 So I can say this because I'm kind of, you know, I shaved my head, right? So is it, say for instance, I wore a wig and attached it to my head with Velcro and it's the sound of the Velcro pulling the wig off the top of my head. Is it possibly that? Well, if you possibly come in to work tomorrow with a wig on and try that out, I'll tell you if it's right or wrong. How's that? Right, OK. But I don't have one. Oh, that's true. Oh, Velcro. Oh, you'll have to wait then. Is that Velcro then? Newt. All right. Lee, have a good day. Good luck. All right, take care of yourself. At nine o'clock, let's get a news update. It's over to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Over 108 million euro is to be spent by the HSC in Donegal on a number of older services buildings. The funding will go towards a feasibility study for the new Lifford Community Nursing Unit. It will see the 110-bed Community Nursing Unit in Letcher-Kennie and Kandana Community Hospital projects proceed, as well as fund the tender for works on the existing Community Hospital in Bunkrana, along with a number of other projects. Stephen Montgomery is to be laid to rest on Friday. The 43-year-old from Dunfana, he died following an explosion in Brinlach on Monday. Investigations into his death are continuing. A funeral service will take place at his home on Friday, followed by burial and Ballymore graveyard. The implementation of the revised effective concrete block scheme has been delayed yet again. It was previously expected that the scheme would be published this week, but that's now being pushed to June 14. In an update from the Micha Action Group, they say following a meeting between officials from the Department of Housing and Donegal County Council on Friday last, that they have been advised that further engagement is required. It's also believed the requirement for a certificate of compliance with building regulations, as stated in an amendment, has been retracted. An in-depth study of domestic murders and familicide has found most victims are women and relationship breakdown or impending separation is a significant factor. The independent review commissioned by the Department of Justice examined domestic deaths and incidences of familicide between the years 2018. Pregnant women or new mothers are most likely to die at the hands of their partner or former partner. The report recommends that new agencies to support victims improve education on the issues, better training for those most likely to encounter victims and a CSO study on the prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence in Ireland. A Donegal County Council believes efforts must be made to lower the cost of recycling. Councillor Patrick McGuyan says people should be rewarded for recycling and not penalized. The draft National Waste Management Plan for a circular economy is set to go out for public consultation and aims to accelerate the transition where materials remain in use for longer. Councillor Patrick McGuyan, who here like off the lift to Norland Municipal District, says it's vital also that the pay-as-you-go scheme remains in place. It's very, very important and something that we fought for quite a few years ago. It really tamed the pay-as-you-go. So if you put out your man once a week, once a month, once or whatever, that's encouraging people to reduce. A lot of people now put out a brown man say once a month they make big efforts to reduce. So it shouldn't be making hard of them by saying you have to go pay by weight. Whether or not another dry day with plenty of sunshine, top temperatures of 18 to 22 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. They might have been your best buddies since you were babies. They might be the only one who knows about that thing you did. They might be your boo, your home girl, your moochacho, but you've just got six deliciously crisp chicken McNuggets. So you have to ask yourself, are they McNugget worthy? Served after 11 a.m., subject to availability. The county's number one talk show, the Ninetown Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now, it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the Ninetown Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. And a very good morning to you. Four minutes past nine Wednesday, the 31st of May of 2023. It's the last day of the month, isn't it? Or is it? No, it's not. It is. It has to be. There's no other days with... It's the whole month with 32 days. Yeah, it is the last day of May, and we continue to enjoy this really good weather. I hope you're very well out there, and you're going to get involved in the conversation with us today. Your WhatsApp and text lines are open right now for you. 08-660-25000. I'll just mention, if you're listening on the pod or if you're listening overnight when the show's rebroadcast, feel free to text in. We can pick up your comments the next morning. Give us a call right now, though, for the live show, 07-491-25000. And emails come in to us at comments at highlandradio.com. Penning to come up on the show, as you can imagine. We'll be across all the big stories and big topics of the day, both locally, nationally, and even beyond. But let's start with what's inside and on the front of the papers today. We'll start with the Finn Valley Voice. Two Finn Valley natives were awarded Silver Scots medals at a ceremony in Dublin on Friday for their acts of bravery on duty. The Scots medal is the highest award that can be bestowed by the commissioner of Vangara Shihokana and is awarded for exceptional bravery and risking one's own life in the line of duty. Sergeant Eamon Griffin of NAFNI, Bella Buffet, who is a stationed in Glenties, and guarder Lewis Brown, Crossroads, Killy Gordon, and the Beaches, Bella Buffet, a member of the road policing unit, Donegal Town, were two of four guardy who responded to a call in Glenties in 2020 when a male armed with a high-velocity rifle discharged a number of shots in the town. I remember that night really well. On to the initial independent this morning, firefighters who rescued a Bunkrana mother from near-death, that near-certain death in a house fire are being held as heroes. The 51-year-old woman was pulled from the burning building by members of the Bunkrana Fire Brigade who bravely battled back the flames before entering the inferno. The woman who suffered smoke inhalation as well as serious burns was rushed to Letterkenny University Hospital before being transferred to a burns unit in Dublin. We will share her a speedy and full recovery. The Innish Times this morning over 11,000 euro was distributed in Donegal from the Court Purbok system in 2022. A total of 6,620 came from the Donegal Town Court Office with a further 4,780 paid out from the Letterkenny Court Office. The various St. Vincent de Paul Charities in Donegal collected 3,090 euro with 1,800 of that going to the Balichanan SVP branch. The Donegal Town SVP received 600 euro with 480 euro awarded to the Bunkrana SVP and 200 to the Letterkenny branch. The Donegal Hospice was the next highest beneficiary receiving 2,200 in Purbok's donations. Those are figures provided to Donegal Live from the Court's service on to the Donegal Post. And Glenty's look set to have a Brian Freel Centre that would celebrate his work while also providing opportunities and inspiration for today's writers. The centre will be housed in one of the town's most historic buildings, the Old Court House, the building has lain empty since the last court sitting there in September 2015, just days before the death of Freel on October 2nd of the same year. Right, let's get on to the nationals now. A lot of coverage of the senses will be going through some of the Donegal figures as well. But it's interesting to see what the various papers pick out from it. The population stood in the Republic 5,149,000 on census night in April last year. That's up from 4,761 odd in 2016. It has increased further since then, of course, as the census only included 18,000 Ukrainian residents at that time with the figure now closer to 75,000. The population is getting progressively closer to 75,000. The population is getting closer to 75,000. The population is getting progressively older, though. The average age of people in Ireland increased from 36.1 in 2011 to 37.4 in 2016 to 38.8 last year. Now, that's... There's two ways to look at that. Firstly, it's a very rapid aging of the population. Secondly, people are living longer, which is great. More people than ever are living to 85 and beyond. There's been a huge increase in that regard as well. But people just aren't having children at the rate possibly we should be having. Now, I'm not saying everyone should go out there and breed like rabbits. Don't get me wrong. But it's obvious, I think, that, you know, people are obviously making certain decisions to delay having children or not have children at all or whatever it might be. But obviously, when things are tied to, there is always that consideration whether people like it or not. And, you know, is it a great environment, even if you're working to have, you know, two or three children? I would suggest not that is contributing to a slowdown in birth rates, but also an increase in the age profile of the population. The number of people in the state who call themselves Catholic has fallen significantly from 79% to 69%, but still a significant majority there, 70%. 7 out of 10 people in Ireland still class themselves as Catholic. There is a caveat. The Central Statistics Office believes the sharp drop may have something to do with how the question was framed. The question was previously, what is your religion assuming the respondent had a religion? The question last year, following representation from the Humanist Association, was what is your religion if any? OK, so they say that that's swung things around. But in terms of population growth, by the way, it is worth noting that the slowest rate of growth, everyone is worried about pressures on our services, and this, that and that, and of course there's an extra 6,000 people in Donegal now, at least some of them since that census. But we have the slowest growth rate of population in Donegal in the entire country. We're down around about 5%. I'll dig out that actual figure somewhere for you. Yeah, I'll dig that out for you. But that's not insignificant that our population growth in Donegal is the lowest. So some of the key findings will go to the Irish Daily Mail for this. 38.8 is the average age of the population. As I say, it's increased from 37.4 in 2016. 85 is the number of people living to this, sorry, 85. The number of people living to this age and beyond increased by 25%, which as I say, that's the good part of the shift in the average age, but as I say, birth rates bound to be down. 94,000 people identified as Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi. 27,000, the number of people identifying as Chinese. 3,922, the number of people born in Syria now living in Ireland. It's quadrupled since 2016, but you can see there 95,000 people identify as Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi. Just short of 4,000 identify as Syrian. 83% people reported their health was good or very good, but that's down from 87% in 2016, but still a nice figure. Let me see, 13% smoked either daily or occasionally in 2022, which is a low figure, isn't it? Almost 80% of the population reported they'd either never smoked or had given up smoking, so that's a really good figure. 171,000, the number of people with dual Irish citizenship, that's a 63% increase. A third of all workers worked from home for at least some part of their week, which I find interesting as well. 55%, Galway and Dublin cities recorded the highest proportion of single people and had the lowest proportion of married people, so in Galway and Dublin, over half the population are single. They have the least amount of people who are married, let's say just over a third. 80% of household had a broadband internet connection, really quite significant as well, that's up 71%. 70% is the proportion of the population who identified Roman Catholic, as I mentioned as their religion. 43% number of single people up from 41% in 2016, so lots of single people out there. 5,000, here I go again, 5,149,000 is Ireland's population. But let's just talk a little bit about population growth then. Because our Donegal's population, 167,000 bar the shout, and that's an increase of 5%. But if you look at the population change between 2016 and 2022, we're up 5%. Sligo's up 7.1%, Lytrim up 9.8%, Cavern up 7.3%, Monaghan up 6.4%, Lathop 8.4%, so all around the border region, significant increase of population. Donegal, as I say, a low increase at 5%. Down the west coast, Mayo, population increase by 5.7%, Galway 7.6%, Clair 7.7%, Limerick 7.5%. So, as I say, we have the lowest population growth from what I can see here over that period of time. 2016 to 2022 of any county in Ireland. Now I wonder how many, if any, of you were affected by this. A GARDA investigation has identified 16,000 Irish victims of an organised fraud gang who used a specialised website to commit global scams worth more than €115 million. This is the independent, by the way. The GARDA National Economic Crime Bureau has been working with multiple global police agencies in the probe into the online fraud shop used to con victims. Senior sources say the investigation, codenamed Operation Elaborate, has led to the identification of 300 suspects, the majority UK based. The Ice Spoof.cc website, which was shut down by law enforcement last year, offered criminals tools that allowed them to disguise phone calls so they appeared to be from a trusted organisation, such as a bank, so they could empty their target's accounts, so that's the cloning of numbers. Do you know in the past, we would get numbers and it would be clearly from some far-flung part of the world, and then we started getting phone calls from numbers that appeared to be Irish numbers, your local GARDA station, a mobile telephone number. Well, they were able to generate these numbers from Ice Spoof.cc. Well, the phone numbers used in Ireland to scam people included the E-Flow toll company, banks, the HSC Guardi, businesses, government departments and delivery companies. Figures obtained by the independent show that around 40 million has been stolen in this type of crime in Ireland since set 2020, and that is why probably to the annoyance of some we do try and highlight any scams that were made aware of, or any news scams that are out there to try in as much as possible limit the amount of people that are being defrauded. The Irish Daily Star this morning continued delay on the A5 Road project in the north is hugely frustrating, and it is the worst road in Ireland for death. The minister who Green Lit proposed upgrade said, Sinn Fein Connor Murphy was regional development minister in 2007 when the plan to upgrade the A5 to a dual carriageway was approved. Yesterday at Struel Arts Centre in Ulmar he gave evidence to a public inquiry into the A5 western transport corridor with a large group showing their support. The A5 from Dairy City to Aachen the Kloy has seen 47 fatal traffic collisions since 2007. Despite getting approval in 2007 the scheme has not been able to proceed in part due to legal proceedings taken by opposition group alternative A5 Alliance and we know the frustration that group has caused to many who want to see that road progress. The sun this morning and it's widely reported they've got a picture of the robot add a terminator which I think is quite witty but anyway they're talking about artificial intelligence and we read not wishing to worry you that humanity could be wiped out by artificial intelligence tech experts have warned. They said the threat from terminator star killer robots turning on mankind is on a similar scale to a pandemic or a nuclear war. Yesterday research group published an open letter on the dangerous signed by hundreds of academics and scientists the US centre of AI safety warned mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other social scale risks such as pandemic and nuclear war and they've created in such a way that it can think for itself it can make its own decisions and who is to say and it's connected to the internet and networks who is to say what is possible but that's not a warning from me that is a warning from technical experts and finally just some more details on the ban on certain elements of vaping which is due before the summer. Health minister Stephen Donnelly has vowed to crack down on the design and flavour of vapes as he announced a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes from the 18s. He said the EU is currently examining new legislation on the devices but if it does not go far enough Ireland will push forward with its own regulations. A cabinet approved a bill from the minister that will prohibit the sale of nicotine inhaling products to minors. It will also outlaw the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products at events for children and children. He also said that the public transport and around schools will be prescribed with a strict new licensing system introduced for the products. Mr Donnelly said while Ireland is not looking at an outright ban on vapes he does want to see restrictions on flavours labelling designs and advertisements in shops. He added we're engaging with the EU on the updated tobacco products directive. This is a directive we anticipated will be published next year. We're keen to see restrictions brought in on labelling we're keen to see restrictions brought in on flavours which I think will help parents because it's difficult for parents if you find out that your young one has started vaping and you don't want them to but they've got a very serious addiction to it what do you do? It's a toffee parenting is tough. Alright good morning Kathleen, Paul and Annie amongst those watching live you can watch this show live every single day as we'd like to remind you you can go to YouTube Highland Radio Ireland and watch us there on your phone tablet, smart TV or your Firestick we're across Facebook on Highland Hobel, Highland Radio News and Sport and you can also watch us on Twitter and hit watch live on our website we're there too alright back with our first guest in the moment The Newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountaintop Letter Kenny the 2022 Seastore National National Heritage Week The Donegal Senior Return to Croke Park this Saturday afternoon Mickey McCann's Chargers face Wicklow in the Nicky Rackard Final at 3pm Follow the action on Highland as Donegal chases a fourth all Ireland title. Live coverage from the Nicky Rackard Final between Donegal and Wicklow is in association with Fuel You Can Trust at Gal Oil Clady Bridge Castle Finn. Your one-stop shop for National Heritage Week returns from August 12th to 20th and this year celebrates Living Heritage Organize an event by exploring and sharing the traditions, crafts and skills passed down through generations in your family or community. Visit heritageweek.ie for more. National Heritage Week is a program of the Heritage Council supported by the local authorities Heritage Officer Network and the Department of Housing, local and local authorities. Itchy eyes, running nose, wheezy and a mean hay fever is back on the attack. As pharmacists, Brennan's have a wide range of allergy remedies to come to your rescue and we can advise you on how to lessen those hay fever attacks. So come in for a chat and we can talk through your options and private if you like. You'll be back to enjoying summer in no time. For expert hay fever advice, if you have any questions or questions for you, just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy. They say knowledge is power. So the more you know about your personal finances, the more power you'll have over them. Now all the knowledge and power you need is right at your fingertips with the CCPC Money Hub. Free impartial and comprehensive information, calculators and tools to help you learn more and take full control of your personal finances through the CCPC.ie forward slash money from the competition and consumer protection commission. In the next 15 seconds, you're going to find out where is the best place in the Northwest to buy a bed or mattress. It's rest text beds