 And earlier on you said something that the noise maybe probably shouldn't go ahead Henry Hoover Henry vacuum cleaner please yes thank you I put a comment on that because Hoover's a brand that's exactly what Hoover do you have in the house Henry Henry Henry's hard to beat isn't he he's low mileage now I'm not gonna lie to you yeah he's low mileage yeah I mean you get good good use of it oh low mileage he's not really used well in fairness or lies do you know what I did my Hoover we had one of them we had a Dyson right do you know when we got my I know we thought it was going to be the bit oh I didn't like them at all I did this is my personal choice you know and didn't like it I thought it was no well it's you down a voiceover for the Dyson adverts yeah I know do you know but I took the extension or do you know the the hosey pipe part of the Dyson and I hooked it up to the Henry so I have an extra long hose on my Hoover Henry the vacuum cleaner right so I can go upstairs with them but it's a big tangly thing you got a oh brilliant so you've like got a frankenstein a frankenstein yeah butchered up but then sometimes you know when you turn up all the Hoover and it disconnects that's really annoying especially when it's a really long cable and you have an awful long way to go back yeah it's you know the big suction part yeah it's an extra extra big suction part you know but then it's tidying it away that's another game of wrapping it where do you put it under the that's anywhere that's everywhere everywhere everyone in his house is the same the vacuum cleaner is your house all nicely organized you know Linda McGordy says she says I have to have a place for everything in my house he said be similar to yourself I'm thinking no no it's not it's unfortunately with young children you just can't you know maybe when they all get older do we give up on it do we 100 but there's some moms in there no my I mean you must have had a you must have had that thing where there's a bit of toast under the kitchen table and you're not picking it up and the wife's not going to pick it up and it's there just that's there for a week and maybe a bean there that fell out when you frozen pee that's not so frozen nose I'm not going under that kitchen table there's half cooks that's been there every time they open that long you know so better go all right it is uh till when it's past nine news update time it's over to Donna Marie thanks Greg good morning a driver through a package of suspected cannabis out of the window of their car after failing to stop for Gardie in letter Kenny the package is believed to be valued at 1,100 euro upon eventually stopping the driver who was thought to be using their phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt Gardie arrested them on suspicion of drug driving a Dunnegull counsellor says better transport facilities are needed for people in Dunnegull who have to travel to Dublin and Galway for hospital treatment counsellor Patrick McGowan told a recent meeting of the council that if the people of the area are to be denied proper diagnostic and health services then the government needs to provide a system whereby public transport actually brings them to hospital rather than a city centre bus station counsellor McGowan says many people in Dunnegull find themselves in intolerable situations and it's bad enough that we have to go to Galway and Dublin to get certain cancer and other skin grafts and other bone treatments and you have to go down several times if they're not going to have proper health services in Dunnegull then at least it should be a door to door service you should be dropped at the door if person suffering from cancer has to try the whole way to Galway or something to get radiation or to Dublin or whatever treatment they need they should be dropped at the door there may be fewer Gardie on the streets today and response times to emergency calls could be slower the Garda representative association is escalating its dispute with the Garda commissioner over rosters rank and file Gardie are withdrawing voluntary overtime and will continue to do so on every Tuesday in October with the suggestion of more comprehensive strike action next month they're opposed to Commissioner Drew Harris's plans to revert to old pre-covid roster on November 6th GRI president Brendan O'Connor says there's a simple way to avert the planned action remove the 6th of November as the day for imposing a roster that doesn't work that dysfunction that has been proven to be a not really conducive provision of police just to defer that to allow us breathing space to find a new roster so our members can only change once rather than have to change twice in the foreseeable future it's not an unreasonable ask anyone who is connected with the adoption process in Ireland has been asked to put their name forward for inclusion on a register which aims to reunite families the call comes from the adoption authority of Ireland on the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the birth information and tracing act 2022 3,417 people registered their details on the contact preference register since July of last year with 255 matches completed since then interim CEO Cole Mulherry says they need more information from those who've used the system so they can keep connecting people we believe that there are more people that couldn't put their name on the register and express a preference as to whether they would like to or not like to be contacted so we would still today like to you know invite anybody out there who is adopted or who is a birth parent to put their names on the contact preference register and express a preference as to whether they would like to or not like to be contacted and now to where they're breezy today with sunny spells and scattered showers the showers will become increasingly confined to the coast towards the evening top temperatures will range from 13 to 15 degrees Celsius that's all for now the next news update is a 10 o'clock you can keep up to date with the latest breaking local news on our website island radio dot com for myself and the news team good morning over 60 years ago the credit union was created with one purpose to provide the essential funding that's the lifeblood of any thriving community and to do this now for profit but for better reasons for members for communities for fairness for futures for potential for inclusion for change the credit union for you not profit credit unions in the republic of ireland are regulated by the central bank of ireland the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio and now it's time for the talk of the northwest the nine to noon show with greg hughes on highland radio and good morning to you six minutes past nine tuesday the third of october 2023 how are you all keeping i do hope you are very well indeed and you're on board with us now for the next three hours on the nine till noon show we've got lots to keep you informed and entertained and we want you involved in the conversation as well with your opinions and what you have to say your topics you wish to raise whatever you want to do text us 08 6 60 25 000 whatsapp that number also if you want to send a voice message feel free to feel free to do so 08 6 60 25 000 if you want to give us a call it's 07 491 25 000 caroline and neve taking your calls today it's neve's last day on the show but we got coffee and cake so it's not all bad and if you want to email the show comments at highland radio dot com and we want you watching the show as well if it suits you on your big screen go to youtube on the youtube app highland radio arland and also on your fire stick and across your mobile devices on youtube and our facebook pages as well highland hub highland news and sport okay let's look at the front of the papers today and inside some of them the donagall democrat inadequate funding has been blamed for the lack of access to mental health services for children in donagall letter can he cancel jay mcmonagall this week called on the hsc to urgently address the supply and demand issue in the child and adolescent mental health services in the ch02 area which includes donagall over 30% of children referred to calms have been refused access this year that is shocking and disgraceful because it's our children we are talking about and if they don't get the necessary support they need now they will not get a better cancel mcmonagall told a meeting of the regional forum west the irish independent today continues the kite flying ahead of budget 2024 social welfare increases of at least 12 euro per week in a lump sum payment of the fuel allowance are at the centre of budget negotiations as ministers scramble for funding a week out from the announcement a number of revenue raising measures are also being discussed with increasing concern within government over the economy's reliance on corporation tax this includes an excise hike on cigarettes along with a possible increase of 8.1% sorry a possible increase of 0.1% on prsi to pay for a government commitment to keep the state pensions age at 66 years old there's also talk about increasing taxes on e-cigarettes to deter people from using them but the policy may not be in place in time for next week's budget to be honest with you it's a couple of years ago i expected attacks on e-cigarettes but it is not likely this year they say talks between social protection minister how the hump freeze and public expenditure minister pascal donahoe have yet conclude and the coalition has not signed off on the design of a 1.1 billion euro tax package but 12 euro per week increase in social welfare payments at least being flagged at the moment the irish times this morning detectives investigating the murder of a man whose body was found off sleeve league have taken more than 200 statements a judge has been told the case relates to robert wilkin whose body was found floating in waters off sleeve league on the 3rd of july two people have been charged with this murder but a solicitor representing one of them 21 year old nakita burns has criticized delays to the case miss burns and alan vile who's at 38 who appeared separately via lidio via video link at letter candy district court are charged with the murder of robert or robin wilkin on june 25th detective guard akira no brian from ballish on and guard station told the court that a file in the case is in the final stages of completion he outlined the complexity of the probe we're heading to that time of year again where viruses are about colds flues a bit of cold as well of course and also strep a an unusual upsurge in the most serious type of strep a infection over the past year has resulted in the death of 30 people including 12 children a health protection surveillance centre report shows that since october last year invasive group a strep cases have been running at four and a half times the normal level it is the first time that these types of infections have surged outside of the normal peak in spring months and when we saw a peak in these cases last year was suggested that lockdown played its role in that i wonder is that still the case it is the first time that these types of infections have spread outside of the normal peak in the spring months as i mentioned the first major spike in igas occurred in december and mirrored rises in flu and other respiratory illnesses as well as chickenpox which are also known risk factors for igas igas i believe it's i don't know how it's pronounced warringly of the 480 cases reported since october last year 40 percent were children up from the previous average of 25 percent and of it's still pretty rare but as we come closer to the time where we might expect to see an increase we will do a an interview on that again just what to look out for and when to act and so on and so forth the Irish Daily Star has the coverage of a major new report it's about customer experience and what company would you say is at the bottom of the ranking it's the worst in Ireland it's rte rte's ranked the worst customer experience in Ireland according to a major report according to the annual cxi survey of irish brands Ireland's overall customer experience score rose by a record 49 percent this year with 85 percent of companies and organizations recording improved scores the report which was published on world cx day showed Ireland's overall score was buoyed by strong performances from companies in the supermarket and real-time sectors with their representatives of both making up 26 percent of the top 30 rankings but out of 150 brand surveyed which was carried out by amarack research on behalf of the cx company rte was ranked as the worst customer experienced it's believed the fallout from the rte payment scandal plummeted the trust with the public by a massive 25 percent the broadcaster's overall cxi score fell 17 percent which is also the biggest fall recorded so not surprising that it's going to be very hard to recover from that position i believe credit unions actually scored top of that and consistently have since it was formed eight or nine years ago so further play to the credit union sector not good news for rte on to the irish so what do you think of irish soldiers training ukrainian troops to fire rifles well it's ongoing and uh michael martin has defended it tarnished and michael martin has defended allowing irish soldiers to provide rifle training to ukrainian troops speaking in kiv where he met president volodymyr zelensky he called it non-lethal aid adding that it's humanitarian to defend your people well i mean you could extend that argument to literally fight beside them you could say you know we are fighting besides ukrainians in ukraine because it's a human right to defend your people if you know if you brought that argument to its natural conclusion mr martin said marksmanship was not included in the very basic drill instruction provided by arland he said overall by the way can i say our contribution relative to others it modest to be frank but does it go beyond providing you know uh bulletproof jackets and stuff and helmets the stuff we provided in the past i mean irish soldiers are training ukrainian soldiers how to shoot weapons do you believe that further enrolls into our claims which we can barely claim at this point that we are a neutral country what do you think i'll wait 60 25 000 do you have a view on that we've talked about cocaine use and how widespread it is across the country and across the this region but fentanyl is the next drug of concern that it's feared will become widely used here and have some really serious ramifications it's a disgusting disgusting drug to get involved with but it's only a matter of time according to the mirror before the fentanyl epidemic seeps in here unless we act the justice minister warned yesterday helen mackinty was speaking in the wake of predictions from senior policing figures including a retired assistant commissioner pat lee he he said the drug that is devastating america will be on our shores in huge quantities soon he added it will be worse than the heroin crisis of the 1980s and if you see video footage of areas of of cities in america they literally almost have to give up on them and there are people high on fentanyl walking around like zombies you know standing bent over lying in the street as i say in some parts of the likes of san francisco and other areas the certain parts of the city are just no longer there are no go zone because it is so hard to deal with fentanyl's the latest horrific drug of the synthetic opioid epidemic to flood the streets of america towns and cities ms mackinty said it's also something that is absolutely being monitored and looked at and as i say it's highly addictive and if it gets a foothold in this country it is going to be really really serious no doubt about that another thing i just thought i would mention i might have just a quick sip of coffee if that's okay before it goes cold uh are you want a disability payment uh if so you might not be aware or you may well be aware that there's a green paper out at the moment which proposes a reform of disability payments and effectively what it means is that if you can work or if you're deemed to be able to work now i don't know how they're going to determine this that you will have your disability payment cut and i presume you'll be uh have to go on courses and training and that type of stuff now as i say there are three tiers i'm going to go through it now because i really don't think there's an awful lot of people out there know about this discussion that's ongoing and a decision is expected to be made in mid december but i'm going to run through it as i say uh just in case you weren't aware so the um social protection minister had the hump freeze she's published this green paper on the reform to disability payments the proposals are for a three tiered personal support people who are not able to work will get a higher payment the proposed higher rate is the same as the state pension which is 265 30 a week people in the lowest tier with the highest capacity to work will receive a payment of 220 euro a week and will be provided with support to find training and employment opportunities suited to their needs so if you are deemed to be in the lowest tier and i think the majority of people on disability are your payment would be 220 but you would also be expected to find training and employment opportunities people with a more limited capacity to work will be placed in the middle tier and their payments will be halfway between tier one and tier three so around about 250 they will be offered appropriate employment supports and services now it's not clear yet if they deem you to be moderately able to work it's very hard to know how to describe it you will be offered employment supports and services now i don't know what the implications are if you refuse those or you say look i can't work but they say well you can work here's some supports and services but either way you could find your payments cut again so the paper proposes to unify the medical and age criteria of the new contributory and non-contributory payment people will qualify for the payment based on social insurance contributions or a means test again uh might be a critical change there it's proposed to raise the qualifying age for disability allowance 18 to bring it in line with other disability payments in parallel with this it's also proposed to extend the payment of domiciliary care allowance for 18 years of age now the minister says this is about supporting people with disabilities who want to work but some groups are already suggesting that it can be difficult for people with a disability to get employment so many might see their payments cut through no fault of their own and going on endless courses and endless training and then feel that well look i can't get employment because of my uh disability so as i say maybe you're aware of it but i thought i'd mention it in case you aren't that there are uh proposals for a three tiered personal support for people on disability payments and as i say if it's clear that you cannot work 265 euro 30 a week uh other than that you're looking at reduced payments 220 if they determine that you can work and somewhere in between 220 and 265 if they believe you can somewhat work as i say i don't know how that's uh how people are going to be assessed but you know what it's like when you're applying for something and then you appeal it and how drawn out that can be i just think that's going to create a bit of complication for quite an awful lot of people so i thought i'd bring you that information today because as i say i haven't seen it broadly reported elsewhere uh if you've heard about that or you've just heard it for the first time and you've got an opinion on it maybe you believe it's a fantastic move forward and we will move to a more inclusive society we have less people apparently compared to the european average with a disability working in this country they want to see us up to that european average at least what do you think 086 60 25 000 whatsapps and texts or give us a call on 07491 25 000 the newspapers are courtesy of kelly centra mountaintop letterkenny the sea store national large forecourt of the year for 2022 the 90 new show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today from the morning routines to cozy family moments grant has been bringing comfort to homes for over 45 years with our