 Have a great day. It is a new week. It's Monday to the 9 until noon show at 9 o'clock. It's over to Donald Kavanaugh for a news update. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. The DUP is being told that if it won't nominate a deputy first minister at the Stormont Assembly, it should go into opposition. Northern Secretary Brandon Lewis will hold talks with the North's political parties later today, urging them to restore power sharing quickly. However, the DUP has refused to say if it will nominate a deputy first minister after Sinn Féin became the largest party, winning 27 seats, two more than the DUP. Alliance MLA Kelly Armstrong says if the DUP doesn't want to share power with Sinn Féin, then it does have another option. They shouldn't then hold the country to, you know, a standstill. Leave us in this limbo without having a government. So if they don't want to go and don't have the respect of the democratic process, they've been in government with Sinn Féin before. It's a joint ministry, first minister and deputy first minister. If they can't solve the fact that there'll be a Sinn Féin first minister, then they have the opportunity to go into opposition and hold the government to account. The PRO of the Micah Action Group says Tornish Delio Veradker has now been fully briefed on the needs of Micah campaigners in Donegal. During a visit to the county on Friday, Mr Veradker visited a Micah affected home and met with a number of homeowners. Campaigners gave him a two-page document outlining the need for 100% redress, as well as calling for a public inquiry into what happened. Micah Action Group P.R.O. Michael Doherty says the message to the Tornish Delio Veradker was very clear. What he can't say is that he's now not aware. He'll never be able to say that again. There is no reason for him not to go down the road with a full and complete picture direct from the homeowners here of what's required and then it's up to himself and his own conscience and to make sure that he's got the rest of the cabinet lined up there to make the right calls and get this scheme right this time. They've had a go already on the 90-ten scheme, which was a 60-40, right this time is what we're demanding because we can't put homeowners through another cycle of this again. The fire service in Derry dealt with the major blaze in the grounds of a former hospital building in Grandshire last night. Residents were urged to keep doors and windows closed because of the fear of fumes from hazardous materials. Over 30 firefighters tackled to the blaze with a number still on the scene this morning. And last month registered the highest ever proportion of wind-generated power in Ireland. Figures show wind energy provided 32% of the country's electricity in April 2022, up 7% on last year's figure. Wind Energy Ireland says the volume of wind helped push down the average wholesale price of electricity, but there was still an increase of 155% on last year. Wind Energy Ireland's CEO is Noel Cunniff. We need to reform our planning system and we need to ensure that it's properly resourced so that renewable energy projects both onshore and offshore wind can get through the planning system so that they can be assessed properly but quickly and they can be examined and then move forward to get these projects built to help make Ireland more energy independent and to keep more money in our pockets. Rain moving eastwards across the region this morning and again this afternoon gradually clearing to scattered showers and sunny intervals from the west, heavy showers possible particularly this evening. It'll be breezy today with moderate to fresh and gusty southerly winds increasing strong at times in highest temperatures of 14 or 15 degrees Celsius and that's how in radio news we're back with news again at 10 o'clock. COVID-19 can still cause serious illness especially in people at higher risk. We need to keep protecting each other so stay home if you have symptoms. Wear a mask in healthcare settings, public transport and busy places. Let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors. Keep hands clean and get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster. Let's keep looking out for each other from the HSE for us all. The Ninetown News Show with the City of Dairy Airport. Algarve and Mallorca summer holidays from the City of Dairy Airport. Free childish places available for ages 2 to 11. Visit cityofdairyairport.com. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Ninetown News Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning and you're very welcome along to Monday's Ninetown News Show. It is the 9th of May 2022, it's four minutes past nine and you're very welcome along to the program. What do you want to talk about today? The lines are open for you. You can WhatsApp and text us on 08 660 25000. Of course we're going to be discussing the fallout from the Northern Ireland elections, that and so much more besides. Your calls are into us on 07 491 25000 and interact with us on social media please. If you want to watch the program hop on to our website highlandradio.com and you can watch in browser there or go straight to Highland Radio Ireland on YouTube and you know our Facebook pages but it's good to have you on board which other way you choose to join us and most of you and we're delighted to have you listening to us through the good old fashion wireless. Okay on to the newspapers for this morning starting with the Dairy People Donegal News and huge turnout right across Donegal, right across the country in fact for darkness into light and it was lovely to see so many people gathering together as we woke up on Saturday morning though it was who didn't take part to see the wonderful pictures. Well thousands of people across Donegal were up and out early on Saturday to take part in this year's darkness into light. Thirteen walks were organized countywide in Letterkenny in the region of 800 walkers and runners turned out surpassing the expectations of organizers. Yesterday chair of the Letterkenny Darkness Interlight Committee Karen Quinn paid tribute to all those who took part. She said it was humbling to see so many give up their time and energy in support of a Pieter House. On to the Dairy News now and their headline it's as you were in Dairy all five outgoing Dairy MLAs have been returned to Stormont in what proved to be an historic assembly election with Sinn Fein topping the poll with 27 seats to head of the DUP. Michelle O'Neill is in line to be the first ever nationalist first minister however her taking up the role depends on the DUP putting forward a deputy first minister to date they have not given any indication that they will do so and it doesn't seem likely that they will any time soon and of course you will know and there's analysis in the paper in Dairy the upheaval within Sinn Fein last year did not affect the performance of the party's outgoing MLAs. Padraig Delarge and Kiera Ferguson Mr Delarge topped the poll and was elected on the first count. The STLP's March Hate Dirk and was also elected on the first count in the four constituency and has been joined by party colleague Sinead McLaughlin. So what's your views on the outcome of those elections and what it might mean get them into us from the north of course or outside the republic 00353749125000. Now on to the Irish Times and continuing with that story work will begin this morning to form a power-sharing government in the north following an assembly election which returns Sinn Fein as the largest party the northern secretary Brandon Lewis is due to meet the leaders of the main storming parties later today and will also speak to the minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney the Irish, British and US governments have urged the north's political parties to re-establish a functioning executive as soon as is possible. Northern Ireland has been without a first and deputy first minister since February's resignation of then first minister the DUP's Paul Given as part of the party's protest over the northern Ireland protocol which it opposes and it says it ran opposing that. It fared reasonable it lost a couple of seats but they say that that is their mandate now and that they will not effectively go into government or until such time as the protocol is removed but in reality is that what the people of the north voted for? I've been sensing we all have been sensing for a while a move away from the green and orange politics as it's been described and I think the performance of the alliance party has proven that there is an appetite for that that being said it was mostly the likes of the Unionist parties and the SDLP that incurred the losses that gave the alliance its boost. All right today's a big day in terms of us finding out Russia I want to say Russia Vladimir Putin's Russia's intentions in Ukraine because today is a huge day it always is annually. It's celebrated victory day isn't it? Freedom day. But there is this concern that Vladimir Putin will use it to garner more support or to harden support in Russia for his activities in Ukraine and the world does not really know what he's going to say. He's in a sticky position in Ukraine because whichever way it turns at this moment it's going to look like something of a defeat because he didn't achieve his early objectives and has had to revise them but we don't know what his next plan is and I think that's what we'll learn more about today and there is some great concern that he might just use this to actually officially declare a war in Ukraine or who's to say where else he might go with it and let's hope that those with that are predicting that he'll use it as an opportunity to strengthen his intentions that they're wrong but anyway we'll read in the Irish Independent Russia's doomsday plane designed to protect Vladimir Putin in case of nuclear attack. Well today make its first appearance in a decade at Moscow's victory day parade the plane known as the flying Kremlin will take part in a fly past over Red Square in a clear warning to the west the giant aircraft will be accompanied by the Tu-96 bear and the Tu-160 white swan which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads the doomsday plane has no external windows except in the cockpit and a drone on the roof of the cockpit that supposedly prevents exposure to electromagnetic pulse attacks Putin who addressed the nation this morning may choose to repeat his threats of a nuclear strike on the west if it escalates its support for Ukraine. Last month the Russian president condemned weapons supply to Kiev promising to use his entire arsenal lightning fast if red lines are crossed but we all know what that means don't we Russia celebrates victory day today a day after Britain and America as Joseph Stalin demanded a separate letter of surrender from the Germans which arrived a day later it has long been one of the most revered days in the national calendar commemorating the defeat of Nazism and the enormous loss of life sustained in the year and of course you will know that Vladimir Putin is using the line that he's trying to rid Ukraine of Nazism to justify his invasion of Ukraine so I presume all of that will be tied in in his address at this morning fingers crossed it's maybe maybe and I'm being optimistic he might use it as an opportunity to go in a more positive direction for the world the Irish Daily Mail this morning apparently shoppers can save up to 3,000 a year on grocery bills by choosing to buy own brand products in shops to help offset near record levels of inflation tell us your experience of using own brand items give us some examples we do see them there I mean I'm not a I'm not afraid to pick them up and use them it can be hard sometimes to root them out but you would avoid things like beans and stuff but I don't mind like pasta and and other own brand stuff but what's your experience almost half of us already purchase and use own brand products already but what's your views on them what's the quality like versus the more famous brands we read on here with the average household now facing a 330 euro increase on their annual grocery bill an analysis by the Irish Daily Mail found there are huge savings to be made by replacing some big name brands with supermarket own brand products across done stores Tesco and Supervalu the savings are substantial as 2,890 a year on a shop of 30 items which would cost more than 5,000 annually if consumers opted for the better known brand so tell us what is your experience in that regard okay on to the Irish Daily Mirror now and Irish fishing waters have effectively been stolen by the rest of the EU fishing fleet shock figures revealed last night the country's fleet now faces annihilation and is almost also banned from fishing in any other European waters Irish fishermen under the EU quota system are only allowed 15% of the total fish caught in our waters 15% but the secret euro stats leaked from the Department of the Marine to Industry Bible the Marine Times show the Dutch quota allowed them to catch 105,000 tons of five five species here France was allowed nearly 90,000 tons of 13 species inside Irish waters Spain's boats were allowed to catch 40,000 tons of seven species all of these quotas are many times in excess of what the Irish fleet is allowed to catch in the Irish Sea and the Atlantic inside our exclusive 200 mile economic zone but worse still Norway which is not a full EU member Norway is not an EU member in full it has quotas in our waters in Irish waters of 231,000 tons of blue whiteing plus 14 tons of blue ling and 13 tons of tusk the quota table also reveals how Irish fishermen have no quota in French Spanish Dutch German Danish Polish Belgium Latvian or Lithuanian waters the figures were obtained by one of the country's top fishing experts Dr Kevin Flannery and that in the clearest terms that I've seen it so far paints the picture as to where we are in this country our fishermen and what they're facing our fishers okay on to the Irish Sun now and not an awful lot in the tabloids I went through them a couple of times and to be honest with you I couldn't really find anything that jumped out so I'll reference you to they played a gig in Ukraine in a bomb shelter you two soup star bono and the edge held a surprise gig in a bomb shelter in Kiev yesterday the Dublin pair were joined on stage by Ukrainian soldiers as air raid sirens sounded outside bono praise their fight for freedom saying we pray you will enjoy some peace soon indeed and I think we could all concur with that sentiment and last but not least sad news from the world of entertainment in the Irish daily star many of you would have been familiar with minder that tv series and others well tell you hard man as is described Dennis Waterman has died at 74 in his Spanish home with his fourth wife by his side tributes flooded in from tv fans and celebrities after the minder and the Sweeney veterans family said he had passed away while watching watched over by his wife of 11 years pamphlet a statement released by his loved one said we are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved Dennis passed away very peacefully at his home in Spain on saturday morning with Pam by his side okay um that was a run through the newspapers this morning anything catch your ear you have a view on any of that oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand that is the whatsapp or text line our courtesy of Kelly centra mountain top letter Kenny the nine to nincho with the city of dairy airport i'll garf and me orca summer holidays from the city of dairy airport free childish places available for ages two to eleven visit city of dairy airport dot com so you're struggling with your mobile connection yes i've tried everything have you tried walking in a circle standing on a chair shouting instead of speaking this is ridiculous best i can do for you i'm afraid let me be here fear not super helpful mobile has got you covered with 99 covered staying connected has never been easier when you join tesco mobile this is supermarket mobile tesco mobile every little helps 99 population coverage visit tesco mobile dot ie forward slash service dash information ireland is leaving diesel behind and kelly's toyota is leading the way with our incredible range of self-charging hybrid electric cars we've amazing offers including contributions and trade and boosters and with 46 years of experience here in dunigal you can trust us to help you on your electric journey you'll never take a wrong turn with toyota ireland's best-selling car brand visit kelly's toyota mount charles or letter kenny today toyota built for a better world terms and conditions apply the hilarious three l marys is coming to letter kenny but he was beautiful big brown war three a's and i'm like an avardine angus bull see three hill marys at on granon theater letter kenny for one night only finally made 13th see on granon.com we're called 07491 20777 this wednesday the 11th around the northwest is live from the open day at dunigali tv's newest further education and training center on the porch road letter kenny the open day is a chance to call in and see the new center have a look at their state of the art teaching and learning facilities meet the staff and find out about the range of fat courses on offer find out more listen in from 12 this wednesday on around the northwest okay you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show uh greg was wondering what ever happened with the drinks by cases around in a show and if the case has been resolved our guards still investigating i presume they are we don't really get notifications as to whether you know the progress on any individual victims complaint is another one hello i was just wondering if you had any advice on how to change your gp i've constantly bothered with my doctor between inquiries about myself and my children it's always quite horrible even with the littlest of things so much so he had me in tears after a phone call this morning okay i'm sorry to hear that um but i don't know what the procedure is for switching gps either radio we are going to we are going to continue our coverage now of the events in northern ireland the northern ireland election results are in all 90 mls have been elected we'll get some analysis from pat mccart in the not too distant future and others but we'll start with senator nablaini a spokesperson for northern ireland and a member of the good friday agreement committee a spokesperson for fina fall in northern ireland your takeaways from these results senator you know i suppose there were there were pretty much along the lines that the the polls were were showing we're supposed 10 days out greg the sdlp didn't do too well on the east coast that they held fairly well on the western side um shin fiends vote increased they held their seats the dp didn't have the meltdown that that's everybody expected uh but the tv damington sufficiently that they're now in second place and michelle lean will now take up the force minister um but i suppose the big surprise was the alliance and the massive increase in seats um from their perspective from going from 8 to 17 was quite the victory but all that said they're in third place and um it'll be interesting to see what weight they have now when it comes to divvying up the ministerial positions if they get to that position i suppose first and foremost brandon louis is there today and negotiations are going to be kicked off in relation to the protocol and all eyes will be on that what is the position uh we don't know exactly what britain's intentions are as it relates to the protocol but the dup wanted removed all together they do and i suppose they recognize that they lost their vote to the tv uv who were very much all out get rid of the protocol at all costs um that said um you know there was a council election in the uk as well and barris johnson's party got a fair cleaning out across the board um scottling on wales um so i would think that at this stage barris is staring down the conflict at the next general election um they don't need brexit to be hanging around there's too many local issues they need to be dealing with um brexit has been hanging over their heads for too long i would imagine the brandon louis is coming more focused now um and i'd hope he'd be more focused with a view to resolving the protocol um i believe the willow is there but then the willow has never been there to sit down and you will see it but the democratic will of the people of northern northern island surely at this point has to be respected because if you take it in the round uh the majority wanted to stay within the e u and the majority are okay with the protocol i mean democracy has to be respected at some point i absolutely agree with you and then that that always should be the way but it hasn't been the case all the way through this brexit process uh and that has been demonstrated time and time again um and particularly in relation to the British government um but as i say um i believe it's never interesting to hold out now and get an agreement uh and whatever shape or form and it's really important from our own perspective like my whole interest in northern island is particularly from an underground perspective how we're cut off