to find a free course near you supported by the Government of Ireland, Sullis and the European Union. Own your car from the start at B&S Credit Union. You can do just that with a flexible and affordable car loan. Our friendly and experienced team will make the loan process easy and will be delighted to help you. Visit bnscu.ie or free phone 1-800-290-390. Loans are subject to approval terms and condition supply. B&S Credit Union Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. GiveBlood.ie Know we can count on you, our community of blood donors, to be there for others in their hour of need. Blood donors from Balli Shanan should attend the clinic in Kalloshtakhalam Kel in Balli Shanan on Monday 15th of January and donors from Kili Beggs should attend the clinic in the Tara Hotel on Tuesday 16th. Making an appointment is recommended, so call 1-800-731-137 or visit our website to book your time. If new donors are vital, visit giveblood.ie to check eligibility and clinic details because we count on you. There you have a tech sighting morning. The secret sound is gone. Don't read the request yet. Hold on a second. How long? I want to do them. I want to talk about your hat. What hat do you have? Well, that's what Carly says. What kind of pod of jam would you have underneath your hat?  But it wasn't a pod of jam. It was the wee sachet of jam. So you could put it underneath your hat. It was under your hat. And in your pocket? Well, you can put it in your pocket too. You can put it anywhere. In fairness, you've always played down the clues. I'll give you that. So it's just to give you the dimensions of the sounds. I don't like the serious look on your face. I'm joking.  I'm so high now. I'm coming down on the downer. Do you know what I mean? But for Stella Lynch and Bon Cranna, I'm so happy for a 2,790 euro.  But I'm just delighted that somebody's got it. Yeah. Do you know? I did for sure. It was really, really nice. Okay, well listen, have a great weekend. You're going to have to come up with something else now for Monday. Aye. That's going to be good. I'll just say hi to Mel B. Happy birthday from everyone on Mangans Tour. Bosses today. Player requests just before 9 o'clock. I loved her in The Spice Girls. Did you? She's 50 today in Mel B. This way? No, well not this Mel B. But the other minute, Spice Girls. Could you take a hold for me? You have a busy show. I do. All right, listen, take care of yourself. Good luck. All right, it is the 9 till noon show on the way. We have our Friday panel about to join us. But first, let's get a news update. It's over to Makayla Clark. Thanks, Greg. Good morning. A new report has found the National Development Plan may have underestimated the level of investment needed to meet demand. The ESRI adds existing targets for housing supply might understate what's needed because of the increase in population which was recorded in the most recent senses. It has called for the government to think creatively but adds its faces a dilemma when it comes to investment in public infrastructure. ESRI director Alan Bart says increased investment in housing would slow down house prices in the long run. If you build more houses, you reduce the overall house prices. Okay, so you could get a first round inflationary effect but the second round of flat could actually be positive for inflation. So in the area of housing, we do see a sort of a slightly different trajectory which does sort of suggest that maybe that is an area for increased investment. Yemen's Houthis say strikes by the US and UK will not go without punishment or retaliation. The group's military spokesman says five fighters were killed while six were wounded. British and American troops launched missiles overnight in response to ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Samuel Romani, an expert on the Middle East, doesn't think things will escalate right away. The Houthis also have launched attacks on maritime shipping but they haven't really killed American military personnel. They haven't killed American or Western merchants. I don't think that we'd be looking at a large-scale war just yet but I think that definitely the risk of an accident is increasing. Guardian Donegal are reminding drivers that road safety should always be a priority. As part of a cross-border operation, Guardian conducted a checkpoint in Lifford last night alongside the PSNI. Drivers are urged to always drive with care, slow down, wear a seatbelt regardless of where you travel and never drive under the influence of alcohol and or drugs. A man arrested following a stabbing in Derry has been released. A man in his 20s was fined at a property in the Harnway area of the city with stab wounds to his body and facial lacerations in the early hours of yesterday morning. The 27-year-old arrested has since been released on police bill pending further inquiries. For weather, I am mostly cloudy and dry day today with frost and ice clearing through the morning. There will be some limited bright or sunny spells with highest temperatures of 3 to 5 degrees. That's all from Hynan Radio News for now. We'll be back with news again at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. With a collection from your door or drop at your local post office. Online shopping made easy with Unpust. Unpust for your world. The county's number one talk show, The Nine Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The Nine Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, a very good morning to you. Six minutes past nine this Friday the 12th of January 2024 and you're very welcome along to another edition of The Nine Till Noon Show. And it's a busy one coming up after 10. We'll have an extensive conversation with the Green Party leader, Aiman Ryan. He's in Donegal for a number of engagements, primarily to meet with Donegal Council. I had a chat with him a little earlier on and touched on much of many of the main issues of the day. So stay tuned for that. That's after 10. But between now and then we have a review of the news with our guests, our Friday panel. We'll say good morning first to Leonard Watson, owner of Watson's Men's Wear Letter Kenny. Good morning, Leonard. Thank you so much for joining us. Good morning, Greg. Thank you. It's great to have you on board again. Paddy Rooney is PRO of Friends of Letter Kennedy University Hospital. Good morning, Paddy. Good morning, Greg. How are you? Great. And good to have you with us. And Senator Lisa Chambers, leader of the Shannon and Spokesperson on European and Foreign Affairs with FinaFolk. Good morning to you, Lisa. Thanks as always for your time. Good morning. Just reading this morning, the government is deeply concerned. Israel may have committed war crimes in Gaza and could play a role, should the International Court of Justice order a ceasefire while it deliberates South Africa's action alleging genocide in the enclave. T. Shockley of Radcar has said, I just wonder from your perspective, particularly given your portfolio, Lisa. I mean, Ireland has taken quite a strong stance on this issue. Well, we heard from a group of senators on this programme and others as well that we really should be more forthright in our backing of what South Africa is trying to achieve. Do you believe Israel is involved in a genocide and should Ireland toughen up its position? Yeah, I mean, I think overall, since the beginning of this conflict in October, I think the Irish government have been quite strong and certainly have stood out from the crowd in terms of a European perspective. It's so much has happened between the beginning of this and where we are today, but even at the very outset, there was moves at the time at a European level to cut off funding, EU funding to Palestine, if you can believe that, at the very outset following October 7th. And Ireland was one of only four member states that blocked that. So from the very beginning, we have been very strong in supporting the Palestinian people and obviously acknowledging what happened on October 7th was horrific. But what has happened since is just unjustifiable. And I think, you know, the Taoist in particular on the international stage have certainly been out on their own at times in terms of their commentary in their condemnation of Israel and the Taoist saying that it looked like preventive paraphrasing slightly. But, you know, at the time, that was very strong language because that was earlier on in what's been going on. And I welcome the Taoist comments that we can do something to support South Africa hoping that the ICJ make the right call and look for a ceasefire. He did also acknowledge that a similar direction was given to Russia in regards to Ukraine and they chose to ignore it. And it is possible that if a similar direction is given from the ICJ to Israel, that they may very well ignore that and that is a possibility. But that becomes very interesting then, doesn't it, in terms of the relationship with the United States and the backing, I suppose you could call it at this stage of the EU, that would be a very big decision for Israel to take. It would and I suppose part of the context is the political situation in Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu and he's got a very extreme right wing elements in his government and I would say he's on that side himself. And politically for him, what happened on October 7th really kind of spelled the end of his career in politics and he knows it. So there is a domestic element within Israel that's feeding into this extreme aggressive and murderous response on the part of Israel. But you're right, if there was a direction from the ICJ that there should be an immediate ceasefire while matters are further investigated and if Israel were to choose to ignore that, the point has been made by the US and the EU, that Israel is a Western democracy, that it is a democracy and we expect certain things from countries like that. So I do think they would find themselves with even fewer friends than they have now and there's no doubt about it. There's a limit to what Ireland can do as a small country, as a member of the European Union. Exactly, there is a limit. So our stance makes it all the more important. There is this feeling and you're not here to defend, you're not invited, as you know yourself, you're not invited to defend government policy or attitudes. That's not the purpose of it. We want your views, Lisa, but it just so happens that these are the issues we talk of. There is this sense that, yes, Ireland is taking the stance, but it's been very diplomatic in that, that it doesn't want to either sort of get on the wrong side of Brussels or Washington for that matter and this is of a scale, though, that I really would hope that the people that represent us ensure that we as a nation aren't seen in the future to be on the wrong side of history because it seems to be very clear what's going on and sort of trying to remain, you know, keep diplomatic connections strong at the expense of maybe doing the right thing. Is that really representing the feelings of the Irish people? Yeah, I mean, I think the Irish people, we've always had a very strong connection with Palestine because of our own history and our own conflict on the island and being colonised. I think we've always had that affinity with Palestine and that predates this conflict and that's very much evident from, I can tell you, and ask any member of the Iraqis currently, who boxes full with emails about Gaza and there's a huge number of people getting in contact and it shows you there are very few international issues that dominate the domestic political agenda in this country and this is one of them. So the Irish government are under no illusions as to where the people in this country stand. I think what the Irish government have been trying to do is to kind of toll that line between remaining a credible voice for peace, having access to the EU table and the US table and to be able to talk to those who can influence an outcome here. And let's be honest about it, the US really is the only country that can really influence Israel at this point in time, I believe, and the EU to a lesser extent. So Ireland has been trying to maintain its connections, its diplomatic connections so that it can have some influence. But I think at all times it's very much pushed to the boundaries and really kind of made people uncomfortable and rightly so. But certainly it's very clear what's happening to the Gaza people and an entire population has been displaced. The UN has sides to Gaza that have been uninhabitable. Their health system is on its knees and the thousands of children, the majority of those that have been killed are children. And nobody can stand over that. And Israel will have to account for itself because they are war crimes in my view. So I think the hearing yesterday was historic. I think South Africa did the world community a great service yesterday. And we'll hear from Israel today and I'm sure that'll be difficult to listen to. But I do certainly hope that the ICJ do issue a direction for a ceasefire because it will put Israel under pressure to try and maintain friends internationally because they will need it. And in reality, Greg, the only way that we're going to have peace between Palestine and Israel and that there's going to be security for both states is if there are peace talks and the bombs and the guns get put down and our country knows that better than anybody else. That's the only time you love peace. The problem is Israel doesn't seem to be of the same mind as the international community. No, and nor do Hamas either. I mean Hamas need to start bombing as well and peace talks need to happen. But unfortunately, I would agree. I don't think we're there yet for both sides to get around the table. But it's the only solution. It's the only solution. Patty Rooney, what's your view on Ireland's stance? Do you think we have gone far enough or could we have taken a stronger stance? And when I say we, obviously I'm speaking on behalf I'm speaking of those who speak on our behalf. Now, many people listening will say they don't but on an international scale they do. Well, in fairness as opposed to the Irish government, Greg, that they have been out ahead of a lot of the other governments in Europe and in the European Union about criticising or being critical of Israel's behaviour in Palestine. And I suppose there are other countries now slowly but surely coming round to Ireland's view on this. If you can't use persuasion and argument to encourage the likes or to impress upon the likes of America to impress on Israel to stop what they're doing. Well, I suppose the next thing that you must use is some kind of shock tactics. There was a very interesting and disturbing interview on the drive-time programme in RTS this evening when Sarah McInerney interviewed a guy called Nick Minard. He's a surgeon in the NHS in England. And he spent two weeks in Gaza. And Lisa said there in our contribution, rightfully, that the health service in Gaza is on its knees. But he said that he was expecting a very dire situation in Gaza before he went out there. But when he got there and he was able to navigate his way through all the broken roads and broken buildings and the congestions and so on and so forth and he got to the hospitals, he described the situation as apocalyptic. And he was