 It's which is good because I don't know what I'm doing. We need a wee bit of extra time today. Do you know, see, see, see me and your best friends today. Say what? Me and your best friends today. Yeah, we are trying to figure out what's going to happen next, which is fine. We'll just go with the flow. Everything is perfect, by the way. It's just, we'll see. We'll see. All right, then. See you tomorrow morning. It is a minute past nine. Time for the latest news, and it's good morning to Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. Tisha, Leo Rutger and Flush, Tameel Martin en route to Belfast this morning for a series of meetings. Leo Rutger meeting the party leaders, including today Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Fein, whereas the Thonyshtet will be meeting with the Northern Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris. A replacement part for the Ardsbeg Water Treatment Plant could take 200 working days to be sourced and installed. The Gortha Hork-Falkara area has been plagued with major problems since a lightning strike on December 21st. There have been interim repairs, but the full replacement part for the system will take 200 days to arrive, we've been told, this week. Councillor Michael McLean says that's unacceptable. He's repeated his call for an emergency meeting with Irish Water. There's one part in particular, 200 working days, and they've been told to expect up until the get-to-retreat this part to only do the computer system and a component of some nature on the computer end of it. So, for us all now, things are not working their proper now because this part is a machine. The alterations have been made to keep things going. Hopefully, the alterations will stand, albeit a stress factor have been altered. But Shedden, alongside that 2M as well as a few other days, this is totally, totally unacceptable. Aries Water, as we asked for yesterday, need to come to the table, need to step up to the plate in metres. Almost 2,200 needs assessments for Irish children with disabilities are at least three months over due, in total over 3,500 were late at the end of September. According to HSC figures, they're supposed to be legally finished within six months to allow children to get care for autism and other issues. Donegal GP Keir Nofari says such delays are unacceptable and they impact on the quality of care. It is a big problem because a lot of these are young children and we're trying to get to a diagnosis. Without a diagnosis, they can't access the care that they need and we know that from the evidence, early assessment and early intervention can improve outcomes. So, any delay in that assessment can lead to poorer outcomes for children, unfortunately. There are further calls for the establishment of an Irish passport office north of the border after it emerged this week that the passport office in Dublin has suspended posting passports to Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It's done so because of ongoing royal male strikes or a Begley, the Western MP says, with 128,000 applications for Irish passports from the north last year, 50,000 of them first-time applications, it's vital that the Irish government now has a presence north of the border. The last couple of days we've heard that the passport office has suspended posting passports to the six counties as a respect of the royal male strikes and we once again said that this highlights the need for a passport office here. There has been difficulties in the past in respect of people in the north having to travel to Dublin in order to collect their passports. So, we feel that if there was a passport office in the north, it would allow that more accessibility in order for people to resolve those issues and it's most definitely needed given the volume of applications that are being made. Westerly winds very strong and gusty. A mix of sunny spells and showers frequent with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and hail top temperatures, 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. The shower is continuing tonight with lowest temperatures overnight, 3 to 5 degrees Celsius. Again, more fresh to strong winds. And that's Island Radio News. We're back with news again at 10 o'clock. MUSIC Like to eat well and get healthy-sized savings? Then you'll really like our Audi savers' offers with up to 43% off, including cocoa, local coconut oil, save 43% now only $1.99. Cavanaugh's Instant Oat Sashay's 10 packs save 34% now only $0.99. Ballymore Crust Thin's Home Meal Loaf save 26% now only $1.25. And specially selected fresh mushroom soup save 15% now only $1.69. I don't like it. I love it. Audi, every day amazing. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Island Radio. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from Letter Kenny Credit Union. Call us on 074-910-2126 or apply online via our app or in office today. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Island Radio. Hello and a very good morning to you. It's five minutes past nine on this Thursday, the 12th of January. I do hope you're very well and I hope you are with us for the next three hours. Loads coming up in the program as always. Some interesting conversation, 08-660-25000, WhatsApps and texts to that number, 08-660-25000, or give us a call on 074-9125-000. 074-9125-000. Comments coming to us at the email address CommentsAtIslandRadio.com. And if you want to watch the show, hop onto our website, click the watch live, or go to YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland, or across our Facebook pages. Effectively, you can't escape us. We are everywhere and we want you involved. Right, now let's kick off with a look at the newspapers and there are quite a few of them because it's Thursday. Let's start with the Chicano Tribune, Mystery over Remalton Vandalism. Guardia investigating a bizarre incident of criminal damage in Remalton where a precious tree was destroyed and a nearby shrub was cut down in a front garden of a private residence. The incident happened on a property at St. Mary's Terrace last Thursday evening in an area of high visibility and Guardia at Milford are appealing for help in solving the attack. Local resident Ulrich Kullmann returned home to find that an intruder had entered her garden and deliberately cut the branches of a special species of plant that had grown to over 10 feet and had been there before Mrs. Kullmann moved to the property in 2006. Another bush was also destroyed. Let's crack on to the Donegal News now and the front page this morning. Water fiasco, a Falkara restaurant owner has revealed how he has had to close four times in as many weeks because of water outages and we've spoken to this person in the past so this is the most recent incarnation of his water problems. Business owners in the area say they are at the wit's end with the constant supply disruption which is costing them untold amounts in lost revenue. Irish Water has claimed that a lightning strike on its treatment plant three days before Christmas was to blame for at least one outage. But local traders say the problems have been ongoing for years and continue to hamper the day-to-day running of their operation and I believe that is the same system which we're being told it's going to take 200 working days before a part is found to leave it back to the state it was before that strike. Right, let's go on now to the Donegal Democrat. Uranium fears at Wind Farm Development. There are fears that any excavation work for proposed 19 turbine industrial scale wind farm in West Donegal might not only trigger more landslides but could activate uranium deposits scattered throughout the area. Danish company Orsted and a Quilter ESB renewable energy joint venture called Future Energy Ireland are exploring the potential to develop the proposed wind farm near the Cloughar Cullian and Cloughar core areas near the Guevara Estuary. Locals including the Guevara Conservation Group feel this is a totally inappropriate location for the multimillion euro project and feel special areas of conservation areas of geological interest and some of the county's most-seeing areas are also under threat there. Let's go on to the Irish Independent now and patients are waiting 24 hours for a bed in 17 hospitals and unfortunately needless to say, Letter County University Hospital is one of those. Patients are waiting 24 hours for a bed in 17 hospitals yesterday as the winter surge in emergency care continued to take its toll. The HSC's own 8 a.m. trolley can't of patients in emergency departments excluding those on trolleys in Ward showed 70 patients across the country had spent 24 hours or more waiting for a bed. The highest number facing this delay was in St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin with 12 patients followed by nine in Cork University Hospital, eight in Dublin's Matter Hospital in Letter County University Hospital and seven in St. Louis Hospital. Five patients were on trolleys for more than 24 hours in Nace General Hospital and in Sligo with three in Mercer Hospital, Cork and Tallah Hospital. So my apologies, I did state that Letter County was one of the hospitals where the patient waiting over 24 hours. It was in fact Sligo that I was looking at. So my apologies there. Needless to say, obviously there is a trolley wait, but not as extensive as I first indicated there. Right, okay, on to the Irish Independent now. And sorry, it's actually the Irish Times this morning. Radcar warns there may not be room for refugees. There are growing fears in government that accommodation options are running out as the number of Ukrainian arrivals is expected to increase and hotels will seek to take back rooms currently occupied by refugees for the tourist season. T. Shockley of Radcar warned yesterday that the government was not in a position to guarantee accommodation to everyone who arrives in the country. That's just the reality of the situation, he said. We will do the best that we can for people, provide them with shelter as best we can, provide children with education, Mr. Radcar said, and a post-cabinet press conference at Farmlee House in Dublin. But what I can't do, he went on to say, is guarantee that there will be, that we'll be able to find accommodation for everyone who might arrive in the country, whether it's from Ukraine or elsewhere. Ministers and senior officials fear a squeeze on accommodation in March and April as hotels begin to seek the return of their rooms following what's expected to be a resurgence in numbers arriving over the coming months. There was a fall-off in refugees' numbers arriving over the Christmas period, but this is expected to increase in the new year. And the reality is, is unfortunately that all signs are pointing towards an increased Russian offensive in spring. And that means more people will be displaced and will move to all different parts of Europe. And that includes, of course, Ireland. Harris says, hate mob travelling across country. This is the Irish Daily Mirror. Simon Harris has said he believes there are people travelling from one part of the country to the next to attend demos outside hotels providing accommodation or shelter to asylum seekers. There have been a number of rallies in recent weeks, including several days of protests at a travel lodge hotel in Ballemond Dublin. Videos circulated online showed people chanting Get Them Out at the hotel that is accommodating 221 asylum seekers, including nine children. The demonstrations or demonstrations have widely been condemned by politicians, including T-Shop Lee of Radcar and housing minister, Dara O'Brien. Minister Harris said, we do very carefully plan these protests. Sorry, Minister Harris has said we do very carefully. Sorry, we do. Sorry, it makes no sense at all, actually. It's completely misprinted here. I think what it is saying is we don't mind protests, but simply just not there. But unfortunately, the way it's been quoted in the paper, the sentence itself doesn't make any sense, right? Any views on that? 08, 660, 25,000. Right, on to the Irish Daily Mail now. And hundreds of people are expected to gather in Tullamore today to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Ashlene Murphy. The 23-year-old primary school teacher was killed while jogging along the bank of the Grand Canal in the County of Leighton on January 12th last year. The young woman's family and friends will be among those attending St. Bridget's Church in Mount Bolas just outside Tullamore at 7 p.m. today. Their colleagues at Doro National School, along with people involved in local music groups, will also be at the mass prior to the mass. A vigil will take place at 5 p.m. today and kill Kenny for Ashlene and other women who have been killed across the country. And unfortunately, you know, maybe people would have thought that awful, awful tragedy would have been a turning point. But unfortunately, that is not the case. And very recently, we had another woman who was the victim of a violent crime and very sadly also passed away. Right, OK, it's actually really quite difficult to believe that that's a year ago, but it is. On to now the Irish Daily Star. And Mary Lou Slam's Brit Petulance is the headline on this story, and we can read on to find out more about it now. Sinn Fein Party Leader Mary Lou MacDonald has been excluded from talks with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Roundtable talks have been expected to take place in Belfast yesterday, including the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris. Sinn Fein Party spokesperson said the progress made on the protocol this week is welcome and must now inject fresh momentum into talks between the EU and British government to reach a solution. Sinn Fein was hoping to build on that progress at today's meeting with the British Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary. However, in an extraordinary turn of events last night, we're informed that the British government is excluding the Sinn Fein Party Leader Mary Lou MacDonald from today's meeting. No reason given, but there are meetings taking place today as well, of course. And Sinn Fein, I believe, are part of those. And then we'll move on to the Farmers Journal now. And their headline, Maconologue Scraps, Suckler Coal Schemes, Minister for Agriculture, Charlie Maconologue, has shelved plans for Suckler Coal Schemes saying they are now off the table, which is going to be good news, I presume, for some within the farming community. Both the farm organisations and the processors are in agreement that they do not want a beef reduction scheme, so that is something that's off the table. He told over 350 farmers at the IFA's Climate Summit work on Tuesday. However, the minister said he would be looking at a dairy exit scheme and would engage further with the Food Vision Dairy Group. The consensus of the Food Vision Dairy Group was that a cow reduction scheme should be examined further. Again, if that is something that you want to have a conversation on, 08, 6, 60, 25,000 is the text line there. Last but not least, it is The Son and Sad News as it relates to Riverdance legend Michael Flatley. He revealed on his social media that he's facing a new cancer battle. The 64-year-old who recently starred in spy movie Blackbird, which you also wrote and directed last night broke the news on social media. The message on his Facebook page said, dear friends, we have something personal to share. Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin, sorry, not of skin cancer. He had skin cancer previously. My mistake, he has undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors. No further comments will be made at this time. We ask only for your prayers and well wishes. Thank you. So it's always sad news to hear that someone is facing those medical difficulties. And we wish him a full and speedy recovery. Right, 08, 6, 60, 25,000. That's the WhatsApp and text number. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. Or give us a call on 07491 25,000. We have... We have Donna-Marie and Caroline as always taking your calls. All right, we'll be back with our first guests on the show after the break. There's still time to experience the unmissable magic of winter in Dublin. Come celebrate our rich culture and heritage this January. Take to the heart of the city for Tradfest Temple Bar from cozy pub sessions to intimate performances in historical hotspots. Or why not immerse yourself in art and culture at any of Dublin's free national museums? There's so much to see and do this January. Winter in Dublin, it's magic. Make your plans today at VisitDublin.com, brought to you by Folger Ireland. On this week's Business Matters, I'll be joined by Finn Valley AC team leader, Patsy McGonigal. So join me and Cure in the Rental for Business Matters on Sunday evening after 6 o'clock news. The Business Matters podcast is also available to download at highlandvideo.com. Business Matters in association with the ATU Dunnigal Faculty of Business. 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Well, you're gonna have to keep looking, pal, because Hill 16 is Dublin only. Get the feeling that your insurer doesn't want you? At local insurance, we understand your needs. Call today for a bespoke quote or find us online at localinsurance.ie. Local insurance, we'll get you sorted. The Local Insurance Network DAC Trading's local insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Local insurance is a tide insurance intermediary of Acorn Brokerage Limited. Acorn Brokerage Limited Trading is Acorn Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook, and at HighlandRadio.com. The Ninetal Noon Show with Letterkenny Credit Union. Now offering MyCU Current Account and debit MasterCard, bringing full banking features delivered with the same local, trustworthy service of your credit union. All right, you're very welcome back to the programme. So we mentioned in the programme yesterday something that was launched towards the end of last year, chat GPT. And we're gonna explain to you precisely what this is, and maybe Tee's said what... I mean, firstly, it's like Google on steroids, but so much more. And it's only gone to develop even further over the next year, as is AI. So it's something we're gonna be talking about in a while. So we wanna get in early on the conversation for all of you listening out there. And to help us do so, we're joined by a couple of guests. So I'll say good morning first to Jenny Darmodi, editor of Silicon Republic. Good morning, Jenny. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. No, it's great to have you with us. Right, OK, so for those who've never heard of this, talk to us about chat GPT. What is it? So chat GPT is essentially an AI software tool. It's a text generating tool. And as you said, it is a little bit like Google on steroids. It's very, very advanced, very, very predictive of what the user might want. So you can put in questions and it'll give back quite detailed answers. But you can also kind of give it... If you give it the right prompts, it can generate much longer things, anything from songs, recipes and essays and things like that. Yeah, and I have seen some people go, well, I had a look at it and it's not all that and it's clear it's this, that and the other. A lot of it depends on what you input as to what it outputs. And I've read some comments from, you know, some people that know an awful lot more than me and when the information of what you want out from it is inputted in a certain way, there are some that find it difficult to differentiate between it and the work of a human. Yeah, so it has become very, very advanced and it's designed specifically to sound really conversational, to sound really human. But yeah, there is still bias issues that come into play with AI and there's still problems. So it can spit back out information that's not necessarily correct, but it doesn't tend to let you know. If it doesn't know the answer, it tends to spit back the answer as best it can in a very confident way, which brings dangers of misinformation and things like that, especially if it's being used in a sort of a content generation way and that stuff isn't being fact-checked, that can lead to serious problems. I mean, there's different views on the plagiarism element to this because it doesn't necessarily, my understanding is, and I'm open to correction on this, it doesn't cut and paste paragraphs per se. It seems to be more, it interprets it more. So it is possible that whilst, I mean, on the face of it, it would be plagiarism that it might not be as easy to pick up compared to someone cutting and pasting an article themselves from the internet into the work for college or for school, for example. Yeah, so essentially it is a language model and it's learned how to react and behave based on massive, massive data that's already on the internet. And that's basically where the plagiarism element is coming in because it's learning from language and information that's already out there. And if it's piecing together enough of it from different sources, it can sort of circumvent those plagiarism elements because people who tend to copy and paste, you know, the plagiarism software is designed to spot those kind of sentences that are lifted directly. And if it's spliced together, that's how it can kind of get around those issues. Yeah, and of course too, I mean, I suppose we ourselves, depending on how I advance this, I mean, do we really have many original thoughts? You know, we ourselves are taking bits and pieces, being consciously and subconsciously and creating a piece of work, albeit not be able to be picked up by software properly. So as I say, this is the first iteration really of it that we've accessed too. I think later on in the year, it's going to be able to access live information. You know, I believe at this point, it's working off a block of information in the past. Do you see this? I mean, I also read from one academic that said, this is the death knell for universities if they don't change. So do you see this as a positive tool for education? In other words, if it's embraced the right way, or perhaps maybe excuse everything, will every piece of work that's produced now in months and years can be suspected of being from chat GPT. Do you know what I mean? How do you see this fitting into education, especially as it evolves? There definitely is already, there's a lot of concerns in the academic community, I think around this. And I think there's already several researchers and developers who are working on sort of plagiarism tools for things like GPT. They're looking to design these tools to actually detect whether or not it was created by an AI tool. So I think those tools will come more to the forefront. I think the biggest concern really is, as you said, you could argue that there might not be original thoughts anymore, but I think students who might put a direct prompt the right way into an AI tool and asking them to write a critical essay about something and getting their homework done for them essentially removes the problem-solving, the critical thinking that comes with creating an essay like that, even if it is just a case of doing the research and finding other people's thoughts and putting together, that's how people kind of develop their critical thinking. So I think that is a big concern, but there are other ways it could be used. I've heard of some students have, or teachers have used the AI to create an essay based on a particular topic and then given it to their students and asked them to take it apart and critically assess that themselves. So it could be used in positive ways. All right, we're also joined by Professor Kevin Coran, a regular guest on the show. He's a professor of cybersecurity at Ulster University. Professor Coran, good morning to you. Great to see you again. Good morning, Greg. Right, what's your take on this? It's a powerful tool. It's been around for a while, but it's because they've released it to the public. Now, Google also have a similar system as well, and that caused headlines a few months ago where one of their researchers came out and said that he believed it was sentient, that he believed that it was sentient. I think it was sacked for that, wasn't it? He was. So again, we're seeing this because it's been released to the public. Now, if you try and go online today or even last night, I was doing it again. It's oversubscribed, actually. The site is not working for too many people on there, but it's just, we've just kind of gone to a new level, really, but a tool which has been released to the public, again, which really comes back with quite good answers whenever you type something in a natural language. But this is a huge, do you think? Maybe I'm overstating. I actually believe this is going to be not necessarily a chat GPT in its current form, but in terms of what it can create, in terms of image, music, and stuff. And this is really the first iteration we've kind of seen. So I think this is, I don't know if you agree, Professor, I think this is really quite a significant, or it will be seen as quite a significant step forward in technology, at least front-facing that we can see. It is. I mean, obviously it does one thing. What it does, it enables us to interact with a computer which actually seems to be a human. And that's what it does. So therefore, it has consequences in a lot of areas. Course one is that now you can be given a question by a teacher and you just type the question into OpenAI's chat GPT and it comes up with a beautiful essay and whatever else. But there are tools which allow you to get around that because there are so many cheat sites out there where you type in a question and it literally has all the answers from the previous ones because examiners are on the world and lecturers. I think this is the creative element though that I think this is sort of stepping into. We've reused questions again. So even there's a photo math app, sorry, a system where you just take a photograph of your math question and it comes up with the answer. I mean, there's tons of sense in that. So we're dealing with that for a long time. That's why you've got to have, well, not creativity. You've got to form your questions properly so that they're not searchable on the internet. And that's what we have to do. And of course, we'll have tools to be able to see is this generated by chat GPT. But this is a modern life we're going into again. So we're dealing, and even things like this, I mean, this can be used in some ways in cybersecurity as well to cheat people, to have people phone up and seeing that they're dealing with someone legitimately and giving the right answers and it enables operators to do more. So in other words, it's kind of a, we're into a new era of computers sounding like humans. And Jenny, you know, it's clear that, you know, Professor Coran and his university are well across this, you know what I mean? And quite rightly so, you would expect it. And the reason partly to also kind of wanted to have this conversation is that I think there's an awful lot of people in education, maybe not at third level or wherever, that may be not familiar with this or what is capabilities. So they, you know, I think I'd be of the opinion that I think everyone in education should know about things like this so they can either use it as a tool or, you know, be able to find some ways to sort of spot if it's being abused by students, if you could call it abuse. Yeah, and I think if you're going younger as well, you know, there was a discussion, I read an article with teachers who talked about it, but they're mostly from the slightly younger, not enough college age kids. And probably one of the easiest things that they could spot was that it was, the language was far too advanced, you know. So like a nine year old might not write or a tumultuous when they're writing an essay or things like that. So there are spots and as Kevin said, there's, you know, cheats and workarounds that have been around for a long time, long before AI was being used. So teachers and educators, I suppose, are well above looking for these things. And, you know, not everybody uses plagiarism software. So, you know, teachers tend to have an eye for, you know, this looks a little bit suspicious. They might not know why straight away, but they know it looks suspicious for some reason. And yeah, I do think that they should be aware that this tool exists, but also not hide away from it completely. As I said, it could be used in a clever way to sort of introduce this to students and explain why this stuff, like, you know, humans still need to be in the loop and things like that. So I think it's a good way to introduce them to it because it's not like children and kids won't grow up knowing this tech. Just to broaden out a bit, Kevin, you know, you talked about for some it could appear to be like talking to a human. And this was someone's source information, say, for example, instead of your likes of a Google, there are already some accusations that this chat GPT in terms of the results it returns to you has political leanings. You know, now, and no one is in control of this. What I mean is like this is kind of open source, or at least that's how it appears. But already there are some suggesting that it favors, you know, it's maybe more left leaning than right leaning, for example. I mean, as we move forward in the years ahead and we're engaging with AI, maybe that will become more of an issue. Yeah, there is ethical concerns in artificial intelligence, for instance. We've known that because, for instance, a lot of AI, artificial intelligence is used for facial recognition. Of course, yeah, whenever you unlock your phone or whatever else is AI in there and also for databases. But it was found years ago that people of color were unfairly discriminated against because the training sets, again, which were used to train these facial recognition algorithms were generally met up of white middle class technology people again and it didn't have access to Asian faces and people of color as well. So these things can happen, you know, whether, you know, meant to be or not. An AI tool is only as good as a data that is trained on. And of course, JAP GPT, again, is limited that it doesn't know anything about the world in the last year that everything that's been trained upon so far was from 2021 previously. So therefore it's got big gaps in its knowledge about a modern world as well. But data, any AI tool is only as good as a data is given because to train this chat GPT as well, there was humans involved in the loop in what we call reinforcement learning. So they typed in questions and they might say, what color is it three? And if the chat GPT at the time came out with a non-sensical answer, they would kind of correct it, feed it back in again. And this is called reinforcement learning. So humans were involved in training this. But of course, that's the only, it's kind of like a kickoff part again. There'll be less humans needed in the future. All right, Jenny. So finally, what do you think then, how important do you think, you know, this or other incarnations of it will be in the future? Do you think it is something maybe, you know, those in education need to ensure they're on top if they're not already? Or is this just a fad or something? I definitely don't think it's a fad. AI tools like this, it won't be just GPT. It'll be many other tools. And as Kevin said, AI is in everything and it's continuing to grow. So I think it's something that educators and everybody needs to be aware of because it will continue to grow this year and many other companies will come up with their own tools. But I think both from being wary of students using it, but also educating students about it is really important because that bias piece is so, so important because it's essentially learning. Like it's not sentient, despite what some, a select few people might think it's not sentient. It's learning or learning from humans and data that's gone into the internet, which is incredibly bias. As we all know, an internet search can be very bias. And even when you're searching questions, you get bias reinforcement of your own thoughts and things like that. I think there's a lot of education that could be done here for students as well as they move forward into a world that is surrounded by AI. Jenny Darmady, thank you so much indeed, editor of Silicon Republic. Where do you think this sits in terms of our lives going forward, finally, Kevin? Yeah, it's a huge step from mankind again. But also Microsoft have a tool called Vali, which synthesizes voice. In other words, with three seconds of audio, it can replicate your voice. So therefore, if you have three seconds of my voice, then you just type away and actually it could sound, you can actually sound like me on the phone. And this has been used by scammers to phone up people and have money transferred where the people in the council department swore they were talking to their boss. And this is a, you know, it's also the same field again, really, again. So these tools are actually quite incredible. In the future, you will have to have passwords on the phone. Because you can't trust voice in the future. Scary. And you still believe our phones don't listen to our conversation and target ads towards us, do you, Kevin? They don't. Yes, they do. They do. I don't. Come here. It's your searches, everything else. No, I know. But I was talking to someone, right? No. Okay, right. I respect your view because you are a professor. It wouldn't look it. Okay, well, I can't explain to you. I'm speaking to someone, right? I was speaking to someone a couple of days ago who had a blocked ear, right? And I suggested that they went and got their ear syringe. And I'm a critical thinker. Don't get me wrong. That evening. That evening. Now, I can tell you, I Google some stuff, but not this. That evening, across Facebook, across all the meta platforms, I was being fed ear clinic adverts. How could that happen? It's the coincidence of coincidences, Kevin. Yeah, but quite a lot you can trace it back even to credit cards because credit card, yeah, we forget that. We think we've been tracked online, but every time you do a purchase with your credit card, that date is so long, you know, to third parties. So maybe, I don't know, maybe bought your ear again. You're right. But they don't listen because, honestly, because it would be an outcry. Look at the people who work these companies or like me, they're techies. They can't do it. It would be the ultimate privacy invasion really. So they can't. I get you, Kevin. And listen, I'm sorry to finish on such an old after quite an important convo. Lovely to see you again, Kevin. Let's leave it not so long before the next time. Thank you so much indeed. Take care. Paul, sorry, you've been holding there waiting patiently. You were having a look at chat GPT. What did you, what's your review of it? I think it's excellent. I think it will be used for plagiarism, unfortunately. So, academics will have to work out some way of maybe making people be more creative and critical thinking and things like that. But it's another stage up. I created a poem in a minute. Like for instance, if you said to me, give me, if you gave me a topic, I can do a poem in a minute on it. Yeah. I've done a song about Highland Radio. It's just so amazing. Actually, what we'll do is what I might do in the next ad break, I will ask it to write a poem about Highland Radio and after 10 o'clock we'll read it out and see what it says. I mean, I've spoken to you before about parental alienation. It's something that you're very passionate about and speak out about quite a bit. Did you use it to sort of, you know, try and be creative on that issue and how would you rate the results? I rated the result very highly. Very highly. It gave a very good definition of it. Very objective one, I thought. But as your expert said, there could be biases in it and they will affect anything. But in Google, there's biases. Everyone uses Google every day. In Academica, there's major biases and politics is major biases anyway. So we have to be very aware of all them things. But regarding the definition and that about parental alienation, for instance, it was very good because it's an area that people will conflict about, you know? All right. Listen, Paul, lovely to chat to you. Thank you so very much indeed. All right, we'll be back with more after the break. Us pigeons see everything when we're flapping around up here? Well, almost everything. See, burning certain fuels releases invisible toxic pollutants, which can trigger asthma and lead to serious illness. So if you're going to light a fire in your home, make sure to use low smoke fuel. Oh, and never wing it burning rubbish. Choosing low smoke fuel is better for all of us. Let's clear the air for everyone and remember to clean chimneys with cleaning appliances at least once a year brought to you by the Government of Ireland. Every year, about 2,800 people in Ireland get bowel cancer. Bowel screening helps to reduce your risk of developing it. If you're aged 60 to 69, you can register today for a free Bowel Screen Test Kit. Once you've done the test at home, return it by free post and we'll test your sample for levels of blood. If you need any more tests, we'll let you know. Register today at hse.ie forward slash Bowel Screen 1-800-4545-55 from the HSE. 