There you have it, just coming up to 9 o'clock and Gregory Hughes, yes, you're getting bedded in there, how are you? Back for my three day week, boy. Oh, that's a good, that's a good, that's nice now, Wednesday, Thursday, it's your Friday, it's easy for you, the entertainment slot all out of track. It's not easy, nothing, nothing about this job's easy, just because I make it look easy, just because I show fleet of foot. Ah, here we go, don't look, what about the... I can, I can swing from the serious to the lighthearted, doesn't mean that it's easily. Right. Just let you know that. That's okay. You feel better now. Any clues for the secret sound? See now, that's you throwing a bag at me now. Do you want me to make, can I guess and donate to charity? No, you cannot guess. You could donate it to charity, but no, don't put a guess in, because then if you were right then, I'd have to, I don't know what I would do in that circumstance. You'd have to go up with a new idea. That wouldn't be fair then to everybody, that's just been trying for months and months and months and months and months and months and months. I don't really know, obviously you know I don't know what it is. Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I wonder if you know what it is. I don't know why I need to refresh my brain sometimes. Anyway, Gooch, it's lovely to see you again and I'm going to bid you farewell so you can get down the road. Yeah, thanks very much. All right, thank you. Going upstairs. Oh, why? I want to start out with music. Okay. For tomorrow. Right, brilliant. Rather than doing it after five o'clock in the morning, do it after nine o'clock. 100%. That makes sense. You know in darker mornings, you know. Okay, get up. Stop pretty at five, you know. Get up there and do it. All right then, Lee, see you in a bit. Good morning. Donald Coven is here with the news now. Good morning, Donald. Thank you, very good morning. The doll's been told rising fuel prices hit people in Donegal harder than in many other counties. A vote will take place in the doll tonight on a Sinn Féin motion calling for rises in fuel prices to be deferred. Temporary reductions in excise duties are ending as a result of prices at the pumps have been rising steadily in recent weeks. During last night's initial debate, Deputy Patrick McLaughlin said when it comes to the car, people in Donegal have no alternatives. The reality is that if you are working, if you're studying, if you're trying to run a business, public transport sadly isn't an option for most people in our county. You have to have a car. The electric infrastructure just really isn't there. It's not a possibility. So, you know, if you add on, I mean, the whole issue of carbon tax that is supposed to punish people for not taking better alternatives will in places like where we're from, you don't have those alternatives. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly is calling for a Citizens' Assembly to be established to examine how greater levels of regional autonomy can be delivered. According to the NWRA, a policy of positive discrimination would result in rebalancing what's been a legacy of underinvestment in new infrastructure projects for Donegal, Sligo, Litra, Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Kavan and Monahan. In its pre-budget submission, the assembly is calling for a stimulus package worth at least 570 million euro to kickstart development across what it describes as the ailing region. An expert panel focused on Ireland's affordability says cost of living pressures have pushed the living wage up by nearly a euro. The living wage technical group says the reference early living wage rate will rise to 14 euro 80 cent per hour for this year. That's up from 13.85 in 2022. It's thanks to rising energy costs, food inflation and income tax. Collette Bennett of Social Justice Ireland says the budget must close the gap. So, what is a significant increase? But as I said, it is evidence-based. It is the cost, the real cost of living. And what we are advocating for is that the minimum wage be moved towards this amount. And 42,000 people were being vaccinated weekly at the height of the COVID-19 rollout in the north-western west. The SELTA group has launched an in-depth report on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme across the region. With more, here's McKellar Clark. The eddy page report details the challenges that progress and successes of the programme from rapidly setting up vaccination centres and satellite centres, ensuring a constant vaccine supply chain and reacting to peaks and sudden troughs of demand. The country's vaccination programme began on December 29th at 2020, with the initial rollout focusing on healthcare workers in front-line services and the 65 and older cohort in long-term residential care facilities. An integrated steering grip was established initially in the north-west and west, when responsibility for the regional vaccination programme was transferred from SELTA to HSE community healthcare organisations in May 2022. At the point of transfer, the SELTA government programme had administered 750,000 vaccinations. While the forecast after a dry start would become wet and windy, with strong to near-gale force southeast winds, heavy rain spreading from the south, top afternoon temperatures 14 to 16 degrees Celsius. And that's Highland Radio News, we're back with news again at 10. Don't forget, of course, regular updates on our website, highlandvideo.com. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. And now, it's time for the talk of the north-west, the 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio.  It's Wednesday the 27th of September 2023. How are you all keeping? I do hope you're very well indeed. And they have, they've batten down the hatches. We don't want to bat them down too tightly around here, though I wouldn't want my trampoline to be at the front garden nonetheless. And we'll think on, on neighbours down the country who are going to fill the wrath of Storm Agnes. So hopefully it's not too bad for anyone down the south. And where the, that storm will track. Anyway, we'll focus on what's happening up here. The lines are open for you right now to get involved in the conversation. Start your own 07491 25,000 outside the Republic 003537491 25,000 and text 0866025,000. Did I say thanks to Donald for standing in for me on Monday and Tuesday? It's great to be back, essentially a three-day week. Where would you get it? All right, let's have a look at what's making the front of the newspapers this morning. We'll start with the Donegal Post. And a man has appeared in court charged over a hit-and-run collision in which a nine-year-old boy was killed in Bandorn. Surgey Kelly appeared at Carracon-Shallon District Court on Tuesday morning in connection with the fatal road traffic collision on Saturday. Ronan Wilson, a nine-year-old from killed dressing county to Rome, was killed. Kelly, a 23-year-old with an address at Upper Mollochmore County Sligo, has been charged with three offences under the Road Traffic Act. Wearing a face mask and a hoodie tied tightly across his face so that he couldn't be identified as he left the court, I presume. Kelly was brought to Carracon-Shallon by detectives. Kelly was charged with having been the driver of a vehicle which was involved in the occurrence of injury to Ronan Wilson. Did fail to offer said person assistance. He was also charged with failing to stop and with failing to remain at the scene. Detective Garda Shane, May of Ballashallon Garda Station, gave evidence of the arrest charge and caution of Kelly. When charged, Kelly told Gardy it was wrong and I should have stopped, but I didn't. After being charged with failing to stop, Kelly said I should have, but I didn't. He later told Gardy when charged with failing to remain at the scene, I know I should have, but I didn't. Kelly was represented by Slister John Anderson. And this is something that's irked a lot of people out there and I can understand why. Gardy agreed to bail. There are strict conditions as far as bail conditions can be strict. A 2,000-year-old bond, while a Ms. Martina Courage agreed to go forward as an independent surety, which was approved by the court. He surrendered his passport and was signed on three times a week at Ballashallon Garda Station and has been ordered to have no contact either directly or indirectly to include social media with any of the prosecution witnesses in the case. Kind of restricted in what one can say in relation to that because it is a matter now before the courts. But I think we might be all of similar minds, right? The Finn Valley voice. A local creche provider is appealing for support to protest at the Square. Let her Kenny today and tomorrow. Aurora McCormick is the director of Aurora's Hobbits Limited and Aurora's After School Crossroads, Kelly Gordon. She says early years provider will close their doors for good because the lack of government funding has made the business unviable. Ms. McCormick attended the national protest by members of the Federation of Childhood Providers outside Dallair and yesterday, the first day of the three-day strike over the funding round with government. What time is the protest in Let her Kenny today? Though I couldn't find any information of it knowing I have access to the front page of the Finn Valley voice. Where is it? It's at the Square in Let her Kenny. But at what time until when? Huge turnout at that protest yesterday. They don't want much. They want to be able to operate a business that is essential to the running of this country. It allows people to work and go about their business. They need to be well resourced. We'll hear a little later on about how quickly government can come up with money when it wants to or when it needs to or when it is driven to, which is good. It needs to of course. That's fine. Not a criticism. But there is a sector here on its knees and an industry on its knees that's having huge ramifications in terms of people's ability to get out of the home and work and so on and so forth. But we'll stick with the locals for now. The English Times this morning, a man who threatened to burn his neighbour's children and nail them to the floorboards has been jailed. Neighbour from Hell, as is described in the paper here, Carl Ryan, was sentenced to 14 months in prison after being charged with a series of vicious threats in Bunkrana over a 13 month period in 2019 and 2020. Ryan, who has 44 previous convictions, appeared via video link from Castlery Prison, is a 55 year old and is currently serving a five and a half year prison sentence and is due for release in 2026. On to the Irish Times. Now, a fascinating story that emerged over the last couple of days and it's in relation to what appears to be hundreds of millions of euro of cocaine on a ship like something you would see out of a TV show. Guardi believe a container ship that Army Ranger wing members were winched on to in stormy conditions yesterday is carrying cocaine worth at least tens of millions of euro. Some estimates have it at 150 million. A number of sources told the Irish Times it was possible the whole was worth well in excess of 100 million though that would only become clear when the boat was properly searched in Cove County Court today. The large vessel, the Panamanian registered MV Matthew was attempting to flee when the naval service Ellie William Butler Yates and Air Corps helicopters closed in off the County Court coast yesterday. Weapon systems on the Ellie William Butler Yates were fired twice as warning shots to deter the crew from persisting with their attempted escape. I thought it was a futile escape. I imagine maybe they were buying time. I imagine that might emerge down the line. But I was listening to a former Army general and he referenced the drugs find off the coast of Donegal. You might remember big packages of cocaine were found off the coast and what he supposed was is that what they do is these obviously in this case it appears that the drugs were on the vessel but what he says that happens is that trawlers or big boats they tow it's attached by a magnet to the boat he said they tow a torpedo like device underneath the boat and when they get too close to where they are going to offload the drugs they release it it sinks to the floor of the sea and then on a timer it opens and the drugs float to the surface and then local trawlers or local boat I'm not saying local trawlers are involved you know what I'm not local trawlers like local boats do you know what I mean or boats that are sold locally if you get where I'm coming from not implying that anyone locally is involved in this vessels that are docked locally then go out to these coordinates and pick up the drugs after they've resurfaced and the boat that dropped them or dropped this torpedo like thing that's carrying them has long since left the scene and he suspects that that's what happened they missed the coordinates or something and the drugs that washed up on the coast here that's perhaps how they were brought into the area which makes sense okay the irish independent sales of petrol and diesel cars are still at stripping electric vehicles in ireland and the size of all types is ballooning as SUVs take over the trends are the opposite of what climate action desperately needs and experts have warned the government must intervene to influence spire's choice that could mean extra taxes on heavier cars as is done in france and norway where weight based taxes add thousands of euro to the price of bigger models obviously they're going to exclude electric cars because the batteries weigh a ton a tax on lifetime carbon footprint could also be an option acting as a double deterrent against fossil fuel cars advertising rules offer another solution by obliging manufacturers to state the weight and lifetime carbon emission of their cars and carry warnings that heavier models are more dangerous to other road users now, I mean that might work in Dublin where you have multiple options to get around up here would we really feel guilty if we were told how heavy the car was because we have to get to and fro and do school runs and all that type of stuff but the parking spaces that are provided in most of our towns certainly aren't for SUVs because they're almost like parking for bicycles that's why everyone's got dents on the side of their cars but anyway that's what might be coming down the line but give us some alternatives there's no point taxing us I think it's actually been talked about in the doll by Thomas Bringland powering McLaughlin there's no point us being taxed out of our vehicles if we don't have viable alternatives so a very sad story in the Irish Daily Mail this morning a teenage girl has died after taking part in a challenge popular on the social media platform TikTok the teenager from County Claire died on Monday night after she was placed in an induced coma 14-year-old had collapsed after taking part in the challenge on Friday she remained conscious and was able to tell her mother what happened however she then passed out again and was placed in an induced coma she was brought to Owand Hospital in Dublin and was then transferred to Cromland Children's Hospital it's understood the trend involves spraying an aerosol into a jumper or piece of clothing and wrapping it around your face the social media challenge has already claimed the life of a teenage girl in Australia and is known as a chroming and these challenges are so incredibly dangerous because if one person does it and they may not actually really do it but appears to do it and