um getting an executive up is really important for us now for the likes of the a5 which is coming near the judicial review process um it's really important that we have an executive and a minister in place now um that they're all out in real view that that took place um and i was sorry to see nicola maungal because she put so much emphasis into that with such uh such close relationship with her in relation to it and she put her two feet into it um she put particular emphasis in the northwest that review had 40 percent of all of the all island um correspondence and come in in relation to all island real review 40 percent of those um that contributed to that were from the northwest um so what's really important for those projects now that that we do get an executive and we do get storm and working again yeah okay so stay there senator nal blaney um pat mccart joins us now former editor of the diary journal and we heard from pat ahead of these elections anything surprising pat good morning to anything surprising as it relates to the outcome i suppose the biggest thing you know uh was the performance of alliance party but uh i was basically greg the the one thing that uh is significant uh for the first the first elections i think were held on the 24th of may 19 21 there was a nearly eight percent turnout and the unionists put up 40 candidates and 40 got elected the last election there about three four days ago for the first time ever after 101 years a nationalist party is now the top party i think the founding fathers of unionism had the idea that the unionism would be in control and perpetuity so the significance of the results that came through um freddy and saturday is that the teams they really are changing so from a dp perspective obviously there are two things here either um they believed that the people of northern island voted on one issue and that was the protocol and they can't go into government because that would be uh that would be um you know backing down on an election promise um or people don't want their message and they held on to a certain level of of their hardcore voters but the rest went elsewhere it depends which way you want to look at it and i'm sure there's more options than the two i've presented yeah i i heard the end of now but there i was sort of couldn't get through for a while but anyway bottom line is that the one of the guys i heard on yesterday in bdc one of the newly elected d up guys he said the secretary of state can either have the assembly or the protocol but not both so i think the chances of getting assembly open running any time soon are very very scarce the the unions have uh end of mclaffery who's the bbc's uh political editor made a very good point yesterday he said that uh jeffrey donelson has tied himself to the british secretary of state doing something on regard to the protocol which means he's basically a hostage to fortune because he's depending on somebody else to do something uh for him that he can't do himself so that and right now the secretary of state yesterday morning on the bbc politics program refused point blank to give any assurances in regard to the protocol so where does that leave unionism well also i mean i presume the secretary of state has to look at the room and and see what the the will of the people of north and arlanders as well yeah well 56 percent of the people in northern arland voted against brexit plus the fact if you add up all the votes for the parties on thursday's election break most of them if you take them anybody that didn't vote the d up or tv is in favour of the protocol well the biggest percentage of the votes went for pro protocol parties yeah but the funny thing is is that really i think well i don't know but i suspect that the people of northern arland are concerned about health they're concerned about the cost of living they're concerned about uh you know all the the stuff everybody is and yet here we are post election and it's protocol protocol protocol like it must be very frustrating uh for voters you know they want the bread and butter stuff sorted uh greg the the waiting list the hospital waiting lists in northern arland are now worse than any other part of quote united kingdom or any place in the republic of arland and as you know our waiting lists aren't exactly healthy so what's going on in the north plus the fact greg there is a massive cost of living increase there we've what we've had years of recession followed by covid followed by a war in ukraine and if i think of the unionist parties that have not been smart here if they think that the british government's top priority or the eu's top priority is a protocol that they don't like i i think they're sadly mistaken what are the problems i've heard several people in recent times say for the eu as they don't want to open up or renegotiate the protocol with the british government because they're scared that if once they do that they will open up several other fronts for the british government and they'll want to renegotiate the whole thing and that ain't going to happen yeah now blaine what is the the latest or senator blaine what is the what is the next step in terms of uh the eu and uh britain and northern arland the uk as a whole uh what is the next step in terms of talking about the protocol because things have pretty much stalled at this point haven't they yeah i suppose that the eu has offered so many changes thus far and every time they offer changes britain says it's not enough um it's really up to the british government to step up to the plate here and be meaningful sit down and negotiate and i would hope that they were at that point um i would think that britain this stage should see that they need to do that um and i heard you send a pat there about the position the dup have them have themselves in um i was listening to to say man covene over the weekend talking about this and obviously the the protocol is not going to be renegotiated but i suppose the mechanisms was in and what really could be a one for the dup what could be a one and he alluded to was some of those um imports into northern ireland that are not going moving beyond northern ireland it could be become um items that don't need but that does not that's the body of our yeah but that does not remove what is effectively a border down the iris c it doesn't there's going to be no winners on this but there's going to be some ones for the dup uh whether it'll be enough that that'll depend their mindset uh what they intend doing you know we're coming towards the margin season as well um if they bury their heads in the sand i don't see a good end to all of this um we could have a very bad result in a few months time um peace in northern ireland could take a very retrograde step which nobody wants it's really time for for politicians to to work on a mandate now and works on a solution based approach do you share that concern pat absolutely uh this was a fairly polarizing uh election greg and the other thing is well i think we have to acknowledge is the fact that the unions are are in a bad place uh basically a lot of things are running against them and for like can you imagine the psychological thing uh for a lot of you know something fearing for the uh well their culture their identity their politics and everything else and and when they sat and watched you know uh greg on uh on friday morning about the first five or six results came on shin fian top of the pool every which way with huge majorities four out of the six counties in the north are ready uh national's majorities so uh it's not a great time to be a unionist and you know i as nile says i think they have to give them a one somewhere along the way you know the last thing you want to do is to totally sort of feel that they have no what does nelson mandela i said always give your opponent some room for a maneuver what is uh your view pat on the fact that uh well not a fact it's just a perception of uh that uh the the idea of a border poll was not really it wasn't part of the election campaign from anyone as far as i could really determine but very soon after the results were announced it was pushed front and center was there a tactic there or what's your reading of that i would think but you know the funny thing greg there's somebody mentioned yesterday that on a i think it was last wednesday night uh jeffrey donelson there was an interview with somebody from shin fain and jeffrey donelson and jeffrey don't the shin fain person never mentioned the border pool and jeffrey donelson mentioned it six times that was quoted yesterday in one of the programs the dup paid up non-stop this thing about the border pool now whether for strategic or tactical reasons shin fain parked the whole thing about the border pool and the run-up to the elections they rarely have ever mentioned it in fact they concentrated on the waiting lists at hospitals the cost of living and various other things and they made it a very bread and butter election and the other thing as well greg as far as i noticed on the way in shin fain played it very very safe they did absolutely nothing controversial all their spokesman did an every interview prior to the election will say look we're pointing out that the dup are saying they will and the official units are saying they will not they will not answer the question will they accept the deputy first ministers post and the the the point being made there is look they won't accept that things are changing and it was a very subtle but very clever strategy senator blaney it seems maybe it's easily to understand i don't know but just your views on it leo fried car was in was here on friday and listening to your own party leader some of his commentary not able to it seems to to you know congratulate shin fain on on being the biggest party northern island now more wanting to maybe focus on the alliance or or or anything other than sort of saying well fair play to shin fain on that result well i actually didn't hear leo rockers interview what he was focused mostly on the alliance really and he said that he was wrong in saying that the i think he was wrong in saying that the the nationalist vote overall would be done reasonably significantly i think it might have been done marginally i don't know but anyway what's your view i can't i can't i don't speak from uh no no i was just giving you a synopsis of what he said anybody who puts their head forward for election deserves praise force and foremost but shin fain absolutely deserves praise for for the campaign he carried a very smart campaign they kept their heads down they didn't walk into any trouble that's right they stayed away completely from the the barger paul issue it was buried for the duration of the election as people people not begin now um but they don't well and maybe it does one's election i have to congratulate absolutely and you'd be thrilled about that how do um and i'll ask both of you the same question i'll start with you senator how do uh people rightly recognize those that voted for the alliance party because we're still talking about the dup and shin fain and shin fain the dup but the biggest swing was toward the alliance they were moving away from sort of the green and orange uh politics they want something different how are there voices heard uh in northern ireland yeah well it's a bit strange that's what the whole setup of storm and greg um first and foremost you still have the two main parties that were there the last government you the two parties responsible for taking down the executive um for quite long periods and government didn't work they now have a bigger mandate um so there's a responsibility on them to take take on the responsibility and take it sharply from the alliance perspective um they're in third place and they'll get their their share of power and whatever ministries they get i know they from listen to steven fire and others over the weekend they have particular views in relation to the change of the makeup um of power and storm and um that is out of date that needs to recognize democracy of today and parliaments of today so it'll be interesting to see um how much say they have in relation to this and other parties are interested in changing the status quo um and and making i suppose the the the parliament and storm and change its ways the representation change its ways and i suppose those smaller parties having a bigger say what goes on within these counties all right listen thanks for your time this morning same question to you pat i think greg to get back to the original point i mean when when the founding of the state it was 100 almost unionists unionism when you see what happened on when the results were finished on saturday well yes actually one left until yesterday the makeup has totally excuse me totally changed alliance when alliance now greg has a has a major role to play but when you think about the fact if you combine the alliance and shin fame votes the message for unionism is one that there's a massive change going on out there and i think to follow on from the else point i think they're going to have to have a look at the you know there's a what they call the mandatory coalition and uh at starman it looks like now that might have to change though that was part of the good friday agreement so how they're going to change that i'm not quite sure it'll take someone in negotiation all right basically greg bottom line is times have changed okay listen thank you very much indeed for that i appreciate it uh greatly that's pat mccart there who is uh d up mp not a big party it's not he's former editor of the dairy journal i can introduce uh d up mp and sports person on international development uh gregory cambell good morning gregory thanks for joining us good morning um the the outcome of the of the election not as bad as was predicted by some for your party well that's right i mean i remember over well for many months now there were all sorts of commentators and pundits and posters using the word i mean the word meltdown was used several times and we were going to be um you know either obliterated or dramatically reduced and all of those sorts of references and we have come back with 25 seats in chimpina 27 seats um there was a difference of one the last time uh in our favor and there's a difference of two in chimpina's favor so it is a change but nothing like as dramatic as was predicted a few months ago what do you think um the chances are now of getting the government up and running is it fair really that the people have had their say a democratic election uh we've seen how the cards have fallen uh you know you the d up have been supported in government for quite some time by shin fain is it not time now uh to to uh operate in the reverse and get on with the work of uh looking after you know trying to sort out hospital waiting lists the cost of living and all the other problems that face uh northern irish people every day of the week well the last short answer to your question is yes and they i mean if we had been first minister position in terms of running the election rather than in deputy first minister's position because it comes second our position would still be the same we would still be saying there's a huge impediment to getting down to work to sort out those very very important pressing issues that you've referred to in the question and that big impediment it's a protocol so the protocol is the problem whether we were first minister doesn't it or deputy first minister doesn't it so there's a very simple straightforward way to unlock the lockdown sort the protocol and what do you mean by sort adjust it remove it which get it replaced there there's i mean if we go back to the basics of the protocol we were told two three years ago that the reason that a protocol was required was to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland i have now said on i don't know how many scores of occasions and and over the past while this proven to be the case because there are 300 crossing points on a 300 land 300 land border on the island of ireland there is no such possibility of a hard border yes but it doesn't necessarily have to be physically there gregory it's the it's the it's the you know it's the perception or the reality of it the the consequences of that yeah but what would that mean i mean we if you're talking about the perception or a consequence because there's no real border down the rc either is there well there is if you land that strun rar and you're wanting to either bring over a pet or bring over some plants or bring over whatever it is you want to bring over and you're bringing them to either larn, limobare, london dary and you're told don't know we have to check that and the answer is why okay do you believe there's any scope within the current protocol through negotiation that would please the dup enough that it would it would return to government well there's two things have to be sorted that the protocol deliver for us i want to say i'm talking about the problems they deliver the two things are the checks when there are no need for the checks so we have to sort that out get those sorted and get the checks removed i'm sorry to cut across here gregory just for clarity this proposal that perhaps items that would be uh that would be um only four northern island that checks would be lifted on those items if they weren't to travel south of the border would would that be enough of a compromise there do you think it's the room for compromise there well it would certainly be a significant move in the right direction but i don't know why they couldn't have done that too usually but yes it would be because that the problem isn't moving goods from gb to roa the problem is moving goods from gb to na why should that require checks so so if you can sort that that's a good move then the other point and this is a point that hasn't really been concentrated upon by others apart from us is the constitutional implications for example if in the future say we get the checks sorted then they're all removed and that that is good progress and then we're no longer into the grace periods because we haven't seen the worst effects of the protocol because of all these grace periods then there's no violence against grace because there's not going to be any checks period that's it will stop that's good progress but then even constitutional questions so if then next year the year after we in the uk decide we want to do something slightly different to the eu will the eu then say well now because northern island technically speaking is still in the single market for goods in the eu you can't do that mr book johnson i got you but is it not the case though that you know most people in northern island wanting to stay within the eu and most people in northern island didn't vote to have the protocol adjusted or removed like at what point do you sort of say right you know we were not a single issue party there are all the other issues that i mentioned you look across northern island and see that the will of the people regardless of what their background may or may not be and also the fact that you know the dvp didn't make any gains they were in fact losses like is this the right strategy i mean it's your part of what maybe i'm gonna say maybe you know maybe we've maybe we've got this one wrong well you see let's let's just turn the table for a second if we had a position in the sort of eu you pay negotiations either with the protocol or anything else that's directly affected northern island does anybody anywhere seriously think for a moment that if the combined elected political representatives of the nationalist chocopublican community were saying look if you do whatever it is you're thinking of doing on the case the protocol have actually done this is going to significantly adversely affect the people that we represent and every single last one of them said it's anybody seriously think that d and u k would say well i'm sorry we're going to have to go ahead anyway it wouldn't because the structures that we now have and the irony is that it was nationalist and it was more in favor of those structures the structures that we have now require cross community consensus well the same applies to the protocol and there is no cross community consensus for that let's get the two outstanding parts of the protocol that that are the impairment getting on with the real business are you confident that the road and education all sort of are you confident that the the johnson government won't end up shafted the d up on this issue i'm not confident that they will do what they say they will do but i'm more confident that they may be put in a position where they will have to okay thank you very much indeed Gregory Campbell uh he is uh the d p m p and spokesperson on international development pierce daherty uh deputy pierce daherty deputy leader of shin fane and spokesperson on finance joins us now good morning to you pierce thanks for taking the call good morning sorry for holding you there i didn't actually really realize you were there um on when you were okay what's your reaction to uh i suppose your party's performance in in northern and it was a low-key campaign um what was the strategy there i wonder well look at you know i know people