consideration. A memo will also be brought to Cabinet tomorrow to change the fair deal scheme so that the empty houses of those living in nursing homes won't be subject to tax if they're rented out. Minister O'Brien says an assessment of larger vacant properties which could be refurbished will also be completed by the end of this week. Already, through the local authorities over two weeks ago, I'd thought that they'd do a troll of the whole country in relation to larger properties, old convents, hotels, commercial buildings that can be converted, not just for the short term, some for the short term, but others potentially for the long term, some that were already on our radar. So that list is being worked through over 500 significant properties across the country where have been assessed. Households could save a further 110-year-old a year if the government proceeds with a vat cut on gas and electricity. It's among new measures which will come before Cabinet ministers tomorrow to further tackle rising energy costs. Another lump sum payment of €99 is also being considered for the 370,000 people who are in receipt of fuel allowance, while a cut to the PSO levy on energy bills could result in an extra saving of around €50 a year. Chief Economist with Davie Stockbrokers, Conor McCullough, says the plans are at the edge of what will benefit people. It's in the context of the sort of 60-70% increases we've had over the past 18 months. So it's helpful at the margin, but again, you know, you are going to see a big squeeze on household bills in April and May as some of the recent gas and price increases are introduced by some of the companies, and again, the increases that are still to come are of the order of sort of 20-30%. And a leading infectious diseases expert believes COVID hospital numbers could drop below 100 with in the next month. Professor Sam McCungy says he's cautiously optimistic given the current rate of decline. 1,081 people with COVID are currently receiving treatment, which is down roughly 33% in the past fortnight. 42 people with COVID are currently being treated at Lettuce-Kennie University Hospital. Professor McCungy says a further sharp decline in the number of COVID patients in hospitals likely over the coming weeks. A lot of people have been exposed and had it and in some ways, you know, that's a natural booster. The BAO2 strain has boosted our immune system above and beyond even the vaccines. So I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll see a very dramatic decline in the number of cases in the hospital and the number of people getting COVID in the next two to four weeks. I'm hoping below 500 and I'm hoping to go down maybe even to double digit figures just less than 100, for example. Whether now this morning will be mainly dry and mostly cloudy with a few bright intervals, showers will develop this afternoon and evening, temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees. We're back with more at 10 o'clock. Until then, good morning. COVID-19 can still cause serious illness, especially in people at higher risk. We need to keep protecting each other. So stay home if you have symptoms. Wear a mask in healthcare settings, public transport and busy places. Let fresh air in if you're meeting indoors. Keep hands clean and get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster. Let's keep looking out for each other from the HSC for us all. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, the 9th and Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello. Good morning. Five minutes past nine on this Tuesday the 12th of April. You're very welcome along to the 9th and Noon Show here on Highland Radio. Let's kick off as we always do each morning with a look at what's making the news on the front of the papers. And we'll start with the local papers this morning. A Gentleman and a great ambassador, former Bunkrana Mayor, Cancer and Wildlife Ranger Dermot McLaughlin has been remembered at his funeral as a gentleman who was a great ambassador for the town. Mr. McLaughlin sadly passed away on Thursday and was laid to rest on Saturday following Requiem Mass in St. Mary's Oratory Bunkrana celebrated by Father John Walsh. His attributes have been paid to Mr. McLaughlin, a phenomphol cancer since his passing, with many remembering his contribution to Bunkrana and Innochone, which also included his involvement in Inch Wildlife Reserve and Fort Dunray. On to the Donegal People's Press this morning, letter Kenny Mann has appealed to men to check themselves for signs of breast cancer. After he had a scare with the disease, Pat McLaughlin went to his GP after finding a lump in his chest, but was given the all-clear following an examination at the Breast Centre at North West at Nutter Kenney University Hospital. The father of four, who has seven grandchildren, is now encouraging men to be aware of the disease and to examine themselves. The Irish Cancer Society says about 37 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Ireland compared to about 3,600 women. Most men who get breast cancer are over 60, and obesity seems to increase the risk of disease. On to the nationals now, and out of Ukraine, Ukraine is bracing for a major onslaught by Moscow's troops in eastern Donbas region, where its President Vladimir Zelensky says tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia, or in Russia's bombardment of the besieged city of Mariupol. If you see the satellite imagery of the tanks and lorries and trucks heading from the west of Ukraine towards the east, it doesn't matter thinking what is to follow. Well, diplomacy to end Russia's invasion made no headway yesterday. As Moscow said, it would not pause military operations to facilitate future peace talks, and Austria's Chancellor gained no optimistic impression from a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Humanitarian agencies also fear the battle for Donbas will drive another surge of displaced people across Ukraine towards the European Union, compounding a crisis that has already forced about a quarter of the country's pre-war population of 4.2 million from their homes. Russia is preparing another offensive, hoping to break on national resistance after all, Mr Zelensky said yesterday of developments in Donbas. The worst situation is in Mariupol, in our southern port city which has been blocked by Russian troops since March 1st. They estimate tens of thousands of people have died, civilians that is, have died in that city. The Irish independent talks of a vac cut on an inch of bills and a bid to tackle soaring costs of living, but you know, I wonder what kind of a meaningful impact this will make eventually though. I mean, obviously it will deliver a saving, but with Europe potentially not taking gas or oil from Russia at all, it's already seeing oil go through the roof. Gas not far behind it, I would say so. I just wonder if increases shortly are going to gobble up any vac cut savings, sorry to be pessimistic, but that's the way it feels. VAT on electricity and gas bills will be cut to that 9%, meaning homeowners can save 110 euro a year as part of major new reforms aimed at tackling the rising cost of living. With electricity and fuel bills soaring, government leaders have finally secured a special derogation from the European Union which allows the government to lower VAT on fuel from 13.5 to 9%. The move will save the energy bill payer around 49 euro a year on electricity and around 61 euro a year on gas, a long promise cut to the public service obligation levy on energy bills, which will see a further 60 euro a year wiped off bills is also expected to come into force in October. Meanwhile, 370,000 people on low incomes who are in receipt of the fuel allowance will receive a one off 100 euro payment which equates to three weeks of the benefit, which is more targeted I think and perhaps a little bit more significant. Government leaders and senior ministers held emergency talks last night aimed at tackling the rocketing price of fuel, which has led to a series of energy price hikes adding around 500 euro to the average household energy bill. On to the Irish Daily Mail yesterday and there was a big lorry protest scheduled for Dublin that it was being labelled as such and it was due to last a week, perhaps two weeks, but it pitted out yesterday very quickly like the two that went before it unfortunately because the guard were able to go up to the lorry drivers and say if you don't move your trucks we're going to find you and if you don't move them then we're going to find you and if you don't move them then we're going to find you and penalty points and so on and so forth and I think there were certain elements that sort of jumped on this protest where you had people walking around sort of quoting British law from 1688 stating that this couldn't be done or that couldn't be done and I think that might have put a lot of people off and also Monday morning with people with work and what have you away on Easter holidays perhaps it was doomed to fail from the get go but nonetheless they took it to the streets they made the efforts. A protest by hauliers demonstrating over spiralling fuel costs has come to an end after causing a day-long disruption in Dublin, a demonstrator some of whom had been fined for obstructing roads in the Docklands area of Dublin had gathered from early yesterday morning people of Ireland against fuel prices had threatened to bring complete lockdown to the city with plans for slow-moving convoys of vehicles to travel along a number of motorways onto or into Dublin city centre however the protest instead saw a lower than expected number of drivers take part. Hauliers left the city some beeping their horns after 6.30pm yesterday evening after Guardi warned them that the next step they would take would be the issuing of penalty point notices and the blocked roads reopened shortly afterwards. Father of three Dave Calan he's a truck driver he has a truck company he's the owner of it and say diesel prices have gone up 40% in the last two years he's from Tipperary he says food has gone up servicing a truck has gone up insurance has gone up oil has gone up he left tip late on Sunday night to join other protesters as a service station in Meath he admitted he was disappointed with the turnout and said organizing demonstrations through Facebook doesn't appear to work especially as some of those who were at loudest in support of the process failed to show up and unfortunately you cannot really judge plans or success based on Facebook because it's the easiest thing in the world to hit like but to get off your bum and go and do something that requires a lot more effort the Irish Daily Star today angry rural politicians have warned there'll be mass opposition to government plans to ban the sale and distribution of turf later this year we flagged this for you yesterday Environment Minister Raymond Ryan has indicated that the sale of turf will be axed from September on to new solid fuel regulations so this means you will still be able to cut the turf for your own use but you can't sell it so you couldn't put an ad up on Facebook market or don deal saying you know 300 bags of turf for sale you can't even gift it to neighbors families or friends independent TD for Ross Common East go away Michael Fitz Morris has accused the government of treating turf as if it was cocaine or cannabis we're going to speak to him a little later on he said the language distribution and sale was reminiscent to that of drugs and that it would prohibit people from giving turf they had cut to an elderly labor to heat their home and people might go well sure who's going to stop giving away turf and and who's going to be pleased in this and it won't stop it happening it actually does because there's an awful lot of people I would almost say the majority of people that even if something is not forced if it is the law of the land that they comply with it for right or wrong for right I suppose of course and that's just the way it is so it will dampen down the practice I imagine if it comes to pass though I can see this one being one that I'm aiming right won't get away with health minister Steven Dunley last night got a bow-by-bow account of Tony Hooligan's botched Trinity secondment so-called secondment this is the son the chief medical officer announced at the weekend that he'll retire after fury over the university move the Department of Health has announced or had announced last month that Dr. Hooligan would be stepping down from his role as Ireland's top doctor after over a decade instead he'll be taking a new position as professor of public health at Trinity College Dublin however the move spiralled into controversy after it was revealed that is 187,000 euro Sally would be salary would continue to be paid for by the Department of Health and so on and so forth at Simon Donnelly's got the report from Mr. Watt whose decision it was and he's written the report I don't know how that makes sense but anyway and we'll get some sight of it in the next couple of days perhaps waiting for it to pitter out from the public interest a little bit more before releasing that finally and finally in the Irish Daily Mirror thousands of junior doctors could take strike action over on safe working hours with 80% at risk of burnout the Union warned yesterday the Irish medical organization claimed they are at breaking point due to illegal and lengthy shifts and breaches of employment law the junior doctors now known as non-consultant hospital doctors are demoralized frustrated and angry Dr. John Cannon chair of the Union's NCHD committee warned yesterday that industrial action was likely if there is not an urgent and serious engagement by the HSE but what can the HSD do more employ more change terms and conditions I don't know anyway that was a run-through what's making the news today 08 660 25,000 that's your whatsapp and text number to get in touch with the show 08 660 25,000 or if you want to give Caroline a call and leave your comment with her directly 07 491 25,000 that's by the way also the numbers if you wish to raise your own issues tell us the story raise a topic it's up to you okay first guest on the program joining us in just over two minutes Sean wanted to redecorate his whole so visited his local Crown Decorating Center where he got top quality brands and everything he needed to do the job better which really brought out his creative side so he loved his leftover paint on an old canvas and sent it to auction teal splotch sold last week for 40,000 euro coincidence we don't think so you see everything's better when you visit Crown Decorating Centres it's not just paint it's personal if you're starting a new business in 2022 call into bizprint today and get sorted logo designed invoice books business cards and all your printing needs 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visit water safety.ie supported by the government of Ireland on the farm if you need some machinery parts contact Tinney's Agri spares in Litterkenny specialists in parts for Sammy Lamborghini John Deere and Zetter also stocking a full range of service and wearing parts for Coon balers and moors and a full range of agricultural lubricants at unbeatable