 Okay someone's been playing with the faders all right go ahead Catherine. Thanks Greg good morning take shorter showers cut one car journey a week and turn down the thermal start on the heating. There are some of the measures expected to be included in a public awareness campaign as part of the government's efforts to deal with the cost of living according to the Irish Times. Green party leader Eamon Ryan is to bring a package of measures to government next week. A rise in carbon tax is due to be introduced on the 1st of May but Cara Augustenberg professor of environmental policy at UCD and member of the climate change advisory council says that should be deferred. Yeah I'm generally in favour of carbon tax because it gets it gets people to change their behaviour as they see that the cost of carbon is going to increase they may be invested in fossil fuel free technologies but actually because we're seeing that behavioural change now in response to the energy crisis I think it makes sense to defer this current carbon tax increase. The foreign affairs minister says the housing of Ukrainian refugees is going to put Irish society under pressure. Already 18,000 refugees have arrived here and the process of moving people into accommodation pledged by Irish people is underway. However concern has been expressed about how Ireland will be able to accommodate those fleeing Ukraine while in the grips of a domestic housing crisis. Minister Simon Kovne says we need to respond as we are seeing the tragedy of history unfolding before our eyes. This is going to put Irish society under pressure but it is something that we need to respond to because you know unfortunately we are seeing the tragedy of history unfolding before our eyes and Ireland needs to be part of showing generosity and humanitarian response to a country that's being devastated at the moment. They are Europeans just like we are and we need to play our part as indeed other European countries are. And it's hoped that the Taoiseach relays a number of recommendations to the housing minister following a key weekend meeting with the Micah Action Group. Miho Martin met with the group on Saturday during a visit to Donnie Gall where members called for some amendments to the redress scheme. The slow nature of the application process was also highlighted with calls for a review to be carried out. Reflecting on the meeting, Micah Action Group PRO Michael Doherty says the Taoiseach genuinely engaged with homeowners and hopes it will pay off. It did take the time. He wrote an awful lot of notes and did ask intelligent questions around it as well. So on that one for example what I'm hoping he does is to go down to Minister O'Brain and say listen what they're asking for here is two bolt-ons to the IS465. He went down the road an awful lot more educated than what he was beforehand. I think that really stood to us and he did genuinely engage with us here it wasn't just an exercise hopefully it pays off and he has agreed to meet us again. Whether now a dull and breezy day with outbreaks of rain and drizzling highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees. We're back with more at 10 o'clock until then good morning. Easter mega deals now on at Currie's get free delivery and save 150 euro on the Samsung American style fridge freezer now one three three nine and get the hp laptop with full hd screen now three nine nine save 80 euro we won't be beaten on price so get in store our online at curries.ie teases is apply see website for details the 90 noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter Kenny credit union 9102127 and now it's time for the talk of the northwest the 90 noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland radio hello and a very good morning to you four minutes past nine on this Monday the fourth of April 2022 how are you I hope you are well and stick around with a busy show for you lots coming up on the program this morning right across the spectrum of topics there's information this news this features get involved with the conversation yourselves of course what happened over the weekend what do you want to highlight good or bad by the way it's positive stuff more than welcome to how do you do so 08 660 25 000 and there was a great sense of positivity um spurned on by charlie bird a great sense of community um and that was the walks and climbs that took place not only across donnie gall but right across the country it was an amazing coming together of people I know some of the ones that we featured as well and not because of it but we kept an eye on had a great turnouts arigal was a huge turnout as well people traveling to see that but it was about people coming together and amazing scenes too from down the country as charlie bird reached the top of his climb that was emotional it was emotional and that's what it was it was a mixture of emotions wasn't it because a lot of this has come from um place a place of grief with people losing their lives or people's lives being cut short but then we had people coming together and raising so much money it really was amazing and that's the front of the donnie gall news this morning thousands of people across donnie gall pulled on their hiking boots on saturday in solidarity with charlie bird the veteran rt broadcaster uh created his climb with charlie fundraiser last year after being diagnosed with multineural disease he vowed to scale crow patrick while encouraging people worldwide to do the likes the hikes of their own at donnie gall rose to the challenge when walkers across the county looked to their local peaks for a bird's eye uh view elsewhere in the front of the donnie gall news too uh that evening uh knoll conningham a hotelier television personality and author uh will go down and he's going down in donnie gall association of double in history as uh being the longest holder of the donnie gall person of the year titled 12 years now well it's not really 12 for money joking uh the 69 year old was named donnie gall person of the year for 2019 at the beginning of 2020 but because of covid restrictions his celebration event was postponed twice the event that was worth waiting for and was even uh in bigger demand with a sellout function of over 400 guests in the bonnington hotel in dublin on saturday night we were lucky enough uh to go uh highland radio one of the the night sponsors as well and it was uh wonderful it was a lovely thing to be a part of it was lovely to meet lots and lots of people uh who listed highland radio as well it's always good when you can do that because we weren't able to do it for so long met some really good people some great characters um and it was great to see the likes of the bluestack foundation close to null's heart and uh wendy uh from the bluestacks foundation was at the event and spoke amazingly as well as did lots of people and daniel o'Donnell also managed to make his way from um his climb to take part in that event but it was a nice celebration and great to be a part of and fair play uh to null we might try and catch up with him a little later on in the program to see how he's feeling today the dairy news this morning gas supply firms gas supplier firmus energy has been accused of bleeding the people of dairy dry the claim by schnade quinn from dairy against fuel poverty came ahead of the campaign groups latest protest rally held in waterloo place in the city centre on saturday afternoon last the latest price increase of 16 31 16.31 percent we'll see firmus customers pay an additional three euro sorry three pounds 86 per week for their gas onto the nationals now in the Irish times uh do you remember we talked uh mentioned a month or so ago that we would start seeing campaigns to turn your uh to turn your heating down that that would form part of the government's response to uh to the the rising cost of fuels well that's how things are playing out uh as predicted uh people will be encouraged to take shorter showers and cut one car journey a week to bring down their energy costs on the plan being formulated for publication later this month as part of it as well you're being asked to turn your heating dial down green party leader aimon ryan said yesterday he would bring a package of measures to government next week to help with the cost of living well i hope there's more uh in in the package of measures than asking us to use less to fuel because we're already being forced to do so we're already making choices about car journeys aren't we um i would i'm not sure if people are considering uh taking shorter showers as much at this time but certainly people are looking at their their heat settings and how often they use in the cars but anyway sources indicate this would include a public awareness campaign advising steps such as cutting at one car journey a week in favor of walking or taking public transport taking shorter showers not filling a kettle to the top if not needed and turning down the thermostat by a degree that's the uh response well part of it actually to be fair the irish daily mail this morning families can expect to be at least three thousand euro worse off this year thanks to a raft of price increases which keep coming and show no sign of abating electric arland which supplies half the domestic electricity market recently announced further increases amounting to another five hundred and twenty year uh euro a year for a dual bill sse announced uh price rises of 24 percent in electricity and 32 percent in gas just days ago and there's something a small element of it that's that i don't fully understand because uh last month say for two weeks it was very windy and uh 80 odd percent of the the power that we uh use here in arland came from renewable sources there is a website that you can follow now obviously during the good weather that dropped down significantly to about 20 but if you average it out uh you know um i don't know i don't know what the average is but somewhere between 20 and 80 maybe about 50 percent of our power comes from renewable energy wind power and and and the likes and i just don't is that factored in when the electricity companies lob on uh 25 percent to the cost of providing us with fuel might be barking up the wrong tree but if we're if so much of our power at least at times is generated by wind surely we should be slightly better insulated or maybe we are from rising fuel costs as it relates to the production of energy anyway anyone out there with an insight can educate me on that one they are actually independent like all papers today reports on um awful pictures and videos coming out of cities around kiev um i'll read the story here western allies vowed not to rest until vladimir putin is held accountable for war crimes yesterday after the discovery of hundreds of dead civilians on the outskirts of kiev mass graves with limbs and heads sticking out of the ground were uncovered after russian soldiers withdrew from urpin and bukat two suburbs northwest of the capital graphic images of the dead left on street corners or front gardens emerged yesterday shocking the international community into new calls for those behind the atrocities or atrocities to face uh justice um right on two opinion polls the sun carries the story that shin fein remains the most popular party in the country with a third of the public backing them according to a new opinion poll the latest figures show shin fein commands the support of 33 percent of voters up two points on its position from a month ago mary lou mcdonald's party now holds a considerable double-digit lead over their nearest rivals as finnegale received a 22 percent backing up one point on march's figure they weren't too upset about that uh to be honest with you uh support for finneville dropped 18 percent uh down two points on their previous figure while the green party is fallen by a point to three percent according to the sunday independent arland thinks poll the green party support is in and around the margin of error isn't it uh so it could be six it could be zero um but shin fein uh at 33 percent finnegale 22 finneville 18 percent okay we talk about expenditure and what our money's being spent on what do you think about this in the irish daily mirror because almost 320 000 euro was spent on providing irish lags at prisoners with tv sets and access to multi-channel services including sky sports and netflix last year a total of 1493 tvs was supplied to the state's prisons in 2021 with each set costing 130 euro which is pretty cheap for tv set i don't know what kind of tvs they are supplying uh but i don't know why the supplying so many do you get if you if you're locked up you get your own new tv every time well according to information released under the freedom of information act a total of 244 000 not only 245 000 was spent last year on tvs alone including the supply of sets for other prison areas such as recreational and communal spaces and visiting rooms which maybe is fair i didn't realize that every cell had their own tv and own tv packages uh multi-channel services including the provision of netflix in all prisons cost 74 400 and 230 euro 74 000 that's an awful lot of money isn't it for netflix and sky sport subscriptions for prisoners that's a lot no account sharing going on in the prison service it seems and very finally in sport on the back of the star david clifford showed his class on and off the pitch at crook park yesterday as he kicked carry to the league title with a stunning one-six hole in the emphatic 15 points win over mayo and mayo were really uh taught a lesson yesterday it was the first senior national title of clifford's carry career and afterwards in his victory speech he um the team skipper paid tribute to red oak murphy the rising slo-go sly-go star who very tragically passed away over the weekend out on the field clifford shot one five from play in a stellar performance as carry claimed a record 24 23rd league title on a scoreline of 319 to 0 13 13 points we'll see uh later on we'll be chatting to brendon divany i'm sure uh to see what he makes uh of all that weekend uh g action right oh seven four nine one 25 000 caroline as always taking your calls this morning the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering mycu current account and debat mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account clear mobile has 99 4g population coverage so where are people going out west with four bars and all doubling outside of doubling longford waterford all the fours there you go this april choose great coverage with unlimited calls texts and data from 12 99 a month clear mobile dot ie you clear they are 30 day contract activation fee and fair usage applies max data speed 5 megabits per second 12 99 subject to eligibility ends 30th of april 2022 see clear mobile data e for terms most people say that dunig all is the coolest place in the planet but up here we know that sometimes it can be the coldest charles boner and son's balibufay is the one stop shop for all your heating needs we have a huge range of multifuel and wood pellet stoves and ranges spare parts for all major stove and range brands plumbing and bathroom all at exceptional prices so visit our showrooms where our friendly and experienced team will be ready to help you charles boner and son's balibufay and the stove store dot ie where you can always do a good deal better 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 it's about gossiping and your neighbors and what you do be up to it's time to laugh it's time to sing it's time to dance it's time to have don't miss nomad and living dread theater company's hilarious production of tarry flame directed by era manhand coming to on green on theater wednesday the sixth and thursday the seventh of april book your tickets now at on green on dot com all right um we welcome on to the program now independent on a little canty counsellor uh counsellor me whole colin mcgillan aspect thank you very much for joining us watch and wait until reg is out yesterday now uh there was a fire another fire at a thatched cottage in fact in the county at the weekend at mollock doff um fire service praised for their quick response in uh mitigating and limiting uh damage the fire itself though has highlighted a number of issues not least as it relates to the fire services access to water in the event of an emergency yeah look we're going to use this opportunity uh to just kind of praise the local community and their very quick response uh one of the people in the community that uh came to the aid of those that were at the house at the time ended up getting some medical treatment uh afterwards so it's really important to recognize that and our fantastic fire staff both their hohan yeah because get over but unfortunately what has uh what this has shown up is that when the fire staff went to the fire hydrants which was only literally up the road from where the fire happened unfortunately they i'm told that they had no access to the fire hydrants and not not just one but a number of them and this is very very important that they had to go a number of miles over the road to get to a fire hydrant and that's not good enough so when you say had they they had no access were they were they not working or what doffle what's the story well we're waiting for i'm waiting for a report i've asked for a report off iris water obviously i got in contact right away on uh when i was told about this what iris water and i'm waiting for a report back on it now we've we've seen a number years ago this time it was i think three years ago when we had the big fires in west anigal and and and we at the time that highlighted the issues around the fire hydrant as well uh because at the time that we had different brigades into the area uh you know some obviously they wouldn't be familiar so if you had brigades in from bali shannon or uh up north and on the shown they wouldn't know the area as well and things were very hectic and manic at the times uh during that time and the difficulty then was that some of the fire hydrants were covered over with tar some of them might not have opened and and i remember at the time and i think i spoke to yourself uh greg about this at the time where i submitted the question uh to denigal county council in relation to the fire hydrants in terms of mapping them and that we as a local community because we were still trying to set up a rapid response unit uh we had a meeting last friday actually in relation to that but uh iris water came back and said at the time which this is absolutely bunkers says that on their data protection they couldn't release where the fire hydrants were to to a member of the public or a councilor so this has brought up yet again the issue of fire hydrants are they serviced are they looked after are they functional and also that there is a huge need for fire hydrants in different areas i know now he's around the park in calicut health there's a need there i know up in den louis there's a need there and in many other places so what we really need is an audit here we need a map with the current locations of the hydrants and i think that should be public available publicly available uh the same as d fibs are because these are lifesaving not for public access as such but even if the public needs to notify someone uh of where there are you would imagine that that has to be available and made available to the fire service if it's not that's uh a shock in and of itself but we need public access to that but also an audit of them go around they all need to be checked to make sure that they aren't covered over because if that information is wrong um the fire service the last thing the fire service the last thing they need is is uncertainty as to whether their access to the water is there or not i mean this is basic stuff absolutely look at the end of the day look our fire crew put their lives at danger every single time they go out it's a very real situation need that be a gas fire a car fire a house fire and they could very easily knock them home and the least that we can do is make sure that we have every infrastructure in place that needs to be in place now at the meeting on friday we were told uh that they were going to look at fire hydrants uh i remember at the time i think it was um gprs or i can't remember now what do you call that thing you call when you gdprs it well no no no no when you when you're able to pinpoint in the area all right gps gps thank you uh because i remember i was saying to them about you know can we gps it can we make sure that the that the that each brigade has access to computer and they know so if the door had to go up to the show um to fight a fire that they just press a button blank they know exactly where all our fire hydrants are and other services that are needed uh but look at the end of the day it was a very unfortunate situation uh that happened at the weekend we had a family coming home from scotland uh for for holidays the the patch roof went on fire um the quick response from the local community and they couldn't praise them enough and their fire service but that you know bad enough as it was that we had a fire but not having the fire hydrants in place or working that's not acceptable in any means and you cannot justify this anyway and what we need now to do and i'm not being i'm not being opportunist here in the sense that i'm trying to be a cuter irish water needs to come out on highland radio or any other media and explain to our community why that happened well preferably highland radio but i take your point from my perspective from from my perspective okay uh