It's Greg Hughes for the Ninetal Noon Show. Thank you very much, Rory. The one prince. I appreciate you handing over that. Would you say, you know, I was going to say something like that, but I just thought first day back will ease you into it. Someone might miss the cheese. Listen, thanks very much. No problem at all, Greg. Take care of yourself. It is the Ninetal Noon Show. Nine o'clock time for a news update. It's over to Michaela Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. Agriculture and Marine Minister Charlie McConn will travel to Canada on a St. Patrick's Day visit. Thirty-two ministers and junior ministers will be jetting off to destinations such as New Zealand, South America and the U.S. this year after a hiatus caused by the COVID pandemic. Tishok Miho Martim will also visit London and then Washington where he will hand over the traditional bowl of shamrock to U.S. President Joe Biden. Former Minister Pat Roberts says while the cynicism around the visits is inevitable, he says they are a unique opportunity for Ireland. In terms of advertising what we have to offer as a tourism, product in terms of establishing relations with other countries. It is simply a unique opportunity. It differs in terms of the country or city that you visit. But in terms of flying the Irish flag, there is nothing that I can think of that is comparable to it. Gardi, believe there are still people in Von Cranagh and Derry who hold information which could assist in the investigation into the murder of Andre Allen. On the 10th anniversary of the 24-year-old's death, Gardi have issued a fresh appeal for information. Mr.  A car believed to be involved in the murder was located on fire at Church Brae Fawn after the shooting. Anyone with information is urged to contact the incident room at Von Cranagh Guarda Station. It's time to get back to face-to-face meetings at municipal district level. That's the view of Councilor John O'Donnell after the latest sitting of the Letcher-Kennie-Milford Municipal District was held online yesterday. Councilor O'Donnell says when dealing with projects, it's important for Councilors to be around the table to be able to discuss the matters of the day. He says the use of the oral leisure centre in Letcher-Kennie is also an added cost for the council and says it will be beneficial for all concerned for meetings to return to the chamber. I think it's important as well that it's on the chamber because the oral leisure centre is an awful cost as well to the council, an extra additional cost. And at the municipal level, the numbers aren't near as big of the members that attend and as well of the officials that are there. So I think it's important we get back into the chamber and as well as that, I'm feeling more comfortable surrounding as well if we're able to access anything that we need to access that might be up for discussion on that particular day. Arnott's involvement in peacekeeping missions may need to be reduced because of capacity constraints in the military. That's according to a major new report on overhauling the Defence Forces, which says it's currently unable to conduct a meaningful defence of the state. The commission of the Defence Forces report, which is being published today, is recommending as much as travelling annual military spending. For weather night today, we'll bring scattered shards with sunny spells. Shards will turn heavier through the day with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and hail and highest temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. A message from the heart is the loveliest thing to receive, whether it's from that special someone, a best friend or your granny. With new love stamps from Unpost, you can make someone's heart skip a beat with every letter you send. And for a limited time, you can get 10 love stamps for just 880. That's two free stamps. Get them now at your post office or unpost.com. Send thoughts, send happiness, send love. Unpost for your world. Terms and conditions apply. Today's show is sponsored by the three-store Bongtranah. Visit us in store for the best deals on high-speed home broadband and more. Three for a better connected life. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the 9th and Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. And a very good morning to you. Just turning four minutes past nine on this Wednesday, the 9th of February. How are you getting on? It's good to be back with you. Thanks to Donald for sitting in on Monday and Tuesday you could get used to these three-day weeks, couldn't you? But no, I wouldn't want to. Five days is the norm. 08, 660, 25,000 WhatsApps and text lines open for you right now. So whatever we're talking about, we want to hear your views, even if you've never texted in a radio station before. Have your say. Or indeed, if you wish to raise your own topic, good or bad, by the way, positive. Or it's something you think that needs a light shun on. Get in touch with us. 08, 660, 25,000. If you want to give us a call, Caroline on the phones, 07491 25,000, and email us to comments at highlandradio.com or jump on our socials and watch the show and interact with us there. Good morning to you, Annie already, messaging us on Facebook. Good to have you watching us this morning. We're available also on Highland Radio Ireland on YouTube, right? Okay, on to the papers this morning, starting with the Donegal post, not imaginable this story. Hopefully, and we're going to be talking about this a little later on. Hopefully something can be done to turn this around because the future of the Donegal town, St. Patrick's Day parade is looking very bleak after a call-out for new committee members and volunteers fell on deaf ears. Now, I'm not going to lie to you. I never even heard there was a meeting on. So I'm not sure maybe that was the problem. How well it was advertised. I don't know, we'll tease that out a little later on. But a public meeting held on Monday evening was attended by only six people. Half of those came from the one family. They've been instrumental in organizing the parade for generations. It's a huge day. I'm sure there are lots of businesses that benefit greatly from it as they do in any town. And maybe they weren't aware that there was an organizing meeting taking place. We'll talk about that a little later on, but as I say, even from a business perspective, it's very much in the business's interest to see the town thronged with people. So perhaps they can convene another meeting maybe, get the word out a bit more, get more people in attendance. As I say, it's hard to imagine it wouldn't go ahead because of a lack of interest. I think it's harnessing that interest. But as I say, we'll be talking about that a little later on in the program. The Ennis Times this morning, Ombudsman's ordered an external review of Letter County University Hospital's complaint handling process. It's currently taking place. This according to an exclusive by the Ennis Times in a statement to the paper, the HSE confirmed the Office of the Chief Operations Officer and integrated operations was undertaking a review of Letter County University Hospital's complaint handling process with the cooperation of the Seattle State University health care group. And you know, obviously they may be focusing on one particular case. I didn't get a chance to read through the article in full, but we were speaking to people on this program as well, who are frustrated that when something goes wrong, lots goes right, but when something goes wrong or when their experience isn't fantastic, they can find the complaint process frustrating. And I'm hearing that more and more and more, mostly are fair in fairness because not everyone wants to put the head above the parapet and I get that. I do get that. But a lot of people have been relating stories to me about their experiences there. And as I say, there's lots and lots and lots of positive stories. I get that, right? But people who have had negative experiences and are particularly frustrated when they try and sort of complain about it, they need that voice there as well. The Finn Valley voice this morning, a major survey is to be carried out on the attitudes of Finn Valley Protestants to the future of Northern Ireland. The survey is part of the Future Relationship Conversations project carried out by Derry's Holy Well Trust with support from Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs. The Finn Valley is unique in that its demographic makeup is the same as that of neighbouring parts of Northern Ireland. Okay, what did you think of this big retro fitting announcement?  I want to get rid of the drafts in my house, part of the house freezing or the part of it trying to balance the heat and all that kind of stuff. But look, it's drafty. I'm sure lots of people are in the same boat and you think, right, retro frit grants, that could work. Cheaper to heat the home, of course, it's more comfortable. And there's an environmental impact there. But then comes the nitty gritty of this. Where would you get 25 grand? Now, that's at current prices. You know where they're going through the roof. Where would you get 25 grand? If you were to borrow it, if you wanted to get into debt for such a thing, it would take a very long time for it to be cost-neutral effectively. So it would only be for comfort. It wouldn't be for saving money for a long time. I think it's 20 odd years or something. It would be worth doing. Do you know what I mean financially? But obviously there's a comfort issue there. But where would you get the money from? Now, there is talk of 100% grants for those less well-off. Those maybe on certain types of benefits, I think I read. But that leaves, once again, that squeezed middle in inverted commas. You know, you have people with lots of money that probably already have quite a well-insulated house. If not, the state will pay half of their cost. That's ground. And then you have those who are much less well-off, who might get 100%. But then there are another cohort right in the middle who are still struggling to make ends meet. They have no luxuries as such. They might not have to choose heat versus eat, but they certainly couldn't come up with 25,000 euro to pay for such a thing. That's an awful lot of money to try and claw back in heating bill savings. You know, and then you look at, well, what age will it be by the time it's paid for itself in my 70s or 80s? Well, the government has been warned that exponential growth is needed to hit targets outlined in its flagship retrofit strategy launched yesterday. Onto the 8 billion in initiative, grants of up to half the project costs of retrofitting homes to improve their energy efficiency will be available to householders. Ministers were told a step change in the pace and scale of deliveries needed to achieve the aims of the program, which envisages 500,000 deep retrofits being completed by the end of the decade. A memo brought to cabinet by Minister for the Environment, Aiman Ryan yesterday outlined how 75,000 such retrofits will have to be done on average every year in order to hit targets. Now, I think they're doing about 117 a month at the moment. I could be wrong. I'm not sure that's through the particular agency. So we're for a long way to go to where we need to be. While 15,500 energy upgrades were completed last year, only 4,600 homes were given a deep upgrade. So we'd have to go from 4,600 right across the board up to 75,000. Where are you gonna get the workers to do this? And I'm acutely conscious as well to many people listening to this that are hearing figures like 8 billion retrofitting homes that actually don't have homes you could pump, fill her into, installation into because obviously because of the micro crisis and this is just gonna be really frustrating for people listening to this saying, well, that's very detailed, very ambitious. A lot more meat on the bone than we hear as it relates to the micro scheme in terms of its delivery and when it might be delivered and how many need to be delivered each year. We don't get those figures as it relates to micro. So I understand if you're one of those families, the many thousands affected to hear about retrofitting is probably insult injury. But the number of skilled workers needed to complete the program is estimated about 17,000 quadrupling the level chronically available. Meanwhile, ministers were told that an emergency grants of 80% for attic and cavity wall installation is to be reviewed after a year. All right, so as to say on paper, look, it sounds like a good idea, but I just think lots of us would be struggling to come up with the match funding in inverted commas. Especially as costs go up, some of those costs going up are rent because in the independent it tells us that an acute shortage of homes has pushed the rate that rents are rising to a four year high. Rents rose by 10.3% in the last three months of 2021 when compared with the previous year, that means rental inflation is now at strongest level since 2018. The average monthly rent nationwide is now 1,524 Euro. That's just rent. Double the low of 765 a month rent seen in late 2011. That was obviously post-recession or in the midst of the recession. Across the state, there were just 1,397 homes available to rent at the start of this month. And I wonder if some of those people that were mad to build houses over the last number of years but were struggling to get planning permission even here in Donegal, if they had been allowed to do so, relatively responsibly, would we be under as much pressure as we are now? The average rent in Donegal now is 826 Euro. That's up 25% by the shouting. 826 Euro, that's the average in this county which is high. It's not obviously as high as down in Wicklow, 1,600 but still very high. But if there's no houses available to rent, it doesn't matter what the figure is. All right. What do you think about the St. Patrick's Day trips? Now, we have heard arguments and we will probably hear arguments of the benefits of them.  But that being said, we also have been told that a lot of work gets done. A lot of meetings get done and that these meetings can pave the way for bigger deals down the line and building relationships. And maybe many of our sons and daughters or brothers and sisters, maybe they're in Canada or maybe they're in the Netherlands or London or Poland and they'll be glad to see an Irish minister landing over there. Might make them feel proud. I don't know. Well, lots of them are going away. 32 ministers are jetting off. Charlie McConnelogue of Donegal, he's going to Canada. There's only three not really going. Simon Coveney had the Humphreys and Malcolm Noon and the rest are going, well, all over the shop, really. So do you think at this time with everything that's going on that this is advisable? I presume they'll offset their carbons in one way or other, you'd hope so, wouldn't you? Or is this good? In other words, for the reasons I've outlined, reaching out to the Irish, they're all right, they're all ready. But also building connections and it's good for the contrary. Or is it just people heading away at St Patrick's Day? Shouldn't happen. That money should be saved and spent elsewhere. But think about it. Right, OK. Simon Coveney will be one of three ministers staying on the island. This might be in case we're invaded, you know, and he's there to mount our defense. We might talk about that a little later on. But anyway, Simon Coveney will be one of three ministers staying on the island of Ireland, in the St Patrick's Day as the government sends 32 TDs plus the Attorney General around the world. The Foreign Affairs Minister will travel to Northern Ireland during St Patrick's Week following suggestions he was not spoken to the DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson. In months, it comes to the DUP launched another attack on Minister Coveney last night, telling the Irish Daily Mail the minister had closed the ears to the concerns of unionism. But let's just say, people are heading off all over the place. Make sure I place them. OK, now, I think there was a bit of conversation on this towards the end of yesterday's program in the Irish Daily Star. Tommy Turnin, of all people, Tommy Turnin made some incredibly, incredibly shocking remarks.  