 I'll be back at 6.30am tomorrow morning. Hope to have your company then. Thanks to Don and Marie and Caroline for their help on the programme. Up next, Greg Hughes. Good morning Greg. Good morning Rory. See you tomorrow. Thanks very much for that. It is nine o'clock, just turned. It's time for a news update. Good morning Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you Greg. Good morning. Tensions flared at an Orochthus Committee meeting last night during which representatives of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority were questioned regarding the Keelebeg's fish weighing controversy. In his opening statement to the committee, the SFPA's Executive Chair Pascal Hayes was made to withdraw a controversial statement when he asked committee members to consider the array of potential motivations of operators critical of the weighing processes in Keelebeg's. During the hearing, the SFPA outlined its legal reasoning for insisting 5% of collogic catches are weighed at the pier side, stressing it's part of a control measure, agreed with Europe. Pascal Hayes says manipulation of prior systems of checks from the industry spurred the EU to introduce stricter measures. The SFPA responded to increased understanding of non-compliance risk by enhancing its control focus on landings and weighing and strengthening the permit conditions to include, for example, CCTV feed to SFPA. Nevertheless, a clear sentiment existed of ready manipulability of such systems with any such manipulation resulting in inaccurate declarations of the amount of fish landed and potentially fraudulent food marketing. This puts at risk the reputation of Ireland's entire sea fisheries and sea food processing sector. Much more on that on our website, chyrenradio.com. If an ago-LTD says a border pole could be called at any time in the next decade and is urging government to begin preparations, Neil Richmond says now is the time to set up an a rock this committee to work through the detail of what a net at Ireland might look like. He says the fallout of Brexit has changed everything. I think we could easily see a border pole being held within the next decade. You know, the results of this assembly election possibly don't allow for one, but it's not in our gift. It's down to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to decide. And indeed, as the tonnage to has already said, we need to see clarity about what merits a border pole. Green, Chileese, Nassau-Hurgan and Patrick Costello have had the party whip removed and they've been suspended from the party for six months. It follows their decision to vote which in vain last night on the party's motion calling for the National Maternity Hospital to be built on public land. It passed after government TDs abstained. The government's majority in the Dáil is now effectively reduced to one. And the head of the UN says he's having intense contacts with Russia over fears of a global food shortage. General Secretary Antonio Guterres wants Moscow to agree to the export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports. The two nations together produce almost a third of the amount of grain and barley. And half its sunflower oil, David Beasley from the UN's word fool program, has made this appeal to the Kremlin. So I ask President Putin, if you have any heart at all to please open these ports, please assure everyone concerned that the passageways will be clear so that we can feed the poorest of the poor in avert famine. While the forecast mainly dry with sunny spells today, scattered showers in the afternoon, top temperatures 15 to 17 degrees Celsius, fresh and gusty south to south west winds, tonight mainly dry but rain will develop in the west and become widespread for morning, heavy in places, lowest overnight temperatures, 7 to 9 degrees Celsius. That's Highland Radio and you, back with more at 10 o'clock. Um, we're starving. Can we have crisps? Like clockwork, just as they're in from school, when did this become an everyday thing? Please. Sure it's only a little trade. No, you're sticking to the new plan. Guys, remember what we agreed. No junk on weekdays. You can have cheese and crackers, yogurt or toast. At 3pm on Tuesday, Joanne started with healthier snacks. Let's go easy on the treats. Start with smaller ones as often to keep your family healthy. Find more ways to start at megastart.ie. Brought to you by Safe Food, the HSE and Healthy Ireland. The Ninetown Noon Show with Letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union, 9102127. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the Ninetown Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, yes, you can hear me. Good morning. A button had been switched off on the microphone. My fault, I'm sorry. You're very welcome along to the Ninetown Noon Show. It is 5 minutes past 9 this Thursday, Thursday the 19th of May. I'm all up to high dough when equipment doesn't work. And of course also the excitement still boiling over from last night on the TV. What a night of TV it was. There were tears. There was laughter. There was drama. It even went an extra half hour longer. It was really dramatic. And I'm not even talking about Dairy Girls. But anyway, 086625,000. That's the WhatsApp number. That's the text number. Or give us a call in 0749125,000. It's comments at highlandradio.com. If you want to watch the program, hop onto our website, highlandradio.com. You can follow the links there or see it across our social media platforms. OK. The Chicano Tribune this morning as controversy continues over the purpose and future of the 750,000 Euro cardiac cath lab at LUH. The countdown is already in place for the cessation of mobile units weekly visits to the hospital. Political sources and the public have accused SILTA and the HSC of reneging on Donegal's contribution to put a 750,000 Euro cath lab in place four years ago. It's now certain that all referrals will have to travel to Galway for what is a 20-minute procedure. Now, obviously John McIntyre and his team relying on very reliable sources. It is somewhat a nod to what we heard from the HSC yesterday. But that being said, I would not be surprised at all if the outcome is not as it's printed this morning. One counselor said that the failure to commission the equipment condemns the people of Donegal to second class status and some things never change in the health service. We'll have more on that later on in the programme, of course. The Dairy People Donegal news, there are now more than 1,300 Ukrainian refugees living in Donegal who have fled the conflict. Refugees are continuing to arrive into the county. The most recent group taking up residency in Glen Column Kill this week. Those working with refugees on the ground have said many are integrating well in their local host communities, but added that the sudden influx of people has put a strain on resources and services in certain areas and that more support is required. On to the Donegal Democrat this morning. They also have a story focusing on the refugee crisis. Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war in their homeland arrived on the island of Aaron Moore yesterday evening. They will stay in the youth hostel on the island, owned by Gerry Early and run by Sebastian Sebo. As Sebastian explained, I can speak Russian a bit so it helps. I would like to make Aaron Moore a flag destination for the families of the people from Ukraine. I will try and help as much as I can. He said one of the most important aspects about the Ukrainians coming to the island is they feel comfortable here. One of the most important things is that they will be in one of the safest places in the world and that is the main thing he added. So that accommodation now being used on the island being used to handle Ukrainian refugees. On to the Dery news now and a retired school principal has escaped jail after admitting causing the death of a Dery man in a road crash on the main Dery Bonkran road almost four years ago. Eddie McIntyre 56 was killed when his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a car in fan on July 4th 2018. It's a tragic case. Brian Harkin 77 of Loch Nogin letter Kenny was disqualified from driving for four years and fined 3000 euro after pleading guilty to careless driving causing the death of Mr. McIntyre who from reading his family's comments greatly, greatly missed seems to have been a wonderful gentleman and very sad news indeed and you can read more about that case in the paper today. All right the Irish independent we've been talking about gambling in sport you know and if you choose to gamble the one thing you would expect to be doing is at least fairly you know it's bad enough that the bookies seem to have everything in their advantage but you want games at least to be played fairly don't you. Well the independent tells us that the guard investigation into alleged match fixing at League of Ireland matches involved a suspect number of games that date to 2016 the Irish independent can reveal. Ten men aged between their 20s and 60s were questioned at stations in three different counties yesterday in relation to the massive investigation by the Guard of National Economic Crime Bureau that has been ongoing since 2019 the investigation is focusing on games involving one club and many of the arrested men had connections to this football team seven of the men arrested in a series of dawn raids yesterday morning in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged match fixing in the League of Ireland are footballers or former footballers and some are even due to have involvement in significant football fixtures across the country in the coming days okay so we'll see how that progresses no one named of course as it's an ongoing investigation but some of those being questioned are currently involved and active in the game. The Irish Times tells us that two Green Party TDs who defied the coalition and voted in favour of an opposition motion on the National Maternity Hospital will have the party whip removed for six months Green Party members met last night when it was agreed that Vanessa Horrigan and Patrick Costlow would be suspended from the parliamentary party for six months it followed a decision by the pair to vote in favour of a Sinn Fein motion calling for the National Maternity Hospital to be located on state-owned land as a result of the two TDs losing the party with the government majority has been cut to just 80 votes which is a bear majority in the chamber of 160 members a figure that includes the camcorder now of course there's nothing to suggest that means having took a stand will not vote with the government on other matters obviously the budget coming up is going to be a big one it's going to be a divisive one but I would doubt that they will I would be surprised if they voted against the government on other matters they'll be back in the fold within six months don't you know and the majority down to just one there it's a non-binding vote by the way it doesn't actually mean anything it puts on the record I suppose the view of the government did not put in a counter motion and the only reason there was a vote is because of the rural independence they managed to secure enough votes to force a vote but the decision has been made it's a non-binding motion it's there on the record and those two Greens made their decision all of the Greens in April had signed many of the Greens in April had signed a letter stating that they believed the hospital should have been built on state grounds those two are the only two that obviously weren't happy with the explanation as it relates to that 300 year lease etc etc but the other Greens they obviously heard enough or were convinced enough to vote to support sorry the government's decision right the Irish Daily Mail today Sean Quinn trespassed inquiry he once owned this is one of these stories he keeps getting you know down different paths left right and centre it's definitely going to be made into a film or a TV series at some point this story former billionaire Sean Quinn has been trespassing in a cement factory an inquiry he used to own in misguided form of aggression it's been alleged in the High Court the owner of his former business went to the High Court to grant an injunction to prevent Mr Quinn from driving his Mercedes Benz onto their property they complained that they've been the subject of a long and well publicised campaign of intimidation violence and serious threats a campaign which Mr Quinn himself has condemned the High Court granted the request to issue a short service notice to Mr Quinn that they are seeking the injunction the court heard that a similar injunction was granted in the north to stop Mr Quinn from trespassing on their property north of the border yesterday's High Court action was taken by manic cement limited and manic build limited which were formerly part of the Quinn group the Irish Farmers Journal is out today of course and they tell us that the Irish live export trade is set for a massive boost with Israel likely to import its first load of Irish weanings in the coming weeks the news comes as we see a surge in demand for cattle from mideastern countries Israel is in the market for good quality continental 300 kilogram to 400 kilogram bull weanings as Seamus McMenom said they will be an important addition for the autumn weaning trade there may also be opportunities for dairy bread cattle with strong numbers imported from Romania he said it's quite interesting because obviously there's quite an active campaign for us not to be buying from companies that are based in Israel or support Israel and yet here we are we're exporting to Israel I don't hear any complaints about that and it's good for the farming community of course to find other outlets I'm not questioning that for a moment the Irish Daily Star tells us that the public is having clarity on the criteria for calling a poll in Irish unification this is according to Michelle O'Neill the Sinn Fein vice president said there was a need to fill in the grey area of the Good Friday Agreement on the circumstances for holding a referendum on constitutional change her comments came after Thomas de Leo for ADCAR called for clarity on the mechanism for calling a poll under the Good Friday Agreement a vote should be triggered if the northern secretary believes a majority would back change is that a majority in Northern Ireland would be on the island of Ireland and I wonder how an individual would determine that or figure that out, I don't know the son today tells us that Omar Bomb suspect Liam Campbell has been extradited Lithuania to face charges relating to weapons smuggling for the real IRA the 59 year old who was found civilly liable for the 1998 Omar bombing in 2009 had fought a legal battle against Lithuanian authorities for more than 12 years he was arrested on Monday before being handed over to the officials from the Baltic state at Dublin airport on Tuesday a God of Spokesperson yesterday confirmed he was surrendered to the Lithuanian authorities by personnel assigned to the extradition section at the God of National Bureau of Criminal Investigations on May 17 and subsequently departed from Dublin airport both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had ordered he be extradited to Lithuania however he appealed those findings to the Supreme Court but last week the Supreme Court said he could be extradited in relation to the offences of smuggling the possession of firearms and also terrorism and lastly in the Irish Daily Mirror as if there's not enough going on in South West Donagall exciting stuff of course Gardier investigating a shooting incident close to the set of Liam Neeson's latest action movie being filmed there on the set of the film in the land of Saints and Sinners is understood to have come close to being hit by stray bullets on land at Carrick it's believed the slug was let off by hunters shooting deer in the early hours of Saturday morning filming on the movie was not taking place at the time and the incident was reported to Gardier who have launched an investigation so no one injured there but of course there's a lot of fake firearms and now we have potentially a legitimate firearm being discharged thankfully but thankfully no one being injured okay that's a run through what's on your front pages we're going to be making our own headlines and keeping you entertained hopefully for the next two hours and 40 minutes after this break letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 fly with Loganair from City of Derry to Edinburgh and immerse yourself in the live shows at Street Food of the Fringe Festival this summer with discounts for children aged 11 and under fly with me precious moments of this child again book now at Loganair.co.uk 15 kilo luggage allowance as standard live exports soar as new markets beckon for more in this week's Irish Farmers Journal is Paul Mooney Israeli market to open for Irish wheelings as beef price heads for 6 euros a kilo dairy cow reduction scheme on the cards we have the details we have advice for your silage trailer health check and we share top tips for sheep dipping and tagging plus we have all you need to know as a consumer before booking your summer holiday only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal you cannot afford to miss it small businesses often find it difficult to access the finance they need Microfinance Ireland the government funded not-for-profit lender can help we help businesses who have been unable to secure finance from banks or other lenders we provide business loans up to 25,000 euro to businesses of less than 10 employees with a turnover of up to 2 million euro for more information visit microfinancearland.ie or talk to your local enterprise office Microfinance Ireland to help businesses in times of recovery and opportunity the O'Neill sportswear massive warehouse clearance sale is backed by popular demand for one weekend only county GA jerseys, leisurewear including t-shirts, tracks at bottoms half sips hoodies and jackets are all reduced to clear open from 9am Friday May 20th and Sunday May 22nd the sale will take place at O'Neill sportswear warehouse off the Millmount Road roundabout Straban right now Joseph O'Neill is founder of Aeternum Columbarium and he joins us on the program now good morning to you Joseph good morning Dave how are you I'm good and it's nice to speak to you you're working with the community of ours to install a Columbarium there and a Columbarium is a place for the resting burial of ashes after cremation so where did this idea come from and how long has it been in the works Joseph I suppose the idea for me came from a church in Belfast which is in Belfast city centre and a number of years ago they renovated the building and discovered a crawl space beneath the floor and the enterprising PP or favour at the time decided that they would section it off and sell it off as a Columbarium so people's ashes could be placed there in urns I thought it was a really good idea and then a couple of years later another church in Belfast installed one and again it was very successful so what Aeternum does is we work with churches, religious orders and other organisations to help them install and manage a Columbarium I suppose many people they find it difficult to find a burial space especially in the cities but beyond that people are choosing cremation for personal reasons and their options have been limited for where to put the ashes and it seems like an obvious location but I just want you to explain how did you come on believing that Ards would be an appropriate location and can you describe to us where it might be located if all goes to plan sure, yeah so I know Ards from visiting and there are a couple of places around the world that I think would be ideal for a Columbarium and actually Ards was one of them so I approached the order it's the provincial in Dublin and he brought it to the various houses around Ireland and luckily at the time Ards were going through a redevelopment plan and they have such a fantastic resource there with the estate and the location that they really want to make better use of it so my proposal came in a good time and they thought it was a good idea they also have memorial benches along the coastal path I'm sure anyone who's been for a walk there will have seen them and they were very popular so this kind of ties them with that idea of memory and having a lasting memorial in a place that people love so if all goes to plan and we're just about to submit our planning application the Columbarium will be located just behind the cemetery that's reserved I think for the brothers in the order and that's just behind the monastery on a hill and how many urns could be accommodated is it individual