and furniture, mountain top letter Kenny where comfort meets style. Highland radio time checks with Expressway travel route 32 from letter Kenny to Dublin when you book Expressway bringing you the time us. Okay, the time is 22 minutes past nine. We're joined on the program now by Councillor Neve Kennedy, chair of the Donningall Local Community Development Committee. Neve, thanks for joining us. Good morning. Good morning, Greg. Good morning, everyone. Right, we're doing great. Thank you. We're talking about the Civic Dollars Project. It's a community reward platform designed to increase our time spent outdoors, local community, right? So, uh, give us an idea of this, uh, this scheme, this initiative. Yeah. It's a five initiatives. Um, no, I have to admit I haven't downloaded the app myself yet, but I will do when I get the proper form to do so. I'm afraid my forms aren't antiquated. But anyway, basically you download the app and you go into the selected areas within the county. There's one in each municipal district at this moment in time. It's like a pilot at the moment, but it's doing very well. So take, for example, in Letter Kenny. You've got the Letter Kenny Town Park. So you go in there and you download your app. First of all, you go in with your family or whoever you want to be with and you hit go on the app. And if for every half an hour that you spend in the park, um, you get a Civic Dollar and it's to a maximum of $3 per day. And so if you want, you see all of the companies, all the businesses and all of the businesses that have signed up to this so far. So if you fancy to get a cup of coffee somewhere in Letter Kenny that's on the app, you may get a 10% discount or whatever the business would decide to give you. Or if you prefer to donate to say the Tidy Towns Committee, if they're on the app, you click the donate there. So it gives everybody a sense of, I suppose leadership and control of the time that they're there. Obviously to spend time in the open out in the open air healthy and it's given everybody a little bit of a boost and it gets built and up. It's like a shop and online app you see, but you do it, but you can spend it on yourself or you can spend on some of the community groups that you think would be beneficial to them. Okay. And some of the places are really popular. We've got Drumbo Woods and Stronauler. You mentioned the Burnie McLinsey Town Park in Letter Kenny Swan Park in which is always very busy, of course. Dunlowe Riverwalk, which is a fabulous facility and Bandor and Promenade and Cliffwalk and it's not about necessarily activity. You just have to be in those locations. The app doesn't doesn't check if you're running or jogging or walking. So everybody's included in this. So simply if you go to Swan Park in Bunkran, I throw a blanket out and lay out the sun for an hour and a half. You collect your three civic dollars. Absolutely. I like it. It's lazy. I like it lazy if you want to be. It's for all abilities and that's just the way it is and it's lovely. That's the inclusivity about it. So it's very important that everybody is equal in this and that everybody just spends time in the outdoors and relaxes and, you know, life is stressful enough and I think this is a really nice way of just saying, you know what, let's give back, let's work together on this and let's enjoy the outdoors what we have. There will be more and more parks coming on board in the next year or so and there's also more and more businesses and community groups willing to come forward now. So if anybody would like to, you know, add their business or add their community group onto the app, contact Margaret Fitzgerald on Healthy Ireland and Healthy Donegal and she's available to do that and help with that. It's good for, I mean, obviously people might want to donate to the businesses too because they get tied into something that's healthy, might increase, fall into their business and they might be offering reductions in any case but also to what this allows people who are already active and visit these places to download the app and contribute either, you know, as we mentioned to get some stuff off in businesses but even to contribute to the, it's just an opportunity for people maybe to contribute to the local tidy just have to have the app but of course the aim is to encourage even just the conversation and the attitude towards enjoying our outdoor spaces. Absolutely, we have an abundance of them and they're all beautiful and we need to enjoy them and this kind of weather wouldn't be just fabulous to hit go and just relax and give somebody a coffee or have a 10% discount somewhere. It's a lovely, lovely idea. I think I noted it in Belfast already and I think it's in Dublin but for here in Donegal it's lovely, the parks and the areas that we have we should utilise it more and get out there more, just enjoy what we've got. Alright, thanks Neve, I appreciate your time this morning. That's Councillor Neve Kennedy there who's the chair of the local, Donegal Local Community Development Committee. You can download the Community Currency app via Android or Apple. It's on both stores so you go to the Civic Dollars Mobile app and you earn online credits by simply spending time on the Bundorn Promenade and Cliff Walk, the Dunlowe River Walk, Swan Park Bunkrana, Burnham McClinchy Town Park, Letterkenny, Drumba, Woodstone, Aller. Imagine if you live close to them. You probably just rack up the dollars anyway. Donate them to your local tidy towns who do amazing work and it's only when you're out in the roads in the morning sometimes that you see people out doing everything they can to keep the beautiful canty beautiful. Right. Good morning, Greg. Does anyone know what is happening with the traffic in Ballet Buffet this morning? I am a home carer and the road route has once again been changed with no notification and very little guidance on where to go. Is it that difficult to get traffic management right? Now, I will say I have found my commuting around Ballet Buffet, Stranoller better than the way it used to be. But that's just me and it just is the way it suits how I use the road. I don't know how that could be related. We're more than happy to make announcements as it relates to roads. I'm sure here for people who are in the car with the radio on in the morning or have the radio on before they head out. You know, communication is key. They're battering away there. It's important work, but if a little bit more communication is needed, we'll then use the services that are available to you. We may have the lowest population growth rate in Donegal says a listener, but the growth rate across Europe is only 0.1%. We're still well ahead of Europe. Of course, well, statistics you can find to start to compare something to anything, I suppose. True great that many of our people fled starvation and persecution, but it really is a cop out to compare it with the 40 that have been recognised as arrivals here under false services. The 40% is it. We need to get a grip on the migrant thing which is being exploited under the refugee flag. The people who arrive here people who arrive here and rip up their documents or what have you, they're not turned away. They can claim asylum and we're signed up to that and we have to process we have to process that how the government go about sorting that out. It is also not only directed at migrant people, but also at the LGBTQ community, women poorer people. It's important for us to understand who's behind these campaigns and overcoming it by building a community based on belonging. Yeah, I get you, but it's very important and I think actually it was Daniel O'Donnell that said it in terms of people who are out of view or don't like what's going on, but don't say anything, need to find a voice I suppose. That would do no harm as well because you can't stay silent either if there's something that you want to see changed. Right, we're going to be talking in more detail to Dr Chris Luke very shortly about these changes to the sale and supply of e-cigarettes. That's coming up shortly. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com for your free delivery. I've been surfing all morning at FlemingLTD.com to find out about Fleming Doors, Fleming Steel and Fleming Codings and their full range of products. So come surfing with me at FlemingLTD.com Fleming 91 48 234 And with the same trusted personal service you are used to open your Balai Shannon Kilbeg's credit union current account today drop into branch or join online Terms and conditions apply, visit VKCreditUnion.ie for details Balai Shannon and Kilbeg's credit union is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland Time is ticking on the sizzling summer sale at Easy Living Furniture With absolutely everything reduced now is the time to spruce up your space with stylish furniture and unbeatable savings. From cosy sofas to elegant dining sets, we have the perfect pieces to transform your home. But hurry, this sizzling sale ends this Sunday. Don't miss out on the hottest prices of the season. Visit Easy Living Furniture, Crescent Link Retail Park. Holiday sunshine. Fly from Derry to Mallorca this July or August with Atlantic travel in Leverick County. Save up to 20% with rates not available elsewhere. Also exclusive discounts for parking. Call Atlantic travel letter Kenny on 911-26193 or visit atlantictravel.ie. OK, so as we've been mentioning, laws to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children have been approved by Cabinet. The changes will also see a ban on the advertising of nicotine products in your schools and on public transport. Now, just as it relates to children and vaping, recently published surveys of Irish school-age children, this is the health behaviour in school-age children survey 2018 in the European Schools Project on Alcolan Other Drugs 2019, show that 9% of 12 to 17-year-olds and 15.5% of 15 and 16-year-olds used electronic cigarettes in the previous 30 days. So there is obviously an issue there, and it's one we've been contacted by parents who are struggling to cope with the situation. Dr Chris Luke is a columnist with the Irish Medical Consultant and formerly a former consultant in ED as well. Thank you very much for joining us, Chris. It's good to have you on the programme. Thanks, Greg. Right, so there is no doubt that we needed to do something. It's been perhaps taken us a little bit too long, but you know, you just have to be out and about to see the amount of young people that are vaping and inhaling and getting addicted to a very strong substance in nicotine. Well, absolutely. I mean, I was protesting politely about this about 10 years ago when it first started. And of course, I was denounced as a, you know, curmudgeonly old dinosaur, as you'd expect. But the key thing you've just said is that nicotine is a remarkably addictive substance. And I think you have to see a lot of drug-taking or pseudo-pharmaceutical history in the long run or in the bigger picture. And basically what's happened with vaping or electronic cigarettes is that big tobacco has had to try and catch up with the dwindling market in the Western world. Now, obviously it continues to chase its new recruits in the East and in the Southern Hemisphere. But the bottom line is that the number of people smoking in Europe and North America has plunged in the last 10, 20 years particularly. So basically, electronic cigarettes are a new vector for nicotine, which of course is the ultimate agent that tobacco sells or tobacco contains. Nicotine is also, this is really important for parents, nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to man. And it's up there with heroin and booze and crack cocaine. It's a really highly addictive substance. Combine that with the developing brain and the developing lungs of teenagers and you really have a very, very worrying prospect. Can you talk to us a little bit about the impact on brain development nicotine has? Well, the jury is still out, but there is talk about addictive behavior and compulsion. And of course you always, I suppose, tend to have a irascibility on the part of youngsters who have been, I mean, I suppose the previous paradigm what was cannabis, you know, if parents tried to fight with the youngster over their smoking of tobacco, you know, we know that they can get very cross and very grumpy and sometimes very angry. It's a similar sort of picture with nicotine when you try to stop youngsters who have basically become addicted to nicotine through the use of vapes. And we know that the vast majority of smokers have long wanted to give up, you know, most smokers really genuinely want to give up at any one time. And we now know in the last year or so that about 60% of vapors are similar. They're desperate to give up because while vaping is very good for ceasing, you know, smoking, we know that and that's of course the key marketing message, that's the key mantra, you know, use vaping to give up tobacco. The problem is that, unlike, say, counselling or the use of nicotine replacement patches and lozenges and gums, many, many people are still vaping six, 12 months after they've stopped smoking. You're replacing one addiction with another, really? Well, precisely. Not only that, but many of them actually go on to what's called dual use. So many of them go back to smoking and by the end of 12 months, they're both smoking and vaping. And of course, the worst of all really, I have to pull the legislation this week, is that we know that teenagers who vape are about five times more likely to go on and try and get into smoking. Yes, but the approach in this country, though, has been a little strange, perhaps maybe I'm interested in your views, that's why I ask you, is that, you know, I mean, we knew the problem with young people vaping in America, for example, five, six, seven years ago, the whole dual thing and flavored vaping and the availability and targeting younger audiences and using TikTok and other social media platforms. But also, so we stood by and let that, you know, we didn't do anything whilst the rest of the world seemed to be taking this more seriously. But also, even still to this day, we've never really talked about in a formal way the benefits of vaping to get people off smoking. It's always been, well, the jury's out, we don't have any long-term detail, we prefer to go down different routes. Should we perhaps have changed our attitude to vaping to say, of course, young people shouldn't do it, but more formally, through the HSC or what have you, actually used it like they have in Britain and elsewhere as a tool to get people off it. So we could have had the conversations about dual smoking and vaping and all that information could have been got out there during that process. Well, I mean, the problem, Greg, as you know, is, and as your listeners will know, the Irish only seem to learn the hard way about anything. But before we start beating ourselves up too much, we have been exemplary in other respects of our life, democratically, politically, socially, with our recent referendum and our legislation on marriage and so forth. And of course, the smoking ban, that was a world first. So I suppose we can only do one big thing at a time. But I would look to Australia rather than to Britain because some of the figures from Britain suggest that up to 40% of teenagers have tried vaping before the age of 18 in the UK. And the rule of thumb is that about a fifth of teenagers are using vapes at any one time. So I think you're basically right. I mean, the bottom line is we need to stick to this, I suppose, a tacitly agreed idea that vaping is quite good for getting you off smoking. Not smoking is an extremely attractive idea in terms of public health. And in terms of the reduction in the number of cardiovascular disease and cancer and all the rest of it, caused by people not smoking, that's an enormous advantage. But I think we slightly need to medicalise vaping. We need to reduce its attractiveness. I mean... That's what Australians have done, isn't it? They've medicalised vaping. Yeah. I mean, it's very sinister when you think about it. And of course, the vaping industry has been very strong in terms of lobbying over the last 10, 15 years in this country. They've been protesting at people like me, you know, denouncing me as unreasonable. But of course, the problem is their own members are their own people have let themselves down. I've heard of a UK vaping industry person commenting on how they now send secret young customers to the vaping shops and they report their own members for selling these neon-coloured, highlighter-shaped vapes to children. And of course, that's the ultimate proof that children are being targeted because they're merchandising this stuff, this nicotine with child-friendly, you know, vector devices. And of course, the ultimate thing is that there's absolutely no quality control. And as you'll have heard, testing in the UK in the last month or so has suggested that there are very high levels of lead and cobalt and all sorts of stuff. Really toxic, neurotoxic stuff in many illicit vapes. Just in terms of how far we're going, actually, I'll skip to the key question here. For some people, it's not going far enough. That banning advertisement in certain places, perhaps looking at flavour, but nothing there really to discourage their use, to make it more difficult for young people and maybe others to start vaping if they've never smoked, for an example. But is there anything in there that actually discourages vaping in your mind? I'm not sure. I suppose the bottom line is you have to target the producers and the vendors in their wallet. And that is the bottom line. So, you know, sort of pop-up vaping shops, which there are so many, as well as the obviously legitimate, well-run ones, the pop-up vaping shops should be shut down if they're seen to be constantly selling to children. I mean, that's absolutely scandalous and indefensible. But I suppose, you know, I suppose we all suspect that out-of-sight is out-of-mind. That applies to tobacco, it applies to alcohol, it applies to every consumable or commestible that people sell. So, if it's not being advertised, it's likely to fall out of people's thinking. And that, by definition, is why people's companies like vaping and big tobacco spend so much on advertising. So, I think advertising is important to target that. Close down pop-up vaping shops that behave badly. And get our heads around the idea that vaping should be seen as a medical issue, a medical device, and marketed and regulated accordingly. And just on that, finally, I'll ask you directly, do you believe the HSC should start recommending vaping as a method of quitting smoking? And I'm consciously that I'm kind of talking about two different things, and I hope it's not confusing to listeners mixing them up, but just whilst I have you on, I'm just interested what your views might be in relation to that. Well, the problem, Greg, is that you're kind of retrofitting research and public health monitoring onto a device that's already out there. And let's not forget, before we conclude, that vaping is also a method of smoking cannabis and many other drugs. Wherever you can liquidize or vaporize a drug, like for dabs or cannabis oil, it can be used as an electronic joint. So that's another, that's a separate parallel issue. But the bottom line is, I heard scientists say that it'll be 30 years before we know the full extent of damage to teenagers' lungs. There are many cases of emphysema and so on being caused by electronic smoking. This is obviously mainly people who do it daily and frequently. And there was an epidemic of what's called evally, or electronic vaping associated lung injury in the States. There was about 3,000 teenagers being admitted or young people being admitted because of vaping injuries to their lung every year prior to the pandemic. But unfortunately, the pandemic not the basis led to a cessation of the monitoring of all that. And it's been kind of forgotten, but it continues. So, unfortunately, like most public health things, it'll take years before we see the full picture. In the meantime, I think we can defend counseling, we can defend nicotine patches and gums and lozenges and so on, because they have been subject to rigorous testing. But sadly, the vaping has not. So