 The crack this morning, I'm going to hang up. Is that one cold again? It's just studio or something, doesn't it? That's right. I can't even do it, like... No, you're spot on. It's just studio, isn't it? Do you know? How are you? I'm doing good. What about you? Doing good. I'm doing good. I was all tired yesterday and stuff. I don't know what it was. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday, but I didn't sleep very well. The night before? But you know when you sleep, but it's not a good sleep? Yeah, it's a broken sleep. No, it's not even that. It's just you wake up and you feel like... It's hard to describe. But so you were doing a lot of blue screen, you're doing a lot of updates even to 12 o'clock at night. Ah, sure, look at that. Ah, come on, you good... And can we have compliments yesterday? How did you get on with the compliments? I didn't do too great. Did you not? No, we did all right. Did you give Caroline a compliment? I did. I compliment Caroline every morning that I come in. Let me see the face. No, yeah, I do. She's laughing. And Shannon, yeah. She's laughing, a big hearty laugh, Caroline. And they take the hand out of me. Oh, oh, Greg, you play the fiddle. You are so well... Look, I'm going to ask you a question now. Did you make that even cup of coffee yourself? Did I make this coffee? No, you hesitated. No, you didn't. No, I didn't. Yes. I get one cup of coffee a day. And Caroline's going to be feeding you all information and everything today. Was that the boss? I just... She's the boss. I just sit here talking. Did you hear that, Caroline? You're the boss. She doesn't care. She's not in the mood. All right, okay. We have a good show, right? See you later, Leo. Have a goody, safe home. All right, night till noon show just around the corner. But first, let's get a news update, and it's over to Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. There are still a few hundred homes and businesses without power in Donegal, as ESB crews work to repair the last of the damage caused by storms Isha and Jocelyn. There are 22 outages being dealt with, mainly concentrated in the Inishon, Fanad, Letterkenny, and Finn Valley areas. ESB networks say they're not dealing with the most difficult cases, with hopes that most of the issues will be dealt with by eight o'clock this evening. Meanwhile, Ischke Aarons say reservoir works causing disruption in parts of Letterkenny today should be resolved at midday, while a potential supply disruption in Barnas Moore is currently being investigated. The new legal deadline to restore stallment will be February 8th, after an extension was fast-tracked through the British Parliament. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson revealed during the debate he's been the victim of threats, as negotiations continue over the return of part-sharing, while the SDLP leader, Colm Eastwood, condemned those responsible. Those people who have threatened them today couldn't lace his boots, and every single Democrat, in this house or elsewhere, should stand in solidarity with any of us who are being attacked like that. A plan to demolish the old fire station in Stronhorne and replace it with eight social housing units for older people will come before Donegal County Council for Part 8 planning permission on Monday. Councillor Patrick McGowan says with 18 special social housing units for older people expected to be completed and ready to live in June this year on the Trust Road, 2024 is said to be a very important year for housing provision. He says the development of the old fire station is something local people have been seeking for a long time, and he's happy to finally see progress. On Monday, as we'll come in front of the councillors, there's a Part 8 plan application. Once that plan is granted, then it goes to the department, obviously, for funding. But the plan is there for eight units. These are small single and double-belt units, and they're sort of earmarked for more older people at a time when there's a major housing shortage. And an independent information campaign is being launched this morning on the upcoming referendums in March. Voters are to be asked their views on the definition of a family and women's place in the home. With more, here's Stephanie Rowan. Voters will be asked two questions in these referendums. One would provide for a wider concept of what a family is defined as in the constitution. The second would delete the reference to the role of a woman in the home and insert new wording to recognise family care. Voters will be asked if, yes, they support, or no, reject these changes. This morning, the country's independent electoral commission will explain the issues being voted on and ask people to make sure they're registered to vote. Voting will take place on International Women's Day on March the 8th. Top temperatures today, 11 to 13 degrees Celsius, in a moderate to fresh and gusty south to southwest wind. That's Highland Radio News, back with more at 10 o'clock. And now, it's time for the talk of the northwest, the 9 to noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Yes, indeed. It is time for the talk of the northwest, approaching five minutes past nine on this Thursday, the 25th of January, 2024. How are you all keeping out there? I do hope you're very well indeed. And hopefully you'll stick around with us for the next three hours. We'll keep you up to date with all what's happening in your country. And beyond to, and we want you involved in that conversation with your texts and your comments and your views to 086-6025-thousand. WhatsApps and texts, that number, of course, lots of you are our diaspora listening in far-flung places. We want to hear from you as well, of course. 00353866025-thousand. That's the WhatsApp. 0749125-thousand. It's the telephone number. And again, you use the telephone number as well. 0749125-thousand is the telephone number. And again, you use the international dialing code to access us from outside the Republic of Ireland. And of course, you can watch the show. That suits you and your lifestyle. We are on YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland. You can stick us up on your smart TV. You've got the app there. Or your Firestick or your Google TV. And also take us mobile with you on that app. And on Facebook, Highland Hub, Highland Radio, News and Sport. Let's look at the front of some of the papers today. We'll start with the Draconal Tribune. And following a meeting with Education Minister Norma Foley in the Dallon Wednesday morning, Sinn Féin's Padre McLaughlin said she is now more acutely aware of the serious overcrowding at Milford's National School and the traffic hazards on the current site. Deputy McLaughlin said it was a very good meeting. It was a positive meeting and I do expect her to urgently address the crisis situation that confronts the pupils and staff. And where a new building is long over, GUI assured her that a Greenfield site is available and progress has been made in its reopening. Sorry, it's rezoning. I expect that more details will be available from the Minister's office when Skull Moor board of management meets with local politicians on February 8th and 9th. And I presume if you have students in that school you'd be keen to see progress there. And if you want to share your views with us, feel free to do so on the numbers I mentioned there a short time ago. Donegal County Council say the cleanup and recovery operation following this week's heavy storms are likely to continue for the rest of the week. This is the Donegal news. The county is still recovering from the widespread damage caused after a storm. Isha battered much of Donegal for several hours and Sunday night to many homes and businesses across the county remain without power this morning. Many families have not had power since the weekend and this is where it gets complicated. And as we've been talking about it over the course of the week, these outages with, you know, 10, 12, 20, 30, these pockets could take till after the weekend. I've been told, hopefully, not fingers crossed and please don't make any arrangements or plans off the back of what I'm saying. I can only pass on what I've heard. But some of them are, as we heard from the ESB themselves, complicated restorations, which leaves... We're hearing the individual stories now, leaving people with reliance on electricity. I know we're all reliant, but some people are reliant on it for medical reasons, you know, people born in the house. Some people have no water because the power is out and there are quite a few people out there experiencing a really, really tough week. The Dairy News this morning, a 5.5 million-pound project aimed to help regenerate Dairy City Centre could be in jeopardy. Work is due to begin on the multimillion-pound inner-world city public realm scheme in March. The Department for Communities project will see the removal of the society street car park following a public meeting involving local businesses, residents and churches with the Department for Communities, Department for Industrial Structure and Dairy and Straban District Council officials. The Dairy News has learned a number of objections to the scheme have since been lodged. Let's go to the nationals now. We'll have a look at the Irish Times first. Ireland should support Ukrainians to return to their war-torn country by rebuilding infrastructure and possibly paying for travel back there, Minister for Integration, Roderick O'Gorman has said, with the Temporary Protection Directive, which allows Ukrainians to live and work in the European Union due to expire on March 2025, the Green Party see TD said there is a fundamental question for all EU member states that must be addressed urgently. He told the Irish Times Inside Politics podcast that while the directive might be extended, I suspect it will be, with new legislation, the EU needed to decide its position on the millions of Ukrainians who will be living in member states once the current rules expire. I think the decision needs to be taken early this year in order for certainty to be provided to everyone. But the problem they are facing right across Europe is this was introduced, the Temporary Protection Directive was introduced because of Russia's invasion on Ukraine. Now, is that going to be resolved by this time next year? We'd hope so, but it's probably unlikely. So, to say, right, you were out of your war-torn country for three years and now you must go back and we'll pay you to go back. Is that really going to happen? I can't imagine so. That being said, I'm sure Ukraine, which has been heavily depleted of its women and children, would be very keen, because they are the lifeblood of a country, of course, very keen to see them return. But whilst the conflict is ongoing and raging as much as it ever did, I can't see how that can change drastically next year on a European-wide basis. But we shall see. I think that would be seen by Moscow as something of a victory. But anyway, we shall see how things pan out, as I said. The Irish Independent this morning, we have a lot of teen carers in this county. I know that for a fact, because we've looked at the data and this is why I thought this story an interesting one and maybe one that you might have an opinion on. It's in The Irish Independent, I think I mentioned. Teenaged carers are significantly less likely than their classmates to get good grades in the leaving certificate and go on to college, new research is found. The Economic and Social Research Institute has published a study that reveals the educational toll of being a young carer and the effect it has on a person's life chances. Up to now, there has been limited research carried out on the experiences of carers who are still in school. The SRI has called on the state to consider adding young carers to school completion programmes which target young people who are at risk of leaving school early. According to the ESRI, around one-quarter of 17-year-olds and one-fifth of 20-year-olds in Ireland regularly care for another family member. This care can range from babysitting, younger siblings to the more intensive care of a parent or a grandparent and it's about supporting them and recognising them. A study is found over 4,000 young people the study used 4,000 young people and it tried to understand the lives of carers between the age of 17 and 20 and it's difficult to, especially if they're caring for a parent or a grandparent because then there's sometimes an associated guilt that your need for care is in some way holding your child back but the solution to that, of course, is to support young carers and recognise them and hopefully the state decides to do that to the fullest extent it can. The Irish Daily Mail, I don't know what your appetite for RTE scandals is like but it's all over the papers today. A report into RTE's ill-fated toy show The Musical which made losses of over 2 million euro has found that there was no green light given by the RTE board for the venture. The Irish Daily Mail understands that the report also should be published today. Also found that a contract for the 1,995-seat convention centre in Dublin was signed for 54 shows before documents on the project were produced for the RTE board. So really the way I see this and I could be wrong that the board is there and it's appointed there to ensure that public money is spent responsibly and that all the checks and balances are put in place but it seems that this flight of fancy for some or some might see it, whoever was behind it felt that they could just do it without consulting the board who ultimately are responsible for ensuring that the right decisions are made and also to, they could never really make money because even if they fulfilled all of the shows to capacity it would only ever break even. Well the Damning report also says that ticket sales projections were unrealistic. Politicians on the Dolls Public Accounts Committee and the Rock Dismity Committee said they are prepared to haul RTE executives and the board before them again to answer questions on the matter. The Irish Farmers Journal today. There was a 225 euro a head price gap for R3 grading cows between the best and worst paying factories in 2023 exclusive Irish Farmers Journal analysis has found. The price difference between factories for cows has increased by almost 100 euro a head on the 2022 analysis. For bollocks there was up to 182 euro a head in the difference for R3 grading cattle between the top and bottom paying factories and the smallest price spread showing a 71 euro a head gap for R3 bollocks. There was a price gap of up to 166 euro a head for P3 graded heifers while young bull prices differed by up to 113 euro a head for R3 bulls depending on the factory of choice. More details and so much more in that paper today. On to the red top tabloids now and we've covered this a few times on this show. It's a ridiculous situation whereby Gardie unless they've had a certain level of training can't respond to incidences under blue lights effectively and with the sirens blaring and driving at a certain speed and the problem has been in the past that insufficient training has been available to bring these people up to that standard. So you have a police force effectively a garter force that can't chase criminals not all of them of course but some within that but that being said too if they if a garter tends to sort of say right this is a situation whereby I need to drive under speed and they haven't had the appropriate training well seemingly you may be in line to lose your job because a garter's career is on the line for driving a force vehicle to respond to an armed incident. The stars established that the the uniformed officer sorry it is uniformed do you know what the funny thing is this is what I'm struggling with newspapers what I'm reading about now they break the words up so you know from one column to the next so much of my reading is done online now that I'm so unused to that so when I come across a word that's split in two on a page it seems so old-fashioned but also I struggle actually to comfortably read it but the stars established that the uniformed officer is now under disciplinary investigation by independent police in Watchdog GSOC for alleged neglect of duty in relation to the incident in Dublin last year is being investigated for an alleged breach of discipline for driving to the so-called priority one call called for an armed incident in the city in April 2023 the officer is being investigated for rushing to the scene in the official car despite not having a specialist driving qualification known as CBD 2 which allows officers to use sirens and blue lights to respond to emergencies anyone with access to a car should have that training shouldn't they give it a imagine on to the mirror now and I'm just wondering is this something that's being felt across the Northwest I ask that question and I know the answer is probably yes and it's something you want to talk about in confidence if you prefer you can WhatsApp or text us or call us but apparently parents are struggling to feed their children due to a dramatic increase in the cost of baby formula Labour's Rebecca Moynihan has written to the Competitions and Consumer Protection Commission to call for an investigation into the price increase she also called on parents to be allowed to use grocery money back vouchers on formula last month's consumer price index published by the CSO noted the cost of baby food has climbed by 7% in a year I mean that's a really big jump and it's not cheap to begin with in her letter for the CCPC seen by the Irish Mirror Senator Moynihan who is a mom to a 11 month old Margo said many parents are struggling to feed their young children due to the dramatic increase in the price of named brand formula and the absence of generic alternatives Ireland is a net exporter of baby formula and we subsidize the manufacturing of baby formula through Enterprise Ireland now when we were buying that used a multinational brand quite consistently it's still very expensive but not as expensive as other brands but still good is that something you're finding that you know you're having to adjust your shop to be able to afford formula leaving other things out is it something that you've noticed that affects you at all please let us know 086625000 and in sport Roy Keane who says an awful lot about football and he's an amazing career of course and he's an excellent ponder I think everyone loves him but we have learned that that doesn't always transfer into good management and he has opened the door to be the manager of the Republic of Ireland would you like to see Roy Keane in that position well Roy Keane though according to the Sun will never get the chance to manage Ireland following his infamous bust up with John Waters which may have helped convince Declan Rice to play for England some insiders believe the Manchester United legend has opened the door to a shock return to football management and he insisted the national job was an option he'd be interested in but with Lee Carly on the brink of taking the head coach role from Stephen Kenny sources say Keane's rocky past will always count against him in the FAI now as I say some people are great pondits and I have been great players but that doesn't always transfer to great management what do you think would you like to see him giving a go with it oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand okay now let's take a break the newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra mountaintop letter Kenny the C store national large four court of the year for twenty twenty two the nine till noon 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Donegal for more details Highland Radio time checks with expressway travel route 32 from letter Kennedy Dublin when you book online and travel for less expressway bringing you the time ask it's twenty one minutes past nine now morning we're joined on the program by Christopher Christopher thanks for chatting to me this morning how are you keeping not too bad great in yourself I'm okay now you are one of the many people across the county across the