Carried out at a Lerner-Kinney housing state amid fears that vacant houses may attract anti-social behaviour. Works have previously been carried out at the Fair Green Hill to approve the condition of the green area, walls in the estate and also the general appearance of vacant homes. However, the work was stopped due to COVID-19. Councillor Jerry McMunnigal is urging the council to carry out works to allay the fears of residents. There's also a problem with Fair Green Hill in relation to some houses which are affected by mica and are now vacant and the residents are afraid that young people are going to start using these as a magnet for anti-social behaviour so they want the council to ensure that the houses are fully secured and also that they're kept up to a high standard on the outside so it doesn't take down the tone of this state. Food prices will continue to face upward pressure according to an economist. Inflation figures published yesterday showed food price inflation at 6.8%. Overall, the inflation rate had a 38-year high at 9.1% economists should empower so there are a number of factors driving up the price of food. Everything we see is pointing in an upward direction. If you look at the input costs for agriculture production, for example, energy and fertilizer costs, labour costs are rising dramatically so the cost of using food is going up so that's the huge problem and it's feeding up the supply chain. Weather now. Valar cloudy this morning with some patchy rain. This will clear and becoming dry this afternoon. Highest temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees. That's all for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. Today's €2.90 wrap of the day is the spicy veggie one. Guaranteed to cause flavour envy. Picture a soft tortilla wrap filled with delicious crispy veggie dippers. Oh, I've heard it's vegan too. That spicy relish looks good. Today's €2.90 spicy veggie one. So big on flavour, everyone will want some. Only at McDonald's. From 11 a.m. The Ninetyl Noon Show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Now offering mortgages from €40,000 to €600,000 with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 And you're very welcome along to the Ninetyl Noon Show. It's a Friday morning. It's the 15th of July and because it's a Friday, it means we have our Friday panel and three August and distinguished guests to join us on the program to speak about some of the issues of the week. Of course, if there's any issues you'd like to raise over the course of the program, you can do so by texting us on 086625,000. That number good for WhatsApp messages as well. You can also, of course, use social media. It's at Highland Radio on Twitter. It's Highland Hub on Facebook. And you can email us on comments at HighlandVideo.com. You can also, of course, use the old-fashioned telephone. Caroline and Donemory standing right to take your calls 0749125,000. Now, as I said, as it's a Friday, we have our Friday panel. And if you'd like to join us on Facebook Live, you can watch the discussion on Zoom. And we have three, as I say, distinguished commentators and guests to join us this morning. We have Mary T. Sweeney, who was the anthroporepresentative in Donegal and has run in elections in the past. And I have no doubt, will run in elections in the future. We have Kieran Brogan, sitting councillor, of course, member of the Donegal County Council and letter Kenny of the Municipal District. And we have John McIntyre, who is obviously the journalist and owner of the Cheer Connell Tribune and a longtime friend of this program. Actually, John, one of the first panellists ever used when this idea of a Friday panel came into being first and foremost. And that wasn't today or yesterday. And John's been at this pretty much right from the start. Good morning to all three of you. John, I'm going to start with you because I want to start with the question of accommodation. Now, you've been monitoring and commenting on politics and social issues in Donegal for many years. There is a perception, John, that in the case of the accommodation crisis, it's always been with us. There's always been accommodation issues. There's always been issues, particularly with students. But there is a feeling somehow that this time, it's slightly different. This time, it's a bit more serious. It's much more serious. That problem has always been with us in Kieran, probably without the comment on that to a better extent than me. But we were building houses back in the day in 2006 and 2007. We were building 167,000 houses and more last year in the year for 2021. We built 41,000. So you can see where the differences are and where the gaps are. The other big difference today is that we have never increasing population as our recent figures from the census showed. We are not able to get a handle on housing. The minister is coming up with more schemes than enough. But the big developers, they're controlling the market. They're not providing houses that are affordable. And until some government initiative can take that in hand and go out and buy land at affordable prices, should they have to CPO it? The situation has gradually gone downhill in recent years. And regardless of what minister, we'll probably have four or five ministers now in recent years, and they're all running up against the same brick wall, if you'll pardon the pun. I don't see that the situation can improve this year or next. The numbers that we're building, the aspirations is at a very, very low level. We should be up over 40,000. That's a way under 30,000 at the minute. And there's no goodness sitting here blaming COVID or blaming shortage of supplies. And so I've been there long before that and we'll continue until we get some ministerial initiative, somebody with some original thinking that can put land into the hands of developers who can build at a realistic price. We're building high-end houses, far too many of them. There's a huge demand for them in Dublin. But we're looking at other things. There are schemes and initiatives that one of them was launched yesterday there for developers to upgrade there like dwellings in rural towns and villages. And there's a 60,000 grant for doing that. It seems to me though, as you've said, it seems to me though, we're in a situation where you get a scheme like that announced at least once every six months. And as you say, there have been more schemes and you can shake a stick at it in recent years. Ciaran Brogan, I want to go to you on this one. You're a member of Donegal County Council and John and I both well remember covering stories that usually would have come out in late January every February where Donegal County Council would get an allocation of X amount of money and Donegal County Council would in the next 12 months build 200 houses, 180 houses, 220 houses, whatever the figure happened to be. Now there's emphasis on turn keys and acquisitions and things like that. And it seems that a lot of these problems really started getting serious when Donegal County Council actually stopped getting bricks and mortar and building houses itself. Well, I suppose to be honest, we're still suffering from the economic downturn that happened probably 10 or 12 years ago. A lot of builders at that time have gone out of business and unfortunately haven't returned. And I think we need to get more people back in to the construction industry. We need to get more people building more homes, as you'd be very well aware Donegal. Back in the day, you could have had up to 10 different building sites in Latter-Kinney, for example. And if you were going to acquire a home or if you're relocating to Latter-Kinney, you had a lot of choice to make as to what part of town you'd live in. Unfortunately, that choice is not there at the moment. We don't have enough. We don't have enough builders from a council perspective. We're at an early stage of putting the development plan out for public consultation. We need to try and create the interest from the private investor and from the landowner to develop and to build new homes and create the opportunities for people. And I think as a council, from a social housing perspective, we need to be acquiring more land and we need to present more opportunity in the whole area of social housing as well. With regards to student accommodation, I do think that the scheme was announced yesterday as a good scheme. And it's not just in some rural towns, but I mean in Latter-Kinney as you'd be very familiar with on your walk on the roads. Unfortunately, from the bottom of the Port Road to the bottom of the town, there's not many people living in the town again. And we need to try and create the atmosphere or the interest to get people to reinvest in the town centre where living accommodation can be created. And I think there's opportunity there for many people. And I know with our urban regeneration plan now, there's up 20 million planned. So what I mean last week, we talked about how we can share the information of the plans that we have going forward and present the opportunities so that maybe more new investors can come to the market to create the accommodation that's needed because we all know there's a huge vacuum there at the moment. Mary T. Sweeney, I want to go to you on this one because you represent Enthu as a new political party. You say you're offering a new vision. Now, if I recall correctly, and correct me if I'm wrong, but your party leader, parallel Tobin, in a previous life, was in fact a housing spokesperson for Sinn Féin if I recall correctly. I think he actually did hold an opposition brief in housing. So presumably it's something he takes an interest in. It's something your party takes an interest in. Do you believe that Enthu can come onto the scene and do something different? 100% don't know. I have a background in housing myself been involved in the state agency as the boys know. I never ever want to be personal and I'm not being personal, but I must speak from the heart here and say unless, and I only can speak about Donegal Council caring. And you know that I know properly in this town, the reality is unless we look at our feelings very, very cynically and sharply and look at the disgrace of Lower Main Street. Look what happened when developers got free reign. Look at the pack in the middle and stack in high. That doesn't work. It doesn't work for anybody. It's no reflection on anybody. But unless we build a quality home that families can live in and move into the future in, then it's going to be a very vicious circle. And the biggest, biggest concern for me is how can anybody have confidence in Donegal housing at the moment when the market is not resolved? Unless we get the County Council in there doing tests and giving reassurances instead of passing the book and successive governments passing the book, it's a disgrace. And I can't move in and talk about housing unless I say that because my heart wouldn't let me. That's the reality of it. When you think of the people sitting in desperate situations in their homes and they're listening to us talk, you know, we're worried about students. We must worry about the people of Donegal first. I spoke out and, you know, I did speak out about the allocation of 350 the facility to hold 350 students and the purpose built student accommodation across the LA, LAIT or the now that the Atlantic University. And the council didn't take that up. They didn't say, stop, let's do a compulsory purchase on this building and keep it for our students. They won't need buses. They won't need cars. They can roll out of their bed in the morning, walk across to college and then we can rent it out. People can rent it out in summer and they can make money. There's no planning. There's no reason. There's no sense. It's not just at a local level. It's at a national level. And as somebody said in the earlier introduction, there needs a completely new reason here and a different approach taken. Ciaran Brogan, the challenge then is on very much on Donegal County Council to try and take this by the horns. And the point Mary T makes is a good one. I mean, in terms of the Micah situation, a lot of comments being made, people asking, you know, can we have confidence in blocks being used at the moment? Can we have confidence in what's being done because of what's come before? That's a very good point. And I think it's important that we have clarity around the blocks and the materials. But I think what we need is we need people to come in and do the building at the moment. And that's where we have the lack of interest and we're having enough people coming forward to do that. But Donegal County can only create the atmosphere and provide the infrastructure to do it. And by providing, I suppose, infrastructure and improving the network around the town to do that and zoning and proper lands. But we also need private investment to follow that. And then the banking sector has rolled here as well to, I suppose, make it more attractive and to sit down with all the stakeholders. You know, the landowners, the auctioneers and indeed the builders as well to see, is there gaps there that we need to try and bridge? Because at the end of the day, there's huge opportunities here for it to create more jobs. And I mean, this morning, when we have an announcement of another 300 jobs for that, which is very positive, and these people is going to need somewhere to live. So we need to look at this and see how we can develop a positive model going forward and create more opportunity and new homes for many people with regards to social housing area. The council is a huge challenge in this area going forward. And that's something that we're continuing to monitor going forward. But it's not simple because we have in the middle of the development plan at the minute has thrown up many challenges to us, including the whole area for flood zone as well. So there's challenges for us now we can do as elected members to do our very best to try and bridge the gap. But collectively, we can all do it together and overcome the hurdles that's there. And in terms of the point Mary T made that if you allow developers take the lead, developers are ultimately commercial businesses who are operating for profit. And that's absolutely fine. That is what they do. It's absolutely valid that a development company or a building company that works in the private sector is a for profit organization. It's not a social enterprise. From that point of view, does there not need to be some formula whereby there can be a very distinct social input? We know we have schemes in the past where 15 or 20 percent of developments would be set aside for social housing. I'm not sure those schemes ever worked. Yeah, that's correct. But I mean, I suppose the issue at the moment, as I say, is the lack of applications coming in from interested developers or parties coming forward. And if it was the case that we had 10 or 20 applications ongoing at the moment, then that would be an issue. But unfortunately, at the moment, we need new fresh