It was some time ago on the Lake Lakeshow, I think at the time when Jerry Ryan was its host, but, you know, his comments were just pretty much as bad as you can get. So he's the person that's decided to come out in defense of Jimmy Carr. Probably not surprisingly, it's on GB, the news channel, which has a particular political leaning over in Britain. But he says comedians shouldn't be hounded out of their jobs for a mistake they made on stage. Carr is facing a huge backlash after making a joke and inverted comments about the murder of gypsies during the Holocaust. But Tommy and Carr shouldn't be hung drawn and quartered for the joke. The chat show host and actor said, if somebody gets up on stage and tells a joke, and on further reflection, that joke actually coming from not such a good place, then just stop telling it and move on.  Netflix has oversight and can review the content. This is not a quip that's made in a stand-up show that just slips out, okay? Now, I'm not saying people can make up their own minds, whether it's right or wrong, but let's not frame this as a little slip. This was a scripted, rehearsed and approved joke. Well, in a viral clip from Netflix special entitled His Dark Material, Carr made a jibe about the Holocaust and six million Jews lives being lost. And his punchline, which I'm not going to repeat, was that in some way, the death of thousands of Romani under Nazi rule was good news, okay? Let's just put it like that, hugely offensive. Now, it got a laugh and I'm not into this cancel culture stuff, right? I think hopefully maybe from comments people have picked up on that, but, you know, he chose a group of individuals to make that joke too. He could have made the exact same joke about gay men, for example, who were also targeted by the Nazis, but that wouldn't have got a laugh in the audience, I would imagine. So he picked a group of people that he would. So it was targeted in that, it was targeted for laughs, okay? So I think, you know, he needs to reflect on it. Free speech, it's not, doesn't mean that you can say anything about any group of people just for a laugh, is it? Right, Irish Daily Mirror. Jet Fighters for a newly rebranded Irish Air Force will be recommended in a report today in the most ambitious recommendations seen by the Irish Mirror. A squadron of fighters is a preferred option. Now, will these just end up flying over Dublin on St. Patrick's Day seriously? Like what would we do with jet fighters? For a neutral country, I presume any country that already has jet fighters could very quickly neutralize any threat coming from ours. Are these just going to be effectively flyover machines? Is that what they're gonna be used for? I can't see any other function for them. Would we actually dispatch them to protect our waters and inverted commas? I don't know, I don't think so. But anyway, the government's commission on defence force plans to, prowns presented to the minister for defence also recommend adding at least another three ships to our naval fleet, bringing the total complement to 12. We currently have only five operational. Listen, I've spoken to people in the Navy as well and they sometimes can't staff shifts. They don't have enough people to put the ships out to sea and they're tied up for repairs or routine maintenance. The bottom line is they don't have the staff to send them out to sea. And now we're talking about getting more of those ships to do what.  What else would they be doing? Obviously there's a role to be played in stopping drugs coming into the country and what have you, but what would we do with the aeroplanes? As I say, I just see in about 10 years time watching St. Patrick's Day parade from Dublin or Croke Park all on a final day and three jets will fly over Croke Park with different coloured smoke coming out the back and that will be the extent of the work and a air force in this country would do. I may well be wrong, who's to say? The Irish Sun, the Brits won last night, poor Anne-Marie. Trip in coming down the stairs. I hate watching those shows. Someone always goes over and she did. She twisted her ankle, but like a superstar got up, carried on with her performance with KSI. That's a decent enough show, but the talk on the papers today is Adele wearing an engagement ring. She sparked speculation. She's engaged after flashing a huge diamond ring last night. She won three awards at the Brits. All right, we'll be back with more on The Ninetal Noon Show. Our first guests indeed after we take this break. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra, mountaintop Letter Kenny. Today's Ninetal Noon Show is sponsored by the three-store Bonkranagh. Visit us in-store for the best deals on high-speed home broadband and more. Three for a better connected life. Michael Murphy, sports and leisure, has everything you need for getting fit in 2022. From training gear to resistance bands, skipping ropes, weights and foam rollers, we have all the essentials to see you through every step of your fitness journey from training to recovery. 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Michael, why is chair of the Green Party here in County Donegal? He joins us now. Good morning, Michael. Good morning, Greg. Can you hear me OK? Loud and clear. Loud and clear. Good to have you with us. Right, you know, listen, I want this to work. I want it to be brilliant, OK? I know you're smiling, but I genuinely do. But I have to look at it realistically, I have to put myself in a position and I'm sure lots of people listening the same. I simply, simply, honestly, can't come up with 25,000 euro to do this. So, to me, I read this and this is not a scheme for me. That's instantly how I feel. Well, there's a few points. First of all, there are options to just insulate your attic and insulate the exterior of your house. That's 80 per cent covered. That'll about half the houses in Ireland need to get their roof insulation redone. So that's that affordability issue for the house external and the roof. For the full retrofit, there's a couple of points. First of all, for anybody on low incomes or carers allowance or fuel allowance, that bracket, they get it for free. That's 100 per cent grand for them. But going to your question then, the average choice to coding around 45, 50 grand for a full retrofit, you'll get half of that. So that's 25 grand covered. And as you say, where am I going to get that grand? I can't afford it. There's a couple of points around that. First of all, they're setting up these one-stop shops. Part of those one-stop shops will include low-cost funding. It'll be probably supplied by the credit unions. It's coming out of the European Investment Bank and it'll be out of 3 per cent loan.  That'll cost about 100 quid a month. But it'll be offset by the value increase in your house by doing a full retrofit will more than offset that cost over 20 years. You can get a green mortgage. But on that point, like it's a lot to expect people to be 20 years before something's effectively cost-neutral. What I was saying is that the fuel savings after the retrofit, they might just save on fuel. The net cost to you should be less than about 80 quid a month. These are calculations you made. It's also worth mentioning, if you have a house with a normal mortgage and you go for this retrofit, you can then qualify for a green mortgage where your mortgage rate drops down to 2 per cent. So in some cases, this would end up being cost-neutral. So I agree, 25 grand is a lot of money. Plus the combination of low-cost loans plus the green mortgage and the reduction in your annual bill. It should work out pretty okay. Certainly people would spend five or 10 grand on a kitchen. This is a better investment. Yeah, well now, in fairness, you don't want to get down that road because the people I'm talking about don't have the 10 grand for a kitchen. I understand that. Okay, so let's just say that people with lowest income will be covered 100 per cent. I understand that there's a middle group of people that will find it difficult to come up with this, but they're putting in low, as I mentioned, they're putting in low-cost funding, funded by the European investment bank to try and address that group of people. That's providing, of course, that this is 50 grand. I imagine with huge demand, there's a shortage of workers, they'll have to be paid and all of that. What's the stop this being actually 75,000 euro by the year after next? The way everything's going. Yeah, if you increase demand, there's a possibility that would increase price. Contrary to that, though, because retrofitting has been expensive to date and hasn't been done on a large scale, that arguably increases the cost. As we expect now in the next couple of years, companies come into the market knowing that there's a regular flow of retrofitting work for at least the next decade. And say, for example, plumbers come in, rather than doing one or two houses, they know they can do house after house after house for the rest of this year. We would hope that the unit costs will start to reduce. There is a danger of inflation, but it's not inevitable, because as a volume of retrofits happens, that could also reduce costs. I just feel that we're having this conversation now, and is there ever a good time where people, you know, two people working in the house full-time, they are having to put jumpers on instead of put the heating on. They are having to make very serious decisions as it relates to what they spend their money on. If a problem goes in the car, they probably don't have the money necessarily to fix that. That's a lot of people in this country that are going to, as I say, feel this is not for them. You really need to be of the mindset to get the green message on this, I think, to sort of say, right, well, you know what? I might not be any better off. It might cost me 80 a month by your figures, but I'm doing this for the environment, too. Do you think that will is there for that motivation? Actually, I don't think that's the argument. I think it's very low incomes. I've been broken the past as well, but if your house is cold, certainly the 80% grant for things like attic insulation, and if anybody's done any insulation to their house, it has an immediate effect. So I think even people that are really tight for cash, there's a logic to this. I don't think it's about believing that the green message is important. The reason it's probably worth saying, why are we doing this? Household emissions make up about 40% of carbon emissions for Ireland. By doing this program by 2030, that's the logic underneath this. But we also think people will have lower fuel bills and warmer houses. We import 5 billion quids worth of fossil fuels every year in the country. It's madness. Every time Putin decides to have the fits, the price goes up. Last question, because I know you've got appointments as well. Would you not have preferred to see the government double the budget on this and remove this type of conversation we're having and to get the job done? Well, they've allocated 5 billion, which is a lot. There's also an argument, people that are better off, that don't have a squeeze on money. There's an argument, why should the government pay 50 grand to increase the value of their house? And that's why there will be an element of cost for people that can afford it. But there is a focus on people that can't afford it. As I say, 100% for people on fuel allowance, carers allowance, and the low interest rates over 20 years for people that are tight for cash. So this is the start. It'll be reviewed every year, but I think this is really good. Like 5 billion is a huge amount of money. Biggest program in the history of the state. I think it's a good thing. All right, listen, thanks for that. What we want, isn't it? 08, 660, 25,000, right? Brendan Donahue of B. Donahue & Sons Limited, based in Clonmane, have been energy upgrade contractors for sustainable energy authority violence for over 12 years. Brendan, I mean, obviously on the face of it, this seems like really good news, particularly for those that can afford it.  There's going to be a much greater demand on your services, I'd imagine. Oh, there is. We're welcome, the grant that's there and the increase that was there yesterday. As I say, we've done the original pilot scheme that was launched three years ago. And it was very successful. That pilot scheme was launched at a 50% rate at the time. A 95% rate for people on fuel allowance on those type of brackets. So that was very well met. And I'd say there were a lot of people looking for it. What they dropped it back last year to 35% and then what the SEA down the wee bit themselves is a bit of bad PR by reducing it from 50 to 35 again. But now they've come back to where they were and brought it back up to close to 50%. But that's just for the deep retrofit scheme. There are individual measures there like your external wall. Before we get to that, can you tell us what a deep retrofit actually is? And does it cost 50 grand? And can you see that price increasing? But talk to us firstly about what is a deep retrofit? A deep retrofit would generally involve maybe external wall installations, new triple glazed windows and doors, your attic insulation being over 300mm in thickness. Generally a heat pump, the heat pump would be the performance or the efficiency of the heat pump far exceeds your even your condensing boiler, which is only maybe at 97%. Your heat pumps are running anything from four, like we have installed once at 525% efficiency, which means for every euro of electricity that you buy, you're getting five euro 25 cents worth of heat and hot water out of that. And what does the heat pump do to pump it into the ground and back up again? Well, most of the ones that we were installing there were air source heat pumps that takes the heat from the air. But the ground source ones are there and they're longer, I would say, yet. I would say they're actually, they'll outlast the air to water ones, but they'll be a bit more expensive to start. So is it possible to do everything you've mentioned there? I presume on an average sized house if we have such a thing in this county, obviously. Is it possible to do that for 50,000 euro and do you think that's sustainable long into the future? Not on my experience of it, no. But with that, we were doing this to say you'd have mechanical ventilation, you'd have air tightness on the floor heating and on the floor insulation. We brought 30% of our projects up to an A1, not even an A3. So it was the top end of it. So they've reduced all that scale to back and their requirement now, minimum requirement now is a B2. So maybe with a B2, you haven't had as many higher targets. You still have a good decent comfortable house at that, you know. But if we're going, if we're deciding to do this, like should B2 be the target or should we be aiming higher in your view? In my view, we were aiming higher. As I say, there was no onus in us to have an A1 with the properties we were working on. But as I say, we had 30% of ours up to an A1. That's the high end. We've done properties there that were both in 1976. At that era, the people in the house said that they never had a house until all that work was done. You know, a comfortable house. There's no issue with dragging ashes in and out of the house. Coal in and out of the house. That was all taken out of the equation as well. So just, sorry to ask this question because I want to go on then to the other attics and cavities stuff. So how much would it cost you? Like what would you get a B2 for 50 grand, do you think? You're struggling, truthfully. Yeah, that seems low. And that's obviously everything's going up at the moment. Yeah. Everything's going up. Windows and doors are going up.  