know the types of companies that do have formal health and well-being strategies and those that don't you know you could have a company with five employees might they have a strategy and then a company with you know 80 knots you know it'd be interesting to see the breakdown more deep more detailed yeah it would be interesting and what we are seeing is that certainly on the smaller SME size businesses that's where the well-being focus is not really there just yet and I'm not saying that it's not there for every company but just as a general point the larger organizations certainly have embraced this space long before now albeit it is a space that's changing quite rapidly and you made one interesting point there in that it's very much down to the individual and I think you're absolutely correct whether it's mindfulness whether it's nutrition or fitness physical or mental well-being there are so many variations to what makes up well-being and everybody has you know a certain maybe draw for a particular or desire or need for one area above the other or a multiple in my case in particular I like you know embracing the fitness and the nutrition and the mental well-being depending on the time of the year and how I feel myself but I think what sale offers is a very holistic approach and whether you have an interest or a focus on a particular area we do feel quite strongly that we have provided content around each of our seven well-being values and we've chosen those values very strategically on the basis that we feel that everybody can fit into at least one of those well-being values irrespective of where they are in their life and irrespective of their age profile. Yeah I mean some go beyond you know we'll get into it a little bit Greg some go sort of maybe beyond you know when we start talking about mindfulness and mental well-being financial well-being support it might be we can argue the toss on those but in terms of career development opportunities I mean if we look at what's happening say for instance in terms of the recruitment in Bargo the biggest complaint say for instance often within the HS here in Gaudi and these are public jobs is about career development opportunities one of our biggest barriers to teachers returning to Ireland to work is in terms of career development because they start at scratch from when they left you know what I mean so that's kind of standard the work-life balance you don't want to grind people into the ground and have a high turnover of staff you want to provide them with you know a decent work-life balance so you can retain them and goal-setting too you know it's almost infantile in that you know to mean that we get a clap if we put a square block into a square space you know what and in some way it's an all almost a developed version of that as adults you know what I mean because people like a pat on the back people like affirmation and what have you so a lot of this stuff is is correct me if I'm wrong Greg stuff that really should be in a decent working environment to begin with I agree and you're not wrong I would say that in in many environments some are all possibly might be in there and a lot of it is down to the the dependency on the leadership and and how they want to build a culture within an organization I'm not saying that they are all in there I'm saying they should all be in there anyway do you know what I mean but go on ahead continue with your point Greg no I think I think it's something that we're moving towards and I think it's very very important and back to the whole even just take the the retention and the recruitment side of things which is exceptionally expensive from a labour perspective within HR to the time and the advertising and the using of recruitment agencies all are increasing in costs all the time so it's in the interest of these organizations albeit it should be there the reality is it's not there in in these companies and what we're just trying to do within sale is to provide an environment which has been set up and structured very much with the employee in the epicenter of what we do and a lot of a lot of you know well-being platforms and different products out there which are successful to date there a lot of our setup for the employer first and the employee second we try to reverse it and we're providing a genuine value ad for employees okay it may be the employer that ultimately is the financial provider on behalf of the employee but what's very important and what we feel is a real point of difference for us is that we have built a platform built a model which combines on demand content across our seven well-being values we have two to three live classes every single week across these well-being values for example we had a fitness session last night we had a book club the week before we have another session I think it might be on nutrition this coming Thursday so what we're trying to do is provide really genuine content for that employee and it's back to your point yes this should be fairly simplistic and fairly standard and it's not listen how many people do people know listening now who the people aren't necessarily happy in their job they've got one eye on something else if they got the chance and a lot of it stand so they don't feel valued that in other words they could walk at the door and it doesn't matter do you know what I mean and yeah well all this stuff would work to sort of alleviating some of that as well you know your reward is not always in money it's not and I think you know that's a really really good point and what we've seen over the last number of years and again maybe COVID has driven or accelerated this but people are only considering the financial package as one component when considering a job whether that job is to stay or whether it's to take on a new challenge it is the overall value to the employee and what the employer places on them as a value that I think they're considering and that is how they're being treated it's whether they're working from home or in the office it's what the environment and the culture is within that organization because people are making much more strategic decisions now and financial is simply one component in terms of how employers work with sale by the way if anyone wants to search that do you do they engage their employees with sale or do you tool them up to change the working environments what is your relationship with employers so we essentially work very closely with our clients employers as you mentioned the website is sale.app.com just if anyone wants to check it out we work very closely with an appointed well-being champion within that organization we ensure that we handhold and partner with that company and the well-being champion to roll out our platform educate the employees of the benefits assure the employees that they are consuming this content in a very private fashion