 Thank you, Greg. Good morning. One of the organisers behind the Children's Microprotest has hit out at the Taoiseach over not meeting with them yesterday. Over 50 children from Donegal spent much of the afternoon protesting at the gates of Lanster House. Some government ministers and TDs came out to speak to them and collected the letters the children penned, calling for a 100% microwave dress scheme. Speaking in the doll yesterday, Miehal Martin said he wasn't invited to meet with the protesters, but organiser Barry Kearney says that was not the case. The day before the protest, one of my campaign colleagues, Faye Gro Loon, had e-mailed all deputies in the peanut fall party and Miehal Martin's office, the office of the Taoiseach responded and acknowledged that they had received the correspondence. Staff told us he's aware of it and he woke it coming out, but we stayed there until 3 o'clock. The kids chanting, Miehal Martin, please come out. We advised his office that he was not going to get heckled, that the kids just wanted to talk to him and tell their stories, but he decided not to. New guidelines for nightclubs, bars and live venues will be revealed later. Multiple bookings are expected to be allowed while socially distanced queues will be permitted at bar counters. The Taoiseach says the updated guidance will be practical and based on common sense. It's costing 4 million euro to send carbon dioxide monitors to every school in the country to prevent the spread of COVID. The Department of Education started delivering 35,000 monitors at the end of August to check ventilation in classrooms. Primary schools are getting up to 20 each and secondary schools are receiving up to 35. Stern Orla Bay's Dr Dennis Macaulay from the Irish Medical Organization supports the rollout of the monitors. Having a high level of carbon dioxide in an interim calendar issue to be just a little bit tired, the quality there is poor, but more importantly, it will actually help alert the teacher and the pupils that the quality there isn't good and that there has to be more movement of air in and out of the room to ensure that we minimize the spread of the virus. And Minister Jack Chambers is insisting a controversial religious ceremony to mark the partition of Ireland is not a celebration or commemoration. The junior minister and the foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney will attend the event in Armar today. President Michael D Higgins declined an invitation to the service. Jack Chambers says if the government is serious about promoting peace, it has to listen to different perspectives. I think it's important we set out what the event is and what it isn't because a lot has been said about it. It's not a celebration or commemoration. It's about peace, about healing, about reconciliation and I think creating a space to hear different perspectives from those who hold a different view than us. Whether now today will be a cool, fresh and blustery day with sunny spells, isolated, heavy showers in the morning will tend to die out in the afternoon as it becomes mostly dry in temperatures 9 to 12 degrees. That's it for now. We're back with more 10 until then. Good morning. At Supervalu with amazing low prices with great offers like save 33% in our state sale with Supervalu fresh Irish triploin, sirloin and tomahawk steak, Supervalu signature tastes award winning breakfast deal only five euro and Supervalu signature tastes party food only two for seven euro. Supervalu real food, real people. The 9 till noon show with national fuels Pierce Road letter Kenny for all your solid fuel needs at the keenest prices 9137 400 or nationalfuels.ie. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest. The nine to noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland radio. Hello, a very good morning to you. It's four minutes past nine on this Thursday, the 21st of October, and you're very welcome along to the nine till noon show. And it's another busy show for you. Hopefully you'll stay tuned with us. The lines are open for you right now. Okay, let's take in your calls today. The numbers for you are to call 07491 25,000 07491 25,000 if you wish to give us a WhatsApp or a text that number 08 660 25,000 08 660 25,000. If email is your thing, you know, it's comments at highland radio.com comments at highland radio.com. And good morning if you're watching us across our social media where you can watch the show and interact with us there. Broadcasting live across our Facebook pages and from today onwards on YouTube so you can go and check out the Highland Radio YouTube page like and subscribe there and if it's easy for you to watch the program there, well, you're more than welcome to do so. Right let's start with a look at the newspapers today. And the first one up today is the Chicano Tribune. Just 17 years after building their new home on a site overlooking Mulroy Bay, Sean and Louise Gibbons are facing the looming reality that they will have to move out of their home for a lengthy period due to mica. What makes their situation even more challenging is how they're going to find alternative accommodation. This is that is suitable for the 13 year old daughter, Emma, who has intellectual motor and physical disabilities. You can read that full feature piece from Declan Kerr both on the front of an inside today's Chicano Tribune. The Dairy People Donegal News today there are plans for an independent expert team from outside the Republic of Ireland to be sent to Electric University Hospital to review its management and governance. The highly unusual move follows the publication of a Hickwer report last week into the hospital's gynaecology service, which identifies weaknesses in oversight arrangements and governance structures in the hospital. It's believed the team will be deployed from Scotland. However, healthcare group Sayota would not confirm this and say said they are still in the process of identifying a team. The Donegal Democrat today left in the dark nightclub operators in Donegal will ask night waiting for clarification from government on the latest easing of COVID-19 restrictions before deciding whether to open at the weekend for the first time in almost 60 years. And we have 600 days, sorry, and we have heard from some already due to open government officials were meeting representatives of the hospitality sector on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the latest relaxation of measures which come into effect from Friday. The latest easing which was announced on Tuesday allows for the reopening of nightclubs and live entertainment. The meeting was aimed at allowing a laying confusion about the new guidance and that guidelines those guidance that those guidelines will be published today by government. Still, lots of people getting on to me not knowing what's the status of any underage discos which are scheduled to plan, which are scheduled to go ahead this weekend. There is an anomaly there, of course, because COVID so it's required for access to nightclubs. But how does that apply to people under the age of 18, the majority of which I would suggest perhaps don't have access to a vaccine passport. Many have, sorry, but the majority, but not the majority, but a good proportion of the ham, so we have them don't. So we still don't know there are some nightclubs. I'm not sure if it's locally, but planning to open midnight tonight, actually midnight tonight into Friday morning. The dairy news huge increases in energy prices will hit hardest on those already least able to afford it. A local MLA has searched in Fane's Kira Ferguson was commenting after the utility regulator warned that gas bills could increase by a further 50% in December with electricity prices set to increase by up to 20% in January. On to the farmers journal now, 10,000 euro per farmer in new agri environment scheme. The story here is that farmers could receive a maximum payment of 10,000 grand each under the new flagship agri environmental scheme in the next cap. The 1.5 billion five year scheme will have room for up to 50,000 farmers and will replace glass and the reap pilot program. On to the Irish times now COVID rise a risk to the health service and this is the net effect of everything that goes on our underfunded under resourced understaff health service with 200 odd ICU beds, which obviously they're looking to increase in the research capacity there simply doesn't have the space for people that are getting sick over and above those that might normally. COVID-19 is growing again at a rate of two to three percent a day, but there is no single silver bullet to drive down case numbers public health officials have warned. The trajectory of the disease remains very uncertain involves significant risk to the operation of the health service according to the national public health emergency team. Disease incidence is high in increasing across all age groups and counties with significant outbreaks in some areas Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Hoolahan said speaking at Nefit's first briefing in almost two months Dr Hoolahan described the rising cases hospitalizations and ICU admissions as worrying and concerning and predicted a rise in the number of virus deaths. 14 people with COVID-19 were admitted to intensive care yesterday. The biggest daily jump since January at 52 ICU patients are on mechanical ventilation. Dr Hoolahan attributed the rising cases to changes in public behavior and called on people to embrace their protections. He also highlighted unvaccinated groups in the population including 300,000 adults one in five 18 to 30 year olds and two in five 12 to 15 year olds. But there is that anomaly it's waterproof isn't it which has the highest vaccination rate but also the highest case rate. But I suppose this whole thing's full of anomalies it's so unpredictable isn't it. The Irish Independent tells us and we were flagging this last week on this program it was inevitable health inspectors will blitz pubs and restaurants over the October Bank holiday weekend as part of a fresh drive to ramp up compliance with COVID-19 rules amid mounting concerns over a lack of compliance in some sections of the industry with some outlets failing to check COVID vaccination certs were told one in three I suggest it's probably more. Officials will be calling into pubs and restaurants to ensure compliance. New figures show only 5261 checks were carried out on the tens of thousands of hospitality businesses since July nearly a third were non-compliant or indeed or in need of improved safety measures meanwhile last minute talks ahead of Friday's reopening of nightclubs her proposals that customers be allowed to order at bars as long as social distancing is observed trust the people you know have someone going around saying look leave a little bit of space but let's not have this ridiculous situation of people dancing and potentially bugging on the dance floor and then unable to go to the bar to get a drink. It doesn't make a great deal of sense. The Irish Daily Mail today. Agriculture Minister Charlie McConaughey said the sector will have really ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However he said reports that farmers will face emission cuts of 20% under the government's forthcoming carbon budget are speculation. He was speaking at the launch of the government's common agricultural policy strategy plan for 2023 to 2027 yesterday which will require farmers to participate in eco schemes in order to get a share of the funding. He said the agriculture sector would play its part in reducing emissions and this will be partly based on stable herd numbers. 08 660 25000 the WhatsApp number there for you. Conor McGregor gets himself into an awful lot of trouble not all of it for one reason or another makes it into the press. But this story in the star tells us that the Italian DJ who alleges Conor McGregor punched him as they partied together in Rome has insisted he will not withdraw his complaint even if it was offered 10 million euro. Francesco Faginetti officially filed a complaint against the UFCC star with Italian police in the Lombardy region of northern Italy on Tuesday. It took to Instagram to post a copy of his official police complaint with the caption. Do you think I was joking? I'm here in here is everything that happened from A to Z. And now he is claimed he is not interested in being paid off even if he was offered 10 million euro. A shocking story inside the Irish Daily Mirror this morning. Evil trafficking gangs are smuggling pregnant women into Ireland and selling their babies for adoption. The scandal will be exposed in a report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The findings for the Council of Europe's group of experts in action against trafficking of human beings will reveal the smuggling of pregnant women and that it's an emerging trend here. TDs who sit on the cross-party life and dignity group which were briefed by lawyer Sanavia McDonough who's also a member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and Dr. Wilina Olchab also a lawyer and human rights advocate. The meeting took place amid growing concern about a recent report from the US which found Ireland continues to fall far behind other Western countries in dealing with human trafficking and its treatment of victims. And finally in the sun today a woman who calls the death of her friend through careless driving will not go to jail. Colleen McCann, 26 was deported from the US in 2017 to face charges over the crash which claimed the life of Kieran McKenna in July 2012. Kieran 17 who was a minor footballer with Cross McGlynn Rangers was a front seat passenger in McCann's car that left the road before launching into the air and hitting a tree in County Monaghan. A court had previously heard that McCann who has addresses in Castle Blaney and in Neury County was driving the car on the night of the collision but had no recollection of that to this day. She had also suffered a number of injuries including a broken arm and a collapsed lung and Monaghan circuit court was told that the accused had retrograde amnesia although no medical evidence was provided. At a sentencing hearing yesterday Judge John Elmner said the court could not say if her moving to America was an aggravating factor. He ruled that a full suspended 12 month sentence was appropriate. So that is what that judge saw fit to hand down there. Right, oh wait, 60, 25,000 WhatsApps and texts as I say to that number or give us a call in 07491 25,000. Right, we'll be back with our first guest after these. The 9 till noon show with National Fields Letter Kenny for a keen price on your home heating oil called National Fields on 9137 400. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, Mountaintop Letter Kenny. Do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled? Do you require temporary staff for the Christmas period? 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Tickets price 35 euro are now on sale at Hotel Reception and Ticketmaster.ie. The three amigos live in concert. It's not to be missed. Highland Radio Time Checks brought to you by Letter Kenny Shopping Centre, the centre of shopping in Donnie Gall. Free parking and shopping all under one roof. Letter Kenny Shopping Centre bringing you the time at. OK, the time is 18 minutes past nine. You're very welcome back to the 90 noon show. And we welcome into studio Inspector Seamus McGonagall. Thank you so much for joining us Seamus. We appreciate your being here. And it's as part it's part of an important operation, Operation Turin is targeting driving behaviour for the rest of this year. So tell us about this. Well, I mean tell us why we feel we need this operation to begin with or suppose. Well, I think there was an increase in the numbers of fatal traffic accidents in the period three quarter three this year. As a result of that operation, Turing was sent up for quarter four. The image of this operation is to reduce serious injury and fatal load traffic collisions with a focus on the core life saving offences. Now as I reiterated here on numerous occasions, the core life saver offence has been speeding, driving when intoxicated, seat belt offences and use of mobile phones while driving. There's also renewed focus in this operation on on accompanied learner drivers. But as I say, it's the same message. We reiterate it, make no apologies for doing it. It's for people to slow down, not to be drinking or using drugs while they're driving to use their seat belts and not use their mobile phone while driving. Some of what we're seeing in terms of, you know, the dis improvement in driver behaviours, kind of inexplicable to some extent, I suppose, we're seeing upward trends in drinking, drug driving. I mean, some of that's going to be changing in behaviour, some of it's going to be increased detection. There's always a mix of that there. But I mean, as I say, this is off the back of what we're seeing is changing or a dis improving in improvement in driver behaviour. Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say there's been a dis improvement in driver behaviour in a sense. Driver behaviour remains poor. The figures we're getting for some more fences have increased. And one specifically been over the last two years been drug driving. Now, there are a number of specific reasons for that I prefer not to go into in detail. But it's just again, it's for young people in particular and young males in particular again, who are off the focus group when it comes to speeding, but also the focus group very much so when it comes to drug driving. I know that enforcement is out there. It's more common or it's easier to be caught now. They call it bluntly for drug drive. If you're taking drugs, there's every likelihood you're going to get stopped and get by the guards and get prosecuted. Yeah. And also there's people need to make themselves aware of I mean, obviously, drugs are illegal, but it's it's different alcohol in that the drugs can remain in your system longer than than alcohol. I believe so. Yeah, but I get I don't want to get into the kind of chemical side of it. But I believe so that it can actually remain in your system. So in terms of, you know, what Guardi will be doing over this weekend and through the rest of the year, you know, when we talk about, you know, roads with 80 kilometres, rural roads, what is by definition, what would be a rural road? Well, a rural road, we define as I think for the speed limit. The maximum speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour. Now that in case the vast majority of the road network in the county of Donegal are regional roads, you know, we can, for example, the road from Merrick County to Milford is a regional road. The speed limit in that road there is 80 kilometres an hour. What's the other roads in any show would be the vast majority other than the actual main road between I think Bourne, Montcran and the National Road. But we can just make the point too, Greg, four or five deaths in the roads this year have been actually on regional roads. I think there's a misconception out there, people think that accidents happen on the big main roads, the national roads, they do unfortunately, but the biggest proportion of them actually happen on regional roads. What's your message for drivers then? Well, the one message again, it goes back to the core life saver offence, it's to slow down. There's one message I could give above all else is to slow down. Today being national, slow down there, it's suitable if we make that appeal today, but across the board, slow down, slow down, that's the most important thing. Again, not the drive will intoxicate it and to wear your seat belt. Quite a number of people who've actually been involved with fatal accidents this year, which I was actually surprised to see were not wearing their seat belts. And like, I know there was an issue back come back say 20, 25 years when seat belt use was very low. I really thought we'd get over that. That's what when I earlier on, when I was talking about a disimprovement in driver behavior, the simple things, you know, where we that were conditioned to do, we don't seem to be doing in the same way we did before. And that's at that time, at that point, the kind of thing that I was that I was referencing. So like in as well as that to our rural roads, particularly our shared spaces and a lot of the deaths on our roads, tragically, a motorcyclists, you know, posh cyclists, I suppose, is what's got them pedestrians, you know, and if the vehicles are slowing down and if the other road users are are taking as much precautions they can do, that's another way that we can share this space and try as best as possible to get everybody home. If I can just make the point to Greg, as regards to the region roads, the productive speed limit usually is 80 kilometers an hour. That's the legal limit. But what we're really talking about is what is appropriate, like 80 kilometers an hour is the maximum legal limit you can on a road when all the conditions are perfect for driving. On a morning like this morning, I don't think there's any road around for you where it's safe to drive at 80 kilometers an hour. You just you have to drive at the speed is appropriate for the conditions and for the road users at any given time. I'm making the point you have, back to the point you made about pedestrians have been quite a number, I haven't got the statistics with me of pedestrians killed on the roads this year. And again, that's usually on regional roads, because obviously they're not going to be walking on national roads. But I'm just there's one statistic that jumps out. If a car hits a pedestrian, traveling at 60 kilometers an hour, nine out of 10 pedestrians will be killed in that situation. And what speed was that at 60? 