Everything's gone up. And I say the figures of 50, I would say, are on the lower end, maybe on the states in Dublin with semi-Ds or something on them there. Like, you know, where you're effectively doing one large house in Donegal, two semi-Ds in Dublin. So that's maybe where you're going to get those 50 grand figures out of, like, you know. Yeah, you see, that's it because it's different up here. We don't have the same facilities. We build houses a different way. We were able to build bigger houses than you might see in the urban areas. And I just think this 50 grand wouldn't even scratch the surface. But listen, if you were to try now and double your workforce or get people in and train them up because I'm thinking about where these workers might come from, would that be easy for you to do, Brendan, to scale up your business even greater, say? Double the workforce, double the output? That's what they're trying to push on to us at the minute. They're trying to upscale everything. We have a good local source-wearing on its own. There's a good local source of tradesmen here, like, you know, so that end of it is just maybe, I know it's going to be, we're going to be fighting now with the people here who are going to go onto the mica schemes. And that's going to drain, you know, that's going to dilute it again, like, you know. Yeah, OK. Right. So maybe the more accessible for more people listening, particularly maybe in our part of the world or in rural counties, is the 80% grant for attics and cavities only. That's just like, you know, they announced that the day before they announced the launch or such. And they mentioned this 80%. And I was getting phone calls that night. Oh, can you put me on the scheme for 80%? And everybody thought there was going to 80% allocation of money to upgrade your property, which isn't the case. It's just for your attic or your cavity wall, which is in the lower end of the spectrum, like, you know.  If you could leaky windows, it's not going to help, you know, as I say, it's the same even with putting your insulation or your new windows in. If you haven't got your airtightness done properly, you're wasting your money. Like you can have a U-value on paper and you can have all your, you know, you can have a good rating on your property. And it's on paper. But if you haven't got your airtightness done properly, you're not, you haven't got the comfort levels. And that's where the house cools down really, really quickly. And then the heat comes back on. And lots of us will know exactly what you're talking about there. You mentioned under floor heating. Does that mean lifting the floors of a house? On the ones, most of the ones that we did were, we took out the floors and put in insulation and on the floor heating, but it wasn't the case in all of them. Some of them we just maybe renewed the copper pipes that were there because there was no point in the heat pump in with copper that was lying maybe 40 years. So we did that at the same time. But there's no onus on people. It is a larger expense. Maybe that's where we were getting the, we're getting a better rating at the end, but it was costing a bit more money to do that. Because that is an expensive thing to do. We're taking out all the floors. So can you live, I mean, obviously there's no houses to rent at the moment. Everyone knows that. And there's going to be even further pressure on homes, you know, as we try and get micro homes fixed as well, whenever that begins to happen in earnest. Can you live in a house that you're working on? Yes, you can. If you can tolerate a bit of jackhammer going. Well, as I say, like a lot of the times we will be doing external wall installation. So there's no impact on site. You're not touching the kitchen area, not touching the bedrooms or outside from most of that. When you're, maybe renewing your pipework for radiators and things like that, you will have a day or so where you're going to take up a floor, put down your new pipes and new radiators. So there's a wee bit of disruption there, but it's limited. Like, you know, you can always program that in. But generally, most of the properties that we would work on, people will be living in them. So, I mean, what is your... Is it possible really, as a country, to plan to retrofit so many houses in reality? Or is this the type of work that those with money can get done and we focus on the new builds? Like, maybe it's not a fair question to ask someone in the industry, but on the scale we're talking, is it really practical to do what we're trying to do here? I think it's very cheap at the minute. Yeah. Definitely, because we're a small company, like, effectively, like, you know, but we were doing five, six, seven houses a year. Wow. That's what, you know, with no point in telling me, you know, we weren't doing 30 and 40 houses. Yeah. But that's where the SEI, they want us to scale that up. Well, we're going, trying to go from something like 5,000 nationally to 75,000 nationally per year. So that's scaling in half, isn't it? It is, yeah.  And I say, maybe scale it that way, but the people aren't here at the minute. I know, even in Donegal, like, the people are not there to do that amount of houses. Sorry, this is a simple question in my own head. In terms of cavity walls, right? Filling cavity walls, pumping them, okay? Yeah. Does that not negate the function of the cavity in the first place to stop dampness or whatever its function is? Why do we, it's bridging that gap, not a bad thing to do, because why would we have the cavity there in the first place? The cavity was there as a dreamable cavity, so any moisture would drop down into the, yeah, into the ground, which is true. They deem the new gray bead that's been pumped in now that the water shouldn't travel across it. That's the way that it's set out. That's the way it's been marketed for years. Like, you know, there was previous, there was, there was ones... Foams? Foams and cellulose and different fillers that were used years ago, which if there was a crack on the outside and it got wet, it drew the water across. Like, I had an experience of houses there with first floor bedrooms, with dampness coming in, and it wasn't, you're not going to get raised in damp on a first floor bedroom, it was a crack outside, drawn across the cavity by yellow fiber insulation or something like that, and then you get the water in the outside. So that's not a problem with new materials that we're using? No, new materials are a lot better, yeah, they are. Okay. Right. Best of luck with the business going forward, Brendan. Thank you. The real option for you to scale up there and employ even more people, and it's good to see it happening locally. And we appreciate actually being so frank about it and explaining it in normal terms. We really appreciate that. Thanks for your help, thanks for your time. All right, take care of yourself. All right. That is Brendan Donahy there of B. Donahy & Sons Limited. You know, he's already doing what's he said, set five to seven houses a year, so it's labour intensive. He has question marks about... not question marks, but concerns about really is this, can we? Can we have a country with so many houses in it realistically try and retrofit them all? I mean, it's hugely ambitious. And you also heard his commentary there about maybe not quite as much benefit from insulating your attic and doing your cavities only if you're not doing the windows and the rest of it as well. So, you know, there's a lot in there to consider. It's not all rosy. Today's show is sponsored by the three-store Bongkranah. Visit us in store for the best deals on high-speed home broadband and more. Three for a better connected life. Don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfibeds.ie Ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer. You'll get a comfy Irish-made mattress, upholstered base and headboard from an amazing 229 euro. Check out the full range at dfibeds.ie Delivery free and guaranteed to you within seven working days. DFI beds. 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OK, as we mentioned earlier on in the programme, well, before we did that, you'd imagine, OK? Wouldn't you, obviously, with everything that's been going on for the last couple of years, we all want to get back to normal, don't we? And one of the ways we could do that is St Patrick's Day parade because you might remember it very short notice a couple of years. They were cancelled and we were all heartbroken. So, you'd imagine it would be easy, wouldn't it?  But unimaginably, there may not be a St Patrick's Parade in Donegal Town this year because there was a meeting called to gather together people to organise it. Just six people turned up, three of those from the one family. Jonathan Kennedy was one of those. Sorry, Caroline, you might have to put Jonathan through again. I forgot to take that call in. We're going to be speaking to Jonathan in a moment. He and two of his family members were six of the people that turned up. So, we're going to get to the bottom of why that might be. Right now, Jonathan, good morning to you. Good morning, Greg, how are you? I'm all right.  Even the businesses alone, I said earlier, Jonathan, would benefit greatly from this. It's in their interest to see a parade. Well, look, it was... You remember the parades back in your day when you were running around the town and a focal point for a lot of people to come into the town and have a great day out. The parade, I suppose, I've been involved in the parade as long as I can remember, either participating or organising back when my father would have taken control of it and then afterwards, my brother, Porick, and then myself as well. So, we were all going to... It was a very small committee. I think Donegal Town is no different than towns around the county in Buncran or Leicester County. There's always a small group of people that are left to organise all these events and parades and festivals. You'll always get plenty of people to tell you how it should be done and the right way to do it, but when it comes to help and gathering and all that, there's nobody to be seen. So, again, we had a meeting. We called the meeting to see what the interest would be in this year's parade and we were kind of hoping with nothing happening in the last two years that we would have had a big interest and everybody would be mad to get out and mad to celebrate. So, we had a meeting and we had six people turned up and I was one, my brother was the other and my niece was the third one, so the Kennedy family was 50% of the meeting. Did you invite the business group to attend? The business group was represented by one representative and we had apologies from the chamber. That's great. This is a new phenomenon. It's been happening for a while. It's anything that goes on. And I'd say Bunnigal Town is no different than any other town. It's just left to a small few people to do these jobs. So, we kind of were hoping that, you know, we had such a massive parade in 2019. It was probably the biggest parade we ever had in Bunnigal in 2019 and we were hoping to build on that. And especially with this weekend, you know, the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday was my idea. We had two, along with Moryk, my brother the mayor, had carried the parade for a long time and, you know, they put a huge amount of work into it and kept it going probably with just themselves. And I think last year, the brother of the three ourselves would have organized it and with a few volunteers it would have been much better. You'd need more, though. We're only five weeks out. So, if this were to happen, people need to say, right, we are going to have to help with the heavy lifting here because of the amount of time we're talking about. Is it too late, Jonathan, or are you speaking out here in the hope of people saying, actually, you know what, I didn't know it was on or I thought someone else was going to do it. Let's get this on. Yeah, well, I thought we just felt that it's got so big that we wanted people to come to Donegal Town and have a nice day out with their families and go home at the end of the day. So there was so much watching and there's so much to do and it's an awful lot of work for a few people but it's not an awful lot of work for a lot of people. And you know, the irony is if you decided, right, okay, there's not much interest, what we'll do is we'll just do a very low-key one with three bands. Next thing you know, people would be getting on to you going, well, hold on a second. We want to answer that. Why didn't you ask us to come along here? We've been excluded. Do you know what I mean? That's sort of the irony of these things. Yeah, well, it was kind of coming to some of the points where you know, everybody knows how to say it's always going to go three o'clock. That's been forever. It came to some of the points where we needed help and if we didn't put out the messages that we did put out the last day, it probably would have gone on because we couldn't have managed it. What this has done now is people have got excited about it. They say, right, sorry, they didn't realise you were so badly stuck. They didn't realise that they're so... What we've done, we've arranged a re-arranged a meeting next Tuesday night at eight o'clock in the Central Hotel in Donegal Town. For generally interested people, if they want if they're interested to go and come and help us, then now's the time to shine and now's the time to put your name forward. I say, you'll get to watch the parade, you'll get to go out for drinks afterwards, you'll do all, you'll meet your families but you just, we need the help to go and enjoy the rest of the day with the family. Nobody's going to be lumbered with a big job or financing or anything like that. But do you know too what can happen with these things too, Jonathan? People can feel excluded. Now, not for any legitimate reason but they might feel that, well, it's, you know, that's a different group of people doing that, you know, they might not have wanted my help. Maybe we can, and I'm not saying there's any reason for that but we can feel like that. You understand where I'm coming from, Jonathan? We can feel like that as if it's, you know, completely can get involved with it. Well, now that's out in the open so everyone can get involved but you'd think this is even at the very least after two years, this is a recent opportunity let's look at things differently, get new faces if required. Yeah, that was our plan. There's so many new families in the area and new houses and new businesses and there's great, there'll always be third festival or, you know, there's always a good buzz around but these things take a lot of work and it's usually the same few people and we're trying more, just to get more people involved and whether this is the catalyst for that there then it'll be, you know, hopefully it works. All right. We'll give another go on Tuesday and I'll say, you know, hopefully everything will be resolved and we'll get our parade going. All right, Tuesday, Central Hotel 8 p.m. did you say? 8 o'clock Tuesday and Central Hotel, yeah. All right, best of luck with it. Well done. Thanks very much indeed. Jonathan Kennedy there, Central Hotel next Tuesday night, 8 p.m. if you want to get involved as I said, at the right at the offset, at the very least it's very much you would imagine, business is interest or maybe it's, it isn't, I don't know, I'm not a business person such. Today's 9 till noon show is sponsored by the three store Bunkranna. Visit us in store for the best deals on high-speed home broadband and more. Three for a better connected life. Locally, contact Gortley Sales and Hire in Letter Kenny on 911-262-76. I'm Sam Shed, Paratull Protect a garden angel, a mess on the inside, but I know what I saw outside, a cat, no, a man burglar, hopped Sam's back edge and stowed his bike. He couldn't believe it. But FBD did. With no excess to pay, they'll get them back in the saddle. After all, support is what FBD do. Visit FBD.ie today to save 25% on your new home insurance quote. 