right listen thanks i really appreciate thanks for your time and as i say you know i don't think gdpr or anything else should be used as some sort of a smoke screen here i think it's in everybody's interest be at the council irish water because it would be good pr for them uh and particularly the fire service that we find out where these are make sure they're not covered over maybe i don't know if the roads department have a role maybe they're being covered over during road works who's to say that that does happen and that does happen we do need to make sure we do need to make sure that just in the final point here and i think this is really really important look since 2011 i think we've been fighting the water issue right and this is another clear indication that irish water the water our water infrastructure needs to be in control of our county which is denigal county council yeah and not a national body yeah but you know yourself a lot a lot of the maintenance is done locally though yeah a lot of the maintenance is done locally but there has been a shift and there's a bigger broader discussion around that's how irish water was looking to bring our staff on their irish water but that's a different kind of conversation but at the same time irish water or our water infrastructure we are served better by having our local staff which is fantastic in the water service we'll be served better by having it and getting rid of irish water all together right okay uh thank you very much indeed for that councillor meho column um another councillor michael mcclaffrey joins us now good morning michael good morning greg you share your fellow councillors concerns i'll back him 100 percent what he's saying that he's 100 right greg it is crazy a couple of points there the final point he closed on there the first of all the water should be in our own ownership not private ownership that should never ever ever ever happen greg and secondly then this gdpr correct but not that he requested by the way to get maps of where the where the service valves were where the where they were at the taps for and couldn't get it then due to data protection data protections clearly gone mad here are many things many many things fire hydrants i do not see what data protection has got to do for where a fire hydrant may be you don't mind what the cancer said michael column said or if you come across that yourself as well not that we we're not doubting him for a second but if that is the case you're also shocked well i am shocked yes i haven't come across myself because i haven't actually asked the same question he's asked obviously um but i am shocked at that this is the situation but and really touching on that so what doesn't make sense with me because gdpr is about uh protecting individuals privacy i don't understand how gdpr can protect the location of a hydrant um you know we're not going to steal his identity you know i i don't see how it comes into it either i really don't because then today the fire hydrant is obviously there for a reason uh it's there for the fire service or likewise that may need to use it of also as well as that you need you need particular special tools to get into it it's of no use or benefit to anybody knowing where it's there other obviously useful for the public yes but not on the data protection every fire service that comes in greg needs nowhere to look at i mean listen we can keep an eye on it 45 percent of our water treated water is is is being lost through leaks you know it can't be about them afraid that we're going to steal water for crying out loud i'm not saying that you're saying that but we're me and you were just trying to speculate as to why this should be a secret it shouldn't be these should be this should be public knowledge it shouldn't be a secret greg and as i i said to caroline there as well prior to getting on there after there is some legality that myself and personally we can last is not not aware of indeed the whole public's not aware of in relation to a fire hydrant's location which i i'm totally at a loss of that but setting that aside if there is some legality that we're not aware of it's up then to irish water first of all to answer my council mcglaston's questions that he's able to put in this morning or over the game there and secondly them in relation to the fire hydrant themselves they need to do a map like he has asked for they need irish water needs to do a map and inform every fire station underneath all or north and elsewhere the are and go further than that great put a aircode on them all okay it shouldn't be beyond us look it shouldn't be secret i don't know what's going on we're going to make our own inquiries with irish water as well we had the warning three years ago with the gauze fires and yet here we are three years later and still the work of the fire service is being hindered because of the the infrastructure not being available to them michael thank you very much indeed councillor michael mcclafferty there have you a view oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand uh we spoke to um some amazing people last week and i mean that by the way uh who were highlighting uh to us um you know the impact motor neuron disease has on individuals and has on family members you might remember kathie callahan um she lost her mother uh winnie um who had motor neuron disease and it all happened so quickly and young children and everything but anyway kathie emailed us uh to give us an update on what the story was with the walk with winnie uh and she says uh i thought i would let you know that saturday's walk was a great success how many people would you say took part in that one walk alone seven hundred isn't that amazing seven hundred people took part in the walk with winnie and they've managed to raise over nineteen thousand two hundred euro so far nineteen thousand two hundred euro thanks so much for allowing me to talk on the program it was such a great success in relation to the walk it allowed people to understand what exactly mnd is my phone has been hopping since so that's great and well done again kathie and uh really this is nothing to do with us this is uh what charlie bird started uh on rte and um everyone's just uh you know obviously it it it touched an awful lot of people and we were glad to play a little small part in um helping to promote some of these uh events right okay uh we're going to be talking about the rising cost of energy something we none of us well very few of us very very few of us are insulated from we're going to be talking about that after these messages the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter kenny credit union 9102127 thank you for filling out your census form your census enumerator will soon call to collect it if you have any queries visit census dot ie or call 0818202204 census 2022 be counted flanagan's massive half price store clear out sale is now on in ronkrana there's 50 of erish made sofas tables beds wardrobes rugs and occasional furniture pay today and take it away see flanagan's dot ie hello there this is daniel o donnell here and i'm delighted to be able to tell you that we're coming back to the millennium forum and dairy for a couple of concerts we're going to be there on wednesday august 31st and thursday september 1st both these shows are going to be taped for american television so i hope you can join us see you then that's the millennium forum august 31st and september 1st this summer holidays are go with jet two holidays and atlantic travel so go explore your sunny favorites with hundreds of free child places available ask the experts at atlantic travel about your next jet two holiday by calling 0749126193 and booked now with just 60 pounds deposit per person jet two holidays package holidays you can trust subject to availability conditions the villarose hotel balli buffet and anchorage ghidor present the dublin city ramblers easter weekend april 16th and 17th the villarose will also host mac fleetwood the ultimate fleetwood mac tribute band on april 23rd all tickets whether you're o each telephone or sea hotel website for full details all right okay so we all know that the cost of of heating and running our homes is increasing all the while and our vehicles but we're going to focus i think on the cost of our electricity and to help us barry sharky of northwest pv joins us on the program now good morning get barry thanks for joining us yeah good morning i'm here go ahead okay now you made a presentation to the government's climate action committee in january 2019 what was the thrust of your contribution uh trust my contribution was trying to get them to bring in some grants for homeowners and businesses to help them install solar pv systems which produce electricity and and will bring down the cost of electricity to the homeowners and the business owners so that was my presentation so what what is the the the breakdown of a bill because uh you i have in front of me here uh an article my big fat irish electricity bill um and it is it looks that i don't know is that yourself isn't it was yeah right tell us about the breakdown of it where where's our money going okay well well at that time uh as you know the government was was promoting electric vehicles electric cars there were also stopping people from installing uh oil heating systems in their homes stopping people from installing solid fuel stoves with back boilers in their homes so you're left with one alternative only to heat your home which was a heat pump so i was trying to explain to the committee that uh what's coming down the road and which has happened four years later is that homeowners now are putting everything on one bill they're putting their electricity usage for their normal lighting and cooking but they're also putting their heating and their travel that for charging their cars all in one bill and unless less with some radical change the way the government was running the energy market homeowners going to be faced with an absolutely massive electricity bill and it has happened you'd be a big advocate of smart metering tell me why well well at the time they hadn't brought in smart metering and i explained i asked the committee what happens the excess electricity that's generated at night by by the wind farms because as you know the electricity generated by wind farms you use it or lose it we can't really store it at the moment there is talk of investing in batteries but if it's the it is wasted effectively it is not if it's not used correct correct so at that time there was there was no battery storage but in in the subsequent years there has been several small scale battery storage systems built around Ireland the beauty about these is that these can carry over short term grid loads but not long term so it means that instead of having a say a spare gas turbine generator running away there but not required but they have to have it up and running and as the man says warmed up and ready for action the batteries can do the same thing so you save energy and not having to have spare generators idling on standby so my point about the smart metering was i asked the committee what happens to the electricity that's generated by the wind turbines at night when it's blowing a gale or on the country and they all looked at me with big stupid faces and said we don't know and i said well i can tell you the energy people are short circuiting that into the ground so it's been wasted and then they looked at me again and what do you want us to do about it and i says offer it to the people for a nominal price but what would you do like what what how would we avail of of cheaper electricity at night because i can tell you one thing um because i speak to an awful lot of people say for instance in the fire service i wouldn't have my washing machine on while i was in bed i wouldn't have my dryer on was in bed and i wouldn't put the dishwasher on while i was in bed so what what do you use electricity at night for if you're your average cautious homeowner well i understand i don't think there's any problem with washing machines the problem is with mainly clothes dryers because of the fluff that's gathered up on them and the fluff is very flammable and and there is a danger okay that the fluff can go on fire especially if the uh but i couldn't sleep i couldn't sleep at night even with the washing machine on especially with children in the house do you know what i mean it's whatever about me you are you are there so what would we be using this cheaper night time charging the car perhaps maybe that would could be certainly one option if you had an electric car correct yeah there's two things easy to do with that number one you charge your car but number two for the homeowners who are fortunate enough to have installed solar pv systems with battery storage they can charge their batteries at night on this cheap electricity then use it during the day when electricity is double or even travel the price uh i was talking to one of my customers yesterday and he has a smart meter installed and he shopped around for the best night time rate and he's getting seven cents a unit whereas today most homeowners are paying anything from 21 to 25 cents a unit for daytime electricity plus that at 13 and a half percent so that that's two uses for it yeah not not not i mean like because i was saying earlier on um you know you'd be familiar with the the website i'm sure that you can see how much of our electricity needs are being met by wind and for one week last last month it was something like earlier yeah it was last month it was something like 83 percent of our energy needs were being serviced by wind during the very good weather obviously the wind died and it dropped significantly down to around about 20 25 percent should we not though given that be more insulated than maybe other countries because that that seems quite a high contribution more insulated from the rise the rise in the likes of gas and oil for the generation of electricity like i would like to see that breakdown because i just wonder are the providers here creaming it a little bit uh well we do have the second highest electricity prices in europe the only people are the only country that has higher rates than us is germany but one of the reasons the germans have put up the price of electricity is literally to force their own population to embrace renewable energy and install alternative renewable energy sources such as solar pv or even wind but uh what you can do what you can do uh with with the nighttime electricity is here's an idea we have 10 turf burning stations in ireland or as they're called peat burning power stations we generate electricity from peat um six of those have already been shut down and the other four are being shut down because they're seen as uh sources of pollution all 10 stations have a very large grid connection those are logical sites for battery storage which we need to increase so that all the surplus wind power could be stored in those batteries and then distribute it back into the grid around the country that was that's what we would do though if we were truly motivated to be more self-sufficient but yes i just wonder like we're talking you know the government action plan is a bit of what we're supposed to do and and the focus is on one less car journey uh turning your heating down taking one less shower i get that right but you know i i thought when i heard aim and ryan talking about this i thought i'd hear something a little bit more meaningful along the lines of what you're talking about you know an actual genuine transition uh to being more self-sufficient to using actually having access to this this greener energy and and instead we're talking about you know don't use your cars much turning heat down that's valid but that shouldn't be our that shouldn't be the sharp end of our our our fight here i agree with you 100 percent our electricity prices are much much too high and you're correct in saying that uh the energy providers well you have two people you have your energy supplier who are our private companies that buy the electricity from from the national grid which is mostly controlled by esp networks and so forth but they do make big profits and you wouldn't have so many energy providers in in the market if the word making profits but uh the other the second thing you could do with the with the uh decommissioned peak burning power stations is to install solar panels on the bogs now i know there was a proposal a couple years ago to build wind turbines but that was knocked knocked back because uh the the bulk of that energy because the scale of the project the bulk of that energy would be exported back to england and um but we export more electricity now than we import so we are net exporters of electricity is that do we benefit from like do we as a consumer benefit from that whatever uh the electricity uh producer is getting for that exported power could that not be used to try and and reduce our bills you know in a crisis like this should this country be making money exporting electricity to the uk well it's good it's good it's an income for the for the country where it's not the country it's the company though we're not getting any benefit no well no the well if the company is based in the in ireland and the company is generating the money and it's been spent in the local economy and it they're buying they're buying that electricity uh from the people installing the generating stations installing the wind turbines sadly we've gone against wind turbines in this country um now the latest thing is we've gone against even installing wind turbines in the sea that we've gone against uh solar farms we we just have a but not we have no solutions you see i'm here in the same this is why i'm going back to that thing about you know turn your heating down one less shower because as soon as it comes down to the nitty gritty we don't we don't come up with any real ideas it's just ends up being it's waffle then at that point you know it's back onto the consumer what can you as the consumer do you know what what can you as a government or as the powers that be what can you do for us it's always coming back to us about what we can do we can sit in the house that's slightly colder we cannot go for that visit to our parents it's we uh go a day stinking a wee bit you know what i'm about like i'm just saying what what what are you doing for us they are they're employed by us but we employ them to tell us how we should inconvenience ourselves to fix their problems okay yes yes but the only way to fix the problem is to generate more electricity and to generate it cheaper cheaper uh we we will have to stop using coal yes but i'm sorry to cut across you bar you said yourself we have the second highest right i don't know in terms of wind generation where we stand but i think this would be an interesting two columns to look at in terms of what we're charged for electricity versus how much we actually produce so we produce more electricity than we need that's why we export it right so we are and a lot of that is coming from wind not enough we don't store it and so on i get that right but we're we have we make more power than we can use right so yeah how could we then have the second highest bills in europe do you know we're getting done somewhere uh you're you're correct and this needs look needs to be investigated and there needs to be somewhere rational explanation but but saying that you still have to look at how home homeowners can reduce their bill for waiting for a hundred of course of course but that can't be in my view the principal message my the principal message i think should be this is what we're doing this is what we're investing in but you know this is a five six seven year strategy in the meantime this is perhaps how you can contribute instead the first line is well is it you're turning your heat down you're loving the heat too much don't drive around so much stay where you are use public transport or your bike seriously do you know what i'm on about like it's just it's the messaging is always barry i mean how expensive like for your average person okay the savings are there the green messages there for the likes of solar panels or even maybe a small turbine but it just is very for most of us we just simply wouldn't have the upfront costs so we want to but we can't well yes yes and the upfront cost could be reduced the government do give grants for solar pv in their home at the maximum they cut it back from a maximum of 3000 down to 2400 but my big argument of this is why are they giving grants and then taking back a big chunk of it and vat on renewable products the EU have issued a directive where the government has the opportunity to reduce the vat on renewable products from 13.5 percent to 5 percent but like everything else they're dragging their heels on it but that would be an encouragement for homeowners then to maybe consider installing solar pv and there are people out there that says oh we solar pv doesn't work in dunigal it's too cloudy we're too far north but it does i have customers who installed it last summer and they had old-fashioned analog energy meters with the rotating disc and a lot of those old meters will actually spin backwards and one customer his meter started spinning backwards in july and the number started counting down he didn't get back to his original number until on into the end of november so that meant he had free electricity from june to the end of november but of course uh his energy provider noticed this and they