talking about the disproportionate amount of children who are coming to hospitals because their parents and adults have all been killed and with very severe burns and in many, many cases about traumatic amputations of their limbs, their arms and their legs. And the orthopedic surgeons were taking off the rest of the limb or surgically reconstructed without any antiseptic, right? There was no pathodine or no analgesia. And there was no anesthesia. There was no running water that a surgeon down the road in the hospital could take for granted. They were using alcohol and any kind of spirits that could use disinfect their hands. They had no antiseptic drapes. I mean, it was just absolutely dreadful what he was describing. And he made the point that with all of the western media that's in Gaza, but they're failing to get across because when he came home, he expected to see this on BBC News and Sky News and he didn't see it. And he said that even if their best endeavours that they're failing to report how bad the situation is and he described it as apocalyptic and he said that he saw images that he was involved in things that are never going to leave him. And this is a guy that he's a surgeon now so he's seen all types of things. And what's more he said because the level of congestion around hospitals and people living so close to each other and there's no running water, there's no sanitation. He says we are a hair spread away from an outbreak of cholera in Gaza. And if that happens, the 25,000 people that have been so far killed in it, that number will be doubled in the space of days if that ever happens. And nothing is being done. I think the level of aid that's getting in as much as it is but it's only a trickle getting into it and it's nothing in comparison to what needs to be there. And if Israel isn't going to listen to this the only person or people that they will listen to is America and somebody somewhere is going to have to get that into Joe Biden's mind and Anthony Blinken's mind and they're going to have to go to Israel and take them to heel before somebody else does. A leading Irish barrister told the International Court of Justice the conflict in Gaza is the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in the desperate, so far vain hope the world might do something and that world really as opposed to some extent feeds to Paddy's point there in Biden and his administration, Leonard. Do you believe the Irish government should be going further? I mean, it is impossible to put into words and Paddy has done an excellent job in sort of painting the horrendous conditions and position and what's going on and I would say that's probably even only the tip of the iceberg, Leonard. Thank you. Sorry, Greg. Lisa used a word there that Lee of Rack. You used revenge and this is totally revenge. You know, to me, it's just trying to wipe them. They've always said that one of the Israel wiped off the map while the Israel's trying to wipe Palestine off the map now. I think the government in Farnistan, they have spoke out when other governments, the UK and the US have been great backers of Israel. I think now they're finding out that maybe that was unjustified or they give too much support. The UK is kind of rolling back because the Republic is rolling back. They're horrified of what's going on over there. You have to feel in the US, it's the same way. But there's no winners here. As Lisa said, the mountain children, what's going to be left for these people when this is all sorted out? There's going to be absolutely nothing left. You'll just be a baron. Well, it seems part of the strategy is also where the population has been expelled or moved to actually wipe out anything to return to. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. There's going to be nothing to go back to. And everybody knows Gaza's population of children is huge. So what lives have we for these children now as well? It's just as horrific. We're all sitting watching this going on every day. Nobody has said stop. At least it says both sides have to stop the barons and they have to talk. We see what happened this country over 30 years. There's no winners. Peace is only option left. OK, we'll be back with more from our guests after these messages. Stay right where you are. Michael McIntyre's brand new show, Magnificent at the SSE Arena Belfast on Friday the 31st of May, 2024. As always, Highland Radio make it easy for you as we look after all your needs. We will provide luxury transfers overnight stay at the Clinton Hotel Belfast on a B&B basis, your ticket to the show, shopping time in Belfast City Centre. For more information, go to the outlet at HighlandRidio.com or give us a call on 07491 25000. Michael McIntyre in Belfast. The Restex Beds and Furniture Winter Sale is now in full swing at their showroom at the mountaintop in Letter Kenney. Supplying only the finest quality, luxurious Irish main beds and mattresses was genuine savings throughout the range. We look forward to seeing you at the Restex Beds and Furniture Winter Sale. So you're saying mental health difficulties can be smaller things? Yeah. Like trouble sleeping? Yeah. Or if I'm always stressed like? Yeah. Or often anxious?  Hmm. Thought those were separate? Nope. They're all connected. How do you know all this anyway? I'm not sure I've been there myself.  Make the connection and find support that can help at yourmentalhealth.ie from the HSE. Big January sale is now on in store and online with great discounts across top names and menswear like Andre, Tom Penn and Grimozumo. Also big savings on Superdry, Penguin and Tommy Bofootwear. Don't miss out on some great bargains in the Big January sale now on at wantsonmenswear.com. Highland Radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Letter Kenney to Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway, bringing you the time, us? The time, 22 minutes past 9. Now just to remind you, what's up in text the show 08 660 25000 or give us a call in 07 491 25000. You can watch the program on your smart TV, your Firestick on the YouTube app, Highland Radio Ireland. You can take that on your mobiles as well and watch us across Facebook, Highland Hub, Highland Radio News and Sport. We are in the company of our Friday panel today, Paddy Rooney, PRO, Friends of Letter Kenney University Hospital. Leonard Watson, owner of Watson's Men's Wear Letter Kenney, but he does much more than that too, of course. Senator Lisa Chambers, leader of the Shannon and Spokesperson on European and Foreign Affairs with Feena Full. The government has been accused of doing U-turns on accommodation for international protection applicants. The male ones in particular because of public pressure. We've seen it on a couple of occasions whereby there's documentation issued to local public representatives and it outlines what the accommodation will be used for and what have you. It's leaked to the public, there becomes a bit of a movement online often and then we see a protest. Now what happened in the two most recent cases that very quickly, the profile of the residents went from the men to families and there's accusations that this is the government effectively buckling to public pressure. Aiman Ryan this morning will hear from it later the latest minister to say that things just move very quickly. It's got nothing to do with that. It just was pure coincidence on both occasions. I'll start with you again on this Senator Lisa Chambers. It's very difficult for the public to swallow that. An announcement is what made this public protest, the government changed their mind. But they say they're not changing the mind. It's a very fluid situation. What do you believe the truth is? If you're looking at it from the outside it looks as though there was a mind change. The only reason that I would suggest that priority is given to women and children. So if women and children had come in in those couple of days and they didn't have accommodation they would get it if the accommodation hadn't been previously filled. And the government are very aware that if they start to adjust their policy that it'll be almost impossible for them to do that. So I think that's the reason that they're not changing the mind of those refugees. So for that reason and I'm not part of these conversations so I don't know what conversations happened with Roger Gorman and the other government ministers. But they certainly wouldn't want to be, wouldn't want to be seen to be backtracking on the face of public protest and pressure because it makes their job impossible. So for that reason alone it doesn't stop at looking as though it was a change of mind because of protest. So people will have to make up their own minds on that and they will and it doesn't really matter what I say or what Eamon Ryan says on that front. But apart from that, we've got protests and everything contemporary last night. Obviously we protest in my own county in Mayo last week and we had the issue in Galway and there's been issues in Dublin. So it's nationwide. This is a big challenge for us as a country to deal with migration and how we deal with people fleeing war and really horrendous situations and then we look at those 14 people that came in on the back of a freezer truck that thank God they got here alive. So it's a very challenging situation but something that I have been consistently raising and I've said it on this show I think even well into early part of last year is the use of tourist accommodation to house refugees as a long-term solution. It cannot be a long-term solution because it's having an impact on the tourism sector in rural areas and we know under only Gaul 50% of bed nights are gone for housing and refugees. I think in Mayo it's about 35 and be close to 40. Same in Galway. So you're looking along the western seaboard where our tourism sector really kind of only comes into action really from Paddy's, Patrick's weekend to the October Bank holiday weekend. It's kind of, it sees me. So that's a challenge for us to deal with and I welcome what Minister Ryan had said a couple of days ago. I'm sure he probably said it to you again this morning but it's a challenge for us to deal with and we're looking towards larger reception centres because dealing with small private providers who we know and you know under only Gaul and I can see it in Mayo as well people are making a lot of money off going around scouting out vacant and abandoned buildings, flipping them around put a roof on four walls up and Bob's your uncle you've got accommodation for people and it's very lucrative and because of that we're seeing small rural towns where you might have the hotel that maybe isn't full that much and you're full every day of the week it's difficult to say no to that because it might help pay the bills and pay the staff so we need to move away from using closed accommodation the larger reception centres will make it much easier to handle and we need to move away from engaging with small private ad hoc providers that are going around speculating on buildings in large parts of the west of Ireland to be quite honest about it and that will make it easier to deal with I think we, I think there was a lot of tolerance given last year and I would consider the emergency phase of this where the numbers coming in just exploded and we'd never had anything like it and people said look we have to do the right thing and this is an emergency situation I think what the public are looking for now is a more sustainable, less chaotic approach one where it's planned in advance it looks like we're organised, like we're in control and that isn't just coming in the dark of night have you got a building grand we'll take it and the government have reacted to that and I think also that the Cabinet decision in the latter part of last year the government's legislation is coming through this month to reduce the welfare rate for those coming in as refugees if you were coming in from Ukraine you were getting the full social welfare job seekers benefit that's been brought back down now to 39 Euros so it just encourages people to get out and work where they can work and I think that was the government listening to people and responding and saying that was the poll factor we've addressed it and we're going to try and move into what I would see now is the medium term that's not going to end anytime soon we have people migrating from other parts of the world because of climate change and other conflicts so we're just going to have to find a better, less chaotic way of dealing with this and I think you're going to see that now OK, before I just bring the other two and just a little bit of breaking sports news if you don't mind because it's quite a big deal and I don't want to delve into this important issue as well but Jim McGinnis will no longer have to serve an eight week ban following a request by Jim McGinnis to the Ulster Hearings Committee the Secretary has been informed that the alleged infraction this is playing an underaged player was not proven and that no further disciplinary action is to be taken so that means that Jim McGinnis will not serve any ban at all and the team and County and Jim can look forward to the Mechanic Cup final against Monaghan on Sunday sorry, I just wanted to bring that to people who may not be aware Leonard Watson I mean, does it matter if the government's U-turned or not, I suppose this is just one of the greatest, you know point of interest in a greater topic really the majority of people if you look at the way questions are worded the majority of people are opposed to unlimited immigration they want assurances about people being checked as they arrive into the country and they want to also make sure that there are services in particular areas to support an increase in population I think that's the real view and not necessarily the extreme view from one way or the other I'm open to correction on that Greg, that's my point I was just going to make over the last year and a half I would say maybe 10,000 if commented on it all our services haven't increased there's children command with special needs in that our services as you know are under extreme pressure with 50% vacancy rates with a housing crisis there's like when we all have to do our bit and everybody got to create that there but when's enough a certain area at one stage last year Donegal had the third highest amount of refugees and asylum seekers in the country there's a total disparity across the country we have a housing crisis and again the HSE up here we have issues not there but there's just no joint upthink there's no talk into the community I would actually say putting 50 young men into any building does not matter where they're from that's the issue for some you know some people Do you think these men are routinely that dangerous? No men are but you are Greg if this was 50 English men when people have a bigger issue probably wouldn't like but I'm just like I know I was chatting to a business man recently he's a business in another town in another county I would not say but he was saying a lot of these young men but he says they're not causing any bother but they're just hanging around the streets they're a perfect example I'll see you on a Sunday morning and let her can I these aren't asylum seekers these are what I would call the new Irish, the Teddy Towns I