 This is what I have to do. What's on your mind? Oh, I don't think you... I can't trust you've washed your hands. You're running in and out of here to the bathroom. Excuse me? Well, I saw you go to the bathroom and come back and there wasn't enough time to wash and dry your hands. There's no toes in that bathroom. Did you know that? That's even more. Before you tried to catch me out using the ones in the kitchen. Paper toes. That is... Trying to catch me out. See, that boy's trying to catch me out. Good luck. I'm joking. I love your coffee, but I don't want it. Thank you. Love your shirt. Good luck. All right. See you Monday. See you tomorrow. Sorry, it is Monday. Time for the news headlines now. This morning, a 16-year-old boy who'd been reported missing in Donegal has been located safe and well. Garthi have thanked the public for their help. Almost a quarter of Garthi stations had fewer officers at the start of this year when compared with last year, according to figures collated by the Irish Independent. Balabafe in Donegal was one of a few which registered a slight increase in numbers over that 12-month period. The Donegal Division as a whole registered a slight decrease. Donegal County Council's newest member will be co-opted today. Horick McGarvey joins as an independent, replacing his uncle Ian, who stood down last month. The council will also discuss work in Rathmodernist part of a local regeneration program. Government is being urged to increase social welfare rates. The demand comes from Social Justice Ireland, which says an additional eight euro a week is essential to help people struggling to pay their bills. The organization says that for the universal energy credit, will not address the cost of living crisis. Suzanne Rogers is research and policy analyst with Social Justice Ireland. We're really sort of going back to our pre-budget ask and that of many other organizations, which was to increase the core social welfare rate by 20 euro a week. And what we got was 12 euro a week. So we're still missing that eight euro. That's still not in people's pockets and they really, really do need it. Garthi are hoping to interview two women who witnessed a car flipping into the water at Menlo Pier in Galway. Three teenagers lost their lives. 16 year old John Keenan and 17 year old Wokcek Panik died shortly after the car entered the water just before three on Saturday morning. 19 year old Christie Stokes passed away in hospital later that day. Irish examiner reporter Neil Martin says the circumstances around what caused the tragedy remain unclear. It's not immediately clear if the driver of the car was trying to do U-turn. It wasn't at the end of the pier. There's a kind of a bend leading down to the pier. They could have been turning into the pier at that bend and then the dark misjudged the distance between the side of the corner and the drop into the water. It's also understood that the car flipped over on its roof into water that was around four feet deep and about two feet of that was mud. With a forecast generally dry today with sunny spells developing in top temperatures of nine to 11 degrees Celsius, moderate to fresh southerly winds, tonight it'll turn mostly cloudy with sherry outbreaks of rain spreading from the south, lowest temperatures three to seven degrees Celsius, moderate to fresh and blustery southerly winds. And that's Helen Radio News. We're back with news again at 10 o'clock. Are you in the process of moving to a new bank? Maybe you already have. Well, if you pay insurance or a pension policy by direct debit, just be sure to change your bank details so your policy continues uninterrupted. It's easy. Just contact your insurer, pension provider or broker today. For more information, visit understandinginsurance.ie forward slash bank exit. Brought to you by Insurance Ireland. The county's number one talk show, The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now, it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello. Good morning to you. Just turning as we speak, four minutes past nine on this Monday. It's the 13th of February, 2023. How are you getting on? I hope you're very well indeed. Hope you had a nice relaxing weekend. If you were off, I hope work went well if you were working. Anyway, stay with us for the next three hours. Plenty of information, plenty of entertainment. And we want your involvement in all of it, of course. 086, 60, 25,000. If you want to give us a call, it's 07491-25,000. Caroline Orr is back taking your calls this morning. You can get involved in the conversation via email commentsathighlandradio.com. And if you want to watch the show, you can watch it on your big smart TV, the YouTube or Facebook Watch app. Just search out Highland Radio there or on your fire stick or just on your tablet, whichever device. And you can get involved in all of this. Or just on your tablet, whichever device. And you can get involved in the conversation that way. We've plenty lined up for you, but we want you to raise your issues with us. Pass on your information to us. Your good stories as well, by the way. Maybe you were the witness or the recipient of an act of kindness over the weekend. And you want to shout out to those responsible. Anything. You're more than welcome to get in contact with us. Let's kick things off with a look at the front of the papers today. The Donegal News. Flight cancellation, impact cancer patients. Concerns have been raised about the frequency of cancelled flights at Donegal Airport, which is impacting cancer patients travelling to and from Dublin for hospital treatment. The recent cancellations, which the airport confirmed have been caused by technical difficulties, is causing a big upheaval for patients according to Gredor-based charity Donegal Cancer Flights and Services. Mary Coyle from Donegal Cancer Flights and Services told the paper that the cancellation of flights has been an inconvenience for patients. The charity-based in Idni Podrig offers direct support to cancer patients and their families, including reduced-rate flights and free baggage. Over 300 clients currently avail of the vital service. I'm not sure how many have been inconvenienced by those cancellations, but still one is one too many, I'm sure. On to the Irish Independent today. The cost of paying a mortgage, heading for 3,000 more a year than in 2022. Home ownership is, for a lot of people, already out of reach. This is only going to exacerbate that further. Rising interest rates have added thousands of euro to the cost of paying for a mortgage for a typical first-time buyer couple. The cost of paying a mortgage for a new buyer couple is now heading for 3,000 more than annually than this time last year. And there are warnings that more mortgage rate hikes are on the way, something that will make it even harder for new buyers to purchase their own homes and analysis of the market shows that property prices will have to fall sharply if thousands of people are to avoid being priced out of the market. Though I do expect that we're already seeing, not expect, I do notice we are already seeing trends where at least the rate of increase is slowing somewhat. This time last year, a first-time buyer couple was able to get a fixed-rate mortgage of 2%. Borrowing 300,000 euro for 30 years meant a couple had monthly repayments of 1,109 euro, according to calculations by bonkers.ie. This works out at 13,380 a year. But following five increases in European Central Bank, ECB rates, the typical fixed-rate in the market now stands at 3.5%. Now, that is not necessarily directly linked to rates increases, either banks at any time can adjust their variable rate. But that increase means, not their variable rate, but their fixed-rate. This means now that repayments on the same-sized mortgage have risen to 1,000, or risen close to 1,340 a month, which is a significant increase. Because, I mean, obviously, it's not just interest rates on mortgage that's going up, it's the cost of living. It's petrol, it's diesel, it's seemingly, it's electricity, it's oil, it's coal. So it's getting very, very expensive for people to take that first step onto the property ladder. When I say getting, sorry, it's getting increasingly expensive. On to the Irish Times now, and the government has been warned over its language in the politically-charged debate about immigration with the Irish Refugee Council calling for an overhauled communications plan from the coalition. Nick Henderson, the council's chief executive, told the Irish Times, we warn against the use of some language that has drifted into government statements. He criticised terms such as full story illegally coming to our country. He said people were often forced to travel in a way that requires them to travel in illegal or irregular ways, including using a smuggler who may take a passport back off the person when travelling. There is an urgent need for a communication plan for government on this issue. Why it is important to offer protection, how that is done, and to who, and how and when communicate with communities where people are being accommodated, he said. All right, OK, I didn't really notice that too much, but there you go. On to the Irish Daily Mail this morning, and speculation has hardened that the government is planning an extra child benefit payment despite Lee of Radcar declaring yesterday he did not want to fly kites on the issue. Significantly, the T-shock and Finnegale Minister Simon Harris yesterday both publicly stressed the importance of some element of universal benefits in the planned package at the end of the month, and pressure for an extra child benefit payment is strung in the door with one senior source asking what is wrong with a million happy mums. Mr Radcar told RTE's this week programme, I believe, that you need an element of both targeted and universal measures to help everyone. One of the things that we will make a judgement call on this week is some additional welfare payments. We haven't decided the nature of those, who will get them, who won't, and how much he said. Let's go now to the Irish Daily Star, and struggling to find stories that are kind of new and of interest, to be honest with you, but we'll go with this one. The Irish Film Classification Office received complaints last month about the portrayal of Irish people as moronic in Banshees of Inesherin. There was also criticism about the accuracy of the accidents portrayed by the inhabitants of the fictional island that were featured in the movie directed by Martin McDonough as well as a claim that its reflection of Ireland in the 1920s was wrong. One complainant questioned whether it was made clear from the outset that the film was a work of fiction rather than a real outlook on the peoples of the islands off the coast of Ireland. Seriously, as people have people, nothing else to do. In response, acting director of the IFCO, George Sinclair noted that these were not classification issues. However, he pointed out that the end credits of the film contained a statement confirming that its characters and events were fictitious. So I found this film extremely offensive to the suffering of Irish victims of the Irish Civil War, and it portrayed Irish people on the island of Inesherin as moronic on caring about the Civil War at the time one cinema-goer wrote. But as I say, I don't sound where people get the brain space off to your mates, or don't bother at all. But anyway, apparently the Chinese could be spying on the doll. Could you imagine such a thing? Well, that's according to many of the papers today. We'll read the story from the Irish son. Chinese CCTV cameras installed at the house of the Erachtas should be taken down. A human rights group insists concerns have been raised about the system made by a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the hilt-vision surveillance cameras inside and outside government buildings could be used to spy on politicians and staff. This week, Australia removed hundreds of hilt-vision cameras from its defence sites. But I mean, look at how many phones are made in China. If they want to surveil us, I presume they can do it through the phones as well. You know, you give when you buy these products and if you're fearful that they might do it, you give over your fears for the want, don't you? I just don't understand what the China Communist Party would find interesting about what goes on in the doll. But anyway, if you can let me know what they might find interesting. 08, 6, 60, 25,000. And finally, up to 100 people believed to have been hit for cash by a GEA Legends alleged cruel cancer scam the paper reveals, although it was revealed yesterday as well. Many were prominent names in football and hurling who knew the sports star and the celebrity charity Gulf and Speaking Circuit along with some of their friends. It's believed he was still making begging phone calls up until four weeks ago, even though Gardy had begun a major probe into the scandal. The stars alleged to have claimed he was suffering from cancer. One businessman who gave him a brand new car for free thought he was out in Seattle receiving treatment. But discovered from one of the player's best friends, he was celebrating with his then girlfriend. His partner at the time had no idea if the scam it's understood the alleged cancer fraud had been going on for up to eight years. Many people with the type of cancer he claimed to have died, to have, have died within a year. One man who said he gave him 10,000 euro and never got a penny back said he had been a friend for years. I honestly believe he was tapped up, I honestly believe he has tapped up at least 100 people if not more. Many people in the GEA and business world were too embarrassed to talk about it, but one by one with the Gardy involved, they're starting to come forward and reach out. Now this person is not named but apparently he claimed he had a cancer he never had and instead of being away in America getting treatment he was in fact he was in fact on holidays with his girlfriend. Okay I'm not sure who it is, I don't know I'm not in the business of speculating either, I'm sure it will come to light but it's legally okay for that to happen. 086625,000 WhatsApps and texts that number or give us a call on 07491 25,000. The Ninetal Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union. Digital Loans now available. Apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account. With the war in Ukraine affecting the cost of energy many of us are continuing to deal with rising energy bills. Government has introduced a range of supports to lessen the financial impact on families, households and businesses and will continue to monitor the situation in the weeks ahead to protect those in difficulty. It's important that everyone stays warm and well but where safe and possible to do so reducing energy use can also reduce bills. Changes like turning your thermostat down by one degree and considering how often you use energy intensive appliances like tumble dryers can make a big difference. For information on available supports and energy saving advice visit gov.ie forward slash reduce your use brought to you by the Government of Ireland. Thank you for your time. Did you know children's fate grow every three months? At McElhenney's kids department our experts are ready to help you find the perfect fit for your little one. Browse our collection of kids shoes from Leading Brands including Pablowski, Gioch, Skechers and more at McElhenney's online or call and store to find the right size with our free expert shoe fit in service. 2023 is already turning out to be an electric year for high Why? Because Hyundai is the best-selling electric car brand in January 2023 and the IONIQ 5 is now officially Ireland's best-selling electric car. Make 2023 the year you make the change to fully electric driving. Your local dealer is Diverse Hyundai Canal Road Ladder County, call 9-1-22-600. Now there was some good news heading into the weekend. We have confirmed that the 80-bed Bali Shannon Community Hospital is nearing completion. There are a number of finishing touches on the way including four floor coverings fitting final furniture, preparatory works for final internal painting and decorating. The testing and checking of mechanical and electrical services is also ongoing. Frank Morrison is head of older persons services. Community health care, Kavanaugh, Donegal Leachman Morning Greg, it's absolutely great news that the HSE are delighted to confirm that the Bali Shannon Community Hospital is nearing completion. As you said, we're doing our finishing touches at this stage opening for an opening date from March to April of this year for completion. Now as you said we have 80 beds and that's made up of there will be six individual units within the facility and it will cover both long-term care, residential, dementia care and also short-term care. All of which will ensure the residents will receive a high standard of care in a homely and modern environment. How many of those beds are short-term care beds or is that flexible Frank depending on general occupancy? The current make up as we speak Greg is 52 long-term care and then 28 short-term care. That will be monitored over time and it will take time to actually fill the hospital. We will assess it and George it has the needs of the local population during that time but as we speak it's 52 long-term care and then the eight assessment dementia beds and then 20 short-term care. Is it fair to say that this will help to ease pressure on hospitals potentially with care that's not required in an acute hospital setting able to be provided in Bali Shannon? Absolutely yes. Any short-term beds that we are able to bring into the system would certainly assist with any delays or any overcrowding within the community or the hospital services and pay in particular attention our goal is to keep people at home but naturally enough the short-term beds will be able to assist with earlier discharges from the acute service but also it will be able to take admissions from the GP services and from our integrated care program for all the people the teams that we have in the community as well. And presumably the practice or the process of moving people into this new facility it's a sensitive enough area as well presumably you know it has to be treated on a case by case basis with plenty of consultation and explanation is that kind of how it works? Oh absolutely well every long-term care person would have a full formal assessment by consultant jury attrition and that's done by a placement panel to make sure that people require long-term care there would be absolutely full consultation with the residents themselves families and friends of the person so nobody would be put into long-term care without due consultation. Sorry I meant in terms of moving maybe from one facility to another Frank I know there's a very robust procedure there to ensure that it's suitable for the patient and everyone around them but presumably some people will be moved from other facilities into this new facility so maybe I'm wrong sorry Frank if I am. Oh no the present the rock shield where the people the rock shield those patients will be transferred over to the new facility there will be absolute full consultation with families of the people and the people themselves in relation to the move and it will be a really fantastic new facility which would be for their good as well. I was just kind of recognising there's a wee bit of upheaval whenever you move from one place to the next so that'll all work out well. So it should all be up and running hopefully March April then so just the finishing touches effectively is what's going on at the moment. Well from March and April then we have the process of getting the hospital register to take off that takes time so that will be a full inspection from top to toe by the health and prevention and quality authority and until they're satisfied with the consultation but I do believe that we have a lot of work gone into the facility which should aid to getting it fully registered with the authority and then there will be full consultation with that with the trade union organisation as well to make sure that everything can move as smoothly as possible. Brilliant and I presume we're hoping to see I'm not sure if it falls onto your responsibility Frank a similar type of progress in the letter Kenya area soon with big plans for a similar facility I think in the offing Yeah correct there's a plan for 110 bed facility which will provide very similar services short term care, long term care no the exact breakdown of the bed hasn't been decided yet that is well underway as we are also planning for a new build up in I know it's not your area itself No that's fine we'll just cross over here Yeah we have plans very good plans within the CHCD LMS for