 against the HSE seeking substantial damages. 18 residents with intellectual disabilities were abused over a 13-year period. The Brandon Report incident has found that management and staff had full knowledge of the incidents which were carried out by another service user. Solicitor Kino Carl says the victims could sue through other parties. From a legal point of view, the HSE is responsible for abuse that they suffered within the care home, particularly where that was either known or ought to have been known by management and that seems to have been the case. Where sexual offenses are committed, the harm is of the gravest level and that should be reflected in the measure of the redress of the financial amount. Permanent TSB is to buy 7.6 billion euro worth of assets from Ulsterbank. It includes performing non-tracker mortgages as well as performing SME loans and Ulsterbank's Lombard asset finance business. 25 Ulsterbank branches are also part of the deal. Roughly 450 employees in them will be able to transfer the sale as part of Ulsterbank's plan to withdraw from the Irish market in the coming years. There are traffic delays being reported in the vicinity of Manor Cunningham. There's been a collision involving two trucks in the vicinity of the picnic area near Maharebeg National School. No injuries have been reported but some traffic delays as a result. An enhanced accessible toilet and changing facility is to be developed in Latter-Kennie. After Donegal County Council secured a 75,000 euro allocation under the Disability Participation and Awareness Programme, the bulk of the money will go toward a changing places unit. The unit will serve people with complex needs. Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh is mayor of Latter-Kennie Milford Municipal District and a disability campaigner. He says work should start in the new year. In terms of timeline now, I honoured the grant loans from April 2022 until March 2020. So the work has to start by April next year and has to be finished by March the following year. Hopefully if we can find a suitable location now, get it started in April, we should have it ready for the summer of next year. Dry and mostly cloudy with occasional periods of sunshine highest afternoon temperatures 7 or 8 degrees Celsius in Light to Moderate, South-East Debrises. That's Highland Radio News. We're back with news again at 10 o'clock. Well, Davey, brilliant that you weren't in work today. We had some crack. It was Petters last shift so we all went out for lunch. Thanks for staying away. The lads are delighted. Chat you soon. Mind yourself. No one will thank you for turning up to work or anything else when you're sick. Stay at home and get a PCR test to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. From the HSE For Us All. Chanel, Flower Bomb, Longcombe, Giorgio Armani, Paco Rabanne, Hugo Boss, where else but at McGee's Camus this Christmas, sponsors of The 9 Till Noon Show. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The 9 Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. And a very good morning to you just approaching five minutes past nine. You're very welcome along to The 9 Till Noon Show here in Highland Radio. It's a busy one as always on a Friday, our Friday panel. I'll introduce you to them very shortly after 10 o'clock. We'll be joined by a spokesperson for the HSE discussing the publication of elements of the Brandon report and also after 11 o'clock. Michael and Finula are in with us, but it is time to say good morning to our guests today. But before we do actually, I just want to remind you to get involved in the conversation. WhatsApp or text 08 660 25000, call 07 491 25000, or email us to comments at highlandradio.com. Imagine why if you're joining us across our social media on YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland, or on our Facebook pages. You can interact with us there. Okay. Without further ado, good morning, Chancellor Reena Donahee. Thank you for joining us. Good morning, Greg. Good to have you. Good morning, everybody. Of course, Finaful, Finaful, Chancellor in the Inishome Municipal District, Professor Pat O'Connor, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Limerick University. Great to have you back on the program. Pat, thanks for joining us. Good morning. And last but certainly not least, Michael White, Chair of the Green Party in Donegal. Michael, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. I'll start with you, Professor O'Connor, if that's okay. And as we have been covering extensively on this program, on this radio station, too, the Brandon report, elements of it, well, it was published yesterday, it makes for a devastating reading, no doubt, and families of some intellectually disabled adults who were subjected to sustained sexual abuse at a health service executive from Disability Centre Encounter Donegal say they are livid. They did not get a summary of an investigation into the abuse prior to the publication yesterday. An executive summary of the Brandon report completed by the National Independent Review Panel in August 2020 was published online by the HSC at about 12.30 yesterday. It identifies at least 108 instances of sexual abuse perpetrated against upwards of 18 intellectually disabled residents of the Ard Green, your court complex in Strunaller, by another resident between 2003 and 2016. Given the pseudonym Brandon in the report, he was moved to a private nursing home in May 2016 and died there last year. Now, every element of this story, Professor, is just absolutely shocking, isn't it? Absolutely. I mean, in a way, it's hard to know even where to start, but I think perhaps one of the most shocking things was the fact that it is made very clear in the summary of the report, which is all we have at the moment, that basically staff and management were aware of it, that the nursing staff tried over and over, they wrote, they alerted management to it. Basically, the abuse was recognized from 1997 onwards and management did nothing. Now, in a way, like in other situations, it could be said people did no gladi blasts, but the report makes quite clear that the nursing staff had completely disempowered. So it seems to me it is very clear that where the book stops, the book stops at the management of the facility and also at the HSC who oversaw the women to have overseen the facility. I listened to Paul Reed and I was very disquieted. He was asked for the first time this morning, he wasn't asked on RT last night about what action will be taken against the managers who basically colluded. A scoping exercise is what they say. Exactly, vacuous. The report has been done, the responsibility is clear. He said if whatever, if it is a marriage that it was necessary, he would take action. The report is an indictment. The question is, what is going to be done? He thought some people might have moved on, some managers, some managers might be still imposed. I'm sorry, this is a point where really accountability has to have. I think you can feel that it's a terrible indictment of the head of an organization to be asked such fundamental questions and not be able to give a clear response. That this report has been compiled, people have actually had to fight tooth and nail to get even part of it released and on a fundamental question like accountability about are people who have some responsibility still working with vulnerable people? For those answers to be ambiguous and shifty is very, very worrying. Totally, and I mean there is totally a part from the absolutely devastating effects emotionally, psychologically, socially on the families as well as on the patients themselves, the people in the residential center. But there is also the real financial consequence as was mentioned in your news, like those, the families of the people who have been sexually abused are perfectly entitled to take legal action against the HSE for failing to protect their loved ones. And what does this say to other people, families of other people who believe that their loved ones may have been victims? What is being done to explore that? What was done to explore that? Focusing on 18 and a number of instances, but beyond that there's an awful lot of people out there with unanswered questions at the moment. And Paul Reed yesterday was asked his first response to all of this was saying that currently measures have been put in place to enable staff to report. But the key thing about this situation is that the staff knew, the staff reported, the staff wrote and were ignored. So really, I mean this is just a defining moment, either the HSE is accountable, it is willing to basically deal with the managers in its own structure and in the facility who did nothing, or it is not willing to do so. And if it is not willing to do so, quite honestly, I don't see how we as taxpayers can support a structure that colludes with the sexual abuse of people who are in residential centers. It is absolutely true. Before I bring the next guests in, I've heard two people comment on this and they were hitting the same points regardless of what questions they were answered. I strongly suspect they were just briefed on this, that they don't actually have a true and thorough understanding, because the points that they hit on were so different, like it was clear that initially they were sent out to say that we also failed Brandon. Now I'm saying that's not the case, but there were a few points in the responses regardless of the questions, that it was clear that there was a strategy as to how to answer these questions, and then we get down to the nitty gritty questions, well then it's, you know, the answers then start becoming gray. Chancellor Reena Donahue, as I say, you know, everything about this, right from its first reporting, nothing seemingly done about that, then right down to the battle to try and get elements of this published, and when it is published that the general population see it before some of those families affected actually see it. Everything about this from beginning to end is horrendous. Yeah, totally agree and totally agree with everything that Pat has said. The safety and protection of vulnerable people in the care of the state is paramount, and the report on this issue is shocking and upsetting at what has happened, and we think of the individuals and the families involved, the families and trusted their adults with intellectual disability and to what they believe to be a safe place. People put their trust in their care, and I can only begin to imagine what they have been through and what they are going through. I mean, 18 vulnerable people were sexually abused. It was absolutely appalling, and we must remember the abuser was a vulnerable adult as well. And also the action that was taken created more victims because a perpetrator was moved from one site to another site, and it was that action that put people in harm's way. Absolutely, absolutely, and that never should have been the case. Absolutely not. It's despicable what happened. Lessons need to be learned. Absolutely. Recommendations put in place, strong, firm recommendations, and the implementation of those recommendations arising from the report need to be put in place yesterday. It's shocking, it is shocking. Michael White, listen, I'm not looking for heads on the stick here, but I'm absolutely sick and tired now of the lack of accountability. The fact that no one actually ultimately seems to be responsible. We hear these reports, shocking behavior, people having terrible experiences, and in some cases people losing their lives, not as it relates to this particular case, but I'm on about other scandals and controversies. And ultimately, you know, it feels like no one is responsible. The HSC as a collective will assume some sort of responsibility, say sorry or what have you, but in terms of, you know, where does the buck stop? Whose fault is it? What is going to be done to punish these people or whatever it might be to ensure, and maybe that's the way we ensure something like this might not happen again? Well, I think there's a few points here that are specific to this, and then there's more general patterns that we see. So one of the things I'd highlight is that none of us would know about this if it weren't for a whistleblower. So while this had been reported and talked about internally, none of us would be talking about this now if it weren't for a fact that somebody, there was a whistleblower. That's really important. And a number of really severe cases like Morris McCabe and the Gardie, that's number one. So there's some things that can be done to make sure, if you want to make sure this doesn't happen in the future, whistleblowers need greater protection than they currently have. There's a report from Harvard Business School talking about how they can be protected and incentivized. So that's one thing, this wouldn't be a conversation. These people would never have found out about this if it weren't for the whistleblower. The second thing is, is there a mechanism to ensure that this doesn't happen again, not only in similar situations in the HSC with people who have intellectual disabilities, but generally my guess is, I mean, there's a pattern here, if you look at the pattern of a perpetrator, the line manager is not paying attention, and then the first recourse is to move them around. That sounds a lot like what happened to children in the Catholic Church and parish priesthood move around. We've seen this pattern before. And who normally gets affected? It's the most vulnerable, so in the case of the church, it was kids who didn't have parents or parents were divorced or were marginalized. Here we're talking about adults that are intellectually disabled. My guess is the next most at-risk people, just top of my head is that people in old people's homes, I think the way that's structured in there, and there's going to be a scandal there in the next 10 years, time two, because it's a for-profit industry that really shouldn't be for-profit. Again, people are put in institutions and kind of forgotten about, and there's not enough protections and regulatory protection to protect them. So that's where I'd suspect the next big scandal is going to be in the next 10 years. So what are the mechanisms? I'm predicting you, but maybe it's not helping your point, but we do have the reports of elder or blues that is compiled, and the figures are absolutely shocking, and that's those who can actually report. Between physical abuse, financial abuse, I can't remember the figure off the top of my head, but the numbers are in the thousands annually that are filing reports. So if that's what we're seeing, I think maybe you could be well justified in saying, when, what we're not seeing, when is that going to be uncovered? Yes. I mean, the question then is what's the, first of all, to say that that's likely to identify vulnerable groups in society and anticipate that these are the ones that are going to be at risk, and then try and figure out a mechanism to make sure this never happens again. And there's nothing that's being said today that would indicate that we're in any greater likelihood of this not happening again. Like Paul Reed making a press release, I don't want to pick on him personally, but the HSE rattled at some press releases. They do a couple of interviews, and it'll trundle along. People are forgetting three or four months and we're back at the same situation. So there doesn't need to be. Just in relation to Paul Reed, and I can understand why, but let's singling him out, because he is actually the, he's the top dog here. He is the boss. Okay. And he is. It came in in 2019. It's the reason I don't want to pick on him. Well, that's, yeah. Well, it's, it's a long time since 2019 that this report wasn't published, and someone wrote to the minister sort of saying, we won't publish it in the HSE work for the minister. But, you know, he's paid an awful lot of money, you know, and the very least, you should listening to him believe that he is fully across a topic like this and every element of it. But anyway, yeah, no, no, he shouldn't be that off the hook. I mean, but there's a structural problem here that we're seeing in a lot of parts of our society. I don't think it's an Irish thing only, but it's definitely a problem in Ireland, and we need to sort it out. So we've seen it with the priests. Sorry, I don't, we've seen with the Catholic church. We're seeing it here. We've seen it in other areas that, you know, that mothers and babies homes, we're seeing this pattern all the time, and there doesn't seem to be this, the structure of the solution doesn't seem to be that different. We need whistleblower legislation beefed up a bit, and we need structures to make sure there's some kind of all of them for vulnerable people, but a mechanism to make sure that something like this is properly investigated and people are reprimanded. As you said, the lack of accountability, this is, this is again a real pattern in Irish life, like after the financial crash, everybody goes off for tires with a big tension and end of story. There's no, there's no payback for doing something that's wrong or letting really bad stuff happen, and that needs to change. Yeah. I mean, it kind of feels to me a little bit like, you know, you say, well, Professor, you know, you say, well, some people have retired, some are still in the service, we're doing a scoping. You say that public, it's almost like, you know, well, you know, you've got about two months to retire. I'm not saying that's the case, but that's what it feels like sometimes. I think in a way, one of the very practical things that could be done is that those who, who, who basically colluded with this, who meant, who neglected their duties, there should be, even if they've retired, there's still the possibility of a financial penalty. But also to Professor, isn't it important as well for the staff and management who may well have lost their jobs raising this issue, so a bully died of work that said, like something's going on here, you have to do something, right? That the until someone or people are held responsible, it casts a shadow over lots of people, people that probably took this home with them and spoke to the partners and says, look, this is what's going on. I've done absolutely everything I can do. I know the guards have been contacted. It's up to other people to look after this. I can't do any more. And next thing you know, their lives are made difficult to work, you know, it's important that people who are responsible are actually singled out in fairness to the rest of the staff that probably went out of their way to try and highlight this. Absolutely. I mean, failing to do this creates a disempowering, collusive situation. It also discourages any further attempt to basically raise your hand to say something wrong is going on. And you're driven to thinking maybe that is the point. The HSE do not want a culture where people are highlighting inadequacies in the service. And really, that is a problem. And I think, okay, if people have retired, they cannot be in a way moved from their job, but they can have basically they can be penalized because even to reduce it to its lowest common denominator, this bill is going to end up at the taxpayer's door again. Right. And these people who have created, who have devastated lives, who have disempowered their staff and the service, who have really undermined people's confidence in the system, you know, and the whole ability to trust people to look after their loved ones. They're there to be just, it's a systemic error. And let me say in advance to, right, because this is very possible because it happens all the time. If families take cases against the HSE, will they again frustrate them, spend millions upon millions of taxpayers money, contesting these cases only to settle them right at the last minute on the steps of the court? In other words, spend tens of millions frustrate in the process, or will they put their hands up and say, you know, maybe they could do that by way of a redress scheme and say, well, obviously, you know, just one other point, I'll put it back to you to Michael because you raised the question about whistleblowers. And then I'll bring Rena back in here before we move on. You know, some of the greatest scandals of our time here, you know, like cervical check, that was exposed really because somebody spoke