 Let's see, do you know how you take a picture on the phone? Noreen Higgins. See, Danny. If you've got auto-rotate problems here, mate. I do. I do. My head's tilted sideways. Noreen Higgins, a very happy birthday and comes in from all the children. If you could only see me now, they can. They can, they can, yeah. The things you do, right, for a live radio, from all the grandchildren in Lederkenny, and also for Kathy McGlynn, Rockhill, celebrating their birthday. Have a great one from Robert and Sue. Thanks, Greg. All right, Lee. Listen, thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your day. Was that my best side? I don't have one. All right, Lee. Have a great day. Take care of yourself. It is the 90 noon show here on Highland Radio. It's time for a news update, though, at the top of the hour. And it is. Good morning now to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. The housing minister has confirmed that the micro-redress scheme revised legislation is in the final stages. Minister Dara O'Brien in responding to Donnie Gold deputy, Pierce Doherty, in the doll yesterday, said he intends to bring the revised legislation to government shortly. Minister O'Brien said his aim is to pass the legislation before the doll's summer recess. What I'm interested in is helping people get their homes fixed and their lives fixed. And the scheme that we will bring forward will be a substantial improvement on the scheme that was in place from January, February 2020. I expect the legislation to come to government very soon. And what I would say is this as well, I will be seeking the cooperation of all parties across the house to make sure that the legislation is passed before the summer recess. A meeting is to be held to discuss the Angiography Service at Latter-Kennie University Hospital. It's after a request at the regional health form meeting earlier this week after much concern was raised as it emerged the weekly Angiogram service will not be provided at the hospital after the end of June. Public representatives across the county have been invited to attend the online meeting with the Seal to Health Care Group next Thursday. Meanwhile, work is ongoing to enhance the delivery and governance of services at Latter-Kennie University Hospital and the Seal to University Health Care Group. It follows findings and recommendations from a number of external reviews of hospital services. Tony Canavan, CEO of the Seal to University Health Care Group, says they have engaged with a team from EY to support the work. He's confirmed that the planning phase of the project will run until July, while implementation of action plans will be a longer term project. 170,000 homes across the country are at risk from a cancer-causing radioactive gas according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The watchdog has today published a new map of areas impacted by radon, the first update in two decades. Most areas of Donegal have less than 5% of radon levels, however, there are a small number of areas more inland where levels are predicted to be over 10%. The gas is naturally occurring, particularly in rock in western counties, and is linked to 350 new lung cancers in Ireland each year. Senior scientist with the EPA, David Fenton, says it's a significant public health risk and people need to act. People are unknowingly living with this carcinogen in their house. However, with our new maps, we've identified to a very good resolution those parts of the country that are most at risk from radon. And in the high-radon areas, as we call them, one in five houses are predicted to have high levels of radon. So we're urging people today to look at our website, find out where you are with the latest of the radon risks and take the necessary tests to protect yourself against radon. Whether Naia Damp and Clyde start with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, highest temperatures of 13 or 14 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio. News for now will be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The Financial Services Limit is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The Ninetown Noon Show with letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering myCU current account and debit MasterCard, bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the Ninetown Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. And at four minutes past nine on this Thursday, the 26th of May, you're very welcome along to another edition of the Ninetown Noon Show. Hopefully you'll be with us for the next three hours and you'll get involved in the conversation and have your say. We are open for business on the phone lines, 07491-25000. If you want to give us a call, if your WhatsApp, poor text, well, 08 660-25000 is how you get in contact with us. And feel free to watch on linehighlandradio.com or on our social media channels and interact with us there. OK, busy morning for the papers as it is a Thursday, of course. We'll start this morning with the Chirconal Tribune. And their lead story is the fact that a remelton child is being denied a life changing CF drug. And that young man, very handsome and smart dressed young man, pictured on the front of the paper today. The parents of a five year old child with cystic fibrosis have spoken of the family trauma of being among a very small group who have been denied access to the so-called Wander drug, calf trio, Noel Freel, who resides in remelton and Anja and the parents of five year old Tristan. And he's one of the 35 children, aged six to 11 in Ireland with cystic fibrosis that are currently being denied access to this life changing drug, despite being eligible for it. And I believe when we were talking about a recent CF fundraiser, we were speaking to one gentleman who went on this drug and it made a huge difference to his life. How can it be denied to a child? Well, an online petition seeking changes to include these children for the medication has been launched locally on change.org and browsing their website. Calf trio is a cutting edge, a generation of cystic fibrosis drugs known as modulators and is seen as a transformation treatment. CF families have now been given the hope of their children living healthier and longer lives with calf trio significantly improving lung function, helping to breathe more easily and enhancing their overall quality of life. On to the Donegal Democrat now and more than 750 people have availed of suicide prevention therapy at the letter Kenny office of Pieta. Over the last two years, the Democrat can reveal. The service is also hiring a psychotherapist and experienced child and adolescent psychotherapist for the center as the demand for its services continues to grow. Part of this is due to the ongoing success of the darkness into light fundraising walks and the money raised as a result. No figures available as to how much was raised in Donegal. All of the services provided by Pieta are free of charge and no medical referral is required. Their staff reads here fully qualified and provide a professional one-to-one therapeutic service for people who are self-harming, are experiencing suicidal ideation or have been bereaved by suicide. The majority of its income comes from fundraising and donations and Pieta could not do this life-saving work. We're told without the help of its volunteers, supporters and its friends. So 750 people have availed of suicide prevention therapy. I'm not quite sure what that is, but a lot of people have availed of it here locally. The Donegal news, it's a tight squeeze and then we're bride home in the Rossus in what is thought to be a record of sorts. A Ukrainian family of 10 has moved in alongside the McBride family of four. However, mother of two Sheila is more than happy to have her guests there. And despite the language barrier with the help of charades and Google translate, they're all working well together. Speaking to the Donegal news yesterday, host Sheila explained how it all came about and how the 10 strong Hohush family hope to move into a home nearby. The full story on the front of and inside the Donegal news today. The daring news, the early story is that of a person jailed for hijacking and threatening to kill a man who pretended to have a gun and forced a taxi driver in his passenger to drive more than 30 kilometers to Derry has been jailed for two and a half years. Alan Lucas, 43, was sentenced at Letterkenny circuit court after pleading guilty to hijacking and false imprisonment charges relating to an incident in Moville on March 4, 2015. He also admitted threatening a guarder in an incident in the town on July 2nd, last year. On to the nationals now and their lead story is about rentals. Huge discrepancies in rent supports nationwide are leaving some low paid tenants without assistance while tens of thousands of higher paid workers get financial help. Major inconsistencies are laid bare by the air so right today showing the haves and have nots of the country's rent support scheme. The stark report shows that more than a half of households that rent their home get state support to cover the cost over half of those who are renting at the moment get state support to cover the costs indicating how severe the rental crisis has become. The Think Tank study found that around 20% of those who get funding to cover the cost of renting are among the top half of income earners. So 20% of those who are receiving rental supports are among the top half of income earners. This implies around 60,000 households get rent assistance despite higher earnings and racist questions about how well targeted these supports are for renters. Do you fall into that category? Are you being disadvantaged? 08, 60, 25,000, not the higher earners on supports category but someone perhaps with lower earnings not able to get support. The Irish Times like all papers today continue their coverage of the awful shooting in America a couple of days ago and more details are emerging about the person responsible for this massacre. The gunman who killed 19 children and two teenagers in the classroom in Texas had announced his intentions on social media to carry out a shooting in a school the state's governor has said. Greg Abbott also said yesterday that the gunman had posted on Facebook that he was going to shoot his grandmother. He added that the gunman later posted a second time that he had done so. Now my understanding is these are private messages. In fact, I think it's gonna be clarified in this article. It wasn't posted on his wall so to speak. Let's see if it's clarified here. Meta, the company that owns Facebook says those messages were privately sent to another user. The Texas governor told a news conference that the gunman had shot his grandmother and then driven away. She managed to get to a neighbor's house and had contacted the police. The children who died were aged between seven and 10. The 18 year old gunman identified as Salvador Ramos was shot dead by police at the scene and don't necessarily need to revisit the details but it is beyond horrific what happened and how it happened. He was engaged, we understand as he entered the school, a police officer on site. He was injured. At that point, young people had been barricaded into a room. He got access to that room and carried out his active that's beyond words. Beyond words and parents had to have DNA swabs taken so that they could be matched with their children. It's just beyond comprehension. The Irish Daily Mail this morning. Here we go again. The tents are back. Several government TDS and senators were given VIP treatment at an event hosted by the gambling industry in a hospitality tent at the Pontchastan race course the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. Now, this comes as the Eroctus is preparing to regulate gambling for the first time after more than a decade of promising to do so amid a major pushback from the industry. The industry, of course, are dead against further restrictions or any restrictions, really, you could say, on gambling. So we have our legislators, those that you elect, not saying any are from Donegal with her, I don't know, but those that you elect, these are the ones that make the decisions. Now, they go into a hospitality tent which is hosted by the gambling industry and they're wind and dined and treated given the VIP treatment at a race course. So they're obviously predisposed to that whole industry. And then the wind and dined, as I say, by the industry itself, which is effectively lobbying whether it's formally or not against these changes. That's not right, is it? Or am I being a little bit precious on this? Like, I think it would be difficult for me to do, and I'm nobody, but I think it would be difficult for me to do an interview on gambling if I had taken up an invitation to go into this tent. And I'm just someone who does interviews. I wouldn't feel that I could do my job correctly if I was on the QT off air, being wind and dined by the bookies. And at the same time, coming on here and trying to do some sort of a balanced interview as it relates to whether or not we should have, you know, restrictions on gambling. Yet the TDs who are elected and senators, they see no problem whatsoever in being hosted by the gaming industry in a hospitality tent in Punches Town race course. Maybe that's just the way it's done. What do you think, 08, 6, 60, 25,000? We don't know who they are. One person spoke up and said he wouldn't, or she wouldn't let on who else was there. The Farmers Journal is out today. It tells us that beef prices of 66, sorry, six Euro a kilogram are within touching distance as the red hot demand sees farmers with finished cattle worth 450 Euro ahead more than this time last year. The record prices are being fueled by exceptionally tight supplies of finished animals alongside strong market conditions throughout continental Europe and in Britain, exceptionally strong demand for manufacturing beef has seen factory agents regularly pushing prices for heavy beef cows in March to over 3,000 Euro per head. Similarly, a significant premium over the deadweight price is being paid for heavy steers and heifers with the equivalent of over 620 a kilogram deadweight paid in March this week for good quality lots. Meanwhile, figures from the Department of Agriculture show beef processors are becoming increasingly reliant on feedlock cattle to maintain throughput. Right on to the smaller papers here, the tabloids, although the mail is a tabloid but these are red top tabloids, the Irish Daily Star today, limited coverage of the party gate scandal in Britain but I know a lot of people out there might be keeping an eye on it and remarkably, Boris Johnson looks like he's set to survive calls for him to resign but he was under pressure last night by revelations in an investigation into party gate and the culture in Downing Street and it was party, party, party. A report gave lurid details of events where officials drank so much they were sick, sank karaoke and partied until 4.30 a.m. on the morning of Prince Philip's funeral. They abused security staff who tried to break things up and cleaners were left to scrape wine off walls and clear up vomit. At the time, indoor socializing was banned even at work and millions were unable to see friends and family and one WhatsApp exchange with a special advisor, the then senior advisor to the PM, Martin Reynolds, boasted, we seem to have gotten away with a bring your own booze garden party. Looking through some of the texts, those involved in them were not really having a conversation as to, having a conversation as to whether they should do it or not, the conversations were about if they were gonna get caught or not or if they could get away with it so they saw no problem with this under the nose of their boss. So obviously there was a culture there and Boris Johnson has been fined and took part in some of them. There's a culture there where whatever rules they were enforcing did not apply to them. The Irish Sun, I think, the coverage of what's happening in Ukraine, obviously there's been some big stories this week but I think generally speaking, it's tailing off a little bit. There's just not quite as extensive coverage in the papers as that had been previously but the Sun on page 10 has a story and it took me to page 10 really to find something worth reading out. Vladimir Zelensky vowed Ukraine would not give an inch to Russia in a powerful speech yesterday as his country's army was stretched to breaking point. Now, there are voices starting to emerge now in the international community that are saying, okay, listen, we're probably facing into here a global recession, food shortages, increased hunger, it's time maybe to try and see if some resolution can be found to this because of the wider impacts but obviously that's being resisted by Vladimir Zelensky. He said Russia had thrown all the strength it has left into attacking the Donbas before adding they want to destroy everything there. He called for supplies of more heavy weapons to help drive President Vladimir Putin's forces out of unoccupied areas to bring peace to Ukraine and the wider world. It came as Russia for the first time began to attack new targets in the southern city of Zaprozitya where a shopping center and residential district were targeted but I just wonder if the public mood in relation to what's happening there is beginning to shift. I don't know, I'm not saying it should or it is or what isn't but it just feels like that to me. All right, now, I think the most bizarre thing I saw and this is not having a goal, right? I think the most bizarre thing I saw on social media yesterday was the welcome from Ema Higgins, TD. She was announcing on social media that passport express has been renamed as post passport. Now, she seems to think it's a victory of course and maybe it is of sorts but we know the real impact of the delays in the passport service, family holidays, going down the drain, money hard earned money being lost because people can't get passports but this is how and she was beaming in this. This is how Deputy Ema Higgins welcomed the news. Hi, I am really pleased to say that following months long of campaigning and all of the media attention today that I'm post contacting me earlier to confirm that they are indeed going to change the name passport express to show that it's not the quickest way of getting your passport. The advice is always apply online and apply early. There's gonna be a new name for passport express to reflect the fact that it isn't an express service. Thanks Minister Simon Covey who supported me on this who I think is making the announcement formally later on. Good man Simon. Well, I mean, obviously, you know, it's a small victory, isn't it? A victory celebration would be the fact that they have managed to fix the problem so passports can be delivered to people in a timely fashion. So I'm passed on post has rebranded the service in a move sanctioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs. So no more passport express and this is something we discussed in this program months and months and months ago. It's now called post passport. Okay, what do you think? Oh wait, 60, 25,000, you want saps and texts? Or give us a call on 07491 25,000. Now one resident, it's the one we're speaking to there may be more, is upset with the organizers of the Donegal rally and says residents are being treated with contempt in regards to road closures for the rally. We're gonna be discussing that with that person after these. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union is your bank leaving town. Letter Kenny Credit Union is now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, mountaintop Letter Kenny. Half of farmers plan to cut back on stock numbers. In this week's Irish Farmers Journal we publish the results of an exclusive survey of over 1,200 farmers. For more, here's Paul Mooney. Our survey reveals the biggest challenges facing farmers, their cash flow concerns and their thoughts on new government schemes. And farmers getting 500 euros per head more as beef prices hit six euros per kilo. Plus, don't miss your free 20 page silage machinery special. Only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal. You cannot afford to miss it. Is your bank charging you negative interest for holding company money? At John F. Lowery Financial Services we can secure not only positive but competitive interest rates on a five year fixed deposit for corporate clients. Alternatively, it could be a great time to invest in markets and we offer ways for companies to do just that. If you prefer to limit downside risk we do offer products with a partial capital guarantee. Surely that's worth considering. Call John F. Lowery Financial Services on 91-24002 and find out how our company can help your company. John F. Lowery and Associates Limited trading as John F. Lowery Financial Services are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Terms and conditions may apply. Is your Skoda a little older? Pre-loved perhaps? What adventures I wondered it'd have in the past? Another family, another life? Bright city lights? Or a quiet country existence seeing Ireland's best sights? We don't really need your car's story. With a Skoda service you get a complete vehicle health check. Genuine Skoda parts and free roadside assistance for 12 months. Your local Skoda dealer is DMG Motors' Clairo Dunigaltown telephone 074 97 21396 or visit dmgmotors.ie In the heart of Letter Kenny Warehouse Bar & Kitchen is an ideal venue for all your parties and celebrations. At Warehouse you'll find delicious food and cocktails served every day and live music seven nights a week. Mouthwatering lunch and dinner options along with the new look cocktail bar are waiting for you. Our late night venue is your weekend destination. Follow Warehouse Bar & Kitchen on social media for specials and updates. OK, we welcome on to the programme. Jim, good morning to you Jim. Thanks for taking the call today. Hi Greg, how are you? Not too bad at all. Right, so you emailed into the programme with your concerns. Can you outline them for our listeners please? Yeah, so basically, yeah. I was walking around, I was speaking to a neighbour and he made me aware that he had received on Sunday the 22nd of May a flyer that came in through his door informing him that his road would be blocked due to the Dunigalt International Rally. Now, I live about a mile away from this man and I said, I didn't receive anything and my door, he said, well, you'll find your road's going to be blocked also. So I came home and I went on to the Dunigalt County Council website and I checked the road closures and lo and behold, yes, my road is on the closure. Despite the fact that I have received no correspondence, either written or otherwise from the Dunigalt International organisers to discuss any of the reasons why they were going to close my road or to discuss it or, you know, give me any sort of indication that they were going to close the road. Now, the timeline on this is quite interesting, isn't it? You say your neighbour was contacted, sorry, were you told, when was your neighbour contacted, sorry, by the flyer? Okay, when I say my neighbour, my neighbour lives about a mile away from me and he's on a different road from me. He believes he was at home on Sunday but nevertheless, no one called at his door but he did find a flyer that was pushed through his letterbox from the Dunigalt International Rally. That was Sunday, May 22nd? That was Sunday, May 22nd, that's correct. Right, in relation to your contact with the Dunigalt County Council, when did they tell you that if you had an objection to these planned road closures, when was the cutoff time for you to lodge an objection? Okay, so I contact, when I was made aware by my friend the neighbour on Tuesday the 24th, I contacted Dunigalt Council straight away and I said, look, I've got an objection here to make because no one has consulted or spoke to me about a road closure and the Dunigalt County Council told me that May 10th was the deadline for objections and that they had planned to go ahead and off-rise the road closure. Now, they didn't give me any explanation or any due diligence that they employed before arriving at that decision to ensure that the rights of the residents were protected. So for me, they did explain to me that as part of their process, that they place an advert into a couple of local newspapers, I don't know if I can name them Yeah, go ahead. It doesn't matter. And I finish Times and Dunigalt Daily and they see that as a reasonable way of trying to notify the public. And my concern is if I'm applying for planning permission, there's a requirement for me, yes, to put a notification in a local paper, but there's also a requirement for me to place a sign close to where the planning application is being made and it must be visible from a public road and forming anyone in the area. Now, just on that point though, if you were seeking planning permission, you would be building a house, opening a road onto a main road and it would be there forevermore. This is a closure for eight and a half hours or nine and a half, seven and a half hours, I believe it is. You know, do you think it would be realistic to get agreement and consult everyone and have signage that everyone would be happy with for a closure for seven hours? Just playing devil's advocate here, Jim. Yeah, yeah, I understand. No, yeah, and I understand and, you know, with all, everyone's got rights, everyone's entitled to rights and at the end of the day, you know, the people, I believe that in a modern rights-based society, people have the right to partake in sport, they've got the right to take attend events, but they've also got the freedom of movement, they've got the rights of freedom of movement and these are very important as part of a modern rights-based society. But when someone else's actions or activities are infringed upon the rights of others, you know, there has to be some sort of consultation, process or agreement to ensure that the rights of everyone, the rights of everyone are protected. So at the end of the day, I think it's unreasonable. Personally, I think it's unreasonable. For me to be locked in my house, I'll explain my road is on the engraining stage of the rally. So my road isn't actually being used for the rally, but the rally will go around my road. So my road will be blocked at each end of my road, which leaves me a space of about 150 metres that I can walk up and down because the process that the organisers of the rally historically have employed is that they block the roads with cars, they abandon these cars, block and complete access to leading on to the rally stage. In the case of an emergency, how do I, what steps are taken by these organisers in order to protect my safety? If I need an emergency services because these cars remain abandoned, it's difficult to know who owns these cars, to contact them, to move the car, so... No, I mean, obviously, like the rally hasn't been held properly for a while, are we sure that the rally is scheduled to go past your house? James, is it possible you weren't notified because the road closure does not apply to you? Well, no, the road closure, my road is notified in the Donegal County Council website that my road will be closed. OK, so you've... As far as the council is aware, then you are actually going to be affected by these road closures. That's correct. So... I contacted the Donegal County Council, I have also sent an email to the Donegal County Council, I've also sent an email to the clerk of the course of the Donegal International Rally and the secretary of Donegal International. I sent that on Tuesday afternoon, and even at this point in time, no one... I've received acknowledgement from the Donegal County Council that the email has been received, I've received no correspondence at all whatsoever from the Donegal International Committee. Now, is this about the rally or is it about the process? Do you think if there had been consultation, if you had been notified, that maybe you know what... Do you feel you've been mistreated or would you be objecting to this even if there had been consultation and notification that would satisfy you, Jim? For me, it's a total contempt and disregard that the rally organisers have shown to the residents. They... Prior to the rally, it doesn't take a lot of effort to go round and knock on doors because they're obviously going round all the route of the rally, the people affected on the route of the rally, putting in flares and discussing with people. But on this occasion, they've totally disregarded the road that I live on. It affects several neighbours on this road. So no one has been in contact with us. Well, it's an oversight, I don't know. But nevertheless, I've highlighted this to them in an email on Tuesday. And as of this point in time, no one has responded to that email. What do you think... And it's completely anecdotal, what do you think the general mood or opinion of residents is to road closures in the rally going past their homes? Well, in my experience and the people that I speak to, people are not in favour of the road closure or the length of the road closures. And I'll give you an example. My wife, she's a cook in a school canteen. So she leaves work at 25 past six in the morning and she goes to her work and she finishes at 2.30 in the afternoon. So under these road closures, my wife would be expected to sit at the side of the road from 2.30 until six o'clock until the road is opened again. And I'm just doing nothing like that. And today, in this day and age, as an acceptable way to treat people, you've got to have the right to exit and access your house. Now, and there may be some sort of compromises that can be made, but if there's no consultation process, how can anyone arrive at any agreement or work through these stuffable days? All right, Jim, listen, strong points will make. Thank you very much for that. That's Jim Clark there from John Barnett. He says that the road closure affecting him has been notified to the councillors. I'm happy that there was no consultation. Right, well, let's get the rally perspective from this Amy McGee's Clark of the course of the Donegal International Rally. He joins us now. Part of the job, Amy, I suppose, dealing with these complaints and issues and queries that will come up from members of the public. Listening to Jim there on first and foremost, Jim says that his, he is blocked and Jim has access. Jim's road is not blocked. Now, he's gone by obviously information he was given to by Donegal County Council. That probably would be. And the reason being that we're at a location, what we would call a location above on his road. So we've taken 100 metres back from that to block, you know, to block that on the road closure. But that doesn't necessarily say that the whole road is closed. As road, there may be 100 metres of it, maybe further away from, you know, near the junction where we would be passing. So in other words, if he has somewhere to go on the day between the times of the announced road closures, he will be able to travel, he'll be able to travel. In other words, there's no point in being able to travel half a mile up the road one way, half a mile up the other way if he's stopped off at T-junctions or corners. He'll have free movement. He'll have free movement. He can, he can, he has free movement on, on, he can, when he accesses his house, if he goes left, he has free movement out into Calais or into Calais road or anywhere else he wants to. Okay. Did you get his email, Amy? I, I, I, I, I personally didn't get an email from him because it's, he probably doesn't have my, but it probably, my secretary has got it, or the international secretary has got it now, but we got, we, we've got that from the council. Yesterday we checked that out and he's not, he's not affected it. Like I'm just saying this, a lot of this could have been resolved, you know, his, his upset and, and the, the controversy. I, I, I, I just, just, just probably yesterday was road, was the entry closed for the international, we have, there were a lot of emails for very, but no doubt we will reply back to him. Yeah, indeed, even maybe for future, just have a separate email for concerned residents rather than the same email for, the same email for entrance. Yeah, that's, but it's, it's, it's a denigal, it's a secretary at the negal that I, I think that's, that's, that's the soul of just that. Are you satisfied that everyone who was, who is going to actually be affected by road closures did receive a fire? Well, yeah, again, again, again, we would have been out, we have people out there and, and, and, they do go, they go to every door, they knock on the door. Obviously sometimes they don't get answered to, but they just leave the, leave the notice and their phone numbers on the notice for them to call and we will correspond with them, whatever note queries or whatever they have, you know, that's, so as he said, just never got to think. Now, obviously, the whole information's on that. So we, we, they have a point of contact. So obviously they know that we have been around them, we have been around, and we've talked to, to, we were around them people and, and we had very little concern on, on, on the Greenland stage or any other stage as well. Yeah, okay. I, again, I call it says, Greg, I think there may be a problem communication wise, like an overload of emails, but rest assured he and his family will not be left stranded. This is not how the rally works or organizes itself. Again, it seems to be like a bit of a communications breakdown here. Yeah, yeah, again, again, Greg, I would like to point out, did people say about, about medical cover and that like, but on them, after you have an email, we have, we have ambulances and doctors, everything on, on the stages. So like, you know, and it happened in the past where people, residents did get sick and we had, we were able to just, we get the phone call, emergency services are gone to that look, whatever that. Yeah, I imagine this, but I call it says, I live in the same areas, Jim, and I've been contacted by the rally team to say our road would be closed, plus I got notification from the national school yesterday to say that the school will be closed because there'll be no access all day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we, we, we do, and when we, we, we put a big effort into, into going to try and contact as much, but again, we're going back to Jim, Jim has not affected by, so that's why Bobby, he didn't get, he didn't get, come back to a 19 when we learned last, he would have been an internally roadblock, but he's not this year, like he's not, it's not about, but he probably thought it was the same as 19, but it's not. Do you have final numbers in terms of the amount of competitors taking part this year, Aiman? How does it compare to previous years? The three years, and at the moment. And is that, so how does that rate with, with the, you know, years gone by? Just, just as amazing, but 200, we have 200 places, so there'll be at least 70 or 80 people that'll be disappointed in the next couple of days. No, that's not to say that we'll have fallouts and we'll be thinking. No, but that's part of, part of the course, I think, for those involved in the, in the rally scene. Why do you think there's so much interest, you think maybe through lockdown, people have got old cars out of the shed or decided to put some money into it, so what do you think the reason is? I think that's a bit under the year, especially. Yeah, a caller says, it's one day of the year and brings money into the county, sit back and enjoy it. I'd love if the rally went past my house. That's one other, just to make sure we're getting some balance here. All right, I'm sure you're very, you're very busy. Thanks for coming on and responding to Jim there. 08, 660, 25,000, the WhatsApps and texts to that number. The 9 till noon show with letter Kenny Credit Union. Is your bank leaving town? Letter Kenny Credit Union is now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard, bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account. We love summer at Dunn Stores with these great offers from our fishmonger. 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Now, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Heather Humphries, has announced a new grant of up to €500 towards the cost of a hairpiece, a wig or hair replacement for people who suffer hair loss due to illness. The new grants expected support around 2,000 women or men during the first year of its introduction. And Paddy Pander is a spokesperson for Alopecia Ireland and joins us now. Paddy, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for me and the show. No, it's good to have you with us. Before this was announced, were there any supports for people? There were no supports at all for Alopecia. Just so first, we had some who were able to get support, maybe through their medical card, but that seemed to be regional dependent. Certainly when I inquired about it, there was nothing at all in my region. But, you know, there's been nothing at all. And the expense for a wig can be significant, depending on the kind of hair piece you want looking for and the kind of hair you had originally as well. Yeah, and do we know, as you say, it varies greatly, but what would the average cost facing someone be? The average cost for a synthetic would be in a few hundred euro, it could be three to four hundred euro for a good synthetic, or even more than that. For a real hair, you're actually looking at a few thousand euro. Now, one lady, her hair was long before it fell out, so her wig was about three thousand. Somebody else's shorter hair like mine would be much less. So it depends on the individual and their needs and wants as well. This could cover significantly or all of the costs, or if they have... It could. Exactly, OK. Is there any... There's no concern that this could drive up the costs, you know, once there's a bit of public money swirling around in the buying power. Would you have any concerns in that regard? I'd hope not. Wigs are going up in price breaks, it hasn't helped us either. So, yeah, the cost has been going up over the years anyway, but hopefully not. I hope the weeks will not start at five hundred from now on. Now, obviously... No, I'm hoping that the suppliers will... OK, Paddy, I beg your pardon, there's a slight delay on the line, but I'll just ask one more question if that's OK. Obviously, you know, for some people, the use of a wig or a hair piece might be short term for others, it'd be long term. Is this sort of a one off, a single access type of a scheme? No. Anybody who has alopecia will get the grant, one grant per year. So if your hair grows back and you don't need a wig piece after that, that's fine. OK, listen. You'll get the grant for the time that you have it and then you can re-access it later on if you need it. OK, right, so it's been welcomed. Thank you very much indeed. That was Paddy Pender of Alopecia Ireland, welcoming that announcement. The grant will be available to people and their dependent spouse, civil partner or cohabitant who satisfy the medical requirements and the PSI conditions of the department's treatment benefit scheme, employees paying PSI contributions under classes A, E, P and H, as well as self-employed who are insured under class S may qualify for the grant. Is that good news? 08, 6, 60, 25,000, I'm sure it is. Anything that helps. Right, following on from our conversation as it relates to the rally, a few questions. The rally is only of interest to a few, yet the rest of us are inconvenienced. Even deaths don't stop this polluting sport. Another, we had the same issue. They said they had given us the flyers, which have all the emergency numbers on it. They assume everyone reads the local papers. Another caller says, the rally went past our house for years. We never had a problem. A number of residents to contact in case of emergencies or if you need access to your house outside the hours, we found them very facilitating. Unfortunately, it looks like your road has been accidentally missed. Another, the notice in the paper is all that's needed legally. The letter in the door is just the club being courteous. Tell Jim it's once a year. He's just being a spoil sport. And another, hi, Greg. I've got a letter in my door on Sunday. I'm glad the rally is going past my door. There's a number on the letter if you need an ambulance. Also, I would say the rally went past his road every other time for a day a year. OK, that's a mixed reviews. And it is one of those events that can be divisive. It has been for years, but we try and air people's concerns and get answers as much as possible and, of course, give the rally the right to reply where needs be. Can you ask, Greg, what's the purpose of a single four-province flag that's flown in every town and village? This has come up before. I should know the answer. And I actually tried to find out the answer. This was asked a couple of months ago. You will see the flag. It's got the four provinces flag. It's all over the place. Someone out there at this point has banned to have discovered what it's there for. Do you know the answer? 