 In particular, the Minister is being asked to focus on details as it relates to a former UDR member, believed to have been involved in a number of murders, including that of Donnie Goll-Kanzler, Eddie Fullerton. Deputy Podrick McLaughlin was speaking during statements on the collusion allegations contained in the report. He said the finding deserves close examination and a full response from government. In early 1991, the RUC found documentation on large numbers of Republicans in the home of Person J. He was released on bail a short period after that. In the period that he was released on bail, he was a key suspect in two murders, that of Councillor Eddie Fullerton and that of Tommy Donnie, who is a member of Sinn Féin. And work on a long-awaited one-way system in the heart of Letter-Kennie is set to begin next month. The traffic system was first proposed in 2018 but had been stalled due to funding constraints. Donnie Goll-Kanzler has confirmed that the necessary funding has now been allocated with construction due to start at the end of March. The project includes changing the traffic flow in the town from St. Union's Cathedral to St. Colomquil National School, St. Union's College and Skull War against Mall. The Heirloft of the Letter-Kennie mill for a municipal district, Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh says once complete, it will have huge benefits. It's good news and particularly for residents up around college, it's very dangerous up there with the two-way system and also with so many schools in the area. It's good news for them as well and it's good news for children at secondary schools and pupils at the national schools as well. Very cold this morning with icy stretches possible on untreated surfaces, there will be sunny spells and scattered showers of sleet snow and hail, and the potential for isolated thunderstorms, temperatures of just four to six degrees. We're back with more 10 o'clock, until then, good morning. We all deserve a better work-life balance. But not all of us have the space to work from home. Connected Hubs brings together flexible workspaces across Ireland on one simple website. So you can quickly and easily find a hub in your local area. It's everything you want from an office without the lengthy commute. Meaning you don't have to trade quality of life for quality of workspace. Give yourself space, visit connectedhubs.ie or download the app to discover a hub near you. Connected Hubs is part of our rural future, a Government of Ireland initiative. The night till noon show is brought to you by Letter-Kennie Credit Union, offering low-rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letter-kenny-cu.ie or in office today. And a very good morning to you. It's the night till noon show on the Highland Radio. Donald Kavanaugh with you until, as the name suggests, 12 noon today. It's a Thursday, so it's going to be a busy one with the local papers that we're going to get to in just a minute. We have a lot lined up in terms of discussion on the programme this morning. But don't forget, it's your views and your perspectives are at the absolute core of this programme. So if you want to get in touch with us, you can text us on 086-60-25000. That number is good for WhatsApp messages as well. You can call us, of course, on 074-9125-1000. Caroline taking your calls and producing the show this morning as ever as well. You can call on 0035-374-9125-1000 if you're outside the dialing area. Email is commons at highlandradio.com. You can contact us via social media. We're at Highland Radio on Twitter, Highland Hub on Facebook. And don't forget, if you're on Facebook, you can watch the show on Facebook Live. That means you can see the numerous Zoom interviews that we'll be doing over the course of the morning, live on the screen as they appear during the discussion. You can also listen, of course, online and you can watch the show on our YouTube channel as well. So lots of areas in which you can watch the show. So you can watch the show. You can participate in the show and all due to the glories of technology, which are great. The Donegal News this morning, anger at rezoning plans. Connor Sharkey writes that councillors refuse to approve their Kenny Plan over concerns. There was a lengthy discussion about this issue at the reconvened meeting of council that took place in Letterkenny on Monday. Councillors concerned about a number of issues, including the zoning of land around Lek in the south of Letterkenny, the flood management and flood protection plans in the future. And that long-awaited meeting with the OPW still to happen. And there's been a lot of discussion about that. Also concerns about the designation of wetlands as well and several issues being raised by members. So before they put the plan out to public consultation, they're going to have more discussions. And hopefully they want to meet with the OPW as well. Also, an interesting headline on the side banner of the Donegal News. Relay for life this weekend. Now, it's not really for life itself that's taking place this weekend. It's really for life confidence that's taking place in the Mandirigal Hotel. And you may have heard the Irish Cancer Society's head of research, Dr. Robert Connor, on with Greg earlier in the week. So it's not really for life itself taking place this weekend. That's taking place on the 28th and 29th of May, as ever. To be quite honest in this, whether I wouldn't want to be trumping around outdoors, walking a track for 24 hours under any circumstances. So no, Relay itself takes place in May, but it is a conference that's taking place on Saturday. And that's open to all, of course, if you wish to attend. The Donegal Democrat villages field could boost job hopes. Southwest Donegal community plans fight back against rural unemployment. And this is all happening with Kushner, Furben and Karaga. It's proposing that the line road community sports field be made available to us. And the Karaga community said this could mark a major step forward in the fight back against rural depopulation. And a nice photograph of a relaxing moment during centenary celebrations that marked the handover of Finner Camp to Irish military forces in February 1922. The Cheer Connell Tribune, main headline disbelief as Irish water retains 80 years old sewer pipe. John McIntyre writes it was a red letter day for the village of Kerrykeel, according to the Irish Waters Public Relations Department, when works began in October to construct a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant for 500 families. However, there's disbelief that an 80-year-old crockery sewage pipe, looking the worst for wear, will not be replaced along the main street. Also, councillors failed to approve letter Kenny draft plan. And Micah, a legacy of fall stones. That's a quote from W. Joe McHugh, and we had that audio, of course, on the programme last week. Or earlier this week, I should state. Derry News' father demands answers to son's killing on the 49th anniversary of an IRA bomb that killed his nine-year-old son. A father is calling for an inquest to determine the full facts, the Derry schoolboy Billy Gallagher. Now, 84 was speaking ahead of the 49th anniversary of the death of his son Gordon, who died after a bomb intended for British Army soldiers detonated while he was playing in the garden of his Cregan home in February 1973. Moving on to the nationals and the main headline on the Irish independent this morning, €1 billion in COVID savings driving up house prices. Charlie Weston writes, pandemic savings are fueling property price increases with money saved on childcare and community, boosting home-buying power by an additional €1 billion. A new report today reveals the full scale of the effect on the housing market of pent-up savings. And I suppose what it means is when you have a scarce supply, but you have a rise in demand because there is more money available to those who are seeking to purchase, then that is going to push up price because the whole supply demand curve is going to be what determines price at the end of the day. And that is suspect, well, I don't suspect, I mean, we know it, it's what's at the core of the inflation problem we have at the moment where there is now rising demand and there is limited supply to meet it. Also, separatist regions in Ukraine ask Kremlin for military help. And as we've been hearing in the news with Catherine this morning, there was Russian movement into the disputed regions in Ukraine, which Russia has effectively recognized as independent and the situation over there escalating to a very concerning degree indeed. The Irish Times this morning, Ukraine and the state of emergency as invasion feared and misinformation over site ownership, derailing NMH, say doctors. Dozens of doctors have urged the government to quickly settle terms for the new National Maternity Hospital. They say misinformation over the site's ownership is derailing the project. And there has been an ongoing debate about this. And, you know, it's becoming a major problem according to that Irish Times story. Irish Daily Mail this morning, disabled drivers punished to save on money. Finafoy Junior Minister criticizes Finance Department over disability tax relief after board quits and protests. And this is an issue that's been discussed in depth here on Highland. It's been discussed in the door. It's been raised by several of our deputies. Finafoy Minister has hit out at the Department of Finance for denying people with disabilities access to a tax relief scheme for transport. The issue was raised by Minister Ann Rabbit, also no stranger to this program. Irish Daily Star this morning, families say goodbye to shot Keith. Tears for dad of four blasted in row over dog. It's the same question story on the front of the Irish Sun this morning. The man being quizzed by Gar thee over the shooting of dog breeder is a top barrister. Diomite Russa-Feelen was held after Keith Conlon was hit in the head. The father was last night said to be in a coma. And that's the front of the Irish Sun this morning. The front of the Irish Daily Mirror. I love you so much, bro. The heartbroken sister of gun victim Keith Conlon said last night, I love you, bro. That's in response to the fact that he is, they were told in a coma. Keith Conlon revealed her pain as her sibling was on life support after being blasted in the head while out hunting rabbits near Tallah in South Dublin on Tuesday. It's a Thursday, which means, of course, it's Irish Farmers Journal Day. More than 100,000 hectares targeted for rewetting. That's a story by Noel Barden. Also, no ban on one-off rural housing. A ban on rural housing has been ruled out by Minister for Planning and Local Government. Peter Burkey told Irish Country Living that one-off rural housing will still be accommodated under rural housing guidelines. There had been some fears that all one-off rural housing would be banned. That, the Minister says, is not the case. Don't forget, by the way, as it's a Thursday on Highland Radio this evening, at around about 20 to 25 past five or so during the evening news, Chris Ashmore will be here with Farming News and Views. And that's a program that's on every Thursday that's very much of interest to the agricultural community. So, we're going to take a very short break back in a moment with the first of our topics for the morning. But don't forget, you can contact us at Texas 086-65000. WhatsApp is on the same number. You can call us 074-912-5000. Our courtesy of Kelly Centra, mountaintop, letter Kenny. Homeland Fuel offers keeping you warm for less. 40 kg premium doubles or easy flame cold by 10 bags, get one free. Hardwood Lugs, two bags for 10 euro. Flow Gas, 25 pound gas cylinder, only 27 euro, 99. Shop in store or online at homeland.ie. With everything from pedal and electric ride-ons to go-karts and scooters, there's loads of fun guaranteed all year round at Tinney's Toys. If you have a kid's birthday coming up, Tinney's Toys can help make it special or get snow ready with a sleigh. Visit Tinney's Toys on Leck Road, letter Kenny, or shop online for express delivery at tinneystoys.com. Tinney's Toys, with so much more than just farm toys. At Dunstores, we've stacks of ideas for Pancake Tuesday. Whip up a better batter with six eggs for only one euro. Top with our hazelnut chocolate spread, just a euro a jar. Or squeeze on some lemon. Nets of three are only 49 cent. Your choice, our great value. Everything you need to do Pancake Tuesday, your way. Plus, with our 10.050 grocery voucher, you save even more. Dunstores, always better value. Terms and conditions apply. Voucher can be used on X grocery shop of 50 or more. Small businesses often find it difficult to access the finance they need. Microfinance Ireland, the government-funded not-for-profit lender, can help. We help businesses who've been unable to secure finance from banks or other lenders. We provide business loans up to 25,000 euro to businesses of less than 10 employees with a turnover of up to 2 million euro. For more information, visit microfinanceireland.ie or talk to your local enterprise office. Microfinance Ireland, funding small businesses in times of recovery and opportunity. It's exciting times at Hillside D-Max and Etter Kenney because they're moving, but not too far. This Monday, the 28th, their new kitchen design studio will open at Corralese on the other side of the mountaintop roundabout. The studio will showcase the latest kitchen, wardrobe and sliderobe designs with D-Max's renowned attention to detail and exceptional quality. Hillside D-Max, in the heart of your home since 1994, at Corralese, mountaintop, Letter Kenney, from Monday the 28th. Highland Radio Time Checks brought to you by Letter Kenney Shopping Centre, the centre of shopping in Donegal, free parking and shopping all under one roof. Letter Kenney Shopping Centre, bringing you the time at... And the time on Highland Radio is 17 minutes past nine o'clock. The Ninetal Noon Show with Letter Kenney Credit Union, now offering mortgages from €40,000 to €600,000 with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenney Credit Union, 9102127. And you're welcome back to the Ninetal Noon Show here on Highland Radio and we're going to go to Zoom now and we're going to have a discussion. We're joined on Zoom by Michael Kingston. He's an international maritime lawyer. Michael, good morning to you. Good morning, Michael. Can you hear me? Michael, good morning. This is Donald here on Highland. I don't know if you can hear me. Okay, I'm not sure if Michael can hear me, actually. We're just having... I see Michael on my screen, but I'm not sure if Michael sees me. Michael, good morning. Nope, the vigories of communication. I'm not sure that Michael can hear me. Let me just go and see if I can. Hi, Michaela, you're on mute. Michael, good morning. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I can hear you now. Thank you. Oh, thank you. You're on mute. I do apologize. Right, no problem. Okay, Michael, you're an international maritime lawyer and you have been very concerned about the non-publication of a report that first emerged over 10 years ago. Tell us something more about the Roshin Lacey report that you're so concerned about. Thank you very much. Donald, back in November, I've spoke with your colleague Greg Hughes and Patrick McLaughlin from Sinn Fein was also on the radio show. We were discussing the progress through the door of the Merchant Shipping Investigation and Marine Casualty Amendment Bill 2021, which has been brought about to sort out the mess of the investigation into marine casualties in Ireland following a damning judgment against our nation of the 9th of July, 2020, where the European Commission brought a case against Ireland and it was found that our Marine Casualty Investigation Board was acting fundamentally illegally and having civil servants on the board who were effectively investigating their own regulation when casualties occur. And so the department proposed new legislation and never disclosed to the eruptors that they already had a template legislation to fix all this prior to the European directive coming into effect in 2011 on the back of a very expensive report by a barrister in Dublin, Roshin Lacey. They didn't disclose this to the eruptors and it was provided to me by a whistleblower and this legislation should have been put in place back in 2010, 11. And as a consequence, there have been very serious incidents in Ireland that may never have happened had these recommendations been put in place. Is it your belief then, if I have this correct, is it your contention that had the protocols suggested back in 2010 been in place for subsequent investigations between then and 2020 that lessons might have been learned that weren't learned because the investigations weren't carried out as fully as they might have been? Without a shadow of a doubt, we've got a totally inadequate investigation system in Ireland, a part-time board with part-time investigators in 2019, the last benchmark year. We had a full-time unit for aviation, albeit that it was within the Department of Transport, which is another issue that I'll get to that spent 750,000 on full-time investigations in the field where you can get to the bottom of things and make proper recommendations and build up corporate knowledge by being a full-time investigative unit, 350,000 on rail, and a paltry 27,000 was spent on investigations in the field in 2019 that involved six deaths and that therefore amounted to 27,000 per death compared to a full-time unit in rail and aviation. So the system is fundamentally flawed and if you do not investigate an incident properly, then you cannot learn lessons. And also, the way this Department or the Marine Caution Investigation Board was operating with this conflict, fundamental conflict in place, there has been many incidents that weren't investigated at all including as a report by Marine Hazard Limited which confirms of the 4th of January, 2021, two deaths in Killy Beggs of fishermen whose lives obviously are deemed by the state to be worthless, where they didn't even bother investigating the deaths. And on the foot of this conflict, I've also been approached by multiple whistleblowers from within the Department and investigators and former and current Department officials to say that reports on the foot of this conflict were being fundamentally changed. And therefore I've brought a complaint to guard commissioner Harris that this is misconduct in public office of the most serious nature that has caused death and further death in Ireland and the failure to do what should have been done in the Irish state and then changing reports. And that is currently before the assistant commissioner for organized and serious crime. That's how serious these issues are. Well, as you said, you did speak with W. Patrick McLaughlin, the Sinn Féin spokesperson on fisheries and the marine and he joins us. Now, the merchant shipping investigation of Marine Casualties Amendment Bill 2021 was debated before the thaw last night and W. McLaughlin, as