Next up is a returning speaker to the 21 Convention. I had the pleasure to introduce him just a few months ago in London. Amazing speech. Can't wait to hear what your Ron's got in store for us today. This is your Ron Brook. He is the President and Executive Director of the Einrand Institute. He's the co-author of an upcoming bestseller. Keep your eyes peeled for it called Free Market Revolution and you can find out more at Einrand.org. That's A-Y-N-R-A-N-D dot org. So let me help to help me introduce your Ron to the stage. Thanks. Thank you all and yeah, it is going to be a bestseller and I need your help. So you can pre-order copies on Amazon as we speak on your phone. So I want to kind of leverage what you just heard from Eric and kind of use the material we just talked about to kind of take it to what I think is maybe a deeper level or the next level and build on the material we've already heard. One of the issues that I think exists out there in the whole, if you will, self-help industry, which is a huge industry and it seems to ebb and flow in terms of the theories and as Eric mentioned, it's been around since the early part of the century and hey, if they got it right, why do we still need more stuff? I mean, why isn't this a done deal? And I think that the whole phenomena brings up some interesting questions of why is there a need for this industry? Why is it so challenging? Why is it such that we keep getting these ups and downs and we keep getting all this contradictory advice? And I think it goes back to something that Eric mentioned and it's this notion that the two kind of ways in which to view self-made or to view self-help but to view what it means to live a good life, what it means to live a life. That is one, this Christian notion that ultimately the purpose of life is not your own well-being. Ultimately you want to become good at whatever you want to do so you can help other people. So the focus of everything in life is other people. That's one approach that I think is very, very dominant in our culture. Think about Bill Gates, right? Think about Bill Gates making billions and billions of dollars in the 1980s and 1990s. How does he make his billions of dollars? He makes it by creating a product. And what does he do with that product? How do you make money? How do you make money? General question. So millions of copies. So millions of copies but there has to be an assumption, right? Because if it costs me 100 bucks to produce something and I sell millions of copies for a buck, do I make millions? No. No, so what do I have to be able to sell it for? What? For a profit, which means above whatever it costs me to make, right? And it has to be a good enough product so people value it more than what? Their money. More than their money. So if I sell you a piece of software for 100 bucks, it has to be worth more than 100 bucks to the person who buys it. And in Bill Gates's case, anybody have an assessment of how much that piece of software actually was worth to people who bought it in the 80s and 90s? So you paid 100 bucks, let's say, for wood or for dust or something like that. How much was it worth to the person buying it? A lot. A lot. I mean thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands a lot. Maybe even millions. Because it changed your life. Because it changed computers. And it changed everybody's life. And suddenly we were all networked. Suddenly you didn't have to have a typewriter. You guys are too young to even know what that is. I know. But it's those old things. Suddenly everything changed. And the value of that piece of software is a lot more than 100 bucks. So here is Bill Gates. He's making all of our lives infinitely better. Infinitely better. And he's making gazillions of dollars doing that. And as a culture, what do we think of him? Is he a good guy? Is this a guy? We all think he's a great businessman. We all want to be gazillionaires. But is he a good guy? Is he like, are we going to build statues to him? Are we going to praise him to the hilt? Is this like Mother Teresa's over here? Where's Bill Gates? Way down there. He's not morally from an ethical perspective. The view of what goodness is, Bill Gates doesn't rank. He's made all of our lives better, but he's made money at it. So he doesn't count. When does he become a good guy? When he gives it away. And that's that view, 19th century Christian view. It's okay to make billions, only if you land up giving it away. Only if you land up serving other people. That's the purpose of life, is to serve other people. That's the essential. And if you make stuff, money, while serving other people, that's not that good. It's okay, but it's not that good. So, for example, you know, you know micro loans? These loans that people go into developing countries, and they give these small little loans to very poor people, and they, you know, to help them start businesses on. And it's proved to be incredibly successful in really getting entrepreneurship going in poor countries. So there are companies that do it that are non-for-profit, and their success is so-so. And then there are companies that do it for profit, and they're phenomenally successful. But who is considered better? The non-profit. Because they're not getting anything in return. So notice that there's a, we live in a culture that in terms of respect, in terms of admiration, in terms of what gets moral, ethical, virtue points, right? You get them when you sacrifice. And what does the sacrifice mean? You give something, or what do you get in return? Nothing. Or something less. Valuable. Right? Because if you give something and you get more in return, what do we call that? Profit, we call it a trade. Right? That's a trade. When I give you something and you give me something that's worth more to me, you got something more and I got something more, that's a trade, right? And what do we, that's a win-win. We're both better off. When I buy Microsoft product, the gates is better off, I'm better off. It's a win-win. Sacrifice is? Lose-win. Lose-win. Or win-lose, depending on what side of the sacrifice you're on, right? So, and that, that is way up here. That's up there with Mother Teresa, right? Good. So, we live in a culture where lose-wins are good. And win-wins are just okay. Kind of weird, right? Just doesn't, there's something strange about that. But think about relationships. Think about the value we place and just our terminology. We talk in hushed tones and with reverence towards people who sacrifice. How wonderful that is. In other words, losing is good. It comes out of this notion that your life is not your life. The only purpose to make your life better is to serve other people. The alternative to that has always been presented as, yeah, you should make your most of your life and what that means is, whatever you feel like it is, whatever you feel like doing, anything goes. There is no standard for determining what is a good life, right? Whether it's a billion dollars, a hot woman, whether it's this career, that career, whatever you feel like doing is good. Feelings is the guide. Feelings is the motivation. If you think that a good life comes from lying, cheating, stealing, well, we don't advise it because you might get caught and stuff and go to jail, but who are we to say that that's not right? Anything goes. Anything's permissible. That's what being a self-made person is supposed to mean. And nobody actually says it, but it's nobody because nobody actually tells you to go lie, steal, and cheat. Nobody would actually advocate, right? But the implication is that...