have said that it was a low-key campaign and that may have been how it played out in terms of the the media but i can tell you somebody who was on the ground in different constituencies across the north uh there was a huge vibrancy in the campaign we've seen the the level of turnout that came out people wanted to exercise their vote and people were excited about what this election could bring about uh and indeed this election did bring it about it brought a huge increase in the in the shin fane support base it has positioned michelle o'neill to be the first minister of the north and as your previous course persons in the radio said earlier on i think pat mentioned it about the you know when the north was created it was created with its borders for a unionist majority in perpetuity you know the unionist obviously community has lost that majority in a number of elections but i don't think a hundred years ago when they were sitting down to decide which part would be partitioned and which wouldn't that they would ever envisage that they would have a republican first minister and that's what the election has has thrown out so look michelle o'neill is in storming this morning along with our team of MLAs we want to get down to business we want to see the executive back up and running and the election was fought on the bread and butter issues and people know where all the parties stand on the on the medium to long-term issues in terms of constitutional change but there is an immediate issue here in terms of the cost of living crisis that needs to be addressed there's money that's locked in the finance department that can't be released over 330 million euro million pound that we want to see in the pockets of ordinary families and workers across the north there's a billion pound in health that needs to be invested over the next three years these are the kind of decisions that people and i would argue across the political debate whether you were republican nationalist unionists whether you supported the alliance these are the issues that they wanted to see addressed what can be done to get a government in place to because you know there's an awful lot of people probably either don't want to know or are tired of listening about the ins and outs of of northern island politics and probably just want to know is look what will it take to get a government in place to release those funds to improve our lives and maybe those are the voters that move towards the alliance i don't know but you know that's like what what can be done actually make this happen well look you know the dup have have backed themselves into a cold effect and they need to find a way out of that um for all of the other political parties and remember the dup is isolated in this year and them and the tv which only have one member in the assembly and have this position and all the other political parties want to get up for want to get on with the work want to get back to work want to make the decisions want the executives to meet so the dup need to find a way out of this they have um hitched their wagon to boris johnson and boris johnson's government they've created a precondition that has nothing to do with the assembly the assembly has no control whatsoever over the protocol the future of it whether it will be changed for a good bad or are indifferent it is nothing to do with even it is their bargaining chip though obviously but it it it this will be resolved to be resolved between boris johnson's government and between the the european union um and you know what we are hearing from the likes of Gregory Campbell on your show this morning and from other dup representatives and we started to hear this message as soon as the uh as soon as the the the the polling stations closed was that there would be no executive until the protocol had gone that was not said during the campaign and indeed they're fine yeah but in fairness all parties can be accused of similar uh there was very little talk uh in as part of the campaign um as it relates to a border poll and and and now you know the likes of twitter and elsewhere is flooded by uh elected reps saying you know uh it's and your own party leader saying you know this will happen now within 10 years you know i think both your party and the dup maybe you know are talking about stuff uh post-election that they weren't talking about pre-election and with respect greg um first of all in our manifesto in our literature it is very clear that we favor a border poll i don't think anybody listened to this radio i indeed i don't think anybody in the dup would be surprised to to find out this morning that shinsane wants to uh to to bring about a new island and wants to trigger the mechanisms and the good friday agreement in relation to a border poll to bring that about um i've been on the your own station now for a couple of minutes oh no i'm not i get you but pierce just one question so are you saying are you saying prior to that election you know when you're strategizing uh just in all honesty that a decision wouldn't have been made to say right we're going to focus on on more of the bread and butter issues and maybe not focus every interview on the prospect of a border poll or what that might say maybe people want to hear about the other day-to-day stuff that's that's uh that's occupying the lives are you saying a strategy wasn't employed by your party along those lines if it's the cases no that's fine but i mean are you saying that that's simply not the case the point is that everybody knows regardless of their political persuasion that shin fame favors a border poll i know that wasn't the question pierce with respect so no let me finish so therefore we fought this issue we fought this campaign on the bread and butter issues the issues that the assembly needs to deal with right now right here but of course we need to the assembly will also be an assembly that can appoint to the type of change that is happening in the north and that will in in my view uh lead to more discussion in relation to the need to plan for a border poll we're not argued we've never argued for an a border poll immediately what we're saying is look at what's happening in the north look at the change that is taking place and those who favor a united island those who favor the creation of a new nation needs to start sitting down seriously and figuring out what that means what it will look like how identity will be cherished for those who don't favor that that approach how we will have economies that will be integrated how we will have public services integrated and that's why we've been saying to the teacher for quite some time that we need to start the preparation work in relation to planning for a referendum we want to see that referendum within five years um but this this election wasn't about an election about a border poll no i get that i get that election on the on the feet of all the t-shirt probably would argue that we're already doing a lot of the the groundwork with the shared island initiative and what have you that's just probably what he might say with you completely completely separate issue but in top of the bread and butter issues and just let me make this point because it shouldn't get lost on top of the bread and butter issues our political opponents particularly in in in the unionist uh category made the issue of the first minister a major issue and on the ground it became a major issue for people who support Sinn Féin particularly people you know who were and i spoke to some of these who were on the on the civil rights marches demanding uh one man one vote people who were you know were were beaten off the streets at that time and the prospect that that glass ceiling in the north is completely and utterly shattered into smithereens it was something that gave them hope that that that that finally that they realized that equality uh was being inbuilt into into into the north that there was nowhere that they could not go or nobody that no no no position that nationalists or republican could could not be afraid to achieve and i think that by michelle anneal beat first minister desigate has given a huge comfort a huge courage uh to republicans and nationalists but i think anybody who believes in equality across the north i think needs to accept that this is that this is a good day for democracy in in relation to that all right deputy pierce dog is always thank you very much indeed he is the deputy leader of shin fain too and their spokesperson on finance some of your comments coming up after we take this quick break the nine till new show with city of dairy airport pre-brook your airport parking fast track and launch access at city of dairy airport dot com for a stress-free start to your trip since she got her free hearing aids with her prsi at spec savers roshine is a changed one music has never sounded better and that makes her dance and dance and dance her singing though yeah well free hearing aids with prsi at spec savers music to your ears find out more online terms and conditions apply is your water safe to drink if your water tastes unpleasant or has a foul smell it may be a sign that something is in your water brothers tech dunigal provide a complete private well water treatment service using the best water treatment equipment to meet your needs or maybe you drill the new well and the water isn't satisfactory at brothers tech their expert team will also service existing problematic systems if you're concerned about the quality of your water 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from dunigal hearing clinic if you're struggling to hear everyday conversations or find it difficult to understand people in a crowded room you may have hearing loss problems like these are common and we're used to helping people resolve them we offer hearing assessments and we'll discuss your options you can call us on 074-9188-470 or visit dunigallhearingclinic.ie life sounds brilliant with dunigall hearing clinic letter kenny and bunkranna island radio weather updates with ireland west airport get ready to hit the beach and soak up the sun by choosing flights to alicante, barcelona, faro, miyorka, malaga and maland this summer with ryanair island west airport you're flying okay rain will move east words this morning and afternoon gradually clearing to scattered showers and sunny intervals from the west some heavy showers are possible especially in the evening temperatures today 14 to 15 degrees the caller says i don't think the same appetite is present for united island as there was a few years ago i don't think we can afford to absorb the ni population we can't really afford to look after our own population at the moment but of course with that would come in come and also too i think really we have to understand that you know when you live in the north of ireland and i don't mean northern ireland if you know what i mean when you live in the north of the country uh you know you're very uh you have an understanding of it you perhaps have a view on it you have an opinion i think when you're broaden that conversation out to the island of ireland i just wonder it really um has the conversation even really started in earnest or much thought uh been put into it from people in you know the big population centers uh down south who might listen to an argument along the lines of the one from that texture so uh nothing would be if a vote was called nothing would be a fate to come play ask him what's to stop the goods traveling south if they're not checked on the way into northern ireland well i'd have to put something in place for that wouldn't they uh the reality is the politics of the north have totally changed says another listener the victory for shin fame was inevitable unionism lacks leadership the changes finally come around and shin fame are the only ones who are going to instigate it in their view uh but in fairness like the shin fame didn't make gains as such to to uh become the biggest party it was uh losses elsewhere that contributed to that not that's a not that saying that that matters one way or other just to um make that point uh finna fall and finna gal treat shin fame with the same contempt and lack of respect to the dup shame and you both can't wait for the next election says a caller another barris johnson signed up to the protocol to get brexit through and all agreed another i wish we could get the word protocol changed to another word the word protocol i can't stand to hear that word i wonder if this word bothers anyone else and two more before uh the break for the news the first pass the post system will suit shin fame in the next general election in the uk uh then the fund will start the union is in trouble thank god they believe and another great britain will not jeopardize the brexit agreement as indications in the uk economy that they could go on to recession yet indeed and the warning of that that that could be uh coming up down the line right okay last break and then the news rejoin us afterwards we float coming up uh in the next hour the nine to nin show with the city of dairy airport algarve and meorca summer holidays from the city of dairy airport free childish places available for ages two to eleven visit city of dairy airport dot com by choosing dunigol creamery's milk you're supporting over 200 dairy farming families across dunigol in doing what they do best producing delicious fresh milk every day for over 100 years dunigol creamery's milk has been brought to you dilly from our dairy at crossroads killy gordon the longest established creamery in the region support local farms local families and local jobs by choosing dunigol creamery's milk getting married don't leave it too late book with us today at the groom's room in evolved clothing let it any retail park this time of year we're all thinking about freshening up the paintwork in our homes bringing color and vibrancy to our living spaces but the important thing isn't just the colors we choose it's the paint flea wood use the highest quality ingredients for a richer color and smoother finish that lets you wipe away the marks of everyday life and it's irish made designed to work with the ever-changing irish light would one range of paints transform your home flea wood wood naturally is your car due as service for the month of may get your car serviced at i motors letterkenny and avail of a free vehicle health check and a free oil change for more details check out our website or facebook call us today on 0749134567 to book in terms and conditions apply when it comes to searching for a holiday atlantic travel and other kenny deal with all the major tour operators from dublin and belfast to find you the best deals available a week in the sun a cruise or maybe a short break whatever suits you can book in confidence with atlantic knowing your holiday is protected shoot something go wrong take the hassle and worry out of your holiday booking with the award-winning atlantic travel sit oliver plonkin road letter kenny for a quote today see facebook visit atlantic travel dot ie or call 91126193 line on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal kavanaugh at the news desk the dup is being told if it won't nominate a deputy first minister of the storm and assembly it should go into opposition northern secretary brandon lewis will hold talks with the north's political parties today urging them to restore power sharing quickly however the dup have refused to say if it'll nominate a deputy first minister after shin fame became the largest party in the north winning 27 seats two more than the democratic unionists alliance party emily kelly armstrong says if they don't want to share power with shin fame then the dup has another option they shouldn't then hold the country to you know stand still leave us in this limbo without having a government so if they don't want to go and don't have the respect of the democratic process they've been in government with shin fame before it's a joint ministry first minister and deputy first minister if they can't solve the fact that there'll be a shin fame first minister then they have the opportunity to go into opposition and hold the government to account meanwhile on today's nine to noon show senator nyle blaney the finifall shannon spokesperson on northern ireland said a new executive is important for donnie gall as a number of cross-border projects need to proceed with that in mind he paid tribute to the outgoing infrastructure minister nicolam mallan who lost her seat at the weekend getting an executive up was really important for us now for the likes of the a5 which is coming the year the judicial review process they're all out in real view that that took place um and i was sorry to see nicolam mallan gall because she put so much into that 40 percent of those that contributed to that were from the northwest so what's really important for those projects now that that we do get an executive and we do get storm and working again with the first ever meeting of the new euk parliamentary partnership assembly takes place this week in brussels the assembly was established last year as part of the post brexit process with 35 members each from the european parliament and the uk parliament shin fame's christ mcmanus is an mp for midlands northwest and a member of the eu delegation he says outstanding issues relating to brexit and the northern ireland protocol do need to be addressed key things for me to be raising our issues post brexit predominantly around the ireish protocol and predominantly about ensuring that we find a way to make sure that the voices of the people in the north of ireland who are now affected by directors and legislation that will be coming off brussels are we listening the fire service in deri dealt with the major fire in the grounds of a former hospital building in grancia last night residents were urged to keep doors and windows closed because of the fear of fumes from hazardous materials the fire was brought under control in the early hours of this morning over 30 firefighters tackled the blaze at its height a number remain at the scene today russia's president has described mosco's military action in ukraine as a response to western provocation that mere putin was speaking at a major military parade held each year on may 9 to mark victory over the nazis in world war two putin urged his army toward victory in ukraine during the parade of troops tanks and rockets which took place in the center of mosco this morning the nate alliance began to move their troops into our neighboring territories and they were creating an unacceptable threat to us right at our borders last month saw the highest ever proportion of wind generated power in ireland figures show wind energy provided 32 percent of the country's electricity in april 2022 up seven percent on last year wind energy ireland says the volume of wind helped push down the average wholesale price of electricity but there was still an increase of 155 percent on the previous year and that shows the need they say for more renewables a president donning all county council is consulting the public on proposed changes to the county development plan as it pertains to wind farms and their control however wind energy ireland ceo null khanif says the planning process nationally should be easier and quicker we need to reform our planning system and we need to ensure that it's properly resourced so that renewable energy projects both onshore and offshore wind can get through the planning system so that they can be assessed properly but quickly and they can be examined and then move forward to get these projects built to help make ireland more energy independent and to keep more money in our pockets looking at the weather forecast and met area and tell us that rain will move eastwards this morning and afternoon gradually clearing discard our chars and sunny intervals from the west sub hazy showers possible particularly in the evening breezy with moderate to fresh and gusty southerly winds increasing strong at times highest temperatures today 14 to 15 or 16 degrees celsius and that's island radio news we're back with news headlines again at 11 o'clock the abyss notices for this monday morning the 9th of may the death house taken place of david comings bali moor don fanahe formerly of kent england his remains are opposing at his late residence which is strictly private police at the request of the deceased funeral mass in st michaels church christa on wednesday at 12 noon followed by burial in doe cemetery mass can be viewed live on mc in media dot tv family flowers only please donations if desired to the dunigol hospice care of any family member or james harkin funeral director the death house taken place of helen betie name at lintuck craig's road rufo funeral from her residence this afternoon at half past one for service in st unan's cathedral rufo for two o'clock burial afterwards in the family plot in the local church yard family flowers only please donations if desired to the dunigol hospice care of any family member or gibson funeral directors the death house taken place of frankie brennan magumna ar dra formerly of main street ar dra his remains will repose at his home from 11 a.m to 11 p.m today funeral from their tomorrow morning at half past 