It's all very hurtful, so I think I'm going to let you go now. You'll be all right, I think. Good luck. Bye, Lee. All right, take care of yourself. It's nine o'clock. It's the nine o'clock noon show. Good morning. Donald Kavanaugh. Thank you, Greg. Good morning. Boris Johnson is en route to Belfast in a bid to persuade the DUP to enter power-sharing government again. The British Prime Minister will hold talks with party leaders as concerns grow over the political deadlock at Stormont. In advance of his visit, he wrote in the Belfast Telegraph suggesting that the EU and UK can find a way forward on the Northern Ireland protocol without the need for overriding changes. However, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConnelog says while the visit today is welcome, there is still the possibility that the British will go on a solo run. I think it's really important that we see a sense of urgency and leadership from the British government and from Prime Minister Johnson and his cabinet. But certainly it's really disappointing again to see Prime Minister Johnson referred to unilateral action in relation to the protocol because we have seen many comments similar to this over the last number of weeks and months and indeed the engagement between the British government and the European Union from the British government side has left a lot to be desired. Ukrainian families are being given help in securing school places for their children. The Department of Education says RAILTH is supporting schools to meet their needs as they emerge. It's confirmed 5,843 Ukrainian pupils are currently enrolled in education across the country. Of those, 259 are in Donegal, 176 of them in primary schools and 83 in post-primary schools. Labour's Education spokesperson Deputy Ayrdon O'Reolong says there are some issues but good work is being done. By here of a lot of dislocation happening, of families who have gotten used to one school then have been told a very short notice that they're moving to a different part of the country. The overall coordination of this I think needs to be improved but in such a short space of time I think it does show again the fantastic work that those go on in individual schools in our primary and second level sector. The extra fuel allowance payment will be paid this week. The Social Protection Minister Heather Humphrey says over 371,000 households will benefit from the 100 euro payment from today. That's equivalent to over three weeks' fuel allowance. A national volunteering week gets underway today, it continues until next Saturday. A specific focus will highlight areas such as health, well-being and the environment on each day of the week. The week will also see events taking place across the country to honour those who volunteered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. John Curran is manager of the Donegal Volunteering Centre. We have an event this coming Thursday night with Donegal County Council and being let out by Donegal County Council where we're taking volunteers that have been nominated by community groups to an event in Jackson's hotel just to say thank you, to acknowledge they're working in a very small way. There was many, many thousands of hours put in by volunteers, probably hundreds of thousands of hours put in by volunteers over the COVID period and it's just a small way for us to say thank you and to recognise those volunteers. Rain mist and fog clearing northwards through the morning leaving a mix of clouds and sunny spells with scattered showers. Some of the showers heavy a potential for localized thundery downpours but it'll be dry in most areas by evening. Staying humid today, top temperatures 16 to 18 in moderate south east winds. Tonight it'll briefly become dry with clear spells but it will turn cloudier from the south with outbreaks of rain spreading right across the region. Blustery with that rain spreading in strong and gusty south east winds overnight. It'll stay mild though, top temperatures 10 to 12 degrees celsius. That's Highland Radio News, we're back with news again at 10 o'clock. Mum, we're starving. Can we have crisp? Like clockwork just as they're in from school, when did this become an everyday thing? Please! Sure it's only a little trade. No, you're sticking to the new plan. Guys, remember what we agreed, no junk on weekdays. You can have cheese and crackers, yogurt or toast. At 3pm on Tuesday, Joanne started with healthier snacks. Let's go easy on the treats. Start with smaller ones at Austin to keep your family healthy. Find more ways to start at makeistart.ie. Brought to you by Safe Food, The HSE and Healthy Ireland. The 9 till noon show with Letter Kenny Credit Union. Now offering mortgages from 40,000 to 600,000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges. Letter Kenny Credit Union 9102127 And now, it's time for the talk of the North West. The 9 till noon show with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio. Good morning to you. Four minutes past nine. It's Monday the 16th of May. How are you keeping? I hope your weekend was good. Many of you obviously worked over the weekend. Perhaps you're off today, whatever it is anyway. Hopefully with us for the next three hours on the programme. As you know, the lines are open for you as we are on air. You can give Caroline a call on 07491 25,000. 