650 euro limit per theft claim for owner-occupier contents in the open cover. Specify all risks required for items over this value. Claim will affect no claims bonus. Terms and conditions apply. Underwritten by FBD Insurance PLC, FBD Insurance Group Limited Trading as FBD Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Hello, Grace. Where are you heading? Down to Made-to-Measure Fireplaces in Chrysler. Made-to-Measure Fireplaces. Didn't you just buy a fireplace there? Yeah, but I'm going now to pick my kitchen worktop. Create the kitchen and living room of your dreams at Made-to-Measure Fireplaces and Granite Worktops. They've been in business for over 40 years. So for help choosing Granite or Quartz for your worktop fireplace or stove, visit the Made-to-Measure showroom at Cashel Chrysler or see mtmfireplaces.com or on Facebook. Valentine's is fast approaching and what better way to celebrate with a romantic three course meal and glass of decor at Backstage Bar and Grill. Our Valentine's menu is running all weekend from Friday the 11th to Monday the 14th of February. Call Century Complex and 07491 21976 to book your table. Highland Radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport thinking of a sun holiday this summer with a family, flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faroe, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland West Airport, you're flying. So after a fresh start this morning today, there'll be scattered showers with sunny spells. The showers will turn heavier through the day with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and hail later. Sleet is also possible on hills. A chilly day temperature is not higher than 4 to 7 degrees in fresh southwest winds strong and gusty near the coast. So Caller says how can you get your house checked for a rating? Is it very expensive? Now I don't know. I presume there are people that will come out and do that for you. Greg gets different in rural Donegal to the Tansan cities. The rural houses stand alone and many houses were not properly insulated and most of these home owners burn coal, logs and peat. They also burn plastic and rubbish. I know someone who burns tin cans more education and high specific grants would be required for rural Ireland. I agree. I agree and you know maybe the nature of how many of our houses were built to maybe through direct labour or as we go you know did some of us cut corners on the likes of the insulation as well and you know maybe have an extra room and other Caller says where are we supposed to get the money Greg? You have to pay the money up front and then get the grant. I changed my windows and I'll be paying the loan for the next three years for them. I'll never get the money to do this. I mean how much would it cost to change your windows? It sounds like it could be very expensive. Can you double glaze a window that is single paying glass without replacing the window? Now I'm just thinking practically that might be quite difficult because that has to be a seal. Doesn't there a vacuum seal between the two? I'm sure someone's thought about it. I wonder would it be cheaper actually just end up replacing the windows? I don't know. How much is the exterior installation for an average bungalow? Well listen we can get answers to some of those questions. That being said having listened to that previous expert on that if you're not getting the windows and other stuff done exterior insulation on its own are you throwing good money after bad? I don't know. Just warm people. Triple glaze actually keeps the sun out the heat out as well as the cold. I got it done and those rooms are cooler now instead of warmer. But if you get them away you jag a heat are they likely to hold on to the heat for longer I wonder. Oh my goodness terrible rhetoric. No one wants to remortgage the home to retrofit. The value of your home is irrelevant if you never intend to sell like you know 80 quid a month is not insignificant there's a whole group this squeeze metal I talk of and it's not just those right but it's the majority I think of people okay can't afford to send young ones to college and yet and give their young people the best chance and yet they're expected to take out along for 25 grand for something that you know we deal with a cold we deal with cold and problems like that on a day to day basis don't we we don't be thinking about a year ahead or two years or three years ahead maybe we should we have to think about the here and now and the here and now would be you know to have enough money to live comfortably or somewhat comfortably or to get further into debt then what happens if you lose your job you know it's another burden if it's a car loan you can sell the car hopefully and cover the loan even if it's a mortgage though you would hope never to have to you might be able to sell the house and to cover the mortgage but with a 25,000 euro minimum retrofit grant you know that would feel like an anchor to to many people one that they don't want to have because a lot of people feel another crash is coming you know this is a lot of what's happening at the moment feels very much like 2006-2007 to me we really really really hope though that that's not the case okay we're going to take a break that first hour flew for me anyway hopefully for you we've another really interesting two hours to come stay right where you are we are going to take a quick break now though for the news and obituary notices and we'll return there after today's show is sponsored by the three store Bongkranah visit us in store for the best deals on high-speed home broadband and more three for a better connected life Ireland's biggest ever tribute weekend is coming back to Donegal True Bash 2022 is taking place at the Clangui hotel Letterkenny on the 11th and 12th of February the nation's leading tribute acts take to the stage with a fantastic award-winning Johnny Cash and June Carter tribute show Cash Returns the amazing Jim the King Brown as Elvis the one and only Abba tribute the Bjorn identity and the show-stopping Queen tribute limited tickets available now at the hotel reception and online at eventbrite.ie True Bash 2022 at the Clangui hotel Letterkenny your ideal Valentine's weekend Wet and Wild Wet and Wild is a local family business fully stocked to keep you safe and warm in on or even under the water with zone 3 swim, wet suits, dry robes life jackets, kayaks, subboards swimwear, scuba and snorkeling equipment with friendly experienced staff to assist, kick yourself out now while stocks last at Wet and Wild a public interest message from Donegal County Council many of us love taking dogs for walks in the countryside be extra careful and respect other animals particularly during lambing season if you are walking your dog make sure you're responsible always know where your dog is make sure your dog does not cause a nuisance always make sure to have your dog under effectual control remember all dog owners must have a current dog license for their dogs licenses can be bought at any post office or online at licenses.ie Donegal County Council serving the people of Donegal At 3 we have an amazing range of broadband offers to keep you connected, switch to 3's high speed home broadband for just 39 euro per month and get 3 months free with no upfront cost visit the 3 store Bunkrana for this offer and more. Subject to coverage tease and see supply Live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News Good morning it's 10 o clock Donald Kavanaugh at the news desk Gar thee believe there are still people in Bunkrana and Derry who hold information which could assist in the investigation into the murder of Andrew Allen on the 10th anniversary of the 24 year old's death Gar thee have issued a fresh appeal for information Mr Allen was shot dead in front of his partner at his home at Lynxview Park Bunkrana on February 9th 2012 a car believed to be involved in the murder was located on fire at Church Bray Fawn after the shooting animal with information is being urged to contact the incident room at Bunkrana Garther Station The chairperson of the Green Party in Donegal believes the new insulation and retrofit scheme announced by the government yesterday will be practical for homeowners and will help in cutting the cost of home heating up to half the cost of a full retrofit will be covered by the home energy upgrade scheme with 80% of some smaller projects like attic insulation to be paid out low cost loans will also be available from the summer to help people meet the cost of upgrades the chair of the Donegal Green Party Michael White says the scheme will work in partly tackling the rising cost of living If you take the 80% for the attic insulation costs and the external insulation costs you could get that done in the next few months the cost to the home owner will end up being maybe 200-300 euro max because the rest of it is paid for by the grants and that could have an impact of they say between a quarter and half your home heating bills could be reduced it could be an immediate practical thing I suppose the weather is so cold at the moment anybody in a house that is feeling draft or whatever would see the benefit of that immediately British MPs are warning delays at the border could increase on goods and vehicles aren't solved a report by the UK's public accounts committee says leaving the EU has so far only resulted in costs and delays for businesses it says there will be continued disruption if the British government doesn't act soon Chairperson, Dame Meg Hillier says UK ports are not designed for the checks now required they designed the roll-on roll-off ports on all sides of the UK so as soon as you add in weights of even 30 seconds extra per vehicle this is the sort of thing that causes that backlog and those lorry queues that we saw so there are very real risks still ahead and the government needs to level up and be honest about this Agriculture and Marine Minister Charlie McConnallog will travel to Canada on a St Patrick's Day visit 32 Ministers and junior Ministers will be jetting off to destinations like New Zealand South America and the US this year after a hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic Tijikmi Holmarten will visit London and then Washington where he'll hand over the traditional bowl of shamrock to US President Joe Biden I don't think all Deputy is calling for a dull debate on the two recent police ombudsman reports in Northern Ireland a new report from the police watchdog examined eight attacks in South Belfast in which 11 people were killed and found evidence of collusive behaviour by police it's the second damning report from the ombudsman following the publication of Operation Greenwich last month which looked into collusion in the northwest speaking in the dull Deputy Potty McLaughlin said there needs to be a proper debate on the reports findings it makes for devastating reading eight REC special branch agents involved in 27 murders and attempted murders following so close after the report on Operation Greenwich which also dealt with an elected representative from Donegal so I'm asking there's plenty of time in the schedule this week can we have a dedicated debate in this chamber on those two ombudsman reports well the three jokes said he is open to debate but not this week I don't have an issue in a structured way of the house debating these issues it won't be possible this week we are a legislative chamber as well we do need to get legislation through we need to balance it so I have no issue with the whips it won't be possible this week to do it but it's some future day to discuss this issue in a structured way well the forecast it'll be scattered showers with sunny spells and showers turning heavier through the day a chance of some isolated thunderstorms and hail later sleet also possible on hills it'll be chilly today with highest temperatures 4 to 7 degrees celsius in fresh south west winds the winds will be strong and gusty near coasts and that's Highland Radio News we're back with news headlines again at 11 o'clock good morning we'll be reposing in St Michael's Church Creeslaw from 7 o'clock this evening funeral mass there to more morning at 11 o'clock with burial afterwards in Doe Cemetery mass can be viewed live on mcmedia.tv the death has taken place of Catherine Wilkin Nate Alcorn, Maharoti Creeslaw her remains are reposing at her late residence funeral service in St John's Church Bali Moore on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock with burial afterwards in the adjoining graveyard housed private to family and close friends police from 11 p.m. until 10 a.m. and on the morning of the funeral family flowers only donations if desired to surgical too letter Kenny University hospital and the Donegal Hospice care of any family member or James Harkin funeral director the death has occurred of Peter O'Donnell Adderwell Juhary Peter's remains will repose at Chivalyn's funeral home Sanfield-Ardra this afternoon from 2 until 4 o'clock full by removal to his residence housed private to