 What's Friday Eve? Oh, I didn't have my mic up. No, I said it's Friday Eve. It's Friday Eve now. Can't do that. What do you mean you can't do it? Well, then... Like, Wednesday is Friday Eve. Don't overcomplicate things. Be happy. Tomorrow's Friday and then we have bank holiday weekend. And Halloween. Yes. And all of that. OK, what are we going to do next week? Don't know. You're off and I'm off. I know. Let's mean you... Off together, could you mind, isn't it? Yeah, we'll finish off. Do you honestly think you could spend the day together? Do you drink? No, I'm joking. No, I can't. Can't. Not my age anymore. The next day. And... Yeah, of course, would. We go fishing. I haven't gone fishing. kayaking? Aye. Something physical. Yeah. Climberacle? Yes. Befo. But we're not doing that. No. I'm doing nothing next week. I did not. No, I know. Danny Judy! Just in case I get my say. Have you noticed the jobs lining up? Yeah. So you said I'm going to take a week off. I have to. I have to take a week off for a break. Monday, Tuesday is... Wednesday's booked out for me already. Yeah. So it really leaves me Thursday or Friday. Yeah. I have a four-gang light switch to fix the boilers. Timer's broken out. The chains out. I've been sitting on the kitchen windows all looking at me. Yeah, but Claire hasn't even started. Yeah. I know. No. I was happy saying Friday even all that happy talk. No, you brought me down. Okay. Bring me up again now. Tomorrow I'm going to send you away. Just fly in high. Fly in high. You won't even know yourself. Be like Westlife. Okay. Take a look. All right. Lee Gooch back with you tomorrow morning at 6.30. It's nine o'clock. Let's get a news update. And it's over to Donna Marie Daugherty. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. A man's been killed in a road collision between an e-scooter and a van in County Sligo. It happened just after eight o'clock last night in the townland of Roshine Riverstown. The man who was aged in his 50s was on the e-scooter when he was hit by the van. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the van who's aged in his 30s is being treated for minor injuries at Sligo University Hospital. Last night's death means the same number of people have been killed on Irish roads so far in 2023 than the entirety of 2022. 155 people have died in road collisions up 36 on the same time period last year. It comes ahead of a high visibility road safety campaign for the October day van quality weekend. Minister of State with special responsibilities for road safety Jack Chambers is urging all road users to take care. On holidays, there's high levels of activity, more people out and about on our roads and that's obviously the natural position for people going down the country for a break or going about within their local community. So we know that there's often an increased number of collisions, more fatalities and higher risks for individuals. We've seen some people who're really concerned about the health problems and the health problems in regards to the XIHACANA and they're really focused this weekend on the life saver offences. The attack of two asylum seekers in West Dunnegal in recent days has led to calls for government to urgently intervene. That is to ensure that those seeking refuge in Ireland in state provided accommodation are safe. The centre recently opened in West Dunnegal with those living there physically threatened Deputy Paul Murphy pressed Tisha Kliuvaradkar to outline what steps are being taken to ensure the safety of people integrating into communities. What actions are being taken to ensure that these people are kept safe and what action is being taken to ensure that integration is taking place, that investment in the local community is taking place to ensure that people are properly integrated. Obviously government has a duty of care when it comes to providing safety for people in any state fund facility and we do take measures to try and ensure that we have a particular fund as well to recognise local communities that have accepted international protection applicants and Ukrainian people. For weather today we'll bring sunny spells and widespread showers. Some of the showers will be heavy and there's a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the late evening which may cause spot flooding. Highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees in a light to moderate south to south west wind. That's all for now. The next news update is at 10 o'clock. In the meantime keep up to date with the latest local news on our website highlandradio.com for myself and the news team. Good morning. Return, refund, recycle. Ireland's deposit return scheme is coming. From the 1st of February 2024 when you buy a drink and a bottle or can with the return logo you'll pay a small deposit. Once you're refreshed return your empty, undamaged bottle or can to any shop or supermarket and get your deposit back. The results? Less litter, less waste and better recycling for Ireland. For more visit return.ie. The county's number one talk show. The 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the northwest. The 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello and a very good morning to you. It's just turning five minutes past nine on this Thursday, the 26th of October 2023. And you're very welcome along to another 9 till noon show. Yes, it is Thursday's edition and it's another busy one. We're going to cover a lot of big issues for you today. I'll be want you involved in that conversation if you want to be involved in that, of course. 08 660 25,000 is the WhatsApp and text number 08 660 25,000. Give us a call either on 07 491 25,000 Caroline awaiting your call there or email comments at highlandradio.com and inviting you to watch the show if that suits you and your lifestyle the way you are. You can go on to YouTube Highland Radio Ireland and throw us up there on your smart TV on the YouTube app or on your fire stick as well. Most of you I think have either one of those devices at home. If you're on Facebook, we're on Highland Hub, Highland News and Sport as well. And good morning to Dolores, who's a regular watcher of the show. And Dolores is back in Lederkenny University Hospital. I think you were down there for quite some time earlier in the week. Dolores back in again, and she says things are moving fast. So hopefully they are Dolores and hopefully we have you out there listening to us at home in the comfort your home really, really soon. I'm sure you'll get well looked after. Okay, let's have a look at this morning's newspapers that your Connell Tribune has done to go politics turns to next June's local elections. Sheen Fain has already chosen their candidates for the letter Kenny in Milford area, while Finnegale sets out on the long road to increase their membership in Lifford from the current four councillors. The paper understands the Finnegale Convention due in a number of weeks will see outgoing councillor Jimmy Kavana joined by another runner in the letter Kenny area and in Milford changes on the way a new name for a new era may well see Cranford's Aaron Sweeney selected in a one candidate strategy for three seats are providing acceptance nomination. Irons are regular on this show has been quite critical of Finnegale in the past, but his tone softened somewhat in more recent appearances on the program. Well, he could be in the rolling for a seat there. A secondary school teacher in letter Kenny Sweeney who's 26 is just starting out on his career. And he has the potential the paper says to be a formidable candidate. Plenty more analysis as you'd expect for John McIntyre and the team in the paper today. The Donegal News, the handing over of ownership of 1.6 acres of land to a letter Kenny school will transform the educational lives of its pupils. The principal has said the field has been officially signed over to Skolmora Gunsmall, a Loretto affiliated primary school in the heart of letter Kenny by Loretto sisters. Ireland discussions are underway within the school community for the future use of the field located to the side of the school going forward. The Derry News this morning, a new survey aimed at examining any potential risks to one of Derry's most iconic buildings is set to be carried out. The landmark Austin's building in the diamond has lain vacant since the closure of the 186 year old Austin's department store in March 2016. The future of the iconic building was discussed last week at Derry City and Sturban District Council's Austin's task force, which comprises the owners of the building, city hall girl, city hotel group, council officers and elected representatives. On to the nationals now in the row within government about how Ukrainians are housed into the future rumbles on government proposals to time limit the state's provision of accommodation to those fleeing the Ukraine war are problematic and impractical refugee support groups have said this is the Irish times and like the reality is, is part of the reason for the changes. It would be hard to suggest otherwise is to discourage the numbers of people coming here coming here really. So in terms of the problems and the impracticality of it, I think the idea being that fewer would come and that would alleviate those issues. Well, in the wake of a cabinet rub over the suggestions, which have been drawn up in the face of unprecedented pressure on the state system for receiving refugees and asylum seekers, Irish refugee Council Chief Executive Nick Henderson warned against the proposals. Ethically, it's problematic. But as a policy idea, it's problematic because they don't know if it's going to be successful or not. He said, I just don't think it's practical. Where would people move on to? He asked questioning whether people would effectively be evicted from welcome centres planned on the proposals drawn up by officials. But I suppose the logic is, and this is not expressed in opinion, just looking at it logically, if at the moment, people are arriving here into hotel rooms, which are not suitable long term accommodation, or into tents, which are not suitable long term accommodation, because there is no suitable long term accommodation, well, then you have to let people know that say, if you're coming to Ireland, this is what we can offer you for three months. But the reality is, our housing capacity is is full. And that's generally accepted. So at least it's putting the cards on the table. And there are loads of other places around Europe where people can seek safe refuge. And I presume the idea being that they may look at those options. I don't know. I can only imagine that's part of the plan. I think I saw the figure we carried yesterday, that Donegal has 7,000 Ukrainian refugees out of a total of almost 100,000. So we have an awful lot in this county, which is great. It seemed to be getting on very well, compared to the rest of the country. Sligo, all of Sligo, half Eletrum, and a slither of Donegal, they've got 5,000 in total. And compared to Donegal's 5,000 in total. On to the Irish Independent now, and you might remember there was a big convoy that erupted for three or four days or two or three days about the reduction in speed limits. It's back in the papers today and the Irish Independent, people driving on roads earmarked for reduced speed limits may feel they are driving a tractor, this according to a Russian Faint TD. His comments came as an independent senator said drivers without insurance or under the influence of alcohol or drugs should have their cars confiscated and crossed, which is a bit bizarre. It's not very environmentally friendly, is it? Well, junior Transport Minister Chuck Chambers came under pressure in the Arctis for his plans to bring in lower speed limits by the end of the year. He wants to cut limits on local and rural roads from 80 kilometres per hour to 60, while also imposing a 30 kilometre limit in towns, cities and residential areas. Sinn Fein, TD Martin, Kenny told the Minister at the Arctis Transport Committee hearing that people would not follow laws they believe were ridiculous. If you've erode going between two towns and the first five kilometres is relatively straight and a good road and you set that speed limit at a low limit, people are going to say, what the hell's going on here? I feel like I'm driving a tractor. They're not going to abide by it. Mr Chambers said a road between two towns would be up to 80 kilometres, adding that there had been no changes proposed to speed limits on those roads. And also in terms of the speed limits, they would be adaptable, dependent on. I mean, there are roads, I think, are obviously 80 kilometre roads. Going into Chrysler, that road from Turmin to Chrysler, it's 100 in places. When really, it's probably not safe to be 100. It probably should be 80. I presume that's the type of changes we may be looking at. On to the Irish Daily Mail now and it, like many of the papers have ongoing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. Benjamin Nahou warned Hamas terrorists they were doomed, as he vowed, to push ahead with a ground invasion of Gaza last night. Israel's Prime Minister said the battle against the gunmen who massacred civilians on October 7 was necessary to save our country. And the airstrikes on Gaza were only the beginning. But questions remain over the exact time frame after it was reported that the country was delaying the ground attack to allow the US to rush missile defenses to the region. The US is going to find itself by accident or designed right bang in the middle of a full blown war in the Middle East. And as Nahou was making those comments, there was an incursion into Gaza. No coincidence in terms of timing. But if they go in, Iran backed, Iranian backed Hezbollah will be watching on with interest and other issues elsewhere. Of course, the Irish Daily Star this morning, more than 250 counterfeit units of a drug used in the treatment of diabetes and for weight loss have been seized by the Health Products Regulatory Authority. And I want to mention this because in conversation with market authority, the pharmacist earlier in the week, I did mention that there is online, these drugs are available online and they're in huge demand and people might go, I need more of this, I can't get it, so I'm going to go online and it's really, really dangerous. The HPRA said that the 254 units of fake semaglutide came in white powder virals and clear liquid form. The drug is primarily for diabetes treatment, but it's also used without recommendation as an appetite suppressant. Gronya Power, HPRA Director of Compliance said those who purchase such products online were risking their lives. So really, please be very, very careful. You can find yourself really quite sick if you were tempted to get on that route. So I'll just mention it on the off chance that one of you who may have considered it might think again. Phones are going to be banned in the classroom. The Irish Daily Mirror reports today, phones will be banned in classrooms under new plans being prepared by government senior government ministers are keen to tackle what was referred to as the scourge of the rampant prevalence of the devices in schools. The flood of phones in schools, particularly smart phones, is having a detrimental effect on education, with teachers telling the Irish Mirror that it's destroying school life. Education Minister Norma Foley has recognised this and is working on legislation or legislative solutions to address the problem. Thomas DeMehill Martin is another strong supporter of the proposal which will be officially brought to the cabinet table in the coming weeks. What do you think? Would you like, as a parent, guardian, or even as someone who isn't, someone just who cares for children, do you think it's a good idea to ban phones from all classrooms? They shouldn't be in there to begin with, really, should they? You're in there to learn, you know, you can't go into a, you couldn't go into a meeting at work and sit in your phone. You'd be chased out of the place or told to put it down or you couldn't go into, you couldn't go into a mass or church or wherever you might go to pray and sit in your phone. So why is it acceptable for children to have them in the classroom on the off chance that they take them out and have a look? It's kind of a non-brainer for me. I can't believe we leave, I can't believe we need legislation to sort it out, you know, it's that kind of a thing, but clearly we must do. Any teachers out there, if you're off, give us an insight into the problems of phones in classrooms and why we might need legislation to ban them, why it's not already a given they shouldn't be there to begin with. The Irish Sun this morning news publishers have called for urgent reform of defamation laws. Newspaper Chiefs yesterday told TDs that the current ones hamper the proper functioning of democracy and at a special briefing they warned of the rising prospect of so-called libel tourism due to the outdated use of juries. They're also calls at the journalist journalism matters event to enact a serious harm test to bring defamation laws up to date. It's funny I've never seen any articles about the amount of paper newspapers used to produce. Has that ever been discussed or is it a problem or an issue? It's not something I'm by the way stating, it's just I've never read about it, how much paper is used and where's it sourced for the production and transportation of newspapers. I'm just really surprised it's never come up, not I'm saying it should, you know what I'm saying? But lots and lots of stuff is discussed that never is. Right, 086625000, the WhatsApp and the text line is open and if you want to send us a voice note as well for broadcast on the radio if that suits you for any reason maybe it's handier for you, maybe you're better at speaking something than typing it. We want everyone to have access to the airwaves to express their views for whatever reason. So if you want to send a voice note on WhatsApp 086625000 as I mentioned you're called to 07491 25000 and you can comment online as well if you're watching. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountaintop Letter Kenny the 2022 Seastore National Off-Licence of the Year. Make your Christmas party unforgettable at Sister Sarah's this December. Book now for the best Christmas party in time. See Facebook for menu and Sister Sarah's are proud sponsors of today's show. 