it's not something that they need to be concerned around that the employer they must engage with us because the employer is the paymaster it's not that if that was the case we wouldn't have a platform that is genuinely value-adding and what we're finding is once we communicate what we do and what we deliver the engagement levels within the company accelerates dramatically can't be mandated and we're involved it has to have a buy-in and we're not a partner where we're selling something and we're walking away we're very much on the journey with the employee with the employer and the employee to ensure that the employer can recognize that there is a return on that investment because it's a significant investment for companies particularly with one to three thousand employees as part of their makeup but it's also equally important that the employees are getting the value that we anticipate and have set sail up to be able to deliver if either of those factors are not working if the employer is not happy and the employee is not finding what we're delivering as valuable then we don't have a business that's going to survive in the long-term so we have to ensure both parties independently are happy with how we deliver a sale within the organization all right so just around people of the website there if people want more information please Greg so the website www.sail s-a-o-l-dash-a.com everything that we discussed this morning and an awful lot more is in there you can request a brochure you can set up a demonstration reach out to us we're happy to have a chat no obligations and we hope to speak to some of your listeners at some point and thank you for the opportunity of speaking it's interesting bye bye that's Greg O'Gorman though right a caller says regarding the current conversation I think that it is all good in terms of people being able to take control of their health and helping people understand how small changes can really help them but partnering with operation transformation is so bad the show's a horrent it's based on body shaming weight loss advice that is extreme and it's purely for public entertainment so many intuitive eating experts psychologists health professionals are slamming the show and speaking out how about we do this i.e. public community health without a show like operation transformation whose only priority is profit and entertainment over actual people's long-term health I don't disagree with you I don't like those type of shows I'm not sure if it's exactly in the same format as it was when I first watched it but we have regular guests on this show involved in the fitness area and they would not like shows like this because they don't want it to be focused on targets and weight and what have you and they've got different metrics that show people's improvements it's about how you feel isn't it I don't like it because effectively the people that take part in it are just you know it's for us to watch and it's just not my type of telly maybe operation transformation has changed but thanks very much for that comment talking about little changes as anyone who listens to this show at all over the last three or four five six seven however long years we've been doing it I think I was an early adapter of the airfryer really was I think but anyway be that as it may making a couple of burgers last week in the airfryer everything's air fried now if the truth be told nothing is fried so did the burgers good burgers by the way tasty and all that kind of stuff but when the burgers were finished I tipped the tray out into the sink now that might have been a mistake right but I tipped the tray out to the sink anyway and I've had the burgers and what have you so then went to wash something out or other and the sink was blocked completely blocked I got a plunger and I plunged and plunged and I came into work the next day with the saw left arm wouldn't shift it so I took the water out and it was dry and I went down to the shop and I got one of these sink busters you know those chemicals that you can put down the drain stuck that down the drain the next morning came came over poured hot water down nothing wasn't budging so I had to drain the drain again so I took off the u-bend from under the sink because I'm so handy great to have around the house but anyway I took the u-bend from under the sink and from these two burgers alone now the u-bend was perfectly clear right there was no there wasn't anything that would cause a blockage other than this massive clump of fat like the full width obviously of the u-bend because it blocked it and it was about an inch and a half to two inches long solid white fat clean fat like like lard that come out of these two burgers and as I say these were good I thought they were good burgers anyway but I was thinking can you imagine if you ate that like maybe your body consumes it and it doesn't just go straight into your arteries or whatever but the amount of fat that came from these two burgers I shouldn't have poured it down the sink I know that now you know this I'm not even sure that's a responsible way of disposing of it if it's not my apologies you can give out to me if you wish but I just thought it remarkable that this massive circular one and a half inch one inch wide lump of fat came from from burgers and it was perfectly clean it was almost like you could spread it on butcher or something but anyway that's what I would have been eating if it wasn't for the air fryer I don't know what that even means maybe it wouldn't be bad for you but anyway 08, 6, 6 to 25,000 any insights into that or anything else for that matter or give us a call an 07491 25,000 The county's number one talk show 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to invite you on off the back of an email you sent in to us with an experience with a customer in your shop tell us the story or the situation Liam 83 year old gentleman who lives on his own received a letter from the Department of Social Protection advising him that his public services card was due to expire in February 2024 and that he was been asked to renew it and the preferred option was to be online at mygov.ie or alternatively he could make contact with his local entree office with a provider in the middle of the letter advising that his free travel pass would lapse if his card was not renewed so he came across to me and asked if I would help him with trying to contact in trail so we googled the number for in trail and it came up with a help test number in Dublin I think and when eventually we got through to them after about 40 minutes they advised that the only way to contact the local entree office was by email because they don't have direct lines obviously the gentleman doesn't have an email of himself computer letter and he's not online letter and when I drew that to the ladies attention he basically says to me would you