60, right up there. Yeah. And then at 30 kilometers an hour, same car hits a pedestrian, nine out of 10 pedestrians will actually survive in that instance. So again, it's all about the appropriate speed, all about all about that. Yeah. And you know, we hear regularly about these, and it's only by their grace of God, a lot near misses, you know, involve in cyclists and pedestrians. And it's just a case of a lot of this much of this is avoidable deaths and the tragedy. And as people listening to us, and this will be a difficult conversation for them to hear, but they will have been, you know, either themselves, the victim having night life changing injuries or bereave, you know, having been bereaved themselves, you know, it's the human consequences are huge here. This time of year in particular with the clocks come back to weekend after this. And it's so important for pedestrians and cyclists to make sure that they're lit up, there's a high visibility gear on. Like that's it's an appeal we make every year at this time of year in particular. And yet you see people out there and not wearing equipment. And really and truly, there's no excuse not to wear in this high visibility equipment because it's so easily got it's everywhere you look, you can get it. Come back to the figures about deaths on roads. This year just means a slight reduction in the number of deaths so far in Donegal, but yet there's five empty chairs this Christmas. There's five people have lost their lives until the end of September in this county. So like one that's too much, even though as they say, the figures are slightly down in last year, there's still the five empty chairs. Right, I call it, not a call, we'll come to a comment later on, but there is a focus in this campaign, this drive, and you've mentioned it already as well. And I think it may be a particular issue in maybe rural Ireland with long delays in terms of, you know, getting lessons or getting a test. And people feel that they can take the risk of driving on a learner permit without a fully qualified accompanied driver. But they're being strongly discouraged told not to do it and also the consequences of their court doing so are very severe. Absolutely. And you know, the law has been changed since 2019 as regards on accompanied drivers. And it's just nobody, nobody should get into a car unless they've got a full driving license or without a being accompanied by a qualified driver, namely a person that has a driving license, a full driving license, that category for two years. Because again, that was put in, people know the Clancy Amendment, where a family in Cork where a mother and daughter were killed in an accident by a neighbor who actually had, wasn't driving on a provisioning license, a provisioning license. And it's just it happens, the statistics are there to show that on accompanied drivers, drivers on provisioning licenses are more likely to be involved in serious and fatal accidents than people with full licenses. And again, you know, the statistics speak for themselves. And there was every good reason why that amendment was bought in when it was. Yeah. And as you mentioned to just as it relates to drug driving, what was the comment you made that if you are drug driving, you will get caught? Absolutely. Absolutely. Again, the legislation's in the last number of years. It's the Guardian very fair, but it's operation at the moment. And the statistics again over the last two years speak for themselves in the huge increase in the number of people who've actually been prosecuted. Look, it's not about attributing blame as such. Again, you know, I keep coming back to the fact that it's always us against them in one way or other. And then cyclists versus motorists, not for everyone, but for some people. But this text says, Guardi would need to target cycles with no lights, cyclists with no lights and bicycles or with high vis clothing. But that happens. I mean, I've heard stories that spoke to your colleagues that sometimes they have high vis RSA bibs in the back and they will, you know, pull over, have a word with whomever is walking or cycling and hand these out. That is ongoing work. That has been for a number of years. In fact, I'd be surprised there's any patrol car out there at the moment, especially at this time here, which hasn't got high vis jackets, actually, they're for handing out to the public. Yeah, of course. So how about breaking the lights in letter, Kenny? People keep driving even when the lights are red across from the old courthouse. That's driver behavior. I mean, that all comes into what you're talking about, really. Absolutely. It's the responsibility lays with the road users. Usually the roads are shared spaces and we have to respect every everybody else who's on the road. And that's the people that do me a look at something like a red light and say, ah, it's a small offence, not that serious. But it's the small things that actually end up with accidents. It's the small bit of speed over over what's appropriate. It's not wearing your seatbelt or just forgetting to wear your seatbelt down to the local shop or whatever. It's those small little things that end up with serious injuries. OK, any potent message or if we covered everything there? We've covered everything. We just like to thank you, Greg and Highland Radio for allowing us this opportunity because I know it's repetitive. From up here, it's the same lines we're given all the time, but it's those simple driver behaviours which lead to serious injuries and lead to fatalities on the roads. All right, listen, we appreciate you coming up. Inspector Seamus McGarmagall, thank you very much for joining us. We'll be back with more in the programme shortly. Get ready for winter with National Fuels, delivering home heating oil in Letterkenny and surrounding areas at competitive prices. 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And remember, if you are in a place where guidelines are not being followed and you don't feel safe, take your business elsewhere. We will continue to keep you updated with public health guidance and the information you need on gov.ie forward slash recovery supported by the Government of Ireland. And you're very welcome back to the 9th till noon show on Facebook. Darren says what percentage of learner drivers have been involved in fatal collisions? It's an easy target to pick on them. Could we, excuse me please, could we hear the percentage of collisions in categories of age and driving experience? Another caller says can you ask the garter why there are no regulations requiring a pedestrian to wear any high-vis clothing or to carry a light when walking on the road at night? Those we might have heard from the inspector there. They do talk at that. On the subject of speeding, traffic or bad driving was cycling yesterday and I'm a very competent cyclist, all lights on and were still close past by several drivers in a solid white line. Also in a blind corner, drivers need to respect other road users and give cyclists a bit of room 1.5 metres and you know, you see videos posted on social media of cyclists to and from college or work and they video it and some of the the videos are quite shocking and not it's not going to be too long ago too long to go until you see more of these e-scooters now that they're being regulated was coming home from Sligo last night and met a cyclist with no light or high vis and then on the Donegal bypass, a jogger wearing all black didn't see either of them until I was 10 feet away. Crazy stuff says that driver. Greg, is the COVID recovery search acceptable for admission? Yes, it is. We need a trained special force to stop this trafficking. Travellers getting a mandatory sentence. These babies could end up in the sex trade. Can you, Garter would need to target cycles? As I mentioned, I mentioned that one earlier. Can you ask the Garter why it's so hard for guys to find uninsured drivers after collisions if they have the car reg? Has Charlie McConnelogue kicked the mic he can down the road for another three weeks? Sounds like the two weeks to flatten the curve. OK, we'll be chatting to Minister Charlie McConnelogue later on in the programme. Another comment says like nightclubs are now allowed to open up tomorrow, but when on nursing homes allowed to reopen? I know visiting in nursing homes in Northern Ireland has been expanded and we've heard from medical professionals on this programme that suggests that, you know, people should be allowed in to see their loved ones in a similar way as they did previously. Greg, why is no one bothered about the price of petrol in diesel? Everyone seems to be quite happy about it. No, we're not. We've been talking about it and we continue to talk about it. It was mentioned on the show yesterday, 171 for a litre of petrol. What are the stipulations for teenage disco? I've tried to find out more information. They're going, there are going to be children here who are on vaccinated. I would say good proportion of them looking at the statistics. Some of them not even eligible for one. But they are only deciding now what the rules are as it relates to nightclubs. And I don't believe they've made any ruling as of yet as it relates to underaged discos. Now, John Joe McGinley is creator of AutismDad.ie. And he joins us now. Good morning to you, John Joe. Nice to have you back on the show. Good morning, Greg and good morning to our listeners. And thank you very much for having me on the show. Right, OK, now tell us about is it a new website that you've created? Well, what it is is it's a it started off with a Facebook page, which was AutismDad Ireland and that grew in popularity. So then I expanded the social media onto Twitter and that got followers from all over Ireland, the UK and even all over the world. And on the Facebook page and on the Twitter page, as parents of children with autism, we started sharing our experiences. I started talking about how we deal with meltdowns, how we fight so hard for all the limited resources that are there for all our children and how we could support each other. So what I did was I put together a simple little website where I've collated all the thoughts and opinions that people were spreading throughout the Facebook page and on Twitter to try and share best experience, share our our triumphs and try and overcome some of the pitfalls that have befallen parents with autism children over the years. Just very, very simply all about sharing experiences, dispel some of the myths and really show parents with children with autism that they're not alone because with the lack of services that are available, it can sometimes be a lonely existence when you're fighting up against government, HSE, everybody to try and get the support that your children actually need. And you might end up finding yourself failing that your experience, the experience of your children is unimportant to the country. Well, indeed, I know there was a there was a many debate in the doll yesterday about autism, but when you heart back to the budget, which was all classified as something for everybody, but the people who didn't get anything in the budget or any consideration really were the carers and disabled children. And again, that's symptomatic. It seems to be that regardless of what the resource is, be it speech and language, be it psychological support from CAMHS, be it dietary provision, when it comes to disabled children, you have to fight for every single piece of resource that's available. Even in the assessment. Well, assessments are a real hot topic because the waiting list for assessments are beyond acceptable. I know we're in a pandemic and you have to give considerations that things will slip in such difficult times, but you're hearing from parents right across the country that timescales for assessments are up to three to four years. That's completely unacceptable. Tell us why that is, because I wanted to sort of increase our understanding of this as well, because why is a three or four year forcing parents if they are lucky enough to have the resources to get some sort of a private assessment that sort of a delay as it relates to if it's a younger person, their education, you know, their how they, you know, their their therapy or whatever might be required. What is the consequences potentially of a three or four delay in just the assessment to confirm or otherwise what the situation is with the child? Well, the first point really is about you know yourself when it comes to autism, early intervention is key. The earlier you can get intervention and support the greater it is for the child because when it comes to speech and language that the delay can be overcome. It's also about identifying what is with the autism. Autism doesn't come by itself. You have dyslexia, you have dyspraxia, you have anxiety, you have dietary problems. All these require the services of professional services. And unless these are identified, the longer the delay means that it's harder to treat in the long term. And it can also have long term consequences for the child. The reason the minister, both ministers from both parties in the coalition have said that they're spending money on autism services, but the reality on the ground is that assessments are taken up to three to four years. This is because there are limited amount of child psychologists available to provide the assessments that are required professionally for the children. This is forcing so many parents not only to go private, but also to go out with the state to get a diagnosis. Because you know yourself without that diagnosis, the gate is shut to so many services that are required for our children from child psychology support to the dietary support to the speech and language. And that is something that's unacceptable. And so what I did with autism dad is because you can't just sit back and complain because that that that is that this part of the fight. What you have to do is to is to not only fight for your children, but do things for your children. So what I've tried to do with autism dad through the website, the Facebook and the Twitter account is to share the best practice that we have had with raising two children with autism. We've got four boys to them on autism spectrum. So on the website, I've tried to look at how you handle things like like meltdowns. What's the difference between a meltdown and tantrums? Simple things like, well, how do you get your your children to to tie the laces? Something that is so simple for so many children. But when you've got children that have got autism, sometimes the the coordination is difficult. And something something as simple as tying the shoe laces becomes a major task or a blog on that to share best practice. And it becomes a major task. And if it's done, it becomes a major victory. And it's those little things. Isn't it if you've got children with autism, you realise every little milestone is the major victory. And the way you keep going is to celebrate those little victories and to look at all those different milestones to say here I am at the moment, but here's where I'm going to go in the future. And you do that through support with other parents, with working with the professionals that do exist and also sharing that best practice when you do reach those milestones. Because not only are the children so happy they've achieved it, but as parents, it's one little less task has to be taken. You know, because parents with children with autism, as with any child with a disability, we're carers. We don't care because we're paid. We care because we love our children. We care because we have to care for our children because nobody else gives us that support. So again, in Autism Dad, what I've tried to do is to show all through videos, through best practice, through the websites that are out there, all the resource that is available to help you overcome the difficulties that you're carers, but also that your children may have. So you don't have to rely on the lack of support that is there. Yes, fight for it because we're not going to give up. We're not going to give away. Go away. We have to fight for that support, but we just can't stand back and complain. We have to try and do things ourselves. And that's the covithos behind the Autism Dad social media suite, is to share best practice and for all us parents to get together, share these victories and show that we can help and support our children. Yeah, and also network network with each other. And I don't know how people will interact through the social media stuff as well. But that's an important thing to be able to speak to another person or a family that understands, because, you know, families might try and support parents or guardians of children with on the autism spectrum. But but you can't beat the support you might get for someone that you know truly understands what you're going through, if that makes it. Definitely, because sometimes you can feel you're alone. And I got some general jibberish from people who are called the Austin or dad. Hey, I'm an autism granddad, I'm an autism grandmother. It's great to have that family support and with the increase in diagnosis and understanding and of autism, more and more people are trying to not only identify how they can help their children, how they