 You sleep in? You haven't slept in? I have a few times. Really? Yeah. What's your, how long am I doing this now? Too long. What? I don't know. Seven or eight years, that I couldn't tell you. But a few times, when I have two larms, do I have three larms set? When I hear the last one, that's like danger zone. And the whole house is up and then I'm in real trouble. Yeah, you know when you can hear everybody else there's a problem. Yeah, there you go, Mark. I hope I haven't planted a seed now and you're going to end up sleeping in tomorrow. You ring me tomorrow from now up at five, right? No, I'll ring you tomorrow. OK, Leigh Gage, we'll be back with you. We're very optimistic, bright and early tomorrow morning. But let's get a news update now and it's over to Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. A weekend cancer conference in Bali. Shannon has been told that South Donegal, Slego and Lytrim need a shared treatment arrangement similar to the one which sees radiotherapy patients from Lettuce-Kenney University Hospital go to Althengafel in Derry. Conference chair Tommy Gorman told the event that the Southwest Hospital in Anasgillan would be the ideal location for such a service. The Slego native and former RTE Northern correspondent says it's a suggestion that needs to be very seriously considered. I love what's been done between North Donegal and Althegalva. It makes perfect sense. Lives are being saved. There's a spanking new hospital underused in Anasgillan. There's an overused hospital in Slego. You see funds like the shared island dying to use money in a productive way. We have these parts and we just need to become the sum of our parts and we need to just think smart. Get rid of some of the barriers that are in existence there and use our imagination. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is meeting with Ukraine's president later for what's been described as substantive negotiations. Volodymyr Zelensky has tweeted to say they'll be discussing cooperation on expanding their capabilities on the ground and in the air. Over the weekend, he visited France and Germany. Both governments offered substantial military support. There has been an increase of over a third in medicine shortages in this country since May of last year. The latest medicine shortages index shows the number of medicines out of stock has shot up to 241. There are shortages in treatments of allergic eye conditions including hay fever with 11 eyedrops available. Some antibiotics also difficult to get. The Irish Pharmacy Union spokesperson Cathy Maher says the government needs to allow pharmacists to use other medicines. We have called on the minister to look at something called the serious shortage protocol which will allow pharmacists use their clinical skills to switch when one medicine is in short supply that we could substitute another for that. Therefore patient treatment is not interrupted and that's what we have to look at the health and wellbeing of the Irish public. National Volunteering Week kicks off today. It runs until the 21st of the month. A week-long celebration of volunteering is highlighting stories from people and the impact they make on communities. Diversity and inclusion are being celebrated throughout the week in an attempt to bring people together. Minister of State for Public Health and Well-being Hildegard Nocton said volunteering week allows the achievements of people to be celebrated. I think it's important that we celebrate all our volunteers who give their time to give back to their communities and without our volunteers a lot of our organisations across the country wouldn't be able to work as effectively as they do. So this is about celebrating our unsung heroes who so generously give of their time to enrich the lives of our neighbours, families and communities right across the country. Mostly dry and bright this morning with well-scattered showers, cloud will increase by the afternoon before brightening up later, long spells of evening sunshine later on, top temperatures today, 12 or 13 degrees Celsius in light to moderate, north-west winds. And that's Highland Radio News back with news in full at 10 o'clock. Experience the power of three home broadband, the master of multitasking that lets man work from home. Dadstream is favourite show and the kids play the latest games all at the same time. Sweet! Get three home broadband free for the first three months and for only 39 euro per month after that. Plus, no set-up costs. All in Ireland's fastest and most consistent 5G network. Visit and store or at 3.ie. 24 months minimum term, speeds may vary. Based on analysis by Outlaw, speed test intelligence, stab a Q3 to Q4 2022. The county's number one talk show, the Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now, it's time for the talk of the north-west, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. And a very good morning to you at four minutes past nine on this Monday, the 15th of May, 2023. You're welcome along to another week of The Nine Till Noon Show here on Highland Radio. We kick off the week with another busy show and later on, we're going to be answering any questions you might have about applying for or qualifying for the Suzy Grant. So if that's something you're interested in, a question you want answered, get them into us and we'll get answers for you hopefully later on. Of course, Brendan Daveney will be on with us reflecting on the weekend sporting action and looking forward to the DL Debate podcast. That and so much more besides. So stay tuned, stay right where you are and get involved in the conversational, raise your own issues, 086625,000, WhatsApps and texts to that number, 086625,000 or give us a call on 07491 at 25,000. Let's look at the newspapers this morning, The Dairy People, Donegal News. There is good news for residents of Ross Bracken and Ray Mohe. Steps have finally been taken to resolve the ongoing issues with water supply in the area. Water outages in this area of Manneconium have been a recurring issue for a number of years and most recently the residents were left without water on Christmas Day, St. Patrick's Day and again on Easter Sunday. However, Iskairan has now confirmed they are proceeding with an application for funding to reinstate the infrastructure in the area which will fix the problematic section. The Dairy News this morning, Community and Voluntary Sectoring Crisis, the Northwest Community Network is calling for groups to come together and amplify their voices around the current community crisis. The network is a representative organisation in the community sector in the Dairy City and Straband District Council areas. Speaking to Dairy News, Roshi McLaughlin, manager of NWCN, said voluntary and community organisations were on the front line of the cost of living crisis. The top of the page there also points out that Dairy have been crowned Ulster Championships. Champions, sorry, in a very exciting game yesterday. What did you think of it? How do you like the whole extra time and penalties? Maybe you should have gone to a replay next week. Another packed clonus, what do you think? 08, 6, 60, 25,000, any views on that? How do you think Dairy will fare now as they progress in that competition? The Irish Independent this morning, six people have died abroad over a period of two years after travelling for medical or cosmetic procedures. New figures show last year four people died after medical tourism visits while two people lost their lives in 2021. The Department of Foreign Affairs has not notified of any deaths between 2017 and 2020 with a marked increase in the number of people choosing to travel abroad for procedures. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland said its members have begun to see increasing numbers of patients admitted through emergency departments with complications after returning home and we've speaking to consultants or have spoken to consultants from Letter County University Hospital in the past who have pointed this out to them as well. Some hospitals have seen a near threefold increase in people requiring emergency treatment in the last three years. The DFA said the deaths recorded only include those it has been notified of, all where it has received requests for consular assistance. But I don't know in terms of context how many people have travelled versus how many people have very sadly lost their lives and what the equivalent mortality rate might be if the same operations were carried out in Ireland. There's not that context in this article. But obviously six deaths are six too many. On to the Irish Times now and the government has said emergency accommodation for most of the 500 asylum seekers who are currently without a place to live, some of whom are living in tents in Dublin City Centre will be provided in the coming days. Senior political sources said there was a heightened awareness in government of the need to ensure the safety of asylum seekers for whom the state has been unable to provide accommodation. But they played down reports that Guardi are preparing for a wave of anti-immigrant demonstrations in the wake of Friday's incidents. The Department of Integration said that in the next week or two, three accommodation centres in Dublin and one outside Dublin is due to be ready to receive new residents. It's hoped that there will be able to take many of the people living in tents, although some applicants for international protection continue to arrive every week. Separately accommodating Ukrainian refugees and other migrants has become a lucrative business for some hotel chains, according to figures sourced by the Irish Times. Almost a dozen companies were paid more than 10 million euro by the state last year, with one hotel group paid more than 80 million for housing migrants. Big, big money in it. And then you have again still the situation where people offer at homes for 800 a month and no dice. On to the Irish Daily Mail this morning. Dairy football manager Rory Galleher's wife went public yesterday over the domestic abuse she claims to have suffered at his hands. The alleged incidences was that which Mrs Galleher claimed happened over a period of years were not pursued in the courts due to a lack of evidence. Nicola Galleher said she had been afraid to make a statement up until now. In an interview with The Sunday Independent yesterday, Nicola said, I sat for ages looking at it on my computer, I kept thinking, will I do it or will I not? What impact will this have on my children? I had a tightness in my chest, I got really afraid and then I hit post. The first person to ring me was my aunt who said, I am so proud of you. You did the right thing. We've been waiting for that for years. I was mentally broken, but hearing that settled me. The reaction has been totally overwhelming. I never expected it. I feel so heartened by the response because I'm not the type of person who likes any kind of attention. I'm naturally quiet, a shy person. I don't use social media. The last time I used Facebook was three or four years ago, but the number of messages I've been getting from other women who say my speaking out has helped them means it was worth it. Some say it has helped them to break their own silence. When asked what would have happened if she did not write that Facebook post, Nicola replied, I would be dead 100%. I needed to do it. It was my last resort. And this morning yesterday's Irish Independent was on that piece there. On to the Irish Daily Star for this morning. The government raked in 119 million euro more in tax on fuel and energy last year than in 2021, despite the cost of living crisis. Ain't your leader, Padahto Bean, said it's an outrage. He slammed what this data shows us is that any time government minister stood up in the door and said they were doing everything they could to tackle fuel poverty, they were secretly creaming a fortune off the crisis. Well, it was no secret, but I see the point he's trying to make. The state took in 3.678 billion in tax on fuel and energy last year, compared to 3.559 billion in 2021. That jump was recorded despite the government cutting vat and excise duty on petrol, diesel, gas and electricity last year due to the crane war. And just the way tax works, if the cost of something goes up, then the government's taking tax goes up as well. So as I say, it's not a secret as such, but it's good to see those figures so we have a better understanding. Onto the sun now and the amount paid in rent in Ireland is 11.7% higher than a year ago. Between January and March, tenants paid an average of 1,750 euro per month in rent compared to 1,387 in 2020. However, according to the latest rental report by daft.ie, inflation is slowing down. The first quarter of 2023 shows an average increase of just 1% compared to the end of 2022. The smallest quarterly rise since 2020, but they are stuck there at a very high rate still. That's huge money to be paying on rent and the same people who manage to pay that rent every single month can't get a mortgage with repayments less than it, which is crazy too, isn't it? And finally, the Irish Daily Mirror. 60 people have gone missing since the start of last year and have still not been found. These figures show cases of 4,264 people reported by Guardi or to Guardi in 2022 missing with 36 remaining unaccounted for as of April 11th. Some 1,377 people have vanished this year and 24 are still missing. In total, there are 856 open missing persons cases in the state, some dating back many decades. They include 27-year-old American Annie McCarrick, who vanished from South Dublin in March 1993. Guardi and I are probing whether two brothers were involved in her murder, but suffice to say that's a lot of people go missing on an annual basis and still 60 who went missing since the start of last year have yet to be found. Okay, that's a run through the papers this morning. Good luck, good morning, should I say, to Kathleen, Paul, Marie, Charlie, and Annie and Michael who are watching us live. Don't forget you can watch the show every day on our YouTube channel, Highland Radio Ireland, across Facebook, or on our website. Just click Watch Live and you can interact and comment with us there. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, Mountaintop Letterkenny, the C-Store National Large Forecourt of the Year for 2022. The Ninth All Noon Show is brought to you by Letterkenny Credit Union, offering low-rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. Local Enterprise Office, Donegal, is hosting a one-day, start-your-own-business boot camp in the Silver Tasse Hotel on Saturday 27th of May from 9.30 to 5. The short one-day course will provide guidance and information on the key topics relevant to starting your own business. The course costs 50 euro and includes a light lunch, tea, and coffee. For more information and to register, visit localenterprise.ie forward slash Donegal. Planning on renovating your garden this summer? Then look no further than Dale Sight Garden Furniture with a full range of sizes and garden sheds, summer houses, playhouses, outdoor canopies, fencing, and much more. Dale Sight Garden Furniture, Lifford. Made to measure and one-off designs are our speciality. Find us on social media. The Groom Goes Free. The Groom Goes Free. Yes, you heard it. The Groom's Room. Evolve clothing, Larry Kenny Retail Park. The Groom Goes Free. Call in today. Terms and conditions apply. A reminder to passengers going on holiday, take the power of on-pust money. Pay for things all over the world, with foreign currency in cash and on the on-pust money currency card powered by MasterCard, with 24-7 card support from real people and with the app. You can set currency rate alerts and we'll tell you when your target rate is reached. Power your travel money with on-pust money, search on-pust travel money, or visit your local post office. Teas and seas apply. On-pust money currency card is issued by PPSEUSA, pursuant to license by MasterCard International. PPSEUSA is authorised by the National Bank of Belgium and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules. On-pust is authorised by the Minister for Finance to provide foreign currency cash. Highland radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Leicester, Kennedy, Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time, Matt. The time is 16 minutes past nine. Just to remind you a little later on, Eleanor Murphy will be joining us to answer your questions on Susie Grant's applications. We'll be going through all the basics anyway, but just in case there's a question that you might have that you want answered, get it into us now 08, 660, 20, 08, 660, 25,000 is the number, or 07, 491, 25,000. If you wish to give us a call, we're also going to be talking about demands for the upgrade of the A5. Again, obviously a significant consultation beginning on that process today. And later too, Brendan Devaney will be in to preview the DL debates and also to reflect on the weekend sporting action, which you can get involved in that conversation as well. Right, now we're joined on the program by the chairperson of the National Retained Firefighters Association of Ireland. It's Stephen McFadden. Stephen, thanks for taking the call this morning. No problem, Greg. Right, OK, so your members are going to go ahead with a nationwide strike. Tell us what this is about. What has brought us to this point, Stephen? There has been ongoing talks with government agencies and ornital shaking committee. But from last Wednesday, the talks failed. Now, the talks were going on for almost 16 months, but it's just didn't go far enough. What the government agencies were coming with, they reformed the Retained Fire Service. Now, this is progressing with notes being sent to the CEOs of all county councils given the statutory notice that this strike is going to take place. That's correct. It's coming Friday now. All our county reps meet. They will be putting in place industrial action measures up and up to strike action, you know. So that goes ahead on Friday to see what kind of format that that's going to kick. As you say, talks have been ongoing. What does the NRFA want to avoid this type of action? There was meaningful discussion from the government agencies, like the Retained Fire Service is a model that was established back post-World War II, late 40s, early 50s, and in fairness, now facilities, equipment and all has improved. But the way the service is delivered isn't cut for purpose now, like in 2022, you know. There's a society's change immensely. So it has been a Retained Fire. Retained Fire means your own call 24-7. So it is for a minimum of 48 weeks of any one year, you know. And it just doesn't suit society today. Like even in Donegal and fairness, now nationally, it will be a bigger issue. And seeing a Bazaar county spot, counties with more employment options, like really mechanical factories, tech wars, whatever else. But Donegal uniquely, the cause of our geographic position is now starting experience where the rest of the country has been experienced for this last decade. Now, even as we speak today, I think out of the 15 stations in Donegal, there's at least seven, if not eight of them that's understaffed because of the equipment and retention issue, you know. So in terms of part of what might fix this, is it to improve the terms for Retained Firefighters, or does it need a complete overhaul? I know this is to be negotiated around the table if you can get them to the table. But, you know, you say it's not fit for purpose. What could be done to make it fit for purpose? Well, we've made a few suggestions and brought them to government. What basically the firefighters are looking for is a more work-life longs, as I say. Like, they're restricted to 2.5 kilometers. Some of the stations, they work in a lot of, you know, as I say. People, what stations now are down? Members, like a single pump station is nine. Like, maybe Cairn Donough, or Lettercannet and Cairn with two pump stations, who's the first team. Lettercannet, the moment now, it's a single pump station. They're down to about nine, if not 10. So there was put serious pressure on the other members because it's usually a long term by the time they get people recruitment in place. And it puts an awful lot of pressure on the remaining fire service. Firefighters there. As I say, there's zero work-life