not contact him on his behalf which before you continue you're telling a man who's been working all of his life I'm sure contributing an independent that effectively he would have to rely on your good will which you wouldn't mind doing it by the way to act on his behalf so if he didn't have you Liam or didn't have someone else who was computer literate that's him without a card and losing his free travel for an example which is not the way to treat an older person I don't think simply put Greg he's fortunate enough that there's somebody across the road from him how many people are out there that are being disadvantaged that possibly don't have that same it's obviously it's obviously discriminating against the elderly and those that are not computer literate and as a taxpayer I was absolutely shocked that people in that bracket cannot just left the phone and make contact with their local and trail office the fact that he has to rely either on someone else or write them probably hoping that they would get a reply was just I just found astounding but even the email awesome we'll call you back it's not an effective way of doing business in terms of that doesn't really sound like great customer service to me either personally I wouldn't have thought so I wouldn't have thought so Greg it just smacked I've been completely wrong and that's a government department that we as taxpayers pay for this gentleman and I'm sure many like him who would have paid their taxes all down through the years relying on their social services card in this instance fortunately for me to collect his local pension and being basically advised that lesson will try and accommodate you some way it smacks it goes all the way back the household charge in 2012 Greg when that 100 euros initially was being put on the houses people were told pay for it online pay for it online and those who couldn't sure you can get started out some other way again consecutive governments of the two pertaining main parties consistently discriminating against those people who are not or in this case elderly who are obviously not online letters only for your only for your intervention just to recap for listeners so you contacted the on this person's behalf they said email them in for a callback when you said that this gentleman doesn't have an email address this is where there's absolutely no thought for someone of certain age or someone with literacy issues or whatever it might be then they said to you email on his behalf the fact that that's the solution to this problem that the person that just so happened to be trying to help someone out then becomes the emailer on their behalf that exposes for me the entire problem here because not everyone has a Liam and I know I've said that already but how many older people have lost access to free travel or what have you because they can't get their head around they don't have their head around I don't like that gov.ie website I find it a nightmare to sign in every single time every time it's a bloody nightmare I find but anyway but also if you've never used email and many people would choose not to and don't have to that's him banjaxed except for you correct absolutely and that's a no but the issue and how many people too that don't have a mobile I know most people do but there are people that would send that email every half and actually sit in the house waiting on that call for fear of missing it because it's actually such an integral part of their life again which is crazy that's another aspect of it Greg absolutely and not to even go into whether there's a GDP or I was thinking of that to be honest with you because I would have thought that I would have thought there could have been a problem there I was expecting them to say well sorry we can't engage with you on behalf of a third party obviously whoever you got through thought you could get away with that through email but I agree with you you're acting on that person's behalf with a government body in a very casual way in a good meaning way Liam but it just makes you wonder is that really the system that's right and how many times do you try and make contact with a bank, a financial institution a government body on behalf of somebody and that's the first thing they throw at you sorry GDPR that's nearly used as an excuse to not engage all right okay listen we're going to make some inquiries in relation to this of course and get a policy even if they say oh yeah well we can do this and do that we can only talk about what this person's experience was so if there is something a different system in place they're not communicating it to their staff to communicate it to their customers Liam thank you very much for raising it it's a really important point that was coming from the initial number that we obtained was a 1-800 number central office a central office in Dublin or whatever it is and the young lady in question this was after waiting for as I said to the gentleman we'll dial this number and now we'll boil the kettle because we'll have a cup of tea waiting while we get somebody to answer and 40 minutes before someone answered do people of that capacity elderly people of that capacity sit and wait as you say and I know the focus is on your 83 year old neighbour but it's not just older people as well there's different people with different communications abilities that probably would be better served by being able to go into an office and stuff but we're speaking about an older person this incident Liam and I appreciate it and I'll tell you he's lucky to have you Liam and lucky to have your business across the road it's a shop you run do you want to mention where it is or are you happy enough to leave it at that I'm happy enough to leave it at that I was going to see if you wanted to plug but anyway I know that's not why you contacted us take care Liam lovely Greg thanks for calling now thank you we appreciate the email just to recap because it's just important we've had a few texts in this time yesterday we're halfway through an hour of a special feature on the closure of the pastoral child and adolescent counselling services this is the only such service for people it's the first port of call it can often stop people with their mental health deteriorating people have been bereaved loads of different reasons bullied they might need counselling I've spoken personally to families of people that have have done very well from it and went on to lead very happy and successful lives the company needs a full-time director to provide the services because it's grown from an 850 year old donation it's grown into this massive thing with 26 counsellors 15,000 counselling sessions over the last six years hugely important stopping lots of people having to try and see calms and you know the difficulty people can have in that regard and it's closing and it's a closing effectively in