biofuel compatible condensing boilers heat pumps and underfloor heating you can trust grant to heat your home now and into the future think heating think grant visit grant.ie do you suffer from high cholesterol menopause symptoms 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destroys families and livelihoods yet we are bombarded by gambling ads and almost every outbreak on tv or radio like smoking like smoking addiction gambling will continue to be a problem until government brings in a total ban on gambling advertising our own national lottery is a big offender in this regard they believe newspapers full of free bets tv full of ads as well as nighttime it's a really hidden addiction and to late sometimes when family find out uh government need to do something loot boxes are classed as gambling in belgium it should be the same everywhere now loot boxes are something that you will see in children's games the likes of fortnight and other popular games right so yesterday we heard calls for a single cigarette to be priced at one euro by 2025 that's in two budgets times effectively so a packet of cigarettes would cost 20 euro chris macy of the irish heart foundation he's the head of advocacy joins us now chris good morning to you thanks so much for your time this morning morning greg right okay so uh your organization really clear then that pricing is a big deterrent yeah um there's conclusive evidence uh from research by the the likes of the uh world health organization and the world bank the tax increases are the most effective weapons reduce smoking and particularly to discourage young people for much more price sensitive obviously from starting to smoke so i suppose the best example of of it is that um the highest prices for a packet of cigarettes in the world are in australia it's the equivalent to around uh 25 euro and australia has the lowest smoking rate in any OECD country um so you know that's that that shows what what it can do so a move like this is not necessarily though it might have the effect of uh driving you know current smokers to stop smoking um or even we could have the argument about people going to counterfeit illegal cigarettes the the real success here perhaps would be recorded in breaking the cycle of people beginning to smoke in the first place absolutely the tobacco industry needs in ireland alone needs 50 new smokers every day to maintain their profit levels and obviously the most um advantageous customers for them are the youngest ones who will um you know ultimately unfortunately half of them will die from doing it but you know they'll be the ones that they can make the most money out of because they'll be the ones they can have smoking for the longest and you know the people can debate about lots and lots of different things and have varying opinions but the the science and the consensus is really really clear you know smoking kills and not only that even if you are lucky enough to not die directly of smoking it's very likely that it will have a very negative negative impact on your health if you happen to to uh live longer and not die rapidly yeah i mean you know my own mother-in-law was a lifelong smoker who said it never did me any harm she had COPD she got dementia the doctor said very likely from the effects of smoking and unfortunately her last few years were not as as happy as they should have been and would have been if she'd never taken up smoking and she did so at an extremely young age you know 10 or 11 that type of thing but that that was what happened then we've sort of got away from that we reduced our smoking rates our teenage smoking rates in Ireland from 41 percent down to 13 percent but it's now starting to creep back up again and we just need to do more we're losing 4,500 lives a year in Ireland from smoking and we're not just not doing enough if you think about it as more people died during the COVID pandemic from smoking than died from COVID and people are continuing to die and look at the measures you know in my view rightly we took to to to deal with COVID and and look at how little we're doing we just need to get more real about it and you know in the greater scheme of things I know it's hard for people who smoke I was addicted myself and I know how hard it is to to quit the habit but actually you know a 20 euro packet of cigarettes given all the harm that that smoking does you know we see that as as something that is just a necessary thing yeah and I don't think Chris and I'm sure it was your experience I don't think anyone who smokes who is an adult wants to they want to pack them in you know what I mean I mean you can always come up with reasons as to why you can't or you shouldn't but the only thing a cigarette does really is to alleviate the need for a cigarette for a period of time and depending on how long that period is it depends on how much you smoke it's still it's a really shocking and sickening and I don't think anyone one would be in favour of hearing that you know somewhere between one and two teenagers are smoking it's horrible to think well that's that's not the amount there's about 14 percent of teenagers are smoking sorry what I meant to say between 10 and 20 percent I'd be you said slightly but that one in ten let's just say one in ten it is over one in ten teenagers are smoking absolutely I mean you know the HCS figures I think it's around 70 to 80 percent of smokers want to give up you know so some people don't and I understand that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world and it's very very difficult to quit and what we know is that over the last number of years the tobacco industry has managed to pack more nicotine into cigarettes to make them even more addictive so it's harder to give up now than it was when I did 15 or 20 years ago so so I suppose one of the things we're saying here is that smokers are and you know they're in terms of in addition to all the other tax they're paying smokers are paying over around 1.2 billion euros extra in tax every year and the state at the moment is spending only 15 million euros of that to help those 70 to 80 percent of smokers who want to quit to get off and that's just not fair you know you can't just take people's money off them because of an addiction and then not help them you know to break the addiction they themselves want to break so we want much more help for smokers so we've called and this is you know is not even enough we want that 15 million to turn to a 50 million euro package to help people who want to quit to get off smoking because you know realistically I mean and you could you could multiply that numerous times because the money you will save in the health service down the line would be far in excess of the money that you're talking about spending at this time the biggest winners in all of this though arguably is the vape industry because you know back in the day people started smoking because it was cool because they saw people doing on the telly because they saw their their favorite actors doing it on the big screen and now because everyone's so negative about smoking the alternative is vaping and young people are seeing the influencers the tiktokers the youtubers vaping they're seeing the fancy big screens when they go into the news agents and because the messaging is so clear on smoking and so ambiguous I think from the government and others in terms of vaping there's pretty much but I can't say I'll put for a figure and I have the figures somewhere but I'm not in my head an awful lot of teenagers are vaping and becoming addicted to the thing that you've mentioned nicotine which is the only thing regulated in a vape whatever that nicotine's floating about in there's no regulation on at all so we don't really know what the story is yeah great you've you've you've hit the nail on the head there you know we're not just asking for tobacco tax increases in isolation our view is that Ireland's lost its way in terms of tobacco control generally and you know one of the big problems that we have now is the threat to young people from e-cigarettes from vaping there's evidence from the health research board in Ireland that teenagers who who vape are three to five times more likely to smoke so that increase in smoking that I mentioned before is probably it's not conclusive because that takes time but it's probably as a result of the explosion and vaping so the last time there were figures in Ireland for that you know that 37% of young people had tried vaping we think there's been an explosion since with the onset of the disposable vapes that are are cheaper for kids they're they're easier to hide from parents and teachers and you know that that seems to fuel something much bigger so so we need we're also looking for measures to protect that children from vaping the only thing we have on the table at the moment is in the current legislation Ireland will become one of the last countries in Europe to ban sale of vapes to under 18s so we want much more done in addition to banning disposable vapes we want all child friendly favorite flavors to be banned we want advertising including all the pernicious tiktok promotion of vapes that's going on behind the backs of parents we want plain packs and we want attacks on e-cigarettes more than half of the countries in the EU now have attacks on e-cigarettes to protect children it's very frustrating because sorry to cut across you Chris like this this conversation was had in America six seven years ago there's a couple of things that went on in this country and one you could argue one way or other the the the HSE refused to maybe even identify e-cigarettes in a regulated way as being an alternative to smoking that would transition people from cigarettes to what other countries regard as much less dangerous though not without its risk vaping so they still wouldn't sort of try and discourage people from smoking towards vaping and then even when we've all been talking about our young people getting addicted to these fruity flavors and these sexy little vapes that they have still refused to do anything about that I think the foot dragging in this area has been shameful to be honest with you and we'll never know truly what the consequences are but we've been able to witness exactly what's happened in the likes of America and elsewhere to have been able to act on this long long long before now I find it remarkable that in 2023 that you have to sit in front mean say we should be banning bubblegum flavor and strawberry flavored vapes and stop selling them to 16 15 and 14 year olds it's remarkable that we're still having that conversation absolutely I wouldn't blame the HSC I think they've been really good on on it and I think they've their policies have hit the nail I think it's legislators policy makers in Ireland just haven't done enough and I think the Department of Health and the Minister for Health needs to do more we've discussed e-cigarettes with him he says he's looking at it he wants to do more he's got to make sure that what the measures he puts in place are are legal and sustainable but I mean other countries are moving ahead there's banning flavors in the Netherlands now you know Finland has a really you know significant control of this and I would just say though that you know I don't I don't want to totally discount the fact and the very important fact that e-cigarettes do help some long-term hardened smokers to quit but as you say it's just ridiculous that anyone would need bubblegum flavor or cola cube flavor or this sort of thing to actually do that the balance is gone and we can see that the business model of the you know the multinational vape companies is in addicting a whole new generation of children to nicotine as I said we reduced the the smoking rate among teenagers from 40 percent 41 percent to 13 percent and the thought of giving up that hard-won ground back to in many cases companies controlled by big tobacco it's just you know it's an appalling vista that we as you say we need to do a lot more on all right Chris thanks for your time have a lovely day Chris Macy the Irish Heart Foundation's head of advocacy there some of your texts coming in so far good morning Greg the help he wants is to charge people more he knows people will pay it no matter what it won't save lives or make a difference he's delusional what it will do hopefully the idea being is discourage new people from smoking I don't think anyone is there anyone listening that would like a 12 13 14 year old now to be in a position whereby they are influenced to start smoking and that was sort of addressed at the start of an interview I mean people will find a way to pay or they'll get a count of its cigarettes but there's a new generation coming through that it might stop them from taking up the habit smoking yet an awful addiction believe it or not sugar is worse when you give up smoking cravings one has to turn to something well not necessarily many people gave up smoking and didn't I'm not sure sugar is worse than smoking to be honest with you so why is our government not prosecuting the cigarette makers if it's a killer if I went out in the street and killed someone I get life in prison well everything potentially is a killer you drive your car it can be a killer you ride your bicycle it can be a killer you know there's lots of things that you can do that can be a killer eating too many fry ups can be a killer so you know you regulate what you can but you don't ban them or you don't prosecute bacon manufacturers because you know Greg on the smoking topic as a non-smoker I think putting up the price of cigarettes is a great idea but what about vaping which came in before we moved on to that subject also a lot of film and TV shows of smoking in them as a matter of fact I have noticed that 99% of TV shows and films that are produced by Netflix have smoking in them so we need less actors and actresses smoking in films indeed and it's often and I'm watching justified the new series that's on now at the moment and the protagonist in it is a cool dude you know like the guy at a driver you know he's a tough guy probably young lads would probably say you know he's cool he's I'd like to drive his car but he's smoking all of the time and it's done in a it's done in a way whereby I could see it's still encouraging smoking so it is hard it's hard to believe that in new modern shows they still use smoking as a way to make the character look cool you know there's some ways where there's the shots of the smoke coming out of his mouth and stuff and it it really really would influence people to watch it that being said there is a warning at the start of the show that there is smoking depiction and I think it's for over 16 year olds but be that as it may it's still being used as a tool to show someone who's brooding and moody and a tough guy uh right okay let's take a break back with more shortly watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie the life of a charlie's chip is never dull once they're selected they're off to charlie's where they lose the jacket have a nice wash and once they get into shape and get ready out they go to meet the public side by side with an ice burger some fish or chicken enjoy charlie's chips to sit in or take away daily from 12 to 8 a pierce rolled letterkenny when the hunger hits pull into charlie's tickets get your tickets Arsenal Chelsea Leeds Liverpool Manchester United Spurs and more battle games and all the gopies shy only takes a minute two minutes it's cabriefc's biggest football ticket giveaway ever plus thousands of other prizes to be won every game week just head to match the minute dot cabriefc.com to get your match minute if a goal scored in that minute you win enter today season sees apply join the team at homeland letterkenny this thursday fifth of october at seven p.m for a beef welfare evening with special guest speakers including mora langen from norbrook and tommy daugherty from chagos chat with her experienced homeland and newtria's teams with refreshments goodie bags and exclusive offers on the evening see homeland.ie for more looking forward to seeing you there don't miss the final weekend of the incredible ladle dairy london dairy warehouse clearance sale with up to 70% off all your middle aisle favorites this weekend find us at the old ladle dairy london dairy store on bun crana road this thursday the fifth to sunday the eighth of october see you there for our final weekend i've just had the eclipsed cinemas experience wow they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner chairs directors lounge vap rooms pizza and hot food served to your seat have a glass of wine and enjoy the film on the big screen try it for yourself at eclipsed cinemas bundorn and lyford stirban where the stars shine brighter by the way the pizzas are amazing you can book your seat anytime at eclipsed cinemas.ie mine really i only said i'd do it but the guards are saying that's a crime now it's not my fault mom didn't do anything i i only said i would threatening to share intimate images is a crime with serious consequences contact your local guard the station if you need to report it brought to you by the government of ireland hi paddy here at shane connelly cars in dunagall town are you looking to upgrade your car but shane connelly cars you'll find mix and models for every budget great finance options and we also accept radiance check out shane connellycars.com or call on to us at shane connelly cars from london her road dunagall town it's back the furniture show and i is now on at cfc interiors camp c dairy cfc fsave with massive discounts from leading brands in furniture and interiors from sofas beds flooring and design cfc have it all reduced in their biggest sale don't miss the furniture show and i now on at cfc interiors camp c dairy when there are tragodas in America after quadro here and the euro millions jackpot is a guaranteed 17 million euro clear responsibly in store in app or at lottery dot ie the national lottery it could be you highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport where you can now fly daily to london he throw with their lingus and connect via he throw to over 80 destinations worldwide including boston new york and more breezy today with sunny spells and scattered showers the showers will become increasingly confined to the coast towards evening as the moderate to fresh winds back southwest and east temperatures 13 to 15 degrees but we are going to get a little blast of summer friday into saturday apparently uh shone gallagher is of defending environmental wealth he joins us now hi shone oh good morning great thanks for inviting me onto your program no no it's good to hear different voices on different things shone um defending environmental wealth is that an independent movement of your own or are you part of something uh greater pardon my ignorant shone well no it's a small group that i set up here and i helped to set up here but four years ago now and we have been mainly focusing on the issue of illegal quarries here in dunagall and and gala and evidence of uh of uh of lack of regulation concerning them and uh we focused on for example the quarry at the car which is uh but we've yeah we're just listeners are probably aware of that i know but i just don't have that information in front of me shone but i'd like to talk to you if that's okay uh about what you've described as the chronic dereliction in in in letter candy you've been writing about this uh talk to me about your opinions well yeah um as i said in uh on my right in my letter was that land and especially land in any town is valuable sites you know and we have to recognize us and and uh sitting on land on on land which form of wealth gets untouched in the open of lands nothing happens to make society better you know so we have to especially come up with a lot of the budget we have to create tax and create better policies to activate these derelict buildings bring them into use again and it's interesting because it's not just the sort of derelict buildings from the ground floor rob you've also been talking about you know buildings that might be occupied on the ground floor but the upper floors aren't occupied and it gives a sense of dereliction that is correct yeah because if they can say is also uh you could say it's the first caution of dereliction you know and uh with the housing crisis it is important that we um activate uh these buildings of all we can give