leave this job and to pursue your new life without some you have to feel that you're in being assisted in that decision and not just by trusted individuals around you but it is not a leap of faith but you have to say right well now is my time and the thing is life is very very tough and it's only when a situation like this where you recount your life and I'm listening to you as you talk of it and then I'm thinking of you know mine if I were on your side and I was explaining the losses in my life and if it was Caroline or if it was Kevin behind you maybe he's young and it might not be but when you put it down like that your timeline is we've an awful lot to go through your mom had so much to go through I'm thinking when she was pregnant with yous twins twins like back then what treatment options were available what decisions were made what choices did she have to make you know and all of the different layers of what we talked about life is really really it's wonderful but it can be tough can't it it can be tough tough for everybody yeah exactly to be honest and you know when I was in Roma I did some work with the Vatican radio over there little bits of work and they were very interested in Rome anyway generally they were very interested in the broadcasting past and they would say well actually it's your broadcasting that has brought you to the point because because as you know Greg we have heard and do hear so much that many of the things that I'll be listening to now and I'll listen to I've been a deacon for a year so people do come to you obviously and talk to you I think it's different as a priest now you're here and are able to manage the sacrament of reconciliation so you can't do that as a deacon but people still come to you with issues and they there's a very as they say very little a priest hasn't heard you know but as a radio presenter and doing a program like yours now very little you haven't heard so the human story the human condition and the difference for me now is obviously I'm ministering in a different way because I'm bringing people hope I hope through you know the God's mercy that is shown to me in my life and his love for me and if he loves me he loves you and he loves me no more than he loves you and and everybody else is listening to this and I think that's that's the message and mercy and Pope Francis as you know is very very strong on the mercy and taking people where they're at on their journey you know take people where they're at where are you now you know let's let's accompany you accompany you in faith you know and help and I love I love that the so then as you began your career in broadcasting Highland Radio wasn't your first gig but then you you come in here you're settled into your show and on you go you've had many many different roles and responsibilities of course in this organization but primarily I think for the listeners perspective it would be I mean obviously they went on shows with themselves but would be the broadcasting through as you grew up you know you matured as a human you were a baby when you started doing this and then over 27 years you know we go through all of our rollercoasters and life and what have you was the was that 14 year old Sean always there with the interest in the priesthood did it come and go did it come in ways did you doubt yourself as a 28 year old as a 33 year old say I kind of still feel there's something there but nah but how was that no I don't think it was I don't think it was something I was thinking about daily monthly right okay because you know this was my life I loved and love Highland radio I always talk about highland I was so glad you know so many of you as you know with this massive picture I think it was the biggest picture of the day at the ordination was the Highland family over the whole span of Highland radio and I couldn't express in words what Highland it's part of me it is yeah absolutely part of me and my life the people that supported me and listened and put their you know trust in in their stories with me as they do with you on a daily basis that's a privilege that we never ever can take for granted and people from Derry Donnie Gull Tarone you know Donnie Gull gave me such a welcome and people used to say you know I remember a couple of people when I got the job at the beginning saying oh or actually more so when I went away say if we do a show somewhere else maybe in or London or New York I don't know you've done a few in London they would say to me oh how did you get on with that English accent it was never it was always people outside actually but Donnie Gull put their arms around me you know and and gave me such a loving embrace I always felt held by people you know in the county who sort of had me back you know and and that you reflect on it afterwards a lot as well you know especially after I left and people said you miss Highland of course how could you not but I haven't left it because it's part of me and you're part of it of course forever did you find how did you deal with not I don't know how to describe it you obviously had to listen to a lot of people and a lot of it is people's very difficult times yeah and people going through terrible loss of children and all that kind of stuff and maybe you you might be better equipped now to sort of deal with with people coming to you with with their concerns how did you deal with doing a show like this for so long whereby you know you can go home things don't leave you they stay with you did you learn to cope that was always difficult or what it depends on the mood you're in I think as well you know because of course and there were some profoundly difficult moments as you know and stories and you and you're I've been listening to you in Rome and Father John Joe Duffy was on the altar last night for the first mass along with other brother priests and he came to the ordination and I don't know if people in the northwest realize