O, I worked with SIPTO for 18 years, and started off in mail, and then came back to Dublin, and worked in a number of different capacities, and achieved a few promotions, and was in the SIPTO management team for the last number of years. When I worked there, involved in some kind of high-profile disputes, the Lewis, double-boss Irish rail, things like that. And then I joined the Congress of Trade Unions, which is the All Island Federation, and which is the kind of the body that tries to speak with one voice for the 44 unions we represent on the island. I joined the Congress in 2016, working at a Belfast, responsible for Northern Ireland. And then when Patricia King, my colleague, stepped down last month, or two, the position was advertised, and I applied, and I was successful. So I'm delighted, but there's a big job of work ahead, and that it's good to be part of a collective team, because it's very much a team. I mean, there's no eye in the trade union movement. It's all about the week. Yeah, and what do you see as your priorities during your term? I mean, I think union membership has been proven to improve people's well-being. We've seen that recently with pay agreements in government jobs, effectively. Let's put it like that there. But I suppose in the private sector as well, you would like to see more areas of employment involved in unionism, or just more members generally? Well, there's a number of things, Greg. I think if we've learned anything from COVID, and sometimes we go through crises and we don't kind of reflect and learn the lessons and move on to the next crisis, but if we've learned anything from COVID, the list of what we consider essential workers, pre-Covid to post-Covid is radically different. And for many of those essential workers, it's a very long list. Work does not pay, and they don't earn enough. They don't get respect. They don't have dignity and work. So we need to change that. And I think the way to change that is for the trade union movement to recruit those workers and to try and bargain for pay, particularly in the middle of a cost of a living crisis. And in Ireland historically, there's been a number of institutional barriers for workers joining trade unions. There's a couple of things happening at Europe at the moment from nationally, which we hope to be triggers to take away those institutional barriers. So the key priority is to work on those issues in 2023. There's a European directive, which we want to transpose that will make it easier for workers to be in unions and wants to improve collective bargaining coverage. That's the number of workers that are covered by an agreement. So that's a key priority. Another key priority is obviously to reach out to young workers. The age profile of workers in the union, the highest group is about 55 to 65. So we need to do something about that. But what we do know from surveys is that young workers, 16 to 34 year olds, 52% of them that aren't in the union would like to be in the union. So we have to reach out to them and we have to make sure that that next generation have a key role at the bargaining table when it comes to workers' rights and pay. And are there sort of demographics within that demographic in terms of where young people are most likely to be working? I mean, there are certain career choices that almost those who employ within actively discourage people entering unions. They do, and I mean, when we talk about young workers safe from the age of 16 to 34, we're talking about young workers from all sorts of backgrounds, people who are third level graduates who go into professional occupations, other workers who go into semi-skilled or what are considered elementary-skilled jobs, right across the board. What strikes me is there's a demographic we least represent, but there's a demographic that has the highest proportion of people saying we want to be in a union. But why is that Owen though? Sorry, I mean, obviously, it's going to be a myriad of reasons. But why do you think younger people, especially when it's right across all different disciplines, why do you think they're so underrepresented in unions then? Well, there's another piece of work that came out a number of years ago that said the vast majority of people in Ireland would join a union if they felt their employer wasn't going to be hostile. And then it lies the problem, Greg. We're one of the few countries in Western Europe where the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining benefiting from union negotiations is not as clear-cut as it is elsewhere. And one of the things we want to do next year is transpose this directive that's called the adequate minimum wage directive. That has an ambition to get collective bargaining coverage. So the portion of workers covered by agreements negotiated by unions up to 80 percent. Currently, it's about 42 percent. So the government, whether it's this government or the future government, are legally obliged to transpose that directive and to follow it. We will make sure they do that. It's our job to be part of that because we want those workers who want to be in unions to have the opportunity to join them and play their part. I mean, at the end of the day, we want volunteers not constrictors. So it seems to me, when you look at the data, there are quite a lot of people who would like to be volunteers. So we need employers to respect that right and to allow their employees where they wish to unionise, to unionise. But it's a fundamental civil right, a human right, and that we want to make sure it's indicated in Ireland. Also, a living wage. You would see that as one of your focuses as well, that we have a genuine minimum wage that people can live on. But I mean, you would imagine sometimes those who employ seem to have more influence over the government than maybe they should have. Oh, well, most certainly they do.  And we need to get that balance right. The only way we're going to get that balance right is by legislation and by further organising and building union power effectively by having more workers in unions. But again, that European Union directive I'm mentioning also will help when it comes to the living wage because it recommends higher thresholds and different criteria to look at what a minimum wage should be. The other thing about the minimum wage that's outrageous is these sub-groups for younger people. I really don't understand that. It's really insulting to think that the bills and responsibilities in 18-year-old or even younger, but particularly in 18-year-old, that in some way their life is different from that of a 22-year-old. It's crazy. I don't never understood how that was ever accepted. 18 and 19-year-olds in the Republic of Ireland get a portion of the minimum wage and north of the border, where you've got a lot of listeners too, it's much, much worse. If you're under the age of 25 in Northern Ireland, you don't get the full minimum wage.  So, you know, there are a lot of things there to be done, Greg. I do think, though, people have a different view of what they want society to be after the COVID pandemic. And I actually think the tide is with trade unions. And I think there's a lot we can do. And I think what we have to say and what we have to offer is something that is more receptive to people now post the pandemic. And we need to build on that. We can't expect people to come to us. We've got to make it viable for people to want to organize. And we really need to reach out to those young workers because I hear a lot of talk about generations that they want everything, but you know, if they're right to want everything. And, you know... Great to see employers, though. Like, you see some of the better employers in this country and actively hiring at the moment. They treat all workers equally. They pay them a decent wage. And presumably from that, they get better productivity, a lower turnover of staff. You know, maybe the business community need to realize that maybe if they loosen the purse strings a little bit, that it would be in their benefit. You know, no one's looking to put them out of business. But, you know, these being particularly the... You know, a lot of the foreign direct investment, they realize that you treat people equally. You pay them a decent wage. And as I say, you get more productivity and a lower turnover of staff. You are 100% right, Greg. 100%. I mean, we know when we look across the European Union where you have a higher proportion of people in unions and we're unions and employers and negotiating on pay, better outcomes for workers, better productivity for the whole firm. And better outcomes when it comes to the economy and the society. It is a win-win. I mean, there are many decent employers out there that we work with, that we have good relationships with, and we want to make sure that they prosper and do well. I mean, it's not any union's interest to make a firm unprofitable. But we don't want those bad employers who don't respect their workers' rights to be in a union to have competitive advantage when it comes to labor costs. So you are right. It is a win-win. I actually think, I mean, the employer's body, Ibeck, are starting to realize that. I think many large employers are starting to look at, their social responsibilities. There are many that aren't, and we need to address that and challenge them. But we want to work with the decent employers so that they can do well, so that the workers who are working in those firms also do well. So it's very much about a win-win. But unfortunately, there are a number of employers who are still living in the previous century. And haven't got with it yet. But we have a job of work to turn their heads to. All right. Congratulations again, Owen. And I'm sure your granddad would be very proud of Derry Mann, also involved in the unions. That's right. He was born in Derry. He was president of the Congress the year I was born.  I lived in Moville Green Castle, so much of my youth used to come down from Derry to go fishing for that. Talk politics, talk to the unions. So I wouldn't have thought into this word of work without him. He started work on you early, didn't he? He was grooming you for this path nice and early. And you thought you were going fishing with your granddad. Well, I enjoyed going fishing, but we got a lot of politics discussed in Derry Mann as well. But his people are all from Moe Island to the west. So no, Derry Mann is a special place. Always will be for me. That's where I see myself from. And I'm very proud to be from there. Super stuff. Well done, Owen, again. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you again. Take care of yourself. Bye-bye. We'll chat again. I'm sure Owen Reedy, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions at Donagall, Mann, doing well, of course. So just further to the information that I've been receiving from a number of sources in that people who have been making offers of accommodation in Donagall have been informed by a team responsible for this on a national level. Thank you, but no thank you. Because my understanding, people are being told that the Ukrainian accommodation team are not contacting or not contracting any additional properties in Donagall. And some of the reasons being given include the impact, the amount that are already in Donagall is having on resources in the county. OK, so as I say, that's information we've had from a number of sources.  But it seems that according to what some people are being told now from official sources is that Donagall in terms of the Ukrainian response is full. House to home, Bridgend, Donagall. Our modest front door opens onto two floors of Irish made furniture, suites, beds, mattresses, dining and occasional furniture. Step into our showroom and see how we can transform your house into a home. House to home furniture, flooring, slide robes and interiors, Bridgend, Donagall. Businesses. Order your gift vouchers for Christmas now from Bizprint The Printers. Also personalised calendars, Christmas cards, diaries, draw tickets and much more at great prices. From Bizprint Portrait Letter Kenny. See bizprint.ie Keep your garden in shape all year round. 