spaces yes so each space is individual so each niche holds one urn and one urn holds one person's ashes and in this Columbarium wall we will achieve 120 niches so that's space for 320 people's ashes alright and is this going to be sort of an exclusive space I don't know what demand would be versus the supply you'd have available here but is this for an option for people who are well resourced it's an option for everyone actually we have our first Columbarium actually opened in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Ennis and the room that it's in is sort of architecturally important so we had to be very careful with the space that we used so we were able to get 240 niches there and they all sold out within four months and the parish priest before we actually started the project he calculated how much a grave would cost in the local cemetery and when you take into consideration the cost of a grave the cost of a headstone is not the surround and then to open the grave again a nation of Columbarium is much cheaper what is the bullpaw figure the first phase of Ennis the total was 1,613 euro per person that included VAT that included the urn and included the nameplate on the front and that was a one-off payment so it was very popular and actually the diocese has just given approval for a second phase in Ennis so the cost will be probably slightly more expensive for because the price of raw material has skyrocketed in recent months and because this Columbarium wall is outside and it's on the coastal path it has to be designed to be extra robust but it shouldn't be significantly more expensive is there scope for to be bigger this is an initial application Joseph, is there scope there for more space there definitely is something that we'll have to talk about with the order if this initial wall is successful then yes there is space and scope to build more I'm not trying to bring everything down to financials but is this beneficial to the Ferrari as well financially yes absolutely so we work in partnership with the Ferrari and with all of the churches we work with we install the Columbarium we manage it and this actually comes from the parish in Belfast a friend of mine who was the priest there so he installed the Columbarium but he found that it was very expensive to install and be very time consuming to actually manage so we do all of that and upgrade a profit share with the Ferrari so they will be making an income from the Columbarium as did the cathedral in Ennis and they'd also be involved in the design as well presumably in terms of you know saying yes we believe that would actually you know the design would not would be in keeping with what's there or it doesn't take away in any way shape or form of course yes it's a great length to ensure that it ties in with the local landscape and the stone wall that's around the cemetery and also we work with the Turgical Artists to design the bronze transcripts of the Columbarium so it's very in keeping with the ethos of art and the spirituality of the place and if a wife or husband or a partner were to pass away and their ashes are placed in one of these Columbarium spaces can their partner then join them when it's their time yes of course so the vast majority of the niches are actually sold before their need is you know again Ennis we've had people in their 30s 40s up to 80s and 90s who have bought them so the vast majority of people buy them before their need so they can decide where they want to be the niches are actually too deep so husband and wife family members friends can actually be very close to one another just one behind the other and then families as well can choose a plot together as well so there's a lot of flexibility when it comes to that yeah that's because someone asked there are a family of four or five that could be accommodated in the future in the one niche yes of course not on the one niche but a group of niches beside each other aha ok so it's two per niche it's one so it's one per niche but the niches are actually too deep so there's one behind the other aha I get you but then you could have two beside two or above two or you know so it's a cluster of niches it can be clustered together exactly yes yeah alright and this can move really quite quickly if the planning is approved I'm not sure who might object but they'll want to have a look at the plans do you see where do you see this this column barium from is it from the path is it hidden from site or will people not even notice it when it's there or if you were going for a walk along the coastal path you probably wouldn't see it but if you start if you start the path there's another path that goes up to the left up like a little hill and that leads to the cemetery so it's just behind there like from from that position you can see the bay and you can see the forest part it's really stunning location but it's it's in a really nice sort of quiet sort of intimate spot it sounds like it's going to be one of the jewels in your crown there's going to be a huge demand here isn't there not necessarily just in the nearby community I imagine given the historic and religious status of this area and the peace and tranquility there this is going to be really there's going to be huge demand I imagine I believe so and I believe that's why the the community at Ards were actually quite keen for it to happen because they had actually had people approach them asking could they buy up a plot of land to be buried there this is before we discussed the column barium idea and you know in other column barium people from the local area have bought them but actually people from America, Australia New Zealand have bought them and actually in Ennis we had a couple of people who have never been to Ennis let alone been in the cathedral or have any connection to it from I think they were from Longford and they saw it on RT and they they bought one too so I think people like to have that security of knowing what's going to happen you know and it's done on a first come first serve the basis Joseph or is there is it open to you know within a radius initially and then more widely thereafter no it's open to everyone at the same time first come first serve so we we already have a list of people here interested so we will be whenever we get to go ahead we'll be contacting them first so it's first come first serve and I think there's we're seeing more and more and I think you alluded to this right at the very beginning people choosing cremation as an option there and of course you might be familiar with ongoing discussions and campaigns about the location of a crematorium in the north west such as the demand people currently have to travel perhaps further than they should have to yes I mean a lot of people in the north west either have to develop faster column there were objections to the crematorium in Shannon and I know people were really opposed to that but now that it's open it's been hugely successful and I think you know more and more people that are choosing cremation because the facility is close by as I mentioned at the start people are finding it difficult to find a traditional grave but beyond that people would choose people want to choose cremation anyway they wouldn't choose to be buried and this is about meeting that on that need and giving people a beautiful resting place because the options are very limited yeah alright it's all very interesting Joseph thanks very much for coming on I appreciate it thank you okay take care of yourself that's Joseph O'Neill founder of Ternum Columbarium what do you think 08 60 25000 I imagine there was only a couple of hundred spaces available there in that setting that particular setting I imagine there's going to be there's going to be a huge interest in that yesterday we were talking to one of the organisers of a pro-life rally excuse me which is taking place this Sunday I believe in Bundoran and I didn't get to your comments because it was a very busy show and it was towards the end of the program I just want you I just want to read some of them to you Greg the ship is going down I've been involved with the pro-life campaign since the 60s and since the legislation on abortion you can already see a dive in people's moral codes violence is on the rise and I can't see how it's not directly linked to how we are no longer valuing life what do you think of that for suggestion that life in general is on the dive because of that referendum being passed please respect the intelligence and integrity of the Irish electorate they've made their wishes known in the referendum democracy has to be upheld says a texture another here with God's help I'll be at the march for life another Greg abortion is an unjust war on the innocent unborn the same as the Russian war in Ukraine people must reflect on the reality of abortion could someone please clarify for me if I have an abortion after it is born or a killer baby after it is born I'd be charged with murder but it had been killed in my womb that would be okay we're kind of teething around the issues people morally had to wrestle with before they decided which way to vote that's that was the whole basis of the conversation and debate part of it sorry in the run up to that if you live in rural Ireland especially in Donegal says this call it appears one shouldn't expect top medical services and I don't want to keep switching between others another big health and safety issue at Rathmoreland pier I don't think there would be planning permission for this on a public pier what's that about is this connected to another text I here have here I'll get back to that in a second hi Greg listening to problems with passports just wondering if there is any public service provider in this country operating at an acceptable level hospitals schools the passport office just a mess of a country at the moment always something to blame for doing nothing why could we not have a passport office in Donegal I don't know I know I think it was Deputy Joe McHugh made these calls again they've been made over and over again for the location of a passport office up here I seem to recall the last time this was shot down when it was really to the fore in terms of public debate was the cost of the machines and the security is absolutely massive and that they couldn't justify locating them into the Northwest because of the amount of business they would do that seems to be my recollection of that conversation hi Greg working here with a young guy who gets paid every Thursday come Friday evening he's out of money with gambling has to get money from his mother to keep him going thank you it is a curse for some people a caller says the gambling adverts are a form of grooming also the online gambling system have a great knowledge of how the mind of a gambler works in my opinion Newtown Cunningham is the same issues as the ones we were discussing in Balabufface and all are pedestrian crossing is a disgrace and the main street is also in serious condition needs immediate attention there Greg the GOMO phone service has gone out I use my phone for my diabetic care I've tried to get in touch with them but there's no answer we got on to the GOMO Twitter page to see what they had to say hi all our GOMO team are currently at working hard to fix issues impacting mobile service for a small number of customers services are continuing to return to normal and we're working to ensure full restoration as soon as possible thank you so you're not on your own and GOMO say they are working to restore everyone's service I can't string two words together today just to put it out there Greg in the past week there seems to be a rise in people with a terrible cough which is making the chest sore, hoarseness and loss of voice one doctor diagnosed laryngitis so maybe you can see if this is going around the county I think there's a lot of people coughing and spluttering between the jigs and the reels you know we were not socialising an awful lot for a couple of years and I think we're more open perhaps to more open perhaps to infection right I just want to mention before the break the Bunkrana golf club are hosting the Highland Radio Open Scramble this coming weekend half of the team from Highland that was due to be getting involved in that so I can't go because their backs are gone I'm one of them it's a brilliant event we read it last year you should go and support it as I say it's a lovely friendly fun sort of environment and it's a great little course too Bunkrana Golf Club they're hosting the Highland Radio Open Scramble this coming weekend a team of four staple forward competition on Saturday the 21st of May and Sunday the 22nd of May to enter contact 93 622 79 we'll retain that number for you there all right more coming up on the show shortly The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102 127 Sabrina Robb here from Donegal Hearing Clinic if you're struggling to hear everyday conversations or find it difficult to understand people in a crowded room you may have hearing loss problems like these are common and we're used to helping people resolve them we offer hearing assessments and we'll discuss your options you can call us on 074 91 88470 or visit DonegalHearingClinic.ie life sounds brilliant with Donegal Hearing Clinic Letter Kenny and Bunkrana there's a gaggle of monsters you'll see around town in every colour from bright pink to brown and just like us they have hope, streams and wishes a new car, new windows a holiday diving with fishes just where to go for their dreams to come true the local Credit Union who can help you out too for all of your dreams that are big, small or strange we've got you covered with our monster loan range monster loans from the Credit Union imagine more loans are subject to approval, terms and conditions apply if you do not meet the repayments on your loan your account will go into arrears this may affect your credit rating which may limit your ability to access credit in the future Credit unions in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland Your energy savings start right here, right now with BordGash Energy New and existing customers can save up to 974 euro with our best dual fuel offer. Find out more at BordGashEnergy.ie Discount on our standard unit rates for 12 months with fixed term dual fuel contract annual savings figure compared to BGE standard rates offer available to new and existing single fuel customers unit rate and standing chart apply see BordGashEnergy.ie for EAB prices and full T's and C's Armaculla jewelers in Letterkenny are synonymous with fine jewelry, quality watches and giftware with stores at Main Street Letterkenny and the Letterkenny Shopping Centre or online at Armaculla.com you can choose from their quality product range in a relaxed atmosphere and their sales staff will be happy to help you make the right choice whatever the occasion Armaculla jewelers making moments magical for generations All right we were talking about the passport services yesterday we heard from two listeners in awful dire straits one particular lady who has worked flat out over lockdown and booked an all inclusive family holiday applied for the passports towards the end of January was told they were on their way and they've been flagged and what have you but she's due to fly out I think it was next Tuesday to lose everything with no hope in the near future of being able to get the money together for another holiday and lots of you were contacting us as it relates to this issue I'd be ever so grateful if you guys could maybe touch on the current state of the Irish passport service on your next show I've tried calling the helpline over 200 times but to no avail and web chat is currently down applied eight weeks ago and had no updates due to flying the 28th of this month first family holiday in five years stand to lose a lot of money not only that but try explaining this to two very excited kids speaking to others in the same position as myself throughout the county we need an explanation urgently and I think your show is a great platform find out exactly what's going on thanks for that it's an awful situation Paris there's always waiting longer than you are, people waiting four months for the passports still haven't arrived I would hope you get away but it's not looking good is it the way things are going at the moment we used to try and get a spokesperson to talk about this with us this caller applied back on the 20th of February for one passport for my three year old they've messed us around and we now have to sell our family holiday we can't get in contact with them we travelled down there was no help local TDSD did everything they could but it still was of no use particular delays and I imagine that might be a first time passport there last one some with me same with me sorry I applied for my passport in January I contacted them to ask how long more had I to wait on April the 21st they said they sent confirmation that I did not receive hence my son contacted them on my behalf he got through after a long time they told him there was a haze on my pick so I done another photo sent it away onto them and got confirmation that they received it but nothing since I'm peed off all these months waiting that's my great concern that your application is not being addressed because there is a problem and you're not being told so you can't remedy that problem that's a big big issue there I think alright let's see can we help this person Lisa Marie good morning to you hello hi Lisa Marie how are you it's Greg here not too bad now you were in contact with the show tell us what the situation is and how people might be able to help you long story short my brother Paul and his partner Caitlin had rescued it up there a few months back her name is Skyler she came from a family of previous abuse and neglect she's been through so much a few weeks ago just underwent surgery she's very timid she's scared she's so fragile they went to drive they were going through Bunkrana and stopped at the north pole bar there and drum fries I think it's called a car had passed and she got very very spooked and jumped out of the car and ran and we've been on foot for 48 hours searching for but there's so much land that we're begging and pleading for drone assistance to anyone hopefully it's a decent day for it would you expect given the sort of what this dog has been through in its nature that it probably will hunker down in the local area rather than you know end up 10 miles away or something they can't physically see her moving they can see her curling up on their bones sitting she's that scared she's just so frightened and she's the most beautiful I've never seen anything as heart breaking and my brother watching him and his partner they're so heart broken this isn't just a dog this is their fur baby someone they brought on to their home to care for and very clearly became a member of the family quickly she was taken over the bed and kicked him one of them out at least every night you know it's their world and they're so broken and lost and we're just pleading please if anyone has a drone please come and help us can you describe the dog to us just in case it's been taken in or something I will surely she's she's very tall she's long and white she's a siliki it's doing like a greyhorn type of dog but you will see a lot of marks on her of previous abuse and we just need help we need her home do you know it's really really heart breaking it's a very distinctive dog isn't it it is it is surely and she's not going to do you know she's not going to be heart she must she's hard for us and but they show much land on their beautiful area but they show much land and the only thing that's going to pick up pick her up and help us and save her and bring her home as a drone and I've messaged so many people but I just don't seem to be getting anywhere which is why I've turned to the radio stations it's just really heart breaking I'm looking at my brothers I just want to help them so much okay so the dog ran off no no it's okay it's understood the dog ran off at the north pole bar in Dromfries and could be anywhere in the current on a Clon Malley Bally Liffen area now there's lots of people out there that have drones you know the little Mavic so whatever there's many people out there and there's two obviously there's high tech specific drones but we're not even close to this stage we'll settle any kind of anything that can help get to spaces from the sky that can't be gotten to on cracker that's the only way we're going to get her home the longer she's out there she's more frightened and Joe nobody's really eaten and sleep almost on the family because you know our minds are going over time you know wandering a few kids and she think she's the left the band and you know there's so many thoughts it's mental torture yeah and when just when she went missing Monday evening at 8pm right okay so it's a couple of days now right okay leave it with us maybe someone has spotted the dog or maybe someone is out there with a drone that will go up and help maybe somebody doesn't have social media that's maybe less than this morning can you know keep an eye out but I beg you please if anyone does you know just reach out to us and you know contact us so we can get her home please we really really desperately need her home right so it's a tall white lean dog with markings it's I think that's enough to identify her and what's her name she was wearing a baby tank collar and her name is Skyler but she's very afraid so the Joe Paul and Caitlyn the owners they don't want this you know calling out Skyler Skyler that's going to terrify her and make her curl up on their her biggest fear is humans okay of course because of what the person has been put through she's terrified of humans and it's just heartbreaking nobody should have to go through that all right leave it with us Lisa Marie if any of our listeners know anything about it they'll be in contact with us and we'll be in contact with you that's just the fact and we have a contact for you as it relates to the drone assistance if anyone can help right Lisa Marie I wish wish this a really happy outcome to be in touch okay no no no problem that's what we do to try and help okay right so we'll be back with our next guest after these The 9th Olnoun Show is brought to you by Letterkenny Credit Union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today at niggies.ie you can create gallery quality art on canvas from your favorite photo direct from your phone laptop or PC simply upload your favorite picture and have it printed on canvas transformed into gallery quality art for as little as $44.95 click and collect or have it delivered to your door ready to hang big picks small prices at McGee's chemist Letterkenny see McGee's.ie Foy and Company are offering amazing discounts on a great selection of display sofas with up to 50% off a range of two-seater three-seater and corner sofas in a choice of colors and styles. 