we understand it, that legislation was effectively passed. Is this a case of closing the stable door after the horse has gone? Well, we pushed it to a vote last night. I think nearly all the opposition voted against the government legislation because as Michael has said, we need a comprehensive overhaul, not just tinkering around the edges. And there is very good examples, particularly in Sweden where you have a template where all of the investigation, so it could be air, rail, marine tragedies would be investigated onto the one roof, independently, fully independent from government. The key thing, and Michael has said this so many times and he's won cross-party support for the case that he and his colleagues have made, is that when we have these tragedies, they should be fully and independently investigated. And the lessons that need to be learned, need to be learned. And then you would then provide the training, the support to those who are at sea, be it for leisure purposes or fisheries for to earn their living. And that hasn't happened. And you have that dread that there are people who have lost their lives unnecessarily in our waters due to this failure. So, I mean, Michael has been really authoritative. Of course, Michael has suffered tragedy himself and this has been his own life experience, has led him to be an internationally respected authority on maritime safety. And when you have somebody of that caliber at your disposal, enthusiastically assisting you, I cannot understand why the Department of Transport have just repeatedly refused to do this. And I can only assume it's about protecting little empires or things like that, which is just unacceptable. And last night, the minister's excuse is that we need to get this up and running again. But I mean, it's half-baked. He's also asking people to take a leap of faith in a department that has repeatedly failed again and again and again to implement the changes that need to be made. As you've said, at the basis of this discussion are people's lives. And there are personal stories attached to this that should be heard. And one of those who has a personal story is Donna Marie. Donna Marie, you're very welcome to the program this morning. Is Donna Marie with us? He's on mute. Oh, yeah. Oh, I think we've just lost Donna Marie. Actually, I'll just see if I can admit her again. I do apologize for this. We'll get to Donna Marie in a moment. Michael, just to come back to yourself, Michael, I mean, you've heard what W. McLaughlin said, I mean, you know, about what happened in the door last night. And it seems that what he and others would regard as being unacceptably vague, if that's the right word, legislation, legislation that doesn't bring in the concrete changes you believe are necessary. Are you disappointed at what happened in the door last night? Or perhaps more, the question really should be, are you surprised at what happened in the door last night? No, I'm not surprised at all, Donald. This is a never-ending example of the most gross display of deliberate failure, causing death that the other state has ever seen. And I would like to compliment Kordring McLaughlin for his engagement on this issue. It is so the amount of time that he spent and his other colleagues, Darren O'Rourke, Sinn Féin's spokesman for transport, I consider them to be some of the outstanding politicians of our generation for the attention they were paid to this. And, you know, this goes back to 1979, my father died in the Whitney Island disaster and in Bantry Bay with 50 other people. It was one of the most appalling displays of regulatory oversight in the history of world maritime safety, not just Irish maritime safety. That's how bad it was. No focus on what the government were actually doing and no analysis of it afterwards. In 1987, we had the Herald of Free Enterprise, otherwise known as the Brugger Ferry Disaster in the United Kingdom, where almost 200 people died and the British introduced an independent marine accident investigation board after a public inquiry. The template was there. We should have done it in Ireland. We were all watching what happened. In 1998, we spent hundreds of thousands on a policy review group report that said we needed an independent marine cash investigation board. Instead of following the recommendations that said we needed to follow international best practice, we had the template from the United Kingdom from 1987. We left our department officials on the board. In 2009, the European directive came in. In 2010, we had the Roshin Lacey report. In 2011, we transposed the European directive being correctly. 2015, the European Commission write to us and tell us that we are in breach of the regulations. And we fight that inexplicably in an indefensible position until a judgment has entered against us in 2020. In 2021, we try and avoid the department pre-legislative scrutiny. And we say that we'll just have a patch up of the current system, which this proposed legislation is, and we'll have a review later. Why can't we put the legislation in place that we have in template form that was provided in 2010 by Roshin Lacey? Because they're just using this as an exercise to continue the same system and then promising a review that will never happen. It's an outrageous democratic deficit and people need to be held accountable. And Donna Marie, who is back online, I can see from my own station here, will explain to you that the abhorrent manner in which her father-in-law and her husband were blamed for lack of safety for the tragedy of Port Roanen in 2008, in 2018. And at this point, we will go over. And thank you indeed, Michael. And Donna Marie, you're very welcome to the program. And please tell us your story because, as we said earlier, this is a story that has, at its heart, human life. And you can tell us the human cost that these issues have led to. Hi, Donna. Thanks for having us on today. Well, where do I start? It's been awful. It's been terrible. You know, and instead of the normal grieving process in our family, you know, where it's every day is, you know, a fight for truth and justice for that. As Michael says, the abhorrent lies that has been put on Dad and Desi about the day of the accident. You know, my dad was the most safety-conscious person that you would have ever met. He was always very safe. You know, he always taught us to be safe. You know, he would have never done anything. You know, to risk anyone's, you know, to risk anyone's safety. You know, we still haven't had our inquest over three years on. We had to wait. First of all, we had to wait for the Marine Report, which was late. And the strange thing is we all looked forward to the Marine Report. Desi, especially my husband that survived the accident, he looked forward, you know, to the report. So, you know, we could have our inquest and, you know, try and start to grieve, but instead, you know, it's just, it's just, I mean, for example, some, the newspapers, when the report finally, when the report was finally published, the newspapers were led to believe that it was safety concerns on behalf of Dad and Desi that resulted in the day. And there was absolutely no mention of the unanswered 999 call, which lasted 78 seconds. All the emphasis was put on the fact that there was no VHF radio on board, which is not mandatory on a pleasure craft. And just to tell the story very briefly in case some people don't recall it. And it was one of those, sadly, all too frequent tragedies that we see off the coast of Donegal. It happened in July 2018. Your dad, your husband, Desi, and your cousin were fishing in Mallonhead. Two freak waves came, one flooded the back of the boat, the other hit directly after the boat went down. Your husband thankfully survived, but sadly, your dad and your cousin Thomas did not survive. And, you know, there was a 999 call made and that was later proven to be the case, but it seemed at the start that for a while, there was almost denials that that call was made. Yeah, yeah, and the thing about it is, you know, you have to ask the question, if Desi hadn't survived, would this 999 call have ever came to light? No, would we have ever been made aware of it? What actually happened was a cousin of mine and Desi on the Saturday after the accident went up to 3Mobile to get a replacement phone for Desi. And while they were there, Desi said to the man in 3Mobile, he said, could you have a look and see? He said, I tried to make a 999 call. I wonder, could you see, you know, did it ever connect? And the man then, yeah, he said it did, yeah, he said, it was made at 10.16 and it lasted for 78 seconds. We then, with the help of Podrick McLaughlin, were able to get a copy of the call from BTE, Cass and Navin. And on the call, you can clearly hear Desi saying, where there's three of us, we're on a boat, we're off Malinhead, we're taking on water, we're going down. The call is so clear that you can hear my dad in the background saying, don't panic boys, the helicopter will be here in a minute. Now, that call was made at 10.16 in the morning and was never responded to. And that, you know, that's not given, it's given very little credence in the MCIB report. They decided to focus on the fact that he didn't have a VHF radio, which, like we've said, is not mandatory on a pleasure craft. And in making that comment about there being no VHF radio, there is almost an inference there. It's not stated, but there is almost an inference that if you said there wasn't a radio on the boat, what you're effectively inferring is, well, there was no way for the boat to make contact in the case of an emergency, clearly. Well, it's worse than that, don't know. There was. It's worse than that, don't know. The report actually said that they did not have adequate means of communication. Now, anyone reading that, and that's what was carried in the national media by both RTE and the Irish Times would, as it precisely, as you say, say, they, those people didn't know what they were doing. They were so safely conscious that the night before, they discussed with each other to make sure that they had mobile phone means of communication, right? Number one, so the key issue in this report, it does contain information about the mobile phone exchange but it's sort of, you know, not at the top of the report, as Donna Marie says, but there are other issues here. Rescue 116 was a medevac from a fishing vessel 250 miles to the west of Ireland. We now know that there was a complete communication failure in the Irish Coast Guard and it was an unnecessary call-out. Now, a proper marine casualty, and there was no marine casualty investigation of that fishing boat by our department. There was an aviation investigation. Had there been an investigation, which there should have been on that fishing vessel that was linked to the deaths of four precious citizens of our nation, we would have known there was a fundamental problem in the Irish Coast Guard with communication in emergency situations. And you were calling, and you're calling for the publication of the Roshin Lacey report on the basis that you believe the recommendations contained within that report, which we haven't seen in full because it's not published, but you believe had the recommendations of that report been implemented. We would have had the sort of robust and properly constituted accident investigation protocols that would actually have determined, you know, what the truth was in these and other situations and would have helped us perhaps learn the lessons that might have prevented some other tragedies and situations. 100%, and the second point is, right, that would have been fixed in the Irish Coast Guard and Desi Keenan wouldn't have had to watch his father-in-law and Thomas would die in front of his eyes after making an emergency call, number one. And number two, Desi Keenan and Gerard Dougherty would have had the benefit of the recommendations in multiple reports being implemented where they appear. And in some cases they were removed of a mandatory course, basic training course for pleasure craft users, where it would become mandatory to have different provisions that would have helped them on the day, but there have been multiple instances of pleasure craft accidents, but the lessons have never been either implemented or brought to the attention of other pleasure craft users only by things called marine notices. I can tell you 100% that those two people who died relatively recently in 2018 would be alive today if the Roshan Lacey recommendations had been put. Deputy Podrick McLaughlin, I want to come back to you and give you almost the final word on this because it seems to me that what happened in the door last night with the bill being passed was more... And the department buried them and deliberately breached in. Yeah, I think Michael's just frozen. Deputy Podrick McLaughlin, do you want to go back to you? Sorry, I don't know, I missed that point. No, I'm just going to go back to Deputy Podrick McLaughlin, actually, because I want to put to you, Podrick, that it seems to me as an observer from outside that the passing of that bill in the door last night almost had more to do with meeting the requirements of a European directive than it had to do with implementing the report that makes recommendations on what needs to be done in order to ensure people's safety at sea. Yeah, it was about doing the basic minimum to meet that directive. I mean, if they were meeting the spirit of that directive, they would have worked with Michael and implemented a new legislation that brings in a comprehensive investigation, overall investigation body that would look at marine, rail, and air, everything. That's totally independent, properly resourced, that gets to the bottom, the full truth of what happens in every one of these tragedies and then make sure that the recommendations are then implemented by the relevant departments. So, I mean, what you're saying is a complete abdication of responsibility in the most serious way. And that's why, you know, Michael has, I felt the need to make a complaint to Engardus Econi, because he's tried for years to get this resolved. And, you know, that's where he's been pushed to. So I also want to commend Donna Murray and her family because they have experienced an appalling, you know, as Donna Murray said, they had lost their loved ones in the most awful circumstances. And they have had to live with a presentation that their loved ones were responsible for their own deaths. And that is just so wrong, so wrong and so unfair. So it's so important that the listeners in Donegal and hopefully more and more people across Ireland understand that they are victims of a appalling investigation system. And my fear is that more people will lose their lives because of this willful failure that has happened over many years. So I'm hoping that's now on a cross-party basis by continuing to work with Michael, by working with Donna Murray and other families across Ireland that we can make change. My final point is this, Donal, is that we are, there's only two island states in the whole of the European Union, and only two Ireland and Cyprus. You would think the fact we're surrounded by water, that we would have a real focus on safety for our fishing communities, for our pleasure craft communities. And that is not the case. To me, it points to a wider disrespect for our coastal communities that I see in so many different manifestations. We need to change our mindset. We are an island nation. We need to look at that resource. We need to look at safety. And you can see from Donna Murray's testimony today, the tragic out-workings of so much failure over the last 20 years in this regard. Deputy President McLaughlin, Michael Kingston, and Donna Murray, indeed, all three of you, thank you very much, indeed. It's a tragedy what happened to your family, Donna Murray, and our thoughts, obviously, are with you and hopefully your husband and others get the vindication that they deserve, and I know you're going to keep fighting for that. Michael Kingston, thank you very much, indeed, for speaking to us this morning, and Deputy President McLaughlin, thanks to you as well. Thank you. Thank you, Donald. Thank you. The night till noon show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie. Oh, Amy, my little one. I ask myself a million questions every day. When will you give me your first smile? How much sleep do you need? How can I help you and your big brother to get along? At the HSEs, mychild.ie, and in the free My Child books, you'll find the answers you need from doctors, midwives, public health nurses, dietitians, and lots of other experts. My Child.ie, expert advice for every step of pregnancy, baby, and toddler health. From the HSE. Are you involved in a digital project in your town or community? Would you like to share in a 100,000 euro prize fund? The .ie Digital Town Awards shine a light on the achievements of local towns for digital projects in health, education, tourism, and community. To enter the .ie Digital Town Awards, visit weare.ie, terms and conditions apply. At Cherrymore Kitchens and Bedrooms, we are now operating out of one new state-of-the-art showroom in Donegal Town. And we invite you to visit our new 5,000 square foot Donegal Town showroom to discover the latest eye-catching designs. Remember, at Cherrymore, you're dealing directly with a manufacturer, which means high-quality kitchens at factory prices. Start planning your dream kitchen or bedroom by calling Cherrymore on 074 9725 822. Cherrymore, 25 years delivering value, quality, and service all over Ireland. From the 26th of February, fly with Air Lingus from Donegal to Dublin from 2999 one-way. That's two flights daily to and from Dublin. So, what are you waiting for? See airlingus.com. Terms and conditions apply. Relax and unwind in the newly refurbished Raddison Blue Hotel, Lederkenny, where all 114 guest rooms and suites have undergone a complete luxury upgrade. Get back on track with a visit to the Health Club, monthly membership deals available from only €32 per month. Drop in and visit the newly refurbished Raddison Blue Lederkenny today. Here comes the airplane. And there go the piece. You'll find expert advice on weaning at mychild.ie from the HSE. Need a new part for your Ford car or van? Why not call to OMS Auto Parts in Bunkrana? With a massive stock of Ford parts, you're sure to get the part you need. Free next day delivery and orders over €50. Call 074 9361924 or shop online at omsautoparts.ie. Should have gone to spec savers. That's what the ads tell you. But for some people in India, it's not that simple. Imagine having no eye tests or glasses. You couldn't work, so you could lose your home. I'm Lisa from spec savers, and I'm proud to help the Hope Foundation provide eye care in Kolkata. Spec savers arrange for me and my colleagues to go there and do eye tests. To date, we've given out over 11,000 pairs of glasses. Find out how we're changing people's lives for the better at specsavers.ie. Are you thinking of changing your car? Then look no further than