investment in Donegal at the moment. And there is opportunity there, I believe. John Macatier, one of the points that's been made to us is that a lot of people are finding themselves moving into towns because they can't build on their own land. Now, we've heard many, many discussions over many, many years on the floor of Donegal County Council about people who want to build their own home, on their own land, attach their own family farms, and they can't do so. And that effectively, in one way, planning policy is actually forcing people into the towns. Absolutely. That's nothing new. It isn't that people can't build in their own towns or their own villages down here in Faraday. I'm very familiar with that. There's more emphasis put on EU directors for wild birds than there is on people building on the family farm. It could take six or seven years to get there. By that stage, either it has gone beyond your ability to pay for it, or else you've abandoned the whole project. Moving into Letter Kenny, the way things are at the moment, people want to move into Letter Kenny because it's cheaper to live there than it is to drive around a trip of 60 miles a day. That's understandable. Letter Kenny never had enough homes. We never had enough developers building homes there. And I think there's too much bureaucracy and red tape that has put developers off. And that's what we've been on since the property crash. And as Keir said there, we have not recovered for that. But I feel talking to people about legislation, talking to construction companies, the red tape in the bureaucracy that weigh them down and delays them for years. Property developers can't stand around with a couple of hundred men implied, waiting for a decision by the Department of the Environment or the local county council. And I think if you address that, Keir, how much worse has that bureaucracy got in recent years? I think it has gone beyond most developers want to be even bothered. Well Keir, do you have a perspective on that? Because it seems from what we're saying here there needs to be a balance found between on the one hand attracting in the developers and on the other hand meeting the social needs of the community. Now it's a very fine balance and it's maybe going to be difficult. But do you believe Keir as a public representative and as someone who has been involved on the business end yourself as well? I mean, can that sort of balance be found whereby the developers can be sufficiently enticed while at the same time meeting social need? Yeah, I think I would agree 100% with exactly everything John has said. I mean, the first hurdle that many people are facing over the last 10 years, and it hasn't changed in the Northwest because I suppose the economic downturn was one thing. Nobody warned us about Brexit. And since 2015, it's no secret that the banking sector have described this area as a tertiary area in the Northwest because of the challenges around Brexit. And the lending models has been somewhat different than Dublin, Galway and Cork, people that has been here in the Northwest. So the first challenge is to try and get the financial mechanism in place to get the banks lending and something down. But I think what needs to happen, and we discussed last Friday at a workshop that we had ourselves selected members, is we need to try and get all the stakeholders into the room to share the information that we have and try to overcome the hurdles that they're facing as well because there is a lot of red tape and there is a lot of hurdles to overcome. And I suppose we need to try and bridge that gap in any way we can to encourage development because there's a lot of positive investment coming. We have a lot of new things that are proposed to happen in this area, in jobs, in new community hospitals. We've never seen as much investment in the whole area of our schools and stuff. The cost of materials is huge as well. And somewhat concerning that it seems to be the case, the more people I talk to, that concrete and tarmac, for example, and things like that seem to be much more expensive than they are in Dublin. And we need to look why that is as well. So we need to overcome all these hurdles at the moment and try and work towards solutions because it is very attractive here in the Northwest. And COVID has learned is one thing that the quality life is very important to many people. We have the opportunity for remote working. And I believe that many more people want to work in Donegal and live in Donegal. And we need to try and overcome any hurdles that are there to make it more attractive for people who want to live, work and continue in Donegal. Myriti, is what Kearn is saying. They're giving you any more confidence that there is a will there on the part of Kearn and his colleagues on council to actually put in the sort of measures that will be necessary to tackle these issues for once and for all. In honest, it's not, it needs a very open and frank conversation. What happened before the crash from, I would say, from pre-2007, I call it, was planning, was out of control. And I think we need an independent overseer in planning that is autonomous, that is in control of planning in this county. The planners should be doing the planning, councillors should be allowed to make submissions. I do believe that at the early stage when councillors had more say, we had social houses built. We have people built in social houses. When Dublin's controlled, people in council would tell me they have very little power anymore. Do we need to give more power back to local councillors that if they don't do the job, don't look after their community, they're out of the next election, very clearly. I do think we need a bit more power for local councillors to take accountability. I had hope Karen would say, well, we have so many acres sitting of council land already sitting there. Why is this not being used? Why are council houses that have perfectly been perfectly well renovated, sitting and having to be modified if they're in good condition? There shouldn't be a uniform stamp for social housing. It should be, if a house is in good condition ready for a client, put a client into no delay, no overlay. I think if you want to make real changes, then you need to restructure the whole social housing point scheme and maybe allow for young people that are in the construction industry to be given a higher scale on that point scheme, but they can at least get an affordable house in the latter county environments that they can get in. And what John said, definitely. Planning has to be reevaluated. Should it be redoing the environmental rebeds for sewage and all of that? I take all that on board and I have a great hope that a newer scheme would come in to reduce the idea of environmental pollution from sewage to sewage, but we have to let people build on their farms in the rural community to keep our villages, towns and our rural community active. This government and successive governments have actively attacked the fishermen. They're paying them to tie up their boats. They're attacking the farmer. Now they're paying them not to farm the lands. They're paying them and yet we're going to cut down all the rain for us so that the South Americans can grow beef or raise beef cattle that we can buy back in. It's madness what's good on. It's absolute crazy and the general people I think have given up because they're exasperators. John McAteer, you will well remember the section four motions and a meeting of Donegal County Council would almost inevitably start with about four or five section four motions where effectively if members got sufficient support from colleagues they could direct the planning authorities to allow a development to go ahead. Now there were lots and lots of lengthy, lengthy discussions that we both sat through over the years and Kieran Brogan participated in a few of those discussions as well as a councillor. Was scrapping the section four a good thing or a bad thing? Scrapping section fours is part of the problem because we elect the councillors to be proactive on our behalf and giving them authority of as much as possible including planning. Section fours was a vital tranche of the power that councillors could bring to bear. Now there could be ruled out of order, there could be ferocious rise about it and they're aware. But I think Donal, looking back on it the council was a much more proactive place, there was much more work getting done because councillors were much more engaged. They're denied that now, they're ruled out of it and the whole idea is that if you hand thing to officers then you have to wait until they come back whereas if it's with councillors they're under pressure from their electorate every day of the week until that planning issue is resolved and I think those were good times. All of these things can be tweaked and adjusted but using a blunt instrument to just scrap section fours was wrong and that to me is a part of the problem and will continue to be and I don't see councillors being given that power back anytime soon. I am going to take a very short break, I'll be back in a moment, I don't want to leave this issue behind so more discussion on this housing issue in just a moment. 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Sweeney who is the in-through representative in Doney Gull and does have an background as such in estate agency work and in housing in Doney Gull just want to give you a few of the comments that have been coming through before I go back to the panel turnkey houses in Doney Gull are an issue because so few are actually providing them surely more contractors should be engaged with by council to allow more to be built and in fairness that councillor Brogan made that exact comment I think there is a need to ease on planning in areas where young people can't get permission to build their own homes we certainly touched on that one and I'm a public servant in my 30s with a wife and young daughter no prospect of wanting my own home Fina Fallon Fina Guell have failed us no amount of criticism of shin fein and others will change the fact that I cannot afford a home and that's the issue we've been discussing um Kieran Brogan at a recent discussion in Doney Gull County council I want to go back to a point that Mary T. raced actually which is in terms of many council owned homes which are lying vacant even though they are habitable now I think it was councillor Michael Mcmride made a suggestion that the model under which houses are let be changed and that what the council effectively do is advertise we have a house in such and such an area with three bedrooms these are the facilities are you interested please register your interest now and the argument is that that would allow houses be filled a lot quicker that effectively the houses are advertised and you're not going by a point system and putting it out and then waiting on refusal or acceptance and then putting it out again and waiting on refusal or acceptance that if that model were to be identified it would streamline the system do you agree I have the issue of the choice space letting and that's where it's advertised but I think the biggest challenge that the council has had over the years and it's been raised by many elected members is the time that it's taken to turn properties around when they're vacant because there have to be up to a certain standard now and we all know that the standard is there getting the work done and getting it turned around in time is an issue that has been there for some time and something would be raising on a regular basis but just to keep back the whole area of planning don't let's talk about that I mean that's all changed I see a huge difference in over the last 20 years because whether we like it or not we have the European guidelines then we have our national planning guidelines then we have our regional planning guidelines right down to our county development plan and to be honest about it the time it comes to us in a county development plan whether we like it or not we're so restricted and all the different avenues that we have available to us because you do have the national planning regular there that tells us exactly how much land we can zone what we can zone you have the whole area that John touched on earlier earlier for example it's things like the fresh pearl water mussel from areas like Glendon right down the river Lennon and turn Elton and it's a strict development for many people but there's so many different European directives that have come to us over the last number of years that has changed a lot of things and the one that's going to change things one forward and that work one up against as well as a whole area of development in the flood plain and whether we like it or not as public representatives that is there we can't ignore it it's been flagged up to us so the discretion or role that maybe elected members might have had 20 or 30 years ago from no longer there and we're our hands are somewhat tight as we can do going forward but all we can do is try and create the positive map that we can and then try and attract people to come come and invest in it but another area that's a huge concern to us as well is the Irish water model presenting huge challenges as well because of the cost of infrastructure and many of our smaller towns and John and Mary P the very familiar areas like Rathmullen, Mulford, the Melton, Carygarde even Kilmer Cranon and the lack of infrastructure in those towns to allow them to grow and I mean it's not far nowadays because of the huge investment the road network from Latter Kenya to Terman for example and people would love to live in them areas but there is a lack of infrastructure in that area and I wish water was presenting a huge hurdle to us because unless they see it as commercially viable they're not we as a council don't have the same discretion there so there is there is many hurdles and I would like to hear many opinions or help us with solutions going forward but it's not it's not as simple as it sounds John. Are we getting to the point with Irish water where we know that several years ago the HSE was created as a panacea that was going to solve all the problems in the health service and then within years it was all always wouldn't happen back in the days of the old northwestern health board is the same going to happen with Irish water are we effectively going to get to a point in the next five or six years when the clarion call is going to be oh it wouldn't have happened back in the day when the council had responsibility for us. Well that's that's correct unfortunately that is the case because Irish water is moving away to be an independent body completely and the people that are even employed at the moment from Donegal County Council that's all going to change as well going forward so effectively Irish water looks the same as electric Ireland a bit completely independent body and that's presenting challenges for council as well but despite the many efforts that we've made over the last number