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Ireland West Airport you're flying Radio mainly dry with Sunday spells today scattered showers though in the afternoon temperatures of 15 to 17 degrees right so one of the big stories locally at the moment is controversy over services at Letterkenny University Hospital and three-quarters of a million cardiac cath lab at LUH we are talking about the cessation of a mobile unit which visits the hospital to provide heart care analysis for people it's a private company they're pulling out it's on the front of the draconal tribute today as well John McAteer writes the political sources and the public of the accused Celta and the HSE if reneging on Donagall's contribution to put a 750,000 euro cath lab in place four years ago he says it's now certain that all referrals will have to travel to Galway for what is a 20-minute procedure. Councillor Kieran Brogan is a committee member of the HSE's regional health forum. We spoke to Tony kind of in the head of Celta yesterday Kieran he didn't go as far as what John McAteer has published on his paper though at this point we've no reason to doubt that by the way and I'm not for a second where do you lie in this what are your feelings as to the future of these vital services here in Donagall I'm very concerned Greg there's an awful lot of anxiety by many people out there at the moment the general public by a lot of people at the coalface working in the cardiology service in letter candy university hospital a lot of people have referrals on a daily basis and if the service is to end and it was confirmed yesterday by Tony Canavan and you actually done better than we did because Tony Canavan has been very difficult to get this last while but how did radio manage to get him yesterday and you probably get more information into the public domain yesterday than we've been able to get and that has been a problem with the health services sector for some time I just want to hear your comments on that we might have a quick listen back only for the media the public representatives wouldn't be aware of this and that again gives me a huge cause that shouldn't be the case I agree well let's listen to Tony Canavan's comments yesterday it's just over a minute but I think it's just important to frame the rest of this conversation I asked him about because we got some indication from the hospital manager a couple of weeks ago that they were making efforts to try to get the continuance of services once this private company stopped visiting the site so I asked Mr Canavan if he was on the same page with those feelings for many of the patients that receive this care the option of it being deferred or put on a waiting list or otherwise that isn't an option so they will have to receive the care the question that arises is will we be able to continue to provide the care that's currently provided or indeed elements of that care what's your best answer then at this point the reason that we've three experts to answer that question is because they're the right people to make that call and to advise them that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to guess in advance of them coming back to us with their recommendation but you are responsible for presumably services and retaining and retaining them as much as possible absolutely you have a view outside of what these experts are going to say to you my view is that if at all possible what we would like to do is to continue to provide services locally where that's appropriate what we don't want to do is provide services locally that are of a lower standard than patients deserve in terms of these experts will they look at other options say for instance for us here in the northwest maybe some of these services could be provided in dairy as opposed to Dublin or Galway is that a possibility can that be discussed just to be clear what we've asked the experts to look at is whether or not the equipment that is currently available in the county can provide some aspects or all aspects of the service that is currently provided that's what we've asked them to answer for us other options outside of that like the ones that you've mentioned there are ones that we will have to examine ourselves So Kieran in relation to this issue we're talking about now and other issues too that are put to him they seem quite unapologetic and saying look the reality is nowadays people are going to have to travel for services that's just the way it is if they don't think they can do it safely and to the same standard of this small ball unit in letter Kenny the geography doesn't matter they're going to not provide the service there yeah that's a very good point you're making but you know let's bring ourselves back down to earth and we're in letter Kenny here and we're in Donegal and we're in the real world and somebody takes out here in Donegal are they expected to travel to Galway the reality is Greg the dead before they get there we have an excellent cross-border relationship here with Alton Gelvin we have two top consultants who have done huge work over the last number of years in this area they have saved an awful lot of lives between letter Kenny and Alton Gelvin if we lose this service in letter Kenny and is expected and this is the problem and it's a huge problem that we face in this country in the daily basis that people are sitting in Dublin or in Galway and they talk about everybody understanding of the geography of the challenges if you're leaving Galway and you only have a short a very short time available if one takes a heart attack or takes any sort of cardiology illness to get down there and to get the stents introduced so this is lives here lives have been saved and by the team that we have in letter Kenny and indeed the cross-border relationship with Alton Gelvin and you know I was listening carefully to what he had to say yesterday as well and he did alluded one stage in your interview that he understand about the proximity with the words he used of Slago to Galway and you know this takes me back to a conversation we had a number of years ago at a meeting in letter Kenny and you know the consultants themselves maybe some of them would have the highest respect for many people at the highest level in our healthcare they need to travel to letter Kenny as opposed to all the patients have to leave to travel to Galway to see them but here we have an excellent model in letter Kenny the friends of university hospital however many years whether it be a car wash a football match a cake sale raised 750,000 euro that was arrangement was done hand in hand with the management of the hospital at the Kenny and what's the sale to group at the highest level of the capital investment at the time for the infrastructure so letter Kenny is best placed here to accommodate the equipment that's there and I accept as we speak that there has been people from Galway who was viewing and expecting the equipment letter Kenny it was my understanding there was to a meeting yesterday on zoom by these senior people and I'm led to believe that meeting was cancelled at the 11th hour yesterday which is unfortunate and I'm just very concerned that maybe this has been down the road because you know what the reality is it's easy to turn off the meeting yesterday and say we'll put it out for a few weeks time what happens that person has a heart attack what happens to the person that takes out this service is coming to an end that was confirmed yesterday on a highland radio as well so what about the people that's going to take out when there's no service there all the time ether though is it is a mobile unit so there are occasions where people would need that service and still have to travel low care you're a hundred percent right but it's there an emergency need and it's there comes up Wednesday night and it's there all day Thursday that the arrangement that I have with Alden McElven is an excellent one but it's only used for emergency services but the reality is that if somebody if this service goes then somebody's going to have to travel to Galway or Black Rock so the problem is at the moment the dedicated team that we have in place in letter Kenny are they going to remain in place if we don't get the supports in place and it's all down to the very I'm led to believe and I'm not an expert in this area but I'm speaking to people who know exactly what's happening on the ground that a cardiac technician could resolve a lot of this so I mean I've got a common sense the only thing Kieran and I get why you're coming from and it's that you're you know a politician and I'm a journalist and we're sitting here talking about it listening to that interview yesterday and maybe I read it wrong but it seemed to me that you know we're going to provide the services where we believe the best provided and where it's safest to provide them you know we referenced that the eye care you know it doesn't work sending someone up to a satellite sort of a setup once a month it's the best practice to do it centrally in Sligo and I'm just getting I'm just I just wonder are we going to end up seeing more stuff go from letter Kenny because the best place to do it is in Sligo or in Galway or somewhere else well I don't accept that the best place is Sligo I have to say I have to say that Dr. David that we have in letter Kenny and I've never met the man but I've met many people who has been through his services and there's nothing but the high of respect for the service that he's provided in letter Kenny and the lives that he has saved and I think you know we hear many discussions on your radio station with us trying to attract consultants and to the region into letter Kenny here we have one of the best in the country so we need to put the tools if you like in place the supports in place the friends of the hospital took that leap of faith they put that 750,000 in there that that was the public the people have done it all and I have nothing but the high of respect for the great morale the boost the team the work the letter Kenny friends of the hospital has done and I think there's an opportunity here now to restore the confidence in the service and to take that leap of faith and put whatever resources is needed to make sure that we have a permanent service in letter Kenny and it doesn't take much and there's many many occasions that you'll see that you're talking with hundreds of millions that's not the case here and you know everybody to be fair as saying of the one page here we just need the medical people to come on board because far too many people has had to travel to Galway and Dublin but here we have we have the capital infrastructure in place we have the expert equipment in place that's not in slago the equipment that we have here leaves us best place to head of the rest but we just need those people that's having the review to have that meeting as a matter of urgency and to come and if it needs to be too highly on radio or however and tell us that this service is permanent because as we speak Greg and this is the unfortunate situation the cardiology service in letter Kenny I'm led to believe is not allowed to take any other appointments after a certain date in June and that's unfortunate it's very worrying and listen we're going to stay across this as well because it's really important thanks for your time Kieran this morning I appreciate and thanks for your input in that alright take care of yourself alright six sixty twenty five thousand what's that some text to that number so say that's a story that's going to continue to rumble we are going to take a break now for the news and obituary notices stay with us we'll be back with more afterwards Good morning it's 10 o'clock Donald Kavanaugh at the Highland Radio News Desk the government is now operating with a wafer thin majority after the election of two TDs from the Green Party Nasa Hurigan and Patrick Costello lost the party whip last night after voting for a Sinn Féin motion calling on the for the National Maternity Hospital to be built on public land it means the coalition stole majority is now reduced to just one Green Senator Pippa Hackett says the situation is regrettable look it's not ideal I think everyone accepts that and you know the parliamentary party sincerely really regrets having to make the decision but it was a necessary decision it's important that government works together it's united it's important that the parliamentary parties within this three-party coalition work you know inclusively together as well and you know that we refocus now on the business of government Tempers flared last evening at an Orocus committee meeting during which representatives of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority were questioned regarding in the Kilbeck's fish weighing controversy in his opening statement to the committee SFPA representative chair Pascal Hayes withdrew a controversial statement where he asked committee members to consider the array of potential motivations of operators critical of the weighing processes in Kilbeck's during the hearing Mr Hayes outlined the SFPA's legal reasoning for insisting that 5% of pelagic catches are weighed at the pier side saying manipulation of their prayer systems of checks from the industry spurred the EU to introduce stricter measures that responded to increased understanding of non-compliance risk by enhancing its control focus on landings and weighing and strengthening the permit conditions to include for example CCTV feed to SFPA nevertheless a clear sentiment existed of ready manipulability of such systems with any such manipulation resulting in inaccurate declarations of the amount of fish landed and potentially fraudulent food marketing this puts at risk the reputation of Ireland's entire sea fisheries and sea food processing sector a phenogoyl TD says a border pole could be called at any time in the next decade and he's urging the government to begin preparations Neil Richmond says now is the time to establish in Iraq this committee to work through the detail of what a United Ireland might look like he says the fallout of Brexit changed everything to see a border pole being held within the next decade you know the results of this assembly election possibly don't allow for one but it's not in our gift it's down to the sector state for Northern Ireland to decide and indeed as the tonnage to has already said we need to see clarity about what merits a border pole a foil MLA is calling for action regarding flooding in the foil road area of Derry Poderick De Largue says due to recent heavy rain houses in the foil area have been flooding and the currency says is becoming all too regular for Derry Poderick De Largue says the NI water and road service must now find a solution This is an intolerable situation for residents it's one that has been going on for years for decades over the past number of months we have had road service we've had NI water out on numerous occasions and we've been told by them that you know it's very difficult to find a solution it's very difficult to do anything we're calling for a solution now you know this need this is a situation which residents are put up with it's something which is totally unacceptable in any area so we want to see this alleviated because the role of those road service and NI water has to find a solution so we expect them to do so and the head of the UN says he's having intense contacts with Russia over fears of a global food shortage secretary general Antonio Guterres wants Moscow to agree to the export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports the two nations together produce almost a third of the world's sweet and barley and half it's sunflower oil David Beasley from the UN's World Food Program made this appeal to the Kremlin so I ask President Putin if you have any heart at all to please open these ports please assure everyone concerned that the passageways will be clear so that we can feed the poor so the poor in avert famine while the forecast mainly dry with sunny spells scattered showers in the afternoon with top temperatures 15 to 17 degrees celsius fresh and gusty south to southwest winds strong near gear falls at times along coasts tomorrow night tonight indeed mainly dry with rain developing in the west becoming widespread toward morning heavy in places top temperatures of 7 to 9 tomorrow morning we'll see rain clearing the scattered heavy showers and sunny spells in the afternoon top temperatures on Friday 13 to 15 degrees celsius winds again moderate west to southwest and that's how in radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock the obituary notices for this Thursday morning the 19th of May the death has taken place of Anthony Daugherty, Umgill, Malin Head removal from eternal life chapel of rest mountaintop letter kenny this afternoon at four o'clock going to his late residence at our Umgill, Malin Head, funeral from there on Saturday at half past nine going to St Mary's church lag for a requiem mass at 10 o'clock in term and afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the death has taken place of Pat Oliver Maharan Nappan, convoy his remains are opposing at his late residence funeral from there tomorrow afternoon at half past one for two o'clock funeral service in St Nynion's parish church convoy followed by burial in the family plot in the adjoining graveyard house private with family and friends welcome strictly private please before the funeral tomorrow family for as only please Pat's funeral service will be streamed live on the craigsmedia Facebook page the death has taken place of Willie McColgan Garrison Ishkeheen Muff remains reposing at his residence funeral from there on Saturday morning at half past 10 going to St Patrick's church Ishkeheen for 11 o'clock requiem mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the death has occurred of Joseph Joe Keeney Fairgreen Hill Long Lane letter Keeney reposing at eternal chapel of rest mountaintop letter Keeney from half past five to half past seven this evening with removal to St Unions Cathedral letter Keeney for reception prayers at eight o'clock reposing overnight for requiem mass on Friday morning at 11 followed by cremation in Lakeland's crematorium cavern requiem mass can be viewed on churchservices.tv family for as only please the nation's in lieu of desired to Hillcrest house residents comfort fund or medical to LUH care of Pascal Blake funeral director the death has taken place of Bernie Henderson Ney Rolston 55 St Coleman's Drive Strabam reposing at Quigley's funeral