Hilly begs and in particular claims that EU regulations on the weighing of fish mean some are being rendered unfit for human consumption. The delegation will meet with members of the European Parliament and senior EU fisheries officials. The visit has been organised by Midlands Northwest MEP Colin Markey. He says it's important that the regulators hear the concerns of the industry and vice-versa. On the control side, they want to ensure that the fish are correctly weighed but equally the fishermen want to ensure that there's no damage to the fish in the process that's in place. If you're fishing the fish out of the sea and then they're not fit for human consumption, what is the point in that? So we clearly need a system that works for the industry as much as it works for the regulator. The government was last night accused of treating turf like an illegal drug. Independent TD Michael Healy Ray also told the Dall that Finnegale and Finafall were losing rural Ireland over the issue. It came during a debate on a Sinn Féin motion calling for a ban on the sale of turf to be scrapped. It's due to be introduced in September, but Deputy Healy Ray claims Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has lost the plot. Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Reintroducing Wolves into rural Ireland for shorter showers, the Minister for Carpooling and us all walking to the village or cycling to get into this car that wouldn't be there in the first place for us. The Minister that has his foot firmly paced in his mouth from early in the morning to late at night. At this stage, he and his party are actually an embarrassment to the environmental movement in Ireland. A Dall-Egal deputy has described the lack of infrastructure in the northwest as a mortal sin. Deputy Padre McLaughlin believes due to the absence of a real network and continued delays with the A5 rural project that the Irish government should reinstate financial support for the city of Derry Airport. The government had previously funded the airport but funding was withdrawn a decade ago. Deputy McLaughlin speaking in the Dall says equal access to the entire country for people in the northwest is essential. You can see how crucial this is and we've let this go now for 10 years so appeal to you Minister and you know about geography represent the county like Galway like we need to get access into Derry, North Dunny Gal, equality of access for our people with the rest of the country. In response, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Hildegard Nocton committed to work with the T-shock in reviewing the viability of air routes between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. And for whether or not sunny spells today with temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees in light easterly breezes. That's all from Highland Radio. News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock until then, good morning. If you're flying soon Dublin Airport advises you to allow plenty of time to check in your bag, pass through security screening, enjoy your airside experience and head to your flight. It can be up to three and a half hours before your departure time. To prepare for security, have your liquids in containers of 100 millilitres or less in a single sealed bag separate to your hand luggage. For more information, please visit DublinAirport.com. Wishing you a safe journey. And a very good morning to you on this beautiful sunny bright morning across the Northwest of Ireland at four minutes past nine on this Wednesday, the 27th of April. Hard to believe. Another month almost in the bag and do help you well. Plenty coming up to keep you entertained throughout the course of the next three hours. We'll get involved as well with your calls and comments and anything you wish to talk to us about 08 660 25,000. You want saps and text to that number 08 660 25,000. Your calls come to us on 07 491 25,000.   If you want to email its comments at highlandradio.com and good morning and welcome. If you choose to watch the show today, you can watch the three hours of the program every day on your tablet, your laptop, your TV screen via our website highlandradio.com. You can click through and watch in browser or subscribe to us on YouTube Highland Radio Ireland and you get notified then if you hit the bell when we're going live. And of course on the old reliable Facebook Highland Radio or Highland Radio news and sports and chat with us there as well. OK, let's look at the papers. Let's kick off with the Finn Valley voice this morning. Finn Valley native Leah Fairman, who's been a regular guest on this program has joined the Western Development Commission as National Hubs Executive. Ms. Fairman was the driving force behind BASIC, the Balabaface Renault or BASED Social Enterprise, which established the BASES Enterprise Centre in 2015. Since its inception, the BASES has supported a wide community of startups, remote workers and small businesses. Quite an impressive building, that is, too. I was in it a few times and was very impressed. Well, the project saw its new Digi Hub opened in 2021 by Minister Heather Humphries. Well done to Leah and good luck in that new position. The Innisfree Times said this morning tells that seven Micah houses have been fully fixed. Only seven Micah affected houses have been fully remediated since the opening of the Donagall County Council and Minister Redress Scheme in January 2020. The statistics which emerged at a meeting of the Council's housing and corporate strategic policy committee has been heavily criticised. Councillors also learned that less than half of the 86 Stage 2 grant approval applications received have been approved with 26 under-assessment. A further 20 are waiting on further information and 40 have been approved. The Donagall Post this morning, Tweed, is the new black for bikers. On Sunday, May 22, Kili Begsman Joseph McCloskey will be hosting the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride in Donagall Town with fellow men and women across the globe. The unique worldwide charity motorbike event is set to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer and men's mental health on behalf of Movember. But instead of the popular leather apparel, usually associated with bikers, all of the Donagall participants will become the epitome of sartorial elegance, prompting memories of both gentlemanly days gone by and raising awareness of two extremely important health issues for the modern Donagall man. On to the Nationals now. And I had a feeling, Eamon Ryan's interaction with the Finnegan and Finifor backbenchers would be a motive, to say the least. It turned out to be the case. And Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has been warned by his coalition colleagues that his plan to ban the sale of turf could collapse the government. It's amazing. It's hugely important. We know it is. But it always astonishes me with everything that's going on between Micah and the health system and housing and everything else, just the hills that the backbenchers are prepared to die on. And this one is actually turf. Everything else that's happened, all the decisions that have been made, are OK. But the proposal to ban turf, which as I say is hugely important, I just think that this is the one that they would be prepared to collapse the government on. Well, in an extraordinary series of private meetings yesterday, the environment minister came under sustained attack from Finnegal's TD, some of whom shouted him down as Wesels heckled him. At a separate meeting, he was told by Finifor TDs that his plan could bring down the coalition. Senior Finifor TD Barry Cowan said Mr Ryan was left in no doubt that the majority of the Finifor Parliamentary Party disagreed with his proposals on turf and that a provision whereby rural communities of under 500 people could be exempt from the ban was not acceptable. I was talking about this over the weekend as to how that might even work. How do you determine the size of a community, a rural community? Where does the boundary begin and end? Because it's not villages. It's not towns as such. It's areas with one-off housing, perhaps. So how do you, I suppose you could use the, you could use electoral boundaries or something. But anyway, it's a load of gobbledygook. Finnegal TD and deputy government with Brandon Griffin told Mr Ryan that his insistence on pushing ahead with the plans was threatening the stability of the government amid indications some Finnegal TDs and senators would not support the ban. The ongoing turf wars also spilled over into cabinet yesterday. Education Minister Norma Frohley criticised government communications on the issue while rural affairs minister Heather Humphries insisted that if the small turf cotter is left alone, there won't be an issue for the government. And sharp exchanges too between Mr Ryan and Finnegal backbenchers, the meeting was abruptly ended when a dull vote was called. OK, so there you have it. The turf wars rumble on. And it's kind of interesting in that. Aiman Ryan has said what he said publicly or in response, his intentions were read in response to a question in the dull. Leo Veradkar's leader, I haven't really heard, Miehal Malkin on this one, but that doesn't mean he hasn't spoken on it. I just haven't really heard him. And Leo Veradkar has said that the plans are frozen, stalled, and yet it hasn't actually really been formally discussed amongst the government parties yet. And here we are, the Irish Times this morning. Did you know that foreign nationals and people from non-white ethnic backgrounds are receiving significantly longer prison sentences than their white Irish peers for sexual offences and drug offences? This according to new research, how could this be? Why would this be?  Now we need to stop attributing these types of crimes to particular races. You see an awful lot of that now because, you know, firstly, look what it's doing. We're seeing sentences being skewed. Secondly, people that probably should be locked up longer are getting out earlier just because of their skin color. 81 months compared with 49 months. That's how much longer a non-white person is sentenced for the same crime. With controlled drug offences, those with an ethnicity other than white were sentenced to 14 months longer than those recorded as white, 38 months compared with 24. The Sometimes I'm Missing the Words report from the Irish Penal Reform Trust found foreign nationals were sentenced to an average of 32 months for controlled drugs offences compared with a sentence of 23 months for Irish nationals. On to the Irish Daily Mail now. This is an interesting story. You don't see this too often. Mary Lou McDonald is suing RTE. As I say, you don't see the politicians suing the media too often, certainly at a national level. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has launched a high court action against RTE seeking damages for alleged defamation. Her move, which follows a similar case against the state broadcaster last year by her Sinn Féin colleague, Danaka O'Leary, apparently prompted T-Shuck Mehill Martin to mutter, don't sue me in the door yesterday. His remark followed a row with Ms. McDonald over the proposed ban of the sale of turf. Well, the Irish Daily Mail understands the alleged defamation concerns an interview in RTE's morning, Arlington, mid-February, about the National Women's Council's protest outside Lenster House. The march was shrouded in controversies, you might remember, because of the exclusion of government TDs. Well, while Sinn Féin sources said they did not know what the litigation was in relation to and had not asked, suggestions that it stemmed from this interview have not been contradicted. Now, I don't recall listening to that interview or what might have been said or not, but it was obviously of such concern that Mary Lou McDonald has opted to sue RTE. Awful scenes from Sligo yesterday. I mean, primarily obviously an awful loss of life, but I don't know, we seem to video everything now and we seem to video everything now and share it on social media. And I'm just thinking on the families of the victims of this awful tragedy, knowing that, you know, thousands of people around the Northwest and beyond have seen the aftermath of such a tragedy, but anyway. And then the newspapers would say the RTE, not the RTE, but the Guardian are asking you not to share these images, yet they themselves share stills from the same videos. But anyway, the really important but sad news is that a woman died yesterday when a runaway car mounted a footpath before plowing through a shop window. The fort apparently went out of control in Sligo Town Centre, hitting the older lady and another pedestrian. The deceased in her early 70s was pronounced dead at the scene while the injured man was rushed to Sligo University Hospital where he said to be stable. A horrific incident occurred at around 4 p.m. at the busy Castle Street and Market Street Junction. Any of you who've been down in Sligo will know where that is. Witnesses say they saw a car traveling down Market Street and apparently out of control mount the footpath before crashing through the plate glass window of a business premises. The two pedestrians were walking along Gratton Street when they were hit. May she rest in peace. Right, okay. Now, if you'd like to go into pennies for a few bits, you might find the price going up. The star tells us that pennies has warned that it will increase prices on its autumn and winter collection as costs go up for businesses around the world. A budget fashion chain Primark, which trades here as pennies, will make selective rises in the range, having avoided most pressure from inflation until now because of global exchange rates falling in its favor. But AB Foods, which owns Primark and Twinning's and is also a major sugar producer, said the US dollar is strengthening and inflation is soaring, which will force the change. Chief Exec George Weston said inflationary pressures are such that we are unable to offset them all with cost savings. And so Primark will implement selective price increases across some of the autumn, winter range. And it goes up in Primark, it goes up in pennies. And lastly, I believe it is lastly, yes indeed, in the mirror today, oh sorry, it is the sun today. Frustrated investigators believe Madeleine McCann prime suspect is playing games with them after a stonewalling German interrogators, Christian Bruckner, who's 45, has insisted, sorry, instead, chosen to give details of its alleged alibi to a US TV documentary. Prosecutors will remain non-the wiser until Madeleine McCann prime suspect is out next Tuesday, the 15th anniversary of the three-year-old Britain's abduction, a source close to the German case said, it's very frustrating for the investigators. They feel Bruckner is playing games with them. So there'll be a lot of interest in that TV documentary too, of course. I don't know, I'll check to see when and where it's ending, or airing, sorry, because I think there'll be, as I say, quite a bit of interest in that. Okay, 08, 660, 25,000, 08, 660, 25,000, that's a WhatsApp some text, and maybe you can answer this one. It's a good question. Greg, I've been invited to a friend's child's confirmation at the weekend, and the question they're asking, what is the appropriate amount to put in a card? How much do you put into a card for a confirmation?  