of years to try and get Irish water to provide additional infrastructure to different areas and let it get a lot of it has been without success. But the difference between Irish water and electric Ireland is electric Ireland issues bills we always have had electricity bills we accept the fact that we get electricity bills and it's a service that we paid for in the case of Irish water we don't and we all know what happened the last time attempts were made to give us all water bills. Well John, people in business get a lot of bills from Irish water. I know I've absolutely got a lot of bills and they're very little of course yeah so there are bills from Irish water a lot of them too. Well and I was speaking from the point of view of the householder obviously but Mary T I want to go back to you on this because the point Ciaran makes is a good one that we have this almost perfect storm where at the same time that we have an economic crisis that's affecting the overall economy we have restricted planning because of European regulations and we have issues such as the Irish water one Ciaran is just outlined as someone who's been an observer of the housing sort of market and housing provision for many many years as you've said through your family business as well as your own political interests. I mean you know it does appear goalposts are changing and it does appear to be a far more difficult field than it was maybe 10 15 years ago. You've got to make the decision to say are you agreeing with Europe. It's the case of the Green Party tail wagging the dog this is classic here. You need to look exactly at Europe and say you know what works for Ireland. It doesn't necessarily mean because it's coming out of Europe that's going to work for us we need that autonomy to say no that's not what we want to do here. One of the biggest factors that I have noticed and it involves somebody from the family peninsula a young man that went away and qualified when the first recession hit he qualified in computer and software went to London perfected his career met somebody came back to relocate to the homeland of Fannett to start his family because he'd have the parents there as a background for looking after kids from the kids came along and to support the parents the elderly parents he couldn't afford to buy a house in Fannett. This is the reality he got his employment in Latter County he was quite happy to do that 50 minute bribe up to Latter County every day but he couldn't afford and he couldn't get planning on his family land and he ended up having to buy a house over in need of work. Now buying a house anywhere in Donegal is dicey wickets because I make it but I don't know what you know and how he's got on in that respect but there's a breakdown here and whole family support network which is impacting the crash we need to think outside the box here when Karen talks about the flood plains of Latter County like I remember my late father being horrified that we're building even in what was called the bog hole but technology and engineering has moved on an awful lot but not so much that the flood plains you have to be very careful. We have made the most beautiful town park on the prime development land that's in Connellson Latter County and we have the old bacon factory which could have been a very very beautiful aquatic park with a walkway from the college to the nature reserve you know maybe we need to start saying stop we need to rethink this maybe the land up here is so valuable we need to reconsider the park being here and put the park down where the bacon factory is well it is a flood plain and there is a potential risk for severe flooding down the road do you know what I'm saying we need to think outside the box and start to say well what is working and what's not working have we made a mistake everybody can make mistakes especially in design and planning so if we're not brave enough to recognize our mistakes and say you know and I say the town park's beautiful but why is the back of St Connells land empty and with people with mental health issues living you know without supporting the community these are basic basic questions that need to be asked the council needs to put pressure on slum to care to say let's develop the whole back of St Connells that people can have access and cares in that community that can keep an eye on them because they took away all our psychiatric hospital care it's a disgrace what's going on and I have to say that the the county councils who are in effect that they relate to the government they have to have their share of responsibility and feedback information to government level so I don't know if that makes sense to you but you know it just you need to rethink the whole thing having an information day and that are coming to reconsider being the market square having two days on the square it's not adequate for me you need people on the street for a week engaging going around the business is talking to the business nobody went around and talk to anybody in the business is never coming in the market square these one day two days workshops that's the box tick and exercise that is not integration and engaging with people in the community it needs to be more sustained and it needs to be I changed into a county council meeting recently about the development of Lekton the south of the river and it was nonsense a lot of that was spoken about absolute nonsense you know um so the reality is unless people speak out and tell the truth what's going on here we need a better plan maybe people involved living locally are too engaged in it but somebody has to take responsibility from an overall long-term planning perspective and that's not happening it's a wee bit here and now for this person and that person and that's not working John McAteer I want to go to you on on that issue about synchronous and developing the back of it because very few people know synchronous better than you do and and have done over the years yeah and looking at that hold out just Mary T have a point that we're losing out on opportunities for development with synchronous and she doesn't have a point to mean that that wonderful building at the back of synchronous at this point in time I mean it's a little more than a nice work I think it's worse than that don't I think I think that building is so deteriorated to the extent that the simple thing to do with it is actually to demolish it and if you want to rebuild it then why not do that there's fine space up and around there but it's more limited than you would imagine I would just like to think that in and around Lerner Kenny there's plenty green spaces still the town and the county and the area around Lerner Kenny as not overdeveloped when you drive down the mountain top you're looking at this lovely green panoramic area up around like I do it daily we yes we all do that there's only about four and a half percent of Ireland under concrete and just listen to Mary T there and just thank you god we're not living in Holland we've been flooded years ago I mean talking about flood plains in Lerner Kenny there are solutions there there are technical solutions there are ways and means of alleviating all that and for the life of me I can't understand why you are not building houses in Lerner Kenny when the demand and the need is there there's going to be a major new university campus there it's already up and running there that's going to create huge pressure on housing in the years ahead and there's no forward planning to deal with that kind of thing at all and as Kieran mentioned there there's 300 new jobs announced this morning for Lerner Kenny hopefully all of those people will come in and live in the area locally but where are they going to find the houses we're going around in circles all the time we like the the the that kind of an original edge around housing back in the 30s and the 40s and the 50s when it's all manual labour we're building more houses than we're building now right across Ireland I mean where has that all gone wrong I put a lot of it down to bureaucracy to red tape the planning and all of these things I don't think it's a scarcity of money at the minute but the major developers have their hands in the pie to the extent that they can dictate the market and they're building enough houses but nobody nobody can afford them you would need about four salaries coming into a house to get a mortgage at the minute and that is the kernel of the problem but we've been talking about housing in Lerner Kenny since time immemorial and I mean there are numbers of finer states in the town there are a number of vacant houses there are numbers of locked doors it's in every town and village in Donegal I'm looking out in Mufford I'm looking out in Remelton and you know you have to ask the question why does the council have anything to do with these houses they're mostly private houses the council the councils can talk all the want about sites that are derelict and all this and imposing tax on them none of those things are going to solve any solution or problems officially we'll have to sit down with all of those people who own those properties now rather than talk it over their heads they have to talk directly through them and if they talk directly to them they might find some solutions because every town that we visit we can clearly identify derelict properties there's one issue that's arising there and we see it in Mufford nobody wants to live on the main street of a town anymore because all of the old trades and all of the old crafts and skills that created that town centre is long since gone and that's not going to be returning people like to live out on new modern housing the states where they have green spaces and for their safety for their children to play in I mean you step out the door on on on any main street and there's a stream of traffic passing through them now so those spaces in town centres could better be utilized I mean I've always felt we're talking about a master plan from Mufford that may well come to fruition someday but if there were some effort made to utilize the old buildings and to attracting some hub of activity of let it be in computers let let let it be in the creation of some type of jobs if you've got five or six of those up and running you know that could be a catalyst that could be more attractive and getting others to come in here but I mean also I mean if lots of people want to come in to live in Mufford we don't have houses either we just simply don't have them Kerry Keele doesn't have them you know where where does have them there's a deficit of housing right across Ireland and like 2008-2010 with the property crash we haven't got over that and the demand for housing has increased dramatically because more and more people have either returned home during the pandemic to work from home and to find that easily accessible and to find that highly attractive and I mean what's with our growing population our housing is not coming anywhere near meeting the demand the supply is a way out of kilter probably by hundreds of houses per year in Donegal probably probably 10 to 15 thousand nationally at least I'd say one of the issues that we haven't touched on yet but it's a major issue when it comes to discussions on housing and we can't not discuss it this morning is that of refugees obviously most recently the Ukrainian situation plus we've had other asylum seekers as well and the caller is just asking why is nobody talking about putting a cap on the refugees coming in we can't help many more people it's no good for themselves as well as on us the fact that 30 men were put into two houses in letter kenny is the perfect example of this who is that helping and nationally we saw the specter of people having to sleep overnight in Dublin Airport because there was literally nowhere for them to go now we're told there'll be accommodation provided for them in Gormandstown in County Meath as of Monday but people still facing a weekend potentially sleeping in an airport until some site can be found the refugee situation it's one that's been with us for a while and the Ukrainian obviously the Ukrainian situation has put a focus on it um Kieran Broker from the point of view of someone who's involved in in the council involved in in active politics on a day-to-day basis I mean have we got to the point of saturation when it comes to bringing in and helping refugees in Donegal as most people are fleeing war and it's a very challenging time for many people there is absolutely no doubt there's a shortage of accommodation and I think how we monitor that and how we place that going forward and then something cap on the numbers or something we'll probably need to be discussing at how we can introduce some sort of a model and there was some talk about Gormandstown being used now starting next week I think the council and the national body like I pass need to be sitting down with a dedicated task first and to look at this to see how we can what numbers are available and the way the presentation if you would expect at Donegal County council level from all the agencies and presenting numbers to of you know the people going into different towns throughout Donegal there's huge numbers going in down the south and south east as well and it's probably something that the the councils need to monitor closely with I pass as well and to see how we can monitor this going forward but there's no doubt it's presenting a huge challenge because we have a lack of accommodation and that's not to mention a huge challenge it's going to be for us all with the maker situation going forward as well because the maker homes will have to be redeveloped and while people is out of their home while they're being developed there was some talk about modular homes I do believe that there probably is some good models of modular homes but I think that's a model of needs to be looked very closely at and how we introduce the modular homes what's the lifespan in the models for homes and as a something that could be looked at in the short term and for for the opinions coming in and maybe the long term for maker people I think it's some thinking around that whole area that needs to be looked at and there is some very good examples of a good modular homes but you need to look at the lifespan in that and how it would be valued from one actual public person and we do know that the council is looking closely at that. Mary T. Sweeney I want to go to you because you know we are talking about finding a balance here we have a social and international responsibility to help those who are fleeing war we also have a responsibility to look after those within our own community who are seeking housing and and we're trying to balance one responsibility off against another and we're trying to do the best we can for everyone but does there come a point where we have to say we can't do it all? I think you have to look at the whole picture and to be ruthless you have to speak about how this has been financed and I have never seen any of the figures