086625,000. Why? I think, actually, maybe we did get an answer to this, but I can't remember the answer. Someone might be able to tell me again and tell this listener at the same time. So it's the four-province flag you've seen it. I'm sure if you're out and about, it's flying in various locations around the county, perhaps further afield. What's it for? What does it signify? And who put it up? Also, later on in the program today, by the way, it's always a popular feature. We'll be speaking to Dr. Joe Kelly, our resident historian, and we'll be picking another part of our rich history to examine and explore. So if you enjoy that item, stay with us, because that's coming up for you a little later on. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost. Letter Kenny Credit Union, 9102127. McDade's Bathroom Plumbing and Tiles, serving the Northwest for over 40 years. Explore our showroom with more than 40 displays. Choose from an array of shower doors, shower trays, baths, and bathroom accessories. Speak with an expert about tile selection and wall paneling. We also stock an array of plumbing, heating, and stove spare parts, as well as a great selection of kitchen mixers and radiators at our trade counter. Our stove department is also available for you to choose a style that suits your needs and complements your home. McDade's Bathroom Plumbing Tiles, Bunker Anna, we're here for you. 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So I thought we could go to the cinema tonight. Nice car. Cheers. Let me get that door. With Allianz Young Driver's insurance, we'll have you on the road in no time. Say 15% when you buy online at Allianz.ie. You write it, we underwrite it. Allianz. Allianz PLC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, standard acceptance criteria, policy conditions, and a minimum premium apply. Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport. Thinking of a sun holiday with the family, you can now fly to beautiful New York every Friday this summer with Ryanair and enjoy some of Europe's best beaches. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. And if you can't get away this weekend, you're going to be able to enjoy some nice, dry, sunny weather at times at least. But let's look at today a damp and cloudy start with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. That rain will clear to the south through the morning. Dryer weather then, and sunny spells following behind for the rest of today. There is the chance of the odd isolated shower in the afternoon. Quite breezy, though, in moderate to fresh west to the winds. Temperatures 13 or 14 degrees, of course, here in the northwest. Not of course, but this time, we're not going to get the best of the weekend weather. We're going to get really nice dry weather, but the south is going to benefit most. Right, the British Prime Minister, he's still in his job after a day of criticism following the Sue Gray report. But the party gate scandal isn't off his plate just yet with a committee of MPs to say whether he misled the House of Commons. The inquiry found Downing Street staff drank into the early hours of gatherings while strict COVID rules were in place. And we know from the text messages that really they weren't concerned about what they were doing. They were concerned about whether or not they could get away with it. Pat McCart is a former editor of The Dairy Journal and always has an opinion on all things, not least political. Pat, thanks for inviting, accepting our invite, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg, how are you? Not too bad. Boris Johnson's an interesting character before we get into the nitty gritty of party gate, in that anyone can go on BBC, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, wherever and call him a liar. And the presenter doesn't feel the need to jump in. It's pretty much accepted that the Prime Minister of Great Britain is a liar and you can call him that without fear of consequence. It's quite remarkable. Years ago, without question, Greg, people like you would have been absolutely screaming internally if somebody had to use the word layer on air. But as you say, no, it's come to you to use that term a pretty pass when the Prime Minister of Britain can be described as a liar because he is. And everyone accepts it. It shows sort of the derogation or the derogatory nature of now, the politics of the man who is considered a liar can stay in office and everybody thinks it's a bit of a joke. Are you surprised or not surprised, given that it's Boris Johnson, that he seems like he's going to get away with this? Because if anyone's walked past Downing Street, it's a small enough area. There obviously was a culture in there that you could do whatever you like. No matter what the rest of the country was being told to do, people couldn't go to funerals and that type of thing. But clearly within those confines, under their bosses' nose, there was a sense that you could do whatever you like. And if he happened to pass in the corridor, he might step in, have a quick glass of wine and share a toast. Yeah, but look, before we even start there, Greg, two things he said, first of all, and the campaign to get himself elected, where he would give 350 million a week to the health board. I know the health service, not to the EU. That was a downright lie, but he won an election on that. And then later on he goes on and signs what he called an oven ready, deal with the EU to the 2019 election. And he gets an 83 seat majority. And he turns around later and says, by the way, I signed the EU, but I had no intention to keep that deal. And they now look like they're going to break an international agreement, but they signed just about two, three years ago. So there's a sort of a history here, but getting back to your part again. Right, I think the main one that was on June 18th, 25 people, I think, were at that one. And a party was described as pizza, I've written it down here, pizza pro seco, and a karaoke machine was brought in. On April the 16th, the day before Prince Philip's funeral, I think it was a party, it went on before 20 a.m. And then on, I think it was certainly before, because I'm not sure exactly, there was a massive party where people were told to leave by the back door of that 10 downing street, because they were so drunk. Now, this is at a time when other people were sticking by the rules, and the very people who were making the rules were flaunting them almost on public views, much to say, these rules are only for the little people. Now, if you can get away with that, Greg, you can get away with anything. And he can, because obviously he's handling of the Hillsborough disaster incredibly controversial. You mentioned the Brexit situation. Don't forget Wallpapergate, that's in there as well. Was it a social counter-law or was it an end-person counter-law? Yeah, something like that there. He's extra marital activities. The stuff is said historically in the papers and about certain people, certain races and what have you. Then we see what he's doing in terms of the protocol, which is Brexit, and the threat to break international treaties. And the list is absolutely endless. So the reason he can get away with it right and probably would still do quite well in an election, is this an absence of a politician that can step up and lead people and lead them against Boris Johnson or as an alternative? Like, it surely is the easiest time ever to ask a PM, but no one seems to have the traction or the ability to do it. Yeah, well, you know, the old one, but Keir Stammer, like he does come across as wooden, as an effective, and like he's about as, I suppose no way he is as effective as a sort of an astray on a motorbike because he hasn't laid a glove on Boris Johnson at all. And you know, you see even at this matchbox, he's reading the speeches, where he wasn't like some of the leaders in the past who parried when there was a debate, they used, they were quick on their feet. And do you think something, Pat, if you don't mind me interjecting too, not only does he read the speeches, right, but it's the way he adjusts his tone. So now I'm reading a somber piece, so I have to be somber. Absolutely. And sometimes there's a lag on it, like he's halfway through the sentence and then he drops to it. You know what I mean? It's like a robot. It is not a natural product. And you know the thing about Boris, the only, Greg, the one caveat I would say about this is what I'm getting away with. At the last, the local government elections, the Tories lost 500 seats. But I think, you know, I think you actually might put your finger on much better than I have, in the sense, I think it could well be the lack of an alternative. Boris comes across to the English, they love him because he's saying what they want to say and they might not agree with that as character, but he's a bit like Trump. He's basically saying, you know, somebody said, we might not like him much, but as a sort of moron, but he's our moron. You know, that sort of thing. So then on that point, right, really policy stuff doesn't matter, cost of living stuff, how much does it really matter? You know, housing, how much does that really matter? If you can sort of get to people on issues like immigration or if you can get to people on maintaining their union, stuff like that, is that then enough to, for everything else to be forgiven, then seemingly it is. Yeah, well, you know the famous red wall, there were seats in the North of England for generation, generation, generation, red, hot labor, mining communities. They voted for Boris the last time because he spoke to them. He said, you know, immigration, you know, and particularly, and let's get this on the record because he sort of dog whistled it. You know, these people of color coming in here, taking your jobs and all the rest and your schools are overcrowded, their health service is overcrowded. I am gonna put a limit on the numbers coming in here and so on. And that fed into the whole thinking of that area. So for the first time in about a hundred years, well, if ever, sorry, they all voted for Boris and he got an 83 seat majority. Are those people I don't think are gonna change their mind because he's still saying those sort of things that appeal to them? Yeah, I just wonder as politics changed forever, you know, because we see it in so many different countries that what people vote on, what motivates people, what divides people, it's not, it doesn't seem to be the bread and butter stuff. It's the emotive stuff that people are arguing about in social media. Yeah, well, Greg, can you imagine, you know, 30 years ago, a man who got sacked from three jobs, who refuses to tell him that the British public, how many children he has, who has been accused, not accused, he's now referred to regularly as a liar, on air, by journalists and by others, and that he would still be one of the most popular politicians. And what he does doesn't seem to affect that popularity, whatever. Now, I know I've read a bit about Pony Blair and John Major and people have been absolutely sort of outraged that this is going on. What they're sort of suggesting, and which I think you'd agree with too, they are, the cynicism about politicians now is so great, it's unbelievable. And for the next government now coming in, no matter what they say, people are going, who cares? So respect for the institutions, respect for authority, respect for the church, respect for everything is just going down the path. There will be a price to pay for all that because eventually people just don't pay any attention to those in authority. Yeah, because no one's prepared to die in their sword, very few people, this is not enough for them to say, right, we've no confidence in Boris Johnson, even in this country. You don't see TDs too worried about keeping the whip rather than to take a stand on the big issues. And I think all of that waters down the public's interest and faith in elected politics. Absolutely. I don't know if you saw it yesterday, Greg, but there's a coach in Texas, one of the basketball coach, where he said 90% of Americans want gun control, but 50 senators in Washington are blocking it, mainly due to the fact that they're all getting heavily subsidized by the American gun lobby. I think politics has now become almost business, that I feel like after your friends and so on. But Greg, that speaks to the citizen, I'm out there now, but I know that no longer can you trust your politicians. You know, remember the old days, excuse me. Yeah, but those politicians you see can now, those politicians now, though, can rally significant 40, 50% of support amongst the general population. Yeah, absolutely. Because there seem to be anti-establishment or defending something in particular. It's really quite remarkable where we're at. Pat, listen, thanks as always for your insight. I really appreciate it greatly. Thank you. All the best, Greg. All right, take care of yourself. I've got a former editor of the Jenna Derry Journal there, back with more after the news and obituary notices. The Ninetal News Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union, offering low-rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. Is your car due as service? For the month of May, get your car serviced at iMotor's Letter Kenny and avail of a free vehicle health check and a free oil change. For more details, check out our website or Facebook. Call us today on 0749134567 to book in. Terms and conditions apply. For all your health and beauty needs, you can always rely on McGee's Chemist in Letter Kenny. If you need a prescription, just call or order online at McGee's.ie and it will be ready for you in advance before you arrive. For beauty and skin care, there's all the big names at great prices in store and online. And for your photo printing needs, simply download the McGee's PhotoPrints app or click on the website link. McGee's Chemist, Main Street Letter Kenny. For all your health and beauty needs and so much more, call 911-21409 or visit McGee's.ie. I can't stop thinking about them. I keep rereading their old texts. Brian, Brian, this has gotta stop. It's been months and they send those alerts to everyone. You know that, right? Look, your bank is leaving. Would you gotta get back out there? Listen to me, any bank would be lucky to have you, especially Bank of Ireland. Really? Yeah, they've even put together a simple step-by-step guide to move on banks and have a dedicated team on hand to help. Even an ending could be a new beginning. To start finding your new banking partner, download our step-by-step guide to move on banks. Search Bank of Ireland Big Move. Begin. Bank of Ireland is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. I have great news for everyone who's looking for a good night's sleep. Rest Ex-Beds are looking forward to welcoming you to their brand new showroom at Mountaintop Letter Kenny. It's one of the biggest and best-bed mattress showrooms in the Northwest and has fantastic open and offers now in store. Rest Ex is the most trusted name in beds and mattresses in the Northwest. Why don't you call in and get the bed of your dreams at Rest Ex-Beds Mountaintop Letter Kenny? Live on air, online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning, I'm Achille Clark with the news at 10 o'clock. The housing minister has confirmed that the micro-redress scheme revised legislation is in the final stages. Minister Dara O'Brien in responding to Dunigal Deputy Pierce Doherty in the doll yesterday said he intends to bring the revised legislation to government shortly. Deputy Doherty urged the minister to release the long-awaited legislation. In response, Minister O'Brien said his aim is to pass the legislation before the doll's summer recess. What I'm interested in is helping people get their homes fixed and their lives fixed and the scheme that we will bring forward will be a substantial improvement on the scheme that was in place from January, February 2020. I expect the legislation to come to government very soon and what I would say is this as well, I will be seeking the cooperation of all parties across the house to make sure that the legislation is passed before the summer recess. A member of the regional health forum hopes a meeting next week will allay concerns over the removal of the on-geogram service from Leicester-Kennedy University Hospital. The sale-to-health care group has agreed to meet members of the regional health forum and the rock-dice members to discuss the critical service. Under Kim Brogan, a number of weeks ago, called for such a meeting to be held to seek clarity on the future of the on-geogram service. He says people deserve to know what is happening. What I've been highlighting all along is why the secrecy around this conversation, why not have the meeting and why not explain it to the general public. Because no matter whatever the situation is, I think it's important that people come out and come clean and that people know exactly what's happening. So a review team has been reviewing the situation, has visited Leicester-Kennedy and has visited facilities in Leicester-Kennedy. Hopefully this is something that we can now get finally resolved on a positive development. Meanwhile, work is ongoing to enhance the delivery and governance of services at the hospital and the sale-to-university health care group. It follows findings and recommendations from a number of external reviews of hospital services, including the Hickwa-Targeted Assurance Review, Tara Duggan-Husmore. Last year, the sale-to-health care group engaged with an NHS team on preliminary work to support the roll-out of further service improvements in Leicester-Kennedy University Hospital and the sale-to group. However, due to NHS service pressures, the process was unable to be continued. Tony Canavan, CEO of the sale-to-university health care group says they're now using the output of the NHS work as part of the project to refine their approach to communications and engagement and how services are governed. The group has now engaged the team from EY to support the work. Mr Canavan has confirmed that the planning phase of the project will run until July, while the implementation of the action plans to drive sustainable change for the hospital and sale-to will be a longer-term project. Sean Murphy, hospital manager, says the project is also about looking at the importance of the hospital as a model three hospital and ultimately to ensure the hospital is best