 of course it was cooking Greg. It was indeed. I'm glad to hand it over to you. You can have my voice if you want this croaky voice. Ah, you're okay. I had that last week. Thank you very much indeed, Kenneth. It's just after nine o'clock at the nine till noon show coming your way after we get a news update now from Catherine Gaffney. Thanks Greg, good morning. The one soft fuel allowance payment of 125 euro will be paid to social welfare recipients from today. The measure forms part of the government's efforts to tackle the rising cost of living. 372,000 people will get the payment over the coming days. Labour Party TD Duncan Smith says the payment is means tested. We have a majority of people who would be job seekers and payers allowance on state pension. They are those with the least amount of means to meet the challenges of just trying to meet the cost of living crisis as it exists across all areas from food to fuel. So it is of households and the families that require the state assistance the most and that's why it needs to work and it needs to work right now. The Irish Red Cross says to start contacting some of those who've offered to take in Ukrainian refugees this week. More than 20,000 pledges of accommodation have been made to debt. Over 5,500 people have already arrived here after fleeing the war in Ukraine. Well there's calls on both the government and Donegal County Council to explore the use of mobile homes to house both Micah families and Ukrainian refugees. Many people affected by Micah will inevitably need to be relocated while their homes are being fixed. Meanwhile a significant number of Ukrainian refugees will also be seeking shelter in Donegal in the weeks ahead. Local councillor Johnny McGinnis says a strategic plan needs to be put in place and believes that this avenue should be considered. Why can't they be used to rehouse Micah families that are urgently need of alternative accommodation whether their homes are rebuilt or retrofitted or whatever the case may be and also indeed there's a possibility there for the needs of many Ukrainian families that are seeking shelter and protection from the terror that they have experienced. So it's our duty at this moment in time to help these people in their time of need. And the price of a litre of fuel at Irish Petrol stations could head to Euro 60 by the end of next month according to the head of an Irish oil firm. Petrol and diesel topped to Euro recently prompting a cut in eggsized duty. Paddy Common from the AA says prices have come down significantly in recent days across the country. He says they could rise again but such a dramatic increase would depend on a number of factors. Whether now after a cloudy and damp morning it will be mainly dry today with sunny spells and just occasional light passing showers highs of 9 to 11 degrees. We're back with more at 10 o'clock until then good morning. Traveling soon? Get your travel money completely securely sorted with unposted money. Both your cash and a handy currency card, a 24-7 card helpline and emergency cash if you lose your card abroad so you're always sorted whether you're here. The next station is London Bridge or here for thousands of other places worldwide. Get your travel money sorted with unposted money. Visit unpost.com or your local post office. Teasancies apply. Unposted money currency card is issued by PPS EUSA pursuant to license by Mastercard International. PPS EUSA is authorised by the National Bank of Belgium and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules. 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. A very good morning. You welcome along to another week of the 90 noon show here. It's Monday the 14th of March. I do hope you want it to short a week this week of course, isn't it because Thursday and Friday are bank holidays but anyway be that as it may will crack on. The lines are open for you this morning. Michaela is answering the phones and taking your calls today on 07491 25,000. If you want to react to what we're talking about or raise your own issues, tell us a story, whatever you want to do to use that number do so. WhatsApps and texts they come in on the usual line 08 660 25,000 and of course you know we have people listening right across the country and across the world. You can use those very same numbers to stay in touch with us. And if you want to watch the program, you know what you can do. You can go on to our website highlandradio.com. You'll see the watch live icon there. You can watch in your browser or if you prefer, go directly to YouTube or Facebook Highland Radio Donagall or Highland Radio Hub and you can watch us there. Right. Okay. As I say, plenty to come on the program this morning. So let's crack on with a look at what's making the pages of the newspapers today. We'll start with the Donagall News, guarding across the entire country. I've been told no annual leave will be granted during the summer's Donagall rally. The command has been issued in a bid to head off repeat of last year's shameful scenes which resulted in more than 50 arrests. We'll see if any lessons have been learned in terms of organization or planning or policing. We'll see. As I say, it's not just all down to the guardie or will we be back again having the exact same conversations. The only difference being a year has passed. Let's see. I'm not that optimistic, but I hope things might be different. Over three days in June, hundreds of motorists, many in modified vehicles descend on the county despite the cancellation of the official Donagall rally that was last year. A resident spoke of being intimidated and terrified during the weekend of revving engines, speeding cars and dangerous maneuvers. The sheer scale of the unauthorized gathering is said to have caught on guard a sheer corner by surprise even though it was being flagged extensively on social media as were events in Bandora and elsewhere and yet still there seems to be some element of surprise when they come to pass. The Irish Independent, the US last night warned Russia it would face NATO's full force if attacks on Ukraine strayed beyond the border after Vladimir Putin brought his water within 25 kilometers of Poland with a massive strike on foreign fighters and of course, Putin seen them as legitimate targets. That being said, or if there were happened to be a stray missile, I do believe there is a de-escalation system in place whereby it doesn't automatically trigger a reaction or a worst-case scenario that there is groups of people from both sides that are charged with finding out exactly what happened to, in other words, not to be able to de-escalate the situation if that is possible rather than it just leading to a, you know, you've done that to us, we're going to do this to you. In what one survivor described as hell on earth, the Ukrainian base used for training foreign volunteers was pulverized by Russian missiles yesterday morning, killing at least 35 and injuring more than 130. Russia boasted it had killed up to 180 foreign fighters and destroyed a cache of weapons donated by the west after using long-range missiles to target the base near Leven. Of course, what they also did is send a message to Europe that they have missiles that they can send great distances as well. On a more positive note, let's hope it's somewhat more positive in all of the awful news, is that it would seem that we could be two or three days away from a formal meeting between the president of Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky and Putin. There's an awful lot of work going on in the background to try and get a face-to-face meeting between those two parties and look, let's face it, that's the way this is going to be resolved, isn't it? Because, you know, the west can pump as many weapons as you like into Ukraine and Russia can pile in all its resources from the east, but the only way it's truly going to end this is some sort of a negotiated settlement. So let's hope that meeting goes ahead, let's hope that pressure from China and Israel and elsewhere can see an end to this awful, awful situation. Last night, though, a few dozen-day survivors from the strike began returning over the Polish border, many apparently reassessing their decision to take up arms. And of course, you know, the reality hits home then, doesn't it? But also, on another level, of course, many people, Ukrainian people, will have fled, you know, the center and east of Ukraine to take up shelter in relative safety of western Ukraine. And what Russia has also said, effectively, is in their actions, is that nowhere in Ukraine is safe. So I imagine we'll see even more people from other parts of Ukraine that had taken up in the west, deciding right now is the time to cross into Europe. In the Irish times this morning, people who choose not to declare themselves either male or female in this year's sentence will have a census, I beg your pardon, will have a biological sex assigned to them on a random basis, the CSO said. In advice on its website for answering questions in the forthcoming census on Sunday, April 3rd, the CSO has updated its position on how it will treat people who opt not to describe themselves as either male or female. The fact that the census will not ask people about their gender identity, but will ask them about their biological sex, is something that the CSO is aware is a sensitive issue for a minority of people. The woman, the spokesperson, said that the random allocation of sex to those who choose not to declare themselves as male or female would not have a statistical impact. That being said, it probably was an opportunity, was it not to sort of ascertain in a more detailed way how people might identify themselves and presume that helps to form policy or, but anyway, they've decided that we'll just do it randomly. In advice on answering census questions on its website, the CSO said that almost all information in a census is analysed by age and sex. Elsewhere in the front of this paper, concerns have been expressed around the potential for saying Patrick's Day festivities to further encourage the spread of COVID infections as cases continue to rise with the number of hospitalised patients set to exceed a thousand again. Yesterday there were 957 patients in hospital with the virus up 62 on the previous day. This is the highest figure since mid-January. That being said, at the moment the number in ICU remains low, stably low at 41, but it's absolutely everywhere. Everyone's getting it, everyone's either got it, getting it or either got it or going to get it, it would seem. And some people multiple times. It's hard to know. Right, okay, so obviously there is a four billion fund which has been set aside by government to deal with COVID, a contingency fund, and the Irish Daily Mail tells us this morning that the T-Shock has said the government will use part of that fund to pay for health service, education and housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. It won't go very far though. I would suggest, sorry, Mihal Martin confirmed at a London press conference yesterday that the government can extract the remainder of the contingency fund that was created by last October's budget. Ireland has so far accepted 5,500 Ukrainians, but it is estimated as many as 100,000 could eventually seek shelter in this country. Mr Martin also told journalists he will speak to his family about providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees at his properties. He was asked by the Irish Daily Mail whether the COVID contingency fund could be used and he says, yes, I didn't realize he had multiple properties. He's been around the place as Mr Martin and he's been doing so at your expense, 15,000 euro in airfares, the Irish Daily Star tells us the government was forced to shell out thousands of euro to fly T-Shock Mihal Martin around Europe over the past week because the creaky old government lear jet has been deemed unreliable. The stars learned that civil servants hired a censor citation CJ3 business jet to ferry Mr Martin to talks in France on Thursday and then on to England where he is spending several days on functions related to St Patrick's Day. That's cost 15,000 euro, which is nice for some to be flown around in a lear jet. Is that what you would expect to happen? Is that how the premier of a country should travel or do you think, given the times that are perhaps maybe he could have used one of the many scheduled services that are available? What do you think, oh wait, 660-25,000 watts apps and texts or give us a call on 07491-25,000. The Irish Daily Mirror also talking about COVID raring its head. The number of people with COVID-19 in hospital soared over the past two weeks by almost 60% but admissions to intensive care are remaining stable. As we mentioned, 967 in hospital with the virus which had risen by 62 from the same time on Saturday but of course we know that at the weekends it's the same with all illnesses. There can be a delay in discharges which means that we end up with a big figure of the weekend which can often come down then through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But what Dr. O'Neil Dabara, an Infectious Disease Consultant in Beaumont Hospital explained that cases with civil illness due to the virus are much fewer. He said many of those in hospital are there due to other serious illnesses and it is so widespread that it's inevitable that people who are in hospital for other reasons will be found to be COVID positive. That being said there are still people, this is not to play it down, there are still people who are sick in hospital with COVID but I think we need those figures to get more of an idea of precisely what's going on. Right, finally in the sun today, Ireland must take a war-footing approach to skyrocketing cost of living as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has started to drive up prices social activists have warned me. Hall Martin has said that commodity prices are going through the roof and his possible shortage of grain will have very serious repercussions for the state. Ministers were warned last week as we've mentioned, this was the worst case scenario memo, possible shortages of natural gas and carbon dioxide used in food processing that could lead to rationing and huge disruptions to food production, as I say the worst case scenario. Supermarkets are preparing for food hikes of up to 12% for major suppliers which will hit customers in the coming weeks. Every day groceries such as bread and milk will be pushed up by price inflation of about 4% when asked if the country is in a war economy. The t-shirt replied not quite yet but we're heading in that direction. So all the more reason for hopefully a resolution to the awful situation that's ongoing 08 660 25000 that's your whatsapp that's your text 07 491 25000 to give us a call. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, mountaintop Letterkenny. The 9 till noon show with Letterkenny credit union mortgage is now available with a personalized service from your local and friendly credit union email mortgage at letterkennycu.ie All roads lead to Letterkenny on St Patrick's night 30 March 17th enjoy a spectacular night of cabri and dancing at the Clannery Hotel. Making a welcome return is the widely acclaimed Joe Dolan show. Remembering Joe starring Joe's brother Ben, nephews Idrin and Ray, niece Sandra singing sensation Karen Carol was members of the original Joe Dolan band. There's no show like a Joe show and always a sell out. So get your tickets now at the Clannery for the St Patrick's night bank holiday extravaganza call 074 9124 369 or book online at showtours.ie. It's been described as the best steak promotion in Donegal and it continues every Saturday at Kelly's diner in Letterkenny for just 11 euro you get a succulent eight ounce Irish sirloin steak cooked to order and served with all the trimmings including a choice of different sauces it's available from three every Saturday so why not treat yourself this weekend in Kelly's award-winning diner at Mountaintop Letterkenny 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 074 912 6193 and booked now with just a 60 pounds deposit per person jet two holidays package holidays you can trust subject to availability conditions walk the line once again with the malty award-winning Johnny Cash and June Carter tribute show cash returns celebrate the music of the man in black at the strewl art center Oma on Saturday 19th of March limited tickets are available now at the box office that's cash returns live at the strewl art center Oma Saturday 19th of March it's 2022 and the star are here to bring the Cheltenham festival to you first up our free glossy 48 page preview magazine to get you in the winning mode David Conklin talks to Henry de Bromhead and those who know him about the trainer's rise to the top while Brian Flanagan tracks down the Irishman who won over 1 million euro on a single Cheltenham bet 10 years ago with the inside view on Gordon Elliott's runners plus star man Davey Russell is ready for the festival roar once again your free bumper Cheltenham preview magazine today only in the Irish Daily Star bringing Cheltenham 22 to you okay now we're going to be talking about another concern over safety through one of our villages here in the northwest this time it's Dukery village uh Megan McDermott his chair of common forebath and a luxury and joins us on the program now Megan thanks for joining us good morning Greg thanks very much for having me on this morning right describe the situation as you see it from a safety perspective in Dukery village at the moment what do we witness so the lady had to receive medical attention and she was really you know really shook up about the incident and I suppose this incident happened near outside the church our church in Dukery is about roughly about 500 meters from the village and the footpath I'm talking about stretches from the village to the chapel and there's no surface on the footpath it's in a shocking state and it's been like this for a very long time so that's and do you know that Megan was this footpath constructed correctly to begin with and then it's deteriorated over time and needs to be resurfaced always always it never finished properly in the first place I wonder well I suppose at the time as I said it's been like that for a very long time um and you know I suppose at the time it was you know done correctly but just over time it's never been it's never been looked at since and it's never been we need a renewal of it if you know what I mean so um and do you find do we know if because it's an uneven surface and maybe if it's going to the church you know I don't want to make any sweeping statements but you know maybe a number of older people might be more inclined to use it than younger people I don't know what I'm kind of getting at do they do they are they inclined to step out onto the the shore the shore surface of the road and off the footpath and then present themselves with even further danger I wonder yeah well this is at the elderly in my opinion feel isolated from going for that new walk or going to the church they can't use the footpath and it's taken away they're independent because the footpaths are not up to standards um you know and you know our aim as a degree development is to keep improving our village and make it a place for our community to enjoy and to feel safe and um so there's a 50 kilometer speed limit within the village and it's not a day or two therefore we're asking for speed bumps to be introduced as a measure to improve road safety one before and after the church and then you know some throughout the village especially there for example near the school um you know the degree is a through saying we're to both don't know in the door so the speed limit you know honestly isn't a day or two as I say so um so it's the perfect storm isn't it you've got uh speeding traffic and also what you have then is people who may be inclined I don't know of people pushing a pram or in a wheelchair or using you know a walking aid might also say you know let's walk on the road because this footpath isn't up to scratch add that in with speeding vehicles and and it is a serious instant waiting to happen as you mentioned already one person even this last week falling and injuring themselves yeah yeah and it's just I feel like a wake-up call you know to to us and the council especially so we would like to you know as I said we want immediate renewal to the footpath and you know we would like to invite the relevant people in the council to come to come to do hurry and to meet with us and see for themselves the shock and stage of the footpath all right and if anyone has any pictures of it send them into us here even if you do yourself Megan just because obviously you know picture paints a thousand words as they say just so we get an idea of how bad it is but you've described it perfectly and it's not the only footpath in the area that you feel when I say you I mean you as a group feel need attention well as I say that one is mostly used on especially you know on the Sundays and going to mass and stuff like that there but as I say before the school you know young children coming from school it's not safe either because that isn't them