11 to the church of the holy family ar dra for rick wi amass at 12 noon followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery family time please before the funeral tomorrow family flowers only please donations in louis desired to the kitty begs patient's comfort fund care of any family member the death house taken place of tony o bryan drumul manor cunningham removal from eternal light chapel of rest mount and top letter kenny this evening at 7 o'clock going to his residence which is strictly private please funeral from there tomorrow morning at quarter to 11 to st columbus church drumul for 11 o'clock rick wi amass followed by interment in the adjoining church yard family flowers only please the death house taken place of lily arrow malin road moville lilies remains are opposing at her late home removal from their tomorrow morning at half past 10 for 11 o'clock rick wi amass in st pious the 10th church moville followed by burial in balibrak cemetery family flowers only please donations in louis desired to the car and on a community hospital care of any family member house private please from 9 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow the death has occurred of shevon mcgrannahan newline road letter kenny funeral this morning with 11 o'clock rick wi amass in st union's cathedral followed by interment in conwall cemetery mass can be viewed at church services dot tv family fires only please donations if wished to the dunigol hospice care of pascal blake funeral director and the death house taken place of mi holo galahor mickey mary vicki ran afast funeral this morning with 11 o'clock rick wi amass in star of the sea church anna gray followed by burial in the new graveyard for more details including any family health guidelines for wicks and funerals please go to highland radio dot com flow gas now offer 100 green electricity it feels good to know that as i cut my grass here the power is coming from 100 renewable sources also good to know that flow gas plant one tree for every person that makes the switch and the cherry on top you can get a welcome bonus worth up to 220 euro i put the savings towards this fancy new electrical lawnmower hey how's she cutting not bad not that grass is definitely greener with flow gas see for yourself terms and conditions apply switch to flow gas at flow gas dot ie to view our great range of offers or call us on 1800 200 052 with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the night and noon show on highland radio okay so we heard already sorry should i say in the newspapers this morning that people could save up to 3000 european year if they switched to own brand uh products so we put out the question there you know what's your experience been of uh buying and using them this call it says tesco crisps tesco gold grain biscuits the tea juice toilet rolls yogurts ham milk tin soup and hand towels the list is endless all good in quality and the price is very good as well they say another i've worked in retail for over 30 years there is a massive stigma surrounding buying generic products in the likes of central spar because they are premium stores the same stigma simply does not exist in little or in aldi is that true i don't doubt it for a second that certainly for some it is the case but is there a stigma would you be i don't know if you went into one of these stores and filled your basket with own brand stuff because often you know um i don't know if it's changed much but you know the the packaging can be a letdown even though the packaging is the same as every other packaging maybe some of the design i don't know uh would you be afraid of being judged if you rolled up to the till with uh a basket full of own brand stuff if it was easy to distinguish it from they may i presume all of this stuff's made in the same factories um it's just the packaging isn't it hi greg i just wonder if you could highlight this for me i was walking my children to school uh a morning last week and the entrance to the beechwood grove convoy is covered with dog poo whoever is leaving this behind please clean up after your dog i had to put my children's life in danger by having to put them out on a busy road to get to school in the morning it's a disgrace the left mess the mess left behind uh the entrance to the beechwood grove convoy thank you greg um anyone else got a view on that 08 660 25 000 right i call it says doesn't make much sense to me that we are told by the media how dangerous it is in ukraine people fearing for their lives and then bono turns up there and does a concert wise he not afraid to be there well in fairness kiv is uh in the west of the country and uh other than occasional missile strikes and and by russian's own testimony they aren't really uh targeting it at the moment and it's one person after another most uh EU leaders or their reps have been to kiv and other celebrities and then bono rolls up and does his bit with edge in the bomb shelter uh the dup in the north same as finna fall and finnegale parties in the south believes this text or another uh typical pushing industrial wind turbines and the wind energy island's propaganda 99 of energy in island uh 99 percent of energy in island was produced by fossil fuels for the past week as there was no wind sparse the lies please i don't know what lies you're going at or referring to uh sometimes and i've highlighted this on the program a number of occasions it's no news to me anyway uh that sometimes when it's windy uh most of our electricity comes from uh wind turbines uh and we could probably use more of that if we could store it properly and then when the wind dries we're in bother or when the wind dies we're in bother because that percentage falls down drastically and then as others have pointed out um the statistics that i quote in that regard uh don't tell a full picture it's complicated uh hi greg so disappointed that our family of five could not afford to take part in the darkness into light at the weekend we just could not afford the 26 euro each why do the organizers not bring the charge down to at least 15 so as those of us who really want to take part can afford to do so i wasn't uh aware of really how that is structured in terms of if you don't pay the minimum you can't take part is that really the way it is um it's not something i'd be terribly comfortable with uh but there's plenty i'm not terribly comfortable with i suppose you could say uh 08 660 25 000 if you've an input into that 08 660 25 000 or call 07491 25 000 our next guest joins us in a moment it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's monday the 9th of may you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s11 it's game number 19 the numbers are 34 25 40 2 39 71 9 7 6 and finally 23 phone your claim to 9104 before 8 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchase your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com the nine til noon show with city of dairy airport pre-brook your airport parking fast track and launch access at city of dairy airport dot com for a stress-free start to your trip by choosing dunig all creamery smoke you're supporting over 200 dairy farming families across dunig all in doing what they do best producing delicious fresh milk every day for over 100 years dunig all creamery's milk has been brought to you dilly from our dairy at crossroads killy gordon the longest established creamery in the region support local farms local families and local jobs by choosing dunig all creamery's milk we're all faced with things going up these days but you'll still find amazing value every single day at aldi and you could save over 70 euro on your big family shop when compared to one of our nearest competitors nearest and dearest indeed so don't change your lifestyle change your supermarket aldi every day amazing comparisons against product source and super value 28 of march 22 lowest pro rate used and offers excluded for full details see aldi dot i it's time to hit the switch on your energy supply make the switch to ssc air tricity right now and not only will you be joining ireland's largest green energy provider you'll also save 33 on electricity and gas yes 33 go to sscair tricity dot com today and get your 33 discount exclusively online ssc air tricity this is generation green eab 2168 euro and 23 cent offer online only from the 10th of the first 22 rates valid from the 1st of the 5th 22 subject to change one-year standard unirate for new home gas and electricity customers and direct debit enable for details of eab tsc's rates exit fee standing charge and green energy claims see ssc air tricity dot com all right you welcome back to the program we welcome on to it now fina false senator malcom burr and good morning senator uh good morning greg and good morning to your listeners it's good to have you with us right now you have expressed your concern i think would be an appropriate word as to ireland's ability to defend itself um what are your concerns well i think it's fair to say that um the reports of the commission on the future the defense forces have set out pretty starkly out what ireland needs to do in order to be able to defend ourselves against attack in the future and a lot of people will sort of say well look you know how likely is it that ireland is going to be attacked you know we're a we're a militarily neutral country um but the the warfare of the future that we're going to see it's not at all going to be about boots on the ground what we are going to see is air incursions and sea incursions which we have seen up the ire's coast and increasingly cyber attacks um and we would have seen uh in ireland's last year the biggest ever cyber attack on a health service anywhere in the world uh that was for all intents and purposes a terrorist attack uh it did mean major disruption to our health service uh at the height of this up to 70 000 appointments had to be either cancelled or postponed and that you know that had a huge financial cost uh we know in terms of a direct cost on the it system that that's already run to over 50 million euro uh but the costs to individuals and their families as a result of delayed appointments um that's that's incalculable uh we know that the number of cyber attacks on businesses on private organizations and indeed on state organizations continues to increase and this is something that we have to be uh we have to be prepared for there's kind of two things though in that because you know one makes an awful lot of sense you know let's throw money at protecting ourselves from a cyber attack we need that you know i don't know if that's the function of the army or whatever i think a lot of people get that but in reality uh from where we're at what kind of investment would be required for us to put up any meaningful defense of our airspace or our our our sea space well at the moment if there is an incursion into our airspace and we have seen in recent years russian aircraft come into irish airspace without permission we effectively rely rely on the royal air force uh if there is a problem with an adequate radar as well um to be able to detect everything coming in and out of the country uh that's not just a problem by the way where you're talking about other countries sending uh aircrafts unlawfully into our airspace but that's an issue where if somebody is looking to smuggle something into the country because we've an adequate radar they can uh interior void um and if we're serious about kind of protecting our our sovereignty um then we have to be in a position to defend as we currently spend uh just over a billion euro uh on defense and i'm glad to see that the issue of properly paying our soldiers and members of the defense forces starting to be addressed but there is that broader question around you know how do we deal with the situation where you know we have aircraft unlawfully coming into our airspace or where we have ships coming into our maritime space which included you know what we would have seen with the russian fleet coming off the southwest coast in recent years or indeed addressing that question of cyber security and when we talk about as i said we we're spending about a billion there is you know the minister for defense and coven he has indicated uh that he's going to look at spending you know in the the medium term something of the order of an additional 500 million if we compare ourselves for instance to a similar non-aligned country um of about the same size so if we look at finland which has a population of about five and a half million people it currently spends something of the order of 2.8 million euro on defense and recently obviously because it was concerns after russian russia's invasion of ukraine it's announced that it's going to spend a further two billion uh in addition to that 2.8 billion every year on defense uh and you know people wonder why we have to do that but the reality is is that if you know our country is attacked and it's not going to be you know boots marching over a border it's going to be through cyber attacks or you know if you talk about a hostile fleet off our southwest coast i mean the the be concerned that a lot of people in the security and services would have had about the russian fleet off the southwest coast was obviously the impact on the environment but also the transatlantic cables and if there was any interference with those transatlantic cables that has but in reality is it our job to defend that though i mean you know like you would be well aware of the crisis facing this country in all manner of ways uh really buying uh buying airplanes and paying people to fly them getting more boats and paying people to fly them i mean you know our irish fleet effectively is just making sure that the the scrapes uh that we don't catch more of the scraps off the table uh from our uh uh uh that the EU have allowed us to fish in our own waters that's really what they're doing at the moment like do we really need to be spending money in this way and maybe even position ourselves uh outside of appearing military neutral like when there's so many other things this money really needs to be spent on i i i i entirely separate you know that that and for government it's difficult there are a lot of competing priorities um but we saw what happens when we didn't have adequate cyber defences uh when there was an attack on the hf yeah i get that but i think again just to point out senator i think people would see uh um that the maybe if we increased our air and sea defences that that's feeding into maybe you know having a bigger role in NATO or part of an EU army or even maybe adding our way to a vote on let's say that i mean this idea of an EU army is is a nonsense um you know every country uh within the european union uh determines where uh its defense forces and there's very clear rules around where irish defense forces are engaged we should be very proud of our role in peacekeeping i certainly think that there is scope for more cooperation with the fellow non-aligned EU member states so the other EU member states who are neutral finland sweden austria we should work closely uh with them uh and you know learn from from their experiences i am not i'm certainly not in favor of us uh joining NATO but if our national sovereignty means anything we have to be in a position to be able to defend that and that means that if somebody unlawfully comes into our airspace or into our marine space we have to be able to deal with that and most importantly if we face a cyber attack uh that we are in a position to be able to defend ourselves like it was estimated that last year that the cost of cyber crime to both the state and business organizations uh in ireland was of the order of 10 billion euro so this range from everything from fishing uh expeditions on you know people who are responded to dodgy emails or so on people who hacked into uh systems uh you know where you you also saw cyber attacks where data was was taken from from organizations that is a very significant cost and the implications and i mean i'm quite certain highland radio if you talk to whoever's responsible for your it they will tell you how much they are spending even just really in your own radio station uh to be able to prevent you know outside outside attacks all right and we as a state we as a state have to be able to uh to do that and take it seriously all right listen thanks for your time this morning i appreciate it uh senator malcolm burn there says ireland not able to defend its airspace seas or cyberspace in the event of attack and he wants more money to be spent in that regard 08 660 25 000 of course says if anything were to happen here do we have any backup from the uk at all well we have a common sort of european defense i wouldn't rely on england let's not forget that uh britain committed to defend ukraine as part of its agreement to give up its nuclear weapons and not much happened in that regard other than you know reluctantly supplying some some some equipment uh we were hurried early on in the program from a person who was very upset with the doctor doesn't like how they speak to them uh and was reduced to tears this morning in a conversation well this caller says that doctor should be reported to the medical board rather than looking to switch uh gp just don't let it lie like that uh greg i did the darkness into light but i didn't register or pay the 26 euro i just made a donation to the charity i too believe that 26 euro is just too much we did as a family of four adults and two children we made a donation of 50 euro 10 euro per adult and five euro per child were you in breaking any rules in doing so i don't as i say i don't know precisely how that works greg do you or your listeners know the up-to-date covid requirements for traveling to the canary islands this summer thank you very much indeed uh if you are traveling from the eu which you would be uh you would need a eu digital cert uh seemingly uh or a certificate of full vaccination against covid 19 or you can just go with a negative antigen test or a certificate of recovery that's what's required as of now what might be required in the summer i don't know uh fina fallen finnegale acting like spoiled children regarding shin fain's present position after last week's election another shin fain walked out of government and brought down the assembly in northern island over irish language now the shin fain criticized the dup for negotiating before agreeing a government okay uh before we take a break christopher joins us now on line two hi christopher hi how's it going uh you heard from the senator there saying that you know he recognizes the problems in this country but still thinks we should be able to find the money to offer a military defense of our waters and our skies what do you think i don't think i mean look it's a bit like turning up to a gunfight with a knife you know i don't believe that iran will ever have the financial might to bring what would be necessary to enter what they'll call a third world war unless you had the money to buy a nuclear bomb not that i ever condone such a thing but realistically we're just too small a nation to consider such any such idea um the country is in a very bad financial position um we're 237 billion in death almost a quarter of a trillion that's 50 000 euro for every man woman and child in the country or 95 000 euro for every working person in the country i think that might be a pre-covid figure two is it or does that include the covid response 2020 2021 21 um the the situation is that the interest on our debt is 1.5 percent so we're getting away very likely on a huge debt we're servicing interest at a very very low interest rate and that would be great if it maintained like that but the only tool in the tool chest to fight what we have today which is serious inflation is to increase interest rates like if you only go back to 2013 the interest rates were 4.5 percent um on debt of about 185 billion at the time and the interest payment on that per annum was 8 billion now uh if you were to translate that into the day we'd be facing an interest bill of 11 billion on the current debt so that would be the equivalent to the education budget for the entire year going entirely to just interest on only so do you think and i'll put the same question to you i did the senator in reality i don't know what we could actually do to act as a any sort of a actual deterrent as such i mean the notion of launching a couple of fighters that would speak uh to to a russian airplane or fighter and say look you're in irish space get out you know i mean the amount of money that would be required just for that exchange is ridiculous but obviously from a cyber perspective and given the amount of you know big tech we have in this country and maybe they should actually be footing the bill the cyber element's a different conversation i see it as a different conversation sorry uh do you the cyber element is very serious i mean if you recall the russian warships were sitting in february down 150 miles southwest of quark a lot of people at the time said that's just russian naval exercise is nothing to be concerned about but you know if you look there's a map that's positioned there very not not too long ago of the communication pipelines from europe to