out problems in childcare facilities. Now these are all arms of the state, not necessarily the HSE changes were only introduced there because of undercover investigation, you could say the same in nursing homes. And those are just the ones that are on the top of my head. It's almost like whack-a-mole instead of fixing the problems, right? It's when a problem is highlighted, or they're embarrassed into doing something about it, that's when that gets an attention. I have no confidence that I have no confidence that we are proactively proactively seeking these issues out and resolving them. When was the last time the HSE came out of its own accord and said, we've identified this situation. This is what we've done. It's an absolute scandal. We can't allow it to happen again. It's always reactionary, Michael. It seems. Now, there's probably examples out there that prove me wrong, but that's how it feels to me. No, it is reactionary. I just want to just quote in from the reports yesterday. The report says, staff who met the review team described an environment where people wear and are still fearful of coming forward. That talks to your point. People are genuinely afraid, but despite that, they still tried to raise this and it was canned. As I said, there's a Harvard Business School report came out just on the subjects. It was highlighted in the Sunday Business Post last week, I don't know if you read it, but they're just saying that you need to provide financial protection around people and encourage whistleblowers. If we believe it's better that this information become public and that wrongs are righted, then we need to take steps to actually make sure we all know that in organizations where somebody blows a whistle, the first thing happens is the organization tries to kick the rubbish out of them. They're financially imperiled. We know like the Morris McCabe story, the terrible nightmare he went through at that time. The Harvard Business Report is saying, these are the steps you can take as a government or a society to financially protect whistleblowers. It actually doesn't create more spurious whistleblowers. It creates a greater flow of information. I think that's a step that needs to be taken to make sure that people are doing nasty little stuff under the covers of darkness and organizations and public sector organizations that they get flushed out. I think that would be one thing we can do. Councillor Donahue, this obviously people are going to feel like, is my person in care safe? We hope in the majority, absolutely majority of cases they are, are any other reports being suppressed, any other issues being suppressed. This type of case will shake people's faith in the broad service and system because it can't just be one. That's what people would feel. It can't just be one shocking case that's being suppressed. No. I can only imagine that there will be a lot more cases raising their head from here on, as Michael has said, in nursing homes and in other settings. But, Greg, can I just say that if I was a classroom assistant in a school and I had a problem, I was minding a child and I had a problem with the teacher, I had a problem and I brought it to the teacher. If the teacher brought that to the principal and the principal didn't act on it, the teacher has an obligation and a notice that she or he must themselves go and act on that. Why is that not right across the board? If that was the case, this would have been dealt with long ago, whereas the external management, the oversight and the powerlessness that the staff experienced, that is not the case in schools and it should be right across the board. Why rather than go to someone further up the line and say, this is what's happening? What was the reason for it not being acted upon? The only thing I can say... Why might that happen? They say the Guardian were informed in 2011 and I know the Guardian are asking for a legal review so they probably need to be careful there. It appears that some staff did try and reach out. It's not that to me, I haven't read the report in detail, but it seems that staff did try both up through their line management and also outside the organisation until eventually the whistleblower made their move in 2016. I think the staff that made their best efforts to try and highlight this should be praised in some way and should be acknowledged because they've taken risks. 100% Michael, and that's why I wanted to point out the fact that until such time as people are held responsible, it casts that shadow over everyone when there's people probably were doing the job of whistleblower thinking they were blowing a whistle to someone that would actually hear that whistle and in the end they didn't have that protection and may indeed have lost their their jobs. Listen thank you very much for that. Those are the views so far of Professor Pat O'Connor, Chancellor Rena Donahue and the latter voice you just heard there, Michael White. We'll be back with more from our panel on another issue after these messages. 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Cases of COVID-19 are high and we all know to stay safe by reducing contacts, getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing masks, keeping distance, opening windows, cleaning hands and using antigen tests appropriately. Antigen tests are recommended for use if you are regularly socializing with people from other households because many people who have COVID-19 show no symptoms. Antigen tests can help identify these hidden cases. Learn more at gov.ie forward slash antigen tests. If you have symptoms, do not socialize. Stay at home, self-isolate and get a PCR test brought to you by the Government of Ireland. Christmas is covered at Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, Free Parking, Shopping and Slanda under one roof. Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, bringing you the time at... The time's literally just turned half past nine. The cabinet will meet today to consider the latest advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team. Nefert, in response to the rise of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, Nefert has expressed exceptional concern about the impact of COVID-19 and the new variant in its latest advice to government. A 5pm closing time for pubs and restaurants from next Monday has been recommended by the National Public Health Emergency Team, but it's expected that they're not going to offer any further advice as it relates to mixing in the home. Three families post the host would be okay, but you can't go out and sit at the table and have something to eat in the evening. Omicron accounting for a third of the cases, but still at the same time it's very transmissible. I'm not questioning any of this by the way, but at this time it's not actually having an impact on figures. And of course the last modelling we had from Nefert, their most optimistic predictions as it relates to cases. I think they were talking about 13,000 cases a day for now, but we're down around four and hospitalizations and deaths well below. They're most optimistic of models, but their model as it relates to Omicron again is relatively doomsday. I'll start with you, Councillor Rina Donahue. I mean, you impose a 5pm curfew on pubs and restaurants. The majority of them in Donagola, I would say, certainly those that don't do food anyway, they're closed. That's it. They're closed for Christmas again. God knows how long into January. It's certainly a lockdown by another name, but maybe that's an appropriate response. You know, Nefert are looking into their crystal ball and are fearful. Well, there is a cabinet meeting today and we'll hear then exactly what comes out of that. There is exponential growth as we know. Time is of the essence. Not here though. Yeah, well, we are told that a tidal wave is coming and that this is far, far more transmissible than the Delta variant. And that we need the usual strict hygiene, washing the hands, wearing masks, doing antigen tests, if going to gatherings or whatever. Building capacity in hospitals, of course, is higher than... Do you think, yeah, of course, but that's not going to happen because they've had two years to do that and they haven't done it. So there's no chance of them doing that by the end of December. Do you think closing pubs and restaurants, reducing occupancy at live venues at this time is an appropriate response? Would you be in favour of that? Well, no, I would have thought that this, I would have thought this would have came after Christmas rather than before Christmas. But we are told and have told us the time is of the essence. They said that last year we didn't close until after Christmas and the horse had bolted. So many people I know are coming home for Christmas and it's great to see these people coming home as well. But I know it will be the death knell for some by closing at five. But just in terms of that logic, in terms of that logic, right, because you know what's going to happen, it's expected that they might not make any further recommendations as it relates to household mixing. At Christmas time, people coming from all over the place, probably many from Britain where Omicron is rife at the moment, mixing in homes, three or four families together, would a pub restaurant environment not be safer where there are rules and regulations as it relates to vaccinated, unvaccinated or whatever it might be? Would that not be a safer environment to have people socializing than the inevitable get-togethers at home? Well, I did think that the home visits, that there would be something new coming from that as well. But no, I do believe that this is a very evolving situation. It's constantly evolving. It's a very fluid situation and the messages have to change regularly. Yes, I know it's going to be very, very tough because hoteliers and the hospitality sector is what has been at the hardest from day one. They really have. And I know that there are some of them that probably won't make it through this and won't open again. And it definitely is very tough. But this is a rapidly spreading variant as well. Okay. What do you think, Professor Pat O'Connor? Well, I have several thoughts, not all of them connected. I suppose the first thing, I do think that this has been, our main weapon has been boosters, right? And in my opinion, the HSE is completely mismanaged the booster situation. We've known since November the 14th that this variant was on the way. The HSE spent two weeks talking about vaccine hesitancy. Now everybody that I know saw no hesitancy, but it wasn't until the queues outside UCD were filmed that the whistle was blown continuing the first topic. And basically, it then emerged that really the HSE system was not wired into the GP and the pharmacies. And in fact, a lot of people were unable to, if they had already got a vaccine, they were unable to let the HSE know there was, in my opinion. And also put into that, if you don't mind, and I hope I'm not breaking your train of thought, that Miehol Martin talked to his feet in the door and effectively blamed the public for not turning up. But Miehol Martin, I'm absolutely sure, was briefed. Miehol Martin didn't roll out bed knowing those figures, right? He actually gave the figures that, and it was half of the appointments were not being used. All those appointments could have vaccinated tranches of people. The second problem is that the HSE has, even yesterday, which was their highest figure of booster vaccinations, they still was 55,000. During the summer, they were doing 400,000 a week. So basically, they have not basically kept the pay, got the pay sub from November the 14th. So we're in the situation, we're in now where, for example, parents of small children in their 40s who are expecting to host their own parents, intergenerational whatever, are not getting appointments for vaccines until Stevens' day. Well, everybody knows that the two key days for family mixing are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And the justification offered by successive ministers as that we're doing well by comparison with other EU countries. The point is, we're not in a race with other EU countries, some of whom, like France, have closed down communication, well, travel between the UK and France. We're in a race with Omnicron. So the second, so I'm extremely critical that HSE has got us into this bind, this fix, where we seem to be facing a disaster. My second point though is I am puzzled, right? Because we have been told by the CMO that there's a 27% of the new cases are Omnicron. And we know from South Africa that Omnicron was highly contagious, etc., etc. But our hospitalization numbers are falling slightly. Well, there's a lag there though in fairness. You know, I think it's 10 days after infection is when you start sort of seeing hospitalizations. That's true, but we're pretty well in the, we should have seen them rising if they were going to be that dramatic, because it's now almost 10 days. So in a way, I'm a little bit puzzled about that. Also too, I mean, are we satisfied that they're looking at the South African situation, though it's apples and oranges because of, you know, there's been a high rate of natural infection there and all that kind of stuff. But their hospitalization is something around about 92% below in this wave, their worst wave. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, in a way, the problem with the South African virus and is that they're mostly younger, right? Their population, their average age. But their only quarter for them are vaccinated. Exactly. But my third point, which is a kind of a riot, are we dealing with a vampire or a variant, right? Like this business of focusing on five o'clock, you know, is to me totally, totally mad. You know, the vampire comes out. But you see, this is the problem, Pat, because you're closing businesses effectively, right? But it's not a lockdown. So a lot of the supports and other measures aren't kicked in. So you're saying you can open, but really it's not practical to open. So in other words, that all the supports that were there through actual lockdowns are not there. I mean, that would though mean that Nefert and the government are working together on that. And surely that couldn't be the case. No, no, but I mean, but scientifically and logically, it is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, and I heard being discussed just on the news, the possible rescheduling of one of the major fixtures, sports fixtures, which was due to start at half past seven, and they're thinking, could they hold it in the afternoon? Well, they've done that with the nightclubs. They try to close the nightclubs and the nightclubs round from April 12. But I mean, in a way, in a relation to that, by the way, talking about 5,000 people, for example, going to reducing Leopardstown or the rugby fixtures to 50% because it's out of doors. Well, hello, those people, those 5,000 people are not going to go to the toilet at all. Michael and they're going to go to the toilet out of doors. So really saying things are out of doors is quite ridiculous, since the people are going to have to go indoors to go to the toilet. So really, the whole thing is absolutely, you know. And you know, you could say, Michael, you could say a lot of the decisions have led us to where we are, this denial. And it felt like we were being gaslighted, you know, because they were saying to us, it's not spreading in schools. We all knew it was spreading in schools, right? We knew that. Anyone who is connected with the school knew that this was spreading in schools. And we heard from a Bancrona GP yesterday who said it clearly, it's spreading in schools, students are taking it back and infecting their families. We knew that all along. But they said, no, no, no, schools are safe. Then they said, no, schools are safer. But in between those two things, they withdrew contact tracing from school, allowing this to spread to get us this high level that we're at now. And then rather than saying, you know, and I know it would have inconvenienced some parents, guardians and caregivers out there, they could have closed the schools a little bit earlier, maybe, you know, the 10 days before Christmas to protect the older relations, they chose not to do that. But instead, they've decided now in Christmas week, when people have staff parties and stuff organized, they've decided to clock it down to five. And as Pat has mentioned there, what are you going to do? You're going to have your staff party between 1pm and 5pm. That's what you're going to do. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, I do think that it would be really quite ridiculous closing schools when basically adults can go out to the pub, like in a way, that's all. You also have to recognize that we're not in the 1970s, when 7% of married women were in paid work. We're now in a period where a huge proportion of women with children are in paid work. And the question, many of those women working in the health services, and the question is, who is minding the children? The granny and granddad, probably. Well, granny and granddad who met with their young, they had their booster. Exactly, exactly. And I was agreeing with you. But Michael, bringing you in on this conversation, you know, what say you? I mean, obviously, tough decisions have to be made, but the dots have to be joined a little bit for us, don't they? And I just don't feel that they're hooked up at all. Yeah, there's a few things to worry about this kind of loop. And it's not just awesome, this kind of loop. So there's a loop is that we've had the relaxation of restrictions, and new variants has appeared. I agree totally that there's a mess around where the boosters should have been introduced. The new variant has a rapid spread. So restrictions are now reimposed. This has an knock on effect on the economy and has a big effect on people and kids. Case numbers hopefully will start to fall and then potentially we're back at the same cycle again in the new year. Let me ask you that before you go on to your broader points, okay? The function of a lockdown doesn't prevent one death by itself, does not prevent any illness by itself, because effectively you open up and it passes through eventually you delay it, right? The logic last year was to shut things down to allow for the rollout of the vaccination program, okay? What would be the logic of a lockdown this time just to kick it into the new year? Because if they do then that's January, February and March out the window as well. Yeah, before I get to my broader point is, and then I don't think there's going to be a full lockdown. And yes, the reason last year was to allow time for the vaccination. The reason for the restrictions now is that there's not one massive hit on the health service at once. The projections are very unclear what Omicron's actually going to, what its impact will be, depending on these restrictions to try and make sure there's not one big massive hit. My broader point is though, while they week by week may be unpredictable, the general trend of what's happening now is predictable. I wouldn't have said that at the start of this year, but now we can sort of see there's going to be potentially this cycle and we're going to have some variants, there's going to be reactions. We need a structure. All of us need a sort of a longer term plan that stretches out over 2022. So we have an idea of what's happening and it needs to start getting better. We need to see that there's a route towards a journey towards normality. One of the points that's been made in a couple of newspapers that I think is really important to make is that this variant and the other variants have come out of the same kinds of places. They've come out of countries where less than 40% of the population's vaccinated, so the Africa 40% of the population's vaccinated, a chunk of the population's already been infected and that's like a laboratory for new variants. But in other places, I used to work in Malawi in Africa. In Malawi, 3% of the population are fully vaccinated and Tanzania and Nigeria is 4%. The point there is we're creating these laboratories of variants that will as night follows day, there's going to be more variants January, February, March. It's only a matter of time until one of them is bad enough and starts to race across the world. So my number one point would be