would say 80% of the people doing the Teddy Town work are foreigners like and it's brilliant to see them try to integrate into the community become part of the community and that's what we should be aiming towards you if these people come in post system as quick as possible get them out and get them working we have a labour shortage to search the sectors and if these people aren't meant to be here we need to move them back on but it's just everything is too slow right yeah it has sped up somewhat though I think the turnaround times are much shorter than they were in the past but I take your point Paddy you know the bottom line is we've seen what is it over 20 arson attacks on accommodation we're seeing protests being organised very very quickly we are seeing services under pressure Lisa's pointing to a future whereby we've gone through the emergency part of this now and we go into a more managed position that's what the government wants do you think this will settle down oh not at all it's not going to settle down Lisa's actually taking some of my lines there so anyway I don't want to repeat what she has correctly said already I think that we are not I just point out by the way that we don't give people lines and that was just a throwaway we're not controlled media that was a throwaway remark from Paddy Rooney continue Mr Rooney I think that we are in the phase now we're not having a mature grown-up discussion about this and we are talking about this as a today problem my wife and I were over in London before Christmas and we happened to take a taxi ride and the guy that was driving the taxi was from Turkey and he was telling me that there are 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey and if people want to think that Ireland is going to escape that they're very very badly mistaken we had the Arab uprising within the last 10 years and it started off in Egypt and went the whole way along to the Moroccan border and the end result or byproduct of that is millions of people are on the move and Lisa talked about the conflict in the Middle East and we've had the conflict in Afghanistan and so on and so forth whether we like it or not many people who are fleeing poverty or climate change adjustments or persecution or death or destruction or whatever it is Ireland is now a destination of choice for a lot of those people whether we like it or not and we think we have a problem today in the last 10 years time the profile of our population would be very very different than it is at the moment I mean Ireland in landside is that something we should be discussing absolutely it is calling to say that it is not a fate can't play either presumably there are policies that because if that were to change who's to say the impact it might have on things like tourism and what have you just because the product would change and I mean how do we have that conversation then tell you Greg we're going way beyond that now because we're going to way beyond that this is going to happen whether we like it or not the Dubliners had a hit single in the 1960s thank God we're surrounded by water well Britain is surrounded by water and one of the premises around the Brexit referendum in 2016 was that they were going to stop migration to Britain and that they were going to deport a lot of the illegal people that were there nobody has been deported and the level of migration illegal migration into Britain has accelerated since that we can't stop it because people are going to come to this country by fairer file means it is a very lucrative market and business now for people that are involved in the business of moving people not trafficking them but moving them and they're going to come and they're going to come in big numbers and I don't think there is anything that this state can do France can't do it, Germany can't do it Britain are not able to do it why would we be able to do it they're coming and they're coming in large numbers people would have it you might as well just make this point now I know Lisa was talking about people housing people here and there and so on and so forth and that's fine and there's problems with that but I can tell you now there are scenes of huge problems down the line about having these building these very large reception centres or whatever you want to call them because you're going to have a situation now for instance where you can have a reception centre I don't know what the population of these or how much they can accommodate do you imagine a reception centre with 400 and 500 people from Libya and what they're going to do what we're going to do here is like a Harlem in New York we're going to end up with ghettos in this country that people are going to be placed conveniently in there and it's going to be like what happened in Valais Monde back in the 60s and so on and so forth we are seeing scenes of huge problems coming down the line if we do not do three things one we accept that people are coming and we can't do anything about it because that's what's going to happen we have to assimilate them into society they're all placed in North Dublin that they're everywhere in Ghidor and Dingle and Wexford and they're assimilated into society and we just have to accept that they are the new Irish and that's going to be the case because in 25 years time our population profile is going to be very, very different than it is today in fact all you have to do Greg is take a walk around Henry Street and O'Connell Street and Grafton Street in Dublin pop over to London in Oxford Street and have a walk pop over to Brass that's exactly what a lot of people want to avoid and that comment came just after you talked about different colored faces I didn't mean it in that regard Leonard Lisa that's precisely what it seems a lot of people in Ireland want to avoid but Paddy says that it is inevitable I think we've always had migration and people coming into the country I think the levels coming in from Ukraine have really exasperated matters and it's just the numbers of a different scale than we had before but if you look around to our health service, our nursing care services lots of different jobs in the country have been done by people that are not say Irish born or maybe moved into the country so we've always had people coming in and obviously Irish people regularly go to other countries and I think there's obvious in the family world making a living and travelling and working elsewhere that has always been the case but I think because of the numbers coming in from Ukraine we've had to deal with a lot more in a short space of time and that's as well along with a housing crisis in the country where there's pressures on accommodation that's making this an even more acute challenge for us but there is I think what Paddy has said around this being inevitable people will always be coming in and there are more conflicts now and there are more climate change where countries are becoming less habitable and more difficult to actually just survive and people are migrating towards different climates but I think our geography to a certain extent will it makes it more difficult to get here because we're an island nation unlike France or Germany but he's right when he points out about the UK which has been quite interesting and difficult for their government to deal with despite repeated assurances that the Rwanda policy where they're going to apparently ship people off to Rwanda and they come into their country not one person has been shipped off to Rwanda yet they can't get the legislation passed in the UK and people are still travelling there because when people are desperate they will find a way to get out of their desperate situation and as we've seen will risk their lives and money will lose their lives trying to get to somewhere else just so they can survive and better themselves but I think our challenge really in this country currently is the lack of suitable accommodation it's the scattergun approach with which we've been dealing with it the past year and I do think we'll move towards a more sustainable less chaotic model in the year to come and I do hope and overall I think people want to help as best they can but the point that Leonard made about there has to be fairness in how this is distributed across the state and it's not fair if there are parts of the country that are shouldering what will be viewed as more than their fair share and that is a challenge for government as well to ensure there is fairness and often that is about services, it's about GPs, it's about hospitals, it's about schools go ahead Paddy no sorry I'm just going to make the point here you see I think we'll weigh beyond that because it doesn't matter about the state of the health service or the schools or the GPs and so on and so forth or it doesn't matter about the fair distribution because they're going to come I mean if you look at a place at the town of Bradford in Yorkshire in England I think the 80% of it is Asian if you go to certain boroughs or councils in south London if you walk the streets there you won't find you won't find any English being spoken the street signs are in order so these people are going to come in large numbers whether we like it or not whether we think we have the resources for or we think about the fair distribution it is going to come some people would characterise that as it's not as but sort of like an invasion in other words that this country is going to be seen as a decent old spot from a climate perspective from what have you and that you're saying that people are going to come in here that will change the demographic maybe the religious make up the cultural make up of the country and you're saying that nothing can be done about that I mean it paints a I mean some might say it as enrichment others might see it as a very scary prospect that the country that they know right now will not exist so speak the generations the reason why I'm saying that is I've no proof of this but the reason why I'm saying that is much bigger more powerful countries than us fail to do it well do you see what's happening in the United States it is really unbelievable Holland is we are a country twice the land size of Holland but they have four times our population so there's plenty of room here for all these people to come it's not a negative thing it will all settle down eventually but it might take 50 years to do it but because I don't see how we're going to be able to do something that other countries bigger and more powerful with immigration policies deporting people as soon as they arrive here if they're not documented not signing up to initiatives where we take our share of things like that but anyway I'm trying to articulate I'm trying to articulate texts that are likely to come in because it's just to try and okay listen we'll be back in four minutes and then we can run through to ten with more from our guests I'm talking so fast because we all like getting our money's worth and that's why I've only got 20 seconds to tell you about the McDonald's Savour Meal deals from 11am not available on delivery well Grace her you today I'm good I've just been down to the made-to-measure fireplaces showroom and Chrysler they have an incredible selection of over 40 colors for kitchen work tops I'm going to have a look at the I'm going to have a look at the I'm going to have a 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needle today the sale you have all been waiting for at Claire clothing letter Kenny two days clearance fifty percent off all winter stock this Friday and Saturday Claire clothing letter Kenny actions speak letter them words so I'll keep the words to a minimum last year thousand to people chose say it for their new car why because with the owner at Tech and Toronto we have a stunning lineup of SUVs and we offer a wide range of purchase options to suit your needs to see what you've been missing out on visit say it dot IE and check out our two for one offers visit say it dot IE but what are you waiting for go on say it dot IE for our two for one offers weather updates brought to you by grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air on air to water heat pump and you flex under floor heating visit grant dot IE okay the weather forecast for today mostly cloudy and dry day with any frost and ice clearing through the morning there'll be some limited brightness only spells highest temperatures of three to five degrees in light north east to variable breezes getting some reports of a road traffic collision at the Paul star roundabout in letter Kenny so just if you're approaching it if you're experiencing delays that's likely what it is we'll have more details on that later on okay we're in the company of Paddy Rooney Leonard Watson and Senator Lisa Chambers Leonard Watson do you believe we're likely to see a general election in 2024 lots of people around the world going to the polls will be going to the polls too and address some geltut elections Europeans local elections would you like to see a general election Pat the Colt Gallagher was on with us yesterday he's convinced there could be a summer election here in 2024 would you like that you know I think we're going to have election fatigue by then European election local elections and I think you have to Craig do I really want to see an election it's just a whole to watch the whole cesspit often election now elections have changed so much and the social media probably is the one that it's just it's just the diversity that happens around elections it's just terrible like plus will a lot change I know people have this thing that we have to have them eventually I know that I know but you would have three elections in the one year it's just going to be a lot but it's just the whole thing you know I think people have this thing in their head things are going to change dramatically after an election and the truth is it won't like you know the next government you have there may get things done better may do but then the civil servants from the country you know I'd say call the shots then the government can say I don't want but then there's a budget there and we don't have a magic tree of money so there's only so much can be done well at the end of the day the people have a right to vote people want an election but I just will things change dramatically after it I don't know right okay well we have to keep our fingers crossed it whether it's the same government returned or a new government Lisa would you fancy for your party's perspectives would you fancy an election in 2024 because listen at the end of the day we're going to be going into election mode general election mode sorry in 2024 because you know Finnegell and Finafulla want to assert themselves you know as different parties so it's going to start in 2024 whether it comes to fruition or not we don't know what would you favour yeah we look at I mean elections are kind of part and parcel of the job and we've had for four years now without any elections so it's going to be a busy year we know we have the two referendum on the 8th March so we're going to the polls in March we have the European elections on the 7th of June so we're going to the polls again in June and I think it's I don't know this the only person that knows when the next general election is going to be if he knows is the Taoiseach because he's the only