 Gregory, good morning to you. Good morning, Lee. How are you getting on? Oh, look at you all laivly and me all downbeat. Stop that. I need a pep. I'm doing great, Greg. Well, see, sleep is so important. Well, you got good sleep last night, didn't you? I've had a good night's sleep the last wee while. Well, what would you call a good night's sleep? See, some people can... Seven hours? That's good, isn't it? Seven, yeah. What would be a bad sleep for you, then? Anything less than six. Yeah, be bad. You feel the pain, don't you? Yes. Don't you? Yeah. I can't think, so I see my words backwards. And the days of afternoon napping are over. Unlike Mikaela Clark, she loves an afternoon nap. Oh, yeah, she goes to bed well. Don't you, Mikaela? Yeah, I go to bed about half one now. Boo. Boo. Well, what's she say? She goes to bed about half one in the afternoon for... Don't you see, Esther? Don't you? She does not. That's why she looks after that. No, I'm sure I'm here at half one. Oh, yeah, of course. Unless I'm napping down the back. Well, I know someone used to work here that did and have the odd nap at work. Did they? Who? I can't say. Who? Caroline Orr? No. Who? I can't see my name. Don't work here anymore. Oh, that's all right. Okay. They did? Yeah. We should have a wee blow-up bed. Wouldn't that be good? That wee room behind you there is hardly used now. Soundproof room? You'd score a wee all at once. Oh, well, I'd need that. Do you snorly? I do, like a horse. Really? I can't, I can ask Mikaela. Mikaela, you don't snorly, yeah? No. Oh, she says I wish I had a kiss. I'm told I don't. Yeah, exactly. Well, I just get to sleep first, then don't worry about it. But, yeah, okay, I don't want to be taking your time. All right, good luck to you. Sorry about that. I thought I was in the full swing of the show, but we're not there yet. Seriously, it is the 9-Till-Noon show on the way, but first, let's get a news update. It's over to Mikaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. There's calls in Donegal County Council to address safety concerns at Green Castle Harbour. Councillor Johnnie McGinnis says in its current format he is not confident that safety has been given proper consideration in terms of layout. He believes the area needs to be revised in its entirety to ensure the safety of people availing of the ferry service. I think there might need to be a realignment of the traffic flow that's there. There's a small wall there that's causing some concern. And just the actual junction itself, it's quite a bottleneck there. And we have a school in the vicinity as well. And obviously, they won't be there during the summer. But just the whole thing, I think, deserves a fresh look considering all the different moving parts that's taking place there now. The Kilmachran and Schoolboys and Gairns Football League club has appealed to members of the club and the public to be extra vigilant after significant damage was caused to the changing rooms facility. The club says they are disgusted and disappointed to discover the level of vandalism on the site with the number of roof tiles on the building broken. They say the cause of repairing the damage is massive and that it has been left in such a state that it is an accident waiting to happen. The potential of Swan Park is not going to be maximized until everyone can enjoy it. That's according to Councillor Reena Donahoe, who is calling for signs to be erected, encouraging dog owners to keep their pets on a leash. The popular amenity reopened after much work was carried out there, following significant damage caused to it by flooding in 2017. Councillor Donahoe says those who are scared of dogs are currently being prevented from revealing of all the park offers. There's so much to do in Swan Park. There's so much to say for children and adults alike and you have the river running through it and you really do want everybody to enjoy it, but if people are scared and afraid of dogs, they're not going to maximize on the potential of the park. And there's a call to provide more support for the last generation of COVID-19. Child and adolescent physiotherapist Colman Noctor has said those between 14 and 17 years old miss critical social and emotional milestones during the pandemic. He says allowing them to discover themselves would go a long way. I use the analogy of teaching a child to ride a bike. You have to be there at the start to get them off and then you have to let go. And I would love to see a space over the summer where we could almost have some sort of structured environment where these young people could come together, could you could work on identity and meaning and problem-solving and all that sort of stuff, but we would step back and allow them to do that. Whether I mostly dry today with a mix of Clyde and sunny spouts, high as temperatures offer right at 15 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Every year, about 2,600 people in Ireland get bowel cancer. Bowel screening helps to reduce your risk of developing it. If you're aged 60 to 69, you can register today for a free bowel screen test kit. Once you've done the test at home, return it by free post and we'll test your sample for levels of blood. If you need any more tests, we'll let you know. Register today at hse.ie forward slash bowel screen or free phone 1-800-45-45-55 from the HSE. The county's number one talk show, The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello and a very good morning. You're very welcome along to Wednesday's Nine Till Noon Show. This is the 24th of May, 2023. How are you all keeping? Lovely weather out there again this morning, not quite as sunny as it might be further south, but nice and dry and mild. And it looks like that weather's going to be with us right into and well into next week. Right, OK, well, let's worry about today. The phone lines are open for you right now. As you can imagine, we've got loads lined up for you across most of the big stories, but we want your views, your comments, your topics as well. WhatsApps and texts to 086 6025,000. If you're outside the Republic, it's 0035 386 6025,000. Give Caroline or Neva a call. They're on 07491 25,000. Or you can email wherever you are to comments at highlandradio.com, right? Let's look at the front of and inside some of today's newspapers. The Finn Valley voice this morning, a man who strangled and beat a 29 year old mother of two, died to death during a psychotic episode, has been jailed for 14 years and must undergo five years of post release supervision and psychiatric care. Jasmine McGonagall died from her injuries in her home at Killy Gordon in the early hours of January 4th, 2019. Mr. Justice Paul Burns at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Monaghan on Monday, passed sentence on Richard Burke, who was found not guilty of murdering Jasmine McGonagall, but guilty of her manslaughter earlier this year. And we spoke to Jasmine's sister, Jenna, on the program yesterday. I don't think she's doing too many interviews. So if you want to listen back to that when you wish, it's on our website, in the news section, you can hear that full interview on the Ninclenoon show there. We might put it up separately in the listen back section because, of course, many of us were following it all very, very closely. Let me see, this is the initial live, isn't it? I have, I'm just going on to the inside of it. Sorry, the initial time, so beg your pardon. Hearing date has been set for a case involving a Donagall company that's at the centre of the defective block scandal. Donagall County councillors issued legal proceedings against Cassidy Brothers Concrete Products Limited. The case was before Tuesday sitting of Bunkrana District Court. The company is set to fight the case, which is over its alleged non-compliance with planning conditions. Solicitor for Donagall County Council, Kevin McElhaney, told a brief hearing on Tuesday at Bunkrana Court House that he was seeking a hearing date in the matter. When asked by Judge Tane Cunningham how long the case would take, Mr. McElhaney said he doesn't anticipate that it will take too long. Judge Cunningham listed the case for hearing at Bunkrana District Court on November 28th, 2023. Cassidy Brothers Concrete Products Limited are represented in the matter by Eamon Dillon Slisters, the issue centres on non-compliance with planning conditions and at the company's headquarters at Grandshire, Bunkrana. On to the Donagall Post now. And plans to remove a section of forestry as part of a dune conservation and restoration project at Murriva have been met with mixed reactions locally. A number of people have expressed concern that one ecosystem is being sacrificed in the interests of another. Others have questioned the wisdom of removing trees if the goal is to create stable sand dunes. However, Quilture, one of the organisations behind the project, is reassuring people that the project is good for coastal management and biodiversity. And they are allaying concerns that removal of trees could be damaging in response to queries by a reporter for this paper. A spokesperson has outlined responses to a number of the questions raised locally. Three Donagall locations, Murriva, Ards Forest Park and Ryn Cleven, Honehead are among four Irish projects in the EU-funded biodiversity project Life Insular. The fourth location is Raven Nature Reserve in Wexford where work is already underway. So I don't see the, I don't know, I'll have to read the article in more detail, but the forest is some way back. The trees are some way back from the sand dunes at Murriva. If you're familiar with it, if you've travelled down there or lived in the area, I don't see how, as I say though, I'll have to read in a little more. I don't see how removing the trees so far back would protect the sand dunes, but to Quilture know what they're doing. The Irish Independent this morning, a bitter coalition row has broken out over Finnegale's call for a 1,000-year-old tax cut in the budget. Now this is very unusual. There's always horse trading at budget time. You know, when parties will fly their kites and what have you, that includes opposition as well as government. It's very unusual though for this conversation to be had in public so early in the year. We know that in the past, and you'll remember Leo Veradkar's early risers' comments that he is handing his hat on tax breaks for the working poor, the squeezed middle. But that being said, this call from Finnegale for a 1,000-year-old tax cut in the budget has caught Finafall off guard. We read on here that Finafall is furious over what it described as populist, uncosted, and nuts pre-budget kite flying by T. Shockley of Veradkar's party. Finnegale is pushing for consideration or considerably larger tax cuts for workers on the average household income than in previous budgets amid projections of record surpluses over the next four years. Now there are various costings for what Finnegale are proposing. Now we know there's a significant budget this year, 10 billion, but their proposal of 1,000-year-old tax cut for working families would cost anywhere between one and three billion, which is a decent chunk of the 10 billion. The call for tax relief of more than 1,000 for full-time workers on an average wage of 52,000 euro would cost the checker around 1.5 billion a year according to Finnegale. Mr. Veradkar also confirmed in the doll yesterday that there will definitely be an increase in the old-age pension this autumn, but the exact amount is yet to be determined. Finafall, meanwhile, was caught by surprise with the call for more tax relief made in an opinion piece from Finnegale Junior Ministers in the Irish Independent, one of them being involved in the finance department. So electioneering is already underway, I think. The Irish Times this morning, this is the flip side of it, you know, we've talked about food banks on this programme. We're gonna be talking about them again later in the programme. I don't mind going back over an issue that is so important. I just think it is scandalous that so many Donegal families are in a situation that they have to access food banks. So I'm not gonna stop highlighting it. It's crazy, and we're talking about, you know, why is no one talking about them with such passion in the doll or in opinion pieces? Why aren't there three ministers or oppositional, whoever it might be, I don't care, writing articles in the Irish Times saying it's unacceptable that children are starving, that people are having to choose between one thing and food. I don't understand why it's not more, are people in this financial situation less likely to vote? I don't know, that can be the only motivation. I understand it's really important and many people would benefit from tax cuts for people that are working. We speak about that cohort of people on this programme all the time, but it should be a national emergency that people are starving and can't feed their families. But anyway, rising food and energy prices are inflicting severe strain on an increasing number of people according to three reports sitting out the impact of the cost of living crisis. Children's charity Bernardo said the spiralling cost of food and persistently high energy prices were putting pressure on Irish families with almost three out of every four children negatively affected. A separate report from Safe Food, the Public Food Safety Body suggests many families on social welfare paid a third of their household income on the most basic of healthy foods, a third of their income. Highlighting the hardship caused by high energy prices, the Society of St Vincent de Paul recorded a 40% increase in requests for assistance paying energy bills last year with a 50% rise in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2022. Now remember what everyone was talking about and one of the big factors is the energy prices. So we're going to have to cap them, we're going to have to bring them in for meetings, we're going to have to drag them in before the Eroctus Committee. Well, wholesale fuel prices are still incredibly low, 40% what they were last year and we're still being ripped off when we go to pay our bills. Why is that? Why it was talked about for a week? Where is all that conversation from the politicians gone? The Irish Daily Mail tells us that cabinet ministers fear they're losing control of the migration accommodation crisis. Several cabinet sources have told the Mail that a COVID style response is needed to tackle government infighting and a failure to take responsibility among senior ministers. The government is scrambling to source accommodation for the thousands of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers who are continuing to arrive in the country with 259 without beds now. In the doll yesterday, Tshaklyov Radkar said that he wants to see more deportation orders and for the asylum process to be sped up with the fallout from blockades outside asylum seekers accommodation ongoing. Again, let me just throw this out here. Did you offer accommodation to the council to house refugees and did you not get a response or did they not chase it up? Remember, I remember it was announced on the news that it would be fully staffed and that they would have all the staff that they need to get through any people that did and they'd get people within accommodation within 28 days. There was some nonsense talked of like that there, but I was spoken to a lot of people. When I say a lot, sorry, four or five, that to me is a lot because I don't speak to everyone who did offer accommodation to the council and no dice. Did you do it? Did you have any success at all? 08, 6, 60, 25,000, just a quick straw poll there. Well, one other option to deal with the crisis according to the sun is looking at using floating hotels to accommodate migrants amid the housing crisis. It comes as Minister for Equality and Integration, Radkar Gorman said, 259 international protection applicants are without a place to stay in Ireland, but he said, the number of people on the unaccommodated list has fallen due to the reopening of Dalken House in Clandorken. Mr. O'Gorman said, it's still too high, but we are working on it and when we're able to open more accommodation over the next weeks, we'll be able to make inroads into the number. The minister said he's now looking at flotels in a bid to house migrants. Flotels are living quarters created on top of rafts or platforms and have been used in the offshore oil industry to house workers. So they're in the market now for a flotel. Sounds desperate, doesn't it? On to the star now. Plans to increase prison sentences for assaults on frontline emergency staff like Guardi don't go far enough according to the forces rank and file union. The warning was issued by the Guard Representative Association as Cabinet approved proposals to increase jail terms from seven to 12 years for assaults. The GRA and the National Ambient Service claim staff are subjected to physical, sexual and verbal assaults and that attacks are on the rise. Minister Harris wants the criminal justice bill amended for a new maximum sentence for assaulting or obstructing personnel like Guardi, but the GRA claimed that the proposed 12-year sentence should, in fact, go higher. And lastly, and hopefully we'll be speaking about this later on in the programme, a director has been appointed to oversee the evacuation recovery of children's remains at the sites of a mother and baby home. Daniel McSweeney, a former international committee member of the Red Cross or committee of the Red Cross Envoy will oversee the process at Tume County Galway. He was appointed following a recruitment campaign run through the public appointments services. And as I say, hopefully that's a topic we can discuss a little later on in the programme. All right, stay with us. Actually, do you know what we'll do before we take a break? We'll go straight to our first guest. Raymond Shields is committee member of Kilmer Crennan Celtic Football Club. He joins us now. Raymond, thanks for taking the call today. Good morning, Greg. Right, OK. You, the club, disappointed and disgusted a local amenity vandalised. What happened? Well, as a club, we're very disappointed, certainly, that the level of vandalism that has taken place at the park. The vandals seem to have gone on to the roof. They've done severe damage to the roof, which will cost the club a lot of money to fix. And inside the clubhouse as well, so they'll break the book on there. But this is not an isolated occurrence at all. This would be ongoing. But in fairness to the Guardian, they intervened sometime back and it seemed to have stopped for a while. But now, they're back to the antics again. And listen, the club and the pitch are a very important part of the local community. This is, obviously, this is attack on the wider community by these people. Absolutely. You see, we've over 150 academy children and over 100 underage players that use this facility. So to me, it's an attack on these children and their parents as well, so it's terrible. There's no scribbles or respect for anyone or anything. And, you know, they're going to do damage to themselves if they keep doing this. They're going to go on to that roof and they're going to fall off. And then God knows, we don't want that to happen to anybody. But, good God, that's what will happen if they keep doing it. Yeah, you're calling on members of the club and the wider community to be extra vigilant around the pitch area. Yeah, of course, we are just, you know what? People, we can say we have an AD and maybe we do have an AD but maybe we don't either, but it could be completely new people. But in the past, you know, the Guardian were very good in what they did and it's, you know, put it to an end. But now, this is terrible. I mean, this is a new height to the vandalism and maybe they're very bored or something, but God save us, they should take up a sport or something. But, you know, they're young people and they need to grow up. Yeah, you quite rightly pointed out that they could cause themselves serious injury. They could also cause serious damage. It's going to cost money to repair this. In general football clubs, not a rich club, any means. And we get back from day to day and we'll pay rent and we have a new facility now happening over in the general development. We're getting a new pitch over there. But yeah, that's going to cost an awful lot of money. But thankfully, we've already have some people from the village, you know, they're going to give us a work for free, free, you know, give us a hand for free. All right, so how do we stop this then, Raymond? I mean, obviously you're the guard to have a role to play. You're calling on the locals to be vigilant to parents or guardians need to have a conversation with young people to see what they're at late at night or whenever. Aye, absolutely. I mean, all we can do to the young ones is just stop it now. And, you know, respect your parents, respect things that don't belong to you, just respect other people. And I'm sure your mum and dads are completely annoyed with you. If they find out that you're doing this, yeah, they're going to have to have serious words with you because believe me, you may, the guard will come to your house. Okay, Raymond, well, hopefully it doesn't happen again and fair play to the locals they're chipping in to get repairs done. Raymond, thanks for your time. Thanks very much. All right, Raymond Shields, the committee member of the Kilmer Crennan Celtic Football Club. Good morning to Beth, Annie, Elaine, Rosemary and Paul amongst the people watching the program. Just to remind you, if you want to watch the show, you can hop onto our YouTube channel, Highland Radio Ireland. That's good for your your phone, your tablet, your laptop, your smart TV, as I said before, well, smart TVs now come with the YouTube app. Or indeed, it's definitely on your fire stick if you have one of those. And you can also watch us across our Facebook pages as well, Highland Radio News & Sport or Highland Hub, or just click Watch Live on the website. You'll be able to see our next guest after we take this quick break. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountaintop Letter, Kenny, the 2022 Seastore National Off-License of the Year. A reminder to passengers going on holiday, take the power of On Pust Money. Pay for things all over the world with foreign currency in cash and on the On Pust Money currency card powered by MasterCard with 24-7 card support from real people and with the app. You can set currency rate alerts and we'll tell you when your target rate is reached. Power your travel money with On Pust Money. Search On Pust Travel Money or visit your local post office. Teas and seas apply. On Pust Money currency card is issued by PPSEUSA pursuant to license by MasterCard International. PPSEUSA is authorized by the National Bank of Belgium and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules. On Pust is authorized by the Minister for Finance to provide foreign currency cash. Join us for the Hyundai 232 Celebration Week, May 22nd to 28th. 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At Lettercanny Medics Private Clinic, we're here to help you, offering Botox anti-wrinkle injections, derma fillers, skin bio-injections, Botox treatment for grinding and clenching teeth, hyperhydrosis that aids excessive sweating. Let our doctors help bring back your confidence and look after what is important to you. To see what real results really look like, book your immediate appointment with No Waiting Times at lettercannymedics.ie. Lettercanny Medics, we listen if you want to talk. Highland Radio, time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Lettercanny to Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time, Matt. The time now, 25 minutes past 9. We're joined on the programme by Indiana Stones, aka David Keown. Good morning, David. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, Greg. How are you keeping up, Matt? I'm doing good. It's good to have you with us. Now, you are on a trip around Ireland following leads from the National Folklore Collection in UCD in the process of uncovering and reanimating a forgotten piece of our national strength history. So before we talk about what we can do for you, what is our national strength history? Yeah, well, I mean, there's a huge culture of strengths or stone lifting in both Scotland and Iceland. And they were flanked by both. And I was like, sure, there has to be something here as well. I was watching those rogue documentaries made by Rogue Fitness about stone lifting and feats of strength in both of those countries. And I was like, surely there has to be something here. So I got to researching through Dukas, through the National Folklore Collection. And I found there was a massive history of stone lifting, our feats of strength in Ireland, generally at funerals with funeral games, but also at crossroads on a Sunday. And it seems to be a recurring theme that Sundays before or after mass, the troils of strength was a thing that was done about 150 years ago. All throughout the country, Greg, everywhere, all throughout Ireland. And the more I'm finding, the more people are getting contact with me. And it's just been an incredible journey through our national strength history and our cultural heritage, you know? What period of history are we talking and when might we have seen this practice die out? You're probably talking, I say, the mid-1800s and before that for a long, long time before that. So I'd say it kind of died out probably around the 1870s with the likes of the famine and then the likes of the fight for independence and immigration and a lot of that. It all died out. And our history was all over the whole way along because of, I suppose, our troubled history with England, that everything had to be a word of mouth because you couldn't write anything down because it was a deliberate kind of trying to get rid of the Irish language. So all of this history was all over. And a lot of them was taken away through immigration and through people moving to cities. And what I've just been doing is just trying to dig back up this piece of our past and it's just been fascinating, you know? And I'm trying to imagine here a funeral and at what point in the funeral it said, right, okay, now it's time for the stone lifting competition. And I'm not being facetious. Generally struggling to see how that fits in there. Have you been able to sort of paint a picture of how that would unfold? I've been talking to Dr. Connor Heffernan, who's a strength kind of sociologist of an Ulster University and a couple of historians that's up along the way as well. And what I've gathered from it, Greg, is that there was funeral games, because the funerals last maybe three or four days. And this isn't just here. This is also in the Lakes of Scotland and in Iceland. There were longer affairs. So I suppose to pass the time, generally, if it was a three or four day event and people all got together, like there wasn't anything else to distract you. And there was like feats of strength and there was like feats of endurance. There was like running, there was racing. And all the way back to like the Charlton Games, there was like chariot racing. It's just, it's been incredible to read up on it. I'm not too well versed in exactly how it happened, but it definitely did happen to these, like I said, these historians, you know? And do you imagine it was just a competition of strength, you know, natural strength? Would people be inclined to train for something like this, I wonder? I wouldn't say so. I'd say because people worked, and again, talking to them about this, it's just people worked so hard back in the day, you know? I mean, it was a very physical living. You know, if you wanted to build a house, you had to cut the stone in a circle, you had to cut the logs yourself. You had to build. I mean, the guys out in the Iron Islands where I found a few of these stones as well, they were out rowing up in the sea. You know, there were building stone walls. They were naturally very, very strong people. And the fact that there were stones, I suppose this practice is kind of born from the earth. It's born from their day-to-day lives. You know, I suppose it's just an expression of their strength. Yeah. And interestingly, as you say, you've found 24 lifting stones. How do you identify them as lifting stones versus, you know, a random piece of rock or stone? How were you able to say, right, this was probably a lifting stone from the 19th century? Because, I guess, they're going through the Dukas archives. They give a general, a general kind of a, where this could be, you know, it's either at a crossroads in a village or it's in a graveyard, in a specific graveyard. It's just finding these graveyards sometimes is difficult because a lot of them aren't even on Google Maps to so old. They could be graveyards from the 16th century, 17th century, you know? So generally, it's like, once you find a graveyard, then you go into the graveyard and have a look around and there's usually, like, say, in the corner of the graveyard by the wall, just a large stone that is extremely out of place in a graveyard. And it's like, that's it. That has to be it. And then, because you're on somebody's land, I mean, I went down to one down in Faha, down in County Clare recently, and the farmer knew all about them. He knew all about there's a man's lifting stone and a woman's lifting stone. And he was like, he knew all about them. He's like, oh, yeah, they're there. He said, they're down by the wall. They haven't been picked up, he said, in my lifetime, and this man was in his 70s. But they're there. He said, we know the history about them. Like I said, people know the history about them, but it's just not out there. It's not put out there publicly. And that's what I'm trying to do. Yeah, and it really is quite interesting. Can I imagine, you know, stumbling upon a graveyard and finding this stone in the corner of it. And at some point, it was put down almost for the last time by someone who is long gone. And the stories it could tell. I suppose you kind of have to fill in those blanks now because we know stones don't speak. But they almost do. I mean, it's amazing. You're physically in contact with your ancestors. You're physically in contact through the stone with these people who've lifted up in the past. It's fascinating to think that how many people have picked that up or when was the last time it happened, you know? I found one up in Westmead up in Clown Fad in this beautiful old graveyard. That, like I said, is not even on the maps. It's just the circular trees. And they described it in dukes as an egg-shaped stone. I walked in and there's this beautiful egg-shaped stone sitting at the bottom of a gravestone, you know? And there it is, you know? And the story was this man picked this up and walked it from a neighbourhood house to this area. It was about 100 yards. We weighed the stone at 190 kilos. And the Husserfeld stone up in Iceland, which is using the world's strongest man. And some guy, 150 to 200 years ago, picked the stone up and took it for a stroll, you know? It just goes to show you how strong these people were. The story still survives through the lifeboat that is the dukes archives, which is just a fantastic archive. People should have a look at that anyway. It's fascinating to see what happened in your local area many, many, many 100 years ago, you know? Yeah, and one can only imagine it was incredibly popular here in the Northwest because you talked about its popularity in Iceland and Scotland and certainly in terms of Scotland. Our histories are interlinked with traffic backwards and forwards. So have you managed to identify anything at all in Donegal yet? Or are you just starting this journey now? I've tried my best. I mean, where I'm finding most of these stones is in Galway. It's in the West. It's in Galway. It's in Mayo. And in West Mead. That seems to be the hotbed for them. And the islands off. So a lot of the islands off the West Coast, and it's Parthen, and it's Moor, and it's Turk, but nothing yet in Donegal. And like I said, I'd imagine it with its proximity to Iceland. There has to be a massive, like hidden history up with you guys, you know what I mean? I can't wait to come up. I have a couple of stories that I'm trying to follow. But I can't wait to come up and have a look, because like I said, there should be a huge culture over there. It's just very deep. And if anybody has any information, I'd love to hear any stories that they might have, you know? And in terms of identifying stones, again, you're saying if there happens to be, I can think of two or three grave sites myself that possibly wouldn't be easily identifiable. It's possible that somewhere in the grounds of this graveyard there could be an out-of-place stone. Is it likely to be smooth? How large is it likely to be? I mean, what is the pattern of the two dozen you've found so far, or is there one? There's a pattern in the ways, all right, Gregs. Generally, and I mean, they're extremely heavy and earned. We have possibly the heaviest lifting stones in the world here. I've been to Scotland and I've lifted most of the Scottish lifting stones. They generally average coming in around 120 to 130 kilos. The Irish lifting stones average up around 170 kilos. So you're talking a large, a large stone. A lot of the times they're granite, but I mean, there's no specific shape, really. It depends on the large stone. Whatever happens to be, exactly. And do you have any idea what was classified as a lift? So was it to get up to waist height or chest height or what was the... Good question. Good question. It all depends on the area. I found one on Inish Torque, which is 207 kilos. What I classified as a lift was that was just to break the ground with it. So it's just to get the wind under the stone was a lift. Some of the areas is to get it to your lap. Which is to lap to someone to get it to your knees. Some of the areas is to get it to your chest. So to get it to lap and then squeezes to one hug of the chest. To get it to your shoulder, you know. So it all depends on the actual area itself. Which is, it's very diverse. Again, in comparison to two Scotland and two Oistand, where generally it's to be able to pick them up to your chest. Here we have a lot of different lifts, which is really interesting. Right, okay. So anyone with any stories of what would they call stone lifting events? Or was there a term for it at the time, David? So they'd be empty Irish for stones of strength. And yeah, and like I said, generally cemeteries are crossroads. What's the place where they're found? Meeting pints many hundreds of years ago. All right, fascinating stuff. David, how do people get in contact with you? People can contact us and we'll pass anything on. But do you have an email address or a Facebook or whatever way you... Yeah, if people want to contact me through Instagram, I'm down as Indiana Stones. So I've been christened that over the last six months. I've been called a hell of a lot worse than that, Greg. I was going to say I'd take that, yeah. Indiana Stones on Instagram. If you want to contact me through Facebook, it's David Killen and it's K-E-O-H-A-N-A. See a picture of me lifting a big rock. So he's going to get me on those. That'd be awesome. Yeah, and this seems to be just a forgotten part of history. It's in that space where we weren't writing stuff down. This is safe for all the reasons you outlined. And if it skips any more generations, I'd say we're only about two generations away from losing it because a lot of people I'm talking to are in their 80s and 90s, you know. So it's great to be preserving this for our future because they're not just stones, they're touchstones to our history. Yeah, and very, very fun. Have you spoken to anyone with a living memory of it? Oh, yeah. You have, okay. That's excellent. Oh, lots of people, especially on the islands and especially in the West. And it's the people that make this fascinating. In the middle of writing a book about it, and it's about the world of the world as well. Yeah, indeed. Okay. Listen, thank you very much. It'd probably be a heavy read, but anyway, thank you very much for your... Oh! See you, David. Good man. All right, bye-bye. David Kjohn there, who's also known as Indiana Stones. Oh, wait, 60, 25,000 if you can shed any light on that for us. Okay, let's take a very quick break as we line up our next guest. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, and at highlandradio.com NBI, building a limitless Ireland supported by the Government of Ireland. Our summer sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture, presently Retail Park. The Groom goes free. The Groom goes free. Yes, you heard it. The Groom's Room. Evolve clothing, Latter-Canny Retail Park. The Groom goes free. Call in today. Terms and conditions apply. Hello Summer, hello Sunshine. Hello to a fantastic range of summer bedding, baskets and containers lovingly grown in Latter-Canny Garden Center. Choose from thousands of perfect plants and shrubs with expert advice and everything you need to plant and care for them. Open every day and now accepting shop L.K. vouchers. Alcorns, where value grows every day. Donegall Tile Center are celebrating 35 years in business, under holding a massive three-day sale this Thursday, Friday and Saturday during which they're offering 35% discount of selected items. Wall tiles are reduced from 1.95 a square yard to 11 euro. With timber effect floor tiles reduced from 22.95 a square yard to 14.90. There's vanity units down from 460 euro to 2.99 and freestanding bath reduced from 1,230 euro to 7.99. Stock is limited so don't delay for these genuine bargains. Get along this week to Donegall Tile Center where we'll ask few business park Latter-Canny just around about. Now the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland is running a national survey to capture a snapshot of the experiences of people affected by dementia. Those living with the condition and their families, caregivers and supporters the experience of dementia in Ireland's survey 2023 aims to understand more about this cohort's critical challenges and the supports they need. Dr Deanna Doherty is research officer with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. Thank you so much for joining us. Morning, Greg. Thanks so much for having me. Is this something that you tend to do from time to time or is it trying to sort of fully identify the obvious gaps that are there? So I suppose this is something that this is probably quite new for us within the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland but I suppose we're in this really interesting space at the moment. So we're coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic but also being really cognizant of different crises with the economic crisis going on at the moment, the war in Ukraine. So there's a lot of I suppose changes happening in the environment at the moment and I suppose working with people living with dementia and family carers, this is I suppose a good time that we'd like to try and capture as you say those experiences of people living with dementia and also people who are kind of current former current caregivers and supporters. So this is really a nice time for us. Do we know anecdotally how people affected by dementia feel they are being supported by the state for example? Well I suppose at the moment that's one of the key things we're trying to map. So I suppose anecdotally we would hear that people are struggling and I think that's kind of broader society as a whole people are struggling to seek access to different supports whether you have dementia or not and people living with dementia are struggling and I suppose we're really cognisant of that and I suppose that's again why we're trying to map this. I suppose we're trying to map it as you say it the national survey. So we're actually able to give their feedback from all the way up in the northwest where you are. I'm based down the southwest all across the country. So really trying to build that picture of what are the supports and services and what are people's experiences and what are the benefits and benefits of that. I think it's interesting to hear the views of family and caregivers as well you talk of the cost of living crisis that we're in at the moment and you know people struggling feeling that they might have to make choices between working and paying the bills or caring. I mean obviously different situations are different for different people but I do know everyone's situation is different and we would really look at that and I suppose again that's really what we're trying to map. We're trying to see you know we do have supports and services in local communities across the island of Ireland but I suppose due to the kind of war and divide people might have different I suppose experience of access in those services so we really are trying to see you know what people again what people's experiences are and try to see how can we best support them and I suppose that's what we're hoping that the findings of this survey will actually show you know how can we improve our supports and services but I suppose also looking at you know how we can actually grow our political advocacy and also I suppose kind of building the awareness of dementia as a whole as well. Yeah because overall the cost of dementia in Ireland is just over 1.69 billion euro per annum we have to make sure too don't we have a significant amount of funding when you consider we would spend 80 million this year on mental health services for an example we have to make sure that that money is being spent to best benefit people with dementia and those supporting them. Absolutely and you know a lot of your listeners might know that we already have over 64,000 people living in Ireland living with dementia and that's only set to increase the prevalence is supposed to double in the next 25 years so I suppose having that growing prevalence we are obviously panches to know the cost will rise I suppose that's really what we're hoping with or kind of we do a lot of political advocacy and we're working off a lot with Minister Butler the Minister for our older people I suppose building those relationships but also like learning some people with the lived experience on the ground what are the sports and services you need and how can we get best support them. Yeah and there are huge gaps in services generally speaking across the board here in the northwest in Donegal in particular I think it's critical that there is a good sample from this part of the world because we don't just cry here for the sake of it there are genuine disadvantages to living in Donegal and I've no doubt despite the best efforts of many in terms of living with dementia or caring with someone dementia I'm sure we have particular gaps here so it's really important I think those voices are heard so how do people contribute to this So what we're asking your listeners today is if you are a current supporter or a care person living with dementia or indeed a person living with dementia themselves you can log on to alzomer.ie we have a link to our survey there so again as they say if you're a person living with dementia or you are a family career or even indeed if you have a person in your life who is a loved one living in residential care but you're willing to support them and help them share their lived experience you can log on to our website all the links are there it should take about 10 minutes to complete and I suppose if you rather not do it online or you'd rather do it over the phone we also have some contact information there so people can ring in and we can do it over the phone and the findings of this survey presumably will be published is it to try to shape government policy is it to back up lobbying or representations that Alzheimer's Society of Ireland do what will come from this do you think this research so what we're hoping to do is that obviously we have the so conferred the next couple of weeks but we're hoping that in September when it's word Alzheimer once that we will actually have a report to launch and in that I suppose the follow on from that I think too I suppose again really building that awareness of dementia as condition within our society because I suppose it's not very well known in some parts I suppose that's the first key thing again the second key thing you know following on from to really understanding what the courts and services and the gaps as you said you know that are across the country and nationwide I suppose look at service planning you know where we best look at providing additional supports and services whether that's again in the north west or those kind of black spots around the country and again just to I suppose add to our political advocacy working with those in government to ensure that not only are we funded appropriately but I suppose working together to see if we can do anything whether that's politically or with policy or whatever that might be okay and there are an Alzheimer's National Support Helpline as well of course 1-800-341-341 or you can email helpline at alzheimer's.ie or via live chat at alzheimer's.ie which is also the location of this survey okay listen thanks for your time hopefully we'll speak in September to see the outcome of that have a lovely day Dr Diane O'Daherty who is research officer with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland now let us go straight to our next guest Danny McDade National Secretary of the Board of Directors of Diabetes Ireland Danny thanks for your time this morning hello Danny are you there right okay that line is not fantastic Caroline we might try and reconnect with Danny whilst we take this break after a long hard day treat yourself to something luxurious your drive home the sleek new Nissan X-Trail has a dreamy luxurious interior now available with e-power Nissan's unique hybrid driving system that lets you experience the pleasure of electric driving without the need to plug in and it's available in five or seven seats so even the school run feels like a spa break the all-new Nissan X-Trail with e-power drive it to believe it book your test drive today at your local Nissan dealer Nissan innovation that excites why did I choose Ulster I wanted a university who could give me the biggest possible future but also the best possible time now I could make friends and have good crack but also to set me up for the best job possible I'm planning to take up one of the study abroad options and then my big plan is to specialise in media law in LA but for now, NI has one of the lowest student living costs in the UK so night markets here I come learn why over 30,000 students choose Ulster at Ulster.ac.uk slash go north apply now for this September Tommy Marin here writer of It's the Real McCoy and Three Hell Marys you show Celebration Ireland Saturday May 27th hilarious sketches sing songs and so much more Celebration Ireland on Grain On Letter Kenny Saturday May 27th book on 07491 20777 or on GrainOn.com Is it true you have to finish the course of antibiotics every time? Is there anything I shouldn't have when I'm taking my medicine? Do I need to go to the doctor? Or is there an over the counter treatment for this? We all want to make sure we're doing the right thing when looking after ourselves and our families health. Your local pharmacist can provide quality expert advice you can trust and advise on medicine to improve your symptoms if needed. Your local community pharmacy always here for you brought to you by the Irish Pharmacy Union Donations are sought for a unique auction in aid of Mary's Meals to be held this Saturday the 27th of May in Convoy Any new, vintage or antique items will be gratefully accepted Items can be dropped into Mary's Meals at Greens Market Centre Letter Kenny to Thursday the 25th from 12 to 4 daily or to Convoy Hall this Friday the 26th from 12 Your surplus can help Mary's Meals to continue to feed almost two and a half million hungry children in 18 third world countries For more info see Mary's Meals on Facebook The saddest kind is sponsored by Grow Furnishings this Nenon Letter Kenny The doll has heard that Diabetes Carrying Donagall isn't in an absolute crisis as we reported yesterday Two consultant endocrinologists at Letter Kenny University Hospital have resigned all the while Adults with Diabetes are waiting 24 months for an appointment which is way above the recommended time frame of six months and as we heard on the program yesterday this can have very serious consequences for people's physical health but as you can imagine too this is going to impact people's mental well being Danny McDade is National Secretary of the Board of Directors of Diabetes Ireland and he joins us now Danny thanks for your time today Good morning Greg, thanks for helping me You know from your own family experience you have two daughters with Type 1 Diabetes for over three decades and your granddaughter age 11 also has it You can obviously then really understand not least because of your role with Diabetes Ireland the terrible situation we find ourselves here in Donagall You know we've been through a lot over the years but we're really stunned at this development you know because we were promised as you see the recommended code of practice for the care of Diabetes to be seen by an endocrinologist and their team which is very important the team is important they should be seen every six months and the last time the figures that we had it was 24 months and rising you know so it's all about it's all about the management and care you know so people across the county must take one day we just must be stunned at this announcement I was part of a delegation of the Donagall branch that met with the minister Stephen Donnelly when he was last in the county in October and things we were promised good things and the same with the management in LUH we were promised that things were improving but seems this is a bolt from the blue you know to it appear you know that the incident endocrinologist was due to retire maybe in two years but now and the second endocrinologist was appointed and some time ago three weeks actually I think and he had done his resignation and so did Dr. Kermis who was due to retire in two years so he is now tender to this resignation as well you know to the bottom of this what is going on why do we have one person leaving early why do we have a locum who came in looked around for three weeks and had to leave because until we find out the reasons for those decisions perhaps we don't fully understand we won't fully understand what we have to do to actually recruit people for these services yeah that's you know that's the point you know the management needs to become on from the management and LUH you know why this is happening because Steven Donnelly had announced that there was an extra 30 million to LUH you know but certainly none of it has come the way of the diabetes you know so I you know reading from it it's a burnout of the endocrinology the rest of the endocrinology that was there you know so this is serious for people with type 1 diabetes and there's at least 170 children under the age of 16 with diabetes in the county and they are mostly worrying for their parents that this is a system that they are going to be under horrendous and also too and it was mentioned on the program yesterday there are other staff that support the endocrinologists are they going to stay are they going to leave they're not going to want to sit there twiddling their thumbs I mean this is an emergency situation this is a crisis that needs immediate attention yeah well you know the team an endocrinologist appointed the whole team has to come along with them there's another four probably at least you have a pediatrist a psychologist screening ice screening and we don't have any psychology services in LUH and you know yourself Craig a team is about the management and who you have on it if you haven't the full team there you know can you imagine when you go and turn it out you know we see at the moment without making more fear if you turn out the team without the keeper then you have problems you know but what happens it was a management with the team if the team is not doing well what happens to the manager well why do we go from here though because as it stands there are 24 months wait out there that say they've been waiting longer or further might as we've already talked about there is the the ongoing assessment that needs to happen the potential complications that can damage physical health and I already referenced to the increased anxiety and stress on people so where do we go from here because we have a situation where and sorry to say this again but we have a situation here where many people hundreds of people in Donegal face much poorer outcomes in a really quite a short period of time than people with the same condition living in other parts of the country right so that is not sustainable Danny so what do we do next it's hard to know this has come you know a bolt out of the blue for people with diabetes in Donegal well you know first of all I think Charlie McCornell should be Charlie McCornell accompanied the minister the delegation that we met with him in October you know and he should be in the minister's office this morning to see what has happened in an LUH and you know if there was 30 million pumped into it it certainly didn't come the way and why this has happened and why to certainly a senior endocrinologist which I have known to be is America any for maybe 12 12 14 years gentlemen and was very well liked by the community that availed of his services you know and you know so like you know it must cost serious stress and anxiety to people with type 1 diabetes and that is one of the things that raises blood sugar levels you know stress has to be avoided and anxiety you know I can imagine going through you know I don't have diabetes my blood sugars don't raise but certainly you know from the last couple of days my blood pressure well Danny listen you look after yourself your family need you but I get understand exactly what you're saying thank you Danny Danny McDade national secretary of the board of directors of Diabetes Ireland so there are serious questions that need answers we'll make contact with minister Charlie McCornell's office to see what he's going to do what he's going to do I'm not going to keep saying it as you would know unfortunately it's a terrible situation in terms of democracy but the most listened to show here 80 odd thousand of you every single week unfortunately we can't put those questions to the minister directly but that is where we're at so we're going to struggle on and continue to do our best for you guys as much as we can we'll be back with more after this week's Ortee guide today shows shenade kennedy on long distance relationships and how parenthood has changed her life from biking to bathing are out about issues is bustling with tips for things to do this summer and from barbie to up and hymer we preview summer's big movie releases everything and more Ortee guide on sale now beat your personal best with top brands and premium running footwear from Michael Murphy sports in letter kenny there's new arrivals from asics new balance brooks and under armor in a range of structured and neutral styles there's also free next day delivery 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for great value every day online and on the Highland radio app this is Highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal Kavanaugh at the news desk safety concerns at green castle harbor counselor Johnny McGinnis says in its current format he's not confident that safety has been given proper consideration in terms of layout he believes the area needs to be revised in its entirety to ensure the safety of people availing of the ferry service I think there might need to be a realignment of the of the traffic flow that's there there's a there's a small wall there that's causing some concern and just the actual junction itself it's quite a bottleneck for the school and the facility as well now obviously they won't be there during the summer but just the whole thing I think deserves a fresh look you know considering all the different moving parts that's taking place there now an increasing number of Irish families are suffering from the effects of the cost of living crisis Barnardo's says in some cases children are going to school without lunches while others have only two or three changes of clothes because parents can't afford the most basic of eight percent of parents say they've gone without or cut back on medical care or health assessments in the past six months Stephen Moffatt national policy manager with Barnardo's says even more families are going without food heating or clothes parents told me that they knew their child had holes in their shoes the water were getting into their shoes but they just didn't have the money to pay for them they knew that they'd have to wait a couple of weeks maybe for a child allowance to kick in I mean that's an interesting example but a lot of parents making huge sacrifices so that children do have food or they do have heating Amidlands Northwest MEP has defended his decision to vote against the proposed EU nature restoration law in the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee this week Colin Markey says all those who opposed it accept there is a biodiversity crisis and the need for restoration but he says they objected the way the commission was proposing to impose measures as the commission is pushing it on workable policy and to polarise the debate which is not going to achieve anything according to Mr Markey one of the key issues is the failure to incorporate carbon farming into the legislation I think we can get to the right place I think it involves an element of natural restoration but also involves the principle of carbon farming if you legislate and set rules then you don't provide for the additionality that's needed to to reward carbon farming during natural restoration in the absence of the proposals around carbon farming that you really need that you working together and if we do that we can have a success with that Kilmocranian Celtic Football Club is urging members and the public to be extra vigilant after significant damage was caused to their changing rooms facility the club says they're disgusted and disappointed to discover the level of vandalism at the building used by the Kilmocranian School Boys and Girls