 I can read between the lines. Yeah. All right, Lacey, Wednesday. What do you mean Wednesday? Well, see you tomorrow. I thought today was Tuesday. I was thinking, is tomorrow the bank holiday? No. All right, Lacey. Bye-bye. Take care of yourself. That's Lee Goode. Back with you tomorrow morning at 6.30. It is nine o'clock now. Slightly after. Let's say good morning, Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. The housing minister says he expects the enhanced effective block scheme regulations to be published in the coming weeks. Minister Dara Bryan has confirmed that affected homeowners are to be consulted this week on the draft regulations. He says that he intends to include a provision in the scheme for calls for certified works already incurred, while SCSI is carrying out a review of costings also. Minister Bryan says people engaged in with the current scheme will benefit from the enhanced regulations. We have over 150 applications in Donegal processed and through the stages actually since December. And we've provided assistance there as well to make sure that people's applications are actually processed and homes now are being remediated. But we want to see that step up significantly. Regulations are coming down the track very, very shortly. As I said, I expect by the end of February. But there won't be any delay in accessing because people who access the old scheme and apply will get the uplift of the enhanced scheme. Almost nine million euro is to be invested in air projects in Killy bags. The funding has been announced by Marine Minister Charney McCollough under the Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Program. The biggest tranche of the funding will go towards a continuation of work on the smooth point at peer extension. Minister McCollough says the allocation recognises the importance of Killy bags. This nine million euro that I'm investing now, seven and a half million, which will be for the ongoing and continuation of the work that's there, will bring it significantly towards completion. So overall, it's a significant continuation of the investment that is going into Killy bags here in Harbour to ensure that it retains position, not just as they pay in the port nationally, but also a very significant fishing centre internationally. And Lifford Greyhound Stadium is to reopen in April. In a notice issued by the stadium, it's been confirmed that racing will return on Sunday April 2. A race has not been held in Lifford since 2019 after the stadium closed its doors due to what it said was an ongoing lack of support from the Irish Greyhound Board. It was then expected to reopen in March of last year. Councillor Jerry Crawford has been welcoming the latest announcement. There's always been greyhounds in Lifford up until recently. It's always brought people there. There's always been a focus for the people who are that endless and follow it. And there was enough of light for those people when it was absent. And I'm sure that today, above all, we'll be delighted to see it back again. One of this, a welcome, a welcome boost to the economy of the town and just bringing a great facility back into life again. Well then I scattered showers this morning with brighter sunny spells developing, highest temperatures off 7 to 9 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. At Ulster Bank, our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts, along with some of our branches. At this time, if your notice period and your deadline has passed, your account is now queued for closure. All personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching. You must take urgent action. If you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support, please contact us immediately. Visit UlsterBank.ie, your local branch, or call 0818 210 260. Call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free. Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The county's number one talk show, the 9 to noon show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the 9 to noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello and a very good morning to you. Five minutes past nine this Monday the 30th of January. How are you keeping it? We hope you're very well indeed and thank you so much for choosing us once again for your entertainment on a Monday morning. Lots coming up on the show as you can imagine. Brent and Devaney's back by the way. We're going to be discussing yesterday's great game. I thought it was a great game anyway. Maybe it's because we haven't watched Inter County Gaming quite some time or I haven't at least. We'll be discussing that and everything else that's coming up on his DL debate later today here on Highland Radio. And so much more besides, you can watch this program as you can every morning of course. Go on to our website, highlandradio.com, click watch live, or go on to YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland. So you can watch on your smart TV, your forestic or Facebook watch on the same devices. Just search at Highland Radio there and join the conversation, get involved. OK, let's have a look at what's making the newspaper front pages this morning, starting with the Donegal News. Final preparations are being made as thousands prepared to attend the Together for Crescia, Cresla concert in the Aurora Leisure Centre tonight. The concert which is a sold out event is an aid of the Cresla tragedy where 10 people lost their lives in an explosion at the Apple Green service station on the afternoon of Friday, October 7th, 2022. The highly anticipated show will see a star-studded line-up travel to lettercandy for the concert which sold out within 12 hours with doors set to open at 7pm. The concert will feature some of the biggest names in Irish music including Brian McFadden, Keith Duffy, Brian Kennedy, Mickey Joe Hart, Lisa McHugh, The Whistling Donkeys and many more. So well done if you got a ticket and hopefully you have an enjoyable night there. OK, the Derry News this morning. The annual Remembrance Service to commemorate those who were killed on Bloody Sunday was held yesterday at the Rossville Street Monument. Following the event there was an unveiling of a plaque dedicated to the Derry Corps of the Order of Malta. SDLP leader Colm Eastwood MP has announced he will nominate the families of Bloody Sunday victims for the Nobel Peace Prize. Colm Eastwood, who was among those attending Sunday's 51st anniversary commemoration events, said he could think of no better tribute to the families given their commitment to peace and reconciliation during their long fight for truth and for justice. A really, really significant story broke yesterday as it relates to, well I'll read the story here. I don't see it covered extensively elsewhere. It was a Daily Mail exclusive. I don't know if that's why other papers are waiting to get their own angles on it, or if they're just letting it sort of fly onto the radar and such. But anyway, this is covered in the Irish Independent. Former Health Minister Leo Veradkar and Meeho Martin will face questions this week over historic evidence the state had no legal basis to charge families for the care of their elderly relatives. It emerged over the weekend that to make restitution to all families affected would have cost the state around 13 billion euro. Sinn Fein wants answers to what the two men knew and when after leaked internal government papers appeared to show a determination to force people to sue for compensation rather than coming forward with redress. So rather than sort of going to the public and say we admit we've done wrong, this is how we are going to compensate you for what we have done or what has been done to you, sorry. A mechanism was put in place to frustrate the process to discourage people from making an appeal. It was marked top secret. The leaked documentation published in the Irish Mail on Sunday includes a battery of memos relating to a legal strategy apparently aimed at minimizing the cost to the state while leaving some people impoverished by the care bills illegally charged. The problem goes back to the realisation that there may not have been any legal underpinning for charging patients for state sponsored care and nursing homes with doubts, evidence 20 years ago and possibly more. The remedy was the creation of the Fair Deal scheme by Mary Honey, but her immediate predecessor as Minister for Health was Finafoe leader Micheal Martin. A whistleblower provided the newspaper with a dossier indicating the 13 billion figure. In order to avoid such a huge outlay and this is a strategy that's documented, it's alleged the strategy was deployed to bury the lack of legal basis or at least assert that legality could be upheld by a court meaning liability. What happened was that when people pursued, they had the resources to pursue it legally, when it came to the point of disclosure, then the government settled. Hundreds of court actions were nonetheless taken with the strategy seeing the state resist any admission, only when families had reached the point where the process of discovery was imminent when the state would have to release all relative papers in its possession was settlement pursued in such cases, the amounts quietly paid reflected between 40 to 60 per cent of the amounts at right. And in these documents, senior figures that were involved in this praised it. They said, you know, happy days, this is working well, it's working really well, what we're doing here, we're really limiting the payouts. All the while, regular people, often those with no resources who couldn't pursue this were suffering their entire worth wiped out in some cases. As they say, I think it's an incredibly, incredibly significant story. And we'll see how it plays out over the course of the next couple of weeks. But it just isn't historic because it's the type of strategy that had to be reviewed from time to time. So many, many, many people were aware of it. 086625,000, if that affects you. Supports and accommodation for refugees seeking shelter in Ireland could be time limited under proposals due to be considered by the government. This is according to the Irish Times. The Cabinet Committee on Ukraine will meet tomorrow with ministers set to discuss the shortage in national accommodation, including for those fleeing the war in Ukraine. Minister for Children, Roderick O'Gorman will seek immediate access to buildings that belong to other government departments to create between four and six emergency temporary rest facilities in the coming weeks. The Department of Children has also finalised a paper examining what other European countries are offering refugees. It's understood that the paper shows Ireland is an outlier in terms of the type of accommodation offered to refugees, notably hotel accommodation. A senior government source said that in other European countries there are time limits on supports, particularly in terms of accommodation. Such measures will now be considered in terms of Ireland's policy response. On to the Irish Daily Mail now. And senior government figures are furious with Agriculture Minister Charlie McConnelogue and Green Party Junior Minister Papa Pippa Hackett over their failure to spot the political explosiveness of the Quiltshire Gressam House forestry deal. And I believe this is a story there'll be a U-turn on yet. The government can't scratch this deal, but they can term change the terms under which money is granted through this scheme. And I think they're going to have to do that. Well, anyway, we'll see if that happens. Under the deal, private investors represented by the fund management firm Gressam House can invest up to 200 million euro purchasing Irish forestry. This will then be managed by Quiltshire, the state body currently in charge of forestry. Speaking to News Talk, Mr McConnelogue stressed the deal was not our preferred option. He also pledged in future we plan to work much more closely with Quiltshire. However, a senior political figure warned it was once again too little too late. The genie's out of the bottle. Rural Ireland is suspicious and furious. A land war is next on the agenda. The original deal sparked accusations of a furor across a wide section of Finafore, FinaGale and Greenback, pensioners backed up by Sinn Féin and solidarity TDs that vulture funds are being given control of Ireland's forestry via the back door. So, as I say, the only way to scopper that deal is to really, I suppose, change the terms under which money can be granted to investors. They should do it at this stage, you know, no one wants it, seemingly, except this investment company in Quiltshire. But we'll see if that U-turn does indeed happen. The Irish Daily Star this morning fears are growing that there will be no more electricity credits until next winter, despite the likelihood of a cold snap in February and March. Yesterday, Amin Ryan said that the government will decide in the next few weeks whether or not to extend electricity credits into next winter. The environment minister told this week that the COVID-19 supports were wound down over time and the issue would require something similar. He said lowering the credits is less likely and that if the work to be continued, they would likely be continued as they are. If we were to continue them, I think they'd probably continue as they have been used. He says an advancement will be made on that in the next wee while. We shall see. On to the Irish Daily Mirror this morning and Sinn Féin is by far the most popular political party in the country, while backing for Fina Gail has dropped in the wake of Pascal Donahue's election expenses controversy and also I wonder, well, I presume, well, the paper, I don't presume the paper is presuming that's why. The survey also revealed the public are increasingly unhappy with the government's handling of the refugee and migration situation. The Red Sea Business Post poll put Sinn Féin at 33% up 2% and Fina Gail at 21% down 2 percentage points compared to a similar poll taken before Christmas. And in relation to the handling, the government's handling of the refugee and migrant situation, the question is really quite important how it was phrased because it's not to say that the public believe that we should not be taking in migrants or refugees. It's the manner in which it's being done, where they're being housed and how they're being housed. But anyway, during this period, public expenditure means that Pascal Donahue was embroiled in a controversy over his electoral expenses. Do people, though, who support a particular political party, would they change any political party for that matter? Would they change their views like that over one controversy? I'm not really quite sure they would. But anyway, the Irish Sun, publicans have blasted Diageo for forcing them to hike the price of a pint of Guinness. Hard-pressed Ponters will pay up to 50 cent more from tomorrow after the brewers increase the cost of kegs. We found just two Dublin City bars that will charge less than 6 euro. The Harpenic Bridge Inn's Michael Ryan told us without tourists, we'd be in huge trouble. So only two bars in Dublin now, according to this paper, will be charging less than 6 euro for a pint of Guinness. Can you imagine? All right, it's expensive, all stuff isn't it? That's an expensive round. The Newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountain Top Letter Kenny, the 2022 Seastore National Off-Licence of the Year. Individuals looking for a career in insurance with the following vacancies in their Bally Buffet and Dunlow offices. A commercial client-accounts officer experienced required. A personal clients-accounts officer also experienced required. A general office person with a view to being trained in insurance practices. Also, a company's accounts reconciler. Please forward your CV to Carmel at omaliscanlan.com. These choices are the key to a sustainable future. That's why Energia is leading the way in renewable energy technologies like wind, solar and battery storage. Because the choices we all make today will change how we live tomorrow. OK, you're very welcome back. Now we welcome on to the programme Francis McGrory, Club Secretary at Bunkrana Golf Club. Thanks for joining us, Francis. Sorry to be speaking to you under the circumstances. What happened at the club? Just at the weekend there. Probably Friday evening there. The greens were damaged by a couple of boys in a scooter. How extensive is the damage, Francis? It's hard to measure because the damage to the green at this time of year will take months for it to recover. You could be doing competition revenue, green fee revenue, not alone talking about getting delivered to repair it. So they went on to the course in the scooter and did they open down the fairways and focus on the greens? They focused on one green in particular. We have them on camera coming on there. There's two young boys in the one scooter. They just head straight for the eighth green, which is kind of an elevator green up in a height. So they rallied about that green just up and down it and skidding and sliding and tearing up the surface. They've been there for 80, 100 years of grass. Just ruthless vandals and why would they do it? I don't know. And it was prolonged wasn't it? 14 minutes odd they were messing about at that green. We haven't come on there to get to come on about 5.31 and Friday evening and they were there for about 12, 13 months before they left again. And I mean, for people who don't play golf, who don't understand it, you know, the green is where it's at really isn't it in terms of the finesse of the game. You have one down. You don't have a ton of space there for a temporary green either. I don't think I mean it has really serious consequences. It has consequences like the greens. The greens are the course like you're you're judged and you're the quality of greens. You have we prayed herself that we have some of the best greens in Ireland. I've not done it all like it's one of her selling marks or greens are superior like and for this to happen like and in this particular area like we'll just have to play around it like because we wouldn't have an area for a temporary green. Has the greens keeper had a look at it? What what I mean how much work is is it going to take to get this back into a playable state? Well, we'll probably get it fixed up temporary, but it'll not be it'll not be the quality that the members are used to playing on. It'll interfere with your puts and all like and it's the time of year like there's no growth like so seven grass seed at this time of year is going to be a waste of time. So we'll just have to patch it up temporarily. I was up with a green keeper there this morning. And he's going to have a look at it now for a thing and start doing some repairs. They'd like to get it under some plain state, but it'll just be not the quality that where you stay. And realistically, you're probably looking at maybe two three months before I would get anywhere back to standard like the CCTV footage at this point. You're saying it's good footage. It'll be released. Do you want the people responsible to come forward? Is that it? We're giving them a chance to come forward like with a with a fair idea who the two boys are like the two of them on the one scooter. So with a fair idea, we're just giving themselves and their parents parents on those who have scooters. They know whether they shouldn't know where their children are and what they're doing. So they have a chance here to come forward and explain themselves, maybe give them a benefit. Maybe they didn't know no better. They might know what golf has like, you know, They may have thought it just appeared to be like one of those skateboarding parks. I mean, you know, with the way that, as you say, it's an elevating green, elevated green, I'll put them down at your saying it's possible you want them to reach out. It's possible maybe they didn't realize that this the damage they were doing, not just to this, this green, it does it to the whole course effectively. That's right. I like, we're, we're only in that whole course. Like, so the frosty blues are green. They got there. They're going to have a severe impact on us. Like, and I would like to think that they didn't actually know what they were doing. I was hit. They think that was done on purpose. You know, so the part of me is hoping that they didn't realize the consequences of their actions. Like, even though like they've entered somebody else's property, they shouldn't know that right from wrong. They shouldn't be doing that. Like, but I would like to think they didn't actually intend to do the damage that they don't like. Yeah. Okay. Electric scooter, is it? I would like the scooter to the small fellow in the front on a taller fellow behind him. Just come in the gate, just hit it straight to the green. And done