that are but I'm reliably told that the accommodation for Ukrainians is now being paid at 200 euro per head per room. Now Ciaran can confirm or deny that's correct that is if there's three people in the one room that's 600 pound and now for for the immigrants at the stage I did the report for the about the students whole of residence been taken over without any thought for what was going to be the kick on the side of that impacting the students there was accommodation there for 350 people and I think the person that bought out that block was being paid 150 pound per head per person per room man woman or child it's astronomical figures which has in turn taken all of that property out of the market for students and for ordinary Irish people trying to do a job I sat beside a man on the bus phone to the rally the last day in Dublin I never met him before at Carpenter and he said I used to work in Dublin because that's you had to go there for the work there's been no working done he called the last couple of years so he said I was going to work in Dublin and he said look I use Airbnb to get accommodations for the week the cheapest accommodation I can see anywhere in the Dublin area and he opened his phone and showed me his name was Joe I don't even know his last name and he showed me and he said the cheapest accommodation you can get was 120 euros per night caring to work as a carpenter in Dublin and that was the cheapest then he had to pay tolls and food and accommodation and come home on a Friday and feed his family now he was saying that and he worked as a carpenter in Dublin 400 to 450 is what he needs to put out in expenses every week between getting up to Dublin with the rising diesel and getting back where are we going wrong boys somebody is controlling us we need to take back control in Ireland we need to stop and say listen this has gone ridiculous here is it time for the government to publish those figures now obviously I I have not seen the source of your figures I can't stand over them but I mean you know I take your bona fides on that I mean you know if if it's we're talking 20 200 euro per person per night in hotels and other accommodations I mean you know that does seem very excessive figures I was told I read it in one of their posts there's a three billion projected figure for next year alone for for and I really want to help people but the way we're helping them is not sustainable let's be realist here it is not sustainable and the student disadvantaged our health service is in crisis folks that we didn't even get time to talk about it's in crisis I do want to talk briefly about that before we go John I want to give a final word to you on this the issue of the the refugee crisis and as briefly as possible because I do want to hit the health issue right before we finish we're 40 000 Ukrainian refugees here at the moment why they look after them properly are we export them or deport them or get get them back home that's not going to happen we have to be more realistic here these have fled as cute and sad from a humanitarian crisis I'm just looking at the independent here today where it says homes originally intended to house Ukrainians are lying empty by refugees are sleeping intense hundreds of properties pledged to help those fleeing the war are caught in a large jam of red tape they have been withdrawn or deemed unsuitable there's no expected that only one in five properties promised to help house Ukraine refugees will actually be used for that purpose I would rather focus on the scarcity of the accommodation I think a lot of it again is down to the fact that properties are there I would know of properties that we presumed were going to be used that haven't been used in a number of towns and villages that are quite adequate have had a lot of new work done to them why are they not been used just when we have them here let us look after them properly and John can I just say I have a family in that or can I that offered to bring in refugees to their home and there are three months off ago offered it and nobody has even come back to look at the accommodation yet it's been totally mismatched again like it's that kind of thing we should be focusing on rather than putting caps on the numbers that we should be taking in I think the properties are there as you say Mary there's a huge delay I mean this is now into its fifth month actually properties and offered that could be very well used and utilized I see ones in remelton and elsewhere and I can find it there's no reason that they can't be utilized so let's stop condemning refugees and in any format or what is cost you can't put a price on people's lives whose homeland has been destroyed day by day as we talk I mean that is an absolutely scandalous situation altogether so as long as we have refugees anywhere any way of accommodating them let us do so and let us worry about the cost of it later on I will have three minutes and I do want to hit the health issue because we saw yesterday that people are being offered treatment in a specially built Spanish hospital but they have to pay their own flights and accommodation pay for the service in the hospital in Spain and then get reimbursed by the HSC is this private health care by stealth? Mary T? 100% another disgrace another left down for all our people and I'm absolutely horrified and no interest in the families that have children that are three and four years on the list for a autism assessment for reading assessment can't get a speech therapist it's another disgrace shield their disgrace the health services of disgrace and it needs a complete revamp but it needs an external body to come in because we obviously can't do it it's been two minutes from the inside needs a complete revamp Kieran Brogan in terms of this service said the backers of it will say look you can get the treatment you can get your treatment repaid you can get what you need and that's the most important thing but the reality is for some of us if I am offered treatment in the morning let's let's be blunt and upfront about it if I am offered treatment in Spain in the morning I have the resources personally that I can book a hotel I can book an airline flight I am very lucky and privileged in that respect many many people aren't yeah well the first thing I would do is acknowledge a lot of the good people that work in the health service you know sometimes they don't make the headlines as baby's born and there's lives saved and a lot of very good things happen within our hospitals and a lot of good work that's been done but I have always had an issue the last number of years around the model that we have the current model and you know I think we need to go into the colleges to work closer with the students because we never were producing more doctors and nurses here in Dunygolans but maintaining their own talent within the region but unfortunately when they come out of college they seem to be heading to Dubai to London to Australia and everywhere else and I think we went into the colleges we offered the positions maybe paid their fees but it'd be good for the mom and dad to be good for the student and if we had a five-year contract to maintain our talent here because I've got to have a huge issue of Donald as this whole idea of so many people now employed by agencies coming into the hospitals we need to invest in our own consultants to come and work permanently in our hospitals and I have an issue of referring to many people of her patients to Dublin and Slago to private hospitals we need to get back and you mentioned in our Western health board earlier we need to get back to the situation where we invest in our own consultants in our own people to maintain our talent here in this region and John's are in it a long time you know we did it 40 years ago when we fought hard to get orthopedic surgeons for the region there's no reason why we can't do it again and I think there is a bit of a disconnect but we need to continue as somebody who serves in the HSA regional forum we've been flagging this for a long time the current model is not working and you know I don't believe it's all over the money because the budget letter Kenny hospital not that long go was in around 80 million a year I think the last few years is probably about a hundred and 60 70 million and I think it's the model that we need to get in and I think we can do it because we've never had more educated talent of our own absolutely great point we have one minute John McIntyre final word to you I mean you know this appears on the face of it to be crazy this Spanish situation sure either there must be a better way crazy about it if people can afford to go to it now the health the health insurance to do so they're not cars in the country anything but I I read there that you can claim it back on the national purchase treatment fund a private hospitals on island are thriving and growing because more and more people are being forced into saving enough money to pay for private health care and it's a different word because I've used it a lot in the last five years myself a hospital are chaotic were taught that you need a couple of days to talk about hospitals been being chaotic but as Kieran said there more and more people have been transferred to Galway and Slaget are to Dublin but at least we have a cath lab in the cardiac system up and running there thank you Kieran and unfair play to you John because you were one of the people who really took the lead in highlighting that John McIntyre Kieran Brogan Mary T. Sweeney three very articulate and very intelligent and very engaging guests thank you all very much indeed thank you Donald it's cute bye bye all lingering sunsets in Spain captivating coastlines in Croatia dinner over looking Lake Como it's time to stop dreaming and start doing let us guide you to your dream destination just show up suitcase in hand and we'll take care of everything flights accommodation excursions expert local guides and all that planning secure your spot now on a guided group tour with deposits from 100 euro see traveldepartment.com i've shown and operated for over 25 years travel department let's see more enjoy great family entertainment at the Ulster Flah a week of singing in street sessions concerts colorful parade and much more 17th to the 24th of July in the heart of Ulster in Dramor find Ulster Flah on Facebook supported by Ferman and Oma D.C. Arts Council N.I. Kultus and the Department of Tourism Culture Arts Guilt at Sport and Media is your current car ready for change if so now is a good time to visit DMG Motors Dunigaltown choose from their Skoda range including the Fabia Scala Superb Carock Kodiak Kamiq Octavia and the all-new electric Enyaq now available for delivery all fitted with the latest technology Skoda Connect with a whole new range of simply clever features DMG Motors have made buying a new car affordable with finance available on all new vehicles test drive the new Skoda today call 9721396 Skoda made for Dunigalt the big Salento summer sale is now on 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. shop all your favorite brands in men's women's and kids fashion at unbeatable prices and just in time for the holiday season look good feel good and save money at Salento Straban don't miss it euro rate 85 pence and free parking at Salento son or no son we're gonna have so much fun and that's with the Highland radio summer sessions yes the jive time crew we're going to be out and about in different locations during July and August this Friday we will be live from our draw to help launch the start of the our draw bluegrass festival there will be live music interviews and perhaps a few goodies to give away on the day so join me David James this Friday from 2 30 p.m. and if you're close by call down and say hello live on air online and on the Highland radio app this is Highland radio news it's 10 o'clock i'm Emma Ryan a dunigal man has been reported missing in Germany 42-year-old Martin Dordy traveled to Germany on Sunday and he checked into a media hotel and suites in random close to Frankfurt the last vigil of sighting of him was around 9 p.m. on the Sunday night at the hotel his disappearance has been reported to Gardie and the German police the number of dogs been returned to ISPCA and dunigal has risen significantly this year due to the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions last year the dog pound in letter Kenny took in 150 dogs but so far this year 170 dogs have been put into their care it's believed the dogs were bought or rehomed during the COVID-19 lockdowns are now being put into care as people return to work the charity's resources are now under extreme pressure and dr. Saul Sullivan co of ISPCA has called for people to consider fostering a dog for dunigal alone last year in 2021 dog pounds and letter Kenny took in 150 dogs for example so far this year money happens to the year the number is at 170 so therefore the number of animals that's been released back into our care has significantly been up so what we're doing really at the moment this week is just putting an appeal out appeals to people who would consider adopting if they were prepared to put their name forward or even to foster and fostering is just a temporary home for an animal but as part of an animal's welfare and rehabilitation is a fantastic help to the ISPCA 300 new jobs have been announced for letter Kenny as northern Ireland firm fin true has confirmed a major expansion fin true which specializes in compliance risk and controls and operations is to establish a new european hub in letter Kenny with the creation of 300 jobs over the next five years established in 2013 and headquartered in belfast fin true designs technology enabled solutions for investment banks across the world they currently employ more than 1000 people including 300 in dairy fin true founder and ceo dara mccurfe says he is extremely excited about the expansion so so we so we've taken a temporary space in in in lyt their co-labs space and we're working through a number of median term options which we're currently looking to finalize in the coming weeks and months but obviously will be in letter Kenny so our plans are to recruit 300 people over the next five years we have just over 300 people in dairy we've recruited over the last four years we're looking for a wide range of people both people at the graduate entry level but also we will look into higher experience people and we have a lot of roles we're currently looking for with the varying degrees of experience a call has been made for remedial works to be carried out at a letter Kenny house in estate amid fears the vacant houses may attract anti-social behavior works have previously been carried out at fair green hill to improve the condition of the green area walls in the estate and also the general appearance of vacant homes however the work was stopped due to COVID-19 councillor Jeremy Monagall is urging the council to carry out works to allay the fears of residents there's also a problem with fair green hill in relation