any shown credit union for your finance. It's simple. A car loan from any shown credit union means you borrow the money to pay for your car and the car is yours. No hidden fees or balloon payments. Apply online at www.initione.ie or contact us on 074 93 61017. Membership of any shown credit union is open to anyone who lives or works in the initial financial act. Loans are subject to approval, terms and conditions apply. Any shown credit union is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Isn't it time to go exploring, to break away and feel something new, to conquer the shleevely cliffs that lay at the edge of the world, to lose track of time in the National Gallery of Ireland, to witness the hidden histories of Blarney Castle or escape the ordinary on a cruise down the Shannon, make a memory to share forever because this country of ours is filled with wonders. Keep discovering at discoverarland.ie. Ireland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport. Thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family? Flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faroe, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. I'm at Air Intelligence. It'll stay very cold this morning with icy stretches possible on untreated surfaces, sunny spells and scattered showers of sleet snow and hail and the potential for some isolated thunderstorms today. Through the afternoon and evening, the snow showers will become mainly confined to higher ground. It'll stay windy with fresh to strong west to southwest winds, potentially turning stormy for a time in the afternoon on the northwest and the north coast. Highest temperatures just four to six degrees Celsius, feeling colder as a result of the wind chill. Early tonight, there'll be clear spells and scattered showers of rain or sleet. It'll become drier overnight as showers become isolated, cold with minimum temperatures minus one to plus two degrees Celsius with frost and ice possible. Breezy early in the night with fresh and gusty westerly winds, they'll gradually ease light to moderate overnight. Tomorrow cold and dry with sunny spells and frost and ice will clear leaving cloud increasing, bringing patches of drizzle milder tomorrow after in temperatures seven to nine in mostly light to moderate breezes. And that's highland radio weather for now. The Night Till Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union, offering low rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. The vice chair of the HSC Regional Health Forum is Councillor Jerry McMonagle and one of the issues that was raised at a meeting of that forum this week was the fact that there were more than 1,200 diabetic patients awaiting appointments at Letter Kenny University Hospital, Councillor McMonagle, good morning. A serious situation and the situation facing diabetic patients in Donegal is one that we've discussed in the past and there are long established and identified deficiencies in terms of staffing and services at the hospital. This exacerbates that even more, it would seem. Yeah, look, as you say, it's been going on for quite some time. I remember back, I think, to 2017 meeting with the then minister of health Simon Harris up at Letter Kenny University Hospital along with the Donegal Diabetic Association members and the promises and commitments that were made then and we're sitting here now in 2022 and a lot of those commitments and promises have not been made. And it's after myself and Deputy Potter McLaughlin I had a meeting with the Donegal Diabetic Association there a number of weeks ago and they had a long list of concerns and requests which Deputy McLaughlin addressed through the PMQs to the minister at Middall and yesterday I got the opportunity to raise the questions in the Regional Health Forum and they're essentially around the waitlist, the diatrous, which has been off on extended leave for a long time, but that's the patients who need the diatrous to travel to Galway. And we've informed yesterday that the diatrous will return to post as of the 7th of March next. So that's welcome news, but we're still fighting for campaigning for the second induct chronologist to be appointed. There is approval for a two-year whole-time equivalent for physicians and darkenology at the hospital, but to date we've only got one full-time and there's one local in 2009 and that's sort of adding to the list of people waiting for treatment going bigger and bigger. And I'm sure when we hear that people have to go to Galway or people have to go to Sligo, the last thing they need in Galway and Sligo is people coming down to them from letter Kenny because they have enough people of their own to be dealing with. There's a lot to be in everyone's interests right across the sale of the group that the more you invest in letter Kenny, the less pressure you're going to take off Sligo, the more pressure you're going to take off Galway, so it's in their interests as well as letter Kenny's interests to ensure that the proper investment and the proper staffing is achieved. Yeah, and we see it at first hand at the regional health forum. You sat under some of the meetings yourself, Donald, and you hear the problems at Galway, Limerick, Mayo, are all experienced as well and as a result of patients from Donegal having to travel to the likes of Galway University Hospital for a lot of health services. And we had those patients that traveled from Donegal where maybe for podiatrists were kept for up to 10 days because there was no podiatrist access at the hospital or from the hospital here in letter Kenny. So yeah, it has a burden on our area. We have a 58-year-old podiatrist and it's hard to get your head around, but in Skelly House there's four community, what they call term community podiatrist stationed there, but apparently they don't have the authority to work out of letter Kenny University Hospital. And that's, you know, it's just mind-blowing to be honest that I can't for lightly understand that and we haven't got an acceptable answer to that, but that's one way that you could address the podiatrist's situation of some of those community podiatrists could be they've been moved up to the gatehouse at letter Kenny University Hospital and see diabetes patients there. So, but it's just, as you say, it's just ongoing, it has been ongoing. A lot of promises and commitments have been made and what all we can do and what we place to do to the Diabetes Association is to continue to raise the concerns and call for more resources if they don't go off. And there is a fundamental difference between this and many other of the waiting list stories we do. In some cases we do stories about waiting lists and yes, it can be resolved by the National Treatment Purchase Fund and you can send someone perhaps across the border to get the work done in Bally, Castle or wherever, you know that you can sort of get work done in private clinics if it's a one-off issue. The issue with diabetes of course is it's an ongoing condition. It's a matter of monitoring a person's condition at any given time and the important thing for that is that the health professional knows the client, the health professional knows the person, knows where the person's coming from, knows where the person needs to be and it's that knowledge of the person and that ongoing monitoring that's vital to making sure that their life is balanced and that they're in the best health possible. You can't just, and if you're bouncing from person to person from different appointments to different appointments with a different professional, you're not going to get that sort of relationship with your medical professional that's necessary with something like diabetes. That's correct on the constant review and when something starts changing or it gets worse, you need to be on the ball, you need to be on top of it and that's why we need the directors to be there all the time. It's also why we need the review appointments to be consistent and regular and I mean, we're being told now that those review appointments can be a waiting list of now it could be over two years and that's just not good enough especially for an illness like diabetes and as we know through the recent pandemic the effect that COVID had on people's diabetes is very serious and it was very, very important that diabetes patients are regularly monitored and they're seen and that they should not have to be waiting at the length of time that they are for review appointments. So, look, it's a job of work for us as elected representatives to do and we will continue to raise their concerns but there's also a job of work for the government to do and that's the invest in the resources that are needed to provide an adequate and proper diabetic service for patients in Donegal and we'll continue to love them on that behalf. Councillor Jericho, Monaco, thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning. Thank you, John. That's Councillor Jericho there, Vice-Chair as we said of the Regional Health Forum West and a very important issue indeed. Just some of your comments coming in with regards to the discussion we had earlier about marine investigations, Coller says Ireland does not do investigations, it just pretends to. So many lives here are destroyed by a lack of proper investigation and the Coller goes on then and it's certainly an issue that is hugely important because we're very good I think sometimes in this country at playing the blame game and sometimes it almost seems that the purpose of an investigation is to find someone to blame. Now surely the purpose of an investigation is to find out in as objective a way as possible what happened and most importantly of all how it can be stopped from happening again and the more we focus on a blame game and it seems to be a blame game and a protection game at the same time because there certainly has been a suggestion from Michael Kingston in some cases these investigations that almost have half an eye on making sure that you protect some people and that you throw others it seems to the wolves. I mean, and it's, you know, it absolutely, you know, and I, one of the programs I actually enjoy watching, well enjoy is probably the wrong word but I find fascinating is air accident investigations. It's on a, I think it's the Discovery Channel along with the Sky Channels but it's really interesting to watch the air accident investigation stories because very often because they're high profile plane crashes, their stories you remember. So you actually remember watching news coverage of the crash at the time and then when they actually interviewed the investigators and the painstaking extent to which they investigate what happened and, you know, it can be a multitude of factors and it can come down to the smallest of things. It can come down to one, not shearing and the way they break it down but they do that in a way that's absolutely non-judgmental and absolutely open to the extent that they are ready to find out anything. They go in with no judgment, no preconceptions, just go in there, find out what happened and find out how to prevent it from happening again and maybe we do have something to learn in that respect. Callers as I was recently in Norway, a foot of snow fell overnight. In the morning, the entire road was cleared. I met a snowplow this morning with the plow up in the air. Even if this driver was only en route to a starting point where is the common sense of using it en route to the starting point? It's time a little rain and snow stopped bringing this county to a halt. So says a caller. Some comments left over from yesterday. Callers as I live in a small rural town. I'm sick of watching people parking on doubly yellow lines. These lines are freshly painted and clear to be seen. We don't have a traffic warden who polices this behavior because gar thee scene are not there to be seen. Another caller says we have four taxis in our area. It's impossible to get a taxi home at weekend. What's our elected representative solution? Do we go back to drink driving again and that is a perennial problem and the problem particularly in smaller areas with taxis if you're out on a Saturday night stroke Sunday morning at a one or two in the morning and the night pubs are closing or whatever or it's when the pubs are closing at half past 11 you know you're gonna look around and say God, any taxi driver would do great business in this town. It's brilliant. There's so much demand. The problem is what you have to do is say right if someone sets up a taxi firm demand's gonna be huge on a Saturday night Sunday morning. What's demand going to be like at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday morning? What's demand going to be like at four o'clock on a Thursday afternoon? And I suppose that that's really the thing that a taxi service ultimately is a commercial business and it's got to operate all the time. There's gonna be huge demand at certain times but you know is there enough demand to sustain a taxi service over the course of an entire week? That that's really the question. So we now get into rural transport and buses and rural transport link and great work being done by that. Is there enough being done in terms of Irish rural link? That's under constant review and I'm sure more could be done and no doubt more will be done in time. News coming up with Catherine very soon will take a short break and we'll see you on the other side of 10 o'clock. Call now on 074 91 25,000. What's Santa's favorite color? Um, I don't know. Run next door and ask him. Hee hee hee hee. Laws in Lapland? Could be, tune in this Friday to Highland Radio. Dairy gold. It's there for you first thing in the morning and waiting for you when you come home at night to fill early starts with goodness and to bring a bit of warmth to your hands after a long journey home to start your day on the right side of the bread and to finish it with a satisfying crunch. For early mornings, late nights and everything in between the deliciously creamy taste of dairy gold spreads the goodness in more ways than one. Dairy gold, spread the goodness. If you've got magic moments or great memories captured on your smartphone, now is a great time to have them printed at McGee's.ie. Simply upload your favorite photos, choose your size and finish, and McGee's will take care of the rest with the results delivered to your door. Prices are from just 12 cent and there's also creative options available. Preserve your memories today at McGee's.ie. 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 healthcare scheme at potentially no cost? Donegal 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 waiting lists and receive treatment in Northern Ireland. Visit kingsbridgeprivatehospital.com because life matters. Thousands of hectares of land targeted for rewetting. For more in this week's Farmers' Journal, here's Paul Mooney. We reveal the EU proposals, which could see over 100,000 hectares of farm peatland rewetted. Ban and one-off rural housing ruled out by minister. Dairy group talk cowcap and farmer compensation for tackling climate change. And will you make money from putting solar panels in your sheds? Plus, how to make the most of spring fertilizer only inside this week's Irish Farmers' Journal on sale now. Live on air, online and on the Highland Radio app, this is Highland Radio News. It's 10 o'clock. Good morning. I'm Catherine Gaffney. An invasion the likes of which Europe hasn't seen since the Second World War. The words of the Foreign Affairs Minister today in response to the Russian military assault launched on Ukraine overnight. In a televised address, President Vladimir Putin claimed his forces were going in to protect people from the regime in Kiev. Explosions have been heard from the Ukrainian capital where warning sirens have also been ringing. Minister Simon Coveney says the invasion appears to have been well planned and EU sanctions against Russia will be increased significantly. Unfortunately, and I'm sad to have to say this, but diplomacy to this point has failed and clearly Russia have been lying to us for quite some time and have been planning this invasion because it's happening in a way that is highly organized through the last few hours. So this is effectively an invasion the likes of which Europe hasn't seen since the Second World War. The provision of two new multi-million-euro business enterprise and innovation centres in Lettercanny is a step closer. The project under the Council's Part 8 development process is expected to be given the green light when it comes before councillors at a special meeting getting underway around now. Tara Duggan has the latest. Dunnegall County Council in partnership with the Dunnegall 2040 strategic development designated activity company proposes to carry out the mixed-use development Phase 1 of the Lettercanny 2040 strategic urban regeneration site at Pierce Road and Remelton Road. The proposed development will include the demolition of the former ESB retail and office premises and existing sheds to the rear of the site. It'll see construction of a new 7-story and 8-story building both set to house a business, enterprise and innovation centres. The project will include a central civic space, pedestrian and cycle accessibility and mobility infrastructure. It's also hoped that a space will be created to facilitate a leisure and meeting place. Planners say it will create a vibrant and highly accessible mixed-use development and high quality architecture. Social distancing pods and bubbles are gone and sporting activities, music, singing and breakfast clubs can all resume in schools from Monday. It's part of new guidance issued to schools by the Department of Education last night which is encouraging them to return to normal routines and activities. Mask-wearing will no longer be required, however anyone wishing to continue wearing a mask should be allowed to do so. General Secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Kieran Christie says it will take time to get used to the changes. The previous regimes that have been in place in schools have effectively been dismantled with effect from next week and obviously there's some trepidation around all of that but I have every confidence that school communities will adapt and continue to do the very best they can as cautiously as they can in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. The Foreign Affairs Minister has been urged to examine the findings of the Greenwich Report. In particular, the Minister is being asked to focus on details as it relates to a former UDR member believed to have been involved in a number of murders including that of Donegal Chancellor Eddie Fullerton in 1991. Deputy Podrick McLaughlin was speaking during statements on the collusion allegations contained in the report last night in the Dahl. He said the findings deserve close examination and a full response from government. In early 1991, the RUC found documentation on large numbers of Republicans in the home of Person J. He was released on bail a short period after that. In the period that he