 to Donna Marie and Caroline for their help on the program. I'll talk to you Saturday morning at 10 o'clock for the Saturday Rewind. Lee's back tomorrow morning with an audio alarm clock from 6.30. Up next, Greg Hughes is here with the 9 till noon show morning, Greg. Rory, enjoy the rest of your week. Thanks very much for that. It is 9 o'clock. It's time for our first news update of the morning and we say good morning now to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Up to 30,000 hospital procedures will be cancelled due to a strike over the next two days. 2,100 medical scientists are picketing over pay and career development issues. They're refusing to carry out routine lab services from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to day and tomorrow. Procedures will be impacted at Letter Kenney University Hospital with long delays expected in the emergency department as a result. Tony Canavan, the chief executive of the Seal to Health Care Group says the strike will badly affect patients. This is going to have a very significant impact across all of the hospital services in the country and in the sales group it will impact on patients who have already been cancelled for elective surgical procedures, patients who have been cancelled for endoscopic procedures and also patients that have been cancelled for their outpatient appointments during the day today. So the impact on patients is going to be very significant. A public consultation event held in Bancrona last night has been healed a success. Hundreds of people were in attendance to view plans for a new leisure centre for the town and the major 20 million-year repiring Bancrona initiative that will see the town's shorefront developed. Plans are also in place to purchase the old guarda station to pave the way for office space. The ear log of Donegal County Council, Council Director Jack Murray says the potential for Bancrona is vast. I'm advised by the Council's economic development unit that some 50 percent of queries that are now coming into Donegal County Council with regards to the foreign direct investment or job creation or people looking to invest in commercial facilities are for the town of Bancrona. So that just shows the potential that the town has. Part of the public meeting last night was too but the local area plan and we began looking to identify more areas for economic development because I think there's huge potential for job creation. Three million euro is to be made available to encourage farmers to grow potatoes again. Agriculture Minister Charlie McConnug will seek cabinet approval for this spot fund this morning. It's to be spread over the next two years and can be used for specialized equipment and storage. Minister Charlie McConnug says the grant money can be used by farmers in several ways. The three million euro investment will be invested in new equipment also in storage facilities and also in marketing and I certainly hope to see additional jobs and indeed what was a really strong traditional industry revived through this investment. Weather night today will bring sunny spells and scattered shards a few of them heavy. This evening Clyde will increase with rain and drizzle moving in and highest temperatures of 13 or 14 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock until then good morning. Can I get two specials please one sourdough and Caesar salad and by the way I'm 12 weeks pregnant. 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. 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 and now it's time for the talk of the Northwest the 90 noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Good morning to you it's Tuesday the 24th of May three minutes past nine you welcome along to another edition of the 90 noon show and what is across the Northwest seemingly anyway from what I've seen a dampish enough morning but all roads are leading to nice weather Friday Saturday and Sunday at least that's something if you like good weather that's something for us to look forward to and you've got plenty to look forward to over the next three hours the lines have just open for you right now you can call us an 07 for 9 1 25 000 to have an a view on what we're talking about today across all the big stories as you'd expect and to raise your own issues pass on your own stories. WhatsApp's and texts 08 660 25 000 right let's look at the papers this morning the Donegal Democrat we owe it to mothers and their own born babies to make sure that abortion is never normalized in our society because it involves the ending of an innocent defense of human human life that was just one of the many messages delivered to the hundreds that attended the pro-life campaigns March for Life in Bandung on Sunday afternoon Donegal ain't two candidates and pro-life activist Mary T. Sweeney from Retter Kenny and chair of the pro-life campaign in the county Margaret McGeehan from Glen Swilly address the attendees or those attended as did Cavern ain't two councillor Sarah O'Reilly and a list of others as well and there's pictures on the front of and inside the papers today. The Derry Journal an innocent councillor has said a water tanker has to happen for Inishon before it's too late and someone dies for over two years. Finafall councillor Martin McDermott has called for the firefighting apparatus to be made available permanently for the peninsula. He raised the matter once again that last week's Inishon municipal district meeting at which he was told his comments would once again be passed on to the relevant officials speaking to the Journal. Yesterday councillor McDermott highlighted how much time has passed since he first asked for a water tanker for the peninsula. It's understood councillors have been told there is a greater need elsewhere in Donegal for the apparatus okay. On to the Irish Independent today and by the way we've been talking about passports apparently it's not the passport office's fault it's not the government's fault it's not TD's fault it's our fault. The reason for the delay in passports is nothing to do with a backlog there's no backlog it's because we can't fill out forms that's the claim anyway. The Department of Foreign Affairs insists there's no backlog in processing passports and has blamed forms being incorrectly filled out as 195,000 people wait for their delayed travel documents ahead of summer holiday season. Four in ten passport applications are incomplete and this is the major course of long today the Department of Foreign Affairs has said reacting to criticism of huge passport backlog it denies such a backlog exists because only checked and completed applications enter processing while the passport service is experiencing a very high volume of applications this does not represent a backlog as spokesperson said applications are all being processed in the usual way with a continuous stream of new applications and a continuous dispatch of completed passports happening every day applications that are correctly completed are being processed by passport services within the average turnaround times the department spokesperson said adding that since March the turnaround time for first time applications had reduced from 40 to 30 days with staff numbers increasing from 600 to 900. TD's of course are being inundated with calls from constituents facing long waits as the summer approaches but it doesn't seem to tally with what we're hearing here because lots of people make the inquiry sorry make apply for the passport it's delayed for months on end there's no indication that things haven't been filled out correctly the passport is processing on the website and then they get a TD or someone to make some representations and the passport all of a sudden is available that doesn't mean forms aren't being filled out correctly does it and if so like what i would like to ask the passport office if that is the case you know how quickly are they identifying forms not being filled out correctly and passing that information on to the paying customer we are paying for this document that we're obliged to have to travel so i think there's certainly some responsibility there at the very least in terms of communication but i'd be pretty skeptical about there being no backlog i don't know what you guys think oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand we're going to be talking about this a little later um a limerick based guard is facing disciplinary action including possible dismissal this is what he did he activated his blue light when a stolen car drove past the guard a representative association has outlined the incident was cited by the association's leadership at its annual conference as an example of the bureaucracy to which it says guard is subjected to it also highlighted the lack of fully qualified fully qualified guarded drivers to respond to emergencies it said so i mean i presume most people are aware because we've discussed this on this program years ago but unless a guard has received a certain level of driver training someone can fly past them someone can rob a bank someone can be evade a checkpoint and if they aren't if they haven't done this training in the driving of the vehicle advanced training they cannot follow them they can't speed after them in other words they have to stay within the um they have to stay within the speed limit and they can't activate the blues the blue lights so that's the situation now you might say well that's pretty fair train them all up well that's the problem you see there's no training available an awful lot of the time well there's an awful lag in the training well the guard uh uh was at a junction when he saw a car he knew to be stolen driving in the other direction he activated his lights to alert the public to the danger and turned his car around to see where the stolen car was going said g r a president frank thawnton the guard did not give chase and he was only qualified to competency based driving cbd level one he's facing a board of inquiry for his actions only guard e qualified as cbd level two drivers can use the emergency lights and sirens the board has the power to recommend various penalties including dismissal for activating the blue lights the irish daily mail tells us that arland could be set to introduce tobacco-style health warnings on car adverts under new proposals being unveiled in the doll today an expert previously told the norctis housing committee hearing that car adverts are often unrealistic and very sexy with no other cars on the road politicians were also informed that motor vehicle adverts ignore climate change and pedestrian inquiries uh injury sorry and uh that mandatory warning on adverts have been used for other public health campaigns now a new housing committee reported cited those experts who note that france has introduced a similar warning on car adverts advising the public that they should walk when possible to avoid the worst effects of global warming okay so can you imagine if our adverts are car adverts now at the end says uh you know the government recommends you should walk instead um i don't know uh and adverts have to feature pedestrians and i don't i mean back in the day cars used to be driving around you know rally tracks and all that kind of stuff and screeching tires and they did put an end to that but this sounds to me like it's just going too far next thing you know is it adverts for razors you have to have people coming in out of the bathroom when you're using it or windows left open or towels on the floor just to present a realistic scenario of what it's like to have a shave i don't know i think we could find ourselves if we're not already going a little bit ott on some of this stuff uh the irish daily star a senator faces sleeping in his car in dublin for the next two uh two to three weeks because he can't get a hotel room the don't ross common base eugene murphy said that he has only been able to get a room to stay in dublin on one night in the past three weeks and he can't secure anywhere to stay for the next two or three weeks because of the chronic room shortage exorbitant prices in the capital now he has a car i don't understand why he doesn't go to one of the county's um one of the counties around dublin and commute in and out of work i think a lot of people listening to this program uh would travel within donnie gall 45 50 minutes an hour maybe even more an hour and a half um would he not be better rather than sleeping in his car in dublin maybe trying to find accommodation on the outskirts and driving in and out well the senator has a 288 kilometer round trip to his ross common uh home so he fears he may have to sleep in his car if there's a late night shanard sitting mr murphy said he has slept in his car in a petrol station car park twice in the past two months instead of driving to ross common late at night he added i was going back on my records there and in the last three weeks i managed to get one night in dublin that was last uh tuesday night i drove home most of the other nights now he wouldn't want to be driving home after a late shanard setting but as i say sitting sorry as i say i mean why can't he get a hotel just outside dublin or a bed and breakfast for that matter and um much shorter drive he could be back in bed in you know half an hour 40 minutes but anyway he wants to sleep or he feels he has no choice but to sleep in his car the irish daily mail fears about the spread of monkey pox in arland have led to health professionals advising people with suspected symptoms to self-isolate for three weeks now all this has to be put in context the who not overly worried about this becoming a big thing there have been a number of cases across europe and elsewhere a couple of hospitalizations but these do happen from time to time but the head of the hsc's new monkey pox task force said the heightened alert situation has led to the new direction for those who might have the virus no monkey pox cases have been confirmed in arland but hsc specialist dr dorval igo revealed people are being observed over a period of 21 days will be just giving you the the facts about that a little later on in the program because there is a great deal of interest as you can imagine and last but certainly not least for the hundreds of you potentially across the region who received a phone call from the hospital yesterday or today to say that your elective surgery and some of it really quite serious surgery of course has been canceled we heard from dr chtoni canovan last week speaking to us ahead of a one-day strike by lab staff of the impact operations being canceled and no promise of when they'll be rescheduled because such is the backlog that was a one-day strike it's a two-day strike this week we'll be speaking to union reps a little later on a three-day strike next week but this affects obviously it affects those of you going in for elective operation surgeries you'll have been notified by now that that's been canceled unfortunately your gp testing your blood tests they're going to be delayed or deferred today and tomorrow the hsc says it means it slows down on discharges they also claim that patients in hospital who would be regularly blood tested they may find their health deteriorating and that not being picked up because of a lack of blood tests there are some derogations but the general consensus is that this is having a big impact on hospital services but the medical lab staff and i'm sure we'll hear from from them later are saying that you know they've been mistreated in the workplace in terms of fairness and pay for a long long time and it's come down to this but the hsc don't want to talk or they do want to talk they can't talk because this is all tied into a national pay deal as well and it's very hard to negotiate with one cohort of workers within that frame that's what the the stumbling block seems to be but where there is a will i'm sure there is a way medical scientists will strike for two more days this week in a move that will cause disruptions to the health service the workers who process lab tests in hospitals are taking industrial action to try and get better paying conditions the first walk out last week which led to some hospital procedures being canceled and other treatment delays the scientists will go on strike today and tomorrow from 8 a.m to 8 p.m with picket lines outside hospitals and if you drive pass letter kind of university hospital i'm sure you'll see them out there this morning all right 08 660 25000 that's the whatsapp line that's the text line what do you think about nuclear power as an option to meet the power needs of ireland as you would know currently the moment we're paying through the teeth through electricity we are looking at ways to generate power renewably but i don't know it seems up and down with the way our wind goes and the talk about solar and wind energy and not not much seems to be coming from that so maybe nuclear is the way to go all right we're going to be talking to two guests having that debate we want you involved in it though 08 660 25000 that's coming up for you after we take a commercial break stay right where you are the newspapers are courtesy of kelly centra mountain top letter kenny 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 we love summer at dun stores with these great offers from our fishmonger save five euro per kilogram on our freshly filleted hake and our wild atlantic prawns and pick up our fresh side of salmon 700 gram now just 1499 so you can taste the very best of summer for less plus with our 10 off 50 grocery voucher you save even more which means every trip to dun stores means better value dun stores always better value terms and conditions apply voucher can boost an exprosy shop with 50 euro or more harry jack's diner straban american style diner ice cream parlor and takeaway opening soon at market square straban or the real diner experience it will have to be harry jacks 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 foyer and company are offering amazing discounts on a great selection of display sofas with up to 50 off a range of two-seater three-seater and corner sofas in a choice of colors and styles if you're getting a new suite of furniture don't miss the big display sofa clear and sale on now while stocks last at foyer and company in letter kenny and ballet buffet and online at foys.ie okay we are joined on the program now by john gibbons environmental journalist john good to have you back on the program good morning to you good morning thanks for having me and also joining us is michael white chairman of the green party good morning to you michael hi good morning great great to have you back on the program okay john you think it is time for onan to look at embracing nuclear power to replace fossil fuels why that option rather than pushing ahead with you know continued continued expansion of wind generation power through wind you know wave technology solar panels why do you think we should be having a serious conversation about nuclear power sure well the first thing i'd say is i'm a huge fan and supporter of renewable energy and we've made great strides in ireland over the last decade or more in building out renewable power grid i'm looking forward to seeing us going offshore in the next decade i'm really getting serious about it however probably the most that any grid to remain stable can handle at a given time of renewable energy which of course is a variable energy source is about 80 percent at the moment our grid is managing about 40 percent now air grid who who manage these things they reckon we can put 80 percent on on the grid in ireland which by the way would be a fantastic result however that still leaves us with roughly a fifth of our energy needing our electrical energy needing to be provided by fossil sources so this would be typically gas or could be worse it could be coal could be oil but the problem is that's what's called baseline so you have to have a baseline basically to keep the whole to underpin the grid now my suggestion or thought is that what we we're in a climate emergency i think we can all agree that now in a climate emergency the objective everybody's objective is to get to zero carbon as quickly as possible now if we continue to allow gas for example on the grid for decades to come we're not going to get to zero carbon so i'm open-minded that's the best way i can ask a question just in relation to that john because as soon as people we mentioned wind generation people will text in and we really welcome them texting they'll say wind generation is you know we're being sold a pop here that by the time you construct them maybe put them in bogs the concrete and the amount of gas that it's used to actually run them this is this is and i've read a little bit about this not as enough as i probably should that they're not really a green energy at all