home tomorrow evening from half past five with removal at half past six to St Mary's church Melmont requiem mass on Saturday morning at 10 followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery requiem mass can be viewed live at Melmont Parish.com the death has taken place of Patrick Paquilinsey 460 Cron Heights Lifford formerly of Ballon Drate his remains will repose at his home from 12 noon today funeral from there tomorrow morning at quarter past 11 for requiem mass in St Patrick's church Merluck at 12 noon interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery donations in lieu of flowers please to the Donegal Hospice care of Quigley funeral directors requiem mass can be viewed live at clonleyparish.com the death has occurred of Ann Mulrine, Ney Ballantine Gordon Quigley, Ruffaux Ann will repose at Kelly's funeral home Oakfield Ruffaux from 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock today with Rosary tonight at 8 funeral from there tomorrow morning at 2211 going to St Union's church Ruffaux for 11 o'clock requiem mass burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery mass can be viewed on mcnmedia.tv the death has occurred of Kevin Little 6 Upper Kelly Road Derry formerly of Hamilton Street Derry Kevin's remains are reposing at his late residence removal tomorrow at 2 to St Columbus church Longtar for requiem mass at 3 o'clock St Murders Cemetery Fawn requiem mass can be viewed on longtarchurch.org family time pleased from 11 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow family flowers only pleased donations in Louis Desard to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust care of any family member or Murphy funeral directors the death has taken place of Raymond Brennan Glen McQuinn letter Kenny formerly of Ardra remains are reposing at Guller his funeral home Station Road Manchalis removal from there this afternoon to St Knowles church Ardahi for 1 o'clock funeral mass with burial afterwards in the local cemetery family flowers only pleased donations in Louis Desard to the Irish Long Foundation funeral mass will be live streamed on the St Knowles parish Inver Facebook page the death has taken place of Robert Bob McNaught St. Castle Cofield formerly of Tully Buckley funeral service in Castle Cofield Presbyterian church this afternoon at 12 noon followed by interment in the family burial plot at First Drive Presbyterian church Manor Cunningham arriving there at approximately quarter past four house private family flowers only pleased donations in Louis Desard to Marie Curie care of Martin and son's funeral directors done gallon the death has taken place of Elizabeth Doherty, Tinney, Bally McGahn Boncran remains reposing at her later residence funeral from there this morning at half past 10 for 11 o'clock Rockwell mass in St Mary's church Cockhill with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live at churchservices.tv and the death has taken place of Kathleen Drum, Nate Doherty Drum Boy Lifford formerly of Queen Street Derry her remains are reposing at her home funeral from there this morning at 25 past 10 for Rockwell mass in St. Patrick's Church Merluck at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery Rockwell mass can be viewed live at clonleyparish.com for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highlandradio.com and you're very welcome back to the second hour of the 9 till noon show caller says what party is curing Brogan with my god you'd think he'd not know another caller says hi Greg in regard to your topics disgraceful plans in transferring cardiac patients to Galway we as a family had to go there with a family member in an emergency on a Friday night it cost us a couple of thousand euro to stay in hotels for four nights don't get me wrong they were nothing fancy this is also the on scene that's both financially and mentally on families that are being thrust into medical emergencies four hours down the road with nowhere to go and under major pressure but again the sense I'm getting is the HSE is unapologetic they say you know that's the best place to get care that's where we need to go as I say I'm not trying to set a narrative here but that's what's worrying me about some of the conversations hi Greg I ordered three passports online and received them with one week great service yes of course and that's fine it's not a problem people are getting great results there and fair play delighted to hear that great service we're talking about those there's some slight complication with the applications maybe a child or a new passport or whatever it might be these people are waiting three or four months holidays are about to go down the pan so whilst I appreciate that you've got a great service there and delighted to enjoy your holiday it's others who are experiencing a random a few people it's lots and lots of people where there's a it's not just quite as straightforward a renewal process Dr David is a fantastic doctor he gave my husband extra years and he saved my young daughter's life I can't speak highly enough of him what he's done for the services in Lefkeny is fantastic I would love to speak to someone like Dr David I mean can you imagine and I'm not putting pressure on him by the way not for a second and I understand just the weight comments from someone like that might have that could be the game changer here hi Greg regarding passports about five weeks ago I applied from a passport on my phone completed and sent the application at about 11 o'clock on a Monday received it shortly after 11 o'clock on Tuesday the next day if it's just a renewal with no complication your phone is the best option yes indeed and lots of people are enjoying lots of people are enjoying that level of service for the simple online renewals all the ashes in the arms should be built to accommodate family and friends not just single ashes I'm not sure I thought there could be family plots and inverted commas but that's not the model there hi Greg life in general is changing simply because we're not getting the required funding in this county alone medical care hospital suffering short of staff lack of not enough patrol vehicles port court system slap on the wrist and away you go thanks Greg they believe things are across the board slipping hi Greg my son applied for his passport Sunday night it arrived here yesterday as they say sounds like a simple online renewal good good news Caller says simply I like Joseph's idea for ours this is to build a space where each there are spaces available for people to store their ashes there 1600 their last project was this one's going to be more expensive because of its design right okay now it is time for you to play bingo and it's a daily price is fantastic but it's jackpot day here are the numbers it's time for NCBI bingo on Highland Radio it's Thursday the 19th of May jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 7000 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is s19 it's game number 20 the jackpot number is 18 this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your daily numbers 62 40 58 86 46 56 10 31 67 and finally 57 phone your claim to 9104833 before it's night leave in your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at HighlandRadio.com tap to browse all our latest grocery offers see all your 10-off 50 grocery vouchers stored in one place and scan your value club card to earn points all within the app saving you time and money plus download the app today and you'll receive a one-time 10-off 30 welcome voucher done stores always better value terms and conditions apply welcome voucher can be used on the grocery shop of 30 euro or more getting involved in this year's bike week couldn't be easier starting on Saturday May 14th and running until Sunday the 22nd you'll find a host of events and activities in your local area to suit your level of experience so whether that's family freewheeler or a conscientious commuter click into gear and visit bikeweek.ie to learn more supported by Transport for Ireland your local authorities, sports partnerships and funded by the Department of Transport a huge sale is now on at McGinley's Furniture Letter Kenny it's a chance to save hundreds of euros on floor model suites beds and mattresses, dining and occasional furniture with reductions in all departments it's a great opportunity to grab a real bargain in the big sale at McGinley's Furniture on the Joe Boner Link Road Letter Kenny at Allstate great work, great life, great people where great opportunities await search Allstate and iCareers today join me Brendan of any this Monday for the deal debate the championship Allstate Final Special live from sister Sarah's bar and restaurant Letter Kenny with Tony Gollandelli and Allstate Final Showpiece it's set up for an absolute cracker with a host of top GA personalities on the night and some ex legends of the game including Anthony Malloy, Rory Kavanaugh Neil Geller and Paddy Bradley if you're around Letter Kenny this Monday call in the sister Sarah's where as ever you'll get a warm welcome if you can't make it tune in to Hydermedio this Monday just after CMBN News and podcast it on Hydermedio.com for the deal debate okay we welcome Sylvie onto the program now hi Sylvie thanks for joining us hi good morning Greg it's good to have you with us right now we've been discussing about the future cardiac services at Letter Kenny University Hospital you know first hand and I suppose you could say first heart so for the importance of the services and quick interventions absolutely my story began four years ago on the Sunday of the August Bank holiday weekend when I caught a little pressure on my throat and caught nothing of it only for my wife, my sister that we went further afield and I just made it to Letter Kenny General Hospital after being instructed to go there by the doctor and I was only in there a short time when I went out I was just a total cardiac arrest the doctors in Letter Kenny were absolutely brilliant Dr. Allie and they told my wife I didn't know what was happening but they told my wife that I had to have emergency treatment done recently they didn't have it in Letter Kenny and I would have to go to either Dublin or Galway but then they came back and they told her that my situation was that serious that I wouldn't even make it in the helicopter so the next option was to go to Derry so they transferred me to Derry with a cardiac doctor and two nurses and I was met inside by Professor Pease in Derry and they said that the service that I got in Letter Kenny and in McNichol was absolutely brilliant so my situation was that it was the bank holiday weekend in Ireland the people in the north Professor Pease and his team they had to be called in on a Sunday and they effectively saved my life now Dr. Allie was a cardiac surgeon David they are two excellent people here in Letter Kenny I know that facilities are in Letter Kenny but unfortunately they cannot be used and I think it is an absolute disgrace so not only do we have this publicly funded literally publicly funded through fundraising Steady Art, Cathlab which has never been used to its full potential we're now facing the situation where those that need andrograms are going to have to face that trip down to Galway University Hospital we're going backwards Sylvie seemingly and we should be moving forwards yeah it's absolutely deplorable you know like if the service was here in Letter Kenny then I could have been dealt with you know if the people in Derry weren't able to come in that particular day then I would be past history you know so it's so so important and I know other people who were in a similar situation to me from being up in the rehab and their stories are very very same so we we urgently need the angioplasty unit how's life for you now Sylvie it was a major thing does it take long to bounce back from being on the brink like that it's um well my motto is don't think about it you know it was only when I heard Cairn and Cairn Brogan on the radio there this morning that it brings it back to you okay like you have to get on with life um as I said the people here in Letter Kenny Hospital are brilliant Dr. David and Dr. Eleon I kind of say enough about them and the medication take the medication and get on with life good stuff I heard amazing things about both individuals and Sylvie you know like I just can't believe that we're always arguing to try and it's a huge hospital try to pass it it's massive why do we have to argue to have life saving services close to us I mean I can't believe that year after year after year after year here we are arguing and campaigning and discussing having something as simple not as simple it's complex of course but this life saving uh intervention there people raised fundraised table quizzes football matches whatever it was to get this cath lab in there and now there's three experts coming up to see if it can be used for angiograms or for what I don't know like but I mean why are we having to fight for everything and the HSC seemingly unapologetic in saying that well if we think that we can't provide the service in Letter Kenny up to the excellent standard of Galway well then we're just not going to do it there we're going to continue to do it in Galway and then that's it you know crack on lads that's the decision I just don't understand you know who's running this who's making the decisions how is it okay we have to make our voices heard we have to make it heard in the and if need be I think we should be out protesting about it mobilising onto the streets such a serious situation that the facility is there but it can't be used it's just it's a scandal it's the word that we've kind of dodged around but it's an absolute scandal it is it is our politicians our politicians need to get moving on it and you know speak up in government and get the people up to see what we have here like as we hear from government we hear from government that we are a rich country we are produced we have in months whereby we're we're right across all sectors had a bumper march right we hear that we have growth of the second highest growth in the EU forecast for 2022 all of that as if to say yeah look fantastic well done yet we can't even find a way to make a 750,000 euro catlab suitable to save people's lives you know we can't get houses for people you know I mean at what point is enough enough for the people to say that you know we're not going to take this any longer exactly well that's my point I think it's time that you know and that's why I rang in today because I was one of them people that that was directly affected by it and I think it's time that that we got up and moved on it and you know insist on our politicians to get the government committed to the situation like we have a minister here in this county at the moment and you know we most certainly have to keep it it's so wrong to even consider it being there and not being able to use it and it's having the staff we have to say two of the best cardiac surgeons I'd say in the country we can't lose those and you know I don't think it has to be political either because I don't believe there's any group that can ride in on a white horse and save the day I think the system is such in this country that what people need to campaign and protest and object against is the system that we elect people to which is clearly not functioning you know because they can make little announcements you know whatever is running this country that's what needs to change because there's a massive gap between all of our wealth and all of our prosperity and the lives that we lead on a day-to-day basis that we're having to row and argue and campaign and procrastinate about the stuff that should be our right in a wealthy successful country if we're led to believe that's what it is absolutely it's just so unbelievable that you know we're left out it's just because I think that we're up here in Donegal you're so far removed from Dublin you're so far removed you know and actually bring them down as far as go away bring them down as far as Dublin or whatever and everything will be fine but it's just you know we just have to we have to keep the pressure on it at every corner and try and get that unit up and running. We can't have death by air cold and sometimes that's just what it feels Sylvie I'm delighted here thanks to the great care that you've received that you are well and many more years to help our health Sylvie and thank you so much for joining us today thank you Greg take care of yourself lovely to speak to you Betty Holmes joins us now Betty I suppose you've always got a number of hats on you've got your DACC hat on you're a cardiac patient so you understand what's going on as well so I mean I know you're in constant contact with the powers that be on this issue Betty you're getting responses back some of them on satisfactory some of them vague some of them confirming what you might already know so where do you see where we're at and maybe if you want to sort of involve it in your own experience as it relates to these cardiac services yeah well under my DACC hat we have been making repeated and I mean repeated representations trying to find out what was going on and I suppose Greg initially with the news of the whole angiogram service there was a bit of confusion as well because sort of from a DACC point of view we were getting calls to say that the equipment that have been bought was been moved to Slago we've done a lot of work on that the mobile unit is both mobile units the third letter Kenny and Slago and other parts of Ireland are being moved out of the country the company is taking them out of the country at the end of June so we established that the main issue is that was raised by the friends of letter Kenny hospital and the people of Donegal to provide a cardiology unit or angiogram capitalisation and angiogram letter Kenny hospital can you help me Betty just so that we all know exactly where we're at and this includes me as well angiograms presumably you can have a scheduled angiogram when this mobile unit is up through Thursday right but there are in the event of a suspected heart attack there's urgent angiograms and currently any other day the week presumably people are having to travel for those angiograms as it is already I have been that patient over my my cardiac history extends over I think it's about 18 years right and my first episode I was kept in letter Kenny hospital because the consultant at that time was Mr. Liam Bannon who felt the best qualified cardiologist to see me and treat me well and St. James's I have done the road down to Dublin sorry I don't usually get emotional Greg as you know but memories I've been the patient who's travelled as an emergency at half 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning to Dublin on the back of an ambulance I've been the person that had the jump leads I've went through all that my stents are in double figures and I mean well up in the double figures I was initially told that I would need a bypass but the bypass lifespan of the bypass is 12 to 16 years or more because of other medical conditions that they were sure my bypass would block within 3 to 5 years so really I would need 2 bypasses within 10 years at the most or even 6 so I have to live long enough to only need 2 bypasses so I have had at least 2 more to allow to live of a medical condition I have had the angiograms I know what the journey is I couldn't fault the team at lairdor-kenney hospital and the medical ambulance guys that picked me down there because as I said, we've had a few jump leads but really it's the people of the people of front haunt do not count at absolute scandal and we did write to our Donegal Minister and TDs and in their chosen career path we were very pointed and very clear to them great. If the service is not put in place with the start date, let it be any hospital then it's an absolute, it's more than a scandal and we've actually wrote to Minister Donnelly this morning and we asked him for a start date for the the Antiochrom service to start it. The problem I have right and I respect everything that you do right okay is the conversation with Mr Canavan yesterday, it wasn't about resources, it wasn't about staff, it wasn't about funding. These three experts are coming in to see if these services can be safely and up to a certain standard provided at Letter County University Hospital. Now I hope that I'm not misquoting him in that but I listened back to the clip a couple of times so in other words it's not about resources, it's not about investment, it's a decision. So they might say you know what it's slightly better in Galway and then that means that ALUH has struck off the list in this regard. Yeah, that's what's going to happen. I've