was released on bail, he was a key suspect in two murders, that of Councillor Eddie Fullerton and that of Tommy Donahue, who is a member of Sinn Féin. And work on a long-awaited one-way system in the heart of Letter Kenney is to begin next month. The traffic system was first proposed back in 2018, but it had been stalled due to funding constraints. Donegal County Council has confirmed that the funding has now been allocated with construction due to start at the end of next month. The project includes changing the traffic flow in the town from St. Union's Cathedral to St. Column Kiln National School, St. Union's College and Skolwara Gansmal. Kahirla of the Letter Kenney Mill for Municipal District, Councillor Jimmy Kavanaugh says once complete, it'll have huge benefits. It's good news, particularly for residents up around college or older and so on. It's very dangerous up there with the two-way system and also with so many schools in the area. It's good news for them as well. Weather now very cold this morning with icy stretches possible and untreated surfaces. There will be sunny spells and scattered showers of sleights, snow and hail and the potential for isolated thunderstorms, temperatures of just four to six degrees. We're back with the headlines for you at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The obituary notices for Thursday morning, the 24th of February. The death-hands taken place of Gracie McBride, Gracie McIwira, Middletown, Derrybeg. Her remains are reposing at her late residence. Funeral mass will take place tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in St. Mary's Church, Derrybeg. The wake will be private to family and close friends. The funeral mass can be viewed on the chap-pubble-wura webcam. The death has occurred of Florence McCafferty, Trusk, Ballybuffet. Her remains are reposing at her home this evening from 6 p.m. Funeral leaving her home tomorrow morning at 20 past 10, for Requiem Mass at 11 o'clock in St. Mary's Church, Shesha O'Neill. Interment afterwards in the adjoining churchyard. The funeral mass will be streamed live on the parish Facebook page. Donations in lieu of flowers, if so desired, to the Donegal Hospice, care of any family member. And the death has taken place of Josie Mitchell, Neo Hagen, Glankar, Lettercanny. Funeral mass this morning at 11 o'clock in St. Column Hill's Church, Glandoen, followed by interment in Temple Douglas Cemetery. The funeral mass can be viewed on churchservices.tv. For more details, including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals, please go to HighlandRadio.com. You have one new message. Hi, Claire, Auntie Dee here. I just wanted to say a big thank you for skipping my party. We had a great night, and everyone was so happy you didn't come. Now you take care. I hope to see you soon. Bye. No one will thank you for turning up to work or anything else when you're sick. Stay at home and get a test to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. From the HSE, for us all. Welcome back to the second hour of the 9 to an In Show here on Highland Radio. It's Donald Kavanaugh with you on the program this morning. The bingo number is coming up in just a moment, but before we do that, a few of your comments. Collar says, and this refers, I think, back to the story yesterday about the grants to pig farmers. Collar says, I have a business and I overstock who is going to give me money from my loss. The amount of handouts farmers get is ridiculous. It's cheap. Why would I buy 50? So says a caller. Another caller says shopkeepers don't tell farmers how to run their business. So how dare they tell shopkeepers how to run theirs? Another caller says, the government has ruined farming in Ireland. I'm a young farmer just starting up. Charlie McConnelog is not doing his job and he's only in the job to collect his big pension. I've tried to contact him several times and I've been given no reply. Finafall and Finnequale have destroyed the farming community and our Minister for Agriculture just sits back and says, there are 8,000 people employed here directly on farms or indirectly in factories in the pig sector. I can't see how it's in anyone's interest to see 8,000 people lose their jobs if the budget was in the Department of Agriculture to help even slightly. Collar says, unbelievable. Pig farmers are getting a subsidy of 20,000 euro while children go hungry, the waiting lists and our health services, people so almost falling apart with mica, et cetera. Personally, I wouldn't eat any pork in this country or from the EU. So says a caller and they want to raise some questions about the treatment of pigs. It's all about greed and money, a caller suggests. All I'm saying is that we need to compare like with like. Now, this is the story we had yesterday from Derry Beg about the fact that Derry Beg has the highest failure, one of the highest failure rates in the country for the NCT. Also had one of the highest proportions of cars deemed at the NCT to be dangerous. A caller says, if you take full tests for 2014 cars in 2021 a Dacia has a 47% pass rate. There's no point in comparing an 8 year old Dacia to an up to 40 year old BMW. I filled in my car license renewal and sent it off three weeks ago to Cork. Still nothing back is this an unusually long waiting time. Now the caller asks, it's time someone who was held accountable for all these oil spills who checks these transport lorries for leaks. It's constant on the roads of Donegal. I see a few convictions in the paper for breaking COVID rules for the poor of this country. We're still seeing that the landlords get to do what they want. That's a caller's perspective there. A caller says, if we all believed behaved like the golf haters would more people have died and suffered unnecessarily from COVID. They are hypocrites full stop. I take that as a reference to the ongoing debate about Golfgate. A caller says, there must be plenty of money around what some of the hotels in Donegal are looking for overnight stays. One hotel for Friday night stay for two people second week in March 318 euro. And that's just for breakfast, unreal. I got a hotel in Belfast for 80 sterling. That's why so many people are going north. Now the caller says, does anyone else feel that the threat of Russia attacking Ukraine is connected to the secrets of Medjugorje? One of the messages is that Russia will triumph. She also says that war can be stopped by prayer and fasting. It's something we need to take on board approaching Lent. I'm not a holy Joe in any way, but I find myself scared. Suffering from anxiety. So says and a lot of people are indeed concerned about the situation in Ukraine. And indeed, as you heard on the news, it has escalated further. Now the time is 12 and a half minutes past 10 o'clock it's time for the bingo numbers. So if you play Highland Radio NCBI Bingo and why wouldn't you grab your pens grab your books eyes down. I'll hand you over to Cass. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Thursday the 24th of February Jackpot Day. You're playing for the jackpot prize of 9,000 euro one the pink sheet. The reference number is S19. It's game number 8. The jackpot number is 74. This number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn. And now here are your daily numbers. 10 57 31 87 82 81 16 7 and finally 58. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight. 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And the time is just approaching 16 minutes past 10 o'clock. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 One of the things we regularly do in the newsroom here on Highland Radio is monitor leaders' questions in Dáil Éireann and also the Order of Business. Now there, the little snippets where you will very often hear the party leaders and the t-shirt are tonished to having a pop at each other. Yesterday was no exception. And Ifa Moore, who's political correspondent with the Irish Examiner last night put an interesting post up on social media. She said, I want decent opportunities for life and an end to the housing crisis. Shouting about the Galway tent and rape does absolutely nothing for any of us. A pointless exercise. And Ifa, it isn't very often I use this program because we were supposed to be objective here on the show, but and so say all of us. It's become one of these predictable pantomimes in politics that you and I could both have sat down and in fact I pretty much regularly do write the t-shirt script before he even says it. It's not even the t-shirt. It is also the something present at Mary Lou McDonald's. Within even the press gallery the political correspondence have often said that we are all quite tired and bored of leaders questions at this stage. It's often referred to by the press as the punch-and-judge issue. What it usually starts as is that Mary Lou McDonald will take the government to task which is right, which she is ready to do on housing. The housing crisis has not abated. But what tends to happen then rather than substantive debate about the housing crisis and the issues we are having with rents and extortion of prices, it then becomes a slang and match. So what will happen is the champion president will begin talking about yesterday for instance, she talked about the Galway tents, she talked about Brown envelopes and then in turn the T-shirt has also become incredibly predictable as an opposition leader and then he begins a yesterday he usually brings up Sinn Féin's record in local government about objecting to housing they have used a number of times this number of houses they say that Sinn Féin have objected to 6,000 houses a detailed fact check has shown that it hasn't been true but they still keep charting it out and then yesterday in a debate about housing it became a royal vote to Galway tents the IRA and the rape of women by IRA volunteers it was incredibly depressing you want someone who watches leaders questions three times a week for my job and yesterday I felt totally despondent, I don't feel like there's much point in the exercise we have often actually found that when it's not the T-shirt and it's not Mary Lou MacDonald when you'll have stand-in so today we'll have Pierre Storty and it'll be Lou Frager, the odd time you'll get Michael McGrath the public expenditure minister you might have Claire Coran the Sinn Féin spokesperson on public expenditure we actually get better answers when it tends not to be the two leaders we can actually get substantive debate we can actually find out where the government's policy is and what they're planning to do I felt the need just between everybody yesterday because I was so depressed it is that predictability and the inevitable problem with all of this is you get a ding dong exchange and to be quite honest we sometimes get really interesting audio for stories out of it but the one thing you do not get is answers to questions absolutely not any good and that is a big part of it I do think a lot of someone made the point to me yesterday that sometimes politicians know each other better than they know their citizens and I think what they've fallen into these debates now for sound bites they know the audio will look good they know the video will look good on social media and it becomes a race to get the sound bite out so saying things like the Galway 10 saying things like brown envelopes Shenzhen know that that's going to play well on social media so that's the club that's the things they want to get out and same for Finafall they're going to bring up the IRA they're going to bring up the trouble because they feel like that's effectively Shenzhen with and I don't feel like it really benefits anybody other than the 22nd club that they're going to put on social media and that's really over getting out of it but I think you're getting to a point now where there's a lot of people in journalism and in fairness in politics as well who simply weren't around when the Galway 10 was a thing who weren't around during the time of the brown envelopes I have colleagues here that if you brought up some of the earlier tribunals and mentioned names like James Coker they wouldn't have a clue who you were talking about or what you were talking about that we're sort of harking back to these things that happened years and years ago and there's a whole new generation to whom it means absolutely nothing goes for the trouble political correspondents in Leicester House are younger we're all around 30 and the notion of the Galway 10 and IRA atrocities and things like that are not things that we have loved through and I think it's also not things that people are thinking about in their daily life when they're paying 2,000 euros a month in rent and they want an answer to the housing crisis so I do think the politicians are a bit institutionally by the dull chamber to get kind of into this ruck and we have seen this ruck week on week with me, Hall Martin and Mary Lou McDonald every week and it's getting to the point now we're even in newsrooms in our newspaper we're even discussing is it worth covering leaders questions is it worth taking 45 minutes out of the day to do a story on this because I could write it every week every single Tuesday I could write the same story so you're at the point now well you're wondering if there's any point and even listening there it does debase the whole thing because the purpose of leaders questions is for the opposition to put questions to government and it has its basis in an attempt to actually determine facts and it should be a very very important part of the week because this theoretically is the part of the week where the leader of the country is held to account in full view of the people and as you say what's more likely to happen is a pantomimic slagging matchup yeah and what I don't want to happen is I do not want the doll to turn into the House of Commons when you watch the House of Commons and the barrack and the shouting and the order order that is not where we want to get the people want actual answers people want the government held to account it's also a time to get the government on record so we can look back and say well you said this on Tuesday the 22nd or whatever it was it's to get the government on record about what they're doing and I just feel like the whole thing has become too big and I just don't want to end up in this kind of Boris Johnson Keir Starmer slagging match because I think we're better than that and I don't think that's what the Irish people want either there's actually it seems to me what tends to happen is the leader's questions section is first that's about half an hour then you have what's now called questions about promised legislation now we always traditionally called it the order of business and what will happen is they will start by agreeing the order of business of the day they'll have votes on it if there's questions over how much time has been given to something and then what will happen is a succession of deputies will ask the Taoiseach or the Taunish to whoever happens to be hosting questions about policy now it's supposed to be questions about bills that are coming up but very often they'll sneak in questions about topic and issues but that actually can be a lot more informative and very often that can be the time when you actually get real answers to questions absolutely we used to not even watch questions on promised legislation now it's got to the point where we get better stories and better information from what should be you know a kind of note taken exercise and it's got to the point now where we're covering that closer then we're covering leader's questions because we're not getting anything out of it I don't know if it's just because COVID is now finished um housing is back to the forefront of the agenda but I would say Shantane have started leads questions with housing I would say nearly every single week for the last year and I don't know if it's just COVID has kind of subsided and we're kind of looking for a bit of excitement but the other thing is no one really lands a punch either you know this the notion of the Galway tents and the IRA atrocities it doesn't really land a punch it doesn't affect either of them the polls it doesn't really make that much difference so you have to wonder why they keep doing it and these are parties we spend a lot of money on internal polling and I would venture that the entire phone isn't telling them that this is working they keep on at it anyway it does seem though that I think what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks is the focus seems to be moving now from housing to the cost of living I think we'll probably see the cost of living become what housing has been for the past six months that it seems that's really where the you know the real focus is going to be and the more we get into the Ukraine conflict as seems inevitable and the inevitable impact that's going to have on the price of fuel as petrol starts creeping toward two euro a liter at the pump we're going to see more and more perhaps on cost of living and less emphasis on the housing crisis as such absolutely you know we only think the petrol is there now it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better with a sanction that they're going to place on Russia the government said that they would not be making any more announcements in terms of funding when it comes to the cost of living before the budget I don't believe that I don't think the government can politically shoulder it if things get more expensive I think when it comes to fuel as the days are starting to get even a bit colder it's snowing and they might have to intervene again because politically I don't think they'll be able to weather it so the other part of that is housing is part of the cost of living so what will probably happen now is they'll probably get a joint bargain when it comes to housing as they'll be brought into the cost of living as well but I do think the cost of living has become the forefront of the issue although I am a bit cynical avoided because I would also make the point that before COVID even came along we knew how many people in Ireland were living in abject poverty and we knew that Ireland was already a very expensive place to live but now it seems that it has affected FDI and big companies are now saying that they're put off Ireland because it's such an expensive place to live and that is the only reason I think the government and the people in Lester House have taken a much more decided interest on it We'll make a prediction now and we will predict that in the dull today just after 12 noon there will be a heated debate about housing and the cost of living between Pierre Stoherty and Leo Radker and it being a Thursday I think we can pretty much put our trousers on that today I'm not betting any money because that's very expensive I don't want to lose it Thank you very much indeed for speaking to us this morning that's if a more political correspondent with the Irish examiner and I don't know if you ever do it's all online it's available on TV, on the RTE news channels and you can certainly