balance. What the NRFA are suggesting is they pay the firefighters the average industrial wage, which in turn would sort their pension issue, their pension for firefighters, a bit of fuss with the national public servants, so it is. And what they are trying to achieve is that they won't be getting mortgages of being a firefighter or you could pay the retainer. Like, a new entrant there is about 8,000 euro per annum and that's the only money they're guaranteed. So therefore, when they go looking for a mortgage, they find it very, very difficult, probably nearly impossible to get a mortgage. And it just doesn't work. The system doesn't work anymore. And in terms of if firefighters were paid the average industrial wage, would that be alongside also being work part-time or effectively make them full-time members of the fire service? Well, firefighters want to be firefighters. Great. They've been put in a position now that they take the firefighting very, very, very seriously. So we do it in the local communities. It would mean that, well, it is, as of now, it is their primary thought every day, you know, is all about being a firefighter. Yes. Not about painting and decorating or anything else. It's just a, we say, clean, you know. And what does a strike look like? Because obviously, you know, this is the emergency services here and they're only called out for the most part, you know, when there's a serious problem. So what does a retained firefighters strike look like? Well, as I said, one little more about that format that is going to the ship, that is going to take no from Freddie on. So it is, I know it's something that they're very, very, very reluctant to do. As I say, firefighters live and walk in their own communities and their own people. They really do not want to go on strike of any kind. So now we had a motion from the government in November 2022. The minister came back. Now, this doesn't lie fairly in squirrely. What's the minister now? The LJMA, the local government management agency, as you know, Greg, are over all the retained fire services in Ireland. And as I say, they're very, very reluctant to go on strike. But at this stage now, they feel that they have no choice. When the last coin report was ran by the department back at the end of 2022, 60% of firefighters stated nationally that they were seriously considering leaving the service within the next 18 months. So either way, the fire service is going to collapse. What's there without strike? It's just not there. People are, look, at the end of the day, the general public, Ring 999 asked for the fire service. This big red light turned out to be five or six people. People aren't aware of the sacrifices that these firefighters make and their families, to be honest. I think, too, I'd say a lot of people learning for the first time this morning about this obligation to gain employment within two and a half kilometers from the fire service. In a county like ours, that really limits your options. And then, of course, you end up, presumably, having to sign on. And then that income from the fire service is not guaranteed at a particular rate. It would be difficult even to get somewhere to rent in this day and age with those shackles on. Yeah, absolutely. The restrictive nature is just, well, I suppose the best way we can put it, what we usually use, is COVID-19. Great, when the restrictions come under place, you're two kilometers from wherever else. Well, the firefighter lives on the unrestrictions 24-7, you know? That's seriously, seriously, that takes a serious amount of commitment to be a gain firefighter. So those employers are very, very reluctant to employ a retain firefighter for the simple reason is that you must be mobilized from time of alert. Within five months, that means wherever you're at, you drop, you go, and you're out the door and then appliance within five months. That's the national standard set there by the department. So you can see how employers will be very reluctant in today's age to employ a retain a firefighter. So the firefighters then are actually left with no choice but to go to the local and through offices and apply for job seekers benefit, which is probably ridiculous. There's not no public service out there that it takes the department of social protection to bump up their wages to make sure they can love, you know, it just, it just does not work anymore. And is there a sense that, I mean, obviously you said firefighters want to be firefighters and you would have to because of the, there's very few people can actually do it. Do you think a little bit like some would argue with the nurses and teachers that sort of, you know, the sense of community and wanting to help your fellow person is almost being exploited. Like this is a, some sort of a devotion rather than an actual job. That's correct. For years or historically, that's the way it would have been seen, you know, but as time moved on, I would have also became a very, very much a professional, which of those, it's a very unique set of skills to become a firefighter. There's a very small percentage of the population out there would qualify for a firefighter. Like retained firefighters are equally trained as full-time firefighters. The exact same thing. The only difference is that the full-time firefighter knows when he's on, knows when he's off and they can love him wherever he wants. As long as he's there, they start to shift. But as a relation between them or anything else, that's exactly the same. Probably more so, the retained firefighter actually could be, believe it or not, more qualified than the full-time firefighters that's out there at the moment, you know, like employment is a big issue and that's employers now are no longer willing. Even a lot of county councils themselves now, if you work in a road section, going to go to a county council, apply for a job in the fire service. Well, you can go ahead and apply, but if you are successful in application of the fire service, you must make up your mind that you're either going to become a firefighter or a road worker or stay on the road. One of the two, you can't do both, you know. So it's a bit contraindicated when you're looking for all employers to release firefighters but the local authorities won't do it themselves. Okay, so you say the whole, you don't want to go ahead with this strike action, so you would hope would you, you would hope would you that this will bring Minister Estar al-Brain's responsible for this area as well, isn't it? You would hope him and his agent, you'd hope it would bring him or his agents to the table to have meaningful conversations about finding a resolution then. Yeah, in the pharmacy, the minister now, as you know, the minister, the minister is elected there, but then you have the, what do we like to say, the faceless people within the government departments, you know. Like the LJMA is officially responsible for the running of the routine fire service. You also have the NDFEM there, which is a national fire and emergency department, but getting all they can only recommend to the LJMA. They actually can't, they're only in a major capacity. Look, you know, just be told, the fire service has been on its knees and they're all saying that there's nothing for purpose for the last 20 years. Back in 2002, Mr. Minister Dempsey got an independent report called the Faro Grant Sparks Report, nothing 2002. And their first, their conclusion was that the routine fire service was not sustainable. Back in 2020, the society has changed that much that it's not going to need urgent reform. But that was in 2022, that's nearly, you know, that's over 20 years ago, happened for a quarter of a century ago, but nothing was changed in the way the service has done a verdict, you know. All right, okay. Well, listen, we hope there's a resolution found as soon as is possible. Stephen McFadden, chairman of the National Retained Firefighters Association of Ireland, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you very much. Take care. What do you think out there? 086625,000 WhatsApp's and text that number or give us a call on 07491 25,000. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com. The Ninetal Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie Not sure where to start with your smart meter? Sign up to a Home Electric Plus smart meter price plan from Electric Ireland to see how much energy your appliances are actually using. Track your usage monthly, daily or even hourly and get tips and advice on how to use less. It's a smart start to controlling your energy usage. To sign up, search Electric Ireland Home Electric Plus, smart meter and online account required. Features available after four months. Teas and seas apply. See electricarland.ie. Local Enterprise Office, Donegal is hosting a business cost-saving advice clinic in the Mount Erigal Hotel on Monday the 22nd of May from 9.30 to 12. Find out more about the cost-saving competitiveness supports worth over 10,000 euro available to micro-businesses and SMEs. This event is free, but booking is essential at localenterprise.ie forward slash Donegal. Monday the 22nd, can your business afford to miss it? Thinking of changing your floors? Why not see what Flurid Letter Kenny has to offer? Flurid, have a large selection of solid, semi-solid and laminate-click vinyl wood flooring together with a fantastic choice of parquet, herringbone flooring, all at incredible value. Don't delay. Call Flurid today on 087-161-7008. Okay, our next guest on the program is Eleanor Murphy, communications and customer services manager at Suzy. Eleanor, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. Thank you so much for joining us. I might, if you don't mind, just start right from the very beginning. For those who are just coming across this for the first time if they're young people are coming of age. So what is Suzy? Sure, so Suzy is Ireland's national awarding authority for all further and higher education grants, and we provide funding for approved courses at PLC undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There are two types of grants available. There is a fee grant, which is a grant towards the student's fees, and we pay that directly to the college on behalf of the student, and then there's a maintenance grant, and this is a grant towards the cost of living, and that's paid directly to the student in nine monthly installments throughout the academic year. Okay, so who can qualify? And I know there's been some changes to qualifying criteria. So I think even maybe others who maybe last year missed out might listen up because maybe they could qualify for this year. So what are the qualifying criteria? Absolutely, Greg. There have been a number of changes introduced this year, so we would encourage anyone thinking about going to further higher education this year to take a look at our website and check out if they might be eligible for funding. In order to be eligible, there's five kind of key criteria. So you must be an Irish, EU, EEA, UK or Swiss national, or you must have a specific permission from the Department of Justice to remain in the state. You must also be resident in Ireland, the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland for three of the last five years. You must be progressing in your education. So what we mean by that is you must be moving from like year one to year two of your course, or alternatively you might already hold like a level six qualification, so you must be progressing on to like a level seven qualification. You must also be attending an approved course and an approved college and these are fully listed on our website. There's a number of these, so do take a look there at susie.ie. And then finally, the income must fall within the specified thresholds and that's where there has been a big change indeed this year, particularly for undergraduate students. There's a new 500 euro grant towards the student contribution for eligible undergraduate students who have a household income between 62,000 euro and 100,000 euro. So it's the first time that we've had the 100,000 euro income threshold in place. Okay, so can you give us some typical examples of what the household income must be under and what you can apply for? Sure, so what we look at is if you are under 23 years of age, we look at your income along with your parent's income and then that must fall within the specific thresholds. So for example, if you're hoping to attend a further education course, a PLC course, then the highest income threshold there you'd be looking at it's 46,790, but then when we move in there to the undergraduate courses you can see that it goes right up to the 100,000 euro threshold. So there is quite a varied amount here and the levels of grant awards for each of those thresholds varies as well, all fully listed on the website. So I would say definitely take a look at that. And sometimes it can be a little bit complicated to work out the income. Like I would know of, I've spoken to people on this program in the past that, and correct me if I'm wrong if this would not be a valid situation but whereby a student was working during the summer and the way that was calculated it meant that they were no longer eligible for the Suzy grant. Now if they hadn't worked as much or had taken the summer to themselves they would have qualified for the Suzy grant. Is that a situation that does arise? So there is a thing called holiday earnings which enables the student to earn income outside of term time. So that would be Christmas, Easter and summer holidays. Now that has also increased this year. So in the past, the student would have been able to earn up to 4,500 euro. That's now increased up to 6,552 euro. And what we would do is make sure you let us know when you're filling in your application so that we can then deduct that up to that amount from your income calculation. And that might bring a student into grant or indeed help them get a better rate of grant. A caller wants to know, will my other dependence getting a job affect my eldest Suzy grant? No, so we look at the income of the applicant and the income of the parent. But one thing to keep in mind as well here would be what we call relevant persons. So if there is another person in the household attending further or higher education do let us know because the income thresholds can increase by a prescribed amount. So again, that might help to bring somebody into grant or a better rate. A caller says that I'm self-employed in a very small way but the questions asked for self-employed seem very detailed and I've no idea where I'd get this information. It seems a lot for myself being on such a small scale. Sure, so when there is income from self-employment we do require some documentary evidence. So what I would say is if the individual wants to contact our support desk we can have a chat through with them and look at the information that's required together. How are parents' savings assessed? What evidence is needed? Is it the interested accounts? Sorry, is it the interested accounted for? Can't find any info on the website. Sorry, is the interest accounted for? I think is what they're asking there. Yes, so we don't look at the savings amount but if there is interest earned on the savings that's what we would be looking at in the income calculation. So we'd need to know about that. My husband passed away this year. We're both very sorry to hear that, I'm sure. My son's going to college in a few years. Will the money we got from my husband's passing put us over the threshold? And we don't know how much is or by what way they received that, I don't know. But that's the question as it was asked, Eleanor. Very sorry to hear that. I think probably best in that case to contact the support desk. Maybe they'd be able to chat through the circumstances involved there. Talk to me about that service, the support desk service then because a lot of people open up the forms or open it up on their screen and it can be quite overwhelming because you don't want to get it wrong either for many reasons. So what kind of supports are available? Sure, so our support desk is available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 30 and you can contact us by phone, by email or on social media. So any channel there that works for you will be happy to support you on. We also have guides on our website which take the applicant through each of the questions step by step and guide them on how to answer it. But of course, if you have any questions do contact us. We'd be more than happy to help with that. Right, so when applications open and because just to make sure that everyone gets in as early as possible even if they don't fully know exactly what's going to happen yet in terms of whether they might take a year out or what whichever. If there is a chance that you are going on to third level this year, you need to start applying now. Is that correct? That's right, Greg. We're now open for applications for 23 24 and we'd advise everyone to apply as early as possible because the sooner you apply the sooner you'll get a decision on your application and that will help to give you the certainty for the academic year ahead. Now what we would say is if you're doing your leave insert and you're not sure what course you'll be attending do apply. You can change those details at a later date. So when you make your application you will have a Susie student portal and you can go in there and change that in August or September whenever there is a change and we can take a look at it or alternatively if you're applying through the CAO and you've enabled CAO to share your details with us they'll tell us directly about any changes that have been made. But there's a big date coming up now. It's Thursday the 6th of July. It's the priority closing date. Anyone who gets their application in honour before this date will receive priority assessment. So if you're thinking about it do get it in before that date. Okay and what happens for people at any time there is a cutoff it's always going to leave some people just on the wrong side of that and missing out. Is there any support or any advice for people that will inevitably find themselves in that position? They don't have a great deal more resources than the neighbour who qualifies. They just perhaps are a little bit over the threshold. So is there anything people can do to try and appeal or is there any special circumstances or anything for people like that Eleanor? Yes, so if you can't make the 6th of July closing date you can still make your application beyond that our system will remain open and we will certainly accept it and be sure to process it as quickly as possible. It's just if you get it in before the 6th you'll receive the priority assessment. And what I would say as well is you know things can happen throughout the year and if you know in November when our system goes and the online system closes we can still accept late applications at that point. So definitely do keep in touch with us if you want to make an application. What's the correct approach for us? My daughter's father doesn't contribute whatsoever but he's technically in her life. There's no real clear option when applying for the grant they say. Sure, so when looking at the income we look as I mentioned earlier at the income of the applicant and the parents if the parents now I know we can't comment on individual cases but if the parents are separated or divorced we would look at the income of the parent that the student is living with. Okay, can you travel can you take travel from Donagol to Dublin into account when applying for a Susie grant? So we don't look at travel as such or particular expenses associated with going to college but where the distance can come in is you can get a higher rate of grant. So when I was talking about the maintenance grant earlier there are two rates it's called non-adjacent and adjacent. So if you live 30 kilometers or more from your college you would receive the non-adjacent rate of grant and that would be a higher rate of grant than the adjacent. Now I know you can't comment on individual cases but we'll take this as a general question. My daughter lost 200 a month because of my small wage and my husband's disability money including the few 200 euro government payments it's taken her grant down now to 438 and it's simply not enough even to pay the rent for her. Is there anything in a situation like that that they're missing that could see that payment increased? So when we're looking at the income thresholds we're working in line with the legislation outlined in the student grant scheme now unfortunately we don't have any ability to change or modify those rules so we would have to process the applications in line with what's outlined there. Alright I have a level 8 from 2014 which I got grants for I'm now studying level 9. Do you know what is the threshold for income or household? So level 9 that could potentially be a postgraduate course maybe. So when we look at postgraduate courses there is a slight difference here so you may be eligible for a maintenance grant and a fee contribution grant if you qualify for what we call the special rate and in order to qualify for that your income must be below 25,000 euro and you must be in receipt of an eligible department of social protection payment on the 31st of December. There is also another grant available there it's a fee contribution grant up to 4000 euro and the reckonable income for that must be under 55,240 euro but again do keep in mind if there's more dependence in the household that can increase or if there is somebody else in the household attending further higher education full time again that could increase. Okay so the message again to apply early and there are eligibility criteria checkers too that people can run their details through to see what they may or may not be able to apply for or qualify for. That's right the eligibility indicator on our website is a really helpful tool it's quick and easy to use and it'll give you an indication of your eligibility before you make an application. Okay well get in early as you say Eleanor thank you very much for your time I appreciate it. Thanks Greg. All right that's Eleanor Murphy Communications and Customer Services Manager at Susie. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from Letter Kenny Credit Union call us on 074 9102126 or apply online via our app or in office today. With more all electric cars on Irish roads than ever before now is the time to make your move. Now is the time to follow the leader and choose a Volkswagen ID Ireland's best-selling range of all electric cars and now is the time to choose a Volkswagen ID 3 ID 4 or ID 5 all available to order now for immediate delivery. Discover our latest offers at Volkswagen.ie Volkswagen best-selling claim based on latest published figures. If you know the beauty and skincare product that suits you best you'll find them at McGee's Chemist Letter Kenny from moisturizers, cleansers and toners to day creams and night creams. McGee's have the top brands you know and love like Longcom, Clarence and La Roche-Posay also Elizabeth Arton, Vichy, Nukes and many more all at McGee's Chemist Main Street Letter Kenny and online at McGee's.ie for the best costs less. For a great value in suits visit Watson Men's Wear in Letter Kenny top labels like Remizumo, White Label, Spectre and Daniel Grail for the finishing touch there's also a great choice of shirts, ties and fruit wear extra reductions for all wedding parties at Watson Men's Wear open seven days a week on Main Street Letter Kenny see WatsonMen'sWear.com All right let's get to some of your comments clearly for many rural areas two kilometers is not going to work they need to stretch it out to three kilometers to see what it will bring you need to widen the net they aren't going to succeed getting people to apply for firefighters with housing shortages and young people leaving the country another I'm a retained firefighter in the north and we receive £3,000 a year so that's £500 a month meaning we receive £1 an hour I completely relate to Stephen but this is a global issue another I applied for Suzy Grant a number of times it's a waste of time but I know a contractor who has over 300 acres of land has about 30 men all his kids got free education a total scam against the PAYE sector Suzy need to be scrapped and a stepped system in put in place another I think parents should have to tell their children what their income is and this process reveals this okay sorry I think parents should not have to tell their children what their income is yeah I can see exactly where you're coming from all right back to the firefighting as a firefighter the current employment practice is an old practice up against modern employment laws I have to get permission to leave the 2.5 kilometre distance and by living in a rural area it means always having to get permission as everything is outside an extremely restrictive job with poor pay something they say has to change sure I keep them coming into us on all various topics and raise your own of course as well 0860 25,000 now some pharmacists are worrying or warning should I say about a summer allergy rise Margaret Doherty is a pharmacist from Refill Pharmacy and joins us on the program now Margaret thanks for taking the call this is coupled with some talk of a shortage of allergens medication what's going on Margaret I'd love to know to be honest with you Greg medicine shortages are an ongoing problem they're a major headache for every pharmacy every doctor and for a lot of patients and the shortage of allergy medicines is something that obviously comes up at this time of year when we have it but it's an all year round problem of all medicines basically and this is just the bit that you're seeing today because that's what you're looking for today and that's and we're seeing obviously the people's experience and the newspaper and radio radio articles but this is something with all different types of medicines that pharmacists are trying to deal with on a everyday basis absolutely literally every day every hour of the day you're dealing with medicines that you just can't get or you can't get hold off or if you're trying to find an alternative for them and you're trying to explain to patients why what the doctor has prescribed you don't have it and they should go well finally you have and I don't know it's very frustrating for us it's very frustrating for the patients it's very time consuming for everybody involved we're sending messages to the doctor they're having to check well would that be suitable for a patient and send you back another message and everybody's busy so there's always delays and it's very frustrating for everybody involved because of course for a lot of people what the doctor says is gospel and if something is prescribed that's what they want and you have to explain to them that it's not there and then you have to get the doctor maybe to explain to them that look this is an alternative and might serve the same purpose it's messy it's very messy and it does undermine people's confidence and what they've been prescribed which is and it's very time consuming as well at a time when nobody has time it eats on to your time and Margaret pardon my ignorance do pharmacists independently source this stuff like are you not competing as such but are you trying to get your supplies and the pharmacist down the road is also trying to do that or is there a central point that's used all source from or how does that work well basically we all every pharmacy every independent pharmacy source is independently obviously the groups of a buying manager who would do that who would do that work but there are two major wholesalers in the country so every pharmacy would be dealing with them and then there are also what they call secondary suppliers who would supply what we call parallel imports that's drugs that have been imported from other EU countries so we would we would deal with them we would be like in constant communication we don't really compete with one another we are competing with one another for the stock but we're also cooperating I've been in numerous groups where you would send messages like the supplier has a stock has something in stock today you know grab it while it's going there would be constantly messages particularly at the weekend from people who are desperate to get stock for patients we'd get messages like do you have this antibiotic child's just been discharged from hospital parents willing to travel messages like that are flying about all the time as we're trying to and we do work together if there is stock we will try to get it to the people who need it most yeah I've heard that before so Margaret when the patient comes into you and they say well when will it be in and you say to them well we simply don't know when that applies what are the suppliers saying to you I mean are they given any reason as to why there is this constant struggle to get in medicines well I mean they'll tell you that it's a worldwide problem it's a globalization problem we're competing with the rest of the world for the stocks of medicines that are out there and we're a small island you know stuck at the end of Europe so we do tend to be at the end of the supply chain but part of the problem and a big part of the problem is that the price of prescribed medicines are controlled by the HSE they have an agreement with the manufacturers there hasn't been price increases in 15 to 20 years we often see price decreases even on the medicines that are in short supply if we could cut the price of something that we can't get anyway and it makes it less economic for the big drug companies to supply the Irish market a lot of the work that's done now is done by robots AI algorithms and they're looking and they say like well why would we send it you know a thousand units or ten thousand units to Ireland when we can send a million units to Germany at a higher price it doesn't make any sense No, so what might need to happen to overhaul this whole area then because obviously the current system I think in the past if we not sort of piggyback with other countries and split some of our supplies I seem to remember those deals I think it was Portugal or something do you know what I mean and we grouped with... Well we do import as I say there are companies that import stock from other EU countries That's the parallel imports you've talked about the parallel imports but again it's at a price and is that a price that the HSE often aren't willing to pay you know so we are saying well actually we have something here but it's not covered on your medical card you can have it if you're willing to buy it you know and that's equally frustrating for people A caller says will there be a prioritization system in place do you think my son really suffers with summer allergies my worry is he'll get stuck inside for the summer Unfortunately there isn't and that's another part of the problem there's no system to prioritize and anybody basically it is a survival of the fittest almost it involves people ringing around you know trying to and fairness there are alternatives so it's very unlikely that he won't be able to get anything you know he may not be able to get his first choice he may not be able to get what's most effective for him I wouldn't be in the position you know I wouldn't I would say to that caller don't be worried that your son will be stuck inside or summer there will be something you know and we will find you know there's always a way around it but it's the amount of time effort and energy that it's taking it shouldn't be as complicated as it is should it and Margaret when we were talking about medicine shortages in the past there were calls from some pharmacists to be allowed to offer alternatives that would be a big big help too without constantly having to check every time with the doctor presumably exactly in the UK they have what's called a serious shortage just protocol which would mean that if drug X was short we could supply drug Y when appropriate admitting to always be appropriate but again we know the patients we know they're conditioned we are in a position to say this is a good alternative it will do the job for you but at the moment we don't have the power to do that we have to contact the doctor and it's frustrating for them if you're on to them three or four times a day for them to tell them the same thing but there is provision for that in this country but it's just not enacted is that not the case no there's no provision to make a change the only time that we can make a change is what's called an interchangeable list and there are drugs that are available that we can supply a generic form basically that's your supply from a different manufacturer but the same drug we can't make a change from one drug to another drug yeah there just seems to be a pattern here I think a pattern sorry there just seems to be a pattern here Margaret where pharmacists, pharmacies have solutions but they're not availed of it's not just in this area you know what I mean but for some reason well there that's exactly if you put your finger on the problem if we had the power we could do it we're held back both by legislation and by the reimbursement system that doesn't cut on recently we had there was a cancer drug that was in short supply it's been in short supply for several months it's just come back into stock and when we could get alternatives we had to apply for each patient to the HSE for permission to supply it at a slightly higher cost than their cost and you know instead of them saying right we know this is a problem we know you can get it at you know four or five euros extra we'll pay you that extra money for each patient we had to apply each time for each patient okay finally Margaret Colla wants to know do you see this a risk of this happening for more serious allergies like nuts ETC well there has been the epipen that people use for nut allergies there was a shortage of them that seems to have been resolved at the moment but again if you have a spike in demand what happened at that time is because pharmacies have to hold a certain number pharmacies that are doing vaccinations have to hold a certain number of pens in case the patient has an allergic reaction so basically those that stock was taken out of the general stock and that caused a shortage again it was something that one action led to something that hadn't been first seen and that has been resolved at the moment so we would hope that that issue doesn't arise again but again you know you could have a fire in a plant in Puerto Rico which happened and it turns out that the whole global supply is coming from one factory and that happened with another drug and there's no controls to make sure that the major drug companies they tend to go obviously for the places that they can make things cheaper and we don't have it's going to do cost lack or excess in the supply system it used to be that there was we would hold stock the suppliers would hold stock the manufacturers would hold stock so there was like 8-10 weeks supply of stock always in the system and as logistics have improved the amount of stock holding everybody has has gone down so that we have what they call just-in-time logistics systems and they don't always work we keep the supply of say fuel in the country of 90 days supply of fuel in the country we don't have 90 days supply of medicines so thank you so much for your time I greatly appreciate it in a busy pharmacy there Margaret Doherty, pharmacist from Rafoe Pharmacy we'll be back after the news and obituary notices and apologies the news will just be a minute late coming to you with Donal The only 8-36 gets you 40 washes with al-mat washing powder plus washing up liquid plus all-purpose cleaner plus polish plus bleach plus bathroom and window cleaner and still have 4-34 left over you won't just like more value you'll love it Aldi every day amazing SuperValue price checked on SuperValue.ie 4th of 4th 23 SuperValue may sell equivalent owned brand products at lower prices details at Aldi.ie forward slash swap exclusive offers products and prices may vary PDO thread lifts the ultimate look a lift for the skin improving facial contours lifting and tightening jewels the neck cheeks and eyebrows are available at Genesis aesthetics and skincare clinic adore for help choosing the right aesthetic treatment for you contact Mary Ferry your aesthetic practitioner also offering fat dissolving treatments dermal fillers and laser treatments for all skin conditions hair and makeup packages also available Genesis aesthetics and skincare clinic adore 07495 32575 Hello I'm David Foley Medical Herbalist Are you suffering with stress anxiety insomnia then after Irish botanica peace and calm traditional herbal remedy Irish botanica peace and calm has a naturally relaxing effect ideal for stress insomnia jet lag and pre-examining anxiety call us in natural way let a Kenny shopping center for more information Live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News Good morning it's 10 o'clock Donald Kavanaugh at the news desk the latest A5 Public Inquiry opens in Oma today with businesses and residents being urged to use the hearing to highlight their support for the project Western MP Orla Begley says the proposed new A5 Jewel Carriageway will help cut the number of deaths on one of Ireland's most dangerous roads as well as cutting journey times creating jobs and unlocking huge economic opportunities by connecting with the rest of the island Members of the retained fire service across the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action up to and including strike action in a dispute which they say stems from the failure of management to address a worsening recruitment and retention crisis after a year and a half discussions between representatives of the local government management agency and the national retained firefighters service of Ireland broke down last Wednesday with NRFA representatives from all parts of Ireland to agree the nature and timing of the industrial action. Stephen McFadden is chair of the NRFA on the show with Greg a short time ago. He said a requirement that retained firefighters work and live 2.5 kilometres from their station is one of a number of unique restrictions that they face. It's going to go all uniquely because of our geographic position is now starting experience for the rest of the country has been experienced for the last three years. We speak today I think out of the 15 stations in Donegal 37 of not 8 of them was on their staff because of the equipment they're restricted to 2.5 kilometres on their station they work at 11. A weekend calendar conference in Bali, Shannon has been told that South Donegal's Sligoen lead trim need a shared treatment arrangement similar to the one which sees radiotherapy patients from the Tarkin University Hospital go to the Sligoen University Hospital. The Sligoen University Hospital will be the ideal location for such a service. The Sligoen native and former RTE Northern correspondent says it's a suggestion that needs to be very seriously considered. I love what's been done between North Donegal and at the Galvan it makes perfect sense lives are being saved. There's a spanking new hospital underused in the Sligoen. There's an overused hospital you see funds like the shared island dying to use money in a productive way. We have these parts and we just need to become the sum of our parts and we need to just think smart, get rid of some of the barriers that are in existence there and use our imagination. British PM Rishi Sunak is meeting with Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky today for what are being described as substantive negotiations over the weekend. Mr Zelensky visited France and Germany. The NCT provider is being fined for its long running backlog. The government has triggered a process through the World Safety Authority whereby the testing company Aplis will now be penalized. Minister of State Jack Chambers is urging anyone whose test is due soon to call the NCT service directly. However he says he cannot make changes to when the next NCT test is due because of European law. We have a lot of correspondence from people who are frustrated that if they do their tests in a few days it will be due again. The issue there is the European directive and the European legislation is very clear around testing at the point in time at which it's due and you can't defer the test. There has been an increase of over a third in the number of medicines in short supply in Ireland since May of last year as you've been hearing on the show with Greg the latest medicine shortages