country who who's home that you build it turned out was affected by defective concrete you built it started building the building process back in twenty eleven Christopher and the block work was done in 2011 and we didn't actually move on to 2013 but when did problems when did it become clear so you're in it in 2013 plastered and all that kind of stuff when did it become clear that there was a problem probably about two thousand sixteen I'd say I started to notice cracks like bad cracks and corners and stuff like and did you go through the usual process of thinking it was bad plaster or something or settling about settling cracks mostly we thought that's what that was going down to settling cracks because there's no word of anything really at that stage like but in twenty nineteen in twenty nineteen you got it first tested and very quickly it was clear that the entire property was very severely affected is that right what did the report say well it was actually two thousand and twenty February and two thousand and twenty well it was kicking off before that actually you know about in two thousand nineteen about make and everything else but our house was there wasn't many houses chord ours was I think one of the first about here to be chord that was in February and twenty twenty and by the time we went through the process then like and got the results now back the engineer then was telling us that there's the results that came back from our blocks is terrible it's definitely has to be demolished full demolition full demolition our internal blocks came back at two point seven Newton in strength and blocks nowadays like our thirteen Newton and we have bison slabs like so I don't know I'm only assuming that we're thirty or forty tonne bison slabs at the top of that like and that's not no good at all I also told Stan that he also told us as well that there's twenty one percent make on the course and he says that that's probably one of the highest that he's seen throughout the whole thing so presumably this was on the first the scheme the ninety ten scheme as it was called and under that scheme you were okayed for full demolition is that right yeah we were okay whenever the thing you see what happened was whenever the house was called and we were told that there's full demolition we had to ask between engineers and different people you know what's the next step because there wasn't that many that was doing no there wasn't that many done at that stage and we were told to do a plan up of the house the replacement house and ask us we'll go through them once you get plan on approved then you can move forward because there's no point in the plan for a scheme and maybe you not get granted the plan information then for that house so that's what we did but because we have four young children like at the minute eight six four and two and our eldest child has a disability so we thought that not only is it higher to get houses to rent but one that's wheelchair accessible nearly nonexistently so we thought if we could try maybe and get plan information to build our house our site's massive like there's 60 meters from the front of our house to the road like you easily get another house in front like so we decided then that we would do the new plans try and see if we can put the house the new house in front whenever it's finished we move on to that house and demolish our own that way then we don't have to try and seek kind of accommodation and all the rest you know what I mean so whenever we got the plans and all grew up and sent our ring off onto the planning office our ring came back and we got passed and got planning so I just like obviously this is a good say now once we apply for the scheme now no our ring should be handy enough but it went on then two years before we kind of kept looking for further information further information from that's from about October 2020 and Chris just so I'm clear were you looking for the replacement house that you built to be included in the scheme or was that built and now you were looking for the old the old house to be rebuilt through the scheme now we were looking to build a replacement house for the scheme instead of the only difference was on our inspection plan that you have to send on it's demolitions number one on the things demolition and then you work through all the stages then whereas we had that demolition was last that was the last thing on the list and we were just hoping to be able to do the new house in front because of the child with a disability and then demolish afterwards which would save a lot of hassle especially whenever we have the room nobody else was going through the thing at the time we only thought this would be a good idea but I don't really understand why was the plan information even granted because at that time the Donegal County Council was in charge of the 1910 scheme and both departments the officers and the planning and the make-up scheme so why could the planning officer not have asked the make-up scheme is this going to be acceptable or not and refuse us regardless of what way we move forward is it possible Christopher the planners may have thought that you know this wasn't a replacement house I mean were they to know that you were looking to look at the plan information but this is due to demolition of a defective concrete block home understood but the scheme is very strict in terms of you have to rebuild effectively on the same footprint of the house that's being demolished you've found no wiggle room in that at all to accommodate this plan that you have but they have all they have is a no it's rubbed down on paper and that's it I think under special circumstances like they should take over a case on to consideration that's what I think personally because in your situation obviously you want the house to be fully accessible for your eldest child who has a disability so you want them to take that into consideration because you can't build the same square foot on the existing site because you're looking to replace the multi-storeyed house with a bungalow yeah have you had any any indication at all that someone's working on it or they might try and work with you or anything at all Christopher no well we were getting the answers and seek the advice again and we were told to contact Martin McDermott so we went through Martin and Martin spoke to he didn't really understand what we're actually trying to do now is the plan information that we got granted for originally was another two storey house but that's going on since 2020 whenever we think about everything now since this is what we're deciding now as a bungalow is going to shoot our child better so we're going to go for a bungalow instead but the other side of it as then is our son has it should be getting fuzzio therapy well not supposed to get that but you'll be supposed to get it from the HSE and there's no HSE fuzzio in place we used to get it back like but it was only maybe a few times a year we haven't seen a HSE fuzzio since July 22 and what we think now is what we build a fuzzio therapy room as part of the house we're not able to do this ourselves because we're not getting no help any other way the way we want to do that then is we want to build a fuzzio therapy room for him out the back of the house and build a bungalow then so it's kind of interconnected if you know what I mean no it's still what you're saying so we got in contact with Martin McDermott and he didn't really understand so they wanted it they wanted it drew out but we drew it out ourselves because they couldn't pay out more money they tried to get an architect to do so we sent it off to him and Martin came back and says that 50% of the bald has to be on the same location and 50% has to be off you're allowed 50% on, 50% off but our house, our bungalow is already if you take it down but the floor plan is already 50% off without adding like a fuzzio suite what we're trying to do now is try to see if we can seek some advice where they would accept 25% on and 75% off so that that'll take into account then for the fitness suite as well as far as you can determine Christopher would you be able to use this scheme if you built the bungalow across the existing site like if you've been even told that that's doable I'm not actually sure in that to be honest with you not if we add on the fitness suite that we want our house is see it's 328 square meters our house is a big house but we've downsized the bungalow now but by the time we add on the fitness suite it ends up roughly the same size it's actually probably still a bit smaller than our original home but there's no reason why that should be unacceptable because we should have like for like whenever we're I think though when they talk of like for like Christopher they're talking like for like and that's the I mean you know yourself one of the big demands or wants of the campaign was a penalty free downsizing do you know so people maybe the children had moved out or what have you they could build a smaller house on the same site and receive the maximum grant and therefore it would get closer to 100% and the government wouldn't negotiate on that so it would make me question Christopher if they would entertain what you're talking about because it seems the terms of this scheme are so bloody rigid that it doesn't allow for the type but listen I don't know you know you're in the midst of this what we're really asking is there anyone out there with any advice that's why you've sort of spoke publicly about this Christopher isn't it is anyone that can give you some advice and guidance to try and get us across the line under the scheme yeah well there's no one really out there to help us like we can't get fuzzy from the HSE the scheme's not working with us you know you have to bring it publicly if that's the way it's going to be you know even we also have a bigger house like we have to suffer financially because of the way the scheme's set out you know if you live in a small house the cap's still 420,000 which is grand for everybody else they're going off inflation rates and even the banks for mortgages and everything they're all all that information off the HSE yeah like if I go on now and put on my location and put on the size of my house the rebuild calculator will tell you that my house is 789,000 the rebuild 420,000 so I'm going to do it like that you'd have to find 400,000 Euro for that because by the time you take other things out of that 420 grand it's not 420 to actually build a house are you able at the moment Christopher to live in the old house nah we're able to live in it and when we're looking that way because I would say it's because the house is so recent like it's not as old as some of the other houses that are far worse than ours like we're able to live on it but I wouldn't like to see it in another five years you know that's when you're getting the readings that you're getting back on the internal blocks you have to look after your family Christopher listen we'll see if anyone has any advice or if anyone can give any further input into that and if there's anything useful and that's not because the information isn't out there it's just maybe the scheme won't allow it we'll certainly pass it on to Christopher and I hope everything turns out okay for you and your family I mean as you say it's one thing after another no access to the physio side of things and then these problems with the house okay Christopher thank you for your time as I say get in touch with us we can put you in touch with Christopher if you believe you can help 08 660 25000 watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account 35 euro a month for 12 months and no activation fee when you act now switch in store or at virginmedia.ie virgin media it's playtime very definition of the Audi 241 range from the striking style and comfort of the enhanced Audi A6 to the era defining iconic Audi A4 with competition addition and the quietly efficient Audi Q4 e-tron electrified driving with no compromise test drive the Audi 241 range at an Audi dealer near you today with all tiles and bathware in store free standard underlay with all wooden floors footers and delivery service available that's Milford tiles big January seal now on call 08 3 091 0707 don't miss Nathan Carter live at the Clanbury hotel letter Kenny this Sunday 28 stores open at 7 15 with support from David James from 8 tickets priced 30 euro available from hotel reception or paid the door that's Nathan Carter live at the Clanbury hotel letter Kenny this Sunday okay you're welcome back to the program Laura McFadden Piero of Donegal mountain rescue is with me now good morning Laura how are you keeping morning Greg not too bad thanks for having me on all right Donegal mountain rescue describe the organization to us you know it's size and it's responsibilities Laura we are a fully voluntary organization that spans lowlands and helps to recover people who have come into difficulty on our mountains we're a relatively small team but we're actually recruiting at the moment to try and make the team a little bit bigger as we are one of the busiest teams in the country at the moment and it's already been a very busy 2024 hasn't it for the team it has in the first 13 days of this year alone we had five call it so and yeah it's been it's been pretty busy so far even in the in the short year that's been and as you mentioned you know it's a team of volunteers but they are an arm of the emergency services explain to us if there is an alert how you're triggered and what have you so if people come into difficulty or find themselves lost or struggling on the mountains they phone 999 or 112 and ask for us messages then sent out to everybody in the team to see who is available and anybody who is available to go on scene at that time then makes their way to a rendezvous point where we are given the details of the call out and we just take it from there then and presumably the more people on the team the more likelihood there is to be and I know you never leave anyone stuck literary or metaphorically but the bigger the team when that call goes out the more resources potentially are available absolutely you know the if the team is smaller then the responsibility falls to select few and they feel in that they have to always be on call whereas the bigger the team then the it's essentially just spreading the load you know and spreading the responsibility so that you know there isn't only a small amount of people that have to be on call all that time so I mean obviously for the right candidates there will be full training and what have you but the basics really that you would like to see from people interested in becoming a volunteer or what Laura this year with regards to our recruitment drive we're specifically asking anybody who might have experience or qualifications on the mountains come forward and also particularly anybody who might have any first aid experience so any rec 3 or rec 4 and any ENTs or even paramedics you know anybody at all who feels like they might be able to give up a little bit at their time to help us out would be really beneficial to us at this moment in time. In terms of time how extensive is the training like so I'm just trying to make sure maybe you can you know engage those who might suit or might not suit so what kind of a commitment is required say for the training for the right candidates of course yeah so we tend to train twice a month one evening and then one full weekend day so it would be one week evening normally on a Wednesday evening and then on a Sunday during the day as well so twice a month so it's not too full on but anybody that would be wanting to join the team would need to make sure that they are available for that training because it's not all the time we need to make sure that the training that we do have is attended by all our members. And you know often in an awful lot of jobs nowadays they say must be able to work as part of the team I think particularly in this area the team work and the ability to work well within a team is absolutely essential really because all the individual rescuers sort of safety is all interlinked as well absolutely you know everybody has their role but that role is only beneficial when it's done in tandem with everybody else and it's important that no one person is singled out within the team it's important then that no one person is put at any unnecessary risk so we all work as a team to make sure that the team is safe when we're on the mountain so that we then can do our job to the best of our ability to help whoever we are out there to assist. So experiencing hill walking and mountaineering is essential and then there is the vital skills that we've talked about first aid, navigation casualty care, stretcher management rope work and much more so you know there's an awful lot there it is a commitment to the right candidates absolutely you know and our training does cover all of those aspects as well and we train hard we train very thoroughly in all those areas and it's just maybe slightly beneficial for anybody coming onto the team to maybe have a little bit of experience a little bit of background in any of those areas first and foremost. Alright okay we'll remind people just at the end of the conversation how they can get in touch but just more generally any patterns developing over 23 and I suppose 24 that's triggering these call-outs amongst people up on the hills and mountains why are we seeing an increase? I mean obviously they're busier maybe but what mistakes are we explorers making? Well there's a couple of things that we need to be very careful of especially at this time of year one of them is the weather as we've seen especially in the past two weeks the weather can become very dramatic very quickly obviously with the very extreme weather that we've had we've had warnings but the weather can change very very quickly and there is a difference between heading out for a walk and then heading out for a hike if you're heading for muckish or or any of our peaks in the county that is very much a hike and it changes then how you go about that walk and how you go about heading out the door so you must check the weather and make sure that you are then well equipped to deal with any weather that is here later on in the day the correct footwear and on top of that then absolutely so we're finding a lot of people then are heading up these mountains in trainers, leggings and a fleece which is great for a walk but for a hike it's very very different must have hiking boots waterproof clothing trousers and a waterproof jacket gloves, a hat at this time of year very important to have a head torch as well with you if the light does go quicker than you expect like I say though if you have checked your timings and how long your route is going to be the weather should be prepared for all of that as well the other thing that is really essential is to have plenty of water and food with you and also a fully charged mobile phone so that hopefully it doesn't happen but if you do yourself in difficulty you can contact us then and we will be able to come and get you and with emergency calls it doesn't matter what network you're on it will connect with whatever network is available it doesn't have to be through Vodafone or Air or something along those lines no, nothing at all there is a dead zone around the AeroGo car park which is important to know that there is no phone signal around the AeroGo car park but as you head up the mountain then it does come back and we can use that phone signal as well to locate we use a location system called CIRCLE and if you are within range of signal if we are able to get in contact you we can actually ping your phone and get your location fairly precisely which speeds up our recovery and our rescues that was quite useful recently I think was one of the more recent rescues ok well listen people with an interest and want to get involved in the team email recruitment at donagallmrt.ie and there's more information there too on the mrt website and facebook and what have you and people can contact us if they want that email address so it's recruitment at