can help their grandchildren, their nieces, their nephews, their cousins, and it's great to have that family support. Because one of the other things that we have to fight for as parents or children with autism is autism awareness. There are so many myths that are out there about autism, some positive, some negative. And we have to try and share the best practice and the reality of raising children with autism. And with that in mind, John, Joe, how important is it for the wider population to access some of this stuff as well? Because, you know, when we were talking earlier on about how it's treated by government, you know, we can there's going to be, you know, two or three hundred people in a nightclub at midnight tonight. But we can't do assessments of our of our children or people can't get in and have proper access to maternity wards, although that is a health care setting. But still, it doesn't make a great deal of sense. And other supports and services that were there pre-pandemic aren't back yet. And we'd wonder if they are yet people are dancing in hundreds in a dance floor. And that might seem like an obvious sort of but it's a thing to say. But if it's affecting you, it can really, really it can really bother you. But my my point, what I was trying to get to is is a lack of general understanding and anger and interest in this. I wonder is this why the health service or the government feels that they don't need to give it the attention, because that's a group of people affected by it. And, you know, they're they're small in number and they're united to some extent. But it's it's thousands of individual voices, you know. But if also the general society started to say, look, no, this these these are our fellow families, we need to support them that maybe that might put more pressure on the government. Yeah, definitely. It's been a long time since I've been in a dancing nightclub. But on your point, I think the whole ethos is we have to get autism awareness to then have autism inclusion. So everybody is fully aware of what autism is and how we can ensure that our children with autism are fully part of society. But the thing is, we are a disparate number of people, you know, you sometimes feel you're totally alone when you appear with autism. But there are some fantastic groups out there that are now organising to show the government that we're not just individuals, that we are a group that shouldn't be ignored. If anybody's out there who isn't a member of the DC DCA Warriors Facebook group on Facebook, that's a fantastic organisation where parents not only have children with autism, but any disability are joined together to actually show the government that we will not be ignored and that our children will not be denied in any recovery as we come out of the pandemic, hopefully soon. Because the big thing is, it's easy when austerity starts. And regardless of the talk about financial recovery, you can already see it, governments go after the weakest in our society. What we've already seen as parents with autism is that children who are 16, who currently receive the domestic care allowance are now more and more of them are actually being denied disability allowance because it's 16. The government believes that they're no longer treated as a child, even though they're still at school, that they have to apply as individuals for disability allowance, even though their parents are looking after them, their parents are caring for them, they're going to school. No magic fairy is coming down and waving a wand and waving autism away. But our government is treating them as adults and that's wrong. And that's one of the things that the DCA Warriors and other parents with autism are starting to organise and trying to inform and ensure that the government addresses this. It's fundamentally wrong that children with autism at 15 years and 11 months are receiving domestic care allowance and are still at school at the moment they reach 16. That support and that payment for their parents is removed because the government wants to treat them as adults. And the worrying thing is that there are too many reports of children who have reached that age of 16 who are having their applications for disability allowance refused. And my worry is, is this a coincidence or is this a deliberate policy by our government to try and save money by going after the weakest in our society? Now, I would like to give people the benefit of the doubt and believe, hopefully, that it's a coincidence and that on appeal, these children with autism will be given the support and the benefits that they're entitled to and that the government and those that are looking at these appeals will change their minds. But if not, they need to be aware that parents will not stand back idly and silently to allow the government to go after the weakest in our society and in this way. OK, John Joe McGinley, creator of autism dad.ie on Facebook, autism dad Ireland on Twitter at autism dad 67. Now, is that a hint at your age or is there 66 other people using this handle? No, you probably saw on the back of the office. I've got some Celtic pictures. I also have a Twitter account, which has quite a lot of followers called Celtic Gossip Drive, so I'm a big Celtic fan. So, in fact, one of the things I need to highlight is if any parents here that are going over to see Celtic, have children with autism, Celtic and the Celtic Foundation have a fantastic support for autism parents and they actually have a room, a box at Parkhead where children with autism can experience the wonderful football and Celtic in a in a sensory appropriate environment. So they won't be overwhelmed with the noise, but they get the visuals. Is that they get the visuals to get the light because remember as well, Greg, one of the things about autism is that lighting is one of the key triggers for meltdowns. I wonder if I could share a quick story. Really briefly, but it's important to also go ahead. Yeah, we were the first thing that we identified with our children was two years old with autism. We used to go to British home stores when we lived in Scotland. And every British home stores store had the same lighting level. Every time we crossed the threshold, you would start screaming like it was a tantrum. And we discovered it was the actual strobe lighting that British home stores used. So I'm not sure if it happens as much now, but some stores do run nights for families where they dim the lights and stuff as well. So recognising that. But I'm not sure if that still happens as much as it possibly should. It's a thing every shot to consider. And there are more and more than I'm doing that. Just one hour or something. OK. John Joe, thanks for all your time today. Appreciate it greatly. That's John Joe, beginning their creator of autism dad. And it's an important issue and deserved of the extra time there. The 90 noon show with national fuels. Pierce Road, Letter Kenny for all your solid fuel needs at the keenest prices, 9137 400 or national fuels dot IE. This October, independent radio stations are celebrating Irish music across the country. Join us as we play more Irish music than ever before and promote bands and artists that have been badly hit by the pandemic and provide a 95,000 euro fund for artists performing on independent radio stations across Ireland. This is independent Irish radio supporting Irish music. This is Irish Music Month. Irish Music Month is supported by the B.A.I. Sound and Vision Fund and by Excel Retail, offering a great deal more at your local store. Hello, Grace, where are you heading? Down to Mead to Measure Fireplaces in Chrysler. Mead to Measure Fireplaces? Didn't you just buy a fireplace there? Yeah, but I'm going now to pick my kitchen work top. Create the kitchen and living room of your dreams at Mead to Measure Fireplaces and Granite Worktops. They've been in business for over 40 years. So for help choosing Granite or Quartz for your work top fireplace or stove, visit the Mead to Measure showroom at Casual Chrysler or see mtmfireplaces.com or on Facebook. The big sofa and half price mattress sale is now on at Better Value Furnishings Movil. Save hundreds on recliner and corner suites. Hundreds of quality mattresses at half price. 45 minute drive from Letter Kenny. Better Value Furnishings, Main Street Movil for Donegal's lowest prices on sofas and beds. iMotors are excited to announce the launch of the new fully electric Kia EV6. The modern breathtaking design is groundbreaking with up to 528 kilometres before recharge. The EV6 has all the latest technology you would expect with a Kia and has ultra fast charge from 10% to 80% in only 18 minutes. We're now taking pre-orders at iMotors Letter Kenny and Mallon for more information call 074-9134567. iMotors, the home of Kia in Donegal. All roads lead to Finn Park this Saturday night when Finn Harps play Slaggle Rovers. The promise is to be a pulsating Northwest Derby as Harps look to secure another home victory. Tickets will be available on the night at the Aldi Gate or from finharps.ie. That's Finn Harps versus Slaggle Rovers this Saturday night at the earlier Kegolf time of 7.30. This match reminder is supported by Highland Bakery, the Northwest's favourite local bakery. Highland Radio Weather Updates brought to you by Grant from condensing oil boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating. Trust Grant to heat your home. Think heating, think Grant. Visit Grant.eu. Cool and blustery today with sunny spells and just scattered showers. Some may be heavy and in the morning, but becoming more isolated by afternoon. It'll become cloudy, however, in the evening or by evening highest temperatures, just 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh and blustery Northwest winds veering westerly and easing light to moderate by evening. Keep your calls and comments coming into us. 08 660 25000. That's the WhatsApp or text you can call Michaela today on 07 491 25000 or you can have your say on our live video stream of the program available for you on Facebook, Highland Radio News and Sport, the Highland Radio page on Facebook also. Or if you're on YouTube, go to Highland Radio Ireland and you can watch us there now just in case Facebook isn't your thing. But Facebook changing its name, actually, apparently. I don't know how big a change it's going to be. Any suggestions as to what Facebook could change its name to? No swear words because then I can't read it out on the radio. But Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Facebook hasn't confirmed, but he hasn't denied. Facebook is changing its name. They want to, I think, from the other projects they have. They do some stuff with VR and an ecosphere or whatever you might call it. They're trying to create that as well. And, you know, the Facebook brand will be very popular, somewhat tarnished. So I think they're trying to separate it out. So give us your suggestions. What could Facebook? I'm scared. I even ask this question. What do you think Facebook could change its name to? Text 08 660 25000. Give us your suggestions. Do the government control what's an RT in use? Is the simple question from a call. I think I want to say I watched the RTU use one PM yesterday to see the children's protests at the door. I couldn't believe it when it didn't even get a mention. I honestly believe this government has no intention to meet the needs of the micro address victims. They will keep kicking the can down the road using delaying tactics, such as reports and assessments and any other excuse until they wear out the resolve of the protesters. I'm not impressed by the efforts of Minister Minister McConaug or Deputy Joe McHugh in fighting their corner. I don't know. I've said this before. It's a head scratcher. I mean, if you're interested, even if you're not interested, right? Say you're not interested in Donegal or people soon to become homeless or someone getting crossed by a chimney stack. And I'm not being we're only lucky that hasn't happened. OK, even if you're not interested in that, if you work in use, if you don't send a camera crew down there to film 50 children begging to meet the leader of the country to ask to get their homes fixed outside the seats of power, holding placards, holding letters with their personal testimonies from the heart as to what they're going through. Even if you don't care about Donegal or Micah, if you don't think that is a new story and shouldn't feel prominently in your one o'clock national news, well, I would suggest you probably shouldn't be in that job because even if you're not interested in the subject, it would be a very interesting story, a very popular story. So I don't know because, A, it's a big news story. It should be well upon the news, but also B, if you don't think it's a big news story, it'll be very popular. You know, a lot of people around the country would interact with it. So why would you not give it any place and certainly prominence on your main lunchtime news? I don't know the answer to that question. If I knew, I would tell you to quote a song accidentally. Right, we're going to take a break for the news and obituary. Notice this. Stay tuned. Lots to come on the program. The 9 till noon show with national fuels set or Kenny for a keen price on your home heating oil called National Fuels on 9137 400. Beat the cost of Brexit and no customs charges. Do you need a UK address for your limited company or personal use? Space Hub and Derry can provide you with your own virtual office or mailbox. Have your post and parcels delivered to Space Hub and collected your convenience. Also brand new 20 foot shipping containers now in stock. Ideal for all your storage needs under Springtime and Comor Depots. Find us on Facebook or spacehubderry.com or call 04871 878 077 for details. Homeland Fuel offers keeping you warm for less 20 kg eco-bright by five bags for 50 Euro, softwood logs, three bags for 10 Euro, one kg fire logs, four for five Euro, shop in store or online at homeland.ie. 10,000 Euro per farmer in new agri-environment scheme in this week's Farmers Journal. We reveal details of the new farm schemes in the next cap, including more money for small farmers through front loading, 260 million Euro suckler scheme to replace BDGP, A&C money safe for 100,000 farmers, 25 million Euro for dairy beef calves, sheep farmers to get 100 million Euro for flock improvements and five times more money for organic farmers. Only inside this week's Irish Farmers Journal. You cannot afford to miss it. Century Complex has something for everyone. Treat yourself to a tasty meal at Backstage Bar and Grill, an exciting movie at Century Cinemas and Century Play is now open. Get in touch with our team on 07491 21976 or check out our website CenturyCinemas.ie for more information on Century Complex. Are you age 17 to 25? Would you be interested in a construction apprenticeship in dry lining? Aregal contracts, a market leader in the interior fit-out sector for Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe are offering two-year apprenticeships and guaranteed full-time employment on completion of the course with the opportunity to earn £30,000 during your apprenticeship. So if you're interested in training for your future, email careers at aregalcontracts.com that's careers at aregalcontracts.com Stay tuned. We'll be right back to you. It's 10 o'clock. Good morning. I'm Catherine Gaffney. One of the organisers behind the Children's Microprotest has hit out at the Taoiseach over not meeting with them yesterday. Over 50 children from Donegal spend much of the afternoon protesting at the gates of Lentzter House. Some government ministers and TDs came out to speak to them and collected the letters the children penned, calling for a 100% micro-redress scheme. Speaking in the doll yesterday, Miehal Martin said he was not invited to meet with the protesters, but organiser Barry Kearney says that is not the case. The day before the protest, one of my campaign colleagues, Faye Gro Loon, had e-mailed all deputies in the Fianna Fall Party and Miehal Martin's office of the Taoiseach responded and acknowledged that they had received the correspondence. Staff told us he's aware of it and he will be coming out, but we stay there to about three o'clock. The kids chanting, Miehal Martin, please come out. We advised his office that he was not going to get heckled, that the kids just wanted to talk to him and tell their stories, but he decided not to. New guidelines for nightclubs, bars and live venues will be revealed later. Multiple bookings are expected to be allowed while socially distanced queues will be permitted at bar counters. The Taoiseach says the updated guidance will be practical and best on common sense. Garthee and Donnie Gull are targeting roads where an 80 km per hour speed limit applies as part of national slowdown day. There is a focus on these so-called rural roads as almost four out of five road fatalities so far this year have occurred on these routes. The joint campaign by Garthee and the Road Safety Authority is in effect across the country until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. Speaking on today's 9 till noon show, Inspector Seamus McGonagall says the wearing of seat belts or lack thereof is still in a shoe. If there was one message I could give above all else is to slow down. Now today has been national slowdown day, it's suitable if we make that appeal today, but across the board, slow down, slow down. That's the most important thing. Again, not the drive will intoxicate it and don't wear your seat belt. Quite a number of people who have actually been involved in fatal accidents this year, which I was actually surprised to see were not wearing their seat belts. It's costing four million euro to send carbon dioxide monitors to every school in the country to prevent the spread of COVID. The Department of Education started delivering 35,000 monitors at the end of August to check ventilation in classrooms. Primary schools are getting up to 20 each and secondary schools are receiving up to 35. Stern-Orlar based Dr Dennis McCauley from the Irish Medical Organization supports the rollout of the monitors. Having a high level of carbon dioxide in a room can and just you to be just a little bit tired. The quality there is poor but more importantly it will actually help alert the teacher and the pupils that the quality there isn't good and that there has to be more movement of air in and out of the room to ensure that we minimize the spread of this virus. Minister Jack Chambers is insisting a controversial religious ceremony to mark the partition of Ireland is not a celebration or commemoration. The junior minister and the foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney will attend the event in Armaa today. President Michael D Higgins declined an invitation to the service. Jack Chambers says if the government is serious about promoting peace it has to listen to different perspectives. I think it's important we set out what the event is and what it isn't because a lot has been said about us it's not a celebration or commemoration it's about peace about healing about reconciliation and I think creating a space to hear different perspectives from those who hold a different view than us. And 1000 new jobs are to come on stream over the next three years at Grant Thornton. The company will take on the new hires at its seven offices across the country. It is seeking both experienced workers and new graduates in areas like accounting, finance and technology. Managing partner