You know, there's a standard amount that people give for weddings, whether it's for the all day or the evening. Is it the same with communions and confirmations? What would be, I presume the question being, what would be the acceptable, probably lowest amount that you could give them? Without, and we can sort of say, you know what, they should be glad of anything, but you know, they'll open the cards and maybe judge people on how much they give, so that's just the way we can be as humans. So, what is the standard respectable, is that the right word? Amount to put into a confirmation card. Right, now we had some contact from some people who were attending the blood banks services, one particularly in letter Kenny, a listener. I'll read what they said to us and then we'll get the response. Greg, how are you? I was fine, thank you when you messaged. Sorry to, well anyway, they want to say, I'm currently at the blood bank in the Radisson in letter Kenny. This was on Monday night for an appointment for 8.30. I arrived at 20 past eight, now it's 10 p.m. I've still not been checked in with the nurse for iron checks, et cetera. Serious questions need to be asked of the service. They're crying out for blood, as you would hear, of course. Those who have gone to the effort of taking time to make appointments and arrangements to travel, et cetera. The service is nothing short of a shambles, absolutely disgusted about it, would appreciate if you could make some inquiries and as we do, we did. We got onto the Irish Blood Transfusion service and this was their response. There was an issue in getting the full complement of equipment and resources to letter Kenny last night, the 25th of April, so that's two nights ago, which regrettably resulted in significant delays for some of our donors who attended the donation clinic. They say we rely on and are extremely grateful for the generosity of our donors and wish to apologize for the delays and any convenience it may have caused. We've taken some steps today that should ensure the clinics for the remainder of the week run more smoothly. So I think we all know that the IBTS are doing the best that they can and doing a fantastic and incredibly important job and sometimes we may actually even, it's likely that we may be called on to use the blood that they gather. So they're saying it was once off, it sounds like it was a technical issue and it's been ironed out so people for the rest of the week shouldn't be experiencing similar delays. So thank you to listener for your contact and hopefully you're satisfied with that answer. Okay, let's take a short break so we can get on to chatting to our first guest of the morning. The Ninetyl Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union with monster loans available up to 60,000 euro for all occasions. Visit letterkennycu.ie. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, Mountaintop Letter Kenny. Celebrate the long weekend with Top Oil and the year of free fuel, there's more than 55,000 euro in prizes to be won. Sign up for your chance to win at topoilwin.ie. If you're starting a new business in 2022, call into Bizprint today and get sorted. Logo designed, invoice books, business cards and all your printing needs. Call Bizprint at Port Road Letter Kenny on 911-799-5 or visit bizprint.ie. Is your water safe to drink? If your water tastes unpleasant or has a foul smell, it may be a sign that something is in your water. Brothers Tech, Donegal, provide a complete private well water treatment service using the best water treatment equipment to meet your needs. Or maybe you drill the new well and the water isn't satisfactory. At Brothers Tech, their expert team will also service existing problematic systems. If you're concerned about the quality of your water, call Brothers Tech on<PHONE_NUMBER>. The award-winning Genesis Aesthetics and Skincare Clinic adore offers the most advanced skincare treatments for men and women, treating conditions such as acne, skin tags, rosacea and scarring. As a qualified aesthetic practitioner, Mary Ferry offers a range of anti-aging treatments including dermal fillers, thread-lefts, profilo, skin boosters, micro-nitlline and LED light therapy. Hair and makeup also available. Download the Genesis Salon app today or call 07495-325-75. Sport is at the heart of every community and so is Special Olympics. Every day, volunteers help people with an intellectual disability to experience joy through sport. The Special Olympics annual collection day takes place on Friday 29th of April. Please give what you can to our bucket collectors on Friday 29th of April or donate through your Revolve app. Thank you. Okay, you're very welcome back to The 9 Till Noon Show. We say good morning now to Julia Hearn, Head of Legal Policy and Services at the Children's Rights Alliance. Good morning to you, Julie. Good morning. Great to have you on the program. How are you today? Not too bad. Thank you for having me. Right, that's good. It's good to have you with us. Now, a new report by the Children's Rights Alliance is calling for the voting age to be reduced to 16 and we'll tease out why, because I think this is speaking to young people, which it's important to, but I feel like we're having this conversation forever and not making any progress. Have you worked out where the resistance really is coming from? Is it maybe parties fear that a younger demographic might vote in a different way and it'd be like turkeys voting for Christmas or why is there such resistance? Is this even really to have the conversation, I think, in a really meaningful way, Julie? I mean, I think, I mean, looking at our report, I mean, might have to explain first where the recommendation came from and then to talk about maybe the resistance. I think it all feeds into the one thing, but the report was a youth-led piece of research conducted by the School of Education, UCD, commissioned by ourselves with a group of young people and really what they looked at was what are the knowledge of their rights, what are the barriers and what needs to happen in order to ensure their rights. And really interestingly, while there was a number of recommendations around education and we can get into some of those if you want a little bit later, one of the really big things that came out of the report is that children have a really good knowledge of their rights and what they want is action. They want to have somewhere, some way in which they can have a seat at the table and influence decisions. And I think when it comes to what is the resistance towards the vote at 16, which was one of their key recommendations, one of a few around having that seat at the table but having a voice, I think it's to do with, we need to trust young people. And I wonder what is there a level of mistrust about what they think the motivations of young people are but what the research showed is that young people have an incredible sense of social justice, they have an incredible sense of what needs to be done and their experts in their lives. And I think there's a little bit of people are resistant of the change, they're resistant, it's been 18 for so long, they're resistant to something new and they're keen to get it right if they do change it. So that's why the discussion is really welcome. Do you think if young people were to vote that the outcomes would be reflective of a broader society? Because at the moment, there's huge apathy really and that's reflected in local and national elections. 40, 45% of people can even be bothered voting. So I would imagine 16, 17 euros could be very motivated to vote. They could probably have a turnout up in the 85, 90%. So the thing to do is to say, if they organize themselves in the right way, is there a fear then that that could leave us living in a country that's not really reflective of a broader society but we might find very young people pushing the agenda and moving too fast? Well, I think there's a couple of things in that. So the first thing to say is that Scotland have reduced the voting age and actually when they reduce the voting age for their independence referendum, the turnout was huge among children, young people, it was over 70%. And because of that, they have reduced the voting age in terms of their other elections. But I think the argument that you would deny children a voice in what goes on because other people have an apathy towards voting and don't get out and vote when young people want to vote is actually a bit ridiculous.  And I think what we've seen is that young people aren't afraid to have the difficult discussions. They are leading talks on climate change. They are leading the discussion on some of the really challenging issues that we as older people haven't been able to grapple with. They've kind of shied away from because it's hard, it's difficult. And they have pushed the agenda. And I think, you know, if that is a fear of people, well, then they need to look at how they motivate other people to get out and vote. But if you get people interested and international research shows, interested in civic engagement, interested in politics, interested in social affairs, this will have a huge effect for Ireland in the coming generations because these young people will continue to vote. And the reality is they've a lot to say. Do you think it would be wise or advisable? And I want to ask you a question. It's not, I'm not really, I don't want it to sound like I'm being negative towards the proposals of all people this age. I have a huge respect for them. But you talked about their awareness of all the issues and what's going on. Do you think as part of this, it would be important that, you know, from an earlier age that we make people, younger people more aware so that we can ensure that they aren't just voting the way mom or dad tells them or what might be cool in inverted common sense. I'm not, I hope I'm not doing them a disservice, but that we can be confident they are, I mean, it's a great privilege to vote, I think, that we make sure that they're, have a good set of information there to what way to vote. Definitely. And I do think it's right to have these discussions and to air these issues because that's how we can tease them out. And I think that is something that the young people who conducted our research did recommend that younger children's no good starting education about rights and civic issues in first year of school. You need to be doing it younger. It needs to be threaded through the full curriculum because it has a huge impact for children and young people. But also, as you mentioned, turnout is really low in elections at the moment. And if we can engage children earlier and they're more likely to vote and continue to vote, that is only gonna help democracy and society. And I think if you look at, you know, the Coralino Nodes and the Dalino Nodes, which are the structures set up by the government to hear the voice of children and young people, they really do take, I suppose, take the privilege of being able to discuss these issues really seriously. They engage with them in such a critical way. And what comes out of that are really key recommendations. So I think, you know, we have to have earlier education. We have to trust our young people. We can't say that because other people don't use their vote or because other people maybe don't use their vote in the way that is the most appropriate. We can't deny them a voice on that basis. We need to give them some empowerment in the issues. Yeah, I mean, one of the easiest examples of an issue that uniquely, almost uniquely addressed young people was as it relates to how we run our exams through the pandemic. There was some engagement with young people. It was they that this directly affected really, but in the end, I think some of the engagement with the young people was just almost like pat them on the top of the head. You know, I think we're so far away. If we, you know, on a key issue that faces them that we're not really, really truly engaging with them. If we're not doing that, that we're a long, long way away from sort of giving them a vote to help decide the future of the whole country. You know, I think that was kind of like an example or a snapshot of where we're actually at and what we think of the views of 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds. Yeah, and I mean, that came up at the launch of our report yesterday. That, you know, young people are consulted a lot and to give credit to the government departments. The Department of Children are actually very good at giving young people a voice and giving them the opportunity to influence change. But cross governmental issues, it's a little bit more challenging. And I think what we really need to see is we really need to see government take young people and their experience seriously. They are the experts in their own lives. They know what the issues are and they can critically engage in the issues. And when you bring them in, you get better decision making. And that is something that I think we really need to think about. And it's worth mentioning as well that the program for government did commit to looking at this and looking particularly at the Scottish experience and the Citizens Assembly in 2018 overwhelmingly, I think was over 80% voted for lowering the voting age. So now was really the time to look at these experiences in other countries, look at the issues that are coming up, have the discussions and really consider grappling with it because we can start with local elections, European elections, see how it goes. That can be done by legislation and see what that issue is. Can you imagine what it'd be like to see the local councillors actually engaging with children and young people about the issues in their local area, what changes could be brought in? Right, so I think possibly, and again, I don't want to do any of this service, like when I was 16 or 17, like I was really wet behind the years, I was a real child child if you know what I'm on about. There's probably still lots of young people out there like that. I think those that might engage with research like this are going to be those that, maybe they come from political families themselves, maybe they're involved in the student council, maybe that's the way they are. And they're not representative of all 16 and 17 year olds. And the roundabout way of getting to where I'm saying this is, should we not just let them be 16 and 17? You know, like obviously there are some that will want to get involved and what have you, but I'm just reading here that the most difficult age for a child or for a parent to raise a child is 15. That's just a buy the buy survey that's out there because of all the pressures that's already on them. Now we're going to put pressure on them. They're going to be lobbied and says, it's your future, make a decision. Keeping more pressure on 16 and 17 year olds. You may not just let them be, let them be kids. I mean, if you think about though, I think what's really interesting is that, is that if you look at it, the young people who get involved in these issues or who are supported by either the education system, the youth work system, they feel that actually this is a way for them to let go of some of those pressures because the issues that they're seeing themselves, they then realize are being faced by other young people and that there's something they can do. And I think it's like for all of us, if there's something you can do about the problems that you see on a daily basis, and if you can channel that, that can be really beneficial. But I think as well, this is about looking to empower young people. And to say, and I mean, I myself, when I was 16, would I have been, I mean, I was personally very engaged for what I've been able to make a good decision? Who knows? But at the end of the day, young people now are more educated than ever or research-old that they have an incredible baseline knowledge of what the issues are, what their rights are, and that they're more engaged than ever in all these issues and they're more looking to people to actually take them seriously. And I think we're doing them a disservice by saying that we need to let them be kids because part of being a kid and part of being a young adult has been given the chance to have your say, to be given a chance to grow into that adult. If you wish. If you wish. Yes, of course. And there are others ways to do that, like proper engagement around issues like how we conduct our exams.   