see it online on a rock this dot i.e. slash a rock this TV all the dull proceedings are broadcast online we monitor the dull regularly and you'll regularly hear us play clips from it and it has as Eva rightly says become probably the most predictable part of the entire day and dull air and that there will be ding dong battles between Sinn Fein and the government at 12 noon and do not be at all surprised if at some stage during the course of this afternoon you'll hear Michaela read a story that opens with the word there were clashes in the dull today between Donnie Gold, Debbie Pierce, Toherty and Taunish to Leo Veradker it's one of those things that has become rather predictable a few more of your comments before we go for a break and then we're going to take some music with regards to the diabetes discussion we had earlier with councillor Jerry McMonagall, caller says as a type 1 diabetic with asthma I tested COVID positive last Friday on an antigen test I was told when I rang the doctor tomorrow ring us I tried to ring our surgery's Saturday emergency doctor 45 times on Saturday during the hours they were to be working but I couldn't get through I even messaged asking please ring me back but nothing I ended up in A&E at Leonard Kenney University hospital on Sunday and got a PCR which was positive I got antibiotics and steroids and I have to say they were very helpful at the hospital working with the challenges they have I just want to say if I got four or five calls from someone I think I would ring them back are there any medical council of Ireland guidelines on this now all I can say is I do know and in fairness I've had reason to be in contact with doctor's surgeries over the past shall we say three months and they are under extreme pressure and I'm very loathe to imply criticism of doctor's surgeries because I know they're under incredible pressure under the protocols they have to work now that's of absolutely no help to yourself and I'm sure there's going to be reviews over the course of the coming weeks all I can say is we wish you well and hopefully that's an outlier rather than an experience that everyone is going through but certainly I do know it can be incredibly difficult to get through to doctor's surgeries at this point in time it's coming up to half past ten we're going to take a short break back after these I read a story in one of the entertainment websites recently that apparently listening to a doctor or a doctor or a doctor or a doctor or a doctor or a doctor or a doctor or doctor apparently listening to 80s music makes you feel good and that's a song that always perks up my mood Jane Weedleneggs well I say X of the go-go's she is a goto again she had left the go-go's... when solo released Russia great great song the band then got back together again that's a great documentary about the go-go's available it's on sky documentaries actually really really good the documentary about the go-go Linda Carlisle Guffrey and Gina Shock was the drummer and Cathy Valentine I think on bass wasn't it? And there was another bass player before Cathy but I think it's Cathy, Gina, Jane, Caroline and Linda Carlyle of course, the Five Cocos, great great artists. Now we want to dedicate that song to Anthony Doherty from all the hard-working staff at O'Donnell Meats and also happy birthday to Caroline Kelly Maxwell working in Ballet Buffet. Happy 50th and that's with lots of love from Evian and Rory and from Sister Louise and from Hugh as well. Now we're going to go to St Jude's Court in Lifford and we've been sent a video by one of the residents there. Now I've just been watching the video on my phone while the music was playing and we'll strive to get it up on the Highland Radio page of course so you can watch it but I'm joined on the line by Veronica who is a resident in St Jude's Court in Lifford. Veronica, good morning. Good morning, Donal. Veronica, the video you have shown us is a video where there is obviously substantial flooding and running water all over St Jude's Court. It's creating problems and it's got to the point now where this happens regularly when there's persistent rain. Well, I have nowhere to go. In terms of the council, is this one of these cases where it's a private estate that hasn't been taken over by the council yet and that's at the root of the problem or is it actually a council controlled estate? Yeah, because I know there is an ongoing process where at a certain point the council takes an estate over basically but there are some and there have been problems elsewhere and it'll be interesting to get confirmation on this actually to see if this is one of those estates that the council hasn't taken over yet. They're in the process of taking over a few I believe so we'll try and just clarify what the actual status of the estate is but at this point in time I mean you're getting no answers from the council and its officials. No, we'll give us the answers. What's the contractor saying? Because if it isn't the council controlled estate then as I understand it and I stand to correction on this but if it's not a council controlled estate at this point the contractor still has responsibility for it. So if both are denying the responsibility one of them it seems on the face of it is doing so incorrectly. Yep, there are negotiations with the council so they're not responsible. Yeah that would suggest the council hasn't taken over yet. In terms of the actual councillors themselves you have some very active and good councillors in the Liffords Trinola area have any of those been able to help or offer any insight? No, local councillors did come out he looked at the amount of water and one of the houses where the garden was actually being flooded they had to lift the manhole covers in the garden to get rid of the water and the councillor just turned around and said yes something needs to be done about this and we haven't heard anything since. Now obviously the councillor would have raced it when one presumes with officials and raced it at municipal district level at meetings there but ultimately nothing's been done. You're now in a situation you believe where you have broken drain covers blocked drains and it would appear on the face of it that if it's a case of blocked drains one good day's drain blocking could have a transformative effect on that particular area. It could yeah like you can see that the debris and mud sitting over the top of the drain covers they are completely blocked the ones that aren't broken. And presumably then it is having an effect on gardens because I mean the water has to go somewhere and if it's not going down the drain then it's effect it's going to flood but the results of a possibility of water being pushed up through the drains and individual houses and starting to flood driveways and gardens as well has that been happening? Yes it happens to a few of them yeah. Yeah I was actually in a situation where several years ago now the state I live in is an older estate and it is in council control and we were having a problem with that where a drain just outside our house was blocking and the water was coming up into the garden and the council just sent out a lorry and they took care of it and one day just made a huge difference and it seems to me that that should be the case that one good push at something like your estate with new drain covers and where necessary more runoff drainage space and piping I mean should be able to address this issue and the problem is you're being sort of being pushed from pillar to post rather than actually giving answers. Yeah that's the way it seems at the minute yeah. Well all we can do Veronica is I mean we'll strive to put the video up on our own website you have it up on Facebook it's going to be shared I'm sure and you know there is nothing like visual evidence and as I said I I certainly watched the video there while that song was playing and it's striking the impact that this water is having and it certainly shouldn't be happening on any estate and hopefully this will focus minds and if there are negotiations which hopefully will lead to the council taking over perhaps that video and the reaction to it will focus people's minds as well in terms of getting a positive response all we can do in the meantime Veronica say look we wish you and the residents well and hopefully this will be resolved sooner rather than later. Well thank you Donald and thanks for giving me the opportunity to highlight it and hopefully we'll get something done. Yeah as it's our pleasure Veronica and we would just say to people look I mean go to our website go to other websites just see what what this is because you know Veronica and I could could talk you know all morning but the reality is you spend two minutes looking at that video and you will see exactly what the problem is and it will demonstrate it far more than any discussion like this. Let's go back to some of your comments. Connor says I own a business I've experienced hard times losses and price increases just like the pig farmers but I never received a penny. I'm sure with the rise in fuel and electricity prices other businesses will be hit will we receive a support scheme so asks a corner. Connor says we're trying this past six weeks to get a refund from the council for the engineers report we keep being told it'll be issued soon that's not helping us we're stuck while our home continues to fall I do know there are discussions taking place today on the Michael response and I know that council officials are waiting to get clearance from the government to implement the revised scheme we're hoping that will happen quickly and there are a lot of hoops to be jumped through and I know there are a lot of people on Donegal County council who want to move on this and would love to move on this a lot quicker than they can but they are awaiting clearance from government there are discussions taking place today and we'll obviously be getting a report from those discussions hopefully hopefully something can come out of this and we can see this happening because a lot of people are in that particular situation as we speak it's Highland Radio it's uh 17 minutes to 10 o'clock we're going to take a short break. The Good Times are back the highly acclaimed Joe Dolan show remembering Joe is back in letter Kenny for one night only and what a party it will be St Patrick's night thursday march 17th eve of the bank holiday at the Clannery Hotel the spectacular show starring brother Ben Dolan nephews Edwin and Ray, niece Sandra, Karen Carroll plus the original Joe Dolan band will have you rocking and rolling in the aisles at the Clannery celebrate our national holiday and style tickets now available at the Clannery Hotel 0749124369 remember there's no show like a Joe show always a sell-out book now dear Daniel ever since you burst out of Dunnegall and onto the music scene I've been your biggest fan and when you came to visit I could have died and when you offered to fix my boiler I could have died Daniel because you're not a registered gas installer I'm returning all your albums and my rhinestone studded I love Daniel jacket goodbye forever from Mary yes Daniel you can find your local registered gas installer at argii.ie Dunnegall hearing clinic now open up here so letter Kenny and Bunkrana now offering state-of-the-art rechargeable hearing aids free with your PRSI also pain-free micro suction wax removal services call 07491-88470 or Dunnegall hearing clinic dot ie life sounds brilliant with Dunnegall hearing clinic visit Derry and experience a world of difference just over the border see the historic walls the waterfront and the famous chill-off licenses at Da Vinci White House Coulmore Hadmore and Shantalo which for some reason have suddenly become the number one attraction so visit Derry and leave with more than just memories please drink responsibly see drink aware dot ie win with low prices from supervalue with great offers like supervalue fresh cod fillets and iris tripline steak save 33 epic nicky soft toilet tissue 32 roll only 7 euro super and Campo Viejo Reserva six-pack case deal 50 euro winning win with super value low prices enjoy alcohol responsibly island radio weather updates with Ireland west airport Ronaldo De Bruyne Cavani you can now see both Manchester teams in action with Ryanair's twice weekly service to Manchester Ireland west airport you're flying the 9 till noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter Kenny credit union 9102127 okay let's look at the weather forecast and then we'll go directly to our next call on zoom um very cold with icy stretches on untreated surfaces some sunny spells and scattered showers of sleet snow and hail with the potential for isolated thunderstorms now through the afternoon and evening the snow showers will become mainly confined to higher ground it'll stay windy with fresh to strong west to southwest winds potentially turning stormy for a time this afternoon highest temperatures this afternoon just four to six degrees celsius but it will feel colder due to the wind chill now early tonight we will see some clear spells and scattered showers of rain or sleet it will become drier though with showers becoming isolated staying cold with minimum temperatures minus one to plus two degrees celsius some frost and ice possible breezy early in the night with fresh and gusty westerly winds they'll gradually ease light to moderate overnight tomorrow morning cold and dry with sunny spells and any frost and ice will clear cloud will increase later in the day bringing patches of drizzle it'll be milder with afternoon temperatures seven to nine mostly lights and moderate breezes fresh to strong southerly winds will develop later in the west so the message is only get out there if you have to get out there and if you can stay warm inside then stay warm inside that would appear to be the advice now we're going to zoom and what we're going to discuss on zoom this morning is fair trade fortnight in donnie gall and juan butler is development officer with change makers juan good morning hello how are you doing very well indeed juan fair trade fortnight in the county now obviously what change makers would much prefer i'm sure is fair trade 365 days but this is an attempt to engage educate and inspire people to support fair trade tell us what's happening yeah so fair trade fortnight's an opportunity for us just to do that to spread the word about the fair trade and what fair trade actually means fair trade is a system it's a certification system and it aims to ensure that the set of standards are met in production and supply of product or ingredients worldwide so things like your coffee your tea your bananas your wine your chocolate and your sugar for example are really good fair trade items these are items that we can't get locally so that by going for the fair trade standard it means that for us shoppers that we know that there's ethical standards behind that so that would be fair rights safe working environments and also fair pay now we know that the council itself has been striving to adopt its own fair trade policy so only using fair trade products were possible and only using contractors who use fair trade products were possible how successful has that been well with fair with change makers we are supporting and promoting towns in the county and they work with the local county council to make sure that hopefully is fair trade tea and coffee at the meetings and things like that so hopefully that's going well with the fair trade towns because they're in connection with the council for that and this year we're hoping to connect more with county council to adopt a fair trade county with that we're doing the the online helps because last year we were obviously all online but this year we are we're out and about as well but the online helps us engage with all towns that are fair trade but also new towns that would like to be fair trade so hopefully in the future we will see all of Donegal adopting the fair trade standard at the moment Carindona and Dunfanahe are fair trade towns Bunkrana has a bid and hopefully will be shortly but that's just scraping the surface really you'd like to see I'm sure letter Kenny Bala Biface Trinora by Lee Shannon, Bondorun, Dunlow, Burton Port, the list is endless you'd like to see all towns in the county strive for this designation that's it yeah and it's very exciting because like Dunfanahe there this time two years ago we were just going into the dreaded lockdown we're just about to get their fair trade status and working with them with changemakers has been really exciting because they've developed as a town as a group and they're about to get their signs up and this year they're running a competition a crossword they're having coffee mornings they're also doing cookie and events throughout the schools and also they've developed the support fair trade stickers that's are now available you can see them in all the shops so it's really exciting to be to see a town develop into a fair trade town Carindona has been going for six or seven years now and this year they are doing an amazing event in person in the Colgan Hall that'll be on Friday the 4th of March with lots of stall holders and also performances and tasting samples as well so it's really exciting for the fair trade towns in existence and then any new fair trade towns like Bunkrana are starting to develop and do events as well so this opportunity of the fortnight really gives that the town to chance and any new towns that want to get involved they can just contact us and change makers and there is of course a huge focus now on sustainability and green tourism and so on and one would assume that we're going to get to the point where things like fair trade designations are going to form part of the decision-making process when people are considering holidays when people are considering trips they're going to start considering things like fair trade designation green tourism designations and so on when they're making those decisions so it could very well be in the economic interest of a town to get this designation as well as being in the interest of just doing the right thing of course and I think that people are more switched on now especially to the ethical rights when we can see you know worldwide what would happen that if the rights aren't fair for the people and the employers in another country so for us to be able to promote that and to be able to support that locally just means that we've got that the opportunity to promote that we are choosing the world that we want to live in and of course that having the fair trade sign up on your town is a great as an ambassador of fair trade is a great thing to have and how difficult is it for a town to get that designation and how much work is involved in getting it because I know certainly there are people that I know personally in in letterkenny and in the Twin Towns and elsewhere in Dunningall who would be very interested in this and who you know try to live their own fair trade lives and and they'd be very interested in