The perfect Mother's Day gift to see the one and only Tom Jones in Belfast! Join us as Highland Radio had the road to see the timeless legend as he headlines Belzonic 2023, Friday 16th of June. Your trip includes luxury transfers, bed and breakfast in the four-star Clayton Hotel Belfast and your standing ticket to the outdoor event. Contact us today on 074 91 25000. You see Tom Jones at Ormobar Belfast Friday 16th of June. Have yourself a great Wednesday, we're going to pass you over to Greg Hughes. Greg, good morning. Good morning to you. Have a great Wednesday yourself. See you Thursday. Last day of the week tomorrow. For you. Good night. All right, take care. See you soon, Lee. It's nine o'clock. Time for a news update and we welcome on to the programme now, Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. Donald Golgante Council is looking at the possibility of purchasing houses in which families are facing eviction. The issue was raised at a meeting of letter Kenny Milford, Municipal District, by Councilor Jerry McMunnigal. He said policy up to now has been to seek vacant possession. Officials confirmed, however, under new department guidelines, the council does have clearance from government to buy houses with tenants in situ, subject to the house complying with the council's acquisition policy and the tenants having a recognised need. They added this overrides any previous policies. Well, Councilor McMunnigal welcomes that but says it must be backed up with resources and red tape must be eliminated. More important, especially for people who are facing eviction, that the council doesn't have to go through the laborious process of months and months of applications, waiting for government to go ahead and ascent. What we need here now, if someone is facing eviction and the council, as the Tannis Chair said, local authorities can buy that house, they ensure that there are people with a roof over their heads, then that needs to be a process that is direct and has very little time to fulfil. And the rest has been made by detectives investigating the shooting of a senior police officer in Tyrone. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell remains critically ill, but stable after he was wounded when he was shot while coaching a youth football team in Oma last month. A 45-year-old man was detained in the Belfast area yesterday evening under the Terrorism Act. Over 70 million Euro in EU funding has been invested in health and social care projects in the border region since the establishment of CAUT, the Cooperation and Working Together partnership. This year marks its 30th anniversary, with more than 100,000 patients and clients benefiting from projects to date. More than 40,000 people have received training CAUT was established in 1992. An environmental protection charity says the government's policy on energy poverty is lacking in scale and ambition. A report by Friends of the Earth found the number of Irish families unable to heat their homes more than doubled in the past year. It also says grants for it profiting remain skewed and leave many groups and communities most at risk of energy poverty out in the cold. Clare O'Connor is energy policy officer with Friends of the Earth. I think households are now at a point where energy bills need to come down and the government needs to take really radical actions to do this. So it's going to mean much more investment in state-led retrofitting programs and they're going to need to proactively go out and insulate homes for the people who need it most first. Because families who can't pay their energy bills, they're not in a position to now invest in really expensive retrofitting measures. A snow ice alert for Donegal, Kavan, Monaghan, Sligo and Detrum remains in place for the next two hours with Metairan saying there is still potential for hazardous driving conditions in the north and northwest. Meanwhile Metairan tell us it'll be cloudy this morning with outbreaks of rain preceded by some local sleet or snow becoming wet through the afternoon and evening. Again some poor driving conditions as a result, highs of two to five degrees Celsius, fresh and gusty southerly winds. And that's Island Radio News, back with News in Full at 10 o'clock. What does Ireland sound like? Is it the mournful cry of the illan pipes floating over a lonely mountain pass? Or waves lapping on a wild western shore? Is it the gentle sound of rain on a soft spring day? Or welcoming voices in a cozy local pub? Right folks, do you not have holes to go to? This is what Ireland sounds like. Hmm. KFC's original recipe, chicken fillet roll. This St. Patrick's Day, it's got to be KFC. The county's number one talk show, The 9 Till Noon Show on Highland Radio. And now it's time for the talk of the Northwest, The 9 Till Noon Show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Hello, good morning to you. Four minutes past nine on this Wednesday, the 15th of March, 2023. I hope you're well. Great to have you along for another 9 Till Noon Show. And coming up later on, we're going to be answering your sleep questions. Do you sleep OK? Do you think you sleep OK? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I don't know. Well, I'll tell you who will know. Matty Vergays of the Sleep Clinic will be joining us to answer any sleep-related questions, related questions. That's part of World Sleep Day, which is on Friday, March 17th. So if you have issues with your sleep or questions about your sleep or maybe someone in your house, a young person, whatever it might be, get in touch with us, 08 660 25000 and get in early if you don't mind because what will happen is it'll get really busy, don't you know? Once we start chatting to Matty. So any questions on sleep, 08 660 25000 or give them a call, give us a call either, by the way. 0749 125000. More than happy to sort it out that way as well. Also later on, we'll have businesses with Kieran. Around about half 10 will be announcing the winner of our music competition. Irish Music Month searcher, a music hero, as they've called it. And we'll be announcing our winner, the judges met last night and have come up with a consensus. And of course, the public vote form part of that decision making process, the winner of that competition will be announced around about half 10.  Some of you choose to watch as well. And that's your choice. You can go on to your smart TV and open up the YouTube or Facebook app. The same on your Firestick or on your phone or tablet or laptop. Watch the whole show or just tune at 10 30 or whatever you want to do. Getting touched with us, though, and have your say by the usual phone numbers or on our social media. So loads coming up in between all of that as well, as you can imagine. So we want your views. OK, let's get on to what's making the front pages of the newspapers today. We'll start with the Finn Valley voice driving at crossroads junctions like Russian roulette, a an extremely busy crossroads at a Finn Valley village where all vehicles have equal access is a Russian roulette with accidents waiting to happen. The danger at crossroads village where the crossroads is located was highlighted by Councillor Patrick McGowan at Monday's online meeting of the Liffords and Alley Municipal District. There's been an accident there, an awful lot of near misses and small accidents that people have not reported. The simple solution is to make it a roundabout, he said. There's a few places I could think of need roundabouts. That's amongst them. What do you think? Do you use that road on a daily or do you drive through it from time to time? If you want to have your view on that, too. Oh, wait, six, 60, 25,000. The Inish Times this morning, their story, members of the Inishon fishing industry have demanded that a fisheries management plan from the government be put in place before plans for a major offshore wind farm progress any further. Haven Offshore Array is preparing to investigate the feasibility of developing an offshore wind farm off the north coast of Inishon. The company has submitted an application for a five-year four-shore investigatory license for a project containing a mixture of static and floating wind turbines in initial sites of more than one and a half thousand kilometers squared, with the nearest point to the coast being 20 kilometers from Malinhead. A geophysical survey has been carried out. Haven Offshore Array said the license would allow the company to refine the site choice and to carry out surveys to assess the viability of the project properly. But obviously, a meeting in Carandana between around 30 members of the local fishing industry and consultants on behalf of that company heard concerns about the possible impact of the proposed project on the fishing industry. The Donegal Post heartfelt appeal for new school to go ahead. After operating out of prefab since it was founded 24 years ago, a gelsk on the Kahameistra was all set to begin construction on its new school. But news that the government has pressed pause on funding this and 57 other schools around the country has come as a serious blow, and it is a major, major blow. The Board of Management, staff and school community have walked a long and challenging road to get to this stage. In the last few years, they've welcomed design approval for a state-of-the-art building. They got the go-ahead to put the project out to tender and were literally at shovel-ready stage. But it looks like it's being stored. And look, we've done the interviews here, and I'm sure most media did of politicians welcoming this great announcement, saying this is fantastic for the area and those same politicians need to make sure that they speak up now that it's unacceptable, isn't it, for young people to be being schooled in pre-fabs, that teachers have to teach in that environment, that parents have to send their children to school in that environment. And that's been the way for 24 years.  But that's a project you'd feel has to go ahead. And as I say, you just hope those that welcomed it are as vocal now in calling for it to proceed. The Irish Independent tells us that the government's expected to reap hundreds of millions of euro from the move to phase out the reduced excise rate on petrol and diesel. The scrapping of the lower rate of duty could add 30... Sorry, could add 10 euro to the cost of a tank of fuel. Finance Minister Michael McGraw has confirmed the estimated additional receipts in a full year from the increases in excise duty on a total of 21 cent on petrol and diesel will amount to more than 700 million euro. And where's that money going to be spent? What's it going to be spent on? Excise duty was cut last year by 15 cent a litre on diesel and 20 cent a litre on petrol. And I've no doubt, for me anyway, I don't know about user listening, but this is just going to feel like a massive increase from government because things were so chaotic at the time of the reduction. And it was from such a high rate. And then prices went up then shortly thereafter. It didn't really feel like a break at all, did it? This is going to feel like a significant increase. 15 cent on a litre of diesel, 20 cent on a litre of petrol. So now somewhere, sometimes you can see petrol down in the 150s, diesel down in the 160s, depending where you are, if you're in the South, the county, they're both up close to 170 still, which again is something I think needs to be looked at really. How is petrol so much cheaper in this part of the world where I am, latter Kenny compared to say, for instance, parts of Donegal town, it doesn't make any sense. But anyway, it is what it is. Someone living in Donegal town, for example, in the petrol station I've seen, it's going to feel far more expensive than someone buying petrol and diesel in letter Kenny, I would imagine. But anyway, last month the government said there would be staggered increases in excise duty from June 1st when petrol will increase by six cent, diesel by five on September 1st, petrol will go up by another seven cent and diesel up by another five, the remaining eight cent on petrol and six cent on diesel will increase on October 31st, just as we're starting to prepare for another bloody winter. Okay. The COVID tracker app, some of you loved it, some of you downloaded it, some of you never looked at it and hated it. Well, it's gone, the COVID tracker app is due to be decommissioned shortly, but hasn't had a version update for almost a year still. 11,881 users checked into it yesterday. Can you believe that? 11,881 people checked into the COVID app yesterday. The app tells us, them, 292 COVID cases were reported on Monday, 17 deaths occurred in the last week. There's also information about the number of vaccine doses administered so far, almost 11 million vaccine doses were given out in this country. The app was created to help trace people who were potentially infected with the virus. Though it was a popular success, it never really succeeded in its objective. An amazing 4.34 million registrations of the app were recorded, yet this converted into 1.7 million users. Not bad, but in the eyes of many experts, not enough to make it an effective contract tracing tool. So, 4.34 million of you downloaded the app and registered on it. 1.7 million of the population actually used it. Yesterday, 11,000 people logged on. It's getting the heave-hope. The Irish Daily Mail tells us that people before Prof. T.D. Paul Murphy has said he and his partner plan to raise their baby gender neutral, so as not to limit the child's future preferences on their gender identity. The new dad announced the arrival of Juniper, his first child with his partner Jess last month. Mr. Murphy, 39, said the couple had decided on the baby's name before the birth, regardless of whether it was a male or female, it was going to be Juniper. I think it's a gender neutral name, he told the Irish Times. We're not pandering it, so we're not describing Juniper as a boy, we're describing Juniper as a baby, but it's a male and continuous references to the we-dote as it. We live in a deeply sexist and gendered society, you said, which creates certain expectations for boys and certain expectations for girls, and those things are changing in a positive direction, but there's a very, very long way to go, he said the couple will be using the pronoun they for Juniper and want their child to discover their own gender identity. It's... I mean, you do have to raise a child, don't you, and offer it, I say it, it's catching, offer them, the baby, Juniper, some sort of guidance or something, don't you? I mean, do you not cut Juniper's hair? Do you not, what do you dress it in? I don't know, we're not going to be at correcting people's pronouns if people call Juniper a boy and say he and him, that's fine, we're not going to be correcting them, he said in an interview with The Irish Times, we're not going to fight against society, but to the extent that we can in our home, in our relationship with Juniper, we don't want to limit the kind of future they will foresee for themselves, but the problem is that when you send them to Kresh, okay, the world doesn't work like that really, does it?  