 doff on the secret pay-ons in July 2011. In response, a government spokesperson said the strategy predated this date and was pursued by successive governments. There continues to be frustration over the provision of modular homes for defective block families who are most in need. John and God County Council is being urged to submit a detailed proposal to the Department of Housing for the use of modular homes. The Council's service director Patsy Lafferty told members that to date, the indications are that homeowners are looking at options including mobile homes, making arrangements with family or sourcing private rented accommodation. Evercouncilor Jerry McMonagall, who moved the motion, said the Council must be united in pushing the issue. That was echoed by Councillor Martyn McDermott, who is chair of the Council's defective block redress committee. We had a meeting with the Minister going back to early December, where the Minister was very clear that he wanted a proposal put forward from Donegal, showing where the need for the homes were. And if that was on his desk, that he would consider modular homes as long as that proposal was put there. It's under Donegal County Council's hands and it's in our hands now to make sure that we push the officials here in the Council to get that proposal done ASAP and get it on the Minister's desk. The HSE has confirmed that the cash on the court day service in the initial continues to operate at reduced capacity. The service is still awaiting the appointment of a manager and staff nurses. In a statement, the HSE says all efforts continue to be made to recruit the required staff in order to facilitate the opening of the cash on the court day service safely and at full capacity. Donegal County Council is being urged to carry out road improvements on a route leading to one of the county's biggest tourist attractions. Councillor Jack Murray is calling for work to be carried out to facilitate the large volume of traffic being generated by wild Ireland. He believes a long-term plan needs to be put in place. I think in the long term we're going to need to widen that road up to wild Ireland. Wild Ireland has taken everybody's surprise and the success and the amount of people that are bringing it to South Anishone. I think now at this point it's second only to Glenn V and the numbers that it brings in so we don't want visitors coming getting stuck in traffic or any danger going in there like this is this is a real jewel in our tourism offering. Whether night cool or breezy today with sunny spells and scattered showers high is temperatures of eight or nine degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now we'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock until then good morning. At Ulster Bank our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts along with some of our branches. At this time if your notice period and your deadline has passed your account is now queued for closure. All personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching. You must take urgent action. If you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support please contact us immediately. Visit UlsterBank.ie your local branch or call 0818 210 260. Call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free. Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The county's number one talk show The Ninetal Noon Show on Highland Radio and now it's time for the talk of the Northwest. The Ninetal Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello very good morning to you. It's Greg doing a really really good Donald impersonation this morning. It is Donald Cavani here of course standing in for Greg on the show this morning. It's Tuesday it's the 31st of January the last day of the first month of the year. We're heading toward the Eve of St Bridget and some great days ahead hopefully. Many would regard this as being you know just heading in toward the first days of spring as well. Is it too early to talk about spring? It's never too early to talk about spring. Things are looking good. In terms of the show as always we have a large number of guests lined up some very interesting discussions to be had but most importantly as we always say on this particular program the basis of the show the core of the show is your contributions your input your calls your concerns call us on 07491-25000 Caroline producing and taking your calls as well. You can text or whatsapp us on 08660-25000. We're also contactable on social media at Highland Radio on Twitter Highland Hub on Facebook. You can email comments at highlandradio.com Starting as we always do with the papers and we begin with the Donegal Democrat this morning. Main story household rubbish dumped at bottle bank. You have heard the story on the news with Michaela the most recent incident of legal dumping at a bottle bank has led to a community group to question the future of the local glass and can recycling facility. Six bags of rubbish were left at the Glenty's bottle bank in recent days and we know at various points in the past Donegal County Council has considered potentially looking at CCTV as one possible answer in cases like this and the council has sort of said in the past it's going to be looking at this issue and certainly based on what's happening in Glenty's we're told at the moment it's important that this is followed through. Front of the Derry Journal this morning. Fisherman died when both sank a story from the inquest into the death of a Dengad fisherman who died at sea. Daniel McDade of Dentushkirk Dengad died on June 28th 2014 after his vessel sank off Kinnego Bay as the inquest began. The Donegal Coroner Dr Dennis McCauley apologized to Mr McDade's family for the delay in it being heard. He said files were being transferred from the previous coroner to himself and there were two Daniel McDades from Dengad that led to an oversight he said and the COVID-19 lockdown also added to the delay in the inquest being held so at the corner Dr McCauley they're apologizing to the family of Danny McDade and you can read about that on the Derry Journal on the front page also of course Bloody Sunday remembered um four o'clock yesterday on the bog side a picture of relatives of those who died gathered around the memorial uh standing in silence at four that took place yesterday which was the 51st anniversary of Bloody Sunday of course on Sunday um there was a march and rallyed through the city center and we also heard from Column Eastwood the STLP leader and Foyle MP that he was nominating the Bloody Sunday families for the Nobel Peace Prize he said such an nomination would both honor the families and recognize their contribution but also he said it would be very important in terms of sending a very strong message to the British government in terms of the need for them to um fully ensure that the legacy of Bloody Sunday is addressed and that this never happens again moving on to the national papers the Irish independent this morning window is closing on cheapest fixed rate mortgages AIB and Ulster Bank customers warned they could miss out as costs keep rising tracker mortgage customers with AIB and Ulster Bank have been warned they're running out of time to lock in two attractive fixed rates the banks of some of the lowest fixed rates in the market it's expected they'll be gone in a matter of weeks also on the front of the Irish independent Cardiola and Brother Guilty of PUP scam to brothers alleged to have been involved in a campaign of intimidation aimed at halting land sales have admitted defrauding the state of pandemic unemployment supports Cardiola John Alex Kane 49 and his brother Farmer Seamus Ken 53 both pleaded guilty to pandemic unemployment payment fraud that's the front of the independent there the front of the Irish Times this morning plans for childminders subsidies for parents go to cabinet O'Gorman to seek approval to change the legal status of thousands of childminders legislation would pave the way for childcare scheme to be opened to more parents that story by Cormac McQuinn there cabinet looking at that issue of child care which always is a very very important issue also coalition urged to appoint migration czar NGOs raise concerns about safeguarding and welfare in accommodation centers the government has been urged to appoint a migration czar by an alliance of leading NGOs who say the response to the crisis isn't fast enough and it's an ongoing issue also Bridget has fallen out of favor ahead of New Bank holiday and I just referenced that we're heading toward the feast of Saint Bridget and with the first Irish bank holiday to be named after a woman would it do anything to revive interest in the name Bridget asks Rowan McGreevy few names have fallen so precipitously out of favor with the Irish public as the one for the patroness of Ireland or its most common variations Bridget Breeder Breach Brydie Breeder or indeed Breach with the alternative spelling it's an interesting question will the new emphasis on Saint Bridget's day see more Bridget's Bridges or Breeds named into the future it's a question that we will watch with interest Irish Daily Mail this morning Leo signed off on secret nursing home payouts confidential documents show Tishok was aware of legal ploy while two other current ministers were warned over strategy Craig Hughes, Michael O'Farrell and Brian Mahon write that Tishok Lee of Radcliffe signed off on secret payouts for families who were overcharged for nursing home care department of health documents show the state faced a prospect of 12 billion euro liability in compensation for hundreds of thousands of families who were wrongly charged for the care of their loved ones over a 30-year period and there was a discussion between the Tishok and Pat Kenny on his show on News Talk yesterday the Tishok said on that show he was never party to devising or agreeing a legal strategy in relation to nursing home charges but a confidential document shows Mr. Radcliffe did approve a continuation of a policy of compensation that cases brought should be settled within 40 to 60 percent of the claims value so says the Irish Daily Mail moving on to the tabloids this morning a special investigation Ireland's drug runners aged 13 Garthee cracked down on youngsters doing dealers dirty work for them John Hand shows a picture of Garthee carrying out raids cracking down on dealers using young kids Garthee revealed boys of 13 are carrying drugs to hopeless addicts in Dublin's North Inner City and that's the Irish Daily Mer's special investigation there the Irish Daily Star this morning monster-killed own unborn tot a picture of Dean Padgett who viciously beat and kicked his ex-lease award shouting I'll rip her out of you in April 2021 Padgett pleaded guilty to attempted murder and accepted he had ended the life of his 32 week old baby his victim said all I ever wanted was my little girl Ruby Rose and that is the story there on the front of the Irish Daily Star and Lotto winner's woes I walked all over Dublin with a million euro in my back pocket a lot of winner has told how he walked around Dublin with a million euro in his pocket mail OAP syndicate chief Michael Cosgrave collected the bumper check at Lotto HQ and then had to hunt for a bank to take it off him he said I was never so happy to get rid of money all my life I hmm and that's an interesting I must be honest I must be honest if I had a check for a million euro and if I was picking it up I think I would make sure I had my arrangements made and my appointments made and let's be honest about it I would probably have security organised as well and I would know where I was going every step of the way now the chance of me ever walking around Dublin with a million euro in my back pocket either in check form or otherwise is to say the least very remote I also would have thought at this point in time that certainly we have the big cardboard checks that we write the numbers on and we get pictures taken for the cameras and for the press and so on and so forth I find it amazing that they still give people checks I would have thought that you would have done transfers like that into bank accounts automatically digitally from Lotto HQ I mean the idea that you're giving someone a check and then they have to go and deposit the check into a bank I would have thought they would have done all that electronically at this stage perhaps I'm wrong perhaps there's a reason for that and perhaps someone can enlighten me right nearly time for a break before we go to our first call before we go I just want to say one very quick thing my first day in Donegal was in September 1990 I came up to the county for an interview on this radio station called Highland Radio who were looking for someone to work there and I thought I might fit the bill so I traveled up from Waterford to do this interview sideline the interview went well as you've possibly discerned at this point this was almost 33 years ago on that evening I left I was staying in the Mount Ergal Hotel so I took a walk into town my my first time really I'd been in Letter Kenny when I was a child but it was my first time really walking through Letter Kenny see the sights stopped off at a restaurant long gone called Steers had a lovely meal walked up through town as I walked past McGinley's bar I heard music coming from inside it was a really good piece of blues music coming through I walked in out of interest got myself a drink sat down and I spent two hours watching a really really great band they were called the Kingbees this is my very first night in Donegal almost 33 years ago September 1990 the band comprised Stephen Lynchy on guitar who became a very good friend of mine Declan Doherty on bass Don Ponson beyond drums and Dermot Donahoe on vocals and Blues Harp on the harmonica it was a wonderful gig he was a wonderful singer I've spoken to and met Dermot several times since then we became friends over the years most recently he came to a couple of rehearsals and performances by Northwest Opera that I was involved in and we talked about the joys of singing everything from opera to blues and music and the joys of music and everything from blues to rock to opera and all points in between Dermot was a wonderful wonderful person Dermot's being buried this morning my thoughts with his family the nine-ton show with Bluebird Care providing home care services for all ages and Donegal visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home get a great Clarins gift this week from McGee's Chemist Letter Kenny you'll receive four beauty treats and a gorgeous beauty bag when you purchase two Clarins skincare products want to be a moisturizer or serum this great Clarins offer is available while stocks last in store at McGee's Chemist Letter Kenny and online at McGee's.ie with the best costs less for any skincare advice call in and talk to the resident skincare consultants Mary or Gemma. Check out these special offers at Simpson's Supermarket Letter Kenny there's Kellogg's Cocoa Pop 720 gram 3 euro, Lion's Tea Bags 240 pack 5 euro, Fire Letters 60 pack 2 euro 50, Dead Coke Cans 8 pack 4 euro, Birds Eye Chicken Dibbers 22 pack 3 euro plus lots of other special offers in store while they're check out Peggy's Kitchen Coffee for great food teas and coffees only two minutes from Letter Kenny Hospital Simpson's Supermarket. Great value every day. Achieve your fitness goals this year with the latest arrivals at Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure. Beat your personal best with new trainers from Assix, Brooks and New Balance or gear up for the gym with active wear from Under Armour and Adidas in store and online now with free next day delivery on orders over 85 euro at Michael Murphy Sports.ie and you're welcome back to the Nine Tail Noon Show. It's Donald Kavanaugh on the show with you this morning as we say don't forget if you want to make contact with us on the program you can call us on 07491 25,000. Text us 0866025,000 use that number for WhatsApp messages as well and as we say it's it's always a pleasure to hear from you and to hear from our callers just waiting to organize a Zoom call so if you despair with us for just one moment I am going to just go into Zoom here and we'll be joined by councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh who made a very interesting point at a meeting of Donegal County Council yesterday. Councillor Kavanaugh good morning to you. Good morning Donald how are you? Very well indeed. Yesterday there was a lengthy discussion on the council's adoption of a service delivery plan for the coming year which basically takes the decisions made in the budget and the council is now laying out how it's going to implement those particular changes. A number of issues got raised by members and one of those issues was an issue that's been discussed on this program before and that is the issue of the lack of a civic cemetery in the county of Donegal that there is no civic non-deluminational graveyard burial place in Donegal and it's a discussion that's been had before and it's something you believe needs to change. Yeah Donald it's a discussion that's been going on a long time now notice yesterday just in when discussing that there was a section there about burial ground maintenance but there's nothing about providing burial grounds and that's a function of the council and and it's a function that that we have not been delivering on and the problem has been well flagged by the mainstream churches by new residents in the town of minority religions and by people of no denomination that the we are fast for and out of space in the mainstream churches graveyards and they have flagged that now for a number of years. You're talking about how long this is going on Donald I remember Pasco Blake raising this when he was mayor of Lyrickinney and that was in 2014 and I don't think that we have really made any progress on it since and it comes up occasionally it disappears again until it comes up again sort of thing and I think we we need a real plan in place as to how we're going to do this and what was evident to me yesterday was and you pointed out at the beginning there that this is not just a Lyrickinney thing I've raised it before municipal level a couple of times and spoken here about it before but it's clear yesterday there's a problem as you say right across the county and other places as well so and it is the responsibility of the council to to provide burial grounds but you know up to now that has been done for them by by the churches but that day has come to an end and the churches no longer have the space less than a great hour indeed I recall you said Pasco Blake mentioned that when he was mayor of Lyrickinney there was a discussion on this program many years ago Roy Greenslade the journalist who has links to Remelton when this was the Sean Doherty show way way back when I remember Roy Greenslade when his mother sadly passed away ended up having to bury his mother in Derry because he did not want to go to a church graveyard and as he said on the show there was nowhere to bring his mother in her native county of Donegal yeah that's right and this is this is the issue that's been raised with me by by by the smaller minority religions in the area and they've given examples of people having the burial of ones in Dublin and Derry and in many cases you know the people left are elderly people who who maybe don't drive and it's very very difficult for them to visit the graves of their of their loved ones and you know in some cases these are people who you know have maybe worked as doctors in that in a hospital for 30 more years of their life given their whole life of a little county and then when it comes to the situation where they have to be buried there's nowhere for them and that's not right and you know that needs to be addressed equally you mentioned people of no lamination and all those things have to be addressed and we can't go on any longer just depending on on on our mainstream churches to provide burial grounds we have to step up the place here and I think we need I appreciate as well doing all the that is a difficult thing to address because it's not everybody wants to to maybe provide land for a graveyard and it's not everybody that wants a graveyard in in the area and so on and these things have to be addressed but I don't think that we've went a better way to think we need to have a proper plan and we need to be advertised and trying to to identify around around the county and I think each municipal area should have its own municipal graveyard has there been any discussion on potential sites up to now because as you say it's been a live issue for the guts of 10 years and probably longer there have been discussions are there any potential sites marked out anywhere in the county at this point or are we really starting from scratch here to the best of my knowledge there isn't no and you know this is where the discussion seems to stop when it comes to you know well where are these graveyards and you know no one seems to have made any progress there and that's the worry and I think you know I know that the county church has flagged very very clearly to me that this is now a crisis quickly becoming a crisis so you know we just can't go on until we get to a point where we can't where we can't look out for this issue we do see more and more people going to the crematorium be it in cavern or at Lake Lancer be it Rosemand and Belfast and there has been discussions about a potential crematorium in Donegal