whatever they done, up and down, rallying on a, on a electric scooter. These electric scooters are getting out of hand. Like, because they came in there, it was dark. They had no lights or none. Like, so they're actually out in the streets all, all hours of the evening. Like, with these electric scooters, somebody's going to get knocked down or happy. Like, because there are no lights in them. Like, there's times I, myself and my wife would go for a walk. And you can see these young boys coming shitting across roads and these scooters with no lights in them. Like, somebody, there's going to be a serious accident, apart from the vandalism we haven't encountered. Yeah. I think you says, you and, as an individual and as a club, are being very fair on this one as well, to be honest with you. Recognising that maybe they didn't realise the consequences of their actions. Well, we are just a community golf club. Like, we're not like these large golf clubs of plenty of money. They carry out repair work. Like, we just live from week to week. We keep the membership fees a little witty and courage of the local community to play golf. Like, so we pray to ourselves in the community aspect. So we're, you know, we would thank the worst of somebody until we're aware what that takes place like, you know. Right. OK. Well, you're saying, listen, come forward, resolve the situation, amicably the CCTV footage is there if it was released. I think the people would, in the local community, would very quickly identified and the Guardian with them would become involved. You're giving them a window of opportunity to come forward. Yeah, we're giving them one, though. If we don't hear them at the end of the day, like, we'll just report the whole of something to the guard. I think that's going to move on from there, like. I don't think you can be any fairer than that, Francis. And you have a very talented person there looking after the Greens, too. Hopefully they're able to work their magic and get it, you know, back to a playable situation sooner rather than later. Thank you. No, thanks for your claim. All right. Thanks for highlighting this. No, no, no, it's important. It's OK. And I think it's been really, really fair. That's an important point to make. British airline Flyby, a cease trading and all scheduled flights have been cancelled. The UK Civil Aviation Authority made the announcement and urged those with booked Flyby flights not to travel to airports. CAA consumer director Paul Smith said it's always sad to see an airline enter administration and we know that Flyby's decisions to stop trading will be stressing for all of its employers, sorry, all its employees and customers. Breach has been affected by this. Breach, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. How are you? I'm OK. I'm all right, Breach. What had you planned and what plans were scoppered? Well, I am going to East Midlands on the 25th of February. It was for an arts and training event. So I had booked last Tuesday. Didn't book to say last Tuesday evening. And then I woke up on Saturday morning and someone was telling me the whole thing was kaboom gone. And my flights, they weren't cheap. Greg, to be honest, they were 270 euros for a return flight to Belfast. So I just was a bit sort of peeve, disappointed, whatever. You know, you can't even plan ahead now at all. Yeah, and no word on refunds yet. I'd imagine if they've gone kaboom, as you say, they probably don't have the resources to pay. We'll try and find some of that information out though. You're maybe looking for a payback into your card. That's one option. I don't know how successful that might be I am kind of annoyed at the fact that obviously they took my money last Tuesday and they knew they were going to go kaboom, as I said. But because they're not just rescheduled flights, I don't mind how I get as long as I get, you know, or get my money back. I do still want to travel. Obviously, you know, you don't book something on that one. So that's what I'm hoping for. I've been on to the bank, but I haven't had any comeback there yet because I paid for my debit card. So hopefully, hopefully I can get it back. I'll have to see them today. Yeah. And as you say, it's a significant amount of money, isn't it? Yeah. You know, it's 300 euros gone. I said they'll get refunded. I don't know of travel insurance and we'll find our own car. Maybe Owen can hear me now. Owen, are you there? I am indeed listening to that story. It's another very, very sad story from the aviation, Greg. I was just going to make a point, but you're there and you can answer straight away. It's probably not the case, the point in Breige's case, but if you had travel insurance, does travel insurance cover an airline collapse? Oddly enough, travel insurance tends not to cover an airline collapse because in the old days, the airlines didn't collapse because they were all government funded. Now, every travel insurance varies from policy to policy. What we've had, what we've had in about 10 years, for about 90 euros or 100 euros, you'll get an annual policy. Nobody looks at it. It comes with about 20 minutes of reading with all your clauses. But most of those in my experience don't cover an airline collapse. Now, they have, you can buy an extra onto a lot of them for about 6 euros to cover an airline collapse. But that's not really any good because nobody only looks at it, Greg, until the airline has collapsed and they say, oh yeah, you managed to get out of this, guys. There is another way back for Breige and she will get our money back. The two ways back are the credit card charge, get your charge back, let the credit card company know and get it back quickly. And if that doesn't work, the equivalent of the Aviation Commissioner in England is the CAA and they will refund everybody. There is a sort of a cover fund, one euro per every flight that goes into a central pot and it covers collapses like this. The real problem and Breige has just alluded to it there is you really don't want to hassle. You don't want to be looking to another airline to pay sometimes a higher price than was the original and going through all that rigmarole. You just want to be told, here's your new flight time. That's not an option, unfortunately. What happened with FlyB is and they took bookings right up till midnight on Friday and at 3 a.m. they started sending our emails saying... Before we get to that story because I want to let Breige go, how does one apply for a refund through the CAA? Website, fairly clear cost, very straightforward. Be very, very careful. When you Google and you say flight refunds, FlyB collapse, you're going to get all of these sites popping up saying, oh, we'll get your money back for you and they all charge you. It's free. Go straight to the CAA.co.uk site and go straight to them. One of the problems with the internet is that Google... If you pay Google money, you'll land top of the page and there's no shortage of chance and wide-eyed... And we've seen this before when people are applying for visas for America so CAA.co.uk Breige. Why can't I charge you for free? We charge you. You know what she's talking about. Yeah. All right, great stuff, Breige. I'll let you go. Busy house, I would say. Thank you so much. Thank you. Take care. Please do, Breige. God bless you. All right, good luck with the training, of course. Right, okay. Sorry about that, Owen, dipping in and out. So you were about to tell us how this came to pass then because FlyB were taking bookings right up to the last. How could they have... What is the tipping point? There must be a real cliff edge with some of these airlines then. Usually it's a payment that comes in. You know, they have a payment to make. They failed to make it. FlyB didn't own very many of their aircraft. Six of them are leased out of a company in Shannon Airport and one out of Dublin and they operated a series of dash forwards. So what they were doing behind the scenes of Friday, this only emerged afterwards, was scrambling for finance. They were running out of cash. They knew they wouldn't be able to continue operating on Saturday. They didn't raise the money that they needed. And the tragedy here is that FlyB failed before. They failed in March 2020. US hedge funds bought the brand for a small amount of money, big to you and me, but a small in aviation. They bought the name really, did they? They bought the name and all the problems for about two million pounds sterling. And they then did something very fascinating and reckless in my opinion, in that they went to, they started operating routes which were competing with other airlines and they put an awful lot of connectivity into linking regional airports into Heathrow. Heathrow is a horribly expensive place to fly in and out of. Your passenger charges before you even start charging the fare are 30 pounds sterling. So they were operating expensive aircraft on expensive routes in competition with other airlines. And it didn't seem to be a model that made a hell of a lot of sense. They then started chopping and changing at short notice. So it was a series of almost crisis management and you would have thought if you're coming into a new company, whatever about operating an airline that's running into trouble, if you're buying an airline, you would have worked out a pretty strong strategy to get through it. Now they also bought in during COVID. They knew the problems of COVID but nobody expected COVID to disrupt things for so long and that is another factor that brought them down. But you have to ask yourself, when you go into the aviation game and you haven't got it worked out, it's a very competitive business and then aviation failure is big news because of the amount of disruption it causes and the havoc it causes for customers. It also causes havoc for Belfast City Airport who've lost one third of their business in one fell swoop. Yeah, it's a big, a big, big hit. So all customers that would you to fly with them, caa.co.uk, that's the place to go and to seek a refund there. I mean, when you have the options, you know, your credit or debit card provider or whether or not you have this perhaps bells and whistles insurance that might cover you or the caa refund. How do you choose which is the best offer there? First up is credit card. If the credit card gets lost to you straight away and the others are a bit longer and a bit messier, the credit card will be looking to the ca for you to get their money back. But if it's a reasonable enough purchase, you can generally catch it on your credit card. Right, OK. This all comes, I mean, it's the flip side of the aviation industry. Ryanair, they've posted its largest after tax profits for the October to December quarter and said bookings, freestar and summer flights in recent weeks were very, very robust. I mean, they're trying to get a new planes to cover the kind of passenger numbers they'll be shifting around the place. I mean, the strategy they employed, people can be quite critical from Ryanair at times, but they kept their business at a point during the pandemic that gave them an amazing springboard when things opened up and now they're reaping the benefits here. You got it there, Greg. They kept their pilots licensed, they kept their aircraft certified, they didn't have to store them and then send them back in to go through that expensive process and they kept their cabin crew employed. Now, that meant when they came back last summer, they roared back into the sky to give you an example of where they fit in the European Champions League. In 2019, it was pretty much touch and go between the Lufthansa group, not Lufthansa, but the entire group that includes Swiss, includes Brussels, includes Austrian, which would be the biggest airline in Europe. Ryanair or Lufthansa, you know, there'd be a couple of million between them, but our Ryanair were just that nose ahead. It looks when the figures, Ryanair released their figures for last year, 130 million passengers, when Lufthansa and the third place, Turkish Airlines released their figures, Ryanair could actually be as big as the two of them combined. They're streaking ahead in passenger numbers because of that strategy. The profit is about one third of the winter of pre-COVID, so they haven't got back to making the money back and remember, you've got to remember, they lost about two billion Euro. They had two billion to lose. Otherwise, they'd be where FlyB is now, but they lost about two billion through the pandemic. So they're edging that profit back. Interesting thing from those figures that you quoted this morning, the revenue per passenger is about 60 Euro per passenger, which is a very good return. A average fare is about 40 Euro of that. So we're seeing a situation where a Ryanair's fares are only about two thirds of what their revenue per passenger is because so many people are buying priority boarding on the cup of coffee and the extra buy. I still don't understand why people do the priority boarding, but anyway, they're clever enough to package it. And the prices have gone up. I think it's around 14%. This increased turnover is primarily because they're getting the bombs on the actual seats. When you consider also that the increasing fuel costs and everything else, I think it really is quite a remarkable business story, but one we've come to expect from that company is supposed to some extent. I don't want to sound like I'm praising them too much, but that kind of success in this kind of environment needs to be celebrated, I think. Well, the fares went up 14%. The average across the industry last year was 40, 40%. So anyone looking at their Lanzarote flights and Christmas will have seen exactly what happened with fares. They're flying up. The fuel situation is also very remarkable. Michael Leary, as you know, is not unknown to have his elbow on the fence at racecourse tracks around it. He's a bit of a gambler, but he gambled very heavily on fuel going up. So he hedged 80% of his fuel for last year at a lower cost. And he's hedged 60% of this year at whatever price he could buy. When you do that, you're gambling that the price will go up, not down. As everyone knows listening, price spiked in fuel the first six months immediately after the war broke out this time last year. And Ryanair ended up paying an awful lot less than the likes of Flybee who couldn't hedge because they were a new airline and didn't have the buying power that they did. And finally, Ryanair offering hope to some of the Flybee staff. I think they've around about 250 staff pilots, obviously they'll have no issue there in getting work if they wanted. Belfast was their biggest base. It's like 150, nearly 200 people in Belfast. It's a shocking employment story as well. It might require a relocation for Flybee staff to avail of any Ryanair offers then. Well, Ryanair have put in rescue flights for the passengers and they're having a recruitment day, I think, tomorrow for Flybee staff. Ryanair do fly out of Belfast. I get confused here because there was some squabble over airports. But Ryanair do fly out of one particular Belfast airport. Isn't it Belfast city airport? It's Belfast International. Air Lingus fly out of Belfast city. But you're right, okay. I was half right somewhere on it. That's why I've sat left over. You know what I mean? Just a point. Greg, you're not the only one who needs it because Ryanair went into Belfast International, pulled out, big row. Michael O'Leary famously called it Loch Nye International Airport. He'd eat abuse and vitriol as well. He'd eat abuse and vitriol as well. He'd eat abuse and vitriol on top of Belfast International. Then after about a year and a half he'd arrive at Belfast city. He went back to Belfast International. But he's flying out of Belfast International. Air Lingus are flying out of Belfast city. That's the outstands. And the EasyJet, the only airport in Ireland where Ryanair go head to head with EasyJet is Belfast International. So it will be an interesting summer and it could lead to very good fares out of Belfast International because that's how people on Belfast don't have the same level of competition in other airports. And part of the problem with me too is that I'm just not in airports as often as I would like. Oh listen, it's always a... Why leave Carrick Finn, Reg? Why would you ever want to leave Carrick Finn? Yes, but I don't fly, I just sit watching airplanes. Listen, thanks very much Owen. That's Owen Curry there, editor of The Air and travel magazine. OK, back with more soon. Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com The Nine Til Nine Show brought to you by Bluebird Care Providing nurse-led home care services in Donegal Call Bluebird Care 9129562 and bring care home Keep out the cold, cold, cold this winter And ring Fleming for their full range of garage doors, Agri doors, insulated doors, milking parlour doors Fleming 9148234 Tune in this Tuesday to the Community Garda Information Slot On air after 10am on the Nine Til Noon Show In association with Sheridan Security Systems Call today and get your zero-wire alarm system From 299 Euro, Sheridan Security 9126025 It's where you live, it's where you relax It's where you make memories Treat your home to a visit to Cooney's Home Interiors We have everything in store to help recreate your home Choose for an extensive range of suites, tables, beds, mattresses And home furnishings for every room Cooney's Home Interiors Letter Kenny Style and perfection at incredible value Armacola jewelers in Letter Kenny are synonymous with Fine jewelry, quality watches and giftware With stores at Main Street Letter Kenny And the Letter Kenny Shopping Centre Or online at armacola.com You can choose from their quality product range And a relaxed atmosphere And their sales staff will be happy to help you Make the right choice whatever the occasion Armacola jewelers Making moments magical for generations Bluebird Care are hiring nurses and carers across Donegal Call 911-295-62 Bluebird Care, our sponsors of today's show We at Highland Radio love Irish music And we want to show our support Throughout Irish Music Month this March In partnership with Hot Press Magazine We're asking you to support the Irish Musicians Artists and bands who make every party Every drive home and every day magic That's right, to celebrate Irish Music Month On Highland Radio we're asking you to support Irish artists and musicians By buying Irish albums, Irish tickets Irish t-shirts and Irish music merch Irish musicians have shown that they are right up there With the best in the world So let's support them by buying Irish Pridely supported by Highland Radio, Hot Press IBI and the BAI Sound and Vision Fund I've lost my car keys Lost my car once in a multi-story Lost my patience My hair Lost that a while back But this week I found things I thought had gone forever The crackle of needle on vinyl Leaves, crunching I found them all at SpexAvers I got free hearing aids with PRSI And now those sounds are back So's my joy to leave Still can't find those keys though Book a free hearing test today Terms and conditions apply See our website for details Shares this morning with bright or sunny spells developing Clad will build from the west as usual Through the late morning and early afternoon With outbreaks of light rain and drizzle Following temperatures Seven to nine degrees Now you may have heard on the news A point nine five million Is to be invested in eight projects In Kilibegs The funding has been announced today By Minister Charlie McConnelogue Under the Fishery Harbouring Coastal Infrastructure Development Program Independent Deputy Thomas Pringle In Kilibegs of course Joining us now good morning Thomas Good morning Greg, how are you? Good good good news Yeah well I mean Initially you were thinking it was good news And I would love to be on here today Saying that is fantastic news It's great to see this money being invested But I have serious questions about it Because if you go back to 2017 Six point five, six point two million Was announced for Kilibegs Point project And then in 2021 Five point five million was announced for it And then in July last year We had ten point five million project And now we have another project again So I would wonder What's going on here I mean it seems to me that This has been announced and announced and announced And the project is Trundling along slowly but surely And I think really what should be announced Is probably that this 900,000 Has been allocated to this year Out of an overall Budget of ten point five million But that doesn't sound as good When you put it on the radio Right so you're saying At least part of this eight point nine five million Has in fact You seem to be saying the majority of it Has already been announced over previous years Over a number of years Long number of years come back to 2017 I have found