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Between now and 12 we're going to be hopefully answering your questions on smart meters, their installation, what's the advantages, disadvantages and so on and so forth. But I am genuinely delighted to welcome back into studio Brendan Deveney, presenter of the DL Debate. A very welcome back to you Brendan. Thanks Greg. Thank you for joining us. Now we're going to do the tough bit first, right? And then we're going to talk about a bit of sport.  And then tragedy on top of that sadness with the passing of your beautiful sister, Margaret Deveney Sullivan. You've been through the mill and obviously just want to pass on on air our condolences to you. But I'm sure Brendan you enjoyed the love and support of your family, your friends and your community in this awful time for you. Yeah, yeah listen Greg and I know there's some horrible things have happened in Donegal and listen, I suppose on behalf of the family I want to thank everybody out there, you know, the kindness as you say was overwhelming, you know, and so it's a horrible thing to go through still a bit unrealistic. Greg, I can't really fathom it and you know as you say dad had a battle with cancer and his death you know was coming upon us and was going to be tough we wanted him of course to live on but you know he did what he did, he needed to do for us as children that it just was more for mom I suppose you were thinking about the rest of her time but Margaret of course you know predicted a young family now as well and I liked that she was and everybody said the same things about them everywhere everybody you met between the wake and if you know the exact same things about the two them you know between Margaret's warmth and her her outgoing spirit and what she was and of course dad you know two words associated with dad was tough and sound you know and it was the same thing you know all the stories about the playing days in that as well and I think everybody from Margaret particularly I suppose some of her work colleagues they wouldn't have known you know coming down and I could just imagine Margaret working down there and she worked for the and the government buildings there and she would have been great crack there around an office you know that type of person and everybody came down to the same same things to say a bit and her friends and that and of course there's a huge family of us as well so that that's been great support because you know we think I mean obviously losses is personal and then you saw there's a point you realize if you didn't already which I'm sure you did that these people that we hold so close to us people outside our families do as well yeah they're their friends and they go to person and they're rock and you know their loss goes beyond our own personal and even the family emotions but that's a testament to how nice and popular they are so there's some there's some light in that dark as well too isn't there oh definitely it's hard to take on board because of the way the two things happened at the one time but the outborn I suppose of an emotion from everyone there was was pretty special and it did help I'm always about so so about wakes myself I always do like most people you drag going up and you're glad you went but you know it was uh I was the same and then there was a point I was sort of didn't like wakes at all was nothing and then my mind checked I realized it's not actually about me or maybe it's not even necessarily about the person that's passed on it's an opportunity for all the people around you to make sense of it all do you know what I mean I used to have quite a self-shatitude to it and then I realized that well it's really about people getting that chance to pay their respects and then since then my my attitude has changed somewhat yeah I suppose there's a there's a terrible uneasiness I think that that comes with it but I think that from from my standing point then it's uh you're so you're so glad of the of the effort and the people do that it takes over everything else so yeah it was um even though how everything happened and that so many people and put in the what happened around it everything just seemed to happen when people rally around I think it's a special thing particularly here in Ireland how we we do things they get you know you'd wonder how you'd practically get through people around you I know what you're saying well listen that's the the beauty of our community yes okay Brendan listen um we're going to talk about now about the the DL debate um you've got a great guest on actually uh today Anthony Maloy uh he's a legend of 1992 of course yeah he's an interesting character because on the face of it he's quite quiet and retiring uh if you didn't know if he didn't know he's on his way he's on his way he's a dude he's a dude but that's not right you know he's a I love the man you know he's you know you're talking about suppose Brian McEnuff is in many ways the daddy of of of G.A. and then he goes I think he's moved to the Grand Forestry's because Anthony I think is in the daddy this day he's now you know and uh I listen we all who doesn't have an 82 story unless of course you were born a bit later in Os Craig but everybody has a has an 82 story and and it's it's so tied on me Anthony Maloy I think and talk about a captain and he's coming up he's he's written a Frank Craig has written a book from 30 years on since the famous 92 just about Anthony's life and and the lead update and everything that happened I've had him on the show a few times he's a great guy of course the counsellor down there uh and their drier as well and listen he does great work and I think that's that suited him as a real man of the people so always good always good detail with him and uh listen he's he's one of them guys you just love to see there's just something about him you know he's got a great great spurt and a great heart and of course he's got some great stories as well which I look to get out of him yeah exactly and I think sometimes that's where the the authors have a bit of advantage because they get these guys over a long period of time and you know uh can tease stuff out but he's going to be a great chat so you've got both Frank and anthony on yeah they're both coming off and he's actually coming to coming to the studio and uh yeah if you asked to be getting people and they can be getting hard to get uh Frank I was I was joking with Frank last week about actually tying him down he's one of them guys has a has a lot of things on his plate and and he'll get to you soon or whatever but no listen I'm interested to see his story in terms of the how it came to be because he almost retired he almost wasn't there in 1982 and he had a knee injury and different things but sometimes in life Greg just things fall into place and for Anthony Malay a bit like the the Michael Murphy story that was to follow it just seemed like that that was right that these two guys should lift the samples you know that's going to be really interesting chat how you're going to squeeze the rest of it in albeit important is another uh what's not something I have to worry about you're going to have to worry about it because uh Michael McMillan's uh of gaelic life's on with you too uh reflecting on the dairy senior football final yeah I was in there yesterday uh Greg it was um not a great not a great game I know our own county final was per and it was a bad day and you know the fence came back to the four unfortunately Greg you know and uh it was a bad final we had there and listen they've gone deservedly won the final and good luck to them and uh yesterday we seen uh the Glenman of Maharak coming back and and um make back the back title once against a very poor slot needle and Greg I was just looking at slot needle he played 15 men inside the 45 and they were just there to be beat Glen pressured them up a pitch a bit and then tried to won the match and they won the game without you know really uh uh slot needle laying a glove on them and this famous slot needle team yeah how do you how do the slot needle players feel today I was just looking at this go well we did our best because the three of there is best players in there but they sat in and listen if you're going to play that style I I you know I don't like that I know but I'm just wondering as a player afterwards you know how sometimes when you know what we gave it all we did our best if you're one of those three one of the three some of the best players in Derry in that slot needle team and you bump into some fellow woman walking up the street how do you feel yeah see that's the thing like if you one you see playing like I think for supporters and I could probably stomach it maybe it's maybe some don't care maybe just want the one I don't think like that I think you need to go and actually take a team on and go out and out play them not out defend them and that's what slot needle attempted to do and it was I mean Shea McGregan's in there you've Chrissy McKay you've Brandon Rogers you know three of there is best players you didn't hardly see them because the whole team just sat in the differences with Glenn when they get up the pitch they could drop the shoulder and beat a man up at the ball over the back and slot needle just were there to be beaten it was really perky listen I didn't even stay for the whole match did you not you did a renault on it you did a renault on it you see I just you know I've spoken to you in the past we have to move on but footballer to get to the league level has to do so much you have to work so hard right and you've a short career and you've said in the past that you still to this day beat yourself up about the defeats right that's why I ask that question about your feeling I just wonder if there's a crop of players perks playing a certain type of football through their glory at years who's gonna write their autobiography yeah yeah you know what I mean who's gonna reflect on their career in a part are they gonna be able to reflect on their career on a positive like sometimes I think you need they need to step out and go you know well maybe we need to start saying we don't really want to play that type of football yeah yeah well if you look at the Greg and we're going to have an announcement I think tonight on the Donegal management and you look at what's Donegal's biggest issue the manager come on is our defense we're our defenders if you put 15 in the side you're 45 you don't need to be a defender you just need to be a body in there you give me 15 foot men Donegal Greg I'll make us hard to beat I don't care what your talent is right now if you play the cat that means that that guy fall back cornerback doesn't have to actually be that tight these man because he's got three or four players around him so where's Donegal's defenders they're not there now that must be coming from our club we're still producing midfielders we're still producing forwards we're not producing defenders and it goes back to this this mentality you know so I I thought I seen green shoots there in the championship great players were teams were leaving two or three in attack at times I thought there gives you a platform to kick the ball we're not kicking the ball you see and then but once it came to the crunch of it I mean even Kalkiara and their semi-finals we said Yunan's a very talented Kalkiara team went full blanket defense and I was like come on that's you have a talented team and Yunan's picked them off the difference between Eve Connell they are the masters at that and they sat and they waited and they had of course Yunan's lost to man but I don't even think that would have mattered and Eve Connell were really on it and if you if you like that type of football they are good at it have you met anyone that does I know