index shows the number of medicines out of stock is now at 241. There are shortages in treatments of allergic eye conditions including hay fever with 11 eye drops unavailable and antibiotics in some cases also in very short supply. Irish Pharmacy Union spokesperson Kathy Marr wants pharmacists to be allowed to use their discretion to give other medicines instead. We have called on the minister to look at something called the serious shortage protocol which will allow pharmacists use their clinical skills to switch when one medicine is in short supply that we could substitute for that. Therefore patient treatment is not interrupted and that's what we have to look at the health and well-being of the Irish public. This is National Volunteering Week. It runs until the 21st of this month. The week-long celebration of volunteering is highlighting stories from people and the impact they make on their communities. Minister of State for Public Health and Well-being Hildegard Nocton says there are many organisations around the country that could not function without volunteers. I think it's important that we celebrate our volunteers who give their time to give back to their communities and without our volunteers a lot of our organisations across the country wouldn't be able to work as effectively as they do. So this is about celebrating our unsung heroes who so generously give of their time to enrich the lives of our neighbours, families and communities right across the country. With the forecast staying mostly dry and bright this morning some well-scattered showers about cloud in the afternoon but it'll brighten up again with long spells of evening sunshine top temperatures today 12 or 13 degree Celsius in light to moderate north-west winds and that's Highland Radio News we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team have a very good morning. The obituary notices for this Monday morning the 15th of May the death has occurred of Bridget Bison Boner Ney Freel, Callen Cawr Drumkeen, formerly Midland Swilly Reposing at her family home funeral from there tomorrow for Requiem Mass at 12 noon in St. Patrick's Church Drumkeen with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Inquiries pleased to con-mac-daid funeral directors. The death has taken place of Catherine Hepburn, Ney Kennedy Mill Street Balland Rate Reposing at her home from 4 o'clock this afternoon funeral from there on Wednesday at 25 past 10 for Requiem Mass in St. Patrick's Church Murlach at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. Family time please from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. Requiem Mass can be viewed at LonelyParish.com The death has taken place of Rose McCann, James The Street Moville, Ney McKinney Butcha Lechemi. Rose's remains are reposing Family time please from 11 o'clock tonight and before her funeral Funeral Mass will take place tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in St. Pius the 10th Church Moville followed by burial in Balnecray Cemetery Funeral Mass can be viewed live on movillparish.com Family flowers only please donations in lieu to Moville Day Centre, care of any family member The death has taken place of Danie Connolly, Ards Kreisler formerly of Higgins Town, Bali Shannon The death has taken place of Danie Connolly, Ards Kreisler formerly of Higgins Town, Bali Shannon The death has taken place of Danie Connolly, Ards Kreisler formerly of Higgins Town, Bali Shannon The death has taken place of Danie Connolly, Ards Kreisler formerly of Higgins Town, Bali Shannon The death has taken place of Danie Connolly, Ards Kreisler Higgins Town, Bali, Shannon, funeral mass in St. Michael's Church Chrysler this morning at 11 with burial afterwards in Doe Cemetery. Mass can be viewed on MCN Media.tv. The death has taken place of Philip McFadden, Carrick McAvarty, Derry Begg. His remains are reposing at the family home in Carrick McAvarty. Funeral mass tomorrow at 11 in St. Mary's Church Derry Begg with burial afterwards in Mahara Gallon Cemetery. House private pleas before the funeral tomorrow. Rosary tonight at 8 o'clock. The funeral mass can be viewed live on Carrick McAvarty funeral director's Facebook page. Family flowers only pleased nations in Louis Desiard to Medical 3, Letter Kenny University Hospital. And the death has taken place of Edward McAvery, Forty College Park Letter Kenny, formerly of Glasgow and Mahara Tloher Guidor. Funeral mass in St. Mary's Church Derry Begg this morning at 11 with burial afterwards in Mahara Gallon Cemetery. For more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to HighlandVideo.com. Hi my name is Julie. I have a disability and work in a busy cafe. I love meeting the customers, the bulls, the chats. It's a really great place to work. So if like me you're a young person claiming disability allowance, you'll be invited to chat about the employment and training supports available to you. Taking part is your choice but it could be a great opportunity. For more information visit gov.ie forward slash work supports disability. Brought to you by intro, a government of Ireland initiative. Okay. Genuine story voiced by an actor. Good to hear. Okay, you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show. 08 660 25,000. That's the WhatsApp and text number or give us a call on 07491 25,000. Some of your comments here before we move on. Hi Greg, the smart meter installations are taking place in our area at this time. At the minute I do not want one as I feel I don't know enough. How do I stand if I refuse? Thank you kindly enjoying your show. Well, we asked this question of Seamus gone are solicitor who comes on on a Friday and he said you contact the company and say you don't want one. And even if you put a sign up on the on the box indicating that he says that you should you know that that your views should be respected. So in the first instance contact the company and opt out. Hi Greg, could you please find out if there are any grief support groups in the letter Kenny area? I don't have the funds for private counseling. However, I'd be interesting interested in attending group sessions. I can see some support groups for people bereaved by suicide or the death of a child, but none for anyone who falls outside those categories. Thank you in advance. So are there any grief support groups in and around letter Kenny? And in this instance, it's the person hasn't been bereaved by suicide or the death of a child. There's bound to be something out there. I'm sure is there. Let us know 08 660 25,000 and we can help that listener out there. Taking in parents threshold for postgraduate degree. Why do they need to know this? It's absolutely ridiculous. My son is now back at college at 23 and has worked so hard independently and was denied Susie due to my threshold. What does my business got to do with this? What a messed up system they say. Is anyone in Southern Ireland ever going to get Susie if they go to Northern Ireland? It's ridiculous. My daughter in Donegal has to pay fees. No grants doing course in dairy. It's an issue we've raised a number of times as you can imagine on this program. It's a question I forgot to ask. Eleanor that being said, the tone of her answers, which I perfectly understand is is they are given a set of rules with which they have to operate in whether they like them or not. That's just the way it is. This is something that does need looking at for sure. We might actually put in another inquiry into the into the third level minister's office just to see if we can get any clarification as to what's happening there. Can you get the grant when living in Northern Ireland? I don't know the answer to that one. But studying in the Republic, I can't imagine. So good morning, Greg. They have to be at the fire station in five minutes. So how far can they actually work away from the station? Basically, what they want is more money. It's always the same and they want to be able to work another job. It's either one or the other. They're acting like politicians hands in many pies. I think anyone who sees the terms in which they're employed would realize that something needs to be done. I don't think they're being greedy here. How easy is it going to be to find work within 2.5 kilometers of a fire station and then have a very accommodating employer? I think there's certainly grounds for some sort of review needed there. Don't you think? What is the HSC? Why is that HSC has it up to watch out for ticks? Why is it it's part of Lyme disease Awareness Month. And there is a risk small as it might be, but it is there that if you're bitten by a tick and that you could develop Lyme disease from it. So there's a bit of advice there in terms of what to wear, what to keep an eye out for and when to go and see your doctor. Is there any good alternatives to summer allergies or any recommendations? I can already feel the hay fever setting in. Anyone out there that has anything that works well for them? I do recall seeing people used to wear the thing on their arm and those people I spoke to, they said they used to get hay fever and didn't get it when they were wearing that thing, though you don't see it as much as you used to. But anyway, any good alternatives or recommendations for this listener who can already feel their hay fever coming on? Good luck if you're playing the bingo. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Monday the 15th of May. You're playing on the green sheet. The reference number is S16. It's game number 20. The numbers are 39, 2, 71, 45, 34, 22, 62, 79, 50, and finally 61. 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. The employer excellence program. The ultimate non-surgical lift for the skin, improving facial contours, lifting and tightening jowls, the neck, cheeks, and eyebrows are available at Genesis Aesthetics and Skin Care Clinic adore for help choosing the right aesthetic treatment for you, contact Mary Ferry, your aesthetic practitioner, also offering fat dissolving treatments, dermal fillers and laser treatments for all skin conditions. Hair and makeup packages also available. Genesis Aesthetics and Skin Care Clinic adore 07495-32575. The world awaits you. Make that dream your next adventure. 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The scheme is backed by all the main political parties in Northern Ireland. The first phase of construction was due to begin in 2018. But this project has been delayed by a series of legal actions by groups opposing its development, which means vesting orders for the compulsory purchase of some land along the route by Stormwood Department of Infrastructure are no longer in force and will have to be renewed. Right, OK, we are joined by a couple of guests here to discuss this issue. Geraldine O'Neill is from Sturban. Good morning, Geraldine. Thanks for your time today. Good morning, Greg. Thank you. It's good to have you on the programme. And Aidan Harkin as well. Aidan, good morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us. Morning, Greg. Thanks for having me on. OK, I'll start with you, Geraldine, because it's very important that we remember that the people who've lost their lives on this road and also the devastation not just amongst family, but the community, friends, sports clubs. Geraldine, you know this very sadly first hand, don't you? Yes, I do. I lost a brother on the A5 on the 20th of March, 2008. And it was just an awful, awful time. And every time that you hear of someone else losing a loved one on that road, it just takes you back to that day. It was just awful. It's heartbreaking. And it just needs to stop the road. It needs upgraded. Yeah, and every time there's a collision, fatal collisions, we've had awful tragedy. And then maybe not as well reported. There are other crashes where people are seriously injured. It just not that you need reminding of your awful loss, but it must bring those rural emotions flooding back to you, Geraldine. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. You never forget, you know, people say that time ends. You move on, you learn to love with it, but you're always constantly reminded of the loss that you've had. And the pain of that doesn't actually go away. And every time you hear of another accident on the A5, you just think of other families going through the hard egg that we went through. Yeah. And it's back in 2007. You're actually an affected landowner here as well. A note of intention to Vestland was issued back then. That's awful long time of go. And nothing has progressed since. No, it's a double H sword for us because, yes, we are landowners on the route. And we had a Vest in order. We actually had a Vest in order in 2007, March 2007. And then we had another Vest in order on the November 2010. And we were expected to lose land. And it was a double H sword because it was dissecting or farmland on the edge of the town. But we were prepared to sacrifice that at that time. And that's a long time ago now. And the volume of traffic every year since that has, you know, increased and increased constantly. And it's just even our access onto the A5 with living on the actual A5 with two young daughters who are also drivers. So we have four vehicles going out onto that A5 every day of the week, every morning, every evening. And there are so many people like us in the town who are driving that route every single day. But we struggle to access the A5 from our own dwelling even. And, you know, we can see how the road needs built. It would make such a difference to our area. You know, accessing our main road, the safety would just be, it just needs built. Yeah, it's what the families in the past who dredged their loved ones traveling on that road of themselves and professional drivers who can't wait to get off the A5. And you know, they travel every road in the country, they know all about it. Do you get that too? That, you know, you just, you just wait till everybody's home or have arrived at their destination safely? The road's so dangerous? You worry like we have two girls who travel to Belfast for university and you worry about them having off on the route. My husband's a farmer, so he would also drive the route on a slow moving vehicle. And the frustration because on that route, there are nowhere to pass from you leave new buildings until you get to the far side of Oma. There's one overtakenly and the road is just treacherous. It's just not fit for purpose. Aidan, you're a spokesperson for the family who very sadly lost two siblings in an aunt in a crash on the A5 incredibly recently too. How is everybody coping? Well, the role that I actually hold, Greg is I'm the chairperson of the Scriban neighborhood renewal stroke growth partnership and also of a vested interest in that I'm a trustee of Scriban Sigerson's GA Club and we are lined ourselves with the A5 and off is enough campaign which has been initiated by Troen GA. Yeah, I had the sadness fortune and a pair of Geraldine talking about her brother losing his life on the road back in 2008. I was as a community worker. I was working alongside the McKay and family from the morning that the news broke that three siblings had lost their lives on the McLeod stretch of the road. And I can tell you, you know, Christine, Dan and their Anjulia all lost their lives. But there's two other sisters, Aina and Klett who are still in hospital at Belfast recovering from their injuries. And then their brother William and his wife also received slight injuries in the accident. But the mental part of it must be absolutely awful, horrific. You know, I mean, anybody that has come through a scene like the McKay and family dad had hasty love with you forever more a man. Geraldine spoke about her brother back in 2008. I'm sure it hasn't left them one single day. And the McKay and family as with many others have that all ahead of them now for for the rest of their lives really. I mean, you have to ask yourself what what will it take? What would it take to sort of people say literally enough is enough this has to we have to of course have a robust planning system and it has to be checks and balances and the rights for people to appeal and and what have you. Yes, okay, we accept that. But there also comes a point where public safety and the public interest has to be weighed more heavily. Surely we are way beyond that at this point, Aiden, you would feel without a shadow of a doubt, you know, there's no other region of this country that would would stick what the people of the Northwest of stock from right through the manhattan. So that includes dairy thrown and even parts of for mana lead none date. You know, if you if you go the other direction, heading towards Belfast through the A4 through dairy and see the road infrastructure there, go to the East of the province, Balamena, Larn, Ballet Claire, everywhere else. The roads are magnificent. When you go down south, the roads are unbelievable. You know, we have been deprived of a road network here in the Northwest for generations. This just this doesn't happen in 2007. The go ahead was given in 2007. They go ahead with the A5. Now what annoys me more than anything is the alternative alliance. People as they're called doing the objecting. They have an anonymity whilst objecting. This is crazy. If you were building the house and your neighbor was to object, at least you know your neighbors objecting. The people that are trying to proceed the A5 don't even know these objectors are, you know, it appears that badgers and bats and red squirrels are more important to life. So that's totally wrong, absolutely wrong. Yeah, Geraldine, there are people paid massive amounts of money and who are responsible for delivering these types of critical infrastructure. I mean, the time for talking is kind of done now. I'm not saying what we're doing, but we need action at this point. Someone needs to take this by the scruff of its neck and say and off is enough. I keep coming back to that phrase, but it's the one that resonates so much with this whole campaign and project. Yes, absolutely. We've had engineers, architects, quantity surveyors. We've had people come to our house and sit and talk in 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016. We've had valuers. We've had valuations done on our land. The amount of money that has been to date spent is beyond shocking. It is absolute and that the project has gathered no momentum to the point where we're about to get a road. And at the minute, I really don't know even when when it is likely to happen, but we absolutely need need the road. And I have to say I did. I did go to the campaign that the GA have launched in in Darvahi and we're very much behind it as well. We're very supportive of it. And I do think that the local community need to get up and go attend the public inquiry and voice their opinion, voice their dissatisfaction at progress to date. Yeah, because Aidan, we've heard, as Geraldine referenced there, the most recent part of this campaign coming from the GEA. We had hundreds of members of the business community signing a petition and we're hearing all the while from the public as well. I mean, all of those voices surely can't be ignored any longer. Totally true. Greg, you know what I mean? I attended the meeting in Silver Virtual Hotel Normal last Tuesday night. We're politicians from across the board. As I said earlier, I'm the chair of the Strabat neighborhood renewal stroke growth partnership. At one of our recent meetings, when we were discussing the enough as enough campaign, actually a proposal came forward to send a letter they lend our backing to the campaign. And it came from an official unionist councillor and was seconded by a Sinn Fein councillor, so chochy right across political parties that gained their support. At last week's meeting, we had the DUP and official unionists sending their apologies, but they were fully in support of the campaign whilst Alliance, Sinn Fein and SDLP all sat in the panel. We also had representatives there from Manahan County Council and we had Senator Niall Blaney from Donegal there as well. And we're all assured that money is not an object. Although this road has rocketed in price from something like four, five hundred million to one point six million, money is not an object here. The money can be found and I believe it should be found. Strabat lost a railway in 1965 as did many other parts of Tehran and Donegal. We were promised back then when I was only a child that a new infrastructure would be built to connect the northwest. That has not happened. The people of northwest have been deprived and what that is also doing, it's meaning that it's hindering a lot of businesses. And even prior to 2007 when the go ahead was given for the A5, we're only talking about 47 lights at the moment. What about all the lights that have been lost on that road from the loss of the railway in 65 right through the 2007? Maybe somebody wants to start counting them as well. You know, I'm all for protecting the environment and flood waters and claims and everything else and the habitats. But I think that human lives are far, far more important than all of that. And this tragedy that has befell the Heian family and fells to the Lixie Jardine family and many others right throughout Trone, Jerry Donegal, for mana over the years. This can't go on. This can't go on. Even last week on Thursday afternoon, there was a bad accident at the American Folk Park at Oma and I know the fellow from Strabat who was involved in the accident and I again, it could have claimed lives. I just hatched a stop. It wouldn't happen anywhere else. OK, I didn't listen. Thank you so much for your contribution and thanks for helping us raise this issue again. Geraldine again appealing to people to take ownership of this, get involved in something. Let your views be known. We've had the business community speaking out. It's good to see some sort of political agreement in relation to this and we just need the public as well to get behind any campaigns that are out there or if they can make any submissions, the likes of the inquest or whatever. Just go and let their voices be heard. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Every single parent, every single road user on that A5, every one of them's life has been put at risk on a daily basis and we were a family in 2008 who were affected and it could be anyone and I wouldn't want another family going through what we have come through by the loss of our youngest brother. It needs to all through now. It's devastating. Okay, listen, thanks so much for speaking to us. I appreciate it, Geraldine and best wishes to you and all the family as well. Okay, Geraldine O'Neill from Strabane who lost her brother just 20 years of age, Shane called well, he was killed in a crash on the A5 in 2008 and we thank Sir Aiden also for coming on. 086, 60, 25,000. If you're outside Donagall 0035386, 60, 25,000. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com. The night till noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny Credit Union offering low rate holiday loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. 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The Donegal food response members have seen the effects of growing food prices on food poverty in Donegal and we are seeing more working families now who are finding it difficult to get by the rising cost of food added to it, the rising cost of energy, seeing families unable to purchase the amount of food they previously would have purchased and turning to food banks for support. We're joined by a number of guests to help us through this. We'll say good morning first if that's OK to Margaret Larkin, who is of DLDC, which facilitates the food, the Donegal Food Response Network. Good morning Margaret. Morning Greg. Thank you so much for joining us. So every time food goes up, there are large swathes of our society that feel it and feel it really, really quite severely, especially when you look at all the other costs associated with simply just living. Exactly. Greg, and the members of the Food Response Network are finding now that as we imagine Covid and where people struggled over that period of time we've gone straight into the increased cost of living, energy costs that has a serious detrimental effect on people through the communities. That obviously impacts on the charities that are trying to support the people on the ground because what the organisations are finding now that people that ordinarily would have donated to food banks and supported them are actually now in need of the service themselves. The Food Response Network are very strong together. They work very well together. They have represented us all across the county and as we meet we're seeing that this is a common source all across the county. There's no area that is not affected or impacted by that. It's literally across the entire county and all organisations are just really starting to feel that struggle and as volunteers I suppose part of today as well is to reach out and request for support and lobby for help from other agencies and organisations. The organisations here are using that bottom up of community development approach to bring the challenges and issues but we're looking now for a top-down response to help these organisations and the volunteers on the ground. Yeah, I mean that's you know when you hear it said that people in the past not too distant past who were contributors now find themselves having to avail of the services that's how quickly life can change when when prices change. Absolutely, one small circumstance one small life event can result in a family or individuals needing support from food banks that's not exclusive to any demographic that's across the board what we're finding now people are actually afraid to turn on their ovens because you know they don't they just can't afford the costs they're afraid to use the ovens they're afraid to buy food you know parents are sacrificing in orders that the children can continue you know playing in sports or taking part in activities and just basically having a life that they should be having so it is very serious at the minute Greg from what we're saying across the county and that leaves nothing there for dealing with life events that happen because you're living just on the line there so if there's a major bill comes in or an ASB bill or electricity bill takes you by surprise or something there's just no capacity there to meet that Absolutely what we're seeing a lot now as well it's not week on week supplies that people are looking for it is that peace it's a Wednesday there's nothing in the house for lunch for Thursday or Friday it's that help to just get over those few days to the next paycheck you know it's that trying to make what they have stretch and more and more people are finding themselves midweek not just not getting to that next paycheck you know and that's where the food banks are coming in now an awful lot so there's new families new people availing of the services for that piece alone you know and as you say one additional bill or one unexpected cost just results in them not being able to get to the end of the week you know yeah and not everyone's going to come forward for help either absolutely not and that's the beauty of the two ladies are here with us today and that is the beauty as opposed to the benefit I should say of the community and voluntary sector these people live in the areas they know the people in the local area you know there's it's a very discreet confidential service but exactly as you say Greg a lot of the people that are our entire straits are not coming forward because unfortunately there is that shame there is that embarrassment which should not be but it does still exist but a lot of the people that are volunteer in the local areas are very discreetly identified in those people and just quietly and gently offering the support and direct them towards the food banks yeah one of those is Sally Boyce from Klocheneedly Food Bank Sally good morning to you thanks for joining us morning and you're seeing also what we've heard as it relates to you know working families feeling that they need support now absolutely it's as Margaret said it's across the board but we do often see that it's more working families that are getting hit the hardest I mean if they're you know you've got parents that are looking off the movies one parent working or maybe the two parents are working but they're just not meeting their wages are not coming up anywhere near the cost of living and we are seeing it on a regular basis now where they're just getting hit the hardest I mean we deal with so many different people from every walk of life but we do find now that we have we have a case where you will have a parent contact you and it could be a Tuesday evening a Wednesday evening and like Margaret said there is just not enough there to get them to that line at the weekend and we find that we are working more and more and more now with parents and again as Margaret said we've actually put a call out for anybody that had a slow cooker or an air fryer or you know so that we could pass these on because it does take down the cost of the builds as well but parents are just you know you can see the worry in their face and their eyes when they come in and you know it really really shouldn't be there it's just that we really really really need to get ahead of it and it's very difficult to do so yeah I'm selling you quite rightly pointed out to the emotional impact this has on on people and and perhaps maybe you know we all need a little bit of hope don't we or something to look forward to or try and get to and I would say for a lot of people it feels hopeless because you know their income they probably can't move upwards in that regard and prices and costs are only going up it seems absolutely you know I mean same shop that some of our people would would have done last year the year before they're not getting nearly enough for the cost of what's involved now at this stage we have seen on a very very often that parents are making the sacrifices now we also carry in our food bank we carry hygiene products you know we're carrying everything at the moment but you can see that parents are making those choices to put the food on the table for the kids you know they may have elderly parents living with them they may be carers themselves it's just absolutely unacceptable that we're in this position at this stage and of course we really just want to help as much as we possibly can and the problem you have in that is that you're facing the same price rises in terms of you know getting food in that you can pass on it's costing you more of course there are donations as well but stuff that you have to source that's at an extra cost because you're you're having to buy it yourselves absolutely you know we know we're very lucky in our food bank we have a fantastic fundraiser on board with us she works tirelessly to make sure that we do have funds for getting our stocks in the donations are down you know a lot of businesses are feeling the effect as well they are either not ordering in as much or if they have food that is ready at its nearly at its date they're putting that on offer and people are you know buying it absolutely but it leads very little for us to pick up in donations and you know whereas we would go out it would be last year the year before and spend 5, 6, 700 euro to stock up our big bank we know we're not getting the same amount of stuff now because of the rising costs yeah you know you have the food banks have all their own bills as well we're very lucky we don't actually have to pay rent for our room or our electricity if we did we probably wouldn't be there you know because we simply couldn't afford it so and I think what you indicated in a previous comment but but you were careful with your language if I picked it up correctly is is that you are seeing situations where things are so tight that mothers for an example are foregoing period products in favour of food absolutely I mean that is period poverty that's that's that definition of it and I appreciate your phrasing of it but this is where we're at now for some people stay with me Mary Coyle is with in a new part where it's a community support enterprise and education service that supports children and families in the Bonnberg area they provide food parcels to families who are struggling and also provide the lunches and breakfast club for the desk schools in the area and the wheels on meals service and and the support used off for Mary obviously it's an assisting people but it's it's it's in terms of giving them advice what money they have how they can maybe stretch it just as far as is is possible and of course helping people to deal with the inevitable stresses and anxiety that comes with having to live like this yeah we're seeing a lot lot more of this Greg unfortunately we live in a disadvantaged area here in Guidor and people are finding it very tough we can see the impact it has on families we can see the anxiety in children we actually had a course last week to help parents deal with children that are suffering from anxiety and it seems to be more and more across the board it seems to be the working people that were helping around Christmas there now we give out about 90 food packages we give out toys we give out clothes and just quickly now we've been given out packages and this this past number of weeks as well so I suppose what we're trying to do really is get to the root of the problems it's not just enough I think to be handing out food it's really to try and people try and get to the root of people's problems and see if we can help them get out of the situation that they're in might it be counselling might it be advice how to handle money better or might it be just problems that are in the home we often we see a lot as well and we run Donegal Cancer Flights and Services out of here as well and it is actually people that are ill that have had to stop working that are travelling for treatment that they are all that they are all suffering and that is what we're trying to do we're trying to help people with that okay sorry it's a busy environment but listen come here it's okay it's only us having a chat here and Mary you know what you just do all of you what you do is amazing but it can't continue like this can it whereby people are living long term in this situation relying on organizations and groups there has to be something put in place so we have to find a way that your jobs if I can put it like that is to help people maybe short term who've come across something terribly in their life like illness or something not for large groups of individuals that happen to live their lives this way yeah I think we need to look at this as a county wide problem we need help from the top down we are working tirelessly from the bottom up it's a collaborative approach that is needed here to find solutions that can help these families we can't keep going the way we're going as Margaret and Sally said there we used to be able to go to the businesses here and say we need help they need to help themselves now so the pot is a lot smaller the amount of people that need help is a lot bigger and I find that we're under immense pressure like today we are going out today to deliver an extra fridge that we have here in the center to an old person who has no fridge and cannot manage without it and cannot buy a fridge so where we have an extra fridge here so we're going out there today to deliver it we have people in asking to help with their electricity bills it's unbelievable Greg I don't think that the people up there on the top that are making the decisions to realize how tough it is for people here on the ground I wish they would come and sit in our jobs for a while and then they would really get a feel of what's going on out there in the community I actually think they should be made to people who make decisions should be obliged to do two weeks working in an environment where you actually realize what's going on because Margaret I think yous are doing something really important today in speaking out as a collective from all different parts of the counter here because I think it's a lot of people's eyes my eyes are being open today to the extent of the problems that we have Margaret and I've got this you know 32, 33, 34 billion euro surplus and we're putting it away to you know in case there's problems down the line and I don't want to get political because I don't think any of yous want to get dragged into that because you have to work with these people as well down the line right but you know does anyone listening to this program want to live into society where we have over 30 billion of an excess but people like yourselves are having to keep people alive by putting food on their tables Margaret no one wants that I don't think absolutely not Frank and I mean the whole purpose last Wednesday we had a food equality forum and that was in partnership with Slauncha Care where we literally went to get everybody around the table HSE, local authority community guards anybody that would listen to try and present the problem as it is on the ground and the food response network themselves these there's 18 organizations on this network Greg and they work tirelessly over the past two years we have branded the network we have developed a website and it's all I suppose common to that together we're stronger it's one strong voice from across the county coming together to lobby as Mary said looking for top-down support you know to help these people on the ground what to be honest what I see is from working on the network the development companies they're done like a local development company would say we are sort of the conduit between the community and the agency and we're seeing as there's a huge disconnect although there's a wall to learn and to understand but it's very hard to demonstrate you know we're living in a space where you know we care food bank Shergals is the last thing that they know I have to take coffee coffee is considered a luxury item you know when they're helping families and on the other you know we say that but you have people that are buying and take away coffees every morning on their way to work the it's very clear just barging that there's polar opposites you know when it's trying to bring that together as Mary said you would absolutely love the people that make the decisions to walk to spend a day you know and their shoes and just a point to note as well Greg that's very important is most of the people that are involved in this network are volunteers if they're not volunteers believe me it's not the money that will keep them on the jobs that they're doing well can you imagine if they weren't doing what they were doing what life would be like for so many people as difficult as it is now if it wasn't for the likes of Sally and Mary and everybody else but I can I hope I'm not I think even this is starting to sort of how do I phrase this like I think Mary just even speaking to you it's got so bad now it's starting to wear on you if that makes sense is that how it feels that it's like you're looking at this and going right okay this is not really what we're supposed to be doing how long can this go on for as I say I don't want to give you the wrong emotions but I get that feeling from you and from Sally as well it is it's very difficult you know the jobs that we do are hard enough but this is very heavy on the heart because you're actually dealing with people that as we said earlier on it's very difficult for them to come through the door in the first place you know and they're finding it very tough and with the funding that we receive ourselves which is actually very little funding you know a lot of funding that we would receive is just for activities we don't actually receive any funding for this at all so we're very lucky to be in the position that whatever money that we make in the center that it goes back into the community but if we didn't have that you know we find that there's so much there's so much between the food poverty between the cancer flights between just between all those things that were stretched we are stretched we we just need more funding we actually need more more help on the ground to need more maybe the last bit how can people get involved with in a new pod rig for example or contribute I know there's people listening here that this has opened their eyes as I said a little earlier on and they'll want to try and help so from you in your area how can people who want to help help we invite volunteers in all the time we ask people to come in and help as we have a community garden if they work in the community garden