looked and I've read through the the last cardiac strategy I'm doing this from memory I think was 2010 to 2019. I read I think there's 174 pages or something and a few of them are pages of acknowledgement. I didn't see any reference, they talked about cardiac disease, prevention, stroke, the whole lot. I didn't see anywhere in that document that highlighted the importance of you know a tube service but you know that's a load of hot air and these guys are going to come up break and there's going to be a page done and people are going to get very highly paid to do this and it's going to say that Letter County is not suitable. Yeah, end of story. I am telling you the unit is going to be removed and anybody that believes anything else is no disrespect to them. Living in Cuckoo Land, okay, I get you. What is the same from Canavan yesterday mentioned to him about having a mobile eye clinic or an eye clinic clinic in Letter County University Hospital? Nope, it doesn't make sense because you know we cannot provide exactly what we'd need to provide in Letter County like we can in Slago and the mood music I'm receiving is that we're getting to a point soon Betty whereby say for instance with rural transport if you want access to if you know not like general services if you are in rural Donegal and you want general services you need to live closer to Letter County I think on a national scale now there is going to be a and I don't think it's being hid as much anymore a penalty for living in Donegal if you live in the northwest you're going to have to accept that you are going to be further away from centres of excellence in relation to different areas of care cancer care or or heart care or whatever it might be I just feel that that's where we're moving to and they're going to be quite unapologetic in saying that it's going to be like a Donegal levy. Greg we go back to February 2017 when DACC because we were sick and tired of sitting at meetings on Galway and Dublin trying to explain the distance and the geographical position when we put together the DACC map that highlights that the eight so-called centres of excellence are the Galway Dublin line the prostate rapid access clinics are below that line the breast uh breast check units are below that line and all that's up above that line is the satellite breast unit that DACC and others thought very very hard but that was a powerful map uh DA that you put together and it still stands but I believe that maybe now we're at a point that the HSA look say HSE looks at the map and goes yep that's right that's that's precisely how we're going to be providing these services what's your point yeah I mean it's scandalous and I am telling you know and and and this is from the chosen career path or keep monitor and PDs if they in some way don't come to the fore because uh you you've seen the the pointed email that DACC sent to them and we have said it's a time to check to the streets and we've asked them where will they be standing the reality is we don't have on there's no point in us because we've discussed we have a lengthy meeting yesterday we've had a lengthy meeting so for the last few weeks and there's been discussions about going to Dublin I've stood outside dull air on several occasions there's protests there really nearly on a daily basis I know Betty but can I uh point the camera back on it needs to be a letter Kenny I know that but let's point the camera back on ourselves huh will health with the issue of health get get people out into the street really I'm I'm not sure you know we talked about this yesterday it's just you know you could organize it you could say right this is the time for our voices to be heard you know the situation if you've had most people you know when you when you're in hospital you get out everything's brilliant even if you waited for 12 hours it's brilliant because you just don't want to be in there and you're so grateful to get out and if you're not actually if you're in good health at the moment maybe you don't understand what we're talking about now I just would have my concern that no one's going to get de-elected a politician on health in this county I don't think I don't think they would and I just would be concerned how many would you get you would need people from the top of main street to the bottom of main street before it would have an impact well you're you're actually I'm sort of glad to hear you saying that because yesterday at our meeting and we had talked about the whole protest there was a lot of passion going on over the last few weeks about protests and all and I actually said I turned around I said but if we call this we have to do this in the short term because this decision is going to be made literally very shortly and we have to pull this together and realistically unless you're the cardiac patient or unless you are the family of the cardiac patient are you going to come and support it are we going to get the 15,000 people that we got to get a breast surgeon for letter Kenny hospital is it going to have an impact and in fact we got so stressed yesterday what I actually said to everybody was why don't you all just get into your car now and we'll drive up to the hospital and we'll see what this unit looks like and what it's about this I'm not sure what to do Greg and I the rest of us aren't sure what I am telling you as the cat lab and the angiogram service that was provided by the friends of letter Kenny hospital and the people have done it all and the excellent team of staff Mr. David and Santa I can't pronounce his name up there and all those staff that excellence that exists at letter Kenny hospital that has never ever been acknowledged or recognized and if that there is taken out of letter Kenny at nearly 14 years since I said letter Kenny hospital would become the new synthesis the new community hospital well if this angiograms do not start a letter Kenny hospital we're the new synthesis but I just wonder if that is already the way the way things are as I say you know we might as well just Glen vays beautiful I just wonder at this point we might just might as well just all move to Sligo or Dublin and extend Glen vay right around the county and stick up wind turbines while we're at it because it doesn't seem to be the planning doesn't seem to be in a way to support us and our health stay away I want to bring Kevin in hi Kevin Kevin sorry did I take that in no I didn't Kevin sorry there you are hi Kevin hi hi good morning to you you're a cardiac patient what's your story well I'm nine years shopping down to Galway and I actually had to be airlifted from letter Kenny to go away at one stage because by the wind and ambulance I just wouldn't be here and the same with the prostate cancer and and all the times up and down over seven years maybe twice a year three times a year to mr Heinz and go away and no great need for it you know I could have been seen up here your understanding is if that cath lab was running as it should be the three quarts of a million euro cath lab fund raised by the people of Donegal you should be able to get what you need done there yes I thought it was the greatest thing a hair teller coming to the hospital and so that's me being selfish because of the cardiac issues as I have right and I thought great with Dr David who is a fantastic Dr Dr Allian as well brilliant men look see and all the need is to be given the have the equipment to meet the staff now and then need to go ahead and every time I went to Galway I was meeting people from letter Kenny Donegal you know and we've got the same thing now when you go into dairy for treatment you're meeting as this is cardiology as well and dairy you're meeting people from letter Kenny Donegal well what what are we doing how often are you up and down from Galway Kevin over the years over the years I would say I've probably done about 25 and that's only for cardiology I would say for the prostate I have done maybe 10 35 times up and down from from Galway yeah right and a very expensive taxi that saved my life was the helicopter yeah you know so I mean we're look we politicians that walk around this place with blankers they're great at your door when they're looking for election but then the strings go on them and the puppeteers open Dublin just I think the I think the public to have a role to play in this Kevin in that we accept you know a sympathetic nod from our elected representatives or arts terrible we're going to have to do something about this but actually we don't really hold anyone account for it we don't we they can there can be a separation between their responsibility if it does that make sense in other words you know just saying geez this is terrible you have my 100% support I'll raise it here and I'll raise it there but they won't vote against the government on it no one's going to go up to the door and say that vote last night's uh on on the national maternity hospital they're not going to say because I'm so upset about the situation at the Kennedy University Hospital I'm actually going to vote against uh I'm actually going to vote against it they'll say no we see you far better off to change things from within and we accept that Kevin and that's just that that's it there is opportunities all the time for elected politicians to actually stand with the people on really important votes to use their leverage but they don't want to do it and they don't do it Greg there was only one party came to my door at the last election only one because the rest of them knew not to come near me but will that party be welcome at your door in six years time I wonder Kevin because you know the proof of the budding will be in the eating if if they don't do what they say they'll come near my door because you're only going to get to where to go all right Kevin you're in good health now hopefully look Greg I'm not too bad at all I'm here and I'm chatting and that's kind of half a battle and I'm glad to have you with us Kevin lovely to speak to you and continued continued good health Betty thank you thank you very much indeed I've actually just accidentally cut Betty Holmes off my apologies I was going to go back to Betty but I think we we got Betty's point but I disconnected the wrong line and I'm so sorry about that listen it is time for us to take a break though if you want to get involved in the conversation no wait six sixty twenty five thousand the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union with monster loans available up to sixty thousand euro for all occasions visit letter Kenny see you dot IE COVID-19 can still cause serious illness especially in people at higher risk we need to keep protecting each other so stay home if you have symptoms wear a mask in healthcare settings public transport 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us good to have you with us right okay now uh we're hoping to see big development in your town in in bong krana wider initial and of course benefits and there is an opportunity for people to have their input is that correct there is i and i'm really looking forward to this this event that promises to be a very positive and an engaging event on this monday 23rd initial gateway hotel and from four o'clock to eight o'clock there'll be a public consultation on a number of issues that i think are very exciting for bong krana uh ones that the public would be demanding for some time right so there's three major projects talk talk us through them jack yeah the main one well sorry not the main looks very significant but one thing that's particularly interesting is the the bong krana leisure center we've got the the architects design of how that will look there'll be some large information signage that people can come in uh and see what what the plan is there'll be uh like a re-enacted video 3d video that'll take people on a tour through the proposed leisure center so that that's an issue of huge importance to the people of bong krana so i hope they can come down and see and yeah one question on that will be its delivery dates uh because you know yourself it's a very emotive one do we have any idea of the leisure centers delivery day before we talk about the other two projects no but i would hope um within the next 18 months i would like to see it being developed and there will be if people want to come and ask there'll be there'll be uh council staff there and self-isolate here like other counselors maybe they may attend as well and they can engage in that discussion i would say that we bring fenced money now in our capital budget and within the council we approved a 20 million euro loan to draw down match funding for government grants just last week bong krana leisure center was mentioned in trench two of that so that will hopefully commit to effect in next year's loan so we are moving we are like we have we have money now identified i'd be very confident that we are moving forward with this and of course that we would not take it as forward to an architect's design we didn't intend fully on seeing this through because i think it's the one obviously the issues of mica is the primary issue for all of us as a community and in show and wider money goal but i think as far as local amenities are concerned i think the leisure center is the one um big oh yeah that's to be multiple multiple uh multiple tracks of progress for sure um now the other two uh the other two projects which will be uh the re-information on yeah the the re-powering bong krana project um i would have been on speaking on on your show a number of months ago when that we would secured this 1.8 million euro for for design that's the totally re-imagined uh bong krana's shorefront and nearby areas uh purchase legs of the the garden station for for office facilities but it's extremely excited we hope to draw down uh in total 20 million euro for that so again there'd be uh the councils whose proposed concept of what's what's going to happen the legs of the footbridge over from the amazing grace park over to to the pier uh grandstand coming down for festivals down the shorefront uh new high quality amenities uh tourist spots church street being completely redeveloped and parts of the main street being re-imagined so again this is this is such a huge project that could change bong krana for for generation so i think it's hugely important that the people of bong krana have their say in this have ownership over this at this point it's a it's a design it's an idea but and it's was done by professionals and planners and architects but really we want to see what do the people of bong krana want like what what would you change what do you think could be added as as we move forward for the for the next trend to fund them which is able to be 18.5 million euro huge huge limit probably the largest piece of public investment in bong krana and ever yeah and a much and so on the third project that's the the local area plan again this is particularly when you talk about the mica problem this this is hugely significant and bong krana has a huge shortage of housing at the moment we're going to need a lot more we're going to need it very very quickly uh as houses started with the modest and people need to be rehoused they're temporarily rehoused so and there's also significant problems in some areas of mokrana large swathes of mokrana where you simply can't get plan information so again the planners are reviewing this as countries will be reviewing it then we'll be looking to to identify lands that need to be zoned for housing for commercial development as well and bong krana have been informed as 50 percent of inquiries about direct investment and of course they'd only go or inquiries about bong krana so bong krana has massive massive economic potential for for county donnie goff for sure and that particular development all of it for that matter has to be done right it has to be it has to be uh appropriate for the area and it has to be planned out proper access proper infrastructure and even you know future-proofed exactly and and that's that's why i want that's why it's also important to to call this meeting uh i just got here looked at i want i want the people of mokrana everyone to come in uh have their say i would say to that from three o'clock to seven o'clock it'll be informal all the the information will be there people can just walk through with their own leisure have a look read some of the information and there will be people there on hand that you can have an informal conversation with ask your questions to put forward your ideas we'll be taking ideas on the day and then there'll be a more formal q and a so i'll be chairing them from seven o'clock to eight o'clock and again that'll be if anybody the opportunities come in and before what they what they think should happen in mokrana their ideas or concepts or questions so i just think at this point when there's so much potential that we can be moving forward with now that it's it's led primarily by the community and by the citizens of mokrana and so those of us that have children going up in the town they want to see it a better place for them to live really so i do think it's a very positive and welcome development for the town so i'd hope that we do get to buy in and we do get a large turnout yeah i mean this is an opportunity for the people of mokrana and surrounding areas to have some ownership of this to have their fingerprints on it there's uh you know because sometimes we forget about these events and then after a fact people go well this is no good it should have been done like that but you know if you've got a view if you've got an opinion you want to input this is the time to do it because uh i know the planners do take on board uh let's see a couple of things here every time one of you cancels come on it ends up being like a little clinic maybe it's something we should be doing in the future and it plans to fix the town side of the castle bridge it's not wheelchair or push chair accessible i don't know what plans are found but again that's that's an idea that can be put forward and absolutely i think they're probably looking for something more immediate in that regard uh a counsellor instead of you know as long fingering it to a a greater plan yeah of course and look that that's that's an idea that it's not something that's right it's not my intention recently but i can see that it's put forward exactly why it is needed and that's i hope we should follow once you comment on your views of raw sewage flowing into the swilly about something you're concerned about massively concerned about that um it was very very bad news that we saw the poor water quality at ladies bay uh announced last week it's something we would have been highlighting for some time orchestras across the board but i think that's just uh supposed to start warning saying now that that i think irish water particularly would need to see and to move through sewage come out as contact do you know been made with irish water for them to explain what the situation is what their plans are there has um and it's ongoing like this i know it's kind of in the headlines now and because there's such a bad a bad warning but this is this is ongoing years that look at this the sewage running from this final um into the ladies bay and we shouldn't just be looking just to address that problem and bring it up to no acceptable quality we need to be getting out of the blue flag beach this is extremely popular especially when there is a it seems to be a positive drive in the area you don't want anything detracting from it uh do you have an idea when the work on donary fort's going to start that's a huge one isn't it yeah that's an older that's a massively positive development for from mcranagh's 12.5 million euro literally when these things are all uh packed together i think it's there's a lot a lot of positivity in mcranagh your beer could be gray by the time that's all sorted chat well the in donary the money's there again that's what when i said about the 20 million euro that the council approved from from match fundant donary was in trench one so uh in the next week or so we'd be looking to draw down that that money and have the match fundant so the money's allocated at government level we were securing the money across the match fundant brilliant stuff so hopefully that's sooner rather than later uh this is just a comment really uh one possible improvement will be the removal of the two big fruit of the loom chimneys i saw on the shorefront but presumably you know there's a lot of things that gonna have to make way for the significant development we're talking about here jack yeah yeah well that that's private privately owned it might not but again look at the potential of that stuff for the limits as you as the end of the