but listen they still won't be a point Greg we choose you sometimes where that game goes I mean it was almost a flip from last year's county final where Yunan's weren't completely on the top but because Yunan's went for it they won the game handy but that game come down to a point but listen they have the title and they'll say right we're happy enough for that but as I say Greg I'm just talking about Donegal forget about our own club scene here that the county manager needs defenders we need defenders and I don't see them out there okay and also last but certainly not least Maureen O'Donnell's on with you as well yeah good boy we're good to catch up there again listen Donegal ladies club football a tough time yesterday and Bradley Terman going down to Lurgan and three three goals in the second half which was really their undoing it was one ten to three six close game but the goals were the undoing and very disappointing for Terman because they had obviously big length fun in the championship and there was high hopes for them you know very talented Terman side so unlucky to fall at the first hurdle so Maureen's going to wrap up that and of course the the Goodmore girls were in action as well they went on to Sol in their game it was one three one five and that I think the other game had been called off for Waterlog the intermediate game so Maureen's going to wrap up the really stuff for us yeah all right that's all on the deal debate this Monday after the seven o'clock news podcast on Highland radio and it's worth mentioning important to mention to brought to you an association with the sponsors sister Sarah's and Sarah's kitchen that's it getting broken in the crew looking after us as ever do you get food in there follow this sponsorship package uh yeah no no no I I feel it's all it's all meat it could go in there and pay and big tips as well great no bother to you and a great to have you back cheers bro it really is and we'll be back with a preview of the deal debate podcast next Monday after 11 and don't forget it's a on for you tonight it's a really interesting one you've got Anthony Malloy there along with Frank Craig talking about Anthony's 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Lowery financial services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland with the ongoing war in Ukraine affecting the cost of energy many of us are facing a challenging winter through budget 23 government is introducing a range of supports to lessen the financial impact on families households and businesses and will continue to monitor the situation in the coming months to protect those in difficulty it's important that everyone stays warm and well but where safe and possible to do so reducing energy use can also reduce bills changes like turning your thermostat down by one degree and considering how often you use energy intensive appliances like tumble dryers can make a big difference for information on available supports and energy saving advice visit gov.ie forward slash reduce your use brought to you by the government of Ireland your specialty is quality tiles bathroom suites and wooden floors who is the best range of tiles and golf the best wood flooring the best bathroom suites five-day bathroom refits and who's been tampering with my questions that'll be me Crawford Tiles Castle Finn that'll be them 07491 43942 all right now we are as we promised going to talk about smart meters Carmel O'Connor is smart meter project manager and joins us on the program now thank you very much for your time today how are you keeping Carmel good all good excellent right so tell us what's happening at the moment uh smart meters are being rolled out are they right across the country at the moment people can choose whether or not to have them is that the case i'm not sure how long that might be the case but tell us what the situation is yeah um as of last week we actually hit one million smart meters were installed so it's been a major milestone for the project it started back in September 2019 but it kind of started with an idea back in 2010 around kind of moving all of the older electromechanical relay measures and the older kind of digital type meters to a new smart meter now that the technology is there where we can communicate remotely with it with the the measures and bring back measuring information so whether it's just your your normal kind of monthly by monthly meter readings so rather than sending out a meter reader we will take that off of the meter and also more importantly we actually have access to half hourly information so a customer can really see uh you know where the their peaks and troughs of their usage are and then they can look at supplier tariffs that are out there and and say you know i i can actually maybe save myself a little bit of money if i go to this smart tariff rather than staying on a on a 24 hour rate you know where every unit is the same price but also it's a big deal for micro generation a lot of customers now are out there and they're putting in solar panels and some are even putting in little small windmills so that they're able to export to the to the network and now with the smart meter we can record that export information and give it to the suppliers and then a supplier can can pay a customer for whatever they've exported to to the to the grid yeah um but i was looking just through some and it is a minefield to try and ascertain you know where is the value is in terms of electricity suppliers but what it seemed to be to me is that uh those that were offering smart tariffs at least in terms of the daytime rate were higher than their old um systems the costs you know you can do a comparison your current rate versus the smart reader rate so if it was about saving money unless i want to put on my washing machine dryer and dishwasher at night which i'm told by the fire officer that i shouldn't be doing so i'd end up paying more for my electricity okay now obviously i'm not a supplier i work for ESB network so i can't comment on like there's a myriad of different tariffs that are out there um but i can say what we're what we're currently exchanging is a meter that's on a 24 hour rate for another meter that's on a 24 hour rate and nothing nothing can change so if whatever tariff you were on before we had the the smart meter in and the tariff that we have now it's the very same so we're not suggesting to customers you know leap you know don't look don't leap before you look kind of thing so uh from the middle of november or thereabouts we're actually going to have a networks uh portal that uh will allow a customer to log on and and look at their usage they'll be able to see a graph of their usage and then they can go and they could maybe download that information and go to a switching site because some people aren't like i mean i know what you're saying but i personally i i got a smart meter actually just a couple weeks before i went into the smart measuring program i was i was on a list anyway but i went i jumped for a smart measuring tariff because i was in smart measuring i said look i'll i'll go for smart tariff but i would never now um switch on my washing machine or my tumble dryer or my dishwasher between five and seven which is the peak and and that's for two reasons it's because obviously it's a slightly more expensive rate but also because there's so much talk and we're doing so much to reduce that peak demand so that we're not bringing in you know i get you and i understand there's a wider global picture to this all right but with all your respect you don't choose you don't use it between five and seven because it would cost you more to use it between five and seven i'm on an old meter right and if i wish to use my washing machine or dishwasher between five and seven it doesn't cost me it doesn't cost me any more or less so i understand where you're coming from but you're disadvantaged because you can't use your product when you want to whereas me on the old meter i can and it doesn't cost me anymore yeah and what i was going to say is but if you want to do that even with a smart meter you don't have to change tariff so if you are on a smart meter and you don't think that the way you use electricity will allow you to save money you can stay on the same 24-hour tariff but for me i'm seeing because i have a cheaper night rate and the night rate is from 11 p.m till 8 a.m so i i tend to you know i'm i stay up late so i tend to put on stuff at 11 o'clock i know plenty of people who might put on their washing machine or the tumble dryer at 6 a.m and they'll get a slightly cheaper rate but i suppose the big point is that getting a smart meter does not mean that you're automatically on to a smart tariff you can look at your usage and then you can say well if i go to this supplier who has maybe a night boost and i have an electric vehicle i can save money doing that but if you think that you're not going to save money by changing to a smart tariff you don't have to change to a smart tariff but you will still get the benefits of if you have if you're exporting you get you get your export you'll still have the benefits of no longer ever having an estimated bill because we've taken the the readings off the meter if you're somebody who wants to change the buyer that process becomes a lot easier and then over the next few years we're also going to see networks benefits because we we have what we call a poor voltage use case and from a network planning perspective it's actually showing where it locations where maybe the voltage is dipping or there's an over voltage and it's allowing our low voltage network planners to target areas for system improvements because we're getting that information so there's a range of benefits to the customer and to usb networks of it but the big thing is a customer has a choice and if they want to stay on the tariff that they're currently on they stay on that tariff and they'll know no different until they to look at smart tariffs i mean at the moment you're not obliged to get a smart meter it's a choice but it is only a matter of time is it not really that once more people that have smart meters that don't have smart meters they might say well you know we are no longer supporting the older meter because obviously for financial reasons or practical reasons what have you so the the reality is is that the older meter is not going to be perpetually maintained that whether it whilst it's a choice now there is a whether people like it or not i'm not saying whether i do or don't there is an inevitability that everyone is going to end up on a smart meter i would say over time yes because i mean in essence the smart measuring program is an asset replacement program you know if you want to look at the techie way of doing it it's like you know your car your fridge whatever over time it will it will break down and you will have to replace it so what we've done with the smart measuring program is instead of maybe replacing every meter over about 15 years we're replacing all of the meters with the news technology over a six-year period so that we can get as many customers on smart measuring as possible and i would say you're right in a few years time i don't know whether that's five ten years time down the road maybe the only meters that companies will be making manufacturing is a smart meter because let's face it like a lot of people still have the old electromechanical ones you know the ones with the spinning disc and some of them are 30 or 40 years old they're not made anymore so we had already moved to the next generation of electronic really meters and now we're on the next generation which are the smart meters so you're right maybe in five ten 15 years i don't know at what point meter manufacturers will be saying we're only making smart meters yeah well you see i mean you employ people to read meters as well and uh obviously those people are losing their jobs they're not going to be maintained to read the old analog meters