placed to deliver the highest quality care to patients. A 48-year-old man has been arrested in Sturban under the Terrorism Act. Detectives investigated getting a firearms incident last month, arrested the man during his search operation at an address in the town this morning. Video footage that emerged of the incident shows a masked gunman firing shots into the air in a cemetery where a number of people were present. Following enquiries, detectives believed the incident occurred in Sturban last month. The man has been taken to the serious crime suite at Musgrove Police Station where he will be questioned by detectives. Whether or not the rain will clear through this morning with drier weather and sunny spells following highest temperatures today of 13 or 14 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The obituary notice is for this thirsty morning on May the 26th. The death has occurred of Bernard Barney O'Reilly, Barker-Roll House, Old Brick Court, Letterkenny. Bernard's remains will be reposed at Hislid Residence today from 2 until 9 o'clock. Fiona from there, tomorrow, for a recovery and mass at 1 o'clock in St Junans Cathedral, Letterkenny, followed by interment in Ulex Cemetery. Fiona Maas can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. Place private on the morning of the funeral please. Family flowers only. Donations if desired to the Donegal Hospice. Care of any family member or comic-dead funeral director. The death has taken place of Jimmy Sweeney, the Ross Ross-Nakill Fanate. Remains are opposing at the family home. Recreate a mass tomorrow at 12 noon in St Columbus Church Mass Mount with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only. Please. Donations if desired to the day. Center Fanate. Care of any family member or Eamon Scott funeral director. The death has occurred of Paul Brennan, seven Sprakburn Drive Letterkenny. Paul's remains are opposing at Hislid Residence High Road Letterkenny. Fiona from there, tomorrow, morning, for mass at 11 o'clock in St Junans Cathedral, followed by private cremation in Lakeland's Crematorium County Cavern. Fiona Maas can be viewed on churchservices.tv. Place private on the morning of the funeral. Family flowers only. Donations if desired to the rainbow project dairy. Care of any family member. The death has taken place of Frances McGinley, Moille Hill Milford. Remains are opposing at her home. Rose reached night at nine o'clock. Recreate a mass tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in St Peter's Church Milford with burial afterwards in Tully Cemetery. Family time from 11 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow. Fiona Maas can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. Family flowers only. Donations if desired to the Donegal Hospice. Care of any family member. The death has occurred of Porick Bonner, Bill Critch King Cachla. His remains are opposing at Hislid Residence. House private to family and close friends only please. Fiona Maas, tomorrow at 12 o'clock in St Mary's Church King Cachla, was internment afterwards in Bill Critch Cemetery. And the death has occurred of Brydie Barr, Ney Brennan, Avondale Highsburn-Foot, and formerly Dunray. Brydie's remains are opposing at her home. Removal this afternoon at quarter past one to St Mary's Church Fawn for Recreate Mass at two o'clock while they internment in the adjoining cemetery. Recreate Mass can be viewed on churchservices.tv. Family time please until 12 noon. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to help on Chronic Community Hospital Patients Comfort Fund care of any family member or Murphite Funeral Directors. For more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. COVID-19 can still cause serious illness, especially in people at higher risk. We need to keep protecting each other. So stay home if you have symptoms. Wear a mask in healthcare settings, public transport and busy places. Let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors. Keep hands clean and get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster. Let's keep looking out for each other from the HSC for us all. Okay, you're welcome back to the nine-to-noon show here on Highland Radio, right? Suspending children's allowance for 16, 17-year-olds for July and August, most people depend on this payment to clothing and feed their children. Are the government hell-bent on making people's lives a misery? I wonder. More of your comments here. Greg Boris is just Britain's Trump, says another caller. Hi, Greg, just heard that another eight-year-old going on a bag of coal on real, thank you. I'll have to check into that. I didn't think it was, if it's, the cost because of its production or whether it's a carbon tax, I presume it must be the former. A caller says, I'm going to a couple on the road up past Galdana and also have received a letter to say, the road will be closed because of the rally. I need access to the house to do a home call at 1 p.m. What's going to happen there? I call to cook for this couple who live on their own. I don't know the answer to that question, unfortunately. I live in a coastal area in Donegal. The houses are being bought up to be used as holiday homes. The prices are skyrocketing. And as a result, local people are having to move away from home. That's happening more and more. And I'll tell you also what's happening an awful lot is people who are being told to work from home, work remotely, or return to Ireland, being invited to come back, things have changed. They are trying to and they can't find anywhere to live or they can't find anywhere to purchase. The prices are crazy. And I'm not saying these houses should be ring fenced for former locals, but it is part of the problem as well. Good morning, Greg. I applied for my passport online on a Wednesday received my renewed passport the following Monday morning in the post-great service, great show. Thank you for that text. It comes in quite regularly. A lot of people, if it's just a simple online renewal, they come through very quick. In fact, we've had people that put the renewal in on a Monday evening and got in on Wednesday morning. The turnaround time in that regard, very, very quick. But if you are, say for instance, you've got a newborn or registering a passport for the first time with a child, or if it's in any way complicated, it's a different story. The weights are very, very long though. They tell us 40% of application forms are not being filled out correctly. Hi, Greg, re-firearms. I live abroad in a country for many years where violence was rife. At that time, I always carried a pistol, no matter where I went and slept with it under my pillow at night. I had the weapon for the protection of myself and my family. I thought both my son and my daughter, I taught them how to shoot also at a very young age. I underwent some military training with automatic weapons. I'm settled now in Donegal and would not even shoot an animal. I'm relieved not to have the responsibility of carrying a weapon. Killing someone will stay with you for the rest of your life and you will live with it for the rest of your life, even if the killing is justified as self-defense, of course. But I do wonder, and I don't know where you lived, but was there a genuine threat? In other words, what was happening around you if you're listening, get back in touch with us. What was happening around you and was it as bad as would justify sleeping with a gun under your pillow? Obviously, you know, we have break-ins here in Ireland, very rare actually in occupied residence, but it does happen. You know, like where were you? And was it as, because obviously, you know, part of the argument is, is you need a gun to protect yourself. But do you actually, did you actually need a gun? Give us more details. Hi, Greg, my cousin is coming from the United States soon. She got a quote for car hire for three weeks, 6,200 euro. By charging that amount, the hire company could have a new car bought every 15 weeks, and it's just a rip-off. A caller says, the reason hotels are saying nothing about car hire prices is because they're at the same level of increases for their rooms. I, it's clear, and we've heard from hotel representatives locally that in certain parts of the country, they are gouging, they are ripping people off. It's not the case everywhere. Hotels have faced or are facing huge increases in costs. I presume that has to be passed on. So we are going to see hotel prices increase. Energy prices are up astronomically. Food prices are up as well. So, I mean, as I say, some, certainly around Dublin and maybe other areas, are genuinely gouging, they're ripping people off. I think elsewhere, there's gonna be an increase because firstly, there's huge demand, by the way. But secondly, their costs have gone up. So it's inevitable. On the car hire rip-off says this caller, this once again is a global problem. It is not, I hired a car for 140 Euro last week, Gatwick, an inferior sized car, same days, same pick-up, same drop-off times at Dublin Airport, 1,775 Euro, look, we'll go on and, it's not gonna be hard to do it. We'll have a look at some of the prices for car hire in certain parts of Europe. See how we fare. We'll just pick a random date. Well, should we go Friday to Sunday, is that? Or should we go for a week, Friday to Friday? And see what the prices are compared to here. We'll see what it's like in Britain, Scotland. Maybe pick a continental European country in the middle and maybe one in the South, the South Coast. It's always cheap down in Spain and Portugal. I'd be surprised if they are doing what we're doing here as they're so reliant on the tourism industry. Good morning, guys. Car hire at Belfast International Airport. The average Euro is 40 pounds a day. Okay, now, in certain parts of England, it's really quite high, but that seems good value. Sunday World Online has an article about an American quoted 10,000 Euro for three weeks car hire in Ireland in the summer. But listen, we don't have to go to the Sunday World. We spoke to someone yesterday who wanted to hire a car from Dublin Airport, the smallest little car. You can almost like Fred Flintstone pick it up and run with your feet out through the bottom of it. He only wanted it for three days and it was 2,000... Sorry, 1,950 pounds. Okay, that was for three days. Someone who wanted to hire a tiny little car. All right, so that's what's going on. We will feel the knock-on effect of it because we don't have a reliable transport system here as an alternative for people. Okay, good luck if you're paying the bingo today. Here are the numbers. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Thursday, the 26th of May. Jackpot day, you're playing for the Jackpot prize of 7,200 Euro on the pink sheet. The reference number is as four, it's game number 21. 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Before we get down to your visit and what happened and what can come from it, we read this morning that the head of the World Bank, he's warned that the events happening around the world could cause a global recession. Obviously, with the food prices, energy, fertiliser going up. Do you share those concerns? Well, certainly, we're living in a time of great concern. Having started to come out of the pandemic, we've then had this Russian invasion and war in Ukraine. So, these are particularly turbulent at certain times. On the other hand, I think what he was saying is there are risks as opposed to it's going to happen. That's the way I interpret it anyway. And I think in Ireland, we're certainly... I think what he said... Sorry, not to contradict you. He actually said that he doesn't see how we can avoid it. Well, I think in Ireland, the situation is different to what there might be. That's not to underplay the significance of what's going on across Europe in particular. But we are in a better position than many other countries, even though we are going to be affected by and are being affected by the inflation in one thing which you mentioned. But at the moment, I wouldn't... I think there'd be a risk for us to start to conclude that we here are going to go into recession. I mean, a lot is uncertain. What will happen to the war is uncertain. What's going to happen to the pandemic which is still going on in China and is affecting supply chains, that is uncertain. But I would just be cautious about concluding that everything is bad. Do you... I mean, you would obviously now be in agreement that we are going to see interest rates rise for mortgage holders? I think in Europe, that is very likely. Now, when that will happen, what pace it'll happen? I mean, that's to be decided. And ultimately, it'll depend on what individual mortgage lenders decide to do. But certainly at the ECB, we set interest rates for the whole of the euro area at the ECB. I think that the signs are that the last sort of decade of very low rates that we've had are probably now behind us and we're going to see a change and an increase. Earlier in the year, those who gamble on this type of stuff did so with interest rate increases in mind from June and February. I think you said that that was unlikely to happen. Has your view changed? Well, I mean, I think what we have seen since December is a move towards the normal... What I call the normalisation of monetary policy. We've got negative interest rates in the euro area, which is sort of... Although we've had them for some time, it is still very unusual. It's not normal and we've slowly seen a move to normalising. What I said back in February was that interest rate rises in June were unlikely. I still think interest rate rises in June are unlikely. On the other hand, I think interest rate rises in July may be more likely. On the other hand, it will be moving from negative to still negative, but perhaps we're unlikely to go into positive territory in July. The direction we're moving in is pretty clear. Before we get into just one other question, obviously you'd be acutely aware, I presume, you'd be well aware of the defective block scandal that's affecting Donegal as it turns out much of the country. A lot of anger amongst homeowners in a lot of direction, but at least towards banks, because obviously banks have a significant investment in these properties. At the moment, these banks' assets are zero on these houses because they are worthless and we're about to pass a scheme to restore those banks' assets to full value. I'm not sure actually the deficit in their books is actually being shown on their books, to be honest with you. I don't think their books, as they show them, actually reflect the fact that many of their assets are actually worthless. Do you think it is fair that they can ride off into the sunset as the taxpayer bails them out again in restoring their asset through this revised mica scheme? Is that fair? I'm not sure that it would be right to describe the banks being bailed and riding off into the sunset. The reality is that homeowners have suffered losses and the government has decided to, I can't comment on precisely what the government has decided to do, but the losses that the banks have incurred actually have been reflected and that's the way the system ultimately works. The important focus is how to compensate individual homeowners. So their loan books would reflect the value of the properties currently? Yeah. Right, talk to me about this visit to Donegal. What is the benefit to you, do you think besides the obvious, Gabriel, of going out into the country meeting businesses on the ground? Talk to us about what you've been doing and what's come from it? Well, I think it's important that the central bank, because part of our job is to understand the economy and then make decisions based on that. And in my view, one of the ways to understand the economy is to actually go out and talk to people who are operating in the actual real economy. We can't afford to just sit in our office in Dublin and look at all the data and come to conclusions alone. We've got to do that. So one of the reasons I came out here, and I've been, before the pandemic started, I had started traveling around the country, but the main reason I came to Donegal was to talk to business owners, leaders, people operating on the front line to better inform myself of what was happening. So that ultimately, when I and my team start to make decisions on particular issues, we're just doing it from a much better informed position. Can you give us an example of, say for instance, businesses might have said to you, the rising cost of doing business, maybe problems with labour, maybe support for new start-ups whatever, there's going to be home gambit in there. What decisions does the central bank make as an example that would be influenced by that kind of information? Well, every quarter we publish, just as an example, a forecast for the economy. We forecast growth, we forecast employment, we forecast all the obvious things. That then informs us on what's going to impact on the financial system itself. And ultimately as an example, let me give you an example, actually let me give you an example which isn't happening, but it'll help to answer your question. Imagine if we forecast a huge recession coming, lots of unemployment coming, that would lead us to conclude actually the banks are going to be in trouble because people are not going to be able to pay their loans back. And that would trigger us to decide to take certain action to try and prevent the banks from falling over. That could be restricting what they can lend, it could be requiring them to hold more capital, etc. So that's just a little example, it's a big example, but it's an example of understanding what's happening in the economy and understanding what the impact of that might be on the financial system. Yes, go ahead, sorry? I just said everything's interconnected. You obviously also met with Irish fish processors, those involved in the fishing industry, and obviously it's in a new context now, post-Brexit. Was there a specific reason to, or was it just to sort of engage with people working in that sector? No, it was to broaden my knowledge, and clearly coming to Donegal fishing is a very important part of the local economy. So it made a lot of sense, and I enjoyed, I went to Kilbex, and I enjoyed talking to the people there. So it wasn't, you know, there's nothing specific about fishing itself, rather it's more about the role that fishing plays in the economy. Okay, and just a final question, it's just to satisfy my own curiosity. We spoke to Leo Faradkar on this program recently, he was quite optimistic about the outlook for this country, and speaking to you, you know, maybe you're talking about how Ireland's position in the face of the crisis that's going on. So you could say the country maybe still is in a good place, and the forecast for it is to be that. But if you speak to people out and about, right, they're concerned, they're nervous about the future, those with money perhaps are starting to become less likely to spend it, that might be reflected in car sales, you know, in restaurants and bars. How big of an impact on the well-being of the country is public sentiment versus, you know, when we look at, you know, trade figures for certain months which look really good. How big a role does how we feel as a society, and how much we sit on money we have or don't have, how much does that impact where we're at as a nation? It does impact public sentiment and business sentiment. It does impact because it drives the decisions that you make. I mean, if you just talk about a business, if a business feels very pessimistic about its prospects, it'll stop investing, as an example. If households are worried about their own prospects, they'll start saving and not spending. So sentiment plays a very big role. And I mean, if I can just say about my trip yesterday because I did, you know, I, as I said, I spoke to business owners. I spoke to business leaders. I visited a school, actually, in Kelly Beggs. I spoke to, I went to ATU and spoke to the digital Donegal people involved with that initiative. Yeah, Arnacht is an Arnacht Donegal initiative. Yeah, exactly. And I came away, I mean, certainly there are challenges, right? I mean, one of the common challenges to virtually sort of every type of business that I spoke to is labor shortage, right? There aren't enough people to do the jobs that they want to do, which was interesting. And there are obviously some unique challenges which we're all familiar with in terms of transport links, et cetera, at Donegal. But I was also interested to just hear the commitment on the part of business leaders to the region and the opportunities that people saw in the move to, you know, more remote working, et cetera, and using Donegal as a place to attract people and to attract people back as well. To be honest, I've come away feeling my sense that the Irish economy actually is, I mean, we've got bigger challenges than we thought we had back in January, right, that was before the war, et cetera. But we're still in a pretty good place and the opportunities ahead of us are still, you know, they're not without their challenges, but they still exist. OK, on that upbeat note, somewhat, we'll leave it. Thanks for your time this morning, I appreciate it. Thanks, Greg. All right, take care. Have a great day, Gabriel McCluse, their governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. Any comments? 