town ultimately you would like to see some some development there that would would benefit the wider time but it's just a bit more difficult when it's all right public parts private ownership of course of course but that's part of an ongoing conversation i'm sure so this event a significant event it's in the inichon gate we hold tell it's this monday the 23rd of may talk to me again uh finally just about the time structures the time for people to look around the plans and stuff uh and ask questions and then uh tell me how that day's gone on fold just the start time in the finish time please jack yeah i suppose that's it shows you just in the short time been on here many people are texting them with ideas and questions so hopefully we'll have a day full of that but it'll be from from three o'clock to seven o'clock will be the informal dropping when the signage will be available so people can go in uh walk through uh and discuss with us that there'll be the planners and architects myself will be there and then from seven o'clock to eight o'clock will be the open questions and answers and session so it's this monday 23rd in the inichon gate we'll tell all right and it's all positive uh good stuff thanks very much indeed i appreciate it councillor jack moray there the coherent lock of uh donning all kind of council coming up after 11 we are going to be uh in the garden with paul if you have any gardening questions uh please get in touch with us so wait six sixty twenty five thousand uh you know yourself i don't think i need to give you examples anything from a potted plant to a sprawling lawn whatever it might be and everything in between and trees and hedges and all that manner of stuff stuff oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand get your whatsapps and texts in now uh we're also going to be going through your comments in the next hour as well lots of you getting involved in the conversation uh emotive stuff particularly when it comes to health and health services uh that and so much more besides you know there's a possibility here you know we are at maybe are we at a crossroads in terms of health provision in this county um you know we have control here we've seen recently if people have a view and they organise and express that view how things can change and how people have to stand up uh step up and take notice but it would take those of us who maybe aren't currently impacted by these things to say you know what someone in my family was or maybe i might be in the future uh that's probably what it's going to take i feel we are at a crossroads here uh you know not it immediately not like between today and tomorrow but certainly over the course of the next number of years that's been said you know um i wonder how the outcome of the census might change the population of donagall is predicted to grow hugely over the next number of years letter kenny as well uh maybe that could be the catalyst for improved services the night all noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today if you're thinking of changing some furniture a huge sale is now on at mcginley's furniture in edderkenney it's a chance to save hundreds of euros on floor model suites beds and mattresses dining and occasional furniture with reductions in all departments it's a great opportunity to grab a real bargain in the big sale now on at mcginley's furniture on the joe boner link road letter kenny see mcginley's furniture.com live exports soar as new markets beckon from all in this week's irish farmers journal is paul mooney israeli markets open for irish weanlings as beef price heads for six euros a kilo dairy cow reduction scheme on the cards we have the details we have advice for your silage trailer health check and we share top tips for sheep dipping and tagging plus we have all you need to know as a consumer before booking your summer holiday only inside this week's irish farmers journal you cannot afford to miss it thinking of changing your floors why not see what florid letter kenny has to offer florid have a large selection of solid semi-solid and laminate click vinyl wood flooring together with a fantastic choice of park a herringbone flooring all at incredible value don't delay call florid today on zero eight seven one six one seven double zero eight treat your garden to make over at gmg stone letter kenny we offer great value on decorative stone garden paving slabs and artificial grass all tailored to your needs with home delivery available we also supply railway sleepers whiskey barrels and place sand all available for pickup or delivery open monday to saturday from 9 30 a.m to 6 p.m you will find us beside donahe motterhomes on the port road for an appointment call o eight seven six four seven nine one two one gmg stone just what your garden needs this friday around the northwest is celebrating with the business marking 50 years in letter kenny we'll be live from a man harkin charapatist who first opened at lower main street in may of 1972 we'll be chatting about changes over the years and about a man putting his best foot forward so others can so join me john breslin live this friday from 12 on around the northwest at a man harkin charapatist lower main street letter kenny is your water safe to drink if your water tastes unpleasant or has a foul smell it may be a sign that something is in your water brother's tech dunny god provide a complete private well water treatment service using the best water treatment equipment to meet your needs or maybe you drill the new well and the water isn't satisfactory at brother's tech their expert team will also service existing problematic systems if you're concerned about the quality of your water call brother's tech on 087 638 7057 let biz print the printers help with your business marketing and printing to get your 2022 vision off to the right start biz print the printers port road letter kenny call 911 7995 or see biz print dot ie hey yeah oh my god is everything okay you and paul oh jane there's plenty more fish in the ccpc money to breaking up with your bank search for your new match using ccpcs free independent current account money tool find your new account now at ccpc dot ie forward slash move from the competition and consumer protection commission come along to beaver log cabins big weekend saturday 21st and sunday 22nd of may beaver log cabins are ireland's biggest bespoke log cabin company with quality cabins home offices hot tubs gazebos and more located in bonnemy and bridge end this family friendly weekend featured a range of offers discount prices and promotions see beaver log cabins dot ie highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport fancy a city break this summer you can now fly twice weekly to beautiful cologne in germany every sunday and thursday with ryan air ireland west airport you're flying all right mainly dry with sunny spells today scattered showers in the afternoon temperatures 15 17 degrees in fresh and gusty south to southwest wind strong to near gale falls at times along the coast it is just a minute past 11 now it's time for a news update and we say good morning once again now to donal cavern out thanks great good morning one of donnie gall's representatives on the hsc's western regional forum is calling for immediate clarity on the future of the angiogram service in donnie gall and recognition that the catlab at letter kenny university hospital should be fully commissioned the friends of the hospital have raised 750 000 euro as a local contribution to provide the service with claims that the hsc has effectively reneged on the agreement to provide a catlab yesterday sailed the chief executive tony canavan told craig on the line to an intro that a three-person expert panel is looking at the situation and will make recommendations shortly councillor kiran brogan says the service at the hospital at present is excellent and the ongoing arrangement with the other government is working well he says it's worrying that all that could be jeopardised particularly at a time when one of the top cardiologists in the country is based at luh the government is now operating with a way for a thin majority after the expulsion of two tds from the green party nasa hurigan and patrick costlow lost at the party whip when they voted with shin fein on an unbinding motion calling for the national maternity hospital to be built on public land it brings the coalition stall majority down to just one and then they show on councillor is calling for a full briefing on plans for the implementation of the two newer regeneration program announced last year for current on a councillor albert doherty says the plan will see millions invested in the town and its environs but it wasn't referenced at a special meeting last friday to agree alone to provide matching funding for major projects he said he has received verbal assurances from senior officials that things are progressing but he wants a more detailed briefing there was tension at an iraq this committee meeting last night during which representatives of the sea fisheries protection authority were questioned regarding the kili begs fish weighing controversy during the hearing the sfpa's executive chair pascal haze outlined the authority's legal reasoning for insisting on five percent of plagic catches being weighed at the pier site he said manipulation of prior systems of checks from the industry spurred the eu to introduce stricter measures the housing minister says accommodation being provided to ukrainian refugees is not intended to be permanent darro obrain was asked why so many buildings can be repurposed for refugees but they weren't found to address the housing crisis before now the housing minister said the accommodation being provided is effectively emergency shelter and finagle td neil richman says a border poll could be called at any point in the next decade he wants the government to begin preparations now he says it's time to establish an iraq this committee to work through the detail of what a united island might look like and we're back with news headlines again at 12 noon thank you very much indy done all okay uh coming up very shortly paul's going to be joining us in the garden he's not going to be in the garden he's going to be talking about your garden your fire your planting whatever it is you know yourself oh wait six six two twenty five thousand right let's get to your texts and comments here thanks to the people who are trying to sort this out i've had experience with people with heart problems we're from a big county we need this service uh greg i think it's time we in donningall need to take to the streets as we did during the mic issue we have to demand our local politicians to get on board and put our politicians locally put it to them that they will fight for more in donningall hi greg dr david is a top-class surgeon probably the best in this country for the next uh but this uh but his great expertise five years ago probably would not have been around today thanks to him okay so he's the best in the country and thanks to his expertise this person is alive and texting us what a gift to be able to give someone to have that skill in your hands regarding the maternity hospital issue great do you think politicians should be allowed to abstain from the vote as so many did should it not have been a yes or no vote they should have a view or a reasonable defense for abstaining on an issue that is so important yeah of course but their reason probably would be that this has been decided at ministerial level it's a fate of complete and abstaining um there's no point voting because they've already passed it if you know what i mean so maybe that's one argument did we not uh do we need a march in letter kenny if you want if you want things to change probably the only way you're going to achieve it why isn't minister mcconnellog being pulled up over the coals regarding luh will you see he's raising the issue in the doll so he would say i'm i'm a minister for donningall and i'm highlighting this at the highest political level and demanding answers uh the reason we're treated as second-class citizens in donningall is because we accept every government decision submissively our elected reps don't collectively campaign on our behalf take a look at how things are done in kerry another county far from the pale until we take to the streets of dublin nothing will change politicians are not interesting uh interested they haven't got a heart uh according to that listener i i i think realistically personally and i know nothing really but i i just think you could call a protest for dublin i would be surprised if you got more than 500 600 people there these protests at that level happen daily almost um and i don't know what that might achieve uh the the protest on mica obviously very different the crowd was absolutely enormous it's those type of numbers that are required really for people to step up and take notice a lot of dublin called protests get an awful lot of backing on social media and no one turns up the exception being of course the protest over defective blocks a caller says i appeal to those who have a voice to lobby hard to keep the services in letter kenny i am one of those who travel uh to black rock and go away they they are not pleasant journeys another my husband is a type one diabetic he got an emergency referral from his gp because he had gangrene in his toe he sat in the ed for 16 hours was sent home and told he would get a referral he never got it we drove to go away ourselves sat in the ed for four hours he was operated on the next day he was days away from losing his leg so let's talk about the scenario the experience in two hospitals this caller's husband had gangrene in his toe type one diabetic sent to uh letter kenny university hospital by his doctor he was there for 16 hours and then sent home told he'd get a referral they got in the car drove to go away walked into the ed there he was seen in four hours and had an operation the next day now how can that be a caller says thanks to beddy homes for representing us i hope to god your voice is heard where are our local politicians are so frustrated that the people we are voting for are not helping us i i think there's one issue at the moment that politicians would not get elected because of and that's mica the defective blocks issue i think that's the one issue and some might say no i'm not necessarily saying this but some might say that's the one they want at the front whenever they're talking about anything else stick that one out to the front first because that's the most important one some cynical people and i'm cynical but not in this course not in this conversation necessarily might say well that's the one regardless of what party regardless if you know party mike is the one issue that might get you into bother at the election but it's not health is it it's not housing it's not the cost of living maybe the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter kenny credit union 9102127 hear that it's wonderful isn't it the sound of appreciation of love of gratitude and joy yeah let's hear it for our ears love your ears book a free hearing test at hiddenhearing.ie your hearing is our expertise are you worried about trees on your property north west forestry services balibufe are fully insured and have over 40 years experience in dangerous tree removal tree felling surgery and stump grinding for peace of mind call north west forest services balibufe for no obligation quotation on 9132033 are you switched on to your energy rights if you're worried about rising energy costs and you're having difficulty paying your gas and electricity bills you should contact your supplier suppliers are required to assist customers in genuine financial difficulty and can put in place payment arrangements to help you manage your energy bills if you qualify as a vulnerable customer due to health age or for other reasons you can register with your supplier for additional protections switch on to your rights and visit cru.ie brought to you by the commission for regulation of utilities and you welcome back right we are in the studio with uh Paul McLaughlin from bollock dirt garden center garden center letter kenny uh Paul welcome back onto the show could have you with us thank you great what's the story ah story why have you pushed that microwave uh microwave mic so far away from that's it i'm sure it won't bite you yeah won't sting you all right uh so the story is good the weather's still not exactly plain ball sort of very unpredictable and unsettled but it's hopefully going the right direction and yeah it's consistently mild though day and night which is the the big cake but it's rain sun rain sun we're getting so many different seasons all at the one time hopefully hopefully june will be better right is there anything in particular you think we should be at in the garden that's changed since you were last in pretty much bed and plant season has really started that's sort of our traditional real busy the last time we spoke to you you were saying well you know maybe leave it a week or so we're happy enough you can go at it like you say it's consistently mild now all the time so there are no big danger of frost coming but it's all fair it's all fairly good to go so it is yeah that's what we want um right so the risk of frost is gone that's the main problem with bedding plants isn't it so we're through that now right so i mean i always want to speak to sort of talk to people who haven't garden before and they listen to this item they go it's not for me or i don't know where to start right because but they might say you know maybe a bit of color around the house would be nice it could be on a windowsill you don't have to have a big garden what are the benefits of bedding plants benefits of bedding plants they really do like a lot of people see them as a sense summers here like the real add a real splash of color you see some of the businesses around the town there even people's houses just covered in flowers this time of year and it's real just cheerfulness it just brings cheerful nads color and it's actually very good if you have people sit out more this time of year in their gardens so you're getting things so um if you have like a dull area of the garden just by putting a pot into it and it just bright instantly brightens up the whole area and causes a pot as well it's not like a big bed it's very manageable for people to see somebody starting out in garden them very manageable take a look after pot next year a couple of pots and then sort of go from there yep so you could be living in a an upstairs apartment or something if you've got a an outdoor space yeah you can put a pot in there windowsill balcony anything there's plant suitable for every every area do they have to get any sun ideally to get the full benefit of flowering they will um get a decent amount of couple hours of sunshine a day you can sort of if you have a dull area you can pick plants to suit somewhere some plants actually like like quite dull damp areas so there are plenty of advice there in garden centers where people can actually advise you on plants to suit every area but enjoy them make sure you get to glance at them they brighten up your life on a daily basis and they're not overly expensive so sort of trial and error as you yeah right now in terms of their maintenance a lot of water but not too much water what's the story there and in terms of feed how often should you be feeding pretty much water is actually a thing uh water is the key to the whole thing so there's once they're watered pretty much they're a fast grown plant so we can fend off most sort of attacks from anything basically uh water if you get them to the habit of checking them every day they may not need watered every day but if you get into the habit you'll sort of what are you checking is it the soil is it the pretty much the soil the compost in the pot or whatever um just obviously if the surface is damp you're not too bad and if you actually just use your fingernail as a gauge if you stick your stick your finger into the compass the depth of your fingernail if it's dry down at that point yeah because the top's gonna potentially always look dry because it'd be wind dried and sun dried it's really where the roots are that's what you're checking for is it exactly okay but um generally get into June July you're realistically going to be probably watering every yeah okay which is kind of uh therapeutic anyway so once you get into the routine you'll guaranteed half an hour out in the fresh air who would how often might they if at all need a little boost uh boosting generally it's a good idea because you want a lot out of your plants you're going to have to put the stuff in as