family and neighbours funeral mass to more morning at 11 o'clock in Chapppubble Colm Kilnifa Fintyne with burial afterwards in Glentys Cemetery funeral mass can be viewed on the Chapppubble Colm Kilnifa Fintyne Facebook page the death has occurred of Eileen Caterston Nate Irwin 17 at Polly Arnan Road Castle Derrick funeral from her late home to more morning at quarter past 11 for Requiem Mass at 12 o'clock in St. Patrick's Church Castle Derrick interment afterwards in the adjoining church yard the mass can be viewed via the parish webcam family flowers only please donations if desired to Marie Curie Cancer Care care of any family member or Charles Lynch funeral director the house is strictly private the death has occurred of Sally Dolan Donmore Fulcara 12 o'clock the death has taken place of Mary Duffy 19 at Drummond Road and formerly of Letcher Moore leaving her home to more morning at 20 past 10 for Requiem Mass in St. Patrick's Church Colleeny at 11 o'clock funeral mass can be viewed on the Chapppubble Colm Kilnifa Fintyne Facebook page the death has occurred of Eileen Caterston Nate Irwin 17 at Polly Arnan Road St. Patrick's Church Colleeny at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery donations and lay of flowers please to Ward 4D Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast Care of Quigley Funeral Directors Wake and Funeral are strictly private please the Requiem Mass can be viewed live via the Donaheedy parish YouTube channel the death has taken place of Jean Davidson, Nate Care Carr, late of Helen Street Dairy and Carrick Finn County Donegal Funeral from her home 25 Helen Street Dairy to more morning at 20 past 10 going to St. Judean's Cathedral for Requiem Mass at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in the city cemetery the death has occurred of Desmond Wallace Clairode Donegal Tine Funeral service in Donegal parish church at 2 o'clock this afternoon followed by burial in Glebe Cemetery Donegal Tine Funeral may be viewed on the Donegal group page by strictly private please family flowers only please and the death has occurred of John McGee, Porto Glen Bunkranna remains reposing at his late residence removal from his home on Friday morning at quarter past 10 to St. Mary's Church Cock Hill for Requiem Mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery John's Requiem Mass can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv family time please from 11pm family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to the Donegal Hospice and the Irish and Motor Neurone Disease Association care of any family member or Murphy Funeral Directors for more details including any family health guidelines for wigs and funerals please go to HighlandRadio.com If you have been in receipt of the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment payment and are now returning to work this message is for you. You must ensure that you stop your payment on your first day back at work. The simplest way to do this is online at www.mywelfare.ie For more information visit gov.ie forward slash DSP COVID-19 brought to you by the Government of Ireland. Okay you're very welcome back to the program now to some of your comments before we move into our next topic what planet does the Green Party actually live on? Michael White talking a load of hogwash about retrofitting homes at a time when thousands of microhomes are still being denied a proper redress scheme unbelievable another likely any grant work it will cost the person that is getting the job done far more unless things change well we already heard from the experts who are already doing it that to do it for 50,000 euro properly at this time is probably not realistic that's not even factoring in where prices are going to go. I want it to work by the way I am I think we have to do everything we can to save us money if we can but also to try and protect the environment for the future if this helps I'm all for it but it has to be affordable it has to be realistic it can't just be a press conference that you know ticks a load of boxes but the lived experience for us particularly you know we have to fight our corner here in the northwest in rural Ireland a lot of us in rural Ireland as well morning Greg I got my walls on attic insulated through a government scheme but now I have condensation problems with mould not a success for me thanks they say would you get this retrofitted if you were registered for mica in your home another are there any is there anything for solar panels on the roof not much talk of solar is there this is retrofitting and solar is not retrofitting but I call this grant allocation will be added onto the cost of the job another I listen to Mr White's glorious leader this morning on virgin blaming global markets for price increases it is the greens that are putting the price of coal heating oil and car fuel it's them that's crucifying us have to know pity no understanding no empathy and you know we talk about the cost of living and I was working out today that someone who let's just say your average car fills your average car with petrol I'll just use petrol as an example because that's the figure I was also looking at say compared to a garage in letter Kenny versus a garage in Donegal town right so if you happen to live in Donegal town so your average fuel tank somewhere between what 45 75 litres let's take the median in an around 50 litres odd if they were to get their fuel in Donegal town versus letter Kenny and they use one tank of petrol a week again maybe that's about average the bill the cost of living bill on petrol alone for someone living and getting their petrol in Donegal town would be 372 euro more than someone in letter Kenny is not a remarkable difference within a one county so let's just say even the government cut you know say cut that by 10 cent per litre of petrol let's just say they did that everyone go as is brilliant 10 cent per litre that would mean that someone in Donegal town would only then be paying what someone in letter Kenny might be paying now there's different prices all over the place by the way I'm just picking two places that I know the prices of that I've observed the prices of the variance is around 12 to 13 cent per litre on your average petrol tank filled once a week which I don't think is unreasonable the cost of living on petrol alone for someone in Donegal town getting at this garage versus another garage in letter Kenny is 372 euro more in the same county I really think that's quite remarkable though that being said looking around you do see there seems to be more competition in the market even within Tans more than you might have seen in the past but I just think personally for me that's a huge difference 40 minutes away 45 minutes away 372 euro so say a new person out driving they got a petrol car using a tank to and from work doing some other stuff their cost of living on petrol alone sorry to reiterate this but just so I'm clear 370, 380 euro more in Donegal town from this garage versus a garage in letter Kenny I find that quite remarkable anyway I listened to Mr White's glorious I've read that one ask Michael why to what major retrofitting can rural people do for full retrofit without staying on the grid why isn't it 100% grand for just transition electricity prices are going up no one has the money that's the problem you see but most people might be ok with this you see we heard from the earlier contributor like your semi D in Dublin you know 50 grand might do it ok and maybe that's where the majority of people live but that's not good to us got cavity wall pumped about 10 years ago it's brought nothing but trouble as it brought damp into the house a cavity wall should be left alone believes another calling now just to be fair not to do anyone out of business we ask the expert he said that maybe have happened he's seen himself on first floors with older cavity filling insulation type stuff to foam and maybe some other stuff he says that the new modern stuff allows the water to fall down more efficiently all right we'll be joined by our next guest talking about the St Patrick's Day trips for our politicians our glorious politicians you know here's an interesting one wait to hear this we might as well put the doll up for sale we might as well we can do because we're not going to really need it at all anymore because let me see where is this they are voting to not have to turn up to the door for votes they want a referendum on that I wonder how people will vote this is no joke by the way the only time you probably might see a decent crowd in the door is when they're discussing pay increases for TDs or if there's an important vote a referendum on allowing TDs and Senators to vote remotely has moved closer as the government confirmed it will be supporting a bill by one of its own TDs article 15.11 of the constitution provides that all questions in each house shall say otherwise provided by this constitution be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting other than the chairman or presiding member in effect it means that TDs and Senators must be present in the building to cast votes in the door in Shannon the rule meant that deputies and Senators could not vote remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and has also caused issues for TDs taking maternity or paternity leave very a motive argument of course but listen, with the best will in the world paternity and maternity leave what, five a year COVID-19 pandemic hopefully we never see anything like that again so really what this is going to boil down to would be a constitutional change for your average, I can't be there or I'm on launch I'll vote there it's not about maternity and paternity leave in COVID-19 because those things aren't going to be the key factors going forward very important particularly the maternity and paternity leave but anyway a private member is billed from Finnegales, Jennifer Carroll, McNeil, TD aims to amend the constitution to allow remote voting to happen the 39th amendment of the constitution Parliament voting bill 2020 goes before the door on Thursday and the government said it will not be opposing it so what do you think do you think our TDs and Senators should be able to vote remotely maybe it would be a good thing but it does make you wonder when you see so few people in the dull and shattered so often and if they're not even necessarily having to be there for votes what is the sort of function of meeting the way that they do I don't know what are your views okay as I say, separate to that we're going to be talking about the St Patrick's Day trips that's coming up after the bingo numbers in a quick break stay where 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remember there's no show like a Joe show always a sell-out, book now at Aldi we're committed to being fairer greener, healthier fairer by raising one million euro for Bernardo's because no child should be left behind greener, we aim to have our plastic packaging by 2025 healthier by providing fresh fruit and veg at amazing prices yes, that includes your favourites kids sprouts and spinach change doesn't happen overnight but at Aldi we're working hard to get better every day see aldi.ie for details Highland Radio time checks brought to you by Leto Kenny Shopping Centre the centre of shopping in Donegal free parking and shopping all under one roof Leto Kenny Shopping Centre bringing you the time at 20 past 10, right okay so let's talk about this St Patrick's Day program it'll see a promotional program of 23 high level visits abroad which will take place in line with local COVID-19 public health guidelines Miho Martin, he's going to Washington to meet President Joe Biden Minister Eamon Rines going to New York Pascal Donahue is going to the Netherlands and London Catherine Martin, Argentina and you know I suppose the default position might be you know this is a disgrace this is a waste of taxpayers' money and you know people who are angry about stuff maybe so might go and feel that this is you know adding insult to insult to injury but that being said look we have to look at these things in the round and maybe you know in the long run they might be beneficial to the county we invite Paddy Rooney on to the program regularly because he's very astute and has a fine interest in politics and I respect your opinion Paddy so I want to hear it good morning to you good good to have you on with us right okay so as I said in the preamble there as the waffle really some might call it on the face of it you know we could easily get angry say it's not fair we can't go anywhere things are tight inflation through the roof but do we have to look at things a little bit more like long term I think we do there is a feature on Donegal Daily's Facebook page this morning about Charlie McConn Loogs and his visit to Canada most of the agriculture and I think that the commons in the main associated with that are very negative and very cynical and I think it's very very sad I'm actually very supportive of all the trips all over the world Ireland is very lucky in the fact that there is one day of the year that's associated with Ireland and that is the 70th of March when I was a young fella that people used to say that Muhammad Ali was more famous or more well known than Jesus at that particular time but that may or may not be the case but that day and St Patrick's Day is always associated with Ireland no matter where you go and there's very few countries in the world that actually have a day like that America have it to a degree with the 4th of July France have it to a degree with the 14th of July and wherever you get Americans or French people congregated all over the world celebrate their respective days but very few other countries that I'm aware of had a big day associated with that back in the 1980s Greg I lived in London for a while and there was a very vibrant Irish community in London at the time and most counties in Ireland had actually an association, Princess Donnie Gall had a very vibrant and successful association that still had I believe most of the people that were there were forced to be there it was not there by choice because at the time when there was very high levels of you know under development in this country a lot of high unemployment at high levels of emigration and London was the place of choice and St Patrick's Day was a special day it was almost on a par if it wasn't with actually Christmas Day and a lot of Irish communities came together and they don't sort of many parades and they had their music and their song and so on and what would be the harm in Donnie Gall County Council spending I don't know, with 10,000 euro by the Chief Executive of John McLaughlin and the Corn Cahir look as a Jack Murray to go and share with them these people were forced out of Ireland does that mean to say that we have to forget about them and that we have to look for something in return But in relation to that in return Paddy, you know like historically Donnie Gall County Council would send their people away as you mentioned but there was a lack of communication as to what was the function of the trip what happened, what would be the benefit and when this last conversation a couple of years ago, maybe five or six years ago time has run away in me now because