donagallmrt.ie and a lot of it is on glamorous work too isn't it I mean you have to always make sure the equipment is clean when you've come off a climb you know you just don't jump in the fall before and head home like there's quite a bit to it to make sure all your ropes the gear is ready when it's needed Laura absolutely Greg even taking an example of Sunday we were out for a training day and it rained the entire day so we had some equipment out that we were using and just training with but all that needs to be packed away neatly but then whoever is in charge of that particular vehicle that the gear has come from they need to take that gear out and make sure it's all dry packed away neatly and ready to go so that when we do get a call out to theirs we're not struggling with tangled ropes or anything like that and then it's ready to go so yeah there is a little bit of work there's a lot of preparation and mind and of the gear as well but it's all it's all just part of it of course it is okay thanks very much Laura McFadden PRO of Donagall Mountain Rescue if you're interested in getting more information about becoming a member email recruitment at donagallmrt.ie good morning says this listener the latest story on defective concrete is heartbreaking and typical of so many again I have to ask why our elected officials appear to have gone quiet on this massive issue the people of Donagall in particular are being let down step up Donagall's elected officials and stop worrying about keeping your seat at the next election you're inaction over the defective concrete crisis will be your legacy they say just towards the end of the show yesterday as the power was going out and on and out and on I was opining and wondering about how long your frozen food will last in the event of a power cut and a very helpful listener messaged in and it reads as follows a full freezer will hold a safe temperature for approximately 48 hours 24 hours if it's half full and the door remains closed food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40 Fahrenheit for Celsius or blow however it's quality may suffer ok but it's going to be safe but it just not might be as good hello to Kathy and Dolores and Anita good morning from the Cayman Islands it's a bit chilly here have a great day Anita well I was very curious what you would define as chilly so I checked the weather forecast for the Cayman Islands and it's 27 degrees but feels like 30 what do you want to be boiled that sounds like glorious weather but anyway it depends on what you used to I suppose the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie that's just a whole meal is it now to see it's the whole meal the whole grain and the waste 60 calories of slice and high and forever whatever way is noisy that's why anything baked is better with Brennan's today's bread today there's 25% of all clothing at f&f until Sunday 28th of January with your Tesco Club card or app that's 25% off cozy jumpers leggings and knits perfect for a nice long walk or better yet a nice short one f&f fashion at Tesco subject to availability available in the majority of larger stores iMotors are your main Nissan dealership in the northwest a trusted Japanese brand for generations contact iMotors to find out why people who make the move to Nissan never change to check out our two phone offers visit iMotors.ie easy living furniture's biggest ever winter sale has been extended for a limited time only this is your last chance to avail of these amazing discounts absolutely everything reduced across sofa dining bedroom mattress and accessories it's the furniture you want at amazing winter sale prices winter sale extended for a limited time at easy living furniture crescent link retail part the chagasque national ship conference will take place on thursday 25th of january in the clanry hotel letter kenny at 7pm topics include nutrition during pregnancy simplifying farm transfers diagnosing and managing flock health issues all are welcome highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air owner air to water heat pump and you flex under floor heating visit grant.ie still and breezy today without breaks of rain and drizzle heavy at times though this morning low cloud and mist to brightening up in a few parts this afternoon as the rain and drizzle becomes patchier highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees fill McFadden is in mallinhead and joins us now hi Phil how you doing great I'm doing alright what's the story with you Phil obviously it's been all about the weather lately hasn't it and you're wondering about power outages and what have you been noticing well I've noticed on your map the highland map up all along the west coast outages all along the west coast and then the power was out in the fall for four days and the regions and you look across the McGilligan the lights is on put rust the lights is on put shirt the lights is on and what I've been wondering the last couple of days is our poles as our hardware electrical structure up to spec you know because this state has a really bad you know with soft touch regulation is the hardware I know the ESB men and women on the ground they're doing trojan work but is what they're working with the pigs here I didn't look at the I didn't look at the Northern Irish map during the storm I'm just not going to lie to you but looking at it now Phil and this doesn't mean that the point you're making is not accurate but there are power outages still in certain places up around actually just west of Port Rush and south of Kill Rain but it's certainly not at the same level that we're experiencing is it possible though that we're go ahead Phil it's not not at the same level like I'm originally filmed here and people were saying all the power was out for half an hour it was back on again but could you investigate how long poles are supposed to last for how long the infrastructure does or infrastructure need to be changed because I was on the UB4 and I have a heat pump and our water systems all tied up to electric we're doing a bit of BMP so like you hear the Green Party saying electricity security those last four days if anybody and we didn't have anybody staying with us but if anybody hadn't been staying with us you tell tourists bring your own generator because there was no electricity we would have had to cancel bookings but we didn't have any bookings but what I'm saying is if the Green Party are talking about electricity security we don't have anyone we don't have a big storm house and the north seems to have a bit more electricity security I don't know how do you think it's anything that we're at the forefront of it do you know what I mean if we get Westley well I was thinking that as well I was thinking ah this is maybe maybe I'm being a bit picky on this put McGilligan you could put your hand out and touch McGilligan from the village they got the same it was like it was bad but they got the north north coast got the same as we got it's like the weather maps sometimes they exclude the north it's a red warning and you see there's kind of a black piece for the six counties but they got the same blast we got so how are they I'm not in any way running down the men and women it's the infrastructure that they're having to repair we got that and and I know the soft touch regulation I heard you earlier on this morning talking about Nike or the defective blocks they are a history on soft touch regulation the last time I can remember them poles and I couldn't tell you a date but there was a big crew from South Africa it must be the groups of 15 years or more it's 20 years and all that hardware was all fixed so I have the capacity to do this but maybe you're having a radio how long are poles supposed to last it's hard to find but it's the trees taking stuff down too I said it to one of the guys from the council earlier in the week do we go out and assess how close trees are to poles and poles are to trees the ESB are probably kicking themselves having to repair electricity which has been damaged by fallen trees they might feel well what's a tree anywhere near our poles just in terms of the outages right across the east coast the peninsula there there's still some people in Meville without power south of you in Red Castle another 40 without power just north of Moff there's another 21 customers without power and no such problems as you say further east in the dairy area we'll see if there's anything we can find out I don't know this information I suspect it's going to be down to trees coming down and not dodgy posts but anyway we'll see well Greg there's not very many trees in Mount Head you know and there was the poles the poles that were fixing in Mount Head have done to do with trees like the east of Donegal yes but the poles that were being taken down like I've only loved the Mount Head for four years and every year that's time of year I storm home two or three poles are broke right well listen that's a fair point and I accept it what you're saying Phil let's look into it thank you very much indeed Phil McFadden there in Mallon Head back with more after the news and obituary notices Ireland and UK sites also online programs such as water hygiene construction supervisors safety reps and much more if you have a group for training SIFTECH will go to you contact SIFTECH today at SIFTECH.ie and take the first step towards upskilling and safety compliance leadership is about driving change that's why we're pleased to introduce the first ever all electric BMW i5 seamlessly blending a mistakable BMW driving dynamics with instant electric performance and impressive range but innovative technology connects to elevate every journey discover the joy of moving forward reserve your test drive at BMW.ie test drive subject to status and availability check out arena7.ie keep out the cold cold cold and ring flaming for the full range of garage doors agri doors insulated doors milking parlour doors flaming 9148234 don't miss the BAFTA award winning comedian Michael McIntyre's brand new show magnificent at the SSC Arena Belfast on Friday the 31st of May 2024 as always Highland Radio make it easy for you as we look after all your needs we will provide luxury transfers overnight stay at the Clinton Hotel Belfast on a B&B basis your ticket to the show shopping time in Belfast city centre for more information go to the outlet at highlandradio.com or give us a call on 07491 25,000 Michael McIntyre in Belfast the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny Credit Union Monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News good morning it's Donna Marie Doherty with the news at 10 o'clock the new legal deadline will restore storm until February 8th after an extension was fast tracked through the British Parliament Jeffrey Donaldson revealed during the debate that he's been the victim of threats as negotiations continue over the return of power sharing SDLP leader Colm Eastwood condemned those responsible those people who have threatened them today couldn't lace their boots and every single democrat every single democrat in this house or elsewhere should stand in solidarity with their labels who are being attacked like that an independent information campaign has been launched this morning on the upcoming referendums in March voters will be asked their views on the definition of a family and a woman's place in the home Stephanie Rohn reports voters will be asked two questions in these referendums one will provide for a wider concept of what a family is defined as in the constitution the second would delete the reference to the role of a woman in the home and insert new wording to recognise family care if yes they support or no reject these changes this morning the country's independent electoral commission will explain the issues being voted on and ask people to make sure they're registered to vote voting will take place on International Women's Day on March the 8th in Clenty Derry a 30 year old man has been charged by detectives investigating reports that a number of masked and armed men entered a licence premises in Dungiven on Friday evening last he's due in Bellymina Court later PS and I say investigations are ongoing and they're anxious to speak to anyone who has information on the whereabouts or movement of a white Pedro partner van bearing the registration MK62 PoA there are still several few hundred homes and businesses without power in Donnie Gall as ESB crews work to repair the last of the damage caused by storms Asia and Jocelyn there are 22 outages being dealt with mainly concentrated in the Innish own Fannett letter Kenny and Finn Valley areas ESB networks say they hope most of the issues will be dealt with by 8 o'clock this evening meanwhile Ishka Aaron says repairs to a burst water main may cause supply disruption to mobile and surrounding areas today with work scheduled to take place until 4pm this afternoon a reservoir works may cause supply disruptions to areas around letter Kenny including Woodland Castle, Shawna Ross Park, Loch Nagan, Lisnen until midday today reports of supply disruption in Barnesmore and surrounding areas are also being investigated Marine Minister Charlie McConaughey has confirmed 12.7 million euro to see 15 marine infrastructure projects that will address the impacts of Brexit on Irish coastal communities being delivered by local authorities these projects were previously put forward by councils under the Brexit adjustment local authority marine infrastructure scheme Donald Kavanaugh has more Minister McConaughey has commended local councils on the commitment to delivery of projects through the Bellamy scheme saying by the end of 2023 the government had delivered 37.8 million euro in funding to support delivery of 148 capital projects right around the Irish coast the scheme approved up to 55.3 million for 164 projects located in 13 coastal local authorities including Donegal County Council projects approved in Donegal included major works in Green Castle Burton Port and Rath Mullum Minister McConaughey says a number of projects approved under the scheme encountered delivery challenges including consent, procurement, supply chain and weather window for works the projects approved for funding in 2024 he says have been selected on the basis of their capacity to be delivered this year and having regard to their ongoing relevance to addressing the impacts of Brexit on Ireland's fishing industry a plan to demolish the old fire station in Strudnorla and replace it with housing units for older people will come before Donegal County Council for Part 8 planning permission on Monday Councillor Patrick McGowan says with 18 special housing social units for older people expected to be completed and ready to let in June this year 2024 is set to be a very important one for housing provision he says the development of the old fire station site is something that local people have been seeking for a long time and he's happy to finally see it progress on Monday it will come in front of the councillors there's a Part 8 planning application once that's planning is granted then it goes to the department obviously for funding but the plan is there for 8 units these are small single and double built units and they sort of earmarked for more older people at a time when there's a major housing shortage looking into weather miles still and breezy today with outbreaks of rain and drizzle heavy rain this morning brightening up in a few parts this afternoon as the rain and drizzle becomes patchier in highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees in a moderate to fresh and gusty south to south west wind that's all for now from Highland Radio News back again at 11 o'clock the obituary notices for this Thursday morning the 25th of January the death has taken place of Pat Lynch Gortlek Linsford Pat's remains are reposing at his removal from there at quarter past 10 on Saturday morning going to Star of the Seed Church Desert Hegney for 11 o'clock Requiem Mass with burial in the Adjoining Cemetery house private pleas to family neighbors and close friends today at the request of the deceased everyone welcome tomorrow from 11am to 10pm house private pleas on the morning of the funeral the death has taken place of Timothy O'Dowd 14 Nancy's Lane Traban reposing at his home funeral from there tomorrow morning at half past 9 for Requiem Mass in Sacred Heart Church Derry Road at 10 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery family time please from 11pm to 11am the Requiem Mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam the death has occurred of Desmond Sweeney 9 Cheshire Apartments Long Lane formerly of Salha Grain and Thorndale reposing at his late residence today from 12 noon until half past 4 with removal to St. Unan's Cathedral for reception prayers at 5 o'clock reposing overnight for Requiem Mass at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning which can be viewed on the St. Unan's Cathedral webcam interment afterwards in the family plot in Drimoho Cemetery family prayers only please donations in Louis Desard to the Cheshire Apartments or the Donegal Branch of the MS Society and the death has taken place of Mary Galleher, Ney Galleher Coolmine Dublin 15 formerly of Bali Malil letter Kenny reposing at Cunningham's funeral home Blanchardstown tomorrow evening between 6 o'clock and 8 o'clock removal on Saturday morning to St. Bridget's Church Blanchardstown arriving for funeral mass at 10 past 11 Crematorium Mary's funeral mass can be viewed on Blanchardstown Parish.ie Family flowers only please donations if desired to Irish guide dogs for the blind for family information and more details regarding wakes and funerals please go to HighlandVideo.com Changing habits around how we use electricity at home is more important than ever and if the first change is a switch to a flow gas smart meter tariff you're off to a great start with smart energy decisions like avoiding peak usage hours between 5 and 7 p.m. the savings can make it really worthwhile I'm Avin Garry and I'm changing my habits see how I get on and discover more useful tips at flowgas.ie Flow gas energy for everyone Terms and conditions apply And now, in Rose 2023 best local or regional news program The Voice of the Northwest The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes A very good morning to you you're very welcome back to the show good morning if you're after joining us let's get to some of your comments coming in this morning call us says hi Greg I went into tax my car and just saw tape up where the people used to stand where there was a wee kind of bench where old people and other people would fill their forms and have a wee lean against because we could be waiting 20 minutes speaking of went to book a what was it I was booking the appointment for your first provisional license or license renewal they don't take cash it says on the website no cash to be accepted I thought that was part of the I thought that was an arm of the state so to speak but the NDSL office doesn't take cash which I was like wow okay good morning Greg I just turned into your show here and it's on about planning permissions in this county it is a joke some would see it call us says that our family member who's age 75 and going through cancer treatment has received a letter reviewing their medical card how is this the case is this not causing undue stress to people who are suffering from illnesses when people are meant to be entitled to a medical card once they turn 70 anyway what's going on there is that common practice you do hear an awful lot about it but someone who's 75 going through cancer and their medical card is being reviewed not the thing that they want to be dealing with at this time an update from Lee and Cannon Ruffle Pastoral Services you know we've been covering this story extensively there's no major shifts as yet to have received the documents they requested of them and Lee expects more meetings shortly the HSE have now scheduled meetings within they've had no contact from them as of yet but this will take time the pressure is kept on them with yourselves and others waiting to see what they will do don't worry that