Every which way they turn, you know, being made feel guilty for not having a vote, have your say, it's your future.  That's all, I just have my concerns about that. I just think we could maybe achieve everything that you talk of. And I've advocated really strongly, by the way, on behalf of people of this age. I just think maybe if we had a meaningful way where they knew they were being listened to and they could see their views being put into action, that maybe we could just give them that two years and let them worry about all the adult crap we have to worry about when they turn 18. Yeah, but I mean, I think what you're saying is actually relevant for all the society. There are plenty of people who actually, it's a big added stress for them to engage in politics and they don't, and that's okay. That's their problem. But I think, you know, if you look at what the young people from our research thing are bringing it back to that, they were so clear that they are consulted, that they are listened to. That is important because I'm speaking about like, you know, let them be children, but you've already spoken to these people, well, many of them and they've said what worries them. So I don't wanna, I wanna make sure that we speak about that before we finish up. So what came from the conversation? Yeah, and I think one of the things I suppose that did worry them is that they are consulted. They do feel that they are, you know, asked their opinion, but they don't have any real say and that actually it comes to a certain point and like you said, the pat on the head piece or thank you for your opinion, now we're doing this and they're not at the table. So that is one of the reasons why the vote at 16 was one of the things they suggested. They made some really key recommendations around making sure that there are spaces for children and young people, particularly those most marginalized to engage in different issues and to be part of society. So they looked, for example, at adequate facilities for children with disabilities, being able to access services as being one of the key issues for them as children and young people. And then specifically, they looked at children's rights education and how they want more. They wanted to be more in depth. They feel they know the basics and that what they need now is information about remedies where they can go if something goes wrong. They think people who work with them need to be better educated actually, because sometimes they feel they know more than the adults and that they need to be better educated to bring them along, to bring them to that next level of the information. So it was a lot coming out of the report. And I think, you know, if we think about it in the sense that children and young people now are more engaged and more empowered, the education system is engaging with them more, the fact that they actually want to make a difference and make us have a say is something that's a very natural progression as we move on in society. And it's great to have these open conversations discussing the issues. Listen, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it. There are full reports available for people to have a look at, I presume, is it? It is indeed. It's on the Children's Rights website, Children's Rights.ie. Okay, thank you again for your time. Thank you. Very much appreciated. That was Julia Hearn, Head of Legal Policy and Services at the Children's Rights Alliance. So that's the starter. What do you think? 08, 660, 25,000, 08, 660, 25,000. Do you believe that children of 16 and 17 should be allowed to vote? Or do you believe not? What do you think? DJ says, good morning. Gemma, 16-year-olds can't find their shoes and have no life experience at all. Computer games isn't real. Life, 18 is just fine. If anything, it should be 21 common sense that woman needs. Well, she has common sense. I mean, I think we can respect her opinion without questioning her sense. Can we not? For crying out loud. She's got plenty of common sense, but that's her view. That's her opinion. And yours is an opposing opinion. You know, play the ball. Not the person would be my suggestion.  But then again, I have my concerns as I was teasing out there with Julie, but I really wanna know what you guys think. Oh, 7491, 25,000. That's the number to call. It gives a text or WhatsApp, as I mentioned. 08, 660, 25,000. The 9 till noon show with letter Kenny Credit Union, now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost. Letter Kenny Credit Union, 9102127. Are you thinking of making the switch to electric? Come visit us in iMotors, Donegal's SEI EV dealer of the year 2022. We will answer any questions and help you make the switch. With our award-winning lineup of Kia EVs available now, come visit us at iMotors in Letter Kenny and Mallon. Looking for a loan from a lender who cares, no matter how long it has been at all iMotors Credit Union branches, we welcome all members back to chat about our large range of loans for cars, holidays, home improvements and more. Have you had your credit reunion? Membership of iMotors Credit Union is open to everyone who lives or works in the iMotors Financial Act. For more details, log on to iMotorsCU.ie or call us on<PHONE_NUMBER>. Loans are subject to approval terms and conditions apply. iMotors Credit Union is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. If you'd like to save on your home printing costs, switch to a cartridge-free printer. Raymond Sweeney here from Ben Sweeney Ironix to let you know that Epson Eco Tank Printers can save you up to 90% on the cost of ink. They're different to most printers because they use an ink tank that's easily filled with a bottle instead of using cartridges. Save money and time with an Epson Eco Tank Printer at Ben Sweeney Ironix Port Road, Letter Kenny and the Shopping Centre, Donegal. Ben Sweeney Ironix, we deliver, we install, we care. Ireland is leaving diesel behind and Kelly's Toyota is leading the way with our incredible range of self-charging hybrid electric cars. We've amazing offers, including contributions and trade and boosters. And with 46 years of experience here in Donegal, you can trust us to help you on your electric journey. You'll never take a wrong turn with Toyota, Ireland's best-selling car brand. Visit Kelly's Toyota Mount Charles or Letter Kenny today. Toyota, built for a better world. Terms and conditions apply. Right, now, Guardi have identified 356 suspected victims of human trafficking in Ireland between 2015 and 2020. A new report by the ESRI and the European Migration Network has found that the majority were female and were trafficked for sexual exploitation. Emily Koneff is policy officer with the ESRI. Emily, thanks for your time this morning. I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you for having me on.  Yes, indeed. As victims in this way is what I mean. Sorry, Emily, if it's not clear. Pardon? I mean, as victims in this, you know, as victims of this type of trafficking, it's horrible that people, that's their life. Exactly, exactly. And we review the current procedures in place in Ireland in order to identify these victims of human trafficking and to provide adequate supports once they are identified. And what we find, so we look at how Ireland detects victims of human trafficking, how they identify them and then how they provide measures such as accommodation, access to social welfare, among other measures. And what we find in terms of detection is that there's quite a broad set of measures that are used and training is carried out with a number of different agencies, including on Guardia Jocana, but further training was raised as a key concern by NGOs in particular. And then there's also further challenges in terms of identification of victims of human trafficking and then in terms of the supports that are provided. Do we do enough, I wonder, in determining whether someone or not is a victim of trafficking?  And I wonder, you know, should we, rather than saying, okay, that's an acceptable response to the charge, are we exploring enough whether or not they are victims and they're just going to be victims somewhere else? Right, so the current identification procedure in Ireland is only conducted by the police by Guardia Jocana and they're the only authority that can recognize somebody as a victim of human trafficking. So that individual may not want to report to the police that they have experienced human trafficking for a variety of reasons. And some may fear their immigration status, some may, you know, have fears of the police from their home country. And so that can be a limitation in terms of the number of people who are identified. So that's the current situation. In new reforms proposed by the government in May 2021, there is a proposal to bring in more stakeholders who would be competent to identify. So not only on Guardia Jocana, but other agencies such as TUSVA and social welfare. Yeah, and if we were, we would need to put a series of things in place, really, wouldn't we? If someone would feel comfortable saying to the Guardia, often outside their own country in a country that they don't know the ins and outs of, perhaps necessarily, in terms of what happens to them next, what level of protection is there, you know, what, even if they sort of identify people they believe to be responsible for trafficking them. Like there's a whole suite of things, I presume, would have to be put in place so they would feel confident in that process. Exactly. At the moment, so once a person is identified by Guardia Jocana, they're offered a 60 day recovery and reflection period. And that's a period in which they can reflect them on what has happened and decide whether or not they want to cooperate in a criminal investigation. So they have those 60 days, they can also waive that if they want to. And they're offered accommodation in International Protection Accommodation Services, the primarily direct provision. And that's where they reside for those 60 days. It can extend for longer if necessary. And they're also offered a number of different support measures once they have been identified as a victim of human trafficking. And people we interviewed various NGOs and international organizations said that these are crucial in terms of ensuring that victims are comfortable in cooperating with this procedure in the investigation. And they must be informed that there are various rights that they have. And obviously, I imagine, you know, when people are displaced or like, for example, in Ukraine there can be a fear that this could actually lead to an increased risk of human trafficking. With that in mind, can you explain, Emily, not that there might be a typical example, but how does more often than not, a woman become a victim of human trafficking? Right, well, first of all, not all victims of trafficking are women. And they're certainly not all trafficked for the purposes of exploitation, of sexual exploitation. It can be also labor exploitation and a number of different areas such as working in the fishing industry or in cannabis cultivation, which has been in recent cases in recent years in Ireland. But generally somebody would become vulnerable, and this was identified by NGOs, vulnerable to being trafficked when they're not aware of the procedures that are in place and don't have mechanisms to contact people who would be able to help them. It's also important, and we look at this in our report, to have detection measures in place. So in Ireland, if somebody applies for asylum, there is a vulnerability assessment which would determine whether or not someone is a victim of human trafficking and then refer them on to be identified. But there could be further screening in migration procedures. This was also raised by NGOs. So somebody coming through one of these or other schemes should be screened for human trafficking indicators. And a variety, a lot of training is being conducted, including by NGOs in social work, hospitality and immigration services, but they did identify that more needs to be done in order for victims to be detected in Ireland. And people might say, well, if they're being asked to do something that they don't want to do, you know, why don't they just flee or... But often part of the coercion here is they might not have access to their passport, for example. Exactly, and the definition of trafficking is that somebody is being coerced and forced to act in a certain way. And there can be a variety of reasons that somebody is unable or unwilling to come forward. First of all, that they may not be aware of the procedure that's in place. They may also face threats. And sometimes you see that somebody may have been smuggled into Ireland, which is not a situation of human trafficking, but then that can also evolve into a situation of human trafficking. And it's not easy for victims to come forward. OK, so what do we need to be doing as soon as we can, Emily? Do you believe? Well, at the moment, our report presents what's happening at the moment. And the government, as I mentioned, has a new proposal to reform the National Referring Recognition. So that would allow more bodies beyond Angra de Siakona to identify victims. And NGOs would also be involved as trusted partners. Another key concern raised by NGOs was the accommodation provided. Some of them said that direct provision in similar centres are not sufficient to provide the correct support for victims. So in the government's white paper from February of last year, there is a proposal to develop a specialised accommodation for victims. So that has yet to be seen. It hasn't been secured as yet. But