I know. You really read the room wrong. Not a day for cutting the grass, isn't it? No, but you're all set. You're not here next week. I can cut my grass. Next week? What? Cut my grass, I might. Nah. So you're off for a week? I'm off for a week, yeah. I'm going to England for two days. Wow, fantastic. Taking Noah away and Lee and Claire. I'm going away for a couple of days. Very good. Be nice. OK. And who's replacing you? That boy there. Morning, Fred. How are you doing now, Mark?  I've enjoyed the conversation between you two.  I'm saying nothing. No, but Greg, you know what, it's nice to, you know, there's wee ends and outs and stuff. It's a balance, though. It's a balance. What do you mean, the balance? I watch.  No, but it's nice to be prepped up so you know what you're going into. You know, he's cracking fun and he knows the secret sound as well. I'll have to tell an answer now. Oh, that's three people now at least. I'm consumed. No, what do you mean, three? Who's the third? Kevin Fury knows it. He knows it, right? That's one. Then Marty for you. And me. That's three. Yeah, that's all right. OK. All right, Lee, have a great week off. You too. Marty, look forward to seeing you Monday. OK. Our Friday panel is about to join us to look over some of the big stories of the week and of the day. But first, let's get a news update. We'll cross over now to Makayla Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. The public expenditure minister says it's important, effective, concrete block, homeowners are treated as potentially vulnerable mortgage customers and dealt with accordingly. Minister Michael McGraw met this week with the banking and insurance redress focus group. He was responding to Donegal Jeopardy, who is called for bespoke arrangements, recognising the unique circumstances of affected homeowners to be pigeon-placed by banks. Despite the implementation deadline for the defective concrete block grant scheme, regulations being missed. Minister McGraw says they are close to finalisation. He's placed he continued to work on finding a resolution for affected mortgage holders. Just the anxiety, the stress, the anguish that they are having to live with every day. So if I can help in any way, as I've said before, to make the process more palatable and more accessible for them, I'll certainly do that. So I'll take an ongoing interest in this and I'll work with you and your colleagues and the homeowners action group to try and deal with these mortgage issues as best I can. A Scottish company has announced it is to open a new base in Donegal. Be Positive will officially open a GTech key door on Tuesday. IT services company director Colin Quinn says being based in Donegal gives them access to a highly educated and talented workforce. Ortiz, former commercial director, says he's shocked by the revelations from the broadcaster. It admitted to undeclared payments to Ryan Tauberty of 345,000 euro between 2017 and 2022. An emergency meeting of members of the National Union of Journalists working for Ortee will be held today. Former group commercial director at Ortee, Willie O'Reilly says it leaves a number of questions. Who thought this was a good idea? In any company of Ortiz, there are a number of risks. Finance has won, but reputation is right up there.  There has to be some kind of internal investigation and there has to be an external independent investigation too. The first turbine has been installed at Lena Lee Wind Farm. It's expected the seven turbine development will be operational by the last quarter of this year and when complete it will generate enough renewable energy to power 20,000 homes annually. The remaining six turbines have been pre-assembled and are scheduled to be fully installed by the end of June. Finally, for weather, cloudy today with outbreaks of Ryan and Drizzle turning heavy at times. Warm and humid with highs of 20 to 22 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. Nipping out to get bin bags. We've got some. Well, I'd better take the dog out. But we don't have a dog. OK, OK, the double Big Mac is back at McDonald's. Right, get the keys. The double Big Mac and the new double Big Mac with bacon are here for a limited time. Don't miss it. Available until the first of August. Served after 11 a.m. Subject to availability. Participating restaurants only. 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 it's a very good morning at three minutes past nine on this Friday the 23rd of June, 2023. How are you doing? I hope you're all very well indeed and hopefully we can enjoy your company now for the next three hours on the 9 to noon show where we'll keep you informed, entertained and hopefully platform your views and opinions as well. The lines are open for you right now to get involved in the conversation. 08 660 25,000. That's the WhatsApp and text 08 660 25,000. If you've got a view on anything we're talking about or want to raise your own conversations, you can also call us today. We've got Donna Marie and Neve taking those calls on 07 491 25,000. And if email is your thing, well, it's comments at highlandradio.com. And for those of you who it suits, you can watch this show today and every day. You can go to our YouTube channel Highland Radio Ireland where you'll get to see the guests who we're speaking to across our Facebook pages as well. Highland Radio News and Sport and Highland Hub. And you can also click watch live on our website.  OK, let's introduce our panel for this morning. And I can say it every week because it's true it is another cracker. We'll say good morning first to John McIntyre, editor of the Trippian Tribune. John, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. How are you keeping? I'm great. Thanks. Very, very good indeed. Damien Dez, the editor of the Unisown Independent. Hi, Damien. How are you doing, Greg? Great to have you on board as always, of course. And Mary T. Sweeney, Aintu Rep in Donegal and Campaigner as well. I think I'll stick that one in if you don't mind. Mary T., good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. And good morning to all the listeners. Right. Great to have you with us. All right. As hundreds of RTE staff were told that the company was losing money hand over fist and that they would have to take a cut in their relatively modest salaries, RTE were cooking up a secret deal that would see Ryan Toberty paid off the books to a tune of 345,000 euro of the last short number of years. That information was kept from those staff. I talked of the public who pay these wages and the Eroctus. Mr. Toberty says it's a matter for RTE. Apparently, he didn't notice that he was being paid significantly more than he must have been aware was being publicly reported he's taken today off. It's not clear if he's going to go to work next week. He said publicly in 2019 that he wouldn't be found wanting in taking a pay cut. But as it turns out, he really didn't take that pay cut at all. This news emerges as during a cost of living crisis, RTE is seeking the public to pay more for a service that many don't even use. RTE rakes it in from PPV now through the GEA Go, of course, and many would feel it's reneging on its own commitment to openness and transparency. Right. So, Merity Sweeney, first your reaction to this story. Oh, dear, oh, dear, where do we start with RTE? Are you going to give the whole hour over to it for me? Because I could be given out for the hour about RTE. It's a dysfunctional organization. Now we understand that the accountancy doesn't work either. And then when I had a quick look to see what's been going on since they sold the land, I see that in the report they did in 2019, a year after they sold nine acres for 107.5 million, they were paying three million per year in security fees to look after that. Who could write it? It's absolutely unbelievable. It seems that what they call them, the Norton, Graham Norton, had been saying on air that Ryan Turberry wasn't being paid enough. It would now appear that somebody listened in the back office to Graham Norton and thought we'll give Ryan a big backhander here. It's disgraceful. It's a disgraceful. And you mentioned the crisis, the economic crisis in Ireland at the moment, and there's a genuine crisis with people in their homes. And it's an insult to even ask people to pay more money. And maybe we should consider the defunding of RTE and let them realize what it's like to sustain and have to be responsible for their bias broadcasting that they present, because I think it is biased. It's not just RTE, this affects though, because there was a recent report that showed there was a, you know, more of a trust of the media in Ireland than there might be elsewhere. These types of stories don't only impact RTE, though. They arguably impact everyone. Completely, completely. And to think that their biggest concern seems to be in how to resolve their pension crisis. Like Ian, what I mean, there has to be accountability. And who will be held accountable? This is the history of dealing with a crisis in Ireland. It is collective accountability, so nobody has their head rule. Nobody will be held responsible. And yet there will probably be an inquiry that will cost another couple of hundred thousand or maybe perhaps a million. When will the Irish people say, no, wait a minute, enough is enough? We know the format. We know the format. Yeah, we learned this week off the back of the Brandon report that no one will be held accountable for that because people are either retired or left their position. And is it a coincidence then, and I'm not conflating these two issues, is it a coincidence that Ryan Tauberty's just happened to step down as the host of the RTE late-late show and that Dee Forbes is also making way? I mean, I am not saying all of those things are connected, but I think the public at this point might start wondering, well, are they? I mean, it all seems very convenient. There's a bigger coincidence. Is it a coincidence that there's been a Goal Woman thrown at the end of the helmet at the very last minute in the last year that has uncovered all of this? And fair choose to her for uncovering it. We have to admire her for uncovering it. But we also must ask who all knew that she was going to be left with unraveling this, and I don't know the lady personally, but other than she's from Donnie Goal and this tremendous achievement to get to that level in Dublin, which has been very hostile to Donnie Goal on several avenues. I would think continuously hostile, not alone on health and on services. Yeah. To think that this lady, I would think that she has been credited in this position within the last year. Right, everybody's gone. There's too many common denominators that would make me think this was well planned in advance. Somebody knew about it. And what accountants are responsible? Who signed the paperwork? Well, I mean, obviously management have to be involved in this. Anyway, I'll come back to you to see what happens next. And just for context, by the way, and for those who may not be aware, we have access to all of the newspapers here every morning. And this story is on the front of it and across numerous inside pages of the paper. So this is not something I'm individually amplifying. And I do understand there's a personality in here as well. A lot of people would have a, you know, strong positive feelings for as well. So there might be some confliction as to how people feel about this story. But how does Damien Durge, the editor of the Unichone Independent, feel about this story? Well, I heard it on the radio this morning and that, you know, surprise, not surprise. I think the timing of it, Greg, as you mentioned, is interesting. That's probably more to do with the new, whatever it is, chief executive of RTE, coming in. And it is the way around. Robert, he's probably stepping down from the late, late show. It just shows you that somehow RTE, who had to be badgered for years into revealing the salaries of their talent, as they call it, have for the last since 2017, it looks like being kind of cooking the books there. And they're saying that, you know, so Tuberty is the top of, you know, the top 10 or the top 20 highest paid editors in the station have their salaries reported. Tuberty is the top of that tree. Apparently they're saying that none of the other top nine have anything different on theirs. But, you know, could you trust the word of it? At this stage, like, you know, so I think the breach of trust, gets 160 quid off every household in the country that has a television in it. So it gets a lot of money from us citizens. They are able as well to get other income from the government. They obviously do a lot of advertising and are dominant probably in the television and the radio advertising sphere. So they get a lot of money, a lot of money coming directly from the public, some come up from the private sector.  And it looks now that they've been misleading the public, the politicians and the rest. And it's going to be very hard to see how RTE can rebuild that trust for years. They've been looking to increase the 160-year-old license fee. And I mean, that will be entirely out the window now over the head of this. It looks like they've been given Ryan Tuberty under declared his wages by 20,000 in 2017, 20,000 in 2018 and 2019, and 56,250 in 2020. 20 according to David McCullough on the RTE News last night. Those are sums of money that for a lot of people, that's their annual income. Well, can I put it into context? Because a producer on the Late Late Show, for an example, the average wage is 32,000 euro per year. That rises up to the top scale, which is 55,000. Now you have to have 12 years of service as a producer on the Late Late Show before you would achieve that. So the majority of people are earning 32 odd. As I say, in 2019, he said he would not be found wanting in taking a pay cut. He didn't take a pay cut as he must have known was actually being advertised out there. I would say some of the staff of the Late Late Show are feeling a little bit bitter this morning, hurt this morning with that news. I'd say all across that organization. I've never really understood why the talent is already, like they call it, is paid, the rates that they're paid on the furnace. Well, they would tell, they say that you see if they don't pay them today, a firm news talk, the BBC, I even heard Fox News being mentioned in relation to Pat Kenny, that they will come on and they will drag them out of the country and we'll lose that talent. I'd say let them go and don't let the door close on the way behind them.  That makes me think that boy there is worth his half a million. Mary T mentioned that it's a personal thing. I don't particularly watch the Late Late Show with Ryan Turbally on. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Patty can take plans that I have no problem particularly with Ryan Turbally. I just don't like his presentation manner. I've never really liked it. But so I don't take a look at him and think she's that boy there's worth half a million. Graham Norton you mentioned Mary T. I do you closely watch the show and I will get a laugh out of it like you know what I wonder like I don't know what he's paid over there like but there's entertainment value and there's what you call the thing like so he you know I can look at that just that boy there is pretty good he's at the top of his game. I don't look at too many people in RT and I've never looked at too many people in RT that are that way. So they've paid the talent as they call it over the top for donkey's ears and the salary that we're under wherever the number is. It used to be it used to be an awful lot. It used to be an awful lot higher 20 years ago because they were paying rings around them and it never made sense. It didn't make sense and doesn't make sense. And for the entire organization which but I'm not one of those. I don't actually be grids a license fee. I think it's important that we have an international broadcaster. I think it's important that it's properly funded so that because we're in the United States and we're living on the one side in America and the other side to very culturally powerful countries that can dictate a lot of what's talked about and spoken about in the English speaking word. I think it's important that we have a distinct Irish station that's able to give an Irish view and I don't always agree with that. But I do think it's important. But I think that they have for a long time they have overpaid the top stars and it's important that we have an international broadcaster. I think it's important that we have a chief executive that's coming in. I think the time is more to get the bad news out of the way in the dying days of the outgoing chief executive. And then when the new chief executive comes in, it's something that he has to deal with this a historical matter and you know his hands aren't dirty because it wasn't happening in his time. And he's not accountable. He's not accountable. The general politicians, public figures, whatever else accountable and you know this here in the audience, terribly undermining third face in in in RT but also face just a broadcast media in general. You say that I happen to listen to the news at one yesterday and there was strong questioning in fairness from the presenter of a number of guests, but public service broadcasting, but that's a personal opinion. I listen to some RT radio by the way, I'm not a per se anti-RT. I just think it's the money's ridiculous. John McIntyre, what do you think? The price I suppose more than anything else because you know what were the hidden and why were they doing it? Ryan Turberry is on a huge salary regardless I suppose uniquely different the way that contracts are agreed between his agents and all the stars agents and the commercial end of RT is the same in most broadcasters but why would they want to hide 345,000 and that's beside the point because I mean if you were getting another 345,000 into your account over six years, Greg, you're probably asking questions of somebody when do I have to start paying this back, it's a big mistake it would seem that this initial idea came through one of the commercial sponsors that the X amount of that was directed to Turberry's account and then RT wrote an invoice for it it is highly unusual there isn't an explanation for this but it raises fundamental questions about the whole methodology that is being used. But they underrode, they guaranteed it they guaranteed that and then that commercial partnership wasn't renewed, RT paid that excess. I think that only lasts for one year actually but 345,000 out of RT and then literally strapped for cash it just doesn't add up but lots of raised questions and we will have our ears perked to see what exactly are they paying Patrick Keely is it going to be a lot more than that because Patrick Keely has been a very highly paid star for a very long time and I'm sure he's not coming to RTE just for the sake of being on Irish television I'm not so sure I saw him on Celebrity Catchphrase on Challenge TV last week I'm not sure I'm not sure I don't know I don't mean it badly but he was on Celebrity Catchphrase Celebrity Catchphrase Here's a stand up comedian He has a good grasp of current affairs I'm not too sure how the format of the Late Late Show would fit into him I'm not too sure that they will change it drastically I think they will have to They should forget about it altogether No The Ryan Turberry thing begs a lot of questions A lot of practices going on inside RTE that are inexplicable I'm not sure if they're right or wrong it would seem that this the work to be 15 cuts for 15% cuts for all top airlines in RTE that hasn't happened in this particular case the cut was more like maybe 5% or 6% and I suppose there's Mary T. Sears there, there'll be an inquiry there'll be investigation Let's talk about the consequences of this because what will happen there'll be a ton of noise over the next while you know Sinn Fein are going to be and the other opposite TV TV's are going to be out in the media they already have been the government will sort of have a tough line to walk and will hear stuff from RTE and inquiries but let's talk about what this actually means and what the consequences of it might be not Ryan Turberry as an individual because he did nothing wrong as such So in terms of what does this mean RTE Damien said I think it was Damien or was it Mary T. Damien said they can forget about increasing the license fee now that's not going to wash with anyone at this point. What is the potential reputational damage to RTE here maybe the media more generally speaking I would say it's quite serious actually because you know people will be looking with disbelief that somebody can be paid 345,000 and nobody sort of realises until some accountant picks it up on an audit it just does not quite add up and I'm sure that every last accountant RTE in the last six or seven years will be now trolled by Grant Thornton to see if there are any other practices of a similar nature there. It is a very bad PR for the company that they must manage it all day yesterday because nobody really had any questions to answer the director general was on RTE with David McCullough yesterday evening getting a bit of a roasting but she's a mild modest woman from Don Fanae and she just really did not know anything about it because it's outside of their remit entirely and if you're the director general of a huge organisation like RTE I suppose you have to ask the question what is the role of that organisation when their director general was not aware of it where exactly do they fit in and who exactly caused the short in so far as paying out money is concerned it's a whole mess and I would say that in so far as the public is concerned there's more and more people just not watching RTE and I'm one of them I watch news and current affairs and that's about it because I find it bland I find their news programs are very flat and they don't challenge anybody you've kept saying that Greg for the last number of years you know I suppose the government is paying a lot of income through advertising and all that do you bite the hand that feeds you kind of thing I think there's part of it too is that though because they have access to a minister a morning that they're afraid to jeopardise that with challenging questions I mean you've seen how Pascal Donahue slapped a few presenters down and it's been taken on the chin with apologies that is all wrong can you imagine Brian Farland people like that I mean they wouldn't even dare do that because they would take them to pieces but it's a nice cozy kind of a 10 or 11 minute gap to fill you have a minister a morning to be nice if they didn't have a minister most mornings because we're not learning anything from them only the PR got that they keep turning out at us that doesn't make any sense but it's all this consensus now that there's no room at all to sort of say no just hold on here a minute I don't think you're right there that's not happening on RTE anymore and they're all the poorer for that because using current affairs is not meant to service the politicians it's meant to serve us and our knowledge and their I think it's their remit to provide that information politicians feel that if they don't like the line of questions they're just not bothered taking those questions any longer and I don't well then they shouldn't have them on it's as simple as that there I mean it's basically promoting the image of that politician and that party and it's all very very slick it's all PR exercises and there's just no room to dissent I can't believe how quickly time's going already Damien I want to ask you and then I'll go back to Mary T what are the consequences of this you know obviously there's going to be a ton of coverage over the next while it is definitely going to run into next week but what do you think the consequences are for this in terms of maybe RT how it's funded how it pays its stars well I think there's there could very well be in the early days yet but there could very well be consequences for Ryan Toberty as well with staying with the station you know and maybe no fault for his I mean his bank accounts opening for RT you want to transfer and RT can do the same for me by the way if they want to transfer an extra 20 or 50,000 quid and tell nobody about it they're very well up to do so but I'd say he's quite damaged for his radio program as well you know so there could be some consequences for him and that may be able to you know maybe news talker today if I'm on one of the British stations or American stations will find that his talent is such that they have to come and sweep in and take him away from us off but for RT there's serious damage to them Nick and as I say this they've been talking about hemorrhaging money for years Mary T messes up sold off ground down the controls that they were paying an awful lot of money which I wasn't aware of for their security on it they're going to have to tighten belts the problem is is that the tighten on the belts will likely be in the loss of because they're not going to get extra money from the state now from they're not going to get extra money from the government they're not going to get extra money in terms of the license fee so they are going to have to tighten things and they're probably going to end up losing some of those more junior staff because the talent for whatever reason will continue to get their 300, 400, 500, and they do have unions to deal with and internal rumblings because it is a big organisation and I think an awful lot of the anger is actually coming from within. Mary T Sweeney back to you finally before we take a break what do you think the consequences of this might actually be not what you hope now but what do you think it might be I would think the consequences of this would possibly be that we are naive in thinking that we have political establishment who are responsible for holding them to account because we own RTE and who in our political establishment is going to go up again against them I think we would be naive if to think that we have politicians and government that are going to hold them accountable for this to the true extent of what they should be held and to get a further investigation of their accounts including the security plus whatever that was spent post sale of that land that is being reported in the papers and they are looking to sell more land currently to fund pension schemes I think they might need to realise the way many families pay their mortgages that they are under threat of having no pension there should be no grand entitlement to enormous pensions and just in relation to the housing crisis in Dublin we have been inundated with imagery about the housing crisis in Dublin but yet it's at Payne's length that the people from Donegal will have to bring up the make a campaign and no worry about the campaign in Donegal they are totally Dublin central and I would consider it more devious that it's not actually an independent body but it's a political wing of certain politicians in Ireland and I think it's political sorry, thank you I thought you were finished sorry, finish what you were going to say I need to be deconstructed in the present format my apologies, Merity political entity and it shouldn't be political and I can personally respond to looking at the figures for say the abortion referendum came out yesterday 8,150 babies when they cover the marches and the marches on on the 1st of July, please boot your buses in Donegal please support these unborn babies and support mothers get money to keep their babies but they never gave it true and honest reporting it was just blatantly a lack of a real democratic accounting and publicity about the crowds of people that attend those marches and the make a march it was a real effort to get them to give accurate figures but yet if it was a football match or something else there's no problem so it's a political entity and it needs to be depoliticised immediately thank you all for my guests after these whatever your genre whatever way you play virgin media is here switch today at virginmedia.ie virgin media it's playtime subject to location and availability I've just had the eclipsed cinema's experience wow they truly have taken a night at the movies to a whole new level amazing recliner chairs director's lounge VIP rooms pizza and hot food served to your seat wine and enjoy the film on the big screen try it for yourself at eclipsed cinemas where the stars shine brighter by the way the pizzas are amazing you can book your seat anytime at eclipsed cinemas.ie in the next 15 seconds you're going to find out where is the best place in the north west to buy a bed or mattress it's rest text beds furniture, mountain top, letter Kenny where comfort meets style island radio time checks brought to you by Expressway Ireland's national coach provider are inviting you to walk the yellow walk for 30 minutes on June the 21st sign up at grow.ie today Expressway bringing you the time Matt the times half past nine Mary T. before the break mentioned the defective concrete protest that took place in Dublin today's kind of an important day I think because it's one year on since the truncated what's the word the scrutiny of the defective concrete redress scheme it was the long process was avoided because we were told at that time, like we were told before the first scheme that if you don't accept this it could be years before you get a scheme we were told at the time that there can't be pre-legislative scrutiny in its full form because it would delay this really really important scheme well we're 365 days on from the shortened shortened version of scrutiny of spending billions upon billions upon billions of taxpayers money and yet here we are Damien with no enhanced and inverted commas redress scheme the public once again sold a pup I think I'll be out in two weeks Greg it's been two weeks I feel like I'm in the back of your I feel like I'm in the back of your car on the way to Dublin airport are we there yet dad it's needed we've been told a little bit there in the fortnight since about Christmas time the pace at which it has moved has obviously been a problem on that pre-legislative scrutiny thing now you know there's no I wouldn't just so there was no pre-legislative scrutiny really of the bill and it does take a long period of time for this to be done like you know in the way that they are act as works it would take several months for that to be done there would be no guarantee that a full leg pre-legislative scrutiny had it been gone through and that the department of housing officials wouldn't be doing exactly what they're doing now which is taking their fine time and that's what they've been doing since it's almost a year to be July will be 12 months since the bill was enacted and they'll be sitting in the door sitting in the department of housing congratulating themselves at doing something