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We are on programmes like this and I'm sure it's the same across the country. It's just a matter of time every year before we start getting calls as it relates to the school transport system. There's always... Now, I think it's fair to say from the beginning, I think for the majority. For the majority, people are satisfied, but it does seem to always leave a large... Well, not large, but a significant number of students and their families left out or upset. People losing out on seats because of a lotto. You know, someone in an office somewhere drawing names out of a hat. I mean, in 2023, we need to be coming up with a better system, surely. Well, look, it's actually true. I think what was really fantastic is that last year we had nearly another 44,000 children. So families using school transport to get to school, which has taken car journeys off the road. So that was a really positive outcome. Sorry to cut across, Senator. What figure did you say of extra seats that we had? So, in total this year, 121,000 tickets, and that was roughly... Ballpark, sorry, about 15,000 children with special needs as well would have been on using our school transport buses. How many additional seats were made available? 44,000. Now, did we ever order... 44,000. Did we ever order that 44,000 to find out how many of those seats were actually taken off? Because at that time, there were figures being put around that people, because it were free, were edging their bets effectively. We had no malice, but they were saying, well, we will apply for a seat then. But they didn't avail of it because it didn't fit in with the life of the family. And then those that had seats previously were excluded again through a random selection process. So, did we ever order how many of those extra seats were actually regularly taken? And do you think that would be an important exercise or a useful exercise? Yes, I think this was a cost-of-living measure I think that was brought through sort of late last year, and this has been a real challenge, particularly, I mean, of course, across Alderney Gaul and in a lot of rural regional towns, I'm sure, across Bali, Shannon and Bundoran, and, you know, it's the same where I'm from in sort of East Galway and Ross Common. There were a lot of schools, secondary schools, where people would have availed of what was known previously and still is as concessionary tickets. And the challenge was, as you said there, the capacity around, maybe, both there having the buses and bus drivers and just the nature of the announcements, which just came, I suppose, late in the year. And this is why I suppose I'm calling for sort of the recommendations from the steering group that will come out early this year, so that we can start making plans early this year to ensure that we have the capacity. So those are the buses, that is the bus drivers. And again, that it is a positive measure that we've seen. It's positive to see so many parents and students availing of the bus. But as you say there, it's just, it did leave so many parents in dire situations who would previously maybe have always had access to those concessionary tickets. So they may not have fulfilled maybe every single part of the eligibility criteria, but there have been available seats on the bus. And I just think that, you know, we have to really get those recommendations early this year and put a plan in place. And it needs to be done hopefully from, say, February. And I suppose working with the steering group that those recommendations are provided to the Minister of Education to be able to make those decisions for this coming year. You know, we have seen that this group were put in place from February 2021. So it's important. They've already given an interim report and I suppose we just need to see that final report and those recommendations that will seed into hopefully the plan for this year, this coming year. Yeah, and it needs just to be flexible. I mean, we have situations whereby their students miss out on a seat to a school because the distance to measure between where they live and the school uses an old back road over a hill that a bus couldn't even dream of going up. Do you know what I mean? Just common sense stuff. And you can imagine then how frustrating that might be for students and their parents. So at least use a road that a bus can actually travel on when determining distance. I know that's only a small part of it, but I think those types of rigid rules that leave people missing out for really no reason at all. And I think, I mean, both there in, you know, so this is provided by the Department of Education and they work with both there in a round school transport and both there in would have advertised, you know, through tender process and so on for drivers and for people to join. So they were looking at, you know, there would have been mini buses. There would have been private providers of buses all around the area in Donegal as well who would have applied to work with the bus there and taken on a contract, you know, to deliver a school bus service. And so mini buses and all types of transport can be considered on this, you know, and as you say there, there are many, you know, roads and borings and things like this that we have to be cognizant of and smart about. But it is about trying to reduce the number of car journeys on a road and the same as all across Donegal. Sometimes you can have schools outside of the 50K limit. You know, like they're in rural areas, they can be on country roads, they can be quite busy in the mornings, you know, people going to work and it could be in an 80K stretch, maybe, or they could be outside of a 50K stretch. And, you know, it's about safe pickup and drop off. And there's also the sort of active travel and safe routes to school as well from the Department of Transport. Those are all measures in the last year or two years as well, looking at how to make our schools safer. But definitely, I think, there's a lot of time to go, but I suppose just that parents are not less struggling because if, you know, so many parents were left where they would always have had a way for the children to get to school or the students to get to school and it just caused so much pressure from months and ads last year in certain situations. You know, we worked hard to make sure that tickets were then allocated over a number of months, but it was a difficult time and I suppose that's how you want to see that this is put in place early this year. Yeah. And do you think how to do that? Well, I mean, everything obviously is always about the students and the schools and the teachers and all, but what about the people that provide the service? You know, there are some rules that apply, for instance, for people who are subcontracted by bus air and that don't that don't apply if you're if you're independent of bus air and the retirement compulsory retirement age for drivers, you know, perfect buses that are for a certain age that can no longer be used the blind and not under the auspices or under your control, but do you think whilst we are reviewing it we could review it across the board, particularly for those who really are that keep the wheels turning quite literally? Well, I really do look forward to seeing the recommendations coming from the steering group. You know, they have been reviewing this and they have been looking at it across probably a number of years and I mean, you know, to take into account our population, we've seen that from, you know, over 5.2 million, but of course that which is great, you know, but you know, it's great and hopefully we're seeing more people living in the west and in the northwest, but it just means that obviously they're, you know, they're more children that need access to buses and getting to schools and you know, there's higher numbers in our primary schools and our secondary schools. So I think, you know, we need to look at all sorts of solutions here and I would really, you know, hope that the steering group are doing that. It's a measure that the minister did consider and put in place. So, you know, there are, you know, this group would be knowledgeable and I would hope are looking across a wide range of areas, you know, for the report, the recommendations that they'll bring forward, hopefully. All right, well we'll watch on with interest to see if that is the case. Senator Ashlyn Dolan, thank you very much indeed. Ashlyn is Finnegale, Shannon Spokesworth from for Education Further and Higher Education. For day to day healthcare needs, generations have trusted the experienced staff at McGee's Chemist Letter Kenny. From coughs and colds to aches and pains from vitamin supplements to first aid essentials. McGee's have what you need when you need it with a full prescription service available daily. McGee's Chemist Main Street Letter Kenny for healthcare help and advice you can always trust. At Ulster Bank, our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts, along with some of our branches. 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Only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal. You cannot afford to miss it. Order. There's a lot to be said for it. Not the restrictive always play by the books straight down the line kind of order. But the order you place for a brand new 231 Audi. An order best placed having experienced true progress with a test drive at your Audi dealer. Where you will also get advice on the options available to ensure owning your 231 Audi is as straightforward as possible. Which is proper order. Visit your nearest Audi dealer where future is an attitude. Or in office today. All right. Westerly winds will be very strong and gusty today. There'll be a mix of sunny spells and showers frequented with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and hail afternoon temperatures seven or eight degrees. The showers will continue through tonight. Lowest temperatures of three to five degrees with fresh to strong westerly winds. I'll wait 60, 60, 25,000. That is your WhatsApp and text number. Keep us busy on that if you don't mind. Right. Okay. Let us read some of your comments as I try and work out when I have to fire the next ad break. Right. Okay. There is an app called chat me chat that gives you a girlfriend boyfriend. This is not healthy and is going to skew young people's view of relationships even more. Yeah, indeed. Greg, I agree with if I look up stuff on the phone within half an hour I get stuff on my phone to do with what I look up. Yeah. If you look it up on your phone, definitely I there's no doubt about that it accesses your cookies. So when you go on your phone, it's that things are actually worse now than they were before because people just say accept all cookies. If you your phone now your computer and they're interchangeable not if you search something on the internet you will be fed adverts in relation to that and content in relation to that. That's happening. I was kind of joking with Kevin because I know he doesn't think the phones are listening to us. But I'll tell you there's two minutes and I'm not really I don't know that maybe that phrase is different connotations now I don't mean it in that regard but you know, there's been too many cases where I've been speaking and then adverts based on that conversation nothing to do with what I've inputted into anything I start getting adverts based on that conversation. I wish we knew when the far right were planning on having their protest so we could have a counter protest to welcome refugees why are the hateful rights so clandestine? Now what I will say is is that whilst there will always be people that will a certain agenda I think labelling everyone or even labelling anyone is not advisable there are people in certain communities generationally that have struggled for accommodation or parents that know that their children may never gotta get accommodation and in those same areas then accommodation is found very quickly and for the right reasons to obviously offer people refuge but they're going to have very genuine concerns aren't they and they're probably not the ones standing outside saying get people out but we also have to recognise that there are those who would love similar treatment equal treatment and there are the resources if there were the will to ensure that everyone is looked after many schools in Donegal are now facing language barriers that are not able to bring translating technology into the classrooms on the likes of Alexa I've spoken to people in education who've got really good suggestions in that regard we shall see if any of them come to pass Damien English resigns for breaching planning laws when it came to light that other TDs did the same thing months back did it not jug his memory taking the Irish people for fools should be made resigned from dishonesty current version of chatGPT says Michael on Twitter it wouldn't be good enough to pass for coursework I've used the free version as much as I could without subscribing you have to say it's good I'd be more concerned with what chatGPT will morph into in the future as it's only going to get better of course yeah we have impotted a bit of information about Highland Radio and asked it to write a poem for us it's all very exciting isn't it we'll reveal that to you after the 10 o'clock news Damien English Minister of State the Department of Enterprise resigns his post and thinks we should all be grateful that he acknowledged his repentance for his mistake a real resigning is leaving politics not stepping down until the dust settles and then re-entering like nothing happened it's time this country started to see more real accountability and not simply what they see as tokenism righty-o stay tuned we'll be back with more after the news and obituary notices and we'll be back with more in store and online discounts of up to 30% off ASICs New Balance Brooks and Hoca Footwear GT2000 Gel Cumulus New Balance 880 Hoca Clifton 8 to name just a few treat your feet in our winter sale grab a discount and stretch those legs look the part play the part in store and online click and collect on bmcsports.ie don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfibeds.ie Ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer you'll get a comfy Irish made mattress upholstered base and headboard from an amazing 229 euro check out the full range at dfibeds.ie delivery free and guaranteed to you within 7 working days DFI beds sleep well live well Green Shoes big winter sale is now on with massive reductions up to 50% off across your favourite items including Echo Tommy Bow Kate Appleby Una Healy and many more Green Shoes at Market Square that a Kenny Shopping Centre and in Fulcara or shop online at greenshoes.com Hi Jean Kern here to let you know that our first Highland video book club choice for 2023 is John Boyne's latest novel for adults all the broken places the long awaited sequel to the global best seller The Boy in Striped Pajamas Poland for Paris shame and fear at their heels nearly 80 years later the daughter Gretel lives a life that is a far cry from her traumatic childhood when a couple move into the flat below her in London the appearance of their nine-year-old son Henry brings back memories she would rather forget faced with a choice between her own safety and his Gretel is taken back to a similar crossroads in her childhood back then her complicity dishonoured her life but to interfere now could risk revealing the secrets we will be reviewing the book on my show on Sunday the fifth of February and as usual if you'd like to take part in any of our reviews email me genecurran at highlandradio.com Live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News Good morning it's 10 o'clock Doble Kavana at the Highland Radio News Desk Donny Golted Pierce Doherty is seeking a meeting with the HSC to discuss the future of the Natalk service the GP out of our service is managed and delivered by the HSC's NowDoc system as part of a hybrid model with CareDoc providing GPs for the delivery of care it's understood the talks currently underway may see CareDoc take over the service completely with questions being raised about whether the call centre will be transferred from Etterkenny to Karlo and what the status of four satellite centres across Donny Golted will be Donny Pierce Doherty says a meeting is necessary to ensure that the interests of the people of Donny Golted are at the heart at the end of the day the HSC have a contract with GPs to provide 24-hour service the GPs could fill that contract by providing the NowDoc service which deals with out of our services so the HSC has a responsibility to the people of Donny Golted to make sure that that service is maintained is accessible there is also another issue in terms of the staff that are working up in the service at this point in time we need clarity in terms of where this is going the Taoiseach and Donny Golted are both in Belfast this morning Lee of Radker is having discussions with the political parties at Stormont the Donny Golted is meeting with the Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris meanwhile the Sinn Fein President Merrile MacDonald who will take part in today's discussions with the Taoiseach says being left out of the talks with the British Government on the protocol yesterday was petulant nonsense she was asked not to attend a meeting with James Cleverly despite the fact that she has written to the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seeking a meeting Merrile MacDonald says the decision to exclude her was bizarre they seemed to cite later in the day some concern around protocol that because I'm elected in Dublin that they couldn't meet with me until they met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs but as the Irish Government has made very very clear there were no protocol concerns whatsoever so not alone was their decision bizarre it's also very unsettling Junior Minister Damien English has resigned in a statement he says he informed the Taoiseach last night of his decision to step down as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment it follows reports that he failed to declare details of a 2008 planning application relating to a property in County Meath the finagle TD says having reviewed the application it's clear to him that he failed to inform Meath County Council about his ownership not up to the standard required he's apologised and said he will continue to serve the people of Meath West almost two thousand two hundred needs assessments for Irish children with disabilities are at least three months over due the HSE is legally supposed to be finished within six months to allow children get care for autism and other issues Donegal GP Karen O'Farre says the delays are unacceptable Dairy City Anstrabam police officers conducted over six hundred patrols it is a big problem because a lot of these are young children and we're trying to get to a diagnosis without a diagnosis they can't access the care that they need and we know that from the evidence early assessment and early intervention can improve outcomes so any delay in that assessment can lead to poor outcomes for children unfortunately