 Lee very nearly never saw me this morning. Why, what happened? He was as close as I've come to sleeping. Oh, you were thinking, we bit of a cough? No, sleeping in. Did you have a big sleep? Yeah. Were you tired? Do you know when you start snoozing when you're half asleep, you snooze the alarm? Yeah, you did that this morning. You were tired. What time did you get to bed last night? No, I was fine. It wasn't that. It was pure laziness. Where's it? No harm, actually. Well, I need to be lazy. Yeah, well, I got here, I'm fine. But you're all right. It was close. Do you want a coffee? No, I'm not. I'm fresh, Lee. Thanks. All right. All right, fresh boy, good luck. All right, take care of yourself. And it's the 9th of June. Show the start of another week. Let's get the news update at two minutes past nine. It's over to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. There's further calls for the report into flooding at Lettokennie University Hospital to be published. The chair of the regional health form says it's shocking that 11 years on since the hospital was devastated by the flooding, reports have still not been made public. The CEO of the Cielter University Health Care Group, Tony Canavan, says in the back of legal advice, they are not in a position to publish the report at this time. Cancer General McGonagall says while works have been carried out at the hospital, the cause of the flooding needs to be established. The millions have been spent in remedial works to ensure that the flooding doesn't reoccur again and it seems to be working. But that's not the point. The point that we need to get to the bottom of is why did it happen? How did it happen? And what the proper planning procedures that were in place followed at that time. And I think it's also imperative that the public are made aware of the investigation into it and to the report. And I would hope that that report will be published generally later. HSE employed GPs could become a possibility in areas where it's difficult to attract and retain staff. It's included in the terms of reference for a strategic review of general practice that to be completed this year. The review aims to identify challenges facing the sector such as GP shortages and highlight where improvements should be made. Reforms to I-devire's GP services will also be considered in the review to improve accessibility across the country. There's been a 15% increase in the number of people presenting as homeless in the Northwest. Latest figures published by the Department of Housing show that during one week in February, 146 people including 30 children accessed emergency accommodation in the region. In the Donegal leach room area, 56 people were with light at home, up 14% when compared to the previous month. A man in his 30s has died following a crash in County Trone yesterday afternoon. The single vehicle collision involving a Vauxhall-Vivare van occurred at around 10 past 3 on the Garvala Road in Fenton-Aire. The man died at the scene. Police are appealing to anyone with information to come forward and they say they are particularly keen to speak with the driver of a dark-coloured Toyota Hilux who was seen in the area yesterday afternoon and who police believe it can help with their enquiries. Finally, for weather, mostly dry day today with a mix of Clyde and Hazy sunny spells. Some spots of light rain and drizzle with highest temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio. News for now will be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Cracking Easter offers from Aldi. Cadbury Dairy Milk Chunky Egg 400g, only 9.99. Plus, Super 6 fresh Irish meat and fish offers like Smoke Coley Philips, save 13% only 2.59. And Milk Chocolate filled mini eggs for 79 cent, which saves even more of your Easter bunny money. Nah, I don't like it like that. I love it. Aldi, every day amazing. Chunky Egg offer limited to two per customer while stocks last. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning to you. Five minutes past nine. It's Monday, the 3rd of April, 2023. How are you keeping? I hope you had a lovely weekend as we head into a fresh new week. On a fresh day, actually, seems quite pleasant out there. Hope it is the same wherever you are. We are open for business now. The phone lines open. You can give Caroline or Arnie a call right now on 07491 25,000. This is something you want to talk about, something you want to get off your chest. Now, this can be something that put you down over the weekend or something that elevated you as well. We want to hear all of your stories too, by the way. We're not just here looking for, you know, negative stuff or stuff that affects you in a negative way. If you've had something good happen to you too, we want to hear it. You can WhatsApp protect us on 08662 25,000. WhatsApps and texts, 08662 25,000. And emails come to us at comments at highlandradio.com. And of course, if you want to, if you haven't before, make sure, if you want to watch the show, you can head on over to YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland. That's through your Firestick, your Smart TV, tablets, laptop, wherever, where you want to watch us or cross our Facebook pages. Good morning to Tracy and Michael, who are already joining us watching the program today. Let's look at the newspapers this morning and we'll go inside the Donegal News. Tourists turning their backs on Ireland because of accommodation shortage. And I think we're going to be hearing an awful lot more about this. This is in the context, of course, that over 50% of Donegal's hotel rooms are currently being used to deal with the refugee crisis. So half of the rooms available in this county already are occupied. Fulcher Ireland's most senior official has told the Rock does the visitors are turning to other countries because of the lack of accommodation here. Paul Keely, Kelly, sorry, was among a panel of representatives to address the Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sports and Media Committee delegates from the Irish Hotels Federation and the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation also made some missions on the challenges facing the visitor sector in Ireland at the moment. Paul Keely said that testing stand, one in three guest beds outside of Dublin is contracted in the state for use as international protection accommodation. And as I mentioned in Donegal, that figure stands at around 50%. It's a little higher, I think about 52%. So what impact that will have on tourism tourists coming here because if you can't get accommodation, you don't go somewhere, you don't turn up on a wing and a prayer, you book your holiday and if you can't get accommodation, you simply just don't go there. Now that's all right if the hotel's a full, they're making money, probably more money than they ever made because there's guaranteed occupancy, those that are involved in that scheme. But there is your local CAFs, your local restaurants and so on and so forth that won't see the fall that they might ordinarily see. And I said, this is something we were talking about well over a year ago and the chickens now are coming home to roost. That's accommodation for tourists. What about accommodation for people living here? It's covered across all papers again today. It's a story that's simply not going to go away and why should it go away? The Irish Times, the coalition is braced for further controversy over the ending of the eviction ban with new figures said to show that thousands of notices to quit rented properties were served on tenants at the end of last year. Just days after the moratorium came to an end, the residents tenancies board is due to publish data outlining how many landlords issued a notice to quit to a tenant in the final quarter of 2022. Now we know this already, what's it? 4,000 were issued. That was before the last quarter of last year when they were anticipating this no-fault eviction ban ending. So it could be an avalanche. The draft version of the report has been shared with government officials and according to a source shows a similar number of notice of terminations being issued between October and December as in the previous three months, a total of 4,741 such notices were issued between last July and September. The government decided not to extend the ban on the so-called no-fault evictions beyond March 31st, which it put in place in October 30th last due to a severe shortage of accommodation as winter approached. It prevented landlords from evicting people even if they could be issued with a valid notice of termination. So as I say, that's one that's gonna rumble on and on and on. Owen O'Brien for the opposition has been a key figure obviously from an opposition perspective in holding the government to account. And he did so or tried to do so with a tweet at the weekend which I understand the point he was trying to make and if you take the politics aside, I mean his party obviously very much opposed to the ending of the eviction ban but it was an image without any explanation that didn't have Aiman Ryan in it, it didn't have Leo Faradkar in it, it didn't have Michael Martin in it, it didn't have landlords in it, it didn't have arguably all the people that you might feel or some might feel might be responsible for the ending of that eviction ban. And he said it had Garde and it was Garde sort of superimposed and it was Garde from an actual eviction by the way, it is a work they do carry out, Garde superimposed on a famine eviction and it drew an awful lot of anger from government TDs, of course they're gonna hop all over it but also members of Angada Shia Khanna were upset at it because Owen O'Brien then had to explain and when you're explaining yourself that the Garde weren't the target of his point, it was the government but it was the Garde that were front and centre so the Garde are upset at it. Did you see the image? What did you think? Oh wait, 60, 25,000. I described it on social media as a PR disaster and of course then loads of people were sort of getting on to me about this, that and on. It's not about the politics right, but if you wanna make a point and then you say no words needed but then you have to explain it and there's gonna be more explanations going to have to happen at the start of the week. It's not good PR. It could have been done in a different way perhaps but he stands by it and that's up to him. But Justice Minister Simon Harris obviously he saw this as something that he could get involved in. He'll today strongly criticise Sinn Fein for increasing the risk of attacks on members of Angada Shia Khanna through what he deems are inaccurate and provocative posts on social media. And I'm not quite sure it'll increase risks of attack but what it did invite is an awful lot of criticism of Angada Shia Khanna from all political spectrum. Those who have an issue with the guards it was like a red light or a green light sorry to sort of jump on it and criticise them. And I think that's what's gonna bother the guard more even though they do be involved in these type of evictions even more so than the risk of attack. But anyway, in remarks clearly referring to a weekend post by Sinn Fein housing spokesperson Owen O'Brien which borrows heavily from artwork relating to land war evictions in Ireland of the late 19th century. Mr. Harris is expected to say that this approach to an already sensitive issue is dangerous at a time when assault, hostility and aggression against Garde are on the increase. The minister's comments will come as he addresses the annual conference of the Association of Guard of Surgeons and Inspectors. But I'd be very interested to hear what the AGSI believes the government is doing to offer them any further protection because the guards are looking for measures which aren't yet forthcoming. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of reception the justice minister gets in that context. Staying with the Garde, this is in the Irish Daily Mail. Garde have criticized unfair comments by Commissioner Drew Harris that staff who misgender colleagues could face disciplinary action and have called for the new transgender policy to be withdrawn. In February, the force issued a new policy document, gender identity in the workplace which stated that compliance was mandatory for all on guardish economy members. And staff last week, Mr. Harris said that the misgendering of a person could lead to discipline. Those comments have sparked anger amongst Garde who say there has been a lack of consultation and education on the subject. The topic will be discussed at the 45th Annual Association of Guard of Surgeons and Inspectors Delegate Conference which meets today in Galway. Right, onto the tabloids. Now not a great deal in them, not gonna lie to you. Let's start with the Irish Daily Star. Security will be boosted at the Aintree Grand National after a plot by animal rights activists to sabotage the event was exposed. And I'm really surprised this hasn't happened on a grand scale before. I do recall a number of decades ago someone running out in front of the Grand National but more than 100 protesters had reportedly backed animal rebellions plan to make a statement in front of the iconic racing events global audience. Undercover footage showed members talking of using ladders and bolt cutters to beat security fences at Aintree ahead of the race on April 15th before gluing themselves together as a human barrier on the course, animal rebellion. Once all animal farming and fishing banned and an end to horse racing which is claimed is animal abuse but they were caught out undercover plotting that and their security has been greatly, has been greatly increased. I read this because I don't believe it. Do you feel that you have to change your accent for your smart speaker? Lots of you out there now and many of you listening on this are listening on your Alexa, your Dart or your Google Home but apparently that's a smart speaker by the way that's connected to the internet and you can just give it voice commands. A quarter of Irish people admit to toning down their accent because voice activated devices like Alexa can't understand them. A study found 72% of the population use voice assistance during the course of the day but with varying success. Some 46% of Kerry folk, 44% of West Meath locals and 40% of those in Mayo and Sligo confessed to modifying their pronunciation to the machine so it could comprehend them. A fifth also acknowledged screaming at the application in frustration when it was unable to carry out their wishes. I've done that, I'm not gonna lie to you. Residents in West Meath, 38% go away 29 in Mayo, 27 were found to be the most likely to lash out at voice assistance after accent related hiccups. I don't see a figure for Donagall here. I'll have another glance through. We've probably got a press release into the email at some point but do you find that you have to tone down your accent for your smart speaker to fully respond to you? Let us know. I know it's not the most important thing in the world too but there's light and shade. Oh wait, 60, 25,000, do you have to? Set your soul release so your smart speaker will switch your lights off or play Highland Radio. And finally in the sun today, big nose blokes are, now check your wing mirror or check your back mirror. Or turn to your right and have a look at his nose. Big nose blokes are more likely to cheat on their partners of pulsates. More than half 52% who admit doing the dirty sport above average sized hooters. Of those, 78% believe women are attracted by their large facial organs but only 10% said the women they had flings with also possessed a large hunker. All right, okay, that's that. Oh wait, 60, 25,000, if you wanna get involved in any of those issues, those topics, give us a call to 07491-25,000. We're gonna be talking about an incredible fall of rain and its impact towards the end of last week. So stay right where you are and hopefully if you're listening and you came across it, you'll wanna get involved in the conversation too. Leta Kenny Medics are pleased to announce that Dr. Paula Gomez has joined the practice and is now taking appointments for free mail screening with services that include complete medical examinations, physical examinations, blood test, cervical smears, advice on menopausal fertility hormone profile, AMH urinalysis, cervical smear, ECG and 24 hour blood pressure monitoring. Choose your level of service you need today and find out more by booking your immediate appointment by visiting letakennymedics.ie. Leta Kenny Medics, we listen if you want to talk. Do you know what I love about Leta Kenny Shopping Center? I love it because everything I need is under one roof. There's fashion shopping for women and men, health foods and cosmetics, test schools and pennies, free parking and late night shopping Thursday and Friday. I love it because Leta Kenny Shopping Center has it all including homework, jewelry, hair and beauty and revolution laundry and their free car park. Leta Kenny Shopping Center, so much choice and open seven days. Let BizPrint the printers help with your business marketing and printing to get your 2023 off to the right start. BizPrint the printers, we'll draw Leta Kenny. Call 911-779-555 or see bizprint.ie. Highland Radio, time checks with Expressway. Travel route 32 from Leta Kenny to Dublin. Expressway, bringing you the time at, the time's 18 minutes past nine. Right, we're joined on the programme now by Marion. Good morning, Marion. Hi, good morning, Greg. Good to chat to you. Now, talk to me about these flash floods. It was Friday evening, wasn't it, as we headed towards seven o'clock? You were out and about, what did you see? I would normally, it's up in the Drumfordshire area here up past the crossroads. I would normally travel this road on a regular basis because I live, I go up there and I turn the mirror left up at the junction, I get up to my house. But I travel it often, and pretty often it's flooded. And quite badly flooded. And Expressway, the last house seems to take, as you go up the hill, seems to take the brunt, all the water. And I've noticed it over the past six or seven years that I've lived up here. And, you know, I've seen the council has been out a couple of years ago trying to fix the problem because the wee man in the last house is always getting flooded. And it goes down quite a bit, I suppose. But the fire tonight was just an alleviate so. It was that bad, I was, I had to move to the canal, obviously, because it was like the river coming down the whole road. And I've got my daughter to fill in the road because the road was actually breaking up. And there was no way to get up the road. It was just a flow of the river coming down. And I noticed a couple of the neighbours were out at the end of this, especially where this elderly man lives. We'd been on boards, some type of boards. There was a manhole or whatever. It was too far up to see myself trying to help the man to stay in his house. And then other houses below his house, you know, obviously, potentially. I've never seen anything like it. I've seen it once normally. I've been looking up, you know, to some extent. But I've never seen this before. I've been on 58, been driving for 38 years or so. And I was just turning the car, you know, it was getting out of the other houses as well. It's some force and you could actually see in the video that the road breaking up was robbing. My daughter was taking the video. So I headed back down the road to go back into the crossroads at the bridge and attempted to go up by the Duryville Creamery. He's passed by the local's note and take a left and try and reach my home from the upper way. Took a left and drove down there. And that was just, it was a force, it was frightening. And it was like a river and it was so, it was a river and burst of it because we're up at the top of the mountain here, so I had to actually reverse the car all the way back up one to the main road, then head up to Glennealy Primary School and go round by the left and ended, I took on a journey, ended up taking me half an hour. I mean, I was just so shocked. I mean, people have any problem, these people living, I've seen it constantly flood, well, constantly, regularly flooded the past six, seven years. But in the scale, actually, when I was turning my car, I spoke to one of the neighbours and I says to him, I've never seen anything like this before, you know, an island. And I says, and I've seen it flooded here often, but this is just, and he had said that the council had been up a couple of years ago. And even after that, he said, what it is today, he says it was like this, even in the past couple of years, this is the second time that it would be in such a bad state that apparently it ruined his garden, his garden with the force of the water. And I know a friend of mine lives in one of the houses, I heard that even the concrete in our yard, it was tearing up, you know, their house, tearing that up, no, I don't know how bad that is. And then so that ended up, Caroline's in the video on Facebook. Well, listen, thanks very much for sharing your experience with us, Mary, and I really appreciate it. Sounds shocking indeed. Lawrence is a, is a homeowner in the Killy Gordon area. Lawrence, thanks for joining us. Good morning, Greg, and thanks for having me on. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry to be speaking to you in this context, because it started raining about 4.30 on Friday. How quickly did you realise this was going to be a problem for you? It was on about 10, 15 minutes after that. I went out and it was heavy rain, about 4.30. And the next time I went out again, the flood was ready to come in the door. I had a barrier already and something in the house in case of flooding that I used before. This was maybe second, third time. And I put the barrier across, but I couldn't do anything else with the water out on the road, which was about five metres out from the door, and only for the good work of my neighbours. They were there, they were finishing up work. They were there, what, in 10 minutes? And I would have been a lot worse situation, but the water still got into the house, into the kitchen, four inches, and into the little dining room again. So this is the worst time ever. Now, it's an on-going issue for the last 12 years, and I have been on to the council and writing them to them, and fairness, the council did come out and do what the thought was necessary at different times and regarding the flooding. At this time, I think I had two council workers out and overseer and another man this morning, early, and nothing can be done until engineers come and assess the problem. And Lawrence, from your own perspective, I mean, obviously the water will quickly subside, but I imagine there's an absolute mess in the house. Is this your own property? Like, are you responsible for bringing it back up to a livable standard for yourself, Lawrence? Yeah, I'm not hearing you too well, Greg, because of the bad note. No, no problem. I should speak a little louder. What I'm saying is, is this your property? Are you responsible for its repair now, because it's going to be left in a mess, even though the water is gone? Yeah, well, I've been working to 12 o'clock on Friday night and then on Saturday again, knocking out the kitchen, throw out mats and whatever. But I sort of got sort of used to the idea of the flooding for the number of years. And I was just appealed to the engineers at the stage to come and have a good look at what's happening. And when the water passed my place, down the road, it went on to other neighbors, ripped up concrete and destroyed another man's garden completely, just washed in decorative stones away onto a burn. And what the solution is, just I would be up to engineers. I'm not an engineer, but... But can you pinpoint something that happened 12 years ago that led to this? I mean, are we seeing more rain? Or was there a development or...? And I think the pipe work has been overwhelmed and it's not out there to take the flow of water now and with maybe something to do with climate change. There are more extreme flooding everywhere and storms and whatever. And I would put a lot... I mean, what way back years ago, maybe the pipe work, everywhere was sufficient enough to take the water flow but not anymore and it needs to be looked at, especially here in this area and the way where I am. And there's a lot of high land above me. Yeah, everything, every bit of development contributes to it. Every new house, maybe it's new water going into the drain or taking runoff or whatever it might be. Finally, Lawrence, obviously you've been through a very difficult experience. You've got a great attitude you shouldn't have to have in that roll your sleeves up and sort of get the house clean because you're somewhat used to this happening. But we don't want this happen to gain. But what I wanted to say is you're blessed, obviously, in fair play to having brilliant people around you in terms of neighbours and those that were... Can I mention some of the boor's names that have helped me? The airwaves are yours, Lawrence. Do you name whoever you like that helped you? Right. Well, first of all, I have my next-door neighbour here, Sean Kelly and his son, Stephen. And she must have done it and his son, Dara, came with a tractor and what else? A link box. David Byrne down the road as well. That got damaged on Mark Lynch. We were talking to this morning earlier. And Mickey Gibson, who lives further down the road, about half a mile from here, soon as he heard anything was going on, he knew that I'd be in danger and he came to help. And without all them people, I wouldn't get full. Alright, Lawrence, listen, hopefully we can get to a solution here so that you don't have to live in fear of this happening again. In fair play to your great neighbours and friends that were there for you, Lawrence. And even when the council put in some pipes here a way back years ago, I was more left in charge to clean the grittons and stuff like that to keep the leaves away often. And it's just sad to see the road all being rubbed up. Alright, Lawrence, listen, thank you for your time. And an awful weekend you've been through. Councillor Patrick McGowan has been waiting patiently, listening to both Lawrence and Marion there. Thank you for your time this morning, Councillor. I do appreciate it. I mean, you heard from Lawrence there. He sounds like a very pragmatic individual. He sounds like he should be more peed off than he actually is, but he's clearly an absolute gentleman. There's just no doubt about that. But what is the story? What needs to be done now to stop this happening in this Dromfergus area of Killy Gordon? I mean, firstly, if you want to start with what you learned, have learned about what happened on Friday evening. Yeah, well, just I hadn't been long down from there. Yeah, as you know, we had the minister and Mr. Norder making just the fish open. Now, just as that was finishing out, there was quite a bit of muzzle coming on around, you know, and I went home a few hours later then, I just got a phone call from the neighbors up there and couldn't believe it was that bad because when I was up and out, it was just a muzzle and so I landed over there. And obviously the main flash flood, if you want to call it that, had just sort of had just gone by and there was water running all over the fields like just everywhere and there was quite a bit of damage. Just to say, there's probably about 50 to 100 metres of road completely washed away. There's just about four to six inches of tar and such just sitting there all the way in the lumps. There's big tracks down the side of the road. And it's to say, a lot of us had washed down to Lawrence's house. He was the first house in that road. And then a lot of the debris and everything else, they went down into people's gardens, just washed away all their stones and things around the nice gardens. There are gradeways, everything. All the place was just an absolute mess. In terms of fixing this, is this a problem in terms of drainage in front of these houses or along these houses or are the problems much further up, which would make it a much bigger job in terms of controlling this flood water? Yeah, in my opinion, it's much further up. I've said this before and this happened. The council has been out different times and they've piped, repiped drains and diverted drains further up and they've done some work lower down, but it's too late for us further down. They need to go up. There's actually two roads here. There's an upper road and a lower road and the water's rolling down through one road into the fields and I know the council has been out and this is very important. I've been speaking to local property owners or landowners trying to get agreement and this is something you would have heard the country was talking about many years ago, 45 years ago, you had land drainage committees on the council but the council wouldn't work with landowners because there seems to be, there's obviously these big summer flash floods coming and a lot of the landowners and property owners and forestry and everybody else do a lot of their own drain but they just drain the end of their property and we seem to be getting a lot more water. But the problem is, I know you're talking about this and that's historic. Going back 40, 50 years ago, there was one office in Donegal town that coordinated all of this and we spoke to the gentleman in the past that used to work in that office and they didn't see any of these problems. It was all joined up thinking, we're not there. We've been talking about trying to get there for a number of years of course and I don't think that's going to be the solution going forward with respect. So how serious are the council taking the issue of the flooding in this area? We can't have people like Lawrence and others living in fear of this floodwater. Patrick, are you getting any sense from those you're speaking to that they have a solution in mind? No, I did once with the first ridder about this as well because it's that area and there's two roads on either side and they're being flooded as well. It's coming halfway down the hall, nearly nearly school there and the problem is to me, they're addressing the problem in the wrong area. They're addressing the problem down at Lawrence's house and they need to go up and to get some of the water away. The one thing the council needs here, and this is nearly always the case, they need cooperation with landowners, saying that very clearly if they don't, the council, now what happens in this case here now, the council will go out to an engineer and investigate, they will apply to the department for a special grant now to resurface that road and to learn more drains, but if they just put the same drains in the same place, we're going to get the exact same problem. But there is a responsibility as to not with landowners to make sure those drains are cleared, that the runoff from their land doesn't necessarily go out onto roads. I mean, maybe they have to get a little bit tough here because I don't think anyone would want to feel that their inaction is causing this kind of heartache and inconvenience to someone like Lawrence, an absolute gentleman. No, and you're 100% right. There's also the case that landowners believe that waters enter in their property from an upper road or from somebody else. It's this sort of, every year now the council, within the HMD, the council's doing about four or five community assessed schemes for the work of landowners, property, doing drainage, pen and pipes and re-deburton, all working together, very, very successfully. Lots of people out there know these schemes to see them happen. So there is fondant through the department, you have to apply and prioritize. This would certainly be a priority. And the council have to redouble their efforts and if it is a case that landowners are not cooperating, then the council is called a local authority. I will forget in funding, right? Getting funding, getting works approved and all that kind of stuff. And I know what has to be done to do that. What I'm not hearing though is anyone telling you and us, if they wanted to, a solution. What are they seeking funding for? What are they going to do about it? What will fix this problem? Do you know, there's no point fixing that road again, putting up a few signs, changing a pipe when it seems quite clear and I've never been there. And my first question was, is this a local problem or is it further up? So you know what I mean? And you've been there and you identified that. So what people like Lawrence need is solutions. What's going to fix this? And then we'll talk about getting some funding and spending it. That's what's absent in this conversation. You've got a theory, I have a theory, Lawrence has a theory, but we have very expert people, I would hope, working within the County Council to say this is what's causing it, this is how we fix it. That's what people like Lawrence want to hear, I think, Patrick. Yeah, well, Lawrence and I, and most of the neighbours down there, we all have one mind of what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. And the council has been doing small remedial work, which has obviously not, it's actually got worse. You know, it's just a bit old when you look at what happened. That's the worst yet. So the council knows now what to do and I would say that very little design work that I think they could do it through the way, but they're going to have to use the authority, part of the local authority to go on and do it and it's no good. They can't do it any longer. And if they're going to spend money now, we'll have to open that road again. They have to start the drainage and then do the road and save these houses because certainly, and only for them good neighbours, I think, and I did see them all out there in large, large situations, they're a lot, lot worse. And they just left themselves. You'll be told to go to insurance, but you're not getting insurance for that year after year. No, and it's no way to... Because, you know, you talked about it being a missile. You never really know what's happening half a kilometre up the road and what's going to come washing down the hill. And he doesn't deserve to be living in those circumstances. You know, he's a taxpayer like the rest of us and it's not his fault and you recognise that too. By the way, I hope you don't think I'm preaching to you. I think we're on the same page on this. I agree on that. OK, well, listen, keep us in the loop on it, Patrick, and hopefully a resolution is fine. Thank you very much for your time this morning. It's greatly appreciated. 08, 6, 60, 25,000 WhatsApps and texts to that number. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. Tommy Bowe and many more. Shop LK and one for all gift cards, accept it in store. Visit Green Shoes and discover the perfect footwear to complement your style. Green Shoes at Market Square, Leta Kenny Shopping Centre, Fulcara and online at greenshoes.com. 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Top brands include 1880 Club, Diesel and Tommy Bowe Footwear, all at great prices. Stand out for the big day at Watson Men's Square. Open seven days a week on Main Street Letter-Kennie and at whatsonmenswear.com. The world awaits you. Make that dream your next adventure. Cruise the Caribbean. Sail from Crete to Corsica. Soak in Santorini sunsets. Dine on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Stroll through cobbled streets for hidden gems or bring the little ones to a magical wonderland. Trust the award-winning Atlantic travel to guide your next adventure. Step through our doorway to the world. Atlantic travel, Letter-Kennie. We should all be grateful to Vespila vulgaris, the common Irish wasp. Because Vespila vulgaris is equipped with an early warning system. Only audible when you're in harm's way. Just like front assist, driver alert and lane assist. Early warning systems equipped as standard on Volkswagen's T-Cross, T-Rock and Tygo SUVs. Which only kick in when you need them. Search Volkswagen SUV. Volkswagen. Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport, thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family. Flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote, New York and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland West Airport, don't just take off, take it easy. So it's a mostly dry day today with a mix of cloud and hazy sunny spells. Some spots of light rain and drizzle will occur. Highest temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees in moderate to fresh south to south east winds easing by the evening. Now they are forecasting some wet weather over Tuesday night into Wednesday. But beyond that, for the next couple of weeks, they're long range forecasts are telling us that things might be quite dry. Right, okay. We are joined in studio now by John Joe McGowan, who's Chief Ambulance Officer with HSE West. Thank you so much for joining us, John Joe. Good to have you on the programme. Good morning, Greg. We're talking about the Pathfinder Alternative Care Pathway. It's one of a number of measures being introduced at Latter-Kinney University Hospital to address overcrowding at the ED. So can you talk us through it, John Joe? This is a trial, is it? Yeah, no, not so much a trial. It was trialled in Dublin, Greg. So Pathfinder's a new service been introduced in Donegal. It's an initiative between the National Ambulance Service and the Latter-Kinney University Hospital. And it includes a team which respond to or low priority 999 calls for older adults. So this team basically goes out to the scene of the low priority calls and assesses the medical, functional, and mobility assessment of the patient. And that's all with a view to keeping the patient at home as opposed to transporting them to the busy ED department. So the team is made up of, it's a multi-disciplinary team. It's made up of advanced paramedics from our side and then from the hospital side, it's made up on the community side also. It's made up of two physiotherapists and two occupational therapists. And as I say, their view is to go to this call set or group of calls in our low-acuity or low-priority calls and assess the patient with a view to keeping them at home. Have you any concerns that this might take a while to bed in that you might have patients or their families that want to err on the side of caution and they might feel the hospital setting is the right place for that, even though all the gear, all the expertise might be at the house, but you know what I mean? They've probably got to the point where they've made a decision that the loved one needs the care that a hospital can give. Yeah, exactly, Greg. So when somebody dies 999, they're nearly always in that position that they've done all they can at home. They've predominantly gone to the pharmacist and got the medications over the counter and so on and so forth. But yeah, that's definitely, and that's what one of the teams trained to do is speak with the family members, speak with the patient, first of all, and then also speak with the family members to reassure them. But the team also has two sets. So the first part of the team is to avoid assess the patient with this view and then there's a follow-up part to the team where within 24 hours, they make contact with the patient again and then further assessment. As opposed to also just leaving the patient at home, I suppose it does what it says on the tin it's a Pathfinder project so it finds alternative pathways for the patient. Because there are another group out there, John Jo, who might be reluctant to call 999 because they don't want to end up in hospital. And there could be poor outcomes as a result of that. So there might be a counterbalance there. In other words, we might catch people that ordinarily might delay to the last minute to call an ambulance. Yeah, exactly. So you do have the two ends of the spectrum, and one of them being the patients that don't want to call an ambulance because ultimately they don't end up in the hospital. And that's one of the groups of patients that this team is geared to help with that view to keeping them out of the hospital. Send them on an alternative pathway and hopefully avoiding that experience of long hospital delays, et cetera. Now, of course, you're using medical language in terms of low level and that type of stuff and what might be deemed as low level and not requiring acute hospital might be quite serious to someone else. And that's very understandable of the language that you use because that's how you prioritize patients and what have you. So what kind of calls do you think might be able to be dealt with at home? It's gonna be on a case-by-case basis with a follow assessment, don't get me wrong. But can you give us sort of some