at such speed by their standards but for the standards of people who have to live in the Micahouses people who have already engaged with the scheme on the 6040 scheme thinking that the the bigger enhanced scheme was just around the corner those people must be going off their heads I mean they will have borrowings right left and centre waiting and praying like everybody else that the enhanced scheme would would open so that they would get a bigger grant paid down to them and there is no urgency and there hasn't been urgency and there hasn't been urgency since this was first discovered in about 2012-2013 when people like Eileen Doherty and Anne Owens and them got together and when this was all ignored they fought like tires to bring it on to the agenda it's been one of the greatest achievements probably in Donegal political history how the Micah group got together and got something done but the pace at which the state moves on this here is absolutely unbreakable. Let's not forget it's about six months now and I'm sorry if I feel like fashion RT maybe I don't know but it's about six months now since the housing minister was sitting in front of an RT journalist and it was said to him and he nodded as it was said to him well you've resolved the issues in Donegal now what about on to the next subject and nodded the head and says yes indeed I have so that's the kind of accountability that these ministers when they make themselves available for questioning on certain platforms that's the kind of questions they get. Mary T you mentioned the defective concrete so as I say a year on from that joke of pre-legislative scrutiny for a scheme that is going to burden the taxpayer to the tune of billions upon billions upon billions completely irresponsible not scrutinized that fully I would imagine but anyway what's your view? I was turning on to connect into the show today and I heard the tail end of the Highland Radio News and I would really hope that I heard it wrong but I believe it was the minister who used the expression in relation to the Micah scheme and please correct me if I picked it up wrong that he said more palpable that he really used that language well I'll check does he know what the word palpable means that he's trying to to make something how dare he I'm thinking about the families and see the consecutive politicians that have sat at these meetings that I attended from the very beginning and they sat and it's still happening today there are still houses being sold and I don't blame the people trying to sell their homes because they know they have Micah how would you react you panic you have to react and they're trying to sell homes that we know of Micah to an unsuspecting buyer it is criminal and not by the people by the government to have created this entity this nightmare for families that mental health are not just the parents the children the whole community the whole community has been damaged by successive politicians each one of them who ever sat on those meetings and continued to sit and make what I consider to be false promises and then you see what's happening in the banks with people that have become bankrupt for millions of pounds being rid off for like was it 18,000 this week somebody wrote off their debt what has gone on we need a bit of French blood I'm going to Paris and I'm going to bring over and get a transfusion of French blood to give us a bit of fire back in we've lost a lot of our leaders in Ireland there's a bit of a dictatorship emerging in France as well too though but I do take your point and John this enhanced scheme it might be good news to a small group of people but still the scheme will whenever it is announced will exclude farm buildings, agriculture buildings, commercial premises second homes, holiday homes, community centres many within a stone floor of where you're sitting right now but as I say your reaction to the fact that we were told we have to avoid plea legislative scrutiny to get this over the line and here we are a year on from the truncated version of that which was a nothing really in fact some of the quotes from it are still quite shocking and startling when you reflect on what was said during that process but anyway families still feel the no further on John you can't blame them the reality here is that it's the way over two years ago since the first one to Dublin down to the convention centre two years ago and then the huge group went on in October massive demonstrations in Dublin I don't know what more the Micah Action Group can do that must be exhausted and disbelief and in shock that they're dealing with a cabinet what if those prizes for political one buying there would be top competition to see who would win it if this wasn't Dublin this would never be happening it just would have been resolved it is two and a half two and a half billion it's not a lot of money under any circumstances given the kind of budget day the government will have at least 15 billion to give away over and above what's needed to run the country why Donagall has been left waiting since 2016 when this was first exposed on national television on the 30th of May of that year and we've not learned anything much new that wasn't there on that night it was very well presented, it was very well researched and put together why it's moving at a snarest pace often it's moving backwards and it's never going forward and it's got to the point where we no longer believe anything we hear from a politician Is this tied in maybe to sort of the national situation in terms of them trying to suppress inflation and what have you you know what I mean there are analysts who are afraid that too much capital investment might heat up the economy to too much of an extent so if you've got your housing for all scheme and then you throw in potentially an extra five, six, seven thousand houses on this are civil servants working behind the scenes and saying we can't actually do this we can do it but if we do it it could have a ripple effect across other areas of the economy I would like that being dug into a little bit more here because as I say they're trying to keep the foot in people's neck in terms of taking money out of the economy with interest rate rises and also tax increases to further push people into hardship to lower inflation and also not pulling the trigger on capital investment that they can afford for fear of overheating the economy as well is it all intertwined into linked I would just like some truth tell us what it is I suppose it is but you see the go to position of politicians is always to blame the civil servants it's the handy convenient cushion I suppose the public are subservient into believing that because what else do you do we do elect the politicians to make sure that that doesn't happen to make sure that the will of the people is put forward to the permanent government and that those top civil servants react the civil service have their fingers in every pie you know John of course it's only really come to my mind over the last few months that on a macro level how they control a narrative at certain things like I was getting opened and I'm flabbergasted at the extent of the control the reality is here that over the last 25 years they have gradually been allowed to take that control away from the political process and why do we have a cabinet representing the people at the highest possible level they should be dictating to the civil service that this is the way it has to be done and this is how it must be done and you have six months to come up with a brief on it this is not happening at all the top civil service was out there dictating the pace on this here but you know you have to ask more serious questions about why a county like Donegal has been left with such a disaster of a Micahouse infection down the years it's going on maybe 20 years and it's all down to defective blocks and that's the long and the short of the story it shouldn't be a big big job to resolve that and to put systems and methodologies in place to ensure that people have their homes restored yeah Damian this is nothing that has to be front loaded this is a multi-year obviously multi-billion that being said that it does job creation there's employment there's a clawback in VAT there is the doing the right thing element I mean everything points to the fact that this is an old brainer so that is why I'm struggling to guess the motivation as to why you would defy deny these families justice because all you know all reasonable ways of thinking about this would suggest that you just say oh my word like refusing downsizing for an example I mean there's no logic to that unless you're trying to frustrate something or delay something or defer something or to limit access to it Damian I think it's just awful inertia within the department of housing and they're not able to get their head around it they resent that their first little pet scheme that they were forced into back in 2020 didn't really get to see the light of day before it had to be overturned so they resent that and they have continued to do the extent of this Greg isn't fully and yet appreciate that this two and a half billion price tag it will be and I'm not exaggerating when I say this it will be 10 times that by the time it's funny I would love a figure on the amount of people that are waiting for six or seven hundred euro testing because this thing is going to explode if it's not my private houses Greg I mean the quarry at the center of the supplied blocks that were built in the region I was told by a source of 50,000 homes so the number that the government has worked off comes from the they had a working group looking into the fact that blocks back by 2016-2018 and they did a desktop analysis of how many houses how many social houses had mica and they try to calculate based on how many of those had mica how many plan commissions have been granted in the period so it's a desktop calculation that estimates there's about 5,000 affected homes and this is not to talk about all the rest the farm buildings the commercial buildings the the schools and so on the full extent of this is not yet appreciated I don't know and it will be a multi-year and it will be it is a 20-30 year job to undo the damage that has been done to the housing stock to the what's called all the premises all the building that was done in our county for the guts of 25 or 30 years has a massive question mark over it all and most people will have to assume that and people need to understand this listen to the radio today just because your house isn't exhibiting the worst sounds of the mica that you have seen it does not mean that you are guaranteed to be away from it any home that was built in the last 20 to 25 maybe even 30 years you'd really be best assuming that you have mica unless you can prove otherwise through getting the test on and that I'm afraid is the unpalatable truth about it this really what has been discovered so far and the homes that are in the worst state is only the tip of a of an unimaginably an unimaginably large iceberg yeah indeed and there's people getting tests on that don't have enough mica for the scheme but they have enough mica whereby no one is going to buy it I know four or five people personally that strongly suspect they have mica but they're not officially counted because they can't afford the six or seven thousand euro and as soon as this new scheme is announced they're going to be on the list I suspect Mary team one of the things that I have said from the start I have great I'm very skeptical about this or ZLT tax and I have sent multiple articles forward on this from the start the residential zone and land tax there there's two strains to this I'm concerned are they going to try and make the farming community fund the rebuilding of rural of the counties out of mica are the done ago the percentage we can't even get proper percentage figures how much land they've included houses on the or ZLT maps that should never have been on it instead of shown clean clear maps of what land has been been allocated to have to pay this residential zone land tax it's absolutely criminal but the rat in my opinion and they do they think that the farming community and the people that have one or two acres who are often have struggled greatly to retain those couple of acres you know are they going to be funding this or where's that money going to go you know where's the accountability in this government okay we are going to walk away Scott free here no thanks Mary T I have to take a break back in about three and a half minutes watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny 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a full Irish you know and it's brilliant go on go full needle today on this week's business matters I am joined by Donny Gall County councillor Anthony Maloy and Brendan Bralla-Sodano from the Brainfield Trust to discuss plans to transform the old courthouse and glenties into the Brainfield Centre I'll also be talking to the owners of the McLodge in Fulcara, Sean and Amy Doohan which won the pump of the year at the recent Highland Radio Customer Appreciation Awards so join me, Kieran O'Donnell for Business Matters on Sunday evening after the 6 o'clock news the Business Matters podcast is also available to download at highlandradio.com Business Matters in association with the ATU Donny Gall Faculty of Business if you have an undergrad in any discipline and would like to reinforce it with a Masters in Business ATU are offering their Masters in Business Management conversion program call 9186206 or email donnell.hanigan at atu.ie Connor McReady's Country Tea Party in aid of the Donny Gall Hospice takes place this Sunday 25th in the Orchard Inn Letter County from 105 B.L. between Keelan Brown, Simon Beaters, Paul McAll, Kylian McLaughlin, Elaine Boyle, Johnny Houghy and more this ad is sponsored by the Orchard Inn OK, you're very welcome back to the program we're in the Company of Mary T. Sweeney Ain't Too Rep in Donny Gall Community Campaigner as well, Damien Dodd's Editor of the Inner Shown Independent, John McIntyre Editor of the Chair Connell Tribune we learned last evening of the very sad death of five explorers above the Titan Submersible which imploded earlier in the week as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic it followed days of wall-to-wall coverage across Irish media it was a story that certainly did grip the headlines by contrast the news that 750 refugees and migrants are feared dead after their overloaded vessels sank off the western coast of Greece received scant coverage by comparison and to be honest I struggled to find any coverage after at least 35 people drowned after an inflatable boat carrying up to 60 migrants and refugees sank while en route to the Canary Islands on Wednesday morning John McIntyre I mean any loss of life is tragic and this is no disrespect to the five people that died above the Titan and their families but why is there such a variance do you think of coverage in stories like this I suppose we're losing refugees by the tens of thousands over the last 20-30 years and it has been pushed to the very back of the news agenda media are not out there to cover most of those tragedies the last big one for 750 people at least lost their lives was well covered up to a point because first of all nobody knows how many lives were lost certainly nobody knows how many were on board that and thirdly nobody knows were there any real efforts there