now that hasn't happened as of yet but I mean that is one option but there are still people who would prefer burial there is still very much a demand for a civic cemetery and that's a demand that you believe is not going to go away. Yeah exactly don't want to take your point about the crematorium and you do see now that there's more and more people being cremated but as you say you know there are many many people who would balk at the idea of cremation and burial would still be the preferred option I think for most people in the county so it's something that yes we have to advise. Another issue that was discussed at the council yesterday indeed the council passed a document which clears the way for the construction of public toilets in the retail parks in Letter of Kenny something that you have been very much involved in the discussion on you're glad to see that go through. Yeah I'm delighted with that Donal really glad to see that go through and it started off my motion about a change in business facility but it now has you know solved a number of problems because we're getting a change in business facility but we're also getting disabled toilets and regular toilets at the retail park in Letter of Kenny and that's something that again as you know that we've been talking about in the council for years and years and years I don't know a council that hasn't raised the issue of toilets down there so it's great that we're we're killing a couple of birds with one stone here really and providing that facility the facility with regards to changing places is one of these things it's not the biggest thing in the world but it's huge to the people that need it and you know it's great that we're able to that we're able to go ahead now and provide that facility very very important for the town and it's very important for the families that that need the facility well as you say it's not a huge thing necessarily for the wider population but I'm sure the changing places in particular maybe for someone who has very specific and very acute needs maybe the changing places is the difference between them being able to go to town and not being able to go to town absolutely and it can be the different tunnel between them being able to go into it can be different from the whole family being able to go to an event or able to go to town because if the facility isn't there the one family member needs it can prevent the whole family from being able to go out so you know it's a say it's it's not the biggest thing in the world but it's a big thing for the people that yeah that need it that need it and the way that that's going to do do we have confirmation of the location of those facilities yet yes we do I think it's a I think it's to be said and you look between you look and the next whatever the next problem is in the retail park so it'd actually be on that front-facing facade it won't be sort of connected to that little sort of overflow car park behind them no that's that's that's my understanding that's where it's going down yeah very good Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh thank you very much indeed for for speaking to us this morning good to hear that that has has been addressed that I mean and as you say the topic of public toilets in that organic has been a live one for a long time and I've no doubt there'll be various restaurants and cafes down that area we'd be very glad to hear that news as well no doubt yeah okay don't thank you very much it's our pleasure as always Jimmy Kavanaugh thank you very much indeed that that's Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh there speaking to us as we said the public toilets and that's in particular that changing places facility has now been approved and will be constructed at the retail park there beside the new look premises and also that discussion about the civic cemetery as we said way back when I remember Roy Green stayed on this program 10 years ago at least if not longer ago speaking about the time his mother sadly passed away and he did not have any way of of burying his mother in a non-denominational graveyard in Donegal as I recall he ended up bringing her to Derry and that was a matter of regret to him so it's an ongoing conversation it's a conversation that's been had before and it's a conversation that it's starting again and perhaps on this occasion given that we've had that discussion on that service plan what's now going to happen is the council officials have said they will take the issues that were raised by the councillors yesterday the service plan obviously is an overall document which states in general terms where the money is going to be spent and how it's going to make the promises made in the budget real what now happens is the council officials will go to the strategic policy committees discuss with councillors how they're going to implement and how they're going to move on the issues that the various councillors raised councillor cavern as we said raised that whole issue of the the civic cemetery there were also discussions on the need to improve the fire service particularly on offshore islands there was a discussion about public lighting in towns and villages both in terms of the making sure it's maintained and working and also in certain areas councillor kennedy made the point that you know we could be returning to more elegant looking black lamps with period style lampshades even though they have led lights that public lighting doesn't have to be big huge ugly monstrosities also discussions about the funding of roads and other issues as well just a few comments that have come in before we go for a break a caller says a lot of cemeteries in northern ireland are run by the various different district councils this has been the case for several decades most of these cemeteries are catholic church church of ireland or presbyterian by origin and a combination of all three but they're now run by local district councils that's san jim johnson and i know the city cemetery in dairy dairy city council has certainly got a role in running the city cemetery in dairy because if ever there's to be a closure of city cemetery for whatever weather or whatever that notification comes not from a church it comes from dairy city council um and another caller says great news about the cemeteries but let's remember when these graveyards are run by the councils there are closing times people will not be able to visit when they like often in bad weather they're also closed let's be careful what we wish for and yeah and that's just the point i made that sometimes dairy city council will close the city cemetery in dairy now it won't do so without good reason i'm sure but um yeah you know if now as i said this this debate's been going on for well over uh 10 years um and i i think we're at the the point at this stage where we will you know it's not going to happen tomorrow we will not be seeing civic cemeteries developed in in dunny gall tomorrow or the next day i would imagine it's it's we're talking years more than months but you know it's a discussion we've had several times it's never gone anywhere perhaps this time the discussion will will actually go a little bit further than it has done in the past it's the nine till noon show on highland radio it's donal cavena with you from now until as the name suggests 12 noon we're gonna take a short break back after these watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the nine till noon show brought to you by bluebird care providing nurse led home care services in dunny gall call bluebird care 91 295 62 and bring care home mcdade's bathroom plumbing and tiles serving the northwest for over 40 years explore our showroom with more than 40 displays choose from an array of shower doors shower trays baths and bathroom accessories speak with an expert about tile selection and wall paneling we also stock an array of plumbing heating and stove spare parts as well as a great selection of kitchen mixers and radiators at our trade counter our stove department is also available for you to choose a style that suits your needs and compliments your home mcdade's bathroom plumbing tiles bunkrana we're here for you if you're having any hearing difficulties at dunny gall hearing clinic we can help if your hearing loss is slight but you want to look into it or it's got to the point where you have no other choice we'll do what it takes to resolve your problem it may be as simple as a wax removal dunny gall hearing clinic pierce road letter kenny and milltown business park bunkrana call us on 07491 88470 or visit dunnygallhearingclinic.ie life sounds brilliant with dunnygall hearing clinic letter kenny and bunkrana this is the 90 million show on highland radio it's donal cavena with you on tail noon now we're joined in studio by charlie boil who's the CEO of the customer service excellent excellence Ireland charlie great to see you this morning and you're very welcome indeed to the program right um i'm gonna actually charlie can i ask you to pull that mic over to yourself i'm having difficulty with the mic you're on at the moment i do apologize for this actually right okay if you um right we'll just i think we'll get that yeah we have it i think we have it now yeah okay all right absolutely that's excellent um so charlie you're the CEO of the customer service excellent Ireland and there is a feeling abroad that in the past couple of years customer service and hospitality in particular has disimproved um the onset of covid possibly having something to do with that what's your take on this yeah well we actually conducted a survey there in recent weeks we we shared it with you there yesterday and that again the anecdotal evidence would suggest that as well now against huge challenges it must be said you know hospitality and retail were both had by covid many would suggest you know in a stronger way than other sectors so they have they have been challenged i suppose then the question that we put out in a survey the survey that we conducted uh nationally in january just in the last few weeks is has it disimproved since the onset of covid so has the last two years you know seen that disimprovement because we're probably a year out from covid and we're getting back to you know what many will refer to as this new normal whenever that's going to be and it's it's there they're too huge the important sectors retails the biggest employer in ireland and you know followed by the importance of hospitality and tourism so the evidence on the survey that we've carried out would suggest that yes you know with hospitality and tourism 77 percent of those surveyed suggested that it's disimproved and in retail 67 percent of those you know in relation to to retail and their experience with it would say that it is disimproved now what we haven't gone on to is to see how big is that disimprovement but by and large you know it would suggest that there is a disimprovement over the last number of years could this partly be down to the fact that maybe some people are more nervous now going out that in the past it was nothing just to walk through a crowded shop particularly on a saturday or whatever and you wouldn't be thinking a lot of people now will be walking through shops and if there's a big crowd and if they're sort of jostling and jostling through they're not going to be quite as comfortable as they might have been three years ago and could that be feeding into this to a certain extent it could be but i would i would imagine that that would have been more relevant last year or maybe 18 months ago so we're getting we're getting confidence back we're getting we're all getting confidence back and going into malls what seems to have been suggested from the sort of vr2 areas one staffing levels because in hospitality tourism and in the retail sectors you know it was impacted by again the term that's that's widely used there of this thing of the great resignation people left work they went to work elsewhere some people were paid off and they went you know maybe to work in healthcare or other areas that there was a greater demand and they didn't come back so the two the two areas that we're seeing low staff levels 37% of people surveyed suggested that the staff levels are too low both in hospitality and in the retail sector and lack of training comes up at 56% because what you're seeing is a lot of new people entering both of those sectors and perhaps not necessarily getting the training that that is required because you know we're living in what is now the experience economy we're looking for greater experiences than we ever looked for before so we're not just going in for food at a certain price or clothes at a certain price there's no overall experience at play and that's the same in any sector that could be in engineering it could be in healthcare and if the level of staffing is not at the level that it needs to be at plus the level of staff who are properly trained well both of those will cause a deficiency and therefore you know there's an impact negatively on the customer experience or the patient experience or the guest experience whatever that may be so it's not a doomsday situation it's not a doom and gloom it's actually there's a huge opportunity there's an opportunity to look at the numbers critically and to you know listen to what you know the surveys are saying low staff numbers levels is going to be a challenge but lack of training shouldn't be a challenge because there is an awful lot of support out there and there are structures in place you know people like retail Ireland create fantastic apprenticeships you know the skills skill net programs skills to advance by the likes of the e-tbs there are programs there that will fund and support training but and I suppose the challenge for the owners it's very very easy to blame and it shouldn't be about blame you know sometimes we look to see who's to blame here but certainly for the owners you know just to make them aware that training supports are available and it those training supports can be very agile it could be two three hour sessions that could do you know make a 20 impact and improvement on you know the overall performance it just seemed though that there are times when retail and retail workers don't necessarily get if I can put a bluntly the respect they deserve remember having a conversation with someone in here a while ago and we were saying you know if there was 50 jobs announced in a factory or in a office setting it would be a big huge news story if 50 jobs are announced in retail it's like yeah there's 50 jobs in a shop and there's almost a sense and I think it changed during COVID when people suddenly realized hang on a tick there are people working in the supermarkets every day there are people making sure that when I go out to get my milk or my bread or my dinner or whatever there are people there to serve it to me and I think there was a more rounded appreciation of people in the retail sector during COVID maybe that's sort of starting to ease back up it now and maybe what we need to do societally is have more respect for those who work in retail because it is at times a damn hard job to do without question and you know the statistic would say that in the private sector retail is the biggest employer the other significant thing about retail retail is not focused on one area finance for example maybe focused on the Dublin you know the square mile in Dublin retail isn't every parish it's in every island it's in every rural area in Ireland so it's spread out so the 300,000 jobs are spread out retail and sometimes hospitality and tourism are sometimes seen as jobs until I get a real job and it shouldn't be seen like that because there are serious careers within retail hospitality and tourism and people like retail Ireland are creating now degrees in retail management you know you can do an apprenticeship which takes you up to the second last second year of a degree course by working in retail so the pathways to progress within retail are huge you know jobs that are that are paying 60 70,000 you know area manager positions which are really two years away from from working in the shop and they're absolutely right the respect that that essential retail workers got during COVID you know it was they were like front-line staff so as opposed to what what the stats are saying in this survey is that yes it's disimproved but let's see that as an opportunity it's very easy to be critical don't be critical you know I think the customers have a have a have a part to play in this as well I think at times we feel we're a bit too entitled you know there's been a lot of damage with COVID owners are trying really really hard to get their staff levels back up we need to give them a wee bit of slack we may not get the service we got two three years ago but when they adjust and you know if they come back and look at the issues like training and staff levels we can take it back up and I think Ireland needs to own this really internationally you know we promise 100,000 welcomes it's it's the only strap line in the world that you know can't meet a fault it's a big big brag it's a big ask so if we're creating a you know an expectation we we need to match and exceed it as well so you know it's it's an area of focus certainly for the months ahead that you know the statistics that we've come up with yes they're alarming but they're not alarming that we pull the blanket over our heads it's very very opposite let's let's get up and do something positive in terms of the training you've been discussing there how does that get disseminated and who runs it are we talking about doing it through the chambers are we talking about doing it through read Ted Ireland doing it directly through government perhaps through one of the the the training agencies what what's the pathway to that training to ensure that it gets to the widest possible number of people yeah I think I think it's a really good question I mean training is available not all training is free there should always be a contribution by by the owner and provider but it's it there should never seem to be just a cost you know what we would always talk about what's the cost of not doing it you know so the investment is very very small the likes of retail Ireland are there to help they're actually based here in letter Kenny the retail Ireland skillnet is based down in the co-lab but you know any other agency sometimes it's agile training sometimes it's only training of the likes of three hours companies like ourselves provide training we can work it around what what the the owner of the customer needs and take the training to where the trainees are you know this thing of pulling them away to a college and you know logistically it's about you know doing it and the premises work based learning is a big one now as well so short courses and then a lot of their learning is done in the workplace so yeah it's clearly available and a lot of the time funded as well finally Charlie in terms of the the findings are you confident that that with that training with perhaps more public awareness that when we come back in a year's time in January February of 2024 and discuss the situation that we will see better figures in terms of the research no I'm not confident I'd be confident that any business that does it will have that impact but sometimes we are very very slow you know go into the field of training and putting it in you know no other no other sector I suppose does less than than the sectors that we've looked at here and statistically that would be true we're just we're just not doing enough we're doing it at the management level of it but you know frontline staff training is something that is lagging behind but to answer the question those companies that do invest in it will see a change of 30 40 percent in terms of performance and that relates to the bottom line so it's of economic benefit to do so and are you getting the feel from the retail sector that they are going to buy into this and they do want to tackle this because I'm sure any provider be it in retailer be it in hospitality they're going to be concerned by those figures because they're looking to at building up their own post-covid business again many places starting from a slightly lower base particularly in the hospitality sector which faced huge closures and certain elements of retail obviously face major closures over the course of the COVID as well so it's I suppose in their interest as they're building back up and they're building back up and we're still really less than a year out of COVID if arguably we're out of COVID at all we're just living with it as you said in that new normal so from their point of view they're going to I'm sure need that boost and they'll recognize they need the boost in order to get them back to where they want to be yes yeah we are seeing that mean January has been our busiest month for the last four years in terms of tenders that are coming in so that's tenders coming in from both hospitality in the retail sector for agile short courses and customer service and some of the more longer term as well so so this is not news you know retailers and hospitality sectors both of them can be credited with one thing is they often look at the reality very very honestly and they'll tackle it so there have been quite a few tenders out and you know we've secured work before Christmas for the year ahead in this area of training and development a couple of comments coming in that'd be