Hi Ali, what's the crack today? Ah, sure as enjoying that song and then you put on that music. That's when you need to stop playing a bit earlier and stop waffling so much. But you're not even in a clock yet and you're playing the newsy thing.  But you're talking to, it's not just me. This eye surely. No, surely, surely. This eye. Come here, what's the crack today then? There's a plane flying about all over the place this morning at six o'clock and there's a lot of few texts and WhatsApps and stuff. Do you know what it would be? It's normally surveying planes. Yeah. But that time in the morning? It's zigzagging. I don't know. It was flying all over the place over Letterkenny in St. Paulson. It's going to be a survey plane. We'll check it out though. It was very noisy apparently. See the texts are coming in there. They were very noisy. Is it zigzagging or just flying over once? See, you wouldn't see if it was zigzagging that type in the morning. It's black. You see on flight radar or whatever. Now, if somebody had a pathfinder there, it was a German plane. What do you think? If it flew over? Of course it flew over. Just once like, or did it go back and forward? Oh, I don't know. You're getting very technical. Yeah. Let's check it out. That's what we're here for, isn't it? Good man. Following planes around the sky. I said you would look into it because you're the Mr. Investigator Spectrum Gadget. You are. You are right. Yeah. All right. I'd better get to it then because I have an awful lot of investigating today this morning. Get on with it then. Good luck. All right. Nine o'clock news update time and it's over to Donna Marie Daugherty. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Tensions were high in the doll last night after Health Minister Stephen Donley failed to be in attendance for the second time for the topical issue on the need for an external review at the University Hospital. Sinn Fein deputies Patrick McLaughlin and Pierce Doherty deferred the issue last week after the minister didn't turn up or give any notice. Deputy McLaughlin said the minister needs to set a date to visit Letter Kenny, something he told health professionals who wrote him a letter outlining their concerns that he would do. He knows that they've asked him to come to Donnygall urgently to meet them. These are frontline health professionals. He hasn't indicated his comments at Donnygall. I think he said something today about in due course he would come to Donnygall. He can't even come into the doll chamber. I just think it's utmost disrespect being shown for the people of Donnygall that here we are for the second Tuesday in a row and we do not have the minister for health. We have no indication if he will be in Letter Kenny anytime soon. Meanwhile Deputy Doherty says it's the patients who are suffering at the persistent of ongoing problems. It does smack of arrogance here that the minister has two weeks in a row decided not to come before the doll and listen to what myself and Poetic McLaughlin have to say. And it's not arrogance towards me or Poetic. It's actually to the people of Donnygall. It's to the people tomorrow morning who will be still in chairs or in trolleys in the A&E in Letter Kenny. It is the people who have received notification over the last number of miles that their treatment has been postponed once again. It is the people that are wondering will they ever get that appointment? It's been a busy period for the all-weather Ironmore or NLI volunteer crew as they have responded to three medical evacuations in the past four days. On Friday, Monday and just yesterday patients requiring medical assessment were transported by lifeboat to Burton Port where they were then met for an ambulance to further transferred to LUH. In a statement, Ironmore or NLI Coxwell and Jimmy Ehrlich said crews were glad to be able to assist the community with this vital service. Members of the Jerry for Letter Kenny courthouse have been told they are no longer required to be in attendance. They are no distance for today and for the rest of the week. The courthouse has apologised for any inconvenience caused. The government is being urged to intervene and prevent strike action in Tisla, escalating admin and clerical staff at the Child and Family Agency are starting to work to roll action today in a dispute over job evaluation scheme. The scheme would ensure employees are not forced to take on work when other staff leave. Looking to whether some mist and fog in places clearing throughout the morning, spells of hazy sunshine will occur through the morning and well into the afternoon. That's with highs of 12 to 10 degrees and moderate to fresh south-easterday winds. That's all for now. The next news update is at 10 o'clock. In the meantime, keep up to date with all the latest local news on our website, highlandradio.com. Until then, good morning. Like Haribo Tubes, Tato Multipack and Phantom Sixpack, any three for nine euro, exclusive to real-world members only and money off vouchers every week on the app too. So pop in for great savings in store or online. This Halloween at Super Value. 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 Northwest, the 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning to you. Four minutes past nine Wednesday, the 25th of October 2023. Good morning to you. How are you all keeping? I hope you're very well. This bright morning. It's a nice bright, dry, fresh morning anyway. So far here across the Northwest, I hope it's like that for you, wherever you are, for some of you listening and all watching, it's going to be much nicer, I'm sure, if you're out far and so to speak. But anyway, we're going to crack on the show. Lines are open. WhatsApp's and texts to<PHONE_NUMBER>.<PHONE_NUMBER>. You can give us a call to an 07491-25000. 07491-25000. Or emails to comments at highlandradio.com. So what do you want to talk about? If you want to watch this show, get on to our YouTube channel, Highland Radio Ireland. You can watch us on your smart TV, your Firestick, or across your mobile devices. And we're also broadcasting live on Facebook. Facebook. What are the addresses again? Highland over Highland Radio News and Sport. Okay. We have loads to get through. So let's crack on with the newspapers and the Finn Valley voice this morning. Halloween costumes, heed the warnings, say Sturban Mayor. Halloween is dangerous. Fireworks are illegal in Donegal, but a steady flow of us across the border in late October to stock up on fireworks. Some of them almost lethal enough to be classified as explosives. And it's not just fireworks, say Sturban Mayor, Patricia Loog. There are dangers to children wearing fancy dress costumes if they're around fireworks, fireworks, sparklers, or open frames including pumpkins with candles. It's a fair warning indeed. And also to make sure that it's CE marked because some of the cheaper ones that you might buy online are incredibly flammable. So just be careful with that. Much more on the front of and inside the Finn Valley voice this morning. The Irish Times today. Ireland is among the only countries in Europe not to have changed. It's accommodation of offering to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The cabinet was told during a heated row, we're told, between ministers. Yesterday, Minister for International. Sorry, I beg your pardon. Hope it's not going to be one of those days. Yesterday, Minister for Integration, Roderick O'Gorman ran into opposition from Cabinet colleagues over plans which would limit state provided accommodation for those newly arrived from Ukraine to just 90 days. Mr O'Gorman is said to have told Cabinet colleagues who asked whether Ireland would be the first to change its system, that it would be, in fact, among the last to introduce reforms of this type. The row, which one source described as among the most divisive heated discussions that have taken place at Cabinet since the coalition was formed, marks the emergence of an uneasy stalemate, a government level over policy on Ukrainian refugees.  Do you think a 90-day limit on state provided accommodation would suffice? Of course, that would mean lots of people who would be housed in hotels, would be seeking accommodation elsewhere. That being said, it would inevitably would not slow down the flow of Ukrainian refugees into Ireland, and it was interesting to note as well that Miehol Martin recognised the fact that there is a scenario whereby those from Ukraine arriving in other European countries where they are safe then move on to Ireland. And it could be because of the accommodation, it could be because of the social welfare payments, or maybe it's just because they prefer to come here. But anyway, what do you think? Do you think there should be a 90-day limit on state provided accommodation for Ukrainian refugees arriving into Ireland, and what do you believe the impact of that might be? There are concerns that fuel prices are set to surge again after a period of stability. The cost of petrol and diesel held steady in the last month, but the next couple of weeks could lead to fuel prices rising again. Experts said the situation in the Middle East now had oil markets on edge. The attack on Israel by Hamas and the follow-up Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict erupting. Crude oil prices traded at 90 euro yesterday up from around 84 on the eve of the Hamas attack. An escalation of the Middle East conflict could send burnt crude oil to more than $97 a barrel according to Justin Doyle of Specialist Bank Investec in Dublin. We could expect Brent to rise sharply on any escalation and exceed last week's high. Following that, we would look to the high around the end of last month of $97.58 a barrel. On the downside, any further de-escalation could push Brent below $90, Mr Doyle wrote in an investor note, but we don't really get it. If it goes up, we get it. If it goes down, we don't get it, really. That's how it feels, doesn't it, at times? OK, let's go on to the mail now. The health budget won't be reopened. The budget allocation for the Department of Health will not be reopened over fears it would only create a new floor and not a ceiling for most overruns. Funding for the Department of Health increased to $22.5 billion in the budget, but the allocation means it will only sustain existing services and will not be able to progress any new measures, some of which have previously been announced. When a $1.5 billion deficit is accounted for, there'll just be 100 million euro for new measures under the existing funding envelope, placing increased pressure on the service to introduce cost savings. There are fears within Cabinet that the fallout from the underfunding of the health service will fuel waves of opposition political attacks. And as opposed to some extent, there were opposition political attacks last night in the Dall at around about 11.15 p.m. Deputies, Padre McLaughlin and Pierce Doherty again tried to question the health minister on the on topical issues, during topical issues on the situation at Leicester University Hospital. They were upset. Now, I don't know how often ministers are in or out or what's the expectation upon them. That's to be completely honest with you. But they had initially went in last Tuesday to question the health minister on services at Leicester University Hospital. He was absent. So they deferred that and had expected, I suppose, to ask him the questions last night in the Dall. Now, Stephen Donnelly was again not present and a minister of state answered on his behalf a letter effectively reading from a letter that's available on our website right now, which effectively said that to paraphrase and we've again invited Stephen Donnelly on the program to discuss these issues effectively said that, you know, lots of money has been put into the hospital 35 extra million, though we've heard from those who used to be involved in the management of the hospital that that kind of money is only really enough to stand still and that other measures were being taken. Now, we had put that to consultants when they were on this program and they said, yes, that's grand. There are things that are being done. We welcome that, but this does not address the fundamentals of the problems at Leicester University Hospital and that's why they wanted a full external review of its workings. And I kind of got a tone from Minister Stephen Donnelly's letter his statement that he kind of what the problem probably is is too many of us are going to hospital, which I really don't think there's too many go to hospital that don't need to go to hospital and it only becomes a problem for the hospital when people are admitted to the hospital. But look at maybe that is part of the problem. We are at a disadvantage because we can't put those questions to any government minister to respond to. So that's there's a bit of a vacuum here and if it sounds like I'm being one sided on this, it's not it's not the case. I just simply don't have access to either our local minister or Minister Stephen Donnelly just to put the questions as polite as I did to Tony Canavan on the issues relating to letter Kenny University hospital. Unfortunately I just don't have that. But anyway, that was the response and Stephen Donnelly said that he will come to Donnelly Gaul at some point in the future. Right. The Irish Daily Star tells us that Irish people are underestimating the current risks of the climate crisis new research finds the Environmental Protection Agency said many believe it will harm people in the future far away animals and plants other people and lastly themselves personally so we believe it's going to impact everybody else before it affects us. Many of us are still not seeing the immediate risks of the climate crisis and think others like future generations are far more threatened according to a report the EPA made the claim a week after towns and villages face serious flooding due to storms and heavy rain according to the two reports supported by the Yale program on climate change education young women are more concerned about the impacts of climate change and there's an awful lot of people out there that say look this is whether it's not climate and it rained once before and this is just it raining again and a lot of people go for that because it's you know it's it's a better message isn't it it helps us sleep at night whether it's the truth or not the scientists say not The Irish Daily Mirror God he believed they saved the life of another potential victim of Pallani who was in contact with a man by phone just hours before his arrest the Irish Mirror can reveal as to most papers he was planning a third murder when detectives and armed officers pounced on his home in Sligo last year the psychopath is being medically assessed in Manjoy prison after being caged for life this week at the central criminal court Pallani murdered much loved and popular men Aidan Moffat and Michael Snee as well as inflicting a brutal attack on Anthony Burke which left him blind in one eye sources have revealed that when Guardi were frantically working to track down Pallani he is suspected to have been in contact with another man and attempted to meet him and that lastly in in the Irish Sun the net is closing in on the leaders of the Kinehan Cartel with top cops from Dubai in Dublin this week to discuss the Guardi's investigation into the gang it comes as Justice Minister Helen McIntee met with her UAE counterpart to discuss a possible extradition deal that could see the Kinehans brought back to Ireland to face a range of criminal allegations last month Guardi Commissioner Drew Harris flew to Dubai to meet with the Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai police to discuss working together to clamp down on transnational crime gangs and many would see that as the net closing ever further on the leaders of the Kinehan Cartel across all of the papers there's a lot of coverage and why not but I'm sure it's because of Daniel O'Donnell he is a class act isn't he he was on this morning which is a hugely popular show in Britain which many of you watch I'm sure here and of course he is always quick-witted and this is one of the exchanges that seems to have got most of the most of the headlines today but you are a massive heart that's a lie do you still get ladies throwing nickers at you on the stage bigger than they used to be now the newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountain Top Letter Kenny the 2022 C-Store National Off-Licence of the Year make your Christmas party unforgettable at Sister Sarah's this December book now for the best Christmas party in time see Facebook for menu and dance Sister Sarah's are 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Sturban Wednesday to Saturday O'Neill's live for it Join me David James on the jive time this Friday from the newly opened Waters Edge restaurant Rathmullen we will be there from 2.30pm with great music, fantastic giveaways and maybe a little sample of the delicious food that's this Friday live from the Waters Edge restaurant Rathmullen Join David James with the jive time team this Thursday live from Cooney's Home Interiors for the launch of their Christmas shop they've gone all out this year and their Christmas stacker is bigger and better than ever with 20% off everything on the day excluding existing special offers Highland Radio time checks with Expressway travel route 32 from Letty Kennedy Dublin when you book online and travel for less Expressway bringing you the time The time is 9.18pm Police in Dairy City in Sturban say we're investigating a report of a suspicious approach to a child in Sturban reported to have occurred on Friday morning the 20th of October at around 20 past 8pm the parent of that child in question is Sean Sean thanks for joining us this morning no problem good morning can you tell us what you were told happened basically my son he goes between myself and his mum and the walk from school is about 7-8 minutes long just from Bali Coalman people are now in Sturban it's a well known route from Bali Coalman down the Mount Road past the old Asia site and to St Mary's school there is about a 7-8 minute long walk and he's been doing it for maybe just shy of a year now from last year a lot of kids do it and he was doing that on Friday morning now he goes to breakfast club in school which is around about half 8pm so he leaves about little bit early you know compared to a lot of kids and now he's very autistic so he's very kind of set about times and he needs to be at breakfast club he's got friends and so he's been doing this we route for nearly a year now and yeah so a black jeep approached him and a little kind of in between the old Asia site and the Mount Road and just asked him if he wanted to get in and wants to lift the school which is on the whole basis of things is not concerned but then when the jeep went up to the top road it didn't turn the opposite way of the school a gentleman described in the 60s to 70s a hood and a baseball cap on and glasses and to be honest that's about it, that's literally Logan obviously said no so really proud of him and yeah I don't really know what more to say we've laid to the school the school for and I laid it out to everyone and you don't really know what to say except for pretty much that it's kind of sickening feeling in the stomach you know do more think about it I know and did he say anything other than do you want to lift to school did he try and entice him in any other way into the vehicle? No, he just wound the window down and asked him and it seemed to be very quick and then kind of cleared and yeah, that's kind of it let's just say so he refused and I was thinking myself about 100 times I get you, I understand that but it's important to get it out so it was a black jeep once your son refused the jeep drove off towards the junction of Beechmont Avenue and Melmont Road towards Drabantan centre now obviously it's significant enough obviously it's going to be from your perspective but from a police perspective that they've issued information and appeal in relation to this they say we appeal to anyone who was in the area and who may have noticed this vehicle around 20 past eight or just shortly afterwards to contact police and they're particularly keen to speak to anyone with a dash cam and I presume that extends to CCTV or doorbell cams or whatever it might be, I think it's just important that this person is spoken to to ascertain exactly what was going on here Yeah, I mean I don't want to give it too much way but there was a big fool last night and we've as I say, the police were around at my house last night stupid hours in the morning because we had a good bit of a big fool it was just let's just say it wasn't quite 20 past it was about just before about 14 minutes past eight I can say that now and yeah, it's just a sign of feeling thank God Logan said no as I say, he won't be going to school any time soon on his own it's getting darker it's getting darker now in the morning for these school run to say it was a bit quieter than usual maybe even though there's a big stretch of road I think the only thing I can say is a few people have said there's been similar incidents maybe something gone Saturday and a few days before that now I don't want to get involved in here but I think the only thing I want to say is just be extra careful with your kids and Logan certainly won't be walking to school on his own any time soon he'll be doing it with his cousins or he'll be getting a lift to and from and it's just a bit of a second feeling to think that someone could potentially be out there looking to do that and this day and age you just don't stop and ask a child for a lift there's no good way there's no good way to explain it the way really and it's Logan okay I mean obviously he did the right thing and maybe isn't aware of the hullabaloo that's surrounding this now or maybe he is, how is he Sean? he's alright you know what I'll be honest I haven't really pressed him on it too much because I don't want him to I was on the phone to the police yesterday and he did overhear a conversation and I just explained to him there was one or two things it was someone being genuine and they were maybe of a generation that didn't think twice which is what you always hope, don't you always hope it was just someone that's seeing it was raining and stuff but then I'd say it could have been a really bad man type of thing and you've done the right thing and emphasise how proud they are that he didn't get in and I'm really sure he knows the change up now because as I say me and his mother they step in as well we've made procedures in to make sure that he doesn't go to school on his own anytime soon anyway and it's just people containing and panicking you know that's just the way we're going society wise it seems now unfortunately Sean okay well listen thank you for that and hopefully maybe the police will release any information they feel is appropriate if there's been any advances as you've indicated in the investigation but for now Sean thank you no problem all right take care yourself alright that is Sean there any further info on that 08 660 25000 if you're listening to us from the north of course you know because we're texting each other back and forwards all the time I don't need to tell you but I shall anyway 0035386 620 25000 e-mailer says this was sent last evening what's going on with the new lights at the pole star I've been in a traffic backup from Remelton for over an hour crazy well I kind of hung up yesterday just to have a look at this for myself because do you ever see those memes on social media and it's like on the left it's like how it started how it's going and towards the end of the show yesterday I was like oh you know what look we're only they're only new we'll give it a chance a couple of weeks they're tweaking here and there that was the how it started four hours later I'm sat on the Remelton road for well over an hour it took me two and a half hours with a toddler to get from Milford to Donegal Town two and a half hours all of that by the 40 minutes and the ten minutes either side was spent in traffic and there's no way around it too it just was not moving and then people thought they were clever and they cut up here and cut down there and it was just chocolate pure and absolute gridlock and I don't know if anyone was going home picking children up from school hospital appointment if there was emergency services and I'm genuine it will wait and see that's the approach I tried to take but yesterday you couldn't it can't keep going like that and coming in this morning as well traffic backed out as far as the canary I can only talk about the roads that I was on right so I'm not saying it the lights always need to be green for me but I put a post up just on social media to gauge what everyone else was experiencing in and around letter Kenny just to say again just to I do understand that if you're in shown if you're listening to us in killi bags or you're out in beautiful Dunlowe or Glentys or Ardra or wherever you happen to be or even the twin towns for that matter which have its own traffic traffic issues you might be saying he's not talking about these traffic lights again but we have to because tens of thousands of cars were caught up in them an awful lot of people lots of babysitters getting calls saying listen can you hold on to them for another half hour and on and on it goes I'm told now it's still very slow this morning at nearly 9 30 p.m. and it seems to have locked up yesterday at about four o'clock which I'm not sure is that school traffic is that is that is that drive time is that when people are leaving work I don't know but anyway we're going to get on to the council and see if there's any explanation is there further tweaking that can be done because once I cleared the remelting road and as I say I mean Hudson got to know each other really well on that journey but once I cleared the poll star roundabout I noted on the two lanes coming into letter Kenny on that side as well that it was the traffic was back out as far as the plan re again now I don't know what it was like coming in past the ATU or in that other road which someone will tell me that is it the Niels which road is it past the council offices Caroline is that the Neil T Blaney Road no past the council offices on to the roundabout the stuff is it could be if it's not I apologize but anyway you know that I don't know how that traffic is moving or how far it's backed up is it backed up as far as Corrie's or wherever I don't know I can only talk to the remelting road and the two lanes into it but I don't know how it can be tweaked to accommodate that problem but listen maybe it will be any views to that 08 660 25000 hi Greg I work on the remelting side of letter Kenny you finish work at 5pm usually on a bad day with traffic it could take me 15 minutes to get home yesterday evening it took me 50 minutes to get home with the traffic backed up all the way past Alcorns beside the golf course road unfortunately since the traffic lights were turned on the Polestar roundabout this has become a frequent event the traffic coming in from the wrong side of the town has become a nightmare in the evenings again I was sitting in it I know a lot of people a lot of people thought then right was nip up past Alcorns and we can avoid it that way no dice it was backed up on that road as well so there was literally nowhere to go and for great periods of time it wasn't moving and then you've got all the roundabouts at that part of town that just people sit on them they just sit on them there's no yellow boxes there's no traffic when people just sit on those roundabouts and even if there is a gap you can't move because that gets gaps filled by all the traffic anyway if you want to talk about that a bit more 08 660 25000 whatsapp syntax to that number watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com get ready for the most wonderful time of the year at sister Sarah's letter Kenny secure your preferred party night now with fantastic food and a festive atmosphere throughout December sister Sarah's proud sponsors of today's show do you want the very best for your pet at Gary's pet world letter Kenny we offer fantastic value on all your pet foods, accessories, grooming and pet care products we cater for cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and fish and open 7 days per week at letter Kenny retail park or you can browse and buy 24 7 at petworld.ie and we will deliver to your home treat your pet with a visit to Gary's pet world it's what they deserve on November 2nd and 3rd test drive the entire 2020 range along with a selection of Mercedes Benz certified used cars you can also view the Mercedes Benz the all electric EQC CLS AMG 53 CLA Coupé A Class Saloon and the all new GLE book your test drive at testdrive at connelly.ie or call into us today on November 2nd and 3rd at letter Kenny golf course full drivers license required on day of test drive CLS AMG static display only easy living furniture's October first sale has been extended but must end Sunday absolutely everything reduced including sofas, dining, bedroom and mattresses final reductions for the last few days while stocks last and remember there's 0% interest refinance available so the decision is easy visit easy living furniture present link retail park October first sale must end Sunday are the signs of aging creeping up on you are you not happy with the way you look or feel at letter Kenny medics private clinic we're here to help you offering Botox anti-wrinkle injections derma fillers skin bio injections botox treatment for grinding and clenching teeth hyper hydrosis that aids excessive sweating let our doctors help bring back your confidence and look after what is important to you to see what real results really look like book your immediate appointment with no waiting times at letter Kenny medics.ie letter Kenny medics we listen if you want to talk recently engaged and planning your wedding episode the encourage autumn wedding showcase takes place this Sunday October 28th from 12 till 6pm come along and view our stunning wedding venue and meet with the dedicated wedding team at encourage hotel Ghidor a texter says traffic back to lurgie brak school coming into letter Kenny this is a joke they say not a funny one is it that far back wow morning Greg traffic back as far as mcdade's garage disgraceful in the morning says another listener there why are the irish paying 100 euro more to refugees than any other European country to a country that isn't even a full member of the EU tell me those lights are actually Elon Musk's row of satellites I'd be more interested in their purpose and their purpose is sorry that's obviously a commonly had in their show their purpose is to provide internet where you can't get internet if you are stuck up a back road that it doesn't get serviced by internet you can get a satellite dish and he will through Stalin company provide that satellite connectivity for you hi Greg I think the endgame freeze rail now is to raise it to the ground leave it uninhabitable and ethically cleanse the Palestinians from it for good hunting them to Egypt or Turkey or just any country for that matter then they will annex it like the golden heights and within a few years there'll be