 29th and Saturday 30th, book now at ongrainon.com At C.S. Architectural Salvage you'll find made to measure traditional cast iron radiators, exterior garden ornaments, original Belfast brick, decorative brick, granite cobbles, quarry tiles, natural stone flag, milwy sleepers and much more. Log on to C.S. ArchitecturalSalvage.com There was you sitting back on the seat and I got you on the hopper. Just me, Google memories, you know they're sent at half eight, they send me the photos every day. Do they? Is that a nice thing, is it? Yeah, of course. Memories are good. I know, but memories, but also what pictures did they send to me? I didn't get to look because you came to me early, you see. Oh, so is this photograph that you take on your camera? Yeah, and you upload, you know, they're automatically backed up to Google photos and then they send you memories. How many gig have you got up on Google? It's not that much, I'd be quite selective. Alright, okay. No, it's not that much. I see it. Because lots of people have lots of videos and all that kind of stuff but I tell it's very useful and I try and mention it when people ring in and say, you know, they've lost their phone and they've lost a load of memories on it, right? Really, like, there's quite a lot of Google memory that's for free, people should really... There's 15 gig, I think. Yeah, they should be really backing photos up that are on their phones. I might start doing that myself. You don't do it? No, I do it on a hard drive now and again. You can't make the price. My computer crashed way back at, you know, the Mac that I had as old as the dinosaur now at the States, but I lost so many prices for videos and pictures of the boys. Everything has to be backed up to Google. It's nice to see Caroline back. It's alright, yeah? No, no, what do you mean it's alright? It's nice. I feel all the better for Caroline being here, but I know me and you have to be on our guard when we're talking this morning because, you know, but happy World Down Syndrome Day. Hi, and I saw the beautiful Noah saying, saying, and it's a good piece of advice. What was it? If you see some of that, a small gift from one of you. Yeah, do you know who originally said that? It was Dolly Parton. There you go. Yeah. Big day in our house today. Do you know why? Noah's making his first holy communion. Today? No, first confession this morning. So I have to run from here. What's your name? She's got nothing to say. And no, but I, me, I have to go and see Father McKeefer, too. Take Noah in. Oh, don't, well, let him in first. But then Noah will be saying, Daddy, tell your sins, will you? I'll let Noah in first. No, Noah, no. Can you not get your wife to pick? No. Get Noah in first. Get the wife to pick up him. No. And then you go and see him. I'm actually looking forward to it. You'll be in there for about three or four hours telling yours. I wish I could take a camera in, but he'll say, Daddy, you go first. Absolutely. But anyway, I don't have a story for you, but I'll save it for another day because I think it's too early in the morning. But it was about a woman yesterday. And it's to do with, she was picking her nose. Right, that's good. But I think it's too early in the morning because people could be still eating their breakfast. Was it in the car? It was in the car. It was in, see, this is you leading it out at me now. I don't know. I was in a big traffic jam, right? I'll tell you what, but I was in a big traffic jam, right? And I was, do you know how it was, it wasn't moving traffic. So I looked in the rear mirror and I seen this big Jeep, right? Big fancy Jeep. And I noticed this lady and she was very chatty in the car. She was also on hand for free. But she was full tilt chatting away, right? And then I could see, I was looking away there because she was having the wireless crack in the Jeep, right? Chatting away. And then I could see the finger, right? And the finger hooched up into the nose. She was tickling her nose. And then she went into the nose. And I says, right, I was all intrigued. I says, what is she going to do now? Well, she did a bit of digging. Well, carry on. Stop it. I'm about to puke. Go on. Will you say, will you stop it then? Could you not give her a spoon or something? No. I had to watch then to see what is this. Because you know what they say anyway. So he's showing the whites of time. He's giving us the time out, Oshin. Time out. OK, we'll leave it at that. No, he's just being an idiot. Is he? All right. So anyway, she... He was taking the hand out of me. Go on, quick. She popped it in her mouth. She did. But you know the worst of it all? She was chewing, chewing gum. No, no, no, no, no. So where did it go? I'm sorry. No, that's a new load. But that's... Can I just... There's a lady that was worried about the knickers earlier in the week. But it's just... I pretty warned you. That's knocked the knickers out of the park. That's true. Can I just completely separate myself from that wonderful story? Yeah. But if people enjoy it, I also... No, they don't enjoy it. But I was just surprised. I was just intrigued. What's he going to do? He just popped it in, carried on, chewed her chewing gum. Happy as I am. Me. Me, me, me, me. I know, but that's... It's a good story, but my... No, it's not a good story. It's just an observation. I'm away now. Observation off. All right. What do you think about that one? Oh, it's 60, 25,000. I feel ill. Okay. Let's get a news update. It's over to Dan and Ray. I heard he had three minutes past nine. Hi, Dan and Ray. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Simon Harris is set to announce his candidacy to replace Leo Verradker this morning. The higher education minister is the front-runner to succeed at the outgoing Taoiseach Stephanie Rohn reports. With little sentimentality in politics, the race to replace Leo Verradker officially opens at 10 a.m. Simon Harris is the front-runner to succeed him. His main competition is seen to be Pascal Donohue, who hasn't revealed his intentions. Or could we see our first female Finnegale leader in Taoiseach and Heather Humphries or Helen Mackinty? Simon Coveney's already ruled himself out. Candidates need the backing of at least six members of Finnegale's parliamentary party. All members will then vote for their favorite with the results due April 5th. After that, and if everything goes to plan, the new Finnegale leader can become Taoiseach the next time the doll sits. A pregnant woman in South Donegal struggled to access health care earlier this year. Donegal Deputy Pierce Doherty says the woman in question was left stressed as she couldn't get a GP referral that she needed to be seen by a doctor in the maternity departments of either Slago or Letter Kenney University Hospital. This was due to capacity issues being faced by multiple GP practices in the county. Deputy Doherty says it's an issue that never should have happened. A pregnant woman couldn't be seen in her hospitals. It's truly shocking state of affairs which speaks to the pressure our local health services are under. Now, after contacting the GP or the HSE, thankfully, and after a long wait, the lady in question now has access to a GP. But that problem shouldn't have arisen. We're talking about the year 2024, talking at a time when we are a rich country with billions of euro of surpluses, yet we're coming up short time and time again on the basics like access to a local GP. So our communities deserve far much better. One in five hotel rooms in the country are being used to house refugee and asylum seekers. That's according to a new report being launched today by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation. The group has described the tourism sector as being at tipping point with capacity constraints acting as a huge handbrake on growth. The Confederation's chairperson, Elena Fitzgerald, Ken says it goes beyond just the tourism industry. There's a hit two to the state in safaris for every euro that's spent by a tourist. 23 cents of that comes back to the exchange terms of taxes. But it's like the capacity issue is putting a complete handbrake on recovery because tourism is actually the only sector that hasn't recovered since the pandemic. To either now, Brizzy and Clowdy today, let's start with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees. That's all for now from Highland Radio News back again at 10 o'clock. Hello class, welcome to burglar boot camp where we teach you how to get into houses and keep you out of jail. Now there's one house you should never even attempt. It's the phone watch house. They respond in just 15 seconds to break-ins and smoke. 15! I got one for my own place for a great price. Purely for research, of course. Get the alarm burglars fear the most for just 99 euro. Don't be alarmed. Be phone watched. Offer ends March 31st, monitoring fees apply. And now, it's time for the talk of the Northwest. The Nine to Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning to you. Six minutes past nine. On this Thursday, the 21st of March, you're very welcome along to another edition of The Nine to Noon Show. It was a long edition of The Nine to Noon Show yesterday because we stayed on air to bring you the bombshell news. You don't get big political news in this country at that level. That often, I suppose, that Leo Faradkar was no longer going to be the leader of Finnegale. No longer going to be the T-shock. He's going to stay on as a TD. And already, the Runnison riders are jockeying for position to replace him. We're going to be talking about that. Also very interested in your views. What do you believe his legacy will be? And that means in a good and a bad way as well, too. And also, are you happy that effectively, Finnegale will choose the next leader of the country? Or do you believe that is a decision that should be made by the public? And what that means, by the way, so we have to consider that. That means an election, a general election. Would you be up for a general election? Do you want to choose, I suppose, effectively, who the next leader of Ireland would be? Are you happy enough for Finnegale to do that and just run its course? Probably it will run its course now at this stage, I'd imagine, for the next year. I think tomorrow, actually, is the last day the general election can actually happen, believe it or not. But would you like a general election now and everything that goes with that? Or are you content for Finnegale to select the next T-shock? And this would be this government choosing its third T-shock, effectively, because we've had rotation T-shee for the last couple of years and this will be the third. Listen, it's going to be Simon Harris. There's just absolutely no question about that. And in fact, such as the strategy with how this has been put together, I can't, it's quite possible, I think, that no one will stand against Simon Harris because you'd be politically damaged in doing so. So there are obviously a three or four big names there that certainly could contest the leadership of the party, but it's been so well coordinated over the last 18-odd hours that I think you would be damaged politically if you stood against Simon Harris in that party, if that makes sense. So it'll be interesting to see how it pans out, but as I say, I wouldn't be surprised. I can't see any benefit in anyone else at this point putting their name forward. But we shall see, because, as I say, there are some people there that probably have their own aspirations, but they would come out of it weaker, I think, as a result. Chicano Tribune this morning, the shock confirmation on Wednesday lunchtime that Leo Veradkar is stepping down as T-Shock has sent the coalition into a tailspin, particularly coming on the back of the worst-ever defeats in the two referendums. John McIntyre writes that after seven years in office, I don't feel I'm the best person for that job anymore, he said. The appointment of the new T-Shock will have to be ratified in the doll. However, four days, never mind, four weeks, is a hurdle too far for speculation on that one. Of much more immediate concern for the party is the local and EU elections that are only 11 weeks away. Lots of detail and analysis from John McIntyre in that paper this morning. The Donegal News leads with the same story. The people of Donegal deserve an immediate change of government, not just a new T-Shock, Sinn Fein TD, Pierce Daherty insists. His comments for the shock announcement yesterday by Leo Radcar that he's to stand down as Finnegale leader in T-Shock with his successor to be in place within just three weeks on April 6th. What are we saying very clearly now is that we don't need a change of T-Shock. We need a change of government, Deputy Doherty declared. It would not be down to a select or it should not be down to a select few in Finnegale to decide who runs the country. Let's go to the Dairy News now. MacGavigan Family Worry Over Legacy Act. The family of a dairy teenager who was shot dead by the British Army in Dairy in 1971 have issued a pre-action protocol letter against the Public Prosecution Service requesting a prosecutorial decision regarding a soldier alleged to have shot her. On to the nationals now. And Harris, the early front runner for leader of Finnegale with Donahoe in contention. As they say, I just feel that Pascal Donahoe by putting himself forward. Now he's had it seems to be indicating that she's staying on. Pascal Donahoe, I think, just might be seen as a bit of a continuity candidate. You could say the same to some extent of Simon Harris, but I just feel that it would be politically on-sand for Pascal Donahoe to put his name forward and to suffer a defeat in that regard. He might be about a place to rally him behind Mr. Harris. Well, Simon Harris is the early front runner to become the new leader of Finnegale and the new leader of Finnegale. The early front runner to become the new leader of Finnegale and T-Shock after his cabinet colleague Simon Coveney ruled himself out of contention. However, Coalition insiders set a contest for the leadership was a strong possibility. A Minister for Public Expenditure Pascal Donahoe in particular should not be ruled out. A mid-deep shock across the political system after T-Shock Lee offered out car renounced. He would stand down speculation on who would succeed him centered on Minister for Further and Higher Education, Mr. Harris, Minister for Enterprise, Mr. Coveney, Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphries, though I can't help but feel her race is a little run at this point, and Minister for Justice Helen McIntee and Mr. Donahoe. Aside from Mr. Coveney, none had ruled themselves out of contention yesterday evening with Government Chief Wib, Hildegard Nocten and Minister of State for Finance, Financial Services, Jennifer Carroll, McNeil also refusing to be drawn. I don't bet that but I certainly wouldn't be betting against Simon Harris. So how is the next leader elected? We'll go to the Independent. Finnegell will now select its next party leader, and T-Shock and T-Shock, a senior Finnegell source, said the procedure for electing the next leader would be the exact same as 2017, when Leo Veradkar took over from Andy Kenny. Even though the selection of the new leader then took more than a month, the new T-Shock will be installed very quickly. In 2017, both Leo Veradkar and Simon Coveney contested for the Finnegell party leadership. Even though Mr Coveney won the members' vote by two to one, Mr Veradkar's sway over the parliamentary party, that's TDs and Senators, won him the Electoral College vote and as a result, the position of party leader. As set out in the Finnegell Constitution, the parliamentary party holds 65% of the voting weight. I had forgotten actually that Leo Veradkar had lost the membership vote and that he got over the line. Thanks to Senators and TDs. Again, that is another scenario which means that Simon Harris at this point would pretty much know he's a shoe in for that. Although things of course going on in the world, the Irish Daily Mail tells us that a new report has advised the government to introduce legislation for assisted dying. But the chair of the committee that delivered the document has launched an alternative report. The Special Allarctis Joint Committee on Assisted Dying recommendations are opposed by independent TD Michael Healy Ray. The final report published yesterday advocated that assisted dying should be allowed in restricted circumstances, limited to those with six months to live or 12 months in the case of a person with a neurodegenerative disease, illness or condition. Now, again, this is where it gets complicated because can you clearly predict when someone is going to die, particularly from some of the conditions we're talking about here and people perhaps could live long beyond the 12 months. But anyway, that report has led to a split in the committee after its chair. Mr Healy Ray refused to support its recommendations. Three members of the committee, Mr Healy Ray, Fina Faultedy, Robert Troy and independent Senator Roland Mullen have claimed that the case for assisted dying has not been established. And such is the way it's you see, there is these concerns. And as I say, I've heard from people very much in favour of assisted dying and the arguments are incredibly compelling. But also to what I think the public need to talk about is what this means in terms of our attitude to death and dying more generally, you know, in terms of how we cope with it, how we deal with it, how we talk about it, how we provide care for it. And there are concerns within the medical professional that it could tip that in a different direction. And also, they're putting time limits or they're suggesting time limits that we don't become a suicide sort of destination, assisted dying destination, so that you'd have to have lived here for a certain amount of time before you could avail of that. Again, you know, this is all happening, all these conversations are taking place and this is all moving forward. Are you all in favour of it? Are you reposing it? You know, it is time now to sort of have your say, I think. The Irish Farmers Journal, some 28,000 farmers could be exempt from cap inspections and payment penalties under a new proposal from the European Commission. The Brussels plan to cut red tape around farmer schemes would see all farmers below 10 hectare exempt from cap inspections and payment penalties. Irish Farmers Journal analysis shows that the majority of farmers who would benefit from the move are beef and sheep farmers. Large numbers of farmers in counties may all go away. Donegal and Cork would be exempt, so it could be good news for Donegal farmers providing you match those criteria. That criteria. Obviously, the jury is out on vaping in terms of what damage it does to us. We simply do not know because not enough time has passed for people to know. Now, there's lots of people vaping, a lot of people are smokers and now vape because they don't want to smoke anymore, but unfortunately and I see it all too often and I find it very upsetting is that there's a lot of young people who never smoke that are vaping now. What damage are they doing to themselves? Well, vaping may lead to cancer in the same way as smoking tobacco according to a new study. E-cigarettes have soared in popularity as a way to help smokers quit, but it turns out that there may not be much difference in terms of health. Scientists have found that inhaling from a device that admits pure nicotine causes similar DNA changes to cells in the same way seen with cigarettes. Findings highlight the importance of studying the long-term consequences of vaping and I'm not sure if it's across the board, but certainly in some documentation I've read that if you're looking for life insurance, if you vape, you might as well be smoking. So it's clear that the life insurance companies, at least those that I was reading literature on, they're edging their bets because they view vaping as smoking. They don't care if it's a stop. If you've stopped smoking and now a vaping, or they don't care if you... And as well as that too, young people now, I wonder if they don't declare that they're vaping because obviously it's going to send the premium up. Effectively, their life insurance could be voided, couldn't it? If it turns out they did in fact vape. So there's a big area there in terms of life insurance, mortgage cover and all that type of stuff. Some of them certainly seem to see vaping the same as smoking. I wondered do young people vaping who never smoke realise that that's the situation and the implications of that. They have to declare it. They can't say no because if it's found that they do, well, you know insurance companies very keen to getting out on insurance policies. The son tells us that significantly more mothers than fathers find it hard to live up to society's expectations of parents, a study reveals. The mummies and daddies report launched yesterday by coin research reveals 61% of women and 42% of men find bringing up kids challenging. Very few of those with children under the age of 12, 4% said it was easy to align with society's perception of being a good parent. And what is society's perception of being a good parent? Why are we always comparing ourselves to others? I mean, you know, you bring them up as best you can, don't you? And you give them the best opportunities. Like, who cares what society thinks? I don't mean that badly, but, you know, you do your absolute best and you care for them and you make sure they're safe and well as much as you can. Well, two thirds of the 1,000 moms and dads surveyed said their finances had been negatively impacted by having children, of course. And more than half, 35% said their health had deteriorated. So do you feel as a mom or a dad, it difficult to live up to society's expectations of being your parent? Again, I don't even know what that is. I think it's quite obvious financially you're going to be impacted unless you're very well resourced. But do you think parenting has impacted your health as well or not? Let us know. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. Tell you what, impact your health. We'll impact your health. Taking drugs. Finally, in the Mirror Green Party, T.D. Nessa Horgan has taken cocaine twice in ecstasy and has called for the decriminalisation of heroin. Can you imagine? We could be living in some strange society whereby you can legally end your life and legally or not outside the law take heroin. But anyway, in the New Hot Press today, because it's a hip magazine that asks T.D. if they've taken drugs, the T.D. opens up about her rebellious past as a student. She talks frankly about taking cocaine and ecstasy calls for the legalisation of both marijuana and sex work saying cocaine and heroin should be decriminalised. I'm not really sure she has a finger on the pulse of Irish society there. I could be wrong. OK, right. We've our next guest in studio and then we're going to be talking a great deal, well, a great deal, a reasonable amount about Leo Bradcast's decision to step away from being the head of Finagel and his role as T. Shock. But that's coming up after these messages. Stay right where you are. Daily newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra and Diner, Mountaintop Letter Kenny, winner of Best Family Dining at the Highland Radio Hospitality Awards. Homeowners, Highland Radio is now offering the chance to transform your space with a 10,000 euro home makeover draw, plus an extra 5,000 euro in cash brought to you in association with Foyan Company. Imagine the possibilities. What could you do to your home with 10,000 euro? Visit your tickets now at highlandradio.com for a chance to make your dream home a reality. Enter today visit highlandradio.com. I've just had the Eclipse cinemas experience. Wow, they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level. Amazing recliner chairs, director's lounge VIP room, 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 Cinemas Leopard Sturban where the stars shine brighter. By the way, the pizzas are amazing. You can book your seat anytime at eclipsecinemas.ie. Definitely gone. Drop by your local home store and more. Visit us online at homestoreandmore.ie New store now open in Frascati Center Black Rock. Home store and more. A happy home. Did you know, Tinney's toys stock top toy brands like the Care Bears, VTEC, LeapFrog, LeMaz, Playmobil, Tonka and much more. We also have a massive range of outdoor toys like swings, slides, swing ball, hosts and rebounders. And don't forget, we're still Ireland's largest farm toy super store. Open Monday to Saturday, Lek Road, Letter, Jenny, or online at tinneystoys.com. Fancy a free glass of prosecco while admiring one of Donegal's best views? Join us on our first wedding fair at the Waters Edge Rathmullen on Saturday the 23rd of March from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. We will be joining forces with ultimate touches and other vendors to showcase the Waters Edge Rathmullen as your dream wedding reception with free entry and great prizes to be won. It's a day out, not to be missed. OK, we are joined on the programme now by MEP Chris McManus, Midlands north-western Fane Rep, of course. Good morning to you. Thanks for calling in. Good morning, Greg, and good morning to your listeners. Right, you're visiting the constituency today. You head into Ireland more after this? Yeah, I take that scenic route over towards Burtonport and get the ferry over to Arranmore, talking to going into the local secondary school there at Garmeskull, McJermida, beating Warren Cavan as well. I think she's raised some very interesting points recently with her initiative of engaging with the minister. And then we move further down towards Kilby Beggs where obviously we will be with our local election candidate, Linda Boyle, where we will be meeting with local processors and producers. We'll talk about that in a moment. I remember I think it was the middle of last year. I read a quote from you, Chris, and you says, the new restoration law text strikes a balance for nature in farmers. And then, lo and behold, I note then that you decided to vote against the nature restoration law in the European Parliament. Why did you flip on that? Well, I didn't flip on it. What we would have hoped in July last year when it was passed by the European Parliament and it's a very complex process when parliament will literally pass a piece of legislation, but that isn't like unlike in Leinster House or the Eroctus where it then becomes law. It then has to go into further negotiations where it goes back to the commission and the council where they will renegotiate it again to try and find a compromise that suits all three legs of the EU stool. And then it comes back to parliament for basically a singular vote on whether you agree or disagree with it. The issue for me has always been one of funding. I don't think you can keep asking yet farmers and rural communities to do more for less. It would have been our hope that during those inter-institutional discussions that there would have been some identification of where funding would come from because quite often it seems to be an awful lot of stick and not enough carrot in regards to... So, what it was what's outlined in what's outlined in it you have no issue with oh, sorry you can live with it's the funding side of it it's the funding side of it because like I said at the end of it and we worked But what if farmers in Donegal don't want to re-wet all of their lands? Well, you see you're saying you'll say no, no, no in the first instance what was important back in last July is that all aspects of it would be voluntary that was key so there would be nothing foisted upon farmers the second thing was that and it was actually an amendment from Sinn Féin from myself was that there would be when a national restoration plan would be put in place that there would be a socio-economic look at how these things would impact so you're not just looking at them exclusively But really it is still though sort of you saying that you know this is the direction we have to go if farmers are on board with that fair play to them and we'll either help them diversify or help them out financially is that really what the Irish farmer wants I think and I think sometimes there's been this perception of those who want to ensure we have be environmentally sustainable and the agri-community are diametrically opposed and they're not I think an awful lot of farmers I talk to want to play their part want to ensure that they see themselves as custodians and guardians of the land and want to ensure that they have something to hand on to not only their own families but the next generation renewal and that is an issue of the next generation of farmers because it's something that I come upon time and time again is farmers who are actually saying they don't want they're not encouraging their kids to go into agriculture and that's something we need to be very very worried about we've a very older cohort with the oldest age average of farming within the European Union so I think farmers want to play their part but again you see it goes back for less continued of administrative burden continued of bureaucracy and it says So is this your party's position? Yes Because Lin Boyan seemed to think it was great news and also to you coalesce over there and vote with a group that you broke away from yourself effectively so it was only really you and Lukman Flanagan that voted against it so Well the group the political group the left and the European Parliament that were involved is what's referred to as a federal group but not as a cohesive political group we can vote whichever way we see fit and at the end of the day my my first instinct is to protect the constituents in my constituency and in that regards having engaged with the the wider farming community and having heard their vast concerns and their frustrations I felt that they weren't being protected in this regards and that I couldn't support it You say you're going to go out and meet Maureen and you'll go down to Kili Beggs as well other than sort of say ah sure Lukman it's terrible what's going on and what really can you tell them what commitments can you give them because we were speaking to poor McLaughlin earlier in the week and he said quite firmly that Sinn Fein in government would appoint a junior minister with specific responsibility for the marine and would be a strong voice advocating on behalf of a fisherman but then when you entered the delivery you know how really could you get better deals for Ireland and what have you that's when things start getting a little bit mmm Yeah because obviously and I heard the interview on Tuesday morning I was actually listened to it because it was the morning of the vote out in the European Parliament You should be listening every morning but anyway Well there's a number of radio stations in my constituency of 13 counties and as I said I'd have to be grown multiple years Greg in that regards and I have to say somebody feels very passionately Oh there's no doubt about that not questioning You know and as I said his priority and his instinct is to protect coastal communities not only in Donegal but along the west coast But just to get to it not to cut across you right because it's important you heard as well but you know it's about delivery right you know and I also have a role here in managing expectations I think to some extent so whilst it's very encouraging that you're going out to meet more in another family you know really that you will you can say that you'll try till you're blue in the face but an Irish government in situ and not wishing to jump the gun here cannot say tomorrow you know we will ensure that you were able to catch Pollock on hooks No one I appreciate that Do you know what I'm saying? Absolutely Greg like as I said nobody here has a magic wand but I think what's required is you know focus leadership in this regards in the first instance what we need to see is a recalibration out in Europe of trying to ensure that there's fairness in all EU negotiations and that the CFP is re-looked at because like when we hear about you know that there's kind of secret discussions going on with a country like Iceland in regards to gaining access to waters and a country would significantly lower population themselves and being able to have landlocked countries of better fishing rights than us Oh yeah and as I said this has been something that's aggressive governments and I said I'm not trying to score political points here it's but it has happened that we have seen the fishing community and coastal communities being thrown under the bus in terms of EU But my point is and listen this is why maybe you know if you think you can make a difference that's grand but focus on stuff we can make changes on you know this government for all the faults of some might see it did they do go out there and they try to figure out the best deal for farmers and the best deal for fishing if the truth be told if you were the minister for the marine okay you probably couldn't have come back with a better deal over the lifetime because we're deal takers we're not really deal negotiators we were we were effectively sacrificial lands for the Brexit deal and we stood by and let that happen I don't think your party could have actually done anything different Well I would disagree and I think it's a matter again and go back and look at domestically what we've seen in the last year where the budget has the budget from 2023 to 2024 has been effectively halved in regards to in regards to supports for fishing communities and if you're not setting the tone at a domestic level it's very hard then to go to Europe and try and play a different game and articulate differently so I think in the first instance what we need to have is dedicated ministry ministry for fisheries which is the budget that was slashed there in the last 12 months is brought back up to where it was and better and then if we can do that and set the tone of showing that it's a department and a government that wants to work with the processors and the producers then what we can do is go out to Brussels with a unified team like when I became an MEP one of the things an MEP can do is bring delegations out to Europe and obviously I became an MEP the first week of Covid so for about two years couldn't do it but the very first delegation I brought out to Brussels was the fishing industry a group of both the producers and the processors unified and we bypassed the department who seemed to be at times the gatekeepers in terms of information between the fishing industry here in Ireland and Brussels and we went directly and we met with the commissioner and that was important What came from that What came from that was that we were able to have a straight line of communication What benefit to the Irish fishing community was that other than sort of you know look all we can do is in a very limited capacity is to try and open doors Exactly and it's very good but that's the problem you see even on a national elected level in government that's all you really can do anyway Well you know because if you have then like a strong government that is going to take a strong political stance in regards to protecting whether it's Agri or whether it's fisheries is then to use the leverage at the European council level to be able to fight the corner because like I said you indicated for when it came to Brexit and joined the negotiation process the last thing that was looked at was the fisheries and then it became the sacrificial lamb and that's wrong you know we need to look at things more in the round and we need to look at things in the bigger picture I just think that part of the deal part of opposition in Europe and you know things in the round are not negotiated sort of almost individually like the Brexit for an example that really you know that is probably a decision that had to be made to get that deal over the line with the British for an example do you know what I mean and I just don't know if and it remains to be seen and we will see potentially if a different government would actually be able to Well at the point I would make is I'd go back to as we refer to Porick's passion for fisheries earlier on we're asking people to give us that chance give us that chance and give us that opportunity to step up to the matter Is it frustrating for you as an MEP that Europe is Europe is thrown under the boss when it's a decision that's not good for Ireland and the national government takes the credit when it is good for Ireland Yes and no look I think we need the first thing people need to realise is that Europe and there's a sense there's always that sense that's correct and I get this when I travel around Europe is it's out there somewhere it doesn't really have a direct impact apart from certain things like fisheries and agriculture and I have to say they are the two sectors that are most invested and engage what goes on in Europe and no day-to-day what's coming up to affect them but people feel that sense is connected I think when people are told that 70 to 80% of the legislation that comes through the EROCTIS is either EU-led or has EU-fingerprints heavily all over it when they realise that the decisions that are made out in Brussels do have a direct impact on them it may be delayed because obviously things that we work on in Europe don't have an effect for maybe 12, 18, 24 months later in a national or state context I know one of the things that we don't have very long but I appreciate your time one of the things you are keen on is the right to cash campaign now this government in this country has its own some would say it's doing as much as it can from a European perspective though really the future seems to be in digital the digital euro you know so in other words this government is perhaps maybe looking after those that like cash more than the EU as a bloc actually is well at the minute I'm one of six MEPs who are working at the very initial legislation around and we're working on the two of them in parallel the right to cash and the digital euro and I come from the viewpoint of that the right to cash has to be a fundamental that we can't assume that all citizens want to use digital currencies even though people may think that that is a general direction that that our society is taking I think there always be a need for cash it's a legal tender we actually have carried out a survey and we've got just shy of 4000 respondents as predominantly within the constituency areas where we targeted it and interestingly over half the respondents were in the 50 plus age range I think we as I said we're 3956 and overwhelmingly people wanted the right to be able to use cash in their everyday existence they want the choice in some instances it's handy and convenient to be able to use electronic The thing about this is and this is what I don't know the role in government or Europe is I want to go and watch an Intercanto football match and I want to pay in cash I can't I want to go to the free arena and I want to buy a plant and cash I can't I want to go into Vodafone and I want to buy a new handset and cash I can't you know and I said should they all not be compelled to take cash no and that's where we're working from because at the minute where the governments they're coming from is they're saying we will allow the right not to use cash but in some exceptions so they would say like in certain things like you know groceries the pharmacy