07491 25,000 or 086625,000. We really appreciate your feedback as we've a busy show lined up. But as I say, as we always say here, of course, the lines are always open for you to raise your issues to pass on your messages. You might have something serious going on or something like hearted. We welcome it all. You can email us on comments at highlandradio.com and feel free to watch the programme if you want to interact with us that way. We're streaming for you live right now on our website, highlandradio.com. We'll go straight to YouTube, Highland Radio Ireland, or on our Facebook pages. And say hello to Astaire. Good morning to Margaret and Michael joining us early and saying hello this morning. Okay, the Donegal News this morning. Victims of hate crime in Donegal have been urged to report incidences to the Guardian amid concerns that there's been an underreporting of crimes. The call was made at a vigil held in Neterkenny to mark the one-month anniversary of the brutal murders of Michael Snee and Aidan Moffatt in Sligo. Speaking at the vigil, the chair of the Donegal LGBTQ Plus Committee, Shona Daveney, said there have been a number of people who have been victims of hate crime who have not come forward. There are issues around reporting LGBT hate crimes. I know a number of people who have not come forward who have been victims of hate crimes in Neterkenny and it is the underreported crimes that we are missing out on here, she said. Maybe that is very sadly something that affects you. Maybe you are one of those people that was the victim of hate crime and you didn't want to come forward. Well, help us understand why and perhaps together we can make some sort of a change. Why would you feel you couldn't come forward? Is it that you didn't want the hassle? You didn't want to antagonize? You didn't think you'd be taken seriously? I don't know. I'm just picking potentials out of the air. But if that is you, talk to us and we'll see how we can improve things together. Okay, the Irish independent this morning and it seems this seems irrelevant to most of the people I know to be honest with you, if not all of them. But buyers on incomes of 100,000 euro will qualify for a government affordable home scheme that will give them interest free subsidies the Irish independent reveals today. So the combined income into a house would have to be 100,000 euro and that's to qualify for an affordable home scheme. Now I would say the overwhelming majority of families in Donegal would struggle to bring 100,000 euro into the house, but these are the criteria being set out. This has been described as unacceptable by opposition parties. There is an allocation of 60 million this year to deliver around 550 homes under the affordable housing scheme, a scheme signed into law by housing minister Dara O'Brien. But it has emerged that the just published regulation underpinning the scheme will controversially allow home buyers on incomes of up to 100,000 euro to qualify for it. Now this is not from 100,000 euro up but you could be pulling in 100,000 euro and still qualify for this scheme. Under the scheme local authorities provide an interest free equity stake to buyers who qualify in order to make the homes more affordable and the councils are providing the land and service sites to developers to build the homes. The local authorities get a subsidy from the Department of Housing to cover their costs. So that's the ceiling 100,000 euro to say that would be well above I think anything. Anyone I know what their combined income might be. Okay, the Irish Times today, Boris, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned of the consequences of unilateral action on the Northern Ireland protocol including the prospect of retaliatory action from Europe. On the eve of Mr Johnson's visit to Belfast, this is yesterday, the government in Sinn Féin said moved to dis-apply parts of the protocol damaging east-west restrictions. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney spoke of a landing zone for negotiations and indicated that the European Union was willing to make adjustments through partnership and dialogue due to what he said were legitimate concerns with unionism about the operation of the protocol. Now, I imagine this article has been written without sight of Boris Johnson's article in the Belfast Telegraph in which he said he would favour a negotiated agreement as opposed to taking unilateral action which perhaps won't please the DUP too much because I think they want it out. But that being said, he did say if there wasn't movement from Europe that he would take unilateral action. So there was something for everyone in the audience in his article in that newspaper. Minister Coveney also said that if London moved unilaterally it would make matters significantly worse and that then the EU would be forced to respond to that with some sort of retaliation action. Mr Coveney said it was not helpful to expand on what form that might take but that a response would be very negative trading sanctions or whatever. Who is to say? We're going to be speaking to groups representing those on the border later on in the programme to find out their views on the ongoing situation. The Irish Daily Mail tells us that if you undervalued your property you could be getting a knock on the door from revenue, not literally but metaphorically speaking because more than 300,000 homeowners who deliberately undervalued their property could have their salary or pension deducted its source revenue as said. It emerged that over 316,000 people have not updated the value of their home since 2013 even though there's been a huge rise in house prices since the post crash era. Now I would argue that particularly here in the northwest that whilst we have seen some price rises in property they have been within bands so we have seen quite dramatic increases here in terms of available property but I do believe that this really is not a donning all story as such I could be completely wrong but I think a lot of our price increases you would have stayed within the one band maybe not the case elsewhere but anyway revenue statistics showed 54% of homeowners say their property is worth less than 262,000 euro while CSO figures show the average selling