to some houses which are affected by mica and are now vacant and the residents are afraid that young people are going to start using these as a a magnet for anti-social behavior so they want the council to ensure that the houses are fully secured and also that they're kept up to a high standard on the outside so it doesn't take down the tone of the estate some people fleeing the war in Ukraine had to sleep on the floor of the old Dublin airport terminal building last night a shortage of accommodation has prompted the UN high commissioner for refugees to call on the government to take swift action accommodation at gormans town camp in county mayful open on monday for up to 200 refugees as the city west centre is full Yuba Lubahili is a ukrainian national living in Ireland who rescued people from the conflict and brought them to Ireland she said there's a lot more the state can do if i'm single person little person who lives in dream county me can find accommodation for 15 people through friends through um Irish people so i don't think it's accommodation crisis food prices will continue to face upward pressure according to an economist inflation figures published yesterday food prices inflation at 6.8 percent overall the inflation rate had a 38 year high at 9.1 percent economist jim power says there are a number of factors driving up the price of food everything we see um is pointing in the upper direction um if you look at the input cost for agriculture production for example energy and fertilizer costs labor costs are rising dramatically so the cost of using food is going up so that that's a huge problem and it's feeding up the supply chain to weather now rather cloudy this morning with some patchy rain this will clear become and dry for the afternoon highest temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees that's all for now we'll be back with news again at 11 o'clock until then good morning obituary notices for friday morning july 15th the death has taken place of patricia dordy t fouled off carrandona her remains are reposing at her home funeral even there on sunday at 10 15 a.m to the church of sacred heart carrandona for mass at 11 a.m. interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery family flowers only donations in lieu of flowers to friends of carrandona community hospital house private from 11 p.m to 11 a.m family only on the morning of the funeral the death has occurred of antony boil tony of killie lasten letterkinny formally glebe strunorler reposing at his late residence from 8 p.m until 10 p.m tonight and from 12 noon until 6 p.m tomorrow family time please on the morning of the funeral funeral from there on sunday going to st. unan's cathedral for 3 30 p.m mass which can be viewed online at www.churchservices.tv slash letterkinny interment afterwards in the new lex cemetery family flowers only please donations if wished to dunagall mountain rescue service or pietta house care of pascal blake funeral director stoney urch newline road letterkinny the death has occurred of charlie shirkie key road dunlow remains reposing at his late home in maramelyn funeral mass tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in mean across church with interment afterwards in maharie cemetery the death has taken place of sarah siri mcgloughlin knee mccollie 25 shantallow avenue formally of lennamore muff counted on a gall funeral leaving her home this morning at 10 20 a.m to st patrick's church penny burn for a record mass at 11 a.m interment afterwards in the city cemetery for more details including any family health guidelines for wekson funerals please go to highland radio 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baby and best for you like the loopy loo range from ledle everything your baby needs including award-winning nappies from only 99 cent when you know what to do loopy loo available exclusively at ledle more for you see our full range at ledle dot ie forward slash loopy loo the euro millions jackpot is a guaranteed 230 million euro clear responsibly in store in app or at lottery dot ie the national lottery it could be you the easy-living furniture summer sale is on with up to 50 off all mattresses with zero percent interest refinance and turns up to four years available now is the perfect time to gift yourself a better night's sleep visit easy living furniture present link retail park terry and sligo retail park sligo this summer disney plus brings you unbelievable entertainment for an unbelievable price stream marvel studios doctor strange in the multiverse of madness i'm ready disney's stunning animation in kanto i will save the magic and don't miss the brand new season of critically acclaimed series only murders in the building oh my god disney plus all these plus more now streaming for only 8.99 a month 18 plus subscripts required tees and sees apply the nine till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letter kenny cu dot ie or in office today this is the nine till noon show on highland radio second hour of the program it's uh don't know with you until 12 noon don't forget by the way it is a friday so after 11 this morning we'll have the entertainment slot with finula and michael looking forward to that it's always good to chat to those two uh on air i'd chat to them quite a bit off air but i always go to chat them on air as well just a few your comments before we go any further um quality says you need strict planning people can't just build where they like we want to keep going looking well for tourism etc we can't just go building houses everywhere along the road across the county it's had enough of the way it's been let go already a person pledged three houses and hasn't heard anything back in three months there are homes there for refugees and that indeed reflects what mary tees we needed to say the housing crisis is the biggest problem to hit this country we had a crisis before we took in refugees says a caller what about all the houses that were started in the last boom and never got finished should be the council or contractors should take those over and get them finished i do believe i i stand to be corrected but a lot of those said ghost estates as they were called if i recall a lot of those ghost estates have since been finished and have been utilized i know certainly a number of them i was aware of are now finished and are being lived in there are more houses being built in the villages and the country that are being built in the towns and island in the likes of france the countryside is protected from urban sprawl the outside of the house you build must deflect the houses neighboring you i think that should be the way here says a caller uh another we did that with the panel what's wrong in ireland caller asks when irish immigrants and irish companies have built a big part of the infrastructure in london a city of nine million we are missing out on something uh caller says irish pay for everything refugees get everything for free i am not at all sure it's that simple caller that's one of those um sort of trusums that's been hanging around for a long time i am not at all convinced that it's true uh put mary tee into government she's hitting the nail on the head every time so says a listener all the council houses left sitting empty should be sold off to anyone on the housing list for over 10 years i'm one of those people who earns too little to pay a mortgage now uh you know that uh we regularly have polls on the program and um our report has found you know you cannot accuse island video of not tackling the major issues of the day a report has found that flip flops cause 200 000 accidents every year can you relate to this now have your say on instagram on facebook and on twitter at highland radio on twitter um instagram i search highland radio i i don't do instagram to be honest i'm too old and facebook we're highland hub um a few comments already that have been put up on the initial flip flops or bare feet i'll trip up anyway says the caller and another caller says all flip no flop the sounds they make once make you want to punch the wearer um now i am i'm not sure i am a crocs i i love crocs i have a pair of crocs and it's my absolute favorite piece of footwear um because um and i have had some um some shall we say uh mild uh slagging uh pointed in in my direction by various friends one friend told me the crocs were the i quote social act social outcasts of the footwear world but i shall continue to wear my crocs because i love them so have your say on our poll instagram facebook and twitter flip flops i are ne as far as you're concerned now we're going to go for a break and the bingo but before we do i have some good news to bring you you'd have heard on the news with emma over the past two hours or so that a dunigol man had been missing in germany i'm happy to tell you that we've had a contact from his family in the past few minutes and martin daugherty has been found safe and well in germany he's in contact with his family he is safe and okay so i'm happy to bring you the news that um that missing person report that we had on the news bulletins there at nine and ten uh situation has been resolved michael's been in touch with his family and he is safe and well now time for highland radio ncbi radio bingo so grab your books grab your pencils and i will hand you over to kevin it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's friday the 15th of july you're playing on the yellow color sheet the reference numbers s20 it's game number 28 the numbers are 14 83 43 24 21 49 the number two 50 41 and 66 phone your claim to 91048 double three before 8 p.m. tonight leave in your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book get all your ncbi radio bingo information at highlandvideo.com on this week's business matters i'll be joined by two of the three co-owners of crawly distillery jodevenny and karmic minimum so join me cure new donnell for business matters this sunday evening at the earlier time just after the five o'clock news the business matters podcast is also available to download at highlandvideo.com business matters in association with the faculty of business at atu donny gall the part-time level eight honors degree in business is delivered through a mix of online and face-to-face lectures email exec ed business at lyit.ie that's ex ec ed business lyit.ie or call 9186206 if your bank is leaving the irish market you'll need to move your bank account to a new provider this process can take time so start preparing for your move today first find a 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to know for the new acres farm payment scheme banks warn that you nitrates rules could reduce farmer lending and farmers revolt across europe amid rising input costs and climate targets this week's irish farmers journal more than ever you cannot afford to miss it the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering mycu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account let's talk road safety and i want to have a quick chat with sarah who is in the fin town area and is particularly concerned about a junction there off the meaneroy road sarah good morning good morning don't sarah the milk wheel in fin town it's an area that people will know well there is a junction there and you are very concerned at the lack of signage yes that's right i would yeah there's there's a one-year sign there which is dated really you know and maybe you know just the council if they would think of putting up a stock sign there um there have been two accidents there now recently and people got away lucky just they were okay but i think it's just waiting for a fatality there you know now we do know that the meaneroy road is one of those roads that gets discussed quite a bit particularly in terms of whether if there's ever any ice or if there's ever any issues with snow meaneroy is one of the the first roads that gets discussed and it's one of those roads where you know people can be traveling along the road for quite a long time and it can be windy and it can be difficult to pass and you maybe slow down a bit and then when you're heading toward fin town maybe the concentration perhaps good laps just a little maybe the foot might just get a little bit too far down onto the accelerator and and that's the point you're saying where people really need to be careful that's exactly it they come on there at speed and there's an out and there's a yield sign there that's out of date really you know you can't really see it and they come on there at speed and they miss it just and they go on to the main road and that's when the accidents happen and and for those who know the road yeah it isn't going to be a problem but for those who don't know the road no really and maybe maybe yeah and the accidents have tended to be tourist people who don't know the area locals obviously will know that there's a road there and and it is a busy road it's the road you're connecting on to is the main road between balaba fey and fin town looking up with lend fey and and areas like that as well so it is a busy road yeah it is it's the main road from letter candy to port nu the dung lo you know they went on to the main road yeah absolutely and there's a lot of traffic from the point of view of of yourself and the locals i mean have you been in touch with donnie gold county council have you had any response from local councillors no not just yet now but i'm sure we can do you know it's just that i wanted to highlight it on highland radio maybe yeah with a bit of hope some of the councillors would be listening well we will certainly put it out there and it's a point well made sarah and thanks indeed for making the point because as you say there have been some accidents there and maybe improved signage you know just just to alert people if they're coming to a road because you don't and you know i i know the road well as as do you and i know exactly what what's around that corner but uh you know someone could come around that corner as you say at speed and suddenly find themselves on a main road that they don't expect to be there even a sign on the road you know slow slower or whatever you know that you do see them signs on oh totally absolutely yeah um yeah i absolutely 100 percent agree with you there and it's a point well made uh sarah thanks very much indeed for for that point and hopefully now i'm not sure is it done ago county council or is this um nta the national transport authority has responsibility for it but whichever it is they can have a conversation hopefully and and we'll get some progress on it but sarah in the meantime thank you very much indeed oh thanks for that okay don't share all the best and we will keep an eye on that one with interest um if you want to text us on the show of course 08 6 60 25 000 you can call us 07 491 25 000 and you can use uh social media uh at highland radio on twitter highland on facebook and you can use instagram and of course you can vote on those two on our poll uh flip flops yay or nay given the fact that the flip