footpaths aren't complete either in my opinion or we do also have you know a walkway a little river walk and in the village as well and it's you know made of chips and you know yourself if you wanted to push a push chair or a wheelchair it's not they're all set for purpose either and it's not very fair you know what you know people that's you know only people that can really use it is people that's stable on their feet and you know wheelchair users can't use it prams can't go on it yes you know actually the pictures you already have sent pictures in haven't you or someone um yeah so probably Andrea sent them through to us yeah it's in a terrible state altogether I mean it's not a footpath no it's not it's a it's a track it's not a footpath yeah it's completely deteriorated in parts you couldn't walk on it if you were in any way uncertain on your feet or you couldn't push a pram through what I'm looking at anyway or you would have to avoid it in a wheelchair I'd imagine oh yeah you know there's actual um lumps coming from the ground and it's a trip hazard it's it's more of a hazard than a safety manager this is it's crazy actually because there's a a I don't know what you'd call it like a manhole cover a rectangular manhole cover to all intents and purposes it's actually raised from the ground now because the path has fallen away I mean that in itself is a trip hazard oh yeah 100% and now I know um Councillor Neill Collins and Councillor Norrin McGarvey have raised concerns to the council a month ago and recently but nothing's ever been done about that yeah and when I am talking about both of them I would like to thank both of them um when I am on today I'd just like to thank both Councillor Norrin McGarvey and Councillor Neill for all their help and support to us and they've been very you know very good tough yeah it's kind of worrying though and this is a no way to it's this is a no way to um dilute what your comments there but if this has been raised for months right and it's quite clearly really dangerous and it's not far from you by the way either that we were talking about a month ago of tarmac being piled and dumped you know tarmac that was no use uh it was I don't know how it ended up being of no use but it wasn't that would have fixed this problem that's what we're talking about I think in this day and age it's grand that the cancerists are talking about it it's grand they're raising it with the executive but what we actually really need is someone to go out and fix this problem you know all the talk in the world I mean if this had been fixed that lady may not have been walking out in the road and may not have fallen injured herself do you know what I mean we're talking about people's well-being here it shouldn't be uh just about talk we need action someone from the council needs to quite and have a look at this and say is this acceptable in 2022 it shouldn't just be thought of it should be done there's something has to be done about it and you know as you said Derek Janus and has been on before talking to yourself about the pile up of tar on the road to Dunlowe and that's a prime example that could have been pilot on the footpath and roll it out with a roller and fix two birds with the one stone 100 yeah yeah it's common sense making isn't it it's not we're not I mean we're just the regular folk we're not counselors or we're not engineers but I mean this stuff is is basic that footpath is not fit for use no it's not and it's just all we want done is to be able to keep our you know the people in our village safe and as I said it's it's more of a hazard than a safety measure these footpaths and then the speed that goes along with it on the road is you know it's not it's not right either and I just feel if there was speed bumps or ramps in throughout the village and a decent footpath a proper footpath not just something that is a track a proper footpath that people of all can use I mean listen we're going to get bugged not me and you but when we start talking about speed ramps it's TII it surveys it's all this kind of stuff that it's this stage now goes straight past my head because there's no point taking it in because it's BS we're look what we're looking for is actually just someone to do something here not tell us why it can't be done but the footpath would give pedestrians the best chance in the very short term of being safe and being away from road traffic you know what I mean so if they can't do the ramps right away surely someone can go and fix the footpath and at least then there's some separation between people on foot and people in cars and then we can keep pushing for the the speed ramp so I'm not trying to restructure your campaign but do you get where I'm coming from there's no excuse not to fit the foot to do the footpaths but we could hear all amount of excuses about the road itself do you know that's all the way yeah the priority first of all is sit past throughout the whole village but you know I'm just using the one from the village to the chapel as a as a prime example of how unsafe they are all right listen well done Megan for highlighting it the way you have and the rest of those involved in it we appreciate you coming on with us as well and listen hopefully someone does something about it and if they do I can't wait to praise all the people that we've been talking about and saying fair play to them for listening to the residents and doing this that's how you know a local authority or whatever it is should operate we'll do that too I'll bring you back on and we'll we'll applaud whoever does it you know what I mean it's not about focusing on the negative I can't wait till we're talking about it being done and we'll make sure that we give equal praise as we have criticism but for now Megan thank you thank you very much great take care all right take care that's Megan McDermott there who's chair of Common Forbertha in the in the Dukery and she's of course talking about the situation there I'm mixing two stories her grandmother would find herself stepping out onto the road to avoid the rough surface of the footpath and separately someone tripped on the footpath last weekend and injured themselves and they're very concerned that it could be well it's not an accident won't happen because it's already happened now learning some sad news here from a nine till noon show Greg Hughes Caroline or and all of you perspective and that was the passing of Mary Conlon I'm very saddened by this actually Mary was a regular contributor she's an absolutely amazing person but regularly on with us reviewing the newspapers and she's a former primary teacher we used to have a bit of fun about that about the use of the word retired and all that kind of stuff and just an amazing woman beautiful inside and out and an amazing heart and so much knowledge and has done so much for people over the years as well she passed away very happily and to say surrounded by her family because I know they loved her greatly and she would have got great comfort from that she's survived by her husband Vincent her daughter Darina son Paul son-in-law Seamus daughter-in-law Michelle grandchildren Cypher uh afric John and Ryan sister Margaret brother Joseph sister-in-law Gabrielle Nora and data nephews nieces extended family and friends and um all devastated I am sure today um as are as is anyone that knew her as we are here uh Mary's remains are opposing at the home of her daughter uh Darina at Mary's request the house is strictly private to family only uh requiem mass will take place at the church of the Irish martyrs letter Kenny on Tuesday at 11 a.m followed by private cremation at Lakelands crematorium and I'm just feel blessed to have spent so much time um through the program in Mary's uh in Mary's company and I will really really miss her and it's very very very sad just an amazing lovely woman and may she rest in peace and uh may her family be comforted having known her and known such an amazing woman and having all those beautiful memories to take forward with them really really sad and may Mary rest in peace the 9 till noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter Kenny credit union 9102 127 hi Raymond Sweeney here if your vacuum cleaner has seen better days call into us at Ben Sweeney eronics for a look at the new samsung turbo cordless stickback this lightweight easy control vacuum cleaner picks up fine dust and carpets on the hard floors with a 40 minute battery life and a massive 150 watts of suction power it is now available for 299 euros Ben Sweeney eronics port road letter Kenny and the shopping center done low Ben Sweeney eronics we deliver we install we care we're the connectors at ESB networks we've been connecting customers to Ireland's power network for years we've also been making new connections building a network that's stronger than ever so we can all be kinder to the planet connecting our network to natural resources and Ireland to a net zero future that's more sustainable ESB networks connecting you to a clean electric future do you suffer from heartburn or abdominal pain do you experience frequent constipation or diarrhea if you need or are waiting for an endoscopy consultation then why not come see us at Kingsbridge private hospitals like over we provide excellence in private health care we are approved by all private health insurers and our specialized consultants are ready to see you avoid long journeys and longer waiting lists visit kingsbridgeprivatehospital.ie for more information because life matters don't forget to make inquiries about the fantastic offers we currently have across the range of Nissan and Kia with PCP options available in all new vehicles we have your new car sitting ready to go to find out more call iMotors letter Kenny and Mallon today at 0749134567 or visit iMotors.ie join Dominic Erwin and friends for his ready to shamrock three day event at the Silver Birch Hotel Oma from Tuesday the 15th of March through to Thursday the 17th of March on Tuesday and Wednesday dance the night away with the very best in Irish country music including Jerry Guthrie Barry Kerwin Sean Coddy Jim Devine and Gareth Pritchard culminating with the St Patrick's night concert with Louise Morrissey and Owen Mike there's also late night dancing with John Malloy and Brothers Inc an incredible lineup over three nights at the Silver Birch Hotel admission at the door for more information contact the Silver Birch Hotel Oma okay you're very welcome back to the program on Highland Radio and on to it we're welcome Kevin McPartland CEO of Fuels for Ireland thank you so much for joining us again Kevin good to have you on the program not at all happy to do so right okay um by by many accounts um you know those in the business of supplying fuel at the full court have put in a few difficult days in that you know an awful lot of criticism in their direction an awful lot of criticism of prices apparently going up the day that excise cuts were announced tell us what the situation is from from a from a fuel provider's perspective I think you're right people did put in a very seriously difficult few days not just because people were kind of trying to meet the the demand issue make sure that we had enough fuel on four courts but also because there was someone unrealistic expectations created by some comment from from government and media about when people should expect to see the impact of excise duty and we've had a wide number of or a large number of reports across the entire country of four courts staff being abused and even threatened by people who felt that the excise duty hadn't been applied to the fuel the price the fuel they were paying I think now you can pretty much say that the vast vast vast I mean it would only be absolute outliers who wouldn't have had a supply since the since the duty was changed so that impact should be being felt at essentially all service stations now in addition to that the wholesale prices have reduced okay that's so there's been quite a significant dip in the price of the last couple of days okay we'll talk more about that I think really what may be fueled people's anger and genuinely no pun intended is there is a sense and maybe it's a myth and you can dispel it there is a sense that if an increase is an increase in excise is announced it seems to be applied immediately I think you're right there is a sense and I think you're right also to give me a chance to contradict that sense in truth when excise duty is increased in in the budget there's a couple of things that are different one we know the budget is coming weeks in advance and you try and factor in that there is and also the way politics is done these days it's well flagged what the excise duty increases likely to be so people are beginning to plan for that and and they might be sort of keeping prices down even coming up to budget day so they can reflect that also it does take a couple of days even then to wash through the system entirely so that not every garage will be applying it straight away the other thing is because people know that the excise duty is going to change they tend to run their stocks down so that they can reflect the change quickly none of those things were the case in relation to the announcement last week when the government announced reductions in the excise duty on both petrol and diesel was there anything on the fuel markets that you can recall that would have led to increases on the day prior to the excise duty you know on the day midnight the excise duty came in was there anything on that day that led to increases of 10 or 15 to cent on the markets that that had to be reflected at the pumps just hours before this cut was announced there absolutely was and and if people want to be cynical they can check this Platts PLA double TS is the is the the commodity pricing index is used for for wholesale fuels usually in normal times people will look at what the price for a barrel of crude oil is and think okay three weeks down the line that should impact on the pricing things are just so wild at the moment that that is a fair predictor anymore what you actually need to look at is the wholesale price of diesel and petrol and they're publicly available anybody can look and they can verify this on Tuesday last in the 24 hours in advance of the government's announcement of an excise duty cut the price of diesel on wholesale markets went up 22 cent that's verifiable it's out there anybody can see that that wants to go and see it so yes there absolutely was something on the markets that we can point to that shows why prices had that steep increase equally they can look at Platts for Thursday and Friday of last week and see the price coming down and notice that that has been reflected on the price they're paying this morning so if you have the leader of the country uh michael martin talking about price gouging and and we had a minister on here that that said the same thing was happening and that an inquiry needs to be settled the people need to see what's going on you've got pierce to hearty of shin fame the biggest opposition party making the same charges and of course then you have people at the pump taking the abuse for this right there's a communications or language problem going on here isn't there that i mean we are the public right and we can only we can only presume someone's not telling us so there's a serious communications breakdown somewhere and it is the the the four court workers that are getting the abuse on this i completely agree with you and there is a communications problem as you say when the leader of the government of the country uses inflammatory language like morally reprehensible that is what i in my opinion drove at least part of the abuse and threats that our colleagues and across the sector were facing there was a lack of understanding and let's be charitable and say there was a lack of understanding rather than any deliberate intention to mislead the public but that in itself that in itself is very worrying if you've got the government its leader michael martin and you know pascal donahoe he's the numbers guy right if they expected prices to fall at midnight by you know 15 and 20 cent and they don't understand how this works that's that's almost more worrying with no disrespect to those who were getting abuse but it's that's more worrying because they're in control of this 320 odd million effectively which we on friday were saying where is this money going tell us someone tell us so here's the thing so so the government and i get it right i get why people in donagol and all over the country are fed up at the price of fuel right now i filled my own tank up the other day and was hurting at what it cost so i get that and and government recognize that that's a very unpopular thing it's something which actually really drives people mad and they decided they needed a bogie man and they decided they were going to pass that roll on to us in truth there is only one party here that's profiteering from the situation and that is the government because the high price of fuel right now even after the excise duty cut means that government is collecting an extra 40 to 45 million euro per month in vat on fuel tell us explain that because that can be hard to get the head around so how does it obviously the excise rate doesn't change right the price fluctuates so explain for those of us i mean i i i i finally have worked this out my head but explain then how that means that the government benefits even more so so the excise rate did change last week as as we know but let's forget that happened let's talk to me about well it's important to recognize that it happened right now right so so what we have is a situation where the excise duty is a constant under normal circumstances carbon tax is a constant under normal circumstances the norah levy the veterinary levy are a constant under normal circumstances so the only things that vary are the price of the fuel itself on wholesale markets and then because vat is applied on the final price it's 23 percent of whatever the the total of the rest were so as the price for the fuel product increases that drives the before tax price and then when vat is added on they get they collect even more so right now you the the situation is that because the fuel price is very high therefore the government is getting 23 percent on a very high price and so the addition that they're making against this time last year is somewhere between 40 and 45 million every month when you and i might as well be honest with you and i mean there's an absolute respect to you kevin when you were explaining to me how prices go up so quickly when excise increases you know there was a lot of words in there and i i think they applied to those that operate fairly would you say it is fair to say though that there are those out there that look at these opportunities to sort of increase their take in other words whether it's gouging or or working with the price a little bit to try and eke a little bit more profit out for the company themselves do you think maybe there's that the the public is cynical because there might be a history of things looking a bit unfair dodgy even i i certainly think the public is cynical whether i think they're right to be or not it's a different question i can only tell you what we do you know we had a meeting you talked about how worrying was the government don't understand this stuff we had a meeting on friday afternoon with four ministers and i can tell you what we told them every single member of fuels for island passed on the excise duty cut at 1201 on thursday morning unequivocally without any reservations at all that happened okay now independent petrol stations set their own prices they make their mind of what they're going to charge but here's the thing we're the only business in the country where the price that you will be asked to pay is put up in two foot tall illuminated letters before you ever get onto the premises if somebody is going to try and and increase prices artificially and charge an extra two cent per litre the place down the road will compete with them on price and you and we all know what will happen people will go to the cheaper place this is in that sense it keeps that business incredibly tight in terms of margin right so someone's texting saying well if this is the way it is how come we saw two price changes in some garages on the same day presumably then they're looking at other people's boards and they're going right we're gonna have to you know we're gonna have to adjust ours to try and get some sort of competitive advantage and maybe there's lots they have to consider you know they're it's like a tin of beans to some extent they're free to change the price of those beans seven times a day if they want to dependent on what their neighbours are doing in terms of they are but i would suggest it's very unlikely yeah yeah but i but i suggest it's very unlikely that bachelors or hinds or whoever makes the beans is changing the price on on the wholesale market seven times a day yeah and so if you're a fuel station one you might be getting more than one delivery a day in some cases probably not too many don't go just given the given the the the sales yeah but yeah but but some places will be but what