those are two of the two new developments in that regard. OK, Emily, listen, thanks for your time this morning. I appreciate it greatly. OK, thanks. All right, Emily Kniff there, who is policy officer with the RSAI. Some of your comments here. If they are going to vote at 16, would they not need to get into a nightclub as well as it's still 18? Yeah, I suppose. Maybe that's something that they would vote on. They would put pressure on government and say, we'll vote for you on parties. We'll vote for you if you open up the nightclubs at 16. That being said, I'm not sure how many teenagers even want to go to nightclubs anymore. That being said also, some of them are absolutely wedged. But I think as you get older and not much older and the notion goes off you. Hi, Greg, was watching Euronews last night on TV, seeing that Spain and Portugal have halved the electricity bill for their entire populations. This is what our government should be doing for us. My question is, why haven't they? Thank you. We'll look into a little bit, look a little bit more into what's been done in Portugal and Spain, see if it could work here. Greg, I've been stuck in traffic for over five minutes now and there's an ambulance stuck too with its lights on. It's been here for longer than I have. There is nowhere for it to go. There should be a lane in place for ambulances to get to the hospital. Well, Caroline, this is something we might follow up on as it relates to what is the traffic management plan for emergency service vehicles because my understanding is there has to be a plan in place for that. If we're talking about the four lanes coming into Lettercanny, a lot of ambulance traffic, fire brigades, what have you on that route? According to listeners, they're being held up in traffic. That can't happen, can it? We're going to check in with the council to see what the situation is in relation to that. Just saying, Guardi McClay's corner alone on Sunday directing traffic, not one in the whole of Lettercanny yesterday evening. Chaos, two hours from Arena 7 to the clanry yesterday evening from five to seven. Unbelievable. That is some delay. Hi, Greg, the quick of the Irish people wake up to this government and get them wiped out the better. They are a disaster. It was the same, Greg, with the COVID rules. They were another joke. Thank you, they say. Right, OK, we were asked a question as it relates to how much do you put in a confirmation card? 30 to 50 euro for confirmation is a good amount. OK, that's a lot of money. But as I said, I didn't know what the standard might be. But 30 to 50 euro is what this listener says is a good amount. I'll be going 30 on that. I'm not going to lie to you. Another caller says, yes, we had the same problem. The worst ever giving blood, that was the delays on Monday. Have those delays eased on Tuesday evening? I wonder, let us know. Greg, well, we'll come back to the one. Just come back to that one in a moment because we do have to take another quick break and we're going to be talking about a delegation of fishing industry reps. They're going to Brussels to discuss the pressing issues concerning fishing activities in Killy bags. We'll be interested to hear what might be up for discussion there. The night or noon show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union, offering low-rate car loans with fast approval. Apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today. The Lotto Jackpot is an estimated 7 million euro. Play responsibly in-store, in-app or at love.ie. The National Lottery. It could be you. At Hickey, Clark and Langan Insurance Brokers, they compare quotes from all leading insurers so you get a great price. Home, motor and van, farm, holiday home, travel and liability insurance, they quote them all.  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Loans are subject to approval, terms and conditions apply. If you do not meet the repayments on your loan, your account will go into arrears. This may affect your credit rating which may limit your ability to access credit in the future. Credit unions in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport. Thinking of a sun holiday with the family, you can now fly to Barcelona three times weekly this summer with Ryanair and enjoy some of Europe's best family campsites. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. Okay, so Sunday spells today with temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees in light. Easterly breezes. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? Finagale MEP Column Markies this week facilitating a visit to Brussels by reps of the Irish fishing industry to discuss a number of pressing issues concerning fishing activities in Kili Begs. That MEP Column Markie joins us on the programme now Column. Thanks for taking your time to talk to us today. Thanks Greg. Right, as you see it, what are the pressing issues that need discussing? Well, I suppose there's a number of issues there, particularly I suppose in relation to the whole scenario about the derogation, the whale factory in Kili Begs. Kili Begs is a unique situation from ports across Europe in that in most parts of Europe, the fish factories actually are on the pier side and in Kili Begs, they're a distance away from the pier. So the whole question regards the regulatory process as to how the fish can be weighed. And this has caused a lot of controversy over the last number of years and I suppose there was a derogation in place, the derogation was removed and now it will put back in in January on the base of a lot of control measures to work put in place. However, those changes made again in March and I think that's leading, look, on one side you have the controller that he wants to ensure that the fish are weighed correctly. On the other side, you have the fishermen who don't want the value of the fish impacted by a concern around having to weigh the fish out of water and this damages the quality of the fish. So I suppose you have two scenarios that aren't meeting and we're trying to get a solution that allows the fish to be weighed in water and if possible at the factories. Is the problem not really though, our interpretation and implementation of the EU rules? Look, it's always good to go to Brussels and let them hear what's going on and there's plenty to discuss but really is it not how we are interpreting and implementing the rules in the likes of Kili Beggs that's causing the problems? I.E. Brussels will say that's an internal matter. Well, I think the clarity has to be worked out as to whether it is literally an interpretation of the rules at Irish level or whether the EU as a whole are not happy with the situation that's at play and I think that's what we want to get to the bottom of. So if we can have the conversation here at European level to clarify what exactly is required and needed and therefore then we can determine more clearly whether the issue falls at European level or at Irish level. Right, so in other words if we get some clarification in that regard it could have sent, I can't remember. What is that? I can't remember that the, I can't remember the fish police. Sea fisheries, depletion areas. Yes, I've been talking about it for years. I just couldn't get it out of my mouth. Yeah, we don't know. So this could actually seek some clarity that could work very much in our favor so that it could put the pressure on the likes of the Sea Fish Protection Authority to maybe adopt a different approach. Well, I think the whole thing here is to build confidence, build confidence at European level and build confidence at Irish level that there is not anything irregular happening here and the people are doing the best to make sure that the system is working the best possible way and at European level we want to be able to demonstrate that the fishermen are serious about doing the job correctly and get confidence at that level and equally to start a conversation or rebuild the conversation with the SFPA because clearly there is a, the situation isn't working at the moment. There's a lot of frustration on all sides and we need to basically try and get to the bottom of that. And the question is, as you've rightly put it is the issue at European level or is the issue at national level and that's what we're seeking to clarify this week in Boston. Is this a platform or forum for talking about the wider issue of fishing? In other words, better access to our own stocks effectively. You know, other measures that are in place that see our boats tied up, people exiting the industry, a whole generation lost. In other words, that link to the fishing industry being broken that potentially could, you know, see it legislated out of business. Is this a forum or platform that those issues can be teased out in as well? Certainly there are other issues we want to deal with as well. Like the Common Fisheries Policy is up for review in the next 18 months or so and equally the impact of Brexit and the loss of fish quotas and I suppose the use of power. Well, that's obviously a national issue. Or like these are key issues that we want to also address when the guys are over as well. So certainly there is a concern, if you like, this is just another one of the issues that the fishing industry is facing. And like the fishing industry is enormously valuable in the industry to Ireland as a whole, but particularly to Donegal and Kilbeck's area. And it's vital that we ensure it has every opportunity because it has. Well, it's vital to, I think it's vital that we, as a, you know, the Irish government effectively recognise that. You know, we know that the population of Southwest on the go and beyond know that, but you know, I think those within the industry might feel that this government don't get that. Well, in fairness to Donegal, we had a meeting with a number of the representatives there about two weeks ago and a large number of parliamentary party attended it. And we went through a lot of issues and were certainly very serious. So I'd focus on what the concerns of the industry are. Obviously they have to be managed in a way that wins confidence on all sides in terms of DU and the regulatory end of it as well. But in a lot of ways, we're concerned that the fishing industry are being misrepresented in terms of that they are serious for trying to do the thing correctly. And there's an undermining of confidence in relation to work that's been done. And I think everyone put their best effort forward to get the control panel back in place, but invested in the lack of CCTV and other monitoring equipment. The weighing system that was put on the pier was invested in by the industry. And there is deep frustration that all these efforts have been made to prove that there's nothing irregular going on at this time is vital. Well, that's one of the problems in that they want the fish to be weighed in machinery that's not owned by the industry. Yeah, but like if you consider in any context, like in any industry, weighing systems are owned and operated but regulated by the weights and measures authority in the relevant country. And why can't that not apply in this situation as well? So like the ownership shouldn't necessarily, there's no requirement even within the legislation at European level that the ownership should be independent should be independent of the operation. All right, stay where you are if you don't mind. I want to bring Sean Daugherty into the conversation here. Hi, Sean. Good morning, how are you? I'm good.  Well, we're doing our best to try and hang on. Just hanging in there, yeah. Right, tell us your story, Sean. Well, my story, my ancestors would have come to Waterford from the Ineshawn, in the area of Donegal five generations ago. And we've been fishing and involved in going to sea and all that ever since. But this generation will definitely be the last. And it's something that I would never have wanted to be the last of the line.  You know, history is actually kind of repeating itself. It's Donegal going to be the last bastion of fishing in Ireland. It was the last bastion of the old Gaelic system. And, you know, we have had terrible tragedies in recent years that have been attributed to fisheries policies. And even that didn't phase our politicians. Now, if it happened in the agricultural sphere, there would be outrage and ministers would probably have to resign. And when you deal with the Department of Agriculture, they're very friendly people. You can make a mistake and they'll help you get assorted. But when you're dealing with the fisheries, the Department of Fisheries, the SFPA or inland fisheries Ireland, they're very much working on a different agenda. The fisherman is up to something. You must be up to, you must be up to no good. So it's resulting in like, as you said, like it's not only a last generation, it's a last culture. A lot of people like have fished, like small scale for generations. And a lot of the most modern vessels in Donegal and Castletown in Galway, people came from them both. They came from humble beginnings. And you hard work and look, they build themselves up. Yeah, and Sean, unfortunately, I've lost track of time. It's not only 10. We're going to have to talk to you again, but like I said earlier in the program, we have Finnafall by Benchers, Finnegal by Benchers saying that the tariff burning issue could be that issue that collapses the government. We've heard no such word as it relates to the protection of the fishing industry. And as I say, sometimes I just find it curious as to what makes an issue, the issue, the hill that people are prepared to fall on. But anyway, Sean, listen, thank you very much for your time this morning. Thank you. All right, sorry, I wish I had more time. And also, Colin, thank you very much for joining us. As I said, I didn't realize the time. We've went over 10 o'clock, but I appreciate it and good luck with these meetings. Thank you very much. OK, have a good day. Take care of yourself. Right, OK, apologies, as I say, it's after a minute past 10. We'll be back with more on the 9 till noon show after the news with Michaela. Live on air, online and on the Highland Radio app, this is Highland Radio News. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. T-Shock, Michaela Martin has told it all. He believes health services in border areas should be organized on a regional basis. And that Donegal patients should be looking towards Altnagalvin Hospital in Derry, rather than Galway. He said joint initiatives, such as the Northwest Cancer Center, have been very successful. And the challenge will be to build up trust with those unionists. You are suspicious of such cooperation.  