person that can actually call an election before the due date of next next year so if he wants to go early I think if you see my prediction is that if you see any government TD's elected to the European Parliament and a by-election or by-elections required in November this year it's quite likely in the speculation Lester House because obviously we chat about this quite a lot is that you'll have a general election before you'd have by-elections because governments tend to lose by-elections so my prediction would be that you'd have a budget and then you'd go to the country after that before you'd be required to have any by-elections so I think it'll depend on how June goes like we're in election mode now as political parties because June the local and European elections because they're so close to the general election even if it is early next year it's still very close we'll kind of set the ground for that general election and parties will need to do well in June and have a good footing heading into the Dahl campaign so parties are very focused on June it'll be really important for us and you know particularly the local elections you know there your that's your ground team having a good result in those elections is really crucial and a lot of parties ourselves included will be looking to successful local election candidates probably to go on Dahl tickets as well across the country in different places so it'll be a busy year and it's possible after two referendum and local and European elections you know people might be a little bit fatigued but look it's just the nature of it we're going to have a busy electoral year regardless of what happens with the Dahl elections What do you think the makeup of the next government might be Lisa and I'm asking you just as a you know a bit of a political anorak rather than a member of a particular party if that makes sense yeah like we again we chat about this all of the time there will be a school of thought that the current coalition would have a reasonable chance of being re-elected I don't think you'll see certainly you won't see Fina fall running on a re-elect the coalition platform I believe my party what we'll do is we will run on our own our own manifesto our own and try and seek our own mandate and I think what the position will be and we haven't had this conversation within the parliamentary party but what I believe will happen is that we'll we'll seek to say we'll seek our own mandate and we'll see what the numbers are after and we'll talk to everybody I think Fina Gale will rule out Sinn Féin and I think Sinn Féin will probably try and rule out Fina Gale and leave themselves open to others so you'll either see the current coalition re-elected maybe with or without the Greens potentially maybe with the Labour add-on or a SOC DEMS add-on potentially or you could see Fina fall Sinn Féin government but I think certainly within my party there would be at least half of our members and probably half the parliamentary party that would just not wear that so I don't know is the honest answer but there the two I think Fina fall would probably be the kind of meeting sandwich is that because of ideological differences or is it about getting into opposition and sort of re-establishing Fina fall as a stand-alone party we don't want to be in opposition we want to be in government and I can never understand any party or politician heading into an election wanting to be in opposition because I think that's completely useless you can't implement your policies or your ideas in opposition so any party stepping out of the frame for government I mean what a waste what a waste to vote if you're voting for that party because they clearly don't want to do their job so I think every party should be aiming for government will be my view on it and no one should be stepping off the pitch and if you're heading into a coalition government always the challenge will be you'll have your manifesto on the things you'd like to do and what my party leader has often said is that he doesn't see how he'd be able to agree a programme for government with Sinn Fein in terms of how will they actually agree a programme for government so he's coming at it from a policy position there will be people in my party that will be coming at it from an ideological position and say we just can't go in with Sinn Fein and I'm sure that and as you say too though no more than you can't run an election you can't run an election for opposition Fina fall don't want to be seen to be running an election to be second fiddle to Sinn Fein in a coalition it's difficult to get the messaging correctly isn't it so you have to run the election as no we want to lead the next government even though the reality is that when the numbers are finally counted and who is to say people presume after a general election that the current coalition is gone I think that's really foolish really foolish to presume that just because there is an election that's the case because strategically Sinn Fein have gotten it wrong before as well and as again there's an awful lot of debate and questions to be asked in the run-up to election which can change people's minds and views in many different directions Paddy Rooney would you like to see though is the time right 2024 it's the year of democracy globally should we just get this out of the way now well we haven't had an national election this country since 2020 and now we're going to have a whole slew of them and there's the presidential election somewhere in the queue there too I don't know when is it the till end of this year is it next year when that's coming off so Irish politics now is a bit like what Lenin the famous Russian revolutionary leader said about Russian politics you know we have nothing happens in decades and then we have decades happens within weeks it's the prerogative I suppose of the Taoiseach to call the election and it used to be anyway in old money that the Taoiseach would call the election when he deemed it to be most advantageous for his party to do it now I suppose history is rife with examples about when Taoiseach got it wrong and Liam Cosgib is supposed to have thrown away a winning hand in 77 because he went too early and John Bruton stands out as making a bit of a mess of it because he had waited it was 1997 and there was good times coming and he just went too early and of course Andy Kenny then was criticised in 2015 because he went too long he would let go should have gone in the autumn instead of so I don't know do these things doesn't get it right or whatever however Ivan Yates was on your programme a couple of days ago and he threw a few interesting pieces into the pot here I suppose Taoiseach has two opposite things being whispered into his ear one is about do it early to head off the inevitable that Chinfield are going to have a dramatic increase in the number because they had a very bad election in local election 2019 and they're going to have a good one this time so they could potentially multiply their number of councillors in the contrary by three and they will actually be growing and give a profile to potential TDs so the best way to deal with that is to cut ahead at the snake and to go early however because of the volatility of the electorate out there I'd say nobody has an idea about what's going to happen here because Ivan Yates made the point again that somewhere people from the mid 40s are down and younger how their parents voted for how their family traditionally voted how they even voted themselves in the last election is all gone now. Is it? I'm not sure that's proven though well we'll see and I'll tell you why now because I have extended family members and people that I know that are coming out of particular houses that have voted in a long way and they're voting very very different you know what I would love to hear hold on a second these people are well educated and in relatively good jobs but seeing a fall in Finnegale are not the top of their agenda anymore with very valid reasons they can't they don't own a house and their costs even though they're in very good jobs whatever that means the prospects of them ever owning a house is dim right they have a problem with getting timely access to healthcare service and that's not going to improve they don't have a defined pension anymore and that's not going to improve they have a perception whether this real or imaginary that all these new people coming into the country are getting preference to them in relation to welfare housing and so on and so forth they want to strike out and give somebody a bloody nose who are they going to go for it's going to be Finnegale and seeing a fall for the simple thing they've always been there I wish I had more time because we're getting into an interesting space there Paddy really pure old friends have got a Kenny University hospital thank you so much for joining us Lisa of course go ahead Can I just say one thing I just I'm aware that this morning that the Crease Law Community Association are officially in their community and wish them well I was up from Johnny Gall last week and I met the local priest there I know that's an ongoing situation there I'm going to do well this morning lovely stuff Lisa thank you very much indeed take care of yourself that's Senator Lisa Chambers and Hawaii 5-0 in the house this weekend Leonard you don't look a year over 55 I don't know what your secret is you've been tough on me Greg happy birthday to you okay take care of yourself Leonard Watson there okay the news is going to be a couple of minutes late my apologies the 9-ton inch show brought to you by Kelly's Toyota with over 45 years of experience trust us to help you on your electric journey on business matters this week after the 6 o'clock news on Sunday my guest is Eugene Gallon the Bon Appetit which is currently expanding into new premises business matters in association with the faculty of business at ATU Dunnegall for a career in financial governance consider the level 9 MA in governance and IT in financial services starting in January contact the exec-ed coordinator on 9186 206 or email donald.hanigan at atu.ie today it's the right price tiles and wood flooring half price sale get up to 50% of all tiles wood flooring, bathware, cladding everything's reduced tiles from only 899 per square yard and wood flooring from only 1199 per square yard right price tiles and wood flooring half price January sale is now on Ryan Adams is back on tour in 2024 join Highland radio on our trip to Dublin to see the man himself at the three arena on Tuesday the 21st of May 2024 your trip includes luxury transfers, bed and breakfast at the four star Carton Hotel Blanchestown your standing ticket to the show and a shopping trip to Dublin city centre the following day find out more on the outlet at Highland radio.com or call us on 074 9125 thousand iMotors are your main Nissan dealership in the north west a trusted Japanese brand for generations contact iMotors to find out why people who make the move to Nissan never change to check out our two for one offers visit iMotors.ie last chance to enter the Donnie Gawd silage competition with homeland and new trius animal feeds entries are closing soon so hurry entry is free and includes five categories dairy, beef, sheep round bale and new entrance first price 300 euro vouchers second price 200 euro voucher in each category for full entry details visit homeland.ie closing date January 19 live on air online and on the Highland Radio app this is Highland Radio News good morning I'm Akilah Clark with the news at 10 o'clock the transport minister says the government is committed to deliver the TNT road project the infrastructure development has been doing for years with renewed calls for the need for the Bonnegee Link Relief Road in Leicester Kenny to get off the ground the TNT project is expected to come before cabinet shortly and minister Iman Ryan says funding for its delivery will be made available the minister is in Donnie Gawd today as part of a tour of local authorities across the country to discuss the climate change plans speaking to Grey Q's earlier he admitted anywhere else we need better connectivity to Donnie Gawd and within Donnie Gawd it is a county which has suffered from the isolation created by the border and the lack of rail infrastructure and other connectivity. That full interview with minister Ryan will be coming up shortly on the 9 till noon show a new report has found the national development plan may have underestimated the level of investment needed to meet demand the ESRI adds existing targets that the high might understate what's needed because of the increase in population which was recorded in the most recent senses it has called for the government to think creatively but adds it faces a dilemma when it comes to investment in public infrastructure ESRI director Alan Barrett says increased investment in housing with slow down high prices in the long run. If you build more houses you reduce the overall house prices okay so you could actually be positive for inflation so in the area of housing we do see a sort of a slightly different trajectory which does sort of suggest that maybe that is an area for increased investment. Yemen's Houthis say strikes by the US and UK will not go without punishment or retaliation. The group's military spokesman says five fighters were killed while six were wounded. British and American troops launched missiles overnight in response to ongoing attacks from the US and the United States. The Houthis say Samuel Romani an expert on the Middle East doesn't think things will escalate right away. The Houthis also have launch attacks on maritime shipping but they haven't really killed American military personnel they haven't killed American or Western merchants. I don't think that we'd be looking at a large scale war just yet but I think that definitely the risk of an accident is increasing. The Houthis say the US will be able to come on stream in 2024 with civil engineering, firefighting and robotics just some of the disciplines added to the list. A record number of people signed up for treats last year with over 8,700 registering. Minister for further and higher education Simon Harris says there's a wide variety to choose from. This will bring us to almost 100 apprenticeship programmes that will be available in Ireland and these new courses will be in a whole range of courses such as apprenticeship in robotics or an immersive technology or in social work or as a firefighter or as a paramedic to name just a few. We're going to continue to keep a relentless focus on apprenticeships on education and skills and opportunities for all. Guardian Dunningall are reminding drivers that road safety should always be a priority as part of cross-border operation. Guardian conducted a checkpoint in line where a seat belt regardless of where you travel and never drive under the influence of alcohol and or drugs. A man arrested following a stabbing in Derry has been released. A man in his 20s was fined at a property in the Harenway area of the city with stab wounds to his body and facial lacerations in the early hours of yesterday morning. The 27-year-old arrested has since been released on police bail pending further inquiries. Finally in sport Jim McGinnis and his appeal against a proposed 8-week suspension from Ulster GAA for fielding an ineligible player in the Dr McKenna Cup. A hearing took place on Thursday evening and the Dunningall boss has been clear to take his place on the line for this Sunday's semi-final against Monaghan. In a short press release at Dunningall GAA said following a request by Jim McGinnis to the Ulster hearings committee, the county secretary has been informed that the hearing is to be taken. Whether I am mostly cloudy and dry day today with any frost and ice clearing this morning, there will be some limited bright or sunny spells with highest temperatures of 3 to 5 degrees. That's all from Highland Radio News for now. We'll be back with an update again at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The obituary notice is for this Friday morning, January the 12th. The death has occurred of Stephen Love, Finnebean's Dunningall Tyne, reposing at his family home to Jay from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock and to more from 1 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Heist private at all other times please. Funeral service in Dunningall parish church on Sunday afternoon at half past two followed by burial in the Gleab Cemetery Dunningall Tyne. The death has occurred of Ignatius Heron, Neasie, St John's Point, Duncan Ealy, reposing at his late residence to Jay and to Moreau from 2 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Removable from there on Sunday going to St Mary's Church Killy Mard for funeral mass at 2 o'clock with burial afterwards in the local cemetery. The death has taken place of Terrio Neal, 3 Tyncastle Road, Straban, reposing at his home this evening from 6 o'clock. Funeral leaving his home on Sunday morning at 10 to 11 for mass in the Sacred Heart Church Dairy Road at half past 11. Family time please from 11 o'clock to 11 o'clock. The requiem mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam.  