we, Ireland and Europe, need to get much more serious about making sure those countries get property vaccinated because if they don't, something really bad is going to come out of there in the next 12 months. And that's not, you know, as night follows day. So that's number one thing I would suggest we all get our act together on. Second thing is we have these new antiviral drugs coming in February. That should help to move us a bit of this loop that we're currently in. But overall, the antiviral drugs are broad defenses in preventing hospitalization. They aren't as impacted by variants as vaccines are. Yeah. If you catch it, you should, it should help to reduce the chances you get very ill or die from it. So it's an addition to the vaccine. It's also an opportunity to make sure that again, the majority of the population, most of the population that get this don't get very sick. The 20% that are at risk, the pill and the vaccination. So that starts to head us into a direction where it starts to get better. Also, people like Luconeal are saying that this pattern of the variants where they become more contagious, but less lethal is the way the Spanish influenza worked out as well. So that's all positive. Well, I guess one thing is that we know what's happening and we're now in a position, I think, for the first time to start laying out a plan in 2022 that would say that we don't have to have these lurches from opening up to really severe lockdown. But do you believe that the government, I mean, the government will follow an effort advice. They're not going to roll the dice on that one. Do you think, unless I'm wrong, do you think it's right to close at five? Can you see the logic? Schools open until Wednesday. More mixing enhances. People still flying in from wherever they are. And it's fantastic. By the way, I'm not opposed to any of that as such and mixing and seeing each other for the first time. But at the same time, pubs and restaurants are closed at five. Do you see the logic in that for you to comply for you to sort of go right? I understand that, right? I can go with that. I guess like everybody, yes, no, some of the stuff. I mean, my understanding of why they're trying to keep the schools open is to make sure there's not any issue with reopening the schools in January. And as a parent, all of us want our kids to be back in school. The kids like being back in school and we don't want anything that risks them going back to school after Christmas. The 5 p.m. closing. I'm not familiar with what the analysis is by the end. That's why they think that's a good idea. I guess it's because large groups of adults banging around together drunk is probably not a crazy idea in the middle of the pandemic. So I imagine that's the reason they're doing this. It strikes me as odd that the travel thing. But that means then that means that the the the vaccination and COVID certs has failed then because that was the pathway back to socialization. So that's clearly that's clearly no. I don't think it's failed. I think the the reason people aren't getting sick at the same rates is because of vaccinations. No, I'm not questioning the vaccines, but I'm on about, you know, in terms of also getting back to a normal society. The vaccines have done an amazing job in reducing serious illness and death. No, but I don't think it's failed. I think what's getting back to my point, this variant has come out this highly contagious and they're putting in these restrictions just to to avoid a major surge at the same time hitting the health service. So that's that's why they're they're doing it, I guess. Okay. And what I'm saying is that we need a plan to make sure that this doesn't have to happen the next time there's a variant. It should be avoidable going forward. As Pat said, for example, the booster should have been rolled out. As soon as we knew the Israelis were doing it, they're a great success. The boosters could have been rolled out here much earlier, like a month and a half earlier than they were. Do we need to then plan for that next year? You can't have it both ways because at the same time, we were discussing whether or not to give boosters. The WHO was saying, don't be giving boosters to your population because those injections need to go to the countries that are vaccinated. So, you know, you can't have it both. You can't wear out both hoses. You can. You kind of can now. The production volumes are high enough where you can have both. There's also the plants being opened in continental Africa now. So, we can have both. We can have a booster program and we can also, I mean, the priority, I think, should be making sure that the populations in sub-Saharan Africa get vaccinated much faster than they are or else it's going to store a trouble for us going forward. Right. Listen, thanks for that. That's the voice of Michael White. You're hearing from Reena Donahey and Councillor Reena Donahey and Professor Pat O'Connor, more from them after these. The Nine Till Noon Show, sponsored by McGee's chemist, Main Street Ladder Kelly. See all the magic of Christmas with McGee's online photo lab, open 24-7, deliver to your door or collect in store. If you're aged 50 or over, it's time for your COVID-19 vaccine booster. Without one, you're more at risk of serious illness from COVID-19. Your booster will give you the best possible protection. When your booster is due, the HSC will send your appointment by text message. People in this group can also come to a walk-in vaccination clinic or contact a participating pharmacy or GP. Visit hsc.ie for clinic times and locations near you from the HSC. Special. At Max Light Lighting, that's exactly what we can do for your home. High-quality, stylish interior lighting and illuminated mirrors at exceptional value. See maxlight.ie or call in to call an electrical in Letter Kenny Retail Park and see a selection of our lights that will give your home that wow factor. Looking for the perfect stocking filler this Christmas? You'll be spoiled for choice with a full-size gift card from fashion to food and everything in between. With over 50 stores to choose from, take the stress out of Christmas and give the gift of choice. Foilside, we have it all wrapped up. Purchase your gift card on level three or online at foilside.co.uk. A public interest message from Dunneagall County Council, attention farmers. With the recent focus on climate change and the likelihood of extreme weather events over the coming weeks and months, Dunneagall County Council would like to remind farmers of the importance of protecting water courses during this busy time in the farm yard. Keep a regular check on gutters and downpipes to minimise soiled water and make sure all silage effluent is collected by keeping channels clean. Elsewhere on the farm, prevent sediment from yards, roadways or the poaching of land by outwintered stock making its way into drains and streams. Clean water is a scarce and valuable resource for all. Dunneagall County Council, protecting its environment. Midnight on the 22nd of December. Okay, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. Before we move on, Councillorina Donahue, I mean, you know, it's shocking, isn't it, that we're so far into this and, you know, 400 people in hospital with COVID, that it is having such an impact on our health service, isn't it? You know, that we're seeing operations cancelled and all manner of stuff happened to use private hospitals. I mean, you know, the hospital should be in a better state to handle this than they are, because if we had more capacity, we probably wouldn't be having an awful lot of these conversations. Now, obviously, there has to be a ceiling that you try and avoid, but it's a terrible indictment, isn't it? Yeah, we absolutely need more capacity. And the recruitment of staff were told that the recruitment of staff is a huge, huge problem. An awful lot of staff have already been affected by the virus and are off. A lot of people were so annoyed and sick and was what they had to go through in the last two years, that some of them even gave up, you know, so we absolutely need more capacity. Yeah, and the staff, there needs to be serious action taken on recruiting staff and recruiting properly and ensuring that we can get staff that other operations and surgeries that have been planned are not put off and put off and put off on the long finger the way they are being doing. And, I mean, appointments now, some appointments have grown to maybe 15, 18 months, so there definitely needs to be changes there. Yeah, all right, Professor O'Connor, you know, I mean, if it's a case that it's difficult to attract here, you change your terms and conditions to try and make yourself more attractive to employee staff. I don't know. Well, exactly, and some countries are increasing the salaries and nursing and caring staff. I mean, if I had a penny for every time I heard people say that they had to pay top dollar to IT specialists, right? I mean, I'd be a very rich woman, but there seems to be no recognition that really frontline nursing and care staff are critical and they are not paid appropriately. And by the way, I mean, the closing schools are children being COVID-conclosed contacts. There is no back up for people in the health service who are predominantly women. And like if you have a five year old or a six year old and your husband is full time away at work, what are you supposed to do? Well, look at an effort and see how representative that is in terms of gender of society. And maybe you start to get to the bottom. But I'd be astonished if schools open on time in January, to be honest with you, because I know teachers are incredibly fearful of Omicron, which will be, you know, whether people get sick or not. Hopefully you don't in great numbers, but people will catch it. People will be off work and teachers are very, very worried about January. And I just get a sense that over the next two weeks, the conversation will move to remote learning at least for a month of, you know, for a couple of weeks in January. But you're shaking your head, Pat. Yes, I mean, I think this will happen whether we agree with it or not. Well, it's a disaster for the children, especially for disadvantaged children or children with special needs. And ultimately it's a disaster for our health service because there will be a load of people who can't go to work because they have no childcare. Well, it doesn't help. It doesn't help. It doesn't help our health system when GPs are involved in the vaccination process, but you're told not to ring your GP and you're told not to go to your GP until you're very sick. So what are you going to do? You're not going to sit at home stewing over the weekend. You go straight down to the ED because you'll get seen there. Michael, the last minute to you in terms of, you know, our investment to try and improve capacity. You're a member of a government party that failed miserably, haven't they? I don't think the countries have always failed miserably. I think we're in the middle of it. The government has said in terms of trying to increase our hospital capacity. We've done fantastic. The country has got a really low capacity of hospital beds compared to other European countries. That needs to be fixed. So I'm not defending that, but that's been a problem that's gone on for 10 years. I think in terms of the schools, the schools should reopen. I'm hoping that if the booster program gets rolled out fast enough and the Omicron outcome is not as bad as they hope, then I expect and really want the schools to open in January. I think it's enough enough. There's 16-year-old kids, little kids that haven't had birthdays, their 16-year-old kids have never got out to have socialized before. This is the stop. We need a plan for 2022 where we do get back to some normality and I think it's possible. No, I hear that and I think that makes an awful lot of sense. Michael, thank you very much for your time this morning. It's always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you. Councillor Irene and Donahue, it's great for you to join us as well. Thank you very much indeed. Last but certainly not least, Professor Pat O'Connor, thank you very much for your time today. Thank you very much. Have a lovely Friday and a lovely Christmas, all of you, in case I don't speak to you before then. Okay, right, we'll be back. I think it's with the weather before the news. Stay where you are. Hi, Mary Ford here. If you're thinking of upgrading your car, borrow from letter Kenny Credit Union. Our loans have a competitive rate of interest, free life insurance, no hidden extras or deposit and a speedy decision. Remember, you own the car, there is no mileage constraints with a loan from letter Kenny Credit Union. Online application, collection and transfer to your current account now available. 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Open seven days a week with free parking at the door. Castle Cycles Ruffo for Sales and Repairs. Stocking bikes for all ages. Get up to 50% tax relief from the Cycle to Work scheme. Christmas Club now open. Call Castle Cycles Ruffo on 074 9145 185 for more details. Millionaire raffle from the National Lottery is back. With one millionaire guaranteed and over 4.8 million euro in cash prizes to be won. It's the biggest ever. The draw takes place on New Year's Eve and tickets are limited. So pick up yours today. The National Lottery. It could be you. Gift responsibly. Downings are one win away from Provincial Glory. The Donegal Champions play Den from Cabin in the Ulster Junior Football Final this Sunday. Join us for live match commentary from the 1pm throw-in in Clonus. In association with Boises Centra stores, Fulcara, Dunfanahe and Carigart. Boises Centra. Shop local. Support local. Whatever the weather this December, Letter Kenny will bring a warm front to your shopping and great value for your pocket. Highland Weather Forecast brought to you by Sharp LK. Today will be dry and mostly cloudy with occasional periods of sunshine. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in light to moderate southeast breezes. I'm speaking over the jingle. You know what it is. Donal's on his way with the news. Thank you. Great. Good morning. It is 10 o'clock. Donald Kavanaugh at the news task. Pubs and restaurants may be forced to close from 5pm in the middle of the Christmas. Nefert has made a series of recommendations to government in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Cinemas, theaters and sporting events will also have to close at 5 and be capped at 50% capacity if the Nefert recommendations are implemented. Cabinet ministers are considering them today as subcommittee meets at lunchtime followed by a full cabinet meeting in the afternoon. The HSE CEO Paul Reed says the cabinet has difficult decisions to make. But the decisions that have to be made by governments nobody would envy. And again, I bring it back to what I was responsible for and duty of care. And every day I wake up, I think of our staff, I think of their impact, I think of them going into Christmas. You know, I think of many of the nurses who went home last Christmas not knowing what was ahead of them. And then they came back to one of the darkest January's which they probably face in their careers. The chair of the Green Party in Donegal says he fears a major scandal will develop in nursing care homes over the next number of years. Commenting on the publication yesterday of the executive summary of the Brandon report, Michael White said the pattern of what happened in terms of staff members reporting abuses and then higher level managers failing to address their concerns is a pattern that's been seen before. There's a pattern here. If you look at the pattern of a perpetrator, line manager's not paying attention. And then the first recourse is to move them around. That sounds a lot like what happened to children in the Catholic Church and parish priests being moved around. We've seen this pattern before. Who normally gets affected? It's the most vulnerable. So in the case of the church, it was kids who didn't have parents or parents were divorced or were marginalized. Here we're talking about adults that are intellectually disabled. My guess is the next most at-risk people just top of my head is that people in old people's homes, I think the way that's structured in Ireland, there's going to be a scandal there in the next 10 years trying to because it's a for-profit industry that really shouldn't be for-profit. And that was Michael White speaking on the 9 to noon show and there will be a representative of the HSC discussing the Brandon report with Greg shortly after this bulletin. Permanent ESB used to buy 7.6 billion euro worth of assets from Ulster Bank. It includes performing non-tracker mortgages as well as performing SME loans and Ulster Bank's Lombard asset finance business. 25 Ulster Bank branches are also part of the deal. Roughly 450 employees in them will be able to transfer the sales part of Ulster Bank's plan to withdraw from the Irish market in the coming years. An enhanced accessible toilet and changing facility is to be developed in Letter County after Donegal County Council secured a 75,000 euro allocation under the disability participation and awareness program. The bulk of that money will go toward a changing places unit. The unit will serve people with complex needs. Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh is mayor of the Letter County Milford Municipal District and a disability campaigner. He says work should start on the project in the new year. A staff member has been left badly shaken after an armed robbery at a shop on Derry's Northland Avenue last evening. With more detail, here's Trish Loverty. Two men both armed with knives and wearing balaclavas entered the shop at around 7.50pm and threatened a female staff member before making off with the quantity of cigarettes, a sum of cash and a mobile phone belonging to the staff member. The first man was around five feet ten inches tall of stocky build and wearing a grey jumper, dark blue track bottoms and blue and black Nike trainers. The second man was around five feet seven inches tall of slim build and wearing a black coat and black leggings. The staff member was not physically injured as a result of the incident but was left badly shaken. Police have launched an investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at Strand Road, Pearson Eye Station. With a forecast, I'm going to tell us it will be dry and mostly cloudy today with occasional periods of sunshine into the afternoon, highest temperatures of seven or eight degrees celsius in light to moderate southeast breezes. And that's how to radio news. We're back with news headlines again at 11 o'clock. Good morning. The Abitur notices for this Friday morning the 17th of December. The death has taken place of Bridget McGinnis, Don Roman, Caronaf, Movil. Bridget's remains will repose at Liam Collins funeral premises from six o'clock this evening and on to St Pius the 10th Church Movil for quarter past seven to repose overnight. Bridget's funeral mass will take place tomorrow afternoon at two with burial afterwards in Ballybrack Cemetery. Funeral mass can be viewed live on Movil Parish.com. The death has taken place of Paddy P.K. Kerrigan, 29, Mount Zion Straban and formerly of Newton Stewart. Funeral from his home tomorrow morning at 20 past nine for Requiem mass in St Mary's Church Melmont at 10 o'clock in term and afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Denitions in Louis-Flares Pleas to Marie Curie care of quickly funeral directors. The house is private to family and friends only please. Requiem mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam. The death has occurred of Leo Tuffy, Ella Beg, burnt footed formerly of Lacken and a scorned County Sligo. Removal from his home tomorrow at quarter past 10 to St Angus' Church Burt for Requiem mass at 11 o'clock within term and afterwards in Burt Cemetery. Leo's Requiem mass can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv. Family Flares Only Pleas. The death has occurred of James McGee, Capri Balabafe. James's remains are reposing at his late residence with family neighbors and friends welcome. Family time please from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. Requiem mass in the Church of Mary Immaculate's True Honor tomorrow morning at 11 with burial afterwards in Drumbo Cemetery. Family Flares Only Pleas, donations if desired to the friends of the Kent University Hospital, care of any family member. Funeral mass can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv. The death has taken place of Miss Tracy Galbraith, Ard Mullen convoy. Her remains are reposing at her late parents' residence at Miltown convoy. Funeral from there tomorrow afternoon at half past one for funeral service in St Nyan's parish church convoy at two o'clock with burial afterwards in the family plot in the adjoining graveyard. Family friends and neighbors welcome at the vacant funeral. Family Flares Only Pleas, donations if desired to St Nyan's parish church, care of Gibson funeral directors. The death has taken place of Pierce Callahan, Mondlas Newton Cunningham. His remains are reposing at his late residence. Funeral from there tomorrow morning for 11 o'clock mass in All Saints Church, Newton Cunningham, followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. Funeral mass can be viewed on NewtonColayParish.com. Family time please from 10 p.m. Tonight, Family Flares Only Pleas, donations if desired to the friends of the Kent University Hospital, care of any family member. The death has occurred of Eddie Farragallan, Navany Street, Balaba Faye. Funeral from his late residence tomorrow afternoon at 20 to 2 for Requiem Mass at two o'clock in the Church of Miriam Akeletz, to an honour with interment afterwards in St Mary's Churchyard, Sesha O'Neill. Requiem Mass will be streamed live on ChurchServices.tv. The death has taken place of Mervyn Kirkland, Thwef Nakhilya Movil. Wake is Private Pleas, funeral service on tomorrow Saturday at 12 noon in St Colombs, Church of Ireland Movil, followed by burial in the adjoining graveyard. The death has taken place of Olive McCobb, Woodlands, Ruffaux. Funeral from Gibson's funeral home convoy this afternoon at quarter past one for service in Balilellan Presbyterian Church at 2 o'clock, followed by burial in the family plot in the adjoining churchyard. Family Flares Only Pleas, donations if desired to the Donegal Hospice, care of any family member or Ernie Gibson, funeral director. Wake and funeral are private to family, close friends and neighbours please. And the death has taken place of Sadie Doherty, Rath Mullen. Funeral today in St Joseph's Church, Rath Mullen with Requiem Mass at 11, followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. Requiem Mass can be viewed on mcmedia.tv. For more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. And you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here on Highland Radio. Right, lost to come on the program in the next hour, we are going to be speaking to the HSC about the publication of the brand and report the key findings of it, not the full report of course to see what they have to say on it. And also too on a much like, in fact you know I'm not going to mention the other thing because it would one so serious the other just wouldn't be appropriate to mention one after the other. So what I'll do, I'll tell you about that after we take this short break. Stay right where you are, a busy couple of hours on the way. Gift sets by celebrity, by budget or from the classic collection, at McGee's Camist Main Street Letty Kenny, for the perfect present every time. Visit McGee's.ie, sponsors of the 9 till noon show. On this week's business matters, I'll be talking to co-owner of the Key West restaurant in Donegal Town, Joe Daly, and the no-based mechanical services contractor Adrian Sweeney, who's also owner of Sweeney's Home Value and Letter Make a Word, and Sweeney's Plumbing and Hardware in Derry Begg. So join me, Cure Donald, for business matters on Sunday evening after the 6 o'clock news. The Business Matters podcast is also available to download at HighlandVideo.com. Business matters in association with Letty Kenny IT's Faculty of Business. Applications are now open for the highly regarded masters in leadership and innovation in the public sector. Also a masters in governance, compliance and data protection in financial services, and a certificate in online dispute management. Visit lyit.ie for more information. Store and Go Springtown Derry, the north of Ireland's only temperature controlled smart access individually sized storage units. Store and Go offers storage for personal storage, house moves and renovations, business storage for excess stock or filing systems. Once signed up you can access 24 hours a day through an app on your phone gaining access through four levels of security to your most precious possessions. Call Store and Go Springtown Derry on 02871 278 900 to discuss your needs and get bespoke advice or get a free quote at storeandgo.net. Is your water safe to drink? If your water tastes unpleasant or has a foul smell it may be a sign that something is in your water. Brothers Tech, Donegal provide a complete private well water treatment service using the best water treatment equipment to meet your needs. Or maybe you drill the new well and the water isn't satisfactory. At Brothers Tech, their expert team will also service existing problematic systems. If you're concerned about the quality of your water, call Brothers Tech on 087 638 7057. Open up your weekend with the Irish Independent on Saturday. 25 years after her murder, what do we know about the woman at the centre of one of Ireland's great unsolved crimes? In review with an in-depth portrait of her life, we go in search of the real Sophie Tuscanda Plantier. In weekend, enjoy the 50 good news stories of the year. Plus, our writers try out some festive jobs. Find your escape this weekend with the Irish Independent on Saturday, up close and independent. Okay, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here on Highland Radio and we're joined in studio now by Katie. Katie, how are you? I'm very well. Looking very festive as well. Well, I made the effort. I recognise that jumper from last year. Oh, well, there you go now. I was too cheap to go out and get a new one. Caroline says I should wear a Christmas jumper every day next week, but I've only got two. Okay. Right. And she said, but you have a washing machine, don't you? Right. You know, you can wear a jumper multiple times without washing it, can't you? Well, it depends. What about jeans? Because then we had the conversation about jeans, right? And I said, well, you can get two or three days out of a pair, a shirt or a t-shirt, you have to wash them every day. But jeans are every couple of days. Well, now you have a baby, like, and I have experience with this. Generally, you have to change about two or three times a day. Obviously, if there's a particular stain on them, that's different. Are you going to give an opinion? Can you get two or three days out of a pair of jeans? Or do they need to be washed every day? I definitely would not wear jeans for three days in a row. I'm not saying I would either. I'm not saying I would either, but you know. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. Oh, like, six, six, eight, 25,000. Do jeans have to be washed after everywhere? Does a jumper have to be washed after everywhere? Or is it just t-shirts, shirts, and undies? Undies. Although you could get two or three days out of a pair. Oh, Lord, let's not go there. Okay. Right. Now, you are in here with a very serious business of a prize. Tell us what the prize is, because it's about the bingo books, the non-winning bingo books. Yeah. Yeah. The only time I see you, Greg, is when I'm giving away stuff. So this is, this is, this is a good day for me. Yeah. Yeah. We're, we're giving away a 400 euro Muldron hotel group voucher. And this is for everybody who sent in their non-winning books for weeks 47, 48, and 49. And again, thanks very much to everybody who did so and to all the bingo players in 2021. It was another great successful year for the charity in spite of a tough, tough year with everything going on. And as we've heard from them on a number of occasions, this is one of their core fundraising efforts. So really, that's what it's all about. The winning is a, is a, is a bonus. But it's really helping them out for their, to help them deliver their core services. Absolutely. Absolutely. It is. And I don't think anyone really realises how much their contribution really means. We can't really state it enough that, that it is one of their core, their core methods of, of getting money in the door. So no, it is, it's really, really appreciated for anybody who does, who does take part. Right, you've a box there beside you, right? I do. And I know I'm going to say dig deep, but I feel sorry for all those people that are sitting along the top, but we have to dig deep. But I will give it a shake, right? So that, you know, everybody gets a fair go in life. So let's just do it. We'll do that first. All right then. So Katie, now you can watch this on Facebook if you want to. Unfortunately, because of the camera angle, we can see that you didn't bother putting wrapping paper on the inside of the box. Sorry. Next year, we, we promise to, we promise to. We'll go all the way. Right. Okay. That'll do. Go in. In. Okay. I have one here, right? Excellent. Exciting. It's for week 48. Tell me the names on it, please. The name is, yes, we have a name. This is going better than it was the last time. Anyway, Sean Brown, or sorry, Megan Brown, Sean Barr from Mannequinningham. Sean Barr from Mannequinningham. Congratulations. You've won a 400 euro voucher for the Mandarin hotels. No, Muldrin hotel group. Yeah. And you can go on to the website. So Muldrin hotels and you can check more out from that hotel group. There's four or five stars across three to four stars, I believe. And hundreds of hotel options there as well. And with 400 euros, I'm sure you'll get a couple of breaks out of that. 100%. So who's the winner again? It is, sir. It's Mr. Sean Barr from Mannequinningham. Well done to you, Sean. Thank you very much for entering. Now, the bingo continues. The books are five euro. So it's a euro a day to play. And the jackpot, do we know what it is off the top of your head? I don't want to put you on the spot. Off the top of my head, I think next Thursday it's 7,400. And it's just worth mentioning as well. We are doing the bingo next week from Monday to Friday, Christmas week from the 27th to the 21st of December. The bingo is taking a break. So there's no bingo that week, but we will be resuming it on the 3rd of January on week one for 2022. And the jackpot's fantastic. The cash prizes, they are there every single day as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Listen, Katie, congratulations to your winner. And thank you very much. The Christmas jumper is lovely, by the way. I'm actually kind of jealous because I'm getting pictures of people in Christmas jumpers and I feel a lot of scrooge. Well, away to pennies you go. On your lunch or duns or anywhere, anywhere in the tent. Just make sure you shop local. Listen, thanks, Katie. Lovely stuff. Well done. All right then. So there is the matter of can you win today? Here are the numbers. Good luck if you are playing. It's time for NCBI bingo on Highland Radio. It's Friday, the 17th of December. You're playing on the yellow sheet. The reference number is S10. It's game number 50. The numbers are 69, 75, 58, 83, 63, 35, 36, 70, 29, and finally, 24. Phone your claim to 9104883 before it 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. McGee's Camus Letter, Kenny, sponsors of the 9 Till Noom Show. Christmas is the season of giving, but it can be difficult to know who on your list wants what. Save yourself the guesswork by giving the gift of choice. Whether you're buying for the foodie, fashionista, or home bird of the family, they'll love a Dunstores gift card. They can choose from everything we have in store and online, from fashion to homers to groceries. It's the perfect choice to make this Christmas. Visit Dunstores.com for details. Make Christmas for everyone. Terms and conditions apply. For great fuel deals, contact Gortley Sales & Hire, large sacks and trailer loads of logs, also briquettes, coal, kindling, and gas with free delivery locally. Contact Gortley Sales & Hire in Letter Kenny on 91 262 76. Here at Gullar Quality Meats Bally Buffet, we are now taking orders for an extensive range of farm-fresh turkeys, grown turkeys and hand-fed geese and ducks. Choose from our home-cured hams and our delicious selection of beef, lamb and pork. Direct from our own farms in the Finn Valley. Just give her Artisan Craft Butcher to call to make your Christmas special, with quality you can trust. At Gullar Quality Meats Bally Buffet, call 074 9131548. Hi folks, it's Daniel Magella here. 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This project is funded by the UK government through the UK Community Renewal Scheme. Incredible value and our widest ever range are top of our list this Christmas at Lidl. Winner of this year's IQFDA retailer of the year. We have Fresh Irish Board via Proof Turkey, starting at just $8.99. Deluxe award-winning dry cure Irish ham joints were $14.99, now just $12.99. Check in-store for guaranteed lowest prices on 24 parts of Carlsberg, Bodweiser and Guinness, Lidl. More for everyone this Christmas. Enjoy alcohol responsibly. Christmas is covered at Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, Free Parking, Shopping and Slander under one roof. Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, bringing you the time at... 23 minutes past 10. Now abused at a HSE run care facility in Donegal occurred with the full knowledge of staff and management. That's one of the key findings of the Brandon report, which examined a number of serious incidents at St Joseph's Hospital Strenal or from 203 to 2016. That's 13 years. The resident whose behaviour is the focus of the review was given the pseudonym Brandon. A report published by the National Independent Review Panel states Brandon was able to identify particularly vulnerable residents whom he would pursue relentlessly. It found that management were aware of the sexual inappropriate behaviour by Brandon and the strategy to deal with it was to move him around various wards, which of course then gave him access to other residents, many of whom became new victims. In 2011, Brandon was moved into a house on his own on the complex and there was a sharp reduction in the number of sexual assaults recorded. The report states staff experienced powerlessness as they regularly reported incidents up the line in the expectation that something would be done which it says never was. The report says staff who met the review team described an environment where people were and still are, still are today fearful of coming forward. Now we are joined on the programme by Bernard O'Regan who is HSE Head of Operations for Disability. Thank you very much for joining us Bernard. Good morning Greg. This is an absolute scandal. The report that was published yesterday is as you outlined us in your introduction Greg, a shocking report. It describes an experience for men and women who were subject to abuse by one person, but it also is the result of failings on the part of the system, the model of service, the management and leadership that all contributed in some way to letting people down and for that the HSE absolutely apologises to those men and women who were affected, to the families of people who were let down and who in turn by not being told about what was happened were denied the opportunity to advocate for and to safeguard their family member and to the staff who did try to improve things and were raising issues and they weren't heard and that was unacceptable then as it is now and it is a report that describes a poor service at that time. Talk to me about how this was reported. So staff raised concerns with whom and talk to me about that, what we've learned from this investigation. So staff saw there were problems, we know that nurses were concerned as far back as 2008, so talk to me. So staff raised an issue to whom? Not necessarily the individuals but what is that to management of the centre at that point? So at that point what seems to have been the practice Greg was that concerns were raised at multi-disciplinary meetings. Now what does that mean? Who's at the multi-disciplinary meetings? So you might have had a psychiatrist or a nursing staff or care staff who were involved, they may have been the manager at the meeting. Are there minutes of those meetings? I would expect that there are. Were they looked at as part of this report? They were reviewed as part of the report. So that multi-disciplinary meeting concerns were raised at that point. Were the concerns raised at that meeting then raised further up the line? In some instances it would seem that they were and in other instances. Okay so in the instances that they were, where were they raised to at that point? Regional HSE management? Well I think that's part of the reviewed point out that the management and leadership of the service it was failed and that I think at all levels. Yeah but there was a point there was a point where decisions were made right that nothing really needed to be done other than moving this individual around. At what level up the HSE chain would that decision have been made? I think that was probably made at the local service management level primarily. So do we know if local service management had raised the concerns that were elevated to them above that? Does mixed evidence that that would have happened? Well and if the evidence that it were how far up did it go then? What's after regional? Is it up then? Is it national? Well regional to national but the issues that would seem that they were managed within primarily the management structures within Donegal primarily at that time and I think just to recall as well that for some of that time the structures are somewhat different to what they are now. But I think the important point that we're not talking about a thousand people here we're talking about them a group of people. What is being done then to sort of find out who ultimately is responsible and hold them to account in an appropriate way? Well what's what's happening there? So the national director of human resources has commissioned a scoping exercise. What does that mean? That means that they're reviewing the circumstances the report and the evidence at the moment with the view to making a decision on what the next steps would be in relation to disciplinary action. You'd appreciate great that these things are very much required to be undertaken in the context of due process and I don't want to say anything. No of course we don't want to compromise that at all. We're just to assure people that there is a process going on. And can obviously disciplinary action then can only be taken against people that are still in the employment of the HSE is that correct? That's correct. So in the interim whilst this scoping exercise is ongoing probably be January at the earliest if people were to leave the HSE then they would be outside the scope of that scoping exercise. That's correct. It would be outside the scope of it in the context of if there was a disciplinary process. Right so times of the essence though. It is of course absolutely. And that when will that scoping exercise be concluded? I think it's anticipated that it would be concluded by the end of January. Are there any other instances like this anywhere else under your control that we don't know about yet? This came tonight because of a whistleblower. Are there any other reports that are sitting somewhere that haven't been published? To the best of my knowledge there aren't and obviously there are always processes underway where there may be concerns that are raised but I'm not aware at this point of anything on this scale or the numbers of people involved or at the scale of lack of response I think appropriate response as would have been reflected in the Brandon report. In 2008 Concern Nurses got together a group of them they signed a letter out of desperation they were desperate. They pleaded for Brandon to be moved and they were ignored. Why was that? I honestly I don't know and I've been involved in disability services for 30 years and my experience has always been that where concerns are raised by staff that I've been working with or where I as a staff myself have raised concerns that they were responded to appropriately. Clearly in this instance