making sure that we are able to cater for the growth of people who will require care both from short term care and long term care. Yeah and I don't want to put you on the spot do we know where the progress in terms of letter Kenya is at the moment I don't have the exact details for that Greg. No problem we'll get that off you another time that's fine. Okay well it's good news for the people of Balochalabandor in the surrounding area there of course okay always good to have a bit of good news in a Monday morning Frank thanks for your time Okay thank you very much Greg. Bye bye That's Frank Morrison head of older person services community health care Kavind, Donegal, Litrum, Monahan and Sligo that facility coming to near completion and a lot of people have the rock and the shield have been you know known of and in the area for so long and that's going to be a new facility for them which is going to be nice hopefully it's a I'm sure it is it's built to the highest of standards. A caller says I go food shopping twice a week and every time I go and notice the prices are still rising it's getting beyond a joke at this stage when is he going to stop because people can't take much more well apparently the rate of inflation is slowing I think we all know don't we prices very rarely come back down they sort of settle at a higher normal maybe that's where we're going but I do agree with you the price of the weekly shop is you know even if you're more careful with how you shop you see the increase is no doubt fog lights on cars says this emailer fog lights on cars when they are not needed can you highlight this especially when they're not set right I find they blind you especially when the road is wet cheers from the fog lights in the car should know this I don't know I mean the rear one the rear one's pretty obvious it's really bright red light which certainly can blind you I presume you're talking about the rear light yep remember to switch it off if you're putting it on I think is the message there it's good to put it on it's good to put it off right someone has sent in a couple of products here the poop bags for your dog love your panic love your dog love your planet 122 super strong poop bags and some very I didn't know inflation hit poop bags quite as it has two identical products putting dog poo back on the footpaths again they believe in other words they're too expensive for people to buy 399 bought in a shop in letter Kenny in November 22 399 the same bag of bag of poo bags 899 that is some inflation isn't important letter Kenny on December 2023 I said there's enough talked on this program to fill the whole box that's just me right okay delighted to welcome back on to show Richard log project manager in transport London good morning to you Richard good to have you back on morning Greg good to see you again and we touch on this in conversations with you when you're a guest on the Friday panel quite often something has emerged around about that time you're on but obviously because we've quite a bit to get across we don't really get to deep dive into the issue and we're speaking to you off the back of some reports that a railway link from letter Kenny to dairy back on track now we know you're a huge advocate for this and can make a really strong argument for it happening but perhaps for our listeners and for myself to remind us of why this feels like it could be a reality do you know rather than just an aspiration or a pipe dream so current situation is great that last last year both the northern and the Irish governments set up a all island rail strategic rail review and that's been governed by leading rail consultants Arab who'd be very familiar to all of us in the railway industry and what should have happened was that the report was due to be released before Christmas last Christmas 22 and unfortunately as we all know with the whole big argument over the northern Ireland protocol and the DUP withdrawing from the northern Ireland assembly and the executive that report is I understand pretty much ready to go but in the absence of a northern Ireland minister it can't be signed off and released until there's been a formal sign-off of that report so what's been happening over the last few weeks is that there's been elements of that report has been gradually been leaked I wouldn't say leaked but you know there's been big hints dropped by both Amy and Ryan the minister for transport and there's been a long-running campaign to bring the railway back to Donegal and I have to shout out to our friend the Reverend David Crooks who's been flying that flag for many years and I think possibly we might be starting to see some progress on this fundamentally what we are being told at the moment is that a link between lettering and the DUP and the DUP a link between letter Kenny and Derry is possibly on the cards it was mooted about 20 odd years ago in a previous rail review and what they're suggesting is that they would want to bring that down via Straban and Oma and port it down back down to Dublin down to Belfast main line which would give us effectively a direct route by rail from letter Kenny to Dublin yeah but what we the positive language is to be welcome to course Richard but there needs to be some sort of commitment here because you know we've seen with major infrastructural projects announced many many many many years ago that they can get bogged down that can be difficult to get across the line in terms of planning and all that type of stuff we kind of really need a commitment not an aspiration don't we'd say right this is what we hope to achieve and by when and then we can kind of really believe it may happen and this is why it says not time to uncork the champagne bottles yet because you know whilst there's talk about putting the link back in we have right now no firm commitments on timeframes we've got no firm commitments that may even happen don't forget this is all conjecture we do not know what's in that review until it's been formally released and most importantly Greg we also need to understand what time frame they're proposing that the link would be put into place so until then you know we'll have to see it so I'll give you an example the National Transport Authority in Dublin have just released a Greater Dublin Transport review and another rail link which is badly needed which is a link to Navin they're saying that that may come on stream in the 2030s so I think we have to prepare ourselves to see that we're not going to see it next month or next year so what would be really strong indicator Richard if I'm not mistaken it's part of the 10 T's isn't it a road from the border effectively into letter Kenny you know you'd probably need to say well we need to be looking at those plans to see how maybe the rail line could be incorporated into that or how might that impact one of the do you know what I mean I think if this if I were to feel this is really going to happen well then I would expect the right people to be talking about how this might impact the infrastructure plans which are already feeling long-fingered yes and you're dead right about the 10 T because whilst my understanding is that the rail review would provide a framework for future investment in railways it will not give us 100% definite commitment it's going to happen on this date so I think we all need to set our expectations but nevertheless you know getting it into the framework is a good start but however as you rightly say we need to step up and actually add the rail link onto their 10 T core network and at this point when they made their submission earlier on in 22 certainly rail to Dunnegall and letter Kenny was not in their submission to the EU so on the back of the rail review I would you would need to see firm action from the department of transport number one to submit all of this as part of the 10 T core network but number two then a firm plan to implement it because without a firm plan to implement it you and I could be talking about this in five years time but nothing to show about it I already feel we're talking about this in the hope that our grandchildren might one day be able to get on a train as I said I think I said to you before I don't ever expect me and you to bump into each other and a carriage between Derry and the letter Kenny but anyway listen we can all live in hope in terms of the practical side of this right what is in existence there that could be reused for example either from Derry to Sturban or from Sturban on to letter Kenny I presume there's nothing left of certainly in the southern side of the border there'd be nothing left of any old infrastructure that could be utilized there are some bits and pieces but really what you're looking at is you would want to build a completely brand new line and you'd work out and this is why as campaigners we would never be very specific it has to go this route it has to go via Ballygoli and has to do that I think it's really important that you know once we've established that there is a need for the rail link I believe it's coming we'll have to debate how long it is but I would expect then for engineers to go ahead and actually start plotting out where the route goes because don't forget the original railway lines that were built in Donegal were all to narrow gauge single track three foot wide tracks rather than the standard five foot three tracks and if you're building it from scratch you would build it double track and you'd have provision for electrification you might even just electrify it from day one so you know you basically need a brand new link now it's never a problem for engineers and governments to provide money for dual carriageways and motorways they'll find that and they can build them so you see the same but the railway and I'd actually say if you're going to do it in a joined up way because I know we're talking about in the longer term a dual carriageway between Derry and Letrakenny they're going to take I mean they do that on the continent if you ever fly into Shiphol airport in Amsterdam you're going down the train and you've got the motorway going into the city at the same time so all of this you know is is possible but you would have to build a brand new route in my view and it would have to be double track it must be double because if you single it then you're instantly putting constrictions on how many trains can run if you're going to buy land and do the building for the sake if you quit you might as well build it this is my view build a double track and even if you're not going to electrify it immediately you make provision for the overhead wires and so if you do electrify it and I believe we should electrify all of our railways anyway you build it with sufficient provision so you're planning ahead rather than constraining yourself. Is it possible civil servants in the Republic will look at this and say well what's in it for us really you know I mean we're going to invest this money into the ferry into Belfast are the people of Donegal going to see this really as a viable alternative to accessing Dublin for example do you know what I mean I just wonder will civil servants look at this and say well how long you will do here is shipping people into the north exactly historically there's been you know in our in our viewers campaigners there's been a lot of resistance at the departmental level but ultimately in my view this is a political decision the minister for transport any minister anyone who is minister for has the power to direct the building of railways that is the political power in the hand of the minister and if I were Raymond Ryan I would be looking to leave you know a legacy behind and ensure that you know we do get this connected because if you go back to you know the northern western regional assemblies regional strategy for development rail link in Donegal is very much on that and it's also I would argue back to the likes of civil service is that the state is looking to expand the population by at least a million and a half by 2040 you're not going to put them all in Dublin so why not start building up places like letter Kenny in the coherent way and providing the infrastructure ahead of actually use and using that as a backbone to ensure that development can really you know bring the city up because that's where letter Kenny's heading we're heading to be a city at this stage I call us as it's ridiculous to discuss such a long-term plan is building a railway to Dublin from Donegal given the ongoing climate emergency the weather will break down before a railway will be built a waste of time and money well it might break down elsewhere but we are going to see climate migrants coming to this part of the world you know across this what's the phrase you know I can't think but anyway as the climate changes it gets very warm in other parts of the world or weather gets more extreme apparently right it's going to get wetter here but we're in a part of the world that's going to have a more stable climate I don't know the ins and outs but as I say we actually probably should be preparing for climate migrants quite possibly I mean I'll probably describe myself as a bit of a climate migrant myself too old for you in London was it I live in London and we've got absolutely boiled out of it last summer you know I'm actually planning you know God willing to buy a property in Donegal this year so you know I would certainly be looking to spend a bit more of my time here when I say here as in Donegal and to be honest the heat the stifling heat here in London summer is a factor for me personally so you know I think there's a lot of credibility behind what you're saying there Craig yep so in other words the change in the climate will actually probably make the need for something like this I'm looking over your right shoulder at the map of the railway and I mean really and I know people on the radio can't see it but as you can see there's a massive gap there in the northwest for me though for me I could probably be more enthused by letter Kenny through Donegal on to Sligo but I suppose we have to aspire to what's perhaps achievable well I think we should as I say what I would want to see from the review coming out is to basically you know a long term plan because if you actually look at the western rail corridor and I know it's been controversial for some but actually the western rail corridor offers the opportunity for a western backbone of rail all the way from Cork true to Galway true to Sligo true to Donegal now I would say you know long term the possibility of a train coming up the Bondsmore Gap will be a little bit further away than getting dairy and letter Kenny initially connected but really you've got to look at it in the context of an all island network and that would actually offer a genuine balance and a counterweight to Dublin as well I mean we've got several key pieces of infrastructure passing through out there you've got knock airport for instance the railway the abandoned railway line passes within a mile or two of the airport so maybe you would look at going straight up to the airport get that rail connected I think you know Sligo into Donegal town and then up to Stranoal or an onto letter Kenny to me that is a no brainer and I think it would actually transform Donegal because it would give Donegal not just access to Dublin but also give you access all the way down the west coast and that type of access and connectivity changes the country and it makes it smaller in a way you know so it'd be very interesting to see Ireland that would be left after that because I think these things do make have an impact beyond everywhere becomes more accessible Richard I hope someday maybe we might get on a train out of letter Kenny somewhere I just want to make sure that they get it on the framework knowing how slow it takes to get these projects up and running it can be a while but really the power bowl is in the court of the Minister for Transport he decides they want to build something it can be built but what the review will offer I hope is a positive framework but then after the framework we need hardcore action from politicians to ensure that it happens finally you know probably sooner than the provision of rail link we might have a border pole and it's you know it's probable it's not guaranteed it's probable that might lead it to County Ireland I mean obviously it's already 32 but I think people understand what I mean by that does that make this easier or would it be easier maybe to get at least the letter Kenny to Dairy League over the line using sort of the you know this current status quo yeah so I think I'd agree with you I think a border pole will happen at some point and one point people often don't realize about the whole issue of a border pole is under the current Good Friday agreement once the Secretary of State Northern Ireland calls a border pole he or she then has to call it another seven years after so even if they did have a border pole that failed by what margin we don't know it would happen again and you know I mean and this is my private view I think Irish unity is inevitable yeah I certainly think that having a coherent joined up railway network is is an advantage not just to reunified Ireland but let's be honest it's also an advantage to Ireland as it stands at the moment the more connected we are the better I mean leaving aside politics but it would help both economies north and south very very strong and reality for much of Donegal as far closer connections or synergies or ties with Dairy and Velfas and they might be with Sligo and Dublin for example Richard always a pleasure thank you so very much indeed take care of yourself no we appreciate you accepting the invite Richard Logue project manager in Transport London now did you know that house prices in Donegal are falling the biggest drop actually in the entire country what's it down to some believe it's down to the defective concrete crisis but how would that affect the average price for home well we'll get the stats and maybe tease that out with Pat David after this short break watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com the 90 noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter Kenny credit union 9102127 for the perfect gift for Valentine's Day you can't go wrong with perfume and you won't go wrong at McGee's chemist in letter Kenny if she is a firm favorite McGee's have all the top names like Chanel, Calvin Klein, Gucci and Georgie Ormani also Dolce & Gibana, Longcombe Jean-Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabanne and any more get the perfect gift at the perfect price this Valentine's Day at McGee's chemist main street letter Kenny or order online at McGee's dot ie your son who smiles every time he gets a message from a certain someone the twins who think your son has lost his mind their granny who knows that if hearts get broken she's only ever a call away whatever your clan are up to connect them with photo phone red family at family members young and old for just 5 euros a month go online or in store to find out more photo phone together we can subject to eligibility 12 month contract in terms see vodafone dot ie ladies get in shape this year at fitness express canal road letter Kenny finalized fitness and weight loss programs fitness express letter Kenny 9109 travel 0 enjoy the tastiest burger in town for less every Friday a Kelly's diner letter Kenny in the Friday deal you get a renowned jakes burger with fries and a soft drink for only 1295 there's great value throughout the menu for breakfast lunch and dinner so why not treat yourself or all the family for less at Kelly's award winning mountain job letter Kenny all right I have have a new survey out which shows that demand keeps high prices elevated country wide but there has been a drop in Donegal Pat David is chief executive of the institute of professional auctioneers and valuers and joins us now Pat thanks for taking the call this morning good morning Greg and thank you for calling me now there's a few of these surveys that are asking prices and you know sort of are looking at different figures so what does this survey actually cover is it the actual achieved selling price Pat because she's selling by three different types of properties to the country great and then the two bedroom apartment three bedroom and four bedroom so it's achieved it looks at the pricing over the past six months of the last two quarters of the year for those types of properties so it's not an asking price it's an actual price made and what does the we might focus first on Donegal what is the trend in Donegal well the trend in Donegal is like most other counties it's up except that the market is making a huge difference in different parts of Donegal in our side we have sort of a triangle in Donegal of members that take part in the survey from