getting involved with their local communities how does one go about actually seeking this designation well change makers works very closely with fair trade Ireland and fair trade Ireland to develop the guidebook so you've got your goals if I think there's four or five goals that you need to achieve first of all you get the group together and then you go through the it's kind of like you work with communities the councils the businesses in your local area but change makers are fully supportive and promote the town so we can come on board and we can help you achieve those goals as well and it's part of our objectives to do that so if anybody you know wants to get involved we can help them through those goals and have you had interest from other towns as you say Bunkran is seeking the designation at the moment and are you getting more interest from Dunningall is there more awareness as we see other towns develop I'm sure the word will start getting around to the other neighboring towns as well I mean you know are you seeing evidence that that's happening well in the past Dunningall town and Maville town has got the fair trade status and we still work with them because this year with our online lunchtime speaker event we're actually involving Maville as well with the farm shop and also in Dunningall town we've got Stella's boutique but new towns are coming on board we've got Ardra who are and who have just done the transition town work and they are looking hopefully to become a fair trade town as well in the future excellent Joan thanks so much indeed for speaking to us this morning exciting times and as you say there are various events happening both in person and online where can people go to get that information and to learn more yes so Changemakers has all the events now up on their Facebook page which is Changemakers Dunningall we've also got Instagram Twitter all the usual but our website is Changemakers.ie and if you just go into the events page there you'll find information but if anybody wants any information to get in touch with me or ourselves at Changemakers.ie and we can help and support any new groups out there and fair trade fortnight in Dunningall began on Monday the 21st and runs until March the 6th. Joan thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning. Thanks Donal thank you. That is Joan there who was speaking to us on Zoom and let's now just look at some of your comments before we go for a break. A caller says I have to say I totally agree with that farmer the government and industry have destroyed our land we need a totally different direction in this instance that embraces nature and brings life back into our little island so says a caller. A message that came through and I'm just going to read this out to you again it's about farming in Dunningall. The caller says I'm sending this in to hope that it gets read out as a small farmer living and working in Dunningall all my life I'm 45 I can say without doubt that the last two years have been probably the most challenging of my life. I'm sure by now your screen has seen plenty of text messages along the lines of typical crying farmer. This is a tag that farmers in this country have been struck with for many years and in some cases it is deserved however in other cases it's a title that's thoroughly undeserved. While I was listening to your show on Monday of this week you were discussing the Micah issue with the caller who was raising the problem facing people who have Micah affected buildings that are not just family homes. A person texted in and made the comment crying farmers looking for a handout and followed this with from a very angry taxpayer. I mean what do I wonder does this person think I do myself? Do I not pay tax like everyone? This I believe comes down to simple ignorance. The texture while no doubt feeling very aggrieved about farm subsidies is simply wrong in their thinking. Farm subsidies were introduced to reduce the price of farm produce to the consumer. In the beginning the subs were a tool to reduce the price of meat that was being paid by the average family. However like most things in life it was soon to be taken advantage of by some and frankly destroyed by others. In my youth in the early 90s it was not uncommon for a farmer to receive two pounds punt per kilo and more for animals sold at the local mart. This at a time when the cost of living in the country was a tiny fraction of what we're facing today. I recently sold year old bulls at a local mart. To my surprise I was told by people I've known all my life about how well I had done to get my animals to the price of 235 euro per kilo. I don't think it's necessary for me to tell you the difference between the buying power of my euro today compared with the power of my punt in the early 1980s. So to come to a point as a farmer facing another year where things seem to be stumbling from bad to worse on an early daily basis I don't hold much hope for the small farmers in this country. Never mind this county. As a farmer I now have the added bonus of being responsible for destroying the environment or so it seems at least. I could rant on about how the wonderful EU has agreed to take beef from South America where tens of thousands of acres of rainforest are being felled to produce more grassland while I am soon to be almost forced to reduce my animal numbers. In conclusion beef farmer has become almost pointless. My early income has dropped below 4,000 euro for the third year in a row. The price I receive for what I sell has stayed almost on a level for many years now. My cost along with everyone else's has been rising like a rocket. So if you're listeners here a crying farmer instead of jumping to conclusions try asking them why they're complaining. There is likely a good reason and that is a perspective from a farmer and it's important that we hear it. Another quarter says I just want to tell you briefly about a variation of the I need money for the bus to always come. A man came into the bus station today it was raining at the time the bad weather was the conversation opener he goes straight into a story where he's going to kill his boss tomorrow when he gets back to his town he starts telling me he's just at a hospital even has an ID ban done but you don't get a good look at it. He ended up in hospital because something happened when he was driving a lorry his boss is now apparently not answering his phone he's no money to get back to Sligo on the bus he wonders will the driver let him on the bus without money he then heads off to look at the timetables just as he's coming back in my direction my bus was leaving and I had to go I don't know if he tried it with anyone else I remember getting caught with that story before I gave a person a tenner as I think he was 10 year old short as far as I remember he got on the bus at the time if someone was genuinely stuck it wouldn't cost me a thought to throw them a ten or a 20 it's when you know they're telling you a pile of shite that makes it annoying my other pal used to keep missing his bus to go he was doing the rounds one day last week I'd say he must have tried that story or he will be again if you're around the bus station often you'll get to recognize the lads who are pulling the scams so says one of our callers and I suppose it's one to be aware of there are always people who are going to pray on the goodness of others I actually got a Potsap message the other day from a number I didn't recognize and it just said hi dad this is my new number now given that I have two children and both were actually at the table with me having tea at the time I knew it wasn't either of them so I I said to my son I said um oh someone someone's after sending me a message I must message him back and tell him they've got the wrong number in case you know and my son said it's a scam dad and I said what he said trust me it's a scam and the whole point is that they'll say oh it's my number you know and it's it's it's aimed toward parents who are away from there now my both my children they're in their late 20s but they both live with us so obviously they're with me at the time so it wasn't one of them but say if you have a child who's abroad or whatever or living down the country and they send you a text oh this is my new number so you you you message back and say lovely thanks and then they text back and say oh by the way I'm short you know you could fall for it that way I want to take a short break news headlines with Catherine after these what was that oh probably just the elephant serengeti safari could be tune in this Friday to Highland Radio the groom's room had evolved clothing in the Latticanny retail park has the best value and selection in suiting for your wedding day at Smithsdale side we offer a wide range of yo-fi rich in high-pro soya cereals vitamin e and selenium Smithsdale side market leaders since 1865 call us today on 0749171300 is the appearance of your staff important to your business it's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises at CNM embroidery and letter Kenny they have a huge range of clothing covering all areas of the workplace it's widely known the customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well have your company name embroidered or printed on all your work uniforms contact CNM embroidery on 0749128097 and get your staff looking their best as life starts to get back to a new normal it's time that we look after what is precious to us are you struggling with your hearing your hearing is an essential part of everyday living hearing is our social sense and connects you to friends and family at connect hearing we're here for you with our clinics at courtyard shopping center letter Kenny and Joyce's Suropati clinic in Dunlop our centers are open Monday to Friday where you can avail of our hearing tests wax removal and repair services connect hearing connecting you to life if you're starting a new business in 2022 call into bizprint today and get started logo designed invoice books business cards and all your printing needs call bizprint at Port Road Letter Kenny on 91179955 or visit bizprint.ie your long-com free gift is waiting for you at Michael Hennies simply buy two long-com products and receive the ultimate beauty routine your gift includes a full-size rose sugar scrub a seven-piece travel set including many of your long-com favorites plus choose from our absolute or hydrogen skin care collection to complete your gift exclusively in store and online at mckelhennies.com until March 13th this is the 9 to 9 show on Highland radio it's a minute past 11 o'clock time for headlines we say good morning Catherine Gaffney thanks donal good morning huge traffic jams can be seen in Kiev after explosions were heard in the ukrainian capital overnight they followed Vladimir Putin's announcement of a russian military operation in the east of the country saying he was determined to end eight years of conflict missile attacks have also been reported along ukraine's border the provision of two new multi-million euro business enterprise and innovation centers in letter Kenny is officially a step closer the project under the consulate's part eight development process has been given the green light at a special meeting of the consulate today the proposed development will include the demolition of the former esp retail and office premises and existing sheds to the rear of the site located on the pierce road serious concern has been raised that an 80 year old sewerage pipe is set to remain in Kerry keel irish water is currently carrying out work on a new sewerage treatment system along the main street in the village however the old pipe in question is not going to be replaced as part of the works it's understood that the sewer has had a history of blockages and leaks social distancing pods and bubbles are gone and sporting activities music singing and breakfast clubs can all resume in schools from monday it's part of new guidance issued to schools by the department of education last night which is encouraging them to return to normal routines and activities the foreign affairs minister has been urged to examine the findings of the Greenwich report in particular the minister is being asked to focus on details as it relates to a former UD or member believed to have been involved in a number of murders including that of Dunnegal councillor eddie Fullerton in 1991 and work on a long awaited one-way system in the heart of letter Kenny is to begin next month the traffic system was first proposed back in 2018 but have been stalled due to funding constraints that's it for now we're back with more at 12 noon 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 test to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 from the HSE for us all the 9 till noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter Kenny credit union 9102127 it's the third and final hour of the 9 till noon show today color says just to clarify one thing pig farmers don't get any grants from Europe a lot of comments were saying farmers are getting too much funding already not pig farmers now the caller says the importance of homegrown food now with the thought of world war three ahead is vital we should be supporting our farmers we're all forgetting the importance of homegrown food and knowing it's local and traceable i'm sick of people slagging off our farmers remember this no farmers no food i just want to share with you another message that we got it's from a caller who says i don't know i'm 27 years old i live at home with my folks and siblings i hope you can air my wee rant for me i'm at least i was on jobseekers lounge benefit till tuesday past i leave my work docket in the welfare office every tuesday to show the days i was lucky enough to have worked and the days i wasn't working for the week i do sub work and i'm fortunate enough that i might get a day or two a week subbing for someone however in the middle of january when schools started back i was lucky enough to get almost a full month's work due to covid with ones being off i was still handing in my dockets every week to the welfare office indicating i'd worked for the full week so i wouldn't be getting any payment from welfare this past tuesday i was leaving my docket up again and i hadn't worked the days the previous week so i was due money from social welfare which didn't come into my account when i left my docket i was asked was my money later what was the situation and to my surprise i was told i was cut off because they believed i was in full employment because i'd worked a few weeks monday to friday and i was handing in a form to get on jobseekers again the next day after thinking in on that evening and night a new application could take up to three weeks to come through but not even that the fact that i was cut off without any notice or warning even though i was leaving dockets for every week indicating i was working not one of them taught about saying to me or asking me the question after looking at my dockets did i get full-time employment i would have told them no i was only subbing for someone the next day when i rang the office it was made out like it was my fault for working consecutive days that i was cut off it's just frustrating now filling up these forms again and now an extra means test form that i have to fill in and it must be new because i never had to fill it out before asking what my other siblings are earning not that it should matter to welfare there's no millionaires here anyway i hope this finds you well just wonder has anyone else experienced anything like this that is an interesting one and it does um certainly point to an issue that if someone is an and in fairness they're doing the absolute right and honest thing they're handing in their dockets and they're stating exactly what's happening but they've been cut off without notice and me surely if you're about to be cut off at the least you could get is a phone call saying look what's the situation now we believe that one there i want to go to line one and i want to go to oxana who is a ukrainian native who is currently living in letter kenny uh oxana good morning good morning um oxana this it must be a very difficult time for you at the moment looking at the news and looking at what's happening in your native country well it was a terrifying morning because i got a call from my brother and he told me that said the war started and are we trying to leave here because he's currently living here so he was on the way to his family to pick them up and um when i heard that i couldn't believe but when i started reading in news and internet i realized it really happened and the cities are under the bombs and people scared and never since second world war people never in ukraine heard the bomb and alarms especially in kiev so this was just horrible we now we know there are major traffic jams in kiev as as people tried to get out but we understand there are issues now with the airport and very serious question marks over whether people heading for the airport will be able to get flights out no they are not uh every airport a part of um the major one in kiev they all destroyed so at the moment as far as i know borders closed so people just trying to get a safer place maybe in another side of ukraine so what they do they try to use any any chances so cars buses everything was also walking even so whoever panicking you know not everybody living but still there's a big number of people who just scared they're trying to move to as they think more safer place but i don't believe it in a safe place right now at the moment in ukraine because it's bombed in everywhere russia claims that it is effectively protecting the two breakaway regions to the east that it is recognizing as independent states recognition that that is not shared or given by any other state and certainly is also rejected by the united nations it is it your fear now that russia will move beyond those two states and will start heading toward kiev and that we'll effectively see russia launch what will be an all-out war against ukraine they already invented and they started bombing every city who has airport and military base so it's nothing to do with the occupied territory there's nothing to do with Ivansk and Donetsk there's a people even there you know so they have already done it and i think they will move forward of course and and and the fear is that we will sooner rather than later see russian troops in kiev i'm not sure about kiev it really depends how ukrainian forces will will react and i hope they finally will start doing something because it's just terrifying like ukrain army has to protect people so but if they start fighting back unfortunately people start dying because it's just at this point it seems that russia is trying to paint itself as a protector so any action taken by the ukrainian forces presumably then will be portrayed by russia as an attack on russia and russia will have no choice but to defend itself that that would appear to be the direction that the Vladimir Putin is is heading in that that that's