 under 3,000 jobs. 85% of business supported by the service are located outside of Dublin. Park McElway, chair of the network of local enterprises' offices says there are signs more people are now looking for jobs outside of the main cities. Hard to get a trend on it, but green shoots maybe if that happened. We're seeing people realise that they can get gainful employment in what wouldn't be your traditional employment centres. So for example 85% of the jobs that were created were actually outside of Dublin. I think that reflects probably a little bit of a cultural change as people start to maybe relocate back home. Weather now, frost and any mist and fog will clear throughout the morning, leaving another dry day with spells of sunshine developing and highs of six or seven degrees. We're back with more at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Well, Davie, brilliant that you weren't in work today. We had some crack. It was Petters last shift, so we all went out for lunch. Thanks for staying away. The lads are delighted. Chat you soon. Mind yourself. No one will thank you for turning up to work or anything else when you're sick. Stay at home and get a test to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. From the HSE, for us all. The Nintel Noon Show is brought to you by Letterkenny Credit Union, offering low-rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Nintel Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello. A very good morning to you. Five minutes past nine. It's Monday the 17th of January and a new week of the Nintel Noon Show kicks off. We've a busy show that's always lined up for you, covering a range of issues across everything local, of course, national and international. And we want you to be involved as you always are. You can once that protects the show, even if you've never messaged a radio station before, get involved, have your say, get your view out there. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. Maybe there's something you want to raise. It doesn't have to be negative or not negative, but you know to me, it doesn't have to be a problem. Maybe you want to highlight something positive, whatever it is. It's your program. Get involved. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. If you want to give us a call, Caroline's taking your calls this morning. 07491, 25,000 is the way you get in touch there. 07491, 25,000. And your comments come via email to comments at highlandradio.com, and we still get occasional post via our post people. And you can send your letters into Greg Hughes, Highland Radio, Mountain Top, Letter Kenny. And finally, good morning, last but not least, good morning, as you join us to watch the program across our social media. We are on YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland, and also on Facebook, Highland Radio, or Highland Radio News and Sport. Right onto the newspapers this morning, and we'll start with the Donegal News. And there were amazing scenes from right across Donegal, right across the Northwest, and the country of people coming together at short notice to pay their respects to a lovely lady by all accounts, 23-year-old Ashlene Murphy. She was fatally attacked on Wednesday, January 12th at 4pm, while out jogging along the Grand Canal in Kaepenkur. Yesterday, Gaudi were continuing their investigation into the murder of the National School Teacher. They've carried out searches of properties in Dublin and Anophily. Both properties are understood to be linked to a man believed to be the chief suspect in the young woman's murder. That person of interest is in hospital, and they are waiting to be in a position to question as they gather DNA and continue their investigation, so to presume. But large crowds attended. The paper focuses on letter Kenny on Friday night to remember the young teacher murdered in Tullamore, but there were gatherings as well, as he's mentioned elsewhere in the article, right across the region, right across the country. And it was just unbelievable in such sad times to see people just coming together at such short notice, and in such a beautiful and meaningful way. The Dairy News this morning. Gaudi and Donagola continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a dairyman whose body was discovered in Bunkrana at the weekend. Married father of two, John Kelly, originally from the top of the hill area in the water side, had been living in a shone for more than 20 years. He was the popular care taker at St Oran's National School in the town, hugely popular indeed. Gaudi sealed off the laneway behind his Makaalat Drive home where his body was discovered around 7.10 on Friday. A nearby green area was also cordoned off. The death of Mr Kelly who was in his 50s has stunned the seaside town and the direction of the investigation at this point would seem to be along the lines of it being a personal tragedy, but an incredible tough time for Mr Kelly's family and friends of course. And thinking on to the young people in that school that teachers will have to speak to today to try and explain that. I'm sure parents have done dad over the weekend but still it's going to be tough for everyone, but of course most importantly his close family and friends, but thinking on just the role moms and dads and teachers that would have had to play over the weekend in telling them. Right, the Irish independent, they have more on the murder of Ashlyn detectives are ready to question the chief suspect in the Ashlyn Murphy murder case as early as today. The suspect remained in a Dublin hospital last night where he's been treated for a number of injuries that are believed to have been self-inflicted. The investigation is going very well at the moment. Huge progress has been made over the past 24 hours according to a source. Gaudi were making preparations yesterday to interview the sub suspect and there is an expectation that this may happen today as soon as he is discharged from hospital. Senior sources have also revealed that officers have spoken to a number of family members and close associates of the suspect in the hope of building up a full picture of the individual and it has opened up a whole conversation of course as we were talking on Friday morning about male perpetrated violence for some reason and I still don't really get it because it's never been explained to me, but there are groups, some media outlets, not necessarily mainstream media outlets and individuals on social media that seem to think this is threatening to them saying, look, it's not me leaving me alone. It's that person or it's that, you know, it's down to this and seem to find the conversation uncomfortable about male violence. The majority of violence is captured by males. I would have thought that's a useful conversation and if you don't, you know, if you're not that type of a person, you shouldn't feel so threatened or worried about it or feel like it's an attack on you. But a lot of people out there seem to feel that if you talk about male violence against women that it's speaking about the man personally or individually, but when clearly it's not. But anyway, if you've any views on that 0866025000 or call 07491-25000, the Irish Times tells us that the government is facing resistance from some of its own TDs as it seeks to keep COVID-19 restriction in place for another fortnight. Some Finnafall and Finnagell backbenchers argued the worst of the Omicron variant surges passed. They're calling for immediate steps to extend the 8 p.m. closing time for pubs and restaurants. I think most people would be in favour of that, wouldn't you? You know, the likes of cinemas as well, theatres. I mean, obviously, you know, decisions had to be made. We could argue the toss over that at around about December 20th, but it has played out thankfully that this wave has not had an impact on hospitals to an extent that we've seen previously. The most important figure I suppose you could say is in terms of people's well-being is the ICU number. It's much lower than it has been. It's up to 89, but it was up in the hundreds before. And most of those people are not ill with Omicron, they're ill with Delta, and the hospital figures are showing a downward trajectory. So, you know, we're very quick to bring these measures in and arguably rightly so. Should we not be as quick then to say, right, OK, maybe the worst of the threat has passed and now allow people to get back to work or to open their businesses in a way that they can actually make money. But it's going to take a while, seemingly, because the National Public Health Emergency Team meets on Thursday. But senior coalition sources believe there is little prospect of officials recommending a relaxation of measures before they expire on January 31st. If this progress continues, we'll be in a good place at a high-level government figure, adding there were hopeful signs we have at least reached the peak of the Omicron surge. And paraphrasing Meal Martin, he was saying along the lines of, we hope that Nefert will recommend in this direction. But, you know, they are advisors, the government govern, and if they feel that, you know, now is the time to say, right, let's reopen again and allow people back to work and to make a living. Well, they don't necessarily do. They always have to wait for an effort to give the OK. Right. Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has ordered an investigation into Champagne Gate. This is in the Irish Daily Mail. And I think when these things are given fancy names like Champagne Gate, in some way it makes them, it can, I think for some people, make them more trivial. This is very serious. It's not a joke. What is Champagne Gate, though? It is a party that happened when no one else could. A spokesperson for Mr Coveney said the minister has ordered an investigation into the Champagne Party held in his department during a COVID lockdown. The investigation ordered by the embattled Minister 18 months after the event will be conducted by the current Secretary General, Joe Hackett, into his predecessor, Nile Burgess. The information emerged in the wake of an RTE radio interview by Tonystery of Radkar about the matter in which Mr Radkar was forced to defend his ministers in action on the basis that politicians do not have the power or authority to discipline civil servants. Can you imagine that? The civil servants obviously make an awful lot of the decisions and they can't be sanctioned by elected reps. Crazy stuff. The tarnished also said he did not know if the event involving 20 civil servants drinking Champagne was illegal, which he should. Mr Radkar said it was unfair to suggest Mr Coveney was responsible for the party in his department. But if there were a party here, ultimately the person responsible would be the person that manages here, I'd imagine. But anyway, they posted a picture of it on Twitter, you know, this is not investigative journalism at the best of these age. It's had this Champagne get together and then took a picture of them all together, grouped together with their Champagne and posted it on Twitter. Then they deleted it. But anyway, right, the Irish Daily Star, taxpayers are set to get a bill for five million to bring back mercs and perks for all ministers. What do you think about this? Minister for Justice Helen McIntee is to bring a report to cabinet for armed guarded drivers and cars to be reintroduced for all ministers. Currently they are provided for only a limited number of most senior members of government, including T Shock, Tarnished, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Justice. But recently credible threats from various far right organisations, as they're described, have led the security measure to be extended to three more ministers. Finance, public expenditure and health. However, a government source confirmed last night that the entire cabinet of 15 members is set to get drivers and special cars. The current cost of providing them for four ministers, the President, the Chief Justice and the DPP, is estimated to cost in the region of 2.5 million. What you can double that, mercs and perks. And is increased security a perk? I don't know if something were to happen to a minister on the off chance. They might regret that characterisation there. In the sun today, the Tarnished are said Ireland will see a phased reopening from the end of January with Covid restrictions easing as rapidly as possible. Neffat will hold a crunch meeting on Thursday to advise the government on the easing of the restrictions at the end of the month. Kind of touched on that. And lastly, none of us won the lotto, did we? Unfortunately, it would have been nice if it would have been up here. It would have been nice if it would have been me or anyone that might give me money as well. But anyway, it wasn't. Lotto fever gripped Mayo after demerge. The winning ticket of Ireland's largest ever jackpot of 19 million was sold there. Upon termatch, the six numbers on the will be one draw, on a quick ending, the 62 draw drought. The National Lottery has not yet revealed the location of the winning ticket, but confirmed it will do so in the coming days. And as it turns out, because so many tickets were bought for the lotto, the chances of the lotto being won, the odds reduced so drastically, it went. Pretty much, I think, there was something along the lines of four lines of lotto bought for every single person on this island. Really quite remarkable. When it's gone now, it went. Right, okay, our first guest joins us after this short break. The Ninetal Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie. Thinking of protecting your home or business with a new CCTV or access control system? Be sure to employ a private security authority licensed contractor for quality service and to avoid prosecution. It is now against the law to employ an unlicensed contractor to install or maintain a CCTV or access control system. Unlicensed contractors and their customers face prosecution and fines. For more information and to find a licensed contractor, visit PSA-gov.ie. What's gravity? When does the grass grow greener? Can people with longer legs jump higher? How are plastic cup mate? How filthy are our parents? Which ingredients make the best slime? Why do we dream? Are you faster than a calculator? Could a robot be powered by fruit or vegetables? When children ask why, who knows what will happen? ESB ScienceBlast, delivered by the RDS, empowers students from third to sixth class to discover the wonder of science by investigating simple questions, wherever their classroom is. To find out more, visit ESBscienceBlast.com. Hello Grace, where are you heading? Downton made to measure fireplaces in Chrysler. Made to measure fireplaces? Didn't you just buy a fireplace there? Yeah, but I'm going now to pick my kitchen worktop. Create the kitchen and living room of your dreams at Made to Measure Fireplaces and Granite Worktops. They've been in business for over 40 years, so for help choosing Granite or Quartz for your worktop fireplace or stove, visit the Made to Measure showroom at Casual Chrysler or see mtmfireplaces.com or on Facebook. Highland Radio Time Checks brought to you by Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, the centre of shopping in Dunnyall. Free parking and shopping all under one roof. Letter Kenny Shopping Centre bringing you the time at... 919, a report into a gathering of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs during lockdown is expected by the end of the month. Minister Simon Coveney has ordered an inquiry after a photo emerged of at least 20 staff drinking champagne at the department's headquarters. Elaine Lachlan is Deputy Political Editor of the Irish Examiner and joins us now. Hi Elaine. Morning. It is fair to say that these people they themselves at the time of this get together, they posted this image that's been uncovered in inverted comments themselves on Twitter did they not? Yes it was posted on Twitter and then quickly taken down at the time. This happened back in June 2020, actually on the 17th of June when Ireland got the news that they had won that seat on the UN Council, the UN Security Council. Now it was a massive deal for this country at the time and the Department of Foreign Affairs had put in a massive effort into securing that seat. So what happened we believe was this impromptu gathering happened immediately after that announcement in the Department of Foreign Affairs and that picture was taken of about 20 staff including a baby as well was present at the time. There was champagne to be seen in the photograph as well. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said that he wasn't at that impromptu gathering what they're calling it. He had been in the Department of Unpeachuk when the announcement was being made with the Unpeachuk. He stayed there for a while and came back sometime later probably around an hour, an hour and a half afterwards to carry out whatever work he had for the day. So he says that he went down to congratulate his staff or staff in the Department of Foreign Affairs and thanked them for the effort that had gone into this bid. He stayed there for around 10 minutes but he had claimed that he did not see any sort of a party or a gathering at that stage. So that's where we're at. Now this didn't really get any traction at the time although I remember seeing the image in a bit of conversation about it. Is it a case that sort of you know with all the controversy that's happening with Boris Johnson and around his government, is it a case that we sort of went trawling through you know through the archives in this country to try and come up with a similar story to say and there's no harm in that by the way that's not a criticism necessarily but as I say it was broadly known at that time but it didn't seem to get the traction then. Yes and it appeared again over the Christmas period so probably slightly before that the latest Boris parties emerged but at the time as well you have to remember that Ireland was in phase two of reopening so it was fairly strict measures still in place at the time people could only meet in groups of up to six others from other households and no large gatherings were permitted so I think maybe that's why the word in prompt two is being used here because obviously we know that any sort of an organized gathering would have been against the coalition. Yeah but that sort of suggests that they all randomly were having an individual glass of champagne and just happened to collectively bump into each other at the same time. You're very clear obviously on what the restrictions were at that time are you surprised that the Thomas de Lioverade card was not sure when questioned whether or not this was illegal Yes and he did put it back on to Engard de Siakana saying it would be something for Engard de Siakana to look into if they believe that there were breaches of guidelines but we do know now as well that this review of what happened will be carried out by the new Secretary-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs Joe Hackett and he will have to report back on this by the end of the month to Minister Simon Colvaney so a lot will be riding on that I suppose people will want to maybe see what the Secretary-General has to say about it but you're right the guidelines were clear at the time groups of six others from outside your own household and no large gatherings but it would just also make you question like I'm not sure what it's like at the Irish examiner but you know from time to time say for instance if someone's collecting a check for something we've had to take photos here and you're very conscious of you know following the guidelines