incentives for them to be used and obviously if uh buildings allow an idle they should be given tax relief grants to for opponents of action or third of compulsory portion orders if they're not used so you believe we need to get tough then because there are a few measures that are in place uh you know to incentivize reliefs breaks and all that kind of stuff and even some some moderate taxation and we're seeing that now on land in certain areas of the county do you believe the local authority or or empowered by or indeed central government needs to actually start getting tough and if you believe that what does it look like well yeah the government has gradually presented various measures aimed at penalizing these urban where some people would say even calling them vandals but these are not working quickly enough you know they're empty a fast incentives approaches are intended to nudge the market like changing the behavior uh and we also they probably set up a national body to to focus on this problem working along with local government like for the reuse of these existing building stock and uh reclaim construction territory by introducing new clauses and the planning guidance and building regulations for example uh rather than demolition we should be uh uh put in for example that dirty gold development plan there has been uh you put in submissions to it and i put on my on there last week called for um that of uh adio development including demolition must submit the demolition justification reports because uh by putting causing by creating demolition you you're destroying embodied carbon of existing structures you know yeah and so related to the crime crisis it's so important that we don't uh at we use up all this old building stock of uh uh because building the building sectors want to uh consume too much of uh uh disposing of resultant material and half passing for example yeah for sure and also to yeah no i get what you're saying there too but also i think we are seeing um a sort of a switch in terms of our our urban areas you know let's take letter kenny for an example i don't think there's ever going to be a scenario is there from the top of the street to the bottom of the street that you know all places are going to be occupied with businesses because you know letter kenny is expanding and some businesses might choose to go to a retail park or whatever it might be but have we really got to grips with uh uh a sort of business commercial residential mix and i'm even thinking of balabha feinstein all of for example with has some of the highest uh although the figures i'm a bit wary of but some of the highest uh commercial vacancies you know do we not need a plan to sort of try and and actually have these areas a strong mix of residential and commercial so the vibrant at least in this life in them yeah well i'll make i'll do uh we've got to stimulate their circle economy their best grants and centers from europe etc and to support a new carbon approach and construction and that should happen you know to stop the spread of towns obviously you know to stop the use of so many vehicles coming into towns from the outlying areas uh to be to be close to local schools and then with the circle economy we can build small enterprises like you know for example in lower main street letter kenny uh it's a day of article on many houses since lying empty but also there's one that main building there which is lying empty must be 30 years and that could be easily converted into a small enterprise like for example uh a resourceful enterprise where you can build your artisan maybe even have a farmers market two weekends and they first fall into the main street and that helps all our shops and all our small enterprises in the area you know and i've gone where people are living above the shops that are already existing at craigsford fall to to help them um small enterprises develop and uh but it takes vision and it takes a focus to make this happen and what we've been talking about people have been talking about for his last decade since 2011 and nothing has already been achieved so it has to be maybe each local authority should have one person to target it all these empty buildings and their main streets and villages and target them gets action on it it's not easy to figure out where all these buildings are like you know maybe he can he can do it through the ASB you know yeah okay trust me right sure listen it's it's food for thought thanks so much for coming on and talking to us about that we'll see what the listeners think thanks Sean that's Sean Gallagher there defending environmental wealth who's part of a group there 08 660 25 000 if you have a view there a caller says the majority of irish people want to retain our neutrality but our government uh are completely ignoring the will of the people who monetary and aid is completely different to military aid another good morning greg it's time these people in our government stop trying to control people if you're over 18 leave people alone they can make up their own minds taking advice from a bank now come on people who smoke don't get them for free they pay for them should we put food up in price to stop obese people eating these people love to hit the easy targets excuse me do you believe that smoking is as harmful as they stated is because you know there is a responsible I mean at that point what else do we do we just allow people to take any drugs that they like bring in these new drugs that the society would collapse with it in no time at all our health service is at breaking point part of that is to do with people's poor respiratory health is to get older so if you just sort of take the take the reins off there's consequences for that too is there not or do you believe it should just be you know if you want to go to the hospital you will expect to get in seen but if more people are smoking there's more issues and so on and so forth good morning greg there are thousands of people on the sick who aren't even sick these people don't want to work that's that's what's happening is right okay and there's another comment on that as it relates to this three tier disability benefit which the government are exploring at the moment hi greg the tier disability benefit system was introduced in the uk some years ago a private company was given a responsibility for deciding a person's level of disability this was done via a rudimentary questionnaire and ignored medical opinion or doctor's advice the result was that a huge number of people were cut off forcing them into poverty and vastly increasing suicide rates the social welfare changes were listed in the un report criticized in the uk government for its failure to address discrimination against people with disabilities so just in case you've switched on the government has published a green paper discussing a three tiered system the top tier the tier that would receive the most money 265 euro would be those that simply can't work then there are two other tiers where the money would be reduced from that to 65 if you were deemed to be able to work you'd be on courses and expected to work and then there's a middle tier where you'd also be expected to go on courses or upscaling if you all maybe you'd want to and this is why I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing but I speak to people who have effectively terminal illnesses or life limiting illnesses who can't actually get a medical card or they have to fight for it or even though they've been told they'll never walk again have to prove that every year or two so if that's what's happening in that area you have to wonder you have to wonder then what might happen in this area as that caller says a rudimentary questionnaire was introduced in Britain right Pat Murphy has accepted the nomination to run for the position of Deputy President of the IFA the elections will begin in early November Pat joins us on the program now hi Pat good morning to you I need a copy to you yeah okay Pat are you there Pat hello hello Pat no Pat's not there I don't know what someone's still on the line but it's not Pat okay I'll continue with my comments here hi Greg Leo Radkar is now officially made Ireland an active combatant against Russia and why it would be well within rights under international law to now attack Ireland Ireland is no longer in a neutral position to work out a peace agreement between the warring parties parties this is the latest one of America's forever wars just like Afghanistan Iraq Vietnam and the so-called war on terror I wonder is Pat Murphy there are you there Pat no it's not Pat's not there there's now there is a new directive coming in from the EU on the 30th of November from there it will be illegal to burn wood cut on your own farm i.e. hedge cutting branches etc but you can cut them up and burn them in your house fire can anyone explain the logic in this I'm gonna have to dig into that a little bit deeper Pat Murphy are you there no Caroline morning Greg how are you sorry Pat we were having a little bit of an issue there sorry to trouble you right okay you are the connet regional chair former Galway County IFA chairman and now your name is in the hat for the deputy president of the IFA Pat what what are you hoping to obviously you're looking for the support of IFA members but what are you hoping to bring to that position if you're successful but you're hoping to be a vice for family farms because that's what we are here at home we're a we're a family family owners and I want to be a strong advocate for for families but also for the food that we produce because I think it's been abused by the retailers it's been dismissed by a lot of people in government and it needs to be treated better more importantly it needs to be supported and we also ourselves need to sell it better and ourselves as customers are to our customers because to give people a better understanding of where food comes from but that's why I'm standing on this election and that's my that's my mantra in this to stand up for for family farmers we are seeing young people either leaving or not getting involved in farming this obviously then has an impact on the the fabric of of rural Ireland sheep farming there's hardly anything in it farmers are exiting that as well and we've seen the recent cut in in in nitrate limits it's death by a thousand cuts for the farming industry can it be reversed with the with the right leadership yes it can it can because you know when you see sheep in such an apartment that part of the fabric and bunny guards would part over 270 000 sheep we can't afford to let that go and that's why it needs to be supported we're looking for the last number of years for 30 euros a year premium to be paid sheep farmers are telling that there's nothing in it for them and that's why young people are leaving it because when there's no money in something they will follow the money they will follow their their peers into better paid jobs so we need to support them number one with a proper with proper income supports and that's why we would encourage young people to get to continue in the game because if we don't it'll be the rural economy and the rural community that will be the ones to to suffer all right pat this and we're up against it at 10 we'll chat i'm sure before those elections but thank you very much for your time this morning the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter kenny credit union 9102127 so you're saying mental health difficulties can be smaller things yeah like troubled sleeping yeah or if i'm always stressed like yeah or often anxious they're all part of your mental health hmm thought those were separate nope they're all connected i how do you know all this anyway i'm sure i've been there myself anxiety ongoing stress low mood or troubled sleeping they're all part of your mental health make the connection and find support that can help at your mental health.ie from the hse the dunnigol silage competition with homeland and nutritious animal feeds is back for 2023 and entries are now open entry is free and includes five categories dairy beef sheep round bale and new entrant first prize is a 300 euro voucher and second prize a 200 euro voucher in each category for full entry details visit homeland.ie step into our showrooms at foy and company in letter kenny and bally buffet this month and you'll be transported into a realm of endless possibilities imagine lounging on a luxurious leather sofa hosting friends at a stunning dining table or sinking into a cloud like mattress and bed at the end of a long day reserve now to ensure delivery for christmas also shop online at foy's.ie finance is available inquire in store at foy and company letter kenny and bally buffet oh you don't leave usual is it see some at visa we're proud to support small businesses in every community like murphy's of dingle makers of quality ice cream supplied by kerry dairy farms when you shop but in independent business it multiplies to support your community where you shop matters visa online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal kava at the news desk rank and file guard the are withdrawing overtime today as their protest against a pre-covid roster escalates the gather representative association remains locked in a dispute with commissioner drew harris over the scheduled return of the old roster on the 6th of next month g array members intend to withdraw their voluntary overtime every tuesday in october with threats of a blue flu in november if the commissioner doesn't defer his plans just as minister helen mackinty says she's been assured there would be sufficient cover today however g array president don't think all based to gather brendan o'connor isn't so sure the term sufficient is a subjective term there's no doubt that if there's less guardian duty we will see issues such as response times of visibility will be affected now i'm sure emergency calls will still be prioritized but perhaps lower priority things won't get the tension or the response that they might on a normal day when our members are supplementing the shortfalls in numbers in on garish o'connor a driver threw a package of suspected cannabis out the window of a car after failing to stop for gar thee in letter kenny the package is believed to be valued at in the region of 1100 euro upon eventually stopping a driver thought to be using their phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt gar thee arrested the driver on suspicion of a drunk of excuse me drug driving a counselor says there is an urgent need for traffic calming measures on the l11 one four from the junction at bonnigie to the crossroads at the letter kenny concrete and quarry products premises officials said traffic calming measures have been recently introduced on the road and an assessment will be carried out to establish if additional safety measures can be added to improve the safety of the area particularly on the junction with the collion road consular donal coil says there is a need for measures to be taken there this is the junction which i have highlighted on numerous locations and and that's the one that at ready mix there only in the recent past there was a young girl coming up the collion road and a car came down and just drove right out in in front of her now lucky enough she wasn't seriously injured but nevertheless like i mean there was quite an amount of damage done to the car there have been so many accidents at that junction i want to see more worked on in relation to traffic calming measures and sanage people on social welfare and the state pensioner expected to see an increase of at least 12 euro a week after next week's budget the arish independent says a lump sum fuel allowance and double payment of all social welfare rates before christmas are also being considered by ministers the government has yet to sign off on all the budget measures to be announced next tuesday shon moinehan the ceo of a loan says older people in particular must be protected from the rising cost of living the pension itself and especially if you're on your own and you're living on the pension is just hovering below and around the poverty line so the reality is is shocks like inflation slots shocks like increased energy shocks shocks like just the basic changes that we're all struggling with really affect those on those edges homes and businesses may be without water for a time today in northerly shone as repairs to a burst water main continue the affected areas include karare road springfield balmain karandana and surrounding areas a traffic management plan will be in place for the duration of the works they were expected to be complete by two o'clock this afternoon it could take up to three hours after that for supplies to fully returned to normal three cars have recently been seized by boncrona roads policing units at quick lease point yesterday on tire safety day it was found one vehicle had excessive wear on the front tires on sunday two further vehicles were seized as they were not believed to be insured a number of fixed charge penalty notices were issued yesterday for poor tires as well as seatbelt defences and mobile phone related driving offenses and certain medicines which currently require a doctor's prescription may soon be available over the counter health minister steven donnelly is bringing him out to cabinet this morning which is also intended to address medicine shortages it's understood if passed people will be able to get the contraceptive pill without a doctor's script kathy marr from the arish pharmacy union says once enacted they'll also be able to substitute medicines prescribed by doctors in the event of shortages medicine shortages have been a problem globally but also in ireland for a number of years and only seems to be worsening we have been asking for something like a serious shortage protocol to be put in place to allow us substitute medicines when a medicine isn't available this is what our clinical skill is we know what we can do to help patients access prompt effective and safe treatment and with the forecast for this tuesday morning breezy with sunny spells and scattered showers those showers becoming increasingly confined to coastal areas toward evening as moderate to fresh westerly winds back southwest into east inland winds will continue fresh and gusty near the coast top temperatures hitting 13 to 15 degrees Celsius and that's highland radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team good morning the obituary notices this tuesday morning october third the death has taken place in new york of france mcmonagall formally of cyan mills draban reposing acquigley's funeral home tomorrow from 7 p.m to 8 p.m funeral leaving the funeral home on thursday at 10 15 a.m for rakeway and mass and saint chorises church cyan mills at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in st columbus cemetery donnie lup donations in lieu of flowers pleased to the kevin bell repatriation trust care of quigley funeral directors the rakeway and mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam the death has taken place of liam duggan in england formerly of ard comb kill letter kenny funeral arrangements later inquiries to pascal blake funeral director letter kenny the death has occurred of michael doherty tear callan strunnor remains are posing out as late residents this morning from 11 o'clock funeral from there on thursday at half past 10 for rakeway and mass at 11 a.m in the church of mary immaculate strunnorler interment afterwards in strunnorter cemetery the rakeway and mass can be streamed live via the parish webcam family time from 10 p.m to 11 a.m and on the morning of the funeral donations in lieu of flowers if so desired care of any family member or via the online link the death has taken place of marion caldwell 19 connelly homes malin town need ever glee beckham donna marion's remains will leave liam collins funeral home station road cairndona this morning at 11 a.m to repose in the oratory at connelly's home where they'll repose from 11 a.m to 9 p.m today tomorrow and thursday marion's funeral mass will take place on friday at 10 o'clock followed by cremation at lakeland's crematorium cavern the death has taken place of dawn porter st columbus grove ballet duff park lifford and formerly of 316 connelly borough road lifford reposing at his home funeral from there tomorrow morning a quarter past 10 for rakeway and mass and sim patrick's