even though people find it very, very useful, and many people find nicotine coarsing for stress and depression, but the bottom line is it hasn't passed any of the normal rigorous health testing. It also should be worth remembering, and you know this far better than I, particularly maybe for young people, it can increase anxiety as well. Of course. That sadly is the case with most things like cannabis or nicotine. Ultimately, they become self-defeating because you consume too much of this stuff. If you self-medicate, you start getting exactly the issues you're trying to escape. Yeah, and very finally, we have a great team up here in smoking cessation within the HSE in the North West. We've got huge success with people who engage with them, and eventually they're completely free of any dependency. My final point, Greg, is you're absolutely right. That's the good news. The good news is that over the last few years, the HSE and public health people and advocates and teachers have managed to drive down the rate of smoking in our young people way below 20%. So the overall picture actually is very encouraging. Yeah, for sure. Thanks so much for all of your time this morning. That's Dr Chris Luke, columnist with the Irish Medical Times. What's your views? Oh, wait, 60, 25,000. What's up that number? Be prepared for training and match day with Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure with a variety of mouth guards, shorts, socks, and boots from O'Neill's, ATAC and Adidas. Exclusive Michael Murphy GAA gloves are available in four different styles. You'll find everything your team needs to succeed on match day at MichaelMurphySports.ie. Sometimes it's just bad luck, but sometimes it's negligence. From minor bumps to life-changing injury, every accident has a story. Time to call Michael Hennie and associates. They'll assess the situation, advise on solutions, and lead the way if any litigation is to follow. From motor accidents and workplace accidents to slips, trips, and falls, call today on 074-917-5989 or find us online. Let's get you started on the road to recovery. Michael Hennie and associate solicitors, how can we help? In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement. The wind is our greatest natural resource. We're harnessing it to provide cleaner, renewable energy for homes across the country. Switch to SSC Airtricity and get the wind working for you. Switch today and get 15% of electricity and gas. Switching couldn't be easier. Simply go to sseartricity.com. SSC Airtricity. This is Generation Green. EAB 3466 Euro and 43 Cent. Offer from the 15th to the 2nd 2023. Rates valid from the 1st to the 10th 22. Subject to change. One-year standard unirate discount for new home gas and electricity customers and direct debit and e-bill. For details of EAB, TSNCs, rates, exit fees, standing charges, and green energy, see sseartricity.com. There's fun, fantastic value at Homeland Letter Kenny Garden Centre this Saturday, 3rd of June, with our final garden, Super Saturday. All hedging, buy two, get one free. Cool flame solar lights, buy two, get one free. Sizzler BBQ was 299 Euro, now 249 Euro. Padstow Bistro Set was 99 Euro, now 79 Euro. Shop in store at Homeland Letter Kenny with expert advice from her experience team. Offers mentioned, available this weekend only. Hiya, Tracy. Good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. I am doing good, Tracy. Right, you're issuing a warning here because you witnessed an act of dumping yesterday. So before we talk about the info that you have what did you actually see, Tracy? Greg, I was driving out from my home town in Jailand. I rode known, commonly known as the watery road. It would be the lower road from Boundfoot to Jailand. And as it was coming forward, I was that road, most locals would know that road has a sharp edge and sometimes people can go off the edge. And in the distance, I thought, oh, my God, the scare that this car has gone off. So I slowed off to see if they needed assistance. But as I slowed off, I realized that, first of all, the female driver was just sitting very casually on her phone. But from the driver's side, the worker she was parked in on the right-hand side of the road to her side was on towards the edge. The back of the car, someone appeared to be possibly changing a baby because it was like baby wipes. So I did slow off with the thought of stopping. I thought, now, you know what? Stressful baby, changing an appy. Surely when their families are going to gala that all up and they were taken home. So what I did, I observed the registration of the car and the description of the car and the description of the driver. And drove on past and thought, well, I'll go back now. I won't because I have a young child in the car. So I drove on. So because I'm coming up and down that road every day, yesterday morning, I said, oh, just take this road just to see. And I was horrified to see not only had they dumped baby wipes, but four plastic bags of rubbish, takeaway cups, and a very big, as you can see from the photograph at the interstation, very big shopping bag. And I just couldn't believe it. They just emptied all of the rubbish out there and then? I think maybe they were clearing out their car and not sure what they were doing. But I'm giving a shout out to them this morning out of respect to the local community and the people in that area who worked only recently, had a major cleanup of the island, where all generations of people came out. And the island was litter picked all over. And on a regular basis, we have people working with the litter warden. We have a man at the Pier in Inch that takes it upon himself every day. He left litter after all the people about the council work closely with them. So there's a lot of pride down there as they, you know, they're up to keep up the area. So I'm putting a shout out to the person because I have spoken to the litter warden and I have all the information on the phone. So I'm just putting a wee shout out. It's a Northern Ireland rage car. They know who they are. Come back today, put all that rubbish into that big bag and take it to the free dump in there where they could have put it in the middle of the car because I know they pay it through their rates, but there'll be no fee on those people to go to a dump in there and dump that free of charge. Now you say you're giving them till today if they just happened to get note of this warning or you will pass the info onto the Guardia of the Police. Yeah, well our local community down there will share it on Facebook. Now obviously we're not gonna name and shame, but the fact that the driver was so complacently sitting on her phone, she wasn't a bit bothered about the act that they were carrying out. You know, and that's right beside our beautiful wildlife reserve and a walk. That's thousands of people use every single day. And what kind of rubbish was it? You mentioned coffee cups, was there dirty nappies and stuff? There was nappy wipes on it. There was a packet of pastries on it because we went back yesterday because the litter warden is onto this now. And we went back yesterday. There was actually a wee packet of buttons on there. Like they could have fed that to the birds. You know, but Greg, the thing is that road is like very renowned for people dumping litter, but the locals aren't gonna sit back anymore and take that anymore. The litter warden is gonna up the ante on that road now. We've spoken with them yesterday. And as I say down, and I'm just like, I don't actually live an inch anymore. So I'm not actively working down there because I live in Burt. But I care about the people down there that do carry out this work. You know, like Kerry Crossen in that area would work very hard. There's been issues with people dumping in petrol stations. And I don't understand it when it's people from the north of Ireland because they can just take a black bum bag in their car, tie a knot on it and dump it free. Well, that's what I was gonna say to you because the way you described the family, but you pre-empted that, I think, Tracy, I was gonna say, look, you know, the cost of everything at the moment, maybe they thought it was their only option, but you'd already answered that question in that. And I don't believe that that's an excuse to dump, by the way, let's be clear on that. But you've already said that if they do happen to be from that part of the world, that they can dispose of this free of charge. All they had to do was cart it another 10, 15 minutes and dump it off the road. Yeah, and the thing is, Greg, I know it possibly could be a dirty nappy and nobody wants that in the car, but put it in the boot. And the other thing is, I don't think there's a local person in the area that if a person stopped and said, would you mind if I threw this in your wheelie van? People would rather they do that than dump it along the road because what's gonna happen now is, unless this person, and I'm hoping that they're left, I'm hoping that it doesn't have to go to social media because I don't have social media myself so I couldn't share it, probably thankfully, because I was infuriated yesterday morning when I've seen it. But come out now and do the right thing and anybody coming out to use the walkway, because that walkway is a gem. You know, the council were out there yesterday cutting hedges, cleaning up. It's such a, I mean, it's a fantastic community as are our beaches. But if you're gonna come out, take a black bun bag with you in the car or a sharpened bag and just pick it up after. Don't expect the local people to come down and clean up after your day out because we all have families and lives. We want to enjoy the good weather. I shouldn't say we, because I don't do it, but they. You know, when I look at my relatives, my aunts, my cousins, and the younger generation teaming together, they're not so long ago and I'm doing a fantastic cleanup. You know, and Pierce McGurray, the letter warden, working very closely with them, like he has no manpower. He has manpower restricted, so he needs the help of the community, which we have said now, like, it's going to be observed and there is going to be a report. And we can report this to the guard. And it can, please, bubble call. Maybe this is, you know, the way we cracked down on this summer in that we all are the ears and eyes. You know, we don't necessarily have to challenge people, but just to say, right, enough is enough. And I think off the back of the big cleanup, sort of, you know, that pre-summer cleanup, heading into the first summer bank holiday or long holiday weekend, I prefer to call it, you know, that enough is enough here. We welcome people from different communities, from within the community to get out and enjoy, but take your trash, take your rubbish home. It's not, we're not going to tolerate you throwing your stuff on the side of the road in ditches or hedges or piling it beside those lovely signs. You know, they put these lovely signs up at beaches that indicate what the name of the beach is. And they seem to be, they just seem to be, like, honey to the bee for rubbish. People putting black bags of rubbish there. You know, if you've gone to the bother collecting it, take it home with you. Absolutely. The thing about it is, like, it's not going to lift itself. Those who I tend to want to go down there, probably tomorrow, but if you see how long this is, the longer that lies there, the more it's going to be, it's going to be ripped apart by obviously wildlife. It's also a risk to those birds that are protected in our area. And I just think the time has come where, you know, that's not acceptable behavior in the community anymore. And that's in the driver herself, like she was sitting on her phone, they had talked on her social media. You know, they're going to be over social media in a couple of days if they don't go back down, left a letter. And you know, you talked about those bonds, you could feed them to the birds. Will the birds and other animals will go for those bonds and probably end up eating a load of paper and plastic in the process as well, which isn't fair. And the Burnford River, yeah. And the Burnford River runs along that road, Greg. And look, we're all familiar with what happened a few years back with the local residents houses there, you know, the flooding and everything else. So it doesn't do the river environment, the wildlife environment, but the morale of the local community, you know, I spoke to a few of the people yesterday who were involved with the cleanup on this appointment in the disgust. You know, why? Like why? So the gear on, what's what day is today? The gear on Monday afternoon at 2.40 p.m. I'm asking you to drive out to the watery road, left your rubbish and take it back into the dump and there. That's what I'm doing. Now, there are lots of people drive Northern Regged vehicles living in the South as well. But I mean, that's your theory and I respect that, Tracy, but listen, there are lots of people that drive NI Regged vehicles that aren't actually resident there. But anyway, I take your point. But they didn't know what to do. They're driving that car, they can start with the dump and there. Give it all covered. All right. They have the best of both worlds. And in 30 seconds, Tray, in 30 seconds, why aren't you on social media? Life's too short for Greg. You're right, Tracy. Go on, you good thing. All right, take care of yourself. I have a great friend in German, Bakker Fahler-Steven, and he has a great saying. It's not social media, it's anti-social media. Feels like that at times. All right, take care of yourself. Yeah, thanks so much. All right, bye-bye, take care. All right, 08, 660, 25,000. Are all of you on social media, any of you out there that used to be on social media that have quit it? If so, why? Let us know. 08, 660, 25,000. Your WhatsApp's and text that number or give us a call at 07491-25,000. Right, I'm gonna vacate this seat for about six or seven minutes because we are taking a break now for the news and obituary notices. Stay right where you are. Another two hours of the Ninety-Nune show, this beautiful Wednesday morning, just around the corner. Attention, all home and business owners, are you looking for the best value for money when it comes to plumbing and tile solutions? At McDade's Bathroom Plumbing and Tiles, our experienced staff are ready to provide top quality services and products that meet your needs and exceed your expectations. Our focus is on providing expert advice and top quality products. McDade's Bathroom Plumbing and Tile Showroom in Bunkrana is dedicated to delivering great value for your money. Visit our showroom today. Looking for a flexible, affordable home improvement loan? From your kitchen renovation to getting your garden barbecue ready, B&S Credit Union's renovate loan is ready to go. For loans from five to 70,000 euro, visit our website at bnscu.ie or free phone 1-800-290-390, where a dedicated and experienced loans team will be delighted to help you. Loans are subject to approval terms and conditions apply. B&S Credit Union Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Looking for the best place in the Northwest to get a bed or mattress? Rest X beds and Mount and Top Letter Kenny had a great selection and great prices. Rest X beds has everything you need for a good night's sleep. Visit them today and sleep better tonight. Bigger really is better when it comes to great value in TVs at Ben Sweeney, your Alex. Raymond Sweeney here to tell you about some of our big screen TVs, like the LG 55-inch Smart TV for 529 with the free LG X-Boom portable speaker worth 200 euros or the LG 65-inch screen for 649 and the amazing 7-inch model for just 749, which stocks last. Get the screen you've always wanted for less right now at Ben Sweeney, Iranics, Port Row Letter Kenny and The Shopping Centre, Dunlop. Lie on air online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning, I'm Akilah Clark with the news at 10 o'clock. Over 108 million euros is to be spent in Dunninggol in a number of older services buildings. Dermott Monaghan, chief officer, community health care Kevin Dunninggol, later Monaghan and Sligo says the funding is part of the widespread of projects at varying stages of development, taking place across the region. Ellen Butler has more. A number of projects in Dunninggol have been included in the HSC's Capital Development Programme. 58.6 million euros has been approved to progress the 11-bed community nursing unit in Letter Kenny, while 4.24 million will be spent on projects to ensure Cairndonno Community Hospital is Hicqua-compliant. Likewise, 6.14 million euro has been allocated to proceed to Tender to bring Falker Community Nursing Unit Hicqua-compliant and 4.33 million euro has been set aside to ensure Hicqua-compliance at the existing Bunkrana Community Nursing Unit. In Lifford, 500,000 euro will fund a site and feasibility study to allow for a full capital submission. 3.67 million euro will allow for final payments for works at Dunlowe Community Hospital and the remaining 31.65 million euro has been approved for the 80-bed Balysharan Community Nursing Unit, which is almost complete. A teenage girl has died following an incident involving a tractor in County Cavern. The single-vehicle collision happened at Lockdorf at around 11 o'clock last night. Gardie Seagirl and her late teens died when the tractor she was in collided with a ditch. A male teenager who was driving the tractor wasn't injured. Her body has been removed from the scene to Cavern General Hospital, where a postmortem will take place. Stephen Montgomery is to be laid to rest on Friday. The 43-year-old from Dunlowe family died following an explosion in Brinlach on Monday. Investigations into his death are continuing. A funeral service will take place at his home on Friday, followed by burial in Ballymore graveyard. The implementation of the revised effective concrete block scheme has been delayed yet again. It was previously expected that the scheme would be published this week. That's now being pushed to June the 14th. In an update from the Micah Action Group, they say following a meeting between officials from the Department of Housing and Donegal County Council on Friday last, that they have been advised that further engagement is required. It's also believed the requirement for a certificate of compliance with building regulations, as stated in an amendment, has been retracted. A Donegal County Council believes efforts must be made to lower the cost of recycling. Councillor Patrick McGuyan says people should be rewarded for recycling and not penalised. The draft National Waste Management Plan for a circular economy is set to go out for public consultation and aims to accelerate the transition where materials remain in use for longer. Councillor McGuyan, Cahirlock, off the Liffords-Denorte Municipal District, says it's vital also that the pay-as-you-go scheme remains in place. It's very, very important, something that we fought for quite a few years ago, that we retain the pay-as-you-go. So if you put it in once a week, once a month, once or whatever, that's encouraging people to reduce. A lot of people now put in a brown man, say once a month. They make big efforts to reduce, so it shouldn't be making it harder for them by saying you have to go pay by weight. There's calls for an Assistant Heritage Officer for Donegal to be recruited. Councillor Barry Sweeney Hughes, Chair of the Heritage Forum, says the abundance of heritage in the county more than warrants an additional heritage officer. Donegal County Council says it is hopeful that as part of the new Heritage Plan, funding will be fined for the position. Councillor Sweeney says it's vital the role is filled to ensure no heritage funding is lost. The problem now is this, you know, with additional funding that's out there for heritage-based projects. And with, you know, I suppose, on foot it's the success of Donegal's heritage. There's a huge workload placed on one person. And it's come to a point where, you know, where we have to choose between projects. And basically, in some cases, actually say no to a project and say no to funding. With an eye another dry day with plenty of sunshine and top temperatures of 18 to 22 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The obituary