08, 660, 25,000. In a band? Like to act? Love to drop? Want to get juggling? Whether you want to run away with the circus or explore your hidden talents? Come out and play at the June 11th for Cringing and Oak, a national day of creativity for big and little kids. Go to creativearland.gov.ie to find out more. Cringing and Oak. Supported by RTE. Breaking Gardening News. Our correspondent, Petunia, at Alcorn's Garden Centre. I am surrounded by an array of spectacular summer bedding. These beauties are moving fast, with last year's prices held. Wow, I'm amazed by the choice of shrubs, trees, roses and perennials. Ah, Rosemary has just selected a super specimen plant and trendy ceramic pot. Oh, Craig is advising on the many baskets. 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Now Senator Marie Sherlock has tabled new legislation that would effectively outlaw unpaid work experience. All interns would be paid the minimum wage at the very least under a new bill as part of her campaign. She's labelled unpaid internships, ages, classes and discriminatory. Warning that they reinforced privilege and hinder workplace diversity. Senator Sherlock of the Labour Party joins us on the programme now. Thanks for your time this morning, Marie. How are you? Good morning, Greg. Good morning to all your listeners. OK, so what is the problem that you are seeking to fix here? Because work placement for a lot of people may be coming in during transition year. There's work placement there. As part of a college course, there's work placement there. There's obviously other areas that I wouldn't have, you know, intimate knowledge of. So could you talk to us about where maybe the most exploitation is taking place? Yeah, well, I suppose Greg, the first thing to say is that, you know, we in the Labour Party very much believe that all work undertaken must be, you know, recognised, respected, and at the very minimum page, the national minimum wage. And I think there's a big distinction here between the, you know, what you describe there as, let's say, somebody in transition year coming in and shadowing a worker for a period of days and learning how a job is done, as opposed to someone coming in and work experience and actually doing real work. And for us, I suppose, it's very much simply about following the experience of the UK, Germany, France, Australia, and a number of other countries in outlawing, on-page internships in this country. Like, look, we've known for many years now that internships, well, that networks and connections are, you know, are crucial to opening doors for young workers. And the opportunity to take up an internship is very much part and parcel of that. But the key issue is, like, if somebody doesn't have, let's say, their parents to rely on to pay their rent and their other bills or indeed anybody else to support them. And if they can't take up an on-page internship in a particular sector, then, you know, immediately they're at a disadvantage. And we know in some sectors that it's almost a rite of passage in the media. Like, as in we had a woman described to us, she spent, she spent, you know, two years with a national radio station and effectively on an on-page internship and was doing real work booking, the guests, editing and all of that. You know, so we've got the media, we've got the arts, we've got the law. We've got the government, of course. We've got the government. Not behind the door when it comes to, say, for instance, not paying nurses properly for the work that they might do during training. So you don't necessarily have to go into outside of government to find problems. And that's exactly it. And we know what student nurses, particularly during the pandemic, that certainly, you know, a second and third year is what we're having to do. To carers, would carers fall under this? You know, a lot of people are doing the work of the HSC, caring for loved ones, accidental carers, down big amounts of money they don't qualify maybe for certain allowances. Would carers fall under this? Well, I think you raised an extremely important point there. And for many years now, we have been saying that we need to improve the supports to carers or to actually ensure that they exist in some instances for carers. And in other instances that we improved the support to carers. I suppose really that, you know, so absolutely carers need to be paid for the work that they do. But really what we're talking about here is where internships, open market internships are advertised by companies and workers come in. And typically it's young workers come in and they're effectively told, look, you should be grateful for the opportunity to be here. But do you not think it's crazy? Yeah, do you not think it's crazy that you're having to introduce this type of legislation? Because we were just speaking to the governor of the central bank there and one of the biggest problems facing businesses, not least here in Donegal, is trying to hire people. And you know, if people are exploiting, if certain industries or employers are exploiting people, they're going to look elsewhere for opportunities. They're shooting themselves in their own foot and each other's feet as well. So you'd wonder how businesses don't see the bigger picture here. If you treat people fairly and with respect, they're more likely, you know, to be able to avail of their expertise down the line. And that's precisely nice. Was the key, you know, we sometimes hear all employers wouldn't afford to take internships on. But we actually know from the research, and there's quite a bit of research has been undertaken, particularly in continental Europe and the states less so here in Ireland, that actually when employers pay their interns, employers take a much greater effort to make sure that there's a quality experience for the interns, but of course employers are also benefiting themselves. So there's a win-win situation. But you know, ultimately when we look at, you know, the, I suppose also the key issue is the lack of diversity within certain sectors. And when we talk about the lack of diversity, we have to look at the roots into certain sectors. And there's a really interesting piece of work in the UK, which looked at, you know, just 7% of the population there are privately educated, but yet of the leading print journalists, 51% are privately educated and 74% are judges. So when you look at how, you know, privilege is reinforced within certain sectors, and of course the gateway into certain sectors is through unpaid internships. So for us ultimately, it's about ensuring that for a young worker that, you know, that if they can't afford to take up an unpaid internship, and if they can't access a paid internship, and we know actually that those who are in higher income households tend to access paid internships ironically. So if you come from a lower income household, we have to make sure that the odds are not stacked against you from day one, because we know that this is, you know, from the research that there is an impact in your lifetime earnings and career progression from how you start out in life. And we want to make sure that there's a level, like the 75,000 graduates going to be coming out of third level institutions this summer. And we want to make sure that for them, that they're competing on skills and their ability and not on whether their parents can afford to pay their rent or not. And, you know, maybe too, in areas like construction, we know there's been a switch in focus and finally the government seems to recognize the importance of trades and what have, you know, there's a big emphasis and that they're being given, you know, almost equal status on the CEO and what have you. Should the government really not have sort of included this as part of that, you know, that that's industries that would avail of avail of these people, you know, that they would treat them fairly, you know, that we wouldn't have a situation where lots of people would be working for free as part of internships as part of these, you know, a renewed focus in this area. Yeah, so look, you know, I think that the, you know, it's important to communicate here that I see, you know, a work experience and internship as a, you know, as fundamentally a good thing. If I'm training to be a welder, you know, from day one, I will be welding, do you know what I mean? I will be contributing, I mean, not from day one, but, you know, quite soon afterwards, but I could be expected to work there for quite some time and depending on who the employer might be, no offense to any welders out there, you know, for peanuts. Yeah, so look, I think the key thing there is internships are set up in this country and ultimately it's crucially important that, you know, when, you know, a fish or welder or when there is any other type of trade is undertaking the work experience that they are paid. Like, you know, at the end of the day, we have to just make sure that all work, you know, real work is ultimately recognized and we're not seeing that and, you know, we heard while the government, you know, the government didn't oppose their legislation last night. They did raise the question as to, well, you know, we think that existing legislation already covers interns. Well, if that is the case, then the government is presiding over a wide breach of our pay laws in this country because we know that there are, there's a, you know, significant numbers of unpaid interns yourself. Sometimes when I want to find out really what the bottom line is, is no disrespect to yourself or whatever, is to find out what groups representing certain sectors say about it. And if they oppose it, you know, you're barking up the right tree, if you know what I mean. Anyway, listen, as always, thanks for joining us. I appreciate it. Have a great day, Senator. Thank you, Greg. Take care. Bye-bye, Senator Maurice Sherlock of the Labour Party there. What do you think, 086625,000? Greg, sorry to disagree with the very educated gentlemen, but the world economic collapse is not too far away. The US dollar is going to collapse and when that happens, all currencies collapse. Well, he's the governor of the central bank and I'm not in a position here to sit and argue the toss with him. I know his views changed somewhat since February, so it might change again. Right, okay, history with Dr Joe is on its way in the not-too-distance future. I know so many of you enjoy that. You could listen to him for days, what we have him for about 15 or 20 minutes coming up soon. The Ninetal Noon Show with letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering MyCU current account and debit card, bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union. Half of farmers plan to cut back on stock numbers. In this week's Irish Farmers Journal, we published the results of an exclusive survey of over 1200 farmers for more. Here's Paul Mooney. Our survey reveals the biggest challenges facing farmers, their cash flow concerns and their thoughts on new government schemes. And farmers getting 500 euros per head more as beef prices hit 6 euros per kilo. Plus don't miss your free 20 page silage machinery special. Only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal, you cannot afford to miss it. Trick your garden to a makeover at GMG Stone letter Kenny. We offer great value on decorative stone, garden paving, slabs and artificial grass. All tailored to your needs with home delivery available. We also supply railway sleepers, whiskey barrels and place sand. All available for pickup or delivery. Open Monday to Saturday from 9 30 a.m. to 6 p.m. You will find us beside Donahue Motorhomes on the Port Road for an appointment call 087 647 9121 GMG stone just what your garden needs. Thinking about a new car for the July registration, the award winning Hyundai range includes the innovative and fun to drive item the i20 with its best in class safety features and the i30 full of all the latest smart tech is also the award winning Kona and the newly designed Tucson all in stock. Call in and talk to the sales team today at Diverse Hyundai Canal Road Letter Kenny or call 9 1 22 600 Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport thinking of a some holiday with the family. You can now fly to beautiful New York every Friday this summer with Ryanair and enjoy some of Europe's best beaches. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. So the rain will clear to the south through the morning with dry weather and sunny spells following behind the odd chance of isolated shower in the afternoon breezy though, moderate fresh westerly winds temperatures of 13 to 14 degrees. Okay, we're joined on the program now by historian Dr Joe Kelly. Imagine why Joe, how are you today? Good morning. It's great to have you with us. Our focus today is Percy French. So before we start learning a bit about him for those who don't know him, let's learn who he is. Who is Percy French? Well, Percy French was somebody that had a connection with Donny Gall, although he wasn't a Donny Gall man and we learned that maybe throughout the interview today, but Percy was from Roscommon and he came, his father was a landlord, his mother and that's where he got the Percy her name was Percy, me, Percy and she was a daughter of Protestant minister. So he was reared in a very aristocratic way and had been given a good education there in Roscommon, born on the 1st of May, 1854 and actually this year, 100 years ago this year, his surviving sisters at the time wrote a biography about him and so we know a terrible lot about his poetry because of the memories that he had shared with them and we were able to glean insights into what he did and how he was inspired to write poems and songs and many people are familiar with his poetry and maybe with his art as well and when you hear the tunes or hear the words, the songs or the poems maybe you may not know the person but you will know the music or you'll know the rhymes. So he was one of nine children and that's where he was reared in Roscommon and interestingly he went to England to be educated in Wynmere College but he also went to Foil College in Derry and Foil College would have had been very, very important place of academia for gentry children more or less at that time and then after that then he went to Trinity College. Now he's a kind man that was very absent minded in certain ways. He lived in the moment he had a very unique understanding of life and what was very, very interesting was he would have been of the Protestant or Reformed Catholic tradition yet he never got involved in politics. His father was a very good landlord and during the land allegations of the 1880s Percy didn't take any sides. He loved Ireland and he loved its people and that's where he left it and he really drawn into the whimsical ways of Irish people living and the way they spoke and their mannerisms. He had a great in-depth understanding of that but he seemed to be pretty kind of absent minded kind of individual. But he was a clever man clever enough to love Donegal so you mentioned Roscommon, you mentioned Derry what was his connection to Donegal? What part of Donegal would he frequented and you know how big a part did our county play in his life? Well I mean we just know from for example his paintings there's a number of paintings he thought he was a painter by trade in his life but he actually didn't go down that way although he did do a terrible lot of painting hundreds of them and they're in the Huglain gallery, they're in the National Gallery they're private collections. I mean if you have a Percy French you're paying the minimum five, seven, ten thousand for one of these. I mean he painted frequently so throughout of Donegal there's lots and lots of paintings in Donegal particularly he would have gone to Glenvee and the Eregel and the Derryvee mountains I know there's one of Bondore Beach there's a number of ones in Falkara he did of the Pier and they're around Falkish and as he toured around and he spent his time free time down time drawing watercolors and he would arrive to a person's house early in the morning and he'd only look for a glass of water or a cup of water and then he would carry on painting and he gifted these paintings to a terrible lot of people. Now he's obviously most renowned I think we'll mention some of the songs and talk about them and some of the poultry people go oh right now I know who you're talking about with painting I'm just wondering at the time when he was alive in his prime was he a renowned artist or was he more seen as a musician poet is it only after the fact that we start saying right you know this fellow could draw or paint? Yeah probably I think with his music and his art it wasn't seen as being a high caliber it was very rustic and it was very very simple but he had a great perception of landscape and skies and colours. See a lot of people you've got to remember at that time Ireland was a colonial country and people would have described Ireland as an ugly picture in a beautiful frame and that was often the way Ireland was described and the way he tried to portray Ireland was it was a beautiful picture in a beautiful frame he could see beyond that he rose above politics, he rose above religion and he met people where they were at all the landscape, he loved colouring bogs, the colours of bog cotton and the heather and mountains which takes a bit of imagination because you have to look twice to see the beauty there, I don't mean that in any way bad but often people look out and don't see clearly what he would see so in terms of his songwriting the mountains of mourn are you right there Michael are you right these are the types of songs that he performed, at what age was he writing this stuff? Well that's very interesting, he did his college degree after 1872 but it took him seven years to finish his degree I don't think he was too worried about his studies and he qualified as an engineer and while he was in college that's when he only began to write and he often wondered was his true vocation painting or music but he went down the academia route and while he was in college he wrote this famous famous poem Abdul Bulbul Amir it was about the Russian-Turkish war in 1877 and he sold it for a fiver but unfortunately when he sold it he lost all copyright and the profits from it and the poem went worldwide at the time a fabulous story telling about two men fighting Abdul Bulbul Amir was a man of great strength that's