you know they have to be able to accept cash actually the six of us MEPs who are working on it out in Europe and we're hoping to get it true before the end of the current parliament which is at the end of April is we're coming from the viewpoint of the basic concept has to be the right to use cash everywhere but there may be some exceptions but that fundamentally is we're coming at it from the right to use cash in all instances so if you want to go in about it or what's been proposed at the moment well it does it does very much and as I said in EU law will supersede Irish law in this regard so if the EU law comes out the fundamental viewpoint of you have the right to use cash it is your basic right it is legal tender the Irish law and the Irish government will have to follow suit in that regard listen so much more I'd like to talk to you about obviously Irish neutrality is a big issue at the moment we've talked a little bit more I'm jealous it's beautiful listen have a safe trip and thanks for joining us thanks very much back with more shortly watch the show live now on YouTube Facebook and at Highland Radio dot com Irish Hospice Foundation and supported by the HSE join me Marty Freel this and every Friday night from 8 for Rockin' Hits on Highland Radio in association with Arena 7 Letterkenny if you're celebrating a birthday or a work night out Arena 7 Entertainment Complex has it all check out Arena 7.ie on business matters this week I'll be speaking with Liam O'Donnell and Philip O'Cannady about a major new building project at Letterkenny Community Centre so join me Chris Ashmore on Sunday after the clock news business matters in association with the ATU Dunningall Faculty of Business now is the time to realise your potential by enrolling on the part time degree in business only 3 years with just 1 evening per week on campus open up your future by contacting the Faculty Office on 9186206 or visit ATU.ie today Kia is now making it easier to go green offering 0% finance new Kia Nero with an impressive 460 km range on a single charge the Nero ensures you can go to distance without compromise visit iMotors.ie today and avail of this limited offer how many Hollywood 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continue the conversation after 10 because there's a lot to work out here I want to say good morning first to Deputy Joe McHugh good morning Joe thanks for your time today no problem good morning thanks for asking me on you're on the record on this show on numerous occasions that obviously you have a professional relationship with Leo Faradkar but you also can't him has a friend so I presume a professional announcement yesterday you'd have felt very empathetic towards him yeah I think like to be honest I think Leo you know holds his heart on his sleeve at times and when I really got to know him when I was chief appointed in 2017 I got him got to know very well around the cabinet table and you know from a professional point of view one thing that Leo did show was just a hunger and and no minister would arrive and before cabinet without being all over their brief because Leo would have read it the night before so it was very very thorough in relation to his role he took his role very seriously and you know he worked really really hard and I think as well like I know like politicians would try to put ourselves out there that we work seven days a week to do the to slot away time that he needed personal time and I think he was good at that and I think that resulted in him being more productive rather than being constantly constantly available seven days a week Did you have any indication this announcement was coming? No I didn't and it's funny when I got the first message there was a WhatsApp thing going around saying there was going to be the earthquake news and a few people from different media outlets contacted me and you know there was fake news or somebody's just messing here but then you know I rang a few members and you know there was a sense that you know that that there was something big coming and you know with that two hour period from 10 to 12 like there was a there was a lot of speculation and a lot of interest and as you know yourself like you would have been you know getting different messages about it as well What do you think of how he announced it in that you know power phrasing he doesn't really think he's the right person to give the candidates the best chance in the locals and the general election which perhaps I presume now most likely will be early next year I don't know what the strategy of Finnegar might be in that regard but I mean it's funny because he is quite intelligent of course he is in that he addressed an awful lot of the speculation that was happening in advance of the announcement that would happen in other words there's no backstory here about he wasn't the right person to lead the party but it's still it's strange timing isn't it Well it isn't it isn't it even if you know okay the both referendums was a you know an incredible defeat for the government and I think Leo would have taken that very personally I didn't speak to him I speak to him after the referendums but knowing Leo he would have taken he would have had a sense of responsibility there in terms of the scale of the defeat and even though he did such a good job in Washington and he really really brought the voice of the people of Ireland to to Washington and to Joe Biden and to the American administration in relation to Gaza and the feedback was quite positive in relation to his intervention and while all that was happening I'd say the back of his mind Leo had his I'd say you know speculating and having spoken to him he would have had his mind made up and knew it was going to go as in the way that it did so he wanted to give advance you know there is a small wonder here there's a short wonder but there was Easter break coming up so he would have made that calculation around the Easter break and there is a very very real opportunity now to have a contest done and dusted before that it all resumed do you think there will be a do you think there will be a contest because I mean it's clear and listen there's a bit of strategy to it and you know it works the voices some really strong voices have come out in favour of Simon Harris now to me it feels like even though there might be other strong candidates there that you know if you were to contest against him now it could actually be politically damaging you'd always be seen as someone who lost a leadership election and we know the swing the senators and TDs have it's probably do you think his is the only name that will go forward I can't see how this would work well for any other of the key figures in Finnegell for their careers and their their reputations to stand against him well as was said I came into the Finnegell parliamentary party in 2002 at the moment I might say the parliamentary party but since 2002 there were two previous leadership contests I think the leadership contests with Andy Kenny and Richard Britton made Andy stronger I think that was good I was very much involved in Leo's leadership contest with Simon Coveney it was a very very positive campaign for the party I thought it was really really important Coveney beat him 2-1 in the general votes the membership votes and then Leo for Adcarves they swept the board in the vote which I think was it 65% between elected reps so was it really that bigger win for him considering the grassroots perhaps went for Coveney well look the rightlier wrongly I suppose it's history at this point yeah yeah rightlier wrongly because the weight off the voting electoral colleges within the parliamentary parties so like you know Leo would have won that hands down so go back to your question will there be an election if I was speculating that there possibly will be I think it would be good to have a contest and I think even for even if you know as you say if Simon Harris is a front-runner at the minute I think even he'll be thinking in his own mind that maybe a contest and has just I get you but who's going to be the sacrificial lamb to just copper fashion his position. I mean Simon Coveney effectively refused not refused said he wouldn't be entering the race because he'd already contested one and lost if I were if I were a Pascal Donahue what have you I'd be reading the lie of the land and keep you know I'd be writing out to the next opportunity personally but I know we'll see if you had a vote Joe which way would you go. Well I don't know because we don't know the runners and riders and you know the possible four or five like are you a not really there's all the one thing about politics is always there's always a such a thing as a dark horse or somebody could be blindsided by somebody so think I think like look for two reasons out of respect to people who may not be in the in the in the media shortlist at the minute and secondly you know as you say like it would be a hypothetical. Well let me ask you do you think the party needs to sort of get identify someone that that is that speaks more to the people that maybe is more Middle Island if you know what I mean that is more traditional type candidate because that seems to be and I think the message was sent to you very quickly not you sorry to the government very clearly through the referendum that it's like hold on a second you know we're progressive we're inclusive but also let's not forget where we come from here. Look you know there's there's always going to be issues to do with the Constitution is always going to be issues to do with the social agenda but I mean there is very much a focus in Ireland in the moment that the economics is where the focus is at there's people struggling financially and whoever whoever comes in will be very very will be very wise to bring that as as our main agenda because it's it is the issue and you know the message from the referendums was that you know people were asking the questions was it even needed in the first place to even put the question to the people but I think what there has to be a recalibration in terms of what the real issues right and very finally then in a change of leadership might allow that very finally I can't get you to sort of favor someone that you'd like to see lead the party that you may or may not return to. Yeah and I think as opposed to there's another added as opposed complexity to my situation like whoever whoever like say if there's two or three runners or say for example suppose logically that they'll either just be one or possibly two so say if there's two I will be reaching out to both of those candidates because I do vote with the government on on the major issues and my one my one issue is maker and I will be putting putting that question to both both candidates of whoever they are at the at the beginning of the race. Thanks for your time Joe I appreciate it that's Deputy Joe McHugh our political analyst one of them too Paddy Rooney joins us on the program now Paddy thanks so much for taking the call this morning. An interesting comment you made that it's you know it's too early really to see how history might remember Leo Veradkar but you believe down the line it will be favorable. I think so I mean it's it's it's very difficult to judge I suppose how you what the balance sheet of any fish up is but a lecture in DCU David O'Keefe wrote an article some time ago about how do you actually define a good statesman and it's going to be far far too early I think to write that yet about Leo Veradkar but I suppose the big thing anyway is that any political leader and any jurisdiction they only get to deal with about two or three major big ticket items and it depends how they actually deal with those and the commentary or the constant commentary over the last 18 hours or so since he announced his resignation is that the three big ticket items for him was about Brexit was about the social reference the social issues about they gave the Irish people what they wanted in relation to the repeal of the 8th amendment and the same sex marriage now remember he didn't introduce that it was the people that decided that to a referendum but he set the scene and the other one then was about the management of COVID I mean whatever wants to say I know that we're going to have an inquiry review about how things were managed but we did by a large manager raised to be well in the round not the chaotic way that the British government did Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock and not the chaotic way that they did in and that they did in the United States but time I think we need time to distill this and to think about it before we start making judgments on what direction do you think Finagale need to go next I mean obviously they're going to be the cries that you know the public should get a chance to choose who leads the country and not this these three parties for the third time effectively picking the tea shop themselves I mean we know which way it's going to go what way do you think it should go well first of all yeah and Mary Lou McDonald and Holly Cairns and the Vanna Batchick are making a lot of noise about the fact that it shouldn't be a cabal of a small number of people within the Finagale organisation who decides a peace ship well I've got news for them I mean this state is 102 years old Greg and the people have never actually elected or decided the peace ship it's actually doll earned that decides and then they approved by the Senate we've had about six peace ship appointed in the history of this state that have been swapped in in the cycle without a general election lever actor himself actually came into the position without a general election first off and we've had a lot of people that can completely out of the blue me Johnny Costello in 1948 John Bruton in 94 who would ever thought after the 2020 election that me hallmark would end up with the peace ship so that the people never decided so that's that's a complete nonsense and I think what's going to happen here it could probably be Simon Harris unlikely that there'd be a contest I suspect I know Joe was talking about possible runners and riders are alternative ones I don't think there's going to be a contest for the simple reason is that there isn't time and I think as well that there isn't going to be a huge amount of change within finnegale because there's a whole lot of things they that are sort of set in stone for instance the budget has already been set and agreed a lot of the legislation framework has been set and agreed for 2024 and I think the finnegale order is coming up in the early days of April that's not that long away I think that the party needs to have somebody in place for all of those and I suppose what's going to happen then you were trying to press Joe there about the possibility of general election later on this year I think what's going to happen there that's not in it's probably going to be Simon Harris I suspect and I don't think it's in his gift because it could depend what's going to happen in the European elections on the 7th of June if there are some TDs for instance that are elected and there is a whole slew of by elections to take place I mean governments very seldom win by elections if my memory serves me right since finnegale came to power in 2011 the government actually won two by elections that time that was Patrick Malty and Gabriel McFadden so the likelihood is that they're going to lose all of those it would look very very bad and it would have a reverse momentum I think for any party if you were to lose about four or five by elections so the mood music is I think that the government may be forced into possibly in October or November election alright brilliant stuff as always Paddy we look forward to chatting to you again as this develops thank you so very much indeed Paddy Rooney there Deirdre's at the Diamond Carandona are having a one day only mega stock clearance sale in a greening hotel Burt on Sunday 24th of March starting at 10 a.m. come and grab some amazing bargains many brands slashed to clear do not miss this great sale this Easter come rain or sun put a spring in their steps and seek out somewhere special 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Ireland West Airport don't just take off take it easy Breezy and cloudy today a wet start with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle the rain will become more persistent for a time in the afternoon but drier conditions will develop during the evening temperatures 10 to 12 degrees OK we have to take a break for the news and obituary notices stay right where you are we'll continue our conversation thereafter TFI local link operates evening and weekend services throughout rural Ireland to help you stay connected 7 days a week We know life doesn't just happen 9 to 5 so if you're commuting shopping visiting family or going out in the evenings or on the weekends let TFI local link take you there Visit transportforarland.ie And our fully trained and committed staff will always meet your care needs with kindness compassion and dignity To get your personal home care assessment plan visit bluebirdcare.ie or call our care team today on 07491 29562 and bring care home If you're tired and struggling to put a spring in your step discover the power of revive active at your local Brennan's Pharmacy Revive active is an award-winning super supplement containing 26 active ingredients including vitamin C D and zinc which support your immune system all in one handy daily sachet Made for busy stressful lives it's a convenient way to put back what life takes out Enrich your life with the revive active in store or online click and collect from Brennan's Pharmacy.com we're here for you Testing testing do you need to get your hearing tested? Test your hearing with a free sample hearing aid from Hidden Hearing Or do your free sample hearing aid today call 1-800-370-00 or visit hiddenhearing.ie Donegal County Council has published the draft residential zoned land tax annual map for 2025 in line with national requirements Any interested individuals or parties may make submissions in respect of land on the draft map The first deadline for making submissions is Monday 1st of April 2024 For further details and to view the map please visit consult.donegal.ie The map can also be viewed at the council's area offices At C.S. Architectural Salvage you'll find reclaimed white plank floorboards, polished beams, pine and oak beams Sought to customers requirements and waxed finish, Belfast street lamps and garden furniture C.S. Architectural Salvage Camps the industrial estate Eglinton call 04871 812 Treble 9 Live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News Good morning it's Donna Marie Doherty with the news at 10 o'clock The race for the next leader of Fina Gale has officially started Numerous politicians have come out in support of Simon Harris while Helen McEntee has ruled herself out Stephanie Rowan reports Simon Harris hasn't even formally declared yet but he already has the necessary six nominations hidden heat The names supporting him are coming in thick and fast and they include junior ministers Neil Richmond and Peter Burke M.E.D.'s Brendan Griffin, Alan Farrell along with M.E.P. Francis Fitzgerald to name just a few Helen McEntee has now ruled herself out of the running while Simon Coveney ruled himself out last night Interestingly we caught up with Public Expenditure Minister Pascal Dunhoo this morning Who's refusing to say if he'll run or not I think it's all just a little bit too early for all of that Elsewhere Heather Humphries hasn't revealed her stance yet So now we wait to see if Simon Harris will be crowned or if he has competition A pregnant woman in South Donnie Gull struggled to access health care earlier this year Donnie Gull Deputy