church murlock at 11 o'clock and hermit afterwards in the adjoining cemetery donations in lieu of flowers please to comfort care letter kenny university hospital care of quigley funeral directors draban family time please from 10 o'clock tonight the rakeway and mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam for more details regarding wigs and funerals please go to highlandradio.com throbbing head sore back the aches and pains of cold and flu no one pain is the same but for all those everyday pains there's a moment when you start to feel release that moment when you start to get back to being you and you feels amazing panadol extra film coated tablets powerful pain relief release starts here contains paracetamol always read the label leaflet the county's number one talk show the nine til noon show on highland radio good morning to you it's just turning nine minutes past 10 this Tuesday morning you're very welcome back to the program some of your comments here as we head towards the bingo numbers meal martin does not speak for the Irish people say to this listener he has no right to be peraging around kiev or endangering arland and especially our youth who would be forced into the military in a pan european army he is a disgrace i wonder and i presume russia had to give its permission for that meeting take place in kiev yesterday because it was well known in advance and obviously it would be very easy to target such a meeting so there must have been some back channeling with russia to see if it was okay for all of these leaders to to go to kiev for that meeting i don't know the internet itself but one would have to imagine that that assurance or an assurance would have to have been given them housekeepers it's the new name for cleaners if you could let lee know okay um that's lee gooch presumably i don't know what that conversation was vape should have been available by prescription only to help those trying to quit believes a listener i wouldn't like to talk because i'm very frustrated with services in arland would only get worked up about it um say as a listener i can imagine um think don't go sorry think don't low ladies will be up challenging the big two in a few years a lot of well-coached young talent coming through the effort one so much at underage they seem to be a well-drilled bunch there on sunday a very athletic looking team and a deep squad too it would seem so i would say you are probably right i call us as a 16 year old can drive a half high-powered tractor and tow a trailer on a public road without ever doing a driving test is that the case another call of says oh sorry they go on to say it's crazy that we allow people who cannot drive permission to be in charge of such a dangerous vehicle and carry on let's face it we all know many of them do not have a full driver on with them especially here in donny gollum a call of says bussering does not care about their passengers they've got no consideration for elderly or people with disabilities same as most things around make life harder for them that's all we see happening a joke in the year that we are and supposed to be so advanced and ahead of ourselves traveled with bus air and last 30 years they were better back in the years only getting worse day by day and back then they would have added buses not left you sitting there with no answer hi gregg can someone please answer my question as someone who drives for a living i see a lot of left-hand drive cars on the road some of them over and over again in the last couple of years why are they not registered in this country why is it same as buying a car in the north you have 30 days to clear tax nct who's responsible for the nct and tax and insurance on these cars um there is derogation there i'll check the the the legislation on it but there is a derogation there at the moment um if you're on about cars maybe they came in from from uh ukraine i presume uh call us as i've smoked since i was 12 years old when i was 25 i finally quit but only with the help of a vape and then i was on it for seven years late last year there was a traumatic event in my family and i bought a box of cigarettes worst mistake of my life i've been smoking since i'm so annoyed at myself well listen uh at the end of the day you stopped smoking for seven years you had a traumatic event in your life uh you achieved seven years okay you've relapsed a little but now's the time to say right so i'm going to pack them in again i don't think you should be annoyed at yourself obviously there's something very stressful that forced you back into smoking give yourself a break look at the amount of money in your health you saved in the seven years you know you can do it so just do it again there'll be no bother to you whatsoever and as i say stop beating yourself up um you you achieved great and can do so again i work with the homeless i've seen homeless people spend their last two euro and a single cigar rather than a loaf of bread or a pack of rashers the heaviest addicted smokers will prioritise tobacco over food mind you the old custom of sharing the cigarette is gone because they're too expensive now again you know there are obviously people in society that need assistance in stopping smoking and and it sounds like these people that you talk of need additional help be it through support or even maybe pot them on vapes or whatever i don't know but we've never really embraced vaping officially in this country as an alternative to smoking but i don't think anyone wants to see someone in a very desperate situation who's dependent on nicotine and if you've never been dependent on nicotine you won't know how hard an addiction it is those people should be assisted and not forced to choose between a cigarette or a cigar and food i don't want to live in a society that forces people into those situations good morning greg you know listeners complaining about someone smoking in a tv show yet have no problem with the porn shown on channel four aimed at kids just shows the bad world we now live in smoking bad grooming kids good i think you're referencing a show it wasn't for kids it was it was a strange program to be honest with you i think it was um there's a lot of adults standing in front of a select group of children don't know what the purpose of it was don't know what it achieved i don't know if it was for titillation or whatever it is i don't don't agree with it at all to be honest i didn't watch the show i don't know what it's about um but i mean if we don't talk about something because something else is bad we literally have nothing to talk about you know we would literally have nothing to talk about but i know what you're saying i wasn't comfortable with that show at all i didn't see the purpose of it and i'd be afraid that someone might get some sort of a kick from from from watching it because there are some very strange individuals out there so i would agree with you i don't think that show should have been made uh but also i don't think that smoking should be glamourized um in tv shows that children are likely to watch all right good luck if you are playing the bingo today it's time for mcbi bingo on highland radio it's tuesday the third of october you're playing on the brown sheet the reference number is s17 it's game number 40 the numbers are 43 45 12 76 33 2 32 38 39 and finally 46 phone your claim to nine one zero four eight double three before eight tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com discover rhs homecare ireland's only not-for-profit homecare cooperative we are now hosting open recruitment days in the following venues the mul park hotel donagall town tuesday 30th october jackson's hotel balibaba fey wednesday the fourth and the lake of shadows hotel bonkrana thursday the fifth all venues 9 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m at rhs you'll enjoy highly competitive hourly rates on cab travel time and mileage walk ins welcome for more details contact 0906 625 908 or jobs at rhs homecare dot ie county donagall blackfish sheep breeders association 66th annual show and seal of shearling rams and ram lams will take place at balibaba fey and strunner marge show this friday the 6th at 2 p.m with the sale this saturday the 7th at 12 noon the 9 till noon show is brought to you by letter candy credit union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account all right welcome back to the nine till noon show let me see morning greg sorry but people need to stop saying that the only refugees coming into arland there's so many different nationalities arriving in arland and the taxpayer has to fund them where when we have so many hours struggling in getting no assistance from the government they say all right that is certainly one point of view the community guarder information slot is brought to you by sheridan security systems protecting what you value most call today and get your zero wire alarm system from 299 euro sheridan security 91 26025 okay it's time to welcome into studio for this week's community guarder information item guarder sergeant paul wallis good morning paul good to have you in with us again good morning greg thanks very much um right okay starting with some sad news this morning yeah just as opposed to just to note and starting on a sad note this morning um I just want to remember our young young colleague honorary guarder owen broken from castle turret cardigans his shoulder number was hr 185 uh who passed away over the weekend and it was buried yesterday um owen was a lovely little lad part of the the the the honorary guard that we have in dunigal uh he had his induction two years ago and the army were there that day to school out in cardigans and then he graduated in November 21 so our thoughts and prayers are at this sad time are with his parents robert nan his brother william sister kelly and louise and ifa and the grandparents james and bern dead sharky and newton so it's a very difficult time so may his gentle soul rest in peace i just want to to say that yes indeed and we join you in uh that our our thoughts are with um owen's family yeah the little blue heroes do a lot of work for these little children and you know um it's it's tough on them too are the wider the wider community there yeah for sure but that's a sign of the importance of god owen broken and the impact he had in his short life a beautiful young boy uh god he had their open day at the garden station there at the weekend saw some pictures and videos from it seemed like a lovely event same as i messed up myself i was away uh but it was a good day and suppose we have to thank your own staff uh paul mcdeffit jimmy staff or dindley gooch who was there as well um the garden chicana facebook page anyone wants to check in and let it um the faces of the children say i think but we also have to thank all our all the services of who are there for the coast guard uh the orinal i the you know the civil defence um the coast guard helicopter all of that the army um and um the faces say it all and kids love to come in and see these emergency vehicles be seen what what can happen in a friendly atmosphere that that event was to happen uh last year and uh it was on the day actually after the crucible tragedy and um we couldn't go ahead would it but look it was we were anxious to get it done before the weather would turn and at least it was a good day and it seemed to be enjoyed by all yeah as you say lots of happy smiling faces already seeing reports of people reporting um on their social media and what have you fireworks uh we aren't that far away from from halloween but already people's peace and quiet being disturbed well it is and we're at the beginning of october halloween's approaching so you know dunny goll is a difficult location we've spoken about this lots of times we have operation tombola that deals with all of this and it's been in a border county where in the adjoining jurisdiction you can buy them quite freely and they're they're legal to a point there um uh we just want people parents really to sit down and talk with the kids uh about the dangers around associated with the use of firearms or fireworks i should say uh and to realise that it is an offense to possess on licensed fireworks other than low hazard fireworks like party poppers spartars and that sort of thing or to have them would intend to sell or supply or to throw them or ignite them now there are two sections of the community that are very vulnerable and get very very upset and afraid at this time are our older people uh whether it's urban whether they're urban based or rural uh in housing states that sort of thing uh and the animal community um that are out there and are important as an important as anybody else dogs livestock all of that so people should think you don't want to be end up getting a conviction or being having deals with the guards and having a file sent to the dpp uh for being in possession of these things and i sure uh sure as night follows day there will be people presenting at eds up and down the country with fingers missing yeah uh potential exactly eyes and it is going to happen because it happens every single year every single year and you know you could have a life changing injury there that could be prevented and like parents have a parents have a role in garden have a role to play here um we want everyone to enjoy halloween be safe and if you want to go to fireworks go to an organized legal event and there's an organized legal event not that far from here in in dairy city uh it's it's actually tremendous to see but it's also brings you can see what the impact that fireworks have how dangerous they are to and they're handled by professional people so uh people get injured think about it parents talk to them about it think about if you're buying fireworks what you're actually taking into your home and the harm it can do and the harm it can do out in the community to the elderly and to the animals in the area with newborn babies and dogs around the houses and all that kind of stuff and uh you know it is a difficult one because one sounds like a party pooper but these are explosive devices you don't know what's in them uh and what way they'll perform or react and well that's a very good point because a lot of them aren't c marked or anything like that there so you just don't know what exactly what you have in your hand there you're supposed to do this and the break packaging and all of that but you're effectively setting fire to pipe bombs in your garden um and also too it is it is actually really quite a serious crime yeah um i'll come back to the property marking if you don't mind we're going to the coastal communities first um because this is sort of i mean obviously with the activity we've seen off the coast and we've learned a little bit more about how drugs are moved around the place and i suppose we're starting to maybe see some theories as to why we had massive amounts of cocaine washed upon donagall's shores um but you also want to warn our coastal communities uh about uh drug importation but generally looking after their stuff as well well looking after their stuff and you know i was last in here on the 14th of august uh i didn't think of it back in here today but as you know granja had an injury so we must send good wishes get well soon granja like really soon really no offense paul but like you know you can get up here within the next five minutes yeah with all the appeals that i haven't got um but uh the um look we we saw that week on the 14th that was the week after the bales washed up down in hornhead and done fanny in that and um we saw then last week it on a grander scale or whatever and then there was links in relation to that what this county were two individuals possibly the two that went on the sandbank were in kealy begs there were two individuals in kealy begs it happened to buy a trawler and um the trawler man would have been glad of the sale because of the way the fishing has gone and all of that sort of thing which is terrible in itself being a native of port and port um but i i um the trawler man became suspicious then because he knew these guys they weren't adept at handling the boat or they weren't asking the right questions and i suppose a transaction any money transaction now it can leave you very vulnerable so he pulled out so it's possible that these guys went to castletown bear then and bought that boat uh and obviously were lucky to escape with their lives and had to be winched to safety and all of that and then we had the big ship then uh and you know when you look at the route that that ship take took from south america up along the coast of africa slow and down at the cairn area islands going very close to the coast of portugal and france um you can it wouldn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what was going on there and a big ship then going up into the air sea and and turning around like a pleasure craft up and down and over and back and you know there was tremendous work done by all the agencies and particularly by the brave people who boarded that boat you know just as the the the drugs were they were attempting to yeah i don't think even the video gives uh i don't think because obviously that boat to that point was taking evasive maneuvers trying to get into national waters i don't think the video really demonstrates how tough winching down from a helicopter onto a floating evasive vest like that i had difficult that would have been and and and it doesn't take into account and we watch it all the time and i heard former assistant commissioner patley he on on rte on sunday there and he was talking about you know it was a scene worthy of an action movie but for the brave people and the ranger wing who who dropped down on that rope you're a sitting duck like you don't know what fire firepower was below you well how desperate those are how desperate they were and and the desperation i think was manifested when the captain had a seizure or whatever and then he had been medivaced off the ship so you know these guys were there were sitting ducks on both sides and and uh there was a lot of money involved and you know there will be probably repercussions but like all i'm saying today is people in coastal communities fishermen in particular uh fishers as they're properly termed now um they know people that are adept at handling boats and stuff like that and we can't allow our communities to be taken over by these people who will use our nooks and crannies and small peers and all of that and that goes to cars and vans traveling up and down narrow roads and stuff at night we need to know that the guards are there to protect your community but they're no good if the community doesn't interact with them uh so and and it's not just the guards i should say the revenue as well who are part of the bigger operation and like the guards have their confidential line if you don't feel confident in speaking to somebody and you're afraid as such one eight hundred treble six treble one it's on the side of every patrol car yeah revenue you have there's one eight hundred two nine five two nine five you know unfortunately we don't we don't have the sonar required to sometimes what they do from these vessels they drop submarine type torpedo type items to the to the to the surface of the of the of the seabed and then on a timer they open up and the floats come the the droves come to the top so another week we can't really detect that at this point so it's really important then that the the fishers are the eyes and and here's the community because walking even simply walking beaches you know you know you know there's always someone has a lot of beaches there's always someone there we always have a role to play everybody has a role to play i should say right so uh we can tie in the two issues obviously maritime equipment might be tied up or back behind the house or maybe close to shore or whatever uh boat engines incredibly incredibly valuable handy enough to move uh so keep an eye on those but also there's property marking equipment there in a property marking event uh upcoming as well yeah there's one upcoming in Dr Mahal but you know we will be rolling these there's particularly over the winter and if you have a an engine a big engine on a boat uh if you make contact with your community guardy they'll go out and mark it on site if you can bring it into one of the days do it's a good time to get it done over the autumn