is a story that we're not in any way going to back away from we'll be doing an update on that very shortly and hoping for some progress can you tell me what was the answer to the last mystery sound yeah I can this is Lee's problem but I'll help out because we're part of a team here it's if you go into a restaurant or a cafe or something and you have a slice of toast and you'll get butter and jam now the butter will be a little sachet of butter but the jam might come in a little white pot with a lid in you know you pull the lid off and you can scoop out the jam with your knife and spread it on well the noise was pulling the lid off the mini jam pot thing it's a joke what's happening in Northern Ireland if me or you didn't turn up for work we wouldn't get paid you'd be slacked on the spot someone knew in please yeah indeed it is amazing what people can get away with um hi Greg yesterday the social democrats put forth a motion in the Dole for Ireland to support South Africa in its genocide case against Israel for the 26,000 deliberate killings in Gaza more than half of them children and women but the Irish government shamefully voted it down this is now a very serious question of legitimacy or more accurately illegitimacy regarding the Irish government this coming Saturday's International Holocaust Remembrance Day there is the ongoing Palestinian children's holocaust in Gaza committed by the supposed survivors and their descendants of the holocaust in Germany that should not be forgotten the government seem to have proposed a counter motion so that they have control of the situation suggesting that they will wait if I'm not mistaken I don't know the exact words but they're going to wait for the court's findings on the case being brought by South Africa and then make a decision on it I'm not sure if that's the prudent thing to do or not but I can imagine that they want whatever they decide to do their fingerprints on it rather than that of the opposition alright okay in the company where my son works there is still no power my son is out of work for a week he's getting no money others on different contracts are still getting paid due to their contract how is this fair well I mean firstly for your son it simply isn't fair but from the business perspective I don't know what the situation is there why is there so much chlorine in the water in Rye-Reth Mullan area the water is white for the past two days I'm not sure if it's weather connected but I don't like the smell or the look of chlorine last one just before the break hi Greg I'm at my wit's end and my parents are based in the Lurgie Brack area in letter Kenny they're over sorry they're in their 70s the water electricity has been off since Sunday evening no washing facilities, heat or cooking they're very vulnerable and have health issues I realise this is a national problem the most vulnerable customers could have been assisted first they're promised every day that the electricity will be on at 8pm indeed I know what you're saying that's coming from the website I think given the extent of the outages I mentioned this yesterday that's just a figure that's stuck up there I don't know why the power is still out I hope it is returned soon I said it before I don't see any outages around letter Kenny there's one in Cullian 28 customers affected the way you're talking and the scheduled reconnection time again is 8pm this evening that's been off since 11pm on the 21st so that's the only outage I see around letter Kenny's east of letter Kenny so maybe that's what's affecting your parents or maybe since you text the powers back on I'm not really quite sure but either way there are still as I said pockets of people out there and I wanted to recognise that right at the top of the show that are still without power some without water and it's a very difficult situation I'm going to take a break to give you the bingo numbers it's jackpot day today, don't forget you're supporting Vision Ireland this is formally the national council for the blind of Ireland they do all the exact same work but they've changed the name to be more inclusive and it's now Vision Ireland so in doing so you're supporting their work and also in with a chance of winning some fantastic cash prizes hopefully it's you it's time for Vision Ireland bingo on Highland Radio jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 7800 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is S19 it's game number 4 the jackpot number is 56 this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your daily numbers 27 18 63 23 75 67 67 86 13 10 and finally 88 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leaving your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your Vision Ireland bingo information at HighlandRadio.com so you're saying mental health difficulties can be smaller things like troubled sleeping or if I'm always stressed like or often anxious thought those were separate nope, they're all connected how do you know all this anyway I'm not sure I've been there myself anxiety, ongoing stress low mood or troubled sleeping they're all part of your mental health make the connection and find support that can help at yourmentalhealth.ie from the HSE lower your food bills with own brand offers at Kelly Centra in Litterkenny save up to 50% on the branded options many often from the same producer or supplier you'll find own brand products in almost every department so why not seek out the savings at Kelly Centra, Mountaintop, Litterkenny Nutrious XL Yo with lamb and Nutrious Yo with lamb crunch are formulated to ensure a vigorous lamb and excellent milk yield is an offer 25 kg bags by 10 get one free and 15 euro off per tonne in bulk available at your local homeland store visit utrious.ie for full nutritional information the 9 till noon show is brought to you by Litterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at Litterkennycu.ie or in office today OK, very welcome back to the programme so this week the publisher of the Irish Independent and the Sunday World is going to lay off around 10% of staff across the organisation as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme and they're quite upfront in it and saying that if they don't get the voluntary redundancies they're going to have to look at compulsory redundancies they say their revenue is a 70-30 split at the moment 70% comes from the print side of things 30% from the digital side of things and the head of the organisation effectively said during the week that 20-30 could be 20-33 whenever it might be but daily newspapers are going to be a thing of the past now that in and of itself creates challenges we're joined by Leona O'Neill who's head of undergraduate journalism at Ulster University to tease out the issues Leona good morning to you good morning Greg, how are you? great and great to have you on the show as well and a note too in some of the commentary Chief Executive Peter van der Merch he's probably not listening to correct me but anyway he effectively said if you're studying journalism now don't be studying journalism to work in a newspaper there's going to be tons of jobs but you're wasting your time if you think you're going to be doing short-hand and producing articles for a printed paper on a daily basis I mean looking at the numbers it's hard to dispute what he's saying I just hadn't heard it so frankly put before yeah I mean I've been here I've been adjourned for 25 years same thing 25 years from when I started when I started studying journalism people would tell me there are no jobs in journalism I had no trouble finding a job in journalism I get worries coming from with regards to the newspaper the newspaper side of things because it is very challenging I can't deny it it's very challenging times for newspapers and a lot of them have had to adapt to survive and even local newspapers a big thing in newspapers these days in newsrooms sorry digital first everything goes online first but a lot of them are doing very well I mean the Belfast Telegraph are doing well the Irish News are doing well because they have separated the product they have a product that goes into print which is completely different from the product that goes online they're focused on sort of breaking news that goes online that has a completely different audience than perhaps the print version of it I mean whenever we're teaching journalism at Ulster University we're not teaching folks to be newspaper journalists we're obviously teaching them how to be journalists and the dynamics and the mechanics of that is all the same you have to learn how to write a story and you have to learn how to news gather and put it all together whether that is for print which is more online these days which we teach online writing as well and also scripts and stuff for that so in some ways as I say when I first went in the journalism I was told it was dying it was a dying trade but in some ways it has taken so many different rows there are so many different opportunities and avenues that journalists can go down these days with online and the introduction of that and mobile journalism and all that type of stuff so perhaps newspapers are on the decline there are all our avenues within journalism that are certainly on the up and out I wouldn't be too worried about that and I think that the problem for newspapers is the dwindling circulation but coupled with that is the reluctance for the public to pay for digital journalism their revenues are at 30% they can't really get people to pay more than a couple of quid a month it's not just here either by the way now we're a smaller market we're always going to be more challenging to try and create revenue online that's why we're seeing so many regional papers grouped together because you can go to an advertiser and say look we're across 10, 11 counties but the Wall Street Journal, New York Times all of those papers as well are struggling to get the public to pay for the same project product in digital form to paper form and I don't really know how they're going to square that circle they've been trying to do this for years, years ago I set up an online news website and I was working towards this and I had to go out and do the jobs and I was working 24-7 on that and people still were I'm not paying for that and people really haven't got the mindset yet that you actually have to pay for good journalism there are journalists or they call themselves journalists out there on YouTube and all over social media who call themselves citizen journalists who have no clue about law or any kind of way to collect the news and tell it with integrity with no bias all that type of stuff so if people don't want if people want that type of news they can get it that's the issue so Leona because of the lack of constraints on that those journalists are seen as the truth talkers and there's often a bit of truth in what they're saying don't get me wrong but they can go somewhere or to a place and they can say I hear this on such a such a station this is exactly what's happening when people go okay now what they're saying and calling someone a liar or a fraud or a crook you couldn't say that in the newspaper you couldn't say that on a radio station so instantly you can see why it's gather interaction I can see where it's gather interaction but I suppose at the same time they can say what they want they're not held accountable they're not constrained by the rigours that we would with regards to law and all the codes of conduct that we have to stand by so we're not defaming someone so we're not telling lies all that type of stuff but that's the fight I think that's a battle that we're in now at the minute against fake news against citizen journalism it's bringing up the pride and the trust again in real journalism it's getting people to pay for that real journalism so that you're getting the truth and people out there that say I'll tell you the truth I'm independent journalist I'm not constrained by these different people who are connected with political parties and what not it's dangerous times but if you look at the media landscape this might be an extreme but this is maybe a perception so you've got one of the big broadsheets down in the republic that seemingly is anti-shinfein and that is a perception that's out there it's a very popular show up in the north that's seen as that is perceived as anti-nationalist for an example now both of these are state funded not sorry pick your pardon the independent isn't put in the north and then you've got RTE which seems to be and as a consumer seems to give opposition politicians a really hard time and government politicians a bit of an easy ride now as someone who is classed as a journalist that I see that so if it looks like you have sort of controlled media or biased media and that is the mainstream trusted source of media I think that plays into more of the online stroke online stroke citizen journalism whatever it might be and also a bit of a race to the bottom elsewhere you know we'll tell you the exact time snow will fall in Donegal that kind of journalism just to get clicks right because that's what sells ads and I have no problem with that but this is where it seems we're going it's a battle it's a constant battle and I suppose some people are maybe working against the industry in that battle as well it could be the same but also a lot of perceptions and I'm not saying your perception of certain media organizations that is wrong there's a lot of talk out there there's a lot of noise out there that this person is against that political party this person is for that political party that's all noise as well we have to get back to the actual the news and I suppose in the background there's a lot of things happening in the background we're certain you know some political parties here in England and everywhere around the world will not speak to the media they say that they're the enemy of the people over in America perhaps or so there's a constant building of distrust there and then it's just added to sometimes people maybe add to that themselves and that's I can't really comment on that but they don't do themselves any favors but we need to get back to whenever people are in my classroom they leave everything their politics their beliefs every single thing at the door and they do good journalism and that's what I tell them they go out there they're not working for a political party they're not working for any politician or any organization or business they are there as witnesses to tell the news straight up facts there's nothing put in there and that's what they need to do that's the kind of journalism we need to get back to so that we're not beating ourselves over the head with things while the ship is sinking away but we need to make sure that we're everybody's shoulders to the wheel and we're doing we're doing the good journalism we're asking the awkward questions we're holding the government to account we're shining the light in dark places and we're doing our job as journalists as opposed to perhaps maybe getting into trouble with people and promoting them I don't know if that's what's happening Do you feel safe for instance as someone as a consumer in Northern Ireland as much as someone who works in journalism of course and teaches journalism how would you write the Northern Irish press in terms of the coverage of the lack of a government in Northern Ireland Well I suppose I was part of that press that was talking about the lack of government in Northern Ireland we've had a lack of government for I think five years now where Sinn Fein brought it down first and now the DEP it's a total mess it's chaotic I think our journalists do a really really good job in a terribly challenging environment it's exhausting I can tell you that standing outside Stormont in sideways rain reporting on yet another collapse of government and the entire system has fallen apart but yet they get up and do it every day they challenge the government but I will say again there are some instances where the politicians will not work with the media some press offices do not speak to the media they put out their own they just totally disregard the media and they put out their own promotion or publications or whatever it is that you want to call it so it makes the job very difficult but I think our media are absolutely fantastic at covering this there are some very challenging things that happen and things that you can't get around and there's a lot of secrecy and there's a lot of talks behind closed doors but they're not behind the door our media are not behind the door in challenging the people who have brought the government down and speaking on behalf of the people and Leona when you're talking to your students and all that you've mentioned about leaving your views at the door and this is the way journalism needs to be some of that in terms of where we will be in five or ten years what's the mixture there between hope and expectation? Do you know in reality? Because to me honestly I do feel there's a race to the bottom ongoing at the moment that I don't see how it can be turned around because I don't really see the market for what would be traditionally classes mainstream media I just don't know who's going to buy or pay for that right because it's not sexy enough for starters perhaps I don't know so do you teach your students that sort of in the hope that they're the next generation to turn things around or is it an expectation in that you believe we're going through a phase and we will get back to somewhere where we used to be this I think is a phase I've been in the industry for long and off 25 years and I've seen various phases when I started off in journalism there was no internet and the newspapers were king and you know you waited for six o'clock to get the Belfast telegraph to get the news or any of this kind of breaking news online the internet came on and then oh my god newspapers are going to die and we went through that phase where it was very difficult we came back up then people adapted and then they got their online presence then social media came on oh my god newspapers are going to die and then there was all that and now there's fake news since Donald Trump came fake news oh my word journalism is going to die journalism is never going to die that is the crux of it there will be phases and there will be transitions and there will be you know we're looking at AI as well now artificial intelligence and how that will lend itself well to journalism not fighting against AI fighting against the fake news but actually adapting it into the newsrooms and hoping that that might help the future is bright in journalism our guys come in to our university and I don't tell them listen this is a dead this is a dead duck you're doing a degree that's not going to get you anywhere Greg I absolutely do not tell them that and I see them go on and they do fantastic things and they're setting the world on fire in the media industry all over the world Alaska and America and Africa everywhere that they go and in Northern Ireland here and the newsrooms are full of our graduates so the dead duck news journalism is going to be taken over by citizen journalism no I don't expect that but the point is I think where the journalism is is where the advertising money goes I think that's a reality of it I mean we will see a crop of amazing journalists coming out but what's going to the question I suppose is what's going to pay their wages where are their wages going to be paid from so they might not be going on the traditional news print I have ink running through my veins I'm a newspaper gear they might not have the same experiences as our newspapers are not king now but online is and online is where people are making the money and I know that we say they're the paywalls or paywalls going up on the Belfast Telegraph, the newsletter, the Irish news and local newspapers will probably have to adapt the same processes as well it's changing that mindset and that's where we're at at the minute but once we change that and once people realise you know you're getting online making it more engaging making it more interactive