sent a man around to put in a digital meter to rectify this problem and the homeowner said to him are you going to pay me for the ex-ness electricity i export back into the grid and the man sitting the meter says no that's not available yet well you'd put your digital meter back in the box and take it away and come back and put it in when you will pay me and he chased the man off a street which he had a right to do because he paid he bought and paid that meter when his house was built right so pv solar pv does work especially then if the homeowner has battery storage he can avail of the cheap electricity and the cheapest i've heard so far is seven cents a unit at night time so so so there is things that people can do the last thing i would say in this is payback everybody says oh it's very very expensive you know it took me years to pay it back the payback for a system without batteries is about four years with batteries is about eight years what's can you tell us ballpark what the upfront because there's a lot of people interested they want to know what you know so that you can actually make some savings what kind of outlay would a consumer need to install solar panels okay you have two systems as i said one with no battery storage which is cheaper alternative a basic system like that would cost you around 4 000 euros plus of course the 13 half percent that and with that could you do it for cash i'm joking there is no black economy in Ireland it doesn't exist it's just a rumor it's a myth so so you can have a unit in that basic system which is called an energy diverter which will divert your electricity and to heat your water so that you will have all the hot water you need for your home from literally say February until October yes and this is a very popular item especially in a home where you have teenagers who seem to spend half their life in the shower so then the larger system is the system where you have battery storage and i'm afraid it is more expensive there's a lot more installation labor a lot more equipment and it would run out at about 10 half 11 thousand but the savings are greater presumably because you are using all the electricity your panels are generating there's no loss yes correct okay and if if the system is sized correctly for the homeowner it can actually reduce this electricity by at least 50 percent but in some cases up 80 percent but you're still have to pay um your your um standing charges you're although they're getting rid of they're getting rid of the pso levy in October so that would be one second listen barry thanks for your time this morning i really appreciate the insight all right thank you yeah good to talk to you thank you very much i don't give out my phone number i'm swamped at the moment you can you can give out my email but not my phone number thank you okay take care of yourself we'll be back with more after these the night all noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letter can you see you dot ie or in office today the sky spring sale is here get sky queue with the tv you love all in one place and super reliable sky broadband so you can always stay connected plus choose from sky sports or sky cinema all for just 60 euro a month for 12 months don't miss this amazing offer just search sky spring sale availability subject to location new sky customers only minimum term and further terms apply for more information see sky dot ie slash speeds if the medical experts get it wrong everything changes from misdiagnosis or delay diagnosis to surgical injury or even poor treatment all have physical emotional and financial consequences we're here to help so if your treatment didn't go according to plan speak to our experienced medical negligence team at mackael henney and associates find us online i'll call 0749175989 mackael henney and associates solicitors strun orler in contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement brian mccormick sports and leisure main street letter kenny your football destination store if you belong on pitch try a new pair of adidas predator edge football boots available in kids and adult sizes complete your kit with a pair of murphy's gloves available in many colors and sizes update your o'neill shorts and socks with the all-important gum shield then you're ready to compete look the part play the part in store online click and collect on bmc sports dot ie highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport gatwick's back you can now fly daily to london gatwick with erlingas the perfect gateway to explore south london island west airport you're flying okay so the weather forecast a dull and breezy day with outbreaks of rain and drizzle highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds okay until 10 o'clock we're going to be talking about mental health and suicide will be mentioned as well we'll have some telephone numbers for you at the end of this item trish duke is studying personal development mindset and joins us on the program thank you so much for joining us today trish how are you keeping i'm keeping well and thank you greg for having me on the show um you have an interest obviously in uh mental health it's was it triggered or born sorry by your own experiences yeah that's right um i have kind of struggled with mental health through all my adult life started in my early twenties and i have got the point where you know it's such a taboo subject and i realized a few years ago i was sort of in a bitness by not coming out and speaking from my experience of what i've come through so actually when i started talking about it was like a way for my own shoulders because i just thought i don't have to call this up anymore i can be open about it by doing that it's just to raise awareness for people to come aware of mental health for them to be more compassionate more aware and just become more knowledgeable about the topic so when we we are better now about talking about mental health items like this happen more often but do you think when you are affected by it in in in real life people are still reluctant to talk about it and they're trying to deal with it internally but if they truly felt free to say that they they had meant that were struggling with the mental health that would help in their recovery well i can only talk about myself great right and i can say there's it takes a lot more than just that to help with recovery be fair of it though i mean obviously you you talked about how it helped in your recovery i'm on about yeah having that same option it helped me as i'm not caring what people thought anymore you know from a point of view i don't have to hide this that i can speak about it now i don't care what people think because from my own experience and i know from other people too when it comes to a mental health problem people are embarrassed and ashamed and they want to hide it but there's no reason to hide it it's just the same as any other illness yeah but that's we can say that that was my question we say that but do people feel that to the point where they can speak and assist in the recovery i just don't think we're quite there yet truce that was my point i don't think so i do think they're getting better and i am so glad but there's still a long way to go there's so many poor people out there that can't because the carrion things they can't talk about they're afraid to speak about things that are causing the mental health issues and you know you know for some people it's just very very difficult to get it out of your mouth and be able to say it openly you know because of the fear of being judged and you talked to about how we converse or view people dying by suicide yeah i'll tell you i did a mental health first day of course before christmas and then it was something that really stood out for me and that was that people that died through suicide don't do that because they wanted to die they were because of such a struggle kind of you know what i read that or when i was at the course i'm gonna hear that like i went oh my god this is exactly right because i was in a place where i was having suicidal thoughts i was planning what i was going to do like i used to be up at night i was i was deciding how i was going to do it and that when i look back now it wasn't that i really wanted to die but the pain the mental torture is so horrendous and you went through an awful situation through that process because you had two children and you were contemplating you know what would happen if you left them behind or can you talk to me a little bit about that yeah like you know i have never spoken openly about this part before but where i was really unwell and i had a little boy of two and a little girl of three months and i was planning what to do and i i just saw no other way out i felt it was a burden this is nothing as well i don't know how to say lots of people feel the same when you are so badly depressed you just feel such a burden on your family that you feel this is one of the reasons why you know you want to do this because you're just such a burden but when i was going through that and i was planning what i was going to do and then i had this thought of a person work out and what if they keep the children off me and i honestly at that time take them with me and that seems terrible to somebody who's listening right now but for me at that time i could rationalize that and that's what you know people need to realize when you're in that situation you're obviously mentally unwell and you think this is a rational decision which is absolutely isn't but when you're so ill that's the way you think and you can rationalize it you also uh and you hear it you hear it it's been said publicly by uh by elected reps and others but also you hear it casually out and about that suicide is still seen or is seen as some wise a selfish act you don't believe that to be the case or jeannie that's one thing that really upsets me when i hear somebody say oh well they were so selfish they were so selfish like if somebody gave a cancer then don't say this will selfish or somebody gave her a heart attack don't say this will selfish there's not this person is not selfish this person is really ill and the illness took their life the same as any other illness people um and they're texting in i get that who have lost people by suicide are saying no actually you know they did speak they they told us how they felt they had the conversation they told their friends they reached out but they still died because the the mental health services weren't there to support them that's a major problem that's a where the state has to step up well you know when i did this course as well you know i was told that people that have made up their mind really they will follow through on if their mind was made up i'm not going to put it like this you know somebody buys a cancer the dying cancer but cancer took their life somebody had a heart attack you know heart failure took their life the illness is so bad but but if someone has cancer we do have uh the the services we have radiation therapy we've got chemotherapy we've got the supports we've got the supports that happen afterwards what we're talking about here is people in desperate situation with their mental health and those supports aren't there so i respect exactly what you're saying but i don't i'm not a hundred percent comfortable with the the analogy of mental health versus cancer because we're doing quite good in terms of uh treatment and supporting people with cancer we're doing brutal as it relates to supporting people with mental health issues okay you're talking from a support point of view i'm going about intervention support treatment yeah yeah look i can say yes i agree with that and i know that and you know it's heart breaking i've just heart breaking you know i've just been in the system you know what it's like it is like there's a long way to go there or there's a good bit to go and help and support people now there is good help out there too but i don't want somebody in the system this thing oh my god what's the point going for help because it's not there there is help there and people i'm proof of it you can't get help and you can't get well yes but i know there are cases where you know the system let them down as well okay and the last minute i mean obviously this you're studying personal development mindset is your aim your hope or maybe you're doing it now to help other people trish through your experience through your training yes i want to raise awareness but i also want people to know that you can be in that dark hole that anybody that's listening to this that's in that dark hole at the moment and the pain is horrendous i want them to know that you can't get well too though because when you're in that point you don't see anything past that black hole but you can't get well and i want people to know that you know and know you're probably rushing out of the news um right you know but there's things you know go to your therapy your doctor get there you know your therapist there's things we need to do as well to help ourselves to just exercise where we talk with ourselves however what our thoughts are like are we you know try and think positively try and watch positive just on facebook or instagram or netflix you know get out exercise get the fresh air you know the gratitude is really important start focusing on what has gone well in your life there's little things too we need to do to try and help ourselves on a daily basis as well yeah i think we should chat again maybe in a longer format you've made some very strong points and i agree what you're saying 100 don't stand still you know you have to you have to try and get yourself active and all the things you've mentioned trish thanks so much for your time this morning i greatly appreciate it and i would love to speak to you again in the future okay thank you all right take care thank you um great strong words there from trish duke and of course um if you feel that you need to speak to someone and we would 100 encourage it look it's difficult space because we have to also highlight the deficits that there that are there but it does not mean there aren't uh helps and supporters trish quite rightly said there uh helpline support pieta has 0749126594 or samaritan's 116123 back with more after the news and obituary notices lie on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news thanks greg good morning it's 10 o'clock i'm catherine gaffney the official launch of the atlantic technological university is getting underway in about an hour's time with events at the campuses in letter kenny sligo gallway and castle bar higher education minister simon harris will be in sligo and the events in all four campuses will be linked online dr shon duffy was executive lead of the connect ulster alliance which brought the three former institutes of technology together he says today's launch event will be unique what we're doing uniquely is that we're celebrating across the region we have eight campuses across the region stretching from the north to go right down to gallway and we're holding a live event on four of the campuses in letter kenny gallway sligo and mail and we'll be streaming live across those campuses the some of the main events will be happening through sligo to sligo campus where minister harris would be attending there along with president and the chair of the governing body and then we have a series of events then planned from tuesday onwards and we're holding a themed event on each of our campuses take shorter showers cut one car journey a week and turned down the thermostat on the heating there are some of the measures expected to be included in a public awareness campaign as part of the government's efforts to deal with the cost of living according to the irish times green party leader aamon ryan is to bring a package of measures to government next week meanwhile a rise in carbon tax is due to be introduced on the first of may but kara augustin burg professor of environmental policy at ucd and member of the climate change advisory council says that should be deferred well i'm generally in favor of carbon tax because it gets it gets people to change their behavior as they see that the cost of carbon is going to increase they may be invested in fossil fuel free technologies but actually because we're seeing that behavioral change now in response to the energy crisis i think it makes sense to defer this current carbon tax increase the foreign affairs minister says the housing of ukrainian refugees is going to push irish society under pressure already 18 000 refugees have arrived here and the process of moving people into accommodation pledge by irish people is underway however concern has been expressed about how ireland will be able to accommodate those fleeing ukraine while in the grips of a domestic housing crisis minister simon coveney says we need to respond as we are seeing the tragedy of history unfolding before our eyes this is going to put irish society under pressure but it is something that we need to respond to um because you know unfortunately we are seeing the tragedy of history unfolding before our eyes and ireland needs to be part of showing um generosity and humanitarian response to a country that's being devastated at the moment they are europeans just like we are um and uh we need to play our part as indeed other european countries are and it's hoped that the t-shock relays a number of recommendations to the housing minister following a key weekend meeting with the mica action group miho martin met with the group on saturday during his visit to donnie gall where members called for some amendments to the enhanced scheme the slow nature of the application process was also highlighted with calls for a review to be carried out reflecting on the meeting mica action group pr o michael daugherty says the t-shock genuinely engaged with homeowners in hopes it will pay off it did take the time it he wrote an awful lot of notes and uh did ask intelligent questions around it as well so on that one for example what i'm hoping he does is to go down to minister o'brain and say listen what they're asking for here is two bolt-ons to the is465 and he went down the road an awful lot more educated than what he was beforehand i think that really stood to and i he did genuinely engage with us here it wasn't just an exercise hopefully it pays off and he has agreed to meet us again whether now a dull and breezy day with outbreaks of rain and drizzle and highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees we're back with the headlines for you at 11 o'clock until then good morning the obituary notices for a monday morning the fourth of april the death has occurred of father aid o helping st columbans dalgan park navin and late of glen car letter kenny philippines and britain missions funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in st columbans dalgan park followed by burial in the community cemetery the death has occurred of mary mccann knee mcglenn old post office burn foot her remains are opposing at her home removal tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock to our lady of lords church in shiland for requiem mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery family time please from 10 p.m to 11 a.m family flowers only please donations in lieu if desired to the donnie gall hospice care of any family member or murphy funeral directors mary's funeral and requiem mass will be recorded and can be viewed later that evening on in a shown funeral services facebook page or youtube the death has taken place of elizabeth lizzie commons knee galler her plungato boil terrace letter kenny clonliffe row dublin and killie mass knee glen swilly canty donnie gall her remains are opposing at st unan's cathedral letter kenny with requiem mass this morning at 11 o'clock burial tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock in claire gallway cemetery county gallway family flowers only donations in lieu to st unan's cathedral letter kenny care of jim mcglenn funeral director or any family member the death has taken place of martha matzi okane neo hagin galdana manor conningham and formally of st johnston matzi's remains are reposing at her late residence funeral from there this morning at half past 10 going to st columbus church dremel for 11 o'clock requiem mass in term in termed afterwards in the adjoining church yard family flowers only please donations and lua flowers if desired to st columbus church dremel restoration fund care of any family member family time before the funeral this morning please for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highland radio dot com with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the 90 noon show on highland radio okay stay in touch with us say you can whatsapp or text 08 660 25 000 a whatsapp uh as i mentioned whatsapp or call 07491 25 000 i uh every day i say and you can watch the show when you can watch the show on our social medias highland radio island on youtube or facebook highland radio or highland radio news and sport and i would say and you can go to our website highland radio dot com and click the link and watch in your browser but i was making a slight error there in in posting that link but now you actually can go into our website highland radio dot com click the link and watch the show in your browser right some of your comments here it's heartbreaking the amount of young people in the last few months who have died by suicide surely we're failing them miserably it's so heartbreaking it truly