 Another yes and another 100 euro voucher to give away today and be a great deposit to put towards a mattress or bed. We asked the question Greg you and let's see even though this is going back quite a bit Greg me and you would know the answer to this according to the famous Irish tenor John McCormick who recorded this song back in 1914. It's a long way to Tipperary was the answer. Yeah and the winner is this morning. Who sets your questions? Well I can't say why do you think they're but I think they're good. I like it. All right. It gets the brain working in the morning. I didn't know yesterdays to be quite honest. Do you know? Do you know? And I knew this one because it's a long way. I'm just really glad you slipped the answering before you asked me. All right. Okay. All right. Are you just showing so young you are Gregory? It's not that it's a you know lack of knowledge. I can't blame my youth. Oh you're very knowledgeable. You're very knowledgeable. All right. Maggie Ward and Molly and Glentis has won that voucher so enjoy. Greg have a good show. Thank you very much. All right. Okay. All right. Take care of yourself. Back tomorrow morning of course or yeah. No go ahead. One way for a couple of days. Yeah. Enjoy that. Thanks. Enjoy. We'll see you on Tuesday. Monday. Monday. Okay. Good stuff. Let's hope so. Fingers crossed. All right. It is leakage back with you sometime. Now he's going to be back after he's set two days off. We are going to be back with the start of the show in earnest after we say good morning to Donald Kavanaugh. Hi Donald. Thank you Greg. Good morning. Minister Charlie McConnelog says work is ongoing to secure the Angiogram service at Leicester University Hospital. In a statement Minister McConnelog says the Department of Health, SELFA and the HSC are working to assess appropriate means for Angiogram services to continue at LUH. It's been announced recently the Mobile Cardiology Unit. It's currently at the hospital. We'll go with the end of next month. Well the statement came after Donegal Action for Cancer Care wrote to the Minister and Donegal's other four TDs urging them to act to save the service. Chair Betty Holmes says the continued loss of services effectively represents a downgrade of the hospital. I said I think it's over 13, 14 years ago that Letter Kenny Hospital wouldn't affect become the new St Joseph's because the services are drip by drip being stripped from the hospital. And if the Angiogram service goes then Letter Kenny Hospital is in effect the new community hospital. Regional and national level over the years DCC have seen no real true commitment to Donegal and the needs of the sick of Donegal. The HSC says industrial action will have a very disabling impact on Letter Kenny and other hospitals across the country. Today over 2100 medical scientists are stopping routine lab services for 12 hours that ends at 8 o'clock tonight. The dispute has led to inpatient and day case procedures being cancelled. Britain's foreign secretary says sensible pragmatic changes are needed to the Northern Ireland protocol. Liz Truss confirmed the British government would legislate to change the protocol unilaterally in order to encourage the DUP to enter power sharing. She says the UK's proposed changes would also work to the EU's advantage. We've proposed a solution creating a green lane into Northern Ireland that helps protect the EU single market which is what they're concerned of and also helps protect trade into Northern Ireland so we can get a pragmatic solution. I want the EU to come to the negotiating table so we can agree that together but if that doesn't happen we do need to move ahead delivering this solution for the people of Northern Ireland. NATO says Finland and Sweden have officially applied for membership of the military alliance. All 30 current members must agree to them joining. Turkey says it's not totally convinced and postmasters will tell an Orocos committee later today the post office network is at a critical juncture and in desperate need of government support. The Irish Postmasters Union will tell TDs and Senators that 12 million euro in annual funding is needed to prevent large-scale closures. 873 of the 918 branches across the country are run by self-employed postmasters. The Transport and Communications Committee Chair is Kyrnodolo. We must ensure that network can survive. It must be a sustainable network and obviously for that to ensure that can happen it must be financially viable for postmasters. Opened down to the enterprise is going to be able to operate in a sustainable manner and that obviously will require support for additional services they can provide. We want to go into detail on that with Nero Haran and his colleagues in the Irish Postmasters Union. Dry and sunny this morning but rain will kick in in the afternoon with the possibility of some thunderstorms in the west of the region. Southerly winds will increase fresh to strong then gusty highest temperatures 15 to 17 degrees Celsius. The rain will clear early tonight with winds easing lowest overnight temperatures five to seven and that's Highland-Bellion News back with more at 10 o'clock. COVID-19 can still cause serious illness especially in people at higher risk. We need to keep protecting each other so stay home if you have symptoms wear a mask in healthcare settings public transport and busy places. Let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors keep hands clean and get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster. Let's keep looking out for each other from the HSC for us all. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest the 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Good morning to you five minutes past nine Wednesday the 18th of May a very good morning how are you keeping I hope you're keeping very well indeed of a bit of a spring in my step today I feel like getting out of my chair and dancing we were at the Abbey Vocational School presentation of guys and dolls last night the transition you students some first years and others involved and what a show it was it's brilliant it reminded me of firstly we haven't been at these things for quite some time but it reminded me of how brilliant our young people are and also how fantastic the teachers and those that get those events together brilliant music great dancing some brilliant axing acting as well and singing and some stars of the future there no doubt it's not again tonight I think and fried I think Friday might be sold out but if you can if you're in that area and you want to go along and see young people doing amazing things well you can go and see guys and dolls in the John Boskell Centre it's a great night and that's something different and great to be back at that stuff again fair play to everyone involved if you've done anything nice recently like that you want to highlight or spotlight anything like that get in touch with the show 08 660 25000 and if you want to watch us as well go to our website HighlandRadio.com you'll see the link there onto the newspapers this morning let's start with the Finn Valley voice today and thousands of euros of print documents years in court to defend lawsuits endless lobbying of small town bureaucrats timing consuming red tape will thwart Europe's post to become energy self-reliance says Henry Anderson CEO of the world's largest wind turbine maker Dona Gull is one of the country's best placed counties to deliver big on the clean energy so desperately needs but he believes that the red tape will strangle our clean energy efforts the Enish Times this morning what is there to hide is the question this is what this is the reaction of Micah affected homeowner Rosheen Gallagher reflected on T Shock me home martins comment he would have to consider very seriously whether or not there was a need for pre-legislative scrutiny of the enhanced effective concrete blocks grant scheme as a result of the funeral leaders comments homeowners affected by Micah and out urging the government to ensure pre-legislative scrutiny on future Micah bills but it seems they're not too keen and even speaking to the local rep minister Charlie McConaughey what did he say says there's been plenty of scrutiny of this let's get it done but I mean the people are affected by it want one last run through so to speak why resist the Dona Gull post this morning 4000 get blessing an estimated 4000 people flocked to the franciscan friar in rossin ala last week for a blessing with the relic of saint peregrine what a huge turnout 4000 people uh saint peregrine is the patron saint for persons suffering from cancer aids and other life-threatening illnesses remarkably after father Vincent finnegan OFM posted that he got a loan of the precious relic on friday it went viral on facebook by that night it'd been viewed by over 40 000 people and shared by another thousand people for what is deemed to be a first-class relic this means that it contains a body part of the saint such as bone blood or flesh uh what father Vincent thought might be a hundred or so turning up on the saturday turned out to be in excess of 700 people and the numbers grew and grew what does that tell us um i think it reminds us that there's an awful lot of people out there still with a very very strong faith that's a big number uh turning out uh down in that beautiful part of the world by the way if you haven't been down there it's in and around rossin ala of course the Irish independent this morning large numbers of homeowners who are exposed to interest rate hikes are rushing uh to lock into a good value fixed rate is that the right thing to do it's a tough decision you know because there's a lot of speculation and i think we might get someone on to discuss this for all of us me you whoever um because it is a gamble locking in at a higher rate if you're on a lower rate uh because there is a lot of people that think that the interest rates might go up towards two two point one percent uh and then they might come back down again there's no guarantee that we're racing towards uh four five or six percent it is a gamble we don't know what the ecb is going to do in that regard there are people indeed you remember how valuable tracker mortgage was and the big weight put into those there are people apparently also considering coming off their tracker mortgages a little over one percent and locking into uh two point five percent or there are thereabouts is that the right thing to do how far ahead should you lock in the one thing in doing so i suppose it brings you some certainty as to your monthly payment but you know it locking into a higher interest rate can cost really big amounts of money 80 90 grand over the course of a of the of a mortgage so what we'll do is we'll get an expert on um and see if we can get to the bottom of that the problem is is that experts as experts as they are uh cannot necessarily tell us precisely what's going to happen but i think it's important that we go in with our eyes open if we if we are discussing this or deciding this to make sure that it's the right thing to do how much risk is there in switching how much risk is there in not locking in so anyway hopefully that will be of use to you we'll see if we can get that on for you today if not certainly in the not too distant future but stay with us hopefully we'll touch on it today but reading on here in a significant market shift many people are also ditching more expensive tracker mortgages in favour of long-term fixed rates trackers have been considered the best value mortgages and until recently such a move would have been considered illogical however the european central banks expected to start raising its key refinancing rate in the coming months which would make trackers and variables more expensive and mean higher new fixed rates onto the irish times this morning and uh there the government is at risk of losing a td of the national maternity hospital vote that's if they can get a vote um the six rural tv tds want to vote on this but they need support from others in other words 10 i believe it is to force a vote um and it really it really wouldn't make any difference anyway because ministers have agreed this so a vote in the doll is pointless so i'm not sure if anyone would risk their career on it but anyway we shall see the government faces the renewed risk of losing a td today during a vote on the relocation of the national maternity hospital the prospect of tds voting against the government are in the wake of the cabinet approval for the controversial move appeared to have received uh receded as the coalition indicated it would not oppose a shin fame doll motion calling for public ownership of the site however the rural independent group opposed the shin fame motion and called for a vote tonight if 10 tds call for a vote this evening the full house must vote on the shin fame motion it raises fresh debts over the future of dublin central green party td nessa uh horrigan who yesterday evening indicated that she will vote with the opposition but in fairness to nessa she does the hokikokia but she's been out of the greens uh on a previous vote and back in them again um so presumably you know even if she were to if that if a if a vote were to happen uh and if she were to vote against the government it would be a suspension and she'd be back in the in the fold in the not too distant future i'm sure particularly with the greens who need a good quality tds uh irish dale irish daily mail whenever we mention gambling on this program because i think it's a it's a big problem um there's a lot of people affected by it or the families of those affected by it that say listen thanks for talking about this people aren't talking about this enough um and the front of the irish daily mail talks about it today uh and wonder what you would think about this in fact you know what this might be a good opportunity for one of our social media polls a ban on gambling adverts before the watershed time of nine p.m and outlawing outlawing highly addictive gambling machines have been recommended as part of a drive to tackle serious gambling problems now i tell you what this could be a serious problem for it could be a serious problem for the income of uh radio stations that are sponsored by horse racing what have you um and we know some of them are really quite whole profile uh because the betting industry um and the gambling industry uh back a lot of these shows uh not this show of course but back a lot of these big programs nationally or the sports bulls or the adverts or whatever so that would be a an issue um but concerns have been raised about the impact of intensive gambling advertisement particularly on children there are 3400 teenagers between 15 and 16 that have been identified as engaging in problem gambling so 15 