we've lost two years but what happened was I think the travelling party was thinned out a little bit and a programme of events and the meetings that were scheduled was released and then reports were furnished as to what activity took place what meetings took place some people are still going to think it's a junket but others are going to say actually you know what I see now where there might be a benefit to this so really in a roundabout way if this were better communicated there might be a better buy-in for the majority like you know if we hear clearly what the benefits of Charlie McConnel are going for Canada we have a huge diaspora out there presumably it's good for them which I think you've been alluding to there our business connections and where that might go because we interview ambassadors on this show all of the time and they're always talking about trying to build connections between two countries is that what we're doing? Well I'll give you a little anecdote then now it refers to Northern Ireland not necessarily the Republic of Ireland but to give you a general drift about what these things are about I actually attended a talk given by the late great John Hume and he was the speaker at Donnie Gull branch of the Irish Management Institute it must have been a good part of 20 years ago and he was talking about Northern Ireland and what was going on and what needed to be done and so on and so forth now the Wood Friday agreement had been signed at the time and the executive was in place but he asked the audience about what did we think was the most predominating factor that got Seagate to set up in Northern Ireland and everybody put their people started putting their hands up, well it must have been the financial inducements that was offered to the company no it must have been the set aside of corporation tax for the company, no it must have been access to the very vibrant well educated English speaking workforce that was available, apparently not but surely it must have been due to the fact that Northern Ireland is in Britain and it's in the European Union at the time and has access to all this market, apparently that wasn't the reason either Greg, he actually said that he was at one of these Irish Americans in Washington that was organized around St Patrick's Day and he was being taken around the room by the whoever was the emcee or the chairperson, I can't remember at the name of the person at the time but they actually casually bumped into the chief executive of the European branch of Seagate and what was meant to be a 60 second introduction and conversation turned into a two hour conversation in a corner where John Hume explained to him what was going on in Northern Ireland why it was going on and what needed to be done to fix it and eventually anyway the chief executive said to John Hume, well what can I do and John went on to tell him about the high levels of economic deprivation and unemployment in the northwest area of the six counties of Ulster and that was it. Nine months later John got a call from this guy to say that the company at the top executive board level had made its strategic decision to invest in Northern Ireland for no other particular reason than they wanted to play their part in the settlement in Northern Ireland. Now don't tell me Greg that whatever money was spent on that that wasn't well paid. I accept the fact that you're not going to get a big win like that everywhere every time, but if you throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick. That's the kind of start of networking that goes on and the talking some of it works some of it doesn't. Okay but we are in a position though maybe it's about timing we are in a position now where people we've just come through the pandemic right the other side but now people are at the pin of the collar in terms of you know they're not able to fly away anywhere themselves you know we're talking about the cost of fuel and all that type of stuff we've just had an announcement about retrofitting to save the environment and we're talking about you know at least 66 long-haul flights here it's still again though even though we maybe need to look at the benefits and how we might reap those into the future it does again feel like another example of them and us we're having to save the environment we're having to struggle along they're flying away at our expense huge carbon footprint and you know yourself there'll be a few glasses of Chardonnay drank and plenty of rich food eaten too absolutely but if we take the bill for all of that I think it's 32 politicians I think from Dahlern and they very well be politicians from local authorities going elsewhere and so on if you took the total bill of that and the round and you say well what is the, I mean do we have to be totally cynical about this Greg and say we know the price of everything but the actual value of nothing because there is a lot of benefits that this country reaps alright so we have the promotion of Ireland abroad we have the celebration and the connection with the areas the ASPO overseas we have the economic development such thing but there's a whole raft of other benefits and I was just thinking about this since Caroline contacted me yesterday Margaret Thatcher is on record Greg to say that she should never have signed the Anglo Irish agreement with Gariface Jordan back in 1985 and the only reason that she done it was because Ronald Reagan coaxed her cajolder pressurized her into doing it and the only reason he did that was because the Irish politicians and diplomats were pressing the Irish congress people in America to do that would we have the good Friday agreement John the IRA sees for Greg in 1994 or the good Friday agreement in 1998 without the American involvement how do you put a value in all that if that's then and that's eating bread and soon forgot no okay we're we're jealous of our politicians we can't go on holidays so they can't go on holidays I think that that's a very very narrow view to take of things with the benefits they're not quite obvious to us but they're there in the background the networking the glad-hanging the mixing the drinking the Chardonnay with the people that you're drinking with all of that in my view has plays a part in having a positive influence in this country yeah okay it's going to be a tough solo but I think maybe if we got more details as to the you know what they will be doing and what you know maybe a report afterwards it might help but I think there's always going to be a lot of us that are going to be against this there is but the problem with reporting and all this can it stop people are going to equate well how many jobs came to download the door industrial estate or a program or something that but it's never going to be that it's never going to be like that because the benefits from the trips this year they might and accrue to this country for 10 years time Greg so you know it's going to come across as we met this we attended that function we spoke to this we lobbied that what does that look like in paper it looks very empty and very flimsy isn't it but actually there is some meaningful serious business actually being done that might not be obvious today but it will be in our could be in the future all right listen thanks for coming on we appreciate your views I appreciate it greatly okay Paddy Rudy there what do you think it's I don't know I just I can see the benefits of it and I'm I'm going in that direction for my head and I think you know even for people that are away might be glad to know what's happening if there's anyone out there by the way who is a member of the diaspora give us a call or text in the show<PHONE_NUMBER>000 it doesn't matter to you but then I also know for a lot of people it feels like a two-fingered sloop when we're talking about the struggles and the difficulties and the costs you know um me or Martin and Co getting off to promote our Irish culture yet they've decimated our main attraction the Irish pub closing right left and centre since 2000 we're more than the pubs though but I take your point our culture is far richer than pubs I would hope why are we sending a minister to Columbia are we negotiating a drugs deal no of course we're not what trade do we do with Columbia and how many diaspora living there um and you're right Greg a lot of people feel a crash is coming while our politicians start packing the suitcases for worldwide St Patrick's Day trips priorities it all depends on Russia stepping back from invading Ukraine we all need to pray that Russia backs off so I would ask people to say a prayer or light a candle for peace in Ukraine and Russia stepping back look Russia will step back but the you know they have concerns about their security as well and they need NATO to step back and it's going to take an agreement and that's what they're doing they're negotiating you know the Russia are concerned of NATO having a presence so deep into Eastern Europe Russia had received had received assurances in that regard when there were concerns previously so they're the big boys just arguing back and forth they'll sort that out because none of them can afford to get into conflict but Russia trying to protect itself and East Europe trying to protect itself they have to sort it out John listening to the conversation about these trips going ahead can you see the bigger picture that's being argued or do you feel that it is it's just insult injury I think it's an insult injury we have people who are struggling to hate their homes there's family struggling to put food on the table students we have students in this country that are living a major existence because they can't afford proper accommodation and we're able to you know even Ryan's talking about the carbon footprint what about the carbon footprint sending politicians all over the world for no good reason I can't I'm sorry but I can't see the benefit surely we have ambassadors in these countries what are they there for that's a good point yeah why aren't the ambassadors doing this work what are they there for if not to do this exactly exactly you know like I'm listening to Mr Rooney and you know I'm sorry I don't agree with him one way or the other because you know people are struggling we're after coming maybe out of a pandemic and we are now free and see what to send politicians all over the world I can't I'm sorry but you know I can't see the sense of it maybe they should send the politicians to the country counties of the of the country and have public meetings so that we can tell them what our concerns are as it relates to electricity prices the state of the health service the state of the roads you know maybe they should visit the counties I know they're from the counties but you know visit us and that's maybe there'd be more benefit addressing the issues that we're most worried about right now John exactly I couldn't agree more we elect politicians in this country to serve us they're not serving us by travelling all over the world we have ambassadors in most of the countries that they're going to let them do their work why is an ambassador sent and the most please if he's not going to do this type of work you're tipping me you genuinely tipping me in the direction of thinking this is not a good idea but with the ambassadors argument one which I hadn't thought of you know I presume they're well resourced well paid you know maybe pick four or five destinations for politicians but sending 32 32 hours especially when we're having a conversation about paying for heating and struggling to pay for heating yes exactly right John and does it anger you or does it just pee you off or at this point are you so disillusioned that I'll be almost I'm angry and disillusioned yeah you know as far as I'm concerned we and this company we have an inept government who are drowning in the sea of an adequacy mm-hmm we don't have any leadership we have you know when you see them and you can see them on TV you know Michael Martin and Leo Francker and Evan Ryan you know and that's a bit brutally honest they can't look at each other but they're there because they're in power together you know that's wrong what they're doing of course you think about the people yeah get the basics right let's show what we have and then talk about the 10 15 20 year plan exactly mm-hmm I mean even this announcement about the retrofitting it just you can't help but feel they're out of touch with what it's really like living here of course they are you know a person they're talking about this retrofit a person who are struggling with their mortgage you know I'm having to borrow money to retrofit their home where are they going to get the money to pay for it but at the same time you see they're increasing that and tax on the likes of home heating oil on the likes of gas to try and force us to wreck they believe that that's the most effective way to get us to change right so we're being we're paying more and more and more to heat the homes and that's only going in one direction John and that is up and the alternative to that is to us to retrofit our homes but we don't have the money to retrofit our homes and we've heard from people within the industry that even the 50 grand wouldn't scratch it for most houses no it wouldn't I looked up the price of the cheapest heat pump I could see last night was somewhere in the region of 5 grand and then another 1500 to fill it you know where's an ordinary household wouldn't get that kind of money I don't think I know anyone that has that money to do that no they don't I don't think I do I might do but I don't think I do and I mean that hand on heart I'm not sitting here trying to I don't know anyone that could put their hands on 25 grand to do this excuse me okay John listen I mean there's plenty of positivity out there we have to try and focus on that sometimes but look this is a big issue and it's relevant and we appreciate your time and I get how you feel John and I appreciate you speaking to me okay thank you very much alright take care of yourself thanks John really appreciate it okay we'll take a piece of music shall we we'll play 17 going on there from Sam Fender he performed at the Brits last night pretty good actually and I loved the commentary the guys got up there young fellas were so happy to be proud of not mine but I was encouraged happy that they got up and they used their time to promote a support for people food banks sort of in their own hometown and I thought that was lovely to use that time to promote that and the area that from and it felt very real if you're watching on Facebook or YouTube we're going to mute for about three minutes don't go anyway though because we've got your comments and more calls and more conversation on the way you won't want to miss it but as I mentioned here is Sam Fender and 17 going under okay that is 17 going under from Sam Fender a couple of your comments here so how many TDs are of the calibre of John Hume would we be sending at non size that caller that was ringing in the back of my head when I heard that alright did the minister shop around for their airline tickets I'm sure journalists as we speak are currently trying to find out who they're flying with and all that malarkey seriously did I hear correctly 32 representatives heading around the world