prices on the farm get it sorted at Tinney's Agri spares let grow Litterkenny on 9 1 0 2 3 7 4 okay so let's find out what the Green Party locally thinks of Aiman Ryan's plans to ban the gifting or selling of turf so in other words if you cut an awful lot of turf and you've got a safe for instance an elderly neighbor who you think is under a bit of pressure because of the cost of oil and coal and you think right well I can give them a couple of bags of turf and maybe that might help them through winter 2022 2023 well you might as well be handing them cannabis because it will be illegal. Michael White is chair of the Green Party he joins us on the program. Good morning Michael. Good morning Greg. Do you stand over these proposals? The purpose of the proposals is to ban smoky fuels so that the driver behind what's gonna happen is a ban on the commercial exploitation of turf you can still if you've got rights for turf cutting you can still continue to do that but the reason that this ban is coming in on the 1st of September for the sale and distribution commercial sale and distribution of turf is that when they try to induce a nationwide smoky coal ban so the first smoky coal ban they put in was in 1919 Dublin and that worked really well 70% decrease in pollution and they try to introduce it nationwide about six or seven years ago three actually happened in 2018 three foreign coal companies threatened to through the state because of the exemption for turf burning so that's the main driver. So obviously there was a resistance to that they've lost that battle so they go for the low hanging fruit of the rural community who will just roll over and take it. No no the reason this ban is coming in place is because the smoky coal ban now will be introduced nationwide this is the first step towards introducing a nationwide ban on smoky burning fuel to reduce air pollution. You talked about financial exploitation where is the financial exploitation in gifting turf to a neighbour? I would be surprised if that's going to be a target my understanding is that the focus of this is on people here commercially exploiting turf using you know turf companies so this isn't something I've gone up to the hill and cut some turf for myself and maybe for a neighbour this the target here is people here using machines to reduce large amounts of turf and then selling it so there's been a problem of sale of the turf into urban areas is another thing that triggered this change. But you say that you say that you don't imagine that to be the case but that is what is being proposed if whatever that's what make up if it's more as TD and Ross Common said it's more than he that's saying it. As far as I know he's the only one that's saying it. That's not my understanding of what's being proposed here. The proposal is to ban the commercial sale of turf to make sure it doesn't get back to places like Dublin etc for burning and fires air and it's the first step towards a nationwide ban on smokey coal and are you in favour of this move? I in general so that the rights of people who own have always dug turf those are protected so you can still continue to dig and burn turf yourself which is fine that longer term as a member of the Green Party we are saying that the the bogs are better left uncut mostly if you can for two reasons probably better off left without wind turbines jammed into the middle of them as well. I agree. I agree so that's why we're focusing on offshore winds but in terms of bogs and turf cutting in general bogs are better off left if they're not cut because they act as a carbon what they call the carbon sink they're like a big sponge for soaking up CO2 carbon dioxide that's a good thing and the second thing they do then is they promote biodiversity Irish bogs have got a huge range of species that don't exist anywhere else and that's good because biodiversity in in a problem is under pressure for the last 20 years because of new forms of agriculture a lot of species were native to the country and people might say so what well that has an impact longer term on water quality and on the survival of species etc and so the Green Party's views that the bogs are better left uncut as they act as a carbon sponge and they promote biodiversity however we've also said like that's not going to affect if you've had family traditional rights to cut turf on the bog that hasn't affected for now but if if this it's on the front of every paper which is really quite remarkable considering it's kind of a rural story if it is the situation that aim and Ryan is not going to ban the gifting of turf why is he not come out and clarified yet this yet I mean what's he been doing for the last two or three days I would I would try and clarify that but I would say that's probably not he's probably surprised that this is on number one given the fact that you know what's going on in Ukraine and we could be on the verge of an expansion of the war etc he's also had the the process just by an unofficial group of truck drivers that say that was probably what he was more concerned about this week so I think it may have surprised people that this I'm surprised frankly that it's such a high profile issue given the other things we have to worry because life that's not how it works because things are relative things are relative and because there's something very significant happening in other part of the world it doesn't mean that we don't worry and stress about our own personal struggles it I think it's okay I think it's okay for people in rural Ireland to be worried about how they will heat their homes next winter yeah they shouldn't feel guilty for feet for for having an opinion on this because of all the training raging I'm not saying yep sorry I'm not trying to make me feel guilty I'm just I'm surprised I would have thought of other things but so the the main point if I can again is anybody who has rights to cut turf will still have rights to cut turf you can cut turf as long as you want that's not affected that what's affected is commercial sale of turf in terms of the cost of living crisis the percentage of people who rely on turf is a fundamental part of their their heating isn't that high they're bringing out a new package of cost of living measures this I think on Wednesday of this week which will be targeting people on lowering comes again so things like there'll be a reduction on the on the VAT rates on electricity they're going to remove the public service obligation charge they're going to extend the number of weeks so that's providing that they have that's providing that they would have gas or electricity and that could offset their heating bills I mean a lot of homes that we're talking about here don't have those facilities so you know yeah most most of us will be using electricity some sort they may not be using it for heating it's I guess what I'm saying is that there are a package of measures coming in later this week that are targeting people who are on the lowest incomes people who are using turf today to heat their homes can continue to do so if you've got rights to cut turf and burn turf that's not going to get stopped what's getting stopped is um going out to sell the voter turf to somebody else that's that's going to come to that's being banned in September and the reason as I said is in order to to implement a nationwide smoky coal ban that had to be done because there's three foreign coal companies were threatening to sue the state while there was a there was an exemption for for turf burning and those companies are starting was that an anti competitive challenge it's based on an article from the Irish Times yesterday saying that not anti competitive they were saying you can't apply one set of standards for smoke for air quality against us the coal importers versus um private people burning turf so that the basis of their legal case was the fact that you're trying to apply two different sets of rules that you you would ban coal importers I don't know if you know it's been in the news a few times now that the government's tried to impose a nationwide smoky coal ban and couldn't because of the threat of legal action this is one of the reasons that the threat of legal action was in place because of the exemption on turf burning so putting in this um ban on the commercial sale and exploitation of turf in first of September is the first step towards being able to actually impose a smoky coal ban across the country and as we know from letter Kenny air quality is still a big big issue you know the the ban worked in Dublin in 1980 it hasn't really worked in uh regional centres that well for a variety of reasons so because you can drive three or four kilometers outside of town if that and buy whatever coal you like bring them back in and there's zero enforcement that's more of an issue yeah and then letter Kenny that would be safe and yeah but I mean there are other times like ennis has got a really terrible record for air quality and they're obviously not close to the border but they're having problems as well and part of the problems they're having is that there isn't a nationwide ban on smoky coal but yeah I understand what you're saying even if we did have a smoky coal ban nationwide people could still cross the border maybe to pick up coal so lower quality so you're of the view then that and sorry to lay with this point and you and the widest kind of things you might not think it's it's too big a deal you you believe the gifting of turf will not be included in these regulations not that that's the be all and end all but that just so we have some clarity on the situation I will need to find that out that would seem that would seem to me unlikely that somebody will will be approached because they've given an elderly neighbour some back to I don't think it's gonna look we don't enforce anything in this country we're not enforcing the smoky coal ban so we're hardly going to enforce that the the the transporting of turf between neighbours yeah we haven't been able to enforce properly the smoky coal ban because it wasn't nationwide but this this um the stopping of commercial exploitation of turf by because you can't go into someone's house and see what they're burning that's why it hasn't been like nobody's gonna want to and nobody's gonna want to if you're dropping stuff off to an elderly neighbour no one's gonna like I think that red herring but the purpose of this the purpose of putting in a ban by the 1st of September on and not a ban on turf cutting and not a ban on burning turf but a ban on selling it commercially the reason for that ban is in order then to enable a further nationwide ban on smoky coal okay and why do you call it red herring if Aiman Ryan is busy with other things he does have quite the panel of advisors that could put together some clarification on this on his behalf I will try to get that this has been rumbling on for two or three days so again this is not our fault for talking about it you know this is and his his merry band of advisors that have not clarified it themselves and so I didn't mean to suggest it wasn't relevant or didn't deserve clarification and so I will try and get clarification and I know it's a very hot topic in certain parts of the country I think all and very hot in Ross Common and parts of West Galway because there it's a bigger part of the fuels use and also it's important to point out that it was us that called you to invite you onto the program as well by the way stay where you are cancel me whole column again aspect you are a turf cutter are you going to be involved in the illegal illegal trade and supply of turf in the in the winter well you know listen to the chairperson there of the Green Party it just shows very clearly and I'm not trying to be personalizing this but how and how would I touch the Green Party are what rural Ireland yes I do believe that our bogs provide an important part of biodiversity I do believe that we need to take strong and quick action in terms of climate change but that all said we live in one of the most disadvantaged communities we're in the whole 26 counties are low income base as very well documented hundreds if not more families like myself depend heavily on the bog in terms of fueling on heating in our house we need to look at fuel poverty and the debts from fuel poverty every year we need to look at the very fact is that the Green Party are saying that they don't believe that they're going to target people who give turf to their elderly neighbors not but this is not just about that it's also about those that depend on it on a living but who aren't exploiting the bogs in the way that it's been portrayed these are people who go out and cut turf and supply and provide a service to our community there are scores and hundreds of people out there who depend on tractor loads but just in relation to that in relation to that cancer though you would see the issue would you I wonder would you in that say for instance you cut a trailer load of turf okay and you sell it to someone in letter Kenny and they burn it in their firing letter Kenny where there's a smoky coal ban and you know it it it's updated daily live you can see the information if a lot of people do do that that has a very negative impact on the air quality and that has a very negative impact on people particularly with respiratory with respiratory illness so every action has a reaction so even if you are trying to protect someone's income and you quote how people's lives might be lost because of fuel poverty people's lives will be lost because of people burning turf in the heart of letter Kenny do you get where I'm coming from yes I do hear what you're coming from and nobody wants to see anybody having a poor quality of life or a poor quality of air you know cars and tractors and lorries also contribute to poor quality of air in their towns and their villages and are we going to ban cars now well we'll never get anywhere with that argument though will we because it will always be what I'll do when everybody else does it come back to the to the reason that I'm uh uh very upset and angry as my neighbour's persistent a good party yesterday uh talking to people who were in contact with me about the concern so we had for one example you had one fella who who lives down the road from his parents his parents are elderly uh his uncles uh so he looks after you know he's the youngest of that family and they some of them don't have any children so he cuts on on on family bog and then he distributes it free of charge uh to his neighbours and there's there's a concern or family and there's a concern and if we look at it but yet we're still allowing oil and gas uh to be used which has more of a carbon footprint than what me going across because I can see my bog from my house from me going across to the bog to cut turf uh and that's similar to most people in western eagle uh and look again I would state yes there has to be a dramatic shift in terms of if we don't make a if we don't make a stop somewhere in me yeah what they're doing is and I think you correctly pointed it out that the beginning greg was the low for lion fruit they're targeting working class communities communities that are socially and economically