they weren't that can only to my mind's demonstrates major failings on the part of management in responding to something that should have been of the utmost concern and should have elicited the most immediate response. Have you been able to then determine a motivation for the lack of response? What was the motivation? Why would why would why was this these activities why were they ignored like what was the motivation was it? Okay I again I don't want to say something that might interfere with any process that's going on Greg I just appreciate thought I can't speculate as to the motivation for why somebody did or didn't act in the way that they did but I think in general where incidents like this happen in disability service or any other service they're often characterized by people not taking on the responsibility that they should have in the role that they carry and acting in a way that is proactive and demonstrates the leadership but also demonstrates the commitment to the rights of people to in the first instance be safely supported within the service and secondly that that service is working to support them to have the best life that they can have. I don't know if you're aware but on Holland radio a number of years ago and we have the tape a senior manager denied there was any sexual abuse of the facility when asked on air is that acceptable? I'm not aware of the particular instance and other than that my understanding was that at the time the person thought they were answering a question relating to a Hickory report and obviously and clearly there was sexual abuse in that service and it affected many people and any communication to the contrary was incorrect. Did all families get view of this report before it was published online? We had a communication plan great that involved making contact with the families of those affected by the report and other families in advance of publication and we agreed with individual families to get them copies of the report in advance. So all of them were offered copies and received them in advance. But I do understand from media coverage today that there was at least one family that that didn't happen for. Is that acceptable? I know from colleagues in CH01 who were leading out on this work that they made every effort to contact families if there was a failing it that I apologize unreservedly to that family it wasn't our intention to not have a circumstance where families had the opportunity to access now obviously this is a huge distress for families but particularly accessing the report viewing the report the the facts although there was no all of them perhaps not all of them were laid bare for them to see what supports were given to them in advance of this publication and subsequent to it what supports were offered to them. Do you know? Okay so families that were being contacted in advance of publication were being contacted by psychology and social workers who would be familiar with the families and familiar to them. Families have been offered contact details to the years with psychology support and there are a number of managers who are also available to provide support or answer any questions that families may have and those supports will continue to be available to families on whatever basis that they wish them to be available to them. If a staff member now goes to their manager in a similar setting and says I've got concerns about what might be happening what is the procedure now? The procedure is is that there is a requirement for that manager to act on the information that they have in addition. Was that not the case previously? Well it was but just in addition there's also measures like protected disclosure the safeguarding teams are in place so there are additional measures that are in place today but I would say given that I have this opportunity if you don't mind to say to any staff in disability services anywhere who's listening to this that if you have a concern on anything please use the mechanisms that are there reported to your manager reported to the safeguarding teams and if it's not being acted on then to use things like protected disclosure but I'd also say to managers that it is your obligation first and foremost to do everything you can to safeguard people and where a concern is brought to your attention it's your obligation your responsibility and your duty to act on it. Like if someone raises a concern now or even in this historic not historic actually but in this case that we're talking of here right management above the regional management you know there can't be any plausible deniability here were they going in and asking questions do we know if concerns were raised with the next tier up of management did they pursue them you know like how can people be satisfied that those who are responsible for this at all levels not just because you don't know because that's not a good management not to know either that that people will be held to account for this because until that happens this may continue to happen elsewhere because again the HSE just takes the flag for it across the entire service right people need to know that ultimately people will be held responsible and you know maybe it's not possible through the current regulations that I know that retirement can't insulate you from from punishment. Well again look I can't comment on on some of what you're asking me because it just falls outside my remit what I can say to you is that in terms of a HR press process there is a that has commenced and is in train and just need to to let that work its way through I think in terms of reporting now and just how things are recorded and tracked I think first of all where safeguarding concerns arise they do go to the safeguarding teams that need to be H.O. They are tracked and monitored for follow-up by those teams and there are recording and reporting systems into the national oversight teams and the national management structure so we do have systems in place equally we're able to use our systems to monitor and track information so that you know and there are national performance processes in place to manage and to intervene if we're not satisfied adequate measures are being taken in response to concerns. I mean whatever about local management the HSE is a whole at its very highest levels were responsible for delaying the publication of this report some would feel that it actually took it being highlighted the doll for any of this report to be published the minister herself was told that the report would not be made available to her that's this year that's explain that why was that happening well I think maybe to say a couple of things on it first of all the HSE was intent to be as transparent as possible with publication of the reports that was published yesterday a lot of the discussion has been around the publication of the full report as opposed to the summary version that was published yesterday and it was the decision-making in relation to what to publish was influenced by the understanding of the overall national independent review process which is founded on people being able to participate in this in a confidential manner it's really important for us to have a process like the NIRP process that allows us to learn to get the kind of reports that we published yesterday that details the findings and the recommendations so when was this report concluded the final report was submitted in was it June or July yeah so what talk from June to July for it to be published on the last day of the doll sitting after a public outcry well I think that we needed to consider the report we needed to make sure that we had responses in place to us but the responses are that you can't really talk about it scope and exercise that's what all of you guys being sent out to the media are saying the exact same thing yeah but I think there's a lot of other work going on as well Greg there is a strategic review a strategic steering group in place which is overseeing the implementation of the recommendations there is a focus on the service to do a very systematic service improvement plan and there's also a lot of work going on to develop an approach to develop services and to implement the recommendation so the HR and the disciplinary process is one important aspect of us but there are also other important aspects of the recommendations that are in training as well now obviously I think there's 18 victims have been identified or covered in this there are other families that believe or feel that their family members may have been victims what is being done to examine that so what supports are being given there okay so we are examining records at the moment that will be completed in January and if there are any concerns that need to be raised with any individual or family we will do that at that time families want some families at least I can't speak for all of them but a couple that have contacted us want the full report published as soon as possible when will that happen okay it's not the intention of the HSE to publish the full report how will we know then what actually went on well I think the report that was published yesterday set out in some detail Greg what did happen it does set out the abuse that happened it does set out the numbers of people that were involved in this it's very clear in terms of setting out the findings about the contributing factors so why wouldn't we see the whole report about the recommendation why wouldn't we see the full report why if we are to have a trust and faith in these services we need to see everything well I think there are two things we also want trust and faith in a process that elicits the type of report that we got yesterday and that allows us to have the type of learning at the depth and quality of what produced and we don't want to transgress the process that's there in order to achieve that with all due respect the process this has been going on now for a very very very long time maybe publish it and change the process then so people know what's going on well look I think the risk here is we want unfortunately there may be events in other parts of the health and social care services in the future where we need a nerve process that people engage in fully share all of their information honestly and with the integrity of a process that can assure them that and the learning which is the first and foremost as was requirement of the nerve process that we can achieve that to the maximum benefit I mean obviously primarily these victims were failed random was failed but a word from you to the staff the staff that the stress this would have had on them they tried to to get this sorted they had the care of the patient to the forefront they were ignored shut down claims of bullying some of them probably not in work anymore over the head of this that is a group of people that would never put themselves on a par ahead of the victims but I haven't really heard much said about them since what is your message to those staff members that did everything they felt that they actually could to put an end to this what I'd say is first of all I'd apologize to them as well Greg I think and as you say many staff worked really hard to try to do the right things and the system failed them as well so I you know I wholeheartedly regret that that was the experience and we have thousands of staff working in disability services across the country they are very committed to the work that they do they often work in very challenging environments to support people to have good lives to participate in their in their communities to work at and deliver reforms and how services are organized and delivered and and when they are let down by management or policy or lack of adequate training and support we're letting them down and by extension we're also letting down the people that we support ultimately okay if anyone this scoping exercise finds anyone responsible and we're not looking to compromise that in any way shape or form what uh what sanction is available like what could the punishment be to anyone identified to have been responsible for allowing this to happen um well okay I think what I the best way maybe that I could answer that is to say that there is a trust and care a policy in place which outlines the range of sanctions that are there in the event of any staff member being found to have breached what is the most severe sanction dismissal is the most severe sanction so someone could be sacked but that applies to any disciplinary process and that is it that's that's that's so in other words people might if I were involved in this sure I have a couple of months to retire anyway and avoid any of that um that's the greatest sanction that's there is there can there be any impact on pensions or entitlements yeah I'm really outside my scope and I don't want to be on and I and I couldn't answer you like I don't know okay um any final words before we wrap it up look this is a terrible report uh in the in in terms of the content of what it's describing people were failed uh families were failed and staff were failed and but it's also a report that makes very strong recommendations about uh what needs to happen to address this and also to prevent it and all I can do is apologize again to all those affected but also give assurance that we are working as hard as we can to implement the recommendations of the report okay uh Bernadour Reagan uh Regan sorry HSE head of operations for disability thanks for joining us this morning let's start thank you Greg all right we'll be back with more after the messages this week on the nine till noon show we've got a fantastic hamper worth over 500 euro to be one courtesy of McGee's chemist in letter kenny it contains a long calm Christmas hamper a blank canvas luxury advent calendar gift set a be perfect iconic essential set a bottle of chanels blue to chanel for men and a bottle of victor and rals flower bomb for women also a 20 by 16 inch gallery wrapped canvas so you can have your favorite photo wrapped in canvas ready to hang on the wall five daily qualifiers will be in the draw on friday a qualifiers will also win a prize each day and today's prize is a bottle of mark jacob's perfect for ladies question is what does santa give to naughty children to enter text the word hi followed by your answer and then your name and address to five three one three one or from the north to eight four travel five entry will cost 30 cent or the sterling equivalent plus your operator standard charge McGee's chemist in letter kenny and McGee's dot ie with loads of great present ideas for Christmas Christmas is here it's your turn to host you want the best for the ones you love most i'll do quality at prices so small help make this christmas the most memorable of all road works award-winning ipa craft beer 500 mills just 199 tato party boxes 395 celebrations quality street cabbie's heroes and roses chocolate tubs only 399 and victoria biscuits only 299 aldi make christmas amazing for everyone get the facts be drink aware visit drink aware dot ie things are deteriorating quickly here in drc it's now the biggest hunger crisis the world has ever seen and 3.4 million children are on the brink of survival concerned staff are working around the clock but we desperately need more supplies your gift will save lives visit concern dot net and send life-saving food today thank you give the gift of sport from brema comic sports and leisure footwear sports brands for sports people hoca asics new balance brooks and on cloud sporting gifts for christmas click on bmc sports dot ie candles lanterns christmas tree decorations elf on the shelf and all types of lights it's everything you need for christmas experience the magic of christmas at coonies letter kenny our biggest and best ever christmas shop is open seven days with unbeatable value on lights trees and accessories there is something for everyone this christmas at coonies letter kenny retail park if you're aged 50 or over it's time for your covet 19 vaccine booster without one you're more at risk of serious illness from covet 19 your booster will give you the best 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at mastercard dot ie i'm getting warm notes of fanciness definitely made from a variety of grape grown on south facing vines surrounded by other grapes if i had to guess where this is from i'd say centra fill your glass with sansair flurry or vacuras and other hard to pronounce names all part of centra's full-on festive christmas wine sale enjoy alcohol responsibly homeland fuel offers keeping you warm for less 20 kg super therm by five bags get one bag of hardwood logs free 10 kg wood pellets by 10 get one free board namona briquettes by three for 16 euro shop in store or online at homeland dot ie treat your pets this christmas at gary's pet world letter kenny you will find a large selection of gifts toys and christmas selection boxes together with delicious after dinner treats for all your cats and dogs with great value on pet food and accessories a trip to gary's pet world is a must this christmas call in and see for yourself or love them to petworld dot ie all your effort all your exam cramming all your drive all your natural ability all your can do positivity all your wildest dreams and one day claims all lead you to one place all state where career opportunities are endless have it all at all state search all state n i dot com today presence check turkey check sprouts uh check home heating oil save time money and stay cozy and a click with old donnell fuels dot ie get a faster cheaper heating oil quote online at old donnell fuels dot ie and enjoy a warm cozy home this christmas or donnell fuels crawling fueling the festive season whatever the weather christmas shopping and letter kenny will brighten your december the highland weather forecast brought to you by shop lk see shop lk dot ie or like us on facebook okay today drying mostly cloudy with occasional periods of sunshine temperatures of seven to ten degrees winds light to moderate and from the southeast uh remaining dry and cloudy with a clue uh few clear spells tonight lowest temperatures four to seven degrees a little colder locally under clearer skies with a touch of frost available or possible sorry uh some mist and fog patches may form in light south east breezes now some of your comments and uh we've been very very busy today and if i can't get to all of them i certainly will carry them over okay until monday because uh they are very important and let me see where are we i'm a family uh relative and i'm disgusted there's no forgiveness from me they did this but i feel responsible for it someone must be held accountable for it and um what can i say to that that is your emotions and i get that i understand apologies are too appending from the hsc these days why is no one asking who was responsible for shutting the book and brandon's behavior reports and apologies are useless if the individuals responsible for the cover-up are exposed or may as accountable for their actions reports uh just gather dust and nothing ever happens the pr machine wins every time another i'm so saddened and disgusted about this brandon report shame on the hsc i've assisted with special needs we put our trust in the hsc management we trust these people it's the worst i've ever heard as a family uh relative of a nurse who expressed extreme concern several times i'm delighted they've been vindicated retirement should not be allowed as an excuse to escape punishment for those who stood back and allowed it another sadly they did the same thing with this male patient as they did with the priests moved them around causing more victims rather than dealing with him or locking him up morning great thank you uh highland for highlighting the brandon report it's absolutely sickening what went on and i agree with michael on your panel earlier who said the next scandal will be the old people in care homes please the powers that be do something to sort this out thanks okay and thank you very much uh indeed um i'm disgusted at this it's a bit like the catholic church they're drip feeding the truth but they're causing more harm than good the full scale of this needs to be published hi greg listening to your conversation with that boss i'm not convinced these people will be held account to account thank you well i can tell you well maybe from my tone of question you might determine whether or not