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That's a bad Right, we'll start straight off We're talking about the traffic lights at the Polestar and traffic management around Lettercanny more generally Suppose from your perspective and where we're at at the moment You know, what would you give the new traffic management system out of 10 as it stands this morning? Well, I suppose the moment you can't hear your judges at the moment Obviously, we're still in the bedding in period for us Okay, we're a bit to this point with the momentum roll and the queues that are forming there But in reality, all that was done last year was getting on the baseline for this It's an evolving system It learns as it goes along It learns to reallocate time as it goes forward We could perhaps have stepped in and manually adjust things But if we do that that puts back the overall learning of the system So we want to be able to sort of learn itself to be able to react to queues itself So at this stage I think we're concerned with the momentum roll because that's the one leg that we think is forming very poorly And we may need to do something more radical with that leg going forward But at the moment, I think it's too early to make an adjustment call on the lights themselves I think in general outside those, obviously, TP powers it's working well, I find people are using them pretty well now in fairness I was up there a couple of days ago and in general flow there is some concern with misuse of lanes and all that But I think that the people are getting used to them and they are starting to use them fairly well Yeah, but driver behaviour surely can't be responsible for traffic this morning up at Lagerbrack school and an hour and 15 minute wait somewhere on the mountain road I mean, that's not going to be down to motorists No, absolutely not Sorry, I didn't say that I said that No, I'm not No, I'm not I'm just I never said No, actually not What I said Well, I'm just trying to ascertain what the cause and effect is I'm not saying you said that No, no, listen As I said, look, the lights themselves I'm obviously going to accuse them anyway but the lights themselves obviously have time to bed in, right? So as I said last week they were being set as in trying to get the baseline set on them the mobile system is kicking in now so it should start to reallocate space a lot better Now we can, as I said, we can manually step in and do that for us but then it doesn't learn it takes the process a lot longer for us to do so this is part of the process of doing that and again, I probably refer to the battle face situation where we did have a lot of initial problems with the lights and battle face but that has generally sort itself out I know you come up through there fairly regularly it is generally, and you get moving there fairly well to it at this point in time So it is an evolving system I think in the next week or so we should see improvements on that if, I mean, the whole point is to create an improvement so we're not going to do this if we're not going to get an improvement and it is a key part of the National Kennedy Traffic and Transport Plan the signalization of junctions is a key element of that whole plan for traffic management within National Kennedy so it needs to work, right? It's very, very important does work Obviously it can't take away from our new roads New roads is essential where we've got 35,000 ADT being thrown all down one road it's always going to be a problem Okay, so we won't get away from that but at the same time the signalization of junctions of this one and the subsequent signalization of other junctions is an important element of traffic and traffic management in Leprechaun and it needs to work because if it doesn't work we know where else to go but it's the only other show in town with the guard to manage our traffic Yeah, or what was there before what was there before is also an option but obviously one that we don't want to have on the table in terms of the learning process that can learn and adapt to the future even if, say for instance traffic coming on on the dual carriageway is approaching on one lane does that not disturb the flows around the clan re-roundabout if I can call it that and then the flow on to the two lanes into Lederkenny or is this system so intelligent it actually can account for that and ensure that it's learning correctly Yeah, well, no obviously if the queuing if people queuing sort of irregular and it does cause some problems but the sensors are across both lanes so it should be identifying that but obviously it'll be considering why people aren't using both lanes is probably why the system will be trying to work out and that might be a difficulty for us with that in mind was that in mind would it not have made more sense then for the learning process to be whilst all roads were open either defer works on the dual carriageway No, no, sorry, sorry, that doesn't matter No, no, the dual carriageway No, sorry, I thought you meant the four on the four a single use on four lanes No, absolutely not No, no, that was actually an effective thought it's reading it closer to the roundabout it's taking its sensors much closer in towards the roundabout so that's an effective thought to my apologies No, no, that's my, that's the way I've raised the question Damien and just then also as well a lot of people are avoiding the roundabout at the moment using back roads not using the road system like they would have ordinarily you know, you'd have heard a lot of reports from people that are effectively on bypass routes now, does that affect the learning of the system in that it's learning with an altered level of traffic at normal times? I would have to say that there's enough traffic around the motorway source Okay Thank you to learn with the motorway I don't think that's going to affect it too much No problem Yeah, re-adjust it So it's not really the actual volume of traffic it's just as it approaches the near side and a few people avoid it at a likely difference Exactly, but what you should do is if it's getting steady flows from a certain stretch for example the lamentable what it should be doing then is giving it much more green time than it would the other legs now so it works really well when you've got maybe one or two legs that are high volume and then two that aren't the two that aren't are going to get a lot more red time you know over the period and that's what should be happening now more and more but up to this point it's been fairly even with some slight alterations to those but it'll probably it means that possibly coming out of town in the morning you're going to have you know a seriously long red time to allow all those coming into town to come in and that's what it should learn as it goes forward yep and how long might that process take because as you would know too people are getting really frustrated avoiding the times at certain times and uh going shopping elsewhere so just so people sort of an idea of when at the end of the day look there's a certain amount of cars the amount of cars isn't changing it's just how we how that traffic is managed and how it's moved around right but when might people see it in its you know in its finished form so to speak well look the traffic as to where on the ground are telling us you're talking about you know a matter of a week or so they would hope from now once mobile kicks in now that we should be seeing some changes on some produce should be settling back to at the very least the way it was before it's not some improvements that's what we should be expected to see right that's you know in the short term and then it should improve going forward after that then and as regards look obviously our produce problem out there is always peak times I mean from half eight to half nine after half nine ten o'clock we truly you know that the the system seems to is everything to work fairly well out there you know so it is very much confined to those peak hours and look like like if you were to talk to people in general you know if you don't necessarily journey that or the more and don't be doing it obviously you would have to say you know there are necessary journeys obviously and every has to do what they're doing but I mean you know there's no point in turning up at those times because that is obviously the peak times that when I go to Nessie County I try and obviously avoid you know peak times if you can because it makes sense you know for yourself but obviously look we have to deal with those and that's the whole point in the system is to deal with those peak times and I think within a week or two we should be we should be seeing some improvement we'd hope to and we need to see improvement because I mean we're not doing it just for the sake of doing it you know and I know it does help pedestrians and all that across the road that's not what we're doing for we're hoping this will assist in those peak time journey times to ensure that you get out the light and fairness just look at although we have some longer queues out there we're trying to look around our journey times and we find that the journey times are actually fairly steady and not too bad the queues are longer just means that people are being stopped and then rather than what we had with the steady stream previously is that you're getting a fair look run through the lights when it when it happens so journey times will keep an eye on as well and see if that improves as well from what you've been able to observe and your team has been able to observe so far Damien are you satisfied that this round about is big enough to accommodate the traffic lights layout i.e traffic being stopped on the round about because some people report lorries their tail end blocking junctions and and they can't move on green is the round about big enough for this this traffic light configuration are you satisfied yeah no for the traffic lights the round was big enough our biggest problem with maybe the scale the roundabout or the lanes coming into the roundabout is just those peak floors for example momentum roadside and additional lane coming in there would obviously be much more beneficial that's the sort of thing we said as regards the general layout the roundabout look bigger bigger will be better and if the signalization signalized junction rather than roundabout would be better we get more lanes in but no i think i mean first of all we have no real scope to maneuver with the with the scale of the roundabouts and but certainly as regards the lanes coming in we will look at that's something we'll have to look at going forward probably i know that was as a long-term thing in the left-hand traffic and traffic plan as regards some filter lanes off the roundabouts to take those peak floors again you know they involve cpo there's no quick or simple solution to those either but that's something that we'll look at as well going forward but obviously our key thing is maybe trying to get the bypass done and trying to get the traffic floors equalized around the town rather all coming down one road yeah what we'll talk about maybe the plans and when we might see some of that some of its crystal ball stuff even someone in your position Damien because we are you know we are reliant on central government funding and what have you but anyway a lot of people are concerned i share the concern as well with this new road layout it doesn't seem the four lanes into letter kenny and out particularly into letter kenny it doesn't seem to have been designed with any plan to deal with emergency vehicles many many people have found themselves sat on the four lanes just nowhere to go the two lanes in you know a sirens blaring behind them people pulling out onto the roundabout on red to try and let the emergency vehicles through is it unusual or is it normal for a road to be designed in such a way that for a lot of the time there is a lot of traffic on it and there's no way for an emergency vehicle to get through yeah well look when we designed the road at the start i mean that was all taking into consideration and there was consultation on that in respect to emergency vehicles we literally you still get you're still in vehicles get through if you look at the rest of the town where you have single lane traffic you don't really have anywhere for vehicles to pull either so it's the same situation all the time our problem here is traffic volumes rather than the design of the roads and if we try to design it for extra space and all that it's not going to really help no i understand that but i mean there are there are devices that have been installed presumably to protect the cycle lane which actually stops people being able to pull out of the way of an emergency vehicle so some might say well it's it's it's putting the security the cycle lane above the ability to to to move out of the way to let an emergency vehicle through but that's common design that's normal it is and you know obviously you don't you don't want to you want to put their cycle lanes by leaving the open to the traffic either so it's fine but there are areas for i mean look we can look again but there are areas where the where the emergency vehicles can pull in there's a counter flow system available as well if nancy in the case of emergencies that's all being looked at as regards how we'll be dealt with and i think look basically uh no matter what we do with the road there with the traffic phones we have emergency services are going to struggle in at a busy time in nefford kenny no i mean even to get past the four-lane road you know to try and go up there to do all the creamy roundabouts you know there's no room to maneuver there either on any of those roads so i mean i think it's it's not it's not an issue just for the four-lane road it's just a general issue with guards trapping in nefford kenny all right when where else are traffic lights going in and when well the next phase really was to from the poles are then towards the creamy roundabouts where we're moving both the bally rain roundabouts and the creamy roundabouts and they're being replaced by signalized junctions what's the signalized junction sorry damian podmigner it's a signalized signalized so that's at the they sat at the remote road as well sorry i'm terrible on names of roundabouts so the bally rain is where the bally rain school where the colleges are there where there's a i look at the strange arrangement of a right turning in there which is not ideal at the moment so hopefully it'll improve that and improve stacking then along that road as well hopefully we'll get more lanes in along the roads as you guys will be able to reallocate lanes when we have lights and and then obviously the creamy roundabouts is a very small roundabouts i think people find that very difficult anyway the best time again you know again big violence it's going to be difficult hopefully it'll probably just put um probably maybe stagger cues as as as as they go out but that's purpose and coming to town then there's other there are other new lights coming in from the town then i'll put knock them on and stuff like that as well that are past the overall plan and i'm not familiar i only do natural roads so i can really tell you about the natural that's okay i understand that um obviously as you said uh these are all i mean they're a bit more than stopgap measures don't get me wrong but really in the wider context it's about improving the road infrastructure uh around letter Kenny into letter Kenny bridges where what is the status of of all of that what's the plans and what's the timeframes as far as you've been told well just as guys the Hawaii why it's okay we've got all the traffic coming to every three one main one way the lifeline rules basically and i think as you said to that that's not that's not tenable going forward for any town of any size so and look at the ten key product covers a link from Dromore and bunny bunny across to the to creamy roundabouts at that location okay so basically it's like the bypass of the town so all that traffic coming from melton which will cause so much problem at the moment will be there to bypass around straight to the dry arch and away and similarly then there's also probably a separate product then the southern relief road probably which go from the dry arch on the southern side heading towards the old town direction so that's another product that's happening as well that's separate to ourselves so on the ten key product look the business case being done for that look we've been we've worked on that scheme for almost seven years now I think it's just about seven years there's a lot way too long to work on any scheme but that's the nature of the process for developing major road products at the moment and we're the business case gone to government the business case the cost benefit scheme shows that it's a very very favorable and a scheme to develop and it's with the department they go through their internal themselves and deeper go to an internal checking process of the scheme it's all about value for money and and and such like and they have to give us a proof then to proceed to publishing the CPO and and and publishing the scheme and doing the statutory process to get planning for the scheme and do you have any I mean it's hard for you to say anything because then you could be held to it but in your experience do you have in your head any likely timeline well the way it normally works if we get approved to go to publish we could expect an all-heel within a year okay if again that the key thing then is how we did how if we got objections to the schemes you know and you know judicial reviews and all that you're talking about you know we don't even know what the time would be on that but if everything went fairly smoothly you know you could you could be out of that by you were probably 2025 really and then and then you'll get into the procurement process all about whether the government is willing to fund it then at that point in time and if money's available to deliver the scheme at that point in time so that's that's what you're talking about post 2025 you're probably probably 2026 27 before you get construction going at the earliest yeah sorry yeah okay and just finally back to the graphic lights just a tone of the message is coming through Jamie and a lot of people in different areas of letter Kenny's saying look we can't get out of our driveway now with traffic the old town's much busier than it used to be people still have concerns about emergency vehicle access that it's more difficult now than it was before even though we spent an awful lot of money on this road you you are confident that traffic around letter Kenny once these lights bed in will be the same as it was previously if not a little bit better and you're suggesting that should happen within a fortnight yeah well first of all look the traffic lights that are on what we'll do with traffic at the roundabout it's not going to deal with issues that old town so I mean I can't see how they're not going to fix it because people are people are not using the four lanes they're using other roads they're using they're coming in over they're coming in over drum keen or they're they're turning left going down but you know yourself how the traffic's ending up in the old town there look we would expect that they're seeing like junction at the post that should work as efficiency as previously if not better so therefore we should have it should be we'd expect we'd expect an improvement or not we're not doing this not to have an approved okay we'd expect an approval when to the other when do the other lights go on on the four lanes and what impact might that well no there's a good on the four lane itself and we're probably going to leave those for another time being this pedestrian crossing they are really and we'll leave them until we're well truly bedded in with these other lights so look we made you before Christmas we may leave them to after Christmas at this stage those on the four lane road now the other scheme on between that and the Queenie roundabouts and they'll be happening we're hoping to construct from why is probably end of the end of next year okay okay Damien um okay thanks very much for that we do appreciate you making yourself available take care Damien McDermott senior engineer with the Donegal national roads office lots of you messaging in it's a biggie and a big issue of course we'll talk to those after these watch the show live now on 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hsc just to get some clarity on this good morning anthony thanks so much for helping us and good morning great presumably hopefully maybe putting some minds at ease okay so influenza a what is it and how does it vary from you know a regular cold or a flu well uh influenza a is the name given to the the main one of the main certainly who types of influenza we have the moment we have influenza b is where they're the main one we've seen this part of the world and there are various different sub types below that and the vaccine is modified each year to try and cover the types of influenza a and b we have influenza is different from your sort of mild viral infection in that you you you get more ill um you should you know you have a it's not just when he knows you keep on going it does knock you for six and you uh if you have it bad you won't pass the 50 euro test that there's 50 euro in the ground up front of you you won't get out of bed to get it and at the moment we start monitoring we monitor for influenza all throughout the year but we really step it up during september and at the moment nationally even locally we're not seeing big numbers we're seeing the usual small start as we usually see um and uh i suppose we're usually expect an upsurge around christmas or after the new year um having said that you do get occasions where in a situation in the building in an organization you might get an upsurge of influenza um due to people being together and i think what you're looting to has happened in this uh premise i'm not going to say too much about no i don't get into personal information but uh thankfully we haven't seen uh we want to see a very very small number of people hospitalizing when they have been it's been just overnight and we have been in contact