there's so many things that there are so many opportunities there that still haven't been, even with local news haven't been tapped into yet that can bring them revenue and advertising and I'm not saying it's not challenging times it is challenging times for newspapers now at the minute but there's a whole, they have a product there that is at the heart of the community if you take the Donegal news for example there's a product there that is at the heart of the community sometimes my family are from Lederkenny if it happened it hasn't happened unless it's in the Donegal news my family were on the front page there a couple of weeks back and we were all so excited about it, there's something with that generation, my generation perhaps in an older generation that is very tied to to newspapers and print and hold and actually in your hand the next generation coming through are more tied to their phones and getting their news through different media is dying, it means that the industry has to adapt to survive and that's what my guys are doing, our folks come in and they learn all about social mobile journalism and audio and broadcast and being all things they all people and reporting live on the scene with videos and all that type of stuff so those are the type of things I didn't have to do when newspapers were king I just went out with a notebook but now we're changing and that is where the jobs will be, that's where the money will come from people always want their news and they want news I always find they want news from trusted sources and not from Johnny down the street I agree with you I'm not quite as optimistic as you are okay but that's fine because that's what the great thing we can all have different opinions you see the word trusted source you see that's the thing here right is being a trusted source because what I see at the moment now is I'm looking around where is my trusted source for media I'm seeing people just because they have views being labeled by the media as far right or far whatever and I'm not on about the extreme stuff here Leona I'm on about just I have concerns don't have those concerns that makes you a racist or far right what have you and also to just spew not a lot of propaganda but again I'm just a cynical old git and I hope you're right and I'm wrong but I just think sometimes the media can be its worst worst enemy in this regard especially in a small market like ours where there's not much advertising dollar going about but exciting times Leona and I know that you're producing great people and we look forward to working with them in the future and thank you so very much take care Leona O'Neill there head of undergraduate journalism at Ulster University 086625,000 your views 086625,000 will call 07491 07491 Gregg a lot of those big trees Were there before the electricity poles you can't blame the landowner the the DSB should foresee these problems when they're erecting poles and take the necessary action Yeah, very good point I mean I think really I suppose in terms of playing the blame game that's not gonna get us anywhere maybe the ESP the council should work together with the landowners as well a critical part of this and sort of maybe go around and identify where potential problems might be might be. I don't think any of us want our power to go out as regularly as it does because of trees falling on lines. Regarding the message on your Facebook about landlords returning deposits, I was planning to rent and put down a deposit. I did not sign a lease. I hadn't, okay, thanks, Shannon. Just throwing content at me now. It's what I love. I did not sign a lease. I had an emergency when I was unable to take up residency in that property. The landlord refused to return my deposit. I've sought legal advice and the landlord should give me back the deposit minus re-advertising costs and I'm sure what to do. Let me read that again, because it's slightly disrupted. I didn't realise where it was going. Regarding the message on your Facebook about landlords returning deposits, I was planning to rent, put down a deposit. I did not sign a lease. I had an emergency and was unable to take up residency in that property. The landlord refused to return my deposit. I've sought legal advice and the landlord should give me back the deposit minus re-advertising costs. I'm not sure what to do. What's in it for the landlord? You haven't taken the property from them. You're not in it. He doesn't have a lease or she doesn't have a lease to sort out. The right thing to do there is to say, I'm sorry with what's going on in your life. Here's your deposit. And if maybe the compromise is minus re-advertising costs, so be it. But I don't think that person's doing themselves any favour taking that attitude with you. We've loads more coming in on that as well from our social media. Let us take your break though because our next guest is going to be joining us in just a couple of minutes. Over a thousand fewer straw bells this year rising cost of sending BBD tissue tags, new schemes to pay farmers for biodiversity, plus all you need to know about land tax reliefs. All inside the Irish Farmers Journal on sale now. 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Get a Samsung 43 inch smart LED TV for 389 euros. The melee classic power line vacuum cleaner for just 169 euros. Or the new Ninja Blast portable blender for only 59 euros. Save big in the Euronix winter sale, now on in Ben Swinney Euronix, Port Road Letter Kenny and the shopping centre Done Low. Sailor Bill returns to the Baller Theatre on Saturday the third of February. A night of music and crack with special guest Chelsea Evans. Tickets are 15 euro are available on the Baller website at ballerartcenter.com or by calling to the Baller Theatre front desk. The 9 till noon show with letter Kenny credit union. Simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from letter Kenny credit union. Call us on 0749102126 or apply online via our app or in office today. Now if you heard during the week we covered extensive and spoke to two of the people at worst affected by a lightning strike in the new Tan Conningham area. One lady's house destroyed absolutely heartbreaking to hear her talk of watching her house gulping in flames having a brief moment just to grab mementos effectively her neighbour or nearby neighbour house severely damaged not quite right off it's in two levels and hopefully they'll be able to recover as quickly as is possible. Councillor Paul Canning rejoices on the programme now off the back of a public meeting he's seeking to set up talk to me about it Paul. Yeah we've decided to organise a meeting tomorrow tomorrow night the Friday the 26th and at 7 30 I'm trying to decode to just to bring the the local community together and to get their opinions set up a public committee and set up a more or less a fund for for a better word and give support to all of the families that have been affected and that's basically what we've done before we've done so many times for the people of the community and people want to help these people you know and just the initial cost etc etc those are what we're doing we're going to bring people together to to follow the committee. Yeah so am I correct in suggesting Paul that hopefully insurance companies will do there a bit in terms of the the major reconstruction costs or repair costs and this is about trying to help families out in the interim or extra costs that aren't covered just to rally round and support. Exactly the insurance will the insurance will do the heavy left and a lot of the cases but that's that initial money that's needed now and you know people are out of their houses people make a as you hear Debbie saying but she only had the clothes on the back so these this time you have an assessor coming out they have to do their assessment they have to go back to headquarters and by the time all that's done it could be three months it could be six months before there is any money coming down the track so this is basically to carry them over until they get to that stage and also just to give for people to give that moral support to to those families too and say listen you're not here on your own you know we're here to support you and to help you. Yeah that meeting is tomorrow night uh it's January 26th of course 7 30 p.m in Trinity Court and it's just a tease idea ideas maybe fundraising initiatives whatever it might be the assessments will go funding me whatever it might be. Paul just before I let you go. Yeah go ahead. There is people already has already come up with ideas and they're going to be there at the meeting so we have a letter that the the ball and motion you know. Well let me know if there's anything I can do to support them Paul going forward but one thing that's come out of my most recent conversations very sadly with people who have lost their properties because of fires is access to water. We learned from Debbie and I mean we obviously have to explore a little bit further if it was once off or this is a thing that fire crews coming down from Northern Ireland don't have access to a map showing where the water supply is. We had another situation in letter Kenny where despite the best efforts of the fire service they were somewhat delayed in trying to access a fire hydrant because the one there was blocked. I think this is a matter of priority when we have two or three cases in the first uh in in a couple of months sorry the council needs to do an audit do they not have uh in conjunction with the fire service whoever's responsible of these fire hydrants to make sure they're all clear operational and not only us here in Donegal but also our colleagues that we rely on in the north have a very clear guidance as to where they are. I think Jimmy Kavana raised this issue uh himself I'm sure uh you'd back him on that but this has to be a priority Paul would you agree? Yeah I would agree but the the problem you have was out in the out in rural Donegal is a lot of our water means are two inch one inch and we don't we can't put a fire hydrant on those but there's a lot of areas out there that don't have basically they don't have a fire hydrant. Yeah but the fire service know that what we don't the fire service know that Paul and sorry to cut across you is I'm not really talking about establishing them but we really need to know that when the fire service goes to one that it is actually functioning or it's where they say it is or if someone comes in from the north that they have a map that shows where the nearest fire hydrant is and I say I'm not cutting across you or disputing with you but in terms of establishing new ones maybe that's a job for another day but surely we need to know where the ones are now and that they're working. Yeah you're 100 right yeah yeah they need to know exactly where they're at but in fairness you know to the fire station etc we have all of our fire hydrants out through the countryside mark well enough marked in yellow or whatever but whenever a fire brigade goes to a fire in the house so that's all in fire they go then they have to go back to the nearest fire hydrant which is the nearest Balton and that's the problem but they have to know where they are they have to know where they are under blue lights and at high speed and also like as in long lane in that it has to be functioning it can't have been tarred over or covered over or whatever is really my point okay we're all in agreement on that I think Paul yeah yeah we're all in agreement on that and unfortunately the cause of the situation we had with the severe weather we were under pressure with water as well because the electricity was off and that was the pumps that was also it was difficult that was just everything went against that tragedy but of course as well at the moment and it's an awful tragedy but at the moment again and it just I'm trying to get it on the record where we're at at the moment we are talking about the loss of property I would not like to imagine how the conversation might be god forbid if anyone were to to perish so I just think it's it's really really important that we ensure that that they have all the tools at the disposal that they need but for now Councillor Paul canning hopefully a big turnout at the Trinity Court tomorrow night at 7 30 p.m with a view to setting up a fund to help with some of the costs associated with the lightning strikes three properties very badly damaged one destroyed one very badly damaged another hit as well so any and as well as you said Paul it's as much about the community coming together and showing solidarity as it is about planning for the future so thanks Paul for helping us to highlight that and we'll chat to you again I'm sure back with more after 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the next day to book simply call us on 07 4 9 1 25000 or visit the outlet at highland radio dot com highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated aeronah air to water heat pump and you flex underfloor heating visit grant dot ie some mild dull and breezy today without breaks of rain and drizzle heavy at times low cloud and mist too brightening up though in a few parts this afternoon as rain and drizzle becomes patchier highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees and a moderate to fresh and gusty south to southwest winds i'm joined in studio now by emma gover uh good morning emma good morning it's good to have you in and uh you are behind the wee donagall mammy yes talk to me about that um and originally started out as a a brainwave early hours in the morning that's the old dude great i did i was prepared to go to Dublin for a pre-recorded interview down there and um i suppose over the coming weeks it was something that i had been toying with the idea because i had different people coming to me over different months with different problems and i kind of i was kind of directing them to their you know have you spoke to your local electric counsellor have you spoke to your local td um all of these sorts of things people people thought that you would understand them that you were relatable that they could reach out to you because i'm to be honest i'm quite vocal about i think it's okay to challenge the system yeah i think that's perfectly i think there's a way of doing it but i think it's perfectly acceptable to challenge this when i think it's okay to talk about your problems i would be one of those people that would be vocal about having children with um complex medical needs and special needs and and trying to navigate the systems yeah because there are so many different systems that are involved in that you know you have your special ed or multi disciplinary teams you have your you're not just navigating health systems you're navigating education systems and as a family we'd also be navigating through the immigration system because my husband's in bob win so i would navigate through many different systems and i think because of that people find you know maybe i'd ask emma because and and there is it can be a minefield to enter into where what services come from where where what help comes from where it can be uh really really difficult but i think what's good in this county is that i feel particularly over the last year or two that normal people in inverted commas none of us are really could probably i certainly couldn't qualify in that category but you know what i mean is is just citizens uh we're finding our voices a bit more we are and we've seen some great things happening in that regard we've seen that with the cdnt group that came out last year um uh due to lack of cdnt places like i believe it was just two moms decided that they were going to put this group and this group has has done wonders for so many families out there who just needed a voice um whereas with you know for example i had a man come to me three weeks ago and he had no idea how to apply for his primary medical certificate but he knew me because he knew a member of my family and he said you know how do i apply for it and what if i'm not entitled to it and and i said did you go to citizens advice and he said i did but he he'd be quite a shy man and he felt like he couldn't get the words that he needed so i said well bring the we'll we'll download the form together and i'll do the form with you and he said well what if they reject me and i said well then we can put in an appeal yeah and he just needed somebody there to say to him you know catastrophize in the process of it as well as happened and so he just needed a helping hand yeah and then i had people who would have come to me and you know quite upset that they had maybe been labelled as right wing because they had concerns and they were getting an awful hard time about it and then i also have people i know who are who are getting concerned left wing because they are very pro immigration some people are not and and and don't get me wrong there are extremes out there there's no point in saying there isn't but then there are just ordinary everyday people who who need their concerns answered the the thing to the the way politics work and and you can see uh various parties or individuals you can see their positions shifting and aligning as we head towards uh local it is for sure but the thing about it is is the what that indicates is is there's elections are often uh or referenda or whatever it might be are often fought on uh very emotional issues so it's going to be immigration probably for june right what are you going to do about housing in this area what now that's fine don't get me wrong but then the stuff a lot of the stuff that affects people in everyday life health right i'm not saying that intertwined but health getting uh getting a home care package getting support for your children getting equipment that you might need for a disabled family member they get signed they get sidelined because we focus the issue they're not they're not populist and they don't at that time they don't win votes they don't so we end up talking about the the the the big ones right yes you know it's like we prefer we we talk about this country like we talk about important stuff don't get me wrong but who no one wants to talk about the 11 000 children that are calling live line a year no one wants to talk about the amount of sexual abuse towards uh boards towards children want to say nobody sorry that's a but my point is is it gets lost it gets lost in the in the populist issues of the time exactly so for example like when i when i put this live this week um some people were messaging me and and and and they asked me to ask you know will you ask about the housing crisis and you know i spoke to a woman this week then i contacted her i said well what is it you want me to ask and she said because the way she had worded it she said can you ask why the Irish are being left on streets and i and you have to be very careful the way you word things to you don't get me wrong but i think that's a legitimate concern at the same time so what i did was rather than just brand that woman as you are this i contacted the woman and said what do you mean what what's the question you'd like me to ask and she said well for example she is not anti immigration what she means is if we have 13,000 people who are now coming through ipass right um and we already have a housing crisis what's going to happen to her children i spoke to another woman yesterday and she was telling me she's paid 60 000 uh euros in the last number of years that she's been renting with her landlord and her landlord has sold the house out from underneath her she has she was originally given 30 days to move out um until she challenged that she wasn't sure she could challenge it because she had no written lease but then you know she was assured she can challenge it she's now being given to me this is a woman with children and she still can't find a home to go to and this is on her mind listen speaking to a lady earlier on from Ennishawn couldn't be the furthest from racist or or anti immigration but she is in a house that is falling down there are no properties available because the government decided to house refugees in that area now there's lots