more than enough room for hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers to reside there and the USA will aid them in their unconscionable malevolence genocidal ambitions and crimes against humanity says a listener just looking at some of the images of what's left and this is only a couple of days into what they plan to do it's shocking what's there what's happening there Brian Hanley is CEO of alliance for insurance reform and joins us on the show now good morning to you Brian good morning right okay so a significant protocol is being signed in tell us a little bit about this and how it will benefit us I suppose so the protocol signed between the alliance for insurance reform and the Gardie and indeed insurance Ireland and the Gardie on behalf of its members will provide a new process for the reporting of suspected insurance fraud to a dedicated Gardie office to which will address this and I think what we're hoping is that this will provide for a more consistent and coordinated approach to dealing with insurance fraud claims and one issue of that before you go on to was and this came out during one of these eructous committee meetings really the insurance industry wasn't investigating potential fraud as such and what is every way to balance their books or for expedience or whatever it is they were just settling or not referring as many as they possibly could to the guards and of course then who picks up the tabs for these payouts it is us now that's going back a couple of years now I think in fact it was Deputy was doing the questioning at that time so what are they going to be compelled or expected to do going forward in that regard well I think that that's one of the big the big asks again today that needs to be addressed because we do hear insurers coming out and claiming maybe as much as 20% of cases could be fraudulent or exaggerated and yet the evidence as you suggest is that they're not adequately resourced so one of the things that we're saying is they can't they must stop settling suspect claims it's a short term but the long term benefit is then deprived of us and them in terms of dealing with those and sending the message that they will be challenged and the other the other element as you rightly pointed out is that they need to adequately invest in their resources I mean if you look at last year in 2022 there were 18,000 personal injury cases for claims and the Central Statistics Office found that there were only 98 insurance fraud cases brought so there's a huge disparity and look like everything I'm suggesting that the amount of insurance fraud that probably goes on is higher than that number but I would suggest it's probably a good deal less than what the insurers are saying when they cite it as get one more reason why your premium can't come down yeah and it's the transparency as to how much resources of their own the insurance companies will put into investigating this I have in the past because at the end of the day A we pick up the price the tab as I said earlier on but B realistically the under resourced Guard D can end up being over burdened with you know every claim that's in any way suspicious being sent to them they don't have the resources to investigate it is this going to slow the whole process down do you know what I mean like there's lots of like really how deep are the insurance companies pockets in signing this protocol I need to be pretty deep I suspect that there's quite a number of insurers that don't properly investigate these these claims at all my senses if they were doing it they'd have told you already and so on that basis I think one or two are quite active in this area and do invest resources do challenge things I'd say a majority certainly don't but and while it is an accounting exercise in some respects in the short term and they say it's cheaper to settle that certainly isn't a long-term solution and sent to the wrong message and will cost them and us more over an extended period of time it's not just in car insurance too it's you know defamation claims or whatever it might be as well right we had this thing that sounded more like a James Bond film than anything else the the book of quantum it's to be replaced by judicial guidelines what's that about yes so this is something that was introduced as part of I suppose a wholesale reform of the insurance sector in Ireland and the book of quantum essentially had a list of the awards for particular injuries however if the the categories were really quite broad and discretionary and so that was replaced by the judicial guidelines in 2021 which has a far greater number of different categories and different levels of awards which means that the injury better aligns with the award and what we have seen is that the awards that are coming out now under the judicial guidelines are some 40% less than what they were under the book of quantum which really better aligns with what you get in other countries as well that comes then you know in addition to the reforms of PIA which has also brought changes we would see generally speaking as well that there's 40% reduction in the volume of claims so if you're seeing a reduction in the volume of claims and you're seeing a reduction in the size of awards the missing piece is to see a reduction in people's premiums whether that's public liability or otherwise and the last piece I should mention of course was the recent Lee commenced changes to the duty of care which again changes the insurance landscape in Ireland and makes it a much fairer claim on which to do business. The issue we have here and this is why we have to stay on the backs of the insurance companies here is because if all of this works out well it's like Turkey's voting for Christmas here because you know insurance companies there's more transparency here in terms of the money they're taking in versus what we're paying for premiums but also too the Irish insurance market could look more attractive for new entrants okay and if you have a bit of a cosy cartel and I don't mean that in literal terms because of the potential legal implications for it but I mean in terms of a small group of people operating insurance in this country in a very competitive way against each other I'm sure you know you could see others enter the market there we've already seen Revolut coming in for car insurance and what have you so you know we I think that means we really have to make sure we're keeping the insurance companies to the pin of the collar because everything really is in their favour not to go as far down this road as we'd like them to Absolutely I mean I think it's utterly incumbent on the government to hold insurers feet to the fire to pass on some of these savings because the judicial guidelines weren't written solely for the benefit of insurance companies they were written for you and I and for everybody else that's listening so it's really important that they do put the government does put pressure on insurers to pass on some of these savings and you're absolutely right it's a far more attractive insurance market in which to do business with the reduction in the volume of claims the changes in the law and the reduction in the size of awards and the real tests here are lower premiums and more companies in the market that's how we'll know the success here isn't it they are the two key measures increased competition and a reduction in premiums and I think after all the changes and it's really been a whole of society ever whether it's the guards and this protocol or the judicial guidelines or the legislative changes supported by the opposition you know it's really time for them to play their part now and of course we'll also have to keep an eye on convictions or cases that have been brought by on guardish here kind of that's another a test really as to the enforcement of this absolutely because we don't really want a situation whereby the only real measure to try and reduce fraudulent claims is also talking about it and people being fearful of being caught out the reality is if there are genuine fraudulent claims people have to be seen to be found responsible for that absolutely I mean I think it needs to become more socially unacceptable I think the vast majority of us would never consider you know bringing a fraudulent claim and so on but I do think perhaps you know it needs to be that it's not accepted that we don't just let it pass or it's okay to say sure isn't he grand he's after getting a few bob himself that day is gone because that it that impacts on your premium and mine and on the local corner shop or sporting group so we do need to see and it is I appreciate there's a degree of resources that needs to be invested but if we're paying the into the medium and long term for everyone's benefit then they do need to be investigated and we do need to Christ off and we are a particularly small market so that's why we have to be particularly you know good on these things so that the likes of your soft play area and your sports club and your festival can actually get insurance to run these events that's just it exactly we have to and I think we have come a long way in that regard and I think people are beginning to hear about it and you've mentioned that we have new incumbents in in motor insurance coming in including insurance from South Africa but we haven't seen anything yet in the area of public liability and there are organizations of different sectors up and down the country crying out for cover or increased competition so that we have more than one person to go to to get a quote yeah do you have to be can you answer just a general insurance question I'll put it to you and see see if it's in your wheelhouse so to speak I got a message is from Revoluto might as well say it and it says it said to me apply for car insurance right so I was sitting watching telling us all right I'll do that and then I've never had any issue with car insurance before getting car insurance no claims no points no nothing like that there and it come back and says you're not eligible for a quote I can't understand why that might be everything's pretty normal now if I contact another insurance company I have to inform them now even though I was just messing about my app I actually really have to inform them that I've been declined an insurance quote is that something we have to be careful about I think that's probably something you alluded to in your question it's probably something that's a little bit outside my jurisdiction but definitely worth it worth asking insurance I look what the pros call there is because I can't imagine if it's happened to you I'm not sure it's happened to others yeah and again you know as I say I just note that when you look for a policy they do one of the questions they ask you is have you been declined and I suppose theoretically I have but anyway okay it's probably worth something checking out in case it works against my god knows there's enough doing that already take care of yourself Brian Brian Hanley CEO of Alliance or Alliance Alliance for Insurance or Reform 08 660 25000 WhatsApps and texts to that number of course and back with our next guest in the studio I believe after these or local authorities don't risk getting stranded and don't put life at risk visit rsa.ie from the Road Safety Authority less litter less waste and better recycling for Ireland for more visit return.ie do get a move on Ford bring on tomorrow TSNC supply at participating dealers until November 12 visit Ford.ie for details a visit to Rossview Business Park in Etter Kenney is a must this weekend where Donegal Tile Center together with Rossview interiors are having a mega three-day sale this Thursday the 26th Friday the 27th and Saturday the 28th there'll be wall and floor tiles at less than half price vanity units from 180 euro and freestanding baths reduced to 799 get a massive 40% discount of real leather sofas corner suites are from 990 euro dining sets from 790 and there'll be huge savings on occasional furniture so come along this weekend to Rossview Business Park just off the Polestar roundabout and pick up a real bargain Highland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport where you can now fly daily to London Heathrow with Air Lingus and connect via Heathrow destinations worldwide including Boston New York and more OK spells of hazy sunshine will occur through the morning and well into the afternoon rains likely during the evening or early night high temperatures 10 to 12 degrees in moderate to fresh south-easterly winds OK now we promise to keep you up to date with any progress or otherwise in the campaign for improved services for our children and young adults and that's what we're doing right now Joe Corkery special needs parents network is back in studio with us Joe thanks for making yourself available it's really appreciated the group was formed representations were made and a meeting was secured and held and at that meeting you got a good audience you felt you were being listened to the HSE committed to respond within 30 days and they've done so and that's why we have you back in for this update OK so what was the response from the HSE so we at the meeting on the 16th of October with the heads of the CH01 HSE and the TDs we presented our report which is the stakeholder impact of the CDNT crisis to the audience there and we presented for emergency interim measures now this report was used, created this and it was drawn from real people's experiences that were invited through the Facebook and other outlets to participate so this was the needs, the wants and the reality of parents and caregivers of children with special needs we had 300 responses to a survey we also engaged with over a dozen schools just to know what their needs are because obviously it's important for children to have therapy to be able to access their educations and there's some fantastic work going on in schools and they need support too we also engaged with a lots of individuals that work within the HSE who can see the impact like GPs, Public Health and we also spoke with some individuals within Latter-Kinney Hospital who see the impact of it as well the four areas then that were identified will take them one at a time the first one and its response so the first one was I suppose our most critical we asked for a pathway for children who need essential equipment for the HSE in the absence of any therapies so there are a number of children around the country, a decent number of children who are in wheelchairs who require standards who require walkers, who require splints essential equipment also I would include in that communication devices children who have no voice use a communication device to communicate and communicate their needs to be able to integrate functionally with families and friends and their schooling so we asked for the HSE to respond to us within one week with a pathway for children to be able to access those equipment because I suppose we were in a void we had no services and I suppose I'm a mother of a child who relies on quite a number of pieces of very expensive equipment, critical equipment and I didn't know how to access that and there are many like me and there are a number of complex children around the county who we spoke about in a report who really urgently need that pathway Up until now too there were groups of not groups actually, there were individual families banging their heads against the wall in frustration seeking this type of equipment getting the same answers back hoping that there will be another response in three weeks hoping there will be another response in four weeks and on and on it goes in some cases the children will