Nease's remains will be reposed at McGlynn's funeral home today from 2 o'clock until rosary at 8 o'clock and again tomorrow from 2 o'clock with removal to St Columbus Church Eggers for half past 7 where he will repose overnight. Funeral mass on Sunday morning at half past 11 with interment afterwards in Belchurch Cemetery. Family flowers only, donations in Lea If Desire to the Donegal Hospice care of any family member. The death has taken place of Patrick McDeod, Ned, Temple Moille Kuldaaf. Patrick's remains are reposing at his home. Family time please from 11 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Funeral mass for Patrick will take place on Sunday morning at half past 10 in St Patrick's Church Ahaklea Mallon, followed by burial in the adjoining graveyard. Family flowers only, donations If Desire to the ICU, Letter Kenney University Hospital care of any family member. The death has taken place in England of Catherine Jean McCorkle, formerly of Allenville Crescent Derry. Funeral will take place on Saturday week, January the 20th at Vaughan Presbyterian Church at 1 o'clock, followed by burial in St Murris Church of Arnand Graveyard Vaughan, high strictly private. Family flowers only, donations in Lea If Which to Chest Heart and Stroke are Vaughan Presbyterian Church. The death has taken place of Mary Patricia Loog, Ney Brine, Brecken Lea, Claudie Cainty-Derry. Reposing at her daughter 510 Glencian Road with family time please from 10 o'clock to night. Funeral from her daughter's home to more morning at 10 to 10 for 11 o'clock requiem mass in St Patrick's Church cleaning Donna Manna, followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only please and donations if desired in Lea to dementia N.I. care of McLaughlin Funeral Directors. The death has occurred of Mary Patricia Loog, Ney Brine, Brecken Lea, Claudie Cainty-Derry. Reposing at her late home funeral from there to more morning at quarter past 10 for requiem mass at 11 o'clock in St Patrick's Church for by interment in the adjoining church yard. The house is private please to relatives and close neighbours. The death has taken place of Mary Nichols, Ney McGonagall, Glen Carr-Road lettercanney who, currently married to Northern Ireland and Creanardé Kaylevel and used to call the 12 o'clock at night. The death has taken place of Mary Nichols, Ney McGonagall, Glen Carr-Road lettercanney Glencarod Letter Kenny. Marys remains will be opposed at her late residence today from twelve noon until ten o'clock with Rosary at nine o'clock. Funeral from there at half past ten to more morning go into St Junan's Cathedral Letter Kenny for eleven o'clock recreation mass which can be viewed live on ChurchServices.tv. Interment afterwards in Commonwealth Cemetery. Family time on the morning of the funeral please. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu of flowers if desired to the friends of Letter Kenny University Hospital care of any family member. The death has taken place of Margaret Halpin, Naio Donald, Juan Westbrook, Close Bancrana, formerly Drimman Derry. Funeral from her late residence this morning at quarter past ten going to St Mary's Church Cockhill for eleven o'clock recreation mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining graveyard. Family flowers only please donations if desired to the Irish Kidney Association care of any family member. The death has occurred of Caroline Stanley, Glenwood Park Letter Kenny, formerly of Cronford and Carygarde. House private please. Reposing at St Junan's Cathedral with recreation mass at eleven o'clock this morning which can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv followed by private cremation in Lakelands at Crematorium Cavern. No flowers please. Donations if wished to the family member. The death has taken place of Artie Galleher, nine Linkside Park Straban, reposing at his home. Funeral leaving his home tomorrow morning at quarter past eleven for recreation mass in St Mary's Church Melmont at 12 noon. Interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family time please from eleven o'clock to eleven o'clock. The recreation mass can be viewed live at MelmontParish.com. The death has occurred of Mary Broly, name McAleer, Hillhead Castle Finn. Funeral from her late residence this morning at half past eleven for recreation mass in St Mary's Church Castle Finn at 12 noon followed by interment in the adjoining church yard. The recreation mass will be streamed live via the Ernie Castle Finn parish at Facebook page. Family time before the funeral this morning. And the death has taken place of Mary Agnes Foy, name McNulty, whispering Pines Baladeric Letter Kenny, formerly of Main Streets to Norlour. Funeral from her late residence this afternoon at quarter past twelve going to St Junan's Cathedral Letter Kenny for one o'clock recreation mass which can be viewed on ChurchServices.tv followed by interment in St Mary's Church Cemetery, Cheshire, Nile Valley Buffet. Family time please before the funeral today. Family flowers only please donations in lieu of flowers of desire to the Donegal Hospice, care of any family member. For family information and more details regarding wigs and funerals please go to hindandvideo.com. Want to be the next big thing? Not on Stager's screen but on the shelves at Aldi. Our Grow with Aldi program is now in its seventh year. It offers promising Irish producers a once in a lifetime opportunity to supply Aldi stores nationwide. It's great for our customers too because they get to support local Irish suppliers and businesses. So go on, grow your fan base, apply now and find out more at aldi.ie forward slash grow applications closed 26th of January. Aldi, every day Irish, every day amazing. The county's number one talk show, the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. Okay, you're very welcome back to the program. Thank you so much to our guests in the first hour for their contributions and we appreciate all your texts and comments which have been coming in as well over the course of the hour. Ireland needs a government that will listen to the people and uphold our Christian and democratic beliefs. We need to get rid of this dictatorship that we have now says a listener. And although the government sent a message in 59 languages inviting people to come into this country. Regarding the women's referendum and the definition of family, Nile Richmond, the Finnegal TD has even said that the change in definition of the family will make it easier for immigrants to come into the country and to bring non family members. The video has been shared online and taken down and then put up again. He is right. The government are making it attractive for people to come to Ireland. They're getting housing and benefits, everything. I think that's what they would argue the changes that they've made, the changes that they've made to the those policies to try and discourage. The government haven't got a clue, believes a listener, people are upset that people are coming into their towns. And other Finnegal and Finnegal will campaign separately and reunite when it comes to trying to form a government. Sure, there is little and no difference, believes that listener. That's very possible. Finafall and Finnegal are two cheeks of the one bond. The same, they're not separate manifest. They don't make us, they make us all, don't make us all laugh. They're bedfellows now and joined at the hip. They will 100% go back into bed with each other, back each other to keep at the largest party in Ireland. Why don't they just disband Finnegal and disband Finafall and start a new party to stop trying to fool the public with the political grandstanding? Well, I think one of them, I can't remember which it is. I think it might have been Leo Varadkar said that he would be happy to continue a rotating t-shirt position in the next government. Every area should run an opposition campaign against all parties, believes a listener. The country has gone to the dogs who in the right mind would want to live, would want to run this country of ours at the minute. Finafall and Finnegal have made it difficult for a new government to run the country right, leaving a mess behind them. You can't have an opinion anymore. Your class is right-wing. Whatever that means, can't give the working people of this country a fair pay rise, never mind anything else, can't address the cost of living crisis for God's sake. Well, listen, just because there are some as a defence that might try and label points of you as far right, I wouldn't take that as the norm. I think outside of radio, TV, the doll, people are conversing with each other all of the time, not far right per se. Is it still compulsory to be charged for bloods if you've a child with disabilities? The price used to be 10 euro for children and it's gone up to 20, 30 euro is the price now for bloods for adults. I think it depends on whether it's a medical card or a non-medical card. My understanding was that for bloods, if it was as part of a, if it was diagnostic or part of ongoing treatment that is supposed to be free and that if it was just we'll check your bloods to see the levels here there and everywhere you'd have to pay, but I thought, and I'm open to correction and I'll double check, I thought if it was for diagnostical purposes, or diagnostic purposes, whatever the word is, or it was to diagnose something or the ongoing treatment that it was free and if it was just to get things checked, it wasn't. As I say, anyone out there that wants to correct me, please do. Paddy Rooney's 100% correct, we can't be hypocrites, either. Areas of New York, Boston, Chicago all have large populations of Irish and more recently Australia and many if not most in America were not there legally. It's all swings and roundabouts. When this country was all wrapped up in the boom, we didn't mind the Polish etc, coming in in huge numbers to do jobs that Irish didn't want to do. Yeah, and I think really the concerns, it is a comparison and then some would say it's not as a comparison. There are people who are concerned that the the religious demographics, the racial demographics will change, that it's changing too quickly and that would not necessarily be the case with lots of Irish going to America because it'd be similar backgrounds. I'm not saying that's the case of making an argument one way or other, but that's why people sort of don't buy that argument that we traveled everywhere. They'd say we traveled and we worked and we paid our way and we didn't try and there was no cultural imbalance because of our arrival. What nobody seems to be asking says in other listeners why people are afraid, who or what made them afraid of people coming to Ireland. It's a type of hysteria which has been artificially created. Now we can see some of the so-called leaders of this in Donegal attempting to profit from all the fear and panic they've created by asking women to pay them for lessons in self-defense. Any tree community activist whose sole interest is protecting women as they claim would be offered to provide this as a service without charging women for it. Unfortunately this is uncommon among the so-called leaders of fear mongering. It's a well-established way to make money. Fear is how you control the population. Governments will often or the media people might feel try and control people by fear so therefore it's not surprising that others also try and create influence through fear as well. Our country says listeners are populated as it is. Our health service when people have to go private for medical care than they urgently are. Housing is under siege at present. What would it be like in 25 years mega problems and yet we've no say or choice yet we have to help these poor people and that's so important. Also our government has a mega challenge but it will need to sort out our own people first with our housing crisis our micro crumbling homes our sick cancer patients that have to travel for proper care. I feel personally our own people have forgotten about and put to the back of the cube this needs to be addressed. Hospital appointments are overlooked as the population's getting larger our government has to make a problems ahead of it if not addressed soon. So we have to look at the bigger problem doing this is just for a discussion point. At the moment we have a 100% working population i.e. pretty much anyone that wants a job has a job. We the biggest issue we will have in housing delivery and infrastructural delivery is the people available to work to do that. So we're kind of at a standstill at the moment because we do not have the people to build all the houses that we need and we don't have the people to build all the infrastructure we need in terms of just Irish people if you want to phrase it like that we don't have enough Irish people to run the health service for an example that's why we rely on people coming into the country to work in the health service. So in other words the health service might be buckling under pressure but if it wasn't for people coming into the country to work in it it would be of no it would not be fit for purpose at all at all at all. So what do we do we need more houses we need more infrastructure we need to spend the extra money the government has to spend but we're at 100% capacity and we have skills shortages in terms of delivering what we need so what do we do we're at a crossroads here do we like happened in the past do we invite people into work in these