people are doing is looking at what is the price that they paid for the fuel that they have in their tank and what is the price they're going to have to pay for the next load that's coming in and they are moving prices around where can we see the wholesale fuel prices you mentioned that they're publicly available Platts is the name of the agency PLA double TS and that's that you know it's it's widely available on the internet you can see those wholesale prices and you will see the impact of Platts prices on fuel prices with a 48 hour lag or perhaps a little bit longer over the weekend two working days lag and are you seeing any trends at the moment you talked about prices have come down there are still some uncertainty i mean obviously the UAE deciding to that they have a role in this affects things i mean how long it takes for it to filter through and all that we just don't know in terms of the amount of fuel that's available for Ireland and and you know as much as we can look at where costs are going what do you predict over the next as much as you're comfortable in and we're not holding it to it we're trying to sort of get your expertise but we're not going to you know come back to you and say you said this yeah look it's and and and even even if i did have some great insight and i don't i wouldn't mean to position share it because it would be seen as priceingly what i can tell you is that just looking at those wholesale markets prices came down at the end of last week they look like they're they're roughly stable today so it looks like we should stay at the level i mean i know as i said i filled my car up a couple of days ago and the price went down 18 cents the day after i i filled up in the station that i went to so you are seeing those drops reflected on the pump prices already hopefully there will be nothing that will change things too dramatically in the in the near future but equally i don't see anything on the on the immediate horizon that looks like it's going to dramatically increase the volume of fuel that we can get in and therefore reduce prices do you think me home martin owns you owns your members an apology i think you should either clarify the remarks that were reported and if you did say them now that the government has a little bit more information a bit more large i think it would be appropriate i think you might want to i don't care whether you apologize to me or not but you might want to apologize for the people who are who are standing behind the forecourt in baliva fey this weekend who are getting abuse and and insults from consumers because they have been told by the leader of the country that people were profiteering from a war which is an appalling thing to say okay listen thank you very much for your time i appreciate it that's kevin mcpartland ceo of fuels for arland and we were hoping to speak to kevin uh on the day of this this announcement and also on friday unfortunately he wasn't available because there's other commitments so it took until monday for us to get him on what we want is knowledge don't we you know but in the vacuum of of information and some people might go hmm he would say that wouldn't he uh but in the in the absence of information being given to us we can only speculate can't we um where can you go to verify the wholesale fuel prices platz platt tts if you search that i imagine it's quite technical i'm not sure if uh well maybe it's not uh but but you know there's many different sources for oil and and all that kind of stuff anyway uh let's have a nationwide boycott of shops of any garage who's abused fuel price crisis we may need fuel but we uh don't need to buy their other products well how do you determine that because as you mentioned you heard from him some shops are getting uh you know two deliveries a day or whatever and let's not forget either it's uh it's these places that employ our young people too and our older people uh these are of the community um and uh you know they they're involved in sponsorship and all that type of stuff as well so i'm not sure boycotting the shops is is going to be useful uh and and there's an awful lot of factors in there maybe what was seen as a bit of gouging maybe you got the explanation there how's your opinion changed let us know because that's important too you know i wonder if we lost the ability to go actually you know what maybe i jumped to a conclusion that wasn't uh fully correct and it's not our fault we're only hearing this stuff now as you've you changed 08 660 25 000 ask him how a four court price can change twice in one day as it did surely the fuel in the storage wasn't subject to the 22 increase per barrel uh it depends i i don't know as you mentioned there's a lot of as he mentioned sorry there's a lot of factors there that might lead to prices being adjusted i don't know what do you think has your views changed the night till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today if you've got magic moments or great memories captured on your smartphone now is a great time to have them printed at magies.ie simply upload your favorite photos choose your size and finish and magies will take care of the rest with the results delivered to your door prices are from just 12 cent and there's also creative options available preserve your memories today at magies.ie hi dad just popping on to say hi love how did you manage to video call i'm a bit of a computer with these days i can see that and it's not just video calls with high digital free online course paddy also learned to do the grocery shopping and you can so how are you dad hang on i have a very funny gift to send you or is it jiff learn essential online skills today at high digital.ie brought to you by vodafone ireland foundation active retirement ireland and alone vodafone together we can are you thinking of selling your home at robinson estate agents we currently have clients waiting to buy properties due to relocation to dunagrawl call for a free evaluation and find out more about the benefits of using an estate agent with over 25 years experience you can also avail of our free professional marketing campaign let robinson estate agents maximize your sale value today for more information call our offices in letter kenny and on vanity on 07 491 209 0 robinson estate agents working for you central auto parts are now stocking sony a water based paint offering all up to dead colors for all vehicles and cellemix commercial the perfect paint for diggers plant and machinery buy it today at central auto parts port link business park letter kenny find us on facebook or call us on 07 491 27491 highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with a family fly to alicante malaga faro mayorka and malan with ryan air ireland west airport you're flying okay now let's have a look at that weather forecast do i have one for today um i'll get it for you here now oh wait six six two twenty five thousand in the meantime stay in touch with us and have your say on what's happening let's have a look at the weather then uh becoming mostly dry this evening what date is it say that's yesterday today um patchy rain will clear to sunshine and scattered showers through monday morning becoming mostly dry by late afternoon temperatures of nine to ten degrees in moderate to fresh at westerly winds that is your weather forecast right some of your uh comments coming in here terrible story to hear about mary conlon indeed i didn't know her but felt like it did from listening to her on with yourself greg she seemed like a real lady my thoughts and prayers are with her family yes indeed and that's what she was and uh it reminds me to it just reminds me of you know we've all experienced lost i think well many people have and just amazing great intelligent insightful uh voices and opinions that you might not hear again it's very sad um okay back to uh the petrol greg petrol cost 184 in one area yet a few kilometers down the road both petrol and diesel is 199 now i mean that's the back in the day we used to talk about how every petrol station had the same prices so that's good isn't it that's a bit of competition not too far away presumably when the 199 petrol and diesel station gets its new loads in maybe it'll come down i don't know uh right uh counsellor michael mcclaffrey said setting fair aside it's ridiculous that me hall martin is using a private jet the debts aren't even that old if someone's car breaks down it gets fixed but ryan air air lingus they're flying to france and from france to uh england aren't they or is it unrealistic to expect the leader of the government to be flying uh ryan air or air lingus right collin mcdade uh joins us on the program now hi collin morning great good to have you uh on with us right now talk to us about gaugley has this has been mentioned to me a few times uh and it seems uh um certainly it's a beautiful big building i don't know what conditions it's in but i presume it's got also a bit of history to it i've just got a lot of history with uh just the start off i've just i was a comment i put on an article done by harry watch and the very people don't even go on news and just just on that i would like the opportunity just to wash harry a speedy recovery and send him best washes okay that's okay well sure let's he might not want to talk about it but anyway go on i am no the site the plan information month i'm just reading the part of the article that's you know the landowners have said that there's no no mature trees cut down and there was no mass clearance of the wooden gourdley the wooden gourdley was probably the only wood left in the lyrical area the nearest one now being killed by wood the wood is totally gone there's trees up there hundreds of years old cut away now they're saying they have an engineer's reporting all i can't find it then they're done it all kind of country stuff yeah well if they say it's there we'll have to just hold off until such time as we get a look at it uh but but what do you know well first of all whereabouts is this this property and the forest located just opposite there old fields round about you're looking up at gourdley house and say at the house uh the house is there hundreds of years like you know and you know there's a lot of history to gourdley house you know there's a lot of people tied under gourdley house like there is but i mean it's just been sitting there if there are plans and they seem quite ambitious plans to sort of you know bring people into that area to repurpose the the property uh create employment uh is that not a not a positive thing i mean there's no point retaining it there and standing looking at the trees and the house does things not move on uh column and and you know progress uh you know you can't stand in the way of progress no you can't stand the way of progress to greg but you know there's an honest honesty to protect our history and our culture you know and a place important part in the history of littering the gemlands and gourdley was granted you know after the battle of boine apart you know they're going back that far the history of gourdley it's one of the first places planted and and the area and the community you know the house has not listed it should be listed you know it should be protected you know i don't mind them working at the house above the hotel but the massive plans for the area just throughout the context with the whole the whole area and that you know one round there yeah and we know all the parents all the parts of litter kenny where you know we're you know efforts are trying to be undone so we can remember the heritage and history of an area and yet in in in front of our eyes this is going in the other direction some might feel that's going on the other direction but they started off my main concern was the wood yeah the way it was taken away you know i went up through it in different churches like and it was totally gone now say there's people giving out a bit of born and rubbish up there are born and they're born in this robbery now at night uh the mayor from us with this district councilor kevin i hated up people have contacted him about born and all you know this was done under the radar this was done during the lockdown when there wasn't many people about there's a belt of trees around godly wood but anybody is familiar with that area it's been up through the woods they'll get a shock now they've got actual up satellite images off that wood you know before and after it's totally gone and if you know they say that there was no extensive land clearance you know the power station had taken place you know who do you want to take this on now column who do you think needs to sort of get a grip on this uh to examine what's going on or what could go on or is it the council um obviously the council aren't responsible for creating this to be a listed building as such so who do you who do you think needs to take up this campaign alongside the likes of yourself well the stuff aren't the different groups will be coming on the campaign link but the council the council too the council have been very very quiet on us there's not been much word about this this is the third time this is going on for actual planning permission the plan permission ran out in us last year in the 7th of April you know the work has been carried out since the 7th of April last year well I have to be very careful in that I don't know maybe there was a planning extension or whatever until such time as I get a statement from those involved in this we have to just be careful that we don't say anything that we can't substantiate either but I understand that you're going the information you're going from column and we'll have to have a look at it as well it's going to be up before um the planning again I presume and that's where people get to have their say as well there's a new there's a new plan and being put on now for the next couple of months but like you know the thing is stuck the court has stuck with me Greg with the main court has stuck with you was the fact that you know the denial that any mature trees have been and you say you you claim satellite images I've been up through it and there's several people when I I put up a comment on the Harries piece and there's a lot of people comment underneath that people local people up on the area that's you know Bob's mark like there was four different objections from the important panel through this you know there's hundreds and hundreds of pages of documentation to get through in this because there's a massive plan like you know one I think I'm not against development development in that area but you know the present donors isn't denial that anything's taking place and just say that's normal agricultural land clearance is the way they put it you know why are they clearing so many trees or because there's no crops are not gonna be growing up I got you all right the stuff been but like all them big houses was all built and there was all massive trees planted around them even going back to look on it you know the forest OS maps you know garden survey maps come back it's clearly seen that there's a major forest and the Gordley area yes now they have even part of the plan permission have tried to get around it by saying right calm we're gonna have to come back to this because I'm just against the 10 o'clock news but we'll come back to it and I appreciate you taking our call this morning and we'll speak more about it in the future if that's okay you've given us a good idea of what's going on thanks for your time Colomai I do appreciate it take care of yourself Colin McDade there okay it's 10 o'clock we'll be back with more on the night till noon show after the news and obituary notices live on air online and on the Highland radio app this is Highland radio news thanks Greg good morning Ireland is on high alert for cyber attacks from Russia that's according to the foreign affairs minister who says cyber crime has increased by 25% across EU countries in the past fortnight it's feared Russian cyber criminals could target Ireland in response to tough EU sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine minister Simon Coveney says we shouldn't think Ireland won't be affected well we're certainly on high alert for for cyber attacks right now we know that in the last two to three weeks cyber attacks across the EU have increased by 20 25 percent I mean there seems to be a view that's held by a very small number of people that by being neutral and staying out of conflicts like this that all of a sudden Ireland won't be threatened I think that's very naive the onesaw fuel allowance payment of 125 euro will be paid to social welfare recipients from today the measure forms part of the government's efforts to tackle the rising cost of living 372,000 people will get the payment over the coming days Labor Party TD Duncan Smith says the payment is means tested you have a majority of people who would be on job seekers on carers allowance on state pension and that so they are those with the least amount of means to meet the challenges of just trying to meet the cost of living crisis as it exists across all areas from from food to fuel so it is the households and the families that require the state assistance the most and that's why it needs to work and it needs to work right now there's cause on both the government and Donegal County Council to explore the use of mobile homes to house both Micah families and Ukrainian refugees many people affected by Micah will need to be relocated while their homes are being fixed and meanwhile a significant number of Ukrainian refugees will also be seeking shelter in Donegal in the weeks ahead local councillor Johnny McGinnis says a strategic plan needs to be put in place and believes that this avenue should be considered rebuilt or retrofitted or whatever the case may be and also indeed there's a possibility there for the needs of many Ukrainian families that are seeking shelter and protection from the terror that they've experienced so it's our duty at this moment in time to help these people in their time of need Donegal consumers spent the most money in pubs in February the county recorded the biggest increase in pub spending last month nationally over 1.6 million euro a day was spent in pubs during February a new AIB survey shows it's an increase of 49 percent compared to the previous month as hospitality restrictions eased however in Donegal pub spending was up 60 percent on January serious concern has been raised over pedestrian safety in Duhere village it's been claimed that there have been several near misses due to the current state of the footpaths in the village and the speed some motorists are traveling an elderly resident also sustained a severe injury after falling on the uneven surface recently speaking on today's 9 till noon show chairperson of the Duhere Development Association Megan McDermott says urgent attention is needed to the infrastructure for the well-being of the local community you know it's not it's not right either I just feel if there's speed bumps uh or ramps in throughout the village and a decent footpath a proper footpath not just something that is a track on the Taoiseach's annual St Patrick's Day trip to Washington D.C. begins today Miho Martin will fly to the U.S. this afternoon for a week of diplomatic engagements culminating in the meeting with President Joe Biden on Thursday the war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda along with the long-standing issues facing the undocumented Irish in America Pshok Miho Martin says there's lots for the two leaders to discuss it's an opportunity to reset the Irish U.S. economic relationship and how that's maturing and evolving in respect to the number of Irish companies who are investing in the U.S. grading jobs in the U.S. and of course the American multinational companies who make such an enormous contribution to the Irish economy whether now after a cloudy and damp morning it will become mainly dry today with sunny spells and just occasional light passing showers highs of 9 to 11 degrees we're back with the headlines at 11 o'clock until then good morning the obituary notices for monday morning the 14th of march the death has taken place of Bridget Gallagher, Neboil, Kentucky, Roshine Acres, Burton Port and Glasgow funeral service on the 21st of march at one o'clock in Lynn crematorium St mongo's Glasgow family flowers only donations to McMillan nurses the death has occurred of Mary Conlon, Moira Jo Moore, Fernbank, Mahara Renan letter Kenny and Donnie Galdun Louie. Mary's remains are opposing at the home of her daughter Dorina at Mary's request the house is strictly private to family only Requiem mass will take place at the church of the Irish martyrs letter Kenny tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock followed by private cremation at Lakelands crematorium family flowers only please donations and Lou to the oncology unit matter private hospital or the Donnie Gull hospice care of Marley funeral directors letter Kenny or any family member the funeral mass can be viewed on the Irish martyrs Facebook page the death has taken place of Moira O'Donnell Craig no Horna Karen Donna funeral on Wednesday at 11 o'clock at the Sacred Heart Church in Karen Donna and termined afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the wake is strictly private and removal private on the morning of the funeral at the family's request place the death has taken place of Margaret Noble Pearl Miller Miltown St Johnston house private to family and close friends only funeral leaving her late residence tomorrow at half past one for service at 2 o'clock in St Johnston Presbyterian Church with burial afterwards in the family plot family flowers only donations if desired to the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland care of any family member the death has occurred of Kathleen Brown three Mullen Drate Stranorla her remains are opposing her late residence funeral leaving her late residence tomorrow morning at quarter past 10 for Requiem mass at 11 o'clock in the church of our Lady of Perpetual Sucker Glen Finn in termed afterwards in Kilwura Cemetery the Requiem mass can be viewed live on the parish webcam donations and lieu of flowers if so desired directly to the Donegal Hospice care of any family member house private to family and close friends only please and the death has taken place of Connell McGarvey Bally here in Kilmachranon and formally Grove Hall Kilmachranon his remains are opposing at his home Requiem mass this morning at 11 o'clock in St Columbus Church Kilmachranon burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the Requiem mass the Requiem mass can be viewed on church services tv St Columbus Kilmachranon house private on the morning of the funeral 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 night and noon show on Highland Radio and you're very welcome back to the program we're into the second hour now lots to come between now and 12 stay right where you are including your comments Greg I'd like to know how many of our politicians or our sorry our millionaire landlord politicians are leading from the front by opening their homes to refugees probably have to wait until they return from their taxpayer taxpayer funded St Pat's Day trip before we get an answer from them I was contacted by a friend yesterday who was looking to rent a house in letter Kenny that they saw advertised on the website and they knew I lived in the area they were seeking 1000 euro deposit and 500 euro per room I explained I didn't think this was true and someone was using the house as a scam when I checked with both the house owner and the person on the website I discovered he was using Google Maps to get a photo of the house and it was a scam this is very dangerous as people know others are desperate at the moment to find somewhere to rent please be careful and view an actual house before handing over any money online so that caller claims that you know we've covered these stores before particularly it seems with student accommodation where you know land landlords and inverted commas would use the property they don't own scammers effectively to try and get deposits out of people and what have you well this caller saying they've investigated a case and it's happening in letter Kenny oil prices have not doubled but trebles in the last 18 months it shows actually that's from going back to friday so I'll come back to that in a second hi Greg was told that our call is going up five euro a bag asked the green counselor that you had on friday what's happening they are absolutely destroying any chance of having any money at the end of the week with all this green tax yeah that kicked in on friday night was it that's your carbon tax a caller says our land is the country in most debt in europe this won't end well well we're not really you know uh i'm not trying to soften it but if you look at national debt in relation to the GDP ours runs at 59.5% but behind a whole go of countries Greece 205% Italy 155% Portugal 133 Spain 120 Cyprus France Belgium Croatia Austria Slovenia Hungary Germany Finland Slovakia all ahead of us in terms of their indebtedness the national national debt that's going back actually a little bit so maybe it's been updated since but there had to have been some change in the course of a last year for us to become the most indebted but we'll look at the updated figures and see if that's the case Greg why doesn't the government and the TDs cut their wages to help the country it wouldn't it would it would perhaps it would show some apathy perhaps with us but it wouldn't actually really make any difference the amount of money we're talking about what happens when the law is parked up and people are out of work standing on a dole cue who pays for that another caller says the person who points out lifts the the person who point out lifts an accident on claims it's absolutely correct okay right i think this is to do with car pooling um you know we had a suggestion last week that maybe we could start car pooling the stuff to save our fuel usage thumbing was also suggested but someone said look it's not it's a claim waiting to happen if you have a crash he's absolutely correct it's a sad world when doing so could end up with your downfall in a huge insurance claim a rise in year insurance on year year on year left walking it's a sad world but your caller is correct okay uh regarding fuel prices it's not the petrol stations that are not passing the price in decreases on in the donagall area it's the fuel terminal they're not giving the decreases there was supposed to be a 15 decrease on diesel and they only give one cent so you can't blame the filling stations for that i'm not saying that some filling stations aren't creaming it but they all aren't totally to blame and that came in before we had done we were very keen to have that conversation with mr mcpartland a little earlier on as it relates to you know what is actually happening with prices at the fuel hospital right remember we uh last week someone wanted to know why st joseph's hospital in stern all or is not allowing visitors or there are quite heavy restrictions as it relates to visiting well the hsc responded to say that visiting at st joseph's community hospital is continuing however due to the high covid numbers in the area it is being carried out on a scheduled basis enabling management and staff to manage footfall within the unit there are no scheduling requirements for those visiting uncompassionate or end-of-life grounds concerned relatives wishing to clarify any issue around visiting should contact management at the hospital on 9 1 3 1 0 3 8 now it was the fact that people thought it was quite restrictive in um how you could visit but that's an answer there okay it is time for us to play the bingo now good luck if you are playing today stay where you are we'll be back with more on the 90 noon show after the it's time for mcbi bingo on highland radio it's monday the 14th of march you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s11 it's game number 11 the numbers are 14 39 16 11 85 4 9 64 52 and finally 25 phone your claim to 9 1 0 4 8 double 3 before 8 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfimbeds.ie Ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer you'll get a comfy Irish made mattress upholstered base and headboard from an amazing 229 euro check out the full range at dfibeds.ie delivery free and guaranteed to you within seven working days dfi beds sleep well live well highland radio wants to send you on the holiday of a lifetime plus five grand spending money get your ticket now at highland radio dot com answer the question and start packing start packing draw takes place April 14th on the 9 till then show get your ticket early and enter a bonus draw for an extra week's holiday in turkey pay for the price of one start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio buying or moving home can be a strange mixture of excitement and stress so the last thing you need is worrying about conveyancing time to call macklehenny and associates they'll move that property transaction along swiftly make sure everything's in order and prevent any nasty surprises residential commercial leasing or voluntary transfer call today on 0749175989 or find us online we'll do the paperwork you do the wallpaper macklehenny and associate solicitors turn order how can we help next up for fun harps in the league of Ireland primary division is an away trip to slago robos for the derby at the showgrounds join us for coverage on highland radio this monday evening from 7 45 p.m. kickoff thin harps on highland in association with b&s credit union baller buffet sign up to receive your a gm booklet by email and you could win an overnight stay on dinner for two at harvey's point hotel visit b&s credit union on facebook to enter b&s credit union limited is regulated by the central bank of Ireland okay you're welcome back to the program good morning jerry walsh how are you very well thank you okay um you and uh your mate damien he's from max bar and don canali uh driving with two others to distribute food and medical stuff to ukraine from monday the 21st so tell us why did you decide to get involved in this um myself and damien had a chat there last week and we just decided let's do something from this part of the county and uh because i have big fans he's got good contacts we put the word around and then we decided to set up a go fund me page and it's been fabulous support from local people and we're heading off this day week no other reason we've seen the photographs we've all seen the videos we've all seen the tiktoks and it's absolutely devastating that you see mothers and children crossing the border with nothing except the clothes on their backs and we thought we would do our part because the Irish people are very generous worldwide we're known to be happy friendly people and uh that's basically why we're doing this and you have your contacts as you mentioned in poland so you know that whatever is given you can get to those that need it that's correct the first cousin of mine dammit hamilton who who's from canada but uh it works for a humanitarian fund in the ukraine and then when all this broke out he had to leave the ukraine for a few weeks and he came back to ireland and there two weeks ago he had a back couldn't go to ukraine obviously so his business or the company he works for set up in slavakia and uh i speak to him on a regular basis so he set up a whatsapp so i can get direct underground forced hand information of what's going on slavakia with the border and poland with the border and speaking to him there over the weekend he were planning to meet in poland but he said that would be confirmed today and he gave me a list of stuff that is required over there and some of the stuff they obviously can supply but basically he said children's food and nappies sanitary stuff for ladies all that sort of stuff is in big demand medical stuff big demand as well and winter clothes he said uh what's it called required not summer clothes but he says they have tons of that stuff already so it's basic stuff what we're bringing we've had duncanini national school to big collection they've supplied an awful lot of gear but we are still looking for basically medical stuff lady stuff baby food that sort of stuff would be much appreciate in terms of the clothes jackets all that that's not your focus of this trip it's the it's the practical items i mean they are practical items but there's an awful lot of that stuff over there already correct there's an awful lot of that stuff practical stuff as you can imagine all the mothers with their babies crossing the border they're all starving that sort of stuff that sort of focusing on that sort of stuff jerry what kind of size of a vehicle are you taking over we're taking two Volkswagen crafters one is my own business and another one's supplied the SNR motors and they're big vans you can stand up inside them and we can put an awful lot of stuff yeah and how do people get it to you because the logistics on this side is you don't have an awful lot of time as you mentioned the local school getting involved and what have you but there are people that are listening that might go right i want to help out here so are you looking for donations and then that is purchased or you're looking for people if they're in your shop and they buy nappies and they want to buy nappies for themselves and maybe pick up another packet for someone else that might need them over there is that what way are you doing the logistics side of it jerry what what we're doing at that side is contact day meaning max barn done clearly that's the fourth point of contact for that sort of stuff then if they don't want to supply actually products if they go to max bar max bar which is the facebook name there's a link there to go fund me page which every little bit helps we've about four and a half thousand so far we're looking for ten thousand what we're doing with that some of that would be used for obviously fuel fuel expenses going across and the vans have been supplied so there's no outlay of money there and also when we get there we believe there's a number of little at these aldis and we can be buying food vouchers from them directly and distributing them to certain causes and we get over there through my contact who's who'd be able to give me first time information on us all right um have you are you concerned at all for your own well-being in in that i mean obviously you know uh you might end up going none whatsoever you know because it's not even on your radar that that side of it doesn't even come into it what the people are going through over there you know you just we just cannot comprehend it at this minute in time and it's going to get worse for them i mean if the war stops tomorrow you've got to rebuild the country you know so this is going to go on a long time so stuff is going to have to be constantly shipped across from small organizations like ourselves the big government bodies you know this is not going to go away you know yeah okay um and lots and lots of people are doing it and imagine in terms of you know this is the furthest west in europe that that stuff will be transported to where it's needed as well not that that matters but it's it's not insignificant either jerry no it's not i mean we have good transportation loads in europe or fabulous you know so if people want to track the journey by the way i'm not sure if you mentioned it but you're going to so in other words and i think this is important that people can feel if they contribute they can sort of track the track getting there you know which i think is quite an important connection to jerry yeah no that will be put up on the facebook and max bar max bar and there will be a tracking live event i was in a live you know the track is minute by minute with a tracking unit in one of the bands so people see the little blue dot on their map and they can see how far we're going you know uh so that's the way we're doing it all right and the uh just remind people of how they get in contact with you and the gold fund me page as well please jerry yes hold on one second to give me that phone number have it written down here a problem if you can't find it we can read it out after after the yeah i'll give it to you there shortly okay max bar max bar max bar max bar you'll see the gold fund me link press stuff and you just don't let's go to the facebook page okay that's it max bar max bar okay listen jerry safe travels will endure thanks and maybe we might touch base with you along the way but thank you very much for now for for giving us a heads up i appreciate it no problem no thank you all right bye bye take care of yourself right okay um not just as it relates we were talking about the national debt here um i wanted to look into a bit more the last the latest figures i can get are from 2021 now this is debt per head across europe and arland is the most indebted 48 291 per head that is the debt in this country that's a shift of 8.8 percent on the previous year belgium very close behind 47 840 per head of the population there their national debt increased by 5.7 italy 45 000 odd france 41 the uk 38 austria 38 so in terms of the debt per head uh using that measurement across europe arland it's the most indebted which is an accurate statement so as to say based off what i'd read somewhere else but more than happy to um to confirm to to go back to it as well and i thought i was not too not too proud in that regard okay ronan scully is on the slovakian ukraine border he joins us now ronan how are you keeping we're doing uh greg and to all your listeners and highland radio and thank you so much for um for having me on your program this morning i'm on the border so i'm of ukraine and the slovakia in a place called pizna nemicek and it's the biggest crossing there's three crossing so there is and we're working at two of them there's another crossing called uble crossing as well and at this present time since the wars begin just over 190 000 ukrainian refugees have passed over the borders where i am i'm here about 14 days now so i'm greg and it's just devastating to see what's happening um i don't know one thing that's sticking in my head is that i don't know when you know when you're going on holidays you're at airports and you have your your your suitcase and it makes clickity track on the ground well that's this constant sound that we're hearing as they come through the the gates here of business nemicek and you see here the wheels the the clickity track wheels on and those same bags have been repurposed to literally just carry as much as they can because everything else has to be left behind absolutely like and they're totally devastated and it's mainly just women and children greg it's just the cedar face and the cedar the sort of you know the sadness in their face how tired they are how lost they are you know one woman that mariana and her two little girls uh i was chatting or having a cup of tea with her and basically uh you know as you said to me since when you're over the far side of the border in ukraine it's like being in hell you're wasting in hell and then when you come across the border you know it's like coming into heaven in the sense that you're in some ways you feel like this you're going to be safe uh so it's just it's just just devastating and i was across the border there two days ago as well bringing medical supplies and equipment to um two hospitals that were helping in a base called avana franceski it's about 270 kilometers from the border and basically we brought about 60 um cubic meters of medical supplies and medicine to them and basically we're going to be working with that municipality and we hope to be working in western Ukraine when peace comes and hopefully it'll come soon because one of the doctors said we were going through the needs what needed in the hospital when it came to the last request she says the biggest request we want you to give we want you to go and talk to your leaders and please ask them to make sure that we can have peace in our country because our country is destroyed our our children are being killed our men are being killed our women are being killed and we just want peace so please that's the message that she wanted us to bring back with us is to ask everyone the powers to be for peace and to do all you can for peace uh in in in Ukraine yeah and you just you just wonder if that's happening can i ask ronan since um you know i think there's a lot of people i don't think i mean we we're hearing a lot of people from central or eastern Ukraine traveled as far as traveled into the west of Ukraine uh you know to relative safety now obviously what we've seen from russia over the last couple of days is attacks in in western areas i wonder are people rethinking now have you what i'm getting to really ronan have you seen an increase in traffic since russia started their their targets further west in Ukraine absolutely like i mean it was about you know five or six thousand coming across the day it's now going up beyond 10 000 but also if you go to the far side on the ukrain side of the border right it used to be about five kilometers of traffic that's now gone to 15 kilometers uh you know in cars and vehicles and then you know it used to be about two kilometers of people that's now gone to eight kilometers of people so people are on the move and also then in the place called husharot which is a city close to the ukrain border and basically there's loads of people there there's a lot of ukrainians coming to the border they don't want to cross the border because they're hoping that peace might come you know and we we reckon that there's probably close on eight million displaced ukrainian people within ukraine at the moment making their ways towards borders or making their ways to you know where they can be safe so if this peace doesn't come i'm afraid to say that it's going to get a lot lot worse at the moment that the border crossings we're able to make sure that people are going to relatives or they're going to hotels or they're going to special accommodation that's provided by the slovakian government and then some of them are going onwards to europe so they are but it basically if it keeps going the way it's going we're going to have to you know refugee sort of villages basically on the border so we are because have you spoken to to many people that have fled from ukraine