uh deprived and and we're going to pay a heavy price now okay let me put that here and for our neighbours let me put that point directly to because it's very succinct there uh this is targeting this is targeting uh you know some of the poorest in society those who cut cut the turf will take turf from others Michael because that is how they heat their houses they don't have there's many of us there's many of us simply haven't been able to buy a bag of coal for the last six weeks you know and there's wood and there's turf and that's it well what he's just described wouldn't be it's not a ban on turf cutting I'm just make that clear nobody's banning the cutting of turf can I reply yes sorry me hall me hall and the family have the right to cut turf as they've always had that is not being affected if somebody is displaying a turf to their parents that isn't affected they're displaying it to their aunt and uncle that that is infected what is affected is commercial exploitation and I know you're having chats and having complaints but I have people ringing me so it's somebody ringing me from Glenclaw and kill last week to complain about machines just chewing up the bog so obviously people who are more environmentally worried about this would ring me maybe more than yourself I've also had people from letter Kenny who've got serious lung conditions they're ringing me actually about the retrofitting schemes trying to get their eating improved but they're saying that the the quality of the air in letter Kenny is impacting both them and their kids we know where they have a serious medical condition and they're looking at another winter so these these people have to address as well so air quality is a big issue as I said the main driver behind this is the smoky coal ban nationwide the first step had to be banning of of commercial sales of turf but it doesn't affect me hall or his family they can cut turf to their cows come home you don't know that Mike Mike you do know that it's in the middle of the no no we don't know this is hang on a second this legislation was first circulated over 12 months ago so we do know that we know for a fact the junior family can continue to cut turf yes yes we I can continue to cut turf but if you look at the turf or look at the bogs because I have two bogs I have one that I get from Joe Mulligan I have another one that is a family bog so if I give Joe Mulligan or anybody else we don't know and we have no clarity clarity on this here yet because I was trying to ring them last night and this morning to get clarity on on this here because the fact that we're using terminology of gifting that is hugely concerning loads of people look out for their neighbours and their friends and that terminology that word gifting wasn't used by the Green Party or Aiman Ryan that was used by Michael Fitzmorris and it as Greg says he has a whole array of advisors and script writers that could easily have come out yesterday and clarify that and what it's left is because we're talking about weeks we're talking about September where we I'll be cutting my turf now Brian or somebody will be coming in cutting my turf now when in the next week or so I still have another load that I need to take home and yes but lazy of me that it's not home yet but the fact is this has left a lot of families a lot of families very worried and very concerned right now and we could have easily had clarify that and not put as much less but bear also mind that what are we going to do with the tough quarters to it traditionally have been supplying an area like the door or the low for over generations as as they're one of their main income are they going to be provided with a subsidy not subsidy but but a payoff to to so that their livelihoods aren't affected in terms of their income and also are we moving to put proper money in place to retrofit homes that that that badly needs them in terms of being able to save money but energy being obviously a big a big issue as well for people not being able to afford to hit their house at a woman from our ground to me yesterday panicking not in relation to turf but the very fact that the cost of hitting their home and her children now is beyond her ability to pay there's a number of points I made there I 100% agree there's people scared now about their ability to hit their homes and then making choices not happy so the government is making some moves there but I think there's locally and done it all everybody here needs to try and lobby to ensure there's extra steps taken because of this area is economically worse off than most of the other 26 countries and Michael would you would you agree because I know we've had that these arguments over the years especially when you look at me oh and then you look at all the basins off than the ball on and Dublin and Cork where we have quite a sizable amount of oil and gas even though that the oil hasn't started flowing yet would you not agree that time now that the government moved and and and put that into public ownership and sort of private ownership which is from the gale family well and the Green Party had supported through the years and that might relieve some of the pressure on families in terms of cost if they don't I'm not aware of any if you're talking about oil and gas that needed to be explored and dug up or piped I don't think that'll be the answer I think offshore wind energy has got a better prospect for Dunnegal okay in terms of just in relation to just in relation to wind energy and maybe you can you can set me straight on this you know we we uh of our electricity needs when it's not very windy around about 35 percent or 30 to 35 percent of our electricity needs are met by wind when it is windy it's upwards of 80 85 percent how come that has not insulated us in any way seemingly from the the gas and gas and coal markets I can't work that out there's some companies that supply only 100 green energy however they can do that from the same grid as everyone else people's bills with that company have gone up equal to all others if if we're not insulated at all seemingly from these external price rises and yet we produce really quite a lot of energy from wind what's what's what's the point why why are we not seeing any savings I think that's all right it's because overall European electricity rates are tagged to the gas price so I agree it's mad and there are moves to try and decouple that but yeah so it is it's mad regardless of how much more energy we're so we are no matter how well we do and you said offshore wind energies that the silver volunteer no matter what help well we do we are tied into say for instance Germany or Holland or France who aren't doing as well it's they that are striking out so what's the what's the point in us looking at all of these wind turbines if there's no actual saving for us I mean obviously there's an a green impact but I'm on about we are as exposed as anybody else I don't understand it yeah yeah there's there's no way that that peg to the gas price is going to continue over the next two or three years it's part of the big discussion that's happened with Germany trying to get off russian oil I'd be really sure that the the pricing of electricity will be decoupled from the price of gas it is it's a bit mad at the moments that even if you increase the amount of wind energy you're generating the moment the overall european electricity prices are still I would argue that's a priority because if we actually started seeing the benefits of all these wind turbines we might actually embrace embrace it even more but we're not I think one of the things here I think if I can come in here one of the problems here is that and when you talk about massive commercial wind farming and we're not talking about small cooperatives or like what we have here in al-Safaran or some others smaller wind farmers but I'm talking about the bigger scale of wind farming like like amazon and so on support that this is all down to profit capitalism and while it's all while the government continues to support this ideology ordinary working-class communities that we live and would not be served well and I get what you're saying right but there was two weeks last month right where 85 percent of our electricity needs were met by wind energy and others like if the people you're talking of your constituents and us if we actually were locking on around the world and other everyone else's fuel prices were going through the roof electricity prices are going through the roof and ours weren't we would have a far different attitude to these wind farms and these wind turbines because there would be a benefit to us but we're not seeing that we're still being hit with the same increases despite us hosting so many of these these these wind turbines might go Bear bear in mind that the one farmers aren't there to look after the interest of communities in the working-class but that's the government's fault because they are actually really quite effective at generating electricity I would say an average of 50 percent our electricity comes from these things yet we don't see an advantage please Michael go ahead yeah there's a few things we're introducing legislation to facilitate community ownership of energy the ownership of offshore wind energy is still up for grabs it's probably going to be public private partnerships the money required to build an offshore wind farm that can produce the these our scales is going to require external money so it won't simply be the state that builds it itself and then it's publicly owned but you will have something where there could be a mixture of public and private ownership and that's up for definition this is a problem with the public private partnership model though isn't it right across the board in terms of housing as well maybe the wrong term to use is where you need to get external foreign money or you get you know private money in to help build like a toll road possibly yeah where the ownership of but before that well the thing that prevents us even doing that is the first place there's no there was no legal framework for building anything on the water so that's why this marine area act is going through the doors it just it should be through the door this month that had to be done first before anything else could be done so the next the next steps are being taken now that there's going to be a legal framework for building wind all right listen I think it's been very useful healthy debate me hold column thank you very much for doing this Michael White thank you very much for joining us both of you right take care of yourselves what do you think 08 660 25 000 so no matter how many turbines there are and how many how much electricity that they produce we still are we are still tied into to Europe and what have you right okay back with more after these Mike Danvering concert with guests Philomena Bagley Ray Lineman shine at the 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service all over Ireland years ago i used to dread my motor insurance renewal then a friend told me about O'Malley Scanlon Insurance in Ballybuffay and Dunlow they do all the hard work they contact all the major insurance underwriters and they get the very best possible quote for me they have saved me a small fortune over the years and they could do the same for you when your insurance comes up for renewal contact O'Malley Scanlon Insurance at their Ballybuffay office on 9131020 or they're done low office on 95 Treble 206 O'Malley Scanlon is regulated by the central bank beat the cost of brexit and no customs charges do you need a uk address for your limited company or personal use space hub and dairy can provide you with your own virtual office or mailbox have your post and parcels delivered to space up and collected your convenience also brand new 20 foot shipping containers now in stock ideal for all your storage needs at our springtime and co more depots find us on facebook or space up dairy dot com or call 04871 878077 for details it's the right price tiles on wood flooring half price sale get up to 50 percent of everything in store all kitchen and bathroom tiles all wood flooring all bathware all cladding everything's reduced it's our biggest ever sale the right price tiles and wood flooring half price sale stores nationwide sale now on right let's continue this conversation with neil good morning neil i'm good now you are a turf cutter you cut turf on your bog or a bog i do indeed i cut some but it really i can i just hate isn't to say it's for my own use your own personal use okay yes yes and uh what what do you think of you you you're you're a writer aren't you you in the world of comedy i i have written a lot of farce i have written a lot of comedy but i could never come up with this one now uh i know uh the idea behind it might be great but who's gonna implement it for a start are we going to have are we going to have gardy having checkpoints now on the road watching people coming home with their with their turf will they with the guard the checkpoint be there with customs will will social welfare and now when we have turf yeah you see the other thing is is you see we are quite compliant because we're told not to use green diesel the majority of us don't use green diesel even though how often will you actually get your tank dipped that we're told to use car insurance but you know how often are you actually stopped and is that checked but we still comply to that when when the mask mandate was around you know we were told to wear masks how often was that enforced but we still did it they know that if they introduced the law there will be a decent level of compliance that it doesn't require implementation and they can i would say exploit that but they can use that to their advantage so even though it's unenforceable and it's potentially ridiculous neil you will if you try to give some of your turf to to one of your neighbors they might say you know what i don't need that hassle if someone calls around to check and that's how it works neil yeah that's how it work but it's becoming going to become law which if i give my neighbor a bag of turf that will i will be breaking the law and that's and people are are actually blaming aamon ryan on the green party there are three parties in government that that need to address this and forget about it and like i have this vision of a beach in the cost of del Sol where you have you know the largest drug dealers in the country lying on the beach and then you have a pillar from from western he's all lying there and they're all talking about they used to supply we'll say the center of Dublin or the inner city and the johnny gall man can say well i supplied some falcara to buttonport and when they asked was it was it can it was not what no he said it was black turf and very good black turf at that so it's a joke it's it's something rip fan winkel wouldn't come up with after spending 20 years and neil if there's good progress on retrofitting if there is good progress on the the the the the cost of renewable energy then you start saying right we're going to cut back on the use of turf but what happens is it's another situation whereby this leaves people with no alternative except to go for the expensive