Pierce Doherty says the woman in question was left distressed As she couldn't get the GP referral she needed to be seen by a doctor in the maternity departments Of either Slego or Letter County University Hospital This was due to capacity issues being faced by multiple GP practices The County Deputy Doherty says it's an issue that never should have happened A pregnant woman couldn't be seen in her hospitals It's truly shocking state of affairs which speaks to the pressure a local health services are under Now after contacting the GP or the HSE thankfully and after a long wait The lady in question now has access to a GP but that problem shouldn't have arisen We're talking about the year 2024 talking at a time when we are a rich country We were billions of euro of surpluses yet we're coming up short time and time again On the basics like access to a local GP So our communities deserve far much better One in five hotel rooms in the country are being used to house refugee and asylum seekers That's according to a new report being launched today by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation The group has described the tourism sector as being at tipping point With capacity constraints acting as a huge handbrake on growth The Confederation's chairperson Elena Fitzgerald-Ken says it goes just beyond the tourism industry There's a hit two to the state in safaris for every euro that's spent by a tourist 23 cents of that comes back to the executive terms of taxes But it's like the capacity issue is putting a complete handbrake on recovery Because tourism is actually the only sector that hasn't recovered since the pandemic There's calls for the HSE to provide urgent clarity Only after blood tests charges at a health care initiative jumped 300% It's emerged a man who was charged 40 euro for a routine blood test at the centre Previously would have cost 10 euro for the same test Councillor Albert Doherty says the costs are unsustainable If the laboratory testing prices and if transport is now hammering family or an individual Who must now pay 40 euro or there was to be 10 then that's unsustainable That needs support. This is an occasion where being a medical card holder does not facilitate Or assist and it's a matter that requires immediate attention And I'd be very interested in the replies I receive from SILTA, from the HSE and of course from the minister Looking now to where they're breezy and cloudy today Rain will become more persistent for a time in the afternoon But drier conditions will develop during the evening Today is temperatures of 10-12 degrees with a moderate to fresh south-westerly wind That's all for now from Highland Radio News back again at 11 o'clock The obituary notices this Thursday morning, March 21st The death has taken place in Cornwall, England of Eddie McLaughlin Jr. Turner Formerly of Ferris Lane, Bunkrana and Gorty-Argan, Linseford Eddie's remains will be reposing at his parents' home in Gorty-Argan from half past 12 today Funeral leaving there at 10.15 on Saturday morning going to St. Mary's Church Cock Hill for 11 a.m. rake William Lath with burial in the adjoining cemetery Family flowers only please, donations if desired to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust and Donegal Hospice The death has occurred of Jim McDade, 3 St Columbus Avenue, Bunkrana Removal from Murphy's funeral home today at 2 p.m. going to his home Funeral from his home on Saturday at 1 p.m. going to St. Mary's Oratory, Bunkrana for rake William Lath at 1.30 p.m. followed by interment in St. Mary's Cemetery Cock Hill Rake William Lath can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv Family time please from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. Family flowers only please Donations in lieu to Bunkrana Community Hospital Patients Comfort Fund care of any family member The death has taken place on March 6th, 2024 in St.fordshire, England of Barry Devine, Carrick-N-Mannock-Killey-Gordon Reposing at his home in Carrick-N-Mannock-Killey-Gordon on Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The house is private to immediate family and neighbours only please Burial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Patrick's Church Crossroads-Killey-Gordon interment afterwards in St. Mary's Cemetery Castle Finn The Mass can be viewed via the parish webcam The death has taken place of Morris Shields Glen Carey Gert Removal from the Eternal Light Chapel of Rest this evening at 5 p.m. Going to the Church of St. John's Baptist Carey Gert to repose overnight Rake William Lath tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. Cremation in Lakelands Crematorium Cavern at 4 o'clock on Saturday The death has occurred of Gerard Coyle Bohillian Burt Reposing at his home funeral on Saturday morning Leaving his home at quarter past 10 Going to St. Angus' Church Burt for Rake William Lath at 11 a.m. Followed by interment in Burt Cemetery Rake William Lath can be viewed live on ChurchServices.tv Family time please from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Family flowers only please Donations in lieu if desired To medical three-letter Kenny University Hospital Care of any family member The death has occurred in Nace County-Kildare of Mary Hemmings-Crawley Remains will be reposing today in McLean's funeral home from 12 noon With rows rate 6 o'clock Funeral mass tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock In St. Crohn's Church Dunlow With removal afterwards for interment in Scotland on Saturday The death has taken place of Terence Johnston 35 Sleeve Snacked Road Letter Kenny Terence's remains will be reposing at the Eternal Light Chapel of Rest Mountain Top Letter Kenny This evening from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Private cremation will take place at Lakelands Crematorium Cabin tomorrow Family flowers only please Donations in lieu if desired To the Donegal Hospice Care of any family member The death has occurred of Stephanie Herne-Ballie-Bose-Fulcara And formerly of Mooncoin County-Kildare Stephanie's remains will be reposing In power's funeral home County-Waterford this evening With viewing from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral procession will leave the family home At half past 10 tomorrow Going to Mooncoin Chapel for 11 a.m. Funeral mass With celebration of life to follow Mass can be viewed live at churchservices.tv The death has occurred of Tony Dooley-Glentis County-Donnie Gull Formerly of Ross Bercorn Tully-Yohur County-Kilkenny and Rahini Endublin Tony's remains are reposing at his late residence Family, neighbours and close friends Welcome today from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Funeral mass tomorrow at 12 p.m. In St Connell's Church-Glentis With interment afterwards in the local cemetery Family time on the morning of the funeral Family, flowers only Donations in lieu if desired To the Donnie Gull hospice care of any family member Funeral mass can be viewed live On churchservices.tv The death has taken place In Blackburn of Michael Quinn Formerly Faheen Swinford County-Mayo His remains will arrive at Belfast Port this afternoon at approximately 1.45 p.m. And on to Komsky Funeral Premises Clon-Manny to repose from 5 p.m. Until 10 p.m. Funeral leaving there tomorrow morning At 10.40 a.m. Going to St Mary's Church-Clon-Manny For rake wean mass at 11 a.m. Burial afterwards in the adjoining Cemetery, funeral mass Can be viewed live on churchservices.tv The death has taken place Of Anthony Dunworth Clooney-Romelton Reposing at his home Funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. In St Mary's Church-Romelton Burial afterwards in the adjoining Cemetery Funeral mass can be viewed on Churchservices.tv Family flowers only, donations if desired To the oncology ward Letter-Kennie University Hospital Care of any family member Or Patrick Sweeney Funeral Directors The death has occurred of Trevor Melly Letter-Mack Award Removal from his father and mother's house On Sunday at 11 o'clock Going to his late residence in Letter-Mack Award While reposed from 12 a.m. To 11 p.m. Funeral mass in St Bridget's Church Letter-Mack Award tomorrow at 12 a.m. With interment afterwards in New Cemetery Family time on the morning of the funeral Please Family flowers only, donations if desired To be at a house Care of Derek McCabe Funeral Directors The death has taken place In the church of the Immaculate Conception Strabane Interment afterwards in Strabane Cemetery The requeen mass can be viewed live Via the parish webcam The death has taken place of John Fisher Omla Carrigart Funeral Service at his home Omla House Carrigart today at 2 p.m. Followed by removal to Carrigart Presbyterian Church for Funeral Service Interment afterwards in the family burial ground Family flowers only, please Donations in lieu if desired For family information and more details Regarding wakes and funerals Please go to highlandradio.com Hello class, welcome to Burglar Boot Camp Where we teach you how to get Into houses and keep you out of jail Now there's one house You should never even attempt It's the Phone Watch House They respond in just 15 seconds to break-ins and smoke 15! I got one for my own place for a great price Purely for research of course Get the alarm Burglars fear the most For just 99 euro Don't be alarmed, be phone watched March 31st, monitoring fees apply And now, in rose 2023 Best local original news program The voice of the north west The 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes Very welcome back to the program Good morning, if you're after joining us We're quite a mix in the first hour We're going to continue our conversation Hearing from you, of course And others as to what next For Finagale Again still very much Of the view that Simon Harris will Be uncontested Still can't figure out what would be In it for anyone to put their name in against him But anyway, we'll find out From people who know more than I How can the third runner in the last election Now have the fifth runner as lead of our country Pascal, Heather, etc. missed the gun My god, Joe would have more personal touch Than Harris would ever have Morning, Greg Lee of Radcast Stepping down his great news as he is the country In a mess with the health service Micacrisis, 13,000 Irish homeless Moving into every corner of the country Yes, a great achievement indeed Yesterday was a great day for Ireland So good it should be made a bank holiday With the worst ever T-Shok in Irish history Stepping down, is that a fair assessment Of his contribution I mean, obviously there is the What we feel locally, nationally, internationally I'm not saying that what you're saying is wrong I'm just saying, like, does that mean You want a general election and what way would you vote Hi, Greg, did something happen With the Biden administration while in America You didn't look at him during the handshake And you can see Radcast's reaction, take a look I didn't see that, but I know Lee of Radcast spoke about President Biden's passing, his son's passing I beg your pardon, and But it brought the president Tears, so clearly obviously He provides some weight to his words With an election next year A new T-Shok should not be allowed He or she would retire next year With a T-Shok's pension and all the Privileges of The next T-Shok Right, so let me see Where else, congratulations I'll come back to that, actually We'll stay on point just for now Hi, Greg, so Leo's gone Not a bad thing, I say The sooner we get these people out of government the better I have a massive toothache It's made till I can see a dentist My dentist is only seeing medical cards Now, one day a week because the government Have cut the payments and the other dentists Will see me, I'm in so much pain He's having difficulties breathing He was a fit man all of his life He's been waiting four months for an MRI appointment For his heart and as to make his own Way to double and forward all my children And his friends are in Australia, why They've no hope of ever being able to buy a house Here and I'll not even get started On the lack of regulation and accountability Of our building industry Redefective concrete Right, okay, I want to mention A couple of things here outside of comments That I've been asked to mention There's a car wash in a second-hand sale Taking place at Letterkenny Baptist Church On Saturday between 10am and 2pm It's a fundraising event In aid of Letterkenny Baptist Church's Summer mission team to Danville, Virginia The car wash is five euro per car Second-hand pre-loved items for sale Food stalls with tea, coffee And homemade bakes That's Saturday, 10am to 2pm Letterkenny Baptist Church I'd be grateful if Greg would announce The time of a vigil tomorrow outside Letterkenny University Hospital It's from 1-2pm, anyone and everyone welcome The killing continues, the deliberate starving Continues, the supply of US munitions Continues, since October 7th There's been 20,000 births Many will die, there are 70,000 pregnant women in Gaza Being deliberately starved with no access To any healthcare because it's been Deliberately destroyed. If you're interested In showing your support That's coming from Dr. Thomas McBride, it's outside L-U-H between 1 and 2pm Congratulations to the Royal and Prior Babmington teams who won an impressive Three all-arlands yesterday in A German town, this was achieved despite Not having a gym to practice in Thanks, a concerned and Proud parent, proud of course Of their achievement, but what could They achieve if they had their own Gym to practice in? I'm sure Plenty. Alright, back with more After these Time for Vision Ireland Bingo on Highland Radio. 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Contact us on 0833781871 Or check out our social media and website SheenaNoelleDesign.com For more. OK So what next for What next for T-Shark And the country? Simon Harris odds on favourite Of course and the big guns are coming out In support of Simon Harris Frank Feehan amongst them Francis Fitzgerald Maria Walsh, Tom Lombard They're all senators of course Peter Burke is going to back Simon Harris Colin Burke, Brendan Griffin John McGahan Sean Kine, Emma Higgins Also backing him Neil Richmond And on it goes and on it goes So as I say, I don't think it would be Very good politically to oppose him At this point, but anyway we'll see Owen Gallagher is the president of Young Finegale and he's with us on the Program now. Good morning Owen. Morning Greg Good to speak to you again. Good to have You on Owen. So I suppose This is not really Or is it not just an opportunity To change the leadership of Finegale But maybe even sort of You know it's policies, it's direction I don't know what Do you think this means for the party Well look Greg I suppose As of 10 o'clock this morning the nominations Are open for a new party leader As you've outlined there A lot of the parliamentary party have Road in behind Simon Harris If remains to be seen if there will be A contest Or if he will be uncontested Nominations will close on Monday Afternoon and it's Six parliamentary party members Nominations someone needs to become a candidate And if there is a contest I suppose That will lead to a healthy and open Debate about Finegale and about The future and our future direction What do you believe that future And future direction should be Well I think Minister Simon Harris is someone Who has excelled in all his ministries He's held over the years He's someone who came into politics very young He's been always Went into a ministry with a reforming zeal I mean if you take his current brief alone And further in higher education If you look at all the universities We have dotted around the country now Even within Letra Keny I have the ATU Campus which spans right down to Where I'm from in Galway and Mayo And you have now university towns dotted Right across the country And I appreciate him in fairness But I know he has been a great supporter of them Sure I mean But I suppose delivery Delivery is the most important thing I need someone who is delivered in that brief And that's just one example of many things he's done And if we look back to the pandemic Around this time of the year Four years ago he was someone Who led us through a very difficult period As minister for health And I think he was widely Complemented for that You're a young fella Do you see your future in Ireland Do you think you'll ever own your own house? I do Greg, I think Ireland We certainly have a lot of problems As is every other country in the modern world But I think Ireland is a great place to be We have a thriving economy We've got full employment As is outlined the opportunities In universities and apprenticeships I think it's a great country To live in and grow up in Many of your friends emigrated Sure Some of my friends have, a lot of them are still here But I think that's a natural part Of growing up And it's always been the case in Ireland That people would move abroad Live a year for a while Experienced different cultures, have different experiences Would ultimately come back and settle In Ireland Because this is one of the best places By independent metrics Would verify that this is one of the best places To go up and raise a family And certainly we have our challenges But I think in the round This is a great country to live in What the referender showed us is that People really aren't interested in words They want action, right? And if they don't like the words They'll go against it in great numbers What would you like to see Finnegale Focus on in the Eleven months potentially before the next General election What do you want to hear them talking about So there's not much that can happen In that regard, so let's We can't promise the sun, the moon and the stars But what do you want Finnegale to be talking about Over the next eleven months To represent really What the people are talking about Well I mean there is one more budget More than likely in this government But for me, I think it's always The core values of Finnegale And it's the bread and butter issues It's getting tough on crime It's making sure people have money back It's delivering on housing It's ensuring that our public services Are fit for purpose And that people Feel they're getting a fair deal For the taxes they're paying And the work that they put in So I think they'll be the most important things Over the next eleven months But do you know what people the most important thing To the public at the moment though Is it's migration Or immigration Which I always get them mixed up Yeah, immigration Well I think There's a lot of different issues Faced in the country and a lot of different challenges Ultimately It's about delivering On the likes of housing The likes of infrastructure When people see that And I think if you drive around the country now You will see housing going up everywhere This construction going on In every town, village and city In the country I don't want to I don't want to sound As if I'm challenging you for the sake of it But that's demonstrably not true There isn't houses going up In every town and village in the country Well I think there certainly Is a lot of construction going up And that's not just anecdotally Even though anecdotally you will You are starting to hear about more and more people Purchasing their home But the figures would suggest that Commencements are up Commencements are down Completions There was a hangover from There was a hangover from covid Whereby there was an awful lot of commencements It's not really the government's fault But a lot of commencements carried over Commencements are down But you're saying anyway the housing delivery is up Is what you're saying It is and I think we are going to see Progress and delivery coming on stream More and more and ultimately That's what people will judge