well so generally every two weeks you can use sort of powdered form stuff like a miracle grow that sort of stuff or very much in fashion when it would be seaweed it's actually they're good seaweed products made now and only all that are perfect feed for your bed and plants now they will look like they're dying but they will come back this is where the deadheading comes into it is it yes deadheading this deadheading is important for two reasons by taking the deadheads and spent flowers off your plants you're sort of disrupting the plant's life cycle and what that's doing is you're denying it the opportunity to produce the seed and by doing that the flower goes on all of that or losing the seed i'll produce another flower so it'll continue to flower that way and by deadheading as well you're generally tidying it up and you're sort of removing the spent flowers out of it and how often i mean like at what point do you do that because you know they can sort of look half knackered um probably it depends how regular you are with it or how much it's actually if there's loads of flowers on the pot you could sort of take them out yeah and the gaps will be filled very quickly too wouldn't they and um how do you do that you you nip it how far down from the base of the flower itself uh pretty much from the base of the flower you go back to stem maybe about about an inch yeah right okay and just nip it with your sort of thumbnail and just to to make sure that they're not being killed off by anything what she'd be looking out for uh once again if you're in the process of sort of watering them every evening it's very easy to spot pests and diseases that come up the most common thing probably would be greenfly which is quite easily treated once again the the quicker you spot a problem the easier it is dealt with yeah of course yeah um if one plants bulbs in pots now do we need to keep them indoors until they come out or can they be left outside um this is a person with just the slightest tinge of green on their fingers they're they're new to the game yeah suppose it depends what sort of bulbs is involved but um not generally pretty much anything will be grand outside at this stage yeah okay uh i'm wondering where's the best place to keep young hydrangea plants of the winter months these young plants were grown from cuttings the past spring well we're through the winter now but are they looking towards next year quite possibly uh hydrangeas would be the probably the most popular thing to grow from cuttings or from slips so generally a shelter place where they're actually going to be sort of out of harsh ones uh say around the back of a shed or something where they're going to sort of get regular water uh yeah on them for waters that don't try out okay i grew a small wildflower patch this year i'm wondering what is the best way to allow these wildflowers to grow again next year without having to sew new seeds most of the flowers seem to be marigold corn yes um someone like that ideally you would have done it maybe at the back end of last year sort of september october as the flowers are starting to fade a lot of people just go in and strum it and let the grass base out of the flowers fall down and what that does is that knocks off all the seed heads with the process of the strummer so it sort of redistributes the seeds so i pretty much give it a few weeks now and see what's coming up and if you think it's if you think it's a bit sparse it might be an idea just get a small packet of seeds yeah scattered over all right if you dig up tulip and daffodil bulbs how do you store them thank you dig up tulip and daffodil bulbs what i would then do is sort of take the whole area of soil with me as best you could and put it into a big pot like in terms of digging them up and storing them it's uh normally we start at the end of the summer you'd be digging them up and then you'd sort of dry them out but if you're actually going to replant them again in the relatively near future i think just take the whole area of soil with you put it into a pot just let it over summer and that yeah call it says there are no apple petals or blossoms on the apple trees yes um it's there should be at the stage pretty much some varieties are a wee bit later than others but um generally there should be some sign of blossom um might be a wee bit late this year but it's a good idea anyway to encourage flower and things to treat the tree with potash self in a potash hind rangers and rhododendrons they're all burnt from the storm lift turn black yes about that um rhododendrons quite doesn't change the leaves very often give them we feed even a wee boost now with someone like miracle grow someone like there will help to bring them on the hydrangeas won't be long recovering they're actually quite vigorous plants so they'll recover quite quickly yeah if i have a section of uncooked grass in my garden is that enough to attract pollinators do i need pollinator friendly plants amongst the grass or is the grass in and of itself and what might pop up between it and off yes generally a lot of the scientists would tell you that the best thing to do for wildlife in your garden is to do nothing just let it go and if one of the best two the best plants for pollinators at this time of year is clover which naturally comes up through grass and your dandelions which naturally comes up so generally i'd say what they're doing is probably the proper thing just leave it alone and nature will take care of itself all right i have an old stone building i want to convert into an apartment it has had had ivy on it for a number of years i can't pull it off because it's attached to the stone work how will i remove it you answered this last white last time so might as well go through it again yeah um generally what you do ivy is a sort of slow process because it's such a grip on the stone work but the best thing you do is just cut it off at the base and remove like about a six inch or a foot piece of the stem to make sure that it doesn't reattach itself and let it die back naturally over the course of about nine months three years it should loosen its grip and then you can remove it safely what causes staff on an apple tree and how can it be avoided staff i don't know that might be a miss spell we'll get that answered again uh i had lots of daffodils they're starting to brown and with her now can i run them run them over with the lawnmower because they're on the edge of the lawn yes it's it's very tempting so it is but all the books and all the science will tell you not to because what they've done they've actually taken on all the power from the sun over the last while it has stored in the green leaves sort of and it's stored in the green leaves and the ideal thing is let that die down naturally back into the bulb what some people can do with them there is actually fold up them basically and tie them into a knot or even tie them down to an elastic band get some sort of way out of sight but they don't lose their energy reserves that way no the lawnmower the lawnmower you're taking away the energy reserves you see okay listen paul uh i have to rush through a little bit today thank you so much for uh calling in to us and uh busy busy busy for you i'm sure yes busy very busy all right all right fantastic listen paul thanks very much indeed uh paul moglockland there he's the gardener at bannock third garden center letter can he just down the road from us here isn't paul it is yeah so if you want to call down and have a chat with paul and the team there you're more than welcome okay we're back with our next guest shortly the 9 till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering mycu current account and debat mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account covid 19 can still cause serious illness especially in people at higher risk we need to keep protecting each other so stay home if you have symptoms wear a mask in healthcare settings public transport and busy places let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors keep hands clean and get a covid 19 vaccine and booster let's keep looking out for each other from the hsc for us all for a great early season lawnmower deal visit gortley sales and hire exclusive stock is of steiga in the northwest moors streamers and head streamers full trade and service available at gortley sales and hire gortley letter kenny call nine one two six two seven six fly with loganair from city of dairy to edinburgh and immerse yourself in the live shows at street food of the fringe festival this summer with discounts for children aged 11 and under book now at loganair.co.uk 15 kilo luggage allowance as standard when it comes to searching for a holiday atlantic travel and other kenny deal with all the major tour operators from dublin and belfast to find you the best deals available a week in the sun a cruise or maybe a short break whatever suits you can book in confidence with atlantic knowing your holiday is protected shoot something go wrong take the hassle and worry out of your holiday booking with the award-winning atlantic travel said oliver plunket road letter kenny for a quote today see facebook visit atlantic travel dot ie or call nine one two six one nine three milford tiles wood flooring and bathware milford retail park now open large range of wall and floor tiles on display and in stock over 70 different laminate floors to suit every pocket tylers and wood footers available new bathware showroom now open milford tiles wood flooring and bathware zero eight three zero nine one zero seven zero seven come along to beaver log cabins big weekend saturday 21st and sunday 22nd of may beaver log cabins are arland's biggest bespoke log cabin company with quality cabins home offices hot tubs gazebos and more located in bonomi and bridge end this family friendly weekend features a range of offers discounts prices and promotions see beaver log cabins dot ie okay friday marks international trial day cancer trials areland they're hosting also a public seminar marking international clinical trials day just ask campaign urges patients to ask doctors if a trial is suitable for them right we are joined on the program by a couple of guests i'll first introduce evlyn monroe who's ceo of cancer trials arland evlyn thank you so much for joining us it's great to have you here right now i i i think a lot of people might go well if i go on a trial right that might stop me getting you know the tried and tested treatment and i could be down there i could be part of a the group that gets a placebo while others get the uh get the treatment and i'm not prepared to roll those dice is there anything too that uh thinking and feeling like that no and i'm really glad you asked that question greg thanks very much for having us and when you're on a cancer clinical trial in ireland and the placebo is the best standard of care treatment in cancer so irrespective of whether you're on the what we call the investigational arm or the placebo arm you will always be getting the best care and the best treatment available that's really interesting yeah that's that is that is important now when something by the time it gets to trial stage right i presume there has been already uh investigations done to uh get to a point whereby it could work it's likely to work maybe it's been seen to work yeah so a clinical trial that would be at a relatively advanced stage of of a new treatment would it it would and and i suppose we've all been through uh our own clinical trial with uh covid over the last two years and we've all become really expert at watching you know what happens in clinical trials particularly with vaccines i would say in ireland we're not doing first in man or first in human trials in this country generally when we're organizing clinical trials in cancer they're what we call phase two and phase three they've already been tested in humans they've been tested for safety which is important so what we're looking for is efficacy does it does it actually work in the question that we're asking in the disease area that we're asking the research question in um and i think that's very often um this is not a hard sell for people who have cancer where maybe there are no treatments or there are treatments that are there aren't optimal they want to get access to those investigational drugs they want to get on those trials and so so that's a good thing for us yeah and in terms of you know and i think one of the myths that you meant uh that that's uh you're trying to dispel presumably is that you're a guinea pee yeah the person is far beyond that and i presume that also get a very high level of care perhaps even with no disrespect to the rest of the health service might even a higher level absolutely 100% so you could have put it better myself you know and there's loads of research around that to show that if you've got a hospital ward that's doing a lot of clinical trials the standard of care goes up because if you if you actually hurt your knee in a game of football and you're on a clinical trial you will be brought straight into the clinic to observe you and the effects of that in the context of the trials everything that happens to your body during a clinical trial is monitored closely by the clinical research nurses and doctors of the whole team so you are getting a better standard of care and that's why we're advocating for more clinical trials in Ireland because not only is it offering patients more treatments it's offering better standards of care but it's the owners too much on the patient to go to a doctor particularly in a very stressful situation even when they're sort of being told that the treatment options that are available to you may not really be worth putting you through for the potential outcomes like I mean are gps leading this or medical professionals leading this or is it up to people because they're not one thing uh say just ask like should we in that moment where where clarity can't be sought and often people can't even remember the moment they've had that conversation yeah are we putting too much emphasis on the patient to just ask I completely I completely get where you're coming from as a patient advocate you know when you're sitting in that room and the doctor is telling you you have cancer sometimes you don't even hear what they're saying and that's very often where you need to have one of your family members that probably the family member that's the best at listening and taking down notes and understanding what's going on even if you have a clinician or a nurse or something in your family it's important because you're not taking it all in and you're absolutely right the owners shouldn't be on the patient but very often you know in this space patients want to know more and patients want to drive it and unfortunately you know within our system we don't have enough clinical trials happening and so some a clinical trial might be happening in Dublin that's not happening in Galway and if a patient asks look you know what I'm really interested in trials that gives the doctor the opportunity to say well actually we do have something happening in another site and or in that site and I think it's no harm but the members of cancer trials Ireland who are involved in clinical trials will always screen patients and most of our hospitals in the country you know they have meetings every week about the cancer patients in their hospital and it's called a multidisciplinary team meeting that's where all that they're all together talking about you the patient and very often it's at that point that the clinical research nurse or doctor will say do we have a trial for this patient so it isn't it isn't just the onus is not just on the patients and I have to say you can't log on to clinicalcancertrials.ee and get yourself on a trial you know it's a conversation between yourself and your doctor your cancer doctor do you have any statistics as it relates to how many people who are offered a trial to take part in a clinical trial accept it yeah well we actually we're going to launch some some research tomorrow and within each of the different disease areas it's it's it depends on the type of trial and so you could have like with a trial where there's no other treatment available where it's you know you're going to have a patient somebody talking now next I can guarantee you anyone that was asked to partake on that trial took it so as long as they pass the screen so you have to pass through and ensure that you're eligible to be on the trial and they would take it but if you're being asked to partake in a clinical trial that maybe isn't going to enhance your quality of life that's a different different ask and I don't have all the stats but it depends on the type of trial but I don't want to steal the thunder of the next of the next person no it's a good example you know it's Aiden McNamara who's from Nocknacara Galway Aiden good morning to you thanks for joining us good morning Greg it's great to have you with us right okay so you did what was supposed to do particularly when we reach a certain age we're over certain ages go for your annual NCT your annual checkup with the GP tell us how that went for you back 2013 something was flagged yeah and I'd be fastidious really Greg every year to go and see my GP so for instance I went 2012 and all results came back perfect then I usually go on my birthday which is in February I went 2013 and the week later he rang me and he said could I send you to a consultant concerned about your white blood cell so he sent me to Janis Krautschek consultant hematologist and he discovered her he came back to me saying I had CLL which is chronic lymphocytic leukemia which to me is elevated white blood cells and what are the treatment options for that or what were you told at that time by your medical professional there were no treatment options it's a system called watch and waste and of course I said wait for what and he said you'll certainly know when the waste happens you know so so is it whether or not the blood cell can't stay as it was or whether it would it was rising and it may drop back a bit and as it drives again so I was going every six months to this and I would just say we're still waiting we're still waiting and I said we're waiting for what and he said you'll know who you know so you was it like not I don't mean this in a religious sense but it must have felt like you're in purgatory there you know you're you're not well but you're not sick enough for a treatment or there's no treatment plan and such there's no treatment plan and then 2020 Dr Krautschek asked me would I be interested in the clinical trial and I said yes of course yes of course and and I jumped at a chance you know and I'm so delighted I did all right so that began relatively recently then didn't it began in December early December okay and how is this is this a particularly you know new inventive approach or what what is the nature of this treatment that didn't exist before well these are all drugs and oral drugs and infusion drugs that are existing already so it's run by cologne university so I was on a randomized selection for either one drug two drugs or a drug and infusion and I was drawn out as a drug plus infusion so that meant I was going to UHG and Galway and I can only praise the the nurses and doctors there they were brilliant and cataward so I was an inpatient for three or four days and I'd be getting an infusion and then starting oral oral drugs as well for chemo and is the successor otherwise of this treatment uh trackable in other words you are five or four or five or six months into the treatment so far it's 12 months of treatment are the doctors able to determine if it's having a desired impact yes yes of course every day I take I'm I'm now at the stage where I don't have to go back to hospital for an inpatient I just go back once a month now for an infusion and I have four and chemo or tablets every morning and I I am I fill out my forms for my clinical nurses I have three clinical nurses who are brilliant Sarah Michelle and Marion and I bring this back then at the end of the month and I presume this all goes back to cologne university and they they do their trials this way you know okay um right just just to say on that I mean that we got there are over in it's lovely to talk to you and I met some of that team um two days ago in Galway University Hospital they're absolutely delighted um with the trial we have over 60 patients in Ireland on it remember we opened this trial during the pandemic you know very difficult time for a patient to go in and out of hospital very great that's true for all the patients who did but this was a trial that I think is fair to say in you and and the others were waiting for and you've