be outgrowing the equipment or becoming non-functional for them or never have access to them again when you come together this is how these things are achieved it's brilliant in that regard but anyway third commitment, a senior physiotherapist will complete the reviews and adjustments of the home based equipment for children who meet the P1 criteria for such equipment and they once say that CDNM and senior physiotherapists will complete this via overtime week commencing 30th of October and it will be carried out at the millennium court HSC premises in Ledger Kenny and all the child's family home where it's not practical to bring equipment to a clinic setting that seems like a clear pathway that seems like a clear pathway and I suppose it's measurable we'll see it over the next couple of weeks as to whether it is happening on the ground which is what we really are going to measure success on in this response from the HSC which we received within seven days so it's absolutely fantastic they also refer to the redeployment of staff from other areas where staff are in existence so that they can prioritise the highest needs so talk about how does that work so human resources are scoping the redeployment of staff from primary care to assist with special cohorts of children identified with prioritised equipment so what does that mean in real terms? we have come across a number of cases where families have two children one of them has a child with complex needs one of them has child with complex needs and may be completely non-verbal another child has a need which may be a slight lisp or maybe mixing up their S's and their or's or whatever it may be those families are saying to us my child who has this not the speech impediment that maybe doesn't have a huge impact on their life or their function or their education has six appointments between now and Christmas and a child who is completely non-verbal and is within a CDNT team has nothing and is getting no contact and we have no hope of an appointment any time within the next 12 months and we're seeing a bit of a disconnect there and I suppose as Special Needs Parents Network we're concerned that the most the children who urgently receive the care with the greatest needs are not being prioritised and we're not pitching one group against the other that last time what's more difficult to make up as well and even if there's a consistency between the services of Primary Care and the Children's Network Disability Teams if we can see consistent level of service that would make us very happy so that was one of our and I suppose another thing is we're doing a lot of recruitment and we've seen radio ads they're really working and stepping up on recruitment which is fantastic to say but we're going to need experience in the teams to support those new employees so we feel that and I think too the minister responsible stood up in the door and go panels, I don't like panels, we need to get rid of panels right but we need those words and she's very very good and the words resonate but we need those words to actually come into reality so you want rid of panels, we want rid of panels but you're the one who can actually make these decisions what are you going to do about it we don't need sympathetic ministers or ministers of observation and I mean this with absolute respect we need ministers that are actually saying right okay we need this is how we're going to do what I believe we need to do and not sort of have this constant thing oh I'm trying and I'm banging my head I'm running out of leaving meetings and banging my head with the civil service we don't need to hear that we just need to hear what actually is happening and how it's going to happen Absolutely, how we're measuring success as a group are our children seeing success on the ground right so we've done one area or two areas so we've done two areas so the first area I will say what we're seeing is a real genuine collaborative effort between parents you can see how that might work and we've parent representatives in each area that are working as well towards all these goals to try and support the children within CDNT teams so we have to commend that effort and this is a two page letter in response to our emergency measures and we're really really encouraged Private therapy providers are going to be engaged this is something that was talked about right from the get go yeah well I suppose again our intention is that children receive support and therapy as soon as possible you know this is a time sensitive issue for lots of children and if the therapy can't be provided through the HSC then maybe another delivery model needs to be assessed and you know there are resources that are working out there privately many of them are exit to see employees you know so we need to maybe look to see can we use those and the minister said that she has millions upon millions of unspent money because there is issues with recruitment and that could be that could be recommissioned but again we need to see how that money is going to get to parents and when it's going to get to parents so that they can continue with with private if they need to but also the private is made available to them I can't believe where time is going so quickly so what else so then the last emergency measure so emergency emergency measure number one we've heard back within seven days and there has been a genuine attempt to you know to try and provide that pathways we're very encouraged by that now we need to see action on the ground we've had three other emergency measures we're waiting to hear back from them before the 24th of November so we'll wait patiently for that and the last emergency measure being support for schools because there's amazing work going on in schools like TG Carr were at a school in Falkara yesterday demonstrating and you know illustrating the amazing work going on for children in schools with very little services and support from the CDNT teams I suppose as a group one of the things I wanted to mention as well Greg if it's okay with you yesterday there was a launch within the HSE of a roadmap for service improvement for the children's network disability teams 2023 to 2026 and so as there is an acknowledgement from all areas that the systems are struggling there's over 16,000 children in this country waiting to access these teams that are already struggling and many children within these teams are not getting the services they need so you know we're all driving in the same direction and our destination I guess is you know better services for our children but we really want to see that sooner rather than later we can't wait for equipment so we need to look at other options so there's a whole cohort of parents out there listening to this or you know grandparents or relatives who are thinking gosh I wish I could get into one of these teams because I'm sitting in no man's land so you know all of this is working towards all children who need these services and as well as this too they have to look at how recruitment is being done how qualifications are being recognised how positions are being advertised all of that kind of stuff so that's the back end stuff I would say and then this is sort of mixing and messing with the front end stuff that's what you exactly because there's a short medium and long term solution to this and we're kind of talking about the short now now the minister has recognised what seemed to be a lot of the issues as did the Simon Harris but again it is but we again we need action to back up those words and we will give as much credit as is required here on this show as well do not get me wrong right Joe listen thanks for coming you can give us an update everyone's on Facebook or whatever and it's good for them to hear it out through the radio as well so they know what's being done and progress is being made and it's a cautious welcome at this point and we'll see where we go to from here Joe Corkrey of the Special Needs Parents Network battling the traffic to get up to the mountain top we'll be back with more on the 90 loon show after the news and obituary notices it's almost the season to indulge secure your staff party or get together at sister Sarah's letter Kenny Christmas party nights now available to book on 9 1 2 2 2 3 8 sister Sarah's our proud sponsors of today's show prime record exports and leisure supporting you with the right footwear hookah trainers have you tried the hookah sensation yet hookah provides comfort support and shock absorption which makes them a good choice for frequent runners and walkers or anyone whose job requires standing for the majority of the day for support or pronation try the Arari 6 for maximum cushioning try hookah bond I8 check in store or shop online at bmcsports.ie step into our safe-sized experience prime a kormick sports a public interest message from Donegal County Council householders and building owners in the 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 Donegal County Council protecting your environment there's only one thing as good as a two-way holiday and that's looking forward to one so get next summer 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 two-way 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 two-way live happy season sees apply how would you like to go on the holiday of a lifetime then why not join us for the Highland Radio Hooli in sunny Saloon spend seven nights in the sun with some of Ireland's top entertainers including Robert Mazzell, Jim Devine Margot, Claudia Buckley and many more with live music all day every day staying in the beautiful four-star Sol Costa Geradot hotel this is a trip not to be missed book now by calling Country Music Tours on<PHONE_NUMBER> or email info at countrymusictours.ie we'll see you in sunny Saloon live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio news good morning it's Donna Marie Dottie with the news at 10 o'clock it has been revealed that a number of ambulances in Derry could not reach the scene of the emergency increase last year because of a real pertaining to visas paramedics born in a different country could not reach the scene of the emergency increase as their visa had put up at it Phinegale Senator Emer Currie told the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly about the Elk-Migelvan ambulances the incident was part of a wider issue surrounding the difficulties of registration and visa regulation for healthcare services especially those near the northern Irish border tensions were high in the doll last night after Health Minister Richard McLaughlin had letter Kenny University Hospital Sinn Féin deputies Padre McLaughlin and Pierre Storty deferred the issue last week after the minister didn't turn up or give any notice Deputy McLaughlin said the minister needs to set a date to visit letter Kenny something he told the health professionals who wrote him a letter outlining their concerns that he would do he knows that they've asked him to come to Donnygall urgently to meet them I think he said something today about in due course he would come to Donnygall he can't even come into the doll chamber I just think it's the utmost disrespect being shown for the people of Donnygall that here we are for the second Tuesday in a row and we do not have the minister for health we have no indication if he will be in letter Kenny anytime soon Deputy McLaughlin that tomorrow Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullenan will visit letter Kenny University Hospital and meet the patients who are suffering at the persistence of these problems it does smack of arrogance here that the minister has two weeks in a row decided not to come before the doll and listen to what myself and Poetic McLaughlin have to say and it's not arrogance towards me or Poetic it's actually to the people of Donnygall it's to the people tomorrow morning who will be still in chairs or in trolleys in the A&E in letter Kenny it is the people who have received notification over the last number of miles that their treatment has been postponed once again it is the people that are wondering will they ever get that appointment the government has been urged to intervene and prevent strike action in Toosla escalating admin and clerical staff at the child and family agency are starting a work to rule action today in a dispute over job evaluation schemes the scheme would ensure employees are not forced to take on work outside and leave for the spokesperson as Shanahan says they'll be forced to escalate their action if the issue isn't resolved for some members in Toosla who are in clerical and administrative roles they've been instructed not to carry out the work of other colleagues in their absence not to undertake work in and respect of any vacant post or work associated with the Toosla reform program it really is regrettable that the union has had to take industrial action it doesn't. Members of the jury for letter Kenny courthouse have been told they're no longer required to be in attendance the notice stands for today and for the rest of the week the courthouse has apologized for any inconvenience caused. It's been a busy period for the all weather iron moor or an ally volunteer crew as they've responded to three medical evacuations in the last four days on Friday Monday and just yesterday patients requiring medical support where they were then met by an ambulance for further transfer to letter Kenny University Hospital in a statement iron moor or an ally Coxway and Jimmy Early said the crews are glad to be able to assist the community with this vital service. The DA is warning a number of scams on Facebook claiming that some lost luggage is for sale a number of accounts have appeared online. Stephanie Rowan reports one of these very realistic accounts on Facebook claims that every three months the warehouse at Dublin airport overflows and they have to sell luggage they can't return. It claims the bag and all its contents are only two euro. It even has plenty of comments underneath with apparent happy customers and some pretend questions from potential buyers but the DA says there's no such thing as lost luggage sales and is urging people not to engage with these accounts. It says the accounts have no association with Dublin airport but the DA is warning a number of people to report them to META. Looking to the weather it is now clearing from the mist and fog that was in place this morning there will be spells of hazy sunshine and that will occur through into the afternoon highs of 10 to 12 degrees in moderate to fresh south eastern winds. That's all for now the next news update is at 11 o'clock in the meantime keep up to date with all the latest local news on our website theobituarynotices.com for myself and the news team. Good morning The obituary notices this Wednesday morning October 25th the death has taken place of Mick Leach Fortwell apartment lower main street letter Kenny and formerly of Balivore County Meath removal from the eternal light chapel of rest Karen Namuga mountaintop letter Kenny today at 3 o'clock going to JJ McNamee's home at 32 the cottage's drum keen funeral from there tomorrow at half past 10 going to St Patrick's church drum keen for 11 a.m. rakeway amass interment will be in Balivore cemetery County Meath with date and time to be confirmed donations and lieu of flowers if desired to the Dunny Gull hospice the death has taken place of Paddy McLaughlin with a Lema Todder Glangard Paddy's remains are opposing at his home funeral mass will take place this morning at 11 a.m. in St Patrick's church O'Houghly Mallon followed by burial in St Mary's graveyard like Mallon family flowers only donations if desired to the