Government time when it comes to it It's all about delivery for me People want to see action And I think they will see action Over the next 11 months As we approach a general election Whenever it does fall Simon Harris you see as the man For the job then Would you like to see him Bedded in and go as long as it's possible I actually think if I'm not mistaken I think the Greens and Fina 4 wanted To go as long as possible Really because this affects them as well But would you like to see Simon this So an election to be held really On something of Simon Harris's record Than on Leo Veradkar's record Well I think ultimately the election Will be held on the government's record And on the three parties In government's record Certainly the T-shirt Whoever the T-shirt is Will be a key part of that But ultimately the coalition Was elected to serve a full Five-year term and if it does go the full Five-year term then that is Absolutely the democratic thing to do But look as yesterday shows Who knows what's around the corner in politics So I certainly won't be making any prediction Alright take care of yourself, thanks Owen On Gallagher president of Young Fina Gale Michael Whitester of the Green Party Here in Donegal Good morning Michael, thanks for your time Good morning Greg Good morning to Leo Veradkar's record As one that is mixed Yeah and that's what is coming up on the news People are saying on the positive side Big things like Brexit and Covid And the Referenda back in 2018 For marriage equality And repeating the eighth Those would all be seen as kind of Positives in this part And the fact that he was the first gay T-shirt Would be regarded as a positive as well And then the negatives are Can I just say something on that If you don't mind because I really think it's Quite horrendous what I'm seeing Is that and it's actually from Outside Ireland is the fact that Leo Veradkar Has Indian heritage And that he's a gay person The fact that he's not in that job Anymore is being Celebrated internationally As a pushback against Walkism You know I don't mind talking about people's See so what you do you don't agree on But to celebrate the fact that someone Who's have mixed races no longer in that position Or someone who is not Or someone sorry who is gay Makes me sick You know like I don't mind let's talk about People's politics I get where you're coming from Michael But it can't really be It can't really be disregarded Either because some of it I've seen from Some of the leading lights You know really quite popular Counts big names and I'm like Seriously are we still at that crack Where we're judging people on their skin colour And their sexual orientation Yeah let's have a go at housing Let's have a go at health or whatever But I don't know Michael sorry to jump on The point you were going to make there I just find it so sickening It's a strange word There's some what I was going to say There is a minority view The majority of people you talk to Don't pull those views And it's just been Twitter and all that stuff It's got worse over the last four or five years And it does that unfortunately Can influence the debates in Ireland However So far hasn't influenced that thing That things too much in Ireland And hopefully it doesn't Because it shouldn't make any difference What I said is that It was perceived to be a positive thing I apologize for jumping on that It's just It bothered me overnight In terms of the issues In fairness to him He outlined what he thought he had done well And I thought it's quite a clever line In the speech he says It will be up to others to sort of And he anticipated to talk about What he didn't do so well What could he have done in relation To sort of like the housing crisis Maybe some leadership More leadership in terms of Integration Conversation The housing crisis The roots of it lay after the crash And it's kind of ideologically driven A bit by Finnegeal And if you remember when Owen Murphy Was the Minister for Housing They didn't seem to be that concerned That house ownership was going to drop So I think that was part of the problem But the second big problem then was The war in Ukraine 100,000 people arriving here Resources on COVID as well So I guess my point would be There are things they should have done differently And both Finnegeal and Finnefoil are empowered They should have done differently But one of the points he's going to make is A lot of what happens is due to external factors Who are beyond our own control So COVID happened and then The Ukraine war kicked off And that's had impacts And the reason I'm highlighting that is Those might seem like internationally Blah blah blah boring news stories Don't want to get housing I also suggest that Over the next four or five years, if you think What's going to happen next The big international things are probably going to have As big an effect or more of an effect On life in Ireland as what we do here locally That all seems very abstract No, I get you, but there are things that were in power Like I remember at Leigh of Radcar The last time I was in this studio At the time electricity prices were going through the roof And even something like Showing A bit of gusto or standing up To the power companies And saying, right, enough is enough here It happened in other parts of the world Say, enough is enough here You're gouging here and it's proven That they're gouging because they're recording Record profits, the ESB fell off their seat When they saw their profits 750 million for this year That's where politics needs to be Where the leadership Or the people you elect actually go in And take on the likes of the electricity companies Going on, well we can't really do anything about that And then what did we do? We introduced a policy That actually paid the electricity companies On our behalf But out of the taxpayers' money To continue to gouge and rip us off And they continue to rip us off right now That's what I don't get with modern day politics, Michael That would be true leadership to say Leigh of Radcar, he took on the power companies And he delivered for the people And that's just one sort of tiny example And this is where I talk about Politics not really being of the people It feels like it's not anymore But I think The point you've had is correct It's one of the reasons it has driven the rise Of Donald Trump in the States So if you look at the electricity companies Make money hand over fist The increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank Has enabled the banks to make money hand over fist A huge increase The cost of living increases A lot of that was driven by profit Making and profit gouging by Consumer goods companies All made record profits And that's driven huge skepticism among people And there's a real big number of books about this But it's driven a huge amount to drive Behind Donald Trump in the States Despite what they're saying is there's a rosy picture of the economy They're almost full of employment Inflation is dropping But for most ordinary people All they see is a 20% increase In the cost of day-to-day goods So if you have people sitting in Dublin Saying we're at full economy We're at full economy here We're a wealthy country And you have people in Donegal Lowest disposable income Many many many people in that full employment On minimum wage It feels like gaslighting It's like who are you talking to Because that's not my life up here Because we've got a load of children here in poverty And we can't afford to keep cars on the road And we've been told that we can't drive the cars that we have You know like at some point People in positions of power Are going to actually have to start understanding What the real world actually is I'm not sure if Simon Harris is the person to do that But you know what it's like on the ground Michael you must see the detachment There is So there is This isn't just an irony But there's a significant gap Between quite a few of the politicians And the majority of people in the country So a lot of the politicians will have gone To private schools etc They come from certain backgrounds There's a growing gap You know I've seen articles recently too There's through inheritance People are already well off Moving that inheritance to their kids So there's potentially a bigger Gap between haves and haves not Growing in equality Either they address that property And the Green Party believe they have to If they don't things will get worse Worse is what's happening in the US Which is getting really out of hand There's such a yawning huge gap And what we are actually seeing And it's been proven that what's happening in the US now That the months and years to come Just finally and briefly Michael I think the party itself Is on the record saying that they would like To go full term now at this point What would your preference actually be In terms of a general election I'm not asking to speak on behalf of the Green Party If you wish but just what would you like to see happen Well I think the Green Party Have always felt that we're under the A of the clock And for that reason I think we'd all like to get to full term Into 2025 to get all the things we want to get done Realistically though your previous contributor Paddy Rene was pointing out After the European elections On June the 7th That will shake things up If there are any by elections You'd see that we was coming off at some point Around October and November So that's probably what's going to happen Great stuff, thanks always a pleasure to talk to you Take care, we'll be speaking to The Kehirlock of Donegal County Council After this break For all homeowners Highland Radio is now offering the chance To transform your space With 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p.m. Opening Thursday the 14th of March See you soon at the Water's Edge Ok last voice on this for a while Councillor Martin Harley of the Finnegale party Also Kehirlock of Donegal County cancels with us Good morning Martin thanks for your time Good morning Greg How are you? I'm good, I'm good You would have known Leal Varadkar You'd have met him on a number of occasions Affable guy Yeah, no, no, very approachable And Just wanted to hear the news The news yesterday but Was not surprised in one way There was he's given 20 years to politics And that's kind of That's a big That's a big amount to ask To give to To social So But at the same time very approachable Very direct No washing washiness about him He just called it as it was If someone was to be done it had to be done If he just didn't feel afraid He just said that's it There's no It might or might not happen So The hard act to follow in fairness He He done great work on me and sharing That there wasn't going to be a hard border And I haven't found him when he was minister Performing affairs That was a very important Because when he got all of the county We would have been hit Very hard by that if there had been a border Back again along Along their nature For mana So I think that was And at times that was difficult For him to keep to that The policy because I know The unionist Weren't happy with him on that But he stuck by his guns and he felt that That was the proper way And with the border now And the And the water I wouldn't say that It's supposed to not exist I wouldn't talk about a border It's supposed to not exist But anyway I take I do understand where you're coming from In his speech In his speech he said That he was doing this for you For you other councillors You know other finnegale MEPs And what have you that he thinks That you guys would have a better chance Of being re-elected I'm not asking you talking about your re-election Prospects by the way Martin I'm just phrasing The way he says Do you believe finnegale Candidates stand a better chance Of being re-elected under A Simon Harris for an example I don't know that really I think that's up to every individual I don't think As far as local elections consent I think a lot of that's down to local people It's not really down to It's not really down to The Party Or what umbrella you're under Who would you like to see lead the party As far as As far as looking like Simon Harris As it was Heather Humphries Would have been when I heard the news That Heather Humphries might have been Her name powered because Heather Humphries Has been very good to Donegal down the years She's brought a lot to the county On their different projects And she stepped up She stepped up to the plate Whenever Helm McInty went on the Darnley League She took on two portfolios for six months She's done an excellent job I think I'm trying to figure out if she's I think it's Heather ruled herself out Already I'll have to double check Helm McInty She was on LMFM Right okay that's good Thanks for that clarity Thanks for your time take care of yourself Councillor Martin Harlequin of Donegal County Council Some of your comments here They show their hand during the two referendum By siding with the government And people realise they are not The answer To what Irish people need Now also too I get these comments from time to time And I find them incredibly frustrating Someone contacted the show And it only happens from time to time And said that You know as if we have some sort of As if we're you know You know we're not Some sort of a You know we have a gatekeeper that lets Certain people honour off the radio It truly really is not the case And I can't implore Enough People of all different opinions I'll give you an example In a run up to the referendum I appealed On numerous occasions For different voices to come through I wanted to hear from the public In terms of yes and nos Not many nos And then after the referendum Lots of people Lots of members of the public were happy To talk about nos Which is fine and that's up to you The public whenever you choose to do so But everyone gets treated Everyone will get treated fairly here It's different if you're in an elected position Obviously if you are elected And representing the people and have a mandate You know like so myself It's our job to Think the best party ever Please come on You wouldn't believe the pre-production meetings We would have and we converse And stuff that we can't do Because it makes it sound like we're going one way or the other That's not what we want I would love on every issue if everyone Would get in contact with their views Regardless of what they might be So that we can have a show That's the most representative Of the north west as is possible That is and I have my hand on my heart Exactly what we strive for here So please if you feel that you wouldn't get through Or you wouldn't get a say Don't think like that Or give us a call in 07491 25,000 I can't implore enough how much we want to hear All different views on various topics Because believe it or not In terms of trying to be as balanced as is possible It makes our job actually easier It would be more difficult I would say listen to some radio shows Where it's quite clear That they have an agenda That's hard, that's tough I wouldn't fancy doing that It's far easier to try and be balanced as possible So please contact us And all views will get equal airing Tickets call Long Tower Prokill House On 02871 262301 Or check our Facebook Or website for online sales Call 0749544114 And now with delivery All across Donegal At Sweeney's Builder Providers We have it all Step into Evolve clothing Atletic Any Retail Park For a vast suiting selection Two and three piece suits In all sizes and styles Explore our suiting department And discover unbeatable value And wedding packages For high energy costs It's important everyone stays warm And well through the colder months It's also important to understand That saving energy where possible Saves money and helps reduce The impact on our climate Simple steps can make a big difference Like turning down the thermostat by one degree Limiting the use of high energy appliances Like tumble dryers Or ensuring we don't heat rooms That aren't in use Government is playing its part too To help ease the burden on families Across the country For support and advice visit gov.ie Forward slash reduce your use Brought to you by the Government of Ireland A Highland Radio weather update With Ireland West Airport Time to book that business trip to London Fly daily to London, Stansted and Luton With Ryanair And London Heathrow with Erlingus Ireland West Airport Don't just take off, take it easy Now breezy and cloudy today But with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle The rain becoming more persistent for a time this afternoon But drier weather will develop Temperatures 10 to 12 degrees Now our regular new feature on a Thursday Is your voice, your community And this morning I'm delighted to welcome On to the programme Julian Cunningham Sam Orfari and Brian Lacey About the recently formed Donagall Gay Walking Group I'll say good morning to you first Julian If that's okay, thank you so much for joining us Thank you Greg, good morning to you too You recently Did you recently move to Donagall? It depends what you mean by recent I moved to Donagall in 2020 For four years ago Yes And so when did you decide That there would be I suppose a want Or even a need for a Donagall Gay Walking Group So In 2001 We were sort of coming out various Lockdowns and I hadn't made Any friends since moving to Donagall When I sort of searched On social media And sort of Google searches for Events for gay people in Donagall Or whether there was any gay bars or anything There wasn't anything, the closest thing I could find Was in Belfast And so rather than just think Okay well that's it, there's nothing I thought maybe if I set up a walking group That would be a way for people to meet and make friends And obviously We would hope we are progressive And becoming ever more So but that being said You talked of rural isolation but people When they come out can face Isolation amongst former friends Family, it's not always Rosie In the garden in that regard No, not for everyone And it is actually the fear of rejection Can be more powerful Sometimes than the actual reality of it It's a difficult journey for many people Is that why the coming out conversation Can often be such a significant part Of someone's life? Yes I think for each individual There's a lot of fear involved That people are If they're very young they might be frightened Of being rejected from their family Of being kicked out and that does happen In a number of cases Other people are frightened of Losing friends or Just sort of being turned away From the people that they know and love Sam, what do you see Is the advantages of this group? Well I think Community is a big thing Even putting aside LGBTQ And I think it's important to say It's open to All members of the community And even some straight people too We try to be very inclusive But I think one of the benefits is No matter what sort of identity Of finding community Is an essential part of Living anywhere and in the country It's particularly important As well as that as you know West Donegal, Donegal in general A lot of the times the sort of third spaces That people would go to Outside of home and work are places Where you need to pay money Like go to the pub, go to the cafe And so on and so forth Those are the places that are essential For making community To create this third space We get together and it's not about spending money It's about going out and getting to really enjoy This gorgeous place that we live in And also meet new people Make friends and Be a part of something So to help Understand then Is that what this group offers That's not available In the wider society You know like What would be What does this add to you That might be missing by joining A non-prescribed sort of Walking group I suppose All members of the LGBTQ community Experience