now of course someone who's uh you know very active in this area is there any truth to that none at all no every energy source has has a cost implication right as they say you can't you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs so yes there's concrete just as other resources used in wind but wind energy and solar for that matter offer what's called an energy return on investment right which is excellent ireland has the best sustained wind speeds in northern europe right any other country would be leaping forward into wind energy so the myths that you've described there but that's all they are it's it's just nonsense it's people for example who for whatever reason don't like the look of wind turbines i get that and that's why i think offshore wind is going to help us with this because we've had a very irrational debate but the interesting thing is when you look at the surveys when you ask the general public how do you feel about wind on your grid the answer overwhelmingly is that they supported if it's not it's not in my backyard is it's a little bit of a the problem with it and i understand that because i do too and i also say the folks who feel that way tend to be very vocal and believe me i've come across a few of them over the year but the odd thing is it's a very small very vocal group of people you stop a regular person in the street and you ask them well would you like to buy saudi arabian or maybe russian oil to have spewing out of your car in the form of fuel or would you rather move to domestically produced clean energy and most people will say actually i'll have the domestically produced clean energy any day but i mean at the end of the day too though before we get on to the nuclear thing if the planning process appeared completely clear if the messaging was completely clear you know maybe there would be a better acceptance of this rather than people feeling that you know these developments are railroaded in their areas and there's a lack of communication a lack of a lack of consultation so i think you know people can be justified in in how they feel in that regard as well but in terms of you're looking at nuclear power as being an option now before i bring michael in you aren't always of that view no i would describe myself as a traditional uh i guess irish person by by which i mean you know i grew up with with the background of chernobyl and and even the background of nuclear war this idea that there's something really scary about nuclear energy i would take that as a given i'll even give you another one uh the simpsons right which we've been running for over 30 years the big corrupt power in the town of course is the local nuclear power plant and should the fish have three eyes it is badly run it's corrupt and basically nuclear power is everything we should be afraid of right so that is a sort of a cultural meme that has been out there for some time so as a journalist particularly a journalist concerned deeply concerned about the climate emergency i looked into the numbers and i say for example over the last 40 years if i was to ask you how many people would you think have died as a direct result of nuclear accidents now if i put this up as an online poll i would get results somewhere between a million people say and 10 000 people the actual number is 50 as in five zero in total maybe 40 people died as a result of the chernobyl nuclear accident of those most of them were in fact firefighters who went in risked their own lives to go in to contain the okay so this is a point you know we've produced huge amounts of the world's electricity over the last 40 years through nuclear in fact a study was done that said that number of deaths 1.7 million deaths have been avoided in the last 40 years as a result of the replacement of fossil fuels by nuclear now obviously if those fossil fuels had been replaced by renewables you'd get the same effect so this for me this is not an either or okay this isn't saying i'm in favor of nuclear therefore i i i disagree with with renewables quite the opposite i believe this is an and and the reason i believe that finally is because this is a climate emergency and in an emergency you do what you have to do right michael white chair of the green party you know there's a lot in there a strong argument what say you um firstly a lot of really respected people do argue for the use and benefit of nuclear power like james lovelock who's a famous english scientist and others and um i don't have any ideological issue with it but in terms of practicality the main arguments against it are costs and then just politically impractical in my view and by the way there isn't a stated green party Ireland's policy on this so this is a personal view is that not quite remarkable that your party doesn't actually have a policy on on nuclear energy we have policies on everything greg it's not except nuclear except nuclear energy of course but um no the reason there isn't a policy is it's been being a topic for discussion but it's not really it hasn't been that divisive in Ireland and actually when we look at what's happening in the UK i guess that's where we would certainly would i take my guide so if we just look at the cost issue there's three main costs is the cost of building the plants the cost of decommissioning them and the cost of handling handling the waste disposal so if you look at england's boris johnson's kicked off that hinkley i think it's hinkley c um project it was initially estimated to cost 18 billion sterling but it's now being revised up to 26 billion sterling and it's running a bit late they are also decommissioning seven old plants and the cost of decommissioning those old plants is going to come in again 23 billion but that's expected to go up but does that not i'm sorry to i don't want you think i'm cutting across to you when i didn't john but you know just taking those costs you know without factoring in uh you know the impact on the environment the benefits you know we can't take those costs decommissioning costs for example in in isolation really it wouldn't give us a true picture we'd have to put it in to the to the to the wider conversation for those costing to be really having you know to be meaningful michael for me sorry um well there are no equivalent costs for things like renewables i mean one of the biggest costs i haven't mentioned is the cost of disposal so the uk are planning they estimate a cost of 53 billion to get rid to build an underground waste facility at the moment a lot of that waste and this is where it gets a bit emotive i know john's saying that there there's no provable massive amounts of casualties due to to nuclear power and that's in my view is correct as well but you have facilities like cellar field which is a big maze of nuclear waste come back to the 1950s and it's hard to predict the relative risk of having that stuff dumped there whereas if we focus all our time and attention on offshore winds we're we're not going to have an issue you know we don't have to decommission or get rid of waste from a wind farm yeah just on that point john you know i mean you know burying uh in in the earth burying this this toxic waste which we don't really know you know what the future holds i mean that that doesn't really feel very environmental to me and i'm not you know particularly swayed one way or other but that doesn't it almost as if it's like you know covering our eyes and i'm thinking no one can see us yeah i think as i try to be pragmatic about this so let's take for example the lifetime electrical power requirements of a family in france okay now and let's say that all their at the moment they're getting about 70% of electricity from nuclear power which they have by the way for the last 45 years and you've never heard of of the 56 french nuclear power plants because they go about the business very quietly and unfossilty and they don't blow up so if you had to contain and deal with the waste product of that family's lifetime use of nuclear power the nuclear waste would be about two kilograms so about the size of a coke can okay now okay it is toxic waste you're absolutely right now in ireland the average person is responsible for as in we're we're we're accounting for the equivalent of 12 tons of carbon waste dumped carelessly into the atmosphere every year now that carbon waste will continue to heat up our atmosphere for centuries yeah but i mean i mean i know you gave that family example but the reality is is you know i think the data centers here would leave us you know probably disproportionately producing more waste you know slightly more but it's a question of right like you know when you burn fossil energy and by the way we're all agreeing here that renewables are an excellent option my argument is a variant of that which says we know that renewables can't get us to 100 so we know they can get us to 80 if we do everything right how do we fill the gap between 80 and 100 well Michael i'll put that question to you it's a simple one you know i presume it's a green party you don't want to get 80 percent towards the line how do you get over that last 20 percent over the last 20 percent yeah there's just a couple of i'll answer that question i was saying there's two other points i'd make though that politically i don't think it'd be possible there's nowhere in Ireland it'd be politically possible to build a nuclear generation plant at the moment you've seen that the difficulty we have and trying to get to smokeless coal that's right so but i'm on your point um how do we get to the the the remaining 20 percent um so there's offshore wind energy is um going to be a significant part of getting us there the remainder now one of the options is to import some of that power and the other options would include trying to use further offshore wind energy then to as part of a hydrogen-based storage where we could use hydrogen at times when the wind isn't isn't blowing so that'd be one possibility i mean i think we're going to have to import energy in any case as we do at the moment and some of that energy is likely we've just had the interconnected agree with France and that's going to so we'll be effectively using nuclear energy from France but even on that it's forecast JP Morgan produced a report on the cost of nuclear energy and they expect that even France would reduce its nuclear energy as a percentage of the total so JP Morgan did this big report and they're just saying that the cost of nuclear energy are beginning to make it less likely yeah they can meet their demands in the other direction i mean they've got very good coverage with nuclear presumably and they can reduce that as as the green goes up well interesting go ahead yeah because because they're investing in nuclear the French don't really have much of a renewable and it's something they're beginning to to look at now to maybe switch switch over to renewable because they found they did a big audit of their costs in 2012 and a new one then a few years later and they found that they underestimated the total costs when they brought in things like the cost of capital and the cost of construction they turned out they seriously underestimated the lifetime cost of their nuclear and i'll bring John back to that but Michael it just seems like interesting to me in that you know that the arguments that you're making for us not doing as much as we can to protect the environment at a the costs you know and be public opinion you know i thought we were in such a situation that the world's on fire you know the the the ice melting and i just i find it interesting that you from a green party perspective your actual arguments are a what people might think and and be the costs it just if that's it well no i mean what weird what we as a party are doing is concentrating on where we're most likely to be able to deliver the things that are going to save the country so we got the marine area planning bill through there's a huge focus of getting the the rest of the legislative framework in place this year the money that's required to get in to build these offshore plants we're doing all the practical things if we look at nuclear so we can get offshore wind energy in place rapidly enough to have a big impact on the national emissions if we started to look at nuclear the they say it takes 10 years to commission a new do you think it'll be distraction at this time then it's not just that it's a distraction it won't be there in time to make a difference and it'll cause loads of grief you know we've seen we can't even get a national maternity hospital bills you know that's dragged on i just i'm just i'm just using enough failure is some uh the fact that we're crap at doing stuff as a reason it's not like it's glory yeah okay no i get you i get you this is not even on this issue it's just if this is why we don't do stuff because we can't do stuff it's i just want to be clarifying i don't mean the green party suggests lots of things that are unpopular as you know and we do it because we think the best for the future of the climate and for the country but there are certain things if you've got a choice of three things you're not nuclear wouldn't be my first choice of the battle we would have there are other areas where we can have greater impact and generate greater success than if we started to advocate a new nuclear energy plant in Ireland for example right some strong points that uh John Gibbons though in terms of the time frame you know and and the fact that we're focused in other areas just pick out from that which you wish to respond to sure i'll start with the time frames um our offshore wind sector i was actually listening to a program about this last night and with all the planning issues with the offshore marine legislation and with various objections we'd be very lucky we're also looking at a 10-year time frame now interestingly as well at china you know the way we always when whenever we don't want to do something in our land we complain about china right china is currently commissioning 150 i repeat 150 nuclear power plants and they're planning to get these from the plans to producing power in under 10 years that's as quick as we can do it in terms of deploying renewables now one of the reasons by the way just so people understand why has nuclear become so expensive in the western world first of all we've lost expertise 40 years ago we were producing lots of nuclear power plants then the political wind shifted and the number of nuclear engineers who retired and weren't replaced because people basically left the industry but guess where they went most of them didn't go off to build wind turbines most of them went off to work in the fossil fuel industry right now we need a new generation of engineers of technologists working on renewable energy and in my book on nuclear energy and so when you see china deploying 150 new nuclear power plants by the way total costs are that they estimate $450 billion now it sounds like a lot of money but that's coming in at about three billion dollars per facility so the point is they do what the chinese do they build it at scale they get the expertise up and they're able to deploy it quickly because they focus on it the problem in in in europe has been we're not building enough of them we've lost the expertise and of course you have people objecting and and the very thing that mitral said about public opinion and i will say public opinion it doesn't happen by itself it's also stoked by people maybe floating kites or flying kites in relation to the the alleged dangers now i guess i have looked at these as i say what i'm far more animated not so much by the possible dangers of nuclear but by the absolute dangers of continuing to run our fossil fuel plants as they say you know in in order to be extremely dangerous the fossil fuel plant only has to do has to operate correctly it is not a fault but a fossil fuel plant emits dangerous pollution and climate altering emissions now i'm of the view that we need to be very careful for example about saying well we can't do this because people don't like it we can't do this because it's too expensive now the reason often things become expensive is because people don't like them so in ireland for example if you all the way back to 1968 the government at that time proposed the nuclear power plant for ireland it was due to happen in current sort point in the late 70s and of course the the anti-nuclear movement from which by the way the genesis of the ireish green party it was a kind of a foundation moment for the organization was in people objecting to nuclear so i understand that the green party in ireland is was almost the anti-nuclear party it's it's it's in the dna and by the way i've spoken to many people in the green party and we've had a good laugh about this that it is that foundation kind of myth almost of the organization so if you turn around as a green party person and say well actually i've had a rethink 40 years later because the climate emergency you know it it it doesn't go down well and i know that and i understand that however there are other green party green parties in norway and finland they've actually changed their position on this particularly around what are called smrs these are small nuclear reactors now these basically allow us to deploy a kind of modular nuclear in smaller scale down to hundreds of megawatts rather than gigawatts now you might say well that sounds like dangerous new technology has it been tried we've had nuclear powered icebreakers submarines and aircraft carriers for 50 60 70 years now these are basically floating nuclear power plants operating in battle conditions and not one of them has ever exploded all right michael as if you soften to these proposals at all no there's a couple of points i'd make one of the reasons china is able to bang out so many nuclear power stations is that there's very little strength in civil society that people can't object they can they can the central government can do as they please and i'm glad that's not possible in europe secondly while local people object local people often object for good reasons so my mother would be involved in an objections to an incineration plant and dairy back in the 1980s and that those were they were for justifiable reasons so i think it's good that we have a strong civil society here that will tell politicians to clear off if they're trying to build something they don't like i think that's a really healthy thing does the planet have the time though i mean we say like i think i think if we go hammering tongs at the renewables like we're sitting in the middle of the atlantic we've got winds blowing here all the bloody time we should be able to make a shot of it we can't get wind energy working here you can't get it working anywhere so i think that would be sufficient and i think in my view the nuclear would be an expensive distraction that would cause public opposition wouldn't benefit as quickly as doubling down on wind energy all right okay listen both of you thank you very much it's been a an interesting conversation i really appreciate your time john gibbons thank you thank you very much have a good day take care of yourself and also last but not least michael white chair of the green party good morning to you thank you great okay your views to 08 660 25000 you heard both sides of the argument there i mean michael white is sympathetic to the notion but the practicalities of it the cost where would you where would you locate this plant where could you possibly without having to railroad it through lots of comments coming in on this i'll get those to you now after these the 9 till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account this is the new toyota yaris cross a new kind of suv a new point of view new compact style new spacious feel and exclusively self-charging hybrid the right choice for today get a new perspective with the yaris cross self-charging hybrid available now at kelly's toyota port road letter kenny or drum by mount charles you'll never take a wrong turn with toyota built for a better world 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 double 6 double 8 or pop into their office at bali mccool letter kenny hickey clark and langan general insurance is limited trading as hickey clark and langan is regulated by the central bank of ireland get cash for trash at curries bring your old broken unwanted tech into your local curry store this month we'll recycle it for free and give you five euro off your next purchase plus with mega deals now on we've got massive savings across the store so get into your local curry store today tz supply see website for details right so medical scientists uh to continue to pick it uh on the picket line sorry to resolve unfilled posts pay parity career pathways and increase in demands medical scientists are stepping up their