and 16 year olds uh almost three and a half thousand of them have been identified as engaging in problem gambling now we know then so that the number that actually are engaged in problem gambling is much greater how are the gambling are the gambling online how are they doing so 3400 in this country with a relatively small population and we've been talking about um we've been talking about legislation to to uh restrict the advertising uh of gambling for over a decade and nothing has come to pass yet but former justice minister senator michael mcdowell who is a member of the iraqdas uh he has said uh that recommending these changes uh he was recommending the changes he told the irish daily mail that the government's long awaited legislation to regulate gambling did not go far enough so what do you think uh we are subjected to it from a very early age uh and we've talked about this before in the program even if you're playing innocent games like fortnite or any of the mobile games you know a lot of our young people beyond the more mobile games and you're opening chests and you're opening prizes okay and it there's a gamble there you don't know if you're going to get a a really good player on fifa or if you're going to get a stinker uh and we're conditioned from that age to sort of uh have that risk reward and then as we get a bit older 12 13 14 we're on youtube and wherever else we might be and we're seeing adverts for gambling and we've been conditioned and is it something that we need to take a little bit more seriously or are we being too woke and there's always going to be problem gambling and people are just having a bit of fun and let's just get on with it what do you think oh wait six 60 25 000 let's just say we'll throw up a social media poll there as well uh to get a sense of what you guys think irish daily mail calls have been made for the politicians bar in the door to be shut down as lester has as no license to serve alcohol socialist td paul murphy told the irish mirror that the lawmakers in the chamber should not become law breakers when they go boozing in their unlicensed chibin the court has shut down the bar comes ahead of the major new licensing legislation coming to cabinet in the coming weeks from the justice minister helen macinty all regular pubs in the country must currently go through their district court every year to obtain a license to serve drink the proprietor must prove that he or she is an upstanding member of society fit to hold a license to sell intoxicating liquor a spokesperson for lester has said it was a long-standing custom and practice that the politicians bar does not need the document he added the arctis does not have a license the tradition of the provision of refreshments including bar facilities within the precinct the flenter house is based on long-standing custom and practice so it's one rule for them one for for the other we saw how many makeshift chibins were being shut down during the lockdown you know as people created little spaces to socialize with some family and friends to keep their self sane but anyway the door bar is to remain open without a license but there are some that believe it should shut do you have a view on that do you care it's up to you text us if you do where the irish son fears of a trade war were mounting last night after uk said laws to torpedo parts of the northern island protocol will be brought in within the coming weeks the uk solo run in the aftermath of barris johnson sit down with storming bodies was outlined by foreign secretary liz trost she had it was essential and legal to make changes to the international deal to resolve the grave situation in northern island and you know some of the stuff she came out with during that speech was just farcical it was nonsense suggesting that it was the EU's responsibility not the uk's and other stuff and you know they talk about fake news and shut down this and shut down that and fact check the other and yet politicians say stuff that's ever some politicians are making part and say stuff that is demonstrably untrue and yet it's reported as if it were true um i mean is challenged don't get me wrong but where's the fake news what is fake news what isn't fake news uh it's a it's an interesting question finally in the irish daily star are you a dairy girls fan i don't want to spoil it for anyone who hadn't watched it some people might be watching it a little later in the week or maybe haven't even started it so i'm going to be very careful but how did dairy girls end for you did you enjoy it was it everything you'd hoped for is there a massive hole in your life where dairy girls once lived uh dairy girls fans were put through an emotional roller coaster in the star this says at last night's series finale making a cameo kin actor emet scanlan featured as a man desperate to get fat boy slim tickets and willing to fight james for them the fallout created some hilarious moments such as michelle going on the telly but as a final curtain call approached before a one-off special tonight oh there's another one tonight i beg your pardon there were moments of uh pathos to compliment the laughter right okay so there's a a one hour special tonight then okay it's not over it's not over but tell us how it went 08 660 uh 25 000 you tune to the 90 noon show here on your number on local radio station highland radio as i say don't be afraid to get involved have your say spread some love whatever you want to do 07 491 25 000 that's your number uh to contact right back with our first guest after these the newspapers are courtesy of kelly centra mountaintop letter kelly the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mycu current account and debit mastercard bringing 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call our team in hsc live on 1800 700 700 from the hsc for us all remus weenie here from bands from the electrical in letter kenyan down low if you have a smoky oven a noisy dishwasher or a slow wash machine we can help with a rich selection of the latest appliances from top names like zinousi samson mealy and neff as a counter gas main supplier we also have a full range of gas cookers and because we're part of the uranx group everything we offer is great value ben swiney uranx we deliver we install we care is your car due as service for the month of may get your car serviced at i motor's letter kenny and avail of a free vehicle health check and a free oil change for more details check out our website or facebook call us today on 0749134567 to book in terms and condition to apply all right so we learned this week that there was a 79 percent increase in the number of complaints to the ombudsman's for children's office in 2021 reflecting the disruption experienced by children particularly in the area of education to tease this out a bit more i'm pleased to welcome on to the program the ombudsman for children director of complaints and investigations nula ward good morning to you nula morning greg thank you very much for joining us nula right okay so 79 percent increase in complaints last year two percent of the complaints coming from donna gall will start with the first figure um tell us who is generally making these complaints what format they take some some examples if you can obviously we're not compromising anyone's privacy in their contacts but i just want to get a feel for what's driving what type of person to make what type of call okay that's a very good question actually greg and so we get a range of people contacting us the vast majority of our parents of children who are just getting so frustrated about not getting services for their children or they feel their children weren't treated fairly in a public service or in a school that they've made a complaint and hasn't been resolved and they still feel very upset so that's when we can come in and that's who contact us we'll often get contacted by from grannies from aunties from uncles from sisters all of which who really feel that we might be able to help the children that they know and care for so much what is really helpful is we also get complaints from our professionals maybe people might know that but from school principals from teachers medical professionals right up to consultants who again are just frustrated about the service and want to see if we can help and of course we get contact from young people themselves many teenagers a lot of the time that would be teenagers and care but last year we actually got a lot of complaints from year before from young people who were so frustrated about the leave and certificate so we're delighted about that so that's the type of people who range of people greg and come to us and what happened with these complaints like say for instance the the the leaving sir tobacco I mean obviously there are children or young people who felt that you know their voices weren't being listened to there was some engagement but from speaking to some they felt it was more just sort of you know pattern on the back and on the top of the head and saying listen thanks for your opinion did they waste their time in complaining to the children's onwards moment like what would come from those type of representations no we take the voice of children incredibly seriously and not only because it's our statutory obligation to do so under international obligations and also our legislation but because we that's our job our job is to listen to children and to amplify what they're saying so what we got was brilliant because what we did we got all those complaints from children the con took the time to write to us express how concerned they were we were able to analyze them put them into themes and we bought them straight to the minister for education we will be repeatedly I think we've been fair to the almost and for children Nile he was repeatedly asking for people to listen to the children and I do believe their voices made a change last year and this year was there any level of coordination in the contacts with your office in other words maybe say a group of parents that weren't particularly happy with you know some mandates or whatever it might be I'm just want to make sure that this you know was a truly organic 79 percent increase oh just be very very clear it was it was as you can see from our launch yesterday we got over 2126 complaints but often it's really important to note that over 900 of them are related to COVID so of course as you can appreciate at the time during 2021 did they follow a pattern though were these 900 individuals uh do you believe that contacted the office or was there a level of organization to it oh yeah they were and for some of them yes but they're all it's really important we treat every single one as an individual complaints because it's about children if we every person that contacts us is contacting us about a child or about children known to them or they can just raise concerns about what they believe are children's rights issues so what we have to do is we discuss everyone and consider what we can do so it was about for example school closures uh face masks on children in school um so while we're not a public health advisory body we are a children's rights institution so throughout the the pandemic we we iterated time and time again that any of its public health restrictions and impacts on children were proportionate reasonable and for the minimum time possible so I think everybody has to agree the children had a really difficult time it was actually lovely listening to earlier Greg talking about the joy you felt this night yeah it was amazing it was fantastic we had to do it in a really short period of time too because there was a bit of uncertainty it was being pushed back and back and what they achieved to manage to jam in and it wasn't jammed in because that does it as a service but in the short space they had at the end of the academic year was remarkable yeah and that's and that's what we want for going forward we want that type of because like that just the joy I do feel the word joy I think for people who are at sidelines who are back and fishes and watching welcoming children interact with each other that's what we want now for the future because the children have done so well they've been so tested so now we just want to see a big investment into local communities into health services public services to try and help the children as best we can for the future so it was lovely was this really nice to hear it what do you make of the spread of the complaints like quite remarkably there's you know like a third of the counties had 21 complaints is that just a quirk when you meet the vast majority are from cork and no no carlo carlo uh Kilkenny, Leetrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, uh Roscommon, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary, Wardford West Meath the total complaints were 21 well I think it all depends on what's going on in the local county you've got to what I think is really powerful with social media now I've seen this change in the last few years is that people who may individually be frustrated and not know where to go are finding other parents finding other people who have got the same problems that affect their children and are coming together to make complaints come together in groups come together on Facebook so they come together and they're amplifying their voices so I would imagine that when you go into the different counties there may be specific issues that have been relevant to that county and I'm sure Donnie Gaul and No Dark would be the same that even though we didn't I would love to see more well not more complaints from Donnie Gaul but it just kind of like um remember that we're here Oh for sure because there's always going to be a balance of an increase in issues but an increase in awareness and that happens across the board just outside of that um as it relates to um um uh complaints or or representations uh traveler issues direct uh direct provision and the barrier facing children with disabilities and of course the latter one a big story uh uh uh uh today do you get a sense that when you progress these complaints that the government has to listen the Department of Education has to listen all the departments with responsibility have to listen and have to take on board seriously uh your representations or however you present your findings to the relevant bodies yes they do um so when we do an investigation and for example you made reference there to the big investigation that we did in relation to the living conditions of children on a halting site um and it was appalling so yes they do listen they have to listen because we come back so we don't write a report make recommendations and just let them sit and gather dust on uh you know on a shelf we're very tenacious