price of a Dublin home last year was over 500,000 euro compared with 326,000 euro nationally but as I say I think a lot of those properties in donning all would still be under the 262,000 euro mark at the majority of them perhaps even in fact. Okay on to the Irish star today they tell us that Russia could have suffered losses of more than 45,000 soldiers one third of its grand troops in Ukraine since the start of the invasion this is according to military intelligence reports and it's an awful loss of life on both sides and what is it actually achieving? Growing NATO, I don't know what Russia are achieving through it but these that's an incredible amount of people that are dying on a daily basis that doesn't count obviously civilian deaths deaths on the Ukrainian side and all for what? What will be achieved by this in the end? Maybe Russia will have a little bit of the east of Ukraine is that it? Is 45,000 lives and counting justification for that? You know now Finland, Sweden are going to be joining NATO so the security situation for Russia is worsening so what next and what for? The UK's Ministry of Defence briefing also revealed that Moscow's offensive in the Donbas region has lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule and Ole Sina-Gubov Khakiv's regional governor stated that Ukrainian forces have launched a counter offensive as they seek to push back Vladimir Putin's troops the emoji yesterday posted despite small-scale initial advances Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month while sustaining consistently high levels of attrition which is on the will of a couple of people that wanted to escalate this so many people gone and their families destroyed The Irish Daily Mirror there's a picture of Liam Neeson he's got a gun pointed towards a camera a second picture has him standing on a donning old coast with an old rifle in his hand Netflix has released first-look images of Liam Neeson and Kieran Hines on their next movie in the land of saints and sinners in one picture a moody looking Neeson is seen pointing a gun at the camera while a second photo shows Neeson and Hines both pals in real life standing on a cliff side with Neeson aiming a different gun out towards the sea the donning old-based movie is set in a remote Irish village where a newly retired assassin finds himself drawn into a lethal game of cat and mouse with a trio of vengeful terrorists the movie is all the all-star cast including Northern Ireland actress Liam Neeson and Kieran Hines as well as the banker's column Meanie so filming continuing there could see getting some national coverage as well but here's the story that I just wasn't aware we did or happened but apparently nearly 3,000 thoroughbred horses were slaughtered for meat in Ireland since the start of 2020 figures have revealed it's the first time official data has been published showing the number of animals bred for racing have ended up as food a total of 1,549 thoroughbreds with passports issued by horse racing conglomerate weather bees were slaughtered in 2020 followed by another 1,105 last year since January 305 have been put down people before prophet T.D. Paul Murphy who received the data from agriculture minister Charlie McConaughey in response to a dull question described the figures as quite horrifying it said it seems like the horses are being killed simply because they are not fast enough to win and it's cheaper to kill them it raises a question about the tens of millions of euro of public money given every year to the racing industry now it is a huge amount of money the government has provided funding of 1.46 billion to the sector on to the horse and greyhound and racing acts since 2001 now did you believe that your money which is helping to support that industry would support an industry that slaughtered so many horses for meat I didn't know it was happening that's how naive I am 08 660 25000 if you have a view on that I think Donald referenced this in the news but just to mention it again because we did receive a number of calls about this and we do more than 370,000 euro sorry more than 370,000 households will be paid 100 euro extra to help with the rising fuel bills the fuel allowance boost will go to anyone who received the payment at the end of the last season this week's cash injection is equivalent over three weeks of the allowance it'll cost the state 37.1 million and follows a one-off 125 euro handout that was given to homes in March so that money should be paid to you this week and you'll need it especially if you're running a car because I know that diesel prices in some places edging very close to 2 euro I imagine we'll see them over 2 euro and dependent where you buy your petrol in some garages four courts it's 1.99.9 in others it's 1.82 I presume the people that are charging 1.99 got a recent delivery of fuel and other service stations might see their prices going up but we're heading back over the 2 euro mark it would seem unfortunately okay back with more on the program after these current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account zilch not a diddly squat if you got savings that's about as much interest as you're earning and inflation's aging into the value too have you considered investing to potentially grow the money at Bank of Ireland really worked hard for your money and with our expert support it can work harder for you so don't rest it invest it visit bankofarland.com explore investing Bank of Ireland begin terms and conditions apply Bank of Ireland is a tied agent of New Ireland Assurance Company PLC Trading is Bank of Ireland Life for Life Assurance and Pensions Business Members of Bank of Ireland Group Bank of Ireland Trading is Bank of Ireland Insurance and Investments is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland buy now and then split your payment over three months interest free with Klarna at Tinney's Toys letter Kenny now that the evenings are longer there's loads of great ideas for outdoor fun at Tinney's like pedal and battery ride on tractors cars and jeeps also a great range of outdoor toys like swings and slides now in stock shopping made easy with Klarna at Tinney's Toys let grow letter Kenny and at tinneystoys.com for express delivery or click and collect Ellen write what you want to be when you grow up on the blackboard Ellen remember to sign up for the swim team Ellen all competitors must register today nothing is written until you write it Ellen can I have your autograph? You write it we underwrite it Allianz proudly supporting Paralympics Ireland since 2010 Okay you're very welcome back to the program delighted to welcome on to it now the chair of the OCTUS EU Affairs Committee Donald Gold Deputy Joe McHugh good morning Joe thanks for joining us yeah good morning Greg thank you it's good to have you with us I don't know if you've read or read the highlights from Prime Minister Johnson's article in the Belfast Telegraph today as I say there's probably something for everyone in the audience and something in there also to upset everyone if you know what I mean what do you think what do you think of the headlines coming out of that article as it relates to what we might see unfold over the next few weeks yeah I haven't read the article but I've read a few of the quotes that RTE carried in relation to it and look my take on it is that while Boris Johnson is here and trying to obviously there's a big they're up in the ante to try to get more discussions going in negotiations and all that that's not it it's not in a very hopeful place to be honest Greg in terms of finding a solution in the short term because there has been there's been a lot of negative rhetoric and you know pronouncements made and through the media that's not helpful and it's not really it's not really acknowledging the very very challenging situation that that that we have both politically and economically since Brexit in 2016 so here we are six years later and we're still we're still at an impasse right so just so we are clear the the Northern Ireland protocol the Brexit protocol was inserted as part of the Brexit process Boris Johnson negotiated it and agreed it and put it effectively to the people of Britain via referendum and it is there to allow or sorry to remove the need for a border between the UK as it's described with Northern Ireland and Europe which is obviously our land border with Northern Ireland that that is that that's its purpose that's pretty much it in a nutshell is it it is yes and look there is flexibility within the protocol and I think Simon Coveney has said this on numerous occasions in the last two weeks that while the protocol is there that as you say the protocol rightly say the protocol has been democratically endorsed as well and it's an international agreement but the the the difficulty always for Brexit and as I remember somebody said straight after the referendum in 2016 Brexit means Brexit you know it means that Britain is leaving the the European Union and that means that if you have a business in London and you're looking to export to France or Italy or Spain or wherever within the European Union that's going to encourage tariffs and there's going to be issues in relation to that and I suppose the difficulty for the European Union is that same business exporting to Belfast or exporting to France via Belfast that's that's where the difficulty is and it is understandable from a business point of view say if there's a business in Don Gannon dealing with a business in Edinburgh for the last how many years for for decades that those goods the difficulty is what happens in terms of the tariffs in relation to those goods and that was the beauty of the protocol where the protocol would allow that to happen but it's how how you prevent those goods going on their on-bound journey down through Roslair and into into France and into Spain and that that's where the real difficulty is and that that's come back to me original point that this is this is going to require a lot more a lot more figuring out and trying to trying to move this forward yeah but also too what I think is a really important issue here and one that's not really being discussed is what this means for democracy because we did have elections very recently in Northern Ireland 60 percent of MLAs returned either you know they or their parties are in favour of the protocol or understand that the protocol is required but might need some finessing okay and yet everything is being held up over the back everything is being held up contrary to that do you know what I mean so like there is an important thing here called democracy and it is not being respected through this process many might feel yeah and the a number of parties have come out very strongly saying after since the election in the last week saying that they want devolved government back back up and going and interestingly there was a research piece of work done by Liverpool University and I think it was discussed in your own show Greg in relation to the electorate in Northern Ireland during during the election we're very much saying that they wanted to see their MLAs back working again so that's a democratic but and also come back to six years ago the North voted to remain in the European Union and that's that's nearly a double endorsement of of what people in the North wants to happen and I suppose the findings that that has been sought during all the different meetings just after Brexit was that the business community in the North are are very happy with with the protocol arrangements as well so this these are all the