going to get absolutely no credence outside of russia itself certainly isn't going to get credence in ukraine and it seems no other state and and certainly the un is not going to sort of offer that any credence but that doesn't make it any less worrying for yourself and others who are looking at what's happening well when i heard his last speech the Putin's speech and when he said that ukrainian forces never existed so what kind of conversation you can have with a such a person who has had of the biggest country in the world and saying that another country never existed so he doesn't need any excuses to intervene in ukraine he just did because he doesn't want to realize the independence of ukraine and there was never official referendum over there and that there is you know that's why that's happening if because he doesn't want to see ukraine and not that doesn't mean that he has to just start the war there is always a way to solve problems without us and the the fear appears to be now that war is inevitable given what you know about ukraine and politics and and obviously given what you know about the tensions between russia and ukraine and and they have always been there that in many ways i'm sure for you and for your family that this isn't something new that tension has always been bubbling under the surface but are you more afraid now than you've been before of course because now they start really acting the tank is there on the border there is a real bombs that that's a real war that's not the words that's a bombs now already and i know people who live in that occupied territory daniec can look at bases bombs every day and people are dying there so i don't think um there's no doubts that he will move forward and i don't know who will stop him you you have no confidence that the ukrainian army can can win this conflict it would appear almost unthinkable that ultimately if it goes to full-scale war that the ukrainian army could defeat russia if it starts uh if we start the open fight i mean total mobilization and people will everybody will take a gun start fight then probably it's possible that will be stopped for now we just use our regular army and it really depends what he's going to do he doesn't use everybody in his army so ukraine doesn't use as well everybody in our army yeah we just um it's just a start let's say everybody's keep thinking that it will be diplomatic way to sort this out what can the international community do at this point we will see the sanctions what they provide is not enough and i'm not sure that european countries are ready to lose the fuel oil gas so it will be very tough conversation from this point of view is it your fear that rather than looking at this from the point of view of the welfare of the people of ukraine the international community is going to look at this with questions like what impact is this going to have on the price of oil what impact is this going to have on the price of gas that it will become an economic concern rather than a humanitarian concern yes i would say if it comes to the stage we need to discuss the prices here on the field grow up already so i'm not sure that people are ready to sacrifice the economical advantage rather than think about people in ukraine because they're not leaving there it's not their war and from that point understand them i don't know what what our president is going to do but i think they should have found a way to sort that at least to stop bonding because that's that's every day do you hold out any hope that diplomacy at this point could still work i want to believe that it can work i want to believe if it doesn't then it has to be probably military support and maybe other nations should be involved and i don't know it's hard to say i'm very far from it i'm here in the moment yeah and it must be very difficult when you're living in letter kenny where life appears to go on uh looking you know at what's happening in in in your own native country and and you're seeing it on tv screens and and and because now of social media and everything you're you're hearing about it 24 hours a day and and your family is there and and you can talk to them but by the same talk on your you're also really concerned for them and for their welfare every day something new but no one expected that it'll start this morning like very early morning people were sleeping in the beds and heard the bombs so it was just unexpected in the sense and i don't want to hear calls from my relatives today that i woke up because of bombs yeah in terms of the the the situation in in in Ukraine we know there are the the the separatist regions in in the east of the country and the other one in terms of the rest of the country and what's the situation politically is their unity in in in Ukraine does does the government have the level of support that it would need to sustain us at a time like this in every country we have some disagreements inside i mean political parties and as always was there and always will be but in general Ukraine and that peaceful nation so it doesn't mean that all this conflict has to be resolved through the war so for now i think everybody understand everyone who lives in Ukraine that no one need the war so they are united in that and they're going to defend the country i don't know which way but they would they should have do that because they believe they they have a right to live in their own land no matter what the neighbor dictate to do now Ukraine has has made it clear it it's going to put to one side any plans it may have been considering of joining NATO that that appears not to have been enough but as Ukraine was looking more toward NATO and and toward the west do you believe that the west now needs to look toward Ukraine and and give Ukraine the level of support and the level of help that it would have given Ukraine had Ukraine gone ahead and joined NATO well according to constitution we have to have referendum about us first and then we will see if everybody majority will say yes then it will be at least the voice of Ukrainians regarding this question for now i don't think Ukraine is ready in general to get the NATO and to be honest if it was my point of view i would say with such a neighbor i would love to be in NATO at least i would sleep calm and know that if something happen we will be protected and ironically in in the long term it could be the case that Vladimir Putin by his actions actually almost forces Ukraine into NATO rather than prevents it from happening yeah that's what he's doing effect of bomb yeah oxana i mean i i know it must be really difficult and all all we can say is our our thoughts are with you and i recognize how inadequate that is as a response but we certainly wish you and your family well and it behoves all of us i think to remember that when we discuss something like Ukraine we talk about geopolitical this and and we talk about international relations and diplomacy that but as is always the case at the heart of this are people like your family in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine who today are very worried indeed and let us never forget that oxana thanks very much indeed for first speaking to us this morning thank you we wish you well oxana you you take care and that was oxana there speaking to us from letter kenny a native of Ukraine and as you said she's been speaking to her family this morning and very very concerning times indeed as we've been hearing on the news from Catherine that we have had explosions audible from Kiev this morning and it is a very concerning situation indeed we're going to move on now and speak to a marine biologist Sean O'Callaghan is a marine biologist and he joins us Sean good morning to you very well indeed Sean we're hearing that souvenir hunters may be responsible for the removal of the jaws of two sperm whales that washed up on the Mahri coast tell us what's happened here yeah donald so Wednesday last week two sperm whales were reported to the Irish Well and Alphen group and in along the Donigal coast so it was one in Malin and one in the west and it seems within a day or so the one that was in the Marri was the jaw was taken off the animal but then on Friday I heard that the whale in Malin had had its jaw removed so it's an unfortunate thing that happens when these sperm whales wash up often the jaws are removed by people either as souvenirs as you say or maybe to sell the sell the teeth that are in the jaw now that is and you've pointed this out this morning that is illegal yeah yeah so sperm whales are protected species in in Irish waters and part of the protection for these animals includes the body parts from these from these whales so if you're in possession of any body part from from these animals you have to have a license from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and in addition to this you're it's illegal to sell these teeth under the Convention on International Trade and endangered species of wild fauna and flora which which is called psytes so it's a psytes is the acronym for it so if these teeth were removed for the for the purpose of selling them then you know it's it's illegal it's sperm whale teeth are sold in other parts of the world like in the Azores and Madeira where they were killed in very high numbers up until the the 1980s but those whales were from quailing times so those body parts are eligible to be sold but since since that point it's not allowed but it's very hard to please so if if the teeth are indeed sold to be honest i don't know where the teeth end up but it's always often the case that once these sperm whales wash up in Ireland and in other countries that the jaw is sought off quite quickly and just even in doing that it's very disrespectful to the animal to remove the jaw like that but it just happened unfortunately. I am presuming that in both these instances the the animals were deceased but we do know that on several occasions whales have been washed up on Irish beaches and they have been at the time still alive occasionally they can be successfully brought back into the water more usually sadly that that isn't the case can you confirm that in both these instances the whales were already deceased? Yeah yeah both of these sperm whales and bodygall were dead for some time and they had been floating at sea so I saw the melon head whale myself and you could see that the skin had been picked away by the birds while it was floating on the sea and it sort of normal color only remains on the parts of the whale that was underwater. The other whale was quite thin but it's still it still had been dead for some time as well. But that doesn't make any difference to the fact that this is illegal practice and the rigors of the law could be brought on those who if they are found doing it? Yeah exactly it's yeah it's just an unfortunate thing that that goes on and I don't know of any convictions in Ireland but in the UK a few years ago there was a couple who was convicted who were convicted of smuggling sperm whale teeth that they had taken from animals in the UK and they were trying to fly them over to America and the reason they were bringing the teeth there was because there's a trade called Scrimshaw so it's where animal bones and parts are etched into to create artistic works which is something whalers used to do in the olden times and it seems to be a relatively big thing in the US it became very popular in the 60s when John F Kennedy was president because on his desk in the oval in the oval office he actually collected Scrimshaw from from sperm whales so it seems that might be the sort of the driver for if the teeth were sold but I don't know the specifics it's it's something that keeps reoccurring but it's very hard to monitor and of course the Kennedys would have had a home at kind of Bunkport in Maine and that would be would have been traditionally whaling country so that would have been probably something that would have been in in the family for quite some time yeah yeah they would have been quite close to Nantocus where which was the center of whaling for sperm whales in the 1700s it's sort of a famous hub or New Bedford as well like where Moby Dick was based out of and Moby Dick was a sperm whale too so you have that sort of link there in in terms of the the removal of the jaws it does suggest something that's slightly more organized than if people were taking one tooth as a souvenir for themselves the fact that the entire jaw is being taken would be a suggestion that this is being done with a view towards either sail or moving those teeth on be the be it individual teeth or the whole jaw as a single whole it might be the case that there there is some logistics involved in like first sawing the jaw off and then removing it from from the beach uh in the case of Malham Head it was quite a difficult beach to even walk on because of all the the small stones and pebbles but you could drive very close to it so you know if you if you if you tie the rope to it you'd be able to pull it with the with the car up yeah it people tend to come down to these animals and take souvenirs anyway and it's usually the teeth that that draw a lot of people and like some teeth were removed um when i was looking at the animal on the weekend and uh often people don't get the entire tooth they'll they'll saw the top of the tooth off because it's easier to do than uh than taking the tooth that's below the gum line and sawing the jaw is easy really to remove a lot of teeth in one in one moment but the teeth have a huge scientific value though because if you have a whole tooth and you cut the tooth in half uh you can count the growth rings inside of the tooth like on a tree so you can actually get the age of the whale so it's the teeth are quite valuable to understand these animals um so it can be difficult when you want to sample an animal and get an idea of its of its um age when somebody's already taken most of the the teeth the easier to access teeth and it's not just burn whales like i know of a case a few years ago where a killer whale stranded in uh mail i think it was 2010 and uh researchers went up to work on the animal and tried to understand it but at the time they arrived somebody had used a chainsaw or some sort of electric saw to try and take the jar or the skull and the it really defaced the animal and you know they they ruined it from from that perspective if the specimen could be collected for a museum to that that possibility is pretty much removed when when they get so badly damaged are we seeing an increase in uh such um beachings and whales washing up on the coast because it seems to me and this is just an utterly personal um perspective that we we've been covering more stories about stranded whales and beached whales in in recent times that then we would have done in the past i mean is there evidence to of that or is that just um an aberration in my own head um so so in this in this particular case it's unusual that two sperm whales turned up on the same day but they had been dead for some time but we don't know what actually killed these animals uh they could have died of natural causes or there could be a variety of factors but what brought them ashore was undeniably the storms big storm systems we had the last week or so um because over the entire winter it's been very very mild and calm with no winds to actually bring any animals ashore uh that would be out there uh over the last few years there has been an increase in common dalsons trending and it's been monitored by the Irish Railand dalsons group uh their their trending scheme which records these animals when they wash up and what we just have to see if these storms would bring in more animals uh and if more deep divers like the sperm whales wash up along the Irish coast uh over the next few weeks just to see if anything unusual is going on or just to monitor the trends and see what happens uh if these animals wash up in a more fresher condition or died more recently before washing up then maybe there there would be possibilities of investigating their cause of death or getting vets who would know a lot more about the anatomy of these animals to understand yep maybe what happened them right important to record them okay dog Sean O'Callan marine brolly just thanks very much indeed um and just let people remember that uh if you do have a beach twail as a whale washed up on a local beach you mean you know and you want to consider taking the teeth or the jaw or whatever that it is illegal and please refrain from so doing uh Sean thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning no problem thank you very much homeland fuel offers keeping you warm for less 20 kg e-cop right by five bags for 50 euro softwood 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for more in this week's farmers journal is paul mooney we reveal the EU proposals which could see over 100 000 hectares of farm peakland rewetted ban and one-off rural housing ruled out by minister dairy group talk cowcap and farmer compensation for tackling climate change and will you make money from putting solar panels in your sheds plus how to make the most of spring fertilizer only inside this week's irish farmers journal on sale now in harsh winter weather once and higher have all you need to stay safe and keep warm there's great deals on coal, calor gas, firewood and heating oil with free local delivery also electric, fan, halogen and oil filled heaters see in store and the fuel store at watsonhire.ie great offers on winter clothing and boots and for any higher items there's still the weekend hire deal of three days for the price of one all at watsonhire kill toy letter kenny with free parking at the door highland radio time checks brought to you by letter kenny shopping center the center of shopping in dunny all free parking and shopping all under one roof letter kenny shopping center bringing you the time at and the time here on highland radio is just gone half past 12 the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letter kenny credit union 9102127 obviously there has been a lot of talk about the micro crisis and there is indeed an important meeting of dunny god county council taking place today and we're awaiting the second redress scheme to be confirmed and for the council to be given clearance to roll that out by the government and we certainly had hoped to see it before easter consideration now that it might be a little bit later on in the year before that happens and hopefully that would prove not to be the case but people who follow this issue on social media will be very familiar with the name Claire McDade. Claire has been posting quite a lot about her own personal experience and she and Dennis Kelly are also members of Don't Fear the Natives a band in Anishoen who I first saw a few years ago play in voodoo in letter kenny. Claire and Dennis you're very both welcome to the show this morning. Thank you. Thanks for having us. It's our pleasure Claire I think I first came across the single being mentioned actually in an article in hot press a while back