we're small office but we're very committed to what we do so right here right now we're doing our 12 month follow-up and so we're we're meeting with ministers we're meeting with the local authorities we're back with the families back on the site we want to see what has changed in the last 12 months same with direct provision and same when we come to any issues in relation to children with disabilities in fairness we consider children with disabilities particularly vulnerable in our office and not just necessarily because they're disability it's because that they're not getting the chance to achieve their full potential and we're very mindful that parents that come to us are oftentimes fought and are very tired but they're still keeping going by making a complaint to us and we respect them deeply for that so we tend to try and fix them as much as we can within our remit with the services to make things to get a good quick um effective resolution for the child it has to be in the child's best interest and that's what we do okay currently then we're in the situation that a 79 percent increase in complaints have been made to the ombudsman for children education issues as you mentioned dominating and we've been through that but what needs to happen from here you know are we going to talk next year and it's going to be a further 24 increase on this year's figures or you know what i mean like us logging this and recognizing it and i know your office does work to try and address these uh but there are there is stuff that we can't be annual that we can't be doing every year that we need to take action on are you confident that's happening well say for example i know what you mean so for individual cases you will see through our case studies outcomes we are able to achieve for individual children so that's why i just want to put that message out we can help just to people and we can't we will tell you we're very upfront we won't waste your time but you're right so for example 10 percent of the complaints in education sector are relation to bullying but this has been the same figure year on year and we see firsthand the devastating impact bullying has on the children on families and on the school community so for example this year that we're delighted after relentless pressure from number of groups including ourselves and fairness to the senior officials in the department of education they're pulling together a steering committee to revise our new bullying action plan and so that and so i think that's really important we are going to be determined that that is child focused and rights based and you're right that is actually drive through changes for children because otherwise what point what's the point just one final just a quick example because it might help with people knowing when to get in touch with your office we had a call from a listener not so long ago and their child we don't know why was given detention after school detention of one hour and that left them in a very awkward situation because as you can imagine nula there are some distances you have to travel to get to school and what have you right so they said right the child's gonna miss the bus we're working we've got no way of getting this child yet the school had given this detention and the the parent was in the position as to you know do i tell the child just to come home get on the bus and ignore the detention and have it out with the the school after the fact or whatever so like if they contacted the school and the school says look that's the school policy like an olympic is that the type of issue could be elevated to your office and i think i could understand why they would because there are has to be other ways to to discipline other than leaving a child in a situation where they miss a boss home yeah yeah okay so that's a good example so i think first and foremost what if someone like that was to contact our office aren't one of my team would take the call talk through it and you have to the key piece is make a complaint to the school every school is obliged to have a complaint policy they have to go through tends to be tried they try to deal with it there's different stages go on to the website if people can't find it we will help you find it and go to the school and you have a process of escalation to try and get the answers most schools or tend to be reasonable and they understand if that's not resolved or is deeply unhappy and it's not a reasonable response if you're told no just then still come to us and we might take a look at it so we might take a look at the school see what figure out what is in the child's best interest so that's the exactly the type of complaint is to pick up the phone to us and let us talk through and see if we can help if we can't we will tell you but but even that conversation might it to some extent resolve it for the parental guardian too all right listen nilda thank you for that i appreciate thank you very much how do people get in contact oh yes so i know i generally i it's just through our website which is www.oco.ie but i'm very aware of the patchy broadband at times so i have two numbers one is our free phone number which is 1-800-20-20-40 and our other one is 0-1-8-6-5-6-8-0-0 my team it's the team are so friendly please don't hesitate to call us we'll be delighted to help if we can and thank you very much Greg for having me on i really appreciate it no it's been lovely speaking to you i appreciate your time take care of yourself that's the ombudsman for children the director of complaints and investigations nula ward or wait six six to 25 000 any comments uh if you want to your view on on on gambling and should gambling advertisement be restricted before the 9 p.m. notional watershed that we watch so much streaming streaming tv now that watershed it's nonsense really isn't it but anyway uh go go on 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pathways and increasing demands medical scientists have begun the industrial action today in their frustration over land's long-standing pay and career development issues uh tony cannibon is ceo of the sale to hospital group he joins us on the program now tony thanks for your time this morning morning greg right um firstly before we talk of the impact of this do you have sympathy for those protesting today do you back them well i do have sympathy for them and our understanding is as you described this is a long-standing issue relating to pay parity principally it's about pay parity and and i certainly do have sympathy for um for the members of the military in that regard and also i recognize that our scientists in laboratories provide a really important and essential service they're not necessarily people that patients see all the time um but yet hospitals cannot run properly without those services so i certainly see them as being a very important part of the service we provide all right we were talking to the union representing these medical scientists yesterday they say they've made every effort to avoid today's disruption to patients and say they're doing as as much as they can to ensure that essential stuff is done in very layman terms tony but there is there there is going to be disruption there's no doubt that there would be very significant disruption indeed there's already been disruption and upset for patients arising from this and across hospitals across the country but across our group have been cancelling patients since early yesterday morning making contact with them by phone etc to let them know that they're their elective procedure or their outpatient appointment or otherwise is not now taking place and and that creates an upset for patients who have made arrangements and and prepared themselves for those procedures and it also we're expecting that there will be very significant impact on our emergency departments and our emergency departments are already extremely busy and that our Kenny is has had very high levels of attendance over the last month in particular and we expect that that this action and the disruption today will add to that and lead to further patient delays within the emergency department and that manifests itself as literally waiting longer does it we're expecting that it'll manifest itself in a couple of ways i think that patients that are attending the emergency department for non urgent reasons will find that they are significantly delayed within the department it'll just take them a lot longer to pass through we're also expecting that the numbers of patients waiting at mission and trolleys will increase now fortunately in letter Kenny this morning there are only two patients waiting at mission and trolleys and letter Kenny has been doing fairly well actually from that in that regard over the last four weeks or so but we would expect that that will change as a result of this action the whole hospital process will slow down numbers of patients discharged today will slow down and so we are anticipating that the numbers of patients and trolleys will increase yes and i'm not expecting you to comment on this Tony but i suppose the union will argue this is you know what they had to do to show the importance of the the work that they do even though it's in inverted commas behind the scenes it's one day today how long after they return to work this evening or tomorrow i don't know what the shift pattern is will it take to catch up there'll be a lag then presumably in getting things back to the way they were will there they're absolutely will and if we experience an increase in numbers of patients on trolleys and expect we will it will take the number of days to bring that back into equilibrium and certainly be after the weekend before we would achieve that but for elective procedures that we've cancelled while we will do our very best to ensure that we reschedule people as quickly as possible that is that is going to be difficult we already have significant waiting lists we have you know very significant numbers of patients awaiting elective procedures and it's you know if you lose a day of activity as we're losing today it's very difficult to reschedule that i'm not sure if you mentioned earlier on have you an idea of how many people would have been contacted to say their elective treatment is not going ahead we don't have an exact count at this stage for each of our hospitals but we know that some of the services for example in that are companies that are impacted the endoscopy service the bronchoscopy service the war for clinic all of these are impacted by the cancellations that have taken place right and you don't know when those cancellations can or would be rescheduled we can't say except that we will be doing our best to reschedule them as quickly as we possibly can but again bearing in mind that we already have significant waiting lists you know and we have patients scheduled for Thursday and Friday and so on to try and address that right so this is one day of action today you've talked already of the the the impacts that will have the the procedures being cancelled we don't know precisely when they can be rescheduled it might run into the weekend to sort of catch up on all the work two days next week three days the week afterwards so we're heading into a very difficult period if there's not a resolution here absolutely and and i would say that we don't you know it has today progress as we'll understand the full impact of this action both on hospital services and indeed on patients as well this is not this is new territory for us you know so we will be trying to understand how that impacts today one thing we're clear on though if this is extended into a two-day dispute or even a three-day dispute it will really have very very significant impact on hospital services no question about it so with that in mind Tony it's imperative that whatever parties need to get together to try and come up with some sort of a deferral or a resolution or whatever it might be that's hugely important to the running of the health service locally and nationally I think we all need to be very clear in our minds about the impact that this is having on patient care all of us you know all of us that have a responsibility for the delivery of care this is having a significant impact on patient care and we need to bear that in mind when deciding on the best steps to take to avoid a two-day dispute okay one of the other big issues up here at the moment Tony and also Sligo is the loss of the angiogram service now we had the general manager of the hospital on a couple of weeks ago on paraphrasing I hope I'm I'm doing it accurately he was actually quite confident at that time but couldn't give the commitment because how could he that we could see a continuance that the facilities in letter Kenny that were that are there would be able to be utilised and indeed maybe we could have a better utilisation of what is there now I noticed it's been picked up by the politicians I'm not sure if they're they have good news on the horizon and they're trying to get a piece of that action or if Sean Murphy's opinion is out of date now from your perspective what is the situation with these services yeah I mean just again to explain briefly the difficulty for us in Sligo and in letter Kenny arises because the company that provides the mobile or visiting service have notified us that they're from a day that they'll no longer be able to provide that service going forward and in letter Kenny they're we're aware you know that there is the facility and there's the equipment that has been purchased through fundraising in the local community and that's there we're carrying out an assessment currently to see what elements of the service or if the service can be provided in some way using that equipment and that that assessment is being done currently it's not completed yet and when it's completed we'll have better answers then as to what we can continue to provide our hope is that we would try and provide and sustain local services where that's appropriate and where it can be done safely and so our hope is that the outcome from that process will be positive so the work that was done by this mobile unit just so we're clear Tony for those of us outside of it and your level of expertise is there going to be a break in that service or are you optimistic that that the services provided by that mobile unit will be able to continue well first oh no i am the the the mobile in hospital we in hospital sorry yeah oh yeah okay well sorry our we do have to put solutions before the visiting service finishes you know so and we are hopeful that we'll have answers to those questions before the the mobile service finishes with with in both like one in that kind of so you as the hospital manager was a couple of weeks so you're hopeful but