 visit citra.ie the perfect Easter outing for the whole family awaits as you hop on board the Easter Express for Dunnegal's biggest Easter hunt at Oakfield Park. Arrive to a welcome from your favorite characters before taking a train journey through the magical forest stopping off at the home of the Queen of Hearts to enjoy some cracking games and get ready to discover the golden eggs. Book now at oakfieldpark.com for a fun full day at Dunnegal's biggest Easter hunt. Oh God, good morning. Do you ever be sneezing coffee and all that kind of stuff? Don't sneeze during the news there. Well I remember reading years ago that apparently you can't sneeze when you live on radio so. Yeah that's no that's a joke. No that's what I heard I'm not sure. Have you ever sneezed on radio? I probably did. I wanted to sneeze during the news. You must have been fucking your eyebrows, were you? No, well you see that's all you listen to that. Nah I wasn't joking about that. Can we have another busy show and Bishop Alan McGockey is coming on today? Yeah he's coming on in the first hour of the program. Obviously there was a there was a function for him last night and he's been on the show quite a bit very accessible and he's moving on so looking forward to having a conversation with Bishop who'll be hard to replace. I know and that's gonna take some time as well isn't it? I'm not sure how I think it is a long Well listen to our local priest he was saying it's you know it's it's you know it's can be tough. Well I'll ask the bishop with all due respect to your local priest who's your local priest? Father McKeever. Father McKeever. Father McKeever. Who's your local priest? Don't unless not go down this route will we? We'll have a couple so. Yeah I know I know what you're in different parishes aren't you? Sometimes you do better traveling. You're the traveling man aren't you? Come here how did the computer come yet? Yeah I was thinking about it now but it's amazing. Right okay. It's amazing. 220 euro. How long does it last? I want to check in with you. The battery has left it on the battery last seven hours and there was still. It's only out of the box it's gonna last seven hours. There's only limited amount of cycles in any laptop battery I think it's like 1700 cycles. Right. But it's a fully functioning Windows 11 laptop for 220 euro. Right okay look at you all chuffed with yourself. You're gonna be so disappointed when smoke comes out of it. It might blow up I don't know. I hope it doesn't but anyway we'll check in with you. It always was best to shop local though. In case you don't. Excuse me. Yes. Oh god am I the here we go. That wasn't the seat it was. Do you want me to take over from the show today? In case it does blow up shop local. Right you better get on that because you're smiling. He's saying come on boys. Not for this chitchat. Thanks Leo. Have a good show right bye bye bye. Don't carry yourself okay the night until noon show just around the corner after the news headlines now from our good friend. Mikaela Clark. Thanks Greg. Good morning. Almost 120,000 euro worth of suspected cannabis has been seized in South Dunigal. Six kg of the drug was found yesterday during follow up searches conducted by Guardian Bali Shannon on foot of the discovery of a grow house in Dunigaltine last week. The fine brings estimated total of drugs seized to 751,500 euro after over 630,000 euro worth of suspected cannabis was seized during last Wednesday's operation. The North Sea economy minister says he will do all he can to ensure increased investment in the northwest city region but told the assembly there are other regions that feel equally left behind responding to questions from foil emulation near McLaughlin. Minister Connor Murphy said the executive will do what it can but some decisions including that of where to locate investment zones will be done to the UK government. Ms McLaughlin said the idea of an investment zone in the northwest would be proof of the minister's stated aim of achieving regional balance. Will you commit today to ensuring that the British government places an investment any investment zone in the northwest city of region because that would demonstrate your ambition for regional balance. The decision on regional investment zone is a matter for the British government but what we want to do is ensure that what we can do in effect policy here is to make sure that there is regional balance. New figures show town centres need help as the number of vacant commercial property stands at its highest rate since records began. A study by Geodirectory shows the average number of vacant commercial units stood at 14.35% at the end of last year up not 0.3% on the previous quarter. The commercial vacancy rate in Dunigaltine has risen to above the national average to 18.2%. Balibufe continues to have the highest commercial vacancy rate in the county at 29.4% while Bundorn had the lowest at 12.7%. Action plans transforming one town centre in every county are set to be unveiled by the Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys tomorrow. Geodirectory CEO Dara Q says schemes like town centre first policy are vital to making sure vacancy rates don't slip further. So you can see in somewhere like Edwardstown and towns around the country like that there are rooms for government schemes as the minister said the minister would be announcing that would help re-energise the centre of towns because they need to become I suppose more than just a destination for function as something that you go to have an experience and to enjoy and pleasure rather than just go to do a single job. And for weather now rain clearing this morning followed by well scattered showers and sunny spells highest temperatures of eight or nine degrees. That's all from Highland video news for now we'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock until then good morning. Not sure how to celebrate St Patrick's Day make some one's day on the 17th of March bake them a non-birthday cake cut your neighbour's grass or share your favourite Cadbury chocolate bar what's more Irish than that there's a glass and a half in everyone Cadbury and now it's time for the talk of the Northwest the 90 noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland radio hello a very good morning to you you're very welcome along to the 90 noon show here in Highland radio it's five minutes approaching six minutes past nine on this Tuesday the 27th of February 2024 and we want you to stay tuned as we always do every day here on the show coming up very shortly Bishop Alan McGockey and we'll be joining us in studio for a conversation so I'm sure many of you will be interested in that a little later on we have community guard information where you hear the latest appeals and information from on guard a sheokana first across the northwest here we also have what will be I'm sure an interesting conversation with a listener about a process of cancer diagnosis that's a word for warning and well worth well worth listening to that's throughout the course of the next three hours you can listen to the show as the absolute majority of you're doing it's great to have you on board but if it suits your lifestyle and where you are you can watch the program as well on your smart TV or your fire stick we're on the YouTube app Highland Radio Ireland just type that in and click the watch live or it's live you'll see it anyway you can take us across your mobile devices on that app as well as Facebook on Highland Hope Highland News and Sport and we're on X as well for our sins okay oh wait six six six twenty five thousand the WhatsApp and text number for you to get involved in the conversation let us have a quick run through the newspapers this morning the Irish Times this morning Ukrainian refugees urged to return for war effort Ukrainian foreign minister Dmitro Kehlab Kelt Keltel beg your pardon I can't actually read that it's been folded right where his name is I should know it off the top of my head Keltelab has urged a compatriots abroad to think about going home to help the war effort as Kiev seeks to draft fresh troops into the army and strengthen an economy ravaged by the two years of all-out war with Russia we respect the individual choice of every person but we also encourage all Ukrainians who have left the country since the beginning of the full-scale invasion to consider the option of returning home he said in an interview with the Irish Times we understand that some people might not have such a choice because of health or other private issues but those who have a choice are welcome to come back and help Ukraine fight and survive with their direct personal contribution Mr. Kuliba thanked Ireland for giving refuge to more to want to more than 100,000 Ukrainians and said the country would always remember this overwhelming Irish solidarity 31,000 Ukrainians have died in the war so far and many commentators believe that to be a conservative effort but the Ukrainian foreign minister is asking Ukrainians to return home I presume dependent on their status either to fight in the war or to help rebuild the economy of the country as well through work and what have you an interesting commentary interesting comment from him there the Irish independent media minister Catherine Martins plans to abolish the TV licence well it's under threat as support for the under fire minister dwindles across government I don't think that Catherine Martins going to survive this controversy and I think there's many more besides her that will end up falling at a hurdle over this controversy it depends on how she performs this evening but I just don't see how she can continue a number of senior coalition figures said the minister's performance during the RTE scandal is weakened her hand she drafts plans to ditch the licence fee and introduce direct exchequer funding for the national broadcaster Miss Martin is even facing backlash within the Green Party over her role in the shock resignation of RTE board chair Shunni Rahali or Rahala as some pronounce her name there is a nervousness among some coalition ministers over the potential for further revelations to emerge over the week which will put more pressure on the already damaged minister one funeral minister said Miss Martin has always been behind the ball on the RTE scandal and has never demonstrated an ability to be out in front of it despite several opportunities though I suppose she might argue that she has been asking the right questions of the former chair of the board and was given not given the right answers not the correct answers and she said that publicly and do we want this stuff done behind closed doors I prefer if the answers were given publicly and now she is being I don't think sometimes you can you can't win either way you know she was answering the questions as honestly she could based on information she was given by Miss Nira Rahali and now she's being criticised for being honest the Irish Daily Mail Catherine Martin was not kept in the dark by RTE on exit packages TDs have said ahead of the media minister's three-hour grilling by an Aráctis committee this evening the Green Party deputy leader is due to answer questions about the resignation of RTE chair Sunni Rahala hours after Miss Martin failed to express confidence in her online TV one senior government source said it is going to be a tough day for her but insisted that the minister retained the confidence of the coalition leaders that's from 7 p.m this evening if you're interested in watching it on to the Irish Daily Star now and the cost of living crisis is continuing to impact families with parents skipping meals so their children can eat shocking admissions that moms and dads cannot afford to feed themselves were revealed yesterday in a joint research document by Bernardo's and Aldi figures from the research shows that 41% of parents said they'd skipped meals or reduced portion sizes so that their children would have enough to eat an increase of 12% since last year that's an awful lot for Rin 10 that means many of you have been in that same situation if you want to share that experience anonymously please feel free to text us i think it's very important that we don't forget the pressure an awful lot of people are on in sort of the wider conversations that we tend to to have other key findings include almost one quarter of parents have had to borrow money to feed a child in the last year up from 16% in october 22 and 11% in january 22 some 21% of families have had to cut back on children's activities to afford food so that's the swimming or the football or some evening entertainment having to be cut back so as to put food on the table the Irish Daily Mirror this morning Guardi will last night questioning a man over the suspected murder of a firearms trader patrick omahani senior who was 84 was discovered with a gunshot wound outside his home on Castle Main County Kerry on sunday morning a man in his 60s was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder as Guardi awaited the results of a post mortem TD Michael Healy Ray revealed he was a close pal of Mr Omahani and is completely devastated by the news he said what has happened to him is awful i would have had a lot of dealings with him through the work in the gun club and the shooting range though that uh through that i was very personal friend of his and i'm a member of the range and uh just lastly in the sun this morning uh drivers scrolling on social media is a real issue guard a commissioner drew harrisays uh police or Guardi caught 19 000 people using their phones at the wheel in 2023 now if you go back to 2013 people would have been texting or maybe making calls now i think the majority are going to be scrolling uh on tiktok or facebook or whatever app they choose and harris urged the public to put their phones down while driving he said if you're using a mobile phone then you are distracted and events in front of you on the road as you're driving along can change in an instant so concentrate on the road ahead put your phone to one side and certainly don't look at social media i think that is a particular problem he added we are seeing terrible events on the roads but the majority of those there is some blame worthy factor could be speed could be individuals driving under the influence of drink or drugs or distracted driving uh under which the use of mobile phones would uh fall right let's take a break we'll be back with our first guest on the night till noon show in just a couple of moments the newspapers are courtesy of kelly centra mountaintop leder kenny the sea store national large four court of the year for 2022 thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk cabin crew prepare for landing wow that was a quick flight never mind bundy beach barrier reef here we come holiday of a lifetime can't wait me neither ladies and gentlemen will shortly be landing in austria austria we're supposed to be going to australia oh what have you done um i should have gone to spec savers book an eye test online uh so do you have any long trousers i could borrow we got a bikini andy don't know if you know alison pat blade 40s couple of kids pin together 17 years never married of course but that's not a problem until something happens and suddenly words like unmarried inheritance and substantial tax bill enter the equation you never need proper estate planning until you do that's why the experience team at mackleheny and associates are here to help find us online our call 0749175989 mackleheny and associates solicitors strunholder chagascar holding a tillage meeting on 30 february 29th at 8 p.m. in angrenan hotel burt topics include future of irish tillage industry winter crop management and crop options for 2024 and a fit management in cereal and potato crops speakers include andy dole tillage industry arland shea felon chagas crop specialist and louise magnamara chagas oak park researcher all welcome hi patty here at shea and connor cars in donningall town are you looking to upgrade your car but shea and connor cars you'll find mixing models for every budget great finance options and they also accept radiance check out shea and connor cars dot com or call into us at shea and connor cars from london her road donningall town are you female currently unemployed and looking for a new career in construction rural enterprise skill net is delighted to announce the launch of a new women in construction program commencing april second and letter kenny join us for an information briefing on march 5th at the raddison blue hotel letter kenny at 12 p.m. or for more information visit rural enterprise skill net dot ie and you're very welcome back to the program and we welcome into studio now bishop alan mogokian bishop of the diocese of raffle thank you so much for joining us bishop thanks for calling in nice to be here gregg thank you how are you feeling i that's a hard question to answer i'm i'm looking in both directions uh you know like these two big things moving home and moving job and i'm doing the two of them together and i find it uh frankly more disoriented i've moved many many times in my life and it is much more disorienting this time than it ever was before do you think in the back of your mind you didn't think you'd be moved again this is where you would finish your most certainly was um you know i i am a jesuit and just part of the deal with being a jesuit is that you're on the move and you expect to be moved to be asked to move and you move but when i became a bishop that was just a totally new thing and there was a sense that i'm married to this now and this is it i'm like i will so in my mind's eye i had myself wondering well where when i retire where will i be and i i had myself at various places always in county dunny gall uh you know nearly embarrassed to say it but i i said it to the people last night you know like where would i be buried i would be buried in dunny gall so absolutely i this um in the last while when i spoke over in belfast the the day that it was announced that i was to be the bishop there i spoke and it's very true in terms of i am coming home i was born and raised in north county antrim and that is my home uh but i have a sense also here that i'm leaving home uh i i i i this has been my home and i suppose either consciously or subconsciously uh perhaps you allowed yourself i don't know if it would be an emotional attachment to an air age you know what i mean as you know as you say you knew the life of a Jesuit priest particularly so perhaps you always held a little back but perhaps as i say either consciously or subconsciously you allowed the roots to grow a little bit deeper here i think that's that is true we Jesuits try to commit ourselves totally to wherever we are but no there was that element i i i was pretty sure this is it um this is it for good one of the last times i spoke to you somewhat ironically i don't know if that's the right word you you had to lay out in in really quite frank terms the reality of of asking priests to move you know from one diocese to another that's what they signed up for and even in the face of you know public opposition and and i think in a way that's a beautiful thing that someone means so much to some that they that you know they would gather and they would call on you to change your decision uh but you says you know you're really quite firm this is a decision it can't be changed and then a couple of short months later you find yourself in in pretty much a similar position yeah i i about a year ago when down in corner uh was vacant uh a number of people said to me we think you might be going there uh and you know like people whose whose opinion you would take very seriously uh and i was open to that at that time then six months past nine months passed and i was clear in my mind to know whatever that was that's not on now it was completely out of my mind and uh it was a saturday morning there about a month ago i was sitting i had done the park run i was sitting at home uh relaxing i was going to relax for the rest of the morning and the text came asking me to contact the papal nunsio's office and just that was oh my goodness uh here it is and then it moved very quickly and uh i was sitting in front of the papal nunsio and just the way it works as he says the holy father has appointed you to be the bishop of down in corner uh and uh we chatted back and forward just