in that moment you know I'm sure there's been similar if you're working on site there's been similar situations what amaze you know because you know you have to make sure that you're following the rules that everybody else is following what amazes me is that we have these groups of people we've seen here now with the this group of civil servants and we've seen it more so perhaps in in England is that just a complete lack of awareness or you know to take that picture and and to post it on social media to not really it's tone deaf like at the time at least certainly certainly now and not to defend any of the individuals in the picture taken in the Department of Foreign Affairs it did it did come at a very different time and wasn't in a very different context to maybe the the Boris Johnson parties which were well organized in advance we see the emails went around inviting staff telling staff to bring their own drink and to the garden all ten Downing Street for essentially an ease up this appears anyway to have been a spur of the moment and picture taken after the great news came through that we had secured that UN Council seat and it came after kind of years of work and as I said this is me only assuming from the outside looking in at the picture but it appears to be an impromptu gathering as they're calling it now and that happened immediately after the news came came and and maybe people weren't really thinking and that as I said that photo was taken down fairly quickly after it went up on social media that's not to excuse us that's not to say it was right and this investigation by Joe Hackett will tell a lot around the circumstances of it and what happened and very finally Elaine obviously the Christmas recess ends on the 19th isn't it TDs back in the doll what do we expect to dominate for the first couple of days I wonder yeah well certainly when the doll arrives back after their Christmas break TDs will certainly be discussing the subject that the whole nation has really been consumed by I suppose over the last few days and that is the killing of Ashley Murphy and the fallout from that I suppose you know issues of violence against women about the culture of both men and women in this country and what we have to do now and to respond to gender-based violence and assault that we've been hearing about over the last few days since that dreadful killing of Ashley Murphy there'll be statements in the doll and they will be led by the Taoiseach and Justice Minister Helen McIntee and Sinn Fein as well have a private members motion on Wednesday around gender-based violence so that will be the main issue to be discussed by TDs when they come back on Wednesday there'll also be a discussion you'd imagine around the COVID restrictions spoken about just there and also a bill that was introduced last week by radical government the Children's Minister that would give access to information and for the first time to birth certs and other personal information to adopted people quite a lot of discussion about that last week as well and people saying that maybe the bill doesn't go as far as what adopted people had hoped for and there probably will be amendments to that from the opposition when it comes for the doll this week all right Elaine this and thank you very much for your time this morning I appreciate it greatly that's Elaine Lachlan deputy political editor of the Irish examiner 08 660 25000 your WhatsApps and texts second Highland radio thank all who took time to walk three kilometers yesterday and the minute silence for Ashling they left the community centre at 4 p.m. and walked three kilometers in memory of Ashley Murphy that comes in from Ray thank you very much for that Ray more than happy to do so I was out walking at Tremor Beach in Carragarde which is one of the many beautiful beaches we are blessed with on the coast of Donegal a lot of erosion there due to tides getting higher and the amount of plastics which have drifted in with the high tides I am making a plea to your listeners on Highland radio who are planning on going to any of our beaches this weekend as the weather looks promising to take a bag with them and pick up as much plastic that they can before it is taken out again when the next high tide arrives within the next two weeks it will be a satisfactory outcome that I felt yesterday after picking up two loads fair play to Carolyn that came in on Friday the weather is going to be good for this week you know I mean we're not going to be in our swimsuits it's going to be dry for the most part and perhaps even into the weekend it's a good idea the plastic well up from from regular tides so people can go out and pick some up on your beaches if you're out take some home with you all right 08 660 25000 keep them coming into us your messages that is our next guest 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men more than double their fortunes during the pandemic report by the charities found that that was while income for 99 percent of the population fell it's claimed more than 160 million people have been forced into poverty since the emergence of corona virus jim clarkin his CEO of oxfam arland and joins us now thank you very much jim for taking the time to speak to us and good morning to you good morning great good to be on thanks for having it's good to speak to you now i mean there's a there's a narrative out there and it's that one we've tried to dispel as much as possible that you know everyone is better off that this sort of you know massive amount of savings which has built up which of course for some it has but across the board more people are less well off and we we can't ignore that well that's the reality of it at 99 percent of people across the world are worse off than they would have been without the pandemic so we do have an elite group that have dramatically increased their wealth and and not necessarily through any additional economic kind of gain for society if you like because they had they're sitting on enormous assets that that appreciated so hugely during that time and yes some people may have saved money but do do remember that so many people lost jobs were put on temporary layoff people in people particularly people in in poor paid employment and casual employment and the report talks about you know this this gross inequality killing 21 000 people a day through lack of access to health through hunger through other crises and the other part I think that's really important to mention is is the huge impact this has had on women the ILO estimates that women have lost 800 billion dollars of of revenue across the world during this past year they've also had to take on far more care work and women do the vast majority of care work as it is already but because people were sick because people were laid off and so on and we estimate that 20 million girls who were put out of school because schools closed in developing countries will not go back to schools so the the huge impact on their lives and the lives of their communities into the future is enormous and then we've seen a huge spike in the in the rate of gender-based violence violence against women and girls across the world including here in Ireland as we well know during this period yes less than 0.000 if you can imagine that 2 percent of pandemic response was spent on protecting women so there is it does it yeah jim there's an awful lot in there but just on the headline which is not more important than the the other areas but the fact that incredibly rich people are getting richer there has to be from a humanity perspective there has to be something in place that people cannot grow their wealth in time of such crisis surely I don't I don't know how how one might do it but the fact that we have a lot of people getting much poorer and a very small amount of people getting much richer like I would be ashamed to be one of those living on the same rock as everybody else and the truth of it is and this this is happening and it's it's just a continuation of what's been there before but because because of the way super wealthy people's wealth is structured you know there's an inevitability almost about but there is a solution and the solution to this is to introduce a wealth tax and and we estimate that just in Ireland alone if you introduce a wealth tax for multimillionaires and billionaires you could add another four billion to the exchequer imagine the impact that that could have on housing could have on health could have on protecting women and so on so there's you know there are solutions and in fact even some of the millionaires across the world and billionaires are saying look this system doesn't work you know it's completely skewed but they could you see the thing about that too though Jim right they could they could give up their wealth and much of it if they chose to they don't have to wait for someone to take it out of their pockets you know like I see that but I see them commenting that because they know it's not going to happen so they can come from a position where it appears that they are sitting on high moral ground but if they truly believe that well then they could give over some of the wealth some of them do don't get me wrong but I see it out there and I say you know what you don't have to wait for someone to come and take it out of your bank again there are ways that you could be seen to say right I'm going to give the equivalent of what I believe should be taken off me in tax but they don't do that because they can sit on their money they can look good and they know for whatever reason the governments aren't going to come and take the money out of their pockets and sorry if that sounds cynical but I see it all too much no it's a fair if fair point look the vast majority aren't aren't aren't voting for for more taxes but the truth of it is philanthropy or charity is not going to solve our global problems I mean we need global solidarity it's obscene the level of wealth that these people have accumulated prior to the pandemic but since the pandemic sometimes as a result of the pandemic some of these new billionaires are in the pharma industry for example and this is the same industry that is not it's denying access to vaccines to billions of people in developing countries because they won't share their intellectual property which we've been calling on for for a long time so they're you know we believe that the only way to do this is to have a tax have a tax that's that's clear that's understandable that is inescapable from if you like for for billionaires and really extremely wealthy the only problem is is though is that these incredibly wealthy people pull so many strings that that you know like and this is not I don't think it it's a crazy thing to suggest too that say for instance even in the likes of america that these incredibly wealthy people are very influential and it's that it could be the same it is the same elsewhere as well they're very influential as it relates to who is empowered at any given time I mean that is that's the level of influence that they exercise you know and so how do you ever because if they say for instance you do get a country that starts saying right we need to change this up well you would find very quickly that the whichever company or a group of people sorry that were ruling in that country would very soon not be ruling in that country you know a new group of more compliant people would be put in their place like that is the way the world runs it's not a conspiracy theory well no it's a fair point I mean this this what we call political capture by the wealthy elites is is a reality across many parts of the world but the way to fight that is for people to be active for societies to be active for societies to go out and vote for good journalists to report on these issues for the public to become aware and to realize actually they're voting for for christmas sometimes when when you know they're doing this and you see progressive economies across the world are emerging and you see there's a similar tax has been introduced in argentina specifically to focus on on pandemic recovery taxing the very wealthiest so it isn't impossible even in the US they're putting together the structures of what might end up as becoming a wealth tax in place because look it's complicated you do need to have the structures in place you do need to have the information sharing but just don't forget that not all that long ago they said it was impossible for us to kind of in any way harmonize global corporation tax but yes you know progress in that area is still a long way to go there has indeed but you could argue that it is the very people you talked of the the the pharmaceutical companies that have done incredibly well out of that it's almost like a circle yes you know the that was harmony but it is making the same people we're talking about incredibly rich now that it what i can't understand is how it's acceptable of all the people that you talk of that are worse off like 160 million people forced into poverty you talked about the the impact as well on as it relates to gender-based violence the just the massive massive amount of people that have been negatively impacted by this and yet the rich getting richer other than other than making them feel better or that they're they're able to sort of you know it massages the regal or something they are so wealthy the extra wealth actually doesn't make make any any difference you know and that is horrendous that you've got you know 160 million people in poverty and the rich getting richer but it doesn't really even improve their lives in any way shape or form well you saw jeff bezos take a space trip or you know most you know it takes space trips and look down on those 160 plus all the other billions that are already in poverty and portrayed in the media as heroes those people richard branson as well yeah absolutely you know they're not by everybody to be fair i think some people did recognize the the extreme hypocrisy of what they've been doing but look i mean the the truth is we have to highlight these issues uh we have to acknowledge that look having people with multiples of billions or even many multiples of millions doesn't help society it doesn't help economies despite what people you know it is an accumulation of wealth that that wealth doesn't end up you know adding much to to societal development to the world it just sits there and and continues to amount so it doesn't make them you know they never they can never spend all that money so it makes no sense for it to just sit there and accumulate while others need access to it so you know a wealth tax a solidarity tax if you want to call it to that for the people who are more progressive but some way that these extraordinarily wealthy people can contribute to the to the recovery from the pandemic but more broadly can contribute to human development as they some of them pertain or you know claim they want to do this is not connected but it's just a question it's something i've said on this program before and have an opportunity to put it to you right because there's probably a very logical explanation you know a lot of us uh myself included don't have an awful lot of money or you know we if i'll ask my job today i'd be struggling to pay my mortgage in month three that's just an absolute reality but i'm also aware that i'm much better off than others right but you get the likes of not necessarily oxfam but the likes of charities ask the very rich very famous for us to donate to charities how does that work what is the benefit in that you know there's some very high-profile people be it nationally or internationally they're on adverts and they say you know every little bit helps donate what you can and they are incredibly incredibly wealthy people they have more money they could ever spend uh and i sit and look that and i go this you know i don't this doesn't sit right with me does it sit right with you what's the logic to that well it's it's not something that we and oxfam tend to do to be perfectly honest but but i do see it i suppose they you know i presume you're talking about kind of celebrity endorsement and that kind of thing for for development or for charities and people do it because they you know the the the the group that they want to target the group that they want to donate to their particular cause whatever it might be might identify with the individual does that not add to and and legitimize the them and us situation too because yeah you could argue it you could argue it does i mean we we tend not to do it what we try to do is we try to avoid the voices of those who are affected by poverty as opposed to my voice or opposed to somebody who's really famous's voice because but you know i i suppose when you're when you're trying to generate support for things that that matter to you to your organization or to society you know you have to look at multiple ways of doing it so you know i mean there yeah there there there are all kinds of lines that you you need to be very careful of i suppose but um yeah it's a good it's a good question and a good challenge but tends to be not something that we focus on ourselves but i understand why why others do it but look i suppose the the key here is that you know the vast majority of people ordinary people are extraordinarily generous and supportive and and it's not just about money it's about solidarity they get it they understand they have their struggles like you described any one of us in the morning could could fall through a trap that that puts us in a very vulnerable position i mean the the social justice island uh reporting that now a million people are living below the property line in Ireland when you look at when you include the rent and the the mortgage repayment so we do have a real problem here and we have it's vital that we all act in solidarity when we can campaign on issues that can make a difference to that such as taxation then you should line up together the only problem is is when we have governments that um when we have governments that look after even on a much lower level not talking about rich people those more likely to vote or the majority that would get a political party over the line that seems to be the way you know we see a lot of western countries govern you know if you satisfy enough people that actually vote and will get you elected well then that'll do and then all of those people and i'm not saying they don't vote by the way it's not a generalization uh all those people that are are really really really struggling get left behind well that's that's up to the rest of us to be honest i mean if if if those people for whatever reason aren't politically active um we we need to act in solidarity we all know that there are people living in poverty in Ireland and across the world i think the vast majority of your listeners you know appreciate that people care about these things they also recognize that it isn't easy for for vulnerable groups to participate in democracy or to participate in civil society or in media or wherever it might be so you know we need to do what we can't amplify their voices and to bring their voices to the table uh and make sure that they are listened to and that their concerns are brought into whatever political decisions are made Jim listen thanks for your time this morning and i'll you come on to speak about as sort of a specific area of this but i appreciate you you spoke speaking more broadly and answering a few different questions there as well it's very much appreciated pleasure great thanks very much all right take care of yourself that's uh jim clarkin there he's the ceo of oxfam arland i'll