of areas of the country where refugees haven't been housed so that person to even articulate the very real situation it could come across to some that but it's clearly not it's just that this is a policy that has taken any housing capacity out of it in the knowledge that there are lots of people that need that housing capacity yes who are already feel the victims of the state now i i volunteer with refugees once a week um i'm absolutely the furthest from a racist person i'm married to a black symbol when i am not racist in any way should perform i have four beautiful biracial children but i think it's very unfair and i also think it's a very dangerous game to brandish the words right wing don't get me wrong there are right i avoid i don't i don't use those words i don't think they're helpful they're not helpful and i think to i think they are too quickly bandied about in society um i think it's okay to to disagree don't get me wrong i think there are agitators out there but like people who have come to me and said will you ask this question we feel if they can't ask it because if they do ask it they're they're branded as you're this or that of the on okay so i mean that's framed up really uh what you're planning to do in the coming elections you're going to have uh you're trying to sit down with those running in the local national and europeans ask them their thoughts on some of the issues that we've been discussing here uh and are you inviting people out there to you know put those views to you through the we don't go on mammy so we have set up we have set up a google link where you can send your question into to the we don't go on mammy email um all the the interviews will be recorded via video and also they'll be uploaded to spotify um but you know there are so many questions out there like um i had a mother talking to me this week whose child is waiting five years to see a consultant in the crumbling and she's no further forward where she's going to be on the list um they feel completely abandoned and then she feels like like we had just said a minute ago she she couldn't care i don't mean to be horrible but she couldn't care less about the disagreements about immigration when she's concerned about her child we talk about parents who are waiting on cdnt and primary assessments um or those who like for example i myself i had one child referred to cdnt she was turned down for cdnt because she didn't meet the criteria and when they explained it in depth they said she doesn't meet the criteria for cdnt because she's not diagnosed autistic then i got a letter from my second child to say she doesn't meet the criteria for cdnt because she is diagnosed autistic yeah and these parents are under the one roof under the one where do we go from here well we're just all all at a time but the obvious question for me is and i mean obviously clearly you're a very busy person why not contest the elections yourself because i'm a very busy person and i don't think we'd be fair to the people of donnie go yeah i don't think i think so you see your role has sort of been a conduit uh feeding into this process at least in the next couple of months in the next couple of months but i think it would be a disservice to the people of donnie go firstly i don't believe i've ever got elected because i'm too much of a mice piece myself but secondly um i don't think that i could i do what i can when i can yeah and i don't think it would be fair i think i would be doing that just to put myself out there and that would be the wrong thing for the people of donnie go even in my suggestion of it i hope you see this as a compliment not sort of as a and not sort of as a why don't you do it yourself i get exactly where you're coming from emma listen i'm a golfer how do people find we donnie go mommy so we're on facebook the we donnie go mommy um then we're also on spotify the we donnie go mommy we have a youtube channel we are on twitter it's all under the guise of the we donnie go mommy and um if you want to send any questions in you absolutely can and around the table talks with the we donnie go mommy is what is the interviews um where people will come to my house people who are going to be interviewed and we're doing jack mary next week we're also going to be speaking with paddy river make action campaigner um we'll have we care packages cairan from we care packages and we'll have jennifer tayloran who is a beauty pageant director talking about body positivity in february um they will come to my house they'll sit around my kitchen table have a cup of tea because they have most things can be sorted out over a week up a team most things and then the event the interviews will be put on air after they're done all right good stuff we'll listen the best of luck with everything i really do appreciate i do appreciate you calling into us thank you so much greg okay and that was uh the we donnie go mommy it is 11 o'clock as i mentioned is 11 o'clock just turn time for news update over to donal cabinet thank you greg good morning a meeting's been organised internally court tomorrow evening in a bid to support three families who had their homes struck by lightning in newton cullingham earlier this week carlster paul cunning says as volunteers and ideas are greatly needed telling how one family was essentially left with only the clothes on their backs the meeting takes place at half past seven tomorrow the independent electoral commission has officially launched its information campaign on the upcoming referendums voters are to be asked if they want to change the description of a family to extend it beyond marriage they'll also be asked if they want to remove the reference to a woman's role in the home in the constitution and replace it with the concept of care provided by family members green mister charlie mcconnell has confirmed almost nine million euro for coastal infrastructure projects in donnie gall 3.8 million has been allocated to rassman and pier burton port and port salin will both receive almost 1.5 million the three other projects are located at bumbeg port aleen and inver archaeologists within the ps and i have confirmed ancient human remains carbon data dissolved as two to two and a half thousand years have been discovered in belahi the archaeological unit within the ps and i's body recovery team made the discovery during evacuations they were alerted to human bones on the surface of peatland in belahi in october of last year police say on an initial examination they couldn't be sure if the remains were the result of a more recent death but probes and excavations have proven that the body is more than 2000 years old gar thee in donnie gall urging people to be on high alert when it comes to mobile scams last year saw a 30 increase nationally while there's already been 114 reports of scams so far this year while final figures aren't complete the amount of money stolen from victims of scams in 2023 is projected to exceed 10 million euro and in county dairy a 30 year old man is due in court after being charged in connection with reports of masked and armed men entering licensed premises in done given on friday evening last the ps and i say investigations into the incidents are ongoing they want to speak to anyone who has information on the whereabouts or movement of a black puja partner van more on these stories and all of today's news indeed available on our website highlandradio.com we're back with headlines again at 12 noon thank you very much indeed donal and we'll be back with more on the 90 noon show after this break with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the 90 noon show on highland radio the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie when it comes to electrical waste recycling we're pretty good with the big items like tumble dryers fridge freezes and cookers but what about your old broken power tools and gardening equipment those drills and electric lawnmowers end up in the shed beside that damaged solar power garden gnome the good news you can recycle anything with a plug battery or cable for free and it couldn't be easier for a list of drop off points and participating retailers just go to mywaste.ie brought to you by the government of Ireland if the medical experts get it wrong everything changes from misdiagnosis or delay 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of protein choices and vegetarian options all the ingredients to cook something tasty and a great range of healthy ready meals make the right choice this january at kelly centra mountaintop letter kenny with four pre-season dr mccenna cup games under their belt the real action gets underway for the dunigal senior men this weekend jim mcginnis decide we'll host cork on sunday in ballet buffet to kick start the division two league campaign join the highland team for a full match commentary from the 145 throw-in at mcgill park highland's coverage of dunigal in division two of the national football league is brought to you by highland motors and letter kenny with a new citron c5 aircross an suv with great comfort and styling perfect for dunigal roads for a test drive or to order your new 241 pop into highland motors was that milk still in date i was muted on that call wasn't i am i after losing my car keys most things we worry about never happen and with liberty insurance you can worry less about things that do especially when right now you can get a 40 year retail voucher if you buy your car insurance with liberty online so you're free to worry about literally anything else did i send that to the entire group chat or not worry at all less worry more liberty 40 or voucher offer is valid for new private car policies only purchased before january 31st 2024 acceptance criteria terms and conditions apply liberty company of the sagorous area sagorous essay trading is liberty insurance is authorized by the general directorate of insurance and pensions funds in spain and is regulated by the central bank of ireland for conduct of business rules okay we're joined on the program by yohana who stepped out of work to have a talk to us now i do appreciate you hannah thank you thank you hi right so yohana what is uh i mean your issue effectively is registering your vehicle what's the background to the problem though yohana yeah so i um moved over to dunagore from um the uk in september and i i've got a job in a civil service um i bought a vehicle um three months before i moved not knowing that um if i'd had the vehicle for six months before i moved i wouldn't have to go through the vrc process um so i got this vehicle which i made because due to the um housing crisis i live quite remote for my job i also um my role covers the whole of dunagore so i need this vehicle and i've been trying since october to get the thing registered and every time i go back to the vrt place they tell me that i have to go and get engineers reports and i've spent nearly 2000 euro doing everything that they've asked me to do um and they just got back from me that back to me this week saying i need yet another engineers report because it's a different classification of vehicle and it says on the logbook and i'm just at the end of my tether i've been trying to get this vehicle insured and taxed so that i can use it legally on the roads but they just seem to be doing everything they can to stop me from doing that yeah and and you have spent more money trying to make this van compliant than actually is worth if the truth be told yeah absolutely it's well i don't have a lot of money so um i couldn't be particularly picky about what vehicle i got so um i snapped snapped this vehicle up um when it came up to sale on you know uh on private sale so um i couldn't be that choosy it was i paid four thousand pounds for it um but with the customs as well i've had to pay thousands for that um which was another saga in itself and and i just got to the point where i the other day i went to the police station and i said i'm i'm i'm going i need to report somebody for driving a vehicle unregistered vehicle on league illegally what you're going to do about it because i've tried to be law abiding i've tried to do everything that they've asked and they can't give me the logic behind it they weren't they wouldn't tell me in advance how much it will cost um i've done i've spent hours researching what i've got to do what i'm gonna have to pay well johanna someone someone else someone else has banned to have gone through this okay so you move from sounds like you moved from what you've been saying to us it sounds like you moved from britain to the republic of ireland you bought a van and you moved over to ireland with that van now you have had the van only three months now what is for and moving here okay and this is where so you have to bring it in effectively so you have to register it as a republic of ireland vehicle so what have you what are they saying that you need to do now to to make it compliant so that you can you can transfer it to a irish number plate i suppose so initially i had to try and prove to customs that it was manufactured in the uk um and they were refusing to accept it although it's a voxel and voxel were only made in the uk at the time so that was a huge palaver i ended up phoning somebody in doubling ferry port and saying you know we've got to find a way around that and then somebody was just having a good day and cleared it for me then i finally got to the VRRT place and they said initially they said to me that um and i can understand this it had a it's got a driver seat and a passenger seat and on the logbook it says it's got three seats so it's got two passenger seats in the front cab so they wanted an engineer's report um to say that it was safe i mean so they couldn't tell me where i could get an engineer from to do this because this isn't something i'm familiar with so uh luckily a mechanic that i've been fortunate enough to meet um found somebody for me i met them in the car park at work i mean it's just so dodgy i met them in the car park at work they took pictures of the bolts on the seat charge me 200 euro wrote a report um did all the safety checks on it said it's very well maintained um road worthy not a problem with it i took those documents back to the rt as as requested only to be told that that's not good enough and i have to get another engineers report um because they're classing it as a camper van right this is not an articulated lorry here we're talking about you know uh this is a van it's a box all the way around van yeah right ironically it's an it was an xx police speeding camera van so it spent a lot of its life sitting by the side of the road well mileage anyway it's just sitting in the one place taking money off people it's well maintained well maintained so now there's so now once you've clarified the front of it the seats and all that kind of malarkey now they're saying they're they're saying that it is it a camper van is it not a cab what what are they actually what just remind us again what is the sticking point now so before i got it the people that had it before had converted but partly converted it there's a bed in there and they had a camping stove in it um and they in 2021 they registered it as an n1 vehicle so it's per the european directive so that's what i i thought it was and then i come over here and they tell me that it's a motorhome but when you look at their own specifications it doesn't qualify as a motorhome it means motorhomes and um motorhomes get cheaper insurance and tax so could you not could you not go could you not go into dairy and reclassify that vehicle as not a camper van and then go back to them i know it's not a whole hassle don't get me wrong but i mean you have access to the uk nearby and inverted commas you can't go into the the the office or whatever it might be there and get it right okay um so because i live here because i live here and they said that if it's a n1 van it will cost me 200 euro vrt but because it's if it's a camper van it will cost me 900 which is significant yeah which which i don't have i don't have i've just relocated here yeah um i get you don't that's understandable yeah you don't have to explain no i get you we don't not well most of us don't have 700 extra euro line around the place so you actually got the advice to flog it to sell it in england or uk yeah she said she said an option is um export it back to the uk sell it come back and get an irish vehicle and then she said to me um well because i'm gonna have a problem getting it insured as well because it's a primary vehicle not a leisure vehicle yes and she said to me well it doesn't matter just insure it is a n1 vehicle which is under insuring it so i'm getting i'm i'm getting this random advice that just doesn't make any sense so this is not as simple as you sell in this car in the north is it no it's already there's a process would have to be reversed so you are you have you have this has already been transferred to some extent now it's a case of getting it through through vrt and getting a little getting okay yeah yeah what did the car say to you when you when you turned yourself in oh they didn't know what to do they didn't know what to do with me so so the nice young man on the desk said he'd refer it to a travel cop who would get back to me who hasn't yet but i you know i chased yesterday um because i get when i come to work i see these checkpoints on the roads every now and then whether check it you know when i see stories about vehicles getting seized and i don't want to be i don't want to be breaking the law and look yohana it's clear that all you want to be is compliant but but what's happening is the system is working against you so i'm i'm just trying to fully establish the problems so that someone out there can listen so you the problem is is they can only presumably register it here like for like so if this is an m1 vehicle in uh britain and northern island they have to uh they would have to then presumably register it here in the in an equivalent category presumably i've got i've got no idea i assume so because it's the they're the e u classification and but she said it's different in ireland but but then on the vrt website it refers you to the e u directive so i mean i you know like i've i've been researching this for days and hours and i've got no idea how it works i don't know where they've got this 900 euro figure from i can't talk to the person that's decided right okay um listen there's people do this all the time someone's someone's bound to give us some advice yohana i must ask and my tongue is in my cheek you were over in in britain for the brexit vote please tell me you voted uh no because this is all because of brexit absolutely well i don't know i'm i'm sorry i mean this isn't a because of brexit well i don't know i think it may be maybe i think it's gotten worse yeah okay and i'm absolutely i absolutely didn't vote for it but i've heard from i've heard you know one way that i've bonded and got to know people in dunagore because i didn't know anybody here is chatting for local people about vrt because it's not just me and a lot of people don't know the rules so i was talking to a young lad who worked i got went to get my time checked in a local um place and and he said to me that he just his first car he got a little car it wasn't very expensive and he didn't know the rules it was an export and he ended up paying ten thousand euro and he said it was the worst decision he's made because he didn't have that kind of money and a lot of people are having similar issues so it's not just me and if you look on forums when you google it there's lots of people that that trying to figure it out it's a big big issue okay yohana listen leave it leave it with us because you know there's there's cases ongoing at the moment where revenue applied their own rules in relation to import cars incorrectly uh you know there's a complex area here and it's one that's been covered over the years but this isn't one incident in your instance you just want a little bit of advice a little bit of help as to how you can be fully complicit with the law as you uh as you uh want to be okay yohana listen i won't