Personally, it sounds to me like it might create more problems for the wee baby than not. You want to dress in pink, he said, fire ahead, you want to dress in blue, fire ahead, do you want to play football, brilliant, but you want to go dancing, amazing, it's just not to limit, but gender is not a limit to dancing, with amazing male and female dancers, gender is not a limit to playing football, we have amazing male and female football, some of the strongest people I know are female athletes, so you tell Katie Taylor that her gender has limited her and I'll tell you, she'll probably give you a left hook, she wouldn't, but you know what to mean, but anyway, look, it's a decision they've made, I see there was a famous model that decided to go on the same route and then changed a few months afterwards, because it's a whole handling, I think anyway, but each to their own, it's not my house, it's their house, he's decided though that the baby's pictured in the paper and he's talking about him, so obviously privacy's not the concern there, but anyways, I say each to their own, I just hope, but anyway, the Irish Daily Star, excuse me, really be careful when you're on Twitter, especially if you're in a position of power or any social media for that matter, some people have made mistakes in the past where they've been searching in the search bar and pressed to search, but in fact, they typed tweet out and tweeted it, a Green Party member made this faux pas or a faux pas, sorry, the communications director of the Green Party claimed, and now deleted tweet stating one of his own party TDs was not a sensible person, was meant for a friend, Thomas Malloy, who has been the party's communications director since February, replied to a post by RT's upfront with Katie Hannon show and tweeted, there was not one sensible person on the panel on Monday night, that was despite Green Party Dublin Central TD, Nessa Hurrigan being on the panel and identified in the tweet by name and photo, the tweet has since been deleted and the Green said Mr. Malloy had accidentally tweeted a message which he had meant to text a friend, now I don't know how you'd pull that one off, but anyway, the party added he apologized to Nessa as he never intended for the message to be read publicly. Ms. Hurrigan was on the upfront with Katie Hannon panel alongside Fina Falls Dublin North West TD, Paul McAuliffe, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson, Owen O'Brynne and former housing agency chair, Connor Skeal, but he tweeted that, not one sensible person on that panel. Okay, on to the sun this morning, the Berks are some family really, in terms of fighting against the authorities. There's a sister that's taking a legal case against the law firm claiming unfair dismissal. Obviously, Enoch Burke, his trials and tribulations have been well documented, but his brother was back before the courts yesterday and urged a judge to set him free so we can sit his legal exams. But Simeon Burke, just 24 though he looks much younger, yesterday chose to remain behind bars after refusing to accept the bail. He has been repeatedly offered, so he's in the nick now because he refused to sign a bail bond. He was charged over an outburst at the Court of Appeal on March 7th. The Kings in Pupil was held after chaotic scenes in the four courts after a judgment was handed down in brother Enoch's case. He was there with his family to support him, his siblings who was unsuccessful in an appeal against orders refraining him from attending Wilson's Hospital School in County West Meath. But Simeon claims that how he was arrested and under the grounds he was arrested are illegal. But he's studying law and he wants to get out of court to sit his exams. But he's refusing to sign his bail bond. Right, okay, let's go to the Irish Daily Mirror final. And we talked briefly yesterday about the Irish jokes at the Oscars and obviously everything's a day behind. We're radio so we're immediate. The newspapers are a day behind because of course they have to go to print. So they're just getting reaction now to the jokes, the skits effectively. We played one of them for you yesterday. Oscar-nominated film director Jim Sheridan has blasted Saturday Night Live bosses for their offensive and not funny skit about Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason. During the SNL sketch, which you heard yesterday, Farrell and Gleason, 67, were portrayed as unintelligible due to their language and accent. The three and a half minute clip on US TV caused uproar, prompting Farrell to remark about it at the Oscars on Sunday Night. Now Sheridan, 74, has waded in on the furor. And now the one thing I will say about Colin Farrell, he's played characters in the past. And I think it was in one of the Omidana's husband's name films where he did an Irish accent that was kind of unintelligible. But anyway, it was a very exaggerated sort of Irish accent where you couldn't really make out much of what he was saying. But anyway, it's all right, I suppose, for him to do it because he is Irish. The sketch shows the host of the NBC Entertainment Programme introducing two actors posing as the Bansheave in Aaron Starrs. And you heard the babbles that they come out with. And it was mixed views. I think it depends on the type of person you are. If you're easily offended, you're offended. If you don't mind a bit of banter, it'll just wash over you. And that's just the way it is. Okay, that was a run-through of some of the things making the papers today. If you want to get involved in the conversation, no wait, 60, 25,000 WhatsApps and texts. Great to have you on board. Back with our first guest shortly. The newspapers are courtesy of Kelly Centra Mountain Top Letter Kenny, the C-Store National Large Four Court of the Year for 2022. This week's Nine Till Noon show was brought to you by Sid Mary's GA Convoy Club Development Draw. Win 50,000 for 50 euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at Sid Mary's GA Draw.ie. Floyd's Restaurant, Bally-Migori-Straban. Two course express menu, Monday to Friday, 5pm to 9pm. Only £18.95. 70 weekly a la carte menu, euro for £1. Now taking booklets for Mother's Day and Sunday Carvery, two courses only £15.95. Check out our party packages and great deals at Floyd's Restaurant, Bally-Migori-Straban. Get the eyes daily star today for your free 16 page Cheltenham pull-out. Our man, Brian Flanagan, gives you the inside scoop from the track. We have Davy Russell and Andy Maxx, exclusive views plus all the top tipsters. Ready to get your first pass the post all week. The Irish Daily Star. Number one for racing, number one for you. Mr. Blue Sky, tell us what... The Lotto Jackpot is an estimated 3.5 million euro. Play responsibly in store in appretlovery.ie. The National Lottery. It could be you. Are you looking for a flexible, affordable home improvement loan? New kitchen, bathroom or bedroom? For whatever you're planning, B&S Credit Union's renovate loan is ready to go. Loans from 5,000 to 70,000 euro. Visit our website at B&S.ie.ie or free phone 1-800-290-390 where our dedicated and experienced loans team will be delighted to help you. Loans are subject to approval terms and conditions apply. B&S Credit Union Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. 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. DFIbeds, sleep well, live well. Now, we're still talking about the provision of a new municipal graveyard for letter Kenny. It's been on the agenda for a long, long time. Councillor Donald Coyle of Fianna Fawle is raising the issue again, which is to be welcomed. Good morning to you, Donald. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, Greg, and good morning to your listeners. It's great to have you with us. Right, okay, so I mean there was demands for space in terms of burial plots for a long, long time. Now, presumably that pressure is only increasing. That's right, Greg. And I suppose the reason why I brought up the motion yesterday at the municipal district meeting was that the members received a letter from the inter-church group on graveyard provision in Donegal. And in that letter, there's a mention of three important items in regards to graveyard provision. The urgency of providing for municipal burial grounds in the large urban centres in Donegal, the need for council intervention and local cemeteries across the denominations given the cost of land development maintenance, and the urgency of providing for the burial of non-Christians and non-congregants who now comprise a significant element of communities across Donegal. And you mentioned letter Kenny there and the most, you know, the two largest graveyards in letter Kenny are Cornwall and Lech.  And in other words, in eight years from now, there will be no more space than either of those two graveyards for new graves. Now, there is the possibility to expand the Lech graveyard, but that's going to come down to money. And that is also of a particular denomination. It doesn't, it wouldn't, even if that were to go ahead and even if that were expanded, it doesn't negate the need for a new graveyard space for people of all denominations and none. That's correct, and I'll just give you maybe one interesting statistic in regards to all of this, Greg, and that is I have been told that in one Catholic primary school in letter Kenny, that in a class of 28, 13 of those pupils are Catholic. The remainder, the other 15 are the majority of those are non-Christian. So that gives you an idea, you know, of the trend and the diversity, you know, in the town of letter Kenny at this particular moment in time. So what's the hold up here? It's finding the right space in the right place. The council have been pursuing this seemingly with what vigor I don't know for quite some time. So clearly there is a reason why we haven't achieved this goal yet. Do you know why that is?  And the first thing that needs to be done is that a thought of land, a sufficient thought of land needs to be identified. It needs to be bought by the council and then developed and maintained by the council because Greg, you know, right across the country and the large urban areas and cities, you know, there are municipal graveyards and that's the way that I feel and that the members feel we have to go. And, you know, this thing has been, you know, muted over the last 10 years and I have asked for a workshop to discuss this with the members and then to broaden it out to include all the denominations and all the other interested people in it. Yeah, because different people have different backgrounds of different traditions. Burial has to be quick with some religions. It has to be in a certain place with the disease laid in a certain way. A lot of that cannot be accommodated in Donogh also, people that have been living here for many, many years if they do pass away, have to go and get buried in Derry, for example, or Dublin for that matter, which obviously then, it's not just the process of the burial, but then obviously for loved ones to visit the resting place of their deceased off, you know, I mean, it's incredibly inconvenient. Yeah, at the time of death, you know, things should be made as easy as possible, for the people involved. And to have to travel to Derry, as you say, or to Dublin, to be buried in this day and age, it's not acceptable. A call that says, what about the Gortley Cemetery? Does Councillor Collin not count that as a cemetery? There are more denominations in letter to anything Catholic. Of course, yeah, but I just referred to the two biggest. Of course, and there are many other cemeteries in letter, Kenny, of other denominations. And as I say, you know, this is not just, I'm not just talking about one denomination here, I'm talking about all denominations. I think the entire infirmity, the entire premise of this conversation is, is that there are many different people with different backgrounds in this county now, and they all need to be accommodated. I mean, that's the very reason why you're raising this issue. So I think from that we can deduct that you recognize that there are more faiths and more burial sites than for Catholics. Okay, so what happens next then? Like, you know, because as I say, I know you're battering away this, I've been speaking about this and Sean before me I'm sure did, about providing a county graveyard. It was described at some point then, letter Kenny and wherever it is, what's the holdup? Like let's identify a piece of land. It doesn't have to be in the heart of letter Kenny. It can be in a central location in the county. Let's crack on with this. Yeah, exactly, and that's it. Like, I mean, the movement on it has been far too slow. Like, you know, as I said, this has been going on now for over 10 years or more. And it has to be moved forward with an urgency. And a caller says, and this has been said before, this also highlights the real issue here for a crematorium in Donegal. Now, I understand plans are fought for that. However, how they're progressing, I don't know. Cremation, a convenient location for cremation is the solution for a lot of people.  They want a funeral where the person is buried. Let me put it like, I'm not sure if that's traditional or not, and that's my ignorance to be honest with you. So you still, yes, I mean, obviously, a crematorium close by would be useful for those who wish to go down that route. But we, I think the majority or at least half will still require burial spaces. Exactly, yeah, and in relation to crematorium, you know, there was an application made to Donegal County Council for a crematorium out in Salybrook, and I think that plan was rejected. Again, you know, finding the appropriate place with good access and all of that, you know. I think at this day and age, you need to be planning either a graveyard or cemetery or whatever it might be called or a crematorium. You need a bit of distance between it and where other people are. I don't think anyone, I think a lot of people would be uncomfortable with their new neighbours. Let me put it like that. Do you know what I mean? So you have to, I think whoever is planning this, you have to make sure that you find a location that impacts least on people already residents in the area.  Yeah, and just to read, and you're perfectly correct. Plans for Donegal's first crematorium set back, Umbual Planala refused an appeal by the developers. The proposed crematorium would have been located near Manneconium to serve the entire Northwest. Obviously, as we know now, families have to travel to Cavanaugh Belfast for this service, but Umbual Planala refused it. So that's probably dead in the water, if the truth be told. Well, that particular one, but I can see in the future where other applications will be made, you know, and as opposed to pending on the location, you know, because quite a number of people now, and you know, if you want to be cremated, you have to either go to Cavanaugh or to Belfast. And again, because, you know, you're talking about distance and convenience of travel and whatever, you know. I'm not worried too much about it. Oh, guys, that's the truth. That'll be for someone else to worry about. You can take me to the moon and back if you want. Once I'm gone, that's it. But no, listen, I understand that everyone's different. People have their plans in place, and it's about convenience and access to services, and that's all we want. All right, okay, well, let's get a crack on here, Donald. Well, hopefully there's some progress on this, and it's not a talking shop, it's a workshop where we can sort of start firming up plans. Thanks for your time. Yes, go ahead. Do you want to say something else, Donald? No, things like, I mean, the urgency is there, and, you know, it's now is the time now to plan, and that's why I asked for the workshop. And thanks, Greg, for having me on this morning. Nice to speak to you, Donald. Take care, Councillor Donald Coyle there. I don't think there's any counter-argument to it. I think we do need one. It's just where? What about the Ars Friar in where Ash's remains can be placed in, is this in the pipeline? Yeah, we did the interview on that. They're setting up, I can't remember the name. They're setting up a thing whereby you can buy a space to intern Ash's, which I think is a lovely thing, but I think a lot of people. I wonder what is the, most people still wish to be buried, don't they? Do people set that out before they're passing? I presume they do. Okay, let's hope that that situation moves forward then. 08 660 25000, just a reminder for you, we're going to be talking sleep as part of our Wellness Wednesday. Matty Vargays of the Sleep Climic will be joining me to answer your questions about sleep. Are you sleeping? Well, how much sleep do you need? When do you sleep? Do you find it difficult to get off to sleep? 