before I let you go colleges I've worked in the shop and as a waitress and since COVID the abuse we've taken has definitely increased and the excuse is oh it's mental health there is never any excuse for lack of manners and I do agree that the level of staff training that's given in many places is ridiculous other courses customers are not talking with their feet I hate those self-service tills I pay good money to shop in the store and I expect a good customer service that's an interesting one the the self-service tills where do you sit on those ones I I would agree with that I would agree with the caller I mean you know the statistics are that in the future skills you know there have been so many future skills reports done in the last three or four years and they point out the following the breakdown of the skills for the future that we require our product knowledge 37% so if you're working in retail you need about 37% of the product knowledge there digital skills only at 14% and human skills at 49% so here we are in a digitally disrupted environment economy are we pushing it too far digitally are we getting people to go on apps are we getting people to go to self-service yes it speedens it up but at what price so not everybody wants to go digital and you know people still want the human contact but you can have both you know the digital is there to enhance the human touch not to replace it and I think what we've done as we always do is we go too far one way and then we leave the other but 49% of the skills of the future are in the area of human skills so the last caller is absolutely right if she doesn't like self-service and if there's not if there's not another option there to to deal with human she or he will go elsewhere there's no question about that and really it's a matter of the big fear is always going to be that eventually what we will see are completely self-service shops we're already seeing now you can there's a number of petrol stations filling stations here in Donegal and around the country yeah where you go you tap in what you want you then put in your credit card you pay for it then you pump it then you drive away and you don't see a person yeah and that can happen but I think I think there's been a lot of scare mongering that we're going to be dealing only with robots now you know the the issues there are the digital does work we're we all love our digital we get up in the morning we check their news you check out how many k you've walked this morning I think it was five point five fair play to you and you know the digital is all we all buy into it but it's like balance balance is so so important and those petrol stations you know save somebody being there overnight but it's about putting the human then into a more responsible role so let the digital do the things that are perhaps you know not needed by a human but make sure that we get the humans that we're working in those roles and get them into a more responsible role overseeing managing contacting with the customer and given you know what the statistics would say is that 49 percent of the skills of the future are going to be human skills so we can't all fall into this thing that we're all going digital you know only 14 percent of the skills of the future are seen to be digital so we're forgetting that things like compassion and communication and empathy and leadership are still there to be trained even in the digitally disrupted world Charlie Boyle it's been a pleasure thanks very much indeed for speaking to us Charlie the CEO of the customer service excellence Ireland the surveys have found that the perception is the customer service in retail and tourism hospitality has disimproved since 2020 looking at ways of countering that Charlie thank you very much indeed thanks so much thank you the best music on your station bluebird care our hiring nurses and carers are crossed on a call call 9 1 2 9 5 6 2 bluebird care our sponsors of today's show new me new kia life's too short so spoil yourself go on your worth it with certain kia models available for immediate delivery don't let your neighbor outshine you 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Highland radio weather updates with Ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family flight to alley county Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote, New York and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland west airport don't just take off take it easy and looking at the weather forecast on this Tuesday morning and mitharen are telling us this morning that it'll be cool and breezy with sunny spells and scattered showers top temperatures eight or nine degrees celsius feeling cooler in fresh and gusty westerly winds strong at times particularly on the coast tonight clear spells and showers merging longer spells of rain with a chance of hail lowest overnight temperatures three to five degrees celsius fresh and gusty westerly winds strong at times particularly in coastal areas tomorrow breezy at first showers are longer spells of rain through the morning the showers and winds will steady east through the day highest temperatures on wednesday seven or eight degrees celsius the nine tonne in show with bluebird care providing home care services for all ages and done it all visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home at Ulster bank our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts along with some of our branches at this time if your notice period and your deadline has passed your account is now queued for closure all personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching you must take urgent action if you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support please contact us immediately visit ulsterbank.ie your local branch or call 0818 210 260 call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free. Ulsterbank Ireland DAC is regulated by the central bank of Ireland. Dunstores Double Savers gives you lots of ways to shrink your bill saving the aisles with half price on a range of starbucks and nescafade dolce gusto coffee pods or treat yourself to half price on a selection of Nestle chocolate bar four packs like kitkat chunky and milky bar and do laundry for less with half price comfort fabric conditioner 55 to 56 wash range then save again at the till with our 10 or 50 grocery vouchers shrink your grocery bill with double savers dunstores always better value terms and additions apply that you can be used on next in store grocery shop with 50 or or more this is the nine till noon show on highland radio it said donal standing in for Greg on the program this morning now there's a lot of talk about renting and evictions and we know at the moment that there is a ban on evictions so people cannot be asked to leave their homes however that is going to change in the coming days and i'm joined on the line by martin martin good morning to you i'm very well indeed martin you you've been renting in western eagle now for three years and you have been contacted by the owner with some important news tell tell tell us your story well i i moved down to the chmick award over three years ago uh to work uh with uh the company and i did have uh a phone call and emails stating that the owners were coming back uh for good because they were putting a lead child to school so we headed up for our premises uh asked that that we were notified in uh april and now we've we have been on to the council since april because there were no houses available and i have three small kids council weren't doing nothing for us at that stage they were turning out they're turning their backs to us every time we contacted them and it's only up until end of july did they give me an option was if i wanted to get on a council list i had to get up and job to get a house and they grew we had to be out of the house by the first september and a general woman now in fair peter she heard our circumstances and she told us now before we ever moved into our property that she would be moved back to her house for good in ireland uh on february 4th yeah she was hoping then that we would get started one way or another that the council would help us but we're still in the uh protecting that we're not getting no help uh i was down last wednesday and they told me that there were two houses in glendies available that now i never put glendies down on my option list yeah they told me to change my option to glendies what you did on wednesday i like to receive the phone call on friday we told that there were no houses at all and now i am reaching from oganelli and that's my hometown yeah and there are two houses uh vacant one over 10 years and they were just under it and our third one is coming up on the property now this week and i tell them that there's no houses at all yeah and all they all are fit to offer us was a voucher for a bnb and there's not a bnb that from glendies, sardra, nowhere we'll take a family on yeah and you have i understand been offered HAP that housing assistance program but the problem is actually finding a landlord finding someone that owns the house that's going to take HAP at the moment yeah or even not even HAP like i would pay any private as i go back to work but there's not even a private house out there and i was always stressed and everything else like we my partner ended up with miscarriage i ended up being sick and uh ended up then the car broke down i have no transport now because i'm out of work i can't fix the car or nothing yeah but you can i HAP lower the rock bottom and they're no help like my sister's a woman to take us in but that's even 12 us in a four bedroom house yeah and in terms of the council i mean is is are there issues with you were saying your your home area is duncanili but uh you couldn't get there is that because you didn't have duncanili down is that because duncanili is in a different electoral area to glendies i mean duncanili as far as i know isn't the dunny god electoral area glendies is in glendies electoral area is that part of the problem that that you're looking at different electoral areas you're looking at different districts of the county no that that don't seem to be really much of a problem there like um i'm in glendies the minute so it's a download council that takes over the glendies safe well there's different electoral areas i mean it's all the same council obviously but you've got a the the glendies electoral area their their base is in dunlow and they cover sort of dunlow denteys our dry electoral ward that area up towards quidore and the rosses then you've got the dunny goll electoral area that would really sort of start down south of the gubara say down for killi begs dunny goll town duncanili uh invert um mount charles and and and and those those areas so they're different electoral areas now i'm not sure if that has the certainly housing list figures are compiled for each electoral area now whether how easy it is to go from one to the other i'm not sure well now i know as far as i knew all long but because i'm in glendies it is don't know how to deal with us yeah and then once you go halfway through our dry dunny goll deal to that onwards towards quidia begs not yeah you know i was told over the phone way back there before christmas that caused our short circumstances that the council from dunlow and dunny goll were going to join together and help us right now after christmas now when i got back over on the phone to them because i fell on the means because it was over 2000 on the means to get on the list i was told by dunny goll that no we're not joining together yeah they did but they build their problem they build their hopes up and then just crushing them and like at the end of the day my my son's in school and it's going to affect his education because he's being pulled out of the school now tomorrow and trying to get transferred into another school and this is the problem as well yeah so i mean have you spoken to any of the councillors in the area i mean obviously there there are some very good councillors in in both the glendies and and the dunny goll electoral areas when have you managed to speak to any of the councillors because they very often councillors can help you just negotiate that maze of of officials and red tape that inevitably exists i have i have actually spoken to from glidor to the whole way up to kitty babes to that kenny actually come out for to every councillor now the only one that seems to be can help us for more pushing with me kenny which fair play to her like she has taken it far more up the ladder i even contacted the housing minister and double and i was kind of pushed back down the ladder again yeah and i even contacted you know martin and that and the same thing we're just kind of the people in dunny goll had just been forgotten about and i don't think that's right like so where to now i mean what's your situation at the moment the the house you've been in you have been asked to vacate by tomorrow because the owner is moving back yeah no i was no before we moved into this house she did state that she was moving back into the house on the 4th of february before we actually moved in yeah to the house so you can understand that side of it like yeah but tomorrow i will be moving back to company and to new sister's house and that'll leave us 12 in the house yeah and obviously that that's that's neither good for yourself and your family nor for your sister and her family not none because as it is like it's affecting my relationship with my partner because we're stressed out that much yeah we don't know what we're going we don't know what for us we didn't know no far way for me on the streets yeah or what and they get cited even questions for for our own housing for a wage yeah only for the generosity with people out there they had kids not helping us a wee bit they came for a champion that's always my kids will woke up with nothing that's the kind of situation where we're left yeah martin the sad thing is that there are other people in in the same situation as yourself and is it your fear that if you then move into your sister you know that the council's view will be that's okay he sorted we can move on it is because probably we can't live in a four bedroom house we're really like it's gonna be me the partner and the three kids can be living in one bedroom that's the situation right now at the minute yeah that's not good for nobody so from the point of view then of your your next move i mean as you say you're moving to your sisters and that will be uh in the coming you know in in the the coming days you're obviously going to have to keep on trying with the council to see what can be done in terms of getting you a house is it your hope that you will be able to get a house through the council be it in let your be it in donkneely or or be it in in glintland east yeah well i really am hoping to be honest because i'm not gonna start like i'm not gonna stop the land are going to the council office and seeing every day if i have to yeah what should be available and i'm plus in terms of work you were saying that you were in a situation where the council had it has been suggested to you that you give up your job um in in terms of that i mean are you going to go back to work or or what what situation are you in there well as far as i have been told the council until i either get get a homeless half yeah then i can go back to work and i really want to go back to work yeah i don't like sitting home to be honest right and no one does i mean everyone wants you know the dignity of work everyone is really going to want to be in a situation where you know they are in work and and they are earning money and they're able to provide for their family and so on everybody really does want that and and it seems totally unfair that anyone will be put in a position where it's effectively suggested that that they would actually you know leave work just in in order to get a house i mean it's almost like you're being punished for having a job and you're being punished for working exactly and it's not fair because it's not just affecting me yeah it's affecting kids in late Martin all all i can say is i mean you know i i i really hope that you do get to a situation where things are are resolved for you um it seems very difficult situation to be in and no one should be in that situation all we can do Martin is wish you well and do keep keep us informed as to what's happening oh i won't keep you informed and fairness i won't keep you informed but we get off hard it's going to have to be recognized yeah because it's just not fair Martin we wish you all the best and thank you very much indeed no problem thank you very much now okay okay it's uh just gone to the clock and it's time to take a break for the news and the obituary notices voice your station live on air online and on the Highland radio app this is Highland radio news good morning i'm akilah clark with the news at 10 o'clock the government has admitted a legal strategy was in place to deal with a section of people overcharged for nursing home care the attorney general has said to probe allegations that the state denied payment of refunds to people illegally charged nursing home fees the strategy was allegedly introduced so the government didn't have to pay 12 billion euro in liability and compensation roshan short all social democrats joint leaders served as minister of state for primary care between 2011 and 2012 she says she was not aware of the plan to keep payments quiet and that only a select few seem to have known about it certainly seems that the memo that we've read about now was agreed by a very small number of senior ministers obviously it was brought by then minister for health james reilly and then it was the four senior ministers and the government at the time who seemed to sign off on this so it was kept very tight just would appear dunagall needs more burial spaces that's according to cancer jimmy cavena who says churches are fast running out of space for burial plots dunagall county council yesterday adopted its service delivery plan with the need for more burial places in the county particularly non-denominational public cemeteries highlighted during discussions countercavena says particularly for the minority groups in society a plan needs to be put in place in some cases these are people who you know have maybe worked as doctors in that in the hospital for 30 more years of the life given the whole life of the little county and then when it comes to the to the situation where they have to be buried there's no one for them and that's not right and you know that needs to be addressed equally you mentioned people have no denomination and all those things have to be addressed the hse has confirmed that the council on the core day service and in a show continues to operate at reduced capacity the service is still awaiting the appointment of a manager and staff nurses in a statement the hse says all efforts continue to be made to recruit the required staff in order to facilitate the opening of the cash on the core day service safely and at full capacity dunagall county council has been tasked to investigate illegal dumping in glentes in recent days six banks of rubbish were dumped at a bottle bank in the area the glentes community development group have described it as another shameless act they say they have contacted the council to clear the rubbish and to investigate the contents of the bag the group has warned that with our major investment and improvements to the site the future of the bottle bank at its current location may be in jeopardy dunagall county council is being urged to carry out road improvements on a route leading to one of the county's biggest tourist attractions county jack Murray is calling for work to be carried out to facilitate the large volume of traffic being generated by wild arland he believes the long-term plan needs to be in place i think in the long term we're going to need to widen that road up to wild arland wild arland has taken everybody's surprise and the success and the amount of people that are bringing through so it's been shown i think now at this point the second only to glen vee and the numbers that it brings in so we don't want visitors coming getting stuck in traffic or any danger going in there like this is this is a real jewel in our tourism offering there's been a 16 decrease in the number of new startup businesses in dunagall latest figures show irish startups have hit a six-year low there was a total of 21,637 new company startups in 2022 the lowest on record since 2016 economic uncertainty rising inflation and a cost of living crisis have been cited as reasons for the decline the obituary notices this Tuesday morning January for whether or not cool and breezy today with sunny spells and scattered showers highest temperature of eight or nine degrees at elster bank our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts along with some of our branches at this time if your notice period and your deadline has passed your account is now queued for closure all personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching you must take urgent action if you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support please contact us immediately visit ulsterbank.ie your local branch or call 0818 210 260 call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free. Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is regulated by the central bank of Ireland. The obituary notices this Tuesday morning January 31st the death has taken place of Anne Rogers, Nick Hannon, Johnstone Scotland and formerly of Farragans Letter Mac Award funeral mass at St Aidan's Church Johnstone at 10 a.m on Saturday morning funeral may be viewed on the church's live stream the death has occurred of Ailish Tinney formerly of Dunhamore House, Dunhamore Castle Finn and recently of Tonroghi, Bailey Shannon her remains are opposing at the residence of Elaine Gavigan Tonroghi, Bailey Shannon removal from there this evening at 5 p.m going to St Mary's Church Castle Finn for 6 p.m to oppose overnight funeral mass tomorrow at 12 noon with burial immediately afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the death has taken place of Sally Barony McBride, Carrick Skin, Dairy Bag remains opposing at Rorty's funeral home Dairy Bag today from 2 p.m to 6 30 p.m removal afterwards to St Mary's Church Dairy Bag for 7 p.m to oppose overnight funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 a.m with interment afterwards in Mahurgallan Cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on Cairn Rorty Funeral Director's Facebook page Family Flowers Only Please donations in lieu to the Donegal Hospice the death has occurred at 24 Abbey Village Kilmachranon of Michael Dordy Jack formerly of Mahiraird, Bailey Liffon Clommaney his remains are opposing at his sister Anne and brother-in-law Joseph's residence 6th Thornhill Park Dairy funeral from there traveling via Quigley's Point tomorrow morning at 10 45 a.m going to St Mary's Church Clommaney for rakeway and mass at 12 noon with interment immediately afterwards in the adjoining cemetery Family Flowers Only Please donations if desired to St Colm Kill Village Clay Clommaney care of any family member or McFeely funeral directors family time please from 10 p.m to 11 a.m Michael's funeral mass can be viewed live on churchservices.tv the death has taken place of Robinson Crawford Main Street Ballantraa his remains are opposing at his late residence removal from there this afternoon for 2 p.m funeral service in St John's Church Rosnaula with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery house private please before the funeral today family flowers only donations if desired to the northwest hospice care of any family member or Jackie Karen funeral director the death has taken place of Sarah McFadden Killa Karen Chrysler County Donegal her remains are opposing at her late residence removal from her home this evening to arrive at St Michael's Church Chrysler at 6 p.m to repose overnight funeral mass in St Michael's Church tomorrow at 11 a.m burial afterwards in Doe Cemetery mass can be viewed on mcnmedia.tv the death has taken place of Eddie George Sweeney Golan Milford remains reposing at his home funeral mass tomorrow at 12 noon in St Bridget's Church Golan burial afterwards in Milford Cemetery rosary tonight at 9 p.m family flowers only donations if desired to the renal unit letter Kenney University Hospital care of Patrick Sweeney funeral directors the death has taken place of Margaret Turish Ney Sheridan of Balli Bows Chrysler County Donegal her remains are opposing at her late residence funeral mass in St Michael's Church Chrysler today at 12 noon burial afterwards in Doe Cemetery mass can be viewed on mcnmedia.tv family time please before the funeral today family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to the friends of letter Kenney University Hospital care of any family member or James Hargan funeral director the death has occurred of Dermott Donohue 73 Balli McAluid letter Kenny Dermott's remains are opposing at his late residence funeral from there this morning for rakeway mass at 11 a.m in St Julian's Cathedral letter Kenny followed by cremation in Lakeland's crematorium County Cavern at 3 30 p.m house private please before the funeral today funeral mass can be viewed live on ChurchServices.tv the death has occurred of Pat McGee Ballin Temple Falkara reposing at his late residence house private on the morning of the funeral mass this morning at 11 a.m in St Finan's Church Falkara with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on mcnmedia.tv or on the Sweeney funeral director's Facebook page the death has occurred of Bobby Byrne 54 Balli Mungan Road Kiliter Castle Derg funeral from the family home this morning at 10 15 a.m for rakeway mass at 11 a.m in St Patrick's Church Ahyarn interment afterward in the adjoining churchyard family flowers only please for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highlandradio.com and you're welcome back to the second hour of the nine till noon show this morning just some of your comments quilt you should be stopped from buying land by voucher funds we will lose our parks and wildlife our walks through nature are good for your mental health and for your soul that's an ongoing discussion and we did hear minister Charlie McConnell promised at the weekend that landowners and those who know the land will be consulted on that deal that quilt you have with Gresham holdings that venture capital funding the only way to short the issues surrounding the anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland at the moment is to hold a referendum asking should there be a limit to the number of people Ireland accepts we know many people are entering Ireland in order to get access to Great Britain so says a caller we were discussing earlier the lack of a civic cemetery in Donegal and a caller asks we can get a pet crematorium why can't we get a human one in Donegal I know there was an application for a crematorium near manner Cunningham but that particular application was turned down by the council caller says let's hope it doesn't take as long to get the new municipal cemeteries as it did to get public toilets at the retail park another corner on that issue of public toilets caller says Enes Skillan is a town I'm often in it's a town of around 12,000 people far smaller than letter Kenny yet Enes Skillan has four sets of immaculately maintained public toilets provided and maintained by Fermanah and Oma district council this is in stark contracts to letter Kenny a town of around 24,000 people which has none and indeed I was in Enes Skillan on a short break the year before last and I have to say I concur with with the caller because I had occasion to use the toilets just opposite the castle there that car park and yes indeed very well maintained indeed shops are to blame for a lot of the lack of skill and service so says a caller I have noticed my mum used to go to the shop for a daily we chat with the shopkeeper as much as for buying bread on the newspaper now it's all about rush rush rush each person through as quickly as they can because instead of three people working there there's one just look at some of the bigger supermarkets you think they're on a timer to get the customer through the till now I think in fairness the customers are also on a bit of a rush to get through the till and one thing you will not get in your big supermarkets is people having a chat with the person behind the tail and I think that that holds through in most of the supermarkets and even I think if someone is chatting with the person behind the tail in the bigger supermarket somebody else in a queue behind is going to start muttering I think that's the situation in the bigger supermarkets they're completely different to the smaller shops and they do operate at a much smaller slower pace caller says the health service doesn't need to do something about minor injuries I sat with my partner yesterday for five and a half hours to get an x-ray another lady had been sitting there for seven and a half hours when we left she was still there I never heard numbers for yesterday for the hospital but the emergency department was jam packed inside now there there has been this ongoing debate about primary care centers and one of the things that we're told about the primary care centers and we've seen some really good centers open recently in mcranagh in newton conningham and and there's other primary care centers opening around the county the idea in the long term as I understand it is that you will get things like radiology and x-rays and things like that in those centers and ultimately you will get more and more people not having to go to the hospital at the moment if someone needs an x-ray they're sent to the hospital if they need to be assessed for anything they're sent to the hospital the more you can assess people in primary care centers the more you can assess people in their own communities the less you have to send them to hospital and then that leaves the hospital open for people who are presenting with injuries that have got to be treated in the ed that's the theory and hopefully we will see that more and more come into practice in the weeks and months and years ahead and there's an ongoing discussion about that and is launching care the answer it may be part of the answer is it the whole answer I'm not at all convinced but we will wait with interest because just like the poor in the bible these issues are always it seems going to be with us unless a minister can really get to grips with the balance that's needed between the emergency department the primary care centers care in the community care in the hospital and get a situation where because I've said this before when I remember I interviewed Brendan Drumm who was the first chief executive of the HSE I was at the inaugural meeting of the HSE's regional forum the one that councillor Jerry McGonigal chairs now I was at that initial meeting at Merlin Park in Galway many years ago at 15 16 years ago at least I'd say and Brendan Drumm was the CEO of the HSE at the time and what he kept on pushing pushing pushing at the meeting and in an interview I did with him afterwards was taking people out of the hospital and putting them into the community taking people out of the hospital and treating them in the community that was the big thing has it ever really successfully happened that is a question that I fear the answer is at best qualified the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland radio it's time for NCBI bingo on Highland radio it's Tuesday the 31st of January you're playing on the brown sheet the reference number is s2 it's game number 5 the numbers are 38 32 72 80 41 81 49 3 83 and finally 8 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leave in your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at Highland radio dot com guess what what Larkins of new mills are offering an early bird special for only 695 Monday to Friday from 12 p.m to 4 p.m a full menu is available 7 days per week along with daily lunch specials call in any time to Larkins of new mills or phone 07 4 9 1 2 6 6 7 9 and let our family look after yours the 9 till noon show brought to you by bluebird care providing nurse led home care services and donnie goll call bluebird care 9 1 2 9 5 6 2 and bring care home and you're welcome back to the 9 till noon show on Highland radio and now in association with sherd and security systems i'm delighted to say it is time for the community garden slot joined in studio this morning by sergeant you union mulch unit good morning donal good morning how are you i'm very well indeed thank you you're welcome and we're going to start this morning union with a burglary at the miltown business park in the bunker yes donal this is a burglary which occurred last Tuesday night Wednesday morning in a delicatessen shop in the miltown business park area of bunkrana so sometime between 6 p.m last Tuesday evening and 10 a.m on Wednesday morning when the owner of the shop went open discovered that the premises have been broken into the entry was grained via the rear door and an implement was used to gain entry unfortunately a sum of money was stolen from the property so we're appealing for anybody who may have observed any suspicious activity in or around the miltown business park area of bunkrana between the dates and times again last Tuesday evening at 24 6 p.m and Wednesday morning 25th 10 a.m to contact the guard at bunkrana 0749320540 and again if you don't feel comfortable contacting your localist guard at station please please feel free free to contact the guard at confidential line 1-800-66-1 also uh on that in that time at Tuesday night into Wednesday morning an incident at the guard the ESB at the ESB at the ESB substation at lurgiebrack in erkenney yes this again on the same date uh donal a break in a test from an ESB substation at the top of lurgiebrack there at the top of the hill coming out of the Erkenney again this occurred between 7 p.m last Tuesday 24th and 8 a.m on Wednesday the 25th entry was grained to the yard and a number of items were stolen a quantity of copper wire a black blue colored bosh grinder and a black bosh impact wrench obviously due to location the location of the um the substation donal we obviously transport would have been used by the people involved and we're again repealing for anybody who noticed anything suspicious in the location within the time frame to contact the guard at Erkenney 0749167100 again the substation is located along the busy stretch of road at the top of lurgiebrack and it would be unusual to see any sort of activity in around a substation at night time so again anybody who passed at the night time and who has dashcam to make a day footage available to guard the in leverkenney obviously anyone driving to or from ball of a face to norner dunning old town that's like a road basically it would be driving right past it there was a period some years ago when thefts of copper wire in particular were quite frequent um i haven't heard about that for a while this is the first time we've heard of the copper now for a while yes it is yes again it was more frequent years ago but again it's it's something that's going to be prevalent again and coming back in so we're again repealing for the information on the police and as well too of course if anyone's offered those tools for sale yes and this alleged assault in the pierce road area of leverkenney yes this appears to be an unprovoked assault on a young male uh donal which occurred last wednesday evening the 25th of january between 5 55 p.m and 6 p.m so sometime in the evening of last wednesday on the pierce road area of leverkenney a male person had been assaulted by two men who were unnoted him he suffered uh some injuries fortunately they're not life threatening and again we're appealing for witnesses in the matter no description is available at this time we are trolling ccdv but anybody who's in the area at a time and saw maybe two males walking along to contact the gary again at leverkenney 0 7 4 9 1 6 7 100 staying in leverkenney and a car fire in the area of dubala yes this is again last turds tonight at approximately 11 57 p.m so just before midnight last turds at the 26th gary at leverkenney uh were littered to the fact that the car was on fire at dubala leverkenney a silver Toyota was on the hard shoulder of the main litterkenney to balba fae road and poxby 1.5 miles the other side of lurgie brack and gary d and the fire services attended the scene and the car was engulfed in flames upon the arrival again we believe that the damage to the car was suspicious the car was sitting fire deliberately and we're appealing for any road users who had a dashcam and traveled on the end 13 again between leverkenney strunauer between 11 30 p.m and 11 55 p.m on the date to make the footage available to gary litterkenney please or again anybody who's or any relevant information to contact us at 0 7 4 9 1 6 7 100 against staying in litterkenney an incident that took place yesterday yes this is a damage to a car donor which occurred on darties laying on the port road there there again sometimes sunday night monday morning between the hours of 7 30 a.m and 9 p.m sorry on the monday the owner of the car had parked up for the day to go on a bus journey and when they arrived back to the car in the evening unfortunately the rear driver side window had been smashed nothing had been stolen from the car but again the damage was caused and we're appealing for anybody who may have any relevant information again to contact us at litterkenney 0 7 4 9 1 6 7 100 the theft of a Volkswagen Tiguan Jeep in Tloughfinn in Tloughfinn Castlefinn donal uh monday morning the 30th of january so sunday night morning morning approximately 1 a.m a gray Volkswagen Tiguan orline Jeep partial registration number e f 6 8 that's e f 6 8 was stolen from a yard in Tloughfinn the yard is situated in close proximity to cladley bridge so again we're appealing for any road users who had dashcam and who traveled in that area around the time to make the dashcam available to us and again anybody who has any sightings of the stolen Jeep are aware of the current word about the contact to Kenny just to repeat that a partial reg e f 6 8 is that partial reg that's correct a great Volkswagen Tiguan Jeep there will be a lot of truck traffic on the road on saturday particularly balaba fe violator Kenny toward Chrysler yes this is a charity event that's that's planned for the victims of the Krishna tragedy and their families it's again it's part of the support and the healing mechanism for the people involved and it's planned for next saturday the fort so a large number of truckers are planning to drive from balba fe violator Kenny to Chrysler and returning to the silver tassie via the millford while raising funds for the victims of the Krishna tragedy and their families i've told at this stage that are over 200 trucks have registered for the event so the g are starting to congregate in Donegal road balba fe from 10 a.m. with a view to sleep balba fe at 1 p.m. so it's a large event due to the number of trucks involved and it's approximately 75 kilometers in length so to let people aware that it's going to happen and to expect traffic delays the trucks will travel through Strannhorter on to letter Kenny again into the pole star past the mountain over Carnamuga up the mountain top towards Kilmachrennan and through Terman and into Chrysler they will stop momentarily in Chrysler for a week to be laid at the explosion site and again after the after this is done that we were returning to the silver tassie in the McKinney via millford and again we're visimodalist to spec delays on the roads on the dating question if you have any plans on the day hospital appointments are going on hall is whatever please allow extra time for a journey we're giving this event our full support we live in hand at the locations along the route to assist with the traffic management and to provide an escort for the trucks again we'll be man and the maybe the major roundabouts to be pole star bunny ghee and killer us and those kind of areas mountain top so we will do our best to ensure the disruption is kept to a minimum but again don't know what an event at this scale there will be delays and asking people to be aware and plan ahead if the intention traveling on any of the routes on the day maybe people saying don't fanny hook harrick or the hork that direction if they were considering traveling his letter kenny on saturday afternoon into saturday evening perhaps just taking that slightly longer run around the back of ergal road around the back door and then do the back of ergal it might be a way of avoiding it and maybe coming to town a wee bit earlier before before the event starts um it seems every time we have a discussion on the program certainly every time i present and it seems most weeks break presents as well um there's at least one scam warning and this week is no different yes we actually had a community engagement event last night and one of our detectives gives a presentation on scams and things to look out for and it was very well received by the audience and there's a couple of more here that we just want people to be aware of the first one is the text message i actually got one myself to pretending to be from unpost we've been aware that a customs fee scam text message is once again doing their own's the text request that you pay a small amount of money in order for your parcel to be dispatched to you many of us regularly shop online and this text is sent in the hope that whoever receives it is awaiting the delivery of some sort and because the fee is slow that they will pay it and they'll also be thinking that maybe somebody of their family members has ordered something and using their telephone number as a delivery address and then you'll get the text message you know so the sole aim of the frost there is to obtain your debit card details the scam text message may appear in a genuine trade but unpost will never never send you a message containing a link when contact you about customs charges so be aware ignore the message and delete it straight away i got one myself on saturday your package cannot be delivered do you missing address you can update your address and request re-delivery and it gives a web a web page of iepostm.cfd as i said to my son i think that's probably i mean obviously you know no i mean it was so obviously and patently a scam but it is unpost it is what it's actually um down as yes and and and you know we associate unpost with you know integrity and honesty and of course you'll see a link to think oh this is genuine maybe it's somebody of son or daughter has ordered something and given my phone number on the contact details and i'll go and click and do it for them but again i remember here is someone say once that you