some form of marginalisation Just by being you know Not quite the norm It's nice to have a place where There aren't assumptions made about you A place where you have shared experiences Some good, many not So much with the other people there And it's a chance To sort of let your guard down A little bit too Dunnegal and Ireland in general Has come on leaps and bounds Even in my own lifetime While there's still a distance to go I think we're on the right track But there is a degree to which I speak for my own sake here now On no one else's behalf But it is a degree to which as a queer person I feel like I have to keep a little bit Particularly in public places Where I don't know everyone Because you never know Most people are great but you only need to meet one For a terroo in your day And I understand that Sometimes I walk down a busy street And I feel I can feel like that too But it's different too And I wouldn't be targeted for something specific Whereas you feel you might be So things like For example, most queer people Check their mannerisms Andy Bliss talked about this as well You checked yourself, like am I reading Am I safe and so on As Julian said, there aren't many physical spaces Set aside for the queer community Dunnegal, and that's okay We've made one that moves And it's just about letting that guard down It's about being yourself And getting to meet other people And also benefit from experience One other thing I should throw out I'm on the younger side of things Especially at the start of my age But there are people from multiple generations Of queer community In this group And that's a brilliant opportunity to meet other people And learn from their experiences And benefit from that as well Which is an important part of any community building But especially in the queer community We don't have a lot of our elders Because of the age crisis, because of other factors Because of emigration and the fact that I'm told recently A lot of people didn't think it was viable to stay In rural areas If not being who they might want to be As well too Exactly, exactly I want to say a lot of Brian Lacey to You were chatting to one of the team Before hand Brian, and I hope this is a direct quote from you And you can correct me if I'm wrong There has been an influx of gay people Coming to live in Dunnegal An invasion I could just say like A train of people Down in Bondore And you know But anyway, sorry, top board generally Brian Well it is actually very interesting Because I live here out in West Dunnegal In the good door of Guelph Out in Dunluia And in fact, there are lots of gay people All around me, and indeed Quite a number of new gay people If you like, in the sense of people who are moving in People, Irish people, but also people From abroad have been moving in And I think things, I mean it's not A huge number But never, it's a very significant I think statistically And again I wouldn't even probably Meet half of those people Even that, if it wasn't for The group that Julian set up a few years ago Which has been really Remarkable in terms But apart from all the other things In terms of establishing a network For people, a social network For people to know each other Talk to each other, communicate Help each other in just ordinary Neighborly ways You know, sandwiched up the Communities, things are really important Yeah, there's another great line from your brain To gay people aren't tribal In a sense, but it's nice to meet with peers Oh yeah, and by the way One should point out that The gay walking group isn't Limited to gay people or To be queer people There are quite a number of straight people Who take part in those walks It's the significance of it then It's incredibly gay friendly It's gay friendly, primarily I mean, I think that's the first thing You'd have to be You'd have to be gay friendly to take part In that sense But it is remark about that Quite a number of straight people take part Either as friends or some people I think even Julian would know more about this Than I do, but I think some straight people Just, they quite like it They come and feel like on their own Bad, and then other Gay people bring along their straight friends And so on and so forth So it's not in any sense exclusive To LGBT people Or gay or queer people And We heard Julian reference earlier on You know that if If you're looking to go to a gay path For example, I think it was Belfast The closest one that's mentioned Or maybe the biggest closest one Or whatever it might be You lived in Derry Organising gay events And you would have seen The Donegal people coming across the border To be in that environment Yeah, I mean Sam Shocked us a minute ago By telling us there was a three in front of his age I have to say there's a seven In front of mine, so Right Julian, what's in front of yours We're all talking about what's in front of our ages What's in front of yours Julian, don't be sure Realistically, I've been involved In fact in gay organisations And affairs and events and things Back into the 1970s Including here in Donegal Because as you said Dairy in that sense was a kind of Gay things in Derry Where as much for Donegal people And we set up a telephone But friending service, that was the first thing Back in the mid 1970s And of course enough of the cause To that service came People in Donegal And we then started to organise events in Donegal Very often in hotels Kind of semi-secretly We wouldn't tell the management what we were doing We would just meet And very often, I have to say unfortunately Very often we were thrown out When people knew that we were a gay group Meeting informally, not Up to anything, just simply meeting informally And in those days We wouldn't have been thrown out Or at least told to leave But of course, things like that Have changed as Sam says Talk about that and life as a gay person In Ireland more specifically Could you hold on for four minutes Will we take a quick break on the news With that suit, Brian, Julian, Sam, can you? Do you mind? Just with the breaking news yesterday Obviously things have been Very packed Another gay event by the way There's something to be said about that as well too I made a comment a little earlier on To a previous guest, I wouldn't mind putting To you guys as well I'm going to take a break, we'll take the news And then we'll come back and have A further conversation with Julian, Brian And Sam, we've been very kind enough To say that they'll wait No chance Skoda cars are made for exploring Ireland But let's add more style More sexiness More French Sports seats and bumpers Order your new 2024 Skoda With more je ne sais quoi At skoda.ie Skoda, let's explore A woman by Kristen Hannah Described as a rich, compelling novel Of love, sacrifice and survival It tells the story of American student nurse Frankie McGraw Who signs up as an army nurse And is shipped overseas to serve in the Vietnam war On returning home, she spends years running From the trauma until she finds a way To share her experiences We will review the book on my show On Sunday, the 7th of April And as always, if you would like to take part In any review, email me OK, we're going to have more from Julian, Brian And Sam after we get the news headlines And it's over to Donna Marie Daugherty Thanks Greg, good morning Support for Simon Harris, as the next leader Of Finnegale is growing 18 politicians have already come out Endorsing him, Helen Mackenty And Simon Coveney have ruled themselves out Meanwhile, public expenditure minister Pascal O'Donoghue is refusing to say If he will run or not Focused leadership and more support At a domestic level is required to create Local communities, that's according to A Midlands North West MEP Speaking to Greg, who's on the 9th till noon show MEP Chris McManus states that CPF common fishery policy needs to be Re-looked at PSNI, Instraban or Dairy say they've Seized tens of thousands of pounds Worth of drugs in recent weeks This included a seizure on Monday Of suspected Class B drugs with an Estimated street value of 10,000 pounds Three people were arrested and later Released on bail To access health care earlier this year Donegal Deputy Pierce Doherty Says the woman in question was left Stressed as she couldn't get the GP Referral she needed to be seen by a doctor In the maternity departments of other Sligo or Lederkenny University Hospital This was due to capacity issues being Faced by multiple GTP practices In the county The 100% redress party has announced It's third candidate who will be standing At the forthcoming local council elections In June, Ayman Jackson, the former chairperson Of the Nica Action Group will be contesting The Milford Electoral Area And finally, one in five hotel rooms in the Country are being used to house refugee And asylum seekers, that's according to A new report being launched today by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation The group has described the tourism sector as Being at tipping point with capacity Constraints acting as a huge handbrake On growth. That's all for now from Hidden Radio News back again at 12 o'clock Thanks darling Marie If you're not with UNO Energy Chances are you're paying more than you need to For your electricity. As Ireland's newest Energy provider, we offer Ireland's Cheapest electricity rate Saving our customers up to 500 euro Per year. So if you want to pay less For energy, simply pay a visit To unoenergy.ie and sign up For big savings with smaller bills With UNO Energy, you just know UNO Energy fixed discount rate EAB 1415 euro For teasing season rates at unoenergy.ie Suppliers pricing may change OK. Straddling the news Your voice, your community. We're in Conversation with Brian Lacy, Julian Cunningham and Sam O'Farrie And it's about the Donegal Gay Walking Group. And Sam, I just wanted to pick you up If that's alright in a comment you made In relation to, do you know Feeling that maybe you have to check yourself For your mannerisms, or how you speak Or whatever it is. I don't want to Miss quote you, but I think that's A decent paraphrase. I just wonder If Because it feels like we're going backwards In that regard With recent events With the sort of The feeling that people feel now Empowered to say whatever they like About what, you know, about anyone Regardless of the consequences. Have we gone Backwards? I think it's sort of hard to judge We were definitely in a honeymoon period There after the referendum, and speaking Personally, I didn't believe there was Referendum until they came through The marriage quality referendum I didn't dare Let myself hope Because I'd seen too much of both Sides growing up The support, yes, not as much As I would have liked, and sort of Just hate I do think that Politics and the political Climates have gotten much more Polarized in recent years. We seem to import A lot of culture war rhetoric from the states And from the UK that doesn't fit Neatly in Irish tongues I think But nevertheless is gaining traction Here, and part of that is Seeing any sort of representation of Queerness, which to me is a queer person It's just about like Being included in conversations In stories that we often weren't For very long But seeing that as an inherently political And as being one team or the other And that polarization I think Is dragging us at least slowing Progress. I do think the majority of Irish people And the majority of people in Donegal Are sound. And I think soundness is all Anyone ever is always really want Live in that live, let people be who they are And live freely Whether that's about your sexuality Your national identity, anything else But There are Places in Ireland That I would have felt safer Holding hands in public than I do now Unfortunately I will say in Donegal I feel safer holding hands in public With my boyfriend and I would I would have a few years ago I think that Donegal is still a very good place to be And the challenges facing The queer community in Donegal Are challenges facing all communities in Donegal Is that we are far from the centre Underfunded and have a lack of resources Because we are people from Donegal And that's unfortunately just how the government Treats our county And so we're part of it which is good And Julian, you know, we don't want to get overly Political on this and I'm on social media But I don't think I'm in an echo chamber As such I don't think I am, so I do like to sort of Get a sense of what other people are talking about And the one thing I did find is sort of Particularly the leaders of the I don't know whether you'd call it far right Or anti-woke or whatever way I'm not labelling anyone But I'm just trying to help identify Those that we're talking about You're Joey Barton, you're Lawrence Fox's And you know numerous others Celebrating Leofrad Carr Stepping down yesterday as if this was a victory In pushing back Against sort of Progression and the woke agenda And that's happening in plain sight It's not in secret telegram groups These are to accounts with multi-million Euro followings Clearly you'd feel Julian would you That's regressive and regrettable Yeah it certainly is disappointing I guess Social media is a double-edged sword It allows people to connect and do very positive things And it also gives a platform for people to Say unpleasant things But I think we just have to Maximise the positives and Really I think it's From a personal point of view I find it very draining Getting dragged into Negative conversations on social media That there's very little to be gained I think from engaging in that And I don't Perhaps was guilty of in the past of doing Because what you have effectively is You've got a small, very small percentage Of the population using the like of X They generally have Very extreme views And are not really representative I don't think of the Views of the 85 90% of people in the middle So why get your head into that space That's me speaking about how I deal with it now And you won't change their mind either They're stuck in it So can I just say On a positive note I was going to go back to that But if you don't mind I want to come back to that But I just want to give Brian an opportunity Because he did talk about yesterday And it being historic And I want to get back to this group too Because it's got 350 members Which I think is remarkable Brian, and you can choose not to Do you have anything to say on that? On the comments about How he chose his elevation to that office And the history behind that Whichever you feel Brian I don't know I would agree with Leo on a lot of the days But I was delighted when there was the election Of a gay teacher It's not the only one They could hear the look of the Shannon Openly gay married man We now have gay ministers In both the Dublin government And the Belfast government So that's great Right, frankly, Leo Didn't become a teacher because he was gay And I don't think that's really an aspect Okay It was an historic thing When it happened But I think we're beyond that now And a few people Kind of get excited as well But I'll let you know I'm not going to get too worked up About it either way myself And you're right too Right, so Julian Back to this group And the reason I went down that road was I just hope we're not heading in a direction Whereby we need even more Sort of places that people might Feel safe or what have you And maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree But in any case, just very interesting To get all of your views Are you surprised at the success of this group Because it's not just local people too You have people travelling in, don't you To join up with the events Yes, we have people Come from From Derry, from From Belfast Sometimes from Carrot & Cross We have a guy that joins us regularly From Sligo So yeah, people do come And a lot of people say they wish that they had something similar Closer to where they are But Dunley Gold's a beautiful place So they think it's worth the journey But you walk outside of the county as well You organise trips away and stuff So in terms of walks We try to keep them within driving distance We've walked in Sligo At Glenith Horseshoe Gorchen Glen In the country for Manor But also I did try and organise A holiday in Spain last year But only myself One other person went That was overly ambitious perhaps But maybe next year It was a lovely walking holiday I did go Can I just pay a tribute to Julian Go ahead Sorry, Julian is a wonderful organiser If anybody would look for an organiser For anything I would suggest Contact Julian I actually described him on occasion as a bit of a witch Because He organised a climb of Eregal I think it was January last year And Eregal was absolutely covered In snow on a Saturday And magically There was no snow at all On Sunday for the war You just call back the carrier And turn on the heaters overnight Sam can I ask you this Just because I'll read it out So it's not how I'm mentioning it on air And it gives people a bit of understanding I have two gay children myself Why have people gone back to referring to gay people As queers Or referring to themselves as queers In my day it was a derogatory term To gain some I know you used it a couple of times So no harm just to reference that Thank you Greg I'm actually really grateful for the opportunity to talk about this Because terminology is always a shifting thing So first of all There is a generational difference Than older people who experience that word As more of a slur Might be less inclined to use it However there is a distinction between queer As an adjective And queers Which seems to be what your Collarin is talking about First of all no one has to use any terminology That they don't want to For me LGBTQIA Is a very long mouthful And queer sort of just encapsulates That It's a shorthand for all of that Just outside this sort of Cishet norm Which is fine It started out being used in academia In the 90s and then made its way into mainstream Use fire there So it has been around for a long time As a sort of reclaimed word And so I just use it as a shorthand For inclusivity But I do understand that for some people they're hearing a slur In the same way when I was growing up in the 90s Since early 2000s gay was the slur Everything was gay, it was used to send them For a word that I won't repeat here It was just the worst word you could call anything So it's unfortunately because The insults change, the terminology changes Is to say that the queer Irish-speaking community Of which there are many Have coined our own term, which is Achach, from the word ach which means odd Or queer, but achach is a new word Our own word for ourselves It has never been a slur and it is Very common in use and even LGBTQIA People in Ireland who maybe don't use it very much Sometimes still use the word achach Because it is a native homegrown Word for a native homegrown population And I would encourage anyone who wishes To use that word to take it on themselves Because there are no negative connotations to being Achach Julian, if people want to I mean the group has grown I'm not sure if it's through sort of Spreading the word or simply just actually Word of mouth, started with six members Six months ago it's grown to a Sorry, not six months ago We've been going for a few years now Six months later you went from six to 60 And now you're 350, my apologies So I presume things are coordinated Through a Facebook page, is that a private group? Or if there are other members Of the queer community To use Sam's phrase That want to find out more Or get involved How do they do so? Okay, I will sort of add Analyze as well, if you're gay friendly Want to walk with us, you're very welcome Just do a Google search for DonegalGateWalking Group In the search bar in Google and you'll find the group It is a private group so it means that You're a member unless they're actually