Neil Martin said he has been committed to cross-border health since he was the minister-in-charge. When I was in Altnagalvin, I met an individual who has went travel from Donegal. He suffered a heart attack, had the stents provided very quickly in Altnagalvin and was out the following day. In our configuration, we're seeing people in the North West that did Galway as a major tertiary hospital. And I think in the fullness of time around the border, we really should look at it regionally in terms of a cross-border practical way. It's not only if you saw a cat here, are you so cynical about it? You're saying that's the penny dropping? No, it's not dropping. I've been involved since I was minister for health. Donegal deputy has described the lack of infrastructure in the North West as a mortal sin. Deputy Podger McLaughlin believes due to the absence of a real network and continued delays with a five-row project that the Irish government should reinstate financial support for the city of Derry Airport. The government had previously funded the airport, but funding was withdrawn a decade ago. Deputy McLaughlin in the Dull said equal access to the entire country for the people of the North West is essential. You can see how crucial this is. And we've let this go now for 10 years, so appeal to your minister. And you know about geography, representing the county like Galway. Like, we need to get access into Derry, North Donegal, equality of access for our people with the rest of the country. In response, minister of state at the Department of Transport, Hildegard Nocton, committed to work with the T-shock and reviewing the viability of air routes between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. People in inch are without water today again. Burst Waterman is affecting homes and businesses in the Inch Island and Mahurbeg areas, which has been subject to ongoing bursts. It was hoped that a resolution was on the way with Irish water committing to carry out replacement works this week. However, the works have been delayed by a month. Kherlock of Donegal County Council, Councillor Jack Murray, says it's totally unacceptable that people are forced to continuously live with supply disruptions. People are seriously affected by this, like you're talking about the children in the school. Now, really, people, like we said, people live amongst the people. I don't think people accept and they begin to lose taste in the entire process. But from much and yet again, and there's more delays and yet again, they're without water, and these people are dead to the tether.  Any justifiable explanation for the gargoyles? I can't see why anywhere else should be prioritized above the people of this area. A burst water man is also causing supply disruptions in remelton and surrounding areas. Irish water say works are scheduled to be completed by one o'clock this afternoon. An exodus of landlords from the private rental market is causing rents to surge according to a housing expert. New figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show rent nationally was up 9% in the final quarter of last year. The highest rates were found in Dublin, where the average tenants paid 2,000 euro, while in Donegal, rents increased 16.6% to just over 760 euro, the second lowest figure in the country. Assistant Professor of Social Policy at Manus University, Rory Hearn, says landlords leaving the market is making matters worse for renters. What's driving landlords out of the market is the massive increase in property prices. Over the last 10 years, landlords are essentially cashing in on their investment assets. That's what's happening, or what is happening, is that they're actually evicting tenants and then converting the rental property into Airbnb. Police say they are becoming increasingly concerned for a missing person who was last seen in the Port Roche area on Saturday last. It's believed Cliona Mulvennet traveled to Derry. Anyone with information regarding her wear bites is asked to contact police. With the nice sunny spells today, with highest temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees and light easterly breezes. 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 notice is for this Wednesday morning, April the 27th. The death has occurred of Charlie Harper, Don Wiley, Stronholder, Donegal. Charlie's remains are opposing at his home. Removal from there to more morning at half past 10 via Chapel Street for mass of the resurrection in the Church of Mary and Marklet, Stronholder, at 11 o'clock. Mariel afterwards in Stronholder Cemetery, Chapel Street, Stronholder. Requiring mass will be streamed live via the parish webcam. Family flowers only. Donations only if so desired. To the Respiratory Ward, Better Kenney University Hospital, Care of Martyn McGuyan and McGuyan's Funeral Home, or any family member. The death has taken place of James Jim McKnight, Galdonna Manor Cunningham. His remains are opposing at his late residence. Funeral service there this afternoon at 2 o'clock, with burial afterwards in the family plot in Newton Cunningham Presbyterian Church Graveyard. Heist private to family and close friends please. Family flowers only. Donations only to the Ronald McDonald Heist Dublin at Care of any family member or Terence McClintock at Funeral Director. The death has occurred in London of Podrick McNulty, formerly from Commane, Clawin. His remains will be opposed at the home of his sister, Kate and Raymond McManaman, in Commane from 7 o'clock this evening. Requiring mass at 11 o'clock on Friday morning in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Health, Glenn Finn, was internment afterwards in Kilty Vogue Cemetery. The mass can be viewed on the parish webcam. Family, friends and neighbours welcome. Family time from 11 p.m. until 11 a.m. And the death has occurred of Daniel Dan Gallher, Bali Kerrigan Clawin. His remains are opposing at his late residence. Funeral from there to more morning at quarter past 10 for Requiring mass at 11 o'clock in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Soccer, Glenn Finn, fall by internment in Glenn Finn Cemetery. Requiring mass can be viewed live on mcmedia.tv. For more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals, please go to highlandradio.com. With all the stories that matter across the Northwest, it's Greg Hughes on The 9 to Noon Show on Highland Radio. All right, keep your texts, comments coming into us. 08 660 25000, 08 660 25000, or call 07 491 25000. More on the road works. By the way, for those of you outside, letter Kenny, you're not travelling through it. You might be familiar with that four lane stretch of road between the dry arch roundabout by the hotel there into the pole star roundabout, which obviously is incredibly distinctive. It's being done up. It's going to take quite some time at the moment. They're doing some resurfacing work and it's causing traffic delays. And there is a couple of schools of thoughts out there that it's for a short term, this section of it. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Except for others, it's so much of an inconvenience that something needs to be done. So those are the views and many in between and beyond either side of those. Hi Greg, the layout on the road to the dry arch is unreal. They have one lane from the pole star to the Toyota garage, then two lanes until Apple Green, then one lane again. Drivers are trying to get in the one lane also. The speed is bad when it's two lanes. Three workers standing, diverting traffic down up from Crossen Business Park. Another corner says the roadwork should be stopped tomorrow to allow for bank holiday traffic. Friday will be a nightmare. Another lane closure on the four lane upgrades was only supposed to happen at night. I don't know what the story is there. That was my understanding. I don't know if there was some provision within the contract to allow daytime works or if that contract has been changed in some form or other. I'm not privy to that information. And more coming in all the while. Keep them coming in as I mentioned. It's an integral part of the programme as you would be aware. It is time though to play Bingo. Good luck if you are playing today. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Wednesday the 27th of April. You're playing on the blue sheet. The reference number is S3. It's game number 17. The numbers are 54 23 34 57 90 44 56 76 11 And finally 89. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight. Leave in your name, contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book.  Get all your NCBI Bingo information at highlandradio.com. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard, bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union. For children of Ukraine, innocence is in the firing line. Your donation will give them food and first aid, water and warmth. Visit unicef.ie to have an immediate impact now. Are you a landowner in the River Derigaria? Do you want to find out who can provide agricultural services such as weed wiping for rush control and riverside fencing? The Source2Tap project is holding a free, yes free agricultural contract fair near Collater Castle Derig at St Davoggs GAA club Ahearn on Thursday the 28th of April from 11 to 4pm. Come along to meet local contractors and find out what services they can offer to help improve your farm business and make your farm water friendly. The Source2Tap project is supported by the European Union's Interreg 5A programme. Do you suffer from heartburn or abdominal pain? Do you experience frequent constipation or diarrhea? If you need or are waiting for an endoscopy consultation then why not come see us at Kingsbridge Private Hospital's lego where we provide excellence in private healthcare. We are approved by all private health insurers and our specialist consultants are ready to see you. Avoid long journeys and longer waiting lists. Visit kingsbridgeprivatehospital.ie for more information because life matters. Ready, Steady, Grow Child Care Centre Balbuffet requires a deputy manager with level 7 or 8 child care qualification, a full-time child care assistant with level 5 or 6 qualification, a part-time child care assistant and two child assistants to cover maternity leave. For further information contact Paula on 0749 190 151 or send your CV to info at rsgchildcare.com Get the Irish Daily Star today for your free 12-page Punches Down Festival pull-out with all the top tipsters in our stable ready to get you first past the post all week. The Irish Daily Star, number one for racing, number one for you. As always, around 10.30, as close as we can to it. We'll play a piece of music. If you have any requests or dedications that you want included get them into us now. WhatsApps or texts to 08 660 25000 maybe someone's celebrating a special day today or a couple getting married or whatever it might be. And we can get that played out for them and if you want to suggest a piece of music to feel free to do so again 08 660 25000. That number also good for your comments which leads us to the next one. My son came from Dublin on Bossaire and on Thursday night. He said he was going to Donegal. The bus driver was foreign. I'm not sure what difference that makes. He was charged for two people. The driver didn't know how to refund him. He rang the office the next morning and the woman on the phone said that he couldn't prove that it was one traveling and not two. Maybe you could help. Right. Okay. Well, we got on to Bossaire and we'll try and Bossaire to try and get a response to you for that. Okay. Right. Pascal Hayes is Executive Chair of the C Fisheries Protection Authority. He joins us now. Patrick Pascola, beg your pardon. Nice to speak to you and good morning. Good morning to you too. Do you feel the SFPA over recent weeks has been treated unfairly in all the controversy around killy bags and elsewhere? Well, I guess what I'd like to do is to give the SFPA side of the story. Go ahead then. Okay. Well, the default position in relation to landing fish into any port in Ireland is that the product has to be weighed on landing prior to being transported to anywhere and that is set out in a new regulation. And there is a provision that a member state can permit fishery products to be weighed after transport if a control plan is in place and agreed with the EU Commission. Ireland made an application for such a control plan at the back end of last year and it was approved with effect from the 1st of January 2022 until actually the 30th of April, the end of this month. Under that control plan, 95% of the landings in bulk pelagic landings into killy bags were weighed in the factories and the SFPA approved premises in killy bags. But to enable that, 5% is subject to a full control inspection on landing on the pure side. How do you determine what 5%? So that's done on a risk basis and that risk basis is set out in the control plan itself as well. Could you explain that to the lay person a little bit more? What do you mean a risk process on a risk basis? Yeah, well it gets quite complicated but each vessel, each port, it receives a risk rating and if that vessel hails that it's going to land then the officers locally will look at the risk attached to that vessel and decide whether it is to be inspected or not. But I think the more important thing here is that there is benchmarks set in relation to the level of inspections that have to be carried out by the SFPA. I understand but just back to that word risk then. That benchmark is 5% of landings or 7.5% of the fish. In the event that those benchmarks aren't met then the facility to weigh 95% of the fish in the factory is withdrawn and the commission will withdraw our control plan if we don't meet our benchmarks and we will be back to weighing 100% of the fish on the pure side as happened between April last year and December last year. So the 5% is that 5% of fish landed in Kili Begs or landed in the country? So it is 5% of... in the case of what you're talking about on your radio show which is bulk pelagic landings in the main they happen in Kili Begs but it is 5% at a national level of landings but taking into account that most of those landings are in Kili Begs then most of the inspections will also be in Kili Begs. OK, now when you talk about risk what is the risk? You mean the risk that they may not be declaring accurately their catch? Is that what you mean by risk? Well, there's always a risk that catches and accurately being declared and certainly the control plan that we have in place and obviously the control regulation that the commission has in place is there would be a view to make sure that there is full compliance and that it reduces the risk and that it protects the fish in compliance with the common fisheries policy. And are you satisfied that this is not an interpretation that this is a dictate from Europe that can't be interpreted any other way? So just to be clear the regulation set out that all landings have to be weighed if we don't put a control plan in place that is the default position we have a control plan that has to be agreed with the commission it has been agreed with the commission that control plan was proposed by Ireland and agreed with the commission that is something that would be done on a member state and commission basis the contents of that plan then has to be complied with if we want to continue to weigh 95% of the fish in the factory that control plan includes provision that 5% of the landings and 7.5% of the total fish landed for bulk pelagic landings and are actually named species will be subject to controlled weighing so the arrangement is set out in the control plan which is published on the SFPA website if we don't meet the