National Ambulance Service care of any family member the death has occurred funeral mass can be viewed live on church services dot tv family time before the funeral this morning family flowers only donations if desired to the Dunny Gull hospice care of any family member the death has taken place funeral mass can be viewed live on church services dot tv family time before the funeral this morning family flowers only donations if desired to the Dunny Gull hospice care of Con McDade funeral directors the death has occurred of Joanna Given Hillhead Ardraa remains are opposing at her home today from 1 o'clock until 10 o'clock funeral mass at 12 a.m. tomorrow in the church of the Holy Family Ardraa followed by private cremation house private please from 10 p.m. to 1 p.m. family flowers only please donations if desired to the Purr Farmers Association care of Derek McCabe funeral director or any family member the death has taken place of sister Maureen Boyce Holy Faith sisters late of Downing's Dunny Gull California and Ireland opposing in Holy Faith Convent Glastneven this afternoon from 3 o'clock followed by removal to the Convent chapel at half past 4 funeral mass tomorrow morning at half past 11 followed by burial in the Convent cemetery the death has taken place of Neil Doherty Thornhill's Sligo and formerly of Bunkranna County Dunny Gull the mass of the resurrection will be celebrated this morning at half past 11 in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Sligo funeral mass Cathedral dot i.e. burial will follow in St Patrick's Cemetery Skardon Strand Hill Road Sligo family flowers only donations in lieu if desired to Northwest Hospice for family information and for more details regarding wakes and funerals please go to HighlandRadio.com with Unpust that's not a problem you can set up a safe spot for us to put your deliveries when you're not in or rearrange delivery to your local post office and if something's not right you can quickly return it with a collection from your door or drop at your local post office online shopping made easy with Unpust Unpust for your world I just want to make a clarification to one of our obituary notices if that's okay the death has occurred in the Dunny Gull Hospice of William Bradley 52 Dr. McGinley Visitor Villa's letter Kenning remains reposing at his late residence from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today Tuesday so sorry that was yesterday but also today Wednesday Rosary Tonight at 9 p.m. now funeral masses tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in St. Union's Cathedral Letter Kenning with burial afterwards in Newlake Cemetery so that's the death has occurred at the Dunny Gull Hospice of William Bradley 52 Dr. McGinley Villers remains reposing at his residence today from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Rosary Tonight at 9 p.m. funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock St. Union's Cathedral Letter Kenning with burial afterwards in Newlake Cemetery more details on the obituary notices on our website highlandradio.com now to some of your comments I work 9 to 5 Greg so to avoid all the traffic stress I'm sure to be in town for 8 a.m. I don't leave until 7 p.m. right okay so you're effectively an extra 3 hours in town Greg the problem I see at the poll star is that the lights change immediately red as you're going around no warning amber light to alert you they're about to change I had to stop yesterday a red light and the person behind me blew me out of it and although the poll star lights were off at 7 a.m. this morning but we're working at 6 a.m. so something may have happened but traffic as bad as ever seen going into town this morning half an hour it was taking people to get from the back of the traffic up Lergy Brack through traffic lights this morning at rush time Greg the remote and road into town is just horrendous we don't have very many options to get into town apart from woodlands or mountaintop which is also becoming busy too indeed and everyone's trying to find their own little route but eventually everyone gets stuck behind the bottleneck I'd love to know who designed the roads out past the poll star such a waste of money even the dogs on the street knew what happened what needed to happen out there to widen what was already a bottleneck into the town that would have solved all traffic congestion entering or leaving the town and puts me in reminds me of a gentleman who rang the show as the works were ongoing and I think he got married in the late 70s and he was late for his wedding why because he got stuck on the four lanes on his way to the wedding in the 70s good morning Greg well that was 15 million euro well spent cycle lanes out to the clanry that will never be used be in extra lanes that would have eased traffic congestion there but you see there's no point having extra lanes coming into a bottleneck it's the roundabout that's the bottleneck so you could have 10 lanes but there just be 10 lanes of shore to traffic jams with the same amount of cars in them the bottom line is the planning authority has failed the country as they have allowed too much development to letter Kenny town and they do not have the space now to put in enough road space to allow all to safely travel in and out where is the plan to make provision for emergency services to travel at peak traffic times another high Greg after two years construction and millions of euro the road is no different for the motorist the only difference is the bike lane and footpath should have left it the way it was and put the money towards a new bridge well it the in fairness it was about safety there was an awful lot of instances on that road the centre concrete structure was put up there for safety reasons as well and the roads I mean they're designed to be narrow often to slow traffic down so in terms of why that work was done much of it was to do with safety that's why there's a reduced speed limit and not necessarily it was never going to speed up traffic through the town because it all still has to go through the roundabout the only solution for traffic in letter Kenny is to build a bridge from the Lochside of remountant to Newton which would cut out all the traffic coming from west on a goal this is currently the last letter Kenny okay right let's take a break for the bingo numbers and ads and we'll be back with more in just a couple of minutes the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio it's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio it's Wednesday the 25th of October you're playing on the blue sheet the reference number is s13 it's game number 43 the numbers are 25 43 63 40 72 14 37 41 85 and finally 83 phone your claim to 9104833 before it tonight leaving your name, contact number and the name of the shop who you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your NCBI Bingo information at HighlandRadio.com the decision is easy visit Easy Living Furniture at Crescent Link Retail Park October Fest Sale must end Sunday in our communities we all look out for each other if someone needs help we lend a hand when it comes to fire safety we make sure our own homes are safe but we should also look in on vulnerable or elderly neighbors to make sure they are safe too it could save a life stop fire by testing smoke alarms regularly and have an escape route planned keeping our communities safe learn more fire safety tips at firearland.ie brought to you by the Government of Ireland with only a few pay days to go until Christmas discover a new way of shopping this year at McElhenny's the McElhenny's Layaway Club is perfect if you want to pay in for your favorite products or gifts available in store and over the phone spread the cost of Christmas with McElhenny's Prepare for the merriest time of the year at Sister Sarah's Letter Kenny and your unforgettable Christmas party now with fantastic food and festive fun this December Sister Sarah's are proud sponsors of today's show and we are joined on the programme now by Sheena Dawn sleep expert and founder of CS Sleep good morning to you Sheena thank you very much for joining us good morning thank you for having me how do you rate hours I do sleep well but look I don't always sleep well it's one of the questions I'm most asked actually and I just want to say before I start huge congratulations to Donegal on the Lonely Planet yes we haven't gone to that yet but yeah it's a fantastic achievement thanks very much for that Sheena right so you know many of us struggle with our sleep and when the clocks go forward or back it's always the convo you know in bed or blah blah blah what that might mean but for all of us or many of us at the very least it does throw our bodies out to sink a little bit doesn't take some time for quite a few of us to adjust Sheena yeah I think that the clock change is one of those moments where you realise oh actually an hour does have a big impact on my sleep I think so many people are suffering from poor sleep there really is a huge problem in Ireland at the moment with people powering on basically and so this hour I think people can say oh that won't really impact me but it actually does what's happening at the weekend is we're moving from daylight saving back to standard time so at 2 o'clock in the morning on Sunday the clocks will go back to 1 o'clock in the morning and I think the reality is most people won't even notice it because now all of our clocks update automatically it could pass you by but then you'll wonder why for the next week or two either your children or yourself you'll just struggle to wake up at the same time you normally do and feel tired at the same time that you normally do and that's your body just recalibrating and before we talk about you know how we can help with that recalibration process I mean where you live it's different people have different experiences obviously with sun exposure it is at any given time of the year so in Ireland our experience might be different to someone living in Brussels for an example Yeah absolutely so the time the sun sets has an impact on when you feel tired because your sleep wake cycle is one of the things that helps sort of keep track of like get that into rhythm is sunlight so the later sun sets in the summer for example in Ireland what that can mean is people will stay up a little later now what I love asking in my business and I love asking just okay why so why does that matter so say you're going to bed on average about 20 minutes later if you live in the west which we do and that means then okay so you're going to bed a bit later why does that matter the reality is you have to get up at a certain time either for school or for work so society requires you to be up at a certain time so then it's really the compounding effect of always having a little less sleep so it's the consistency of always having less sleep that's what impacts like a night or two you might feel a little bit snappier or a little bit like you might reach for the wrong foods if you don't sleep well one night but it's consistently doing that over time can have a societal impact yeah because the morning time the trigger the morning appointment whatever it might be with start of work or school or whatever that's static but it's the the night time is the variable and we go to bed 20 minutes later than those further east so obviously everyone is a little bit different of course but averages yeah but if the sun is out like you want to be out you want to enjoy it have such quite a dark winter because of these clock changes we actually end up with darker evenings in the winter as a result so what sleep experts sort of worldwide are currently asking for is that we have more consistency in our clocks and we follow the seasons more instead of these two spikes in spring and in autumn and the autumn fallback actually won't affect you physically as much at all so a lot of people will feel even refreshed from it the real impact is in spring when the clocks spring forward so there's an average of about 40 minutes less sleep people get and just that short amount of time it seems crazy if you haven't read the research but that short amount of time can impact heart attacks car crashes people's mental health so that's what we're trying to do in the sleep world is to encourage no more changes but to stick at standard time which is what we're moving into this weekend the problem is we're coupled with Britain and Northern Ireland really and the resistance will come from the fact that we could have a situation where it's 8 o'clock in Lifford and 9 o'clock in Sturban but I mean you say we perhaps maybe should not necessarily talk about commerce and convenience and look at health and the health implications with the sleep professionals in the UK feel the same so they would be trying to keep to standard time as well so Ireland obviously will have discussions around alignment with our big partner I've never heard anyone in life speaking passionately about its retention do you know you hear out for farmers or it's for schools I've never really heard anyone speak with any conviction to say we really need to retain this practice of ours I noticed in your article one of the things you said were quite interesting there's a big challenge at the moment of people waking up at 5am now is that in just reference to a wake up in the middle of the night and then going back to sleep so my business is CS Sleep and we're conducting a national survey and thanks for referencing the article in The Independent of Barbara so we're doing a national survey at the moment which is on our website and we have I think about four or five hundred responses so far but also I've been running a sleep business for the last three years so my knowledge of people sleep in Ireland would be high and waking up at 5am is a type of insomnia and what is happening is people are waking up and then they're finding new habits to really encourage them to stay awake at that time so your body can create a new habit so quickly the temptation to grab the phone is so strong and I think the challenge for this weekend for those people is if you're actually waking up at 5am it's going to be four for a little while until your body resets so they call it social jet lag it's like the difference between when you wake up and when you need to wake up for society I find myself going through periods that's why I jumped out and I go through maybe a week or two where I wake up at 5 almost on the button and then it ceases then is there a trigger for that in people this type of insomnia? so you have sleep cycles going through the night so you have four or five sleep cycles and I think anyone with small children really knows I look at the monitor and it's amazing you do see I have Hudson's sleep cycles up until such time I don't know the words for it but you can almost know when he's about to start tossing and turning after appearing to not move at all for a couple of hours yes well the same happens with adults we just sort of forget about that when we're adults and don't give ourselves a little bit of leeway or a bit more understanding on it so what's happening is your sleep is the chances are you can be woken up more at that time but then it's what you do at that time is important so if you use that time to get up and exercise your body is naturally then going to go okay wake up time this is the time for me to get up and you can create that habit afterwards what isn't great is when people don't want to be awake at that time and they need to try and reset their circadian rhythm it's called so they need to try and figure out how they can get the sleep they need just in a time that works for them because a