so live perpetually on estimated bills or switch to smart meters there'll be loads of way people are pushed in this direction or encouraged in this direction your job is made very difficult though because smart meeting has been pulled into something of an ideology for some people as well there are people very much opposed to it and you're trying to sell the product whilst electricity prices are increasing and increasing like we've never seen before so it's hard to sell comparisons okay is that a challenge uh because you know that the fluctuation for whatever reason in in electricity prices can be used to sort of say well see that's smart meters are doing that for you yeah you're not wrong there's a few people now recently have said oh i saw my neighbor's bill went up after they got a smart meter and i suppose it's back to what i was saying to you earlier like a customer doesn't most customers have not actually changed from their whatever way of billing that they had like that that you know you're the same unit rate all day and all night to a smart tariff so i think the the fact that electricity prices have gone up quite a lot has definitely made people not do but when you say like there are some customers that don't want a smart meter for other reasons that they're a little bit worried but that's that's running at less than two percent so most people once they realize that the technology that we're using is it's it's like a smartphone it's not even like a smartphone it's like your old phone because it's it's like sending a text message um and the meters meet all of the international standards and again with data i think there's a few people have been worried about maybe data but again we follow the highest standards of GDP GDPR and we really mind the data and security of the data is really high on our list and if anybody is interested like our we have a web page with all with our FAQs and it goes down into the detail of the the different international standards that that we use for all of that but again just to let customers know that if you get a smart meter you you don't change your tariff unless you choose to do that but a caller says Greg not true no matter what tariff you're on if you have a smart meter you will be charged more for electricity from five to seven p.m that's simply not the case if you're on a 24-hour rate you aren't charged more you're it's the exact same rate and just just again to reiterate like that that extra that's that's in there from five to seven there's that's two hours but there's 22 hours where it's a cheaper price but no if you have not chosen if you're on it if you're on a day it's the same price per kilowatt hour no matter what time of the day if you're on a 24 hour rate people are getting obsessed with these meters some people say do you know how there's better in the early days of the electric car range anxiety you couldn't enjoy driving your car people are afraid that if they have a smart meter they'll become obsessed with it they won't be able to enjoy their house because they're going to be worrying what what time the kettle's being put on or what time the toaster is being used some people are going to be like that not everyone is yeah i may be a few but i'm guessing not like i have a i have a smart measure for about a year and a half and uh i at the the supplier i'm with just energy insights and i would say what's the lag on those because people people are of the impression that they've got little things sitting on the coffee table and it tells them exactly any peaks and troughs it's a day it's a you have to wait a day don't you yeah i know at the moment we're we're what we call day minus one so the information and i think some of the suppliers might have a two or three day lag because we're a phased approach instead of trying to do everything at once uh kind of like the first 250 000 measures went in with just making smart tariffs available and i'm pulling the data uh at the moment we're going to be making like i say in the next month or so uh the the data day minus one but it's actually phase three so it's probably going to be 2024 or thereabouts or the end of 2024 before we have live what we call near near real-time data yeah that's where it's coming straight up onto whether it's an app on the phone or whatever some people are worried about radiation levels no that's that's exactly what i was saying to you like if they're the meters meet all of the uh worldwide world health organization standards and it's it's more like having an old Nokia phone as opposed to even a smartphone because what frequency are they broadcasting what frequency do they use is it 5g or yeah i can't remember i know but yeah i can't remember just we have to be careful we have to be careful with the Nokia analogy because they operated on 2g and i think these meters operate in 5g but i understand no no they absolutely don't work on 5g no that's what i'm that's what i'm yeah yeah the vast majority of the measures work on 2g um and then some of the newer meters if the two if there's no 2g there's going to be narrowband internet of things which is less than 4g excellent okay that's why i wanted to clarify clarify that it's not to absolutely no 5g um smart meters will reverse your reading you of solar panels if that doesn't matter who your provider is the pay-as-you-go meters are a disaster regardless of provider well you're not here to comment on pay-as-you-go meters i know some people swear by pay-as-you-go meters but anyway um so do you get in terms of your solar panels right will that will that will that reverse your your smart meter or you get paid back for what you put in no i think uh some of the very old electromechanical measures if there's uh if there's uh export i think the disc might go backwards but i think the units don't go backwards but the disc goes no the whole point of a smart meter is it records exactly what kilowatts you're exporting and we give that information since the middle since the end of June we now provide that information to suppliers so suppliers will see exactly how many kilowatts how many units you've exported and the different suppliers again have different rates for for what they pay but and i think uh i think most of them will be starting to pay before the end of this year burning that's what we were told whether any of them are paid yet but no thanks for your time carmel i wish we had more but unfortunately we're against the clock thank you though it's not your fault that's our fault alright take care of yourself thank you bye bye calm along on a smart meter project manager live free in 23 with the low ga club 500 euro cash paid weekly a luxury holiday hotel stays and more winner takes all live free in 23.ie proud sponsors of today's show some people spend 60 minutes watching tv and some head out for a 10k run just like retirement 60 minutes means different things to different people at bank of ireland we're all about your financial well-being and 60 minutes is all it takes to start a pension that can make your retirement lifestyle achievable now's the time to fund your future book a phone or virtual meeting today at bank of ireland.com forward slash pensions bank of ireland begin revenue limits terms and conditions apply bank of ireland is a tide agent of new ireland assurance company plc trading this bank of ireland life for life assurance and pensions business members of bank of ireland group bank of ireland trading this bank of ireland insurance and investments is regulated by the central bank of ireland Raymond Sweeney here from Ben Sweeney ironix to let you know about the Blomberg integrated dishwasher which can save you time and money when you're pressed for time you can choose a quick 30 minute or 58 minute wash cycle or an intelligent auto program for perfect wash results every time the german engineered inverter motor means it operates at low noise level so it's whisper quiet and there's a seven-year person that were warned for peace of mind call in and see for yourself at Ben Sweeney ironix or grow a letter Kenny or in the shopping center done low your autumn getaway awaits in aards and north dine just minutes from belfast this stunning region is the place for great value short breaks embrace the waters edge with adventures on both land and sea explore picturesque towns and villages visit top class attractions and sample delicious local food and drink experience a relaxing stay and a warm welcome this autumn for details offers and the chance to win a 300-pound viture towards your break go to visit arts and north dine dot com the hilarious it's the real mccoy by tommy marron is coming to on granon theater letter Kenny this friday october 28th he had no go with him if there was work to be done in the bed he'd sleep in the wall drop it's the real mccoy letter Kenny this friday night see on granon dot com book now at esb networks we're connecting ireland to a clean electric future and as part of the national smart metering program we're now installing smart electricity meters in your area your new smart meter will reduce the need for estimated bills help you to manage your electricity usage more efficiently and enable you to access smart electricity products and services we'll contact you before your meter is installed find out more at esbnetworks dot ie slash smart meter highland radio weather updates brought to you by grant from condensing boilers to heat pumps and underfloor heating trust grant to heat your home visit grant dot e you okay look at the weather uh we will have sunny spots and scattered showers for this afternoon some heavy temperatures 12 to 14 degrees thanks for listening to the show we're back with you tomorrow at nine john bresnan's next have a great day live free in 2023 with the low gea club 500 euro cash weekly a holiday to buy all ireland final tickets


Hi everyone, Joe for JaspysCaseBreaks.com coming at you with the Jumbo 5 and Hobby 6 filler. It's a team random or a random team break, whatever you want to call it, basically in Jumbo 5 and Hobby 6 we pulled the remaining teams out, put them into this list right here from most expensive to least expensive, and then we're just going to take your names, randomize them and match it with the team. Name on top gets the white socks, so on and so forth. Good news here is if you got a spot, if you bought a spot or won a spot, you're guaranteed something, you're guaranteed a team. So big thanks to this group right here for making it happen, appreciate it. So thanks to the people who bought spots straight up, and congrats again to the people who won spots, and then we'll match you up with the team. We're just randomizing your names and we're going to randomize that list three and a four lucky seven times. Good luck. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven and final time. Good luck everybody. We've got Chris down to Brian after seven. So let's match you up with the team, and we'll put these little rooftop symbols next to your name so you know you won that in this particular filler. So Chris, names on top, you got the white socks in jumbo five, Bennett with the guardians in jumbo five, Chris with the Dodgers in jumbo five, Kenny with the Tigers in jumbo five, Chris and Adam, you're in hobby six, Dodgers for Chris, Tigers for Adam, in jumbo five, Justin with the Giants, Brian with the Mariners, Justin with the Blue Jays in jumbo five, Bennett with the Giants in hobby six, Tim with the A's in jumbo five, Barry with the D-Vax in jumbo five, Oliver with the, Oliver Smith with the Braves in jumbo five, Chris with the Phillies in jumbo five, Brian with the Nats in hobby six, Justin with the Phillies in hobby six, Oliver Soria with the Braves in hobby six, two different Oliver's here, and Brian with the Blue Jays in hobby six. All right, there you go gang. We'll see you in the next video, next couple of videos, two separate videos for jumbo five and hobby six. We'll see you for that a little bit later. Jasper's casebrinks.com. Bye-bye.


Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasebreaks.com coming at you with jaspys big hit express multi sport series for break number 18 We're trying to do all 30 tonight ladies and gentlemen.  Congrats to him. He won a spot from the previous break Robert last spot mojo there There are the teams are combed up. There are the remaining cases That's the spreadsheet we're gonna use and then of course the hit list promo at the very end three and a six nine times and Ninth and final time for your names. We got TJ Leonard down to Jonathan L nine times for the teams and Ninth and final time Angels down to the nugget spot. This is real baseball Chinese League baseball really Should we be I mean we can scout Chinese League baseball find the next suit Chinese It's super sorry. Well, they said they said China I think I think Taiwan just didn't get it. I'm serious. They like they like locked it down No, oh, no That's that's a that's a huge thing. That's not China. It's very different They get it's like saying to an Irish person that they're English Anyway There you go. There's all of you right here and there's all these folks right here All right. Oh and I'll alphabetize by your first names Aaron Brett. Oh Brett bought a lot of spots in this and won a spot. All right Chad Chris Colton Daniel. Thanks everybody really appreciate everybody getting in let's just go down the list again alphabetically Kevin Jeffrey with a chunk of spots too. Good luck everyone. What did I do wrong Robert? You should have been carried over for this No, no Brett won that spot nine times for this So be case 25. All right. Um, right well TWC trade window closed Every case has something great Jopey Jesse we got to go easy with the with the caps button Please so no trades. I know you're excited. There you go There you go ladies and gents Yep, we're going through all 30 tonight Jopey. All right, so case 25 for break 18 Good luck everybody. We got a Reese Hoskins nine five ten 2018 chrome update nine fives all around Autograph of course, it's a ten. He's got excellent penmanship rookie Hoskins Going to Kevin Jeffrey. There you go Kevin. Nice. Next is We got here whoo a Piece of his hat big Celtics logo right there 18 out of 20 even as a Lakers fan. I think that's pretty cool It's a nice hit Romeo Langford Celtics hat big logo Boston Celtics That'll be for sky is Josh Young big Rangers prospect three out of ten from elite extra edition And that goes to David C.  We talking about practice. We talking about practice Robert watch the throne with the chiefs There you go, man All aboard the big hit Express Brandon Ingram rookie nice Silver from select PSA 10 gem meant 10 on that that is strong Who's got my Lakers? Matt Stone got randomized the Lakers nice Got Mike trout 11 out of 15 nice Mike trout autograph. What is this from? Oh the tops industry conference. All right, okay Nice one for the Angels. That's gonna go to TJ Leonard. There you go TJ Leonard Chad be ready for the Kyler now Yeah, we haven't seen him yet That's Adrian Peterson 15 out of 25 all day So college stuff Should have explained this before the break, but college stuff will go to it says Washington right there I'll go to the team that they are currently on If he was retired it will go to the team that he played for the longest Redskins, that's that's a second hit for that spot Angels Redskins combo spot TJ Leonard again And the last one boys and girls Is gon be Bam Anthony Davis good way to close it out Pelicans addition From encased Graded a nine five and ten Nice, that's another No, that's the first Pelican for Jesse. There you go, Jesse Not the Zion, but you got a nice Anthony Davis and there you go Ladies and gentlemen another nice break in the books. Let's take care of the the hit list folk here So remember TJ Leonard got two in the same spot. So there's 25 spots in this Randomizer all right, let's roll it. Let's randomize it name on top after ten five and a five ten the hard way We'll get a spot in the next break. That's part of our hit list promo You're welcome, Jesse and 10th and final time.  I did it one more time We were already at ten was it Brett Foy did Brett Foy win another spot with a spot that he won I got I have it up. Yeah screenshot it. I think it was Brett Foy too. Oh, I had it I don't know you can rewatch the video. It was it was it was Brett There do you saw Brett's name and then the 10? Anyway, sorry about that. It's there though, and it wasn't this what it wasn't with the spot. Oh There we go, you can see the timestamp right there There you go, sorry about that, but it wasn't with the spot that he won It was just one of the spots that he had purchased So congrats to Brett. Sorry about that. Thanks ever. It's been a long day. Thanks everyone for watching. That was break 18 19 coming up next. I can't just click go back. Here's what happens. It's a fraud. Yeah, it's a fraud watch That happens Joe for jazzy's case breaks calm. I'll see you next time for the next one. Bye. Bye


My philosophy, well, one that I actually received from Iris D. Tyler, you might actually know him, is that you should hustle in your 20s so that you can build a work ethic and build something for you so you can chill by the time you're, you know, in your mid-30s and your 40s. A lot of people try to play it safe in their 20s. They try to play it safe. Why would you play it safe when this is the period of time when you have the most energy and have the biggest margin of error?  You can mess up in your 20s and be alright. You're hearing to what I'm saying here. You're listening to what I'm saying. You can't do that when you're 40 or 50. Generally, when you're 40 or 50, you have some liabilities. You have family take care of. You have kids. I'm assuming you have kids in your early 20s. But when you're young, it's all good. You can try any business venture you want. You can try, you know, pick up that girl. It's all good. You just learn from the mistakes. Well, there are no mistakes, really. It's all a learning process and just get up. As long as you don't die in the process, you should be alright. So I invite all you young people out there that in your 20s to maybe not sleep as much. Who cares? Your body can take it. Maybe spend a few extra nights working on that project, really grinding. Maybe hit the streets a bit. Learn how to game. Learn how to approach. Take risks because there's no other time you're going to be more free than what you are now. This is the time that's going to develop your character as a man or woman for the rest of your life. You are made in your 20s. The work ethic you present in your 20s is what you're going to carry, what's going to carry you throughout your rest of your life. Think of all the people that are lazy in their 20s as nothing to waste in their 20s. Staying at one job, working, basically not pushing themselves to the limits. Why will they change when they're getting a bit older in their 30s, 40s and their energy reserves are going down? What's going to cultivate them to change is nothing that's going to make them change.  There's a quote that said, I'd rather work harder than everyone else does now so that I can chill like nobody else will tomorrow. So work hard now, sacrifice a few things and you will get paid in great dividends in the future. And that's it. That's the video. Peace.