one of the Shah's top men and he could rouser up the people and his army and so forth and then he goes to kill the head man for the Zahar Shavansky Skivari tells that whole story so take your last look at the Sunshine and Brook and send your regrets to the Zahar for by this size I imply you are going to die Count Diven, Shavansky Skivari and what ends up in the poem is the two of them die but he did great use of language then when he got a job as an engineer with a cabin board of works he was he said I didn't need any qualifications for this job, the only thing I needed to do was what he used or broken English, lying low and saying nothing, nothing and it was at that time he started to write his poems and started to write his stories but unfortunately sadness had his life he lost his first wife and first child and then he remarried again but as you say the songs, we've known many other songs and the mountains of Moran sweep down to the sea take me back to 120 odd years ago he's got a catalogue of four or five songs that we know fans of his would know more where is he performing if Percy's in town where are people going to go and see him what's the set up, what's the scenario I think that's the beauty of the story of Percy French despite being religiously different maybe to the majority despite being aristocratic and his education and all the rest he actually met the people the ordinary Joseph and the parish halls throughout the country now he did travel with his friend Houston Collison throughout the world like USA, West Indies, France and even in London Scotland but he traveled around the parish halls throughout the whole country length and breadth of country and he had this great gift of entering into the ordinary person's life you've got to remember there was almost a little bit like is this like the Daniel O'Donnell effect in that you have a national international global star but you don't know where you might meet him exactly yeah and he could turn up, he could turn up in the back lounge of some place he just happens to be in the area and could do seven or eight songs is that the type of some of it would have been organised seems very impractical of course I know but I mean sort of of the people element of it is really I'm talking to absolutely, absolutely and you know it's we don't meet very many of those in life those kind of people that can carry that kind of personality the last person I remember of that great Elk would have been I don't know your listeners probably remember he could sing he could entertain he could bring laughter and the great thing about Percy was he used the people's English he used the people's the whimsical nature of the people and he entered into their lives and understood it he had a great feeling for the people of Ireland and he dearly dearly loved the people of Ireland that comes across we talk with the mountains of Mornsby down to the sea you know Mary this London is a wonderful site with people here working by day and by night they don't so potatoes nor barley nor wheat but their gangs of them digging for goals in the street he understood how immigration he understood the hopes of making money abroad you know the use of the name Mary even he was able to understand that whole emotion that's a famous song yeah it's a beautiful song actually and it's it's still it's still relatable which is always the sign of a good piece of music fill the flotters ball come back Paddy Riley to ballet James Duff more songs of his well Paddy he was in Cabin and he met this Paddy Riley individual and Paddy Riley then had to go to Scotland to work and he wrote the poem come back Paddy ready to Paddy by Valley Jim stuff he wanted to come back and then other famous women you know you made your listeners may know what are you right there Michael are you right that's what you think we'll be home before the night but the story was he was going to a concert and he was on the Clare railway from Dublin to Clare to Kill Key to a concert there was an 1896 and the train broke down and he never got to the concert so there was hundreds of people waiting for a man that didn't turn up right so he wrote the poem but it actually ended him up in court and he was charged for being liable that he was liable against the West Clare railway company and when he arrived to the court he was lit for the court and the judge said what was your reason he says oh he says I took the West Clare railway and obviously that's why he was lit again so they just laughed it out of court right now come here I'm not as learned as you so I'm focusing on the songs rather than the poetry but before we run out of time and we might have some time afterwards read us one of his poems Joe will you I will I just mentioned one of the immigrants letter and it was about Chrysler Brydie Gallard did a version of it Daniel O'Donnell and Margot different people have it and it's the immigrants letter and it's a lovely story behind it they were on the boats heading to America he was to Canada and while he was there he heard these two men from Chrysler Talking and one said well Mick they'll be cutting the corn and Chrysler today and he wrote that song they're cutting the corn and Chrysler today and it's a beautiful song and I'm sure it'll be Brydie Gallard from other people if you ever listen to it there but he wrote he was out drawn in sketching in Focara and up by the crying bridge this woman came out to him with a bit of a cake and he was staying in the hotel in Focara and he went home that night in hotel and he writes in his memoirs that he says he was haunted by what she said and the line was that the children had had gone all away and then he wrote that poem called the Irish mother and he writes it in the hotel in Focara which would be now the Ghidor bar and I'll just leave it up to you. We slipped Thrawn water, may owl man at the plough, no grown up sons no daughters that's the way we're farming now, no work and little pleasure was the cry before the went. Now they're getting both full measure so they ought to be content. I'll jump a few of the things. Six pounds or was it seven they sent last quarter day but as lonely lonely living when the children is away got good none better and the devil might be worse. my old man heart rejoices when I read their doing fine act, but oh, to hear their voices and to feel their hands in mine. To see the cattle driven and the young ones making hay, it is a lonely land to live in when the children is away. When the shadows do be fallen on the old man here in May, it is hard to keep from calling, come in children to your day. I can almost hear them coming, may we kick them little con, act but surround the foolish woman so they've all grown up and gone. That our sins may be forgiven and now one goes three. I doubt I'd stay in heaven if the children were far away. I mean, it's beautiful. Like it is actually, and as I say, it still resonates. One of the amazing delivery from you, but just the formation of words, it's far beyond my intellectual scope. Finally, do we have a museum to him? Is he celebrated to the archives? Do we celebrate the Donegal Connections, Joe? Well, Cabin and Fairness from Cabin County Council and Baladium Stuff, they have a museum there to him and there are societies, Percy Franks Society in Down and in Roscommon as well. And they have a festival every year in Castle Coothouse in Roscommon in his memory. So there's plenty of it there. And if you ever go to Glen Bay, sometimes they show his visitor's book and he's inscription there. Remember me is all I ask. And yet, if the remembrance proves a task, forget. Oh, wow. Caller says Percy French used to stay in the house and live for it. He used to give small paintings as a token of payment to the lady of the house. I've seen these paintings, which are signed by him. Amazing. Joe, thanks so much as always. I can't wait to speak to you again. Slan, slan, slan. Have a great day. That is Joe Kelly there. Dr. Joe Kelly, historian. Again, another fascinating item. And Joe will return to us throughout the summer. It is 11 o'clock. It's time for a news update. And we say good morning now to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Craig. Good morning. The housing minister has confirmed that the Michael Redress scheme revised legislation is in the final stages. Minister Dara O'Brien in responding to Dunigold deputy Pierce Doherty in the doll yesterday said he intends to bring the revised legislation to government shortly and hopes it will be passed before the doll's summer recess. A member of the regional health forum hopes the meeting next week will allay concerns over the removal of the Angiogram service from letter Kenny University Hospital. The shelter health care group has agreed to meet members of the regional health forum and the rock dust members to discuss the critical service. The HSE is to review a four-year transport charge for people with disabilities who are attending day services in Dunigold. The transport charge, which is exclusively charged in CHO, Dunigold, Monahin, Kavan, Sligo and Leitrim has been applied to service users at four-year-per-trip or 20-year-per-week amounting to 960 euro a year. Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbit has agreed to review the charge and acknowledged that there isn't inequality in the CHO area versus other areas that do not have a charge. An interactive map that shows which areas across Ireland are at risk of cancer-causing radioactive gas has crashed due to high traffic. The Environmental Protection Agency says 170,000 homes are exposed to high levels of radon of 25,000 in the last two decades. Most areas of Dunigold have less than 5% of radon levels, however, there are a small number of areas more inland where levels are predicted to be over 10%. The Minister for Higher Education admits it's frustrating that students about to sit there leaving third have no idea when they can't expect their results. They could be delayed until September because of a second sitting of the tests in July and the time that will be needed to meet a government pledge that results won't be marked any lower than last year. And a 48-year-old man has been arrested in Sturban under the Terrorism Act. Detectives invest in getting a firearms incident last month. The rest of the man during its search operation had an address in the town this morning. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back with an update again at 12 noon. Makeda, thank you very much indeed. I call this Greg, I've just seen petrol for €2.02 per litre down the road. It was £1.99 per litre. Well, listen, we've had calls in the past whereby there was no competition, so not bad to see it. Listen, on my way to work I can pass €2.02 per litre and then a little bit up the road in the 180s, or maybe to the low 190s now. So that's quite a difference locally, something of a difference locally, but if you sort of have 30, 40 kilometres in between, you can see huge differences. Right, my son was coming home from America, wanted to hire a seven-seater for three weeks. It was costing him €5,000. I asked the local garage, got it for two grand, so people should shop around. Definitely, there's no doubt about it. Right, okay, so we've done a bit of research here thanks to Donna Marie and Caroline. I think Donna Marie might have been doing the heavy lifting on this one. So we went to rentalcars.com and we says, right, we wanna book a car, similar type cars. For Friday the 17th of June to Friday the 24th of June. Now, a Citroen C1 in Ireland, it's a four-seater, it's a small car, €1,079 for that week, okay? So rentalcars.com in Dublin, Citroen C1, €1,079. Similarly sized Peugeot 208 in London, €500, half the price, okay? So this is, I mean, €1,079 for that week, €2,079 for Dublin's not as high as we've heard about, right? But it's still very high, much higher than it would be. In London, you can get a 208 for half of that. Now, what about Frankfurt? Things are quite expensive over there too, aren't they? A fee at €500, it is €301 for the week. And an Opel Corsa in Madrid, now remember I mentioned Madrid in passing before 11, how much do you think for one week in Madrid from Friday the 17th of June to Friday the 24th of June? €144, right, that's the difference here. €1,079 in Dublin for a week, €144 in Madrid for a week, in an Opel Corsa, nice car too. And there's a chip shortage globally. There's a shortage of new cars globally. There's increased insurance costs globally. Yet here in Ireland, we are charging, six or seven times the price that we are. So just to recap, Dublin, €1,079 for that week, London, €500, Frankfurt, €300, and in Madrid, €144. That is some difference, isn't it? And as I say, a lot of those countries facing the exact same internal and external factors that we are, we are officially now, are we not back to rip off Ireland's status? The Ninetal Noon Show with letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering myCU current account and debit MasterCard, bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your Credit Union. Do you need a little extra help staying in your home? At Bluebird Care, we offer a wide variety of Q-Mark-approved personalised home care services across Donegal. And our fully trained and committed staff will always meet your care needs with kindness, compassion and dignity. 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Aladarish Banks PLC is an authorized agent and servicer of AIB Mortgage Bank UC in relation to the origination and servicing of mortgage loans and mortgages. Aladarish Banks PLC and AIB Mortgage Bank UC are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. At Hickey, Clark and Langan Insurance Brokers, they compare quotes from all leading insurers so you get a great price. Home, motor and van, farm, holiday home, travel and liability insurance, they quote them all. So if the worst happens, you're covered. For a competitive insurance quote today called Hickey, Clark and Langan on 9-1-2-6-8 or pop into their office at Bally McCool, Lederkenny. Hickey, Clark and Langan General Insurance is limited. Trading as Hickey, Clark and Langan is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Okay, so the prosecution of a Lederkenny man for possessing two-year worth of cannabis has sparked calls for an overhaul of Ireland's drug laws. The man from Lederkenny was ordered to make a charitable donation of 200 euro when his case was dealt with at Lederkenny District Court this week. Officers unearthed a single two-year-old joint when they stopped and searched him during a patrol of Bernard McGlinchey Tan Park. The matter was adjourned until July 25th to give the defendant time to make the payment. Right, Deputy Geno Kelly of People Before Profit joins us on the program there. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. Deputy, good morning to you. Thanks, good morning, thanks. Right, okay, so prosecution for two-year-old worth of cannabis. I don't know what the background to this is. I don't know the ins and outs of the law, but I thought you wouldn't find yourself before the courts for such a small amount, for personal use. Are we at that point here law-wise in this country? Well, I mean, it's simply ludicrous that somebody is brought before a court, you know, for that amount of cannabis for personal use and prosecuted. I mean, you really do scratch your head in relation to the amount of resource that goes into bringing somebody before a court, police time, court time and all that. That, you know, Denver's resources are best served by bringing somebody before a court and all that. I mean, I don't think anybody could support that. I think the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland would say that literally is ludicrous. And we need to do something different. I mean, the Guards obviously introduced the Nato-Carson scheme at the end of 2020 to prevent, you know, things like this happening. But it's quite arbitrary in relation to different parts of the country when people are in town and possession of cannabis. What happens next? Because as you say, it is within the gifts guard to issue a caution rather than to charge for possession of cannabis when it's clearly for personal use. Yeah, yeah. And so it's in the guise of the guard at that particular time, but it's very arbitrary. Is it possible? And I can't, I don't want to speak about this case. Is it possible though, when you talk about how it can vary from area to area, that maybe Guardi might use all the knowledge that they might have? I don't know, Greg. I mean, obviously they should use their discretion in relation to somebody that has, is in possession of cannabis. It's my opinion that nobody should ever be prosecuted regarding how much cannabis they have on them because we need to kind of go beyond, you know, criminalising people for cannabis use. It's literally a waste of time. I don't think about purpose itself. So you need to kind of have a different system and that system is regulating and legalisation. So you have a better system because at the moment, the cannabis market for one of the better word is largely controlled by the black market. So it's driven on the ground with no regulation and all the revenue that goes, you know, the buying of cannabis basically goes into the black market. But I would argue that you'd have a better system as regulation where the revenue stream from that goes into kind of state coverage. Some of it does. I mean, if you look at, say, cigarettes, for instance, a lot of people who continue to smoke now are smoking cigarettes off the back of a truck. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, even even with regulation, it really doesn't mean... Well, it does, Greg. I mean, look, as a black man, there's even a black man for alcohol. Yeah. As a black man for tobacco rape because, obviously, you know, people get around VAT and duty and so forth, right? And so if there was a cannabis, if cannabis was regulated, it would largely... The black market would receive it largely. I mean, you've seen that in different countries where it has been regulated. So the better system to prevent, you know, harms, harm reduction and so forth. But it also regulates the product itself. Exactly. No, I don't know much about this, to be honest with you. But I mean, I presume there's different strengths I think there's an awful lot of high strength stuff that perhaps, you know, people might be best to avoid. It can be caught or whatever it might be. Regulation, perhaps, would also have a benefit in that regard. Exactly, exactly. Like cannabis is a bit like alcohol. There's a different variety of strengths. You know, sometimes we don't agree with people that consume it by any means. So, obviously, if you have a bad experience, you know, consuming cannabis, you probably won't go back to it and so forth. And largely, most people don't consume cannabis. So that system where it's regulated, where somebody, if they do want to consume cannabis, they know exactly what's in it. Because at the moment, you don't know what's in it. And there's all sorts of heavy metals, contaminations, you know, stuff that should not be in there. But if you had a regulated system, a bit like alcohol, then you would have, you will know exactly what you're consuming in relation to what's actually in the product. Such as, you know, CBE levels and THC levels. That makes, to me, that makes absolute sense. Yeah, the conversation about sort of decriminalization of at least certain drugs, it comes in cycles. You know, there's a case like this one that brings it to the fore again. There's a couple of politicians nationally that are quite vocal on it. And then it dies down and then it returns. Are there any moves or any plans or any interest in, you know, an actual national conversation about this? Whereby, you know, politicians, ex-parties lay their opinions on the ground. We hear from medical professionals. We hear from the population. Rather than just, no pun intended, rehashing the same conversation over and over again. Yeah, well, obviously, in the programme for government, it was stipulated that a citizens' assembly would happen in relation to drug use. Now, this has been kind of talked about. And finally, it will happen early next year. Now, it should happen much sooner than that. So that will, citizens' assembly will kind of debate that and then give its recommendations to the government in relation to looking at decriminalization. And you would hope that the recommendations would be that policy of decriminalization is a better system than what we have now. Yeah, the system doesn't work at the moment because the courts have been tied up with discretionary laws, which I think in and of itself is not the way to do it. It's all too confusing. No, it's confusing. And a better system is decriminalization, which, if you've seen what happened in Portugal, 20 years now, does a better outcome for everybody. I think the problem here, definitely, sorry to cut across here, my apologies. The problem here that a lot of people have, and we've had it with other national debates too, is where do you draw the line, right? Because I think, as you say, most people would think it's ridiculous to tie up the courts over two-year-worth of cannabis. But is it 20-year-old? Is it 100-year-old? When you talk about decriminalization, you know, it probably still would be illegal to deal it. I don't know what the ins and outs of all that is. But we're talking about this one case, but it's part of a bigger conversation and people are asking, well, where, Deputy Kenny, where do you draw the line? Well, I think in relation to cannabis, I would argue that cannabis should be legalized. And regulated. So in a number of months, people for our profit will be introduced in the bill about legalization and regulation for personal use. So that's where I would argue. No, we should be prosecuted for consumption of cannabis, possession of cannabis, or cultivation of cannabis. I think it's a complete waste of time. Absolutely waste of resources. State resources in relation to bringing people to the criminal justice, criminalizing people. Just a waste of time that we need to move on. Criminalized decriminalization is kind of somewhere in the middle. So basically decriminalizes the person rather than legalizing the drug that they may have on them for personal use. That could be any sort of drug. So the drug, whether it's heroin, cocaine, cocaine, or cannabis, it's still scheduled as a legal to have, but the person is not brought to the criminal justice system. That's a very good system, actually. That's a system that in Portugal has been in situ for the last 20 years. It's a very system that kind of, you know, it prevents people from taking criminal justice system and kind of harm reduction. So that's a very system we don't have that. So we're trying to get to that. How does that work in terms of usage? Because, you know, one of the things that stops a lot of people trying it or using drugs from cannabis to cocaine is its legality. And it's accepted as that. What would be the impact of decriminalization in, you know, 18, 19, 17-year-olds? Well, look, it's not, you know, it's decriminalized. Now, I'm going to try it. And we do know, you know, it can be dependent on which drug you take and how much of it. There can be a slippery slope there. So how do we make sure that if this were to happen, that what we don't do is we not only decriminalize, but we also normalize drug use? Well, I would argue that, you know, cannabis is a very prevalent substance, regardless of where you live in Ireland. It's easy, it's obtainable. And, you know, people will use it whether it's legal or not. I mean, it's a good argument. And the argument is that if you legalize something, will people demand it? Well, you know, I think there would be, if something becomes legal, there will be a demand. Initially, there would be a demand for us. That will kind of subside after a certain period of time. And the evidence is you've seen in the United States, Canada, Uruguay, where there's kind of, you know, it's war to know. And I suppose, you know, no system is perfect, right? No system in relation to drugs, because there is a really dark side to drugs as well. But I'm of the opinion. And my kind of life experience when I was growing up is that criminals and people, all that comes over this in relation to the harms of drugs, it's a better system is not driving around the grounds or actually kind of, you know, regulating it. And, you know, and the resources that go into, you know, criminals and people from all backgrounds, just I don't think it works. Okay. No, it doesn't work. And a system of regulation is a better system than criminals and people. Deputy Kenny, thanks for your time this morning. I appreciate it. That's Deputy Geno Kelly, people before profit there. What's your views? I'll read a couple of them actually before we go to the commercial break. That's the problem with this country. Garda should enforce the law. That's there and not use their discretion that only causes other problems. When you see their discretion is part of the law. Unfortunately, they're not two separate things. They don't live in two different spaces. Guardi were given discretion in this matter and it's up to them when or when they don't choose it. It's the same as driving without an NCT, right? But you've booked your appointment. Agard as the discretion say, all right, well, listen, you've shown me proof that you've got your NCT booked. The car locks in middle in shape crack on others if they wanted to take an ocean. They could take the car off, you give you five points. It's the same with that. There is discretion within the law. Does the deputy know many drug addicts on the streets today? They start off on two Euro of cannabis. No drug is harmless. They are all addictive. And then what might happen though then at that point then someone say, well, what about alcohol? And this is where this conversation goes on off and ends up just getting bound up. Possession of cannabis is illegal. The value is inconsequential. Only a judge can decide the outcome of the case. He, she is the option to dismiss or convict. The question here is, is there discretion when a law is broken? It's a difficult situation, but the guardie have discretion. The home distilling of pot sheen is legally in Ireland, yet it's illegal to grow cannabis. How does this make sense? Another, everyone calls for a regulation of drugs. That's grand if regulation is enforced and works. Gambling is supposed to be regulated, but gambling addiction is rife and destroying families. Yet every TV channel and phone app bombards us with tempting offers to lose everything. Another, I understand where deputy Kenny is coming from but where do you draw the line? And I put that question directly to him. And another, anyone who is caught with any form of drug should not be fined, they should go to jail full stop. But unfortunately, if that would happen, or fortunately, my, fortunately or unfortunately, ignore that. If that would happen, you know, our overcrowded jails would be bursting at the seams. The 90 noon show with letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union, 9102127. Attention all staff, clean up on aisle four please. That's a clean up on aisle four. And Jacob who's popped in for a pint of milk has diabetes. We don't always know who's at risk from COVID-19 and other viruses, but we do know how to protect them. Keep hands clean and wear a mask. Let fresh air in. Get vaccinated and stay at home if you are unwell. From the HSC, for us all. Half of farmers plan to cut back on stock numbers. In this week's Irish Farmers Journal, we published the results of an exclusive survey of over 1200 farmers. For more, here's Paul Mooney. Our survey reveals the biggest challenges facing farmers, their cash flow concerns and their thoughts on new government schemes. And farmers getting 500 euros per head more as beef prices hit six euros per kilo. Plus, don't miss your free 20 page silage machinery special. Only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal. You cannot afford to miss it. Your specialty is quality tiles, bathroom suites and wooden floors. Who is the best range of tiles in Donegal? Crawford Tiles. The best wood flooring? Crawford Tiles. The best bathroom suites? Crawford Tiles. Five day bathroom refits? Crawford Tiles. And who's been tampering with my questions? That'd be me. Crawford Tiles, Castle Finn. That'd be them. 0749143942. 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A caller says we looked about renting a small car at Dublin Airport to go to Belfast and leave it there, almost 500 euro for a two hour drive. You'd be best getting the plane if there was such a route. A Renault Clio in Poland for a week is 200 euro insurance included. And we saw the amazing price in Madrid. I got one gallon of petrol there now, it costs 13 euro. Okay, so a lot often you can't get, the minimum fill is less than a gallon now, isn't it? Great here, Dr. Joe talking about Percy French, great segment, indeed, I enjoyed it myself. Reprices, a lorry load of concrete is 240 euro more expensive in Donegal than it is in Dublin City. Something is not right in this country. All right, that does seem a little bit strange. Right, any of you out there who knows young people, you might as well just state the facts, our young people are fantastic, but vaping is rife amongst young people. The schools are doing all they can to stop it and ban it, but listen, you speak to any young people, if you've got a young person in school, when they come home, ask them, how many of their friends vape? It's kind of seen as the sneaky, fun, harmless thing that you can do against the authority figures. That's just the reality, is to say, have the conversation, you'll see it yourself. And that is not to condone it in any way, shape or form, but you know, might as well have an open and frank conversation, lots of young people vape, they're very inexpensive, comparatively speaking. And this text just says, hi Greg, just wondering, what is the legal age to buy a vape? My child is 12, we caught her with a vape. When we asked where she got it, she said she bought it in the shop herself. I went to the shop and they told me the law they were allowed to sell to under 18s, are they allowed to sell to a 12 year old? Well, let's speak to Fiona Boyle, smoking cessation officer with the HSC. What is the situation, Fiona, good morning. What is the situation as it relates to the selling of vapes at the moment then? Yeah, unfortunately, your caller is correct. As it currently stands, electronic cigarettes can be sold to anybody in Ireland. There's currently legislation going through that is actually looking at that to be prepared for the sale of the vape. That is actually looking at that to be bringing it up to 18 year old. But as it stands right now, anybody can go buy it. Even the ones that contain nicotine? Yeah, yeah. So in this country, nicotine product, you can sell legally to under 18s? You can, and there is a flaw. So it's not a tobacco product and it's not a stop smoking product. So my understanding, Greg, and I was speaking clarifications in this nationally, whenever your researcher rang me earlier, and I'm still waiting for that to come back, but my understanding is that they're come under the consumer law. Yes. So therefore, they can be sold to under 18s. Right. How worried are you about that? Because, you know, obviously, if you're consuming nicotine, do they know how many milligrams of nicotine in that? It's a very short hop from getting your nicotine from a vape to going to a cigarette. Absolutely. And I suppose because electronic cigarettes are relatively new products in the market, so they haven't actually been around that long. And as with lots of new products, legislation isn't in place whenever they come in, and that's probably part of the reason with us. But no, we're actually, we're very concerned because there is no more than what your caller is concerned about. There seems to be almost like an attitude whereby they're safe and that's certainly not what the evidence is showing. The evidence is showing, they haven't been around long enough to understand exactly what they are doing. But like that, nicotine is a highly addictive drug, so our concern very much is that we are producing the next generation of nicotine addicts. Yeah, and I know, and I understand you say they're relatively recent, okay? But it's just typical really of Ireland that we're dragging our feet in this regard. I think it's 2016 that in the United States, these were regulated as tobacco products, even though, of course, they don't contain tobacco. That's pushing on seven years. So, you know, and we still actually have, we don't have regulation, and this is something the government has not clearly, or the HSC has not pushed hard enough on. I mean, is that... Actually, I'll take the HSC out because you're an employee of the HSC. Sorry, Fiona, I'll rephrase the question. We, in this country, clearly aren't taking this as serious a problem right across the board as we are seeing in other countries. I know certainly from my experience with working with people who are working within the stop smoking services and the smoking station service, it's certainly something that we've been highlighting and advocating for. Again, I was looking for clarification on this, so I'm not 100% sure. But my understanding is that there was an EU directive brought in a number of years ago and the electronic cigarettes would have come under that jurisdiction. And there was an awful lot of lobbying done at EU level to reduce the content of what that legislation was. So, like that, I mean, the tobacco industry are a very powerful lobbying group. So, obviously, if it's not in their interest, they will try and go against something. Yeah, of course, and the cigarette companies, too, also bought up huge shares in vaping companies. But another thing that needs to be done, right, is flavored vapes, bubblegum flavor, strawberry flavor. You know, the if we're serious about this is that, you know, we got rid of mental cigarettes for obvious reasons, right? So, you know, unless this legislation goes all the way and has a look at it in the round, you know, we're just going to be kicking another can down the road for another few years. Would you be in favor of, you know, let's get this right and look at all elements of it like some like some that I've just mentioned? Like if you actually think about this, the tactics that have been used in relation to advertising, so electronic cigarettes can be advertised for tobacco cans. So all of the good measures that we have taken against tobacco that have actually reduced our levels in Ireland to, you know, one of the lowest levels of tobacco use in Europe, they have they have come in based on the evidence because we know what worked. So if you ban advertising, if you increase the price and taxes and all that kind of stuff, that all worked. So the tobacco industry, the way they're getting around that now is they are able to market their electronic cigarettes. They flare for them exactly what they used to do with tobacco years ago. They market them. There's there's there's no bones to this. They're targeting kids. The people that they want to start using your product is kids. So either they continue to use their product long term or they then venture into tobacco because that's certainly what's happening. And that's what the evidence is showing. So lots of people who may never have wanted to use tobacco start off vaping and they found that they're actually on tobacco before they know. I mean, I think Australia doesn't. I think they're actually banned in Australia. Would you go that far? I know from your perspective that you have a line to walk as it relates to, you know, the consequences of vaping, but also the fact that there are many people who smoked incredibly heavily that the only thing worked for them transition from smoking was albeit to another addiction and that being vaping. Do we need to have a conversation about what role it plays in smoke in the cessation of smoking? Yeah, and that's that's interesting, but there is trials looking at that as a moment in relation to how beneficial it is. So I think that's all that evidence is there. And that's why Ireland has taken the stance whereby we don't promote electronic cigarettes used as part of a stop smoking service. Although if somebody is using electronic cigarettes, we will certainly work with them. We would be advocating the license products that we know are effective and aren't harmful. But absolutely, I mean, I think that's all needs to be looked at within a whole picture perspective. So it's looking at tobacco, but it's also looking at the electronic cigarettes as well. All right. And I think and that's why also the HSE has taken the stance of some other relation to because we don't know the long term harms and because we're trying to denormalize smoking in general. So whether that is to be reviewed because we do have, you know, the likes of the Royal College of Surgeons and all they see the benefit in this they quote statistics that say, you know, that the risks are reduced not completely but dramatically. I mean, does the HSE have to look at its stance, though, when when you look at the bigger picture and the impact that smoking has, one thing we do know for a fact that that is the way it is. And yet we have some really good, well informed medical people that are of the view that vaping is much less harmful, as I say, though, albeit without risk, not without risk. And as well, that's the thing. So as well as we're in the business of health care, so what we're trying to do is minimize any risk to the consumer. So we can only do that based on the products that we know long term, you know, reduce that risk. So certainly your nicotine replacement products, we know if they're used long term, they do not be dramatically reduced to harm compared to smoke. We don't know that that is the case with electronic cigarettes. All right, we don't know yet. OK, thank you very much. Indeed, Fiona Boyle, Smoking Sensation Officer with the HSE. Call us as Greg, I seen on TikTok, a young girl, 15 years old, recommended to get the mango and peach flavored vape stick because it smells very similar to her Victoria Secrets body spray. And that is part of being a young person. And I think when we're all that age, you do little things to sort of try and, you know, yourself. But if it's harming young people, we have to look at it. Another call says my daughter is 18. She gets ID'd for her vape, which is a good thing. OK. Another Greg, vape are a massive problem in secondary schools. My nephew was telling me that his teacher had to leave the classroom briefly to get more whiteboard markers. And several students use the opportunity to get a quick puff. He's in second year. They are 14 years old, Max. And that's what I hear as well. And there are smoke detectors in schools as well that pick up particularly what vape throw out. So I think it is widespread. It's widespread in schools, which means it's widespread amongst our young people. As I say, it's the thing that's sort of a bit, you know, yourself, the way you try and defy authority. All right, let's take a break. We'll be back with more shortly. OK, we'll be back even quicker than I anticipated because the outbreak didn't fire there. I have a family in Australia coming home for a month. They're actually going to buy a car, use it for the month, and then sell it before they leave. It just makes more sense for them financially. Does it really? I mean, obviously, I take where you're coming from. But they might be lucky to get an insurance quote. I wonder if you fully explored that. My friends coming over from the States for two weeks, he was quoted 9,180 euro for a car. And it the largest quote he's seen