lot of people find they worry a lot more if they're awake at 5am because there's no other humans around to my ability to go back to sleep at that time is based purely on my level of contentment if I feel content and my mind is relaxed I will probably not straight off I know if I'm not, if my mind's racing that's it what's your views then on napping so my business is called siest sleep so a lot of people will know the word siesta which means nap so I'm a huge fan of naps and the reason is that's what I want to hear in our house is like a sin sleeping in our house is like a sin and it was like that too it was like oh did you have a sleep no? I wasn't asleep I was resting my eyes but anyway sorry I digress Sheena go ahead there's more and more research coming through on naps and I've been fortunate to study insomnia and circadian rhythms at the University of Oxford over the last few years and the research on naps is growing but one thing I always think about when I think of research is usually the research is coming from animal studies now the reality is you can't say to a mouse I need you to nap right I need you to nap now you just can't do it so as a result of that there isn't a huge amount of research about napping and I know that I just like to follow through maybe why isn't there the research and that would be one of the reasons but then I think the reality so napping people's lives are really complicated and messy and stressful at the moment and one of the most powerful things about a nap is first of all it helps you shut down your whole body so you're not looking at your phone your mind isn't whizzing and wearing and you're taking that moment out even five minutes so they call it a nano nap five minutes lying there lying on your bed lying the couch and just close your eyes and I think it can be really refreshing for you because you're just allowing yourself to recalibrate I think the important thing is to not let it move into then a full on sleep only because you won't feel tired enough in the evening again and then as you say routines it just becomes established sleep pattern broken into two effectively so just finally then people who will feel a bit discobobulated then after the clocks fall back we're just waiting for the share memes now on Facebook but anyway any advice to sort of try and limit as much as possible the disturbance to ourselves I would emphasise again that this change can often be quite a refreshing time for people so they can feel more energised so it's a good thing with small children and we love Babob's sleep they're a great consultancy in Ireland and they give really specific timing changes so it's just to move your clock really from today 15 minutes forward so move your children's naps their meal times their bed times their wake up times 15 minutes because it's Wednesday now so Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday the hour then when it goes back you've already taken into account of it so when I set up the business and we invented these weighted sleep products it's because we know that most people when they're tired can't follow routine and they can't change habits so we know the reality is most people will wake up on Sunday and go why are they waking up at 5 in the morning the clock's changed so just know that it's going to be what is that you're holding Sheena what is that sleep product this is a weighted sleep product it's one of the first sleep products that doesn't look medical so it looks but it's weighted it's research backed it's patented and we actually a lot of customers in Donegal so hi we have been selling these for the last three years on cssleep.com they're guaranteed Irish but they mostly products look or you know to help your knees like pre and post knee surgery they look like medical products and I wanted something that makes people feel really good because if you like something so use it more and it'll help you more as well even from an early age you can see the benefit in babies and young children a little bit of weight on them helps them sleep a little bit better there are products I'm not suggesting you put anything on babies but you know what I mean exactly exactly okay listen fascinating stuff thank you very much indeed I really appreciate oh by the way there is an article from Sheena it's independent you can get it online is it in today's paper or yesterday's paper which paper? Monday's paper so if you still have a copy of that read through that and it's available online as well of course and your website cssleep Sheena it's cssiestsleep.com and we are yep we're selling all across Europe and there's a lot of great reviews on there and if anyone has any sleep questions obviously me and my team can help alright thanks very much indeed take care of yourself Sheena done there sleep tight 08 660 25,000 whatsapps and texts watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com looking for the perfect Christmas party venue join us at sister Sarah's for a mouth watering Christmas party menu now available to book on 9-1-222-38 sister Sarah's out sponsors of today's show go full needle this Halloween and fill your trolley without a nightmare price get all the treats without the tricks, monkey nuts 2 packs for 4 euro carft costs on irish pumpkins prices from 99 cent and get 2 for 3 euro on scary jelly mix deadly go on have a Halloween without compromise go full needle today there's no hope for the happiness to spend the Christmas every other day keep yourself together that's how the new season comes and goes and clean the house straight to the room that's it hope you got the great food and a bit of joy and I'll see you in the next video see you on RGI punk I.E games, to cozy family moments, Grant has been bringing comfort to homes for over 45 years. With our biofuel compatible condensing boilers, heat pumps and underfloor heating, you can trust Grant to heat your home now and into the future. Think heating, think Grant. Visit grant.ie. Christmas shopping just got easier with Erwin Expert Electrical's Layaway Service now open. Secure those must have gifts from Ninja, Apple, Samsung, LG, Dyson or Sage with just a deposit. Simply choose items you love and pay for them in convenient installments that suit your budget. No stress, no rush, gift smarter with Erwin Expert Electrical, Letter Kenny and Bunkrana. At Evolve, we're all about connecting people. Our network is in use to Northern Ireland and we're the first to confirm biomethane 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 £5. Upgrade your heating today by visiting EvolveNetwork.co.uk. Exciting news from Nissan at iMotors. Introducing our special 2 for 1 offers for a limited time. Forges any 2 for 1 Nissan, including the Duke Petrol and Hybrid, the Cash Guy E-Power Hybrid and the X-Trail E-Power Hybrid and receive a complimentary 2025 Nissan at no extra cost. It's a 2 for 1 deal you don't want to miss or you can choose a €2,000 bumper trade-in offer. Also, 3.9% finance options or 0% finance for the Nissan Leaf, our eco-friendly electric vehicle. Don't miss out. Visit iMotors today in Letter Kenny and Mallon. Now flagged on the show yesterday that we were working on another story that is in the realms of health and it's off the back of the retirement of the dermatologist from Letter Kenny University Hospital. No replacement and the alternative being people going to Sligo for that treatment. But the dermatologist there, the consultant dermatologist there already has a huge workload so this is going to affect quite a few of you out there who are engaging with dermatological services at Letter Kenny University Hospital. As I say, we didn't want to go with it until such time as we had some further information. Now, what we have learned is that all GPs in Donegal now have been issued a letter from the dermatologist in Sligo and he's advising them of the following. I wish to appraise you of the state of the dermatology service in the northwest. You'll be aware that Dr. Podmore, dermatologist, is retiring. The hospital, and in fact I believe Dr. Podmore actually extended her service to facilitate as much as is possible before finally retiring. The hospital manager in Letter Kenny, well, shall I read this for Batten? Yeah, because, OK, well I have to. This is what a consultant dermatologist has sent out to a lot of people. The hospital manager in Letter Kenny did not think it worthwhile to let me know of the retirement. I found out indirectly, despite writing to him as yet, I've had no contact despite new patient referrals being redirected to me. Everyone knew this was coming. But what if any planning have management done in preparation for it? Delivering a dermatology service to the northwest in Sialtus is Sialtus responsibility, not mine. Delayed diagnosis, impacting melanoma survival, acne teenagers, scarred, eczema, psoriasis patients, lives destroyed because of an inability to gain access to care, rests on management shoulders. Donegal patients already make treatment decisions based on distance to travel. So dermatology, as you heard from the consultant himself, diagnoses impacting melanoma survival, which is life. That's a potentially life-threatening condition, acne, teenagers scarred, and so on. For years, dermatology in the northwest has been ignored, neglected, and quite frankly dismantled by management both locally and by Sialtus centrally, whereas there has been significant expansion in other regions. From the non-appointment by management of an excellent dermatologist in 2014, despite funding being in place to Goa University Hospital, being allowed to withdraw dermatology services from Roscommon and Balana with no consideration of the adverse impact on my service in the northwest, I have less nursing hours now than when I started 20 years ago. I've lost half my secretarial office space, I can't get adequate secretarial support, and I had no secretary in Sligo for an entire month last October. I can't even get an examination light installed to properly examine patients after two years trying. All this in the context of being single-handed with thousands of patients. This is the dermatologist in Sligo. Thousands of patients are waiting their first appointment, a wait time of over four years, 4,000 patients, only urgent cases are coming off that list. This has made recruitment into the region very difficult. Today, I have triaged over 100 new GP dermatological referrals on to the Letter Kenny waiting list alone. To date, there has been no instruction from sale to management what to do with Dr. Podmore's return patients, new patients, patients that require skin cancer follow-up, monitoring of drug treatments and prescriptions, many of which can only be written by a consultant. It is simply not possible for me to absorb Dr. Podmore's patients. What's happening to dermatology in Letter Kenny University Hospital today will soon be dermatology in Sligo University Hospital tomorrow. Ultimately, Galway University Hospital will have to care for all dermatology in the Northwest in the not too distant future unless something happens. This is the reality that now needs planning. At present, there is no assistance coming from GUH despite their significant consultant and NCHD expansion. Again, this is a failure of management, he says. I hope those consultants who've signed the new contract in GUH realise that they may be asked to work outside of the usual locations, i.e. work in Sligo. So we've got a number of numerous versions of this. By the way, those were the comments from a consultant dermatologist in the Northwest. Simply can't take on the workload that might now come their way because of the dermatologist in Letter Kenny University Hospital retiring a number of questions. How long was this retirement known of? Quite some time. What efforts were done to replace Dr. Podmore? What's going to happen now to return patients? What impact might this have on cancer diagnosis? What impact might this have on people with skin conditions that's going to be of severe consequence in terms of their physical and mental health? Again, unfortunately, to be bringing you another negative news story in terms of health, but as I say, it's something we've been working on and it's something we'll continue to work on. But I think by any measure, another very strongly worded letter there from a consultant working in the Northwest. Kathy Dunnehy is one of the authors in the Lonely Planet Guide and joins us now. Hi, Kathy. Good morning to you. Good morning, Greg. How are you? Great to have you on board. Right. Dunnehygall has ranked the only destination in Ireland as the fourth best region in the world to visit. What an amazing thing for us here. Yeah, it's kind of incredible, Greg. I mean, I think that there has been, I suppose, a lot of interest in Dunnehygall has been building. I know Dunnehygall tourism have been doing a lot of work on this too. I have been sort of quietly working on this for a while and was sworn to secrecy because Lonely Planet wanted to sort of, I suppose they want to have a lot of momentum behind this and keep it a secret so that when they do launch it to the world, there is a sort of a wow factor about it. And I guess there's no doubt about it. When Lonely Planet includes a destination in their guide and their guide for 2024, the first actual published guide since normal travel resumed again, Greg. So I guess you have to see that there is a wow factor about that because this is aimed at a global audience, not just a national audience. This book is also, it's sort of going to be like a keepsake book, you know what I mean? So I think it's always on the best seller list to have Dunnehygall in there. And it looks so beautiful. I mean, obviously I've written the words and talked about this place that is in my heart, 100%. But there are some glorious images in there. So Cathy, just to understand the process, is it external individuals then that would make this determination and then they'd contact someone like yourself and say, we have decided through our investigations that we want to rank Dunnehygall where it is, can you put it into words, what it has to offer? Is that your role in this? And if it is, what a responsible task for you, Cathy? Yeah, I'll take you back a bit there, Greg. This begins where Lonely Planet sends out to their travel writers and publishers and partners all over the world and they ask them for recommendations across the planet, literally, for the best experiences, the best place. What do they think is gonna be trending and really hot for 2024? Then those results are sort of pulled into Lonely Planet's best in travel team and they whittle that down and that list gets whittled down. And this year what they did was they wanted to ask a local, essentially, to write this. Okay, so they wanted to get feet on the ground. Someone who lives in Reeds and knows these places that they're talking about. So that's where I came in. And I did find this a really daunting task. Like I write for a living and talk about Dunnehygall, whittle that down to like less than a thousand words. I thought, where do I begin? Like the county is vast. There's so many beautiful places that I would love to mention. But you've got to try and for a global audience, you're trying to think of the top things. But also encapsulate the heart and soul of the place. So yes, it was very daunting. And I walked away from the computer more than once saying that I can't do this. This is too big because I feel this so strongly. I want to do a really good job when this is so close to literally my heart, you know? Our recognition as the coolest place on the palace in 2017, I always struggled to sort of articulate that and what that meant. And I don't know, maybe it resonated better around the world. I think it's far, maybe it's not, I don't know, but it feels more for more important or markedable that we are the only destination in Ireland and the fourth best region in the world to visit. Do you know what I mean? So I think it sort of blows the audience out a little bit wider compared to the coolest moniker. You know, that's a good point, Greg, because I think the coolest place on the planet, I don't know if Donegal people really think of themselves as cool. We sort of go, this is just what we do. But cool is up to interpretation. Like, I mean, you know. Yeah, maybe that's what, to outside, I think the public think, yeah, they're really cool, because we're quite laid back. And I know that I was on a film set recently and there were quite big stars on it. And what they said, one thing they said about Donegal is they kind of get left alone. You know, we're treated like the locals, but like, if you want to sit and have your pint at the bar, you are left alone. I think maybe that's cool. You know, that's the cool thing. But yes, this is a very specific drilling down by like a travel expert, you know, globally, like Lonely Planet, into regions around the world.  