requirements of that plan then we go back to the situation of weighing everything on the pier side now obviously you have to understand I would add there I've heard it being said that the pier side weighing machine can't be used in fact the pier side weighing machine is permitted for weighing at the moment so a vessel landing for the 95% of the fish if the SFPA doesn't look for a controlled landing has an option of using the pier side weighing machine to weigh the fish or bring it to their factory and weigh it on their own weighing devices which are also permitted by the SFPA so the pier side weighing machine is permitted and can be used I'm not sure how busy Kilbeg's harbour is but there must be an awful full amount of fish landed that doesn't come under your scrutiny when we hear of the amount of vessels that have been boarded or have had to land elsewhere if that's making up 5% do you understand, apologies from outside the industry but is there really that much fish being landed that the most recent activity from the SFPA represents less than 5% so just to be clear all the fish that lands into Kilbeg is under the SFPA I think you know what I mean though for all the landings but I'm sure you've heard from the fishermen that the fishing happens in particular seasons and it just so happens that the blue-whiteing season has been active over the last number of weeks it's probably somewhat coming to an end at this stage and this seems to have particularly become a problem in relation to the blue-whiteing water and the other species that are covered under this control plan for both pelagic landings which are herring, horse mackerel and mackerel are you able to pick and choose between different fish can this 5% in other words is this 5% specific to each species of blue-whiteing or mackerel or can it be spread across all landings if that makes sense it does make sense and it is specific to each species so you have to check 5% of blue-whiteing yes but that must mean there's an awful awful awful lot of blue-whiteing being landed in killy bags if all of these boats that have been subject to your focus particularly as it relates to this 5% do you get where I'm coming from I do and that's exactly the point that hasn't been highlighted on your radio show there is an awful lot of fish of the fish and more than 95% because we haven't quite reached our benchmark of 5% yet so 95% plus has been landed and weighed in the factories so I think there is an awful lot of fish going into killy bags Pascal I hope you're aware and maybe the messages haven't been passed on to you that right from the very very beginning of this as we do on this program we were speaking looking to speak to you or someone from the sea fisheries protection authority to make sure that your side of the story or your views or the views of the SFPA were out there and given equal platform you are aware of that are you I wasn't actually well we have how many inquiries what we've made every single time that we have raised this issue or this issue has been raised with us we've contacted the SFPA for a spokesperson okay well I'm happy we've logged all those calls I'm happy to make them available to you if you want to check it out because that's what we try and do on this program it would be far more constructive to speak to the like of you Pascal than for us to have a conversation without the SFPA involved so we've made every effort to make sure that the authority was represented in the conversation okay and look I'm happy to have the opportunity to speak with you now what I would say is I've also offered to meet the community group in killy bags I'm in killy bags tomorrow and it's a problem for them tomorrow but I am still available there if they wish to meet me to speak about this now we had one Donagall fisherman who said the industry was on his knees that because of the system that's in place his blue whiting effectively had to be turned into fish meal they lost 55,000 euro he believes that there is clear discrimination against fishermen in Donagall compared to ports across Europe whilst you're on with us what would your response to a claim like that be well I don't want to comment on any particular case but I did hear a little bit of your previous clip from the MEP and he correctly pointed out that killy bags is unusual it's not unique in the way that fish are landed and transported to factories by tankers what's the relationship like between the fishing industry particularly in Donagall and the SFPA could you and they work together not in any way that would in any way be outside the rules I'm not implying that for a moment Pascal but could the relationship be any better that this could be handled better that it could be less disruptive but the goals of the SFPA could still be achieved yeah I mean we meet regularly with the sector we do have a consultative committee that is representative of all parts of the fishing sector not just the killy bags pelagic sector but we meet regularly with them we've had regular meetings and I'm sure you've seen this in the press material that we've released we've had regular meetings with the sector in relation to this in fact some members some representatives of the sector have on occasion told us that they're happy to use the pure side weighing device just to turn around at some stage later and say actually no we're not going to use the pure side weighing device but as far as the relationship is concerned absolutely we do have a working relationship with the sector through their representatives and we're happy to meet them at any stage I don't think we have refused a meeting with them at any point and certainly I hope that that will be the situation going forward we obviously have to be cognizant of the fact that we're a regulator here and as you rightly point to yourself there is a role that we have to carry out and we have to be careful that we stay within our image while carrying out that role I'm trying to read between the lines here and I could be very far out do you believe that if you were dealing with fishermen and fishers individually that this wouldn't be such an issue do you believe there are elements trying to frustrate this this process I can't say that well you're not rejecting it out of hand either okay pascal haze as I say maybe we can speak our fair and find better ways to communicate because we have tried to speak to the likes of yourself because it makes it so much it makes it so fair it makes it fairer from my perspective but I think it is a far better way doing things we have tried pascal and maybe we can speak our fair and see if we can open up a better line of communication but for this morning thank you very much for joining us all right pascal haze there we have a very good evening I'm John I'm the executive chair of the sea fisheries protection authority what do you think 08 6, 60 25,000 your whatsapps and texts will give us a call an 07491 25,000 the 9 till noon show with letter Kenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 Euro with no hidden fees illness, especially in people at higher risk. 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Get the Irish Daily Star today for your free 12-page Punches Down Festival pull-out with all the top tisters in our stable ready to get you first past the post all week. The Irish Daily Star, number one for racing, number one for you. I'm Stephanie Preisner, one of thousands of autistic people in Ireland. Everyone experiencing life and autism in our own unique way. Unfortunately, many of the things connecting us are the barriers we face every day. Barriers most people don't face and so don't even see. Barriers to a proper education. Barriers to employment. Barriers in society that leave autistic people isolated and left out. Help us remove these barriers and give autistic people the same chance. Donate at asiam.ie. Sportswear for men at Brian McCormick Sports and Leisure Main Street, Letter Kenny. Underarmor training, quarter zips, tech tees with classic training shorts in different lengths. Nike running range with quarter zips. 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Should the flares all in that weekend? The procession's up and down the street all day. Aye, biggie ling, biggy ol' gus crackin' is rerogg is ruleaboola. Aren't you the best man? Ah, first. This ad is kindly sponsored by Steeler Bill and Sister Sarah's. Dunleagall Fla, Letter Kenny, 6th to the 8th of May. All right, more of your comments coming in here.  They are rapists if they use these services. Men found using these services should face mandatory jail sentences. Hi, Greg. There's a pothole between belly holy and drama hole heading towards Letter Kenny. Lawries and bosses have to cross a continuous white line on a blind corner to avoid it. I use this road every day and it's been there since last September. Does anyone know why it's not being fixed? Is it down to expenses or incompetence? Another, were there some requests not addressed relieving exams during COVID? We were the only EU country to offer a choice between school assessment and a terminal exam. School profiles were excluded from predictive grades. Unlike the UK, more third level places were created. Some students, I know, were very happy with the outcomes and choices afforded to them. Yes, indeed, certainly later in the process. Okay, I'll concede that. I think earlier on in the process, perhaps not so much. Had a hospital appointment this morning was in the middle of the shower when the water went off. No warning. So all over me had to go to a friend's house in Letter Kenny to finish my shower. Why no warning from Irish water or whoever cut it off in the remoulton area. Well, repairs to a burst water may cause disruptions to remoulton surrounding areas. So in other words, it is scheduled works, works were scheduled to take place until 1pm on the 27th of April. Irish water issued this advisory. They say we recommend that you allow two to three hours after the estimated restoration time for your supply to fully return. There is a service called Map Alertor, where you get emails and notifications on such things, and maybe it's worth us signing up to them. Because then when it happens, we're like, I don't know. I mean, I know the ESB, do they still slip a card for your door if there's a planned outage? I'm not sure Irish water do that. I don't know. Can you wish Brian Bresen from Carndon a happy 60th birthday and best of luck on his retirement from the Donegal Fire Service after over 30 years of service? Well done, Brian. Three decades of out there, saving people's lives and being there, running towards stuff, I suppose, when the rest of us might be running away. It's very much appreciated from everyone. But this request in particular from Sally and Jerry Toy and Paul and Martina Craig. All right, it is the nine till noon show. We'll be back with more after this from The Bangles. Oh, that is The Bangles and Manning Monday there. Right. Now, Ailish. Ailish joins us on the program now. Good morning, Ailish. Good morning, Greg. Right. Now, tell us the situation as it relates to, I believe, a family member of yours. It does indeed. It's a sister of mine who would have a very small salon within her home, small business, but she's very lucky. She's a lot of local customers, very loyal, good customers, and she loves her work. But on Monday of this week, we had received our electric 200 credit on her bill, which I have to say is not very clear on the bill either, how to read it, because it took me quite a bit. 100% I agree with you. You know, I find it very confusing. And I thought, you know, this would be a great help to my sister who has a little business because she pays very high electric bills. So I got in touch with her and I said, we had got our credit today and had she received hers and she had got her bill on the same day and she said, no, it's not online. But you need to read the small print as it's because it's very confusing on the bill. It's not very clearly done. I said, maybe you're reading it wrong. And she brought me down her bill and no mention of any credit on her bill. And I said to her, well, maybe yours is just delayed. I know they're doing them in different things. Yeah, for sure. We live quite close to one another and I thought it would be very strange that she wouldn't have hers. So I suggested to her maybe to ring up and make inquiries about it and what she did. And somebody got back to her and explained that because she has a business within her home, she doesn't qualify for the 200 euro credit. Wow. And that would have been a nice lift for her, particularly I think with the rising cost of business because she's working from home. So all her costs go. And she's paying, you know, high revenue. She's to keep her business afloat. She's had to pay extra for PPE gear sanitizer. She put on expensive dividers. And with COVID, she's only allowed, because it's a small little silent, she couldn't have any more than two customers at any given time. And I just think it's very unfair. Even during the lockdown, she had to close every time that her sounds had to close. And she didn't receive the 350 that most people got because she was self-employed to tell her she wasn't entitled. She got 203 a week. So I just feel she's been penalized and a lot of different. Every turnaround by the sounds of it. And I presume then the only way she must have a commercial account, you know, a business account then with the electricity provider, presumably, and they're not they're not classing her then as a domestic customer. Is that how they're? It must be the case. Yeah, it must be the case. I don't know the whole internet. I just know that when she rang up, they just told she didn't qualify. Now, we don't know how much of her usual bill of 500 would be business or would be just the usuals, you know, the washing machine and the TVs and stuff and the lights. So you think at least they could come up with even if it was, I don't know how they might do it. But the 200 would only ever come off her domestic usage. Do you know what I mean? Even though she operates a small business from the premises, it shouldn't preclude it because let's say the 200 would always come off the domestic use as well. That's right. Yeah. You know, so it's not a business benefit. No, I can't, I can't understand it at all. I thought I would highlight it in your program. For sure. I love listening to your program and you always highlight these sort of You're very nice. Thanks. And I'm just wondering, you know, are there many more people in the same position that are having this problem? You know, as I say, it's difficult times to try to keep a business afloat. And it just, it seems like she's hitting the brick wall every time. It's just it's another slap in the face really with everything else. She absolutely adores doing and she has the, you know, good clientele, good loyal customers, which are keeping her afloat. But there's no. Did you mention to Caroline, which, which company it was just so we can chase it up to see if it's one company, if it's across the board? Which company her electric. Yeah. Okay, that'll do. That'll do. We'll check up with electric card because I want to find out if it's specific to one company or if it's across the board. Right. Okay, we'll follow that up. We'll try and get an answer. And you've opened up the question there to other people listening. There's a lot of people. I don't know, even if you're working from home. I mean, if someone is working from home for a company, why should they be treated any different to your sister? Because both of them are working in the house. Both of them are probably using, you know, more electricity than they might if they didn't work at home. Why should your sister be penalized when someone who's working from home isn't? All of those questions we'll try and get answers to. Yeah, but that's, I mean, there's a lot of people, you know, that can work from home and they'll do so during the lockdown. And, you know, I'm just being very interested to know if, or if there's somebody that we can contact or is there something we can do to look into this? We will get onto it for you and what have you. It just, for all the amount of people, there's a lot of them, but in the widest kind of things there's not, it seems to be a little bit tied for, you know, for no reason. Okay, leave that with us. We'll chase it up, follow it up. If we can get answers or signpost you to an onwards manual, whatever it might be, see if you can. But it's out there now and we'll see what we can do. Thank you for the call. Thanks for your kind words, by the way, Eilish. It's really appreciated. Thank you for giving me your time. No problem, no problem. Okay, any other issues like that? 08, 6, 60, 25,000. That's what we're here for you. We are genuinely here for you and we try and do our best and we saw a lot, I say we, Caroline and the team saw that an awful lot of stuff even before it gets on air as well. So that's what we're here for 08, 6, 60, 25,000 watts, apps and texts. Right, now we are going to be speaking to the former head of the Goddard Fraud Squad, who is the author also of a new book called Tales from the Fraud Squad. His name's William McGee and he joins us after these messages. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Is your bank leaving town? Letter Kenny Credit Union is now offering myCU current account and debit mastercard, bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account. 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Mix and match on selected personal powder and Pampers Nappy Pants, an E3 for 20 euro, unreal! And Brancot Estate Sauvignon Blanc, only 10 euro, winning! Win with SuperValue low prices. Enjoy alcohol responsibly. Highland Radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport. Enjoy stress-free travel this summer with Ryanair's brand new services to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester. Ireland West Airport, you're flying! Okay, a short but sweet one, sunny spells today with temperatures 12 to 14 degrees in light, easterly. Breezes will tell you what evening and tomorrow morning holds for you a quarter to 12. Now, as I mentioned, Willie McGee is author of the Tales from the Fraud Squad. He joins us now. Willie, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. It's great to have you. Sorry, go ahead. It's part of the world I've never been. So it sounds lovely. Right, 30 years as a member of the force and also, of course, head of the Guard of Fraud Squad. I suppose just before we dig into, you know, some of the stories of it and what we can expect from your new book. Well, what is the role of the Guard of Fraud Squad and how does it operate within within the force? And I suppose has it changed much over the years? Well, it has been the Fraud Squad when I joined us in the late in the mid-70s, and it has changed its name to the Guard of Bureau for the investigation in the meantime. Now it's the National Economic Crime Bureau. So we're changing with times like international Fraud Squad. But it's still the Fraud Squad. It's still referred to as the Fraud Squad in all the other circles in the country. So the Fraud Squad is still there operating. And what would its day-to-day work be, Willie? Well, now it has changed. It's changed a lot since my time in it, because it's far more technical now than the better buttocks that we used to do and which you will read if you buy the book. And there are plenty of stories. It's really transferred from the analog version of lifetime to digital, you know, so. And I suppose the Fraud Squad most recently Yeah, I would say the Fraud Squad most recently would it be involved in that international sort of investigation into the Kinnehan organized crime group? That's the kind of stuff that be at now too as well as the... Well, on the periphery really I suppose, but there'll be more arrest and serious crime squad as criminal justice bureau operations. Right, yeah, okay.  Well, in 1979 we dealt with an extortion attempt from the Department of Agriculture whereby the extortionists attempted to obtain 5.5 million a euro that time to prevent the spread of photomode disease in the country. It was an extortion attempt, something like the HSE one there that happened last year. So that one carried on for nine months and it's a pretty interesting story. 5.5 million in 1979 would be something like maybe 75-80 million today, but that was the one, the biggest one really that we're investing in in our time. And interesting, what takes up a full chapter in my book, the whole story from start to finish. You give us an insight, an unprecedented insight into it because you know all the ins and outs and at that time too, I don't know if it could happen there, but it would have been very much part of the operation to keep it on the QT, to keep it quiet I imagine. That's right, that's what we tried our best to do, to keep it quiet for fear that they wouldn't notice it was out in the open and that they would spread the photomode if they knew that it would do, but it has to be kept under wraps very much. So I was a young detective at the time and I was tasked with the job of getting, picking up the letters from the Department of Agriculture when they arrived there, intermittent me and carrying out instructions that they issued. And that was to put an ad in the classified section of the Irish Times after each receipt of each letter. And that's what I did, went to the Irish Times, put in a peculiar ad, said that Thomas Smith has read your message and has agreed to your proposals and then we carried on to stage two and that carried on for nearly six months under the first time as we carried out their instructions to bring the five million in the boot of a car. And it didn't, they didn't fulfill the, we didn't fulfill the agreement with them. And it came through after the bottle of smoke in the end and needed to say the photomode stuff wasn't carried through. But it was hugely ambitious and it was obviously structured in a way that it had to be taken very, very seriously. You know this wasn't someone being held ransom where it's very simple, what they were claiming they would be responsible for. You had to take it as serious because of the consequences of it. Absolutely. Actually, Charlie Bird did a very good podcast on it there for senior times and he christened it around some 79 and it was a very good podcast and he had to do a documentary on it as well for RTE but unfortunately his voice went in and he couldn't carry through with it. Yeah, very sadly. Does it frustrate you that, I don't think anyone was actually found responsible for that fraud? No. Does it frustrate you? Is that like the itch that still needs scratching or are you content enough with your role in it? I suppose there's no statutory limitation to it and of course there'll be so if we got the big guilty parties because they'll prosecute them. But unfortunately in that time in the 79s and 80s our legislation strengths were very poor. We were operating under the last in the act of 1916 which went back a good bit and we were also operating under the forgery act which was 1913 and that went back a lot as well and it didn't change until the act came out in 2002 to give us better powers. We couldn't address anybody unless we found them committing the offence and oftentimes we had to go back even to 1863 to carry out sections of the forgery act that we couldn't enact in the 70s and 80s. You know which was terrible then but it has had been rectified in the meantime since I left the force. I left force in 2002 and since then legislation has become much stronger and it's like DNA, DNA evidence is much, well it's available now but we're not DNA evidence in 1970. It was old-fashioned police work and just in relation not named individuals of course but did you always have a working theory as to who might be responsible? Was it an organization? Was it a group of individuals? Was it people outside the country? What was your and maybe still your theory Willie? Well we had a fair idea who orchestrated it. One particular intelligent man who was capable of carrying out those kind of forgeries or crimes and we had a fair idea who it was but we couldn't connect anything with him. So we tested all the documentation that we received that time for fingerprints and no fingerprints of any note came up on the documentation so they obviously handled the documents very well with gloves or whatever. Are you able to name that individual in the book or do you have to still? No I don't know. Just trying to find out if he's still around or not but okay. No actually the man is long gone unfortunately unfortunately. Right okay I get you. Now it's amazing what people are, I mean Brazen is the only word to describe it, what they are capable of doing, how far they will go. It's like something out of that film with Leonardo DiCaprio where he's forging pilot's checks and what have you. You would avoid the guard you would imagine you'd avoid the guard or guard of checks with a barge pole. Not the case with some though. Well actually we investigate the case of criminals who forged our own guard of paychecks and carried out a number of transactions with the forgeries. That's the story in the book as well it's too complicated. Too long to get into. I don't know if it's silly or amazingly clever because I presume at a time people would go well these checks have to be real because no one's going to forge guard of checks are they? That's correct and when they were casting the shops I mean shopkeepers wouldn't usually ask for your identification and if they did they wouldn't examine it you know and this guy had as well as I've taken in Dublin bus and he had he had obtained an outer cover of a guard of the badge and the audience do a slash the badge to the shopkeeper and and the check in as well and the shopkeeper wouldn't compare the the name on the on the card he showed to the name on the check and they cashed the checks no problem because he he was aware of of shops where he used to cast the checks through a guard who was on the wrong side and then he carried out his transactions and those shops that were familiar with the guards and the shops who wouldn't ask for identification no industry would come in he was 56 years old at the time and he had a blue shirt with the with the guard the type and and he looked like he got and he he he actually had a pronounced limb when and this was one particular piece of information that came through from every case he cashed the check and when when when we when we examined the all the transactions we calculated he was a particular person who developed a limb because he was in mount joy prison doing a sentence and he he feigned a sickness and was brought to the matter hospital and while in the matter hospital he he asked to go to the toilet and and then on the Eccles Street side of of the matter the old matter and he opened the window and he decided to jump from the window to escape out onto the footpath was he unfortunately impaled himself by the backside on the railings and which meant that he spent a lot longer in the hospital than he intended to initially and that's that's that was the self-imposed limb thing when those legs were sharpened on the other but we never thought that he would have the intelligence of the capability of catching gather shakes but we were right in the end when we arrested him and we arrested actually one on a since even the day in 19 i took us to 19 92 93% he served he served three years imprisonment for his troubles anyway all right and that's just a sample the stories of 56 million uh dollar frauds uh your your work as it relates to the former t-shirt charles uh hockey uh under the spotlight of that uh well famous uh fight tribunal and so much more besides there's an international national element to it uh where can people get their hands on this book because as i say i mean this you know well you can have fiction stuff but this is someone from within an organization the head of it writing about these cases it gives us an insight that i think we're lucky to be getting so where can people get the book well that's i think any any good book shop reasons right any book shop at all has been distributed to and um it said everything that's in it is true and and genuine and stuff that i was involved in and just before i finished great when i was told that great hues was interviewing me i am i played football for me in the 60s and 70s and we played awfully in many competitive games and the one fallback that's not alone i feared um was a lot of other people feared was a fellow named a great hues smartly that's the only thing me and him have in common well he was a great he was a great footballer in the 60s and 70s indeed i've read up because he's a namesake i've actually read up a little bit about it yeah uh so i understand he was a fearsome fellow all right he was all right willy listen thanks so much for chatting to us best of luck okay great with everything in the book no okay i'd say you don't remember okay i've meant too many names either willy good man thank you thank you all right that is uh willy miggy he's author of tales from the fraud squad he is the former head of the guard of fraud squad we just got a sample of a couple of the interesting cases he worked on in your local bookstore you can pick up a copy of that if it's something you'd be interested in or someone closed you interested in that procedural police work and all that kind of stuff you'll get a great insight into it uh oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand whatsapps and texts to that number i hope many of you know oh seven four nine one twenty five thousand you can watch the program just to remind you if you want to a lot of people watching on their fire stick on facebook watch or on youtube or on other smart devices a lot of tv's now have youtube built in if you want it on in the background if you work from home or you're at home uh go on to our youtube page highland radio arland where you can watch many of our guests and all of the program and also on our website highlandradio.com it's always great to have you however you engage with us the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter kenny credit union nine one oh two one two seven sport it's at the heart of every community and so is special olympics every 