the first instance because the two so the HSC or any state for that matter will not fund 60,000 euro in funding a full-time director is required now because of the scale of the operation and for governance and best practice reasons so it's going to close and it's going to close in March they can limp across to March but 26 counsellors are going to be let go and the consensus was yesterday that if this goes it can't be rebuilt it can't be rebuilt in the way it's going to be rebuilt so obviously the logical thing for a show like this to do and any show in any county would do the exact same when a service like this is about to be shut down is they contact the local minister's office Minister Charlie McConnelogue who obviously is at the cabinet table and has a great deal of influence you would imagine and also the minister for children Roderick O'Gorman I know Mr. Gorman is incredibly busy but this is a very important issue this is an entire county losing its only counselling services for young people don't forget all the surveys which show an increase in young people needing help and increase in mental health difficulties so we're 24 hours on and this is not anti anything and this is not to expose anything but we're 24 hours on and we have neither a reply Caroline we still don't have a reply for me to know so on this issue we've neither a reply from minister Charlie McConnelogue's office nor even a reply from the minister for children's office 24 hours in which I think is absolutely remarkable I would love to bring anyone on with some good news or to say look I'm working on this I don't it doesn't matter as long as we get to a solution it doesn't matter but I just think it's remarkable and I think it's important you know that I pass on what I know that neither office has got back to us at all not even to us to say right we're looking into it or we'll try and do this or we'll try and do that or even to refer us to the HSC nothing generic nothing nothing and yesterday we heard from the bishop who says this service has to be returned retained we heard from Donna Harper who very sadly lost her daughter Leona in the Chrysler tragedy and she was speaking on behalf of others who were able to access this service her sons were able to access this service there are people continuously accessing this service what will happen to them when it's gone there's a waiting list of close on 400 people waiting for counselling sessions we should be growing this we should be saying well this is a huge success and all it would take is 60,000 and maybe a little bit more funding to now don't forget also this is a service that both too slow and the HSC refer to and neither of them will provide the funding that is required to keep it going and as I say unfortunately any inquiries that we've made so far we haven't even had a response to and that's where we're at on Wednesday 24 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We design, install and maintain cutting-edge heating systems. Build a lasting relationship with us through annual service and comprehensive after-sales support. Contact us for a free consultation on low-cost, low-carbon heating solutions. Visit iHeatingandcooling.ie today. Easy living furniture's biggest ever winter sale is on, but ends Sunday. This is your last chance to avail of these amazing discounts. Absolutely everything reduced across sofa, dining, bedroom, mattress and accessories. It's the furniture you want at amazing winter sale prices. Winter sale ends Sunday at Easy Living Furniture, Crescent Link Retail Park. Donegal County Council is inviting the public to get involved in developing the future plans for the old courthouse in Ladder County as an exciting tourist attraction. Find out more and get involved by coming along to a drop-in event in the old courthouse building on Justice Walsh Road on Wednesday 17th of January, anytime between 2pm and 8pm. Dolores on Facebook says, aren't you lovely man, Liam? Lot of people awaiting the renewals of travel passes here in the Rosses. Hi Greg, listening to Liam concerning the elderly gentleman and his travel card. All the gentleman has to do is go to his local intro office, a friend relative alone. The elderly agency helps people. Liam may have spoken to an agent that isn't very good at their job. As for the mic of website and your difficulty using it, you have to log in on numerous occasions for security reasons. Thank you, Peter. I understand. Sorry, I get you. But I can log in to my bank account with my thumbprint. You know, I'm not saying you should be fit to do that on gov.a, but anyway, I take your point. Please tell the gentleman to go to his local office, get it sorted out. It's no problem. He has to have his photograph taken as well. You have to make an appointment. Just call them, especially if it's the letter. Any area, no problem now. Liam was told by the intro person in Dublin that there's no direct number to call. Read the public services card. I got the same letter. I went to Bonkranagh Welfare Office to renew. They maintained they only had one photographer on site and couldn't take my photo. So they'd write out to me with an appointment to come in. I live over 18 miles away from Bonkranagh. I have an appointment to come back next week. Exact same situation for me yesterday, trying to get through to the intro office, looking for an appointment for my mother-in-law to get her a public services card. I had to email them on her behalf, looking for an appointment, but I've had no reply. So I don't know now. Do they not respond to me because I'm doing it on her behalf and data protection, et cetera? It does not seem to be a sound practice. There's another person had to email on behalf of their mother. Has the email been opened? What's the normal response time? Did they ignore it because of GDPR? It needs to be a little bit more clearer. Business matters in association with the Faculty of Business at ATU Donegal. For a career in financial governance, consider the Level 9 MA in governance and IT in financial services, starting in January. Contact the Exec Ed Coordinator on 9186206 or email donald.hanigan at atu.ie today. OK, it is Wednesday. It's the day that Highland Radio's business podcast, Business Matters, is available. And its presenter and compiler is Chris Ashmore. He's with me now. Hi, Chris. Good morning, Greg. Good to have you in. Before we get to the pod itself, let's talk a bit of news and strong growth on the recruitment front in our region. Yeah, now it's interesting to note because we're pretty much at full employment and this company, FRS Recruitment, all over the country, they help employers find employees, but 20 of the 26 counties in Ireland had a decline in job opportunities last year. That's because there is a shortage of labour. Donegal was one of six counties to book the trend. So there are opportunities out there. And in many