to try and rescue those people to what extent it succeeded or failed that's one thing it's out of sight Is the role in the media though to scrutinise exactly the questions you've asked to a point whereby governments, agencies are to descend on the area like they have at the scene of the Titan disaster or the Titan, well this is a disaster of course you know where is the role in the media of this I mean we can't say we didn't have anyone there should we be shaming the agencies into the role in the media to sort of query the those responsible, there are agencies responsible it's a criminal act first of all these poor people unfortunately they're in that category of having nothing and their only hope is to escape to a better life and risk their lives in doing so and too many of them are getting drowned and there's no easy answers to that because as an entity the EU and the various countries that refugees are heading for across very dangerous waters, there's no cohesive policy for dealing with them there I mean why should they be let drown it's an absolute criminal act the people who are trafficking them from wherever they're getting the money I don't know there's huge money being made out of this and massive amounts of money are being paid by those unfortunately people to try and get to a better life but they should not be turned away and that should be highlighted in every headline in the media we have a good record in how we handle refugees but most of the refugees are not coming here they're coming to France, they're coming to the UK they're coming elsewhere in Europe and it's just an incredible tragedy that so many people it shows the state of the whole world at the moment that everybody has to leave so many countries, there was never more conflict there was never more failure in trying to sort of in some way try and handle the safety of the refugees first and foremost and get them ashore and then look at how they're going to look careful beyond and maybe we don't have that conversation out in front, maybe that's why the stories aren't covered like they should be somebody feel, Mary T just to the initial question why are we seeing such blanket coverage of this Titan submersive tragedy and yet at least 750 refugees that story fell off the news cycle as 100 children remain in the hold of that boat underground and as they say 16 migrants dead off the Canary Islands barely as they say I found one American report on it this morning as I tried to do a little research on it I mean are we as the public responsible because really if the truth be told and I said yesterday if there's 102 stacks of 100 papers on the left it's the submersive story on the right it's the refugee story the papers on the left will sell out far quicker than the ones on the right perhaps I think while I must say out front that I do support a sustainable migration policy and as a humanitarian we must all we've been phenomenal in Ireland to reach out but I think the reality from to answer your question I think will be unfair to answer it properly within 10 minutes there it's going to be very difficult and I would love proper time to answer this question because there's so many different strands to this question and we must ask and nobody better than the editor of the newspapers and I don't be disrespectful to the two editors present but in the national sense in the national framework of media control and TV and journalism that tragedy sells it appears unless it becomes too repetitive hard-hitting but true all right what do you think Damien I'll come back to you Mary T but just like you know as an editor because we only have about three minutes left and I'll give the last minute to Mary T I just think it's a side I think it's just a condition I think you know even in this country God forbid if someone dies in a fishing tragedy it will receive far more coverage than someone who might die in a road traffic collision I don't know what the story is there but Damien what's your insight well I suppose like the I'm just looking here I've got the Twitter trend age open at the moment Greg and there's 395,000 tweets in Ireland trending over the ocean gate which is the name of the company that sent that down and even Ryan Tugbury which is the biggest thing really for a lot of us today only has 4,300 tweets on it like so the public at large are very interested in that story that came from the Titanic for exactly for cultural reasons that Titanic is this cultural hold on people and obviously the contrast with the people that are in that submersible in comparison to the people that are fleeing Africa and trying to come to Europe those people have like we have seen their photographs of the people that have gone down in that submersible we've heard little bits about them we are able to put faces to other Europeans they're British they're American and they're French whereas the hundreds the countless thousands that are fleeing Africa by boat we can't put a face to we can't fully relate to why the story gets so much attention and it's one of these that was a search and rescue for such a long time and people think about it and a film would be made of that if the truth be told it's a common thing this search to try and see if some people against the odds can survive there it's a cultural thing that we have in the west here and unfortunately for those it's all of humanity I suppose our own humanity desensitized to so many thousands of drowning deaths in the Mediterranean as people are fleeing well I suppose we saw ourselves our reaction as a nation is that image of the young boy in this red t-shirt perishing the Syrian boy on the beach 4,000 people offered spare rooms to Syrians and within six months they had all been pretty much withdrawn Mary T do you want the last 30 seconds or shall we say goodbye no no I would take the last 30 seconds and I would also want to say that the reality is that there's 250,000 children missing across Europe the figures say one child every two minutes has been trafficked and we're not hearing enough about that case but what we have to do is we do have to have a very strong firm hand with the people, the criminals who are running this and making it appear lucrative for people to get 5,000 into their hands to get on a boat and this is where we're failing miserably we need to look at the logistics and the legalities and in Europe they had the first conference in this last year where the judiciaries are coming together and until we come down hard we need to do that with increasing and improving the quality of conditions in their home countries to make it less lucrative to appear together between 2,000 and 7,000 to get on a boat or a plane to become a migrant because some of the real migrants are left behind Mary T. Sweeney, Ainty Rep thanks so much for your time, have a lovely weekend take care of yourself, thank you good to have you with us Damien and Dads as always great to have you on the show have a lovely weekend yourself last but not least of course John McAteer thank you and we'll see you again really soon I hope Bye bye John, take care good morning to you we take a break now for the news and obituary notices for a summer of savings it's got to be super value enjoy alcohol responsibly with easy living furniture presently retail part at Allstate we provide flexible working options that make work work for you you can choose condensed working or a flexible start or a finish time choose to work from home or the office whenever you want don't miss out on the moments that matter to you make work work for you search Allstate NI Careers today well Grace, how are you today? I'm good I've just been down to the maid to measure fireplaces showroom in Chrysler they have an incredible selection of over 40 colours for kitchen work tops and guess what? for a limited time they're offering a 40% discount on any electric fire when you purchase a work top there 40%? that's an amazing deal Grace absolutely and trust me if the discount alone doesn't sway you they're a huge selection of fireplaces stoves, wood pellet burners, beams and stone cladding certainly well contact maid to measure fireplaces at Chrysler on 074 9138 365 on Facebook Instagram and on MTM fireplaces.ie live 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 public expenditure minister says it's important a fact of concrete block homeowners are treated as potentially vulnerable mortgage customers dealt with accordingly Minister Michael McGrath met this week with the banking and insurance redress focus group he was responding in the door to Johnny Gold deputy Pierre Storty who called for bespoke arrangements recognising the unique circumstances of affected homeowners to be put in place by banks despite the implementation deadline for the defective concrete block grant scheme regulations being missed again Minister McGrath says they are close to finalisation he's pledged to continue to work on finding a resolution for affected mortgage holders just the anxiety distress the anguish that they are having to live with everyday so if I can help in any way as I've said before to make the process more palatable more accessible for them I'll certainly do that so I'll take an ongoing interest in this and I'll work with you and your colleagues and the homeowners action group to try and deal with these mortgage issues as best I can an emergency meeting of members of the National Union of Journalists working for RTE will be held today it comes after the broadcaster admitted to undeclared payments to Ryan Tauberty between 2017 and 2022 the payments totaled 345,000 euro and have been described as a serious breach of trust RTE has confirmed the former late late show will not host his radio show today Donegal A&T representative Mary T. Sweeney speaking on the 9 to 9 show this morning believes there needs to be an overhaul of the broadcaster it needs to be deconstructed in the present format that they make a march it was a real effort to get them to give accurate figures but yet if it was a football manager or something else there's no problem so it's a political entity and it needs to be depoliticised immediately the Scottish company has announced it's to open a new base in Donegal Be Positive will officially open a new techie door on Tuesday the IT services company offers business analysis solutions focusing on enabling companies enhance their digital capabilities Colin Quinn company director says being based in Donegal gives them access to a highly educated and talented workforce a warning has been issued over yet another scam impersonating Gardie this time scammers are targeting people via email Donna Marie Doherty has more Gardie in Donegal say they're aware of a current email based scam where an individual receives correspondence claiming to be from Donna the scammers claim the recipient is being investigated in relation to suspected child pornography pedophilia cyber pornography exhibition or similar judicial claims Gardie say they do not and will never contact somebody under investigation in this manner people are reminded to not respond to any unsolicited email seeking personal financial or security advice never click a link or attachment in an unsolicited email if you believe the email and any request for information is from a genuine source you're advised to verify it independently of the email sender Gardie are appealing to anyone who may have inadvertently or otherwise engaged with the scam or a similar scam and subsequently have been the victim of fraud to report it to them the first turbine has been installed at Lena Lee wind farm in Donegal it's expected the seven turbine development will be operational by the last quarter of this year complete the wind farm will generate enough renewable energy to power 20,000 homes annually the remaining six turbines have been pre-assembled and are scheduled to be fully installed by the end of June today marks your council day Donegal County Council is highlighting today the work of council employees and the role they play in the county's social and economic life local authorities across the country will be providing a behind the scenes look at a typical day in the council by employees you can get involved by using hashtag your council day weather night cloudy today with outbreaks of rain and drizzle turning heavy at times warm and humid with highest temperatures of 20 to 22 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 the obituary notices for this Friday morning June the 23rd the death has taken place of William McGranra Willie in Lemington Spa, England remains will be reposing at his sister Helen Doherty's residence nine the woods Bunkrana today at a time to be confirmed funeral mass took place last Monday in Lemington Spa burial will be in Cockhill Graveyard a quarter past two tomorrow afternoon the death has taken place of Margaret Ann McDermott Nick Gibson, Bali Holyrofo remains are reposing at her home being from there two more morning at half past 10 for 11 o'clock in St Junan's church Ruffaux followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery Heist Private family and close friends welcome family flowers only please donations in live desire to the Donegal Hospice care of any family member or Terence McClintock funeral director rosary tonight at 9 o'clock Heist Private before the funeral tomorrow please the death has taken place of Sheila Porter Grant, 24 Stevens Court Bali McGroty dairy remains are reposing in her home funeral from there two more morning at half past 11 for 12 o'clock requiem mass in Holy Family Church Bali McGroty fall by interment in St Angus' Cemetery Burt County Donegal and the death has taken place of Phyllis Duffy Rock Hill Letter Kenny reposing at her late residence today from 11 o'clock until 10 o'clock funeral mass two more morning at 5 o'clock in St Junan's Cathedral with burial afterwards in the family plot in Commonwealth Cemetery funeral mass come reviewed live on Church Services dot TV for more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals please go to highlandradio.com the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio it's time for NCBI bingo on Highland Radio Friday the 23rd of June you're playing on the yellow sheet the reference number is s5 it's game number 25 the numbers are 35 88 10 65 39 58 57 82 56 and finally 25 phone your claim to 910 483 before 8 leave your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI bingo information at highlandradio.com the 4 ada After the mid week season break Finn Harrebs returns a First 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Don't delay, get your holiday loan today, visit bnscu.ee or call free phone 1800 290 390. B&S Credit Union Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. 22 GTS, save 20%. ASICS Keano 29, ASICS GT 2011, save 20%.  Look the part, play the part. Instore and online. Click and collect on bmcsports.ie. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 Radio we're all bang up to date then, let's get to some of your comments that have been coming through over the last hour and I'll just read them as they come in. Greg there's been too many memes made about this tragedy on TikTok mixed feelings about it while money got them in the end they are still people of course, I mean they're adventurers. I don't think because someone chooses to climb Mount Everest necessarily and if they were to perish it doesn't make their life any less worth than someone else's so I agree with you. I think this RTE debacle might be meant to take our attention away from the neutrality issue. The government, Micheal Martin in particular is trying his best to have our young one shipped away to die in foreign soil. Sure folly, it would fit our government better to do something about promoting peace and stop the loss of innocent lives. Look, if anything ever happens there's always another thing happening at the same time that you could say it was a distraction. I mean I see all over Twitter people are suggesting that they knew all along that those people had died on that vessel tragically but they delayed the news so it coincided with one of the Bidens giving evidence on something or other. I mean listen, there's always one thing that will happen at the same time as another and if you want to make a connection has it ever happened in the past? Listen, I know news is managed that certain news is released late on a Friday or over a bank holiday weekend. I know that happens but something on this scale personally and call me my naive. I'm not saying you're wrong, I would doubt it. I actually believe that those conferences that are taking place are actually giving the people a voice because people are speaking out on the neutrality issue that may have had feelings, strong feelings that we need to maybe even strengthen that but never express them. So in a way I think actually if, let's just say if, these were being held to move us in a certain direction I think it's backfired because I think it's very clear the view of the public now. There's an interesting conversation is happening this morning at that event in Galway today about the triple lock which is important I think. We'll have more on that in the news coverage later on in the programme, on the day of course. Many years ago we were told that if the big RTE presenters were not paid big money they'd leave Ireland and go to rival broadcasters in the UK and the USA. Then came along local radio and we find out that we had presenters who could match the RTE presenters in current affairs in general programming at a fraction of the cost. It's time local radio got a share of the licence fee. I would say owners of local radio stations would want that and maybe it would happen as long as I would be for that of course if it made it more profitable and people could stay in business and what have you providing there was never any question over independence. That would be you know but I mean I've never in any way been told what to say or not to say. I'm not sure what happens on RTE. I don't know but I wouldn't sit here and do this job if there was any control over what I was able to say if you know what I mean. RTE should be disbanded to be honest to say to this listener it's nothing now but a propaganda machine for whatever government is in power. Hi I cancelled my direct debit for the TV licence after yesterday's scandal that's coming from Christian in a show and Chris and you know what the funny thing isn't what's funny about this controversy is that and I hope it doesn't happen to you Chris but you could be pursued for that to the point whereby you could end up in court you could be named and shamed on the websites and in the local newspapers you could even perhaps end up in prison Chris but there is no question of anything of that nature happening for a 345,000 euro but your 160 euro now you could get a very severe slap on the wrist but you can pass a 345,000 euro under a table and everyone's innocent. A caller says Irish people are struggling to pay their bills yet people coming in getting everything free and still complain. Closed down RTE their money grabbers says a caller another morning Greg if Joe Soap doesn't pay his TV licence he can be jailed now we hear RTE overpaid Ryan Topperty over 345,000 euro so many serious questions to be asked such a portrayal to the country and who else was overpaid they ask. Hi Greg it's not a coincidence that RTE broke the news about Topperty on the same day Micheal Mott was launching his conference to try and get the first steps for Ireland to get into NATO in fairness to RTE they covered that extensively and indeed the protests extensively at that conference as well so I don't know I think it was well covered before that story broke if they were going to do that break it in the morning but I respect your view and I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just saying my view would be a little bit different Hi Greg a few weeks ago some in ITV turned to blind eye to certain carry on to hold on to their golden boy Philips Goldfield and now RTE have done similar to hold on to their golden boy if he didn't notice over 345,000 euro extra in his account that what was the point in paying it which is an interesting question Hi Greg how many fines has our council given out for littering in the last few years maybe you could ask your panel today do they help out in the community cleanups have a good weekend throughout the year okay listen thank you oh sorry have a good weekend those two messages have kind of been merged there it's not many fines I did see the stats well said Damien dad's the enormity of this is being completely ignored but the floodgates are about to open that comes in from rushing in the redress focus group indeed that's as it relates to the conversation about defective concrete strange governments can house people from other countries but can't seem to house their own another are if all defective concrete home owners went together and stopped paying their mortgages it might wake up the government on this issue I know that's been suggested before but that destroys people's credit ratings their ability to borrow their ability to borrow if they need to bridge the difference between the to bridge the difference between whatever grant they might get so it's not a grant as such actually but whatever they might get and the totality of the rebuild cost and really the mortgage companies then would just chase them and they would lose their properties for whatever their worth their sites I don't know I just don't really think that's a very good plan of action can I have the details of the next guest on Emery please rest in peace to these people who lost their lives I always ask myself when I hear a story non-stop on the radio what's going on now elsewhere that is slipping under the radar and all the while there is things that are going to be slipping under the radar it has to be said and I call this as my daughter spent 24 hours with her child who has autism in the emergency department in the end she had to walk out because it was too overwhelming has anyone else experienced this? it's unbelievable in this day and age 24 hours in the ED at Lederkenny University Hospital with a child with autism very difficult indeed right Bernardo's is calling on the government to develop a national policy on state care for vulnerable children a new report from UCD found young people in state care being targeted for sexual exploitation Bernardo says it's very alarmed at the study and wants immediate action to protect those at risk Stephen Moffat is national policy manager with Bernardo's and we welcome him back onto the programme thanks for joining us Stephen thanks for having me on can you talk to me how or give an example as to how a young person in state care would then be targeted on how that might happen and where are the vulnerabilities there that allow that to happen Stephen? it's a very complex area in which children who will be in residential care units who would have had histories probably of trauma might have actually experienced abuse to be taken into care themselves they'd be supported by social workers in the residential care placements or professionals they will be teenagers they will go ahead of those residential care centres they will cut a school they will have friends so you can't be around them the entire time and unfortunately there's people out there who are aware that these children and young people are particularly vulnerable given their past histories given the fact that they don't have parents with them and so they're preyed upon so this might be a case where you would have men looking at residential care units waiting for young girls coming out of them over time trying to develop some formal relationship that might be doing one seemingly nice thing for them and building on that over time some of it is also through online trying to develop relationships with these young people at a young age online and targeting again just through trying to get their names so it is a very complex issue and it is based around exploring vulnerabilities as much as possible I mean it's horrendous because as you quite rightly pointed out most of these children have already been through very traumatic experiences and that's ongoing but the idea that we have individuals or groups of individuals that will deliberately target them and exploit that trauma and their vulnerabilities on what scale do we know is this happening have we identified a couple of cases or is this happening far more you know once is too many but do we have any sense of the extent of this I think what the reports have found yesterday was really a scoping exercise to try and recover how it's happening what professionals know and don't know and one of the things it did sort of uncover is that there's a real sort of derivative information about how frequently this is happening we know it is happening for us the country we know that you know it's it's not a very rare occurrence it is something happening frequently the extent to which it happens in individuals will vary but it's definitely what the report is saying we need to know more we need to be looking at our residential care units and doing investigations at an individual level to make sure that you know that they're able to identify children when it is happening but also then at a national level sort of trying to see what scale is this at so there can be a national response to the problem and I presume these individuals are as you say trying to form relationships they probably have a you know a textbook routine as to how to do that but also presumably to you know blackmail or induce through you know substance abuse or imagery or whatever it might be I presume that these people reluctant to call them such will use every tool in their arsenal for control yeah absolutely and it's really concerning about that because you know the fact that these young people are particularly vulnerable and they're exploiting that so as I said like we would certainly if some staff have worked with children where you know it's utilizing drugs it's providing children with drugs providing them with other awards sometimes it's giving them money and unfortunately sometimes what they will do is utilize and leverage those things to get actually young people to try and bring more young people with them so when they do go out and they meet older men that they're induced to bring friends along with them from residential care so it's really concerning I want to report actually found as well yesterday was that you know some of this is it leads to a grey area of actually forms of prostitution which is really really concerning which you know they are providing money to these girls and young women and knocking for sexual favours and where's the boundary between that and it's really really alarming because you know the damaging impact this is going to have on those young people's lives yeah I mean there's things we need to do over different time frames but this is an immediate response that's required to go into these facilities to speak to young people to assess them have them speak to professionals like we need to ensure that and we know who the young people are to ensure that none of them are currently at risk or being exploited that's something that needs to happen right now I'm not sure of the amount in totality of the young people we're talking about but it can't be beyond our resources to make sure that every one of those is as safe as possible as we speak yeah absolutely and I think the first thing that needs to happen is we need to make sure that all the professionals who are working with children at risk of this issue have as much understanding about the issue so that they can identify it as quickly as possible and then respond in a really consistent measured way this is the process this is where it's identified this is what we do this is how we protect the children as much as possible unfortunately at the moment too many professionals working there and in contact with young people at that risk they're just uncertain they're unsure what do they do in this scenario we need to invest resources providing those staff with as much training as possible it is a really complex area it's always evolving given the online nature of things as well but if investment and training and resources and staff is really really important yeah now I don't know the the legal ins and outs and I'm not sure you do Stephen but we did see recently new legislation introduced that introduced much tougher sanctions for people who groom children into crime for an example does one of the responses to this to ensure that if it's not already there that there's a very strong deterrent to you know exploiting vulnerable children like this even if it has to be specific to this area yeah it's always important to have as strong a deterrent as we can unfortunately you know the deterrent with a lot of the individuals we're preying on young people a deterrent is never going to be enough they're still going to do it so we need a form of deterrence but we just need to identify the issue as quickly as possible really you know and identifying you know where there are suspicious behaviors being done by men in particular around residential units but the police are there as soon as possible that they're engaging with those men and you know being able to create a system in which they can't exploit the young people or minimising the potential for that Do you have any idea as to how long this has been ongoing I mean we're here now we're talking about it but is this has this been an ongoing issue that really we're sort of starting to get an understanding of with this scoping exercise I think what we know is that it's certainly evolved over time so the online element is probably relatively new but in terms of you know people exploiting and sexually exploiting young people in residential care I don't think it's a new phenomenon I think it's probably something to happen for a long period of time we are getting a better understanding of it and you know there is a lot more research that needs to be done but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a a new phenomenon Yeah okay thank you so much for your time we appreciate you taking the time to speak to us have a good day, Steve and Moffatt they're National Policy Manager with Barnardo's and that's an ongoing problem it's been happening historically right now and we all really need to get up and arms about things like that and what's happening to our our young people just the idea that there are people in this in this world that would actually exploit children's trauma and vulnerability in that way it's mind-boggling isn't it do they walk amongst us do we know these people that are capable of such a thing any views on that or anything else we're talking about this morning 08 6 60 25000 08 6 60 25000 or call us an 07 491 25000 plenty to come on the show today by the way still plenty between now and 11 then after 11 we ease