and police in Dairy City Anstrabam carried out 40 drug seizures and 25 related arrests more than 600 patrols in the district during operation seasons waiting which ran from November 17 to January 2 with more here's Emma Ryan Dairy City Anstrabam police officers conducted over six hundred patrols over the Christmas period with this year's operation season greetings focused on a range of safety priorities including roads and transport streets and socialising shopping and homes during this time 40 drug seizures and 25 related arrests made retail crime was a key focus during the campaign with 20 arrests made in relation to retail theft and associated offences during this period in addition to those targeted offences officers responded to 1,741 calls for service across the city and district Chief Inspector Yvonne McManus said the aim of operation season greetings was to enhance the safety of Northern Ireland over the Christmas period weather forecast westerly winds strong and gusty today stormy along the coast of Donegal this afternoon with a mix of sunny spells and showers frequent and with a chance of isolated thunderstorms afternoon temperatures of seven or eight degrees celsius showers continuing tonight with lowest overnight temperatures three to five in fresh to strong westerly winds tomorrow Friday showers in the morning will ease with sunshine for a time in the afternoon temperatures of seven to nine it will however be wet again by tomorrow Friday evening in that silent video news we're back with headlines again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team good morning the image we notices for this Thursday morning the 12th of January the death house taken place of brother Timothy Jackie McLaughlin De La Salle brothers Miguel House Castletown Port Leesh County Leesh late of Miguel House Castletown Port Leesh today from 11 o'clock with evening prayer and rosary at seven funeral mass tomorrow at 2 p.m. with burial afterwards in the monastery cemetery Castletown the death has occurred of Mary Theresa McGinty Ney Walsh Cabra Glebe Church Hill remains reposing at her late residence house strictly private to family and friends in Temple Douglas Cemetery family far as only pleased donations in lieu of desired to the Dulligal Hospice care of Con-McDade funeral directors or any family member the death has occurred of Eileen Kennedy the Glebe Killy Beggs remains reposing at her residence today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. removal tomorrow morning at half past 10 p.m. for a 11 o'clock requiem mass since in Pius X Church Movil followed by burial to the family far as only pleased donations in lieu of desired to the Irish heart foundation the death has taken place of Neal Doherty Godduff Movil Neals followed by burial in Ballybrack Cemetery house private please from 10 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow family far as only pleased donations in lieu of desired to the Alzheimer's unit care of any family member Neals funeral mass can be viewed live on Movil parish.com the death has taken place of Theresa Duncan three James Larkin Court Old Town Letter Kenny Theresa will repose a return light chapel of rest mountain top Letter Kenny from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock this evening with visitors welcome at the family residence Cremation will take place on Friday at Lakeland's crematorium cavern family far as we have desired to cancer research care of Jim Medlin funeral directors Lynn Carter Kenny or any family member the death has taken place of Mary Ward Trimla Dridd Letter Mac Ward her remains will repose at Medlin's funeral home as occurred of Mary McKelvie Carrick Normana Killie Gordon remains reposing at her residence funeral from there tomorrow afternoon at half past 12 for Requiem Mass in St. Patrick's Church Crossroads Killie Gordon at 1 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining churchyard the Requiem Mass will be streamed live on the St. Patrick's Church Crossroads funeral formerly of the green Kenny Callie St. Johnson Finula is reposing at her home in Derry funeral from there this morning at half past 11 for Requiem Mass at 12 noon in St. Patrick's Church Pennyburn followed by interment in St. Bathons Cemetery St. Johnson family far as only remains are reposing at 1 Marion Park removal from there tomorrow morning at quarter past 10 traveling the St. Mary's Church Cock Hill for 11 o'clock Requiem Mass with burial in the adjoining cemetery house private please from 10 o'clock tonight and before the funeral show and we've another two hours of hopefully informative and entertaining content for you lots of you messaging in texting in we really do appreciate it 08 6 60 25,000 what's absent texts or calls 07 4 9 1 25,000 good morning Greg why are so called government I would probably be classed as a non-vetted person of fighting age non-vetted male fighting age it's a phrase that's often bandied about I'm not sure how many people are generally vetted but I do know you're talking about new people coming into this country which has always been the case let me just reiterate obviously the new approaches that has seen 70,000 Ukrainians come into Ireland but there's always been nothing new I don't think it's good to label anyone personally I think there's a lot of people as I've referenced before with news that are generally concerned and then there are other people that it's kind of their career at this point to sort of work off those concerns to their own ends and then somewhere in all of that lies the truth I call it believes the phones are definitely listening to us give me some of your examples that convinced you that your phone or your smart speaker has lost loads of single men put into communities in the middle of the night with no vetting vetting is the word that keeps coming up yeah indeed and I think the government has accepted that and they are going to tighten the rules they say whether they do or not to try and limit the numbers of those people that you're talking of good morning Greg a boss leaves our national school with about 10 children on it why can't conversations and texts from people about that that there are a particular boss route to put on in certain ways for Ukrainian trick children living in communities not sure if that was a knee-jerk response we'll have to see how that plans out plays out over the course of the year any chance could you please ask Greg if you could find out how we could pay our rent to get it paid well you can pay it at your local post office if that's useful for you if that's not a solution for you get back in touch with us and we'll try and find an alternative but if you nip along to your local post office you can pay it there good morning Greg I think I picked up a tip from you just now I googled a mattress and I bought the mattress locally just outside Balabuffet and the Donningall Road there a great wee company but that's where I bought it but after that you'd swear to God I was going to start my own mattress company every fourth post on social media was for mattresses mattresses mattresses now I know you can hide ad and you can click already purchased but you don't do it do you and listen it's only for a bit of fun I know some of you maybe the technology and talking about it might bore people and I'm sorry about that but it's just as I say it's just to see where we're going in the future I like us to talk about stuff here before it's talked about elsewhere because it means we're you the listeners and us were like for instance it's good to see that pierce to hearty today is talking and trying to get the message out there and it's good to see now that it's been picked up politically as it relates to changes to now doc so that's what we try and do we want to have conversations here before they happen elsewhere so anyway chat GPT it's probably much to do about nothing but we put in a few words and asked it to write a poem about highland radio okay so listen to this and give it marks out of 10 now I did it the station was highland radio I said it had loyal listeners and I said that the morning show presenter is Greg Hughes right that's all I said and then it's spat out this poem shall I read it to you for a bit of crack listen up and rate it as I say this isn't a human okay this is what it spat out at me highland radio the voice of the northwest echoes through the hills and valleys with loyal listeners who hold it dear tuning in every morning year after year the night till noon show a daily delight Greg Hughes the presenter a guiding light he brings the news the weather and more entertaining the masses an open door highland radio a constant companion through the good times and the bad it's always there a steady hand bringing the community together never apart so here's to highland radio the voice of the land may continue to prosper and expand with listeners old and new forever the heartbeat of the northwest through and through so that's what this thing produced for us after we said highland radio it's got loyal listeners and the morning show is presented by Greg Hughes what did you think of it 08 660 25000 what's absent texts or give us a call an 07 491 25000 or if you've got someone close to you maybe you want me to get it to write a poem for you to save you the bother all right let us take the bingo numbers good luck if you're playing today it's time for it's Thursday the 12th of January jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 13600 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is s9 it's game number 2 the jackpot number is 39 this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your dilly numbers 62 82 58 65 66 27 55 74 46 and finally 43 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information about the new viruses are circulating in the community keeping up to date with your recommended vaccines will make sure you have the best possible protection from serious illness and everyone aged 18 to 49 can now get a second COVID-19 booster vaccine from the HSC vaccination center or a participating GP or pharmacy see what vaccines are recommended for you on 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the British Secretary of State and it was to look at the issue of the protocol obviously to try and resolve that issue which is between the British Government and the European Commission to find those solutions and indeed most importantly to get the assembly up and running to get the executive up and running the people of the north you know are being failed you know appallingly they have serious challenges with the health service up there with the cost of living crisis and it really is time to get back to work it's appalling so there seems to be some progress made but yesterday unfortunately the British Government I think the British Secretary of State gave it away when he spoke later in the day and he talked about that he was in northern Ireland and soon he would be in Ireland as if they're two different countries and that is really offensive to the nationalist people of the north particularly when you look at the Good Friday agreements which protects both identities nationalist and unionist clearly has a role for you know the all-island dimension the north-south ministerial council so his comments and the behaviour of the Tory party yesterday was in defiance of the Good Friday agreement and an insult to the nationalist people and I mean I'm asking the wrong person really but why would they see it a good idea at this time to exclude Mary Lou MacDonald from these conversations I think it's it's Tory arrogance, Tory petulance I mean we've seen obviously the utter chaos in the Tory party last year with ending up with three prime ministers and you know I think it was three, four, five chancellors of the Exchequer you know absolute chaos and shambles and what really surprised me in recent days was they clearly haven't learnt their lessons I mean there seems to be some progress in their attitude towards the European Union the need to build relationships there the need to look at the whole trade dimension there which is good news for Ireland but in terms of learning all the lessons they clearly haven't but I think they got a wake-up call you look at the SDLP the SDLP obviously seen it for what it was refused to participate in the talks you see the response of the Irish Government last night saying that they hope this doesn't happen again so we know clearly a message has been sent from the nationalist community in Ireland the political community across the island of Ireland that that was unacceptable when they did yesterday all right and what's happening today I think you mentioned it there but what is happening today then yeah so today you have the T-shock we'll be in the north to meet the political parties and he will meet the leaders of all political parties and you will have the British Labour leader Cure Starmer who may well be the next British Prime Minister who's going to be in the north so you know there's a welcome round yesterday was very regrettable very unfortunate but we'll have to move on the next meeting the British Government have, Mary Lou McDonald will be there as the leader of Sinn Fein and rightfully so but what we need to do and far more important than all of those petulance issues from the Tory parties we really urgently have to get Assembly and Executive up and running the north it's a mortal sin Greg, we live in Donegal, we're right on the border with Derry and Turan, you know there are communities too and we see those people being failed and it is just just utterly wrong it has to be resolved and you know we need to deal with issues that impact people every day OK, we'll see how it pans out but it seems to be we're on a road to some sort of a solution it would see and that's what the music is telling us your party colleague, Pierce Doherty has issued a press release today raising concerns for the future of the out-of-hours GP service NowDoc, this is an issue we flagged on this program a number of weeks ago I think a lot of people feel the NowDoc service is not perfect it needs more resources but what they are concerned with is that CareDoc which is already heavily involved in NowDoc has a different vision for how this service might be provided here in Donegal, what's your views in it all? Yeah, I think part of the problem Alright, hopefully that line will come back to us there maybe it won't. Yeah, sorry definitely McLaughlin, we just missed you as you started I think part of the problem our phone line dropped out here so if you could just pick it up from there Yeah, thanks Greg There was an attempt a number of years ago to erode the NowDoc service in Donegal they were talking about getting away with the red eye which is the service that would run from basically throughout the night in the early hours of the morning that sort of eight hour shift I think it was from midnight to 8am and that was resisted really really strongly in Donegal and we managed to maintain the service as it was but the truth is the service isn't resourced as it could be the truth is that unfortunately in too many occasions people are waiting too long to get the help that they need and the concern is that people would be sent to the emergency department letter Kenny unnecessarily so while you know if there is going to be improvements to the service extra resources then we would welcome that but if there's going to be any loss to the service then we will resist that really really strongly as we have in the past Well a perfect example would have been say for instance last weekend whereby I would go to NowDoc to in Mount Charles could be closed as part of these plans for example and that it could be a mobile NowDoc service a GP in a car effectively and the concern is then that more people would be referred to the hospital or go to your GP when really what you need is you need antibiotics for that sick child just as soon as you can possibly get it but what we had last weekend in letter Kenny was I believe there was one doctor maybe one nurse and you had people turning up there with everything that's going on at the moment very long delays 7-8 hours one person was waiting at the very least and at the same time that doctor who's working possibly sorry I'm sure very very hard had to leave at times to go on call so what are people going to do they're sitting there with a sick child in the waiting room you get up once the doctor goes on that call and you go to the ED department because you're not going to take a child home that you're concerned for their well-being they could be running a 39-40 degree temperature that's not reacting to Kalpal for example right so what you do is you say right well there's a need there we find the resources to ensure that there are two GPs there and that provides a service for the public and it alleviates pressure on the ED and potentially then eases things for the GP coming back in his or her regular practice the next day that's the logical thing to do you enhance what's there and what seems to be working albeit flawed you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and especially when you would have a private company controlling more of this this area of health the red flags are flapping all around me here deputy yeah I mean there's no doubt that's we as I say we are impacted by our experience of the past where there was an attempt to cut the service back quite dramatically actually at that time and we won the day but we would have to say that we've never felt that the now doc service in Donegal was what what it needs to be for the reasons you've outlined you know it isn't resourced properly people are unnecessarily then end up in the emergency department with all of that and then if you look at you know recent weeks I mean we we were briefed by when I say we the TDs in Donegal the councillors on the HSE form were briefed before Christmas about the winter plan the HSE and now doc and the hospital would all be joined up in the community hospitals and you know unfortunately that plan you know didn't deliver there was a crisis at the hospital and there was a real issue with the now doc service so I mean this current review the guy spoke to senior official in the HSE before Christmas about this now doc review and I made it clear that I would expect to see an enhanced service I would expect to see a service that doesn't unnecessarily send people to the emergency department and you know my colleague what were you told in that conversation about the future of the now doc centres for example how under these proposals how the service would be delivered were you given any indication of that meeting as to what they thought was a better way to deliver the service here well what I was asked in that conversation I had over the phone was that that they would be given space to engage with the staff they told me that no staff would lose their jobs