like you know like i had conversations with them as to you know maybe whether they should see to putans demands do you know what i mean whether uh you know they should declare neutrality whether or not the the two eastern areas should be and and Crimea should be recognised you know like i'm just wondering dependent on where in Ukraine are they saying look if it gives us our country back of its peace then that's a price we're prepared to pay or are they like you know we're going to battle this out to the to the to the bitter end like what is that do you think the general population of Ukraine what do they feel about the situation and and and the resolution to it well i think most of all they're heartbroken to be honest with you Greg it's i mean it's just a worry about their loved ones left behind they're worried about where they're going they're heartbroken they're angry at Putin the love Silencki you know uh basically i was talking to one one man who was at their drop in his wife and his children to the border and basically uh on the ukraine side and basically he said like he didn't like any men that was leaving the country because you know he wanted to to protect this country and protect his livelihood uh you know so they're very very angry what's happening with the russian so they are and all they want is peace but i mean they won't give up their country that easily if you know what i mean uh but basically like the stories are of heartbreak you know a little young boy 11 year old young boy last week arrived here at our border station and he was at the walking like some 600 miles so he was by himself with a group of people his mother wrote the names of his relations and phone numbers on his arm and on his passport when he arrived the police rang them and they came to get him and basically there was a big news story here last week also another man came from France the 70-year-old man is against with his name and he comes with the keys of a house he had in Perpignan wanted to give them to a French refugee also you had a guest on there before there you know they're bringing supplies like there's loads of glories coming but it's very important if people are bringing things it's you have to have the right papers to get into your crane in a lot of cases you can't get into your crane uh we're looking at we have an agreement with the Ukrainian health authorities to be able to bring the medical supplies in and you know what i mean but there's lots of people on the borders you know need various types of stuff like we have a soup kitchen on two of the borders at night time with a local Slovakia NGO called Stepping and we're on both sides of the Ukrainian side and the Slovakian side and basically when the cars pull up as I said you know there could be 15 kilometers of cars and that's coming constantly and basically we go to the cars with cups of tea and cups of coffee and you know like those soft drinks and soft biscuits for it's important the right stuff goes over there because you know and I'm not saying I'm not saying it wasn't meant it didn't come from the hard but we do know that some people have just emptied out stuff out of their house that they don't use and that's actually complicating for those having to work through it it has to be the right absolutely because you started out here then as well and then suddenly there's a there's some that you can use and some you can't use like the big ask here is really blanket medical supplies nappies for children and you know the Slovakian government are playing a storm and the Slovakian people are playing a stormer here on the border lots of their local NGOs like the Red Crosses you know christian organizations they're all here with soup kitchens and food and stuff like that you know what I mean so it's important that people are bringing stuff that there's a warehouse to baby store the stuff and then it's also you know it's needed more across the border in Ukraine in a lot of ways and it's about having the proper papers to get that across the border to the people but there's as I said like 2.6 million refugees have crossed the border so there's a huge need for people when they come across the border especially if they haven't got relations to go forward to and especially if they're staying within the countries that they've come across into before their process to go on maybe to other parts of Europe and I know the Irish people are you know I've never been found wanting and trying to help and support people and I suppose in life Greg for me anyway there's no better thing that you can do in life than to help someone or care for someone or be there for someone or love someone and help someone out that's what we're trying to do with South Africa and with the Irish Emergency Alliance and people can go to both websites self-helpafrica.org or irishemergencyalliance.org and you know you talk about the situation in Africa as well you know everything that happens where everything in the world has a knock on effect and unfortunately already the events are we're seeing huge price rises right across the globe and that's having different impacts in different parts of the world and lives are being lost elsewhere not necessarily directly as a result of this but certainly as a result of it. Ronan thanks for your time today stay safe I appreciate you giving us that insight okay thanks Greg take care right Ronan Scully there he's on the Slovakian Ukraine border 08 660 25 000 uh is how you get in touch with us the 9 till noon show with letter Kenny Credit Union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 my family needs refreshing so we're off to center parks re-discovering the great outdoors re-energizing on the zip wire over the lane re-charging in Aquasana Spa refueling at Hope's American Marine Grill reconnecting with each other center parks family refreshed need a new part for your Ford car or van when a call to OMS Auto Parts in Bonkranagh with a massive stock of four parts you're sure to get the part you need free next day delivery and orders over 50 euro call 0749361924 or shop online at omsautoparts.io are you thinking seriously about changing or upgrading your car if so make your next call to iMotors and view our full range of Nissan and Kia we are confident we have your next car with fantastic offers and all new vehicles iMotors in letter Kenny and Mallon are here to help you drive away in your new 2022 for more information or to book a test drive call our sales team today on 07491 34567 or visit iMotors.ie getting ready for the football season ahead visit Brian McCormick sports and leisure main street letter Kenny Adidas Copa sense football boots and soft ground and firm ground from only 80 euro Adidas classics Copa Mondial World Cup and Kaiser Cup SG just arrived the new predator edge 0.1 fg in black football boots gloves shorts and socks in store or online click and collect on bmcsports.ie are you interested in becoming a foster carer Tuzla are hosting a fostering coffee morning in the Mount Erika hotel letter Kenny on Tuesday March 15th from 10 30 to 12 30 where you can talk to existing foster carers and Tuzla staff Tuzla always welcome inquiries about fostering and supported lodgings for more details call 9 1 23701 hurry last few days to enter our first holiday giveaway buy a ticket for the Highland Radio holiday mega draw today and you'll be entered into the bonus draw this wednesday on the 9 till noon show one lucky winner will receive a fabulous holiday for two to turkey this october simply go to highlandradio.com and click on winner holiday main draw for the 10 000 holiday and 5 000 cash takes place on the 14th of april 2022 for a huge selection of furniture all in one showroom pull into grow furnishings in nether kemi sofas beds wardrobes tables and chairs also a range of carpet vinyl rugs and laminated flooring if it's time for a change it's time for a visit to grow furnishings grove deliver throughout donnie gall dairy and tarone be inspired at grow furnishings kill toy road letter kemi okay you welcome back a caller says it's amazing how everyone is so good in helping the people of ukraine these huge procural houses could help house some refugees coming from ukraine it's something that it should be looked at so let's not presume that's not happening either uh until we know otherwise the government is paying landlords 300 euro to take in ukrainian refugees but what about if an landlord takes in an irish homeless person they get uh nothing but they do don't they is that not what the hat payment is no terrible things are happening in ukraine but when was it decided that things the us do is fine but when the russians do it it's suddenly it's legal how many countries has the us gone into for some reason political gain and then left those countries in disarray the incident with the truck at the russian embassy was so wrong we should not be encouraging hate many fine russian people live in this country and deserve to have their embassy here to represent them i mean we've talked about it there is a an element of of hypocrisy in what the west has decided to do but that doesn't in any way justify what's going on at the moment you see uh i think that's pretty clear hi greg love the show could you say a big hello to francis freel heading to boncran for the 12-hour shift from michael in letter kenny always be a wee bit cautious of that one in case i say something wrong and happy 81st birthday to mary mcgonagall in college farm road that's in letter kenny from your son martin and your family here are the dixie chicks all right so that is uh the chicks they call themselves the chicks don't they they're still the dixie chicks on uh our computer here but i believe now they go by uh just the two the chicks okay it's ridiculous the government ministers flying off while the people here are facing such a crisis they did the same at the start of the covid outbreak indeed and it's not that long in fact obviously uh since leo faradkar was over in new york wasn't it and he made the announcements that he did my son and daughter-in-law work and are out of the house most of the day when they returned a day last week the back door was all taped over they're concerned that someone was attempting to break into the house did this happen to anyone else now what do you mean by all taped over this uh is this a tech technique that the uh burglars might use to reduce the noise of glass breakage i don't know anyone has have an insight into that uh 08 60 25 000 um what half-wit came up with the idea that russia is going to be interested in doing a cyber attack in arland i would think the communication system in arland is that bad that russian it people would have to be a pure genius to even get through to them never mind hacking them well you see i mean obviously you know we do have a sophisticated network it network here because all the global giants operate out of here facebook twitter tiktok uh intel so on and so forth so i understand we can be you know have a go at ourselves but there's plenty of the top top end of technology in this country greg the fuel allowance should be given to people who are on social welfare payment there should be no threshold on payments now as we're in a crisis in this country how do you listeners feel about this issue okay we've asked them hi greg it is the responsibility of the npws to enforce protection of trees any cutting of a tree with a growth of more than 18 inches is illegal unless the license is issued to do so by the national park and wildlife service hi greg the hsc is crying out for workers i can't understand why myself and loads of other people are still on a panel since last april why uh are we not called in uh do you believe that you have the skill sets to match the vacancies that's there because that's what we've heard in the past from the hsc but listen there are fewer people going into teaching and education courses at the moment than has previously so we'll see greg one petrol station in my area 199 for petrol and diesel is this the normal price you will see it in places we're hearing that maybe that's the price they're set at the moment but it should be lower and if they get a new stock of fuel in which they'll be playing less excise on that should be reflected at the pumps that's what we're being told i don't think you realize how bad this disforest deforestation is greg go to the back of the town park and you'll see the damage done listen that was our first time speaking about it um i have to be careful here in that um i it doesn't mean it's not the case but if you say that someone is responsible for something and they believe they're not you know you have to be careful and give everyone a right to reply and be fair in that regard so i'm not in any way underestimating it but we're at the start of the story and we'll follow through on that uh and get more answers the two four courts or two four courts in our area of donagall town uh not donagall town ad donagall town had diesel at 214 and 210 for petrol during the weekend and in nearby town the two four courts said 199 for diesel and 198 for petrol how can that be explained that's a 14 cent of a difference per liter that in real terms is 66 p a gallon difference sent well as gain what we're being told is is that perhaps the service station selling it at the lower price they bought it they bought the stock with the lower x size and maybe because they're not selling that much maybe the town with the more expensive prices are still selling diesel with the higher x size rate but that's competition too isn't it you can travel and save money isn't that what we've been critical of in the past of that industry uh disgraceful cutting down all these old trees so much for halting climate change this is why um it's happening okay well let's look at that what are people with disabilities meant to do when they need to fill up their cars at four courts should all garages have attendance well some do some don't and i presume those who are less inclined to either want to get out of the car or might have mobility issues they're probably going to visit the stations that do have attendance aren't they uh the government has this country crippled they're putting everyone out of work with the price of everything i don't care what the war is doing we can't keep the people in this country at the moment full stop yes these people need help i agree but let the rest of the EU step in and give these people what they need but as for our land let's look after our own people first that's their view uh finally can't believe a man was on saying you should use student accommodation for refugees we all know the problem our own students are having getting accommodation in the area where they are attending college there were students from dublin sligo and other counties who had to travel to letter kenny on a daily basis because no accommodation was available in letter kenny yep and i agreed and i don't think the use of student accommodation is a realistic suggestion at all the night till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today are you worried about trees on your property northwest forestry services balibuffet are fully insured and have over 40 years experience in dangerous tree removal tree felling surgery and stump grinding for peace of mind call northwest forest services balibuffet for no obligation quotation on 9132033 call her mum or mam ma mummy at aldi we have the perfect gift for her this mother's day in store march 24 mother's day tulips 499 and magnificent mum bouquet 1499 in store march 26 lasting love bouquet 2999 and in store now costalore prosecco rosey 1299 she deserves to feel special this mum or ma ma mummy mum mum's day aldi bring home the love this mother's day get the facts be drinkware visit drinkware.ie Donegall hearing clinic now open up your short letter kenny and bunkrana now offering stid if the aren't rechargeable hearing aids free with your PRSI also pain-free micro suction wax removal services call 07491-88470 or donegallhearingclinic.ie life sounds brilliant with donegall hearing clinic bingo every monday night at halfway house bingo burnford doors open 7 30 eyes down at 8 30 2500 euro musko the snowball is now 5000 euro on 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that halfway house bingo tonight at 8 30 Crawford tiles and more castle fin bank holiday weekend special close in patrick's day open bank holiday friday and saturday 20 off floor tiles 20 off bathroom wall tiles 20 off a tease of grouts and trips delivery service available Crawford tiles and more castle fin 9143942 a new year a new floor at floor it we offer quality solid semi-solid and laminate click vinyl wood flooring together with a vast choice of parky herringbone flooring all fitted and tailored to your needs call in today and see for yourself the fantastic offers available this january call floor it today on 087 1617 008 or visit floor it.ie now we're joined on the program by andrea brannick and andrea thanks for taking the call today and what is every day is a nightmare for you but i presume uh today being the fifth anniversary of the death of daniel it's it's even more difficult for you as a parent right um what is the situation as it relates in relation to um finding someone responsible for daniel's death can you give us an update on what you've been what your experience of of uh the the trial to date has been so far at spring we're on what December 10th of the date so it's been really slow and it seems to be all about house human rights because if he doesn't want to take court it doesn't go ahead so if he says i don't want to go to court today that's it it's the case doesn't go ahead it doesn't go ahead right and in terms of you know what you were told the court case would be like is anything surprising you is anything different than the way you believe it should be i was originally told and five years ago that the fast track and it would be over very quickly we're now five years on and we're still basically at the start of it but it's meant to recommence now in the 23rd are you hopeful that things might speed up no not really because i've been promised this before okay so i mean you don't have any i mean have you lost faith in in the judicial judicial system there if you had lost faith on the system and i've lost faith and i helped it that the embassies can give you yeah are you able to access the trial remotely no i have always been refused that i have asked for that the last five years and i've always been told no so you're only getting updates from your legal team then yes which must be just a horrible way to which we can access um to do very recordings for him to see but i'm not allowed to do it unbelievable stuff um do you get a sense of how the trial is going in terms of that it feels like they're trying to find out if this person is responsible do you understand like do you do you get where i'm coming from sorry i know you understand andria yeah so that's not that that's more than i get you right so you'd be confident of you'd be you'd be feel the evidence is strong but the fact that it's been out it's filibustered do we call it in political terms the rate they're just dragging it out yeah okay and in terms of the dragon out he doesn't seem to want to at the end of you know what i mean yeah well his conditions might change quite significantly maybe from well at the moment um if he was sentenced to failure um he'd be sentenced to hard liver or he would be sentenced to death and what is his current situation okay so the court is due to recommence and on the 23rd of march is anyone able to because of course not only is this delaying uh delaying justice for you andria but i mean presumably they want the whole court system over there to move more quickly they're all about um they are opening a new court system but they say it could be 2024 before it has opened and had to be for um children and women uh due to the violence uh that have had violence uh crimes come out again do you feel that the irish state in as much as it can is putting enough pressure on to embarrass the authorities over there to move quickly no like would you feel forgotten yeah which compounds obviously everything you're already going through it makes it worse how do you think i sent them an update last week on the court and how it was going and i hadn't heard from them since the end of november and the reply i got on friday was thank you for the update that's it they were thanking me for updating them on the trail which shows a lack of understanding do you know was a liaison not appointed to you i was never ever given a liaison officer right okay i don't think you were contacting them to keep them updated you were contacting them to say look this is our situation what are you going to do about it yes basically not far but the reply i got in terms of dealing with your loss does this make it even more difficult this court case that the frustration and upset really that maybe you feel that the you're not getting the support can't grieve until the court case that's probably over you're in purgatory really isn't it you're sort of in between your stock was your company trying to get trying to get updates from people and you're trying to and you're trying to also update other people like the