Mick McAteer says its training of new graduates will take place in office. Our remote working is more is more focused towards people who are qualified because we've affirmed belief that as you're training and through that training contract and picking up experience it's very very important to be in an office environment where you are learning by as most as from more experienced staff so where we do have flexibility to all grades and graduates will have some flexibility it will require a significant attendance at the office. Whether now today will be a cool fresh and blustery day with sunny spells isolated heavy showers in the morning will tend to die out in the afternoon as it becomes mostly dry temperatures of just nine to 12 degrees. That's it for now we're back with the headlines for you at 11 o'clock until then good morning. The obituary notices for Thursday morning the 21st of October. The death has taken place of Charles Oliver, Charlie McDade of Ashgrove Park, Altona Galvin. Family and friends are welcome to pay their respects at W. J. O'Brien and Sons Funeral Home 110 Clooney Road Eglinton today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 5 until 6 p.m. Requiem Mass will be celebrated in St Mary's Church Ardmore tomorrow at 11 o'clock in term and afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. The house is strictly private place. Family, flowers only, donations if wished to the Foyle Hospice Cullmore Road Derry. The death has taken place of Charlie Neeson, 67 Parkside Gardens Sion Mills. Funeral leaving his home tomorrow afternoon at 20 past 1 for Requiem Mass in St Tracy's Church Sion Mills at 2 o'clock. Cremation afterwards in Lakeland's crematorium. The Requiem Mass can be viewed live on the parish webcam. The death has occurred of John Joseph Daugherty, Lock 5, Port Hall, County Dunnegall. John's remains are reposing at his late residence. Funeral from there tomorrow morning at 20 past 10 going to St Patrick's Church Murlock for 11 o'clock Requiem Mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family, flowers welcome or donations if desired to Little Angels School and Dunnegall Down syndrome association. Care of any family member or Kelly's funeral directors. The death has taken place of Peggy Duffy, Main Street Kilmachranon. Her remains are reposing at her home. Wake private to family and close friends. Requiem Mass this morning at 11 o'clock in St Columbus Church Kilmachranon. Burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. The funeral mass can be viewed on Kilmachranon parish Facebook page Family, Flowers Only. And the death has taken place of Tommy Devine, Sixth Clarendon Street Derry and formerly of 322 Listener R Road Plumbridge. Funeral leaving the family home 322 Listener R Road this afternoon at 20 past 12 for Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church on a bracket one o'clock and term it afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Donations and Lou of Flowers Pleased to Chest Heart and Stroke care of Quigley funeral directors. The Requiem Mass can be viewed live on the Donaheadie parish YouTube. With all the stories that matter across the Northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 9 to noon show on Highland Radio. Living out to get bin bags. We've got some. Well I'd better take the dog out. But we don't have a dog. Okay okay the Double Big Mac is back at McDonald's. Right get the keys. The Double Big Mac is here for a limited time. Don't miss it. Served after 11 a.m. subject to availability at participating restaurants until the 16th of November. You're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here on Highland Radio. Right um some of your comments here before we go to the bingo numbers. A lot of you will be interested in that today so there's a jackpot day. I had visitors from Northern Ireland at the weekend Greg and they couldn't believe it that we have to pay six euro for one home COVID test when you can walk into any chemist in Northern Ireland and get a box of six for free. No wonder our government don't want an end to COVID so typically we can make money from this. The the government here in the Republic that is I want to say here and I'm conscious that there are people in Northern Ireland listening to this show as well but in the Republic of Ireland they say they're going to more of a focus on antigen testing but to some extent the virus horse has bolted when you see how effective antigen tests and other measures have been in other European countries. A lot of people coming in with their suggestions on a lighter note as it relates to new names for Facebook. Nosey Book is the one that's come in an awful lot. This caller says my husband calls Facebook Nosey Book for years. Obviously he doesn't have Facebook himself is he not Nosey Get On There and I have a good look. Another text just says Nosey Book. Aiman on Facebook he says Nosey Book. I'm not sure if he means Nosey Book or Nosey Book but anyway be that as it may that's his suggestion and good morning to you P-Mac who's watching us on YouTube where we're going to stream every day there from now on. We hadn't up to now but a lot of people looking for it so we'll see it's there for you now if you wish to watch on YouTube. Just go to Highland Radio Ireland and you can like and subscribe there. Hit the notifications and it'll let you know when we're going live or when John Bresen's live or the DL debate when that show's done live and so on and so forth. It's not just about this show. More and more you're going to be able to consume video content from us here at Highland so get liking and subscribing and you'll be there and you won't miss it. We'll be having some maybe online specific competitions going forward as well here and there so no harm in getting registered and you can be a part of that too. There are bosses coming from Oma, Bandora and other places to a teenage disco in letter Kenny this Friday night. How can this be allowed? Well presumably it'll be determined today. No one, when it's still going ahead it's not that it's not allowed. It's just there's not a lot of certainty as it relates to if it's within these new announcements that have been made. Greg, you should try to invite Micheal Martin on Highland Radio to talk about Micah and why he did not want to meet yesterday with the Donegal School children whose lives are so badly affected. It is disturbing and quite concerning that the T-shock would tell a mistruth, let's call it, about not being invited to meet our children. Maybe it will transpire that the message was never passed on to him. You know plausible deniability and all that. Who's to say I'm not here to defend but I don't want to sort of cast dispersions until I get to fully hear everyone's side of it but I think you know which side I come down on on on that particular issue. I don't get it. I passed two women out walking last night with two buggies out in front. They were walking to a breast and had no high-visile lights on. It was after seven and getting well dark. It's a busy secondary country road. It was so dangerous as I went over a hill and I didn't see them. I was nearly on top of them. It was dangerous and I just couldn't believe they would put children's lives in danger like that. I'm really angered and it worried me. Hi Greg, if we don't get the boosters, does that mean we join the unvaccinated? I haven't a clue. Presumably there's an expiry date on your double jabbing and if you want to continue to avail of that cert presumably I guess you would. Never thought it would be said jackpot fatigue the national lotteries of faster shows you there are far too many numbers and it's too costly. It was never designed to be like this over six months since it was one. Is it that long six months? Wow. And of course when the jackpots bid more people will play I imagine. It's capped at around about 19 million at the moment. We spend a fortune on the lotto in this country I suppose and the bigger the jackpot gets the more we spend and I know people I know them very well in fact that if it's at three or four million they don't bother doing the lotto which it's as if you know three or four is not enough or wait till it goes up to eight or nine and then they go and do the lotto as if three or four. Five hundred how much would it take to change your life forever? I think you know Amon's recorrected himself on facebook it is noisy book you meant. Yeah noisy book too Amon sometimes it depends who you get chatting to but thanks for that. Yeah the what was I saying there? Yeah as if you know how much would it take to change your life? I think you know a hundred grand for me would change every you know it would significantly change my life even less than that but you know what I mean a reasonable big amount you could give a lot of 250 000 euros out of 19 million but I suppose if you live in Dublin 250 000 euro would be barely the deposit on a house I don't know. All right listen I won't today the bingo number is any longer but I also won't today reading out your comments because you're really keeping us really busy on the phones today I really appreciate it. We'll be back with more good luck if you're playing today. Yesterday we had the gentleman who was on this program who won the member he won the jackpot it was over 10 grand and what he says is look wasn't great he always backs the horse that's following the other horse and he seemed like a great character. He's got his 10 grand check it's about four foot wide I presume and that's not his actual check I presume it's just being paid into his bag but the next winner could be you good luck if you're playing it is hey look it's a bit of a gamble of course it's a euro a day five euro for the week only play well within your means and so it's fun in doing so you are supporting the National Council for the Blind of Ardent and the radio bingo in 2020 was their principal fundraising drive to keep their amazing work going and by the looks of things in terms of what kind of fundraisers have been able to run this year it's going to be the same for 2022. You won't want to miss our guests we've lined up for you stay there back after these. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio it's Thursday the 21st of October jackpot day you're playing for the jackpot prize of 5600 euro on the pink sheet the reference number is s9 it's game number 42 the jackpot number is 42 this number can come out in any position from the next 10 numbers drawn and now here are your daily numbers 11 48 14 27 88 22 4 78 7 and finally 79 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leave in your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highlandradio.com get ready for winter with national fuels delivering home heating oil and letterkenny and surrounding areas at competitive prices national fuels 9137 400 proud sponsors of today's show don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfinebeds.ie Ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer you'll get a comfy Irish made mattress upholstered base and headboard 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dillon's hotel in the cathedral quarter letter kenny on 91122977 or see dillon's dash hotel.ie highland radio time checks brought to you by letter kenny shopping center the center of shopping in dunny all free parking and shopping all under one roof letter kenny shopping center bringing you the time at okay the time is 18 minutes past 10 a caller says um the carbon dioxide monitors go red about form times a day which mean the levels are high but what a teacher supposed to do more ventilation presumably um i didn't realize that was happening actually i never asked or was never told but uh more ventilation hi greg chouin off arty should be ashamed of themselves for not covering the demo yesterday fair plate of virgin media who did the complete opposite and had it on both lunchtime and evening news websites and uh news talk as well i believe gave it good coverage so credit where it is due um but i think it's even maybe the optics of it when you saw it kind of would expect it to be big news um on arty as well greg the mica children were on arty nine o'clock news extremely short coverage but it was on yes the earlier text was referencing the one pm news uh yes i agree arty are very poor at reporting the micro issue they could have given a few minutes on the subject yesterday seeing the children were involved we need to stop paying our tv license see how they would react they do nothing they just wait for revenue to come and get it off you uh one side of me says the new facebook name uh call it the cuckoo's nest okay right okay we'll see about that we're joined on the program now by uh dr pat o mani chief specialist in feud science food science and technology with the food safety authority of arland great to have you on the show uh dr oman he thanks for joining us today morning break and i hope you can hear me and see me okay i can see you and hear you in crystal clear quality thanks for your time today right now um these jelly sweets we talked about this on the program a couple of months ago i believe uh we didn't know how prevalent they were um or necessarily where they were coming from what do we know about these uh jelly sweets now that uh unfortunately contain cannabis but for all the world look like regular sweets yeah well we're still learning a whole lot about them our first interaction was um through the guardian customs earlier this year where um they had made some seizures but also we were made aware of some teenagers who had been obviously experimenting uh one of whom didn't do so well out of it was having a seizure and had to be hospitalized in fact all trade them are hospitalized but unfortunately um the seizures uh and the interceptions by guardian customs are still going on uh and in fact this warning we're sending out yesterday we had planned to do before schools reopened because um we're kind of afraid that the schools are a target uh based on on somebody evidence we're getting um cannabis addables are illegal uh regardless whether you're an adult for a child is that correct that's correct uh THC is a psychotropic substance and it's a controlled substance under the misuse of drugs act so even a single molecule of it in any kind of a product whether it's a food renting is controlled and has can only be used when you have a license from the Department of Health and at this point do we know how they're getting into the country are they being smuggled in and sort of sold locally or are people I wonder ordering them online and getting them delivered yeah well a few of the the interceptions and seizures shall we say have um have brought to our attention some packaging uh that would lead you to believe they're being ordered online from us sources where they are available legally in certain circumstances however uh when we when we did contact us colleagues they have told us that you do know you can buy that packaging online uh and indeed some of the custom seizures have been large scale quantities of these sweets so it is possible that either they're coming in from the US and possibly Canada or worlds but also that people are importing them uh from outside of Ireland and packaging them themselves here so they're getting their sweet wrappers effectively the little packages of them uh and and here probably already made jelly sweets they're infusing them with THC or at least claiming to packaging them and selling them within within the borders yes we don't even know yet how when and where they're made and and that's a concern from a food safety point of view because they could be produced in the in the floor of a a garage or a kitchen or whatever with no hygiene whatsoever in place so along with the the the the fact that during justing a intoxicant in THC there could also be other issues to do with the actual production of these the so-called sweet cherries right now that is the adult's use and and and it's important just so we understand that that's what's happening uh but obviously these could be offered for sale or ordered by younger people and as well and I think this is why it ties well into to Halloween you know to all as to a three or four five-year-old uh a twelve-year-old who saw these lying around or saw the packaging rip them up consume them in great numbers the dangers there are incredibly real not even even if they only had one but you know what I mean you wallop these into you yeah you've actually raised a few points there now all in one sentence from me say first of all the amount of THC that we see in these sweets is you know anywhere up to 50 milligrams if you smoke a joint you will probably get somewhere between five and 10 milligrams into you so you can imagine putting 50 milligrams in one switch into a small body three or four-year-old and put four or five of them in there because a child is never going to eat one the other issue you raise is that um most adults are not going to give these sweets to a child uh you know unless they do so accidentally and uh there is a publication last month in the Irish medical journal where they talk about um six children under the age of 10 that were brought to their emergency department some of them in a continental state uh and in at least three of those cases two were siblings three and a four-year-old they had found the sweets in a bag a school bag in close proximity another 10-year-old had taken the sweets from a 26-year-old's sibling so you know it's it's bad enough having adults use these that's their own um relationship you say but when they let them around and small children get their hands on them then we have serious you know health problems basically all right okay and in terms of how we describe what they look like um it's like describing any sweets I suppose they can come in all different shapes or sizes but do we have a a particular thing uh moms or dads granny and grandad's etc can look out for well I think if you if you think of the I suppose the the most popular one that I can come to my mind is the Haribo sweets they're small little packets of all kinds of shapes and sizes of jellies they look pretty innocuous they just look like normal jellies and that's the idea I mean this is just drug trafficking I don't think they're going into the fruit business these people uh so it's kind of hard to distinguish um if the packaging has some kind of labeling well and good but uh I don't think most of these people are responsible enough to consider what kind of labeling to put on these so just be aware of where you're buying these products basically yeah okay listen thanks for that I appreciate your time today I really do okay thank you very much indeed that was uh Dr uh Pat uh Professor Pat O'Mahaney um talking about those sweets which are in circulation uh right now uh Dr Pat O'Mahaney indeed I've got his title correct he's the chief specialist in food science and technology with food safety authority of Ireland and I think any of us with young people know they go grazing and hunting don't they around the house uh looking for stuff and I'm not saying you have them in your house is but that's the curious uh their curious nature and you don't have one of these which contain high levels of of THC stroke cannabis uh they might consume quite a few of them so it's nothing to be overly alarmed about of course it's just for us all to be uh that extra bit careful uh Greg another thing we've managed to lose is the traditional Irish Halloween I want you involved in this conversation please pumpkins of no part whatsoever in our Halloween