i believe anyone will actually be held accountable for it another safeguarding has been in for a number of years this was still going on people are afraid to report concerns as managers then victimize them will make complaints about them but what about right having ridding an organization of a situation whereby you're talking more about pathways for whistleblowers than actual sanctions training or whatever it is for management you know it would not happen in a public company can you imagine a public company where you've got the bottom tier and then the next tier of management and then the upper management and instead of that middle tier of management making sure that they were held accountable that they were trained that there was proper oversight and checking on that that you went to the lower group of staff and said look if you've any problems bypass that management and come up to us that's what that's what the focus would be that company wouldn't be around very long would it no it wouldn't because what you do is you make sure that all levels uh this proper oversight training or whatever it needs to be done um all right okay listen we're going to head towards the news at 11 stay where you are we'll be right back think outside the box with your photos this christmas for canvas prints mugs and calendars at magies.ie magies canvas letter kenny sponsors of the nine till noon show at tesco our contactless home delivery service now has extra slots available get your shop freshly picked and delivered to your door shop online now and book a slot at tesco.ie tesco every little helps if you're aged 50 or over it's time for your COVID-19 vaccine booster without one you're more at risk of serious illness from COVID-19 your booster will give you the best possible protection when your booster is due the hsc will send your appointment by text message people in this group can also come to a walk in vaccination clinic or contact a participating pharmacy or GP visit hsc.ie for clinic times and locations near you from the hsc free 2022 glossy farming calendar it's one of the farming favorites of the year and you can get your free ifa calendar only inside today's irish farmers journal for more on this week's farmers journal his paul mooney we reveal the new slurry and fertilizer rules for your farm government plan to save and restore old farm buildings and farmhouses and payments for straw scheme and btgp are on the way this week's irish farmers journal with your free ifa calendar and maca magazine is on sale now whether revolutionary engines hybrid technologies or all electric discover what drives you with the 221 mazda electrified range at mcginley mazda stand out from the crowd with a award-winning coda design that makes your mazda a work of art and go the extra mile with the next level sky active fuel efficiency to order your 221 mazda visit our showroom or mcginley mazda dot i e to find the best 221 offer to suit your lifestyle mazda drive together terms and conditions apply your local mazda dealer is mcginley motors pierce road letter kenny at supervalue we want to share even more magic this christmas by giving you savings off your shopping with our real rewards vouchers which are available on our handy app so no need to worry about leaving them at home if you haven't already download the real rewards app to get new vouchers every week until christmas share the magic this christmas with supervalue getting together might take a bit more planning this year before you do remember to first think or svp risk symptoms venue people risk what's the risk am i vaccinated or have i got my booster symptoms am i currently showing symptoms of covet 19 venue are they following the guidelines will i be wearing a mask and people how many people are my meeting how many households are coming together let's all or as vp ahead so we can stay safe and enjoy christmas this year find out more gov.ie forward slash risk aware supported by the government of ireland a very good morning to you once again it is 11 o'clock coming up shortly michael and finula will be with us to ease us into the weekend with that's entertainment that is on the way and well not much more besides it's just them okay so that's it but we do have in this hour the very latest news from donal cabinet good morning donal thank you great good morning a senior hsc official has said the brandon report shows that service users families and staff were failed in the response to what was happening at our grainy accord and the schoner here in strunner as outlined in the executive summary of the report which was published yesterday bernard o'regan the head of operations for disabilities with the hsc was speaking to greg on the lines of new show you can hear that full interview online on our website highlandradio.com meanwhile the chair of the green party and donnie gall told greg earlier he fears a major scandal will develop in nursing homes in the next number of years commenting on the publication of the executive summary michael white said the pattern of what happened in terms of staff members reporting abuses and then higher-level managers failing to address those concerns is one which has been seen before particularly in the catholic church cabinet will decide later whether to accept a recommendation to have a new closing time of 5 p.m for the hospitality sector nevitt has recommended the move in response to the incoming wave of omercan covid cases the t-shirt has been flying home from brussels this morning to chair an immediate emergency meeting of the cabinet subcommittee within the next hour a full cabinet meeting will then take place to decide whether or not the recommendations should be accepted nearly a third of the adult population has had a covid booster or additional dose 32.3 percent of over 18s have now received a third job permanent esp is to buy 7.6 billion euro worth of assets from ulster bank includes performing non-tracker mortgages as well as performing sm e loans and ulster banks lombard assets finance businesses the 25 ulster bank branches are also part of the deal roughly 450 employees in them will be able to transfer the sale is part of ulster banks plan to withdraw totally from the irish market over the coming years and a staff member has been left badly shaken after an armed robbery at a shop on derries northland avenue last evening cigarettes in a quantity of cash were taken along with the staff members mobile phone after two masked men armed with knives entered the premises and threatened the staff member at around 10 to 8 and we're back with headlines again at 12 noon okay donald thank you very much indeed here at london it's christmas time santa claus is what are you at the bus home with the sort of christmas wrapping yeah wrapping pip here's the offers cake and coal luxury mince pies and adwires christmas cake slices buy one get one free kiosk crisps 125 grams buy one get one free viny de cardinelli prosecco only 799 at london this they know what locals want because we're local like you offer ends december 20th and participating stores are well stocks last please enjoy drink responsibly if it's a drink aware dot ie word and i have for our newly rebranded that's entertainment slots with uh michael who's disappeared hi michael you're there i have why would you literally wait can you scoot around a wee bit yeah let's see now let's see how you look in there oh my if microphones in front of your face i know i'm gonna move it now again but yeah i can't see um okay let's do this why do we not do this offer we always seem to do stuff on there lovely how are you how are you finula i'm good good good good now did you fall out with your draw drum no i didn't know i still love it in the event of my leaving this station and this job it's coming with me yeah exactly it's my greatest achievement to date all right island okay um i want to uh pay a couple requests first uh please play a request for sorcha glasby mccarthy from strana caulk and teller it was sent with love and good wishes from a family in south carolina thanks in advance merry christmas and merry christmas to you too uh morna gregg can you give a mention to daniel kerney and bonkrana who turns 89 years young today and wish him a happy birthday loyal highland listener many thanks from all in cockle in bonkrana and all of us here as well a very happy birthday uh to you right um get well i think because it's an event we'll start with michael if that's all right finula uh because spider man no way home he was up to high door with excitement last week uh yes in advance of it and i just and now we're gonna have to be nearly searching for cinemas if they keep if they don't draw to stay open it's gonna be this is we're easing our way into the weekend i know but i really want to see spider man and i'm west side story whatever it is not now yeah if you want to come in on monday morning we can fit you in about 20 person i just don't know how many excuses i could give my mother when i leave the house at half 10 and don't come home at five o'clock in the evening there's only so many times that they're going to believe when i'm down home that i've gone for a walk but instead i've just spent six hours in the cinema or seven hours in the pub i might just switch to dubai time uh until january second oh i like it good idea come here um there's no way home you see you're gonna come in here and say i have to be really careful what i have to say no spoilers no spoilers and in a way for me that's a spoiler but anyway go on i'll let you navigate it spider man no way home yeah well i've given some thought to what i can say here there's actually quite a lot i can say um about this movie i can say that it's very funny i can say that the action sequences are fantastic probably the best of the three spider man movies i can say that the villains pretty much almost steal the movie are great villains in this and i can say that the story is very original and very well thought out and definitely i can say that also the three movies with tom holland it's really obvious now that uh with having the same director uh john watson everything it's very much a trilogy i didn't really appreciate it but it's very well crafted as the beginning a middle and an end it feels like a major phase in peter parker's life um is concluded now in a in a in a certain way and it feels like a trilogy that they have brought to is he a man now never really becomes a man does he he's always kind of just recast yeah well he's grown up i suppose and he's more yeah even tom holland looks a bit older now so he's more like the spider man i think at the end of this he's more like the spider man of the comics and that's something i liked seeing very much beyond that there's not much more you can say what i will say about spoilers is certain things are out there and have been out there for weeks and weeks and maybe they're right maybe they're wrong but a lot of things but i know a lot of things are not out there and weren't out there at all so somebody who hasn't seen it and thinks oh that's okay i kind of know what's happening that's a dangerous trap to fall into you probably trap because then you get more of a surprise yeah so don't oh yeah so what i'm saying is don't get trapped into going on to social media stay away from twitter and even youtube is dangerous stay away from those things if you really want to see it but what else is talking about omicron and you're on about dangerous youtube and twitter well it's it's a level of top it's between 11 12 on friday gregg as you said yourself this is how we chat about it i actually did it myself omicron i mean it's full marks from you isn't yeah 10 out of 10 i went to see it with the guys uh most of the guys from the dnd group we were all very emotional we were all in dragons dragons sorry in the circle we were all you want to have a night out with those guys yeah i think you should you'd be so welcome we should i would totally be into it so we were chatting we were starting to meet you in a group right we were standing on the steps outside the cinema chatting and we chatted about you finula we also chatted about you gregg to a lesser degree oh we definitely we also i'm not taking serious at all at all i know that so finula you would be very welcome because yes i've always wanted to know what dungeons and dragons was like to play well you could come along play with us in the new year it's it's all possible i don't think it's possible 100 i'd love to allow me she don't stand me up like you did that night no i won't i promise but i have totally moved on from that finula good good i've moved on do you have to watch the other the first two spider-man to be able to watch this i'm ignoring that i do have to watch the first two spider-man to watch this you know how you said it's more of a trilogy i mean i am of course i have but i'm saying for others they've been treated yeah i think i think i think there'd be gaps if you didn't like you can watch you know siri yeah there's always we gaps and we nods and it's it's just hard to get spider-man because it's not a hundred percent it's a thematic thing that's a great question as a movie i will say something i think is surprising i think it stands on its own as a story beginning middle and end definitely but thematically if you've seen the other two movies you appreciate you just appreciate this version of ned this version of mj this version of ant may you appreciate the bond you just it's like it's like another episode of an ongoing drama series so you can watch it and enjoy it on its own but you get more out of it if you're very aware of this world that this particular spider-man has built up around him since he first appeared in civil war full marks then full marks without any questions i keep looking at the seats none of you're putting down uh succession on it no no we don't watch everybody else watches that there's no point i know but it finished it finished and it's just brilliant yes it is brilliant i i think you know the way the family communicate with each other and the language and a lot of it's quite coarse that's wearing a little bit thin but just in terms of storytelling and drama uh i i think they should wrap it up after the next one though because they keep sort of having to recycle yeah they're getting a bit similar are they going to overthrow them or they're not like exactly and who will it be this time and who will i don't know much about it but is it is it like a 21st century dallas in that it's a family fusion thing is that what it is is that like yeah i suppose i don't know enough about it's like dallas but with the kind of game of thrones type of idea right at the end of the rabbits or the rabbits yeah no but and that's the thing everyone says about it is that the car 100% i'm always being told i'm like one of the characters and i'm not 100% sure it's a confidence by my siblings yeah they they're i'm not saying nothing they all come tell me at home that i was certain character and i'm like i'm afraid to watch it just in case i end up falling out with all of my siblings but um yeah i think that's supposedly the kind of idea of it though with the game of thrones is in like you know a game of disadvantage that i haven't seen well the idea that eventually you know one person eventually needs to rise above and be you know what i mean and be the the the winner with all the conspiracy and plotting that goes around and told story but it's just in the context of yeah you know a media module yeah and just the fact that it's a family so they're kind of like they make alliances then they stab each other in the back then they go back and make alliances i mean there's some really strong characters in it you know relevance because isn't it it's very close to a real life media family that that and you know that that makes it more relevant to the last 20 years but also it is a media family right but if you say for instance replace the media company with a plot of land or something yeah it's relatable to people within a family trying to sort of jockey for position or power or yeah yeah anything you know it's it's relatable as good but you can put it could be it doesn't have to be a media company it could be something else yeah it just happens to be communications company it could be an eye company in texas there you go there you go dallas there you go but did anyone watch it what did you think 08 660 25 000 it's one of those shows like it one of those shows that delivers moments that sort of you remember you know there was one in the last season of the season before when one of the key characters did sort of a wrap you know and it's just like it sticks you know what i mean is that kind of a thing and there were a couple of instances like that in this series where things happen and it's so well done and it's you know what i mean you talked about yeah did you see that it is consistently when i see it on social media and i come across it it's always cited as maybe the best maybe the best thing on tv in the last few years so i do see that consistently but you know and we've talked about this all of us do you know when someone talks something up and you don't want to watch it because it's not something like that because nothing it's not that anything major happens in any particular episode you just sit and watch it and sort of enjoy it but it's really good it's a it's a good eight or nine out of tenner husband succession but um that's it they're doing another series anyway they'd have to uh right okay so um the court of conspiracy q and on channel four for nula do you want to pick that one has this been broadcast yet um it it has it has been broadcast yet it was broadcast during the week but it's also available to download and on the all four player in that so you can watch it on sky or you can watch it on the on anything now on the app or anything like that at all and knowing channel four they'll probably be putting it out again because they tend to repeat their documentaries like uh well michael was having the joy of spiderman in his life i went very dark this week everything i watched i was like oh my god uh not christmasy at all not like don and bud's amazing list what happened in this oh that was the only one that's done i know the the new stuff that i've watched but the this cult of conspiracy q and on is uh an english reporter and he goes into america meets up with some people who are on all sides of the i suppose what you'd call the fire that well they wouldn't call themselves the far right but you kind of call the right in america and people that are involved and he talks about like how q and on started off as being one thing and now it has developed into this kind of a movement and what is the movement and where is the grounding of it and you know what are the beliefs of the beliefs of it and how do people get involved in it it's very interesting thing to watch i think for people like like me who would say that they would be on the side of saying now i don't believe any of this kind of stuff to other people then who genuinely um uh i agree with a lot of stuff that that comes out from those kind of q and on theories it was very interesting one to see he talked to um the likes of roger stone he talked to the likes of uh uh oh michael flinn so he had that you know he managed to get he managed to get into those and they're considered now whether or not they're they are the future of that movement that has come together but then he also talks to people who have nearly become victims of that movement that have become so kind of sucked into the whole conspiracy idea that they've been dragged down to it listen everyone's in talk to their own views and people can think whatever they want to think i don't judge them but like the q and on thing is is what amazes me it's often the people that would tell you to do your do your research or call your sheep is that some of the stuff that's believed is so unbelievable it's flat world stuff and this all really emanates from a person on forechan effectively who claimed to be you know how well to be honest nobody even knows whether it started off that it was one individual that claimed that he was an insider so kind of claiming that he was releasing secret documents but it all comes from this to the point that they all turned up on the grassy knoll waiting for jfk jr to come back to life and jfk himself which i have to say i would love to see jfk himself because i