worldwide and I mean worldwide and in Rome it was mentioned to me several times how much his ministry at that time meant and was felt I know by the family and the friends and those who lost so much and I referenced it last night at my first mass because he was there and he got a round of applause and quite rightly so but that round of applause went out to the from the hearts of people for the families I was in Rome and I know you were broadcasting and listening to these stories and I was listening to you as it was developing I saw a clip come up that was an event and my heart I knew you know and I know when the media you know this is this is something else this is a big event and I hadn't nobody had an idea at that point how big it was and how tragic it was going to be and in Rome I was watching it from a distance and everybody was praying our hearts were going out and still are for the families for those who lost their lives for those who have been you know injured and and their families and friends you know everybody affected by it deeply affected people of course the first primarily the families but also others and it was and Father John Joe as you know better than I because you spoke to him many times he had a a pivotal role there along with others yes it's something Father John Joe is just is and he and amongst others too and those that supported me was amazing and you're right too and I think and I get the point that you're making I'm changed forever by by that not in in any way close to what others are and I would speak to the families or some of them families and I would say but it does the what this you do this job and it does everything it does impact you and it does change you and you take these things with you I'm going to take a break as you would understand that has to be done I probably won't take them all so I might get the sack but you'll stay with us just to the end of the show will you yes these are comments that are coming in for you I don't even know where you might start with them but the great thing is we can give them to you and you can take them at your leisure but it's just a an absolute outpouring of love people delighted to hear you people delighted to see you and we're going to fast forward a wee bit maybe to I think your time in Medjugorje was really important to you wasn't it and we might talk about that afterwards if that's okay and whatever you want to talk about Sean I mean you've been doing this way longer than I have so if you want to just go off and attention please do okay we'll be back with more from father Sean to hearty after these messages watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the 9 till noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny Credit Union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account Irish sun doesn't really count right look we all deserve a bit of sun skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland so whether you're at home or abroad protect your skin by following these sun smart steps slip into long loose clothes slap on the sunscreen slap on a sun hat seek shade yeah even on the cloudy days oh and slide on the sunglasses I do have very funky sunglasses and I do 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McGettigan family Donna lives in Medjugorje and her mother died last week and James was her father and he often mentioned Medjugorje to me Donna she went there during the early apparitions and ended up living there she had a big family there and she came to the ordination just after the funeral and it was very very hard for her and I just really I couldn't thank her enough for making that effort I didn't expect it and Jimmy as well and so when I went out to Medjugorje about 15 years ago or so Donna arranged the accommodation and I just heard about it I just you actually you I don't I've told this story many times probably not to you because I've been away when I was telling it but you you were coming in to do the news and I don't even remember this I said to you is in the middle of the week I says oh must be due a holiday soon and you said you're booked from Friday or Thursday to do that Kate for fake memory of it Nice really I've had another memory of me ended up doing a 5k but anyway Yes I couldn't get it I was bum crann it and you went even You know you You wasn't me running choosers I know I couldn't get over that because we were all sort of preparing and you just and you ran it anyway but go on but anyway I says you booked Friday so so I went I said I'm gonna go to Medjugorje I'd heard about it you know and Don had been always saying to me was particularly a daddy and I went out and I was really impacted by it and most people are very few would not be and of course now the church you know allows for pilgrimages to go and it's a beautiful place very peaceful place people of faith and no faith go lots of stories conversion stories and a lot of vocations and over the years I went and along with my community founder father Neil Carlin of the Columba community who I cannot fail to mention and hopefully we'll talk a bit more about him because he has gone to the Lord but he had a profound impact on me along with the Columba community and Margarita's now the leader of that and they did so much planning for this as you know they met them for the ordination but father Neil had been to Medjugorje with me twice as well but he'd been in the early years of the early apparitions and I went anyway and I just found it incredible and I don't know unless you've encountered it I suppose it's very hard to explain it is a very beautiful peaceful place and I made my decision there actually and I came back here and that's when I I made it very clearly there was very peaceful decision like yeah this is this is what I'm going to try and do but not you can't say for definite because you it's something I'm going to at least take space now leave hand and consider it and that's