about that but then the next line is with that little uh interim was do you accept so i kind of i looked at him and sort of smiled i said what do you think uh like somebody who indeed somebody who has spoken to you as i did unless others like come on uh yes uh yes i saw it absolutely uh there is uh i committed myself to live under obedience and when it comes it comes yeah would an interview like this been have been more difficult sort of more immediately after that uh whilst you were processing the human emotions i i did yes i i and i wouldn't have done it like even after um uh after it was made public there on the second of february um i i i didn't want to do it i didn't want to speak publicly i i dealt with people one by one and you know like there was a whole lot of dealing with people one by one um uh telling the people in my own office and in my own house uh that oh goodness gracious um so i i was not ready no and i when i was contacted by the station here to come i said wait a minute no i don't know i want it to be almost as i'm walking out the door i'm prepared to do this but not on tell them you don't get if you don't ask oh absolutely no i understand that um it's it's six years you've you've been the bishop isn't that correct and and it has uh it's there's been a whole range of things and i suppose really in terms of just coming here uh some of the first inquiries you would have got some of the first things you would have had to have uh dealt with uh were matters around abuse yeah that's right you know so that as you walked in that was some of the the the work that you had to begin immediately absolutely and and that uh in many ways that is one of the big realities uh uh of my time as a bishop it is maybe the big reality in the life of our church this uh horrendous injustice to the most vulnerable um and responsibility on the part of those who were guilty on the responsibility on the part of the institution and then i'm the bishop i am the institution and and i carry that uh and and rightly so so of course you know that that is something um that in my position you carry with you all the time and i mean things that have been in place or or efforts that have been made to try and deal with that you would very much hope they continue i presume oh and and and that indeed not only that and and there are very good things in in this diocese i i think particularly of uh what we have set up the liaison person margaret northage uh it just does does a wonderful job in in reaching out compassionately and caringly uh and and i knew that that will continue and um one would hope that we as a church will will will get better at this um of course too in the middle of your your six years there are there about two we had something that very very few people have ever experienced before and that was covered yes um wow which for me seems like it never happened and then at the same time it feels like it went on forever and it feels like it was yesterday and it feels like it was 25 years ago it's incredibly difficult for me personally to sort of frame it in life oh absolutely and again in terms of my six years here it was smack in the middle and uh i had some plans i had a pastoral plan in the making uh and and moves like that one simple but really important for me part of my pastoral dream was uh and i spoke about it and and got a great response from uh musicians in every parish i wanted uh congregational singing i really wanted to encourage that and we had a marvelous gathering on pentecost sunday 2019 where people came hundreds of them came from all across the diocese and we just had this wonderful liturgy with everybody singing their hearts out and the idea was that we'd go back and we would we would nurture this in every parish and bang not only first of all we can't be in the church for weeks and months on end and then we're let back into church and what we can't sing see we just this big bang smack in the middle and and that's that's just one image of how it just shut everything down and that was a major part of of my experience as as a bishop wanting to do something and then just kind of everything's frozen everything's on ice now for and it was a difficult time too in that it seemed to that an awful lot was happening but things were very slow to lift for for for the church you know in terms of singing or whatever it might be and the terrible impact it had on people too in the grieving process and and there's some study out today which points to that that you know there are still people that because of the the system this process that we'd established that that helps us through a process that that transition us transitions us from a person being there one day and then not being there and how we do that that was taken from us now we did find other ways but it's still there's still there are still people now I think that they're they're the process for them has been stunted because of what we were asked to do or what we were restricted from doing I don't doubt that I'm sorry I know and one of the one of the first big impressions when I actually came to live and and and Donny Gall was I realized that all of those rituals around bereavement and supporting the bereaved in terms of wakes like they they are they are developed to a to a degree in Donny Gall like nowhere else in Ireland nowhere else in Ireland is there the the same sense of of the duty of solidarity and and gathering around people and and so my goodness like that the idea that people couldn't gather for wakes or that nobody could be in church on it my god when you think of it they the the horrible shock to the system of people who were bereaved that they were standing outside the church and and their their mother or father or close relative was was was being you know prayed for inside and and people standing keeping distant from one another outside it was horrendous yeah and I remember speaking to be and we'll move on from it because I think there's not we don't learn a lot of people want to vote remain focused on that but just remember speak to older people that we're sort of saying to me like listen I'll take my chances just let me into the church to pray if you've got protects me protects me if he doesn't he doesn't and it was it was such a tough time but during those times there was some evolution as well and you know mass became incredibly popular on social media you led a rosary yourself which which proved uh quite a thing it did it did uh that was that on top of the one that we started on it was in patrick's night that year uh it was father but father patty don said to me you know you have to reach out to the people you're the bishop get into the cathedral and use the webcam and lead them in the rosary I said I would do that but also uh that that I would lead them in the exam which is this review of the day prayer and uh oh my goodness like for months on end I have this experience of going to work as a cathedral and knowing first of all on facebook you could see that that there were lots of people from around the dias around the world and then there was this other hidden it it has only become uh clear to me there were these hundreds maybe a few thousand on webcam who weren't you like you don't know about them they're just sitting out there and I I have been met again and again by people all across this diaspora all across the country saying that it was a it was a real anger in the day uh and particularly people living alone they just they felt bound into a community it so it was a it was a real lesson to us you know like community is something that you do shoulder to shoulder you know touching one another looking at one another in the eye but there was real community yeah there was a real experience of community that could be supported by the social media that was amazing and to you know I just think there were lessons to be learned and I wondered did we learn them in that you know you would be very familiar as most people would but we certainly would on this program about you know rural isolation or loneliness and what have you and we all I think everyone got a sense of that and I kind of hope that we would learn coming through that that maybe you know we would ensure that people aren't lonely or don't feel isolated I don't know if that happened or not I don't know if we did learn from that and things have changed uh or everyone went back to the hustle and bustle of life and those who felt lonely already continued to do so I don't know I listen to some extent the latter is the case but there's also the reality that the numbers of older people who became very adapted iPads and iPhones and like this who have what zoom who never heard of zoom but like Ira I'm zooming both uh for work and for for uh socializing day and daily and a lot of people who would never have dreamt that uh that that they could master this stuff its second nature to them so I think to some extent some of that isolation is being broken down yeah for sure okay stay with me Bishop if you don't mind we do have to take a short break we'll be back with more from Bishop Alan McGockey in about two and a half minutes keep your texts coming in lots of people a couple of questions but a lot of people wishing to pass on their good wishes Patricia on Facebook god bless uh Evelyn uh Corrin god bless uh Bishop Alan um and and I'll just actually before I take the break I'll talk about this and then then we'll take the break and come back um my understanding is that you've been and I think you referenced it today but you also referenced it last night and previously that you've been particularly moved by those the amount of people praying for you right how is that how was that surprised you in any way or why why is that moving you such there had like even last night uh and and over the last while there there are individuals that that I don't know awfully well who say to me I pray for you every day why just that moves me very much like a a sense that sort of Alan McGockey doesn't deserve this uh and uh uh I just I I'm yeah uh I'm surprised I am taken aback and uh very uplifted by it uh it you know like very often people say I'll pray for you you'll pray for me and and you know the the the skeptic in us all says well what difference is this making you know uh but now I die I'm a believer and I believe a mix of difference and I think my goodness uh this has to be giving me something that um that I wouldn't have otherwise back with more shortly watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fun the mania coming to the brunswick movie ball from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk for new perspectives and a fresh vision join me greg hughes on the nine till noon show every thursday at 10 15 for your voice your community find all the fresh seafood you know and love at your local dun stores fishmonger marinate and pan sear a succulent 250 gram hake fillet only three euro and serve with mango salsa pick up a 180 gram pack of beautiful king prawns only 349 or three for 10 euro cooked with your favorite spices or dressing plus you can save at the till with a five of 25 grocery voucher dun stores always better value terms and conditions apply about you could be used on exits or grocery shop of 25 euro or more nutritious milk replacement range which includes nutrient start and nutrient start plus offers the best start to your calves this spring season with 23 percent and 25 percent crude proteins ideal for calf to beef and heifer's raring systems give your calves the best possible start available in your local homeland store visit nutrients dot ie for full nutritional information there are new rules in ireland for combating illegal content online online platforms now have to provide an easy way for people to report illegal content to them they have to remove illegal content if they don't come assume them on ireland's online safety regulator will take action if you see illegal content online you should always report it to the platform where you see it spot it flag it stop it for information on reporting illegal content online visit www.cnam.ie Brian Adams is back on tour in 2024 join Highland radio on our trip to Dublin to see the man himself at the three arena on Tuesday the 21st of May 2024 your trip includes luxury transfers bed and breakfast at the four star carton hotel planches time your standing ticket to the show and a shopping trip to Dublin city centre the following day find out more on the outlet at highland radio dot com or call us on zero seven four nine one twenty five thousand and we are in the company of Bishop Alan McGuckian who after over six years in this area is moving to his new post as bishop of down and Connor the message is coming in and it was something that was at the forefront of my mind to mention to you and that was the the Chrysler tragedy and often in moments of crisis and and this was felt unmatched in generations in this area we see the absolute absolute awfulness of life and death and then we see also to the best of it in terms of support and coming together and and what have you um what what's your recollection of that awful that afternoon um father John Joe Duffy called me to say he had just heard reports he was away down in the south of the county and uh he he thought it was something terrible to dig even mentioned fatalities and I was just I was going into a meeting and my thought was an or that that has to be an exaggeration I I put it out of my mind and went about the meeting then after the the meeting in the office they were saying that there's something on highland radio actually on the on the on your web page and I drove down uh just as it was getting dark and arrived at the police cordon and my first thought was of maybe I shouldn't go in there I'd only be getting in the way but uh and we thank god I did and the guard waived me on in and and just immediately there was a local woman recognized me said oh bishop it's great you came and um just funny just you had that experience that all of us have have had at different stages of our lives you're standing shoulder to shoulder with people going through just the most awful tragedy of their whole lives uh there are no words um and yet some who are other you know that they're glad you're there um there's nothing you can say uh but um so um and and that really was how it was uh as my abiding memory of it is uh a sense of being honored by the people who were suffering so much who who um do you know like as a as a bishop I am meant to be a pastor a shepherd and uh you often don't feel like that and you feel totally inadequate to it and then people in that awful moment allow you to be to be a shepherd to them uh so my goodness it it was uh oh yeah and often too like it I stopped sort of asking the question is what can you say you know be be a bishop or a priest when you're there around people at the worst uh time in their lives um and and the answer often was is you don't really there's nothing to say you don't have to say anything and then I learned not really to reference that because obviously me just as someone who wouldn't have understood it I would be saying well what can well sometimes you actually don't say anything you just be present you just be there and that's what happened be yourself uh or just the community uh on that day in the days that followed sometimes you don't have to say anything you just have to be there no that's right and I think what an awful lot of people uh said to me was how how how glad they were that they were that I was there standing beside Father John Joe you know like obviously we know Father John Joe uh just in God's providence uh was able to be with people um to to find words uh in in his homilies at the funeral masses and and in other ways and uh an awful lot of people who benefited from that then said and you as his bishop were standing beside him and that meant an awful lot to us so you know like it was just standing there uh said something um you wanted it to say something you don't know what exactly it's saying then listen I had the privilege of of lead the people gathered for prayer in the church every night and uh I had the privilege of leading that and like what you're doing there is you are you are pointing to something beyond uh it's not a well here's the answer another day and all right you don't have all the answers because I think maybe there could be this perception that we struggle at times with what you know how could God or how could a God do this um but you even as a bishop you know and and a priest now spoke to them in the past sometimes you have to answer those questions yourself and find the answers through your prayer or through your faith but you you know you're a critical thinker and sometimes you go and say well why would this happen well what is the what is the what is the purpose of this and and of yourself you do not have an answer like you can't you know like it it's not like something that you can say either to yourself or to somebody else and they're convinced they say oh yes of course why did I not see that of course it's not like that uh but we as as Christians have to speak to to uh to a reality that is not seen that we don't see that you don't get uh with your intellect but that faith tells us about and and and and this is not an abdication of of of critical thinking it's a it's a stepping into another world that at various times in our lives we are able to affirm uh in the in the moment of the greatest crisis probably not i i i i i do remember actually it was uh that other awful tragedy that had that that happened while i was here was the four young men uh remember who who who died in in in the car crash and i was reminded of something that i found the words to say that that uh spoke was i remember saying uh at one of the removals to the people that i expect that you may not be able to pray at this time and don't be surprised at that and and don't be don't be worried about it we will pray for you uh and and as human beings we are very limited we never have all the answers in our moments of crisis we have maybe no answers and we feel totally lost but we're part of something bigger and and there are others there with us when i'm down you're up when you know and that's part of it and that's staying within within the ambit of just ourselves then we have faith that there's a spiritual reality that's bigger and beyond us entirely and we reach out into that i mean obviously you've formed some really strong friendships here one of my highlights was was was the two bishops calling calling into studio because i think you've both worked very very well together is that sort of that that friendship that cooperation unusual uh is it unusual or is it something that you've managed to achieve for yourselves well i mean as you saw uh bishop andrew and i we just we get on very naturally and we don't see each other that that often but uh there just has come a bond um he and i wanted and he contacted me at the time of of you know when the mega crisis i mean it's funny we're just naming it it's one after the other one after the other he wanted to come and that we would we would be there together and and and we went uh and and and stood outside some of the houses you know fallen apart and we had the experience of the the bricks crumbling in our hands we wanted to do that together and it was really effective that we did so is it now there's an element of personal chemistry between me and him but i and and and we uh catholic clergy and and the church of ireland and the uh presbyterian clergy here in letter kenny get on really well and and now like before my time obviously my goodness you know like uh when i was a child uh i i remember um uh going up to the door of a Protestant church and looking really my goodness i i would never go in there you know god listen it was another time and that's how it wasn't thank god it's gone do you have to to some extent forego uh connections to this area if you know what i mean to fully commit to your new post as bishop of dan and connor i mean you can't or maybe you can this is a question not a statement but do you have to emotionally move on as well to you know i'm not saying do you have to you know block people on facebook no metaphorically speaking right yes i know but do you do you sort of have to say right you know to some extent i kind of have to start afresh in my new post listen i wish you wouldn't ask me