in the summer and it'll be done for next year and if it's marked it is less attractive to the thief um we have a reschedule it was due to the weather back at the end of july probably mark and day uh out in Dr Mahal at the football pitch there on saturday this saturday common date between 10 a.m and 2 p.m uh they'll be there with the telus machine marking machine which has been provided by the joint policing committee and so bring along your tractor trailer quad power washer basically even your mobile phone and know your aircode and get them marked it's deliberately put out there because it's a big farm and community out there so we're sort of appealing to them uh assumed at the farm and community who can and will be targeted by thieves and we have a very good thieves and we have a very good community alert text alert scheme out there too and they're very vibrant so they were anxious to have that out there and it's part of their plan for the year yeah and all your your focus is on on on crime prevention and assisting businesses and homeowners but are you familiar with the the legislation i can look up look it up afterwards but we've had a couple of texts on it that permits people who've moved here from the ukraine and taken their vehicles to to drive them here obviously people would know that if you take a car in from dairy you have to very quickly get it crossed over now if you don't as i say i know off the top of my head i'm being honest and you know this if i don't know something i that's always been my motto here in your time now i'm saying in shawn's time our father shawn as we call him now um but um i won't speculate but all i know is what i think there is dispensations a derogation a derogation or dispensation whatever way you want to call it around insurance driving licenses and probably the registration of the cars because a lot of these people would be hoping possibly to go back yeah i know ukrainian i know ukrainian and roadworthiness certificates are accepted over here and all there was an agreement between the insurance federation yeah so we'll listen i'll check that out um not exactly sure on that and certainly people are right to raise it too it's something to think about thinking some of our traffic people are supposed to ensure that cars we all have to have our cars in ct now it's just to make sure especially with the we're talking about road safe now just to make sure everyone knows what the rules are i'm sorry that i just wanted to know that well it's just a question to come in as well i know the way you are and i know the way you are and i knew i could put that to you um but we'll get the answers but there is definitely something in place yeah but i suppose it's good everyone knows because you guard here uh are asking the public all the time to call in if you see anything and people are supposed to need to know what's allowed and what isn't allowed to see people asking that question as well okay um right um we are getting unfortunate terrible tragic reminders of the dangers on our roads uh the pedestrians we had an awful situation of the loss of life of pedestrians uh i think it was the weekend before last and road traffic collisions both here and right across the country uh we've high rates of death and and the figure that we don't have but we know is huge is high rates of really serious injury life altering injuries and and i suppose it's a reminder and you want to remind people about driving behavioral yeah well look at today is tire safety day um they say the research says that 14 deaths are could contribute to bad tires and it's not just a thread it can be bulging cracks all of that sort of thing uh and we had a van seized by bug and cranner roads policing in recent days there which led to i think it's no insurance as well so um you know it's something to think about your tires your tread depth the type of tires you have on all of that so it's tire safety day also in relation we have the road safety show which basically had its as birthed or its gestation here in highland when we started off years and years ago and it evolved into this down in the aura for the students the second level students today and tomorrow and that's co-hosted by donnie gall county council who were very grateful for their help and assistance there but you know it goes back to the simple things driving on the influence of alcohol and drugs mind your speed wearing your seat belt there's a lot of talk about the speed then about reducing the speed and all of that i am not convinced that that's the answer either it's driving behavior i was listening on the radio yesterday evening about people and one young guy who's been interviewed he'd done his theory test and he'd done his lessons and then he couldn't get the test and as he said and he was quite right in what he said the bad habits creep in then in that vacuum now looking at the numbers there and i know your numbers are from august 23 because i saved them incorrectly yeah unfortunately on the 14th of august 23 which was the last day i sat here 24 pedestrians had lost their lives that's up to 32 today as of 9 o'clock this morning drivers were 41 it's up to 47 e scooters were two it's up to three motorcycles were 15 it's up to 18 and cyclists were one and it's up to four um so that's a lot of conversation you know but since the last time that we talked um it's we're plus 31 people who were alive that morning who are not alive today and i think like i know donald coveted on the news born cranner old policing unit detecting somebody doing 166 kilometers in an 80 kilometer zone mad stuff um our numbers on the 14th of august were 105 tragic people who lost their lives and you said we're just talking about we're not talking about the life change and injuries you know and we seem to forget about that and we're up now to 136 yeah i think it's 14 to 1 or something the ratio was for every life lost yeah i think it's 13 or 14 i'll have to double check that something like that it is it's shocking but like when you think of of like the pedestrians that there was or were up six eight people that were walking around the last day i was here six drivers who were driving around one e scooter user um three motorcyclists and three cyclists yeah a lot of were here were doing whatever they were doing like any of us and snatched from people's lives you know like it's crazy because one on a friday you're saying how we see week what's your plans for the weekend and on monday you're at their funeral that's how you can be reading that yourself and the dunny girl democrat we that's how you know what and statistics are difficult i think you have to break them down like that it's like i used to say years ago and we'll be doing you know 150 people lost their lives yeah but when you say if three buses left bussier or a bus arras and doubling heading for letter kenny over the period of nine months or a year and never reached letter kenny to be public outcry yeah so we all have our part to play be it our tyres be it our behaviour be it the wearing of seatbelts and road conditions as well make sure hedges are cut that the crap from the hedges doesn't lie in the roads the potholes are filled please just try um can be any of us colo couple colas wants to know should we be concerned about guard of cover on tuesdays for the next while are we going to say do you know off the top ahead if we're going to see a depletion i don't think you'll see a depletion now there's there's as has been well publicized there's the jr a are saying that their people aren't available to perform overtime and all that and i suppose that probably is more applicable in the big urban centres because we always have a standard amount that we have there and we have what to call an abstraction rate um where so many people are allowed on leave i don't think there should be concerns i suppose it's something none of us who are members of engardish economy like to see this industrial disharmony or whatever it is and hopefully it will resolve and uh it's just a difficult period now for for both sides i know you're not in the executive the hsi anymore not any more now but is there to the hsi of a position on well the hsi or i have been in negotiations and they publicly stated that they have no issue what the stewardship of drew harris uh which which other organizations have a different view um but they we have we or when i was there we were part of the negotiations that started off with what they call the west merton roster in 2012 and went on up then to the to the covet roster which was introduced overnight and everybody stood up and were part of that the four on four off operationally the commissioner says it's costing him money that he's not able to spend in other areas um and the abstraction rate is difficult for um crime investigation and follow through the four on four off the people on the ground find it better from a work life balance and all that and travel and costs so it's not there's a whole and i know brenton o'connor is articulated his view very well uh present of the g r a um it's probably just not just one issue it's about lifestyle choice and about expenses and about all of that but hopefully some um the hsi have proposed uh have sent in the roster i think it was in may it went in and that was being considered and it's hinging around the six days on four days off and a shorter shift uh from 12 back to 10 um and that hasn't been fully determined on i'm not fully up to speed and i wasn't proposed to be because i'm not at the executive table anymore but um it's just it is a difficult time for everybody and you can imagine the public are are are probably feeling a bit uh unnerved about all this too because people don't like to see their police forces no they don't but the difficulty to poll is the it's the personal nature of the dispute between mr harris and the g r a and yes the g r a have said certain things but sort of mr uh drew harris has called them out in certain ways too it's it's it's going to take an awful lot to rebuild that relationship well i don't want to get into that because that's between the g r a and i'm and the commissioner and i think a lot of it probably then social media then fills that vacuum where people can express their opinion freely and all that so it's just it's a difficult time it takes a time for cool heads now and just hopefully it'll be resolved before the 6th of November all right thanks very much paul garter sergeant paul wallis that was community guard information for this uh tuesday the 3rd of october we're back next tuesday after the 10 o'clock news the community guarder information slot is brought to you by sherryden security 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have you with us we're talking about the hsc's autumn winter vaccination program it got underway yesterday and there is a free flu and covet 19 vaccine available to recommended groups do you take them as a pair or break them down into the flu and then the covet vaccine anthony ideally if you can get them both at the same time that's what we'd recommend uh there might be a small number of people who maybe had covet a week ago uh and they should delay the covet vaccine for three months uh but if you haven't had covet recently get the two vaccines that are one stop shop uh approach that's what we're recommending some people may have the symptoms of of covet but didn't test if they suspect they've had covet should they avoid the covet vaccine or would they just maybe talk to whoever's administering it to get the advice depends on the circumstances obviously the easier thing is to go and get a an antitune test say we have a trip uh to the gp the pharmacist or the code vaccination center uh if that's negative wait until you're well don't get anything until your symptoms are gone anyhow for any vaccine uh and then once you're better go and get your vaccine in that case right so the covet 19 autumn winter booster vaccine is recommended for those old aged over uh 50 uh and with also um long-term health conditions and then the flu vaccine for over 65 so i don't want to confuse people basically there there are two sort of there's two groups as aware uh age-based and then risk-based uh over 65 for uh the flu over 50 as you said for the the covet if you have a medical condition and poor immune response heart disease diabetes etc you should and you're under those age groups the both vaccines are recommended as well and obviously the uh intranasal vaccine flu vaccines recommended for children you can get that from your gp as well and some very young children might be able to get it in schools as well that's something you were offering this year and all the recommendations can be seen on the uh hsc website because there are other groups that need it obviously health care staff pushing that big time and stop them getting sick stop them passing it to their clients making them available for work which is very important um uh also for instance poultry workers should be getting the flu vaccine because they are at risk of uh flu and we don't want them getting flu and even influenza hasn't happened touch wood but we want to reduce that risk as well and then um pregnant ladies should be getting the vaccines uh they should also be getting the patrosis whooping up vaccine because that's uh what they get routinely and just to get across the word that yes we're talking about vaccines but don't forget the childhood vaccinations are out there as well uh and um they have fallen a bit uh post-covid we're trying to get people to get those vaccines up to day two um we need to make sure people are protected against measles mumps rubella meningitis hepatitis etc as the conversation as the conversation and debate that raged over the coven uh COVID-19 vaccine which we're not returning to obviously as part of this conversation has that had a a knock on a vet effect you know people in their mind conflate in one vaccine with another uh or is it just uh just a natural downward curve that might happen from time to time anthony well vaccine fatigue has happened and we realized that but we're trying to encourage people to become that and also because uh during cover people didn't have the access to the child vaccinations routinely as they did that sort of got people out of the habit as well and uh people with young children who are young children at the time that didn't get the vaccines uh as easily as they would have uh pre-COVID and if they've other children since then they haven't had the experience of the of getting the vaccine so we're just trying to get people back into the habit of protecting their children I presume this flu vaccine like uh previous years has been fashioned based on on what we've we've seen so far in other parts of the world yes are we getting any indication of what kind of a flu season we might have uh we've seen a slice uh increase uh earlier um timescale in australia um so we're we're I think we might get uh flu's tiny bit earlier than uh we have in the past we've begun to see both in the UK and Ireland a very very small number of people admitted to hospital with uh flu infections uh that's normal because we do get it once the season hits but we're hoping that we don't get the big outbreaks uh until we get a lot of people vaccinated that's the important thing right so the vaccination program started yesterday for those inclined to uh get it where can they get their vaccines get the vaccine from the GP and get vaccinated from the pharmacist they can get vaccines from uh the community vaccination teams so that they have a lot of choice uh make an appointment with the GP make an appointment with the pharmacist uh go online a book an appointment uh with the uh community vaccination teams uh so there's a lot of choice out there uh call us says if you can't get two vaccines together how long should you wait between uh just as long as if you can't get the COVID vaccine because you've had COVID within the last three months wait until three months is up for the COVID vaccines but uh if you can't get the two vaccines together get them at the same time it's one trip to the pharmacist the GP or whatever uh people if they're traveling for instance can get lots of vaccines at the same time children get vaccines lots of vaccines at the same time uh there's nothing wrong with an adult getting vaccines at the same time so that's the easier option okay anything else you wish to add Anthony just as we wrap it up no just uh to say the vaccines are out there they're safe they work they stop people getting sick they stop people getting hospitalized they stop the blocking of emergency departments and we need them for our chest pains and RTAs and everything else uh and uh don't forget the child of vaccinations either and also for healthcare staff to get their vaccines as well that's very important uh if you had a booster in May do you have to wait six months until November for uh if it suits you to get after the three months go and get it okay you're not going to be turned away all right listen thanks very much for your time I do appreciate it okay take care for the opportunity no problem you too Dr Anthony Breslin consultant in public health with HSE West Greg uh I got my flu job today I'll get the COVID job next Tuesday I was getting my bloods taken today okay that's good for you right okay let us take a break loads to come on the 90 noon show the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today an emotion stirred an idea accelerated that's progress you can feel and the very definition of the Audi 241 range from the sporty iconic Audi A4 and the old electric Audi Q4 e-tron to the pioneering Audi Q8 e-tron offering greater range than you can even imagine test drive the Audi 241 range at an Audi dealer near you today it all begins with a thrump as the needle nestles into a deep valley of vinyl sizzle and crackle turns into fizzle and scratch and the mesmerizing rotations pop and hiss and ah the crackle of a vinyl record just one of the ordinary sounds rediscovered by Sean whatever sounds you've lost our hearing experts could help you find them again search SpexSaver's hearing is the appearance of your staff important to your business it's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises at CNM embroidery and letter Kenny they have a huge range of clothing covering all areas of the workplace it's widely known the customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well have your company name embroidered or printed on all your work uniforms contact CNM embroidery on 07491 28097 and get your staff looking their best highland radio weather updates with Ireland west airport where you can now fly daily to London Heathrow with their lingus and connect via Heathrow to over 80 destinations worldwide including Boston New York and more breezy today with sunny spells scattered shower showers will become increasingly confined to the coast towards evening as the moderate to fresh westerly winds back southwest and east inland but winds will continue fresh and gusty near the coast temperatures today 13 to 15 degrees now as I mentioned at the top of the program a draft proposal has gone out which suggests a three tiered personal support to replace or reform disability payments if you're not able to work you get the higher rate 265 euro 30 cent but if you're the lower tier where you have a capacity to work and we still don't know how that will be determined your payments will be 220 per week and then you'll be provided with I don't know whether the compulsory or not support and training to explore employment opportunities suited to your needs there's a middle tier then which also they say well maybe you can't do this type of work but we can support you to do that type of work and the aim being to get as many people who can work and want to work back to work but already already it's we're getting sort of almost like a divide and conquer situation where people are texting in saying well there's lots of people who don't want to work and they're sitting at home and they could be at work and they're on disability but there are also disability groups who believe that maybe the employment opportunities aren't there for them and this is just really about the government saving money and they believe it's going to be a form of discrimination it is a complex one John Joe McGinley is founder of autism dad and he joins us on the show now good morning to you John Joe I suppose on the face of it I mean