they get to take some of the produce home we're feeders here so people come in to help us and help us run the center because we depend on volunteers to help us run places like this because we we actually don't have enough staff so anybody that comes in it's a bartering system they bring help they'll help us do the jobs around the place and we give them food in exchange that's how we're operating at the moment that's how we manage that's how we manage to keep going and I'm sure Sally there is just the same well I'm going to ask Sally the same question Sally how can people help the clock in Ely Food Bank well I mean you know all help is absolutely greatly received and as Margaret said I would love to see the powers that be come down and spend a couple of days with us because they would come back with a different mindset we have donation boxes out in shops we are regularly at our food bank people come there with a donation we're there to accept it you know we have the they set up through the network we have the I donate buttons on the on the page on the website or the Donnie Goldford response you know we ask people not to actually get cash we have accounts in some of the local shops and that's us trying to help the local businesses as well at the same time it's very difficult for anybody coming through our doors you know it takes an awful lot out of somebody to come through our doors and I'm sure they don't want to be doing it you know in an ideal world myself and Mary and Margaret would all be out of a job but I mean we're absolutely not going anywhere at the moment but we do need the support right and this food bank's pretty much in in all areas that people are listening Margaret anything we can do if there's a campaign or anything whatever it is please just contact Caroline and myself and we need to keep this on the agenda I think so that it can't be ignored by people that shouldn't be ignoring it I think that's just essential we can't I mean you's aren't you know what I mean but like we all have to come together I think to as much as possible eliminate this yeah absolutely Greg and to be fair Highland but it's been very good we have had campaigns every the last two or three years in September come back to school on the run of Christmas but I'm just encouraged to support people to visit their www.donagallfoodresponse.ie all 18 members are on there and there's I donate to our various variations of that for all of you know people can donate to their local area but absolutely Greg it's so important to keep this conversation going and following up from the equality forum last week that it's not just a talking shop but this time we really need action it has to be a countywide collaborative approach and we really need action do we have any idea how many families and individuals are helped by the the network of food banks it varies but I think we meet monthly and the figures are updated monthly but across the county it's in the hundreds and the high hundreds Greg at the minute most of the on average each one of the food banks are supporting 50 60 families per week so you know it varies the peaks and of trucks but it's generally speaking and it's in and around that yeah it's a shocking figure Margaret Larkin from DLDC thank you so much for for helping us to get this out I really appreciate it also want to say a big thank you to Sally as well Sally it's amazing what you do and thank you so much for giving us an insight it's been lovely having you on the program and last but not at least of course Mary Cole from in at New Patrick thank you very much indeed I really do appreciate your time and as I say anything we can do in the future to help please get in touch the 90 new show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today tonic all-town hardware is having a massive fencing and paving two-day sale event this weekend with huge discounts on paving and 15 percent of smart fans compost decking and timber decking also reduced plus savings of posts derails and pickets paving and smart fans experts will be in store on Friday 19th that's the massive fencing and paving sale event this Friday 19th and Saturday 20th of May at tonic all-town hardware at ESB networks we're connecting Ireland to a clean electric future and as part of the national smart metering program we're now installing smart electricity meters in your area your new smart meter will reduce the need for estimated bills help you to manage your electricity usage more efficiently 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letter Kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie Dunstores Double Savers makes midweek meals simple and affordable step one pan fry some Dunstores Irish beef strips just 349 step two prepare your sticky jasmine rice only 79 cent step three add your broccoli peppers mushroom and 90 cent black bean sauce to the walker pan step four enjoy your tasty beef stir fry shrink your grocery bill even more with our five of 25 grocery vouchers Dunstores always better value terms and additions apply that you can use to next store grocery shop of 25 euro more is the appearance of your staff important to your business it's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises at C&M embroidery and letter Kenny they have a huge range of clothing covering all areas of the workplace it's widely known that customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well have your company name and embroidered or printed on all your work uniforms contact C&M embroidery on 07491 28097 and get your staff looking their best at Hickey Clark and Langan insurance brokers they compare quotes from all the leading insurers so you get a great price home motor and van farm quality home travel and liability insurance they quote them all so if the worst happens you're covered for a competitive insurance quote today called Hickey Clark and Langan on 911 2688 or pop into their office at Bally McCool letter Kenny Hickey Clark and Langan general insurance is limited trading as Hickey Clark and Langan is regulated by the central bank of Ireland with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 9 to noon show on Highland radio okay Brendan Devaney is on the way and much more besides stay right where you are but 11 o'clock let's get a news update and it's over to Donald Kavanaugh thank you Greg good morning the latest A5 public inquiry is opening today in Omo with businesses and residents being urged to use the hearing to highlight their support for the project West Tyrone MP Orla Begley says to propose new A5 dual carriageway will help cut the number of deaths on one of Ireland's most dangerous roads as well as cut journey times create jobs and unlock huge economic opportunities by connecting the northwest with the rest of the island members of the retained fire service across the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action up to and including strike it's a dispute which they say stems from the failure of management to address a worsening recruitment and retention crisis discussions between representatives of local government management and the NRFA broke down last Wednesday with representatives from the NRFA at all countries now meeting on Friday to agree the nature and timing of the action more and more working families are struggling to get enough groceries to last the week that's according to a Donegal food bank food poverty has emerged as a daily issue for the Donegal food response network a weekend cancer conference in Bali Shannon has been told that South Donegal's Sligo and Litrum need a shared treatment arrangement similar to the one which sees radio therapy patients from Netter Kenney University Hospital go to Elton Galvan in Derry the conference chair Tommy Gorman told the event the Southwest Hospital in Anaskillan would be an ideal location for such a service the NCT provider is being fined for its long-running backlog the government has triggered a process through the Road Safety Authority whereby the testing company Aplos will now be penalised and the Taoiseach says he doesn't believe Garthy will make any findings against Minister Nile Collins over the sale of a piece of land the controversy centres around Limerick County Council selling land to Mr Collins' wife he says he should have recused himself from a meeting where the proposed deal was being discussed when he was a county councillor and we're back with headlines again at 12 noon Donald, thank you very much indeed back with more after a really short break 1399 a dumpstores gets your pet a bag of pedigree dog food at Aldi, only 9.24 gets your pet a larger bag of Earl's dog food plus mega tube bones plus assorted biscuit shapes plus meaty beef strips plus dental sticks and tasty twists and still have 4.75 left over you won't just like more value you'll love it Aldi, every day amazing dumpstores' price checked on dumpstoresgrocery.com 4 to the 4th 23 dumpstores may sell equivalent owned brand products at lower prices details at aldi.ie forward slash swap exclusive offers products and prices may vary right okay some of your comments coming in this morning it's a really busy morning for it thank you so very much indeed 30 billion excess should be dished out to people in poverty Greg we borrowed money 270 billion how can we do this the government and people spend beyond their means this is where the issues lies we need to pay our government's debt first but we don't really that's on the long finger they're writing some of that down every country in the world has as a ton of debt yes we have loads of it but really write that debt down and I mean let's face it it was probably mismanagement that drove that debt up in the first place but write that debt down and not write it down pay it down whilst people have to go to food banks to eat really is that where we want to be at these people aren't living beyond their means they aren't burning the candle at both ends they don't have the money to feed their kids or to heat their house and they're working as well I find a lot of these families availing of the food banks are often wearing the best designer gear and they continue to smoke and drink why should I fund their lifestyle when they don't cover the basics themselves and prefer to continue spending on unnecessary items in their life well you're I mean I respect everyone's points of view but you're quite literally just doing the government's work there or the agency's work there and turning on each other rather than supporting one another I'm not saying it doesn't happen but the people we're talking about and the ladies I was speaking to the people they deal with are not those type of people right okay we're going to keep going with that conversation as well but first I want to welcome into studio Brendan Daveney presenter of the DL Debate podcast and it's a busy one a lot to reflect on in terms of Donagore football, hurling and of course the the Ulster final where do you want to start you're the boss it's your no problem I'm the boss am I well it's your podcast yeah at the moment I'd say you are but yeah I started even when I was up at Kevin Brefney Park to see Donagore minors you heard of the phrase you know a snatch of victory from the jaws to defeat well this is certainly one of those tails we're like a very low scoring game Kevin had a couple of goals midway through the second half and game was over basically six points up there wasn't a chance of a comeback Donagore's comeback started I think three or four minutes before the end and it didn't seem possible somehow they pulled back they got a goal and a couple of points and Shane Kelly and then come up and hit the winner you thought it was going the extra time he hits the winner thankfully because you're way up in Brefney as well so I get extra time no no come on good lad she had to listen epic epic stuff Washington Scanlon from units here Pam the goal that brought Donagore back in date and I listened phenomenal performance from them young lad Danny Brown come on so I had a couple of points vital moments in the game and Dara Hennigan had to equalise her in normal time from centre half back so real spirited stuff from the lads this was the first do or die championship game for minors and it sets up a mouthwater and one with Derry and next week Derry of course are the standard bearers at this age group this season Greg so a difficult proposition but certainly great heart showing from our lads and fantastic to see Braden, Luke Barrett's on the manager he's on the road yeah Luke Barrett got a chat to him after the match Greg will play at this evening as you were saying there are hurlers one again Connie Gilligan's on to talk about the Ulster final another epic game in Clonus what a build-up day game what a week Greg and then you know what a match so it was a very very strange week in terms of listen outside of football you know the build-up date and everything that happened I suppose the football was kind of irrelevant in terms of that subject and the allegations were put forward so very very strange week but the game itself Greg I suppose was complete all-out counter-attack exciting wasn't it it still was exciting I suppose we were learning to live with the counter-attack element and there's more I suppose adventure from the teams that's not just defense and then we'll maybe break forward there's purpose to attack there still is exciting scores in it but certainly the game itself I mean going right down the wire and penalties people say about penalties but there's no time in this season for anything else like the game had to be done and dusted and of course Derrick Keeper Lynch was a hero saving a couple of spot kicks and he did well didn't he McFall of course the backstory of Keir McFall coming back after household controversy in America in that and being back in the squad he played 20 minutes the last day he hits the actual one in penalty so we put a storybook stuff in the end for the for the Derrick Lads yeah and how far will they go well can they go they're generally no Ireland contenders you'd have to say ah they would be they would be I think people keep looking at maybe doubling game in the league you know they got their defence right but doubling open the up second half and then it's it's a league game where it gets hard to tell but certainly if you're playing them in the championship now there's nobody would say they would they would definitely beat them now they are I think you've got to say Kerry are first after that you're saying Galway are sitting in behind them Galway doubling Mayo Derrick just maybe slightly after that so they're they're in the mix you know we've yet to see what their throne men will bring this championship in yeah indeed and also too we've yet to see what Donagall comes out with next in the first game of the New Orleans series away to Claire Colin McFadden's going to be on the show as you mentioned will be interested to get his views in relation to that what's your views though we don't know do we I mean yeah injuries obviously they make barely a long term one here is back training a bit but to be ready for a championship game I'd say he's probably running straight lines Greg obviously Big McGee had an injury Langan was injured Patter Mogan was injured I was chatting with Felicene Patter Mogan the other week at a golf classic and he was still in crutches so I don't know if any of these lads are going to be back I'm Greg we would desperately need them back because Claire are decent side I know Kerry gave him a wallop and in the in the monster finals but that's Kerry it's about my whole slow isn't it that can happen I mean Claire made the quarter finals there last year as the All Ireland I mean they're a kind of plucky hardened kind of championship particularly down in Ennis so that's actually real difficult to sign for us from the get going after that you're going to be playing Derry's in our group as well of course they'll not be holding back so you've monaghan then after that as well so you know many people's probably looking at surviving in some way are we the whipping boys of the group ah I hate to say it Gary but I mean if you're you're looking at other teams I mean certainly Derry and monaghan are at a different level than us just currently so how we even stay in those games will be be interesting to see I mean we obviously can have a good Claire but I reckon Claire at home I mean they'll fancy their chances against us particularly with those injuries as well and Greg it's a real difficult time for Donogalgy and you mentioned the hurling too not resting on the laurels I think the management team realise that they have to make some changes if they're going to to compete us they would want to in the final yeah I'm loving the headline from Mickey McCann here we're not happy you know with the performance even though they won the 2-20 the 4-7 maybe it's the goals he's talking about maybe the conceded and that but but Donogal hurlers are flying you know um we interviewed Joe Boyle last week they're a great live story with them and the three live stories have been brilliant Greg you know Nadine Doherty and then Colin McFadden and then Joe Boyle going across the the three sports you know and just a reminder for people out there too these are podcasts by the way so if you hear Brendan mention those live story chats they're available for you to listen back on our listen back section of the website as well they're there and archive forever which is which is great okay so it's a cracking show busy one it's live after the news at 7 p.m. and then of course it's a pod thereafter on HighlandRadio.com you have to plug something as well all right well listen yeah there's a I'm doing more records tomorrow for a very good for a re-presentation they've invited me down so which is which is nice nice I'll tell all the students what not to do what I did in the tariff I was just taking the the nature on a book that Greg was funny because it said unions you know colleagues so they're calling it out of legends and then as I said I'm stuck in the middle and so there are some proper legends there as in Michael McFadden Karl McFadden Rory Cavna Big Neil Geller all ex-bass students you know which is interesting because there's not many you've done what you've done across different countries and sports or soft brand and just not I had a a volatile time yeah but I mean like it's it's not to be sniffed up all listen it's funny listen time moves on and if you can help but there's a big night Thursday night in Mount Arigal I think it's thrown in a half seven I think there's five five hundred tickets sold or anything so yeah it's a fun result just to keep the facilities at the at the college running over now very good Mike that one so it's nice nice to go back yeah my son's going there next year Greg so it's it'll be it'll be it'll be I think he'll have a different time to be he's a bit calmer than I was give him a chance it's already days Brent you never know all right okay listen that's the DL debate seven after seven tonight reaction to the the minor victory sounds like a cracking game as well the hurlers the Ulster final and also looking forward to Domigol V Claire guests include Luke Barrett and Colin McFadden right that's after seven all right very much thank you very much indeed and you can listen to the DL debate in association with Sarah's Kitchen at Sister Sarah's in Lettercanny the county's number one talk show The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio The Nine Till Noon Show with Lettercanny Credit Union simplify your debts with a debt consolidation loan from Lettercanny Credit Union call us on 0749102126 or apply online via our app or in office today the world is getting a little more more but maybe more could mean something else more means more proactive green energy solutions more means more wind turbines and more recycling more means more biodiversity and more energy storage more means more hydrogen and more solar farms because more clean energy means more efficient living means more thriving communities means more energy autonomy that's why we're more than Mona learn more at morethanmona.ie for nemona colors in women's sportswear from Nike and Under Armour get that new look with some bright colors quarter zips with t-shirts and 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for people who are bereaved by suicide or have lost a child but they're looking