Football League and the interior of the changing rooms Raymond Schales a committee member at the club says it's not the first time they've been targeted this is not nicely that the courts at all this would be ongoing but in fairness to the Garedy they intervened sometime back and it seemed to have stopped for a while but now they're back to the antics again we've over 150 Academy children and over 100 underage players that use this facility so to me it's an attack on these children and their parents they're going to do damage to themselves if they keep doing this they're going to go on to that roof and they're going to fall off and in a showing visible district has been told the potential of Swan Park is not going to be maximized until everyone can enjoy it Councillor Innan Donahue is calling for signs to be erected encouraging dog owners to keep their pets on a leash the popular amenity recently reopened after much work was carried out following significant damage caused by flooding in 2017 well Councillor Donahue says those who are scared of dogs are being forced to leave the park because of all the park has to offer there's so much to do in Swan Park there's so much to see for children and adults alike and you have the river running through it and you really do want everybody to enjoy it but if people are scared and afraid of dogs they're not going to maximise on the potential of the park let's take a look at what Matt Aaron are predicting for today they say it'll be mostly dry with a mix of cloud and sunny spells highest temperatures Highland radio news were back with headlines again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team have a very good morning the obituary notice says for this Wednesday morning May the 23rd the death has taken place of Patricia Quig late of Straddowen Drive Strasfoil County Derry reposing at her parents home 126 Longland Road Donahue Manor Straban family and close friends are welcome until 10 o'clock Fiona leaving her parents home to more morning at quarter past nine for 10 o'clock recreation mass in St Patrick's Church Kalini fall by cremation at Lakelands crematorium cabin family flowers only please donations of wish in lieu to Foil Hospice care of McLaughlin funeral directors done given the death has occurred of Donna Ferguson St. Eugene Cathedral Derry for recreation mass at 10 o'clock with burial immediately afterwards in the city cemetery funeral mass come viewed live on the parish webcam the death has occurred of Martin Houston 30 art column kill letter Kenny Martin will repose at his home today from 11 o'clock until 9 o'clock funeral from there tomorrow going to St. Eugene Cathedral letter Kenny for recreation mass at 11 o'clock with burial afterwards in the family plot in Commonwealth Cemetery funeral mass come be viewed live on church services dot TV family flowers only please donations if desired to the friends of letter Kenny University hospital care of Pascal Blake funeral director family time before the funeral tomorrow please the death has taken place of Brian McDonald 14 Delaney Crescent Straban and formerly of Oma proposing at his home today from 12 noon funeral leaving his home to more morning at 20 past nine for recreation mass in St. Mary's church malmite at 10 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery house private place to family close friends and neighbors family time please from 11 o'clock tonight the recreation mass come be viewed live by the parish webcam the death has taken place in Manchester England of Brandon McCrossen formerly of Connor Cunningham funeral mass will take place tomorrow in St. Winifred's church stockport Manchester at 11 o'clock followed by burial immediately afterwards the death has taken place of William David Perry Willie Maherick corn convoy his remains are of housing at his late home funeral leaving from their tomorrow afternoon at half past 12 for two o'clock funeral service in the Presbyterian Church Dunningall town followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery no flowers please donations and leave desired to NCBI and the death has taken place of Michael Orr 132 the Cottages Red Castle Michael's remains are opposing at his home where you're welcome to pay your respects today from 11 o'clock until 10 o'clock Michael's funeral mass will take place tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in St. Columbus church drunk quickly's point followed by William David Perry family flowers only please donations if desired to the patient comfort fund Nasibirth house fund care of any family member are Liam Collins funeral director Michael's funeral mass can be viewed live on St. Columbus Drunk.net for more details including any family house guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highlandradio.com every year about 2600 people in Ireland get bowel cancer which helps to reduce your risk of developing it if you're aged 60 to 69 you can register today for a free bowel screen test kit once you've done the test at home return it by free post and we test your sample for levels of blood if you need any more tests we'll let you know register today at hse.ie forward slash bowel screen or free phone 1-800-45-45-55 from the HSE you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here in Highland very good morning if you're just after joining us it's good to have you tuned in the lines remain open for you of course to raise your issues to make your comments yesterday we had quite a long conversation about cocaine and the view of one addiction cancer that it is right throughout this community and it's not going to be undone either that we have to come up with a different way of approaching the whole situation but lots of you messaged in but it's kind of late on over time for a change your law in this country drink and drug use should not be a defense for crime for example in some countries anyone under the influence who kills someone while driving is automatically charged with vehicle vehicular manslaughter time to do same here are you aware of a new drug going around called monkey dust it's very dangerous you can make the user eat glass or jump off high buildings they say about time to Arland has the second highest rate of binge drinking defined as downing six or more pints at one sitting in Europe after hungry you only have to visit rural Donningall at closing time to see the danger this poses on our roads another let me see actually they're kind of mixed in a little bit here I'll go through some of the comments on different issues aimed to average 4% of the first preference votes where they stood candidates in the north good going for a new party please that listener it's their second round of elections but I take your point just found out recently what people in the north refer to the DL on Donningall car reg plates as didn't learn very apt for the amount of collisions in this county all right hi Greg I know of a large guest house that houses Ukrainians but is moving the Ukrainians out each weekend to other accommodation and selling their rooms to tourists and wedding guests that are attending functions nearby I'm just wondering is this allowed as this is the Ukrainians home now essentially I'm not sure what the terms of the contracts are the states would be very well aware I'm sure if Ukrainians are moving from one piece of accommodation to another of course as we need start to talk to children at school age around 10 or 13 years old about drinking drugs but there'd be a big push back on that too you know people some people don't like adult topics being taught to children I wonder would there be the same resistance to educating children about the do's and don'ts and mostly don'ts of course of drinking drugs at the ages of 10 to 13 um hi I've been to Portugal twice the toilets are attended and are spotless surely those who are on the dole who have to do community work could do this on a rotating basis the toilets at Rathmullen are disgusting okay I'm not sure really it's the I don't see why you would people on social welfare you get them to clean toilets I mean there's no harm in that job but pay pay people to do it uh Greg my daughters are both celiac the price of food is terrible if we weren't so sick eating gluten I'd be back eating normal food I can imagine I don't have any insight into that challenge but I can imagine uh morning Greg no justice for Jassman and hard to believe uh two year present and present uh prison sentence handed down for attacking an older lady with Alzheimer's in Dublin I feel sick thinking of what she went through uh thank you indeed I understand exactly where you're coming from uh call it would like to know if anyone has any advice on getting a smart meter installed is it a good idea or not actually it's not a bad question you know uh we spoke most recently about uh people resisting it for whatever reason they might um I don't see the difference in it they're gonna come anyway I don't see the difference in getting a smart meter or not I as I've said and I don't want to repeat myself apologies I did do some research on the tariffs and I don't like the tariffs because the electricity is a little bit more expensive uh in the morning uh and cheaper at night but I don't want to put stuff on at night uh so the meter in itself I don't see any issue with it at the moment I don't see any advantage to it either but listen you're out there uh you've got them what do you think 08 6 60 25 thousand we're going to be speaking to uh former shin fame president and author of cancer eddie fullerton visionary visionary patriot martyr that's uh gerry adams after this break the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's wednesday the 24th of may you're playing on the blue sheet the reference number is s3 it's 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to learn more about our container rental and storage services call martin at space hub now 04871878 077 for more details if you're a cancer survivor be part of relay for life dunny gall come along to the event anytime from five p.m. on saturday the third of june to five p.m. on sunday the fourth at atu dunny gall campus in letter kenny see facebook for more details or email relayforlifedunnygall at gmail.com relay for life celebrating cancer survivors and supporting the fight against cancer okay you are very welcome back to the program and we welcome on to it now jerry adams the former shin fame president and author of cancer eddie fulerton visionary patriot and martyr good morning jerry thanks for your time today my good good getting you loud and clear thank you very much for joining us okay you're going to launch this book at the lake of shadows hotel in bon crana tomorrow night at seven p.m. what approach did you take to this book jerry other than the obvious what story did you want to tell well first of all i wanted to pay tribute to eddie's family by recollecting my acquaintance with him my friendship with eddie over the years you know he was a a larger than life figure in many ways big grizzly beard on him big map of her full of crack immensely popular but also an annum cara to dina and a loving father to his six their six children and a good friend and a comrade and a good neighbor to all the people who knew him and proud donnie gorman proud proud arishman and like many away he went to england for work i think he may have went to scotland for so and then in the birmingham where he was followed by his many brothers i also want to tell the story of his family roots and then he shown you know it's a beautiful peninsula and i mean i first got to know eddie extra well away back in 1984 i was shot and was provided with a the use of a caravan through martin mcginnis who had a friend who had a mobile home up there just outside the peninsula myself my wife flattened up there and we were there for a lot of weeks just i was just recovering to eddie and his old friend jim farry uh reina mcgloughlin and his wife mary we're in and out just making sure that everything was okay and we were we were looked after and he also brought me around parts of and he showed me where woodtone hudlanded showed me up where the family homestead was uh so as i said i got to know him uh better in that uh period so i wanted to tell that that story and then of course there's the story of his killing and the ongoing campaign by the family these years later they know the truth they know what happened the the recent ombudsman's report last year mary anderson operation greenish uh said that pretty state forces were involved with uh uda and other loyalist part of militaries that the weapon came in from south africa that as many as i suppose the figure i have here is 19 uh people were killed and many many more were were were injured so it's telling that story this is this is a book uh and uh and and that by the way as a photograph of adi even down on a delegation on behalf of the people of donny gall and the government minister wouldn't meet him and wouldn't meet the delegation and adi who loved this constituents withdrew from the delegation because he didn't want the opportunity of a meeting on their behalf to be missed because of the stupidity and arrogance of the minister and the party in donny gall uh as uh come on um of course uh since 1979 adi was the first shin fame member to be elected now numerous uh obviously uh counselors um within the party in podrick mcgloughlin and pierce dot hearty two of the most senior members of the shin fame in in in the republic uh but it all started with uh mr follison yes adi adi was put the hearty tales that there was no structure up on any show there was a structure throughout the rest of the county and when adi came back from berman ham and he'd been active on berman ham on adi's issues particularly on behalf of the prisoners uh and he had he had raised the flags there he was our adjourn you know uh the the hunger strikes that took place at that time and and the the prisons in england so when he came back he became uh a vocal point he became a hob i think he used that term he sold more on phob locked than anyone else uh and he did it just physically did it just by going out and around pubs and up and down streets and and so on so he he established a structure and as you say quite rightly uh he he when when he stood for the election he topped the poll he was immensely popular and then that example uh has been taken up by other younger people adi unfortunately didn't live long enough to see the success of the party and don't it go hard to see the peace uh and the good freddy agreement but he would have been a huge supporter of all of those podrick mclaughlin will be uh there tomorrow night speaking uh amanda Ferguson one of adi's daughters will be there also on behalf of the family and and pierce daherty uh will will be there too and you know it's it's uh it's important in my view anyway this this is a little series of books that i have undertaken i think it's important to tell our own story and you know and everybody has the right to tell the story and it's when you put all the narrative around you know side by side then you get a sense of the whole history so this is an attempt to make sure that adi followed in story and the story of his wife and his family is told do you remember being told of his murder yes uh it it was at a time in that period uh a large number of people involved with shin fien members our family members were killed 21 shin fien members were killed so we were we were living in that type of atmosphere uh but no one had been killed in the south and adi was also a high profile public official uh and there are big questions about how our elements of engardish ukona handled the investigation i mean they spread rumors that he was shot by republicans they spread all sorts of shilling nonsense which brought agonies to the family and outrage among his friends of course when i got to news i was shocked but because of the time we were living nothing really shocked you know i was shocked at a personal level i wasn't shocked at a political level uh and if you consider that uh the british now are bringing through this shame which is trying to destroy the element of the good freddy agreement and other agreements which try to deal with uh the issue of victims and victims is a very general term so it isn't one set of victims it's for all the victims and adi's case is exactly the reason why they're doing that if you consider now the ombudsman found that british state forces were implicit were involved in the killing of a county councillor from donny gall that's why the british are trying to get red of the different processes which were agreed at the storm on house agreement to give the families whatever soccer can be given whatever truth and that's why you know the family are so valiant like many many other families who are in a similar position in pursuing their campaign and i do think there's a huge onus on the agis government it's very very clear they cannot be junior partners the agis government has a responsibility towards the fulerton family and everybody else to uphold the rights under the agreement that people voted for people north and south it's the people's agreement so the agis government have a responsibility to raise this issue and mary le mcdonald and the others poldrick and pierce have raised it in the doll and i am all satisfied that the agis government is doing enough to get the british government to resign to back off from trying to drive another culture horses through the good freddy agreement you know as you reflect on you know the sense of personal loss when you heard that news and as you quite rightly pointed out you know everyone has their stories and people from all different backgrounds lost their lives during the troubles it's a it's a further reminder how imperative it is that we never allow ourselves to slide back anywhere close to those times do you have concerns obviously there is a political vacuum at the moment in north and arland it doesn't seem much is going to change even post the local elections in which shin fain did very very well do you have concerns as to where we are right now and where we potentially are going well i don't think we can ever take the peace for granted so we have to keep nurturing we have to keep working on it but i am always afraid to say this in case something dastardly happens but i don't see there being any possibility of there being any return to violence i just can't see that there are small groups and they should just go away you know and i'm actually willing and others are willing to go and talk to them you know if they present themselves as republican well there now is a method a peaceful democratic method to end the union with britain and the people will have their say on that so i don't have other than just you being cautious concerns that we are going to slide back the war is definitely and absolutely over there is a vacuum i don't think that jeffy donson has any option other than to go back into storming i think he knows that michelle nade is a first minister for all she's a first minister designated now that changed with the electorate in the last local government election and there's also very very clearly a pro-wari unity vote in the vote for shin fian so i think we need to be getting the irish government to do the preparatory work for the time ahead we wouldn't be doing this interview if you hadn't planned it do you think finally and i won't hold you very much longer do you think the dup resistance to going into government is to do with the fallout from brexit or is it that they perhaps want