I don't know if you uh can even grow them here our Halloween was all about the spirit world and ghost stories now it's all American and dressing up as a superhero also trick or treat is American to I think there may have been mummers here at Halloween one time sadly we've ruined these traditions and turned Halloween into nothing more than a fancy dress party with no connection to the original Irish Halloween and I think a lot of that's driven by our young people who are exposed to a lot of American programming and American culture and yet it's about sweets it's I mean our our halloween's when we were younger were very very different now and listen even back if you talk about what a traditional pumpkin is um you know it was a turnip and they looked really far more scary than a pumpkin but pumpkins are still widely available of course people still carve them that is I think the one thing we're kind of hanging on to there are pumpkin parks where people can go and uh I think I might actually be going to one I've been told I might be going to one next week where you can go out and they're grown and pick you pick them I think unless they're in baskets I don't know I think it's just across the border so we'll see but yeah I get you but it's not something I would push back too far and I mean the fancy dress element of it I don't know when that came in and then of course all the halloween films and all the slashers and all that kind of stuff I don't know right we're going to take a break and then we're going to come back with some more great Irish music stay right where you are the 9 till noon show with national fuels setter Kenny for a keen price on your home heating oil call national fuels on 9137 400 there's never been a better time to switch to electric Ireland we're offering all new customers a 265 euro welcome bonus all you have to do is call 1 800 30 50 90 or visit electricarland.ie for your welcome bonus switch today electric Ireland we're brighter together estimated annual bill 1895 euro average consumption urban 24 hour discounted unit rate standing charge PSO levy and carbon tax residential dual fuel direct debit and online billing T's and C's apply see electricarland.ie slash EAB rates at first of august 2021 subject to change milford tiles and wood flooring milford retail park now open large range of wall and floor tiles on display and in stock over 70 different laminate floors to suit 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halloween it won't be your receipt little more for you enjoy alcohol responsibly don fanny golf club is now offering winter membership for only 250 euros enjoy a top-class links course from the first november through to the end of march 2022 with competitive golf great scenery in a course playable all year round keep your screen going this winter at don fanny golf club contact 0749136335 or visit don fannygolfclub.com okay here's the latest track now from um it's christie uh dignum okay that is christie diagram dignum there and his song hi very shortly we're going to be discussing pressure on our hospitals and also uh reports that a team from the nhs could be in line to review management and governance after uh that report published by hickwit into letter kennie university hospital uh last week wasn't it was last week as we get to that reality ignoring mica demo not just them uh poster has put up in fanadaria supporting the mica campaign mysteriously disappeared overnight wonder why uh greg did any politicians go out and meet the donagall children did any of the donagall t's go td's go out and meet the children um i'm not i can't say one way or other because i don't want to say the ones that i know in case i'm doing others that did a disservice maybe one of the organizers might be listening and can let us know uh who did and who didn't but i mean it's possible that they weren't in Dublin that day as well uh only saying that not to defend anyone but just trying to be absolutely fair um it's not hard to know if the government has influenced over rte when it's not too long ago that they ban shin fame from the airwaves can you do you remember that did you see um speaking of and and and one of those famous images that we've seen would have been jerry adams on the late late show uh did you see nigel farage got done again you can pay 83 odd pounds to get him to send you a birthday request uh and of course he uh recorded the one where he said up there are uh he says he didn't understand it yet he opines all the time about irish history uh and and the latest one was uh he mentioned a pub um which he believed to be called jockey our line it was a birthday request for jerry adams another 83 quid and he's a bank account but again shows a complete under misunderstanding of uh here and yet constantly talking about uh arland it seems where is the covid hub for the booster and letter kenny that is mikaela that uh i'll get that information for you i think it's opposite the hospital i think is where the testing centre is uh new name for facebook uh farce book farce book yeah hi greg re so we've got nosy book and farce book and noise book although uh our uh facebook watcher did uh adjust his suggestion hi greg re vaccine service i went to a hotel in donningall at the weekend and no cert was asked for i thought hotels were supposed to be strict on this everyone is supposed to be strict on it but what you're going to see now is from now on um spot checks people going in public health people going in and and uh closing places down or warning places that don't ask we shall see hi greg just wondering if you any idea for the young getting into the nightclubs does it have to be the emailed surgeon is the week card with the dates when you got your vaccine okay to have thanks still wait non-clarification and the last thing i want to do is mislead you good morning to jamie james jamie watching us in pittsburgh good to have you with us on facebook thank you very much for that jamesy morning greg when will we know about local teenage disco so try calling one yesterday uh it's in the in a shown area this friday night a lot of children are not vaccinated i can't understand how an unvaccinated child can sit in a classroom and mingle at school but maybe refused entry to a teenage disco it doesn't make sense maybe you could try and find out about entry to teenage discos thank you from a mommy who's a child waiting all year for their first disco yeah indeed and look i get what you're saying as it relates to um i get what you're saying as it relates to the is it an anomaly or the contradiction that you can have them uh you can have them in a school setting and community you know communal spaces but maybe not nightclub but we don't know yet what the the t's and c's for their access to these facilities are uh government giving green light to open nightclubs to appease that sector will cost lives with the way the covid situation is going at the minute says this caller can we not ground ourselves for the sake of other vulnerable people who will catch covid and potentially die and other greg how can chapels go back to full capacity when you have to keep two meters apart it's confusing it's full capacity following the current guidelines which is uh that social distancing so it's full capacity under those terms but i i know where you're coming from but look nothing about this is going to add up completely it's a case of i suppose people being asked to take on their take on uh own personal responsibility now tony canavan is the ceo of the selta hospital group he joins us on the program now thank you very much uh for taking the call this morning tony good morning greg right so across the the selta hospital group what is the situation and what kind of pressures are on our hospitals at the moment i think what we've seen over the last seven days is the growing pressure on all of our hospitals across the region and our region includes all of the hospitals from letter kenny down to slago castelbaer down as far as gallway russ common port and so on and i this day last week we had 62 patients that were covered 19 positive across the group and this morning we have 94 and those numbers increased quite significantly over saturday and sunday and we're seeing a rise in the numbers pretty much on all sites so the the pressure associated with COVID-19 is quite significant at the moment and it continues to grow what would be the breakdown of uh those who are admitted to hospital with COVID or or catch COVID in hospital um well it is true to say that we have both and so we have patients that are admitted to hospital that are a test positive for COVID-19 and they may be admitted for COVID-19 reasons or treatment or for other care reasons and but we also have outbreaks in a number of our hospital sites that we're managing currently and what that means is that there is transmission within the site so the exact breakdown i don't have off hand but it is true to say that there is a mix of both happening right now with the hospital acquired side of things be significant in number i mean obviously any any hospital acquired disease or infection is is is important but it would be significant even if we don't have an exact breakdown it's significant to know and i suppose i would put it this way it's very significant in terms of how we manage services within the hospital because when you have an outbreak it essentially means that we put a particular arrangements in place for a period of 28 days from the last case being detected and that often means that beds become unavailable in wards for use for that period of time so if you take one of our largest hospitals in the group um gov university hospitals today we have 30 beds that are closed because of that very reason so it is very significant when you have an outbreak in astral not just for the people that uh that contract COVID-19 and their care needs but also for the delivery of services on astral it's a significant issue now we've heard of unusually high presentations to letterkenny university hospital and it's not exclusive to letterkenny but it seems particularly high there i mean what is the the statistics in that regard and what understanding do we have as to why now there's an awful lot of people presenting at the ed either related or unrelated to COVID so you're absolutely right the the numbers attending at letterkenny university hospital are particularly high and what i mean by that is um if you look at a couple of days this week we had an excessive 160 patients attending in a 24-hour period that's at the very high level of attendance for astral like letterkenny and it it reflects what's happening in other hospitals across the group so when we look at sliago over the course of the last number of months we can also see that the numbers attending there are considerably higher than they would have been in the same period during 2019 on some of our hospital sites we're seeing that that we're we're having 20 percent more presentations now than we would have had in the same period in 2019 so there is a very significant increase in the numbers of people attending and in terms of what we're seeing well we're seeing a mix of everything i think in the early parts of the summer we would certainly have said that um that what we were seeing was patients that had deferred care because of COVID-19 they'd stayed at home and maybe did their best to get by as much as they could but eventually they had to seek care and so they turned up at our emergency department doors and we certainly saw that in the early part i think what we're seeing in increasing numbers now as we progress through the winter is um greater levels of respiratory illnesses and illnesses that are associated with the winter which traditionally there there's always been a high presentation at that hospital with respiratory illness that's absolutely true of letterkenny and it's because of the population that we're serving in that area and largely a rural based population and so and also an older population relative to the rest of the country so yes that would be a particular feature in letterkenny but does the the amount of people presenting at letterkenny university hospital deserve further investigation is it that sort of is it and that liar to the point that you feel that well we need to look at what are people turning up at this hospital with i know you've given an overview there but does it need further investigation it does but what i would say is that first of all letterkenny is national tire in respect of the hospital group or in respect to the rest of the country all all hospitals in the country are seeing very high levels of attendance at the emergency department and i should be more careful with my language but i hope you understand the point i was trying to do and and and i think the general point is still a valid one that we do need to understand specifically why people are why more people are attending the emergency department on a day-to-day basis tony and maybe this might be something that you can't comment on on a day-to-day basis we are we receive an awful lot of text messages of people that can't get an appointment with the doctor it varies very much from gp practice to gp practice but there is a sense here that people are struggling to get to see their doctor they're concerned about maybe a relative or indeed themselves and they're bypassing the gp uh that bypassing the gps and going straight to the ed because they want are very much on the side of the caution could that be a factor it's possible that it's a factor to some extent but i wouldn't overstate it and i suppose first of all what i would say is that we are absolutely aware that general practitioners throughout the country and throughout all of donny gall and sligo they are extremely busy they and if i were to be talking to anyone this morning they would say that they are also seeing higher levels of attendances at their clinics and at their surgeries and they would have seen previously so they are extremely busy in general practice as well and i think what we need to do is we need to look at general practice and the hospitals and our community services as just part of an overall system that needs to work as best we can together to meet patient needs so there are some patients that turn up at our emergency departments for sure that could receive care appropriate care with their general practitioner and we would encourage them to do that when they can but i think to be fair the vast majority of people turning up at our emergency departments in letter kenny and sligo are people who need to be there the vast majority of them and we can see that in terms of the patients that are being admitted then into hospital afterwards um obviously letter kenny i think it may have well been linked to an outbreak had had figures of cases in the the low to mid 20s sligo had a lower number of cases up until recently now both in the high teens though letter kenny is is is bouncing around a little bit um and in terms of i see i believe it's three in in letter kenny university hospital none at the moment in sligo university hospital as compared you know relating to last night's figures so as it relates to those two hospitals are they coping at the moment and is there a tipping point so to answer your your question directly i would say yes both hospitals are coping at the moment but they're coping under very significant pressure sligo has 18 patients that are covered 19 positive this morning letter kenny had 16 patients that are covered 19 positive this morning so those again reflect i suppose in sligo an increasing number and as you correctly describe greg a kind of a fluctuating situation in letter kenny that's quite unpredictable at the moment yeah one of the areas of concern first is around icu so there are four patients in letter kenny that are in icu with covid 19 and we're keeping a close eye on that at a regional level because throughout the covid period um we've transferred patients as necessary from the icu in letter kenny and indeed from the icu in sligo and in mayo down to golly when there was capacity there but it's facing its own pressures now isn't it absolutely um and so we don't just look at any one hospital icu in isolation anymore anymore we're looking at them across the region and seeing how do we make best use of all of those icu beds across the whole region and so that's what we're doing we're watching letter kenny very very carefully today because those numbers are at four right okay um um so just in terms of i mean obviously what when we're talking about four cases we can't get into any details so maybe talk about across the hospital group what what is what can we uh what can you say as it relates to the cases in hospital in the vaccinated uh the fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated so when we looked at those numbers last week and and these are last week's numbers um what we could see was that approximately two-thirds of the patients that were in icu across the region were unvaccinated and one-third were vaccinated um so there is a greater proportion or however you want to describe it are people who are unvaccinated that are presenting with with significant illness or significant care needs and that those needs have to be met in an intensive care environment so i'm one last covid related question um as it relates to staff i mean obviously a lot of the staff would have got their vaccine uh very uh early there are reports around the country breakthrough cases the last thing that you guys need is is staff actually off with covid is that an issue at the moment across the group and if so how significant and how worried might you be uh that it takes a while obviously for the 2000 plus cases we saw yesterday to relate into you know hospitalizations and serious cases and sadly ultimately and we hope it's not many but but death uh all those two things combined how worried are you say for you know uh mid to late november yeah it's a it's a very good question in the sense that um what we see happening today um we need to take account of that because it will have an impact in our icus and in our hospitals in two weeks time we're there about so yes we are concerned about the numbers that we're seeing today and trying to plan on the basis that we would expect a further escalation of our numbers in hospital over the coming two-week period and an increase in the numbers in icu no and you also asked me specifically about staff we have very high levels of vaccination the high 90s um of um of all of our staff across the hospital group but actually in the last week we are starting to see um some staff increasing numbers of staff uh testing positive now the numbers are small at the moment um but we're watching it very closely because it's a real concern you need staff to deliver service and if staff are on leave because of covid if they're on sick leave because of covid we don't have them available to us for that purpose so we're watching that very closely and it is a real concern at the moment uh all right thank you very much for that now we uh did see recently the publication of a Hickwell report uh into let it kind of university hospitals uh gynecology services which identified weaknesses in oversight arrangements uh and governance structures uh in the hospital it made for uh as a lay person um uh very very difficult reading uh as someone as a head of the hospital group on the which letter kenny university hospital lives what was your reaction what is your reaction to the findings of that report so the report was