was a big fan and jfk jr but i would like to think he wouldn't come back to the place where he was killed that he'd come back somewhere a bit they'd be a bit friendlier to him but um and i was a big fan of jfk and jfk jr very upset when he uh apparently passed away in that plane plane crash i agree i mean i tend not to get sucked into much as i like to read about them and this kind of thing i kind of like to read them and watch this kind of stuff more for a to my mind how people get themselves into a headspace you know the way that they have an under that they can believe some of the more extreme stuff that's on this this is an interesting thing with q non is is that yes it did start off like that on forechan it was back when donald trump was only just running and that kind of thing and there was changes happening within the republican party no one's a hundred percent sure whether that particular individual is the individual that kept going for the next four or five years but what they are sure of is is that nobody has released any information as q since before since november of last year and yet but a lot of the person people still believe that stuff is happening yeah but a lot of that stuff was seeded you see it and if you look at how the information that this guy or group of people drops it's how it's interpreted you know so it's like well five plus two is six six is the number of seven seven plus five is twelve so jfk is going to come back on the grass do you know what i mean it's oh no a hundred percent i completely do what's gone a bit crazy about this isn't what i found interesting what he what he talks about here is that is that there are now maybe a hundred q and on yeah because what's happened is is that one individual or a group of individuals started releasing information under this q and on and supposedly giving us all the truth but now as you say the way it's been interpreted so i'm over here in this corner and i've got my 60 people and i'm interpreting this to mean that it's all you know jfk is going to come back then you've another guy over in the other sector and he's saying oh god well there's a hundred everybody in washington is involved in a million person pedophilia ring which apparently nobody has ever told and the police outside that pizza shop as well and there's not even a basement so this is you know so you've got that side of it but then what you also have then is you have people who in some way have a certain amount of legitimacy like the michael roger stone type characters you have an awful lot of people like the one of the people that he spoke to was a reverend a pastor in the church and that kind of thing people that come from a place of legitimacy in a lot of a lot of just regular people's minds and now they are you know unwilling to kind of say no that's even for the crazy bits they're unwilling to say oh well that look there's no way that's true and sort of keep the bits that they want they just take an umbrella acceptance of everything in order to drive their own personal agendas is what it appears what is quite interesting to a lot of the information that ends up on the internet that you're invited to go and research it's generated by the same people do you know what i mean yeah so you're you're saying go and do your research right right don't yeah and there's one particular articles for example that then gets shared you know a million times and then well that's the facts because it's in a million places on the internet it's a bit well i know it's a peculiar kind of a thing because you say well it's there and then people print off well people say isn't that this the new saying and suddenly it becomes fact because well people's people are saying well you ask a question when you ask a question you say i mean you know why is no one asking this why is no one asking that do you know what you mean which are why is no one asking why fenule is not in charge of the whole world world i mean i think that's a legitimate i think this is a legitimate conversation because i mean obviously there was a became the worldwide element of this and as i say i'm not criticizing for anyone for the point of view but there was a unbelievable interest in u.s politics in this country all of a sudden do you know what i mean because it was tied in unbelievable to a global situation so trump was then seen as as a savior and what and in it's not just a year it's been in so many different countries that that kind of a i suppose for you don't like to give it too much goes but like a trump ism you know what i mean as in it wasn't even nearly about the individual but this has now become this type of like as if it's like as if it's a movement that he was supposed to bring a storm and a storm was to walk through a true and the truth was supposed to come and you know you had the likes of like the michael indells and my pillow and that kind of thing and he was going to come back but what i find amazing is how people adapted that to their own country not just here but in the uk in lots of different countries i don't want to get too deep into it for fear of offending anymore what you do is right you tie it into the things that people most motivate people oh i yeah one of those obviously is welfare of our children yeah if you want to brush past a lot of stuff and get to people you go right to the most apparent thing oh look at one of the things that they do in this is they speak to a woman that's how the system works that's how you that's how you yeah oh no and again i say to people another thing to watch for you watching this is watch the brexit uh the channel for brexit kind of drama documentary that they did with benedict cumberbatch because that actually spoke to how the pro brexit group smartly as it turned out because it worked in their favor and the vote went their way sat and were able to get their information to people through targeting them in specific ways but just happening here with iraq as well yeah this is happening at the moment here oh in so many ways but they've changed the way that we've done things it's just it's a to me i just find it really interesting because it's amazing how much in the last five or six years people's thinking has changed in their general belief systems in what they take as news and what and what's not news and also even how we look at politics how we look at elections how we look at a lot of it is in the target groups are those who are disenfranchised from the political system that are frustrated with politics are frustrated with democracy uh you know you'll see a lot of crossover uh and i get that and i get that and it's answers and we all want answers and cause and something to to go with and i i get that fully right okay it's interesting it's just interesting to watch yeah it's just interesting to watch to kind of see the different sides of it and to see the different people involved so i kind of recommend it to anybody i enjoyed it i'd probably give it about a seven all right okay listen we'll come back with more from michael anthony start with michael uh but we're going to give you a reminder of the fantastic quiz this is thanks to our friends at magies who've uh been working with us all this week on the program it's a brilliant prize it's worth over 500 euro overall here are the details listen up you'll want to enter this it's it's very good this week on the nine till noon show we've got a fantastic hamper worth over 500 euro to be won courtesy of magies chemist in letter kenny it contains a long con christmas hamper a blank canvas luxury advent calendar gift set a be perfect iconic essential set a bottle of chanels blue to chanel for men and a bottle of victor and ross flower bomb for women also a 20 by 16 inch gallery wrapped canvas so you can have your favorite photo wrapped in canvas ready to hang on the wall five daily qualifiers will be in the draw on friday a qualifiers will also win a prize each day and today's prize is a bottle of mark jacob's perfect for ladies question is what does santa give to naughty children to enter text the word hi followed by your answer and then your name and address to five three one three one or from the north to eight four treble five entry will cost 30 cent or the sterling equivalent plus your operator standard charge magies chemist in letter kenny and the geese dot ie with loads of great present ideas for christmas oh feast your ears on this lot irish oakum turkey joint with delicious pork sage and onion stuffing and why not throw in some yummy festive sides oh this dessert takes the crown the sticky toffee pudding crown with salted caramel sauce and madagascan vanilla custard someone's going to be very popular this christmas this is not just christmas food this is m&s christmas food in store from the 19th of december free 2022 glossy farming calendar it's one of the farming favorites of the year and you can get your free ifa calendar only inside today's irish farmers journal for more on this week's farmers journal his paul mooney we reveal the new slurry and fertilizer rules for your farm government plan to save and restore old farm buildings and farmhouses and payments for straw scheme and btgp are on the way this week's irish farmers journal with your free ifa calendar and mokra magazine is on sale now are you tired of waiting for treatment or surgery did you know you can receive immediate treatment across the border under the new ni planned health care scheme at potentially no cost dunig all patients are still being treated with us at kingsbridge private hospital northwest post brexit the process is easy and our dedicated team will help guide you through it so why wait contact us today to find out how you can skip the wedding lists and receive treatment in northern ireland visit kingsbridge private hospital dot com because life matters getting together might take a bit more planning this year before you do remember to first think or svp risk symptoms venue people risk what's the risk am i vaccinated or have i got my booster symptoms am i currently showing symptoms of covid 19 venue are they following the guidelines will i be wearing a mask and people how many people are my meeting how many households are coming together let's all or svp ahead so we can stay safe and enjoy christmas this year find out more gov dot i e forward slash risk aware supported by the government of ireland for a huge selection of furniture all in one showroom pull into grow furnishings in net or kelly sofas beds wardrobes tables and chairs also a range of carpet vinyl rugs and laminated flooring if it's time for a change it's time for a visit to grow furnishings grove deliver throughout donnie gall dairy and torone be inspired at grow furnishings kill toy road letter kenny christmas is covered at letter kenny shopping center free parking shopping and slanta under one roof letter kenny shopping center bringing you the time at okay time is 27 minutes past 11 michael and fenula are with us um michael um cowboy b-hop on netflix i don't know what part of netflix you live in uh never heard tell her this how about b-bop is a new um science fiction action comedy drama series that netflix dropped about a month ago and they've already canceled it good stuff good stuff um it is it was very high profile there was a lot of buzz around this because it was an adaptation of a 1998 animated series that is very much beloved um which was also called by b-bop which ran for 26 half hours so the problem with this seems to be if you loved the original was a real backlash against this new version the live action version i quite liked it and i'm watching away at it and i'm quite sorry that they've decided not to go to season two have netflix not learned enough at this stage just to leave it sit there yeah this is one yes absolutely i i'm interested to hear you talking about this because i was all set to watch it because i'd read some really good stuff about it yeah and i'd heard some people talking about it and i was like oh okay this uh because i'm not necessarily a big cowboy kind of a thing in in stuff that i watched but i was like okay i'll give it a bit of a go and then all of a sudden i read it was canceled and i was like yeah i read nothing but positive feedback and i was shocked when i heard it got cancelled this is um it's a sci-fi series set in the future out in deep space on different planets and the main characters are bounty hunters and each episode is a different case where they track down a bounty whether it's a mad bomber or a kidnapper or a murderer or some such and they bring them to justice or in most cases completely failed to bring them to justice because these guys are not the best so it's episodic although there is an ongoing arc of course there's an arc where we one of the main bounty hunters he's not who he appears to be and he has in fact a secret life that his partner in the company doesn't know about so it's a couple of guys on a spaceship and there's another member joins mid-season and they're traveling around and it's funny the guy behind the series the guy called Christopher Yost he was the descriptor for Thor 3 Ragnarok he also wrote Thor 2 into the dark word or the dark word um so it's and it's got a sensibility of sort of it's sort of a Star Wars version of the future all the ships are dirty all the buttons are kind of sometimes things don't work and they have to bang it's not like Star Trek where everything is pristine and it's a funny show it's an exaggerated show some of the fight scenes look like John Wick you know there's people exactly like you know people have old banger spaces you know that someone is cast off and they're driving around and some of the planets like they go to like they go to a planet which is like called New Tijuana which actually looks like a town below the Mexican border it looks like a sci-fi version of Better Call Saul so it's got a sort of a tongue-in-cheek sort of appeal to a John show is very funny my main reason for watching it was a couple of reasons but there's a guy called Mustafa Shakir he was the bad guy in season two of Luke Cage I think he's one of the most magnetic and incredible performers on TV at the moment I think he's fantastic he did another show called The Juice which I didn't get around to watching and he is one of the two bounty hunters in this and he's brilliant I this guy is like he's electric he's on screen when he's on screen I love the character he's playing in this I think it's a good fun show visually it looks amazing and this is a beautiful show they've done a lot to recreate the animated show which I watched back in the day and they have you know followed the the framing of an animated show and the cities look beautiful I think it's disappointing I just wonder they the Netflix listen too much to the community you know in inverted commas that they might be you know and maybe they listen they're so successful maybe that's the way to do it and maybe they'll hope that loads of people will campaign for it to be made again and they can't lose yeah maybe that's what they like is that they want the campaign it sounds very like kill joys which was on sci-fi yes exactly brilliant did you like that yeah loved it very well if you liked kill joys you will love this because it's I thought of kill joys several times I think kill joys was probably influenced by the animated cow by bebop certainly the two shows run uh well there was great cast in kill joys the lead lady she was in and in the ant-man wasp movie playing the ghost same actress and uh what's his face from Veronica Mars was in it as well yes that was a good show this is as good and it's slightly bigger this is a bigger budget show um I don't know take it out it's just a Christmas show take it out I will give it a seven because I think it's good fun uh the episode episodes are kind of similar once you get the rhythm of it you know it's like oh look there's another person to chase down and they're not very good at it variably things go wrong or they lose the bounty so you kind of suspect that but I like it I like the guys I like the action the episodes are short too some of them are like 42 minutes yeah so so that's good what was the name of the program that you said about oh nothing was you familiar about the gardeners or something because I'm landscape I'm dying to see that yeah I nearly thought I would get through this week landscaper because I just don't finish succession so I need something else was there anything else that I said oh I must watch that doesn't know I remember did you like the idea code 404 the comedy I tried code 404 oh I'm two or three into it I'm not sure I'm still not sure I'm not sure okay okay I like those two guys I think they're fun they are fun together now and it's yeah but I don't know if it's a little bit too crazy for me it is crazy yeah it gets have you got to the episode yet with the talking fridge by the way there's other people here sorry sorry we were all supposed to be watching code really stuff that you know that's a really you would say you were gonna watch it too it's the half hour comedy code 404 oh yes I remember that that was yeah okay yeah thought of it was like slapsticky kind of stuff it's like the detectives and I have one here now you should try and watch it's getting what a lovely segue go ahead and well this one is what kind of made me think oh you've gone dark this Christmas and is because I started watching this program called yellow jackets so yellow jackets is out on sky it drops I think it's week by week I don't think you can get the whole lot together because it's only still it's only actually happening in America at the moment I think America is maybe only like a week or so it's a showtime program I think there may be like a week or two weeks ahead of us that's all in it so it's dropping fairly regular with along with that and it's already been taken up even though it's less than halfway through the first series it's already be commissioned for the second series so it's and it's up for a load of awards it is I how best to describe this is a cross between um lord of the flies and alive but with girls and it seems like it's a it's a strong female cast so it's obviously strong female characters yeah it's all really females that are in it basically what it is is that there is um an American team I still haven't worked out whether they're soccer or lacrosse or what they're playing but anyways it's a team of of American girls in New Jersey and they have gotten through to a final and they're they've gotten through to the final some final whatever if something doesn't really matter but anyways they're flying to go to this thing and the plane crashes okay and they end up spending 19 months living in the wilderness before they're found the premise of this show is it starts off with the girls as they are today so they're all kind of in their you know 40 19 months no this is today now as in they're all in their 40s now and they've all 20 it's 25 years later oh yeah okay so it's 25 years later and there is they're all living regular lives they've all came back they all went back to normal and that kind of thing it focuses on four main characters uh the main girls that are in it and then through things that start happening in their lives there's a concern that somebody's trying to bring up all of the secrets of what actually happened during the 19 months and so what it does then is there's a series of different flashbacks for different ones for the different girls and they kind of flashback to different things that happened and obviously they still sometimes some of them still have PTSD some of them are leading lives how do they break the time gap does it do they make the actors look younger no no no they have a whole group every one of the so the four main actresses in particular have four really strong young characters that are in young actresses they're all new to me the now people might have seen them in other stuff whatever but they're all really strong characters in it now do not sit down and watch this with your children this is definitely an over 18s because when i went into it i had i had downloaded it and you know every once in a while it asks you to put in your password to watch it and i was like what's this all about like it's an american show about thing i was about 20 minutes in and i was like all right okay it's definite there's like a kind of a scary element to it i'm like about three or four episodes