08 660 25000, or give us a call and also from 491 25000. Good morning, Audrey. Good morning, Beth, watching on Facebook. Anita, thank you very much for your nice comments. She watches us from the Cayman Islands. What's the weather like, Anita, in the Cayman Islands? It sounds ridiculously lovely, but that's just the name, isn't it? Right, okay, let us now take a break. Then we're going to be joined by our next guest, Dr. Paul Dorfman. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook, and at HighlandRadio.com. This week's Nine Till Noon Show was brought to you by St. Mary's GA Convoy Club Development Draw, which will win 50,000 for 50 euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at st.mary'sgadraw.ie.  You could go full Irish stew with board via approved Irish stew in beef steak just 419, and Irish rooster potatoes just 126, plus an eight pack of Guinness draft just 1326. Shop without compromise. Go full needle today. Get the fax to be drink aware of as a drink aware.ie. Enjoy live music this St. Patrick's Day at the Highlands Hotel Glenties with the Tumbling Patties. On Saturday 18th, it's Jerry Guthrie and Sinead Black. Tickets from ticketstop.ie or from the hotel reception. And why not finish the weekend by treating mom to Mother's Day lunch this Sunday? To book your table, call the Highlands Hotel Glenties today. Century Complex is now serving pizza in our new and improved Bidus Corner Bar. We have a wide range of delicious pizza options available. Call us on<PHONE_NUMBER> to book your table. And don't forget, Century Cinemas is located just across the car park. Check out centurycinemas.ie for movie times and tickets. It's time to travel again, to feel nervous again, to go where they go and roar the man again. It's time to rise again for the Allianz Leagues. This Sunday in Valleebafé, Tony Gaw faced Mayo in the Allianz Football League at 345. Advanced ticket sales only at GAA.ie or selected centre and super value stores. GAA, where we all belong. Fancy a Chinese takeaway? Yeah, in Beijing! Could be, get your ticket from Highland Radio at HighlandRadio.com. And if that's not enough, enter before Friday 24th of March and you will also be in with a chance of winning a 1,000-year-old voucher to use on any celebrity cruise booking with Atlantic Travel plus 1,000-year-old cash. Draw will take place on the 9th of May, Friday 24th of March. Now, the State's Nuclear Protection Advisory Committee has not met in nearly two years, despite the volatile security situation at the nuclear plant in Ukraine, as well as Russian threats to use nuclear weapons. The committee may no longer even have any formal standing as its term of office was due to expire in April of last year, should I say. Dr Paul Dorfman is a member of the Irish Government Radiation Protection Committee and joins us on the programme.  Thanks so much for joining us. Good morning. So, talk to me about this committee and when it does convene its work, Paul. OK, I have to say straight away that of all of the committees that I've been on and, you know, engaging with, you know, various governments, I found this to be one of the most friendly, open-minded committees. There's no, none of the usual backbiting that one normally finds in radiation protection or nuclear. It's all very, you know, it's all worked quite well. It's broadly based, you know, there's a lot of medics and the kinds of issues that have been discussed are things around, you know, medical, dental, background, radon, but also a few years ago, we came up with two interesting reports, one of which was in, you know, we independently commissioned reports, one of which stated quite clearly that if there was a significant accident in Europe and if it did blow across into Ireland, then it had the potential to bankrupt the Irish agricultural industry. So, you know, the committee has been useful. I understand actually that the EPA have got in touch and have said that they will renew the committee's remit. And so we're looking forward to carrying on with the meetings. And as you say, it covers a wide range, but our focus on just what might feel more pressing at the moment, you know, we don't know what might happen at Zapparese plant. We don't know if something intentional or accidental could happen. We are in a very valid, volatile period. Now, so if you were to me, what kind of things might you be discussing in the event of an accidental or intentional nuclear event that could end up polluting our skies, for example? OK. I mean, the two things that I have in my mind and I think that in terms of radiation, radiation pollution, there are two things that the committee needs to discuss. One is a pericia, which I'll turn to in a moment. The second is there are elements of calls for new nuclear in Ireland. OK. So let's, you know, I hope we'll discuss that. Now, in terms of of Zapparese, the nuclear plant, they're different. There are six nuclear reactors there. They're different from the Chernobyl reactor, which is a graphite moderated reactor. Graphite is very light can be blown up. It's what you find on the inside of a pencil. It's used to moderate a reactor. And so the understanding is so far that even if there was to be a some form of catastrophe at Zapparese, because of the nature of the reactors, OK, which are now in cold shutdown. However, of course, the problem there would be significant problems with the spent fuel ponds. It seems very unlikely because of the nature of the reactors and the way they're constructed and how they're built and also the nature of the reactors themselves. You wouldn't get the same kind of dispersion as we did from Chernobyl. It's not a graphite moderated reactor. So if a catastrophe were to happen, and the head of IEA, that's UN's nuclear watchdog, is, as we speak, having kittens, you know, the idea that risk from Zapparese is gone away is far from true. It's the model's show. And remember, models are just models. The model shows that you're talking about central Europe and into Russia, very unlikely to each island. But that's just what the model showed. OK, well, and that's... But we could also have an event at any nuclear plant, presumably, at any location much closer to us as well. So, you know, whilst that might seem the one that is most likely, we can't say that with any certainty. The use of nuclear power in Ireland seemed to have been ruled out quite some time ago. And then the conversation re-emerged towards the end of last year with the crisis in terms of power. And there were various arguments. Mostly, I heard against it, IE Ireland's too small to benefit from nuclear or, you know, all the usual arguments. And then it's going to be not in my backyard. We'd have to get through all that as well, of course. What is your view on whether we should or shouldn't or could or couldn't supply, meet our energy needs here and maybe even export using nuclear power generation? OK, there's been a lot of PR around nuclear. And one wonders why. It could be a sort of a last chance saloon. Because last year, I think it is about 84% of all new power capacity additions worldwide was renewables with nuclear nowhere. Renewables come in at maybe a third the cost. New renewables come in at about a third the cost of new nuclear. Everywhere that nuclear is being built, it takes about 20 years to put down one nuclear power station. So if you're worried about the energy crisis or if you're worried about the climate crisis, it seems to be far too late, which is curious why there's so much PR around a nuclear as we speak. One of the reasons for nuclear PR is that it's good. It will help us with our climate problems. The problem with that is we know that the ice is melting much quicker than we had thought. And nuclear needs to be located by the coast or by large bodies of water by rivers to get the cooling. Now, in terms of GB nuclear and what would be Irish nuclear, that's coastal. Now, the problem with coastal is that when one looks at the models and what's happening now with climate change, there seems to be no question but that climate sea level rise driven storm surge, which means basically when atmospheric conditions meet high tide, the sea basically ups and moves inland. So you can say with relative confidence that within a couple of decades, nuclear coastal worldwide will be at relatively significant risk from this form of flooding. But also, as you say, presumably, if I'm listening to you correctly, we have the solutions that aren't nuclear, that can be provided much more quickly. I mean, our size is advantageous, I suppose, in terms of their access to the coast. Now, I'm conscious, particularly within the fishing community, that we have to make sure all parties are consulted in how we provide, say, offshore wind energy generation, for example, and that's the one mistake we seem to make is we don't include all parties and then it's a firefight at the planning stages. But the argument for nuclear here really doesn't make a great deal of sense because we can provide power generation much more quickly, much more greenly, and in line with what's happening in the majority of the world, much more simply, which again, I think that's really the thrust of your point. Why are we even talking about nuclear in an Irish context? That's precisely right. It's much cleaner and critically, what's really important about it, it's much quicker. You can, you know, once you get through the legislation and the legislation may need to be changed, but once you get through the legislation in terms of the practicalities and this business about relative variability when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine, actually that increasingly that's not seen to be the case. So when the wind doesn't blow, the sun shines. When the sun doesn't shine, the wind blows and then from there you go to back up in terms of battery and then you go to different forms of load, follow and interconnection and critically, one needs to think about energy in the round. So when you're talking about energy, you're talking about demand side management, energy management, conservation as well, which is the lowest hanging fruit as well too. So basically at the end of the day, and I think that most energy professors will tell you this right now, okay? The renewable evolution is here. It's much quicker, it's much cleaner and it's much cheaper and yes, it can be done. And it's one thing that we need to really keep in mind when we're faced with all of the issues that we're being faced with, especially in terms of climate and of course in terms of energy, is that the renewable evolution really is here and this is key for people and especially young people to understand in this time when we're overcome by worries about so many things. Finally, if you were to convene a meeting of the Government Radiation Protection Committee tomorrow, okay, what would be the three items on the agenda that you would want? Because it may not, it might be radiation usage in the dental practice, I don't know, it might not be quite as sexy as the papers might want, but for you, the three most pressing issues that you would want on the agenda for the meeting tomorrow? Okay, in terms of medical use, recently a BMJ publications point to very strong research which seems to suggest that low dose radiation may potentially be more problematic than we had thought. So certainly questions for the medics and also for the rest of us in terms of nuclear, the issue of fundamental knowledge about radiation risk in the light of this new research which is a peer-reviewed published research. Number one, fundamental radiation risk research. Number two, Zaporizia, people need to know what is the risk, what is not the risk? And of course models can be wrong. And in terms of Zaporizia, as you pointed out, certainly what would once again, what would happen if there were to be a catastrophic nuclear accident, well, in size well, in Hinkley Point, for example. Number three, and most important critically, to understand better where Ireland stands, what is the public discourse around nuclear in terms of Ireland, in terms of public perception and how best to talk to government about this. Because the committee, remember, is advisory only. It's then left to your elected representative politicians to make any decision about energy policy. It's been a fascinating conversation. Thank you so much for your time this morning. And I'm glad to hear that the likes of yourself and others are meeting again, as confirmed by the EPA, I believe. So thank you very much for your time this morning. Lovely to chat to you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye, okay. That's Dr. Paul Dorfman, member of the Irish government's Radiation Protection Committee. This week's Ninetown News Show was brought to you by Sid Mary's GA Convoy Club Development Draw. Win 50,000 for 50 euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at SidMary'sgadraw.ie. Clarence Gift of Beauty Promotion is now on Macklehenny's, purchase two or more Clarence products, one to be a moisturiser or serum, and receive a choice of four free beauty treats and a gorgeous beauty bag. Available until March 25th. One gift per customer while stocks last. Gift may vary. If something's free, why would you turn it down? I mean, a free haircut from a five-year-old. Oh, no. Or a free sample of onion paste. Oh, well, then how about a free tour of your neighbor's new shed? Oh, that sounds well. Okay, look, they were bad examples. But how about a free eye test and free glasses from the 69-year-old range of spec savers with your PRSI? Well, that sounds like something to smile about. Book an appointment or find out more at specsavers.ie. Are you worried about trees on your property? Northwest Forestry Services Bully Buffet are fully insured and have over 40 years experience in dangerous tree removal, tree felling, surgery, and stump grinding. For peace of mind, call Northwest Forest Services Bully Buffet for no obligation quotation on 9132033. It's time to travel again, to feel nervous again, to go where they go and roar the mon again. It's time to rise again for the Allianz Leagues. This Sunday in Bully Buffet, Donnie Goff faced Mayo in the Allianz Football League at 345. Advanced ticket sales only at GAA.ie or Selected Centre and Super Value Stores. GAA, where we all belong. Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport, thinking of a sun holiday this summer with the family. Flight to Alicante, Malaga, Faro, Lanzarote, Mallorca and Milan with Ryanair. Ireland West Airport, don't just take off, take it easy. Cloudy this morning without breaks of rain, preceded by some local sleet or snow, becoming wet through the afternoon and evening with poor driving conditions and temperatures of two to five degrees fresh and gusty, westerly winds. Now, you might remember, we spoke some time ago now to Liam McLaughlin and an initial sheep farmer who inspired a concept of a farming organisation, the Farmers Alliance. They held a meeting, I think it was down in Athlone. George O'Malley has since been appointed spokesperson for Farmers Alliance. And I believe he joins us now. Good morning to you, George. Yes, good morning, Greg. Great to have you with us. So, how did the first meeting go, George? Was it well attended? I think it was on a Sunday, wasn't it? It should be. Yes, it was on a Sunday and it was basically a scoping meeting to sort of, as it were, take the pulse and take the temperature of the water amongst the farming community to see what sort of appetite there was for an organisation, a new organisation. So, the response was overwhelmingly strong and in favour of such an initiative. So, we've travelled on since that and we're going to launch the organisation on the 16th of April in the Athlone Springs Hotel. And just remind us as to how this varies from the other existing farmers groups, because there are an awful lot of them. This is not an umbrella group. This is a new group, isn't it? Just remind us of the ethos behind this group, George, and how it separates itself from the various other farming organisations. But there's a very strong belief there that farmers are not and have not been properly represented for decades. If you look at, say, there's three sections to farming activity from the inputs, the farming activity on the farm, the production of the products, and then the marketplace. If you look at the front end of this, the inputs, particularly the likes of, say, fertilizer and feed stuff, farmers have no say in that whatsoever. That's controlled by a small number. And equally at the other end, when farmers go to the marketplace, whether it's with grain or whether it's with animals or other produce, it's really a lottery. They're not quite sure what's going to happen on the day. If you take, say, beef and sheep meat in this country, it's largely controlled by a small number, maybe two or three hundred people, farmers and agents for the actual meat plants. So the bulk of the farming community are just fitting in the gaps. And presumably front-loading all the expense as well without knowing what they might get out of it as well. That's a very uncertain way to operate any business. And it is a business, isn't it? If you have an idea of how much it's going to cost you to produce your product, but you don't know what you're going to get at the end of it, it's really what people decide you'll get for it. Traditionally, and increasingly so, farmers are actually, they're price takers, not price makers. So what can happen in the future? I'm sorry to move it along, George. It's my fault, not yours. We're heading towards the news at 10. So what can change then? Do you know how will things change? Because I've heard from a few farming organisations, for example, that seem very happy with the work that Charlie McConnelog is doing and full of praise for him. And yet we hear of another group coming up that feel they're not being represented. So what is the Alliance going to do differently going forward, George? And how will they achieve their goals, I wonder? In a nutshell, the Farmers Alliance is going to take hold of their own future by getting involved in controlling the inputs, the fertilizer and the feed, basically other inputs and also the other end to explore all options to actually add value to the projects. Now, Johnny Gall is a very unique part of the country for us. We are quite close to Jerry. We, this organisation will be cross-order. There's a lot of strong connections so far built up over the years between the farming community and Johnny Gall and Jerry. We intend to cultivate, explore and develop those and it's a different approach because I think come election time is when we're probably going to really start hearing more and more from the Farmers Alliance, motivate its members to be active in that regard. Finally, briefly, if you don't mind, George, when's the next meeting? And I think really from an Alliance perspective, you know, the momentum comes with a very well attended next meeting, I would presume. And I hope I'm not being presumptuous in that regard. So when is the next meeting and are you encouraging and who are you encouraging to attend? Yes, I've done media interviews with local radio stations across the country at this stage. It's nearly all covered. The response is very, very strong. We have interest from right across the country from as far away as Belfast and the Glensavantrum right down to Tipper, Kerry and Coral. So we expect a very well attended meeting at our launch on Sunday the 15th of April at Lone Springs Hotel. OK, thanks for your time, George. Greatly appreciate it. Take care. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. OK, now you might know that St Mary's GEA convoy are running a big, big draw. It's coming to a conclusion this Friday. 50K is going to be given away in St Patrick's Day. We are giving you an opportunity to win two free tickets on the program all this week, every day this week for the four days of the week that we're on air. Here are the details for you. On this week's show with thanks to our sponsors St Mary's GEA convoy development draw, we're giving you the chance to win two tickets to their 50K for 50 euro draw. To begin with a chance of winning this prize, all you have to do is answer the following question. If you were in Times Square, would you be in A, New York, or B, Dublin? Text or WhatsApp your answer, name and address<PHONE_NUMBER>0. This week's 9-Til Noon Show is brought to you by St Mary's GEA convoy club development draw. Win 50,000 for 50 euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at stmarysgedraw.ie. Say thank you to your mum, this Mother's Day, with a treat from Kelly Centra in Etter Kenney. A card, flowers or chocolates, maybe your favourite dessert or a luxury hamper. There's loads of options for you to find something that takes her fancy on Mother's Day. All at Kelly's award-winning Centra at Mountaintop, Etter Kenney. Greener choices are the key to a sustainable future. That's why energy is leading the way in renewable energy technologies like wind, solar and battery storage. Because the choices we all make today will change how we live tomorrow. It's time to travel again, to feel nervous again, to go where they go and roar the man again. It's time to rise again for the Allianz Leagues. This Sunday in Vallee Buffet, Donegal faced Mayo in the Allianz Football League at 3.45. Advanced ticket sales only at gaa.ie or selected Centra and SuperValue stores. GAA, where we all belong. Do you have a favourite business in Donegal that you absolutely love? If they're your go-to for exceptional service, it's time to give them the recognition they deserve by nominating them for the Highland Radio Customer Service Awards in association with Pijam Ireland. Our customer service awards celebrate the businesses that go above and beyond to provide exceptional service. This award is a great way to show your appreciation for the businesses that make a difference in your life. To nominate your favourite business, simply visit highlandradio.com and fill out the nomination form and tell us why you love this business. The winning business will receive recognition at our special awards ceremony on the 28th of May.  So don't wait any longer. Nominate your favourite business today. It only takes a few minutes by going to highlandradio.com. Nominations close on Friday, the 7th of April. I am on air online and on the Highland Radio app. This is Highland Radio News. Good morning. It's Donna-Marie Doherty with the news at 10 o'clock. Donegal County Council has been urged to hold an urgent workshop on the need for a municipal cemetery in Letter Cannae. The issue has been raised by a number of councillors, most recently Councillor Donald Coyle, who raised it this week at a municipal district meeting. He says existing church-run facilities at Conwell and Lake will be at full capacity in less than 10 years and the council has a role to play in resolving that issue. He told members there has been fundamental changes in the social and religious makeup of the local population and the town's new communities must be represented in further discussions. I have been told that in one Catholic primary school in Letter Cannae, in a class of 28, 13 of those pupils are Catholic. The remainder, the other 15, the majority of those are non-Christian. So that gives you an idea of the trend and the diversity in the town of Letter Cannae at this particular moment in time. A 10th arrest has been made by detectives investigating the shooting of a senior police officer in County Tyrone. DCI John Caldwell was wounded after coaching a youth football team in Oma last month. He remains critically ill but stable. A 45-year-old man was arrested in the Belfast area under the Terrorism Act yesterday evening. Donnie Gall County Council is looking at the possibility of purchasing houses in which families are facing eviction. The issue was raised at the Letter Cannae Milford municipal district meeting by Councillor Jerry McMonagall, who says policy up to now is to seek vacant possession and not to purchase home in which people are still living. Officials confirmed that under new department guidelines, the council does have clearance from government to buy houses with tenants still in situ. This is subject to the House complying with the council's acquisition policy and the tenants having a recognised housing need. This, they add, overrides previous policy. Councillor McMonagall says that it must be backed up with resources and red tape must be eliminated. More important especially for people who are facing eviction, that the council doesn't have to go through the laborious process of months and months of applications, waiting for government to go ahead and ascent. What we need here now, if someone is facing eviction and the council, as the Tannister said, local authorities can buy that house, they ensure that their people have a roof over their heads, then that needs to be a process that is direct and has very little time to fulfil. Over 70 million euro in EU funding has been invested in health and social care projects in the border region since the establishment of the Cooperation and Working Together partnership. This year marks the 30th anniversary of COT with more than 100,000 patients and clients benefiting from project to date and more than 40,000 people having received training. COT was established in 1992 by a group of health and social care professionals to improve the health and wellbeing of the border populations by working across borders and jurisdictions between Letter Kenney University Hospital and the North's Western Trust. The T Shock is in Washington D.C. this morning as he begins his three-day St Patrick's Day visit to the U.S. He'll meet with business groups throughout the day before the annual Ireland Funds Gala dinner tonight. Mr Veradkar will attend an event in Georgetown University with former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton tomorrow. All this before a meeting with the U.S. President on Friday. Political correspondent Sean Fos says that's a meeting to which Joe Biden is looking forward. We'll probably look expecting a little bit of Paddy Whackery from being here with Joe Biden. He loves his Irish roots. He absolutely loves all the history of it and remembering every single relative he ever had that had anything to do with Ireland. So there will certainly be an element to that but obviously also a fairly substantial stuff. The running order is that he'll meet Kamala Harris for breakfast at the Naval Observatory in the morning and then luncheon on Capitol Hill and after that a very, very long ceremony with Joe Biden at the White House. And now to weather. Rain spreading northwards to all areas this morning, falling as sleet or snow in places for a short time, continuing wet through the afternoon and evening. The rain will be heavy in places with some spot flooding and per-driving conditions possible. That's all for now. We'll be back again with the news headlines at 11 o'clock. Until then, good morning. The obituary notices for this Wednesday morning, the 15th of March. The death has occurred in Malta of Celia Melly, Lally, Mina Gaon, Letcher McAward. Her remains will be reposed at her home today from 11 o'clock with Rosary at 9 o'clock tonight. Finowell mass tomorrow at 12 noon in St Bridget's Church, Letcher McAward with burial afterwards in the new cemetery. The death has taken place of Francie Doherty, the Pans, Cranford. His remains are reposing at his sister Annette McLaughlin's residence at Clonkilly Moor, Terman. Removal from there tomorrow morning at 11 to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Coole, Cranford, for Rockweal mass at 12 noon, followed by interment in homeless cemetery, Carygaard. Family fires only please. Donations if desired to meet the fire service, care of any family member. The death has taken place of Gary McGinley, Monene Ballandrate-Lifford, reposing at his home today from 12 noon. Finowell from there on Friday morning at quarter to 11 for Rockweal mass in St Patrick's Church, Moorluck at half past 11, interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. The house is private to family and friends only please. Donations in Louis-Flores please to Carygon Shannon Rapid River Responders, care of quickly funeral directors. The Rockweal mass can be viewed at LonleyParish.com. The death has occurred of Eugene O'Donnell, 28 Castle Murray Straban, reposing at his late home from 12 noon today. Finowell from there on Friday morning at 10 to 9 for Rockweal mass at half past 9 in St Mary's Church, Melmont, followed by interment in St Trees's Churchyard, Sine Mills. Family time please from 10 p.m. to 12 noon. Family far as only please, donations in Louis-Fdesard to Marie-Curie Cancer Care, care of, and a family member. The death has occurred in Hutton, Essex, England of Mary Fallon, Neo-Brian, formerly of Cranolloch, Crossroads, Killy Gordon. Finowell has taken place in Essex. A memorial mass will be celebrated in St Patrick's Church, Crossroads, Killy Gordon tomorrow evening at half past 7. The mass will be streamed live on the St Patrick's Church, Crossroads, Killy Gordon YouTube channel. The death has taken place of Drew McRab, Mondewee Lohr, Manor Cunningham. Drew's remains will repose at his late residence from 12 noon until 10 p.m. today. Finowell from there tomorrow morning at quarter past 10 going to St. Columbus Church to Remohel for 11 o'clock Rockweal mass with interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. House private pleas before the Finowell tomorrow. Family flowers only please, donations in Louis de Zard to the Donegal Hospice, care of, and a family member. The death has taken place of Eamon Burns, the Hall Lifford. His remains are reposing at his brother Martin's residence, the Hall Lifford. Finowell from there tomorrow morning at half past 10 going to St. Columbus Church, Donegaloop for Rockweal mass at 11 o'clock with burial afterwards in the adjoining graveyard. The death has taken place of Sarah Brown, Ney Vaughn, 8 Foyle Vale Straban, formerly of 107 Lohr Main Street and Butcher Street Straban. Reposing at her home, Finowell from there tomorrow morning at 20 past 9 for Rockweal mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception Straban at 10 o'clock, interment afterwards in Sacred Heart Cemetery Road, Straban. Donations in Louis-Flare's please to Marie Curie, care of quickly Finowell directors. Family time please from 11 p.m. tonight. The Rockweal mass can be viewed live via the parish webcam. And the death has occurred of Sister Berkman's Nora Doohan, St. Michael's Loretto Convent, Navin Meath, late of Derry Conner Donegal. Reposing at Eternal Light Chapel St. Peter Kenny from 2 o'clock to 5 o'clock this afternoon with removal to St. Union's Cathedral for prayers at half past 5. Finowell mass tomorrow morning at 11, followed by burial in Newlake Cemetery. The Finowell mass can be viewed on the parish webcam. For more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and Finowells, please go to HighlandRadio.com You are at your local shop. You can find a credit card in one hand and a fancy schmancy scented candle in the other. Only to look up and see the display of scratch cards and you think why not pop an all-cash in the envelope? The smile on Mum's face will really light