really is um unbelievable uh redepression when you go to your gp to get blood tests to see if you are deficient in vitamins d or b or magnesium which can lead to depression it's important to get these tests on first before taking meds for a symptom that could be caused by a deficiency seasonal affected disorder too also can lead to a depression so a sad lamp that you can purchase online can help too and obviously there's many different forms and of mental health uh poor mental health and uh also there are many different reasons for it listen that's certainly could be one uh hi greg i changed electricity provider last week now i've heard they were increasing by 23 this month does that mean mine will increase or will it stay at the same as the day i changed you have to see really in the terms of your your your contract with them was it a fixed rate for a year uh another caller says our field mental health has gone back about 30 years it's impossible to get mental health support in donny goll at the minute the only thing available is via charities so which they believe is disgraceful morning all i traveled from burton friday to electric kenny to tax my car only to find that the car office the car tax office is now only open to the public on tuesdays and thursdays with only one hatch open does anyone know the reason for these new opening hours i for one didn't and i was not the only person to turn up on friday to tax a car it's appalling the way the council offices are treating the public at the moment what a waste of my time and fuel on my part um i mean obviously there's the online option if you're if you're able to do so but yes uh they did reopen after being affected by covid i don't understand why it's only on tuesdays and thursdays um if someone can maybe inform us better is it because i don't know it can't is it because of covet everything else is operating relatively normal last night every streetlight was off in meadow bank park area of lateral kenny the whole place was in darkness is this the new government policy to save strategy they say with their tongue in cheek uh another covid 19 kept us locked up for almost two years now some authorities think they can tell us to uh how to wash shower and drive at specific times well they're not telling you to do it specific times they're just going to tell you this is how you can help save energy obviously people will have warned another caller says it is wrong to say there is no storage for electricity compressed air is used for storage when there's low demand for electricity and the compressed air generator comes into play when there's not enough wind or sun to generate now uh in our conversation with barry he was talking about what he said or what the state was uh the situation was in 2019 i don't think we are where we need to be in terms of storing our electricity but we are seeing improvements uh this caller says uh five years ago today we lost our son to suicide my son chatted to everyone about he how he felt but he was let down by the mental health services and i'm so sorry for what you went through and i'm so sorry that we're having this conversation on such an important day a very sensitive day for you but thank you for being part of the conversation and helping us to get that message out there uh what about tidal power constant all the time well they're talking about shifting to offshore wind uh and wave uh fuel generation another caller says how much will it cost to install solar panels and what savings will they generate i answered i've got those questions answered for you uh didn't you don't you realize how often these giant batteries go on fire it's a subsidized scheme that's destroying the countryside for little benefit but people prefer to believe the hype as it's easier than facing the reality of the failure of so-called renewables which of course though if you're anti-renewable someone might say to you that you're in denial uh denying the reality of the benefits of renewables that's the society we live in now people have quite polarized no pun intended views uh heat pumps are for refrigeration units they burn more power than necessary they're not supposed to be for the home believes one caller uh also solar panels i got them and is of the opinion that it was the biggest waste of money the time you need to light and heat your house is in the winter and we do not have the sunshine in the winter to generate the power the whole idea presumably though is that you save through the course of those uh sunnier months and that offsets some of your expenditure in winter i would have thought that was i mean i think we would know with the amount of sunlight we have you're not going to have a huge impact on winter but it's the savings through the course of the brighter months does that not you seem not to be applying that to the expense in the winter enough setting it that way which i'm surprised but this caller says they're not against solar or environmental heating but we need to look at our country and the government needs to look at the policies as they are all wronged continue that point okay good luck if you're praying the bingo today here are your numbers it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's monday the fourth of april you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s6 it's game number 14 the numbers are 63 39 60 90 89 40 8 27 23 and finally 18 phone your claim to 910 483 before eight tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com the night on noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letter kennycu.ie are you thinking of making the switch to electric come visit us in i motors dunigalls seaev dealer of the year 2022 we will answer any questions and help you make the switch with our award-winning lineup of evs available now come visit us at i motors in letter kenny and mallet mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray lineman brendan shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray lineman brendan shine on saturday april 23rd if you'd like to save on your home printing costs switch to a cartridge free printer raiment swiney here from ben swiney ironix to let you know that epson ecotank printers can save you up to 90 percent on the cost of ink they're different to most printers because they use an ink tank that's easily filled with a bottle instead of using cartridges save money and time with an epson ecotank printer at ben swiney ironix port road letter kenny and the shopping center dunlow ben swiney ironix we deliver we install we care do you suffer from high cholesterol men of all symptoms digestive issues anxiety aches and pains or a lack of energy they're highly trained team at the natural way letter kenny can provide advice on natural remedies for a number of individual health issues the natural way also has its own brand of herbal treatments to help fight fatigue relieve digestive discomfort maintain a healthy immune system and alleviate common menopause symptoms the natural way at letter kenny shopping center your one-stop health shop check this join me this monday on the deal debate as we review all the weekends gxm and championship are under 20 hollers play me home and under 20 flippers take on our friends from our map with the feedback and analysis from both games and as our county leagues return we'll speak with new conerman shawsef mckelvey also joining me irish news journalist cahero cain to discuss the ongoing standoff between the ga and the gpa and the current fallout of the suspensions after the doing all our madly give all this and more just after seven p.m. use and hide middle and podcast it and hide middle dot com the deal debate with sister sarah's letter kenny serving food you'll love till nine p.m. daily in sarah's kitchen and brendan will join us a little later on as well previewing that podcast and reflecting on the weekends g a action right the higher education ministers in the region today unveiling a new university based in the northwest atlantic technological university combines the former i.t. sligo l.y.t. in g.m. i.t. into one unit set simon harris will officially launch the universities later today in county sligo and he joins us on the program now the minister for further and higher education research innovation and science minister harris good morning to you simon can you hear me okay hello good morning good morning how significant i mean it's incredibly significant isn't it today there's a lot of work a lot of preparation has gone into this it's almost actually hard to believe we are have arrived at this day absolutely i mean such a such a significant day and as you rightly suggest right this is a project that people have been working on in the region for over 10 years i mean i particularly want to thank on your own radio station today paul hannigan the now former president of l.y.i.t. for his leadership this is a this is a massive day and i really think this has the potential to be a game changer for the northwest in terms of access to higher education but also in terms of balanced regional development and moving beyond this idea that all roads must lead to big cities in terms of okay we're having some quite university education so a really exciting and positive day and okay i tell you what we might do um we are to having difficulties with that phone line caroline so that line so what we might do is get the minister back on a different line um stay tuned for that so we want to hear what he has to say uh just to some of your comments in the meantime carers only get 214 euro per week to look after a vulnerable person full time and it's not an option to turn heating down because the vulnerable person may get cold and it's important that that person is comfortable and look uh the government has uh conceded that that is the case and they are coming up with more targeted um approaches to try and make sure that those that have no options or those that need it most um get and get those supports okay ministers the minister's back with us sorry uh minister harris he kind of concluded that point we appreciate your time i just want to ask you you know in real terms for people listening how does this benefit students you know how is this new uh university an improvement on the likes of the ly it sligo it in go away etc so in a very practical terms it means anybody graduating from what was ly it up until a few days ago uh from this year now graduates with the university degree so in terms of actually being able to get a university degree while living in county dunigaw be it in the killi begs campus or the letter kenny campus so that's the most tangible and practical difference the second is the fact that it's now a technological university will ensure that actually more programs across the full range of qualifications can be provided so it will provide many more opportunities for postgraduate study many more opportunities for research and then look all of this is only good if it's backed up with real money and if we'll also see again taking letter kenny it will see a new development in terms of your library it in education building and we've a number of ring fence capital funds for technological universities so in short graduating from a university able to access more degree programs and significant amount of capital funding going into to physically improve the infrastructure of education and dunigaw yeah now people might look at a letter kenny and go you know what that's now viable option for me i think i will enroll there but as you know yourself already this year it's not unique to uh dublin or gallway we saw it here huge pressure in terms of providing student accommodation so of course with with more numbers course becomes comes more pressure from a government perspective uh what what what will you be doing in that regard a really really important point because up until literally a few weeks ago an institute of technology or a technological university was kind of discriminated against being honest they weren't allowed to borrow one cent of money to build student accommodation so the traditional universities were able to borrow to build on campus student accommodation technological universities were not allowed we've now changed that rule so my message as i'm in the northwest today to the new atlantic technological university will be please now come forward with proposals as to how you want to deliver student accommodation college owned affordable student accommodation in dunigaw and across the northwest and we the government will be now able to back you with access to cheap capital as well so i do think that's the potential to be a very significant game changer because this is not just about students from dunigaw studying in dunigaw though of course it's about that it's also about people from other parts of the country saying you know what i actually want to study in letter kenny now because that's that's a really good university and it's a viable option for me but you're right unless you provide student accommodation it won't be able to reach its full potential yeah because people always want that college experience and for some it is heading out of their own region to somewhere else letter kenny becomes that destination perhaps for other areas of of the country and you'll always see that that traffic in the other direction as well i think that's right and look i mean we've a number of technological universities across the country now which is great your one is particularly unique though i think in relation to the potential for cross-border cooperation too and this is something i'm very excited about at a very good meeting with paul hannigan and dairy a few months ago in relation to this how can our new university in the northwest now interact with the megee campus from ulcer university and you know not far away at all in dairy and how can we actually get you know education and universities don't care about borders how do we actually get the northwest of the island of ireland working together and i've been working closely with the t-shock on encouraging megee now to put forward proposals as to how they can collaborate more with letter kenny and more with the northwest and i think the arrival of atlantic technological university now provides a partner if you like for ulcer university all right exciting times and a busy day for you thanks for your time this morning i appreciate it simon harris there minister for further and higher education research innovation and science he's in slago as paul hannigan launch don agol minister don agol base minister charlemagne conalogue minister for agriculture food and marine is focusing in letter kenny he joins us now good morning to you charlie how are you keeping good thanks great good morning right i've heard from minister harris there this is this is hugely significant it's been a long road to get to here but we're here yeah it has been a long road and a lot of work and preparation and investment and organization as well as been in over the last number of years to get there i remember when i was spokesperson for education it was but through the doll at that stage and that's going back to to pre-16 and that was the enabling legislation for this and we've seen since that the first technology university was the the dublin one d it and but it's been great to see the massive work that's been in by letter kenny it as well working with slago and gmit in terms of getting to this particular point and it's a moment to stay really for the region as well as it is for letter kenny and i want to recognize the the great work that paul hannigan and all of his team and the governing body have put in working very collaboratively with with with the other it's as well to get to the stage where we're now a technological university based here in letter kenny and we all know that the great contribution that lyt has made to the development of donny gall and letter kenny over the over over its lifetime since it was first established it has been central to bringing employment to the to the town and to the county it has been central as well to the education of students right across the county and i think the new avenue of the technological university will see the region go on from strength to strength and with that technological university and and letter kenny being very much the central driving force in that we have to make sure uh to though that as i said to the minister there issues like supports and and particularly i think accommodation you know we were talking to people who were traveling great distances to come to lyt and will so too to the new atlantic technology university we don't want that to be a barrier to to growth and development either that has to be done and it can't be sat on we have to move that along as quickly as possible yeah no that's really important and so obviously the infrastructure or the development of the campus itself but also the the the facilities off that and letter kenny has always been very strong at that obviously uh or in doing that obviously the last short number of years has been challenging because of accommodation challenges and that has been a challenge for letter kenny students as well as for students right across the country um and the government are investing massively in relation to uh developing more housing with the largest um housing program in the history of the state underway um and uh that's really important that that continues but it is a challenge at the moment but from a government point of view in terms of supporting the new technological university and letter kenny campus i will work very closely with them in relation to the the infrastructure here i'm sitting in the it at the moment or in the new technological university campus um and also then working to try and ensure that the growth of letter kenny reflects the uh the needs of the students as well all right okay um now last week i think um t shock me and martin's visit to donagall particularly in the mica context could have been a hugely successful right from the get go if if the pr had been handled uh correctly um and i think you know you could say the same from from all sides in terms of the pr side of things as it turned out it was a bit of a disaster in that the impression sort of came across that that the t-shirt was full forced to pull out of a business launch uh for fear of you know um it being disrupted by noise or what have you in the end what i from what i can understand a very successful meeting uh did place take place it wasn't handled great was it uh i mean it's not by your not i'm not putting this on you but there's a lot of people that are paid uh an awful lot of money to handle uh the pr and they completely cocked it up last year in my view or last week sorry well listen i i deal with that in the second grade but i suppose just first of all to say we did have a very good engagement with the mica action group and the mica committee on saturday morning um we first of all visited the home of claire and greg mcday just outside von krana and um the t-shirt had a very good engagement with the mcday family i want to thank claire and greg and their um uh their children as well for hosting the t-shirt is obviously um you know it's it's a big commitment and a big step for any family to take to draw that intention on themselves and and to host to host a meeting like that so i'm very grateful grateful to them for for doing that and for hosting us um after after that meeting and viewing claire and greg's home and the uh the real damage and the the the impact that mica has had on it and the need for uh them to be able to get uh their their their home uh demolished and fixed um again to be able to get on with their lives we then had a meeting afterwards with the committee um in the green and hotel and again it was a very constructive meeting um where we discussed where we were at at the moment uh where we've come from um and and the way forward and obviously this is an issue which the t-shirt has shown uh tremendous uh support for us since since he was appointed and since this government was it was appointed the the only meeting the t-shirt has conducted in the county before now was actually the meeting with the mica action committee back last June because obviously in his 20 months or so was t-shirt um it's been enveloped by covid uh and not being able to get out around the country the way you normally would in that period of time which has meant that he's a limited opportunity to visit any counties but the one visit and meeting he did in the county was a meeting last June and where I invited him to come and meet with the um with with the mica representatives and also uh to visit a home following on from that then um the t-shirt asked minister daryl brine to establish the working group um to actually take the issue forward and then coming out of coming out of that grade then we had the cabinet decision on in in november um and it's important to to reflect just on where we're at now compared to then and that's not to take away from the illustrations everyone will feel in relation to the fact that this that in terms of the pace and the pace of delivery and the need to get it delivered as quickly as possible but but but back when the t-shirt was at last June we had a scheme um which was supposedly 9010 but certainly wasn't um and also we had a maximum cap of 275 000 but we have now following the cabinet decision in november is a scheme that delivers up to 425 000 euro uh per home and is based on the going market rate to be set and established uh through the the charter surveyors and that's