respects, you can look at it, I suppose, both ways. No, no, no opportunities for old, bold. Presenters. Oh, we'll find you something there. Come on, lads. Headhunt me, headhunt me. Well, and of course, when there's a shortage, it can drive up wages in some sectors. So it's a rather interesting scenario given that we got through COVID and everything and we have, and it's something I've come across now, speaking to pretty much people in every business, it is very difficult to get staff at the moment. Especially good staff who are very committed and would add great value to a company, such as myself. And then when you go and train them up, and if they go and depart, you're back to square one again. So it's a big issue. But anyway, it is for sure. I'm sorry to be a little facetious, but strong growth on recruitment in Donegal, booking the trend of other counties. Okay, opportunities at the National Digital Research Centre. What's this about, Chris? Yeah, now, this is a rather interesting... It's a government backed at the organisation now. Essentially, it was founded back in 2007. And I suppose it's a glorified start-up, one-stop shop. But they're holding a 48-hour online event in February. Now, this is for people who really are, as I say, globally ambitious. So they're looking for people who've got a really good idea. They want a little bit of support, a bit of mentoring. You can get up to 100,000 euro in funding. So, Greg, if you've got a good idea to move jobs, this is it. Get on to the National Digital Research Centre with your plan to save the planet and who knows what else. A little closer as I get to that, as my head kind of looks like a globe. I don't know, Chris. But, you know, there are lots of different funding streams out there. And I think it's getting the knowledge and getting out in front, you know, between the various... You know, as I say, there's a lot of money out there. Not just for businesses, but even for community organisations. And if you get on top of the application process and all that, it can really work quite well for you. And there's also loans for smaller businesses available, too. You've got a bit of news on that. Yes, Microfinance Ireland. Now, this is geared at small businesses. So here in Donegal, you can access loans through Microfinance Ireland of up to 25,000 euro. And if you want to find out more about that through the Local Enterprise Office, they're having a webinar. So online Thursday, January the 25th. So that's what tomorrow week. And it'll be via Zoom 10 to 11 o'clock.  And if you want to proceed then, you know exactly what to do. Yeah. And we were talking to the Employment Minister, and you're on about the work that Leo is doing in supporting jobs and, you know, almost 400 new jobs supported in Ireland in Donegal, sorry, over the last year. All right, let's get on to the pot itself. And your guest this week is Maura Toner. Yes. There's the food coast. She's food coast advisor here in Donegal. So there's been a huge explosion in growth of small companies and individuals, everything from homebakes to ready meals, restaurants, chefs. And Donegal is a growing reputation as a foodie destination. And there's a lot to look forward to. And a lot of the people in the sector are doing very well indeed. And Food Coast Donegal is really, it's an initiative there that helps to support and to grow this sector. And again, there is funding available. There's mentoring. And she's very much upbeat about the future. I'm excited for the year ahead. I think that we are going to have a great calendar of events. I think that our businesses will really benefit particularly from the Meet the Producer event that we're going to run in March. And we will run that again if it is successful and if there's demand for it. It's going to be a great opportunity for the food service providers in the county to see the quality products that are being created in this county. So I'd encourage everyone to attend that. And we will issue a press release near the time with full information and details of where and when, as I say, early stages of planning. But it will probably be in early March. So keep an eye out for that. There's a great cohort of business people involved in the network. And, you know, they're very excited about the prospects ahead for them as groups of either the restaurant chef cluster or producer clusters. And they are excited and passionate about what they do. And I think that that is going to transfer into success for everybody in 2024. Yeah, going to be a lot of useful information in the full form of that interview with Maura Tonish. She's the food coast Donagall advisor with the Leo office, the Donagall local enterprise office. And that podcast available for you right now to stream from our website or download, also on Spotify or iTunes. And there's a whole back catalog, catalog, sorry, of podcasts there. I think anyone with an interest in business or interest in starting a business, there's a lot of great advice and information. As I say, it's available for you right now. It's broadcast on Sunday too, Chris. Yes, Sunday after the six o'clock news. And if you want to contact me, the email address, businessmattersathighlandradio.com. And we'll see you next Wednesday. Well, Chris, thank you very much indeed for that. Back with more after the break. I find that finding stuff is good. Finding that one earring down the back of the sofa. Finding my perfect match on a dating app. I even went to India once to find myself. And at SpexAvers, an audiologist helped me find sounds I hadn't heard for years. With PRSI, the hearing aids were free. I find that extremely useful. Find your lost sounds. 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Subject to location and availability, minimum 18 month contract. Activation fees and annual price increase of CBI plus 3% applies. See imagine.ie for full terms and conditions. Highland radio, weather updates brought to you by Grant. Building a new home, choose Grants A triple plus and get a new home. The home is located Aeronah air to water heat pump and you flex under floor heating. Visit grant.ie. Now we saw frost icy stretches and patches of fog and freezing fog this morning. They might be very slow to clear or may not clear at all. They might linger all day in places because temperatures are just one to three degrees. There will be sunny spells and some wintery showers with light, northerly breezes. Now this morning and the half eight because it happens every morning half eight. This morning we saw a lot of snow. It was from this time last year and this time last year there was snow and schools were closed and people weren't able to get into work and people couldn't get out of... I seem to recall this time last year, carers couldn't get to certain places because the roads were impassable. Michelle, do you think we overreact to the weather or were ill prepared for the weather when it comes? What's your view? Good morning, Greg. Every year we have frost every year and yet nothing that is done about it. There's no preparations made. Year after year it's the same thing, a flurry of snow and the whole country stuff.  