on St. Patrick's Day someone please tell me it's a joke I'm sorry I can't tell you such because it is happening all over the place they're going everywhere scattered around the world what running on them all over the world would bring is they'll all come back with 10 different variants of COVID alright another caller says I think people might be more open to sending people away from St. Patrick's Day if it wasn't politicians they could send maybe sports people example GEA players or writers community representatives perhaps perhaps okay right we are going to be speaking to Detective Inspector Pat O'Donnell after we take this short break for more free for a better connected life Michael Haney and associate solicitors Stranorla in contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement with the onset of different variants of coronavirus it is vital that your business office or school has the most up-to-date air purification device McDade's bathroom plumbing tiles introduce the Daikon air purifier it eliminates 99.9% of coronaviruses in under three minutes ideal for residential settings offices classrooms and waiting rooms priced at 495 euros is a great investment for more details contact McDade's bathroom plumbing tiles we're only a phone call or email away this is an important announcement from the department of social protection if you have been in receipt of the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment payment and are now returning to work this message is for you you must ensure that you stop your payment on your first day back at work the simplest way to do this is online at www.mywelfare.ie for more information visit www.mywelfare.ie forward slash DSP COVID-19 brought to you by the government of Ireland giveblood.ie know we can count on you our community of blood donors to give blood and to choose to be there for others in their hour of need blood donors from Bali Shannon should attend the clinic in Kaloshta column kill in Bali Shannon on Monday 7th and donors from Donegal Town, Kili Beggs and Dunlow should attend the clinic in the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town from Tuesday 8th to Thursday 10th of February to ensure social distancing all donors need to make an appointment so call 1-800-731-137 to book your time at 3 we have an amazing range of broadband offers to keep you connected switch to 3's high speed home broadband for just 39 euro per month and get 3 months free with no upfront cost visit the 3 store Bungrana for this offer and more subject to coverage, tees and seas apply okay now today marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of 24 year old Andrew Allen he was murdered by a group of individuals at his home at Lynxview Park Bungrana February the 9th 2012 Detective Inspector Pat O'Donnell joins us on the programme still open and active as much as can be I suppose until further information becomes available investigation Pat yeah good morning Greg yes investigations ongoing and we have 700 lines of inquiry to date we've arrested 6 people question them in relation to the murder and we're now making an appeal to see the public in both Bungrana and Dairy City areas to come forward and assist us we hope that the passage of time will help people come forward and there won't be as inhibitors as there were back in 2012 as well and we're looking at new developments in technology and in DNA so things are moving on nicely Greg I know it's a slow process but these cross-border investigations tend to be that way alright take us back to the the day February 9th what happened, what information do we have in just in case a trip was something February the 9th basically you had Andrew Allen Chris Parker in Bungrana which is basically on the it's on the the fallen side of Bungrana the state on the left hand side they're overlooking the sea, the beach he was there in his bedroom it was around 9 o'clock in the evening it was dark and a knock came to the door someone tried to kick in the door and then there was a number of shots fired through the bedroom window that was totally injured and do we know anything about the motivation or the intent, it was to yeah so there was a statement released by Republican Ashken Strokes which are now the new IRA and Derry but they see that they were making up false allegations that Andrew was a drug dealer and he's basically into crime and that this was their way of dealing with it basically and I get the impression now this is not to discourage anyone with any new information I get the impression that a lot of it's there but there are people that need to come forward to progress this investigation yeah there are a number of key people obviously we're hoping people closer to those involved will come forward given the passage of time and maybe their conscience might be playing on them or that they're in relations for the time that has changed and there are tons of control of other people now where there are more free to come forward rescuing those people to assist us obviously we've collected a huge amount of information and there are a number of pieces we need to join it all together to focus on the individuals who are required to prosecute for this and of course you know 10 years have passed but this will feel like yesterday to Andrew's family and friends and they will be looking for this to be resolved for those who are responsible to be found responsible so maybe in some way they can progress forward yes we continue to liaise with Andrew's family and it is a very difficult time the anniversary for them and that has been always been said to us by them and Andrew's mother is telling in a very bad way about the whole thing we're just hoping that some people who maybe know the family and know what happened will come forward and any assistance they can give us will be appreciated, we're not going to judge people and what they tell us we're appreciative of any assistance we get and it will be totally confidential and if they wish to contact Bunkrana Guard of Station the number there is 07493 20540 from the north<PHONE_NUMBER>0 that Guard of Confidential line as well 1-800-666-1111 or listen anywhere anywhere contact anyone and pass on any information and thank you Greg for your assistance and in this case over the years I mean Highland Radio and other media outlets have assisted us in helping people come forward and it's a great benefit to the investigation we hope it progresses, thank you very much indeed we've got a Detective Inspector Pat O'Donnell there today the 10th anniversary the 10th anniversary of Andrew Allen in Bunkrana and you heard the appeal directly from the Inspector there okay my wife was at work in a hospital on Monday from 9am until 5.30pm during that time someone hit her car and drove off it appears they drove forward and did over £2,500 in damage to the side of her car they didn't leave a note or call the hospital to say look I hit a car can the owner contact me, this isn't the Galvan is it letter Kenny okay sorry I beg your pardon this isn't letter Kenny they didn't leave a note or call the hospital to say look I hit a car can the person that did this please contact me there is no CTV CCTV in the car parks, I'm appealing to anyone who might have seen anything to contact me or do you own a garage did anyone come in in the last few days repaired that night that would have similar damage done to it that's all the information we have but this is a person was working a long shift in the hospital came out the car was hit whoever did it drove off possibly the person panicked and drove off I don't think they care about that whether or not for whatever reason you might have left I think they just want to get in contact with you they're facing a bill of €2,500 through no fault of their own nothing well there's worse but you know what I mean just to use the phrase nothing worse than coming out and seeing that so listen maybe you want a clear conscience and get that sorted have a conversation with them a caller says we are now 60s if we took out a credit union loan we'd be in our 80s and still paying off the loan to retrofit our homes we are not going to take a loan like this when we have just finished paying our mortgage and putting our children through college we've no savings and live hand to mouth in fear our old age and living on a pension that is a incredibly typical situation okay who is going to who is going to labour themselves with a loan and that's in the 60s 50s is the same I think 40s even Greg I'm sorry to say you can hope as much as you like but there is a world economic collapse in the pipeline very soon counter-cancelers are getting a 40 year old pay rise in 2022 this will take their annual salary to 26,000 not hard times for some why is this a part time job most run businesses and manage top hotels some of them do some of them don't but I take your point it is your money so you're entitled to feel however you might feel what about all this carbon created by the St. Patrick's junket by our ministers traveling all for the world I suppose that's good carbon well we'll say nothing about that because it's a contradiction of everything we're being told so best ignore it get the head in the sand there where is Aiman Ryan going for St. Patrick's day is it somewhere he can get on his bicycle I don't know I still have that image of him I still have that image of him in that big van let me see I can dig through the box here live now I can never find anything in this box it's like a Pandora's box you put stuff in and it disappears here we go there it is the box by the way for anyone watching on Facebook or YouTube it's the top of a box you get A4 sheets of paper and that is what I use ok right so where is Aiman Ryan going looking down the list here it's an extensive list Lisa Chambers is heading to the United States she wasn't even elected into the door the last time out and was appointed to the Senate by the government and is now being sent to the United States isn't that nice Aiman Ryan is going to New York so unless it's a pedalo and looking at the waves last night you wouldn't want to send anyone out in a pedalo he will be flying to New York the big one you know the big boys get the big ones don't they I mean you want to go up there and rub shoulders with President Biden don't you who else Simon Coveney staying on the island of Ireland I wonder is that punishment Roderick O'Gorman he's going to the United States as well Charlie McConnelogue he's going to Canada let's see any other highlights some of these people I embarrassingly don't even know do you know that isn't that terrible Joe O'Brien Minister of State Joe O'Brien I'm not really familiar with him Martin Hayden I probably should be Ashene Smith he's going to Spain don't really know him Sean Fleming I think he's shopped around he's shopped around and is heading to the north of England Scotland in fact where's the Minister of Health going I don't see him here Stephen Donnelly is going to the United States as well so all the big boys are going to the USA alright back with more shortly on high-speed home broadband and more three for a better connected life from Friday at Lidl with a huge selection of glorious bouquets from just 9.99 25% off our range of award-winning stakes like two Irish Angus ribeye now only 6.74 and 25% off award-winning prosecco's we're putting love on top of the menu and what could be more romantic than that Lidl more for you this Valentine's enjoy alcohol responsibly if you're buying new tires contact Auto Fast Fit in Lidl-Kennie get great grip and great brands at prices to suit every budget tow bars also supplied and fitted for cars and commercial vehicles Auto Fast Fit Pierce Road Lidl-Kennie call 9-1-2-1-7-4 Nina and Sherman are currently enrolling for 2022- 2023 with childcare available from 9am till 2pm quality childcare offered through the minima virus in a fun, exciting, imaginative and safe environment we're just 15 minutes from Lidl-Kennie call Nina and Sherman on 086-8-6-7-0-1-6-8 for more details for confirmation and first communion see the great selection of suits casual wear and footwear at Watson men's wear Lidl-Kennie top brands including 1880 club, Lyle and Scott Fara and Diesel also Tommy Bowe footwear and all at great prices whatever the fit, whatever the style confirmation and first communion are covered for less at Watson men's wear open 7 days a week on Main Street Lidl-Kennie and at Watson men's wear dot com also great end of sale bargains still available Island Radio Weather Updates with Ireland West Airport Ronaldo, De Bruyne, Cavani you can now see both Manchester teams in action with Ryanair's twice weekly service to Manchester Ireland West Airport you're flying alright today, scattered showers with Sunday spells showers will turn heavier through the day with the chance of isolated thunderstorms and hell later sleet is also possible on Hills at chilly day with highest temperatures 4-7 degrees now we're heading into the last hour of the show we've got loads of interesting stuff for you do not go anywhere because you'll only miss out on hour 3 the same as hour 2 and hour 1 loads of information keeping you right across all the stories both locally and nationally as well you will not miss a thing good morning Greg how nice for these 32 ministers to be jetting off to far off places at the taxpayers expense for St Patrick's Day while the people they were elected to represent are wondering how they and their families will manage to make ends meet week to week the cost of living is rising in this country do politicians have a conscience my opinion is no says Anne and it's timing it's about it's reading the room what's going on in this country how do people feel we all went away would that be good would that be bad I don't know maybe they say it's the last sting of a dying wasp I don't know but people aren't happy but if you think it's a good idea please get in touch I want to bring that balance there as well okay it is 11 o'clock so it's time for a news update so we make our way over to studio 2 to get a news update now from Michaela Clark good morning Michaela thanks Greg good morning unions are demanding pay increases of at least two workers to offset the rising cost of living the government is due to decide tomorrow on the majors it will take to tackle increasing prices Zip2 is calling on ministers to protect low-paid workers who will be badly hit by higher living costs the chairperson of the Donegal Green Party believes the new installation and retrofit scheme announced by government yesterday will be practical for homeowners and help in cutting the cost of home heating up to half the cost of a full retrofit will be covered in the home energy upgrade scheme with 80% of some smaller projects like attic insulation to be paid out agriculture and marine minister Charlie McConn will travel to Canada on a St Patrick's Day visit 32 ministers and junior ministers will be jetting off to destinations such as New Zealand at South America and the US this year after a hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic Donegal Deputy is calling for a dull debate on the two recent police ombudsman's reports in the north and you report from the police watchdog examined eight attacks in south Belfast in which 11 people were killed and find evidence of collusive behaviour by police. It's the second damning report from the ombudsman following the publication of the Greenwich report last month British MPs are warning delays that the border could increase if issues with post-Brexit checks on goods and vehicles aren't solved. A report by the UK's Public Accounts Committee says leaving the EU is so far only resulted in costs and delays for businesses. It's time to get back to face-to-face meetings at municipal district level. That's the view of Councilor John O'Donnell after the latest sitting of the letter Kenny Milford Municipal District was held online yesterday. Councilor O'Donnell says when dealing with projects it's important for Councilors to be around the table to be able to discuss the matters of the day. And it might not be the end of the road for Donegal Time St Patrick's Day it may be cancelled after just six people turned up to a meeting on Monday evening to discuss plans for the celebrations to mark the occasion. However a second meeting is now being held on Tuesday at EAPM in the Central Hotel at Donegal Time. Those are the latest headlines. We'll be back with an update again at 12 noon. Thank you very much indeed Michaela I really appreciate it. OK Wednesday, Wellness Wednesday is going to be talking about mail infertility and living with XXY Foundation. This is something that's not talked about a lot but does affect a number of people. So we're going to be finding out more about it. We're going to be speaking to a person affected by it. And if you have any questions hopefully getting to those as well.  