already In the group We do that just to protect the privacy of our members But once people are In the group then they can see the events that they have They can work themselves as attending It just means it's very easy to manage Without having to send emails and read emails Because no one likes to do that anymore Okay, listen Julian Thank you very much for your time, been lovely speaking to you Thank you Julian Cunningham there Sam thank you so much for joining us Thank you for having me, having you on the program Take care of yourself Bye bye and last but not least Brian, thank you very much indeed It's been lovely having you on the show Take care of yourself Okay bye bye Brian And that's Brian Lacey there 086625000 is the whatsapp and text number That was your voice to your community And focusing on the DonegalGateWalking Group Catherine Daly says Great to hear the gay walking group getting airtime Best wishes to those lovely folks Creating more positive community In Donegal Okay back shortly The county's number one talk show The 9 till noon show on Highland Radio This is Anne Doyle with an urgent appeal for UNICEF As traumatized children in Gaza Stare down the barrels of guns Mortars and tanks Another threat looms Famine is hurtling towards them UNICEF is rushing food To hungry children in Gaza But much more is needed UNICEF will not give up on the children Of Gaza and I urge you Not to either Please visit unicef.ie And help save a child's life today Thank you Donegal County Council have published The proposed material alterations To the draft County Donegal Development Plan 2024-2013 Including area plans for Bunkrana, Ballywafay Stronarder And Bonduran The four week public consultation period Runs from Friday 8th of March 2024 until Friday 5th of April inclusive For full details and to have your say Visit donegaldevplan.ie It operates evening and weekend services Throughout rural Ireland To help you stay connected seven days a week We know life doesn't just happen nine to five So if you're commuting, shopping Visiting family or going out in the evenings Or on the weekends Let TFI Local Link take you there Visit transportforarland.ie Step out of the ordinary And into the new Lexus LBX Because this is the Luxury Compact SUV Reimagined Every detail Where style, elegance and innovation Define a new kind of driving experience It's your world Make it extraordinary Experience the new LBX Hybrid at your Lexus retailer Available with a range of flexible payment options Lexus Experience amazing Your local dealer is Lexus Ladder County Welcome back to the show It is time for us to speak to Keely Toverno, psychotherapist, author and coach And to answer your relationship questions Now these could be relationships Beyond Just what might seem obvious Going out with people and stuff Relationships with family and all and often I think Keely, you know And I think sometimes the bigger the family is That's where, firstly, good morning to you I think, you know Families are funny one Because we sort of share the same DNA As such We don't have this presumption that we should all get on So often we don't Exactly We don't always get on And it's the expectation I often tell people When we're hurt, we feel angry or betrayed We need to check what our expectations are And often because We have the expectation That families should be supportive Harmonious And advocate for us It's very difficult when reality gives us A very different message And sometimes I think people can think And this is not from my own experience I'm just very well read I think sometimes too That relationship Blood relationship, let me put it that Can be abused so that people In terms of what they think they can say to you Or pine on your life They can actually overstep a line there There is a line whether it's a family line Or a friendship line Absolutely, absolutely When we are And this is really an annoying Example for people I always say What is your expectation And is your expectation Realistic And that's uncomfortable When you get to the realisation Is it realistic? It may well be But what does your reality Because often the issue is The problem between reality And the fantasy That we have in our minds I think sometimes though Keely I think a lot of the advice you might give Might challenge people To sort of look at themselves first And yet maybe by the time We sort of reach help or think we need it We're blaming absolutely everybody else It's the world But sometimes There's other words you could describe But if you meet five Egypt's In the one day it's possible that you're the Egypt Do you know what I mean And you know what At a deeper level The value in looking at ourselves Is that we have the power To change that And that puts us back In the driving seat rather than being In the boot of the car But that's empowering, that's not negative That's powerful isn't it? Yes, and for some people Especially if we've developed Victim consciousness Where it's always poor me Being treated Those people can tend to get stuck Being problem focused and victim thinking And it's not to say That some of us haven't been victims we have But the power comes from Okay so what is it If I keep meeting for idiots as you said Then What is it that I'm doing That is enabling those people to have Access to me If you can check that Then you have the power to begin to make Choices and that's where our power lies In our choices I met a new fella some time ago While we got on I'm really not connecting with his friends They appear distant And make constant references to his ex-girlfriend Who by the way cheated on him That is quite by the way Any advice on how to connect with them This is a toffee in it because You're going out with a person Are you going out with your friends But you don't want to sort of Be a partner from the friendship groups I don't know it's a complicated one this key I wouldn't like to be unpacking it Well the challenge is It goes back to that adage Show me your friends and I'll show you who you are And often we may not like We may not like that And that's understandable It's something to pay attention to Because that is their circle And whilst we don't We shouldn't be encouraging people We also know an aspect of unhealthy relationships Is when someone becomes isolated So we don't want to be kind of Encouraging someone to become Isolated but we do Need to be mindful About Their Their network I get you Kitty there's been a slight interruption There in the signal Need to be mindful of their network Okay now I got that and the signal I know from speaking to you in the past So while I ask this next question Hopefully you can hear me I'm currently going for a mastectomy And while I've been living together with my partner Happily for the last seven years I'm worried about how this will change Our relationship We have talked it over and out and up and down And while he assures me It makes no difference to him I can't help but worry Now I'd say this person has a really good partner And maybe needs to trust what they're saying to Then what do you think, Keely? About what are the inadequacies That you might be feeling about having The operation That do you fear abandonment Do you fear loss of your sexual prowess Your sexuality Desirability And these are all healthy reactions To have to such a A drastic life-saving Intervention One hand we gain health, we gain life But there's an aspect of our identity That will be lost For some individuals They may well have reconstructive surgery In time And so that's understandable If that's a route somebody chooses to go down That's not for everybody It may well be worth Having that conversation with a professional If there are any supports That is available to people Through that agency To assist with this really difficult Transition And what it means to lose Part of our body What that really means And the natural fears and concerns That they have about what that will mean For their sexual relationship I think And you correct me if I'm wrong That the person I think is lucky That they feel they can have that conversation With a partner I think a lot of people might go through that whole process And that's all internalised And not really having anyone To speak to There's a bigger experience ongoing But I think we talk an awful lot Don't we Keely about being able to speak to people And having that type of relationship It sounds like it's a... If you can have that open frank conversation About your feelings I think that's a really good starting point I think it's absolutely brilliant That you're able to have An uncomfortable conversation Because this is about us being vulnerable And being Conscious about how this may impact An individual And so it's something to really pay attention to Because it's likely That there's going to be a down period After a low slight depression Or depression Naturally And concerns that that Potentially I won't be able to feel My partner's needs in a particular A particular way And that's all good But also at times To give yourself credit that you have Reassured But for example If you struggle with someone reassuring you And you've still got those fears That it's niggling away at you Niggling away at you What support might be available You know and sometimes For example if that's to do with cancer That might come through the McMillan Trust I know that they have a really Robust support network for their clients And we're really lucky we have cancer care Northwest in this area And never be the mammy who hated my partner If we split But he's met someone new And she's lovely to our two daughters And I can't help but feel jealous When they talk about things that they're doing together It's like they get the fun time And I get the bedtime and the homework And the rouse and the everyday stuff I think this is a question that's going to resonate With a lot of people They want to know how do they stop feeling jealous And it doesn't seem to be jealousy Between their ex-partner It seems to be the relationship Because they're getting all the good stuff Presumably at weekends and what have you But it's the relationship I think that her children Are having with this other woman Who she says is lovely How does she stop feeling jealous I think our emotion The jealousy emotion is healthy Jealousy is about loss And so I think firstly acknowledge that And don't judge that Don't condemn your reaction to that Because you've got to deal with the nitty-gritty Of everyday life Whilst they have the weekends And might be doing fun activities It's understandable That you feel that way The key is what might that mean That you might need to think about What might you need to do That might mean that you have It's tricky right If you're single you've not got another partner So your life might feel somewhat stagnant To some degree There is a blessing in that We all know trauma stories Of having an awful stepmother Who chastises So allow yourself to feel the sadness Allow yourself to feel jealousy And what might that mean I think jealousy can be inspiration What is it that they have That I might want for myself What might I need to be doing What might I change Is what I need to make And sometimes you can talk with the kids You have to do the nitty-gritty work But what might They like us to do together To have some fun time Moving just away from Survival and the practicals Of raising children Right, brilliant stuff Just time for two more How do we balance household chores I don't want to come across as a nag Not sure if that's coming from a man Or a woman I am a massive advocate And I don't always think it is About what you earn Of paying for help You know, if my hourly rate Is 50 quid And if I'm going to spend Three hours cleaning That's 150 pounds Now for my own wellness and sanity I would rather pay somebody to assist me Because then it's not a task That is put upon me And then using my time To come along So also think about Is this also something that you might contract out Which can seem very indulgent Especially depending on What kind of society Can be frowned upon But I've seen I've recommended it to couples I've seen it actually Be beneficial and save marriages Because Especially in the times that we're in Both couples are usually working And the emotional roles of the female Ends up Can end up doing the kind of domesticated tasks Now if that is the case What might I be able to contract out And to be unapologetic I don't buy my own shirts My mum thinks it's a disgrace She bought me up better than that But mum, I'm not going to spend my Sunday evenings Like I watched you do for years Ianing for four hours I'm just not going to do it I love the attitude That has hold though Well I think if you can't afford that That's the value of giving away responsibilities Creating rotors So that somebody else So that you make it clear I think we also need to be mindful That sometimes we need to let it crash So if somebody doesn't do it in your own And then you go and do it Then you make it a rod for your own back So that you begin to set boundaries But boundaries also need consequence So if And then you jump in What are we really telling people But the person doesn't want to be a skivvy So it's unsustainable They are going to have to come up with a solution to this Because they clearly don't want to spend their life as a skivvy You know Doing the housework So they're going to have to figure it out Or going to have to have the conversation Because that will eat away in time Last one, if you don't mind And I think there's a lot of hope for this listener I'm in my early 40s Find someone in your 40s Have you any advice I would really actively encourage you To get out there and do things Just swipe into the left, swipe into the right Yeah, it has its place But I think we've forgotten the old adage of Try something new Get some tap dancing shoes, a bit of zumba Something where You are pursuing an interest Getting out of your comfort zone Whereas you are much more likely To meet different people And there's lots and lots of people Recently saw statistics Which I can't pull straight off the top of my head But far more single people In this country that I'm speaking to you from Than I anticipated There's lots and lots of people That are looking for the same thing It's just a case of those two people coming together Absolutely And like I said We kind of live in this illusion That we get on the phone, we get on the phone We get on the apps We get on some of the old school stuff Some of my clients, they do meetup.com And then they do cinema trips They do lunch trips I'm a massive advocate and fan of that I'm a real fan of getting out there Rather than just purely relying What do you like, what do you enjoy? Pursue that And also too You cut through all the crap of people Just looking for a hookup Just looking for someone to You know what I mean, you get rid of all that Hate to be on an app trying to figure out You know, someone's motives And I think it's actually worse Dealing with fellas than it might be Dealing with women But Keeley listen, as always It's been lovely having you on the show Now Keeley is obviously UK based Because I said But also you do a lot of your work remotely And why not actually, there's no issue with that So if anyone wants any further information Keeley Please take care of yourself Keeley God bless, thank you very much indeed It's time to laugh out loud Tommy Marin here, my new Irish comedy play Matches and All Flames comes to Lether Kenny And she said one was longer than the other Daisy, how will I spell other? U-D-D-E-R Matches and All Flames On Grain On Lether Kenny Friday, March 29th and Saturday 30th Book now at When it's time for Confirmation Or First Communion It's time for a trip to Want Some Men's Wear Lether Kenny Choose from a great selection Of top label, casual and formal wear Suits with matching shirts and ties Blazers and jackets Also denim, jeans and footwear For big names like diesel 18-year-old 18-year-old 18-year-old 18-year-old From big names like diesel 1880 Club and Tommy Bow Stand out on the big day at Want Some Men's Wear Open seven days a week a Main Street Lether Kenny and chondrogen Children in Palestine are gehe Are afraid, separated from their families and starving Join Bowher in providing the gift of humanitarian aid to families and children initting Please give whatever you can afford at Bowher.ie We are joined on Irish Times calling for government to take accountability for misinformation. We thought we'd dig in a little bit deeper to those disinformation. We thought we'd dig in a little bit here. More with this with Aiman. Aiman good morning to you. Good morning Greg. Thanks for having me on the show. Donna Marie rang me there the other day about you know about a coming on to you here. Yeah no we appreciate you accepting the invite. Okay so give us the thrust of the point you were making in your piece your letter Aiman. Yeah well I suppose it was in the independent there I think it was choose to pass. Basically you know I suppose we hear last you know sort of buzz words at the minute with misinformation and disinformation you know the government would be and rightly so as I said in the letter they call out people and organisations that I suppose I can tell them the full truth you know. But the trust of the letter was about the government's with disinformation you know as you know disinformation is deliberately spreading false misinformation you know it's a slightly different as you know than misinformation. But the letter was with in regards to disinformation. Well it was basically about the recent referendum you know about the government not accepting the attorney not stating that you know advice from the Attorney General in relation to the Jordan relationships and the family and referendum. I mean they were asked on several occasions you know government ministers if they had any if they had any information to it you know that would prove difficult if the referendum was passed. And I suppose it was leaked the day before the referendum that basically the advice they got was like that this Jordan relationship. And effectively echoed what those opposing a yes yes was saying really if the truth be told. Yeah yeah so that was basically the trust of the letter so basically what I was saying was I mean I have no issue with the government calling out misinformation disinformation if they if they see face but I mean they should practice what the preach themselves was basically what the what the the letter was about you know. The issue we have Aiman and I think you know disinformation misinformation wherever it may come from I don't think is very useful but yeah the whole conversation really that needs to be had is that who is the judge and the jury in relation to this who judges what is disinformation or what is misinformation. A lot of the public not just in this country and others actually don't trust the government of the day to be the people who like I'll give you an example recently it was announced in January it was announced that areas that got more immigrants than other areas would would get this windfall of millions of euro I said at the time yeah what how does that work how would that even work blah blah blah two months later it's unworkable it's not happened and it can't happen now I don't know if that's misinformation or disinformation but that was released at a time where there was a peak in sort of anti-immigration feeling right yeah so was that disingenuously released was it a mistake did someone you know so who is actually going to judge what is misinformation and what is disinformation I don't trust the social media companies and I'm not sure really we should we should have to trust the elected government of any country to do that do you have that concern Eamon yeah yeah well that is true yes but I mean