to imagine themselves playing effectively what would be seen as second fiddle to michelle o'neill and shin fain well they're looking for concessions from the british government on brexit issues and on the winzer protocol and all the rest of that and i don't think any sensible person would have any problem with them be given some practical concessions which don't undermine the principle of what has been agreed i have no doubt that some within the dup are residing from the fact that michelle o'neill will be the first minister i don't think jeffrey dalison is one of those i believe him when he says that's not stopping him he just needs to make sure he doesn't over negotiate over play his hands and i also as i said previously we need a date we don't need a referendum tomorrow but we need a date for the referendum and we need a citizens assembly organised by the Irish government to discuss all these matters and everybody should be part of it and we clearly need northern protestants to be very very much front and centre of that the union has tactically made not engage at this stage so all of that works to be done time ahead and just to say this the island wouldn't be and shun fien certainly wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for the sacrifice of men like adi fullerton and the sacrifice of his family yes for sure and that book will be launched in the lake of shadows hotel in bon crana tomorrow night may 25th at 7pm very finally on a much lighter note of course we've nothing to talk about anymore I'm going to ask the question you've been asking a million times now are you enjoying your book writing and your somewhat step out of the limelight or would you be interested in an honour to hold the position as president of Ireland jerry well first of all I wish public his day well he's a very clever smart and funny man that's a big position he's coming into and he's from County Down as well for his sins. It's another representation in any position whatsoever, but I'm done with public office. I keep getting asked this question when I stand for the presidency. The answer is a good Ulster word. No, I will not stand for the presidency. I'm content with a great leadership in the party. I'm content in what I'm doing and I just hope that people from the North West and from any show in particular will turn out tomorrow night in solidarity with the Fullerton family. Excellent. And as I say, Greg, thank you. Thank you for this. And that is the important element. I'll remind people now. Thank you very much indeed, Jerry Adams. Have a lovely day. Take care of yourself. Bye bye. So that's Jerry Adams, full machine fame president, author of Councillor Eddie Fullerton, Visionary Patriot and Martyr. And as you heard, it's a significant event taking place in the Lake of Shadows Hotel in Bonkranagh tomorrow night, Thursday, May 25th at 7pm. And you heard categorically that Jerry Adams has no interest in being the president of Ireland because I've read some speculation about it as recently as three or four weeks ago. He's probably answered that question a million times already. But anyway, for the listeners here in the North West, there you have it. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. Are you worried about trees on your property? Northwest Forestry Services Bully Buffet are fully insured and have over 40 years experience in dangerous tree removal, tree felling, surgery and stump grinding. For peace of mind, call Northwest Forest Services Bully Buffet for no obligation quotation on 9132033. In a long week leaves you longing for adventure. Swap your work days for waterways and paddle board along the tranquil waters of Loch Durg. Or go with the flow as you cruise along the Shannon. For more short break ideas, visit discoverarland.ie. Book early for the best value and keep discovering. 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Bringing warmth and comfort to homes in Donegall and beyond for nearly 50 years. So visit our showrooms in Ballybuffet or call us at 074-913-1700 or online at thestovestore.ie for more details. Now, more regularly than you would want, we get correspondence from parents and by the time and guardians and by the time they contact us, they're at their wits end and it's on the issue of bullying and there's nothing worse. Many of you out there would have had a child that's come home with a once off bullying incident or they've had a bad experience at school and then, you know, they're upset going to school the next morning. I know many of you out there, mums and dads, grands and granddads, aunts and uncles understand exactly what I'm talking about. It's heartbreaking and I also know because I've spoken to people on this programme well into their 50s, 60s and beyond who experience bullying at school and it shaped their life and affects them still and they would become upset talking back to what happened to them as young people and it's affected their relationships and what have you as they went through life and I'm not overstating it here because I know I've spoken to and now we received and we have to be somewhat general. We received an email correspondence recently and it outlines what one family is going through and how they've tried to deal with it. They talk about a series of bullying incidents, the latest incidents involving our son and another pupil while in your care during school hours and we wish to put it on record how disappointed we are in the manner with which the school has yet again failed to deal with the ongoing issue. After two years, it's quite clearly bullying. So this is a letter to the local school talking of bullying that's been going on for two years and they feel that something is not being done. Now, we can't speak in this instance about individual cases, but we can speak in the general. Mary Dunn is founder of the National Association for Victims of Bullying. Thanks for joining us, Mary. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. And as I say, Mary, you can perhaps articulate it better than I. Bullying is horrendous and has a really, really strong impact on children. Of course, those around them then. It does. And the whole family is affected, the grandparents. And as you said, anybody who can remember going to school and it's happening to them, it brings it all back. But the sad thing is who do not have an anti-bullying policy may not have any code of procedures whatsoever. What I would say to parents is the Department of Education have available to parents to download the anti-bullying policy if your school doesn't have one. You actually can have one from the department. But also the awareness that your child is struggling every day to survive its basic survival within the school environment when bullying is going on. They have to plan how to escape the bully, how to stay safe. And if teachers are not supervising in the yard, the yard can be a problem. The toilets, anywhere can be a problem for a child. And what I say to teachers every day, there are simple questions you ask the student. Where is it happening? How is it happening? And what can we do to stop it? And I have spoken to several children who tell me what they know can be done to stop it. So it is it's a simple situation. It should never run on for weeks. Once a parent noticed and brings it into the attention of the school, if both cooperate, it will stop. OK, well, it should be the case. But we'll fast forward to a situation where parents are back and forth with the school, the problem is ongoing and they aren't satisfied. There's physical abuse, there's mental abuse. What responsibility does the school have? In other words, we're having to talk about this point, perhaps of escalating the issue. What is the responsibility of the school? What can a parent expect once they contact the school and outline exactly what is going on? Well, I suppose the first thing you expect for any child going into a school that they're going to be safe and under the Health and Safety Act, if a child is being bullied and beaten in a school, then that is against the law and the guard. These should be involved plus the board of management. Know your board of management. Know who is the chairperson. Know who your two parent reps on that board of management are. Know how you can approach the school. There's a lot of bodies involved in stopping the bullying. It's not just down to one teacher. It is the cooperation of both the principal, the board of management, the parents of both children, because the effect of being named a bully has just as much in effect as being bullied. So both children have to be taken care of. Yeah, but if you aren't satisfied, can you you've gone to the board of management? You've gone to the school. Where is the next port of call? Is it is it there? Is it the Education Department? The if there's an overarching body. Well, the Department of Education is only responsible so you can make a call to them. But in actual fact, sometimes talking to the individual who is being bullied, they may ask to be taken out of the school. Now, for some kids to be taken out of the school, it's victimising them again. But for some children, they would say to me, I'm not going back there anymore. I don't trust them. This has been going on for a year. They have done nothing to protect me. So take me out of the school. Yes, but often, Mary, that happens because the bully let me and I don't I just have to we can't use names, right? So I'm going to have to use these terms that sometimes the bully remains in the class. And that child might be have to see that other child every day, play sports with them, you know, and you know, the little looks and the little threatening mannerisms that can go on. You know, what what is the protocol for removing the bully from the situation? Why should it be the victim? Well, you see, if the victim asked to leave, then, yes, you have to consider what the victim is asking. But if the victim is insisting that they want to stay in the school, be with their friends, why should they leave? They're not at fault. Then what the parent has to do is sit down with the principle of the school and the teacher, who it may be, whoever it may be, or at second level. It can be a group of teachers and the yearhead that's involved, whichever the situation you want to guarantee from those people that your child is safe to go into the school. If you don't get that guarantee and you can't trust that environment, then it leaves you with no choice but to put your child first. And that's where the child will have to understand it for their good. They're trying to survive in an environment, but a lot of good teachers out there will listen, will do their best and will always come back to the parents and say, we're doing such a thing. Is Charlie or Johnny or whoever happy with what we're doing? Do they want us to change what we're doing? So the cooperation between the school and the parents and the pupil, that's where it solves the break. Now, I mean, some schools are brilliant at this and nip it in the bud. And, you know, they're very proactive. I can't understand why all schools aren't because as soon as it continues for a period of time, then you're dealing with at least two groups of parents and then you're starting to deal with maybe students having to be moved out of classes or whatever it might be. It's a nightmare for any school and its management. Why is there not a consistent policy that is enforced and checked like Hickwa does a hospital? Why is there not a, you know, strict rules to ensure that every school can demonstrate their anti-bullying policies and processes? Because it's so important it shouldn't be hit and miss. Well, if I say this to you, Greg, in 35 years of doing this job, I would still say to you that schools do ignore the department and a lot of parents rather than bring the issue or have anybody know what's going on will not report the school. And this is where we find that if the schools cooperate with the parents, the value of that school goes so high, the parents appreciate what's been done. But when we have schools who ignore and deny that bullying is taking place, we know schools say, oh, well, that doesn't happen in my school. And then they're surprised when I ring them and say it is happening in your school. And this is how I'm advising you to deal with it. So if teachers and principals, boards of management and the parents come together and insist that there is a policy, know the rules and regulations. It's written in the school journal. Every student takes their journal home. The parents read it and sign it. Then they become part of that policy. But a lot of parents don't realize that they have the right to ask for that policy, to ask what's the guidelines and procedures and ask for a copy. They're not your parents are not doing it. And if parents did it and were aware of what to ask, then schools wouldn't be getting away with it. And if you get that, if you're still not content, don't let it rumble on, go in or contact the the the head of the school and say, I'm unsatisfied with how you're dealing with this. I am now making a formal complaint to the Department of Education. Is that how people should progress? Exactly, Greg. And the most important thing is to ask the victim, what's going on? Have your facts before you do any meetings. Ask the victim, where is this happening? Who, how and where are you safe? If you're not safe in the yard, then the parent has the right to go in and say, is the yard being supervised? Are you aware that my child has been beaten up in your yard? So you bring all that information into the school and you don't leave them any way with in any doubt of what's going on. You go in well prepared and you ask for the code of behaviour, the anti-bullying policy and the guidelines and procedures. That's your right as a parent. You say that sometimes you advocate on behalf of people. At what point would you, Mary, become involved in the situation? Is it after someone has contacted the Department of Education? Is it part of the process? What is the reaction when the founder of the National Association for Victims of Bullying contacts the school? On the parent and the principal's agreement, the parent will talk to the principal if the principal needs advice or needs to talk to me at any stage. Yes, I only on the permission of the parent. And what do principals say when you say, look, it's Mary Donne here. I don't think I've ever had a problem, Greg. I think a lot of principals and teachers who get in touch with me would be more interested in how to help the parents and how to sort out the situation. So there's no objection by any principal or any school or any board of management to talking to me because they need maybe things that they were trying to fix. They were going about it the wrong way. So if they're open to learning how to deal with the situation, then I'm here 24 seven. But it should not be allowed to persist. It should not be allowed to go on for six months a year, two months. Two years if it goes beyond two weeks. Right. So we as parents have to get tough, then. Yes, you do, Greg. Yes, you do. And I've been saying that to parents, at parents meetings around the country. You've got to ask the proper questions. You've got to be informed. Yes, you've got to know you're right. Yeah, and I'm not saying not doing that is any form of weakness, but we tend not to want to upset the apple card, but we have to. We have to bang the drum. We have to use the right language. We have to make the right demands in terms of policy and procedures. We have to demand what action plan is taking place. And if that doesn't work, we have to contact the Department of Education and tell the school that you're making a formal complaint and you're going to make this very difficult for them and also engage the services of the likes of yourself. I mean, that's what we have to do here, because I'm seeing some notes that young children write in the depths of of what they're feeling. And I'm looking at pictures of victims of a victim of bullying that we were contacted about. And you can see the sadness in the eyes. The eyes, I often think, you know, tell us so much and the little notes. It's just heartbreaking. It can't be allowed to go on, Mary. Can I give you an insight to what children suffer, Greg? Please. There's their sleeping patterns, the constant pain or the silence. The other thing is what a lot of parents think they know. When the child gets up in the morning, the bully is actually in their head. They go into school and they have to survive because that's what it is. It's survival. It's not learning. It's interfering with the learning. They can't pay attention because they don't know where the bully is going to attack them. And if it's a group, it's very hard to avoid a group. So there's there's so many issues out there, Greg, even to spend hours discussing them. There's so many situations that the children and young people and even in colleges, even in the workplace, your day is spent trying to avoid a situation where you know they're going to get you. So you can't learn. No, and I can't do your day's work. And the worst thing now, too, with the online element of it, it doesn't end at the school gates or begin at the school gates anymore. It can. It can. You know, it can continue on the phones and what have you. OK. Mary, don't go ahead. Sorry. Can I just say to people if you're wondering phone and even now parents ring me and said, should I buy a phone for 11 year old and 12 year old? I said to parents, to parents, do you know how to use your phone? Are you up to date with technology? Are you going to take that phone at night time? Are you going to allow that phone to be brought up to the bedroom? Are you in charge of this instrument that you're going to give your child? And I say, would you give your child the keys to your car? Let me put one comment here to you before I let you go, if that's OK. Why do experts always assume that only one child is being bullied? I'm not saying you did, Mary. I'll read on here, though. If you take the victim out of the school, the bully still has other children to victimise. Mary is talking a lot about what is correct procedure, but very little assistance on what to do when the school fails to deal with the situation to the satisfaction of the child being bullied. I think involved in the Guardi should also be an option. You've said it is a crime if it's ongoing. But the advice you did give is if the school is failing to deal with the situation, contact the Guardi. They won't want to see the Guardi landing. But contact, go into the principal, say that I'm raising this issue with the Department of Education and keep at them until such time as you feel the situation is being resolved. Is that the solution? And it's not always the solution, Greg, and it's what I said. We have to listen to the victim and a lot of parents feel that, well, I can't take him out of school or I can't take her out of school. But if the child is insisting that they can't go back to the school, then the school has failed the child. Yes. But the point this listener was making, that bully is still in the school and that bully may go on to victimise other children. I know you have to look after your own child, but. You have made the school aware if another family are going to go through what you've been through, then the accumulation of information. Then what I say is that school has failed every student and schools have pride in their work. Teachers have pride. So if you have a good principal, good teachers, boards of management, all coming together to work with parents, the school will be safe. That's providing they don't all circle the wagons, though, and say, Hulanya, this is a fantastic school we have. There's no bullying going on here. It's your child that's doing this, that and the other. You see, I'm trying to come up with solutions. I know people have gone through that, and I'm trying to come up with some sort of a strategy or solution to help people whereby those wagons have been circled. Yes. And the sad thing is, Greg, we have parents who basically give up like there's so many situations. It's not OK. We've lost that connection to Mary. Mary Don founder of the National Association for Victims of Bullying. Thank you very much for your time. And I think we covered most of the issues there. Not everyone's satisfaction, but it's a very, very complex. There it's a very complex situation. And there isn't a single answer because all cases, all schools and all individuals seemingly are different. But hopefully that was constructive for some people listening this morning. Summer is here, and so is the hottest sale of the year at Easy Living Furniture. Get ready to transform your home with incredible deals during our sizzling summer sale. With absolutely everything reduced, why not spruce up your living room with a stylish sofa? Create the perfect dining experience with our stunning collection of dining sets and relax in comfort with our cozy bedroom furniture. The spectacular summer sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture, Crescent Link Retail Park. It's the right price tiles and wood flooring biggest ever sale. Ten million euros worth of stock in store and ready to take home. All tiles, wood flooring, outdoor tiles and bathware. Everything is slashed in price. Right price tiles and wood flooring. Ireland's biggest range, best prices and in store to take home today. 