initial on the cross and down to Donegal so we have that sort of a triangle which we cover the whole of the county and so that from where we're looking at the price changes are in that initial on the area the rest of Donegal is similar to the country because the prices are going up in them so how do we determine this is maybe down to defective concrete I mean are houses affected being sold or are people who are buying houses are they factoring in survey costs or how is defective concrete actually forcing the prices down if houses are being sold well the price on there there is a property price register which shows the price the properties are bought far and on that property price register it would show parcel of our survey it would show the sales that have taken place over the past 6 months so this is the first time that we've actually seen that since the first time that we've seen that actually houses and properties have taken have been sold and we can see the price difference so if you're looking at three bedroom setting and it's somewhere involved with my care and the value of it is 250,000 for instance or 260,000 because this works out handy for me if it's involved with my care at all you can see if it easily says the price is reduced by 50% down to 130,000 and if it's not and if it's like it here and the report is to show that it's like it here it would be 260,000 and if you go down to when you go on for instance the parts of the county the price would be the same or slightly increased on where they were in the first 6 months but presumably though enough of these lower valued houses have to be exchanging hands then to drag the average down as much as it has yeah it's not it's not and there's only 3,000 sales sold in the whole of Ireland in the whole year Greg so like you know I'm doing it all there wouldn't be that many huge amount of sales it doesn't take a large amount of sales to bring the index down so a few sales would actually bring it down and I'm talking about a few somewhere to reach maybe 8 or 10 or something like that but it gives a favour of what is happening in relation to the mica and why people obviously are being very careful about buying properties like related as opposed to properties aren't so I think it's interesting for us this time to put it in it's obviously bringing down the county average but bringing down the county average for that initial area the volcanic area is slightly different for the whole of the county I'll get you all right Pat listen thanks for your time this morning I appreciate it thank you Greg all right Pat David there's chief executive of I'vePav that's the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valiwers across the country there's been a 0.4% increase in home prices in the latter half of last year by comparison with a 6.35 figure for the previous six months so there is a bit of a slow down there or a reduction sorry in values year and year contrary wide but in Donegal and I still really haven't got my head around it but in Donegal we saw the largest drop of 8.85% but that's in terms of sales okay so people clearly then are buying houses that are affected by mica knowingly or else you wouldn't see you paying half the price that you might for a house in Donegal town right okay now we are going to take a very short break have the weather and then get some more of your comments and calls the 9th till noon show with letter Kenny Credit Union now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union in the final clearance at Watson men's wear letter Kenny there's half price shirts, polo shirts and knitwear also half price offers on top labels like Super Dry and Penguin selected suits and footwear also half price don't miss out on big savings in the final clearance sale at Watson men's wear main street at our Kenny and online at Watson men's wear dot com also a great selection offers communion stock are you ready to experience something extraordinary cultural gems in Croatia ancient temples in Asia art in Italy anything and everything is possible with travel department pick a destination and a date and we'll take care of everything flights accommodation excursions expert local guides and all that planning for guided group tours to dream destinations book today at travel department dot com I have shown to not great 25 years travel department let's see more hi Pauline Macklin here sharing something really important when someone's having a stroke minutes matter because 2 million brain cells die every minute so call 112 or 999 if you see any of these FAST signs F for face has it fallen on one side a for arms can both be held up S for speech is it slurred T for time it's time to call 112 or 999 fast learn more at irishheart.ie for a trolley full of love we've got bundles for any Valentine's budget like a rose card and chocolate bundles for under 5 euro or a rose card to Lux Irish cream liqueur truffles and board be approved to Lux Irish steaks bundle less than 15 euro shop without compromise go full little today Highland radio weather updates with from March 26th Air Lingus will operate a daily service to London providing onward connections to any plus destinations worldwide Ireland West airport don't just take off take it easy OK we've had a quite nice weather lately haven't we let's see how long that might continue at least for today generally dry but blustery today with sunny spells developing during the morning highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees in mostly fresh southerly winds strong along the coast strong on the Atlantic coast that's also isn't it right Greg could you please find out I've been trying to contact Donegal County Council on the phone it's not working around from four phones they can't hear they keep saying hello no other number I called has this problem it's the 9153900 number now we called it and it answered right away but could they hear you Caroline they could hear you yet so I don't know what your problem is listener but unless it was resolved in between you texting see if we could get to the bottom of the problem it is now working for us for 50 years they're chatting about a new road from Retro County to Lyford yes indeed and there are plans there now and I know sometimes people can watch the point talk about this stuff it's never going to happen but you have to you have to keep going don't you plugging away hi Greg I'm wondering if you can answer this question for me I'm from Ireland and I've lived here all my life I am on the social housing list many years now I just found out that refugees got a council house in my area how is this fair if you can help with this question I'd appreciate it no I can't answer to the fairness or otherwise because I don't know the ins and outs but on your behalf listener we contacted the council and they forwarded this response this may or may not be helpful to you it reads as follows social housing support including the allocation of a tenancy of a council properties provided to people who were stressed as having a housing need unable to afford housing from their own resources they must meet all the eligibility criteria as provided for in the relevant legislation and regulations including that they are within certain income limits have a right to live in the state long term do not own a house and so forth the allocation of a tenancy of council property is in line with the council's allocation scheme which is available at donagallco.ie so my reading of that is perhaps maybe you are mistaken that I think I'm reading it correctly that if this was a council house allocated by the council the person would have to be on the list that have to be within certain income limits and they'd have to have a right to live in the state long term so I'm not sure if that applies so hopefully that's helpful or maybe it's made it a little bit more complicated I don't know right councillor Michael McBride joins us now morning Michael how are we getting on good morning Greg how are you today good good to chat to you right you have now you're not ringing us or we're not ringing you sorry off the back of one instant or not a number of people now at this point has spoken to you about damage to their windscreens where and where and where is this happening Michael well I suppose I brought the motion and to the municipal meeting tomorrow and let her get in it relates to that section of road there from Elystron out towards Cullby over to the garden of the Verne road just to where the blue banks job started there and the surface of the road is coming coming loose there Greg as opposed to 12 or 13 years now since that since that road was laid and there's a high volume of traffic on it and you know vehicles run kind of close together on it and I was speaking to one man he told me that he lost two windscreens in it and you know I haven't talked to other people since I've heard now you know reports about other windscreens been lost on it but you know it's the most more important than the windscreens I think you need to have a good safe surface on the road there it's a national route the N56 and massive volume of traffic on it every day and I just wanted to get to the bottom make sure that you are aware of the situation and that you know it will be put in a program for resurfacing and that's basically the reason I took the motion on there to the municipal meeting tomorrow so presumably then it's not a case of sweeping the road the road is starting to deteriorate that's where these chips are coming from so it's going to be an ongoing problem until such time as the pavements redone that's correct Greg I think everybody would be would understand you know that this year November we had a massive amount of rain then we had the ice and December and the snow then in January and you know the road was salted and gritted a lot and it does definitely eat the surface of the roads and it damages them we have no alternative but there's no doubt about it you can see that road now if you're driving I've driven it a number of times in the last week or two and I've been looking at the surface on it you can see it just started to break up I think there's a lot of wear and tear on it since it was laid and I just think it's time now to get out and to upgrade it because the road on out there went down the trail for some reasonable condition and I think you mentioned it's done 12 or 13 years ago I think the life spans about eight years isn't it for some of these roads and I know roads down my way that have been resurfaced two or three times since this road was laid you'd wonder what the criteria is how it's all planned out wouldn't you like there's some roads I've seen resurfaced and you think right they must have money to burn here now I realise that I'm not a roads engineer so I just accept it right but you know as I say I've seen roads I could mention the roads that have been resurfaced two or three times over the last 12 or 13 years and yet you have this road that's seemingly falling to bits Hi well look you know what I mean I think it's a case here if a stitch in time saves nine and I just wouldn't want to see the road surface deteriorate and you know any more than it already is and sometimes you do get roads and I'm not an engineer there wasn't claimed to be but you know you do have roads we're like two bold men arguing over a comb here Michael but come here the thing about it is too you know obviously the obvious is the cracked windscreen but anyone who's had a stone or chip hit their windscreen at speed you know and I don't mean flying you know it could cause another knock on instant as well you know what I mean people who might react to bodywork that's not as obvious as a chip to the windscreen so it's a and there's a lot of people using this road so it's a significant and off-road issue Michael I think it is you know and look at the last thing you want and I know you get an awful shock I mean everyone of us that are driving got hit with a stone at some stage and you get an awful fright on it you know and some people may be able to cope with them kind of things better than others you know but you know there's plenty of scope on the road and look I would just like people will have it on their program or get it on their program for the resource and just leave it safe for the road users because that's what it's all about coming out to the busy summer season and you know it's just something that we can't ignore we have to get on top of it and just I think it's important that it's looked about Greg. Yeah and in between you lodging this motion and being heard hopefully the council have got on to the TII and they'll be able to give us some indication as to if it's on the program for work that we could get some firm information from one way or another once it's oh it's not a question but anyway we'll find out sooner rather than later I hope Councillor Michael McBride, thank you for your time alright Greg take care of yourself bye bye we'll give you an update I'm sure the newsroom will and we shall try as well to give you an update on the outcome of that motion there a caller says who's going to take a train north to go south you'd be in Dublin by the time you'd be in Belfast any train has to go south not north motorway first yeah see for me personally I just can't imagine even if they built a train from a built train you know what I mean provided a train from Wetterkenny to Derry to Belfast to Dublin I can't see me honestly getting on a train to go to Dublin because I'd have to get to Wetterkenny first which can take some time get on park the car up I don't know doesn't seem realistic for me but anyway are people currently driving to Derry parking the car getting the train from Derry to Dublin have you done that do you do that regularly what's it like is it a viable option 08 660 25000 right let us take a break for the news and obituary notices stay with us we've another busy hour on the way in the 90 noon show coming right up the 90 noon show with Wetterkenny Credit Union now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges Wetterkenny credit union 9102 127 at B&Q get 3 for 2 on colored emulsion and all paint mixing so looking for brands like Jewelers of Farrow and Paul all want to mix your perfect color shop in store or at diy.ie you can do it exclusions apply value of every third item per single transaction in descending price order will be deducted ends 27th February cdiy.ie open your future by attending north west regional college open day this is your opportunity to visit your local campus tour the fabulous facilities sample the NWRC experience and apply for your course running from 12 noon each day beginning 28th February first of March Springtown campuses and second of March Limba Fadi and Greystone campuses register to attend to be in with the chance to win an iPad north west regional college open days from here to career I'm Colin Carey from Oxfam Ireland and I'm here with colleagues in Turkey together with our partners Oxfam is responding to the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria families have lost everything and are now surviving and freezing winter conditions please help us to provide urgent essentials like food shelter and clean water donate now at Oxfam Ireland.org Stop Highland Radio are going to Scotland from Monday the first of May to Thursday the fourth of May with the very best of music and we would love for you to join us stay in at the four-star Crown Plaza Hotel in Glasgow we are bringing with us some of the biggest country stars including myself David James Declan Ernie and Robert Mazzal to name a few you will enjoy luxury travel to Glasgow three nights dinner bed and breakfast with music and entertainment each evening join us on the Highland fling to Glasgow this May for only 575 Euro per person to book Call Highland Radio today on 07 4 9 1 25,000 early booking is advisable single supplement applies on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News good morning it's 10 o'clock Donald Kavanaugh at the Highland Radio News Desk a 16 year old boy who been reported missing in Donegal has been located safe and well Garthi have thanked members of the public for their help in the search Donegal County Council's newest member will be co-opted today Porick McGarvey joins as an independent member who replaces his Uncle Ian who stood down last month the council will also discuss work in Rathmullen as part of a local regeneration program the HSC says the new 80 bed Bally Shannon community hospital is nearing completion with finishing touches now being added ahead of an expected opening date in March or April Frank Morrison is head of older person services in the region he told us that the hospital will be commissioned on a phased basis it would take time to actually fill the hospital it wouldn't be automatically full at 80 and we will I suppose assessors and georgias have the needs of the local population as we speak it's 52 long term care and then the eight assessment dementia beds and then 20 short term beds that we are able to bring into the system with certainly assist with any delays or any changes in the hospital services almost a quarter of garter stations had fewer officers at the start of this year when compared with last year that's according to figures collated by the Irish independent Bally Bafé in Donegal was one of a few which registered a slight increase in numbers over that 12 month period the Donegal division as a whole registered a slight decrease the restaurant association of Ireland is calling on government to reduce the reduced VAT rate for the hospitality sector the 9% rate was introduced in 2011 and extended as a COVID-19 measure more than two years ago an economic report has been published advocating for the government to retain it until 2025 although it's understood the government is not in favour of doing so the CEO of the restaurant association of Ireland Adrian Cummins says Ireland's VAT rates are high when compared with European averages Ireland's VAT rate is it goes up to 13.5% that will make it the second highest VAT rate in Europe the 9% VAT rate is the right rate of VAT for at least for restaurants who are in company shops and pubs who are low margin businesses Gar thee are today hoping to interview two women who witnessed a car flipping into the water at Menlo Pier in Galway three teenagers lost their lives in the tragedy 16 year old John Keenan Panic died shortly after the car entered the water just before 3 o'clock on Saturday morning 19 year old Christy Stokes passed away in hospital later that day Irish examiner reporter Neon Martin says Gar thee are examining what happened at the moment it's still unclear the circumstances It's not immediately clear if the driver of the car was trying to do a U-turn ask the peer it's it wasn't at the end of the pier there's a kind of a bend leading down to the pier they could have been turning into the pier and then the dark misjudged the distance between the side of the corner and the drop into the water it's also understood that the car flipped over into the roof into water that was down 4 feet deep and about 2 feet of that was mud and as you've been hearing on the show there's been an overall 2.44% increase in house prices across the country but Donnie Gall's property value actually dropped an IPAV report released over the weekend said defective blocks were one of the key reason for more that fall with more huge jade mentality Donnie Gall has gone against rising price trends in an IPAV study released yesterday the study which captures actual prices achieved by auctioneers found that while prices around the country have risen, Donnie Gall's figures dropped significantly Donnie Gall was the only county to know decreases in all 3 categories which were split into 3 and 4 bedroom houses and 2 bedroom apartments or feeling figures are being owed to Micah the IPAV members reported that the second half of 2022 saw sales of those houses with Micah problems this was the first time these had been recorded with some suffering price drops of as much as 50% what the forecast it'll stay generally dry today with sunny spells developing in top temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees celsius moderate to fresh southerly winds tonight it'll turn mostly cloudy with showery outbreaks of rain spreading from the south lowest overnight temperatures 7 degrees celsius in moderate to fresh and blustery southerly winds and that's Highland Radio News we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team have a very good morning the obituary notices this Monday morning February the 13th the death has taken place of James Boyce 56 mass and ass Chrysler reposing at his home with Rosary at 9pm funeral mass in St. Michael's Church Chrysler tomorrow morning at 11am followed by burial in St. John's the Baptist graveyard Carragart mass can be viewed live on