produced by hickwell um following a very detailed review that they conducted uh over the period from may to september and when i say very detailed the conductors onsite interviews with staff they reviewed documentation and charts and records and our computer systems and so on they also interviewed and met with um patients who had used our services and i suppose they collated all of that information and putting together the report so it's a very it was a very comprehensive review that they did and um and so we look on the you know the outcome the reports that they produced we take that very very seriously as a result of that um i think one of the surprises for me um when i looked at the uh the review was that our expectation was that it would focus very much on deficits at hospital level or indeed progress that have been made at hospital level um and it did that it certainly outlined some of the progress that has been made and there has been quite a considerable amount in the last 12 months but it also pointed to issues relating to governance not just within letter kenny hospital but also within the safety group and how we relate to the hospital and so it was a surprise but it's not um but it's something that we will be taking on board and that we will be acting on to try and strengthen the that governance arrangement going forward now i'm i'm not the question is not motivated by wanting to see anyone lose their job but where is the accountability here you know if this can be uh if this can happen uh and this happens because very brave people come forward and shone a light on this and then this this investigation uh happened this report was published and then we find out what's going on i mean is there any accountability within the hsc locally or nationally well i think in fairness there is accountability and and ultimately i'm accountable for for whatever happens good or bad in any of the hospitals within the group and then we have local accountability arrangements with that as well and but i do have to say honestly that that our approach on this one has been to acknowledge that things were not perfect there were and there were gaps in our services and and that we've acknowledged that openly and we've been open to uh you know external groups like equine so on coming in to provide us with um independent reviews of what's happening so that we can improve the service i think the key test for us then was you know are we taking those recommendations seriously are we uh really proactively going after their implementation and we are and i think in fairness to the team at lethica university hospital as well as the deficits that take were pointed out they also pointed out very considerable progress that has been made with the service in the last 12 months particularly since the production of the the price review and and our ambition is to make sure that we use the Hiquah reports drive further improvements within the service reports of an independent expert team from outside the republic to visit lethica university hospital to review its management and and governments that can you confirm that and uh who commissioned this yeah so i can i mean i can speak to this one specifically because i was directly involved in it so in july of this year i had discussions with um uh with a colleague an ex-colleague from the nhs working in scotland currently um and asked them uh had a discussion around whether it would be possible to provide some uh support into letter kenny from uh you know in from the perspective of looking at the issues that might arise in the hiquah review and maybe taking on board some of the work that's still outstanding from the price review and so we brought those discussions to the point of having a proposal from the team in scotland and unfortunately at the very beginning of september we were contacted by the team to say that they weren't going to be able to follow through on it at that time because of the impact of covid-19 in scotland and the fact that they were going to be drawn into that and what i have ranged with them is that um i have further meeting with them at the end of this month and to follow up on the proposal that have been put forward and we do need to look at that in the context of two things one of them is the ongoing covid situation which is now obviously much more prevalent now in the republic of ireland than it is um than it was previously and secondly i think i would also be asking them to to look at not just look at the hiquah report and all that is said and i think as i mentioned earlier on the hiquah report is critical not just of the governance within letter kenny a hospital in some respects but also within the safety group so i would be inviting them maybe to to look at that with us and to see if there's a proposal that we can come up with around that too and this is unprecedented or unusual at the very least um it's it's unusual yeah um but but it's certainly not unprecedented i'm certainly aware of um of other circumstances for um you know for a team from the uk from the nhs has come in and it's useful in the sense that they're coming with expertise in health care but they're also coming with independence and maybe different perspectives and different ideas um and that can be very useful it can be difficult at times as well because sometimes it's difficult for a team from the nhs to understand the irish system but um but i do feel that you know we are very committed to trying to continuously drive improvement within our hospitals and in this case in letter kenny university astra and if there's an opportunity to do that by inviting colleagues from the nhs to come in absolutely we'd be up for that finally this is an individual case which i know you won't be able to comment to uh but this they say that there's currently waiting list for chemo at letter kenny university hospital i was told that i needed it within three weeks i'm now waiting five chemo is the only thing that cures cancer they say i have tablets and everything ready to start chemo but i'm told there is no chair available um is that because of the pressure on the hospitals and unfortunately are we going to see uh more of those type of cases as a result yeah i think it's on you unlikely that that particular case and i'm not it's unlikely that would say delays in terms of chemotherapy are uh related to the current covid situation it's unlikely that that's the case i would say we are experiencing other pressures in all of our hospitals and trying to schedule people for chemotherapy is one of those pressures and to make sure that we have enough of chairs day chairs available for people to receive their kind of chemotherapy is a problem there um i know every all the cases are being monitored closely at the site level to ensure that as much as possible that we get people in in accordance with the schedule that is required and so they are being watched closely from a clinical perspective to try and make sure that we do that dr coney uh tony canovan ceo of the south hospital group thanks for joining us this morning thanks i appreciate your time okay right uh that's um from the top person there uh the situation as it stands news on the way get ready for winter with national fuels delivering home heating oil and letter kenny and surrounding areas at competitive prices national fuels 9137 400 proud sponsors of today's show at centra we have everything you need for the long weekend like inspired by centra fresh arch angus sirloin steaks 440 gram only six euro tato occasions 135 grams selected sharing bags half price now 138 each and until monday wolf blast eagle hog wine range only seven euro each 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limited trading as hikki clock and langan is regulated by the central bank of ireland join david james with the special guest olivia douglas plus the ryan turnerbam this saturday night the 23rd in on greener hotel burge tickets on sale from hotel reception and on the door on the night doors open at 30 why not make a night of it with bnb for two people only 99 euro that's david james live and on greener hotel burge this saturday night ireland is proceeding carefully with our plan to manage covid 19 however with infection rates increasing along with hospitalizations and icu admissions we will keep using our covid passes and all redouble our efforts to protect the progress we have made and keep moving forward vaccination is the best way to protect ourselves against covid 19 but we must also continue working together to protect ourselves and each other by acting fast isolating and getting tested if we have symptoms wearing our face coverings were appropriate making sure that indoor spaces are well ventilated making full use of the space available to us and covering our coughs and sneezes and keeping our hands clean and remember if you are in a place where guidelines are not being followed and you don't feel safe take your business elsewhere we will continue to keep you updated with public health guidance and the information you need on gov.ie forward slash recovery supported by the government of ireland highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant take home heating efficiency new levels with grants ear to water heat pump and underfloor heating visit grant.eu okay so those showers becoming heavier across this morning but becoming more isolated by afternoon it'll become cloudy however across the northwest highest temperatures of just 10 to three 13 degrees in moderate fresh and blustery northwest winds veering westly and easing light to moderate by evening you are tuned to the nine till noon show here in highland radio another hour for you on the way stay tuned for that but we cross now over to kathryn for the latest news good morning kathryn good morning greg ladder canny university hospital is the most overcrowded hospital in ireland today figures from the inmo show there were 46 people awaiting admission there this morning six of them on trolleys in a further 38 waiting on wards or in overflow areas well the ceo of the sale to hospital group says they are monitoring letter canny university hospital closely amid ongoing bread pressure at the facility tony canovan says they will be seeking further clarity as to why the edie in letter canny is experiencing such a large number of people presenting one of the organizers behind the children's mica protest has hit out at the t-shock over not meeting with them yesterday over 50 children from donnie gall spent much of the afternoon protesting at the gates of lanster house new guidelines for nightclubs bars and live venues will be revealed later multiple bookings are expected to be allowed while socially distanced queues will be permitted at bar counters it's costing four million euro to send carbon dioxide monitors to every school in the country to prevent the spread of covid the department of education started delivering 35,000 monitors at the end of august to check ventilation in classrooms minister jack chambers is insisting a controversial religious ceremony to mark the partition of ireland is not a celebration or commemoration the junior minister and the foreign affairs minister simon coveney will attend the event in our mat today president michael d higgins declined an invitation to the service and gar thee and donnie gall are targeting roads where an 80 kilometer per hour speed limit applies as part of national slowdown day there is a focus on so-called rural roads as almost four out of five road fatalities so far this year have occurred along these routes that's it for now we're back with more at 12 now okay kathryn thank you very much indeed back after the break get 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northwest it's greg hughes on the nine to noon show on highland radio and it's your news and it's your views here are some of those views if you're fully vaccinated and are a close contact how long should you be careful for well i suppose if tony hulan et al would say be careful all the time but if you're asymptomatic at this time you carry on as normal don't you but if you're close contact fully vaccinated going forward in the next couple of weeks you'd be expected to take antigen tests that'd be sent out to you my daughter rang our local doctor surgery yesterday she had a sick baby she had to ring 15 times before anyone answered the phone in fact i was ringing and it's not specific to any particular area um a gps not so long ago and there must have been so many people ringing it was coming back with that day you know that where the number simply wasn't available uh eventually got through uh but that's how busy some of them are right now we're joined on the program by author of the bestonian uh larry donnelly law lecturer at ny gollway good morning to you larry great to have you on the show again congratulations on your work good morning greg it's it's great to be with you as always in this morning i do have to say because publication of the bostonian has become big news in boston and i had to show that there's very little uh degrees of separation between boston and dunigal i just want to say hello to all the mccarons uh in buncurrata and thereabouts who are listening in uh they're very close relations to friends of mine the nelony family uh in milk back in milton in boston where i'm from so hello to all the mccarons first of all it was inevitable wasn't it that you were going to have an interest in politics uh um giving your family yeah absolutely uh you know my my great uncles uh frank kelly and john kelly uh were involved in politics for a very long time frank was the youngest boston city council and elected in this period he was attorney general of massachusetts lieutenant governor uh his brother john followed him into the business uh it was boston city council and served as president of the city council uh and then later on uh my uncle brian brian donnelly who many listeners will know from the donnelly visa program served in congress for a long time and later was bill clinton's ambassador uh to trinidad and tobago so politics really was the family business as my dad always used to call it so uh it's what i grew up in it's what i know and it's what has always been my passion tell us about uh your uh early life larry yeah i was i mean i suppose i grew up in that milieu uh in and around the city of boston uh and you know boston went through an awful lot in the years of my childhood and in that time and there was some fraught periods especially uh during court ordered desegregation of the boston public school system which may have had a noble intent but was done in an equitable and grossly unfair way uh and that engendered a lot of uh i suppose racial issues uh on the ground involved a lot of disenchantment with the democratic party uh and um you know it was it was complicated and it was a complex milieu to grow up in but i need to say uh that irishness was very much at the center of it um the you know the neighborhood i grew up in uh the majority of my friend's parents were from island that the donnelly family i just mentioned being one of them uh so irishness was very much to the fore uh in a tangible way so it really was an upbringing that was both boston and irish um in terms just of of your family and the political world uh going back a number of years larry and it makes sense when i come to the end of the question and how it operated and you know what a republican was what a democrat was what a conservative was what a liberal was uh and compare it to politics now um and and the horses that the politicians might ride that might not necessarily align with with what you might expect how different is american politics then um as uh compared to how it is now it's dramatically different uh it's dramatically different in the sense that the the middle has been hollowed out to a large extent uh both political parties the democrats and the republicans have moved to the polls the democrats to the hot left the republicans to the hot right uh the politics i would have grown up in and around boston uh yes my family were all democrats but they most certainly were not democrats of the hue uh which we would see today uh they were far more moderate they were centrist uh they could see both sides of the issues they took uh particularly on cultural issues because catholicism was central to their lives uh they took more conservative positions on social issues than the democratic party would now so the moderate uh element of dem of the of american politics even though a lot of americans are still uh define themselves as moderates the leadership of the two parties uh have moved to the polls and i'm afraid that's due in large part to the corrosive effect of money in american politics there's not much money in moderation there's an awful lot of money to be chased if you want to go to the hot right or the hot left pardon the ignorance of the question to some extent but does that really skew what politics actually is or what you can stand for or you know if you want to be elected can you sort of play the middle ground and and speak to a couple of audience anymore but or if you want to uh you know not if you want to be elected that you might find yourself having to not sell yourself out to some extent but not necessarily be fully true to yourself you're absolutely right right gary you're a hundred percent right i mean all we have to do is to look to the national american picture and look at washington dc and you have no more than a small handful of moderate democrats and moderate republicans left uh what you have is is partisan ideologues uh and yes i think a lot of them do in order to get the backing of their uh the party grassroots and then the people with the money who support these campaigns and support these issues and their agenda you have to go to the hot right or to the hot left and that's a terrible shame uh because you know again it distorts the picture of american politics it takes the form of being very binary that is that there's a perception that american is hopelessly divided that it's split down into uh that it's polarized between republican and democrat the reality is it's more splintered than anything else uh not i wouldn't say polarized but two things the two-party system which is bonkers in a country of 330 million who are diverse in every conceivable way and again the role that money has played in tugging the two parties to the ideological extremes uh they are to blame for that yeah now to your book tell us about the flow of the book because inevitably it's going to be about life uh changes it's going to be about sort of a social story as much as it's going to be about an individual so you know from front to back what journey will you take the reader on well it's it starts i mean i start off kind of in medias rays in some ways i start off with my own foray a limited foray into local political campaigning but i tell the story then of my family's involvement in politics i tell the story of my childhood some of the things i alluded to earlier in my upbringing uh my education the role of politics and the role of religious faith uh in my life then i tell the uh rather unexpected story of reverse immigration that brought me to gallway uh and what kept me in gallway for years and then i suppose a bit of romantic intrigue how i met uh my wife and informed a family that they kept me he does kept me here and then uh how i embarked upon an avocation from teaching law here in the university in gallway to commenting on politics both american and irish uh and lastly that the last part