know if you send a text like that and ask for 40 or 50 quid people think about it if you ask for 175 they'll pay it because you know if it's a small amount it's almost there's credence in a small amount but as you say it's not the one euro 50 is the is the target here the target is to get those bank details that's why that's why they're they're looking for a small amount is to fill you to think well if i only lose 175 it's no harm but it's not that they're gonna they'll get into your bank details and you'll lose more yeah and also scam text message is purporting to be from one of the energy supply yes this is a new one scam text messages purporting have been sent by an energy supply company are also in circulation again the text message requests the recipient to click on the link again to register to receive a rebate on their energy electricity bill we uh many people we're afraid are following victims of this due to the current energy prices and the cost of living and again do not click on the link do not provide financial or personal details simply delete the message again is the same old saying don't know if it sounds too good to be true usually yeah the other one that that's quite worrying is scammers again purporting to be from an energy company or whatever asking you to download a nap onto your phone yes again this is where your contact by your phone and you requested a nap be downloaded and again various reasons are given by the scammers for this request they often sound genuine and purport to be calling from a bank or other financial institution again the message is quite simple never ever download a nap onto your phone or any other device at the request of a stranger on the other end of the phone yeah once you've downloaded the app in question they have total control of your phone device they have access to all of your data and personal information so many people have all their personal details their bank details stored on their phone and again you will be a victim yeah and again it will it will appear on the face of it it will appear to to be genuine yes so be really really wary and again it's it's the age old thing I mean no bank no postal service no delivery company will ever ask you to click a thing for your text message it's quite simple do not respond to unsolicited text messages and do not click on any links contained in them yeah do not download an app onto any of your devices at the request of a caller especially an app that you've never heard of and again never ever provide any personal financial details over the phone by test messages or email simply delete unsolicited text messages and again we're asking your listeners don't want to advise other than the vulnerable family members and friends in relation to these and other types of gams and again if you fall on victim to any sort of scam please contact us the guard the and again your financial institution immediately the sooner you notify the sooner action can be taken sergeant union mulch thank you very much indeed thanks don't that's our community guard the slot they're presented to you in association with sharden security systems watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com bluebird care our hiring nurses and carers are crossed on a call call 91 295 6 2 bluebird care our sponsors of today's show the euro millions jackbutt is an estimated 65 million euro play responsibly in store in app or at lottery dot i the national lottery it could be you do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled have you tried various ways to find new staff but didn't succeed let highland radio help you source and fill your current vacancies in the most cost-effective way simply sign up to our new job spot and we will tell our listeners about your vacancies both on air and online every monday wednesday and friday during our prime time shows we will broadcast the latest job opportunities across the northwest and into county's dairy and tarot all job listings will be available online at highland radio dot com for more information contact the advertising team on 07 491 253 22 or email advertising at highland radio dot com highland radio we are here for you this is the night's noon show on highland radio just want to remind you that highland radio as part of irish music month on independent radio across the country is taking part in local hero talent search if you're in a band if you're releasing your own original music whatever genre it may be we want to hear from you be in with a chance to perform live here on highland radio play at a nationally broadcast event and win a prize pot of 10 000 euro we're looking for four acts that will feature on air on the night's noon show one of those acts will go on to represent highland radio on a nationally broadcast gig all four highland radio finalists will receive a total of 875 euro 650 euro for the band and 225 for the crew irish music month is promoting irish artists from every genre and from every county in ireland please don't miss out on the chance to take part in this and check our website and our socials for more information now i am going to go to line one because we're joined by councillor reena donahe reena good morning good morning donal how are you very well indeed councillor donahe an issue that we have discussed many times in the past is that of casual necor and the fact that the day service continues to operate at a reduced capacity you've been on to the hsc to try and get some clarification as to what the situation is what's what's the update yeah the center yeah you're right we have been on too many times about this unfortunately this center for people with disabilities donal have yet to increase to a five day a week service to all its users now this it has been closed for a long time and during covid 19 employees were redeployed on a number of occasions from cash in the car to a residential facility and then shown that experienced a significant uh covid outbreak and as i say that this happened on many occasions and the service was reduced then and and it did actually close for a long long long time uh we never had an outbreak in in cash in the car there was no covid infection in cash in the car although our staff as i say were redeployed so to operate at full capacity offering five day service we need a manager and two nurses as part of the staff so currently there is no manager and there is just one nurse trying to manage this all on her own albeit i am told that she is doing a great job all together now the center is for 40 people there's a few that are getting five days of it but it only is a few and it's it's certainly not acceptable i mean every conceivable effort needs to be made to return return cash in the car to its full capacity giving the users all of the users a five day week service and the hse they need to do a decent recruitment drive to raise staffing levels to allow the center to operate you know and they need to be offering decent conditions we always had a there the hse always had a a pool of staff to take from you know and in a crisis or in a case like this but this has long been depleted and we need to replenish this pool and if the right recruitment drive was made we would have people who would be on standby that only want to work a day or two here and there can i just i just want to share if i may i want to share the statement that we got from the hse it says the recruitment requirement is being followed up by the hr department on an ongoing basis however hiring staff remains an issue across services nationally and in this community health care area including initial all efforts continue to be made to recruit the required staff in order to allow services operate the cash in the core day service safely and at full capacity the hse apologized to the people who used the service and their families who've been impacted by the reduced service and the hse remains committed to having cash in the core resume to full capacity as quickly as possible is there enough urgency in that statement do you detect enough commitment from the hse based on what they're saying there to give you confidence donal i have been given that answer that same answer for over three years now that's the same answer that i am getting and the people who use cash on the core they are being looked after by elderly pensioner parents some of them in their 80s most of them there wouldn't be any under 70 people who need to be cared for themselves it's it's it's absolutely abysmal it really really is if the proper recruitment drives were being made we would get staff you know this is not satisfactory it's anything but it you know if children who go to school there is an obligation they must be in school if they are not in school after 20 days the authorities will land this is school for these adults but they don't have the same rules the same rules don't apply they can be off for months and months and months and nobody really seems to be concerned and it's just left on whoever is at home to look after them and even at best when they are getting two days they go they would leave the home at maybe um half nine ten o'clock in the morning and they're back again at four this is a very short day for the people at home because they have them then for the rest of the the evening and the rest of the the night until the next morning you know this is a satisfactory yeah and also from the point of view of the people that use the cash on the core service it's their social network it's it's where they meet friends it's it's where they meet their peers it's where they get involved in conversations it's where they have social interaction and when they're not getting that social interaction they're missing on something that that's really vital and there's an argument that says that social interaction is is a really key and crucial part of their development and when they're not getting it they're losing out big time yeah that's right absolutely and when they've been off for so long some of them um some of them kind of forget their whereabouts and when they get back again then they take them a while take you know to see where the toilet is again and to see where the playroom is and all of that and a few were offered home support during covid home support is not the answer they're not getting out as you say they're not getting out of their own environment they love they love this resocial outing the love haven't haven't haven't the dinner in the centers they love doing what they do you know there's it's a very very poor service that's been offered and as I say I have to I have to take off my hat to the nurse that is there now because I hear great reports about her altogether she's doing a great job but we need a manager and we need two nurses to be able to offer the five day a week now a lot of people would need one to one but in cash on the core now we need 21 with a lot of patients because they're getting older their their disabilities are their needs are becoming greater so it's 21 so to have 21 we must have two nurses and a manager have you any confidence that we'll see movement on this in the short term because as you said the answer we've got is the answer you've been getting for three years that would suggest that much as they're saying they remain committed and much as they say they're following it up on an ongoing basis there just doesn't appear to be that sense of urgency there there doesn't seem to be that sense that they're really pushing it and as you say perhaps the terms and conditions need to be looked at perhaps the wages need to be looked at perhaps the circumstances and the actual positions being offered need to be looked at I think there needs to be a multi-disciplinary approach to this and as you say everything needs to be looked at if they offered the right recruitment drive was there people would apply I mean we always did have a pool as I say we had a pool of workers and it was great if somebody was sick for a day if somebody was on you know when somebody goes on maternity leave people know that they're going on maternity leave you know so you make provision or if somebody's gone off for a month holidays or whatever you know that in advance and you make provision there's I mean our center was closed here and as I say we did not have a COVID outbreak but our staff were taken to other centers albeit yes residential centers but they should have had their own staff in the residential centers not not to have to close another center to accommodate elsewhere it's not it's anything but satisfactory and I think the right the right the needs as I say a multi-disciplinary set down and start with a bottom-up approach we've had this conversation in in the past I fear we will have this conversation again in the future but hopefully Councilor Ina Donahue we will see some movement on this and you know we will finally get that sense of urgency and that multi-disciplinary approach that obviously does need to be injected into this process but for the moment thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning thank you don't thank you bye bye bye that's that Councilor Ina Donahue there speaking to us from Bunkrana and as we said that issue of cash on the core it's one that's been discussed so often on the show and so often on the news and it obviously does come back to this whole issue of staffing as do so many of the issues with such services in and shown and indeed elsewhere in Donegal Brenda asks is there a scam Ray COVID tests yes Brenda and it's been highlighted on on the garthus lot several times over the past number of weeks and months as well effectively there there is one speaking from memory where you you will get a text from the HSE purporting to be from the HSE it's not from the HSE but you will get a text purporting to be from the HSE and it'll say something along the lines of you've been identified as a close contact you need to be tested click this link for more details and there'll be a link and usually the links are gobbledygook you'll get lines and dots and dashes and one eight four they won't make sense but even even if the link does make sense even if they've managed to get a link that even says hse.ie or whatever still do not click it I mean don't ever click a link that comes to you via a text because the HSE just simply does not do that and it they've made it quite clear they don't before we spoke to councillor Donahy I was talking telling you about the the Irish music search for a local hero what I forgot to mention was how to actually enter so what you do if you're going to enter the competition email music at Highlandradio.com sending a short bio and an mp3 of your original song and the closing dead for entries is this evening by the way so we need to get that into us by this particularly close of business this afternoon so Tuesday 31st of January which is today so if you can get a short bio on an mp3 into us then get onto the website and the socials and they'll give you more details but you can enter today be you a band be you a solo artist or whatever music at Highlandradio.com with a short biography and an mp3 of your song also while we're speaking about initiatives let's talk about the community hero because Highlandradio has joined up with iMotors to promote the community hero award the idea is to honour a neighbour family friend colleague or community supporter who's made an extraordinary contribution within their community someone that goes beyond the call of duty that helps their community cares in the community volunteers in the community works with older people or younger people the winner will receive a 231 Nissan Kashkai for 12 months so whoever wins the community hero award will get a 231 Nissan Kashkai to actually drive over the course of the next 12 months so well worth entering nominate now comments at Highlandradio or you can write in your nomination to Highlandradio mountaintop letter Kenny it's quarter to ten we're going to take a short break back with our next quarter after these Highlandradio your voice your station the nine tonne in show with bluebird care providing home care services for all ages and done it all visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home i've lost my car keys lost my car once in a multi-story lost my patience my hair lost that a while back but this week i found things i thought had gone forever the crackle of needle on vinyl leaves crunching i found them all at specksavers i got free hearing aids with prsi and now those sounds are back so is my drive to vive still can't find those keys though book a free hearing test today terms and conditions apply see our website for details the lotto jackpot is an estimated 2.8 million euro play responsibly in store in app or at lovry.ie the national lottery it could be you Highlandradio weather updates with Ireland west airport Sala Nunes the Beatles you can now fly to Liverpool eight times a week with Ryanair this summer Ireland west airport don't just take off take it easy and looking at the weather forecast on met Aaron this morning and met Aaron are telling us that today is going to be very much a cool and breezy day with sunny spells and scattered showers top temperatures today of eight or nine degrees celsius feeling cooler in fresh and gusty westerly winds stronger times particularly on the coast clear spells and showers tonight merging to longer spells of rain with a chance of hail top temperatures overnight three to five fresh and gusty westerly winds stronger times particularly in coastal areas tomorrow breezy at first with showers or longer spells of rain through the morning that'll ease off during the day in high temperatures of seven or eight degrees celsius and that's highland radio weather now let's go to an on line one and good morning to you good morning and you you have concerns about the respect for people with intellectual disabilities and the fact that it just appears they're not high on anyone's priority list in government that's correct um people who have an intellectual disability seriously need stimulation being left at home for a very long time has impact on their mental health has impact on regression um it puzzles me as to why cash in a core cannot get a manager staff changes have occurred in the Karen Donna center an assistant director of nursing was replaced but always cash in a core seems to be bottom of the list and bottom of the pile is it that residential centers is is it that residential centers are being prioritized and it's the day centers it's the support services like cash in the core are being left behind there's day services in kandana as well so i'm not sure that that is i think if the post is major practice enough that you'll get people to apply it's just the people who have intellectual disabilities can't be just forgotten about which seems to be what happens here when there's a problem they're just left behind and as the speaker said people who have intellectual disabilities they regress they also as they get order their skills diminish and these things are all affecting their quality of life and then there's an all contact on the family that's supporting that person because some of these parents are widows or widowers some of them are have problems themselves either health issues disabilities and they're left to manage without the support they need staff that on the ground in cash in a core are a fine group of people my son attends there and but any ship needs a captain and in order to have someone who's responsible and someone who you can bring your problems to someone who you can bring your worries to is a much needed thing in the situation like this here because some people with the intellectual disability that are attending a center like this who are not capable of having some type of part-time job or something need you need to be able to talk to somebody because sometimes their communication skills are not great and this years ago people with intellectual difficulties were or disabilities were left behind but at the present time I feel that we've taken quite a few steps backwards and then HSE are not prioritizing people with intellectual disabilities the other the other question that that we have to ask and it's a question I don't like asking but as was pointed out by councillor Donahue in many cases as as people using cash in the core get older their carers their parents are themselves getting older and sadly in some cases a day will come when their parents for whatever reason are no longer able to take care of them and the question then becomes what happens then are people going to be taken out of their community and put into long-term residential care for lack of proper day services that's a very strong possibility but then you have to look at the situation where long-term residential care there's no such thing that's hardly even respite there in fact I don't and as far as I'm aware respite is still not available in Cairndonough if you want respite and you live in a show and you must send your summer daughter to letter Kenny so all those things have been left on the long finger and have been put on the long finger and as Rina said like people as they get older the clients as they get older also develop additional needs and they become more difficult for their elderly parents and carers to care for and it becomes an added stress and worry for these parents because you're wondering what's going to happen in the future because as I said there is very little residential care yeah it's certainly a worrying situation and and all all we can do