with the uh the school involved uh and they've been doing everything um as they should have been doing they sought advice early on and they've been advising parents to keep their children who have severe symptoms to uh stay at home for a number of days until they're well enough to come back for 48 hours and we're not saying stuff he knows when he knows a bit of a sneeze that happens but when a kid really has more severe symptoms uh to stay away yeah and there's no protocol as such in place for uh action beyond that is there so in other words that whether it's a school or an office or anything like that there there's no protocol in place for saying right you know we'll shut for a day or two or whatever like that it is a case of if people are symptomatic to stay to stay to stay at home terribly severe uh we would hope that either we would have contacted the school or the workplace or they would contradict us and we might have to take further action but we touch would haven't really had uh to close down uh a school because of uh influenza uh is the sorry beg your pardon i mean uh anthony go ahead but i just think what i was going to say is that there is a flu vaccine out there from children age two to twelve which is free and the uptake so far is very very low so we're just take the opportunity to encourage people uh to get the flu vaccine in the children it's they don't get an injection they just inhale or stuff their nose and it's a very effective vaccine in that age group all right and where is that available if if anyone's listening and you're probably pharmacist right okay and it's a nasal uh and is there does it does it kind of cause any minor illness soon after taking it or just for no no usually don't it does not there's not it's it's uh unlike an injection where you might get a little local reaction because you're actually sticking your needle to someone's arm and this doesn't all right and the uptake on that as you say is low uh presumably uh and this all sounds a little bit familiar but we'll stick with the the influenza for now presumably this also would limit the risk of you know a child catching it at school and bringing it home for an example to someone who might be vulnerable totally totally so you stop bringing home to siblings your parents grandparents etc etc anybody with an at risk situation as well as it doesn't benefit just the child themselves benefits others yeah okay um so as a again just as i'm speaking to you parents saying it's particularly bad in this particular school why is the school not closed it's just not the it's not the process that's employed to deal with this no because usually if we get the the parents to follow the advice the children out why the real that usually controls the situation yeah okay and nothing in particular so again do you know that the flu the winter flu anthony pardon my ignorance on this is influenza a that is that and we're just talking about early cases i know there's abc and d can you just explain that to us so i have a better understanding yeah usually the majority of the flu types we see in this part of the world are absolutely our a and b right and as i said earlier on there are sub types of that and as i said that what we try and change the vaccine to deal with those and influenza is out there usually all the time now we we get we get these very very occasional case during the summer but usually we don't usually we start seeing the very odd case in september and then october we start seeing more cases and that's when nationally we sort of step up our surveillance so for instance if we get a case of influenza in an elderly person we may contact them check have them vaccinated anybody else ill are they living at home are they in a nursing home whatever because obviously want to assess the risk for others if they're on a nursing home have as everybody has there been vaccinators and are there more people there who who are ill but haven't been tested do we need to give them antivirus etc that sort of approach we take there and if a child is admitted to hospital even if it's overnight we assess that to see are they a healthy child are they in an at risk group have they been vaccinators are they in a special school or whatever and obviously at the moment because of our refugee situation we would pay particular attention someone living in congress settings because that's that's not a normal household setting and we don't want influenza running through those type of buildings all right that population either thanks very much for your time this morning anthony i really don't appreciate it take her dr anthony brezel and their consultant in public health with the hsc and that's just in response to a number of contacts i had from concerned parents and just wanted to reference that it might not be exactly the answer that you're looking for but that is the way it is right okay yesterday we revealed to you that there are concerns over dermatology services at letter kenny university hospital it's following the retirement this week of dr podmore it's like a university hospital now will be expected to pick up the slack but it's consultant dr derma mckenna has written to donnie go gps this week he's not happy and understandably i suppose you could say if you read through some of the letter he says the hospital manager in letter kenny did not think it worthwhile to let him know he found out indirectly he's had no contact despite new patient referrals being redirected to him he said delivering a dermatological service or do sorry delivering a dermatology service to the northwest is the altus responsibility not his delayed diagnosis impacting meneloma so survival which is a serious cancer acne in teenagers eczema psoriasis patients life's destroyed he said because of an inability to gain access to care rests on management's shoulders he says for years dermatology in the northwest has been ignored neglecting and quite frankly he says dismantled by management both locally and by sealt essentially whereas there's been significant expansion in other regions so some of the concerns he has less nursing hours now than when he started 20 years ago he's lost half of his secretarial office space he can't get adequate secretarial support and can't even get an examination light installed to examine patients properly he's been looking for that to for two years an examination like can you imagine he works alone with thousands of patients awaiting their first appointment there's a wait time of over four years 4 000 patients in total only urgent cases are coming off that patient list meaning obviously recruitment into the region is very difficult he says it's simply not possible for him to absorb doctor podmore's patients adding what's happening to dermatology in lu h today will soon be dermatology in sliger university hospital tomorrow and he says goba university hospital may end up with the entire case load now i can't read between the lines but how much longer would he stick that out and then i was told that there are already people uh who were getting dermatology services in sliger university hospital than i have been referred to uh referred to russ common hospital if you don't mind right okay the model for dermatology care in the northwest this is a statement from the hsc the model for dermatology care in the northwest has always been a service based from sliger university hospital and this remains the case which might be used to that consultant historically this service was supplemented by a consultant from northern arland who ran a weekly clinic in letterkenny funded by letterkenny university hospital regrettably this consultant is no longer in a position to continue running this clinic sialta has secured funding for two new consultant dermatology posts for the northwest and letterkenny university hospital management have identified a requirement that the appointment of these posts would deliver two clinics per week in letterkenny recruitment for these posts is currently underway but as we heard from the consultant in sliger given the state of affairs uh that consultant pro that recruitment process might be somewhat complicated but that's it again here we are I presume and I'm sure there was notice given to the hsc of the imminent retirement of the consultant I believe they stayed on actually longer than they were going to to try and accommodate their patients and yet still we're only now in the recruitment process some out there might feel that that is unacceptable we also had a response from the hsc as it relates to diabetes care at letterkenny university hospital I don't have time for that right now we'll get to that after the news at 10 add sister seras gastropob letterkenny let us look after your christmas party needs this december with excellent food and entertainment in letterkenny's premier venue 9122238 sister seras now sponsors of today's show santa's elves listen up if the kids playhouse is on your little ones wish list this christmas deal site garden furniture has you covered explore our range in various colors and sizes including the dreamy barbie dreamhouse pink orders close on december 2nd find us on social media deal site garden furniture or call 0871124766 fuel to win 50 000 euro with tough plus get chances to win 5000 euro every month sign up a top oil win darai and fuel to win with tough the moe is calling for years people around the world have been united by the power of the moustache this november unite to take on mental health suicide prostate and testicular cancers come together grow together raise funds save lives change the face of men's health sign up at november dot com if you've been the victim of a crime it can sometimes feel like you've been left in the dark with nowhere to turn for answers or support but help is always available no matter who you are or what your background victims charter dot ii provides information on translation services explains your rights and offers the support you need when you need it most you have rights you have support you have a voice find yours in the victims charter brought to you by the government of ireland massive halloween bash with the tumbling patties on sunday october grab your tickets on event right now that's the tumbling patties at the abbey hotel not to be missed this bank holiday sunday halloween has arrived at macklehenny's but this year there are no tricks just treats was up to 30 off across our departments plus an extra sweet treat of 20 off occasion wear and mother of the bride dresses if you've had your eye on an outfit for a special occasion or you'd like to get a head start on christmas now is the time to get those wishlist items ticked off have a spectacular halloween with offers on all your favorite brands at macklehenny's shop in store or online now to save highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport where you can now fly daily to london he throw with their lingus and connect via he throw to over 80 destinations worldwide including boston new york and more okay today we'll bring sunny spells and widespread showers some of the showers will be heavy and there is a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the late evening which may cause spot flooding temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees so i find i other than the temperature uh because then i have to worry about how much oil i might use i really don't pay much attention to the weather uh in the autumn and winter unless obviously it's extreme weather uh i don't know if i'm on my own out there summer can't get enough of the weather anyway uh oh wait 60 25 000 flat out the phone lines today with uh the topics we've been discussing carrying those over into the next hour as you can imagine um and we'll read loads of them out all of them out if we can get to them and keep your calls coming into us oh seven four nine one twenty five thousand and don't forget your voice messages if you want them played out on air oh wait six sixty twenty five thousand okay we are going to take a break now and we're going to have the news and obituary notices for you stay back stay where you are though because it's another busy couple hours on the way it's almost the season to indulge secure your staff party or get together at sister sarah's letter kenny christmas party nights now available to book on nine one two double two three eight sister sarah's our proud sponsors of today's show easy living furniture's october fest sale has been extended but must end sunday absolutely everything reduced including sofas dining bedroom and mattresses final reductions for the last few days while stocks last and remember there's zero percent interest free finance available so the decision is easy visit easy living furniture crescent link retail park october fest sale must end sunday homeowners it's time to unlock incredible savings on your energy bills efficient renewables is here to reduce your energy consumption say goodbye to skyrocket the cost and hello to renewable energy solutions there's no vat on solar panels and the generous grants for both solar panels and heat pumps see these innovative systems in action and our state of the art showroom and newton conningham today contact the fishing renewables on 0749708320 in our communities we all look out for each other if someone needs help we lend a hand when it comes to fire safety we make sure our own homes are safe but we should also look in on vulnerable or elderly neighbors to make sure they are safe too it could save a life stop fire by testing smoke alarms regularly look for obvious dangers and have an escape route planned keeping our communities safe learn more fire safety tips at firearland.ie brought to you by the government of Ireland join me david james on the jive time this friday from the newly opened watersage restaurant rath mullen we will be there from 2 30 p.m with great music fantastic giveaways and maybe a little sample of the delicious food that's this friday live from the watersage restaurant rath mullen at connect hearing our audiologist is available monday to friday for hearing tests and wax removal services at our letterkenny clinic in the courtyard shopping center from now until the end of november we're offering a free wax removal service for all those over 60 years of age our hearing is our social sense are you finding hearing more of a challenge call urshula today on 07491 13296 to make an appointment good hearing helps us to connect to our family friends and loved ones connect hearing connecting you to life live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning it's donna marie darty with the news at 10 o'clock a man in his fifties has been killed in a road crash in clinty sligo he was on an east gooder when it collided with the van on the l-1 303 at rivers town at around 10 past eight last night the driver of the van a man in his thirties was taken to sligo university hospital for treatment on minor injuries gardy are appealing for anyone with video or dash cam footage who is traveling on that road at rushin between half past seven and quarter past eight yesterday evening to contact them at bali moat garda station well last night's death means the same number of people have been killed on irish road so far in 2023 as the total number of lives lost for the entirety of 2022 155 people have died in collisions up 36 on the same time last year it comes ahead of a high visibility road safety campaign for the october bank holiday weekend minister of state with special responsibilities for road safety jack chambers is urging road users to take care bank holidays there's high levels of activity more more more people out and about on our roads and that's obviously the natural position for people going down the country for for a break or going about within their local community so we know that there's often increased number of collisions more fatalities and higher risks for individuals and gardy sheikana and they're really focused this weekend on the lifesaver offenses the northern irish fire service and psni are currently at abracore and square in strip an report responding to reports of a gas leak roads are closed and traffic management is in place the public is being urged to avoid the area until further notice health officials are urging the public to consider all care options this october bank holiday weekend before presenting at letter candy university hospital it follows ongoing controversy of the emergency department with more here's alex riley lu h's emergency department has been the topic of discussion with over 80 healthcare professionals writing to the health minister regarding concerns over timely access to care a specialist ed team is to visit the hospital next week at steven donnelly's request the hse is asking people to consider other methods of care including their gps pharmacists and out-of-hours services before presenting at emergency departments out-of-hours gp services and no w doc will be open from six p.m. friday october 27th until eight a.m. on tuesday october the 31st as always people who do require emergency care are encouraged to attend eds where they will be prioritized bank holiday weekends can be a busy time for our hospitals and emergency services this means that patients who attend eds for routine and non-urgent treatment will experience very long waiting times over the coming weekend iran's eu commissioners says people should be focusing more on the loss of human life in israel and gaza rather than irse le van de leyen's decision to visit the region the president of the european commission traveled to israel earlier this month following an attack by hamas which killed 1400 people she's faced criticism from euk countries including president michael d higgins for not condemning israel's military retaliation in gaza but ireland's eu commissioner maria mcginnis doesn't think miss van der leyen should be the focus of the story the president of the commission who has shown incredible leadership on very complex topics felt that going to israel to show solidarity was important i know that when it comes to the reaction in ireland because i've talked to irish people and i'm here frequently there is a different nuance and i think that the shock reflected that he spoke about a lack of balance but again this is not the story it looks like homeowners will be spared another interest rate hike the european central bank has implemented ten rate increases since july of last year as it attempts to curb inflation however today's monthly meeting of the bank's governing council which is taking place in athens is likely to see the four percent rate retained there's speculation the series of increases is now over and the bank may start cutting rates again towards the middle of next year business journalist emet oliver says the ecb thinks they've done enough to control inflation big meeting in athens today they're normally meeting frankfort the ecb and we're expecting them to hold rates so no increases that's good for all our listeners who are on trackers and variables and so on and even for those unfixed they're obviously worried about inflation they continue to be worried about it they seem to think that they've done enough at the moment looking to weather today will bring sunny spells and widespread showers some of the showers will be heavy and there's a chance for isolated thunderstorms in the late evening which may cause spot flooding highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees in a light to moderate south to southwest wind that's all for now the next news update is at 11 o'clock in the meantime keep up to date with the latest local news on our website hideandradio.com from myself and the news team good morning the obituary notices this thursday morning october 26th the death has taken place of james doherty devlin moore karigart his remains are opposing at his late residence funeral from there tomorrow morning going to the church of st john the baptist for rakeway mass at 11 a.m followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live on the meaver parish church facebook page family time from 10 o'clock tonight the death has taken place of mcleach fortwell apartment lower main street letter kenny and formerly from ballivore county meath remains are opposing at jj mcdonough's home at the cottage's drum keen funeral from there this morning at half past 10 going to st patrick's church drum