they get multiples of likes and shares and lots of traction then others say well I could do the same thing without knowing the dangers of it and we as parents often don't know at all what's going on well a friend of the family said the girl's parents are just broken by the tragedy he said the parents are just heartbroken they're in total shock they don't know which way is up she was a very popular girl she was just full of life always laughing away it's just a tragedy here now I remember at school when I was in national school and I think you know it's a long time ago and certainly before TikTok or mobile phones or much of the internet for that matter I think Google's 28 years old this last couple of weeks around about that time anyway but there were things that you did in the playground or after that spread around the place dangerous stuff like I'll not go into it because you could be spreading it yourself but just challenges and things you would you know things that someone else did and then you should try it and blah blah blah so it's not that element of it children doing stuff or hearing about stuff and trying it themselves is not new but what is new now is how it can be videoed as well and shared is that something that you're worried about your younger people on the likes of TikTok no one not known precisely what may or may not happen or is that a conversation you've had or are you familiar with that challenge and inverted commas 08, 6, 60, 25,000 okay so the government has shook the non-existent money tree again and has pledged an additional 1 billion euro to assist Ukrainian refugees and international protection seekers however integration minister Roderick O'Gorman could not confirm that those seeking protection in Ireland will not have to sleep in tents in the coming weeks now what he said was is that we have a limited amount of we have a limited amount of accommodation there's record numbers of people coming in so some of them are going to have to go to tents is what he said and never ruled out he says that's just the way it is the department of children equality disability integration and youth budget allocation for 2023 was 2.4 billion an extra 1 billion has now been allocated in a bid to deal with the increased number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers arriving so the money is there when it is needed and who would begrudge people genuinely fleeing very serious places getting some help but they also maybe need to dip into that fund and look after the childcare sector because we all need to be able to access that and also probably need to start paying those in the navy a bit of money because it's been proven over the last couple of days how important a well-funded well-resourced navy is in protecting our waters back to the childcare crisis on a national level this is the sun this morning a childcare worker in the T-shox own constituency is demanding he intervene in the sector's funding row with minister Roderick O'Gorman as she fears we might have to close down so the billion came out of the same department to assist with our responsibilities to refugees it comes as ministers moved to row back on previous promises to slash the cost of childcare for parents by 25% again this year hundreds of childcare workers and parents protested outside Lentz to house yesterday to demand fair funding for the entire sector in a row that has seen many crushes across the country shut down for three days this week are you a person who should be at work or you want to be at work but you can't because you can't afford or access childcare it'd be an interesting side to the story that I'd love to hear today 08 660 25000 WhatsApps and texts so-called 07 491 25000 the Irish Daily Mirror this morning half of young people aged between 18 and 24 have been sexually harassed in the past year as CSO research reveals one in five people have been affected by this damaging behaviour in the past year the data also shows how 50% of men who experienced sexual harassment in the past year didn't report it the survey showed women were over twice 28% as likely to experience sexual harassment than men at 13% women were almost four times more likely to have experienced inappropriate physical contact than men in terms of those carrying out the abuse almost nine in ten who experienced sexual harassment reported that the perpetrator was male 87% the CSO data shows disclosure rates were highest amongst young people okay run through in there just quick run through the papers there 08 660 25000 find out cowerhandselectrical.com with your exclusive highland radio discount code the lotto jackpot is an estimated 7 million euro play responsibly in store in app or at lovry.ie the national lottery it could be you there's only one thing as good as a tui holiday and that's looking forward to one so get next summer sorted and secure your tui holiday today choose beach lakes and cruise breaks across a wide range of destinations including mexico direct from dublin plus all your favorites like holiday villages splash world resorts and our own tui blue hotels secure now with thousands of free child places and a low booking deposit of 25 euro per person that's next summer's holiday sorted tui live happy tisensee supply it's time to transform your smile with the help of blue puppy dental letter Kenny and Donagall time their expert team offer orthodontics teeth whitening implants and composite bonding all in house start your journey by calling 07497 40404 or easily book your appointment online at a time that suits you through their user friendly patient portal available anytime anywhere at bluepuppydental.com blue puppy dental and orthodontics letter Kenny and Donagall time medical care patients welcome do you work or volunteer with children or young people under children first all organizations and individuals that provide services or activities to children should have child safeguarding measures in place to promote their welfare this includes having policies on child safeguarding awareness and training and the reporting of child protection concerns many organizations are also required to have a child safeguarding statement to learn more about your obligations under children first visit gov.ie forward slash children first brought to you by the government of Ireland Highland radio time checks with expressway travel route 32 from letter Kenny to Dublin when you book online and travel for less expressway bringing you the time asked the time is 9 21 now good morning Greg I'm wondering if you could highlight the following for me please my dad who's 84 years of age was sent to hospital by ambulance on Sunday on Monday I beg your pardon he arrived at ed at 1 45 p.m in the afternoon he asked to go to the toilet no one came to his aid I phoned the department to be told that they would organize same and I will later phone back to make one simple request to bring him to the toilet I told a nurse I was prepared to drive from Burton Port to go on a system still no joy he eventually found the toilet at 8 p.m he has been sitting on a chair since arrival he's not being given any of his regular medication he's tired cold and feeling miserable this morning I phoned this morning to express my frustration a family member is currently en route to the hospital with food hot drinks medication and blankets my dad's lucky to have family who can speak up for him and bring him food etc while I do realise that resources are limited surely the government can do something to alleviate this awful problem there was 91 in ed on Monday night they say now an update from that person reveals that he got a bed last night at 10 30 p.m so how long was he waiting on a bed 32 hours 32 hours now can you beat that that's a long wait for any person but a full day and a half waiting for a bed at a hospital an acute hospital having been sick enough to admit you know what I mean it's not like these he's sitting there waiting just to be seen he's sick enough to be admitted 32 hours waiting on a bed right let's go to Mary Lane now online one hi Mary Lane hello how are you great good how are you getting on well i'm sitting at the side of the road outside topokori on the way to Galway in my car because I can't get a bus um the uh I put a thing on my facebook earlier on in the week and that's how I've ended up on talking to you um but I recently have had cause to now start to go to Galway on a somewhat regular basis I've never had to know before and it's all kind of new to me and I'm absolutely shocked I really don't mean that like dramatically you're in it I'm actually shocked at the state of the state the bus services to get to Galway from letter Kenny so what's your anywhere in Donegal when you like so what times do you need buses and what's been your experience just to give us an idea well well I have yet to be on a on a Galway bus I'll put it that way okay but I can't believe that there is no bus from letter Kenny that will get you into Galway before lunchtime there is no bus that will have you arriving in Galway anywhere in the morning not half 10 not 11 not 11 59 it's what what time is it it is 12 40 before you can get from letter Kenny to Galway wow and and and the last bus that'll take you the whole way back to letter Kenny is four o'clock so the longest you can spend in Galway in any one day is a shorter period of time than the actual bus journey takes in any one direction so I can't understand how this is called a public service after putting it up on my up on my facebook I so many people commented going oh my god it's still the same situation I had to go to Galway 20 years ago as a student and it was terrible then and it's obviously still terrible now so you know I have no wonder there's a cancer bus so if you need if you needed to get to Galway by bus at a certain time in the morning the only way you could do that actually to drive to Sligo yes yeah you have straight to Sligo now you can now yeah well caveat and go you can get from Donegal town if you can get that far if you and and you have to get one bus and you have to get off that bus in Sligo and wait for half an hour and then you'll be able to get the next one now maybe there is some other magical other way that I don't know about now I've had loads of people saying that with private companies fetus and whatever but they're no they're no better do you know and and this last bus that that'll get you to the northwest out of Galway's four o'clock sure like nobody would be able to go to Galway let's say for a meeting or like well tell you what like I need to go for for university I I have to go um now I was I'm doing a postcard this year and I was given the option of being able to go down one day in the week and do my course for one day um or do it online and obviously I know now that it's like it's great that we can do zoom and all that um but even a couple of weeks in I'm already seeing problems with doing it on zoom um but there's absolutely zero options for me to get to Galway to do the course one day a week it's crazy and and and but and like and then there's extra things like what I'm actually going down for today there isn't the opportunity to do those on zoom so if you want to do them you have to go down and like it just I'm kind of I'm kind of a bit baffled that that and like there's regular enough bosses in the middle of the day they're kind of nearly every two hours but why not cut out two of those and put an early morning and a late night one you know and the other thing it's not even just Galway that's serviced here like lego is serviced on this route knock airport is serviced on this route like you couldn't you couldn't count on this as a transport link to get to and from our closest fairly major airport in the south you know like I like to travel over and back to the UK a lot and I have yet to travel through um through knock airport because like you couldn't rely on the bus service and and even flago like later Kenny just lego is not a bad commute if somebody said they got a job and and they thought you know I've got to try try the job for six months and do the commute before I would commit to move yeah there's no opportunity for somebody to get a pre-work and a post-work bus service you know it doesn't exist unless I'm missing something somewhere and I'm happy to be stood corrected on it there doesn't seem to be a pre-work and post-work opportunity there at all even to get as far as lego yeah and in terms of um you know if you wanted to do the right thing because we've heard today we're we're they're talking about trying to get us out of our cars with taxes and weighing them and telling us how much the fuel they use and all that kind of stuff but there has to be a thing called a just transition which means that okay we have to move from one thing to another but we have to be helped and facilitated in doing so someone without a car someone without a car or someone that will drive them around the place and we don't all have that yeah couldn't do what you need to do the only way you can actually do this is with a vehicle your own vehicle so you have to keep a car on the road absolutely absolutely and even like I got an update like my husband doesn't drive so if he had to do this route he would have zero options yeah like zero options at all like well the option would be for me to drive him to slaggo drop him there for him to get the boss and and and me to drive back to slaggo and in the in time to pick him up you know and like even and I went into that I went into the bus stop the other day just to make sure that I wasn't missing something somewhere because I'm not a frequent boss user and you know like even the the best the next best solution for me was on my own suggestion not from the the boss Aaron Berson which is for me to get a like a nine o'clock boss back out of out of um Galway and it's actually the boss goes ballerina and I could get off at Claire Morris and have somebody drive the whole way to Claire Morris to pick me up all right sure what like you know I can't believe it like in a people like if somebody had interviews to go to like me students that don't have to go all the time but have to go sometimes hospital people like I'm thank god I've never had the experience of having trouble to go away hospitals I've done Dublin hospitals but like and there is no wonder people had to get out of their own houses and set up a bus service to take people with cancer to go away yeah I'm not in any surprise but that's was the situation at all anymore I can I can't believe it yeah it does and I'm wondering like what and I'm wondering like what is the usage of those midday bosses have they ever surveyed people and said well like like if people are using them are they using them because that's the only option they have or have we asked them going well like if there was an earlier one would you take it would you prefer an earlier one cut out a couple of bosses in the middle of the day put one on early and one on later in the evening because even like like the last lego boss out of Galway is ten past six but if you like if you were down for something like what I'm going for finishes at six o'clock in the university in a way I'll get to the boss stop for ten past six so that's why I can't do that route then have somebody pick me up in flago yeah stay where you are Councillor Patrick McGowan you've raised this issue with the local authority before or within the local authority sorry yeah yeah I actually don't know an interview was done all day on Monday there at the council meeting yeah just just exactly that woman is saying I've been contacted not just about from patients