embassies and et cetera i hope and that they'll step on but i think they haven't all right andrea well we're thinking on you and we just hope things move a bit quicker so you can in some way or other start moving into the next phase of of your life because as i say this is just an anchor on you and it shouldn't be taken as long as it is and we just really hope that things are resolved as soon as possible all right andrea thanks for speaking to us that's andrea brannigan mother of daniel mcgloughlin and you would know of course um that it was five years ago today that 28 year old daniel was found dead in a schedule secluded spot in canakona an area of goa popular with holiday makers this was march 14th 2017 uh originally from donagol she traveled to the country where she was planning to train as a yoga teacher but uh her life was taken away from her a person has been charged with her murder um and he's before the courts in india but as you heard it's taken an awful long time uh for that situation to be uh for that trial to to come to its conclusion one way or other andrea would be hopeful of a positive outcome in terms of someone being found responsible but still you can just imagine can't you if you put yourself in her position you can just imagine that what life is is like dealing with an awful loss which we were talking about uh on the show last week weren't we about the loss of a child but in these circumstances and then the distance and struggling to get justice it's just heartbreaking the night'll noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie farmers you're built different one step after the other you don't see the rewards for months or years that's life on the farm or you could say that's life in rehab when you're learning to walk after a machinery injury one step after the other you don't see the rewards for months or years just because you've the strength to see you through rehab it doesn't mean you should have to farmers always take care around machinery from the health and safety authority visit hsa.ie forward slash farm safety tune in this tuesday to the community garden information on air after 10 a.m on the night till noon show with greg hughes in association with north west alarms your one-stop shop for domestic and commercial security in dunigal when it comes to herding up the latest news views and reviews on farming in ireland nobody does it like the farming independent chasing down key stories trends and topics from the ever-changing world of farming and i agree in ireland so pick up the farming independent every tuesday and get the lay of the land up close and independent head value balibuffet has just got bigger head value have opened store number two at sammerich row bunkrana and to celebrate one lucky customer will win one thousand euro of home heating oil simply call into either store during the month of march and you will be entered into the draw head value are open monday to friday from 10 a.m till 6 p.m sunday's 12 till 5 with fantastic offers across both stores head value your one stop shop for all your animal needs hi folks plombie devill here inviting you join us this monday night for another edition of the monday night sessions on the show this week we welcome billy meganis from aslan who will be telling us all about the upcoming 40th anniversary tour and his recent stint on dancing with the stars will also be joined by good friends paul and martina bennett better known as jackson rump so that's a monday night sessions with myself and jimmy stafford this monday night at 8 p.m right here on island radio island radio weather updates with ireland west airport rinaldo de brunia cabane you can now see both manchester teams in action with ryan air's twice weekly service to manchester ireland west airport you're flying okay sherry rain spreading eastwards this morning mostly dry and bright however um there'll be uh some dryness suspension in the afternoon reading the one where the forecast i'm just going to bluff in temperatures 9 to 11 degrees okay it's time for news update and it's over to kathryn gaffney hi kathryn you can't hear anything no okay do you want to come in here oh go ahead yep right okay we're having slight problems just with the uh headphones there so what i will do is give you the actual weather forecast cloudy to start off without breaks of rain sonny spells will develop as uh through the morning as rain clears eastwards the rest of the day will be largely dry with just light well scattered showers highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees moderate westerly winds will ease light uh this evening okay uh now it's time for a news update here's kathryn gaffney nope she can't hear me okay we'll have to come back to that uh i'll tell you what we'll do we'll get to a couple of comments here uh who cares about ukraine says this caller wow it took me five hours last night to get sorted with now doc sort out our own garden before you cut your neighbors right well we'd hope that uh we can do both can't we uh we're very generous in donny gore but we're not able to help the ukrainian refugees because thousands of houses are affected by uh mica okay that's the views of some people right we can get a news update now apologies for the technical issues there it is over to kathryn gaffney and i'll say once more good morning thanks greg good morning more than 15 000 people have now pledged to offer accommodation for ukrainian refugees the irish red cross says it'll start contacting people who've signed up in the coming days ireland is on high alert for cyber attacks from russia that's according to the foreign affairs minister who says cyber crime is increased by 25 percent across e u countries in the past fortnight the chief executive of fuels ireland says he fully understands why people in donny gole and elsewhere are fed up with the price of fuel there's a warning today that the price of a liter of fuel at irish petrol stations could hit two euro 60 by the end of next month according to the head of an irish oil firm the ones off fuel allowance payment of 125 euro will be paid to social welfare recipients from today the measure forms part of the government's efforts to tackle the rising cost of living donny gole consumers spent the most money in pubs in february the county recorded the biggest increase in pubs spending last month nationally over 1.6 million euro a day was spent in pubs during that same period serious concern has been raised over pedestrian safety at duhery village it's been claimed that there have been several near misses due to the current state of the fit paths in the in the village and the speed some motorists are traveling and as you have been hearing today marks the fifth anniversary of the murder of boncran a woman danielle the 28 year old was killed while backpacking in india on the 14th of march in 2017 that's it for now we're back with more at 12 noon thanks kathryn did you find that as stressful as i did i just yes because i yes it was do you want to talk us through what happened i mean i don't really know myself but maybe and maybe a 12 i just you know it's just so stressful but it's fine now i mean i couldn't hear you at all so i'd be interested to hear how that's signed on air well i can tell you it sounded terrible yeah but i could just hear your jewellery rattle and i'll just speak really oh gosh what we got there in the end thank kathryn okay kathryn we'll be back with you at midday with a further news update the wonders of technology all right brendan the venue is going to be joining us shortly looking forward to the dl debate 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 passengers boarding for the holiday of a lifetime please highland 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 packing draw takes place april 14th on the nine till then show get your ticket early and enter a bonus draw for an extra week's holiday in turkey who for the price who for the price of one start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio visit dairy and experience a world of difference just over the border see the historic walls the waterfront and the famous chill off licenses at da vinci whitehouse colmore hatmore and shantalo which for some reason have suddenly become the number one attraction so visit dairy and leave with more than just memories please drink responsibly see drink aware dot ie final call for big savings with loganair fly city of dairy airport to glasgo liverpool and unstanstad and also edinburgh from may and save 15 but before the 20th of march travel from the fourth of a month but loganair dot co dot uk tees and seas apply subject to availability join dominic carwin and friends for his ready to shamrock three-day event at the silver birch hotel oma from tuesday the 15th of march through to thursday the 17th of march on tuesday and wednesday dance the night away with the very best in irish country music including jerry gothry barry carwin sean coddy jim divine and gareth pritchard culminating with the st patrick's night concert with louise morisey and own mic there's also late night dancing with john maloy and brothers ink an incredible lineup over three nights at the silver birch hotel admission at the door for more information contact the silver birch hotel oma 70 70 70 70 70 70 choo choo ride price tiles and wood flooring up to 70 percent off sale is now on everything's reduced all tiles all bathware all wood flooring ride price tiles and wood flooring 70 percent off sale is leaving the station sale extended till sunday choo choo okay follow that you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show brendan divany presenter of the deal debate joins us in studio brendan how are you keeping the very best great all right uh okay the show is on this evening tell us what's coming up yeah we're going to review the weekend saxon the course alliance league couple of big games and our own lads fallen to monah and yesterday a bit of a gloomy per game from our perspective in balba fey so we're going to discuss that with paul funney former monah and star good lad bali bayman and frank craig the dunagall news we're also going to hear from peter canavan they lost to to doubling yesterday uh he was done this is unit's dinner dance on friday night as well i caught up with him and john harn who's coming on because um units are such a memorable year five championships and uh it's really starting here for the club so that's all coming up i pray to you too i hear you did a sterling job at the uh a step presentation yeah cherry cones filled the warm up there now even down he wasn't we wasn't well and had to step on from so yeah it was a there was a lot of stuff happening but uh yeah we're well um is there any point i mean not of course there's always a point but you know in analyzing the um at this stage the the performance yesterday do you know a great very complex thing i think criticism and analyzing uh sports people as it was driving up funny yeah i asked that question i was driving up here i was just thinking to myself like a team analyzing a team particularly an amateur team like our lads if you look at it individually and i was just looking at a couple of players jimmy brennan comes on he's very rusty not himself you don't make him or if he comes on you can see he's a wee bit rusty not up to full fitness young connor adon was man the match elastic against her own he was targeted yesterday by monahan and he found it hard to get into the game but you know you can't criticize and he's going to learn from that the two lads is going to get better we had a few injuries going into the game as well and i just think the way everybody's playing now it's hard to kind of criticize individuals because everybody's playing a similar system monahan were fighting for their lives if they were beat they were relegated so they came with a completely different vibe to us now you might have thought we should have been ready for it and matched it it was a pure performance because you did talk i mean when you talk about it as i say you know it's not for me to but when you talk about it you talk your one of your first comments was how monahan employed a tactic to you know quell certain players you know i mean that technically they came into that prepared for it so we're all i mean we can't expect you know players that have been out for a long time to come back in and hit the ground completely running i suppose it comes down to the the setup and our our ability to maybe switch up mid game or how we we line out i think criticism individual players there's so many variables you know we talk about wides all the time but we don't necessarily talk about maybe a good defensive move that force the wide you know i'm just wondering how we we talk about it without it being turning into a big controversy about you know you can't criticize these lads they're you're right you have to i mean we haven't have we figured out how we can have a conversation about it without it being offensive it's complex it's really difficult because you're not going to use their legs if they aren't already coming on making his debut you're not already you know it fell as they get in there that haven't had a lot a lot of game timed arrow wheel coming in yesterday too so you know compared to the kind of i suppose a lot of more experience we had we were players missing around the middle you know the legs are lying in and big McFadden and those lads so yeah how how we analyze that we still have to get into the bones of it to me the criticism still lies with the coaching right from from county across club the tactics is employed the negativity of it and the inability to kick the kick the ball you know it what it results in inability it's it's it's it's an inability maybe not because we can't say for instance you know you know Dublin are there to be taken you could argue say they're not i mean obviously they did not well off we're up there next week yeah exactly and then our mar right okay and say for instance those results don't go our way then we're out to play our mar again i think first round so at what point can we have a conversation without it triggering a whole you know people being upset and i understand that where we where people who are paying their money to watch their club games and then paying their money to watch the county games you know i don't know i'm not saying we can't maybe we can i don't know but it's it's still it's difficult to have because it's i suppose maybe because we know all the people as well i don't know so you're quite in an experienced team and you look through it against uh for for Dunningall you're doing in some sectors you're trying to balance i suppose playing at the best teams in the country and the same monotone team that's uh fighting for their lives but like Dunningall now you're in a in a funny position in terms of their way to Dublin next week and then the home day our mar and they still obviously haven't got enough points that will definitely see us out now it could potentially see us but the likelihood is that we might need another point and then it could come down to even our head to head with Tarone so there's a real scrap only the top three teams out late are are safe at this point Greg so that's the nature of that league it's so tight so it's all coming coming down to that and of course Dublin now have got the monkey off their back their victory in Hailey Park history so going to Crow Park next week is going to be a difficult challenge but i think it could could raise the lads a lot and i suppose that's the big thing about division one sometimes you get it's so quickly you'll forget about morning if we go let's say if we could go and beat Dublin or put on a very good performance against Dublin you'll forget about that 100 i mean the first half against Tarone there in the previous game really bad from a second half brilliance which you remember so you know but that team got an awful lot of abuse for that first half like you see the armchair coaches like if you look at the social media oh this is terrible this has to that person has to go this is and then after the second half it's like tell you the lads fairly pulled it out there what a team do you know what i mean that's just the way sport is because people feel like it's they feel so passionate about it but anyway yeah or under 20s ago one other Greg or under 20s in a brilliant moment the weekend in the Leo Murphy Cup final um they're playing our old foes Tarone Gary Duffy said uh brilliant in fact i mean it's always nip and talk between us and them now i know both teams that it they'll serve a few players missing but 210 to to 1-6 was a great sign for them to get into the championship all right and uh so your guests tonight uh peter canavan don't go and use reporter Frank Craig former Monaghan star paul finley and a special word from unions chairman john haran on a record break in season well it'd be some situation now if you have your own show and you didn't happen to use it to have a talk about how great unit are i'm trying to be objective i'm trying to be objective i'm thinking if it was any other club i would have the bond too like i don't want to uh over unions if you have opportunities you have to use it it's a brilliant year i want to take in the hands uh right okay the show is on tonight after seven o'clock news that's it and it'll be podcast for you as well to listen back at your leisure um and you can actually get to hear people who know what they're talking about talking about something that they love that's the deal debate and that was brendan divani the presenter of the show also ambassador for plan dot ie by the way if you want to check out the work of plan dot ie you can go onto the website and have a look there so looking back at all the weekends g action in this county and beyond and of course great analysis of drone dublin uh and donna goleman and back after the break the nine till 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 score 10 kfc mini fillets for just 10 euro and feel like it menu cheating hunger to pleaten savage feed eating big deal just ask for this month's kfc big deal from march 7 to march 24th participate in restaurants only subject to availability not available online i'm conducting a study of human untidiness one bedroom at a time sheila housekeeper i figure out that yes you do have room for dessert ryan waiter i love to see you when you've been out led nigel night porter they've all been explaining their jobs in their own words on behalf of northern ireland's tourism and hospitality industries discover hundreds of amazing opportunities in tourism and hospitality right now when you search career scope dot uk dot net forward slash n i explain them anywhere you want as we move into spring it's time that we look after what is precious to us are you struggling with your hearing your hearing is an essential part of your everyday living hearing is our social sense and connects you to friends and family at connect hearing we are here for you with our clinics at courtyards shopping centre letter kenny and joecy sorobity clinic in dunlow our centres are open monday to friday where you can avail of our hearing test work removal and repair services connect hearing connecting you to life big plans won't mean big repayments with a home improvement loan from any shown credit union whether you're converting the attic changing the kitchen or doing work to the garden talk to us today with rates starting from six point one eight ap r no hidden fees or charges and fast loan decisions we have the perfect loan for you apply online at any shown c u dot i e or call us on nine three six one zero one seven membership of any shown credit union is open to anyone who lives or works in the initial peninsula all loans are subject to approval terms and conditions apply any shown credit union is regulated by the central bank of ireland start playing ncbi radio bingo today three chances a day five days a week to win daily prizes of 400 euro plus not to mention a weekly jackpot of 5 000 euro upwards books available at your local retailer for just five euro each it couldn't be simpler real money real people it's 2022 and the star are here to bring the Cheltenham festival to you first up our free glossy 48 page preview magazine to get you in the winning mode david conklin talks to henry de bromehead and those who know him about the trainers rise to the top while brine fanningan tracks down the Irish man who won over one million euro on a single Cheltenham bet 10 years ago with the inside view on gordon elliott's runners law star man david russell is ready for the festival roar once again your free bumper Cheltenham preview magazine today only in the Irish Daily Star bringing Cheltenham 22 to you okay you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show 08 660 25000 that is the text line the whatsapp line give us a call in 07491 25000 your comments keeping us very busy we're going to get to those in a moment but i want to introduce our next guest first and that is Richard Butler author of towns on the wild atlantic way how are you getting on Richard nice to have you on the show thanks very much Greg yeah i'm doing well how are you very good indeed and congratulations on your book which i have in my hands here