coal or the expensive oil and some people simply can't do that when there's called a just transition i believe well it's a phrase anyway they're putting the car before the horse here give us options and then look at the burning of these types of fuels not the other way round yeah can i just ask you the pete forgets that were produced in this country they were banned they were stopped and that was the answer import them in from Germany yeah eastern europe yes ship them by lorry to the ports ship them they'll take them then into drover and ship them down the country at a huge cost and is that helping the environment no that's what the green party want at once feels like they're laughing at us well the green party are taking us for a joke but we're actually accepting it and as i said it is more than the green party there are three parties in government yes but for those of them to for those other two to get into government they had to say right green party you can have a couple of things and now we're starting to see the green party's couple of things yeah but have we heard anything from charlie mcconnellog or joe mccue about this in the last few days no we're very interested to get their views on it and it'll certainly make inquiries to see what they think will they be well whatever about the minister's hands being tied as a back bench or joe mccue can probably be a little bit more vocally can take a more community focused attitude towards this perhaps well that's right my view i think it's alright saying it won't be implemented but it will be law and i will be breaking the law yeah by doing by giving a neighbour a bag of now some people actually want to cut off on somebody else's bog rather than pay them they they give them a load of torque or something now that that will be against the law from now on yep 100% and the green party in their manifesto say they are just they are seeking to actively disgust scourge discourage sorry the small level hoarding of turf in rural arland i.e cutting your turf and putting it in a shed that's in their programme for government that that's what they're trying to discourage and this obviously must be part of it well look at we've only ever told to blame or you know we have we saw when the green party were in government the last time we did see what they tried to do and in some cases did and at the next election they were nearly gone off the face of the year but they have come back and they have come back in the cities because the cities the urban areas are not are not aware of what's happening in rural areas and the world's harvest with public transport as well like the 20 reduction in public transport costs if you've if it passes outside your front door like it might in an urban area brilliant news who needs a car stuff it i'll actually have a little sports car with cheaper tax and insurance and i'll take it out for two weeks in the summer but we don't have that option here we need our cars to get from a to b and a reduction in public transport again feels a little bit insulting because we don't have enough public transport that's right well i mean if we're talking about light rail for for western dunigaw the railway stopped in 1940 because it became obsolete didn't work back in 1940 and it's not going to work now but can i just can i just when i'm on a ramp now can i just ask a question here and this is something that's bugger me for a while a lot of western is all is a special area of conservation s a c and what i'm seeing now is that nearly all of those s a c's are illegal they were set up illegal legally by the government under michael d higgins in the nineties who brought this in now the s a c areas in western all are all illegal and no nobody is talking about it everybody's complaining about it so it is i wonder is there a chance for farmers and people like that to come together and actually do with these s a c areas it just maybe it's a comment like yours is what what gets the ball rolling that's how things work but listen neil thanks for touching on all of that it's been a pleasure speaking to you i really appreciate it thanks for joining us uh mary i think your focus your comments actually really quite an important one because we've been talking a little bit about the practical side of this but not maybe necessarily about the heritage the cultural side of it either mary yeah well break i use i have arranged and i use the turf all the time for cooking heating the water baking doing everything so it heats the whole house on the turf so i don't know what that green party man is talking about because he must have his head stuck somewhere else honestly because he doesn't think on the people out in the country and everywhere and especially especially a lot of elderly people that depends on turf as well as me and column said earlier on and he seems to be the only one that's talking up i don't know where all the tds and county councillors are hiding they're not one saying any word only him to talk up for the people and i don't i don't know about that man from ukraine and no that he was talking about ukraine and he said about ukraine ukraine has nothing to do with the turf and our bogs yeah and i tried to make that point i try to bring in ukraine all the time for excuses yeah well i think it was more to say that you know amen ryan's got bigger fish to fry the morian about uh turf cutting at this time i think that's what it was but but you'll you see like i think people that don't live in rural communities don't understand no because they love the turf cutting but they don't understand the turf cutting how much of a conversational point it is how much planning it is how people in families and neighbors come together to get the turf in uh you know how much of living heating cooking and everything is centered on the use of turf it's not just uh uh 15 you know uh 15 people living in three centuries ago this is many many of us this is how we live our lives now in the in the in the present and there is no viable alternative at the moment yeah well this has been done for traditions and traditions and so i don't see why we should i think everybody that cuts turfs you stand together cut get their turf cut get it home don't pay any heating and ryan because i wouldn't listen to him i don't even listen to the news because it's all nonsense it's on it but that's my that's my take on it like mary lovely speaking to you thank you for listening to a wee bit this morning anyway i appreciate it thank you take care mary okay 08 660 25 000 add on your view to that 08 660 25 000 or call 07 491 25 000 don't sleep in and miss the very latest beds and mattress offers from dfibeds.ie ireland's leading online bed and mattress retailer you'll get a comfy irish made mattress upholstered base and headboard from an amazing 229 euro check out the full range at dfibeds.ie delivery free and guaranteed to you within seven working days dfi beds sleep well live well if the medical experts get it wrong everything changes from misdiagnosis or delay diagnosis to surgical injury or even poor treatment all have physical emotional and financial consequences we're here to help so if your treatment didn't go according to plan speak to our experienced medical negligence team at macklehenny and associates find us online i'll call 07 491 759 8 9 macklehenny and associates solicitors strainerle in contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement bluebird care are looking for you bluebird care are currently seeking carers and nurses to join their ever-expanding team immediate starts for carers in all parts of the county especially letter kenny and ashawn and donagall town bluebird care are also looking for registered general nurses for day and night time 12 hour shifts contact bluebird care on 07 491 29562 or visit bluebirdcare.ie and bring care home professor walter mcnicholas from the sleep disorders unit it's in vincentz university hospital here did you know one in five fatal crashes and irish roads could be linked to driver fatigue if you feel tired behind the wheel pull in somewhere it's safe to do so and drink a coffee or caffeinated drink before taking a 15 minute nap the short nap will allow time for the caffeine to take effect before you continue your journey this should give you another hour or so on the road remember stop sip sleep from the road safety authority highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport gatwick's back you can now fly daily to london gatwick with eirlingis the perfect gateway to explore south london island west airport you're flying okay this morning mainly dry mostly cloudy with a few bright intervals showers will develop this afternoon in evening some heavy or of hail highest temperatures 12 to 14 degrees in light southeast or variable breezes right okay um we are going to take one more very quick break and that means i can come back after 10 o'clock and go through the dozens and dozens and dozens of comments we've received so far this morning so stay right where you are news is on the way and then we'll be back with more great guests conversation and importantly your comments the countdown is now on where would you go if you won the 10 000 year old holiday and 5000 year old spending money um probably florida i think it'd be we were over ever before and it was a great crack with the universal studios and the weather over there's class if i won i would go to netherlands to visit my sister if i won the prize i would go to la so i could live like a rich person for like two days the lucky winner will be announced on thursday the 14th of april on the nintle nun show buy your ticket today at heilandradio.com do you have unused and unwanted pesticides and empty chemical containers on your farm are you unsure how or where to dispose of them safely the source to tap project is supporting a free yes free farm chemical disposing scheme being organised by northern ireland water in the river derg catchment around castle derg register today and a specialist contractor will collect your unwanted chemicals and containers from your farm to find out if you are eligible and to book your place contact info at source2tap.eu by the 15th of april the source to tap project is supported by the european union's interreg 5a program the chemical disposal initiative is funded by northern ireland water hi raymond swiney here if your vacuum cleaner has seen better days call in to us at ben swiney ironix for a look at the new samson turbo cardless stick back this lightweight easy to control vacuum cleaner picks up fine dust and carpets and hard floors with a 40 minute battery life and a massive 150 watts of suction power it is now available for 299 euros ben swiney ironix port road letter kinney and the shopping center ben swiney ironix we deliver we install we care kelly's diner and letter kenny now has even longer opening hours try kelly's early bird breakfast one of their great lunch specials or our renowned jakes burger kelly's famous steak specials are available every saturday from three with an eight ounce succulent steak and all the trimmings for just 11 euro new extended opening hours now and kelly's award-winning diner at mountaintop letter kenny check out facebook for details thinking of going green at bns credit union bally buffet it has never been easier we will help you reduce your energy cost with our lower than ever green loan rate available for all home improvements that bring energy efficiency such as insulation heating systems and solar panels visit bnscu.ie forward slash green loan or free phone bns credit union at 1800 290 390 loans are subject to approval terms the conditions apply bns credit union limited is regulated by the central bank of Ireland live on air online and on the highland radio app this is highland radio news it's 10 o'clock good morning i'm catherine gaffney new measures to alleviate spiraling fuel cost should help many families according to the esri the government looks set to sign off tomorrow on plans for another lump sum for all of those who receive the fuel allowance as well as a vat cut on gas and electricity and a reduction in the public service lavy on household energy bills energy economist with the esri murrin lynch says approved people will feel some benefit this will certainly ease some of the pressure household they're seeing will it completely undo the increases that we have seen recently as a result of frank spiking fuel prices at no i would say um particularly if we continue to see further um upward pressure on energy prices but it's certainly going to help some households and that would be welcome a donnie gall green party representative has insisted that new regulations around selling turf are aimed at large operations from september it will be illegal to sell and distribute turf though bog owners can continue to harvest peat for their own use the move has been met with backlash from some rural politicians chairman of the green party and donnie gall michael white says that the rules are there to clamp down on large scale sellers i would be surprised if that's going to be a target my understanding is that the focus of this is on people here commercially exploiting turf using to know turf companies so this isn't something i go up to the hill and cut some turf for myself and maybe for a neighbor this the target here is people here using machines to reduce large amounts of turf and then selling it so there's been a problem of sale of the turf into urban areas is another thing that that triggered this change but local councillor michael colla maguila aspig disagrees and says the issue runs much deeper the green party are saying that they don't believe that they're going to target people who give turf to their elderly neighbors and that but this is not just about that it's also about those that depend on it on a living but who aren't exploiting the bogs uh in the way that it's been portrayed these are people who go out and cut turf and supply and provide a service to our community the gar the technical bureau are examining a house in county slago where the body of a man was found the remains of the man in his 30s were discovered at a property in the kartrun area at around half past eight last night gar they say they are treating his death as unexplained the state pathologist will conduct a post mortem examination later today sip to workers sip to says workers in the private sectors need to pay increases to meet the rising cost of living the union is appealing to employers to be creative when it comes to putting additional money in workers pockets sip to is calling for the government to raise the tax-free amount from 500 to 1000 euro for employee gifts latest figures from the cso show inflation reached almost 7 percent in the year to march the highest rate in 22 years sip to's deputy general secretary for the private sector jerry mccormick says they're planning to lodge pay rise claims with all employers where wage agreements are due for renewal we have been engaged with employers many of them are quite willing to sit down and discuss this with us some probably won't because we already have agreements in place but those agreements were done in good faith they were done at a time when inflation was much lower than it is now