How has it impacted you today? We had the Home Health Coordinator call this morning and she cancelled services for today and she said she was possibly canceling them for tomorrow as well. I just don't understand why alternative measures are not put in place before this happens. And have some sort of a strategy that enables people to get to where they need to go when the weather, inevitably at least once or twice a year, is like it is today? Yeah, like we had a situation here last year. You might recall, it happens to me, where a home help had crashed her car. Yes, I do. That's exactly what I was referencing when I was introducing you. I didn't know it was you, but here we are again, Michelle. What a coincidence. Here we are again.  I appreciate that. But, you know, they should be doing alternative measures to get griffins and griffin placed. Now, my partner was on to the local councillor this morning who told him that if we got it to midi to tell it, they would request funding for AVEN. AVEN, which would have... AVEN. Salt or grit at the top of the hill? Well, my partner went down to the council yard before and was told he wasn't allowed to get any grit. He was only allowed to get sand.  He does sand the roads whenever the sand or salt is available. You can't find the sand under the snow and you can't find the sand. Most of the time it's frozen and you have to check that up to try and, like, you know, to be even able to spread anything. It's a bit further, Ted, isn't it, really? And it's not your fault, it's just the setup. So, and you are... In fairness, you say, look, you know, I can manage here, but what about others who are going to be let down today? Yeah, well, you know, what's about those other elderly people that's in the house on their own? Not all the time because I have my own job. I'll be able to work my hours back tonight.  I can manage. I feel sorry for the home health as well. They shouldn't be in a position where they're afraid to get in their cars. There should be alternative, you know, measures and tests. This goes on year on year and we're going backwards because the roads up here were gridded back in the 80s, right? You know, we pay councils or property tax up here, but we get nothing for it. There's not even running water up here. So, you know, I just think it's a bit ridiculous. You know, I lived in America and I think we had one snow day ever in 11 years. And it was on an April Fool's Day. They made sure the roads were passable. I appreciate why they can't, you know, salt or sand or treat all the roads.  We have to pay our road tax. We, you know, we deserve the same treatment as anybody, you know, in a town, in a village or getting the road treated. We, you know, why are we any different? It's just not, it's just not fair. I don't know. Maybe it's a social tax for living in rural art and that's the way the thing's going. If you choose to, you know, in inverted commas choose to live in a rural area, well, then you're going to have to face these types of inconveniences. I hope that's not the case, but you do wonder. And also you mentioned that back in the day, going back 30, 40 years, these roads were gritted. Are we getting a little bit trigger-happy in, you know, a little bit of snow, a little bit of ice?  Like, is there, do you understand it or do you think we're getting a little bit, a little bit sensitive to a bit of ice and snow? Well, to an extent, but you know, if you have the correct tires on, if you're driving, you know, you know, with care, you know, make the judgment yourself, but you know, I don't want to, I don't expect anyone to rust themselves or crash the cars or anything, but I just, you know, I do, I do expect, you know, a level of service, whether it's on the shining or the snow is falling, I do expect the same level of service while it may be late delayed or, you know, not all the time, not constant, maybe have one call a day, but there's a poor old person living somewhere today that's not going to get any care, possibly not going to get any care tomorrow, and they may not even be able to get themselves out of it. I just don't, I just don't think it's fair. It's very worrying when you put it like that. OK, Michelle, listen, thanks for your time today. That's Michelle. Do you agree or disagree? 08, 6, 60, 25,000. The same situation may pertain tomorrow or may carry on until tomorrow. We're at the end of the show, but don't let that put you off texting or calling because we are still here to take your comments. I have an uncle in the same position as the gentleman Liam's working with in terms of renewing the card. If I rang, I cannot talk on the phone without him being present, and as I am not available during the day to support him. Yet it's OK for me to email them on his behalf. Where is his right to take responsibility for his own affairs as long as possible? As long as possible, why can't a form to renew not be issued to people who are not digital users in any form? Is there any exception to the rule of application online? Right, we'll get to that tomorrow morning if that's OK. We just don't have time at the moment, Caroline. Thank you. I just read that comment. My free TV license doesn't expire, so why does free travel have an expiry date or indeed your PPS card? Surely you're still the same person. It's just more bureaucracy. Would it not be a breach of the GDPR regulations if you have to rely on someone to contact the department on your behalf? That's taking away your independence, isn't it? Well, that's the problem. This gentleman was robbed of his independence. I'm not sure if it's in the form of a digital communication. If GDPR doesn't cover that, it seems like it should. Another caller says, totally agree with that gentleman. It's an absolute disgrace what they expect of the older generations that know very little about phones, computers, emails. We have the same experience with our parents, but luckily we're there to help. What about those who have no children and living in a rural area? It's just disgraceful that these people falling between the gaps. You know, that's my concern. I'm in the same situation with online. I'm just not great. My niece had to do it for me, and it still wouldn't take the photo. I had to make an appointment in the office to get it done, and when I went in, they said it's a regular issue for them that people have. I think that whenever your card is up that they should renew it for you. I've been trying to update my service card since November, and it's still not sorted. The medical card is renewed every two years. The boss pass and services card should be renewed the same way. AIB are able to renew your card automatically. Why don't the social welfare do the same? It's hard for older people to navigate services online and again, not just older people. Hi, Greg. This comes in from John, driving from Bunkrana to Konmany one hour ago. The roads have been gritted from Bunkrana as far as the North Pole bar drum freeze. However, from there to Konmany, the road's covered with snow and ice. Who is responsible for gritting the Konmany road? It's not being gritted, and this is a common occurrence, and on it goes. Listen, we're back with more for you tomorrow morning at nine. Thank you so much for supporting the programme. I really appreciate it and for getting involved.