but you you certainly have been very supportive of the mica campaign and you have a very personal reason for doing so. I do have a very personal reason for doing so my house has defective blocks and we are a very very late stage of deterioration so we're at the point where it's the time that we have to come and move out of our house is coming very close so we're at the stage where we have to do something I have to speak I feel that I have to use my voice in whatever way I can. You and Dennis sing as I say with Don't Fear the Natives and as you said you have to do what you can and your skills lie in music and songwriting and you have written a song about the experience of mica and and you're about to launch it. Yes well it's Dennis that wrote the song now I'm just the singer but we launched it there on the 22nd and we're already at number two in the iTunes chart which is incredible really amazing so we're trying to push it now to number one just really to send a very very clear message to the government that we've had enough we've we're done waiting we want our houses fixed we want what we've paid for and we're hoping that this will give us another way of publicizing the campaign and getting support from people. And in terms of the the single itself obviously any any money that's been been raised from it I mean you know that that that has been earmarked as well. Absolutely the money's going towards counseling charities and that's going to be something that I know myself I've used and for my children as well but you know it's such a stressful traumatic experience it's very hard to put it into words just how difficult the experience is I mean when you're in your house at night and you're feeling unsafe when you don't really want to go home or you don't want anybody to come and visit you there's a sort of a shame in it as well when the house is moldy and when the house is crumbling and cracked and you know that stress and trauma the counseling services will hopefully support people through that. They say that a song I think Bruce Brinkstein once said I learned more from a three-minute record than I ever learned in school. A song can help share an experience and a song can help bring something to focus that hours and hours of talk can't let let's hear the song Dennis Claire in your own time please. Okay thank you. It's an important message and it's contemporary and it's of our time and it's also a great song Dennis very well written very well put together it's a great song on every level and Claire song brilliantly as always but by yourselves you've sung that song at many events I'm sure already and you'll probably sing at a lot more events on the back of many vans and lorries over the course of the next while hopefully not too many. Do you foresee you being put in a situation where you'll be singing that on a lorry in Dublin again? We have to hold out hope that the government are going to do the right thing I hope that it doesn't come to us going back to Dublin I really hope it doesn't but it's hard to know isn't it you know they've got we're waiting now for the 28th they they really need to do the right thing I don't know how they sleep in bed at night knowing that there's I mean there's really an accident waiting to happen it's hard not to be emotional about the whole thing it's hard when you're singing not to be emotional too because I mean it there's so many of us affected and we are trying to sort of speak for everybody that's affected you know there's thousands of us and that storm the other night was terrifying and I it's funny I made a comment to to my own wife that I mean you know one of the things that's lovely is when you're in bed and you're warm and you're cozy and you hear the wind outside and you just feel oh it's lovely being here that's a pleasure that's very much denied to you and many others oh absolutely you're waiting for bits of the house to fall off and it's or worse you know there are people who are really afraid and I have to and I would be honest and then it struck me because I have a very good friend who's who's involved in the campaign whose own home in in letter Kenny is affected and I don't think it's at the point where he's that worried about the structural integrity yet but you know he's he's he's spoken on the platforms and and so on and so forth and you know he came into my mind and I thought yeah this this is a this is a privilege I have that many are denied and you know it's sort of it brings it back home to people and I think the storms have it in many ways and I was at a council meeting on Monday and I spoke to a number of people Martin McDermott and others about it and and even he was telling me the number of calls he was getting on on Sunday night and on Monday morning you know he said it was quite frightening and then the photograph started to come through and it really focused people's minds it did focus people's mind and you know I was I couldn't sleep obviously and it was on all different social media platforms and that undercurrent of fear and anxiety but also anger people are very angry and rightly so people should not be left in this situation and it should never have happened and they should be doing everything they can to help us they should be bending over backwards to help us rather than putting blocks in our way. Right Claire, Dennis, thanks very much indeed for speaking to us this morning. We'll try and get everyone just even stream in the song we'll put it to number one that's what we really want. Okie doke and we wish you the best with it and have a very good day. Right bye bye now. At Creaseless supermarket we offer daily specials at our deli with fresh and delicious food to go avail of our Butcher's weekly specials or choose from a range of healthy options and pre-packed meals plus many more offers in store. We're open seven days for your convenience. Creaseless supermarket where quality and value is assured. The award-winning Genesis Aesthetics and Skincare Clinic adore offers the most advanced skin care treatments for men and women treating conditions such as acne, skin tags, rosacea and scarring. As a qualified aesthetic expectation Mary Ferry offers a range of anti-aging treatments including dermal fillers, thread lefts, profilo, skin boosters, micro-nittling and LED light therapy. 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Find us on Facebook or call us on 0749127491. Ireland ready or weather updates with Ireland West Airport. Discover Edinburgh this summer with Ryanair's three times weekly service. Stunning architecture, endless winding streets and an awe-inspiring castle. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. Well, throughout this afternoon and evening, snow showers will become mainly confined to higher ground. It'll be windy with fresh to strong west to southwest winds, potentially turning stormy for a time this afternoon. Highest temperatures four to six, but feeling colder as a result of wind chill. Clear spells and scattered showers of rain or sleet early tonight will become drier as the night goes on, with showers isolated, cold with minimum temperatures minus one to plus two degrees Celsius, frost and ice possible, breezy early in the night with fresh and gusty westerly winds. They'll ease night to moderate overnight. Slightly better prospects for tomorrow, but it'll be a little bit warmer, cold and dry with sunny spells and frost and ice clearing in the morning, cloud increasing later with patches of drizzle, afternoon temperatures seven to nine. Now we heard from Claire and Dennis before the break singing their song, which is focusing attention on Micah and there is a key meeting taking place this afternoon of Donegal County Council's Micah Redress Committee. One of the issues being discussed by the council is the establishment of a facilitation service for Micah families in the county, joined on the line by an owns of the Micah Action Group and one of the many voices that we've been hearing a lot of in recent times and good morning. Good morning to all. And what's the importance of a facilitation service? So Donald, can I say to you in a nutshell that the process of applying for the defective concrete block scheme is definitely not for the faint hearted. Now it's a fully, Donegal has chosen to put in place a fully digital application form, whereas my own has decided to put in place a fully paper or hard called a hard application form. And I will be advocating strongly that Donegal County Council, you know, amend this to either a hybrid application form, digital and party paper or even better still, I would like to see both a digital and or a paper application being introduced that will suit different people with different skills. Can I say that there's three stages? So it's a complex application form. And you know, what can we say about that? Everything about this is complex and each house and each homeowner is in a different situation. But so there's stage one, which is confirmation of eligibility, stage two, which is grant approval, and stage three payment of grants. Now in those three processes, there are a minimum of 21 documents will have to be provided to the processing body within the council, you know, as part of that. And that doesn't include any additional documents that could be required from time to time, known as FI request or further information requests. And effectively, what we're seeing here is that if the council had an office available with advisors, facilitators, people who know the system to give you help and advice, because I mean anyone who's faced with the 21 page application form, as we often are, I mean, it can be sometimes hard to make head and tail of and the more help that's available to people, the better. Because I mean, the last thing people going through the experience of Micah needs is just to have their heads fried by application forms. Absolutely. Donal, I've just I would just give you a flavor of the type of skills and resources any applicant would need to have their fingertips to make any handling of getting through this application, this digital application form. So this is what they would need to have. So they would need to have access to good computer hardware scanner and printer. They would need to have access to a good broadband service. They would need what I would consider to be high levels of digital literacy, including the ability to type to scan to upload and to download documents and to provide all documents in a portable document form or PDF. You would really need an understanding of the the lead document, the IS465 protocol, which is basically a set of administrative guidelines developed by the National Standards Authority of Ireland as a template document for engineers. You would have to be able to engage and confer with your engineer, with the council processing team, with planners, possibly with a quantity surveyor. You would need to be able to forward plan. For example, dealing with your lender, you know, lots of people are going to be going for demolition and that's going to increase in the future. So while you're putting in this digital application and you may have to move out of your house, you would have to organize what in the trade is known as an ARA or an alternative repayment arrangement. So working with your bank to see if when you move out of your house, you're going to be moving into rent accommodation. How are you going to pay your mortgage and do that? So you're going to be, you know, entering into, you know, entering into negotiations with your bank and they're not easy to deal with. And we know and that 12 councillors signed an emergency motion on Monday of this week calling on the council to make this service available as quickly as possible. You understand that's going to be discussed at meeting this afternoon and hopefully a decision taken. Are you in some way encouraged by the fact that the council and the councillors are taking this one so seriously? Can I just say that during the working group negotiations last year, homeowners mutated the need for facilitators right to the department and to department staff and they ostensibly had no issue with providing the funding. And you know, I believe these facilitators would be most effective not working outside the council, but working within the council service, you know, streamlined into existing services. And I have advised the county manager on a number of occasions of the need for funding for at least two facilitators. Just starting off with two with and we have support pledged. I mean, I have had personally got support pledged from all the TDs and all the councillors in the county. Now, Patsy Lafferty, director of housing with the council, met with the department of housing yesterday in Dublin to discuss the effective concrete block scheme and the issue of facilitators was very much on the agenda. And can I say don't know, but Mica homeowners deserve the very best service possible. They did not, they have nothing to do with the Mica crisis. This is a scandal of epic proportions and the very least that homeowners can expect now is a scheme which provides a resolution process, which at least minimizes the stress they've already been through. And I mean, and that's echoing what's been said so often this week and will continue to be said. And thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning. And we hope that decision made by council today is implemented quickly. And we'll see the council and indeed the department give this the attention and the priority that it needs. But for now, Ann Owens, thanks very much indeed for speaking to us this morning. And thank you. That's Ann there, one of the very prominent voices in the ongoing Mica campaign. And as we say, a key meeting on that issue taking place this, it's getting underway very shortly actually. And hopefully we will see that progressed. Now I'm going to go to Dr Paul Stewart, who's the GP in Dunfanahe. Paul, good morning. Good morning. Now we spoke to you, Paul. We have spoken to you on several occasions in the past about the medical center in Dunfanahe. And there was a long campaign to get a new medical center and good news this morning. Yes, excellent news. We're delighted. There was a signature between the HSE and the provider Ben Carr Health Care just yesterday. So all set to go and hopefully on site within the month. And we will be opening the center within the year. So very excited about it after. Good. It was at least, well, I would say it's 10 years in the planning and the organizing and all the rest of it. So it's great news. One of the key things the primary care centers can do is they can, to a certain extent, minimize the amount of time that people have got to spend going to hospital and allow them get basic treatment, but important treatment and basic but important services in their own community. And that's going to be, I'm sure, a huge help to many people in that regard. Absolutely. And in fact, general practice looks after 95% of people's healthcare needs. I don't think people realize that hospital is a small part. So we're a big, big cog in the wheel and particularly keeping people out of hospital. Now this center is over a thousand square meters, which, as you know, is pretty big. There are lots of services that are going to be provided in the center, which haven't been easily available in Dunfani up to this, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, public health nurses, home health, psychology services and so on. So it's fantastic as well as the poor GPs working away in the background as well. So we're delighted. In terms of one floor. Sorry, it's a one floor building. For those of you who know Dunfani, it's going to be nearly opposite the road down to the golf course. In terms of staffing, obviously, as well as the GP, several professionals is there if you are providing physiotherapy, occupational therapy treatments. Will it be a matter of existing staff being seconded for a day at a time from that or Kenny or elsewhere? Or will there be specific staff employed that would be able to provide a long-term service in Dunfani? I'm sorry. I have no idea about that. That would be up to the HSE. The model that people tend to use nowadays is, for instance, if you look at physiotherapy in Falkara, there are at least two physiotherapists there full-time, although they would spend one day a week in the physiotherapy service in the hospital just to keep to keep a rest of things and so on. So that's that's the sort of usual model nowadays. But these things are all regionalised and that's how I just don't know whether there will be permanent staff there all the time or whether people come and go. In terms of the provision of the centre, as we said, there has been a long campaign to have that centre provided. You were one of those involved in working behind the scenes to make it happen. It must be gratifying for yourself and for others involved in those behind the scenes discussions to finally see the green light given and hopefully this available within the year. Oh, we're absolutely delighted. I mean, I'm actually in the old dispensary building in Pound Street, Dunfani, as I speak to you. It was built in 1954 and with open fires and so on. It's long past its sell-by date. So we can't wait. We can't wait to move in. There's also going to be apparently two ambulance bays in the centre, the new centre. So that's a service that we don't have here directly. And so that'd be fantastic for everybody. The people have a great sense of security and so on knowing that there's an ambulance, two ambulance bays now in the town. Dr. Paul Stewart, thanks indeed for speaking to us this morning and it's great to get that news and hopefully before too long we'll see those services up and running in Dunfani. And as we said, the more that can be done to lessen the journeys people have to make to let her kill you and elsewhere, the better. And the more services available in a local area, the less pressure there is on the hospital. And we have this discussion earlier on in relation to the wider waiting list issue in Diabetes that, you know, the more pressure we can take off individual centres, the better it's going to be for everybody. Dr. Paul Stewart, thank you. And thank you. It is our pleasure. And it's lovely to be in a situation where a campaign you covered years ago actually does come to fruition. It's actually great to see that happening. So Paul, thank you. And good news on this one. Absolutely. And that's pretty much it for the New Show today. Thank you to auto contributors. Thank you to all of those who got in touch with the show who left their comments. If your comment didn't get read out today, we will strive to read it out tomorrow. Of course, as always happens, there are more comments than there is time to read them out. Thanks to everyone involved. Most importantly, thank you to Caroline Orr for production and for taking your calls. And thanks indeed to you for listening. John Breslin up next around the Northwest, but for myself, Donald Kavanaugh. I'll see you tomorrow. But in the meantime, have a very good day.