really is hope that this there is some movement that the HSC and others hear what you're saying they hear what Rina is saying and they hear what the other parents are saying as well and I know it's a very committed and a very vocal group in that area of South Anishone and indeed in North Anishone as well and we wish you well and hopefully we will see some resolution to this but in the meantime thank you very much indeed for speaking to us this morning thank you I want to move now to another issue and that's the issue of the self-service fuel stations now we referenced them earlier actually when we were speaking to Charlie from Retail Excellence Ireland about the need for training and about the need for improved customer service Mary is on the line and Mary you you have a very unique and important perspective on self-save fuel stations hi Donal yeah my son learned to drive last year was Raymond from the Irish Wheelchair Association now he is a wheelchair user and it was absolutely brilliant when he learned to drive we had one self-serve filling station and Karen Donal but now another one of the filling stations there has upgraded if you could call it that to self-serve as well even us with one served filling station which is brilliant and I hope that doesn't change but it's absolutely impossible for the aim to use a self-serve filling station now that effectively means and we're not even necessarily talking about the the self-serve stations that require a credit card and input all those details first we're talking any service station that doesn't have someone on the forecourt who will effectively help by filling the car themselves yeah because for Liam he would have to pull up his van to the to the pump and and hope that nobody pulls up behind him to allow room for the ramp to come down yeah and then come out of the van and then he can't actually get access to the put on the card and to pay or anything on the pump and he certainly can't reach for the pump to put the fuel into the van you know has only hope as if to go and pay at a different pump and hope no one else pulls up at it before he gets to it it's it's just doesn't work yeah it is a difficulty and as as you say we're seeing more and more particularly as you say the ones with the credit card in in the case of an ordinary sort of forecourt where you pump the the fuel yourself and then go into the office to make can he use those or are they a problem as well and I presume they will be given that it's going to be difficult to reach the pump yeah um no he would need someone with the way it is now if he can use that one filling station in car and someone comes and serves them yeah and he would try to have cash because like that it's a whole rigmarole to get out to go to pay for the fuel as well and or one of us has to go with him whenever he needs to get diesel and which you know is fine in some respects but I mean he learned to drive to get independence of course yeah now I do know and I've seen this on one national chain actually um I would if driving down to Waterford there there's one national chain I would use for a comfort break and I see a poster in in their bathrooms that says something along the lines of if you have special needs and you're coming and this would be a chain that very much would would have people pumping themselves in in the forecourt and wouldn't have a forecourt attendant but what they actually say is if you are coming to our premises and you will need assistance you can ring ahead and let us know and we'll have someone there waiting for you is that something that's sort of other you know places might learn yeah that would be all that would be very helpful yes very helpful obviously it's you know um as with everything with disabilities it seems to be that you have to have to look ahead or look ahead you know if Liam's going somewhere new we almost have to go and do a recce of the building before he would go to it to check that he can enter it and things like that and he Liam has been on a wheelchair now for about four years and he has a progressive muscle wasting disease and if only since he's gone on to the chair that you're you're seeing things through different eyes indeed and we were speaking earlier to to Councillor Jimmy Calvin about even things like the changing places bathroom facilities that are opening in letter Kenny and I think there is more and more of an awareness that that such facilities are needed Mary yeah I mean you know and maybe it's a it's a suggestion and I thought it's a good okay as as you say it's not it isn't great that you have to ring ahead and almost book someone to assist you but at least we know in some places that facility is there and you know it can be used and you know maybe hopefully we'll you know as you say there there is one one one station in car and it is in a position to help him and maybe if he needs to use others you know some some facility can be found so some arrangements can be made in the meantime yeah that would be yeah that would be that would be a good solution to to the issue to be honest and I'm sure to the bulk so it affects yeah it's not just disabled people of course yeah of course there's a lot of people that would be people who are elderly or whatever yeah and I'm sure too I mean you know I know in a relatively small area like current Liam is going to be known by people around the town and there'll be others in a similar situation so hopefully we will be able to see some progress there but in the meantime Mary thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning okay thank you don't know it's the 9 till noon show we have headlines coming up in just a moment the 9 till noon show brought to you by blue bird care providing nurse led home care services and donnie gall call blue bird care 9 1 2 9 5 6 2 and bring care home wet and wild 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 if you're tired and struggling to put a spring in your step discover the power of revive active at your local Brennan's pharmacy revive active is an award-winning super supplement containing 26 active ingredients including vitamin c d and zinc which support your immune system all in one handy daily sachet made for busy stressful lives it's a convenient way to put back what life takes out enrich your life with the revive active in store or online click and collect from Brennan's pharmacy dot com we're here for you i saw your be good baker run a boy again the other day she's out to almost have Brennan ah yes is he i've never seen her stand still and she's rolling rings around the rest of us will our Brennan's be good bread only 60 calories a slice 60 calories is i that's just a whole meal isn't now you see it's the whole meal the whole grain and the waste 60 calories a slice and high in fiber whatever way is noisy that's why anything baked is better with Brennan's today's bread today live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news it's 11 o'clock time for the highland radio news headlines and we say good morning to Donna Marie Doherty thanks donal good morning the government has admitted a legal strategy was in place to deal with the section of people overcharged for nursing home care the attorney general is set to probe allegations that the state denied payment of refunds to people illegally charged nursing home fees the strategy was allegedly introduced so the government didn't have to pay 12 billion euro in liability and compensation a man has been injured after allegedly being assaulted in letter kenny on wednesday evening last it's believed the man was assaulted by two men before 6 p.m in the pierce road area his injuries have been described as non-life threatening gaudi are repeating to anyone with information to come forward investigations are continuing after a car was set on fire in letter kenny on thursday night last just before midnight the silver Toyota was found on fire at dubala on the main letter kenny to strunarder road when garady and the fire service arrived on the scene the car was engulfed in flames anyone who has dash cam footage and traveled between letter kenny and strunarder between 11 30 p.m and 11 55 p.m is asked to make the footage available to garady donnie gall needs more burial spaces that's according to councillor jimmy cavena who says churches are fast running out of space for burial plots donnie gall county council yesterday adopted its service delivery plan with the need for more burial places in donnie gall particularly non-denominational public cemeteries a west donnie gall councillor believes recycling and dumping facilities in donnie gall need to be enhanced it comes in it comes as in recent days sex bin bags were discovered discarded at a bottle bank in glentes while a significant amount of rubbish was dumped over a scenic cliff on arne more island both incidents have been reported to donnie gall county council today marks the third anniversary of brexit the day the uk left the european union however it did remain in the bloc single market and customs union for 11 more months british prime minister rishi susanak said the country is now confidently forging a new path as an independent nation and finally motorists are advised to be aware of a very large event that has been planned for saturday the fourth of february a native chrysler tragedy named trucking for chrysler the trucks will take their place on the donnie gall road belba fe at 10 a.m proceeding at 1 p.m through letter kennie to chrysler then returning to the silver tassie via millford details of the full route are available on our website howdandradio.com that's all for now back with more headlines at 12 o'clock the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio bluebird care are hiring nurses and carers across donnie gall call 9 1 2 9 5 6 2 bluebird care our sponsors of today's show calahans gala and go burt your one stop family shop drive into our newly renovated spacious forecourt fill up but our upgraded modern fuel pumps and save with our keen go fuel prices located on the main letter kennie to dairy road where the ideal pit stop on your donnie gall journey fast flow fuel self-service are attended with a smile shirts all go with calahans super value makes saving money as easy as one two three one we match alie on the products you love like super value free range large eggs six piece 225 super value irish creamery butter 227 gram 199 to get thousands of special offers and three money off vouchers every week on the app super value makes saving money as easy as one two three hello thanks for waiting could you hold the line yeah no problem now how can i help you hi i'm looking to make some updates to my insurance policy have you tried our online portal i thought it would be easier to call yeah yeah no you're gonna have to log on to amend your policy thanks for calling no no wait i don't know my password get the feeling that your insurer doesn't want to talk to you at local insurance we understand your needs call today for a bespoke quote or find us online at local insurance dot i e local insurance we'll get you sorted the local insurance network dach trading as local insurance is regulated by the central bank of ireland local insurance is a tide insurance intermediary of acorn brokerage limited acorn brokerage limited trading as acorn insurance is regulated by the central bank of ireland and you're welcome back to the nine till noon show on highland radio it's uh don't look out with you on the show for the next hour into the final hour at the moment now we're going to discuss the issue of eating orders and specifically eating orders among men because it's been determined that the number of men with eating disorders is far greater than was believed we're joined on zoom this morning by ellen jennings whose communications officer with body wise ellen good morning i don't know thanks for having me on it's our absolute pressure um a lot of people are going to be surprised by by this funding i i i read it on in my paper on sunday and and i i i would be honest i took a step back when i i read that men make up one in four cases of eating disorders i didn't expect it would be that high yeah that's a more recent figure so historically it would have been that one in ten figured that we would have heard a lot about um and i think the reason that we're seeing more men speaking out about their experiences because the stigma that has existed around eating disorders being seen as a female illness is slowly being broken down and more men are feeling um able to open up about their experiences unfortunately we're also seeing um cases where men um are not reaching out for help early on when they notice maybe something is not quite right with their relationship with food and their body and that means that they're presenting um more physically ill and um at a more serious stage and that can be difficult because it's very important to have early intervention when it comes to eating disorders they're very serious and complex mental health condition um that is possible to recover from with the right support and treatment so it's important that people can recognize you know what the the signs are that something might not quite be right and to be able to to talk about their experiences more openly is it that traditionally the conversation about eating disorders would have been almost exclusively focused towards women and there would have been a presumption that women would have been the people most affected by them that the rise in in men's eating disorders almost went under the radar absolutely um even when it comes down to the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder part of that criteria was around menstruation and periods so obviously that wouldn't apply in this case um so it's important I suppose that doctors and health professionals are also aware that this is something that can affect men and women boys and girls you know it doesn't it doesn't have a look or an age or um a gender this is something that can affect anyone um and it it can be very serious for the person and it affects every aspect of their life so it's very important that um it is recognized there appears to be in some medical circles a lack of understanding of how to deal with this in men and the lack of resources in how to deal with this in men and you know we we all laughed when we read that one man uh when he was being diagnosed was handed an information leaflet about periods and because that that's what you gave people with eating disorders now I mean on the one level it it it's funny but on the other level it's very serious indeed yeah what we've heard from service users um who've had experience of eating disorders maybe at some point in their life is that it felt very isolating and alone not to have um other experiences talked about it from a male perspective so I think even for people who are experiencing something like this to see someone speak out we've heard um multiple GAA players and um other people who might be in the public eye come out and speak about their experiences and things like that can be helpful for people to recognize that they're not alone in their experience and that there are other people who who have similar experiences and feel this way about about their relationship with food and their body and it's it's very complex as well you know no two eating disorders are the same so the way it shows up for one person might be different to the way it shows up for someone else um so it's about breaking it down into what's really going on for the person because the behaviors that you see on the surface really are just a symptom of what's going on for the person underneath does it tend to be a different form of disorder in the case of men uh suggestion maybe in in men it's more binging followed by guilt more so than say a condition such as anorexia nervosa anorexia nervosa um can also affect men um we are hearing more about binge eating disorder but what we would often say is that um most of the eating disorders have more in common than they do different so really an eating disorder is a coping mechanism for the person so it offers them a sense of control over some aspect of their life when maybe other aspects of their life feel out of their control um there are some aspects of eating disorders that may be more male-oriented worse we're hearing more about a focus on muscularity as opposed to that focus on thinness and that can be down to those body ideals that we're seeing for men and women so um when we think of what we're seeing in the media and social media it's often it's very muscular physique that is seen as the kind of um body ideal for men and that can be really difficult um when you're in a place of comparison to these unrealistic ideals um we're also seeing that for men there can be more of a compulsive exercise element to their eating disorder as well and that can be really difficult uh to move away from and I suppose when we think of it as a coping mechanism it's about using other coping mechanisms then to move away from the control that the eating disorder has taken over the person obviously there there's been a huge growth in the past number of years in private gyms and fitness centres and one-on-one training centres and so on is is there perhaps an argument to be made that information and posters be you know disseminated through those particular areas because they're the sort of areas that maybe you're going to get through to the very people you need to get through to yeah definitely I think it's important to raise awareness um in those spaces but there's no one cause for an eating disorder either there are multiple risk factors and there are things that are internal to the person as well as external to the men the environment around them and the world around them so some people might not be affected but others might be affected so it's difficult um especially when we talk about the online environment as well like there's so much information and um content right at your fingertips but it's very difficult to avoid this content and oftentimes people with eating disorders will seek out content that will affirm that what they're doing is the right thing to do so I think it's very important that you know people who have a following or people who have shared content about fitness or nutrition information etc um are doing so from an informed and professional space and that they're aware of the impact that they're the messaging that they put across can have on members of society and people who might be at risk our men seeking help because traditionally we're told men are a lot less likely to go to a doctor they're a lot less likely to uh you know admit a potential problem than than women are so do we have an issue here that men are still not presenting or is part of the reason for the rise maybe men being more inclined to go and and seek help no it's definitely um in many studies we've seen that men are less likely to come forward about their experience and I suppose in the past we would have talked about it as a a double stigma in that the person with an eating disorder may believe that it is a female illness and we know that's not the case but that's a stigma that's existed for a long time so there's that stigma that might prevent a man from speaking about his experience and then also a man with a mental health condition we know they're less likely to seek help or go to the doctor to speak about their experience so I think what's really important is that we are able to to bring up conversations like this and to talk about the fact that this does affect men as well we have our eating disorders awareness week coming up at the end of the month the 27th to the 5th of March and part of that week is all about breaking down that stigma and focusing on the fact that this is an issue that can affect men as well with eating disorders and body image issues in the case of a man who believes he may have an eating disorder is his first port of call the GP should you make contact with yourselves should you seek help online what's the best route to take it can be really difficult to acknowledge that something's not quite right and sometimes when someone is in the depths of their eating disorder they can't actually see that something isn't quite right because it's working for them as a coping mechanism so it can be really difficult for the person to move away from that I would say the first step if you recognize that something's not quite right is to open up with someone that you trust maybe reach out to our support services and we can talk through what the next steps might be and then the usually the first step in getting started on that treatment and recovery journey is to go to the GP who can look after the physical aspects of the condition and refer on to a multidisciplinary team who can look after the other aspects of the condition Ellen Jennings communications officer with body wise thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning it's something obviously we'll be keeping an eye on and we would encourage anyone that believes they may have an issue obviously to go take that first step seek help and see where it goes from there but but definitely if someone does have an eating disorder the sooner they seek help the sooner they can come to terms not just with the disorder itself but with the the underlying conditions and as you say it's a coping mechanism so that suggests there are underlying issues that perhaps are driving towards that and maybe once we can attack those underlying issues we have