seen a decrease in your white blood cell count so totally I I'm I'm actually now taking an injection once a week to increase my white blood cells it's it's so good to hold and set up you know all right Aidan and it gives you a pathway it gives you something to have your head on you know as a part this thing of I'm sick but uh there's no treatment and wait and see every time you go back to see the doctor it's just an absolute you know at least there's some structure this we are yes we have a chemical I think that allows us when we know what we're dealing with to deal with it but when there's uncertainty or we don't know what's going on that's when we struggle a bit well many of us do Aidan yeah totally totally and I'm delighted with this super stuff and you've not really had too many side effects no loss of hair what's the general sickness feeling like no nausea no nothing and now I maybe I'm unusual in this but I I'm just so lucky you know well good to hear it listen we'd like to hear that too thanks very much Aidan continued uh success for that uh for you um what about the feeling that what about the the emotion of say for instance you say right okay I'm going to try this and then you fail the screening you know people might go what you know I can't deal with another blow here I've put all my eggs in this basket I've built myself emotionally here I could go through the screening process and they could say no there's another patient that we might get a better results with uh and just face that or they'll never say that they'll never say that what people might think in their heads in advance yeah it is it is no you're absolutely right um very often the oncologist or the hematologist will know like Dr. Yannis Crackdack knew um that Aidan would be a probably a good candidate for that trial and very often you do know that where it becomes tricky is where there are rare and this isn't a good that trial isn't an example of this where there are very rare targets within the tumor or within the blood cancer and and we've seen that we've seen that recently with cervical cancer where certain drugs worked with some people and didn't work with others because of the pd1 target and that's that's what happens and it is disappointing but you know that that watching weight is happens to a lot of people who are in that space that is but but is indeed story fantastic and you know what we've done in cancer trials Ireland and and Dr. Yannis has that you know we have a relationship with the University of Cologne and groups all over the world and why would that bring these trials here do they sort of like in other words they're out finding enough people taking part in trials in Germany or is there always an international field to it where they'll have it in various different locations you have to have diversity in your trials so the people who partake in your trials have to be diverse in order for the treatment like they're back 50 years ago they only had men on clinical trials things have changed you know women are on them as well exactly exactly and it's diverse and I think one of the things as well as recruitment is always a challenge so that's why you organize trials on a global basis a lot of the trials that we organize in cancer trials Ireland we're working with groups all over the world on the same trial that also ups your game intellectually because you're working with clinicians all over the world right okay so as a campaign saying just ask also there is this webinar is it webinar or seminar or blend I don't know free it's a free webinar okay so it's taking place on between two and three on May the 20th that's on Saturday in the afternoon tomorrow is it Friday yeah it's on Friday okay you can register by emailing info at cancer trials dot ie if someone wants to just go on to a website and just have a look around I'm sure there might be testimonials there are other information whatever what's the what's the url come to cancer trials dot ie and if you just log on to that tomorrow you'll get straight on to the webinar all of our trials are listed on cancer trials dot ie with lay summaries so if you've got cancer and you're sitting at home or your family do have a look at that if you see something that looks like you could you could be involved in it go to your doctor and talk about the trial and because that's what we're here for thanks for all your time I appreciate it and Greg thanks a million take care have a good day right yeah we'll be back with more after the line till noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter Kenny credit union 9102127 is your scooter a little older pre love perhaps what adventures I wondered did it have in the past another family another life bright city lights or a quiet country existence seeing islands best sights we don't really need your car's story with a scooter service you get a complete vehicle health check genuine scooter parts and free roadside assistance for 12 months your local scota dealer is dmg motors clara dunigaltown telephone 07497 21396 or visit dmg motors dot ie live exports soar as new markets beckon for more in this week's irish farmers journal is paul mooney israeli market open for irish wheelings as beef price heads for six euros a kilo dairy cow reduction scheme on the cards we have the details we have advice for your silage trailer health check and we share top tips for sheep dipping and tagging plus we have all you need to know as a consumer before booking your summer holiday only inside this week's irish farmers journal you cannot afford to miss it is your car due as service for the month of may get your car serviced at i motors letter Kenny and avail of a free vehicle health check and a free oil change for more details check out our website or facebook call us today on 0749134567 to book in terms and conditions apply this friday around the northwest is celebrating with the business marking 50 years in letter Kenny we'll be live from aamon harkin charapatist who first opened at lower main street in may of 1972 we'll be chatting about changes over the years and about aamon putting his best foot forward so others can too so join me John Breslin live this friday from 12 on around the northwest at aamon harkin charapatist lower main street letter Kenny okay you're welcome back to the program uh green party tds nessa horrigan and patrick costlow have had the party removed and been suspended for six months the parliamentary party agreed to the proposal late last night after the tds voted against the government in the doll the green party chair is senator Pauline O'Reilly i'm delighted to welcome her on to the program uh it's a tough one this for you senator isn't it because you know uh many of you in in that letter that you uh that many of the green party members signed in april seem to be on the same page uh the rest of the signatories had their minds changed but nessa and patrick stalked her their guns you could say as watchdogs of the government which i think was one of her uh a pre-election commitments and now the punishment is they're out of the party uh the parliamentary party not very fair is it hi Greg well this isn't really around punishment this is because we have a parliamentary whip system in our country and when you're in a party you are expected to vote together and both deputies i have the utmost respect for continued to have respect for but it was a decision unanimous decision last night to accept the recommendations of the whip and that was you know they were asked to vote in a particular way and vote in a different way but both were fully aware that there would be sanctions and indeed we would expect fina fall and fina gale to face sanctions if they did the same thing on an issue that's what government means that you do vote together it's absolutely essential to get your work done in government and to get things over the line but when it comes to the national maternity hospital we all in the party in the green party want wanted it to be built on public land that's still the gold standard but the land simply wasn't for sale and you can keep on saying that you want something for ministers later we need a national maternity hospital and i think the last two year two weeks have been have been very good but also indeed the change over the last week or the last month has been that we now see that the lease of the land is for 300 years and not 99 years it also specifically says that there will be no religious ethos and that is repeated over and over but i mean you wouldn't you wouldn't like like you wouldn't if you had you know 400 grand spare you wouldn't build your house on my land would you a lot actually a profit property is on leasehold in ireland and indeed in many countries leasehold and is actually a valuable and even with penalties where you can end up paying huge rent if you don't do precisely what the landowner suggests well if you if you're speaking about this particular contract it's quite clear that it is to have a maternity national maternity hospital on it and i think that that's very reasonable if you were to sell your your leasehold on somebody else and it was to open as something completely different and you were to get major profits from it you would expect that the original person who owns the lease would actually want to see that profit but fundamentally this is about the fact that Vincent's hospital want to ensure that their hospital stays there and right in the middle of that would have been a national maternity hospital and that you know could go at any stage that that just what i don't understand is what i don't understand is that is they sold land before for the location of of a hsc facility property right um what is the big resistance to selling this land i mean if you're prepared to give it up for 300 years what would what's the resistance to actually selling it unless uh there is something else going on i mean really you who's going to be around in 300 years to worry about whether you're not you facilitated uh full public support for the location of such an important institution like if you're going to give it for 300 years what's the big resistance to selling over this pocket of land now because if you sell something you have you you don't know what it's going to be used for that that's really what it is so they wanted to control over what this facility was to be used for and that's why they want to retain it as a maternity hospital and 40 percent of those who work in vincent also work in the maternity hospital so it's shared services it's right in the middle of their site right in the middle of their hospital essentially you know everything is going to be pretty much shared so you you can kind of understand it from that point of view that's not to say that the government didn't request that they purchased it but look i think we're going over it it's decided now anyway but i just want to ask you are you satisfied that every every avenue was explored through this process to not delay it substantially but to try and come up with a resolution are you satisfied that all options were explored completely and i believe that this is this isn't the best interest of the women of Ireland i fundamentally believe that i appreciate that others may not share that but i think that the majority of people who have heard all of the facts at this stage the majority of people agree with that point as i say not everyone but that that's the way it is in politics people are going to disagree but the decision last night was about not necessarily this specific issue was about the fact that we need to continue to operate effectively in government we have been achieving in government some of our recent achievements such as the 20 percent reduction in public transport 50 percent reduction and our fees should i say cost 50 percent reduction for those of you could just now get us a couple of bosses up here that we could ride on and avail of uh rate of those discounts that would just be i absolutely agree with you on that but but these are parts of the reasons why it's important for us to be in government and to be at the table child's care we are we have the minister if you want to get things over the line and this is key you know to work together okay just briefly i know you're basically a lot of calls i'm sure uh do you know if you can uh look forward to enjoying the support of deputies horrigan and cost low in other important votes which will be coming up obviously the the majority says uh is very narrow at this time if they indicated what the situation is there and if they intend to reapply for membership of the parliamentary party in six months time well we certainly hope that they do come back into the fold in six months that would be our hope um there's you know they're free to vote how they like now and i would certainly hope that they will see the merits particularly in the budget we do have a majority still in government albeit slim and and it's not ideal it's not where we want to be but we often find that people do decide to vote with government on issues and but ultimately we have a unity of purpose in the green party we are committed we went into government knowing that there are difficult decisions but in this particular instance it's the absolutely the right decision for the women of Ireland form ministers later we need a national majority hospital to be built and so we believe that it's the right right decision senator pauline alrighty thanks for your time today i appreciate it have a lovely day okay take care right so we put up a couple of snap polls on our social media particularly twitter and also on instagram and we were asking the question based on what we've been talking about today and for weeks now and for eternity does moving to the northwest of Ireland mean accepting lesser health care services now before i read out the answers to that what i thought was quite interesting was that we've spoken to people living in belgium for example which has a very good health service and it was a a woman maybe a family who wanted to move back to donningall but they didn't or couldn't move back to donningall because of the health service their health service was so good in belgium i think it was belgium they couldn't move back to donningall because they didn't trust the health service here well anyway does moving to the northwest of alam mean accepting lesser health care services on twitter 93 percent of you believe so seven percent says it does not another commenter on it it shouldn't but it does on instagram 50 says it does 50 percent says it does not so there's always a variance between those two social media platforms right okay paul lennon is football correspondent with the irish daily star he joins us now thanks for your time today paul appreciate it greatly good morning great right okay talk to us about this guard investigation this major development then in it over the last day or two yes um early yesterday morning mainly in the south of the country and which was one incident in dubham 10 people were taken to custody by the guard to help them with allegations into match fixing in league of arland games dating back three years uh last night eight sorry five of the 10 people detained were released and a four of the four were released this morning so the best one one person still detained about this it the investigation dates back as i say to 2019 possibly earlier into suggestions that in a small number of league of our matches that there was influence sought to be exerted by players and by one or two people outside of the playing staff of a certain club to try and influence how a game ended and obviously they would have spotted unusual betting patterns that would have been flagged they would see that the the the bookmakers have very very intuitive algorithms that can pick this stuff up but i presume there has to be some sort of a chain of evidence i'd imagine it might be quite difficult to prove based on you know what you think might have happened paul yeah that's not paul a big important sorry uh but i am paul sorry yeah big part it's a 64 million dollar question and you're right i've mentioned that in today's star is that over the years i've i've come across and other people in the game and and the media have come across suggestions and speculation that there's been match fixing going on and i've been skeptical of a lot of these but i also would believe that at certain terms yes there's a substance to the allegations um but i i i go back as i said today in the paper five years ago there were allegations of a match fixing at atlantown football club that did not go to the garden she had called the garden she didn't call it felt that there wasn't enough evidence for them to investigate now within football within the fei's rules the fei charged two players at atlantown with with um uh seeking to influence the the outcome of the game from from for the various reasons both were found guilty but one appealed and one is case and um that shows you that as you say it's very hard greg to get evidence on this issue yes when certain betting patterns come up on boogie screens the red lights start flashing in their hq's and there's there's all sorts of the of of the red flags go up the the fei the fa the sfa all football authorities are then notified if boogie's believe that there's odd um sort of sequences of betting on a certain match and a lot of these people probably are uh you know go about their daily life relatively normally i suppose you interview arrest an awful lot of people you could probably progress an investigation better if one of those wants to clear their conscience or has some information i'm not saying that as it relates to anyone arrested as part of this part of the investigation but i imagine that would be a key uh for progressing this for gaudi yes i would be because i go back to what you said the right side of the break is that getting the evidence is very difficult so if you got someone who wanted to so-called to to fess up to maybe make a clean break that would be the best way or else you need somebody who's closely involved or allegedly closely involved to give really hard concrete evidence because again it's interesting that nobody in this country has ever been charged of with match fixing never never mind convicted of match fixing in the courts of law in this country all right so i think that shows you um how difficult the challenge yeah okay well we can continue to read your coverage of this into the future in the irish daily star paul lennon football correspondent with that paper thanks so much this morning i appreciate it you're welcome all right paul have a great day uh we'll come back with the weather forecast the lintel news show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today at cherrymore kitchens and bedrooms we are now operating out of one new state of the art showroom in dunning all town and we invite you to visit our new 5000 square foot dunning all town showroom to discover the latest eye-catching designs remember at cherry more you're dealing directly with the manufacturer which means high quality kitchens at factory prices start planning your dream kitchen or bedroom by calling cherry more on zero seven four nine seven two five eight double tune cherry more 25 years delivering value quality and service all over 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hospital but to give you the weather today he's going to continue mainly dry with some sunny spells the odd scattered shower around too though temperatures 15 17 degrees and those winds will be fresh and gusty and much stronger on the coasts tonight mainly dry rain will develop though in the west and become widespread towards morning heavy in places lowest temperatures through the night seven to nine degrees so we do have a little bit of time here now to go through some of your comments so i've been waiting for an early four weeks for a ct scan i'm getting mixed reports as to if i can actually get one because of my pacemaker can someone let me know if i can actually get a ct scan with a pacemaker uh hi greg people laugh at barris johnson lying all the time are our politicians uh any different hi greg arland is finished it's becoming uh like you would have to be a millionaire to live in it if i tell my three children every week when they become the age get the hell out of this country it's just pay pay pay and a new law new law every month thanks greg the government don't want to know about donna gold because we're no good to them when it comes to elections they feel donna gold people are geared more towards the shin fane camp i'm not i think we're think for ourselves i don't think we uh necessarily um i think just we're free thinkers up here all right that's and that's why we have to leave it on the show