examples of cases that might end up in AD waiting to be assessed on site that might be able to be sorted by this other system? Yeah. So this pathfinder predominantly looks at the over 65s and the call sets that we were going for that would be things like non-traumatic back pain, falls, sick persons that's prioritized through your triage system as a lower priority sick person and traumatic injuries that's not life-threatening. So when you dial 999 Greg, you're put through a triage system and that categorizes the calls into six categories. On one end of the spectrum you have your echos and deltas which is very serious life-threatening and cause your cardiac arrest, your respiratory arrest, your chest pains. And then on the other side of the spectrum is your alpha and omega calls. So that's what this group has aimed at is these alpha and omega call groups. A lot of people attend the Kent University Hospital with respiratory complaints. Would they be classed as sort of alpha and delta? The respiratory complaints depend on the severity and the triage system sort of determines that. Some most predominantly would be classed as delta, your shortness is a breath or predominantly all delta calls. But then on the other side there is small one, say the likes of the calls and flus or the yes, more so much the flus with the high temperatures and all that there. They can be very serious for the elderly. Yeah, and that's why you have the experts that call out, I get that, but like dehydration, things like that. Yeah, all them things. And the clinical assessment will come in to play with the advanced paramedic. And then the other assessments will come in with occupational therapists and the functionality assessments and the mobility assessments. And this team also carries with it equipment the likes of walking frames or commodes and different things like that. It'll be able to help the elderly and their day-to-day living at home. I mean, in your heart of hearts, do you see this as, I mean, we know the necessity of this, okay? And we'll talk a little bit more about the impacts it might have. But in your heart of hearts, do you see this as an advancement in terms of the care of the elderly who are already feeling like they're the root of all problems, you know, the way things are presented in the media? Me and you don't believe that, but I've talked about that in this programme before. So do you see this an advancement in an improvement of healthcare for them? Is it maybe a step back to keep them out of the acute hospital? Or is it a sideways step whereby they're going to get the same level of care, but just maybe in a different environment? No, it's most definitely an advancement, Greg. Everything now is moving towards care of the patient closer to the homeless. Most want that, don't they? Yes, exactly. So it's most definitely an advancement. This is a highly skilled team of a multidisciplinary scale that they'll be able to bring basically the hospital services that they would get in hospital to the home. And again, that follow-up gives the reassurance to the patient that they're not being left alone. We're not just going out and seeing them and they're being left there, but it's that follow-up piece that gives the reassurance and helps them. And I hope you know, I'm sure you do. The motivation for my questions is to help in that reassurance, not to in any way question the service. So presumably then, this means that a person who qualifies for this, and that's all done through the triage, by the way. No one's going to be, no risks are going to be taken. I'm absolutely sure of that. That they will get treatment, a retention much quicker. I mean, rather than maybe being in an ambulance for a couple of hours outside the hospital or being in the ED on uncomfortable chairs, waiting to be triaged and maybe eventually seen, they might have that in the comfort of their armchair in the front room or in the bed or in the house. I mean, and also then, of course, it can be difficult when people have been checked over and things aren't as bad as things might seem. There still can be delays and discharge. So they're in there when they don't really even need to be in there and they want to go home as well. It's impossible to put a figure on this side, I imagine. Or is it? Like, how many cases do you think this might take from the acute hospital? Or how do you feel it might impact the services there? Because this is part of a raft of things, isn't it? It's not one thing that's an all silver bullet. This is one of many initiatives. So can you give a sense of what kind of impact you think this will have on the hospital? Yeah, so in terms of figures, off our call volume, 20% fall into that low acuity bracket. So if you take, for instance, in the Northwest, on average, we do about between 60 and 60 being a good day, 75 being a very busy day. We do about 60 to 75 calls a day. So we're hopefully having 20% of that volume seen by this team. Then in addition to that, this team that it was previously set up in Dublin, on average, it's keeping about 60 to 60, 60, sorry, to 70% of their patients at home. So it's quite a high percentage of being kept at home. I hope this works. I think this could be really, really significant, especially through no fault of the hospital necessarily, hospital acquired illness as well. Do you know where someone goes into hospital for something and ends up catching something else? It happens all the time. And we've talked to the hospital manager about it. It's no slight on them. Here's the text. Had this service for our elderly father at the end of last year for dehydration, after a couple of hours, he was comfortable in our own home, a great service. That's the kind of thing we're talking about then. So yeah, that caller's probably talking about as this service is not live, it goes live this week. That caller's probably talking about another service that we have is which is the community paramedic service. And that is again, like the Pathfinder service, its view is to keep people at home and treated at home. So that's a paramedic or an advanced paramedic on their own, going to lower acuity calls with a different, they look at things like the dehydration, they look at the catheterization and stuff like that there. And the generally unwell people, again, with a view to keeping them at home as well. What impact might this have on ambulance availability in response times? Yeah, so it's, we've well broadcasted, Greg, that we have a demand versus capacity issue, where our demand is growing day on day and our capacity isn't growing as fast. So we hope it's one of the strings and the bows to help alleviate this pressure that we're seeing on the ambulance service in the county. As I say, we have other initiatives ongoing, the likes of the community paramedic. We have a clinical hub, so when you dial 999 now, it goes through a further assessment by a doctor and a nurse and an advanced paramedic for, again, these low priority calls. So again, as you said earlier, it's no silver bullet, but hopefully with all these things coming together, we hope to keep on top of that demand with this additional capacity. We've also made it well known that we're in a massive recruitment buzz at the minute, so we're recruiting, we hope to double our workforce in the next five to seven years. This isn't done at all? All over nationally. Over the last number, over the last year, we've increased our staff count by 12, and we hope to, in August this year again, increase it by another seven. They're small numbers. This is kind of a random one, but you know what, it might fall on one or two sets of years. If someone has an interest in this and they're 16 or 17, you know what I mean? And they're listening or whatever, and they might have an interest in this area of health. What do you study? Like what is the pathway to qualification in this area? Yeah, so your science subjects in your leave and set would be one of the big ones, and then maybe get involved in some of the voluntary organisations throughout the country that likes to order them all to the Red Cross and Johns Ambulance and that there, too. And that gives a sort of an inkling into what's to come in this area. Well, that's it. And this is your long-term plan, but I remember the time of the crash, 208, 209, there was no one went to study architecture. And then three or four years later when things turned around, there was no one coming out, because we think in the moment, you know, rather than what might be coming down the line in three or four years. So call us, does this mean, for example, that antibiotics via IV and O2 needed will be put on at the spot, if appropriate, of course, instead of taking the elderly person from the warm bed in the district hospitals and nursing homes to LUHED? So we've been talking about residential responses, so does this apply to... Yeah. Go ahead, yeah. No, not so much residential responses. This is more in the home. The residential responses, this team is set up for more mobility and functionality assessment. So it's moving away slightly from that medical. Now, it's very much in its infancy, and the team will expand throughout the years, but... But presumably, there's an element of professional triaging done in a nursing home. Is there a registered hospital that, in other words, they're far more at an advanced stage to make a call on whether acute hospital admission is required, I'd imagine. We don't have that skills base in the home. Yeah, exactly. And most residential nursing homes in that have the likes of GPs attached to them. They have a nursing cohort of staff and they have a more advanced assessment technique and they have more access to assessments that you wouldn't have in your home. So thus, ruling that group of calls out. For the time being. For the time being, yeah. And when does the pathfinder alternative care pathway then begin to be rolled out, or are we speaking as it is? So the team started this morning. Now, they have a number, they have a training element to go through for about a week and a half. And so, and that's different things like they have to do their manual handling training. They're coming from the hospital setting. It's a slightly different techniques than that in the community. They have a MAPA training course and that's to deal with violence and aggression that may come across on scenes. And then they have a number of the occupational therapists and the physiotherapists have to do their advanced life support training, et cetera. So that takes about, and they're going for a ride along with the Dublin team, also for a number of days. So we hope, not that we hope, but we aim to go live on next Wednesday, the 12th to tender first calls. And presumably no risks will be taken. No, definitely not. If this team determined that the best care for the individual is in hospital, they will still be transported to the hospital. Exactly, Greg. Yeah, following the assessments and they are detailed medical assessments. If it's deemed that the patient is best suited to go into the hospital, that's where they'll be going. Right, okay. As I say, the listeners will decide what they think. It's just, I know, and we get contacted by a lot of people that I think would far prefer to get the peace of mind or attention in their home rather than be, that's very stressful to be transported to the hospital despite the best efforts. Then the delays, either in the ambulance or on chairs, you know what I mean? And then even getting discharged, it can be. So hopefully if this helps the people, we hope it will, that's all good. All right, okay. So this will be just rolled out. It'll become clear. Have you any message to people when these teams arrive? In other words, in terms of trust or this is something new or listen, we want her to go to the hospital? Yeah, although it's a new service, the people on this team are highly experienced OTs, physios and advanced paramedics. They've been, I know from the paramedic side alone, like you could have up to 40, 50 years experience in that team. They're highly skilled professionals. They will not take any risk. The ambulance service and the hospitals and all medical services are completely a risk adverse organization. So they will always err on the side of caution. So just for your listeners not to be worried about that side of things. Again, the follow-up will also help in relation to giving that reassurance and assessment and looping back in within the 24 hours. And again, if the patient's condition does ever deteriorate after that call, we would advise them to call 999 straight away again and we'll have an ambulance with them. Yeah, and there are previous visit will be on file and a further decision be able to make. Exactly, and that's one of the good things about this team too, Greg, is they can tie in with the hospital file systems and they'll be able to get the past medical history and all that information. Know your air code, put it on the fridge as well, if you listen. John Joe McGowan, Chief Ambulance Officer with the HSC West, thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Greg. Back after the news. Show the Mundy Blues the door. Kick them into touch. Banish them for good. With a wheat treat at Kelly's Diner in Erickenny. Maybe a coffee and scone or an all-day breakfast or a burger and chip. With American-style booth seating, fast and friendly service, a menu packed with tasty choices at great value and loads of parking, it's a great stop-off any day of the week. And as always, thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. Take back your Mondays at Kelly's Diner. Mount and Top, Erickenny. Voice travel, Remelton continue to provide quality tours to top attractions including Bloom in the Park, Dublin Zoo and Emerald Park, formerly Tato Park. For details on these and many more tours, see Voice Tours on Facebook or call 9151043. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best and brightest in the business world for the Highland Radio Customer Service Awards, in association with Pijam Ireland. From your local community center to your favorite pet shop or your friendly dentist, we're recognizing the businesses who are making a difference in your community. This award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life. But you better act fast. The deadline for entries is just around the corner. So visit our website and nominate now. Nominations close this Friday, the 7th of April. Live on air online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning, it's 10 o'clock. Donald Kavanaugh at the news desk. 88 eviction notices were reinstated in Donegal following the lifting of the eviction ban over the weekend. It comes following an increase in the number of people presenting as homeless in the Northwest. Latest figures published by the Department of Housing show that during one week in February, 146 people including 30 children accessed emergency accommodation in the region, up 60% on the same period last year. In the Donegal Liedrum area, 56 people were without a home, up 14% when compared to the previous month. Noel Daly, CEO of the Northwest Simon Community, says there simply isn't enough accommodation to cope with the number of people facing homelessness as a result of the eviction ban. I find it hard to imagine that Donegal County Council could find emergency accommodation for all of those households if they presented today looking for accommodation. It would seem to be quite difficult for them to do that, and as we go into the summer and the tourist industry ramps up, it's going to become more and more difficult for people to accommodate new households. HSE employed GPs could become a possibility in areas where it's difficult to attract and retain staff. It's included in the terms of reference for a strategic review of general practice to be completed this year. The review aims to identify challenges facing the sector, such as GP shortages, and highlight where improvements should be made. Reforms to out-of-hours GP services will also be considered in the review to improve accessibility across the country. A search has resumed in County Monaghan this morning for the remains of a County Tarone teenager believed to have been murdered by the IRA in 1975, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains is focusing its search for the body of Colombo McVeigh at Braggenbog in Emmyville. McVeigh was just 19 years old when he was allegedly abducted and killed by the IRA. The search for the teenager from Tarone was halted five months ago due to dangerous ground conditions. A man in his 30s has died following a crash in County Tarone yesterday afternoon. The single-vehicle collision involving a Vauxhall Vivaro van occurred at around 10 past 3 on the Garvela Road in Fintana. The man died at the scene. Police are appealing to anyone with information to come forward. They're particularly keen to speak with the driver of a dark-coloured Toyota Hilux which was seen in the area yesterday afternoon and who police believe can help them with their inquiries. A Donegal ETB is to benefit from 2.6 million euro in funding announced today for the further education and training sector. The money's been allocated to ETB's Rain, Cavern, Monaghan, Kilkenny and Karlo, Leesh and Offley, Longford and West Meath and Debrary as well as Donegal. The capital funding will go towards small-scale works including necessary infrastructure and improvement works and for the purchase of equipment. The Coherlach of the Lifford-Roller Municipal District says Donegal County Council must broaden its response to flash flooding at Drumfergus-Killigordon on Friday evening. Up to 100 metres of roadway was washed away and a number of homes and gardens were damaged by floodwater and debris. Councillor Patrick McGahn says there has been flooding in that area on a regular basis in recent years. He believes the council is focusing its attention on the area around the first house to be flooded but he told Greg on today's 9-2-noon show that they must look at an area further up the road and work with local landowners to improve drainage. And the council has been doing small remedial work which has obviously not... It's actually got worse. So it's a bit old when you look at what happened. That's the worst yet. The council knows now what to do. I would say they're very good at the design work. I think they could do it through the way. But they're going to have to use the authority, part of the local authority to do it and it's not good. They can't do it any longer. And they're going to spend money now so we'll have to open that road again. They have to start the drainage and then do the road. There are further calls meanwhile for the report into flooding at Lettricen University Hospital to be published. The chair of the Regional Health Forum says it's shocking that 11 years since the hospital was devastated by flooding reports have not yet been made public. The CEO of the CELT, the University Healthcare Group, Tony Canavan says on the back of legal advice they are not in a position to publish the report at this time. Well, Councillor Jerry McMonagall, who chairs the forum, says while works have been carried out at the hospital, the cause of the flooding needs to be established. And again, something's meant in the remedial works to ensure that the flood doesn't reoccur again and it seems to be working. But that's not the point. The point that we need to get to the bottom of is why did it happen, how did it happen and what the proper planning procedures that were in place followed at that time. And I think it's also imperative that the public are made aware of the investigation into it and to the report. And I would hope that that report will be published generally rather later. With a forecast it'll be mostly dry today with a mix of cloud and hazy sunny spells, some spots of light rain and drizzle with top temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees Celsius. And that's how in radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team have a very good morning. The obituary notices for this Monday morning, April the 3rd. The death has occurred of Joe McLean, 63 Amelia Court Derry. Remains are opposing at Terry Rohnmovell, County Dunningall. The death has taken place of Bridget O'Donnell, Naye Walsh, Crows and Dines, Sligo and formerly of Dunlowe, Dunningall. Reposing at Sean Feely's funeral home, Sligo, this afternoon from half past four with removal at half past six to St Ann's Church, Sligo arriving at 7 o'clock. The death has taken place of Bridget O'Donnell, Naye Walsh, Crows and Dines, Sligo and formerly of Dunlowe, Dunningall. Funeral arriving at 7 o'clock. Mass of the resurrection will be celebrated tomorrow at 12 o'clock and will be live streamed via mcnmedia.tv. Burial follows in Sligo Cemetery. Family flowers only please by request. Family home private. And the death has taken place of Corn Mehan, Cornwall Avenue, Wood Green London and formerly Killy Beggs, Dunningall. Funeral arriving to St Patrick's Church, Monacee today for funeral mass at 12 o'clock in Fall by Burial in the Adjoining Cemetery. For more details including any family health guidelines for Wigs and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. Choose technology. Choose versatility. Choose experience. Carcher pressure washers. Now available at your local hardware and electrical retailer. Choose Carcher. OK, you're very welcome back to the Ninth of Noon show here on Highland Radio. It's great to have you on board for this Monday. It's the third of April. Good morning if you're just joining us as well. Where have you been? Don't forget if you want to catch up on the show. It's podcast on our website highlandradio.com from one o'clock every single day, broken up into three hours. So it's easier for you to navigate. You can also go on to Facebook or YouTube and watch back the show there if you want to. And it's played overnight as well from times when you're going to sleep, one o'clock and then two o'clock on a Friday, I think. By the way, are you like me where Bar... we tripped to Brussels last week for a show? You haven't really been away for a holiday. Do you know where you can relax? You don't set an alarm. Unless you want to get up and go walking around the place. You don't necessarily have to be cooking and shopping and all that kind of stuff. Well, we have an opportunity for you to avail of plenty of breaks because our big competition running at the moment is your opportunity to win a holiday of a lifetime with Highland Radio. Or you might choose to do what I would. I would go on maybe four or five or six depending on how luxuriously I want to travel because you could do so with the 10,000-year-old travel voucher. It's yours if you win and it sits there and you could have a number of breaks or one big one. It's completely up to you. However, you wish to holiday. It's an association with Atlantic travel. It's not just the voucher either, by the way, because there's 5,000 euro in cash. We've already given away a 2,000-year-old prize last week. So we're looking forward to giving away this 15,000-year-old prize in value. 