flops are causing 200 000 accidents a year um worldwide we're told um i would be looking at this one with interest now my crocs aren't flip floppy crocs they are crocs that have a little sort of um sort of support at the back so they they aren't actually flip flops but um i can't believe i am sitting here talking about crocs and flip flops um however such as life the night till noon she'll um make prides itself on encompassing all areas of life and tackling all the important issues a few more of your comments that have come through how can the council get anything done when they're fighting over phones like children so asks a caller caller says it was a disgrace to see people lying on the streets of letter kenny last night at market square now the caller says no mention of the problems of older people a retirement village is an urgent need that is a very interesting point um happy to report progress on the new community hospital that's going to be built um on the high road heading up toward the mountain top just opposite erigal college there and uh i see site clearance work beginning there at the site of that new community hospital so we'll get progress on that hopefully sooner rather than later we long discussion yesterday about public toilets in bunkrana and the caller says for someone known reason the cleanliness of public toilets is not a priority in Ireland this is not just a dunny goal issue i absolutely agree there are horrendous public toilets in every county in this country i can absolutely verify that all tourists visit a toilet at some point and this can reflect on their overall overall experience it's time the council woke up and became proactive and dealt with these types of issues rather than trying to fix something that is beyond repair now the caller saying definitely agree it's not too much to ask the toilets are clean with so many runners workers cyclists tourists etc all year round the bunkrana toilets are an absolute disgrace now yesterday the bonagy link was discussed and a caller asked if it was part of the 10t project my initial thought was that it wasn't part of the um immediate 10t project and councillor donal coel who knows much more about these things than i do has been in touch to say yes bonagy link is part of that wider 10t project and i am happy to be corrected on that caller says seeing the government is paying for these accommodations that have been used for refugees it's part of the shortage of accommodation for students the government knew well that students were staying in these accommodations also caller says good point regarding atu this should have been tackled before now presumably a reference to the fact that's been mentioned by a number of our contributors that the atu will see an increase in the amount of students coming in to letter kenny and indeed hopefully coming into killi begs as well because don't forget there is a campus in killi begs too and as a result we will need more accommodation for students in the coming years indeed we need more accommodation for students now but we're going to need even more as we head on into the decade um you will recall there was a story yesterday in the papers that finafall minister says steven donnelly and charlie mcconnellog had flown economy class to a function in dubai and while the green minister catrin martin and her team traveled in business class to the same expo caller says says it all about the green party do as i say not do as i do we have a question for the um nine two noon hive mind out there um i have bats in my house last year we had them and we left them and they went in september this year they're back they're coming in at the top of the roof into the house we had one in our sitting room last night were in a panic as to what we should do how do we get rid of them someone said to us that they are protected now i my suggestion would be if you were to call one of the extermination companies now not necessarily with a view toward extermination but they are the professionals who will know what to do and even though we would know them as extermination companies and one of the main companies internationally does in fact include the name kill in its title they also do provide services in terms of clearance and humanely keeping animals alive and so on so maybe your first port of call should be to make contact with them but if anyone else out there has any perspective to offer any advice they can offer any personal experience that they may have had please do get in touch caller says i i think we need to have a discussion on women's health it's not being spoken about openly people are being prescribed antidepressants and sleeping tablets for the menopause and that is not what they need women need better help they don't know it's the menopause because it can start young my mother wouldn't have been able to go through this silently is another reason why women don't believe it's the menopause that they are going through and uh that that's a call and it's a very very good point and maybe it's one of the issues that we will look at for a future um wednesday wellness slot or or or monday focus and certainly carline i'm sure and and don't worry we'll be looking at that within the interest and uh don't be too surprised at all if that becomes an issue on that particular slot if it hasn't been already um with regards to the call yesterday we had when we spoke to phoenix about his brother who had collapsed um at the neurosa pitch at training in west unigol caller says thank god that young man survived the heart attack thanks to the intervention of the medics and the team and prayers on the scene wonder how's the media started asking questions about athletes having heart attacks more frequently um is this happening more frequently over the course of the past year or is it a subject media cannot question i think in fairness the issue of the sudden death of sports people is one that's been on the agenda for quite some time and we need to go no further than our neighboring county of to ron and go back quite a few years with the tragic loss there of cormac bachman and and you know you know that that happened as a result now it didn't it happened in his own home it didn't happen on a pitch but we have reported several cases over the years uh and indeed in recent times of players both locally and nationally um having cardiac arrests on pitches unfortunately it is something which has happened in the past and um hopefully we can um get that uh you know tackled um more appropriately and get the risk negated by the use of defibrillators and the use of other community resources and most importantly by the training of people to be first responders uh caller says in relation to passports i applied for my passport online on sunday morning and it came on wednesday excellent service my understanding is that all the delays the vast majority of delays in the passport office at the moment are with new applications if you are renewing a passport my own daughter renewed her passport i think she had it within 72 hours um good friend of mine again renewed his passport had it within 72 hours did it online as long as there's no issues with the paperwork as long as there's no issues with the submission that goes in online boom bankbash is there um the issue is with new passport applications it's the line till noon she won't hide under radio it's half past 10 we're going to take a break back after these with a little piece of music get more out of summer for less with over one thousand essentials from just three euro and under including skincare toiletries cosmetics and more this year summer better be ready shop in store and online today boots with you for life selected stores subject to availability mcdade breed and plunkett maguire of cooly sling castle fin a very happy 50th wedding anniversary hope you enjoy your day that comes with love from trend noelle lorence and belinda and a happy birthday to mary and happy anniversary to breed and to plunkett just want to mention once again that the vintage tractor in car run led by a hundred fifty uh in association with the balayer r 10k is taking place on sunday the 24th of july it starts and finishes at cars of the diamond with registration from one 20 euro per vehicle uh for more information contact tommy don't hurt her yet oh eight six three six nine seven oh seven eight now i want to go to martin diffney of north west hygiene pest control martin good morning to you morning very well indeed thanks martin as i said uh the advice i suggested was look if you contact one of the extermination or pest control companies that'll be able to give us the information and you've come on first hand to let us know exactly what the situation is with regards to bats in the house bats in the house ultimately as i'm sure you know yourself bats are a polyprotective species under irish and b new law so ultimately they're roost and the species themselves are polyprotective and nobody is allowed to interfere with them or touch them um normally what i do is whenever somebody rings me about them i would direct them towards the wildlife rangers in glenn bay national park there to contact them and they normally will come out and give advice and help out the the homeowners to how to deal with the problem that they have you know yeah so you're saying effectively even yourself as a profession you're not allowed to go in and relocate them or bring them someplace else and leave them into the wild or whatever no we cannot legally touch bats at all normally what i would recommend i think your colors or your text or color said there's something last year that the bats left yeah at a certain time of the year and i think they normally i think you said they came back again yeah and the the impression i'm getting now and and this is my own personal impression i haven't spoken directly obviously to the caller but the impression i'm getting is that what happened was that there was a situation last year and and they went in september and this year they're back but but there's more of them and they seem to be more intrusive and they seem to be actually getting into the house itself maybe last year they were just in the roof or whatever but now they seem to be more intrusive and more visible is that's the impression i'm getting yes well ultimately when they leave their actual roosting site in september if they do again often what i would recommend is that the entry point that they're finding their way in is to proof it up and stop them from roosting again ultimately like say nobody can legally touch the spaces or relocate them but if they leave at their own will you can ultimately proof up the entry point and they will ultimately relocate themselves to another roosting site which might might solve the problem hopefully and is is there a homing instant instinct as it were in bats where they will go back to the same place again year after year yes it seems to be similar to likes of maybe what we say swallows or starlings type of words the species that they all seem to be the same as bats that they all seem to come back to the same type of roosting site year on year for whatever reason i'm not just okay with the species now as to why they actually do that now but it seems to be common that yes they do right so the advice martin basically is that there's nothing you or other colleagues in the pest control industry can do directly but the advice would be to make contact with them at lenvey and and and hopefully a wildlife ranger will be able to offer some help and assistance yes ultimately that's that's certainly what i recommend my recommendation would be that they are very very helpful i must say now in that way now they are very helpful yeah well it's very good advice martin thanks very much indeed for offering it and you know it's the the irish parks and wildlife service would be the official title of the service so if if the caller looks up the irish parks and wildlife service in in the phone book they should be able to get a number and and make contact with them and hopefully they'll be able to give some advice in the meantime as you're saying martin maybe the course of action is roll with it until september and then if they leave in september then shore up identify where whatever hole it is they're getting through be it in the roof or be it in the eaves or whatever shore that up over the course of the winter and then hopefully that should be the end to things yeah hopefully but like make sure just i really encourage them to contact the the national parks and wildlife service down there in glenvey and speak with a ranger and ultimately they are very they will be very helpful and understanding to the to your caller yeah martin thank you very much indeed christian don't thank you sir bye bye give your vegetables the best hour possible with veggie mix from goreley sales and hire veggie mix is weed free for three years and is perfect in a raised bed polytunnel or to improve your soil veggie mix at goreley sales and hire letter kenny if you've got magic moments or great memories captured on your smartphone now is a great time to have them printed at magies.ie simply upload your favorite photos choose your size and finish and magies will take care of the rest with the results delivered to your door prices are from just 12 cent and there's also creative options available preserve your memories today at magies.ie hi it's on i can't answer the phone right now i'm currently enjoying the advanced comfort seats and suspension with progressive hydraulic cushions in my new citron c5 aircross suv i'm really enjoying the drive so please don't leave a message with citrons advanced comfort technology you may end up traveling further than you planned experience citron comfort a five-year warranty and flexible payment options across the range for more see citron.ie the new citron c5 aircross is now available at your local dealer island motors mountaintop letter kenny leisureland red castle open every day from 12 to 6 fantastic for family day trips excellent value for birthday party packages for a wonderful family experience this weekend check out leisureland red castle.ie are you frequently asking others to speak slowly clearly and loudly is listening to the tv or radio becoming harder if your hearing is affecting your everyday life connect hearing are here to help our clinics in letter kenny and and low are open monday to friday where you can avail of our hearing test wax removal and repair services take that first step to better hearing call us today on 07491 13296 connect hearing connecting you to life easy living furniture summer sale is on with up to 50 off all mattresses with zero percent interest free finance and turns up to four years available now is the perfect time to gift yourself a better night's sleep visit easy living furniture crescent link retail park terry and sligo retail park sligo the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mycu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union some of your comments that have been coming in donal i