notices for this Wednesday morning, May the 31st. The death has taken place of Alice Brue, Naomi Kew, old Cartron Slago, and late of France's County Donegal, reposing at Sean Feeley's funeral home, Cartron Cross Slago, from half past seven to more evening. Removal at half past eight to St Joseph's Church Ballet Tiv'nin Slago. Mass of the Resurrection at half past two on Friday afternoon, burial follows in Slago Cemetery. Funeral mass will be live streamed on ChurchTV.ie, a family home private place. Family flowers only donations in leave desired to the Northwest Hospice Fund or the Irish Heart Foundation, care of Sean Feeley's funeral home, Slago. The death has taken place of Stephen Montgomery, Bally Moore, Don Fannahy. His remains will be reposing at his late residence from 11 o'clock this morning. Funeral service in his family home at Bally Moore on Friday at 12 noon, burial afterwards in Bally Moore graveyard. Family time plays from 10 o'clock until 11 o'clock. Family flowers only plays donations in leave desired to the Donegal Hospice, care of any family member or James Harkin funeral directors. And the death has taken place of Sharad Duggan, Nate Anderson, Duggan and New Mills. Remains reposing at her late residence, which is private plays. Funeral from there tomorrow afternoon to Cornwall Parrish Church Letter Kenny for service at two o'clock, followed by interment in Gortley Cemetery. Funeral service can be viewed live on Charney McCloffery funeral directors at Facebook page. Family flowers only plays donations in leave desired to the Donegal Hospice, care of any family member or Charney McCloffery funeral director. For more details, including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals, please go to highlandvideo.com. The McPlant. What? 100% vegan. Even the cheese. But how? Can't be. Can't? It really is. The McPlant from McDonald's with Melt in the Mouth vegan cheese, a delicious sesame seeded bun, vegan mayo and a juicy Beyond Meat patty. It's our iconic taste, plant-based. Whistling Served after 11 a.m., subject to availability. Welcome back. I see our ice cream story from yesterday is gone national. Not mention of the program or Highland Radio. When you put your luck at who cares, it's fine. But Granny Daharty extensively quoted, she said, someone has seen this code, cone of a giant ice cream cone has appeared in a living room. Someone knows something about this. So I was to say, it's just strange, the stories that get picked up on, but the big stolen ice cream cone has gone national. There you go. Right, okay. Some of your comments coming in so far this morning, quite a few of you texting in on the vaping issue. Hi, Greg. As a smoker for over 40 years, I tried everything, even hypnosis. I started vaping three years ago and after three days, I found improvements in my breathing and stamina. So it definitely works for me, but I would never encourage anyone to stop vaping or smoking. And I think that's a really rounded comment there and it's worked for you and it sounds like you're not also vaping and smoking. And I'm glad that your health, that you feel better in your health and presuming your pocket as well. Retains, vaping and smoking, when they're teaching such education at school, two placenta should be shown on video that the baby has been fed on for nine months in the womb, one from a smoker, which is very runny and falls apart and compare it with a non-smoker, which is very sturdy and healthy. It should be shown which would stick in teens' minds re-smoking during pregnancy. It's a real eye opener, okay. Good luck. Sorry, I'll come back to that good luck thing. I'll just do the vaping ones first. Question, why was this vaping given the go-ahead in the first place? This could have been banned when it was developed in the first place. It's like, as if they put these things on the market to get children and adults hooked and then ban them. How did this ever get on the market in the first place? They say, well, look at, I mean, it was an alternative to smoking. It is, we don't really accept it in this country, but it's broadly accepted to be safer than smoking, though you're discouraged from vaping long-term. But then the companies then started targeting young people with different types of flavor, bubblegum flavor, ice cream flavor, and they put them in sexy containers. You know, when I say that, by the way, I mean, you know, really marketable ones, sexy in the marketing sense. And then also, they started paying TikTokers and YouTubers to start using them and blow rings and make them cool. They actively, actively targeted young people. And the smoking industry bought big time into it because this could see what's happening. So we have a big business in the smoking industry and the vaping industry that purposely, even though they would have known that this gets lots of young people. And this is, it's not criminal because no one's been found criminally liable for it. But if you think about it, we have multi-billion-year-old companies actively targeting, in 2023 and before, of course, actively targeting a product which is damaging to young people, at young people. You know, someone in their mid-50s who smokes is not buying a little fancy-looking thing with a light at the bottom that tastes a bubblegum. That's a 14, 13, 12-year-old. They've actively targeted them. That's what they've done to our children. And I think people should be more angry about what some of these companies are trying to do to our children because it's not just by happen chance that young people started vaping. It's because they decided to try and get these young people vaping to make their millions and their billions. And now we've got a really significant proportion of the young teenage population who vape. And then once they have that nicotine addiction, who's to say when they ban the vapes that they might go, well, I can get cigarettes handier because they'll need to feed them. If you've never had an addiction to nicotine, you might not get it. But you don't just go, right, I'm not vaping anymore because I can't buy them in the local news agents. Now, I think most, I hope most people in shops around the Northwest are responsible in terms of who they sell these products to, but you just don't switch off an addiction to nicotine. So people are gonna have to deal with that. And young people might pick up a cigarette as they are already doing, but even more so as it becomes maybe easier to get a cigarette than it is a vape. I don't know. A navy and green wallet with a white stripe was last on Tuesday in Letter Kenny Shopping Centre around lunchtime. It contains some very sentimental items. We've got a contact number here for the owner. So if you found a navy and green wallet with a white stripe, they're very interested in its return because it has some very sentimental items within. Good luck to the Nevenwera Club. Lower Rosses on hosting the All Island Gale Top Club finals this June bank holiday weekend. A huge undertaking for a small rural club bringing hundreds to the Rosses. Guido from Mayo, Galway Court, Kerry Wardford, Meath, Dublin, Belfast and on the Gala, marvelous idea to book accommodation with host families normally keeping Irish college students every summer. Brendan Daveney on the DL Debate previewed that by the way. So if you are interested in that, you wanna hear more about it on our website in the playback section, go to the latest DL Debate. And Brendan Daveney is discussing that as well. Hi Greg, that man looking for the mica, looking after the mica says he's making the cut point at 2000 homes. So what about the rest of the people? Do they have just to wait to see if they get anything? Well, you see, presumably that action is successful. They will take a number, I'm not a legal expert, never claimed to be, but we don't do class actions here. So there is a group of people there and they are taking test cases that cover a lot of the scenarios and realities of those affected by defective concrete. And if one is found to be successful, well then it should daisy chain from there because if the government were to lose one case, presumably another other defendants were to lose one case, they're not going to go and actively defend every single case because the outcome might be the same. So it sets a precedent. So presumably if there is not a pretrial agreement, if it goes the right way of that action, it paves the way for everyone to get the same treatment. I would imagine that's the way it is. So even if you're not in that first cohort, I would imagine the groundwork will be set for everyone who's affected by that if it is successful. Back to vape. So Caller says that there are a number of copycat vapes on the market and for sale in bars that are more dangerous again as they're not to any regulatory standard. There does not seem to be anything done by revenue about this either. Trust, wait till you see what happens to vaping in the next budget because revenue have been keeping their claws out of it to some extent with this change in legislation, I would expect you to see quite a significant inroads into vat and tax and stuff from revenue in the next budget would be a little prediction of mine. Hi Greg, phones and social media have ruined everyday life. No one speaks to each other anymore. My husband's addicted to his phone. We don't speak anymore and it definitely has an impact on relationships. It's sad really and it's sad that you feel like that really that you feel that your partner doesn't speak to you anymore because they're addicted to their phone and they say it's an impact on relationships. Is that something of you that you share? It's no harm having this conversation because sometimes maybe we are, we do stuff that we don't really realize that it's bothering maybe the person that we're with. So are you concerned about someone's involvement in social media or their phone or is it a problem that you have or someone in your family has, how is it impacting or were you on social media? Did you come off it? How did your life change? I'd be really interested in that. Give us a text on our website 6025000 or WhatsApp that number two or give us a call at 07491-25000. Rosemary, Beth and Marie have all joined watching the show online. Just to remind you, go on to the YouTube. Highland Radio Ireland, you can watch the show today and every day there and also get subtitles as well on YouTube and Facebook. If you are hard of hearing but you want to know what's happening across the Northwest, lots of people log on for that reason which is why I started doing it to begin with. That was the initial reason and also you can watch live on our website. Right back with more after the bingo numbers. The county's number one talk show, the nine till noon show on Highland Radio. If the medical experts get it wrong, everything changes from misdiagnosis or delay diagnosis to surgical injury or even poor treatment. All have physical, emotional and financial consequences. We're here to help. So if your treatment didn't go according to plan, speak to our experienced medical negligence team at McElhenney and Associates. Find us online or call 074-917-5989 McElhenney and Associates solicitors, Stranorle. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement. Do you need a UK address? Save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with Space Hub Dairy. We provide a full virtual office address mail box service for all your business and personal use. Save your business hundreds, possibly thousands on custom charges with Space Hub Dairy. Call 048-7187-8077 for more details. The annual Letter Kenny Horse and Pony races are on this bank holiday weekend, Saturday the third and Sunday the fourth at the Big Isle Manor Cunningham. Family fun weekend with a seven race card each day starting at 2.30. That's this weekend at the Letter Kenny Horse and Pony races in the Big Isle Manor Cunningham. Right, I'll bring you the bingo numbers in a moment. The computer skipped here or I skipped the computer. So if you're waiting on the bingo numbers just stay right where you are and I'll play them for you just in a second. Call us as my son started vaping at 16, he's now 19 and has started smoking. Right, okay. I have a local GP which I haven't seen in over a year says another listener. I called today to get an appointment and was told I need a COVID test before attending. I understood that this had all passed, whatever happened to people just having a flu. They are only seeing emergency patients then they're telling you to attend AD. I do have depression and a few months ago I attempted to take my life but told no one because I woke up and thought, well, I'm not meant to die. I may get on with life today. I'm in a bad place and thought, right, I'll seek help but because I have a headache and a cough I'm told I have to have a COVID test. So here I am seeking help and I'm getting brushed off but look at, it's very important that you do seek help. Now, if it's not with the GP directly speak to one of the organizations like Pieta or the Samaritans just to talk it through, right? And then maybe they might be able to get you into see a GP or what? So just because you contacted the GP and that didn't work out. And I do hope by the way that you did tell the person who answered the phone the nature of the reason why you needed to see your GP but just don't leave it at that. You've contacted us, now contact either Samaritans or Pieta of one of those groups and tell them the situation there. Tell them how you're feeling and talk to them about how you wanted to go and see your GP. I don't know if you have a COVID test if you're gonna take it just to appease the GPs. I would suggest it's not ideal. I haven't heard of it for a while but I suppose you are displaying some symptoms but either way, don't let that be a barrier to getting a little bit of help because you recognize that you're having depression and you don't feel great and just we wanna make sure please for us if not for yourself, just give one of those groups a quick contact or even ring your GP back and explain to them precisely why you needed to go in and see them. If that's okay, if you could do that for us I'd really appreciate it. Okay, our next guest joins us as I say after these bingo numbers. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Wednesday the 31st of May. You're playing on the blue sheet. The reference number is S8. It's game number 22. The numbers are 29, 14, 89, 5, 55, 82, 41, 6, 71, and finally, 18. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight. Leave in your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day. Get all your NCBI Bingo information at HighlandRadio.com. Thank you, Canas. Right, Orla, good morning to you. Good morning. How are you getting on? Surviving. Good stuff. That's what we're all at. Nice to speak to you there, Orla. We were talking about rubbish and dumping of rubbish. What's your observation, Orla? To be honest, we were at Leicke Mountain even. We were in Bunkrana and headed on to, I'm sure you know, the wee beach called Henry. Beautiful scenic area, absolutely gorgeous. And to be then, just landed on the beach with this debris, piled high, from anything from barbecue remains to bottles and just general rubbish. I'm not saying that could have been from, it might have been an overnight thing, it might have been just prior to we came down, but it was awful just to see that people, people are in general, they're not lifting their rubbish at all, it's just a disgrace to see. And it was so disheartening because the town of Bunkrana has always went to great lengths of the tidy in the town of volunteers out cleaning up all the time. And then you go to a beautiful scenic area to just sit and relax and chill out on an evening and to be confronted with some rubbish, a good part, a lot of rubbish really. That evening was awful. And Orla, was it sort of scattered around in different places or had there been a party in one particular place or what do you think happened? Well, to me it seemed to be like it was all in one part and it was all pile in one part. Now you have to say that we looked around to see there is lacking and I mean the lack of bin is unbelievable because people are not, that they are gonna leave stuff that they're not going to see bins. If there have been at least a bin nearby, I'm sure that the people maybe wouldn't have dumped them where they did because from where you go to the Dunbury beach, you come off the main road down like a sand road onto the beach. And for the people then to transport the rubbish from the beach, well that's more than a lot to take when they're taking their own. Yeah, but if everyone talk about, you see I think the jury's a wee bit out on bins, Orla, because you know yourself, you could put two bins at the mouth of that beach entrance. They would get full in two or three hours and next thing, everyone's just dumping the rubbish at the bins. You know, I think people maybe are moving away from bins because they just become hotspots for all manner of dumping because next thing, you know, there's four bags of household waste around the bin as well. You know, you've seen that site. I'm not saying there shouldn't be bins there but I just wonder if they're moving away for bins or the reasons I've just outlined. Well, when we were entering, going into the actual dunes, it takes you to the beach. There's like a wee message saying from probably local people there that probably has seen more than their fair share of rubbish being dumped. Like please take your rubbish home. And that is only fair to say, please take your rubbish home. I mean, it's not going to take a lot to put stuff into your bag, the way you put in the stuff into your bag for picnic. Yeah, for sure. Why did you take that stuff back home? And I worry also too about, you know, if you bring your toddler or your pet down for that matter, you know, these barbecues... Oh, there's no poobins. There are no poobins. Yeah, no poobins. Well, now there should be poobins but also... No poobins either. Yeah, but also, you know, the old hot barbecues, hot stones, bits of burning timber that could still be there, you know, like it's just really worrying. So there's no poobins at the beach there, don't you? No poobins, none, zero, zero. OK, that's interesting. OK, Aura. No poobins. What can we do, though? What do we do, Aura? I think people have to be... They have to be a wee bit more responsible, yeah. But they have to be given... They have to be given, you know, like a chance, maybe, like even poobins there by the side, the side bags, because they do it in the town. I think they should be as bins and I think they should be collected. Maybe, I don't know how often they could get their rubbish collected in Dunry, you know. So I think if they're given, you know, bins and stuff, that the people maybe take a wee bit more responsibility. Yeah, OK. Listen, thanks for helping us highlight that aura. Have a lovely day. Hope you enjoyed the beach after you got over that. But thank you very much indeed, OK. Michelle O'Neill is director, deputy director of the Health Information and Quality Authority. And we're speaking to Michelle after HIKWA published its international review of the epidemiology of long COVID. Its review was at the request of the Health Service executive to inform its long COVID model of care. Michelle, thank you very much for holding and joining us. Good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. It's hard to put the finger or the thumb on long COVID, really. Isn't it? It's one of those conditions that... It's hard for someone to say how it might affect one person and then another who might have a completely different experience. Yes, you're absolutely right. Long COVID is a very complex condition. It's a wide range of symptoms. Some of these can be debilitating, but they do, as you say, very significantly from person to person. What we found in our review, I guess, is that common symptoms were fatigue, brain fog, memory loss of confusion, a loss of sense of smell and shortness of breath. So that will be the most common presentation of long COVID that's reported out there at the moment. And it can be really debilitating for people, can't it? It can have a real impact on their lives. Oh, absolutely. I mean, some of the studies that we looked at, there was a significant impact on individuals day-to-day activity of living. So, yes, this can be quite a significant burden on individuals. Obviously, we can talk about what the HSE might do and what they might put in place, but is there any conversation as to how we get people diagnosed at GP level, for an example, because it sounds like you might present and there could be crossovers with other stuff, and we don't want people going to a whole load of consultants and tying up time and all that type of stuff. So, at primary care level, that's where we really need to start to get the awareness and knowledge out. If it's not already there, I'm sure it is. But do you get where I'm coming from? Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think if an individual is experiencing long-lasting symptoms after they've recovered from their initial COVID infection, then absolutely the GP is the first person to go to so they can get a diagnosis, because it might be, like you said, other conditions that are going on or it could be long COVID. So, it is at that local GP level where an individual should really be their first point of call. Do we know if certain groups of people are more prone to long COVID than others? Yes, we do. That was one of the things we found in our review. Although we did find long COVID in all age groups and all populations, older people, women, and those who ended up in hospital because of their initial COVID infection were more likely to end up with long COVID. Now, when I'm out and about just chatting to people, Michelle, and I hope you understand there's no ulterior motive to this question. If they are still not feeling great, they often self-diagnose and put it down to the vaccine rather than maybe about of COVID. How are we certain, or can we ever be certain, that people are suffering the effects of having COVID previously and not some sort of a reaction as some people might think to a vaccine, for an example? Well, I guess this study looked at... We looked at 51 studies internationally, and we looked at people who had... You know, all who had infections with COVID initially. So a lot of these individuals and these studies would have begun before vaccines were widely available. So we obviously saw experiences of long COVID before vaccine was introduced. So we do know that this isn't directly related to vaccines. It existed before vaccines were in place. If you remember, COVID was with us unfortunately quite a while before we got with vaccines, even though they did come in quite quickly. So we can be certain that this is something that existed before the vaccines became available and widely used. And we talk of long COVID, but is there any evidence in these studies as to how long it lasts? Do the effects of long COVID fade without medical intervention or has enough time passed for us to know that, I wonder? Enough time hasn't yet passed. Now we did look at studies that go up to two years post that initial infection, and we did see that for some people, yes, their symptoms do resolve, but for some people they do continue on. So we are getting a sense that this can be a long-lasting condition. And also too, there was an analysis of the pressure this puts on the health service, quite a large percentage looking at the figures here. Do reports or have long COVID in the general population? Yes, I mean, there's a lot of uncertainty of how many people have long COVID out there, but certainly the rates we saw in the studies we looked at varied from 15% to almost 50%, reporting some symptoms of long COVID. This obviously can put pressure on the health system, but again, it's not everybody, there's quite a variation in what people will experience and how much this impacts them and how much healthcare they were required to live with the experiences of long COVID. Yeah, and you mentioned the most common symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, and or confusion, shortness of breath and loss of smell. But also to people who had been hospitalized before they got COVID or had pre-existing conditions, can find worse outcomes or conditions they already had worsening. Yes, absolutely. So this is something we're seeing that I guess there's three kind of things that go on COVID. You can have a continuation of the symptoms that you experience when you get COVID initially. So for example, that could be a continuation of your loss of smell, it doesn't come back, or you continue to experience breathlessness. You can also have individuals like you said there who have underlying conditions before they get COVID and these get worse. So for example, something like asthma or kidney diseases get potentially get worse after you've had COVID. And then we have other individuals who develop new symptoms entirely. So after the initial infection with COVID subsides, they can go on to develop other conditions, fatigue and memory loss, which can be long lasting. And finally, this review was at the request of the HSC with a view to it informing its long COVID model of care. Did this make any recommendations in that regard or was the information presented for the HSC to do with what it will? I think one of the things we found is that long COVID is a complex condition which affects multi-organisms and multi-different specialties will need to be involved in the care for people with long COVID. So that was probably one of our key findings for the HSC is the multi-disciplinary clinics are probably required to adequately meet the needs of those who are experiencing long COVID. Michelle, thanks for your time this morning. I appreciate it. Michelle O'Neill, Deputy Director of the Health, Information and Quality Authority. Good morning, Greg. The Maconteer family from Navin got chosen to live in one Arran Island for a year and enjoyed the change of life so much, they're going to stay there. It'd be good if you got an interview with the Monhighland Radio. Thanks, Danny. Yeah, sure. I'm sure it's probably in the offing. I can see if you're dependent on the type that you are that you could see that as a nice way to live your life. I couldn't do it because of work and other things, but yeah, we can see where the attraction comes from. Right, OK, we're going to be talking now about the findings of the census. For Donagall, Deirdre Lynch is a senior statistician in the census division. Good morning to you, Deirdre. How are you keeping? Oops, you're muted or I can't hear you. I don't know what's going on. Should we try that one more time just to see if we're connected to audio? No. I will kick you out on ceremoniously and bring you back in if you don't mind. Just holding with a stare, Deirdre. OK, we'll get that sorted in a second. Any questions or comments on the census? I'll wait 60, 25,000, by the way. Or you can give Caroline a call. She's waiting for your calls on 07491 25,000. Some people on here complain about giving children vape and it not being tested or have any long-term effects of the same ones who got their children jabbed with not a question asked. Not really quite sure, but anyway. What if Gardie had an ability to find on the spot for littering? We'd love to see. I mean, I don't like laws and too many of them, sorry. Do you know what I mean? Big brother, all in your stuff. I'm not a big fan of that, but we're getting to the point now in terms of dog littering and in terms of waste littering that the softly, softly, nicely, nicely approach doesn't seem to be working. Another caller says the authorities who put bins at scenic locations should remember that they will be filled and therefore must be emptied. That's the big thing, you see. A contractor should be employed to empty the bins daily in the summertime. Every other county does this. Why can't we? OK, let's see if Deirdre can hear us now or can we hear Deirdre? Are you there, Deirdre? Hi, yeah. I'm here. Hopefully you can hear me. I can, loud and clear. How are you keeping? Good, thanks. Good. Delighted to be here to present the findings of Census 2022 results. Yeah. I mean, you're a statistician and you must love numbers and everyone in the CSO must because there was an awful lot of stuff to go through here, wasn't there? Not just nationally, but then just to break it down and all the various demographics and what have you. Absolutely. So Census night was the third of April last year. So we were a year compiling the forms, scanning them, process them and analyzing them. So there's a multitude of questions and analysis to be done. And I suppose what I can take you through today is the summary findings. Today is the first publication. Yesterday was the first publication. We have detailed analysis on a number of variables and we will have results being published throughout the year until December. So lots of information to come. Right. Donegal's population grew by 5% from around about 7,892 to 1,167,084. That's between 2016 and April 2022. But it was one of the lowest increases that we saw, Deirdre. Yeah. So when we look at the stage, we see the population is 5.15 million, which is an increase of 8%. Donegal has increased by 7,900 persons, which is a 5% increase. But what's really positive about this is that every county has experienced an increase in the population, which does differ to that of 2016, where both Mayo and Donegal actually had a population decrease. What I can say as well is the 5% increase in Donegal is similarly to what's experienced in other counties like Kilkenny and Tipperary. But what's really positive as well is that the Donegal population is actually the highest it was in 96 years. So in 1926 it was around 152,000. So all in all, it's actually really positive news for Donegal. And people are living longer, which is great. We're seeing an increase in people that are living to 85. Absolutely. So we're seeing the average age has increased. So in 2016, it was 37 years of age. And now it's actually increased to 39. So we have an ageing population. When we look at the proportion of the population and the specific age groups, we see that 0 to 10 year olds are down 10%. 25 to 39 year olds are down 4%. But then those 85 year olds and above are up 25%. So it is very clear. And it has been the trend for the last number of census periods that the population is getting older and there's more people in the older age categories than the younger. But we must be having less babies. So what I can say is we do look at what's driving the population growth in the country. And that's ultimately the natural increase. So the difference between births and deaths and then migration. So in 2022, there was less of an impact from the natural increase. So it was driven more by migration. So people moving into Ireland and around. And what I can say from that is really interesting. Dual citizenship, which is where people have Irish and another combination of a citizenship. But for example, Irish UK or Irish American, these have increased by 63%. Which is really interesting. And the top categories of them is Irish UK, Irish American, Irish Polish and that's the Irish Australian. So they're kind of the top categories. So we are growing older and we are growing more diverse. In terms of emigration, you talked of, do you have anything in front of you there that indicates the level of emigration in Donegal 2016 to 2022? So unfortunately, we actually, why we did capture information on where these people were a year ago or when they settled in Ireland, we haven't got that information to hand yet. That will be published at the end of next month. So that's our June publication. But I do have figures specific to July Irish persons in Donegal. So what I can say on that is that there's actually been 79% increase in Donegal. So in 2016, there were 2,400 persons at the state that they had dual citizenship. This rose by nearly 2,000 up to 4,000, over 4,300. So really interesting stuff there as well. So that's actually above what we've seen at the state. The state's seen a 63% increase on average. Whereas Donegal has actually experienced a near 80%. Now, since the census night, the population has increased significantly in Donegal because of the war on Ukraine and other factors as well. Is there a supplementary at some point, a supplementary that sort of gives us a full picture of that? Because as I say, you know, it simply wasn't captured on census night. Yeah. So what I can tell you is that census night was on the third of April last year. So I'm sure your listeners will remember when that was around the time that Ukrainians were moving to Ireland. Our figures that are published yesterday and on our website include Ukrainians. What I can say is that we do have a population concept where we publish some results for people who include the visitors on census night with an intention who are not usually resident in Ireland and other figures for people who have the intention to stay in Ireland. Ukrainians are included in all our tables online. The public will see that there are some where Ukrainians that are intensity in Ireland are included. So what I can say is that at the point in time which is what census measures one night of the year, there was 18,000 Ukrainians in Ireland at that point. What can you tell us about employment figures in Donegal and Nationally? So interestingly actually what I would think is interesting here is that there is actually a new question asked about working from home. We actually did look at this when we looked at people who were employed and where they were working. Interestingly there are more people at work in Ireland. Fewer people are looking after the family home and the retired population is up from 8% in 1986 to 16% in 2022. So again that kind of reliance somewhat to the aging population. We did look at employment by sector manufacturing was up 21% and the construction industry at the state level was up 32%. There was over 20% more workers in public sector dominated categories and as I said earlier the working from home question. So this question was decided by public consultation before the pandemic. So the question was phrased have you ever worked from home and how many days from home you do work. So nearly 750,000 people, a third of the workers indicated that they worked from home for at least or part of their week and this was particularly interesting among different industries and different occupations. Workers in business, media and public service were the most likely to work from home with 80% of them working from home at some point and workers then in elementary administration or service occupations were least likely to work from home. So this would be her address as the post office service and we also looked at people commuting to work. So 1.2 people drove to work which was up 4% since 2016 but the number of this was 4% fewer commuting by train, lewis or dirt but I think it is interesting to note that that was probably changed due to people working from home so it's more people staying at home and what is interesting about the home place now as well is that we did ask a question for occupied households so only the households that had people in them in 2022 what's happening there so there's actually a higher proportion of people renting which it can be seen across all counties so at the state level 66% of households own their own home with or without a mortgage and 28% were renting but when we focus specifically on donnie gall for these statistics we can see that it's actually quite higher more people so 70% own their own home with a mortgage or without a mortgage and less so 23% are renting and donnie gall so really interesting when you hone in on the specific county analysis there. In terms of how many people living in a household that's increased yeah so interestingly we actually report on the average household size so it's the number of people per the private household that in 2022 was 2.74 which was directly comparable with 2016 there was minimal change it was slightly and down compared to 2016 but it will be interesting to hone in on these statistics more so we haven't done it for today but in our august publication we will be looking at adult children living at home so that's going to be really interesting to see what actually is going on there and where they are focused and where what their attributes are what their occupations are and this sort of thing so it will be interesting so we haven't got that to hand today but the average household size was 2.74 so yeah very comparable and when we look at the different geographical levels we can see that it ranged from 2.4 each in Dublin to 3.04 in Fingolin Meads so there is quite a diverse range across countries as well there. There's no they're not emptying the nest anymore because we're not producing as much children but they're not sodding off just un-carers and the amount of do you have those to hand Deirdre because I always find that information really quite important. So it has increased I haven't got the figures to hand with the moment but we do have detailed analysis on the website so if your listeners log on to cso.ie forward slash census they will see the extensive analysis there what I can say is that they have increased the number was 195,000 before it's now 299,000 so that's a 54% increase so again there is the question whether it has increased due to the age of population and children looking after their elderly parents so we're looking to all this in a bit more detail in the months to come. And also too it's good to see that the number of people speaking Irish in Donegal has increased because a lot of effort's been happening not only just in the Gelatoc but also in and around letter can you try and encourage the speaking of Irish that seems to be bringing in some results. So in the question on the census form we ask can you speak Irish so approximately there's an additional 6% of people who are stating that they can speak Irish but interestingly we also look at the frequency of Irish spoken so this would tell us kind of the daily Irish speakers which some people often use as a better indication of who was fluent so that has actually decreased slightly 2.5% at the state level so that's gone down 1,800 since 2016 when we hone in on Donegal although we're looking from a much smaller base 181 less people said they could speak Irish so that's again to less that just over 2% so it's quite interesting but in terms of the Gelatoc so those figures I spoke of there are at county level but when we look at Donegal Gelatoc we can actually see that the population in the Gelatoc has increased by just under 4% so it's gone up 874 persons so that's quite interesting to look at as well. Right okay and just some of these changes can be changes in population so people who never had any Irish coming into a county for an example could affect that percentage because it doesn't necessarily mean less people but it's less people as proportion maybe of their overall population just as an aside Yeah as a side I suppose in terms of the population growth so the base number when we speak of percentages in terms of a 6% increase the larger the baseline so the previous population the less significant the percentage would be so the more people in a county because that brings me back to the earlier point when you had said that Donegal increased at a lower rate than other counties while that is true some other counties like just say for example Kilkenny so Donegal experienced a growth of 7,800 persons whereas Donegal experienced 4,900 and just said 5,500 And 3 people could move to leach room and that would increase by 10% Exactly so it's all relative and in proportion so it is important to look at the figures and the percentages which indicate the rates And very very lastly anything on vacant property levels in Donegal or does that come in a later? So that will be our July publication we've only analysed occupied households for the moment so we're still looking at that and your listeners can log on in July to see information on that Alright thank you so much for your time Deirdre really appreciate it have a lovely day take care of yourself that's Deirdre Lynch senior statistician in the census division just on that Irish figure the number of people aged 3 and over who said that they could speak Irish in Donegal was 59,130 that's compared to 56,738 in 2016 that's a reasonable increase isn't it within this figure 7,750 said they spoke Irish daily while 