what I did how big of a decision was that I mean did you make that decision on your own and all that sounds like I did a question but I did yeah okay yeah and and I'm about the decision to for this to be a path of your life you know what I mean and but did you feel did you get a sense of guidance when you're in Medjugorje or was it just that the whole environment and your conversations and the influences from from from people that no I would say you're right there was definitely guidance I thought guided you know I'm not going to say I you know I got hit by a flash no I'm not suggesting that I'm saying just that sometimes we need to help with the decision and we don't know exactly precisely how that's delivered to us but we hear it yeah and that that's that's really quite that's impactful that's big yeah well having gone for so many years and so many times yes you know I mean people may joke to me you've been more times than Mary you know and and that was one of the seminars in Rome actually he went himself then so yeah I went and over those years I think it's a developing thing but I started to consider you know maybe there's there's something happening here in my life a change happening you know and and definitely when I made the decision yes of course there's guidance because like you don't make these decisions on your own obviously you know it's not about if it's you doing it and you're not considering well what what you think now you have to be very careful trying to imagine what God's will is for you because you know God is almighty and we we can only hope we're doing what God wants us to do and trying to do what he wants us to do and hopes for us and and I felt very peaceful about it really yeah I want to leave enough time for you to talk about the people that are important to you and the influences that's okay and rather than sort of try and carry the story through because I don't want you to leave here without that opportunity because you've referenced Father Carl and I saw I think that's important so maybe if you we should and you reference them to because there's so many people I think the impression I got from you Sean is that every person you've interacted with yes is important everyone you know even the most fleeting of things but obviously then there's going to be people that have a far you know you know far greater so can we talk about some of those people now because they've helped to get to where you are now well Billy Patterson's sister Christine has probably traveled in the car now with her husband Michael O'Dowd and they're traveling with sister Carmel from Rome who was a sister in Rome with me she's now back in Balianaslow they're taking her back they may be listening I hope that they said they would be in the car now going back and she she wanted to meet Father Neil from Rome as well she'd heard about him in Reddy's book and she managed to meet him before he died and anybody who encountered Father Neil never forgot him a very very very inspirational man very very important figure during the troubles and also of course the founder of White Oaks Rehabilitation Centre which is of course part of the Colombo community I encountered him at about 20 something in Colombo House he still remembers where I was sitting when he met me that's the kind of man he was yeah and you know Greg when you're speaking to Father Neil and I did interview him a few times before I ever became involved in the community he could read you he's I don't know it's very hard to explain he had very piercing blue eyes a man of deep faith tremendous compassion and humanity and strong you know I mean you he wasn't afraid to say but very compassionate you know and loving and his family wonderful family and he founded this community the Colombo community we've got the Celtic prayer garden we've got White Oaks we've got the Easter Centre you saw it amazing yeah six acre Celtic prayer garden we've got Colombo House all these wonderful places and they all they all formed a big part of it and yeah so the Colombo community Medjugorje lots of people encountered through Highland who all I mean if I went away to Medjugorje I was always impressed by and I know I gave things to you as well you're always pleased to get a medal or something and everybody was and it didn't matter where people were on the journey I know people who had no interest in the Catholic Church whatsoever but I would say I've got you this from Medjugorje thank you and and when I'd meet them they'd open up and say look I still have it me wallet you know people still have people you know in their hearts most people are searching for and maybe their heart other there's a hole in their heart and they don't know what they're looking for maybe we fill it with drink or drugs or whatever it is we do but that it is actually God that I've realised we we well I from this was my understanding and is that it's God we should be filling it with yeah how we do that and when we do that and that's something that's something of her and I think that's come I don't feel in a position to say so you knock it back or whatever but I think your life experience and everything that you've been through in your life you're coming with a very understanding approach you every time you speak it you you try and speak to everyone not just people who are very religiously practicing Catholics or not even Catholics or not people of faith or not even church goers but you seem to go out of your way in an incredibly positive way to include everybody so that and I think this has come from your career here and your whole life that you you don't leave anyone behind you include everybody and when you speak it's clear to me that that's what you're doing well in a very natural way not in a very deliberate way but I'm getting the impression that something's incredibly important to you that you speak to everybody regardless of where they are in their life or on their journey