they won't be lose the jobs of course they won't lose the jobs they'll be redeployed within the health service and they don't want that the majority those I'm speaking to they want to stay doing what they're doing because they believe what's there is not perfect it needs more investment but anything that changes it they're okay they'd be moved to a different department the same wages hopefully but them being retained does not within the health service does not mean a retention of the now doc service even at its current levels so were you told what the new service may look like if not that's fine I understand that it was only a telephone conversation but were you did they discuss about the closure of the any now doc centres did they discuss how the service might be provided going into the future and how they would deal with maybe private patients versus medical card patients for example important questions you know indeed not all the senior person who spoke to me didn't get into specifics they just obviously you know the news had broke about the review they confirmed there is a review underway and it was quite vague in terms of the well for my part I made it clear that the existing service must be maintained and enhanced and I expect to see that happening and I expect to see people not going to the emergency department so that was the clear message I sent I said I would await the outcome of the review but now obviously I was also told that the changes would be implemented fairly soon into the new year so my colleague my colleague who's the chair of the HSE form in the west have also been probing one of this issue so a meeting has been requested now and we need to get the specifics that you're looking for Greg I just have a slight concern and I hope I have a slight concern and I hope it's and this is not I hope you take it with in how I intended I just hope things change going into the future in that right a staff had to whistle blow it to us for us to bring it out into the public domain in the first instance right I don't know if it fall into the the direct description of a whistleblower and then it learned and it worried me afterwards that politicians knew the conversation was happening politicians were in that this stuff should be straight out into the public domain as soon as anyone has any wind with it just to be clear Greg you broke a story that I had no idea about and that's why I got a phone call from the senior official because I had no inclination of a review of no dog until you broke that story you know as a journalist you got somebody who gave you the information I got the phone call then with vague confirmation of a review assurances that that people wouldn't lose jobs but it was very vague and I said well I'll await the outcome of the review and we'll deal with it when it happens so that's the so what your point is Valid and I am as much in the dark as you were Valid but it doesn't apply in this case and that right I respect that all right thanks very much for taking the call and also we didn't want it to be a Sinn Fein show so you picked up maybe what Pierre Starr might have spoke to us about as well so we appreciate that thanks Patrick take care of yourself all right that's Sinn Fein deputy partner with Glockland 08 660 25000 right we read our poem that the computer made for us good morning Greg I give it 10 out of 10 Mary an avid listener Mary thank you very much by the way for being a loyal listener it's very much appreciated you and everyone that listens to us every day it's never taken for granted thanks Mary for your lovely comments yes great poem says another listener that's a great poem Greg are you sure you didn't write it yourself keep up the great work I don't think I would be capable of it sadly Grania who I would think knows much more about this stuff than I says it's not it's not a poem in how a poem should be structured it's a doggerel okay Grania thank you another text it says on a completely separate issue I hate those text I hate those scooter things out walking last night there was one on the road at 8pm she the driver was in dark clothes no high vis and why did they not have to wear helmets there's legislation coming through at the moment that's going to make that space all a little bit clearer the guardies say they shouldn't be on the road demotorised ones the if that's what we're talking of they shouldn't be on the republic roads at all pending this publication of new legislation and a text who was on earlier on about people coming to the country that said no Greg what I mean is these people of passports at the start of their journeys yet when they get here they've got no documents where did the passports go I know what you're on about ripping them up on the plane I read those reports that's unacceptable it shouldn't be allowed to happen of course right okay let us take a break we'll be back with more in the moment cutting through the spin the 90 noon show on Highland Radio I hear you some wire need to fix it man the names buzz on account of my work no chance not all cowboys ride horses all safe electric registered electrical contractors must give you a certificate of completion that shows their work meets approved standards find one nearby on safeelectric.ie at centre this week we have great offers and are better than half price sale like Kellogg special case 750 gram now 285 flora pro act of lower cholesterol light spread 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right okay councillor Micheal McCullough aspect joins us on the program now good morning to you imagine why how are you keeping much in white crack it's much in white that are just like it's a maybe a radio union you were at the recent glenities council meeting and you raised the issue of council home renters having returned keys or having not returned keys what's the issue here Micheal well I spoke on the issue it was raised by our housing manager and take him from the glenities md and he was just inform us of informing all six councillors and those present that there was a number of keys returned from council houses this is an issue that I've been working on for a while as others in relation to vacant council houses but certainly there are circumstances that happens and people would hand back keys for different reasons maybe they're emigrating maybe they've built their own home or they're moving to another part of the country different reasons but I think what was different in this one case here was that these were houses that didn't even though they were voluntary the keys that were voluntary handed but it was people that the council pursued so in other words they were living in a council home sorry just to Micheal calm sorry there's a slight delay in the line it must be that new phone you got yourself the issue here is that is it what? no it's the signals dropping in and out but bear with me I'll get to the question and I want your response is this a case really of people living in no no is this a case of people living in council houses okay maybe they meet someone and they're living someone somewhere else or maybe they've chosen to live with the parents or whatever it might be and they are officially in this council house but they're not living in it I mean is this an issue that's tying up some of the housing stock and before we maybe get to a crackdown stage we're asking people if this is the case the local authorities aware of it and they would like them to hand back the keys to these properties if they're not actually using them yes it is it is you might give me a thumbs up if you hear me if there's a delay in the new phone paid by taxpayers let me add what do you call it yes it is and I think what it's me is that some of these houses have been out near B&B for a while some of these houses had been out near B&B now we're only talking about take hand in the west the glanty municipal district area I do believe that there are other circumstances and I understand if somebody's in a relationship and they're new and they're moving in with somebody else and they're a bit unsure for a number of weeks or so absolutely I fully understand that I personally others may I don't have an issue with that until they get to see if this is working but what I do have an issue with and it's an absolute disgrace and my language I think was very strong at the council meeting was that it's unacceptable on more that somebody thinks that it's okay at the time of a housing crisis yes caused by government policy to think that it's okay to live somewhere else unless rent out our council house and make money on it I mean that really is sorry that is a big deal so you're saying to me that there is actual it is actually happening that some people who have a council property are living elsewhere and that property is available in Airbnb it had been I'll take this opportunity if I can to absolutely praise the house and staff in the Glent East mumisable district area from bottom to top who are absolutely doing fantastic work and difficult work let me add at times when the public on the stand and their frustration but yet sometimes vented out on our staff very angrily and verbally and aggressively which is not acceptable in any shape or form and never can be acceptable in any form of aggression but it's difficult for them because in mind our council staff are equally a part of our community our council staff live in the very communities that they have to go and challenge maybe some of their neighbours or friends or whoever it is known to them and that is very very difficult but it cannot be accepted in any shape or form that somebody thinks that it's okay that they pay £30 a week or whatever it is more maybe depending on circumstances and then rented out for 100 plus euros a night Airbnb that is absolutely anybody and if somebody is less than known to have done this you should be very very ashamed of yourself we have people who are homeless we have families who are really struggling to get on to the property market through houses through council houses and I said this somewhere this yesterday that it's really really important it was when I was talking about the 29 houses in the door it's really important those that are 18 years of age now and older who are not on the housing market or on the housing list of the council please get on the housing list there are hundreds of people out there who do not think there's any point being on the housing list because they think it's too long wait there are people who are immigrating because they know they can never build a home rent a home or buy a home it's a disgrace what is happening in this country and a shame and a disgrace for the council okay a caller says this is nothing new they knew it's been going on for years I mean listen I think people would be aware that it's happening I think because we're in a housing crisis and some people are having to leave as the council has no choice but to leave their own country because well now we're putting maybe an extra focus on it when there's an abundance of housing maybe or not even an abundance but certainly enough housing to match need focus as much on some of the things we're talking about now but we are in but what people are doing is robbing a prospect of a home from a neighbour or a friend or a relation and I think in this day and age particularly that's why there's a new focus on it stay with us because we also were talking on this programme about another issue a really important issue in fact and this was about concerns that between Tusla and Froyga or Froyga and Tusla that a very important service the Russes NYP to be lost because of a new way of approaching it I don't have the press releases to hand at the moment Froyga were saying they were making changes because Tusla asked them to Tusla were saying well we never asked Froyga to do this and we gave people a platform here on this programme to give them opportunity early on in the process to express their views about what could happen what the impact of that might be so there's been a meeting recently a public meeting which was promised last night with Tusla and Froyga I'm going to bring in Margaret Rose in a moment who's obviously was very vocal on this from the beginning I just want your assessment of this meeting me hold column as you were at it as well yeah I called this meeting before Christmas and Margaret Rose will outline a lot of it because myself and Margaret Rose and Alana and also Martin from Tusla had been working very closely in relation to this trying to get the meeting organised and I chaired the meeting last night and I have to say I have to say that I was so encouraged last night not because of the turnout itself but also by the fact there was so many young ones at it and I don't say that in any patronising manner at all but it was really heartened by the fact that our youth, those that are service users, those that are enjoying it for for those I forget the word but anyway that they were there last night and quite a high number service users and those impacted by it last night myself and Alana shared the top table yeah and there was a good attendance there from senior management of Tusla there was Gerry and there was Maria and there was Martin who most people that in the community sector would know and a very capable and very committed person to the youth services and then there was Claire who as our youth officer for FROG in the area and then Susan and another Claire from the north west so it was well attended by senior management how community when we organise achieve a lot and there was a lot of hard questions put last night there was a lot of positive responses last night I believe there was there was a case where there was decisions made and then decisions changed because of public pressure as one parent said last night says I'm glad the service is staying I'm not here for a blame game and left and it was very positive about it I'm very happy that the services were staying and but at the same time there was a challenge to FROG in terms of two different statements Highland radio was mentioned and I'm very thanked last night for helping us a part of the campaign as you do but yeah there has we're hoping that out of this and I don't want to talk about the whole meeting because Margaret is going to say some of the issues concerned as well raised and but yes I'm seeing it as positive we do need more one of the things that we'll talk about later as our hopes and aspirations come forward right stay there because Margaret is Margaret is with us and I appreciate that you don't want to encroach on on some of the stuff Margaret we talked about Margaret rose good morning to you good morning Greg I am good right so can we in a brief it briefly outline when we first started talking about this the concern about what was to be lost and the impact that might have if you can wrap that up for us in a couple of sentences Margaret Rose yeah okay so for the NYP was based here in Dunlowe and it was a community based project for children from the ages of 10 to 18 so any child could attend whatever their abilities so the only reason I know was one of my own children attended the service and I felt that it's such a positive impact on him that when I heard the service was finishing here in December the service we had was finishing here in December I was very annoyed to say the best the new service would have been a referral based service and so in my opinion it would be focused on children inabilities rather than their abilities and we would have also lost then Margaret Rose wouldn't we the fact that this can be I think the preemptive do you know what I mean that it would it could be a service that a child could go to in advance maybe of issues preventative yeah that's the word yeah and it also meant that like you say a lot of children using the service they wouldn't fall into the referral criteria for one to the better word and we had no communication from Freudia on the matter and I just happened to see the decision on Facebook so I knew as a community we had to do something so to cut a long story short parents and volunteers along with Neil Cullum came together and got to work on it and we were in contact with Freudia Managing and Tushla as Neil said and Tushla the reason we were in contact with them is because they are the primary funders of the Freudia NYP so as Neil said the meeting was secured for last night in Dundlow and so although we're still awaiting statements from both Freudia and Tushla this morning we believe it was a positive meeting so going forward we in the Rosses area get to keep our service based here in Dundlow the project will remain open to all young people in the Rosses community now from the ages of 18 to 21 our youth worker Claire will now also cover letter Michael Ward in on an outreach basis but the youth population in these areas their identified as quite small numbers but it is an extra that it works for our youth worker like regarding the new ages we're aware even at the early stage like that 8 to 10 year olds they can't be grouped in with those 11 to 18 sorry as like the maturity, the social ability and the focus dynamics it just wouldn't fit and the same old youth workers those from 8 to 18 18 year olds will they still though have a similar similar service to access that's great so what we wanted what we were hoping was that rather than this being diluted and spread across a wider catchment area this is something that clearly was working we were inundated by people and we also had one lady who is a foster parent and had I think 12 to 18 children that went through this so we knew this worked replicate it, get more staff get more money and apply this in the Creaselut area or the other areas that were being suggested don't dilute what's working and try and cast it thin so hopefully that's what's going to happen going forward Margaret Rose then yeah I mean still even what the extra age groups so instead of 10 to 18 now it's 21 this is still a huge workload for one youth worker and her volunteers so going forward we need to make sure that the youth in our catchment area are receiving adequate service that we've had and if not we need to feed back and in fairness to Tushla and Freudia they have agreed a meeting a review meeting on this in November and we're extremely satisfied with that like you know please God going forward today we'll have that in writing and Tushla I have to say have also agreed that they need to try harder to communicate better what's Freudia we do feel that they have listened to us we genuinely do feel that but I just hope it's a lesson there a lot of them could have been prevented we had to bang pots and pans and scream from the top of Aragul to be heard that's the problem you see because this was a decision that seemed to have already been taken and this is why we have to organize, get together right be it this issue be it the now dock issue be it the defective concrete issue whatever it might be if we organize it doesn't matter what party you're from or if you're from none let's get politics out of it this is the type of thing that can be achieved so fair play to you Margaret Rose, Micheal Cullum just come back in there please just very quickly and I'd like to thank Margaret Rose and Alana and Cacklin Cook and everybody else who participated in achieving this I can't name everybody and everybody worked hard on this and thanks for Freud and Tushla for meeting us and rightly so just a number of very quick points I think one of the things that stood out for me last night was when Ann says that the lack of communication between the service providers, children and the parents carers or guardians has to be addressed that actually moved me about not that I'm an authority in Newt Fork but I have worked in family support with the HSE and Newt Services both in the Newt Holland and Dublin and one of the keys is communication absolutely even in my own job as councillor I believe very strongly in communication but one of the positive things that came out of last night that I suggested last night and myself and Margaret Rose and Alana had spoke about this and Tushla was that what are our needs not just that we need services in our community we need far more we've come to a place in the west of County that we now accept the fact that if we need something we must travel an hour plus and that's not even mentioning our more which has to get ferries or Tory island but we now believe that we need to travel that's not acceptable. 