4,533 spoke Irish weekly and just a couple of other things here there's far more women than men in Donegal 84,289 of you are women 82,795 were males so that means effectively there's 98 fellas for every 100 women so as they say more starts coming out as they release them okay let us take a break as we line up our next guests we'll be back with you shortly sleep, smooth, safe, modern oh you want to hear more do you want to drive the most modern car in Donegal there's a reason why it's our county's favorite car the brand new diesel Kia Sportage the multi-award winning SUV is available at iMotors now our team will take care of all of your needs visit iMotors.ie or call into us today because how you feel when you drive is important to us are you looking to make a difference in your community? your local daycare center needs committee volunteers like you whether you have skills in administration IT, finance or marketing you can make a huge difference in the lives of the elderly in our community be part of your community's story contact DLDC on 074 91 27056 to find out how you can help this project is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union The Northwest Opera returned to a Greenin Theatre this June 2nd and 3rd with the musical comedy Sweeney Todd the demon barber of Fleet Street with music by Stephen Sondheim and the iconic film adaptation by Tim Burton starring Johnny Depp this chilling tale of revenge and breathless book your tickets now at Angrenin Theatre don't miss Sweeney Todd at Angrenin Theatre June 2nd and 3rd after last week's brilliant win at Treaty United Finharps are back in action with two fixtures over the bank holiday weekend the Ballet Buffet Blues host Kerry on Friday night at Fin Park and then plays Gawa United away on Bank Holiday Monday tune into Highland for coverage for both games Finharps on Highland in association with B&S Credit Union Ballet Buffet now that perfect holiday loan for you don't delay get your holiday loan today visit bnscu.ee or call free phone 1800 290 390 B&S Credit Union Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland in studio with me now is Kil McRennan's Vicky McGill Hi Vicky Great to have you in with us and we're joined also by your dad Michael Hi Michael Good to see you too as well Vicky congratulations on being part of the Highland Ladies basketball team you're heading to Berlin for the World Special Olympics competition in June How exciting is it? I can't wait I'm so excited Yeah? Yeah it's a great achievement because my daddy ourselves opened it 1998 and it's very brilliant like I'm happy to be here and my family for running it and getting it involved me in the club if I didn't get the club running I would have known to do so it's a good experience for a lot of people that had disabilities and people that had no one else to do during the weekends and it was great fun like it's... You've been part of the North West Special Olympics team now since 1998 as you're a veteran of the Special Olympics team and talk to me about the basketball team it's from all over the country is it? Yeah and do you play in a particular position or how does that work? I don't know nothing about basketball so you're going to have to help me here I play defence and sometimes I do side court and then middle court as well so You have to be around the place don't you it's not like football, no sports now you kind of have to be able to and how important is this your first big competition so how excited are you? so excited I can't wait and it runs from the 12th to the 24th of June in Berlin what kind of preparation have you been going through to get ready? I've been going to Dublin to train every once a month and with the coaches so it's good to get up and train it's hard too because you have to be strict on food and you can't eat the bad stuff so you have to be good go to bed early get up early and train hard You have to be dedicated to it don't you because it's elite level because you're going to be playing against the best and you have to be do you know how many games you'll be playing as part of it, is there groups initially Vicki? I say I probably play I do training first grading, see how I get on first and then I could be playing two or three matches there when I get out there you can't enjoy things like the rest of us do I'm sure you have the odd sneaky fizzy drink we'll not tell the coaches right under your hat but as you said your diet's important your sleep's important and you know it could be roasting over there too so you have to make sure you've got good resistance to all that don't you alright it's very exciting I can't wait so when do you actually travel out? I travel out on the 12th right okay you live in Berlin effectively for a couple of weeks two weeks yeah and this is a big event it's going to be covered on TV and stuff as well we don't know what games might be covered but it is a major competition that's got eyes from all over the world on it not trying to make you nervous nah it's grand I don't think you have it in ours do you you're loving it you would see first hand Michael you'd see the first hand the dedication Vicky's put into this Vicky's worked very hard like her own club the North West Special Olympics Nicky Cannon the main cog there and Nicky puts them through their paces every Saturday they have a two hour session there and then as Vicky said traveling to Dublin over the past several months and training there with the national basketball coaches who actually train the national basketball ladies team and the boys men's team as well so she's really put a lot of effort into it she does a lot of exercise she walks she's watching her and take a food hydration that type of stuff you know and Vicky it's a little bit more difficult for you perhaps because you have to travel longer to get to Dublin for that training don't you I presume some of the some of the team are around the capital but it's you know yours is quite a long train do you mind the travelling no it's ground it gets me out and seen places too so it's ground Nick and you know you've been out at a long time competing in all is this level of training is it up at a level or two are you finding that you happen to work much harder Vicky it's more harder than what I'm usually doing and what do your friends and neighbours around Kilmer Crennan think that you're going on I mean we're talking about you representing Ireland but really you're representing Kilmer Crennan I haven't said no to anybody yet really yeah okay they'll probably hear this now they'll probably know wow fantastic so a lot of people in the area hearing this for the first time when did you get selected for the team January so you've kept this a secret pretty much since then right well the secret is that Vicky we're all going to be we're all going to be following your progress closely Michael how many athletes and competitors from this region are travelling Vicky is the only athlete from Donegal female athlete on the basketball team she's also the only female athlete from Ulster most of the players are from Leinster and Monster I think there's one from Connacht but Vicky also plays for Ulster you see the Ulster provincial team in the provinces and she's been to Dublin for the national games and Limerick for the national games brilliant okay you know they're competing at a fairly high level there's over 4,000 athletes coming to Berlin there's 120 countries there's 120 countries represented there and 4,000 athletes plus they're on tour as you know trainers, coaches, physios, doctors so as as you know it was actually Vicky met Tim Kennedy Schreiber who is actually the chairman of the World Special Olympics his mum Eunice Kennedy Schreiber who was John F. Kennedy's the president of America's sister it was her actually founded the Special Olympics you know in Ireland well in the world and he was over here with Joe Biden just when he was here recently in Ireland and actually Vicky met him and didn't give him in the club down there you know Special Olympics club down there and got a photo with him and a gentleman, a lovely man and in terms of you know to send teams out there it costs a lot of money too doesn't it that is sponsorship, big sponsorship from SEMTRA sponsoring their clothing and their gear and then in Erlingis I have a big unputt in it but there were several companies around here like we've done the polar plunges you know Vicky was there doing presentations, there was the Marines Did you go in Michael? I didn't I can't swim, believe it or not That's no, you don't have to jump in over your head you walk, hold on your second you walk it up to your waist Michael didn't you had an out? No, he still wouldn't do it he still wouldn't do it but I've done here at local grips a couple of local companies here they've done brilliant stuff OK listen, it's been lovely having you in Vicky the very best look we're going to be following you and I don't think you're going to be fit to walk through Kel McCranan now without someone looking from a selfie for you or whatever it might be representing your village your county and your country it's a remarkable achievement there's so few of us could ever say that we've ever done or will be able to do and you can count yourself amongst a small group of people that can don the Jersey for Ireland and we're so proud of you and we wish you all the success and you're flying the flag for Ulster and Donegal in Kel McCranan and well done to you Michael as well we all need our support structures to get us tuned from so it's great to hear alright both of you thank you so very much indeed for calling in and we'll be tracking your progress really really close OK we're going to take a break we're going to go to the news a couple of minutes late if you don't mind I wanted to have a quick chat there with Vicki and Michael but we'll be back with the news in a couple of minutes It's the paint Fleetwood Weatherclad Masonry paint uses the highest quality ingredients for a richer colour and a long lasting finish that helps protect the walls of your home and it's Irish made designed to work with the ever-changing Irish light Would one range of paints transform your home? 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Call 074-9125,000 to book. An unrefundable deposit of 100 Euro per person will hold your place. Single supplement applies. To see Disney's The Lion King in Dublin. I've lost my cow, please. Lost my cow. OK, we're having difficulties with the computers because I've run over, my apologies. It is two minutes past 11. Time for a news update. It's over to Makayla Clark. Hi, Makayla. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Over 108 million Euro is to be spent in Donegal in a number of older services buildings. Dermot Monaghan, chief officer with community health care, Kevin Donegal, later Monaghan and Sligo, says the funding is part of the widespread of projects at varying stages of development, taking place across the region. A teenage girl has died following an incident involving a tractor in County Cavern. The single-vehicle collision happened at Lockdorf at around 11 o'clock last night. Guardi Sia, a girl in her late teens, died when the tractor she was in collided with a ditch. Stephen Montgomery is to be laid to rest on Friday. The 43-year-old from Dunfana, he died following an explosion in Brinlock on Monday. Investigations into his death are ongoing. The implementation of the revised effective concrete block scheme has been delayed yet again. It was previously expected that the scheme would be published this week, but that's now been pushed back until June the 14th. Donegal County Council believes efforts must be made to lower the cost of recycling. Councilor Patrick McGianky, here lock off the Liffords-Stranorder Municipal District, says people should be rewarded for recycling and not penalized. There's calls for an assistant heritage officer for Donegal to be recruited. Councillor Barry Sweeney, who is chair of the Heritage Forum, says the abundance of heritage in the county more than warrants an additional heritage officer. Donegal County Council says it is hopeful that as part of the new heritage plan, funding will be found for the position. And biodiversity projects in Donegal are to benefit from over 80,000 euro. Funding from the local Biodiversity Action Fund has been allocated to five projects in the county. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back with an update again at 12 o'clock. OK, Michaela, thank you very much indeed for that. The groom goes free. The groom goes free. Yes, you heard it. The groom's room. Evolved clothing. Larry Kenny Retail Park. The groom goes free. Call in today. Terms and conditions apply. Summer seal now on in Milford Tiles. 20% off Wall and Floor Tiles. 15% off All Bathware. 10% off All Wood Flooring. Footers and delivery service available. Call Milford Tiles on 0830910707. Oak Fest, the family-friendly music festival, is back for two days, September the 9th and 10th at Oakfield Park. On Saturday, join the legendary Susie Quattro. The lineup also includes the Bay City Rollers, the Davey Kay Project, the Wailing Banshees, and local favorites, Sheer Buzz. 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Now, a new study into femmilicide and domestic homicides has recommended that a national database should be established for reporting on violent family deaths. Femmilicide is classified as a multiple-victim homicide incident in which the killer's partner or ex-partner and one or more children are slain. The review chaired by Solicitor Maura Butler was asked to recommend how relatives affected by these harrowing crimes could be better supported and also advises on appropriate protocols and guidelines for state services. So this is a big report, and we're really at this point just giving initial reactions to it. And with that in mind, I'm delighted that Dr. Marie Haynes, worth manager of the Donegal Domestic Violence Service, has accepted our invite just to give an initial reaction. Thank you very much, Marie, for joining us. Thank you, Greg, for having me on. So what's your immediate takeaway from your readings of this report so far? Well, I really just kind of got hold of it. I mean, it is 500 pages long the report, so it covers all aspects. It's quite a broad-ranging report, so I think the media has been highlighting, you know, some of the areas of the work of the report and picking up on some of the more tangible and immediate things that could be done. But their recommendations cover everything they cover from how agencies should interact, so they look at what the needs are of families, they look at recommendations around interagency working, they look at, you know, risk assessment. So it is a thing. So it is a kind of a very comprehensive report, and it will take a while, I think, to process and look at the implications of it. A lot of the reporting on it to date is after the fact. And is that the focus of this report, Marie? Yeah, I think what it's looked at is it has kind of, I mean, a big focus of it has kind of gone into what the needs of families are. And it would be, you know, I suppose, maybe beyond the remit of this report, but it's certainly what domestic homicides reviews need to do is look at what were the factors leading up to these events. Because obviously, for every family that's bereaved, you know, they would much prefer that the work had been put in and not allow this situation to come to bear it. So that's what the purpose of domestic homicides are about. And I'm not sure where the recommendation is at the moment in terms of how that should be pursued and to make sure that that we're learning from this. It does talk about risk assessment, but we can't work with risk assessment until we actually know what it is that we need to be assessing to risk on. So there's a lot of work yet to be done. And this report is maybe just outlining the different areas of work. Can I imagine different sections of different areas are going to have to take on certain different recommendations? Do you see the importance of a national database? Because, you know, there are certainly big gaps in data, not least in, say, for instance, suicide figures. And we know the network of coroners around the country are currently working on that. But what's your reaction to news of the establishment of a national database? Well, I'm not actually sure how it would be implemented. But the more data we have, obviously, the more we can look into it. It's what you do with that data. And then there's other data that they're not talking about, such as we know within domestic abuse relationships, often suicide can be an outcome for victims. And that, at the moment, isn't included in any of these statistics. So it's not just what happens in the moment. And we can directly attribute to domestic violence, but it's all the side effects. And, you know, certainly suicide of victims through domestic abuse is an area that they do include in domestic homicide reviews in the UK and in some others. So it's how do we pull together all of that, given that the way it's reported and recorded as a death may not necessarily be accessible in that way. You know, it may not be recorded. So it's all to do with how it's recorded, how it's passed on, how it's shared, and then how it's stored. So there needs to be consistency across all of those areas. And we know within the guards you have to do a lot of work about breaking down what call-outs are for, so that domestic violence, not just a domestic call-out, but we know exactly what it was for and we know then whether there were a peak call-out. So the management of data and how things are recorded is as much behind all of this as anything else. And then you can put together a database. Yeah, I find myself reflecting on conversations we've had in terms of the early signs that someone could carry out a very violent act. I'm minded of conversations I've had with survivors whereby they weren't able to have any knowledge of, maybe for example, mental health supports or other supports that an eventual perpetrator was receiving so didn't know exactly what was going on. Is it inappropriate for me to bring this in? That in as part of this conversation, Marie, or does that fall into a different area of how we try and prevent these types of other atrocities? No, it is relevant, but I mean, the other area that I'm just reading a domestic homicide review at the moment from Northern Ireland where the abuser was actually an adult child. So all the information around his health or well-being were known by the family and yet still a homicide occurred. So it's not just about, as I say, and it's also the agencies knowing and being able to put in place risks. So what they're highlighting, even in this case where it's an adult child to an older parent, agencies were all working on different aspects of the family. You know, they had child support services, they had mental health services, but each was working inside in their own, with their own focus. Nobody was looking at the overall picture about what was going on in that family and it's always pulling together all this information is the key piece, you know? And you can't just rely on families to do that. There should be somebody within a state agency that is able and has the expertise to pull all of that together and say, in isolation, each one of these things may be low-risk, but put them all together and now you've got a very different dynamic and it's that bit of it that is missing at the moment and it's allowing situations to just fall through the gaps like that. And it's very important if we are being seen to do something that we actually do something correctly and something that actually will benefit. You know, rather than, well, that's happening but nothing really comes of it. And we see that all too often. A consultative group is to be established to help implement these recommendations and it's very important that their voices are listened to, isn't it? I think so, but I think they need to be talking to people on the ground as well. They need to be looking at... I mean, I know it comes up even within our own work about information sharing, GDPR, I think, put the fear on agencies around information sharing and we need to now look at protocols around how do we know what information needs to be shared, when it