and students and other people but actually drivers from both airing as well they're totally frustrated because as well as with that one rightly pointed out here like we actually alien yeah we actually sorry it's mary mary's her name oh sorry um the morning mary um no just just um as well as that we actually need something like 20 double-decker buses and on the gole ten for there Kenny and and ten for uh don't look all town because as well as that people with the free bus passes that they've been left behind because there's no room you have to book online and of course then the free bus pass means that you have to pay online which there's a charge to that but that's all that's all of the reasons outlined by mary and another point that that's not that's not looked at is that we were developing two separate bus links to don't gole split the county in two north and south and the linkage as you said between don't gole town and let her come here if you want to go further run and you hear councillors and the north of the county complaining that the tourists come so far into the county and the stop but there's it's nearly impossible to link yourself across and I also pointed out the fact that the main bus depot in the county for repairing buses and so on since the north and it's not linked up and there's an awful lot of problems and as well the point to me that's that we're all looking for a train eventually if they can't even sit down in an office and work out bus schedules where you have an integrated bus uh that buses can sort of be let you know that you can be left off saying there are canning and time from express or don't even go out if you're coming from down column kill or any other out region that you know we should be left there 10 minutes or half an hour before the express but generally there's just it's not integrated at all and a lot of us as mary says it isn't just about extra buses or extra expenses it's just coordinate and i also have to factor into the fact that an awful lot of the time buses don't actually even turn up yeah well this is and this is all it's not even the current even the current system people don't have faith in it no they're normally all the points that I had made yesterday and or sorry the council meeting uh it was also as well but the lack of reserve drivers there was always a panel in the past of reserve drivers and they could have been sent to the donnie galtown or letter kemi if a bus broke down or if it fails to run up or for any any reason at the moment there's no panel of reserve drivers or very very few plus the the buses are too small we need double-decker buses plus all the services are not integrated and the other point is as well that the buses a lot of the appointments in golly for hospitals and clinics whether it's broken arms skin grafts cancer everything else could be eight to nine ten o'clock in the morning and by the time you get there now I've just come on a couple of recent cases and what's highlighted to me and that was the reason the question was that people had actually go down the state the night before and golly in places that you have to couldn't rely on the bus service and have an appointment and you probably have to go back several times plus students plus people just tourists just anything at all okay so you recognize the issues okay which is good so we're all in the same page what about solutions yeah well look that the answer I got back is that both on the that this lcdc this is one of the the committees in the county where all the agencies come together the county council Atlantic University just all of the difference like the county development board and they they have now set up a committee to look at this now a local link is involved in it and the bus air and have and what they are going to do is expand that committee and start looking at this and that's what the council response to me was on monday and we did have quite a bit of debate on a lot of the members from the other parts of the county come on the motion as well it's been called to appear before the council I know it's not marked as committee but did you what about bus air and management to come and explain the flow of the flows in their service yeah that's that's what I was calling for as part of my motion as I said don't don't uncover it very well there now I'm not spreading the news or not but um we have called for that now that the response back from the council is that they have been in contact with bus air and have a local link and that has been arranged as we speak to have everybody round the table all the service providers not just them all the different sectors within the county that they have an unput down to it and that won't cry and solve something out because it's not it's not a matter of extra money for extra buses and that it's a matter of how you how you operate the system to suit the people who don't listen the strategy from the hsc we've heard this really quite clearly the strategy from the hsc is to offer services century from gallway whether we like it or not that is the strategy they said if you are want certain services or certain facilities just in health alone that you have to go to gallway now at the very least if that is a hsc strategy which we know it is then we should have a public service transport system that recognizes that on that one issue alone let alone education and college and what have you but on health alone the hsc strategy the sale to strategy is we have to be prepared to travel well we have to we're going to be taxed out of our cars and told how much they weigh how much fuel they use give us a bloody alternative at least just to match the health service if nothing else yeah so like you know the kind of questions politicians need to be putting directly to bullsiren and demanding answers not committees and with all due respect but we would need answers what i called for yesterday or monday's meeting of the council was what's fully supported was that because the nature that we are forced to go to gallway or forced to go to Dublin the very least we could expect as a door-to-door service because even been dropped off at bus address or the square in gallway is no good if you're suffering from cancer we should be at least particularly if we're done we go on some of the outbound counties we should get a door-to-door service an integrated service that takes you door to and some of these sometimes you're actually a proper money bus with proper seats because sometimes buses are very uncomfortable for someone if you're suffering i once had a recently had a lady who had cancer on her back and she couldn't get transport and her son had to take her down the car because the hospitals and HSE would not they wouldn't provide a bus or wouldn't pay for it or not there was a money bus leaving an ambulance you actually need an ambulance so it's just not that simple but like i agree and that is one of the reasons i raised it and like i know other countries have raised it from time to time but at least something is happening now we'll keep an eye on this space to see what they do and i think bossy and have come out of to attend in the meetings as as as local link and other agencies and the county okay understood thanks for that and i appreciate that you raised the issue as well uh councilor patrick McGowan but mary lane with all due respect to the council and others you know we need action here a caller says by the way just to pass to you i can answer this myself why would that call a look to go on a bus to go when she has a car but i mean that's because i'm not being productive all i'm doing here is i'm sitting and i'm blindly driving down the road if i was sitting on a bus i could have my laptop out i could be doing work i could be being productive i'm a very busy person i could be doing work and and like that's one bus engine is running obviously it's bigger bus it's bigger engine than a car but like i'm sitting here in a diesel car i can't afford to change my car like my dad even said to me last night he says why don't you take my car like he's got a hybrid car and i'm going on because i don't know how to drive an automatic so now at this weekend my dad is going to take me out in his car to to get me familiar with his car so i can so now we've found between ourselves a more environmentally well it wouldn't help me on my on my productivity i'll say fair play to you that it wouldn't be me lending you my car to go down from that i know i know i know yeah there's plenty of people don't even have a car to begin with and i'm just there on on the thing of the of the of the hospital there is one boss boss air and boss route or boss on this route 64 that drops off at age 50 at the hospital in gallway but it only leaves it from slaggle so it's not it doesn't say if it's done a not not at all and like i did look i looked to see if i could if i could get a hotel and go down maybe like go down today and come back up tomorrow um on the boss but sure it was 120 euro for for you know so like that doesn't make sense either do you know i i would love to not be sitting in my car right now but i have to go and do what i have to do well i shan't delay you any further thanks so much for coming on and helping us to take care of yourself mary all right bye bye i call us as mary is right i had an appointment in gallway hospital at 9 30 in the morning had to use boss and stay overnight five hours journey took six hours to get home to donnie gall i've been to america in the same time uh phila or donnell apparently goes to gallway one at the times let us know i don't mind sharing that yes agree with mary attended breast clinic in gallway for a few years my husband had to take a day off work to get me there for 11 o'clock appointment which is crazy uh that there is not a boss that can get us to gallway reasonably early and also this notional donnie gall divide it really drives my uh it really grinds my gears i don't know why it's there it's it's there in the media it's there in politics it's there in well not so much politics now but it's there in services and how the provider this north and south donnie gall and then maybe you could even say in the shone's almost like a third part you know it's one county and needs to be treated as such certainly in terms of of the provision of services get involved in the conversation 08 660 25 000 good morning to you an good morning nan good morning charlie good morning delores good morning mary joe good morning kevin beth mary all watching the show and i invite you if you uh it suits you maybe you're at home to watch the show live on our youtube channel highland radio arland where you can cast it or watch it on your app on the big screen youtube comes with most smart tvs it's certainly on the far stick and you can also watch us across your mobile devices and we're on facebook as well highland hub highland radio news and sport watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com the donnie gall cheviot sheep readers premiere show and sale will take place on wednesday the 27th of september in strannorr mart including cheviot hugged yos yolams and hugged rams the show is at five with the sale at seven all rams are s i s approved that's this wednesday the 27th in strannorr mart this ad is sponsored by me ginty tractors klar rolled donnie gall town at screw fix you can click and collect over 10 000 trade products in as little as one minute so whether it's a power drill in port leash or guttering in gallway when you need it yesterday just click at screw fix dot i e collected your local store seven days a week tason sees a plan for the screw fix dot i e for full details do you suffer from high cholesterol menopause symptoms digestive issues anxiety aches and pains or a lack of energy the highly trained team at the natural way letter kenny can provide advice on natural remedies for a number of individual health issues the natural way also has its own brand of herbal treatments to help fight fatigue relieve digestive discomfort maintain a healthy immune system and alleviate common menopause symptoms the natural way at letter kenny shopping center your one stop health shop thinking of changing your floors why not see what florid letter kenny has to offer florid have a large selection of solid semi-solid and laminate click vinyl wood flooring together with a fantastic choice of park a herringbone flooring all at incredible value don't delay call florid today on<PHONE_NUMBER> did you know kill kids sligo have the biggest range of baby equipment in the northwest with 25 years of baby expertise cool kids sligo take deposits on your baby bundle visit us in store at cool kids sligo or shop online at baby accessories dot i e for free nationwide delivery make cool kids sligo your number one destination for all things baby you keep your texts coming in please i'll get to them very shortly but i want to say good morning to charlie first hi charlie are you there charlie you are online what's morning how are you getting on right charlie what's the point of you making it's in relation to our young people and driving and i'll let you to explain it rather than me uh mess it up for for us charlie good morning to your listeners and uh and i'm enjoying the debate because i think it's a very a very worthwhile one i think you know really since the formation of the state i suppose and donnie gall we've been sucking behind that you know we all i think we all agree on that uh it's it's to do with population and you know the east coast has certainly has certainly got a very large chunk of that population uh it's to do with politics it's to do with votes but leaving that aside since the debate has been opened today i think it's very very important to realize that our young people are very very good young people and they're going out at night and they're behaving very responsibly they're getting their taxis home but in the morning they get up and they have absolutely no alternative only to hop into their vehicle and go to work now this is situation for them because they can you because they can lost their license now in fairness to the gary d this is you know like the gary d do a very difficult job and they do that job well so so this is nothing to do with the gary d this is to do with us having the lack of infrastructure in the county it's a major major issue simply because our young people uh continually are using you know are losing their licenses and by losing their licenses a lot of them ultimately lose their jobs because there's no like there's very very little connectivity and dunny gall and well well just as an example just an example charlie i i go ahead yeah if a person loses their job what happens is it has a massive effect on their lives and a whole lot of times it spirals into mental health and not only that but but you know people become very isolated because they have no money and they end up with no hope you know so that is really you know what this debate is about today when you don't give people what they deserve like a substantial infrastructure especially to get them to and from work in the morning or to and from hospital appointments you know like i mean that that type of situation cannot be accepted and it has to change yeah and if the truth be told like i can use my example i haven't been on a bus internally in the county for probably 30 years secondly my my children my eldest started work the only way well i was running him to and from work until such time as he got on the road and that's another story as well in terms of getting lessons and also actually getting a test we speak about that all the time so i was