wait six sixty twenty five thousand the night till noon show with letter kenny credit union multiple loan payments causing you stress why not talk to letter kenny credit union today about a debt consolidation loan central auto parts are now stocking sony a water-based paint offering all up-to-date colors for all vehicles and selling mixed commercial the perfect paint for diggers plant and machinery buy it today at central auto parts port link business park letter kenny find us on facebook or call us on 07491 27491 it's the right price tiles on wood flooring half price sale get up to 50 percent of everything in store all kitchen and bathroom tiles all wood flooring all bathware all cladding everything's reduced it's our biggest ever sale the right price tiles and wood flooring half price january sale stores nationwide sale now on don't be without your favorite brand toiletries cosmetics and fragrances with megies chemist where you can click and collect or have them delivered to your door email your list no matter how big or small to cosmetics at megies dot ie or send a text to the dedicated order line see megies dot ie or facebook for more details don't be without your everyday essentials with megies chemist main street letter kenny and megies dot ie where the best costs less every year in the ga something unique happens first-class rivals suddenly become first-class teammates fiercinter county foes turn into friends and yesterday's opponents now have each other's backs grudges set aside all of the best club and county players from every corner of this country line out in their college or university jerseys to play together challenge together and win together it can only be the electric ireland sigerson fits gibbon and higher education championships it's time to hit the switch on your energy supply make the switch to ssc air tricity right now and not only will you be joining ireland's largest green energy provider you'll also save 33% on electricity and gas yes 33% go to ssc air tricity dot com today and get your 33% discount exclusively online ssc air tricity this is generation green eab 1802 euro and 21 cent offer online only from the 10th the first 22 rates valid from the first to 1221 subject to change one-year standard you know rate for new home gas and electricity customers and direct debit and ebel for details of eab tson c's rates exit fee standing charge and green energy claims the ssc air tricity dot com okay you're very welcome back to the night till noon show 08 6 6 225 000 that's your whatsapp and that's your text line right okay louise joins us on the program now louise thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us it's appreciated good morning greg how are you i am okay right uh you and other parents and guardians in in a show have come together is it to get a school bus stop move tell us what the problem is and what is it looking to change um very busy junctions and we all came together just to try and get the bus moved the bus stops moved and we had success exactly so people come together and they organise and they do it correctly it reaps results so what is what's going to be changed now louise um the bus now is coming down the back road and doing three pickup points along the back road so it takes the children off the the two the two junctions how dangerous was it before there's a lot of traffic on it and a lot of there's been a lot of accidents over the years at these two junctions and you can imagine cold winter's morning rain you know lots of different lights at the junction but it sounds like an absolute nightmare it was it was it was very dangerous and it was it was hard wrenching at times being at the junctions like just what's with the children how long did it take well sarin to take on your views and and and to agree to change um well we started this back in september it would incur additional mileage cost and we just kind of pushed on at us we got yourselves involved i'd like to thank you for that for highlighting it um we've got a few counselors involved and patrick and glockens has been fantastic he came out to us and everything and and seen the junctions and seen how dangerous it was and the takeaway messages again people power works people power channel your other paddy diver patricia diver i'm telling you paddy diver has given us a lot he's lit a fire he's lit a fire he's definitely not a fire for this fair play nice one lice okay well done to you and and and all the other all the other parents and and anyone who assisted in it and um you know that bit of that that says no more than a bit that worry that anxiety in the morning wondering is it going to happen this morning hopefully that's been eased now yes it has it was it was such a release this morning just dropping them off at the at the at the at the new bus stop brilliant well done to you thank you so very much indeed thank you very much great to you and your team no no it's uh our pleasure uh that if we had any help uh influence at all that's that's uh excellent right now uh john lee's executive editor of the irish daily mail and he joins us on the program now john thanks very much for taking the call today thanks for having me right right now um we we know there was some conversation about some members of of the cabinet uh receiving um or getting um uh protection um effectively guard of body guards um what are we learning now that that's being extended to the all ministers or what's the story yes the the governments have accepted um in recent days a guard uh uh inquiry our review into the um safety and security of government ministers and the decision has been to accept their recommendation that all 15 cabinet ministers um be provided with a state um state of the art state car and uh two bodyguards armed bodyguards to protect them at all times i i and i'm also reluctant to get old pejorative this is a this is come this comes from a review directly made done by guard commissioner drew harris into increasing safety concerns around i think concerns around politicians with a a change in the public tone i think in recent times attacks on politicians in other jurisdictions and a number of security incidents around politicians in ireland including cabinet ministers yeah it's interesting your your your comments on the marks and perks tag because i made the same um a little earlier in the hour um but this is i can understand where this is coming from i think anyone online sees that there is a particularly if you approve certain telegram channels and what have you you can see this is definitely a different change uh in language in tone and you can see maybe not that it's only from from from certain groups that this threat might come from but that being said not the the guard you don't seem to be doing anything proactively you know people seem to be able to uh does that surprise you are you surprised that you haven't seen any sort of they identify these threats and then maybe intervene to arrest or question or would you mean specifically to do with social media well no sorry i was trying to be careful john what i'm saying is is that the guard have obviously investigated this right they believe there is actual uh you know real threats or else they wouldn't have made the recommendations but no one is being questioned or uh investigated or arrested uh for actually making those threats well you and i are talking here is journalist so i mean i give you my my opinion of what i see um i see protesters feeling free to go and protest outside someone's private home and we've had instances in the not so distant past of aggressive groups of protesters outside the minister's home when he had his young child inside his wife and they were fearful and trapped in their home um it's not a pleasant experience for anyone the politician some might might say a male politician should be up for this kind of thing but certainly his wife and child aren't um there have been there have also been incidents of of increasing incidents around the lester house complex of of ministers being approached i won't go into the details this is specifically not asked not to be the guardian of ministers being approached by people on the street in an aggressive manner and we all know there isn't much of a step between that and and and something else uh the whole tone of online has seen in activity i think by the authorities across the board counterintuitively i blame politicians themselves for accepting something somewhat other other kicking on online they have not moved i think for political reasons in many instances on this on the social media companies which let's not let's not forget a huge job providers in ireland uh that's we saw in the united states with with donald trump uh in that era we've just gone through the united states how that kind of behavior online can incite people to violence uh between online and the words of of the of the president himself we saw attacking the capitol building and my my view with the guards being like many other institutions in this in this country they're they're afraid of the ramifications of moving on people and that's not the garden's fault i think um you move a fella grab them grab them in the old style with the scruff of the neck trying to shift up the street next thing the garden finds themselves in court yeah okay now we've seen there are strong civil liberties in ireland that that that i think haven't kept up with the time when it comes to the nature of protest we're seeing of lace and finally john lee uh john sorry this is is likely to be a long term measure isn't i think politics it's not going to change it you know there's an awful lot of division there um and i and i think that's not going to go away anytime soon do you see this being sort of a a long term measure that it's going to be required as part of uh uh the way politics is now well certainly the protection for gardy um for of gardy for ministers is a long term thing and i think it was a populist move initially in 2011 to to uh apparently save money which was to remove all state cars and state drivers from the cabinet ministers by the incoming government we should empathize that with that to a degree considering where we were financially but there has been no proof that it is actually saved us money because cabinet ministers are still required to have cars to go to meetings and drivers that was paid through the expenses system and there was there was no clear indication to save money at all and i for one believe our senior politicians need protection in the current political climate and that's nothing to do with emerging and i think welcome ideological struggles that we're going to see in the next couple of years it shouldn't say providing genuine leftist politics in Ireland it's it's nothing to do with the emergence of that it's the fear is actually people outside of this political sphere who are um who are bringing their level of protest to unacceptable levels john lee thank you very much for your time this morning i appreciate it that's john lee executive editor of the irish daily mail back with the news and a bit after the news and obituary notices the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union live electricity wires are always near and coming close to them can be dangerous so always ask yourself are you sure it's safe look out for electricity wires above and below you if in doubt call us on 1800 372 999 it might just save your life esb networks stay safe and stay clear of electricity wires there's a gavel of monsters you'll see around town in every color from bright pink to brown and just like us they have hopes dreams and wishes and you car new windows a holiday diving the fishes they know just where to go for their dreams to 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get snow ready with a sleigh visit tinnies toys on leck road letter kenny or shop online for express delivery at tinnies toys dot com tinnies toys with so much more than just farm toys live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news it's 10 o'clock good morning i'm katharine gaffney guard the investigating the murder of ashling murphy are checking the dna of a suspect in hospital against samples taken from the crime scene detectives are still waiting to question the man who's been treated for a number of injuries in connection with the teacher's death the grand canal in tolamore where she was attacked last wednesday is also being searched for any weapon which might have been used a number of vigils took place across donnie gall over the weekend in memory of ashling kevin doil head of news with independent news and media says significant progress is being made in the investigation a number of searches have taken place a house in dublin a house in a village just outside tolamore they have gathered a lot more dna evidence from the scene and they have dna evidence from that falcon bike that was circulated in media and towards the end of last week and they have a man that they want to question but at the moment they haven't been able to because he is in hospital receiving treatment a report into a gathering of officials from the department of foreign affairs during lockdown is expected by the end of this month minister simon coveney has ordered an inquiry after a photo emerged of at least 20 staff drinking champagne at the department's headquarters they were celebrating arland winning a seat on the un security council in june of 2020 and weren't wearing masks or social distancing irish times political correspondent harry mcgee says the report is expected to be completed shortly joe hecker to the new secretary general of the department of foreign affairs expects to report by the end of january uh essentially what's been out to do is to to interview everybody who was at this particular gathering which you've heard on 22 june 2020 during the essentially during the height of the lockdown and find out exactly the circumstances behind the occasion a south donnie gald apathy has criticized suggestions that covet restrictions here will be lifted on a phased basis punishably over adcari said the aim is to have all restrictions lifted by years and but it shouldn't be done at a risky or reckless pace however independent td and deputy mark mcsharrie says the while nefford has been doing its best there needs to be a clear breakdown of who is now at the biggest risk from covet so that we can reopen society as quickly as possible i think it would be helpful if n for the public look these are the age groups and these are the underlying conditions for people are going to have to exercise a little bit more care notwithstanding anything that we do we went the scenic route to masks we went the scenic route to antlers and tests and and i don't want us to see us go the scenic route to reopening for the benefit of our young people in a functioning it's a merge that more homeowners affected by mica are considering converting their garages as a living space while they await the long-awaited redress scheme to be finalized pressure on the rental market is a contributing factor with only one property said to be currently available to rent in in a show on a number of other measures are also being considered in a bid to house those affected while repair works to their homes are being carried out speaking on social media p.r.o of the mica action group michael doherty says it's regrettable that homeowners themselves have to come up with these kind of ideas we're trying to think outside the box on a lot of stuff that really we shouldn't have to do if other people have had this paid to look after this stuff was doing this and doing this right homeowners like ourselves wouldn't be doing it but in the absence of it we'll have to do it and that's where it's at but very shortly they have to take proper responsibility for this scheme and get it rolled out that's why that stakeholder group is so important and i want to be sitting across the table from the likes of the housing department and the council and the housing agency and the others that had the power to say yes or no to these things that we're now asking for and the thonus jan minister for enterprise is this morning launching the local enterprise offices annual employment results for 2021 the network supported the creation of over 7400 new jobs last year however when job losses are taken into account 2021 saw a net employment gain of just under 3000 jobs 85% of business supported by the service are located outside of Dublin horek mackleway chair of the network of local enterprise offices says there are signs more people are now looking for jobs outside of the main cities hard to get a trend on it but green shoots maybe if that happened we're seeing people realize that they can get game for employment in what wouldn't be your traditional employment centers so for example 85% of the jobs that were created were actually outside of Dublin i think that reflects probably a little bit of a cultural change as people start to maybe relocate back home weather now will another dry day with spells of sunshine developing highs of six or seven degrees we're back with the headlines for you at 11 o'clock until then good morning the obituary notice is for this monday morning january the 17th the death has taken place of jean conway nay healy 20 ballie coolman avenue stroban and formerly dock street stroban and drum quinn funeral leaving her home tomorrow morning at 20 past 11 for recreation mass in st mary's church melmite at 12 noon and herment afterwards in the sacred heart cemetery dairy road donations and leo flowers please to chest heart and stroke care quickly funeral directors the house is private to family and friends only please the recreation mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam the death has occurred of tereza o donnell chapel road donnellow her remains are reposing at her late residence rosary tonight at nine o'clock funeral mass tomorrow at 12 noon in st cronis church donnellow with internment afterwards in the local cemetery highest private on the morning of the funeral the death has occurred of nell ganahar name a q 13 eden park castle derrick nells remains are reposing at her home from her late home two more morning at half past 11 for recreation mass at 12 noon in st patrick's church castle derrick internment afterwards in the adjoining church yard the mass can be viewed by the castle derrick parish webcam the death has taken place of rosaline duffy nae quigley nine brookfield stroban and form leaf garden road siamills you're not leaving her home two more morning at 20 past nine for recreation mass in st mary's church melmite at 10 o'clock internment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery donations and leo flowers please to target ovarian cancer care quickly funeral directors the recreation mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam the death has taken place of charlie doherty mill road kerry keel his remains are opposing at his home family neighbors and close friends welcome recreation mass this morning at 11 o'clock in our lady of lurch church kerry keel burial afterwards in milford cemetery funeral mass can be viewed on milford and kerry keel at parish facebook page family flowers only donations if desired to coronary care unit letter kenny university hospital care of any family member or patrick sweeney funeral directors the death has occurred of mary green nail connor ben alt inch island her remains are opposing at murphy's funeral home removal this morning from her residence at ben alt inch at half past 10 to your lady of lurch church inch for recreation mass at 11 o'clock internment immediately afterwards in the adjoining cemetery family flowers only please donations