industrial action this week in frustration over long-standing pay and career development issues now obviously the hsc says it's continuing to engage with all parties to avert further industrial action planned for the coming weeks two days this week three next we heard operations are being cancelled discharges are being delayed and patient care is being affected because testing can't be done in the hospital these are all the arguments being made by the head of the hsc in the celta area uh cathleen kings a medical scientists and member of the mlsa and he's on the picket line at the moment and joins us from it good morning to you cathleen good morning greg how are you i'm doing good i'm doing good right i mean when you hear the likes of mr canaphan out speaking on the media is this do you believe this is a bit of a public relations exercise on behalf of the hsc or or do you accept that i suppose they have to come out and let people know what impact this type of action might have on patients oh no absolutely mr canavan is right to explain the impact of patients and to explain the impact you know that withdrawn or services actually has um within the hospital and within the community itself i think you know we're sort of quite a hidden um you know uh members of the healthcare profession and maybe people don't understand that you know 70 of all clinicals like noses is based on our work so it's very very good that he did explain the impact of patients the impact of services but it is regrettable not one of us want to be standing out here this morning not one of us want to be standing out there last week we don't want to be standing here tomorrow the hsc and the department of health have not engaged in meaningful talks for their union the mlsa and this is regrettable this is what we really really need to happen we care for patients as much as any other healthcare profession there are two and a half thousand of us 2100 in the union and we are the ones who are sort of working night now in the morning to get accurate test results out i myself finished at eight o'clock this morning but yet i'm here in the package to support my colleagues as well so the hope would be if we don't have impact we'll lock it anywhere no and i get that kathleen unfortunately though that the hsc seem to be digging their feet in in saying that we want to talk but really are their hands are tied because you know they can't undo the national pay agreement that that's about to be negotiated and there's just no room within that those confines to to have this discussion so how do we come up with a solution when obviously you know medical scientists are have had enough but the hsc are they have that stand that standpoint yeah well funny enough greg in 21 years ago the hsc actually agreed to this pay party they agreed to pay us the same pay as their clinical biochemist colleagues because we do the same work but unfortunately that agreement was never honoured and we've kept our heads down for 20 years we've kept working we've kept going ahead we've kept bringing in improvements we kept expanding the service like letter county hospital we're doing 20% more work this year than we were last year it's extremely busy we've kept our heads down we work through covid we work through the cyber attack you know it's not too much to ask for the hsc in the Department of Health to engage in meaningful talks to honour what was approved 20 years ago like nobody wants a strike all right in terms of what derogation what work is going on at letter Kenny that's fine yeah so so in letter Kenny we have medical scientists in and we're rostered in out all day today and to provide emergency cover and certain patients have been given derogation and that was being at the discretion and discussion of our union and also with the hospital management team as well too and I believe both sides were happy with the list of derogations and again you know we provide you know as much cover as we possibly can while still maintaining the terms and agreements of our industrial action I want to bring Des Sweeney in here who's Donegal representative on the medical laboratory scientists association Des good morning to you can you for those of us because I think you know what's happened certainly over the last couple of weeks people the general public have learned the important role that you guys do and it was interesting that it's took to now for the maybe the hsc to actually recognize the important you know it's almost like the beating heart of the health service but Des can you give us sort of a a typical scenario that explains why we found ourselves in this situation you know a person in a working environment compared to maybe people that that theoretically you know work under them can you sort of explain to us a real-case scenario absolutely good morning Greg it's it is it is as simple as that Kathleen's done a very good job of explaining it there but it's as simple as that it's it's the way I describe it is there's two people digging a ditch for the last 20 years and one person is getting paid eight percent more than the other and they're working shoulder to shoulder it's as simple as that now what terms was the the person employed employed under that leaves them so much better off like how is this situation presented itself it's sort of a historical thing the clinical biochemists 30 40 50 years ago were were responsible for creating tests and and running running tests on a it's a really historical thing but that's all automated now so now the clinical chemists and the medical scientists work together doing exactly the same job so it's it's just a it really is an historical thing anomaly but it was decided by the HSE and agreed by everybody including the Minister for Health who's now the Tisha that that the everybody they're doing the same job they should get the same pay it's it really is that simple a whole or not of the situation does but it kind of feels like it that the public will accept anything you know obviously through through covid everyone had to accept there may have been a better better way of working but we had to accept that if you were waiting for a procedure it was to be delayed and all of that right the HSE seemed to be able to just say to the public on the local and national airways that because of this action this is going to happen and nothing you know no one kicks up a stink nothing really comes from it are you concerned really that that the HSE can do that nowadays that in other words this type of action it should bring people kicking and screaming to the table but they can just say you know you're used to this there's more delays there's you know and there you go yeah Greg I think that's exactly the situation covid has numbed the public into an acceptance of a situation with HSE you can pretty much get away with it um the canceling appointments now is just routine and it's it's a disgrace really but the HSE is the state that they're in right now but uh hopefully we carry on this and hopefully people start realizing that it's just not acceptable anymore yeah because I was looking through every paper that's available to me this morning and it's buried inside a couple of them but I mean where you have a situation that tens of thousands of procedures not going ahead delays at emergency departments you know potential worse outcomes for for people in hospital in terms of diagnostics and tracking their well-being discharges I mean you would imagine this would just be a big massive black headline in the front of every newspaper but it's not yeah I mean as you as you remember when the nurses went out and strike it was it was banner headlines all over every station all over all papers but we with the with a team of you know there's 2100 of us as opposed to tens of thousands of nurses we create the same situation we're effectively shutting down the hospitals apart from critical care like I want to I want to emphasize that fact life or limb will not be risked at this action we we are providing critical care for all patients um but yeah somehow the the media or government have somehow stitled or smothered the the information getting out yeah I mean Kathleen I'd expect our phone lines to be lit up we covered this last week you know covering it this week by people uh you know saying something has to be done but I think I agree with Desi I just think people have been numbed to delays and and problems with the with the health service if this doesn't get the point across Kathleen if three days next week doesn't get the point across what is next from the mlsa's perspective I think the mlsa is going to have to pull their members together and also you know sort of see what we can do after this like an all-out walkout you know if that's what's on the cards we won't know until we sit down and discuss that but as you know and as Des has explained you know as medical scientists we can't just all walk out we do have to provide that emergency cover and we're asking for the goodwill of our colleagues you know in the hospital here and also within the community to abide by the strike regulations and not to frontload or backload work um but again we'll have to take our needs from the mlsa on further progress on that and as you know I'm not suggesting that anyone currently is engaged in a pr war uh but you know there are going to be failings that are currently there in the health service that have got nothing to do with medical laboratory scientists and you you just can't help but feel uh Des that this kind of action might be used as a as a smoke screen to cover other failings in the health service well absolutely right I mean yeah I understand what you're saying but um there's not much we can do about that we just have to we just have to do what we're doing and like I said this was agreed 20 years ago this isn't something that we're we're putting our hands out and asking for more we're just asking for what they've already accepted was was completely reasonable you know they just never actually do you believe the health minister's been vocal enough on this because we saw a similar issue and I'm not I'm not comparing them directly but say for instance school secretaries uh there was you know there was uh strange pay differences there for little and no reason and an education minister took control of that situation right and says look we have to do something do you believe the health minister is doing enough or he should he say right I'm I'm in charge of all of this this is seriously impacting the well-being of people potentially we need to crack our heads together I believe there's a consensus among government just to just to keep quiet and hope we can write it out same as the same as the people going down to Dublin arguing about mica you know it's just like just the hope it'll blow over but this I mean for example there's been no engagement despite what everybody said there's been no engagement from the government with the MLSA since our last strike on Tuesday of last week they didn't discuss anything with us there's no no discussions so yeah I mean that's worry and Kathleen in that you know there should be some discussions at any level of all to see is there any common ground or anything that could even defer this action to not engage at all but say you know we're open for discussions what our hands are tied I mean it's very worrying Kathleen isn't it that that's that's the approach being taken absolutely Greg and you know certainly it's pretty called into question again to you know do the department of health and the HSE assume that because we are health care professionals so we're just going to suck this up for another few years you know health care professionals are often described as picking a vocation this isn't a vocation this is a job we're employed we're paid okay the problem is here but we're not paid the same as our colleagues this is very dispute you know we can't be expected to suck this up and without talk without any sort of discussion this you know I can't see this going any further all right listen Kathleen King medical scientist a member of the MLSA thanks for speaking to us from the picket line I appreciate your time this morning I really do and I hope for everyone's sake there is a resolution and the same thanks to you uh Des Sweeney Donagall-Rabbe with the MLSA thank you very much as well for helping us understand what's going on all right take care of yourselves thank you very much indeed the 90 noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today for a great early season lawnmower deal visit Gortley sales and hire exclusive stock is of stiga in the northwest moors strimmers and headstrimmers full trade and service available at Gortley sales and hire Gortley letterkenny call 9126276 I have great news for everyone who's looking for a good night's sleep RESTX beds are looking forward to welcoming you to their brand new showroom at mountaintop letterkenny it's one of the biggest and best bed and mattress showrooms in the northwest and has fantastic open and offers now in store RESTX 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 RESTX bed mountaintop letterkenny a huge sale is now on at McGinley's furniture letterkenny it's a chance to save hundreds of euros on floor model suites beds and mattresses dining and occasional furniture with reductions in all departments it's a great opportunity to grab a real bargain in the big sale at McGinley's furniture on the Joe boner link road letterkenny for big name menswear at great prices visit what's in menswear in letterkenny top casual brands including mishmash sixth sense tommy bow and penguin if you're going to a wedding or a big event formal wear names include rima sumo andrey and white label also a great selection of children's casual and formal wear in stock what's in menswear open seven days a week on main street letterkenny and online at what's in menswear dot com highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport fancy a city break this summer you can now fly twice weekly to beautiful cologne in germany every sunday and thursday with ryanair ireland west airport you're flying all right sunny spells and scattered showers a few heavy the evening cloud will increase with raining drizzle moving in from the west early tonight temperatures 13 or 14 degrees kerry joins us now medical scientist a member of the mlsa out on the picket line last place though i imagine kerry that you'd want to be you want to be in doing the the the valuable work that you're normally doing good morning me and my colleagues that are on the picket line here at the minute we would so much rather be in doing the patient-centered quality-driven care that we're used to are you surprised that there's been no movement no middle ground found a landing zone is the popular phrase at the moment between your union its members and and the hsc on this issue i don't know if i'm surprised i told from the nature of all controversies i said it does take a while to think it's all but we are willing to engage in this process but the hsc department of health don't seem to be ready to meet us which is very disappointing more than surprised yeah there seems to be an acceptance listening to the likes of tony canophan that this is going to cause huge upheaval this week even more so next week but we're not looking at solutions here is there too much of an acceptance do you think from the hsc that they're going to have to ride this out yes i do think so i think what we're trying to achieve with this action is to make them see the important role that we play within the hospital you know we the whole hospital is in its entirety and we play a vital role while i'm standing here i have cancer that is going on diagnosed in our lab you know that's kind of the bottom line of where we're at at the moment all right listen kerry thanks for your time this morning we'll go to charlie bar another medical scientist a member of the mlsa charlie i mean this is obviously the last resort but if it's not working what next well greg we just have to keep chipping away that um i would think we are very professional organization very professional body and i would assume the hsc are equally professional and i'm hoping for the sake of patients and for the future not only of our profession but the future of medical care in ireland and ultimately the progression of patient care that both sides can come to in arrangement and this as katin said to you earlier um this pay party was agreed 21 years ago it was never honored and was never implemented and it's taken us 21 years to put space and they come to this that's the source and you pointed out actually might use an interesting word one which i didn't mention with our previous guests that's retention you know staff retention that the best people uh doing this work they're going to look at not even retention recruitment is the recruitment and retention yeah i've been over 30 years in the profession so i'm at the latter end of it um but the students and the future medical scientists coming to us now are very bright very motivated individuals i want to make sure that the profession that i leave for them is one that they can thrive in and ultimately if they can thrive in that and develop it and move it forward then patients will benefit hospitals will benefit and a hse will benefit as well and we can't retain staff we can't recruit unless the pay skills are adequate unless kids with good qualifications see it as a worthwhile profession that they can stay in all right okay charlie listen thanks for your time this morning i appreciate it charlie bar there and kerry both speaking to us from the picket line there as that action continues today it'll run until tomorrow unfortunately many of you out there today who were due to have a procedure on may well have received a phone call by the way go ahead and don't take any action unless you've been notified by the hospital by the way but you might be going to your gp and they may be telling you that blood tests might be delayed or can't be done and that's going to run into next week and who's know what might happen thereafter all right that's the first hour of the program in the bag we'll be back with more on the nine till noon show after the news and obituary notices live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning i'm akilah clark with the news at 10 o'clock a senior medical scientist at letter kennedy university hospital says no medical scientist wants to be on the picket line today up to 30 000 hospital procedures will be cancelled due to 2 000 medical scientists striking over the next two days they're refusing to carry out routine lab services from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow kathleen king is a senior medical scientist at letter kennedy university hospital and a spokesperson for mlsa union speaking to highland radio news on the picket line this morning she says a number of issues have led to the dispute here we are strawberry broke the camel's back covid the cyber attack the increase in workload our own hospital we have a 20 percent increase in workload summer departments but again too we're looking at the very basics here we can't fill 20 percent of the advertised and approved posts and we also don't have pay parity and that's one of the things that has led to the difficulties in filling these posts as well a public consultation event held in boncrona last night has been healed a success hundreds of people were in attendance to view plans for a new leisure center for the time and the major 20 million year repiring boncrona initiative that will see the town's shorefront developed plans are also in place to purchase the old garter station to pave the way for office space ke her log often ago county council council jack murray says the potential for boncrona is vast advised by the council's economic development unit that some 50 percent of queries that are now coming into the legal county council with regards to the foreign direct investment or job creation or people looking to invest in commercial facilities are for the town of boncrona so that just shows the potential that the town has part of the public meeting last night was too but the local area plan and we begin looking to identify more areas for economic development because i think there's huge potential for job creationist protests are taking place in dairy belfast in london today against the british government's troubles amnesty it will coincide with the debate on the legacy bill in the house of commons the uk is proposing an amnesty for those who cooperate with a panel that investigates at troubles deaths john tiger's father danie was killed in the bali murphy massacre in 1971 he says for families it's traumatizing anybody that hasn't talked to are devastated absolutely devastated and they're retraumatized the feedback and i'm getting from the second family