the issues that we're faced with and still we're back to that quote that was made as I said earlier Brexit meaning Brexit that there has to be a border and we we have a we had a very strong case to make sure the border wasn't on on the island of Ireland and then obviously the protocol was to try and ensure that the border wasn't on the on the Irish Sea either so while I don't give much hope for the short term I still do believe that we have to have to find a solution and the only way we're going to find a solution is to use all the mechanisms the North South Ministerial Council will be very active today and keeping an eye on what Boris Johnson and his team are going to be saying we still have the British Irish Council in the East West bases and when people say you know and I heard in some media national media France last night saying that the relations between Britain and Ireland have never been at a lower ebb I think I would I would disagree with that because I just think that the relations and the opportunity for people to be meeting over the last two years because of COVID may have lent to the fact that people haven't been meeting and I think now more than ever we need to be we need to be talking and discussing Yeah but I mean I imagine that people think who are stating that maybe feel there's some bad faith actors in this in that you know there's no real advantage in Boris Johnson pursuing this the people of Britain generally speaking I don't think really care as we say we know what the democratic will of the people of Northern Ireland is it feels some might say that Boris Johnson is using the DUP and is using this issue in Northern Ireland either as some sort of a bargaining chip with Europe for a bigger picture or to distract from the terrible state of his own country currently at the moment as it edges towards recession it could be either or both on either of course but I think that's that's probably what you know I mean people aren't acting in good faith here Well there's no no question about that and you know Boris Johnson has to sit down with all the parties that he's going to be meeting now in the north in good faith and that will be an opportunity for the leaders of all those parties to tell him exactly what was agreed you know the international agreement and I know that there's going to be plenty strong voices in the north today articulating that and getting that message across and that's what he has to take away that there is there is a democratic outcome here there is an issue that has to be grappled with in terms of trying to move this forward because you're correct in saying in terms of the the UK economy the projections from inflation right down to different indicators that the projections for the economic outlook is not in a positive place and we have to be very very careful as well in Ireland because you know we so in the past we would have been in the shadow economically of the UK fortunately now we're a stronger economy more independent economy but at the same time Britain not in a good place is it's not good for Ireland either um if Britain Boris Johnson acts unilaterally on this issue what do you see the ease of retaliation as you know I can understand that Minister Simon Coveney doesn't want to be putting that necessarily out but there's a number of options there and what what do you think it might look like if the EU were to to retaliate will you see this this is the other uh big unknown scenario and one of the good things is that the EU has the peace process front and centre to every every single potential outcome so the retaliation and you know outcomes are you know threats all the all these different words and languages they're so so dangerous because uh anything that that would disturb a peace process which I know we always say like two decades in two decades or more in that it's still very much in its infancy it is very fragile um and we we have to protect that at all costs and we're lucky we have the solidarity of the European Union in that regard all right quick question before I let you go we're going to be discussing this in in a moment but as you'd be aware we heard from Thomas de Veracar on this program last week that he believes that new legislation on the defective blocks redress scheme will be passed before the summer but there are calls for pre-legislative scrutiny of of the process and that's coming from the likes of the mic action group I believe and others I presume it would it would have to delay to some extent I don't know but do you have a view on on whether or not this process should be bypassed to speed it up or do you think there should be some more scrutiny of the scheme the legislation yeah well I met the group last can't remember was it Tuesday night or no Wednesday night I met the group last Wednesday night and the they were very very insistent that they do pre-legislative scrutiny I'm happy to support that my concern and I said to them was about the timeline but I think if we if we can ensure that this you know will not drag things out and make sure that if there is pre-legislative scrutiny to ensure that now I know some people are given a a time frame a time frame of that might only take out a week I'm not too sure about that but if that's the case brilliant and we're still on track for getting the legislation down before the summer but make make a statement but just in relation to that if it might only take a week and it can be fast tracked because of the importance of this why would the why would do you think the housing minister would be keen to bypass that process when I spoke to the housing minister after that meeting on Wednesday night and I you know I put it to him I suppose his his anxiety and his anxiousness is and he just set it straight out he says look this has gone