so what we would hope to do is to sit down with employers find unique ways to deal with this issue it doesn't have to be percentage increases but it has to be is to put money into our members pockets so that they're not going to be out as a result of the inflationary pressures and the housing minister says properties like old convents commercial buildings and vacant hotels could be used to house people fleeing the war in ukraine minister darro brian has confirmed that a potential cap on the number of refugees arriving here is off the table while payments for those who host them is under consideration a memo will be brought to cabinet tomorrow to change the fair deal scheme so that the empty houses of those living in nursing homes won't be subject to tax if they're rented out minister o brian says an assessment of larger vacant properties which could be refurbished will also be completed by the end of this week already through the local authorities over two weeks ago i thought that they do a troll of the whole country in relation to larger properties old convents hotels commercial buildings that can be converted not just for the short term some for the short term but others potentially for the long term some that were already on our radar so that list is being worked through over 500 significant properties across the country where have been assessed whether now this morning will be mainly dry and mostly cloudy with a few bright intervals some showers will develop this afternoon and evening temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees that's it for now we're back with the headlines for you at 11 o'clock until then good morning the obituary notices for tuesday morning the 12th of april the death has taken place of michael doherty armor donnaf aris klonmani funeral arrangements to be confirmed later the death has occurred of bridget rogers knee mc mullen upper kildrum calais her remains are opposing at her home funeral leaving their tomorrow morning at half past 10 going to the church of the immaculate conception calais for requiem mass at 11 o'clock with interment immediately afterwards in newton conningham cemetery the death has occurred of marion love knee doherty mill bray castle quarter inch island removal from murphy's funeral home this evening at six o'clock going to relate residents removal tomorrow morning at quarter past 10 to our lady of lords church inch for requiem mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery the house is private to family and friends only and on the morning of the funeral please family flowers only please donations in lieu to the donnie gall hospice care of any family member or murphy funeral directors the death has taken place of edith kelly cloche padrick caron donna edith's remains are opposing at her home removal from there this morning at 22 11 for 11 o'clock requiem mass in the sacred heart church caron donna followed by cremation in lake lands crematorium in cavern the funeral mass can be viewed live on caron donna parish dot com and the death has taken place of annie warde the mcloskey in her 101st year 56 listener our road donna mana reposing at her home funeral leaving her home tomorrow morning at 20 past 10 for requiem mass in st patrick's church at killena at 11 o'clock interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery donations and lieu of flowers please to motor neuron care of quigley funeral directors the requiem mass can be viewed live on the donna haley parish youtube for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highland radio dot com this is your guide to smart glasses smart glasses often look like regular glasses and some of them have built-in cameras even if you don't wear smart glasses it's helpful to know what it looks like when someone who is wearing them is taking a photo or video the person wearing smart glasses usually has to take an action such as tapping the capture button to activate the camera when the smart glasses are recording you'll see an led light on the frame so now you know a bit more about smart glasses a message from matter and et al or luxottica okay you're very welcome along to the second hour of the nine till noon show if you're only just joining us where are you you missed an interesting hour of debate as it relates to proposals seeming proposals to ban the cutting and not the cutting of but ban the distribution or sale or gifting of turf some of the comms coming in off the back of that conversation by the way if you're in favor of these proposals please feel free to get in contact with us feel free to get in contact with us as well this caller says there's the government going again why did they not get the message across clear in the first place about giving turf away instead of confusing everyone confusion at its best again they say another busy catching mice and letting elephants through the energy crisis didn't start with ukraine nor did global warning happen in the past few years we have a manipulation of the ordinary person for many years but sure we vote for politicians that will give us a streetlight tarot road will get us a medical card or turn up at a wake so why so while they are doing what they are doing for the nation we have a crisis of leadership and a crisis of imagination nothing will change more here hi gregg i thought we voted cancerous and tds into power to look after us the ordinary person what happens to them when elected they turn on us and don't represent us for the reason we voted for them and morning gregs with the big coal companies were threatening to sue the country is it not down to money not the environment if like they say the amount of people burning turf is very little very good point there another i worked with a fellow from kildare last year they were stopped from cutting turf but they were grant aided for fuel that's coming in from a caller in go to hog how is the green party still in government asks another get them out i'm saving to pay bills and doing without a lot since they put their noses in another greg this energy crisis can't wait for 10 years it's now and all we hear about is electric cars how are we going to run electric cars when we can't afford electric for our homes and businesses well we had a conversation about that as well we are producing a lot of wind energy in this country but we as the consumer get no benefit from it because the price of electricity is linked to gas prices at EU level we need a derogation a separation from that what is the point we're exporting electricity to the likes of the UK let's keep it all here and let's see the discount from producing it through green means what's the point otherwise the the environment is the point i get that okay but if we saw a financial benefit to it we might be more inclined to we might be more inclined to well we wouldn't have to worry as much about the cost of something well then we can allow some brain space for the wider picture perhaps the green party called for a yes vote for abortion they don't care about human health believes a caller our wind energy is being sold back to us by private companies and we do not get any benefit from this energy but again we would get a benefit from it but this price of our electricity is struck in europe my bill went up over 200 euro on electricity last month and i'm wondering do you actually listen to your green party leader the things he comes out with the light candles for light and the heat come off it how even is he in a job put the farmer or normal wage person into the door and you will see change i do think our politicians are too and not our politicians any politicians are too insulated from reality the cost of milk the cost of bread the cost of pasta the cost of coil oil petrol if you don't understand what it's like not to be able to pay these bills how can you legislate for those that do really i don't know if you can the green party representative said he'd been contacted because someone has a lung condition etc because of burning turf so if i contact him we will have legislation to close down chipper's because i have cholesterol i can go into the north and by all the smoke and coal i want the greens are an elitist party that will be wiped out at the next general election that being said their impact will be felt you know let's not forget i think it's the last time the greens were in there was additional tax road tax wasn't there put on certainly we changed our light bulbs and all that type of stuff so you know even if they were to be wiped out this doesn't mean that this goes with them don't believe the hype greg it's nowhere near what the wind companies claim turbines have to be backed up by gas 24-7 the more turbines we have the more gas we use well the the site i visit is it's an independent gauge of the amount of power that's being generated from these turbines versus the amount of power the country is consuming this is not press releases from wind energy companies saying look how great we are this is independent the 85 percent claim is not true wind turbines are inextricably tied to the gas market do you have any idea about the effect of industrial wind turbines on animal and human health yes we've covered it extensively on this program no harm to michael no one gives turf put for nothing no one gives turf out for nothing these days those days are gone um it'd be very hard to please greg sure a lot of stuff can be delivered in the middle of the night but again they'd be relying on the fact that the majority of us perhaps uh or many of us are compliant people the green party policies are getting more and more like the old soviet union communist policies with each passing day believes a caller another one i hear hit the rural people again between mica turf national herd fuel everything throw fishing in there if i can uh everything that we do they seem to want to stop us living our lives but big business can do what they want i.e buying land in wales and scotland offset their carbon footprint absolute crazy the government fully backs these data centers that are sucking so much power from the grid but it's going to make turf illegal they may just shut us down because it's getting impossible uh to live another it's time the irish government stood up to some sort of uh so some of the most ridiculous policies of the green party they are imposing all new rules but giving no financial support in how to do it does that mean say another that we can't buy border monoborquets too from september no i don't believe that's the case greg it's time to park green agenda for a period until we sort out the economy the fuel issue is wrecking the country at the moment and another i would say the green party will not have a chance to ban things after the next election as they will be banned from being elected they would need to cop on well you see it's also you know whether it's about money or or ideology or whatever it is the green party will always get a certain amount of people that vote for them because there's a certain amount of people that uh you know that believe that we need to get to a certain place on this planet to ensure its future and that is costly that is inconvenient and that puts people perhaps on the bread line and if that's the price that has to be paid some believe and will vote for the green party saying that that is an acceptable price to pay and they will get a certain amount of seats and a certain amount of votes and perhaps their influence will be enough to get a government into power and if that's the case well then they become coalition partners they have a wish list and well here we are it's time for ncbi bingo on highland radio it's tuesday the 12th of april you're playing on the brown sheet the reference number is s12 it's game number 15 the numbers are 63 81 five seven 20 24 46 29 53 and finally 64 phone your claim to 910 483 before 8 tonight leaving 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 ncbi bingo information at highland radio dot com the euro millions jackpot is 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know a bit more about smart glasses a message from meta and ethyl or luxottica the award-winning genesis aesthetics and skincare clinic edore offers the most advanced skincare treatments for men and women treating conditions such as acne skin tags rosacea and scarring as a qualified as that expectation or mary fairy offers a range of anti-aging treatments including dermal fillers thread lefts profilo skin boosters micro needling and led light therapy hair and makeup also available download the genesis salon app today or call 07495 32575 okay every tuesday just after the 10 o'clock news we have community gala information uh it's appeals and uh information from ungodly sheikana here in cantidone a goal and uh we're joined in studio uh this week by gala granja da harte out of the letter candy station good morning granja morning greg how are you keeping i'm doing the best yet in yourself brilliant i'm doing fine thank you right now let's get straight into it because uh you're seeking the public's assistance in relation to a burglary in letter kenny yeah this burglary happened at anglian ruah estate there up in kelly lasten letter kenny happened between the fourth or the sorry the eighth of april so that was a friday at six p.m and saturday the ninth of april at eight a.m so it was actually the garden shed at the rear of the house that was broken into uh two bikes were stolen from the shed one of the bikes was later recovered following a search of the surrounding areas by the guards and one of the bikes is yet it's outstanding hasn't been recovered so we're appealing to the public to contact gardy should they come across this bike is quite an expensive bike it's a new adults mountain bike it's black mainly black in color with the yellow stickers with the word voodoo and a sticker on the main bars of it so there's actually there's a distinctive there's a child saddle fitted to the bike also the bike that was stolen so we're going to put up a picture later on on the facebook page of a similar style bike as well so we appeal to other residents in the area if glen ruah to contact gardy if they believe they may have seen or heard anything between those dates that would assist with our investigation we may be contacted on nine one six seven one hundred and the same goes for all the appeals today the guard confidential line may be reached on eighteen hundred six six six one one all right and and you'll give us some information too on how we can best secure our property but also to what comes up now and again is the guard he will announce trying to reunite effectively bikes with their owners and you know obviously not all bikes that are stolen come back into guard a stewardship but it can be difficult then to connect the bikes that were covered to its owner so that and any other advice you have for us at Kenya and in this instance unfortunately the shed was unlocked so just always ensure that your shed doors the windows are locked when the shed is not in use maybe when you're not at home ensure it's all locked up and secure uh we also encourage the public maybe you know when they're setting up their home alarm system consider adding their shed their garden shed to the alarm system also and