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Around the Northwest with John Breslin will be live this Friday from the Anne-Riche Wheelchair Association in Glenview Business Park, Letter County for a celebration of their community day services. Come along and find out about their assisted living service, employment opportunities, community employment scheme, volunteering opportunities with advice and a demonstration of an adapted vehicle that's used to support driving lessons. There's also light refreshments and giveaways. That's this Friday from 12 noon at the Irish Wheelchair Association Center, Glenview Business Park, Letter County. All right, Wellness Wednesday on the way coming up after 11 o'clock. Stay tuned for that. Kiran O'Donnell will join us as well with some business use and preview Highland Radio's Business Matters podcast. This quarter says though, as a parent, I think phones should be banned totally from school grounds. Bullying happens so much via phones and social media under false names, but it's parents who need to take control. Another on the issue of drugs, the caller says that young people have nowhere to go anymore. Even the pub, the cost of a pint has gone up so much that they can no longer afford it. And I think too, there should be more facilities right across the county and region where it doesn't involve booze or drink, you know, with the disappointment recently in the south of the county of a cinema not going ahead, which would have been a lovely outlet for young people so it's not incredibly inexpensive to go to the cinema anymore, but you know what I mean? Something else to do that doesn't involve alcohol. What's being done about the speed of traffic traveling the Burnfoot to Muff Road, 80 kilometers limit to traffic, traffic traveling a lot faster. Also overtaking on solid white lines, a few cars that have overtook me must have been traveling well over 100 kilometers in the 80 kilometer zone. It is a difficult one, isn't it? Because I think drivers often ignore speed signs in a condition to drive at 100, and that's what's happening there. I'm not sure about what enforcement is happening, if any, but clearly not enough you would say. And I was passing the school, oh, what's the name of the school? Caroline's away. The school on the letter to Derry Road. We talked about it to a colon and another gentleman at that time. It'll come to me anyway. But they were talking about a speed sign, a temporary speed limit sign, when you're coming from the direction of Derry that doesn't give you enough time to stop. Now, obviously, I was sitting here in the studio and trying to put counterpoints and what have you and have a broader discussion on it. Caroline, what's the name of that school again on the side of the road there? Muller Dirk? Mahrabbeg, okay, Mahrabbeg. So I was coming back from the bridge end direction yesterday and come around the corner and the temporary speed sign was on and wow, you do not have any time to stop. It is really, really dangerous. And I just wanted to say that because I was kind of putting up counter arguments to Colin and our other guests, they need to do something about that really, really seriously because you come around the corner, that light's flashing and you have to slam on your brakes. And I was only doing about 85, maybe 90 at a stretch and I'd slam my brakes on. Car got very big behind me all of a sudden and you have to stop. There's not enough time to do so. So you really, really need to look at that. And I have a much better understanding having seen it myself now and also add into that the beast of speed van in that temporary speed limit. So you really do have to stand on the brakes and it comes at you. You don't know exactly where the school's at. So again, definitely I've experienced it now and I would agree. Also, I noticed coming up, I'm sorry to talk about roads I'm on. I want you to get involved with where you're at. Coming up the left-hand lane out of letter Kenny up towards the school at the top of the Brae there. That sign's obscured. The temporary speed limit sign is obscured until you're right up on top of it. So that's just two examples whereby drivers aren't even getting half a chance to know when that sign's on and to adjust their speed accordingly. Because if you're coming up that hill and there's an arctic behind you, you slow down quickly. It's a big complication for the articulated driver as well. So both of those signs are A, one's in the wrong place and B, the other is obscured by branches. You cannot see the sign as you head up towards that school there. So as I say, you know, drivers need to be given a fair crack of the whip too. Charge into summer with Tui. Choose from a beach cruise or city break or Mexico, flying direct from Dublin. Holiday sorted. Tui, live happy. If you know the beauty and skincare product that suits you best, you'll find them at McGee's Chemist Letty Kenny from moisturizers, cleansers and toners to day creams and night creams. McGee's have the top brands you know and love like Longcombe, Clarence and LaRache-Posay. Also Elizabeth Arton, Vishi, Nukes and many more. All at McGee's Chemist Main Street Letty Kenny and online at McGee's.ie. For the best, cost less. This summer, enjoy the tastiest burger in town for less at Kelly's Diner Letty Kenny. With Jake's famous burgers, there's your choice of burger, beef, chicken or veggie, all freshly prepared with your pick of delicious toppings and sides. Selected burger deals every weekend. Find the best value burger in town. Jake's Burgers at Kelly's Diner Mountaintop Letty Kenny. I've just had the Eclipse Cinema's experience. Wow, they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level. Amazing recliner chairs, director's lounge VIP rooms, pizza and hot food served to your seat. Have a glass of wine and enjoy the film on the big screen. Try it for yourself at Eclipse Cinema's Bundorn and Lifford Sturban, where the stars shine brighter. By the way, the pizzas are amazing. You can book your seat anytime at eclipsecinemas.ie. Join us for the Hyundai 232 Celebration Week, May 22nd to 28th. Celebrating IONIQ 6, winner of World Car Design of the Year, World Electric Car of the Year, and overall World Car of the Year 2023, and the IONIQ 5, winner of the same awards in 2022. Visit the Hyundai 232 Celebration Week to order your new Hyundai from our multi-award-winning range, including Ireland's best-selling car, the Tucson Hyundai, a class apart. The 232 Celebration Week is now on at Diverse Hyundai, Canal Road, Leather, Kenny, until Sunday for 28th. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com. I'm coming up in the next hour. We're going to be talking about positive mental health in Donegal. We're also going to be talking about Lyme's disease, as it is Lyme disease awareness month, and Kieran O'Donnell will join us. That and so much more besides, you can watch it all on our YouTube channel, Highland Radio Ireland. But let's get a news update now at 11 o'clock, and it's over to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. The Mental Health Commission has published its 2022 report into the Department of Psychiatry at Leather, Kenny University Hospital. It gave the unit a compliance rating of 81%, compared to 89% in 2021 and 86% in 2020. The report says a number of issues were identified, but they are being addressed. The Marine Minister is being urged to step in and grant foreshore licenses for a number of piers and harbours in Donegal to allow planned works proceed. Funding of 7.6 million euro has been allocated for works in Burtonport, Bombay, Glengat and Rathmullen. However, it's been confirmed that the approval of foreshore licenses is outstanding for those areas. Thalmud's Man for Children's Office received 36 complaints from Donegal last year. The CO says education is once again the most complained about issue with bullying, expulsion or suspension and special education resources featuring in many of the complaints. The new head of the HSE says improving the culture of the health sector is one of his top priorities during his tenure as CEO. In the past five years, there were 171 complaints of bullying made by staff to the HSE, while figures from the Irish medical organisation show it's a much more widespread issue. Amidlands Northwest, MEP has defended his decision to vote against the proposed EU nature restoration law in the European Parliament's agriculture committee this week. Colomarkey says all those who opposed it accept there is a biodiversity crisis but object to the way the commission was proposing to impose measures without engaging with unimpiring farmers. Kilmocran and Celtic Football Club has appealed to members of the club and the public to be extra vigilant after significant damage was caused to the changing rooms facility. The club says they are disgusted and disappointed to discover the level of vandalism. An initial cancer believes the dangers of Lyme disease need to be highlighted through signage across Donegal. Cancer Albert Doherty raised the issue at this week's meeting of the initial municipal district and the regional health form meeting. Meanwhile, the potential of Swam Park is not going to be maximised until everyone can enjoy it. That's according to Khan Serena Donahee who is calling for signs to be erected, encouraging dog owners to keep their pets on a leash. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back with an update at 12 noon. OK, Mikaela, thank you very much indeed. Stay right where you are not you, Mikaela, you can go. The list is to stay right where you are because our next guest is joining us in just about 35 seconds. Hi, did you know that your Irish life pension could help the planet? By investing less in companies that harm the environment and more in those trying to help it while always aiming to give you the strongest possible return. See irishlife.ie for pension funds that have a responsible approach or speak to your financial broker or advisor. Irish Life Assurance PLC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Right, OK, let's focus on our wellness. It is Wednesday. This is Wellness Wednesday. And in studio with us is Claire Coughlin who organised the self-care wellness fair in Latter County this week to showcase and promote positive mental health in the county. Claire, thank you very much for calling up. Thanks for having me on. It's good to have you with us. Now, the self-care wellness fair is on the 28th of May this Sunday between 1pm and 4pm at the Silver Tassie Hotel. It's free to enter. There will be donation boxes there with money raised going to Jigsaw, Donegal if attendees want to contribute. So what was the aim of organising this fair, Claire? Well, do you know, one day I was thinking on different goals for myself and I thought, you go to a wedding fair, everything is in the room for a wedding fair. So I thought, why not have everything in the room to help your mind and your body? So I came up with the idea. So the aim of it is just to promote the services that are in Donegal that can help people go on a mindfulness journey, help them whether it be emotionally, physically, spiritually. So there's a lot of holistic services that are there. There's also fitness services. So all in all, there's 45 stands and then there are some speakers as well that will go into just what they do themselves. Yeah, it seems like a brilliant idea. It is a brilliant idea. Thank you. I just haven't heard of it before because I think sometimes it's hard to see the wood from the trees. You know, there are good websites that will point you in different directions, don't get me wrong, but sometimes you want to say, right, well, you know, there's something I want to do with myself or there's some part of me that I want to work on or there are some areas that I need help. Well, where do I go? You can go in here. There'll be lots of people there. It doesn't mean you have any particular issues that need attention and you can meander your way through and see what suits you. See what's there. That's it. And I don't think we all know what is out there. Like I certainly didn't. It was lockdown for me that made me jump into wellness because we were forced to quiet in our minds and I love how it makes me feel. What worked for you? Meditation works for me. Just being out in nature, making sure you get to the beach to clear your head. We're so focused. What's what's going on in our own minds all the time between work, social media, TV. We just have to take a break from a lot of times. Help me understand how that works because it's clear because so many people say that getting out, getting some fresh air into your lungs, if you're lucky enough to have the ability to do so and to walk around helps, right? So how did it help you? How quickly did you start feeling your shoulders drop a little bit that you, you know, that you felt a little bit more relaxed? I suppose it was a bit of a journey because we were used to go, go, go and planning and everything. But for me, it's just, do you know what? It's just quiet in your mind. So I can't really say how long it took me. I don't really know, but it just, it works. Once you quiet that mind and you find what works for you, music works for some people, exercise, gym, you know, releasing them in dolphins. It's just all about releasing that energy inside you and just quieting in your mind. And this is a change that was somewhat forced on you through lockdown that has really changed your life. Absolutely, yeah, because it just brought me down this path where I went and I did a mindfulness meditation course. I did just a small breathwork course and then I try and just go and see and visit as many services as I can to see what would help me. So there's so much out there between reflexology, kinesiology, meditation classes and do you know what? When you just break into that, it just, you just find what works for you. Do you think words like sort of meditation and mindfulness have lost any stigma that might have had? Do you know that people thought it was all new age stuff or whatever, that now people accept that, you know, for some it could be prayer, for others it could be, you know, yoga and for others it is to get in their mind in a certain space through mindfulness and for others it's meditation. Have any barriers that ever existed there have been broken down now, do you think? Well, I do think there's more of an acceptance now because I think there's such a high rise in anxiety and depression and suicide that people are seeing that something needs to be done. So a lot of people would have had this stigma with it that it was very hippie-ish, I suppose and I don't know, they wouldn't have thought much of it and there was almost, I wouldn't say I was embarrassed to say it but I remember when I first started saying I was doing it, there were certain comments but then, kind of, yeah, and then after a while then there's more and more people coming to me and asking me questions and there's more people being more open to it which is so nice, you know, I know every different things work for different people but they're, and then I hope this event then will just open people's minds and they'll see what's out there as well and then it may result in helping more people because they see what's out there. And I think, you know, if, what we do is what we try and do is try and stay active and healthy, don't we? Because we want to best protect ourselves from us getting sick because ultimately if we get sick we have to go to a GP or we have to go to a doctor and we try our best to avoid that because we want control of that and the power of that. I wonder, do we need to make sure that we're doing that with our mental health as well? That in other words, that we don't always do something when we're in a bad place or, you know, when we need some sort of a visit to a GP or whatever it might be and there's no harm or no shame in that and people should do that but that we treat our mental health like we might our physical health that we take control of it and we try and maintain a health, however that might be to best avoid us needing any other interventions down the line. Yeah, like I agree. I think it's a lot of being more in tune with yourself and listening to how you are. So for me, I would have had bouts of vertigo because now I realise that was me disconnecting and that was me being too busy and burnt out. So I think it's just... Do other people relate to that too? Yeah, it's... You hear it a lot, don't you? I know it's just a random thing you've mentioned but you hear it so often. A lot and like I was 50-year-olds, 50-year-olds with the doctors constantly but I know now if I'm doing too much even planning this event and working and everything going on in my own life there's times where I have to say... There's times I have to say no, Claire and I know not everyone has that, you know, that they're not able to take so much time out but there's times where I say, Claire, get to the beach, go for a swim, you know, calm that mind. And it's so logical, right? You slow your heart rate down. I mean, obviously you can accelerate it through exercise but not through stress and anxiety, right? Presumably, there's chemicals shooting off in your body, right? That if you get yourself into a more peaceful, relaxed stage that that all calms down, you know, you breathe a bit more deeply, you get more oxygen into you. Like, it's all logical. It is, yeah. You can see how then... Because I know that there's a very strong connection with, you know, with what you're feeling mentally and then it having physical consequences. It does, yeah. Like, it's just about lowering those cortisol levels and, like, boosting