needs to be shared and who you're sharing it with. And not just with other agencies, it needs to be shared within agencies as well. So you haven't got different workers going out to a family not aware of what the other worker has kind of witnessed or is aware of. And the link up then between adult safeguard and child safeguarding, safety and protection within the Guardi and then you've got the other support agencies working with families, mental health, addiction services, domestic violence services. There are numerous agencies and partners. And the complexity of cases now means that those agencies need to sit together and look at how we can not just work together, but how we can understand risk within our own topic area and then how it links them to other people. What information does your service need from mine in order to complete your risk assessment? There's the kind of questions we need to now be looking at. A caller here says, as someone who was involved in a family situation where someone was killed and then the person took their own life, I feel we very much were abandoned after the event and that needs to change. No community person, no religious person, no local counsellor or TD, no person involved in counselling services. Guardi handed us a card with a help number on it and that was it. Society, they feel abandoned us. Their names were not mentioned to us, but we were grieving. I do feel there needs to be more openness after these events happens. And that's a real life account there of a listener. Yeah, and I think this report kind of looks at that. We spoke with a lot of families about what the level of support was after the incident and it was very clear that there was very little. And I think, yeah, is the more confident communities can be in agencies about talking about these issues, the more we're going to be able to offer that kind of compassionate response afterwards as much as doing the risk assessment beforehand. You know, it's not a topic and I think people get scared and run away from it. And we need to embrace this and we need to work with people. And that way I think then we can maintain that humanity and compassion that families need in the aftermath of events like this. OK, Dr. Marie Hainsworth, as always, thanks for your time today. And Marie is manager of Donegal Domestic Violence Services. If you want to have your say on that, you know the contact details, don't you? A caller says, we were chatting to Orla earlier on about her visit to a beach and it was a mess. This caller says, I know that beach in Donegrie, Orla is talking about known to locals as Port Ban. There is no access for cars onto the beach. The person has to walk 500 metres from the road to the beach. It's just the height of laziness and disrespect that they carried the stuff down there for their day out. They should carry it back up again, plain and simple. Having no bin on a beach is no excuse for throwing rubbish at their backsides, indeed. And I just feel that if you're the type of person inclined to leave it there, are you going to take it as far as it been? And if that bin is full, are you going to say, oh right, we better take it home or you're just going to dump it at your backside at the bin? Redomping a caller says it's unfair to have assumed that the perpetrators were from Derry just because they had a Northam registered vehicle. What these people did was completely wrong, but to name Derry when there is no proof that they came from there is not fair. And I did point out that as well, that we can't presume because there were a vehicle, a vehicle has a Northern Irish plate that it is from Derry or Tyrone, for that matter. But that was her opinion and Tracey's opinion. And of course, some oceans are running high because someone did it. I really think that the point that Tracey was saying, it wasn't to sort of criticise that person being from Northern Ireland, it was to say that if they were from Northern Ireland, they could have taken the rubbish home and dumped it for free. So, you know, rather than us, I don't think we're going to get anywhere if we sort of start knocking heads on this. So what Tracey was saying is that if they were from Northern Ireland, they could have got rid of it for free. If they weren't from Northern Ireland, they still dumped it on the side of the road and should have taken it home with them. Okay, we'll be back with Wellness Wednesday after these. The county's number one talk show, The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. Holiday sunshine. Fly from Derry to Mallorca this July or August with Atlantic travel in Litterkenny. Save up to 20% with rates not available elsewhere. Also, exclusive discounts for parking. Call Atlantic travel Litterkenny on 911-26193 or visit atlantictravel.ie. This is not just chicken. This is buttermilk chicken in a crispy coating. This is katsu curry chicken, marinated in aromatic spices and rolled in golden breadcrumbs. This is chicken in a fiery, flaming hot and spicy crumb. 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Highland Radio, time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Lettich, Enid, Dublin. When you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time, Matt. The time is 19, just turning 20 minutes past 11. And I'm really pleased to welcome on to the programme Georgina O'Shea. Good morning to you, Georgina. Good morning, Greg. How are you? I'm good. How are you feeling? I'm good. Thank you. Very good. And congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby girl, Riley. How is Riley? She's doing fantastic. And she's driving, which is great. Just trying to get used to I suppose the nice seats and the sleep at night, of course. Other than that, she's fantastic. I was asking how is Riley. I should ask how is mom, really, Georgina. How old is Riley now? She's two weeks old today. Oh, wow. It's just brand new. She is. Yeah, OK. That's lovely. Now, you shared your miracle, really. Riley is to you, I'm sure, Georgina, because it was a long, hard road to this point for you and your partner. Oh, it was. It was very soft, very hard. But a little miracle came, I suppose, and she's here now with us. So it was, I suppose, worth it in the long run when you were older in your arms. And Georgina, Riley's your second child. Is that correct? Yeah, so I gave birth to my son in 2004. So Leon is turning 19 next month. I was a teenage mom. So when Leon, when I gave birth to Leon, everything was quite straightforward. The labor was straightforward. There was no complications. So there was never any indication, I suppose, that things could go wrong for us. And then subsequently after we had Leon, he was about two and a half when we had our first miscarriage. We went to the doctor's to just so good, you know, what happened to most women in their lifetimes that had the experience, the minimum of one miscarriage and that my age was in my favor, so not to worry. And within the next two years, we had another two miscarriages. Again, we went to the doctor with concerns and they were just played on deaf ears, I suppose, because of our age. So we moved to Cork about a year after and again, we saw a pregnant and I was sitting in the doctor's surgery and the doctor did the pregnancy test and he came back positive. And she had said to me, you know, congratulations. And I just looked at the doctor and started crying and I just said to her, you know, you've been commiserations. This is, I've had three miscarriages. This is going to be the same. She was the first doctor ever to listen to us and take her concerns, seriously, I suppose. So she put us in contact with Professor Keelan O'Donohue in the CUNH and Keelan straight away brought us in. She done all the checks and tests on both Ken and I. Everything came back perfect. Everything was working as it should be. Levels were normal. So we sent my file to the state for doctors over there to kind of review them and see what we're missing on and things. And they said, you know, it could be my womb reject in the pregnancy or it could be my immune system just because I'm racist, negative, drunkard. So we done things to try and shock the womb and to shock the immune system. What they were in trial at the time, they didn't work. So four years ago, we felt pregnant, the last five weeks, four early. And everything was going to plan. The bloods were good, everything was a little bit of hope. But unfortunately it ended up in an endoscopic pregnancy where I lost one of my Flopie and shoes. So when I came out of surgery, the doctor had come around to speak to me and just like, you know, my other Flopie and shoes was badly scared. And the likelihood of me carrying full term or carrying the normal pregnancy was very unlikely. Just because of the scarring, it was there was a higher chance of it being another topic. So at that point, Ken and I sat down and we were like, you know, when your life is at risk, you have to look at the infinite different perspective, I suppose. So we decided to back off and kind of stop trying. And just with life, I suppose, we were a teenage parent. So everything we missed out on, we started doing over the last four years. And then little Mr. Riley in September last year, he took a pregnancy test and just sort of miracles. We were pregnant with her. And we got onto the hospital straight away and to be fair, the care they gave us was second to none. They got us in for scans every two weeks. They kept a very close eye on my pregnancy and on myself. But the first time we actually seen Riley on the scan, which was something we had never seen throughout the 20-three miscarriages. So the second pregnancy, or the second scan, then two weeks later, we saw her a piece. So Ken then was hopeful. He was positive. He was like, okay, this is it. This is going to be it. I didn't accept it until I was about 23 weeks. By that time, I knew then that we had a viable pregnancy. So had she, if I gave birth any time after, I knew there was a chance of survival. 30 weeks then came and that's where it got very tough mentally. I was so close, which yes, so far. So the fear of losing her at that point was very real. Bulldog, we got through it. Yeah, because of the fear I'd seen. And we'll talk about that. And that's fantastic. But does the emotional side of it things for you and perhaps not even being able to enjoy the pregnancy with Riley even once in advance to such a point? Because how did you deal emotionally? Because as you say, lots of people listening to this program, both women, men and women, and people react with different ways, of course, and respect that will have gone through a miscarriage and they'll know how that feels. But for you, I mean, even at what point did getting pregnant fill you with fear of what you would see as the inevitable? Do you know what I mean? And how did you protect yourself in all of that? Well, when we first found out that we were pregnant with Riley, I think because I'd been through so much and my coping mechanism, I thought it was to work. So every time I had a miscarriage, it was to all myself and to work, just keep myself mentally busy. That my body copes with it. So by the time that I have time to think about it, I can heal myself. I suppose, and you're right, everyone deals in different ways. A lot of the miscarriages, previous, would have been kind of a deal for me. It was just, I remember I just worked all hours and just kind of put my head, as long as my head was kept occupied, I was good. With Riley, when I found out I was pregnant, even though it was the clearest pregnancy test we had, from where it got called, there was definitely positive signs. I think I just kept in the back of my head, don't get excited because we know how this is going to end. So I think that's how I protect myself, is by not bonding and not connecting, if you like, with the pregnancy. And that was the way it was, even when I had a growing bump and when we got over to 12 weeks, there was a disconnect there from the end of baby. Just, I had to protect myself. And that was my main mental state, I suppose it was like, we need protection. So I think I didn't, I disconnected from the pregnancy right up until 23 weeks. I didn't enjoy the first 23 weeks, but I didn't regret the meter. I knew I was pregnant, I just, I didn't feel what every other woman would have felt, the movements and stuff like that. I didn't connect with them whatsoever. But then from 23 weeks, it was beautiful. It was really nice just to be able to connect and talk to my bump and... Yeah. And in terms of how the 23 miscarriages, and I don't know how other people interacted with you or what do you say or what did they say? Or, you know, because we know we can be clumsy in a once-off situation. But with you, this is through much of your adult life, of course, Georgina. How was that, or did you keep it to yourselves or what was the story? It miscarriages a very long delay for both male and female. And it's kind of a to-do subject, and I'm not sure why, and I don't understand why... Can I say, because I've told... Yeah, Georgina, I've talked about this before. We kind of created ourselves because we won't discuss a pregnancy until after 12 weeks, because we sort of... Because there is that... There is that... We haven't, as a society, learned how to discuss a pregnancy that ends before that period, if you know what I mean. So we keep it... You say nothing to 12 weeks, then you say nothing to the scan. It's almost as if you were to say you had a miscarriage that there's something associated with it or people get all awkward. And I think we've just manifested this and this is the way we are now. I think we need to get rid of that. Oh, I agree, 100%. Like, when you find out you're pregnant, just your breast treatment, women kind of have this thing for treatment. And again, I think it's, for me, personally, why I wouldn't normally tell people is because I'd have to then tell them that I miscarried. And I personally don't do... I don't do sympathy and I don't do people feeling sorry for me. I don't deal well with that. So for me, it was easier for me to kind of cope on my own than people to kind of give me sympathy and feel sorry for me because it wasn't a case of I needed someone to feel sorry for me. You needed someone to be probably strong more than anything and be like, this is okay. This happened, you know? And that's what I personally needed was someone to tell me it's okay, things will work out. And Ken was that person. But because he was going through it himself, my family were fantastic. They were there every step of the way. But as in, outside people, work colleagues, friends, no, there's what to do. They don't, I suppose they don't understand this. And they can be quite hurtful with comments. Like, I would have had comments. Why are you putting your body through that? You know, you have one already. Aren't you lucky? You know, there's certain comments that aren't okay and aren't acceptable. And then you'll have a situation where someone has a one miscarriage. People, sometimes we just need to listen rather than say the thing comes to our mind. They'll say, oh, well, it wasn't for you. You can go again. Things like that, when people are dependent on how they react to it, they could be in the throes of grief. Do you know what I mean? I just think we as a society need to educate ourselves a little bit better on how we talk about things like this. And then we can break down maybe these taboos and secrecy if it has to be there or what have you. I think that the most powerful question anybody could ask someone going through a miscarriage, whether it's being the woman or whether it be the partner. Because it's just as important. We need to ask them to. But I think the most effective question you can ask someone is, are you okay? Yeah. It's a powerful question to someone. Yeah, it's just, it's very powerful. And it just means to that person that's grieving. Okay, someone cares. Now, let's get to the birth then because Riley weighed in after a 45-minute labor, seven pounds, six ounces. I don't know because you're doing the hard work, so to speak. What was it like for you? And I can imagine Ken was a wreck at this stage when Riley first made her appearance. Can you talk to us about what it was like for the two of you at that moment? Oh, like our labor itself, four to five minutes, always extremely quick. So it's always the labor itself. It's kind of his house. And we were in a whirlwind. We kind of bring the days. But when she was born, she was born very quickly. I looked up at Ken and I just, I cried. And the only thing I said, I think for about 10 minutes was, oh my God, we have a baby. She's here. She's here. But I remember looking at Ken, just as she came out and his face was soaked with tears, he'd actually been crying since she was aged. Since she was coming out. So yeah, there was plenty of tears of joy. And what about you when you finally got to hold her after that? Not just the roller coaster of the pregnancy, but everything that went before it. What was it like for you? Was it, did it feel instantly, I don't know, real? I don't know what to, do you know that it had finally happened for you? How did you feel? It was day three when I actually realized that, oh, she's here. I think the shock of everything, the shock of the labor didn't go quick. And I think like that emotion and just trying to process, like I was in hospital with her and I was doing the nice thing, but it just seemed like a bit of a trance. But day three, yeah, it just, it hit home then, God, we have her. And I think because you were taking our home to our own home house, I think that kind of made us more real for us. Well, we're enjoying it. It's a little bit tougher, I suppose, than I remember. Well, we're definitely enjoying it. And what's Leon's reaction? He's a big brother now? Oh, he is a static, he's going to, he's adulting big brother. He waited 19 years, I suppose, for a sibling, because his dad and I come from quite large families and he never wanted to be an only child. So he waited quite a long time for his little sister to come along, but no, he's over the moon, absolutely over the moon. And he has his own baby coming in as well until he's crying. So it's going to be fun. Yeah, you might not be able to go to Granny for a baby sitter straight away or wherever you might prefer to call yourself. I think you'll have your hands full. And you, I would say, and I know, you know, it's mostly, it's your own business and all, but you've a bit to work through at the moment to process all of this with everything that you've gone through over the last, for the last number of years and even sort of the, you know, the mental exhaustion of the pregnancy and now the reality of it and all becoming real. You've been all, I think you've a bit, well, I would imagine, if I were you, it'll take a while to sort everything out. I would imagine just in terms of, well, wow, okay, here we are. Oh yeah, for sure. Before Friday we had to come along, I was a very organized person and had everything kind of on my tees crossed and I always thought I was a type of person. That kind of feel like doing a little bit. So I would just try to readjust, I suppose to not be able just to get up in the morning and go out the door to work or go out the door and go and do shopping. He's trying to prepare now. So yeah, there's a little bit of a drag. Just when all of that stuff, maybe even the driving Leon around stuff, just when you thought, right, maybe, well, here we are back at square one again and sure you wouldn't be anywhere else. Congratulations to you, Georgina and congratulations to Ken and Leon and we wish him all the best for the next couple of weeks too. He's going to be up to high-do on multiple levels with his own wee one coming and it's a lovely story and that you have your miracle baby. Who gave a two-fingered salute to science because it was the most recent information you got from the medic saying that, look, between the jigs and the reels, it's probably not going to go happen for you but she had other ideas. Yeah, she definitely did. Okay. All right, I'll let you back to it. Take care. Thank you very much indeed. That is Gina O'Shea there. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. At Screw Fix, we've got low prices to make you go wow like the Triton and Rich Electric Shower at just $73.95 and the Irwin Jack Wood saw for only $7.95. Get trade essentials at well prices at screwfix.ie or in over 30 stores. Screw Fix, the choice of champions. While stocks last, prices went to lease 4th of June to the screwfix.ie for T's and C's delivery charges and restrictions. This summer, enjoy the tastiest burger in town for less at Kelly's Diner, Letter Kenny. With Jake's famous burgers, there's your choice of burger, beef, chicken or veggie, all freshly prepared with your pick of delicious toppings and sides. Selected burger deals every weekend. Find the best value burger in town, Jake's Burgers at Kelly's Diner, Mountaintop, Letter Kenny. My decision is my right. I choose who helps. Presume I have capacity. A new law called the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act has come into effect. It includes a modern approach to uphold rights and to safeguard people who have reduced decision-making capacity due to frailty, a disability and acquired brain injury or illness. If a person has challenges, then the act includes new decision support arrangements and these have legal standing. See safeguardingireland.org. The countdown is on for the Cope Dunlows Mega Bank Holiday Seal. Seal starts tomorrow in store and online with up to 25% off selected men's suits save up to 30% on runners in our sports department. Check out our Facebook for more mega deals. Business Matters in association with the ATU Dunnegal Faculty of Business. If you're a senior manager in the private sector looking to reinforce your leadership skills, ATU are offering a level nine executive MBS in leadership and innovation. Call 911-86206 or email donald.hanigan at atu.ie. OK, Doug, we're in studio with Kieran O'Donnell as we preview Highland Radio's Business Matters podcast, which is live for you right now on our website. But before we start shamelessly plugging it, let's talk a little bit of news. Firstly, actually, Kieran, pardon my ignorance, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. I'm going to move that mic because I've just there because I've had to adjust things. I'm wearing your t-shirt. You're wearing the Dunnegal clothesline with pride. Aaron and the Dunnegal's DNA. The hassle to get off the council to get this, you wouldn't believe it. There you go. A great hanger, well done. I'm still old and hoodie, by the way, for John McLaughlin and his team are listening. Time of the day, you know what? Time of the October for that. When? Ask for her t-shirt and hope for the best. These are, by the way, if anyone's watching, these are actually really quite nice. I like them. It's in your DNA, you know? Right, OK. Highland Radio Customer Services Awards night. I was genuinely blown away by it, Kieran. Yeah, same as that, Greg. You know, I'll say, over 550 people attended the Highland Radio's Customer Service Awards in the Mount Erigal. A total of 51 awards presented. Held in association with PGM, which celebrated local businesses and individuals who have consistently demonstrated exceptional commitment to customer satisfaction and excellence and service delivery. Look, everybody made a great effort. There's great buzz, great energy, a massive organisation, so well done to the team at Highland for it. And I love the success in Raffaul, with Balabba Faze, Trinolour, a few lady tables. Yeah, no, it was just fantastic, you know, from Ineshaun. There's just businesses represented from absolutely everywhere. Everyone looked fantastic, and it was a great buzz. And the social media team here, too, by the way, I've done some great work in putting up some of the afters on our Instagram and Facebook as well, so check them out, too, because it's just lovely. It was great initiative. And I just loved how much people enjoyed it. Yeah, it was good way to connect and as opposed to start a meet-up with people. The whole thing I thought, Greg, was, you know, people, they're very happy sometimes to leave their business and leave the work behind them and go out and have a good time. So it was great to be part of it. And take one day off. Some people did. Yeah, it seemed so. I left not long after you, Kieran, by the way, so you can take that halo off and put it back in your pocket. No comment. I can only take your word for it. I was fresh-faced and... What is it? Fresh-faced? Anyway, I was here Monday morning and did the show proudly. Right, OK, so listen well, Donte, everyone involved. And there's just absolutely no doubt that that has to be an annual event. Such was the level of success. And the buy-in, you know, 15,000, 16,000 votes from the public, 1,300 businesses nominated. You know, as I said, I think I can't remember what I said. It may be said on the radio. Would I have... You're just 1,300 businesses. I didn't know how many businesses were in Donegal, right? But an awful lot of them were obviously represented. OK, right, so I think the listeners probably have heard enough about that now. But go on the websites and sorry on the socials if you want to see more. OK, more Irish jobs could become remote. Yes, around 9,000 Irish jobs could be made more remote if systemic support was implemented. That is according to research conducted by Grow Remote, the social enterprise that advocates for better remote working options in Ireland. Research conducted around remote working in Ireland found that 25% of employees are now working fully remotely. Among the benefits, 84% believe their productivity increased, 60% felt better able to switch off after work, and 61% of 25 to 35-year-olds are considering moving to another part of Ireland. Which is interesting. Yeah, it really is. And it ties into some of the census figures, too. Quite a large percentage of... Was it 15% of Donegal workers at least part of the time worked from home? I know you're talking about... I haven't come across that yet. I saw it then. I know working from home and remote working are kind of... They're in the same space, but the stats are probably slightly different. OK, good luck making a bed or pulling a pint from home, though, you know what I mean? I think it's all going to settle down and certain industries will see more. I think you've heard a little head. It's very much targeted at wherever possible, but as you say, it's not possible in every sector. Well, I've heard some comments from people saying, is it fair, you know? Like, is it equitable? Should someone who asked to go out and build you your house and, you know, fix your car, is it fair that they should have to do that whilst you sit in an office... I don't think it's fair, that's great. I mean, you're not comparing like with like at all. If things can be done remotely and if productivity hasn't been impacted, and if the company, at the end of the day, if the boss is happy with the work that's been done, that's all they know what it's about in terms of whether it's fair or not. But then you see, right, you have to then think of the societal impacts it has. You have cities and towns getting quieter, you've got coffee shops closing, restaurants closing, you know? I mean, like, there is, if more people work at home and I'm not discouraging it, but if more people work at home, is it an equal society? Because it does affect everybody else's and particularly those that are forced to leave the house to work. Well, take away the job sector or the rules you run. The other side, the only thing I've got to think about recently is the fact that if people are working from home, well, if they're not going to be commuting, will they be going to have lunch in their own local cafe or their own restaurant or going for a cafe locally as opposed to buying it in the city? So that disposal can be spent more locally, or just make a hanged sandwich in the house? Who's to say? Right, OK. A pub in Glenties on the market? Yeah, another pub in Donegal has been placed on the market this time. It's Sonny's Bar in Glenties that has been put up for sale. The bar located on Glenties Main Street was recently refurbished and the sale is being handled by Henry Key and Son based in Balibufe. OK, Food Coast Donegal's strategic review launched. What's this about? Yeah, a Castle Grove Country House hotel in Lerrikenne was the venue for yesterday's official launch of the Food Coast Donegal strategic review 2023 to 2026. MC for the Donegal local enterprise event was Noel Cunningham and guest speakers included Libby Curtin of Kennegar Brewing, James Duharty from Slave League Distillers, Richard Finney of New Care Coffee and Hugh Wolhair from Mulroy Bay, Mussel is Limited. Nice one. Right. Now, there's some supports or advice at least for people who may wish to start their own enterprise? Yeah, just for those, Greg, who missed the start your own business bootcamp that was held at the weekend in the Slavartassie Hotel, the Donegal local enterprise office is running a programme of evening online sessions that are scheduled to start on Tuesday next, that's June the 6th. The programme will get participants through the various aspects of business and business planning and for more information, check out the local enterprise office's social media platform. And lastly in news, more of us than ever before now have access to high-speed broadband. Yeah, it's just in relation to the census, Greg, almost 80% of households had a broadband internet connection in 2022, up from 71% in 2016 and 64% in 2011, as I say, that's according to the latest census, carried out last year in April. So the census population summary results were published yesterday, as you know, and the various sections of the findings, they're going to be sort of, it's not fair now, over the next six, seven months, I think there are eight or nine reports to come. So, I find it sort of strange that they're taking so long to sort of get out every wee bit. I'm not expecting them to come in all together, but you do wonder why it's going to take... I like them managing the release a bit more than anything, Kieran, you know, that's how they'll talk about it, next month they'll talk about it. So, you take six months to get out the findings of your census? Yeah, I know, I don't agree with it, but I think it's a bit of a drip dip on it, okay, because they have the info, you know. Okay, right, let's take a break. Stay right where you are, because we are going to preview the podcast and listen to some of the contributors, so stay right where you are. Harkins have been providing customers with quality fireplaces, stoves and electric fires for over 30 years, and now you can experience the elegance of luxurious worktop from Harkins. Their experienced craftsmen can fabricate marble, quartz or granite worktop to your specification. So, if you're planning a new kitchen or bathroom or upgrading your existing walk, Harkin Fireplaces can provide a quote for your quartz, marble or granite worktop. Visit their showroom in Ballywogan-Lifford or call 9141109, or visit them online at harkinfireplaces.ie. Itchy eyes, running nose, wheezy and itchy. Mean hay fever is back on the attack. As pharmacists, Brennan's have a wide range of allergy remedies to come to your rescue, and we can advise you on how to lessen those hay fever attacks, so come in for a chat and we can talk through your options in private if you like. You'll be back to enjoying summer in no time. For expert hay fever advice, advice you can trust without the wait, we're always here for you. Just ask at your local Brennan's pharmacy. There's fantastic value at Homeland Letter Kenny Garden Centre this Saturday, 3rd of June with our final garden, Super Saturday. All hedging by two get one free. The Sorento 6-seater was 599 euro, now 499 euro. Woodford Garden Swing was 529 euro, now 449 euro and saved 20% on all water features. Shop in store at Homeland Letter Kenny with expert advice from our experienced team. Offers mentioned available this weekend only. The All Ireland Championship continues this weekend for Dunnegall with Derry coming to Ballet Buffet on Sunday afternoon. After an opening round win in Claire, Dunnegall topped the section ahead of the visit of the Ulster champions. Join us for a full match commentary live here on Highland from the four o'clock throw in. Live coverage of Dunnegall in this year's senior football championship is brought to you by Highland Motors in Letter Kenny with Renault Master Vans available for immediate delivery. Get the perfect vehicle for your business at Highland Motors. Right, so okay. This week's business matters. Can you tell me who you're joined by, Kieran? Yes, great. This week I'm joined by the owner of TC Promotions based on Arranmore Island, Thomas Kossel. He's some operator, Thomas. He is indeed. He's some operator. And native of Arranmore, Thomas began DJing as a 14-year-old in Smuggler's nightclub in 1990. And after a number of years working in construction, was took him to London, Limerick and Dublin. He returned to Dunnegall and set up TC Promotions in 2012. Thomas was the director of the Merriven-Donnell Festival in 2013 and has been entertainment manager at the Pulse and Voodoo nightclubs in Letter Kenny since 2015. In 2020, Thomas added marquee hire to his company's list of services. And here he talks about what's entailed on that line of business. Our festival is getting bigger and bigger. And I was, I used to hire at them, I used to, the venues, unfortunately got too small in Arranmore to host the events. So I didn't start, well, let's hire marquee. So much more to that too. It sounds like, oh, let's just hire and go for it. But it's not that simple. If you're going to do that, there's so many people who has to be involved with them, marquee. If you've got the fire officer, you've got your courts, you've got licensing. So I suppose we just tried to see how it went. And we, at the time, like somebody says to me, and you know, back before I bought my own, we were hiring them and saying, you get an event management plan. I said, where do I start an event management plan? But you sit, you work it out. And I suppose I'm very lucky to have my brother help me out, Frankie. That's massive help. Wouldn't be able to, wouldn't be able to run to you, unless you wouldn't even run without him. So we're in a position now where we do the event management plans and we help other people do theirs throughout the place. It's an interesting story, Kieran. Yeah, look, Thomas, as I mentioned at the start there, he started a DJ as a 14-year-old with a way of working the tunnels for a while and came back. Had a huge love of country music, Greg. And that was passed on from his late father. He still has a love of country music. Decided three years ago to go into this area and just the benefits locally, it can accommodate up to seven and 800 people. And in terms of a sit-down wedding, you're looking at 220 people. And there are two weddings that are going to take place on our more this year, availing of Thomas and services. So I was just talking from a local economy point of view, that's a massive boost to the island. So I say, he mentioned his brother, Frankie. And when he decided to go into the Marquis area, he probably got a wee bit of surprise in terms of the amount of work that's involved. When you're building, you are erecting a venue with all of the ups and downs of static venue. In terms of event management, and all that goes with that, there's a lot of work there. But obviously, he's cracked the system and he's helping others to do it as well. We've covered a lot of things as well. He talked about the challenge and entertainment and his day over the COVID period. He also made reference to the fact that a lot of performers had stopped performing, Greg, and they weren't prepared. They were going to do all the things and they weren't prepared to travel long distances anymore. And the most impact that that has had on the whole entertainment industry across the country. Yeah, and I'll tell you another big problem, concert organizers are having is people not buying the tickets as they would because there's nowhere to stay in Dublin. But also to, sorry, that's a separate thing, but also to a lot of the roadies to use a generic term as well, moved on to different things, security, people who work in security, decided to go and do other things. So the nuts and bolts of the industry, a lot of people moved away from it now and it's hard for clubs to get open, to get security staff and, I presume, bands to get all the crews together. So it's an interesting view of all of that. So the full interview with Thomas Costlow, who is, let me just say it one more time, some operator, is available now at highlandradio.com or on Spotify or in iTunes. And Business Matters broadcast Sunday, Kieran. Yeah, after the 6 o'clock news. And if someone wants to get in touch with the pod, with you, obviously, is what I'm saying, how do they do so? Yeah, just drop an email, please, BusinessMatters at highlandradio.com. Right, so that podcast live for you right now on a website, you can stream it from there or download it to your device if you're going to go out and do a bit of gardening or something and listen to it there. And also, as we say, Spotify and iTunes and the back catalogue for there for you to listen to as well. Kieran O'Donnell, presenter of Business Matters. Thank you very much indeed for your time. Have a good day. Good morning, Greg. Okay, enjoy the weather. Can I play a couple of requests if you don't mind? Florence Carty's in Strabane. And Florence I and your mum, brothers, Paul and Neville, want to wish you a happy birthday. So Florence Carty in Strabane, a very happy birthday to you. Agnes and Shane, O'Neill are in letter, Kenny. And they want to wish Vicky all the best. Vicky was on with us a little earlier on. She's heading over to participate for Ireland and basketball. Delighted to hear your news today. So apparently Vicky had kept it kind of quiet in and around Kilmer Crennan. But Agnes and Shane, O'Neill, glad to hear that news. Could you wish Vicky all the best from Olivia? Olivia and MacGregor, okay? That's it. Best wishes to you, Vicky. Lots of them coming in too, which is nice. Right, I bought petrol yesterday, says a listener, 138. And today I thought, before the rise, I'll fill up the wife's car. And the five cent, they've already banged it on. It's not supposed to go on until midnight tonight, but they've already added the five cent. So much for it happening after midnight, they say. Once again, petrol shops are taking full advantage of their customers. So keep an eye out for us. So you can be the eyes and ears of the listeners. And I think there was some warning from government to not stick it on too soon, but some already have the five cent on them. Maybe there is a reason for it. But that's an extra five cent per litre profit, is it not? Unless they bought the petrol in at the newer rate, I don't know. I always try and mitigate for it, but maybe I should stop doing that. Maybe they're just gouging. This listener says, I'm in my 70s and I got a call this morning from someone purporting to be from one of the hospitals that I hadn't paid a bill from a procedure and they needed prompt payment today. Firstly, I have a medical card. And secondly, I've never been to any hospital for anything. They were very insistent that I needed to pay and pay immediately. Luckily someone else was here and took over the call at which point the call are hung up. I just want to warn others who may be on the road not to pay this person if they do not owe anything. When I asked what was the procedure I had, he said, this is where these blighters are clever. So the gentleman thought, right, I can catch this person out and ask him what procedure I had. And the caller said that under GDPR, he couldn't discuss that with the person who was supposed to have had the operation. So they have every trick in the book to trick you into paying. Now, you might say, how would anyone fall for that? Well, if you had just got out of hospital, maybe you're still a bit groggy or what have you. And they call a thousand people a day. Maybe 80 of them have just got out of hospital and they warn of the consequences of not paying the bill. And people in a moment will try and it's not the amount they take, it's they want your bank details and then they'll clean you out. So thank you for helping us to spread the message on that one. And that is the last contribution for today. We are back.