that you know uh but in a certain set yeah i wouldn't like i have to give my i'm the bishop of dan i'm asking you this because i know actually sometimes priests have to are they do and so that's only fair yeah oh absolutely no like back to your very first question about you know how is it right now like i last night i was there in the cathedral with with hundreds of people of from rafoo and just feeling such a bond with them uh it it was amazing no if i'm to be a good bishop of dan and connor someday in the not too distant future please god i will have that bond with them and and uh like wouldn't that be great please god i will where they are my life and you know i wear this ring on my finger that i i never dreamt i was going to wear a ring on on my ring finger and it represents my desire to be united closely with my people and starting like officially and formally on uh the 19th of march and then the 14th of april the people at down and connor are going to both be my people yes yes i am and then of course you know you struck a work life balance here if i can call you know which often isn't factored in as well because you have to have your downtime as well downtime you know plenty of downtime and connor time for that matter yeah so here here um a caller says does the bishop leave knowing that the door of the church in relation to abuse to date is fully opened and addressed no i did do you know i think it is such uh it is such uh i mean that this is a calitlysmic thing and then in our history and uh goodness i i couldn't say yes it's come everything is everything is sorted now uh no i i i cannot say that but please god just with the passage of time it will be uh uh that people who who have not been able to come forward will come forward uh things will be addressed but and the the the the the church has to be seen in a way that someone can come forward absolutely yes you believe the church is in that position i could more be done or more could always be done more yeah those questions are are are they shouldn't be asked of course more could be done but it's it's a case of it has to be done yes yes yes um what is the situation in terms of your replacement when we were getting a lot of suggestions i think you can guess them oh yeah i'm not sure it's quite like that no no it it it what is the process there how long might it take and what happens in the interim well um well first of all what happens in the interim when i am when i'm formally the i am either the bishop or the apostolic administrator of refu until i am formally the bishop of down and corner and when that happens uh uh there's a group of consultants priests of the diocese who are whom i appointed as consultants my consultants they meet and they choose a priest of the diocese to be the administrator he will have much of the effort he will not be a bishop but he will have uh much of the authority of a bishop to to uh to keep the thing going so that's what will happen and in the in the interim there will be a diocesan administrator appointed the process is run by the apostolic noncio um he will uh uh he will be writing out to many people priests and lay people uh who know something of the diocese he will write to bishops uh and uh ask for suggestions uh about who would make a good bishop um and he will gather a big list of names um and then i i think start whittling that down by asking more specifically for uh people's judgment before god about the suitability of this or that priest uh or yeah this or that priest to be the bishop and to be specifically the bishop of this diocese um it ends up where there is a list of three names with uh a dossier that is sent to Rome there is a congregation known as the congregation of bishops uh that deal with those uh and the um after discussion at that level the prefect of that it's called a dichastory now but that of that group the dichastory for bishops goes to the holy father and presents this list of three names to him and he does decide i don't know but like there are hundreds of these every year but i i have reason to believe that uh the pope very actively has a say he examines these things closely he asks some questions and uh now he could say i don't want any of those three um go away and start again so it's a it's a it's a long process it is uh you asked earlier you said earlier on that the question was put to you you know will you be or do you want to be or however it was raised the bishop down and Connor could you ever decline that you could oh yeah the question do you accept that i mean there's two answers to that so like was do you see that as a test that was given to you well because no because you know you're making the decision which which is going to cause obviously perhaps great opportunity but also great personal suffering yes which you brought me to some extent it was put on you but you also brought it to yourself it's so in other words is this was this was this a test that question well no a test is is putting maybe too much in the spiritual test not by the church no but but it's but like a a man could well say listen for reasons that you obviously do not understand i'm not suitable for this no like so just at this moment in my life for reasons known only to me and and there are in my soul in my heart i know i'm not the person that you do this and my answer is no and that has to be respected no i know that if it happens the people non-seal he will be very crestfallen because he's going to have to go back and start this whole thing all over again um i have hundreds of messages which we'll read out and maybe get to you at some point wish you wishing bishop allen all the best i watched as a young boy stepped forward to speak to bishop allen last night after mass while you were walking around the side of the cathedral the cathedral that's the heart you've touched it was lovely to see that young boy going to speak to you which i think is particularly nice that's well that one jumped out at me and of course there was a poem written about you in the story of your life we we spoke in the past about you know you're becoming a priest and what have you i suppose i wanted to focus on you know just over six years ago onwards that's all the time we have bishop mogokian but unanimously people are sending in love good wishes and compliments to you um i suppose just i'll leave the last word to you well it i i it has been the great privilege of my life uh it's been a very challenging privilege but nonetheless the great privilege of my life i have come to love donningall and the people of donningall uh i leave uh i i leave happy but uh sahad at the same time uh so that i want to say thank you to you greg i have been here uh you have spoken and questioned me uh honestly and uh fairly and i really appreciate that okay thank you bishop i do appreciate it we wish you all the best good luck best i don't know that the right phraseology but anyway we just wish you the very best uh with your move to the bishop of dan uh to be bishop of dan and connor and there's no doubt i think that our area's loss is uh dan and connor's gain thank you thank you very much for your time today my pleasure god bless you choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fundomania coming to the brunswick moviball from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary fundomania event first to the 17th of march for details see fundomania.co.uk i saw your big good baker running boy again the other day says i tell mr brennan ah yes is he i've never seen her stand still and she's running rings around the rest of us with our brennan's be good bread only 60 calories a slice 60 calories is i that's just a whole meal is it now's you see it's the whole meal the whole grain and the waste 60 calories a slice and high in fiber whatever way is noisy that's why anything baked is better with brennan's today's bread today return is arland's deposit return scheme bring back empty undamaged bottles and cans with the return logo to a shop or supermarket you'll get your deposit back and they'll get recycled better for more visit return dot ie are you ready to elevate your driving 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today eight or nine degrees winds moderate to fresh back with community guard information after the news and obituary notices choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fundomania coming to the brunswick movie bowl from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary fundomania event first to the 17th of march for details see fundomania.co.uk to make way for new stock arriving in march highland motors and edderkenny have a flash sale now on until monday the fourth of march with great scrappage deals of up to 2 000 euro on all used dacia dusters and up to three years warranty on most of the award-winning use reno models like arcana capture and cleo's it's a sale with exceptional offers don't miss out this week at highland motors and edderkenny or visit highland motors dot ie do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on 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board board letter kenny or in the shopping center done low will you join us at really for life donnie gall in may this event makes a huge difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families register your team now at donnie gall relay for life dot com you and your team can make a difference as we celebrate our survivors remember those we've lost and together let's fight back against cancer live on air online and on radio this is highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal kavana at the news desk almost 120 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis has been seized in south donnie gall six kilograms of the suspected drug was seized during follow-up searches conducted by gar thee in bali shannon on foot of the discovery of a growhouse in donnie gall town last week the find brings the estimated total of drug seized to 751 500 euro after over 630 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis was seized during last wednesday's operation the departing bishop of rafau has said he feels like he's leaving home earlier this year it was confirmed that bishop alan mcguckian who has spent the past six years in donnie gall in the diocese of rafau is to move to belfast and take up the position of bishop of down and conor ireland's second largest diocese last night in june's cathedral in letter kenny was packed for a farewell mass in advance of bishop alan's departure this morning he spoke on the nine till noon show and told greg hughes that while as a jesuit he expects to be moved this move came as a complete surprise part of the deal with being a jesuit is that you're on the move and you expect to be moved but when i became a bishop that was just a totally new thing and there was a sense that i'm married to this now and this is it when i spoke over in belfast the day that it was announced that i was to be the bishop there i spoke and it's very true in terms of i am coming home i was born and raised in north county antrim but i have a sense also here that i'm leaving home this has been my home the north's economy minister says he will do all he can to ensure increased investment in the northwest city region but told the assembly there are other regions that feel equally left behind responding to questions from foil emulation aid mcglockland minister conor murphy said the executive will do all it can but some decisions including that of where to locate investment zones will be down to the uk government ms mclockland told the assembly the idea of an investment zone in the northwest would be proof of the minister's stated aim of achieving regional balance were you commit today to ensuring that the british government places an investment any investment zone in the northwest city of region because that would demonstrate your ambition for regional balance the decision and regional investment zone is a matter for the british government but what we want to do is ensure that what we can do in effect policy here is to make sure that there is regions of balance new figures show town centres need help as the number of vacant commercial properties stands at its highest since records began a study by geodirectory shows the average number of vacant commercial units stood at 14.35 at the end of last year up 0.3 of percent on the previous quarter the commercial vacancy rate in donnie gall has risen to above the national average it stands at 18.2 percent but of a fey continues to have donnie gall's highest commercial vacancy rate at 29.4 percent bondorin has the lowest at 12.7 action plans transforming one town centre in each county are to be advanced by the minister for social protection heather humphries tomorrow in donnie gall the town centre first plan is located in milford geodirectory's ceo direkio says such schemes are vital to making sure that vacancy rates don't slip further so you can see in somewhere like edwards town and towns around the country like that there are rooms for government schemes as you as the minister you said the minister would be announcing that would help re-energize the centre of towns because they need to become I suppose more than just a destination for function as as something that you go to have an experience and and to enjoy and pleasure rather than just go to do a single job shin fain have confirmed four more candidates to contest the upcoming local election councillor terry crossin has been selected along with 20-year-old student neve mcginnis from bridge end to represent the bunkrana local electoral area councillor jack murray had been previously endorsed elsewhere in the county councillor john hamish joe farry and community activist brian car have been selected to run in the glenty's electoral area a motorcyclist has been arrested after being caught at almost 80 kilometers an hour over the speed limit in the letter kenny area the bunkrana roads policing unit detected the motorcycle traveling at 106 kilometers an hour in a 100 kilometer per hour zone yesterday the person was charged and is due in court and looking at the weather forecast rain clearing this morning followed by well-scattered chars and sunny spells top temperatures today of eight or nine degrees celsius and that's highland radio news we're back with local news headlines at 11 o'clock don't forget you can check all of today's news of course on our website highland radio dot com but for now from the news team good morning the obituary notices for this tuesday morning february the 27th the death has taken place of george thomas clark 10 dergfold castle derg how strictly private please at his own request service of thanksgiving for the life of george will be held in colleter presbyterian church this afternoon at half past two followed by committal near joining graveyard family flowers only please donations in lieu of desire to colleter presbyterian church care robert armstrong and son funeral directors the death has occurred of robert o'connor rocks town tubin burnford reposing at his home removal to more mourning at quarter past 10 to submerge church fawn for recreation mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining recreation mass can be viewed on church services dot tv family time please from 11 o'clock to 11 o'clock family flowers only please donations in lieu to the dunigal hospice care of any family member or murphy funeral directors the death has taken place of gene wiley nace steel formerly of kosh quinn road spring burn road dairy and quickly's point dunigal her remains are opposing in her son's home three deemfield limivari road funeral from there this afternoon at half past 12 for service in bali armoured presbyterian church at 1 o'clock interment afterwards in moth parish church burial ground county dunigal family flowers only please donations in lieu of flowers if wished to parkinson's uk supporter care team and the death has taken place of catherine k steel culley movill remains reposing at her home funeral service tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock in green bank presbyterian church quickly's point followed by burial in the adjoining graveyard family time from 11 o'clock to 11 o'clock donations in lieu of flowers if desired to icu ward letter kenny university hospital care of any family member for family information and more details regarding wax and funerals please go to highland radio dot com before you settle on a new hybrid take the nissan cash guy e power challenge the nissan cash guy e power is a hybrid so you don't have to plug in but unlike other hybrids it always drives in electric mode you get the superior smooth and quiet driving experience of an electric car all of the time take the nissan cash guy e power challenge at your local nissan dealer today you'll never look back nissan innovation that excites and now in rose 2023 best local original news program the voice of the northwest the nine till noon show with greg hughes you're very welcome back to the program thank you very thank you very much for joining us if you've just tuned in you missed a very interesting hour we had uh what's most likely our last interview with bishop alan mogokian before he moves east and a wide-ranging interview if you did miss it it's going to be available on our podcast or to watch back on our socials a little later on lots of you messaging in thank you bishop for all your evening prayers during covid it really helped me good luck in your new post i would like to thank bishop alan for being such a great Jesuit and doing so much for letter kenny from tereza in muckish avenue will there be a new bishop appointed in time for children making their confirmation in may well i don't know the answer to that there is some speculation too which i didn't put to the bishop about uh diocese being merged and maybe one bishop taking over two i don't know the answer to that question but certainly from the bishop's answer it's a very drawn out process good morning i'm disappointed that bishop mogokian is uh moving but understand that is the way his faith works he came to the diocese at a difficult time and led with integrity and compassion throughout his tenure his high level of emotional intelligence is unfortunately not so common throughout the church i wish him well and wish him many years of health and happiness thank you bishop mogokian can you ask bishop mogokian why he has a priest in his diocese who refuses to christen babies of unmarried parents will give us more details on that that's something um i didn't see while the bishop was with me but certainly i can pursue that for you it doesn't feel right to me uh bishop mogokian was an excellent pastoral support to the people of donningall in times of tragedy when four young men died in the guidore area and again during the creche log tragedy bishop allen was a pillar of support with father john joe duffy and it's the bishop uh referenced both of those tragic events bishop allen wishing you good health happiness and god's blessings in your new venture as bishop in dan and connor for mary and kiran maguire and family and from all at st column kill hospital thank you for your support uh please pass on our sincere thanks and god's blessings to bishop mogokian on his new uh role as uh bishop allen brought us through covet with beautiful and supportive prayers via webcam that comes in from kathleen grantin bird i found the bishop to be fantastic in pastoral care just at a time when donningall very much needed says another listener god bless you when you work every day we are delighted to welcome you back to belfast that comes in from mary farag uh greg please pass on our gratitude to bishop mogokian who will be surely missed in donningall he brought the church back to the community again he has had a massive positive influence on my faith from the daherty family uh will the new bishop who comes in do another clerical change around again i'm not sure of how that might work uh that's in his gift though in the meantime who now runs and makes decisions within the diocese while we wait on a new appointment as the bishop mentioned priests come together and appoint an administrator i think who is not a bishop but can carry out many of the duties uh a bishop can uh best bishop uh best wishes to bishop mogokian bishop mogokian and father john joe duffy were a tremendous support to all in crease lab were thankful for your guidance and