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abbey center get the irish daily star today if you're free 12 page punchestown festival pullout with all the top tipsters in our stable ready to get you first past the post all week the irish daily star number one for racing number one for you okay it is 11 o'clock you tune to the nine till noon show here in highland radio the last hour of the program on the way it's an interesting one i hope you'll agree you'll have to listen to find out but it is time for a news update and it's good morning once again to mckayla clark thanks great good morning this fpa has warned that all landings at killy bags will have to be weighed at the pier site unless the current control plan in place is adhered to there has been much controversy in recent weeks as many fishermen have left the harbor with the full catch due to rules being enforced by the regulator which insists on the fish being weighed without water in agreement with the EU commission at five percent of bulk pelagic landing at killy bags must be subject to a full control inspection and landing on the pier when 95 percent of landings are weighed at a factory after transport the junior minister with responsibility for rural ireland says reports show that lower income people won't be worse off thanks to the carbon tax Joe brian has been responding to opposition criticism of the government's plans and upcoming ban on turf later the doll will vote on a shin fee in motion seeking to scrap upcoming restrictions on the commercial sale of turf t-shirt me hall martin has told the doll he believes health services in border areas should be organized on a regional basis and that dunning all patients should be looking towards alman galvan hospital in dairy rather than gallway he said joint initiatives such as the north west cancer center have been very successful and the challenge will be to build up trust with those unionists they are suspicious of such cooperation dunning all deputy has described a lack of infrastructure in the northwest as a mortal sin deputy podrick mclaughlin believes due to the absence of a real network and continued delays with the a5 that the irish government should reinstate financial support for the city of dairy airport the u says it's unacceptable for the kremlin to cut gas supplies to bulgaria and poland because they're refusing to pay in russia's own currency resident putin brought in the rule in response to western sanctions over the war in ukraine and police say they're becoming increasingly concerned for a missing person who was last seen in the port rosh area on saturday last it's believed clena malvena traveled to dairy anyone with information regarding her wear bites is asked to contact police those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update again at 12 noon okay mcala thank you very much for that okay it's wednesday our wellness wednesday now is focusing on organ donation and i'm delighted to welcome in studio two guests darin winston and mary winston both of you uh you're very welcome to the program thank you thank you very much for joining us and also uh we are going to be joined by colin white the national advocacy and projects manager for the irish kidney association he's going to be joining us uh very shortly um mary when did it become apparent that you needed a kidney transplant uh the end of 2018 about october 2018 and what is the process then like what do the doctors tell you in terms of that they say you look you need a new kidney is that it well the patient has to be assessed then to make sure that uh they're a suitable candidate to have a kidney that your heart is okay and that you have no other no other underlying conditions that might be life-threatening yeah because i suppose an organ is an incredibly valuable item not necessarily monetary value so they have to ensure that the you're a healthy person the host is not is going to give it its best chance absolutely so uh the host of x-ray scans dress test angiograms anything and everything was tested and things progressed in a bad way for you really quite quickly in 2018 didn't they absolutely from january until september i was well at the beginning of january and in september i knew i was going to have to have a transplant yeah and what options were you given at that point i mean a transplant or what might happen if maybe a donor might not be available well there were two choice of donors one with the deceased or a living donor or i suppose if things i could have been on dialysis okay so how did they talk to you about a living donor how does that conversation go well a person has to be over 21 they have to be a healthy person and they have to be willing and they undergo counseling and everything and normally somebody would would volunteer you wouldn't go say to somebody can i have a kidney from you that's but that's kind of where i'm i'm getting to it's a voluntary process yes of course and are you putting a list or is it an exchange program or what way does it work well i was on the deceased list first and then darned very kindly volunteered he was the first person to volunteer and he had his bloods and all done and he was deemed a match for me and then he had to have all the tests done as well and did they tell you that you know it's possible there's a match within your family if you wanted to go and you know explore that side of it well that's always a possibility and they say that yeah that's always blood relatives yeah so i mean did you sort of then you know go on the family whatsapp group or like how do you no i didn't have to do that yeah because darned was the first one who volunteered and he went through the process and we were a match so so when did you realize darn that you could be a possible donor for your mom well i suppose i was going with my mom to the appointments and you know i heard the different processes that were available so there there is a paired donor system and then the deceased donor system and then a living donor and i think then it just kind of i suppose for me i realized that well actually this is something i could do and then from talking to the specialists in Beaumont you know that it was obvious that i could have a big impact on her health without very much impact on on my own health at all so it seemed like a no-brainer to me i guess is that something you had to think twice about not really i suppose like from from seeing other people in my family who have been unwell over the years you were always wishing that there's something that you could do to help them and in this case there was something that i could do yeah so i mean you don't have to think about that yeah i'm not sure everyone's the same i think that's more a credit to you really than than than you're giving yourself credit for i mean that not patronizing any way shape or form but i mean obviously we've advanced greatly in terms of what we're able to do medically and to help people but there's always a risk it's a significant operation and you had to get all the checks to make sure it wouldn't have a negative impact on you yeah yeah it's not i mean i've never been through so many tests in my life like and um as mom said like a you know counseling and psychiatric tests and psychologists and all of that side and then the health side of it you know for to make sure that of course like i have to live my life now with just one kidney so it's to make sure that i can live you know that it's not putting my health in jeopardy that i can live a healthy life going forward with just one kidney did you or were you advised uh as to any sort of changes you have to make to your life going forward to best protect your kidney not really i mean there are certain things like you know obviously being fit and active and healthy but nothing more than than we should be doing in any way exactly you can live your life but mary i mean as generous as it is you know ate your flesh and blood as well and uh you know it's it seems on the face of it is a very significant sacrifice i'm sure it is did you try and discourage him or maybe he's close enough that you can you can you know he's made his mind up there's no point trying to convince him otherwise i didn't discourage him but i questioned it and i also had to question myself a lot you know what am i doing taking a kidney will he have a normal life afterwards will it impact on his lifestyle you know all those thoughts were going through my head and it took me a while to process it and got reassurances from the consultants as well and i probably knew a few people who had been donors and read a few stories and that gave me more confidence then moving forward yeah okay so i was hesitant initially yeah i can imagine that from the perspective that it was my son and it would impact on his life yeah exactly but it sounds like you got great support from the medics the professionals that they answer every question yeah and then when you would see his clean bill of physical and mental health too you're reassured in that regard as well presumably yeah so that was 2018 so you know obviously your kidney function deteriorated through that year how quickly then um did it come to the point where they says right well we're going to do this operation well the operation was scheduled for march 2020 and then covid but paid to that as if things weren't complicated enough and then there was a provisional date for june but then it was rescheduled for september and so it proceeded on the 7th of september 2020 right okay so you've had been through the the whole process together with you accompanying your mom uh darin and that continued then presumably you used to go to the hospital at the same time the operations are you know pretty much at the same time yeah yeah why did that take place it all happens in Beaumont so um yeah we we went up there the night before and prepped for surgery and um then mum was brought for surgery in the morning um and then i was brought down no the other way around i was brought for surgery first thing in the morning you don't have your mother's kidney and then once the kidney was safely out of my body then her surgery began um a couple of hours later or whatever yeah you went down about eight and i was brought down at 12 and darin's consultant came out and said to me we have the kidney on the table now we're prepping it so isn't it we'll be bringing you in very soon and um after uh his kidney was in put into you how soon did you start seeing a difference or feeling a difference kidney worked instantly yeah when i was woke up after the surgery that told me it was working and they told me what to make creatinine level was which was massively reduced from what i had prior to the surgery you know it was normal level did i feel surreal uh in that it's like almost i'm not simplifying but it's almost like a light switch in terms of how it affects you positively but also maybe everything just hit you what's just happened well my quality of life improved immensely whereas post-surgery darin's body had to adjust and it probably took him slightly longer to recover so you're doing your 5k he's still in the hospital no no he was discharged actually before me uh what was uh what was i mean obviously the the body does have to get used to it as your mom was very well described there but like what was the recovery process like yeah well her body was getting something that it really wanted and really needed but my body was losing something losing something that it probably wasn't very happy to lose and um it did take me um a number of weeks to come around to myself um like you have a massive you have a massive scar and you know you've been through major surgery and and yeah the recovery process was slow enough i guess but there wasn't much happening in the world in 2020 so i had plenty of time to recover and lots of time to recuperate but that being said too there was the fear presumably of of catching covid and you would have been vulnerable both of you were so did you stick it out together and for how long and how did that work it was a major part of it you know before before when the operation was originally due to take place in march 2020 all of the all of the process beforehand was about the supports that you could have in place the people that you could have around you and then that kind of all went out with covid it wasn't we weren't allowed to have anyone around so for i think two weeks before the operation and then four weeks after after the operation we had to completely isolate from everybody we did that together so um and then but after that i mean with covid being so bad and mum being on a munus presence it was it was difficult like it was very very difficult to live a life where you were interacting really with people because you were always so aware if prolongs everything you know you can't talk about recovery times as such because you know whilst there's a physical recovery everything every other element of it is is is dragged out changed it an awful lot yeah and um in terms of your life now do you have to take medicine still i'd be on medication for life i take munus suppressants twice a day yeah so you have to still be cautious and generally you'd have to be cautious as well but it's clear that your in your health is is oh yeah absolutely good health i mean i think it's clear that these were very close before all of this started does it change does it make you even closer uh the fact that you know i mean you bear us women bear the men and and now i suppose something going back in the other direction so that sounds terrible and it's great that is actually what it is that i wasn't anticipating but you know what i mean does it um yeah we we've always been very close so i'm not sure that it's changed that in any way right um are you a bit more like cautious of what she's eating or drinking it like i said to say you know i've got some of a of a a dog in the race you know that's the thing i mean she was always being such a healthy and fit person that i knew the kidney was going to somebody who was going to look after it i guess um so that was that wasn't really an issue but i want to say a whole experience been for for you uh darin i mean i think it seemed very sort of matter of fact and that's in a very positive way um that you've sort of taken this very much in your stride so i think maybe it's maybe impacted you less than it might other people if that makes sense okay yeah perhaps is it yeah um like it sounds to me like you're saying look i love my mom i had a way of helping her i've done it and now i'm getting on with my own thing if you know what i mean that's kind of how it is for me yeah it's had very little impact on my life as such um at the time for a couple of months of recovery and then after that you know it was just life is normal back to normal but it was it's for me what is amazing is that you can see how it can change somebody's life and how it can impact their life you know i could see my mother's health deteriorating horrible quickly before my eyes um and then i guess for once there was something that you could actually do do about it something meaningful and the amazing thing to me is that how it can change basicall