a better chance of actually addressing the eating disorder itself uh Ellen thank you very much indeed thanks Donna that's Ellen Jennings there communications officer with body wise this is the nine-tailed show on Highland radio with uh Donald Kavana just want to look at some of your comments uh Quarters says my daughter is in secondary school mock exams are coming up now my daughter is in second year so she's not involved in state exams she's been off for a week because of snow over the next three weeks she has only five days in school with no teaching time because class tests will take place the rest of the days they're saying children need to stay home and study how is this this case for the whole school how is it okay for children to miss out on so much teaching time and also leaving pressure on parents to get childcare when they have full-time jobs then they have the audacity to take a mid-term break for a week in February and a further two weeks off in April um I was I was never um aware of people in non-exam classes being effectively sent home from school when the mocks were taking place that certainly didn't happen when I was in school that was quite a long time ago uh not a caller says what myself and many people can't understand is why are so many people coming here from countries that there is no war in countries like Algeria Albania etc why has no td asked the parliamentary question how many people have come here with no papers and how was that able to happen they're questions posed by a corner uh corner says after a garter was convicted of drunk driving and given a three-year ban some trust has been restored in the garter approach to the blight of drunk drivers on our roads let's hope this approach is extended to parts of rural Ireland without favour to anyone of certain esteemed positions or connections so says a corner I put a bag of sticks to light my fire on a regular basis it's a three kilo bag it cost 349 yesterday I thought it felt a bit light I waited 1.6 kilos this is happening more and more businesses don't want to increase prices because you'll notice and shop elsewhere so they're reducing the size of everything for the same money that's a very interesting point now if I go to buy a bag of kindling I will buy a bag of kindling I know how much a bag of kindling costs in the local place I buy it it doesn't to my knowledge claim to be a particular weight I know certainly if you are selling something like petrol that there is a weights and measures division of government that will regularly check to make sure that if you're paying for a liter of petrol you're getting a liter of petrol and if you're not getting a liter of petrol then there is a major issue and there has been action taken against retailers over the years as a result of that now if someone in a provider writes 3 kg on a bag and sells the bag and the bag weighs 1.6 kg I'm not sure what the legal position is there and are you buying a bag of kindling or are you specifically buying 3.5 kg of our 3.5 or whatever kg of kindling I don't know is the answer but it's a very interesting question and thank you caller for raising it food for thought perhaps but certainly I mean and you'll be told for instance that if you're buying anything be it a bag of crisps or whatever yes it does appear that there's a lot more air and a lot less actual crisps in the bag that's the way it appears these days that's very true um caller has written to minister charlie mcconnelloga an open letter and has sent that letter to us it's in regards to that ongoing uh quilts issue uh it's from Raymond in convoy and it reads uh dear minister mcconnelloga may I respectfully ask why you have decided to start the landlords 2.0 with English landlords being re-invited to buy large swathes of land which the department would have purchased several decades ago for a mere one pound per acre why are good irish citizens like myself not being given the opportunity to buy irish forestry land quilts is apparently now the land grabbing arm for the new english landlords however you carefully try to disguise this ugly truth do you not know your very painful history here in donnie gall you have restarted the land wars that's a take on that ongoing situation it's 20 past 11 let's take a short break watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the nine-toning show with bluebird care providing home care services for all ages and donnie gall visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home check out these special offers at simpson supermarket letterkenny there's kellox koko pop 720 gram 3 euro lions teabags 240 pack 5 euro fire letters 60 pack 2 euro 50 deco cans 8 pack 4 euro birds eye chicken dibbers 22 pack 3 euro plus lots of other special offers in store while they're check out baggage kitchen cafe for great food teas and coffees only two minutes from letterkenny hospital simpson supermarket great value every day do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled have you tried various ways to find new staff but didn't succeed let highland radio help you source and fill your current vacancies in the most cost effective way simply sign up to our new job spot and we will tell our listeners about your vacancies both on air and online every monday wednesday and friday during our prime time shows we will broadcast the latest job opportunities across the northwest and into county's dairy and tarot all job listings will be available online at highland radio dot com for more information contact the advertising team on 07491 253 22 or email advertising at highland radio dot com highland radio we're here for you welcome back to the international on highland radio with uh donal kavner uh not long left on the program now we're into the last 40 minutes or so and we have two very interesting guests in studio with us this morning we have brian odriskel who is the director of pastoral renewal in the diocese of refo brian good morning to you good morning thank you and we have a father michael carney as well who is the chair for the council of priests for the diocese for the michael good morning good morning donal um as part of the diocese and pastoral plan and a tendance survey is to be carried out at masses in the refo diocese over february to determine the future of mass times and parish structures within the diocese uh this is an interesting one because we we are told that as as well as uh falling attendances we also have falling numbers of priests are we looking at a situation and i'll go i'll go to you first um father michael on this are we looking at a situation where we're going to see some um parishes effectively sharing priests and the times of masses and the frequency of masses in each church reduced as result i couldn't say that that is uh exactly the outcome of all of this but if you were to go on what's happening in other diocese in the country that possibility is there uh we obviously like most other diocese in this country are experiencing um what can only be said a shortage of manpower yeah um we have gone from for example i think 15 years ago we had something in the region of 64 65 active clergy we have now something in the region of 45 48 active clergy in other words when either some of my colleagues uh die and go to god uh or retire um they're not been replaced because uh we have uh very few seminarians we very few guys been ordained yeah uh say in the last five seven years we've had one person ordained and in that time we have had a number of guys retired and a number of my colleagues sadly have died so uh it's it's common sense that we look at uh and see what is happening on the ground how are we to address the situation on the ground as regards the number of parishes the number of churches the number of priests and what we are offering people brian from your own point of view um you're coming in as a director of pastoral renewal and you're being given the job as it were of trying to inject that new sense of renewal into the diocese and that will hopefully have an impact on attendance and an impact on commitment in general it's a challenging time i suspect to take on that job it is it's a very challenging time but it's a very exciting time as well um so just my own bracket i began this role uh on the first of november last so i'm a corkman my wife and uh my children and i we moved up on the october bank all the weekend and to take up this position and it's like that it's it's it's a very challenging time for the for the church but it's it's these are changing times and and like everything there is even in the short amount of time that i've been here going around the diocese meeting different priests meeting parishes there's great hope there's really great hope a lot of i suppose green shoots on the ground and a lot to work with but saying that like we are facing a very um you know there are i suppose we're in rocky waters at the moment so it's supposed to be choppy waters um but at the same time there is great great hope but it is a challenging position that's for sure yeah it is is there a renewal of faith at at the level of community i mean and it will will will will park will park the vocations issue just to one side for a moment because you know we're told the church is the people of god the church is the people the priests are there you know to to facilitate the people to facilitate the church and sometimes people look at church and they see the church as the institution and and the priests and the bishop and and the pope and that's the church whereas i think the model that that you're presumably trying to push is that the church is actually the people the church starts in the community and then the job of the clergy is to facilitate that yeah most definitely i guess part of this plan has been and this began before um i came on was the formation of parish councils all around uh all around the diocese and there's a wonderful man that comes from the diocese down the corner jim deeds he's a facilitator facilitates the training and the formation of these parish councils and they meet at denary levels that are six denaries in the diocese of of rafau and each parish majority of parishes represented represented at each of those now i go along with uh jim to these to these meetings and it's absolutely amazing it really is it's the there's such an enthusiasm and it's the lay people standing up uh taking ownership realizing that you know the even the future of the parish very much relies i guess on on their participation and then stepping up to the game and you can see that right right now across the diocese even here and even in terms of youth and i know there's a lot of work to do in the youth formation even here in letter kenny for example um there there's some there's some fantastic youth meetings here on a wednesday and thursday night at down the cathedral and over in the pastor center and you know okay it's you might only have 20 25 young people coming from across the diocese but you know even even to see the different backgrounds are coming from their enthusiasm it's something to work with yeah okay i from my own point of view um i i i do sing in a church choir i sing in the church of the arish martyrs choir and as a result i have sung with you father michael because you're very involved in church music as people know with witson juniors and so on and so forth so that that's one area that you know there there's the ministry of music and there's ministry of reading but sometimes it seems when it comes to something like a parish council it's the same people do you know you know the same people are are reading the same people are involved in the church the same people are joining the parish council the same people are you know doing the work in the parish are we getting any evidence in this and another has been a huge push towards parish councils and so on and so forth are we getting any indication that there are new people coming forward or are you seeing the same faces you've always seen yeah i i agree with you anything you want to get done in a parish anything you want to do in a parish you have the usual uh very generous minded uh volunteers who um are always coming forward and thank god they thank god that they do come forward uh because it means that um uh we have that uh if you like that seam of of volunteerism uh still in our our parishes but as to uh new people coming along i think what what brian is saying is that the um what brian is saying is that you have people coming forward and that there is an enthusiasm there which is good to see and i sometimes think that um it it's perhaps we we haven't cast the net out in the way that we should have there would be there would be a still you know you talk about models of of of parishes models of doing things you would still have a degree of reliance on the priest and the few people who do everything and people saying well that's you know they'll do it they'll handle it they'll sort it out and not realising that they have a charism themselves that they could make a really uh good wonderful and positive contribution uh through all the creativity that they have at at their disposal and it's it's it's up to it's up to all of us um working together to try and tap into that and bring that out and draw that out from people you know it's it's i i often think there's so much giftedness uh almost hidden in plain sight on on front of us and it's a question of uh how can you tap into it how can you get people to respond and i think this is one of the ways that we are finding that people are coming forward through this uh engagement that we have with these meetings that are going on at the moment one of the things and the the new emphasis on on community and and and so on one of the things you hear more and more from people is oh i'm i'm involved i have faith but i don't go to mass and is is that more and more coming coming an issue and is is there some form of model whereby people can be active in their parish without necessarily going to the church every sunday or in your view and i know from a theological point of view and you have to take that view as well in your view is is the mass still still the core of everything well the we are a eucharistic church um the eucharist is a somat and source of everything we do as as christians as specifically catholics uh without that eucharist um we i just wonder what what do we have however uh i'm always reminded of pope paul the sixth um little line that there are more ways to god than just the usual way that we map out for for people i'm sure people find their way to god in in in other ways and i'll always as as you rightly say i i i'll always put forward the fact that uh eucharist and mass they're the most important things about about our faith and all of all of what we're doing at the moment is will be to ensure that that is there for people and people have access to that and that we continue to be a eucharistic church brian you're you're not nodding there obviously you see your view as the director of past renewal you've got to work within as as father michael said there we within that model that does say that the masses at the center and everything radiates out from that this is not a matter of identifying a new center you know are identifying a new model that still very much this is that model of the practicing catholics will go to mass first and foremost and then take it from there yeah well look even if we look at okay we go back to Vatican II you look at the what the there's some beautiful doctrines came from that and one of the key things was look the eucharist is the the source and summit of the christian faith and look as for the michael said it's uh i guess we're a eucharistic church that everything comes from the eucharist but even in saying that like one of the roles one of my roles is to is to get adult faith formation going programs across the diocese and even in that like right now there's a now it's not being run by me it's being run by ford of philip kemi of the parish in newtown cunningham on a monday evening in the pastor center here in that a kenyan rca program and that's people who are very interested in learning more about the catholic faith from from from other denominations and uh and and interested come in so there's there's there's there's plenty of ways for people on the outside so to speak to to come in the doors are are always are always open but this was to get at your point i guess the we are a a eucharistic church yeah the survey how is the talk to me about the mechanics of the survey how's it going to be done are people literally being counted as they walk in are people being asked to fit in forums or people being interviewed what what sort of information are you hoping to get out of this process and where does it go from there on the basis of the information you have yeah so the survey it's going to take place over a three week period it's going to take from the first week will be monday the 13th of february to sunday the 19th then monday the 20th sunday the 26th and the final week will be monday the 27th of february to sunday the 5th of march and basically we're not taking anyone's personal details or anything like that it's literally going to be a survey of um you look you have mass times number attending uh church capacity things even the participation of the laity from the welcome team altar servers lay readers lay eucharistic minister ministers children's litigated word all this kind of thing music activity where there's prayer groups eucharistic adoration the times of confessions all that and then there's also the whole demographic information within the parish to you know to get a so get the average age and again you're not asking people i guess you just kind of that's going to be a little bit of a guess just an estimate um parish baptisms weddings funerals you're just trying to find out you know how in a lot of cases how overworked a priest how how much help they need and and all that so right now this is going to be a data collection um exercise i guess and after that uh there's going to be the day Austin pastor council that with the bishop they're going to form a a working body and that's going to be comprised of um the council of priests the vicar friends and the diocese people from the different deanaries and parishes and then they review the information after that right now we we haven't begun that survey that's going to begin on monday the 13th so it's after that information comes back then that'll be reviewed and we'll see from there and then that does bring up then the question that that we posed at the start are we likely to see in some cases um some masses cut perhaps masses centralized and and perhaps a situation where a priest more and more um we would just take an example and i don't want to take any i don't want to name towns because people would think i'm talking specifically about themselves but i mean you know you may you may get sort of two adjoining towns where you may end up with a situation where the one priest will do both towns and there'll be one 11 am mass in town a and then there'll maybe be a vigil mass in town b i know certainly in i'm going to go back to waterford which is where i'm originally from uh my home church would have been a church in waterford city uh there used to be three masses on a sunday morning now there are two um my wife's uh church is one of those parishes that have two churches one on either side and if you want rivalry there is no rivalry like the rivalry within the parish between church a and church b you know that's that's the essence of rivalry there but three and a half miles apart you know walk from one to the other in less than an hour you want rivalry that's where you have it but they now have a situation where they're in a a rural parish close to tremor you know a situation where there is no priest in her home parish you have priests will come from tremor they do a vigil mass in her local church they do a nine am mass in the other church so there is no sunday mass in one church there's no vigil mass in the other and it's a priest from the town of tremor which is nearby is actually doing both are we likely to see that here in in in the future um i think you probably will see that at some stage yes it it there is uh there's no point in me saying no because that has been the um the experience of as you say in your in your own uh part of the world water for less more um i'm just thinking of my colleague nyle call who was ordained a bishop um just last week he's going into a situation in kilkenny which is a bigger population than our diocese where he has 27 priests we have 45 48 uh active priests so that situation obviously where you have uh less people to go around well then you are talking about um having less masses um having perhaps i don't know yet this is where the parietary stage of this but perhaps yes you could have priests dealing with one or more parishes in in in the course of uh in in the course of the next number of years yeah and of course the difference geographically between osary and raffle is raffle has a much larger land mass absolutely so you're talking a much longer distance between churches between osary it's a fairly small you know geographically it's it's smaller as you say population wise it's bigger but geographically it's smaller whereas raffle because of you know because of its sheer size you know that throws its own problems because as i say in our in the case i'm talking about the two churches in my wife's home parish and the church in