I do think it drills down into, you know, a real global audience with a reach there. That same work, cool, is wonderful. But this is why.   And now too, obviously, is to build on this and marketing for the next year really kicks in and comes into play and to capitalise as much as we can on this, Kathy. I think that's true. I think that's true, Greg. And, you know, there are lots of, there are lots of brilliant people on the ground, you know, working away and maybe they feel like they've been working away and we don't get the visitor numbers that, you know, other counties might. So I think this is time to, for them to really not sit back on their laurels and rest, but hopefully you build it and they'll come and you've seen people with tourism offerings all over this county, like, you know, I'm thinking of any adventures in the village, Hugh Hunter, Eco Atlantic Adventures, over near Luxwellia. And people like that doing great things, like off the beaten track cycling in Glen Bay. You know, there's just amazing people doing amazing things. So this is left in the lead and hopefully when people come to Donegal, they'll see it.  It's a wild in itself. It doesn't only talk for itself. It's purely wild with a big heart. Yeah, wild with a big heart.   I take myself off to Kodaf Beach or kind of go there on a Monday morning. And I might be the only person they're walking. Where in the world are you going to find that? You know? Yeah, it's remarkable too. And people are wild. Like, how is this place not got 4,000 people sitting on it or something? You do see those posts on social media from people visiting the area because you get this sense that you've discovered this as well, which I think, which sells the experience. And also too, I think really what we need to do with this as well, Cathy, is, yes, of course, maximise our existing markets. But because of the sort of global brand that is, that we're featured in here, is actually, you know, forge new markets as much as we can as well. But I think that there's a lot of efforts to do that. We can see, you know, Donegal Tourism, Donegal County Council and Shone Tourism really making big efforts, I think, to do that and being very imaginative in the way that they're doing that. You know, I think one thing that we kind of was big on was, you know, tourism and kind of in terms of sustainability and tourism. And they also looked at, you know, you made the point there that we're not over-touristic. And I think that was a very attractive thing, you know, that they found that, you know, some regions, you know, might be a bit jaded, but Donegal is certainly not.  And I think that's down to us, too. I think that's down to us that people can come here and meander around the place and be left alone.  If you want us to engage you, we will. We'll give you great food. We'll give you great drink. We'll sit beside you in a bar and have great conversation. But if you want to be left alone, you're left alone, too. And you can explore.  And it's a sort of soft touch tourism for the most part. And I presume that's what makes it so attractive. Yeah, I think you're right there, Greg.  And if you approach someone to talk, everyone's willing to chat. But you are left on your own. People are. And I think when people come here, they can totally engage with local people. They can dip in and out as much as they want. And they can, you know, go for the tourism products. They can go for the busy bar, but they can also go for the sunrise, hike up Eregal or somewhere where, you know, I'm the only plan, I think named that is one of their best hikes in the world. And I got the chance only this, only a few weeks ago, and I joined the Johnny Gull Camino and I did that sunrise hike at the top of Eregal. And we got the most perfect day with the most perfect guides. And as the sun rose and Don Louie Lake spread out before me, I honestly, you always, you feel like you're in heaven. It's breathtaking. It is incredible. It was absolutely. And, you know, it's some of the casual accidental marketing that goes on too. I mean, obviously during the summer, you know, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson was about, but even it kind of probably slipped under the radar a little bit. Last month, there's a guy in UFC, Johnny Walker, he's huge on social media. He's a great character. But he just was casually up and downings and he was on his TikTok and his Instagram and it looked beautiful and he spanned around. And, you know, as I say, the scenery looked absolutely wonderful. But that reach that he's getting, like, you know, we would pay influencers to try and attract people here. But I think some of that organic, natural stuff is what really, really works. And like literally hundreds of thousands of eyes were on that and who is to say what impact that might have. It's lots of little different things that seem to be building us towards this. And I just, the reason I mentioned that randomly is because he's huge amongst teenagers, young men, you know, a different demographic that often, if you look at what we try and target, it's not often those categories, maybe because they're not big spenders, I don't know. But anyway, my point being, my wider point being is that, is that sort of natural sort of advertisement, I think is invaluable. And it sort of works with the love Donnie Gaul and everything else that's going on, Kathy. Yeah, I think you're right, Greg. And sometimes these things can be a kind of a snow burn, like a build. So what you find happening is like people are working away behind the scenes in the tourism business and influencers and, you know, people, like me, you get to write at a national level about Donnie Gaul and my experiences of living here. You know, all of these things combine, I suppose, and then you get a moment, and then that moment sort of reaches its crescendo when you have, you know, like a day like today when Lonely Planner comes out and reveals it's best in travel for 2024, and Donnie Gaul is in that list, which is just, yeah, you couldn't buy that kind.  People need, people sometimes, to measure their own success, they need measures, which is often paying influencers. But some of our greatest advocates for this county are the likes of yourself, you know, with your social media posts and the writing work that you do, of mutual friend Noel Cunningham, of course, if Daniel O'Donnell, you know, Daniel O'Donnell and some, you know, the Brennan's, right across the spectrum that do it for the love of it. They do it because they love this county and it's that, and I think that has built something here, as well as having Star Wars here and all the other little different factors that are coming. And I've noticed myself, you know, lots of different faces. Donnie Gaul, still loads of tourists there and loads of different accents, you know, and the season is extending. And hopefully the Lonely Planet and the words that you're responsible for within it will further boost that profile on the world stage. No doubt, Kathy. Thank you, Greg. Yeah, it's been a great joy for me. I mean, Donnie Gaul is in my heart. But also, you know, to write for Lonely Planet, you know, I was one of these travel geeks, you know, as a younger person before my children came along and my wanderlust got definitely stopped. Before they ruined it all, like they do for us all. Yeah. And then I think I've got my, yes, I've not only got mine to adulthood, what do I do? I've another toddler. So that's why you're written off for another 20 years. But anyway, I'm just venting, Kathy. You'll be babysitting grandchildren soon. Don't worry about it. Don't get any notions. Yeah, I think you're right.  And we literally, you know, that went in, that went in the hiking bag. And it came all over the world. And as I talk to you, there's a spine of Lonely Planet Guides in my bookshelf. And, you know, for me to be as a writer, to contribute to an iconic guide like this is really... It's like a full circle moment, isn't it? Yeah. It's actually, it's anti-right about Johnny Gaul. So like, you know what, this is a pinch me moment for me as a writer. Box has been ticked left, right and centre. Cathy, listen, thanks so much for your time. I really do appreciate it. Caller says, please, please, please stop advertising our beautiful county. We'll be overcrowded and overwhelmed. Crowded beaches, busy roads, no parking, just stop. We've plenty of space to accommodate everyone, I think, all right. Take care, Cathy. Thanks for your time. It was always chat to you soon. Cathy Donahue, one of the authors there in the Lonely Planet Guide. Donnie Gaul externally selected as the fourth best, the fourth best region, which is a huge honour. Back with more shortly, the weather actually coming up. Make your Christmas party unforgettable at Sister Sarah's this December. Book now for the best Christmas party in town. See Facebook for menu and dates. Sister Sarah's are proud sponsors of today's show. Order your new 241 car at Highland Motors Open Week. Choose some Citroen, Dacia and Renault. Choose some diesel, petrol, hybrid or full electric. Choose some hatchbacks right up to seven-seaters and from an amazing commercial range. Choose your new 241 this week at Highland Motors, Mountaintop, Lettucekennie. Are you building a new home? Building requirements state that you must install a Radon barrier. At FF Radon Systems, we supply and professionally install the fully certified barrier. For more information, call Liam at FF Radon Systems on<PHONE_NUMBER>. The Moe is calling.  This November, unite to take on mental health, suicide, prostate and testicular cancers. Come together, grow together, raise funds, save lives. Change the face of men's health. Sign up at movember.com. This is an emergency appeal from UNICEF for children affected by the crisis in Gaza. Right now, hundreds of thousands of children are in extreme danger. They need medical supplies, shelter and clean water. UNICEF is on the ground in Gaza. Please donate now at unicef.ie. Thank you. Renault. Exceed all your expectations. Renault Megane E-Tech 100% Electric with 220 horsepower, up to 450 kilometers range and an electric bonus. Renault will match the 3,500 euro government grant when you buy a new Megane E-Tech 100% Electric. So save 7,000 euro on your new electric Megane today. Visit your local dealer to find out more. T's and C's apply, see Renault de Haillie. Highland Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport, where you can now fly daily to London Heathrow with Air Lingus and connect via Heathrow to over 80 destinations worldwide, including Boston, New York and more. OK, the weather forecast for today. Spells of haze is sunshine will occur through the morning and well into the afternoon. Rain though is likely during the evening or early night. Temperatures today 10 to 12 degrees. Paul Gillespie is a spokesperson for the Donegal branch of Diabetes. Good morning to you, Paul. Thanks for your time today. Good morning, Greg. Thanks for having me on. Right. Now, you've been putting this conversation off for quite some time, but presumably today is the day that you feel it needs to be had. What's the situation? Yeah, well, as you know back early at the beginning of this year, we raised a concern about endocrinologists. One arrived, I saw a second endocrinologist arrived, Timothy Kenny for adult care. He only stayed less than a month and left. But then there's now no endocrinologist in letter Kenny for close to six months. And I've been very patient over the last month because we were promised a meeting by Sean Murphy back since April and he kept kicking the can down the road. But now for the last month, we can get no information what's left from the hospital. I've just been on to the office this morning again. Keep saying Sean Murphy is going to ring us back. Sean Murphy is going to email us back. We're getting no interaction at all. And yet we have no endocrinologists, either adults or in pediatrics in letter Kenny hospital now whatsoever. So the crisis in letter Kenny is seems to be down to, there's something seriously wrong with management that they cannot attract staff. And then when they get staff, they cannot keep staff. But this also has to go right up the lane to Stiltia. Like why is Stiltia and the HSE allowing this to happen? Letter Kenny has been drawn into the ground. What's the consequences for the public in not having access to an endocrinologist? Endocrinologist. I was right, yeah. Well, type one diabetes is a critical illness like it's a life threatening disease. So you need to have a proactive care to make sure that your diabetes is kept under control, that you get to see an endocrinologist. Like the government guideline is that should be seen a maximum of six months apart. At the moment in letter Kenny, it was two years of a gap before the endocrinologist left. So, and even now, one of the comments from the Sean Murphy's office is that they have a registrar with an interest in diabetes now trying to run some of the clinics. But where's the governance? The governance has to be from an endocrinologist. But letter Kenny don't have an endocrinologist. So then, like as you say, there's no pump therapy available in letter Kenny. Pump therapy is seen as a gold standard for type one diabetes care. And it's just not happening. It is not available in the Northwest. Obviously, people need to be seen on a regular basis to see how they're faring with their medication, see if any adjustments need to be made and so on and so forth. Obviously, any delays in that can affect other organs of the body, eyesight and what have you like. The consequences of not getting timely re-evaluations, if that's the right way of putting it, Paul, have serious consequences. Are people, if they can afford to go and try it? Very, very serious. And like one of the main issues as well is your blood circulation and to your feet. And not a lot of issues with feet problems, critical with eyes as well, and then it can go on to liver. So like it's serious long-term consequences. Like diabetes is one of the things that both good, proactive care, then people's health can be maintained and they can stay out of it. Paul, I asked Tony Canavan about the endocrinologist, not Paul, but Tony Canavan. I asked him about the endocrinologist. I asked so many questions over 38 minutes, I can't remember all of the answers. But listen, we're gonna dig a bit deeper on this as well. And those, unfortunately, who need to