when locking your bike ensure you secure it tightly to a heavy immovable object such as a even a ride on more a lawnmower in your shed and keep the lock off the ground and that's to avoid presumably them being able to use an ax or take an ax to it or something you might break the lock yeah take a photo of your bike note the serial number that's located in the underside of your bike close to the pedals and I think we discussed this one before actually it's a good idea to email the photo and the serial number back to yourself so you'll always have it there on record so if your bike is stolen report that they have to guard e as soon as you can if you have the serial number you know give that to guard e also and as you said many recovered bikes can't be returned to their owners because their serial numbers haven't been recorded so just in relation to that also Greg I wanted to let your listeners know because I know there's quite a few community groups out there in community their neighborhood watch groups who are eager to know about the position of the property marking machines so two machines were acquired by the county council donnie goll ppn and donnie goll jpc have bought two property marking machines and just within the past week a number of guard e included myself we completed the training on how to use these machines so you know and this will be a major asset you know farm machinery really anything could be marked jewellery and antiques I think are the only two things that can't be marked so you know trailers bicycles you know and a lot of bikes nowadays are a lot more expensive than some some of the cars out there you know and even golf clubs you know anything at all that we can mark yeah we will mark the machine embosses the property item with small dots in the pattern of your aircode and this can be done in a visible position on the item or and also in a in a more hidden position on it so how do we go about doing it then yeah well we will announce now on our facebook page and also on air here you know when our events hopefully we're hoping now to have them in the very near future so the training has just taken place so we're just in the process now of arranging dates for events property marking events and you know especially maybe farmers could you can get signs once you have your machinery farm machinery trailers and items such as that marked you can get placards big signs that you hang on your farm gates to say that everything and within the farm is marked as property marked hopefully that'll act as a great deterrent and I know a lot of the groups the community groups and I would deal with the textile air groups within the letter Kenny district and I know they're particularly eager as well to know when these machines are going to be up and running so it will be in the very near future okay and you'll let us know as well as notifying your facebook followers okay now two assaults on the mobile road in car and donna yeah these two assaults one of these assaults actually was only reported very recently and they both happened on the mobile road car and donna within the past couple of weeks so the first assault happened in the early hours of the sunday morning the 3rd of april in around 3 a.m so a man had been out socialising at the nightclub there in car and donna and he was outside at the time after the nightclub and he was a victim of an assault by a number of males so he sustained injuries as a result and thankfully none of these injuries are of a life threatening nature the second assault happened at the same location on the mobile road car and donna in the early hours of sunday morning the 10th just sunday morning past there 10th of april between 2 45 a.m and 3 45 a.m so the injured party in this instant was present an altercation took place between a group of men and during that altercation he sustained a blow and he received injuries again not of a life threatening that doesn't always tell the full story either does it i mean thankfully it's not life threatening but you know it can be quite serious injuries with these assaults and you know obviously then there's the emotional impact of it as well of course yeah we don't mean to play any no i know i know for a second i understand that yeah i get that everybody's injuries are serious to them of course you know um and we just appeal to anybody who may have attended the nightclub in car and donna last saturday night or the previous saturday night anybody who may have been standing around afterwards possibly waiting on a lifter waiting on food um if anybody witnessed either of these two assaults contact garrity in boncran on 9 3 2 0 5 4 0 again anybody that may have been parked up along that stretch of road you know waiting to take somebody home from the night venue um or anybody that traveled on the mobile road around those times if they believe they may have captured either incident on their dashcam footage we would like to hear from them also and i would say this from time to time but what if someone goes now saw something but i just don't want to get involved because seriously obviously these you know are individuals that aren't afraid of violence and if i tell the garrity and next thing i get dragged into it what would your message be to someone who might feel like that yeah well you can always contact your local station and um you can make it clear that you don't you know you don't you want to report it in an anonymous fashion you can ring in you know you don't have to call in a person and the garrity confidential line is ideal for that and maybe just in case people don't realize how the garrity confidential line uh operates i actually i called it myself one day from the station just just to find out what the layout is you know so i'd be in a better position to advise people and when you call through to it it's actually a recorded message you're not through to a person called it's a recorded message and they just tell you to leave your message after the beep you know you don't have to leave your name you can just say i just wish to report that i observed or whatever on whatever date in whatever town that's it hang up you don't have to give your name nothing else threads of the investigation to it's every even the small bits of information add up to the bigger picture of course and you know maybe that confidential line would be ideal for somebody such as you know the type of person you mentioned you would be anxious i just think there's a lot of us might be that would go you know my opening up a whole can of words for myself but you've answered that now okay that's useful information uh right okay so that was uh moville uh we'll go to sternola next a criminal damage incident i believe yeah this is a very recent one you just happened on the 11th of april so criminal damage happened at chapel street there in sternola so yesterday yesterday morning the 11th of april between the early hours so sometime between midnight and midday yesterday the front window of a house was smashed with a brick and the chapel street area so we appealed to other residents in that area they may have heard you know heard the smash seen something in the area that may be of use to us with our investigation and we would ask them to call us and that are kenny on nine months six seven one hundred thanks so did you hear the bank looked through your curtains what did you see okay uh criminal damage this time in letter kenny yeah so this was a criminal damage incident happened at cashel park in letter kenny this happened on friday the 8th of april between 9 p.m and 9 45 p.m so the pain of glass in the front door of a house in that area was broken smashed in between those times no entry was gained to the house and it's not believed an attempt was made you know tend to the house but just criminal damage so if anybody can assist with this appeal in any way again you know as you said if they heard a smash they locked out you know observed anything that may assist us with our investigation we would ask them to contact us in letter kenny on nine one six seven one hundred yeah every time i hear these you know i imagine you know a crib underneath the window or a chair underneath the window and someone's sleeping on it you just never know what what could actually happen it's bad enough in and of itself like it is and again you could have you know an elderly or a more vulnerable person living on one of these properties and it's an awful traumatic experience for them it's really really is exactly um criminal damage again uh back to letter kenny yeah so ballet buffet guard you're investigating this one happened at mulray and a terrace in strunarlar so between sunday the 10th of april at 10 15 p.m and 9 40 a.m on monday the 11th of april so between sunday night and monday morning the owner of the car they actually went out in the monday morning to start their car to move on the car wouldn't move they discovered then the four tires of their car had been slashed overnight so again anybody in the mulray any terrace area if they observed any sort of suspicious activity in that area on sunday night and to monday morning to contact us in letter kenny on nine one six seven one hundred all right so heading into the easter weekend easter holidays uh many people will have some time off the weather's given quite good as well so people will be out and about add to that you know people are back at the motorbikes they've taken them out after the winter again push bikes and what have you and lots of people may be visiting the area more tourist traffic so to speak so we know that it's a particularly dangerous around holidays on the roads and again here we are to try and limit as much as is possible if not all together a loss of life or serious injury on our roads granja yeah and finally the last few days you would have noticed a comment yesterday about it a lot more motorhomes and caravans back out on the roads again you know and possibly this weekend it's very likely that the roads will be extremely busy so we're just appealing to all road users to ensure that this weekend and always they make roads safety a top priority the roads will be busy garady will be out and about they'll be conducting high visibility checkpoints and speed checks right across the division so we're just urging all drivers keep a constant eye on your speed you know ensure that you remain within the legal speed limit at all times we urge drivers not to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and also on that note you know if anybody is offered a lift you know from a pub or from whatever from somebody and they suspect that they might have drugs or alcohol take and refuse that lift get a taxi ring somebody to come collect you know it's never worth don't take that risk under any circumstances and we advise all drivers against using or holding their mobile phone while driving and to ensure that they and any passengers that they have in their car are wearing their seat belts while out traveling and as you said the weather forecast is looking very good um we would imagine that a lot of people will be visiting by the way she's not standing over that it's looking good it doesn't mean it's gonna be good just in case next week we're fielding calls that granny says the weather was going to be good well you just don't know we suspect you just don't know you need your bikini and your duffle coat and your umbrella and your flip-flops all at the same time all right but sorry I interrupted you talked about if we decide to go to our beauty spots and you can decide to go even if the weather's not good you know it's a long weekend go um but anybody who is intended to travel to these places beauty spots beaches you know park and this comes up every year there's an issue every year where people are double parking they're blocking emergency access routes for ambulances guards and you know worrying they at peers it's an issue every year also appears for the coastal emergency services ensure that you're not blocking access for emergency services and that you're parked in a legal fashion yeah because these units are quite big particularly the boats they have to be reversed down often and they require a certain amount of space and particularly if there's yellow boxes there avoid the yellow boxes ignorance ignorance really is not not an excuse okay oh wait not oh wait six what's the telephone number sorry the the confidential telephone number again sorry 1800 666 111 okay and that was the community guard slot except for questions yeah you know when you know you've got something and you haven't just quite forget about what it is yeah all right so we had a few people contacting us um during the week with some questions and you've been kind enough to to answer them my nct was extended because of covid when i went to make a new appointment i can't get one until july this is two months past my extension time now i've had calls from people that aren't getting them to august or even further beyond so this is one is july now some people are saying it's down individual gaudy whether you're prosecuted or not if i have the documentation to prove this so i've booked my nct i can't get one for a couple of months in advance i've got the email receipt what is the rules what's the law yeah well look the bottom line in this is that there is a legal obligation on all drivers you have to have a valid nct one on the public roads and that is the law in relation to the matter but having said that each guard can you know and can use their discretion in relation to it and guards are well aware of the fact that there have been extensions issued they're also well aware of the fact that people in they themselves have been trying to book ncts you know and they're well aware that there is a backlog and that possibly people may have to wait a couple of months or a month past their extension time to get an appointment so um the main thing is look if if you're taking your car out on the road ensure it's roadworthy check the tyres check the car give it a good check and over regularly ensure that that um it is in a roadworthy condition and have the proof of your appointment booking with you in the car no to produce to the guard if you are stopped at a checkpoint um really in truly common sense should prevail and if your car is in a roadworthy condition and you have an appointment booked and you can prove that there shouldn't really be you're not taking the hand yeah you know what i mean like in other words that you perpetually have this piece of paper with you you know that will be teased out presumably during the course of a conversation yeah well i mean at that stage you've done everything that you can possibly do you've ensured your car is roadworthy and you've booked your appointment okay um can you explain why people have to give their name and number when trying to make a complaint to the guard despite them saying that they want to remain anonymous no you don't you don't there's no obligation whatsoever ever to leave your name and number when you're making a complaint and again the confidential line you know you can leave your message in a recorded system there that you're under no obligation but again ringing your local guard station you know you can tell them