Hello, I'm David Foley, Medical Herbalist. Are you suffering with a cold flu or psychositis? Then ask for Irish botanical echinacea, a traditional herbal medicine that's used to cure the disease. I'm David Foley, Medical Herbalist and I'm going to be speaking to a person affected by it. Hello, I'm David Foley, Medical Herbalist. Are you suffering with a cold, flu or psychositis? Then ask for Irish botanical echinacea, a traditional herbal remedy. Irish botanical echinacea is your natural solution to relieve the symptoms of the common cold, flu and psychositis. Call it a natural way. Let a Kenny shopping centre for more information. Years ago, I used to dread my motor insurance renewal. Then a friend told me about O'Malley Scanlan Insurance in Balibu Fe and Dunlow. They do all the hard work. They contact all the major insurance underwriters and they get the very best possible quote for me. They have saved me a small fortune over the years and they could do the same for you. When your insurance comes up for renewal contact O'Malley Scanlan Insurance at their Balibu Fe office on 9131020 or they're done low office on 95 Treble 206. O'Malley Scanlan is regulated by the Central Bank. Whatever the weather, night or day, let a Kenny driving range is open to 10pm daily. Are you a beginner or thinking of taking up golf? These allow you to practice the good and not so good shots for as little as 3 euro. Practice makes perfect at Let a Kenny driving range open 7 days. Find us on Facebook. At 3, we have an amazing range of broadband offers to keep you connected. Switch to 3's high speed home broadband for just 39 euro per month and get 3 months free. With no upfront cost, visit the 3 store Bunkerana for this offer and more. Subject to coverage, tees and as he's applying. OK, it's time to welcome on to the program now as part of Wellness Wednesday. Gareth Landy, an advocate for male infertility. Good morning to you Gareth, thanks for joining us. Hey, good morning. How are you? I can hear you loud and clear and see you fine as well. Right, Gareth, before we talk about your story and the foundation, do we presume when we say we know a couple and, you know, they're trying to get a baby, but it's not working out infertility is an issue. Is the default position to presume it's a female issue? Yeah, you're very absolutely correct. Like before my experience of my infertility, I assumed like most people infertility was only associated with women. But as you know, we need sperm and the egg to make a child. So it's actually quite, you know, you're completely correct. So I'd like my train of thought there. No, no, that's fine. You made the point clearly. So can you tell us your situation? So you said until you were diagnosed, what was as much as you're comfortable with Gareth, but I know you're speaking out by choice. Tell us your experience. Sure. So to give you, I want to give some bits of information for yourself and your listeners. So when they're watching this, either online or listening, there's useful links for them to follow this up. Because I think that's everyone will learn from that. So my wife and I got married in October 2015. And then in 2017, we're kind of thinking, oh, maybe we should try and have a family. I was 37 at the time. And we've been trying for a few months and like Anna was not getting pregnant. That's my wife. So I went for semen analysis and that came back negative. Now negative meant from the GP told me to not really get too concerned about that because she sometimes could be mistaken the lab. That would be an issue. But don't worry. So I went for another one and that came back negative again and I came back no sperm. Like nothing. It was empty. There's nothing in the sample. And as you can imagine, that's quite overwhelming getting that news. So we then went to see a urologist a private consultant and he didn't really examine me to be honest. You know, he kind of looked at some of the information from the previous GP. And then the thing with me is I'll get into it is I have a form of a photographic memory. So certain memories in my life, I can step back into those certain memories. So I had no concept. This huge bombshell is about to be dropped to me. So he looked me straight in the eyes and he said, Gareth, it doesn't work downstairs. You need to get over that and move on. I was told I was infertile. We'll pick it up from there, but there's a couple of things I want to pick up on as well, Gareth. Did you freely go to the GP? Do you think fellas might resist it? There's nothing wrong with me. It's not my problem. We'll go and get you checked out first because it has to be you. And even if they come back and say no, the female it's not an issue there. The guy might still go, you know, maybe there's a pride or something. Do you think that's a problem? Not a problem because it's it's personal. I'm not calling it a problem. It's everyone else's experience. Don't worry about, no, it's fine. You're very true because actually I was probably more open to it because as well as my wife is MS. So for her to get pregnant, she'd come off all her MS medication. So it was imperative that I completely be on board of this to not kind of be resistant and drag my feet because then we're losing time when Anna would offer medication. I had also gone through a lot of therapy for stuff in my life. I have a difficult strain relationship with my family and rough years my business and I always found the therapy really helped my mindset, helped me to see another avenue. But I also had an on-descented testicle as a child and that was always kind of there in the background and my actual doctor had said to me when the semen analysis came back the second one negative had I ever heard of a thing called Kleinerfelter syndrome or XXY and this is basically means that you have an extra X chromosome in your genetic makeup. So whereas you are XY and your colleague Caroline she's XX, I am XXY and I was like well I've never heard of that. An extra X, that must be good but obviously that wasn't the case. Yeah so one of the knock-on effects is it affects your infertility or affects your fertility, apologies and so we went to see this guy and he just dropped that huge bombshell on me Can I ask too, you mentioned your photographic memory okay, I just thought it was interesting to mention that and the way that information was given to you, does that make it more traumatic for you because you talk about stepping in and we talk about bedside manner I imagine from a post-traumatic situation is it amplified for you then because it is so vivid? Yeah Can you see me okay in the screen? Yeah I can Absolutely, I actually remember where I was sitting in the room I remember the light coming through the actual temperature of the room where he was, he had all these kind of little money trees in his office, there's bits of dust on it all this kind of really kind of detail and him sitting straight across and dropping it on me at that stage for yourself when he delivered that news to me I can really call it I completely retreated within myself and my hearing went and my heart kept beating really really fast and Anna asked a few questions and I was just not present and I would kind of I would articulate it as like an outer body experience I was in the room but not in the room because I was thinking I must have misheard him, he didn't say that did he? and from that moment onwards I remember drifting out out of the office we had to pay our bill it was like 160 euro and we just drifted my experience just felt like it was almost moonwalking forward not backwards out of the hospital and then we got outside and Anna and I completely broke down it was so overwhelming and this is one of the reasons I've become I've spoken on a lot of radio stations and stuff like this I've become very empowered for this is that no one should be treated like that no one should be told like anyone, whether it's a man or a woman no one should be actually told in such a horrible blunt way it's life changing and words matter exactly, the language he actually didn't even kind of touch my arm or hug or say the news is not great he's just delivered in such a nasty way and it's just not acceptable to do that to people and you talked about your wife's condition and come off medication and everything that goes with that presumably important to both of you but it sounds to me like this was incredibly important to her did that pile of pressure on you emotionally that you felt not only the news there that really is deeply affecting me but obviously this is going to deeply affect my partner I just imagine it amplifies an already difficult situation yeah what happened to that stage so Anna is very happy the reason we have it there's good news in this story do we get to that, yes we have a family now because Anna is amazing for us to have a family what happened to that stage is as I said I have a very different relationship with my family I've never told my family to this day I don't even talk to them now and there are a few narcissistic people within the family and they would make jokes about me and be all passed off as only having fun and when you're in such a low place and then you get more of that it doesn't help so I would expose myself to that our resilience is not infinite exactly so Anna I'm trying to say Anna kind of felt well we're going to get a different opinion on this so she went on to a really good website it's called rollercoaster.ie and it's kind of got fertility stuff and this guy's name kept coming up a urologist in London called Jonathan Ramsey and Jonathan Ramsey is still my consultant so we made an appointment to go and see him and he's in London and we flew over and I remember it so vividly even now his office, the light the road works outside all this kind of not really relevant information but it kind of helps in my memory the way to put it together and he just said Gareth we're going to do our best to find everything for you, find an answer for you and he kind of touched my shoulder and I just felt all this trust and this love like I didn't know this guy but he was a really caring person and that's I would believe that's at least half the battle if you can trust the consultants and the people who are trying to help you that makes such a massive impact on you at a subconscious level and what was he able to do for you in the process towards trying to start a family so as I remembered I have an extra X and I wear this t-shirt oh here it is oh yeah there we go, sorry it's opposite when I move in the camera so there it is living with XXY so I'm their advocate and at this stage by the way at this stage I did not know why is XXY so I had to go for a genetic blood test and it was something in this blood they can find the carrier to be an XXY person so I won't make it too long I'd make it quite kind of shorter I had my first operation which is an operation on my testicles and this was because what sometimes can happen to the men whether you're XY or XXY there could be a blockage within the tube between the testicles and the end of the penis and what they can do is they can go in under anesthetic so it's a good start already and they can go straight to the testicles and put needles into the testicles and what they're doing is they're looking for pools of sperm and he was very realistic he said the chances of this working most people who are XXY by the way is a spectrum so it affects guys in different ways and most men he said in his experience at that stage were if they had the ability to produce sperm it dropped off in their mid-20s and I'm 37 so he was very realistic said Gareth I kind of feel like we know the answer but let's just have a go so I came out of anesthetic and he's very excited he came and said Gareth I have really great news you're the very first person I've ever met in my career and his career is over 30 years and I know of anyone else in the world you're the very first person I've ever come across who still has the ability in their mid to late 30s to produce the building blocks that build sperm that's how I was told so I then went on a cocktail of different drugs I was taking testosterone gel testosterone injections, clomide that's a drug given to women for breast cancer and the idea was that my body would absorb all this crap I can't think of any other way to put it and it would turn this into the fuel to then build so to break it down into terms I can understand we had a seed but all this activity was to germinate it to make it produce its flower yeah that's a very visual good way actually I might use that in other interviews that's a really good way to describe it it's born of my trying to understand yeah so that's a really good way to just below the soil and it's almost trying to break out but it's not the full flower to be the full sperm near the ground level and I went on this stuff and he said the chance of this low working is maybe about 10 to 15% it's quite low, he's very realistic he's doing a good job managing your expectations because anything positive is going to feel really positive you know I mean you're ready for disappointment so anything good you're going to feel that if it's bad news you've got some preparation for that I like your style it's amazing and he did say to us by the way ahead of time he said guys we don't we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket we don't want to think that this will work because the expectation is low so you should look at the option of donor sperm and I don't know if you've ever gone on if you ever looked at the fertility website or anything like that it's like going to a car website so say you wanted to buy a new gulf what colour do you want it in, the alloys all the rest of it how did that make yo