keen for 11 a.m rakeway mass and hermit will be afterwards in ballivore new cemetery county meath tomorrow at approximately one o'clock donations and live flowers if desired to the johnny gall hospice the death has taken place of patty mcloch lin at davie lima totter gland guard patty's remains are opposing at his home funeral mass will take place this morning at 11 o'clock in st patrick's church or clay malin followed by burial in st mary's graveyard leg malin family flowers only donations if desired to the national ambulance service care of any family member the death has occurred of william willey bradley 52 dr mcginley villas letter kenny funeral mass this morning at 11 o'clock in st union's cathedral letter kenny with burial afterwards in new lex cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live on church services dot tv family time on the morning of the funeral please family flowers only donations if desired to the donny gall hospice care of con mcdade funeral directors for family information and more details regarding wakes and funerals please visit highlandradio.com at centra shop smart and feels spooky for the long weekend with great offers like centra halloween barnbrack 500 gram half price now 165 haribo trick-or-treat star mix multi-pack cabri freddo and fudge family treat size two euro each shop smart feel good centra live every day you're very welcome back to the night till noon show good morning if you have just tuned in and a big hello to all of the highland radio family on the way very shortly down to see the line king tonight in doblin kate is going to look after you really well i am told she seemed to be packing loads of sweets and goodies i don't know what they're for but anyway have a wonderful trip down to the line king tonight's it sold out and loads of people gonna have loads of fun and then back up tomorrow okay um i want to get to comments here now we've been going numbers are on the way it's jackpot day of course but you know just after 10 i catch up on some comments from the 9 to 10 hour i call us a yellow box at the kill toy roundabout is essential and a slip road onto the four lanes is needed and although the whole town is a disaster the only solution more bridges in and out there's no avoiding it old town traffic is five times worse since these lights were turned on which i referenced so i hope you heard that and you heard an update too on the the potential time frame for some relief i was outside the manta ergo last friday morning heading to balaba faea cars stopped heading towards milford and waited across to screw fix traffic instantly backed up to the roundabout then two cars passed on the right lane and stopped almost at the lights to push them into the left lane later that day coming back passing the manta ergo heading to milford a car was on the opposite side in the bed shop crossing all three lanes into the hotel people are causing these lanes as much as the lights well at the moment it's perfectly okay to pull in there and if you pull out you have to cross the traffic but i presume i wouldn't be surprised if there's going to be a no right turn process there in the not too distant future and those heading out the remote and road and go into those great businesses that you mentioned happened to go round that roundabout and turn in their left i wouldn't be surprised if that's a measure that's introduced an emergency situation is my concern when there is gridlock in and out of town i share that concern to be honest with you hi greg is he for real the lights are a disaster he talks about remote and road it's so obvious they should have made a slip road onto the bridge rather than forcing all the traffic to the roundabout that is something that is potentially going to be looked at by the way that was also referenced and the bottom line is the direction of traffic is traffic lights on these junctions he's confident that damien is confident that the traffic will be equal to what it was once or even better after a couple of weeks or in a week or so how long is this excuse going to be used we're just betting in lights whatever the solution in the first place just added to the problem on the remote and road another traffic has increased significantly in the old town area of the town since the traffic lights have been turned on switch off the lights says another caller just in terms of for you living in an around letter kenny talk to me send in some messages or even chat to me about how conditions have changed around about where you are in the last couple of weeks be it the old town or other areas of of letter kenny have you seen a big difference so how is it impacting on you greg on sunday morning i drove out the balay rain road and when i got to the roundabout the traffic was backed up on the roundabout and was backed up away past sweeney petrol station it took me over five minutes to get from the balay rain roundabout to the pole star roundabout and this was a sunday i wouldn't like to be on the same road at rush hour the traffic lights have made the traffic slower since they have been switched on and that's accepted at this point good morning greg please ask damian is road traffic management going to take responsibility if some dying patient and ambulance can't get brought in through the two lanes from the dry arch roundabout into the hospital and passes away stuck in traffic well the answer to that was is that um it's that that's traffic congestion that's causing that hi greg ask him does he really believe that the lights are going to resolve the traffic rather than build a bridge the man is talking gibberish it's no wonder town traffic is a mess his answer there avoid the lights a peak times is a joke well he is of the affin and what wouldn't say he's talking gibberish by the way uh but people have a tough job in having to manage the traffic and sometimes you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't um a the bottom line is he is of the believe at this point and there are other things that can be done if it's not the case that the traffic will return to the way it was or somewhat better and they are there's no one in donningall countercanceller in the road service that if they could get the okay to start building bridges tomorrow they wouldn't start building bridges tomorrow some of this stuff is within the gift of uh local people other stuff simply isn't greg the roundabout is too small why can't there be a counterflow lane coming from ballerain going out the port bridge it took me 45 minutes from the glee to ballerain roundabout last friday at 3 30 p.m how far back could that go at that road uh where it would be useful but that also was something that was mentioned as a potential long-term plan a big danger is that a lot more people are using back roads such as windy hall road which is very risky to pedestrians remedial work is urgently needed on these back roads before lives are lost is there no room at the creamy area for emergency services they can access the centre of the road has that man speaking on the radio a clue what's going on yep that road is not one i'd be concerned about making way for an emergency vehicle i'll be honest with you how are emergency services meant to get through the four lane system masks and other too many people are in the wrong lane either because they don't know how to use it or they're skipping queues i see it every time i use the roundabouts in letter kenny look at uh there are those lanes were abused uh previously you know like say coming in remelton someone will be in the in the right lane and would swing around and head out uh or they would use the uh inside lane coming into letter kenny and go straight when really you certainly can't do that now uh and it's the same coming down coming down lorgie brecht people use the right lane for dairy and they swing into letter kenny causes huge problems there's certainly drive for behaviour adding to this also too many people are in the wrong lane says another is that guy ever aware that prior to these lights we had bad traffic congestion problems daily at peak times in letter kenny the only difference now is the congestion is bigger and earlier in the evenings i find assessments and excuses laughable build the bloody bridge but as i say if damien and his team could get working in that bridge tomorrow morning they would what about the lanes going from two into three right at the pool star from the dairy side very confusing uh what about the lanes going from two into three at the pool star from the dairy side is it going to three i don't think it does maybe it does as a veteran participant in traffic as a veteran participant in traffic jams in london and now in balaba fe and caught in the letter kenny pool star debacle yesterday whoever designed these lights and how they are operating needs to be talking to plus the concrete barrier should have been an emergency slipway or one that could alternate for use with traffic load good morning gregory the new traffic light system in letter kenny perhaps if the old road markings were removed especially those outside the hotel on the remelton road it might help as people going straight ahead towards nilty blaney road are directed by the markings onto the wrong lane for the lights and last one just for now good morning uh good morning residents in ash lawn are not happy with the increased traffic taking a short car taking a shortcut through the estate the last two evenings the road was blocked from upper ash lawn to lower ash lawn when we have the learner drivers and ones doing the tests coming in hopefully we can get a meeting with the council to put an end to it okay so that's it uh i think our collective spleens for now have been vented i'm sure there's more to come stay with us uh we'll be back with more but here's the bingo numbers good luck if you're playing today it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's thursday the 26th of october jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 5200 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is s14 it's game number 43 the jackpot number is 20 this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your daily numbers 40 64 87 79 52 12 90 14 36 and finally 62 phone your claim to nine one zero four eight double three before eight tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with space hub dairy we provide a full virtual office address mailbox service for all your business and personal use save your business hundreds possibly thousands on custom charges with space hub dairy call 048 7187 8077 for more details creative landscaping works are they running all distributors of millboard cladding and decking thanks to its unique polymer resin construction this decking and cladding doesn't deteriorate like natural wood and won't be beaten for durability it also has superb slip resistance even when wet and every board is produced using recycled materials live life outside with millboard at creative landscaping works listen in and let her can you see creative landscaping works dot com i am making my holy queen this year i went to magpani's and ballet buffet i got everything i needed my dress tiara bag and cheese i had an amazing time so many beautiful dresses and mum was able to pay deposit with a perfect union dress for your union day go to magpani's ballet buffet the euro millions island only raffle is back this friday october 27th one euro millions player in arland is guaranteed to win one million euro play fridays euro millions for your chance to win the national lottery it could be you play responsible play for fun prepare for the merriest time of the year at sister sarah's letter plan your unforgettable christmas party now with fantastic food and festive fun this december sister sarah's our proud sponsors of today's show greg can you mention that planet youth are having variety concert to celebrate their 40th anniversary in the ballet theater ballet buffet today it's at eight p.m tickets can be obtained from the box office for 10 euro all by ringing the ballet theater on 9131840 all proceeds in aid of planet youth cafe donphilhouse ballet buffet it will be a great night okay a delegation from the EU parliament will travel to donagall on monday to investigate the defective concrete block crisis following the three-day fact-finding mission a report will then be submitted to the EU commission we're joined by two guests to discuss this lisa home chair of the mic action group good morning to you lisa thanks for taking the time out this morning hi greg thanks to have me on now it's good to have you with us and also joe morgan homeowner and leading this meeting with the EU good morning to you joe morning greg right the significance of this joe i mean there's an awful lot of strands going on and i think we cover most of them in our various conversations obviously there is the scheme itself there is the support groups there's the dealings with the banks and there's there's the the court cases and all that kind of stuff and a very important part of all of this too is raising the issue and awareness in the EU and this forms part of that presumably yeah it does greg i i'd describe it as a very crucial interim milestone in terms of our ultimate objective right so what what we're trying to do with this particular thread is influence the commission not the parliament the commission to open up a discussion with the Irish government effectively and influence two things one market surveillance in this country or the testing of quarries and and concrete manufacturing processes to make sure that's what we've seen over the last 15 20 years it comes to a stop because it's continues today and then secondly that there is some influence relative to the current remediation proposals that are on the table from the government so in order to get there in order to get the EU commission to make a decision it's not guaranteed right but there's an opportunity that it could happen and that's good enough for me in terms of putting some effort and to try and to make it happen but in order to get there the EU commission uh they put a few prerequisites in front of us and briefly one of those is it's a question they ask us when we raise complaints with them have you engaged with the EU parliament have you any previous engagement there and we have right so back in 2021 we submitted the petitions to the EU parliament we subsequently went to Brussels we presented to that committee and this is if you like the highest escalation that the petty committee within the EU parliament bring to the table so that will put us in a really stead in terms of taking that box for the commission relative to engagement with the the parliament and that's why I say this is a crucial interim milestone and the two other pieces of that that the EU commission look for is administrative or political engagement right in the member state in this case Ireland uh and we can speak to that with some volume um and I'm just going to say thank you to the concrete queen herself miss Debbie McCoy she put together quite an extensive document which records all of the various engagement right back to the pirate scandal and lester up to date to today so we can attach that to the complaint and that takes that box if you like in terms of we have tried struggled and tried and continue to engage with our government to get this right but we're not there yet and then finally Greg the last piece they look for is have you utilised the legal framework within the member state to progress um your complaint and again there are two legal activities which we are speaking to one is back in I'm going to get this date wrong I think it was 2013 maybe 2014 when a group of homeowners were putting a case together that ultimately failed because of lack of insurance with the said quarry and then as you'll be aware there is a court case in the High Court through Coleman legal so we're trying to address all of the asks of the commission before we go to them and this is a crucial piece of that Lisa I don't think anyone really gets a full sense of the crisis people are dealing with and the impact on people unless they actually stand in front of a house that's affected by defective concrete that's when you you know the pictures the videos and what have you are all well and good and they do get a point across but until you stand there and you pick up some of this concrete and you're told there could be a bison slab sitting on it or you're told that the chimney stack is sitting on it you know and I feel like we're going back right to the early parts of the conversation but it does actually boil down to that I think you know for those who haven't been in that position their drills will drop yeah I think that that's true Greg and this is why it's so important that we've actually managed to get this delegation to come to Donnie Gull to see what's happening on the ground for themselves so they'll see those crumbling houses they'll see the houses where you can put your hand and a gap in the wall they'll see the distress of the homeowners you know they're going to be up close and personal with all of this it all the impact of that will be inescapable and we hope we hope that they will take that impact back to the commission they have the opportunity now to take all that learning back and put it in front of the commission and hopefully as Joe says that will prompt intervention because we feel that we need intervention from the EU the island has a member state has certain obligations and we just feel that those are not being honoured at the moment and that's evident in terms of historic and where we are now but it's also evident in terms of what we believe is currently going on and people are still being left unprotected so this mission is it is really really significant and it is a real milestone to actually kind of trying to get to where we want to be what does that intervention look like Joe if it were to happen? Yeah good question Greg so when so following following the mission right so when the EU Parliament delegation returned to Brussels right as Lisa alluded to they will themselves create a report to the EU commission and it you know I've been working with some of the people that are going to be meeting them and despite being involved myself Greg hearing the individual stories of the people that are going to be speaking to them it still gets you emotionally right there's some of the horror stories out there in terms of impact on families financially because they have to take this burden on is crazy but they enter when we follow sorry to go back to your question when the delegation go back right they'll submit the report I'm going to be following that up with an EU complaint which will trigger a 12 month window for the EU commission so they will look at the complaint they look at the partner complaint that has gone in from Coleman Legal and then they will look at this report that will be coming from the EU Parliament now if they make a decision we want to look at this and take it a little bit further that triggers what they call a one year window it's a 12 month window at the end of that there is a possibility that they would make a decision to go to their European Court of Justice, the ECJ but it's highly unlikely and to be frank with you I think that's a bit of a pipe dream but when we spoke to the commission themselves back in May myself, Lisa Eileen, Paul Dunnup and Andres Lehman went over what they explained to us was that that 12 month window will be filled with political engagement with the member state government and they have told us that nine times out of ten that political engagement is enough to effect change and ultimately bring any particular issue that needs addressed or changed to a successful resolution so that's what it looks like Greg and it's that political pressure that we're looking for from the commission to make changes that will deliver 100% redress and make sure that the manufacturing concrete manufacturing processes and procedures that are effective in this country today are overseen and they have quality attached to them like Lisa if I were a part of this EU delegation I would say wow this is terrible what have the manufacturers done about this I would sort of ask the question you know what about house insurance or I'd ask the question the banks have a big stake in this what are they doing and I think they'll