tremor are probably no more than seven miles apart i mean here if you had a similar situation you might have three churches being serviced but they could be 25 30 miles apart yeah i i don't think many of us will be buying electric cars let's let's let's let's put it like that um but yeah for example in my own part of the world uh remelton kill mcrennan milford rath mullen there are five six seven churches in in that area and that small small area and i know uh all of that has to be looked at and has to be looked at uh against the background of uh declining numbers uh we are not uh we are not numerically uh available uh anymore and we're not being replaced it's as it's as simple as that and you have to be hard headed about how you approach the problem the the overriding issue come back to what we were talking about earlier we're a Eucharistic church we we supply we we uh can we continue to uh give our churches masses over uh the next number of years this this plan is geared towards all of that and more besides and obviously you'll be praying for vocations as well and hoping that that does happen as a Eucharistic church that that would be part of it we have to say that um we we could talk for a long time and i know a lot of people are are interested in in this um there's one survey has come in and it says that this february survey isn't very fair as in our church we only have evening mass every other month so how can this be fair when we don't have a february evening mass and i suppose this this is an issue whenever you time it you know that there are going to be issues um um but it all all we can say is look it's an interesting one and we'll be looking with interest to see what happens but in the meantime uh bryan odryskel and father michael carney thank you both very much indeed for joining us this morning thank you thank you don't the best of music on your station the nine till nine show brought to you by blue bird care providing nurse led home care services in donnie gall call blue bird care nine one two nine five six two and bring care home it's where you live it's where you relax it's where you make memories treat your home to a visit to coonies home interiors we have everything in store to help recreate your home choose for an extensive range of suites tables beds mattresses and whole furnishings for every room coonies home interiors letter kenny style and perfection at incredible value i've just had the eclipsed cinema's experience wow they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner 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sunny spells and scattered showers top temperatures eight or nine degrees celsius feeling colder in fresh and gusty westerly winds stronger times particularly in the coast clear spells and showers tonight merging longer spells of rain with a chance of hail lowest temperatures three to five in fresh and gusty westerly winds stronger times particularly in coastal areas breezy at first tomorrow showers or longer spells of rain through the morning the showers and winds will steadily ease through the day we'll see highest temperatures on wednesday of seven or eight degrees celsius now if you were listening to the news with mikaela or donna marie earlier today you will have heard that donnie goll county council debated the issue of modular homes uh for those whose homes are affected by defective blocks it happened during a plenary meeting of council that took place in livered yesterday evening um the motion was raised by councillor jerry mcmonigal that the council immediately uh put forward a proposal on the use of modular homes and send that proposal to the minister we heard from councillor martin mcdermott who chairs the council's defective block redress committee that minister darrow brine requested that such a document be presented now at the meeting yesterday the council's housing director uh seemed to be reluctant to do so now i'm joined on the line by councillor jerry mcmonigal who as we said moved that motion uh on modular homes yesterday jerry you weren't particularly happy with the initial response you got from council no i wasn't donal and uh i was right not to be happy uh i think you know now this we're all in this together and we talked it in the council about being united and putting united front going forward to represent and help and support those families who are affected by the defective concrete blocks and you know we're not asking i wasn't asking the council yesterday to build modular homes i know we haven't got the capacity i know our housing department is under extreme pressure i work with them on a daily basis i understand all that but like we said uh the minister did ask for if there was proposals to bring them forward put them on his desk and what i have asked in the council to do because we have a skill set within the council we have architects we have planners we have engineers you know we have land banks we have access to uh other lands that we're currently looking to to purchase where we can put together a proposal a cost of proposal through the department outlining the cost and benefits of modular homes for those at the minute over a thousand applicants whose houses are depreciating every day and it's taking an order at the time for the scheme to open up property and when it does there's going to be a tsunami of further applications and all the while houses are depreciating the point was made the point was made at the meeting by pasalavati who is the the head of housing within dunneagle county council that other schemes which are based around pyrite or the new apartment scheme they're delivered by government agencies they're delivered nationally this scheme as it stands is being delivered by dunneagle county council and the dunneagle county council is stretched as it is and no one knows that better than you in terms of delivering what services it can in terms of trying to liaise with the government and the department and things like trying to get the regulations even published so if dunneagle county council is given even more to administer the fear would be that that the council would just not be able to cope particularly if minister tarot brian turns around and says dunneagle county council that's an interesting proposal you administer it yeah and look and and i accept that we've been saying from day one that this scheme was far far bigger than what dunneagle county council could possibly do and it does need a housing agency approach it does need a national approach and it does need to start to get off the back side and start doing a bit more for the people of dunneagle i think it's you know it finds them maybe lost for words in in relation to i'm really glad that the people in the apartments in dublin have got a scheme that is going to take them through the whole process but we are here in dunneagle we've been in a process for a long number of years negotiate with the department both the ministers and different ministers along that way and every step of the way it's the owners has been put on the homeowner the homeowner and the council then have been the patsy in the middle this needs to stop we need to be treated the same as everybody else up here in dunneagle and there's no reason why the department and the minister has has the power to do this to initiate a scheme where modular homes can be put in place by by the department and managed by the department and let the people who have the distinctive concrete black homes have some some escape from from the the mental language that they want to go through and wondering is this house going to fall down and where can i get a house to leave my children because they're not there don't know yeah they're just not there people can read the response you got we we have a story on this up on our website and you can actually read the full response that that was presented to councillor mcmonagall yesterday it's on the website but the first line of that response effectively said that from the council official's point of view there isn't a demand for modular homes in dunneagle that people's choices are either purchasing or renting mobile homes making arrangement with families or securing accommodation through the private rental sector and according to the housing department of dunneagle county council they are the three preferred options that they're coming across when they speak to people with defective homes i take it from your response to that at the meeting yesterday and since you're hearing differently yeah and and many other councillors along with me uh a senator at dunneagle senator uh suggested that was the case in the shannib during uh talking debate on the defective blocks and he was lambasted from that day to this for suggesting such a an outcome that's not what's happening that's not what people with defective owners of defective homes are telling me what the my group have been asking for and the mad the my group have on several occasions pleaded with the minister to consider modular homes so i i don't know that they're really through me when the council suggested that and i don't know who put together that response and i i've read that response a number of occasions since the meeting yesterday because we only got that response 20 minutes before the motions were taken don't know which wasn't long enough to digest uh that that full comprehensive response but i wonder wasn't someone from dunneagle he actually put that response together because it was full of contradictions and the other one sentence they were saying they were willing to help and assist as every way that they can and another the two lines in as you suggested they're now so i i don't know where it was coming from that response but i know one thing if all the members are in agreement with the motion when you talk privately to the management i think they also understand and would agree with the general flow with that motion i what their problem is the pressure is around there and i understand that but why can't it look we get consultants in for everything we can't build a road or a roundabout or a path for that matter and unless we get a consultant despite us having uh uh road road designers within the council so look we also we go out to consultants all the time and the scheme of this scheme and the amount of money that's spent at consultants where you put together this and we have the information within the applications put it together cost it and then we're not asking for hundreds of modular homes we're asking for us a number of modular homes to help and assist this scheme as it gets ruled out and they help the families you had your motion seconded yesterday at the meeting by councillor martin mcdermott that was a very deliberate decision on your part and his to do that to demonstrate that there is cross-party support for this issue that this isn't a political issue being moved by jerry mcmonagall of shin fain this is an issue across the board yeah exactly going far from it and it was a conscious decision i work very closely with martin and other members in the council on a wide range of issues but particularly on the the effective black scheme we are trying our very very best to get the best that we possibly can as quick as possible for those families who are suffering as a result something that they had no actor part done and we work where we can we work very closely together i contact the part and ask them would they consider not a problem jerry of course i will and martin mcdermott had a reference yesterday when he was talking on the motion about the cross cross-party support is there and that was it they show that the council management they give them support as well they show that the phone council elected council is in favour of this motion and we're requesting you know as a management of the corporate body of the legal county council to put this proposal together and put it on the minister's desk asap indeed i i did speak to to council mcdermott inliff for yesterday at the meeting you can hear what he had to say on on the website again and as i said you you can read that response that the council mcmonagall mcmonagall is referring to there because as he said it's a long and it's a detailed response and and and it does i think deserve to be to be read and and digested that the situation that now stands is that the motion has been passed by dunagall county council it sits as a passed motion as an instruction effectively from the members who are the board of directors of dunagall as it were to the chief executive and the management of dunagall plc to now prepare that document prepare that proposal and put it on the minister's desk as he requested are you hopeful that that will be done and it will be done quickly yeah and i'm sure you don't in the coming days i will be talking to the other party group leaders within the council and with council management to see how we can uh proceed with this motion and and put it forward and understanding the difficulties that our our council management are under in relation to staffing levels etc etc i what we i think this is such an importance in the county that we need to be because the people who's in these homes are going through enough mental language as i said earlier and we need to help and support them in every way we can i take some pressure off them so i'll be looking to meet with the the group leaders they go and meet with the management we have regular meetings with and and really push this case and make it a strong case and and get the management and give the management of our council the support that they need they put together proposal and if it means going outside to get consultants in and i'm sure that we get the support of the members to allow that to happen and of course the general issue that has to be discussed as well as you're still waiting for the regulations from the minister we're still waiting on clarification on issues like foundations will they be included in in the redress scheme and and all the while people are still waiting and and that's the context in which this discussion is taking place and it's the context it was in which donnie goll county council is trying to administer a scheme the details of which it doesn't know that very much the officials themselves are scrambling in the dark yeah and and look and this is a massive scheme and it is taking far too long i i don't understand what the whole problem with government is these regulations should be brought on last year they should be all done and dusted and we should be moving towards a hundred percent readjust scheme what we have at the moment i don't think anybody really knows we don't know how it's going to panic because it hasn't been implemented the regulations aren't there there's all these uh they're talking about amendments and all i know my party are going to bring forward uh that uh an amendment uh bell to the doll in the common months and it's about trying to get that hundred percent readjust we get it up and running but the problem and what we need to do watch here is because we have a thousand social housing tenants these houses are also affected and we we can't make a difference between those and social housing and those in private homes we're all citizens of dolly goll we all have no some of our members houses are affected some of our family members houses are affected and some are in social housing some of their own homes we cannot make a difference between them they almost retreated equally in at the same time and they helped us afford it so whatever we can do is a council because the onus is on us as a corporate body here as is left with the the welfare and the running of this county the ensure that all our citizens and the kind they are treated equally and that's making no difference between those in social housing and those in private housing we need to go to government now with that proposal ensure that larger homes can be put in place we support those we can't because i think they talked about uh mobile homes moving homes i was going to shoot everybody i will shoot some and people will make alternatives and be lucky enough to get private rented but it's for those people who haven't got the where for all to get that private rented and also who would not shoot living in a mobile home for a long period of time especially those who have never are physical disabilities so it's imperative for the council now to do the right thing get forward these proposals and let the minister then make a decision on it that's what we're going to do council councillor germick want to go thank you very much indeed for that that's a councillor thank you and as i said you can hear from councillor martin McDermott who's seconded that motion and you can read the council's response and that's available on our website just a few comments before we go caller says i can't believe that man and this is a reference to martin earlier on uh who was having difficulty securing accommodation can't believe that man was told to give up his job in order to get a house what kind of message is descending out is there any wonder employers can't get workers why work if you're better off at home it's a disgrace caller says i do a weekly shop in super value in carndona i always find the staff really friendly and helpful their secondary students working there as well as older staff shopping is a pleasure delighted to hear it hope that said the experience in all the places as well is it possible that government pension funds are tied up in any way with this quailshire english vulture funds land grab um i it's it's possible i i would take it i would have thought that the amounts would be relatively small when you're talking in terms of the amount of money that a pension fund would would be handling um it's a relatively small thing in that context but it may well be an issue uh we need more protests against the sale of land irish citizens are sitting too far back and allowing this to happen ireland a has a minister in the county handing over land for pension funds that's another comment being made by a caller there it's a sin making a mockery of quailshire and other landowners giving irish soil to english companies typical government money grabbers uh caller just says the narrow road past the greenland fort toward kilay there's a very big and deep hole in the road on the right hand side it could cause a serious accident the county council have been notified drivers should approach with caution and a caller said i had a scam message from someone claiming to be from aib due to unusual activity your card has been placed on hold please visit aib verify online user dot com and follow the on-screen instructions to activate caller says uh i suspected the scam largely because i don't have an aib card caller says listening to the irish about people coming into this country who in dunigold doesn't have a son or daughter in america canada australia or britain get a grip folks we all was emigrated for economic needs i for one i'm in favor of allowing people into this country help us see new skills and cultures but we otherwise would never experience caller says if i rent land if the owner told me he was going to sell it next week it would disrupt my business so we have a rolling contract when i pay in december it locks it in for the next two years then next december after payment the contract rolls another year it gives me two years to find an alternative if he wants to sell and also gives him two years to find a new tenant if i want out security for both parties why can't residential contracts have a similar arrangement council says a dunigold county council plans to hold a women's equality day when the 33 male and four male council numbers will be reversed this is nothing more than a stunt if our male politicians were serious on gender equality uh why didn't councillor mcgarvey lead by example and co-opt a woman in his place instead of a man um well i would have thought it's it's a deeper issue perhaps than um outgoing councillor in mcgarvey uh finally caller says not sure if this is the right place to send this i went to the emergency department with a letter from my doctor i arrived at half nine on monday it's now tuesday morning i'm still sitting in the same seat having been admitted i've been told there are no beds 24 hours i've now been waiting but the worst thing is there's an old man sitting beside me most of the day again he was told there is no beds he's in pain and ended up lying on the floor it's awful what this world is coming to i heard last friday there were no patients on trolleys in letter kenny seeing first hand in the past 24 hours that's because all the patients are being admitted and left to sleep on chairs and wheelchairs it's beyond a joke now if a patient i mean those figures are counted um if someone is sitting in the emergency department whether or not they're on a trolley if they are in the emergency department they are counted in those figures as as they should be and that's it for the nine seven news show thank you to carline for producing and for keeping me right as always uh most importantly thanks to you for listening thanks to all our contributors john breslin is up next around the northwest bluebird care our hiring nurses and carers are crossed on it all call 911-295-62 bluebird care our sponsors of today's show charlie mclafferty funeral directors serving letter kenny and the surrounding areas for over 100 years charlie mclafferty funeral directors and our family take care of your family and guide you through a