2023 is not acceptable so what we've decided last night was that we would put a community community together without politicians and that was my own suggestion because we don't and we can't allow politics to be played here so a community group would be put together and that we would look to identify the needs and then identify the family resource centre I have to break for the news but when that committee is formed when that committee is formed you know I'd love to speak to them and let's talk out in public as well what these needs are and we can support them in their work well done to you Margaret Rose and all of those who didn't let this happen and we just hope now that we get it in writing and we do have a positive outcome so well done to you Margaret Rose. Thank you very much and thanks for having video for all your health and letting us voice our concerns on the matter last year. That is what we're here for have a lovely day. Thank you bye bye. Visit Century Complex for a perfect family day out kids will love exploring sensory play we have lots of tasty options available at backstage bar and grill we're showing kids movies, comedies action and adventures, dramas and more get in touch in 0749121976 or visit Century Cinemas.ie for more information The TUI Live Happy sale is here with savings of up to 250 euro per booking free child places even in the school summer holidays plus low booking deposits from 50 euro per person with holidays to suit all budgets relax and get booking TUI Live Happy offer teasing season apply House to Home Interiors, Bridge End, Donegal massive January sale, now on open recliner suites starting from an incredible 1-2-9-9 or get a McQuaid Irish made suite at a great price call in and see our new floor and section carpets, wooden floors, dining and slide rooms House to Home Interiors, Bridge End, Donegal massive January sale, now on at Cherrymore kitchens and bedrooms we are now operating out of one new state of the art showroom in Donegal town and we invite you to visit our new 5,000 square foot Donegal town showroom to discover the latest eye catching designs. Remember at Cherrymore you're dealing directly with a manufacturer which means high quality kitchens at factory prices start planning your dream kitchen or bedroom by calling Cherrymore on 074 97258822 Cherrymore 25 years delivering value quality and service all over Ireland Connect Hearing is open for free hearing tests our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter clinic clinic in the courtyard shopping centre we also offer a home visit for those unable to visit us our hearing is our social sense are you finding hearing more of a challenge call Ursula today on 074 91 13296 to make an appointment Good Hearing helps us to connect to our family friends and loved ones there's no better time to switch to 48 get all data calls and texts for 1299 a month and there's no contract so you're not tied down plus we're powered by 3 switch and save at 48.ie monthly membership, fair usage policy of 200 gigabytes, 5,000 calls and texts and terms and conditions apply one-time activation fee of 1299 c48.ie the massive January sale at Shapa Waianae at Ghidor is now on everything in store is reduced pick up a bargain today at Shapa Waianae at Ghidor today is the 9 till noon show some live music coming up for you in a moment but let's take a break now for the news at 11 o'clock and say good morning to Donald Kavanaugh good morning Donald thank you Greg good morning Donny Gould today Pierce Doherty is seeking a meeting with the HSC to discuss the future of its out of ours GP service at present the service is managed and delivered by the HSC's now doc service as part of a hybrid model with care doc providing GPs for the delivery of care it's understood the talks currently underway may see care doc take over the service completely with questions about whether the call center will be transferred from letter Kenny to Carlo and what the status of the four now doc centers in Donny Gall, in letter Kenny Carl Donny Ghidor and Montcharlis will be. Devil Pierce Doherty says the HSC must meet with public representatives to ensure that the interests of the people are at the heart of the ongoing discussions. The T-shirt and tonic are in Northern Ireland today in a bid to resolve the row over the Northern Ireland protocol and restore the storm and executive Lee of Radker will meet with party leaders including Sinn Féin's Mary Lou MacDonald, Micheal Martin is meeting with the Northern Secretary Chris Heaton Harris. Yesterday Mary Lou MacDonald was excluded from talks with the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and other ministers Sinn Féin and the SDLP ended up boycotting those discussions in protest. Junior Minister Damien English has resigned in a statement he says he informed the T-shirt last night of his decision to step down as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment it follows reports that he failed to declare details of a 2008 planning application relating to a property in County Mead before taking on the transport portfolio. Minister English was a regular visitor to Donny Gall when he was working in the Department of Housing he was heavily involved in putting together the first Micah Madras scheme. At Donny Gall GP says it's acceptable that over 2200 Irish children with disabilities have been waiting a long time for needs assessments such assessments are supposed to be finished within six months to allow children to get care for autism and other issues Dr Keir Nofari says the delays mean people are not getting the care that they need. And Police in Derry City and Straban carried out 40 drug seizures and 25 related arrests during the Christmas period. Police conducted more than 600 patrols across the district and answered more than 1,700 call-outs in the period from November 17th to January 2nd. And that's Highland Radio News. We're back with Use Headlines again at 12 noon. All right, very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here on Highland Radio and the population of the studio has grown really quite well. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to the Highland Radio and we hope you're having a great time. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. When I voice and cair who makes the most noise all together he's back there on on on so we'll put you outside the next time but it's good to it's good to have his back right how long have you's been playing as a collective, I recognize a few of your faces not all of you've been in here before. I haven't been here before you haven't, I know you someone was different. Okay, so how long have you's been playing essentially I wrote the song and we were getting it recorded so I just needed some help from the guys and caters my wee brother so that's his band yeah I'm the older one and yeah so we just came together to write the song all right so it was the aphades it was you guys it's a collaboration user I was really struck how about how good use work because you see a lot of stuff and a lot of stuff is brilliant don't get me wrong but then the stuff that's you know this levels and everything in life right so Kieran what's this song about why did you write it and right well I wrote the song during the pandemic and I was kind of at a high period of anxiety in myself because of you know different pressures and I thought like let me write a song about it use my creative outlet as a young person for good and I reflected on what gives me anxiety what gives my friends anxiety and then I touched on them issues in the song and kind of I'm trying to create that sort of overwhelming feeling that you get from anxiety everything's on top of you yeah everything's on top of you and everything's just coming at you and then there's twists and turns and you've thoughts in your head that you can't control so yeah we just tried to put that into the song and it kind of represents how people maybe sometimes don't deal with their anxiety very well and now with the Donegal You've service with Connecting for Life we're just trying to show people and promote that these are things that you can do and for some people it puts a name on it Kieran do you know what I mean yeah you know I mean you're obviously aware and you're able to say right this is how I feel this is what's making me feel and that's what it's called there's an awful lot of people out there that maybe can't identify they think was this just me is there something wrong with me am I on my own no one else feels like this why is it on and it's not and I think once you connect I think once you understand that many people can feel the same everyone feels it like it's helps to some extent did you find the process of writing this song helped you with your anxiety 100% yeah I think like it always helps me just put my feelings in the song and I think a creative outlet is a really great way to kind of help with your rationalize your thoughts maybe you know alright so I mean there's one thing to write a song and then there's another thing to sort of get a few friends together why did you decide then to go down the route of trying to record it and to get it out there I mean it's obviously it's a natural progression yeah well we got a lot of people who does that yeah yeah we got asked by Connecting for Life and Donegal You've service would be record the song and help it to promote mental health especially at this time of the year you know January time just after Christmas it's not an easy time for young people especially and people can feel lost with so many different issues so and what's it called it's called anxiety and are we gonna hear it now yes let's go okay this is quite impressive because everyone's just turned up and plugged everything in so we'll see how it all goes yeah we're open it's open it's Kieran obviously lead vocals Grace is doing some backing vocals and the crew you'll hear from them right take it away whenever you are ready guys it's really good I could you can play that anywhere I think it is yeah well it's on Spotify and Apple music and everything so you see this is the kind of stuff radio stations need to be playing yeah I love Spotify don't come wrong it's fantastic yeah all the streaming services available but that is that's worthy of any playlist I think and I know radio station it's available now on Spotify is this the only track you have worked together on yeah it's well we've done we've done bits and bobs like practicing but like what else have you practiced oh it's under wraps at the moment top secret stage in guys right well Kieran clear off F8s it's all yours now love brilliant well done that's fantastic and what are you gonna do with that next obviously things like this plug it right yeah yeah let people know it's out there do you just make a video for yeah well there's a video in the works at the moment so it should be out in the next few weeks and we have a competition find brilliant new Irish music on this radio station at the moment it would be a sin if he didn't enter it hundred percent in my opinion because it's really really good okay fantastic I can't wait to hear what else he's come out with is this gonna work now beyond this project yeah well I mean I suppose I'll be releasing my own music now in the future and then the fades of their own music this has got split up due to artist differences over it this isn't it I'm a hard person to work with we'll just enjoy it while we have it exactly I want to go my own way he's holding me back all right Frankie wants to come in now and bathe in the light of your talent yeah Frankie McGree if you have a question about your generation project manager Franky what about that that's one second that something else wasn't absolutely incredible well done guys unbelievable cameras in your way just shifted out of the way for production purposes or anything like that now just move it camera we've seen the camera generation works with the HSC tell us about that project and how of this kind of ties into that as well. Yeah, well, the Connecting for Life project is something we've been working with, with the Donegal Youth Service, our generation project in partnership with the HSE. So the Connecting for Life is an HSE organization. So we've been rolling out ASSIST, which is Two Days Suicide Awareness Talks, and SAFE Talk, which is a half-day intervention with key contacts and professionals who work with young people, and just so that they can have better conversations around exactly what these guys are talking about, around anxiety, around depression, and before, and earlier, before it becomes something that's more acute that needs serious attention. Can I ask you, as young people, if you ever want to shout out, we're even Keir and Jocelyn and the mic there, like, do you know when we talk about this, and when I say I'm on about the people that make decisions aren't 18 or 19 or 17 or 16, they're old men, like me, mostly, right? But, you know, what you used to do in this amazing, in raising awareness and speaking to young people, but do you feel that you used to be, do you get a sense that you used to be listened to by people within the HSE? And this is not a chrism of Frankie, and I know Frankie works closely with us, and maybe I could ask him the same question. Do you feel you and these people are being listened to? But do you know what I mean? Do you feel that there is, if you need help with the support there, or that people actually truly understand, you know, the anxiety that a lot of young people are feeling now? Yeah, I do think that as long as you know who to go to and where to go and what to talk about it, like, I mean, the services are here, I suppose that's why we're on the radio today talking about it. It's to raise awareness for this, because some people might feel that they're heard, but I do think, personally, and I think these guys maybe would agree that we do have the support as young people, and even given this opportunity to make this song and use our creative platform to help other young people and maybe connect with them in a way that through music is a way that people can relate, especially as young people. And Frankie, that was the answer I expected, but it's nice to hear it from. Young people are on the menu talking about what young people are feeling. I'm much younger than you are, obviously, but you know what I mean, I'm still a little bit... Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Alright, come in, just stay in a bit. Right, so what else do you think, do you want to add, Frankie, just... Well, you know, just to mention the referral pathway document that we've been working with, with Connecting for Life and with Sipsy, the Children and Young People Services Committee. So that's just the serious piece where if parents are out there and young people are out there listening and they feel that they need some support, have a look at the Sipsy website, CYPSC, and the Connecting for Life website, and then don't go to your service website and you'll see referral pathways that you can get access to help right away. Youth work is like a step below that kind of clinical intervention, and what we're doing here mainly is providing platforms for self-expression for these guys, and that's all we do. And, Frankie, I know you love your music, but that's a particularly good track, isn't it? Because sometimes, and this is not in any way a criticism, this is not to de-elevate anyone else, but sometimes tracks that are attached to an issue, you know what I mean? You wonder, yeah. They don't necessarily have the same authenticity as that, but even removing the issue, that's just a very good track. Well, that makes sense. It's about being genuine, right? I mean, we can all... When you're given a theme to sing about, there's something inauthentic about that, but you can tell with Kieran, that's something that came to him. Just wanted to scream and shout. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'm not one of those people that get deep into things, right, in terms of music, because I don't know enough about it, but there's a controlled desperation in parts of that song as well, which talks to anxiety, thinking what goes on in your head. It's not contrived. I think it's really actually quite clever. That's fantastic. Is that what you were trying to do? Yeah, 100% in the recording as well. We were laughing in the background at the very end, and it's kind of... It makes you a little bit uncomfortable listening to it, but it's just meant to sort of emulate them feelings and thoughts. That's it, and I think even in the live version, it really comes across, but at the same time, it is still singing, and it's still harmony, but it's still a bit of desperation, not desperation, anyway. Yeah, well, that's... The voices in your head... Yeah, 100%. Sometimes the song comes to you, you know? Yeah. It comes to you rather than you write the song. Isn't that a bit of a bit of music after all? I don't know. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. All right, listen. Kierzo and the aphades. Looking forward to seeing that video as well. And the song's available now on Spotify iTunes. Yeah, iTunes, Apple Music, anywhere you want. So go in and have a listen to it. Brilliant stuff. Enjoyed that well done. Brilliant stage to listen. Hello to my nephews, Kierzo and Cajar Doyle, and Auntie Sarah in Saville. Or Saville? Saville, yeah. Saville in foreign? It's been. It's been. Why weren't you watching? It's on YouTube. OK, so just in case you guys would feel a bit grown up, your auntie's just sorted that out. Thanks. Thanks, Auntie Sarah. Appreciate it. All right, listen. Thank you so much. Brilliant stuff. Thanks for having me. We'll be, if you stick together, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you in the future. And sure why not. Just very finely, because the key message, Frankie, is if this resonates, this conversation resonates, what do you advise people to do? Who do they contact? How do they get that signposting that we've sort of been referencing there? Well, Donegal Youth Service right off the bat, 0749129630. And you just ask for any of the youth workers there or any kind of, can I speak to someone? And the Connecting for Life, I don't have a number for that, but you can get it online. It's the HSE Suicide Prevention Service. And then there's the Children's Young People Services Committee. Website Sipsy. And on that, parents will be signposted to all the various services across Donegal. All right, Kieran, thank you. Grace, well done again to you. That's Grace Murphy, of course. Carl Warner, great stuff on the guitar there. Grace Nugenton, base thanks. Grace, good to have you back in. And Cajar Doyle, at the back there on Drums. Cajar, thank you so much. All right, brilliant stuff. Thanks for having us, Greg. You agree? You're back after these. Do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled? Have you tried various ways to find new staff but didn't succeed? Let Highland Radio help you source and fill your current vacancies in the most cost-effective way. Simply sign up to our new job spot and we will tell our listeners about your vacancies, both on-air and online. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during our primetime shows, we will broadcast the latest job opportunities across the Northwest and into County's Derry and Tarone. The opportunities will be available online at highlandradio.com. For more information, contact the advertising team on 07491 253 22 or email advertising at highlandradio.com. Highland Radio, we are here for you. Last chance to enter the Donegal Silage Competition with Homeland and New Andreas Animal Feeds. Entries are closing soon, so hurry. Entry is free and includes five categories. Dairy, beef, sheep, round bale and new entrant. Second prize at 200 Euro voucher in each category. For full details, visit homeland.ie. Closing date, January 20th. At Centra this week, we have great offers and are better than half-price sale. Like Kellogg's Special Case, 750 gram now, 285. Flora Pro Active Lower Cholesterol Light Spread 250 gram, now 199. Plus Centra Extra Lean Steak Mints, 330 gram only, 250. Smart choices, choose Centra. Centra, live every day. German Anguidor will contest the Donegal Under 21a Football Final this Saturday. Join us online at highlandradio.com for full match commentary from the O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny through on time 1 p.m. Highland's coverage of the Donegal Under 21 football final is in association with O'Donnell Fuels Crawley and Illestrin. Warm up for the match at O'DonnellFuels.ie. At Hickey Clark and Langan Insurance Brokers, they compare quotes from all the leading insurers, so you get a great price. Home, motor and van. Farm, quality home, travel and liability insurance, they quote them all. So if the worst happens, you're covered. For a competitive insurance quote today called Hickey Clark and Langan on 911 2688 or pop into their office at Bally McCool Letterkenny. Hickey Clark and Langan General Insurance is limited. Trading as Hickey Clark and Langan is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. There's never been a better time to go full-ledal. Let's hear it from our customers. I'd say you don't know what you're missing until you do it and you really will see the choice, the selection, the value for money. You know, you don't know until you try, so priority get down to little and get your shop done. Go on. Go full-ledal today. Is your car or van winter ready? Get your free winter check now at Hickordies Ford in Letterkenny. It includes checking your lights, wipers and coolant. Also, the most common cause of winter breakdowns, your battery. What you depend on most to keep you safe on the road, your tires, where the thread depth should be at least 1.6 millimeters. Hickordies will check all these and more to keep you motoring safely through the winter and beyond. Get winter ready by contacting Hickordies Ford in Letterkenny today. At Ulster Bank, our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts, along with some of our branches. At this time, if your notice period and your deadline has passed, your bank account is now queued for closure. All personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching. You must take urgent action. If you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support, please contact us immediately. Visit ulsterbank.ie, your local branch, or call 0818 210 260. Call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free. Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Discover your dream Donegal wedding by choosing Jackson's or Villa Rose Hotel for your wedding day, excluding elegance, quality and wealth of experience in executing the perfect wedding reception. Jackson's or Villa Rose is the venue for you. Come along to Jackson's Hotel and the Villa Rose Hotel on Sunday, January 22nd and view their complete wedding offering as they present their biggest wedding venue showcase of the year. To find out more, visit gallingroup.com. Are you a leave and search student that is looking at your options for 2023? Or are you interested in upskilling and progressing in your career with a postgraduate degree or springboard funded course? Come along to Aid Hew Donegal's Open Evening on Wednesday, 18th of January from 47 p.m. in our Latter-Kinney campus. Talk to us about our part-time, flexible postgraduate programmes and find out all you need to know about eligibility and funding available through springboard. And there more about our 20 brand new CAO programmes that will be available this year. Aid Hew Donegal's Open Evening, Wednesday, 18th of January from 4 to 7 p.m. See you there! OK, thank you so much for staying with us. We're well into the last hour of the show here now. That song was lovely says a listener. The young man sounded like George Ezra brightened my morning. That's good. Actually, with respect to Mr Ezra, I prefer his vocals there. Delighted to hear the councillor raising this issue. I waited on a council house for 12 years and was delighted with our home. But one of my neighbours didn't like living in the place and basically pulled the curtains and left the house empty for years. She paid the rent but never stayed there. It's such a crying shame and a waste. Another, how can I report someone who's renting their council house while living in the north? Where are you? The asks was at the meeting on wind farms. He's not here. So I can't ask me. Is there not a council policy that any house which has been rented cannot be left vacant for more than six weeks at a time without notifying the council? I'm sure there is, but the problem is is that there are rules and regs there. But the whole conversation really was about people not respecting them. The effect of the killing of Ashlyn Murphy in Irish society has lasted, says the head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. I think that's the primary of the death of the, in fact, it is today, isn't it? Today marks the first anniversary of the death of the primary school teacher in County Offlea, which shocked the country. The Justice Minister said tackling gender-based violence is a priority for the government. And I'm interested to speak to Dr. Marie Haynesworth, manager of the Donegal Domestic Violence Services on this. Dr. Marie, my emotions are somewhat mixed on this in that it's still happening. It's still happening. And it happens. And of course, there was, and rightly so, a massive reaction to the awful killing of Ashlyn Murphy. But then, subsequently, there's been other women that have been killed. And the spotlight's not shunned quite as bright. So, whilst the, while some people believe that maybe we have moved forward in this issue, for me, it feels like we're treading water to some extent. Marie, I don't know what your views are, but I'm very interested in them. Yeah, morning, Greg. And thanks for looking at the issue. Yeah, I mean, it's never going to be fixed overnight. That is, that's definitely one thing. And I do agree with that. And we've always, you know, Ireland currently has, I think, it's one woman murdered through domestic circumstances. And Ashlyn's case was slightly different in that it wasn't a domestic case in that sense. But the reality is, you know, when we're looking at safety, the government did step in, but it's full of this. It does react to stuff, and it makes a lot of promises. And it likes, you know, it's kind of like it likes a shiny cover of a book, but it doesn't necessarily fill that book with anything. And that's where we're at at the moment. We've been made a lot of promises about increase coming to the sector, restructuring the organisation. The DSGBV unit, which looks at these issues, is currently on the two floor. This has been moved into justice. But the reality is that it hasn't moved into justice yet. And it's been downsized within Tisla. There's been no additional resources. A staff of staff has not been replaced. So actually, at this moment in time, the resources and kind of oversight of this work is actually less now than it was a year ago. And I know it's in an interim place and I know it's in a process of transition, but it's at a very difficult place. And it could quite easily fall off the radar when we've got all the other issues that government's focusing on, you know, it's looking at hospitals, it's looking at the housing crisis. And it is at a point where we really do need to make sure this doesn't drop off politicians' agendas. And to some extent, those issues you mentioned are also, there's a crossover. There's an interlinking there as well. You see, I just, and I do express my frustration about the press sometimes, because and this is, I'm not attributing asking you to comment on this at all, Mary, but for some time, for me, the media is just feeling more and more like a not of the government in that the justice minister says tackling gender violence is a violence is a priority for the government. She says things are going to change, but we need to see how, when targets are those targets being met, if not, why? You know, it's not, we don't need ministers for observation. What we need is action that actually improves things. And as if you've outlined, there's a strong argument to say that things have actually dis-improved. And I think it's really important whether they want a job in future with the government or not, that these journalists begin to start probing politicians and getting exact answers that they can be held to record on. Yeah, another way they can do that is to do that investigative journalism piece where they actually talk to the services on the ground, because it's no good yes, the government can make promises and, you know, if you went to offices now and spoke to them, they said, this is what's in place, this is what we've allocated so much money, like so much money has been allocated and that was announced at the beginning of December and we all had to put in applications and look for it. And we were told by mid-December that we would be told whether we've got that funding. But this is a month later, we still haven't been told. We still don't know what our annual budget is for this year. We still haven't signed any service level agreement or anything, because nobody knows what the figures are. But we do need the media to follow up with services and make sure that the other side of that story is being validated. You know, if this is what government's saying, where is that happening on the ground? You know, can you talk to services that can prove that? And that's the piece I think that's missing with media. Yeah, and whilst we talk about the awful deaths of women one a month, as you mentioned, and as you rightly pointed out, the death was not necessarily it wasn't a domestic violence incident. This domestic violence is happening all the time and there are in cases where it leads up to that. So it's to, of course, eliminate as much as we possibly can instances of domestic violence give people a pathway out of it make sure that people are responsible for it, are held to account, are heavily punished, so there's a deterrent there. You know, we need to sort of deal with everything that eventually very sadly leaves to the loss of a life. It is. And you know, one of the other areas that we need to put in support for perpetrators, you know, and there are perpetrator programs in the country, but there are non-Indonesian all in the north west and we've been lobbying, well, Sligo would be the nearest one. We've been lobbying for that for a number of years now and justice has always come back to a thing, well, we're doing a review of the program, you know, when we've completed the review we'll get back to you. Now, that review has been undertaken now for I would say three or four years, it's still being undertaken. So there's still nobody willing to make a decision about whether Donny Gold deserves to have a perpetrator program, even though our probation services up here could fill that program, you know, overnight with the number of clients they have. So, you know, we have the infrastructure, we we've raised the issue nationally and for three or four years now we're just being fobbed off. So, you know, there isn't that kind of willingness to follow through completely, like government likes reports and it likes kind of conducting surveys doesn't like following through and actually implementing any action afterwards and this is the bit I'm a bit worried about, you know, lots of promises but not a lot following through at this moment in time. So, just to recap then to finish on Dr Marie in terms of Donny Gold domestic violence services, we are halfway through the first month of this year, just outline where you're at in terms of resources, what information you have about resources will be available what's been promised to you for 2023 or when you might hear of what will be available to you in 2023. So, you can give us sort of an idea of where we're at from a Donny Gold domestic violence services perspective. Well, from our core funding point of view, we are assuming we will get the same funding we got last year. So, you know, our core services are not affected but we have a proposal in which is to expand our accommodation and to work, you know, using more innovative ways of getting accommodation because like it's the key thing about ensuring people's safety is that they have somewhere to move on to and with a housing crisis that isn't necessarily available. So, but we don't know we were told before Christmas whether we'd got that funding. We've also got an allocation in there looking for someone specifically to work as a housing officer. You know, we would like to know that we can go ahead and recruit for that. But they're the things that are kind of stalled now. You know, these are key aspects of the work that we're going to do. So, you know, we don't know where we're going to get that funding. We don't know where we're going to get that funding because the numbers are not going down like numbers have not gone down since COVID started. So it's not like there's the law here or we can just continue as we are. Like we're just going to meet this challenge more and more. Dr. Marie Haynesworth is always thank you so much. Indeed, Dr. Marie's manager of the Donny Gold domestic violence services await 60, 25,000 for these trials to happen. Well, there's a couple of things, the reason why I would say one of them is the fact that to investigate any crime, especially where there's a loss of life, Guardi and investigators have to exhaust every possibility you have to imagine. Say, for instance, let's talk about any particular case just on the most basic level. You know, you will have a defense lawyer or team of lawyers, for example, that their mission is to protect the liberty of their client. So they will try and find any flaws, any loopholes, any gaps in any investigation. So you can imagine then that the Guardi have to take the time that's required to ensure that any gaps are there that are plugged, that any evidence that is there that is gathered, it's backed up, that the of experts that can back that up, you know, when you start thinking on it a little bit like that, you can see how the how the wheels can turn quite slowly. You could also have someone who might make a defense of them not being they're having poor mental health, for example, that could delay things even more so because different experts would have to be brought in and all. So, I mean, I can see how these things take time. As I say, some of those examples I gave are not relating to that case at all. It's just to give some examples. I had numerous instances of where I received adverts related to simple conversations with others. The alternator in my car packed it and before I could take it to a mechanic, I was getting ads for car spare parts. More recently, a passing bird dropped a bomb on my son's head. We jokingly remarked that he should do the lottery. That evening he got several ads promoting the national lottery. The number of times this happens puts it outside the scope of coincidence. All right, okay. That is on a more light hearted note. Let's stay with that for a moment. Hi, Greg. You're 100% correct regarding the phone listening or analyzing calls. I also had a conversation with someone about something I had never googled or talked about before. And within a few hours I had ads on Facebook regarding exactly what I was talking about. All I kept thinking was how did that happen? Now for people who believe it happens, they can't be convinced otherwise. For other people, particularly I think those, maybe that work in technology and believe it's not happening, they think we're crazy. The Balabuffet Potholes a text in about yesterday were filled in the afternoon. This time a roller was used. It'll be interesting to see how long fillings last. Pothole repair is not rocket science. Well done to the council and the council workers for getting on that as quickly as they did. And let's hope the use of the roller the use of the roller is helpful there. It was explained last night because of the change in the Irish Prime Minister since Christmas last year, he had been inappropriate to meet Mary Lou McDonald of the