mcnmedia.tv family time from 10pm tonight and before the funeral tomorrow family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to the friends of the university hospital letter care of any family member or James Harkin funeral director the death has taken place of Daniel Coutney 16 Bunkranna Road Derry and formerly of Mville reposing at his home funeral leaving his home tomorrow at 11.20am for cremation in Lakelands Crematorium at 2pm family time please from 10pm tonight and before the funeral tomorrow the death has occurred of Paul Elliott reposing at his parents residence in Lettercanny which is strictly private please funeral mass this afternoon at 2pm in St. Unans Cathedral Lettercanny which can be viewed online at churchservices.tv followed by burial in Conwall Cemetery family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to the Irish Cancer Society or the Donegal Hospice care of Pascal Blake funeral director the death has occurred of Pauline McGranaghan knee Parker UK 32 Wolf Tone Place Glencar Lettercanny and formerly Perth Australia reposing at St. Unans Cathedral with rakeway and mass this morning which can be viewed live on churchservices.tv followed by burial in Conwall Cemetery family flowers only please donations if wished to the Donegal Alzheimer Society or St. Unans nursing home residence comfort fund Lettercanny care of Pascal Blake funeral director for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to hideandradio.com are you in the process of moving to a new bank maybe you already have well if you pay insurance or a pension policy by direct debit just be sure to change your bank details so your policy continues uninterrupted it's easy just contact your insurer, pension provider or broker today for more information visit understandinginsurance.ie forward slash bank exit brought to you by insurance Ireland the Nintel Noon Show on Highland Radio Good morning you're very welcome back to the Nintel Noon Show good morning if you're just joining us thank you very much for doing so I already had a busy hour we'll keep cracking on now into hour two let's get some of the listeners comments first Hi Greg I totally agree with Michael McBride and not only a windscreen is getting chipped but now cars are pulling out over the white line on the road to avoid the dip and holes and now appearing on the stretch of road between Ilistrin and Gortniverne I see this now all the time and this is getting extremely dangerous for drivers coming the other direction I drive this road every single day to work and back thanks Greg enjoy the show and thanks for your kind words I really appreciate it all our beautiful ash trees are disappearing in Balamakul they were cutting them down Saturday and Sunday the noise of two chainsaws woke me up yesterday morning anyone else noticed this now we've covered the ash story before and I think there is it could be a disease issue that's forcing the destruction of these trees Hi Greg around 56 hours to get the train from Dairy to Dublin with a train 5 to 6 hours I hope it couldn't be 56 hours I presume it's 5 to 6 hours to get a train from Dairy to Dublin with a train changing Belfast taking around an hour to an hour and a half wait on a train from Belfast to Dublin will you see that for me just would not be it just would not be convenient enough Hi could you ask Greg if you could ask what are people paying for rent in North Innishone I'm looking at them and it seems very expensive in some areas I mean rents up we have the daft survey on rent do you have those figures to handle around about 900 euro on average at the moment so rents are high but anyway if anyone can give us an idea of rents in North Innishone you see the reality is that there are more people seeking property than properties available and if you have a property what do you do then you look at the market you say right I can get another 100, 150, 200 a month I presume that's what's happening Hi I attended the ED in Letter of Kenny Hospital recently the department was extremely busy and my waiting time was very long there needs to be drastic action in setting up a minor injury clinic in the north west Mullin Gar had a similar problem and got a new minor injuries clinic they need to fight harder for this clinic in the north west well that is part of a campaign from a group that's been set up campaigning for better services at the hospital and one of their key demands I believe or suggestions is a minor injury clinic but where would it go you see in Letter of Kenny elsewhere I don't know Hi Greg a gang of young lads with their own potatoes at cars going up List Nenon hill yesterday evening after dark lads why stop it pack it in it does it achieves nothing pointless could be your auntie that's in one of those cars and you can put them off the road but anyway they were at it let's hope they desist the guards said this has been happening for the last few nights although they were throwing eggs the first nights I had my car damaged last night and the shock of the thumb on the side of the car made me swerve across the road luckily there was no oncoming cars if this continues there probably will be an accident never mind the damage to people's cars I appeal to parents to check their children and check where they're at at this time these lads probably think it's great fun but it's basically vandalism and it could lead to a fatal collision let's not sugarcoated either were you the victim of potato egg throwing at List Nenon hill yesterday evening on previous evenings after dark let us know because it's something that if more of us talk about it and raise awareness of it it's something that's going to have to be acted on more okay be an increase in patrols whatever it might be and that's why it's important to text in the program because it makes the voice stronger okay so if it is an ongoing problem that's affecting a significant number of people let us highlight it and eliminate it because the more attention that's on it the less likely it is to happen for a number of reasons okay so if you've been affected by that get in touch with the show that's the type of stuff we work on for you all the time and for the most part with great success right okay just a reminder for you in case just in case you're wondering if you've to someone or got to do to someone for someone Valentine's Day it is tomorrow don't forget Tuesday the 14th of February Valentine's Day for 2023 now of course a bunch of flowers might suffice but maybe you've some groveling to do or maybe you've got a few euro and you really want to treat that person in your life well why don't you take them on the Highland fling to Glasgow it's in Glasgow from the 1st to the 4th of May so it's just around the corner sometimes you know things can be months and months and months a far away and it seems like you know will never come and watch the point well this is just around the corner just as we head into the summer it is 575 per person sharing which on the face of it depending on your income seems a lot but you get a lot as well you get out of the country for a few days you get your luxury transport via coach from letter Kenny your return journey your ferries organised we've got four-star accommodation for you at the Crown Plaza in Glasgow you get your breakfast included you get your dinner included that's all okay isn't it but we also have three nights of fantastic entertainment some of the highlights and it's not all David James and the Ryan Turner band Declan Ernie and his guests and also Robert Mazzello always as do the other two guys put on a great show and then there's loads of stuff going on around the hotel and in the bars as well and you're close to Glasgow if you want to go in and explore and if you want your friends to come and enjoy night's entertainment they can get tickets stand-alone tickets for the night as well so you can secure your place on this trip for a hundred euro of a deposit any more information you need call Katie now and 07491 25,000 but you can pay your deposit now and then pay in over the course of the next couple of months and then go away for this lovely adventure to Glasgow and I think it would be an adventure as well so if you want to get in touch with us and we'll give you more deets right okay let us take the bingo numbers good luck if you're playing today it's time for NCBI bingo on Highland Radio it's Monday the 13th of February you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s11 it's game number 7 the numbers are 55 81 83 85 85 64 54 33 73 78 and finally 40 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchase your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highlandradio.com 2023 is already turning out to be an electric year for Hyundai why because Hyundai is the best selling electric car brand in January 2023 and the IONIQ 5 is now officially Ireland's best selling electric car make 2023 the year you make the change to fully electric driving your local dealer is Diverse Hyundai company call 9122 600 wild Atlantic way adventures await you this spring with a mid-week escape to the luxury Radisson Blue Hotel and Spa Sligo from just 120 euro with complimentary breakfast each morning indulge in afternoon tea overlooking Sligo Bay unwind with a treatment at the spa, enjoy a delicious meal in the brasserie, sit 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And we will show the show with letter, can you credit Union simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from letteringu credit Union call us on 0749102126 or apply online via a rapper in office today. Now just a quick reminder for you if you want to get in touch with us how you do so what's absent text to 0866 drop the 0866025000, I still can't believe that we have to have these international dialing codes in this day and age, unbelievable really. If you want to give us a call 0749125000, 0749125000 and also you can email comments at highlandradio.com and just a reminder for you and sorry if it's annoying for those of you in Radio Land who this is irrelevant to, but if you want to watch the show hop on to YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland or on Facebook. Just want to play a couple of requests here whilst I have the opportunity. Sheila Gilroy, race end remelton, happy birthday to you Sheila from grandchildren Aiden and Ella, sending lots of love to you this morning. And also I want to wish Kanis Wilson, our own Kanis Wilson a very happy birthday from Maggie, Willie, Helen and family in Lystylian. Thanks Greg, much appreciated, it's our pleasure. Happy birthday Kanis and we have another birthday tomorrow, Lee Gooch's birthday tomorrow, they're fairly coming in thick and fast so well done. Happy birthday to Kanis, we'll wish Sheila a happy birthday tomorrow. I am sure any requests by the way are more than welcome into the show, you use the usual numbers, we're very happy to say hello to people or to wish people well on a special day for them. Just a quick mention of the Community Hero Award which is running at the moment on Highland Radio in association with iMotors and the question is simple, do you know someone who goes beyond the call of duty and helps in their community, carers, volunteers, or goes the extra mile for neighbors and friends, you know the people that this applies to, well the Community Hero who will name later this month will receive a brand new 231 Nissan cash guy for 12 months so you can nominate someone who you believe is a hero in your community by emailing their name address and a short reason why and your contact details too to comments at HighlandRadio.com, we've had a really good response to this by the way which goes to show it's a recognition of the great people we have out there helping others so send in your nomination a reason as to why and your contact details to comments at HighlandRadio.com, post your nomination in too by the way Highland Radio, Mountain Top Letter Kenny, County Donegal, they're all viewed equally. The closing date for entries is the 22nd of February and we'll announce the winner on this show on the 24th of February. You can visit HighlandRadio.com for more information and fair play to iMotors for their involvement in that. Sue Shaw is a CEO of Irish Senior Citizens Parliament and joins us now. Good morning to you, Sue. Good morning, how are you? Fantastic and it's great to have you on the program. What is the Irish Citizens, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Sue, before we get down to the nitty gritty? Okay, so we're an organisation dedicated to ensuring the rights of older people are heard and importantly that the lived experience of older people are heard in policymaking at the government level. So I suppose a keen example is the budget around the state pension. We would work with groups to engage with their TDs to ensure that the state pension is adequate and secure. We're also currently working around the issue of ageism and how that impacts on decisions that are made around older people in relation to health, in relation to mental health, physical health, in employment, across a range of areas. So it's an organisation of older people so that we have large national organisations and some smaller organisations than individuals who are concerned around the fact that ageing seems to bring with it an invisibility and that's so that's in simple terms I suppose that's the organisation. Yeah and I've referenced this in the program and I think it's important to reference it again. I think and even this comes from you know leaders of governments, some of the language often tries to, often would give the impression that older people are a burden and it's older people's fault say for instance that hospitals are overcrowded. Well we know that's simply not the case. We've known where our population is getting older that's growing that's great and we need to be putting in policies to make sure that we can treat people equally the same with you know rural isolation and so on and so forth. You know what I mean people are almost feel guilty for living in rural Ireland. I would love to see a real change in language particularly by those that are elected to at least, this won't fix the problems, but at least to stop people feeling like they're a problem, that they're the cause of it, that how dare they live so long and maybe have some sort of an illness. And I think we work along with seven, eight, six other national organizations who are focused on different aspects of aging and one of the calls we would make along with that organization is for a review of how the media and how the whole language around older people I mean you hear it you're right it's like it's a tsunami. Everyone if you're over 65 and God forbid something happens to you you're instantly just labeled a pensioner a pensioner right okay which and it's well over 66, 67 a lot of people I know older people I know don't like that phrase now some will say they'll text in and say I'm a pensioner blah blah blah but others will say I'm an older person they don't want to be labeled by way of a payment it's ridiculous when you think of it. Absolutely but it just puts you into one box I'm a pensioner and that's it I have older value I'm just a pensioner. Silver surfer is another thing that I understand what they're trying to get at and I know on the wider scale of things it's no big deal right but it's just to call someone who happens to use the internet at the age of 70 a silver surfer I don't that's the same you know and and I'm just one other point quite rightly I think it's the Irish Council for several liberties have gone on in a lobby in the government to date in the front of all the papers to choose their language more carefully as it relates to immigration proper order that's fine but maybe they should also send a letter saying that do you know what maybe we need to change our messaging and our language so that older people on whose shoulders we stand do not feel like a burden society or some sort of a problem anyway sorry Sue rambling here I think that's really interesting because the bottom line is the government themselves established what was called then the national aging positive aging strategy and it high it identified the need for a campaign around the narrative we use on older people all of the things you reference frail elderly a burden bedblockers you could just go on forever and that it was a fantastic strategy though it had taken ever saw the light of day it was never implemented aspects about having used but one of the key elements of it was a campaign to challenge how we think about older people so we would rightly call on that and one of the other things I suppose that we're calling for is I think at the moment you have no champion for older people there is no the minister for older people is a junior minister not sitting at the cabinet table so isn't as influential as we would like and we're saying there's no we now have the need for a commissioner for aging and older people because the bottom line is it's not just about the older people now it is aging we have a huge concern when we think about people in their 50s at the moment who are renting and in reality by the time they come to collect their state pension they will be able to afford the private rent that they're in so we have a huge issue coming down the line for people who don't perceive themselves as old so a commissioner for aging would ensure that some of those policies we've known for so long that this is an issue across Europe we're the youngest oldest group in Europe but nonetheless and we're perceived as a very positive approach because older people themselves take a positive approach to aging it's just as you say it's the narrative and here's another example just because I could go on forever on this one because it really annoys me the discussion on pension age it pitches this is the way it is older people now even though it's not relevant older people now who may be retired against younger people in their early 20s early 30s who think they can they will live forever they're not worried about in other words we either have to put out the pension age or we're gonna have to hit people with more taxes in their wages and instantly right the younger people think that this is about them having to pay for older people when in fact it's paying for themselves but this is never articulated like that it just pitches different generations against each other and and I say we can all do our bit I think to try and call that out because calling it out's the important thing I think I think it is and the reality is divide and conquer has always been a tactic for a long long time and trade unions in in negotiation style if you can divide it open then you have people pitched against each other they're more focused on the other than they are about the issue so for us we are very clear about that this is about the right for people to retire at a particular age but it isn't about the people who are retiring now it is about yourself Greg and other people I'm you know I'm at the retire I am retiring that's the retirement age but at the end of the day we are clearly saying this is about looking after and all people as they it is not just about current like another example bus drivers 65 right have to retire they can no longer drive for boss Aaron as far as I'm aware they can continue because it's all like they're they're tested and and all that kind of stuff they're perfectly capable they can continue to drive buses privately but they're they're thrown on the scrap heap from a boss Aaron perspective and and and often we talk about you know people say well I want to retire a bit earlier I don't want to work climb 70 but some people want to work till they're 70 or want to work till 75 and the conversation is never nuanced to accept that there's lots of 65 year olds they're healthier than 45 year olds and yet they're being seen as cut are you still here do you remember that thing about older older teachers working too long and taking jobs from young students you know that this is the kind of stuff that's always conversations they're always having but there really is a narrative around that and it reminds me back when the gender war started for the want of a better word or women are taking the jobs of men that is not what it is about and that is not an answer to providing employment across our the generations reality is research has shown a blended workforce where you have all ages in it is a much more productive workforce one of the saddest things is though to do you have now people at 45 and research has shown it going for interviews and because they're 45 they're too old but seriously where are we at and I do think if I have been maybe a bricklayer or I've worked in a very um physical demanding job I may want to retire at 65 however there are lots of people who do not want to including