10,000-year-old travel voucher with 5,000-year-old spending money. Now, you can imagine you might want to do the Northern Lights trip. I don't know. You might want to go on a cruise. You might want to go to Lapland or just maybe hop back and forwards from Lanzarote a number of times. You can do all of that with your 10,000-year-old voucher. 5,000-year-old spending money. Now, you can win all of that for a tenner. That's the most you'll pay for a ticket. You can go on to our website, highlandradio.com. The competition is coming to an end this week. Wow. OK, right, though. So it's this... You've only got a couple of days to enter. I can't believe it's nearly April the 6th already. So if you want to have your name in the trombola, go on to our website, highlandradio.com. Click on Win a Holiday. There's a simple question for you to answer. It's a mechanism we must employ. And you can buy one ticket for 10 euro. Now, if you want to increase the value that you will receive and buy them for other people, or group in with other people, maybe there's six of you and a family and you can get your tickets cheaper, you get one ticket for 10, you get six for 50, so that's an extra ticket for 50 euro, or you get an extra two tickets for 80 euro. So you get 10 for 80, six for 50, one for 10. Now, you have to have your tickets purchased by 11 a.m. on Thursday, the 6th of April, this coming Thursday. Because the draw will be made live on this show and the winner will be announced. They'll get 10,000 euro holiday voucher, 5,000 euro in spending money. The winner will be announced on this Thursday coming. So if you're going to enter, I suggest you get in quick. Now, the website full is secure, very, very simple, but if you don't shop online, maybe you prefer to give us a call 07491 25,000. We have the team here to take your calls and give you your ticket number. All the ticket numbers go into the trombola, which is here in studio with me, and then we'll rotate that and pull out the ticket on Thursday. So just, we're getting close to the final reminder time. If you want a chance to win that 10,000 euro travel voucher, 5,000 euro spending money, it's a 15,000 euro prize total, then get your ticket for a tenner at highlandradio.com. So say if you want to buy multiples, depending on how much money you have, of course, or group in with others, which is probably what I'd do because I'm tight, 6 for 50 or 10 for 80. So good luck if you're entering. I note when we were away last week that the gentleman who won the 2,000, it was effectively 2,000-year-old prizes, was up collecting his check, and we look forward to next week, or even, well, it would be next week, wouldn't it? Another one of you out there across the Northwest, up here collecting your prize, 5,000 euro cash, 10,000 euro holiday voucher in association with Atlantic Traveler, wait 6,000, 6,000, 25,000, is the WhatsApp's and text number, by the way, if you want to comment on the show. Great news about the new service for older people. Yeah, I think it's, I think, hopefully, I mean, obviously we have to wait and see how it plans, plays out, but I think it's a really good option for, it's not just for older people, by the way, we did sort of pick out that cohort because that was my line of questioning because I know it can often be most distressed for people in that age group, but it's not specifically necessarily. Hi, Greg. Very best wishes to John Joe with the new service. Great to hear him on indeed. And the last time John Joe was in studio with us, it was after that awful tragedy in Chrysler. Re-flooding. The council needs to enforce some sort of law to enter land if the owners of these lands don't cooperate. There is no point resurfacing the same road and fixing the same piping if the root of the issue is not dealt with. Proper action has to be taken this time. We're all agreeing on that, aren't we? Donegal County Council is putting in earth to water systems in houses they own, but it's a very expensive system to operate. Many of the people I've spoken to say doors and windows have not been replaced. The system can only work properly if your house is airtight. What is the point of doing a half a job? Plus, there's no underfloor heating. Again, it can only work right if this is in place. Now, I don't know if that's, I know that's what the listener thinks. I'm not sure how that system works. The Guarbarra Conservation Group is holding an information session on Saturday, the 8th of April, between 4pm and 9pm in St. Bridget's Hall, Leicamac Award. It's to help people with letters of objection to wind farm planning application on the Guarbarra River, which is currently before on Ballplanala. People can drop in any time between those hours. That's between 4pm and 9pm in St. Bridget's Hall, Leicamac Award. And it's if you are opposed to that planning application on the Guarbarra River. Another caller says, so we as taxpayers pay for the inquiry into the hospital flooding, yet our lords and masters decide they will not release the findings we paid for. Why is this? What are our betters hiding from us? I don't know. Next thing you know, they'll be doing extensive inquiries into planning and spending hundreds of thousands or if not millions on that and not publishing that. What is it with reports and Donegal that we don't get to see? We don't get to see them. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't know the answer to that. We'll try and get to the bottom of it. Of course, that's what we try and do for you here. Right, some comments. Actually, I'll just read this one about the A&E because it's a positive one. I was in the ED on Thursday night with my baby and I have to say the staff were all fantastic. They never stopped all night. I was there until 5am until I got a cop for my baby in the Peeds. And even though they were run off their feet, they still had time to keep coming back and checking in on us. They were all heroes. I hope your baby is okay. I'm sure they are if he or she is if you're messaging us now. It's this awful... I'm not sure if it's an awful bug, I don't know, but there's a dose going around that's really a clingy one. It doesn't clear up as quick as others do. Our Hudson's had it for now for a few days and it's so bloody stressful. And I'm sure many of you out there with young ones in the house can relate to what I'm talking about. And maybe, I don't know, maybe it's something we have for GP on later on. Maybe we might run past some dos and don'ts in relation to that because GPs do their best, I'm sure of course, but you know yourself, you go to the GP and it could be viral and they send you home and keep an eye on them for three or four days and if anything changes, come back and the temperature's up and down and up and down and there's just... It's really, really tough, isn't it? 08, 6, 60, 25,000 if you or anyone in your house has been affected by that and how you cope with it and what have you just shared your views and your experiences. Acala says, I like the idea of pathway in avoiding hospital delays. We need development of such pathways, though. More community nurse specialists and community hubs similar to the rapid response model in Northern Ireland. It needs extending to children too as they are another cohort that often need care closer to home. Community children's nurses, et cetera would be a great development. Excellent to see this going live and other similar initiatives. Yes, indeed. OK, we'll be back with more on the 9 till noon show after we take a break for the bingo numbers. The county's number one talk show. The 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Monday, April 3rd. You're playing on a green coloured sheet. The reference number is S6. It's game number 14. The numbers are the number four. 27. 90. 44. 50. 60. 89. 71. 17. And 69. Phone your claim to 9104833 for 8 p.m. tonight, leaving your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book. Get all your NCBI Bingo information at HighlandVideo.com. Exclusively at McGinty Tractors Open Day on 30 6th of April from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Visit McGintyTractors.com. Highland Radio, time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Letty Kenny to Dublin. Expressway, bringing you the time at... The time is just turned 19 minutes past 10. Now, you're very welcome back to the programme. We welcome onto the show now Dr Dennis McCawley, who is chair of the GP subcommittee of the Irish Medical Organisation and also a coroner. Thank you for joining us, Dr McCawley. It's great to have you back on the programme. Thank you, Greg. Right, now we're talking in the context of you and your colleagues calling for a prescription drug licensed here, classified as a controlled drug after toxicology reports indicated an increase in poisoning deaths linked to its toxicity. So can you talk to us about the drug and why people might have it in their systems ordinarily? I think it's a drug called pregabalin and quite a number of your listeners will probably be on this drug. It's primarily used when somebody has nerve pain, whether it's sciatica or from their neck that it's actually used. So it's a very effective drug and if somebody's on it, they're not to worry about it. But it is also a drug that, particularly if you have a tendency to abuse medicines and drugs, it does give a certain euphoria that is appealing to people who would abuse drugs such as benzodiazepines and so forth. So what we find in quite a lot of drug deaths that we have taken to inquest, pregabalin is generally at very high levels. It is, so therefore we feel that we should draw attention to it by asking it to be a Class C drug, which means that a doctor, a GP then can only give a month at a time. There is concerns that people are getting it for bona fide reasons and other people are getting it and actually selling it. So it just means that it puts a slight barrier to the GP to remind him that this is an important drug and therefore it's just drawing attention to doctors that we should be careful of this drug because it is a drug of abuse and it is causing deaths as well. Can we determine even anecdotally, Dennis, are the people who are found with high levels of it, would it be the person that it's prescribed for or would it be someone who's taking it for recreational purposes, if that's the right way to describe it, I wonder? I think it sort of breaks down into both really, Greg. I think there are people who would be people who would be taken for chronic pain and maybe the issue of the pain is getting on top of them and unfortunately they may take their own lives. But quite a lot of the time this is a drug that is sold on the street for, I think it's a couple of pounds, a couple of euros of apologies and a tablet. So most of the time, and answer your question, sometimes they are prescribed but most of the times they're not prescribed. And as well as that too, you want to ensure that the person who this is subscribed to, particularly if they're vulnerable, it's they that's taking it and there's not somebody in the house that's saying, you know, you're taking their pain relief medicine and they could then find themselves afraid to raise issues with the authorities. You know what I mean? If people are allowed to have it in large numbers in the homes, you can see how it can create an awful lot of problems. I think so and that's why this is the... I think GPs will still be as it were, they will still use it but when it is, when there's that slight barrier, it makes them think which is important. And I think that's really why there's the other drugs that we... Similarly, there's certain sleeping tablets and more sort of codeine or morphine-based painkillers that we have to prescribe in a similar way. We have to handwrite the prescription. It has to be... We can only give, you know, a month's prescription and so it can't be a three months. The worry would be that there would be a lot of these medicines if it was no repeat prescription and they weren't taking them every all the time that they would gather up in the house and A, there would be a greater chance of them taking an overdose or B, people could then just be gathering them to actually sell them. All right, so Lyrica, it's also marketed here. Is that correct? Yes, Lyrica is known as Lyrica. Lyrica is what the name that originally came out but it's now gone off-patent so it's known as pre-gabalin. And as I say, I just want to re-emphasize that a lot of your listeners who are on it, now they're not to worry about it. It's not taking it. We're talking about people that have taken too much of it which applies presumably to many, many drugs that you take as prescribed. I think it is that they're abusing it. It has a euphoric answer. Like, for instance, Paracetamol is used when it only takes an overdose but they're doing it because they want to, you know, to end their lives. There's no benefit from a psychopharmacology benefit in taking Paracetamol. But Lyrica and pre-gabalin, when there is... people like to take it that gives them a euphoric effect. And then when that's mixed with alcohol and mixed with other drugs, there can be unintentional deaths from that. And unfortunately, when people are actually trying to end their lives, Lyrica is quite commonly there. And to be honest, have I seen a purely pre-gabalin death? No, but it's generally a cocktail. Generally when somebody dies, it's because their brain just goes to sleep and just stops working and then their heart and their lungs stop. And that's because of the actual cerebral depression. So Lyrica adds to the alcohol, which adds to the codeine, which adds to the sleeping tablet, and that does it. So I think that there'll be no material to change. If this decision is made, we're one of the outliers in Europe in that we don't classify this as a classy Schedule III drug. So therefore, when it happens, the only effect that somebody who's actually getting it, you know, routinely for chronic pain, they'll probably have to go and get it monthly from their... And might I ask Dr. McCauley? Obviously, you know, this is through medical professionals. Like, why would this have to be mandated? Could a directive or a letter or advice not be forwarded to those that prescribe it, asking them to do so only once a month? Or does it, the change of classification, give them a little bit of a bit of a buffer to tell their patient, I can only give you a month? Sorry. Yeah, I think it is behavioral therapy in a way. We are, you know, if we're told something, that's one thing, but if we're told that it's something, but say that you can now do it on a monthly basis, it does affect your prescribing of that drug. We know that when it goes to a schedule, when you're going to do it on a monthly basis, GPs will look for an alternative, rather so that they can give the patient a three or six month prescription for that. And I think that is... It's just one of these things that it... As you say, in a perfect world, you should ring me up and say, Dennis, don't be prescribing that, you have to do it carefully now. And I will then react, but when you do it as a schedule, it puts barriers in front of you to prescribe it, which is exactly what we want them to do. OK, and I mean, it's a strong voice, the Coroner's Society of Ireland. I mean, you know, will there be resistance to this? Can you imagine? Would people lobby against this? I don't know. Or do you imagine the whomever within the health department is in charge of this go, right, OK, we've had this warning from the CSI here, we'd better act upon it? I don't anticipate there'd been any groups who will be against it. Most of you drug dealers would be against it, but I don't... But don't worry about them too much, yeah. I don't think they'll be listening... be actually listening to you. So, no, I think it is just... once again, there's going to be a review of this. We are encouraging it to do it. I would expect it to happen. And as I say, I really think that everybody's just saying, well, most other European countries are doing it, we should do it also. Just whilst I have you, lots of people I'm bumping into, it was affected, you know, it was in our house as well. Viral condition going around, seemingly amongst young people, I don't know. Is there something in particular that's spreading at the moment, or is this just seasonal stuff and it just happens to be in the circle I'm in? There still is influenza B floating around. Then there's just seasonal stuff also. I think Covid is there as well. So I think it's... Last September, we had viruses jockeying on top of viruses and we had strap A and it was a very difficult time because there were so many viruses at high levels. I think it's a similar picture in relation to the viruses, but there's not as many people getting sick, thankfully, because of the weather. I think I hear through the grapevine that there will unfortunately be, well, I say unfortunately, people are sort of vaccineed out at the present moment, but I think the at-risk people will be encouraged soon to come back for their further booster. I can't actually recall which booster it is. Is it three? It's four. It depends if you're over 70 or if you have an actual chronic disease. So there will probably be the people who are vulnerable will be encouraged to come in once again soon for their spring Covid vaccine. I must admit that I do... I think everybody is fatigued out, but I do think for this at-risk group that there still is relevance to get the vaccine. So when it is announced, I expect it to be announced quite soon. I would encourage everybody, everybody is sort of viewing Covid as not a dangerous condition now, even people who are vulnerable, but unfortunately I can assure them that if you are vulnerable it still is a very serious condition. Yeah, and just to be clear, you