there are some positives in in this but just we'll focus firstly on the three tiers at this point we've already heard how it's following probably a British model which has created quite a bit of poverty and disquiet over there what what do you believe the government's government's actual motivation is here firstly I think that if we take on account the UK model not only has it caused disquiet and disharmony but it's actually led to an increase in suicides amongst people with disabilities and that's a terrible situation to be in we can't look and try and mirror what the British government have done what they've tried to do is again as you said they've tried to divide and rule and they've also penalised the most vulnerable in society to try and compensate for a shortfall in in revenue so they can try and save money in one area to then put it towards other areas possibly for for tax cuts my biggest concern is that we're trying to mirror that there is a lot of disquiet that the the current corporation tax revenues that we're getting will eventually reduce the with the age and population perhaps a negative kickback against PRSI increases to compensate for keeping the pension age as it is the government is looking to save money in the social welfare budget and again disability people with disabilities children young adults and those living with disabilities all their lives are an easy target to go after and I think it would be a very punitive and cruel system to implement where people are subjected to further medical examinations filling out forms looking for doctors questionnaires to get just to what they're entitled to like how can you determine who is fit to work and how fit to work like if someone is on disability and they've lost the use of their left arm if they have the use of the right arm you know not being facetious here at all well they could be deemed to be fit to work but but they may be of the view they simply cannot for a myriad of reasons balance issues I don't know what it is I'm just using one what would be I think a simple example as to how very confusing and how difficult it might be to actually deem someone's ability to work all face going on courses and training exercises and have the threat of their payments being cut that's a very valid point but a lot of disabilities are hidden they don't seem even somebody with a physical disability may be suffering but I'm using I'm using one sorry John I purposely use one where it's very cut and dry and clear you know and even in that scenario you could end up back and forwarding in appeal not to mention I think the road you're going down now with the hidden disability and I'll let you continue with it but even in a very in-your-face obvious one it's already complicated it's complicated but again you'd have to we've got to focus on the system that they're trying to mirror the British system has been privatised sent out to private firms who are incentivised to put people into employment regardless of the medical situation they make money by making sure that people actually go into employment I would take to see us go down that road what we have to do and a key thing for me especially with hidden disabilities is if we spend the money now by ensuring that children young adults with people with disabilities be the hidden or relatively seen on we can save money in the future but what we've done as a state is we have a completely underfunded and in crisis situation for supplying support for people with additional needs and medical conditions we have no speech and language therapists we have no OTs we have a complete crisis in the child disability network teams and that is storing up a problem for the future it would be far more economic sense and we would save far more money now by investing in supporting people with disabilities be the hidden or seen and that would ensure that we allow them and we create them and give them the ability the confidence and the pathway into whatever type of employment we can possibly give them and John Joe we'll we'll we'll say that activity we will come back to this issue because I believe it's going to be an important one but the minister says this is about supporting people with a disability who want to work to work you see it though as a cost-cutting exercise and and you say that we may see the devastating impacts this has had on people in Britain reflected here I believe that you should always look at the evidence with your eyes they are trying to mirror the British system if we look to what the British system has inflicted on those with disabilities it has caused misery it's caused pain and sadly it has caused an increase in suicide rates within the UK and Northern Ireland these are the facts and that if we if we mirror this system by allowing the private enterprise to come in and then subject those most vulnerable in our society to an increased medical interventions and further reports doctors reports medicals what we'll end up with is a small proportion of people that yes there will be some that will benefit from a pathway to employment but what we'll see is nothing but a cost-cutting exercise to allow our government to save money by attacking the most vulnerable in our society and this part of the proposal has to be looked at in more depth and more detail and I would hope that the politicians especially those that we voted for in done it all would raise their voices and look to what has happened in the UK but politics but I don't know what's wrong with politics in this country but these issues they don't take up or it seems they're not taking up at council level in fairness now there's been good work in raising the OT speech language therapists recently there's been an uptake in that but these are the big issues affecting us and so many of our children and we have to start the conversations here in the hope that the end up being had in in the doll it's it's crazy but we'll come back to it thank you very much indeed John Joe I do appreciate your time this morning that's John Joe McGinley there if you've got a few oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand but like we're not our young people to give them the best chance of employment you have early intervention where they're they're assisted with their speech occupational therapy for the mobility so that they can go to school get an education as equal to other children as they possibly can and then as they head towards support them through their teenage years and into adulthood facilitate them go into college have proper transport that allows that to happen and then maybe look at say well could you work could you work could you work instead we've got this big gap in services and development and then sort of saying well if we believe you can work or we're going to cut your money I don't know it just we seem to do things either all the time well some of the time here uh backwards which I don't understand okay let's take a break for with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 90 noon show on Highland radio okay it is 11 o'clock it's time for news update and it's good morning Donna Marie Daugherty thanks Greg good morning file and rank Gare G are withdrawing overtime today as their protest against a pre-covid roster escalates the Garda Representative Association remains locked in a dispute with Commissioner Drew Harris over the scheduled return of the old roster on November 6th. GRI members intend to withdraw their voluntary overtime every Tuesday in October with threats of a blue flu in November if the commissioner doesn't defer his plans. A councillor says there is an urgent need for traffic calming measures on the L114 from the junction to Bonnegie to the crossroads at Letter Kenny Concrete and Quarry Products premises officials said some traffic calming measures have been recently introduced on the road and an assessment will be carried out to establish if additionally safety measures can be added to improve the safety of the junction with Killian Road. As Halloween approaches Garda are appealing to parents to talk to their children about the dangers of fireworks Sergeant Garda Paul Wallace spoke with Greg Hughes on this morning's dental noon show he reminded the public that an import license is required for all fireworks and to hold such items with intent to sell or supply ignite or throw is an offence which can result in fines of up to 10,000 euro and imprisonment. People on social welfare and the state pension are expected to see an increase of at least 12 euro a week after next week's budget the irish independent says a lump sum fuel allowance and double payment of all social welfare rates before christmas are also being considered by ministers the government's yet to sign off on all budget measures to be announced next tuesday and finally homes and businesses may be left without water today as repairs to a burst waterman are ongoing in north Anishoan the affected areas include caraway road springfield bellnain carndonna and surrounding areas a traffic management plan will be in place for the duration of the works which are scheduled to be complete at two o'clock this afternoon ish garen recommends waiting up to three hours after this time for supplies to fully return those are the latest headlines the next news updates at 12 o'clock until then good morning okay don't worry thank you very much indeed back with more after the break the night on noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie it's the right price tiles and wood flooring biggest ever sale up to 50% of everything in store all tiles all wood flooring all outdoor slabs cladding and bathware everything slashed in price this sale is not to be missed the right price tiles and wood flooring biggest ever half price sale is now on if you know the beauty and skincare product that suits you best you'll find them at mcgee's chemist letter kenny from moisturizers cleansers and toners to day creams and night creams mcgee's have the top brands you know and love like long com clarence and larash posse also elizabeth artin fishy nukes and many more all at mcgee's chemist main street letter kenny and online at mcgee's.ie for the best cost less the high undyed big weekend of offers is happening october 7th and 8th at dealerships nationwide test drive the 2024 high undyed range including the all-new kona arlands best-selling car the Tucson and winners of world car of the year the ionic five and the ionic six avail of the big selection of offers when you book your 241 model the high undyed big weekend of offers october 7th and 8th your local high undyed dealer is diverse high undyed canal road letter kenny open this saturday 7th from 10 to 4 and sunday from 12 to 4 the euro millions jackpot is a guaranteed 17 million euro clear responsibly in store in app or at lottery.au the national lottery it could be you kardia maher tom agonie and shindo all gags maher it's malish no reviem heart in order to ensure that i'm on gleach agus loygin is to give a maroig me ni kare maher in the back it's better than smacked at that egg or to average you less did the fit of law fire mark on a siree as in gahaf the back a quid darahi It's been running since 1986 will be switched off on Thursday, the 12th of October and they're to a person journalists are crying about it on social media like, Oh, it's the end of an era. I don't get it. I didn't really use it that much. Some say they practice the news reading and all that kind of stuff on it. So air tells going. Are you upset? Did it mean anything to you? Is it the end of an era? I mean, it's not gone. There's no chance of retaining it. But when was the last time you pressed the text button on your TV to check stuff out? Are you sad that air tell is gone or going on the 12th? As I say, an awful lot of digital tears on social media from particularly the journalistic fraternity. But as I say, I can't even feign that because it's not something I really use that much. I remember Channel four text used to have quizzes on it. And I used to go on and try and do the quiz on the channel for text every day. And then some days someone didn't bother updating it. And I was all disappointed and stuff. But anyway, do you miss or would you miss? Teletext RT's Teletext service. Can I play a couple of requests, please? I want to say hello to John Porter. He's in Bunkrana, and he's 82 tomorrow. Happy birthday tomorrow, John. That comes in from Jimmy. Johnny Bell from Bella Buffet celebrates his 21st birthday today. Happy birthday, Johnny. From Martin Maeve and your two brothers. Hope you have a lovely day. 21. It's not. Do people still do 21st birthday parties and stuff now? I don't know. It's that long since both one coming up next year. Actually, maybe. I don't know. We'll see. Can you give a big happy birthday to John Porter? Happy birthday to brand source. That's our nickname from everyone on the Magans boss. She's heading to Westport at the weekend. Have a good one. Don't even want to know where the brand source brand source nickname came from. Oops, my apologies. I have rushing holding online one rushing apologies. I didn't know you were there. Good morning. I did know you were there, but I forgot. Good morning, rushing. All great. How are you? Good. Good. Good. Right. Now, you contacted us off the back of news reports of an increase in Strep A over the course of the last year. And you know, figures published of the amount of people that were affected by this. You had invasive Strep A earlier this year, did you? I did. Yes. Back in March. Right. Yeah. And what was your experience? I was very sick. I got sepsis and pneumonia with it. So I, yeah, I was really sick with it now. I was in ITU for a while, and I was in hospital for 16 days in total. And I had to have two operations to clear the infection. Wow, really? Okay. And how did it come on? How long were you sort of off form before it was clear rushing that something else was going on? I came on quite quickly. I actually had just had a baby, a baby girl, a fourth baby. And she was born on the 8th of March. And I just went downhill after that. And on the 13th of March, I was admitted then into hospital. So she was only five days old when I went into hospital. So then I see you straight into ICU. And when people hear sepsis and people hear pneumonia, I mean, those two things are serious on their own. But to have both of them at the same time, you must have been really sick rushing. I was pretty sick. Yes. Yes. Because I went to, I went to the GP that day and my blood pressure was basically non-existent. And my temperature and blood pressure was through the roof. So, yeah, they were, they said, yeah, they rang an ambulance and said I had to go straight in. My word. And you, as you say, just five days after having a baby as well. So your body's still in recovery mode from that as much as everything else, Rashin? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. The way the consultant described it, he says, once you have a baby, when you have a baby, your body shuts down for a few days. So I would have had the, I would have had the strep a before the baby was born, but I didn't, I didn't realize my body would have been frightened off. But then once my body shut down, the virus just took hold and took over my body. And that's when sepsis pneumonia then crept in as well. And you said you had to have two operations to remove the sepsis. Is that unusual or usual? Or is it an extreme case, Rashin? Actually, they, when I had the first, when they took me, when they took me into theater for the first time, they didn't actually know it was strep A at that stage. They, because when I went into hospital, they knew I had sepsis and pneumonia and they knew I had an infection in the stomach, but they didn't know what it was, what was causing it or where it came from. So they were giving me all different types of antibiotics. And I was just getting worse than my temperature, couldn't get my temperature down. So that was on the Monday. And then on the Thursday, they made the decision to take me into theater because they basically couldn't get the temperature under control. And it was the next day, Friday, that they discovered I had strep A. They were growing growth. They had two examples when I went into hospital. So they were growing growth cultures. And it was only when they came back on the Friday that they saw that it was strep A. And what were you saying? Sorry, Rash, what were you family being told? Were they being told, like, how sick were they told you were? They, yeah, they knew it was serious. You know, the consultant was very open with us. And he was, you know, I have to praise the hospital staff. They were absolutely fantastic. And they, you know, the consultant did say to my husband that they were very, very concerned for me. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. And they were, you know, they were, I literally had teams of doctors around my bed every day. They were, you know, they were doing everything they could really find out what it was and what was causing it. And they actually, because I just had a baby, they actually gave me a private room up in maternity and just had a nurse stationed with me 24 seven. So that my husband was able to bring the baby into me then every day, because otherwise, if I was in ICU, the baby wouldn't have been able to come in. No. And I think as part of your recovery and sort of keeping your spirits up in a tough time, you would need to have seen your family. There's no doubt about that. And how long after that, then, did you start showing signs of improvement that you were sort of over the worst of it, Rashin? Well, once they, after the first operation, once they, once they realized that it was strep A and they were able to give me the correct antibiotics and correct medication then. And, you know, within, I suppose within the next few days, I started feeling, but I still would have been on a lot of medication from even from the operation recovering from it, you know. And so everything would have been still very blurry until I ease off on, on the medication. So probably, it was probably, you know, probably a good week and 10 days in the hospital before a good 10 days before I started to feel back to my normal self again. All good since and baby and family are good now. Yes. Yes. No, back to full health again now. And I took a few months once I got out of hospital to get back. I was still very, very weak after I got out of hospital. Yeah. And we, we had, we actually had loads of help and support from family and friends, and we wouldn't have been able to, you know, to cope otherwise, really. Well, we're going to be doing a feature on this program, not to just in the future on the song heroes where, you know, we interview people who may not ordinarily be interviewed on radio and talk about their lives and achievements. Let's talk about your husband here because he's the real hero. You know what? He absolutely, yeah, yeah. He was really, really, really thrown in the deep end of it now because I actually was breastfeeding the baby up until I went into hospital. And so he had to maternity actually give us a few bottles of formula and to keep us going because I, my body was so sick. I wasn't able to make any milk at all myself. And so he's really had to learn. We never, we never bottle fed at all and he's the other baby. So he had to learn how to bottle feed, he had to go and buy all the bottles and formula and up during the night, night feeds and everything. He would never done all that before obviously because I was breastfeeding. So worried sick about you too, which jokes aside. Now we're getting the two for one here because of course it is breastfeeding Awareness Week. You were breastfeeding as you mentioned up until you got sick and then obviously your sickness interfered with your ability to produce milk. But you were able to pick it up again there afterwards once you returned home. I did. Yes. I hired a hospital grade pump and just expressed every few hours and got my supply back again and got back, got back exclusively breastfeeding then within, you know, within a few weeks of being home. Wow. Okay. So that's real determined. And do you know what? It can be done if anybody has to stop breastfeeding for whatever reason, you know, they can get back to it if they feel the need to, they, you know, they definitely can do that. So just to be clear, to be clear, what we're talking about there is is your body stopping supplying because they think you either don't need it or you're not doing it. And then you have to re-encourage your body to start producing milk again. I've picked that up correctly, Rosheen, and you can do that. Is that what you're saying? Okay, perfect. Okay. Exactly. Yeah. So as I say, you know, we read earlier on about how bad strep A can be. And I think maybe an awful lot of people might associate it with younger people, you know, kids and all, which are vulnerable and can be exposed to it. But it's a reminder to all of us to, again, trust our guts. And if we're not feeling right to just rule it out or get it ruled out as best as possible. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Don't, don't take any chances because, you know, they, there's a lot of things going around since COVID since just everybody's been, this was re reintroduced back into the community and a lot of infections seem to have got worse. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah. All right, I'm delighted to hear that you're back in good form and the family's happy and healthy. And as I say, Rosheen, it's really useful to help us get that info across. I really appreciate your time and best wishes to everybody. Thank you. And thanks for taking the call, Greg. Thank you. Bye bye. So really just to give that a little bit further context, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre warned of a surge in strep A cases. Cases of the variant of strep known as eye gas are four to five times higher than expected. So in some instances, obviously, as we heard it could be deadly and can be deadly. And we heard Rosheen's close shave with it there. 12 childhood and 18 adult deaths linked to eye gas here in the last 12 months. And between January and June of this year, 350 cases were recorded across the country. And that compares to an average of around 78 cases before the pandemic. So certainly good advice and thanks to Rosheen there for sharing her story. It's time to play with our 100 Euro gift voucher to spend your way. When you choose full fibre 500 meg broadband for just 39 Euro a month for 12 months and no activation fee. So switch today at virginmedia.ie. Virgin media. It's playtime. Tee's and C's applies to virginmedia.ie subject to location and availability. New customers only 12 month contract, 500 meg broadband, 70 Euro thereafter, ends October 11th, 2023. Are you looking to diversify your sources of funding but just don't have the time to do the research? Please join us, the Will Ireland's National Association of Charities, Community Groups and Social Enterprises on Wednesday, 4th of October in the Central Library Letter, Kenny for our funding roadshow where we will answer all your funding questions. Learn about different types of funding opportunities available to your organisation at local, national and EU level. Find out where future funding will come from as well as tips for addressing challenges that will arise. This is a free event but registration is essential. For all the details visit will.ie. My spelling always stopped me from doing things but thanks to my class with Donegal Education and Training Board I've learned how the computer can help. It was hard to take the first step but now there is no holding me back. Literacy changes lives. Make a change in your life today by contacting Donegal ETB and find a class that suits you. If you'd like to volunteer to help someone make that change, call in to your local Donegal Education and Training Board Further Education and Training Centre. Supported by Adult Literacy for Life, the Government of Ireland and the European Union. Welcome to the Spa at Orchids, one of Europe's largest spas. At the Hollyroot Hotel at Bundorn, discover tranquility in our Japanese themed garden boasting 7 treatment rooms, seaweed baths and a secret garden with an outside hot tub and sauna. Now, let me take you to the heart of Bundorn where you'll find the Hollyroot Hotel Spa and Leisure Centre. Don't miss out on our exclusive Midweek Hotel Specials. More information at hollyroothotel.com 19 minutes past 11 and we say good morning to Kathy Somers, CEO of the CX Company and author of Irish Customer Experience Report. Good morning to you, Kathy. Good morning. Good to be here. Thank you so much for your time. So, can you give us the... I think it's been in existence since 2015. So, what is the background to this report and how does one select which companies are surveyed, I suppose? So, we set up the report back in 2015 and the whole purpose really was to be able to benchmark companies in Ireland for the customer experience that they deliver. So, we looked at things like the Times Top 1000 report and looked at all the different sectors that we wanted to cover to put the key companies in there. So, we're at 150 companies. This year it varies slightly from year to year. And is it across sort of media, health and obviously other different types of companies? Yep. So, we cover 11 different sectors. So, we've got supermarket, retail, travel, financial, insurance, public sector, restaurants. So, we cover all the full range of any companies really that deal with customers. And how do you gather the information, Kathy? So, there's a survey that goes out. It's done once a year. We partner with a research company called Amorok and we go out to 2,500 consumers and select a panel of people and ask them to give us feedback on companies that they've interacted with as a customer. And we ask them about 17 different questions all based around their customer experience. Now, the companies or the sort of, I suppose the sector, the Irish Credit Union, there's a whole lot of them and they're independent and underabrela to some extent. They continue to top the poll in terms of customer satisfaction. They do indeed. We just have them in as the Credit Union. So, it's a sort of a catch all for all of them. And they have been number one starting survey back in 2015. So, that's nine years in a row. It's a fantastic achievement. And interestingly this year, they've actually increased their score and there's a bigger gap between them and the next best brand. So, I think they've really been able to adapt the experience they deliver and they've gone into the whole area of digital. So, I think they're very well placed to be able to compete with the banks and offer more complex products like mortgages for customers. How did supermarkets perform, I wonder, because there's been an awful lot of conversation about profit gouging and what have you increased costs and the cost of living and just interested to see how that might be reflected in a report like this. So, the supermarkets interestingly enough are actually the top sector and have been for the last four years. So, there is a large number of their brands in the top 20 and I think the prices definitely have gone up in our weekly shop. What the supermarkets have been really good at doing is that looking at how they deliver value to customers and value is not just what we pay but it's what we get and the experience is a part of that. So, being able to give instant value through their loyalty programme so the likes of Tesco, club card prices, the done stores, vouchers all of those aimed at offering value and you know that it is a highly competitive sector. So, where you'll have got similar products and similar prices it's the customer experience that really gives you the edge in terms of business performance. And our perception too I suppose really, that's what we're kind of going by as well if it's perceived that they're looking after us well it's going to be reflected high in fairness too. It is quite reflective of some of the controversies like the passport situation, we're not hearing as many complaints as we had in the past so faith in that service seems to have increased a little bit. NCT, a lot of controversy around NCT national car testing they fell down the rankings, unavailability of test, backlogs and long delays and of course the one that's gathering all the headlines is the basement club to use football terms and that's RTE and it has seen quite a collapse in terms of the customer experience. It has so its customer experience score has gone down by 17% which is the biggest drop we've seen in the last three years but most importantly is that we measure customer experience on a number of factors things like making it easy, how well each company understands the customer's needs but the key one is trust and RTE's trust score has dropped by 25% and trust is so important it's integral in every relationship we have it's built up slowly over time through every interaction but it's quite fragile and can be easily lost which is obviously what has happened in RTE's case and it can be very time-consuming and very costly to build that trust back up again so they've got a job ahead which I think they're acknowledging that so it will be interesting to see how they build that back up because it's not just the scandal and the Ryan Tuberty issue there were other comments came back from customers around things like poor programming the number of repeats the RTE player not being fit for purpose the number of issues that really need to be addressed from a customer perspective yeah since I sort of read the findings initially I tried and I was thinking in my head how they could rehabilitate themselves and it's a very difficult area because they're also in the business of disseminating news and covering politics and all that kind of stuff it could be really really difficult for them to bounce back from this but I'll probably look at the viewership and listenership figures and take comfort in those at this moment do you survey independent media and if you don't will you because I think that would be interesting the more people consume independent media than they do RTE for an example and there is a precedent there with the credit unions being under the one sort of category do you include independent media and if not why not we don't include independent media at the moment we include the main sort of content providers so the likes of Sky and Virgin so they're obviously providing other services yes but in Ireland they aren't the main content providers the main content providers in Ireland are independent media and news talk and Virgin media it would just be really interesting actually to see comparison and it might actually buck up media generally in this country if there were sort of a public versus sort of private comparison there yeah and is that every year we would review which brands and which sectors we put into the survey for example we added in logistics and delivery last year so you know looking at that and reviewing it and definitely something to think about how did air get on our air in there separately EIR? they are indeed last year they were bottom of the table and they've actually moved off the bottom they had the biggest increase in score of all the companies of 22% so again it's encouraging they've had a real focus on customer experience yes there are still a lot of challenges but you know it's one of those things that you've got to keep doing all the time you've got to be improving and moving forward and you know I think they're a good example of that so hopefully for their sake that continues it's all very interesting Kathy we look forward to see what happens next year have a lovely day take care of yourself thanks for your time bye bye have a lovely day Kathy Somers there CEO of the CX company an author of Irish customer experience report it comes out as credit unions are rated the most trusted organization in Ireland and we have the wonderful letter Kenny credit union on board great supporters of this program as well so that ties in nicely will be by a pleasant coincidence an RTE rock bottom of the pile as I say I would not like trying to be trying to rehabilitate RTE because of the area in which they work in right okay should we do some comments before the break my father lost his arm at the age of 36 when he recovered he worked every day of his life until he passed away at the age of 76 RIP and indeed the example I was trying to give is it's actually something that came up from a study I was watching in England where someone was effectively told well you can use your other hand even though it wasn't just a missing arm that was the issue if you get where I'm coming from Greg when the when are the rules coming into force on e-scooters they're everywhere and so dangerous to pass me on the footpath on Main Street in Bunkran and no bell to let me know they were at your heels and no helmet scary things November I think oh no I think that's actually I'm confusing it with the quads I'm not sure there's actual timeline at this point I thought an increase for those unable to work was a good idea I know some people with a disability who work they could not work full time so the 220 is a great help but even those who have not found work are far better off than those whose disability removes any chance of work Hi Greg how did a proposal to increase disability payments for some categories become a decrease currently 220 proposed minimum 220 mid-range 240 worst level 260 this is not the UK system but we're starting with a new system I didn't call it a deduction I did compare it a reduction from the top rate downwards but I wasn't comparing it to the current price the current payment structures but I appreciate you offering some balance there fantastic work by the Guardian Navy and the Army Rangers we don't praise them often enough for the dangerous job that they do and on it goes ok we are going to be talking about we're going to be speaking to a volunteer support officer with a loan they're looking to recruit they're having a number of open days as well all that's coming up but first let us take a quick break Shop Evolve Clothing Napa Peary Cajart Diesel Jack and Jones and many more casual and street wear brands Men's Wear Superstore Letty Kenny Retail Park or online at EvolveClothing.com Two floors of fashion open seven days Toast your Christmas party this year at Century Complex with delicious food a superb atmosphere an excellent service we have something to suit everyone make your night extra special by adding a premium cinema experience to book call 0749121976 or visit CenturyCinema's dot-a-e for more information on Century Complex this Christmas BingoClub.com or download our app for more info Imagine Faster Broadband Faster Subject to location and availability Now you're very welcome back to the program Helen Helina Madden is a volunteer support officer with a loan good morning to you Helina sorry I haven't even got your fader good morning to you Helina great to have you on the show talk to us about a loan just to remind people I think people will be familiar with the work but always good to start off with a brief outline of what these do so it works primarily to help older people remain living in their own homes for as long and safely as they possibly can and so we provide integrated systems of support coordination to link older people in with the services will allow them to remain staying at home in their own communities where they've always looked for their entire lives to stay connected to that community so if an older person engages with a loan what kind of interaction do they have with your group like how do you support them or empower them I suppose to stay in their own homes yes we have a load of different I suppose areas that we can help them with so we do I suppose there is supports around befriendings well a lot of older people come to us and say they're lonely or they're feeling isolated and they're not getting out a lot so we can provide them with our program we have to do visitation support and befriending in which we place a volunteer with an older person for one hour per week volunteer calls into the older person to have a cup of tea in a chat and that's it just a bit of friendship it doesn't have to be set days and set times it can be different days and different times weekly depending on the volunteer schedule we have a telephone befriending service as well for older people that might be a bit more shy and that might want somebody to call to their home and we have volunteers that work on our telephone lines and older people sign up for the service they can have one call up to five calls per week Monday to Friday they specify the time and the day that they want to call and we have volunteers that phone up to see how they're doing they just would call them friendly calls they call up and they say hello how are you doing today and the conversation goes from there there's a load of reasons as to why someone might end up being isolated maybe their partner passed away maybe they're not as mobilized they were maybe the local post office closed or maybe they used to go out for a pint or something and they no longer do maybe they've withdrawn a little into themselves since Covid because I think there's an awful lot of that as well and still nervous to step out and I wish we could do more to try and encourage people to do that but as I say those are just some of the many examples as to why people from one end of the week to the other might not have contact and that has a horrible impact on people that absolute isolation it does it has a huge effect in studies have shown that it increases cognitive decline dementia Alzheimer's blood pressure heart disease in older people that are being isolated and feeling lonely so I suppose we're in there then to make them not feel like that anymore with a service that we offer for them whether it be through getting them a befriender or a telephone call or whether it be linking them in with the care teams or the social prescribers locally to get them a plan where they're able to get about and join society and become part of society again like you said a lot of older people over Covid sat in because that was the advice and they followed the advice to the letter like and they were everybody was so good and it's not even that they're scared to come out anymore they've just gotten to such a habit of sitting in but they kind of have forgot what it's like to get out and about and we in fact when we place the volunteers in or we place them with a social prescriber or the support coordinator goes in and helps them with whatever it is that they need to help with whether it be access and healthcare occupational therapy or getting supports in if they need walk-in aids or that that it gives them a new lease of life and then they're able to get up and become part of society and get out and they get the confidence back to get out and do it. Yeah indeed. So we've talked about the benefit of the service users or whatever way you might describe them the older people that you work with and we're going to be talking about recruitment in the moment so I just want sort of maybe the anecdotal experience you have or the feedback you get from your volunteers what do they get from it? What does it mean to them? Yeah we have the best volunteers in Donegal and in CH01 they just get so much back from it they say not only do they get the joy in knowing that they're helping somebody to not be lonely but the wisdom then that they get from the people that they're visiting and the stories and just the history in itself that the people that bring to them to know that the pure enjoyment that becomes friendships in a lot of cases like we have volunteers alone alone just started I suppose in Donegal about two years ago before that it was smaller groups that all came into the one band of alone and it was the good morning service before that and we have volunteers that have been with us for 10 years or more like I was chatting to one lady yesterday and she's been a volunteer with us since 2017 visiting the same older person since then do you know so it really becomes a friendship do you know between the older person? Do you support people in that you know this isn't a counselling service but it's a listening ear and I suppose maybe there are you know little flags that maybe you want to keep an eye out for during conversation or what have you do you trust people's sort of own intuition or are there some guidance given there to Helena? Yeah no 100% so all the volunteers that come in to us they get an interview so they come in they get a short video about what alone does it's about 20 minutes they get interviewed by me then they get a training session whether it be by Zoom or in person and we support them we