that you wish to remain anonymous you can leave the information in some some circumstances maybe people may not um be aware but for instance if i were to report ring in and report that i observed a dangerous driver this morning on my way to work in that instance the guards would ask for your name and address with an aid to asking you to invite me to make a statement of complaint because matters such as that can't be investigated or can't be furthered without you you know if you're willing to say what what you observed on paper and make a statement yeah because that's the evidence because that is the evidence the guards didn't observe it so in cases like that they may ask they won't forcefully ask but they may ask do you wish to make a statement and what's your you know what's your name and address um you know but in all other instances really if you wish to make an anonymous complaint there's absolutely no obligation on you to leave your details all right garner granted i hardly thank you very much indeed no problem at all that was the community guard information item from highland radio and donna gall on garner shea carna we'll be back with that item uh after 10 o'clock next Tuesday there is a place with a proud history of helping others a place that refuses to look the other way today ukraine needs help and that place is ready to welcome the ukrainian people with open arms to support those who have to stay behind and there's a place to do it all ireland4ukraine.ie a united response from irish media organizations in support of charities that can make a difference both here and in ukraine donate now at ireland4ukraine.ie mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray lineman brendan shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray lineman brendan shine on saturday april 23rd get luxury for less this easter with ledle's inflation busting offers don't miss out on award winning irish meats from our deluxe range like our gold awarded stuffed carvery leg of lamb only 15.99 per kilo and sure to be finished dry cure half horse shoe ham joint was 14.99 now just 13.99 ledle more for you aldi has everything to make this easter extra special medium cabry cream eggs buttons kitkat and smarty's eggs was 165 now just 99 cent each that's three for under three euro large cabry twirl whisper animal teasers eggs just 3.99 each and treat the kids with easter egg on favorites from just 79 cent visit aldi or click and collect so on your marks egg set go aldi the home of an amazing easter see aldi.ie for terms and available stores Declan Derny live in concert with special guests louise morrissey and john hogan easter sunday 17th of april at the clannery hotel letterkenny tickets on sale now from the clannery hotel reception on<PHONE_NUMBER> come and join us for a super night's entertainment the coat down is now on where would you go if you won the 10 000 euro holiday and 5 000 euro spending money i will go to france because i like the beauty the culture and the people there seem nice buy what i would go to hawaii i'd go to spain for three weeks the lucky winner will be announced on thursday the 14th of april on the natal nun show buy your ticket today at heilandradio.com okay just two days to go very exciting i'd like to wish my mom and dad brina and brian grant a happy 40th wedding anniversary from the conwall gang claire dahi and blahin and iran as well thank you no problem whatsoever please please please could you spend a very special request for david and mary mcnally on their 50th wedding anniversary what a wonderful milestone to reach together david and mary mcnally 50 years married today i wonder what the weather was like 50 years ago what was the reception like did you want a honeymoon uh love from uh the duffies okay right we'll be uh back with more on the natal nun show after we take a break morning greg we've been cutting turf since i've been eight years old now i'm 60 still doing it i would not want to burn coal it's very dirty how can my granny and many more use turf and big open fires and lift 100 didn't do them no harm tell the green party and others come live in our shoes uh we are healthy don't want to talk on air that's no problem thank you for that mary uh you've always uh your opinion read out there uh right rally cars are regularly out on the r254 in glen vey national park why haven't the guards stopped it did you report it sometimes people don't report these things and wonder why there's no guards there we have a massive massive county with uh as many rows as any other and i suppose unless we inform them and not everyone is keen to do that either how would they know greg can i still rent bogs to use the turf for myself thanks john john we're still trying to work an awful lot of this out because of course until michael white what's being reported at the moment isn't 100 accurate uh that man is talking nonsense turf cutting has nothing to do with ukraine a person who is depending on turf deliveries to run my range which i bake and cook on uh the man on the radio now chatting about turf cutting and selling just can't answer yes or no ask him yes or no get rid of the green say some other uh green party only have to look up in the sky on any clear day in the number of one spewing planes spewing out small commissions is unbelievable in the space of an hour one day accounted 13 planes ask him about fuel prices everything has gone up in price because of the green party's policies i think that's well documented at this stage that uh you know carbon taxes and what have you tell that man he says won't affect neighbours but bill is as tight as a drug bill hope all voters never vote green again time rural island stood up to this nonsense can't turf be cut and sold on for people to work with themselves can't turf be cut and sold on for people no apparently not not from september i have a feeling there's a bit to play out in this though why are we important turf from germany because that's uh that's the kind of thing that we do right now a day of reflections to be held in donagall on may 22nd as a tribute to those who have passed away during the covid 19 pandemic those who lives were changed and those who helped face the challenges donagall county community forum is hosting a day of reflection the uh cahirlock of donagall county councillors councillor jack moray he joins us now i think this is important uh jack feels a bit premature to me personally speaking i think we're still really in the throes of this and we don't know what winter we don't know what winter is to bring hopefully nothing too severe but anyway be that as it may it's an important opportunity for people to get together presumably yeah well hopefully we don't we don't go back to to the the circumstances we all offer in ourselves and over the last number of years but if you think it's important that we reflect as a community obviously as a global community we endured the the pandemic as a whole but we as a donagall community and we all went through very very similar experiences and i think it's it's important now after so long that we would reflect on those who who we've who we've lost so sadly during the pandemic those who've suffered those those who continue to suffer and those who sacrificed so much and for the greater good during during that time and i think it'll be a nice event the day of reflection but we'll be appealing to the people at donagall to submit photos that tell the story of the pandemic and that could be from anything it could be from from empty food shells from from queuing out in the street to get the supermarkets from the empty football grounds to to anything that people feel show their own personal story and i think it'll be something that we can we can all look back on well it might even feel far away now that we're in the real depths of the the pandemic the relay of the storm but i think i think you know no wakes uh five at a funeral yeah window visits you know i mean that's that's what the pandemic means to me but i suppose that would be my what i would submit that would be a representation of what it means to me exactly and and that's something we can all relate to looking at everybody lost somebody that they couldn't go to the funeral they couldn't go to the wake and they wanted to express their condolences in some way but they were forbidden and three notes no fault of their own obviously the the consequences of the pandemic that is something that everybody can relate to and i'm sure there will be photographs that can conveniently tell that i i know uh my own experience my daughter's great-grandfather lives two doors down from us and she couldn't really go to him for for six months remember standing at the bottom of the garden shouting no bottom leg and that was extremely difficult for him not to be able to to see his great-granddaughter to give her a hug for for so long like just the small things that people talk for granted where we're we're taken away for for so long so i think it'll be nice with the photographs that ask anybody if they have them and high enough quality they can be blown up to an A3 size they'll be displayed and the effort on the day of reflection on the 22nd of May and they will also be displayed in the public service centers cutting on the gall to you mentioned you know i talked about you know the the the the sad imagery and there's so much of that as well but there's you mentioned too i think there's the the heroes you know those that stepped up to the plate those that really i think particularly in the early days that you know that put themselves out there when you know we really didn't know where all this was going the nurses the doctors the home helps the carers you know the undertakers the guards you know what i mean there's so many people that perhaps had to take more risks than others in the face of not knowing what was to be the people the chefs that that weren't at work and were cooking meals for people the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of meals that were delivered to people through through a network of chefs and volunteers i mean even that in itself was just unbelievable remarkable yeah the resilience we saw from from within our community was like it was incredible and you never fully understand that it's there and pull us pull us tested i was down at the the community wards there in dublin last uh friday night or saturday night sorry and um the chef aid and letter kenny were were rightly awarded they they've supplied like 300 people with three means a day for 12 weeks like volunteers absolutely incredible and it's probably even hard to remember now but at the very very start of the pandemic it was absolutely terrifying just because we saw the predicted figures of death tolls and and level of illnesses like that were apocalyptic and like people still got up they'll put on their scrubs they still turned up in the hospital to the doctor to the doctor surgeries completely unaware of what what lay in store but they won't take that risk and retail workers kept the shops open they went in there's no talk of ventilation or masks or i mean there was some talk of masks i don't want to over exaggerate but they went in without all the protective gear that that uh it took long enough to get to uh some of the doctors and people that made masks uh people that re that changed their business into to mask making it's hard to believe like we were talking about masks costing an absolute fault i think it was like pack of the 10 masks were 60 i can't remember exactly what it was but it was crazy and then people who had sold machines or other types of equipment began producing masks not just for the community but for healthcare workers as well carers home helps who had no pp that's the kind of stuff we were doing yeah and it redefined what what the world viewed as an essential worker when we talk about the retail staff like people were terrified to step outside the front door and such was the level of fear but again retail workers were told get out go to work keep the food uh lines open give people the essential services they didn't need because you're needed at this moment in time to step up and people did it without a second thought refuse collectors uh bus drivers there was one image i think really early on of there's a bus driver and everyone's in the back with masks on and he's in the front driving the bus looks terrified and why not because it would have been you know a very fearful situation you know lots and lots of of as you say it's redefining redefined what essential workers were but uh you know people there were i got a cup there's others that i can't think of that everyone deserves a mention but that had to put themselves out there when as you say we were being shown images of people dying in the streets and we we saw when we know what was happening in italy and it was to happen here next that's the tsunami of covid that was uh expected to wash over us yeah look at me you take it for granted now when you when you put on your mask and you want to shop and you you don't feel as much of a danger as you would have at that time but it was truly terrifying at that point when we saw the footage of the lorries full of bodies and then north and that lake coming out waiting for that to to be visited upon our shores like it was it was a terrifying number particularly for older people at that time it was absolutely terrible it was it's not already but there's an apocalyptic at the time like but i remember i remember we myself and one of my sons i don't remember which one it was uh we were in a car park in a in a in a four court of a shop or something like that there and someone walked past wearing a mask and i at that point i went wow this is actually real this is where what this is where we're going that person was the only the first person i'd seen wearing a mask in public and then a short few days later weeks later everyone was wearing them but it was that that was the moment uh that was the moment that that not because we'd been this is not so it wasn't impacted by everything i'd been seeing on the tv but this was its representation of what was to come and what was happening in in you know directly in my life and that was that was it was from there on that that everything became incredibly incredibly real for me anyway yeah like if we look back on it like it's something so surreal that we all all went through the the unknown that lay ahead of us how things would change utterly for forever like so i do think it is important that we come together and reflect upon that and i say even as we have this conversation now more and more incidents will come come forward in your in your memory but as you go through the photos that everybody submit their own personal story it'll give us time to just look back on such a seismic event that the change change the world change all our lives forever so yeah for sure jack you can submit your photographs and a brief description uh of your story and i think the the more impact you can have with the fewer words the better uh you can send it to lcdc at donagolcoco.ie by friday the 29th and the listen i mean some people the picture quality might not be fantastic but the better the picture uh the better the picture um the better