and live desired to the oncology unit at letter kenny university hospital care of any family member or charmer feet funeral director mary's recreation mass will be recorded and can be viewed on any shown at funeral services facebook page and youtube later this evening and the death has occurred in her 103rd year of margaret laffordy lower main street strinola funeral leaving her late residence this morning at half past 10 for recreation mass in the church of mary immaculate strinola at 11 o'clock internment afterwards in simpatrick's churchyard crossroads killy gordon cemetery recreation mass will be streamed live by the parish webcam the funeral will be strictly private to family only please for more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals please go to highlandradio.com there's not a minute to lose when you want your home to be as safe as houses so get safe and save two with a big 40 euro reward and great value home insurance cover all it takes is one big click or call just visit supervalue.ie slash insurance or call 0818 010101 and our supervalue team will save the day now let's get moving terms and conditions apply 40 euro in rewards includes two 10 euro off 40 euro vouchers plus 2000 real rewards points equivalent to 20 euro offer excludes contents only policies and is valid until 28th february 2022 this home insurance is underwritten by axa insurance dak supervalue financial services dak trading supervalue insurance is regulated by the central bank of ireland with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the 90 noon show on highland radio and you're very welcome back to the second hour of well it's the first welcome to the second hour of the show but you're very welcome back to the program more generally um as it relates to this extra security for ministers how much extra does this cost the state i think five million was a figure we saw reported in the papers this morning uh want to thank louise and column for heading the bus stop change you're very happy mommy today that comes in for katrina katrina lovely to hear from you thank you it annoys me when i see um for example Liam Neeson and company pleading for us to donate to a third world charity him worth over 100 million why not ask a few of his friends to spread their millions instead of pleading with us who are uh about getting on with it another no better example of millionaires advocating for the poor while holding on to their own vast fortune uh is you too and bono move in their business to hollen to avoid tax uh joff uh jeff bayes us could give every person in the world one billion each and still over have over 180 billion in his back pocket i'm not sure the figures are exactly right there but but i take your point uh was up in core of adi wood yesterday so sad to see all the dog number twos you wouldn't think that people would pick it up after them i seen a woman walk on it because she didn't see it she said she was she's been all over arland and donna golly's the worst she's ever seen for dog poo and they say it's bad in letter kenny as well uh people not picking up their dog poos were you out and about at the weekend did you see the same uh a party is a party how many times do we have to hear error of judgements lessons will be learned very often um read the discussion on violence towards women let's have a balanced debate on this serious issue and not allow it to get hijacked by toxic feminist groups who are trying to use ataline's murder for their own agenda to demonize men uh i who are these groups that you talk of i don't understand how any man who is uh you know respectful of of women um all men or anyone of society feels threatened by a conversation about male violence on women i still don't understand why that is so threatening to some of you want to explain it more so uh it seems sometimes it's aligned with different views but i don't know i don't understand um another caller says instead of vigils for ataline murphy i'd like to see prominent sport stars from soccer g and rugby advocate men not dehumanizing and objectifying women i wouldn't say instead i think the vigils weren't they were for ataline but i think also they were for people who were very um affected by it that it moved them uh you know you had grandmothers ringing their daughters or fathers ringing the daughter saying you know don't go out for that jog this morning will you not please uh or wait till it gets uh you know wait till there's more people around or whatever it is like i've i've heard people receiving those calls i think this is the people that wanted to go out themselves and come together and uh remember ataline respect uh you know as a mark respect to her but also uh saying to some extent an office enough um and as well as that i agree with you that men uh in leading positions soccer g a and rugby they could advocate for men not to dehumanize and objectify women i wouldn't say it's one or other i would say it is uh let's let's do both uh call us as the winning lotto ticket was sold in castle bar indeed well done to whoever picked that up for a next t-shock and soon to be t-shock leem seems very young leo seems very unclear and unaware of the laws of this country some of the very laws he helped get passed i think really if you're going on a radio station you need to be fully aware of of what laws were in place at what time particularly when you know the questions coming uh a caller says we cannot bury our dead properly and our betters party like it's 1999 shame on them and sack them all no excuses all the old will learn from this bs they will spout let's get standards finally there's so they're saying at that time they were having a champagne get together and uh we uh we were living under very strict regulations good morning i know that people are fed up hearing complaints about covid rules but i cannot understand how five children who are close contacts have different rules these children are all first year students at a secondary school and four of them have to stay home because they're 13 years old but one of them is three weeks short of her 13th birthday yet she can't go to school it just doesn't make sense another just texting to let listeners know that there is a scam call saying they're from air about internet i've received three this morning thank you very much indeed another gym is paid a very healthy 120 000 euro a ceo of oxampham and most of the other charity ceos are paid even more and quite a few are ex politicians waiting to return to politics right okay that's interesting i didn't think on that i must check it's publicly available information i'll have a look uh you're so funny greg saying you're not a rich man not many poor men can get a new bmw just saying when i don't have a new bmw i have one that's five years old and i pay 350 euro to the credit union and if i lost my job i would sell the car and pay off the credit union loan that is the facts um i don't mind you know i'm not going to sit here and pontificate um but that's the truth i have a credit union loan in donagol town and if i lose my job i like everybody else presumably paying in for cars you sell the car and you pay off the loan if you can but thank you for pointing that out it's appreciated a party is a party how many times do we have to hear of error of judgment lessons will be learned i think i've already read that why are we even having inquiry into this so-called champagne gate total waste of taxpayers money unlike other countries we all know irish politicians and government officials are never sacked or forced to resign okay uh thank you for that uh greg uh i know a person who went for the booster now before she went she was in good health but after getting the booster in fact the very next day she took a throbbing headache vomited and tarred all the time lasted a full week she had to go to hospital they told her she had covid but she then went and had a private test and the results were negative it was the booster it nearly killed her and greg this is 100 true can you discuss this on your program uh there are people having adverse reactions to vaccines um of course and and feel unwell it's interesting you saying the hospital said that she had covid uh but then she subsequently on her release from hospital got a private test and it was negative um is it possible is it and i'm like is it possible that she did have covid and it didn't pick it up in the second test i don't know she knows herself and there's lots of people out there as well and we don't want to get in i don't mind having the conversation but we're trying to move past both here in the newsroom a little bit from the you know talking over the same issues over and over again um the virality is is you know 95 percent of the population now decided to get a vaccine that's that was their choice and uh you know six out of ten of them have already gone for their booster um it seems to be that's the will uh that's the will of the people um but if you know if you want to let us know what the situation is is i know people that got bad reaction to the booster vaccine as well i don't think it's a secret uh they were very off form for a couple of days oh eight six sixty twenty five thousands the whatsapp or text nine or call us an oh seven four nine one twenty five thousand our next guests join us after the bingo numbers in a quick break it's time for NCBI bingo on highland radio it's monday the 17th of january you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s11 it's game number three the numbers are nine one 40 50 20 34 52 23 28 and finally 30 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 will call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highland radio dot com the nine till noon show with letter kenny 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and teas and seas apply see electric garland dot ie highland radio time checks brought to you by letter kenny shopping the centre of shopping in dunny all free parking and shopping all under one roof letter kenny shopping centre bringing you the time at all right the time is 21 minutes past 10 you're very welcome back to the program now let's get back to this conversation about what type of a leaving cert will be held this year there's different views out there some of the teachers union say they want it to be you know traditional exam only two-thirds of students it seems according to a recent survey want it to be a choice the same as we saw previously let's talk to a couple of students to see what they think we'll start with you ben calahann head boy st columbus college in strannolo good morning to you thanks for joining us it's good what can we watch your view as i say you know we can't presume well we know that all students aren't in favour of choice or a hybrid system you know one third of them want the exam to be sat as it always was what's your view ben uh to be honest with you greg it's just that many clarity to be honest that's my kind of view of it and every single student is going through the exact same thing here it's modest uh for our own education and our own mental health it's really like a cloud has been put in in front of our eyes here and we can't see what's going on um many representatives of college have said that this model doesn't suit the height either it's only suits the height either sorry but this model suits the majority of students every single student that i have been speaking to i know that there's one third of course but i think for a level playing field i think that having the cushion going into the exam is the best option because this is what has happened the last previous two years and i know the argument proposed is that the inflation of grace has went up i understand that but at the same time it needs to be done there needs to be something because we have must 97 days of school learning 97 days that's without the fact if you caught covid or a teacher caught yeah that's kind of very that's a minimum isn't it it's 97 minimum yeah that's the that's the base minimum since the start of the pandemic and we are really being overlooked and overshadowed because this is our leaving search we i know you can repeat but we only have one crack at this like and it's just that we need some clarity as such like because the teachers to be fair have been very good but for the whole 13 years that i've been in the school system since junior entrance i was never taught about how to learn online how to be online on the google classroom and to be fair to the teachers obviously they've really done a good job to try and show us the way but at the same time Greg i'm going to be honest with you it's not the same no and you know that face-to-face learning particularly you know i mean high achievers might be able to thrive as well with that hybrid learning but for a lot of students it's that you know following the curriculum it's that in-person experiences that's what gets them over the line that's what maximizes their points which maximizes the opportunities now the argument can be made then oh well you know a lot of these students didn't sit a junior cert and they're disadvantaged but of course you know certs were issued a leaving cert is there we don't want to diminish that achievement of students either so there is something there to be drawn on presumably of course like the thing is i have at least and i mean at least four tests every single week four different tests and different topics and different subjects and the thing is these tests matter the teachers are doing these tests because they realize that we could get them to predicament again of being off of being on online learning and the thing is like what's these tests they are a basis of what we can build on we're having at least every single semester we had one at halloween for the majority of all subjects we've had one at christmas for the majority of all subjects we're going to have the mocks now which is coming up in a month's time and then we have the easter one as well now four different periods i'm not trying to trip you up ben but you know you know yourself how you're doing in those exams because you're getting results back right you're sitting those exams does that not give you enough confidence to say right you know i um there's there's obviously a lot of teaching and examination going on even though so many days have been missed that you are being well prepared to sit the exam traditionally oh yeah of course i see your point of view completely there but the thing is what's being prepared for the exam itself the exams have been caught back they have some topics have been caught out but to be honest the only thing that i've really seen that has been like subsequently cut down is the Irish the Irish has been very very it's been cut down to what i think it should be at but for the majority of the rest of subjects like there's been not much change they give more choice but there's been not much change i've been doing these tests and i know where i'm at of course but at the same time Greg whenever you go on to that exam situation on the wednesday morning on june or the tuesday morning on june you just don't know what's going to happen you could come to a complete blank due to the fact that we've missed so much time of unskilled learning and as well as the prime example of how badly that it's been let out is the orals the orals itself that might i was lucky enough i only do Irish and i'll be the only doing that during our Easter holiday they're telling us to come in to our Easter holidays what is a massive period for study may add as well for every single previous year and they're asking us to study for the orals and i know my friends my own friend group they've got French or Spanish and they're doing them in the same day or the day after it's not ethically right it's it's it's shocking like okay stay with me well spoken by the way i'll come back to you ben amy mccall of joins us hi amy oh sorry i don't have your freight or pay me sorry beg your pardon good morning to you amy thanks for joining us okay i'm doing fantastic now for our listeners you're a leaving cert student who attends maville community school you've taken a pen to paper metaphorically speaking you typed out a letter to the minister for education what points did you want to get across to her yes i have um so basically i feel as though our leaving their course has been impacted hugely from start to finish which i think is unlike the other year groups in the past two years who have had that slight bit of certainty you know with being in at some point during the school year maybe at the start of this year and it was completely normal without covid whereas we've went into this year with a lack of group work with social distancing masks and you know the anxiety that comes with contracting covid at school being worried about family members you know this is just added pressure for and i feel as though the online school as well just everything has just really really impacted us personally and i just feel that there needs to be some kind of reassurance for us yeah so amy is this then more than simply you know learning and then being tested on this are you saying that there is a whole sort of emotional impact of of living quite a proportion of your life actually even a 17 or 16 in a pandemic that that needs to be factored in it's not necessarily about learning answers and being tested on that it's the the the the aggregate of stress and anxiety needs to be factored into the decision then it really does go to learn online you know the stress anxiety that comes with that as well due to personal circumstances at home maybe not having a laptop doing work from home on their phone which is completely insufficient and you know just even just having to adapt to these new ways of learning as well students have missed really long periods of unskilled teaching due to their covid isolation which means that these students are just doing work from google classroom um and that's hit and miss that is hit and miss even if you can work well from that with all due respect to teachers and what have you and you have framed your argument in such a way to the minister that you say a traditional leaving start without the choice of accredited grades it's not actually an option in other words things have been between everything things have been so disrupted that that shouldn't be on its own on the table even as a choice yeah i don't think so you know because even personally like i'm thinking ahead to june and i'm thinking about the people that may have to isolate during their leaving third as well like what will the procedures be for these students that's what i'm thinking all right and the the bottom line is is amy the sooner a decision is made the better even if it's a decision that you're not necessarily comfortable with you need something to get your head around and to work on presumably amy reassurance as students who have you know had to deal with this issue the past two years and this uncertainty i feel like there just needs to be an answer for the whole of the students of Ireland do you know what i mean yeah ben you and amy and all of your peer group have sacrificed so much and you know often there was a period whereby these were arts the young ones this and it's the young ones that and you know history will reflect and say that you did amazing i think and that you did everything that you were supposed to do and you adapted and thought of you know vulnerable family members and all that type of stuff so yous have done your bit i would argue young people along with the the older vulnerable people done the heavy lifting through this pandemic do you think that you deserve more respect that you should be talked