is it's just their loved ones life wasn't worth anything it's a crime if you feel littered and straight you'd have to answer legal requirements and somebody who murders your loved one will be getting an amnesty and an amnesty without any comeback or compelability a seminar on donnie gall's caravan camping and campervan sector is taking place today the findings and recommendations of a study into this sector in the county and how they're being implemented will be presented at the event at the silver tassie hotel at 11 o'clock donnie gall county council is currently administering a grant scheme in a bid to increase overnight facilities a code of conduct is also being progressed and the communications campaign being developed to urge campers to plan and book ahead an international conference discussing the impact of the rare disease amyloidosis often referred to as donnie gall amy will be taking place in gedore later this week the conference called emerging from the shadows will host a number of international experts on the disease showing their experiences and knowledge donna brennan has more the emerging from the shadows conference will host several experts on the serious rare disease where a number of topics regarding its treatment will be discussed the disease currently has no known cure but there are a number of treatment methods available to lessen its impact among the topics to be discussed at the conference will be the need for early diagnosis and speedy access to ATTR specific treatments the prevalence of the version of amyloidosis most commonly present in donnie gall as well as discussing new treatments and clinical trials now available to treat the disease the conference takes place in the anchor chotel in gedore the saturday may 28th from 9 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m weather night today will bring sunny spells and scattered shards a few of them heavy this evening cloud will increase with rain and drizzle moving in and highest temperatures 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 Tuesday morning may the 24th the death has occurred of Hugh Brogan 10 drombo lower strinauler remains reposing at his home this evening from six o'clock funeral leaving his home on thirsty morning at half past 10 for requiem mass in the church of mary and macklet strinauler at 11 o'clock in term and afterwards in drombo cemetery requiem mass will be streamed live via the parish webcam the house is private to family and friends only please the death has taken place of william billy paterson demands convoy his remains are reposing at his late residence funeral from there to more morning at half past 11 for funeral mass at 12 noon in st mary's church convoy followed by burial in the family plot in the old cemetery family time until 12 noon today and on the morning of the funeral family flowers only please donations in lieu to the dunigold hospice care of any family member or terms mclintock funeral director the death has occurred of sarah terry mean dairy fulcara her remains are reposing at her daughter brandy's home in mean dairy funeral from there this afternoon for two o'clock requiem mass in chap pubble christia reigh gorta hork with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery family time please before the funeral today the funeral mass can be viewed live on mcm media dot tv or sweeney funeral director's facebook page the death has taken place of arthur maguire upper phana boy gorta hork and originally from belfast his remains are reposing at his late residence with wake private to family neighbors and close friends only please funeral mass in christ the king church gorta hork this morning at 11 o'clock with burial afterwards in the adjacent cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on cure and rotate funeral director facebook page and on the parish webcam lies private before the funeral today and the death has taken place of mary freel nay mills and lonya more gi door her remains are reposing at her late residence funeral mass will take place this morning at 11 o'clock in st mary's church dairy beg for by burial in maharagal cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live on the glasby funeral director's facebook page and on the chap pubble were webcam for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to hindland radio dot com and you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show and if you're just joining us a very good morning where were you you missed an interesting debate on the nuclear energy perhaps maybe that could be a solution for us you missed that an interesting conversation and also we were on the picket line with that members of the m lsa as they continue their industrial action but you're welcome for this next hour coming up very shortly we'll be discussing or getting the latest appeals and information from ungodly iconna on a tuesday a member of the force joins us where they will discuss what's happening in terms of crime and how the public might be able to help and then they disseminate some information which may be useful for you in terms of your safety or protecting you from crime that's every single tuesday by the time so i want to get to be ahead of the bingo numbers i want to get to some of your comments on nuclear by the time we would build a nuclear plant the technology will have moved on to nuclear fusion and it will be immediately outdated and besides that the disaster we are building things the way we are building things the children's hospital was supposed to cost 500 million initially it would be the biggest sinkhole for taxpayers money another we have no marine protection areas offshore turbines will kill marine animals and affect fishing but the greens don't care greg small modular reactors smrs and nuclear fission reactors that are smaller than conventional nuclear reactors and typically have an electrical power output of less than 300 megawatts the thermal power output of less than a thousand megawatts which is a fraction of the cost of our traditional nuclear power plant i think john referenced those that you talk of i have no problems with nuclear power says this listener this listener but the irish building and operating a nuclear plant come on the whole of europe will be running for the bonkers seriously we're terrible at putting ourselves down aren't we i think we shouldn't forget that we the irish both here but particularly abroad are responsible for some of the most amazing construction we've built cities we've built we've built rail lines we've built underground infrastructure and so much more besides you know we lead the way i think in terms of our ability to get things done so i don't know we've enough people running us down and making jokes about us without it doing to ourselves i think but listen i appreciate your view what about hydro power we used to have two plants can i ask you views on it i presume you mean i'll listen to our guests but unfortunately i got that a little bit late nuclear is not clean what's the half life of nuclear waste asks a caller another we under no circumstances should we have nuclear power if someone plants a bomb and blew the nuclear power it's too much of a threat to the irish people no to nuclear power i think in terms of the containment and we've seen that in ukraine but the containment of the the negative elements of the negative elements of a nuclear disaster a lot has been learned by shinobal this caller references shinobal though what about all the babies born with defects due to the shinobal disaster don't forget the cancer and other health problems then many had to leave their homes forever we don't want nuclear we the people deserve better but is our proximity to the likes of some of britain's nuclear plants does that i mean would we not feel the effects of a nuclear disaster because one is on one could happen on the island next to us i don't know people in irish cities don't have to look at turbines how is gas backed turbines clean energy such nonsense is john getting paid to spout this well he's a hard line activist and journalist and he's of the view that that's a myth tell michael white to enjoy his fame because it'll be history after the next election unfortunately michael white's not elected he did stand for election but wasn't elected he is a chairperson of the green party and not subject at this point to de-selection greg so all we go and stop important power from the uk is they produce 30 percent of their power from nuclear plants and the plans for interconnection from france who produce 80 percent of their power from nuclear fuel so it's okay for countries to build nuclear plants and produce power and frost to bite in other words it's someone else's problem yet that's pretty much where we're at yep we don't mind doing that nuclear power definitely the way to go believes a texture another nuclear waste is a disaster and no one knows how to get rid of it our main problem right now is letting massive data centers devour our power and water supplies wave technology for the Atlantic and bladeless technologies are the future for us another we're already using nuclear power from scotland via the interconnector and onboard planologist granted permission for an interconnector to france so we can buy nuclear power from france it's hypocrisy not to discuss it but the government seems intent on destroying every hill and bug in our land first there's no such thing as renewable electricity they say now on our social media some comments there yes nuclear energy should be considered another we can't get to zero carbon these people are delusional the ice is melting because it's been melting since the ice age ended we shouldn't have ice caps and that's a fact okay but you know i just think we're slightly i i respect your view there but when we see what's happening now at the moment in countries around the world already it's very hard to deny i mean are we denying that the changing climate is having such a negative impact on certain parts of the world and inevitably us as well and it's very i don't think that can that can be really argued strongly that what's happening now is the climate is changing and it is changing to a point whereby swathes of Australia are going to be unlivable according to scientists and the new leader in Australia seems to accept that we've seen what's happening in in Spain for example okay that might be a quirk but in other parts of the world India elsewhere people literally struggling to live because of the weather and the changes to the weather and then we can't surely if we accept that not accept that particularly since the industrialization that we are not contributing to it and what is our role to try and limit that damage we're doing i think are we not already at that point now that we accept that oh wait six 60 25 000 whatsapps and texts i'll call 07491 25 000 good luck if you're playing the bingo today it's time for NCBI bingo on highland radio it's tuesday the 24th of may you're playing on the brown sheet the reference number is s2 it's game number 21 the numbers are 52 78 41 3 38 18 54 77 49 and finally 43 phone your claim to 910483 before 8 tonight leave your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highland radio.com the 90 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 this time of year we're all thinking about freshening up the paintwork in our homes bringing color and vibrancy to our living spaces but the important thing isn't just the colors we choose it's the paint flea wood use the highest quality ingredients for a richer color and smoother finish that lets you wipe away the marks of everyday life and it's irish made designed to work with the ever-changing irish light would one range of paints transform your home flea wood would naturally your specialty is quality tiles bathroom suites and wooden floors who is the best range of tiles and donnie gall the best wood flooring the best bathroom suites five-day bathroom refits and who's been tampering with my questions that'll be me Crawford tiles castle fin that'll be them 0749143942 the award-winning genesis aesthetics and skincare clinic adore now offers a wide range of skin boosters the injectable moisturizer for under eyes that improves dark circles fine lines and wrinkles also treating the face neck chest and hands this amazing treatment works from the inside out resulting in brighter smoother plumper skin for help choosing the right aesthetic treatment for you contact mary fairy your aesthetic practitioner you can download the genesis app or call 0749532575 in the heart of letter kenny warehouse bar and 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 and kitchen on social media for specials and updates at irish life we've been helping people make smart investments with their nest egg for over 80 years for actual trusted advice search irishlife.ie or contact your financial broker or advisor we know irish life we are irish life financial services is tied to irish life assurance for life and pension problems irish life assurance plc is regulated by the central bank of ireland irish life financial services limit is regulated by the central bank of ireland okay you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show here on highland radio 08 660 25 000 whatsapps and texts call 07491 25 000 uh caller says well i've dropped all of those on the floor so i'll go to these ones got a phone call from scammers pretending to be from permanent tsp from letter can they say my card was frozen can you let people know please as it was one of the more convincing ones i've gotten another i sent away seven new applications this is for passports on april the 11th for five children and two adults each had to be posted individually with original birth certs enclosed i got an email yesterday may 23rd from the passport office requesting my original birth cert for the children's passports it's with mine okay very frustrating indeed radio it is uh tuesday morning it's 18 minutes past 10 we're joined in studio now by gardener maguire as part of the gardener community information item a very good morning to you thanks so much for joining us now how are you keeping the morning great keeping very well thank you it's good to have you with us i'll just move that slightly towards you okay right okay we'll get straight into the appeals if that's okay now and you're looking for the public's assistance in relation to a dairy bag rtc yeah this was a collision that occurred in dairy bag between a silver forward focus and a black volkswagen gulf this happened on tuesday the 17th of may shortly after 10 p.m unfortunately four males and three females were taken to letter candy hospital for medical assessment uh non-life threatening injuries thank goodness but two of the occupants remain in hospital so it's quite a serious collision uh the guards in uh in bondage are asking me to appeal for witnesses who for people that may have seen this in the glacia area uh so on tuesday the 17th of may after 10 p.m please make contact with the guards in milford who will then pass on any details uh to investigate in guards and the milford guards can be reached on 0749153060 okay and also an appeal of as it relates to a burglary and convoy yeah a burglary and convoy between saturday the 21st of may at 8 p.m and sunday the 22nd of may at 8 a.m so uh during the night of saturday past the lock on the roller door of a garage was damaged an entry was gained to it a dripper impact gun and a dwalt spray gun were stolen from the garage um and anybody that may have been maybe offered these items for sale or has seen any suspicious activity over that time period please contact the guards in letter candy nine one six seven one hundred suppose anybody you know when we any burglary is bad but i hate saying greg when a man's tools have been taken you know because it's it's it's a lot more cost livelihood to exactly yeah yeah so you know anybody can contact any guard a station in relation to any of these appeals uh because obviously we're all linked through computers and emails and stuff like that or indeed uh you know you don't have to give your name or or details you can ring the guard a confidential line on 1800 travel six travel one indeed for any appeals yeah not talking specifically to this case of course as i have no knowledge of of the circumstances but i do know i wonder sometimes um generally speaking in general society our garage doors are weak link the locks can seem a little bit flimsy at times you know um from from my experience and you know we could have an alarm system in the house but not have a sensor routed out to an outdoor space i suppose it's something if we can we should be considering yeah but unfortunately no we shouldn't have to do these things yeah of course you know we are wherever you know you you see us coming in here every week and and we're making these types of appeals you know so it's it's unfortunate that we we have to lock everything down and nail everything down but i suppose that's just the world we're living in greg yeah all right now the next appeal is criminal damage in letter kenny yeah again attacking a man's livelihood greg um this man owns a fast food van people will be very familiar with it on the pierced road this happened on wednesday night between nine p.m and ten a.m the next morning when it was discovered damage was caused to various parts of the van i don't know exactly what greg but uh entry was not gained to the van so anybody that has observed anything suspicious around this mobile food van please contact the garrison letter kenny nine one six seven one hundred you'd imagine someone who saw something it's just getting that person with that information in contact with the guard yeah absolutely and i don't have any more details than that greg about the type of property or the what the type of damage was but it should be covered by cctv i would think as well you know okay part of the investigation of course right criminal damage now in downings yeah at croc namurlog downings between friday the 20th of may at 10 p.m and saturday the 21st of may at 9 30 a.m two doors at the front of a house and that area were smashed between those times no entry was gained to the house and nothing was stolen so it appears to be just random criminal damage so any residents in the area croc namurlog that observed anything on friday night the 20th of may please contact the garrison millford nine one five three zero six zero or indeed any guard station all right kill me current and road knock criminal damage there yeah stick on with the theme of smashing things up greg st. connell's hospital day center window was broken there between 4 p.m and saturday the 14th and it was discovered then on monday morning at 8 30 a.m a window was damaged at the center between those times again the call my colleagues in the letter can a can be reached on nine one six seven one hundred right now we are appealing as it relates to now a road traffic collision at kill ross yeah finally me last appeal greg for information is this collision that occurred at kill ross convoy people way familiar with that junction there the the main road on the letter can a to convoy and stern or the road a many of us was traveling from the convoy directions towards turn order when it was struck by a black bmw that had been traveling in the opposite direction unfortunately the driver the black bmw did not remain at the scene and i took off so anybody that has any information or dash cam that would cover that incident please contact the guards again on the letter can a nine one six seven one hundred so anybody traveling on the between convoy stern order at the kill ross junction between 6 45 a.m and 7 15 a.m quite early in the morning please contact the guards in letter can a okay i'm not sure the damage not one great but you can only presume that maybe a wing mirror or something like that so or i'm not sure how heavy the damage was but anybody mechanics whatever that's been asked to replace the driver side damage to a bmw maybe we can get in touch with us as well yeah okay right now in important recognition today in terms of the history of ungodly chicana yeah i don't know important to you perhaps i don't know but it's not not well i'm suppose i'm yeah it's not something that would float my boat Greg but the the guard of commissioner is hosting a discussion on the establishment of the the the guard of chicana to take over from the royal house constabulary which happened 100 years ago and this has been live streamed on facebook after 7 p.m so you'll get that through the guard don't call guard of facebook page or indeed the guard of facebook page suppose it's a nice thing Greg but i know you do have several historians here and done it all maybe interested in that yeah okay there's a full panel discussion there and you can watch it if that is your thing it's going to be live streamed