might be taking the phones out. You're speaking specifically about vulnerable groups that this might lead to a passing blow rather than the full-on hit, because obviously we've got the Irish Government's approach to testing and what have you and also the WHO's intervention more recently as well, but you're speaking specifically, aren't you, in this case, in relation to... And just one other thing while I have you, last time we spoke to you in January, I believe, a project to record suicide numbers. How is that progressing at the moment, Dr Macaulay? I think it's a very sensible audit. As I say, the monthly, excuse me, the countywide figures are not available yet, but as soon as they are naturally, we will be able to have a chat about that in a sensible way. We'll leave it to then, so rather than now, we'll leave it to then so it's all in context and we... I appreciate your guidance in that regard. Dr Macaulay, thanks for your time this morning. I greatly appreciate it, take care. That is Dr Dennis Macaulay, chair of the GP subcommittee of the Irish Medical Organization. They are calling for that prescription drug pergabalin. It's also marked as lyrica... lyrice, sorry, I beg your pardon. I said it correct the first time. As you heard from the doctor there, prescribed for the likes of nerve pain, epilepsy, general anxiety disorders as well, but it is being spotted in toxicology reports. A number of poison deaths and increase in poison deaths links to its toxicity. And effectively what it would do, it changed the class of the drug and means that it could only be prescribed one month at a time. If that's something you've got an insight or an opinion on 08, 6, 625,000, your WhatsApp's in text to that number 08, 6, 6, 625,000, or again, give us a call on 07491 25,000. Let's take a look for more details. OK, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. Just got through the post here, a bit of a blur from on post, were you watching the late, late show on Friday? You would see that I didn't see it myself, saw bits and bobs of it. Then I saw some criticism of it which I don't understand. It's one show that's given over to country music and then you've got people going, oh, this is the death knell of the late, late show, good luck to it and all that kind of stuff. And I don't see the point, if a particular programme of a series is not your thing just watch something else. I don't watch the late, late show much at all. But I do understand that people are going to love the country show because country music is huge here. Fair play to Daniel O'Donnell, Philomena Begley, Big Tom, Cleona Hagen and Nathan Carter as well. They're all going to have stamps which is good because I don't think that's going to be a big deal in the future stamps because people aren't posting letters as much as they did. So I'd say they're getting in there just at the end. 0866025,000 is the 08660, we might try and get Daniel on the programme later on, perhaps maybe just to talk about that show. 0866025,000 give us a call on 07491 25,000 and email us to commonsatheilandradio.com and just don't forget you can watch the show by logging on to our YouTube channel Highland Radio Ireland or on Facebook, just search Highland Radio, you'll see us there. Right, we're joined on the programme now, I hope by Jennifer Carroll who is the author of Jen's Journey with the subtitle How I Changed My Life Meal by Meal and You Can Too. Hi Jennifer, good morning to you. Hi morning, how are you? It's great to have you on the show. Right, so okay, so talk to us a little bit about your I suppose relationship with food, is that an okay way to phrase it to suppose through your life? That I suppose the book is about my relationship with food from a very young age so I kind of go back from the beginning and I go all the way through until the last couple of years where I've managed to live the way I started when I think I was a child that all started through emotional eating but at the time I wouldn't have understood that's what I was doing and I think my relationship with food from a very young age was quite a negative relationship but I just didn't understand that at the time and that kind of stood when we developed into secret eating as I got a little bit older, a bit more self-conscious and then eventually became binge eating and it was known to like my mid-late twenties when I was really more aware of that and the bad relationship I developed and then it was my late twenties when I decided to kind of embark on this journey and try and transform the whole relationship I had with food on my life so yeah and was it a case that you were conscious of your weight that did you go through a cycle of you know, you know I suppose people do call it where you lost some weight, gained some weight or were you content in your weight until the time that you realised that you wanted something to change yeah absolutely and I definitely yo-yoed I mean I didn't yo-yo in an extreme way I was definitely always in a bigger body and I think from a young age I have a seven year old son now and I think I was as young as eight or nine when a friend of mine and myself were trying you know cabbage soup diet and Akins diet and I think it's only now I realised how like unhealthy and how dangerous that was having a child that age but from a young age I think maybe six or seven was when I started to become a little bit more self-conscious you know going to swimming with class and in school and I definitely noticed that I was a little bit bigger and maybe a couple of comments here and there from people so I was aware that I was in a bigger body and that gradually just kind of continued I got bigger and bigger and I did I always tried but I think the mistake I was making was to pressurise myself I was trying to go from like zero to a hundred and expected massive results you know I suppose that minimum effort was that lonely time Jennifer were people around you even at that young age aware that this was something you were bothered about I think you know a lot of times when we are really young children and through our teen years there are things that bother us but we don't want to necessarily draw attention to them or bother other people around us and you know you spend many long nights sort of on your own thinking about these things it can be tough was that what it was like for you? Yeah absolutely I mean I think I talk a little bit about that in the book um looking back now how much of my life and time that I wasted worrying about it you know like I don't think there was a knife from the age of maybe 10 until my 20s that I didn't think about my size like every night like you said I was very lonely I didn't have any other friends or people around me that were in the same position as me I suppose so I didn't really talk about that and then when fam like if my parents tried to talk about with me I was always on the defense and I would just shut it down quickly because I was embarrassed about it but it was definitely something that consumed my thoughts like on a daily basis like and it's sad now when I think of how much time I spend worrying and thinking about it but definitely like it took over my whole like that was all I thought about myself was my size and I thought other people just saw my size over anything else did you feel you had to sort of try and compensate from that so if you're insecure about your size that you felt that in other areas of your life or your personality that you had to almost overcompensate sort of to try and level things out in your own mind absolutely I mean I did I trained in theatre and I was always kind of you know the cliche like the fat funny friend I was definitely always the loud one I was book leaser because I just wanted people to like me and to see kind of oh she's funny or she's nice not to just see my size so I kind of go beyond to please other people or to make people laugh and as much as I hated people noticing me I always wanted the attention on me as like the funny one like the clown or the Joker so I definitely think I overcompensate in that way yeah and how pivotal then into your decision making progress was becoming a mum yeah definitely so my little boy character we were living in the UK at the time and he turned one and I kind of realised okay you know it's not just going to affect me anymore I always held myself back you know I didn't go traveling with friends I didn't go on holidays I wouldn't go to the beach I didn't really do a lot of things because I was self-conscious and then having a one-year-old and you know the next couple of years was swimming lessons you know going out playing doing sports activities I wasn't able to do any of that and I didn't want like my life selling size to kind of hold back and to you know stop him and miss out on things and what about then so your own mortality though and being around for him because I think you mentioned at one point you were 25 stone eight pounds I mean I would imagine that comes with you know real potential health risks as well was did it cross your mind that you know will I be here when he's doing his leaving or yeah definitely I mean as well I just become a single parent so I had that pressure as well if it's just me and him and then right before I'd moved home to Ireland and then I had a bit of scale a health scare with them I'm brilliant and I had to go into hospital for a couple of nights and I had a friend locally that was able to watch him but I think that was a real eye-opener for me you know as in like my way is kind of starting to affect my health I'd always been ready to be healthy and never had any issues so I think that never impacted me but when I had that kind of scare I was like you know I'm really kind of putting myself into an early gray and eating myself in early gray was how I felt I was. Yeah now we're going to talk about the astonishing weight loss but you come across to mean your story Jennifer and I hope this isn't patronising and I don't mean in any way bad but an incredibly strong and resilient person and you directed that I think up until such times you decided to do weight loss in coping and being strong for yourself for your family you know dealing with that loneliness that we talked off and putting that brave face out there and it feels a wee bit like to me that you've challenged that amazing inner strength and determination that you had rather than sort of creating the shield around you into achieving what you want to achieve in terms of your weight loss. Yeah I mean that's a really nice way of looking I think when I was bigger and even when I was going through the weight loss I never ever would have looked at myself or considered myself as a strong person or resilient you know if anything I kind of felt a little bit weak and like a victim and I was always you know this happens to me and who made kind of mentality but I do think having gone through what I went through it did make me realise that I am capable you know of more and like as cliche as the sounds I think when you've been through a hard life and you know not hard luck a couple of years it kind of made me realise you know if I can take that on if I can go through that and I'm still here and I still have opportunities like I can do this for myself and it really helped me change my mindset and focus like you said I became a lot more resilient and I just believed in myself a lot more you know like I think when you're a weight loss journey a really really big weight loss journey like you said earlier it's a very lonely place and it can be incredibly overwhelming when you think of the amount of weight you have to lose and I think you're always kind of sorry I beg your pardon so I thought you were finished Jennifer the line is not perfect so hopefully listeners are getting percent of what we're saying it's just a slight crackle but it's fine we'll stick with it now very rarely I've spoken to someone who is I think once before that has lost an extraordinary amount of weight which I believe it is you've halved your body size and in the past it's only I think one or two people have spoken to that done it through exercise and diet and obviously it's not going to be for everyone and this is not we're not making any judgement call on anyone that goes through the surgery route there's been fantastic out fantastic but it's remarkable you've lost twelve stone fruit diet and exercise for a short period of time but before we talk to the how there's a first step there's a first step right to every process can you pinpoint when you took the first step and also like how many times you considered it but didn't take that first step or is it grey like but can you pinpoint in your mind the day it changed yeah I think this time it was different because like I said I was living in the UK and myself and my son were about to move home to Ireland permanently and I'd been in the UK for nine years so for a long time it was very easy for me to kind of hide my lifestyle and my size and in the past I think what I would do is I'd almost set myself up for failure so I would tell everyone around me oh I'm starting a new diet and I'm going to lose ten stone this year and then when I'd start maybe hitting a wall or it wasn't going great I'd give up completely and I'd just like go with binge and all that kind of stuff whereas this time I think it was kind of I was at my lowest point I was about to move home I was you know 26 stone unemployed single ma'am coming back to Ireland to live with my parents and I really felt like an absolute failure like I was really low on myself like no self-esteem and I think it was just I decided I wish I could say I decided to do it for myself but it was definitely for my son I think it was that moment where I was just like it's now or never you know I'm just every year I'm getting bigger I just have to do it now and I definitely think he was the driving force that kind of like my wake-up call and my reason and having him as my reason I don't think I ever loved myself enough to be my own reason or to do it for myself but I think having him was definitely my wake-up call or my aha moment. Right so what is the process then because this is obviously in the context of a book called Jen's journey and to lose such an amount of weight and such an amount of time did it require massive change so can you talk to us and people can get the book and go through with you because there's recipes in there and there's also I think a bit of support with why people might ease as well you know what is the trigger for you to eat you talk a bit about that too and other things that help to change that help you in your process so how drastically did your diet change? Yeah I mean it wasn't massive it was the things I suppose you hear people say all the time I really started to try and introduce three meals a day so I definitely would have been someone you know that would skip maybe breakfast and lunch and then binge in the evening I didn't want to join a gym or do any kind of exercise because I didn't want to put pressure on myself so I literally just started doing things like cooking my meals my dinners were all home cooked once a week I would introduce a recipe that I've never tried before just to kind of keep it exciting and then I always I think keeping a food journal was something that really worked for me every Sunday I'd kind of set aside 30 minutes in the evening and I would write down my list of meals that I was going to do for myself and plan I had a one year old so I was at home with him so I was able I had the time what a time to choose this one I had like all the time in the world to be cooking and prepping a whole which obviously definitely benefited me but I think starting simple I still was eating like large amounts of food I wasn't you know I didn't cut anything out that's one thing I did as well I never said to myself I'm going to deny myself any food so I would always have my chocolate bar in the evening but instead of having maybe a chocolate bar I was just having a curly whirly or you know a freddo or just something simple with my cup of tea and I would never say no if I felt like burgers and chips for dinner I'd make burgers and chips but I would just kind of educate myself on maybe how to cook them a little bit healthier and start from scratch and like really and truly within the year the ten stone came off I always like of the whole journey that was the easiest part I changed my mindset and all of that I think people think you have to make massive massive changes but just simple things like planning like organising a little bit more maybe writing a shopping list for yourself and cooking with the family that is something I think was a big deal for me as well like introducing character into cooking and making it a fun thing sitting down as a family eating the meals and then it wasn't until I was maybe four stone down that I decided I wanted to kind of go to the gym but the gym wasn't for weight loss my head space and I wanted to train a little bit and have an hour a day but I could just escape reality I suppose and once I started the gym I started getting a little bit more active things like my steps and I didn't start with 10,000 a day or 15,000 a day I started going for a 10 minute walk doing one lap of the estate every evening and eventually these habits become easier and part of your routine and gradually before you know like you're able to do more to really enjoy all that stuff as well and do you believe that this is replicable across the board you know is there a particular quirk to Jennifer Carroll like your metabolism or something whereby you know eating the same foods but just smaller portions had a particular impact for you has it been shown or have you had feedback from people that it works for them as well do you get where I'm coming from well I started the Instagram page five years ago and the Instagram page has essentially just been me sharing the recipes and obviously over like throughout the years speaking to people online and stuff I've always had really lovely positive messages from people saying you know I've started cooking these recipes for the family and like I've seen massive changes and they enjoy the food that's why it was important for me to keep it simple but as well like obviously it's important to say I also have an undirected thyroid so I'm a medication for that my metabolism is completely different to other peoples but I think everybody is different things work for different people I mean some people can do you know intermittent fasting I could never do that some people the weight loss surgery that was definitely an option I you know went to look into that when I was in the UK but it wasn't for me because it was my mindset I needed to change but I know people that have had it and have had great results so I do think everyone is different but I think the whole thing what my book the recipes my book that's important is they're just simple recipes to cook I obviously track my calories so I include that but they're just kind of recipes that I wanted people to open a cookbook and be like oh I have all of that on the house I don't need to pop to the shops and get this spice or this herb or I don't have any of that they're just really simple recipes that I think are delicious and I've heard people say that they're nice but I've definitely had feedback over the years from people what were the really active Instagram yeah and with the Instagram page too you're getting constant live feedback it's a constant assessment of what people are trying and all that work so it's tried and tested already so when you lose that amount of weight over a year does a lot come off quickly and then it's sort of plateaus and then you have to adjust your mind so as you don't lose heart and you keep going or because there's bound to be a couple of stone there that can be that may not even be body fat that can be rid of quite quickly so there's a bit of you have to control how you're thinking about it and expectations and all that type of stuff I imagine Jennifer so over the so I lost weight over two years the first year I lost ten stone and the second year I lost two stone and the second year I was just focusing a little bit more on my training and that was when I started tracking protein and calories so in the second year I only lost two stone but my shape was really starting to change I think the the first year when I lost ten stone that was quite a dramatic weight loss but