for the support we continue to receive from all in the crease lab community association bishop mogokian was a reliable or relatable bishop he was constantly visible in the community which made us feel he was one of us please ask the bishop about the referendum and what guidance he would give voters uh maybe there's an opportunity to do that before he departs um i just wanted uh i didn't see that question but it didn't come to my mind to to ask that question um because it's just was the one opportunity really i supposed to be able to to reflect on his time here though i'd be very interested in the answer to that question uh myself we'll take just a couple more before we take the break thank you bishop allen you came to visit our uncle when he was in the hospice and you prayed with him sadly he passed away or he has passed away now but we will be forever grateful for that act of kindness god bless you bishop allen another lot has changed socially over the years what is the bishop's view of the new gender recognition laws that allow children age 16 to take parents to court to change the gender and what is his view on those who support giving the right to children under 16 there's a bit of conflation of of where we're at and where people think we might be going in that not to in any way disregard that but i wanted to read it but obviously the bishop has passed uh from the studio now okay i've got to head into the bingo numbers with a competition uh we had two family pass winners yesterday for the fundomania fairground which is coming to the brunswick movie bowl in dairy london dairy uh the second winner yesterday was eddy o'donnell from creasel so eddy you don't even have to enter today you've already won from yesterday but we do have uh two unlimited uh family uh passes for the fundomania fairground coming to the brunswick movie bowl in dairy london dairy it's from the first of march uh till the 17th of march and we're asking you again to tell us which town in donagall we're talking about we've got three clues here are the clues harvest fair valley's end heritage hub those are the three clues what town are we talking about in donagall harvest fair valley's end heritage hub text your answer your name and where you're from all what's up it to 08 660 25 000 at uh there's no cost to you at all uh providing you not on i mean everyone gets free texts now don't they and you could win a incredible family pass there's two to give away gain today uh for the fundomania fairground it's an all-day pass by the way uh the fundom fundomania fairground coming to the brunswick movie bowl in dairy london dairy from the first of march to the 17th of march and you're being told uh not to miss out on the ultimate fairground experience of a lifetime it's time for vision ireland bingo on highland radio it's tuesday the 27th of february you're playing on the brown sheet the reference number is s2 it's game number nine the numbers are 49 83 40 39 three 58 44 12 27 and finally 54 phone you're claimed nine 1048 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your vision ireland bingo information at highland radio dot com imagine a device so innovative your except cookies there is a device so forward thinking except cookies a device that is so modern you accept cookies now imagine a technology where cookies don't get in the way of your advertising welcome to radio advertising that's cookie free visit radio center ireland dot ie to see what radio can do for your product or brand for day today health care needs generations have trusted the experienced staff at mickey's chemist letter kenny from coughs and coals to aches and pains from vitamin supplements to first aid essentials mickey's have what you need when you need it with a full prescription service available daily mickey's chemist main street letter kenny for health care help and advice you can always trust choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fun the mania coming to the brunswick movie ball from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk the community garda information slot is brought to you by shared and security systems protecting what you value most call today and get your zero wire alarm system from 299 euro shared and security 91 26025 okay it's that time of the week again it's tuesday the 27th of february and at 18 minutes past 10 we welcome into studio for community garda information garda granja daherty from the letter kenny garda station good morning granja thank you for your time it's great to have you in studio good to be here all right lots to talk about so we'll crack straight on with the appeals and gardy seeking the public's help in relation to a road traffic collision on the n-13 yes gardy and broncrana are investigating this collision this occurred on the n-13 at carol ray bridge end so quite close to bridge end village on friday the 23rd of february in and around 9 55 a.m the collision of all two vehicles one person was taken to hospital following the collision by ambulance to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries we're appealing to anybody who traveled along that route very busy route then 13 you know from berth to bridge end on the morning of friday the 23rd between 9 45 a.m and 10 a.m who had a dash cam to make that footage available to gardy we're appealing to anybody obviously who observed this collision or who may have seen people and fought in the area following the collision we'd like to speak to them also so broncrana gardy can be contacted on 9 3 2 0 5 4 0 okay now we're going to talk about the theft of a car from canal road in letter kenny yeah so this theft uh oh yeah mazda 6 it has a partial registration number of 1 3 1 d 3000 this car was stolen from the canal road letter kenny between 5 30 p.m on monday the 19th and 9 30 a.m on tuesday the 20th of february we're appealing to anybody who may have observed any sort of activity suspicious activity in that area between those times to make contact with us in letter kenny on nine months six seven one hundred if anybody has any relevant information in relation to the incident or any knowledge in relation to the current location off the stolen car we want to speak to them too so uh gardy in letter kenny can be contacted or there's always the guard of confidential lane either sometimes people aren't comfortable with ringing their local station so that number is 1800 666 111 and you call that lane you leave an automated message there's no requirement whatsoever to leave your own details all right now details uh on thefts in letter kenny town yeah so a couple of theft incidents these occurred in the early hours of monday the 26th of february so the first incident occurred in around five past midnight at the rear of the retail park a blue Ford transit van with partial registration number of jlz entered that area the occupants got out they stole the quantity of food trays from there the van then left that area traveled over to a car park on the pierce road at approximately 20 past midnight where the occupants then stole a 16-foot brian james c4 car transporter before leaving the area we're appealing to anybody who may have been in that area you know that general area of the retail parks the pierce road or just within the general area off the town itself between half 11 and 1 a.m. who had a dash cam to make that footage available to us if anybody observed this van in the area with or without the trailer we asked them to make contact with us on letter kenny on nine one six seven one hundred and again the guard of confidential lane can be contacted in relation to that matter yeah this is the early hours of yesterday morning and the vehicle to trigger any memories you might have or indeed if you want to check any footage you might have a blue Ford transit van with the partial registration number of jlz that would have subsequently after the theft be towing a 16-foot car transporter right okay theft from a car in carragans theft from a car this yeah so um this theft occurred at pump street in carragans in the early hours of saturday the 24th between 4 45 a.m. and 5 a.m. car was parked up at that location entry was gained to it this car had been unlocked but the key was faulty to the car they were unable to lock the car unfortunately a small sum of cash was stolen from within the car no damage was caused to it we're appealing to anybody who may have traveled in that area who had a dash cam between half four and five a.m. to make the footage available to guard e if anybody if anybody can assist with any information that would assist with this investigation we asked them to contact us and letter kenny on nine one six seven one hundred okay now we're discussing criminal damage in the st johnson area yeah this happened actually the early hours the same date um this happened at main street st johnson so again the early hours of saturday the 24th and around 5 a.m. to 5 20 a.m. so again unlocked car was parked at that location entry was gained to it damage was caused to the ignition of the car nothing was stolen from the car we're appealing to motorists who may have traveled again in that area with a dash cam between half four and five half five a.m. to make that footage available to us we're particularly interested in sightings of two male youths in that area around the time and this goes for the previous incident also that these two male youths if anybody spotted them in the area we'd like them to give us a call again if anybody can assist with any information we asked them to contact us on letter kenny on nine one six seven one hundred and we're just continuing to appeal today to all car owners to ensure they've locked their car before leaving it unattended regardless no matter where you park it if you park it up the main street letter kenny in the driveway of your house or wherever you're parking it always lock your car when you're parking it up leaving it unattended and don't ever leave cash or valuables in it yeah for sure and i presume you're not ruling out the fact that those last two appeals maybe some in some way connected that that is being explored okay right um is it it's criminal damage at ardo donnell next isn't it on krana no right okay main street bunk krana thank you pardon sorry my bad no you're okay no so this is a criminal damage incident that occurred at a business premises at upper main street bunk krana in the early hours of saturday the 25th of february two male youths are believed to have smashed the front window of this premises shortly after 105 a.m. in that morning we're asking anybody that was in that area with the dash cam to make the footage available to us and if anybody witnessed this incident we also asked them to contact guardian bunk krana on nine three two zero five four zero right criminal damage now in ardo donnell yeah this happened on wednesday the 21st of february between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. so two flower pots at a house in that area were smashed between those times so quite a short time frame and during daytime hours also so we're hopeful somebody may have some information in relation to this one if anybody has information if they observed what happened in the ardo donnell area uh we asked them to make contact with us and that are kenny on nine one six seven one hundred and just before we move on to um some advice as well um just a recap of the significant uh drug seizure in the south of the canty yeah so gary and donnie gall they seized cannabis valued at over 600 000 euro during searches at an industrial premises last wednesday in donnie gall town these searches were conducted as part of operation tarah by the donnie gall divisional drugs unit they had assistance of course from gary d in the belly shannon district so during the course of the search a large scale grow house was located with cannabis plants at various stages of growth the drugs seized comprised 500 cannabis plants and 13.5 kg of cultivated cannabis herb the suspected drugs are subject now to analysis by the forensic science ireland lab so we're appealing to anybody who may have information in relation to this grow house and seizure to contact the donnie gall divisional drugs unit on nine one six seven one hundred the guard of confidential either on 1800 666111 or any guard station and the investigations are ongoing um the almost we have an update here also in relation to a second drugs related incident so almost 120 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis has also been seized in south donnie gall six kilograms of this drug was seized during follow-up searches conducted by gary d in belly shannon this was on foot of the discovery of this grow house in donnie gall town last week so the find brings the estimated total of the drugs seized to 751 500 and over 630 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis was seized during last wednesday's operation so as always if anybody has any information in relation to this drugs find or any drugs related activity whatsoever we encourage them to contact gary d even at their local station um or contact that guard of confidential a number on 1800 666111 all right okay bogus callers uh this comes and goes comes and goes or it's ever present i don't know but anyway uh this appeals off the back of some contacts you've received from um some members of the public yeah so we had a couple of calls just within the last week so one caller was from within the letter kenny area and one was within the livered area the letter kenny caller and observed a male he was going door to door knocking now this caller didn't answer the door that didn't recognize him they weren't sure if who he was so they did the right thing and they just didn't open the door at all to them they observed this man then carry on knocking at a lot of other people's houses there would be quite a lot of elderly people living in this area so they were just very wary of the caller now we haven't had any report of any offenses committed so we have to be careful too to to stress that point but just awareness just to make people aware and this caller did the right thing they were suspicious of the caller and the contact at gary d the second caller was in the livered area they had somebody called to their home on behalf of an energy supply company um they felt just a bit wary also of this caller um i have actually emailed the energy supplier in question so i'll give you a we update on that next week just to make sure you know just to verify where those people in the area but again in this instance this person did the right thing they contacted the gary d when they were wary they didn't answer they didn't give any personal details sorry i should say um i think the caller was asking for account details your personal details and at that point the person that reported this toss became very suspicious and wary we are in a in a space where i think maybe and this is some people's livelihoods by the way so i'm not being overly critical but you will get energy supply companies you will get broadband suppliers and people do call up the houses and they will call to one after the other and the reason i think they may have to look at that is because obviously nowadays we're a little bit more cautious but they do require to ask advice or information off you like i was approached by a fella i think he listens to this show um it was it was perfectly legit but then they ask for your uh the the num your your account number yeah and it's just not information we're really used to giving out anymore i don't think now it's done legitimately to find out where you're in the contract or what they can say from you but i just think maybe they might have to find a different way of doing that of course and then and then people are listening to advice all the time we're telling them don't ever give out your personal information don't and then of course that makes them suspicious then somebody's coming requesting of course this caller may have been genuine you see so i have emailed i've i'm going to check that out and i will give you a wee update on that next week to make sure but we just wanted this time of year spring time summer time this time of year we do often see an increase though in calls related to bogus callers the call to your door offer and you know when the weather's starting to pull hopefully the weather yeah it's gonna say we're not going to be great this week are you moving it's glorious and bally buffet but um no they do the call look this time of year onwards the call offering power wash and painting selling goods uh and acting under false pretense of course you can have someone there saying they're they're there on behalf of a particular company when they're not but even if they do you're not obliged to entertain them when it comes with the territory they know they're going to get knocked back or whatever but you know you're not obliged to give anyone any information that you're not comfortable with or if you have any suspicions about the bona fide intentions of of whoever's calling i just think as i say that's why i think some of these industries are going to have to adapt because this is just going to be the thing going forward so so you've you i suppose as we head into it where the we're going to probably see those with with bad intentions so what is the advice then what what what we should do you know what i mean obviously if someone pulls up in an air van or something it it might be a little bit more simple right but let's just say they pull up in a flatbed flatbed truck or something and you're a bit nervous what advice do you have as to how to engage with the people at the door yeah well most particularly for people who are maybe elderly more vulnerable living alone we would advise don't open your door to anybody unless you're totally confident that you know who this person is or that they have a genuine reason to be there don't allow them access to your home for any reason you may have a caller saying my car is broken down you know i need to use a toilet i want to use your phone if you don't know them you're not totally confident as to their identity don't let them into your home and we had had instances in the past also where maybe two had called you know the person in the home only seen one person calling to the door asking them various questions distraction burglary is actually the term for that they're accomplice then while this person's keeping you talking on the door step their accomplice is in around the back of their house it only takes them two minutes in the back window and out away with your cashier valuables you know so use a chain lock a chain lock you know they're not expensive yeah i just wonder with the with the sort of plastic pvc aluminium doors if they kind of went out of vogue a little bit if you know what i mean but you can still attach them to them they're great security there because you can open your door you can review the situation and you have that security of course and if somebody's there on the doorstep saying i'm here on behalf of i won't name any energies or any other companies but i'm here on behalf of x company you know when you have the chain lock you can open the door this amount and you can say right what can i have your business card you know and i'll call you back if i need your services you could they can still hand it to you through the partially open door now we've also seen too and this can happen over the phone and in person that one of the ways bogus callers as they say be it on the phone or otherwise they try to put off put us off guard is to be very intimidating or persistent or defensive at us even questioning that they might be bogus callers but they will employ that at times uh so yeah you you know what do you do if they if you feel intimidated by one of these callers well listen the first and foremost at your safety is top priority you know you have to mind yourself don't mind if they're persistent and some of these callers are persistent they can be intimidating they can refuse to take no for an answer and if you have the chain lock or you don't open the door you can converse with them through the door and contact guardie immediately you know if you encounter such a caller and you feel that they're being very persistent contact guardie you know give as much information as possible you know what the person was wearing an accent what type of care they had if you can a