as now said on the guard of facebook page after 7 p.m if you wish to tune in right relay for life takes place this weekend this time of year Greg yeah relay for life 2022 has taken place this weekend Saturday the 28th again at the newly named eglantic technological university formerly the la t letter kinny uh people i'm sure are very familiar with this event it's a 24-hour fun-filled event which honors all cancer survivors and gives us all a chance to remember those who maybe we have lost to cancer or suffering or or recover from cancer at the moment my colleagues and and donnie gall will have a stand at the relay for life event and indeed they're taking part as well and over the course of 24 hours so i just want to wish everybody best of luck in this event very worthwhile cause Greg yeah indeed and everyone's invited to go along this good park and but it's like everything it's not really a garden matter um that all works if we follow the follow the directions and then park where we're supposed to park and so on and so forth uh guard out now mcguire thank you very much for your time this morning thank you great we appreciate it greatly that was the community guard information item here in hindland radio it'll be back with you uh on the show after the 10 o'clock news next tuesday the 90 noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie the moment you got told the good news rob you made the panel when the lads added you into the group skipping nights out missing the crack rewatching classics and learning new tricks being driven to the biggest game of your life by your ma'am and then you finally come on in the 51st minute it's the minor moments that last a lifetime the electric iron and g a a minor championships this is major sunsoak for less this summer with tui savings on holidays in may and june holiday sorted tui live happy thinking about a new car for the july registration the award-winning hyundai range includes the innovative and fun to drive i10 the i20 with its best in class safety features and the i30 full of all the latest smart tech there's also the award-winning kona and the newly designed Tucson all in stock call in and talk to the sales team today a diverse hyundai canal road letterkenny or call 9 1 22 600 the key is fortage donnie gall's best-selling car for 2022 if you're thinking about making the move to kia or to upgrade your current kia make sure to call in today to iMotor's letterkenny or malon with a seven-year warranty as standard driving a kia makes sense in the heart of letterkenny warehouse bar and 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 and kitchen on social media for specials and updates and you welcome back to the nine till noon show and congratulations to brendan and osheen and all the team and kevin who engineered last night's deal debate live from sister sarah's really entertaining and got the juices flowing if they needed to be flowing any further for sunday's big game between donnie gall and dary ulster final let's say we were not unfamiliar with being in them now but still it's going to be a good game it's going to be a cracker i think if you want to listen back to that podcast loads of great guests who know what they're talking about plenty of banter and predictions you can listen to the podcast of that now on our website highlandradio.com it's in the listen back section or the on-demand section i think it's called i can't remember it's like not knowing whether which hand you wear your watch on i should know but i don't unless i look so you can go and check that out also on there you know you get snippets from this program you get the playback of this show you get the business matters podcast i mentioned the deal debate the scores on there all programming from highland radio that you can listen to on demand and that section is just going to get busier in the future with more programs that you can listen to when you want to especially in pro interesting programs between sport news current affairs history all that kind of stuff so stay tuned to the website because it's going to grow and hopefully you're going to enjoy it good morning greg is it not illegal to sleep in your car he can't stay in Dublin because his 120 euro expenses he gets won't cover the price of a room he'll still get his 120 euro for sleeping in the car surely he wouldn't would he um i'm not sure about the legalities of sleeping in your car to be honest with you a caller yes we need to make efforts to stop polluting our planet but this new climate extremist green religious movement is not the answer small practical steps over time that don't cost ordinary working people of fortune are the way don't forget it was vat on petrol and diesel that kept the government and big shots in big salaries for years now they realize the damage done they're trying to blame ordinary folk for the damage done as the so-called scientists of no option but compression combustion engines uh money uh was what mattered but you see the more money the the higher the price of petrol and diesel and fuel goes the more money the government take um because that's the way it works the the bigger the price the bigger the tax so they're uh raking it in at the moment with that the price of petrol and diesel another caller says there's no point in anyone uh there's no point in anyone comparing arland to china if a bomb was sent to china by a madman china would be gone we don't want to take a chance like that in arland with the irish people but because of our land mass i think one of those nuclear uh warheads from russia would pretty much wipe us out anyway whether we had a nuclear plant or not uh but i understand what you're saying maybe um one individual um attacking one of these places i presume that's what you meant another caller says uh michael white saying we need wind turbines and that i agree with but initially only is full of wind turbines at the minute and they're only working at 40 to 50 percent because the grid isn't big enough to carry the power out of the wind turbines uh the problem is the grid another why are they taking power from the windmills in donningall to doblin to run the database centre so by the way my standing charge on my electricity bill has just gone up by 22 cent at re the falling guard of recruitment numbers being a member of the guards like the priesthood was once viewed as a position of prestige in arlands however after a series of scandals in the force many people are reluctant to join such a tainted organization until all corruption is rooted out of the force i fear good morale individuals will steer well clear good moral individuals will still clear with still as will steer well clear a big apartment of the guards as a long-term career all right it is the nine till noon show here on highlander radio um we are going to take a short break we might return with a piece of music stay where you are the nine till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today at leadle 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 food cloud and helping bees by doubling our number of pollinator friendly stores in 2022 decision by decision day by day we're taking leadle steps to a better tomorrow join us on our journey today at leadle steps dot i e leadle more for you the star war story continues with obi-wan kanobi the fight is done we lost experience the new six episode series streaming may 27th on disney plus the key to hunting jedi his patience where is he the original series streaming may 27th exclusively on disney plus your energy savings start right here right now with board gosh energy new and existing customers can save up to 974 euro with our best dual fuel offer find out more at board gosh energy dot i e discount on our standard unit rates for 12 months with fixed term dual fuel contract annual savings figure compared to bge standard rates offer available to new and existing single fuel customers unit rate and standing charge apply see board gosh energy dot i e for eab prices and full teas and seas is known as this one is hereditary amyloidosis and it's a progressive ultimately fatal condition without treatments and up until a few years ago there were none but now there are which is absolutely fabulous news and the main reason for our group is to raise awareness of this condition the earlier that people are diagnosed and have access to treatment the the better of a quality of life they're going to have and we're hosting the first 80 tr amyloidosis conference in gedore at an kerch hotel this weekend we have over 170 people attending including world experts in the field of this condition and leading medical professionals from both the north and south of ireland um i'm i'm looking at a map here um that um shows us the first seven families identified it's in a 1987 medical paper yes and it's not a region of the world it's not a continent it's not a county in ireland it's really quite specific to a north west ish corner of dunagall is there an explanation for that no there's no explanation for that and as you as you would know greg it has traveled the world with the irish diaspora so people in australia america all over the world all have ancestors from that particular region now my aunt was one of the first people to be diagnosed with the condition and on the map it shows burt as an area where this disease originates but what happened there was my great grandmother mother was from the northwest of dunagall and moved to the burt newton cunningham area we believe through the hiring fairs but we are so determined to raise awareness in this particular area of the country because as you will see from the map it's burtonport bunbeg dairybeg carry gart gordon atraw it's really a 15 mile ribbon of coastline from where this disease originates right so is it to do with uh an area is it local pollutants or something or is it genetics or do we actually know at this point they don't actually know all we know at this stage is that it's genetic so it is yeah okay yeah and it passes from one generation to the next so really every generation has a number of people affected in each generation and the trouble is for people that might have early symptoms they're not aware that this condition is in their midst because over the years it was misdiagnosed it might have been put down to angina or something else and the the figures indicate that about 40 percent of people are not aware of a family history so we would be asking people if they do have health problems and nobody seems to know what's going on to have a think back about their family history to see if there could be any connection right okay and um the more people traveled obviously then the links get broken or it spreads out doesn't i presume there was a time whereby you know it would be easy to identify you know everyone that may or may not be affected by this but as you've already outlined with people traveling emigrating whatever it might be the links get broken in time so do we think that the nucleus of it is here in the northwest of donagol and that every case that might pop up wherever it might be and you think for someone who may be adopted or something and become ill in in north america you know and they're going well i have nothing to base this on do you think if we could get this back to the beginning it starts in in donagol well it'd be fabulous to get it back to the beginning i would need to be clear to say that there are a number of different types of hereditary amyloidosis our type is known as t60a it's called irish amy or donagol amy throughout the world but for this particular type it everybody needs to have an ancestor from this from this area while it's a rare disease it's all the more unusual in that it has a geographically specific point of origin that's that's unheard of and we do know that there is a common founder which is quite interesting it would be fabulous if somebody wanted to do a documentary to try and try and find out who that common ancestor was right so let's talk about symptoms then that people need to look at for it is incredibly rare and you but i think knowledge is param at least it's something you can mention to your gp and they might rightfully or wrongfully hopefully not dismiss it but i think just if people have got something that they're struggling to say we're being told it's not this but i just don't feel it's that so talk to me about you know typically if there is a typical example of how this develops what are the first signs what happens next yeah there would be some typical symptoms and i and i have to say greg we are becoming increasingly aware that there is there are a significant number of dunnigol gps who are aware of this and have it on their radar and we're ever so grateful for that we obviously want more people to know about it particularly in the different counties um throughout throughout ireland there will usually be a cluster of symptoms so it can affect the heart people may have breathlessness it may affect the the nervous system where people have numbness or tingling and their extremities or feet there could be bowel problems there could be stomach problems if people have a little cluster the cluster causes problems because somebody could be going to a cardiologist for their heart and a neurologist for their polyneuropathy we need people to join the dots for this particular illness to to pull the specialties together i mean you could be referred to a cardiologist in dublin right and they go down and they do whatever they do you might not even mention oh and by the way i also have a bowel issue or what have you then you come back up and you know with the best will in the world you're probably no further on in terms of diagnosis you would be you would be no further on and that's why we're trying to educate the medical professionals and the patients and people that are involved so is there a typical age that these symptoms to start start to manifest yes for my particular condition the 50s and the 60s is when it starts so if people we would recommend particularly for people that have a family history that round about the age of 50 that they start to seriously consider genetic testing for this and does that have to be done privately no no it can be done through your GP and it's a very straightforward process it's either blood tests or saliva tests and we also have the benefit of doctors referring people over to the national amyloidosis centre in London which is the centre of excellence but we do have medical professionals north and south of Ireland who are becoming increasingly involved in this field okay in terms of treatments i seem to recall from the last time i spoke about this there are treatments that are effective for at least some but it's where they're available is a is a problem yes well the last time we spoke to you Greg we were campaigning for my drug which is patizaran to be made available in the republic of Ireland it has been available in the republic of Ireland from the first of October 2022 very recently we had 2021 is that 20 it's not available yet is it oh no it was available from last October 2021 okay yeah sorry no no no it's fine you're perfectly fine so um very recently we had our first patient in Donegal who had her infusion treatment in her Donegal home at this stage for new patients they get the first three treatments in Tallahospital in Dublin and then they have it at home i have also been on patizaran which is administered every 21 days it's a gene silencing treatment it's a four hour infusion every 21 days which helps to slow down the progression does it reverse any of the the problems associated with this disease i'm not entirely sure about the reversal some studies suggest that there are slight reversals but the important thing is if people are diagnosed really really early i have to say i am incredibly fortunate for somebody with this condition i have an excellent quality of life that's lovely to hear and i was diagnosed two years earlier than most because because my family has lived with this for 40 years i knew my family history and i was very aware of the of the early symptoms right so someone wants to know is what would be the difference and maybe it's obvious or not between amyloidosis and molten urine disease well there are two completely different diseases they're they're and i wouldn't really know very much about modern urine disease they would they would be similar in that they are both progressive and ultimately fatal so in terms of amyloidosis and um then the donagol amy variant or if that's strain or whatever the correct terminology might be what what's the percent like is is amyloidosis generally speaking rare or is it the donagol strain we'll call it that particularly rare no hereditary amyloidosis is rare anyway okay so there are 50 000 cases worldwide of hereditary amyloidosis and donagol amy is the third most prevalent understood now to be able to all organize a conference right and to be able to attract such expertise in uh this is kind of a strange question but there are incredibly rare conditions or diseases right that don't get the research that don't get the drug development or perhaps don't get the attention of such highly highly qualified people is there a particular reason that this has caught the attention of of the medical world compared to um other conditions say for instance like Lyme disease which many people believe does not even exist you know what i mean is there a particular reason why uh you can organize such a big conference about something that is really relatively rare i hope you understand the nature of that question yes i do and i can't comment on Lyme disease no but it was just to give the one example of something that was in the back of my head yeah well we were very fortunate in that donagol amy was first identified in america and it really caught people's attention that's what i'm getting at yeah the fact that it was geographically specific and then we were so fortunate that there were a team of researchers at the national amyloidosis center it caught their interest and they have dedicated 25 years plus in seeing what they can do and that answers the question i thought it must be something like that that there's a curiosity there about this that would that would drive on sort of that level of research and what yes it it really did and we are so we are so fortunate to have benefited from their their intellect and compassion that they have found solutions for where they're used to be to be any the the fabulous thing about my cousin is on crisper which is crisper trial which is the gene editing the other reason i think that we attracted interest is that we are small enough in number that we are an excellent control group for experimentation but if the crisper proves to be successful greg it will in time roll out across every genetic disease so it's absolutely fabulous as it's the stuff of dreams yeah so success in this field could daisy chain to to to others okay and as you say maybe you say it's a good control group to to develop yes right so the emerging from the shadows it's the ATTR amyloidosis conference 2022 is it all in person isn't yes you managed to attract all of these people to your persuasive qualities must be quite impressive we do have persuasive qualities i mean i have to say a number of these people we've had relationships with over the years for example professor mary riley who's coming over to the conference a world-renowned expert she was one of the people who came and spent two years traveling back and forward from england and donnie gall to research this condition she's looking forward to meeting me in person i'm family d in her medical paper professor julian gilmore we were we have been blown away by the response of people wanting to come and if i could just say in the very early days a number of people that are more experienced than us said you can't hold a major conference in you know the wilds of donnie gall and we had a very strong gut feeling that that's exactly where we needed to hold it it's the place where gene's geography and genealogy collide it's the only place it could have been hosting it's the only place it could have been well that's that's that's what we felt and there's there's a sense of you know as i say my aunt was was four decades ago so after 40 years in the wilderness there's a sense that we're we're bringing donnie gall amy home okay so it's saturday the 28th of May it's from 9 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m in uncurched hotel in health club guidore um you can reserve your seat now at ameloydice dosis dot arland at gmail dot com what kind of a turnip would there be for this because do you know what i mean the the numbers are relatively small and you know obviously it might not be easy for everyone to travel here so what's the expectation in terms of uh the crowd that might be there yeah well we've had a huge