up very early in the morning or traveling late at night to take him to and from work with everything else that's going on but there was simply no there was no boss you know there was there was no boss that could even get him halfway there or part of the way there uh you know so young people really if they're just to your point charlie because i agree with you fully there's no choice for them really i mean if you're lucky your work might coincide with with but it has to be pure luck the reality is is the majority of the bus service does not suit people going about their everyday life you have to have a car also want to taxi about that's correct greg and i think you know sometimes sometimes we'll you know when we look at you know our deprivation here in the northwest you know like it's probably because we've been born into it that a whole lot of times unfortunately that well i suppose i suppose really the people in the northwest you know uh are are great people and they always dig deep and they nearly always find a way simply because if you take a look at the bus infrastructure in dunny gall it's dunny gall people who has helped alleviate the problem it's all dunny gall bus operators private operators we we have not in this county like as i say it's a dunny gall people who have set up you know you know whatever system exists and dunny gall is set up by local people you know so we need we definitely need greg and thank like i mean thanks to yourself and heiling radio like you always open up a debate but this is a debate that we must follow up because we ought to our young people for sure and you know like the chain of events that you talk of the impact this has on people it's not far fetched or an extreme i think it's you know i think it's it's it's probable i think people can go yeah i can see that my young people you know what charlie's saying is true it's a daisy chain effect okay listen charlie thanks for being part of the conversation stay with us and and rejoin it uh when we when we re-raise it again thanks so much indeed that is uh charlie there all right get into some of your comments now after these messages stay where you are armacola jewellers in letterkenny are synonymous with fine jewellery quality watches and giftware with stores at main street letterkenny and the letterkenny shopping center or online at armacola.com you can choose from their quality product range in a relaxed atmosphere and their sales staff will be happy to help you make the right choice whatever the occasion armacola jewellers making moments magical for generations in the next 15 seconds you're going to find out where is the best place in the northwest to buy a bed or mattress it's rest text beds and furniture mountaintop letterkenny where comfort meets style a public interest message from dunny gall county council householders and building owners in areas susceptible to wildfires are advised to cut back or remove any vegetation or other combustible material in the vicinity of their house building or oil tank to prevent wildfires damaging or destroying their property cleared areas should be maintained free of vegetation and combustible material dunny gall county council would like to remind landowners and members of the public that under the wildlife's act 1976 and 2000 it is an offense to cut grub burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated between the first day of march and the 31st day of august in any year landowners are also reminded that under the waste management regulations 2023 the burning of agricultural waste is currently prohibited dunny gall county council protecting your environment when you start to search for a home to call your own it's good to know that there are many ways in whether you're looking to buy or rent a number of supports are now available different initiatives help in different ways some target first time buyers or fresh starters some make buying or renting more affordable others can help you turn an old building into a new home to find out more about the supports available visit gov.ie forward slash doors open an initiative of the government of Ireland now we are joined on the program by mary mcgenra who is irish wheelchair of the irish wheelchair association mary good morning morning great thanks for having me on great to have you on the show right as many as 5000 health care staff working in community and voluntary agencies are set to take indefinite strike action in a row over pay next month now these workers are in hsc funded agencies and the pickets will go up in multiple locations on october 17 so plenty of notice here plenty of room for negotiation one might hope so can you give us an example of these workers the workplace setting and the impact this action might have on the public yeah well first and foremost greg is important to say that strike is always the last action and certainly people who work in the care sector we don't want it you know to walk away from our service users to give you a bit of history iwa is a section 39 organization which means we're funded by the hse under what's known as a service level agreement to deliver vital services to people with disabilities so in donnie gall we have community centers in four locations and we have what's known as assisted living services which would be something similar to home help where our staff go into people's homes support them to get out of bed support them for mealtimes support them with medication and of course people with disabilities are vulnerable and many of them live alone prior to 2008 iwa staff had pay parity with their hse counterparts so basically like pay for like work in 2008 and 2013 the hse insisted that iwa reduce staff wages by 20 percent which we did in good faith you know most of the country was suffering at that time so we had to take it on the chin as well we took it in good faith and that it would be restored despite numerous meetings emails high level negotiations with the hse with the department it has never been restored whereas healthcare assistants within the hse have had their pay restored and indeed it continues to increase and to give you an example a healthcare assistant in the hse has over 20 year old an hour whereas our staff have 15 82 an hour so for its parity that you're looking for or are you looking for the gap to be closed we are looking for parity like pay for like work um it our service users are vulnerable however uh since covid our service users are very aware both within home support and in our community centers that we've had to reduce our services because we cannot recruit staff obviously uh over four euro difference per hour if there are two posts going one hse one with iwa or another similar section 39 organization then of course an individual is going to go for the job that pays more we all would uh so we're having difficulty recruiting staff and the staff that we have they're in danger of being burnt out because we all worked through covid again like many others that was our job we did it and we did it willingly uh so the government has the key to this they can solve this you're right there's loads of time for negotiation now let me ask you because it was a little short in time is there is the motivation here just to to keep the purse strings tight or is there a an underlying motivation here to bring these services back in house no um we for iwa we deliver the services on behalf of the government they are essential services basically if they could deliver them themselves i'm sure they would okay no and we are person centered we take great pride in our services and our staff at the moment are stretched and you know they are in danger of burnout and we currently are looking at all options leading up to the 17th and talks continue we are asking the government to do something they can do it you know the money tree to quote yourself when it's needed it can be shaked and is frequently shaked and we're asking our local representatives our five tds to get behind us we need all of the section 39s uh we need pay parity because the sector is crumbling and people with disabilities will ultimately be the ones that suffer and that's not what we want you talked about being backed those service users are backing you many of them they understand the work that you do and they understand that this is going to cause inconvenience they hope it can be it can be avoided but they I understand are supportive supporting because they get it yeah they do Greg um we have been very open with our service users since Covid I have had to reduce the community centre services within Donegal by 36 percent that has had an impact on people throughout the country throughout the county because we don't have the staff we don't have enough accessible transport so we're limited we do a customer survey nationally once a year and 78 percent of our customers our clients whatever you want to call them they support us and they are all concerned for their services because people coming into community centres they're meeting friends they're getting out it's respite for the people at home and then again for others who have people coming into their homes to support them get up in the morning to support them with personal care meal times that is it's physical contact social contact it's the difference between being at home possibly and being in a nursing home for sure that's that people need to see the bigger picture Mary as this month progresses uh or this three weeks we'll speak again for sure this was just a an opening conversation Mary McGren thank you very much for your time I do appreciate it take care have a lovely day back with more after the news and obituary notices due to popular demand iMotors have extended their sale on the 30th of September with over 150,000 euro of reductions across all stock this is not to be missed at iMotors test drive any car and enter our draw to win 1000 euro cash yes 1000 euro to take a test drive ends the 30th of September when you buy choose one of the following offers 12 months tax free ceramic coating 24 months warranty or your first finance payment covered by us low finance rates available check our website for all teas and seas you will not want to miss out visit iMotors.ie for more details sometimes it's just bad luck but sometimes it's negligence from minor bumps to life changing injury every accident is a story time to call macklehenny and associates they'll assess the situation advise on solutions and lead the way if any litigation is to follow from motor accidents and workplace accidents to slips trips and falls call today on<PHONE_NUMBER> or find us online let's get you started on the road to recovery macklehenny and associates solicitors general how can we help in contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement at evolve we're all about connecting people our network is in use to northern ireland and we're the first to confirm bio methane ejection into the grid right now you could reduce your carbon footprint when switching from an old and efficient oil boiler to a new gas system you can also enjoy instant heat and hot water and demand take control of your energy costs with a pay-as-you-go function from as little as five pounds upgrade your heating today by visiting evolve network dot code at uk the queen of country in irish margo comes back to dunning all for one night only join margo live and concert on wednesday the fourth of october in the mcderigal hotel at orcanny with special guests david james and shunny cramsey this is a show not to be missed that's margo live at the mcderigal october fourth tickets available from hotel reception or online at eventbrite dot ie welcome to the dunning all lost and found sounds brought you by spexsivers hearing experts who are helping the community rediscover the joy of ordinary sounds peter and bolly buffet writes to say he smiles every time he listens to the sound of his kettle boiling for his morning cup of tea and in other great news catherine and milford has rediscovered the sound of popcorn popping just in time to watch her favorite films whatever sounds you've lost spexsivers hearing experts could help find them again book a free hearing test today at your local spexsivers live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news good morning it's 10 o'clock donal cavena at the news desk a third of search would be carried out today on a cargo ship detained off the cork coast yesterday warning shots were fired by the army rangers as they boarded the vessel during an operation which also involved the irish naval service revenue customs and gar thee the ship which has been brought into cork harbor is understood to contain a significant consignment of illegal drugs it could be the largest hall ever seized here the operation is thought to be linked to a fishing trawler detained off the coast of wicksford on monday three men have been arrested thonister and defense minister me hall martin says the operation is linked to a wider international crackdown on drugs trafficking this is part of a pan european collective intelligence operation and it underlines the importance of cooperation on an ongoing basis but internationally and indeed domestically because domestically what you're witnessing here both within the military that the joint defense forces the air court the naval services and the army rangers are all working seamlessly together the northern and western regional assembly is calling for a citizen's assembly to be established to examine how greater levels of regional autonomy can be delivered in ireland according to the n w r a policy of positive discrimination would result in rebalancing what's been a legacy of under investment a new infrastructure for donagol slago leach from mayo golway ross common caven and monahan in its pre-budget submission the assembly is calling for a stimulus package worth at least 570 million euro to kickstart development across what it describes as the ailing region that all's been told that rising fuel prices hit people in donagol harder than in many other counties a vote takes place tonight on a shin fane motion calling for rises in fuel prices to be deferred temporary reductions in excise duties are ending and as a result prices at the pumps have been riding steadily in recent weeks during last night's initial debate w potting mclochland said when it comes to the car people in donagol simply have no alternatives the reality is if you are working if you're studying if you're trying to run a business public transport sadly isn't an option for most people in our county you have to have a car the electric infrastructure just really isn't there it's not a possibility so you know if you add on i mean the whole issue of carbon tax that is supposed to punish people for not taking better alternatives well in places like where we're from you don't have those alternatives an expert panel focused on ireland's affordability says cost of living pressures have pushed the living wage up by nearly a euro the living wage technical group says the reference early living wage rate will rise to 14 euro 80 per hour for this year that's up from 13 euro 85 in 2022 this is because of rising energy costs food inflation and income taxes collect benefit of social justice ireland says the budget must help close the gap so it is a significant increase but as i said it is evidence-based it is the cost the real cost of living um and we what we are advocating for is that the minimum wage be made wage be moved towards this amount today marks the third anniversary of the last time missing man kean langolin was seen in a social media post today gar thee indoni