that said builder but I think the choice is what's important and our difficulty is the contractual arrangement it's the contract you sign that you never know just said retire at 65 that's the legal piece our government may say you can work till you're 66 but if you've signed a contract that says you're out it and do you remember last year or not two years ago during the pandemic there was a huge hullabaloo about 70s you can't volunteer for anything 70 and we had a consultant who is an expert advisor on a national program for um one of the series cancer I think it was and he had been refused by his GP he wanted to help out but this guy is still sitting at national level advising so there's almost a notion of what older people are and I think we just need to challenge that for us a commissioner for older people would have because they'd have legal powers and they'd be resourced to call out on some of this and also push the government into across the departments leave some departments we work with social protection and health and some of them they're doing a good job but it's it's kind of like you know sometimes when you go to a GP and they say well I only deal with toes I don't deal with ears do you know what I mean it's consultants you're you're not a whole entity and unfortunately we need across departments to work collectively to ensure we have a fair safe and enjoyable ageing policy and I think um advocacy groups like that if I can describe it as such are really important but I think also older people need to find their voice as well you know and contact us 08 660 25 000 tell your story go on strike stop bloody baby sitting I'll be honest with you there's a tendency that Dublin have done it out it's a longitudinal study and the amount we would not survive if we did not have older people or the grandparents doing the child-minding the contribution older people make to society that's what I'm saying on that one thing go on strike one and let's see what happens yeah let's not do it or volunteering in the community doing the you know the amount of volunteering that happens but I also think though that we need to think about calling people out on ageism itself as you say we're all about working with local groups regional groups to say to them build a relationship with your TD let him know your vote hence yep let him know that you have an interest in some of the things that make it very unfair and we're going to talk about what's coming up as well I also want to recognize that she I think it was only Thursday or Friday we had uh Donagall sports partnership in uh who do great work in supporting organizations we had the the the champion Curler in with a K in Dole Curling and you know there's this really vibrant uh there's this really vibrant league of of curlers 120 150 really competitive in East uh primarily East on the go the look and spread it out and and there's more options for stuff like that there so there is some good work going on uh but I think what we're talking about more is just a right across society you know and on our on the language is to say the same type of call out on the government for their language using in relation to immigration you know call it out your divide and conquer common is is a perfect one because the government will look at people standing outside a hotel screaming out at and the government who have laid the groundwork for all of this are sitting in the quiet cozy doll thinking you know what I mean they're not outside our building anyway listen that's a conflation but one of the things that that does is it takes the focus away from what the problem is and focuses on the action that's trying to rightly or wrongly manage it okay I think that's the thing we need older people to come so I suppose that's why we're doing the workshops around the country is to bring older people together to discuss first of all like I think people kind of go ah what what are they talking about ageism the bottom line is research has shown the choices you get if you go in health are based on age the options for treatment that you are offered are based on as you say I could be 64 today and the options may be different when I turn one day older and the the level of ageism within uh within the health sector is high but it's across all sectors but that input so how we think about growing up how we think about older people that stays in our head when you have a government and a media who consistently think of older people in the frail dependent model then that's how your mind goes to thinking we internalize it like and look if you look at it we have a whole absolutely industry built up around staying young do you know what I mean it's a whole industry because youth is the elixir we all want it that's what they're telling us so automatically if youth is the best then getting old is not yeah but the problem is if you're you have two options a you don't make it or b you get older and all your attempts I mean the best we can hold for I think is that we're young at heart and young in our minds I need to correct something I said boss Aaron uh you have to retire so 65 it's 70 I beg your pardon right okay so I might be conflating two things that ruin my head there but be that as it may there are other examples we've lost some great uh news readers or what have you or different people in different parts of society simply because they hit a certain age uh so let's talk then about the workshops on ageism um that is this one I believe taking place in Donagol Sue it is it's taking place tomorrow um in the hotel in lether Kenny which it'll come to Mount Eregal hotel in lether Kenny Eregal my apologies we're not there together but it's at 11 o'clock tomorrow and but the idea I have 10 30 Sue our registration is 10 30 there's 10 30 for 11 10 30 for 11 yeah absolutely but we are um we're hoping to bring older people together first of all to have that conversation sorry so I'm not being a silly bugger here I hope you don't know just uh it's I have it's Wednesday which is the day after tomorrow Wednesday February 15th with registration from 10 30 in the Mount Eregal just to make sure I don't interrupt you and we don't get the message out so you go ahead Sue then tell us what's going to happen Wednesday no problem go ahead Sue so the workshop as I say is to bring older people together to have those conversations um because often older people themselves begin to dismiss the impact ageism has on them and yet their experience tells them something different but because everybody says oh what do you mean so talking about that talking about what the impact of ageism is and then well what can we do about it what are the steps we can begin to take one is as you highlight that media campaign around changing the language we use around older people the other is definitely our serious the workshops are aimed at highlighting the damage age ageism does but also building a momentum to call for a commissioner for aging and older people and we're very clear that that's what these workshops are about um but we're also interested hearing people's experience of it because all too often it gets dismissed very easily do you know what I mean and so trying to build on people though you're not being silly when that bothers you but how best can you challenge you without being ridiculed or without feeling oh god no I don't erase the the issue like I was in a supermarket the other day um and I was up at the coming up to the checkpoint and uh the girl said to me would you mind letting that young woman behind you go she's in a hurry she's heading back to work now there's nothing to be at I and I said well I'm on a lunch hour too so I'm heading back no disrespect to you passive it passive ageism that is I don't think there's any mal intent it was no that was well intention she could see the other girl take it now the other girl was mortified do you know what I mean but for me and for a lot of people they won't call that all the GP says to you we have one woman who um went to her GP he talked about she said she'd a pain here in her neck just into her shoulder he he said well with your age and all of that two months later she'd had two stents fitted because she'd had two mild heart attacks oh my word yeah they are classical symptoms in women so it's about had she said herself had she had the car she just felt dismissed so she said nothing so he didn't ask any other symptoms and she never said it yeah just put it down to age she it was an eight that so we're trying to build people's I think too what the jokey stuff it kind of has to change uh in the media in government what have you but I would say a lot of people listening here perhaps some of the most offence they've received might be from people in their family young people you know younger people in their family it could be about are you sure you should be driving or you know some sort of you know I don't know some sort of casual comment that they head off afterwards but it's left in the house with the person that received it and it'd be very bothersome and and do you challenge it cause a family row what do you know what I mean so really you just have to take it on the chin and crack on in life till the next little comment is dropped or whatever it might be I'm just giving some examples here but you know what I mean you should be drinking much at your age you know that sort of stuff absolutely there is a range of stuff and people who are struggling with maybe the digital and there isn't it is not every older person struggles with IT some do but also the loss of independence then for older people when that happens and it's how do you build that skill set and how do you say to somebody instead of taking the phone from me and going here quickly I'd rather you help you do it and again we and we associate that with older people but there are many many people of all different ages for many different reasons that struggle with technology and won't be able to adopt it adopt to it for for for many different reasons but they wouldn't be just equally as an older person it would be put down to their their age okay so if you want to get further information on this seminar on Wednesday office at seniors.ie it's a simple email address there we have a telephone number as well I wouldn't expect you to have a pen and paper to hand so give us a call you know our number we'll pass on this you can turn up on Wednesday morning at the Mount Eregal Hotel loads of parking there on Wednesday morning as I mentioned at 10 30 a.m. and it's a free workshop and it aims to challenge experiences of ageism and how ageism attitudes can impact on rights while bringing together a network of people to share their stories and to build connections shared experiences say yes this is what I've experienced in a way that's on why record it validates your feelings and I think that's important too that is important when you spoke about the isolated person you know how do I challenge it all around the family when you have those conversations with those people you realize no hold on it's not just me but you know that kind of oh don't be so sensitive I didn't mean it like that then you realize no it's not so we really would encourage you to come along we're looking forward to meeting you and we're hoping that you look forward to meeting other new people or people who've had that experience sorry for keeping you so long it's just a topic topic that's quite important to me so I appreciate you I just want to break down barriers and change attitudes just so we're a little bit conscious of what we say and what impact it can have on another person as I say it's like you're I there used to be a thing where they used to drop stuff into shops you know like novelty stuff and I remember there was this dropped in a massive remote control it had massive buttons it wasn't for older people right no it wasn't for older people so it was a novelty thing right but I thought it'd be funny to get it from my dad so I got this wrong control but before I had an opportunity to explain to him that it was a joke right he believed that I actually thought that he needed this thing so he handed it back to me forcefully let me put it like that I didn't speak to me for a week but eventually we kissed him I don't want out for a drink but it just where we have these conversations it always reminds me of that sadly he's no longer with us but this was going back a bit but this massive remote control I thought it was hilarious but the joke didn't drop with him and eventually we reconciled but anyway. But again it's those things that allow you to open up you went in with a joke but because we internalize oh I am getting old. Oh he was ripping at this remote control right okay that's what happens so yeah it's lovely to talk to you. Yeah all right you too so good luck with Wednesday take care of yourself all right that's so sure there CEO of Irish Senior Citizens Parliament that seminar on Wednesday morning at the Mount Aragall Hotel February 15th 10 30 a.m registration it kicks off at 11 and we've got contact details here if you want more details all right take care so back with more after these watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the 9th till noon show with letter Kenny credit union do you need to switch your current account or loan we are now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features and competitive rate switcher loans if you're about to use an electrical appliance like your hairdryer which uses a lot of energy just ask the question is this a good time yeah electricity demands fairly low you're looking if it's before 5 p.m. or after 7 p.m. it is a good time because it's outside of peak hours when less of us are using electricity at the 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to be pleasure to be here in highland radio yep good to have you with us now you are looking for volunteers to assist in mental health first aid particularly at music festivals and applications are are now open so talk to me about the role of these persons and where they pop up and what they do sure well well first of all you know ireland is has a huge music festival and music concert culture and generally we recognize that as a right of passage and really good crack for young people to go and enjoy but these spaces you know can also be very overwhelming very stressful and they're synonymous with high levels of alcohol and drug drug use you know so statistics from the hsc show that you know from 2021 94 percent of respondents out of 1200 respondents or so said that they'd use drugs at festivals so well what they found abroad is that you know and what we see here but it's so far has been left one kind of generally unsupported when people gather when there's substances involved when they're partying for two or three days in a row mental health for these people can really really struggle so psych care ireland is the group that I'm from and I suppose our mission is to provide volunteer staffed mental health support for people at music festivals so it's there 24 hours across the event that's what the volunteers will be asked to do so it's mental health first aid we also provide crisis intervention some some drugs can be miss sold or if taken in combinations can create very overwhelmed states for people particularly things like psychedelics so we provide softly furnished bell tents and trained volunteers who could sit with someone for hours if necessary for them to kind of calm down and get support we also do harm reduction information so we tell people about the dangers the risks how generally the only safe way to use the drug is not to use it but if someone is going to use and we say look that's probably a fact people are going to use drugs that we say well look do not mix this and this this is unsafe you need to break this into quarters go slow so the volunteers that we're looking for yeah would be asked to work with us at events and to do six hour shifts with then 24 hours off so that they can kind of enjoy the festival get a rest not be overwhelmed themselves and then come back and do more shifts so we were looking for a for a panel of open-hearted happy individuals who'd like to help if my memory serves me correctly the HSE did something not dissimilar to this last year in a couple of events but a controversy around it because I think some people saw it maybe as condoning behavior but I think we have to accept that it is going to happen is this similar to that is this endorsed by the HSE uh just or is this just a new initiative that rather than it being a trial you will see it rolled out at a lot of the major festivals yeah exactly the HSE did do drug testing at Electric Picnic which was a great success they managed to alert the public to certain miss old drugs are very strong very strong pills that were in circulation and they have done outreach at certain events where they might go around and do a bit more information work whereas our initiative our our non-profit company we're applying for charity status as well we kind of come from the model that comes out of Portugal in the UK and the United States where we have a kind of a base at events where people can come to Austin get support as well you'll do outreach so we're we're a little bit different but we're completely allied yeah it's in the same space right so just so for a clear understanding what might happen in the absence of this do you know what I mean so uh in other words what problem are we fixing in providing this type of a service at a festival in other words what might happen to these individuals if you weren't there sure well I think any kind of medic or security person who works in events will will probably know about having to sit with people and being overwhelmed you know and their training wouldn't necessarily cover the kind of psychological peace we're basically we're giving people time and space to process their difficult emotions we're preventing problems before they happen by advising people you know about unsafe combinations even by just people getting the alert oh my god there's a sidecar here at the at the reality check to for some people that might get caught up in the moment I think so I do think so kind of we can all get a little hedonistic at music events and festivals but to actually kind of to see okay wow this can happen to people you know we've we've seen people who would probably have been diverted you know ejected from festivals left on the side of the road nearly arrests arrests have been diverted at some events we did last year you know so we're really trying to bring down the the harms psychological trauma based for people to some extent too do you think it refocuses if required refocuses the minds of festival organisers in that you know there is a group on site that recognises and a reality that otherwise maybe things certain things could have been brushed under the carpet or people could have been eased off site for example and and god knows what might have happened to them subsequently like do and I'm not saying the industry needs this check but do you think that is maybe a positive sort of byproduct of what you're doing here we really hope so that this kind of all brushing it under the rug this doesn't happen at our events you know whereas we know particularly dance music events are particularly synonymous with with certain types of drugs yeah that it kind of brings a little more out in the open and like all the reasons there's a drug checking report that came out that is saying that we should recommend festivals need to have harm reduction measures in place to get a license so that's you know the tonnage to coming out and saying in favour of decriminalisation the justice joint committee recommending the same so I think we are kind of waking up to okay drugs are a massive part of society and drugs and alcohol and yeah we hope that we can just be there to support events yeah because to some extent these organisers create their own problems in the band the brand people bringing alcohol onto site and then charge massive amounts of money for booze on site and you know people are going to take drugs anyway alongside booze but it also does mean there's a certain part of people going to smuggle stuff in and you know that's you know so I think they do need to recognise they do have a role in in all of this what has like is this a pilot for 2023 Michael have you been doing this broadly or upon tonight pardon my ignorance in that regard and what how has it been received if this is not the first time around sure well I suppose our our committee would have a background of doing this work abroad I volunteered with psych care UK myself chill welfare in the UK's mother group people who worked with the loop in the UK cosmic care so we've kind of come together as a group as an Irish group to say this is a need here and last year we went