up the room if she wins big. With millions in cash prizes to be won instantly when you're in store from Mother's Day, ask for any all-cash scratch card. The National Lottery. It could be your Mum. Welcome back to the Ninetown Noon Show. Good morning if you've just joined us. Where have you been? Well, it's good to have you on board with us. Coming up later on in this hour are winner. The winner, winners, we used to say, will be announced to our music competition. Thanks so much, by the way, to all of you out there for getting so involved in its on-air and through our social media as well. It really has helped in what we're trying to achieve here and what we do in promoting and celebrating Irish talent. And we're very proud to have a great record in doing so, but this is an extra layer. And the public, you, people, all of us engaged in it and shared posts and everything, so it's been great. Also later on we're going to be talking about your sleep. How are you sleeping? If you've got sleep issues, what's the problem? Do you wake up tired? Can you not get to sleep? Any of your questions as it rates to sleep or sleep in a family member perhaps? We're going to be talking about your sleep days on Friday, March 17th, but we're all busy, so we're doing it today. Wellness Wednesday, which is every Wednesday, by the way, after 11, we have on a Monday, we've got Monday focus, okay, where we pick a particular issue and we focus in on that and allow a bit of extra time on Wednesdays. It's Wellness Wednesdays after 11, where it's about well-being, health and well-being today, as we say, the focus is on sleep. And on a Friday, of course, that's right, so we've mixed up a little bit after 11. So any questions about sleep? Marty Vergaze of the Sleep Clinic will be joining us to answer your questions, okay. Let's get to some of your comments before we take those bingo numbers. I think it's time the airtime given to the Bark family was removed. They're living off the publicity and if it wasn't given they would have less of a platform. Now we are pretty, I hope we're pretty measured in doing so here, but it is stories of public interest, I think. And then there are those who like what they're doing and support them and want to hear what's next. Greg, I know very little about cremation. Does the Catholic Church agree with ashes being spread on hills, lakes, etc. Or do they have to be consecrated to inconsecrated ground? Some people who get family members cremated then bury ashes in a grave, sometimes a double grave in a local cemetery. People's idea of cremation used to be having loved ones ashes on the mantelpiece in an urn. I think that's cultural. Do we have a tradition in this country of putting ones ashes on a mantelpiece in an urn? I'm not sure. It doesn't feel very Irish to me if you know what I mean. And I don't have an issue with it. It's what anyone wants to do and what's important to them. The Catholic Church doesn't have a particular view as far as I'm aware on the act of cremation. What happens thereafter, again, not something I know, but we can check it out because it is an interesting one. Greg, re-graveyard, some parishes such as parishes such as Strunaller and the Cross have changed their layout going ahead to single graves only with three deep in each grave. It's the only way that the parish can run cemeteries and others will have space. Yeah. I think when it comes to that, I might favor cremation to be honest. It's not something I tend to think about too much, but I don't want to be incestive either and I hope I'm not being incestive, but this is part of life and death as well and what happens thereafter. Greg, the Catholic religion buys and looks after their own graveyard and I'm sure the Protestant religion would be the same as for anyone who does not believe in any religion they can buy their own. That's like saying, if you don't attend Mass every Sunday, you shouldn't just roll up for your communion and you shouldn't just roll up for your confirmation, you shouldn't just roll up for your wedding and at the odd funeral and never set foot in the church again should you then have access to the graveyard. You know what I mean? I'm not sure if we could go down that road and saying, you know, build your own. It's not very Christian either, is it? I find it difficult to talk about religion, which is, you know, religion is also supposed to be about love and care and giving and your fellow man and then saying, well, if you're not my religion, go and sort out a burial place for yourself. It doesn't, it seems contradictory. Greg, the Catholic religion buys. Oh, just read that. Okay. Thank you. Greg, Paul Murphy is lining his child up for some amount of bullying when he starts school, bad enough calling a boy Juniper, but the neutral gender thing is giving bullies more ammo and kids can be very cruel. They can, but maybe he's looking at a world saying by the time we get to that point that your name or your gender might not be a cause for bullying. I don't know. I don't know what his thought process is.   Children raised in the manner being planned by Mr Murphy will only further confuse children when they most need reassurance and guidance. But do you know what's going to happen? Right. The world will tick on the way the majority of it want to. The majority want it to. What individuals do or what they might campaign for doesn't mean things are necessarily going to change. The majority of people will make those decisions if the truth be told. And in fairness, in some areas there's a pushback already. So gender neutrality in Ireland, not a great idea listening in from France and you never hear the likes of that mentioned. We just give birth to our son last week after having our daughter 19 months ago. Congratulations, by the way. They're very happy to have both genders and looking forward to bringing them up with unlimited possibilities. It was hard enough sending our oldest called Ifet Creche. It's not easy to pronounce for the French. Imagine sending someone with no gender. Hopefully they've managed to get their tongue around Ifet out this stage in terms of pronunciation. Listen.  I just think Mr Murphy in saying that you're limited by your gender. I think that's really quite offensive to males and females for that matter. And I've mentioned the amazing people who've achieved what they've achieved because of, regardless of irrelevant of their gender, they've just become incredible, incredible people and I don't think and I think it's a strange position to suggest that being a boy or being a girl holds you back. I think that takes that whole argument up into another stratosphere to be honest. Oh my God, this world is really, really crazy instead of parents teaching children the other way around. The world? The world. This is individuals. Will there be coverage on the spotlight documentary of the murder of Paul Witters in Derry in 1981 by Plastic Bullet? Certainly something I believe we've been pursuing. If not we should certainly look at that a little bit more. Greg, I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on Silicon Valley bank collapse. It appears here we go again, Joe Public is going to have to pay for the gambling of the big boys once again. Well, we're not going to have to here at the moment in terms of the British operation. HSBC has taken that over. So that seems good news in keeping those industries going. I think the state in America has taken over the interests over there. And it seems bank shares have bounced back. So this is not going to be a house of cards or dominoes effect at this point. It seems that but certainly something we can look at. Good morning, Greg. Covid app is gone, but the cowboys, the guards still have the pandemic power. Surely they should have been abolished last year. A lot of those not. What's that word when something is law and then it ceases to be by a designated date? I can't remember the word. Hi, Greg, would like if you'd mentioned can we get Donegal supporters out in force at McCool's Park on Sunday? Let's get behind this young Donegal team would be fantastic to see as many Donegal flags and green and gold as possible like the good old days. Let's not be outnumbered and our home grand will hopefully not. We would encourage a full house, of course, if you can't get to it or even if you are at the game, don't forget to we're doing live commentary as you would expect with Oshin and the crew on Sunday. So if it were me, I like the commentary. I'd have me headphones on the FM listening in the ground. But if you can't make it, we'll keep you up to date. There's no such thing as floating turbines. They're anchored to the sea bed. It just sounds good. I know what you mean. Obviously they can't how else would they be how else would they stay where they weren't anchored in some way or form? I get you. We are going to take a break. We're going to be back with much more on the show very, very shortly. Stay right where you are. Here's the Bingo Numbers. The Counties number one talk show. The 9 till noon show on Highland Radio. It's time for NCBI Bingo on Highland Radio. It's Wednesday the 15th of March. You're playing on the blue sheet. The reference number is S13. It's game number 11. The numbers are 17, 73, 87, 17, 26, 70, 37, 57, 21, 9, and finally 63. Phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 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 HighlandRadio.com. Save hundreds of euros on custom charges shopping online with Space Hub Dairy. We provide a full virtual office address mailbox service for all your business and personal use.  This week's 9 till noon show was brought to you by St Mary's GA Convoy Club Development Draw when 50,000 for 50 euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at St Mary's GA Draw.ie OK, you're very welcome back to the program. I'm delighted to welcome on to it now Ailish Stockarty, managing director of the Donegal Airport. Good morning to you. Great to meet you. Thank you. Good morning to you. Great to have you back on the show. Good morning, Greg. Thanks for having me on this morning. Yeah, and there's a theme, a positive theme to our conversations of late in terms of, you know, the bounce back, good numbers looking forward to a good season. And now we're talking about another connection. Loganair's restoring its services between Donegal and Glasgow. A summertime table runs doesn't tip from the 4th 1st of July to the 24th of September. What's the significance of this from your perspective, Ailish? It's huge for us. We've been trying for a number of, at least over a year now to get the route reinstated. We know there's a huge demand. There's strong connections between Donegal and Scotland. The route was badly missed while it was off, and we're just delighted to be able to have Loganair come back to us this summer. When will the flights operate? They're twice weekly, but when are they? It's twice weekly, yeah. So they'll be operating on a Saturday and Sunday, right through from 1st of July until the 24th of September. So it's a small start, and we hope to be able to grow on it. So if the passenger numbers are there for the summer, then Loganair have said that they will certainly look at continuing the service on beyond that, and possibly increasing the frequency as well. Yeah, I mean that's good business practice, isn't it? I mean, you know, you don't want to offer the sun, the moon and the stars, and then I have to retract it, soft it, go soft to begin with, although it's not insignificant, and then if I actually spoke with Loganair yesterday and, you know, passenger numbers have exceeded their expectations already on the routes, so there's strong bookings up ahead, so we're delighted, and we haven't even started selling seats ourselves yet. We will be putting in Loganair's own reservation system, so people will be able to call into the airport and make their bookings, or they can book online at the minute as well.  What do you mean, are they going for a Saturday night? Are they just going for, you know, because obviously if you're going on holiday, you'll go out Saturday, come back the following Saturday. I'm not sure how many people do that, so what do your sort of client tell for these flights, do you think? Well, we would have, we'd have different varying types of people travelling, but a lot of our passengers would be more elderly people who would be coming home, maybe living in Scotland, or, you know, coming back the next few days, and so we'd have people that would be coming for extended periods of time as well, so the flights will certainly suit them. They're not ideal maybe for people that want to go for a weekend or short break, and that's why we would hope in the future to be able to reintroduce a midweek service to facilitate that, or at least a Friday, Sunday or Monday or something like that there. But for the moment, we do feel that there will be a good demand for the flights even if they are at the weekend, because passengers will be coming, it's holiday time. The bookings already for that are very strong, so, yeah, we think that we will have good passenger numbers. Yeah, and I presume down the line maybe for winter they might look at what interests there might be for people travelling over for sport and events, for example, and they might slightly adjust the timetable maybe to better accommodate that. Yeah, absolutely. The Saturday and Sunday flight timings, if we're correct for that, would be ideal for people that want to travel maybe to go to see the Celtic matches, so we will explore all those opportunities going forward that might be the odd ranger's fun on the plane as well, but it would be the odd one. We won't turn away anybody. OK, right. OK, so anytime you can talk about new services getting more use of the tarmac, it's always good, isn't it? Do we know what cost situation is? I mean, the costs are probably less easy to predict, presumably depends on how much of the plane is booked out and all that, the usual rules that apply to flights. Is that correct, Eilish? The fare is starting at 75 euros. If you're travelling from Donegal to Glasgow, £75 starting if you're coming from Glasgow to Donegal on the first leg of your trip. So, I mean, they're fairly good fares when you consider the cost of even the ferry at the minute is, you know, you can't get a ferry for less than 300 euros.   