gauls say the last known sighting of kean was on sunday september 27th 2020 in the hornhead area he was 27 at the time gar thee say kean has been reported missing from the fulcara area and hasn't been seen or heard from since anyone with information in relation to his whereabouts is asked to contact gar thee 42 000 people were being vaccinated weekly at the height of the COVID-19 rollout in the northwest and west the selta group has launched an in-depth report on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program with more here is mckellot lark the eddy page report details the challenges progress and successes of the program from rapidly setting up vaccination centers and satellite centers ensuring a constant vaccine supply chain and reacting to peaks and sudden troughs of demand the country's vaccination program began on december the 29th at 2020 with the initial rollout focusing on health care workers in front-line services and the 65 and older cohort and long-term residential care facilities an integrated steering group was established initially in the northwest and west while responsibility for the regional vaccination program was transferred from selta to hse community health care organizations in may 2022 at the point of transfer the selta govern program had administered 750 000 vaccinations for the forecast well we're going to miss the worst of storm agnes here but metara and telus it'll become wetter and windier through the morning and into the afternoon with strong to near gale force southeast winds veering westerly and easing for a time later heavy rain spreading from the south this morning will continue throughout the day top temperatures today 14 to 16 degrees celsius and that's how to radio news we're back with news headlines again at 11 don't forget regular updates of course on our website highlandvideo.com for now from the news team have a very good morning the obituary notices for this wednesday morning the 27th of september the death has occurred of sister aireen bern ssl st louis convent monahan town and formerly of strewnorner dunigol her remains will repose in st louis convent monahan from three o'clock until half past five today for sisters family and friends requie a mass tomorrow in st mccartan's cathedral monahan at 11 followed by burial in lat lurkin cemetery the mass can be viewed online on mcn media dot tv the death has taken place of mary gillespie moira waley ne mcfaden kosh clady bun beg formerly of glenn thornan dun louis her remains will repose at her home today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with rosary nightly at 8 p.m. house private please from 9 p.m. each night and on the morning of the funeral funeral mass on friday morning in st mary's church dairy beg at 11 with interment afterwards in maharagalan cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on kirin roti funeral directors facebook page the death has taken place of seara sally lynch st column kill village clon mani formerly of bally argus red castle her remains will repose at st column kill village oratory today from 12 noon until 6 p.m. removal from their tomorrow evening at half past six to st columbus church drung reposing overnight funeral mass on friday morning at 11 with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on mcn media dot tv the death has taken place of pakky mcginley hillhead our draw his remains will repose at his residence from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today with rosary tonight at 9 funeral from their tomorrow morning at half past 11 going to the church of the holy family our draw for requiem mass at 12 noon with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery family flowers only please donations in louis desired to the alzheimer society care of any family member pakky's funeral mass can be viewed live on mcn media dot tv family time please before the funeral tomorrow the death has occurred of grace and mcgarvey nace weenie balanes falcara grace and's remains are reposing at her home in balanes with rosary tonight at 8 o'clock house private please after the rosary and before the funeral tomorrow funeral tomorrow is at 12 noon in san finans church falcara with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery the mass can be viewed live on mcn media dot tv or sweeney funeral director's facebook page family flowers only please the death has taken place of lexie mccloskey 91 ardenham oil park shantallow funeral from his home today at 12 noon for half past 12 requiem mass in our lady of lord church steelstown with interment afterwards in st john the baptist cemetery carrigart county donnie gall family flowers only please donations in louis desired to the foil hospice the death has taken place of sainade mclockland name on teeth for hillview bonkrana removal from her residence this morning at quarter past 10 going to st mary's church cock hill for 11 o'clock requiem mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining graveyard the funeral mass can be viewed online at church services dot tv family flowers only please donations in louis desired to the irish coast guard search and rescue helicopter 118 care of any family member the death has to come place of michael mcfadden killalt and ardsbeg gortha hork his remains are opposing at sally brennan's residence in ardsbeg gortha hork funeral from there this morning for 11 o'clock requiem mass in christ the king church gortha hork with burial afterwards in the adjacent cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on mcn media dot tv and the death has taken place of professor paul mckevitt mobile funeral mass tomorrow thursday morning at 11 in sainte païs the 10th church mobile followed by burial in balibrak cemetery the funeral mass can be viewed live on mobile parish dot com for more details regarding wakes and funerals please go to highland radio dot com the euro millions mega draw is back and it's pretty big it's actually massive this friday the 29th of september the euro millions jackpot will be a guaranteed 130 million euro it's just too big to miss the national lottery it could be you play responsibly play for fun the county's number one talk show the nine till noon show on highland radio good morning to you 11 minutes past 10 very welcome back it's wednesday the 27th of september how are you all keeping out there really do appreciate you being on board with us we've another two hours to keep you informed and entertained by the shouting and our lines remain open for you lots coming up by the way so don't tune out later on lisa lochery is a pension specialist who's going to be joining me in studio here to answer any questions you might have in relation to pensions now this is an area that i'm not really too up on i should be i'm not but there you go if you have any questions about pensions when is it too late to start a pension what do you need to be put in a way what might you achieve how safe are they and all that kind of stuff any questions on pensions 0 8 6 60 25 000 0 8 6 60 25 000 or give us a call on 0 7 4 9 1 25 000 and i'll get your questions directly to lisa and get your answers as well there might be something that you've been discussing recently or you're planning on doing something and you want to know what the story is i suppose we all should be planning but i just think sometimes with the cost of living many of us can't really afford to be paying into a pension and maybe we're short-sighted who's to say but anyway might be able to help you we will be able to answer any questions might be able to help you make up your mind as i say 0 8 6 60 25 000 your whatsapps and texts or give us a call on 0 7 4 9 1 25 000 and just to remind you by the way that if you wish to send an audio message to us that's no problem you can hold down the little speaker on your phone and whatsapp it to us as well so that's an issue you want to raise or a comment you want to make so feel free to send voice messages to us as well good morning greg in this day and age or sorry in this weird weird age you say males were the likely perpetrators of sexual assault but who's to say what gender they were going by and otherwise they're only surveyed on a male and female harassment one at a trans survey well i'm sure those figures are there but it's very easy to forget that the percentage of people that identify as anything other than male and female is tiny it is absolutely tiny some the way some people react you'd swear it's like you know uh there's they're going to overthrow the nation or something it's a very small percentage of the population a tiny little percentage of the population um so i don't think uh even if those figures were counted and i'm sure they are because they'll have an other i didn't see the other figure uh that it's anything for you to worry about um there's very few people that i identify as anything other than male and female though many though some do it uh in the wider population it's a tiny amount of people so you've nothing to fear they're not going to come and rob your house uh they're just trying to get on with their lives why don't the church open up parish halls or vacant parochial houses to accommodate refugees and homeless even better why don't parish priests and rural Donegal offer up spare bedrooms in parochial houses for such purposes maybe they do i don't know a caller says his daughter pays 15 euro per day return to dairy on the bus from manner but if she gets a lift to convoy or a foe the bus is only one euro each way on local link okay and is she getting the student rate there uh because uh maybe it's because it's cross border she can't apply for that but or maybe she's not a student for that matter i'm presuming she is that's expensive that's more than i would spend on diesel or petrol um commuting to and from work a much greater distance 15 euro per day uh read the government funding the government are setting aside billions in funding for the refugees when the children's care system amongst other services are on its knees we're not allowed to say this without being deemed a racist of course you're allowed to say without being deemed a racist um why would you who would call you racist for saying that and and you know refugees and asylum seekers they have kids too so presumed they would welcome proper funding in child care services i get where you're coming from by the way i'm not i'm not feigning shock but you should be and can say that we're spending billions on our commitments to refugees and um international protection well let's use also some of the billions that we're saving for this rainy day uh and make sure that we fund child care correctly i don't think that's unreasonable i don't think it's racist uh this call to say is irish people are second-class citizens in the wrong country i know that's pushed around a lot but but if you just think about it and you think of the accommodation these people are in and what have you uh you know international uh international protection person gets 38 euro per week um that that doesn't put them ahead of of irish i don't think um and a lot of the people asylum seekers living in hotel rooms which would not be a solution to our housing crisis here for irish people either uh so i don't think i don't think we're second-class citizens but i i certainly do get that uh people are angry that more money needs to be found for other services which would also benefit the 140 odd thousand uh extra in our population over the last year shocking actually in terms of um i was looking through the statistics on my time off which is kind of funny because you take time off work and you're busier there's loads of jobs end up being lined up for you and what have you uh but anyway um it's nice to get to work for a break uh joke but um the amount of people emigrating this country is absolutely shocking or is it shocking i don't know it's up to you guys to think uh 64 000 people emigrated from ireland in the year to april of this year now 30.5 000 of those were irish citizens but 64 000 people emigrated from the ireland half of them irish citizens less than half actually uh but then when you think that the amount of people that did their leaving cert this year was 62 000 so in terms of people emigrating from ireland more people emigrated from ireland than actually sat their leaving cert isn't that remarkable um big trouble with transport at night time you can't get a taxi and you have to depend on parents not fair they have to stay up or get them out of bed or a friend to come uh something has to be done like a taxi or bus service it depends where you are uh express bus to dublin route 32 not express four and a half hours to go to dublin uh stopping far too many times uh another with billions being paid for mass immigration it's surely time that people were consulted on the most contentious issue of the age we need a referendum to ask if we support the new new EU migration deal good morning i had an appointment in gaulway two a few weeks back very early in the morning in a game my husband had to take time off work we had to take the two children because of no sitter stay over in a hotel so the total cost was around now this is for an appointment in gaulway this is the garbage family uh mom dad two kids 650 euro to go to a hospital appointment that's including hotel diesel parking food it'll be much simpler this call says if a bus was provided another it's a disgrace that sick people have to travel full stop it's a disgrace that these services are not sorted locally what about these top of the range primary care centers that took mega money to put up a bloody disgrace and now a few people that have cancer and have to travel for treatment it's 2023 it needs to be addressed we're up i mean you can get some treatment locally but the bottom it seems there's got it centers of excellence are the future and there'll be uh there seems to be no appetite within the hsc to change that greg the infrastructure is so poor in donagall for example the main road from bonkrana to dairy is chock-a-block every day with cars and long queues going into dairy every day nearly backed up at the border why can't there be a tram even on this route alone it would save on cars and do a lot for the environment we were recently in manchester and so many trams and trains to take you anywhere we are being failed and so far behind it's embarrassing no planning no forward thinking uh and on it goes uh boss feeder provides an excellent service from west donagall via electric and it's a gallway it's especially dedicated to students with late bosses on sunday and thursdays and fridays for students and drop-offs at their accommodation for safety it also has added a service to limrick university a brilliant reliable service by a private operator indeed and we are talking about sort of you know state provided transport my son applied for his driving test two weeks ago and got a text this week to say it will be february before he's considered for a date donagall has have gotten country for everything nevermind rail we can't even get a bus and may i say and just a word of warning particularly as we come into winter and a lot of days there won't be any tests done at all that's an estimate it's very likely that come the start of january that could be pushed out to march or april and that's when he's invited to apply for a test so as i say i'm not being i'm not being negative but the truth is is that um i wouldn't be i wouldn't be starting planning to start a job with the view of having a car in february after the back of that estimator because it's notorious for pushing the date back and as i say there's going to