to five different events the the first few were kind of just finding finding our feet doing harm reduction information but then we were at Fweno festival we helped 23 people through crisis and then we were at Day of the Dead festival at Halloween so yeah we're kind of we're pulling a pulling a broad range of volunteers together we have about 50 volunteers this year and we want to train a hundreds for for kind of this year to get as many festivals as we can yeah all right and listen the people are asked to give up six hours but then there is also the space for them and a recognition that they can enjoy the event themselves as well if they want more information obviously they'll be vetting and all that type of stuff I'd imagine that'd be required but but any other information any other tees and sees how can people contact you or your organization Michael absolutely well the best place to look up look us up is probably the website so sidecare Ireland org the applications are live people will just register their interest they'll have to return an application form a reference we do background checks and everything and then volunteers get two days of comprehensive training to sit with people in the stress you know one in person day one online and I suppose for volunteers as well it's joining a community you know we believe in like a human rights based approach to treating treating the person who uses drugs ongoing cpd and events yeah giving something back to the party scene because I think every all of us in the in in the group are having the festival lovers and attendees ourselves and we can kind of empathize you know that at some stage nearly everyone might have needed a sidecar in their life theater for themselves or a friend so if you think you fit those criteria we would absolutely love to hear from people okay well we'll see and I presume I'm not sure if it's fair to name or not but if you you would be looking across the the summer here in in Donegal in the northwest and seeing where you might benefit from having your teams on site is that correct that's correct and I believe yeah we saw there it's in sessions has just announced a brilliant lineup so um yeah it's the kind of event that we'd love to partner with just to to support people of all ages there and you know it's not just about drugs you know sometimes alcohol can be the worst yeah you know the worst it is a drug as well all right listen thanks for that Michael take care of yourself bye bye Michael Ledin there chair of psychotherapist psychotherapist more information info at sitecarearland.org that's info at psyscarearland.org all right okay what do you think 08 660 25000 hello uh yeah it's 70 years old is the limit for bus air and school drivers it's ridiculous as you can then go and drive the schools in northern Ireland no problem when you're over 70 that's the point I was trying to make and sorry I went in at 65 but I have a lot of info I try and retain in my head I was five years out there but I'm glad you recognize that it's unfair also if the school orders a bus for a private hire the over 70 driver can do that no problem just not the school we're uncaring the same pupils tell me how that makes sense and doesn't send a message to older people uh Greg I received appointments for letter candy hospital clinics back to back for the same day to be told after almost four hours that it was a mistake and I didn't need to be it either of them is it any wonder there's such backlogs has this happened to anyone else four months of worrying for nothing to do with that particular clinic and most importantly what about the patient who should have had my mistake appointment how long were they waiting anxiously maybe in urgent need of an appointment I got by mistake one patient not impressed okay uh that's a long one uh hi Greg we heard the bottoms were being exposed around casual park listening and last week mooning were people mooning why would you do that but anyway they were at it according to this listener uh Greg do the math house prices drop and rent skyrocket people buying for cash and renting out also with buying to rent mica homes hope there are safeguards to ensure they don't get access to the mica relief scheme at some future uh date the nine till noon show is brought to you by letter candy credit union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account at f and f this 25 percent of ladies and men's night wear until this tuesday the 14th with your tesco club card that's 25 percent of PJ's lounge wear and night wear just in time to add a little oolala to valentine's evening now that's worth popping in for f and f fashion at tesco product subject to availability available in the majority of larger stores joan walsh tours are delighted to announce that the annual raffle deosascent pilgrimage to lords will return in 2023 fly direct from dairy airport on may 23rd and spend five nights on a fantastic pilgrimage to the beautiful shrine of lords with the raffle diocese call zero one two four one zero eight hundred for details 2023 is already turning out to be an electric year for high on die why because high on die is the best-selling electric car brand in january 2023 and the ionic five is now officially ireland's best-selling electric car make 2023 the year you make the change to fully electric driving your local dealer is diverse high on die canal road letter candy call nine one twenty two six hundred at a i b we know business owners make hundreds of decisions every day some small some monumental all of them important we're here to make one big decision a whole lot easier change your business current account to a i b in just a few simple steps so you can get back to business search why a i b for more information a i b let's get to work terms and conditions apply allad Irish banks plc is regulated by the central bank of ireland leo vadkar on radio says the listener saying this year we will turn the corner rehousing he's there 12 years and it's getting worse in my opinion he was also asked what's the difference between finnegale and finna fallen gave some reply that finnegale have a different european policy but when press he didn't say exactly what it was the love of power uh and to exclude others make both sides identical in my opinion says that listener the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio okie doke it's 11 o'clock time for a news update so we say good morning now to donal cabinet good morning donal thank you great good morning a 16-year-old youth who'd been reported missing in donal gall has been located safe and well gar thee have thanked the public for their help in tracing him 940 000 euro has been allocated to rural roads and lanes in donal gall under the local improvement scheme 100 000 euro of that has been ring fenced for five offshore islands off the donal gall coast the hsc says the new 80 bed bali shannon community hospital is nearing completion with finishing touches now being added ahead of an expected opening date in march or april the head of older person services in the region told greg on today's nine till noon show that the hospital will be commissioned on a phased basis with 52 long-term and 28 short-term beds of those short-term beds eight will be set aside for dementia assessment donal gall's newest council member is to be co-opted today poorik mcgarvey will join as an independent he replaces his uncle ian who stood down last month that meeting just getting underway in what road users in the illustriant and cool boy road area have been reporting chipped windshields due to poor road conditions and motion on the issue is to be moved tomorrow at a meeting of letter kenny milford municipal district it'll be moved by councilor michael mcbride who says recent bouts of cold and wet weather have eaten away at the road surface he says it's time for an upgrade many young people don't see a career in on gar the chicana as an attractive job that's according to the a gsi it comes as new figures show almost a quarter of gar the stations had fewer officers at the start of the year than when compared with the same period last year balaba fei was one of a few with an increase the donal gall division as a whole was down and pentagon officials say they're not ruling anything out they were asked if aliens or extraterrestrials could be behind a fourth object found flying over north america fighter jets shot this one down over michigan but say the last three were different from an alleged chinese spy balloon that was shot down at the beginning of the month the security review has been launched in the uk as a result and we're back with news headlines again at 12 noon thanks donal the new vhi 360 health center karik mines gives our healthcare members access to five floors of clinical expertise including urgent care pediatrics and state-of-the-art diagnostics all under one roof visit vhi.ie vhi health care doc trading as vhi health care is regulated by the central bank of ireland all right quite a number of people reporting instances whilst they were driving in the listen in an area we heard earlier of potatoes and eggs being chucked all the stuff happening as well right so keep them coming into us the guard he'll probably hopefully the more we talk about it put an emphasis on um educating those who are responsible that it's not the right thing to do right now do you know what there is to do in castle fin do you know what facilities there are around town well all those questions are going to be answered uh maybe not all now mary donnan member of the about town about the town campaign but certainly an event that's coming up on the 19th good morning mary good morning greg how you doing thanks for having us on this morning that's great to have you on right okay so talk to us about the about the town initiative um and why it's taking place um it was an idea by one of our organisers on this commodity nolyn killen and she works with his events and the paul and castle fan and she just came up with the idea to think that it would be great to showcase what we have on offer i think very often sometimes great you know and really i was not given the recognition for what does go on you know and castle fans a small town population about 800 but when we had our first meeting and we invited a lot of different representatives from different organisations we had the cpa the vince and the paul we had our national school and we had our soccer and our gaelic clubs and we had the tidy towns and there was 12 people at the meeting and we started to go through all the different organisations that we had on the town and we were thinking oh i never heard of that or i never heard of that so um it's got great um and trust and really great balls about it you know so a lot of people are looking forward to the event but i think it is just showcase and what we have um on offer i think it's great i think every area should do it because firstly sometimes people want to get involved in things but they might not think that it's open to them for whatever reason you know it's us as individuals we've got our own little barriers we put up for ourselves but also it's an opportunity for people then to turn up and see what's there for them they might be surprised but also for different groups or organisations to recruit new members as well so it's a win win for all involved i think and gives people an opportunity gives them a table to sort of get all their information across you know absolutely and and credit goes to all the volunteers greg that go out and all the others and you know especially likes the best soccer and the gaelic clubs we have but but there really is so much drama dancing history knitting yes kids clubs and much more especially for people we often get calls and texts and you know mary and i'm sure you are aware from people who've moved to an area uh and they don't know who to talk to they don't necessarily have a friends group next they don't know what's on offer they don't know what's good for them or their kids or whatever it might be again or maybe people are starting to feel a wee bit lonely at home or something and they're wondering is there something i could get involved with in my local community to sort of pass the time all fantastic reasons to attend i think mary yeah no absolutely we have noticed that that you know during clover and post-covid greg there's a lot of families that have moved back to the area um but as well as that you were saying there just about loneliness and isolation and mental health you know we really have to try to be inclusive and have things for everybody of all ages so we have we have like our monday club we have our over 65s we have our young dancers we have as you say there's just so much we have the defibrillator group we have tidy town so there's no excuse not to do something in castle fun that's just there's so much um that's there really do you know so it's a really good uh indictment too of the community and its people isn't it that there's so much going on and that you have enough to go on to justify a night to bring it all onto the one roof yeah not and we actually had an event there in december where we had turning on as the christmas lights and the blast of the crowd and again it was a few organizations that came together and it was such a huge event the turnout was amazing but it's great i think that they all everybody works together there is a great community spirit you know when the school is very involved as well with the tidy towns and the thing i plant and we bulb some button up we burn the boxes and things like that you know so there is um and they also had a competition recently where they the tidy towns and the children in the school entered a competition and was to do with bad conservation and then the older people judged the the the paintings that they did so there is a great sense of community there so it's um and we're sort of trying to reach those two and i think a lot of people listening can relate that have been in a community for a very long time but don't necessarily feel a part of it even if they are viewed as such do you know what i mean and maybe this is just that little bit of reassurance or kick on or whatever because there'll be plenty of smiles and handshakes and tea and coffee and buns i'm sure as well as it is a social occasion and as you say look i've been in the town for years and there's things that are going on and i didn't even know how long have you been in the town um well it was away for a good while and then but i've been back no you're over i would say um oh my goodness 25 you're still a blowing sorry still a blowing but it is another 20 years before you're back back official a castle finnian but um but no it's going to be a social occasion because there's as you say tea and scones and tray bakes and we'll have a bit of local entertainment as well um on that the evening so um yeah so and no more than and more than any other event this is a literary and everybody welcome yeah oh absolutely all ages everybody welcome um and as they we have even um support services and we have the g rd and we have a local councillor so we've opened it up to be inclusive to everybody you know so in case you you know in case you do need to maybe call help or whatever at least that you know we'll have those organizations there as well um all right so it's an open invitation to everyone in and about the town um castle finn it's in st mary's hall castle finn again even just the running maintenance opening caretaking of a local community hall it you know what i mean that it takes people to do that and i think that's always a a great sign of an area and actually i should whilst i mentioned i was chatting to the ladies who are responsible for the maintenance and running the brains and everything behind the hall in caragart i didn't mention them now that's i'm talking about castle finn i shall mention them because they are the heart and soul of little facilities like this beautiful food too they put on as well lovely tea anyway i'm talking about one place and we're talking about another st mary's hall castle finn five p m it's a nice time of the day as well it'd be nice and bright on february 19th at least for the first wee while uh and that what day the week's down that's sunday this coming sunday yeah that's coming all right and any i presume if you a full complement of the local organizations mary or is there still a table available for um we're having another meeting now on wednesday night just to finalize it but you can be in touch with any of our groups um but at the minute we have about 25 i think they're not brilliant yeah yeah for a small town it's absolutely amazing you know um so yeah at the minute we're about 25 or more so we'll we'll have the final numbers on wednesday night right so yeah if anybody wants to get in touch just even call into the summons in the poll or message some of us on facebook and we can give you more information yeah and we've had a lot of calls from businesses as well um in the fun valley but i think that could be a later event i think tonight sunday's it's just really going to be about sort of the the volunteers and the different organizations within the town but certainly we've had a few calls from businesses wondering sounds like a little future fundraiser coming up uh more than welcome 30 euro per table all right come here listen if you don't find something that interests you with 25 groups and organizations represented uh you i'd be surprised so listen it's gonna i think it's going to be a lovely event this sunday 5 p.m in st mary's hall castle fin everybody's welcome come along see what the community has to offer and as we mentioned the sports clubs drama dancing history knitting kids clubs so much more and members of all organizations will be available on the day showcasing the clubs an event and if nothing else call in for chatting some like refreshments that's it all right i can do nemorphia that's right all right bye bye lovely to have you on the show that's mary donion any other initiatives like that in your local area you get in touch with us and i would be more than happy uh to get that information out there because that's what we're here for isn't it that's part of what we're here for right should we take a quick break and then get damien a damien who's damien brendan divani uh in for a chat uh i just want to really few comments those we head towards that it is monday yes it is greg i saw those young boys too they're like narasol cans and throwing them in front of cars someone is going to get seriously injured it was the same during the snow the area was covered with young boys throwing snowballs so hopefully now something will be done about it well hopefully and i don't want to we don't want to tar and feather anyone um but if there are people that are engaging in that activity and again i'm going to get shocked saying this maybe they don't realise the potential of their actions the potential consequences so uh we'll give them a chance to mend their ways hi greg i've got a call from the test centre to say my commercial vehicle test which was today had been cancelled they told me to contact a test centre in letric kenney as they wouldn't be carrying out any tests in the near future due to the one of the workers being off surely they have more than one person who inspects vehicles just wondering did anyone else get a call that comes in from uh john um i'm not begrudging anyone getting bonuses or handouts but is it not high time workers and low wages got some help even the dismissal of the usc would be a start having to pay a hundred euro per week on diesel to travel to work is a big bite out of the wages before even doing a grocery shop lots of workers would be financially better off on social welfare but prefer to work but there is no incentive to work and that has been a statement that we've heard for a long long time it's nothing new right okay we'll take this quick break then brendan's in studio with us the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter kenny credit union 9102127 you can really share the love with great savings this valentine's at done stores with 20 off wine and champagne for a romantic toast and half price in selected boxes of chocolates like cabry milk tray and nesley black magic the perfect gift for that special someone then save at the till with our five off 25 grocery vouchers done stores always better value terms and additions apply voucher confused and next install grocery shop of 25 euro more voucher excludes alcohol please drink sensibly at cherry more kitchens and bedrooms we are now operating out of one new state of the art showroom in donnie galtown and we invite you to visit our new 5 000 square foot donnie galtown showroom to discover the latest eye-catching designs remember at cherry more you're dealing directly with a manufacturer which means