totally hate crocs i can't believe you wear them not only do i wear them and love them i came within a hair's breadth of wearing them i really wish i had i almost put them on this morning um i was just debating over which yet to put on and i was going to put the crocs on and decided no i'm going to wear um i've got sort of um van knockoffs on at the moment and then i will go for a stroll with a friend of mine after work and then after that when i get home i'm gonna relax for the evening and i want to put the crocs on um but you know i almost wore them to work today i will wear them on monday actually i think um another caller says further to the call from the lady from fintown i passed there recently the road sign on the left as you come into the main road is in a very dirty condition it raises the question who is responsible for the road signs another caller said i had bats on my attic i put lights on all the time and that got rid of them that's a very interesting way of doing it now i want to go to line two because i'm joined by chris chris good morning good morning to home uh chris you your wife your wife has been waiting for a driving test and between the jigs and the reels it's taken over two years and she still has not managed to do her test i mean by by any stretch of the imagination that is a horrendous length of time tell us tell us what's happened well what's really happened she um for her theory test initially started off two years ago and between the jigs and the reels of the covid it was postponed and cancelled five times and between each postponement was 12 weeks the next is nine weeks and then eight weeks and then four weeks and now for a driving test then she was her first driving test was in 11th to the third 22 and that was cancelled due to covid again and then she really had to reapply so you have to reapply in the system again which takes another number of weeks so that went on then for nine and all in nine weeks and five days the good wife has written everything down for me and the second time then was a non-conductor as i call it because uh i know an orange light came on a management light came on the car then the third time then was uh was a failure and now she's waiting for her fourth appointment to do set her driving test and her failure was just one stroke from one box wasn't picked but over ticked yeah and she's very frustrated now at this time because the reason why she wants she needs her her car and a driver license because simply we have two young children yeah and i have to take time off to bring the children to school in the morning and then go back and pick them up and even and which is two different schools two different times and it's very frustrating that she's done nine that she don't have 12 lessons she's been signed off by an instructor a qualified instructor capable and competent to do a driving test but yet she still needs a qualified driver to set beside her two years like you know she wants she doesn't know what to do now but like you know she jumped through many so many groups and loops to get this far and yet now she's waiting there in other eight weeks and not only that don't know when once you get your schedule appointment then you have to fix a date for your test but that could go on another four weeks yeah and in terms of we're sometimes yeah we're told that i mean this is in letter kenny we're told maybe sometimes the queues can be shorter in dunigol town or bankranana i know so many people would rather do the test in the area they know and do the three-point turn where they've practiced and do the hill start where they've practiced it and and that is the way and i'm that's the way it was when i did my test many years ago and i'm sure it's the same way now you you want to do it where you've practiced that's great that and my wife knows don't all the tests all around theory test driving and sorry she knows theory tests in dunigol town yeah because again because of the covid you know getting the slot on but her driving lessons have all been a letter kenny because we've moved here two years ago yeah almost two years ago and uh she knows letter kenny well she's doing all the roundabout she's making that's a fact the instructor told him when she went in that your overall her driving was very good yeah now years ago if i'm a instructor told you her driving was very good like that'll be a pass you know her and every said uh you've you've you're one take over the schedule the marketing system and he says uh therefore you failed but overall you're very good yeah and it's a very it's a good question yeah it it is a very interesting question you raise and and i want to go back to that actually because it's a point i haven't necessarily heard before and and it's a point i think people will resonate with people and it's that you the position is you have you have to have 12 lessons by loner that wasn't the case when i learned to be honest i did a couple of lessons with noel sweeney back in the day and then you know it wasn't there there was there was no you have to have i probably did maybe at most six and i'm not even sure i did six to be honest i would have done at most six but it was it was totally up to me um so we have a situation where you know you do you do your 12 lessons you do your 12 lessons and at that point your instructor will say look i believe you're claret now should we have we now have a situation where also by the way back in the day and i i will be honest and i will be upfront even though i think it was technically against the law i drove on my own on a provisional license and i think we probably all did back back back in the day in the late 80s early 90s whenever i'd say most of us and then and then there was a crackdown on the driving on a provisional and now you know people won't people will not drive solo on a provisional license but maybe there needs to be that the midway point where you say okay you don't drive solo on a provisional license until you've done your 12 lessons and your instructor has said i am happy for you to go ahead for your test at that point if you get the test from the instructor maybe maybe maybe have a change in the law that says okay you can then drive alone on your provisional pending your test for a period not exceeding eight months 12 months whatever and the onus is on you then to get and pass a test within that period it's something that maybe should be considered yeah when the children are going to school again sitting watching the clock yeah you know because i have two different schools to go to in the morning along with the wife she drives all the time but i have to sit beside her yeah then come down to a clock and three o'clock after come back home sit in the car with her go back down to the school come back home again go back down to a three o'clock and a day's the story i know i absolutely yeah i totally sympathize yeah i i know i i know exactly where you are um i i as it happens i have a daughter who passed her test earlier this year and the way we used to do it was she used drive to her work and it just the way that our shifts it just worked handily the way our shifts coincided i used to sit in her car with her she would drive to work she'd get out at her work i'd take the driving seat i would drive it here and then in the evening i would drive from here down to her work i would jump into the passenger seat and then she would drive home with me in the past and that's the way we did it and that's how she practiced her driving you know and and it was important because that was when she really got the hang of driving through town at rush hour at five o'clock in the evening and one of the problems is if you're going out to practice your driving at eight o'clock or nine o'clock at night or at eleven o'clock in the morning and then you suddenly find yourself facing rush hour traffic at five five or six o'clock in letter kenny it's a very very different way of driving of course it does don't yeah the the wife also feels well she she says that the instructor ordered her to take down the dashcam and he also unplugged it from the cigarette later yeah i wonder is that the norm sorry when when you say instructor do you mean the tester yeah when you're saying yeah yeah yeah i i ordered to take down that you had to take down the dashcam from the window screen right on the window like pull the suction up and then he unplugged it then right right later i can understand that a tester might fear that it was being recorded and that i i can't i i can understand why a tester would i don't know if it's a legal provision i don't know if there is some form of law with regards to but i mean ultimately a driving tester is a person who is doing their work and you do you do we have the right to have a recording uh because some dashcams have audio facilities as well do we have the right to have recordings of people who are doing their work so i can i can kind of understand that i can understand that i don't know if it's a legal provision or not but i can certainly understand why the instructor would i always say to my wife she was but she's on the road as a learner driver yeah uh to make sure that the dashcam was always switched on and working and i as i always say to her in the case of an incident or an accident that's your witness absolutely yeah but dad the only thing i would say is in in the case of an incident then you have that you have the tester as a witness and i could imagine now and i would also say by the way i would be sure that this will hold for all people undergoing tests it's not just your wife i'm sure the instructor the tester would would sort of have that provision for everybody yeah well the three points again so uh donald is uh the time waiting yeah like nine weeks and ten weeks and so on from like this is going on two years yeah you know what does a person have to do in this country now to get a driving license and the point is well taken yeah absolutely chris yeah yeah the other point too as well as you mentioned there but she's usually the kenny when i phoned up the main office and i forget where it is during the country they suggested that that that we rebook in a different area rather than letter kenny yeah and of course i said well my wife was very used to letter kenny now and this is where she done all her all of her lessons and she knows she knows how to kenny fairly well the second point is when the instructor tells you know that you're overall your driving is very good but yet you feel you know it's kind of shocking yeah i i think there is i mean in fairness in in fairness i mean you know to to the tester the tester has a very clear set of of metrics and a very clear set of um requirements in in front of them and and they have to do the job in a professional manner and and we all know i mean i failed my first test and i sort of felt at the time i failed it because i did something and i was a little bit nervous and i probably spent a bit of too much time and and i know what happened and i know i normally wouldn't drive as badly as i drove on that day but i was a bag of nerves at the time and i know but in fairness the tester had to make a decision based on what the tester observed so i mean you know i wouldn't in any way question the bona fides of of the test today they have a hard it's a hard job you know i'm sure it's a hard job to tell somebody i'm sorry you haven't passed particularly knowing that that person has probably had a long way to get the test i'm not sure i would find it very hard to sort of say to somebody sorry but you haven't passed but it's it's their job and they have to do it professionally yeah don't i'm not knocking the door of course i i know i i absolutely no i i know that i know that totally and i i do know the frustration yeah the length of time it's taken to get this far you know those things is when you're doing a test when she's upstairs in between her or um her old signs you know and of course the ages of the test uh she found them very very hard to understand but not only that then she said she couldn't even elaborate because he's wearing a big like no the duct tape mask yeah well and in fairness the wearing of the masks is you know yeah and and the wearing of masks obviously at the time yeah it it has and sometimes the masks have made things a lot more difficult but um yeah it's she said she couldn't understand sometimes she couldn't understand the question what you're saying although she passed that point yeah but she said she you know she had to ask him three times what he said absolutely and i i have had yep i have had exactly that same experience yeah sometimes if you're asking a person a question they'll give you an answer you know sometimes you might really hear them polio but you can really roughly read but she said she could neither the other left reader nor understand what you're saying poli yeah and the thing too yeah and two facial expressions are so important as well and maybe there could be the hint of a smile or and you can read a lot into into that too and yeah i mean masks must have been so disruptive in in that sense in terms of communication um chris listen thanks indeed we wish i mean obviously we wish her well we hope she gets the test as quickly as possible and most importantly we hope she passes and we look forward to her having many years of happy and safe motoring and you getting the chance to have a bit of peace and quiet thanks again doll very much and if you can ask your listeners or anybody out there who's waiting as long as we are i i certainly will i certainly will um between the the regs and the jails as i say yep chris thank you no three years you're gonna send the comment off to it okay thanks very much thank you chris you take care but by now uh and a caller says a several years ago licenses were given out due to a backlog shouldn't those people be made to sit a test and that is the case indeed licenses were were given out at that point um also um caller says if you um do your 12 lessons um with that instructor that should um that should be the end of the story you should be allowed to drive the caller says if i do my leaving cert and pass the exam i don't have to sit a further test to prove that i am capable so says a caller we're gonna take a short break back in a moment with the headlines it's the 50% off mega summer sale at right price tiles and wood flooring up to 50% off all tiles wood flooring outdoor slabs cladding and bathware everything in store has been slashed in price the right price tiles and wood flooring 50% off mega summer sale stores nationwide sale now on with inflation rising we're all feeling the squeeze but on post money can help you take the power back start today with our free money manager tool for current account holders helping you track your income and spending set and stick to budgets and much more ready to take the power back visit on post dot com forward slash money manager on post is authorized by the minister for finance to provide payment services and is regulated by the central bank of ireland in the provision of