into the weekend we switch off a little bit from the heavy stuff and we just yammer half of you tune out another half that don't listen at all tune in it's a funny old phenomenon that's entertainment but we have Fanoula's going to be with us Michael I think Dahi might be up with us as well so that's all in the last hour so if you've been doing anything fun entertaining yourself through the TV, cinema, stage books, podcasts, anything that you want to talk about that's frivolous just get in touch with us maybe you've taken up circuits it doesn't matter really it's just we'll talk about anything 08 6 60 25000 to get involved in that conversation I meant to mention this earlier because it's of huge significance and fair play to three Donegal ladies who were involved in that game for Ireland last night against Zambia as they prepare for the World Cup taking place on the other side of the world in the not too distant future I didn't get to see it all I got to see much of the first half and the first half of the first half Zambia incredibly strong Arlen seemed to get back into it somewhat as half time and at that point I was unable to watch it any longer but I missed Amber Barrett coming on and fighting for her place in Australia and fighting to deliver Ireland that victory I'll read the back of the son today they won 3-2 did I mention that Amber Barrett joked that she wants an aisle seat on the flight to Australia having notched her first goal since sending Ireland to the World Cup Barrett scored twice in last night's win over Zambia as she put a different club campaign behind her to set her sights on down under the Donegal ace scored against Scotland last October to book the World Cup spot but her troubles at Turbine Potsdam meant she has not found the net since she said that's the first time I've scored for club all country since Scotland for any striker that's a long time to go without a goal and fair play to the manager who put her on you know she's got nothing to prove Amber Barrett's a hugely talented footballer but when you sort of run dry there's a bit of a goal drought with your club the national manager she had nothing to say but she didn't she knows Amber she stuck her on she banged into and hopefully she has booked that aisle seat to Australia she said but the relief when the penalty happened is something I can't describe it's funny you put so much pressure on yourself to score and then I'll read on when it goes in the pressure comes off her penalty four minutes after half time was her first touch of the game and put in mind she sorted it out right okay we're going to be going to Don Fannahy Golf Club next because they have a special event that's running it's 24 golfer is playing for 24 hours Sean Quinn our sales manager here at Highland Radio is going to be joining us live from the scene after we take a break watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at HighlandRadio.com Milford Tiles Wood Flooring and Bathware Milford Retail Park New Wood Flooring just arrived Itmull AC Laminate 999 Square Yard 10 mil 1250 Square Yard 12 mil 1499 Square Yard Beautiful Itmull AC4 Gloss Laminate 1699 Square Yard All in stock fitters available Milford Tiles Wood Flooring and Bathware<PHONE_NUMBER> After the midweek season break Finharp's return to First Division action this Friday evening when they take on Wexford at Fin Park there'll be live updates on Highland from APM kickoff Finharp's on Highland Radio in association with BNS Credit Union Balabafay where they have fantastic student loan rates now on offer don't miss out on the great reduced rate visit bnscu.ee or call free phone 1800 290 390 BNS Credit Union Limited by the Central Bank of Ireland Hi guys, David James here and we're asking you to push back the kitchen table dust off your dancing shoes and join us for our Jive for June campaign all in aid of the Donegal Hospice tune into the Jive Time Show from 2.30pm for your daily Jive video your Jive and send it to the Donegal Hospice at gmail.com and they will post it on their socials and we will also be posting your Jives on our social media channels too to register and donate, log on to BNS Credit Union or contact Isabel on 912 5656 or<PHONE_NUMBER> for a sponsorship form Hi, it's Claire here from Claire Clothing Our summer sale has started I have loads of discounts of dresses, tops, trousers, all of the summer stock so we'll see you at our summer sale in Claire Clothing Main Street Letter Kenny With more all electric cars on Irish roads and over before now is the time to make your move now is the time to follow the leader and choose a Volkswagen ID Ireland's best selling range of all electric cars and now is the time to choose a Volkswagen ID 3, ID 4 or ID 5 all available to order now for immediate delivery Discover our latest offers at Volkswagen.ie Volkswagen Best selling claim based on latest published figures is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union offering low rate holiday loans with fast approval apply online at letterkenny.ie or in office today Alright, Sean Quinn, our sales manager is on the show with us now, hi Sean Good morning Greg, how are you? Good, good, good to have you with us you're also the Vice Captain of Don Fannahy Golf Club and there's a big event taking place lots of excitement and buzz I'd imagine what's going on? I'm down here this morning Greg I'm actually indoors here because it's a little bit windy but what's happening is today is the 24 for 24 Golf Challenge in Ada Charity and so essentially there's 32 players that have gone out today and the hope is that 24 of them somehow will manage to play golf for 24 hours sounds easy but trust me, there's a reason I'm standing here talking to you because it won't be that easy so it's not like a relay, some of these players hopefully 24 of them will play golf around the course continuously for 24 hours they will, yeah, so the first group went out at 10 o'clock and they'll lead the way right into the dark hours this evening, so probably from about half past 10 till about 4 o'clock in the morning they're actually going to play in the pitch dark do their balls blow in the dark Sean? say that again, Greg do their balls glow in the dark? yeah, so what we had to do is we had to buy special golf balls that you can actually see them in the dark they're pretty impressive now when you see them now the problem we have is we only bought so many, so hopefully they don't lose them it might be easier to find it's hard enough to keep a ball during the day, never mind a nighttime but it's going to be I suppose this is a hard challenge just think about this way if you play golf around the golf an average round of golf is about you're walking 10k so these golfers overnight from 10 o'clock to 10 o'clock tomorrow morning are going to walk about 50k that's pretty impressive and swing a golf club loads of times yeah, indeed, so they'll probably get what, 5 or 6 rounds in it's going to be about 5 rounds they've timed it where it's going to be 4 hours per round and obviously they've got to get a quick bitey afterwards they've got to rehydrate so they've got to take plenty of water with them bananas and different things but it's kind of get your half an hour break and then straight back out again so yeah, 4 hours is the average of what the round is going to take might be a little bit longer in the dark hours but what they're doing is they're restricting where they have to hit just irons in the darkness for obvious reasons yeah, alright, you're not you're there as vice captain you're there in a supporting role are you in a publicity role you're not actually taking part in this yourself definitely not no, I made the call early in the the quest for players because it's really in fairness, I play 2 rounds a golf and I'm ready for going to bed for the rest of the day so you've got to be actively able to do it and I'm one of those but like yourself Grave, if I want to do it I'm going to do it, I want to succeed so yeah, I was hands up straight away, I'm out I'll help you with the marketing but I have to say hats off to every single person that's gone on that T-Box this morning it's for a brilliant cause there's 3 actual charities that the club has raised the money for so we've increased the disaster fund Autism Island and Alzheimer's and we've already raised so far an amazing 25,000 euros that would have been a good total but that's just before really sorry, not before, that is as the players are teeing off that's a remarkable level of support Sean it is, it's amazing and this is just the start of it so if you do have a couple of pounds that you would like to donate towards charities then what I would ask you to do is to go on to Dunfanahee.com website and on the front page is the click for the GoFundMe page also it's easy to find on Dunfanahee social media which is a Facebook page and it's called Dunfanahee Golf Club Official and at the top you'll see a click where you can go in and donate towards the GoFundMe page 3 brilliant charities and it would be great if we could give them 15,000 each at the end of this so we can raise up to 45,000 we have a classic happening tomorrow as well for players that didn't play today so everybody's got an opportunity where they can raise or give a few pounds of fantastic charities. Yeah indeed and as those players and look at, I mean sometimes the body can just give up but at their lowest ebbs maybe at about three or four o'clock in the morning and in fairness now it was well timed because we're very close to the longest day of the year but they'll think on those three brilliant charities and hopefully that gives them that extra rush of adrenaline to get them through the dark hours have we a show coming from there later? Yeah we do, so David's coming down from 2.30 to 5 o'clock today so we've got a couple of giveaways we'll have great music we'll have a few interviews we'll actually try and get a chat with some of the golfers we might do a little competition as well on the Putton Green I remember the last time actually I had you here down in Dumfany here Greg You actually held a record for a while on the ninth hole where you got onto the green and won and then you decided you had five putt and we Sony did your three points there the good news is though I actually beat you if nobody understands golf this is not bragging here this is unfortunately I was on the green area in the year in two and I walked off with a nine on that hole Nightmare Yeah indeed but unfortunately I had to retire from the game because I had a baby but I'm hoping to dust off the rust at some point and get back out again Oh I'm sure you will What a hero I am So David James is broadcasting live from Dunfany Golf Club later don't let that put you off continue to go along and continue to go along and support there's a good atmosphere there I'd imagine and it will build throughout the course of the day because you know a lot of people are involved in something really good and that creates an atmosphere doesn't it whereby you know yourself It does Greg it's done by chance it's the work that's done behind the scenes there's people here supporting people are not playing they're here to cheer them on there was over a hundred people around by the first T-box when the first golfers went out so it's building and I suppose what they need also is they need people to come along and encourage them to keep them going because that's the hard bit of this getting here taking the clubs out of the car getting the shoes on that's easy when it comes to round three you'll be probably looking at about eight o'clock this evening half past eight that's when we need to help and support these players to make sure we get them back out onto the course because it would be an incredible absolutely incredible feat to have 24 golfers to play for 24 hours it's never actually been done before so this would be a milestone for the club the weather's not great now I have to say we can't say that's going to be perfect conditions we're going to get wet down here it's going to be windy it already is windy through the night is to dry up but tomorrow morning the old wind from the north is coming down and that brings rain without unfortunately it'll be interesting it'll be interesting to see the scores I presume they'll keep scores it'll be interesting to see how they score over the five rounds and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a few little side hustles going on there because there's always going to be a little element of a competition it'll be interesting to see how the rounds progress over the course of the 24 hours for those that managed to persist out there well if it's anything like my golf it'll get worse to be honest in the dark hours it'll be very difficult because it's dark they'll probably hit seven irons but what I will say it's very competitive in the first round because everybody's playing for a classic which is part of tomorrow's event so that will make the first round very competitive second round, third round I think it'll still be competitive but you're 100% correct I already know that there's a few wagers being had out there of who will have the best score over the 24 hours so they're thinking right which is good but as I said if we get 24 finishers it'll be phenomenal alright so already thanks to the great generosity of the club members and supporters 25,000 euro isn't that the figure you gave almost 25,000 euro has been raised Chrysler Disaster Fund the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland and the Irish Society for Autism as Shaun said and it's ambitious but it's achievable they would love to get to 45, 15 for each for each cause and you can go to donfanahe.ie and you'll find the GoFundMe link there 5 or 10 or whatever you want to do more if you have it and it all goes to those three worthy causes Shaun I do rightly said we've had a great start if we can just build on that over the next 24 hours what these guys, ladies and gents are doing is amazing but what will be even better is the more money we can give to these charities the better Best wishes, do you all might call in on the way past actually what time is the put in competition at that's going to be after half too isn't it come down and do that it's not going to be as easy as you think now because I'm probably going to unfold the golfers just to make it a little bit harder a little bit harder a little bit harder I don't think they need to I don't think they need to unfold alright, I'll listen to Shaun see you later, thanks very much for that Shaun Quinn head of sales here sales manager and also vice captain of Donfanahe Golf Club fair play to the guys and girls they're 24 hours playing golf it's no mean feat as Shaun mentioned there, we're delighted to support that initiative let us take a break we'll be back with more on the Ninetal Noon Show in just a couple of moments The Ninetal Noon Show is brought to you by Letterkeny Credit Union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkenycu.ie or in office today The Jive Time Show will be coming live this Friday from Donfanahe Golf Club for their 24 charity golf event we have the usual great music and chat and a few giveaways on the day so join us this Friday at Donfanahe Golf Club from 2.30pm to 5pm thank you to Arnold's Hotel, the White Atlantic Camp and Boise's Centre Donfanahe for supporting our outside broadcast at Manor Motors Opel we're half full type of people which is how we come up with the Opel 5050 finance offer choose from the Opel