response it's for doctors and patients and at this stage we have over 170 people attending amazing in person we've a few seats left if people still want to reserve but the response has been phenomenal it's gonna be a little bit too like a medical thinking i wonder yeah it could well not for the public but you know sort of accidentally you know off the scenes behind the scenes yeah it's the top people in the field and we also have people we have um other ameloydosis groups traveling over from the uk we have canada coming we have the european alliance for patient access and we have ameloydosis international coming so it's it's an historic international conference of that of the highest caliber i think it's gonna go it is certainly gonna be uh referenced in the future i would think so just a word then to what what do you think we need to say just because obviously we're here to talk about the conference and the work that's been ongoing but to people who are living some sort of a medical nightmare uh you know that they feel they're that what they have no one can tell them what it is or they're suffering in silence so they're googling it and they putting it down to this that the other or maybe they might just say well it's my age this is what happens they're living alone maybe they were adopted i don't know whatever it might be so what what is your message to people out there today who may have this the sooner they come forward hopefully the sooner they can get on some sort of a a treatment because i just the thought if we could maybe stop one person's nightmare all of this would be so so worth it wouldn't it absolutely it is anyway but i think you know what i'm saying yeah absolutely greg and you know sometimes people ask us what the driving force is and i can only say that we have seen this up close and and personal it's i'm not saying that other diseases are any gentler but this one is particularly savage and we have come across people who've been told that their symptoms were all in their head we understand most of the problems that people might experience what i would say to people is if you have any suspicions at all or if you are completely unclear please make contact with us we will speak to you without a team of seven one of us will speak to you privately confidentially we will go through your symptoms we will have those discussions with you and try to steer you in the right direction we are experts when it comes to this disease and we will know from speaking to people if there's a strong suspicion that that's what they may be dealing with and if you get the right signposting it's a relatively simple test we'll tell you one way or other well the the genetic test will tell you if you carry the gene and then that will be a good indicator and then there will be a battery of tests to see if the disease has actually started some people may carry the gene and not go on to develop the the illness figures suggest that 80 percent of people do and one of the medical papers that we've already referenced Greg has indicated that they believe that one percent of the population over the age of 45 in Donegal may be affected by my type of hereditary amyloidosis so the numbers we do believe are larger than we know at the minute i'm absolutely convinced that's one and a half thousand odd people it is yeah yeah we're absolutely convinced that people are struggling with this and not dealing with it and if i can say in recent months we've come across a few families that have lost a loved one to this and didn't even know it was that it was in the family okay right well rosie hopefully we've reached those people also to just to mention already a huge amount of people have registered for this conference on saturday with all the experts really that you'd want associated with this disease present if you want to reserve your seed give us a ring here because i have said about seven different pronunciations or pronunciations of amyloidosis uh so in terms of spelling get in contact with us and caroline or don emory we'll spell it over the phone but if you know the spelling amyloidosis.arland at gmail.com to reserve your seat but you need to get in quick because there's already been a huge response to that as you can well imagine all right roseline calhan i'm great to hear that i'm delighted to hear that you're feeling good um and i just hope that we've reached people today that might be able to follow this up in in their lives and either prevent or help to treat this this condition for themselves lovely thank you very much for your time i really appreciate it back with more after uh the break 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 nine one oh two one two seven the euro millions jackpot is an estimated 50 million euro clear responsibly in store in app or at lottery dot iu the national lottery it could be you your specialty is quality tiles bathroom suites and wooden floors who is the best range of tiles and donnie gall the best wood flooring the best bathroom suites five day bathroom refits and who's been tampering with my questions that'd be me crawford tiles castle fin glad to be them oh seven four nine one four three nine four two what will your june feel like will you immerse mind body and soul in the deep of sea or lake or scale new heights on one long roller coaster of adventure to spread our wings and take one long wonderful exhale that's the bank holiday feeling and june's long weekend is the perfect time to feel and bank it all ireland is waiting start planning at discover ireland dot iu to make the most of your june bank holiday and keep discovering brought to you by falcha ireland every time you support local business you're creating local jobs and vibrant towns and communities for future generations let's champion green and together we rise champion green is supported by kilkenny design and visa in association with retail excellence small firms association and chambers ireland champion green dot iu highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport fancy a city break this summer you can now fly twice weekly to beautiful cologne in germany every sunday and thursday with ryanair ireland west airport you're flying oh the weather today will bring sunny spells and scotty showers a few of them are heavy this evening cloud will increase with rain and drizzle moving in from the west early tonight highest temperatures 13 or 14 degrees with mostly moderate westly breezes fresher in the showers but we're being told i've said it before and i'm sorry for repeat myself but the weather supposed to get pleasant for friday saturday and sunday at least so that's nice if you're off at the weekend so many of us though here in donagall don't have weekends off but a lot of people do the continental shifts they could be working a lot of people work in hospitality or in retail and i think if i were one of they and everyone talks about oh lovely the weather's great and saturday trust i do understand that not everyone is um off but hopefully you get away early and you can enjoy the weather maybe a barbecue wouldn't that be nice uh right yesterday we read a comment as it relates to the amount of uh ukrainian refugees who are on arin morisland someone mentioned a figure and like there was some sort of a mass exodus but we like to deal in truth here so we had a look into that situation the reality is this 14 uh ukrainians were located on arinmore island um for medical and family reasons within one family 10 left okay there was a situation a medical situation with one member of that family um and they required medical treatment and clearly the family wanted to be near where that medical treatment would be administered so it's not like they had a look around arinmore island and i think the people of arinmore uh know how much i love that part of the world it's not like they had a look around and said right we're getting the next ferry out of here uh there was a medical emergency and they had to leave for that reason so that is just uh to get to the truthful bottom of the situation okay um we are going to take a break if you've any requests or dedications we'll play a piece of music between 11 and 12 we'll play them out for you as well but we've got so much more besides coming up for you uh this break afterwards it's the news the night old news show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today breaking gardening news our correspondent petunia at alcorn's garden center 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 buy from alcorn's where value happens every day print your first communion photos at magies chemist and you'll get a free large 10 by 8 photo of your choice with photos from just 12 cent you can print in store or use the magies photo print app and have them delivered direct to your door preserve all your best first communion moments or great memories from any big occasion with magies chemist letterkenny where the best costs less terms of conditions apply ask in store for details i can't stop thinking about them i keep rereading their old texts brian brian this has got to 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 in banks search bank of ireland big move begin bank of ireland is regulated by the central bank of ireland funny with those ads when it's the woman she's a crying miserable wreck on the telephone and when it's a fella he's just keeping it together isn't it okay listen it is 11 o'clock it's time for news update and we say good morning now to mckayla clark hi mckayla thanks greg good morning two people remain in hospital falling a crash in west on a goal last week silver fort fiesta and a black up vol swagon gulf collided in the glacia area of deri beg shortly after 10 p.m last tuesday occupants of both cars four meals and three females were taken to letter kenny university hospital for medical assessment and treatment for injury sustained none of which are believed to be life threatening meanwhile guardian appealing to mechanics he may have been asked to repair a black bmw involved in a crash in the kill ross convoy area on sunday to come forward at approximately 6 50 a.m and many boss was traveling from the convoy direction towards to norler when it was struck by a black bmw that had been traveling in the opposite direction the driver of the bmw failed to remain at the scene a senior medical scientist at letter kenny university hospital says no medical scientist wants to be on the picket line today up to 30 000 hospital procedures will be cancelled due to 2 000 100 medical scientists striking over the next two days guardian letter kenny are investigating an incident of criminal damage to a fast food van in letter kenny last week between 9 p.m on thursday last and 10 a.m on thursday morning damage was caused to various parts of the van parked on the pier shroad entry was not gained a fina fall senator says the processing time for a child's passport is too long for many families Lisa chambers is one of a large number of mothers around the country who have had to wait over three months for the vital document for their child new figures released today show almost 200 000 people are waiting for their passports ahead of a busy summer season a public consultation event held in boncrona last night has been healed a success hundreds of people were in attendance to view plans for a new leisure center for the town and the major 20 million year repiring boncrona initiative that will see the town's surefront developed and three men arrested by detectives as part of their investigation into an aggravated burglary at a house in cathedere glass month have been released on veal pending further inquiries detectives continue to appeal for information about the incident which occurred on april the 5th shortly after 6 p.m when a number of masked men armed with weapons including a sledgehammer forced entry to a house in the dromna bay park area those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update again at 12 noon thank you very much indeed mikaela our manager's gotta bring down the government we're going to change the world smashing it to disney plus pistol a brand new original drama as singer is fully insane our base player starts fights for last this is punk come to us pie we're awful ladies and gentlemen sex pistols from director danny boyle pistol streaming soon exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply okay your comments here there was a full generation who didn't drink it was due to a rise in the drug scene this is the reason why alcohol is cheaper in the north i'm not saying anything to back that up but it's an opinion thank you i think that red bowl should be banned from nightclubs mixing a depressant alcohol with a stimulant is incredibly bad for you and a caller says what about the drug issue in donningall now at the nightclubs our youth are changing from drinking to drugs that's a very big issue i think all needs talked about great show coming in from silvia thank you very much indeed uh silvia uh greg afterlaw for the amount of people who complain about the price of petrol per liter but not a word about the price of alcohol per liter interesting so many can find the money for alcohol but complain about the cost of everything else well i mean you know you need petrol to get to work and just get the children to school and to get to the doctors and stuff alcohol for most people would be something that you choose to do not for everyone though and that's part of the conversation we were having on the program yesterday right okay now it is time to welcome on to the program dr anthony brezlin he's director of public health with the hsc good morning anthony good morning thanks for joining us right okay i mean obviously we used to speak to you quite regularly in the past there was a big push on on the vaccine uptake the booster uptake now what we're hearing is you know the occasional lad on the radio or the odd interview here and there but there is a strong push presumably from you and your your colleagues to get those who would benefit from a fourth a fourth injection to get it is that great is it fourth or fifth it's fourth isn't it anybody who who should get a vaccine should should be getting it if they haven't had it at all if they haven't had a full course if they haven't had the first booster if they haven't had the second booster so we're saying people who haven't should get the vaccine haven't got to go and get it and particularly those over 65 and also immunosuppressional for some reason and where can you get it now you can get it for your gp and you can get it from some pharmacies and there are still some hsc one clinics as well now there are a couple of strains doing the rounds at one found in arland i heard some of the media coverage saying the reason you know there's a bit of concern here is it can can evade you know some of the effects of a vaccine particularly if you had it some time ago and also if you've had covid before some might listen to that and go well if it's a can evade the vaccine what's the point in me getting the booster well because it's not the dominant circulating strain at the moment the others are still dominating this will pick up those and even though it may not provide 100 protection as it were against the new variants which are small in numbers at the moment it would provide some protection so it's better to get the vaccine than not to get the vaccine and we don't know what's around the corner what other variants as well we've seen i mean i'm sure people have given up trying to keep track of all the variants there are and we could get another variant that could be very very responsive to the vaccine so it's a good vaccine it's a safe vaccine at work so it's worthwhile getting it all right what about how much covid is around at the moment can you get a gauge of that uh with the level of testing that's ongoing uh we can get a rough gauge between that the the antigen tester reported the pcr tests that are being done and the numbers are very small thankfully and we can also see the number of admissions and also at the number of outpicks they're very very small uh thankfully so we hope it continues uh obviously as i said we don't know what's around the corner in terms of variants and obviously uh in the autumn winter when people start getting indoors again we don't know what will happen then but we're hoping that the vaccine will be very very useful to then preventing serious infection and outbreaks do we know yet what the situation will be as it relates to an annual situation no we don't know yes because we don't know we're going to get a changing picture all the time or will it go to some steady picture whatever uh that's been looked at big time but we can't give an answer at this stage okay so we don't know if it's going to become a seasonal sort of an event whereby we will manufacture a vaccine what we do with the flu we just don't know that yet okay right so people feel right at least at the very least we've a respite from from covid and now the headlines the main story is monkeypox now my read of what seems to be there is obviously medical professionals like yourself need to get the message out there but cases seem rare that doesn't seem a huge concern that this could be something that leads to mass outbreaks and i don't think we've had any cases here in in arland yet and in terms of outcomes i think two of all cases so far have had to be hospitalized but that's my reading of it what's the medical reality from from the professional's perspective um it is um we haven't got cases in arland yet probably will with the spread around the world in europe etc while um it is uh sort of a moderate self-limiting disease in the vast majority people it can become a serious infection um those are immunosuppressed and also in children i've seen media reports of a child being admitted in the uk but i haven't seen anything official about that uh we don't want to get to that situation where uh we have uh close contacts isolating for 21 days and small outbreaks happening on over and it's enough cases out there that it gets to um children and it gets to immunocompromised we don't want to go with them that's why we're trying to control us so it does not become an issue so that in a couple of weeks time we stop we can stop talking about it okay so you know you're in the business of public health and getting the message out there thankless at times uh dr brezen as you know yourself and i didn't know myself uh you know when we were trying to share the information about gov and a lot of people wanted it we're interested in it a lot of people would would like oh no not greg and anthy again right so with that in mind do you think there's a responsibility on the media to be measured in their response to things in other words like i'm not saying they have right but you know when it comes around to when we need really important strong messaging do you think maybe we need to be measured in how we cover things like monkeypox because we could find ourselves with the situation where the boy cries wolf you know and and bad news cells do you think the media needs to say and i think particularly the national media say right we need to think about where we're positioning this stuff because we might need that headline slot in september or october i mean i think in general uh the media have been responsive uh particularly the local media like yourselves and elsewhere around the country and you haven't typed things you haven't refused to report things as it were and and obviously uh what i say today some people will say uh there's a bit of sense in that in Europe say load or rubbish but uh what we're trying to get across is uh enough information for informed decision-making about whatever we're talking about and the local media are allowing that obviously um national media uh sometimes uh to use the phrase big things up because it suits their uh their audience etc but that's the way life is with anything it could be a financial issue it could be uh the housing issue whatever that's the way the media works but i i can say that in the north of yourself and your colleagues further down south uh in broadcasting and in the the print media uh have been uh very very reasonable i'm not saying you've taken everything um verbatim i'm not saying you haven't challenged us and for instance with ourselves you either challenge me or you'll have to put queries from your listeners in to challenge me and that's part of the that's part of the game but that's how we get to to information we have a conversation isn't it okay and that's the way i just i just don't want i just find as i say some outlets and i'm not asking you to criticize them i wouldn't for a second but just amplifying this and then what happens is it it it it pictures out if it does if not then we get back to it again but then when we need to talk about something that's really really