Thank you for having me Lucifer what? Founder you're more than just a singer, right? I mean Hello, have you done? No, yeah, that's a question. Well, I mean I mean you're not the founder of Lucifer, but you're the founder of the Lucifer band Well, that's true. Yes. I'm the founder of the Lucifer band. I'm I sing I write I produce I do many things I'm the band secretary and The list goes on. Okay. All right tour manager, roadie All that as well.  And well, I'm plateau is actually my maiden name Yeah, and I'm married to Nicker. So now my name is plateau Anderson But I know it's complicated call me Johanna from Lucifer So don't is is that's a German name or Greek name? It's actually a Lithuanian name. I was my name. Yeah, I Was married to an American with Lithuanian roots when I was very young and stupid. It was not a good decision, but I guess All right, so here it is Yes, Lucifer five out January 26 on nuclear blast records Of course, this is I guess the first question is what have you done different on Lucifer five that you didn't do on Lucifer four? Not much As always, you know, we put all of our heart and energy and love and passion into it we Produced and recorded it in our own studio, which is just outside this window and The only difference is that we didn't have time to mix it ourselves this time. So one of Nicker's best friends Robert Persha he Mixed the album and he did a really good job. He it's actually it It was so good that Nicker who mixed the album before said I'm not sure if I can mix any album ever again Because um, yeah, but that's a good thing. So you hit his peak. He's the bars. Hi, right the bars. Yes. Yeah, Robert Definitely lifted that bar. Yes Yeah, I mean we've been listening listening to it I've been following Lucifer a couple of years now and and this album.  No ghost was there first, I guess but it is funny. You mentioned those we have been on tour together This past November we supported ghost on a French arena tour, which was very interesting and I've seen ghost to grow, you know because I Used to put on shows in Berlin I was a small local heavy metal promoter I used to run a club night called kill em all club, you know dedicated to old-school heavy metal and hot rock and I would put on bands and I put on ghost and I think it was 2011 Before the first album came out and they played in front of I don't know 80 people there or something. So we go Yeah Like did they have the masks back on or they're just playing as a band? Um, no, no, they were masked and they already had you know, the the church robe was going Maybe they didn't couldn't afford the leather gloves. So they had these like black silicone gloves, I remember And but yeah, they had there the stick was there. Absolutely. Did you and just I'm just curious Did you think they're gonna be as big as they are back then today? No, but I didn't really think about it. The thing is I have seen another band grow like this I grew up with the guys from from Rammstein Because I come from East Berlin and Yes, and I have a brother who's 11 years older than me He was a GDR punk and it was a very small punk scene and the GDR because it was of course a problem with the GDR government, you know Politically, but Rammstein also came from that same punk scene So my brother was really close friends with Flake and Paul from Rammstein I know Flake the keyboard player since I was like Three years old or something.  You know, he was very tall Yeah, so I've seen a band rise from being, you know, I think okay Did you think they would become as big as they are? No But you know, you don't consciously think about it just happens and then you're like wow, this is pretty cool You know, and now the same thing happens with ghost. It's amazing and it makes me really happy because It is possible, you know, I guess I guess somebody's asking them the question Did you think Lucifer would become who they are today? You know, like a Lucifer still nobody Well, we are a very small band we are niche band and I'm aware of it But I think one of the reasons is also because I don't want to I don't want to change our sound and Of course, I could go to you know invest and and get a really fancy modern producer to give us this like sleek modern rock Sound that all the bands have We could do that, you know, and maybe it would make us more radio friendly or something We could write the songs to be more accessible for the mainstream, but we don't want to because we like what we do and Maybe this means we are doomed to remain, you know in the underground, but what I can say is that we have a very loyal following and So far The band is growing it's growing slow, but steady and From album to album so the curve never goes down We always sell every album a little bit more records than on the last one and I see it, you know when we tour The audience grow, you know, and we have fans that really Are like true fans.  Well, I mean who would say no to that, you know, of course I Know I really love, you know like doing everything and to be really close to burnout before tour because I have to You know do 10 jobs at the same time and be like terribly underpaid. I really love that. Let's let's keep it this way I would love to have people around me that do all these things so that I could really just focus on the creative process And on playing the best show that I can I would love that. Yeah I gotta say, you know the you I think everything you're you're in Montreal I think it was almost sold out the show, right? You played North America just now. We're in Montreal I'm just later it was like a lot of there's a lot of buzz on the band And you do have a hard hard whore following which is amazing and that's how bands used to do it, right? That's how bands used to become very successful over time, you know Tour tour tour and great music and I think this new album is like incredible I think it's you've got the right you hit the right marks, you know and it and over time people will even love it Even more, I think you know and go you go script you are think of that I'll say I'll just say it. Okay. It makes me happy when I you know, because I have a lot of friends who play in bands I mean, both of my friends. I'm musicians and When they are successful It really means the world to me. I'm not competitive At all like that. It's the opposite if they do good I know this is good for music because the people that are my friends. They have the same Usually the same kind of influences.  I love Rammstein and I love ghosts. Oh No, I have a sense for humor believe me, but I just want to want to say, you know that I think it's awesome when it works Yeah, yeah, you know, there's a lot of female fronted bands now I mean again this this morning all these new releases There's four or five female fronted bands when you started or where were some of your overall models when you were growing up and getting into music Um So hard rock and metal stole me away around the age of 12 or 13 Before that it was Madonna and I think and I think what sold me to her so much was that she was so provocative and She had so many she was so interesting to me because she did a lot of things that Even for like a mainstream artist a very like oh my god, you know and that somehow I always found appealing the outsider and While my mom, you know, they my parents listen to a lot of They were big zones fans and there was a lot of classic Rock stuff like, you know the purple and ZZ top and stuff at home But also, you know, the velvet underground and Roxy music and that type of stuff, but I Think blondie and petty Smith That's an early memory My mom Gave me a rock and roll compilation Cassette when I was six and it had like all these like classic 50s things on it like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lucas and stuff And my favorite song on that was the Shangri-La's leader of the pack and I think there that was also, you know an early sign for my affinity to tragedy because of course the song starts with a car crash, right and I love those voices and Yeah, and you know and then later as a teenager, you know I loved like Susie and the Vanshee's Like if we speak about metal singers about female singers I mean and in metal there is not too many females like I like girl school a lot and the runaways I like the kind of like the, you know, the the tough unkid kind of females Yeah, that's my cup of tea Um, I love Stevie Nicks and I love, you know, 70s heart and Wilson is course, of course, that's maybe obvious You're an East Berlin, right? And I'm assuming you were sort of born with the transition period, right between when it when it became Western I guess right East Berlin even before I'm born in 79 and So I actually until I was six we lived in East Berlin But my parents were political enemies to the GDR government. So we applied To leave and the communists were very happy to get rid of us So we were able and after one year of application to leave from East Berlin to West Berlin.  