Crossland, Corsa or Mocha select a flexible payment option pair it with 3 years free servicing discover more about the Opel's 5050 offer at the Opel Open Road event see ManorMotors.ie 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At Bluebird Care we offer a wide variety of Q-Mark approved personalised home care services across Donegal Our new trained and committed staff will always meet your care needs with kindness, compassion and dignity To get your personal home care assessment plan visit BluebirdCare.ie or call our care team today on 07491 29562 and bring care home Sit back, relax and sink into the comfort of a new sofa available now at the Easy Living Furniture Summer Sofa Sale with up to two years interest refinance on a wide range of sofas that are in stock and ready for delivery luxurious designs unbeatable prices and endless comfort await you The Sizzling Summer Sofa Sale is now on at Easy Living Furniture Present Link Retail Part Hi, it's Claire here from Claire Clothing Our summer sale has started of dresses, tops, trousers all of the summer stock So we'll see you at our summer sale in Claire Clothing, Main Street, Letter Kenny No, um Justice Minister Helen McIntee has said that people should be screaming from the rooftops about the number of women being killed in Ireland The Finnegal Minister was speaking to the Irish Mirror which itself has launched a stop the violence campaign Mrs McIntee in a long interview spoke about the legislative and cultural changes that are required to tackle what T Shockley of Radcar described this week as an epidemic of violence against women Dr Marie Haynesworth is manager of Donegal Domestic Violence Services and I suppose to some extent and I applaud the paper for what they're doing they're taking a snapshot of the situation but we all know all too well the terrible instances of murder of women extreme violence against women the level of domestic abuse against women and the public attitude to it most people are raised with us we begin to speak Marie I know people will take out the phones and text something that in some way mitigates against it you know that's what usually happens but I mean it's good we talk about it regularly Marie but is that enough what is happening and where do we need to go do you think Well I think people are beginning to get more awareness I think it's good that the media covers it because you know for a long time in terms of statistics the number of women killed in domestic abuse situations equal the number of people killed in gang-lang-related violence yeah it's always gang-lang-related violence against the headlines people link them all together doesn't matter if there's a killing in Limerick or Dublin people know that it's a combined issue they're keeping stats on it and there's a huge amount of resources going into it particularly from the policing and justice end the figures for domestic abuse are exactly the same but there's not anywhere near the level of resources going into it or is there the connection being made it's seen as an isolated incident in Mayo or an isolated incident in Donegal nobody's drawing it all together so although you know they're saying that you know that this is an epidemic at the same time you know the figures are pretty consistent like women's aid have been keeping figures since 1996 and the average has always been around 10 women a year murdered in domestic abuse situations that figure hasn't changed and yet as a European level they're saying we don't really have the stats to show and to contribute to the discussion because officially we're not recording it in the same way as a lot of other countries are so you're relying on non-official sources such as women's aid to provide our total stats on the issue so it's very hard to get resources very hard to motivate people to think more strategically about issues if it's not a priority and it's not on the agenda and then you end up reacting to stuff and it's all big stories and it's in the moment and it's peaks and troughs isn't it a tragedy happens and there's a load of talk about it and then it's until the next one and as you say it's almost like individual instances yet we see in other areas as you've really made a very good comparison it is grouped together and seen as a wider problem and resources have thrown at it and resources are moved around so how do we then start to move away from that to realise this as a significant problem that needs to be tackled as such and not as a series of individual events Well I think Minister McIntyre is very enthusiastic about this and she has taken it on and brought it into justice so now domestic and sexual gender-based violence has moved from family and children which I think probably contributed to the problem in terms of keeping it isolated and very regionalised and has now come under so we will be moving under the Department of Justice in January and there is supposed to be a dedicated unit being developed at the moment just focusing on this issue I'm feeding directly into the Minister so that's definitely a step in the right direction the problem is domestic violence tends to cut across a number of areas you know it is family, it is justice it's also housing and environment and there's never been a successful forum that has brought all of those departments together to say this is the role you need to play housing needs to support it mental health services need to contribute family needs to do this that piece is the difficult bit with gangline violence it tends to fall under policing and it tends to be a bit easier to manage in that sense but where you've got interagency departments working I think that's where a lot of it falls apart so it will be interesting to see how Minister McIntyre's approach to it continues she has the unit, it's under her wing she is the lead agency now it's the first time justice have really been in control of it so we'll see what difference they make to it reading her comments it seems to be to me though that she's also putting it up to the public she points out the fact that more women are murdered in their home than there are homicides one in every five women have said they've been raped I'll say that again 20% of women say they have been raped she seems to be saying not for a second saying she's reneging on what she's trying to do but she seems to be saying and she does effectively say you know why are people not screaming from the rooftops if you then add into that the amount of women that have suffered domestic abuse and then as well too amount of women that have been disproportionately affected by medical controversies and a whole litany of other things pay discrimination and all that type of stuff probably it shouldn't be grouping those in but sometimes it's hard for your mind not to wonder from one issue to the next are they all part of the same thing what is wrong with our attitude why do we have this attitude towards women well let's present it it's a societal issue isn't it in terms of we do come from a patriarchal society it is very much geared towards and we still work within that stereotype of expectations of what we expect men to do what we expect women to do how we expect children to behave and what we expect them to do so it is about challenging that a little bit of a private sphere and it's taken a long time to get that into a public domain and to get the idea that yeah these things happen in the home but the state still has a responsibility to protect people you know we've done it around children we have legislation we also now through that legislation have a forum whereby different agencies can come together and talk about the risks that those children are under and it's legal for us to be able to share that data we don't have the same legislation for adults so vulnerable adults and abused who are in difficult situations or who are not deemed to be totally mentally incapable of making decisions but definitely need a level of assistance there is no legal mechanism for us to be able to share data and information amongst agencies in relation to that client and that's when you look at some of those domestic homicide reviews in the UK that's where clients are falling through the system and that's where things are falling apart and people are getting involved and that's where homicides are occurring so that's definitely one area that the how can we share data effectively amongst agencies to support clients and how do we define what is the vulnerable client because at the moment we have no legal definition for that OK but the abuse of women the murder of women the serious assault of women is mainstream but it's not everyday evident you don't walk around you know there are every time you walk down the street you are passing people who have been the victims of it or maybe that person who was murdered and asked you because they are no longer here how do we the societal change where does that come from because you know we have the power you say it's not visible but I suppose for every woman it's visible no 100% that's exactly my point it is I said it's mainstream but it's mainstream but it's not evident or what I'm talking about you know what I mean like I know it's there but I don't want to have these important conversations and then it seems like well then it's until the next time we talk I would love to know what we can do as a people I'm not actually insured in terms of the short term what the answer is other than to keep having conversations to keep having the media talking about it because like I said it is every woman's experience at some level and most men will know women who have had an experience similar to this whether it's sexual harassment whether it's harassment in the workplace whether it's as a child whether it's in a relationship or external to a relationship so this level of violence and tolerance towards it is one of the factors that means that domestic violence is so much harder to pick up because when you draw the line in terms of what people feel is acceptable if you've grown up in that environment if you've experienced it as a child if you then go on to experiences an adult who's there telling you that this is not the way that a relationship should be on both parties perpetrator and victim so all of those conversations need to happen communities need to happen in workplaces they need to happen out in society generally and sometimes you know I think people you can overdo it people get tired of hearing information but that doesn't change it you know there's a lot of people going on I'm not a feminist now women have equal rights everything is hunkidory but the reality is the level of violence against women is continuing to escalate it hasn't changed and it is tied into issues like domestic abuse, sexual abuse and also the abuse of children like wherever you've got vulnerable people and it's deemed okay to be violent and hostile towards them that impacts on every aspect of society we were speaking to Barnardo Barnardo's about that earlier in this hour whereby you know children in care are being actively targeted and exploited through sexual exploitation and it's just it's shocking what's going on Marie if you think about it it's everywhere so wherever you allow a vulnerable centre of society to be abused in any form you're effectively allowing it to infiltrate into society as a whole so it is about looking at all aspects of society and you know whether it's in care homes whether it's in respite all of that children in care so it's a wider issue in terms of just violence against women or just domestic abuse it is into violence against women against vulnerable people within society and it just happens you know credit where credit is due we'll have to wait and see what Justice Minister Helen McIntyre what what she can achieve but I mean like are groups like yours being consulted like you know we've had things in the past where announcements have been made and they seem quite significant but speaking to someone who works in this area someone like yourself all of a sudden it unravels a little bit and it's not quite as impactful as one might think so are not you specifically I hope it were you are our organisations like Donegal Domestic Violence Services being consulted on the ground and is that feeding into policies so that we know it might actually make some change well our national organisations say violence would be the body that's kind of negotiating a meeting with certainly with Tussler in terms of the transition over to justice and also meeting with the minister himself so we would you know at that level so all individual services are feeding into that and Safe Island is putting forward its point but as we've just discussed this is a bigger issue as well you know and that let you know that legislation piece around vulnerable adults and sharing data that impacts in a whole wide other areas and they are they being consulted or they being talked about no because the danger is you're siphoning it off again into a different group so we do need to keep an eye on that to make sure that yes our sector gets resourced and funded and supported but also that we're continually linked into the other sectors and that's the piece that I think might be lost in this conversation OK Marie thanks very much for your time as always that is Dr Marie Haynesworth manager of Donagall Domestic Violence Services a caller says does anyone know if guard of vetting is transferable my understanding is it is not that it's that if you work with three or four owned organisations that you have to get vetted three or four times Amber has been playing it right back with her German club not a prolific goal scoring position last night's performance assured her seat on the plane to Australia indeed it wasn't my opinion as it relates to her club goal drought that's something she referenced herself dog still on the beach at Ruth Mullen the need someone from the council to check this says another listener another I'll not be paying my TV licence anymore another it's a proper disgrace too many getting too much money too easily and more comments coming in like that just on the issue of domestic violence and assaults of women nothing will change until our justice system does no accountability most of the time unless it's murder and gets lots of press and other keys educating preparing young girls to see the signs and know how to avoid and safeguard themselves sexual abuses rife to and again there's rarely the justice deserved for victims one in five women have been raped like central fresh arch lamb leg one point two kilo only nine ninety nine Kellogg's special K and crunchy not five hundred grand now half price and in our French wine sale rare vineyard souvenir blank and now back nine euro each central leave every day enjoy alcohol sensibly are you tired of waiting for treatment or surgery did you know you can receive immediate treatment across the border under the new and I planned healthcare scheme at potentially no cost done it all patients are still being treated with us at King's bridge private hospital northwest post Brexit the process is easy under a dedicated team will help guide you through it so why wait contact us today to find out how you can skip the written lists and receive treatment in northern Ireland visit King's bridge private hospital dot com because life matters file side at the center of more for your euro with great value gifts so it's worth making the journey wherever you live with convenient parking late night