We just made these two Holiday front porch decorations using a jigsaw and a cricket and our glow forge and we'll show you how we did it What is up a welcome back do you like to do a builder to make it we do too and we have a new video Each week this week. We're getting into the the mood of the season. It's getting chilly out We know Christmas is coming. I see my neighbors have some lights up and this neighbor has got their tree up So we're gonna start with some festive fall front porch decor We're gonna do two leaners. Yeah, so I know that you've seen some of our other We just did a Merry Christmas sign not too long ago But we were marching around in the old hobby lobby looking for supplies the other day and saw this really cute leaning snowman so we've added that to our list of projects for this holiday season and Garrett was browsing online. He was actually on Pinterest Looking for something I think and came across these cute little it's a stacked presents But it's 2d, but looks 3d. So it's a really cool fake 3d because I wanted to redo the topiary that we did last year Well a couple of years ago, I think Which was really cute, but it wasn't Easy to store. Yeah at all. It was a practical. Yeah to store. So This one should be much easier to store It's only three feet tall should be able to lay in there on top of all of our Christmas boxes But it'll look 3d. Yeah, I think so we hope we hope it looks 3d. Yeah Do some shading use a little bit of wax a little bit of light wax a little bit of dark wax popping Project number one our leaning snowman Step one, we're gonna gather all of our supplies We really just needed a half-inch piece of plywood well half-inch thick Two foot by four foot little section. We picked up some ribbon some paint some vinyl. I'm gonna add his Nose and eyes at a vinyl a snowflake for his hat And then the front of him is going to say welcome and I'm gonna add that in this permanent oracle 651 Matt black vinyl here Step two, we're gonna make all of our cuts. We're gonna use a jigsaw and Cut out a little shape that we drew on. It's about what a snowman looks like Right need to be perfect. I will tell you that I when we talked about this project I said well, how are we gonna transfer the image of the snowman onto the board? He said we're gonna draw it and I was like we don't draw But he said how do you draw a snowman and even ask the girls how do you draw a snowman? It was like it's three circles chem and we can do it. So I'm here to tell you that he drew it. You can do it We just we kind of kept him a little bit skinny because I don't want him to be a fat leaning sign post I'm trying to still keep him in in the theme of a vertical welcome sign. So he's got some Larger bottom, but narrow and the midsection in the top and so it's like a Sphilt snowman sticking the bottom He's he's he's just tall not thick get that skinny at the bottom He's packed with snow down there. I don't know I figure any shape of snowman is fine You've never seen a perfect snowman. Yeah, that's my point here So I think this is a relatively easy one to just freehand out and and draw it's all about the accents on this one Yes, it's all about the accents And we got a lot of questions. Does Kim ever use the tools? Yes, she does and she's using it today Again, I don't know how many times I have to tell you guys this I only don't use the tools because I have to keep care busy He I don't know if you've seen that he's a bit ADD and so if you could give him the power tools He stays busy stays focused on the project. Who knows what it'll be up to while I'm Sawing this snowman to show you that I can use the power tools to know nothing Yeah, that's what happened he'll wander over there something will catch his attention over there Yeah, right there. Yeah, you see what I'm talking about This is a little pointy. I think we can either maybe we can just stand that fix that.  Thank you So we decided to go with like a little one by two to make his hat pop a little bit make it stand out Make it look like he's actually wearing a hat I don't know what you think I think what you got is pretty good Step three Now we paint first try first tea We're gonna use some crinoline for the body and our country chic paint and licorice For the hat for the hat for the win Step four now. We're gonna cut our vinyl. We're not gonna karate chop our vinyl. We're gonna use the cricket. I Went into design space. I found a little snowman face And now I'm just cutting each color of vinyl hit the flashing little cricket button here It's doing this thing Step five and now we assemble it We're just gonna use some gorilla glue to put the hat on the top And then lay the vinyl down. That's That's it Easy as pie. It is a quick easy project Looks like it's more more than it is, but that's pretty simple Hitting it with an inch and a quarter brad The nail not the guy All right, I cut out some really cute little snowman eyes So I'm just using this or cal 651 permanent vinyl put it right on here This is the same stuff. They make decals on decals out of for your car windows So should be with a coat of polyurethane what I would advise But we don't have time to do that right now is to put your coat of polyacrylic on first and then add your permanent vinyl on top But because we're filming this all in one night We're gonna go ahead and add this and then add the polyacrylic over top I think it'll still last it'll last the winter It'll last the winter and maybe a trip in the closet What's his name shoot Scott no Scott the snowman no no no no the snowman from frozen Randolph rutabaga. All right, there's little eyes There's three layers to these eyes. So I'm gonna do it one layer of time Olaf no Olaf. Is it Olaf? Is that the snowman's name? Yeah, Olaf, right? The snowman in frozen Olaf Doing a little vinyl layering Look how easy Just putting stickers on stickers on stickers Those those eyes definitely look like Scott the snowman Scott the snowman eyes. I Don't know cuz I've never met a snowman named Scott They're always frosty Or Olaf, but can't you just have like a regular? Snowman name. It's like a dog. You've never heard. Have you ever met a dog named Scott? Have you ever met