of the book is really dedicated to an analysis both of american and irish politics from what i think is a unique vantage point of somebody who sees the world through both american and irish eyes and lastly something that's very very important to me which is the future of the relationship between our two countries which of course uh is facing a lot of challenges in particular because of the slow of the flow of human beings between uh island and the united states and something i think we need to redouble our effort spawn yeah and there's a lot in that in that you know i i just think in terms of people are so distracted uh or so passionate about so many different things now that something is you know where your ancestors are from almost become is it becoming tweed you know what i mean like i know we can talk about sort of business connections and all that type of stuff but you know this sense of irishness to do will american people hold on to that or is there just so much else going on that it almost seems i don't know we're relevant yeah look i mean there's no question but that the ties are beginning to fray uh if you look at the the boston that i grew up in and i mentioned how uh how irish it was in every sense i mean almost every one of us had at least one irish-born grandparent as i said the majority of us uh had you know an irish-born parent that milieu is gone and uh that's because again there's just been no significant immigration to the u.s. now i wouldn't be one of those who's terrible who's a total pessimist i think there's lots of room for optimism i think again one of the things about it is a lot of irish back then would have almost been ashamed of the where they were from they would have wanted to be americans and americans first being irish in the u.s. now is very cool uh and there's a lot that could be made of it and the irish or america's favorite europeans and that might sound intangible and fuzzy but it has led to a lot of the developments you mentioned the business ties it has meant led to a lot of educational exchanges it has led for instance to the g a becoming a major player in the united states uh in a major uh influence on the lives of a lot of young people including those who aren't irish americans so there's lots of ways and there's lots of us who are eternally committed to maintaining this relationship but i do think greg i do think it's important that we redouble our efforts on the immigration issue because uh you know i mentioned that on the visa earlier there is every bit as much a case to be made that irish people are still discriminated against coming to come and live and work in the united states as they were back in the 1980s and we need to work on that in particular for a dunigal audience when i'm home the vast majority of the people i see who are taking a chance or undocumented in the u.s. they typically tend to be from dunigal and a lot of them from initial and i really think that the united states and irish americans needs to go to work to regularize their situation yeah right finally just larry that we saw that you know you talked about moving to the to the polls in america it's kind of somewhat i think uh happening here we have found ourselves in a situation whereby you know we've had this great relationship with america uh but over here the conversation was is that you know if you were a donald trump supporter you almost weren't welcome in this country yet you know they made up half of the voting population effectively uh are those scars maybe they're open wounds or are those scars still there or are we ever going to get back to to where we were at because we were having conversations here and someone would not come on the likes of a program like this or others and say they supported donald trump you know because they would probably have been lambasted or then we have people uh some might say over here with it had a non-healthy interest in in in donald trump's presidency and when i say unhealthy sorry i mean not a rational ether but it didn't make a great deal of sense why they could be so invested in it can you unravel any of what i've just said there i think there's a question in there somewhere yeah it's a tricky mystery uh but donald trump is that you know there's no question that there was a element of toxicity around him and and i should say a lot of my friends including lots of irish americans and irish born people did support donald trump but certainly the reaction to him over here was very very negative and was some good reason but what i think is important the irish government is copying onto this is it's very important to recognize that irish america is not monolithic it's republican it's democrat it's conservative it's liberal it's engaged islands engagement government business educational institutions at every level needs to be accommodating of that and needs to realize that there are differences between the way we see the world that shouldn't be a challenge it actually should be natural but some of those political biases and prejudices need to be overcome and we need to unite around uh the many things that we can unite around one of those has been uh and from an irish american point of view the good friday agreement and we see how that's played out on capitol hill so there's plenty there to go with plenty there to work on we just need to redouble our effort and maybe donald trump didn't cause division but but was um a figurehead that actually pulled the curtain back and showed what was there yeah oh 100 donald trump is not the cause of what ails america he is merely a symptom of it and there's a lot that there's a lot of difficulty there but uh what's what's it always said about americans we need to keep optimistic and hope for a better future right larry donnell larry donnelly the bostonian you say sorry you said this is uh getting a lot of interest in boston as well it is yeah i'm actually in the process of organizing a launch for the book in boston which i'm incredibly happy to be doing but it's on sale uh now in good book shops all around the country and online so i'd love it if listeners would buy it i hope it's a good read and if i come across it along the way i'd love to sign a copy take care of yourself thank you very much indeed larry donnelly author of the bostonian he's also a law lecturer at ny gollway and a commentator on uh both irish and american politics the 9 till noon show with national fuels pierce road letter kenny for all your solid fuel needs at the keenest prices 91 37 400 or national fuels dot ie island radio i'd like you to exceed my expectations ah you've heard then stay tuned we'll be right right right back to you at aldi we've got hundreds of passionate suppliers all over ireland fancy a tour to cork for morgan's fine fish irish hake fillets kill kenny for oshae's potatoes and carrots wicklow for john pringle's specially selected slow cooked irish lamb shoulder and took cocklin's bakery kildare for specially selected cinnamon buns 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simple a thing to do putting in a freedom of freedom of information request to find out what civil servants were saying about all of those dealings and debates and exchanges they had with the defective block group or within it they said in these email exchanges that demands for redress by mocha homeowners were described as off the scale and giving rise to very serious concerns this was according to the civil servants speaking in last month's internal correspondence and we also learned from we'd learned earlier that the department of housing estimated the cost of redress for homes affected by mica as requested by property owners in donna goll mayo to be in and around 3.2 billion but we also learned in conversations after that that they didn't see any rhyme or reason to this figure it didn't seem to make any sense right so michael doherty's piero of the micro action group and joins us on the program now as always thanks for your time michael i appreciate it greatly morning greek right so um i suppose your reaction to this effort what this f y and the information contained when it these comments from the civil servants anything surprise you in it yeah i'm not particularly surprised because i know and we've all known for some time those of us that's been closely working with them over the summer that um they were hell bent on defending the old scheme that's the bottom line they were largely uh responsible for the transition of what was a 9010 scheme which was not ideal obviously to what was a lot less ideal a 6040 scheme through their administrative guidelines that took them four months to concoct and basically turn a 9010 scheme that may have been feasible to not for everybody but certainly um it may have got some homeowners at least underway it transformed into that to a near impossible scheme at 6040 so we know where they were at we know where the spirit of that and it really was nonexistent what we're seeing today is that being exposed again i believe it is very timely that this has come through now and again if you've been cynical about it you'd say you know we're about three weeks away from an announcement i expect that announcement to be the end of the first week in november and um again we've seen attempts before to pitch homeowner against homeowner those that are affected um you know at the mercy almost of those that are not affected and we have had a very strong media campaign we're now seeing evidence again of this what is going to cost the taxpayer and for civil servants to use terms like off the scale you know how unprofessional does it get you know the 3.2 billion you referred to there earlier we reverse engineered that number and we know where that number has now come from it's our 6600 houses that they estimate between dunigal and mayo they have allowed for complete demolition of every one of them houses and they have assumed that every one of them houses we're going to trigger a 500 000 euro cap which we know will not be the case so it was scaremongering that was best and it gave them a 3.2 billion number that they knew would be somewhat of a shock to many throughout the land and it had it had some it had some traction but we reversed a lot of that um the the mention on the hill type stuff we were able to put science to as opposed to uh runaway statements by civil servants it should know better and uh it showed clearly we were sitting in the mid table and actual construction costs is the second lowest county in the land so they're just very lucky the executive is very lucky that this is not happening across the the midland counties in the eastern seaboard counties or it would be an awful lot more than what it is right now so i think it's in poor taste i think it shows the pressure that they're under from politicians which is exactly the battle that we wanted and i think it's a battle royale going on between them right now and they're starting to squeak and we're starting to see this you know very uh underhanded type approach uh seeping through the pores now and uh it's exposing them from from for what they are all right tell us a bit more about that but let me just read out another couple of quotes here officials also raised concerns about the responsibility for the micah redress being shifted on to the state uh all right i mean there's no i mean that's no secret and said advice from the attorney general and the homeowner's submission regarding redress gave rise to very serious concerns they also want the development would move the department away from providing a humanitarian response to help homeowners remediate their homes to the provision of a grant scheme and compensation um and and then uh minister dara o brian has written to minister for finance pascal donahoe this back in last february and maybe he's changed his position then uh about banks providing lending to help people repair their homes he said financial support or lending for the scheme will be required by some owners uh homeowners in order to bridge the gap between the cap grant at 90 percent and the cost of full cost uh the costs of and the full costs of remediation work but we hope he's uh switched his position so are you saying there's a motivation behind this type of commentary being out in the public domain now i do believe so i i don't think it's any secret um as to the um you know the pressure that's on um right now between the the the the the elected government and the the non-elected permanent government um i do have it from solid and side sources that that battle has never been bigger than where it is right now um the even to the point where they're talking about if if government prevail there that could be a watershed for a lot more than just micah empire right so you know they are they're holding on to the power that they were they were always used to as civil servants and it has been really challenged now by our elected representatives for the first time because i believe we have our elected representatives in a corner here we went with the hashtag of who runs this country it trended very very strongly it has grabbed a lot of people and i think people are now waiting to see who comes out the right side of this i also know that uh darrow brain is fighting tooth and nail largely for what it is that the homeowners have asked for perhaps not everything but largely for that which is incomplete at complete odds to what the civil servants were prepared to offer and i think now you've got civil servants again uh putting stuff out there that and even some of the statements you know we're um you know quite unprofessional as well and and you know well it was a commentary on personalities and stuff it seems but just i mean right i think there is a strong view that the huge protest in dublin was buried to some extent in an rge right that yesterday i can't figure out why even if as i said earlier on the program even if they didn't care about mica odonigal why no one saw 50 children outside the parliament effectively with placards and personal letters as journalism gold right i can't understand that it was mentioned in the nine o'clock news briefly and then you're saying you know this suits civil servants to have this stuff out there yet this was off the back of an rge freedom of information request i mean if you connect all that things together it doesn't look you know it's suggesting certain things about the how the media is wrong then let's say yeah and again you know this has been such a massive learning curve for ourselves as ordinary homeowners you know yeah there's some of us with professional jobs and we we deal with issues and um the the type of thing we're seeing we may see in a business context but to see it at a national level to see it at a highest levels in the land is quite an eye-opener but i have to say you know we haven't been hoodwinked in any of this we have been abreast of it we're quite aware with what's going on i also would have to say we do have sympathetic ears uh within um both the civil servants and within the the political machine that is keeping us right here too because they do feel for us they do manage to take off the official's hat and look at it purely from a homeowner perspective and what we're putting up with and some of them are very sympathetic to our cause and they're keeping us right here and you know it's interesting what they have to feed back to us in terms of um that battle is taking place as you know as as one of the most senior guys i've been talking to will has said to me already in his 30 years on there he's never seen a battle like it so how do you think this is going to play out there i mean you talked about a decision in three weeks does that mean the time frame is slipping is that the extent of this battle or is that still in line with uh original time frames michael yeah again i have a fairly good authority here i know there was um you know a little flurry of excitement there the fact that darrow brain had got to the point where he was going to meet with the three party leaders and people may have thought that that was um his final document and he was just you know bouncing it off them first before coming to sign off on that that's not my understanding my understanding is that he's going to them to show the extent of difference that exists between what the civil servants are offering them and what he knows he needs to give the homeowners and he's looking for their support hence the reason that it's not a cabinet meeting the following week hence the reason that the cabinet meeting will be in three weeks time because there's still a lot of work to be done and he needs to gain their support in doing that that's the three party leaders in government right finally uh an invitation was sent to me home martin to come out and speak to these children yesterday he uh said he didn't get it i mean maybe it wasn't passed up on the line to him maybe there's a firewall that said uh you know you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't and you don't have plausible deniability having maybe never seen this invitation is it a distraction is it something you even feel worth is worth commenting on at this point he should have gone out but obviously he'd have to stand there for an hour an hour and a half and and listen to these very very difficult stories and then what what do you say at that point you know i mean maybe his advisors probably would have said to him if he knew it was the invite was there don't go out because you can't win either way what have you a commentary on that yeah i think you know we had uh roger goorman we had uh norma foley in the same positions that they come out and you know maybe they felt that what they did was as important to come out and be seen and uh to show at level support again like i said in the wee video last night you know it's maybe about expectations or expectations that they'd walk the line they would take all the letters of all the children and i think you know as parents we can understand you know and that would be our barometer in terms of what we would expect to happen my understanding is that they have never done anything like this before so the fact that they turned up at all was probably a big step for them but not far enough for us and we've seen that come through uh time and time again as far as uh the t-shirt is concerned we know for a fact that he got the letter we know we know that because it was responded to in barry carney has already put that out there so that that part's clear in terms of where did it fall down i'm not sure you know i don't tend to throw uh much things like that i think that's was some for a technicality perhaps it was advised not to come out of the case maybe but it was wrong to say that he didn't get the invite that was technically speaking wrong and i like to talk with the facts and and finally um how proud can we be of those young people and their families amazing wasn't it absolutely amazing greg and uh you've been in Dublin down there with me not that long back you know uh at the parade you saw you know you know and how proud you were if they don't go on that day you know when i looked at the videos i wasn't able to make it through work commitments yesterday but barry carney did and played an absolute blinder and coming up with the the process doing all the hard work and seeing it through as did lisa and and the rest of the team there as well and making it happen and you know i think our children that is proud and you know there's a generation that doesn't go all the stuff going to be walked over after we're