for a a general one if you could put it like that absolutely agree with Margaret as a working parent we are always left behind respect to everyone and not about working being non-working but specific to parents who work this summer again I will pay a fortune for childcare to hold on to my job friends who don't work are entitled to free childcare in summer camps no back to school allowance procedure and that is not fair that is not equitable or equal I call this as the A5 needs upgraded but the amount around about to Lifford Road is terrible not wide enough dangerous bends pedestrians using it for walking the list goes on I had a near miss with a pedestrian I can only imagine how many more there have been but that is part of 10T isn't it which is supposed to interlink then with the A5 if it all gets if it all gets moved along the A5 needs upgraded but I've just read that one I beg your pardon excuse me please I was wondering could put this out could you put this out the water is off in King Craigie Manneconium Saturday Sunday from about 12 noon to 7 but Irish water had no idea about it it's like someone had it off without telling people it burnt out my shower due to low pressure it happens a lot out here I just can't see why we pay house tax not have to buy a new shower now have to buy a new shower no one knows nothing someone playing with it we've contacted Ishka Aron for comment there but you know what we were talking about the life bills that come at you there's a perfect example if you're struggling to feed your family and through no fault of your own your electric shower burns out you know dependent on what type of shower you get and you're gonna have to find you know anything from 80 to 350 350 euro okay this Monday's focus is the discussion of the revival of the skill of thatching with the opening of the first ever thatching school in Donegal Connell Shovland is a committee member of the Dolman leisure center and master thatcher and he joins us now good morning to you Connell thanks for joining us Greg how are you I am good I'm not a master sir I'm not a master thatcher but I'm just a big promoter of this project for the last 20 years you know do you thatch Connell no but the townland that I live and like when I was a child there were 12 houses in it and there was 10 of them thatched including my house you know and the house that I was born in that's the only one that's left now with a thatch roof on it so the thatch roof was a huge part of the landscape of Donegal and every other county in Ireland and there were songs written about it and tourism was marketed and on and everything but unfortunately because of the change in lifestyle you know they are becoming very very more less extinct than what we have left we really need to preserve them yes there were there was a course here and the Ardraparis Council over 40 years ago through FAS they conducted a thatch training program and our house is one of the houses that was done at them as for working experience for young thatches but they were on their 20s at them now and that's way over 40 years ago so it shows that the thatchers are getting older and they want to hand on their skills to to younger people and the only way it can be done is looking at it in a way like they give a thatching school where you have master thatchers there and you have the different types of roofs there whether it's reed thatching or traditional Donegal is straw thatching and black thatching and rye thatching and rope thatching so you do all these types of thatching with the master thatcher and he trains young people from the from the county you know and then we're looking at some houses here even you know that are closed that there might be there were typically three roomed cottages and maybe there's one room down but to try to do work study on these to repair them and throughout the whole country because they're you know the Darling Building Grant you know people might be interested in looking at that you know and getting them fixed and because we don't realize it but those thatched houses might have taken two or three years to build with the stone gathering up all the stone one of the ground and quarrying it and trying to get it with primitive equipment to the site and they had no cement they had to do their own shell for the lime and they had to mix that to to build the house and then they had to go to the bog and lift the timber and slice it for the roof the old bog further was there for tens of thousands of years and they put bog on top of that there and they put the thatch on top of that so look but there's it's an artist it's like a painting I mean these thatched houses you could toss one of them in five minutes on the machine but to repair them and what's even there is might have taken even a derelict thatch house what's here might have taken two years to do Yeah, yeah indeed and there is a shortage then of thatchers you're saying that the current crew of thatchers might be getting a little bit older and perhaps want to to hand the tradition over to a new group of individuals but do you think it's something someone could make a full time living from thatching if they were to train upon it There's a good scarcity of thatchers and every county I mean I was down visit the folk park down Killarney the big folk park down Killarney National Park and they have all the thatched houses there and they have to get people in from Poland to thatch the houses and a lot of this material also comes from abroad but we can grow a lot of this material and Donny Gaul is not the worst there's a good lot of thatchers left here yet and you know that they do want to hand on the skill but the good thing about the thatching school is that and health and safety you can you can work around you know you can train and then you can go out and do work study out the country like to to prepare some of these houses as was done 40 years ago Yeah and one of the problems that we're seeing and the reason also why why we are seeing problems with you know we're seeing less thatched houses is insurance as well I mean that's an issue we covered quite extensively on this programme over the last couple of years in that people are struggling to get house insurance with a with a thatched roof and obviously then God forbid if a fire were to happen leaves them stuck Yeah well we're trying what we're trying to do is incorporate all these things until a new era a new dawn maybe before the thatch houses you know to address these issues and this is just the first part of it because you know it'll take a lot of work but it's heritage that's well worth preserving because tours and everything come and they like to see these houses and they like to stay on them and it could offer an alternative and come for a you know a small holding that they maybe have a thatched one bed and thatched house on that they could have it for rented to visitors and people like that from Europe to come and experience that Okay so where is the school located and is it up and running and recruiting at the moment I want to go on No it's it's it's going to be built on the site of the Doleman Centre and Kiltlunai Yes but we're very fortunate we've been working with Donegal local development the leader program the letter Kenyan Donegal Town Office and it's a great thing but Donegal local development that they go on local ideas and we've been working on now this last two years on this local idea and we're very lucky to secure the funding of 175,000 over some 105,000 for the building and so we've signed that contract now and we expect to start it and we expect to open in October so we're inviting not only people from Donegal but people from Northern Ireland the different people to come and we feel that we have the only training facility in the country for it and trainers can come from different counties and you know when work with their own trainees and the trainees in Donegal or work with the factures that we have here in Donegal so and then they try to preserve if we cannot preserve the fact houses that are already there and you know we won't be a success so we're looking at you're marking a few houses in the area that could do with repairs and go out and do work study on them and at the same time do walk inside and on It makes a lot of sense on the type of thatching You gave a time when you've been working on this for a couple of years but you had this idea for a thatching school for a couple of decades though haven't you Connelly, this is not something that you've just Yeah, well we started the New Ireland Board New Respect Community Co-op from 1995 and we wanted part of our program that almost a thatching school but there were so many things to be done that them and different things and the fact that I had a thatched house then myself I had a great interest and I was very friendly with a master satchel that lives beside me he had a great interest in this as well so he, myself and them discussed ideas so many times but stick with these things a long time you know but you know it's coming out and hopefully we can make a success of it and that we've thought everything out well and that the country will be behind it as well you know all the different the Heritage Office Donegal County Council is very good in supporting us but we hope that the Heritage Office and County Legado will carry with it a lot of thatch houses will also work with us and sending trainees and people to to carry on the skill in their own county because it's the only it's only thatch school and you know in the country it's for training because you do have to do all the living training health and safety now and everything you put different to part of you as well and the people I know when they're shown there's a still a good concentration of thatched homes where do we rank I suppose county wise across the country carnal in terms of still retaining thatched houses I think it's very good Donegal because the Heritage Office and Donegal came up with this idea of thatch repair grants a number of years ago so it was it was a house maybe that had fallen a bit repair to keep them to keep them going and keep them thatched you know and of course it's a very successful scheme and other counties have taken on that scheme as well so it's you know it's like as I said earlier on I mean these houses when I look at them now in the ruins of them some of them where I saw them as a child I mean the people that built these houses I said might have taken two or three years when they hadn't even a tractor or a horse and cart that they're driving behind in that building it's a pity to let it just let it disappear because it says there were so many songs written about it and the homes Donegal and there's always a fire in the kitchen kettle in the boil it's a huge part of our heritage heritage in Donegal yeah for sure and when it's gone it's gone you know that that's it and we try and retain heritage don't we from hundreds and hundreds of years ago well we have living heritage now houses that are lived in we don't want to lose that because in the the next two or three generations everyone will be talking about well where's all the thatched houses gone and what happened here and what happened you know what I mean we have an opportunity now I mean we definitely have an opportunity and most of them are no more than 60 years old in Donegal you know and there's a great progress to make it but also I mean the farmers in Donegal can grow they can grow oats and they can grow rye and they can grow flax that's happening at currently you know and that means that a lot of materials can be sourced locally in the county you know okay listen and uh I was going to say the trainees I think there'll there'll be trainees that'll like this very much I have no doubt it's just getting the people to come in and I think we will have a lot of people anxious to come to do it because when people look at a satchit house they've done it's like a creation it's like an artist with a pen to look at and say look at that you know okay well keep us updated on progress Connell well done for getting this far and thanks again no no again to Donegal local development and thanks to yourselves also for always giving us time and space to promote these projects all right take care of yourself Connell Connell Shufflin that committee member of the Dolman leisure centre watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union digital loans now available apply online or via our app today and get your loan transferred directly to your current account have you got the bike week feeling bike week runs from saturday the 13th of may to sunday the 21st of may so whether you want to get back on the bike or try cycling for the first time bike week is for everyone enjoy a range of events including community and school cycles fun bike festivals and more visit bikeweek.ie for a full list of events taking place in your county bike week is funded by the department of transport coordinated by tfi and brought to you by the local authorities and sports partnerships are you one of dunny gall's next female entrepreneurs ambition is an accelerator program run by local enterprise office dunny gall that helps female entrepreneurs develop the skills and resilience needed to build globally scalable ventures attract investment and create jobs ambition is open to female founders entrepreneurs or those with a strong startup idea with potential to be globally scalable register for the ambition open evening on the 18th of may at local enterprise dunny e forward slash dunny gall there's bingo every monday night at halfway house bingo burn food doors open at 7 30 with eyes down at 8 30 2,500 euro musko the snowball is now 2,500 euro on 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that's halfway house bingo tonight at 8 30 okay we're joined on the program now by businessman former presidential candidates as well of course peter casey and peter when i was speaking to you really not that long ago about your plans to develop accommodation for ukrainian refugees in bonkrana i didn't anticipate that i'd be speaking to you so soon again with with like really quite severe damaged onto the property Thursday night it happened is that correct hello peter can you hear me no okay i'll tell you i know what i have to do here i'll get peter back in now in just a moment just to remind you of the text line 08 660 25,000 whatsapps and text to that number or give us a call on 07 4 at 91 25,000 just whilst i re-establish a connection to peter casey and don't forget you can watch this interview and the whole show whenever you like on our website highlanderadio.com or on our social medias okay just whilst i wait to reconnect with peter a caller says i was parked at the cathedral car park area and saw a boy coming up the road alone by himself he was about five years of age and walked into school i thought this was complete neglect and i didn't know whether should i be worried should i have done something maybe go to the school i don't want to make a fuss but as a parent i can't stop thinking about this i was very concerned but i made sure he got into the school gates okay right i can understand where your concern might come from but i'm not sure what was happening there okay let us see can i speak to peter casey now good morning peter hey good morning great sorry about that i had a slight issue on my side yeah i was saying just as i was introducing you i didn't think i'd be chatting to you again so soon about this property that you're developing in boncran under these circumstances but you're of the opinion it was deliberately targeted on thursday night well i'm not of the opinion it was right what happened they broke in and they had used diesel to set fire to it you know and had you had any warnings that something like this might happen or did this come completely out of the blue was there any threats delivered in your direction there was no threats i had people send me emails and texts which were handing over to the guards of course you know saying you know that they were objecting to it saying that it was going to be used as for asylum seekers i've made it very clear that the center was always going to be for ukrainian families you know so um yeah very it's just very sad and disappointing that that that this sort of thing happens you know you have no doubt that this was targeted because of your plans to house ukrainian refugees in this not-for-profit project i don't have any doubt whatsoever you know i mean i you know it used to be a little people's home you know so i think about what's going to open up as a little people's home without if it would be entire volume yeah so yeah you know i mean i think that you know i mean i've made it very clear my position is that people that come to ireland illegally you know i don't think the irish government has the responsibilities to support and house and provide benefits to people come to ireland illegally but i think that i've also made it very clear my position is that you know Putin's cannot be allowed to win and you know people have been forced to flee their home in ukraine and their whole cities have been just wiped out devastated you know and um you know if Putin were allowed to win he'd control 45 percent of the world's weak supply you know so i i've made it very clear my position is that um i think ireland is doing the right thing but supporting ukraine what now how much damage was caused in the first instance do you have you been able to assess that yeah peter um i haven't done actually um i'm over in america my daughter is graduating this weekend so i was over in america for my daughter's graduation from in charleston you know so my the youngest of my five is off the off the off the payroll which is a lovely position to be in you know so um yeah so i found out about it on friday morning and when i got contacted so and the guards had been there and the obviously the the fire big a had been there but yeah um so it's just very very angry at the moment about it right to be financed what do you do next do you uh does this sort of invigorate you more to to proceed with this has it discouraged you or absolutely you don't let bullies win you know and you just you can't allow bullies to win so you know absolutely we will we will make it the best center for ukrainian refugees in ireland you know so you just can't allow bullies to win you know how are you going to ensure that the premises isn't targeted again um you know we'll take measures to make sure that it's it's protected you know so and that's it's all you can do yeah we don't know who's responsible or where they might be from but you say whoever is responsible for this don't represent the good people of of donigal i think everybody knows that you know i think the majority of people in donigal are supportive of the tragedy that's happening in ukraine and i think that the sort of the sort of it's just it's a very sad reflex and that a couple of sick people can do stuff like this that just reflect badly you know and it doesn't affect the people in donigal this this is just a couple of sickles that need to be caught we are going to offer a 10 000 euro reward you know to anybody who gives information to the guards leading to the arrest of these people you know so so you know if we can get some information that will lead to conviction we will be offering a 10 000 euro reward you know so and you know hopefully that will that will bring some information that will be useful for the guards how long has this delayed the opening of this center at this point or it's probably too early to determine that Peter is it? it is you know Greg I mean it's just you know you saw the news of the information the weekend that the tourist industry is going to be losing a billion euros in you know in revenue as a result of hotels being forced to you know accommodate people you know so I mean this this is affecting the economy big time you know because we we're a tourist economy a large part of our income comes from tourism obviously our major income of course comes from American multinational but you know tourism is a big part of what Ireland is all about and you know we need to have our hotels up and running and to provide the tourist industry the boost that it needs and we're entering the tourist season now of course you know so it's just oh I get so angry when I just think about how a couple of