areas to build the houses but then that's what people don't want because they believe that's what's causing the pressure on housing to begin with. It is a classic catch 22. Hi Greg I was in letter Kenny on Wednesday you think you were in a different country it's spot the Irishman now in his own country Ireland is no longer Ireland this country is finished believes a listener. Hi Greg will you tell your guests Paddy especially there are his there are his three options but the number one option on the immigrants is to build and invest in our own countries give them their own in their own countries give them their own self-determination to govern and prosper flood them with the tools to do it indeed but you know the climate in this world for whatever reason maybe it's happening naturally or whatever it's up to you to decide what you think millions upon millions of people around the globe are on the move for various reasons millions and millions of them a lot of the the displacement is caused by wars and the actions of the west and Russia and elsewhere but people are moving and they will continue to move what do you do about that that's what Paddy's saying that's the inevitability of it there's nobody asking why Ukrainians going home for Christmas if they're fleeing from war all the people I've spoken to weren't you know that bothered by that but anyway if you look at Eastern European countries like Poland the illegal immigration is no way near to what Ireland has they are a lot more strict with their policies deportations and making sure there is no legal border crossings I'll check the stats on how many immigrants Poland has it's a big number another if we don't make a stand or take a stand immediately we won't be able to in the future it would be enriching it won't be enriching or multicultural if our politicians could actually see beyond their party policies sandbite and think on the country that grew up in imagine the voting that many taking place here in 30 or 40 years it will not be Fina Gael, Fina Fauna, Faina and genuinely genuinely feel sorry for our grandchildren and their children if you look at England for an example though they have a very diverse population and have for generations and generations do you fear that Ireland could become England or is England okay I don't know what do you think the use of the phrase new Irish is a cop out this is not the US stop mixing illegal immigrants or migrants up to with legitimate immigrants give the people a referendum on the issue like Poland did okay right why look at the time we're going to take a break and the rest of this hour pretty much is going to be in conversation with with Amon Ryan he's up in the county at the moment he is of course the minister for environment climate communications transport and greed party leader it's a pre-recorded interview because I didn't want to do it on the phone I wanted to sit down and sit face to face with him in relation to the interview you know I mean at the end of the day you can ask questions and you might not be satisfied with the answers or you may well be satisfied with the answers but you ask questions you can get things on the record and that's what it's all about there's a lot of issues discussed traffic infrastructure roads infrastructure in and around Leicester County housing the what people see as flaws and the defective concrete block scheme and so on and so forth okay so stay with us we're going to take a break for the bingo numbers and the ad break and then we'll come back and we'll have a chat to minister Amon Ryan it's time for Vision Ireland Bingo on Highland Radio it's Friday the 12th of January you're playing on the yellow sheet the reference number is s10 it's game number 2 the numbers are 70 2 6 69 56 35 17 77 53 and finally 48 phone your claim tonight 10483 before 8 tonight leave your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchase your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your Vision Ireland bingo information at highlandradio.com the sale you have all been waiting for at Claire clothing letter Kenny two days clearance 50% off all winter stock this friday and saturday Claire clothing letter Kenny new this week in home store and more all artificial plants are all half price that's right all half price but better hurry because when all the half price artificial plants are gone they're gone also all car accessories and all home gym equipment are still all half price but when all the half price car accessories and all the half price home gym equipment are gone they're definitely gone drop by your local home store and more visit us online at homestoreandmore.ie new store now opening for scatty center black rock doublet home store and more a happy home the 9 til ninja show brought to you by Kelly's Toyota Port Road letter Kenny stockings of a wide range of used passenger and commercial vehicles we're joined on the program now that by the minister for environment climate communications transport and the green party leader amen Ryan minister Ryan this is part of a a tour I suppose of sorts that you are doing across the country meeting with various local authorities yeah every local authority every single one and it's part of the local authorities have a key role in the meeting or climate change challenge Donegal County Council has just published its own climate action plan it was a public consultation just before Christmas I hope the council will sign off on us next month and it shows how we take action here in Donegal and as part of this challenge that every country every country every community in the the world is going to have to be involved in as mainly for me a listing exercise it's a chance as well to sit down with the councillors and whatever questions whatever issues come up but first and foremost for me it's a chance to see and share thoughts how do you make the switch how do we switch away from using fossil fuels and have a better county a better country yeah there are big things and then there are little things and yesterday we were speaking to a gentleman who rang up the show and for all the right reasons he'd switched to electric now I know this is only a small part of it he switched to an electric vehicle and he's had it for 18 months he loves the car loves the way it drives and what have you but he's thinking of switching back away from it because there is as far as he would see it insufficient network of chargers now I've done interviews year after year about this investment in the charging network and that investment in the charging network but just on one simple thing maybe the most accessible thing for us to try and make a difference is to switch to electric vehicles and then we've got someone with all the best intentions feels that they can't because we don't have the charging infrastructure do things like that worry you yeah we have to have the charging infrastructure to make sure that we can make the switch and it is happening electric vehicles are taking off towards the end last year slightly less than half of the cars we were said new cars were selling had a plug capability so it's it is really happening and it's only going to accelerate because they are better cars they are cheaper to run they have less moving parts they don't break down as much they're they're cleaner quicker they can use their own power so about 80% of all charging is done at home and that's a good thing it actually suits us middle of the night when we've wind turbines turning but with respect and I know you're 100% right in our situation if we need to go safe for instance to a hospital appointment in Sligo or Galway right we can charge fully at home but then the range anxiety kicks in as to how we can charge in the way and we can how we can we can come back and I'm not picking holes in electric cars what I'm talking about is we need to start getting the simple things correct i.e. that if we if people want to do as they see the right thing they need to be held by the government to do that agreed and that's why we're spending 100 billion euros to make sure we do have starting this summer well we've already been starting in terms of national charging network we had one of the first in the world but we're going further this summer we'll be going into about 250 sports clubs where we will be so that's the opportunity if you're down a training or dropping the kids into watch match you can charge at the same time we also we've been producing a guaranteed system where and all the inter-urban roadway network you have sufficient charging infrastructure at the main carriageway at the petrol stations and so on there'll be electric stations in the future and so yes we're spending that 100 million to make sure we do have the infrastructure it is possible at the moment I've used my own electric vehicle I've been up and down the country top to bottom and it can be done but you're right we do need to invest in further charging infrastructure and we are also another way that we can sort of do our bid is is to use public transport rather than any vehicle at all now I know you will talk of you know local link and other services and further investment and all that type of stuff and I get that but in terms of a usable service on this program we often hear of people that they can't do everyday stuff they can't get to work at nine they can't get home from work they can't get to university or college I'm sure you're aware a lot of us now in this part of the world have to get treatment in Galway you would know there's no public service that would get you from Donegal to a health appointment at nine or 10 o'clock in the morning in Galway letter Kenny it's a huge town there's no town transport as such at all so again you know we have the messaging if we all need to do our bid but again this feels to me a little bit like a government failure to at least meet us halfway in doing some of that stuff we do have to do that and this government particularly recognises the investment of public transport is critical and that's why we've changed the rules so that we're going to spend twice as much on new public transport over new roads but when will we see that up here because that sounds great on paper but the much of that could be built could be sort of accounted for in one major Dublin project do you know what I mean I'm not saying that's the case but when are we actually going to see that kind of investment where we actually feel it and live it here in the Northwest well we are seeing it I mean there has been a massive expansion in the connecting Ireland rural bus services we've been introducing a new our enhanced service every week for the last two years the numbers of people on rural buses in the last year increased a hundred and fifteen percent more than doubled in one year including all range of services in Dunneagall the likes of Leicester County down to to Dunneagall town and beyond to to Sligo town we do need a town bus service for Leicester County I absolutely agree and we will deliver it there's a queue as long as my arm of towns looking for similar services but Leicester County is right up there at the top because it is such a significant important region of town why might we see that in the next two to three years in my expectations also in terms of of the climate message the messaging if you go on social media any of the platforms it's why electric cars are crap it's about trying to disprove the climate crisis message and what have you why what's the price this means why aren't is the government or the state bodies more in that space trying to sort of counter that point of view because that is where a lot of the anti-climate change we are we're in that space I don't see it I don't know what where you're paying to put it but I'm out there on Twitter and Instagram and TikTok and in every way trying to make get the information out I think there's a real issue there is real disinformation online like there's real concentrated attempt by a lot of different actors to put out what is completely unscientific untrue fake news you better off listen to Highland Radio rather than believing some of the stuff you see online it's not true and it's not true in this way as well it doesn't affect real world people like people think if you read look at the stuff online you think the whole world is you think they're in noise immorality yeah when I think it's there's a real difficulty in the online social media network systems that they do incentivize polarization that they do they tend to feed people further of kind of opinions confirming their own existing opinion but if you look at the scientific assessment of what do Irish people think we did a really big survey about 4,000 people interviewed right across the country it was known as climate change in the Irish mind as a majority 90% recognize yeah climate change is real we do and we do need to respond to it only 3% we're what you might call climate in Irish 3% no you wouldn't know that if you're online but the other point if I can just on it which is critical there wasn't any difference between rural and urban there wasn't any difference between young and old or rich or poor like it's a human condition to want to protect the next generation to want to create a safe environment for our children and their children to grow up and that is common right across this country when you scratch beneath the surface people do have a concern for the future particularly of their own children and families you talked about the spending ratio on road projects and transport is this government fully committed to the TNT Donegal project? We're told that it's likely to move to planning stage early this year is that the case? Yeah and we are and it's got a lot of European funding our support office as well but yeah Donegal more than anywhere else we need better connectivity to Donegal and within Donegal it is a county which has suffered from the kind of the isolation created by the border and the lack of rail infrastructure and other connectivity so absolutely yes so when is that likely to be funded for? So if it goes into the planning stage now the last time I spoke to you I don't believe it was in maybe the 2040 plan I can't remember in what context we were talking but at that point it wasn't actually budgeted for so will the money be there when the planning hurdles are overcome to proceed with it straight away? Yeah that would depend on the planning process you can't Of course once that's completed you can't be certain about that and a lot of our planning decisions are subject to judicial review so that it can take several years to get through planning in our country unfortunately and there is that's a real issue we have to look and see why is it that we have such a slow legal and planning system and that's it not in anyone's interest in my mind but it's that sort of once it's through as you say it goes due to go into planning second quarter this year subject to coming through there then yes I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be funded Attached to that this is a very local question I understand that but this is the Bonnegie link it's a road a relief road effectively that's seen as vital in letter Kenny's been talked about for absolute generations would you be in favour of a development like that or would you be more minded to spend money on public transport getting people