registration numbers id if you have that and when they left your house did they turn right did they turn left let let us know because then when we call out we'll know which direction which general direction to travel and to check this person out to get them stopped um i actually had an instance at one stage there an elderly lady she opened her door and through now good totally good intentions a caller had called her door selling him he said it was on behalf of a charity and again maybe may have been legit legitimate but this lady um with full good intentions left the man standing on her doorstep she went inside to get her purse um you know left him there the door was open he had full access to her home to follow her and you know he could have shut the door behind her went in and not only that but also seen where the money was being kept because he had a clear view of where exactly she went to find the money in her home so just never leave anybody standing on a tent in your doorstep with the door a jar either and and and this might be just your age but and you talk about doorchains and doorchains obviously are very significant but if i could also mention too uh because i'm a little bit younger than you aren't i uh um i'm so smart now i can't remember what i was going to say doorbell video doorbell like you can get them locally here uh for as little as 69 euro right which is a considerable purchase but for the security of it there's a cloud backup included that's a little video who calls to your house it works at night time you can view it on your smartphone so you'll get an alert on the smartphone say there's someone at your front door you can actually speak through your smartphone and there's motion detection if you wish to switch that on as well so it will start videoing as soon as someone approaches you so i'm being joking of facetious and granny is way younger and better looking than i am but as an alternative and you know i know people in my life who are a little bit older and they had no problem with this here they're very intuitive you can get a video doorbell for 70 euros as i say you can probably even get a little bit cheaper but that's what you can get them for locally it's another option you know i think if my dad was still with me i think i definitely would have got one of him because the alert comes up on the phone and you just click it and there's a wee speaker and you speak so it's another option it's a considered purchase but you know they're they're definitely most definitely they're ideal but i think a lot maybe of older and i don't mean to be picking on the older people um but i think a lot of them maybe are a bit wary of technology you know and you and maybe might not understand they might not have a smartphone they might not know how to operate you know exactly exactly and that and for that the addition of the chain's a wonderful bit of security don't get me wrong but it's just whatever suits that suits the people of the individual individuals okay that's good advice so be vigilant if you're generally out in the community as well not just having them people calling just be the eyes and ears as well of your community and the guard you're charged then with patrolling and protecting your community and as well too there's lots of people that don't listen to the to the radio or don't be on social media sort of help share this advice with those who may not have heard yeah so yeah we just ask your listeners too to speak to their vulnerable family members neighbors and friends and just advise them in relation to bogus callers also right yo uh give us a quick reminder will you have the donnie gall youth awards because there's always a big response to this and we want to make sure this year's is bigger and as good as other years yeah so this the donnie gall guard youth awards they're celebrating outstanding young people between the ages of 13 and 21 from throughout donnie gall the process is open to nominate a young person and we and the jpc are inviting the public to nominate a young person you know who is committed to making a difference during 2023 in their community and um we just ask people i actually put a post up in facebook yesterday and we would ask people maybe to think outside the box do you know sometimes maybe people think no you know it's it's not worthy of put that you know we want to celebrate everything good about young people exactly now i think sometimes when we talk about these the guard of youth awards it might be an act of bravery which is fantastic or or what have you this is to acknowledge and recognize and everyone who's nominated is recognized what they do for you as an individual as a community as a group and if you think about it i think most young people do something really worthwhile worthwhile and worth nominating they do and i think sometimes we are a bit hard on young people you know sometimes we tend to point not me not me not me personally but as a whole the community but um i just think you know actually i'll tell you i was down on the beat one of the days a couple of weeks ago and i was kicking myself i got back to the station i had seen a young lad down the town and he was wearing his not name the school either but he had a secondary school uniform on and he was down the town in one of the shopping areas and he had a lady he was pushing a lady in a wheelchair to me it seemed like it might have been his mother maybe you know that sort of relationship but i was just watching him i stood for a while and watched him and with just total admiration i mean you know you know for young people image is everything for sure yeah and he was there he was as proud as punch looking at his full uniform on him and this was his mommy or whoever relationship he was to him and i watched him just he was handling or was such kindness and you know in and out of shops carrying bags and i could see him every so often he went over to can i lean in to reassure to ask for sure okay and i just thought i went back to the station then and then i kicked myself because i thought you know i should have went over and asked that young man who he was because i would love to have even put in a nomination form for him yeah for sure so even things like that if somebody knows of a young person and there's plenty of them out there that are carers for family members they help out with people who have disabilities physical mental disabilities if you have a young person involved in a charity um a football or a sporting community that gives up their own free time to help with that whatever they do we want to hear about them and you can get a form some people don't have access to printers look you can print them from the donnie gall county council website from the garda sheikana donnie gall facebook page or from garda.ie some people don't have that access to print these forms give letter kenny station a ring and uh ask for me or leave a message for me and i'll post one out to you the farms are at letter kenny station boncran and millford and ballet shannon so you know there's no endless ways to get these farms and please do nominate a young person or a group of young people that you know who are worthy because it would do their confidence the world of good to get they must be in by 12 p.m on thursday march 7th okay right a question that came in early this morning and i i understand and respect people um contact in the show and i really wish them uh they do and continue to do so and i wouldn't put them down but it was off the back of sort of something i read a little earlier on from uh drew harris talking about people using their mobile phones and and to desist from doing so while they're driving now unfortunately already this year we're seeing an incredible amount of fatal crashes we're not even hearing about the the crashes that cause life limiting illnesses people losing vision the ability to walk whatever it might be and one of the contributing factors to that is us being distracted when we're driving or drink and drug driving or speeding road conditions are also playing a factor the conditions the car playing a factor as well but the stuff that's in our control now i understand the garter commissioner coming out and saying this but what we kind of tend to do is is try and put the blame on to someone else or say well yeah but what about them this is about us taking individual responsibility but that being said i do understand why we get some of these messages in some time and a caller wants to know what's the policies with the garter when they're using the mobile phones while driving i've seen a garter on their phone while driving on two occasions recently in netter county town yeah and this this is a question that has i think this did come up actually before it comes up quite regularly yeah so a gardy have an exemption while in the course of their duty from you know they're they're in tight they're allowed to use their mobile phone while driving during the course of their duty so for anybody that does see a garter car going passing the driver is on the phone i suppose look in cases where maybe there's an emergency and extra details have to be passed on quickly to the car crew they may receive a call and it is limited it's it's it's only used in emergency situations say if the guard really is compelled to answer the phone if they're on their way to an emergency situation but as it stands yes guards are exempt during the course of their duty from using their mobile phone all right garter grant you dirty thank you very much for that that was community guard information for this Tuesday the 27th of February 2024 you can listen back of course on the podcast uh you'll be able to watch back on our facebook page and on the garter shoe carna facebook page a little later on today and it's back live with you with another edition after the 10 o'clock news next tuesday watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fun the mania coming to the brunswick movie bowl from march 1st choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk it's time to visit ireland's newest lexus dealership lexus letter kenny with 50 years of experience you can trust us in this new era of electrification experience our all electrified range including the stunning es hybrid saloon and our award-winning range of plug-in hybrid suvs and view our finance offers including the all new 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spend seven nights in the sun with some of ireland's top entertainers including robert mazel jim divine margo claudia buckley and many more with live music all day every day staying in the beautiful four-star sol costa gerrata hotel this is a trip not to be missed book now by calling country music tours on zero seven four nine one one nine nine five five or email info at country music tours dot i will see you in sonny saloon now you're very welcome back to the program and i have in studio with me marie marie thank you so much for joining us i really do appreciate you i suspect stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something that you never imagined that you would do in speaking to this age it's our life on the radio no i never thought great i would do it now to be honest now but i'm very happy that you let me do it no we're good and we'll take our time and it'll be fine as i say i'm a little bit more used to to this than you are but you're going to be fantastic right so this is about really the message to trust your gut instinct and it's amazing how often this comes up on on this program and it's invariably to do with medical matters so i suppose if you can take us back this started with was it a scheduled appointment with breast check or did you have any concerns or what was the situation no i had concerns um on my left breast i found uh like a hardness on it so i went into my own doctor in stern orler and he had a check and he said that he would send me on to the breast check to get it looked at so i went to the breast check unit on the fourth of september and uh during that time that i was in i had a biopsy the mammogram and an ultrasound so the mammogram and the ultrasound came back okay and the biopsy was taken there was three biopsies taken and uh they said that the consultant said that he thought everything looked okay and that i would get a call and i think it was a week or two weeks time with the results of the biopsy with the results and did that call come that call came i think was about a week after to say that everything was clear and that i was okay now i think for i was gonna say 99 percent of us but maybe it's not it's like right i did the right thing i had a concern there was a change in my breast i went and got all three things done in the day got the biopsy they checked that and go right happy days that's the end of that yes and on we would go because we would be assured and confident in the system um so what happened after that or was that your emotion so what was your initial emotion when you got that you firstly you felt reassured presumably after day one but then when you got the results of the biopsy a week later were you content with that did you say all right that's good news then no not really because um it didn't explain what it was you know and it just it was the hardness and in my own mind i just thought i don't think this is right right okay so a couple of weeks later i got a letter from uh letter candy hospital um to say that there was uh the week of that the week of the fourth of september that there was an error in the labs which resulted in a scientific error but that there was still enough of my biopsy left enough tissue tissue left for them to check it and tell me that it was clear wow okay yeah so three weeks later sorry to recap everything but this is it's actually really quite remarkable story three three week odds later uh they they phone to identify a mistake which again might sort of say right okay that's all right and they had enough of your tissue to do to check it and then they said that was okay yes and at that point how did you feel i felt um i felt worse at that stage because then i thought to myself there's i don't agree with it now at all because uh i didn't expect that to come so many weeks after the initial phone call yeah and the hardest was still there so in my own mind i wasn't happy so it wasn't so i went back then to my own doctor about something else and um i said to him about what had happened with the breast check and he looked up obviously they had sent him a letter as well so he looked up his letter and he said he had never heard of that ever happening before to this scientific error and um i did have a laugh because i said to him trust me the day it would go wrong for mine to be in you know and i said i wasn't happy that i wanted to go for second opinion now he was very good you know and he said to me yeah if you want to go for second opinion no problem i have um everybody should go for second opinion this is you know so i was and and like had this change in your your your your breast like were others i was like was i don't know if a gp checks that or if it was checked in the hospital like could they feel what you were talking about like what did what did was it recognize that there was something there it was yeah oh you could feel it right okay you could feel the hardness so you on the left breast okay so you weren't told you weren't feeling something that wasn't there okay that's that's so the the gp backed you upset everyone really should get a second opinion so how does that work how do you um how do you get a second opinion do you get referred again we get referred again okay so he asked me did i want to go back to letter can i to get it done again and um i said no that i didn't trust them to be quite honest and that i'd rather go somewhere else as he said because the breast check you wouldn't have to pay for that so if i was referred somewhere else i would have to pay and i said i didn't mind okay because i would have put my own mind at ease because i just didn't trust letter can i to be honest i just didn't trust them to do it again so you went to go away for the second opinion on the 13th of december so september october november december so this has been with you for for three odd months at this stage um you had a biopsy on the monday yes and what happened no it would have been i think was the wednesday i was down in gallway right okay i think that was the 13th and um he did five biopsies that day um he said there was definitely he could feel something you know and he would do the biopsy so he did do the biopsy and he said that he would they would probably ring me the following thursday wednesday or thursday of the following week so on the monday um we got a call to say that he wanted us down again on the tuesday wow so i was a bit naive thinking that um it was just for checkups you know more tests you know so we went down on the tuesday and he entered just himself to my husband and we went into the room we're sitting down and the next thing he he said you have cancer you have lobular cancer so um there was an awful shock i have dismissed you know it was i didn't think it was going he was going to say that you know i just on my own hair i didn't think you hadn't prepped yourself for that part no no no so it was like um i went on myself and i came out completely different if that makes sense of course it does no and the the original issue was with your left breast yes and did they check both breasts in gallway they did yeah i did an MRI in gallway so something she showed up then on the right breast as well so i had to go because it's quite small that's on the right breast they couldn't do a biopsy because the needle goes in so they might be able to pinpoint it yes so i went to Dublin to the matter for that um so i had that in february i can't think no the days that's fine and um i had to wait for about almost a bit about a week and a half to get the results for that so that was quite that was quite quite a long time so when the results came back um i because i said to my husband i never want to do that again because it was really extreme extremely painful and turned out then there was a difference of opinion i think between gallway and doubling on the results on the MRI so then i got speaking to the consultant again and i decided that i wanted to get a double mastectomy i think that's the safest this is a decision you've made yeah the left breast was i was going to get a mastectomy on the left breast but because everything went so wrong with the left the left breast and the whole journey through it i just on my head i think you know i couldn't do this again you know mentally i definitely couldn't do this again and is there anything particular about lobular cancer that makes it difficult to to pick up yeah lobular cancer they call it the sneaky cancer because um it can show maybe in one place where mine was really but when they did the lumpectomy on the 8th of january um the tumor was 10 centimeters long that they took out so it spreads but it doesn't show it you know that's why it doesn't show up then on the mammogram or the ultrasound now is this have you caught your cancer early is well how is that categorized to you yeah well lobular cancer is very treatable yes that's what they say okay so it is um but i think that the consultant can go away couldn't understand because it was so big why it never showed up anywhere and the issue we have here not the issue sorry the reason why that you've made this very brave decision i believe to speak publicly is that you weren't the only woman saw on that day in september 2023 um so 40 women were seeing that day i think it was around that ish okay um eight were recalled yeah you'll call back to tell you that you'll call back to tell you that uh there was a a technical issue is that that's classed as a callback right yeah well that was by letter i got that okay and a letter for it so but your concern is is it that i mean you've shown such determination here right your concern is it that maybe someone on that day yeah may have got the all clear in inverted commas to use that phrase um and and yet they they could still feel there's something wrong but they don't want to question the science yeah well you see i got the letter to say that um there was that error and i phoned the number on the on the letter that day yeah and i was speaking to a lady so she told me that there