be shocked by those answers I think they'll be shocked at the answers that really effectively homeowners have been hung out to dry on this Yeah I mean you know they walked off the pitch they walked off the pitch years ago and it is you know through this sort of the dogged determination of homeowners that we're still trying to obviously get justice for those who are affected and you know what's good about this visit is that they are going to be exposed to every single angle of this because this is not just this is layers and layers and layers of injury injustice and people not honoring what they should do people not being held to account companies not being held to account the state being negligent in its duties of regulation you know it's every single aspect they are going to encounter on this visit so it's going to be extremely comprehensive no stone will be left unturned Yeah and in relation to that Joe you know obviously there's going to be an awful lot of talk about the science of this but if it wasn't for the science that has been gathered from the affected homeowners it'd be a brief conversation really because if you were drawing the science from the state you know what would you be able to present to them we don't know if it's in the foundations you know what I'm on about like it's it's really quite impressive when you think about it and depressive for some might feel as well that the science that will be presented is is the amazing work that's been done affected by this crisis Yeah and I think the two issues are very very entwined Greg the current I guess four six five protocol was not based on science right it was a you know I think observational and I'm not even sure that they don't test and relative to coming up with the final decision that it was Micah and here were the various different remedial options but you know there is research ongoing at the minute and it's commissioned as I understand by the government with a number of different bodies including you'll know Dr Lehman Professor Paul Dunlop and Cole I think there's a few of them engaged in the states as well so we'll have to wait and see what comes out but I think you know there was a report by Petrolab within the last couple of weeks confirming that you know there is a different a definite causation relative to the presence of pirateite and even more significant so than the presence of Micah but to the connection in terms of the lack of science where we're at today and what potentially will come Greg and in terms of what the EU are going to hear we have people and I'm thinking of one individual speaking to the the delegation on Monday who has remediated their home with an option 2-4 hybrid so outer leaf and underpending footings right and subsequent conversations that that individual has had with financial institutions has confirmed that that property is not mortgageable so it hasn't been returned to a mortgageable state now what that ultimately means is that there is a limitation there in terms of purchasers they have to be cash buyers and ultimately a significant discount of market valuation for that property so it just goes to show the lack of joined up thinking that has happened to date relative to the various different stakeholders I would wonder who would buy I would wonder who would buy that house exactly even if you were a cash buyer if there was not another house left for sale in Ireland maybe you would but who would buy a house with the uncertainty about its future even at half price yeah and the head of the BPFA recently in the Eruptus or in one of the committees within Lesterhouse made the statement himself that they would be looking for certification relative to making decisions on mortgaging properties that have been remediated as I understand it engineers are going to certify the works that were done people will want indemnity not a certification if I were buying that house a cert saying this house is grand would not be enough for me I would need some sort of a guarantee that if the internal leave started to fail then I would have compensation or access to a scheme you know just a cert to say the house is grand wouldn't be enough for me I'm not sure it would be for any person so to be honest with you and I'm sure the mortgage companies might come up with different reasons to refuse a mortgage other than the probably the one that they would be refusing it for i.e. the house is on on more considerable they said if if so that's more of a statement than a question but anyway if member of this delegation says to you well you've got a scheme though I was watching an interview on RTE and the presenter said to the housing minister says you've sorted Donegal they've got a scheme and the housing minister nodded back and says yes indeed on to the next issue so what are you crying about what would you say what how would you describe or frame the scheme for an MEP visiting Donegal well I think we all know about the scheme at this I mean effectively it's just not fit for purpose and you know the example that Joe gave there there is this gulf in reality in terms of what the bureaucrats what the administrators have put together and the reality of the life the homeowners have to leave we have to engage with banks and insurance companies etc so like unless the scheme actually resolves that so that the people can actually do that in real life then it is not fit for purpose and that's just one example you know like they will be left I mean there are on Monday speaking to the delegation there will be myself there will be reps from Claire there will be reps from Mayo and they will be left in no in certain terms and the issues are across the board it doesn't matter which county you're in everybody is coming up against the same roadblocks the same issues with regard to finance regard to science etc and the EU commission and sorry the the delegation will be left in no in certain terms in terms of the unfit purpose of the scheme and how the government has tried to cobble together something has not listened to homeowners that is that is one of the fundamentals like if they listened to homeowners then then we would have a scheme that would fit purpose with some slight changes this scheme could be opened up to so many more people it still would not be perfect to not fit for purpose but for some slight changes that actually wouldn't cost the state anything it would be you know there would be less to to tinker with which again is really quite remarkable Lisa thank you very much indeed we're going to speak more about this obviously after and we're going to hopefully get some of the delegation speak to us afterwards to get a sense of you know what they feel the issues how the issues they feel have been dealt with and what have you for now Lisa Holland thank you very much indeed thanks very much great care yourself and Joe as always thank you very much indeed I appreciate your time and we'll touch base again after to see what they have to say take care of yourself absolutely thanks so bye bye okay Joe Morgan there Lisa Holland 08 660 25000 what's apps and texts to that number sister Sarah's out sponsors of today's show Mary here from the cosmetic department at McGee's pharmacy to let you know that long come have a great beauty gift available this week buy two long come products one of them to be skincare and you will get a free eight piece gift containing the full size gallery comfort cleanser renors day and eye travel 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will make time for them before the end of the program right a new group beginning in Bonkran at the end of next week called the S team it's for children aged between eight and 12 whose siblings have special or additional needs there is a gap in the support for siblings and sometimes it can be very tough on them also the those behind it I hope and help those who may need it through the group we're joined by two guests now Jacqueline Culligan slant your care facilitator good morning to you Jacqueline Good morning Greg thanks so much for joining us and also Patricia Lee in a show and development partnership good morning to you Hi Greg great to see you again thanks for having us on Right so which of you wants to and you too sorry about your pardon which of you wants to sort of talk through the S team so if I if I just introduce yes go ahead Patricia maybe and then Jacqueline this is her passion and in a show and development partnership leads on slant to care healthy communities here in Innochone we manage a number of different programs around smoking cessation healthy food made easy social prescribing and under the parenting strand we've been supporting parenting parents of children with additional needs we roll out different parenting programs and we also through IDP offer family support so one of the needs that came up loud and clear from parents was that need to support and give space and place for brothers and sisters of the children who have additional needs and that the parents felt that they needed as much respite as the parents did and that you know a lot of respite investment is in the family obviously and but that there was a there was a real need there for the siblings so Jacqueline has her own personal experience in her own story and herself and one of our team Alison Bardini came together and developed esteem which is a beautiful name because it has connotations of building their esteem but it's also around them being a team that can support each other and Jacqueline as Patricia mentioned here you are perfect fit for this because you have your own personal understanding of it and it's something that you're incredibly passionate about so presumably you're delighted to see this getting off the ground I am yeah I mean like Patricia said there is a big need for it I did a little bit of research to see if there is anything available within an issue and there isn't there are similar programs that are out through the whole of Ireland and worldwide but nothing unusual and there is a big need there's lots of children we've got lots of schools in the Bunkrana area although they have special needs units and they've all got siblings themselves so just are we safe space for them and how I mean everybody's different okay but how does it affect children if they have a sibling with a special or additional needs so you know emotionally and what more motions it triggers or how it makes them feel or can make them feel sorry yeah well most children are very resilient and you know adapt very quickly to family setup but there's times when life is busy for every family but when you've got additional needs or special needs in the mix of a family dynamic sometimes and then this is not intentional by any parents but sometimes the children that don't have additional needs can't be left to kind of get on with their daily life but in relation to that Jacqueline I've heard that from so many parents they do struggle with it you know how do I make time for the other children in the house because it's almost impossible because often a child with additional or special needs requires so much attention or even leaving the houses tailored more around their needs you do hear that really regularly from parents with multiple children that they feel really guilty that they can't spread themselves around as much as they would like to yeah and their children pick up on that and I mean this is not in any way me saying a bad thing to parents but children pick up on that and they carry that motion with them and then themselves kind of become the care for their parents emotions their children their siblings needs you know they carry that with them and sometimes they might not want to voice that because they don't want to hurt their parents feelings because they might feel like they're putting down their parents parenting skills and they're not doing that at all these children probably carry very big emotions and the STEAM programme is tailored for them and it's a place for them to come and vent those emotions or share those emotions and to find out that they're okay these emotions are valid and they're not the only ones that are failing them and it's okay to have these feelings I mean they won't have these feelings every day it's like every sibling rivalry either there's days you can't stand your siblings because for whatever reason but when you've got all this in the mix it's nice to come somewhere and be able to say all this without being judged and without feeling guilty for having those feelings and Patricia you know and not to the exclusion of others but Jacqueline's quite rightly been talking about how children might find themselves feeling now but presumably as well this is an opportunity to pre-empt those emotions as well because we know it's there you know what I mean so in other words it doesn't necessarily I don't believe have to be someone 8 to 12 who's already in that space but you're coming to an age there where those emotions might start to develop isn't it great to maybe have the opportunity to be out in front of that absolutely I mean the Solange Care Investment and initial one is very much about early intervention and prevention where we can and because this need has been very clearly identified by families and it's something that Solange Care has willingly decided to so this is a pilot initiative and as Jacqueline says there are support groups out there for children with special needs and for their siblings through youth clubs and that for sure and youth focus but this is going to be a space where they have an opportunity to share with others who are on a similar journey and to learn different coping skills but also a space where it is their own space and they are their own individual and I suppose Solange Care is allowing us to pilot this we're going to evaluate it we're going to ask the kids and the siblings and the families you know is this something how can we enhance it but also our experiences in any of this group activity they learn so much from each other so if you make the space and you make it safe and you make it somewhere that they want to come to most of the time it is the dynamic in the group themselves where they're learning from kids who who might be a bit more further down the road in their journey you know on the kind of pit stops to avoid or the flat points to avoid but also they may be a support for for those that are very early on in the journey because a lot of people we as adults at them it takes a long time to build up emotional resilience or how to deal with things or you know the things that life throw at you the people were talking about you know six years ago there were toddlers you know in nappies you know what I mean and there's an awful lot often for them to contend with in their in their short lives especially when they see others around them whose situation is quite not quite similar to theirs so as this is a pilot Patricia how often does it run where is it run and and who qualifies or how do people apply is it limited in spaces or what's the situation it's going to run for nine weeks it's starting on Friday the third of November and we're going to pilot it first in Bunkrana and we've been linking with Scolesegon and iCare with regard to to identify them if it's a successful pilot it would certainly be one we would make a case for that we can have it in other parts of Innochone and Carandona for example in Spree it was sport have a have a respite group and a special club spree for for children with special needs so there will be a number of opportunities to look at this it will be once a week and as Jacqueline says it'll be that space on a Friday afternoon where they can come and have pizza they can come and have a chat they'll they'll learn they'll they'll learn different skills like mindfulness taking time out pressing the pause button but also a space where they're just going to have fun they're going to be themselves and all along Jacqueline and Allison will work with them so they'll have two very skilled co-facilitators out in the community that will support them and give them advice and guidance and so this will be like a touchstone yeah I wanted to talk to Jacqueline about that Jacqueline how have you developed that in terms of you know there are other spaces where where children can get together and chat and what have you but to sort of you know support them or tease out any concerns or give them some coping coping strategies like how how we can't go into it all but some of the key the key parts of this program that make it stand out specifically for this group of children well like Patricia said we're going to be doing things like pizza making and you know arts and crafts so that's a fun place fun space for them to come but also within the program we've got little activities that will ignite conversation or thought in relation to having siblings with additional leads like we've got an activity where we have a box with questions on it and the questions picked out are specific about what life is like with the child's and with special needs and it'll be like how do you feel when you can't go somewhere and it ignites the conversation you know around all that and hopefully it'll like I said before that it'll let the children know that they're not the only ones and in a way I think this is going to be it's not all children of course but this is going to be a relief for parents or guardians as well because it can be difficult to talk about things at home as well sometimes so it's I think it's going to be really helpful for them as much as it will be for the children so just sorry I didn't really I couldn't pick up the answer Patricia if there's someone listening that goes right this could be very good for my child and I live in the Bunkrana area can they apply for a position or have you gathered gathered children for this already just clarify that for me because I'm going to get the calls and I just want to be clear on the answer to give no absolutely Greg and it's not full yet so so we really appreciate this opportunity to give a shout out to parents so if you have a child at home who is a brother or sister who has additional needs and and they they might benefit from being in a group and their age between 8 and 12 they just contact us directly so in a shown development partnership as I say as the host they can email allison at in a shown dot i e so that's a l i s o n at any shown dot i e and we will go back to them and and and identify where so the the group will be held in Bunkrana youth and community center which is right in the town so it's all it's walkable within the within the town they can also phone IDP at 0749362218 and we'll put them on to the right people and and they'll be able to and it's a very simple little expression of interest and we'll go through the forms and everything when they join the group on the first day but it is about coming to a group that you will feel comfortable in and that you'll be you'll have lots of common features which and and there'll be scope to learn and share from each other okay thank you very much indeed and I think this is that's patricially a finish on development partnership and I think this is a quote from you Jacqueline I wouldn't change a single thing about my sister I know most of these siblings would say the same but they will have a lot of mixed feelings and they need to be recognized and this in turn will equip them with important skills as they move into adulthood and that's what it's all about isn't it that's it that's it Greg and that's our aim to have a safe space to come and talk and to to walk out them doors feeling like yeah I'm I'm I'm valid too and I can do this and sometimes I get a bit frustrated but I'm still a really good brother or sister and a good person oh absolutely I'm sure that's normal in any family precisely even as adults I know I know but I think sometimes maybe they might that's maybe when a guilt thing might come in as well and it can be slightly different but that's what we're going to equip them what's that they won't fail at and it's normal it's normal so it's a really good thing and I hope it's a success I'm sure with your involvement it will be Jacqueline thank you so very much indeed thank you so much great for having us on no problem have a lovely day Jacqueline Colligan who is a Saantje Kev facilitator and Patricia Lee in a shown development partnership