So, you know, I think that people will be willing to pay something like 75 euros to travel to Glasgow. It includes 15 kilo check baggage as well, which is quite good. Yeah, into a city and explore that city. Many people have already, but for some it will be a first opportunity, I imagine. What else was going to ask you, right? OK, so are you can currently do that? Well, what they have is they always have the obviously the online booking, which is where a lot of people book that some people do like to come to the airport as well. And we know we will be hoping to be able to offer maybe senior citizen disappearance and student fares and those would only be bookable through Loganair's own reservation system rather than online. So, we will be getting that system installed here and people can either call and make the booking through ourselves directly or book online. All right, and that's another thing, you know, not Donegal airport. Try and ring Dublin airport and book a flight on the telephone. You know, it's great to be able to read all seven four nine five four eight two eight four with any questions as well too. I'm sure the staff there more than happy to answer. All right, so that's good. Anything else in the works? You're always obviously pursuing. I think the last time we talked, you know, you kind of indicated that you were working on a few things. I imagine this was amongst them. But still, obviously looking at any potential opportunities for the airport all the time. Oh, absolutely. And you know, we have put together a route development fund at the moment and we will be hoping to look at some additional routes or some additional charters. And we're just, you know, coming out of COVID 2023 looks to be a year when we can actually start to really investigate further opportunities and we'll be taking anything that we can get coming our way. Can you look at bookings and get a sense of those that maybe are flying into Dublin and then straight on to Donegal? Can you get a trend? Is that doable? Yeah, obviously the transatlantic bookings they're huge for us. There's been a great growth in them and obviously the strength of the US dollar is helping bring Americans into Ireland this year. And I spoke to Emerald Airlines the other morning as well and they're very pleased with the actual passengers that are making that transatlantic through booking. It makes travel a whole lot easier. It means that if you're traveling from Donegal, you can connect 14 different cities within the US and Canada. Your baggage is transferred right through. You don't have to pay your baggage fees for a second time. So, you know, it's quite an attractive fare. And also not to mention, can you imagine landing at that airport? You don't want to do it once. You want to do it over and over again. Do you know what I mean? That is how your holiday starts. I mean, can you imagine how that would feel to someone who's not, you know, maybe we take things for granted a little bit. I wouldn't suggest you would, Ailish. But do you know what I mean? Can you imagine that being your arrival? I mean, it's not something else, wouldn't it? And then the cave meet a fault to that risk you get that we do as you make your way into the airport building. Yeah, absolutely.  And you know, our staff have the time and can take the time to be that little bit, you know, extra friendly with people because we're not as busy as some of the major airports. And it's nice. I mean, Dublin Airport is a huge airport. It's, you know, the passenger volumes are massive. People kind of want to come out and see the regions as well. You know, the West Coast of Ireland is ideal to fly in. You can fly into Donegal and, you know, start your journey on the Wild Atlantic way, make your way down the West Coast of Ireland and even fly out maybe from, from Kerry or somewhere like that. They are back to Dublin, you know, so there's endless opportunities there. Yeah, exactly. And a big job for people who market the stuff to do that and give everyone the best chance. Okay, listen, great stuff. Good to, good to hear. They're live now, by the way, Loganair.co.uk runs from the 1st of July to the 1st of September. If you have any questions or want to inquire about Student Fairs or any other concessions, 07495 48284 You haven't correct me. So I got it right. Okay, take care. Thank you very much. All right, that is Eilish there, who's managing director of the Donegal airport. I received two letters today. And one of them was a small note that says there is a community cleanup on the 25th of March in the Oh, my word. I can't read that. I'm going to have to find out where that is. I don't want to I don't want, it's barely hair and I believe, but I'll double check that. Thanks for the letter. It's not your fault, by the way, I just probably need glasses and I don't have them on. Right, okay, we'll be back with more including an update on where that cleanup is on the 25th of March after the break. Watch the show live now on YouTube, Facebook and at highlandradio.com This week's Nine Till Noon show was brought to you by Sid Mary's GA Convoy Club Development Draw when 50,000 for 50 Euro. Draw takes place 17th of March. Get your ticket now at SidMary's gadraw.ie Green Shoes at Market Square are proud to announce that they're now stocking Riker Footwear. Riker blend fashionable styles with incredible comfort striking the perfect balance between fashion and practicality. All Riker Shoes are made using unique anti-stress and anti-shock technology to provide the essential support and comfort the brand is known for. Try any of the new season Riker Shoes now at Green Shoes, Market Square, Letterkenny. Artists wishing to submit for this year's Gleab Gallery open art competition should bring their artworks to the Gleab Gallery Churchill, Letterkenny on the weekends of the 18th and 19th and 25th and 26th of March between 12 mid-day and 5 p.m. Artists can submit up to four artworks and every fee is four Euro per piece. The exhibition will open on Good Friday 7th of April at 4 p.m. and all are welcome to attend. The exhibition will run until Sunday the 16th of April. Admission to the exhibition is free. Pictures must be framed and ready to hang if selected. Further details on Gleab House and Gallery Facebook page. New this week in Home Store and More all mattress protectors are all half price but better hurry because when old a half price mattress protectors are gone they're gone. Also all Pyrex are still half price but when all the half price Pyrex are gone they're definitely gone. Drop by your local Home Store and More or visit us online at homestoreandmore.ie New store now open in Arcadia Retail Park Athlone. Home Store a happy home. Go on your Irish dancing shoes and head for Foilsight Shopping Centre this St Patrick's Day. We'll be painting the town green with great fun for all the family. Music dancing, face painting, balloon modelling and even green candy floss. Cut the famous parade through the city before more entertainment awaits this St Patrick's Day at Foilsight Shopping Centre. Alright you're welcome back to the program it is almost time. Welcome back to the studio now. A couple of guests they are Paul McDevitt and Jimmy Stafford Hi Jimmy. Morning Greg. Hi Paul. Hi you. And Hi Tanya McColl. Hi Greg. Thank you so much for calling in. Appreciate it and also joining us via Zoom is Conor Malone. Hi Conor. Morning Greg. Good to have you with us now. We didn't give earphones for everyone but you know what we'll sort it out. We're not going to just quite announce the winner of the competition just yet. I want to talk about the the field really. Let's put it like that. Paul we'll start with you you know we had the biggest response of all radio stations in the country in excess of 80 entrants and again not just platitudes genuinely really strong really strong entrants. Greg we spoke with us a few times all of us and the standard is just unbelievable and you know I find it very kind of humbling in a sense the fact that each source you put the phone down for one second just for what it is you can tell yourself go on do it when you're missing no you're not missing you're right tell the whole class what are you doing taking a selfie Tanya wanted a selfie why did not anyway as it was saying because you know what happens you didn't ask him for he's annoyed now you see the standard was unbelievable Greg there wasn't one bad song on it and you're listening and you're listening again and I have to say to everybody and we've said it numerous times on the show well done and if you didn't get through don't let it put you off by no means because the standard here and it shows you what calibre we have up here when once again we had the highest number as you say and I mean competition is an emotive word for me I think this was really more as a celebration of the amazing talent you guys platform on your programs and you know what I mean there's no losers here as far as I'm concerned the big winner here is the scene we have up here absolutely Greg and I think if you look at the last few years and you look at when we did this two years ago or three years ago and then you're moving on to now I mean even getting it down to the four that we got it down to was a really difficult discussion which we were all involved with and then when you look at those four songs and we've been playing them on the air for the last week or so week and a half the quality is up there with the best at the moment and from an Irish music when I look at the likes of the snow patrols and picture this and all that you look at where they've come from where they were a band that just released singles here and they started very slowly and lowly and now look at them selling out stadiums and no better woman here than Tanya McCall to talk about you know how you get there and the hard work it takes so look it's been a fantastic and as Paul said everyone's winner and there's quality in those 90 odd songs that we got sorry Greg said that Tanya we really appreciated you were part of our external judges panel and there's all different types of music in all different types of genres and a strong argument was and could be made for any of the final four and throw in another 20 of them to proudly go on and represent us Tanya. Oh absolutely very very very strong contenders this year like I'm excited where this competition is going every year you know it's getting stronger and stronger what's it going to be like next year but we had four seriously good acts and it was hard for me personally it's very hard judging that you know to send on someone to Dublin but yeah it was brilliant really really good. Connor Malone obviously you've a huge interest in music as an individual right and that was clear from some of our conversations yesterday but also in terms of booking and you know what sounds good what works well what's popular or what will be popular going into the future your reflection on the full finalist because we had sort of a new age wave pop there we had you know something that you know felt a little bit more that's been around a bit maybe brand new and it could those descriptions could apply to any of the acts but your reflection on the four finalists yeah the first thing that has to be said of the four finalists is you know any one of the four would have gone on as a finalist in the national competition and gone toe to toe with the rest of the country and done done it all proud there's four of them four excellent tracks which if you're a glass half full guy it means that there was no wrong choice to make because whoever we picked was going to be a worthy winner glass half empty it means that three deserving acts that aren't going to go through but they very very well could have but I just thought it was fascinating as a snapshot of where live music is and done it all at the moment and the quality that is out there and as you were saying 80 90 entrance into the into the competition overall the live music scene here in terms of what people are producing is in an amazing place and you know I would say to people that are listening to this enjoying the songs go and check out the live music scene locally and give local artists that are you know they're producing works of genius almost on a daily basis go and give them your support one thing I would change about this whole process is the name of the competition and it's the last bit about the search for local hero talent or whatever way it was phrased because all of the acts are either big already certainly going to make it big I think and I'm not just saying that I think there's at least a couple of them that are going to blow up but already they're touring they've got great plans for the summer they've got festivals they've got music coming out they've got support so some of these bands are people's favourite bands do you know so that's the one thing that would change about it because this wasn't new we a lot of the people that are applying are amazing well established talent and I think fair play to them for actually engaging in this process in the way it was set out does that make sense I probably shouldn't say I'd prefer to be honest than to not be yeah yeah and you know it's the kind of problem with this competition thing I mean me and you were to run 100 meters we can see who breaks the tape for us to miss objective you know and if you are an act that is successful that is producing really really good stuff in many ways it's going well who are we to be judging that that's better than that it's all purely subjective and it is kind of you know these are successful people in their own right and that's why I say exposing themselves to our judgments well it's not because then we see the thing is and this is the way I think it should be restructured it's an amazing platform that's the one thing I would change Tanya, Tanya McColl you were agreeing there I mean you know these acts are these are all four of them could sell out places it depends on the scale and at what time now we're in the future but these are brilliant absolutely we had different genres to try and judge but they're individually brilliant we didn't see any of these acts individually and I genuinely mean that and I have seen some of them before and they're brilliant life and like Connor says you know what's coming out of Donegal at the moment is I'm blessed to be part of the scene you know and we had four really strong acts that were representing Donegal and like you say they got exposure and great exposure on Highland Radio and I'm looking forward to seeing where some of these acts are going to go in the future and I know we discussed this yesterday that some of them are on the cusp there's no doubt about this some of them are on the cusp and I think Greg you look at something like Tanya again here but I mean who's worked damn hard over the years and like she's doing Vicar Street in a couple of weeks time the John Prine and things like that so you know you're aiming everyone's aiming to get to another level and it's just by hard working determination and producing good music as well and stuff like that so you know and for every artist as well success is gauged differently because we kind of view we have this sort of approach where and actually another great act who used to have had on the show before George Houston was on the show yesterday asked him what is success what does he see as success and it was to keep doing what I'm doing a big show coming up at the end of the month launching an album, turning it out there it's not necessarily fast cars the Grammy at the end of the day I think maybe also outside the industry sort of say well what is how do you judge success packing out the baller that's success to a person depending on the individual that is I said it myself if I could fill out a local venue with local people that to me was success that was support I think all people are just or keeping a crowd quiet or having them screaming from the rafters that could be what someone judges and you know what George has done Greg he's gone and put this little tour together and he's gone out and said and he contacted Paul and me and said can I come up and he's five or six and he's doing wheelings and he's just pushing himself great maturity to his work just taking George for example he's seen a massive change he seems to be stepping up to the mark all the time he's only going to get bigger and better for George and he's not need to own this all the time Social media is very important I have to say social media from myself personally puts rears and seats for me personally and social media without it I wouldn't have sold half the tickets I sold I know that and Connor your job's a blessing and occurs all at the same time obviously with it comes great pressure because obviously you need to get those bums in seats and you want to match the artists with the audiences so you get to sort of give people opportunities or see them come into their own I presume sorry and I shouldn't it's a great place to work for you I'll look for me to be honest it's the best job in the world it's not really a job at all if you can get up in the morning and look forward to going in to do what you're doing you know but just on that what is success a couple of years ago had Luca blooming and I was showing him down to the green room