that That's just on a quick google search I'm sure if you looked a bit longer and a bit closer You'll find it again as well I had a press release out in July last year Question that has been announced again at that time And actually the fund has decreased From July to this year So there must be budget re-saving In relation to that as well Might be the green party influences rubbing off With the recycling Maybe I don't know Or maybe I don't know, Pinocchio's rubbing off But be that as it may Be that as it may though The work is ongoing nonetheless though And there to allow it to continue So that has to be welcome I think there's always a bit of politics played isn't there Well I mean I could have been announced in 2017 Or 2018 or 2019 Or 2020 or 2021 And it was announced in July last year And 2022 So why is it announced again And maybe we should have announced it next month as well That would make it very positive And everybody would Make it by quality every year Well exactly that would be good That would be a good start although the dozens of people Might not be too happy with that I mean a little bit flip and Greg I suppose But you know The sad thing about it is that I would love to be able to be on here and say That this is new money and this is something that's badly wanted But this is something that's ongoing And you know like the small craft Harbour that's funding allocated for that Which is also announced in 2021 And it's actually Under construction at the moment But up to the roof Like you know so What's the point Well we'll inquire just as to how much of this Is new investment and how much of it Maybe has already been spent Because I think it's important to clarification But I mean it's good to hear the announcements It's good to hear work going on But at the same time if this is Old money being re-announced I don't think that's very good for people Either because you know we want to know exactly What's going on If it's not old money and if it's new money Then you have to wonder how the pay Where's the money going? It's costing 6.2, 5.6, 11, 12 million 10.5 it's 22 million And another 9 million So the pay extension is costing 32 million So far Yeah so it's important To get clarification on that Before I let you go You know maybe you didn't get the papers yesterday Have you been tracking this story Over the government's handling Of the illegal care home fees I think it's going to If it doesn't it possibly should Dominate Conversation in the dull Over the coming days If this is as it appears I think it's one of the biggest health stories To come out in an incredibly long time It's an absolute gamble I haven't read the folder yet But I mean it's shocking What you actually see in relationship But you know it doesn't surprise me To say that but that's the way The government proceeds and the government goes on That's what's wrong with what we have In government in this country And it's basically like whether it's In a fall or in a gale, they just truncle on And do the same things And we need to change that And ultimately it's only the people that can change that You know we'll have A ring and a lesson of teeth And up there and they'll be apologising And so it goes on And we know what's going on But as I say As I say much more will come out In that story I'm sure in the media And in the dull over the coming days Thank you very much for your time Independent Deputy Thomas Pringle And as I say maybe I was being a little bit facetious there In relation to the announcements But we shall find out Because either it's an incredibly expensive project Or there is Old money being Announced again I want to give a mention to something That's really caught with you out there The community hero competition That's running at the moment In association with iMotors It's a collaboration between Highland Radio and iMotors And what we are offering here Is a It's a 231 Nissan Kashkai for 12 months The community hero award Will honour a neighbour, family, friend A colleague or community supporter Has made an extraordinary contribution within the community So what we're asking you to do Individual or as an organisation And we were saying this during the launch At the end of last week I think all of us can almost immediately think of someone To say you know what If they had a brand new car under them For 12 months it would be a great boost to them People have to be over 18 of course and hold a full driving licence And would be responsible for Tax and insurance and fuel in the vehicle But they would have access to an incredibly reliable Of course 231 Nissan Kashkai So I'll give you some suggestions But you will know yourself Who would qualify For this type of a prize We want someone who's going beyond the call of duty That helps the community, that's caring The community volunteers in the community Works with young people, old people Disadvantaged people And it costs nothing to nominate them So tell us briefly Why you believe a person That you know deserves to have Access to this brand new vehicle For 12 months and it's simple You send in your nominations Via email to comments at highlandradio.com Email comments at highlandradio.com But we recognise that E-mailing is not for everyone So feel free to write down a few lines Stick it in an envelope and post it Or drop it in to Highland Radio Mount in top letter Kenny Now the closing date for entries is the 22nd of February We want to work quickly on this of course To give them the benefit of the car all year The closing date for entries is the 22nd of February The winner will be announced on this programme The 9 till noon show on the 24th of February So nominate your community hero And they can have Access for a year to a brand new 231 Nissan Cache Guy for 12 months It's a beautiful car And we've already had a really Good interest in that which is great And also there's another thing I want to mention here just while I have A tiny little bit of space Because the entries Close on this tomorrow So you know here at Highland Radio We love and support Irish music And as part of Irish Music Month And independent radio right across the country We are inviting you to take part Because we're taking part really as well In our local hero talent search So if you're a band Or in a band Or not in a band, whatever individuals And you're releasing your own original music There should be any genre at all You don't need me to go through the genres You know all about that We want you to get involved in this competition Because you'll be representing us in the county as well I suppose you could put it like that Also you'll be on this show performing live Which we're really looking forward to All the shortlisted entries Will be on this show And if you're successful then You'll play at a national broadcasting event And win a prize pot of 10,000 euro So we're looking for four acts On there on this show And one of those acts then will go on to represent Highland Radio and the county in the region On a nationally broadcast gig If you're one of the four Highland Radio Shortlisted finalists You'll receive 875 euro 650 for a band And 225 for the crew Irish Music Months Promoting Irish artists from every genre From every county in Ireland So don't miss out on your chance Check out our website and social media You need to do it today though So if moms, dads, aunts and uncles You've got a talented band Or group or individual in your family It doesn't matter what kind of music they produce Please get them to send in an mp3 To musicathighlandradio.com We bio about the Band or individual and an mp3 of the song And closing date for entries is tomorrow So close of business tomorrow So if You know someone that could qualify For that please get them to enter They're not listening themselves And I know From this show, and this show's just one of the many Shows that supports Irish music But particularly with them coming in live We have just such an amazing talent Of all ages as well though I think when often when people talk about When people talk about Irish music It's this focus on you Well we had an artist in here recently From Derry Who is producing music And has started producing music Really quite recently And they're no spring chicken I think that's not a wrong way of putting it So don't think that I'm not young enough to enter I really don't want anyone to be discouraged By age, not that it's laid out like that But anyway Right, okay Today marks the 51st anniversary of Bloody Sunday When British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians 14 people died Following a protest in the bogside area of Derry And what is regarded as one of the darkest days Of the troubles Michael McKinney's brother William was killed on Bloody Sunday Michael, I presume It's a difficult time of the year every year And it's not just this one day Or the days leading up to it There's other Christmas time birthdays Missed opportunities to have your brother At certain events, it must be always Ongoing Michael Absolutely, and it always has been I That loss is still there I'm sure Every one of the families Surely feel like that We've always must them The Bloody Sunday families now have been nominated To receive the Nobel Peace Prize STLP leader Colin Eastwood said I'm looking forward to honour the families And hope to pressure the British government On its planned approach to legacies He says it's a fitting tribute for the families Long fight for truth and justice And I suppose we all watch on in admiration Michael with What you're doing What you're trying to do What you're hoping to achieve But as a family and as a collection of families Really Maybe you don't always realise That we're so focused on what you guys Are doing and follow it so closely Well You're right When we started the campaign In 1992 We were really Fixed on what we wanted to achieve We weren't exactly sure Where we were going But there was a determination there Among us That we were never just going to give up And We'll go what we've done You know We got the first time Over I think we made legal history In getting us the first time Over an inquiry A second inquiry was ever granted On the annual event But when you're involved in something like this You're so focused On where you want to go And what you want to try and get done Because you know what's right You really Really don't realise How much attention is on you You know From the public And Thankfully The dignity of a family Has been really something else You know They've really kept Their heads up And With dignity I think We've achieved That has really been something I think everyone listening would agree Michael Is this all consuming for you Michael Or do you have to sort of Have some of your time For the campaigning and the search For justice and then You know some of the time Where you can try and just sort of Maybe function a little bit outside of this Or maybe you don't want to Do you have any questions there for yourself Michael Well During the inquiry Things were a lot more intense Things have eased off a bit now Although we have been in court As one of the five families For what happened in Murfara Park Just last week and this week And probably a week after And The legal process From The prosecution thing that started This last number of years And It's always there It's going on and on And He asked me was consuming It was consuming at one stage Not as much at the minute But it's still there You know You're talking about The legal process You're talking about a massive group of families Sometimes there are different views And that's always there Okay Sorry Michael I was just always interested in that Because It's such a well organized campaign Okay Michael Listen thanks for your time And my condolences to you again This is not just the anniversary of Bloody Sunday It's a personal thing to you Even though that is But I hope you understand what I'm saying You asked your brother Okay Michael thank you very much I even have Michael McKinney Who's brother William was murdered there On Bloody Sunday We'll be back with more after the news And obituary notices The 9 Town Inshow with Bluebird Care Providing home care services for all ages And Doneggol Visit bluebirdcare.ie And Bring Care Home Wet and Wild Wet and Wild is celebrating 20 years in business with a massive 20% off absolutely every store in February. 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Could you hold the line? Yeah, no problem. Now, how can I help you? Hi, I'm looking to make some updates to my insurance policy. Have you tried our online portal? I thought it would be easier to call. Yeah, yeah, no. You're going to have to log on to amend your policy. Thanks for calling. No, no, wait. I don't know my password. Get the feeling that your insurer doesn't want to talk to you? At Local Insurance, we understand your needs. Call today for a bespoke quote or find us online at localinsurance.ie. Local Insurance will get you sorted. The Local Insurance Network, Dak Trading's Local Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Local Insurance is a tide insurance intermediary of Acorn Brokerage Limited. Acorn Brokerage Limited, Trading's Acorn Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Line on air online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning. I'm Akilah Clark with the news at 10 o'clock. The housing minister says he expects the enhanced effective block scheme regulations to be published in the coming weeks. Minister Dara Ryan has confirmed that affected homeowners are to be consulted this week on the draft regulations. He says that he intends to include a revision in the scheme for calls for certified works already incurred, while the SCSI is carrying out a review of costings also. Minister O'Brien says people engaging with the current scheme will benefit from the enhanced regulations. We had over 150 applications in Donegal processed and through the stages actually since December. And we've provided assistance there as well to make sure that people's applications are actually processed and homes now are being remediated, but we want to see that step up significantly. Regulations are coming down the track very, very shortly, as I said, I expect by the end of February. But there won't be any delay in accessing because people who access the old scheme and apply will get the uplift of the enhanced scheme. Lifford Greyhine Stadium is to reopen in April. In a notice issued, it's been confirmed that racing will return on Sunday April the 2nd. A race has not been held in Lifford since 2019. After the stadium closed its doors, due to what it said was an ongoing lack of support from the Irish Greyhine Board. It was then expected to reopen in March of last year. Councillor Jerry Crawford has been welcoming the latest announcement. There's always been Greyhines in Lifford up until recently. It's always brought people there. There's always been a focus for the people who have that list and follow it. And there was enough of light for those people when it was absent. And I'm sure that today, above all, we'll be delighted to see it back again. One of those are welcome, they welcome us to the economy of the town and just bringing a great facility back into life again. Significant damage has been caused to Bongkranagolf Club after the green was vandalised during what has been described as a 14-minute period of pure havoc on Friday evening. CCTV footage shows two young men on an electric scooter entering the ground shortly after half past five and damaging an area around the eighth screen. Frances McGrory, Secretary of Bongkranagolf Club, says it will take two to three months for the damage to be fully repaired. He's warned that those responsible have until the end of the day to come forward. We have a fair idea of who the two boys are, like the two of them on the one scooter. We have a fair idea, we're just giving themselves and their parents, parents on those who have scooters, they know where they should know where their children are and what they're doing, like, so there's a chance here to come forward. And if we don't hear them at the end of the day, like, we'll just report the whole of them to the garric. The T-shock and Health Minister must make statements on what they knew of an alleged strategy to deny families access to refunds of illegal nursing home charges. Sinn Féin is making the call after revelations in the Mail on Sunday that the success of governments allegedly have a secret plan to block refunds. It's alleged the state faced a 12-billion-euro liability in compensation for families who were wrongly charged for the care over 30 years ago. The party's spokesperson on health, David Cullinan, says his claims senior ministers were aware. What's been alleged is that a number of ministers would have known and obviously very senior people in the department and at the highest level of government, including the T-shock, Leo Frager, that's what's been alleged. That's why this is so serious and in any situation if the state was to involve in any covert plan to deprive people or to deny people what are just entitlements and then force people through the courts. If that is what happened and that's what's been alleged in this article, then that's profoundly serious. Whether or not a scattered charge this morning with bright or sunny spells developing highest temperatures of seven to nine degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. From 3.30 p.m. this afternoon. Funeral from there traveling via Quigley's Point on Wednesday morning at 10.45 a.m. going to St. Mary's Church Kilimanj for Riquia Mass at 12.00 with interment immediately afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to St. Colm Kill Village, Clay Kilimanj, care of any family member or McPhilly funeral directors. Family time please from 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. Michael's funeral mass can be viewed live on ChurchServices.tv. The death has taken place of Robinson Crawford, Main Street, Ballantra. His remains will repose at his late residence today from 2 p.m. till 9 p.m. Removal from there tomorrow for 2 p.m. funeral service in St. John's Church, Rossnowla with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. House private please on the morning of the funeral. Family flowers only. Donations if desired to the Northwest Hospice, care of any family member or Jackie Karen funeral director. The death has taken place of Sarah McFadden, Killock Karen, Chrysler, County Donegal. Her remains will be reposing at her late residence from 11 a.m. this morning. Removal from her home tomorrow evening to arrive at St. Michael's Church, Chrysler at 6 p.m. to repose overnight. Funeral mass in St. Michael's Church on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Burial afterwards in Dose Cemetery. Mass can be viewed on ncmedia.tv. The death has taken place of Eddie George Sweeney, Golan Milford. Remains reposing at his home from 6 p.m. this evening. Funeral mass on Wednesday at 12 p.m. it's in Bridgets Church, Golan. Burial afterwards in Milford Cemetery. Rosary tonight and tomorrow at 9 p.m. Family flowers only. Donations if desired to the renal unit at the Kenney University Hospital. Care of Patrick Sweeney, funeral directors. The death has taken place of Margaret Turish of Bali Bose, Chrysler, County Donegal. Her remains are reposing at her late residence. Funeral mass in St. Michael's Church, Chrysler tomorrow at 12 p.m. Burial afterwards in Dose Cemetery. Mass can be viewed live on mcnmedia.tv. Family time, please, from 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. and before the funeral tomorrow. Family flowers only, please. Donations in lieu of desired to friends of Letter Kenney University Hospital, Care of family member or James Harkin funeral director. The death has occurred of Dermott Donahue, 73, Belly McCoolwood, Letter Kenney. Dermott's remains are opposing at his late residence. Funeral from there tomorrow morning for rakeway mass at 11 a.m. in St. Union's Cathedral, Letter Kenney, followed by cremation in Lakeland's Crematorium, County Cavern at 3.30 p.m. House private from 10 p.m. to 12 noon and on the morning of the funeral. Funeral mass can be viewed on churchservices.tv. The death has taken place of John Daly, Northland Crescent, Dairy. John's remains are opposing at his son's Michael's residence for a more view, Newton Cunningham. Funeral mass in St. Eugene's Cathedral, Dairy tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. followed by burial in the city cemetery. Funeral mass can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. The death has occurred of Pat McGee, Ballantemple, Fulcara, reposing at his late residence with Rosary at 8 p.m. House private until 12 p.m. and also on the morning of the funeral. Funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in St. Phoenix Church, Fulcara with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. The funeral mass can be viewed live on mcnmedia.tv or on the Sweeney Funeral Director's Facebook page. The death has occurred of Bobby Byrne, 54, Ballet-Mungan Road, Colleter Castle-Derg. Reposing at the family home today from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Funeral from the family home tomorrow morning at 10 p.m. for Riqua Mass at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick's Church, Ahyarn and termined afterwards in the adjoining churchyard. Family flowers only please. The death has taken place of Francis Deborah Dora McDade, formerly of Killeverry, County Donegal. Family and friends are welcome to pay their respects at W.J. O'Brien and son's funeral home, 110 Clooney Road, Ellington County Dairy, this evening from 7 to 9 p.m. Dora's funeral service will take place there tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. Cremation will take place on Wednesday afternoon in Lakeland's Crematory and Cavern at 1 p.m. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu of flowers if wished to the Alzheimer's Society. The death has occurred of Mick Dunleavy, 18 Wolf Tone Place, Glencara Letter County. Funeral from his late residence this afternoon for 1 p.m. Riqua Mass in St. Union's Cathedral Letter County with burial afterwards in Cornwall Cemetery. House private to family only please before the funeral today. The death has taken place of Bridget Boyle, knee-boner, Dairy Drill, Dunlow, Donegal and formerly of New York. Funeral Mass in St. Patrick's Church, mean across this morning at 11 o'clock followed by Cremation at Lakeland's Crematorium, Cavern. The death has taken place of Neil Doran, 23 Coal Hill Park, Newton Cunningham, formerly of Vae Manor Cunningham. His remains are opposing at his late residence. Funeral from there this morning at 10.30 a.m. for 11 a.m. Riqua Mass in All Saints Church, Newton Cunningham followed by burial in the Adjoining Cemetery. Family flowers only, donations in lieu of desired to Newton Cunningham community first responders care of any family member or Terence McClintock, funeral director. House private please before the funeral today. The death has occurred of Kathleen Maloney, formerly Sixth Castle Park, Bunkranna. Kathleen's remains are opposing at her brother Martin and Elizabeth's home at one Riverside Coal Hill Road, Bunkranna. Funeral from there tomorrow morning at 10.20 for 11 o'clock Riqua Mass in St. Mary's Church Coal Hill, followed by burial in the Adjoining Cemetery. Funeral can be viewed live on churchservices.tv. For more details including family health guidelines for wakes and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. At Iris Life Health, our benefit plan helps you embrace a healthier lifestyle. Get up to 250 or back on a mix of benefits, like fitness wearables, dieticians, and sports clubs, like your local GAA club. It's health insurance, but not as you know it. Search Iris Life Health. Iris Life Health Act is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Terms and conditions apply. Call us to see exactly what's covered. The county's number one talk show. The 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. And you're very welcome back to the program. Good morning if you're just joining us. 12 minutes past 10 on this Monday, the 30th of January 2023. And just a word for you if you're listening to us on our pod on the website or on playback overnight that you can always get involved in the conversation. By the way, if you email comments at highlandradio.com or WhatsApp or text the show on 08 660 25000, well then we can pick up your comments for broadcast on the next morning show. Hi Greg, in relation to the nursing home charges, is it the fair deal ones that were scammed? Or can anyone claim back that the family's in nursing homes? I'm learning about this story as we go at the moment. I can't answer that question for certainty. I don't think it's associated necessarily with the fair deal scheme but we are going to be covering it so stay tuned. Tell Charlie McConnelogue we the people are not that easy food nowadays, fitting better to get better quotas for the fishermen. Morning Greg. I just want to warn people heading from Upper Ashlawn down to Lower Ashlawn that there is a tree felling going on in Lower Ashlawn and you won't get through. Also, there's no warning signs to let drivers know what's ahead. In the last week, the Shaw Green and other green areas in and around Bonkranagh have been vandalised too. Right, OK, that's regrettable. That's off the back of an appeal from Bonkranagh Golf Club, a beautiful golf club actually and beautiful, really well maintained that someone went up there two guys on an electric scooter and destroyed the eighth green, I think it is in any case, and it's destroyed now and it takes ages to get it back up to its original condition. The golf club has said, look, we know who you are, probably we don't want to necessarily have to get the Guardi involved, contact us before the end of today and they won't release the footage or contact the Guardi or at least they'll keep those options open. I think I don't want to say that categorically. But now we're getting other people saying that other green areas of Bonkranagh are being vandalised or have been vandalised too which is very regrettable. There's a lot of sheep, 30-odd sheep on the road between Brockett and Cloughan. So if you're travelling on that road between Brockett and Cloughan, keep an eye out, 30-odd sheep on the road there. I wonder if this newly uncovered scandal about government covering up their top-secret, complicit fraud against families just the tip of the iceberg and why the establishment are terrified of finnegale, finnifall, greens and labour being routed at the next general election and replaced by those of nothing to lose but a better, less corrupt and competent government in Ireland. I think there are those from within that suggest that such a strategy seems to have been employed here to save, having to pay these families the money they were entitled to. It might be a strategy that's employed in other areas. The concert for Chrysler tonight is to be aired on TG Carr tonight live. Okay, didn't know that, good to hear. When bucking flights always use your credit card, not your debit card. If you spend the debit card, the money's yours and gone, whereas the credit card company will chase up the payment and you don't have to. I think you have some protection with debit card, but I understand what you're saying, credit card better. Not everyone has credit cards, so that's the thing. Hi, Greg, when I booked a holiday and the company went bust overnight, I can't remember the details, but I do remember I got refunded through the Commission of Aviation, might help that woman. Indeed, we've put her on to the caa.co.uk and we hope that she gets that refund, which is rightfully hers, of course. A quick mention of our fling, Highland Flinging Glasgow, the campaign for me to be in attendance. I'm not gonna lie, it's ground to a halt now at this point. I don't think it's going to happen, but that doesn't matter whether I'm there or not, because you can be there. And there's been a great deal of interest in this, by the way, and I've seen sort of similar type things of this that aren't for as long and aren't as far away and not far off the same kind of price point as well. So it represents good value in this day and age. It's from the 1st to the 4th of May. You're staying at the four-star Crown Plaza Hotel in Glasgow and the package includes four-star accommodation in the Crown Plaza. I mentioned breakfast and dinner, which are the two important meals. I don't really eat lunch, to be honest with you. I'd be last down to the breakfast and then I'd have me dinner. I probably wouldn't have lunch, but you can, of course. Breakfast and dinner, entertainment each evening and, which I think is really important here, luxury coach transport. Travel for me is a lot of the hassle. Here you got on the coach here at Highland and we drop you off at the hotel. Then we pick you up and you bring you back. There's loads of time during the day to explore Glasgow. The hotel's quite centrally placed. If you've got friends and family in Glasgow, they can come along at the night. There's walk-up tickets available and join you for the crack as well. On the 1st of May, David James is operating a dance. He and the Ryan Turner Band. On Tuesday the 2nd of May, there's a concert with Declan Early and more. Declan Early's a real class act. Isn't he as well as David, of course, but Declan's been on the circuit a long time now. Wednesday the 3rd, Robert Mazzal to another headliner and there's loads of other guests as well. Shouldn't he? Blacks involved and many others as well. It's $5.75 per person and everything's covered there by whatever you fancy doing yourself. If you're interested, €100 will secure your place today, right? OK, so you can think about how you pay the $4.75 between now and departure date, but 100-year-old bucks your ticket today. And as I say, tickets for this are going really fast, which is great because apparently it's great fun. And people make new friends or reacquaint themselves with old friends that have been on these trips before and, as I say, loads of people already booking. So we'll set out. So if you're thinking about it and you have the 100 to spare today, I would get on it. Call us an 07491-25000 with any questions, by the way. You don't have to ring and book if you've got some questions or queries. Things that I haven't mentioned will be able to pass them on to you. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Monday 30 January. You're playing on the green sheet. The reference number is S1. It's game number five. The numbers are... Ten. Sixty-six. Sixty-eight. Eighty-six. Fifty-one. And finally, thirty-eight. 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 HighlandRadio.com. I'm delighted to say the DL debate returns this week for a fourth series. As ever, we'll have top-class feedback and analysis from all the GA acts in the Northwest and across the land. I'll be joined in studio this week by former Dunnegal star, Big Neil Geller and former Armagh great, Aaron Kennan. We'll discuss, of course, the big game between Dunnegal and Kerry and a look across Division 1 and 2 of the national football league. I'll also catch up with ATU and ladies football manager, Maxi Kern. All this and a bit more just after 70 news this Monday on Highland Radio and podcast on highlandradio.com. The DL debate with sister Sarah's Ladder Kenny, serving food you'll love in Sarah's kitchen. The 9-Till Noon Show, brought to you by Bluebird Care, providing nurse-led home care services in Dunnegal. Call Bluebird Care 9-1-2-9-5-6-2 and bring care home. OK, you're very welcome back to the 9-Till Noon Show here on Highland Radio and we're joined in studio now by Jane Buckley, author of Stones Corner. And we're on volume three now. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Delighted to be here. OK, tell us about this series of books, Jane. Well, I decided in 2017, just I suddenly decided one of... The microphone seems to have drifted from your hand. Oh, sorry, have I moved? You have moved. You got me, you got me. I just decided to write a book. I've always been a reader and New Year's Day, I think it was in 2017. I thought I'd write a book. I told my husband who laughed and maybe, you know... We're always very smart, Jane. Well, absolutely. I mean, he did, he laughed. But it was just something that I just wanted to do and a bit of a completed finisher and it turns out the one book has turned into three. And they've been really, really well received, too. They have. She said, you never know, do you? Because you have this idea and you don't know, well, will it resonate? Well, you know... It's been overwhelming. I mean, it really has. I mean, at the beginning, it was a bit difficult because around 2017, 2018, before, I guess, Dairy Girls and some of sort of the films and the TV programmes had been coming out based around the troubles. You know, I was told quite categorically. No, not interested. Nothing to do with the troubles. We're just not interested in it. So that was one of the reasons I decided to go down the self-publishing route and I'm not getting any younger. So I thought, well, let's just do it. Well, you're not terribly old either, so you can't use that as an excuse. Oh, you should see me this morning. But you thought, look, the time is right in my life now for me to do this. Absolutely. And you really went to town in it. So we're going to talk about the self-publishing process, too, because I think that's really quite important. But have you had any feedback from those that knocked you back and yet you've proven that, no, you were going to produce something that covered a particular topic but was done in such a way that people wanted to consume it? No, I haven't really because what I've decided to do is... I mean, I treat these books as a product. I mean, I run my writing as a business. I'm not sure I'll ever make much money out of it. Sorry, John, that's my husband, who let me the money. But I think one of the things that I've been quite overwhelmed with is the target audience originally was the younger generation. I wanted to try and tell them through a series of fictional stories based around true events but thrilling stories. I mean, there's lots of plots and twists. They're not easy books to read. I mean, they're hard-hitting. But what I find is the majority of the readers are actually in their mid-50s have actually lived through the troubles and actually have embraced some of the topics that I've covered because it actually resonates with them. But again, one of the things that's interesting, a lot of the Republican readers from Dublin and further south, a lot of the feedback I've seen and from reviews have said they never truly understood exactly what it was like to live through the troubles up here. They were probably, to a certain extent, protected from it per se, but they thoroughly enjoyed it. And so the plan is I'll finish the fourth book this year and then I will, from the feedback that I've had, from the reviews, from the followers, I will be in a better good stead to approach publishers and say, right, I've proven it. I've done it. I've completed it. And would that be to produce new work or to have these reissued through a publisher? Yeah, reissued through a publisher. I mean, I'm actually looking at redesigning the cover, for example. I mean, I've learned so much through the self-publishing. It's unbelievable. So it's a matter of just doing another edition. And I haven't, you know, when I look at the first book, for example, I start to read it and there's things I'd like to change, which I think is something that writers do all the time. They're never happy with the final product. I'm not sure they want you to start changing things. No, I know exactly. And it's work. Why break something when it's working? So, they are fiction, right? Okay. But you say they're based on real stories. Now, are they sort of a correlation of stories that were probably quite familiar with typical kind of stories if such a thing exists, and then you dramatize them and fictionalize it? Or did you speak to individuals of these stories that you have personal knowledge of if you understand... I've not been clumsy with the question at all. I'll give you a little bit of a synopsis in the story. I mean, the first book is based around a shirt factory in Derry and the survival of a shirt factory. It's owned by a young Protestant who comes to the city. He's quite naive and probably a little bit arrogant, but he's determined to keep the factory open. And then we've got a young British soldier from Newcastle who comes across, who joined the British Army like many did because there was no work. There was no closing in Newcastle, so it's from his experience too as to what... after the honeymoon period, what it was like for him to... what happens to him personally and through friends, serving in the north. And then you've got a protagonist who's a staunch unionist from his perspective too. So what I've tried to do is be as unbiased as I possibly could be by telling the stories through. I did watch a lot of, you know, YouTube interviews about serving soldiers at that time. To get a sense of what their life was like because, you know, depending on who you were, each of us had different experiences going up through the troubles. So it was trying to tell a story from each perspective. You're on volume three now, working on volume four. Yeah. Turmoil, darkness and light are the three editions out at the moment. Are they continuations of the same story? Or are they crossover of characters? Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's a tetrology, as it's called, but absolutely there's, you know, you've got the main core characters, three or four main core characters. I mean, turmoil starts in 1972, just after Bloody Sunday. Darkness goes into the mid-70s, which was probably, you know, especially across in England, for example, was the worst years for the atrocities that happened in England. Light is coming into the early 80s of the Friday agreement, you know, in 1996. So there's a bit of responsibility here in what you're doing, in that I suppose you have to accurately timeline things and sort of capture where things were at what time, and that it feels like, yeah, that's really what it was like. But also too, when you're talking about members of different communities involved, and when you're talking about trying to represent someone who was a soldier, for example, or other soldiers, you have to be careful there. It's amazed that you're trying to get through there. Do you, as much as you can, because no matter what anyone does, you'll always have detractors and critics, but do you think you've struck those balances well? Are you satisfied with how you've done that? I mean, I've worked really, really hard at doing that through a lot of research. It doesn't matter. I don't know much if you're in France reading this, or if you're in Canada, or if you're in Australia, but if you're sitting in Derry, or maybe to a lesser extent Dublin, then it probably matters a bit more. Undoubtedly, and I think that's from the reviews, that's one of the core messages that are coming out, the fact that they have been very evenly balanced, because, and again, this is the advantage of doing it self-published, is that I have been able to write it in my own words. I mean, I did grow, I grew up through the troubles, and I lived in a Republican council. From the outside watching in? Yeah, absolutely. It's your story too, really, effectively. Absolutely, so, you know, I've been able to be more sensitive, and it is a very fine line, so I make sure that I have sort of four or five readers. But at the same time, you have to be brave sometimes to say, right, okay, I might upset people in this chapter, but hopefully they'll understand in the round. You have to have a bit of bravery in that regard too, I imagine. You're totally right. I mean, there's one or two chapters in there that people have told me they've had to put the book down because it really is quite descriptive and raw. Which will infuriate or upset or evoke different types of emotions. That's what art does, isn't it? That's the whole thing. That's why I thoroughly love being here. I embrace that challenge as well. I embrace the challenge of actually putting things in and describing things. And your readers in the feedback, do they recognize the story you're telling if you know what I mean? Do you get people say, you're telling my story here to some extent? Yeah. Just how you present life. I mean, I was quite moved. I was at Dingle literature festival there just before Christmas and I actually did a reading from one of the scenes, a bomb where a bomb goes off in Shipley Street and one of the ladies that was there she took me aside and she said that she had been in Dublin during the Monaghan Dublin bombs and how I had actually described it was precisely she was back there. It is very, very descriptive. When I hear something like that it's actually quite emotive. You get quite, oh my goodness, because this is real life. This is real events and real emotions and everything. The legacy of it still exists. Obviously, you've mentioned some of the timelines that this series of books covers. Do you stick to that? Say there was a particular shooting or an event or an arrest or an explosion. Do you into... So, in other words, how much does this reflect things that actually happened? Very much so. I've used the cane reports that you get from Ulster University and they literally year by year have a day by day timeline. So there's a lot of things in there. Things that people have been so easily missed. Not there I say, not smaller events but