obviously I was left with quite a lot of excess skin as well so that was something where I'd obviously say to my trainer like oh in the last three years I've been working on like maintaining my weight and every now and then I might be like oh I'd like to lose a couple of kilos here and there or say over like the Christmas period if I gain some weight I'll be focusing on losing but like you said it's important but it's different I'm always going to have excess skin in different parts of my body so I definitely would weigh more and I think it's important as well for people not to focus on a number I think especially women like you compare and like even my friends we'd always try out but we don't anymore but we used to always try around like oh I weigh X amount I weigh X amount and then you kind of think oh I need to weigh that whereas I'm like quite fit I'm healthy I feel good but I'm like four stone heavier friend and I know we look that different so I definitely think it's important not to focus on the numbers yeah for sure and I really am uncomfortable with that whole process on top some TV shows of getting people to stand up on scales and it's horrendous right okay listen it's a remarkable journey but it's achievable you're just like everyone else you know there's people out there listening that that can do what Jen did if people want to get hold of your book Jen's journey do you suggest they go to your Instagram at the first instance or the bookstore so tell us in your own words how people can get hold of the book and follow you so my Instagram is Jen's underscore journey underscore IEA and I do have a link on my Instagram page to buy the book online but it's also available on our bookstore so any kind of good bookstore we'll have the book at the moment and presumably because of the way in which you've done this it's more sustainable or more sustainable and that really you know you're eating a lot of the stuff that you enjoy and that's the one slight issue I think that some people get a bit of a gunk with with the operations is that it can actually change your eating habits into the long term and some people struggle with that and that's fine right okay listen it's been lovely speaking to you best wishes to all the family and congratulations on the book and everything else you've achieved bye bye Jennifer Carroll their author of Jen's journey how I changed my life meal by meal and you can too, apologies for the slight crackling on the line there hopefully I'm sure most of you got the message there right okay let's get to some comments here, good morning Greg would you please wish Noreen Gallagher in Downing's a very happy 80th birthday today this comes from all her friends in the Carragark choir we miss her and hope to have her back with us again in the choir very soon have a great day Noreen a very happy 80th birthday to you Noreen, your choir colleagues looking for your return ASAP as soon as you are able to have a happy birthday and by the way we're always open to wish people happy birthdays anniversaries or whatever by the way more than happy to do so right okay let us take a break we're going to be back with more on the 9 till noon show after these hoca new hoca Clifton 9 has a wider toe box and it's softer giving you that hoca spongy feeling making your run more responsive step into our safe size experience have your feet measured and update your gait analysis Brian McCormick sports main street letter Kenny look the part play the part on bmcsports.ie do you know what I love about letter Kenny shopping center I love it because everything I need is under one roof there's fashion shopping for women and men health foods and cosmetics test schools and pennies free parking and late night shopping Thursday and Friday I love it because letter Kenny shopping center has it all including homework, jewellery, hair and beauty and revolution laundry and their free car park letter Kenny shopping center so much choice and open seven days ready for a change or upgrade see it SUV including the bold crossover the family favorite attacker or the spacious seven seater all vehicle come with great offers on finance and PCP options book a test drive today by calling dmg motors on 074 9721396 or visit dmgmotors.ie choose your new 231 seat with confidence with a visit to dmg motors Clairode Donegal town Evolve clothing Daddy Kenny retail park we have the fit of suit you want we have the size of suit you need we have loads of suits to choose from we are the suit bar Easter sale now on open seven days Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family Flight to Alicante, Malaga Faro, Lanzarote, New York and Milan with Ryanair, Ireland West airport don't just take off take it easy well a mostly dry day today with a mix of cold and hazy sunny spells some spots of light rain and drizzle will occur highest temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees in moderate to fresh south to south east winds easing by this evening you are very welcome back to the Ninetyl noon show some of your comments here I've been on this drug for seven years because of a waiting list for hip surgery I've been reading about this for years and my consultant said there would be no problem with it I'm prescribed 600 milligrams daily and it's now caused diverticulitis disease in me this means my 50 year old bowel is now an 80 year old bowel I can't wait until the day I can get off these drugs along with several others you only get this medication in your monthly prescription yes there's people who use this for recreational purposes but this is such a dangerous drug says that listener okay listen thank you so much for giving us that insight hi Greg I don't think it's very fair if the GEA start turning their clubs into asylum centres what are our young boys and girls going to do then they need the clubs for their own mental health socially and fitness is that on the cards that was flagged last year and the GEA said no and I didn't realise the government would come back to them on that I mean whatever about this used area so what have you I mean the GEA clubs are incredibly important and I'm sure that would be greatly resisted we want to go kind of cancel filling the same pot holes every second week in the same place and fillings get washed away once it rains I wonder is it dry weather filling they are using I don't I don't see that as much as I used to I mean I could there's a lot of areas on main roads that are riddled with pot holes but the repairs seem to be much better now than maybe they were in the past I'm not quite sure my mum was sent into the ED last week and sat for almost 24 hours only to be sent home as they had no beds was a line of elderly people sitting in chairs not getting seen one lady 90 was taken in by ambulance at 5pm and no doctor had come to check on her at 2 30 a.m. I thought this was terribly sad to see our elderly people just ignore to imagine working all your life to be left like that don't get me wrong I know they are busy but there doesn't seem to be a system in the ED department now the one thing I will say about that is that you know there are going to be times that an elderly person and I advocate an awful lot about older people on this programme and I hope people recognise that but they treat people in terms of the condition of the person and even if a 90 year old person is stable in the ED and you get other people with traumas and other emergencies they probably will be put ahead of the older people and that's why this pathway hopefully is a way to bring people out of hospitals and out of those waiting lists nurses repeatedly call people that had already gone home say as a caller but that's because people gave in didn't they? Didn't they? One lady waiting with a 3 year old for an X-ray was there at 5pm and still no X-ray when I was leaving at 3 30 I don't understand why you have to go to ED for an X-ray and I really don't understand why you'd have to wait that long when the technicians are there already walking about surely that lady could have been with her little one and let go way sooner than that there's no system in A&E and the needs looked at doesn't matter if an urgency but again if that young person is bumped up someone else is bumped back that's just the way it is right we'll be back with news shortly 5,000 euro spend and money nice and a happy medium at the Ali Theatre on the 13th of April join me for a laugh I enter the spirit world and reveal all tickets from the theatre box office are online don't miss Jimmy Buckley at the Highlands Hotel Glenties on Good Friday 7th of April doors open at 8pm with early dancing to Connor O'Donnell that's dancing to Jimmy Buckley at the Highlands Hotel Glenties on Good Friday the 7th of April Hi folks, Paul McDevitt here inviting you to join me and Jimmy Stafford this Monday night for another edition of the Monday Night Sessions on the show this week we welcome a group that are taking the country by storm the brilliant Dunnegall based O'Nore and if that's not enough we welcome one of the country's finest ballad singers from Dublin the one and only George Murphy so that's the Monday Night Sessions this Monday night between 8pm and 10pm right here on Highlands Hotel Glenties cutting through the spin the 9th until noon show on Highland Radio OK, lots coming up in the last hour so stay right where you are to bring us a little bit closer let's get a news update and it's good morning now to Michaela Clark Thanks Greg, good morning 88 eviction notices were reinstated in Dunnegall following the lifting of the eviction ban over the weekend it comes following an increase in the number of people presenting as homeless in the north west latest figures published by the Department of Housing show that during the weekend February 146 people including 30 children accessed emergency accommodation in the region HSE employed GPs could become a possibility in areas where it's difficult to attract and retain staff it's included in the terms of reference for a strategic review of general practice to be completed this year the review aims to identify challenges facing the sector such as GP shortages and highlight where improvements should be made meanwhile the National Ambulance Services Pathfinder initiative has been extended to Letter Kenney with the local team starting work today and the full roll-out of the service set to be completed on Wednesday of next week the initiative is designed to safely keep older people who phone the emergency service in their own home rather than taking them to the emergency department at Letter Kenney University Hospital the Gehirlock of the Liverpool-St-Norda Municipal District says the council must broaden its response to flash flooding at Drumfurgus-Killy-Gordon on Friday evening up to 100 metres of roadway was washed away and a number of homes and gardens were damaged by floodwater and debris the country's maritime defences are being questioned after Russian ships came within a few nautical miles off the Irish coast the vessels which had the capability to interfere with subsea cables have now left Irish waters they'd been monitored by the Air Corps but there was no naval vessel available to keep watch there's further calls for the report into flooding after Kenny University Hospital to be published the chair of the regional health form says it's shocking that 11 years on since the hospital was devastated by the flooding reports have still not been made public and the Donegal County Coroner is calling for a drug used to treat epilepsy, nerve pain and anxiety to be reclassified it's after an increase in evidence of pergabalin being present in drug-related deaths the medicine is believed to pose a particular risk to users with current or past substance-related disorders those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update at 12 noon thank you very much indeed Mikayla and we're going to be digging deeper into that story of this unpublished report with Councillor James Monaghal after this quick break there's a grand stretch in the evening Tom says to everyone he meets this time of year including the fire service who this evening responded to an electrical fire at Tom's house caused by the charger he forgot to unplug after having a grand stretch in his online yoga class this afternoon not so grand thankfully Tom has a phone watch alarm which responds to break-ins and smoke in just 15 seconds for only 49 euro life is unpredictable don't be alarmed, be phone watched Offer ends March 19th visit phonewatch.ie monitoring fees apply also coming up very shortly Brendan Devaney will be joining us to reflect on the weekend's GEA action and to preview the deal debate which is broadcast tonight and if you want to get involved in that conversation you'll have the text numbers now 10 years after floods caused an estimated 25 million euro in damage at Latter-Canary University hospital an official report into the incident has yet to be presented by health board officials Councillor James Monaghal is demanding that the reports into two separate instances of flooding at the hospital be made public you'll remember the first flood at the hospital occurred in July 2013 a nearby drain burst its banks during heavy rain and then just over a year later August 2014 major damage was caused again when the new ED brand new was at that stage was hit by heavy floods flowing following torrential downpours the chair of the regional health foreign west Councillor James Monaghal joins us on the programme now the man making these calls good morning Jerry thanks for taking the time out today good morning Greg I suppose we could say they've done an investigation we haven't had any major flood incidents since all's good in the hood why is it so important do you think though that the this report is published well it's like you said Greg it cost 25 million euro of damage and that in itself would merit a report as to what happened if we just go back it was part of the new emergency department building that had been built there was concerns even when it was being built it was prone to flooding there had been already a few near misses to the old hospital so you would want to like to think that when it was being built that the proper conditions were applied the proper works that were would have been put in place to ensure that the flood didn't occur it wasn't that long opened and then with the the building there it was built in a hole and then corridors linked in with the older hospital and that acted as a conduit for the water and then we had all the upheaval we had we lost our emergency department our radiology x-ray department the re-records were affected and the daycare services and this is for a major hospital in Donegal so I think we're entitled to report as to what happened we know now how it happened and we've seen since and the remedial works that have taken place have worked quite well to date and hopefully that will continue but I think we're due to report and an explanation as to why this happened now not surprisingly we're being told as seems to be kind of a familiar story here that it's complicated there's legal issues that need to be looked at different parties involved but this is 11 years ago surely at this point any hurdles that need to be overcome would have been overcome if there was any will to actually get this out into the public domain well within a year of the report being initiated we were told that it would be quite quickly published and ever since we've been asking periodically for updates and they've been using the legal aspect that we're reviewing it to ensure there's no legal actions or every avenues covered but if there is to be legal proceedings then surely 11 years on we will have identified those legal proceedings or whatever other type of proceedings need to take place and if there was shoddy workmanship if planning wasn't adhered to and we've heard all the rumours investigations supposed to have looked into all of that and as you say 11 years on we surely should be in a position to publish the report and take whatever actions legally or otherwise might be necessary to recoup some of the 25 million that's been spent today I mean there are numerous reports that have been commissioned that are gathering dust this is a very important report I think in terms of planning that has been on the desk of many housing ministers still to be published now we have this that would give us some accountability some answers you know hopefully lessons to be learned from it who's to say not just here elsewhere is this a Donegall thing councillor whereby we commission these reports into really quite critical matters and then we're stonewalled in terms of why they can't be published or not or do you notice this happen elsewhere is it just a Donegall thing no it's certainly not a Donegall thing I think and you named a couple of reports there but I mean there's many many more if there's an investigation if there's a report it has to come first of all to the government they look at it look at all the realities of that and then as you say it gets moved about from department department the planning review is one such instance of that we had the mother and babies you know we're having the defect of concrete blocks and where all of that's going to institutional abuse in this county as well where is that that's it always reviewed and then it's looked at and it gets moved about and legalities abroad and and that seems to them put it on the long but what doesn't make sense to me is that parties which could come out unfavorably from these reports have the power not to have them published that's worrying yeah that is very worrying and it has always been the case we have asked regularly for the planning review report and Donegal to be published it's sitting with the minister now for almost 10 years something like this flood report and no one has taken the initiative nobody's biting the bullet in this nobody's saying right let's put this report out there watch it all and let the people make up their own mind and if there's repercussions or there's court cases out of it so be it we need to ensure that these type of things don't happen again you were able to take this up directly with Tony Canavan who's the CEO of the cell to hospital group his response you know kind of sounds like I understand your concerns I think should be published but you know life isn't that easy it's complicated where does it go from here well the remedial works a good place identified the shortcomings and they have shown that once they've been in place that they have worked so if we roll back that was the starting point for ensuring that the hospital doesn't flood again and it seems to be working then why were then type of investigations not taken or were they taken because we had as I said the early warnings we had previous flooding situations where the flood was just diverted so we knew that this was a problematic site that was prone to flooding why were the necessary works and steps not put in place to ensure that flooding wouldn't occur and I think that's what they don't want to expose or explain now before I let you go as you're a Sinn Fein rep and your involvement in the JPC and coming up at meetings today about Ono Breen's tweet at the weekend which has proved controversial a couple of things I want to say beforehand I'm not talking about the politics of it because I think most people know the point he was trying to make that this decision is going to leave to evictions it depicts by the way Gardie involved with masked men involved in an eviction by the way and he had the words no words needed so as to say and also I want to acknowledge that there seems to be people on social media more upset about that image than actually there are of people losing their homes so all of that I get it okay and I want people to understand I get it because people get when he challenged political parties people can get quite defensive with all that being said though you know sometimes when you're explaining you're losing on reflection do you think maybe he should have put a bit of context into this image Jerry or perhaps not even used especially ahead with the differences and the fact that it wasn't Leo Veradka, Meeho Martin, Aiman Ryan or anyone else the focus of this image it was Gardie and it was Gardie who've been involved in policing evictions in the past don't get me wrong I acknowledge all of that but given the fact that he might have to work with Gardie in the next