not certain that there won't be a break in these services between something being put in place and this mobile unit no longer visiting you see i suppose for many of the patients that receive this care you know the option of it being deferred or put on a waiting list or otherwise that isn't an option so they will have to receive the care the question that arises will we be able to continue to provide the care that's currently provided or indeed elements of that what's your best answer then at this point well the reason that we've engaged three experts to answer that question for us is because you know they they're the right people to make that call and to advise them that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to get that right in advance of them coming back to us with the with their recommendation okay but you are responsible for presumably services and retaining and retain them as much as possible oh absolutely yeah but you have a view it's i mean you i mean you have a view outside of what these experts are going to say to you surely well i am my view is that that if it all possible what we would like to do is to continue to provide services locally where that's appropriate what we don't want to do is provide services locally that are of a lower standard than should then patients deserve in terms of the these experts will they look at other options say for instance for us here in the northwest maybe some of these services could be provided in dairy as opposed to Dublin or Galway will is that a possibility can that be discussed yeah well just to be clear what we've asked it what we have asked the experts to look at is whether or not the equipment that is currently available that Kenny can provide some aspects are all aspects of the service that is currently provided that's what we've asked them to answer for us and other options outside of that like the ones that you've mentioned you know they're ones that we will have to examine in ourselves on a service delivery basis going forward in terms of the notice you were given by this private company that they were no longer to provide this service was it adequate was it was it within the terms of the contract because for such an important service that the notice i think you were told in february if my memory serves me correctly seems very short notice for such an important and i presume quite a an expensive contract yeah so again my understanding and without having examined the contract my understanding is that they have operated entirely within the terms of the contract that has been provided and and yes i mean while it was all be preferable for us to have a long lead in time for these types of service changes sometimes that's just not possible and have we asked them if they could defer it or extend the service whilst we continue the the exploration of an alternative yeah we we've engaged with the our first action actually was to engage with the company to ask them to continue to provide the service and not to withdraw at all and then to you know to explore any other options that might be open that they may be open to and but it's clear that that is that that's not going to be something that we can do going forward so we do have to find an alternative did they give a reason as to why they were pulling out well my understanding is that it's to do with the decisions that they're taking about withdrawing the service from the country as a whole that and that they're changing direction in terms of business right right okay and and you talk about this equipment that was bought three-quarters of a million i was told it was state-of-the-art are you saying that it might actually we don't yet know if it is fit for this purpose and if it's not for the fit for this purpose and it's not really being used to its full potential do you know what its potential actually is and what's it doing there yeah so it is being used for the provision of some services currently but i i think it is fair to say that it is being underused at the moment and for the last number of years since the equipment actually was provided where we have put forward business cases for the funding for staffing of this service so that it can be used more comprehensively and that business case was prepared through the hospital and then submitted through sales to the national hsc and we haven't received funding for the provision of the staff that would run more you have or haven't haven't haven't we haven't received that so that's you know that's that part of it and but for where we're at today in terms of the mobile service being withdrawn it will be probably another week or so before we have a recommendation from the experts who are looking at the situation now there is a sense up here and people would say that you know there's challenges facing letter kenny university hospital that don't face sligo university hospital for those that live in sort of that in between area they might choose to go to sligo better because as a better reputation or there seems to be less issues down there less delays is there a particular reason why firstly is it the case that there's particular challenges at letter kenny that don't exist in sligo and if that is the case why is it the case is it resources is it management is it location hey i'm really not sure i mean i suppose when we look at letter kenny university hospital we say that letter kenny hospital provides a really important service because of its location so if you consider where letter kenny hospital is and the population of donnie gall north of that and indeed south of that it's quite a significant population and and and that's reflected in the level of activity that takes place within the hospital it's a busy hospital very busy emergency department busy inpatient services and so on and but we also recognize that that hospitals today they work as part of groups you know so you know the importance of linking letter kenny to sligo and to gallway and to other hospitals is you know it's very very significant it can't be overstated in terms of providing good patient care we need our hospitals to be connected together and it's difficult to do that when geography is working against you so the location of letter kenny three and a half hours drive from gallway an hour and a half from sligo and that that creates additional challenges there's no doubt about that but we are absolutely committed to trying to meet those challenges because as i said at the very start letter kenny performs a very very important function in the context of the population that it's serving very finely and now this is quite specific and i understand if you don't have an answer but maybe we could get one from you um there obviously is some great concern locally particularly north initially on the islands that treatment important treatment um that people get on their eyes is not available in letter kenny eye injections etc that they're having to travel to sligo we've spoken to people who actually choose not to get this treatment because either they can't make that journey or they don't want to make that journey is there any do you firstly you across that particular issue is there any moves to have even you know one day a month or whatever might be required uh for for this uh particularly for our older generation and the care of their eyes is there any plans to have that located in letter kenny particularly for people maybe an hour and more tori malin wherever they might be that don't want to face that or can't face that journey uh to sligo this has been going on for some time are there any moves to address it so i'd be really up one for the greg it's not an issue that i'm particularly um familiar with however as a general issue i do have to say that our focus within letter kenny hospital has to be to ensure that we provide really good general medical services and really good general surgical services i think in the past um in hospitals like letter kenny we have tried to put um bits or parts of services in place it's extremely difficult to sustain them when we do that and it's also extremely difficult to ensure that the quality of the care that's provided on that basis is as good as it should be and as good as patients deserve so it's it's an unfortunate reality that um the that patients do have to travel more nowadays and not just patients within dunigol to letter kenny or outside of dunigol and patients across the country have to travel more to avail of more specialized services and i i'd say at the very start i i'm not particularly i understand that more that would be the general position right i appreciate you touched on a couple other things and also a little bit vague in the last one but i'm having to do some of this off memory and we sort of got you okayed uh you know not not so long ago tony so i appreciate that thank you for joining us this morning thanks and take care tony that's tony kind of in there c e o of south hospital group as i said i tried to get across as many of those important issues that we've been discussing of late obviously i'm not going to get all of them but there you are right 08 660 25 000 any reflections on that conversation 08 660 25 000 or call 07 491 25 000 the 9 till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter kenny credit union 9102127 michael murphy sports and leisure has everything you need for getting fit in 2022 from training gear to resistance bands skipping ropes weights and foam rollers we have all the essentials to see you through every step of your fitness journey from training to recovery shop or range of gym wear equipment and accessories at michael murphy sports dot e a huge sale is now on at mcginnelly's furniture letter kenny it's a chance to save hundreds of euros on floor model suites beds and mattresses dining and occasional furniture with reductions in all departments it's a great opportunity to grab a real bargain in the big sale at mcginnelly's furniture on the joe boner link road letter kenny do you suffer from high cholesterol menopause symptoms digestive issues anxiety aches and pains or a lack of energy the highly trained team at the natural way letter kenny can provide advice on natural remedies for a number of individual health issues the natural way also has its own brand of herbal treatments to help fight fatigue relieve digestive discomfort maintain a healthy immune system and alleviate common menopause symptoms the natural way letter kenny shop in center your one-stop health shop come along to beaver log cabins big weekend saturday 21st and sunday 22nd of may beaver log cabins are ireland's biggest bespoke log cabin company with quality cabins home offices hot tubs gazebos and more located in bonomi and bridge end this family friendly weekend features a range of offers discounts prices and promotions see beaver log cabins dot ie highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday with the family you can now fly to beautiful new york every friday this summer with ryan air and enjoy some of europe's best beaches ireland west airport you're flying ok dog the morning will be dry and sunny across our region in the afternoon though there will be rain with the possibility of embedded thunderstorms they'll develop in the west of the region and becoming widespread southerly winds will increase set fresh then strong and gusty high temperatures of 15 to 17 degrees okay let us go to what you're saying out there today um children as young as 10 years old are aware of gambling through tiktok and other social media outlets where certain gambling companies are doing very well through these channels and catching the attention of young people where it's being glamorized that comes in from michael hi greg couldn't believe the price uh sister bought a 2016 Jeep last week in the north 11 grand sterling same jeep in a garage in donnaigal 24 500 euro unreal that's why so many people from donnaigal are driving northern cars but is she going to take it across uh between the is it vat the knocks charges plates and all that kind of stuff i wonder maybe she's in a position to be able to continue to drive this jeep uh on northern plates but let us know how much is going to cost her to take it across good morning greg the public sector is the only sector that can hold us hostage it's about time their wages went with inflation inflation goes up their wages go down it's simple how many more lies can bars tell while on camera before someone calls them a liar to his face do you know what and this is the most ridiculous thing about the leader of uh one of the big powers uh he's called a liar to his face on numerous occasions journalists sit down and say to him you lied to us about uh party gate can we trust you uh it's unreal i don't think any other political leader has to endure that if they're all making of course uh re-advertising and gambling what about the advertising of alcohol before the watershed from the major supermarkets advertising discounts of products including alcohol is the nobody checking this yeah and i don't think this is just to say you know i've been all woke and scared of everything you know and i can get why people might sort of push back on this but you know like you get to a certain age and you can make decisions and and good decisions whereby and i was the same i'm sure many people out there listening they like to alcohol uh not really gambling for me but likes of alcohol you know it's kind of so normalized that it's like a rite of passage as soon as you can or as soon as you get the alcohol you're all right you got a drink into you because it's so associated with everything and we start really young and and it's because we're being conditioned and exposed with of course as well uh in other aspects of life but that's changing a little bit i think uh and i just think that these uh we can crack on with life without these adverts and then when we get to the age the appropriate age then we can stop make our own decisions um based on where we want to be at that time a court says there's not such a thing as clean or green electricity it's just buzzwords yeah but there's a lot of people invested a lot of money in these buzzwords so there's money in it too Greg emergency department services are a mess are waited for 12 hours in the ed because uh we had to wait on a specialist from grid or another lady had been in 15 hours by the time i had left that is these times are not unusual they're not unusual but the problem is is uh and we understand the need for people to uh be able to take industrial action to further their cause especially when it's been going on for years and years and years those weights those delays unfortunately for you out there if you have to make a visit are going to be longer um today maybe into tomorrow and if this strike is extended to two days