be a lot of cancellations over the winter i appreciate that people are concerned about the lack of a bus services but it does boil down to finances as a bus operator who's going to run a bus service to accommodate five to six people it's just not practical the private services are there and the fantastic getting our children to and from school and all of that kind of stuff subcontracted from boss Aaron they provide you know links to different parts the different parts of the country they do that on a commercial basis and make money and do fantastic services but there is a core service that needs to be provided by semi-state companies such as boss Aaron in other words to get us around at times that's appropriate so if they are perhaps saying that from now on you are most likely going to have to go to Galway for certain medical procedures because that's the way it's going to be going into the future well then surely you need a proper bus service to take that into consideration and that's what we 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going to be talking about pensions and we invited you to message in any questions you might have we'll get to those but we'll have a general uh chitter chat because this is pension awareness when in case you didn't know lisa lochery's managing director of john f. lochery financial services good morning to you morning great thanks for having me in how many of us have pensions do we know not an official figure but is it more do than don't or don't than do uh definitely more don't than do and that would be the the predominant thing in ireland but um i suppose the average pension pot in ireland was about 100 to 150 000 so you know some people think oh you know a pension is is far too big i i don't earn enough to be able to fund for a pension you know but when you look at the figures and you look at the average in ireland it's not you know you can you can save that much over your lifetime so you can probably put that much into a pension over your lifetime yeah and there's different cohorts of people here isn't there because there are those maybe entering the workforce now versus those who are 45 and also and all of a sudden i think well you know i don't have a ton here and can i live on the state pension so let's start off with people just starting out in work um what is the situation now in terms of auto enrollment uh and uh where are we at in terms of those plans that's a good question thanks alex start off in goody it's a tough question the last time i spoke to you i told you auto enrollment was due to be kind of the infrastructure set up in 2023 and that contributions would have to be started from january 2024 we're not there yet and there's still no word of that it's kind of been put back to you know the second half of 2024 at this stage so but i mean that has been put back numerous times at this stage they did kind of blame covid to a certain extent which is fine everybody had to sit back a bit but you know at this stage like if if you're coming into the workforce um if you're young you know and the younger generation are actually a lot more aware of pensions and a lot more savvy um you know and and the older generation are actually now looking at that as well so you're coming to a stage where the entire population are thinking about it more now i'm under no illusion pensions are not you know the topic of the week they're boring nobody wants to think about them but they do know they have to think about them and they're starting to think that way which is good um i think it's the name i think if they called it like older person fun fond you know like the fund fund or something i think it's back to pen but we'll get through people start mouth and and when you can join in but there's there's a reality here that we have an aging population and that's a good thing um but that's why we're having conversations about the retirement age and what have you because there's a basic basic maths here that we could end up with uh a smaller cohort of people trying to fund a bigger uh pension pot so then you have comfort like because we sort of say well could i survive on the 280 or whatever is it the is it going to be 280 are you going to get it when you're 65 66 67 so we can't we actually don't really know in 20 years time you know a 50 or 40 year old what the situation will be then so there is a big problem and it's right across the world isn't it because we don't know what state pension might be there and when it might be available to be drawn down that's just a reality exactly no and i think that's that's obviously what the government are trying to make provisions for because they know that like at the minute you know the state pensions 265 year old 30 a week you know that's roughly 13800 per annum but the way we are with the workforce there's so many more people coming into retirement now than there is coming into the workforce so like that's how the pension system is sustained at the minute that's now unsustainable going forward you know and can i throw another spanner in the work if you don't mind home home ownership a lot of people at retirement age now do own a home as the generations come through uh there's going to be the pressure of rental accommodation because home ownership is not going to be achieved by as many people as it was in the past so maybe if an older person has paid off the mortgage there's a security there and that 13 000 can you know go a bit further but we are there's already people in that situation but we're going to see more and more people in the situation whereby they're also having to pay rent still yeah absolutely and and and rate you know housing uncertainty so again that's perhaps why you don't want to leave yourself reliant on the on the state pension alone yeah no that's that's definitely the way and that's why they are trying to you know put in the auto enrolment system you know it it definitely will benefit the workforce and you know because people who haven't thought about it it will make them actually have to address it and it's going to be an opt-out system rather than an opt-in and that's they've done that on purpose and they've seen it working in in other EU countries so basically everybody will be automatically enrolled in the pension system and so once you're from 23 to age 60 and you're earning more than 20 000 euro per annum you will be enrolled in a pension then it's up to you to actually actively opt out of that pension and they have found that you know a lot more people will stay in because you know as much of the people don't like to think about it neither do they bother opting out sometimes but I think it being a part of your wage or a deduction from it sort of normalizes it doesn't it so in terms of how much you really need to be put in so we start with someone say maybe 24 25 what typical examples do you want to give us yeah I don't I did a few figures just knowing that I'd be coming in just to give you an idea and these are very basic so it's just to give you an idea so I suppose if somebody put in 100 euro per month from age so I've kind of you know tiered so if you if you just started at age 30 because realistically a lot of people don't think about it they're lucky if they started 30 so you can expect a pension part there if you put in 100 euro per month from 30 to age 65 about 100 000 euro fund okay at the end okay so that's not kind of saying okay I'll start with 100 and I'll increase it or anything like that you're just doing that throughout your working life right now say for instance you did that to the age of 35 and then you became unemployed for a year what happens if you don't maintain that payment can you can you stop and pick it up or because people might go well I don't know if I can afford it into the future so I mean obviously that would then affect your your part at the end but can you pause and resume depending on your financial situation absolutely and to be honest if you're not earning there's no point in making a pension contribution because you only get the tax relief on earnings you know so and by all means what you would do is just not make contributions while you're not working when you restart and then you're going to you know restart your contributions if you can up them a little bit to try and make up for the the last time all well and good like what I would normally say to people and I know you know everyone's finding a tight with the cost of living and everything at the minute but equally people are now getting pay rises and you know incremental increases in their pay and that's very much you know I think employers are very aware that they have to do that at this stage and if you can afford to do that whenever you get a pay increase just put even some of it say no I'm going to start a pension with that you know because then you haven't seen it coming into your pocket so you're never going to miss it you know and I think too if the truth be told I think the majority of us really don't have a full grasp on our income and well maybe the income more so but our outgoings if you know what I mean like we probably don't so in other words if you had a look at that you could probably find the money somewhere dependent on your situation so in terms of you know tax relief and what have you how is that 100 euro treated it does cost us 100 euro does the state add anything to it or do we get tax back or how does that work okay so I suppose there's two different things the auto enrollment will be slightly different but as it stands at the minute so it depends on what rate of income tax you pay so if you pay just pay tax at the 20 percent rate then if you put out 100 euro into your pension it'll cost you 80 so you'll only see your pay reduced by 80 euro okay because basically instead of taking the 20 euro tax off they're actually allowing you to put the full 100 euro into the pension and then if you're paying tax at the higher rate so if you're putting 100 euro into your pension you'll actually only see your pay reducing by 60 euro okay so there's there is depth so you're saving I mean I don't think there's any interest rates that comparable to that so you're saving 100 euro for 80 euro for 60 euro dependent on your income yeah yeah I kind of if you look at another way around because I thought I was trying to think how to maybe phrase it better so that people get a better understanding of what they're doing and I thought well if you're going into retirement you know there's very few people probably go into retirement with no nest egg right it might not be a pension but they'll have a property or they'll have savings put aside so I thought well if you had a hundred thousand of savings okay to the junior well that's going to be my nest egg and that's what I'll live off if you think about it if you know it whenever if you pay tax at the the lower rate even it took you 125 000 euro worth of your income to save that hundred thousand and equally if you were on the higher tax rate it actually took you 166 000 of your pay to save that hundred thousand whereas if you had just put that into a pension rather than take it as earnings and kind of saved it personally you would have either 125 000 or a part of 166 000 without any growth you know um now people might be nervous about pensions because you know dipping into pension funds crashes uh in pension investments disappearing I lost everything I've been paying in for this for years are there any protections on pensions like there are on savings for an example what do you say to people who go you know what I'd prefer to pump it into my property because the bricks and mortar will be there well in donagall you wouldn't know but you know what I mean um so so how safe is this money that you're you're putting away yeah I mean like the insurance company so for a pension in Ireland you have to do it through one of the insurance companies okay and the insurance companies there's never been question marks over the insurance companies in Ireland it brings a little closer to you sorry if you um if you kind of try if you start maybe taking a bit more risk and you're moving to like random funds that maybe aren't the run of the mill funds then you are starting to take more risk because maybe they're unregulated products if you go into a regulated product there has never been one of those defaults but it's risk and return isn't it and some people split it up a little bit don't they go right so I mean like anybody coming into us and it's a lot more regulated now like the first thing we have to do is complete our risk profile questionnaire and a risk profile questionnaire is going to kind of give us an idea of how much risk somebody is or is and willing to take so I mean within any insurance company they have a range of funds but um and the funds range in terms of risk from a one to seven so one is a cash fund so you can essentially go into a cash fund now for a few years there the cash funds if you went in you were getting a negative return it wasn't much but you were going marginally down in value and today like the cash funds with the insurance companies are given about 3.5% return you know and even if you have a 1% annual management charge you're making 2.4% without taking any risk whatsoever right so now let's go we'll put a little bit someone's 50 yeah start to panic yeah because it's just around the corner or it feels like it's just around the corner even though they've probably got maybe you know 16 17 18 years left of work is it too late then like is there a point it's too late start putting in a pension no like well if I go back to my figures you're you know if you're still only putting in the 100 euro per month from age 50 to 65 you've obviously your your period's a lot tighter you've only the 15 years you're looking at a fund of about 25,000 at that stage rather than the 100 okay um now the only thing about that like people do that's like one question oh sure I'm too old you know there's no point me starting a pension at this stage if you've been working somewhere for a while and you know you could manage to put away that 25,000 in your last you know 10 15 years or whatever you can probably take that full amount as a tax-free lump sum at the end because if you're working for somewhere for an extended period you can actually fund one and a half times your final salary to take as tax-free cash so other people who have a fund of 100,000 they might only be able to take 25,000 of it as tax-free cash and the rest has to be taken as a pension over time you know as pension income whereas like there there's definitely the first thing you can do is fund for a tax-free lump sum at your retirement so there's every point in doing that because as I said if you go back to the thing if you took the 25,000 as cash you're either only going to get 15,000 or 20,000 into your hand okay well actually that that comes in as a question so okay perfect uh we're using the 100k as an example yeah so if you've managed to fund 100k pension as it stands now yeah how much of a pension do you get at retirement okay so um if we go do you know what I'm going to use 100 and yeah we'll go with 100,000 sorry there's only rough figures yeah yeah so look there's there's two there's a few different things and so I'll just kind of give you a rough rundown there's two different ways you can draw the tax-free lump sum out of it so it's either going to be as 25 percent of the pot so you might be able to take 25,000 as tax-free lump sum and then the other 75,000 you have to use to um buy an annuity okay so annuity rates at the minute here comes the councillor to everybody