uk and ireland to america they run right under that um under that location with those russian warships where like you can look it up and google it's there for everyone to see i just couldn't believe that they actually released that map for the whole world to see but you can see the communication pipelines running to america and those russian warships were sitting right above that and if you read more into it and do a bit of research yourself you'll see that american generals have been saying that russian ships russian submarines have been following uh communication pipelines for a long time now ireland has positioned itself as the silicon valley of europe and that's great and it was all about basically making it making us a very attractive location from a corporation tax perspective and and our young generation are getting fantastic education in the whole world of of technology but a byproduct of that is that we have now we can really no longer call ourselves neutral because we have become the communications hub of europe and as such we were at the achilles heel of europe because we have no security to protect all of this text that we could find ourselves in at the moment with our google here we've got ipm i presume that those and i presume those companies don't rely on their host nations to provide their security though do they well this is the question we need to ask somebody needs to answer the question is that we have these um server uh buildings most of them are located in dublin by 2030 40 percent of our electricity supply is going to be built by these these these uh communication hubs if you like uh banks and banks of servers let's say fragment taken this is just pure science fiction but let's say they launch cruise missile take these out it'll be five to ten minutes before every single one of them will be hit what would be the effect on the communications in ireland europe all right christopher unfortunately that the line's failing us a little bit there but i get your point it's uh points well made if anyone agrees or otherwise 086 60 25 000 that is uh the text of whatsapp number right we'll be back with more in a moment the nine tone in show with the city of dairy airport algarve and me orca summer holidays from the city of dairy airport free available for ages 2 to 11 visit city of dairy airport dot com thinking of changing your floors why not see what florid letter kenny has to offer florid have a large selection of solid 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essential part of your everyday living hearing is our social sense and connects you to friends and family at connect hearing we are here for you with our clinics at courtyard shopping centre letter kenny and joysy sorobity clinic in dunlow our centres are open monday to friday where you can avail of our hearing test wax removal and repair services connect hearing connecting you to life okay you're very welcome back to the nightly noon show on monday focus today's on europe day to discuss europe day and the importance of europe uh to uh donnie gall and that is uh open for debate some might feel as well we're joined by two guests on the program i'm delighted to welcome uh minister charlie mcconnellog minister for agriculture and the mean good marine good morning to you minister good morning greg it's good to have you with us and also a special guest the spanish ambassador to arland ambassador el delfonso castro good morning ambassador thank you for joining us good morning talk to me um if you don't mind ambassador firstly about your visit so far uh to uh the northwest of arland what you've been doing what you hope to be doing well today i'm working accompanying uh the minister but uh yesterday i had the opportunity to drive around the initial and peninsula and enjoying the nature and having eyes walking on the beach with my wife and that's my this is my second time in in donnie gall some years ago i was in in roth mullin for a bank holiday and i look like this uh northwest part of isla i come from the northwest part of spain and so i also feel well happy here in donnie gall i mean there are historical connections there and and we've often heard on this program ambassador that may be you know uh both us here in the northwest and and even from a spanish tourism perspective that maybe we should be talking more about those historical uh uh connections you would know of course there's a number of places in spain named after you know irish people that had an influence over there do you see any value or have you any interest in it uh you know pursuing that avenue yes of course look arland spain have a long story together uh the first treaty between our countries was signed in 1529 the treaty of dingle and from there there are many moments we were in the in the same side of the trenches so to say actually roth mullin uh as a important connection with spain because the flight of the house was from from there to la coruña and of course we're working we still work together on bilateral basis and also at the european inner level actually this morning early morning we're visiting with the minister a project about european trails and there are some trails in spain some other here in donnie gall i think there are many opportunities to to work together minister mcconnellogh the eu um 50 uh that really is it the the the basis of of your invent invitation to the ambassador yeah it is and it's great to welcome ambassador castro here this morning to simpatrix national school in carondona and similar events are happening right across the country today to mark the 50th anniversary which will be tomorrow actually today is europe day but tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of ireland voting to join the eu so in in in acknowledgement of that where there's events right across the country where ambassadors from many european countries are joining with government ministers to visit schools and do various events to mark the occasion and mark the the solidarity and cooperation that has served us so well over those 50 years and that has seen our country progress so tremendously as a result of joining the european union and indeed has worked really well for countries right across the eu too so it's good to be here this morning with principal ann mclaughlin and also would you would join by mayor jack moray americ county council mayor and deputy mayor councillor mark mcdermott local councillor here and also local councillor albert door these are former principal here at simpatrix national school as well indeed so many of the students and indeed their family too but the students here has been really interesting they've been taking part in a what's known as the blue star program which has been a program where teachers and primary schools carry out projects and tasks related to the history geography culture and institutions at the eu and we've seen 240 primary schools take part in that this year and it was really good to engage with the students this morning and hear their questions it was very much led by their questions and discussion and have that opportunity to discuss you know how the eu interacts with local local politics national politics but is really important in terms of working on issues together to make real progress and benefit everyone yeah and and 88 percent a new poll 88 percent of people here support arland continued membership of the eu and and this is to both of you are supposed i mean obviously we can look back on the 50 years and the benefits of it and some might see it otherwise but i do wonder to the russian invasion of ukraine if you you know with big events like that uh also uh perhaps even more influence um at least in a snapshot situation what do you think ambassador castor well first look i i think we have to to celebrate this anniversary i mean the european union is uh it's good it's been very possible for arland or for spain we are not founding members uh we enter the the european union later but since our entry things improve in our country politics economy many many things and it's it's it's a very positive institution and i will continue to work together as you can see for instance now recently with with brexit it was the key thing was to to stick together and i think that the island or not all rish people realize the the important solidarity of all other european countries and the importance of being a member of the european union ukraine invasion well you know uh it's it's terrible it's uh it's not a war it's an it's people ukrainians defending their homes their families their lives from an aggression it's different they are just defending themselves themselves i the european union i think we are doing our bit uh some countries have supplied no lethal uh assistance materials we did in spain in the case of spain we we supply both no lethal and lethal um we have to bear in mind that we are helping a country to defend themselves from an external aggression and that's important yeah and and we referenced it a little bit earlier on and and we'll come back to the topic in hand too but it was kind of interesting that uh vladimir putin used his very important address today to not really i mean he blamed the west for the war as you might expect but he didn't use it to make any bombshell announcement which i think an awful lot of commentators feared he might minister mcconnellogue i think it depends you know what you're talking about as to the public's reaction to the e you do you think in that you know yourself with with your department of the marine and department of agriculture that you know that people working in those industries and particularly fishing i suppose more recently would feel hard done by for example um ambassadors ambassadors country people are allowed to fish much more stocks in our waters than we might be able to ourselves you know fishermen might say to you what what's good about europe in that regard yeah well i i think first of all to look at look at it broadly greg there's no doubt whatsoever of how tremendous the european union and joining it has been and what a significant decision that was for ireland um we're now one of you know the most developed and and financially well off states in the world actually as a result of having made that decision and we're a really really different country and in a really really different position in terms of people's quality of life and standard of living from where we were when we joined the european union or indeed where we would be if we didn't have that um that that cooperation and engagement um as a small island we produce way more across the board than we then we consume so trade is really really important um and indeed diversification of that trade and whenever we would have joined the european union over 60 percent of our trade um and uh exports went to the went to britain uh whereas today um the european union is our biggest um destination and i think britain is about is is in 15 60th of what our total exports would be and indeed we export around world so that has been really really important um it's been really crucial as well from an agricultural point of view um 90 percent of the food we produced in this country is exported abroad the vast majority of that within the e u so that e u market which is the highest value market in the world for for agricultural food has been really important to our farmers um in terms of fisheries the the challenging aspect has been that from when the common fisheries policy was forced established in the early 80s um the track record up to that point of different countries record of fishing was what established the relative stability between countries at that point in time and that that has been a challenge for us and it's something whenever common fisheries policy reviews come up um for discussion that we always are are pushing to try and increase our capacity because certainly the amount of fish that we catch doesn't reflect the level of waters that we have the challenge though is that it was it was pegged at what different countries would have would have fished um back in the early 80s and our fleet at that stage was primarily an inshore fleet working a few miles off the coast whereas all the european fleets were more developed at that point in time and of course now with how we've seen the size of boats um increase over the years um the capacity of fish that that we would have or indeed other countries would have is is a way above that the other thing that we've seen happen over the years as well is an increasing attention being paid as well to the sustainability of how we fish so while um uh and the importance of actually ensuring that we manage and don't take more from the stocks from the fish stocks than what they can actually uh what they can actually allow without actually undermining that stock and seeing that stock eroded and we've seen over a number of years many of the stocks which have been really important in ireland so for example the the herring herring and cod which has been really important for stocks for us traditionally they have become they became over fished and indeed at the moment they're not they're not being fished because of the fact that they aren't there to give the stocks i understand that but but but the bottom line is is uh we only get 15 percent of the haul of fish in our waters uh the spanish uh our lovely friends in spain they can catch 50 40 000 tons of of species nirish waters more than we can and and amboster we're not allowed to fish in your waters at all as the the fleets are a little bit different you know easily as the minister explained the level of development of the fleets when the quarter was where the starlies are different but look uh the ships i'm not a i'm not an expert we i cannot give you figures but uh look this is in the european union it's a club with the rules and the rules are for very bothered so the the access to to to the waters i mean it's of course split between member states but i don't see any any problem with that actually actually you know recently irish trawlers were fishing in spanish waters but it's not very common okay not very common ambassador what what is the the big talking points uh on on europe in in your country because of course you know we all have different views and that's healthy and that's where we get to good places with you know with good debate and exchanging of our views you know what is the if you could sort of give a an average what's the the the spanish attitude to to membership of the of the EU it's extremely high yeah extremely high look when spain and spain signed the first preference agreement with the then in the european economic community in 1970 we were still not a democracy and then we we we we became a democracy so we we have to to you know to get over many obstacles and requirements to to to become a member and but once we in in in spain everybody's in a let's say europe fanatic in some countries there are irish skeptics in spain we are mostly europe fanatics we have a good experience of the european union in terms of investment in terms of agriculture policy instead of many many things and for instance it was curious when the big enlargement to the eastern european countries took place spain to honestly to my personal price was the most positive country the the the support for the big enlargement of the european union was over 80 percent and we have a very look in spain when you talk about brazil brazil is a nice word it's a nice word european union helps maybe we have problems we have discussion but helps it's helpful and and and did you see all the good things of the european union in their life europe for instance you are not shengen country because of the special relation with the uk but you know those things are a real life and many things that improve for for for our country may all over and that thanks to of course good good governance but also with the help of the european union yeah i mean i was looking through a big spread on you know was the sponsor to benefit imagine i'll say the problem yeah the debate debate in spain is like like in ireland it's basically inflation energy prices uh basically those are let's me the topics the two top topics right now energy in general and of course a bit the the the uh how we address the economic situation with the next generation of funds all of that but basically we share the same problem maybe we have national problems from time to time but basically i mean we are in a club we are in the world and we have the same problems it's basically inflation and energy prices yeah minister mcconnellog I think that's that's right across the board isn't it i mean even on a local local level donagall county council was one of the first local authorities wasn't it to sort of see the benefit of of applying uh into the EU for funding and what have you do you think uh either as a local authority or or even maybe you prefer to answer nationally are we you know maximizing uh the potential of our relationship and the funding streams and other measures that are within the EU could we be doing more as a country i wonder i think we do it very well and i think donagall county council actually are you know one of the best counties at that and any opportunities that are there they are always involved and trying to to work with others and trying to access funding but also trying to to to cooperate closely so as the the ambassador mentioned the one the first engagement we had this morning was at the inch levels wildlife reserve and the walkway the the greenway that is around the lake as well and there's ongoing investment there which is a part of the european program as well working with seven countries including spain in terms of investing in in walkways and that's that's yet another example of that but like from a donagall point of view from a west of ireland point of view those regional funds which were so important throughout the 70 80s 80s and 90s in particular which were going more towards the more disadvantaged regions within the EU were really really important in relation to helping to bring our region forward and putting investment in roads and you know so region infrastructure and you know there was not so great progress made and that was that was european funding that came through at a time whenever we weren't as well off as other european as other european countries and i think it has benefited us really really strongly and you know in terms of the energy challenges there at the moment the the big the big progress we have to make there is moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and we're going to be investing in terms of offshore energy and solar energy particularly around that but again working within the EU can all be of benefit to one another because by connecting our energy sources to the continent again you can balance out and balance you know different times where energy where sun is strong and some places where wind is strong and other and others and that can be really beneficial as well and again the biggest challenge in relation to energy of course is is the climate is climate change and working on that and that's something which you know one country can do on their own indeed no one continent can do on their own but again the EU has been very much has been a leader in relation to trying to make progress in that and ensure that over the next generation we actually seek to reduce emissions and that has been really important just on that issue just a curiosity obviously the last week the last week wind energy hasn't contributed much to the national grid because we're very reliant on the on the wind blowing the same as our water system if it stops raining because we you know we gather water on the on the surface and as soon as that dries out i think the spanish might do it differently i think they might access more water from from from under the ground but my question anyway was to you ambassador how how are you doing in terms of generating renewable energies is your focus on wind solar how far you know are you along the road that you need to be do you think well it first there is a will to to go green so to go greener in spain last year the we we do both wind solar and last year wind turbines got around 24 percent of our of our energy more than nuclear we still have some nuclear plants working and they produce about 20 21 percent of our energy and only wind turbines got 23 24 and then solar too we we we are i think we are in good position the problem with sometimes the problem is you need a backup if the winds the wind doesn't blow so we the way we have a quite peculiar position in europe because the iberian peninsula is in in a way an energetic island we because our level of interconnection both electric and gas with france with the rest of people of europe are poor so that's the reason i don't want to open any big discussing about understood issues but but we have seven plants of re-gasification all over our coast and that's a massive infrastructure but we cannot use we cannot maximize their use because our connection still with france is poor but yesterday the president of the commission was in Barcelona in a meeting and she committed herself to give priority to a new pipe linking spain and on france i think it's it's a good opportunity