high quality kitchens at factory prices start planning your dream kitchen or bedroom by calling cherry more on 0 7 4 9 7 2 5 8 double 2 cherry more 25 years delivering value quality and service all over ireland don't just do okay in your career do great at all state don't settle soar don't procrastinate innovate don't do mediocre do magnificent at all state great work great life great people or great opportunities await search all state and i careers today wet and wild is 20 years in business and would like to thank and reward our loyal customers with a massive 20 of absolutely every product purchased in store during the month of february choose from our massive in-store stock of quality outdoor clothing footwear equipment and accessories and 20 discount of all prices will be applied at the till right okay you're very welcome back to the program in studio with me now is the one and only brendan divany hi brent yes greg what's the story all good in the hood today monday's we're fresh we're at it excellent right now um take note because we often talk about it's going to be a great show coming up right but i think tonight's show has no yeah but there are levels of greatness right yes and i think this one is going to be up there we're going to talk about that but obviously also you're going to have a quick look back over the weekend's action as well the usual uh the usual round it up yeah or hurlers two from two another brilliant factory away to london um greg so they're sitting top of the pile they're playing meat you're also two from two next week or under 20s at their first day out they come up short against dairy they play sligo next week greg so we'll be taking a look at that but but obviously to say um we've got three three legends uh coming up to the studio greg we normally have a studio guest but a very special week this week right so michael murphy neil gallagher and michael's father mc yes i mean that is some trio how did you pull that off listen i suppose i know the three of them quite well i'm lucky enough of course glenn swilley their 40 year anniversary there and particularly with dunny gall not having a senior g a game last week i was just i was only michael already but coming up to do a wee bit analysis a day if he could after maybe the home game against gallway or rush common but i just thought about it and i threw the question out to the lads particularly i suppose looking at the 40 unbelievable years where glenn swilley have come in that time and i just thought the dad obviously michael neil you don't need no interaction whatsoever but i thought mc then the day another man steeped in glenn swilley and dunny gall g a and so many levels but i just thought he might give it would be great to hear his word on michael too kind of behind the scenes if you like and and be very interesting because michael would have one way of looking at it and no sports in terms of that but then mc could give us a you know tell us what life was like and of course what what a brilliant journey for him but what is it like being the father of you know pound for pound dunny gall's best footballer that's it i mean you know and how you how you see that evolve well when did he spot especially with him being so involved in in j a himself it's going to be a unique and really really interesting chat anyone would be interested in the 100 so so to get you're right maybe not just all i suppose mc in terms of his comments on michael and but like as you said they don't have on that thing a go-in-the-game and listen we all want our best for our kids and want them to play sport but you live here i'm sure you live every moment because he was such a like heart and soul j a man himself and i mean it must have been an amazing thing for him to to go much michael lead dunny gall on the way dead and of course the ultimate thing you think for any dad if your son was the captain of the gall to lift the sam i mean that's is there anything greater in sporting terms in this country of course there isn't so i mean it's a it must be phenomenal time of course it was for him as well i suppose you have that we but a sadness nearly tensed with it that that the rs come then in but in many ways i suppose when you look at it i mean what a brilliant brilliant time it was so well listen we you know in terms of what we achieve in our lives you know to be able to leave a legacy like that is just absolutely and then to be so young to be able to maybe create an entire new chapter down the line who's to say what a gift and to do it so gracefully and determinately and finally i just think but as i say too there's i'm not going to ask the questions i'm going to listen to someone who knows what they're talking about ask the questions i think it's going to be a really good chapter yeah yeah unless i was just when you're on with michael in the next chapter obviously he's out in the lyt there he's done but some piece of coaching there's a sports shop he's media stuff like boys like me rick would have to kind of make a lot of contacts in the game and i don't you know you'd have to push a bit harder not that i ever really actually did push they just kind of let it kind of happen but you certainly would have to as i say open the doors weren't for michael you mentioned michael's name the doors open i mean i would say he's inundated with people requesting things from him 100% that's why i'm glad he's coming up here now but listen tell you radio but listen to you too we're the boys that bagged him it was all i feel you're the old dog for the long road to that stage you're not reliable i'm an old dog territory now he's that's a good guy everyone's getting up and like lee good she's can i say yeah he's 50 tomorrow sitting upstairs i'll tell you how he's young looking 50 but you're not wearing any of that but we're all getting older i'm not far off at that all right anyway so listen is that live are they live in studio live yeah they might be streamed to stream just stream them i'm going to watch it then that's what i'm going to do so i'm going to watch it live but it's also available then as a podcast and you know you get four real proper gmen in a room you're going to have an interesting conversation yeah yeah well one of them likes to act a mech there's a couple of mechs in the room as well but it'll be it'll be listen we hope they the lads are great great crack to you in that so let me get a couple of stories off man that's why i think Greg this week of all week we could really dedicate the show to the chat because you would see it here but the way the time goes whenever that whenever you're we might go light there it's just you know the hour just goes by and then yeah exactly and i i'm trying to break the habit but i also have a habit of of trying to because there's so much to get through trying to move it along you know what i mean but you that's the great thing about having longer format but it's never long enough yeah so we'll see how you fare and the same thing Greg sometimes when you look at the time and you know you see you've said 20 months to go i think i'll create because the next thing is squashed i just seem i don't know it goes go so fast yeah so you want to obviously cover as much as you can and all right okay so the day i'll debate tonight two all island winners from 2012 in Michael Murphy and Neil Gallher along with uh michael's dad uh mick uh who's got his own uh legacy as well so you know between the jigs and the reels it's going to be a cracker uh and also as you mentioned the full uh roundup of the weekend's action but you know what i'd fly through that and just get onto that chat yes do you know with no disrespect to i'm already i don't want to regret the clock you know because sometimes you're you're like oh i could have figured out a way to be bad but you know that's that's that's that's that's very good uh obviously there's a there's a i don't know how big a story isn't it kind of like a personal story and i'm not i can probably think there's more going on here with an individual and i would be you know i would i hate to see anyone going through an awful situation but there is a ga legend uh who's alleged to have um got money off a hundred uh people over a million and the details of the story about you know being told people being told they had cancer and so on and so forth it's a it's a difficult story for the victims but i imagine also uh if the if for the person this person's had contact with you and you understand the background of the story and we're going to be careful no i don't understand do you know why you're great because i mean talking about legends this man is a complete another legend you know people the legend word gets thrown about you but i mean they're definitely two coming up the studio tonight but this guy is is uh is one of the greatest ever and uh he's just fallen in hard times and an absolute gentleman of a man great and that's why this i mean it's actually shocking to see this now i got to know him years ago and he did put a call out to me just tell me about the financial situation about those and you know it wasn't he was asking me i'm far from somebody who could be donating anybody but he didn't throw out the question was there anybody around that he could contact you know and i was very surprised at the time to call but i really got a sense of desperation for him i'm quite getting home but as i said were you told there was things going on that he needed money for or he didn't actually explain what the money was actually for he just asked was there anybody that would be you know we have them all around gee man that that back things and put money into things and um it's great to be have them so he was just asking did i know anybody but i was a very strange call to get because i have got to know him and he's one of the nicest people i've met out there so whatever's happened with i don't know where this this has come from in terms of but he the fact that he was ringing me where i was he's a good word away from us great you know i was thinking to myself the fact you're like i said it to my wife at the time she's the only person i told it was if i said he must be casting the nets we must be under pressure and you are a caring person like i know that i'm not embarrassed and maybe people don't realize that so i think you would be the type as i think i am as well that would think there's probably something behind this that needs digging into as well and do you know what i mean like i know i know it's a scandal don't get wrong but yeah he had business was years ago great so i don't know what what the causes behind this because i think probably like there must have been bankruptcy a bit over there so i don't understand what was this happened in this instance so okay but yeah it's a sad tale the amount of people involved i mean it's a lot of money to you know it is okay it's okay and this clearly was desperation in there because you would have to be desperate to sort of say you were sick if you weren't in stuff that's it yeah all right okay listen uh brendon i just want to wrap up on on the positive thing um that uh just to remind you've just switched on the deal debate tonight it's going to be a real special one because michael murphy's open studio with neil gallagher and also michael uh michael murphy's dad uh mick uh is going to be a cracking conversation it's just after the seven p.m news we're going to have to get mikaela to real read read really quick to get you and brendon all right uh and also if you miss it though if something else is on this evening of course it's going to be podcast for you uh on highland radio dot com and hopefully it's video streamed as well so you can watch uh but also watch back on youtube so that's the deal debate it's a particularly special one with brendon divany tonight from seven p.m and it's all in association too with the great folks at sarah's kitchen at sister sarah's letter kenny they do have cori night the friday i think you know they do yeah great and we've been down there that happens last why i'm not when he says we's not me and brendon you wouldn't take me anywhere i'm contracted to eat there karen brogan tells me but uh no he doesn't actually i said that they haven't the last day when somebody was on about what we were down with our family a couple of weeks upstairs so it's such a massive place as to say as you know right so i'm always powering out about the kids so we had this the noise of them well well there's a whole squad let me see with us you know but see upstairs they're basically their own space so they were allowed to run amok i love how you called your children a whole squad well all our family were there i mean i know i know the days isn't every so it was the noise level just goes up you know but anyway i also does i love that sound i love i love the sound of kids i really do um i never bother me really at all i don't know there's just something about the future and i think if you have kids it's fine yeah you have a filter don't you yeah we really call it mill park hotel yeah we stopped on there yesterday come back we're doing at a erin gate i was down at erin gill's dinner that saturday night i made a great night and we we stopped down for a quick bite there but like we walked and i was having the crack with the staff because i was my two boys they're about not so two younger boys but there was a real there was a huge family presence on there and there was a lot of noise now it's a sad thing oh god i'm comfortable here no worries my kids were quieter than the rest so yeah okay so we're giving casual mentions to the mill park oh sorry it's all good it's all good it's all good listen all right brandon that's good good luck with the show the update look it's gonna be cracker all right watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com 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 at last a technology that's impossible to ignore here we have a device that people's attention introducing a technology that's truly impossible to me imagine a technology where it's impossible to scroll past your ads welcome to radio advertising that's unscrollable visit radio center ireland.ie to see what radio can do for your product or brand dylan's hotel letter kenny is the perfect place to celebrate 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bands who make every party every drive home and every day magic that's right to celebrate irish music month on highland radio we're asking you to support irish artists and musicians by buying irish albums irish tickets irish t-shirts and irish music merch irish musicians have shown that they are right up there with the best in the world so let's support them by buying irish proudly supported by highland radio hot press ibi and the ba i sound and vision fund today monday the 13th of february is international epilepsy day and on monday focus we talked to neve whatson about living with epilepsy and how you can live a very normal life while having it good morning to you thanks so much for joining us neve good morning Greg is that the right way to phrase it is that how you see living with it able to have a normal life are you comfortable with phrasing it like that or do you see it differently yeah no for me it is very much about um not letting my epilepsy hold me back so yeah it is about living a life the same as everybody else and doing the same things as everybody else so yeah um that's that's exactly how i would phrase it yeah so you're just 24 but you were diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age so i mean obviously that's that is a life event i presume at that time it was a particularly significant neve yeah yeah so i was 13 whenever i was diagnosed with epilepsy um i had my first uh typical conicalonic seizure so that's when you fall to the ground jargon the the one that everyone thinks of whenever it comes to epilepsy so i had my first uh typical seizure whenever i was 12 and then i got diagnosed whenever i was 13 so i need to say it wasn't always like this there was a time in my life that i was taking seizures every day and it was a lot harder to live a normal life then yeah so yeah and in terms of diagnosis would that be seen as a quick diagnosis or a slow diagnosis because some people can be waiting quite some time i think to get that official um initial sorry diagnosis yeah so i suppose um it's different for everybody but i was waiting almost a year for my diagnosis um because i suppose they ran a lot of different tests and some tests were going back inconclusive or just the results weren't exactly weren't very clear so i suppose with some of the tests that they run you have to have a seizure whilst they're doing the tests that can prolong the diagnosis period as well so yeah about a year for me to get diagnosed with epilepsy with some people and it really is individual um as to how long it can take yeah and what is happening with epilepsy what is uh what causes epilepsy you know in the individual rather than we might talk about triggers if there are any but in other words is it hereditary is it is it is it random or what uh what causes epilepsy itself yeah so um a lot of people it depends really right um their hereditary in some cases it can be caused by a brain injury in some cases and then some cases like mine we don't really know the cause um because i have no family history and i didn't ever have a brain injury so sometimes it can't just you can't just have epilepsy but sometimes there's hereditary and sometimes there is brain injury um cause an epilepsy so yeah it's different for everybody i suppose yeah we're going on to to medication and stuff but initially i mean i think the only if you ask regular you know regular society and that's not excluding anyone i just mean people out and about if you ask them um they would say well flashing lights is what causes epilepsy because that's what they might see they'll see the flashing light warning on on tv is that just one of of what could be the triggers i presume it's not a trigger for everyone for epilepsy or is it can you give us an understanding of that please okay so the photosensitive epilepsy is actually not as common as people would think it is um so very few people would be affected by photosensitivity alone um some people would have photosensitive alongside other triggers but um for me personally my triggers would be extreme tiredness or stress for me and um i i know that that's the common one is tiredness so it's really important to look after yourself and get enough sleep and try and minimize stress keep yourself well hydrated and all the stuff to keep me at peak um yeah so in terms then of of medication okay uh is it a case of try and see as to what might work for you and you try and hone that so the gaps between uh episodes widens out and out as far as possible exactly yeah so it really is trial and error with a lot of medications um i'm looking enough that i'm on one form of medication um whereas some people would be on two three different types of medication and different dosages and dosages have to be altered and everything so it really depends on the person what works for me might not work for somebody else and you know what works for them might not work for me so um and i'm correct in saying that sometimes medication a type of medication can be quite effective but that effectiveness can wane over time and then a person might need to refine uh the medicines again in other words you don't know if you're set for life on this one medicine necessarily exactly that's what happened to me initially so i will seize your free for a few years from when i was about 14 until i was around 18 but um then like that i suppose i became um desensitized to the medication and had to be changed because my body had gone through big changes between the age of 14 and 18 so um that had to be reviewed then and i had started having seizures again so they changed my medication then and i've been i've been good so far so and you know we're all different right and we all have different ways of coping and abilities to cope and and it's clearly that you're not letting anything hold you back you are powering forward but there are others who who might get this diagnosis and i think maybe even maybe moms and dads and guardians it might they might get more stressed about this than the individual themselves i don't know we're all different but how difficult was it for you at 12 or 13 did you take it in your stride very early on or did you have to sort of get acclimatized to the fact that maybe you know your life is going to be different going forward it'll be ordinarily the same as much as possible as we've talked about but in terms of taking a regular medication and what have you did it take a while for you to get used to that because at that age you'd not feel like going on anyway with this on top i'm sure yeah so i