something we know that uh was published last month and which reflects the the the cost of the day and i think that's been recommended but you know obviously that's that's where we're to now but that will happen every year there was a lot of concerns though about you know about the scheme things that needed to be added on to it uh the the fact that people's concerns uh you know with the is and what have you are you satisfied now that the the t-shirt has gotten that message and the the concerns of the likes of the mic action group will be addressed now well i think the t-shirt was very clear on on the issues that are there and i mean the t-shirt was was very clear as well on the fact that he wants to see this progressed he wants to see homes fixed um and it's his absolute commitment to ensure that that happens um uh the scheme is up and running now about 18 to 20 months the first uh thing the minister of brine did after he was appointed was come to the county to to officially launch that scheme and to meet with the group at the time over that 18 months there has been 800 applications to dunagawa county council um 300 of those have been uh processed to stage two um there's another 300 and we discussed this with the t-shirt which are a waiting decision and that's a real source of frustration for those families uh and that requires further engagement and clarification around the issues of other substances other than um than mica and chai right um and that work is underway but the t-shirt is very much aware of the importance of getting those moving as well did he timeline that how long has it gone to take for those clarifications those well what the the t-shirt committed to was to engage further uh with the relevant officials and and uh department now in relation to emphasizing the urgency of trying to bring those but he accepts them does he accepts he does he accept what the people are saying and he's going to to work to address those concerns well i think well what the t-shirt is very what the t-shirt accepts is the absolute need to deliver and to have homes fixed and the absolute importance of that but if you look at where we're at then the cabinet decision was on November um the updated costings are happening now and what has happened as well as the testing has gone on the way over the last 18 months since the scheme was first uh launched other issues have emerged around piratite around other deleterious materials uh and that's and the t-shirt goes very clear in the fact that we need to bring clarity to that as quickly as we can but he was also very clear that that requires the national standards authority of Ireland who are the competent professionals in doing that uh to actually uh complete that work and that there will be time involved in doing that but what he wants to see and what we all want to see is as many houses as possible moving on quickly and actually getting delivered and that's that's his key commitment um coming coming out of this so i think it was very useful and certainly the t-shirt um emphasized once again his commitment to this and also emphasized how this has progressed from his visit last June to the working group um it's been set up to the cabinet decision in in in November to also the updated costing from the Charter Surveyors um a few weeks ago and the absolute commitment of the government um to bring this forward because we know this has been on for many years um we know this has been slow and we're absolutely committed to delivering on it uh Greg and the scheme was confirmed in terms of initially back just before the last general election and this government has given massive commitment to it because we understand the importance of actually delivering a scheme which will work for you and people hear you right and and and we heard from from reps saying that they thought it was a positive meeting and that the t-shirt went with more information than he arrived with i suppose what people want to see now is actually this all being acted upon do you know what i mean that we're not talking about it we're not talking about we're looking at this and we're doing that that we actually see a scheme that is you know close to the finished product that's actually you know getting people back into rebuilt homes and i think that's until that happens for some people it's just going to be like well this is just more and more conversation but that's politics as opposed and that's you know wheels can move slowly at times but would you agree that you know what we really need to see is is is real momentum on the ground absolutely and i mean that's what the teacher very much said both when he was at the mcday visiting talking to claire and greg and also would work or talk to the mica representative group as well at the meeting afterwards was the absolute importance of seeing houses fixed and people getting confidence around that that their home will be fixed and he's impatient to ensure that that happens as well at the moment we have just about five homes near completion and the scheme is in place for every 18 20 months there's only five homes so far that have got to that point which they're very well very well advanced there's 300 or so homes which have been approved for for demolition there's the other 300 homes which are awaiting decision and that's a frustrating position for those and and the teacher is very keen how long do you think those 300 might have to wait for clarity well we don't know the answer to that but what the teacher is very clear is on the need to try and bring card see that kind of feels to me like the scheme is stalled then no no i wouldn't say the scheme the scheme isn't well if we are in a position if we're in a position where there are 300 people okay who are waiting for clarification we don't know when that clarification will be forthcoming that's a stalled scheme i mean stalled is it's not a very good word for you obviously but that we sometimes we have to just talk in real terms the reality at the moment is the scheme stalled until such time as these issues are addressed we need to move those on and we need to find a way to move those on and part of that Greg is the need for new evidence and criteria around how the new materials which have which have emerged in the last number of months around priority and softwares are dealt with can that can that review of those yeah but can that review can that review continue can we look at these other materials and see you know if things need to be changed can that happen at the same time as the scheme progresses or yes that's what we that's what we want to achieve and can be done that there's obviously 300 homes there at the moment which can progress the the next step here now as well is the legislation to introduce the new scheme which the government would be bringing forward this month and then which we will bring through the doll by the end of this doll by the by the summer end of the this term by the summertime the new scheme then will will will be developed from that legislation and also will take over from the outgoing scheme and the clear commitment has been given by the government that in terms of the new scheme coming in that anyone who was in the outgoing scheme won't be disadvantaged in any way and will be able to benefit from the new the new terms and conditions that are in the scheme the work is ongoing in relation to developing that scheme and developing that legislation and teasing out the wider issues around putting this in place there's a there's there's an expert forum that are dealing with it which is involving the different agencies the council the housing agency in the department also then there's the homeowner forum which is feeding in the homeowner issues as well to this so that's how that's how it steps out from here on but there there's a massive amount involved in agregas we know um but we there's an absolute commitment from the t-shirt and from the government there and from myself and all our government representatives here in the county to to move this on and i think the key thing is in terms of where we're at now it's an entirely different place to when the t-shirt set this process in place last June um with an entirely different scheme with the scheme that reflects the cost it will reflect the cost of building of the day this year and every year here going forward okay which should give which because of that should give homeowners the confidence that their home can't be fixed but key to that is making sure homes get fixed and as quickly as okay are you in a position now i say we're talking about fixing homes like are you 100 confident at now that we are using blocks that won't fail from wherever they might come from like are you are you can you say with absolute certainty now that we are rebuilding these homes with blocks that will not end up failing well we need to be able to say that with absolute certainty can you say now and that's why that's why it's part of the cabinet decision in november as well a review of the standards that are in place there has been has been initiated to to to fully review all of that the assessment from the department at the moment is that the standards that are in place opens now and the oversight that is in place that that they are of standard but to be absolutely absolutely sure in that well are we going in and checking or are we relying on them to check themselves so actually assess that so are we are we going in and sampling blocks sampling materials like are we going in to block manufacturers and independently assuring ourselves that these materials are up to a standard or are we relying on them to tell us that that's the case so the national standards authority of Ireland oversees that process and then there is systems in place to do that and they oversee that and there is the view is that the systems that are in place are are effective but that has been reviewed but wouldn't you be assured it wouldn't you be assured if someone handed you a folder and it was an independent body that had gone into quarries checked what materials are being used checked the blocks and handed it to you and say yes we're assured now that these blocks are are a hundred percent I mean that that's why don't we do things like that we want to be we want to be absolutely sure in that break I have absolutely no doubt that's why it's being reviewed and it's crucial we do that right do you want to clarify what do you want to clarify the situation with this launch was last week or is that history now so no well listen it's really important it's important that there's no doubt whatsoever that of the fact that the T-shirt was absolutely committed to meeting with the mic actually but I think I was very disappointed in the way last week of all and in terms of how the T-shirt's commitment to actually meet with the mic action group was misrepresented indeed he was disappointed at that as well because as I say he has shown great commitment to this from the outset and has driven this through and also and I want to recognize the massive work that homeowners have done Paddy Diver and all of the group the mic group in terms of turning this from a regional issue into an actual issue which is obviously very important in relation to getting the result and the scheme that is now committed to as well but the T-shirt's commitment to that has been essential and you went through that new timeline that in fairness yeah so but listen so listen the the T-shirt's um they're obviously the shared island unit is something that the T-shirt has been very committed to and has driven forward really important for this region um from the outset his shared island unit had arranged and was in the process of arranging a meeting for Derry uh visits in Derry and also someone Donny Gall um for a visit for the T-shirt because he was very keen as soon as COVID allowed to actually come to the region to deal with the shared island unit. So who cancelled the meeting? So to be but let me step it out so um so that involved a number of meetings in Derry one really important meeting with the Northwest West Border Group which our own councillors and Donny Gall and Derry were involved in which was really really useful and constructive for example but also there was two meetings then I committed to the Chamber of Commerce which is the business association in that a committee representing all businesses in the town from small to large had had requested um a lunch meeting and had had written the T-shirt around that the shared island unit had agreed to that as as part of the wider trip as well. Key to that as well time was left aside to ensure that there would be meetings other there would be meetings as well top of the list being the mic the mic. Okay so really what it was is that that wasn't that came you committed mid-march to make that meeting happen but by the time the itinerary was finalised and you wanted it located in and shown that clarification came late and in between that a meeting was planned a protest was planned. So there was there was no there's not going over again that's what happened really isn't it? No there was no itinerary finalised until the mic a meeting until the mic a meeting was finalised and other other items were finalised so um I had engaged with the chairperson of the mic group um Iman Jackson um he had he had asked me for a meeting when the T-shirt was in was in the county I said absolutely um at that stage um it was just around some public stay or shortly afterwards the T-shirt was obviously detained in Washington and I said as long as as long as the visit was going ahead depending on what happened with the T-shirt being detained in Washington around COVID there would absolutely and I would be absolutely arranged and so that's that's pretty that's clear from your perspective now so it's important to step this out just Greg for priority because there's been lots of videos and and other things put out there over the last week um around this and it's important that they just clarify that and obviously that that led to the the cancellation then as well by the chamber that really important engagement with the chamber that would have involved discussed many issues important to our county and uh why didn't why didn't this have that in on you know you don't have to have lunch or coffee or tea uh why didn't you have that in the arigula or on green on or in ly it you know get rid of the lunch and this tea in the coffee the orange juice just have a meeting that was an invitation that was an invitation and a decision by the chamber of commerce themselves and by the T-shirt to that and that would have been a really good engagement so the T-shirt was absolutely committed to doing that so um I went back obviously given the fact that the week before last the T-shirt was detained for most of the week in Washington and then had to go to Europe after that at the end of the week for an engagement around Ukraine I was engaging with his team then around the arrangements for the mic and meeting but on Tuesday afternoon I had it clarified an absolute confirmation in terms of the time and he's shown I went back then to the chairperson of my guy my committee on Tuesday to say the meeting would be an issue at 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning or on Saturday morning so that that evening then I saw the video which had been put up with the mic committee saying that they had been ignored and that calling a protest I went back to the mic committee and said what is the story with this nobody has been ignored here um the peer over the mic committee Michael Daugherty was in your show then Wednesday morning um I went on afterwards when you went out when you said to them you said I told you on Tuesday that the meeting would be taking place in a show on on Saturday and now a video is going up saying that you've been ignored uh what did they say when you said that so um Michael Daugherty then went in your show on Wednesday morning I'll just deal with that he went in your show Wednesday morning and and I adhered about it went on straight off and say the absolutely not there there's there was a commitment to a meeting the meeting is happening it's happening Saturday morning so I then talked to the chairperson again said this is absolutely unacceptable uh there was never any question whatsoever about this meeting taking place that evening and and and also um Greg when I went back to the chairperson of of the group on Wednesday or on Tuesday to arrange the meeting I'd said I'd ask them to identify the property um uh because I wanted that to be a role of the committee and I'd also left it with them uh issued to issue an invitation to either Paddy Divert and Anna Owens or Riley Daugherty because I didn't want any instance of anyone being ignored or not involved in this and I said I was going to be working through the mic action committee uh and always in terms of arranging this meeting the chairperson then after I was there I was on with you and Wednesday morning as was Michael the chairperson of the mic group then came back to me on Wednesday night um to say that um uh to say first of all that that the PRO of the uh committee Michael Daugherty wasn't aware and hadn't seen the message I had sent him in Jackson committing to the meeting in the first instance and that I could expect an apology from the PRO for saying that I had ignored them when I would next see him so and also they asked that the meeting with the T-shirt would be in Letter Kenny at a home in Letter Kenny not a home in Montana as I'd request it and as I'd agreed with the T-shirt um so I said my preference had been initial but if it was the if it was the preference of the mic group to go to Letter Kenny then so be it the next morning of course then the Chamber of Commerce and the hotel canceled the lunch of the Chamber of Commerce lunch so the Letter Kenny aspect of the visit was then off because the second there was going to be a second engagement Letter Kenny but it was also being covered just to make this point is important that was also been dealt with at a meeting in Derry the previous day so that was going to be that that then wasn't happening either I then obviously the T-shirt was then this was explained to the T-shirt and he was very disappointed at the fact that his commitment to meet with the group was being portrayed as the issue being ignored particularly given his involvement in the outset in terms of the previous tune so I then went back on Thursday morning to the mic group and said this was totally unacceptable when it happened the T-shirt was still going to meet them as they always had and that it was going to happen and he was he was insistent on going to Bunkrana because that's what he committed to and I asked him to come back to me then was a property in Bunkrana for the meeting so that was Thursday morning and then by Friday morning there was we still didn't have details of the property unfortunately I then had a call from the Friday afternoon while I was in Derry still not having details of the property from the mic group I had a call from John O'Connor the chair of the housing agency to engage in this and to see if other engagements obviously the committee had engaged with him to see if other events would be held I said to John that the messing that had gone on in relation to the range in the ranging of this meeting was absolutely unacceptable that the T-shirt had always committed to meeting with the mic committee okay but I had asked for the venue the property home the venue of the property and that I still hadn't received it and I went back to the chairperson mic group then and I have to admit to use some pretty choice language being crystal clear again that the T-shirt of the country was seeking to meet with the mic committee that I needed the venue and the details so that that meeting could go ahead because we're now running very short in time given that that had been clarified the group then asked come back and asked what would it be possible to meet in the hotel as well I said well it's the only meeting we had discussed was a meeting it was a property visit and actually meeting at that home let's proceed in that basis but I will discuss with the T-shirt whether a hotel I will discuss that with the T-shirt on Friday afternoon come back I then come back to the T-shirt I discussed it with the T-shirt the T-shirt said he didn't have a problem meeting with the hotel so I went back to the committee chairperson and said the T-shirt is okay to meet at the hotel I left it with the group then to arrange the hotel because I said to them I wasn't sure any hotel would want to see us coming after what had happened that week and no doubt would want it would want assurances from them around how the meeting they conducted where they facilitated so then late on Friday night the hotel hotel venue was actually agreed and it happened on Saturday morning but throughout that week then there was videos being put up and also a post both in the Twitter account and in the Facebook account of Micah saying that there were no doubt there will be further twists and turns on the organization of this before this is over and I put it very clearly to the chairperson of the mic committee to say Eamon can you point out one twist or turn there has been on this from me as the or the government in relation to how this meeting was being organized at any stage because there wasn't one none at the government end there was a commitment to a meeting that was always been followed through one no twists and turns from the government whatsoever thankfully the meeting