serious then people go and well you said that about monkeypox anyway yeah yeah it's an ongoing it's an ongoing journey right i just want to update with you as it relates to hepatitis of an unknown origin in children as as that moved uh in any direction since we last spoke uh we actually i didn't speak to you about this my apologies doctor president no no no no you're okay you're okay um there are small number cases in the country as you know uh from national briefings uh we haven't seen tankly and upsurging cases uh we're internationally we're seeing cases increase but at a low level but they are coming in from all around the world unfortunately uh we still don't know what's at the bottom of this this was the main theory at the moment is the adenovirus infection but we still haven't got concrete information on that so we're basically trying to do lots of research internationally and a lot of cooperation between ourselves in the uk and other Ireland as well um on that and testing etc and the care of patients but the main thing is to get the message out again not to not to make people anxious that um uh it is mainly young children they get sick they get a pale feces a stool they get dark urine they get unwell talk to your GP talk get get an opinion from pediatrician and they take it from there okay and there have been situations where around the country kids have come in and we said oh could be could be and then do investigations and things settling that's not better to do that than to ignore it i'll think it's totally totally totally now obviously you know i've read some reports this is uh this could be linked to covid vaccine now i thought this could be quite easy to root out because this is a cohort that's not broadly vaccinated it's not because the vast majority have not been vaccinated dr anthony breslin thank you as always have a good day take care that's dr anthony breslin director of public health the hsc and as i say i just think there needs to be more responsibility there are reporting guidelines on other series issues such as save for instance suicide and others and i think it's really important that uh do we need guidelines on reporting things like um monkey parks because it's important as information out there but i think it has to be measured because i was listening to one national radio station um rte and it was headline news and i think if anyone was listening to that they would think that this is the next big thing and it's not and we've an awful lot to contend with at the moment and i just don't think we need uh important issues in context good information to be amplified to worry people i just don't see any benefit in that oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand whatsapps and texts to that number right uh i want to say happy 14th birthday to aran bates in convoy coming in from your mommy and also happy 98th birthday to kate mcconiglee from quarry port salon from all your family friends and all of us here at highland radio happy birthday everyone okay we'll be back with more after this from queen and david bowie and this is their track under pressure all right dj asks on facebook if these children who have hepatitis had the vast vaccine i know myself they haven't the vast majority the vast majority have not had the vaccine and i think it do it as a disservice in investigating it and try and get to the bottom of it if we started blaming everything on that's right okay uh michael darty joins us on the program now hi michael yes great how do you think i am good i'm good right you have a wind farming in a shown um like a full industrial scale not industrial scale one but like a big one or is it a small one what's the story mm-hmm like i'm supplying power to the national grid but i was at that meeting last night in boncraner and uh i have planning for 14 miles here on the other side right yeah and i got it about eight and a half years ago you get a 10-year planning right so there's eight and a half years of planning up to the air grids because they never give out no grid connections for the last 10 years until last year so that's a part of a big part of the problem so on the way um i was looking at the new development plan there and the dunagall kind of counselors they all voted they have actually wiped out everything in relation to renewable energy on the the one on the one more side of it because uh this site that i have here there's 18 months planning left on it they they have wiped out as well so could you not get a could you not get an extension well i'll come to that in a minute one of the planners last night you know for me you order the torbans today until you get them up and get them commissioned that's roughly about two years mm-hmm so out of six months out of this outside of the timeline so i asked them would i get an extension it says you will provide it your substantial work still that's exactly what i was going to ask yeah can you tell me what's substantial work because i'm sorry i can't answer that so that leaves it a mumble so you know why they've taken every site on the contrary out the elevated sites that every one of them taken out the only one is that they've allowed is down probably three to four hundred feet above sea level and they're all probably fairly close to houses and uh you know when you go to a bank to finance that the first thing the bank manager will ask you for is a one speech and seven half meters per second probably the lowest you can you can come down to but they'll rather have eight meters per second so that's another barrier there so you're saying they're being they're being planned out of existence they're being planned out of existence in other words you can maybe in some places build these wind farms but they're not practical so in other words you might as well not be given planning at all that is right and like you know i have one of those on the site here that the 14th is going on the planning for and why why has denigar the councillors voted this down why have they done it well we'll have to we'll have to look into that as two pound later at the moment and it's raising a full of oils around about 1400 euros heating up so where are we going we're going backwards can i ask you a little bit about running running the wind farm like how many days or weeks in a year would you be putting energy into the grid every week and it's obviously it's incredibly wind dependent is it and something else well probably during july i have to be what the two year your weakest months all in that you have 10 months right and in terms of you know fossil fuels required to keep them 14 wind time turbines because obviously as i say i referenced this already but you own wind turbines like do you need any other unsustainable energy to keep these generating energy oh no no no the one just the one or the one turn and it just drives electricity into the grid and that's it there's no other intervention required no no there's no oil at all russia required for that okay what about gas out of the carb no no no no no um i'm just another thing i wanted i wanted to say i had a lot of people ringing on this last couple of years to your your station as well because um what's the point in having one most when when uh electricity prices are rising well i'm getting eight cents from my car that's what i'm getting and if you don't have your household ball today ball a day you've been charged 25 to 30 cents for your day rate and 15 cents for your nightly and you're only getting eight as the generator and all one farm developers are the same that's what they're getting yeah that's the the optikers so i said the regulator needs to step on here or the god was there somebody making money three times more and we're getting but it's like farming and other industries isn't it the the person supplying the coal product they're getting the least well that's always the way it's right that is right now and like do you think it just to answer a couple of questions why we have on someone who actually works with wind turbines because it's quite fascinating like can the grid take all the power you generate do you know what i mean well come to that i was in Dublin six years ago and i asked the air grid what was it doing about upgrading the lines that had done it all and the answer they gave me was i was going to cost 48 million to upgrade the lines out of it all and they didn't think it justified that spend now they're spending 200 million the day down in Dublin on a quick fix to keep the lights burning they can't give data centers grid connections the earliest is 28 and they'll create thousands of jobs in this country so that's another downer as well it's a little bit like the electric cars everyone should have one but we don't have the charging infrastructure yet no we don't have the we don't have the infrastructure yet to carry the power from these turbines and let me ask you like is there times where you could be generating electricity and do you get an indication that they want you to stop like what is the journey of the power from your turbines in how does it work into the national grid does it go local is it sensitive i don't know how does that work michael well it probably goes local you know yeah it goes local but with travels in the lines you just don't know but i would say it doesn't travel because the part of the travels you lose more right okay yeah yeah that makes sense okay and like can you keep your turbines going all the time or does some at times can the grid not take it oh they're going all the time oh they're going all the time they can't switch them off because you see the moisture will get onto them so they have to know that they have to be generated all the time all right um and obviously you know you think you could be doing more we could be easing our reliance more but you're planned out of being able to provide more turbines more turbines you know you're trapped about 10 years them too many on the on the riddles of morning well i think that's incredibly optimistic uh because i don't think we can the planning the time it takes for for these projects to go through is astronomical michael you've been listening to this stuff for years right i haven't spoken to you before i don't think like what else has been said that you want to say well that's not the reality do you know what i mean like from someone who uh from within the industry operating like what what are the myths are out there i think all the stems from was because maybe of one mistake was made in a one farm uh and then they go off i'm not going to mention where but uh that where there was a mud slide but you see once you get planning for anything there's planning conditions in there right but there's one vital uh planning condition that the planners don't have on there on the grand planet mission especially for one month and all that is before work commences on the site the developers should be happy to furnish the planners with uh the name of the contractor that's going to do the civil work and secondly you know what experience has he got and the many years you know uh experience has he got and has has he money has he developed money one farm and that's not asked because if you're the one farm today and you bring in a contractor that never had any experience of building building another one farm like you know with a slick a slick ass in a man to jump onto a plane down in Dublin that was never in a plane before no i i i get what you're on about and i think too it also needs you know roads expertise in terms of linking that power to the linking that power to the local station as well all that stuff okay right michael i appreciate what are you going to do now i mean you can't roll the dice on substantial substantial work like if you pull concrete for the bases is that enough if you have the order you know with an estimated delivery time is that enough i mean presumably you can see to seek a further meeting with planners to get some clarity on those issues because i presume you know it was maybe wasn't all the expertise that we have in this in that regard of that meeting last night are you going to seek a meeting with planners to try and get some clarity on on the planning situation well after i but regarding that like you know the still the question is i i had another site here roughly 30 megawatts i was just about to lodge it into planning and huts weight off as well you know and i spent two years doing board studies and all different sorts and the cost lot of money that's that's down the tubes as well is there money in power generation when you get i mean i presume it's a long-term game and i'm not looking for figures but is there money in it well after probably 15 years there will be you know you have to be patient you have to be patient i like growing trees all right listen michael thanks for that all right take care bye bye oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand i mean obviously wind farms are a divisive issue but i think it's interesting to get some facts from his perspective of of you know what the situation is it relates to how green they actually are you know how they feed into the grid all that kind of stuff hopefully you found that informative as i did the nine 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 treat 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 nine thirty a.m to six p.m you will find us beside donahey motorhomes on the port road for an appointment call o eight seven six four seven nine one two one gmg stone just what your garden needs don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfibeds.ie ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer you'll get a comfy irish made mattress upholstered base and headboard from an amazing two hundred and twenty nine euro check out the full range at dfibeds.ie delivery free and guaranteed to you within seven working days dfi beds sleep well live well for all your training needs northwest forestry services training department balibufe offer a wide range of courses from training bodies such as nptc city and gills qqie landra and aba international courses include all land based services such as chainsaw tree climbing and rescue pesticides working in heights and atv training other courses offered include first aid responder manual handling and building safety to name but a few for a full list of training courses and availability contact northwest forestry services balibufe on 0749132033 i've just had the eclipse cinemas experience wow they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner chairs directors lounge vip room pizza and hot food served to your seat have a glass of wine and enjoy the film on the big screen try it for yourself at eclipse cinemas lyford stirban where the stars shine brighter by the way the pizzas are amazing you can book your seat anytime at eclipse cinemas.ie okay so we asked would you be happy to use nuclear energy if it were an option in other words if it were generated in ireland on twitter 67 percent of you said yes 33 no on instagram 40 percent yet said yes and 60 percent said no so difference of opinion there pretty much equal the difference um on different social media platforms brendan alconas the incoming president of the god of representative association good morning to you brendan good morning greg what i know with interest is some of the the headlines coming out of this conference which is currently on in westport is stuff we've been talking about for years you know the the the the issue of training of garter advanced driver training so they can know exceed the speed limit or use their lights or whatever you know basic tools of crime prevention that's still in 2022 with the subject of a a jr a conference it's ridiculous not from the jr a's perspective but that this stuff is still there's still these gaps yeah it's greg and i just completely share your sentiments there because the taxi ipad whenever i was looking at the agenda these are all issues that i've been speaking to you and indeed shant for years and the things that little or no progress has been made on them is a bit depressing for our members but it's important to keep beating the drum because there's a very strong message being sent out there from the communications department when on a guaranteed corner and the department justice that would perhaps give a different impression to communities across the country and the cost of it all that l is well in the garden that it's the best resource best equipped and delivering a better service never and that is clearly not the experience of our members who are the people who deliver front-line pieces policing and no more about it i think than any other group in society yeah i mean obviously that the where the guards are there they're there right i presume a good proportion of them would be open to this training what's the problem well is it a lack of training is it is it to do with i don't know what is the why do we have members of the four sitting in the driver's seat of a car that can't switch the the flashing lights on absolutely it's it's look at it it's it's i don't like to be little the situation but it's boring on far stuff you know we know and only go out of the side of the county in the distance and the fact that if a the citizen picks up the phone dialed 999 the diamond crisis and i need help that you'll have a guard driving along that maybe has to stop at a red light for road work so there's nothing coming the other way or if there's a car in front of them driving slowly that they can't even just signal that driver to move over and let them pass it's just beyond anything in this day and age so and i suppose the problem is often the guards we do have a have a have a have a culture of service and making bad systems work and but that's to our detriment because we're seeing now individuals guard even have to count and actually discipline for for driving with blue lights on and we just think that's completely intolerable i think any reasonable thinking member of public to rely on a service would share those thoughts but but again we beat this from and nothing changes also as it relates to the the uh i i did hear some discussion about self-defense classes which i i don't know to be honest with you i i rolled my eyes at that but that's probably my ignorance that brendan i'm just thinking of a situation whereby a guard who shouldn't be on the road is having to be out on their own and having to deal with two or three people perhaps or whatever i don't know how much training would be required for it to be effective is this tied to perhaps maybe also talking about stun guns and equipment as a deterrent i don't know what you're the expert you're the professional what's what's the move in the force it's just the overall package you know of of issues because the statistics are there the members are being assaulted the levels of injuries and and the amount of absenteeism and non-effectiveness because of the thoughts so we're saying something has to be done and maybe you know i can just speak for myself personally let's say um i was the test of the force in 1997 so now 25 years since i had any self-defense training so even if i had the best self-defense training at the time it's getting a bit rusty so we need to train train people so there's some merit in that so absolutely and we say you know we shouldn't be most police services trained on people regularly and they and they have yearly training of uh you know to ensure that they're up to speed with with with proper practices and so we think that actually could actually be a benefit to the tax process maybe carrots just would know how to maybe blot the salt or take people down or better use of restraint and that sort of thing that would meet the last injuries and then um as you say use of tasers tasers are very effective they're less leads of use of force in very serious situations we're not just in the cars we're running around tasers and people are fighting center but unfortunately there is a lot of incidents out there involving knives and sharp instruments and that and we just believe that access to tasers is something that most police officers in europe and across the world take for granted yet i mean in donnie gall we were just we were lying on the asu to come from barry shannon if we're looking up to there i'm going to come from flygo so we just think there should be more available if we look to scotland which is probably a type of policing that that would replicate donnie gall whenever police scotland decided that tasers were an appropriate piece of equipment they actually rolled them out to officers who walked in the highland the lawn quicker than they decided the city center stations where people had back up yeah i get you what is morale like uh brandon because you know i i get a sense from people i would speak to out and about that it it really hasn't perhaps been much lower