really heart-breaking events. I understand exactly what you mean in that and it's hard to describe but I do know what you're saying. Stuff that doesn't necessarily live in people's minds all the time outside of those that were directly affected by it. So, to some extent and maybe it's not the intention for someone outside of Ireland, right outside of Britain. Listen, let's forget this is very fresh in the mind for a lot of people over there as well. Then to some extent they will learn of the troubles then. The history of Northern Ireland over the decades that you've dedicated these books to and wrapped around that then is this fictional characters living real life stories effectively? Yeah, I mean that was the purpose was for want of a better word to educate because I was very fortunate. I did a lot of travelling. I've travelled all over the world and time and time again people what was it all about? Why did it last so long? I really get sick of it. I just got fed up of people asking me the questions. Well, by doing a fictional story of characters I thought it's a good read but you're learning at the same time you know you're educating and again and again you look at the reviews and people say I never knew that had happened. So, when you approach publishers I kind of get maybe where they're coming from. I think people kind of exhausted to some extent. And it's not just this you see with other issues or injustices often around the world where there's a lot of stuff has been done and people go you know people don't have the emotional capacity to go through it again through another form. So, you were kind of pushed back for kind of those reasons. Very much that reason. It's purely the fact that it was based on the troubles. So, then what made you persist? Because I presume at that point you know there are people saying to you well these guys you know they're in the business they know what they've got they know what they sell and they know this you know what I mean. And with they would people might around you might have in a very positive way tried to discourage if you know what I mean. Because you don't want you to waste your time and efforts and all that kind of stuff. So, despite all of that you continued. What made you continue? Pure stubbornness. I mean and determination I just felt I wanted to get the stories out you know the fourth book I have at the moment and I was awake at three o'clock this morning about spending with all these characters are all asking me what's going to happen next and where they're going to go but I just I liked it's important to me to prove to myself that I can do it and this is why I would I've embraced this I love doing it but I would also say to anybody who wants to write a book it is really quite cathartic as well in doing it and getting it out of your system you know who knows where these books are going to go. I mean I can't work any harder than what I've done on them but I truly believe you know if you're doing something you love then you know call it fate you know it'll it'll take off and again if you think how many books they're published every year I'm three traditional publishers there's just under 200,000 books in the UK published every year and then there's me so it's all a matter of just pure believing what you're doing and I truly believe in these stories and I believe in the characters I believe in the message and I really want people to read and enjoy and learn all right was chatting to Jane Buckley who's the author of Stone Corner she self published three books so far working on her fourth so how tough is it then to get a book you know you write it right okay so someone has to read over it too as well presumably is that how it works? advice on formatting and stuff I don't know you have to go to a printing factory you know do you have to design this yeah well I mean that sounds like a bridge over hill I wouldn't climb but is it as tough as it sounds and I'm only talking about the highlight here no no no it is tough I mean and again there's lots of lessons learned but I took a chunk of money out of my pension and I paid for a professional editor I mean the process is I would write a chapter I've been fortunate I can write about 2000 words a day when I put my mind to check the chapter give me feedback and then I would obviously work on getting the final and there are big books I mean there are 135,000 words you know that's 9 hours of reading sorry 9 hours on audio because I was looking at doing audio but you know I've got a professional editor a copywriter he's actually based in Christchurch in New Zealand so I have a process now there's no corners caught in that regard but you have to do it yourself oh you do and you know especially if it's self published it's got to be 200% because there's a lot of quite frankly there's a lot of work out there that's self published work that isn't up to standard and then obviously there is still a there is a I believe there still is a sort of a feeling that if you self publish you're not taken as seriously as you would be a traditional publisher are we still at that point? I feel we are I feel we are I mean there's a number of big competitions that if you're self published also they won't touch you there's almost any of the credible ones but more and more as time goes on I mean the number of books that have been self published since 2010 has gone up by something like 246% and there's an awesome people that do back the whole self publishing area but you kind of have to flog it yourself oh that's the hardest thing you know and even it's almost set your soul to get on to flog it really which probably feeds into this hierarchy of publishing companies versus self published truly absolutely and I mean fortunately my background has been sales and marketing so I've got that sort of steel enamel whatever you know I can take it but a lot of authors find that really really difficult but I'm just having a ball what do you think needs to change of anything then because at the end of the day publishing companies are the profit driven, they're private companies they can make their own decisions with music you know where people can record their own music, make their own videos post it themselves on YouTube, put it up on Spotify I choose, does anything need to change or is this just the way it's going to be for those who find themselves having to self publish no I don't think anything's good I think it's changed so much and I think Covid certainly had a huge effect on it and I think the number of people that found they had hobbies they never knew they could do or they discovered talents that they didn't have and writing definitely was one of them I mean people still prefer something like 80% of people still prefer a hardback or a paperback it is sales of paperbacks are increasing I mean they are increasing absolutely so you know there's always going to be a want for books well listen obviously we had this conversation with a bookstore owner not so long ago there was this fear that the Kindle wouldn't kill off the book but it clearly people want well the physical there's no better feeling in the world having a book in your hand and just disappearing into a corner people are time per and I'm with audiobooks as well audiobooks are definitely increasing no but they're not for everybody I fall asleep 5 minutes in and I'm gone right the amount of podcasts I've started and not all at night time and 10 minutes in and you fall asleep 3 times and that's never to go back again because how often can you restart the same podcast and I love true crime stuff as well but I've found I can't even listen to now when I'm driving because I've got this muscle memory of sleep I mean it's true and you said your mind sort of wanders off anyway doesn't it I think maybe because this is what I do then that's my switch off and it's not through boredom by the way it's pure relaxation because it empties the mind in terms of how you sell books and obviously you've got a background in marketing you're going to be using social media online markets and that kind of stuff Amazon for example we talked about how they're Spotify very easy to put a song up on Spotify if you want to plug stuff on Amazon is that tough? Amazon works beautifully when it works it really is it's an amazing platform but my books have been taken off Amazon they were taken off on the 21st of December I have actually written to the UK Country Manager a guy called John I've written his name down somewhere I have no idea why they've been taken off I keep getting the same generic response and I have decided because it really is it like community guidelines or something? it's something to do I mean they want the monopoly there's no doubt about it I mean if you put your books on Amazon you're not allowed to put them on any other sort of platform even on your own website and I think that's what frustrates me is I had the best quarter last year leading up to Christmas they've taken them off the platform they've kept the royalties I must have sent them something like 18 emails asking them to explain to me why and nothing absolutely nothing do you think they've been flagged as propaganda or something? no I don't think that did cross my mind Alex Jones's books are up there right? we're not in that territory no thank god it couldn't be community guidelines I honestly I don't know this is the problem they won't tell me I mean I had an email there last week saying this is our final this is our final decision it will not be changed so what I've decided to do is especially self publishing it makes such a difference having them everybody expects your books to be on Amazon of course because that is within the self publishing that's the mark of success I suppose reviews and ratings is there other books of a similar name? pardon? no not at all but I've got the ebooks on my website jamebuckleywrites.com so I can sell the ebooks myself you can get the paper copies on my website order and pay for them as well they're in little acorns and dairies so just google jamebuckley and they'll come up so I've decided to let it go they can go away and I'll find something else hold on a second stopper and jane wouldn't let things go you know what I started I looked at some of the things I have one explanation I would let it go if I had an explanation I honestly don't know but I did a research even just yesterday evening it's not just me it happens to an awful lot of authors and they're all as frustrated as I am it's not just me ok so that's jane buckley there her books there are trilogy plus one stone stone corners three books out now fourth in the works and who is to say that given the organic success because I think it has to be organic when you're not reliant on million dollar publishing campaign promotional campaigns and what have you the word of mouth and stuff maybe they'll end up being picked up and it'll be like the fellow that didn't sign the Beatles yeah exactly well fingers crossed but I mean it's a good rate and you know if you want a really good I'm one of those annoying people that sort of see the plot happening so when I do write I try to avoid people being able to sense what's coming up and it seems different the lazy way of doing that and I hope you don't employ because it's going to be embarrassing is loads of random red herrings have you loads of red herrings not at all, none I'm about your Miss Marple type I actually really like Miss Marple but I can tell straight away what's going to happen even with the red herrings there's a few things then people have gone oh my goodness I didn't see that it all happens in the last chapter as well and there are cliff hangers by the way have you figured out and very finally do you have to wrap hop stories in book 4 yes so in other words if people are half way through book 2 or 3 because there's nothing worse than when you're interested in the series and it gets cancelled right and then you don't know oh no no no I know exactly what's happening in the last chapter I've known that from day one from the first book I know exactly where they are can't say any more than that I know exactly what the last words are going to be the last sentence I wish you nothing but success if you can remember to contact Caroline and tell her if Amazon ever give you a reason because that's really piqued my interest because it doesn't make any sense and I don't like things that don't make sense I'll be honest with you Craig at the moment I'm just going to focus on finishing the fourth book and then we'll see what happens but I'm not going to stress out about it there's worse things happening in the world than me not being on Amazon so I'll live with it I do understand but Jane Buckley check out stones corner or search share Jane Buckley writes and you'll find out where you can get hold of those copies right so those books we'll be back with more after the break watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com Bluebird Care are hiring nurses and carers across Donegal call 9-1-2-9-5-6-2 Bluebird Care are sponsors of today's show Connect Hearing is open for free hearing tests our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter kidney clinic in the courtyard shopping centre we also offer a home visit for those who aren't able to visit us our hearing is our social sense are you finding hearing more of a challenge call Ursula today on 07491 13296 to make an appointment Good Hearing helps us to connect to our family friends and loved ones Connect Hearing, connecting you to life at Ulster Bank our team is continuing to close current and deposit accounts along with some of our branches at this time if your notice period and your deadline has passed your account is now queued for closure all personal and business account deadlines are fast approaching you must take urgent action if you are still relying on your bank account and in need of more support please contact us immediately visit ulsterbank.ie your local branch or call 0818 210 260 call costs may vary and calls from mobiles may not be free Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland Stop Highland Radio are going to Scotland from Monday the 1st of May to Thursday the 4th of May with the very best of music and we would love for you to join us staying at the four star Crown Plaza Hotel in Glasgow we are bringing with us some of the biggest country stars including myself David James, Declan Ernie and Robert Moselle to name a few you will enjoy luxury travel to Glasgow three nights dinner bed and breakfast with music and entertainment each evening join us on the Highland Fling to Glasgow this May for only 575 euro per person to book Call Highland Radio today on 07491 25,000 early booking is advisable, single supplement applies sing throughout the north west and across the world on the radio on the show with Bluebird Care providing home care services for all ages and done it all visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home there's bingo every Monday night at Halfway House Burnfoot doors open 730 with eyes down at 830 2,500 euro must go the snowball is now 1,750 euro on 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that's Halfway House Bingo tonight at 830 House to Home Interiors Bridgen, Donegal, massive January sale now on open recliner suites starting from an incredible 1299 or get a McQuaid Irish made suite at a great price call in and see our new floor and section carpets, wooden floors, dining and slide robes House to Home Interiors Bridgen, Donegal, massive January sale now on now flying to Liverpool 8 times a week with Ryanair this summer Ireland West Airport don't just take off take it easy Scattered showers this morning with Brighter Sun and Spells developing Cloud will build from the west though in the late morning and early afternoon with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle highest temperatures 7 to 9 degrees Sinn Féin's health spokesperson is Deputy David Cullenan he joins us on the programme now thanks for taking the call this morning David good morning to you it's we learned over the weekend that a secret plan to hide the scale of the state's liability for illegal nursing home charges well we know it's been revealed now in confidential government records your assessment presumably we can only go by what the whistleblower has released and what has been written about it your assessment of what successive governments were involved in well I have to stress from the outset that these are allegations that have been made by a whistleblower first appeared in the mail-on Sunday yesterday and at first reading obviously it's deeply troubling and was quite shocking in terms of the allegations which have been made so just first of all this goes back to unlawful charges for people in nursing homes from 1970 up to 2005 and this would have predated the fair deal scheme and essentially the 1970 health act would have basically allowed for nursing home care to be provided free so the state has accepted that these charges were unlawful the problem is that there was a memo that was referenced in this article yesterday and is part of a package of documentation which was given to the newspaper by this whistleblower but this memo was prepared by the department was given to minister James Wiley allegedly in 2011 and again the allegation in the article in terms of what's in the memo is that there was a secret strategy put in place by the department and by the state to essentially force people to go through the courts so rather than accept that people had recourse for repayment because of overcharging and for unlawful charges the state would essentially drag people through the courts a lot of people who went to courts dropped out over half of them because of I would imagine cost and length of time and then of course people who think they wouldn't have the means to go to court so the central contention in the article from the whistleblower is that this was a secret covert strategy to essentially drag families through the courts unnecessarily and it was only as part of this strategy it was only the point where disclosures were sought that they would then settle quietly yeah so essentially the point is that the department would have accepted that if any of these cases actually proceeded to court that the state would lose and that would set a precedent so the strategy was to drag it into the courts, get to a point of discovery and then settle but of course at that point families would have amassed legal costs for some families the process might have taken too long and they simply dropped out so it was a war of iteration and for many families with no resources they would never have got as far as even having a solicitor to pursue this and then you would have watched on to see what level of success there were there was and people may not have pursued it because they simply didn't have the money to do so now it is also suggested in this article and in these documents that this just wasn't established and that was it, no one else was none the wiser that this is something that would have come across many senior peoples desks over the years and it would have to have been maintained if it turns out to be true there's a lot of people had knowledge of this and didn't seemingly say anything Yes, that's exactly it and if this is true and you know the facts as we see them in terms of what's reported from this memo don't make for comfortable reading from government so the first thing that needs to happen is all of these documents need to be published and there's full disclosure because we all have to see the information for ourselves so I think we have to make that point because these are allegations and the only way to deal with this is to have all of the facts presented and published but if it is the case that the facts as reported or the allegations are reported are true then it does indicate several ministers for health because what it says is that similar memos were also given to other ministers for health including the T-Shoc when he was minister for health and Simon Harris now again all of these are allegations I don't have the full facts and I think what needs to be done very quickly which I believe is in the best interest of the department but also in the best interest of the government but certainly in the best interest of those who were forced through the courts and those maybe who didn't have that opportunity that all of that information is fully disclosed that the memo in 2011 that's references published and any other documentation relevant to this all of the facts need to be established need to be disclosed and we need to be able to see all of this for ourselves and I've written to the EROCS Health Committee yesterday asking that they would write to the HSE seeking all of this information but it shouldn't take that. Now, Leo Fradkar this morning has said he's