next week three days the following you heard there from the head of the hospital group in the north in this region it's good to have access to these people to get it from the horse's mouth things will get much worse there are people who had built themselves up for an elective procedure elective doesn't mean by the way it's grand i want to do this it's i'm electing to do it some of these procedures are incredibly important to people's uh uh outcomes and pain relief and what have you there's people out there that themselves built up for this for today all the anxiety a bad packed maybe at the door and got a phone call to say we're not able to see you today and we can't tell you when you are going to be seen my heart is with those people uh because there's families going through awful stress uh this morning if you want to try and and help us understand how stressful that is for you you can share your story with us if you want to only 07491 25 000 donna maria caroline taking your call today okay we're back with more on the news uh sorry we're back with more on the program after the news and obituary notices the nine till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today new this week in home store and more all pillows are half price but better hurry because when all our half price pillows are gone they're gone also all laundry hampers and baskets and all hotel collection duvet sets are still half price but when all our half price laundry hampers and baskets and all our half price hotel collection duvet sets are gone they're definitely gone order online before 2 p.m. for next day delivery or drop by your local home store and more home store and more a happy home attention all tractor and forklift owners dunningall tires and dunningall town is a leading supplier of agricultural and solid forklift tires in the northwest with a huge range available at competitive prices dunningall tires can help you choose the correct tire for your application and we will come to you so no downtime check out dunningall tires dot com or call 07 497 21482 that's dunningall tires dunningall town where you'll get a great deal mcdades bathroom plumbing and tiles serving the northwest for over 40 years explore our showroom with more than 40 displays choose from an array of shower doors shower trays baths and bathroom accessories speak with an expert about tile selection and wall paneling we also stock an array of plumbing heating and stove spare parts as well as a great selection of kitchen mixers and radiators at our trade counter our stove department is also available for you to choose a style that suits your needs and complements your home mcdades bathroom plumbing tiles bunkrana we're here for you live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal kavana at the highland radio news desk selfless chief executive says analysis is continuing in a bid to find a way to continue angiogram services at letterken university hospital tony canovan was speaking a short time ago on the 9 to the noon show earlier minister charlie mcconnellog said the department of health selva and the hsc are working to assess appropriate means for an angiogram service to continue at luh the current mobile cardiology unit which is currently placed there will be removed at the end of june the statement came after dunningall action for cancer care wrote to the minister and dunningall's four tds urging them to act to save the service chair betty holmes says the continued loss of services effectively represents a downgrading of the hospital i said i think it's over 13 14 years ago that letterkenny hospital wouldn't affect become the new st joseph because the services are drip by drip being stripped from the hospital and if the angiogram service goes then letterkenny hospital is in effect the new community hospital regional and national level over the years the hsc have seen no real true commitment to dunningall and the needs of the sick of dunningall the hsc says industrial action will have a very disabling impact on letterkenny university hospital and other hospitals throughout the country today over 2100 medical scientists have stopped routine lab services the strike ends at eight tonight the pay dispute has led to inpatient and daycase procedures being cancelled britain's foreign secretary says sensible pragmatic changes are needed to the northerland island protocol list trust confirmed yesterday the british government would legislate for the change to the protocol unilaterally in order to encourage the dup to reenter power sharing at storm and she says the uk's proposed changes would also work to the e u's advantage we've proposed a solution creating a green lane into northern island that helps protect the e u single market which is what they're concerned of and also helps protect trade into northern island so we can uh get a pragmatic solution i want the e u to come to the negotiating table so we can agree that together but if that doesn't happen we do need to move ahead delivering this solution for the people of northern island people are being told not to be alarmed if they see hyphened or unusual activity in and around dunningall bay today a marine rescue exercise is taking place coordinated by the coast guard with more detail here's donna marie doherty the coast guard service is leading a large-scale maritime exercise along with other agencies off the dunningall coast today named blue hills the exercise is testing major incident plans with the focus on operational capability and coordination of the relevant authorities for a major maritime search and rescue incident the agencies involved in the exercise include dunningall county council the hse and garda shea kana dublin fire brigade the naval service air core or nli and others the coast guard says the exercise is being conducted in the proximity of dunningall bay and includes both live and virtual participation there will be no disruption to services during this exercise postmasters will tell an iraq this committee meeting today the post office network is at a crucial juncture and in desperate need of government support the ipu will tell tds and senators that 12 million euro in annual funding is necessary to prevent large-scale closures the chair of the transport and communications committee cure no donnell says it's a vital service that must be protected we must ensure that network can survive it must be a sustainable network and obviously for that to ensure that can happen it must be financially viable for postmasters up and down the length of breath we're going to be able to operate in a sustainable manner and that obviously will require support for additional services they can provide we want to go into detail and that would with neddo haran and his colleagues nourish postmasters union remote workers could save up to 1400 euro each per year new government research shows while those who work from home could see their heating costs rise by 79 euro and electricity by 30 euro eliminating the cost of a car could see remote workers better off by 304 euro each year thonished liya radker says working from home has many benefits for employees and for employers and the research that we've done does indicate two significant upsides from remote working one is that it's easier for people with caring responsibilities particularly parents and also people with disabilities to enter and stay in the workforce and the other is that it can produce savings you know we're all very aware of the very high cost at the moment of commuting the price of petrol and diesel looking at the weather forecast dry and sunny this morning but rain will kick in in the afternoon starting in the west and then spreading right across the region a possibility of some thunderstorms as well southerly winds increasing fresh then strong and gusty in highest temperatures of 15 to 17 degrees celsius the rain will clear and winds east tonight but it will stay fresh in western coastal areas lowest overnight temperatures five to seven degrees celsius at island radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock good morning the opportunity is for this wednesday morning the 18th of may the death has occurred of kevin little six upper clay road dairy formerly of hamilton street kevin's remains will repose at his late residence from two o'clock this afternoon removal on friday afternoon at two o'clock to st columbus church long tower for requiemass at three followed by interment in st murris cemetery fawn requiemass can be viewed on long tower church dot org family time please from 11 p.m to 11 a.m and before the funeral on friday family far as only please the nations in louis desired to the kevin bell repatriation trust care of any family member or murphy funeral directors the death has taken place of raymond brennan glenn mcquinn letter kenny formerly of our draw his remains will repose at galleher's funeral home station road mount charles from five until eight this evening removal from their tomorrow to st knoll's church our dahi for one o'clock funeral mass with burial afterwards in the local cemetery family far as only please donations in louis desired to the irish long foundation funeral mass will be live streamed on the st knoll's parish inver facebook page the death has taken place of robert bob mcnot 39 main street castle cofield and formerly of tully bogley manor conningham funeral service in castle cofield presbyterian church tomorrow at 12 noon followed by interment in the family burial ground at first right presbyterian church manor conningham arriving at approximately quarter past four house private family far as only please the nations in louis to mary curie care of martin and son's funeral directors dun gannon the death has taken place of elizabeth doherty tinny bali mcgane bunkrana her remains are opposing at her late residence removal from their tomorrow morning at half past 10 for 11 o'clock requiem mass in st mary's church cock hill with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live on church services dot tv family time please from 11 p.m to 10 a.m the death has taken place of kathleen drum nae doherty drum boy lyford and formerly of queen street dairy her remains are opposing at her home funeral from their tomorrow morning at 25 past 10 for requiem mass in st patrick's church murlock at 11 o'clock in term and afterwards in the adjoining cemetery requiem mass can be viewed live on clonley parish dot com the death has taken place of canis gamble formerly of corcollian castle his remains will repose in quickly's funeral home straban tomorrow morning from 11 o'clock with service at 12 noon followed by interment in straban cemetery the death has occurred of rosie mccarron nae mcgrority nine mcneely villas old town letter kenny rosie's remains are opposing at her late residence funeral from their tomorrow morning going to st union's cathedral letter kenny for requiem mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in conwall cemetery family time please from 10 o'clock tonight and before the funeral tomorrow family flowers only please funeral mass can be viewed live on church services dot tv and the death has taken place of james kenneth galler her funeral service in adair and neely funeral home for family circle and kenneth's closest friends this afternoon at two o'clock the cortege will leave adair and neely at quarter to three traveling via creve road drum loher tyroddy core Campbell to crossroads burial ground for a private family burial family fires only please donations in louis desired to crossroads vegetarian church care of mr richard russell 33 creva road london dairy for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highland radio dot com COVID-19 can still cause serious illness especially in people at higher risk we need to keep protecting each other so stay home if you have symptoms wear a mask in healthcare settings public transport and busy places let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors keep hands clean and get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster let's keep looking out for each other from the hsc for us all okay you're very welcome back to the ninth or noon show here on highland radio thanks for keeping us busy as always on the phone lines this caller said i have ms enough to travel to sli go for treatment this is unfair for all ms sufferers yes indeed uh but unfortunately listening to the comments there from the head of the salt hospital group um i wouldn't say he's unapologetic but he's suggesting that's you know we've looked at putting some of these services if it's applicable into letter kenny uh and to be able to operate them at the standard uh that is required it doesn't always work which i thought was quite an interesting comment the first time i've heard that line all right we're going to take a short break for you to play the bingo because i know a lot of you are waiting to do so we'll come back after that and uh we'll be joined by a next group of guests uh after it all right here you are here are the numbers it's time for mcbi bingo on highland radio it's wednesday the 18th of may you're playing on the blue sheet the reference number is s18 it's game number 20 the numbers are 50 11 23 19 78 32 90 65 35 and finally 64 phone your claim to 9104833 before eight 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 highlandredio.com the key is portage donnie gall's best-selling car for 2022 if you're thinking about making the move to kia or to upgrade your current kia make sure to call in today to iMotor's letter kenny or malin with a seven-year warranty as standard driving a kia makes sense ab plant exports group are currently buying all types of excavators loading shovels and backhose for export from three tonne to seventy tonne contact ab plant exports group today and you will receive the very best price across ireland north and south for more information contact ab plant exports group on 087377966 we're all faced with things going up these days but you'll still find amazing value every single day at aldi and you could save over 70 euro on your big family shop when compared to one of our nearest competitors nearest and dearest indeed so don't change your lifestyle change your supermarket aldi every day amazing comparisons against product source in super value 28 of march 22 lowest pro rate used and offers excluded for full detail see aldi.ai we can all see how conflict affects energy prices more than ever we need to be mindful of how we use energy by reducing your use you can save money and lessen the impact here's how use your timer and thermostat to heat your home and hot water to the temperature you need use appliances efficiently and where possible outside the peak hours of four to seven p.m. consider walking cycling or public transport for short journeys drive at lower