was sorry. He saw another quote for 12,000. It's going to eradicate tourism in our country. It is going to be a serious impact. Because if you book cheap flights and a lot of people have booked the car in advance, but if you book relatively cheap flights, you saw at your accommodation, you'll say, well, just hire a car when we get there. A lot of people, you know, the desk at the airport. That's where a lot of people hire the cars. You go up to that desk and go, I can have a car for a week and you have a range in mind as to how much that's going to cost. You go up to that car, that booth in the airport now. And they say, well, two weeks, no problem, 12 grand. What? So people will not come here. It's going to happen. Right, OK. Matt McGranahan joins us on the program now. Good morning to you, Matt. Thanks for taking the call. Matt, can you hear me OK? OK, Matt, you're joining us. Can you hear me OK now, Matt? Yep. I can. All right, OK. You're welcome to the show. Right, now you are in dispute with the Department of Social Protection after claims that you were not self-employed. So tell us the background to this and where you were at with the department. So this basically Greg is referring to what's known as bogus self-employment. So in the case of where someone's uncertain about the insurability of their employment status, whether they're self-employed or an employee, they can go to the Department of Social Protection. And within there, there's a section called Scope, which will carry out an investigation into the insurability of someone's employment. Now, this is particularly relevant for people who are uncertain about this, as it, you know, this opens up an entirely new work to employment rights and all different types of things. PRSI contributions, everything they got. So this investigation was carried out a couple of years ago, in 2020. And the decision was that I was really a de facto employee for X amount of years. Now, obviously I was expecting this then to be appealed and the appeal has been ongoing since. But the issue that I have and others who have looked into this and investigated this pretty closely is that the social welfare appeals office isn't perhaps the most transparent way of an appeal being decided. And that really it should be processed through the court system. Because of the years, the disputed years, I may kind of add from the Department of Social Protection over the years of what's called test cases, which go back to, you know, the mid-90s. And where in certain circumstances, in certain cases, certain aspects of employment status have been used to classify sectors and groups of workers as to their employment status. And this is particularly prevalent, I suppose, among couriers. And a deal that essentially was done by social protection revenue and maybe the unions and that back in the mid-90s. Right, so you, is the argument this, pardon my ignorance, that you claim that you were employed, you were playing with one band for this period of time we're talking about. And if you're no longer playing with them, then you are unemployed. But the department is saying that you were a self-employed contractor. Is that? No, the scope investigation initially ruled in my favor. Right, okay. Which determined what was your employment status? That I should have been an employee. Okay, understood. And now the next process that follows that, and then I shall course, is to go straight to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. And so those who are disputing that, that's the only place they can go to appeal that. And then after that, Greg, the next layer goes straight to the High Court. So immediately we're cutting out all court systems and going straight to the High Court. So where this, you know, this doesn't really favor the worker to the extent that there are very few workers out there who are going to have that kind of reserve ready to take on a High Court case. Of course. And that's been the issue for, you know, the past 20 years. Okay, but this one, I don't know if you want to answer this or not, but just to make me understand, like would you have been going through the books of the band and not claiming social welfare whilst working with them? I was registered as a self-employed and making all relevant returns. And I wasn't claiming any social welfare while I was working. So then when that arrangement with the band ceased, then you become unemployed? Yes, you know, the thing that happened was that the pandemic happened in the middle. Yeah, of course, yeah. And so everything was just pot and hold, yeah. Okay. So, you know, there was just no work happening anywhere, so. So what are your options, Matt, then? Because you talked about test cases, and this is might be why they're frustrating it, is this could be a test case of the future? What next? Well, the problem with the test cases is this, I mean, there are only two institutions really in this country that can determine law. One is the Aractus, and the other is through the court system. And you can have judicial reviews and case law. The problem with the test cases that the social welfare appeals office know about is that no one else knows about them. So I don't know them. I don't know what they are. And that's the problem. I requested them a couple of weeks ago, the response I got from the chief appeals officer didn't deny them, and also didn't furnish me with them. So the problem was I cannot go in to an appeals office to try and defend my case without being armed with all the information that the appeals office has, or we don't know who else might have that information. Feels skewed. It's very, very skewed. What is the consequences for you though, Matt, in terms of like, is this about you fighting for your entitlements or is the department claiming that you were, you know, that they think you should be held to account for something? I'm sorry. The question's only just so I understand it, Matt. It's not in any way to pry or pick holes. I'm just trying to, what are the consequences for you, whichever way this goes, Matt? Well, I don't think really that it's the department fighting against me here. That's just to be clear on that. The department are kind of, essentially we've got a dispute here between, you know, two civil parties. And instead of that being brought into the court system, where it should be, it's been, it's going to be determined by a non-judicial system. And you believe there should be an independent, fully independent arbiter there? Well, you know, the Social Welfare Appeals Office is claimed to be independent. But, you know, there are too many kind of anomalies. There are too many questions over it. And there's not enough proof to come out and absolutely say that, to refute any of the claims that are being met. And the problem is the statistics aren't there. Over many years now, going back to several committees that have been held in the past, over the course of the last two governments in particular, and you know, prior to COVID 2017, 18 and 19, the whole issue of bogus self employment was very much investigated by several of the committees and by lots of the parties as well. And legislation put forward to actually try and improve the lot of all workers in this scenario. You know, all these claims have been met about test cases and there's no proof to say that they don't exist. And all the proof seems to be pointing in the one direction. The test cases have been used. They should not be used. You know, no one should be creating, you know, basically legislative reasons for deciding and determining workers' rights without it going through the proper channels. And that's what's happening. But if you do not contest this though, would you not be effectively admitting that you were a bogus self-employed? No. Okay. I mean, the scope department has already found that I am de facto employed. Okay. My admission to anything has no real bearing on this. I can't decide that I'm self-employed or employed. And I think that's part of the problem here, that self-employed or an employee, it's not down to me to decide that. It should be down to law to decide that. How many people do you think this affects Matt? And in what particular industries, I think you mentioned couriers there, but do you think this is a problem affecting more people than we might realise? Yeah, but it's been very well documented over the past few years that it's absolutely a rife in the construction industry and has been for decades. It's an education, it's an IT. It's across many different industries, legal professions. I mean, I actually was only speaking to a judge in Northern Ireland only a few months ago, and judges had to take a case there as well over this, over bogus self-employment to the British government. So I mean, it's rife right across a number of different sectors and industries. It's estimated that it costs revenue, costs the state, actually up to one billion euro a year, anywhere between 300 million and a billion. Okay. And that's conservative estimates. I mean, the other issue here is revenue and the department haven't really been, revenue haven't been calculating figures of how much this actually is of a loss to the state. So, yeah, it's widespread and I think that it's just taken away people's rights that they should have. All right, Matt, thanks for helping me understanding as we went there. I had no pre-knowledge of this. So sorry if my questions were a bit clumsy or obvious, but I was sort of learning as we went. So I really, and I presume many people listening in the same boat. I appreciate your time, Matt. I hope things work out for you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Matt McGrannan there. 0866025000, your WhatsApps and texts to that number. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Is your bank leaving town? Letter Kenny Credit Union is now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard, bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account. Hi guys, David James here and we're asking you to push back the kitchen table, dust off your dance and shoes and join us for our Jive for June campaign all in aid of the Donegal Hospice. Tune in to the Jive Time Show from 2.30pm for your daily Jive. Video your Jive and send it to the Donegal Hospice at gmail.com and they will post it on their socials and we will also be posting your Jives on our social media channels too. To register and donate, log on to donegalhospice.ie or contact Isabel on 911-25656 or 087-238-9607 for a sponsorship form. At Lidl, we do things every day to make life better for us all. Things like being the first retailer to work with farmers on a sustainable beef program to improve environmental impact, donating over 600,000 meals in the last year through our partnership with FoodCloud and helping bees by doubling our number of pollinator-friendly stores in 2022. Decision by decision, day by day, we're taking Lidl steps to a better tomorrow. Join us on our journey today at Lidlsteps.ie. Lidl, more for you. The Kia Sportage, Donegal's best-selling car for 2022. 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OK, weather locally, rain clearing through the region as we head into the afternoon with drier weather and sunny spells following behind. You may see the odd isolated shower, temperatures in breezy conditions, 13 or 14 degrees. Right, we say good morning now to Jude. Hey, Jude. Hi, yeah. It's good to have you with us. Right, OK, now you've been out and about on our beautiful coastline. What have you spotted? Lots of dead crabs. Like, when we say lots, are we on about, like, describe the scene? Just, it just seems to be getting, the situation just seems to be getting kind of worse there over time as we've been walking the dogs there in the morning and the size of the crab seems to be getting bigger as well. So, there's something going on. So, when we've all, when we walk the beach, we'll see particularly, I think the little, the smaller crowds will see them lying around the place. You're saying we're seeing larger crabs, something's happening, they're dying to see and being washed up on shore? Indeed, yes. You see them on the shoreline, especially early in the morning, you'd see all the fresh crab being brought up onto the beach. And do you want many beaches or is just this just the one you want regularly, Jude? Well, there's a couple of them, Kodaf, Five Fingers Strands, places like that, and Bali Liffen. Right. So, if you went for a casual, say, one kilometre walk across the beach, how many dead crabs are you likely to notice? Literally every footstep you'd be walking across. Oh, OK. And this is unusual, this is new. Well, I've seen it getting worse in the last couple of weeks, but I have noticed it, but as you say, you would see small ones, but it seems to be getting a lot bigger, more bigger ones coming in as well. Have you concluded anything as to what might be causing it? Just a little bit of research on it would say that the northeast of England is getting a quite bad there as well, with lobster as well. OK. And is this then contaminants or...? They're suggesting it could be maybe algae bloom or something like that. Yeah, yeah, that read out, yeah. But normally it has to be warm and calm for that, doesn't it? I wouldn't be 100% on that now, but I'm just going by what I see and maybe it's something that should be checked out. Brilliant. Well, listen, we've got loads of people listening to us, Jude, that work in that industry that put the pots out or have a more intimate knowledge of what might be causing this and hopefully they'll get in contact with us. But like this is particular to now. It's not something you've seen in years gone by, Jude. Well, no, I'm only new enough to the area. Right, OK. Yeah, in the last six months and I just noticed it's steadily getting worse. All right, let's throw it out there, Jude. Listen, thank you for that. I appreciate your time. OK, so have you an insight into this? What could be causing what seems to be an increase in crabs being washed up on the beaches, particularly in the northeast of the county? Larger crabs, you know, bigger ones. He's seeing fresh crabs washed up on a daily basis. And over the course of the last while it's been walking the beach, he's seen an increase in this. What's causing it? Have you put out pots? Are you seeing dead crustaceans? Is that what they're called in your pots? Is there something going on? Let us know. Someone out there knows what's going on or has a good working theory on it. 086, 6025,000, 086, 6025,000. Now, a caller was onto us, quite upset as you can imagine, they say, on our day off on Saturday, we decided to take our dogs on a day trip around Donegal. After a two hour drive, we landed at Murder Hole Beach Car Park in Downings. It's new, of course, which looked great. It's a great hike, only to see a sign, no dogs even on a lead. So disappointed, they say. So we decided to go to Fanard Lighthouse and yet again, no dogs. So we had to head home with our poor dog stuck in the car. I would love to hear your listeners' opinions on this. So are dogs allowed anywhere? And how come it's not highlighted enough? If not, thank you. Right, so what's going on there? Dogs, not allowed on these walks. On Blue Flag beaches, there are going to be heavy restrictions on dogs. That caller wants to know, a dogs welcome anywhere. All right, we're gonna take a very quick break and back with our final guest in just less than two minutes. 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. Buying or moving home can be a strange mixture of excitement and stress. So the last thing you need is worrying about conveyancing. Time to call McElhenney and associates. 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Shawaddi Wadi, live at Clenery Hotel, Letter Kenny, Thursday, 9th of June. With the summer here, it's time to think about freshening up the paintwork on the outside of our homes. But the important thing isn't just the colors we choose, it's the paint. Fleetwood Weatherclad Masonry Paint uses the highest quality ingredients for a richer color and a long-lasting finish that helps protect the walls of your home. And it's Irish-made, designed to work with the ever-changing Irish light. Would one range of paints transform your home? Fleetwood Wood, naturally. OK, we're joined on the programme now by Councillor Raymond Barr. Thanks for joining us, Raymond. How are you? I'm OK. Now, the family you and your family have made an appeal, as it relates to your sister and her disappearance. Can you give us the background to what happened to Denise as much as you know, Raymond? Well, Denise, we had told her that she would advance from Letter Kenny on Friday on 19th of November, 1976 grade. She travelled with her two friends to get her money bus to Kevin's for a dance. The money bus got them back in the foot that night early in the next morning. They walked to Sturban. They got the table on the main street in Sturban, where they met a guy a few days in a week. So the two guys were going to leave Denise home. And the guy who we needed offered to leave her home to see her home safely. So they decided to do that. And that was the last time I had a body seen initially. And obviously the recent BBC series Murder in the Badlands, whilst it didn't feature the disappearance of your sister, it felt familiar? No, I don't know that. Some of the cases on there too, in particular that I was quite familiar with. A striking resemblance to it, because it reaches on death and the investigation, or rather the lack of investigation of the fall of the film. So I've probably just gone to the site of the copper and investigation again, a new investigation. Now you made that call 10 years ago. And the PSNITE that time didn't feel there were grounds to reopen the investigation. Are you asking them to revisit that decision or has any new information come to light since that might help in making that decision? Well, about 10 years ago, Greg, last Sunday, we visited the case again. We had that new information which Michelle from also my sister felt was sufficient to have the case reopened or at least to have the family and social security case questioned again. But for reasons best known themselves, the PSNI refused. And what is the official findings as to the cause of death of your sister? The official findings was an open verdict because the death was written but the reason was found in just a water. Clearly then, between that and other information, your family believed there was foul play. It must just compound the loss and put the frustration through the roof that you feel that what happened to your sister's not being properly investigated? Absolutely. You know, the at that time there was what just came forward and all you see at that time actively discouraged what was us from night and I knew we killed the least. I had absolutely no right in my mind. I knew we killed the least. And you're right, it certainly compounds the whole situation. Do you believe this is bad police work or a cover-up? I believe it's both bad police work and a cover-up. We've seen it in at least two of the cases in the murder from the bad van series. We see it now in the ordinary case in Belfast. There's this perception that I might want to pick it up doing things for a very good you know, but that comes for the news on ethical tomorrow. And you can't, your sister can't be sacrificed to that end either. I mean no individual should be expected to accept that. Raymond, I hope you get the answers and the investigation that your family wants and needs, I imagine. But for now, thank you for joining us. Thank you. All right, Chancellor Raymond Barr there. Right, we threw up onto our social medias a poll for you. We asked a simple question. Do you think cannabis should be legalized in Ireland on Twitter? 69.2% of you said yes and 30.8% said no. On Instagram, 62% yes, 38% no. Interesting to see both findings really quite similar in that regard. Okay, that's where we