around a town like letter Kenny out of their car you need both but relief roads and bypasses and one of the reasons I'm supported of the TNT the Donegal road projects is they also include that capability of taking traffic out of the centre of towns not just letter Kenny but belly per face and all are as well and I think that's absolutely first priority it's creating town centres which are really attractive place to live in to shop in to work in to go to school to go to college and I think and that you need both public transport and also to take some of the traffic out of the town so you need that investment in the roads network people would see many issues with the defective concrete block scheme but one area I'd particularly be interested in your views the scheme sets out that defective concrete block homeowners must rebuild their houses to 2008 standards that's at odds to what you would want I'm sure it's at odds to the government's policies regarding environmental and efficiency measures as a green part leader as a key member of government how could you've signed off in that how could you stand over a scheme that differentiates the people of Donegal to everywhere else in the country that we are being forced to rebuild our houses to old standards no it doesn't trees said Donegal householders just like every other member of the country and actually maybe there's an opportunity here that at the time we're doing up the houses that we can and will put in and avail of all the grants that are available for the CAI no that's if your house is built before 2011 yes because but the when I built my house in 2012 through an old fault of my own it starts to crumble around my years you have signed off on a scheme that makes me build that house to 2008 standards and excludes me from being able to get a grant to build it to modern standards we have we're working with CAI the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and they're due to come out shortly in this month next month with specific proposals and how we apply the grants to houses which have suffered from the defect of concrete blocks and so there will be some flexibility there it's not a but I think that as you would know the stress and anxiety that these homeowners have been and are going through why would we rebuild houses in the first instance to 2008 standards and then start talking about flexibility with CAI grants that doesn't make any sense can you make sense of it for me as to why it was decided to build new houses to old standards in 2024 especially in the context of everything we've talked to up until now because the fundamental justice here was to bring houses back to the proper standard that they were built with it wasn't to can necessarily allow for what they might call betterment where you'd kind of build a bigger this is about the environment yeah and absolutely and I work fully supportive and provide very extensive grants to allow people to put the likes of heat pumps on solar panels you think it's logical do you you think it was logical to to not take an opportunity to help the public to upgrade their houses to modern standards do everything to make sure that the people do have that opportunity and that there is significant supports and grants provided and it will be significantly cheaper and better and we'll work with SCAI okay so with that in mind to put in specific proposals okay so with that in mind households do that can I put it to you that then we'll get rid of the 2011 nonsensical pre-2011 nonsensical rule and streamlining so grants the reason for those 2011 rules more widely than across the rest of the country is because any houses after 2011 will effectively be built to the standards that you don't necessarily need the level of supports but if there are any instances due particularly to the MICA issues and that houses are excluded or in some way disadvantaged that of course we'll look at that but what does that mean we'll look at it though minister I just want to try and give some certainty to people okay because people are incredibly stressed and upset and at the witsand okay so what do you what does we we will look at it look like our under coming out in the coming weeks months with a specific mechanism that we will deal with households which have been gone through the whole MICA need for the to be rebuilt so that the grant and other supports apply in a way that's fair there as well the numbers are likely to be very small in that regard in terms of the number houses post 2012 as you said close to building standards there but there is sufficient flexibility in the existing scheme I think the Department of Housing we were and are supportive of the way that they've managed 100 percent grant are fully funded retrofitting or bringing buildings back to the proper state and we will work collaboratively with the Department of Housing and Local Government and with Donegal County Council to make sure that the scheme does work for everyone in terms of Donegal County Council they issued e-tenders seeking contractors to express interest in rebuilding rebuilding defective social homes those are two modern standards so why are council houses different to private houses then they're different one is owned by the public one is owned by individual householders and you think that justifies the different treatment well obviously the state has to make a decision itself and how to invest in its own housing stock I'm going around just said to every council in the country what I'm saying to every council the same one I'd say to the Donegal Council we need to do up every house every single house particularly social housing stock we need to retrofit every single one of them and we're doing it in a systematic way we spent 85 million euros last year in houses council houses right across the country we need to do every single one and we as the state have a particular responsibility in that regard that's why we're taking that approach just in relation to those e-tenders they didn't include foundations now there is growing evidence that Pyrite will affect and is affecting foundations do you think it's a wise spend of public money to be rebuilding houses on what may well turn out to be in the sciences port pointing never more to it defective foundations well what the department housing and local government has done is absolutely following the science and assessing as I understand a number of different properties are looking to see as we start doing this to make sure that well is that an issue around foundations and it's on the basis of that science that yes as I said there has to be flexibility here that we have to look and see what's the real circumstances in terms of foundations and they will assess that and a scientific independent oversight basis so that's the best way to tackle that issue just on a national issue well it's not a national issue it's local and national in terms of immigration we saw recently they've been framed as U-terms by government two areas of housing two housing units that were earmarked initially for male applicants and then overnight effectively after protests were launched now I'm not saying the timing is what led to it all of a sudden it was families now I've listened to many ministers at this point that say no no no we didn't change our mind because of public outrage or representations from local TDs and what have you we just decided in that really tiny short period between issuing a letter of intent and then making a further announcement that our priority now was women and children I accept that that is the national policy but is it fair that the government with a straight face is trying to tell people that the protests and local representations are not adjusting the thinking in how we're using this accommodation you're an honest man of course you stand by that of course you do well firstly on a second on the first issue in terms of why was it that we ended up putting families in rather than single males in those two facilities it was because in the preceding days and this is day by day people come into the country we need to start accommodating the next day and it actually changes day by day who's coming in and so the team in charge here have an issue I said I've got these whole load of families and I don't have somewhere to put them okay I'll put them in there and it's literally that level because we are in such a challenged position and you can you're saying that with your hand on your heart that this was nothing and freedom of information or whatever will never reveal that actually they said you know what this is going to go not go down very well we're going to put families in there instead and find somewhere no we're not going well firstly we can't I mean yes we listen to protests of course you do you're very attentive in politics Irish politics particularly as to what people think in the ground and really sensitive listening is the first most important skill in politics but we have to be careful here we as a country believe in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights we have to stand up for our playing our part in the world a real troubled world of providing refuge where it's appropriate and only if it's appropriate we do not shut down close the country and say sorry Ireland's full we're not going to do anything in terms of no I'm not suggesting that either and but that is an important first principle the second principle from that is we cannot have a country where we say I'm going to blockade this accommodation are I going to burn this accommodation down if you don't do what we want that way lies Anarchy and Madness and actually a complete reversal from all the values that I think Irish people do hold here so and yes we manage this is really difficult for government or for local government and all the agencies but we do it in a way which is very much listening to our people to try and make sure there's not any one community particularly disadvantaged do you but but heating some come back to that online messages earlier on what you have on climate it's the same on issue in refugees a lot of disinformation a lot of fear fear of mongering a lot of depicting men as a fundamental problem and refuge is something that we cannot provide we have to be we have to manage it there are limits but saying we do nothing is not right just a couple of quick questions do you believe Israel is guilty of genocide in the Middle East at the moment I think after I've been interested to see what the judgment is but I spoke the other day one thing that seems to me irrefutable and I was reading the case been made with the South African government if you look at what the world food food program is saying at the moment that all the 2.2 million people in Gaza are an immediate risk of starvation half some 600,000 are actually it's an acute they don't have food and that first and foremost if unless this war stops to assist immediately those people are at risk and that by any stretch of the imagination do you think we should ensure we're as a people because you do you were elected and make decisions on behalf of the people do you think that we should be more supportive of South Africa in their measures because the language at the moment is like well we don't know what a genocide is or is it I mean what we're seeing is horrendous for I think the Irish government like the Irish people I think I've probably one of the leading voices certainly within the European Union but why are we not going further is it because we don't want to upset Europe we don't want to upset the Americans no not at all we've consistently taken a position that might be difficult for some of our American or European colleagues it is the South African case to take there's no other country specifically joined them but do you believe just just finally on that then just clearly do you believe Israelis engaging in genocide I believe that the what is I believe what the UN world food program and what the UN high high commission for human rights is saying is absolutely true that unless there's an immediate response the yes there is you're saying they're on the brink of it I think they have but they're not there I know I think what is happening in Gaza is an absolute tragedy but is it genocide I just want you to address that word specifically I'm not going to first one answer the kind of court hearing in terms of no I don't understand that's the way the judges make that in terms of that technical assessment but absolutely the Irish government and our own party and others have made it clear where we stand and what we believe is while the original obviously tax and seventh of October were absolutely horrific to be deplored the response is not commensurate it is putting the lives of innocent women and children and men and families right across Gaza and in the West Bank at absolute peril it has to stop today there's so much we could get through but I have one last question obviously the local elections are upcoming how many Green Party councillors do you think you may be able to or you might try and return in Donegal we want to return in every single county that's my first objective is to make sure we do have a representative and I'm absolutely I'm very confident that we can and will do that we've about 105 candidates selected already right around the country really good candidates and I think five months is a long time to election but we'll go with a proud record of delivering in central government in Europe and in local government and looking to extend that further in the next local elections and very finally every time that you fly somewhere minister Ryan people go why should I stop doing this that done because that man that man's never out of an aeroplane at one point you were going to fly back from and back out to the UAE you know people want the government to stop practicing what they're preaching I think that's a problem with the climate crisis messaging that users seem to be living a different life to us yeah but you can't work on a political level and some work in some instances if you're not in the room you do need to be present to be able to influence international global events and we are country more than anything else is open and engaged with the world but can I say this we will not deliver the climate change leap we need to make if it's pointing the finger of people blaming people saying are you doing the right thing there in any one individual act our job in Donegal County Council in government and in Europe and beyond is to change the system towards a better way which is both more socially just as well as more secure and more cost effective economic and that change requires political leadership which we are providing it doesn't work if it's all put all the weight of the world is put on the individual of the householder of the individual in terms of what they are doing so yes I fly to some of these work that they have to do for government yes other people do all sorts of things that but we will change the way the aviation works and similarly we change every other sector it's by system change we will tackle climate change not by putting the blame on the individual minister for the environment climate communications transport and green party leader Amy Ryan thank you so much for your time thank you watch the show live now on youtube facebook and at highlandradio.com