annuity rates who said pension people were boring ah come on now okay so the other 75,000 has to be used to buy an annuity the annuity rates are roughly you can get an annuity for about five percent at the minute so I'm just going to use that so that would give you an income of 3,750 per annum okay okay so you've taken your 25,000 as tax-free cash then you can take your um sorry I've got the wrong way around actually you can fund for one and a half times your final salary and you have to buy the annuity so if you say somebody's on 40,000 right they can fund for a tax-free lump sum of 60,000 so one and a half times your final salary so 60 out of the 100 would go into your hand as tax-free cash then the other 40 you'd use to buy your annuity so that's giving you a pension then of 2,000 euro per annum along with that and what happens if you pass away before the remainder of that pension is drawn down that's the root these are kind of the things that you have to think about and it's it's individual to every person because you know everyone has different circumstances and different family circumstances but with that route so you've got a higher tax-free cash you've got your 60,000 into your hand your 2,000 pension a year but when you pass away the 2,000 pension dies with you essentially okay unless you've provided for a spouse's pension which sometimes you can provide for a 50% spouse's pension or a guaranteed period of 10 years so if you're within the 10 years it would continue up to the 10 years and the other route then which has been more popular would be where you take 25% of the pot as tax-free cash so that's 25,000 out of the 100,000 the other 75,000 in that circumstance is invested similar to what you were investing with before you drew the pension so you're investing with an insurance company you choose the fund you're obviously trying to make a return and then you have to take an income of about four or five percent from that pure annum but you could choose to take a lump sum out of that equally so you're taxed at your income tax rate on any pension income so be that the 2,000 out of the annuity or be it whatever you're taken out of your approved retirement fund the four or five percent and so what you're doing at that stage is that you're trying to make sure you're either paying very little or no tax if possible yeah okay so this is why you need a pension advisor really because you know what it's very complicated honestly I probably lost you there no you didn't explain what I thought was right that you saved I thought that you you saved for your pension you get 100 grand and it's an extra 10 grand a year into your pocket for 10 years or like it was your money right and that if you died two years later and you'd only took 20 grand that 80 grand will become part of your estate but it's not like that well that's second example so the approved retirement fund where you take so you've taken 25,000 tax-free cash the 75,000 was into the approved retirement fund that approved retirement fund does pass to your estate on death okay so that's the difference between the two routes understood yeah okay um I'm being overtaxed this quarter believes well I think they believe they're paying you know excess I'm not paying into a pension but if I was would it reduce my tax yes um so like I mean they would see they would it depends on if they're employed they should see it on their pay slip that if they're putting in pension contributions you know they'll pay less tax um if they're self-employed and this is where it's more obvious and this is where pensions awareness week comes in because for self-employed people the income tax deadline now is the end of October or the 15th November if you do your pay and file online okay so with that you've earned your income all throughout the year but then you're hit with this big tax bill at the end yeah um so whenever you're hit with the tax bill like that you know if you have a tax bill of 5,000 euros say this person if they're self-employed and they have to pay now 5,000 euro if they decide to put 5,000 euro into a pension and they're paying tax at the higher rate so if they think they're paying a lot of tax they probably are um so that means that actually there's 2,000 euro tax relief they'll get so their 5,000 euro that's going to go to the tax man is reduced down to 3,000 so they're kind of putting 5,000 into a pension and then they're reducing their tax by 2,000 so there's 3,000 going into the tax man so i get you all right that's kind of that's going to cost money into their pocket but five of it's gone into their pocket again you know my husband did a pension plan all his life but anytime he had no work and had to sign on the pension was taken into consideration and he could never get the full dole money i haven't come across that before i mean normally if if you're paying your um stamps you you'll get you know your your illness benefit i haven't seen a pension being taken into account against it but that's not to say it hasn't been can i ask a question about a pension can you check an old work pension if you've no paperwork the business is closed now is there a yeah yeah because this is the thing like loads of people you know you did you maybe worked for five years at the beginning of your career and moved on and then you know people don't realize they have these wee pension pots sitting about the place so basically if you come into a company like us we get you to sign it's called a letter of authority and we're able to send that to all of the insurance companies so once we have your name your date of birth and your signature allowing us to make an inquiry on your behalf and so basically we don't we've done that for numerous people because you know people go i did have a pension it might have been Irish life it might have been New Ireland and obviously they had it through their companies so it might have been John F. Lowery financial services and John F. Lowery is not there anymore and they don't know where to go you know so you come in saying letter of authority we can kind of blanket all the insurance companies with it and get any information on any pension policies you have um i think we've been covering this because this is an early text um i was just wondering how do i go about setting up a pension and who do you go to set up one and how safe is it on 29 so you've talked about the safety element of it i presume we go into a company like John F. Lowery financial services yeah like i mean the i suppose there are kind of you can go and start looking online but i have to say like the pension legislation and regulation and everything even in the last two years it has changed so dramatically like we're learning things every day in the industry and it just like i would strongly recommend taking advice on it you know and if you go to a brokerage it means as i said like we have access to all of the insurance companies so some of the banks might be tied to just a particular company whereas like if you go to um somebody who's not tied then i mean you know their access and everybody on the market for you i call us as i'm 56 is it too late for a pension and how much would i need to be investing at this stage to benefit well it's how much you'd want to sort of to get out so if you could afford 400 a month yeah exactly i mean you gave the 100 a month example so it would probably be about 18 19 judging by the figures you give someone is 50 right so i mean it depends on how much they can afford but what would be the advantage to that 56 year old putting that in a pension versus just putting it into a separate account well as i said they're getting full tax relief on it so you know if they're if they're paying tax at all yeah but if they're paying tax at the higher rate they're getting you know 40 tax reliefs and like you'll never you'll never take that money personally and get a 40 return on it or you know it would have to be but like um they should be able to put that away and from age 60 they can there's a possibility they'll be able to take that all out as tax free cash so i mean they can put in at this stage you be thrown in as much as you can afford to get tax relief on it and in four to nine years time depending on when you want to retire you know get as much of that as tax free what if your circumstances change you lose your job or something or you're squeezed the medical emergency you need access funds can you access pension funds and so pensions generally it's from 60 to 75 now if you have left an employment there is a possibility you could access your pension from age 50 okay so they're like these paid up pots of pensions where we say from previous employments you've technically left that employment and you know and there is every chance that you can access that from age 50 that's as it stands now there is kind of talk again that you know legislation around that could be changing and they might increase it to 55 but as it stands right now if you have a pension from a previous employment you can actually access that from age 50 so again you know definitely worth making an inquiry about and you know and as i said go to somebody that's maybe impartial or not even the company that it's with or that you took it out with because they might you know they will give you every option but every option can look daunting when it's in front of you on a page you know they'll send you out retirement options and there might be six options and you're going there's too much detail here you know to get into the nitty gritty so it is it there's an awful lot in this that makes us bury our heads in the sand and not do it yeah um and anyone i've spoken to in in in financial circles and not just those that provide services say that this is something because you have to plan you have to say well what is your situation going to be when you hit retirement age the realities as well too people are going to now there's a lot of people now that will comfortably live well into their 80s 90s and even perhaps beyond uh right so i think we've outlined is there anything important that you think we need to add in there um Lisa no i mean there was a couple of things like the auto enrollment when it does come in you know some people are saying oh i'll wait for auto enrolment it's going to come down the line anyway we've already seen it deferred a full year yeah till there and if you're on the lower tax rate auto enrolment will benefit you because the the tax relief on an auto enrolment pension is essentially going to be about 30 percent so if you're on the on the lower rate it'll make every sense in the world to go into your auto enrolment scheme if you're paying tax at the 40 percent it's probably still going to make better sense for you to make personal pension well both products be available side by side though obviously it will yeah yeah um but as i said the tax relief is higher if you're paying tax at the higher rate you're going to get more tax relief by doing a personal right so finally say i'm that 29 year old um and i'm i'm gonna write i need to do something here do i make an appointment with the your company or a similar company we sit down and you go watch your income what you hope to achieve exactly and and say for instance you talked about the two different types of pensions can you adjust midway through yeah i mean you know that's the other thing just because auto enrolment's coming in doesn't mean you can't start a pension now and then when auto enrolment comes in you can opt into your scheme you know through your work and and we'll tell you honestly like if that makes more sense you know you're better to do it but your other pension is still there in the background and can be let's sit you know and you can still use it at retirement like i mean anyone who you put into a pension it doesn't go away it doesn't disappear it'll always be there to benefit you at your retirement you know so no i would definitely kind of say look at it sooner rather than later especially when you're younger the biggest thing is probably affordability and if you can afford to start a pension at all or you can afford to put in anything that's a big thing because when you're that age you don't know what your career is going to bring you know you don't know what family circumstances you're going to have you have no idea what age you might retire at so you just based on affordability start a pension and then once you have it started you're much more inclined to monitor it and keep an eye on it i know i hear people go oh i'm due this and that at this stage i'm like stuff for you yeah i'm not you need to get on the blog i'm not for people lisa lochery managing director of jonah lochery financial services you can search them out if you want to speak to uh the company thanks for joining us and give us a hand out as part of pension awareness week it's been lovely having you and thank you for having me and absolutely watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highland radio dot com keep out the cold cold cold and ring flaming for the full range of garage doors agri doors insulated doors milking parlor doors flaming 91 48 234 otamas here and so are the new arrivals at green shoes shop and store are online now from top brands like doc martins kate appleby tommy bow and riker also new balance wonders echo and many more shop lk and one for all gift cards accepted in store visit green shoes and discover the perfect footwear to complement your style green shoes at market square that a kenny shopping center for cara and online at green shoes dot com patio thread lifts and skin boosters which rejuvenate the skin by improving facial contours lifting and tightening the jaws neck cheeks and eyebrows are available at janis's aesthetics and skincare clinic edore to choose the right aesthetic treatment for you contact mary ferry your aesthetic practitioner also offering fat dissolving treatments dermal fillers and laser treatments for all skin conditions hair and makeup packages also available janis's aesthetics and skincare clinic edore 07495 32575 the lotto jackpot is an estimated 7 million euro play responsibly in store in app or at lottery dot e the national lottery it could be you join us for the highland radio hooli in the beautiful resort of salute from the 14th to the 21st of september 2024 for a week of non-stop country music and crack join me david james alongside some of the biggest names in country music we've got the legendary margo the sensational john mcnickle the fabulous robert mazel claudia buckley alivia douglas yugo duncan jim divine sean cutty and many more your package includes seven nights of pure luxury at the four-star salt-costed gerrata hotel with dinner and breakfast included you'll have access to all the incredible shows poolside entertainment airport transfers and a delicious dinner every evening all lists for just 817 euro per person share don't miss out on this unforgettable experience book your spot today by contacting country music tours on 07 for 9119955 or email info at country music tours dot ie the highland radio hooli in salute 14th to the 21st of september it's the country music extravaganza you won't want to miss we'll see you there okay welcome back to the nine till noon show 08 660 25000 loads of you texting in on pensions some of them comments and not questions so we'll get to them in a mo and plenty on buses and everything right across the whole spectrum this we appreciate it now you will know that we have been covering the situation here in donna gall in terms of disability services and the availability to young people it was triggered off the