was eight women called back i wasn't one of those women okay so it wasn't so when i got diagnosed then in december all i could think on great was really how many other women were told false negatives yes that you know they were okay could just be used but it could not be just for you and that's why you have to yeah so that's played on my mind i think since december yeah you know because um maybe i'm just a bit stubborn and i went on ahead but i just knew myself there was this wasn't right but your stubbornness i think you know we never know how things might be developed as you say you know lobular cancer is treatable but you have to know it's there yes and then of course i don't think even would your right breast have been checked if you hadn't gone to go away it might not have been i don't know what the procedure might have been there if you hadn't gone private you know what i mean so it's only through your sort of determination and and trust of your gut and that's the that's the line trust you got here that sort of has i mean you're still this is a process you're still very much in yes it is um and you've had to really make some very very tough decisions yourself as well yeah that was um there's a tough decision now for the right breast to be honest but i think for my own mental health um the thought of having maybe to go through this again and part of you sort of goes i can maybe hopefully get all of this done at the one time yes and then move forward yes rather than the constant because i think it just would be on my mind all the time that you know if the right breast and because they had that there was that on this side of the decision between the between go away and doubling yeah and because the left side was so um we always thought we were just going down one path and this path seemed to take turns you know and there was so many wee roads off it you know that it just didn't go right you know i mean it's been a it's been a disastrous few months but one person at the same time because you know you've so much to consider what if i what if i didn't um trust your gut yes exactly no one knows your body better than yourself no and that's what i would say as well if you think that it's not right you know you should say you know i went back to see the consultant on the 9th of october when i got the letter and um being honest the way that i felt when i went into him and explained to him um i felt that he didn't want to see me you know and i told him that the hardness was still there and um what he said to me he examined me and what he said was um that he was trying his best to find something but there was nothing there and i was all clear no okay and as i say you know this this is one of those double edged swords in that we don't want to cause alarm for women no but at the same time there's a responsibility to speak out to say well i might be the only one but i may not be the only one yeah i think so too yeah okay uh mary thank you so much for calling in uh hopefully it wasn't as bad as you had anticipated i think you've done something very important today i wish you the best to look with the the the hurdles or however you see them yourself that you've to overcome and that you've we know you've made the right decision and you come through this and get on with things um but it's not easy to talk about something so personal and i genuinely really do appreciate you doing so and as i say and as i said just before we started speaking we only really need to get through to that one person that needs to hear that's all this interview and maybe double check okay listen best luck with everything going forward and thank you so much for your time today thanks very much great choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fundomania coming to the brunswick movie bowl from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary fundomania event first to the 17th of march for details see fundomania.co.uk do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with spacehub dairy we provide a full virtual address mailbox service for all your business and personal use save hundreds possibly thousands on custom charges with spacehub dairy call 04871878077 or online spacehubdairy.com for more details Donninghall ETB's further education and training fair is on this Wednesday and Thursday in the raddison blue hotel letter kenny Wednesday evening is aimed at leaving certain students their parents and anyone looking to upskill and on thursday from 10 it's for anyone interested in full and part-time education or training opportunities join me john brezlin on around the northwest live from the fair on thursday as we find out about some of the many options available in more than 100 venues across donninghall that's this Thursday live from donninghall ETB's further education and training fair in the raddison blue hotel letter kenny getting married don't leave it too late book with us today at the groom's room in evolved clothing letter kenny retail park uno dos tres ahain adoa tree one two three the orona the attacker and the terraco three great suv's from seahat and when you order now you can enjoy three years free tire insurance and three years roadside assistance plus three flexible payment options to purchase your new seahat visit seahat.ie to discover even more of our fantastic offers great things come in threes at dmg motors donninghall town and while i have three seconds allow me to say that yes terms and conditions apply highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air owner air to water heat pump and you flex under floor heating visit grant.ie okay so um scattered showers and sunny spells for this afternoon highest temperatures of 8 to 10 degrees in moderate to fresh southwest winds easing and veering northwesterly uh towards evening with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the nine to noon show on highland radio okay it's 11 o'clock time for a news update it's over to mikaela clark thanks greg good morning gardy continue to investigate the discovery of over 750 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis in scythe donninghall as part of operation taris 630 000 euro worth of suspected cannabis was seized following the discovery of a grow ice in donninghall town last week during follow-up searches and additional 6 kg of the drug was fined the departing bishop over foe has said he feels like he is leaving home earlier this year it was confirmed that bishop al mcgochian who has spent the past six years in donninghall is to move to belfast and take up the position of bishop of dine and connor are in second at largest diocese the t-shock says funding for public broadcasting is not just about or te anymore speaking in paris last night he prized a media minister kathryn martin for doing a difficult job and handling her brief extremely well she's due before an erotic media committee tonight the north economy minister says he will do all he can to ensure increased investment in the northwest city region but told the assembly that there are other regions that feel equally left behind responding to questions from foil emulation near mcglocken minister connor murphy said the executive will do what it can but some decisions including that of where to locate investment zones will be dying to the uk government gardy are hunting the drivers of a bluford transit van they believe was involved in a number of thefts in letter kenny in the early hours of yesterday morning a 16-foot car transporter and food trays were stolen meanwhile investigations are continuing into a crash near bridge end on friday morning last a person was hospitalized for treatment to non-life-threatening injuries following the two-vehicle collision at around 9 55 a.m and car ray higua has published reports following inspections at two residential centers for older people in dunigol both of which had 48 residents in place three non-compliances were noted in the case of lorissa lodge in letter kenny while two non-compliances were reported in the case of nazareth house fawn in both cases plans to address the issues have been submitted by the centers gardy are keen to speak to anyone who may know the location of a car stolen from canal road in letter kenny the master six with a partial registration of 131 d 3000 was taken between 5 30 p.m on monday february the 19th and 9 30 a.m the following morning and gardy in the county are again urging people with suspicions about unexpected callers to their homes to contact them the appeal was made on today's night on nuncho by community guard agronia dowry who detailed two calls received by gardy in the county in the past week she says up to nine no offenses have been reported or detected but is stressing that in both cases the residents did the right thing those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update again at 12 noon thank you very much indeed mikaela cutting through the spin the night on nuncho on highland radio now highland radio is delighted to have teamed up with vodafone tomorrow their high digital initiative do you want to know how you can learn online skills for everyday life well vodafone foundation in partnership with alone have created online skills training for older people the training is available online at hid digital dot ie or via in-person classes in convoy with the right support you don't have to be scared of technology and can embrace it so have a listen to this morning's tip here's an online safety tip brought to you by high digital free online skills for everyday life supported by vodafone foundation and partnership with the loan when using the internet you should be mindful of scams and frauds scams or when someone tries to trick you a fraud is when someone tries to steal from you these dangers come in many forms common ones include messages pretending to be from tech support requiring personal information from you social and romance scams asking for financial aid and grandparents scams where scammers may impersonate a loved one in distress requesting money scams and frauds try to exploit our personal nature of gaining through an opportunity or avoiding a loss or wanting to help others be aware of potential scams and frauds if you would like to learn more about how to identify these visit high digital dot ie or call 1800 20 30 30 for more information brought to you by vodafone foundation and alone choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose funda mania coming to the brunswick movie ball from march 1st choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk get the right tools or equipment to get the job done with great hire deals at once and hire in letter kemmy everything from diggers to power tools dumpers to portaloos and pressure washers to cherry pickers watson's offer a fast and reliable service to book call once and hire in letter kemmy but nine one six double seven double seven nutritious milk replacer range which includes nutrient start and nutrient start plus offers the best start to your calves this spring season with 23 percent and 25 percent crude proteins ideal for calf to beef and heifers raring systems give your calves the best possible start available in your local homeland store visit utrius dot i for full nutritional information this sleep day some things are absolutely guaranteed like boyfriends mysteriously going a wall for the day and 84 year olds having 21st birthday parties but another guarantee this sleep day and only in ireland is that one euro dreams player will win 2000 euro every month for the next five years that's 2000 euro a month for five years guaranteed but only if you play euro dreams on the 29th of february the national lottery it could be you play responsibly play for fun highland radio are celebrating another birthday we are inviting you to join us for our highland radio birthday bash on tuesday the 19th of march in the mount erigal hotel joined by the one and only margo myself david james bus special guest brendan quinn declin ernie and patrick finney this is a night not to be missed tickets now on sale for more information visit the outlet at highland radio dot com or give us a call on 07491 25 000 we'll see you at the highland radio birthday bash if you're not with you know energy chances are you're paying more than you need to for your electricity as ireland's newest energy provider we offer ireland's cheapest electricity rate saving our customers up to 500 euro per year so if you want to pay less for energy simply pay a visit to you know energy dot ie and sign up for big savings with smaller bills with you know energy you just know you know energy fixed discount rate eab 1415 euro for season season rates you know energy dot ie suppliers pricing may change now my next victim on the program is is uh is about rogers chair of the donagall hospice ward is about thanks so much for calling good morning greg thanks for having me i do find it amazing that hi but people come in and you know it's not something i'd be too keen on doing so i genuinely appreciate it and why not because we're going to be touching on a couple of really positive things we'll start with news that planning permission has been approved for the donagall hospice extension and refurbishment project you know this is a a key part of the process of course to get the planning over the line yeah it's a big thing it's a big thing to get the planning over the line and we got it on friday greg and and the people of donagall they they own the donagall hospice and it's a it's a great thing for them you know and all the fund raising and everything that goes into it but anyway um it's it's great because people will be able to avail of the service uh unfortunately the ones in the future will be able to avail of it you know and um it's going to be the state of that building and we're going to have additional rooms to accommodate physiotherapy occupational therapy and um education facilities as well it's it's uh the the extension is actually a two-story building so upstairs will be all conference rooms in that for for um um education to educate you know for hold education sessions which we never probably had there before um it was always in a hotel or whatever um so like as long as well as doing the the new extension we're going to be running alongside with an upgrade of the existing building because it is 21 years old and the rooms have to be upgraded uh to hikwa standard and also we're going to be doing um upgrading of the uh heating the insulation and new windows and upgrading the bedrooms burning so like the whole building will be more energy efficient it will be it will be lovely to have the whole thing done and isn't it uh nice to be talking about you know the expansion and growth of such an important thing because often when we talk about services and what have you it has to be sort of in a negative like to try and prompt improvement or it's about fighting for retention yet here uh such a valuable um such a valuable thing commodity i don't know what you would describe its service but that kind of makes it very clinical and it's not you see that that's why i'm struggling with that word that we're talking about its growth and its expansion and and what extra it'll be able to provide it's nice to be in that position this is it we'll get on to it in a bit but that's down to the drive of yourself and your team but the people of the county as well their shoulder to the wheel uh as well it couldn't be done without their help like i'm 35 years with the hospice and we've always fundraised we've fundraised for this build that we're in at the moment and now we're fundraising we fundraise for the new build um what it means um having this new build it will just decrease the waiting time to get into it and it will also provide more beds for respite for patients with COPD um mud and urine multiple disorders and other life-limiting conditions um we are we we closed daycare before uh COVID or during COVID sorry and we're opening that back up again as well which means the patients out in the community can come in um i think it's one day a week we'll be starting off with and they can come in and meet the medical team and get you know assessed again and um get therapies aromatherapy exactly wow fantastic now obviously dates and times can slip so we're not like pinning you pinning you to what is it the pinnier collar we're not putting you to the pinnier collar but when is it hoped now that planning permission has been approved that approved sorry that work might be able to begin i don't know when work will begin but it will take 18 months okay from it starts to it finish we hope it will you know without any hitches it'll take 18 months yeah and um so basically um it'll go now to tender of course yeah that process has to be done yeah of course and we'll go to uh and and and any disruption will be kept to an absolute minimum so just to to run through uh the proposed development includes the construction of four new apartments uh the new uh additional apartments will accommodate patients and their families offering support and compassionate a compassionate environment during the time at the hospice uh additional rooms as you heard isabel mentioned there physiotherapy occupational therapy and social work as well as training in educational facilities which is a great advancement as well and of course it's about enhancing and modernizing the existing building as well and bringing it up to the high standards um and you know this is a big milestone do you know in the history of sort of something like the hospice you know you start with it being established and then there's another one and this is going to be a big one in its history isn't it yeah we started off with home care greg and there was just one nurse and to do with the home care and then we kept the home care going and then we decided then to build the the building that we're in now and um it's open 21 years now just in and coming up on march and then but we still have our seven clinical nurse specialists in the community we're still we still keep the home care service going and you know as well as doing this new build we still have to keep the funds going for for that and we still look after the children night nursing children with life conditions for night nursing and day nursing and we've done that for the the past 15 years so we still need to keep all our services running if you know what i mean which means there needs to be sort of a continuing fundraising drive it's yeah we're always going to be fundraising yeah exactly and people do their own things and and what have you uh and an important part of that runs through june that's drive for june um now it's heading into its third year now yes um year one was unbelievable uh year one was 55 you mentioned a figure uh year two was 120 and year three two hundred and two thousand i mean this is remarkable the generosity of people isn't it yeah uh and fairness i do start torturing everybody in january you know making them aware of it and all that but you know something even to do with the new build the people of dunagall are so generous to dunagall hospice we go out there greg we don't have to ask people they're coming forward to you but it's not even the people of dunagall it's the people of ireland and it's the people that's abroad they haven't forgot the roots they haven't forgot dunagall hospice you know like if there's a family member in with us and they and they pass away or even in for respite the people are so good to us they never forget us and you know that's a testimony to yeah the experience that people have that's right you know because you talked a little earlier on uh and i thought the language you used uh about talking about the future um and i think you sort of says unfortunately and i'm not pulling you up on that but the the experiences it's it's the experiences a mix of emotions yeah because obviously it's it's at a really difficult time in people's lives and the person's lives but also time and time again you hear that it makes that very and i've said this these exact words in this show before it makes that very difficult time more manageable either in the moment or after the fact as well and and you know so i think it's a it's a great thing that we all have to die unfortunately uh and for some of us we'll need the care of the dunagall hospice and it's just good that it's there yeah and the and the respite and the fact that you know