we don't produce gas ourselves we got our gas through pipe from algeria basically and we got a lot of gas from i mean tankers from norway u.s and other countries all right finally to you minister mcconnellog what's your your partner message just to to mark i suppose the europe day but also to have and it's great to have ambassador castor over here uh with us how do you want to conclude yeah well just to thank um prince of alamoglock and here and all the teachers and particularly all the students at it's in padricks national school for hosting us today and for taking part in the blue star program as well and for the great questions and engagement that we've had and interested if you own and thank ambassador castor for for coming to donnie gall and caron donor today and for the ongoing friendship and i think you know we all great um particularly coming out of the brexit referendum i think it's only highlighted to to all of us how valuable that relationship with the european union is and i think it's actually strengthened the the uh the the uh sentiment within ireland for continue you know for working even more closely with with our european um european partners and friends and this day coming up to tomorrow the 50th anniversary it's a good opportunity just to reflect on where we've come and the importance of that relationship and there'll always be challenges and indeed in politics whether it's local or national or european level there's always issues which can be difficult to address but it's only by that engagement and working together that you can really make progress and indeed what we're seeing and in relation to ukraine and what's happening there emphasizes the alternative and and why you know what can happen when you don't have that cooperation um and uh you know one of the founding reasons of the european union for everyone to work together to avoid the type of scenario that was there that visited the the world in the in the last century where there was two world wars at the start of the century in the middle of the century and certainly the second half of the last century and the first quarter this one has been a very very different experience and that's something we want to continue and and build on and last word to you ambassador well thank you very much for for for inviting me to tonigal i mean join my time here and thank you for having me in your in your program and i hope to be back soon excellent and the weather isn't normally like it is today either well you know i'm coming from north west spain all right okay so you're as rainy as it is in here so i don't complain about the weather okay european union cannot fix that unfortunately all right listen thank you very much both of you i really appreciate it uh that was minister charlie mcconnell log minister for agriculture and the marine ambassador uh uh el del and fonso castro who's the spanish ambassador to arland speaking to us uh live there from in a show and uh thanks to kevin as well uh who helped with the technicals to get that to make that happen okay back with more after these the nine till nin show with city of dairy airport enjoy convenient travel to london liverpool manchester glasco edinburgh the algarve and meorca visit city of dairy airport dot com the hilarious three hill mary's is coming to letter kenny mary how will we go to keep in touch i know mary i know send me a twist see three hill mary's at on granon theater letter kenny for one night only five day may 13th see on granon dot com or call 07491 20777 at lidl we do things every day to make life better for us all things like being the first retailer to work with farmers on a sustainable beef program to improve environmental impact donating over 600 000 meals in the last year through our partnership with food cloud and helping bees by doubling our number of pollinator friendly stores in 2022 decision by decision day by day we're taking lidl steps to a better tomorrow join us on our journey today at lidl steps dot i e lidl more for you you'll find all the best toys at foie's balibuffin discover great value on all the latest toys ride-ons bikes and bear go-karts with new deliveries arriving every week great offers on best-selling brands like lego fisher price and barbie with new deliveries every week you can get all the fun shipped to your door with free delivery on orders over 75 euro shop local and find everything you need at foie's balibuffin or shop online at toys at foie's dot com chagas are holding a forest walk this wednesday the 11th at 7 p.m on the farm of michael chance drum Barnett lower manner cunningham f9 to f9 72 we will visit our recently felled spruce plantation transformed into a young woodland it has been redesigned with recreation in mind speakers are michael chance farmer ross puke annan forestry contractor and steven me and chagas forestry advisor all welcome highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport now flying to 19 destinations this summer with seven days car parking from just 30 euro when you book online ireland west airport okay rue rain will move across the region this morning and afternoon gradually clearing to scattered showers and sunny intervals from the west some heavy showers are possible especially in the evening it'll be a breezy day with moderate to fresh and gusty southerly winds increasing strong at times highest temperatures of 14 to 15 degrees one more quick break before the news at 11 the 9 till noon show with city of dairy airport pre-brook your airport parking fast track and launch access at city of dairy airport dot com for a stress-free start to your trip right now you can get sky tv and broadband with netflix at no extra cost all for 55 euro a month must be worth a conversation son yep netflix is on us shall we dance with sky you get the best entertainment all in one place so get sky tv and broadband with netflix at no extra cost all for 55 euro a month what are you waiting for search sky 55 availability subject location new sky customers only set up fees a minimum term and further terms apply for more information see sky dot ie slash speeds sun soak for less this summer with two e savings on holidays in may and june holiday sorted two e live happy give blood dot ie no we can count on you our community of blood donors to give blood and to choose to be there for others in their hour of need blood donors from bunkrana should attend the clinic in the inish own gateway hotel on monday 9th and tuesday 10th and donors from carndona should attend the clinic in the carndona community school on wednesday 11th and thursday 12th of may to ensure social distancing all donors need to make an appointment so call 1 800 731 137 to book your time new donors are welcome visit give blood dot ie to see eligibility and clinic details they say you should have your second baby first because with your second baby you'll have learned what to do but not to do what's best for baby and best for you like the loopy-loo range from ledle everything your baby needs including award-winning nappies from only 99 cent when you know what to do loopy-loo available exclusively at ledle more for you see our full range at ledle dot ie forward slash loopy-loo join me this monday for the deal debate as we view another huge weekend of g action we'll have feedback and analysis from our senior ladies footballers our senior hurlers and their minor and senior footballers my guests will include j corresponded and poet jerry mcgilligan former jerry footballer now assistant with gilligan and her own highland radio pundit and assistant manager with dunagall minors bend the coin that's a deal debate just after 7 p.m news this monday and podcasting on highland radio dot com the deal debate with sister sarah's ladder canny serving food you'll love till 9 p.m daily in sarah's kitchen okay imprendant of any will be joining us a little later on in this hour to look back at the weekend sporting action we at the ladies or seniors games or the minors or any of the teams playing and you have a viewer an opinion get in touch and we'll put it to brendan see what he has to say at 11 o'clock it's a news update time and it's over to donal cavena thank you great good morning the northern secretary brendan louis will meet with the north's political party leaders later today urging them to restore power sharing quickly however the dup still won't say if it will nominate a deputy first minister after shin fane became the largest party winning 27 seats two more than the dup it's expected that the dup would refuse to enter into a new executive until its concerns over the protocol are addressed meanwhile on today's 9 till noon show senator nile blaney the finofall shannon spokesperson on northern ireland said a new executive is important for dunagall as a number of cross border projects need to proceed particularly the a5 the first ever meeting of the new euk parliamentary partnership assembly will take place this week in brussels the assembly was established last year as part of the post brexit process there are 35 members each from the european parliament and from the uk parliament the fire service in derry dealt with a major blaze in the grounds of a former hospital building in grantia last night residents were urged to keep doors and windows closed because of the fear of fumes from hazardous materials over 30 firefighters tackled to the blaze a number remain on the scene today the fire was brought under control in the early hours of this morning arish water personnel are working to repair a burst water main in north and is shown as a result they say there may be supply disruptions in planilly three trees tromite bogstown quickly's point and surrounding areas works are scheduled to take place until four o'clock this afternoon with arish water warning that people should allow two to three hours for supplies to fully return to normal and last month registered the highest ever proportion of wind generated power in arland figures show wind energy provided 32 percent of the country's electricity in april of 2022 that was up seven percent from the previous year wind energy arland says the volume of wind helped push down the average wholesale price of electricity but there was still a 155 percent increase on last year and more renewables should get that price down further at present don't think all county council is consulting the public on proposed changes to the county development plan as it pertains to wind farms wind energy arlands ceo says the planning process nationally should be easier and quicker and russia's president has described moscow's military action in ukraine as a response to western provocation that amir putin was speaking at a major military parade held every year on may 9th to mark victory over the nazis in world war two and we're back with headlands again at 12 noon thank you very much donal let's take a moment for that last big mac mouthful you wish you could have that first bite feeling all over again well luckily for you the grand big mac and grand big mac bacon are back at mcdonald's so you can spend longer with the taste you love serve from 11 a.m available until the 7th of june participating restaurants only subject to availability okay are you a big andre rio fan well you could be going to see him on the 14th of december may i beg your pardon because we have three spaces remaining on our andre rio trip this saturday it's 275 euro per person sharing price includes luxury transfer overnight stay in the four star city north hotel on a b&b basis your ticket to the show and the trip will include a few hours leisure time in dublin on sunday before traveling back to donal and that is good value because uh and it was a once off and it was a treat uh i spent that amount only on accommodation going to a concert recently you get the accommodation you get the tickets you get transfers and you get a few hours in dublin to do a bit of shopping as well it's three spaces remaining on highland radios andre rio trip this saturday the 14th of may so it's a last-minute decision but one you can do and perhaps enjoy right hi greg i totally agree with that lady about the price of darkness into light my son i have been contemplating doing the walker as a few years but even with booking early it's still very costly i think 10 euro per person is quite sufficient they might get more doing it yeah indeed and i just don't think involvement in something like that should come down to how much money you have i'm just going to say i hinted at it earlier uh but maybe just tease and seize on the website that says you can make a donation and join uh if you wish i don't know someone can educate me on that one arland does not need defending says a caller european heads of state make lovely speeches about democracy and the rule of law uh about the necessity to uphold human rights the hypocrisy we've refugees from the middle east uh drowning in overcrowded dinghies in the mediterranean ocean these refugees from the middle east have been fleeing due to actions taken by the west who have played a hand in destroying their country if we were to take responsibility for western government actions we should be prioritizing muslim refugees of ukrainian ones although i don't see the logic in that i want to help all refugees but i think our responsibility lies more uh with syrian refugees who are bombed by weapons some that are made in the uk the west suck up to america and do what america wants period we do not need to copy war mongers and then of course there are those we'll add on to your point uh about maybe uh western actions which contributed to the starting of the war in ukraine and so on it goes it's so complex right okay something completely different now and we're joined on the line by mary how you mary hi greg how are you not too bad at all so you're thinking of heading to beautiful carly in august so you thought you'd get get in there early and get the bargains uh what did you find well i've got tickets for a concert in calarney at the end of august and i just went on booking.com this morning just to to see what was out there what was available and the first five or six to come up on booking.com there's none of them under 600 euro for two nights that's shocking sure is you know some of them are over 700 one of them is a three-star guest house yes not even a hotel and it's 580 euro for two nights unbelievable stuff i mean that's in that's that's not doable is it i mean no no one can afford that it's not to drive to calarney for two nights and spend that on on on b and b leg and get your dinner after that and yeah i mean there's just no no no uh there's no justification what nights were you looking to book down there i wonder it is a saturday and a sunday night yeah granted but still i think you know people coming on holidays is both booking.com is the first protocol and you know that's what they've been had with yeah and unfortunately what we see and people will say look it's supply versus demand but as soon as there's talk of a major sporting event or a major concert taking place say for instance in the likes of doblin yeah well you want to be the early bird and get on and often you're faced with these massive prices from the get go and then people feel like they're really just gouging us they're just no we're stuck and they're taking advantage of course i mean i have no intention of paying those prices and i'd probably get an air b and b for a lot less which won't be fine you know but i just thought i'll i'll check out the hotels yeah and as you say ones i guess has it's not even a hotel which is effectively a b and b isn't it not yeah there's no harm in that don't get me wrong but nothing wrong with the b and b of course but i mean to pay five hundred and eight euro for two nights i think the greenhouse was actually six sixteen so it'd be three hundred and eight euro per night per night yeah uh free cancellation though oh that's great as if that mattress if you had that money a amount of money you wouldn't be worried about it so your search continues you might go a little bit away from the venue maybe look at the air and b and b sector but uh these people yeah that's what we'll do like you know even you had to travel ten or twelve by an outside clown yeah get something cheaper exactly but i think as you say it's the message it sends i mean if you were from outside the country looking to come and visit you would go hold on your second i'm not going near that place yeah yeah all right four star hotel is seven eighty six look i could get two tickets to america for that oh right you could pay you see the problem is is you could fly to portugal play pay for all inclusive probably and your flights for two people for that that's that's the that's the issue here yeah you know and we don't want to i think this country got a great lift with people holidaying at home because we couldn't fly out of the country and i really think the industry wants to make sure it doesn't shoot the goose that lays the golden egg that's it yeah what concert you're going to see do you mind me asking it's daniel daniel old donnell yeah lovely stuff oh yeah he's always in his control in the council like i think it was supposed to be on in 2020 and it was we got presents of two tickets right and um well you know you're gonna enjoy i mean could daniel delivers every single time so you don't have to worry about the entertainment it's just the accommodation now yeah all right if anyone's got any wee tips or anything we'll pass them on to you thanks for highlighting that with us mary and enjoy enjoy the concert it's it's gonna be great of course i will do thanks take care bye bye thank you very much for your call any similar experiences here here says this listener on the darkness into light much too expensive we are also a family of four uh who were willing to walk but had to forget about it another caller says what is the carbon footprint of one wind turbine a pass close to a wind farm last week and judging by their size i was wondering how much land has to be moved to create the thousands of tons of concrete needed to hold these structures upright in the wind there can't be any regard for the ecosystem and natural habitat of existing wildlife wind energy is therefore not free and of course uh there is um it has been worked out how long a wind turbine has to be up before it's even um seen as sort of carbon neutral i don't know those figures off the top of my head so best not to uh quote them another texture says bono saves the world again is such a man of peace when will he get an obel piece prize he's my superhero and such a great voice we're lucky to have him as an irish ambassador he's loved worldwide such a pity arland is full of begrudgers therefore we criticize him instead of worshiping him i don't this irony in that and then there's there seems to be irony in that message and then there seems to be honest intent i don't know i can't work it out turbines are backed up 24 7 by gas and all the fossil fuels believes this caller because the grid cannot take the intermittent electricity the propaganda is from the wind energy association who profit there's an ongoing auction of subsidies on right now and only those companies who get subsidies will apply for planning permission result of the auction is may 17th they say all right we'll be talking sport gea more specifically with brendan deveney after we take this break stay right where you are the nine till noon show with city of dairy airport pre-brook your airport parking fast track and launch access at city of dairy airport dot com for a stress-free start to your trip when your new smart meter arrives it's going to change everything about how you use electricity and electric arland is ready to help you enjoy it all from choosing your own billing date to saying goodbye to estimated bills and taking more control over your usage you'll be able to make better energy choices for you and for arland so the better it'll be for everyone search electric arland smart meters today electric arland we're brighter together fancy a barbecue this evening pop into kelly centra in it a kenny and you'll find all you need burgers sausages and chicken pieces burger baps cheese and great offers in the off license portable barbecues utensils and even garden furniture for the perfect barbecue visit kelly's award-winning centra at mountaintop letter kenny breaking gardening news our correspondent petunia at alcorn's garden center i am surrounded by an array of spectacular summer bedding these beauties are moving fast with last year's prices held wow i'm amazed by the choice of shrubs trees roses and perennials ah rosemary has just selected a super specimen plant and trendy ceramic pot oh craig is advising on the many baskets by from alcorn's where value happens every day bingo every monday night at halfway house bingo burn foot doors open at 7 30 with eyes down at 8 30 2500 euro musko snowball is now 5400 euro and 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that halfway house bingo tonight at 8 30 okay um the dl debate the gga podcast is available for you later on today it'll be broadcast out on air its presenter of course is brendan devaney uh good morning brendan how are you keeping going about it um the i suppose you know there's a lot of action but yesterday's