make your Christmas party unforgettable at Sister Sarah's this December book now for the best Christmas party in time see Facebook for menu and dance Sister Sarah's our proud sponsors of today's show Tesco Club Card gives you the power to lower prices so you can make some monster savings like large Tesco pumpkins was €3.29 now €2.49 Selected Cadbury treat size chocolate sharing bags were €3.55 now €2.00 and Coke Zero and Diet Coke 24 pack was €18.00 now €10.00 Lower the cost of your shop with your Tesco Club Card or app the power to lower prices Tesco every little helps products subject to availability prices may vary in express stores keep out the cold cold cold and ring Fleming for their full range of garage doors agri doors insulated doors milking parlour doors Fleming 91 48 234 Hi Kate Appleby here just wanted to let you all know my exciting new autumn shoe collection is available nationwide in all good shoe stores KateAppleby.com Hope you enjoy my shoes Exceed all your expectations Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric with 220 horsepower up to 450 kilometres range and an electric bonus Renault will match the €3,500 government grant when you buy a new Megane E-Tech 100% Electric so save €7,000 on your new electric Megane today Visit your local dealer to find out more Teezen C's Applies see Renault.com I'm Shizu Tali at RGI-Punk IE. Highland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport where you can now fly daily to London Heathrow with Air Lingus and connect via Heathrow to over 80 destinations worldwide including Boston, New York and more. Today, sunny spells, widespread showers, some of the showers will be heavy and there is a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the late evening which may cause spot-flooding temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees. OK, we're going to go back to the issue of vaping. I'm not going to lie to you, I perhaps haven't hidden it very well, but I do find it very frustrating that we as adults, legislators, whatever it might be, aren't doing enough to protect young people who have never smoked, have never been exposed to nicotine, but we're exposing them to the addiction of vaping and it's made very easy and sexy and attractive and cool to them because if you go into a shop you'll see the TikTok shaped screen promoting these flavoured products in sexy packaging or whatever it might be, whatever the correct word is in terms of appealing to younger people and we're standing by as adults and allowing this to fester and to harm them and their development. Ann-Marie Regan is Froyga area manager in Galway. Good morning Ann-Marie, thanks for your time today. Morning Greg, thanks for having me on. That's good to talk, right, we as adults I suppose have been talking to each other about the issue of vaping. Listen, there's a lot of people who use vape products to quit smoking, that's probably a different issue altogether, but you know you've been talking to young people about vaping and what their view on vaping is. What are the key findings from this research? Thanks Greg and you know what, in your introduction there you hit a lot of the key points in terms of what's been coming up. So Froyga in partnership with the Northwest Region Drug Task Force and the Mayo Sligo-Litrum Education Training Board commissioned research to understand the impact that vaping products have on children and young people. We wanted to hear directly from them what their experiences were and then what they thought should be done about it. So the research is titled and what's the panic with vaping and we're launching it later today in the Craven Sligo town at Ford Lock with TV Frank Feehan. The research examines the habits and perceptions of children and young people in relation to vaping, I suppose within a range of contexts including community-based youth groups, post-primary schools and even with young people between 10 and 12 years of age and we had almost a thousand stakeholders participation. We did the research between January and May this year. So I suppose it indicated that across all ages there was a link between the coolness and the identity with vaping and associated with it. It highlighted that 23% of the 10 to 12 year old surveyed were vaping and 36% of 13 to 16 year olds. So over one in three 13 to 16 year olds that 16 year olds are beg your pardon are currently vaping. Never had smoked before but now they're inhaling nicotine and what if we're else is in a vape. Yeah for the extent of it it's certainly evident and just one question. Yeah and in that 10 to 16 age group who are vaping and vaping regularly and feel the need to vape, do they have an understanding that they are addicted, that they have an addiction? We have, so we have a youth organisation on education and prevention projects. We have staff in Sligo, Litrum and Sonigal and within those projects we have young people who would be able to recognise that. And look I think for a lot of young people it's like fermentation, it's fitting in with their peer group. And really that's both from our perspective we're working with young people to try and help them develop a sense of themselves so they can make positive choices. It's that ease of access and exactly what you talked about at the outset there the packaging and the shininess, the novelness of it. And then there's confusion amongst young people in terms of they spoke about was this not something that to help people quit smoking but now it's something that we actually do. Yeah but if I put my mind in sort of that of a 13, 14, 15 year old whatever it might be and everyone's different you're coming to that stage where you want to you know you want an identity, you want to be part of a group, you want to sort of maybe feel like you're a grown-up and you're an adult and that was smoking at that stage truth be told. But now it is vaping and what kind of standing by and watching it happening as I said in the preamble there I really find it quite frustrating and adults who want to get up now and get angry because they vape and they're saying you're trying to get rid of a vapes listen they're going to deal with that through prescription or something or whatever. This is about a product that's highly addictive potentially a gateway to smoking that is specifically actively targeted. There's people paid millions to target this at the group of young people that we're talking about and to some extent we're standing by and watching it happen. Absolutely and young people come up with some very practical recommendations around it and I know the research was carried out in Flagalichum but the experience can be reflected across many of the counties. Actually I know they're in Donegal, the Donegal youth council operated by Froga. It's on their agenda and they have already written to the minister. Can we smoke into them? Yeah brilliant brilliant so and it's similar again the teams that they have are looking to address. So in the research they talked about the need for stricter regulation, the whole marketing piece that exactly what you're saying that it's colourful and easy to get to so we need to address that, the pricing of it and then some I suppose piece around the peer pressure which we're talking about they're wanting to belong to groups and but awareness and education piece that young people can make positive choices for themselves. Yeah okay and that if there is there is addiction that there are roots and support to be able to manage that. Alright Amri thanks for your time today I really do appreciate it. Amri Regan there who's Froga area manager in Galway. Get ready for the most wonderful time of the year at Sister Sarah's letter Kenny secure your preferred party night now with fantastic food and a festive atmosphere throughout December. Sister Sarah's proud sponsors of today's show. At AXA we know running a home can run up your cost too. That's why you can save up to 30% on our home insurance. Get a quote today. Together we've got this. AXA know you can. Policy terms and conditions apply minimum premium as one hundred and sixty euro a 30% discount is available after three consecutive years claims free 15% after two consecutive years and 10% after one year claims free. AXA insurance stock is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The cope done low builders providers open day is on today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call and store for exclusive discounts and giveaways meet industry professionals explore innovative products and get expert advice. Don't miss this chance to enhance your projects and new builds. Join us at the Cup builders providers done low today. As temperatures fall, so do Nissan's prices. The price of the Nissan leaf has been reduced by 5000 euro plus you can get a great finance deal for a limited time only. There has never been a better time to go electric with a price drop of 5000 euro and an unbeatable finance deal that Nissan Leaf is Ireland's best value EV to find out more contact your local Nissan dealer or visit Nissan dot com terms and additions apply. Nissan innovation that excites the letter Kenny Halloween Fest is on Tuesday the 31st with Spooktacular fun for all the family dress up for the CDP's fancy dress competition and get on the trick or treat trail between one and three. The story telling a Halloween Fest parade down Main Street and so much more all after three years. The story telling the story telling so much more all afternoon from 12 30 this Tuesday the 31st at the letter Kenny Halloween Fest. You dare not miss it for more info. See shop LK on Facebook. The county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland radio. Okay, it's 11 o'clock time to get a news update. It's over to Donna Marie Doherty. Thanks Greg. Good morning. A man in his 50s being killed in a road crash in County Sligo. He was on an e scooter when it collided with the van on the L one 303 at Rivers Town at around 10 past eight last night. The driver of the van and man in his 30s was taken to Sligo University Hospital for treatment on minor injuries. It means the total this year 155 people have been killed on Irish roads. It's the same overall figure for 2022 ends up 36 on the same period last year. Health officials are urging the public to consider all care options this October Bank holiday weekend before presenting at letter Kenny University Hospital Emergency Department. The ED has been the topic of discussion with over 80 healthcare professionals writing to the Health Minister regarding concerns over timely access to care. The HSC is asking people to consider other methods of care including their GPs pharmacists and out of our services before presenting. Dairy City and Sturban District ranked highest in the percentage of people who agreed that asylum seekers should be allowed to stay in Northern Ireland at 75%. While for mana and Oma both topped the percentage of those who felt indifferent at 23% and disagreed at 14%. The findings are from data that was recorded over 2021 and 2022 that was released today by the executive office. Israel says its warplanes have attacked more than 250 Hamas targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours. The country's tanks also briefly moved into Northern Gaza overnight ahead of bigger planned ground offensive. Last night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Naviatou insisted it was going ahead and claimed Hamas would be crushed. And finally roads that were closed this morning are in the area around Abercrown Square as the Northern Irish Fire Service and PSI responded to reports of a gas leak. Officials say the roads are now reopened. Those are the latest headlines to be back again with the next update at 12 o'clock until then. Good morning indeed. You're correct. Okay. We'll be back with more after this short break. Whether you're adventuring salsa dancing or you just popped out for some milk. You're not always home with on post. That's not a problem. You can set up a safe spot for us to put your deliveries when you're not in or rearrange delivery to your local post office. And if something's not right you can quickly return it with a collection from your door or drop at your local post office online shopping made easy with on post on post for your world. Some of your comments here. Hi Greg. Why does Ukraine not defend itself the same way as Israel? It can't. It doesn't have the the weaponry Israel has since L U H became a university hospital. It went downhill fast because it's now a training hospital with young nurses doctors all trainees with very few qualified. Maybe we should change it back to a general hospital. I'm not really quite sure what situation is there. Good morning Greg. When have schools ever closed down because of influenza people like Mr. Breslin who have that listener asking for something as silly as closing a school because a flu think that listener needs to lay off the boosters. There's a particular school where quite a number of young children have become quite ill with influenza 8 spread within the school. A number of them have ended up in hospital and a concerned parent wants to know if it's safe to send their child school because it remains open. What's that got to do with boosters? That's a concern parent who's looking for advice from a medical professional. I don't think it's an unfair question. They've been told that that's not policy. It can happen. This is influenza a which is highly transmissible and leaves young people as I say hospitalized if that's okay with you. That's fine. I was in Africa yesterday when leaving via the Neil T Blaney road around 3 30 took 25 minutes when we had the green light. The roundabout was blocked. I travel the same route at the same day and time two weeks ago. No hassle. I please share with your listeners. It's a warning to parents to listen up to this. We haven't been able to verify this but have verified enough that we're happy enough to read it out. My 12 year old was walking home from school on his own today. That was Wednesday at 4 45 p.m. He was at Hillcrest nursing home on Long Lane when a purple blue Jeep stopped with him, opened the passenger door and asked him to give him something he had dropped. He ignored him and walked on. The man had sunglasses on, had a bald head and an English accent when he told me he was all in a fluster but even he said how could you just drop something from a car also said he turned in by fair green. So if anyone else has heard of any potentially suspicious approaches in or around that area, please let us know. Roundabout at Mount Ergal is a disaster from the Glentys area going to Derry for an appointment. The engineer has a lot to answer for and he's come on air to explain, look at Sligo and how the lights work there. A caller says earlier in the year Rena Donahue promised an ambulance for Boncran in September. No sign of it. Is there an update? Well, we'll seek an update. And on it goes, we'll come back to more of those in a moment. Right, the EPA has called on Irish water stroke Ischia Aaron to provide clear plans to prevent pollution at some of Ireland's most important water bodies. It's latest urban wastewater treatment report. The agency says less than half of wastewater here is treated to European standards with huge issues recorded in Dublin and Cork and I presume in a remarkable coincidence. Ischia Aaron yesterday released a press release in relation to the great progress they're making in terms of wastewater treatment halfway through this year in Donegal there were seven areas recorded discharging raw sewage because their public sewers were not connected to treatment plants. Those places are Burton, Port Coularty, Falcara, Kerry Kill, Maville, Remelton and Rathmullen. Now we know Maville, Remelton, Rathmullen are coupled in a potential scheme down the line. David Shannon is an EPA inspector, he joins us now. Hi David good morning Tia. Good morning Greg. Right how concerned are the EPA in relation to the plans as much as you have them from Ischia Aaron to address these issues? Well just to give you the overall picture here now the EPA launched their annual report today on urban wastewater treatment and we're finding that while there has been some improvements there are still significant concerns. You know we've got 26 areas across the country that are still discharging raw sewage. Now this is down from 32 last year so it's moving in the right direction and Ischia Aaron is committed to resolve and most of these by 2025 areas like Remelton and Rathmullen. There's also 15 large towns and cities that are failing to meet European Union standards that were set to protect the environment and collectively these generate over half of all Ireland's wastewater. Most of this come in from the treatment plant at Ring's End in Dublin. Now there is plans to upgrade that plant and that should be completed in 2025. So again there is some improvements there. The EPA's big concern I think is that Ischia Aaron still doesn't have clear plans to prevent pollution at some of the most significantly impacted water bodies. You know areas like Bridge End and Burnclash and so what the EPA is calling for is Ischia Aaron to use its next investment plan which will go from 2025 to 2029 to carry out the improvements needed at these areas. Now we are seeing some improvements like this time last year. We had eight areas to charge and we're also reaching in Donegal. Kilkar was connected to Hualakor and very recently since the report was actually first written Kerry Key has been connected and we're expecting Burton Port to get treatment before the end of the year. So there is some improvements but not at a fast enough pace really. Now obviously there are big scale projects which you mentioned a 2029 target but in terms of some of the small projects that have that 2025 time frame. Are you looking for Ischia Aaron to speed that up or to make sure they stick to those targets? I think it's a case of where Ischia Aaron has plans in place so say Remelton at Rathmullen the examples. What we need to see is that they deliver those targets on time. You know they have to go to show a lot of statutory process to get a work to construction and we need them to stick to those targets. The areas we're concerned about are some of the ones where wastewater is causing pollution to rivers and you know areas like Kilmer Crennan and Bridge End and where Ischia Aaron has taken too long really to deliver the works made of those areas. In fact we were so concerned about Kilmer Crennan that the day took a prosecution earlier this year to try and speed things up and it is moving along now so work is expected to start in Kilmer Crennan in 2024 and be completed in 2026. So what we'd be calling for is Ischia to stick to these deadlines and meet them. Okay listen thank you very much for your time David. That's David Shannon, EPA inspector. Okay time for more if you comment here as we head towards a break. With regards to phones in the classroom we weren't even allowed calculators. That's what I that's kind of the one element of it. I was hoping someone maybe involved in the education system might be able to educate me. Why do we need legislation to keep phones out of classrooms? What's going on? Is it that the kids won't listen? I don't know. Anyone could give me an insight into it. It's probably a really simple answer because as I say I remember there was one fellow in class when I was in national school and he had a calculator watch and it was like you can't wear that to school anymore. He simply he wasn't actually allowed to wear the calculator you know what the old watch is the calculator on sure not sure if there were any use but that wasn't allowed at school not it wasn't that it wasn't allowed in the classroom. It wasn't allowed at school and yet we're talking about the education minister introducing legislation to ban phones from classrooms. So again could someone fill in the blanks because I'm old right and I don't understand where we had this slippage where you weren't you weren't allowed at any time of the year by the way not just exams to wear a calculator watch and now we're talking about people have not being allowed to take mini computers and communication devices into the classroom with me if someone can sort of fill in that gap as to what's changed or why it requires legislation I genuinely would be really appreciative of it. Hi Greg