for the other the the other lifeline and all the other stuff that that is all night nursing it's a remarkable thing um it's a remarkable thing for for for the people you care for in their families so uh jive for june uh i remember the first one it's like wow 55 amazing then circle 125 then over 200 in the third hundred and two thousand yet uh which is absolutely unbelievable and um so now plans are well knowing you haven't spoke to know you don't worry about finola we'll sort finola right you don't worry about her i haven't spoke to her yet already so we're launching kind of you've i love this so you kind of send my soft launching jive for june and we kind of haven't really run it past finola and david yet no perfect that's what i love let's see them back out of it not really not really but anyway we did i did talk to david after last year but um now you're just looking at their nice wee bit of line dancing and all that on it i'll tell you and the thing that they would they'll be there that song is gonna feature but no i just want to thank thank highland radio for all their help and support in the past and hopefully in the future and also i want to thank everybody every person that gives a euro to the hospice i want to thank them because it's so much appreciated yeah you know we wouldn't be there only for the the public you know what i noticed um what i notice isabel and i only we only often see maybe a a fraction of it it's just the the wee things that have run all year round and the big checks and it's like 1300 or 5200 or do you know what i mean and it's all of the time i mean obviously you have the obviously you have the sort of the big fundraisers uh but it's all the little ones that i say little it's not really little the huge in in in their own right but it's the collective and it's just people doing their own thing for their own reasons but but it's all down to the positive uh the positive sentiment towards the donna go hospice yeah and even even with the jive for june the children like some children do trampolines they can't jive so they do trampolines and then the teachers come on board then and they do a wee jive at the schools and all before they split up for the summer or whatever and it's it's it's brilliant to get them involved okay so is there any info you can give about jive to june yet or are we just marking people calendars to say it's coming in june and getting involved yeah it's coming in june um there is some there is some big uh fundraisers have been held alongside it for it bro and that's the normal thing it wouldn't it wouldn't be as big as it is uh greg was just jiving of course you know and people people are very shy about doing their jive and coming on board with it and you know putting it up on on uh facebook or whatever but it just it's just all a bit of fun and even if it just inspires them to do something that they're more comfortable with it doesn't matter yeah as long as it'll be and it just means june's big month as well yeah but it's just such a big year for us like to get that planning through it's brilliant and and it's just going to be so good for donnie go hospital and so good for the service to donnie go people okay you know yeah indeed the tendering process is out and now there's some brilliant companies locally that i'm sure will have their pitch in uh and what have you okay um is about it's always a pleasure to have you in thank you so much we look forward to chatting to you between now and june of course but just to mark people's calendars to come i've no doubt Beyonce's new song is going to feature uh feature uh in june heavily as as many others will as well but for now isabel rogers thank you very much indeed thank you isabel is chair of the donnie go hospice and we're marking the great news that planning permission has been approved for the donnie go hospice extension and really quite importantly the refurbishment so the entire build the older part and the newer part will be up to the highest standards of course for caring comfort of patients and their families the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fun the mania coming to the brunswick movie bowl from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary funda mania event first to the 17th of march for details see funda mania dot co dot uk mike denver in concert with guests decklyn ernie and brendan shine at angrenan theater letter kenny on thursday february 29 tickets on sale at angrenan box office that's mike denver with decklyn ernie and brendan shine at angrenan theater letter kenny on thursday february 29 don't miss a great concert on march eighth we'll be asked to vote in two referendums the first referendum is about how our constitution recognizes families and the second proposes to replace existing wording with new text to provide recognition for care within families find out more in the booklet delivered to your home or see electoral commission dot ie forward slash referendums your vote is your voice so be a voter on friday march eighth from on commission tau con ireland's independent electoral commission big screen musical season is here at century cinemas with classic musicals like kinky boots and the titanic come into the big screen for limited dates only for movie dates and more information visit our website at century cinemas dot ie or call 074 91 21976 looking for that hoca experience try the new range at bmc sports dot ie new a rye seven clifton nine or the ever soft bond i8 step into our safe size experience so you can fit the best trainer for your foot let us make your trainer experience the best it can be ryan mccorm exports main street letter kenny don't miss the bafta award-winning comedian michael macintyre's brand new show magnificent at the ssc arena belfast on friday the 31st of may 2024 as always highland radio make it easy for you as we look after all your needs we will provide luxury transfers overnight stay at the clinton hotel belfast on a b&b basis your ticket to the show shopping time in belfast city centre for more information go to the outlet at highlandvideo.com or give us a call on 074 9125 thousand michael macintyre in belfast thank you very that stops very quickly doesn't it you're very welcome back to the program we're joined uh on the show now by dr gail commons department of nursing and health care at the atu donagall and mrs mary dunion department of nursing and health care at u donagall as well both of you thank you so much for joining us good morning greg morning greg and thanks very much for having us this fantastic opportunity yeah no it's great it's great to be able to speak to you right so we're speaking about um some advice and tests for farmers we're going to come up to that but am i correct in saying that's part of end to tour week if i'm pronouncing that correctly running from the 26th of feb to the first of march gail do you want to tell us a little bit more about that yes we were absolutely delighted to receive news just before christmas to say that we had been successful in winning funding to run two end to tour events on campus this week as part of the national week so these are being run by the department of nursing and health care at atu donagall and the first event which is running today is our research festival event and as we speak we have four expert guest lecturers in delivering workshops on all things research from you know qualitative and quantitative data analysis to writing a lit review to you know intro to research methods and processes so we've those four workshops going on in the afternoon then we have a research competition where anyone who was registered with the departments of nursing right across the three campuses should i say whether it's atu donagall atu mayo or atu saint angeles can enter a competition and they will pitch to the panel of judges about ideas on how to you know meet the challenges and that were presented with in nursing and health care at the moment from a research perspective and then in the afternoon we'll have our prize giving and that will be followed by guest speakers so Dr Louise McBride who's our head of department and her team will talk about the iSwap the student mental health and well-being program and that will be followed by Dr Mick McCann who's going to talk about research and in nursing and health care right across our campuses so fantastic lineup for everyone and i suppose the thing that's so special about today is that as i mentioned we have representatives from the three departments of nursing in atu so we've represented us from atu mayo down with us which load of students just arrived there about half an hour ago we have represented us from atu saint angeles as well so we're delighted it's very special to have that opportunity and that first event is for for students really and people associated with atu that's right yeah but we've left it open anyone could have registered for the link um yeah so it's primarily about research in nursing and health care and that's running today and it's um we're very thankful to entutor and for anyone that doesn't know what entutor is it's um i suppose a national program which is run um in the technological sector to really promote the student learning experience you know to transform it and it's also about staff development too so that's our first event that's running today it's running until half five for anyone who'd like to come in and join us you're more than welcome and then the second event um we are heading out mary and i are heading out get to that in a moment though i just because i just want to recognize if that's okay the importance of sort of research as part of of health and we do quite a lot of that in this area is what i'm thinking uh of stuff that i'm aware of and there's much more in terms of of breast cancer but there's also also other studies that uh letter candy university hospital has been very involved in in terms of the of patients pathway and i know maybe i'm not an expert in this area but it's all part of of healthcare but not necessarily what we as the general population would see as part of it so i i imagine you know it's critical that we have we have the creative juices flowing uh with the next crop of medical professionals uh to focus on all elements of health care absolutely and i suppose right from when the student comes in on day one you know we as lecturers we talk about the importance of research and health care we talk about the importance of evidence-based practice and we practice what we preach because um the department of nursing actually has a very strong um you know research track record in terms of the student mental health and well-being and so on and we have the masters in advanced and health and social care the masters in therapeutic interventions for alcohol and other drugs um so there's a lot of research that goes on so it's really important to have days like today where we actually get to celebrate um aid to use the department of nurses you know strong um research track record and as you said an opportunity to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about what's next on the agenda in terms of research and development yeah for sure and for the students some of the people you've got speaking though they're they're heroes if you know what i mean absolutely from a from a career perspective now the second event we're talking about which i cut you off as you were just flowing into it uh is the um it is reaching out to to farmers really with health advice and and tests primarily probably fellas and we do know and i'm not going to get shot for saying this because we were speaking to an amazing lady a little earlier on uh who who went through a diagnostic process and it's her determination and drive that uh it hopefully is going to leave to lead to a perfect outcome for her but i think sometimes maybe uh fellas are not as good checking on themselves and their health and certainly even if they have their suspicions then not progressing that'll taking that to the next level for a myriad of reasons mostly we invent them if the truth be told to avoid it uh Mary do you want to talk about this initiative that's upcoming yes thanks Greg um i suppose i agree with what you say and i think farmers are great at looking after their animals and looking after the land but you know when it comes to themselves they're really not as good and the research does show that you're talking with the researcher and girls they are saying about studies and like there was a recent study done and was then over a half of the farming population that were um research had high blood pressure and like one in five of us are going to have a stroke so like it's great to get the opportunity now on Thursday to go out um to reform art and to be able to we're going to do um three different tasks we're going to do a bulk pressure and we're going to record the heart rate and we're going to record the bmi which is your body mass index and looking at you know your height and your weight and seeing if you're sort of within the normal levels or not and you know for most people who have high blood pressure unfortunately there's no signs and symptoms Greg and you know the first sign that you might have is that you've had a stroke and so if you're lucky you'll have a headache or you'll have maybe a nose bleed or you may feel does your own well but for um many people there is just no signs and symptoms so it is one of the modifiable diseases that we can manage well that's it isn't it because again it kind of goes back to that research word there's very that you know there's not as many as we'd hope of things that can you know really have a strong impact on our health but we actually can really quite successfully manage yeah that's it and that's what we're hoping to do in thursday is just to do that we check like there's no needles there's no nothing involved um so no man don't like needles a lot of them we don't mind shoving our hands up a cow but don't come near us with a needle do you know what i mean you try to figure that one out um so yeah so it's just checking bulk pressure as i say and checking heart rate so it's we're going to use the manual method because we want to pick up any um arrhythmia or any irregularities and because again that's another big cause of stroke is um if you have an irregular heartbeat and maybe atrial fibrillation um so even by checking someone's pulse and checking the bulk pressure and doing it the old-fashioned way rather than using the machine you're able to pick up if there is um any sort of abnormalities and that there um so yeah we'll be giving a wee bit of advice then so as you say it's one of the things that we can do something about so if it's really high we'll hold on to you we'll check it again um and then we can refer you maybe on the end to your GP give you advice just about and you know it's everything is linked you know between your blood pressure your diet your stress levels and as farmers you know it's we do know it's a it's a stressful environment and it's you know they're under a lot of pressure there's long hours you know it's not wanted right in eight to five so there is a lot of pressures there but it is really important i mean the guidelines say that once you're over um 40 that you really should have your blood pressure checked even yearly you know even under that they say and there's high recommendations say every five years to me a team up to that but then once you come to 40 um even yearly you know so this is free it's it's you know it's a great opportunity for people to get their blood if you're in around refuel and thirsty come down to us and in refuel martin and get your blood pressure checked yeah we need a couple of brave souls to show the way to here because we don't want it to be like you know you just have a 10 foot uh 10 foot uh no go zone around you just as you walk around the place so we need a few brave souls and you know and i know myself as and the reason i feel comfortable to speak about it is is i'm still not fully there yet but i am someone that would spend an awful lot of time of thinking of reasons not to go and get something as simple as blood pressure checked right but at the end of the day these things are incredibly manageable and and if you you know as you say well not as you say but you know that these are people that are carers they care for their animals they're very proud of that as well but you know if you're driving your tractor uh to and from a field or what have you and it just wasn't running quite right you would get it to the mechanic and get it checked out and they would work their wonders and then you'd have uh you know the summer of happy driving why not do the same for yourself really yeah and all that's it um and we often would say to our students you know it's like um if you can it's prevention really it's not the cure you know it's prevention's far easier so we teach a problem here in the college and it's making every contact count so it's every time we talk to people or patients it's just trying to get that message across and and just to try to prevent something from happening because as we know like heart you know whether it's you know and there's supposed effects of high blood pressure as you can have a heart attack you can have a stroke you can have eye disease um kidney disease so if you can stop that from happening then you know and people are living longer and that's what it's all about it's about healthy aging and especially when people are working for themselves that they can work longer as well and it's just it's devastating I mean we've looked after so many people you know from the hospital and our students that are coming out with us they've had experience of that as well and it's just life changing one they have either a heart attack or they have a stroke and you're right and what you're saying Greg we've done this before like we've been with the different arts and we're actually doing an event down in the courtyard shopping centre now in April as well and people are afraid to come they say oh I don't want to know and I was like you see they said well this is what I would have done yeah but I've been walking around all day so of course my blood pressure is going to be high and my pulse is going to be up you know so I mean this is not but that there's no intention of relaxing and sitting down and going to the GP the next day that's just an excuse not to do it there and then right listen I know you're so very busy with everything that's going on today the event that is today but you are in the mart in Ruffo with some health advice and some tests promoting the importance of health and well-being of farmers too and and you know you correct me if I'm wrong miss Dunyan but you know there's an aggregate effect as well too with walking around with high blood pressure for quite some time the sooner you get it under control the better because obviously you know you want your heart to last as long as is possible so that presumably means having it operating within you know acceptable boundaries for longer that's better for you effectively so the sooner you get on top of something the better absolutely and that's what I was saying Greg before there like it's they used to always say hypertension was like the sight and killer because you didn't there was no signs and symptoms so if you're walking around for maybe five ten years having had your blood pressure checked your arteries and your ecapollaries and the wee blood vessels and the kidneys and and then the eyes I mean they can be great obviously then your heart as well those bigger blood vessels like they can be badly damaged you know so that's what's just early intervention and it's it's all about prevention and that's sort of a healthy agent all right lads and lassies uh thursday the 29th of february three nursing students will provide a range of those checks that we've mentioned four farmers at the mart in ruffo anything you want to add dr gale commons before i wrap up yeah no i just want to thank all of our our nursing students from across the three programs here in atu jenny goal general nursing psychia mental health nursing and intellectual disability nursing and we actually have 20 nursing students from year three across those three programs you actually have given their time um you know they've volunteered to do this with mary and i so thank you to all of those students and we will stand