I said how's things and he goes absolutely brilliant I said Jesus you know it's great to hear somebody so upbeat you know and he just looked at me and he went I'm coming here I'm going to play music for two hours to people that will listen to it set a few CDs and go home he goes I'm living the dream you know and if you can hold on to that attitude and just kind of realise what you're really conscious of you know as people are down and they work because you have to get the money to pay the mortgage you don't necessarily like what you're doing for me to come in every day and they'll do this it's yeah it's just it's a dream all right okay well let's talk about the winners then so I don't know how this all works I don't like to plan but then sometimes I think I should all right 086625,000 if you want to get involved in the conversation give us a call at 07491 25,000 you are tuned to the 9 till noon show and we have in studio with us Jimmy Stafford, Paul McDevitt Tanya McColl and Conor Merlone is with us as well and I think we could also say hello to James good morning to you James how are you getting on morning Greg how's things I am doing good what's the crack it's all quiet right in right in Austin, Texas there is the real talent in this outfit it's Catherine hi Catherine it's good to have you on the board the signal is not great but listen we wanted to connect with you to congratulate you and to let you know that Charles James and the Rise is the winner of our competition and yous are going on to represent this region we are delighted for yous well done oh my god you're joking he said no we're not listen if yous can the signal is not great yous are in America yous are on wifi but I just want to maybe get a word from the people that were involved in selecting yous and I'm delighted for yous I really am genuinely Conor Merlone you can see him he's very kind with you guys not quite America but anyway central buffet come here worthy winners Conor I think so I think so congratulations guys I really I'm saying this yesterday I love the song really clever lyrics extending the metaphor black dog barking louder now and it was the delivery as well I was saying that when you were singing that I nearly wanted to give you a call and make sure you were okay you know give you a I really really felt the emotion that was into the song and you know there's certain songs that you hear and you just stop by your nail and you listen and that's one of them for me I just thought it was fantastic well done the song connected James and Catherine with people is that important as performers it's everything as a songwriter I think you strive to write something you know for me it has a very personal meaning talk to us a little bit about that if you're okay to do so yeah of course I lost my father in August 2020 and then it was kind of a period of grief after the fact and you know anxiety and depression and all the things you go through and that's kind of where the song came from but as we've played it and played it to people you know a lot of people talk about their own elephant you know it could be anything you know it could be the loss of a sibling it could be the loss of a parent and it could just be life getting you down like and I think for us with this one people are connected and which has been fantastic and that's really all you hope for and I suppose we can remember your dad in this whole process then as well because it's about your loss of him and that process Tanya this also was a song that you were very happy with to see when congratulations guys Tanya McCool by the way sorry he's can't see this one got me in the fields I have to say this one got me in the fields I thought it was a fantastic song and like you just said I can identify with that song I lost a sibling you wrote this for your dad I think of my sister and you know I think for you guys as songwriters that's brilliant for people to identify with your song in their own personal way and I identified with that song I thought the melody I thought the lyrics I loved your song and it was a very very strong contender and yeah you got me in the fields and the public vote by the way I should reference that and we thank the thousands of people that entered it was extremely extremely tight which I thought was fantastic because that really was so encouraging and you did fantastic in that as well Jimmy yeah I like that when I heard the chorus Greg it just blew me away and you know as Connor said there I was singing that chorus black dogs barking louder now I was actually singing the chorus I spoke to somebody yes they heard it on the radio last week and they actually stayed in the car till the song finished that it just got them so we talk about music but the lyrics too are catching more and more people now it is definitely I think people are more I don't know is it something since COVID people are more tuned in now to what's been said and what's been sung so James and catch them well done half five in the morning out there so it's how it's arranged to the big guitar that's called a cello isn't it it is I think the addition of that was really really added to it as well I don't know I don't know enough about this stuff to know why I just know that it really added something to it Paul an awful lot to it Paul once again congratulations James and Catherine I'm just basically echoing what everybody said I heard the song and you know we just Tanya said there's a connection I lost my own father last year and I was sitting there we were sitting Greg and it just knocked me sideways every word I hung on to every word and as Jimmy said the way it was written I found a therapeutic and I know James himself he found that as well so excellent well done congratulations and we're absolutely delighted for you yeah okay right okay last words to you guys thank you so much James and Catherine for joining us we'll be in contact with you to find out what happens next and all that stuff but all four acts were amazing genuinely amazing because I know I was in on the call but I think that makes your guys Charles James and the song elephants I think that makes it even more special that you're in against such such amazing talent that we have and you're all brilliant in your own right and all big careers and big followings as is this is just an extra platform for us all to celebrate that what we have here thank you so much we literally have a no expectations well go and have a celebrate with a nice bowl of cornflakes see you guys we're going to play out with it thank you so very much well done congratulations Connor thank you so much for your insight and input into it always considered an intelligent too alright thanks very much okay I don't know why I sound surprised and Tanya thank you for calling up to us we really do appreciate it and is it last but not least Paul and Jimmy thank you very much I feel like I have to talk to you as a collective right okay so we are now if I can push the right buttons we're going to listen to the winning song as performed live on this show dog sparking lot it's got my chest been down paralyzed by nothing at all arise convinced that I'm bound to fall in this life so much harder than it seems yes life's sweet imperfections so much harder than it seems so much harder than it seems so much harder than it seems alright that was it I really enjoyed that too and I enjoyed that performance listening back it meant an awful lot to them which is good isn't it 08 660 25000 is the whatsapp and text number thanks to everyone who was involved in that whole process Jimmy, Paul, Tanya, Connor and all the acts that took part over 80 the other three finalists by the way are there is just no doubt going places as well they're already there but there's just no doubt that hopefully the platform as I tried to describe it is something that can be built on okay we're behind a little bit on ad break stay where you are we're going to be talking sleep and business all in the next hour we'll do the sleep first so you don't fall asleep during the business I miss it I'm only joking back after these 1 2 3 4 this week's 9 til noon show was brought to you by Sid Mary's GA convoy club development draw win 50,000 for 50 euro draw takes place 17th of March get your ticket now at SidMary's GA draw.ie PDO thread lifts the ultimate non-surgical lift for the skin improving facial contours, lifting and tightening the neck, cheeks and eyebrows are available at Janice's aesthetics and skincare clinic adore for help choosing aesthetic treatment for you contact Mary Ferry, your aesthetic practitioner also offering fat dissolving treatments dermal fillers and laser treatments for all skin conditions hair and makeup packages also available Janice's aesthetics and skincare clinic adore 07495 32575 the world is getting a little more more but maybe more could mean something else more means more proactive green energy solutions more means more wind turbines and more recycling more means more biodiversity and more energy storage more means more hydrogen and more solar farms because more clean energy means more efficient living means more thriving communities means more energy autonomy that's why we're more than mona learn more at morethanmona.ie board nemona it's where you live it's where you relax it's where you make memories we have everything in store to help recreate your home choose for an extensive range of suites tables, beds, mattresses and home furnishings for every room cuny's home interiors let a candy style and perfection at incredible value go full needle for a trolley full of savings and you won't want to miss these great offers you could go full irish stew with board B approved irish stew beef steak just 419 and irish rooster potatoes just 126 plus an 8 pack of Guinness draft just 1326 shop without compromise go full needle today get the fax to drink aware of as a drink aware.ie Highland radio weather updates with Ireland west airport Salah, Nunes, The Beatles you can now fly to Liverpool 8 times a week with Ryanair this summer Ireland west airport don't just take off take it easy OK the weather forecast for today reads as follows cloudy without breaks of rain preceded by some local sleet of snow becoming wet through the afternoon and evening 2 to 5 degrees fresh and gusty southerly winds looking out the window again here at the mountain top in letter Kenny's sideways snow so be careful out there it's not behind us just yet some requests as we head towards 11 wishing Pat Price in Kirkstown letter Kenny a very happy birthday today lots of love from Julie, Anna and Emily have a great day Pat is the message there Brian Freel, Ard McCool, Strannaller happy 80th birthday to you Brian and that's coming in from Martina, Aiman, Keely Annie Lee and Alton I'd appreciate if you could wish Tishi Kon from Bunkrana a happy 82nd birthday she celebrated her 80th during lockdown and despite that got all wishes from half the cast of Emmerdale oh well wishes brilliant Tishi is an inspiration to many there have been lots of hurdles and even with a full leg amputation three years ago another ailment she never lets it get her down or stops her from travelling everyone knows Tishi in Bunkrana knows she's the life and soul of a gathering and sharp as a brush you're an inspiration to many happy birthday mum what a lovely request coming in from your daughter and you clearly are an amazing person and last but not least Leanne Leanne Brogan, Leanne Brogan Crow Patrick Avenue letter Kenny for today from Granny and Granddad and from Dad Mum and baby sister Ariana Rose and my own son our own wee boy Aaron not only forgot his name 17 today unbelievable isn't it happy birthday Aaron and everyone out there who's celebrating a birthday of course the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio okay it is 11 o'clock it's now time for a news update and we say good morning to Donald Kavanaugh thank you Greg good morning at 10th arrest has been made by detectives including the shooting of a senior police officer A.N. Oma DCI John Caldwell was wounded after being shot when he was coaching a youth football team A.N. Oma last month he remains critically ill but stable the 45 year old to be arrested was detained in the Belfast area under the terrorism act last evening. Dunningall County Council is being urged to hold an urgent workshop on the need for municipal cemetery in letter Kenny the issue has been raised by a number of members most recently Councillor Donald Coyle who says the existing communities at Conwell and LEC will be at full capacity in less than 10 years he says the council has a full role to play in resolving that issue he wants new communities in the area to be centrally involved in the discussion Remelton is set to receive 40,000 euro under the 2023 historic towns initiative it's one of 11 historic towns nationally to receive part of the 1.3 million national funding package it'll help provide jobs through heritage led regeneration aid the rebuilding of local economies and address with heritage as a focal point a rehab centre in Lyford has had a number of non-compliance as noted in a report published today the Lyford accommodation was inspected by Hickaway in November of last year it was noted the centre was taking proactive steps to identify service improvement issues but had fallen short in delivering some of those the full report is available online. Dunningall County Council is looking at the prospect of purchasing houses in which tenants are facing eviction the issue was raised this week at a municipal district meeting by councillor Jerry McMonagall he told the meeting that his understanding was council policy was that only vacant possession was sought and houses were not bought with tenants in situ however officials confirmed to him that because of recent government guidelines that policy was now being overridden and the council is looking at taking involvement in the current scheme the headlines were back with news headlines again at 12 o'clock. Coming up very shortly we are going to be answering your sleep questions as part of Wellness Wednesday Matty Virgay's of the sleep clinic will be joining us very shortly. Get your questions into us 086 60 25,000 WhatsApps or text that number you can give us a call too by the way 07491 25,000 back with that and much more besides after the break This week's 9 till noon show was brought to you by a convoy club development draw win 50,000 for 50 euro draw takes place 17th of March get your ticket now at sitmarysgadraw.ie Join me Matty free every Friday night from 8 for Rockin' Hits on Highlands Radio in association with Arena 7 enjoy bowling, laser quest soft play or a game of pool before dining in our fast food diner or family restaurant see arena 7.ie There was a monster who lived in the trees in the house that would rattle and shake in the breeze it was cold and small with a terrible leak that would drip on her head and her hands and her beak she needed it fixed and all in one batch because she had an egg that was ready to hatch so she went to the credit union for a renovation loan and got new windows insulation and extended her home monster loans from the credit union imagine more loans are subject to approval terms and conditions apply if you do not have a loan this may affect your credit rating which may limit your ability to access credit in the future credit unions in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland The Lotto Jackpot is an estimated 3.5 million euro play responsibly in-store in-app or at love.ie The National Lottery It Could Be You Looking to treat your mum to something personal this Mother's Day? Choose your own special touch to the iconic Dunstores e-gift card Choose a photo of mum or select a snap of someone she loves whether it's you a family member or even a furry friend upload your photo and we'll add