did happen then on and very grateful to the McDade family and also a constructive meeting afterwards but even after that I saw between going from the home to the hotel a further tweet then on the Micah committee social media pages talking about how they had at their insistence the meeting was happening in the hotel and again portraying the whole the whole narrative that somehow the tissue was been dragged to a meeting with them which was never the case okay well listen when we had the meeting okay just really give me 10 minutes just to clarify all of that when we had the meeting I clarified that with them that it was absolutely unacceptable the messing that went on around this and I see that the the actual the tweet that had been put up in their social media pages that morning have been deleted afterwards as well so but so that's that's what happened it was very unfortunate I understand that but these are these I get you but I mean these are these are this is absolutely what we have and you have an I've in fairness given you that time I have but I mean obviously you know emotions are running are always running out these are affected families as well you know so and that's the bottom line but listen I wouldn't even get into you know it's bigger this problem is bigger than than than Michael Daugherty, or me or Martin or anyone else I wouldn't be going into any of that detail only for the fact that that's that that all of that other information was put out not by me during the week this is clarified because the bottom the bottom line is here the homeowners in this county the people who need the help and support for whom every single day is a torture and every day this goes on it just adds to the challenge and the frustration and the government are very much aware that we admit we're massively committed to delivering in this scheme very significant progress has been made since this government came to office 18 20 months ago to where we are today and more work is is required and we are working at that and there'll be more there will be frustrations as we go in terms of pace to that but we will drive it on as best we can working with homeowner representatives in the process too okay listen thank you very much indeed for your time this morning that's minister charlotte mcconnellogue you know obviously there's a lot of people out there having different things to say just to give him an opportunity to say of course of course by the way if any other parties you know want to clarify anything from their perspective to more than happy to to give people that that opportunity as well as you can imagine 08 660 25000 watts absolutely I just hope that that can be put in the past personally if it was me I wouldn't even mentioned I'll just let it go but obviously maybe history is being written here and things are being recorded but raking through last week I don't see see the benefit to me personally but again I'm not a an advisor or it's just an opinion I think really at the end of the day the meeting happened good things were said about it and new week new beginning but anyway here we are okay back after these the 90 noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mycu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union it's not just a sewing machine for Maya it's a chance to give her family a better life it's not just a way to make a living it's a chance to give her daughter an education like thousands of mothers Maya lives in fear of what the future holds for her little girl and it's not just this lent your love can make all the difference visit trokrat.org or call 1800 408 408 trokrat until love conquers fear Michael Murphy sports and leisure has everything you need to gear up for the GA season this year get your hands in the brand new dunigol GA home jersey available in men's ladies and kids or gear up the whole family for pre-season and match days with the new Harlem range of sweaters leggings and snuds at Michael Murphy sports dot a take it to the limit is a celebration of the eagles by Johnny Brady Simon Casey Nigel Connell and the Sharon family you can hear take it to the limit for one night only at the Millennium Forum Dairy on April 14th that's Johnny Brady Simon Casey Nigel Connell and the Sharon family band as they perform take it to the limit a celebration of the eagles on 30 April the 14th tickets 28 pounds on sale now from the theater box office or online at millenniumforum.co.uk journey's end by the late best-selling author column keen is out now in it he reveals how death is not an end but a new beginning journey's end column keen's last book on the subject of death and dying in bookshops now is your business or farm having difficulty getting a loan are we structuring bank debt the good news is there's something you can do about it for over 10 years credit review has helped irish SMEs get the credit they need for their business by appealing unfavorable credit decisions for more information visit creditreview.ie credit where it's due credit review is an initiative of the government of Ireland guess where we're going on holidays oh could be get your ticket from highland radio and highlandradio.com and if that's not enough enter before friday the eighth of April to also be in with a chance to win one of our bonus cash prizes of 1000 euro highland radio wants to send you on the holiday of a lifetime plus five grand spending money get your ticket now at highlandradio.com answer the question and start packing start packing draw takes place april 14th on the nine-toning show start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio long com has an exclusive beauty gift waiting just for you at mcgee's pharmacy in letter kenny simply purchase two long com products want to be skincare and receive your free six-piece gift containing a full-size to make comfort toner a choice of either hydrogen or absolute day and night travel size creams plus more of your favorite iconic long com products available for one more week or while stocks last teas and seeds apply at mcgee's chemist main street letter kenny orla wanted to spruce up her bedroom so visited her local crown decorating center where she got friendly advice and everything she needed to do the job better which made her feel unstoppable so on the way home she entered a cage fighting competition where she meant the handsome burgundy brawler like i'm married last week coincidence we don't think so you see everything's better if you visit crown decorating centers it's not just paint it's personal a public interest message from dunneagle county council householders and building owners in areas susceptible to wildfires are advised to cut back or remove any vegetation or other combustible material in the vicinity of their house building or oil tank to prevent wildfires damaging or destroying their property cleared areas should be maintained free of vegetation and combustible material dunneagle county council would also like to remind landowners and members of the public that under the wildlife acts 1976 and 2000 it's an offense to cut grob burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated between the first day of march and the 31st day of august in any year dunneagle county council protecting your environment okay welcome back right um reaction coming into that interview with minister charlie mcconnellogue i'm not sure if if anyone wants to challenge that timeline from from within the group but anyway just some comments on different things that we've been talking about so far this monday morning it's busy again why is it taken so long to get the scheme passed a caller is living in a house that is so bad with damp and causing such severe asthma in her child they have to move out but cannot achieve this with the cost of rent uh yeah indeed and others say it seems that for other circumstances such as ukraine things seem to be sorted very quickly i i don't think there's any benefit in comparing those two things it's up to you the listeners if you want people are in hotel rooms um uh i'm not sure that's really an option for a family affected by micah you know you can't move you know a family of five into a hotel room for six months that's what we're doing in terms of dealing with the ukrainian refugees at the moment i don't think does anyone really think that's a viable solution to the the micro crisis maybe maybe to do if that is the case but i don't i don't think so i personally i see them as two uh we need two separate approaches uh greg can you do all the people have finished on a great big favor and tell charlie that no one believes one word he says anymore i'm sure some do uh but as i said to the minister directly to him that i think what people want to see now is action you know they want to see uh results hi greg would you ask um oh i knew there was something i meant to ask him about the the danish boat that was turned away from killi begs obviously he's the marine minister that would be a very important question i'm beating myself up here for forgetting to ask that my apologies i might as well be honest i simply forgot to ask that question and i wanted to get a line from the minister in that regard uh arland is generating electricity selling it to britain and we're paying for that believes a caller very disappointed the coverage rte gave to charlie bird's climb a very short clip from crow patrick but nothing from any other part of the uh of the country i presume they're saying um okay uh listen thanks for that uh we've another very busy hour we've so much to fit in in the next hour uh our monday focus brendan devaney and so much more besides but 11 o'clock it's time for news update and we cross over to the newsroom once again and say good morning kathryn gaffney thanks greg good morning the minister for higher education has reiterated that the atlantic technological university will become a powerhouse in the northwest atu will serve 21 000 students and be one of the largest multi campus universities in ireland with eight campuses research centers and i hubs that it was officially launched today this at an event in atu sligo the foreign affairs minister says the latest scenes coming from ukraine are about as awful as you can imagine images have emerged of ukrainians lying dead on the streets of butcher near the city of kiv there's also reports of a mass grave take shorter showers cut one car journey a week and turn down the thermostat on the heating that's some of the measures expected to be included in a public awareness campaign as part of the government's efforts to deal with the cost of living according to the irish times it's hoped that the t-shock relays a number of recommendations to the housing minister following a key weekend meeting with the mica action group michael martin met with the group on saturday during his visit to donnie gall where members called for some amendments to the enhanced scheme meanwhile speaking this morning the agriculture minister says the t-shock is clear as it relates to the issues with the scheme and wants to see homes fixed speaking just a few minutes ago minister charlie mcconnellog says michael martin is impatient to see that happen and over 5 000 census enumerators are beginning the process of gathering up the forms that will shape irish policy for the future two million forms were sent out nationwide in an effort to capture the current state of irish life in 2022 that's it for now we're back with another update for you at 12 now okay kathryn thank you very much indeed i'm pleased to welcome into studio now er derrick callahan youth worker with the donnie gall youth service derrick good morning to you i pleasure to be here and thank you so much for joining us right now we're talking about a recently launched guide which focuses on understanding grief tailored primarily to or exclusively towards young people uh well we the idea behind it was that it was written by young people for young people but uh with the the subject of grief it it doesn't really acknowledge age so the information inside is applicable to anyone who's going through the grief process or someone who has a friend or relative who might be going through it yeah of course but i mean as unfortunately as you get older you know um grief happens you know what i mean and i don't know if there's something changes with us where we we we something kicks in that we might try and cope with there's a there's a nature not nature element to it it's terribly sad but as we grow old we're gonna lose people older we lose people around younger people for some people i think i was you know i was in my 30s before i experienced any sort of you know direct grief um but for others they can experience it in a much much younger age and maybe aren't equipped as much as others to to deal with it yes uh well the the group that come up with the idea uh they felt themselves that there wasn't a lot of information out there aimed at young people which is why like they done their research and they wrote the leaflet themselves and the staff at dy s simply created the leaflet out of what they had created but yeah it is sort of true to say uh i suppose with maturity comes that uh resilience a bit of conditioning sort of yeah i it is one of those things you can sort of get used to to an extent and i think it's kind of good in that when you're young you believe your brothers and sisters who your mom and dad will be there forever but you know unfortunately that's not always the case obviously it's well researched isn't it because you know you have to make sure that it doesn't trigger someone in certain ways or whatever that it covers the information but does so in a responsible way and it's it's brief but it's to the point and i presume that was the target here yes i the the young people some of them had gone through the grief process as young people so were aware of the potential problems that could be brought about talking about the subject so yeah it's all handled in a very informative way letting people know what the process is what they can expect while going through it and also it gives advice on coping mechanisms and advice to sort of people who know someone else going through grief how they can help yeah and i think it's quite interesting too in that you know the the the healthier you are the better your your mental health as an adolescent or as a young person if uh you know you do lose someone you're in a better position to deal with that as well well yeah to an extent like ultimately uh when when we lose someone it is very sad devastating yeah but yeah you you sort of i do have a point on that if your mental well-being is good overall it's less likely to cause further may have a look at the leaf that you have in front of you yeah exactly so the more resilient you can be to such a thing and the there's some tips for coping in this well i think actually really what's quite interesting is the description of what grief is yes i because because we use the word but and i think i mean obviously and it has been done in two short paragraphs here um it encapsulates what it is but it's different for everyone there's also information on what to expect what is normal what's natural because people might go well why do i feel like this or do other people feel like this that's covered on it there's tips on coping what people can do to to cope with and understand grief and then an interesting bit too and i say it's really short to the point on how you can support someone because what do we do what do you say yeah i because uh like unfortunately it's one of those topics that maybe a lot of people don't like to talk about because of their own experiences with it but we felt it was uh something that important that needed to to be shared in a way that is not going to be too upsetting for people if if they find themselves getting upset they can simply close the leaflet and maybe come back to it later um from from my own experience with grief uh i i realized well i was told that it comes in waves and a lot of people sort of have these calm times where they might not be as upset they're on top of it yeah but it is a completely normal part of the process and a lot of people beat themselves up over that sort of thing unnecessarily yeah and i think even just to to increase awareness of people maybe it could be two young people or whatever age they are that one might pick up this leaflet they might be having coffee at lunchtime you know from college or wherever they might be or secondary school and just talk about something like this you know we'll have a conversation about it yeah i because i mean we can't we'd like to think that it'll you know we never have to talk about these things but unfortunately we do so as you said before it is something that we will all experience at some point in our life all right it's out there from the uh donagall uh youth service you can access it digitally on the donagall youth service website but presumably it's being left around uh places where young people populace yeah there are copies available in the youth information centre and the drop-in of the donagall youth service yeah and well as i said we're not talking about the entire volume of of an encyclopedia here it's just a small leaflet to the point yeah and it's a good thing to get out there or what's the reaction been like it's been quite good um we've had one or two people who have said that during their time of grief they would have loved something like this to help them understand what they were going through and what they were feeling and why they felt it yeah and why am i getting a headache because i'm grieving sure one's an emotion and also a physical reaction just to make those links what's normal why can't i sleep anymore you know what i mean i'm feeling more anxious i never suffered with anxiety but now i'm having a panic attack why is that is there something else going on you know and it links in and helps them understand yeah um because those are the type of things that you might not mention to um a friend or a brother or sister or you know what i mean and when you read it then you can sort of make more sense with i think it's very worthwhile in that regard too Derek listen it's been lovely having you and unless there's anything you wish to add uh not just um the as you said the digital copy can be got from our website danigelyouthservice.ie look for the what we do publication resources and you can find that and other information there brilliant well done Derek thank you very much indeed that's Derek Callahan Youth Worker with the Lanagol Youth Service the nine till noon show with letterkenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letterkenny credit union 9102127 you might think you know Ireland's ancient east but maybe it's time for a closer look uncover stories bold and brave where vibrant city knights follow action packed days set course for countless adventures at carlingford adventure center or roam wild in wonder in the glen of aharlow and become captivated by the culture and craft of Kilkenny's cobbled streets Ireland's ancient east yours to explore keep discovering at discoverarland.ie win with low prices from super value with great offers like super value medium egg noodles only one euro four cent epic super value dark soy sauce only one euro nine cent super super value breaded chicken nuggets only 165 unreal and super value thin and crispy chips only 125 winning win with low prices that compete with anyone win with super value at ESB networks we're connecting Ireland to a clean electric future and as part of the national smart metering program we're now installing smart electricity meters in your area your new smart meter will reduce the need for estimated bills help you to manage your electricity usage more efficiently and enable you to access smart electricity products and services we'll contact you before your meter is installed find out more at esbnetworks.ie slash smart meter since she got her free hearing aids with her prsi at speck 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 speck savers music to your ears find out more online terms and conditions apply highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport this summer is going to be one of the busiest ever check out our summer flights to european cities such as barcelona cologne and the land with ryan air ireland west airport you're flying okay let's see what the weather has in store for us today it's not fantastic but should look at it's only the weather a dull and breezy day without breaks of rain and drizzle highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds okay we heard from minister charlie mcconnellogue he had his say pretty much uninterrupted as to how he believed last week's events unfolded as it relates to the t-shocks of us at the organization of a the organization of the the launch and the meetings and all that stuff anyway michael da hardy is pyro of the micro micro action group he joins us now michael i suppose look what we want to do don't we he's sort of clarify a few things and get this to bed and get on with the work of uh get on to work of getting people out of their mica infested homes and and into new homes with no expense to them as soon as is possible yeah i'm actually quite shocked at what what's been unfolding this morning i might work here i was actually got about 15 different must-called and messages telling me that uh we had minister mcconnellogue on again uh looking to defend what we still see as uh extremely poor planning uh we had a good weekend at the bottom line we had very engaging meetings with the t-shock um at the the home