a dog named Scott? Are you focused here? Is that where his mouth goes? Can you stand back? Yeah, no. All right. Let me get in my chair. You don't have to get all the way up in here Looks good from here. Are you sure? Yeah, you want to come climb up here? No, see late down now He definitely looks like he's looking towards the heavens. He is so cute I'm loving it. Did my particles fall from up there and then I was formed into this beautiful My allergies to kick it in. I was giving him backstory. Sorry the interrupted Scott's backstory Is he Scott Bacula the snowman? Does he do quantum leaps? All right Scott, that's it sparkly snowflake. They'll be great on his little hat. I'll have to figure that out We'll try it again. All right. Oh Nope, let me I got one more little accent. Oh, it's scarf. He's gonna get cold without his scarf Give him a little something Yeah, stay warm Scott Stay warm I'll figure out maybe a little something more to do with that Look it. Isn't that cute? Isn't that so cute? Yeah, let's throw it over his shoulder Scott the snowman. It's a little sassy Should I do it in a full-on tie? Yeah, give him a full Windsor looking good Pop him. Yeah, he fixes the collar Yeah, that's so cute There you go Project number two. So this project we're going to make the 3d stacked presents and We're gonna use our glow forge to make this one and we're gonna offer it in our store K and G make it calm. I got it right this time Just in case you can't cut it at home right, so if you feel like this little snowman is too much to cut out we can All for you this one It's already cut out for you and all you have to do is paint it But I will say if you're looking for something to add to your little Christmas shopping list This little jigsaw here is not that much. It's relatively cheap and you can do a lot with it A lot of our projects just with the jigsaw. You don't necessarily have to have the pocket saw. Yeah pocket saw He's just handy or the nailer You could do a lot of cutting well cutting wise you can do a lot of cutting just with the jigsaw Yeah, you can do almost all of our projects with a jigsaw You probably do this one if you're able to draw the packages out on the on the board and cut it out with the jigsaw We're gonna go ahead and cut it out on the glow forge Score it give us our paint lines and paint it up and this is project number two Step a one that we're gonna gather all of our materials We just needed some quarter-inch MDF. I have this a piece of long MDF 18 inches by 48 inches and then we need some paints And some paints. That's really it, right? That's it. MDF and paint Step two, we're gonna make all of our cuts Kim found this cool little it look 3d, but it's not 3d Stand thing on some website and she said I want to make this so I copied it Yeah, he made it himself. He didn't copy their file. He actually took the picture that I saw And made the SVG for me because he's that good I can't imagine I told him I was very impressed with what he was able to pull off But I said if we can make this I think it will look really cool. It'll look 3d Yeah, but it'll only be 2d. Now anybody can do this It's just drawing some lines and illustrator and coloring the lines different colors You can use a pen tool or the line tool You can make your own SVG. It's not that hard Let me know in a comment if you want me to do a video on how to make SVG is how to create your own SVGs from scratch or how to take a a picture and make it an SVG Yeah, I we've talked about it lots of times But I'm not sure if that's something you guys would want to see or not But if you do like you said leave us a comment Let us know give a little vote and we could always make a how to make your own SVG video Yep, so we're gonna go get the glow forge and cut this thing out Now we paint again again, so we got all of our little pieces cut out. Let's see our ribbons Ribbons are like 3d Popping And we got all of our packages stacked So I don't know if you can see from there. I'm not sure if you can really see the cutouts, but see they already look 3d That's so cool. Now. We just need to paint them. Yep. Now we're gonna paint them Then we'll use a little white wax a little dark wax Kind of give it some dimension We're gonna use our country chic paints again The reds will be in devotion the green is a really this is the darker green This is fireworks, and then we'll have black and licorice and the white is Crinoline crinoline Now we're gonna throw some wax down to try to make it look a little 3d make it pop We finished our painting and it looks great We did a great job if I do say so myself pat myself on the back We worked really hard to make sure we had all these lines painted perfectly little tip If you didn't see it in the fast-forwarding Painters tape helped us get nice clean crisp lines, and then the other thing are these little round. I hope you can see it Let's see see it across here. No, there's no way This is a round foam brush. It just has a little round in on it. It's nice and flat that helped us do the circles So that's also a little tip Here's where it gets fancy So it still looks flat looks nice, but looks flat doesn't look 3d. It doesn't pop So we're gonna use a little bit of light wax and a little bit of dark wax To try to make it look 3d. Yes, we haven't had an opportunity to show you our country chic wax here This is the pearl wax and This is the dark wax. Well, it doesn't say dark. You tell them it's antiquing wax And this one I have a smaller version of the white wax So we're gonna use the three of these to add some dimension to This 3d pre stacked presents look we've got here Gert's our artist remember so I'm gonna let him do this part and I'll help out where I can but Basically everything on this side of the package is gonna get some dark wax and everything About right here is gonna get a little white wax. That's it I'm gonna use my fingers Step five and now we're gonna glue it all down With this little tiny remnants of gorilla contact I'm gonna put it in the base. We're in everything's still on All right Great. I'll put this other piece back here We'll just use the gorilla tape What do you guys think does it look 3d? I Think so well, I Don't know. I'm not looking at it on the screen. What do you think does it look 3d? Does it come across on film? Looks pretty 3d to me. Yeah, I'd like to know what your perspective is when you watch the video I mean, of course, we'll watch it, too. I'd like but from here. It looks great I mean it really does look 3d, which is exactly what I saw from my Inspiration photo and you pulled it off perfectly. I'm super impressed.   I think I don't know and no numbers. Oh look at the time time to go Yeah, time to go so well, we'll see you guys next week where we'll do it building and make it again and really like This scouts the only option so upside down Yeah upside down Upside it's like a snow cone whoa