speeds we're safe to do so government advice and supports are available for homes and businesses to help you meet this challenge find out more at gov.ie forward slash reduce your use brought to you by the government of ireland this friday around the northwest is celebrating with the business marking 50 years in letter kenny we'll be live from aamon harkinsherapatist who first opened at lower main street in may of 1972 we'll be chatting about changes over the years and about aamon putting his best foot forward so others can too so join me John Breslin live this friday from 12 on around the northwest at aamon harkinsherapatist lower main street liver kenny and you're very welcome back to the program now we're joined by a number of guests from the letter kenny chamber firstly in studio we'll say good morning to you fenula rabbit the md uh island radio md and letter kenny chamber vice president that's it very exciting just picking up the titles this year i'm fairness it's all about the cv that's right tell the ladies it's all about the cv okay and hopefully they can hear me okay claire mcdonnell amaze on interior design studio and chamber vice president good morning claire can you hear me claire um i wonder christine can you hear me okay count here okay that's no problem i'll tell you what we'll do we'll reconnect with our guests there we uh we're able to hear them a little earlier on but not right now okay so we're speaking in the context as we wait for our guests to rejoin us we're speaking in the context fenula of the fact that the letter kenny chamber has an all female leadership so tell us the makeup of that uh and what that actually means well the letter kenny chamber is a really dynamic group of business people from in and around the the town of letter kenny and um there's 17 members on the board and at the moment there's seven of those members which are female so it's very exciting time for women in business in dunigal and i suppose what the reason why we did this piece and why we want to highlight it is is just to encourage other women to join the chamber and become involved in things the chamber does some amazing um uh stuff across the whole county not just in letter kenny and i i think it's just a valuable thing to let people know that we're there and what we do and that there's so many women involved and to helpfully get more women involved in the future yeah indeed i hope we can speak to christine can you hear me okay now christine okay claire can you hear me very faintly right i can't hear it all right that's okay i'll come back to you in a second unfortunately there seems to be a problem there but i will get them back in i will persist and the the situation too here is fenula isn't it's not about you don't want to rest on laurels here and go yay there's seven in leadership role it's about this being a springboard oh absolutely i mean at this stage now it's amazing to think of it really but christine reynolds is our very uh exalted president and it's hard to believe that she's only the second female president that's been in the letter kenny chamber yeah and it just it's purely because of the fact of the the makeup of people who have joined the chamber it's not that there's been anything wrong within within the chamber itself or that there's been any uh barriers to women or anything like that it's just that women haven't joined in and haven't kind of you know moved towards uh that position there's an awful lot of women in business in letter kenny in the county of dunigal and uh now we're finally seeing them uh getting more involved and more engaged in organizations which can help their business and other businesses as well as the communities that their businesses are in so we go third time lucky okay can you hear me christine i can hear you now can you hear me i can i hope this is not just a big ruse by finula to pop me in my place uh and that really you could hear me the whole time do you know what greg i'm going finula turned off finula has a little habit of being late for things so really it's good that she's able to to carry the badge on until we have to leave work i'm glad it's not just in highland radio then i'm late for everything but when i'm at work i might christine um congratulations on uh your elevation to chamber president and as for those referencing there before you joined us you know it's great that you're the second woman to be in this position but i suppose we want to be in a position and we talk about in this other issues in other areas as well that it's not something that's notable it should just be part for the cause isn't it whether it's a man or a woman uh equal opportunity equal amount of people to choose from and so on yeah and i suppose whenever i i took the role i didn't want there to be this big fuss that oh it's another woman and with the leadership team now and it turns out that we're all women it's actually something that happened very organically and it was something that i was a bit concerned about whenever we were choosing our leadership team and i had run it by some of the board members and i thought god guys we can't all have all women on this team you know but a few of the board members said for years and years we've had all men on the team nobody's bad on eyelid it shouldn't be an issue you know and behind the scenes we're men and women we're 17 people that work exceptionally well together um you know the ex-presidents i think most of the men on our board bar three have been in the president's role before so it's probably likely that the next few presidents of the chamber will be female but we're supported by the men and women of the board so it's you know i might be the the front person this year but there's much more to than than that yeah and it's clear it's not tokenism because you know the chamber is made up of you know really powerful uh business people regardless of their their agenda but now is a good time maybe to say right we're in a position here to to to uh make a platform and use it yeah and that's exactly it and it comes back to the the whole if you can't see it you can't be it and you know for for young girls at school for women that are starting out in business that you know there's a whole host of of dynamic business people and business women on the chamber and successful business people in letter kenny and then donnie gall and i suppose the chamber board should be a reflection of business and society and that's exactly what it is men and women and you know we just want to keep the the board diversified what you don't want on any board is for it to become an echo chamber you know that we're all of the same opinion we work in the same sector you can't have that you need to push the thing forward and to do that you have to have different perspectives different opinions and a wider representation of of people yeah of course and of course you have the this initiative and it's great to be talking to you in this context but i mean anyone i think every time someone takes over his letter kenny chamber they're taking over a potentially challenging time because you know the challenges are persistent in business aren't they and you know we there's there's uncertainty about what lies ahead for this year maximizing i suppose coming out of of coming out of the situation we were in but also ensuring that we've the best products out there so people don't sit on their cash if they're a wee bit worried about the future that they're out spending and supporting jobs and supporting the local economy yeah and that's it and i suppose there's there's more money in the economy people have apparently more savings and that's what and the statistics are showing us in business and life there's there's always going to be something whether it's a pandemic or recession you know the cost of of goods are going up inflation interest rate hikes there's always something around the corner and i think in business you have to be very dynamic and very resilient and you have to be ready for the next the next ball that's thrown at you but i suppose with being part of the chamber the chamber will help our business people navigate the next big thing that's coming up and we act as that kind of support group for people that are out there that want more information and you know maybe want a bit of support or someone to hold their hands through it and and that's what we do for local businesses yeah i'll come back to that point actually i want to introduce claire mcdonough the amazing interior design studio chamber vice president as well hi eclair hi greg how are you i'm good i'm good since you've been on the chamber um you know the you've actively been um i suppose making the chamber you know as representative as possible and not just a gender of course i mean in terms of businesses you know looking beyond letter kenny as well um and continuing to move forward i suppose what we're talking about today it's just part of that an important part but part of it nonetheless absolutely and i think that's that's one of the great things about the chamber you know what really is a representation and a voice for business and donnie gall but it very much murders the business story anyway so as as christine was just saying things are changing all the time so many things are thrown at us that the chamber itself needs to reflect that and it certainly does so you know in any given year there's lots of different challenges um and with the chamber i think you know what we want to do is make sure that we're very much at the cold face and know exactly what's going on in businesses so we can be of practical support so even during the lockdown um and the pandemic you'll see that we started that uh support donnie gall local donnie gall what's up we must have about 170 businesses not all of them are members of the chamber but most are or at least they become members of the chamber because they see the value and support so as christine was saying no matter what's thrown at you in business and whether you're a sole trader or you run a company with 150 employees there's a place for you within the chamber membership and you know today's article is really just about reflecting female leadership and female entrepreneurs but the story of letter kenny chamber is we're there at the cold face we want to make sure that we're broadly represented of every sector of business every size of business and all throughout the county so anybody in donnie gall can be a member of donnie gall letter kenny chamber that's the new name isn't it that's what you've been chatting about the donnie gall chamber you let that one slip no no no no but i do i do i do think i do think we really you know for us to to have a very strong and voiced for business we need to make sure yeah we are broadly represented up clear i thought you were finished there go for new look no but i think the you know i know we're all joking there by calling it the donnie gall but the thing is what happens in letter kenny is reflective of what happens in the rest of donnie gall anyways with businesses and with with um you know changes and growth and and also the difficulties that come along and what the chamber does is it represents um it ends up representing the whole of donnie gall even though it's it is letter kenny because what we're doing is we're a voice that has a connection to chambers island we're the only chamber that's connected to chambers island so then we have a position to put forward people's thoughts and people's feelings for donnie gall and wants for donnie gall nationally to either government to you know the likes of you know we had a meeting there last last week involved for charlin coming in and talking about the massive investment that they're bringing in we have meetings in which we're speaking to ministers we talk to government people we do a lot of cross-border work as well now with the london dairy dairy chamber and that so it's just even though it is the letter kenny chamber it's either reflective of the counting or else we end up representing things that the whole county needs and wants and i think a perfect example of that was unfortunately i can't reference the the the meeting with me hall martin because it wasn't able to go ahead and i understand the reasons why but say for instance i think it was leil for adcar as as as the the t-shock when he was up it's when you have a group of individuals like that representing businesses as you've outlined finula from across the region it can't be ignored it's not like three or four businesses individually sending letters up when the people who are the employers the drivers of the local economy you can't ignore it when they say this is problem a this is problem b and you need to address it they have to go back to doblin and recognize that don't declare 100 and that's that's our point you know about the chamber all along that our number one role you know we need we want to be really clear but as our number one role is lobbying being the voice of business so we do that at local regional national and international level whatever way we need to do to to make sure that we highlight and represent the issues for businesses in the region so you know as far as the chamber is concerned there's a place for everyone and that's we want to be really very much encouraging younger women girls to look at entrepreneurship and business as a career path and in safaris even the photograph there you know you have a stall trader right up to somebody who employs 130 people so the point being we can't you know the chamber can't be representing just large businesses it can't be just small businesses we have to have diversity and variety and really no matter what challenge faces you as a business you definitely benefit from support peer support peer networking and that lobby and voice as well so it's all very important for you know it's boys and girls but just for the purpose of this conversation particularly women because there are particular challenges you know we have some amazing young women but sometimes somewhere across the line that ambition is is not driven out of them but it's frustrated I think and and you know they don't necessarily sometimes go on to to achieve their full potential but they can look at the likes of yourself the likes of Claire the likes of Christine and others and say well if they can do it why can't I and I think both you and Claire have referenced that if you can see you can be it and it's important that is important because if so much to offer and we have to make sure that we clear the path for them to be able to to maximize their potential yeah I think sometimes we we forget the importance and you know people joke about like management teams or different things like that going on networking and going to networking events and our shirts only just