to rather than talked at on such an important decision ben oh 100 correct i just feel that the decisions are being made for us and as an 18 year old young lad that's going to be voting in the next couple years these decisions are being taken out of my hand and there's so much that i would love to say to these people i also would normally i read her as well for the plea to try and receive some form of clarity even if it's not what i'm looking for as you said the amy there as well and amy's points are 100 true we're all the same all over the county and the country and to be honest i i just would love if the ministers themselves or our local politicians could get behind us and actually fight for our plea like it genuinely is because we are hopeless at the moment we've got no form of clarity we're in the exact same boat as we were september or last but here and we just need some form of traction to try and gain some leverage here because we really these decisions are being made for us and it's out of our hands in the future and amy you know the the debate comes up around every election time and in between you know should 16 year olds get the vote and people argue back and forwards you know we've got a lot of 16 17 18 15 year olds in rare cases two thirds of them are saying something and they're not being listened to uh you know it's a bit of a uh a convoluted way i'm putting it out but in one conversation it's like right let's listen to 16 year olds let them have their say on on international politics well and something is so simple for the greater population that affects them so much we're not listening to you guys amy yeah exactly i feel like you know we are the future at the end of the day and we are the future for our country and i feel as though um as well just you know they aren't really taking our well-being into consideration and how we may be feeling about all of this having you know struggled so much the past few years i just feel as though there just needs to be the sense of clarity for us because um it's just so out of our control and so out of our hands and you know we can try our best and every class test and you know we can try our best with this but it's just out of our control at the end of the day like yeah we might do well in every class test but without the the choice of a hybrid leasing sir you know something could happen on the day okay amy listen uh very well spoken and you ben as well i'm i've got uh two older boys 17 18 and 14 and 15 through this i'm incredibly proud with what they've done uh and i'm incredibly proud of of you guys and all of our young people um who who have done so well through the most incredibly difficult times and i think that should be recognized and i really genuinely believe that you should be listened to and you shouldn't have to campaign on this you know the majority if you want a hybrid uh leaving cert and there are people paid incredible amounts of money more than you guys will probably earn or i'll ever earn to sort of make these decisions or to figure out ways to do it and that's what they should be doing listening to you and and doing it but listen yous have done yourselves proud again this morning thank you very much both of you thanks very much great all right amy well done ben well done and uh brilliant speakers making very clear and coherent points that really should be listened to shouldn't they right don't go anywhere um we're going to go silent for three minutes if you're watching us on social media stay where you are but for you okie dokie that is uh Cheryl Cole and fight for this love you are tuned to the nine till noon show here in highland radio time for some of your comments here hi greg just wondering is the galdana road a no-go area for don't go all county council uh between flooding and hedges growing out onto the road and the worst road service in the county i would say three councils have responsibility for this road and the worst bit is the initial area and any council uh council that want to come on and explain why nothing is being done for the road thanks that comes in from shore and that's the galdana road hi greg the lovely wee town of convo is absolutely shocking with dog poo shame on these people who don't pick up after their dogs and it's not all dog owners too by the way again uh because i think sometimes dog owners think that everyone's talking about them there's a small amount of people who don't pick up their dogs mess hi greg do we know if many people got a bill for their property tax i did not get one thank you um you should have by now they were sent out the end of last year weren't they ardor our town is very bad for dog poo uh then people are stepping in it and it gets carried indoors that comes in from a bridget and love a town again um i find it very strange that the people that are making these draconian laws are the only ones that are breaking them are they not afraid of covid the way they're telling us uh that we are afraid i think a lot of people have played loose with the laws at times uh little parties here little get-togethers there you know a few pints after eight o'clock you know it happens um from time to time um but you know these people make the laws and we expect them at the very least to follow them hi fantastic show today why do the cabinet members need a car each why not car pool and why big mercs and bmw's why not a teota or anisan or a kia complete waste of money it's good question they're all very good cars those the ones you talk of uh david's going to join us in just a minute and a half with his views on this get your views in too the night till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today skull column kill letter kenny now enrolling girls and boys for september 2022 come to our news girl building on our enrollment days on thursday the 20th and friday the 21st of january between 10 a.m and 2 p.m or visit our website skull column kill lk.ie or call the school on 91 22 772 skull column kill growing and learning together at little this week twin packs of peppers are only 49 cent if you're trying to eat healthier this year they're the perfect way to add flavor and texture to a salad if you couldn't care less about that they're a fabulous way to add crunch to a big juicy burger whatever you're into you can't argue with little prices little more for you years ago i used to dread my motor insurance renewal then a friend told me about omalie scanlan insurance in balibu fe and danlo they do all the hard work they contact all the major insurance underwriters and they get the very best possible quote for me they have saved me a small fortune over the years and they could do the same for you when your insurance comes up for renewal contact omalie scanlan insurance at their balibu fe office on 91 3 10 20 or they're done low office on 95 treble 206 omalie scanlan is regulated by the central bank a new year a new floor at floor it we offer quality solid semi solid and laminate click vinyl wood flooring together with a vast choice of parky herringbone flooring all fit it and tailor to your needs call in today and see for yourself the fantastic offers available this january call floor today on 087 1 6 1 7 0 0 8 or visit florid dot i e do you need a little extra help staying in your home at bluebird care we offer a wide variety of qmark approved personalized home care services across dunigal and our fully trained and committed staff will always meet your care needs with kindness compassion and dignity to get your personal home care assessment plan visit bluebird care dot i e or call our care team today on 0 7 4 9 1 2 9 5 6 2 and bring care home david listen thanks for holding in good morning to you good morning to you too right you and your reaction to the news that all ministers seemingly now are going to get a car i don't i presume all the state cars and Mercedes which is a little bit ironic if you remember going back to the pandemic payments and certain companies did very very well out of the pandemic payments and made profits and then also distributed the money equal to the money they got from the state to shareholders through dividends uh so there you go but anyway listen uh you don't believe they should be given cars or protection or what's your view david if they have to be given cars and protection why not give a money bus and make them careful like why not have five or six ministers in a money bus and take them around leave them home or drive them about whatever why does it all they all have to get Mercedes if they have to get cars why not give them a Toyota Yaris or a hybrid or something a lot lesser care like why does it have to be an 80 grand car 90 grand car and also of course you know i'm i'm not being facetious and this might not be your point of view but we're being encouraged into smaller hybrid or electric vehicles uh why should they be driven around in massive gas guzzlers now well if you get them on hybrid too but the thing is too the game and rain was quick to make us rural people suggest that we would all carpool and use five cars to a small town or whatever and all use the one car like so why why is it only different for them like why do they have to and do you it's your view david then they should be leading by example they should be doing what they ask us to do is that is that why you think that's important if they have to have cars that's my my um i think i don't believe they should have cars at all like they signed up for the job nobody trusted their arm to be a politician the third choice to be a politician that everybody has their challenges and their own jobs right so you're saying if they are given cars it should be capped at a certain price then if you want to drive an older merc do or if you want to get a newer smaller car uh you do you think that would be going far enough um well if they have to get cars yes i think they should give smaller cars but secondly i don't see why they can't carpool and put them all into why do they need two guards to every minister every cabinet member like putting five of them in the one car the same two two guards will do the five ministers rather than having ten guards yeah oh it's an interesting point yeah and cut the cost but you you get the same effect you have the guards to protect them and you have them being moved around but it saves the state an awful lot of money why not put them in a police van like why not put them in a police money what's the same as what they do with prisoners moving them to prisons and things they're well protected they're bullet proof they're all them things why not it's the same thing like why do they need a big luxury car i don't know do you think five or six ministers will get into the back of a paddy wagon well that's the reference like what doesn't have to be doled up like a paddy wagon but my point is it can be the same armour on a transit van as there is in a city right okay strong points well made thank you very much and dave david what do you think 08 660 25 000 a mixture of comments here now you're talking about government acting differently to what they're forcing the public to do if this was a real health risk they wouldn't be partying they'd be scared they're not scared they're laughing you mean everyone else can we please open our eyes and see what's happening again listen i think you know the majority of people out there at times perhaps let their guards down or made personal decisions right but those who make those decisions are held up to a higher bar i don't think you'd be ridiculous for us to suggest that the majority of us haven't maybe bent the rules from time to time but we've been all living exactly as we should and they're partying like it's 1999 as a previous text says i think really it's more to do with the fact that first it's stupid to do it secondly how stupid is it to take a picture and thirdly how stupid is it to post that picture to social media this was an investigative journalism here this was the post to the picture themselves to social media but listen i take your point very well said i'm sick listening to these rich gits begging off the poor give some of their own money and shut up about it another was wondering how long it would take for someone to mention me and nison on the ads would you ever get a life and that's another point of view by the way like it is possible that his contribution greatly uh his contribution you couldn't put a financial uh you couldn't put a financial value on it that his contribution is such that it brings an awful lot more money into the charity it's a conversation an exchange of views it's not one view is right and the other view is wrong you know if you think that the news leasing does an awful lot in what he does that's perfectly fine and you're perfectly entitled to that opinion and if you want to come on and discuss it that's great too you know um it's not just black and white we can all agree to disagree or find common ground i received a scam call from 00440388507346 saying it's irish tax and customs may be worn listeners indeed and they can clone that number an official number two to make it even more convincing uh you need a junior and leaving cert it will uh you do you do need a lead junior and leaving exam it'll get a good job in the future there are two horses wondering near the dual carriageway at the man around about heading to letter kenny firstly if you're out in the roads be careful uh secondly if you own them uh you need to get them off the road very dangerous 08 660 uh 25 000 to keep your calls and comments coming uh into us hi gregg can you please play a song for michael gallagher in milford boncran who turns the big five oh today from all his work colleagues thank you i'm not sure if it's his sherald coal fan but will dedicate uh sherald coal to michael happy 13th birthday to ellie boner in duchery from mom dad and evane uh could you wish my sister bridge at mcgrine st johnson a happy birthday from a brother kevin and ashling uh and could you please wish kealan mclean from bella buffet a very happy 15th birthday love from carla adrian ava davin and catering more than happy to do that um as always 08 660 25 000 right now patsey mcgonagall is senior olympic team manager with irish athletics team on 72 occasions and team leader with the fin valet athletic club and we're talking about a new book uh beyond the line the history of fin valley ac good morning to you patsey is always great to chat to you good morning gregg and what a rich history to draw on and to write about absolutely i mean it's uh really unbelievable i suppose that that that on a morning in september 1971 or an evening in september 1971 i put a lot of people together for a meeting basically with the the notion of um just getting some children running around the feeds and the guillipets locally and stuff you know and obviously that story just you know just kept going kept going kept going and developing and you know we've we've got to where we are now and it's it's a big sense of pride for me that 50 years later i'm still healthy and involved you know so uh it was a special uh a special kind of a night just to get that 50 year thing over the line you know and it's amazing to be able to actually go back to a specific moment in time that was the catalyst for everything that followed and the amount of of young people and all their families as well that have engaged that have grown that have achieved uh it's just remarkable over that period of time what's been achieved absolutely a hundred percent there gregg because you know but i'd opened up a door for an opportunity i suppose really for for thousands of people over those years and enjoyment and learning and you know experiences and travel and education and stuff over that period and you know you know you talk sometimes in terms of sport in terms of success success is the wrong word really it's just about involvement success can't come but participation a better community a better area you know a better dunny go already and uh you know getting getting their name on there so that was that was all part of it as well you know um you obviously saw potential though where did you see that potential that you thought right you know if we harness this if we scale it up who's to say where we could go i presume there were people already you know working in the community working with children doing great work that you thought right okay we can crack on from this i'm very interesting you know i'm at one a bit of a negative answer really there was no history whatsoever of athletics in this area i mean absolutely nothing which is very interesting and you know my background in athletics was really from both a school boardy school and dairy and introduced to athletics so i had that thing and then i had gone to England and study and so on so on so on so basically i came with this great great desire for athletics and you know generated to a point by cramford athletic club which was the only club for me at that time and then you know just i just saw an opportunity there was no master plan there was no big big you know in the distance there was no thing like for example you say maybe there was talent sure i didn't know what there was all i was interested in really was just getting kids uh at a certain time a couple of day even as a week down to the gaelic field and i have to say you take the opportunity to say the gaelic the local children's gaelic club were very very very welcoming and and allowed me to get in there and take the kids you know so that was all very very positive and give me the kick that i needed and i moved on from there you know at what stage was sort of you know branding um disgust or decided was it on that initial night because of course that had to be a name you had to be inclusive you know because we've seen in the past if it was the i don't know the ballet ballet buffet athletics club or something absolutely you know there's not politics on a grand scale but there you have to get those things right patsy ah exactly that's a very very very happy point you know i agree because really um i decided first and foremost at that first meeting that there would be no ball of the face to another athletic club uh if the obvious thing was to get away from the parochialism of that of the entire area and there was an obvious obvious obvious uh run from glenn finn to lyford uh so finn valley athletic club and then there was finn harps of course and finn harps were the big story at the time and their their colors believe it or not were blue of course as we all know and um so i adopted their colors and uh i just took those two points on board then so the colors was decided on the first night the name was decided on the first night and then it was just a matter of getting and engaging after that and you know was that the norm at the time patsy do you know say for instance you've got a busload of competitors and landed at a venue you know done out in the in the in the acs colors with the name on was that the norm back then or you know would you've uh people looked and go who's who's these boys coming down here and you see that that's it we were a bit of an abnormal kind of a group really because i said he's i said he's was such a such a rare thing and actually it's very hard to hard for people nowadays to understand great nobody really ran around the roads back 50 years ago nobody all this walking and everything this great great great movement now that that didn't happen and i'm sure that people find that very difficult to understand so you know i was a kind of a i broke the mold a bit on that and and it took there were days when i decided i won't go out to run because i didn't have the confidence when i was a younger man so