um it's one of those though you you know those people are going to say well my why is my town not in it you know that sort of way so how did you decide you know what to include what not to include yeah i spent a lot of time thinking about that one you know so i'm from bantry i live in bantry so i suppose i'm i'm on the i'm on the route i suppose um and i tried here to get as many towns and villages like as i could into the book but really the whole the whole structure of it the whole idea was that this is the kind of book where you want to go out and see lots of amazing places and then in the evening time you want to park up and settle into that hotel or that bnb and then just walk out to the pub walk out to the restaurant so the whole book is kind of based around the towns where you know there's enough pubs and restaurants and so on to make kind of a lovely evening and then next morning big breakfast off you go again and some people are really independent and love adventure and want to figure things out themselves but there's a lot of people and i would count myself amongst them that do need to be helped by the hand a little bit well i suppose you know um the whole world to have guidebooks is kind of changing right so people now like if they turn up somewhere like i say in my hometown here in bantry and they want to get a bite to eat or go to a pub they're probably going to look at google reviews or trip advisor or something like that and so the whole point of this book is to kind of talk about the things that aren't as such going to kind of come and go you know they're the they're the big sites the big towns all the famous places but also some kind of them let's just say more kind of hidden gems and so on so it's a book that you could throw in the car but also maybe a book that you could just have on the table at home you know yeah or in your b&b or in your bed and breakfast or your hotels even perhaps uh because as i say you know even you talk about google and that's great and trip advisor and all that kind of stuff but you know at the same time it feels like a bit of a leap of faith at times for me whereas there's something that seems just a little bit more reliably you know richard's obviously checked this out because he's actually put it to print do you know what i mean well look i hope so i suppose i'll also say i have been to these places i mean it's been it's been quite a few years in the works now i suppose when was the while underway launched it was 20 2014 i think the the signs went up near me just around then um and i've been busy kind of trying to get to all these places as you can imagine for for a cork person actually donny gall was was really like the most exciting part of the book because it's the bit that i would have been you know least often to growing up but you start with donny gall uh you know what i thought well tell us the logic there well i mean it seems obvious right i mean you're gonna you're gonna start you're gonna work your way down the coast and um you're gonna start off with some lovely towns and coastline up there and then eventually you'll get down to to my part of the world um no it seemed like the obvious thing to do i suppose and the only kind of the the mad thing as i'm sure your listeners will also agree is that the route itself for whatever reasons begins kind of at the the border but i mean derry's derry is in it to my mind derry is in the book one of the stories was getting it as far as the border because it didn't quite go up that way at the beginning uh richard as you might be aware and we had to lobby and campaign and embarrass people into saying well you know what you started you have to pick a point but of course and i think people have kind of worked out their own wild atlantic way that goes beyond that because you do speak to people who have traveled from the south to the north and they intend to uh to travel on through north and island but find their own ways to do so so come here what were the highlights for you in research in this book now i mean obviously i almost feel like taking donagol and cork out of it because you're lucky talking to a donagol audience here and you're from cork yourself but anyway i'm gonna trust you to be as impartial as possible and and tell us talk about some of the highlights actually you know what tell us what you like most about donagol that's an easier way of putting the question to you you know actually what i love most about donagol was was two things um as a i'll almost say a foreigner as a person from cork turning up in donagol one was just that how amazing the mountains are up there you know and the ones down here are they're a different color they're a different shape in some ways to what you have up there and i went up erigo um it was one it was a fairly cold day it was kind of this time of the year and i had the whole mountain to myself you know and looking in towards poisingland all that amazing views up there so look that that the kind of rock you have up to which is so different to what we have down here so that's one thing for anyone who definitely wants to kind of head out into the wilderness i suppose the other one and maybe this is slightly more of a surprising one is i really enjoyed walking around killy bags and it's not maybe like the biggest tourist town but you know it reminds me of cast town bear which is very close to where i grew up here and it's a kind of a practical fishing port a lot of people working hard working against the weather working against everything at times you know yeah and that the atmosphere in in in the pubs and restaurants and around the town i felt there was kind of a lovely kind of genuine sense to it that was real highlight to me and then there's some investment going on in in killy bags you know to not to change you but it it it's not just about killy bags it's about any town that you hope that when you do spend money you try and change it you don't lose the things that someone like yourself is doing find attractive about it do you know what i mean the heart and soul of it which i'm sure they won't in terms of the pictures did you take the pictures yourself there's some some crackers i think actually the uh the picture of ben baubens a particularly beautiful one but they're all good um did you are you a photographer yourself or did you take it up as part of this project yeah i am a photographer i suppose on my own background is i'm kind of i've written about the the care of older buildings and kind of so i'm very interested in in historic architecture and so on um so yeah i'd say well over half the photographs are mine um the publisher had very high standards as you can imagine so in some cases they uh they said thanks but no thanks yeah to my my lovely photographs and they went away and uh and got professional photographs but you know that's the the finished part of it is nice that's the cutting for us to of it tell us why we should visit cork then because you know we're always talking about donagol comfort donagol and in fairness you know uh cork's not a part of the world i've ever been to at the distance is a factor do you know i'm not going to lie it's been like right okay so tell us about the visiting experience to cork well i mean it is distance right that's the catch the same reason as people here i suppose rarely going up to your own part of the world um i suppose what what makes cork special for me are kind of the the the big the big peninsula that we have around here so from miz and then the sheep's head then the bearer peninsula then over to kerry and over to dingle and you know i mean i don't know where else you'd want to be on a kind of a sunny day except for out at the end of one of those looking at the islands you know famous islands um like dursy and so on and the fast net rock off miz and and the fact that you can see one from the other one um as you go out that far and you really kind of most of the time you haven't pretty much to yourself i mean like donagol the tourism tourism is kind of concentrated right in a few months of the year but if you can head away down a little off season even over the next week or two when the weather's supposed to be looking quite nice here anyway um just to have all that landscape to yourself and to see and i suppose that the name wild Atlantic way makes so much sense right because we all know just how wild it gets and how wild it's been say this past winter but like that makes it so special too in terms of those big big waves crashing against the rocks and i'm going to try and explain this but it's not going to make sense but it will make sense to me it's only when you go to the extremes like you talk of there the penances and all you you actually start to see or get a sense of the map you know what i mean if you look at the aerial view of Ireland we all know the shape of Ireland right yeah but you can actually go out and and get a sense of of the places that you see in this map does that make sense particularly on the peninsulas you know yeah i mean i suppose i'm i'm also a keen sailor and i tried to kind of weave some of that into the book in places but i've been off the coastline say 10 50 10 maybe 10 miles off and then you look back towards Ireland and you can see all of the peninsulas kind of lined up and it's it's magic you know it's an amazing thing can i do one more plug for cork while i'm at it oh yeah of course that's why i wanted to ask you about it yeah um i'd say the food for whatever reason what's special about it um it's the it's the quality in my mind especially of kind of dairy products in the last few years i mean some people up there probably know of kind of Glen Island yogurts and these kinds of companies that have have got up and going in cork in the last 10 years i don't know why kind of west cork in particular has become just been a big big food thing but it's such a pleasure to go around i mean i had visiting americans um last summer topping down to the seafood restaurant at bantry they are the best seafood they've ever had i think you know yeah well second best if they were in Kiliberg's first and the rest they can now they're not hey but come here haven't we uh we've an abundance of riches in that regard isn't it great to be able to uh make two strong pitches for our food product and both to be correct um do you revisit this now i mean this it's called tans and the wild atlantic way we're talking to its author Richard Butler you know you can't include everything in it and i think you know the bigger something like this gets the more overwhelming it is and maybe starts losing its its usefulness to people would you sort of go for you know uh episode two and go to some of those other tans in between or what's the story yeah it's a good question i suppose i definitely want to keep it up to date and they're probably you know there could well be one or two things that i've got wrong here and if so um mea culpa and i'll try and fix them the next time it's it's reprinted but i suppose beyond that um there's there's a lot in this one it's all packed in fairly tight you know the whole coastline for anyone who wants to do two and a half thousand kilometers yeah for sure it is there but i suppose maybe it's time to look slightly further afield i suppose you know we we talk about parts of our coastline being a little kind of neglected in terms of tourism but if you head inland um whether it's say you know parts of east county gall the whole way down through the midlands amazing places but way way overlooked right i mean much much overlooked and i love going on holidays in those parts of the world to do i mean i think you could possibly do a full three-week holiday in leatrum do you know if it was about if it was just about you know uh history about you know views um do you know what i'm on about like it might not all the bells and whistles that we we see dotted across the coast but in terms of a a getaway russ common as well you know what i mean there's some beautiful counties and i'm just mentioning two relatively close to to me here yeah and maybe it's kind of for a different different day but like over the years i've had wonderful trips placed like manor hamilton and you know down on the shannan different places so yeah there's a maybe there's space for another another one but i suppose this is the ireland's most famous tourist um destination right the coastline yeah of course and and how quickly the wild atlantic way worked because it was there and it just needed to be marketed in a certain way um right cork and donagol people really connect say is a caller because we are true rebels uh down the centuries he talks about the beautiful mountains in donagol but we have the best beaches in the country too we get very different you see this is why you're taking your life and your hands with a book like this here because you've even when you're i'm presenting here right and i'm trying not to get defensive but i'm thinking i feel like oh well why wasn't this in the book do you know that sort of a way and you know it's it's like it's a funny thing we're such a proud nation and we're so parochal in that pride at times as well yeah well i suppose i mean i i am very much you know a local tourist i live i mean i want to tour shimazin from the coast here and i suppose i wanted to try and write a book too that felt as kind of genuine as i could so it's really it's for tourists visiting it could be in airport bookstuffs but it's also for people locally and while you know donagol for me is something i i wanted to learn about i tried to kind of get the the tone to write for people that will live along the coastline and are used to fishing and are used to farming and things that happen along our coastline so um i suppose like a lot of people maybe like many of many of your listeners i grew up uh i go into a bookshop and i'd see a guidebook and i first thing i would look for look for is the few pages on my own town yeah and i want to see how do they to talk about bantry and what did you get wrong of course and this and that what makes it all so interesting okay um the parts that donagol included our burrt fort don ree green castle uh bon crana and so on and so forth letter kenny's in there as well uh which is uh good to see um because you know letter kenny maybe some people might not associate it with being on the wild atlantic way as well so it's good to see its inclusion uh the very best of success with it richard um obviously you know you want people visiting to get hold of it but i think there's information here for people uh you know in their own area but fancy a short staycation over the summer or whatever it might be where can people get the book it's out since the 7th of march so awake now um it's in all good bookshops and it's online in all all the usual places brilliant stuff it's called towns and the wild atlantic way it's by richard butler the author chatting to us they're live from beautiful corg uh i'm taking your word on that i have to see for myself sooner rather than later thank you very much indeed that's right all right take care of yourself all right okay uh oh wait six 60 25 000 texts and whatsapp keep them coming into us on that number i will get to more of your comments that have been coming in after these messages the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union mortgage is now available with a personalized service from your local and friendly credit union email mortgage at letterkennycu.ie hpv cervical screening is free to all women aged 25 to 65 it's the best way to reduce your risk of developing cervical cancer in the future women over 50 are less likely to attend screening but you're still at risk so it's important to attend your appointment when you're invited to check you're on the register visit hse.ie forward slash cervical check or free phone 1 800 45 45 55 from the hse grab a great st patrick's day deal at screw fix save 25 euro on the arab era 18 volt brushless cordless impact driver with a 4 amp air battery now just 119 95 and save over 20 euro in the milwaukee cordless multi-tool bear unit now 109 95 find more savings online at screw fix dot ie but hurry deals at 18th of march screw fix here when you need us while stocks last prices valid until 18th of march visit screw fix dot ie for t's and c's delivery charges and restrictions at centra we're at the heart of the community so we go to great lengths to help you live your best life fresh bread finest meals fantastic offers all the good fields not to mention a fabulous wide range of our own brand favorites and as for off-license we've been to the four corners of the world so you can enjoy the best wines and beers locally at centra we've got everything you need centra live every day enjoy gals sensibly welcome to the betway handicap hurdle they're under starters orders and they're off now the leader the on is a 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 done louis dot net bet the responsible way hi folks pommie devill here inviting you to join us this monday night for another edition of the monday night sessions on the show this week we welcome billy meganis from aslan who will be telling us all about the upcoming 40th anniversary tour and his recent stint on dancing with the stars we'll also be joined by our good friends paul and martina bennett better known as jackson rump so that's the monday night sessions with myself and jimmy stafford this monday night at 8 p.m right here on highland radio okay you welcome back to the program and we're staying with the theme of books from monday focus serena terry is author of the secret life of a non-cool mom thank you very much for joining us thank you very much for having me this is about yourself loosely it's kind of about everybody yeah of course because we're all really quite similar uh in our different ways aren't we we are indeed tell us a bit about yourself serena uh i'm a 36 year old mom of two so it's not it can't be about me because Tara's a mom of three so i couldn't be yeah um i'm from dairy i'm actually more i do a letter to anyone very good um and i create content on tiktok and instagram and facebook i've since written a sunday times best selling book and i also run a digital marketing agency that is me in a nutshell so i mean you know your your your presence on social media and you are hugely popular and you know everyone who's involved in that you have to change because you know tiktok two years ago you know where was it really it was there but you know musically and all that kind of stuff wasn't it um that ties in with everything though doesn't it because it's it's about reaching people but you understand the marketing element to it as well they're all intertwined aren't they they are totally and that's i i think that's one of the reasons that i agree so quickly on social media because i had that marketing background and there is a strategy behind it and i can dig into the analytics and look at the demographics that i'm reaching and obviously create content that's directed at the majority of people that follow me and that's it's content isn't it because there's no point knowing where to put your stuff if your stuff is people aren't interested in it exactly what part of everything that you do do you enjoy the most then you know i mean obviously your book is there and you put it out and you get statistics back in it but you get great great feedback i'm sure from your followers as well but then there's that sort of immediate interaction with people as well i mean is it maybe you don't have to choose it's the best of both worlds it's it's every it's feedback on everything i do like who doesn't like the geek of feedback on what they do the book is content the short form videos our content everything is content essentially but social media as you say it's it's real time in terms of feedback so and i think too particularly with your work i'd like to tick tock and all because obviously it's an element of a captive audience it sounds worse than i mean it but also you know relatable because there's lots of people in the exact same situations that you are exactly exactly and that's why i said mami banter up to to create real life content rather than this aspirational airbrushed perfection of what we would have seen on social media pre-pandemic people see through that too really i think or are more so they do really what's not really but personally subconsciously i felt when i was being delivered that type of content that was creating insecurities in me um and for that reason i deleted instagram and i deleted facebook and that's why i set up tiktok because it seemed to be different and it was content creators talking about real life and and that's what resonated with me i found it relatable so i thought i'm going to create content for other people that's honest well that's it and do you have a i mean i don't want to i wouldn't be critical of anyone because you know everyone has to make a living and find their own way but there's something about instagram to me that you know like i think there has to be an element of realness to it i don't like a fake existence or fake life or or fake reviews being so because i think that's actually damaging and that kind of goes beyond people's sort of they're just making a living for me a little bit