your serotonin, which can be done through exercise, breath work or just, I suppose, just being happy as well in yourself. So it's just all about working on yourself, whatever it is that helps you. What did you expect to be sort of the level of interest from the various organisations or agencies when you said, right, I'm going to create a... I'm going to have a self-care wellness fair. Did you imagine, did you set yourself a target for how many stalls you would want or how many you thought you might get and where are you in terms of... You talked of over 40. Has that exceeded your expectations? Yeah, 100%. I kind of thought it'd be cute and quaint this time and it might be, like, 15 stalls and I'm at 45 and sadly had to say no just to a couple in the last week as well because I met up with the tasking just for the room and with the speakers and everything. It just wouldn't fit. So I'm absolutely blown away in how it's been received so I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully it will be a great day. Give us an idea of some of the stalls that we'll talk about, talks that might take, that will be taking place but what kind of stalls are we talking about here? Yeah, so there's a full range. You know, there's a Minding Me LK, Gavin O'Donnell Life Coach with Atlantic Acupuncture. We've Down Below Physio. We have a lady talking about menopause or talking but she also has a stall. Then we have Children's Mindfulness, a Mind Over Matter Mindfulness. So we have reflexologists. We also have nutrition works and recharge recovery and other, the natural ways coming as well and then there's rush fitness. There's actually an array of like a lot of different... Yeah, I can see. I wanted to get a sense of the type of stuff so it's all, it's right across the, right across the board there indeed. And a few talkers, a few speakers on the day as well too. Yeah, so I'm lucky I have Me Hill and Sarah. They're Donegal Daddy and made up Mummy. Mummy and Daddy, that wasn't meant to be set up. They're MCing it, which is great. I'm so grateful for that. And then they're going to be interviewing. There's local Donegal influencers, Sinead Makahi, she's Sinead Adventures. There's Kevin from Wild Atlantic Traveller and then there's Patty Brown from Viking Dippers and they're just going to talk about the free outdoors, how that can help your mental health. And then there's also Maria Rush is going to be talking on positivity and training as well. Nadine Reed, I have Gabrielle McGee who is a psychotherapist and podcaster. She's doing a mini workshop. I have Susanne O'Donnell, Faith and Feathers. She's a holistic healer and transformational coach. Hot Fox Studio, I think I might be missing one there. Well, you should have started missing them because that was the first mistake you made because you were always going to leave someone out but perhaps you didn't. And I think too, getting a sense from it as well too that this is going to appeal to very young people right to very old because there's a bit of an influence or buzz there. It's very social media friendly but also there's a lot there for people of all different ages even if they're not in that space as well. Again, was that by accident or design or is that sort of the way it's played out for you? I think it's just, I would have worked in hotels and marketing before so I think it's just the way I've seen it happen and I just kind of knew that that's the way forward and you wanted to have that influence for young, going on to older people as well. So no, it's just how it kind of panned out. It helps get a message out there for those who want to have an influence. Okay, listen, I think it's a really great thing. In a way, is this not that you're finished going anywhere but to some extent organising this and actually getting this across the line is this like the culmination of a bit of a journey for you too really from that very moment during lockdown that you thought I need to get my head in a better space perhaps and now here we are a few short years later. Planning this event. Planning this thing and actually getting across the line, a huge event like this. Yeah, I didn't expect it to be this big and I'm so happy it did but it's also given me room to think about what's next as well. I would like to continue it to make it almost a yearly thing but also I'm seeing things that I could have worked on maybe but what I could bring to another event. So no, hopefully it'll open up other opportunities and doors for me as well. It should do because it's a wonderful idea. It's the self-care wellness fair. It's on the 28th of May. That's this coming Sunday. It runs from 1pm to 4pm at the Silver Tassie Hotel. Plenty of parking there as well. Entry's free but you can donate if you wish and money donated goes to Jigsaw Donegal which works with young people and their mental health and it's a short window isn't it? So you're not asking for a huge commitment from anyone. 1-4pm. That's a lot to pack in there. Yeah and you know what? If it runs over a little it might because it's hard to gauge when people are on stage but there's also going to be a raffle so all exhibitors have donated a voucher so I'm going to put hampers together so there'll be ticket sales on the day with the donation boxes so hopefully we'll be able to raise some money to give to Jigsaw as well on the day. I'm sure you will. Alright, well done Claire. Thank you so much. It's a wonderful achievement and I'm sure it's going to be wedged and it should be wedged and I think it's a great family event actually. Ah yeah, it'll be because Tassie's a lovely family and I think it really lends itself well to that and gets us all thinking about looking after ourselves as best we can. Claire Coughlin, organiser of the self-care wellness fair. Thanks very much for calling up. Thank you so much. Take care yourself. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. Sleek, smooth, safe, modern. Oh, you want to hear more? 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Anything you want and all is at their fingertips. Does small things, but they mean something. Learn essential online skills with simple, accessible lessons at highdigital.ie or free phone, 1-800-20-30-30. Brought to you by Vodafone Ireland Foundation and alone. Vodafone, together we can. Highland Radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Letter Kenny to Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time, us. Time's 11.19. We're continuing with Wellness Wednesday now and just recognizing that TikTok Ireland are hosting their national conference, this coming Saturdays in the Midlands Hotel in Port Leish. And Mary Smith is volunteering with TikTok Ireland. And Mary, an awful lot of people due to attend at the weekend. Good morning, Greg and listeners. Yes, we have a large crowd of people at the weekend. And we have wonderful speakers and stands and scientists. So on Saturday next on the 27th of May, the conference is in the Midlands Hotel in Leish. And the conference starts at 8.15 with the first speaker on at 9.05. Now it's TikTok Ireland that is running the conference. We're all volunteers. We don't have any funding or don't get any funding from any source. We were set up in 2009. So we're 14 years old. And tickets are 45 euros. It's a not-for-profit event. A morning coffee, lunch. And then you listen to the speakers before and after lunch. And I mean, much of your time spent since 2009 is obviously getting the message out there about Lyme disease, but also really getting it on the agenda, getting people broadly in medicine to accept it is a thing and not to pursue every other thing before arriving at the fact that it might be Lyme disease because the sooner somebody gets treatment, the better the outcome. Oh, yes, absolutely. The sooner, you know, if you get treatment at bite stage, I mean, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection and it's transmitted by the bite of a tick. But the ticks don't only carry the Lyme disease, it's Borrelia, and we know it as Lyme. They also carry a host of co-infections that can make people very sick. The biggest problem is, a lot of people don't know they've been bitten, tick can feed and fall off, and when they get symptoms, they're really not sure of their symptoms. So this conference is hugely effective for people in Ireland, either people who have symptoms and are not sure are going down the medical route and are getting no answers. We have professionals from Ireland, Europe and the USA, both doctors, scientists and other therapists add on to our conference this year. Now, a lot of people who have a positive diagnosis have had to get that diagnosis with blood tests in Germany. Where do we stand in this country in terms of identifying potential cases and diagnosing them? I know we're poor here at the moment, but do other European countries, the United States, Canada, other countries, do they have a greater acceptance or realisation of Lyme's disease and the amount of people that it affects? Well, of course, the USA have. Poland are very good. Croatia and European countries are quite good. But, you know, all of the health system throughout the world really are, you know, the first thing, they don't look firstly at Lyme disease. They look at your symptoms, they ask you, were you bitten in Ireland? The first question is, were you in America? And, I mean, like, I mean, ticks here, I mean, are Lyme disease and co-infections. People don't... The most education and awareness of people we found that they're not taken know for an answer and that they are going, you know, straight to their GPs, they are asking for testing, even though testing is quite limited, less than 50% of people will get a positive test. But they're not sitting back anymore. They're actually proactive. You know, they're getting in touch with, you know, Dr. Jack Lambert, you know, in the UCD. He's in the National Hospital and teaches medicine in UCD that he has a great awareness and will treat on symptoms. And you can... One of the only people I know that you can actually self-refer to. So a patient can actually write him a letter or email him with all the symptoms with their history. He will review and he will make a decision on whether to see that person or not. So, I mean, he has been wonderful for Ireland. And the testing is still very limited. But we are bringing doctors from Poland, from Germany, and we are bringing our main labs as well. And we're bringing Dr. Stram from America. And we're also adding this year because a lot of people, when they find out they're flying disease, they're quite ill. So we're adding... And it's a multi... They need multi-care. They need a multi-treatment or an integrated treatment approach. So we have Monica Wilde, a herbalist who works with Dr. Lambert and works with Napier's Clinic. We have Jenna Naisal, who is a nutritionist, who will speak about nutrition and how important your diet is. Go sugar-free. I mean, sugar feeds bacteria. Bacteria inflammation equals pain. And then we have Daniel Stram speaking. And she's a counsellor. And she deals a lot with people with not only Lyme disease, but with chronic illnesses. Because when they're told often enough that something is wrong, they know something is wrong, but they're told often enough, well, we can't find out what's wrong with you. It's all in your head. Then basically... Yeah, Barry, just to move on a little bit. That's part of the frustration here. You see, what I don't understand is that the amount of time... Because it's not seen as a probability early on, seemingly, but particularly at local level anyway, we end up with thousands upon thousands of people going to see consultants that they don't need to see in the public health service, or spending hundreds of euro they probably don't have privately. And then people end up with conditions that require an awful lot of medical attention in the public health system as well. It would be very much in the HSC's interest to take this far more seriously, get people diagnosed early, and down the line, it would take an awful lot more pressure off and already clearly near breaking point, if not already broken health system. That's the logic I don't understand. Yeah, absolutely. And as an awareness group, we don't understand it either. It has improved a little bit with GPs sitting up and taking more notice. But, I mean, since 2006, since my husband got very sick, I mean, things haven't changed a lot. I mean, the only thing that has changed is people are more aware. And the Awareness Campaign here now for the month of May volunteers all over, all over Ireland, giving out leaflets, doing their best trying to get on radio shows, speaking about it, and papers and stuff. It really is the volunteers, and it really is the people that have people that are sick and went through months and years of illness that are pushing this and trying to get it noticed. But what I don't understand is either, and sorry, Mary, because we'll move on shortly. What I don't understand either is here in Donegal, there's a lot of people affected by this, some affected by it that don't know yet. We also have had motions proposed and seconded for signage to be erected that would simply warn people of the potential dangers of ticks and tickpikes. That means when a parent with three or four children who go and play in one of our wonderful parks here, when they get back to the car or when they get home, they can get the children or check the children themselves to see if they have a tick bite. Not everyone who gets a tick bite will get Lyme's disease, but for some reason, I don't know if it's the OPW or Parks and Wildlife, we've made inquiries to both, have not taken this motion on board. So it must be six or seven years since that motion was passed and still we have no signage, just to help people avoid having to go on this nightmare journey. Why is that? Why don't, are they afraid of liability, of culpability? Will, why will the powers that be not listened to the council and erect these signs to prevent another family having to go through the nightmare that's Lyme disease? Yeah, I mean, you know, the mind boggles with this because I've spent years and so has other volunteers trying to get signage, trying to get signage up in parks, playgrounds. Now, we're making a little progress, really. There was a motion in front of Galway County Council and a motion in front of Leesh County Council in the last couple of weeks. And the motions were passed, even without the councillors having to even vote on it. The motions were passed to erect signage in the parks and playgrounds. Now, these are the parks and playgrounds that are owned by the County Council in Galway and in Galway County, Galway and Leesh. Our next, after the conference, we're going full speed ahead with help from councillors and TDs to get this motion passed by every county council in Ireland. Yeah, but the executive, the council executives. Yeah, the council executives. OK, that's fine. You see, the problem is, Marion, and I understand what you're doing, right? But unless there's a commitment from the executive, the council, who make the decisions, motions mean nothing. So unless the executives act on those motions and are held to account, or the OPW, or Parks and Wildlife, or whoever opens the open spaces, unless they're challenged, you see, what you'll happen is, in a month or two months, you'll have a swathe of motions proposed and seconded at councils, and it means nothing. With all due respect to the councillors and fair play for them to do in it, unless there is an actual commitment demanded from the executive of council or the Parks and Wildlife, as I mentioned, or whomever is responsible, that is the only thing that will achieve the signage. No disrespect to the councillors, because they could pass a motion on building a ladder to the moon, but it doesn't mean there's a ladder going to be built to the moon. Absolutely, but like, we fought and fought for this for years, and as soon as the conference was over, and then, of course, the two years we had was all taken up with COVID. You know, we couldn't even hand out leaflets to people, and no one would take them, and chemists wouldn't take them. And I mean, we are banding together, and we're going to make plenty of noise again. I hope the media doesn't ignore you, because they have a role to play. Can't sit in the hands doing nonsense stories all the time. You know, the media is there to represent the people of Ireland, and there's thousands upon thousands of people doing this, and if they don't cover stories like this, this should be called out, and the people should call them out, because this is the role of the media. It's not to be a PR company for the government. It is to represent the people and to hold power to a count, and to try and get answers and progress on things. So I hope they step up and do their bit as well if the county councillors are. Good luck with the weekend, Mary. We really appreciate your time today, and as I say, hopefully, progress is being made. Can I just say that the tickets are available on www.tmr.com? Ticktockarland.org, and I'd also like to thank all of the volunteers who've worked so hard to try and get Lyme disease noticed and put on Vineage and everything else, and we're working endlessly on it, and we get back to you when we have some progress on it. I appreciate it. And thank you very much. OK, take care of yourself, and listen, there's dog poo signs everywhere, because obviously it's a nuisance, but dog poo is dangerous for children as well. We put dog poo signs at what's wrong with putting up a tick sign underneath it or around it, just to say that. Just be careful if you get bit by a tick. It doesn't mean you're going to get Lyme disease, by the way, but there's an awareness there, parents of the power then, that they can get treatment if required very, very early. And what's the harm in that? What's the resistance to these signs? I don't understand it. Power to the people, give them the power of knowledge. Thank you very much, Mary. Thank you very much indeed again. And we'll be back with more shortly. Meet a world-class footballer and win an epic holiday worth 8K, only with Cadbury. T's and C's apply, visit worldclass.cadburyfc.com. Connect Hearing is open for free hearing tests. Our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter clinic in the Courtyard Shopping Centre. We also offer a home visit for those who are unable to visit us. Our hearing is our social sense. Are you finding hearing more of a challenge? Call Ursula today on 07491-13296 to make an appointment. 