delay you from work any any longer i do appreciate uh you're stepping out and the first time i went to the vrt place and they told me to get an engineer's report on the feet they didn't tell me to get a report on the rest of it yeah um and so it almost feels like it's intentionally obstructive the way it is what they are they've done everything that they are it's now 2024 i got here in and and they charge you if you don't get it done within the 30 days of arriving but they make it impossible to do so if they just told me in the first place what i needed to do i'd have done it but i've just said to them i'm not doing anything else because whatever i do i go back and i just keep getting sent away again yeah and i can't insure the vehicle because it's not registered can you de-camp it can you get the bed on all out the back of it well i i could but then i'd have to take it back to get it um test to get it uh reevaluated again okay maybe you should just take it off for it's a camper van then just do it as a camper van it's yeah what the the difficulty is the insurance because i don't use it as a leisure vehicle i use it as a daily it's my daily it's my own vehicle okay right okay so so getting that insured is is really difficult right okay so hopefully now we've enough info there we conform we've enough info did the insurance company accept your no claims bonus out of interest i've not even been able to been able to try that yet okay get you um i i can't get insurance until i've registered it james and reels okay good irish planes yeah what a night max yeah i think we've suggested that i move to northern ireland until i've got it registered hardly commute to work no i don't think so yeah no i think that's that's the next stream we'll have to come up with the solution between uh between you uh move in country effectively uh i mean in terms of of um the situation we're in at the moment okay your analyst and thank you for that hopefully someone's picked up out of that that can come up with some sort of a solution slan thank you you're in hana there great help if you have any help oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand oh seven four nine one twenty five thousand by the way lately uh we've had seen a huge spike in interactions with the program we've always been really busy um genuinely uh don't just say that lots of programs maybe they do or don't i don't know but we have an amazing level of interaction with our listeners because we're all part of the one family and i hope we're all friends but lately too we're seeing more of your emailing in which is you know so you can go into things with a little bit more detail and all of the emails are read by the way and we chase up everything as much as we can but i just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to keep us updated and let us know where we can help you and things like that so very much appreciated uh let's do a nice one here um we all they're all nice you know what i mean um hi producer of greg's nine till noon show i would like to send anonymous praise for the ed department at letter kenny general hospital as it seems always to be negative comments i arrived with my 82 year old mother last night at around 8 p.m after a very prompt service from now doc who asked me did i require an ambulance luckily i could drive and felt she was stable enough to go in my car now doc sent a fax to inform ed that we were on the way which was very helpful on arrival we were triaged very quickly by very friendly attentive staff then had an ecg done by the lovely anna who reassured us that although there would be a bit of a wait because there were ambulances backed up outside the door we would be seen as soon as possible we were fortunate to be given a seat stroke wheelchair inside the doors right at the main hub of the department to say that every staff member was busy such an understatement no one realized this on the other side of the doors we were kept informed where we were in priority but unfortunately as always happens to the ambulances they're still coming in the back door unknown to all on the seats inside the emergency department not once in the entire time we were there did we see one person stop for hardly even water however at approximately 12 45 stroke 1 a.m the lovely nurse anna and a male colleague passed through the whole ed inside and outside the doors with tea toasts and sandwiches for everyone i just want to show our appreciation for the hard work and going above and beyond not all heroes wear capes if greg could maybe just read this out for me no problem happy to do so and and i hope it doesn't get lost in i hope it doesn't get lost in the commentary that we do have from time to time as it relates to the hospital is the reason we would give so much time to it and platform issues is always with the staff in mind and to support the staff because as you say when you're in the ed sometimes you don't see what's going on behind the doors and there are people going from x-ray to the resource to hear there and everywhere they're flying around and they're really really busy and i i i know enough of the the staff down there and have our fair contact with enough of them to to realize that hopefully they see that we do appreciate everything they do in very difficult conditions obviously some people are going to have negative experiences i get that too but that we're actually seeking more funding more investment to support the brilliant work they do and to retain them there and it's never a criticism very rarely a criticism of staff but it's lovely to have that text or text in and to emphasize all of that the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio the nine till noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie our i motors are brand new kia 241 range is ready to go for immediate delivery as donnie gall's home for kia with seven years warranty and low finance rates from 1.9 percent on ev cars and 3.9 percent on the rest of the range check out our stylish and diverse range at i motors dot ie i motors your local kia dealership the new online mortgage portal from ptsb will get you moving start your application track your progress and talk to us when you need us bringing the best of technology and our people together for a mortgage experience that works for you apply online at ptsb.ie ptsb all together more human living criteria terms and conditions applying over 18s only security and insurance is required warning if you do not keep up your repayments you may lose your warning if you do not meet the repayment on your loan your account will go into arrears this may affect your credit rating which may limit your ability to access credit a higher purchase agreement consumer higher agreement or a vnpl agreement in the future permanent tbsb plc trading as ptsb is regulated by the central bank of ireland on this week's business matters after the six o'clock news on sunday my guest is more a toner food coast advisor at the local enterprise office in donnie gall business matters in association with the faculty of business at atu donnie gall for a career in financial governance consider the level nine ma in governance and at in financial services starting in january contact the exec ed coordinator on 986 206 or email donnell dot hanigan at atu.ie today highland radio time checks with expressway travel route 32 from letek entity doblin when you book online and travel for less expressway bringing you the time us now the time is 11 24 so we received this email i want to highlight an issue which i now believe is common practice in donnie gall and this is refusals by landlords agents to return rental deposits when students are leaving rented accommodation my daughter and friends had a 12 month arrangement in their rented property they left the property as agreed in december and my husband and i oversaw the cleaning out of the property and the removal of all rubbish and the house was left in better condition than when they moved in but the landlord refused to return their substantial deposit because he didn't get written notice that they were moving out even though they had in writing from the agent that they had to move out in december when this was challenged they were then told that there was cleaning issues which is also untrue because i've photographic evidence and videos of all the rooms which were properly cleaned when keys were returned this is only taking advantage of students who comply with the rules and do everything by the book landlords are letting agents and letting agency fabricating reasons to retain the deposit i'm obviously taking this matter down a legal route but it's unfair and is giving all landlords a bad name and is a poor reflection on donnie gall and i'll be contacting letter kenny university or letter kenny university hospital national university of go away and ensuring their students don't use this landlord for the letting agent in the future thanks and regards okay so we stuck that up on our socials and rachel's a former landlord and joins us on the program now rachel thanks so much for your time i know you're very very busy so what is your reaction to that i'm good rachel what's your reaction to that listener statement yeah i just i'm just speaking on behalf of the private landlord who just has one house not the man with the multi properties i had a house in slago that i wound up selling in 2019 i had us for 10 years and i rented it out to students in the glenclaric region which would be one known student area in slago and anybody that knows me would know that that house was left handed over to students in a macular condition and nine times out of 10 every time i got the cube back in may or april or may when they were leaving the house was just absolutely wrecked or in bad condition or just dirty but personally i never kept the deposits on the students because my take on it was that i just wanted them gone i wanted them out of the house off my doorstep i was afraid that that they could come back and damage the property because i'm not living in the house i live up in leslie kenney so it's a good try for me to go up and down between slago so that was my take on it so i read what the lady has wrote up and i mean i think it's terrible that the landlord has kept the deposit if they've gone in and cleaned the house better than what it was i can honestly say that no parents of the students that i rented ever came in and cleaned the house they would be there on the first day in september to get their kids settled but there'd be no sign of those parents when i'd be getting the keys back in may when the house was upside down but in terms of this this landlord is it in there for the amount of money what maybe we're talking uh is it in their interest really to hold on to it maybe have their reputation damaged maybe they are money grabbers i don't know but would you say that's the exception or the rule now i know you were a private sort of single property landlord but what what would you hear on the great vine about hand land how landlords treated students like as well as disappointed i think on the both sides i think the landlord and i think the tenant and i have my deposit how back and ever i was younger or two and siblings of mine for you know for it'd be the same issue saying that that the place wasn't clean and there wouldn't you know it would be cleaner than whenever we would have gotten this sort of a thing you know but like i can't really talk on behalf of anybody i get you i don't know the person that wouldn't give back to the public and more generally though Rachel i mean obviously you exited it now because of all the hassle and electricity bills being skipped and all that kind of stuff and also too it seems more so in the last couple of words that landlord has become a dirty word you know i mean it's almost like an insult i think that i think that we get a bad rest you know people have to remember like the single house owner like me i was up working full-time in letter kenny i'm paying rent to somebody else up in letter kenny a fantastic landlord that i have for six or seven years he was wonderful but you know if i could live in the house in slago i would have but it's just my job took me up to letter kenny and you know i had to pay insurance i had to work hard to buy the house number one i had to pay insurance in the house i had to pay local property tax in the house and i think people forget that they think that like people are wealthy that everybody that owns the house for rent is so rich and that we are just money grabbers but like i'm just the average woman on the street like the average man on the street i just i'm just renting that house to pay the rent up in letter kenny basically but the house was totally and absolutely abused nine times out of ten yeah do you think though some some landlords do sort of see though renting out as a way of paying down the mortgage for free or covering other bills that you know that that's you know they are i mean in a way though they do they do have people in the house paying down their mortgage to a great extent for them so there is something in it for the landlord i mean maybe you don't take any profit out of it but you are sort of writing down your debts by renting it out to other people not you i mean i mean you in a generic sense rachel i would say the long-term person that's renting the house because mine was only short term so you're talking september to me and sometimes the student might leave in december because they realize they don't like the course they're doing so then i'd be stuck with a room then trying to fill that in january basically but maybe the person rented it long term but that was the problem for me that it was short term and like i couldn't put ESB bills into students names because at the time it was 250 year old to change the name and no student was going to pay 250 and you'd be changing that twice a year so you'd be putting in their name september and then kind of change it back to mine in then in may so that's how you know i was kind of and i suppose two finally i won't hold you but i mean you know like it's different maybe in the case of our e-mailer but generally speaking you know maybe parents even though sometimes the children are 18 19 or 20 they're sending them into someone else's property and they're not respecting it as perhaps they should maybe we as parents and guardians and what have you care givers need to be educating our young people to be a bit more respectful of other people's property definitely like i said the parents would be there on the 1st of september with the child showing them into the property bye-bye see you next weekend and you're not there'd be no sign of them and those kids are moving out in April or May okay Rachel thanks very much for your time i do appreciate it that's Rachel there watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com the night old news show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today farmer accidents in the west for more in your irish farmers journal his paul mooney find out how many farmers are leaving the sector each year see how your factory ranks in our exclusive beef price league 65 million euros paid in turf cutting compensation over 100 000 fewer straw bales this year rising cost of sending bvd tissue tags new schemes to pay farmers for biodiversity plus all you need to know about land tax reliefs all inside the irish farmers journal on sale now hi paddy here at she and connelly cars in dunnig all town are you looking to upgrade your car but she and connelly cars you'll find mix and models for every budget great finance options and they also accept radiance check out she and connellycars.com or call on to us at she and connelly cars from london road dunnig all town so he was like messaging me all night and then he just ghosted me no way yeah he was like you're so hot i want to come over okay and i was like cool and he was like i'm on my way driving over right now and then nothing phone use while driving can be deadly your phone it won't kill you to put it away from the road safety authority visit rsa.ie make more meals for less with dunn stores where you'll save in the aisle with ingredients for delicious overnight oats that's porridge oats 1.5 kilo just one euro 19 with skimmed milk just one euro five cent and freshly frozen mixed berries only two euro all from the dunn stores range make four servings for just one euro six each download the app now and get a five off 25 welcome voucher dunn stores always better value terms and conditions apply voucher confused next grocery shop of 25 euro or more if you're making some changes in your home visit the big january sale now on in the newly extended mcginnelly's furniture in letter kenny there's big reductions in every department with great savings on suites beds mattresses living room and dining room furniture also on occasional furniture including lamps pictures and mirrors that's all in the big january sale now on at mcginnelly's furniture on the joe boner link road in letter kenny see mcginnelly's furniture dot com okay now some of your comments coming in as it relates to yohana um tell that lady to look up camper vibe on facebook and youtube they're bringing a self-built camper from the uk to rland they might have advice she wants to bring a camper in tell that woman to go around the back street garages they can put her in the right direction not much they don't know i'm not sure if that's a compliment or otherwise just to say we were in the a and e last week sat for 10 hours with a young child it was terrible had to stand for two hours there was no room anywhere children were offered nothing not even a drink hi greg have a house coming up for rent shortly but was told last night that i have to be a registered landlord before 2021 before i can rent to a mica victim can any of your listeners clarify this much appreciated okay so this is a person with a house coming up for rent they are inclined to rent it to someone who's affected by by defective concrete but they have to be registered as a landlord before 2021 before they can now is that based on the scheme the the the the scheme paying rent surely that is a serious issue if that is the case there listening to the lady reregistering the car haven't done it recently safe home arlander a great resource and of advice safe home arland okay thank you for that greg of course the irish government is not going to do anything for the people of gas because they're just puppets for the americans and british warm mongers i i would i mean i would say that um i would say that they have been perhaps you know add a step a little bit but anyway doctor uh kirin of harry is joining us on the program now local gp uh thanks kirin for your time i do really appreciate it and good morning to you morning greg good morning to listeners again we and you know it we're going to talk about winter surges and i get that but we get appeals even in the summer in august now from the hospital to stay away unless absolutely necessary but generally speaking this is a tough time for most acute hospitals around uh the country yes it is and you know you've seen a lot of media coverage over the last few days of difficulties in emergency departments and hospitals throughout the country uh we expect january to be a challenging month with surges and influenza and covet and rsv and other respiratory illnesses so we do know that it is particularly challenging at the moment but uh i suppose beyond that as you said we know that there are ongoing challenges with access to care in the hospitals and emergency departments and these kind of warnings and police to stay away are far from unique to january and looking at the figures it's clear that the problem is not just simply you know more staff in ed quick triage and getting people you know we've got 21 on trolleys uh there's 25 in the surge capacity but there are 24 in hospital beds as delayed discharges i.e and correct me if i'm wrong kirin you know they are well enough now to leave the acute hospital setting but for a number of reasons they can't be discharged yes uh those figures on delayed discharges are generally people who are