and all your favorite brands you're better off shopping at foilside see foilside dot co dot UK all the new Citroen models are on display this week during the open week Highland motors letter Kenny C3 and C3 aircross SUV C4 petrol diesel and electric the C5 aircross SUV in petrol and diesel plus Merlingo vans all in stock and ready for July delivery call mark for a test drive on 9127 007 the Citroen open week now on at Highland motors letter Kenny nothing moves you like a Citroen give blood dot IE no we can count on you our community of blood donors to give blood and to choose to be there for others in their hour of need blood donors from Bali Shannon should attend the clinic in Kaloshta column kill in Bali Shannon on Monday 26th of June and donors from Delhi begs and done low should attend the clinic in the Abbey hotel in Donegal town from Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th making an appointment is recommended so call 1-800-731-137 to book your time visit give blood dot IE to see eligibility and clinic details the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter Kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions visit letter Kenny see you dot IE it's all the stories that matter across the Northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 90 noon show on the Highland radio and as we head into the last hour of this week we're welcoming to studio now Mikaela Clark with the latest news headlines at 11 thanks Greg good morning the chair of the public accounts committee says RTE has a lot of questions to answer over on declared payments to Ryan Toberty the broadcaster yesterday admitted to payments of 345,000 between 2017 and 2022 Deputy Brian Stanley says the public accounts committee has been misled by senior staff in RTE the finance minister says it's important a fact of concrete block homeowners are treated as potentially vulnerable mortgage customers and dealt with accordingly minister Michael McGraw met this week with the banking and insurance redress focus group he was responding in the doll to Donegal deputy Pierre Sturdy who's called for bespoke arrangements of affected homeowners to be put in place by banks a Scottish company has announced that it is to open a new base in Donegal be positive will officially open in GTech door on Tuesday the company's director Colin Quinn says being based in Donegal gives them access to a highly educated and talented workforce half of people who were in prison for breaching domestic abuse barring orders were given a suspended sentence new figures obtained by Deputy Fergus O'Dowd it showed over 1,700 breaches were reported to Garde in 2021 a 50% increase in the space of three years of those 530 people were convicted before the courts a warning has been issued over yet another scam impersonating Garde this time scammers are targeting people via email claiming to be investigating a criminal matter and the first turbine has been installed at Lenalee wind farm in Donegal it's expected the 7 turbine development will be operational by the last quarter of this year and when complete the wind farm will generate enough renewable energy to power 20,000 homes annually those are the latest headlines will be back with an update again at 12 noon thank you very much Michaela is your home or motor insurance up for renewal now is the time to check if your policy still offers you the right cover and the right fit at the right price to be sure you're getting the best deal take this opportunity to shop around it's easier than you think simply contact your insurer or broker today remember don't just renew review for more information visit understandinginsurance.ie brought to you by Insurance Ireland a three-hander at times for the time being we have in studio with us Michael Leady writer, blogger, blogger and writer good morning to you great to be here with us and our guest this week is Dahi Ramsey, marketing manager at On Grianon theatre in Latter-Kinney how are you getting on Dahi I am good, correct your microphone would help, that's not a me I'll have you now, good morning to you and Fanoula will be joining us a little later on in the hour how are you getting on Jens? lovely sunny day lovely sunny day it is yesterday yes we already started the review programme because for ten minutes we've been chatting TV in the waiting room that's to be banned I know that, I know you disapprove I disapprove of speaking before the interviews and I disapprove of speaking during the ad breaks because then people are naturally uncomfortable repeating themselves it'll be like the golfers you want to blindfold or something like blind date used to be blind date I know every Saturday I watch but I'd never missed it it was great TV simple TV and still a black was a class act she was, absolutely star power there are you back from that mic or can you move forward a little bit of polish to you the numbers facing you there still seems to be even try that one two terrible I'll come around and sort it out in a second we'll start with Michael and that will give me a chance to do right okay Michael the thrill of it all nice to start with something that sounds sort of terrestrial yes exactly and that's again something people do say to me from time to time people say oh gosh everyone has Netflix and all that kind of stuff and don't forget about great films that are on regular TV so the thrill of it is a Doris Day James Gardner movie movie from from as you see a lot of time you just have to ignore Greg because you don't know what he's going to be doing I love the people can see that's on the cameras so anyway I'm just ignoring everything so yeah it's a Doris Day James Gardner total James Gardner movie from 1963 and it's on tomorrow evening 5 o'clock on tgcar this is a movie I would have seen a few times growing up so it was an excuse to revisit it late last night it's a very 1960's kind of story she is an ordinary housewife and at a dinner party an offhand comment she makes draws her to the attention of a big time businessman who is doing these TV adverts to it for his soap happy soap and he realizes that she is the perfect spokeswoman for his product so what happens she becomes a superstar and the story is how does her husband James Gardner a very successful doctor cope with the fact that his wife is now in the workplace and it's actually the primary wage earner because she's earning like a hundred grand for doing these ads so it's a very 1960's kind of thing in that it's like oh my god women coming out into the workplace and how do men cope with this so it's very timely it ends in a way that might provoke discussion in Maria household but that's because it's a 1963 movie and it's a comedy and you've got to go with it and laugh sometimes you need to think about where you are it's no harm dipping into the past of course I completely agree I've read a few reviews last night a lot of people were saying it's almost an iconic feminist movie like it's trying to be had it come out in 1970 well it has the bones of it but the ending kind of undoes a lot of that spoiler Carl Reiner is the guy who wrote this and Carl Reiner is one of those guys he did a lot of those Steve Martin movies like the man with two brains Kirk that was Carl Reiner so he's a guy who is the comedy chops and he did a lot of TV stuff and he tells the A story very well but what myself and Dahi we both watched it we were chatting about it before we came in there's a lot of digs at the television industry and they really work and they're sort of timeless there's one example where it's obvious for instance from week to week that the very much the same stories are being told on TV the TV executives going well the subtle variations in what we're doing the average viewer wouldn't pick up on it and then there's a cut and there's two little kids in her house and they're like this is the same story the talk last week but they're just wearing different costumes so it's very there's a lot of that stuff in it it's obvious that Reiner why can't we talk about the end but then if people want to watch it 65 years ago too soon kind of thing well let's put it this way right it's the 1960s she's a primary she gave up her career and ended up just going back to be a good housewife possibly is and it has to be it has to be says he gaslights her completely he sets up a whole we have scenes putting lipstick on his collar to imply that maybe he has something going on outside the home but it's a lot of reviewers who like this did say the first two thirds are where it's at they sort of didn't know what it's too long, you were saying it's too long it is, I was watching it myself my wife Deirdre last night watched it because I met Michael he was down for a latte in the theatre cafe yesterday so we watched it last night and about two thirds of the way through Deirdre just went this is kind of flagging isn't it it's really losing it and the end is obvious for an early 60s film it's Doris Day Doris Day was originally from the Greece song you know where Rizzo looked at me I'm Doris Day I was not brought up this way won't go to bed till I'm legally wed I can't I'm Doris Day you know so you expect Doris Day to be playing the wholesome you know character and stuff so it's Doris Day you know kind of where the end is going so they throw in a whole new comedy moment at the end yeah in that last third to try and pick up the pace which is not a new story that we've described to you it's another thing it's too long it is too long it's an hour and forty and today it'd be forty minutes tops how had my ignorance this would have been a cinema release yes and it was a big hit it was one of the top twenty minutes oh you have to go along and see the thread of it all in the cinema yeah I mean it's James Gardner it's the same year that James Gardner did The Great Escape and he also did another film with Doris Day that year called Move Over Darling which is much more critically acclaimed now it sounds like we're down talking through a little bit it's funny it is funny but when you look at it from the political lens of sixty years ago you're like okay they were definitely hey we could be going back to those times I think they were actually making a political point with it because I think it's kind of almost fifties politics you know and it's the culture clash of the fifties and the sixties so the emancipated woman she's out earning them you know and what's the reaction to this well it's okay we're staying with the politics we have of the times with men and women somebody pointed out again I read a few reviews last night and one of the reviews said that that's definitely everything Dice said is right but when you look at the logistics of it she's filming an ad for a couple of hours a week it's not like she's actually doing that five days a week do you think some people will watch it and be offended by it that's in other words you know what really yeah it's of the sixties but it should be cancelled it shouldn't be on at all will some people feel that do you think people will be drawn to it will be people like myself who have a view of nostalgia I remember seeing this in 1988 and it was on BBC on a Sunday evening and it's charming and I laugh I don't think I don't think anyone will discover it like I wouldn't recommend people I'm not saying people are going to go just watch this for the first time it's best ever but do you know where I'm calling from? I think you could watch it and be annoyed by his character I don't think anybody is going to be annoyed by his work but that's a bigger question but like I don't think anyone is doing that but you can be annoyed by him I came out thinking he's an idiot as the movie goes on and I love James Garner towards the end of the movie I was like oh this guy is a jerk he's gaslighting he's really making her think and the only reason is he just wanted to have a job that's it so you's going to enjoy this at least the first two thirds of it it's on TG4 tomorrow night and again the comedy moments the final word I'll say the comedy moments are big and funny and that's what you should pay attention they are big comedy moments great to say fair play to all of you for watching it I think that's a... watch the six year old film to review it for the five people that might watch it on TG4 I don't know the way I looked at it today was that I would probably never without this impetus to do it I would probably never revisit it so when I saw that it was on it's like this is an excuse to see something that I used to watch when mum and dad were in the kitchen and we were all watching these things together and those are happy memories too so I thought you know what I'll do that, that's what I'll watch brilliant, okay good stuff Conor McCawley is in on Green on Theatre talk to me about this Conor is here with the improvised music company welcome to come and spend a couple of weeks with the theatre and he's a drummer he's with Balkan Alien Sound and Bazaar and he's doing stuff with the local community so on Saturday, that's tomorrow now isn't it at two o'clock he's doing drum and workshop it'll be taking place in the RCC the shiny building above the theatre and people are welcome to come along and he just bring your sticks don't need to bring anything else he's yeah, I'm not sure exactly what he'll have he'll have a big kit, he plays in a lot of different stuff so he plays traditional Irish, he plays world music all percussion so he's doing a workshop and he's saying just bring sticks and people can play or not play as well they can go and watch along any drummers so that'll be a room full of drummers next Thursday evening at seven o'clock in the theatre on the stage what he's inviting are any musicians to come along and improvise with them so they'll be an hour to an hour and a half they're going to improvise music together so he's looking for 10 to 25 people to come along so in that environment when you improvise right is that you sort of start off with a beat and then it moves into a well known song or do they just sort of play chords that they think that's going well with what's going at the moment to create music not that there's a right or a wrong to it but I've never been to a something like that they're not going to a well known song they're going to try and create something fresh and it just meanders then doesn't it like a long piece of music yeah I guess it's a jam in a way I mean he may stop and he may recalibrate like he improvisations his thing and he studied improvisation so I imagine there'd be direction from him now that event next Thursday did you say Thursday at seven well it's open to any musicians who want to go along and take part it's a seven o'clock it's absolutely free everything's covered in the residency but we'd like people for that to book just so he knows what instrument you're bringing 100% I don't know I mean singers obviously contact the box office yeah alright that sounds interesting Conor McCauley master class tomorrow and then the jamming session really Thursday night yeah that sounds banging that's what the kids say and it's drums boom there you go I ring the comedy Dahi rings the info and I ring the laughs I actually think you've missed the mark there this is where one of my kids would call you a boomer yeah that's the word Greg was thinking of too exactly we'll be back with more from Dahi and Michael and Fanuda will be making an appearance at some stage too after these the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show the 9 till noon show with