back of parents and caregivers receiving letters saying that their the cdnt services weren't available to them op speech and language we've heard numerous stories of parents who feel their children are missing out their six years of age haven't seen anyone it's an awful situation we talked about recruitment as well that is a big issue but we know now that the families are saying well what can you do for us right now in terms of availing of private services emergency provisions whatever it might be so there's two there's two there's two trains here right one train is the uh the long the medium to long term in terms of recruitment hiring people sorting out this crazy nonsense of the recognition of of north and irish qualifications people from donna gall who want to work here can't because they can't jump through these hoops and wait a year to earn money um but then there's the more short and medium term can they do a national treatment purchase type fund deal to get these young people the invaluable services the essential services that they really need right now uh this you've also been taken about politicians of course councillor albert doherty amongst them who joins us on the program now good morning to you albert thanks for your time good morning grid good morning missers right so you raised uh what was the question truncated if possible that you put to the hsc yeah i asked hsc disability service to review evaluate the rules and the positions deemed required i asked them to prioritize the filling of such vacancies i asked them to analyze and review the effectiveness of their panel system and i also asked that they look at the the lack of availability of speech and language therapists ot's physiotherapists and all of those that should be available accessible and there for families and yes i did attend the community meeting on september 5th i was shared the letter that the parents received and it was a very very tough reflection on our situation so sorry i'm gonna have to move it forward a little bit albert sorry and it's our fault because yeah sorry before the news no it's not your fault no need to apologize but we know there are 37 vacancies at the moment we know uh services are being provided to the most series of cases but we spoke into very serious cases no services for them either what did they say to you that's in any way useful yeah a number of things but just i wanted to say that when they gave me a good analysis of how the three areas of um cdm m were affected their cdmt you know it jumped out as me as well that dunagall east and he's shown had uh 56 percent of approved posts that were vacant the dunagall north at 58 percent and dunagall southwest thankfully had i shouldn't say thankfully bless me had we had three uh 14 percent so the hdc has got to look at that as well but the hitches e have now promised me that they will commence an action plan to further develop measures to attract ccm staff into the cdmt they also emphasize something else that it will take national level measures in addition to local measures and that inspired me to put a motion for the attention of minister rabbit who stormed out of a meeting down south when 14 posts that had not been approved sitting up here in dunagall we're sitting on 35 posts and we learned yesterday that cams that there's uh up to 11.6 posts that could be filled up here and uh i now want to see progress on this emergency action plan and i want to see national and local measures taken but i also want and i've involved um etb as well as the council i want to see how we as a region can explore what's preventing uh would be applicants from the north but we know what that is we know what that is it's it's the long drawn out process of recognizing these qualifications it's additional qualifications i mean coru coru has coru and our national politicians have a job to do to ensure that there's a more accessible progressive welcoming role in registration uh from the various parts of the world are either of your party colleagues uh pierce the heart of your appointment i'm going to raise this issue in the dull on behalf of dunagall parents most certainly this is an issue that i've long stood with and i will persevere uh until the children of our county can have equal access equal opportunities um and deserved opportunities to access therapists and support in the county for sure we appreciate that we appreciate the the the political attention locally but we need these parents and these stories heard at a national level i think also listen cancer albert darty again i'm really sorry that i had to rush you through there i appreciate your time though and uh we'll go through that response a little bit more detail it doesn't really tell us anything we didn't know previously and until they get this recognition of uh qualifications things sorted there's no point having job fairs and dairy uh and recruitment drives there because people know the system is so convoluted that it is not worth their time going through summer may be over but the need for storage is just beginning dealside garden furniture brings you the perfect solution with full range of sizes and garden sheds outdoor canopies and much more safely store your barbecue patio furniture and outdoor toys dealside garden furniture livered made to measure and one-off designs are our speciality find us on social media mcdade's bathroom plumbing and tiles showroom in boncran is your one-stop solution for all your bathroom plumbing and tile needs we offer a wide range of top quality plumbing fixtures tiles and accessories all at the best possible price our experienced plumbing experts will help you choose the right products for your bathroom renovation new construction or remodeling project visit mcdade's bathroom plumbing and tiles in boncran and see why we are the best choice for all your bathroom and plumbing and tile needs how we use electricity can be smarter cleaner and greener at electric arland we can help guide you there you see our new net zero hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans home ev charging solar panels and much more making your usage clearer your trips greener your home cosier and your world brighter find our net zero hub at electric arland it's the home of the vegan butchers the artisan bakers the freestyle lyricists and the trousers suits riders it's the urban jungle where the everyday meets the latest wave and you could see it all from your seat suv from the sharp lines and smart style of the arona to the bold and beautiful ateka and if size is your thing the terraco comes as a seven-seater see what's in store at seat dot i for our latest offers and visit dmg motors claw road dunigold town because your new seat is just waiting to see what's next michael haney's home value event has begun online and in store with amazing offers that you do not want to miss a massive 30 off la cruz a tableware 50 off selected bedding and towels and 20% off the entire orla keiley collection visit us in store or shop online at macklehannys.com for the biggest home value event of the year for exclusive offers only available at macklehannys department store ballet buffet opening this weekend in bondoran world matchmaking festival in four venues with the tumble and patties derrick ryan david james johnny brady karen rosney abba esk blind date speed dating and much much more tickets at the door log on to show tours dot i for full details with all the stories that matter across the northwest it's greg hughes on the night and noon show on highland radio okay it is 11 o'clock let's get a news update and it's over to donald cavernat thank you greg good morning a third research is taking place on a cargo ship detained off the cork coast warning shots were fired by army rangers as they boarded the vessel last evening during an operation that also involved the irish naval service revenue customs and the ship which has been brought to cork harbor is understood to contain a significant consignment of illegal drugs up to two tons it's believed it could be the largest hall ever seized in the state the northern and regional assembly is calling for a citizens assembly to be set up to establish how greater levels of regional autonomy can be delivered here according to the n w r a a policy of positive discrimination would result in rebalancing what's been a legacy of underinvestment in new infrastructure projects for donnie gall slag oletrim meo gallway ross common cavern and monohum in its pre-budget submission the n w r a is calling for a stimulus package worth at least 570 million euro the doll's been told rising fuel prices hit people in donnie gall harder than in many other counties as they have no alternative to the car a vote takes place tonight on a shin fame motion calling for rises in fuel prices to be deferred temporary reductions in excise duties are ending and as a result prices at the pumps have been rising steadily in recent weeks the relationship between the gather representative association and commissioner drew harris has been described as irreparable the g r a has formally requested that the date for changing rosters on the 6th of november be removed or deferred during a meeting however speaking ahead of a special delegates conference taking place in kilkenny today the association's president donnie gall based to gar the brendan o'connor described that meeting as futile and today marks the third anniversary of the last time missing man kean langalan was seen in a social media post today guardian donnie gall say the last known sighting of kean was on sunday september 27th 2020 in the hornhead area he was 27 at the time and they're the headlines regular updates on our website highlandradio.com back with headlines again at 12 noon thank you very much indeed uh donnell will be back with much more on the night until noon show after we take this break the donnie gall tech sell sheep breeders will hold a sale of 83 rams in refo mart this friday the 29th at 7 with approximately 50 sis scheme eligible rams available on the day online bidding via the mart bids app that's this friday at refo mart it's the last week of foiant companies biggest ever furniture sale with up to 50 off in our letter kenny and belly buffet stores huge reductions on all our dining room sets beds and mattresses also on sofas lamps rugs and much more now is the time to reserve and order to ensure delivery in time for christmas you can also shop our sale online at foie's dot ie finance is available inquire in store at foie and company letter kenny and belly buffet sale ends this saturday 30th like lower prices on everyday essentials then make aldy top of your shopping list essentially aldy have lower prices on well the essentials including 12 chicken nuggets was 249 now 219 eight alcafe cappuccino sachets was 199 now 165 magnum baking paper 10 meters was 99 cent now 77 cent and two roosters chicken quarter pounders was 379 now 249 you won't just like more value you'll love it save up to 100 euro this week at callahans electrical dot com with discount codes code highland 20 for purchases over 229 highland 30 when you spend over 399 and highland 100 for sales over a thousand euro shop and save online at callahans electrical dot com with your exclusive highland radio discount code supports are now available to refurbish vacant or derelict properties drop in to one of the events being hosted by dunigal county council between monday 25th of september and thursday fifth of october 2023 to find out more details no appointment is needed for details of locations and dates visit dunigal coco dot ie or visit our social media the olive grove pizzeria is now open at the new smokes and grills in letter kemmie serving freshly made mouthwatering pizzas every wednesday to sunday from one due to demand the opening offer of a 12 inch pepper only pizza for just 750 is extended until the end of october available to sit in or take away the olive grove pizzeria at smokes and grills in riverside retail park letter kemmie call 9 1 1 double 3 double 3 or see smokes and grills on facebook what's golden crispy and downright delicious that'll be our scrumptious birds eyed chicken gushans made with 100 chicken breast and coated in the crunchiest of crumbs you could say they're the ultimate champion of the chicken universe feeling bougie serve with a salad feeling cheeky dunk into a sweet chili dip or just enjoys a midnight snack you know where to find us in the frozen aisle of course okay you're very welcome back to the 9 till noon show here on highland radio and we're going now to a very wet looking um letter kemmie aurora mccormick director of auroras hobbits is there hi aurora how are you keeping it cold a bit wet down here i know but it's important isn't it that you say you just take this stand we saw huge numbers uh down in doblin and people gathering in various locations right across the country just in your words aurora as a as a you know a director of a business in this area how important is it that funding is increased we need it badly at the minute it's got a knock on effect on everything it's not helping the staffing crisis it's not helping to actually open the doors at the minute we're kind of struggling to keep going with the way the core funding is so we're out here protesting for better money better funding so that we can keep doing what we love every day and it's an important part as we've said a thousand times on this show it's an important part of life it's not just the work that you do it's not the the care for the children and bringing them through it's allowing people to go to work to contribute to the economy to get them out of the house uh you know what i mean it's an important part in in many facets of life yeah definitely all right and um you just had to close today not everyone can close obviously because you know there's financial complications and implications for that yeah we closed for the three days so we were up and doubling yesterday so we took off at seven and went up to the protest and everything and back last night at eight o'clock and then back up this morning up here to letter kenny after we dropped our kids off to school and things had to pull the grannies out to help us because we have no childcare and um down here today down here tomorrow as well and the reality is is what you want to be doing now is be at work and and looking after and caring for children you don't want to be standing out in a wet dreary market square in letter kenny not definitely not what was yesterday like so many different people from all around the country coming together and what was a powerful statement to government i was lovely to see it all because we're all struggling we're all because we're all spread out and it's all care and environment and stuff the last thing we want to do is go up there but we all pulled together and we went up and we did the protest and everyone's on the same boat no one's everyone's struggling but like that's what i was saying to the girls yesterday on the way home on the bus like the last thing we want to do is to cause havoc but it's the only way we can get recognition that we need better funding in here like in august before i signed into the core funding i just sit down and do all the coins and stuff and see if i can put the money back on the parents which i can't everyone's on their knees it has to come from the government like i can't put that extra euro on a parent they can't afford it it's it's not fair yeah and then the increases are are tiny they're they're silly money really the pence pennies euros you know what i mean sense like implications of the highest it's ever been