such services this summer think barbecue think fresh meat and poultry all available every day at quicholi supermarket think fresh bread salads sauces and drinks we have everything to make the barbecue extra special and tasty open seven days for your convenience quicholi supermarket where quality and value are assured summer sale now on at florid letter kenny up to 30 of selected lines of engineered and laminated flooring but hurry this summer sale will not last forever call into our showroom today and availed the fantastic offers our viewer stock at florid dot ii offers only while stocks last the euro millions jackpot is a guaranteed 230 million euro clear responsible in-store in-app or at lottery dot ii the national lottery it could be you flying from dummy gall airport ticks all the boxes enjoy great value car parking and flights to dubman from 2999 one way the flights connections corridor at dublin airport is now available to all passengers traveling on the twice daily service from donnie gall to dublin for more details visit donniecall airport dot ii or call<PHONE_NUMBER> it's been a past 11 time for the news headlines good morning amirion thanks donal good morning the number of dogs been returned to ispca and donnie gall has risen significantly this year due to the relaxation of coven 19 restrictions last year the dog pound and netherkinny took in 150 dogs but so far this year 170 dogs have been put into their care it's believed the dogs who were bought or re-homed during the coven 19 lockdowns are now being put into care as people return to work a fire danger notice condition orange has been issued for five days until midday on july 20th the notice has been issued for all areas where hazardous fuels such as gorge heller dry grasses and all our vegetation exists donnie gall county council is appealing to landowners and members of the public to exercise caution 300 new jobs have been announced for letter kenny as northern island firm fin true has confirmed a major expansion fin true which specializes in compliance risks and control and operations is to establish a new european hub in letter kenny with the creation of 300 jobs over the next five years there's calls for family and first family and service users to be consulted in the design stage of the new cleary center in donnie gall town 100 000 euro and capital funding has been allocated to progress the design of the intellectual disability adult day service at cleary center a design team is expected to be appointed and the project to move to design this year a call has been made for remedial works to be carried out at a letter kenny housing state amid fears that vacant houses may attract antisocial behavior works that previously began at fair green hill to improve the condition of the green area walls in the estate and also the general appearance of vacant homes however the work was stopped due to covid-19 and finally met air and has issued a status yellow temperature warning it will run for the entire country from sunday morning until tuesday night the forecaster is predicting temperatures in excess of 30 degrees on monday which could be a record for our land that's all for now we'll be back with news again at 12 noon until then good morning can i get two specials please one sourdough and caesar salad and by the way i'm 12 weeks pregnant we don't always know who's at risk from covid-19 and other viruses but we do know how to protect them keep hands clean and wear a mask let fresh air in get vaccinated and stay at home if you are unwell from the hsc for us all the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account and you're very welcome back to the third hour of the nine till noon show here on the highlight radio that a rather majestic jingle points to the fact that it is time for our entertainment slot and i'm glad to say that we're joined in studio as always by michael leddie and by finola rabbit finola michael good morning to you both good morning pleasure to see you and uh looking forward to a good chat michael i'm going to start with you because you you have some recognizable names on on the list that you've been taking an interesting yes and uh let's start with netflix and better call sol yes better call sol um is back for its final block of episodes the final six episodes of the final season uh came back this week after about a month off the air we got about a month left for these five final episodes now not much to say other than it really really is absolutely superb the episode this week and the episode that they took their break with a month ago were two of the finest hours of television i think we've had in the last 20 25 years it's interesting when you go to imdb um whereas greg often says everything is seven out of ten but these particular episodes are like nine point nine uh from the thousands and thousands of people who have rated them and imdb i know for a fact has an algorithm in place that kind of that smooths out the curve is the best way to put it and even with that in place it's still absolutely everybody is raving about them better call sol it's not just that it's so well written and so well performed but the cinematography yeah it's astonishing like anyone who did this week saw this week's episode we'll see what they did in terms of just the opening scene at the beach uh no people in that opening shot which ran in the opening not the opening shot but the opening sequence which ran two or three minutes an entire scene on a deserted beach and we saw a couple of objects and a couple of things it was filmed it was amazing and it's an amazing show okay um i'm going to give you fair warning that in a moment we are going to be uh interrupting the entertainment slot because i believe t-shirt me hall martin uh is in the county at the moment and he's going to join us for a moment or two so you will forgive me if i cut across you i'm just waiting for carlin just to give me details of what's happening but michael just on better call salt it was a spin-off from breaking bad or a follow-on or a spin-off perhaps wrong word but i mean at the time people saying breaking bad was so perfect i mean this this isn't going to work i mean not only has it worked it appears it's almost surpassed it has surpassed it i think i'm one of those people who says that and i was a huge huge fan of breaking bad and i still am a huge fan of breaking bad better call sol is a better show in every conceivable way um it's just got a much more tragic character arc for its leading character and for the peripheral characters as well and they are dropping like flies in this final season there's not you know of the main cast there's quite a few gone in recent episodes yeah it's a better it's a subtler show i think it doesn't have to do the big broad strokes of better call sol uh of breaking bad better call sol is is is more about the tragedy of one person whereas i think walter white story although it was his story it was a big story it was an epic kind of story okay well i am going to um just ask you both if you don't mind michael and finilla just to bear with this i am delighted to say that we're joined online by t-shirt people mark and who is in donnie gall for a number of engagements today uh t-shirt good morning uh t-shirt good morning uh good morning t-shirt right i i do believe that t-shirt is on that there is certainly somebody on the line um i i am hoping that that we will get speaking to t-shirt people martin um uh we'll just try this once more uh t-shirt good morning right i'm i'm not sure okay we'll try to uh good morning t-shirt yes good morning good morning t-shirt thanks thanks thanks indeed for speaking to us um welcome to donnie gall um t-shirt a number of engagements uh to carry out in the county today uh one of them um along with id a ardent confirming uh the creation of 300 new jobs by fin true yes indeed i'm delighted to have the opportunity to meet with fin true today for the announcement of um 300 jobs uh in the financial services area in letter kenny fin true was founded in 2013 in belfast um and i would have met with the founder dara mccarty in london recently and he was very positive about financial services in the northwest more generally um and um you know i'd indicated to me that he was interested in investing in in donnie gall and particularly in letter kenny and 300 jobs will be created here it's a company that has been listed as one of the financial times top 1000 fastest growing companies in europe it currently implies about 1000 people worldwide in offices in belfast dairy london dublin master to new york and now letter kenny so it's a very good news for letter kenny um and the northwest uh in terms of its ongoing capacity to attract particularly fintech and financial services um to to this region as you know financial services many years ago would have started perhaps in dublin but now we have 52 000 jobs across the country in all regions and that's why i'm particularly delighted that letter kenny has secured this investment um uh today and hopefully that can grow um into the future um with further announcements and um also we'll be meeting with the uh the the dairy chamber commerce and for kenny chamber commerce together again to look at that northwest partnership approach to economic and social development and in the course of that meeting those two chambers are going to be saying to you look we have the designation of the northwest city region we have the designation of the letter kenny gateway the the dairy gateway the the level of cooperation between the two has been strengthening and strengthening uh will you and government be committing to ensuring that that cooperation is reflected in national plans and strategic plans and more importantly in national funding yes absolutely and in fact i would have met with the northwest partnership in dirty um about that say two months ago now um and we had a very very fruitful and productive meeting and as you know i have initiated the shared island project um which with funding of about a billion from last year to the end of the decade we've already allocated funding in research and in various projects and one area we're looking at is the joint enterprise initiative uh between across the northwest between genegal and and and dairy in terms of developing enterprise centers to underpin the kind of investment that that has been made today and so that's something we're progressing with the UK government but the northern authorities uh and the Irish government and the shared island funding initiative will be part and parcel of that it will underpin that with with a significant financial contribution um likewise in terms of other infrastructure developments we we we um have a national and race strategy underway at the moment in terms of an analysis of strategic review there was a very high number of submissions made from the northwest and then i've also received representations in respect of air connectivity between dairy and Dublin which i'm also and you know pushing and engaging with minister Raymond Ryan and respect of that so it's quite an exciting time i think and what impresses me is the cohesion within the northwest between the different county councils that politics is left outside the door everybody is committed to the to the development of the region and we want to respond to that and support that sort of positivity on on that issue of air connectivity a lot of talk about the prospect of um state funding for city of dairy airport given the fact that the airport will tell you that somewhere between 38 and 45 percent of all its traffic originates in or goes to dunny gall can you see a situation develop where the state actually becomes involved in directly funding city of dairy airport well that's a bit more complex in terms of a direct sort of funding uh relationship but we do understand the importance of the airport to the northwest in particular um and um you know any supports we can do in terms of connectivity in in the flights and so on is probably initially an approach that we would take but again we're open to partnerships with the northern authorities with the UK government um in terms of funding a variety of initiatives that make sense finally uh i can't let you go without mentioning the defective block redress legislation it's been through the door it's been through the shanard we anticipate it'll be signed into law by president michael d higgins in the coming days is is it your belief that once the scheme is introduced implemented and bedded down that people will get concrete benefit from it if if you're part of the unintentional pun absolutely i mean i'm very impatient that we get houses started i think 12 houses have been completed at this stage there's 35 more houses starting but i'm aware that there are quite a number of houses that are in a very very critical state in terms of disrepair and that need um rebuilding essentially and i've been pressing the housing department and all concerned to get on with actually reformishing the houses where houses need to be rebuilt let's get on and rebuild them the funding has been allocated by government substantial funding it's now about delivery on the ground and getting the work done particularly on those houses that are in a very bad condition and it's unacceptable that people continue after living such conditions so the funding has been allocated it's now a matter of getting on with the work and getting the work done because we can keep analyzing and keep you know making sort of you know people have different perspectives on the scheme and and and how comprehensive and so on it's a very comprehensive scheme though compared to the one that we that was there before this government came into office but finally and briefly we know that there were people we do know there were people in the public gallery uh when the amendments were discussed in the door last week who were quite upset at the way that debate went at the time allocated and at the fact that many of the things they wanted to see included weren't included now the argument that's coming from minister mcconnellogan from others is look the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and we believe that the scheme will work that that is a belief that that that you two hold that those concerns and and you know and and they're genuinely held concerns you do believe those concerns will in the coming months be addressed yeah well first of all i would say that when i came up here i said it to one and a half area a year ago i met with all concerned with the mic and representative groups i set up a forum that minister o'brien oversaw i met all the representatives with minister mcconnellogan and all of the issues at that meeting that were identified we have no addressed at that stage you see there was no support for people in terms of getting engineering costs in advance of the of of of of of of of of a project or rebuild and the whole issue of rent for example and a whole range of supports none of that had been on in the original scheme and all of those issues that were put b