the nine till noon show brought you by Kelly's Toyota where you can care for your car with Toyota Relax giving you a year's warranty with your service terms and conditions apply January Super Savers at Homeland Willow Warm Brigettes Buy Five Bales Get One Free Five KG Wild Bird Peanuts Buy Two for $25.99 Save 25% off all Julek's Ready Mix Color Emotion Regatta Clothing Save 20% Across All Lines Shop All Offers in-store and online at homeland.ae Offers Available Until January 21st Despite low 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That is genius Better get a ticket so The National Lottery It could be you Play responsibly Play for fun Okay so there you have it that was our chat with Aiman Ryan In terms of answers I'm not sure what we got there as it relates to the effective concrete block situation that's the government stands as it stands so we'll see what the my group and others think of that some sort of a timeline and a commitment to funding of the TNT project in Donegal and the Bonnegie link and then justification for flying around the world whilst we can't burn turf or sell turf you know so as I say there you have it that's what we have The reason the government want to build to 2008 standards is because it would be a fraction of the cost of the standards of today's building standards they say if you money Aiman Ryan dodged the question as he always does but then they say well there is other grants for SEAI that will sort of make up the difference but it's why do it differently I just want to thank minister Ryan for giving the go-ahead for a railway here in Electric Kenny that is if he's telling the truth will the railway go from Donegal to Derry and to Sligo Greg why not interview Aiman Ryan the way you interview Charlie McConaughey he got away easy I don't think he got away easy I could ask the questions a number of times he gave his responses I don't believe I ever gave Charlie McConaughey a non-fair interview when I interviewed the minister at that time it was when a scheme was about to be announced there was a great deal of concern and uncertainty about that scheme it was of the time just as it was about to be announced and I stand over all of those interviews and believe I was fair and when you are deemed to be unfair to be asking questions about government policy I mean where do you go from there in terms of you know accountability or me trying to hold people to account there's a big difference between Aiman Ryan coming up here and cabinet ministers from within the county voting on a system that their constituents have issues with and I put the questions of their constituents to the person making the decision that's that I don't see anything unfair about that how could that be unfair and as I say nothing's been deleted all those interviews are there anyone wants to listen to them back I stand over them a hundred percent hi I'm listening to your show no harm is he saying we have no right to or say about our country and county is he saying that's how it will we will lose our cultural identity this is in relation to Paddy Rooney's comments next election people should reject the current government our people fought and died for our right say we are Irish and this is Ireland so we do have rights the only one thing I would say is there's been a pattern of people voting for alternative parties and I'm not saying this is how we should or shouldn't vote just an observation in other countries and I'm sort of lasting one term and then reverting back to something of the status quo previously I don't know what that's about but it does seem to does seem to happen I call it goes on to say always pandering to Europe is what the current Irish government do losing fishing grounds housing crisis and other current migration problems it's time we left this useless European Union the government tells the facts to suit themselves people don't believe a thing they say anymore the only one thing I'd say about leaving the European Union well not a big EU fan necessarily but that's what the British were told that they would vote to leave the European Union and take back control they're going to lose close on half a trillion by according to their own figures up to 2035 as a result of that they wanted to take back control of the borders they haven't and then what it meant is that expats you know they call them expats they're not immigrants or immigrants they're expats do you notice the different language so if you're if you're white and English and you go to live in Spain or Portugal and not speak their language speak your own language and all that kind of stuff you're an expat expatriate but if if it's in reverse you're an immigrant you're an immigrant on vetted or something along those lines it didn't work for them they just had to come home they just leave their holiday homes in in in Europe and also the NHS is still on its knees and people are still coming in in their tens of thousands illegally so leaving Europe in and of itself doesn't didn't seem to fix the problems for the British why what are airplanes doing in the sky if they're so concerned about climate change we're doing everything that we can regarding climate change how are planes cutting back on emissions we're always talking about electric cars you have to be well off to afford them the new led lights are a problem I can't see when I'm driving at night it's okay for the driver with led lights as he can see well but he's blinding others what will aim and Ryan do about this well I think it's about two or three percent of emissions traffic is responsible for and right now I would say they're trying to make them more efficient but I don't think that was your point and I appreciate your time the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland radio okay it is 11 o'clock on the bottom time for a news update and it's over to Michaela Clark thanks Greg good morning health services in the northwest are once again urging people to consider all care options as emergency departments face sustained pressure it comes as one medical practice in letter Kenny warns that Donegal has the highest level of flu cases in the entire sealed to health care group Scali McDade Rorty medical practice says the county on the other hand has the lowest flu vaccine uptake in the region in a statement Silda says flu cases have increased by 39% in the space of two weeks and COVID-19 continues to circulate at high levels the transport minister says the government is committed to deliver the Tenty Road project the infrastructure development has been in the offing for many years with renewed calls for the need for the Bonnegie Link relief road in letter Kenny to get off the ground Minister Eamon Ryan is in Donegal today as part of a tour of local authorities across the country to discuss climate change plans it's believed eight people who arrived in Arnund on a shipping container this week have now left an accommodation center in Dublin they were among 14 people who were discovered in a refrigerated container that arrived into Rosler from Belgium they were subsequently transferred to City West in Dublin for their cases to be processed attacks on the construction of new commercial buildings is being suggested as a way to direct more funding and labor towards the building of homes a new ESRI report has found the national development plan has underestimated the level of investment needed to meet challenges faced by the likes of housing as well as health and climate change public expenditure minister Pascal Donahue has welcomed the report saying he will consider it in the context of updating ceilings of the plan across various sectors Donegal is to receive a 450,000 euro share of 6.2 million euro and Clarke funding announced today nine projects in the county will each receive 50,000 euro the funding will go towards developing a sensory garden by the Lahi Development Committee re-roofing a men's shed workshop in Port Nou and enhancing an existing woodland walk in Rathmullen finally in sport Jim McGinnis has been successful in his appeal against a proposed eight-week suspension from Ulster GAA for filling an ineligible player in the Doctor McKenna Cup a hearing took place on Thursday evening and the Donegal boss has been clear to take his place on the line for this Sunday's semifinal against Monaghan in a short press release at Donegal GAA said following a request by Jim McGinnis to the Ulster hearings committee the county secretary has been informed that the alleged infraction was not proven and that no further disciplinary action is to be taken those are the latest headlines we'll be back with an update again at 12 noon Makeda, thank you very much indeed Finula and Michael they're back together for that entertainment that's coming up after a break stay right where you are The Nine Tonin Show brought you by Kelly's Toyota Port Road, Lederkenny home to a wide range of Toyota commercial vehicles your perfect business partner Enter the Virgin Media Playhouse for unbelievable value from Ireland's best broadband get 500 meg super fast reliable broadband for just 35 euro a month for 12 months and no activation fee when you act now switch in store or at virginmedia.ie Virgin Media It's Playtime Why leave all the magic moments or great scenes you've captured on your phone sitting there or in the cloud when you can have them printed at McGee's Chemist Using the McGee's app or one of the in-store kiosks you can upload your photos from your phone Google Photos Facebook or Instagram and have them printed instantly within an hour or in by 10 and ready by 5 See McGee's.ie for more details Hold your memories in your hand with McGee's Chemist Lederkenny Uno dos tres a Heine Adoa tree one two three the Orona, the Atteca and the Turaco three great SUVs from Seat and when you order now you can enjoy three years free tyre insurance and three years roadside assistance plus three flexible payment options to purchase your new Seat Visit seat.ie to discover even more of our fantastic offers great things come in threes at DMG Motors Dunnegull town and while I have three seconds allow me to say that yes terms and conditions apply I saw your be good baker running boy again the other day she's like to almost have Brennan ah yes she's he I've never seen her stand still and she's running rings around the rest of us with our Brennan's be good bread only 60 calories a slice 60 calories is I that's just a whole meal is it now she's he it's the whole meal the whole grain and the waste 60 calories a slice and high in fiber whatever way it slices that's why anything baked is better with Brennan's today's bread today backstage bar and grill is open for breakfast lunch and dinner seven days a week if you're looking for healthy options this January we have a great selection of delicious salad sandwiches and more call Century Complex on 07491 21976 to book your table Highland radio weather updates brought to you by Grant building a new home choose grants a triple plus rated air owner air to water heat pump and you flex underfloor heating visit grant.ie and apologies we are one out behind because of that extensive interview with aim and Ryan but I can tell you you're mostly cloudy in dry day today with any frost and ice clearing through the morning there'll be some limited brightness on expels highest temperatures of three to five degrees it's entertainment and it's a big welcome back to finula rabbit hi finula hi hi is this you back now yeah no okay you're not gonna keep going back and forth we have you now this is the teams back together again well again no it should hopefully now that's it now I'm over the as I said I was out sick there I had a little bit of breast cancer that I had to deal with which is all done and dusted now thank god over and finished so it's just a full steam ahead now for 2024 brilliant stuff and it's really genuinely fantastic not just to have you back on this item but to have you back at Highland radio because we all did miss you I'm sure although really Michael as you might imagine he's never too far away no yeah never stopped emailing never stopped texting yeah give it out despite protestations from within and I would say the family as well as the bloody station even when she was phone down for even when when we were separated by miles still still for Lula was critical of all my tv choices by text which was absolutely I'm not surprised yeah there you go there you go it's something to keep you on the right track fool me once I finished it last night thank god do you know when you're just so glad something you're watching is over because it's no it was on my list for the weekend no and I'm not saying don't watch it you'll probably love did you enjoy the stranger yeah but it was the same thing with the stranger though it was kind of like yeah I'm at the end of it I did not enjoy it but it's just it's so British it's like listen really well made Michelle Keegan's lovely in it she's an actress Joanna Longley's good at it as well she's not in it much really if the truth be told it's just that everyone's a suspect and then as you go through it you know the weed all out and then twists and turns but isn't that every isn't that every murder mystery it's a specific it's particularly you would never see this in an American made program there's just too many red herrings now they don't leave any of them hanging they cover a lot of it and they cover all the bases and it's fine but you know how you know your thumbs down like it love it I went like it because it engaged me right but I don't know you weren't enthused I just don't think it's good as everyone's saying okay fashion wise Michelle Keegan she wears some lovely clothes so she's got this particular jacket right it's got this particular jacket it's a beautiful gray white kind of a tweed but it's like a wasted jacket if you don't remember it's a long coat so it's like a jacket to the hips and then phrase that that's a bit like going a huge sale on them you can be sure of that that's like seeing a play and saying my god the seats were so comfortable yeah I just thought I just think there's going to be a big rush to buy lots of stuff that she was wearing not for me but I'm just saying I am well you're probably right though a lot about it because you think about Harlan Corbin is an American writer and he's been around for years I mean I've read all of his stuff I love his stuff I'm intrigued to watch it though for new I really want you to and watch it the weekend now because it is on my list for the weekend I was going to kind of hunker down with the firebag so I still don't know how to light the fire oh I watched telepathy it's not like you bitching or anything sorry you actually for the coziness firebags you're the person who buys them I don't know how to light a fire it's it's beyond my ability which I don't like to say that about anything but I have given up on fires even my son-in-law over the Christmas he had to light the fire every day it's like yeah no I can't do it but Harlan Corbin as I said has written numerous numerous books and I loved them and I've always loved his books and I always wondered why they didn't make anything out of it because for years the only thing that they did was they were picked up by a lot of French there was a lot of French editions of it and the French edition movies of his books and that kind of thing I c