long gone yeah and there are future politicians too it'll be interesting to see uh whether you were right around i don't know but it'll be interesting to see how things put out michael thanks very much as always thanks great take care of yourself michael doherty their pyro of the mica action group minister charlie mcconnellow joining us shortly the nine till noon show with national fuels setter kenny for a keen price on your home heating oil call national fuels on nine one three seven four hundred homeland fuel offers keeping you warm for less 40 k g premium doubles or easy flame coal 1699 buy 10 get one free one k g fire logs four for five euro 12 pack wood briquettes buy two for 10 euro shop in store or online at homeland dot ie special halloween offers at doherty centromovil inspired by centra irish angus soreloan steaks with peppercorn butter six euro centra fresh irish whole chicken 1.6 k g four euro 50 12 pack cant of guineas heineken calisburg blood wiser and bombers 15 euro cabri snack size bags two euro four pack bars one euro 50 everything you need for halloween at doherty centromovil enjoy alcohol responsibly for any business or personal printing needs contact bizprint in edderkenny call 91 double seven nine double five or see bizprint dot ie bizprint four troll letter kenny for all 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next cap the 1.5 billion five-year scheme will have room for up to 50 000 farmers and will replace a glass and reap pilot programs that's just one element of it minister for agricultural trial and mcconnellogue joins us on the program now good morning to you minister thanks for taking time to speak to us good morning good morning greg right the number is here a mind boggling but of course to have to be spread out across an entire sector how important is this plan and how happy are you with it with its current form and i'm very happy with the greg and it's very it's massively important because it sets the course for irish agriculture for the next six years really up to the end of 2027 so the funding allocation that i announced yesterday will inform irish agriculture in each of the years for those next six years so getting it right and getting the getting a very significant financial commitment at the outset was really really important and i've been engaged in negotiations with the minister of public expenditure michael magra on this over the last number of months and i'm very happy with where it reached and with the the announcement you made yesterday with the t-shirt so basically what it is it's it's a 50 increase on the funding that would have been there from our national funding towards this compared to what was there in the outgoing cap so the previous cap the national funding was 1.9 billion euro and this cap is going to be 2.9 billion euro a full 1 billion euro extra and what that means that gives me the capacity to introduce schemes and to fund schemes well over the time ahead and it ultimately means that in terms of for dunigal farmers for example i think i have delivered a very very strong package and very strong schemes that will support family farms at the time ahead so central one of the key anchor schemes and that will be a new environmental scheme which will replace glass and aos and reps that went before that and in that environmental scheme i have 50 extra funding from what it would have been there before it will cover 50 000 farmers for 20 000 of those farmers which will cover a lot of a lot of whom will be in dunigal and there will be the capacity to earn up to a maximum of 10 000 euro and we're expecting an average payment in that scheme for of seven and a half thousand euro and then there's another stream which farmers will be able to earn a maximum of seven thousand with an average payment of five thousand but overall we will see the income delivered through that scheme to farmers being 50 percent more on average than what it was in the previous occasion also then for example what's really important in dunigal is support for suckler for suckler beef and suckler cows in the previous cap there was a beef data genomics program which was paid at a rate of 90 euro for the first 10 80 euro for the remainder i am introducing a beef carbon suckler efficiency scheme here which will which will deliver 150 euro for the first 10 cows and 120 euro for the remainder so a very significant anchor payment for beef sector in the time ahead and also then in relation to our sheep sector which will be important across the county a slight increase in the sheep and in the sheep support scheme from what was outgoing it will be 10 euro per euro as opposed to 12 euro per euro but that's the scheme which has been introduced in the last two or three years it was a scheme that wasn't there at all at the start of the last cap program but which is starting this cap program at a rate of 12 euro 12 euro so also there'll be significant investment there in relation to ANC's and on-farm investments significant investment in organics as well and knowledge transfer support for farm advisory services as overall a really significant support package in pillar two and just in relation to pillar one yeah Greg then which is the direct payments i've introduced front loading which means a next repayment for farmers on the first 30 hectares of their payment which will be really beneficial to many farmers in county dunny gall they will immediately from the start of the next cap program get an index get 42 euro front load of payment on their first 30 hectares which will be really important and also delivering the an eco scheme which is going to be a significant part of this of pillar one in the future and also introducing a maximum payment of 66 000 euro so that no farmer will get more than 66 in the previous cap it was 150 000 was the maximum payment and bringing that down to 66 000 euro which i think is a fair figure and that's to generate additional funds then which we can spread among smaller and medium-sized farmers as well equitable a more equitable share of but all roads sort of lead to and are filtered through the expectation on the farming community to reduce its emissions by some reports up to 30 percent by by 2030 and you know a lot of what you say there sounds very very positive but for many if not all those targets that are being reported are unachievable and leaves their business unsustainable well we haven't announced any targets yet so that's something the government will be doing in the next two or three weeks for each sector of the economy i think the two big challenges i i have to deliver on from an agricultural point of perspective this autumn Greg is firstly the funding package which announced yesterday i think that's going to deliver in a serious way for for farmers across tony gala indeed across the country the other big challenge is getting the emissions targets right for irish agro culture in the 21 to 30 percent range so obviously that's something that won't be clarified until we actually published the full but it's in that range well i'd be giving you an exclusive Greg you know what it would be no harm is it in that range it would be i know it would be no harm but listen this this will be a cross-government decision and uh all all sectors will be announced at the same time as part of the climate action plan but to give a clear outline of my objectives in relation to delivering what the target will be for irish agriculture it is to ensure that we need to set a target that will ensure we can continue to produce the food that we do whether that be beef or whether it be milk or whether it be tillage or horticulture we do we are world leaders in relation to the food we produce at the moment and it's important we continue to do that and that the target we get facilitates isn't doing that but it's also really important that across the board in terms of reforming practices we reduce the significantly and to the best of our capacity the emissions footprint of how we produce that food so in terms of setting that target the engagement i've had across with other government colleagues and obviously each minister will be batting batting for their own sector in this regard but the clear and unequivocal objective and principles i've brought to the table is that we must support farmers to continue to produce the food but set a target that actually is ambitious in terms of reducing the farmers being asked to take on to achieve that if farmers being asked to take on too much of responsibility in this regard because you know if i was a farmer and i'm looking at you know looking at the skies full of of aircraft though sometimes their impacts overstated but you know the fact that we're standing potentially the use of how we generate electricity you know with with with dirty fuels the banning of p-tier but watching as one co-go ship after another arrives into Dublin port from far flung corners of Europe and then loaded on to you know diesel hungry articulated lorries to to drive it around the country if i were looking at all of that i'd go well you know get our farbacks look at other areas and give us a break well it's a it's a very fair point Greg and every sector of society will have to carry its weight and shoulder its weight over the next 10 years as we meet that climate challenge which is undoubtedly very real and my key objective as minister is to ensure that the target that is set for agriculture is proportionate one is a doable and deliverable one and which facilitates farmers in continuing to produce the beef and the milk and the food that we do but alongside doing that reduces the footprint of how we produce it and also produces in a way that is is cognizant and in sync with the environment around us so that we can make those make those steps as well in relation to addressing the biodiversity challenges we have and the funding that published yesterday or announced yesterday will be important in supporting farmers in doing that and so listen obviously the next two or three weeks will tell the tale in terms of the sectoral targets for each part of the economy and determine to ensure that agriculture does play its part and i mean we're starting from a strong position but if i'm reading your memoirs in you know 30 years time you know will there be a chapter where you say you know in the early 2020s you know the attitude of government was that the future there was no future for farming or indeed fishing you know because that's how it feels no it's it shouldn't feel that way and i can assure you it's not going to be that way and as minister i ensure it's not that way and the starting point a key anchor in that is the funding the 50 funding increase sent out yesterday the second point the second key challenge this autumn is getting a delivery or a target a sectoral target which will be deliverable for agriculture but listen our starting point from agriculture point of view is a very strong one we're already one of the most sustainable producers of food in the world we're a grass based pasture based system which is quite unique in terms of looking at many other countries that produce food so that's where we currently start with but in terms of the year ahead and it's not just agriculture it's going to affect all parts of our lives whether it be energy or transport or construction we all have to have an eye in relation to how what we do and how we live our lives interacts with the environment and impacts on the environment so from a cultural point of view and from a consumer point of view consumers in the years ahead are increasingly becoming aware that and want to know the food that they're producing and buy or they're buying is as produced as seen as sustainably as it possibly can so we need to hold that the world leading position we have by becoming even more sustainable and doing as much as we possibly can to reduce the footprint of the food and that's the way we will maximize the value of the food that we sell and ultimately really put agriculture in the strongest possible footing for the years ahead by maximizing the income of farmers at farm level too so I think we have a very strong trajectory and a very strong platform in which we can set agriculture up and as minister I'm very determined to deliver that I think the first key part of that was yesterday in the budgetary aspect and secondly now we'll be in getting a proportionate climate or sectoral target and just to make this point and farmers as I say farmers are doing a massive amount and will be doing more and are willing to do more and will be paid for doing more but there is a real reality here that we all have to play a role no matter what our profession in terms of meeting that because it's a real challenge but it's about time that you guys start telling us the advantages of that how it will help the economy how it will help us how we will benefit the jobs it will create because it up until now and I'm not this is not a criticism directly of you right by the way so I hope you don't think it is it's about you know you're responsible this is what you might do start selling it to us as the advantage you know how much might we actually save over the course of five years driving an electric car if we retrofit our home how much money does that put in our pockets how many jobs will be created by employing people to retrofit homes you know you know this type of like sell it to us rather than saying we'll have to have do you get where I'm coming from I think we need to look at the messaging of this I do and I agree and if you listen to what I'm saying I mean my messaging is very clear in this from an agriculture point of view great which is that we agriculture will get stronger by being as sustainable as possibly can be and by having our emissions as low as they possibly can be because it'll make our food and it'll ensure if it continues to be and it becomes even more more desired by the customers that we sell it to and by the people who eat it and that will make it more profitable and ultimately will be much more successful and profitable for family farms okay turned it for example would be to lose some of that would be to lose that status we have and become eroded and see the value of our produce reduced so this is the way that will be a win-win for agriculture the key the key to that though is continuing to produce the food that we produce I guess you and just the wider point I'd make very brief because I want to ask you about another thing as well every country every country has has like target you know significant targets to meet to you know signed up at the conference and the climate you know the Paris four years ago and we haven't been meeting those so far and actually most countries haven't we have to start meeting those and we shall talk more about that if every country does meet those and even achieve that the objective that is to prevent global warming going above one and a half degrees by the year 2050 so that's the scale of the challenge we have and we all know how we feel when our body should be 36 and a half to 38 and a half it's very significant if the climate warms by that we know the impact that means well we'll all hopefully we'll all hopefully want to work hard yeah actually we'll all hopefully do our bit um are are we seeing the biggest battle between civil servants and government over mic at the moment as it's been labeled by some well listen the work is ongoing I've been liaising very closely with the Minister for Housing Darrell Bryan and the Taoiseach and my government colleagues and other party leaders on it and the important and key thing is here that we get the scheme right what I've said very clearly is my focus isn't on whether it's this week or next week that the scheme comes out my focus on is on making sure that the scheme is the right one and that it stands the test of time and the one we we have a degree now by cabinet cabinet that are the one that people will see will enable them to fix their homes whether they do that as part of the scheme this year next year or the year after because this scheme will have to be in place for a number of years to ensure all homes get fully fixed and so listen it's obviously that the ball is very much in the government's court now in relation to this there is a very strong understanding and commitment from the government to address the scheme to get the scheme right and I'm working closely with my cabinet colleagues and government colleagues in relation to actually achieving that and I'm confident we will get it get the outcome we all need. Mayhill Martin said he wasn't invited out to meet the children yesterday I've saw the email and the correspondents that suggest he did know was he invited did he misspeak did he have a lapse in memory what was the story did you listen I mean I think in many ways it's a bit of a red herring obviously the teacher wasn't aware that he got that email as you can understand I've known the teacher we get hundreds and thousands of emails in a week so and many of the children came down and the odd letters addressed for the minister for children and the minister for education and I had been asked to get to bring the minister for education and the minister for children by the by the families to come and meet them so I spoke to minister Foley and spoke to minister Gorman and the three of us went out to meet with the families together and to meet with them and both minister Foley and minister Gorman spoke with many of the children and I spent a long time there speaking to them all all and their parents and also addressed all of the children and explained to them how I'm working so hard and how the government is working very hard to get the scheme right to fix their homes so the teacher just to let you know the teacher did this press conference that the funding he did that press conference with me from half nine uh till half ten yesterday morning he had to leave the press conference early to go and do leaders questions I stayed on till 11 the the teacher was then in the dull chamber from 12 until half three yesterday so that he on on teacher's business tied to the dull chamber so that was the reality facing the teacher he obviously hadn't seen that email that came in but uh uh given the time frame and the fact he was actually tied to the dull chamber and indeed during that period in the dull chamber answered many questions on Micah and confirmed his commitment and the government's commitment to working to deliver for families okay minister that's the key objective so and and the thoughts for the focus on and I think you know I stay focused on that thanks for your time this morning I appreciate it minister charlie mcconnellog the agriculture minister all right here's a reminder of what you can do perhaps we're to help your mental health in these difficult times the mental health minute from highland radio and the hsc okay we need to talk about something okay I mean we need to talk about being okay because as restrictions begin to ease it's okay to feel a bit anxious you want to see your friends you just don't want to touch any of them and that's okay just tell them they're your friends they'll get it everyone gets it and it's okay to take things slowly we're all still learning to live with covet and everyone's experience of that will be different in fact your experience might be permanently different it's okay if you decide to maybe not go back to your exact old routine take time to readjust and be patient with yourself and others you care about because 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