it to her e-gift card which you can use across fashion, food and homeware buy and send a personalised e-gift card at any time or schedule it to arrive on Mother's Day Dunstores always better value terms, conditions, exclusions and minimum spend apply. Connect hearing is open for hearing tests. Our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter clinic clinic in the Courtyard Shopping Centre. We also offer a home visit for those who aren't able to visit us. Our hearing is our social sense. Are you finding hearing more of a challenge? Call Ursula today on 07491 13296 to make an appointment. Good Hearing helps us to connect to our family, friends and loved ones. Connect Hearing, Connecting You to Life Live Score Bet would like to welcome you to Cheltenham. Nestled against the cotswolds it is the perfect place to unwind and refresh your mind, body and soul. A regency town that's intimate and friendly. A civilised place of culture and learning of peace and quiet. Except for four days of the year. No matter who you're backing this Cheltenham festival, celebrate with great offers from Live Score Bet. T's and C's in account terms apply. Bet responsibly. We're going to be talking about that in a moment. Just bear with me for a second because our guest is just struggling to hear us, I think at the moment. So I'll get back to that in a second. Stay right where you are. I think I know what the problem might be. Right, 086625,000 just to remind you of the telephone number. Give us a call on 07491 25,000. If you prefer you can take a call at 07491 25,000. If you prefer you can text a WhatsApp 086625,000. I have a very important update for you. It's the letter we received for a community cleanup. It's on the 25th of March. Sorry, the 25th of March, that's correct. Spread the word. I've been asked to do so. It's in Binyon and Bali Lennon and the community. Thank you, Greg, they say. So hopefully they have a big turnout for that. And remind me a little bit closer to the time and hopefully I'll be able to get a few extra people out by reminding them. Right, hopefully now Matty Vargaze can hear me. Can you hear me, Matty? No, unfortunately, he cannot and I don't know why. There is no reason for that to be the case. OK, I shall endeavor. Can you hear me OK, Matty? No, you can't. He can't hear me at all. Right, OK, we'll get to that in a moment. So what we'll do is we will go to some of your comments just while I sort that out. It'll take me a second. Do you have any recommendations? Oh, that's sleep questions. Let's take that break, actually. Do you know what? Because I need to be able to focus on this other part of the technology and I can do that whilst I'm playing the break. So stay right where you are. Your sleep questions, fingers crossed on the way. Get the Irish Daily Star today for your free 16-page Cheltenham pullout. Our man, Brian Flanagan, gives you the inside scoop from the track. We have Davy Russell and Andy Maxx, exclusive views plus all the top tipsters ready to get your first pass the post all week. The Irish Daily Star, number one for racing, number one for you. Plug in to the all-electric Volkswagen E-UP City car with a range of up to 253 kilometres. Power up with seamless smartphone integration and exhilarating all-electric acceleration from the moment you press go. Plug in and power up with the all-electric Volkswagen E-UP from just €27,850. Search Volkswagen E-UP for more. Volkswagen. Your first 2-pack of McGvittys Digestives only €2, Coke 2-pack, 3-litre, €4 and Gentile Toilet Roll 24-pack only €6.50, plus lots of other offers in store for St Patrick's and Mother's Day. While they're checkout Peggy's Kitchen Coffee for great food, tea and coffee. Only 2 minutes from Lettuce Kenny Hospital, Simpson Supermarket for great value every day. Happy Mother's Day. Treat your mum this Mother's Day to a bottle of perfume or a cosmetics gift Key's chemist, letter Kenny. You'll find Chanel, Calvin Klein, Dolce and Gabbana, Elizabeth Arton and many more. Great value for great moms. This Mother's Day. See and store or order online at McGee's.ie. McGee's, with the best, cost less. Every Tuesday morning on Highland Radio we'll be joining Collim and Sophie for Clark's Cigar as we catch up with them for some cant-juggers crack on the way to school. Next time, Collim and Sophie will be chatting about a special birthday. August by Jessica for a couple of popular usage-freshing. So, Beagie Lane, Modding to March and Shaw are Highland Radio. Far in the weenie, Ig Udera, Screlahyne the Heron, the Chantelia Cadence Telefecia. OK, hopefully you're awake because we have finally connected, I believe, to Marty Verges. He's a sleep physiologist and behavioural sleep therapist at the SleepKin Clinic and we're speaking to him today as part of Wellness Wednesday, ahead of World Sleep Day, which is Friday. Good morning to you. Can you hear me OK, Marty? Yes, I can. Thank you very much for your patience with us. It was on our end and I appreciate your patience. So, I mean, we were raised being told go to bed and told by our parents, our guardians, our grandparents, whoever it might be, how important sleep is. So, how important is sleep to our general well-being, Marty? I think sleep is very, very important. We have known that information for quite a long time. Sleep plays a significant role in optimal physical well-being and also our mental well-being. There's enough studies that prove that when we haven't slept well, we're going to feel a little bit more anxious and stressed the next day. So, there is a bi-directional or reciprocal relationship between sleep and physical and mental well-being. What are the stages of sleep and what are the important stages? Because lots of people now have smartphones and watches and they'll allegedly track their sleep and they'll talk about light sleep, awake, REM, you know, and it'll break it down into hours and all that type of thing.  But secondly, presumably, they are based on some science and what is that science? Yes, sleep happens in cycles and each cycle is about 90 to 120 minutes long. So, first sleep cycle could be 90 minutes and the last one, the one before we wake up in the morning could be 120 minutes. And each cycle of sleep consists of different stages of sleep. So, it's broadly divided into two, which is non-rapid eye movement sleep or non-REM sleep and REM sleep. So, non-REM sleep consists of stage one, two, and three. Now, we spend most of the night in stage two sleep. It's a very light stage of sleep, about 45 to 50%. But the stage three sleep is very physically refreshing sleep and happens mostly in the first half of the night. We produce a lot of growth hormones and it's very physically refreshing. And we also form some memories in that particular stage of sleep. Whereas REM sleep is more mentally refreshing sleep and it happens mostly in the second half of the night, but we do get some in the first half as well. So, it's very, very important for us to ensure that we have a good sleep opportunity that we provide enough time to ourselves to go to bed and sleep to make sure that we get sufficient quantity of sleep. But if there is a problem with the quality of sleep, that can stop the progression of sleep into deeper refreshing stages of sleep like stage three sleep or REM sleep. All right, so you may sleep for your six, seven, eight hours, but it's the quality of the sleep that can be important to not literally between closing and opening your eyes. That is true, both the quantity and quality of sleep. So in sleep disorders like insomnia, a person may find a difficult to fall asleep when they first go to bed at night or fall back asleep when they wake up at night. In either of those situations, despite having an adequate sleep opportunity, we end up with reduced sleep quantity because a lot of time was spent trying to get to sleep or get back to sleep. So that's one situation where one scenario where we can have a problem with the quantity of sleep. The other one is the quality of sleep. If they have a noisy environment, if the light level isn't right, if the temperature isn't right, or if a person snores or if they have tendency to sleep apnea or have restless legs, all of them can affect the quality of sleep or stress and anxiety can keep us at a state of hypervigilance and can affect the quality of sleep where we wake up too many times at night. Just in terms of the sleeping environment, is that subjective because some people might sleep with a light on? Others, I myself like to go to sleep listening to the radio. Others might like listening to white noise. If the light, the noise, whether it be white noise or the radio persists all night, can that, or does that affect your sleep or does that vary from person to person? It can vary from person to person, but the general ideal advice would be to keep it as dark as you can and keep it as quiet as you can and have a cooler body temperature or cooler bedroom, not a cold one, but a cooler one as well. All right, that's very interesting. If everybody that snores, right, and lots of people snore, does everyone that snore not get good sleep really or not ideal sleep then? Let me put it like that. Well, it depends on what happens, what is the consequence of snoring. We snore because the space in the back of the throat only called the pharyngeal space when we don't have enough room there. That's when as we start to, as we breathe in and out, it has to pass that or an air passage and it makes a noise. And that's what we hear a snoring. Normally when snoring happens, there's a possibility that sometimes there can be a reduction in the flow of the air in and out of your lungs. And sometimes when the throat is closed in fully, there can be a stoppage or a sufficient of air flow into our lungs. And that can result in a reduction in the oxygen levels temporarily. And it picks back up as soon as we resume normal breathing. It can also cause many awakenings in our brain. Sometimes we can physically wake up. Sometimes we'll have many awakenings that prevent the progression into deeper refreshing stages of sleep. So it's not the snoring itself, but what happens or what are the consequences of snoring? So you could be making quite a bit of noise, but if your breathing is not restricted as such the flow of air is adequate, the snoree, let me put it like that, might have quite a settled night's sleep, but the victim, let me put it like that also, they could end up with the disturbed sleep. That is very possible. And at the same time, it's very difficult to evaluate what problem the snoring is causing unless you have a sleep study done in the hospital. As a sleep specialist, does it frustrate you the sort of jovial attitude that we have to snoring? Do you know what I mean? That it's just always a terrible snore or she's a terrible snore. And we don't really see it as a medical issue. We see it as a bit of banter or a joke or a distraction, a cause of arguments too, I'm sure as well. But does it frustrate you that we don't say, Halania, that is actually, something's happening physically there and you need to check what it is. I think that is true. I think anybody who snores, you have to look at your daytime sleepiness or daytime tiredness, particularly in the afternoon and really have to talk to the bed partner and say, am I just snoring or am I stopping breathing as well? And even the bed partner will not be able to give a very clear picture most of the times because he or she would be sleeping as well. So that's something that we need to look further into because it has a lot of health related consequences. And once treated, it will help us to optimize our health as well. And can it be treated? I mean, if you go on Amazon or wherever and we'll get to more general sleep questions in a moment, Dr.  And if they don't or if they do, what actually is a sleep therapist can you do to alleviate snoring? Yeah, so for sleep breathing disorders like sleep apnea, for someone who is diagnosed with sleep apnea, you have to look at how many times the person stops breathing when they're sleeping. And generally the doctors recommend the use of a device called a CPAP device, which is a mask that you have to put on your face, which is attached to a machine that sits on the bedside locker or on the floor in the bedroom. And that helps to keep the throat open, allowing freer airflow into the lungs, which helps to maintain oxygen levels and improve the quality of sleep. And that's the most commonly preferred treatment for sleep apnea. Some individuals will only have a tendency to snore and stop breathing when they're sleeping on their back. And in those situations, again, you need a sleep study to establish that fact. And in those instances, we can use a positional device to stop the person from sleeping on their back. And in certain situations, some individuals will have a jaw that is slightly pushed backwards, which is compromising the space in the back of the throat. And there are multiple advancement devices that we could use to bring the jaw forward while they're sleeping, to create more room in the back of the throat, again, to allow freer airflow. Easier airflow into their lungs. Right, let's get to some questions here. And hopefully you can help. We understand if they're too specific. I find that even after eight hours of sleep, I'm still very tired. I've got little to no energy and I struggle to get up. Is there any other factors that could be caused in the lack of energy or am I not getting the right quality of sleep? Now, you'd have to eliminate one problem to make sure and then pursue it if it's still persisted. But let's just presume it might be the quality of sleep if that's okay, Marty. Yeah, very true, actually. If someone's sleeping, if someone's getting adequate quantity of sleep and they're still feeling tired and sleepy during the daytime, you really have to look into the quality of sleep and what is affecting the quality of sleep. So it's a process of illumination as well. And that's why they need to speak to your sleep physician to identify different reasons or have a sleep state and to find out what is causing the poor quality of sleep. I mean, there could be deficient in a vitamin. It could be something as, you know what I mean? It may not actually be the sleep. That is the possibility as well. Okay, my daughter has a load of soft toys in her room and recently started waking up in the middle of the night talking about monsters. She loves the wee animals, but could there be a connection? Could there be a connection? There must be some nighttime fear associated with nighttime sleep. So it might be worth looking into it or talking to people who have, you know, the expertise in helping with those situations. Do you have any recommendations on how to wind down before going to sleep? I find my brain so active at night and I really struggle then to actually fall asleep. Okay, try and do some journaling. Try and put your date to bed before you go to bed at night. So sometime in the early evening, find some quiet space with a pen and paper and write down the things that, you know, reflect on your day and write down the things that are, that may not seem to set the level of anxiety and stress, rationalize your anxieties, look for evidences to support your worry. If you can find evidence, it's a rational one. If you can't find evidence, it's an irrational one. See what controlables you can put in place. Also, try and avoid using handheld smart devices for at least an hour or two before you bed time and reduce the bright light exposure and make sure that the overhead lights attend off and just have a floor lamp or a reading lamp turned on. Do a small bit of meditation, a body scan. Breathing exercises, I presume that you focus on breathing rather than what's those circular thoughts in your head. Yes, breathing exerci