of clearenby date and at a business meeting then which we called for and insisted upon in the in the absence of it being called for by anybody else the homeowners again drove this as we've been driving everything through the entire campaign um we we made the meeting happen there's no doubt about that and it happened in the green and it was a very constructive meeting and as i said in the video i believe the the t-shirt went down the road an awful lot more informed what i will say is that what disappointed me immensely was at the start of that meeting and knowing that we had a very short window with the t-shirt and we had many many points and we spent an hour and a half the night before the meeting narrowing down through the fall of all the issues down to the key points because we knew we were so time constrained and yet uh minister mcconnellogue saw it spitting to pick up the first 20 minutes of the meeting ramped in as he seems to have done again this morning about how it wasn't his fault about how mic action group were thrown among the bus and about how there was always plans for a mic action group meeting but the reality is simply this break there was a meeting eventually uh after we put out the first video which was on the tuesday later on that evening there was um correspondence from minister mcconnellogue to him and jackson to say that yes there would be a meeting and they couldn't confirm all the details but it was looking like Friday between 11 o'clock sorry on saturday between 11 o'clock 12 o'clock colab were already in for that slot and colab were being dropped from that slot slot in order to accommodate mic action group that tells me we were never ever on the original itinerary and we probably wouldn't have had a voice at all with the t-shirt um only for the actions of the so i heard he's looking for an apology the only thing i was told apparently i was told my blog before now apparently he was told he was going to be getting an apology from you i well it was the only one part when i talked to you the first time around greg was that i'd said that there was no correspondence apparently in the 18th of march now the 18th of march i was flying out with liby we're on our 25th wedding anniversary we're heading to dubai and i was boarding the plane at six o'clock whenever charlie mcconnellogue responded to aamon jackson's request to say yes we'll see what we can do and we'll be in touch now he said on tuesday days ago yeah he said on okay go ahead go ahead yeah that's important greg so that was that was you know a couple of three hours after aamon jackson made the call to charlie mcconnellogue note again no word from charlie to us to say this is a massive opportunity the tisha's coming our way mike is the biggest issue in the county let's work together here and see how we maximize us well in fairness now that that's what should have happened and that's when i referenced the pr side of things you know it was a real actual opportunity to it didn't it didn't happen great but apparently what i would say is that a couple of 30 years after that charlie mcconnellogue come back to say yes we'll we'll basically we'll see what we can do and we'll be in touch it was never in touch 10 days later he still wasn't in touch and we were getting up to d-day when we were about we were at 11th hour almost of the t-shirt arriving into the county and no word of no kind we took the initiative as we've been doing all along and made this happen i'm firmly to the belief that we would not have had what we had if we hadn't enforced it all right forced it on two levels and he's talking about confusion about bunkranna and caron donna we wanted them to get to see deredra migoghan's houses it's probably the one of the worst in the county but they weren't prepared to come to caron donna we wanted a combo to happen a package to happen it had to see first of all what a homeowner is putting up with and they did and they then needed a business meeting they didn't want the business meeting the photo op was good enough but they didn't want the business meeting we were not prepared to give names and details for a house that was a photo op if they weren't prepared to talk about the hard graft and we got both and i think that's credit all right now he said that aamon jackson he's supposed to aamon jackson on tuesday and gave absolute concrete uh a commitment to a meeting uh and then you come on this program on wednesday and you said i'm paraphrasing here michael it's hard to keep track of the timelines i hope you understand you you effectively you know uh tour into him and says there's been no contact um and so on and so forth and then charlie tucked that up with aamon on the wednesday after your interview wasn't too happy about it choice language i think he said he used in relation to that and it was during that phone call that he was told that an apology to charlie mcconnell who would be forthcoming from you michael no the only part that i had wrong in the whole thing was that charlie mcconnell had come back two or three years after aamon jackson had messaged him to say we'll sort something out but the bottom line so that part is the only part that was wrong that part i missed because that was a message that was sent out and as i say i was bored in a plane for the back so i missed that part so hands up on that but that takes nothing away from the essence and the spirit and the lack of planning that was forthcoming from anybody else other than us the fact greg that they had to cancel somebody else's slot to get us in there they don't do that a teacher come into the county stops organize weeks in advance we were not on the radar quite simply that and we matured we found a place at the table and we did and a very good meeting i think what we're seeing is the acts of somebody in desperation that's what it is to me i honestly think he's out of his depth and you know it got to the point where he was prepared to eat up valuable crime that we had with t-shirt basically clearing his name and this is a real this is a real breaking down though of of the relationship between the microaction group and minister charlie mcconnell maybe at a time when we all as much as we can need to be pulling in the one direction michael yeah and i say that with absolute respect i think you know that i i i completely understand it and i think you if you look back over the years to make action group we have always been respectful to all of them and even to minister mcconnell or even though we would be entirely unsatisfied with his rate of support for our campaign and i've said that and you know and i haven't gone public with that but you know i i would say we have been not supported to the extent that we need to be and anybody that looks at social media will back that up if anybody out there thinks that the general public thinks that minister mcconnell has done a good job for us in the mickey campaign i don't know what they've been reading but it's certainly but we have not jumped on that or made a big point of it but when he comes on to attack as he has done today and takes away from what was a good news story at the weekend and this and this t-shirt and his boss has done a good job with the weekend to now change that again today to try to clear his name as purely the act of a man in desperation okay in the usual situation where you're praising the t-shirt and critical of the local minister but look it is unfortunately it is where we're at do you think uh was it a means to an end do you think organizing a pots and pans protest outside a hotel where you know we don't know who could have been staying there or what the client make up the client tell was and i know it was a means to an end and you know there's an awful lot of donagol families going through an absolute nightmare at the moment do you think that was the right call absolutely think it was the right call because i think what we have found and we're 10 years on the road here dreg is that nothing comes easy for us absolutely nothing comes easy for us and it's only whenever we hold their feet to the fire that we get the respect that we deserve and and Charlie Mcconnell sort of seemed to suggest that it was your group that was foot dragging in terms of organizing a family uh him him thinking it important that it be in a shown the late notice in making you know a property available for the visit um uh the delay in sort of organizing a hotel like the impression i got from from from the minister michael was that it was your group that was kind of foot dragging and and complicating the process now i'm just trying to give everyone an equal platform to to to have a say michael okay i'm not trying to stir or have a go or not at all but that that was what that's what the minister pretty much that's what i got from what he said yeah yeah the reality was this we didn't have a slot until we forced a slot then we were going to be given a slot at a homeowner uh venue only and we said we weren't prepared to do that because that would just allow them a nice simple photo up we wanted to talk about the business end of it about the fact that we had 650 applications 350 of them on hold because is 465 needed rest the other 300 are moving at snail's pace all because of bureaucracy introduced by the housing department that's what we wanted to talk about not a photo up on a cup of tea we were okay with a photo up on the cup of tea but only as a package they had to sit down and talk about the real issues with us don't they go county councils should have been doing this with the teams anyway it wasn't happening and we called that meeting and no one was making that happen and we were not prepared to concede and bend and just give the government what they wanted and turn the photo up without the business part of it some and that was why that was why we held out and said you're not getting the details of a homeowner until you until you can give us the issue early that the business end will also happen part of a larger process i get that i mean the impression i got to is this scheme stalled that's it is it is great and it's a lot of good work done but there are things that's stopping it from happening and moving forward and that's what we wanted to talk about and that's what we would have loved to have more time with the tea shop than what we had but unfortunately 20 minutes ago it was taken up to say like with mr mcconnellog explaining and trying to clear his name and in front of the tea shop and that just we you know at the end of the day we had a cut across and say listen we're not here to talk about poor charlie we're here to talk about the poor homeowners out there that need a voice we know the tea shop and this is what we want to spend our time in the meeting talking about right okay i think there's a bit of rehabilitation required between the likes yourself and minister charlie mcconnellog in terms of your relationship anyway well at the end of the day i'm out for the homeowners greg that's it i'm not out for charlie mcconnellog i'm not out for anybody i've nothing against him or for him he has to he has to man up at the end of the day he was born and reared three miles from my house as we would love to be seeing charlie mcconnellog with the best thing ever happened donnie gall he's in the epicenter of any show and he's in the epicenter of the mic process he's down there and he's fighting tooth and nail for us i have no evidence of that in any shape or form and today certainly doesn't help okay and all right listen powerful stuff thanks very much uh michael all right we're going to be speaking to the homeowner that did receive that visit after this quick break the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account let's call his name mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray linem and brendan shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray linem and brendan shine on saturday april 23rd million grand crew wine was 1499 now only 1199 and medium smarties kit cat and cadbury easter eggs three for only three euro little more for you enjoy alcohol responsibly are you passionate about customer service then concentrics wants to hear from you right now concentrics is recruiting work at home customer service advisors to join our growing global business in donegall if you're looking for an exciting opportunity where you can earn learn and grow apply today by searching donegall at jobs dot concentrics dot com flanigan's massive half price store clear out sale is now on in boncranagh 50 off irish made sofas tables beds ward rubs rugs and occasional furniture pay today and take it away furnish your home for half price don't miss out www.flanigans.io you'll find all the best toys at foie's ballad buffet 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 ballad buffet or shop online at toys at foie's dot com all right you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show on to it we welcome the presenter of the dl debate island radios ga podcast that is brendan devaney how are you brendan what is the deal is it just to hurt yourself i'm not surprised to be honest it's fantastic so we're here doing the card over there huh maybe i think that might be uh someone close to you in your life it's just trying to make you feel better obviously so good uh can i what did you make of the sort of league uh the the the league games that we can't read much into them now i'm talking about the national football league games yeah what the the carry one of the carry like they won it in some the they won it in uh with some margin some room to spare it seems to me may own those big games they either won by a point it's a close game and they just about get across the line or they get hammered you know their dozens it seems to fall apart in between now that's it listen like nobody can handle carry this year when they were on it they really looked like they're building a bed of steam and they're already i think way ahead in terms of all ireland uh being favorites for all ireland so tough day it's psychologically people talk about the league that's a huge blow you know it's crow park it's a final again and when you're taken apart like that you know a lot of soul searching for for me ogan and the championship again and nothing really matters to them till it gets the final now listen they'll be fine psychologically all the way through if they do if they get the semi-final it'll be fine that final thing that is way and heavy on the yeah and it's not just the league final you know i mean at the end of the day it's a it's a significant competition and you get resoundly beaten that's you can't just ignore that and just say that's it's only a league final can you no you can't to say that that's another we scarred it they've opened up there great so yeah as much as we we keep saying right you might look at that now and think right now we're having a chance they could still be in a final but it's in that final that the problem is there's a dull headline croak pot yesterday the Galway-Ross-Common game a tighter affair 21 000 people turned out would you've expected a bigger crowd yeah i think i've seen some huge crowds here obviously since people haven't been at games in a long time i just think of the minute between travel and everything that's happening there's price of petrol and diesel i mean it is an actual factor i drove up and down from Dublin on saturday and i'll tell you that's it you know it's uh it would factor into it what's the situation of the dayland with the we talked about the the tussle after the armar donagol game some suspensions dvd donagol not appealing armar appealing what's going on there what's that about there was no they're supposed to be an appealing um from donagol not from armar right okay a caharokian from the davish news of course is on and i'm just gonna ask him he's been talking to various people in armar because what they were cited for was you know part of a malia or whatever been involved in a ruckus and how do you disprove that i mean if you're in there at all and even if you grab somebody's jersey then that's urinates so the problem is if you open that up to video evidence then the video evidence can be torn against you as well as in somebody could be seen doing something and that can be brought in there so i don't know then people were saying that armar put in this and they can withdraw it i think there was an opportunity to put it in and i can still sort of hold it there take more time to think we were going to do it right i don't know if we weren't there seems to be a bit of a lag going on uh great but i'd be surprised now if if they do go for it because it seems almost impossible to prove yeah it's defending defensible uh in terms of the video footage is there so caharokain is on with you to discuss that uh in in terms of uh local maybe the the senior stars of the future in action hurlers and footballers yeah yeah unfortunately paul burns hurlers come up short we have a few interviews and feedback from that game from uh kia mcnick this time come i caught up with under 20s captain kieran tobin they're great victor over our ma oishi mcconnell managed our ma we have some great underage talent coming through setting up a fascinating game against taroon own mulligan former stars in charge of them it's a Celtic park on friday evening so how are we in terms of because we kind of have this conversation almost every year but there's great talent there at the underage level and they're going to come through and it does happen are we getting it right in terms of transitioning these excellent young players into excellent senior players that's an idea for a show uh greg funnier was just thinking a few times about the amount of coaching and underage stuff that's going on we're not really aware of the whole system of it uh carol lacey of course one of our best players ever he's at the top of that in terms of uh he's organizing all our underage coaching from our teams up massive amount of work being done uh so i was looking to get him on now just to see how that's all happened but certainly they're don't go out competing every year competing competing competing and when i was just chatting to uh i met one of county board officials the last night we're talking about you know this week but we're around expense isn't that and just thinking about different teams coming he was saying they're senior team now a session you're looking about ten grand a session at cost to put that on so you're in the huge mulligan you think about underage and and all that that's pulling in sometimes i think like you look at that couple of million when you break down what a cost like in a normal year now taking the covid years aside i think in that one last year it was about two million they run all the dunnig all teams like breaking that down week by week that is some money that has to be huge amount of money huge amount and then when when it's so crucial you're going to have more well-off counties maybe having an advantage over less well-off so you're also going to actually be going through that uh whole uh expenses uh convo between the gpa and the gaa i think for those who've who've not really sat up and take note of that it'll be interesting too to get right across that that's all on highland radios number one show a deal debate you struggled to say that that's all right the words just wouldn't have come out of my mind it hurt me that's seven p.m just after seven p.m and seven p.m news this evening podcast also highlandradio.com brendan thank you great thanks all right back with more on the night on noon show after this second best show on the radio station after these the night till noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today it's not just a sewing machine for maya it's a chance to give her family a better life it's not just a way to make a living it's a chance to give her daughter an education like thousands of mothers maya lives in fear of what the future holds for her little girl and it's not just this lent your love can make all the difference visit trokrat.org or call 1800 408 408 trokrat until love conquers fear fancier chinese takeaway yeah in vijing could be get your ticket from highland radio at highlandradio.com and if that's not enough enter before friday the eighth of every boat to also be in with the chance to win one of our bonus cash prizes of 1000 euro to the betway handicapped hurdle they're under starters orders and they're off now the leader the on is the favorite gaelic runner who is unbeaten in her last three followed closely by the outsider oscars pal who's failed to play so far this year go on oscars pal so who are you backing underdog or favorite visit betway.com or download the app 18 plus t's and c's apply dunluy.net bet the responsible way are you passionate about customer service then concentrics wants to hear from you right now concentrics is recruiting work at home customer service advisors to join our growing global business in dunnegaul if you're looking for an exciting opportunity where you can earn learn and grow apply today by searching dunnegaul at jobs.concentrics.com if you're getting married the in-house design team at bizprint can get all your wedding stationery and signage customized to your requirements just visit weddinginvites.ie or call bizprint at port road editor kenny on 9117995. okay welcome back to the program right i wanted a little bit of separation i think between you know our conversation about the political to and fro wing of the t-shox visit at the weekend to speak into the person whose house they visited and that was claire mcdayd