see a dermatologist are in the same boat. No endocrinologist, no dermatologist. I don't know what to say, Paul, it's... Okay. I know that they really are. The management, I think that we definitely need a huge change in management. Whatever they're trying to. It seems most people, consultants, seem to think that it's not local management that they're banging their head against a brick wall. But anyway, listen, Paul, thank you for that. That's Paul Gillespie there. If you have a view on that, 08, 660, 25,000. With all the stories that matter across the Northwest, it's Greg Hughes on the 9 to Noon Show on Highland Radio. Okay, 11 o'clock, let's get a news update, and we return to Donemary Daherty. Thanks, Greg, good morning. The HSE have responded within the one-week timeframe to the first emergency interim measure proposed by the Special Needs Parents Network animating in Lederkenny last week. Four measures were put forward in total based on research conducted by the group, which consulted parents of children with additional needs, healthcare professionals, and schools. Measure one will see a pathway for children in need of essential equipment from the HSE in the absence of therapies, including splints, walkers, and communication devices. It has been revealed that a number of ambulances in Derry could not reach the scene of the emergency increase last year because of a rule pertaining to visas. Paramedics born in different countries could not travel across the border because their visa had prohibited it. Affinigale Senator Emer Currie told the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly about the Alt-McGalvin ambulances. Tensions were high in the doll last night after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly failed to be in attendance for the second time regarding the topical issue on the need for an external review at Lederkenny University Hospital. Sinn Féin deputies, Patrick McLaughlin, and Pierce Doherty deferred the issue last week after the minister didn't turn up or give any notice. Deputy Project McLaughlin says the minister needs to set a date to visit Lederkenny, something he told health professionals who wrote to him in the letter about letting their concerns that he would do. People are being warned about a number of fake Facebook accounts pretending to sell lost luggage at Dublin Airport. One of the accounts claims the warehouse at the airport needs to get rid of unclaimed luggage every few months. It says the bags and all its content will be sold for just €2. The DEA are warning people to not engage with the accounts and to alert Metta. And finally, it's been a busy period for the all-weather Aaron Moore or NLI volunteer crew as they have responded to three medical evacuation in the past four days. On Friday, Monday and just yesterday, patients requiring medical assessment were transported by lifeboard to Pyrton Port where they were met by ambulances for further transfer to Lederkenny University Hospital. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back again with the next news update at 12 o'clock. In the meantime, keep up to date with all the latest on their website, HighlandRadio.com. All right, thank you very much. Indeed, Don and Marie will be back with more shortly. Get ready for the most wonderful time of the year at Sister Sarah's Lederkenny. Secure your preferred party night now with fantastic food and a festive atmosphere throughout December. Sister Sarah's crowd sponsors of today's show. If you know the beauty and skincare product that suits you best, you'll find them at McGee's Chemist Lederkenny from moisturizers, cleansers and toners to day creams and night creams. McGee's have the top brands you know and love, like Longcombe, Clarence and La Roche-Posay. Also, Elizabeth Arton, Vichy, Nukes and many more, all at McGee's Chemist Main Street Lederkenny and online at McGee's.ie, for the best cost less. Businesses, order your gift vouchers for Christmas now from Bizprint the Printer's. Also, personalize calendars, Christmas cards, diaries, draw tickets and much more at great prices from Bizprint Portrait Lederkenny. See Bizprint.ie. Who's your man? I don't know with the constant interruptions. Wouldn't get them with Ireland's best broadband from Virgin Media. I meant you and it's gone. We need Virgin Media's super-fast, reliable broadband. 500 meg, now just 35 euro a month for 12 months. Can I upgrade you too? Switch today at virginmedia.ie or call in store. Virgin Media, it's playtime. Terms and conditions apply see virginmedia.ie subject to availability. Ireland's best broadband awarded by Umlaut, see virginmedia.ie forward slash proof. Hyundai's big offers continue at Hyundai dealerships nationwide. Test drive the 2024 Hyundai range, including the all-new Kona, Ireland's best-selling car, the Tucson and winners of World Car of the Year, the Ioniq 5 and the Ioniq 6. Avail of the big selection of offers when you book your Hyundai 241 model, Hyundai, a class apart. Your local dealer is Divers Hyundai Canal Roadletter Kenny, call 911-22-600. HSE Community Health Care, Kavan Dunigal, Lytrim Monaghan Slego, Children's Disability Network Teams, work to empower and support the children and families who use our services. Kavan Dunigal, Lytrim Monaghan and Slego are looking for newly qualified and experienced dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers and speech and language therapists. To work as part of our teams. Be part of our team in your area. Be part of their lives. For more information and to apply, please email b-o-r-i-e-g-e dot burn at h-s-e dot i-e. Since time immemorial, people all over Ireland have been settling for less at lunchtime. And every day, thousands of you make do with disappointing dishes and sad sandwiches. Well, that ends now. Introducing the Zinger chicken fillet more from KFC. More crunch from a crispy golden hash brown. More spice from a delicious Zinger fillet. And more sauce from burger dressing and super charger mayo. All packed into a tasty baguette. If you're looking to renew your car insurance, we have some of the past. Hang on a second. There's more to this ad. I forgot to mention the cheese. That's the limited edition Zinger chicken fillet more. A delicious baguette with a Zinger fillet, hash brown, cheese, burger dressing, and super charger mayo. Exclusively at KFC. And lettuce. It also has lettuce. Available till November 12th at participating restaurants only. All right, welcome back to The 9th Little Noon Show. A couple of things I want to mention. Firstly, my wife, Elizabeth Moore, in creve letter, can you happy birthday to you, Elizabeth, coming in from Willie and family. Due to last-minute cancellations, we at Highland Radio here have a single place available on our Lion King trip in Dublin. It leaves tomorrow Thursday, so you don't have much notice, but such is the last-minute cancellation scenario. The trip includes, by the way, if you're interested, this is for tomorrow. All you transfer is to and from overnight stay at the City North Hotel on a B&B breakfast, a great ticket to the show, and a shopping trip to Dublin City Centre on Fridays. Is this something that might interest you? Get in touch with us now on 07491 25000. We have a single place on our Lion King trip. It leaves tomorrow. All you transfers, your hotel stay, the City North Hotel, bed and breakfast as well, your ticket to the show, and a chance to go shopping in Dublin City Centre on Friday. Give Katie a ring 07491 25000 if you think you might be interested, and we'll see if we can sort you out. Would your sleep specialist recommend AD lamp lights for the winter months for depression? S-A-D, yeah, seasonally adjusted disorders, and a lot of people say they work for them. If you use lamps for depression, have they worked for you? Let us know. Hi, Greg, I was in Limerick on Tuesday. First time I went through Letter Kenny since the traffic lights at the Polestar roundabout. The only real delay was there and it's in and out through all towns between Carragot and Limerick City, unbelievable. OK, so they went from Carragot to Limerick City and the only real delay they had was at the roundabout there. OK, I get you. When you go for across the border procedure to Bali Kelly Hospital, get all the paperwork from them, then you're told to get a receipt from a shop to prove you were there. Is this a joke or what? Well, I'm told now because we've been engaging with the ombudsman on this for quite some time that that's now a thing of the past, that the HSE are giving a bit of latitude in relation to that. If that's not happening, please let us know or let the ombudsman's office know. They will back you on that one. There's a coffee morning in Cakesale in native to Donegal Hospice taking place on Friday from 10am to 1pm. It's in the lecture hall below the Presbyterian Church on the main street in Letter Kenny. On sleeping, my grandmother took her nap every day for 20 minutes and she lived to the ripe old age of 96, which is good to hear. Thank you for all your calls and comments. Keep them coming into us. OK, there's a webinar taking place to Mark Brain Tumor Awareness Week. Michael Farrell is brain tumour Ireland-bombed board member and former neuropathologist, and he joins us now. Good morning to you, Michael. Thanks for your time today. Good morning, Greg, and thanks for having me on the show. No, it's important. Now, it's from the 28th of October to the 4th of November, International Brain Tumour Awareness Week. And what is the focus of this week? And why is it important to have an awareness week for this area of health? Thanks, Greg. Brain tumours are relatively uncommon. They are not as well publicised in sort of newspapers and so on. As ordinary tumours such as colon and lung and breast and so on, those tumours are much more common. And obviously, then, as a result, get much more publicity. People with brain tumours can either do very well or have a really tough time. And it's really important that those patients who are faced with having a tough time, that their story is known, and that brain tumour Ireland can help them in every way possible that we can. It's a very, very difficult area from the point of view of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and I don't want to be portraying a doom and gloom sort of picture. There are many, many patients who do really well as a result of surgery. There's also a small group of patients for whom the tumour is life-ending in many ways, and they're the patients that need our care. I should add that when we talk about brain tumours, talking not just about brain tumours, we're talking about spinal tumours, and we're talking about children as well. And brain tumours are almost as common as leukemia in children. So it stands all age groups and many, many different types. There are well over 100 different types of brain tumours, whereas say for breast or for lung, there wouldn't be anywhere near that number of different types of tumour in those organs. It's a complex area. Yeah, it's complex, isn't it? And is that part of the reason why it's not talked about as much? You do find with more complex illnesses, with more variants, that they don't get talked about as much. And I'm not sure it's about how common or not common they are. I just think maybe, you know, when people find it difficult to articulate, not you professional guys, someone about the media or what have you, they kind of back away and go for the path of least resistance. I agree.  And as I tried to say, there are many tumours that are immediately cured with surgery, patients do really well afterwards. And on the other hand, if the tumours are not curable by surgery, radiative therapy and chemo therapy, people are frightened and people don't know who to turn to. Even family practitioners, maybe a family practitioner might see two or three people in a lifetime with a brain tumour. We only have about 500 new primary brain tumours a year in Ireland. So that's actually a very small number. So, you know, I agree that there is a lack of awareness and brain tumour Ireland, which is up several years ago, has been instrumental in trying to get the message out there. But look, all is not doom and doom and there are lots of support services available there for people with brain tumours. How are we doing in terms of research, Michael? You know, maybe earlier diagnosis, different types of treatments, non-surgical treatments, all surgical treatments for that matter. Is it an area that there is a lot of research in? There is. Just to say how we're doing, first of all, we're doing in European levels, we're doing very well. And the survival for people in Ireland with the highest grade and most malignant brain tumour, I think we're about fourth or fifth at the European list. We're way ahead of the United Kingdom. In terms of the surgery, surgical brain tumours carried on in court and in Dublin and the expertise is incredible. It's world-class. All of the neurosurgeons, both those centres are trained all over the world in big centres. Radiotherapy is top-class.  Research has been done in a number of different places, particularly the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. There's a dedicated brain tumour research unit in there that works closely with people in Beaumont Hospital. So we're not up there with the big sneezes like UCLA and Los Angeles and so on. But we're holding our own. And in terms of the treatment that the patients get, they're getting as good a treatment in Ireland as they are anywhere else in the world. Yeah, and I suppose much of the focus of this coming week is for those who can and many can, is to live well with a brain tumour and also about supporting those and I think particularly supporting parents who get what for them at that time is the worst news that their child might be affected or is affected, sorry, by a brain tumour. So talk to me about those two areas, Michael. So yes, in the individual hospitals, the children's hospitals, Cork University Hospital and Beaumont Hospital, there are dedicated teams of clinical nurse practitioners who are absolutely there 24-7 at the beck and call of the patients, their parents and so on to be able to provide all sorts of answers to questions that may arise. Some of the treatments are very difficult for the patients to take. Problems can be encountered and to have a nurse practitioner at the end of a phone or somebody in a brain tumour Ireland at the end of a phone is really, really helpful for those people who can be very frightened with the diagnosis and the treatments and the complications of the treatments. All right, there's a lot of information and a lot going on and people can get more information about the webinar, which is upcoming by going to braintumourarland.com and we appreciate your time today and anything we can flag during the course of that week, we will of course. Thank you very much, Michael. That's great. Take care, Michael Farrell there, brain tumour Ireland board member and former neuropathologist. OK, right. So a caller says, do you know what places were first, second and third in the planet list? This is the Nincle Noon Show, of course I do. The Western Balkans Trans-Dinerica Cycling Roots is number one, launching in 2024. It's the first biker route connecting the Western Balkans, the moderately difficult 2,090-mile trail, weaves through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and so on and that was number one. Number two, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. There's another worldness to K.I., which dazzles, bewilders and intoxicates. A mere 40-minute flight from Adelaide, Australia's third largest island is surprisingly isolated and on it