obviously so it can be blown up yeah yeah they would blow up the a3 so the size of the poster so hopefully it'd be good enough quality that it could be viewed clearly at that size so the better the better but send and anything like there's no such thing as a bad one to send and just send it and then the the obviously the committee will go through and see what can be used but it's important though that we just get it get as many here because it's just for longevity just we can all always reflect back on this this crazy time that we live through that it's important just to that story is always all right uh what do you think of the the um seemingly green party proposals to to ban ban the selling or gifting of turf is your party opposed well i won't ask the party stands because i'm not sure it's been made public yet and i can't expect you to be able to speak on behalf of the whole party i'll ask you as a as a local representative as you hear like of the council what do you think of these proposals yeah i give me one person i think it's crazy i think obviously we have to take measures to address the climate change it's the biggest issue facing us as a generation but i don't think the odd bag of turf to an elderly neighbor this guy's going to hold back that tide and like it's not heard your guests on earlier on talking about offshore wind and that's a priority we'll make that a priority and stop targeting older people you can't afford to eat their homes like i just don't think that's the right way to go about it i think it gets people backs up too i think it works against the climate agenda when you when you nitpick at these tiny things but overlook the actual it's not a just transition to ask people to change such a fundamental part of their lives and how they cook how they heat uh and the community and heritage and all that kind of stuff without a viable alternative that's not that's not a just transition isn't it's not but it just makes no sense it's it seems that no understanding of how a rural community works and how much sort of turf cutting is part and parcel of of our society and our community and you just can't see the older people can't they're really really struggling to heat their homes and to try and close off one avenue to keep an older person warm to to force it into almost like the black market like a like a drug economy it's just it's madness and i think it's max of a minister that unfortunately lives in Dublin Bay South an extremely wealthy constituency where turf obviously won't won't feature in anybody's lives but it's as far away from from them as the man on the moon and not give it a second thought but i'm glad to hear such such opposition on your your own radio today and i hope that that'll resonate with some of those in it that are empowered to have influence over this decision to just roll back and let common sense prevail okay listen thank you very much for that that's uh cancer jack mori by the way if you want to be part of that donagall county community forum day of reflection uh you can submit your photographs in a brief description of the story behind that photograph uh to lcdc at donagallcoco.ie by friday april 29 with their moment for you where and i don't mean in a in a very serious way through a loss or maybe that's how you want to describe it for you when a penny dropped about all that we were facing into something that was incredibly serious i'll wait six sixty twenty five thousand if you want to share that with us i'll wait six sixty twenty five thousand i'll call us an old seven four nine one twenty five thousand and thanks for keeping us so busy on the program i say that it's not just uh pontification or semantics it's the truth uh it's great when so many of you interact with us and have you'll say uh regular textures uh staying in touch with us but it's great to see uh people who uh don't text uh as regularly having their say on the conversation it's really important that everyone who has a view um if they want to uh has that view shared so your whatsapp's your text to 08 six six twenty five thousand what's apps are great because you know it means that you can send it without any and any cost to you uh or you can call us an old seven four nine one twenty five thousand which on many packages that's free anyway okay back with uh more in fact the weather forecast heading towards news 11 after this uh break get ready for brighter days with foie and company the ballet buffet and letter kenny stores have everything you need to get your outdoor spaces ready for summer foie stock all the leading paint brands and wallpapers all available for nationwide delivery from garden sheds and furniture to outdoor dining and decking the foie and company team will guide you through the process of selecting the right paint 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pressure washer now just 79 99 and save 10 percent at a 19 piece harris trade roller and brush set now only 28 95 order a screw fix dot i e for click and collect or shopping over 20 stores hurry must end 18th of april screw fix the choice of champions while stocks last prices valid until at least 4 p.m. on 18th of april visit screw fix dot i e for t's and c's delivery charges and restrictions highland radio weather updates with arland west airport this summer is going to be one of the busiest ever check out our summer flights to european cities such as barcelona cologne and the land with ryan air arland west airport you're flying okidoki this morning continuing mainly dry and mostly cloudy with a few brighter intervals showers will develop this afternoon in the evening some will be heavy or of hail highest temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees with light southeast or variable breezes 08 660 25 000 that is the number that these people use to have their say we need to remember the people who died during the pandemic let's remember the true victims of it this cannot turn into a glory hunt for self-serving politicians and in fairness it was just he in his position as kahir lock trying to encourage the public to take part the number one thing that should be remembered is that councillors in dunig all and elsewhere got an 8 000 euro pay rise during the pandemic all right that's some of your comments coming in more on the way stay right where you are we're going to be speaking about the national anthem and other things in the next hour but it is 11 o'clock which means it's time for a news update and we say good morning now to kathryn gaffley good morning kathryn thanks greg good morning an investigation is continuing into two assaults in north in ishawon gar thee say that the two incidents occurred at the same location on the mobile road in carondona over the past few weeks new measures to alleviate spiraling fuel costs should help many families according to the sri the government looks set to sign off tomorrow on plans for another lump sum for all those who receive the fuel allowance as well as a vat cut on gas and electricity and a reduction in the public service levy on household energy bills the chairman of the green party in dunig all has insisted that new regulations around selling turf are aimed at large operations from September it will be illegal to sell and distribute turf though bog owners can continue to harvest peace for their own use sceptu says workers in the private sector need pay increases to meet the rising cost of living the union is appealing to employers to be creative when it comes to putting additional money in workers pockets the housing minister says properties like old convents commercial buildings and vacant hotels could be used to house people fleeing the war in ukraine minister dara o brian has confirmed that a potential cap on the number of refugees arriving here is off the table while payments for those who host them is under consideration the gar the technical bureau are examining a house in kondy sligo where the body of a man was found the remains of the man in his 30s were discovered at a property in the carteran area at around half past eight last night and two bikes have been stolen from a property in letter kenny the burglary happened at glenn ruick hillie last in between friday evening last at six p.m and saturday morning at eight a.m the garden shed to the rear of the property was entered and the two bikes were stolen from it that's it for now we're back with more at twelve now all right kathryn thank you very much indeed a caller says there's a serious problem with boss erin boss being cancelled another one today again covering the fin valley i'm late for work now this is happening all the time why can't boss erin not employ more drivers in this county it is scandalous we discussed this uh not so long ago actually and i think boss erin committed to trying to be more flexible in terms of covering people off sick or what have you but yep it's affecting you and your everyday life so that's just words that mean nothing a caller says yes we have informed the guard but they don't have enough cars to get there in time okay this is as it relates to uh as it relates to the issue on the road um i can't remember the which road it was just off the top of my head these rally cars come with support vehicles they block the road and do time trials in the middle of the national park in broden nesting season tourists don't expect this there'll be an accident wow okay never heard tell of that before i think that's certainly something that requires some further investigation uh is it true that all the people in scotland turned off their electric at the mains in their homes for 10 minutes at the same time in protest to electricity prices rising and the one no increase to scotland's electric is it true this isn't no i know tommy robinson and a few others are trying to get people to do that um the idea being they all switch off the electricity and then they all switch it back on again and there's a huge surge listen that's another one where people on facebook will say they're doing it and it's in the middle of coronation street or liverpool versus man city and uh they just want to get on with their their lives um just on the nct if overdue like you're saying is the car insured if you have an accident i i mean the car is i don't think your insurance is invalidated maybe elements of it are that is something that you'd have to check with your insurance company uh greg is it true they're smoking uh they're banning smoky bacon i certainly hope not uh because i do like a bit of smoky bacon what i'd be right in saying that france is in the e u and electricity went up 11 compared to ours uh we'd have to do a bit of research in relation to that but you heard from michael white there uh what he had to say all right um our national anthem is a new illustrated book which has been released by rachel j cooper who is the author and uh she joins us on the line now rachel how are you good morning greg i'm very well thank you are we losing touch with our national anthem i wonder well it seems to be the case greg and you know that's a real shame and um it's disappointing in my opinion and i mean the the inspiration behind me writing this children's book was because i for one and i don't i didn't know the anthem and this was very apparent at the various rugby and gaa matches that i would have attended in my adult life where it came to the time of singing the national anthem and i maybe might know the first two or three lines at the time and then i would look around at the seats beside me and we all seem to be in the same boat whereby you know we would have liked to have sung along but it's just that we actually didn't know the words so i embarked then on the journey myself of um of learning our anthem and then i thought well you know wouldn't it be a nice idea if children were taught it more in the classroom and if it was featured more at home then perhaps we might have a better chance of learning the anthem word for word and carrying it through to our adult life so that's where the inspiration behind writing this book came from yeah and it is interesting in that you tell the story of the anthem at times in sort of a modern context even in in terms of the opening line to is what was the idea behind that yes that's right so it's um to teach children not only a little bit about you know who wrote it and and when but you know your spot on it it makes it more relevant for children in today's society so i mean the the first line and the first three words that i'm sure we all know which is xena fina fall that i'm that means after that we start struggling and get rich exactly exactly but the first three lines xena fina fall that means that you know soldiers are we now we can apply this to today and say that you know in a way we still are all soldiers it's just that what we are fighting for is different so you know today we're fighting against things like viruses and and bullying and things that we know are wrong so you know we know war is wrong so we're fighting together against these things so you know in that way it kind of makes it more applicable for for today's society because you know it was written along with many other anthems in europe it was written a long long time ago when we would you know ireland would have been in a very different place at the time so it's nice that we can bring the words and the context into today's society yeah but this is another one these books that's directed at children but might get as much use from the grown-ups in the house because even as you list the Irish language the Irish language version of the national anthem it's phonetically spelled out underneath its actual spelling as well yes that's correct and your spot on it is a way that i thought of to engage you know children and families and to have it as a keepsake and at home you know if it was featured more regularly so the phonetic version because you know it's it's it's a it's a shame and it's a pity but you know a lot of us have forgotten our irish from when we would have spoken at in in national school in secondary school so the phonetic way gets everybody involved and i've also provided um the english version and i say the english version it's not an english version because i actually didn't know greg that our national anthem was actually written in english originally it was written back in 1909 and 1910 by pader carney and patrick heaney so it was originally the soldier's song so it wasn't later translated into irish until 1923 so that's the english version there as well and i mean for me you can definitely sing it with more depth of meaning and feeling when you know what the words mean so that was the the reason behind providing both the phonetic version and the english version yeah exactly and we've all seen it too at sport and events when the camera pans across the uh across the faces of the players i don't think there's anything worse between i don't think maybe sometimes if you don't know you might be as well just keeping your mouth shod but anyway that's not to judge because we're all in the same boat not all of us many of us are in the same boat so also to uh you you decide that whoever gets is gifted this book they can sign their name to it they read through it they learn a bit more about uh are