out you will see us a mile off because we have fabulous um orange tops on the day um you know so there'll be um no worries about not finding where we are so you're really getting rid of all the excuses aren't you sorry uh dr gale commons department of nursing and healthcare atu uh from the same department miss mary donnie and both of you thank you so very much enjoy the rest of your day it's been lovely having you on the program take care bye bye all right to you watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really fun choose fun the mania coming to the brunswick movie ball from march 1st choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary fundamania event first to the 17th of march for details see fundamania.co.uk at legal we've dropped the prices of over 600 products so you save on essentials like shower gels irish chicken breast 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master range of mcginley motors mazda letterkenny mazda crafted in japan seai is delighted to announce the return of the zevi ev dealership of the year awards and this year's bolster winner is connelly's Volkswagen letterkenning to learn more about the awards and ev grants visit seai.ie supported by the government of Ireland i have exciting news to share at mouth for tails we have prices beyond compare tails as low as 1399 a yard yes they're really cheap transform your space without making your wallet weep laminate floor no so niche starting from just 1099 a yard sure we can't be beat if you need bath where don't you fret with reduced prices you won't regret sure where would you get it mouth for tails and mouth for retail park we are open monday to friday 9 30 to 5 and saturday 10 to 4 you can call us on 08 3 0 9 1 0 7 0 7 we were speaking to i thought it was a really quite an important conversation with um mary in the second hour of the show just before 11 o'clock about her experience of um having an issue with her left breast and she went to the hospital um really remarkable story and she had three tests on the day uh was told everything looked good a week later um she was told that had been issues with testing uh her her tissue sample but that they had enough tissue to retest it and that everything was okay so she went home um she went home and something wasn't right she went back to her gp gp said look you should always get a second opinion and she went to go away she had to go private and um as it turned out she did have uh breast cancer in her left breast and also an issue in her right breast um which wouldn't have been not neither would have been discovered if she hadn't have gone forward and trusted her gut now you would hope that that's a very rare experience but unfortunately uh quite a few if you seem to be able to identify uh with her as does this listener i uh can identify with mary had tests scans and a biopsy done to be told it was okay then to be contacted afterwards to be told i had stage for cancer it's hard to have any confidence in them says a caller what a brave lady i wish you're all the best for the future god bless indeed we uh join you in those sentiments uh rosemary on uh facebook i feel sorry for that lady who was on about being misdiagnosed with cancer or not diagnosed as i'm going through that now between sligo and go away hospital so i have cancer again but they can't find out where it is and i have had CT scans and MRI scan and biopsies um the problem might be says the listener that she is full of radiotherapy that she received 12 years ago uh for cancer my mom spent her last five weeks at the hospital last july she was so happy there isabel was so helpful and those nurses are human angels it's an unreal place uh councillor kevin bradley the mayor of letter kenny has been on to wish the hospice all the best with their building plans isabel and their team are doing a fantastic job back to mary fairplay to mary for sharing her story it's terrible what happened to her the least any woman deserves is to get the right results it's a long enough journey and i'm jumping between the hospice and mary's story i'm delighted to hear that hospice got their planning and hope that all donning all gets behind them to fundraise that comes in from rose and rose yes continues to the the um the the generosity of the donning all public towards the hospice is unmatched now i want to mention to you that ours to protect is coming up later on during john bresnan's show and we are going to learn how we can hold on to our stuff for longer isn't this sort of to do with the circular economy well don and marie darty speaks to caroline mcginnis brooks from foil repair cafe about their monthly pop-up events in stroban and dairy and joanne butler from the donning all community gardens as they put the wheels in motion start a repair cafe in donning all and we're moving back to repairing stuff which is good you know washing machines dishwashers things like that became unrepairable for a while because you couldn't get parts for them but thanks to sort of the promotion of a circular economy we're seeing parts becoming available for them all readily again um if a stranger comes up to your door why not ask them to stand as you take their photo and car registration number before engaging with them it's a big old ask that i know what you're saying it's probably good advice i just couldn't see myself doing it now last chance to enter our competition today uh this week on the show thanks to our friends at funda mania fair grand which is coming to the brunswick movie bowl in dairy london dairy from the first of march till the 17th of march we're giving you the chance to win incredible family passes for a day of unlimited fun and excitement we're giving away two passes every day this weekend to be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize today simply answer this question what town in donning all am i talking about here are three clues harvest fair valley's end heritage club uh text your answer your name and where you're from or whatsapp it to 08 6 60 25 000 two of you will win family passes for a day of unlimited fun there so you're going to if you win or if you go feel the rush on the apple roller coaster spin till you're dizzy on the cops and navigate through the chaos in the bumping cars that's not all though you can dive into a sea of excitement with the sea storm test your aim at the water gun game and let your taste buds dance with delight with our mouth watering hot food and sweet treats tough for me to read that last bit because i have yet to break my fast all right good luck if you're entering i'll give the lines about five minutes and we'll announce two winners before the end of the show two family passes uh which will be great fun uh all day passes they are as well uh rolls on facebook great great great to hear the planning is granted for donning or hospice extension we all need to get funding now to help get this complete i've been fundraising for quite a while in the need all our help uh not many families haven't been affected by cancer unfortunately indeed um and it's it's one of those things it's unfortunate that either many of us have experience of the hospice but then again it's a positive thing through a difficult time or it might be uh on the horizon for us you just never know with these things choose life choose fun choose not sitting at home getting bored choose something better something really choose fundomania coming to the brunswick movie bowl from march first choose regular junior or family wristbands and enjoy some of europe's top thrill rides choose fun for all ages a legendary fundomania event first to the 17th of march for details see fundomania.co.uk join the multi-award winning patrick finney and his band for his country and gospel show at the millenium forum dairy on sunday 10th of march tickets are now on sale from the millenium forum box office telephone 04871 26445 or book online at www.milleniumforum.co.uk do you need a uk address save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with space up dairy we provide a full virtual address mailbox service for all your business and personal use save hundreds possibly thousands on custom charges with space up dairy call 04871 878077 or online spaceupdairy.com for more details at michael murphy sports and leisure we know a good pair of trainers makes all the difference whether you're running marathons or training for your first 5k we stock all the leading brands including asex brooks and new balance with different styles and features to suit individual running needs call in store or shop online at michael murphy sports.ie you weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air owner air to water heat pump and euflex underfloor heating visit grant.ie well scuttle showers and sunny spells this afternoon highest temperatures 8 to 10 degrees in moderate to fresh southwest winds easing but veering northwesterly towards evening now dry to start tonight with clear spells cloud will thicken from the west overnight without breaks of rain and patchy mist developing towards morning cold at first with lowest temperatures of 2 to 4 degrees but those temperatures will rise as suddenly winds increase moderate to fresh doctor andrea redmond is of the uh common four bar hand the dukery that's the dukery development group tidy towns and it's on us on with us now good morning andrea thanks for joining us good morning greg how are you i'm good and it's great to speak to you right now the tidy towns committee is putting out a call to all politicians whatever the political party they're involved in or none uh you're asking them to refrain from sticking up election posters or any material really for that matter we are great and um this this is impolitive this is something that's been going on in the rest of the country since 2019 and in fact in the last general election there were over a hundred villages and towns lost that had requested that political parties um not put up a political paraphernalia in their local towns and villages and most of the parties act we asked and we believe that now with the county council elections coming that the numbers were doubled and tripled and we've we've done this as i said it's not punitive we appreciate so much what the glanti counselors have done for us some jury but we really see that as you know um posters uh themselves are not biodegradable neither are the cable ties we really feel with the ads on the social media with the likes of yourselves and the newspaper coverage the posters are irrelevant and maybe a bit of an added expense and you know we we think sometimes the age old way of knocking on the door shaking the constituents hands and talking to them about what the issues is perhaps one of the most important things and we've actually invited the counselors to all the social events that we're we having for example the saturday at four p.m. with the corkscrew we're launching a new sculpture we've been we've invited all the counselors to that and and everybody else is welcome um you know so Greg there's a lot of reasons you know distractions to motorists again litter but also there's an issue with tatty towns as the competition um a lot of uh areas found that they lost points because of the displays and you know we're in tatty towns don't hurry to win and watch the space and so we're really concerned about um kind of the over usage of of political posters i mean obviously you know we're not here to debate the rights and wrongs of posturing but there are those that feel that you know you talk of the glantis camp counselors those that are already in the seats that this kind of gives them advantage you know posters have been shown to work for new candidates new voices uh new people on the political scene can you allow yourself to have sympathy uh for them that uh in this area that they may be disadvantaged that you know others have had sort of five years of exposure and publicity and it's not really fair to to exclude particularly i think for the newer maybe lesser known uh candidates to to get their face out there well they're not going to be excluded because we're only asking them and you know the short geographic area so there's lots of other areas and excuse the dogs in the background that's all right to put they're also the use the use of social media they're um you know they're in the newspapers i get you there's other money on newspaper articles 100 and really let's stop and think about it sometimes the displays are too much and i always think of a top in the pool you know yourself somebody will put a poster in a pool then the other party will decide and at the end of the day it's you know it's over of course and then and then you'll get posters with block lines of sight on roadways and 100 first bad it's been 50 cuffs at certain junctions almost over the positioning of posters okay not in your area or i'm not mentioning a particular area so can i make can i make a point doctor and great can i make a point you can't um make a point political point with a poster a poster is a mugshot the best way for a new candidate to make an impact is come and talk to your constituents wrap the door introduce yourself come to a social occasion the parties have all been invited to this Saturday that is the way to meet people on the ground to meet them and the supermarket and talk to them you know and this is what i'm saying you can look at a poster they're lovely you know lovely looking individuals but that doesn't say anything to me about what their stance are on different issues okay right just for the avoidance of doubts you talked about being a small geographical area what is that area well basically the village itself but we start kind of on the marve you know we're a beauty spot we're an absolutely beautiful area and we don't want it yeah we are and we don't want it later is the wrong word but we don't want an overindulgence of political paraphernalia and posters so the start of all in the marve the village you know um going up to lock path by lock barra you know but there there's loads of places the junctions into areas that they could put posters and and and oh well you know away they go and we wish them all good luck on the huff things and we hope for dry weather and we'd like to see a lot of them in the community wrapping the doors and having a chat with them okay lovely stuff thank you very much indeed dr andrea redmond there are wonderful many areas around donagall follow suit uh just to mention our two winners today our family passes for fundomania in dairy uh and both come from glenties such as the randomness of the draw both from glenties mary magrorty in um so not they're not both from glenties the answer was glenties okay of course the answer was glenties the from nowhere near glenties as it turns out mary magrorty is in um kill the crannin well done to you mary we'll get those out to you and mary shields is infanted as well so mary shields the answer was glenties am i losing the plot finally some would say i lost it a long time ago just a couple of updates uh in relation to inquiries we've been making on behalf of of listeners or organizations so we went back to the hsc again looking for a spokesperson on services at st joseph's unfortunately we weren't able to get a spokesperson but we got further clarification because there was some concern amongst gps as to where physiotherapy might be provided and we're being told now that physiotherapy will be provided for the patients within the clinical ward area in st joseph's hospital patients will still be seen by the physiotherapy team as per normal standard practice with new referrals being added to the urgent and routine waiting lists as they come into the service i can't help but feel an awful lot of this could have been avoided with um the situation being properly laid out right from the very beginning do you remember which happened to the son of a woman who was left in monohun uh and it was an interesting story in that uh it's not the first time she's had issues with boss siren but anyway no nutshell she was coming back from dublin to donigol for treatment uh hospital treatment this is a woman who was 81 if my memory serves me correctly uh the boss stopped at monohun and she hopped off the boss for a bathroom break the boss only stayed for three or four minutes and left without her she was abandoned uh she was left in monohun now we spoke to other people that were on that bus and they said the driver said he was tight for time it was only a three or four minutes stop uh wouldn't let some people off as that three or four minutes was eaten into bib the horn before he left but anyway one way or other it's not a satisfactory situation the boss siren says we are very sorry to hear of the customer's experience and disappointment and are disappointed to learn that it wasn't up to boss siren's usual high standards we treat all complaints very seriously and once the complaint came into us our customer care team responded to this issue in a timely manner we have highlighted the issue to the driver and all relevant department and hope to see the customer on board our services again very soon on this occasion our driver announced to the passengers on board the service that he was reducing the layover time in monohun bus station due to being slightly delayed en route this practice this practice is carried out at the discretion of our drivers when required to keep the services on schedule but then what boss siren need to do is talk like for some people right they might not get this boss from donneagle to double uh double into donneagle we're all different and some people need that time the 10 to 15 minutes to go to the bathroom because they've drank too much water because of a medical condition to leave it where it's at the discretion of the driver so it could be three or four minutes or it could be the 10 or 15 minutes because you get delayed i'm not really sure i think boss siren are acknowledging really perhaps a fault in the system you know you do need to go to the bathroom lots of people need to go to the bathroom and they're effectively saying that it's up to the driver really it can be two minutes it can be 10 minutes it can be 15 minutes i'm not really satisfied with that answer i appreciate boss siren getting back in touch with us but it doesn't fix the problem that some people for medical reasons and for not medical reasons sometimes need to use that 10 minutes that's supposed to be there as a toilet break and let me see i'd be grateful if you could possibly highlight something the road from Trenta to Kilmackrennan is in a terrible state of repair in particular the road around teases there are no warning signs or cones read the uneven surface large potholes and flooding there's going to be an accident on this piece of road and we've had we had a listener on last week talking about this very stretch of road it i don't have the picture available to for those of you who are watching the show available on on the computer but i can show you look at the state of that road i'll try and describe it to those who are listening on the radio it's crap there you go you wouldn't drive a four by four through it let alone a car we're going to get we're going to make an inquiry in relation to that the road at the top of Glen Carr heading towards Trenta is in bad need of repair great country this we pay road tax for the upkeep of roads and the council decides to spend on money for bicycle lanes who don't contribute anything wonderful we see the problem is is on tax road tax money is kind of that's kind of the water money if you know what i'm saying uh but yeah i take your point uh wider farmers on the Coravadi Glen Tahiti Glen Notty Road Glen Notty Road not clean up after themselves is there a law that would keep this road clean it's so mucky and horrible to walk on and the woods are so beautiful to say so listener there and on it goes right thank you so much to all of you uh listening to the show today we really do appreciate it especially those of you or not especially but we extra appreciate those of you who text in we read all the texts all the emails we get to the majority of them on the day if not we carry them over they're all red and all appreciated thank you very much we're back here for wednesday show tomorrow morning at nine but for me Greg Hughes and the team have a wonderful tuesday and stay tuned because John Breslin is coming up around the north