basically it was i was breaking the mold really and and just having belief and i suppose you know about myself i was fortunate that i had a lot of passion and energy and you know i just i just saw no obstacles and i you know i've got very good people around me really good people around me and they all work with me bit by bit by bit and um you know we we trained and we did that in the mccool park then a bit of land became available for stern order we bought that we we got an oldest use factory we turned it into a kind of a middle and set up and then the center that developed beyond then became you know but a bit bit thing no master plan either just get the roof get the doors on get the wonders in and just keep the keep the wind and the rain out and and the way we went you know i mean i don't think we can presume that there was a you know more talent in the fin valley area than anywhere else and we just happened to tap into it or you did and and then all this success followed is it about how things are done you know i i mean obviously there's going to be very very talented people but it's about identifying that bringing it on you know building the person up physically maybe even mentally getting them to an event and then they can excel there you know where did this success come from you know 500 and 434 odd odd medals one of the most successful clubs in the country over a relatively short period of time you know well one of the one of the things that i would be very very proud of the fact is you know we developed from school sports we engaged with the local primary schools and we developed outwards from that you know and um that was you know that was always going to throw up talent there's talent everywhere there's talent in every aspect of life that's just a matter of tapping into it Greg so we were we were very very fortunate in in that regard and we got the schools involved they did not come on board to begin with but eventually as of now they're all on board and it's a big deal now and then you know we developed and we developed and the tag that i throw out Greg is that you know we developed from from primary schools athletics right through to the Olympic games you know we had three people in the last Olympic games and in the book Beyond the Line Chris McNulty has done an excellent excellent job and pulling all that together in a very professional manner so i'm really delighted with the with the end product and also too presumably over the years you know not everyone always pulls in the same direction patsy do you know what i mean and sometimes and i'm not saying that it's the case here and you can correct me from wrong but you know sometimes things fail or fall because lots of different people have lots of opinions and pull it in all different directions and eventually people just walk away and go do you know what this isn't worth the hassle what has kept this sort of such on on on the straight and narrow and moving in a in an upward trajectory over the last uh decades well suppose that's a difficult question for me i was a team leader pretty much through the period and you know i didn't really have much difficulty with people walking away um and i suppose that that's a question maybe for those who work with me and they would have an opinion of me okay now i'm sure and i'm sure not always not always maybe complimentary so basically but i did i think i did i think i did i handled people well and got them with me and you know we had a we had a common we had a common focus and um you know many many of the kid people that were with me had children involved so they got involved through their children and then we moved we moved it on from there you know but no i have to say thankfully thankfully that we didn't have no big rows and splits and all that kind of crack that you normally associate with something that is going well and then bang you know somebody else goes off on some other tangent all right that didn't really happen the box called the beyond beyond the line the finn valley athletics club of history it's written by christ mcnaughty it was launched in the finn valley campus on friday that's last friday the 14th uh it's a limited edition public uh publication it's available for pre-order and it's priced at 20 euro from beyond the line dot ie and and very interesting but also excellent sort of get it all archive to get it there to get the story absolutely it's all there all the archives is there everything is there and that can be bought at the center or indeed the bookshops all the local bookshops and uh you know it's available everywhere and online as you say beyond the line get into on beyond the line and uh maybe get a copy and we'll post it out to you all right great stuff listen thank you very much in thanks great all right lovely to chat to you as always thank you that is the legend there that is patsy mcgonigal the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter kenny 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deserve better better services better rewards and better savings all with board gosh energy get 40 off your electricity and start saving today because when you're spending less on your energy you can spend more on what matters most switch to a better way at board gosh energy dot ie eab 962 euro 12 months discount with direct debit and paperless billing unit rate and standing charge apply see board gosh energy dot ie for eab prices and full teas and seas all your hopes all your dreams all your ambition all your hard work all your goals and determination all your late nights and coffee breaks all lead you to one place all state where career opportunities are endless have it all at all state search all state ni dot com today all right two hours in the bag with another busy hour to come on the program stay right where you are it's an interesting one you won't want to miss it but it's time for news updates so at 11 o'clock let's say good morning once again to kathryn gaffney good morning greg gar thee investigating the murder of a shling murphy are checking the dna of a suspect in hospital against samples taken from the crime scene detectives are still waiting to question the man who's been treated for a number of injuries in connection with the teacher's death a report into a gathering of officials from the department of foreign affairs during lockdown is expected by the end of this month minister simon coveney has ordered an inquiry after a photo emerged of at least 20 staff drinking champagne at the department's headquarters there's some concern locally over plans for this year's leaving cert this year's examinations are due to return to the old model in place before the pandemic it comes as a survey shows that 68 percent of students want a hybrid exam this year which would involve students offered accredited grades or the option of sitting an exam there's a call for nefford and the government to be specific about who is currently most at risk from covet 19 it comes after the thonus just suggested yesterday that we would see a phased lifting of restrictions between february and year's end it's emerged that more homeowners affected by mica are considering converting their garage as a living space while they await the long-awaited redress scheme to be finalized pressure on the rental market is a contributing factor with only one property said to be currently available to rent in in a show-in a center for people with disabilities in donnie gall has received a glowing report from the health watchdog the unannounced inspection of fauna house run by the little angels association and letter kenny was carried out in august of last year with the details published this morning and donnie gall candy council is being urged to explore the idea of installing infrastructure on donnie gall's popular beaches which would aid people with a disability access the water the enclosed ramp is specifically designed to allow those using a wheelchair or who have other disabilities to enjoy the sea safely and comfortably that's it for now we're back with a further update for you at 12 noon okay kathryn thank you very much indeed back after this short break homeland fuel offers keeping you warm for less 40 kg premium doubles or easy flame coal buy 10 bags get one free hardwood logs two bags for 10 euro flow gas 25 pound gas cylinder only 27 euro 99 shop in store or online at homeland dot ie is the appearance of your staff important to your business it's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises at c&m embroidery and letter kenny they have a huge range of clothing covering all areas of the workplace it's widely known the customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well have your company name embroidered or printed on all your work uniforms contact c&m embroidery on 07491 28097 and get your staff looking their best in harsh winter weather what's in higher have all you need to stay safe and keep warm there's great deals on cold color gas firewood and heating oil with free local delivery also electric fan halogen and oil filled heaters see in store and the fuel store at what's in higher dot ie great offers on winter clothing and boots and for any higher items there's still the weekend higher deal of three days for the price of one all at what's in higher kill toy letter kenny with free parking at the door start the new year by treating yourself and availing of the best finance offer available driving away and your new car has become even more affordable with zero percent finance now available on the all-new key of sport hatch and key of seed range call us today to book your test drive on 0749134567 or visit i motors dot ie kickstart your new year with latter kenny institute of technology if you're currently unemployed looking to enhance your skills a mature student a leaving certificate student or a parent then letter kenny at's virtual information evening is for you find out about the ceo springboard plus postgraduate and flexible online programs on offer talk to academic and support staff and explore your options discover all that letter kenny at has to offer for 2022 don't miss it latter kenny at's virtual information evening wednesday the 19th of january 5 to 8 p.m visit l way at dot ie for more information now the chief executive of udersen a girl talk that is me hall ohini he joins us on the program now me hall thank you very much for joining us okay real mic he'll be joining us very very shortly i believe what we'll do is that i've this very short break to take and we'll be right back your mental health is important and now it's easier than ever to find the supports and services closest to you you can free phone the your mental health information line at 1800 111 888 anytime our team will tell you which supports and services are near you where they are located and how you can access them you can also visit your mental health dot ie for more information on mental health for you or for people you know your mental health dot ie from the hse okay we're joined now by me hall ohini chief executive of udersen gael talk to good morning to me hall thank you very much for joining us check on us we're all right he can't hear me there i don't believe can you hear me okay me hall yes i can hear you thank you love that stuff okay good to have you with us uh just a slight issue on the line there right so in reflection 2021 a successful year for udersen gael talk to and in its role yes a very positive year of great um we're very happy with the results that was the first year of our new five-year strategy which will take us through at the end of 2025 so overall in belt of terms we had our largest ever um our largest increase um and since 2008 and in some areas since 1996 so um it it's very good we had a we were looking to bring our job total back to the pre-covid level of 7800 so we've just gone over that and we're working our way to achieving our target set out for this um strategy of 9 000 full-time jobs all right 825 new jobs created a net job increase of 446 full-time jobs in 2021 uh what was the spread of those jobs like how uh what proportion of those jobs were established in donagol for example well at the moment in donagol we now stand at a figure of 2304 full-time jobs in donagol geltuk companies um there were 286 new jobs created on the ground in donagol companies um over the past year um when you take out the um attrition and jobs lost we had a net gain of 136 jobs in the donagol geltuk in addition to that there were 156 job approvals with existing and new projects jobs that'll be coming on stream over the next couple of years and um those approvals would entail an investment between ourselves and the businesses of some 4 million euro into the donagol economy and what kind of jobs are these you know are we talking about jobs that uh would be um in line with or above the the generally accepted living wage because you know what these companies are getting quite a bit of support from from either us is that trickling down to well-paid jobs for those working for these companies yeah i think what's very important for us and um in terms of making the region um the donagol geltuk region competitive for the time to come is that we have good quality companies that are able to operate at um a global standard that's where we need to be in this day and age and in order to do that you have to attract and you have to maintain good talent so if you take the companies that have been growing in the donagol geltuk over the past year and over the past number of years companies such as randox um in dunlow pro and peck and um irish metal pressings in in gridore kombucha in gridore um kelsius and felcara um new companies that have come in such as pangia which is which is moving in from switzerland and oco global um these are all companies that require highly skilled people people that um that that that that are able to operate at a very high level so just with that in mind just with that in mind as we move forward right you know especially with remote working and what have you like you know and with some companies it applies with others others it doesn't like do we need to sort of tease out you know what jobs are created by companies that are based in the geltuk and how many of those jobs benefit people actually living in the geltuk do you understand because you know we could have a a a norwegian company based in the geltuk and being supported by udaris but the majority of its workforce could be working from outside the geltuk or is that factored in or are there caveats in that regard well i suppose um and it works the opposite way for us quag and i i i take your point but i suppose from our point of view we have a region here with the quality of life we have a region here that people want to live in so that kind of works to our advantage um first of all let's say that we only support jobs that are located in the geltuk region we don't support jobs which are located outside of the geltuk i mean there might be companies located in the geltuk that have jobs here in in in in dunigal others and some other jobs for whatever reason might be in Dublin or might be in some someplace else not very often but that can happen but we only support the jobs that are in the geltuk region but having said that the whole area is one that's very important for us and the central to our strategy and we've invested fairly heavily in a network of digital hubs um from karigart down as far as kilkar and in fairness some of those established long before now uh many moons ago so arguably ahead of the curb yeah well i suppose our previous strategy and i think the overall dunigal digital strategy would have recognized that the county did have advantages in terms of being able to attract remote workers it wasn't as popular then or it wasn't as mainstream then as it is now because of the events that have past two years but um we always had the quality of life we always had um the the kind of region here that people could come to for the environment for the culture you know um safe areas um and always attractive to people so what we decided was that if we can ensure that there are good quality office spaces and that there is excellent connectivity well then we can start competing with more central areas and that's the way it's turning out to be and also too uh as well behold it's not like necessarily competing with doblin uh you know you have to compete with letter kenny for you know not necessarily compete with letter kenny but you know what i mean there's a there's there's there's uh attractive options closer that you have to to pitch and say no well what we have is particularly attractive i mean is there an element to that as well well just that as well but i suppose kind of from the point of view is that um you know we we operate in the context of the critical mass that county dunigal and indeed the whole northwest provides a switch in the dunigal gelted context so i mean if things are good for letter kenny they're good they're good for us here but but but i but it did take your point i mean you know we are dealing with rural locations very rural locations at times and while they have their attractions they also have you know traditionally they've had their drawbacks because of the peripherality the perceived remoteness the actual remoteness in some cases um i mean the islands like tori and and are in more are within our remit so so i mean there's no doubt about it there is there is that added um element of of challenge there but having said that i mean we we have we have believed and it has been central for our strategy and will continue to be that the um the viability of remote working and the fact that we were as you say ahead of the curve in investing in the infrastructure will enable us to turn down our advantage where is that the future in job growth and this is not to say that there's no areas that wouldn't be looked at but it is it in sort of you know tapping into the the the green economy is it in uh you know maybe technology you know there's so many people um with such ambitious ambitions let's just say from the west of uh dunigal that want to stay and work in their own community but feel that they have to you know to get the best out of their qualifications work elsewhere and they count down the minutes until such time as they're able to return and work and live at home and contribute at home so to sort of give opportunities to those people i talk of there where are the growth areas do you think over the next say four years of this of this plan well um the two sides to that that i'd see would be in terms of um if you take a company like randox i think there are many people working in randox now who are highly qualified in in in in terms of med tech in terms of engineering in terms by ct um people that you know to be honest might have talked that they would never be able to get a job at home um that where they could use their skills to their to their full extent and to um be able to apply those skills and that has happened with a company like randox and i think we've got so many examples there of people who have been able to move home and and to have a world-class career in in adani god location so there are those companies that um that where uh that that that are now established i mentioned two new companies there that have that have come in in the past year or so panjia who will be looking for good quality people in their base in dunlow oceo global who will be looking for good quality people at their base and here in greed or so so um that there are opportunities for people to come and bring their skills back to these companies but you mentioned there um some of the sectors that we're focusing on in our our