never received a memo along these lines he also says that the state never conceded the points that private nursing home charges were covered by medical cards he went on to say that the way it was presented on the Sunday on Sunday the real picture is more complex than that I was never party to devising a legal strategy relating to nursing home charges do accept that? Well, I don't know is the answer to it I mean I was very careful the way through this interview and other interviews and saying that these are allegations these are allegations that surfaced yesterday of course then we're going to have a response to that and that's fine the only way for any of us to make up our own mind and I can't determine at this stage what's fact and what's not to actually see the documentation so I think it would be in the interest of the T-Shop and the current Minister for Health and previous Minister for Health to have this information published for the facts to be out there because I want to simply establish the facts I think have that memo we can look at the full context we can look at exactly what was being proposed on the face of it from what we can read this doesn't read well for government but I'm also conscious of the fact that I haven't read the memo I've seen selective parts of the courses in an article and the best thing that we can do for everybody is for the report to be published were you aware did you have any knowledge of anything like this that this may have been happening or did anyone raise this issue with you alleging that it was happening before now, before Sunday Sunday the first you heard of this I think the whole rationale of the allocation which has been made is that this was covert and this was secret and the whole logic of it is that forced people to go through the course but as an opposition health minister was this ever raised with you if you ever had these allegations furnished to you in any form whatsoever I was aware of the Omminsman report in 2010 which actually raised some of these issues and actually raised concerns in relation to illegal strategy so we had a very critical Omminsman report in 2010 which is fact and which did outline very clearly and did you pursue this since like in other words as an opposition health spokesperson this is not something that you should have been pursuing yourself rather than reacting and we appreciate your accepting our invite of course to an article in the newspaper do you know what I mean is this not the type of stuff that you should be pursuing especially considering you had knowledge of the Omminsman's report to ensure what was going on was it ongoing and so on and so forth not you necessarily as an individual but certainly as the lead opposition party at this time well listen I think that's a fair question in relation to the political system generally but what I would say is that this memo that we're talking about was given to government only I had no size of a memo I wasn't aware of any legal strategy the government may say there wasn't any legal strategy so what we have at the moment to be fair Greg is allegations in the newspaper that need to be substantiated by full disclosure of documentation it's only then that we can establish the full facts the Omminsman report by the way was focused mainly on what happened from 1970 up to 2005 and was making the point that the system knew that the department knew that the health boards at the time knew that these charges were unlawful but continued anyway it did make reference then to the need for a redress theme and something different to actually resolve the issue but I obviously had no information in relation to this memo I haven't seen this and I've seen selected parts of the quotas and I want to see it published so I think it's reasonable for me to treat these in the first instance as allegations and second of all to seek full disclosure from government and there's comments going back this was raised in all too long before that in the early 90s too where Michael Martin made comments as it relates to refunds for people going back over 20 years at this point finally I know you're teaching your words very carefully and I understand that and I actually do respect it in terms of not making conclusions before we know all the facts but if this is substantiated to any extent really at all that there was a policy that this did happen what do you believe the consequences should be in other words how big do you think it actually is in terms of the implications for the current government for example well if the allegations are true and there was such a legal strategy put in place I think it has fundamental difficulties for government and I would go as strong as saying that I think it would obviously be a huge scandal that government would have to account for and that obviously is based on whether or not all of the allegations which are made are true I have to be fair as well in terms of it's a newspaper article I've read it in detail and I'm aware of the few tells in the 10 ombudsman report I haven't seen or read the full memo which was referenced in the document I would want to read it and I think anybody interested in this story in politics would want to see the full report and I believe that it's actually in the interest of government for that report to be published if the allegations are true they are serious implications for government and that's the reason why I think the government needs to act very urgently and very quickly and engage in full disclosure OK listen thanks for all your time this morning I'm sure there's quite a few demands on you so I appreciate it Deputy David Cullinan Sinn Féin's Health Spokesperson Wet and Wild is 20 years in business and would like to thank and reward our loyal customers with a massive 20% of absolutely every product purchased in store during the month of February. Choose from our massive in-store stock of quality outdoor clothing footwear equipment and accessories and 20% discount of all prices will be applied at the till Do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled? Have you tried various ways to find new staff but didn't succeed? Let Highland Radio help you source and fill your current vacancies in the most cost-effective way. Simply sign up to our new job spot and we will tell our listeners about your vacancies both on air and online. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during our prime time shows we will broadcast the latest job opportunities across the Northwest and into Counties Derry and Turron. All job listings will be available online at HighlandRadio.com. For more information contact the advertising team or email 7491 253 22 or email advertising at HighlandRadio.com Highland Radio we're here for you. The Counties number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. Okay it is 11 o'clock good morning to you time for news update and let's say good morning to Donna Marie Daherty. Thanks Greg good morning. A meeting is being held this week on progressing the campaign for redress for defective and Donnie Gall. The Micah Action Group is urging people to attend on Thursday at the station house hotel letter Kenny. The group issued a letter to all Donnie Gall County councillors last week to put pressure on the Government to deliver. Chair of the Micah Action Group Lisa Hohn says there still appears to be no urgency from Government. Significant damage was caused to Bunkrana Golf Club after the green was vandalised during what has been described as a 14 minute period of pure havoc. CCTV footage shows two young men on an electric scooter entering the ground shortly after 5.30pm and damaging an area of the area around the 8th green. Francis McGrory Secretary of Bunkrana Golf Club says it will take two to three months for the damage to be fully prepared. He's warned that those responsible have until the end of the day to come forward. Lyford Greyhound Stadium is to reopen in April. In a notice issued by the stadium it's been confirmed that racing will return Sunday April 2nd. A race has not been held in Lyford since 2019 after the stadium closed its doors due to what it said was an ongoing lack of support from the Irish Greyhound Board. It was expected to reopen in March of last year. Councillor Jerry Crawford says it's been welcoming the latest announcement. The Taoiseach and Health Minister must make statements for what they knew of an alleged strategy to deny families access to refunds of legal nursing home charges. Shen Fane is making the call after revelations on the mail on Sunday that the success of governments had allegedly a secret plan to block refunds. It's alleged the state faced a 12 billion euro liability in compensation for families who were wrongly charged the care over 30 years. The party spokesperson on Health, David Kilnane says it's claimed senior ministers were aware. Gardie and Donnie Gall are warning of the latest scam doing the rounds. People are receiving text messages pertaining to be from Anne Post claiming custom fee is owed. The scammers are requesting a small amount of money to be paid in order to facilitate the dispatch of the parcel. Gardie say with many shopping online the text is sent in hopes that whoever received it is waiting a delivery of some sort of parcel. They're warning that Anne Post will never send a message containing links when contacting about custom charges. And finally, 2,132 knives received by the Gardie last year. It's a 16% increase on 2001 when 400 fewer were recovered by the Gardie family. In total, over 17,000 have been seized over the past decade. That's all for now. Back with more headlines at 12 o'clock. Thanks, Donna Marie. Extraordinary streaming exclusively on Disney Plus. What do you say your greatest weaknesses? Crippling insecurity, selfish and lazy. Lack ambition, stubborn, argumentative, jealous. Don't think I'm capable of love. I only wash my hands after someone else in the bathroom. I don't know why I'd have told you that. He was such a brave little soldier. Extraordinary and original series. I feel so free. Maybe I should take my bra off. Now streaming exclusively on Disney Plus. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. OK, you're welcome back to the programme and we welcome back to the programme, Brendan Daveney. How are you? I'm the very best, great. Good to see you. Good to have you back. Yes. What's going on? We're moving and checking again. How many years have you been doing this nonsense? This season four, I can't believe it. We would have thought it. But time flies quick, doesn't it? It does indeed. Listen, it's great. It's a huge success too for you in the station. Right, OK. What I wanted to come back on to after what I thought was all things considered a great game of football in Ballet Buffet yesterday. A superb result. And I think, you know, I'm really pleased for the players because even afterwards I think rather unfairly, but understandably, Patrick Marbury was asked about, you know, Michael Murphy no longer being in the team. I thought that was put to bed. But anyway, I think he handled that expertly and I say I'm not criticising it, I can understand. But I think just in the post-Murphy era and with new management team, I just thought it was a cracking game and it showed great resolve and it was a super finish. I could hardly speak. I was the same. I was on the day I was called this evening and when we spoke about the game he says you can hear the emotion in your voice and people say, right, it's the first league game, there's two points, you know, what are you talking about? But the pressure that this team and management was under and what they had, a text pad they carried last night, they're leading this game. Can you text back? It couldn't be horrible. He hasn't even read it. I text him too. He's had a vintage where it takes a few days to come back and I've never seen a first league game where there was so much pressure from the rhetoric of what happened with the management in terms of the appointment of the manager. Already with people not joining the panel with injuries, with retirements, like Michael you mentioned, Neil McGee, the vultures really circling. You know, I'm out around the county, a lot of people were cresting, oh, this is going to happen, it's all doom and gloom. So for them to pull at this performance, particularly when we were 1-6 to 3 points down, I don't know, it was about 25 minutes on the clock at that stage, it was looking bad, were it? It was bottle and grit and determination. We reeled off 7 points in a row from that, it was an amazing turnaround and you just seen, it means a brand new team basically, five of the team that started against our map, you know, we had five full debuts. So we're at the point now, really, and when I say we, I mean me, is about managing expectations, alright, because you know, we're on this roller coaster after a great win thinking, right, is this the year or after a sad loss right in the team off for the year, right? So we've got this high and low and high and low, and then of course understandably supposed to some extent with social media, people react instantly, okay? Yeah. We need to sort of manage our expectations here, don't we, and say right, cracking start, let's see where we go from here, you know, and let's see what the season, I mean, this is early doors, it's a building process, you know, let's not run away with ourselves, and in the opposite, if it was a defeat, let's not crap on ourselves. Yeah, I get it, I get it. No, that's in normal terms, listen, this can't put this in the context, correct? This is just two points, it means nothing, like we could beat by Tyrone next week, this is a very weakened carry team that came up to our home patch, now we were very weak, they were very weak, okay, but they're all Ireland champions. Very weak? Well they had five of the teams started all out in the final, now there was the three lads that played that came on, and that was all back then, and they were very solid in that first 25-minute period, but then as we grew into the game, Greg, in terms of that new team now, we have a whole host of people to come back, so you can't say nothing about this result in terms of the whole season, all it means. We will though, you see that. Well, I think if you look it's impossible to say because of all the players that are out there. So once they're all back, and then you get a few games together, then you can start to see maybe where the team is built in the foundation. Listen, Brian, you did some of the performances seriously, I mean all the debut guys come on and chip down, you'd have to say, obviously, McAlligan was on real, I mean some of the patterns kick out, I mean, my God, you're on a bit anxious from 60, 70 meters away, Sean Patton can land the ball, I mean it's just crazy how good this man is, but he does, and of course we give him a terrible giveaway go, which we did last year to jump, people were like, oh no, here we go again, but this is not a criticism, and I suppose you have to take it in the round, but we hate to see a goalkeeper ahead of playing like, and I know it sort of was a breakdown, and that's... Yes, I mean taking that out of it, right, but Greg, he's still, he's the best keeper now. Not that for a second. My mate in Galway text, give us Patton will win the All Ireland, right, that's why people outside of the county are saying it, but you know, I have to mention, and Darrow Bull, as well, you know, he had a tough time on the boner, a brilliant player coming up, looked like the sky was the limit for him, couldn't get into it on the goal team then, and he had a phenomenal game there yesterday too, and I really love that type of thing, you're looking at all the new guys coming in, Greg, and how the team jailed together, and what they did, and then you look at the game again, it gets a select choice, because we're pulling players from all over the place, Dylings in the show, and Wes... You know, is that something that gets overlooked maybe when we talk about it, and the whole team, is that they're looking to get the best that's out there? In terms of what the whole county, I mean it's brilliant, I mean, someone just said that to me, I came up there last day, but we're on about Dylings in 97, when we won that famous championship, and it was what, 14 years from you know, everything was the south of the county then, and they were the hotbed, and there was nobody up here, and now it's gone everywhere, you know, and that's only good for football, Kylian McColgan's interview, and he's talking about the club that, and what he would mean now to the people named Padraig and Muff, and how now the whole that village is looking up to him, and like with his backwards club, that's massive. It's great you could see that too, for such a young player to see the importance of it, not just for himself, but for a family, for the club, for the community. And the smaller club, I suppose, the more it has a big effect, because if he was from a larger club, he's another county player, you know, it doesn't mean the same, so for somebody to step up from a club that got there and do what he did yesterday, this is a debut, Greg, you know, I mean, it was unreal, I mean, the three points, he kicked, they were as good as scores you'll see, and he had three of them, you know. I'm going to start a GoFundMe page too, to get TG Kaha covers for the camera, I don't know if they want to do it when they're up here, so it always looks like we've nothing beside it, I mean, this is not technology, it's like a cover that goes on the camera and extends out about a foot. Yes. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Anyway, it looked like, you know, a YouTube video at time from 1995. Listen, I was completely, I was up for all select doing the game we are seeing, but the whole barrage of stuff, surely one of them could at least... There's a squeegee. You know, yeah, I mean... Listen, it was good to see the game. Right, anyway, so I like where you're coming from with this in terms of the conversation, where we're going, where we're at at the moment, you're going to be discussing this though and all the action. You're joining the studio by Donagall All- Island winner, big Neil Gallagher. Our master, Aaron Kernan, is also joining the conversation and also talking to Maxie Curran. The ladies have had a difficult start to this and we'd love to always be talking off the back of the way. He's actually here, Greg, he heard about your wee coffee machine and the kids in there, so I've got him up here for the interview because he was busy so he's going to be, we record a piece, but the rest of it's all live and every show will be live now and hopefully Greg, as time goes on we'll be able to get that text and feedback, more feedback from fans on what they thought of the weekends actually. A show like this, we talk about current affairs and stuff and there's a huge interest in it. We've hundreds and hundreds of texts but there's another thing that people love to talk about especially when they want to switch off from news a little bit and that is sport because opinions are like, you know what, we all have one, you know what I mean? I guess we've, I think, big need been up he's coming up to the studio tonight, you know we're going down to the concert down for Chris there, down in the aura, himself and himself, and Aaron Kiernan that was up at Francie Bell you do and Cross McLean, the places you find yourself you know, so it was a couple of Saturday nights back, so I said to Aaron would you come on for a show, but he's a great man and I mean him do a bit of stuff on a podcast during the week there again, really, really knowledgeable so he'll help round up the whole league because of course our bodies are thrown face to face and now we're playing them next week so they're going to be back when you see that's the thing because you know, we're going to be going into the game Boston, right? They're going to be going, the sport always throws up a story and it's often the story that gets us hooked to watch it in the first place isn't it because they're going to want to bounce back from there If they won, this would be a bit different but now because the league's so short you've got to win your home games, it's desperate because of the way that allows you we would have grace at home, but because they've lost now, they are going for us but it's done it all their own, there'll always be a few fireworks, you know That's one way of putting it, alright so that's looking good, that's the deal debate, just after 7pm this is Monday and of course it's a pod as well, lots of people listen to the podcast, that's released on Highlanderadio.com not long after the programme itself, Aaron it's good to have you back, Brandon I'm going to have a cup of coffee with Maxi there The coffee machine by the way is not half as exciting as Brandon makes out