fit to go but may need other care in other places so they may be waiting for home care packages or a bed in a community hospital and we know that there are difficulties accessing those kind of care so in my area here in east dunny gall there are difficulties with with home care packages and getting access to those in a timely fashion and we know there's difficulties with access to community beds for us as gps we have a severe lack of access to acute kind of beds in the community we know things like lyford community hospital is out of action at the moment with that lack of beds so access to to beds in the community is a challenge and then that has a knock on effect within the hospital as well particularly sort of focusing on east dunny gall st joseph's being used as sort of like the default step down carry if i'm phrasing that correctly is that complicated it for the likes of yourself in east dunny gall i suppose the fact that we've lost the capacity in lyford hospital has definitely made it more challenging and so there are less community beds available in the area because of that so there's difficulty accessing those beds because there are less of them and so i suppose for us as a gps we have been advocating for more access to community beds there are patients that we sometimes have to send to the emergency department for admission because there is no other alternative to them where they would be better suited to a bed in a community hospital but unfortunately that capacity isn't there and the issues at the hospital and gps concerns are well established at this point and i'm not sure we've seen any progress in that regard just as of yet but just in relation to home care packages step down care supports for families or in the home which are the home care packages of course that i'm referencing what needs to be done because i presume more of that capacity is needed in other words that capacity grows faster than it would shrink so there's this is going in one direction there's always going to be an increase in demand presumably do you have an insight in what we need to be doing or how we could resolve that issue um i don't have the specifics on what the the challenges are but as far as i know the challenges was recruiting and having enough staff available to provide those home care packages um and so you know if you don't have enough staff to provide them obviously that's going to delay people getting access to them we know that our population is getting um older um that there are more chronic diseases out there um and so this shift towards community care is going to have to put more focus on the availability of home care packages so we need more people in those jobs uh you know those working in them would argue that the the terms and conditions make them not desirable and and difficult for people to continue in them and and so anybody who has a home care package will tell you how valuable they find it and how useful it is and how much it does keep people in their homes um but i i think the issue there is is again capacity and availability of staff to provide those services yeah it is worrying um do you believe that we are are through a peak yet in terms of uh respiratory issues uh be it rsv uh covid or the flu for that matter well i suppose if we look at the health protection surveillance center figures it looks like we are past the peak um so cases of covid influenza and rsv have all fallen over the last two to three weeks there's still a significantly high levels particularly influenza um but they are falling and so you would hope that that does mean that we're beyond the peak but but still uh i suppose a significant knock-on effect in terms of presentations over the next number of weeks yeah for sure and and we the traditional respite then perhaps is not there because the hospital is is running over capacity it it almost seems all year round uh at this stage so the the fundamental problems we're talking about now need addressing because throughout the year it's not just a winter thing anymore no um and when you talk about the 25 patients today in surge capacity that means they're in places like day services or other services that then can't operate because uh they're full so that again has a knock-on effect so it's a vicious circle and you know there is huge healthcare demand just looking at the figures in my own surgery here today we've over 200 appointments scheduled in the surgery here today you know um a mixture of acute care routine care and chronic care so uh you know the demand is is always huge throughout the year and it's always difficult to manage and you know the system is doing its best but there isn't enough capacity out there to to deal with the demand that's there yeah okay um really interesting actually to get that sort of figure and from one GP practice will be the big one but still that's a lot of people okay uh thank you very much doctor i do appreciate your time take care of yourself that's dr Kiran Afari there talking about hospital crowd and just to recap those figures his own practice there over 200 appointments today alone uh 21 people on trolleys at letter candy university hospital there's 25 in surge capacities uh in over overflow areas uh in in in having an impact then in daycare stuff it's having an impact on other elements of the hospital and there's 24 people sitting down there in the hospital who are able to go home effectively sorry i must phrase that correctly they're fit to leave the acute hospital setting but they they're delayed for numerous reasons uh maybe family can't receive them at the moment which is something that was mentioned before um home care packages um places in in community hospitals um so that's 24 people and 24 mom's dad son's daughters aunt's uncles by multiple all concerned and worried about them hoping that their loved one gets better as soon as possible gets into a uh a space where they can continue the recovery as soon as is possible the nine tone in show with letter candy credit union simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from letter candy credit union call us on 0749102126 or apply online via our app or in office today new this week in home store and more all bathroom towels are all half price but better hurry because when all the half price bathroom towels are gone they're gone also all recycling kitchen bins and all artificial plants are still all half price but when all the half price recycling kitchen bins and all the half price artificial plants are gone they're definitely gone dropped by your local home store and more visit us online at home store and more dot ie new store now open in frascati center black rock home store and more a happy home despite low temperatures and high energy costs it's important everyone stays warm and well through the colder months it's also important to understand that saving energy where possible saves money and helps reduce the impact on our climate simple steps can make a big difference like turning down the thermostat by one degree limiting the use of high energy appliances like tumble dryers or ensuring we don't heat rooms that aren't in use government is playing its part too making a range of supports available to help ease the burden on families across the country for support and advice visit gov dot ie forward slash reduce your use brought to you by the government of ireland muff lousy bush straggle willy leggy faltering duties bottom stripsy willy roguile pulling town turban feckin killy willy gaol overly is not all our town names have translated beautifully from irish to english but they're still beautiful places to explore especially in a scota scota let's explore your local scota dealer is dmg motors klar o donnie galtown call zero seven four nine seven two one three nine six or visit dmg motors dot ie mollartu agus ahola her tasha esca agus is fade rayon of guns throw tour courts are in service notion to um head to nish tomana erlina and yovik nd ls punk rsa punk ie my gov i did zevna et asthal teachtrocht on udorosum hoveltocht air woody highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air owner air to water heat pump and you flex under floor heating visit grant dot ie okay mild doll and breezy today outbreaks of rain and drizzle low cloud and mist brightening up in a few parts this afternoon as the rain and drizzle becomes patchier temperatures today 11 to 13 degrees so relatively mild in a moderate to fresh and gusty south to southwest winds now a spell of squally heavy rain accompanied by strong and gusty winds will spread from the west this evening and early tonight so it's not going to be a pleasant start to the night so squally showers and wind to the front of the trochanal tribute now and uh we are going to talk to uh deputy shin fame deputy podrick mcgloughlin about uh milford school and i suppose before getting to the good morning to you uh podrick good morning before getting to your meeting with the the minister um maybe you could outline to us sort of really what you already know and what came from the public meeting uh with parents in in milford read the concerns about the school yeah thanks greg and i had uh meself and the shin fame representative maria daherty had organized a a public meeting uh in milford town we would do these across the area and at the meeting in milford town just there in mid december um parents uh of children at scola were there uh in milford the national school came to the meeting and outlined their very serious concerns around the school um and uh on the back of that i had uh offered to go to the school the next morning and i had very short notice and i really appreciated it the the principal uh you know of the school and indeed um the the board of management uh chairman farver gorman and a number of the parents um took me around the school and like i as you can imagine like i've been a public rep for a long time greg i've been to a lot of schools and i've seen a lot of issues but i really was genuinely shocked what john dad's at you well it's just the totally cramped uh amenities it was built in in the late 1950s for a totally different time uh none of the classrooms would be up to the standard of department of education guidelines the corridors the toilets are totally inappropriate uh there's no proper sewerage system in the toilets the play amenities are just what about pick up pick up and drop off is that no yeah there's there's also road safety big road safety issues there greg because of the location i mean you're going up into a number of secondary schools all bottlenecked along with the national school you have a very busy road running alongside uh one of the main arteries in the milford area yeah so i mean the dunagall county council and indeed the guard of superintendents everybody has said this is a very questionable location so in every level you look at greg now the one thing i do want to point out was and it was totally obvious to me like the dedication of the principal of the teachers i mean all the parents i mean the level of education is absolutely exceptional at the school well listen it's it's that that's a sign of its success 220 pupils and growing now we've talked about schools in the past on this program and one of the issues often is is uh you know maybe the current site's not fit for redevelopment i would imagine that's the case here or there's not an alternative uh you know and we will get on to your minister with uh you meet with the minister in a moment but there that is one problem that doesn't necessarily exist here because a site a greenfield site is there effectively isn't it what's the status of that site yeah i mean they've looked at it there'd be much more cost effective to build a new school um to modern standards you know to give the children the best education possible um and they they have in the community identified location within the control points of the town um and they have been interacting with the landowner uh and indeed some of the local councillors have looked at the issue of planning you know so i think everything can be done but time is off the essence um and and indeed the message i got from uh the principal and from you know the the the um the board of management and the parents was that you know right now if they had hope you know if they knew that a new school was on the way that it was on the capital program going through the process they could knuckle down but the right now it's the lack of hope that things are going to change that they have patch work sort of things going on around site um well then let's get to that meeting with the minister did minister foley give any hope yeah well i i had submitted a parliamentary question uh greg and the first response uh you know usually drafted by our department officials i wasn't happy with it um i submitted a follow-up because i'm very conscious that minister foley had visited the school has seen for herself in recent times how bad the conditions are at the school and she personally understands that so i thought right i'm gonna go and i put another parliamentary question but i'm gonna have to meet her face to face so i met her yesterday um and we discussed the matter um i reminded her like she'd been to the school i took her through all the problems at the school um she asked me is there an alternative site and i said yes in the community i understand but time would be off the essence i also let her know that the school board of management have organized a briefing for local public representatives on friday the 9th of february um and you know it would be very useful if we had an updates by then and you know i i'd asked her to engage with her her local colleagues you know government representatives counselors and tds and the county um just to verify all of the points of megan because this will be a team effort um so i i found her receptive and she didn't make any commitments but she said she would discuss this with her colleagues in the county and try to give us an update so how does this work i mean does the school submit an application for a new build is that how this normally works have they done that does the department of education invite proposals like from here going forward how how do how does one get the ball rolling on on a completely new build of a school yeah it seems that the department i suppose the government to move the goalposts a number of years ago in terms of new schools you know this is a school capital buildings program it's called and they were focusing on the big cities the kind of commuter belts those areas with big population to the disadvantage of of the likes of dunagall and similar counties and instead what we're getting is sort of you know sort of prefabs and add-ons and you know patch up jobs and you know i think that's you have to fight them on this and you have to challenge them now it's to the credit of the school that they manage and the local public representatives that they got minister fully to visit the school it's really important that the minister sees it with her own eyes so she she can be in no doubt as to what the situation is there so what we need to do now is you know say that we can't accept you know the patch patch up work we need to have a date we need it on the capital program and we need to give hope that there's going to be in the near future a school that befits the teachers i mean i i i've been talking to the parents in the community and from seeing for myself the parents that day and the principal like you know i'm just going to say this the principal did work beyond the call of duty and her family there was a basement below the school you know storage area converted into a classroom they did that of their own time like the level of commitment is incredible but you can't take people for granted they need hope that it's going to get better and i think they deserve that all right well let's keep our fingers crossed thank you very much for that that's shin vain shin vain deputy podrick mclaughlin on the new school there and it's and if you're affected by that i.e. you've your work there maybe the principal's listening or you're a parent there you can lend your voice to it ahead of that meeting to that campaign you can lend your voice to it ahead of that meeting which is scheduled for the 9th of february i believe we were told there please greg tell greg you no longer get a medical card at 70 okay i'm sorry i didn't realize that i rented a room in a house with shared bills the bills kept getting higher when i asked for the actual paper proof of the bills surprise surprise they were not in fact that amount the letting agent made an excuse that needs so many it was a simple mistake then i discovered that two of the rooms rented via the owner were in fact 100 euro cheaper than the two via the letting agent be very wary of agents okay it doesn't sound ideal by any stretch of the imagination good morning greg the situation here in donningall is that irish water are responsible for the hydrants but the fire hydrant is a key piece of equipment in a firefighters arsenal and in my opinion all fire stations should be responsible for the servicing annually of all hydrants in the respective areas this would also help a building familiarity for the firefighters of the location of fire hydrants okay that's not a bad idea i suppose um leona uh who was on with us earlier on she's wrong about both she's wrong about print both print and digital are big look at all the worldwide tabloids still in print as well as digital it's not that wasn't coming from leona we had the head of one of the biggest news group uh biggest news groups uh that cover britain and arland they have the irish independent the sunday independent um and a few other papers it was he that said look there's no future for papers that's not me saying it he said and he runs a paper he says there's no future for paper for papers at the moment it's the revenue 70 percent paper sell sold papers they're and 30 digital he says there'll be no daily papers coming from their paper group in 2030 2033 he's not really quite sure of the date unequivocal he didn't say oh well we'll try the bottom line is is there's no not going to be any papers published by them on a daily basis also they're trying to get rid of the older journalists there's 50 voluntary redundancies people can get stuck in their ways you know the future is digital that's the bottom line and if you don't see that uh well then you know maybe that's one of the 50 that they're trying to get shot of in the arish independent because of course you know you do certain things a certain way for a certain amount of time it can be hard to switch to the inevitable i'm sure it's a uh i'm sure it's right across the board everyone's having to do it in the media it's not exclusive to newspapers so it's not the oldest point of view it's actually the owner of one of the biggest uh circulating newspapers but then you look at the farmers journal and uh they knock it out of the park every single week uh they're selling what is it over 300,000 copies and it's thick and it's quality and it's stories and it's interviews and it's progressing stories it's creating stories maybe that's the future i don't know it's not an area i work in or have any understanding of i just know from the people that run the big papers that is what they've been saying hey have a wonderful thursday will you uh we are going to disembark the Nincle Noon Show train now and getting on board is your pilot your train driver John Breslin around the northwest right the weekend we're back tomorrow at nine with our friday panel if you uh want to suggest a topic for conversation feel free to text us 08 660 25,000 and so much more throughout the course of friday's Nincle Noon Show have a wonderful day today though so for me Greg Hughes Karina Noor who researched and produced the show and Sharon Wilkes who's working away Wilkins no i have it had it right my head i'm sorry shannon shannon do you want to say my ear carol i know sharon yeah second name wilkin that's what i said okay sharon wilkin um have a great day the Nincle Noon Show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union digital loans now available