new strategy we've always focused on them but we're putting a particular focus now on areas like the green economy like the blue economy like the cultural economy these are all areas where the well and the county as a whole has a real um comparative and competitive advantage um you know um with with the growth that's going to occur in the offshore wind industry we need to ensure that people here in the county are availing of the opportunities for servicing that industry um and that's something that we're we're actively pursuing in terms of the blue economy um that you know geltuk wide where we're we see the potential most of the geltuk and not just the danigal geltuk is situated along the coast and the the very real opportunities that exist to um research and to develop new products based on things like seaweed it's an area that we're actively actively pursuing for all of the range of um products can be developed and all of it which is geared towards a sustainable development the circular economy and um you know and and thing you know being cognizant of our contribution to things like combating climate change carbon reduction and you know ensuring a more sustainable future so that's that's central to our strategy as well and that's why um you know us developing things like the green economy the blue economy based on those principles and again another area that we're very um we're very active in is the whole area of tourism and we work very closely with fault baron and with danigal county council and with various local groups and that's kind of ongoing but it's nice to see that we're not hanging you know all of our hopes on on on tourism you know that we have to uh think broaden that a quick word although on a very important issue about uh the language you know um protecting it growing its use how is that uh how is that going are you starting to see um are you starting to see some you know uh positive shoots from from that work that's been ongoing well um the various um language plans that are being put in place and they're all in place at present at the end of the year nationwide all 26 language plans were in place and I suppose the first thing I'd say is that um it's very gratifying to see how local communities brought in to the process and took ownership of the language planning process they're working close cooperation with ourselves and other relevant people but I suppose first of all it's it's great to see how um local communities have bought into this and taken that ownership um there are very skilled and active uh language development officers who are now in the ground working throughout the county and who are undertaking various actions um relating to the language plans um I suppose there had to be a change of tack and an awful lot of the things that they thought they were going to do in person have been done online over over the past um 18 months or so but but I'd have to compliment them on their innovation and on their creativity and the ways that they've been getting the message out there but that's part of it it's very important it's a bottom-up process it's the only way to community and the community are very proactive they can only do so much so I so it's very gratifying to see that um the amendment to the language planning bill will see that it there's it's going to be ensured that um more services can be provided by the state in geltic areas through the medium virus because that's really vital that um that that that that um you know people can get their services through Irish and of course that was the recent recognition of although it was us that sought the derogation the recent official recognition of the language uh at an EU level uh me whole listen thank you very much for joining us we talk regularly I suppose throughout the course of the year so if there's anything else I'm sure we'll chat again down the line but I appreciate your time this morning and and thank you very much for joining us thank you very much great have a lovely day Girmah I got thank you very much indeed okay right 08 660 25 000 uh huge money gone into empty digital hubs instead of supporting existing businesses believes a caller Udras do not give support homegrown employers employs in the geltic role at the red carpet for outsiders uh there is jobs being created too but I understand I'm not directly affected by it so I would say those messages maybe come from a place where people sort of have maybe personal um personal experiences okay listen we'll be back with more shortly the night till noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today need a new part for your Ford car or van why not call to oms auto parts in bunkrana with a massive stock of Ford parts you're sure to get the part you need free next day delivery on orders over 50 euro call 074 9361924 or shop online at omsautoparts.ie so good juice is an award winning naturally homegrown juice shot based in the northwest our 100 organic juice offers a choice of three key 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from a full menu of delicious sandwiches and salad boxes or build your own option all made on site and prepared fresh to order jumpstart your healthy lifestyle at green kitchen in the award-winning kelly centra mountaintop letterkenny highland radio time checks brought to you by letterkenny shopping centre the centre of shopping in dunny all free parking and shopping all under one roof letterkenny shopping centre bringing you the time at the time is 11 22 and you're very welcome back to the programme right ifa duly is the author of frankie's world if of course a writer and a comedian good morning to you ifa thank you very much for joining us thanks for having me on thank you now tell us about frankie's world and it's basically about an 11 year old girl called frankie who is a little bit different to everyone else in our class but she's not really sure why and her best friend sam think she might be some sort of alien she's never met her biological dad so she starts to think maybe he's an alien too so they go on an adventure to try and find them to see if frankie can find some answers as she's been looking for it in so that's the basically the main gist of the story yeah and it's told in a different kind of a way i suppose isn't it you know it's uh when i flicked through the pages i didn't expect it to be you know so heavily illustrated oh yeah it's a graphic novel so yeah everything is in panels as the same way a comic book would be so yeah it's a completely different format and i wanted to do that because i was a reluctant reader growing up so i wanted to do something for kids who are like me and would love to read comics and stuff like that so i wanted to tell the story in that kind of format but it's it's about frankie but your reefer but it's kind of reefer story is it yeah it's like loosely based in my life like obviously i found out at 27 that i'm on the spectrum but um basically it's the story about going through school and not really knowing that you're on the spectrum i suppose and kind of the struggles that you have with it so there's a yeah there's a lot of things that would be based on my own story in there and then um you know some of it then wouldn't be but um definitely that the making friends thing and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time um i still do that pretty much to this day so that's it that hasn't changed yeah indeed um it's a it's a it's a beautiful piece of work how long has this been in the making um i'd say it talked me about the guts of a year to do because there was a lot of planning out and trying to figure out what my process was to to create it in the first place and then to um write it up and then draw the panels and then pretty much just sketch it up and see what it would look like so yeah it's about the guts of a year i'd say and can you tell us do you use the sort of alien analogy kind of like as a as a metaphor and maybe can explain a little bit how that feels or felt or what you were trying to express there because it's an interesting way of describing it yeah so i suppose in that way a lot of people would relate to that i think in the sense that they just felt a little bit odd it didn't quite feel human because all the things that everyone else around you can do so simply you find you struggle to do but like you are human like everyone else so it's kind of like you're going to love it yourself sometimes and the things that you're doing and you're like oh why can't i do that if you know everyone else can so you kind of do start it especially with like communication sometimes it can feel like you're speaking a whole other language but sometimes like when you're a kid and you open your mouth and you have like a group of kids just kind of looking at you like this can you explain that a little bit more yeah can you explain that a little bit more like it's just saying something random or something that's not relevant to the the conversation it's just something a bit awkward or what do you mean by that it could be something a bit awkward it could be something that's random and out of the blue it could be in the middle of class and disrupting class or any of these things and it's just kind of yeah it's just who you are like so in that in that moment can you remember when everyone sort of looks at you or or whatever what you're feeling is it like what did i say because what i said seemed really quite relevant at the time and i thought the reaction might be somewhat different and what the hell's going on here is it like it's kind of more like shame because people make you they shame you and you kind of feel ashamed of who you are then yeah so you don't have space for your own emotion because they're they're making you feel a different emotion yeah of course of course because you are so different to everyone else so it's kind of yeah it's it's a shame that comes with it and then that's why a lot of people mask then and they try to blend in and try to not act artistic and this is even when you don't know it's like your brain tries to protect you i think in some kind of way where you kind of put on a front because you just know it's easier to kind of blend in around that's draining that's draining because you're you're acting the life of somebody else on an ongoing basis just the just literally physically mentally sorry draining to to keep that on all the time yeah and you're you're not even doing it for yourself you're doing it to kind of keep other people comfortable so it is it's so draining and i think like secondary school as well like yeah that would have been like i think the hardest for me like i was always exhausted far on the sleep and school and stuff my family just thought i was lazy but i was actually just exhausted from that very reason it's like just don't say it and we're in school today just make it true it's like nine to the half tree you're going to be grand that was just every day for me yeah and do you then though find people that that that accept you without this sort of you know yeah so but but and then you can sort of be yourself around them oh yeah absolutely like i have my partner and i've got two really good best friends who um does they just take me as i am i think i kind of i kind of meant it's a school going age if you know what i mean oh okay no right now i'm grand yeah oh school going age god no no it was it was hard i think people are less accepting um when you're a teenager i think people can be more judgmental so it's harder to make friends and yeah it's harder to be yourself i think as a teenager sometimes so yeah i would have struggled a bit very isolating yeah i would have struggled a bit finding their true friends i think um growing up was only as i really got into kind of and you know after college and being an adult now that i really kind of yeah found my place i think and you talked about the the autism diagnosis at 27 uh why so late i mean did you was this just confirming what you already knew or was that like uh oh that explains everything moment no it was more like an oh that explains every moment because i had never looked into autism because i actually just thought that it was boys and men and whenever i seen a documentary or people talking about it on the media like particularly autistic parents or anything like that they'd be talking about their children and it just never related back to me because i just didn't hear from people who are actually autistic in their experience so it was only really after a friend said it to me and he's actually on the spectrum when he goes i think you actually might be like me because we do this and we do that and i was like what are you talking about i think i know actually just so you know i little did i know i had i had no clue and when i looked it up then i was like oh okay yeah there's a light bulb moment going off here i think this there could be a strong chance i better look into this but yeah it kind of explained a few things for sure yeah but it made your life more difficult than it perhaps needed to have been like what could we have been doing differently i mean obviously maybe it's an individual thing maybe people in your life didn't see what they should have seen i don't know i'm not trying to get into that i'm just one i'm just wondering if for what we could do to make sure that you know as as much as is possible uh you know people that would benefit from having that diagnosis early get that diagnosis early like where are our where are the gaps i think a lot of women get diagnosed late as well because of what we were talking about a few minutes ago the mask and and pretending that you're like someone else when you're going to school and stuff so it kind of goes unnoticed but i think that the main thing that's happened over the last couple of years like a lot of people are like oh it seems to be like you know an epidemic now of people just like getting diagnosed left right and center but i actually don't think that's happening i think that people are getting better at recognizing the science and we've just always been here we've struggled through school we've struggled through jobs some people are like 40 50 60 when they get diagnosed especially will never get diagnosed or never get diagnosed they never know they just always have that feeling they just have a personality trait attributed to uncle john for their entire life and that's just yeah absolutely that that does happen yeah that that happens more often than not i'd say as well yeah so what also as a society what do we need to be doing that's not lip service do you know what i'm on about i think a lot of a lot of it is lip service strangely there's like everything in this life for some reason there's a great resistance from the likes that you might talk of there where you know oh everyone can is getting diagnosed with stuff now this i don't know why there's such pushback on it but what do we need to be doing that would actually make a difference you know rather than saying oh well we're doing that for this hour on that day and that's all well and good but i'm on about just sort of you know that we make as many people's lives better as possible what can we do i think as well as someone in the position of the job that you have i think language is very important i think how we speak to people is very important as well and i think that's it that's a huge one so a lot of people would think like for me saying i'm autistic that that's kind of like a negative thing or i'm saying that's all my identity when it's not i'm just simply saying i'm autistic i just i don't like when people say living with autism or has autism but there are also you know yourself there'll be people also uh that would not like your characterization of it like that as well you know within a movement there are people within a movement yeah there are yeah the spectrum so big that there are people who wouldn't yeah but i think the general consensus when you look at the autistic community is they prefer a person first language rather than the i sorry identity first language rather than um the the diagnosis and the wit and has that's kind of the general consensus i think listening to um autistic people and what they prefer is a very important thing um and then also can you just explain to me though what you just said what does that mean like um with or has or uh just could you explain like for all of us listening myself and everyone what do you mean by that in terms of just the importance of the language so basically basically when um someone says has or where to do she comes from like a medical like background so it's like you know doctors nurses that that's where that comes from and i've had discussions with people about this before and that's where that side comes from and for me i kind of don't see it as something that's kind of just like that i carry around with me or that's attached to me it's part of who i am it's always been part of who i am it's not all of who i am but it's okay to say autistic just like the way it is to say when someone says i'm gay it's the same kind of you don't say someone has gay or right so people pussyfoot around it then i think people pussyfoot around it for lack of a better term i really do i think that people pussyfoot around it and i think also people don't have to talk to autistic people sometimes and that's fine like i never look down on anyone if they they say the wrong thing i think it's important to educate people because i didn't know anything about autism before but i think the language is a big part and if we speak about it in such a way and give autistic voices the platform to speak i think only more people can find out like the way i did and my friend and what he's doing for me so i think that's important too is it's just that's the main thing so it's listening yeah i think it's such a simple thing that like i think um we fall flat on as a country like there's so many parents out there with autistic children who aren't even school under seven eight nine so i think it's yeah i think the one main thing that people could start doing will be listening to to yeah i'm really listening how important do you think it is for those listening and a couple of people texting how important do you think it is for people to even no matter what stage of the life threat to to get a diagnosis you know because explaining it in way in different ways maybe society would have it explained in different ways how important is it to the individual to go and and get assessed and find out if that you know if they are autistic well can i speak on my own kind of terms but for me i was really struggling with my mental health with depression and anxiety and i didn't know who i was i pretty much hated myself i couldn't understand why i acted the way i did and i think for me it was just such a relief to find out and to finally understand myself i began to understand myself because i had the right toolbox this time and when i found out and getting that relief that felt great but then i had to go to counseling then after to kind of work through a lot of things so it's kind of like you know it's yeah i think it was yeah i was gonna say if is there anything to the fact that you know i don't i don't want to get into your your your your your personal mental health but you know if you struggle up until 27 and there was that sort of conversation that you had with a friend do you feel that someone maybe if you spoke to a gp or something that this should have been spotted earlier that if if sort of medicine in general was more sort of in tune to this type of stuff that someone should have said have you considered the fact that you could be autistic should that have happened much