just in case anyone thinks we've got this big deluxe thing here, it ain't like that at all, alright great to see Brandon back in studio and on Erika and 7pm tonight, that's the deal debate, as you heard there he's going to be chatting to Maxi Coren looking at the start of the season for the teams he's involved with and of course reflecting on that win, Donegal beating Kerry and also round up of all the action in division 1's and 2's and the guests are Neil Gallagher and former Armastar Aaron Curranan as well, so that's a cracking line up everyone knows what they're talking about there we were chatting to Jean about her books, the quality says I have Jane, sorry Jane I'll send you to Jean Curran for a second I have Jane's first and second books and I absolutely love them, can't wait to get the third book now, well it's there available for you and finally just on this one before the break, so if the ministers didn't know about this issue in health, it's yet another scandal and we aren't aware of it what were they doing, why did they not know who was responsible, all questions that will come out over the course of the next number of days one would imagine, because if it is as outlined in the newspaper, incredibly significant and definitely something that needs to be pursued and investigated Bluebird care are hiring nurses and carers across Donegal call 911-295-62 Bluebird care are sponsors of today's show Transport for Ireland invites you to bring someone on board for free this February bank holiday weekend, simply pay your fare using a TFI leave card and your plus one travels free on participating TFI bus train and tram services, this promotion is valid for travel from Saturday to Monday the 6th of February so with cleaner, greener and cheaper travel the only question is who will be your plus one? see transportforarland.ie for details terms, conditions and participating operators connect hearing is open for free hearing tests, our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter clinic in the courtyard shopping centre we also offer a home visit for those who are unable to visit us our hearing is our social sense and we are finding hearing more of a challenge call Ursula today on 07491-13296 to make an appointment good hearing helps us to connect to our family, friends and love ones connect hearing, connecting you to life tune in this Tuesday to the community garden information slot on air after 10am on the 9 till noon show in association with Sheridan security systems call today and get your zero wire alarm system from 299 euro Sheridan security on 07491-26025 I'm delighted to say the DL debate returns this week for a fourth series, as ever we'll have top class feedback and analysis from all the GA action in the north west and across the land, I'll be joining studio this week by former Dunnegal star Big Neil Geller and former Armagh great Iron Kernan, we'll discuss of course the big game between Dunnegal and Kerry and we'll look across division 1 and 2 of the national football league we'll also catch up with ATU all this and a bit more just after 7bm news this Monday on Highland Radio and podcasted on highlandradio.com the DL debate with sister Sarah's Ladder Kenny, serving food you'll love in Sarah's kitchen all right staying with sport I suppose well not I suppose I am great hand racing is returning to Lyford this spring with a grand reopening taking place on the 2nd of April which is only a couple of months away the track has been closed of course in 2019 after 60 years of racing after it was put up for sale we're joined now by the general manager of the Lyford grey hand stadium Sheamus White, good morning Sheamus Hi, good morning Greg I suppose a lot of work has gotten to the point where you can announce the official opening date and start talking about the season ahead Yes it has been indeed Greg we've been well working behind the scenes over the last well just over 18 months now since we've been engaging with the grey hand racing ardent local businesses etc so yeah plans are well underway and yeah we're looking forward now to the next date weeks to the official opening date I mean obviously you know the Lyford grey hand stadium you know you have your hardcore racing fans that want to go and watch it also you would see staff parties there hand parties there whatever it might be you wouldn't know who might turn up on a Friday night for it but there's been a break so really to some extent to some markets it kind of maybe feels like you're starting from scratch so what are you doing to sort of entice people to show them that this is a good night out and sort of reconvince people who maybe have found something else to do that they should be going to the dogs Yes indeed Greg when the track reopened in 2003 it was regularly getting attendances of over 2000 on some nights you're right we are rebranding it we're relaunching it we're partnering with the old dogs and dairy who are going to be running the restaurant side of things in the catering at the track and there is a new tote model which is the heart of the new model that we're proposing so whereas the older tracks in Ireland are funded in some part by the Irish government this will be entirely self funded so it's all the revenue from the new tote system will be coming into the track and to your original point about the you know we want to pay not just to the established Greyhound fraternity that regularly went to Lifford but to a whole new audience as well you may have seen recently that Shelbourne had a student night where over 4000 students turned up just prior to Christmas and they were going to have another one in the near future as well so we want to grow they have paid to not just the local community and we've already the messages have gone crazy over the weekend so there will be people travelling from Scotland, England all across Ireland to the reopening so the buzz is very tangible. I think people more are acutely aware of everything nowadays I think it's a different world to that was in 2003 and you know in terms of funding for Greyhound racing in this day and age or there was some conversations about animal welfare issues and I'm not suggesting that any of that's an issue at Lifford but there is maybe a little bit of reputational rehabilitation not for Lifford Greyhound stadium but for Greyhound racing or maybe that's already been done and that's been shown with the turnouts you mentioned at Shelbourne. I'm not going to focus on I don't want to be focusing on anything negative there are maybe perceptions out there that you're going to have to work on or maybe enough time has passed where that's not as big an issue now Yeah no absolutely Greyhound welfare is one of our number one priorities at the track I've been involved in Greyhound racing all my life I've had a number of retired Greyhounds so we want to take that message out to the general public that this yes Greyhounds are prepared athletes in their own right when they're racing but they make tremendous pets as well so Greyhound racing Ireland have been working behind the scenes over the last few years to I guess re-establish that reputation and we're going to build on the work that they're doing but we're also going to have a local effort to work with local Greyhounds charities and show that you know the rehoming and the welfare of the Greyhounds are our number one priority and to your point Lifford is one of the safest stadiums in Ireland as well it's a fantastic racing service and yeah we'll ensure that that reputation is upheld. Is there much excitement on the circuit amongst trainers and breeders and what have you that this track is back open for business again? Yes absolutely for the people that have been there and visited some of the other tracks in Ireland you'll see it's one of the best if not the best track in Ireland in terms of the facilities I might be a little bit biased there but it's fantastic and people have I was at Shellburn just before Christmas and there were the inquiries from the trainers there and there was a lot of support showing so they're willing to make that trip up the road to brace their dogs there again because they know how fantastic it was in the past and they're very much looking forward to it and it's a crowd and the atmosphere as well which you know it can be sometimes lacking it's obviously it was a difficult winter for everyone but we're optimistic now that we're moving into springtime but it's not the right time to relaunch liver. Yeah and I think in terms of job creation and in terms of business and its impact on the wider community there can be a bit of snobbery in that you know maybe it's not celebrated as much if it's in retail or in different areas yet it's celebrated if it's in others and obviously that's kind of attributed to the value of the jobs I get that but I mean at the end of the day this is whether the employer open for business and there's a dividend then presumably for the wider community too when you're attracting hopefully large numbers to an area. Absolutely when we open there's going to be up to 60 full-time and part-time jobs at Lifford and as we grow the business so we're initially we're concentrating on getting the racing going again but we plan to have the facility, a fantastic facility open as a community hub so alongside the racing on Friday and Sunday we'll be holding events on Saturdays during the week so it'll be open for bookings across the board as we move through the summer so that number of jobs can only grow and it brings something back to the heart of the Lifford-Stravan area which is sadly it's been lacking in the last few years that community hub that people can rally around and go and meet that so yeah there's some fantastic plans in the schedule for us. And obviously we're getting into a period of time where people are tightening the strings a little bit you talked about this being self-funded so it's bombs on seats, people through the gates that will keep this going in what could be a difficult trading year for an awful lot of businesses how resilient are you to to that and how is the business model of course because it's like any business not taking a risk you know what I mean like how confident to you that you can make this work Look Greg it is an experiment we're completely changing the betting and tote model behind the scenes but we're confident that this is what the industry needs our partners Tote UK have basically done this model with horse racing Ireland they've shown that it can be successful we're taking it a step further now with the Greyhounds it's an even better model so they've got a proven track record we're tapping into their expertise so that's let's call it an external source of revenue the internal source of revenue we're very confident from the interest over the weekend there's going to be thousands of people there when we open up it's then about sustaining that attendance going forward so keeping things fresh having live music having live bands etc having as I mentioned before community days etc we're going to work with as we have done in the past with local charities sports associations to have sponsored meetings etc so we're very optimistic but certainly the summer months are looking very bright yes we'll have to sustain that through the winter as well okay it's a challenging environment as you said but also it's like a lot of I mean obviously this is dog racing I won't hold you much longer greyhound racing but it is also like a licensed premises you know selling food and drink it's like a lot of businesses presumably you hope to have a really really good summer and then that helps you over a few dog months maybe a good Christmas gets you through to March and the whole show starts again I mean that's it does kind of reflect the hospitality industry pattern really I suppose does it yes absolutely and that's the one of the key elements that I mentioned our partners from the old dogs they're bringing their reputation as a fantastic food provider into the arena they're bringing the booze that's what we're interested in we're bringing the draft beer back again so we're all looking forward to that well listen career as a 60 jobs it's really not insignificant at all I wish you all the success and thanks very much for joining us and second of April let's see what comes of it thanks so much okay thank you great all right bye bye take care of yourself all right that is Seamus White there general manager of the Lyford Greyhound stadium Greyhound racing to return to Lyford with a grand reopening taking place on the 2nd of April then there's events every Friday and Sunday as well so we wish them every success in that I mean obviously there are going to be people that believe it shouldn't be happening at all and that type of stuff and I respect those views and maybe some of them might be texting in the mocks are starting soon and I didn't know I probably should know that some parents are at their getting bills right for 120 euro per child for their child to sick their mock examinations I thought we were supposed to have something close to a free education in this country but not the cost of the new mocks will be 120 euro per child it covers the examination papers of course and correction by site examiners and the writing paper and what have you but if you don't pay what happens if you don't have the 120 euro many people don't have the 120 euro if you don't have it what happens then it's a big bill to get on top of everything else that parents are facing at the moment do you think that's a fair price 120 odd euro I won't mention the school because I'm not sure how widespread it is if it's one particular school or many of them but I've been contacted by a couple of parents that the 120 euro is going to be on them at this time with everything else that's ongoing it's not far off the money being allocated to help people pay their electricity bills do you have a view on that 08 660 25000 08 660 25000 we're going to take a break our monday focus is going to be on a new project to record suicides we've talked about this on this program quite a number of times about you know how can we discuss, tackle, target something if we don't really know the extent of the problem anecdotally I think we do but in terms of actual hard facts what do we know we're going to be speaking to the Donegal Coroner Dr Dennis McCawley about this after we take a break the nine tonne in show with bluebird care providing home care services for all ages and Donegal visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home one, two, three Ireland's biggest ever tribute weekend is coming back to Donegal Tribbash 2023 is taking place at the Clanbury Hotel Letter Kenny on the 10th and 11th of February the nation's very best tribute acts take to the stage with a fantastic award winning Johnny Cash and June Carter tribute show Cash Returns the sell out show Mac Fleetwood as Fleetwood Mac the smash it Abba tribute with Bjorn Identity and the show stopping Queen tribute limited tickets available now at the hotel reception and online at eventbrite.ie and bring care home to Donegal Tribbash 2023 the perfect Valentine's party weekend okay Monday focus now we speak to Dr Dennis McCawley who is at the County Coroner Dennis thank you very much for joining us I really appreciate your time this Monday morning good morning and it's a timely conversation not so long ago we had a garden studio as part of the community garden information we had an opportunity to give out some information in relation to the garden's role in people who are feeling suicidal or what have you and it was off the back of what they had recognized is a what seemed a peak in attempted suicide or suicide but there's no figures on that as such or nothing it's not anecdotal because the person speaking from a position of knowledge but we don't we should have more information to back this up so we understand the extent of an issue we can address it presumably as much as we can we can put the right result this information it's really important we have it Dennis it's really what I'm getting to I think so I think that we know that British family that's affected by death to suicide it is just so devastating occasionally it can be anticipated that there's a risk but quite a lot of the time it just comes out of the blue and then there's a sort of as you say people then try to then in the context of Donegal we're saying well what is the suicide rate in Donegal what's the suicide rate in Ireland where are we is it going up is it going going down and I think it is important to sort of visualize what the what the figures are and recently there was the the end of last year there was the the publication of the Irish probable suicide deaths now this we had a presentation this it was a Philip Todd and Anita Manelli who this was a research project that looked at the amount of suicide in Ireland over the last from for a four year period and there's probably about 500 suicides a year in Ireland and just the the study is very good because we where do we just briefly where do we get our statistics from as you know at an inquest if there's convincing evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the death is due to suicide we recognize it as a suicide but there are occasions where the it is possible that's a suicide but we haven't got enough evidence so these this research group went and looked at all on on unexpected death so just to give us an example of that so we understand it where it might not be conclusive a single vehicle collision for example would be one of those situations whereby you might make you can't make an absolute determination unless there's other evidence there see I think I think I am very conscious and I'm almost speaking as a GP rather than a coroner today because but at the same time the things that you would notice would be drownings can be quite difficult to assess a person's intent intention or otherwise I think if somebody has a history of alcohol use or drug use if there's if there is a an overdose and then such as road road road traffic accidents such as as that so those are there are there are situations where as a as a family in a corner are as a doctor you suspect but that can be proven so this is a research that sort of tries to catch all of the all of the deaths due to suicide okay just in relation to that before we explain how that might work Dennis currently are the figures underrepresented for the reasons you've just outlined as well but we are also a small community and you know families react to different things in different ways some might use it as an opportunity say for instance to promote positive mental health others might not want it talked about at all because you're the coroner maybe this is an unfair question but is that reflected in the figures in other words in an underreporting in other words the sensitivities of a very very difficult difficult situation yeah because this is a very difficult topic you know the way always have to be very sensitive when we're chatting about it but it was illegal in a paradoxical way to commit suicide up until recently it was a sin in some in some fits so naturally and as well there was this instinct that you know then there was the whole issue about you know where you were able to be buried all these sort of awful things that added to the whole trauma so yes was there an instinctive position that you didn't want and you know further trauma to a family by it being described as a suicide I think that that's even reflected in this research the amount of times that the coroner was more confident and more willing to say that it was a suicide has increased over those four year periods that nationally there would have been sort of vagueness in the verdict but then there was more more confidence it went from 60 69 to almost 80 80 percent so what you say is is true in almost all aspects perhaps even in corners courts also that there was a tendency to be vague and now there is more tendency to be more positive not more positive in the die in the in the determination is that cruel to is that a cruel thing to do you know it's not I think that I think it's important to know because as you said there is a vacuum when there is a when there is a figures vacuum people don't know how to reflect it just to as a just to analyze figures slightly in that there's suicide is awful thankfully it would appear to be getting less common Ireland in regards to suicide figures is actually on the lower scale from from a European wise now each of those is devastating and each of those is fine but to to actually see the incidents sort of stabilizing going going down is a positive thing now we don't have figures for the for the for the time of the of the pan of the pandemic and the lockdown and they those figures will be coming shortly so we don't know but overall it is dropping but as