well and it should be because there's Catholics that's what we're called to do as Christians that's what we're called to do you know and read the story about Zakeis you know on the outside you know dying to see Jesus climbed up the tree but Jesus brought him down and went to his house and he didn't say you've got to convert before I come into your house he went into his house and he out with him and he was so overwhelmed by meeting Jesus and encountering him he wanted to everything is all the mistakes he's made and the debts he owed I'll pay ten times or double it or whatever you want to you know so Jesus is was not looking he was looking for the lost sheep and he would go my card my prayer card for the ordination was a lost sheep you know and you know we're all lost at different stages of our lives and and and you know and will be again of course life is a challenge whenever and ever always there are we were always we'll always stumble of course just get up and keep moving of course and as long as we know that and as long as we know you know I spoke to parents last night and they'd lost a child and I didn't realize who they were until they were speaking to me because I didn't know them personally but I knew the story and they were talking and you know it's profound and only somebody who has lost a child would understand that you know and that's the privilege of the job that you're doing in the role you have now and we do it through the rate it was a very different way now as a priest that you're trying to listen and it was trying to listen to them you know the difficulties and and the struggles but Jesus I was you know obviously they there are people of faith but of course those moments you you might question where's God in all of this but I says what never fails to amaze me that the people who've been through the most tremendous difficulties in their lives and you might say have every reason to say how could there be a God you know allow this to happen have this faith and they say only for my faith it gets him through I'd like to you know yeah and I think you know I part of me is envious of the position that you will have now the position of trust the position that people will come to you the comfort you'll be able to give people and do give people I think that's a beautiful gift to have if you know what I mean a beautiful position to be in well we're all we're all in unique positions you're in the position of being a wonderful father I've seen you with your children I've seen you the posts as well because I you know I seen your older children and lovely and then you saw them as little children so you have that which I don't have so we all have our own experiences our own journeys our own vocations and not everybody is called to priesthood not everybody is everybody has you know a different status in life and that's fine okay Father Sean Daherty we've just had so many so many comments and requests and so many people listening and watching and I think that's the testimony to you and also as I said to you all fair I've never seen anything that's good news have the reaction that I have to your like the you know you talk about family the it's clear people still see you as part of their family because the reaction they've had whether it's on Highland whether it's on Donegal Daily whether it's on Donegal now or any of it or wherever it might be people are genuinely so happy for you which is lovely it is lovely it's probably not required but it's a lovely thing to have it's a lovely thing and I'm aware that not everybody you know has a great relationship with the church or would you know maybe think he's a great guy to be that's fine too you know because I probably would be thinking that about that's that's the way of it you know I'm aware that and can I can I wanted to mention Greg the Donegal Hospice because as a patron I've not been around and I know that people have been very supportive of it and you know Grace and Isabelle were there at the ordination so I know and I'm very grateful that people continue to support it and I know that you as a group at Highland Radio and David James doing this Jai Vin and everything he's been doing brilliant work and please keep supporting him in the Foyle and the Ray of Sunshine in Africa you know maybe you get you out one day you could take a whole team oh they would love that all they would love it and you know and to Caroline the last thing that made a terrible mistake the last show because you know it ended all like this will now very quickly and I never the mic went off and the only person I hadn't thanked was Caroline or she still hasn't forgiven you no well she will now so to the the priests father Paul father Michael and those who helped me through my ordination to Bishop Donal Bishop Boys all the brother priests all the people who came all those who sent me good wishes and love and prayers and those I'll never be able to thank enough the people of Highland and the listeners and those who supported me and Caroline or the producer as well who'd you know you know she's really the person does the show without truth because don't tell everybody that no but I'm just the math you will not know where you're going to be based for another while at 11 maybe around next week then next week and are you doing any other masses in Donegal soon I'm doing one in earth which is where my father is from in Clown near Clown Mani on Friday evening so there'll be mass there on Friday evening that's my first one in my dad's part do you remember how you used to sign off your show and whatever you do do it George save whatever you do it do it nicely do it safely but most will do it with Highland radio father Sean it's been wonderful and it's it's been wonderful to see where you and it's just a lovely story as I said earlier on thank you thank you so much for coming in thank you and hopefully we'll speak again in the not too distant future thank you that's