you know a meet-up for a drinker it's a meet-up for whatever but it can be very important because I think when you go to something like the chamber and you meet different people particularly one for somebody like me coming into the county knew it was an amazing way in order to meet other businesses in order to meet other business people in the area to you know learn about what's happening in the area but also then if you've grown up in an area and you know you want to establish yourself as a business person you meet people that come from all different kind of backgrounds some people that come through family businesses some people that went back started their own business some people that went you know that worked in state businesses and then left and did their and have started their own thing later in life rather than you know as straight fresh out of college so you meet just such a wide diverse group of people and that can be very supportive then because the majority of people have encountered the issues that you will encounter as you go along so networking can be really important in it but I think also it's one of the things that we're kind of losing is this sense of entrepreneurship you know you hear it all the time and I think it's really important that we try and bring it back into our schools into our young people that they that they think about setting up businesses particularly in counties such as Dunnegull that people think about okay I'm going to go to college and maybe I'll go away to somewhere else in Ireland or in the UK or Scotland or whatever but at least that I'm going to come back and I'm going to set up my business here and this is where I want to be and I think being involved in the chamber and seeing the wonderful work that the chamber does makes people realize how dynamic this county actually is how much growth how much you know potential for future development there is here and it can only make things better then for everybody and provide jobs so that more and more people can come back in there. Yeah for sure Christine I want to drive home that message of networking with you that's all right because you know it's it's amazing what groups like Letter County Chamber does women business and network these or these events that take place and people who have an idea or have an itch they feel they can scratch but they just don't know where to begin or what to do a fear of failure perhaps or a fear of what people might think if it doesn't quite go there you want to do. Christine when you're talking to other business people when you're talking to your peers you can build confidence you can say right maybe I can go to the local Lee office and get some support there there's a great willingness for businesses to help other businesses or people looking to get into businesses because they see the benefit of that for everyone. There absolutely is Greg and I think that that was kind of highlighted during the pandemic and during lockdown like we really highlighted local businesses wanting to help each other out and we even had competitors giving each other information and helping each other out and I think the whole thing about having like a vibrant ambitious time where people want to live work study have their families grow up it can't work with just one section working on its own the whole thing has to work together and it goes back to that point of you know the Dunnegall Letter Kenny we've always said that Letter Kenny can't work on its own without the rest of Dunnegall and Dunnegall doesn't work without Letter Kenny being the urban centre and you know the chamber me as a sole trader on my own sitting in an office in the main street if there's something that I need or something that that I don't know how to do or how to approach it I pick up the phone I ring Tony in the chamber office Tony might not have the answer but she's able to put me in contact with somebody that can help me and that's the whole the whole part of being part of the chamber as well as connections that you can make between different businesses yeah I talked a little bit earlier about the branding I mean is that you know it is obvious to you and to someone like me who understands how how it all works is there an argument for a rebranding to a county wider is it working well the way it is for Nula well I suppose that's really something that's going to happen down the road that that a conversation maybe had at some point but at the moment I think we're just as I said we're focused on we are the Letter Kenny Chamber and that's what we're doing but what we do is indicative of what's happening in the county anyway so it flows over into you know to the benefit of the whole county anyways but you know possibly it's a conversation that at some point which are I mean Letter Kenny even in my time here in The Hours has grown so much and you know when you look and you talk to the council about some of their forecast for Letter Kenny and it growing into becoming I know I keep calling it a town and everybody tells me it's where it's going to be a city someday so like as the as the town and the county grows who knows where the chamber will end up being you know what I mean but at the moment yeah of course what it is yeah no no and I'm not start trying to campaign for it well that wouldn't be let's just say the Chamber membership is open to every business in the county okay um of course that's actually an interesting point Claire so in terms of that right um and just as a particular focus of this it's open to everybody and we talked about young younger people around who's getting into business do you think Claire there's a cohort of women in business out there currently that you're speaking to to say you know come and get involved yeah you hear what we're at you can you see what we're going you can see the ethos get involved get your voice views heard get your yourself represented is that an open call out today Claire well I think it is because even before I became involved in the chamber I would have always felt that the chamber for no reason nobody said it but I would always have felt it was you know businessman you know businessman where you know the the makeup of the chamber and you know it was men and sits as such and that's really not what the chamber is about certainly the men and sits are all very welcome and we work really really well together but I think the point being that you know if you walk down any street in that or can there any street or village in Donegal you'll find a lot of young women in business young women you know um starting out maybe you need a bit of support or they're not sure where to turn that's where you know organizations like the chamber in the Leo office etc can be of huge huge benefit but I do think um a lot of women in business do seem to start off as sole traders and that can be quite lonely particularly when you're younger and you need that bit of support and sometimes you need to sound the board and you might just need somebody that you meet for a couple of coffee once a month to say I'm thinking of doing this what do you think so it's not that the chamber is um particularly you know focus on one particular sector as as Christine said but we just felt that the role of the dice this year with the officer board it just so happened organically that we're all female and we felt it was an opportunity to put a call out there to say to women who are in business are thinking of going into business if you you know we're here if we can help the doors open and that's really what our little article was about it was really just showing that um women in business and Donegal is actually very vibrant as well all right what's your priorities it's the old question isn't it Christine what do you see your your priorities your your main focus for uh your term look I suppose it's not rocket science and everybody there's a continuation of what we have to get done as as a chamber so I can come in and wreck the whole thing by having a whole list of different priorities but it's it's all around building membership um Greg the more members we have the bigger voice that we can become in the northwest so that's that's the main priority the rest of it is in and around the strategic relationship piece so we work very well with the Donegal county council we work with the northwest um partnership group we have a memorandum of understanding with the dairy chamber so there's a lot of that work that is around the strategy piece and and doing work for the whole northwest city region um and and that has to be another one events is always one we like to put on member events for for current members we like to do meet the chamber events for anybody that is thinking of becoming a member we do our end to the northwest events which highlights different businesses and and letter Kenny and Donegal um and they're kind of the main things um that's the governance piece to try and keep some continuity there and drive the chamber forward and and so that we're sticking to our three-year strategy or five-year strategy but look it really does come back down to the membership piece and as Claire had said we are open to new members all the time and even if you're just thinking about it you're not sure what it is give us a call get in touch with any one of us we can meet you for a coffee we can tell you a little bit more about it and then you can see if it's something that that you want to do and we urge anybody just thinking about it just to get in touch with any of us all right and finally for you know it's exciting times obviously there's a great deal of money that has been uh already allocated effectively for development of letter Kenny we have LAIT now uh switching to university status that's going to uh you know they're going to be borrowing money and and and then building more more student accommodation that's going to be more people in the town you talked of of population growth that's generally accepted and we're having to plan and build for that right now and we've discussed that in this program before I mean it's it's exciting times around letter Kenny and for Donegal more generally as well I mean obviously there are things that are going on at the moment and they'll have to run their course but the future is uh their future is bright as I was saying you know I've been to meetings via the chamber uh over the last couple of weeks even and I've been staggered by the amount of investment potential that's here and investment that's planned over the next three to five years which is part of the growth of the area between the council as I said with uh you know in the tourism sector and that kind of thing and these are all things that are going to bring one are going to bring headaches but are also to the at the end going to bring more money into into this region it's going to bring more people into the region and what the chamber is going to be there it's going to be help it has won a voice in talking to these organizations that are bringing this big investment as to what that the the region actually needs not what necessarily somebody up in Dublin or somebody sitting on a government thing that has only come up twice a year to Donegal or whatever but that we have a voice to be able to say look we're the people on the ground this is what we need in order to get more people in there this is what our population here needs this is what's you know what's important to this region so we've a voice in that as well we are also there to help if there's you know even things like the four lane uh the four lane car that's the road road that's the word I'm searching for this is suddenly become this is suddenly become the entertainment slot and I've completely forgot my words um yeah like things like the four lane road and that kind of thing where we have a voice to talk about what what times that should be done so it doesn't impact the businesses in the area so it's from and we also did the do the same Patrick stay prayed so it's amazing the different background stuff I think yeah I think that's making a lot of things it's the stuff that's being done in the background at the meetings that you know you're not putting a press release out for everything the stuff that's that's why I would recommend to people and men and women anybody out there young and old if they're look if they have a business come and talk to us come on one of our coffee mornings come on one of our uh one of our events and just really get to see exactly what it is that the chamber does because if if you do see that I think you're definitely going to want to become even more involved brilliant Claire thanks so much for joining us it's great see you again thanks Greg great I appreciate it's okay thank you congratulations again Christine on your appointment and continued success in business and I'm sure we'll talk to you over the course of the year thanks Greg it's our pleasure and last but not least finula thank you very much for joining us a lot of stick you received on fairly about the item being after 10 instead of before 10 but other things came up and you accommodated us and you were on time I know I was on time which is a shocker for even me because I'm not known for my punctuality I will admit okay listen thanks so much indeed no bother right so okay it is the 9 till noon show here in Highland Radio we've still another hour and 20 minutes keeping you entertained and informed stay right where you are because we're going to take a very short break and then we will be back with uh we might take a piece of music or we might have to go on to our next uh our next item but we'll see after these the 9 till 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 fly with Loganair from City of Derry to Edinburgh and immerse yourself in the live shows at Street Food of the Fringe Festival this summer with discounts for children aged 11 and under book now at loganair.co.uk 15 kilo luggage allowance as standard new this week in home store and more all pillows are half price but better hurry because when all our half price pillows are gone they're gone also all laundry hampers and baskets and all hotel collection duvet sets are still half price but when all our half price laundry hampers and baskets and all our half price hotel collection duvet sets are gone they're definitely gone order online before 2 p.m. for next day delivery or drop by your local home store and more home store and more a happy home i can't stop thinking about them i keep rereading their all texts brian brian this has gotta stop it's been months and they send those alerts to everyone you know that right look your bank is leaving but you gotta get packed out there listen to me any bank will be lucky to have you especially bank of ireland really yeah they've even put together a simple