I was at the county final last Sunday it was a great day out the only downside is when you went to the toilet there was no water in the taps to wash your hands every tap in the toilets were not working. I think this is a disgrace in the present day. Okay wasn't aware of them. Hi Greg I live beside Joe they're a great family absolutely heartbreaking to see the family home gone and then all in the mobile home it's just a simple failure by government to all these families in that position and indeed we spoke to Joe and family and got an insight as to how this is affecting the younger members of that family as well just as that house was being tasked. If you bought a house and got the architect out to examine it and he passed it as sound and then you found out later as Micah can you follow the architect? Well you see I presume you're talking about a visual I presume you're talking about a visual inspection and even now to get onto the scheme you might get an architect or an engineer out they will only give a visual inspection and they can give a point of view as to whether or not the house has defective concrete or not and then you can forward that on to the council try and get on the scheme if they say they suspect it has and then get your house board tested in terms of a visual inspection if there was nothing visually to indicate at that time to the architect that it didn't have defective concrete I'm not sure really what liability they might have in that regard now if they bored it sent the samples away and it came back and they said you're okay and then it turned out that would be a bigger issue in terms of I don't mean it's a huge issue if your house has defective concrete you know what I mean don't you back to the roads Greg he hasn't got a clue what's going on on the ground another the unfilled roundabout is another traffic disaster needs lights there too it's a free for all when we have taxis parked on the Tesco roundabout also another disappointed that they say they can manually fix it but they are not willing to I think they have to trust the technology on this because it might be a it's a it's clearly learning software and if they interfere with it it doesn't learn it correctly for the long haul re roads they've been Ryan's going to be delighted with letter Kenny because people are going to abandon their cars because it's quicker to walk oh yeah remember someone mentioned about pollution in letter Kenny and had it increased because of the traffic it hasn't actually there was two days this month where and it's amazing how you can see the spikes there was two days two days this month whereas S.P.O. peaked twice into the red zone where it was dangerous and both was around about the time people getting home and lighting their fires it was after rush hour and everything and I checked the temp on those two days and there were two cold days so it's amazing we're all the same while we go home we light the fire and I suppose an urban area it affects so obviously there are quite a few people still around letter Kenny not that are using dirty colon inverted commas because traffic is past like graveyard every morning now we need a third bridge Christmas is going to be a disaster they say I recall many years ago talking to a friend who worked as an EU bureaucrat in Brussels when I mentioned that letter Kenny was the worst planned town in Ireland he replied no it's not it's the worst planned town in Europe over a decade later it seems nothing has changed letter Kenny was for a long time the fastest growing town in Europe unfortunately the infrastructure didn't really keep pace with that growth it seems hi Greg tell Damian letter Kenny is a complete disaster they have destroyed the town with traffic light to the amount of people is that staying out of the town is unbelievable businesses should be worried Greg but a few businesses have commented on posts on social media that I've put out there to sort of get a sense of what's going on and I didn't outside of one business I haven't really seen any criticism of the traffic in letter Kenny from any other businesses now that doesn't mean it hasn't happened I haven't seen it but I I can only think of one business that has has actively said look this is really bad for the area a couple of others has said it's already days let's wait and see so I'm not sure if the business community is crying out I haven't heard them a massive problem with letter Kenny traffic is the roundabout on the Remelton road near Arena 7 traffic is backed up to the golf club at peak times once you get past this roundabout the rest of the journey isn't too bad the fact that it is regulated means you know you will get through in a reasonable time it took me 15 minutes from Arena 7 to the pole star at peak time which is a good improvement but at Bankology weekend we'll decide how good or bad the new system is well I won't be honest with you I'm gonna have to rely on you guys to tell me because I've my time is precious and of course that area that you're talking about people also turn right thinking they're being clever up past Alcorns scoot around and come down and meet you at that roundabout so that means there's extra traffic on one two three roundabouts crazy stuff hi Greg can you ask the people of Donegal what they think of the parish priest and the G.E.A. Club giving a reference to a person caught with drugs well what is your views on what is your views on people being given what's the word reference references is it references I don't know what's it's called but you know priests or GA clubs or whatever vouching for people you see it's very possible that you it's very possible for people to lose their way a little as well you know or make poorer decisions I don't think we want to constantly write people off do we if they make a mistake we have to allow people the opportunity to rehabilitate or to change their ways or learn the error of their ways and perhaps maybe of a a club or a priest or whatever it's sort of the same look at what that person is horribly wrong and they probably deserve some punishment but overall they're not a bad person is there is that wrong is that bad should it be banned only in certain cases let me know what you think have you thought about that much 08 6 60 25 thousand refunds in classes students are already a step ahead they're using smart phones when told to put their phones away smart watches is it that you mean because of course you can have your phone away and you can keep going on your watch I absolutely love phones at schools my son is in first year and he is reliant on his phone he can't simply write his homework in a homework diary and bring the phone home he has to check everything on the phone times he doesn't understand or can't find the assigned homework more pen and paper and why are we paying hundreds for books they're barely using I think even schools with ipads in you still have to buy the book so the book sits there and it's not used and you have the ipad if I'm not mistaken I think they'll correct me if I'm wrong but you still have to buy the books they might not be used but you buy the book and then you get the e version as well which seems a wee bit strange sorry for all the reading but as I say so many of you text in and I think it's really important that we make sure that once we invite you to text we read them out so more and traffic coming in thick and fast well I'll go to John before we take the break hey John how's it going great all right good what's your take what's your situation well the school now that my sons and daughters go to there and the teachers now never have the phones in their hands because I've been on the school a few times myself and you know they can't be one room for the teachers and then ready for the kids you know monkey see monkey do yeah yeah very much so right so if we're going to ban them from the students let's have a look at the teachers first yeah I will see the teachers does that go well that's that's well that's bad management isn't it that shouldn't be allowed to happen well it's happening you know the kids is picking up on that you see and there see and that's and I'm supposed to have a point to you like you know yeah I mean I I presume now I presume it happens but the idea that the teacher whilst the students have been given some work would be sitting on their phones seems you know doesn't seem right to me anyway I don't know do they need them for the kids or what but I know there's Google classroom and stuff like that you know the kids use their phone for you know the schools have integrated the phones with you know with school you know for these reasons and can over COVID at the call a big thing and but as well as that to socially you're like every parent John I'm sure you're you're under pressure for the children to have their mobile phones and access to them if the teachers were on board as well would you like to save phones banned from schools or do you think they're important for them to have with them well you have to look at the kids with additional needs to there's kids there with additional needs you know and they have sensor issues and you know they need their phones for to regulate self-regulate and their stuff on their phones you can see that can of you over to you know mm-hmm all right so you couldn't totally ban them I don't think you know now the way things are and the way things like dyslexia and this graphy and different things to get mm-hmm you know the phones are vital for them to you yeah laptops yeah okay all right listen John thanks for your insight really appreciated Maria you there I am yes Greg how are you not too bad right what do you think about phones in schools I agree that they should be banned and I just think with the whole bullying on social media at the minute and kids are just addicted to the phones to cannot play with the phones out of their hands at all so and I think and they're can't you know kids are taken photos of teachers and other people and put them up on Snapchat right and most times we don't see them either do we if the truth be told we don't see most of probably what's going on on social media exactly because we're not we're not they have they have the public one that they allow us on right and then they have the friends only one where everything else goes on and to try and get on to that will you be trying to get money out of them would be easier so they have ways around these things and also to Marie it's difficult isn't it if one student has a phone well then they're coming back saying well they have a phone why can't I have a phone in school it has to be kind of a blanket ban for it to work I think now obviously as John said if technology is required for certain students with additional needs of course I don't think anyone would want that restricted but the general see an all outband but why Marie do we need legislation for it can head can principles not say no phones in the classroom and well I think principles a lot of principles probably don't want to do that because then there be a backlash from people's parents so they need the legislation to back them up to make those decisions so they may want to but they don't want to be an outlier and have the backlash that's a really good point never thought about that yeah yeah phone in school Marie I didn't know I know it was mobile phones for I'm too old really for for they were just coming in at that stage and but yeah they weren't yeah they were just coming in when I was last year to school and but yeah yeah so it wasn't I'm too old yeah all right thanks for the lovely chat to you okay perfect and you too Greg thank you I'm not old we used to play with the stick in a wheel just running around the play yard bang in the top of that stick as it went around what did you do to entertain yourselves at school compared to now first and second national and secondary school it was a simpler time it really really was I feel lucky that I was at school when I was at school because it was tough enough with you know if you were a little bit different to what have you in terms of you know not being included or whatever it might be I can I can only imagine how it must be when it's amplified and it's all the time and maybe you know I've heard cases of students who say they went to the bathroom and they went to the bathroom and they went differently like they're stood with the trousers lower down then you might say they didn't use a zip and pictures of stuff like that being taken and spread around I've heard about cases that recently if those phones weren't in the school that wouldn't be allowed to happen and you can only imagine the impact that has on the child and their family as well so we have to do all we can to protect our young ones don't we because we often talk about and I get it and I agree you know we often talk about the things that might be coming in in terms of you know sex ed or the dangers of you know foreign people coming into Ireland and the danger it might pose to children and I get that right but just wish we'd pay more attention on the stuff now like this get angry and protest and get t-shirts printed up about the stuff now that we're in control of um you know I think sometimes it's easier to talk about the threat of something than actually deal with what's going on on the ground right now the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland radio at sister Serra's Gastropob Letter Kenny let us look after your Christmas party needs this December with excellent food and entertainment in Letter Kenny's Premier Venue 91122238 Sister Serra's proud sponsors of today's show this year we're celebrating 30 years of the KIA Sportage when it launched it redefined that segment the latest 30 year anniversary model features class-leading technology dual 12-inch digital displays leather seats and distinctive black-edition styling visit Herron Auto Donegal Town for your 241 KIA when you choose Chadwigs you get the best branch network now get the best value with our autumn sale BE Pressure Washer only 429 euro DeWalt 18-Volt XR Combi Drill now only 259 euro Ashfield & Co architectural door handles only 40 euro per set plus lots more offers in store across all departments shop online at Chadwigs.ie or visit your local branch Chadwigs Let's get it done Kenny's toys Ireland's largest farm toy super store isn't just about farm toys we've loads of fun outdoor toys for kids such as electric scooters crazy carts electric quads jeeps tractors and so much more hassle free parking at the door with no traffic jams our Christmas club is now open to and a wee deposit secures your item Tinney's toys Let's road letter Kenny or online at tinney's toys dot com Lay down It's the bank holiday at super value with great special offers on all the big brands you love like and euro exclusive to real reward members only the La Maria Sauvignon Blanc 6 pack case deal only 50 euro and money off vouchers every week and the app too so pop in for great savings in store online this bank holiday at super value joy alcohol responsibly now is the time to experience the future with Connelly's Mercedes Ben's Sligo 2024 Donny Gall Motor Show taking place a canal road letter Kenny from the 24th to the 28th of October experience the full Mercedes Ben's range including the CLA C-Class GLC and S-Class and take a test drive in one of the Mercedes Ben's all-electric family drive into 2024 with your new Mercedes Ben's from Connelly Motor Group for more information and to register visit Connelly's dot IE Highland radio time checks with Expressway travel Route 32 from letter Kenny to Dublin when you book online and travel for less Expressway bringing you the time at Hi Greg How are you? I'm doing good Shnade your daughter is an S and A and we're talking about sort of you know technology and mobile phone devices in the in in schools what have you learned from her? Yeah well my daughter has an S and A Oh a back in the morning sorry I misread this has access to an S and A she's a physical need understood um yes so she is in first year and obviously we had a transition meeting with the school prior to her starting um and I had asked if it was possible for her to have a pager as opposed you know to having somebody sitting on her shoulder the whole time that could be best used with another child with different needs you know um because I did anticipate that the needs wouldn't be constant they might just be you know every so often but I was told by the school that the handiest way to deal with it is actually to use the mobile phone um to contact if there was a need and as a parent I didn't really want that because you try to do everything you can to discourage the child from having a phone in school yeah now a hundred percent get towards the school they're coming from it and the school is a phenomenal school phenomenal and I really mean that um and they are the best advocates for every single one of their students but I suppose it's difficult for them too in that um it's just so commonplace now isn't it yeah exactly and Sinead sorry what what would be a a an example so that your daughter would be in class might need feel they need a bit of assistance so they text the SNA or call them or how does what's the interaction with the phone well the way is now thank God touch would you know there hasn't been a need for the SNA so far you know that um it would be just in extreme circumstances but suddenly or you know you know she's she's liable to temperature spikes quite rapidly something like that um so we haven't needed that but um the SNA is actually in the class but that's not just for for this child it's it's for others as well yeah okay um so the school have everything covered everything covered but you'll say a an alternative system that didn't employ a phone especially if you sort of of one you know where you'd prefer the phone wasn't in the school setup uh I would prefer 100% I just think they're toxic something's easy doesn't make it better doesn't mean just because something is the easiest way does not mean that it's the best way or sometimes just you know persevering and looking for something else is the best it's the best way sure if we did everything it's easy a knife we'd never get any one we we actually wouldn't and we'd lose the ability to do anything as well things would be so easy be robotic yeah it's tough isn't it? it's a parent managing the mobile devices and access to it it's tough yeah you know yourself with your boys obviously they were the other other end of the the teens and in the early 20s but and obviously you've a toddler you've it all to come again oh he's flaccid and he's scared not when he joked yeah it's not like that it'd be ah not Donbock has nothing to learn um but look what you know you know all about us what it's like it's tough for kids and how cruel they can be to each other on phones so anything that we can do to roll back in it is well worth doing yeah for sure um and I I just wonder if if it's so advanced now um that really that there's gonna be this sounds like spaced off but it's so this is gonna be actually a further level level of integration however that might come I don't know but I just I just don't think this is a tide that can be turned back um but anyway should I that will be you just have to set them for your children I have limits on what they're allowed on their phone I take them off them if they step out of line because that's just they have to understand there are boundaries I don't allow them any when you're dinner table stuff like that not that I'm perfectly listen we're all when you're not the parents of the table that's a good question let alone no well I grew up with the dinner table I grew up like the Waltons that always sat around the dinner table come hell or high water no matter what um and it should be it should be sacrosanct in that set you know okay listen Sinead lovely to chat you take care yourself okay 08 6 6 20 25 thousand uh a caller says it really is time character references that was the phrase I was looking for it really is time character references for people were done away with any family person with the right money can get these references yet the poorer people have to face their crime and are treated as they should be yeah interesting if you're a drug dealer you're not sorry if you're a drug dealer no one should give you a character reference I presume the case