do you know well i don't really monetize my instagram i could of course and i say this a lot i could sell my soul to the advertising gods and i'm like a quick penny but that's not what i want to do that is the ethos of mommy my daughter don't want to throw products down people should be individual though or do you think there should be maybe slightly tighter controls on i do think there should be tighter regulations on that um and especially around as you say the kind of the fake lives um and the product placement there definitely should be some standards there yeah okay because next thing you know people are hooking themselves up to drips and detoxing and all that kind you know what i mean like and it can go beyond just people's opinion right talk to me about the book how do you well you describe it in your own words it's your work i describe it as a a dairy woman in her mid-30s who is having a bit of a i'll say quarter-life crisis and she's just kind of come to this epiphany that she's lost her identity she used to be cool you know she's got three kids she doesn't go partying anymore she's got a teenager who thinks she's so embarrassing she's starting to get um over shawning work by the the newbies who are all younger just fresh out of university and she's seen as just the work of mum who can't put a hundred percent into her career because she's always got kids she feels like her husband doesn't find in her as sexy as he wants to she feels as if she's fell out of touch with her friends so it uh it kicks off uh a trigger essentially in tara who suffers with anxiety and is quite volatile um and it turns in the kind of Bridget Jones escapade of her journey and how she's going to get back her and it'd be very relatable it'd be very relatable i think for a lot of people male or female or whatever because uh you know there it does come a period in your life where you feel like you know your there's nothing that's really changed but it's almost like everything around you tells you that you're uh and then you start questioning yourself totally totally and i've done that personally and and the the story of the book has linked to me but i know that it's linked to so many other women as well like you don't need to be a mom you you can be um a dad as you say you know we've all got our identity crisis and you blink and time is passing you're like what happened i used to be fun and you're trying to work out those relationships with the children as well yeah you know uh at that age when you're still you know young yourself yeah and especially when a teenager's telling you that you're not young that you're old and you're not cool even though you've come to kind of you've come to try to you know you've been conditioned uh for for their love to make you feel really good as they're growing up yeah you know for their sadness to make you really sad so you've got that emotional connection and then they decide to uh rip the heart out of your chest to tell you that not only do they not necessarily need you as much now until they run out of money or something yeah but also you're pretty generally you're obsolete they don't want to be seen in public with these um did you how do you write a book like do you start off with i want it to tell the story and have that message and and i'll get the words to fit into it or do you sit down and you it's a synopsis like i always find it fascinating i think people who write books might get it but i just don't know how you do it to be honest well it was a complete learning curve for me as well i'd never written a book before and that was what was so amazing about having harper collins because they had a huge team and huge support for me um so the first thing they said was okay write a synopsis what do you want this book to be about and i highlighted overall the story the journey um and high level characters then they were able to take me through how we could create arcs how we could develop those characters how we could flesh it out so really it hands on totally totally hands on because the way they seen it they were like this we want this to be a series we want this to factor in the content that you're making and it was so immersive it was eight weeks it was crazy but as i was writing the book i was still continuing to create content and the feedback i was getting from my followers was giving me ideas for story arcs within the book so it all tied and but you also want everything to be all you and authentic and something you can stand over to so you have to get that into that whole process as well so you have to presumably i know they were probably amazing but that's a little bit of pushback at times where you have to there was i think i was very localised in my writing at the start and harper collins were like look we need to write for a broader audience and you'll notice anybody that has the book and has the audible they're kind of very different because when i was recording the audible say for instance tarah saying that it was enormously stressful tarah doesn't say that in the audible because i was like tarah would not say that but it couldn't be a dairyism for tarah was absolutely losing her you know what i mean so there was differences there was pushback about it potentially because i have followers all over the world that we wouldn't alienate them and we wouldn't have a two localised so again baptism of fire for me they can expand my language essentially and move away from dairyisms but i still wanted to keep it on there that's why we've got a glossary that's why it's very much um got a northwest feeling to it yeah and of course you know uh dairy's very popular at the moment and dairyisms are as well too so there is going to be a market for that but of course they have to look beyond they do they broaden to that obviously then things are moving so quickly for you people it's the obvious question i want to ask you it's like are people looking at this maybe to to adapt it for the screen the big or small screen or that we're having conversations there is some interest um i can't say too much no of course um but hopefully hopefully it is definitely something i think um getting on the Sunday Times by a seller last last week secured the fact that it's you know it's it's got credibility there it's enjoyable so but always with uh for a debut author it's always going to be that can your content and your humor be transferable on to book and if listen don't want to run for you what but if you look at something like this do you see this as being a two-hour film or a one-hour and a half film or an eight-parter or or do you even allow yourself to i do i do i can see it being a sitcom yeah and if a production company was to come along and go like we'd love to turn this on the feature film of course but because my content is short form um and with the book there are a lot of people says they couldn't put it down so i'm like right okay that tells me that there's a sitcom on there yeah people want to get with the next week what's going to happen yeah exactly that's it and also too with all of the tools in your armory i.e you know your marketing uh your your all presence on on social media and harper collins backing you all of that unless people like it doesn't guarantee any success at all because very quickly the message gets around well you know what i mean so you can get them worried out there and all that but what you need is other people buying it them enjoying it and then tell them they're mates and once you've cracked that not exactly the world's your oyster then isn't it exactly again it's feedback and it's still very early days i think there's only like 46 reviews on amazon so far that i'm checking every single day but it must be lovely like it's amazing is it pinch yourself stuff though it is and i think everything's been moving so fast i haven't got the chance to kind of take it all on yet all right but seeing it in the sunday times yesterday was just like what so you've talked to us about you know the what the book is about how how much time do we cover can you tell us a bit more about the the story for people who want to read it in terms of of the timescale and and what journey you know it's around well i would say it starts off on the first day of our daughter's 13th birthday and it covers a two month period so it's pretty fast and furious and again it goes back to how volatile Tara is and the changes that she's making so quickly she is just not a 90 on i'm getting back to being this cool person and that's never going to work ever so just as you'd say i'm going to start a spin class and i'm going to do this and i'm going to do that she makes drastic changes quite quickly to get ahead of of no i'm not sitting about and waiting yeah and and it sounds like this is just perfect for situation comedy as well yes exactly which is hugely popular i think an awful lot of tv makers have missed a trick in moving away from that particularly on this side of the water i agree situation comedy people love it i totally agree and i think that's why my content does so well yeah exactly that's why they like some mrs brands boys there are girls and and all the others and we seem to be in arland doing that best at the moment i think so i think co-productions but you know what i mean like yes it's just it's a tried and tested uh system throughout all the years yes and yet we sort of moved away from it a little bit uh what when's the pressure on you to come up start working on another one then i haven't got the official go ahead yet so we'll see you'll look for longer than eight weeks i imagine this time now you're an in-demand author i will i really really well um again it's it's working around if there are potentials to turn it on to either uh a film or a series some situational comedy i think that might change how it's written um more of the smaller chunks and less of the longer but i could just see how relatable it would be you know it would even just with the little pictures you've painted about spin classes i mean you can just imagine yeah the episode you could do on that could be do you know what i mean exactly yeah brilliant listen uh it's it's uh it's it's all happened so quickly it's all brilliant and um we congratulate you on your success and look forward to what's coming next i think it's going to be a long one isn't it's going to be a long exciting journey for you i hope so yeah i hope so i mean i'm 36 this has all happened in the space of two years so if it is going to be a long journey it means that i'm doing something right so fingers crossed brilliant listen as we said the the real test it's not likes or shares or views it's people going out and buying the book and that's what they're doing and enjoying it brilliant stuff okay it's called mommy's banter mommy banter the secret life of an uncool mom and as i say you know i think it's going to be as you say sorry it's going to be relatable to an awful lot of people yeah i hope so the the early feedback so far is telling me that it is and people are saying i i i feel like she is me i am her so it's what you want okay and in a way too you know like we're not we don't all have the awareness the self-awareness to know that we're like this as well i'm sorry no we don't you know actually i'm glad it's not just me feels like that exactly and that's the feedback i get from my content it's people going i was kind of wondering is it just me am i insecure uh am i actually uncool and over the hill um yeah and dealing with that and maybe being afraid to say it because you think it's only you whereas now it's it's it's out there and there's thousands of comments of other women's in it it's like therapy and even talking about anxiety right it's a tough one to talk about but i think some of the most effective way and i haven't read it so i'm not going to pretend to have but some of the most effective way we can talk about things is through comedy yeah and that's why i want so much easier to talk about it exactly i want i was so adamant if there had have been pushback from harper collins i would have been devastated because i wanted to lightly touch on it and as you say surround it with comedy not make it a big dark thing but not lose it's all it's the fact that it's authentic an authentic conversation yeah but also break the stigma not make it a big deal she's good anxiety that's it and that's it and that's why i think people reading it it's those little things that i'd say there's a lot of people read that go actually it's not just me and it might actually help their anxiety as well listen it's brilliant stuff it's available in all good bookshops it's on amazon as you mentioned okay and uh i can't wait to see where everything goes for you thank you it's gonna be brilliant listen thank you thank you so much really appreciate it okay that was um the author of mommy banter the secret life of an uncool mom from serena terry and we'll be back with more after the break the nine till noon show with letterkenny 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 celebrate sim patrick's day with the letterkenny cdp in the courtyard shopping center letterkenny from one till three pf this is a free family event with music dance games and refreshments part funded by the northwest regional drugs task force through the hse bingo every monday night at halfway house bingo burnford doors open 7 30 eyes down at 8 30 2500 euro musko the snowball is now 5000 euro on 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that halfway house bingo tonight at 8 30 at smith stale site we have been milling since 1865 covering the northwest and west of ireland for all your animal feed and nutritional needs call smith stale site on 0749171300 join dominic carwin and friends for his ready to shamrock three-day event at the silver birch hotel oma from tuesday the 15th of march through to thursday the 17th of march on tuesday and wednesday dance the night away with the very best in irish country music including gerry gothry barry carwin shon coddy jim divine and gareth pritchard culminating with the saint patrick's night concert with louise morisey and own mic there's also late night dancing with john maloy and brothers ink an incredible lineup over three nights at the silver birch hotel admission at the door for more information contact the silver birch hotel oma if you're starting a new business in 2022 call into bizprint today and get sorted logo designed in voice books business cards and all your printing needs call bizprint at port road letter county on 91 double seven nine double five or visit bizprint dot ie century complex is the perfect family day out kids will love exploring century play there's lots of tasty options available at backstage bar and grill and at century cinemas we're showing entertaining kids movies rom-coms actions adventure movies dramas and more call us on 0749121976 or visit century cinemas dot ie highland ready or weather updates with island west airport discover amber this summer with reiner's three times weekly service stunning architecture endless winding streets and an awe inspiring castle island west airport you're flying okay so uh sonny spells will develop through the morning as rain clears eastwards the rest of the day will be largely dry with just light well scattered showers highest temperatures of nine to 11 degrees modern westerly winds will ease light this evening now tonight we'll be drying cold under clear skies frost and mist patches will form in generally light southerly breezes mainly over the further east you go lowest temperatures of minus one to plus two degrees becoming cloudier overnight as frinn as winds freshen okay that's the weather forecast for you i just want to let you know that we are edging ever closer to our early bird holiday draw of course we are offering you the chance to win a holiday for lifetime here at highland radio it's a 10 000 euro travel voucher which can take you any way you want and 5 000 euro spending money i believe that funds the trip of a lifetime so you can go wherever the hell you like now tickets are one for a tenner they get cheaper then six for 50 10 for 80 and the closing date for entries is 13th of april and the draw will be on this show on the 14th of april now this is the thing i want to mention to you you have pretty much today to enter the draw and begin with a chance to win a bonus one week holiday for two people in turkey for this october that draw will take place the day after tomorrow okay so get your tickets bought early it doesn't increase your chances of winning the main prize but it does increase your chances of winning another prize and that's that beautiful two-week holiday in turkey so if you want to and you have the money and you want to take part get on that now and get your tickets today preferably because if you're going to get a ticket anyway sure you might as well be in the draw for the early bird holiday as well all right um okay the draw has been mentioned hi greg was in letter kenny today and saw the prices on the four courts i had to take a picture certainly stopped me in my tracks as the driver was going slow as they were certainly the cheapest i've seen but then i read a story uh from charlie weston who has the opposite as the scene in the news on saturday coal goes up 450 today and a further 250 in april not the first as people would think it was a joke and before carbon tax in may uh yeah indeed that's to stop us using coal but if we can't afford uh oil uh or gas all our alternatives are being taken away from us i'm hoping to do a book but i don't know how to come about yeah that's it um where do you start they say everyone's got a book in them not everyone should actually write that book but where do you begin a lot of people self-publish it's huge you know self-publishing is a thing it seems to be doable i suppose talk to someone who's done it and see if they'll offer you any advice it's a pity we have to go uh it's it's a pity we have not got the roads and trains that the rest of the country have uh got we are decades behind it is indeed and we were talking about you know visiting cork or elsewhere wouldn't it be lovely if you could jump on a on a train and and and go and experience and visit the rest of the country and of course that will also would work in our favor in return um it would be interested interesting if they went around the islands and explored the tourism there yes indeed but hey we're talking about making books there's a book in and of itself uh someone just has to say right i'm going to do it um and they could be on shows like this talking about it uh why wasn't highball kicked into mcginnis when he had the wind behind us uh that is someone talking about the gea yesterday uh tactically i'm listening to the both of you on about the game yesterday to me it's very simple uh management needs to change uh donagall is great when they play fast-running football look how they beat taron come on donagall do this next game but i suppose you have to there's more to it than that you have to look at the players that are available to you and what the opposition might do uh finnafall and finnegel defending uh home heating all not being reduced because the tax uh take on it is not classified as excise how bizarre if you or a family are freezing in a cold house do they really care what name is on the tax smoke or what didn't hear what that caller is referencing but i think anyone who's ordered oil recently since their last fill is in for a gunk hi greg wondering could you help me i'm a carer who is caring for someone who is outside of my home and i've been told i'm not entitled to carers allowance because the person is outside of the home however i was told of the person lived with me i'd be entitled to the allowance when i checked with citizens information i was told this is a gray area now maybe someone out there i think our listeners might be best place to help us on this one how do you get uh can you get the carers allowance if you're caring for someone who's outside of your home so maybe it could be a relative who lives in the same village and they want their independence and to live under their own roof but they need you to go in and care for them for a few hours a day um can you get the carers allowance in that scenario for example i'm not saying that's the situation that applies to our listener but it sounds to me like the kind of a situation it could be they're discussing donogall and cork being too far away to visit the problem is we don't have the infrastructure we need to be able to fly from donogall and dairy to cork it's that simple but listen if if now obviously the there could be a subsidy for it but i can't imagine that if there was a demand that that route wouldn't already be there it would be interesting i wonder what the uptake would be on a cork double and double and cork even in the summer months it would be interesting but as i say i presume the airports and the airlines have looked at that and they can't make money out of it so they just don't do it i don't know oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand if you're listening on the podcast or listening to us over night that number still applies you can message us and we'll get back to you but that's where we have to leave it on the program uh today