step by step guide to move on banks and have a dedicated team on hand to help even an ending could be a new beginning to start finding your new banking partner download our step by step guide to move in banks search bank of ireland big move begin bank of ireland is regulated by the central bank of ireland come along to beaver log cabins big weekend saturday 21st and sunday 22nd of may beaver log cabins are ireland's biggest bespoke log cabin company with quality cabins home offices hot tubs gazebos and more located in bonnemy and bridge end this family friendly weekend features a range of offers discount prices and promotions cb for log cabins dot ie for a great early season lawnmower deal visit gartley sales and hire exclusive stock is of stiga in the northwest more streamers and head streamers full trade and service available at gartley sales and hire gartley letterkinny call 9126276 century complex is the perfect family day out treat yourself to a tasty meal at backstage bar and grill an exciting movie at century cinemas and explore century play get in touch with our team today on 0749121976 or check out our website century cinemas dot ie for more information on century complex the onil sportswear massive warehouse clearance sale is backed by popular demand for one weekend only county ga jerseys leisure wear including t-shirts tracks at bottoms half sips hoodies and jackets are all reduced to clear open from 9 a.m. friday may 20th and sunday may 22nd the sale will take place at onil sportswear off the melmont road roundabout stroban buy now and then split your payment over three months interest free with clarna at tinnies toys letterkinny now that the evenings are longer there's loads of great ideas for outdoor fun at tinnies like pedal and battery ride on tractors cars and jeeps also a great range of outdoor toys like swings and slides now in stock shopping made easy with clarna at tinnies toys let roll letterkinny and at tinnies toys dot com for express delivery or click and collect highland radio weather updates with irland west airport thinking of a sun holiday with the family you can now fly to beautiful new york every friday this summer with ryan air and enjoy some of europe's best beaches irland west airport you're flying and you can fly from irland west airport it is an amazing airport it's so easy to use but you can only use it with a passport we're going to be talking about that in a second just the weather for today dry and sunny for the rest of this morning the way in the afternoon rain with the possibility of thunderstorms will develop in the west mostly southerly winds will increase fresh then strong gusty temperatures 15 to 17 degrees right call assessor sent my passport away on the 27th of january the 27th of january let's not forget its main i'm due to fly out to america on tuesday i've had no communication they contacted me in april for some more info which i provided but nothing else since i've been in touch with td's i've tried to get an appointment in the office in doubling my heart is broken does anyone have any kind of advice the only thing i would suggest you do is go to the web chat part of the passport uh now you'll say it's great it's always great right keep refreshing the page keep refreshing the page keep refreshing the page have your passport number and everything ready to go after a number of refreshes it will eventually turn green and if you can get your info in and submit it that's how i managed to get in contact with them a couple of times but it was literally my thumb wasn't only hanging off i think i had to refresh for about 15 minutes but eventually it went green and i was able to get in the queue and then i got to speak to someone on web chat which at least then i knew what the lay of the land was but that's not going to work for everyone and it doesn't suit every problem but it's just a wee bit of advice that worked for me uh george though good morning to you george morning greg how are you um right you're in that awful situation i think three and a half months is a you know a reasonable leading uh i presume you would have thought you'd have had it long before you were due to go on holiday which is next week um this is a disaster for you and your family george it is yeah so uh we applied um shortly after the second of february um where someone was born in december so you know we were fairly fairly prompt afterwards sent all the required documentation and the password tracker gave us the expected issue date of the 28th of april um you know it says on the website that for first time application they can take up to 30 working days which is six weeks and we've now been waiting over 14 weeks um and you know you mentioned there but the the the web chat we've had no success or that whatsoever um it likes and i have been trying to contact the password office hundreds of times a day this password night and it's not even connecting um and the one time that it did get through uh by three weeks back i did notify them of our upcoming travel date and they made a note of that but obviously hadn't had much of an impact like do you know for certain and this is the problem and it's a problem i had myself george so can speak from a little bit of experience are you sure they have all the correct information do they need anything else like the problem is is there's a lack of communication is this purely just the process dragging on and a staffing issue or could they contact you tomorrow and say oh by the way such and such and such if you've no communications in no way getting in contact you're left completely in the dark yeah absolutely no communication and we contacted our witness last night who signed the forms they haven't been contacted so it hasn't even gone through those checks yet and we we had sent the form through what renewal for our um older son that came through in about three weeks so on the renewal side i think it is actually you know a lot quicker but for first time applications it's just you know it's beyond the joke at this point so what does it mean uh you choose to go on holiday next week it probably feels like you need a miracle uh for this to happen but but and let's hope it does george but what does it mean uh in terms of the holidays the money down the drain or yeah well we've risen with a couple of tv's and don't go all but honestly i'm not sure what they can do you think you only need to go on twitter and you can see that there's hundreds of families and a very similar predicament by the way did any of those tv's ask for evidence of your travel date one of them did yeah right okay well i'd say that's the one that's actually trying it for you to be honest with you i don't need names but if they didn't get your travel date then they're probably not doing anything yeah i think i think just to hide it though what's particularly frustrating about this situation is you know it's obviously getting a bit of coverage at the moment and shavon born who's the director of the password office she spoke with news talk earlier this week and said that the turnaround times for first time passports have been brought down from eight weeks to six and i mean this simply is just not the case and you know as i said go on twitter type an Irish passport and you'll see the level of frustration that's out there families like ours have just saved hard and just now at the risk of losing it all yeah um the the holidays gone of course and you'll leave probably booked off i mean i don't some people are self-employed and all but you know a lot of things have to be moved around particularly the way things are at the moment to facilitate this the first is your you know new full family and congratulations on that george like it should just be you should only be worrying about what you're going to drink in the airport departure lounge you know a coca whatever it might be you should not have to be uh at this point not knowing whether or not you're going to go or not and not it's just the lack of info george that's the thing that gets me yeah and i think you know in our situation as well we're traveling with my wife's parents who you're both elderly and need assistance so it's creating not only stress for ourselves but stress with them as well yeah we've all been you know we've all been docked in our houses for two years and i think most most of us are due a holiday so it's just frustrating that there's another barricade up this year all right listen i just hope the the td comes through for you um they have contact with the office did they get are they related back to you to say i was on to my contact in the office and this is the situation have you had any feedback in the other direction nothing back you say i i really like i kind of know a little bit of the procedure there and they need to be if they're not communicating back to you to say that i've been told this or told that uh you you know i just don't want you sitting there thinking they are doing something when perhaps they're not either because that would just be a worst waste of time yeah all right listen i hope you're jetting off i hope you all it sounds like it's it's going to be a lovely multi-generational family holiday night so it's so important that you get away i hope you do george thanks very much all right take care thanks very much indeed indeed i beg your pardon lucille thank you so much for your patience but you'd need patience uh with this process but i mean in terms of this call what's your situation um i applied for um three new irish passports in late january um my british ones we're living in um northern ireland um and amtram actually um so my british passports had um we're coming up and expire mine expires in july this year um my youngest sons is still valid um my oldest sons has expired last year so i thought i'll get three new irish passports um and when i booked the holiday um and they are currently processing um holidays booked for the fourth of june so i'm flying out in saturday um for an holiday it's quite upsetting yeah it's this is everything you build not for two years yet yeah and with the credit union to go on this holiday um i've been working all through covid the pandemic i think when people say you know you can't get your passport well sure there's only a holiday but it's not a holiday it's something we've worked for we've had a hard time in the family and so every day i'm refreshed and i'm sending my days refreshed and i have an office job during the day um i think um i do have an evening shift um in the hospital um to pay for the holiday and to pay for to pay for everything i am thinking but excuse me um we're not going to get on this holiday i've been reading twitter i've been on to the passport office look i know those girls are working really hard and they're very helpful i've sat on refresh i've laid out i've got three twice in two weeks um and they've been very helpful and they've said they've flagged it up but i realize the pressure they're under um it's it's not it's not um that they're fault they're not getting this on i don't feel i think they're all working um really hard but for me now coming up to the last day now and two weeks on saturday i don't think i'm going to get a holiday so um i'm thinking do i pack my bags do i not pack my bags do i buy things i'm sort of just spending my days on refresh and i haven't really been thinking about anything else because you're completely in limbo you're in purgatory you don't know do you gear up for it uh or do you make the the disappointment even worse it's it's a horrible impossible situation and it's important too to you as you say you've worked throughout the pandemic uh you've you know your family have been through it a bit you've built up this you deserve this uh you've got the money together you've got the plans together and the only thing holding you back is this huge delay someone's going to text in probably and we love all texts of course but say well could you sort out a british passport at this short notice yeah you're looking at that too yeah while i'm on the phone to you here now um this is another issue um i had went and got the total me digital passport photographs so you can get an irish passport photograph digitally or a british one so i had got the three of us our irish digital passport so i managed to get through today i've been refreshing for a fast track um and a premium these are costing up to 400 pound for me to pay just before going holiday but um i'm sort of scripting under holiday money to pay for these to try and get this done i didn't think it would have to do at this stage i finally got through there today just before i got through on the phone to you there um and my digital passport code for the irish passport doesn't work so now i have to try and get three digital passport pictures for our it's just everywhere you go you're met with a problem and then it locks you out of the the website and you have to start the whole process again so i'm doing this my for two weeks um and then the british passport officer belt asked the office thing to have the same problem and being offered appointments in glasgo and durham um it's it's constant i mean i i'm trying to work i've got a job as lead but um and my whole days now for the last two weeks have been standard and refreshing i'm not doing anything else i'm really excited that this is what i have to do you're coming up on on four months since you applied so you know that's a decent leading that's well beyond as far as i can tell that is well beyond what they say the lead time is again the seal it's the same situation with george if you were given some definitive information you could probably start to work with that you could end up possibly with a british passport in one hand and an irish passport in the other next monday uh and that would be fine you'd get on holiday but you'd be down 400 euro and you know god knows about all the stress and anxiety it's clear that you've been going through some information that can't be beyond them the information i'm getting when i got through twice was like they flagged my holiday up for me and then they would get to that it was going to witnesses to keep a close eye on your passport tracking because it might change they might need something else so it's constantly having to log in you can't even refresh you have to type all the numbers and what is your what is the the progress bar saying on the on the uh the republic's portal so on the 22nd of february my passports were due it said they should arrive but the wee bar went back up again um and that said processing so the girl gave an estimated uh estimated dispatch date no i have nothing except processing it was supposed to it said at the end it should be with you on the 22nd of february which is why i hadn't panicked i thought oh i'm getting