government and given the fact do you know what guards are going through on the streets do you think it was perhaps a misstep to at least not contextualise it in the tweet or do you stand behind it and him 100% No one owner of Bryn and his passion for the role that he has and spokesperson with Garrysson and what he's dealing with on a daily basis I don't believe it was an attack on the Gardie I think it was a very clumsy attempt they highlight the cruelty of this government and its actions I don't think his tweet was intended to attack the Gardie but it was a clumsy attempt to highlight as I say the cruelty of the government in relation to the eviction ban being lifted and their lack of concern for the might of people and families that this is going to put stress onto and make them homeless and I think that's where he was coming from as I say if he thought this morning that he would have caused the fear that he would have done it No, it was an attack on the Gardie I certainly don't believe that but I think it was a clumsy attempt to sort of, no, flag up the distress that the lifting of the eviction ban is going to cause an awful lot of families in the time ahead I see that every day in my council work I'm sure other elected reps will have a reaction from the main issue because as I say, I have noted that some people who've never commented on people being evicted have commented on this I get that, right? But I do also understand and recognise there's an awful lot of Gardie in very tough positions out there and also sometimes who likes and retweets and quotes your comments can be an indication that maybe you missed the mark if that makes sense but he hasn't retracted or deleted it but listen, as I say I just wanted your views in relation to it and I think you've responded to that but the real issue here is people losing their homes and not having a roof over their head and I don't think anyone from any political background is going to lose sight of that No, look I work with the Gardie he's chair of the Dulligal Joint Placement Committee on a regular basis almost daily and I acknowledge the pressures that they're under sometimes they have to take part in someone's every type of duty but I once tweaked and as I said I think it was clumsy but I don't think that and I know it has in heart it was an attack on the ordinary Gardie who you respect an awful lot and we all do what we need and I think people use this as a political football and a way of getting away from the reality here and the stress that the eviction ban it caused hundreds and hundreds of families in the time ahead and it's something that we all care about and maybe we own and reflection will acknowledge that they could have put the tweet a bit better All right, councillor Montagle thanks as always for your time he is chair of the regional health, foreign west Sinn Féin rep councillor James Montagle Brendan Deveney is coming up in a couple of moments back on the weekend support and action by way of we get that out of him for free because really he's coming on to plug his podcast but we'll use that as an opportunity to get his views on the weekend's action stay right where you are not in you can't win that's Halfway House Bingo tonight at 8.30 and we'll see you in the next episode of we are a government funded lender who provide business loans from 2,000 euro to 25,000 euro from bike shops to boxing clubs cafes to creches we've provided people all over Ireland with the funds they need to set up or grow their business find out how we can help you today visit microfinance Ireland to apply or talk to your local enterprise office in microfinance Ireland helping small businesses with big ideas Highland Radio time checks with Expressway travel route 32 from letter Kenny to Dublin Expressway bringing you the time at 17 minutes past 11 on to the show we welcome Brendan Deveney presenter of Highland Radio's deal debate, hi Brendan yes Greg, hi I'm alright so are we holding you back no Alexa wouldn't listen to me there she doesn't like the sound of her voice well apparently a quarter of us have to dumb down our accent for Alexa she doesn't want to switch you off you see I think that's it congratulations on your appearance on the BBC podcast what's it called again GAA social sorry I know it but it just couldn't come to me we've talked a little bit about what you talk about in the podcast here it's you're an open you're an open enough person anyway but it's had a huge reaction and it's going to impact people in a positive way I think so well done to you and the team behind it no problem yeah yeah it was a bit of a strange thing going on to those subjects because normally for one I'm often asking questions or it's just GAA but that was kind of more a look back at life and life in general and it was about overwhelming actually the messes have been unreal like people have been so kind but when you hear it back then you think I could have said this better or that better no don't worry never listen back I know I listened to it once one take that's it it's not good it's not good but now it is listen we're always our worst critic did you feel better yourself in sort of not venting a bit do you know what I mean sometimes I think particularly as lads I don't think you're as bad as many of us that you know you bottled a lot of stuff up but then it's nice then if you can get it out there especially if it might benefit other people as well did you get a benefit in that way from it Brendan or you open enough book anyway that you're a chatter anyway well but Greg that's what I'm saying I thought then maybe the way you were trying to put your whole life on the one and I was trying to express how I felt at that time and listen Greg that Martin was playing for Donnie Gaul in his 12th he's a very different person to me now and I was trying to just I suppose examine that what was going through my head when I was playing and I didn't want it to be overly negative but I would have been very hard on myself on that obviously I have my own theories on that as a young lad you know and there's some quite interesting insights into it and about how your performances connected to how you felt and wanted to switch off and on and on and as I say you know even in broadcast and I felt the same way myself in that regard and you know a lot of people will relate to that and you talk about the awful loss of that you occurred last year as well as I say I have no wish you cross-promote the only one thing I will say I think it's been said on social media and during that podcast that you need to do more behind the mic work stuff did I hear you mention the Highland Radio deal debate no I did not Brendan and that is a black spot in your book you've got a black card for that one the Highland was mentioned if I had another ten minutes I would have got you I'm not even going to mention in the middle of it but obviously they're talking about the tragedy that was tough but it's important to remember them people and I suppose the people that have helped us at that time and I just I felt we were bad and I didn't maybe thank more people then because normally Greg if you do something it's been and gone but because there was so much interest in this it's almost like one of the moments where you could have said this this and this but it's done now and I suppose the good news story of the Greg is we sponsored a couple of children off the back of it a couple of people have come on to me and just give me the link I want to sponsor a child through Plan of the Nestle and the joke about the boat in it where as I was buying for a college and I was buying a boat I know Greg you know about this you were just so close you were so close here's what's happened since a guy has offered to buy me a boat brilliant good stuff take that off where are you going to use it though I don't know maybe maybe it's too many started right or something don't be thinking boat doesn't something about boat basic like a river he was like hey you you have to talk all sorts of boats out like he's sure about this especially with your family you'll love it because I know you were just on the brink last year so we'll have you at the water this year one way or other brilliant stuff Brent come here I'll have to get my engine started first come here people I enjoyed the two games yesterday what's your reflection on them I think I like boring games they're like boring boxing matches I don't really need it to be all show because I try and look at different elements of the game or a fight or something that I find entertaining or a game of snooker or whatever it could be have we established the top four teams in the country that we need to keep an eye out this year after the league I think so Greg I suppose this one is a bit strange to play a league final with championships the following week and that is made everything a bit strange because there always is a huge break in the championship and there always used to be back in the day a massive break it could be six, seven weeks where at times where you really you know the league you're just moving along and then you lifted it for this huge fitness and training and the championship particularly the first few weeks of training there so in fact the teams are playing now I think a lot of sides it was a wrong out I don't know it's kind of meaningless to actually win it now it's all about promotion so for Dublin and Derry both back in the top flight where they wanted to be and deservedly so I mean they're two top teams and they're in their top four or five Did we learn more about Derry or Dublin yesterday? I don't know I suppose Goals killed them Greg if you look at the points Tally very very low for Dublin so Derry are getting better at what they do they just got opened up and the Goals killed them so I mean that'll be refined now in the championship I mean for Rory Gallagher was he that worried with one division two you don't think so but certainly if you look at a team that came that could be their Kelly's he lives a conceding goal so it's a massive lesson for them to learn now go down to the championship now I was down with Kieran Greenit as we watched birthday parties and we were watching them on the TV running about after kids so I have to have to get Sunday game on the player again there and have a proper look at it yeah all right good stuff so on the show Joe Tracy will be going through all of the sport with you as well so he knows this stuff top GEA man a new feature live stories all right this is actually to some extent turning the tables a little bit Bren and I think you know from the position you're coming from it leaves you you know in a very good position to interview people as well so your first guest in this new feature yeah Nadine Doherty is coming on she's a former Donny Gaul's in Dunningston she's playing everywhere her career is absolutely phenomenal and she's a brilliant person on top of that you know I was out of I compared a 9% units ladies there a while back it was like a reunion night and they basically bossed football in Donny Gaul in those early years you know championships in Ulsters and club final that but Nadine would have played for them she actually made her debut for senior's when she was 12 it was crazy she made her debut for Donny Gaul senior ladies when she was 15 and she's captain most of the teams she played for she played in New York for a couple of years one championships there one championships in Dublin with the Fina captain in teams and same at St. Patstrom Conrad when she's doing her teacher training up there she played basketball played soccer just a phenomenal woman she landed back actually in 2003 when Donny Gaul won the All-Ireland Junior title my sister was captain then but Nadine you know sometimes timing can just be be right and spreading for her she said deputy head up in Dublin there and at least she also does loads of media stuff she's involved in the GA she she works with RT in that as well and she's on many boards so that night I was doing the compare I was taking different groups of girls up to talk but just even talking there she's such a good way where and I said there that mate here listen I have to get you get you on for a chat so she's coming on first guest Colin McFadden one of our heroes for 2012 he's coming on next week so it's just in between the time of championship and that Greg where we haven't got as much going on on the pitch as such for Donny Gaul I just wanted to maybe highlight a few of our former stars and they bring their doing and what they're doing now yeah I think it's a brilliant idea as you say alright okay that's Nadine Daherty Ger Tracey, Brendan Daveney all coming up for you live here on Highland Radio just after the 7pm news you can podcast it to on Highland Radio and the deal debate in association with Sarah's Kitchen at Sister Sarah's in letter Kenny Brent listen again congratulations if people want to listen to the podcast you can go to BBC sounds it's an app on your Android or your Android or Apple devices and you can listen to it there it is well worth listening to it Brent great just quick one our hurlers were in the league by the weekend listen I didn't hear the result we have to keep all our minors going as well but just in the hurlers don't expect them to be in the Division 2B it's somewhere Division 2A massive step up and I think they're beaten by me but they still give a good account to themselves and it's just the progression of Donny Gaul hurling is phenomenal Division 2B was a step up that Donny Gaul weren't really able for for many years now they're very stable they're pushing to go to 2A so just like they just say still well done to the Mickey McCann and his team there's interviews up on the Highlands side there just from the game they're getting ready for the Nicky Racker now as the championship comes in all right listen take care of yourself Brent thanks very much indeed all right Brent and Devanesa say or as we said he's live with you this evening after the 7 o'clock news we'll be back with more in the 90 noon show after these watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com Kelly Steiner. Mountaintop. How you feel when you drive is important to us. Good winning food and five star service call 911 22977 Ladies and gentlemen it's time to roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best and brightest in the business world for the Highland Radio customer service awards in association with P. Jem Ireland from your local community center to your favorite pet shop or your friendly dentist we're recognizing the businesses who are making a difference in your community this award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life but you better act fast the deadline for entries is just around the corner so visit our website and nominate now nominations close this Friday the 7th of April. Okay delighted to welcome on to the show this morning Daniel O'Donnell good morning to you Daniel thanks so much for chatting to us here thanks Greg how are you doing I'm doing fantastic and congratulations on a couple of fronts firstly had a few people I know well at the concert last week absolutely loved it class act as always from you Daniel and the rest of the artists that you showcased and also great show on Friday I've only seen bits and bobs but it's great to see country music showcased on such a platform and what a lovely honor for you and some of your friends to be honored by on post how does it feel well you know it's amazing it's a boost I never thought my face would be on a stamp it's it's kind of unbelievable really you know that the stamps can go anywhere now they can go all over the world so yes it's a great it's a great honor it's a great honor for country music to be to be you know linked with such such an honor and I think it's a testament to what country music is meant to the Irish public you know there's an awful lot of people that enjoyed country music for many many years so I suppose this five of us you know that are honored or on the stamps but I think country music in general has been you know applauded not just us but I feel very privileged that I'm one of the five that was chosen yeah and it's great for the industry I think in anyone in it that country music is front and center and showcase to the entire population not just those who have a love of it although they are great in number you know what I mean it's good to see it being promoted for what it is absolutely and just you mentioned about the concert and the Mount Erigale we had a great night and thanks to everybody that attended after three years it was a long time to wait and thanks to Highland as well and of course you know I go back and say that it was Pio who asked me as most years ago now what I do this concert to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my opening Highland in 1990 and it was all arranged and sadly Pio didn't get to see the concert you know that we had but he was very well remembered and all was well remembered by many of us that had a great affection for him so it was a celebration for Highland but also a tribute to Pio and all of the other acts I feel very very privileged to you know share the stage with the younger people too you know the four of them were just super I think anybody that was there would say the same thing and it was just lovely to be doing the show again Is there any other genre of music and this is not to detract from others but to elevate country where there is that support from established artists bringing others through and it was funny you mentioned the late great Pio McCann it was during his tribute show we had stories of people getting their first start here there and everywhere and you're continuing that Daniel again I don't think there's another genre of music that you have established acts that use their platform to try and give others assistance and I think it's really quite a remarkable part of it all most of us very very much a part of country music and I think that you know down through the years that has been apparent you know that singers that are established would encourage younger ones and I definitely I'm all for the younger people coming along because that's what's going to keep country music alive you know I remember when I started in 1983 when I was starting out on my own and you know people were thinking then that there was no future for country music and how long they were and then you have all the others came after me that bring new life and to it you know none more than Nathan you know when he came along it was like a rebirth again and you know that'll happen time and time again and they will bring a new audience to the music and you know myself and David recorded don't take the good times for granted that Shunny Crampsy wrote for us and just a such a great song and you know to be able to have somebody like I'm 61 and David is only I think it's 24 and you know that gap is bridged by music and that's not just for the singers that's for the public as well music crosses all boundaries and that's the lovely thing about it but I always encourage young people if they if I can at all or if I hear them on something you know that I hear a record if I can make contact with them I just put myself not that I think I'm any great shakes now but I suppose I've been lucky to have the career it had but I think back to when I was starting if I got encouragement I think it's very important to do that I mean you talk of luck but your success comes from much more than that because I think it's about you and the way you carry yourself and I think anyone looking on if they follow some of your examples in that regard it helps with the look side of things too I think Daniel is what I'm going to trying to say and you blaze the trail and others follow amongst those also that blaze the trail was Margo and she was one of the very few recipients of a very prestigious honor and quite rightly so perhaps not another person outside of yourself as deserving as Margo and the honor she received well definitely she did deserve it you know and not just because she's my sister but you know she has done so much throughout her career and done so much for people as well people love the people that love Margaret absolutely and love her music and she has a huge connection with those that have been following this I hope this award continues and you know Margaret was thrilled to get it she absolutely was thrilled to get it and you know I think never do we become