I would say it has all the Ingredients that Lucifer album has always had hard rock a little bit of new wave and British heavy metal from the 80s 70s heavy rock, you know, you have doom in there You have some sort of pop sensibility, but more in an old-school sense as in Very subtle, but we do listen to a lot of 60s soul music as well and all these things, you know, flow into us and gets that out into Lucifer album, I think on this album We took these Typical Lucifer ingredients a little further and expanded a little bit. So You still have the doom and happiness and so on but you also have, you know, with slow dance on a crypt You have a song that's maybe even more so vulnerable and balladesque than we've ever gone that far in this direction but then also, you know, with like maculat heart you have a Very classic rock songs that's almost Radio friendly or mainstream accessible. It has that pop sensibility and it's not very heavy anymore But it's not calculated. I think we still remain truthful to our path and to our, you know, to what we're trying to do with Lucifer and I also think that We say true to ourselves But the goal is always to not repeat a song that we've done already So hopefully you manage to keep the melodies interesting and new Yeah, I mean a slow dance in a crypt it's got even a bit of a bluesy feel on that one That's a really a big change. I think and it's one of the standouts on the album as far as I'm concerned Thank you. I was wondering, you know, like Bands like Rod in Christ Lucifer. How many problems have you had with promoters or people or church groups? You get a lot of you got a feat you get a lot of pushback from those people And it's funny that is a very American or North America. I know you're Canadian, but it's a It's more of an American problem. Let's say like this because and we live in Sweden where Everything is very progressive in terms of what role the church plays versus the government and Nobody raises an eyebrow at this name in Germany or Sweden at all It's not associated with the plague as much as it is in the States sometimes It's like I've seen comments and that's only always Americans that say This band would be way more successful if their name wasn't Lucifer in America And I see people, you know, sometimes somebody posts a Lucifer song into like I don't know the fan group of some 70s hard rock band to show their friends and everybody's like in their 50s You know and then you have the ones from the bible belt that are like, oh my god I can't listen to that with that name. So they don't even give it the you know the time of the day because of the name but I have thought about it, you know Am I willing to compromise and change that name because of that? No, I'm just gonna keep on going, you know, so I think Because I know that lucifer have you got any threats from the bible belt cities? No, nothing happened so far Um, not that I know of I mean Sometimes I do think about it, you know, because the last album cover had me, um, you know On the cross like jesus christ. That's that's pretty. Yeah, that was that was a nice picture But it was it could be in terms then again, there was thousands of people who were crucified So you doesn't mean anything really it doesn't mean anything and you know, it was also taking a little bit A twist on the witch on the stake which used to be tied to a cross too in europe, you know that's what they did to them and back then and But my mom I haven't heard anybody say anything about this except for my mother when She visited us in sweden and I said, um, yeah, this is by the way This is going to be the new that's the photo for the album cover and the reaction from my mom who's very like And who grew up to be a rolling stones girl and stuff.  Great. Thank you for putting it into my head because now I always have that a little bit that we play when we play that I mean, that's not that I think about it all the time, but sometimes I catch myself having the thought Damn, you're really vulnerable on stage if somebody wanted to do something they could you know But um people have been killed for a lot less than that You know what I mean, it's not that I'm not trying to scare you but I'm just trying to But you know, um, you know, how does people maybe won't have the idea if we don't over talk Yeah, I don't think we should know what I mean. Maybe we're like spawning interest in this now But you know, it's interesting, you know, it's interesting I'll cover a loose loose full five Lucifer five It's sort of like that black Sabbath greatest hits, you know, you opened it up in the coffin of the lady I thought it was really cool Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, classy Here they are So it is worth it buying an actual Physical copy of an album because look how wonderful that is I didn't know that was a coffin. I didn't realize it. I thought I thought it was a picture first, you know, like on a house The coffin has no silver lining That is actually also me in the coffin in the garden in our garden. We had one This beautiful old transport coffin that's uh over a hundred years old and That I borrowed from a friend um and that we carried into the studio and Photos, you know, it was a huge very heavy metal coffin And now all the journalists are asking me why are you standing in the doorway and say All this work for people to think, you know, I'm just like Hey, you know in a door frame The following angels are great leaders single it's an album the songs are short, right? You get to the point It's uh, it's a joy mind. Like you said, it's gonna all be played on the radio every song as far as I'm concerned I totally agree. I think they should on the radio Yeah, but I think, you know The problem is I mean that would be awesome. Of course, um Just because of what enable us to continue doing what we love, you know, um, because it is hard sometimes but Probably one of the things that will hold us back from that is the name and the image and so on But I am not gonna compromise it. That's okay. That's I was like, I mean, what kind of trademark do you get for lucifer?  I mean, these are great titles at the mortuary. I think that's for me That's my favorite track on the album. So I'm glad we can have a little smile or listen to these songs as well Thank you. Actually at the mortuary is also my favorite song and it almost did not make it onto the album. Oh my gosh. Yeah Yeah, because um the arrangement was a little bit different on the demo and um nika kept saying to me We can't put this on the album. That's too weird. I'm like, what are you talking about this? I swear, this is going to be a single. That's the best song we've had and and we we sat down and uh rearranged it and recorded it and I knew it. I just made it a single. I dictated that and um, yes, uh It is actually really my the favorite song of My whole lucifer catalog is that It combines so many elements that um that we have in lucifer, you know, you have the kind of upbeat hopeful very driven melody And then you have the very like gloomy heavy doom parts You know, there's a little bit of everything in there and the spooky bits and everything, you know, you know what? I think alan you touched on something here. Um, you know what? It's great about this album. Even though your name is very satanic like lucifer, right? The songs aren't really that satanic.  It's nuanced Of course a cup of blood that I drink Yes, but I'm just trying to say that it's it's still very tasteful like it's doomy. It's not it's it's not overdone you know, like That's what I'm trying to say. It's it borderlines doomy and dark and and you know what if you didn't have the name lucifer Nobody would even know that it was a sort of satanic ish type of band, right?  It's doomy. It's it's it's it's got a groove. It's it's it's uh Is that that element? Yes, but they also have that name, you know, just like like sabbath. They have those names that first initiate a different thought and and they have that image and they have symbols that they you they use and they do have the dabbling in the occult as well and I think black sabbath and blue oyster cult are the two main pillars pillars as an influence on lucifer And that's of course also a little bit the blueprint where I took This the idea was always, you know as a framework you have the name And you use the figures and the the you know the images and stuff But it's it will be a band that will also have stuff in major in it, you know Besides the doom and all because the life Life is also not only death, you know You have ups and downs and you want to keep it interesting and you want to tell a story that um That one can relate to you know, and um, we've you want find you want to find comfort in a song But you also want to have a good time and rock out, you know and just you know enjoy So I think it's important to feed all these different desires I think you nailed it and you know what it's got you're sort of unique and you've taken all these elements And you've kind of created your own unique style. That's good. It's really good. Thank you very much Talking about rocking out you got the satanic panic tour in 2024 in europe you want to talk to me about that Oh, yes Yeah, yeah, it's starting in um in a few weeks and um We do some of the dates with angel which which is one of my favorite new wave of british heavy metal bands Great band really cool. So I'm very excited to play with them I wish they could have made the whole tour, but they couldn't they are a little bit restricted to a few countries uh for Reasons I can't reveal but So so we you know, um the other leg of the tour will be um with two german bands Attic and the knight eternal Which is probably something good for me to do for the german scene because you know, I removed myself from germany I'm living in sweden and lucifer is very much a swedish band and so maybe it's good to have a little bit of a Reunion with my country, you know and go on tour with two german bands for change, which I've never done before actually So i'm excited about that, but um, that's not gonna Be the only dates we are actually right now already planning More european dates for later in the year and uk dates and all that So there's a lot of stuff in the works because we weren't able to tour, you know with the last two albums either It was first three and four were both pandemic albums. So lots to um Lots to play All right, show the album one last time show your album there one last time the coffin on the 26th of january 26th and january lucifer it's a coffin for god's sake. It's not a doorway It's a coffin. It's a coffin. Absolutely. It's true Yeah, okay. All right. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much It was wonderful talking to you and good luck and everybody go get the album. It's really really worth it Yeah, it's really good to all the success that comes along with it I want to wish you and a happy new year if we didn't say so earlier. So Thank you so much. I love the merciful fate shirt also great band and I hope we come back to montreal Very soon and thank you for having me