game donagall versus cavern i think and i don't want to be critical um but it's not meant to this is more in sympathy to cavern than to put donagall down i'm not trying to do that but the score line a little bit flattering and especially if that's shot off the bar had gone in it would have been a bit cruel on cavern because they were in that game pretty much right to the end weren't they yeah that's my favorite you're about to see if it was to you and patting good hands to it so yeah we seemed a bit out of sorts the first half and again how much you put that down the awesome and how well they played they were brilliant they were mixing it up physically strong they were entertaining their full forward line and and and they're in front of ghost at halftime you know they had 10 shots at nine points and some kraken scores in there and they were stripping the ball off us and we did and we looked out of sorts but you really thought we kind of lumped on the halftime like a lot of our scores came from freezing that and it was nine each and you thought we'll get better second half but you're right that the goal was we were fortuitous we had broke back to adonal good finish you know um but the keeper coming out probably made that a goal that might not happen then that was supposed to gain a bit of a turning point for us but this and cavern were we're brilliant particularly in that first half yeah and um i suppose at the end of the day you have to be what's in front of you and and a good team can switch it up and can pull it out of the bag when need be dependent on the opposition yeah yeah and listen you're right i think there was a bit of experience and players coming back and jimmy brennan you'd see that extra about a game time and and training and geely mcgonag come off the bench at the point in an important stage and that's what we've got a good mixture of a of a squad there now um cab and trying to squeeze up on pattern as well and he was able to just clip the ball past him so we have a lot of things was good about it i think from the cavern perspective you know people are looking them because they went down to division four thinking you know that they're spent falls yeah but really that's probably shouldn't have happened and the lockdown there was a lot of strange things that happened you know previous to them beating us on the final in 2020 you know they'd beat mollhan back the back in the championship you know any day we beat mollhan be a good day so you know they won a lot they won four in a row on their edge and they had a lot of good good footballers they'd been an austere final against us a few years previous so they weren't like a lot of sides in austere they were winning games in austere as well and in their league position you know looking at them people are saying they're a division two team to me looking at our math in the previous game they look a better side than our math yeah there's some real good signs for the future as well i think in that cavern team as well who do you think we'll be playing in the final that's that's a possible one that is a toss of a coin now um listen it's to say connor's gilligan's coming on later be interesting to get his views on what he thought of it derri and again looking at league games and looking at cavern's league we looked at derri and we thought right there coming up up and up there there won the big five in lcp like and then they got hammered by gallway and a freaky's game got absolutely taken apart and you think well maybe they're not that good then they come in and hammered to roam off the park but listen mollhan have learned a lot from that to roam performance and how derri played and what they did you know so they'll have a plan so that that'll i think that'll be a kick ill ball game um so it's certainly set up a cracker for us whoever gets through um it's looking like a brand in the holster final uh the game before the senior game was the ladies game a victory uh for that team which is uh a good yeah holster final now we are mad listen yeah maxi corn uh do working as magic there's 319 to 111 phenomenal stuff from from the ladies you know they just seem to keep keep getting better and big match now we are mad and seeing how far donnie gall can progress because this and they're in all ireland contender and that's that's the dream for the girls all right um how did you think just on the senior someone to know um i'm not sure if you didn't get to see this that came live necessarily or or what uh as in in person but i mean obviously everyone's an armchair uh an armchair expert talking about donnie gall's style is it adapted at all uh from you know the the criticism that's been there as it relates to defense the lateral play do you do you see any change i'm not going to say progression because that's to presume the old way is a bad way i don't know enough to know that but yeah i yeah it was hard to say yesterday i think in the first half it slowed down a few times you've seen us going back i always think that if you take that easy option my side go back where they are dropping in players they seem to be bringing a lot more energy and a lot more directness with us they probably can learn a bit from that because we have plenty of big men in there and particularly the way michael comes in and out and patrick can run his own ball but maybe there is an option i mean the size of langan megay and kealan maybe there's an option that we we go longer more direct because you see the danger it causes and it's almost impossible to mark with them big men so i think there's something in that for donnie gall and the ability to maybe switch tacked mid game mid game yeah because they had four players i mean really coming in and out smith mccarran and lynch they could all win balls galligan and every one of them was as they're rotating in you see your defense hasn't set if you've just a guy standing there all the time you're basically shepherding him and he's trying to get into the game whereas if you a guy that's half in and he's coming in and out who's picking him up and at one stage i think it was galligan ended up with ryan mccue yesterday for high ball in so calvin i think we're almost trying to get that match up if mccue ended up picking up one of those players you drift inside we'll give it in long so it certainly is a tactic because we have the we have the players to do that yeah okay so uh clanley gilligan and uh gilligan and brendan kill coin and deckland but are going to be analysing that game and looking to the future to ensure it's going to go manage a deckland boner on as well yeah yeah and we feedback and analysis from all the games as well deckland boners coming on uh two day give us his take on it so i'll be asking them what happened in that first half and then i'll be saying it was your halftime team talk obviously deckland all the tough questions that's the magic you can't be took as often we won't come back so that's a sports thing i have to ask him that's intact and doesn't mean it i know him well enough though it's thick skinned you have to be uh and jerry mcgloughlin's on as well yeah i'm just waiting to hear from jerry all right yeah jerry very interesting night a few few weeks ago there is a poetry book uh you may have asked what's that got to do now jerry obviously is a g a correspondent and on the night it was all g was there a couple of gallway guys former gallway all ireland one and captain certainly mcgloughlin was down in that there was music but it was obviously intertwined with with g a so so uh it was a bright night it was it was down just outside balyshanan and we hauled down there so i said to jerry come on and i'm i'm hoping he'll uh finish the show whether we've got a poetry or something a bit different yeah fair play to you all right brandon now the show is available as a podcast later it's broadcast on air after the seven o'clock news all right brandon listen thank you very much indeed that's uh brandon demaney there uh presenter of the dl debate he's input in the finishing touches to that podcast just as we speak right uh caller says greg never forget bono's contribution to making the good friday agreement happen it may have only appeared for a second on stage but never forget he was the link in the three-man chain of our divided country uh is that uh accurate or maybe overracking it or underplaying it i don't know why are people living at the market square on blankets and the same people uh have houses i don't know the answers to that question and uh i don't know the basis of that message either okay now more comments coming in here of course i'll try and grab them how long does it take to bruised ribs to heal i wonder especially in your back anyone oh wait six six two twenty five thousand i am not a good patient but my wits end and it's only been a day uh greg i'm going to the eagles concerts hotels were up to 925 on bucking.com it's just unreal i think it's always best to ring at reception as well you know bucking.com uh secures a certain amount of rooms in each hotel um and i know an awful lot of hotels want you to ring them up and talk to them directly i just think bucking.com uh doesn't necessarily give you the full and accurate picture i definitely ring around the hotels in the area some might have deals or cancellations or what have you uh bucking.com they have their set amount of rooms they can set them up whatever they like independent to the hotel is my understanding so don't be discouraged straight away by bucking.com try ringing your hotel uh direct because even sometimes bucking.com will say uh greg's hotel is sold out right um but only the four or five rooms they have is sold out the rest of the hotel is is is empty uh not empty sorry it has availability so don't hang all your hopes on bucking.com is my suggestion hi tell that lady to try irish mini breaks or little breaks sometimes they do good deals another we had american people over for easter went to a local hotel for dinner they added 10 euro per person because it was easter an easter premium okay uh there isn't an hotel or airbnb for under 300 night at weekends in dublin now uh 1000 euro for a weekend a lot of hotels have refugees so these those remaining can charge what they like our tourism industry will uh suffer uh go away june bank holiday hotel for two adults three children 12 50 for saturday and sunday night 1350 euro each for breakfast ripoff who is paying for these but again is that through uh let's check some direct prices for hotels it'd be worth maybe we might do a little experiment here and ring up some of the hotels uh on these nights and see what their prices versus the bucking.com or other website prices it's a disgrace what hotels are charging dublin a ripoff from may to uh august i agree with mary prices and hotels have increased because of inflation and got worse in certain areas because the hotels are accommodating people in crisis leaving fewer to choose from we've spent years building rural and local tourism only to break it down and i think right from the get go and it wasn't in any way uh to say that we shouldn't be helping people because we have to it was about hotels in built up areas i think i said at the very first time it was mooted as part of the first interview the first hotel how long will this be for because the tourism industries reliant very much uh the shops that sells the newspapers i think was the example i gave or the coffee shop or the restaurant or wherever it might be is reliant on people being in the area often but staying in hotels and if that hotel accommodation isn't there well then the tourists uh might not be there danie joins us now hi danie come on in here great how are you good to speak to you we were sort of having a conversation about shopping home brands or own brands and some suggestion you could save up to three thousand euro a year by doing so uh when you're out and about are you looking for bargains what's your approach danie oh yes yes i yeah i'm always looking for bargain certainly greg but but no uh my experience with home brands is that a few years ago well it's more than a few years ago i used to uh shop and just rush in get the product that was used to like you know and take it off the shelf and not look at the price or anything but then uh there was one time that the product i went for wasn't there so i just quickly took a home brand stuff took it home and i thought oh this is not bad and things then i come started comparing prices products and things and and don't get me wrong greg i'm not a sort of person that will eat anything just to be cheap yeah uh it takes a lot to satisfy me and and then i was uh excuse me sorry there's a sorry that was my phone just going no problem yeah no uh tell you say it takes a lot to satisfy me but now i'm quite content see because when i i shop for myself i get bread i get tea i get cereals i get packet soup products i get team food i get stuff for the dog i've got an 18 year old dog here and he doesn't complain but i think what about the i think people can be very fussy uh on things like beans or spaghetti or teabags uh do you notice any big difference between the traditional you know high state the traditional famous brands and own brands and and things like that yeah you do indeed it not so much it takes a while to get used to it you you sort of you see difference like say in the thickness of the quality of the sauce and stuff like that but but i found also with with good products that that they was going away from sort of my sort of tastes some of them was too sugary some of them are too salty you know and i'm even eating food now that hasn't got uh like low in sugar because i prefer the taste of it yeah yeah no i found that myself switching switching brands of one particular food to the other it was you could really feel like you could taste sugar and salt in it um and switched back again is there any no-goes for you do you know because i presume if you're buying own brand bread which is going to be significantly cheaper we don't have own brand bakery surely a lot of this stuff probably emanates from the same places as the the the branded stuff but is there any own brand stuff you just generally avoid not yet you know like say i don't pasta or a particular food type or are you happy to to consume all own brand stuff donnie no i've i've tried it all really no i i sort of give it a go and that's why i'm saying or advising the people is is if it a try and and if it applies you know to your taste if it's good to cook with and stuff like that they then sort of stick with it and and you do save yourself money i wouldn't recommend just all all your basket would be own brand that what it what happens to me greg what i save on the home bread i can then splash out on something else that i can't get as a home brand you know little treats that makes sense yeah i've also noticed i said to colin that i've noticed that when i used to go in and get my own brand bread uh products like beans and stuff like that i had no trouble getting it but these last six months it's been very difficult i i've been buying more expensive bread because the home brand's cheaper bread is not there all right okay that's that's interesting because it's one thing having the will but if it's not there often i was a long time waiting for a home brand uh dog treats like the dental shoes for my dog and they was forever out of stock all the more expensive stuff was there i was buying it for but you're talking about a difference between 75 cents and and two euros that's huge what's your dog's name donnie he's Caesar Caesar and everybody knows him around here sort of in the Dunlowe world like uh might the air i'm living in there yeah Caesar he's 18 years old and he hasn't complained too much when you're on back with own brand treats he used to not much complain it's even with other products that he's he's a fussy dog also if i put a tin of food out and he doesn't want it he'll walk away from it so the conversation is is you've no problem doing the home brand or own brand but the the bottom line is it's availability now you're noticing that an availability is not there i do i think i think a lot more people are starting to not only like use their eyes to look at labels but that you're looking at the pricing and and comparing the prices you know because the another thing uh shops do like low tea cards yes and and vouchers and i could never get a a basket of food big enough to to use the voucher but now i might my expense still shopping the same stuff but but due to the rising price of everything it's gone up and now i can use them by vouchers but they're not available i mean you know you know you spend over 50 euros see it's okay i know it's okay for me great because i'm on my own here myself and the dog if you've got a family you've got youngsters and that it's difficult to get them but i've i've i know it's anecdotal but i've seen in other cases and things that where people are keeping the packaging of good brands they call it that and then decanting it from from a box or a bottle to try and food for the children and i think people even the adults are falling themselves because i would be the one that when it came to ketchup it ketchup like it had to be that the one brand but now i i use an own brand i use unsalted and i love it you're right though there is another issue about branding though you see and particularly with young people if it's not a certain brand i don't like that but i can see the logic in decanting it into another bottle because then they don't notice the difference just one final thing i mean is is is own brands products still really on sexy packaging i mean it's in the same packaging it's about the design i wonder why they don't sort of use it up a little bit yeah it could be that you see because there's a there's a shop that i particularly go to they've got their own brand and then then they've got uh even they call it cheaper one again let's just call it basic and that's very thing but but but if i would also give that a try but even if there was something in the tin if he just had tomatoes on it and just said the word tomatoes i would give it a try but then if it doesn't suit me i would be back to the stuff i i i'm more particular about uh you know i have to eat it i don't like wasting nothing greek like that and there's no good buying cheap stuff and just eat it because it's cheap no of course and i think you're balancing it there you're doing it there's a balancing act between you know what's an acceptable quality for you and if you can save a few bob even if it's to treat yourself rather than to bank it all well and good no i think it's it's a it's a decent a good approach thank you very much danny you're welcome and give Caesar a treat for us as well i will all right take care bye okay Heinz uh helmans mayonnaise and Heinz ketchup they can never be replaced without notice yeah helmans is uh i can understand helmans uh i don't know any difference between mayonnaise is the ketchup certainly you can tell the difference between the various ketchups but i don't know right okay we ran an instagram poll on this issue just for the crack and you can follow us on highland radio donnie gall on instagram to have your say we asked our generic brands just as good in other words your own brands and the audience have responded absolutely 33 percent they just aren't the same eight percent to a lovely balanced view it depends uh on the product and thanks to donna marie uh for helping out with that uh the majority of you uh actually just eight percent of you that voted feel that you wouldn't go near your own brand stuff because they're simply just not the same um right hi talking about the price of hotels me and my partner went to port russia saturday night bed and breakfast it was 260 pounds just for one night never again we had to pay a lot of money to buy sterling wow okay that's that's up there isn't i mean that would have to be a good saturday night uh if the truth be told uh greg i'm going to the eagles concert and hotels were up to 925 euro on booking.com it's just unreal but i want to speak to or hear from you if you tried booking.com and says you know what that's uh unacceptable and then went and tried say for instance to ring directly to see if you got any better value i know that works i've done it myself but i want to hear from you guys out there too. coming to letter kenny god he was beautiful big brown war three a's and i'm like an average in angus gold see three hill mary's at on granon theater letter kenny for one night only finally made 13th see on granon.com we're called 0749120777 the fishermen working the seas off ireland bring us a real bounty every day like irish crab meat low in fat and brim full of protein omega three and essential vitamins and minerals for lunch or dinner irish crab meat is a delicious shellfish you can buy cooked and ready to go in your supermarket or fishmongers for great recipes online like crab pasta with cherry tomatoes and basil visit board be a dot ie forward slash crab and make everyday meals amazing let biz print the printers help with your business marketing and printing to get your 2022 vision off to the right start biz print the printers portrait letter kenny call 9117995 or see biz print dot ie drivers keep an eye out