do all this for two hour long training session and we support them through that and the volunteers know that there are eyes and ears there are loans representatives on the ground to those older people they're visiting that if they know little changes or maybe they think that God do you know what this is different than it was last month or I think this person could use this or could use that they can contact us and we link them in with the older person again so we very very much rely on our volunteers to be our eyes and ears on the ground because they'll be seeing the older people that they're matched with as regular as anybody else the people is connected to yeah and of course that's motivation in and of itself to have a positive impact on someone's life but look at at the same time too we are a country with 100% unemployment effectively and you know this is a lovely thing to have on your CV if you're looking to explore job opportunities so move around a lot of employers like volunteer work and it's a great sign of someone's character and say that would never be someone's motivation but hey if it's a nice bonus along with it too all well and good as I say volunteering is always looked on really favorably so what kind of a and I think it varies there's the phone interactions and then there is the sort of visiting what kind of a commitment before we talk about where people can get more information face to face what kind of commitment normally or do people sort of really do you want from people effectively yeah so it's actually really easy and I think it's a lot less than what people think so the telephone service we look for a two hour commitment for a week and it's a Rota schedule so to make the calls to the older people and they might they're not going to be on the phone for a solid two hours you know like they'll get there will be so many calls that come up that they make and then and that's six months for two hours per week and then the visitation be friending it's just one hour on one day per week that suits you to call out to an older person and we look for a commitment of a year with that but within those roles it's very very flexible like we realize I realize people's volunteers they have lots going on their work and they have kids they have groups here involved with you know they go on holidays you know and that's fine and I think the bottom line is that's fine if you're busy we can still make it work for you you know it's just it's the one hour and we're very flexible in our approach towards that and most people are really really caring and giving but not everyone necessarily has the resources to donate for to charity or the time to fully commit to something or other this allows people that want to have a genuine really really important positive impact on another person's life particularly as the age it's an amazing it's an amazing thing to be part of you know what I mean and as I say it doesn't really cost the person anything other than a little bit of their their time in the week but how rewarding it must be to know that you're having this impact on another human's life it is and a lot of the older people that are in Donegal that are waiting for volunteers is waiting six months to a year and if you're somebody who doesn't see a lot of people from one week to the next a year is a huge amount of time and a lot of the people that are in our service are very the older of the older people so they're the 70s and 80s plus so I mean those people wait and sit in a year on their own like you know it's not fair and all it takes is maybe somebody in your community has an hour per week for you to call it and have that cup of tea in a chat that you're calling into do you have an idea of how many older people are waiting on I have an exact idea so across Donegal we have 183 older people currently waiting for a visit so there's 61 in the Finn Valley area 37 in Anishoan 33 in North Central Donegal so that's from Lederkenny Remeltson, Milford, Fannard, Cresla Dunfenike Direction 31 in South Donegal and 21 in the Glenties Ardra so these are older people that have engaged with the service and said I'd love to have a befriending service and they're waiting and they're waiting and they're deemed necessary of the service so I suppose we make sure that the people that they're getting befrienders really need that support that they're just not thrown into I suppose somebody that has heaps of support and lots going on that these people these 183 people are in need of somebody to visit them for that hour per week all right okay so there's a couple of open days volunteer recruitment days you could call them in early October which we're in right now on Friday the central library letter Kenny between 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and that's dropping now you're not expecting people to come in at 10.30 and leave at 5.30 you're open no no it's dropping all the open days that we're doing is dropping open days for people to get information whether it be about them wanting to volunteer with us or get more information about that or even about the services of core coordinators and on the day as well about the services that the Lord has to offer all right central library letter Kenny this Friday 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. dropping any time between those hours Saturday the 7th of October in the Finn Valley Centre in Balaba Faye from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in case that suits you better just give me that number again 137 did you say 183 older people 183 I beg your pardon 183 older people have been engaged with alone have been assessed that they are needing of a befriending stroke telephone support service so a lot of volunteers well it's not a lot considering there's 163 odd thousand of us in this county but it should be doable I hope you have a huge well I hope if anyone's actually listening now can they and you know they may be listening in Killy Beggs for an example or Dunlowe or Mallon and they would like to but they can't get along to letter Kenny or Balaba Faye can they speak they can indeed they can get me from Monday to Friday from 9 to 5 I have an email address they can get me on Helena dot Madden as alone dot IE and Greg you have my phone number details I can leave those with you as well or they can go on to our alone's website and www.alone.ie and there's a wee box that they can take for volunteering and ask them to put in their details so their address and their telephone number and their email address and then they'll come through to me and I will get them whatever information they need to make their decision to get started with us OK I hope you get a wee run on it now after this it would be great would be so great for them people waiting you know that you could tell them just the joy when you tell somebody who's been waiting six months or a year that we found them somebody that's going to visit them the joy that it brings them like and the look on their face and I always say to the volunteers in the training sessions the look when they meet that older person for the first time and the work and why we do what we do just to get that end result to see that older person happy and content feeling safe and that they're connected to the community I just have a cup of tea and a chat or glass of milk and a cup of tea and a chat bit of fun bit of love it's not caring or anything like that just so people are clear I just want to make sure so I really hope you get a wee run after the back of this conversation your enthusiasm and your love of what you do Helena almost not far off 200 older people who are waiting for a friend effectively you get it okay thanks so much it's been lovely speaking to you really has thanks so very much indeed okay there you are let us know if you're gonna get in contact with them or attend the open days I'll wait 60, 25,000 and very inspiring Helena there The Nintel Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account at Shannon Airport we know what makes a dream holiday it's not just a huge choice of destinations like Lanzarote Malaga Edinburgh Paris and Boston it's the unique features that make getting through our airport a dream like affordable easy access parking just steps away from your departure gate so whatever dream holiday you're packing for head for ShannonAirport.ie with more quality airport experience we'll get your holiday off to a dream start Shannon Airport making it easy well Grace how are you today I'm good I've just been down to the mid to measure fireplaces Shorin and Chrysler they have an incredible selection of over 40 colours for kitchen work tops and guess what for a limited time they're offering a 40% discount on any electric fire when you purchase a work top there 40% they're a huge selection of fireplaces stoves wood pellet burners beams and stone cladding certainly well contact me to measure fireplaces Chrysler on 0749138 365 on Facebook Instagram and on mtm fireplaces.ie here's to the good stuff the dip in the sea the run after work the cat up with friends the come back to ours the carry gold butter that spreads straight from the fridge for hot butter toast or a build your own sandwich the chat around the table the sharing of plates of news and of tales and the taste that means everything carry gold spreadable butter straight from the fridge carry gold may your table always be full New York and more so breezy today with sunny spells scattered showers some will be on the heavier side winds moderate but they'll continue fresh and gusty near the coast throughout the day temperatures ranging 13 to 15 degrees celsius Paul Paul Dunleavy joins us on the show now good morning Paul good morning great how are you I'm doing good it's good to have you on the program and it's an interesting I haven't done something like this before you've an idea you've an idea for a show it's called chasing the deal and you're looking for a documentary maker a producer a TV crew who will turn this idea into a reality you also have a already got a sort of a pilot of it which viewers to the program can sort of watch as we talk so talk to me about the concept of chasing the deal okay Greg well basically I suppose that's really all stemmed up from we were living in dairy and we had a house this was sort of a Georgian styled house and we were looking to redecorate it and we wanted furniture for it but this was the kind of furniture that we couldn't buy in any shop in Europe we couldn't get anywhere so Josephine my long suffering other half as it goes Josephine was very good on the computer so she was always scouring for sort of auction sites and cardboard sales and places like that that might be able to sort of supply us with the type of stuff that we wanted so we basically started travelling around all of Ireland from cabin to Dublin to Newry everywhere and we bought period style furniture not necessarily antiques maybe French Renaissance Chesterfield buttoned leather suites hand carved furniture stuff like that but stuff that really worked well in the house and I mean when we finished furnishing it we stood back and we said wow that's incredible and we were buying switch of furniture that time but probably would have cost maybe four or five thousand euro and new we were buying them maybe for four or five hundred so the effect was incredible we had saved a fortune of mine but more important than that we really enjoyed what we'd done so after we had done that Greg we were sitting in the house at the weekend thinking you know what are we going to do now we've no fun anymore so we kept going to these places we kept doing what we'd done now we were filling the house because now we were almost filling the house so we couldn't get into our house then what I'd actually walk on sideways and pass the front hall we had statues of Mike Tyson we had electric guitars everywhere it was just a mess so we were left then Greg was the only one option that was to sell the stuff that we didn't need which we started doing and we found out that because we liked it other people also liked it so therein lies the whole concept of what we were doing can I say from what I've seen so far and this is a compliment not an insult it seems to be very similar is it to the salvage not similar but the concept to the salvage hunters TV show in Britain is it where you acquire some beautiful stuff and we need a version of that show ourselves with Irish characters people from here it seems like a no-brainer it seems handy to make too and that's easy for me to say says you but you know what I mean you're ready to go you've got a team you've got a concept Greg we have we have it sitting on a plate for somebody to take us on normally on a TV producer would want a show like that they've got to go and look for people like us go and look for people that can restore the furniture go and look for all this infrastructure we have it we've got the team we're ready to go so basically all someone has to do is say like let's go maybe if they want to make a few changes or a few different sort of cash changes or whatever that's okay but just a particular show that you're talking about let me give you an example that particular show was in Belfast recently and called into two separate shops in Belfast that sells antiques after they shot the show when they had left and went back the turnover of those two shops increased 40% because of the exposure that they got on the TV show so this show has the potential I think to put Donegal on the map to show I suggest the country and the world what we can do in Donegal all right can I somebody else can do it can I play a little click here I think you're negotiating with a man in Bunkrana is it let's just have a listen here we came down here today not really knowing what to expect and we come around the corner and I saw these two teacups very nice John very unusual very unusual as soon as I saw them I thought wow these are very different of course I couldn't show my enthusiasm because then I would have give the game away how much are they John for the pair for a pair I don't know for a pair it's having about it's having about 300 euros I don't know the two there for me man I don't reason with that they're not too bad for me to have a go yeah and sort of people start getting the experience and as I say we'll play the footage out so these are two really unique sort of teacups and you're bidding with the person that owns them you have to sort of make sure there's a bit of margin in there for you you have to see what you need to do to them who you might sell them on to so he gets a few quid gets them out of his back yard and then obviously you can you can try and find out where to market those or who gets them and we follow you through that journey as I say it's not a brand new concept but it's just lovely to see it well produced and with an Irish feel to it you know well yes there is that Greg but also a lot of the shows out there don't show the shows that you're mentioning they show from sort of conception you know from conception to birth yes we show the actual buying of it the restoration of it and finally the most important part of selling it is well you have somebody tangible coming down well that's the critical thing for me in these shows I need to know not what the estimated value is is what it's sold for because I want to know you got those cups off him for 200 quid I don't know how much you're going to have to spend doing them up but I want to know did you make a loss or did you make 600 quid do you know what I mean that's the critical part of the program that I need I need to know what happens you know if you get it sold correct and we were I'm fatigued about that because the other shows and most of them don't show that because it takes more time and more effort and everything else we want to really basically show that yes sometimes Greg and I mind you we must queue and we get it wrong but more times then we will get it right and again we have like Jerry Jerry Brett who's in Bridgend and there's a company called Save Our Sofrants they're fantastic it's a family run business we've taken so fast to him and bits Greg I mean and if you'd seen them you'd say go to the skip a week later we go back Jerry has it all done there's a masterpiece sitting on top okay and that's the magic as I say you've done all the hard work you have you have it all done there and people love this kind of stuff what's the house discussions going with the likes of RTE maybe TJ Carr they seem to actually see the thing is Paul we were talking a little earlier on about RTE their bottom of the list in terms of customer satisfaction some of the complaints were repeats and what have you this and this is then what happens with RTE and I'm not dragging you into this conversation but they then throw money at some minor celebrity to go out far and do something or whatever it is look at someone's teeth or whatever we don't make homegrown shows like this and they don't commission enough of them I don't know why they don't but they can actually sell a show like this to Discovery or to one of the streaming platforms as well they really need to look at what they commission and how they commission it because I would have argued that this is this is an old brainer rather than sending someone who used to be in a boy band to Turkey correct but you know we were in discussions with an Irish broadcaster I can't name the broadcaster and they have a shortlisted but they have a shortlisted now for quite a while and apparently it's very hard to get shortlisted it's just getting them to pass the line that's the problem Greg I feel I'm standing sometimes in front of a door and I have no key to open it and if someone gives me the key we'll open it and we will show them and we will put Doug all on the map we'll show them what these local people can do and we will make it entertaining and fun and there's an appetite for this because it's all to do the circular economy stuff's reused I mean there's some of them if you look at even letter Kenny there's some fantastic charity shops there so somebody can go buy something in their charity shop take it home take it up or clean it or do whatever and sell it you're actually helping your local charity but you're also helping yourself I'm not being parochal here as I say I think it's actually a great idea and this is the type of programming that maybe could start rehabilitating RT or even maybe one of the independent broadcasters you've done all the hard work you've got a pilot together and as I say we watch an awful lot of this stuff on UK satellite channels why don't we have a home grown version of it I hope I hope it gets in front of the right set of eyes that can see the potential here because I do wonder sometimes who actually commissions these shows and if they're blinded by celebrity or something but anyway the best it's a trick you and Greg it's getting in front of the person sometimes you can't they've gone they have to send emails they may or may not answer if we can get in front of somebody give me five minutes in front of somebody and if I don't sell if I'm not good I'll do it if I get in front of someone we can also do an Irish version because so that option is also there you've got it all okay brilliant stuff Greg thank you very much for giving us this opportunity we really appreciate the help you talk about how quickly you can sell it there's a bit of restoration in there there's characters in there there's banter in there you know it has all the ingredients you just need someone to see the potential in it and I'm not just saying that because I have watched I have watched the I have watched the pilot and I would watch the show and I mean that from the bottom of my heart not just because it's a it's a done a goal show but genuinely I would we need to be supporting this have a lovely day best wishes to everyone alright take care thank you very much bye bye bye bye bye bye okay okay right check out that we'll link it on our we'll link it on our this book and our other social media at some point okay that's where we have to leave it I want to thank Neve Shields who departs the show today it's been lovely working with Neve a lovely person and we will miss her although we'll probably paths will cross again into the future the old reliability though we'll never go on you we're always going to be here Caroline or Greg Hughes here 9-12 every day we're back with you tomorrow stay tuned John Bresson