you're referring to is a drug dealer these people are a scourge on our young people in society they deserve no leniency uh some drivers leave two to three car lengths in front of them in traffic in this town lengthening traffic jams that comes in from Daniel ha dear Greg the traffic coming in lech and lasmonahan into the old town area is absolutely shocking this last few weeks the bridge cannot tolerate the traffic and wait that bridge is so old indeed by that in a different form on a previous show wasn't there uh wasn't there a similar approach made to a young schoolboy in strudman yesterday the driver also in a Jeep from what I can remember yes indeed uh and I didn't at that time want to link those for fear that I could be suggesting there's a link when maybe the reason to link but yes there was a Jeep um I didn't get an age profile of the person in letter Kenny and that Jeep was black right okay where am I more so many on traffic so many on so many different issues uh thank you so much for it uh I'd say we're over a thousand uh texts so far this morning yet it's two lanes then three one for going out past the council office two for going up Port Road and third for past the Man Terrigal thank you I use it every day I'm always in the right lane but you know it's like if you adjust a wee test for you if you're wearing a watch okay this isn't this isn't this isn't the similar thing if you're wearing a watch okay put your hand over your watch don't look at your watch now put your hand now if it's a analog watch right put your hand over the watch do not look at the watch before you put your hand on no cheating right now tell me is it numbers or Roman numerals on your watch is it row numbers or Roman numerals now you look at your watch 10 times a day now take your hand off your watch and have a look at your watch will you I got mine wrong so if you haven't done it yet don't look at your watch put your hand over it and tell me guess is it numbers or Roman numerals the whole way around or is it just numbers at 3 6 9 and 12 or maybe there's no numbers at all now look at your watch were you right let me know 08 6 60 25 thousand 08 6 60 25 thousand or give us a call an 07 4 9 1 25 and as highland radio dot com is almost the season to indulge secure your staff party or get together at sister Sarah's letter Kenny Christmas party nights now available to book on 9 1 2 2 2 3 8 sister Serra's our proud sponsors of 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your significant other and designer handbag for mom or a cosmetic gift set for the beauty enthusiasts and the family visitors in store or shop online to find everything on their wishlist this Christmas Michael Hines All right Europe direct letter Kenny's soapbox public speaking competition takes place this evening this year's theme is focusing on the importance of voting and the fact that every vote count it's very important that each of us exercise our democratic right some feel when it comes to elections regardless of or political persuasion Finnegell MEP Maria Walsh is back on the show with us again Good morning Maria Good morning How are you doing today? I am doing good I think you know a lot of people in terms of voting Maria I often look at who doesn't vote because I think those other people that are often feel disenfranchised disinterested disillusioned and if they were motivated to vote whether it be in Ireland Britain anywhere in Europe politics could be completely different if we could sort of shift that apathy or disinterest or disillusionment that's a massive group of people that could have a real big saying things Absolutely and I agree with you because when you look at the voter turnout in 2019 European elections just under 50% and for Midlands Northwest which is going to go me across the lives when you look at the Europeans we had we were over the average in comparison to other constituencies but we are still down we're just over the 50% mark so it's a long way from where I believe we should should be at and I take your point that how do we connect those that feel disconnected frustrated angers and for me it's true through conversations like we're going to have this evening in the Europe Direct Library in that are Kenny around silk box awards talking about voter turnout in democracy means and it's also showing large and small community engagements having town halls regularly in contact talking about from my perspective European elections and a lot of local national politicians would do the same right across the political sphere I think I think you know that that connect that disconnect is so so important particularly where you look at the world where it is now and and ultimately where has grown from yeah and it's connecting it's connecting those people and sometimes I think it's about people feeling that politics is working for them they might not always like how it works but that it is working for them and often it is so sometimes it's the perception that it's not and sometimes obviously it's a reality and the reason I say that is a lot of people don't get what Europe is voting people in the impact asking them and I think that's reflected in the turnout more people sort of get what the council does and I think that's also reflected in that big space of people that don't vote because they don't feel it does anything for them Yeah and I think there's a couple of layers of of where we can I believe we can connect that disconnect so when you look at what we're doing tonight in in the Europe direct library letter tennis so so what we do know from right across the European union uh both at the local national and European level we know that voter turnout among young people is often lower um at your traditional politics elections if referendum, very different. You know, our experience, marriage equality in 2015, repeal the 8th and 2018, and we saw ways of people coming from overseas, making sure they're showing up to the ballot. And local and European, because they're done on the same day, we'll have that. We should have the elections on June 7th and next year. You know, it's incredibly important that we see that same enthusiasm. But to your point, people also have to see that they are seen, that they're heard, and that they're valued, and that to the topic of tonight, there's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter. And President Barack Obama shared that before the last, I think, was the 2016 USA elections. And that is so incredibly important. And I think through politics and society and secondary schools, through events like tonight, through social media, when we're trying to educate and not polarize, I think plays its part, too, in that people, while they understand, and I'm always first to say equality is so hard fought and very quickly lost, and the system of politics is sometimes frustrating me really slow. And as someone who's been in it for years, I'm like, the first day of school, I'm going to change this, and it's going to change tomorrow. And I could see where I can sense this negotiation compromise does take time. But ultimately, that's where we need to find a space that we can have honest conversations, debate, and then move with each other, versus polarizing, so I'm leaving a part that we see in many different other democratic groups. Yeah. And listen, you know, I think young people, certainly the next general election in this country, I think young people are going to side it. And I think the parties that do the hardest work to appeal to the younger people and sort of get across that they represent them are going to be the most successful. That's the power of the youth vote. And just more young people need to realize that. Absolutely. And I agree with you. And I just came from an event in Dublin City Centre called The Big Idea, and I was working with six classes from different schools across the country that were looking at climate crisis, mental health, hidden poverty, and democracy. And we're debating, discussing and creating different solutions to worldwide problems. And when you have that, that enthusiasm, then that enthusiasm also needs to get met by political parties, like my own fellow. And I wholeheartedly agree with you. I think the next elections, both at local, European and general, are really, really fundamental in terms of where we go as a country, the most West periphery in the European Union. And ultimately that we're both, all of us are working towards a fairer society, and that we're working together on that. Regardless of, you know, I think you see foreign policy and geopolitics at play here. So we need to make sure that people do feel like they're seen and heard. And ultimately, that's why we need to get more people putting their hands up and getting involved, be it on the candidate or as a campaign manager, or just to be involved in knocking on doors and getting people to show up and make their voice heard and vote count. Right, you're in Lettuce County this evening for the Europe Direct Lettuce County soapbox public speaking competition. A strong number of, a strong amount of people taking part in it. It's going to be really, really interesting. Talk to us a little bit more about tonight. Yeah, so we have two categories over over 17 and under 17. They'll each have three minutes to propose their topic. And the theme is there's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter. Again, President Obama shared that a couple of years ago before the last or the 2016 presidential. And in today's turbulent times, so important than ever to build a better future by voting in the European elections. And again, in prep of of the European elections next June 2024, and we'll hear from people will hear the different arguments pro and and against. And I think it would leave folks like yourself who's on the judging panel really, really hard to decide who wins in both of those categories over 17 and under 17. So I'm really excited about you, Mr Hughes. Yes. Are you going to be the Simon Cowell? Or are you going to be in my judge? Not the biggest question I have for you. More of a David Williams, if the truth be told. Maria, I'm just looking forward to I have so much admiration for our young people. I love to speak to them and not about them. And I'm really looking forward to this evening. And we'll see you later, Maria. And thanks so much for your time this morning. Thank you. All right, take care of yourself. All right, Maria Walts there for the Gail MEP. That event tonight, the soapbox public speaking competition. Right. And I'm on one of the judging panel. It's just something I was asked to and I thought, you know what, I want to, I want to go and listen to what young people have to say. So I said yes. Parish priests don't even know people that give reference for one judge directed. If a parish priest wished to give reference, it would be necessary for a priest to come in to open court and make their case. I thought this put an end to priests issuing references from the secrecy of their offices. Back to phones in the classroom. My son was allowed to go on his phone in class when he finished his work. That's not unusual. It's something I've heard about under my roof as well. Bronia, my child actually has to use her phone in class to do work in that class at school. It's an app. They had to download it. There you go. So it's not necessarily the young one saying I'm sneaking the phone in. The phones are in there for a reason. Thanks to that. Bronia is it's a lovely name. It's not something I've seen before that I can remember. I understand that teachers nowadays have their class notes and lesson plans on the laptops phones. But I believe it's better for children to use their books in class and only use their phones when it's part of the classwork. But lots of schools have the tablet or they have the Chromebooks that are in the classroom that are restricted in what young people can do on them and what have you. So we're not looking. I don't think about removing technology, but but bringing in your own technology that has your Snapchat, your TikTok and all signed into that's different, isn't it? And on it goes, have to take another break then the weather and we are joined by I guess on the line after these. 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There is a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the late evening, which may cause spot flooding highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees in light to moderate south to southwest winds. Right. People incredibly exercised about traffic, particularly around letter Kenny. And let me say one more time. I'm sorry if you're down the county or across in the west or up and in the show and this feels irrelevant to you, but there's a as I say, 30 odd thousand cars travel into and through letter Kenny on a daily basis. So it's really a big story for them for the county when people are experiencing, you know, long delays at times like you think about it, say, for instance, you know, 10,000 cars coming in the remote and road, a delayed an hour, you know, you multiply that 30,000 hours divided by days. That's a lot of lost time across the county, isn't it? Right. Okay. Mary T. Sweeney is named to rep in Donegal and local election candidate. You're standing in the council or the general election, Mary T. Sorry, just to sort it on. Let's just start with the council. We'll start with the council, Greg. We'll rule nothing in our outs as the man. Okay. Exactly. You'll take on the situation and dealing with congestion. Obviously, the long term plan, Mary T's and we heard from Damien earlier on, they want it. We want it is is the bridge, the famous bridge and other measures. But I suppose we can only really talk for now in the short to medium term. What say you? The thing that really struck me listening into the show this morning is that obviously everything is dependent on this bridge, which is now going to cost maybe somewhere in the region, maybe 20 to 30% more than it would have cost if they'd have got the bridge built initially 15, 20 years ago when they started talking about it. What I think is from listening to the show is we should look for the sitting councillors that negotiate with the big companies that they could negotiate for a flexier with the schools and the large employers. The flexiers for the schools, I was very fortunate. One of my kids went to St Columbus and they offered an excellent breakfast club where they could go in there from eight o'clock in the morning. And there was a tea and coffee and toast facility there available, which took the pressure off parents and off the kids. Not just the kids, the kids doing exams and stress and people getting to work. It really sets you up if you're late for work. It's really stressful. And I think everybody's undergoing enough stress at the moment that we need to get our elected representatives that have the contacts with the options in the hospitals and the ATU and all the regional schools. When I looked at the Latter-County Town Plan, I was putting in a submission there a couple, maybe a month or two months ago. And one of the things I looked at, I asked the engineers at the open day, what have you done in relation to a traffic feasibility study on the traffic flow around Latter-County? And the New Town Plan, they said they were relying on old data. Now, they did take notice of it seriously when I mentioned it to them because I was quite concerned because of the high impact of traffic coming in over the railroad here and over the Smonahan, all impeding on the old town bridge to try and get into town. So that's the first thing we need to start with. We need to start with a traffic management plan to look to see what traffic is coming from where and more importantly going where because if we then can get the flexi-r in the places like the hospital that staff can start, that have kids to drop off an hour earlier, that they're not going to lose an hour's pay, you know? There are ways around this and the people are brilliant out there that have ideas, great ideas, and they should be invited, the council, I would encourage the council to invite those ideas in and maybe either something constructive because in the meantime, the stress on families and on the young ones going to school, especially if they're in exam years or the ATH. But who's going to take the first step in that though? But that being said, you know, I'm sure there are businesses that their staff are turning up half an hour late on a daily and maybe if they shifted the working day a little bit, it might accommodate the staff and get more productivity. We'll also call it a town flexi-r, that if we hit that flexi-r that give people the grace that they can notify their employer and say, listen, this morning it's a particularly bad day in traffic on a Monday morning, then, you know, like try and negotiate with the staff. And again, it's easier for teachers because they have what they call built-in flexi-r that they have to do additional teaching hours, that can easily be done at home or in school or at least from my work as a teacher, that's the way it worked. So the principle could negotiate that there's a few teachers in place to supervise in the breakfast club, which is what happens in other schools that I know of. And it's a win-win situation as it take off the pressure just by getting somebody focused to sit and negotiate that, you know. Yeah, that report you're talking about, I think it's the Lil's report from 2009. I'm not sure if that's the one that was being referenced. For the traffic management. Yeah, it was quite old to be doing a new town plan, and I was quite alarmed by that. So I asked them for a new town traffic flow management, you know. I think that was back in 2009. I just can't see the total cause it predicted, because we heard a figure early 30,000, and it would be interesting if that corresponded with that 2009 report. I'm going to check that in off air. All right. I've pulled figures together for my submission, which was done, as you know, like when you're doing it on your own bathroom, your own time. So there's that much to be done. But I remember saying that the traffic, if you look at the employees, that is for the hospital, for opt-in, and for the ATU, which was surprisingly high. And the other most visual impact is to look at the physical size of the car parks. Follow the cars, see where the car parks are, and you know, they're the biggest, get the six biggest key, you know, car parks in the morning. And they're the six businesses or schools to start with. Yeah, indeed, car parks weren't built for the SUVs that are on the road at the moment. They're very narrow, but that's a completely different subject. Mary T, thank you very much indeed. I appreciate that. Mary T, Sweeney, Aintu, Rep there, Council, election candidate as well. Yeah, I think when they were being lined out, the traffic, a lot of the car parks were for, you know, saloon cars, SUVs everywhere now. And I just don't think they're wide enough. Is there many people listening to park regularly that haven't come back to a dint or a scrape on their car or the door? I don't know. Listen, such was the nature of today. We always enjoy huge reaction. And we really appreciate that. But today was something else, loads and loads of you texting in. And we'll get to them tomorrow. We have a great Friday panel lined up for you tomorrow. So we're going to discuss the biggest issues of the week in the day, between nine and 10. Then we have that entertainment between 10 and 11 and 12. What's on between 10 and 11 tomorrow, Caroline? Is there anything particularly unusual good stuff? Just the usual good stuff, right? Nothing too heavy between 10 and 11. Can we wait now? Just Friday. We'll see how it goes. Okay. Listen, thanks very much. Stay tuned. Oh, ghost stories. Get your ghost stories into us. That's what it's Halloween on Tuesday, isn't it? Get your ghost stories into us. Oh, wait, there's some great ghost stories from around the place, down around Lahi, up around Downings. Any good ghost stories, please email them in to comments at HighlandRadio.com. I'll put something up on social media too, to try and remind. I'd love to hear ghost stories. It's Halloween. Please get them into us. And I can fill 10 to 11 tomorrow with ghosts. Right, John Bresen's coming up after 12. We're back with you tomorrow morning at 9. Looking for the