claire good morning to you hi good morning greg thanks for having me on the show uh what's a bit surreal experience wasn't it friday night uh you're sitting down for a cup of tea and then saturday you have the t-shox in what was it like as a as a homeowner as an experience um it was a strange sort of a thing i suppose and i had i had said from months and months and months and months ago when i first put that video out jeez i i'd love to have on t-shox here for a cup of tea you know i never actually thought it was gonna happen um i was glad that he came you know i suppose that obviously i was a bit nervous about it but i knew i had nothing to hide you know i was um it's just gonna tell the truth there was never gonna be any sort of agenda on my part um but the pressure is you know that you're you're if you're the one person that he's coming to see you're trying to be that voice for thousands of people who are hanging on every single word and who are in a terrible state of stress and anxiety and uncertainty and that's it claire represent people you know yeah and the great yeah great responsibility and you know we've seen a lot of the imagery and it's awful and it's shocking and the damp in the house and uh everything that goes along with your house being affected by mica but i think it's important that the politicians understand the emotional and physical impact this has on the people affected by this because obviously the problem is the houses are falling to bits the victims are you your family and all the thousands of others and the impact this has on you and your life and your health were you able to get that across to him yeah i think it was you know and that's really um what i wanted to do was just try and get that human story across and you know everybody's got their own other stuff going on things that are happening in their lives that are terrible and stressful and you know worrying and then we have this on top of it and and and it's very very very difficult and i think that you know i didn't hear minister mcconnell over there speaking but i did hear the other side of story there when i was on the line from michael but i think the homeowners happen to do too much work break you know and that's really the bottom line we are driving this we are pushing this we are begging if i thought that i could have gone down on my concrete on my hands and eat and beg him i would have if i thought it would have worked and i thought it would have helped people but we shouldn't be doing that we shouldn't be begging we shouldn't be having to find out what happens next and timber builds and having you know mag go into all these shows about new builds and what to do and trying to help people that should all be done for us we shouldn't be looking for somebody to come in and do the counseling and trying to get funding or trying to get a hub up and running it should they should be bending over backwards and groveling to us and trying to make it right but if the proper if the proper stuff is put in place everyone access is the same thing it only has to be done right initially it doesn't have to be done right for every individual house you set up the supports that are there and people access them and it shouldn't be complicated some people might say oh well claire should look it was just a photo op you just wanted to be seen having had him in your front room having fed him his tea and cake did you get a sense that there was real empathy there i have to say i was worried it was going to be just a full opportunity the press would come and he would just do his politician then then leave i didn't feel it was like that i have to be honest now i really didn't feel it was like that and he started off where we was standing outside and he was giving he was giving me the politician but you know politicians sort of talk at you they tell you what they want you to hear and they they just they don't listen and he started that you know oh we secure this money and we're doing this and blah blah blah and i kind of started in on him and just said you know i don't know what's going to happen here with my house i don't know what the future hold it's awful and he looked at me directly in the eyes and he said your house will be fixed and i said damn is it going to cost me 10 to thousands because you know i don't have that's all money and he said no and from then i felt that there was that human person kind of reset the tone did it for me anyway i don't know what other people around me are gonna you know thought about it but for me i stand in there next to him i felt he changed in that point and he came into the house he even looked different you know he had that kind of stern sort of face he even looked different i know what you're man about he went from sort of the head slightly tilted to one side nodding to more and more like a person who was just standing there going on calling you know this is awful and i want to do something and he asked me about why why was it taken so long so i tried to explain kind of you know what has happened with our with our case personally and he was he said i'm going to look into that myself and find out why is this taken so long and then when he did come in he said i'll come in for a cup of tea you know and at that point again he was very burst of all and he he was more relaxed and more like just a normal person and he came in this way down and he was saying you know we've only had like this five or whatever house is fixed we need to get 60 fixed a hundred six we need this process to happen quickly i want action i want this done so that people will see that it will happen and it is happening and that you know i suppose i suppose that that will take the stress away and i think that that will you know if they deliver then you know you know i'd be the first one to say i played charlie mccanlough hasn't he done a great job i think though you need to start yeah but you need sight of a finish line even if it even if it's 28 kilometers away you need to realize that you're on a path and you easy to cope and that's it action claire because i was going to say the words the sentiment the feeling that's all well and good and it's good to get it and it's positive but it is going to come down to action to people like yourself getting a new house your house falling around you you trusted you trusted the system and the system failed you it's about you without having to uh you know without having to dig deep into the money uh that you don't have you said yourself you wouldn't have tens of thousands i'm not saying that and that's that's when we will know whether this is is happening or not absolutely and i think you know we start seeing success stories of people who are in and happy and finally free of this awful weight on our shoulders the more that happens the more that people are saying well you know we might have to wait a while but it'll be done and it'll be okay and so we're not worrying about it anymore and that's what we need no words no talking no fake smiles on handshakes we just need action but i do think that there was positivity and i do feel more hopeful i'm you know greg i'm not singing and dancing and euphoric and thinking oh this was amazing open the champagne but i do feel that there's a light at the end of the tunnel okay and i hope and pray that that they deliver on what they said because i mean they have to they have to because otherwise you know no one's going to we don't trust them anyway they need to build course and claire this is why conversations like this are important because this is an archive too of you know the reaction to the meeting what was committed to and we can look back on this and and and see see if your your your you know your faith is not faith but your confidence or your improved confidence is justified or not and it's going to be in action claire listen thank you so much for sharing your experience and fair play to you for being the voice of a lot of people because it's not easy to invite people anyway yeah okay but you know what i mean you had a great responsibility because you've presumably and you kind of said this you had to feel that you had to do all the other victims of this scandal justice as well and by the sounds of it you did so claire thank you best wishes to you and the family thank you very much indeed the night until noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letter kenny cu.ie mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray lineman brandon shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray lineman brandon shine on saturday april 23rd kelly's diner and letter kenny now has even longer opening hours try kelly's erdy bird breakfast one of their great lunch specials or a renowned jakes burger kelly's famous steak specials are available every saturday from three with an eight ounce succulent steak and all the trimmings for just 11 euro new extended opening hours now and kelly's award-winning diner at mountaintop letter kenny check out facebook for details are you ready yes crest question for one million pounds is what do crawford tiles do is it a tiles b wooden flooring c bathroom suites d five-day bathroom refits um all four you just want a million pounds well not really after taxes you lose a bunch of money but hey whatever crawford tiles castle fin 0749143942 check this join me this monday on the deal debate as we review all the weekends j action and championship are under 20 horrors play me home and the under 20 foot powers to go on our friends from our map with the feedback and analysis from both games and as our county leagues return we'll speak with new coloman shots of mckelvey also joining me irish news journalist cahill cain to discuss the ongoing standoff between the g a and the gpa and the current fallout of the suspensions after the dunnigall army game while listening more just after 7 p.m use and hide me and podcast and hide me the deal debate with sister sarah's letter kenny serving food you'll love till 9 p.m. daily in sarah's kitchen island radio wants to send you on the holiday of a lifetime plus five grand spending money get your ticket now at hide and radio dot com answer the question and start packing start drawing takes place April 14th on the night show start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio chartered physiotherapists have always had your back but did you know we restore confidence and repair strength our women's health physios offer support through all life stages from period pain pregnancy and birth to postpartum menopause and beyond treating bladder dysfunction prolapse and pelvic pain our physios will help you bring your body back to brilliant to find out more go to ask the physio dot i e highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday with the family you can now fly to barcelona three times weekly this summer with ryan air and enjoy some of europe's best family campsites ireland west airport you're flying okay dull and breezy day without breaks of rain and drizzle highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds you're very welcome back to the program right now um it's a big event in dairy every easter with singing dancing and musical theater trad music and irish language competitions it is the dairy fish 100 years it runs from the 19th to the 19th of april to the 22nd of april it's a celebration of singing dancing musical theater traditional music and irish language competitions right Ursula Clifford joins us first to talk about the history of this event and what a what a rich history Ursula hello Ursula can you hear me no okay is elizabeth elizabeth are you there hi elizabeth good to have you with us phone lines playing up on us a little bit right you you have your own history your family history irish dancing a huge part of your and your family's life yes my mother my mother was an irish dancer first of all and danced through the 40s and then i did it wasn't much of a dancer but we did a dinner before that and spent a lot of time with the face with the granny and did a bit of dancing said a few irish poles played the piano and then my own daughters also danced uh diverse speaking sang choirs orchestra all the rest so we've been we've been through it for a long time and my mother particularly has a very great affection for the phase so now i work as sort of to coordinate the dancing competition and help the committee in that way it must be great to be a part of it in terms of competition but also in the in organization to help and facilitate other people's experiences yes and it's our the dancing particular is very special at the very face because as you know there are different organizations loving dancing and we're i don't i'm not going to say we're unique i think it may happen a few other places but we do the two main organizations come together at dairy fish uh that's commission and then cogl most compete together at the fish and we have a jury care through both sides and why is it why is it unique why is this the only platform that both organizations come together it's quite interesting that well i'm not too sure but there was there were there's a long history anyway but uh there aren't and they run their own fishes but uh or fish anna but we the respect permissions made and great efforts made by bishops daily and the committee actually get too big with two sides together and uh so we do have them together and it's a very busy time for them because these of them have their word championships they would before so they then come back to dairy fish but that's um so we're glad to have them numbers are we would love love to have more numbers the numbers are a bit low at the moment but we hope we have more people and it's just the way things have been with covid and that people don't know how they know how it's going to go but we're hoping we're glad to be back after two years of absence and and the youth putting appeal out there for people to get involved this year is it too late Elizabeth well that would be nice and everybody well yes so you can still enter and also uh i would love to anybody would like to help by stage or whatever i would love i would love to people it's very hard the people are very busy and a lot of people are going away this year because they're getting the opportunity but i'd love to be able to see people maybe this is the year to just get it going and then really push on to the uh yeah listen as Elizabeth it's been lovely speaking to you thank you so very much indeed i'm going to try Ursula Clifford one more time Ursula are you there right no well you can put Ursula through online online too okay uh Aimen Sweeney's committee member of the Dairy Fesh it's a hundred years you haven't been that involved for that long Aimen i can be quite confident of that but it's a huge event for Dairy isn't it every single Easter and this one's going to be no different well it'll be different than the uh sense that it's the celebration of a hundred years of the the face itself obviously but no different uh in the sense that it's you know going to be the same sort of wonderful celebration of the talent of the northwest and it's Hunterlands and that has included the initial and Donegal area since the very start in 1922 yeah and of course there's been a gap it hasn't been held in is it three years i always find it confusing to time like this covid stuff it's three it's three years since those uh the last event isn't it three years this will be the well two if you include the the two covid years yeah um which were hard and everybody obviously but the the first one since 2019 that thankfully it includes the um centenary year and we're able to go ahead so from my audience perspective what could what can we see and enjoy um Aimen well you've outlined all the disciplines that are you know uh held every single year and have been since uh 100 years ago at the face that as Elizabeth says includes areas dancing that includes singing includes verse speaking includes uh rings of instrumental competitions it's the only platform that i know of anywhere in the world where you'll have you know a traditional fiddler playing a jig and then next door somebody um playing Beethoven on a piano um so it has a unique sort of style and sense and that respect um so we can expect all the disciplines to be well represented as usual you know from both Derry itself and surrounding Hunterlands as we said yeah and as i said to runs from Tuesday the 19th till Friday the 22nd so if i want to sort of plan out what i want to view uh where do i find out where things are happening what times they're happening and maybe plan uh you know a few hours or a day or successive days for that matter well the syllabus of the program on timetable for the entire week will be published very soon but better if you want the flavor of what is in store the type of competition you can plan to go and see the the venues and Derry which are the Millennium Forum and the Playhouse then you can go to www.derryface.com where the entire syllabus is there to be viewed online and downloaded so you can mark off exactly what you want to go and see yeah sounds sounds wonderful and then to finish things off there's a big event isn't there on Sunday April 24th uh starting at around three o'clock there's a Derry Face Gala Centenary Concert which is being held at the Millennium Forum as well so after the week's competition you have a chance to sit back and you know view artists who all came through the face such as you know Margaret Keyes, Gona Gallagher or Calahan one of your own broadcasters who is a country dancer but began his career at Derry Faces and Derry's dancer that would be David James will be performing and there will also be you know rings of sort of retrospective video content and that will also include tributes from past competitors such as Dana and Roma Downey we also have a special tribute from Johnny Logan whose father actually hailed from Derry his own name was Charlie Sherrod but he adopted the stage name Pato Hagan as many of your listeners will know so Johnny has given us an interview about how his father's connection not only with the city but the face in various in China across the northwest all right amen let us know when the let us know is that still is that ticketed if there's still spots available for that um the the Gala Concert well they're going fast as far as I know but if you go online or phone the box office at the Millennium Forum they'll be happy to help you out brilliant stuff amen well done and let us know when the the the actual list of events is organized and we can share that out as well when that's being announced I mentioned Ursula Clifford Ursula sorry some slight technical issues but it's good to have you on us and even just in passing there amen well it wasn't quite in passing uh was talking there to the to the history of this and its connections and it's a rich history over the course of the last hundred years isn't it which will be celebrated of course throughout the week yes the fact is that it was founded in 1922 to after a petition because there was a great danger that we were now part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and that we had to protect Irish culture and a node lady who was called Mrs Edward Henry O'Doherty quite famous in Derry and Fowler McGeaghan decided to set up the fish so that we would perpetrate all the Irish culture that came from Derry Donegal mostly the Hunterlands and far away too as well as it always had this sort of level of importance interest or was there a period over that 100 years Ursula that it was at its biggest if that makes sense well they would say up until the up until the Guildtolls had bombed and then we had to sort of move up to smaller halls in the Cregan and uh for the couple of years the Guildtoll came back the Guildtoll was the home of the fish and St Carlem's Hall unfortunately we had to change all that now because the Guildtoll has only one main hall within it they changed the minor hall until council chambers so we need two halls at night at least and during the day we use about seven venues between the playhouse and the Millennium Forum then St Carlem's Hall has not been in use for quite some time either and that's not suitable at the minute to use so we're using the Millennium Forum and we have two three places working in there and then up in the playhouse with three places working so during the day it's very very busy but at night we keep it that we only use two halls within the Millennium Forum so that that more people can come to the evening and sort of get themselves a built-in concert because they can go into the big hall and and see drama and singing and they can go into the smaller hall and see pianos and and violins and cellos and things like that and then on the Wednesday all day in the Wednesday is the traditional they take over the smaller hall on the Wednesday and they're there morning afternoon and night and uh then outside of that on Holy Week there are some school choirs that we hold them on on the Tuesday of Holy Week before the school breaks up unfortunately this year because of COVID like I would say the last phase we had there was about 12 primary school choirs and this year we have only three because they're not back practicing that's the problem well look at hopefully they'll make up for uh for for the rest that can't be there listen there's so much in it Ursula and it's going to be a fantastic week and we really appreciate your time this morning Ursula Clifford there okay uh and that's the dairy fish we're back tomorrow morning at nine have a great day the night on noon show with