earlier in your life even your adult life yeah absolutely i did get tested for adhd when i was in school but no one tested for autism because back then i think they thought that girls and women couldn't be on the spectrum so um it was just completely overlooked but yeah no one said it i think everyone taught knew there was something that they thought there was something but they just didn't know what it was and i think it's been like that for a lot of people like where they just kind of put their finger on it so i think it was very important for me to find out and understand myself because i didn't for so long i think that's important for anybody if they're looking for a diagnosis because people ask me all the time well what does it do for you now like you're 27 like you you're kind of you've went through school and all this kind of stuff but i think it's just for you know yourself it has to bring a bit of clarity because you're thinking why do i feel like this could it be that could it be that what's wrong with me i mean to sort of say right to be able to say right this is what it is and now i can work through that and and and not work through that but now i can sort of know what's going on i can sort of you know make things as best for me as possible listen sorry if we've broadened out the conversation but look that's an important thing a little bit brave sometimes bold totally me frankie's world um is there a target audience or who's this marketed towards ifa or who would you like to read it actually probably he's a broader way of putting it yeah the age group is nine to 14 but i think it's kind of the kind of book that anyone can read to be honest with you and enjoy and um but nine to 14 is the age group and i wouldn't say that it's just for kids on a spectrum either i think i think it'd be important for older and younger typical kids to read it as well so they understand what it's like to be on a spectrum and for other kids in their class that they may think are a little bit strange or a little bit that might help them understand in that way so i think yeah because especially with our young people if they haven't been too too influenced by their parents that's coming from a how do i deal with this situation because someone's different i don't understand it's it's a position of ignorance it's not knowing yeah because children are very adaptable and generally very forgiving um where can people get hold of uh your book it's very distinctive it's uh it's in a it's uh an orange front to it frankie's world i'll just show those watching just a little bit of the illustrations inside uh there it is there so where can people get their hands on it ifa you can get it in pretty much all all good book stars now it's out uh since thing it's like two weeks ago or no or one week ago i've lost track of the days now to be honest it's been about mad week well it's out in all bookshops now and you can get it online as well and what next is there is there a series of books i mean this is it's laid out in such a way you can go in any direction sort of with the characters and the format is that something that you you want to do maybe say well there's another area that we need to be talking a little bit about in this whole story yeah i definitely think there's a lot to cover in it because i think every year um when you're going to school is kind of different as well and there's new things that happen so i definitely think just scope for more but uh you got to third level in this book did you or do you get this oh no this is just a primary skill but it's kind of starting into secondary school as well so there's scope for more in that way i suppose yeah we'll have to wait and see all right listen the very uh the the the best of success with it ifa well done thank you so much for joining us i really appreciate it nice to speak to you thanks for having me on okay our pleasure our monday focus was on uh frankie's world and you heard from its author ifa duly there she's a writer and comedian it's based on her life experience but it's not about her as such if that if that makes sense okay uh you can get it in all good bookstores uh frankie's world oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand your whatsapps and your texts to that number or give us a call and oh seven four nine one twenty five thousand uh plenty of comments coming in on a range of subjects so we appreciate that greatly and uh we'll get to those and i think we've another guest or two to squeeze in between now midday the nine till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to sixty thousand euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie if you're experiencing an unplanned pregnancy there is someone you can talk to my options is a hsc service that offers confidential cancelling and information we're here to listen and guide you through all your options including support to continue a pregnancy as well as information and abortion services we can also support you if a planned pregnancy becomes a crisis over time talk to a counsellor online at myoptions.ie or free phone one eight hundred eight 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seen from space a massive underwater volcanic eruption just to see the impact it had uh is is really quite remarkable and for most of us to have access to that truly uh unbelievable and we're at this professor at many newt university john sweeney joins us on the program now thank you so much john for joining us great to see you great to have you on good morning right right so this soon this this this uh initial uh eruption um an underwater volcano i don't recall hearing of this happening before i'm sure it's not the first time it's ever happened but how often would we see something like this it's quite a rare event um it's not necessarily all that rare in that part of the pacific where we have some of the deepest parts of the global ocean i mean the the Tonga trench just offshore there is something like 10 kilometers deep so we have a lot of activity there partly because of the way tectonic plates are moving around there and we have the the pacific plate moving under the australian plate and that as it melts creates these huge bubbles of magma huge bubbles of activity which bubble up from beneath the sea and give rise to a chain of volcanic islands among which of course Tonga is is part of um now it was a very unusual event because it was probably the biggest bind the earth has heard maybe in a century maybe certainly since mount pinotuba 30 years ago but this particular eruption where it was heard as far away as Alaska 5000 kilometers away so it was an exceptional event and those spectacular images that you're talking about there of the dust plume of the smoke plume what we don't really appreciate at the time is the scale and the area of that plume was about half the area of Ireland so we're looking at a potential dust fall a potential um if you like catastrophic dust fall in some cases for those islanders about a hundred thousand or so live on Tonga and unfortunately you know we don't really know how they're doing it must have been really cataclysmic in the in the events because what's also uh i believe it is and you can correct me if i'm wrong what's visual uh is not only the this this plume uh will it apparent a shock waves it seemed shock waves were actually actually visible which sort of you know uh added to the the the the power of this event yeah i mean such as the power of the um if you like the eruption it burst its way through the troposphere into the stratosphere and at that boundary it set off rather like a stone falling into a pond it set off a whole trigger of events and of course in the sea as well that to tsunami which it created traveled a great distance it didn't create huge tsunami waves on the west coast of the united states for example but it did cause considerable problems in new zealand in fiji and in the surrounding islands and yeah this this was an unusual event because we don't usually get undersea volcanic causes for tsunamis um they're quite rare things like krakatoa was perhaps the best known example of that but you know if you can imagine the the events after the eruption you know the the thunderstorms the lightning the dust fall the pebbles falling in people's heads um it must have been quite a cataclysmic feeling in the darkness that followed that that huge eruption there before i get you to use on that a little bit more is this basically kind of how islands might be formed over over centuries it is and you'll see the kind of complicated name that's given to this particular volcano it's it's called um what is it called the um hunger to uh uh hunger hapaya volcano and it's got a hyphenated name because in fact those two halves of the name were two separate islands once and it was that particular volcano coming up from below the surface that joined them up about a decade or so ago uh so yes it's it's how we find volcanic islands formed and they're very characteristic of about 200 kilometers away from the main subduction of the plate that takes place and that's very characteristic of the the island arc of fire that surrounds much of the pacific where we get about 60 or 70 percent of the world's volcanoes in that particular ring of fire around the around the pacific itself where those plate boundaries are occurring um so have we had much news uh from uh Tonga uh i think it's the island uh most obviously new zillion would be on on on um would be on notice as well with this but have we had any uh have we been able to make contact have we found out what the what what the impact has actually been on Tongi yet i wonder um professor we haven't really had too much information coming out of Tonga simply because the eruption severed the main cable linking up the island with neighboring islands so the internet was cut and phone lines were very much down as well so at this stage it's very much uncertain just how much has happened in terms of casualties it doesn't seem to have been a catastrophic casualty event as yet but the repairing of that pipeline is going to take a couple of weeks the nearest pipe laying ship for example is in Papua New Guinea so it's going to take quite a while to get back to normal there but there is a lot of relief effort underway now from New Zealand and from Australia and we should be able to to determine in the next few hours just how bad it is because of course you can't fly through that volcanic ash cloud very easily it's going up to 100 it's going up to well 10 20 kilometers above the surface so you know it's spreading so much that it would damage jet engines so you have to be cautious about actually doing a reconnaissance of the area even as we speak yeah but there's a hundred and seven hundred and eight thousand people living on that island and even now uh for the reasons you've just outlined we don't know what the actual you know direct impact uh literally and metaphorically has been but we hope to find out as you mentioned this is very rare this is what was the terminology used this was the biggest explosion in 100 years or yeah i think it's probably certainly the biggest blast since Mount Pinatuba right that's natural obviously we in terms of atomic bombs and stuff we're not yeah we're not we're not including that are we we're we're well i think we probably are you probably could bomb 5000 miles away i don't think and so this is a very considerable release of energy and of course there are health problems associated with it as well because that volcanic ash does contaminate your water supply it damages your crops and so there's going to be a difficulty in getting fresh water to those inhabitants in the short term as well as possibly food supplies in the medium term as well so yeah and this is seen as a this is seen as a uh a completely natural situation is it there's no i don't know bombs being tested or major events elsewhere that in some way could exacerbate or trigger something like that that's not what we're talking about this is nature a nature showing itself with the ferocity it has it is indeed and you know at this stage as well it doesn't look as if it's going to have major climatic effects now with Mount Pinatuba we had of course a half a degree falling global temperature because of the spread of that dust veil around the earth in this case the sulfur dioxide content is quite low and it's that which forms the the problems for global cooling if you like down down the road from here but at this point I don't think we should be too concerned about having a half a degree falling global temperature or anything like that in the next in the next year or so but nevertheless for those poor individuals who are bearing the brunt of it at the moment the crisis is immediate for them yeah okay and they're living it at the moment professor thank you so much for your time i appreciate it greatly have a lovely day that is professor emirata's professor at manuth university john sweeney in the website i was able to actually see that happened about an hour after it happened is called uh zoom earth zoom earth it's fascinating you know say for instance we have snow in arland uh or we have really clear days um you can go and set a time and and check the satellite imagery the satellite happened to be over that uh and there's no cloud cover or what have you get a really amazing view but it just felt amazing and i'm not in any way glorifying what happened it just felt astonishing to hear about that and to be able to go onto my phone sit in the front room and look at the satellite image of the moment you know the frames of the moment that that exploded it was just like wow this is what we're able to do now it was really quite remarkable and really i think particularly young people or people of all ages would find that uh fascinating all right um right let's see let's get to some of your calls and comments or your uh that have been coming into us after we take a short break it's the 90 noon show with me greg uh and caroline producing will be back very shortly the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union download our new app today to apply and draw down your loan wherever you are sometimes it's just bad luck but sometimes it's negligence from minor bumps to life changing injury every accident is a story time to call macklehenny and associates they'll assess the situation advise on solutions and lead the way if any litigation is to follow from motor accidents and workplace accidents to slips trips and falls call today on 0749175989 or find us online let's get you started on the road to recovery macklehenny and associates solicitors to an order how can we help in contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement you deserve better better services better rewards and better savings all with board gosh energy get 40% off your electricity and start saving today because when you're spending less on your energy you can spend more on what matters most switch to a better way at board gosh energy dot ie eab 962 euro 12 month discount with direct debit and paperless billing unit rate and standing charge apply see board gosh energy dot ie for eab prices and full season I'm really excited about going back to school this year I want everyone in my class to stay well if I have any symptoms or if I am advised to restrict movements I know I shouldn't come to school because we all play our part in keeping everyone well it's important that everyone follows public health advice to keep everyone well at home and in school remember if your child has any symptoms please keep them home and get a COVID-19 test this January this is the only test that matters brought to you by the government of Ireland it's that time of year again long evenings low temperatures and slippery roads so for your free tire check call dunnig all tires they have all you need in stock winter or all season tires or especially for wet hours conditions the latest generation unirole the re-entire experience the difference call dunnig all tires dunnig all town phone 9721482 or seek dunnig all tires dot com okay you're very welcome back to the program right a caller says could it have been caused by nuclear testing well I put that question to the professor and he says no this was this was all nature any updates on how the dunnig all community in Tonga are coping there's no updates firstly I don't know how extensive the dunnig all community is in Tonga but be that as in May we no one can make contact because communication has been severed New Zealand which is relatively close to it compared to us trying to make contact but you heard from the professor there as it relates to the issues with flights and what have you hi Greg I think it's a joke that our muppets of a government the textures words is still on holidays and business still have to close eight o'clock at night only in our and this would happen it's time the Irish people wake up to this government and get the country open dub bosses go and flat out every weekend to the north with dunnig all people yeah of course and listen you know that's all going to change in a week or two but I take your point and then people go you know well they're not on holidays because they're still working well you know we're not we're not fools okay we're all working all the time even when all at work but the doll is where decisions are made the doll is where the mic issue should be continued to be debated early January not not towards February it's where issues as it relates to violence in our streets should be discussed it's where politicians should go and advocate on behalf of those that elected them as it relates to the imposition of restrictions are the required are they not it's where they should be at work okay now you could say oh well you know my local TD he's been flat out you should be up in the place of work working no one wants to hear about my the work I do in the evening do you you don't want to hear about that you're not interested my work is here and if I'm not here then people think I'm not working and that's the same I think with our elected representatives you know they you can't take a month off work when there's a pandemic and when the whole of society are concerned about violence in our streets and of course locally we're talking about housing we're talking about the mica situation you know don't tell me oh well they're working in their offices or they're working from home because that's it's about the perception of it you know in my view it might be controversial but I'm not fishing and never will fish for any way government job so I can say what I like hi Greg what's the name again was it zoom.earth yeah it was zoom.earth have a look at that read the promise by the conservatives to abolish the TV license fee in the UK by 2027 surely it's time to do likewise here particularly when RTE is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the political establishment in this country what do you mean next thing you'll be telling me that major politicians can do pre-recorded interviews next thing you'll be able to tell me that ministers can say I'll do an interview but I'm not going to be challenged by an opposition party member or I'm not going to be challenged by members of the public come on that doesn't happen does it surely. Hi Greg how come the DUP are so quiet over calling for Boris's heads they nearly crucified Sinn Fein for attending a funeral I don't know I mean politics there oh I want to read so much more your comments but I've run out of time listen we'll carry them over till tomorrow morning I can't wait to be back with you on air at nine o'clock stay tuned John Bresen's coming up around the northwest after the news at