for the digital signs between junction four balimon and junction nine red cow on the m50 the signs will be switched on to slow traffic in the event of a collision roadworks poor weather or congestion lowering your speed will help protect you other road users emergency responders and road workers respect the speed displayed and help keep the m50 safe a message from transport infrastructure ireland and the road safety authority are you worried about trees on your property northwest forestry services belly buffet are fully insured and have over 40 years experience in dangerous tree removal tree felling surgery and stump grinding for peace of mind call northwest forest services belly buffet for no obligation quotation on 9132033 okay we're joined on the program now uh by lillian senai bar stlp cancer and director of programs with the northwest migrants forum good morning to you lillian how are you keeping good morning it's great to it's great to have you on the program right now um the northwest migrants forum on behalf of which uh you you speak are running a campaign called no racist border on ireland's island could you talk to us about the situation that pertains that really has triggered this campaign yes um for many people you would know that the common travel area is supposed to be free movement or afford free movement for everyone living in on the island of ireland and fortunately that is actually not accurate there are so many people within the island of ireland who cannot freely uh move on the island and those are people from minority ethnic communities particularly who are called none or none you can none you can't Irish citizens and they are commonly called non cta nationals and um many of them would be people who are permanent residents of both sides of the island they live here lovely and they may be spouses of citizens but are not afforded that uh opportunity or that freedom to move without applying for visas now um like i'm not trying to be controversial or here but just to to ask a question um obviously you know the word racist is an important really really important word um now is this actually a racist border i mean i just wonder would the same rules apply uh in white uh non irish or non uk uh national countries if that makes sense do you think do you think using the word racist in this is accurate obviously you do but i just wanted to explain it to you it is it is very accurate because if you're traveling through the border and we have a lot of evidence to prove that the only people who are going to be stopped are people who look different now that there we get to the the the the uh the knots of it okay so um people would say put sure if you're living in letter kenny and you want to go to dairy no one's going to stop you but you're saying there is a level of enforcement can you give us sort of a typical experience it doesn't have to be between the two areas i've mentioned but what can happen to people i'm sure a lot of people may have read on the newspapers where black people are stopped and asked to produce their um identity cards on the bus when they are traveling and mainly have witnessed that who are traveling on the bus when they've got that for example would stop our bus they will only profile the black or brown person to ask to produce their documents not because there is any um evidence of any criminal offence that has been made but just because there's an assumption you have no right to cross the border and this not only affect none u k citizen it impact on somebody like me who is a citizen on the island who's what is the description of an irish person and how does the um god i know that i'm not irish and the truth is is i will never uh have to i'll never be challenged and have to prove that but you uh probably will and have and that's yeah exactly i have um many of us have i i think you will find a lot of black people who have traveled across the island who have had the same experience and many people would even avoid traveling across the the border because of their necessary stress that they have to go through yeah i think what's interesting about this conversation linian is that there will be a lot of people hearing of this for the first time obviously not those that are affected by it but uh people who they'll be gone what that actually happens on the island of island that people are you know profiled or stopped for moving freely north and south and vice versa like i think this campaign obviously it's to garner support but i think it's actually people are going to be going we did not know that was happening at all you're very right every single person i've spoken to who lives in dairy or don't ago have never ever thought that people would be stopped they actually think it is ridiculous to start with and i think this is the key point the public are not aware and it's these are immigration rules that have created by policy makers in back rooms and are not publicized for the public because they know there will be an outrage i'll give an example that irish government has been very generous to ukrainian citizens they have opened the borders for them none of them have to apply for a visa to come and we know that there are so many of them who now live in um bolcana or leta kenny because there are none there are none uk citizens or none british irish citizens they are subject to immigration rule what will happen to them if they cross to the border and come to the north will they be stopped or vice versa those who are coming to dairy going to because they're also non european citizen so this is an issue that the public needs to know but the government need to take action to ensure that every single citizen who live on the island of island can be freely moving there because it's another way of building that sense of belonging and if if if the britain and northern island the uk is a collective uh i mean you've heard it from some politicians talking about island being a backdoor into britain if that if that is a concern you have well then you police that at the border uh in velfast yeah you know i mean it's it's not i mean if that is the motivation it's very easy to do it in a uh in a less intrusive and and also you know really specific manner and the reality is this is actually in the gift of the irish government because the issue of the non european citizens coming to island is specifically a rule a bridge an irish government immigration rule it does not require the british government it does not require the european government it is the immigration the immigration office in island that is enforcing it so it is in the irish government's gift and the irish people to push it because what the many that we have met and spoken to do not want it to exist on the island of island are you more likely to be stopped if you live in the republic and are traveling into north versus living in the north and traveling into the republic are you more likely to see enforcement depending on your direction of travel mostly those who are stopped are those actually traveling to the uh to the republic of island because the uk in my border's control would only come into force when they suspect there are people coming to the north and they will not interfere with the irish immigration rule so they will not cross the border to stop people from the irish side if you like so this is specifically enforced by the irish government but with new nationality and border's bill we risk having a hard border for non ea non eunance uk citizens wait the british government will try to enforce but this is the point that i would like to make again the british government will not enforce immigration rules in island it is the irish government that will be expected to enforce that immigration rule all right and unfortunately we find ourselves in a position that this has to be uh fought through a petition really you would imagine that this would be quite a large conversation on a national scale within politics that it wouldn't require uh it wouldn't require a a a a grassroots sort of campaign so talk to us about the um talk to us about the petition so we have the north west migrants firm has launched a petition and this is seeking support from the public and you can find the petition on the website we have key issues that uh we have highlighted through the petition but we have also provided remedies for this particular immigration rule we are asking the irish government to extend the rights for freedom of movement for every lawful citizen or resident who live on the island of island particularly those who live in the north because it is within their own gift to do that we are also asking a pathway for citizenship for those people who have come to make uh northern island they are home but would wish to become irish rather than british because they're marriage to irish citizens there is no pathway unless you are married to an irish citizen so if you are a south african couple husband and wife both from south africa and you have lived in dairy for 25 years you will never be citizens of island and that could be what you prefer than being a british citizen so it's very simple remedies that um the irish government can show that political will to extend that and for example or in particular now that they are all talking about a shared island and we do know that because this can be done with a stroke of a pen we know the rules that were able to be changed very rapidly to allow ukrainian people from outside europe effectively to move here to be able to claim benefits and to be able to work so if the will is there we know the way is there absolutely it is something that the irish government can decide to do it today if they wanted to yeah precisely lillian lovely to speak to you thanks for joining us thank you very much and i hope your listeners can sign our petition they can find it on our website at the www.nwmf.org.uk have a lovely day lillian thank you very much indeed that's lillian c noibar there who's a director of programs with the northwest migrants forum okay uh did you realize that that was the case our politicians to be need to be more like hungry in their attitudes towards e you are under lab dogs to e you and the un are we okay uh financially better off did the guy on just before not say we were 14 trillion in debt our fishing depleted massive irish factory boats scraping our oceans and our farmers tied to rules and regulations if all started would we be even able to fend ourselves or feed ourselves politicians who aim to please europe rather than our own people signing us up for treaties without consulting big jobs for the big boys are we really better off sometimes i doubt it but listen uh 88 percent of people believe we are so that seems to be the will of the the opinion of the nation a caller says it is not only island that is in debt and paying back interest many other countries are in the same position once again with the island not able to take its responsibility but relying on other countries for our defense but look at like we're seen as a rich country because we can afford to borrow and pay it back at the rates that are currently being charged you know every country's indebted as that texture says uh i think it's only about 10 years ago that uh britain paid off the loan it borrowed from america uh during one of the world wars so long-term debts leveraged on generations is not unusual uh and i'm not really sure it does it really matter on a day-to-day basis obviously it does but you know they keep saying we're rich yet we're heavily indebted i don't know um this caller says the reason those checks are taking place it's to stop people sneaking into the republic via northern arland without getting checked hi greg so 240 schools are taking talking up the eu today according to minister mcconnellogue this might be rightly called the new eu brainwashing of our little children in any other situation donagore needs to declare its independence from the eu that's uh i i agree i don't know about independence from the eu i do agree that though if we uh i i think it's it's very important that children get a balanced view on things that we don't have a preloaded uh argument uh in terms of stuff maybe does that apply to a conversation about the eu i don't know if we're going into schools uh on a broad scale saying it's great um i'm not sure that helps our children um with their thought processes and decision-making but anyway i would love to know how charlotte mcconnellogue's know we're in a far better position within the eu than out of it has he seen alternative outcomes no shin fain awaiting in the wings to fix this country's problems believe this texture another hi greg the fish inspector say dairy is not part of arland uh yeah as it relates to the landing greg please ask charlotte mcconnellogue why our fishing industry is to pay for the prosperity of others in our country it seems to be the weakest in society a targeted first to carry the can same for the environment issues but every time we talk about the quotas that the standard answer is that you know these will be renegotiated it's the best deal we can get and we're going to try and get a better deal and you know yourself the stuff we hear kevin says greg uh greg it's all about the brand as i have an empty box of barry's tea other brands are available um and just for the cracker put in aldean little teabag teabags in and no one has copped on back then it's like shopping with an m&s bag full of aldean little bag inside similar to 40 shades book with a reader's digest front cover i got the idea from channel for super shoppers comparison was a blind test of tesco water to evian tesco came out on top but on brand is the norm now yeah i just think we're we'll transition very quickly to where we can save some money uh the fact that we have to hide it in other packaging that says an awful lot about osse i think um but sure even with those wine testing i remember this one lady she was really quite famous for testing wines and she was putting it in her mouth and swirling it around and describing it and spit it out and then she was on another program about three months later and they gave her the exact same wines to test and her description uh and her opinion of the wines was completely completely different compared to the first time around oh but there you go all right more from the phone lines after this quick break the nine till noon show with city of dairy airport pre-brook your airport parking fast track and launch access at city of dairy airport dot com for a stress-free start to your trip hi folks pomie devil here inviting you join us this monday night for another edition of the monday night sessions on the show this week we welcome live in studios to band singer-songwriter adam dole and we'll also be joined by letter kenny singer-songwriter boy m five we've also got loads of great new irish music as always so it's a monday night sessions this monday night between 8 p.m and 10 p.m right here on island radio the northwest independent clinic is now king's bridge private hospital yes we have arrived in balai kelly and if you need treatment or surgery there is no need to wait at king's bridge private hospital northwest you will have access to over 300 consultants and hundreds of treatments and services we were approved by all major insurance companies and self-pay options are available in fact treatment could cost less than you think and with guaranteed five star care from treatment right through to your personalized recovery plan we will be with you every step of the way so why wait visit king's bridge private hospital dot com today ellen write what you want to be when you grow up on the blackboard ellen remember to sign up for the swim team ellen all competitors must register today nothing is written until you write it ellen can i have your autograph you write it we underwrite it alliance proudly supporting paralympics areland since 2010 is your card for the month of may get your car serviced at i motors letter kenny and avail of a free vehicle health check and a free oil change for more details check out our website or facebook call us today on 0749134567 to book in terms and conditions apply highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport gatwick's back you can now fly daily to london gatwick with ireland is the perfect gateway to explore south london ireland west airport you're flying blustery day with rain pushing eastwards this afternoon followed by showers and some sunny spells the showers may be heavy at times what they will clear away later in the evening temperatures of 13 to 16 degrees kevin good morning to you good morning great nice to speak with you right kevin you would have been uh you you've got a good background on this topic because you would have holidays at home staycationed whatever the phrase might be and you would have done it before the pandemic then you would have seen sort of the boom in the staycationing market and now we're sort of maybe in the aftermath of that of that what is your view in it all kevin well before the store staycation can probably been uh holiday in ireland for the last 15 years right uh caravan camper van caravan and staycation came along because of the pandemic now us ireans have a habit of when they see something that is bringing a bit of business to what we do as we just go mad and rob the people blamed and that's what's actually happening in staycation has been away and brought the people blamed on something that was always there how big how big of the difference is kevin well and since the pandemic uh my fees have gone up 400 a year 402 years right okay yeah i got you right and even at that like i mean don't forget we we didn't have a full season last season or the season before you know is there any argument i don't know if power is separate is there any argument that you know the cost of services has gone up and that has to be passed on to the likes of yourself kevin or is there but that's that's only recently great okay cost of service has gone up like you know i'm talking like even if you go into the the the uh the guide the caravan touring guide uh sites all over the country have put up for prices 25 35 40 percent you know and what they're depending on as this thing staycation the people that are are have stayed on this staycation to the past two years are selling their caravans and can't wait to get away to the sun yeah i see there's something that you love or you hate and that's right it's an interesting point you might because obviously you couldn't get a campervan or a caravan during lockdown because people bought them up you feel uh you you feel that they're going to exit the market again and the likes of yourselves who are loyal staycationers and i know everyone doesn't like that phrase uh user are left uh with with the expense and it's going to take the industry a while to realize that the market they think is there is no longer there well i'll put it to you this way and i did put it to the the site manager that uh next year there'll be a lot of empty spaces and uh and that people that have been driven away because of the prices caravaners mobile homers are not going to come back because of the prices and you know okay there's a certain amount of has to go on for the increase on your electricity or water we know that but that was always done like a 50 euro a year kind of thing you know but this pre-booking now as well that you pre-book and you have to pay up front before you get there that's a new thing isn't that's totally new and some of the sites other sites yes definitely but there are sites that you didn't have to to book now the m sites are you're having to book so there's going to be enough a lot of empty spaces and i mean if you look and don't either anywhere else all you can see is caravans trailers trailer tents everything for sale tents that i've only been used but only used this last two years yeah yeah you know fake tents that are costing over 12 14 1500 euro be very interesting to see how it plays out through the as we head into the summer months but it's we're not at the stage yet though where it would sicken you to the point to say well stop it you've ruined what i like about holidaying at home i'm going to try something else um i put it this way i'm giving it this season right interesting you know yeah but uh um uh to holiday abroad is kind of not something for for for us like but uh the if you think on a crate like people that are caravaners and mobile homers and tenter don't really care about the weller right yes but because people can get away to this on this right we're going to go here so the greedy uh people of Ireland who own these campsites yeah the same as the hotel heirs have said right with these day casters now look what happened when we were down they brought us up they're going to stay there they're not going to stay there you're going to stand up and go back to this one all right kevin listen i have to yeah okay i get you kevin listen good points well made thank you very much indeed that's where we have to leave it on the show we'll be back with you tomorrow morning at nine a.m stay tuned john bresnan's coming up around the northwest after uh 12 o'clock and then kevin is in for david on jive time have a great day the nine toning show with the city