you know when you're asked to do overtime or what have you that there's less of it an inclination to sort of want to do because you just want to break from the work there's some people excellent guards uh who are getting out just as soon as they can because they you know if they have an option to get out that's what they want to do i'm not sure what recruitment is like but i i just get a sense as to say that morale is really really low at the moment maybe two also with the role that god yet to play through covid it didn't help but also too that that there's a it's not a brain drain but it's the experience equivalent like how much of that is true how much of that's a reality that you can capture the situation per every day and if we take those of us we look at donnie gall for example you have two scenarios you have the 24 hour centers like there are kenny boncran and balichana where you have young members on units they're responding to incidents and the level of attrition the workload and the burnout it's just phenomenal and as you say it's years ago people will be delighted to work a shift of all time to get a few barb now members saying no i just i think i need to break i can't take anymore my workload is too excessive we've got going in on the day off and files guards taking files home then you go out to the rural station we've just had a delegate address conference there who station will vote he outlined how it used to be nine guards and a sergeant when he went there it's now down to a sergeant two guards doing to be two guards so members in in the outlying stations while they may not have the same volume of work there's less often doing the same amount of work so they are carrying a bigger burden i'm left on my own on my own station so you have that attrition so then how does that manifest itself well senior guards in the outlying stations when they hit the 30 years lot of them are saying this isn't for me i'm getting out so i can't take anymore are the young people who are the sergeant they're experiencing the burnout in the in the bigger stations and they're resigning in insignificant numbers which is a phenomena that we is really strange to guard so and recruitment is now keeping a pace we had 25 recruits started in the guard college last intake 25 you know that you're hitting now that's not for the entire year of you but i mean again the public statement for the budgets there'll be up to 800 guards recruited we won't see the 800 and what if we do see won't actually balance those leaving the force so we're actually on a downward trajectory now at the moment which is very alarming and we would say that you know 14 000 even when we're we have all those numbers isn't enough in the first of scotland but there's over 17 000 police sworn police officers police in a similar size population yeah but you've been obviously banging the drum for the north west for donagol and it seems somewhat ignored from an outsider looking on you know you can no comment or saying completely wrong it just seems some of the the the decisions that are made by senior guard it's more like following what's on in the media you know if journalists focus on a particular problem in an urban area resources are sent there if the next story is about a particular interest sorry a particular situation on a border in a border area guard are sent there very sort of reactionary to what's what's in the newspapers what's in the media and yet then we have these glaring gaps in the likes of donagol and no matter what you say no matter what the other members of the force say nothing gets done is there any truth in anything i've just said from your view absolutely Greg and i mean the classic example is the access to transport in donagol and i'm very conscious of i'm now the national president so i speak to all of my members and i'm not going to say let's take resources off members but i speak to guards around the country there are stations where there are vehicles parked up that are not used on the full-time basis but are there for use whenever the demand increases yet in donpanahe i have no car at all ever to go to work at the minute you know so that's just an example and i spoke speaking to guards around the country who were saying to me years ago the problem was that we had we had a guard and no cars now they have cars and no guards we have no guards and no cars now that's obviously the extreme but certainly and you know it's as you say the only we act a crisis and so it's i believe the public representatives don't need to stamp the fleet more and demand better service and the public because it's it's it's not it used to be the case though like i don't want to call anyone out because then i might do those that did say something into service but policing police resources uh stories like that you relate it should be an absolute scandal uh that there's a lack of guard in in donpanahe in mavil for example as was mentioned that that should be what people are are are up in the doll embarrassing the the embarrassing the minister responsible into action you know saying really is it like that this is a i'm going to have to get on to drew or whatever you know what i'm on about but i mean it doesn't seem to be maybe it's not a vote get her i don't know well we have said consistently as an association is that we there should be a clear level of our clearly a demarcation point that the x amount of guards are required to police donnie goff and we can look down and say right well we're below quota or we're above quota or we're holding ground we don't have that the allocation of guards orders is a political football and unfortunately the squeaky hinge there's a squeaky squeaky wheel gets the oil and it would appear that maybe donnie goll isn't just getting our message isn't getting through and you know but the problem is great and you know it we abandon about these concepts and these words like accountability so if a guy in donnie goll puts on a uniform tonight because i have indeed with them they're accountable for what with the outcome and their decision making but if you say there's someone in donnie goll why is there no guard or why is there no car well local management say well we can only have what we can are given from doblin we can only allocate that if you speak to doblin they'll say oh well that's the local management issue there's been what there's resources donnie goll is up the local management so who is actually a counselor we've a joint police committee we've a police authority we've got inspectors with all these quangos and talking shots but who actually made the decision that there will be less guards and over and if it was made why was it made what was the right now and the people of mozilla and titans know that and if you don't know that we're banjaxed uh but and and yet it's like we hear the same arguments in in in health and in other areas brendan thanks for your time this morning congratulations by the way on your elevation to president of the god of representative association and we appreciate your time on this program uh as you're always available to us and we appreciate that uh thanks brendan thank you very much take care of yourself 08 660 25000 your views 08 660 25000 give us a call in 07 491 25000 this listener says the court is letting down the guard the penalty does not fit the crime guard he do not know what's facing them it's a shame on them and other there's been no patrol car in tonfana since october it's not good enough i think we referenced that as part of that interview it's not good enough but it's good enough uh to someone who makes the decisions and thinks that tonfana he doesn't deserve a patrol car the 9 till noon show with letterkenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letterkenny credit union 9102127 fly with loganair from city of dairy to edinburgh and immerse yourself in the live shows at street food of the fringe festival this summer with discounts for children age 11 and under book now at loganair.co.uk 15 kilo luggage allowance as standard right now you can get sky tv and bra band with netflix at no extra cost all for 55 euro a month must be worth a conversation son yep netflix is on us shall we dance with sky you get the best entertainment all in one place so get sky tv and bra band with netflix at no extra cost all for 55 euro a month what are you waiting for search sky 55 availability subject to location new sky customers only set up fees minimum term and further terms apply for more information see sky.ie slash speeds buy now and then split your payment over three months interest free with klarna at tinnies toys letterkenny now that the evenings are longer there's loads of great ideas for outdoor fun at tinnies like pedal and battery ride on tractors cars and jeeps also a great range of outdoor toys like swings and slides now in stock shopping made easy with klarna at tinnies toys lec road letterkenny and at tinniestoys.com for express delivery or click and collect it's a busy time on farms so watch out for tractors trailers and other farm machinery using the roads be patient slow down and only overtake farm machinery when it's safe to do so if you're driving a tractor you must hold a license make sure your vehicle is roadworthy check your load regularly and drive at a safe speed be aware of traffic building up behind you and when possible allow cars to pass safely from the road safety authority and the irish farmers association okay regular visitors or infrequent visitors to st patrick's well at green and av alia in donigol may have noticed that a wooden cross that was there um is no longer there kathryn mclin is uh joining us now she's from wheel of donigol to tease us out with us good morning kathryn hi greg would you describe this as like a wooden Celtic cross is that yeah it's very nice it looks like it's hand carved and now it was just i was up there last week with some friends who were over from the uk and we took them up of course there because of course the fort and then the fantastic views over in childland and beyond but um one of the one of our parties are retired vicar from whale so i said i told him about the holy well behind the fort so he wanted to see it and my last picture sitting there was 2019 may actually this month in 2019 so this month when i went up 2022 the cross is gone yeah in the pictures that you've posted it looks it looks big it looks heavy it looks like it's leaning a little bit is it possible that it fell over no one's responsible and it was just removed for safety reasons no because it no it wouldn't have fallen over without somebody noticing it because it's not that big it would be i'm terrible at measurements maybe two feet high or in or around that no it looks bigger than that my apologies yeah yeah no it's not huge it's well that's perspective because i was down low to take the picture with a fortune that's gonna say it looks twice the size of the fort behind it it's like that fathoment would do go this is here um no no um so it wouldn't have fallen over that you wouldn't see it because the well is nicely maintained it's not overgrown like a lot of things to um it you know you would see it um and i got on to then i googled yesterday after i tweeted i googled and i found a a facebook page for hong green and as well and i got a reply from them and they said that they were equally shocked to discover it had gone so so we don't know when it went by the way it could have been the day before uh the pic you took uh your last picture it could have been the day after you took the picture in may 2019 we really don't know someone's going to know well come on obviously yeah and hopefully they'll get in touch with us but why why would they remove it because it doesn't it looks like you have to find your way to where it's at it doesn't look like it's spoiling anything and obviously it's gotta it's gotta it's gotta um religious symbolism there i can't understand why anyone would go up and remove it like it's not a fence if it's not in the way it's not disturbing anything and unless you knew it was there you wouldn't know what was there do you know what i mean you have to go around the side of the fort and walk down the hill a good wee bit and then you find it and i only found it because i'm trying to photograph all the holy wells and donnie gulf so it was on my list to do from a book from 1936 because um on was meant to have been blessed by st patrick there yes you know and i mean this respectfully as well okay it's it's a cross but it's not so beautiful that it would something that you would steal and put in your garden does that make sense i don't want to offend anyone at work like i'm i can't see the motivation for it being removed the only thing i can put it i don't think anybody who went who is of a religious ilk would take it not to do with you're not allowed to steal but to do with the fact that you know the way you shouldn't like holy artifacts like that would would not be good for you to be removing sort of do you know um so if you understood its significance you would and and you validate for that you know not to take it absolutely like anything you don't touch things when you're out but um the only thing i can put it down to is like for like you know the old ways of saying for divalement maybe somebody just removed it i don't think it would be in badness and i don't think anybody would destroy it okay well we need to and if it fell over you can see around the area greg if you go up for a run and you just part and walk to the left of the fort and then just as we passed down the hill not very far just down the hill and you'll find the well now it's a pity that the cross is gone i know it wasn't original to the site that's okay but because it was there you saw where the well was must be easier but you will identify yeah okay well listen we'll see if we can get to the bottom of the the mystery of the disappearing cross i know i would love to know i would love somebody just to put it back it doesn't matter why they took it if they just put it back because it's part of that and it's such a pity that it's that it's gone and it didn't look in such bad condition that somebody would have taken it to repair it that i know it didn't look it doesn't look to be in that condition but listen stranger things have happened someone's going to know it's just a case of whether or not they decide to share the information with us and us with you kathryn thanks for your time this morning thank you take care goodbye thank you okay have you any idea what happened to the wooden cross that was located at st patrick's well green and avalia in an issue um it's off the beaten path unless you beat the path to the well but you know what i mean um and it was there in may 2019 it's not there now when did it disappear what happened to it uh i know some of you out there might know let us know 08 6 60 25 000 whatsapp some texts the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account century complex is the perfect family day out treat yourself to a tasty meal at backstage bar and grill an exciting movie at century cinemas and explore century play get in touch with our team today on 0749121976 or check out our website centurycinemas.ie for more information on century complex there's great decisions being made every lunch time at kelly's diner letter kenny like will it be chicken and bacon Caesar salad or the club special with hot turkey slices and smoked bacon maybe homemade goujons with chips or one of the famous all day breakfasts there's lunch specials from just 0650 served every monday to thursday from 12 to 3 and a full a la carte menu served all day at kelly's award-winning diner mountaintop letter kenny he had a day north of the end they didn't come to you abron august on the whole horry creek now a value firm to date north me more gawk firm a hula rush martian more will they're in bala let the whole surface finish a quick on show let her have to sign a firmer to brush all the stuff all our senses punk a decent or if they're going to or bordeaux chardonnay or champagne or la la center is french wine sale has so much choice with a wide range of offers to suit any summer square visit centra until the 8th of june to pick up your bargain bottle celebrate summer choose centra centra leave every day always drink responsibly 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 ryan air and enjoy some of europe's best beaches ireland west airport you're flying sonny spells and scattered showers this afternoon in the evening cloud will increase with outbreaks of rain and drizzle in the west highest temperatures 13 to 15 degrees winds mostly moderate tonight cloudy with rain and drizzle extending eastwards the rainbow clear by morning southwest winds increasing moderate to fresh temperatures 8 to 10 degrees so tomorrow it's not going to be a bad day you know for us here in the northwest sunny spells and scattered showers but your evening will be dry and temperatures will be 13 to 16 degrees that wind though will continue to be moderate but if it's not driving a cold wind it's not so bad is it right okay uh let's see where we're at time for some of your comments hi gregg could you please have a discussion on this i own my own hair and beauty business in letter kenya pay rent taxes and i employ others i'm sick of people coming in and giving abuse how how they can get it done cheaper up the road by someone else i can't understand how the black market economy is going on undetected since covid business has got all the more competitive and difficult for me to stay in it the cost of products is rising causing me to increase prices there's also a shortage of staff as people are no longer going out to work because they can stay at home on benefits and make a small fortune unquestioned from home what is social welfare doing about this i'm at my wit's end with it all this morning i did someone's hair and when i said 90 euro she said oh that's very expensive i can get it done in such a such a house for 50 euro surely you can match that price if she can make a profit at 50 euro why can't you it's so frustrating right okay so really what it is is this person hair and beauty business in letter kenya they're paying all the overheads but someone else is operating out of a room in their house may not or maybe paying all they're not paying maybe the water charges or or what have you and they're able to do the same hair much cheaper and that business person is being forced out of business because they can't compete but also they're tired of having to explain this to customers uh i presume it's not just that industry there's bound to be others 08 660 25 000 what's apps and text to that number or call 07 491 25 000 the tickets for the donagall game went on sale on friday and i tried immediately started trying but the system was constantly busy then i tried to get them in the usual shop i got i get them in uh but they don't have any and are not getting any either i've since been told that they're sold out and most of the tickets went to dairy clubs can anyone clarify if this is true or fair tickets bought within hours uh clubs got tickets non for general release so uh there was only tickets available from clubs seemingly but also obviously it's a big game huge interest but the attendance is 28 000 which is smaller than previously i think so that's more demand less tickets it's going to cause problems isn't it the earth is 4.5 billion years old uh has had lots of catastrophes example earth quakes tsunami supervolcanoes erupting and many many asteroids hitting the planet but we wrecked it in less than 200 years yes indeed we really got to work quickly uh amyloid isis known as c8 people that have passed due to getting it lived around dairy donagall in the antrim coast mostly put down to do pond plant leaks and people working in there i don't know how that would explain the genetic spread of it though because if unless it it it coded the genes i don't know i don't know i i only know what i've heard from our guests talking about it uh last one before we go myself and my wife walk the town park in letter canning i presume on a regular basis for some exercise in a safe place but an increasing problem we are facing is the lack of parking this morning i counted 20 cars in the park and yet there was only six people in it in the park while i was counting another elderly couple arrived and had to pull up out again as they were snow parking available it's clear the that people are using these spaces so they don't have to pay for parking for a hospital appointment can anyone or anything be done about this it's a fantastic facility but it's being wasted by the lack of parking is that a problem we can return to that tomorrow people using the town's car park as a car park to go elsewhere let us know if that is a problem that you faced i'll wait six sixty twenty five thousand listen thank you