in at this point now we're wondering whether there's something in the woods for those girls there's also possibly something happening in now time as well so truly know where it's going which is no absolutely i i i just assumed it was going to be kind of a one-art kind of a thing the way they do there's 10 episodes in it the the women in it are fantastic that melanie linsky or Christina Ricci is one of the producers and writers of the adams family from the adams family she and all this stuff in this is quite possibly psychotic yes hilarious um juliet lewis always plays kind of like a real edgy kind of characters anyways she's a she's a very interesting she is she's always played she seems to really gravitate towards those kind of more edgier and like she i don't know she's she just seems to like things in which she doesn't look pretty as in you know what i mean as in she has to look that kind of edge sort of do it she plays one of the girls who's now grown up but has a a drug and alcohol problem fear kind of embraces her she's amazing and then tawny cypress who's been in you recognize her from a few things that she's been in along the way but it's just the the the characters in it are really strong i as i said it's uh it's a concept is really interesting well it is because i have to say i often wonder that because you know most people have read lord of the flies at different times in school and in particularly uh most most boys men of my age have read it because it used to be on the curriculum um so and the curriculum used to be much smaller than what it was and i know when we used to talk about it in school we were always thinking oh yeah that would have been worse if girls were involved because teenage girls can be a little bit crazy just as a group so this is just really interesting because you've got that teenage girl thing already happening as in there's all this kind of back and forth and who's going with whose boyfriend and all this kind of stuff then you have the element of them being in in uh lost in the forest then you have the you know the different personality types you also then have them now where they are in their lives now whether you know they're successful the impact of what happened 25 years ago it's still had on them you know doesn't stay with them going forward so i'm really recommended it i really enjoyed it do not sit down and watch it if you think oh this is going to be my bridgerton of 2021 it it is not i'm still searching for the bridgerton of 2021 for christmas this is not it but it is definitely really enjoyable really strong characters and real interesting storyline that in fairness could go totally crazy and the way they've kind of framed it you're like oh yeah okay okay i'm fascinated fascinated by your review that's yellow stone uh it's a yellow jacket yellow jacket i beg your pardon yeah we talk about yellow stone every week none of us have watched it yellow stone on sky atlantic 10 episodes there are yellow jackets on sky atlantic sorry yellow jackets they're about halfway through the run yes they're about halfway through the run the power of the dog is a new western on netflix it is absolutely amazing it's just like quintin tarantino's film jango if you like clint eastwood westerns you will love this and rave on about it for months greg any spaghetti western among fans among you well i love jango uh i thought that was good uh and a few of more clint eastwood's more contemporary cowboy based films yeah unforgiven would be presumably fall into that category yeah i think it's an excellent film it is yeah and the order watched my dad watching westerns my entire life and i never really got into them yeah i i'm glad to hear a good review that because i i have looked at it and wondered but i thought maybe it was going to be one of those like mosey and through the planes and not a lot of talking you know the richard no it's there's a lot happening bridge a lot happening bridge uh kevin leave it mosey and so that's why thank you pardon kevin was on uh wishing us a merry christmas merry christmas to you kevin some christmas movies i saw on sky christmas channel uh are they really festive although i won't have a word said about die hard well that's you know gremlins long kiss good night uh are they festive turkeys so to speak but fear not home alone the snowman it's a wonderful life are all free to view and channel four and christmas day and the festive fave film some like it hot and g g first escape except for the feather turkey g first i don't know what that is all right okay but some like it hot that's marlin man rose yeah that's a great film i love that film but i never think of it as kind of a christmasy movie oh i didn't even think that's shown a lot of christmas in years gone by the great escape the great escape of course oh yes that's a christmas classic i don't know how that's christmas classic either because it's not so out now and i say that we like it's just yeah but it's just a christmas like it used to show up a lot like i can remember like almost every christmas or said steven's day it would be on so then it becomes in your word conditioned we're conditioned yeah christmas film yeah let die or something maybe not as much now you know i yeah because i gremlins on my list now again and let's watch it again okay i've got our breaks on my list um stay tuned we'll be back with more after them that was well done chanel flour bomb long com giorgio armani pacor aban hugo boss where else but at magie's camis this christmas sponsors of the nine till noon show give the gift of sport from brian mccormick sports and leisure see the range of six-foot riley folding pool tables great for family fun every christmas brian mccormick sports and leisure main street at a kenny and online at bmc sports dot ie haik and dublin bay prawn chowder grill trout with pak choy this christmas add a fresh idea to any table with irish seafood like organic smoked salmon or fresh irish oysters for starters or for mains weekday dishes or weekend treat irish seafood is available in your local fish monger or supermarket it's easy to prepare and it adds variety to your festive meals enjoy the best that our fishermen bring ashore and for great irish seafood recipes visit board be a dot ie forward slash fish island-wide delivery of vegan organic and biodynamic wines from the wine center dairy online at absoluteorganicwine.com guaranteed christmas delivery of order by sunday december 19th guaranteed new year's delivery of order by tuesday december 28th nullik honnadeef merry christmas free delivery on selected prosecco orders over the first of season see absoluteorganicwine.com for more details at aldi we've got hundreds of passionate award-winning suppliers all over ireland fancy a pre-christmas tour first claire head and morgan's fine fish for those juicy specially selected dublin bay prawns next roaring water bay for dan hickey specially selected fresh free range goose finally to tipper airy for ireland's christmas product of the year jim oduir specially selected exquisite roast rib of beef aldi the best of ireland brought home to your table for christmas highland radio has a christmas cracker of a competition how would you like to win 500 liters home heating oil from mcdonald fuel's crawly a fantastic gold meat hamper from joe mcgee butchers a huge christmas goodie hamper from kelly centra and a 200 euro shop lk gift card courtesy of letter kenny chamber of commerce to enter answer the following question in the fairy tale of new york song what were the boys of the nypd choir singing text highland followed by your name and answer to five seven zero eight zero from northern ireland text eight seven one two one texts cost two euro or one pound fifty plus the operator's network charge the winner will be announced on the jive time show on tuesday the 22nd of december highland radio helping make this christmas extra special in as little as three minutes you could die from smoke inhalation a working smoke alarm gives you a chance to get out it might be the sound that saves your life test your smoke alarms regularly remove obvious dangers and have an escape route planned visit fire safety week dot ie for more fire safety tips brought to you by the government of ireland at christmas supermarket our shells are stock full of christmas goodies and we're now taking orders for christmas make this christmas dinner special by ordering your noon's turkey and delicious ham in advance all orders by the 20th of december in time for christmas collection gift vouchers available in store merry christmas from all at christmas supermarket looking to gift your staff this christmas why not spoil them with a macklehenny's gift card for corporate packages call us on zero seven four nine one three one two one seven macklehenny's ballet buffet for the dreamers this christmas open sundays from 11 to 6 or shop online with free next day delivery at macklehenny's dot com candles lanterns christmas tree decorations elf on the shelf and all types of lights it's everything you need for christmas experience the magic of christmas at coonies letter kenny our biggest and best ever christmas shop is open seven days with unbeatable value in lights trees and accessories there is something for everyone this christmas at coonies letter kenny retail park santa is in this magical grotto at the courtyard shopping center every day this week from 12 to 5 the courtyard letter kenny open to 9 p.m this thursday and friday and open sunday from 10 to 6 open up your weekend with the irish independent on saturday 25 years after her murder what do we know about the woman at the center of one of ireland's great unsolved crimes in review with an in-depth portrait of her life we go in search of the real sophie tuscan de plantier in weekend enjoy the 50 good news stories of the year plus our writers try out some festive jobs find your escape this weekend with the irish independent on saturday up close and independent and now the highland forecast brought to you by shop lk widespread christmas shopping this december and letter kenny see shop lk.ie or like us on facebook dry and mostly cloudy with occasional periods of sunshine highest temperatures of seven to ten degrees in light to moderate southeast breezes right competition time here now um let me just open this here because i can i can i see well look at that there we go i was looking at michael right so um i have to be really careful with this friday's winner of our fantastic competition thanks to our very generous friends at mcgee's pharmacy the friday winner is i have to be really careful because there's no roll winner as well the friday winner is paddy mcdayde of dune termin letter kenny he wins the daily prize congratulations to you paddy now these will put into the super computer and we had five people that won over the course of the week and the winner of our overall prize which is a hamper worth in excess of 500 euro a super prize it's tuesday's winner caroline quinn from beautiful glentes so congratulations to you paddy your friday's daily prize winner congratulations to you caroline quinn glentes your tuesday's winner and you've won that hamper and they are crackers right there's another competition going i'm not really sure if it's sort of caught the public's imagination it's the coloring in competition okay that we are engaging in and really it's just to try and get someone who works at hide and sing on the radio that's just my motivation for it everything else is sort of by the buy so shaw and quinn of the sales team is involved rory farrell of the breakfast show me and fenula and we are going to do the coloring in competition that's open now and i want you to plug that as well so people can get their entries in by monday yep they have until uh yeah close business monday but like obviously i'll we'll hold on you're pushing it all right oh no it definitely it did you know how long it took us to pick the winner of the last one so we're going to do it today right and then we're going to put the four of us uh and if any other staff member wants to get involved we're going to put the four of us are on on social media and then the the the public hopefully will judge the winner and whoever comes the least gets the least amount of votes will sing on highland radio on thursday or friday show right and i'd like to fix it slightly by saying that i'm told you have a beautiful voice and i'd really like to hear it so i encourage people to vote for greg so that we can totally hear him no no we're not going to do that because that would not be that would not be fair this is a coloring in competition that's the forfeit so we're going to put that up on social media and get people to vote and whoever is the least amount of votes can sing a song we're going to maybe go christmas right okay so that's going to be exciting yeah it could be maybe a christmas oh i'm taking it very seriously me too shone quinn's taking it too seriously yeah did you do that well i think well she's a very good coloring in her she's going to win shone quinn went i think went to smiths and raided smiths's coloring uh crayon section and just went daft i did too right well you can't do two i'm going to enter one of them i just couldn't find those on social media do you want to show up uh what we're up against here oh yeah well that that's what i want to give it to me because my camera's a bit better than yours all right well okay you can have one of them or two of them whatever you want i'm gonna take one of them why are you taking so seriously because i just can't decide which one i like the best slipped all over it okay so i worked very hard last night there's finula's effort which i have to say is fantastic now of course i apologize the absolute majority of you are listening on radio so this doesn't make much sense but what i'm doing is i'm holding up an a4 sheet of paper here that finula has uh colored in except for snow download the picture for anybody that wants to get involved over the weekend with with our overall coloring competition you can download the picture on highlymedia.com and get coloring drop it into us send it in in the post to us whatever you like um as i said we're be closing on monday uh maybe tuesday post and then we will uh start the judging process oh my god in other words the infighting that's you and what usually means i've taken another trip down as far as smiths or whatever local toy show in order to get more coloring stuff for prizes and everything well that's what's gonna say is because you take a great interest in everything that happens here but the prices are particularly good because you take a particular interest in the coloring in competition let's just uh but i love going shopping for toys so i kind of was going a bit cracked my i was like oh i'd love them so i kind of bought all the little arty stuff that i'd love myself excellent which is kind of nice because people are entering it they're probably of an interest in art art and it's lovely okay so go on to our website highlymedia.com download the picture and color it in and you'll need to get it into us by end of business on monday but obviously there could be some slight delays but we definitely need uh everyone in by first post on tuesday not that we get a second post i just heard that on blue peter once so and it's the start of a major giveaway all next week so far so we're going to dedicate the rest of the program to plugging then no i'm just saying i'm trying to let people know that next week we will be giving away from uh seven to seven i think i had it worked out i can't remember exactly now but we'll be giving away every hour we'll be giving away a prize and um focusing on a local business around and there are some lovely lovely stuff in here there's some awesome right across the programming all in christmas week let's call it that it's in christmas week we're gonna look forward to hopefully as best as we can and enjoyable christmas we're gonna do our bit so that's every every hour every hour really a prize every hour yeah i i get myself that challenge and i have achieved my goal and then on thursday tell me i can't do something that's what i know exactly and i was at that meeting then on thursday it's the big one thursday's a car worth almost 30 grand to give away plus five prices of a thousand euro yeah and plus the big hamper is giving away that's a david show on i think it's the thursday as well but i can't remember now okay remember it's the thursday or the friday but it's definitely gone through the week um yeah so next week is going to be a massive week in giveaways to try and give people a little bit of cheer i mean if you're a regular listener to highland and you listen all week and you enter right you're in with a really good chance of winning something so that's that's you know and i promise some of them will be phoning because i know i'm always there's always people that don't like to use the text and don't like to use social media so we'll be spreading it across all of the channels right so so just a couple of things to recap the coloring competition go on our website there download the picture color and get it into us and have a bit of fun with it because that's what it is secondly get on and click the win a car icon if you want to be with a chance to win a car worth an early 30 grand plus five thousand five one thousand euro cash prizes that is all next thursday plus the hamper get involved in the hamper competition as well because it is a real cracker and also listen all next week seven to seven we've got a super prize um all jokes aside finula and the team have gone to great efforts to make it really really good i'm working with our local businesses as well and that's all next week so you don't want to uh you don't want to miss that in any way shape or form are you excited for christmas michael or what what kind i know you watch like horror christmas films so i don't know if that's sort of but you're quite a you're a you are quite a thoughtful caring character aren't you so you love christmas i can tell i do i enjoy it yeah i mean i thank you very much for the compliment yeah i'm looking forward to it i'm looking forward to it just in terms of for me personally i'm looking forward to a couple of things i've picked out to watch of course and i've saved up and in general i like the vibe of it yeah i do i wouldn't be i don't think i'm overly sentimental about it and i don't like i'm one of those people that doesn't like to start it too early but i like to embrace those 12 days of christmas it's a real christmas not the commercial christmas i agree yeah that's why it's important for two thirds of the year uh let me see shall we i'll tell you um we might just do a a final one with finula michael uh madonna night on bbc one on saturday um i just like only got a minute and i think no i just flagged this up and i'm sure michael's probably seen it as well they seem to be doing um like bbc do this every once in a while and they do kind of the little tribute and on saturday night um it starts at nine o'clock and there is madonna bbc and then after that then is desperately seeking susan now i was a massive massive madonna fan back in the day and she kind of went a little bit left of feeling there acting up not really seen or anything any good uh oh i i did like the vita i thought she wasn't too bad but to be honest in this i think if you watch this it's sort of an older madonna as in going back in the day not older as in age and i think you it'll be for all those people out there that don't understand what all the big fuss is about her but like in the day in her day she was absolutely amazing i mean sometimes you see pictures of her now and you're like uh she was just she was absolutely uh massive and this would have been at the peak of the time when uh we did everything in our power me and all of my friends down in oren moore did everything in our power to be as closely looking like her as we possibly could died the hair got the leg warmers tried tried hats i'll see you on this item next week christmas eve i chat to them say no more about that you'll be here i'm sure uh michael see you soon see you soon all right have a great one take care all right that's the nine till noon show here in highland radio thank you for everything uh in terms of listening and getting involved over the course of the week we're back with you on monday have a great weekend the nine till noon