signals we're able to you know affect literally the lives of an awful lot of people not just the people that we were going to be accommodating in the center Greg but the tourist industries want to be impacted and the jobs that that provides and the incomes that that provides you know is going to be impacted as well all right Peter Casey thanks for your time this morning have a good day take care that is Peter Casey their businessman former presidential candidate speaking after it appears he is certain that people entered the premises in Bongkranah the former old person's home doused it in diesel set it alight and now a 10,000 euro reward is being offered for information which leads to arrest and conviction a caller says the biggest issues with many of the undocumented are they have no papers and are claiming to be of an age that they certainly are not many are much older than they claim but he's I'm not a spokesperson for Peter Casey but he's clear that this was not for Ukrainian refugees they do come with documents and what have you this is for they he is not into mass immigration it seems that that listener is referring to another caller says I agree with Peter the damage to the property is outrageous my parents live in the area and there is a natural fear I lived in another country and I saw what was happening when undocumented were brought into the area there were issues with rape robberies and abuse there are genuine cases but a lot of the undocumented are here because they have cash to make the journey they say so no great sympathy coming in as of yet 08 660 25,000 is the whatsapp and text number well done to these people for what they are doing they put the government this is the food banks by the way sorry well done to these people for what they are doing they put the government to shame it's the same all over the country the government should be doing it but sure they live in another world from us there's certainly different lanes in this country that there are those that are very well off there are those that are comfortable and then there are those the working poor so to speak and then those that are very much disadvantaged there's not a great deal of equality and how all this money are constantly being told how rich the country is and yet we have hundreds and hundreds of thousands hundreds and hundreds of families that are having to make decisions as to what they spend their money on whether it's food or fuel whether it's period products or pasta do you know that I mean that is the reality that we're hearing right okay the root of the problem for many is not budgeting yes any advice welcome but soaring electricity bills huge increases in shopping bills and no financial support for working parents example back to school allowance or pay parental leave means as a working parent you are almost trapped in a job it doesn't pay us to work but mortgages were based on two incomes family income support would do a lot of homeowners unable to make ends meet and on these times money was available during covid to support everyone the teenager with the weekend job in a restaurant got the same financial support as a parent with bills to pay now no money to support working parents credit to Margaret and her group but shame on our government leaving working parents in this situation are Ukrainian friends a better off no disrespect to them but if funding is available to support them as it rightly is then working parents should be financially supported of course there's enough money for everyone I'm sure a lot of the families that we're talking about now would not want to move into a hotel room and live their life out of it so I understand the point you're making but there's no there's no competition here there's absolutely enough money to go around that's what we're being told and we're supposed to go well done everyone for making us really really rich we'll spend it on the people that need it that's what people want the 90 noon show with letterkenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letterkenny credit union 9102127 what's the difference between the bnwix and ix3 what's the range of 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today and wake up feeling rested and refreshed rest x beds mountaintop letterkenny okay welcome back to the program and we welcome on to the program now an fox secretary of the dunlego branch of the parkingsons association of arland thanks for joining us and good to speak to you thank you great good morning how are you I'm doing good now we're going to talk about the no barriers foundation it's at the mountaintop in letterkenny it's a not-for-profit organization what's it for and who is it for it provides exercise classes thank them classes for people with disabilities for disabilities we use it for our patients with parkingsons and talk to me about the benefits of exercise for someone with parkingsons parkingsons patients have mobility balance and balance problem squared and and it tends to to allow that they would have a lot of falls and if exercise is recommended very highly for people with parkingsons for their balance for strength training for mobility so it makes sense though so if you can strengthen those muscles as best you can it helps you as much as is possible people counter those those effects so that you can keep active and moving absolutely they would recommend about 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week if it can be done and as a support group we provide exercise classes yoga classes to our members to help them you know go get through as much exercise as they possibly can yeah okay so when did this all start for you and when did you take an interest in this I suppose I'm involved with parkingsons now for about 25 years and Greg I new people up here who had parkingsons and there seemed to have been no support or no help out there for them so we started up a support group and it has grown from that and now we cover the whole of the northwest slide go then we go slide go on later yeah there were huge gaps going back that long I imagine and I mean it's always a trying to get more and to fill more gaps but I can imagine there was very very little support going back those couple of decades practically none at that stage but none that I could even find Greg you know I mean there was we had a head office in Dublin and they provided me with some something but there's nothing locally so therefore we start our own support group up here right so the free gym class takes place as I say no barriers foundation at the mountain top it's in letter Kenny as I mentioned and it's on Thursdays at 3pm everyone I imagine who has Parkinson's is welcome so absolutely oh is it I mean obviously Parkinson's a progressive progressive illness presumed that the the sooner you start physical activity or or specific types of training the better am I correct yes for sure Greg the sooner you start a program of exercise that the better it is for yourself and and to strengthen as I say your muscles to give you good mobility and and it does prevent a lot of falls and that's one of things Parkinson's patients will say that they fall a lot and then sometimes a fall can be very severe and they can end up in hospital and and obviously you know people's posture might be affected by Parkinson's and and and you know muscle stiffness is a another part of this does exercise has it been proven in any way to to slow some of that progression or or what do we know you know the proper targeted exercise what do we know its benefits can be it can it does tend to slow a certain amount Greg but it keeps them active and then rigidity is a big problem yeah so the more exercise they do the better it is for them and with any serious illness of course it has its physical impacts and it has its mental impacts as well and we know the benefits of I suppose in the first instance exercise but also you know meeting other people absolutely that is a big part of it that that's both aside the cup of coffee the cup of tea afterwards and meeting people like yourself and you know they will always say God it's good to it's good to talk to others who have the condition yeah so talk to me for someone who might want to go but it's a little bit nervous as to how everything unfolds so if they want to roll up on a Thursday at 3 p.m. for the first time what happens and how do you get involved and what do you need to wear and just to in case it alleviates anyone's nervousness that might be out there and yeah well the program is designed specifically for people living with Parkinson's Greg now and if they roll up on a Thursday at 3 p.m. no barriers people will do an assessment of the individual and then design the program for their needs excellent it's very easy going I've been up each Thursday to meet with my own members that are attending and you know the people up there are extremely extremely good and they've re-dictator for I mean I have a one lady who attends who's in the future and she can still partake very actively in the task okay so is that induction and then it's designed to it's designed then for each individual do people tend to bring someone with them or attend alone Ann or is there a some do attend alone Greg some bring people with them I mean there's space there for you to sit and observe with you if you so wish good I mean sometimes you know you're coming for the first time you might like to have somebody with you just to make you feel comfortable and that's not a problem that good and I go up every Thursday just to meet with the people before they start and I presume to you learn exercises that you can continue outside of these gym sessions as well I presume it better if people can sort of try and maintain these activities a couple of times a week or whatever but I presume this guidance offered at the gym in relation to that too yes it's a mix it's a mix of exercises somewhere with with some of the machines of up there others that are designed to you can do at home excellent and do you see an increase in people's confidence and once they sort of partake in this type of activity Oh absolutely they just love us and they've you know I mean most of them say they can't wait now for next week brilliant that's what you want to hear isn't it it is absolutely great yeah all right returning customs always a good thing it's like returning listeners it's all it's all positive okay right exactly well the best of luck with it going forward and all the excellent work that the Donagore branch of the Parkinson's Association of Ireland do and hopefully you're already really popular and hopefully you have an increased turnout off the back of this interview and thanks so much for your time you're very welcome Greg thank you and if anybody wants to contact me about it right there you can get me on 086-160-5847 and we'll retain that number here because people will know our numbers off the top of their heads and we can pass that on thank you Ann and Fox Secretary of the Donagore branch of the Parkinson's Association of Ireland so that's a special gym session at the Noel Barriers Foundation at the mountaintop in Datterkenny it's a special gym session for people with Parkinson's disease every Thursday at 3pm and everybody is welcome and if you had any if it's something you're interested in but you had any fears about it hopefully Ann's answers to some of those questions would lay those so you can get along there and get involved let's get to some of your comments here hi Greg I wonder how much money these patients get back from their treatment abroad I had treatment in dairy it cost me 627 euro and I got 178 euro back but I'm not complaining because the treatment worked and I only had to wait two weeks after my doctor referred me and that was a common problem and is a common problem and we spoke to the ombudsman not so long ago about their focus in that area and hopefully things are going to improve in terms of how you claim back monies and the money matching your expectations and so on and so forth in terms of surgeries abroad I think the number is no more stark than how many people have died getting the operations I know a good few who went and came back grant the majority do that's what I was not sure of I mean of course one death is one death too many but there was no context to the figures in terms of six reported deaths but how many people traveled abroad and if those surgeries were done in this country because all surgery carries some level of risk you know what would the mortality rate be there I think for context and for good information that information would be useful the hubcap off a vintage car was lost in and around the letter Kenny area in the last week if you found it we have a number here so it's the hubcap of a vintage car so it's going to look different to presumably you know one of the plastic ones that you see around the place around roundabouts and what have you I can imagine this is part of a set and valuable so if you found a hubcap off a vintage car in and around letter Kenny over the last week please get in touch with us and we'll pass on the number of its owner to you hi Greg just feel the need to put a positive note in there for the ED at letter Kenny University Hospital I attended there I attended there last Thursday with my son with quite a serious complication the staff were absolutely fantastic and right on the case the place was packed as usual but we had bloods an IV line a CT scan completed between 9pm and 4am so very well done to all the staff at the ED and I hope your son's fully recovered and back out and good to hear Greg don't know how I feel about National Bike Week once again it doesn't apply to rural Donegal I hear the ads I'm not sure the ins and outs of it perhaps so I might have a look into that a little later on right okay that's an update on the zebra crossing I think I read that one out last week how does Connell Square promoting industrial wind turbines with thatched cottages not sure the connection there but I think I understand where you're coming from a caller is a firefighter and the retained firefighters in Letterkenny and only receives a paycheck every three months this is unacceptable since they are then taxed more and have to claim it back at the end of the year also they're never off the clock they could be at home with the family or at a function and get a phone call which needs to be responded to straight away they do amazing work there's a thatched cottage still occupied in the middle of Letterkenny good I mean there's still plenty of thatched cottages lived in and some in urban areas as well no doubt great win for Derry in the football after the week they had Donegal should take a leaf out of their books well done to them indeed and it looked for a big spells of that game that the chance had gone the opportunity had been missed but just when everyone was saying that they had no legs left back they came caller works as a school bus escort and does not get paid over the holiday periods and has to sign on for those periods sent in the paperwork for the Easter period a week before Good Friday to the social welfare office and still have not received money for the Easter holiday period when she called them last week they informed her that they didn't know when she would receive her money as they were very busy is there any advice that can be provided here it's a toughie and unfortunately you're in a cohort and a group of people that caretakers some school secretaries have spoken to dozens of them over the years who find themselves in the same position and you have to reapply don't you for every break it's not like it happens automatically you have to apply for Easter then you have to apply for summer but anyway this school bus escort still hasn't received her social welfare or his social welfare payments for the Easter holidays doesn't know when the money is going to come through is there any advice from anyone out there that could assist them I don't think any of us could afford to survive without money that we have come to rely on yes I agree there is no help for the working parents this listener says just those on social welfare we've seen that in the budget and that theme will continue it is such a shame that being said Leo Veradkar did say that he wanted the budget that will be announced later this year to focus on the working families the squeezed middle so to speak so we shall see what comes of that I don't think a five or a week is going to cut the mustard they need to come up with something more significant Peter Casey says this listener unfortunately has no control who's housed in his building he has used the whole I blame the government statement and the residents do believe he will hand over the building and it will housed on vetted males and then he will just say I gave it to the government for Ukrainians and they filled it with non-Ukranians he was asked to sign a contract to ensure he would fill it with Ukrainians but declined well I can only go by what he said and I asked him specifically in a previous conversation has he got an arrangement to house Ukrainians and he said yes and he was very specific about that and has been quite vocal about these on vetted males that people reference that he wants it for Ukrainians it's beside an old people's home and if the fire had have taken hold what about them people and they're critical very critical of those who are responsible it's beside an old I've just read that one sorry Greg the whole of Ukraine is not war torn because people are going to holiday parts there and there's no war Ukrainians that are here have gone back on holidays so who's telling the truth or lies well listen there's Russians bombing all parts of Ukraine at the moment I'll tell you what Russia actually did on Saturday they actually bombed for the first time the town the Ukrainian Eurovision entrance was were from okay brief chat with John Klendonen President of the Fitness Association of Ireland off the back of a new survey which shows the majority of its members are confident about the future of their bars despite the spiralling cost of energy insurance and other operating expenses John did the findings of this survey come as any surprise to you it's positive it came as a pleasant surprise I'd say Greg Bush just to put it in perspective you know we've got over three and a half thousand publicans across the country there was a significant engagement with members in relation to the survey and some of the findings showed that 70% of those that responded were positive they saw increases in turnover they saw profit and their outlook was strong for the future but I think it's important to note that based on license bans across the country for publicans with seven-day licenses 50% of them would have a turnover of less than 190,000 so it is a good news it's good to see considering particularly what we dealt with in March 23 with the pandemic and all the uncertainty and disruption that caused that a lot of publicans would have took the opportunity to reinvest in their business reinvent their business introduce innovation new products new offerings and from money that has been rewarded with customer interest and people returning to the pubs once they've been able to do so Yeah but finally and briefly this does not mean that the likes of the extension of the 9% VAT rate is required to keep these businesses in business well the 9% VAT rate is related to food and accommodation it's not related into drink sales and I think it's important to note you know that that rate is 23% and it will likely remain a 23% but with the 9% it really is a stimulus for businesses and as I said like we're talking 190,000 as the turnover the max turnover for 50% of publicans so it we're not exactly talking big numbers here and I think it's important to recognize that you know the government supports that are in place whether it be COVID whether with true energy challenges or the likes of that hospitality rates of 9% they are all acting a stimulus to the economy and to the sector and I think they're very much needed to ensure that we see continued growth right across every village and town and rural Ireland in particular that is in trading as a pop all right John listen thank you so much for your time we'll speak again of course John and Clinton and their president of the Vintners Federation of Ireland have a lovely day chat to you tomorrow at 9