the government I mean if you know if they're sort of saying you know some certain things are not true or whatever basically at least they should be leading by example themselves if they're trying to call out to organizations that are you know like you mentioned immigration direct if I have time have I got time to mention to you something other example yeah go ahead yeah yeah you will talk about immigration there but just in relation to immigration we hear a lot of now I'm not advocating I'm just giving you an example I'm not saying that of government disinformation again basically you know the government sort of said that we have to we have rights we have duties under international law to accept refugees which of course is true that's correct but they're saying that we can't limit the amount of refugees that are coming into the country but that actually is disinformation because there is a clause in the Lisbon treaty that the Irish people voted on basically Ireland and Denmark in that treaty had an opt out clause in relation even in a way though I could say really that to some extent you're spreading disinformation because the government has I know because I've heard them accepted that and are actually now pursuing the option of paying a third country to take immigrants coming into Ireland so in a way if I didn't say what I just said to counter what you said we you could have been accused of spreading disinformation well I suppose that you could you could look at it that way Greg but my point is the government has never come out and said like the government has never come out and said that we have this clause under the Lisbon treaty that like the only two countries that has it is Ireland and Denmark. Denmark already in 2021 have invoked it you know and they're basically have sending refugees to a third country but you know my point is for them to come on the radio and television and to to local people and say that they have no choice that is not entirely correct yeah that's what I'm trying to get back. Yeah yeah they've no choice because they signed up to that but the choice the choice has already been made. Yeah so that's my point I mean they shouldn't be coming on television or radio said we have no choice but to accept like I understand totally of course we have rights we have obligations under EU law and international law and all that I understand all that but for a politician to come out and say we have no choice but to take whatever amount of refugees that now I'm not saying we shouldn't take them or we should take them. The point I'm making is that for them to come out and say that we have no choice but to take them that is actually incorrect do you want to try to No I hear what you're saying but you see the problem is is you could challenge everything right so let's just say a lot of and we'll not dig too deep into this but let's just say a lot of the plaudits on Leo Veradkar today are saying how he and the government got this country back on their feet post pandemic right now that's all well or good and you could make that argument but it also should be noted should it not that the average debt per person babies woman men they then whatever it might be now is at 42,000 year old per person which is which has gone up multiple thousands okay so really the cost of thanking the government that got us back on our feet right is the fact that we and generation and the next generation and the generation of that are actually going to have to pay so I think that should be challenged to say well did we do really well coming out of COVID because our grandchildren and great grandchildren are going to have to pay the price Arland has the highest gross one of the highest gross of public debts in the world at just over 42,000 person so I'm with you so so even even what seems like a legitimate statement very easy could and should be challenged one could argue a man yeah well you see as you know yourself you know with the government had a lot of these shall we say spin doctors for one of the better words but a lot of the time as you know well I mean it goes on every policy it goes on every country but a lot of the time like these spin doctors are only there to put the government's been shall we say on things which might not be correct in what they're saying either you know and I mean I suppose all the government has to do to sow doubt in the electorate's mind is to say something is that said that say that something that another person has said isn't true and that sort of puts I suppose doubts in people's minds you know yeah but like it's just like I'm just in relation to the referendum it's not like you know like people say and then that like as you know the what was it the care referendum there was the highest ever in the country the no vote and but like them the opposition parties a part for me into now but the opposition parties were all were for a yes yes for two but they did come out and say that the word and wasn't you know like satisfactory that should have been a no or a no requested a yes vote but I mean if the word and happy if the opposition wasn't happy with the word and surely they should have said that they wanted people to vote no because I mean I would have took if there were put if they were asking people to vote yes so just for argument say Greg would say the referendums were passed and with the effort so obviously it wouldn't have been good enough for them so with the so the electors would have to be asked again at some time in the future but does the government amendment just the outcome of that referendum though not prove that we are the best filters of ourselves of missing disinformation in that the public the majority of those that were motivated vote says right you've said this you're not releasing the information from the Attorney General but we've done our research and we are of the view that we don't really buy what you're selling so in a way are we not doing okay because we're seeing through it ourselves if it should exist and you say yeah and it was it just showed me and I don't know what other people's opinions are but it showed me the government that they didn't they're just sort of that takes them little in a way of the Constitution that they just said we'll throw out any sort of a word and for want of a better word and so we just tell the people to vote yes first and then all as I said all the opposition parties part from into with alarm you do you know the name and advocated a yes vote I mean it was there was very few people mean we know there was a few paddle to being Michael to being Michael Mcdude ham cloning a few of those but a few senators and TDs very you know independent ones but there was very and all the vast majority of the NGOs were advocating for a yes vote to you know and I mean the irony to me was that they're putting you know they wanted to get rid of you know mothers and that's from the Constitution but they actually had the I mean this just shows how to touch the government is really they had the vote on International Women's Day so they were asking women and men to vote for to delete an article to women in the Constitution you know the irony irony on the selling points you know that one of the selling points was is that the language was sexist and not inclusive yeah that really offended a lot of mothers a lot of women and a lot of people that know it's not sexist women do play a very important role in women's lives the mother is very very important yes the thing I was really surprised about now I am going to mention one organization but it's just an organization that was very prominent in the campaign with the National Women's Council now I know there was other NGOs as well but it's just one that sort of comes to mind like the National Women's Council obviously is a council for women but they were advocating this too I couldn't understand that because an organization that you know that looks after women's rights or promotes them surely to God they shouldn't be looking for a deletion of women I think it even I think it even goes a little bit beyond that a group that claims to represent a group of individuals being so out of touch with the individuals that they represent you might say well if they got this so wrong what else are they getting so wrong so I think you know yeah I don't think that should be parked that point I think organizations like that do have a lot of questions to answer as to how they come up with their positions on certain things you know how do you I mean if you're not speaking if you're clearly not speaking as a voice and the voice of the group you claim to represent well then you have to say well how how are you coming up with your decisions how are you formulating your opinions how are you representing the views of the people you claim to represent exactly just when you're on that point great just another organization just come to me mine now to one of the family I'm not sure which one it was but one of the carers have carers organizations they were on that upfront program the Monday after the referendum and one of the one of the people one of the women that was involved with the organization came out and said on there that's the actual people who work in consult us the people in the organization working consult us and what the whether they went which way they were going to vote in the referendum you know so that's so that's what the carers organization to they were basically saying for people to vote yes but didn't consult their members I mean it you mean you couldn't make it up you know the name it's it's you know and that was all on there that's you know and I mean I say I mean I have reservations to and I mean the government are respected of the what the vote was I mean some of them could have had the you know the decency to even turn up a Dublin Castle when the results were being announced and know what the word and you mean to do the ram for cover I mean if it was a yes vote there would have been tripping across one another is our constitution I mean outside of a general election it's a you know it's either on a par or as or just behind the importance I mean it's been really interesting thanks for coming on and teasing out your views a bit further with us appreciated yeah thanks very much for that correct for all homeowners highlighted radio is now offering the chance to transform your space with a 10,000 euro home make overdraw plus an extra 5,000 euro in cash brought to you in association 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dry conditions will develop as we head towards the evening temperatures today of 10 to 12 degrees Jordan Mooney of Rockwell financial joins us on the program night good morning Jordan morning Greg thanks many for having me on no it's great to have you on right what way are interest rates going to go this year do you think no I mean now obviously I can't see you at this moment but I presume we don't have a crystal ball or tarot cards but maybe I know you have an informed opinion so why do you think things are gonna go well you didn't take the words in my face Greg I suppose I don't have a crystal ball with regards to how they're gonna go but there is whispers with regards to them potentially coming down now the reason interest rates went up in the first place was the kind of combat inflation so obviously everybody's kind of always obviously go mad about the price of everything shooting up in skyrocketing and what government's doing order to combat that is they'll increase interest rates so everything will come back down so money will come more expensive now again inflation is starting to come down so there's whispers of interest rates obviously coming down as well to kind of match that now again what kind of people will see here is potentially things like car loans home improvement loans will start to come yeah okay yeah sorry we dropped out there you was calm down immediately but sorry Jordan you were saying just pick up from car loans and what have you because he dropped out just briefly there yeah no so I suppose with regards to it's Greg things like car loans and home improvement loans are credit card debt again those have come cheaper and for people to actually take out those loans but things like mortgages might necessarily come down immediately those are typically a lot slower to decrease and talking about a note to listening to some of the spokes people for the pillar banks that they're already sort of I think trying to prepare the public for what you're talking about there because they're saying that you know whilst they were much higher than the rest of Europe or much of Europe for a time Europe did come up a bit quicker than we did and they're sort of saying that you know they didn't pass on any increase although it was from a higher level and that then you know they can't guarantee that any interest rate cuts then will be passed back to the consumer so they're covering themselves I think for this year anyway yeah not exactly Greg and I think from the perspective people should also understand that Ireland two or three years ago is probably one of the most expensive countries in Europe to actually have a mortgage now we're somewhere in the middle and with regards to how expensive we are to have a mortgage to think that the drop interest rates that we'd be one of the lowest countries in Europe to have a mortgage I don't know what I'd be putting my hat on that now to be honest with you Greg and things might just stay the same with regards to interest rates interest rates still in comparison to 20 years ago like our average rate is around 4.25% at the minute 20 years ago was up at 12% in 2004 so again they still are relatively though if there is a European wide drop in interest rates and it's not necessarily passed on to existing mortgage holders as quickly as white like often we do see the banks sort of trying to target first-time buyers or you know new mortgage customers do you think we might see more competitive rates in that area more quickly yeah and I think a huge thing Greg recently in the last few years is green mortgage rates so if you have a BR which is your energy rating of B3 or higher typically you'll qualify for what's known as a green energy rating so again your house is a lot more robust and warm and sustainable so in that sense banks will actually offer you a lower interest rate based on that so again I think the best green rate at the moment is with Bank of Ireland at 3.6% obviously there was a lot of talk of fixing when we were sort of at the bottom of the upward curve if we could describe it that as that you know maybe still people are still on variables or whatever it might be hopefully no one locked in to too high a fixed rate but is there any argument at the moment for looking at your interest rate fixing or what well Greg I suppose from an affordability perspective I think that's the most important thing people to take into consideration if you're on a rate of say 3.6 to 3.9 and you find it's very affordable for you and your family and you're happy with that rate going forward there's nothing bad about locking in for that rate for a prolonged period of time from a budget perspective at least you know and you're consistently happy that your rate will stay the same because they're not anything saying in the future that rates won't go up either so I think it's very important to bear that mind as well so people need to take into consideration things like affordability from an importance of how long they should be locking in for as well now again as I said if you look back historically rates are still really really low so again it's not the worst thing ever to lock in and I really feel for those with the vulture the vulture funds with mortgages that have seen them skyrocket will they will they come down at all at all we don't know well what is the story with tracker mortgages I mean I think people still on a tracker it's not the attractive proposition I don't think Jordan correct me if I'm wrong as it once was but people on tracker mortgages might be keeping a closer eye on on variations in interest rates particularly downwards now at this point 100% Greg so with regards to the tracker rate just to kind of reiterate that isn't in line with the European Centre Bank rate of interest and that will fall if the European Centre Bank decrease their rates okay so those people are going to be highly affected by this if rates do decrease if they're kind of sitting on the fence now for a period because they're more they historically would have had a good few years of really really low interest rates have been fantastic for those people and then suddenly over the last two years they've almost skyrocketed so again a lot of people are sitting on the fence whether they should come off their tracker and go on to a long-term fixed rate or remain on the track and see what happens and again when we're talking to clients Greg it's always a conversation of affordability and you know if the market is become unaffordable for them they should look elsewhere if they're happy enough trying to wait it out and see if it goes down and finally is the tracker mortgage a product still I don't mean for existing customers but offered to new customers or is that a thing of the past not necessarily so with regards to it but typically is vast majority of first-time buyers are going on to fixed rates typically okay because again they're getting on to the market for the first time and they want to kind of have a fixed rate variable rates as well are offered to clients as well but again typically those are the two you're going to find you'll have your fixed rate in your variable rate and those are very depending on the years that you want to take them out for brilliant stuff Jordan thank you very much indeed Jordan Mooney of Rockwell Finance and you can Google that company if you want to speak to Jordan and the team a little further on that type of stuff it's chatting yesterday to a lovely lady from Movil who was trying to raise awareness of colon cancer and hers was a very interesting story I encourage you to listen back to it yesterday it's on the podcast or you can watch it on our socials she went to the GP initially and because she was bleeding when she was wiping she went to the GP initially put it down to Piles centre home but the little voice in her head said no there's something else going on here she went back and we sent them for a colonoscopy and was told there and then it was a tumor turned out to be cancerous thankfully she's doing really well in her recovery and then we were contacted by two or three people yesterday with the same experience and this listener says exact same thing happened my mom wasn't happy that she was dismissed and my dad told her to go back and make them do something and after that they ran bloods and something showed up and from there on she was diagnosed and is now 10 years ago she's flying but without that second push probably wouldn't be here today and the interesting thing with listener yesterday is that her cancer didn't show up in her bloods or in her stool it only showed up when they tested the tumor stroke polyps so again just another reminder to double check that but if you really should listen to you should really listen to that interview yesterday I want to say we mentioned the badminton teams from Royal and prior yesterday I've got more details from that congratulations to the three badminton teams from Royal and prior Ruffall who won division one All Island titles yesterday under 19 boys under 14 boys under 14 girls what an achievement brilliant brilliant stuff okay fantastic right that's where we have to leave it on the show today remarkably it's Friday tomorrow which means we have a Friday panel that's entertainment and so much more besides so please rejoin us at