suppose for me i had time to come to terms with it because we did um suspect that it was epilepsy so i think i had time to come to terms with it um before my actual diagnosis came through and uh everyone it's it is different for everybody and it can be very scary whenever you get diagnosed because i didn't really know much about epilepsy before i was diagnosed so it takes and that's where epilepsy Ireland really helped me like they helped me to figure out what my life might look like from from here forward and they were able to provide advice and support um to allow me to know that i would live a full life the same as everybody else so they provide support to families as well so they were able to give my mom guidance on how to help me whenever i was going through this as well so yeah they were really great through that and i would recommend that to anybody who's um recently diagnosed agnes in the latter county offices brilliant and she's able to provide a lot of support surrounding newly diagnosis and all that i presume for some it might be tempted to withdraw in do you know between to not maybe go on to third level in case something happened in Dublin and you know my support networks in Donegal or to wrap yourself up in Cottonwall or not go traveling or whatever and that's understandable and that this is a judgment free zone but i i presume you know there are different paths you can take on this you can take that path and if it works for you that's fine or you can say you know what i'm going to do whatever i wanted to do in any case is that a fair enough assessment do you think maybe of what could be out there yeah and i think it's i suppose a lot of it is how your family respond and how you react in the immediate aftermath of getting that diagnosis my family were brilliant they pushed me to achieve everything that i would have ordinarily achieved so like my mom whenever i got my diagnosis i was like i was out and about i wasn't held back in any way it would have been i suppose it would have been her natural instinct to wrap me up in Cottonwall but i suppose if you have to just you have to try and let that person live a normal life so that it doesn't restrict them in any way so yeah i think that was instrumental in my journey with epilepsy was that i was encouraged to do everything that everyone else does and not to let it hold me back so i think that's why i am today excellent maybe we should talk a little bit about what we should do if someone has a seizure because that comes up from time to time and i think it really is important info and people do different things now than they did in the past and have people try and put spoons and people's mouths and all that kind of stuff which is a big no no i understand so if you feel happy enough leave what what if someone suspects someone around them or in the street or something is having an episode or do you call it a fit or how do you prefer to describe it a seizure right okay a seizure because i'm old and it's been called different things over time so what do you do if someone has a suspected seizure in your presence so i suppose the main message that epilepsy Ireland are putting out this year is just three words time safe and stay so you time the seizure you keep the person safe so that could be you can't stop a person from having a seizure so that could be just um putting a cushion under their head rolling up a hoodie putting it under their head if they're close to hitting something just try so don't try and restrain them in any way shape or form of course anyway the seizure is going to happen either way you have to let it run its course so it's just a case of minimizing the injury that the person might get from that so if they're next to something sharp just shielding them from that but not restraining them and i suppose the next point comes into that too so stay with the person so just stay with them and provide them with reassurance whenever they do come around because that's so important because it's scary whenever you come around from a seizure and it's important that you have somebody with you to to be there i suppose to area so that's the main message that we're trying to get across is time the seizure stay with the person and try and do keep them safe so it's the main that's the main three words if we can get that across then that's a big achievement brilliant stuff um because obviously you're you're you know you're looking after your lifestyle i'm sure you eat well and exercise and try and sleep and really just stress as much as possible do you part of you sometimes try things should i try and do this without medication that maybe i've got you know i i know maybe what my triggers are and i hope i can keep a handle on that does it be tempting to to try that or is it completely ill advised neve it is ill advised unless it's under the control of your neurologist under the guidance of your neurologist because i suppose it would be very easy for me to be like now oh i'm three years seizure free nearly i could just do this without medication but you have to remember that you're on this medication for a reason and that just because you're seizure free on the medication it doesn't mean that you'll be seizure free whenever you come off it so it's really important that any changes to medication would be done under the careful guidance of the neurologist because they're the specialists in the area they'll know what um what'll work for you or if it's a case of winning yourself off them they'll figure out what's the best best path for you but i would never recommend to go off medication without medical guidance yeah you mentioned your mother earlier on um and she wasn't only supportive in sort of saying i'm here for you if you want to do this that and the other she actually pushed you didn't she uh if i so she actually encouraged you to sort of say no you can do this and you can do that i'm here with you uh a great uh a great person to have around you i'm sure yes absolutely i've been very lucky with my family and friends like it's never held me back because they've never allowed me to be held back by it i suppose there are no such thing as wallowing and sitting in and i suppose isolating myself from others because it's it would be so easy to do that because it's scary and you don't want to have a seizure in front of new people you don't you know it is it's a lot to deal with but it's really really that was a massive part of my journey was that i was encouraged to carry on and have the same life as everybody else and live the life that i wanted to learn so yeah i suppose my family and my boyfriend and them they really helped me to to gain that independence and empower me to do everything that i wanted to do which as well as everything else presumably relieves any you know helps relieve stress as well because you have that support uh not only that though you've got your degree in your bag and you know work as an education officer with the rape crisis centre and doing really important work in teaching in schools about consent and also learning to drive right so what's the criteria that for that in terms of you know the time between the seizure and and what's the story going forward in terms of learning to drive so i am currently doing my driving lessons what number you on oh i'm on 10 but i will need to probably at least oh so you're halfway there so you have to be a year seizure free to start to learn and to drive to apply for your theory even you have to be a year seizure free so um and i suppose that depend like a difference for everybody so some people if it's just not eternal seizures that like seizures that they haven't the rules the criteria might change for that or but the standard rule of thumb is one year seizure free and you would have to get a medical report from your neurologist or your GP in order to sign you off to be able to drive but yeah for a lot of people that is a hurdle because um like i know people who've been 11 months seizure free and then had a seizure and that sets you back to the yeah to the forest and also to interpret in terms of car dependency a lot depends on where you live and stuff like i mean you might have someone in Dublin that never has an intention to drive in any case but i mean obviously with us here uh or if you intend just driving around and traveling it's it's more important and and just finally again you talked about the support of your family and your your boyfriend which is hugely important but you've also mentioned epilepsy uh arland so what was critical about their sort of informational support uh in your experience uh neve yeah so whenever i was first diagnosed we got in touch with agnes um who is their works in their office up here who runs their the epilepsy up in the northwest so we went into her and i suppose at least she knew the exact facts and exact how to help us i suppose and it was was really really great she i remember she gave me an epilepsy diary so that i could log any seizures or log you know basically log my entire day so i could figure out my own triggers and i remember she ran um a group for young people with epilepsy to get together and get to know each other and i remember that you could bring a friend so i brought my friend and i suppose it made my friend more comfortable to to know what to do whenever i had a seizure and to know that this wasn't as scary as it needed because it visually is scary let's let's let's call it as it is it's if you don't know what's going on it's panic stations that's why we're having this chat here absolutely and i suppose for me educational awareness is huge in reducing that fear and the stigma because i know what's scary it is of course it is looking at somebody having a seizure and having basically not been able to do anything to help them but that's okay yeah that's okay that's okay not to be able to do anything because we do so but you make sure you clear the space you stay with the person so that you time it for them presumably uh and you wait to explain when they come around because i presume it takes a little while um now so epilepsy island use that and it's important too because you know one in a hundred people bar the shouting in domigol have epilepsy one in a hundred um so it's a one thousand five hundred it's it's a little bit little bit less than one in a hundred but there you have it some people may be on fully diagnosed yet madeline messaged in to say please congratulate neve she's a fabulous inspirational young lady that's just a sample of of the nice comments coming in okay neve continued success with you in your career and you're driving and all that 10 lessons in as you say halfway third of the way there maybe but we look forward to seeing you out about the road and you're a great advocate and an inspiration and i off and i think that you know if if parents have a young person newly diagnosed it would be nice for them to listen back to someone who's 10 13 years down the line and to say that you know what this is this is your life you can have as well exactly that's it and i think that's why it's so important when people let you speak out because so put me saying it you're relatable and i think you know your interview we paid to young people down the line and i think that's really nice fair play to you neve yeah thank you very much take care appreciate it bye bye neve what's in there and um just talking about her situation right let's see what shall we do next all right we are gone this is lovely isn't it back after this break the 9 till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter kenny credit union 9102 127 guess what what larkins of new mills are offering an early bird special for only 6 95 monday to friday from 12 p.m to 4 p.m a full menu is available seven days per week along with dilly lunch specials call in any time to larkins of new mills or 407 4 9 1 2 double 6 9 7 and at our family look after yours for over 20 years car zone has been the trusted name in ireland's motoring marketplace bringing one million car buyers and sellers together every month and now buying or selling a car has never been easier on car zone with expert tools and advice download the car zone app or check out car zone dot i e car 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okay generally dry but blustery today with sunny spells developing during the morning so if you're going to see them and seeing them now highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees in most fresh southerly winds strong along atlantic coast now tomorrow of course is valentine's day and i suppose valentine's day is the i suppose the face of when when um often can seem the face of when everything is going well but sometimes maybe you think it's going well but it's not there are red flags to look out for and also too i imagine that it can be a difficult time for people living in uh you know abusive relationships difficult relationships that can often be uh difficult to get out of and unfortunately because we cover it extensively on this program in the conversations with uh various groups and on goddess yukana um you know there are a an awful lot of instances of uh domestic abuse or abuse within a relationship fiona or mallet is ceo of turn to me and joins us on the program now hello fiona good morning thanks so much for having me uh right okay i think it's important for us to uh sort of get the message out there again of what people should look out for in their relationship because as i say even sometimes there might be these red flags we're going to talk off in a relationship but you put it down to something else you know the controlling behaviour is because he loves me so much you know what i mean so talk to me you fiona about uh some things people should look out for in their relationship so there are five red flags that turn to me um has just emphasized people should look out for ahead of valentine's day in romantic relationships and they include gas lighting something called love bombing overly controlling behaviour substance or alcohol abuse and narcissism and red flags like a lot of i suppose issues or faults in relationships are something that people usually spot after they've left their relationship or in hindsight they can be sometimes difficult but when you're in the situation and it can be just close to i will see the wood from the trees um so the first one gas lighting that um i spoke about there it's a very common form of manipulation um it's quite a dark form of emotional abuse where the gas lighter will make you question your reality they'll deny things that happen they'll say things like oh i never said that or no no no that didn't happen and say for instance you're having a conversation and someone says to you you know why are you so angry uh even though it's clear that that's not would that fall under under gas light that you might question your own sort of you know your own self and and and how you're perceived yeah absolutely i mean sometimes people can call it out if you're being um particularly erratic or if you do have anger moments but if you know yourself and if no one else has ever said that you know you're angry or if you know that you're not acting in an angry way if you're maybe just to be frustrated by them gas lighting you um that can be where it can be difficult to to pinpoint the difference between someone calling things out calling you out if you're being inappropriate or um just gas lighting and can that feed them into another red flag which is controlling behavior is it can it also be part of that in other words someone is making you doubt yourself to the point that it allows them maybe to to take more control over you in other words i'll keep you right or something along yeah absolutely yeah so if you trust me i can steer you right you know i know what's best for you um i'm doing this because i love you that's definitely um a form of of controlling behavior people who try to control their partners they will try to control things that they wear and their appearance how often they meet family and friends oftentimes they'll try to isolate them from their other social connections and they might control or dictate what type of career music might make um but in a positive and a healthy relationship people should also have their independence and also have their their own rights and compromise is really important in most relationships um so yeah a lot of the forms of manipulation they can um you know feed into to other patterns um like love bombing is another red flag that we we have spoken about and it's part of the cycle of abuse is basically when someone gives you over the top really um i suppose high standards of attention and affection with lavish gifts um and the goal is ultimately to make the recipient dependent on them so um they these romances are often described as you know roller coaster whirlwind romances and then suddenly that attention is switched off very quickly and the recipient is confused and they'll wonder what should i do you know to change his behavior or her behavior and um they might try to win that affection and that attention back um to the way it was at the start of of the romance so it's very manipulating and it's again the ultimate aim is to try to make the recipient dependent on them and i think too that these are unhealthy things right but and the reason why it's good to talk about them is that you might not see you might not see it when you're in that moment or you might put it down to something else but unfortunately what we see in in in abusive relationships is it can it's not saying it exclusively does but it can escalate so it's important to spot these signs early i presume and to put your yourself first not your family or your your children or or what your friends or your neighbors might think you have to put yourself first in a lot of these situations once you you've identified that you're in a an abusive or on a healthy relationship yeah absolutely and um you know i was talking to one of my friends about love bombing recently and you know she was saying but you know i you know what's the harm with gifts and what's the harm with you know having been whisked away on a weekend away and that's great and that's lovely i mean i hope my boyfriend is listening to this interview i love the getting roses and i love being taken out for dinner but um but the the the difference in that and love bombing is when it's constantly over the top at the start of the relationship and then switch off very very quickly um and then the fourth red flag that we talk about is substance or alcohol abuse now obviously um people who do suffer from substance or alcohol abuse that's the form of illness so there is i suppose compassion and empathy required there but ultimately you can't fix another person and you can support them and you can try to encourage them to to get help but that that type of substance or or alcohol abuse will have a knock-on effect on on the nearest and dear and feel not unfortunate we're against the clock so narcissism also is an important one do you worry that rather than us making inroads maybe into a lot of this stuff that we do have high profile people i don't need to mention any names that you could argue actually are promoting a lot of this behavior that in other words it's a sign of masculinity now we know we know that this can go in both directions in all directions don't get me wrong i'm not saying that for a second but does that worry you that is to say at least i'm looking down here i'm looking at three or four of these that really are actively being promoted sometimes on social media yeah that kind of character is nearly glorified on social media like the people who are who are doing to be successful there's nearly a glorification of someone lacking empathy and being ruthless and but when we're talking about narcissists they crave constant admiration they can be very sensitive to criticism they can fly off the handle when they receive criticism and they can blame others instead of taking ownership for their for their own actions or the consequences of their own actions and that can be very very toxic to to live with and and to be with so um whilst on the face of these people might seem that like they're successful and they've got a great life and it can be very damaging for the people who are closest to them to be in their company with that type of personality i'm really sorry i just i wish i'd had more time with you Fiona but where can people get the help term to me dot i is a good place to start i imagine depending on how severe it is obviously yeah so if anyone wants any of our free professional mental health services we offer them 365 days a year and they can avail of them on our website turn to me dot i is okay and i hope your boyfriend was listening for you know and you're not disappointed tomorrow thank you so have a lovely day take