blaze when we get awards no matter where they're from you know to be applauded for something that you love is amazing and that's really what we are that's what's happening for us and what happened for Margaret on Friday night but I do think you know it was well deserved and I suppose Tom got it thank God and Philomena got it you know it's nice that people get these awards while they're still here to appreciate and be appreciated all too often we leave it there are a lot of people I suppose like Larry and Brian Collin Gene Stewart just to name a few and there's more that are gone that I would like to see being honored you know even though they're not here maybe their families could have the award and then you have the like of Susan McCann and you know there's a lot of people that have before made country music what it is and a lot after me that have made a huge impact that's really nice that this role of honor is there and I hope it continues and finally obviously Daniel you were on the Late Late Show on Friday everyone wants you to take the job and you have made some comments in relation to that in terms of how they might choose the right person for the job and I have to say I do agree fully in what you said in that regard if the stars aligned if you got the call even for six months would you do it Daniel no I wouldn't three months no I wouldn't do it for a week that's only one show Daniel do you know what I just feel that you need to know your strengths but you also need to know your limitations and I feel that the Late Late Show is something that you have to have somebody that's able I supposed to be light and heavy and I just would not I wouldn't have the knowledge to speak to politicians and people like that you need to have a huge amount of information in your head and that's why I say you need to know your limitations my limitations don't hold me back but they let me do what I feel I can do and that's the important it's just like singing a song you know I think it's important to know what you're able to I wouldn't dream of singing them I dropped a little bit there but I understand what you're saying but it's nice to be well I mean I'm not going to be considered for that but even that people say it that's what I was going to say do you have someone you'd like to see see there's so many great candidates I suppose you could say but well there are so many great candidates I love Dahi O'Shay myself and I think Dahi would be able to you know I think he'd be able for that the lighter side and I'm sure he'd be able for the interviews that needed a lot of attention and a lot of seriousness too but I mean there's a lot of people there obviously I haven't really heard Dahi being mentioned now he's obviously he's very successful at what he's doing but I do think he would he would do it well just from somebody that I haven't seen much said about but I'm sure those that are going to pick will pick somebody that they feel is right and that's what I said in the paper you know there's all this thing about it should be a woman it should be a woman if she's the right person for the job you know where this thing of equality of course it's we're all equal but you must never put somebody into something that they're not going to be a comfortable with that's a strain and a stress on somebody if you find yourself standing in a spot that you're not fit for very finely you know when it changed hands the last time it was a very very different world I fear for the backlash for many different reasons regardless of who gets it the next time I think I fear that it could be a short lived stint and we could see the end of it because we live in a world now where everyone has an opinion and everyone has a platform to express that opinion and it might be guided by different things that are in their head and I just think it's going to be a tough gig for whoever takes it on Daniel for those reasons yeah well do you know what I would say Greg is that I don't think the majority speaks about everything I don't think the majority speak the majority enjoy and the minority speak all right I think that's profound on those words thanks for your time I know you're up to your ears as you always are so we appreciate you making your time for us available Daniel have a lovely day congratulations again congratulations to Margot and everyone else thank you very much indeed that is the literally one and only Daniel O'Donnell back boots in soft ground Adidas Predator accuracy with improved texture across the strike zone in classic soft ground sole unit try the classic Puma King Top SG with a sleek soft leather in classic six stud for extra grip get back to training with all your essentials shorts, socks, gum shield and kit bag Brian McCormick sports Main Street Larry Kenny click BMC Sports.ie there's a big freeze on the way and it's good news for anyone thinking about changing their home energy because Caller are putting their prices on ice with a two year price freeze when you switch to Caller LPG a cleaner alternative to oil Caller gas is ideal for cooking hot water and heating your home so switch today at Caller gas.ie and very soon the only thing feeling the chill will be your bill terms and conditions are blind Highland Radio Weather updates with Ireland West Airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote New York and Milan with Ryanair Ireland West Airport don't just take off take it easy wouldn't it be nice to take off don't forget if you want to take off up to a value of 10,000 euro you can take yourself to the Highland Radio website and enter a holiday draw you've got just a couple of days three days in fact is two days in a bit if the truth be told to get your tickets this is a 10,000 euro holiday voucher and also then 5,000 euro cash in spending money you can have one big splurge of a holiday or you can have multiple holidays to the value of 10,000 euro just check out our website highlandradio.com and you could be availing of some of those flights out of Nock, Dublin, Belfast wherever the fancy takes you tickets are 10 euro that's the most you'll pay for one ticket if you just want to have a double you can buy 6 for 50 euro so if you want to get them yourself and get them cheaper 10 for 80 you can do that too whichever way don't miss grab a few family and friends together and you can get tickets for 8 euro a mostly dry day today with a mix of clad and hasty Sunday spells some spots of light rain and drizzle will occur highest temperatures of 12 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh south to south east winds easing by evening now any of you who are familiar with the show would be aware that we have Dr Joe Kelly on the show on a regular basis but clearly enough I don't think and one of the people we focused on in one of the shows was Kay McNulty who is a remarkable individual and what I might actually do with the times that are in it I might actually try and dig out that interview and make it available on our website because Kay McNulty is going to be honoured her legacy with a new memorial Ayman McFadden is working with the Creasel Community Association on this project and it's going to snow. Good morning to you Ayman, thank you very much for your time today Hiya Greg, good morning to you Now the event takes place on Monday April 3rd at 6.30pm Tell us what's happening and what's being unveiled Ayman and then we'll talk a little bit about Kay I suppose Yeah, sure Greg, so yeah tonight we're unveiling a memorial here in Creasel in the village just at an area known as the corner of the garden just as you approach the village here and it's just something we've been working on for the past 12 we remember a number of years ago people remember that they had a big day to commemorate or remember Brady Gallagher while she was still alive and that was a great success Now sadly Kay McNulty has passed away since but she was born in Creasel and we think it's time that maybe there was something done to recognise the legacy that she left in science and technology here in her home village as well so we've been working with the national police and also with the Creasel Community Association as well so we have a nice interpretive panel and a commemorative plaque all built on a nice handmade stone plinth that we're going to unveil tonight here, something that will hopefully maybe give people an insight into who Kay was, what type of person she was, her achievement and maybe help inspire the next generation of young people in STEM, subject science technology, engineering and mathematics as well so that's what's really happening tonight And we were talking about people like Margot who is a trailblazer in music Kay, a trailblazer in her chosen area and a big push on to get more women in particular into STEM subjects, Kay as you mentioned has sadly passed on but she will be well represented because there will be people visiting I understand and also too of course, her deep roots her family connections in and around Creasel Absolutely, Greg you're 100% because there still is a significant amount of the family members of the McNulty's that are in the Harkins, the Nailuses, these are all related into these families so there's a lot of these people here as well and we're lucky too to have Kay's granddaughter Naomi most is visiting here tonight she's going to be our guest to unveil the plaque for us, she is a computer developer herself very much inspired by her grandmother and she talks fondly about Kay and the kind of very down to earth person she was and so it's nice to have that connection to think that we'll have someone who traveled all the way from San Francisco to be here just to unveil our plaque you know that people will enjoy it for many years to come I mean it's a you know legacy is really important but that's a particularly beautiful legacy to inspire your granddaughter to continue in the same field that you did I mean what an impact to have on another human I think it's remarkable we shouldn't forget of course because this is all about Kay being one of the world's first computer programmers and you can imagine all she would have had to overcome to get to the top of her field it's a remarkable story right across the county and actually not least in Kreisle and surrounding areas we have trailblazers sorry to use that word again but you know people that either stayed here or went from here and were incredibly incredibly influential oh yeah wholeheartedly I mean I suppose Kay maybe didn't get the full recognition during her lifetime I think of what she actually had achieved it was interesting that the first computer that she helped a pioneer program the ENIAC was designed by a guy called Dr. John Mockley and Press Eckhart okay ultimately ended up marrying John Mockley so the very the pioneer who designed the first reprogram computer and one of the very first programmers ended up having a family so you can imagine they're deeply embedded in the history of all this but trailblazer is what she was there was just six women who had to learn to program that the device was actually designed and constructed but even at that point it wasn't fully and sure how it would work so it took Kay and those women to actually go from the grassroots up to learn every aspect of the machine now this isn't a small machine now like we have our laptops at home this is a machine that had over 18,000 valves in it 1800 feet in floor space and it weighed around 30 tons this thing was absolutely a behemoth of a machine but that's what set the path for the first programmable computer and that's the legacy that we see today that paved the way for the connected computer generated the computer world we live in today you can put it down to just a handful of those people I mean everything the mobile phone that people have in their hands the laptops you mentioned the computer on which we're streaming space exploration do you know what I mean everything really in some way everything yeah everything you know it all goes back to that there initially it was to help work out trajectories during the second world war this is what it was primarily developed for but it never saw active service during that time so afterwards it was used for primarily peaceful means to solve like engineering problems and things like this and that's the way that was it was used right up until the 1950s and was superseded by the next generation computer which they helped to pioneer as well yeah okay and I presume you didn't have to beg Naomi to come over because you know it's a great honor to the families that you mentioned not least the McNaltes and her direct descendants the likes of Naomi most it's lovely for them to see Kay getting the recognition now that you quite rightly pointed out that perhaps has taken up until recently to really be to be given to her yeah no yeah I think it's a proud time for them they grew up that environment of their parents being technology pioneers but they always kept a strong connection with Chrysler and Donny Gall that was always foremost in Kay's life throughout her life so the fact that they think that this we're doing something here for them I know it means a lot to them I'd be in regular contact with Kay's daughter Ginny in America unfortunately couldn't attend and also her son Bill they'll get to attend here in the future and it'll be nice when they do get here to see that you know what Kay's legacy does mean for the people of Chrysler what it can mean possibly to the next generation but we'll have a bit of fun tonight now with the like of Naomi here as well she's going to talk more about Kay and the type of person she was and all that one we're here so we look forward to that as well isn't it quite remarkable Aiman how things have progressed when we're talking about someone so influential in the creation of something that we all benefit from and use from directly and indirectly and you talk of you know her children still being alive and her granddaughter travelling over and still very active in that field isn't it astonishing how from that acorn this incredibly large oak for all its faults at times has grown in such a short period of time like you know it's history but my word it's not that far removed from now no no and it's funny I suppose the twists of fate and Kay's life that ultimately saw her been born increasingly she grew up here as a native Irish speaker until she's about three or maybe four years old and that's when the family emigrated she arrived in America as a native Irish speaker it had no word of English but by the time she started schools she could speak English you know she was very bright so the twists and turns of fate that ultimately led her to go to college to study mathematics to find a job that was for a mathematician was required as opposed to just something like teaching for example so she you know it's all those quirks that have led her to the path that she was so it's a remarkable story that that's what got her to the position that has ultimately helped to change the world we live in today you know all right it's going to be a lovely dry bright evening at 6.30pm at the corner of the garden in Creece town it is it's going to be a lovely dry bright evening and I think it's going to be a lovely family event and I think particularly for young people as well to go along too with their families and you know especially to be able to hear from Naomi too because it's amazing one little event in life can change your path in life as well and who's to say someone might not be influenced this evening to become the next K McNulty fair play to you Aiman and all at the Creece Community Association for pursuing this and bring it to fruition and I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'm sure you will and it's just a great thing so we appreciate you coming on with us today. Yeah well thank you so much for your time Greg that's really good and say everybody's welcome and thanks again for having us on. No it's our pleasure at 6.30pm tonight at the corner of the garden of Creece Lotan or in Creece Lotan it's a newly created monument unveiled in Creece on the pioneering work of the late K McNulty one of the world's first computer programmers and just whilst I'm not using this as an opportunity as a cheap way by the way to plug things but we also spoke to Dr Joe Kelly about Creece Lotan and it was in the wake of the awful tragedy that visited that village and many others beyond it all of us the country and beyond as well and we also we took a time to reflect on the history of Creece Lotan and it has an incredibly interesting and rich history it's so if you fancy passing a half an hour or so maybe it's an hour I can't recall how long it is but anyway go on to YouTube and type Highland Radio Creece Lotan or Dr Joe Kelly Creece Lotan and watch that and listen to it whichever way you prefer as I say I hope you'd find it really really interesting I want to say a very happy birthday if you don't mind to Anne Peoples who is in St Johnston and Anne is celebrating her 70th birthday today happy birthday to you Anne from all of us here at Highland Radio on the 9th till noon show of course on the family hope you have a wonderful day let's get to some more comments that have been coming in Hi Greg I just thought I'd let you know I'm 48 years old and two weeks ago I was waiting 33 hours in the A in letter Kenny the ED that is I was waiting for a CT scan there needs to be a better system I mean that that's just 33 hours waiting for CT scan another caller says Gardie should never work with people who wear masks to hide their identity it gives a very bad impression especially when the subject is as sensitive as an eviction we haven't forgotten the very emotive time in our history when families were evicted and their homes destroyed many will use this comparison to further their own agenda indeed and that's why I was trying to have the conversation not in the context of in the context of was it an appropriate way to make the point morning Greg listening to the councillor I wonder is this why the powers that be don't want you in vain in government they'll uncover a lot that are 11 years of the same government are hiding just a thought thank you well I don't think a government may necessarily do you know what actually will be very interesting to see how quickly some of these reports are published if there is a change in government and that is by no means guaranteed but we shall see how quickly these reports get published thereafter a caller says it is public money that was spent after the flood people we have a right to know what it was spent on truckloads of skips leaving the hospital where did it go a caller says my dad was in hospital last weekend his GP sent him and the care he got was amazing I never in my life seen crowds like it at the ED the staff that we met were stretched to the limit and some of them from other wards called into cover short staff situations I'm not sure what's needed to help with the overcrowding eds but something needs to change good luck with the new pathway initiative will listen as as we said in our conversation with John Joe the pathway initiative is not in and of itself going to change it but hopefully it's one of the measures that can be employed that will help that's all we can hope for and looking at the numbers from John Joe there that it might prevent attending the hospital you can see it's bound to have some level of an impact whether or not we as users see it hopefully the staff do when are these delays going to stop I had thought the new HSE premises in Boncran were going to get x-rays too is it still only used for the doctors I'm not really quite sure the answer to that question a caller says I feel this is as it relates to weight loss I feel that there needs to be so much more psychological preparation for those going the surgery route it seems that there is in Ireland but from having close friends who went to Turkey it seems it's more about the physical preparation after care the physical side seems to be really well planned and followed up on but the huge surgery it is the psychological side needs huge huge improvements and I think you're onto something there but also in terms of the after care it has to be said it is the HSE that ends up picking up on that I know that because we had one of the gentlemen who does the after care and some of there are complications with some of it according to our conversation with him okay listen that's where we have to leave it for today