is always Ireland has probably a disproportionate amount of deaths in under 25s relative to the rest of Europe and that's always been the case for young men it's the most common cause of death under 25 so I think having the figures talking I think having the figures is important then as there was a an excellent pilot done in in Donegal for the actual connecting for life and this and this was a situation of was it better to open the Pandora's box or better to keep it closed and we realized from research it's better that we talk about suicide it's better that as a community based not just health professions but everybody talks about mental health and suicide and that's why it is it is a very sensitive topic it's one that I'm slightly uncomfortable chatting about but I think it is important we all are we all are dead so I recognize that and I'm keeping it the Pandora's box closed is that for fear of what sometimes you can see is clusters and that's why it's important that's why it is a very sensitive topic it's one that I'm slightly uncomfortable chatting about but I think sometimes you can see clusters in other words you'll have one suicide and then you might see others in a community or in a friends group because we're still maybe that's a part I think that is very valid as well I think more the Pandora is sort of generally it's important to talk about suicide it's just important to talk about it we don't we instinctively don't like talking about it and I'm usually quite comfortable on the radio but I'm uncomfortable talking about it it is an uncomfortable topic to talk about but it's very important that we do and as you say you know there are areas in times of my life as a GP I have noticed it where there is particularly in that under 25 group where their coping mechanisms of young males and their life experiences are different that they can react in a very good one of the things that the research shows is that in the tiny most likely to basically just I'll give you three statistics the ratio to male to female is four to one of suicides the majority of people will have had mental health issues before that but unfortunately we are finding that the people under 25 aren't we they're not on the red are as clearly as some of the older people and this and these people probably at that time of their life at that intervention or that chat took place the risk of suicide just goes away unfortunately if you have mental health issues and they are difficult and you have a lifelong issue of either mental health issues or physical illness that is a risk factor all of the substance addiction presumably I always think that the under 25 is that there is a chance to close that door that I get for sure and maybe it's not me and you to have this conversation I've kind of had it with others in the past in that we react or at least peer groups react I think in certain age groups whereby and I understand people want to pay their tribute but it's seen as tributes come along the way that in some way now the persons cured or better or in a better place that they have taken a decision and now you know the phraseology that can be used I don't want to upset anyone who's used it in very good faith but if you are under 25 and you see lots of people pouring out love and affection for someone and it's portrayed as that person now has been released of something that they're in a better place is a phrase that some people actually even use and I can understand where that commentary comes from as a old man myself I can sort of see the woods for the trees but I'm concerned that maybe young people in my life it puts it on the table of options because I think I think all I think the way I would answer that is that I would advise anybody to unfortunately just visit a family that have been devastated by the suicide of a young person it is just the numbness and the pain that that family feel and that completely and totally outweighs any other issue that you mentioned there at all that if they just visualise and empathise with that poor family particularly a young healthy person usually a male I'm just talking about the under 25 that there is just a very temporary feeling that they had that they feel in a particular day there's no other way other than this then as a brief intervention could stop that and they never had it again and if you have if you love someone like that and that suddenly happens the devastation is extraordinary life changing and forever and that's why I think that completely trumps the last few stages that might be more harder to difficult more difficult to process and come to terms with on any level than another type of sudden death I think so and even and I apologise for someone you know there are certain things that are not unexpected and you have and that at least allows you to prepare for something but then when something is completely unexpected and potentially potentially you know just stoppable that makes it just awful just an awful experience I call it says my brother did suffer from mental health issues but was in a good place when he had a single vehicle car collision we as a family talked so many times about it did he crash the car on purpose was it an accident did we miss something was he suffering again and we missed it but my mother was happy if that's the right word that it was put down as an accident and not suicide I've tried so many times to say mom it's okay to use the word suicide we really need a way except suicide is not a dirty word but the evidence would suggest and obviously people move at different places individually that we and it's probably reflected in the coroner's figures you mentioned that we are starting to be able to use to use the word or that finding more than we might have in the past I think that's a perfect sense it isn't a dirty word it's just it's an awful tragedy but I think that I think it is important to talk about it not so much to add pain to the people that have committed suicide that have died through suicide it is to try and prevent further suicide and you know the problem is and this is why it's so complex and correct me if I'm wrong there is a balance to be struck in completely destigmatising anything not that there is a stigma let me just phrase that that way to destigmatise something but at the same time not encourage or promote it well I agree completely and I think it's my information it's about talking about suicide and its effects I think yes I think the last thing we would want is in some way to say that it is acceptable you know once again you all have to be very careful from the people it's very hard I think our listeners will understand it's difficult to choose the words if we can educate people that suicide is it's not a dirty word it's a awful tragedy and if we can do anything we can to stop it because suicide is not a dirty word it is a horrendous tragedy and the people left behind their lives are changed and if we can that's what we need to allow people to see and to talk about suicide not so much to stigmatise those further ones I think that would be the best summary that I could get we'll leave the summaries at that because you've done far better than I tried to do so tell us how this research project will work then going forward I know you've outlined elements of it but what's going to happen I think they mentioned at the meeting and I haven't just mentioned it I'm sure Anita and Philip are sort of scrapping their heads out what's going to do is there is another research I think the CSO do suicide figures and it's very good but I'm not sure about whether they catch all the probable suicides as well as this research but it's still very reflective so we have figures over the years so the CSO figures will be able to tell us the general trends but I do think that there will be I think that Dr Todd and Anita were saying in a medium term be countywide figures given as well which is good I think that there are so many different ways of as a statistician there's so many different ways of trying to get the right figures but I think this is the best way of doing it and I would hope that it will help us to understand and to target the resources as much as possible and can I just talk about what is available at the present minute in Donegal which is really important I think there's just the way for you listeners to realise that there's just visualisation of talking about suicide support structures but if there's somebody who has self harmed or who we would feel has a death wish rather than a suicidal intent there are resources in an accident emergency if you present with self harm there will be follow-up from that if we feel there's somebody who is in severe danger immediate danger we will act but then there's the thing called the scan nurses which are a fantastic service absolutely wonderful service who will come and who will get involved at a very early stage so I think the connecting for life has been a wonderful achievement I think it was a very well organised and a well run campaign and I think it just needs to be I think we just need to remind ourselves of that listen it's okay to talk about it it's okay particularly for young people to talk about mental health it's okay to go and speak to somebody about it it's okay to see a health professional but if you feel that way there is help available can I add to that too because obviously on programmes like this and elsewhere we have to talk about any deficiencies there are in mental health services there's been an awful lot of publicity about CAMHS of late but it's the initial contact that often is the difference maker okay in terms of access to long term care we have work to do in that regard but if someone needs to speak to someone in this moment now there are lots and lots of people there lots of organisations and it's that initial contact that is often the important one so when we try and have productive conversations about where there are gaps in mental health services I hope it would never discourage someone from making that first call or first contact because it is crucial and critical and all the stuff will follow but make that first call reach out that first time I speak to so many people Dennis and I'm sure you've had that have been in a difficult place and thought there was no way out some endured it for a day some endured it for years but once they burdened themselves of that to the many many professionals that we have out there or even a close friend it changed their life forever and as I say it's so important that people make that initial contact because people are so important and this is the point I tried to make a week or two ago everyone is so so important to all of us for anyone wouldn't we and the thought that anyone feels that there isn't any hope or nowhere to turn please don't think that because you're a beautiful person and we need you make that call and reach out to someone Dennis obviously got a lot of access to figures about attempted suicide the emergency services would GPs would I'm asking you this as a GP rather than a coroner I don't think we collate that information would we be or maybe we are I think there is collation of it I think the self harm there are actual figures on that and I can't that's okay that's good if we are we actually do that no we do and I think that because even by that sheer thing of them with the go to casualty immediately they're in the system of the actual deliberate self harm system and it is I think that there are all the reasons for that but there has been an explosion in mental health issues in the in adolescence now some of it some people would argue that okay we're trying to medicalise normal behaviour that may be to a certain degree but there's been an explosion of psychological and issues of anxiety there's been an explosion of psychological issues of anxiety and low self-worth in our adolescence now it's so easy to sort of give glib answers as to why that is but I do think that that self-awareness the self-assurance that we would have struggled with as adolescence but we're able to manage is much harder now and of course we can do it I think we really and I said this on the show again as a doctor or a politician but we really need to examine if what we are currently doing and how we are engaging with our teens and supporting them is working or exacerbating and I would love actually another full conversation on your phrase there which I hadn't heard before medicalising normal problems because I think sometimes young people can think they've got a problem because we've given it a name or whatever it might be they don't and I just think in us trying to make sure we don't upset or offend or we care for everyone that we're not in some way contributing to it I'm not saying that's what you were saying in that phrase by the way it's just a concern I have as a parent I actually agree with you but I think within that context of people young people with psychological psychological issues there is a tendency to medicalise normal children's behaviour but even when you subtract that away there's a huge presentation with self arm and what have you referencing which is if you look at the rates across Europe suicide is sort of settling except in that younger group and not only is it higher than they would like but in certain countries it's actually going up and I think we have to be vigilant and we have to be aware and be as proactive as we can about that and we need to make sure that our education aren't getting their mental health advice on tiktok and other social media outlets where they're being they're also actually in that process they are a product to certain people thanks for such a wide-ranging conversation there Dr. Danos Fikoli I really do appreciate it I think we are moving in the right direction and we can address a problem and we can recognise the extent of it or an issue whichever way but for now thank you so much for your time this morning greatly appreciated that is Dr. Danos Fikoli of course a GP also the Cante Coroner I'll get some numbers together for maybe some of you that might want me to read them out to you I'll do that we have a quick break to take stay where you are changing your car then look no further than nishong credit union for your finance it's simple a car loan from nishong credit union means you borrow the money to pay for your car and the car is yours no hidden fees or balloon payments apply online at www.nishongcu.ie or contact us on 074 93 61017 membership of nishong credit union is open to anyone who lives or works in the nishong peninsula the terms and conditions apply nishong credit union is regulated by the central bank of Ireland do you know what I love about letter kenny shopping centre I love it because everything I need is under one roof there's fashion shopping for women and men health foods and cosmetics test schools and pennies free parking and late night shopping Thursday and Friday I love it because letter kenny shopping centre has it all including homework, jewellery, hair and beauty and revolution laundry and their free car park letter kenny shopping centre so much choice and open seven days there's never been a better time to go full-leadal let's hear it from our customers it's great value for money for some farmers anyone that has a big family they should be shopping in little but they'll have a holiday at the end of the year go on go full-leadal today bluebird care are hiring nurses and carers across must on it all call 911-295-62 bluebird care our sponsors of today's show there's bingo every monday night at half way house burn foot doors open 730 with eyes down at 830 2500 euro must go the snowball is now 1750 euro on 45 numbers or less if you're not in you can't win that's half way house bingo tonight at 830 this january staying in is the new going out at kelly centrum mountaintop we've mega deals in fresh healthy ready meals range with great deals in our award winning off license and winning offers in fresh meat and produce kelly centrum mountaintop 2022 winner of the national four court retailer of the year stop highland radio are going to scotland from monday the first of may to thursday the fourth of may with the very best of music and we would love for you to join us on the highland fling to glass gold this may for only 575 euro per person to book call highland radio today on 0 7 4 9 1 25,000 early booking is advisable single supplement applies we are bringing with us some of the biggest country stars including myself david james deklin ernie and robert moselle to name a few you will enjoy a single supplement applies okay some numbers for you here if you were affected by that last conversation you can contact the samaritans on 1 1 6 1 2 3 aware 1 800 80 48 48 pieta house 1 800 2 4 7 2 4 7 jigsaw you can email help at jigsaw.ie or to start a conversation text hello to 50 808 i'll read that a different way in case it's easier to track text hello to 50808 to start a text conversation and we appreciate dr. denis mccawley coming on with us here right don't dismiss me as a fanatic or simpleton but our young people need to be brought to jesus there's a vast empty space that should be filled by prayer and relationships either god that's your religious views you never have to apologize for your religious views certainly not on this program by the way if that's what you believe and and that's worked for you in your faith well then you don't have to pre-face it with with an apology I understand where you're coming from but I fully respect your religious beliefs and you believing that you're that that might help other people just to warn and for all the drivers on the point road lacrosse point are all the potholes which I'm after wrecking my tire on please ring the cancel cancelers to deal with this okay that's the lacrosse point on the point road there uh livered high folks i'd be grateful for a shout out to my own retired racer skinny jeans who won at the old livered track back in 2013 she'll be 13 years old on the 2nd of February and hopefully she'll get a visit to the hallowed sand for a wee walk when the track reopens on the 2nd of April from Linda boner skinny jeans and it's G E N E S not uh like denim jeans okay hi Greg is there a new app for highland radio my app has disappeared don't I don't know how to answer that question there's an app is it new I don't know uh what the story is I'll get on toshine and give you an answer tomorrow uh okay um listen the website is an app so if you go on your mobile device go to highland radio dot com it presents as a as a website right and you can go save as bookmark and bookmark it to your phone screen and it operates the exact same as an app does by the way uh so go to hi this is what I suggest you do go to highland radio dot com and whichever iPhone you're on or android um you click the three dashes or however you add a bookmark it'll ask you where you add your bookmark add it to your home screen right and it's the exact same as an app and it's regularly updated 100% stable and uh finula spent a fortune making it so so that's what I suggest you do there's a wee video going around that suggests you do something else but I'm getting involved in that uh fair play to your show contributor David Cullinan of shin fein their health spokesperson for holding the government to account well he's responding to an article that held him to account but we'll see how it goes I understand where you're coming from I've jane's first and second books I've got them on amazon I'm getting the third book now this week what a great read okay it was great to have her into a really interesting lady um hi I wondered do you know what time the special concert for Creasler is on in the aura there's no time on the tickets doors open at seven show starts at eight okay doors open at seven show starts at eight alright I think that's just about us for this Monday morning I'm off tomorrow so you have the pleasure of donal and cavernas company uh between nine and twelve I'm back with you uh bright and early well certainly early we'll see how bright I am on Wednesday morning at nine o'clock thanks to Caroline or who researched and produced the show have a great Monday uh stay tuned why don't you because John Breslin's coming up with these usual uh great mix of music and chat and conversation and crack Dona Marie's coming up shortly with the news in fact I'll be polite and say good afternoon Dona Marie Daugherty thanks Greg good afternoon a meeting is being held this week on progressing the campaign for redress for defective block homeowners in Dona Gaul the Micah Action Group is urging people to attend on Thursday at the station house hotel letter Kenny the group issued a letter to all Dona Gaul county councillors last week to put pressure on the government to deliver up to 16 new jobs are to be created in Lefford with the reopening of Lefford Greyhound stadium