opposition party before they had got to meet Leo, so not a snob that comes in from Derrick. Our government is going to British company come here to buy up acres of land for planting trees. Yeah, indeed we discussed that with Minister Charlie McConnell, although I didn't really get it on the record from him and and you know, sometimes you try and ask questions, right? And sometimes the non answers the answer in and of itself but if you don't ask the questions, you don't get the answer. So I'm going to go back to that. I'm going to go back to that. I'm going to go back to those two companies coming in. He says well, we'll discuss this with culture. Hello. I've contacted the ESB several times to get lights fixed on the main dairy to Bunkrana Road at far and outside the red door bar and restaurant. Very dark stretch of busy road and three streetlights arrived for over 15 months. See attached on the D C C website. The two of these are noted. Do you have any questions? Greg, what are your thoughts on several crossings in Balabuffa? It's a disaster waiting to happen with the dark weather. Why have enough traffic light when we have enough traffic like crossings? Well, there's no lights on them. That's the problem. I said on the day they were installed. I had a problem with them, especially on dark wet nights as you're approaching them and someone steps out and they happen to be in the black section. There's no lights on them. This was supposed to be some problem at all. I said from the beginning that I thought they presented an unnecessary danger there. I'm tired saying your phone is like big brother listening to everything you say. It freaks me out at times, says another caller there. Raymond says I could not have written a poem anywhere as good as chat GPT. Can we now possibly get chat GPT to take over the running of the Dublin government since chat GPT is more intelligent and creative than any other humans in government? Think of the billions of millions of people in the world in the world. I'm gone before the government's gone. It's only a matter of time if it's not already happening that a I will be doing links on radio in between music. Hi, Greg, just wondering what has happened to the 10 30 song. Well, what do you think we can break? Did you type that Caroline? We can bring it back if you want. Um, no problem. Let us know. Maybe you prefer to keep the flow of the show going. You know, if you like that little interlude at 10 30, we're democracy here. You know, if even mosque and run polls, we can run polls, too. Do you want the 10 30 track back? I wait 60 60 25 thousand or you're happy with the way things are right now. Well done, Margaret Rose and me whole column. We appreciate all the hard work that has gone into saving our service as we know it was never the intention to close the service, but restructure which we're listening to our voice. Mm hmm. Yeah, as long as it wasn't a case that they had to be dragged to the table on that issue. Right. Let us take a break back in a moment. Your next move matters. So why not move better? Start your move to permanent TSB today. Apply in app for our award winning current account. So don't just move bank. Move better. Apply in app today. Thank you for over 18 personal customers. Qualifying criteria, fees and charges, terms and conditions apply awarded bonkers dot IE best current account 2022 permanent TSB PLC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Minister, does you turn on suckler payments for more in your farmers journal? His Paul Mooney, there will be no compensation for getting out of sucklers, but dairy exit scheme on the table. Furious wheelchair buys over 1000 acres as part of controversial Gresham House Act. Nackaree's threatened strike action and payment row. We analyze how the new cap impacts on entitlements and land leasing. Plus don't miss our top tax saving tips for your farm and family only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal. You cannot afford to miss it. 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. 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Okay, let's have a look at the weather forecast for you as you know, there's a yellow moderate rain warning, but let's actually just see what the weather forecast itself says this time. Westley winds will be very strong and gusty today. There'll be a mix of sunny spells and showers frequent and with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and hail afternoon temperatures of seven or eight degrees. Okay, right. Schneid joins us on the program now. Good morning, Schneid. Morning, Greg. Right, okay. I mean, presumably, obviously, you're familiar with this phrase. Single on vetted males. Normally the way I hear it is a single on vetted males of fighting age. That seems to be a sentence that's used quite regularly. You're calling it out. Are you or what's your view? Well, all I'm saying is I would like to know where people are getting this information. So I are getting it on a post on Facebook that these men are single men. Or are they actually getting the information directly from a reliable source? From what I mean, I can only go by what I've been from speaking to asylum seekers themselves. What they will tell me is that a lot of these men, they're not actually single men. They are actually fathers and husbands. It costs an awful lot of money for them to try and even make the journey to try and get asylum. So what normally happens is that the husband or the father is chosen from that family as A, being the person most likely to survive the journey. And B, they want to see if it's safe for their families before because think about it logically. They're not going to send their kids off on their own. Even though you may want to get the people that you want to get out the most as a kid. So say for instance you're living in Dublin or some other urban area and a coat pulls up and 30 guys get off the bus on their own, whether they're single or not. I don't even know what that means. We don't even know anything about them, whether it's sexual orientation or nothing. So I don't really to prejudge all that being said. And they walk into a hotel in a particular area that's probably already got under pressure for housing, under pressure for school places though that might not be relevant in this case at this time but maybe also the local hospital or the local GP. There's no consultation with the local people. This is not discussed. And then of course there are elements that will suggest that this is going to be a danger to women. There's not a great deal of evidence to support that. But can you forget the people then that they have an agenda that come into an area to try and stir things up. You could understand could you not that local people might go where is our accommodation? Where is our house? Why can't we see a doctor? Why won't we ask if this particular area can take another 30 men. Can you understand then how locals would be concerned about that? I completely understand that people would be concerned about the volume of people increasing in the area especially given the pressures on both the health system and the housing. Absolutely. But my objection is essentially people believing the stuff that they're reading on the internet. If you're following it and I follow it quite a bit and I have friends who work at the scenes and watching what goes on and where these things are coming from this single unvetted mail phrase just really rankles me because people are not thinking and they're repeating it. They're just seeing it on Facebook, seeing it on Twitter. My son is a single unvetted mail. Exactly. My son is a single unvetted mail. He moved over he's left the country and there was no big hue and cry about him moving over. I don't know is it because he's you know because of the same skin colour. Do you think then that the genuine concerns of locals which should be addressed by those that are elected to make these decisions are being weaponised then by people with because you see I think the left or whatever I don't really get into this left-right stuff but those that are labelling anyone who has an objection to this as far right you see I don't think that helps at all either because it means we can't have a civilised conversation with people if you have one view you're left liberal if you have another view you're far right with all the connotations that goes with that label I think people have right across the political spectrum needed maybe as much as they can either disengage with those labels or actually only use them when they are specifically appropriate and I think you would know maybe some of the the cases or individuals that might be talking about. Very very much so and this is the thing so in a lot of those protests and I know you know so for instance on an east wall there was a man who was being interviewed by RTE for example and he was on and being labelled as a concerned resident as the resident of the area what wasn't said was that he was a member of the far-right party and he wasn't doing that so he was getting this all drummed up he was bringing in his far-right party members. But he's also a member of the local community though He is But I don't think that that should be complete if you're going to talk to people I think it should be complete I know you make every effort to make sure that say someone's from a political party you will say yep you're a member of a party or whatever but what I don't and then you see the thing is if people see this as just a community if that's how someone is described and it's not clear that this person is a member of a far-right party but you can make that difference you can make that difference differentiation I don't know you can make that you can see the difference there everyone can see the difference can't they do you know what I mean I think most people can work out the difference and we've always tried to give on this programme space where someone could come on and say look I'm a bit worried about what's happening in my area because we don't have the services for all these people coming in and they're not racist they're not far-right they're not nothing they're just saying you know they've got their own children I just think this division this divisive politics where we call each other different things and I'm not accusing you of this Shanaid we're getting nowhere with it we're just literally getting nowhere with it I don't agree with that much and I mean what you say ordinary people who are just there talking about you know the concern about the pressure on the health system concerned especially now with all the stuff that's going on around Micah and people are homeless absolutely 100% you cannot say a bad word because people are concerned about their families their children and they're looking at that but the focus is wrong the focus shouldn't be on the people who are coming in the focus should be on the people in government who have let us down for decades I worked in a part of London in my late teens early 20s I can't remember what it was and I was people over here think I've got an English accent I worked over there a couple of years but over there I had an Irish accent and it was in a particular bar that I worked in because I worked in pubs and I was called names and one evening I was walking home and the motivation was because I was Irish and maybe because I was white I don't know I'm not going to talk to that I really don't know and then there was shouting outside the complex now I hadn't engaged with anyone I was very naive very shy I hadn't rubbed up anyone in the hard but I'll tell you one thing it was scary it was intimidating it was horrible and very very soon thereafter I moved home because I couldn't take it that's it and then when I hear families in these and there are kids involved as well and there's Irish people what we've went through us where shouting go home or get them out or send them home that's not who we are we were the victims of that in the past we were that's not who we are and I don't think it's representative of us as a society either I really don't and I don't think so either all I'm asking for is that people stop and think before when they read something on Facebook, when they read something on Twitter just stop and think where is this actually coming from is this accurate, is this factual because there are poor people and there are children in those places where and just going by reports there are very very horrible things being said and there are small kids who come through and women as well and even then I mean I don't care who you are, a man, woman or a child, there's going to be trauma there and you arrive into a country after trying to seek asylum from a war zone, whether it's like from a war zone or threats to your life and you gave the example but you gave the example then of the effort say someone from Syria has to do to come here to try and really get a better life for their family but there are individuals that can't get into England anymore right? Economic migrants and the government accepts this as well by the way that rip up their documentation on their way here they can board a flight with documentation but they rip it up because they think they've got a better chance of staying here the state does need to and I think Leal Veracar committed to it last night tidy this whole area up so the public discourse will be easier then and again that is the role of government it's not shouting at a refugee won't change that but a lot of this is government policy and inaction that's led us to where we're at precisely and this is exactly what I'm saying the target is wrong the target shouldn't be the people who are coming and even those as we turn to economic migrants we're a nation of economic migrants I mean how many people do we know who's gone to America and just stayed after a holiday and stayed there we are a nation of economic migrants well in relation to that there are more Irish people living in Australia sorry there's less Irish people more Irish people living in Australia than there are homeless people in Australia right so someone in Australia could say oh well get the Irish out and house the Australians now someone could say to me ah but the Irish are over there working and it's different because that's not what it's like in Ireland over 10,000 Ukrainian refugees are now working in Ireland many working in the care system in the health service system filling employment gaps so it is kind of the same and more and more of them are going to work I just think we need to remember our history what we're doing right now all those remember was it 55,000 undocumented Irish in America they can't come home because they won't be able to get back into America because they don't have the proper documentation so we need to remember where we're at where we've come from but also call on the government to where there are genuine problems and concerns for them to be addressed are for instance migrants being put into rich areas of Dublin or is it only areas where there are particular issues with housing and what have you or people have less disposable income this also does have to be discussionated doesn't it for complete equity and fairness I think everything needs to be on the table but it does need to be done with the correct people I mean what needs to happen is that this all has to go to our public reps that's where it should be going they're the people who are elected who we elected to represent us and our views on the door standing outside and weaponizing much loved songs to turn them into racist meaning outside of accommodations where there are men, women and children and they're listening to that is not the way to go you're talking about people working people working from Ireland and countries all over the world the asylum seekers here are not allowed to work maybe that's something that should be they are after six months I think after six months they are but I do take your point to be addressed listen and I get it I don't I think I can think from all different ways which I'm sure you can as well but my word, if everyone who didn't look like Ireland looked like 30 years ago let me put it like that went home our health service would be destroyed our care service this country would be in an awful lot of bother and there aren't enough Irish away to come back perhaps either by the way and some people choose to go to experience life in a different way and a phrase that I want of course because it's another place for them to come back it's just really important that we all actually think for ourselves that we get our information from different sources because everyone, regardless of what could bandit the sheeple view around and none of us want to be sheeple and make your own decisions to make sure that we're not cannon fodder for other people or whatever everyone should think for themselves do the research, get their own stats that's my concern and it's not to say and I want to be very clear about this I'm not here saying that everyone who says anything about the situation with concerns about anybody coming into the area is far right or a member of our right group everything is there are instigators in those communities there are instigators online and they are very much far right actors and just be careful who you're listening to and what you're reading and sharing because what you're doing is you're giving them power just giving them power just think for yourself stop and ask yourself is this factual, where is it coming from alright Sinead yep I get you it's always been my concern about the far right growth in Ireland anywhere in the world or left or far anything anything that's in any way extreme in any particular direction but people make up their own minds Sinead thanks for your time oh wait 60, 25,000 whatsapps and texts to that number call 07491 the caller says that lady makes some very good points about the male travelling alone in the hopes of getting their family out why I hadn't heard before which is what the debate is all about however you only have to see what happened in Sweden and Germany to see what quite a lot of males do I have family in Germany and their lives have completely changed since the influx of immigrants to their area so definitely I think locals have the right to have their say without name calling but was that an immigration policy or was that the same as what we're seeing here right now anyway listen that's where we have to leave it on the programme today Michaela Clarke is in around the north west after the news at 12 but for me Greg Hughes and the team enjoy the rest of your Thursday have a good one if you're looking to reinforce your leadership skills ATU are offering level 9 executive masters in leadership and innovation for private and public sector managers starting in January take the next step in your career and call 9186206 or email donald.hanigan at atu.ie