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So come in for a chat and we can talk through your options and private if you like. You'll be back to enjoying summer in no time. For expert hay fever advice, advice you can trust without the wait, we're always here for you. Just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy. Okay, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. Sorry, distracted there. We had a listener who emailed us yesterday with a problem she's facing in her own home. And it reads as follows, Greg, I'm at my wit's end here and needs some advice. My son, who's 31 years old, has recently moved back home with us due to the high cost of living. While I'm more than happy to provide him with a safe and comfortable place to stay, he is wrecking my head. He has not been showing an ounce of respect since he moved in. I've been doing his washing, his cooking, his meals and even dealing with disruptions caused by his late night arrivals. I want him to be evicted or to pay at least 100 euro a week for all I'm doing for him. He's a daddy's boy, so my husband said there is no way he'll allow this. I mean, honestly, a daddy's boy at 31. Anyway, either my son goes or I do. Tell me, am I being unreasonable here? He wouldn't get this treatment in a hotel. Time, he stands on his own two feet and grows up. And no, you're not being unreasonable. You deserve respect. It's you who is providing him with a roof over his head and his food. And I think 100 euro per week for all you're doing for him is really not too bad at all. But ultimately, what he owes you is not necessarily money, which would be nice, is respect. You're his mother. And he needs to get himself together and your husband needs to back you up as well. We've put it out there to see what other people think. Carmel says he's a big boy now. Show him some love and show him the door. If daddy disagrees, he can go with him and pander to his every need. See how long that lasts, indeed. I wonder are you pandering to the husband as well? Eunice says, do absolutely nothing for him. And as for his late night arrivals, call the guards as you did not invite them. So call them late night intruders and chase the buggers. Tell the dad the same will happen with him if he can't support your decision. Patricia said, it's called man in midlife crisis. Never believed it can happen, but oh, yes, it happens. In fact, can happen at any age. Know too much about that fact. Midlife crisis at 31. And Cinta says, point him out on Tinder, please. Things like this we women need to know. Okay, so Cinta's not interested. She just wants to avoid them, like the plague. You can keep an eye on our Facebook, by the way, at Highland Radio and Instagram, at Highland Radio, Donagall for daily polls and posts like this above. And we'd love to hear from you. Right, so we put the poll on social media and asked the simple question. And it's an interesting one, actually. We asked you the listener, or you the social media friends of ours, should this lady evict her son from the household? How many of you voted yes, would you say? I think it's quite a low number, just 47% voted yes, 24% of you voted no, and 12% voted not sure. And I think that's really quite reflective, you know, of the complexity of that issue. So what should the caller do? I am particularly concerned of the lack of backup from the husband. I think that leaves the lady feeling very isolated, but I think that fella, especially at the age of 31, needs to be showing his mother a bit of respect. And even if there is some sort of financial deal, you want him to be there, you want him to respect you, you want to be able to perhaps even enjoy him being there, but it doesn't sound like 100 Euro would compensate it. What would you do, the listener? Oh, wait, 60, 25,000, get involved with the conversation. We're here as a community to help each other, help this lady out, back her up, or give her some advice, 08, 660, 25,000, or call us an 07491-2507-491-25,000. Business Matters, in association with the ATU Donegal Faculty of Business. If you're a senior manager in the private sector looking to reinforce your leadership skills, ATU are offering a level nine executive MBS in leadership and innovation. Call 9186206, or email donald.hanigan at atu.ie. OK, and in studio with us now is Kieran O'Donnell, presenter of Highland Radio's Business Matters podcast. Great to have you back in on the programme, Kieran, how are you keeping? Good morning, Greg, how are you? All right, I'm doing good, I'm doing good. Let's start with some news. Rent prices continue in an upward direction. Yeah. The point of discussion over the last week was, Greg, the cost of renting a combination in Donegal has increased 16% in the last year, according to the latest rental report by daft.ie. The latest rental price report compares prices of rental from the first quarter of 2023 to the year previous. Average rental prices in the county are broken down as follows. 655 euro for an apartment, 775 euro for a two-bedroom house, 887 for a three-bedroom house, and 997 for a four-bedroom house. And 1133 euro for a five-bedroom. So the average listed rent in the county is now 994 euro. And significantly, that's up, Greg, 105% from a slowest point. Yeah, I wonder if that's actually reflective of what's going on, though. Daft, are they advertised rents? I imagine a lot of people in situ may have seen their rent go up. Those figures are high, but seem low to me, Kier. And I'd be interested to see what our listeners think if they think those figures are sort of accurate in terms of the market, because, of course, too, it depends where these properties are. If they're close to a big employer, like Abert or something, they're probably going to be significantly higher than they might be in, I don't know, Manchalis. We are talking about an average here, Kier, aren't we? Well, if you're talking about a six euro short of 1,000 for a month, that's what you're looking at, so... It's a lot, but I saw a few places that aren't five-bedroomed advertised for 1,200. As I say, I'm not questioning your element on this. I'd just be interested to see if that's the lived experience out there. Right, OK, we are spending more money, seemingly. Yeah, the biggest increased spend in pubs and off-licenses in April across the country was in Donegal, AAB's spend trend report has shown. According to the findings, there was a 15% increase in spending in pubs and off-licenses in Donegal last month. Overall, the average daily spend across the country was up a 7% in hotels, 6% in pubs and off-licenses, and 4% in restaurants when compared to March. Yeah, I wonder if that's price increases rather than people actually spending out more. OK, exciting times for this coming Sunday. Yeah, Highland Radio's Customer Service, a word share made, takes place on Sunday evening in the Mount Erickle Hotel in the McKinney. The event is being held in association with PGM Ireland and this Customer Service Awards programme aims to recognise those who demonstrate a commitment to excellence and customer service and inspire others to do the same. Yeah, and it's a sellout. Over 20,000 or in and around 20,000 votes, I think we're cast in that, an unbelievable reaction. And it's going to be a fantastic night celebrating businesses across the region and the customer services that they provide. And it's great to see so many different businesses represented. I was told that I have a bit of work to do with this, but no one has mentioned yet Kieran a fee. Me and you then? Yeah, no one has been told that I'm expected to do it, but... We'll haggle on Sunday evening. We'll haggle on Sunday, last night. I might not even have a seat to sit on, let alone a fee. We'll stay in somewhere. Mm-hmm. Right, OK, that's the Highland Radio Awards ceremony. And by the way, it is a sellout as far as I'm aware, but keep an eye on our socials on Sunday night, because there's going to be lots of material and interviews and pictures and it's going to be a real glamorous event. I can't wait to throw my sling backs on. OK, this is a massive achievement. Yeah. This from Harvey's Point. Yeah, Harry's Point and Donegal Town has been... That's right. Harry's Point and Donegal Town's... That's right. Harry's Point and Donegal Town's Lagos... ..has been named as Ireland's best hotel by TripAdvisor. It has also placed 25 in the list of best hotels in Europe. So, this is the eighth time Harvey's Point has been named Ireland's best hotel. It held the accolade for five successive years from 2013 to 2017 and again in 2019 and 2020. Yeah, well done, Ayman. Well done, Noel. Well done, all the crew. Brilliant stuff there. It's a great employer and it's up against... And some of these awards are done in different ways. They've won this award based on people that have stayed in the premises and then have uploaded the reviews and scores on TripAdvisor and they have beaten off the top hotels right across the country. It's the only hotel as far as I'm aware from this region that even featured in the list. So, it is a remarkable achievement and its background is really fascinating that it was a place that some fella bought to host friends and then started charging and then it was all, you know... ..then it was all expanded from there to turn into what it is now really quite remarkable. OK, EV prices are on the up. I think these figures are a little bit skewed because I think the really high-end priced cars are skewing this a little bit. But anyway, what's the stats, Kieran? Yeah, the figures are somewhat confusing when you hear it. Soaring demand and lack of supply have driven the average cost of a new electric vehicle up 13% compared to the same time last year. A new analysis by Dundee has revealed. So, according to this report, Greg, as of May 17th, the average cost of a new EV was £64,755. That's an increase of 30% compared to the same price last year. And despite these price increases, demand for brand-new EVs has increased by 35% in 2023. And that's good in that there's some people want to get into the EV market, but you need more new cars sold before second-hand cars come on the market. But as I say, you can get an EV with a decent range for far less than £64,755. But I think the higher-end yolks, your Teslas and what have you, are skewing those figures to some extent. OK, right, let us take a quick break, if that's all right with you, Kieran. And I'm going to come back and talk about who is joining the main man on this week's podcast. 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Wall tiles are reduced from 16.95 a square yard to 11 euro, with timber effect floor tiles reduced from 22.95 a square yard to 14.90. There's vanity units down from 460 euro to 2.99, and freestanding baths reduced from 1,230 euro to 7.99. But stock is limited, so don't delay for these genuine bargains. Get along this week to Dunningall Tile Centre, where we'll ask few business park letter Kenny, just off the post our roundabout. Join special guest Majella O'Donnell at Divers Highunday this Friday 26th for Divers Relay for Life Coffee Morning. Everyone's welcome to come along for a cuppa, meet Majella and help raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. That's 10 to 2 this Friday at Divers Highunday Letter Kenny. Righty-o, still in studio with us is Kieran O'Donnell, so we've ran through some of the news. Let's talk about this week's podcast. Who's your guest, Kieran? Greg, this week I'm joined by the managing director of Silverstrand Rope Works and Mobile, Patrick McLaughlin, and the owner of Comet Textile, Printers and Burnfoot, Anya Moyngreeve. Patrick McLaughlin showed up as business at the age of 17, at the same time he was selling his leaving certificate back in 1990. In December, Silverstrand Rope Works, which is the only producer of rope in Ireland, was announced as the overall winner at the Donegal Enterprise Awards and on Thursday. Next, as during the first, the initial company will be competing with the winners from the 31 local enterprise office areas around the country at the National Awards and Dublin. And this clip, Greg, Patrick reveals what was involved when he set up his business 33 years ago. Once we purchased the machinery, we had to set up a company, had to go to the bank to borrow money, and then once we had a lot to do, we had to learn how to make rope, and then we also had to find customers. My sister, Margaret, have her sister came along and helped us in looking for customers and all, she was very good at it. And that's really how we got started, like, you know. Can you remember your first sale or your first account? I can, yeah, I can remember a whole lot of them. The first order we got was for a couple of hundred kilos to a meat factory, and it took us a night and day to get it made, and we sent it off to them, and my sister, Margaret, came in and was just off the phone to the customer, and they just, after ordering a tonne and a half, and we didn't know how we were gonna do it or what we're gonna do, but it really got us up and going, but the first order, it was night and day to get it going, like, you know. Right, so you're telling me that that's the only company that produces rope in Ireland? Correct. Wow. And rope for dine up a boat, or...? Yeah, look, construction, marine, household, you know, your clothes laying. Really, they were all remarkable stuff. Look, he's come a long way. Look, a spallard was a fisherman. He's one of four boys in the house. Each of the brothers have a buzz of their own. They employ 45 between combined total. Patrick employs 10 in his company and mobile, and they export to USA, New Zealand, Australia, Northern Europe, and he is representing Donny Gawle now, the National Finals, next week, and Dublin, so we wish him well with that. So it started off very small, got a loan, got a site, built his factory, gradually expanded and extended, and is doing extremely well. No, certainly not at the end of his tether, just at the beginning of it, it seems. Right, OK, your next guest, Anya. Yeah, the owner of Comet Textile Printers and Burnfoot, Anya Moine Green, was one of the guest speakers at the Business Cost-Saving Advice Clinic that was held in the Rakenna in Monday by the Donny Gawle Local Enterprise Office. After working in Holland for 20 years, Anya returned to Ireland and set up her own business 20 years ago. During this presentation, she spoke about how a green approach and the green for micro-program has benefited her business, and during her conversation, Anya told me the idea of sustainability was one of the things she took back with her from Holland when she returned to Donny Gawle in 2003. I think because we live in the countryside, our environment's really important, and I think having spent 10 years in Holland where re-use, recycle, repurpose are just... It's just a way of life there. I really wanted that to be part of my life here as well, to make as small an imprint on the world as I could. But unfortunately, I probably picked one of the more difficult industries to do that in, because obviously the clothing industry does have its challenges, and probably the biggest shift that I've seen is from the conscious consumerism that's evolved through COVID. People are thinking, I want to buy once and buy well instead of cheap and tearful. So that is great for me, because that's something that I really wanted to bring into the business was, you know, self-quality as opposed to quantity. All right, two very different interviews in the one podcast there. Yeah, Anya, as you said, she herself taught Greg when she came back from Holland, that sustainability was a thing as opposed to sort of... They were ahead of the curve compared to ourselves in relation to that. During her presentation, she held up two T-shirts, Greg, one polyester, one cotton. The polyester T-shirt would take 500 years before decompose, while the cotton one would take five months to decompose the landfill. So I was just giving the example. She also talked about the change in consumer consumption, and COVID, she believes, had a big shift in people's mindset, realizing what's around us and the environment, and not going to hold on to that. Yeah, but we still are all into the fast fashion. I was listening to a woman speaking on national radio then, out so long ago, and she was talking about buying clothes for her kids online. And she said that, anyway, along the remarks, it wasn't the only get one or two wears out of the item of clothing. And I was thinking, wow, you know, I don't want to old man it, but you know, I wasn't worried where you got one or two wears out of something. I got more than one or two wears out of me. You were at the end of the queue, you were shopping and stuff. Well, that's it, you know? So, you know, if you go in and you buy a T-shirt for three euro, do you see that as disposable? And do you really care what's in it, and where it's gonna end up, and how long it's gonna take for it to break down? So I suppose we, the consumer too, and I think the indication is, and we'll hear more in that interviews, that maybe we are switching on a little bit as consumers, are we? Yeah, even the people and business that she deals with, you know, in terms of packaging, less packaging and different packaging, and that's a... And I don't think we, the consumer, want that much packaging. No, because I hate packaging. That's one of the questions that she would ask now in an order, do you want packaging? Yes or no, whatever. And the more the other areas of business educate themselves and go the sustainable route, the better for the whole area. Yeah, all right, listen, great stuff. The full interviews with Patrick McLaughlin and Anyamoyne Grieve are available now for you to stream or download from our website, HighlandRadio.com, or on Spotify or iTunes. And the show is broadcast on Sunday, Kieran, just to remind us. Yeah, after the six o'clock news on Sunday then. And if anyone wants to get in touch with you, how do they do so? Yeah, just drop me an email, please, Greg, BusinessMatters at HighlandRadio.com. And on Sunday we have the Business Awards, as I say, it's a sell-out, it's gonna be a cracking night. You're gonna be on the red carpet, Kieran. I am, have a wee job too. Great, so what are you wearing? I haven't thought about that yet, though. Tux, no? Is it a bit OTT? I will see. Well, come and help me out. I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna wear. I will, we'll turn up, we'll turn up. Like, suit, three-piece, suit, two-piece. I will go two, we'll go two-piece. No, we'll go two-piece. Open neck collar. Yeah, yeah. Right, OK, no waistcoat. No. All right, OK. Navy blue. Navy. White shirt. Yeah. OK, cufflinks. No. And shoes. Great. I have you dressed here. There you go. You never told for a quick fashion. That's the rapid fire equation, though. No, you did well actually in fairness. All right, Kieran, looking forward to having you back on the show next Wednesday afternoon. We'll chat to you Sunday evening as well and hopefully chat to loads of you in the business community that will be in attendance at those sold-out awards on Sunday night. It's really been a remarkable process to see it gather the legs that it has. Thanks to the hard work of people upstairs. Hi, Greg, Caroline and team. Thank you so much for having Mary on today. Relying disease conference. Hopefully we'll get awareness signs erected around... That's Kieran half-dying away at the door. Hopefully we'll get awareness signs erected around the country in the not-too-distant future. That comes in from Anne Mahert. Of course, we need to. We need to, don't we? When I was a charter group in a farm, every summer I got bitten by hundreds of ticks, sold to the rest of my family as did the family dogs. It was never considered a problem or a danger. Nobody ever suffered any medical consequences. What had changed over the years getting bitten by ticks was just a normal part of life on farms years ago. Never anything to be remotely concerned about. Well, do you know maybe there was someone in your community that disappeared because they were sick in bed, couldn't get out of bed? We don't know. It's not everyone who gets bit by a tick that gets limes, but if parents or individuals, once they are bit by a tick can keep an eye out for anything happening, you get quick... You know, it's like saying... It's like saying, you know, thousands of people smoke and half of them get cancer. It's the ones that do that we're trying to talk to here and to educate and help. All right, have a lovely day. See you tomorrow morning at 9.