on and has gone on too long he wants he wants to get it started he wants to see houses been built he wants to ensure that people that are in that you know limbo place at the moment not knowing what the time frame's going to be yeah but given your argument you could say well you probably said to him well listen minister we could do this in a week you know like what would be his resistance to that well look it wasn't me he said that it could be done on a week you know what I mean you know what I mean hypothetical a hypothetical conversation yeah he's he's not a you know he wasn't able to you know give a give a timeline on it he just said like he says look if if we do PLS this could potentially delay it so but look the group were very insistent and saying look it's it's the right thing to do and and they were responsible do you believe it's the right thing to do or are you just saying well if the group thinks so I'll back the group like what do you actually think yourself I think it's the right thing to do in terms of the group's argument that you know they're feeling a heavy weight of responsibility themselves to the homeowners so you know there may not be any substantive substantive changes after the PLS but there may be something or there may it might be an opportunity to for a voice to be heard that wasn't heard before so I think it's if they believe it's the right thing to do I'm supportive of that and secondly it's so so important that we can't allow this to drag out because it's dragged out far too long at this stage all right listen thanks for your time this morning I appreciate it on both issues there that was Deputy John McHugh Chair of the York to see you Affairs Committee talking ahead of Boris Johnson's visit to Northern Ireland today a flying visit in fact and of course also his views on on next topic will be calls for that pre-legislative scrutiny of the defective blocks scheme back after these with that can help you out too for all of your dreams that are big small or strange we've got you covered with our monster loan range monster loans from the credit union imagine more loans are subject to approval terms of conditions apply if you do not meet the repayments on your loan your account will go into arrears 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 is the appearance of your staff important to your business it's the first point of contact for customers when entering your premises at C&M embroidery and letter Kenny they have a huge range of clothing covering all areas of the workplace it's widely known the customers warm to and trust employees that present themselves well have your company name and broiderage are printed on all your work uniforms contact C&M embroidery on 07491 28097 and get your staff looking their best okay so as I was mentioning to Deputy McHugh there the Department of Housing is keen to pass a bill to underpin the defective block scheme before the dull summer recess and we heard that from Leo Veracar last week as well but campaigners believe scrutiny is vital to make sure the legislation is satisfactory the government is considering a plan to bypass pre-legislative scrutiny of a bill as I say that will underpin that multi-billion-euro redress scheme for homeowners whose houses are damaged by defective concrete blocks now we are joined firstly by Piero of the Micah Action Group Michael Daherty and I thought it important to speak to you Michael because you know everyone gets through information from different places but people might go holding you second we're just at the finishing line here and why are we all of a sudden potentially pulling this rabbit out of the hat that could you know frustrate or alter the process so why do you as a group believe that this PLS is so important I'm going for PLS now because I literally can't say the three words together that's okay no problem good morning Greg I think the first thing is I will I haven't heard I'm just out of a meeting so I haven't heard anything that the Joe McHugh said well Joe McHugh said he met with you he says he met with you on Wednesday he agrees that if that's what you want that's the way it should be and he suggests that you know it could be done in a week but he had a conversation with Dara Bryan on Wednesday and Dara Bryan says that he's concerned that this could push the whole process back so that was pretty much the contribution from Joe McHugh no no problem no thanks for that simply this this is a 2.2 billion euro scheme and it's likely to double we know that 2.2 was based on what they had learned out of Donegal and Mayo but we also had four other counties down the western seaboard so there were sort of six counties in the frame but we've engineered Ireland coming back now to tell us that there's six other counties that likes to Dublin Louth, Meath, Wexford I can't even remember the rest of them down there but you know down that end of the country as well knocking the door and Dublin itself so you know we're looking at big numbers by the time we're finished we don't know what counties will be left behind there's 12 out of your 26 in the Republic of Ireland so that a scheme of this size which we're told is the biggest in the history of the land we're told by the minister it's the biggest in the world how could we possibly not ask for that to be given the full rigors of appropriate scrutiny is there also a lack of trust with perhaps officials at the Department of Housing that may have emerged through this entire process that they you know that's old saying the devil could be in the detail well is that what you want this scrutiny may be to pick out yeah well we need all of that and there's absolutely a trust issue there Greg and you know I've made no secret of that all along you know we had the 1910 scheme which I do think that Joe's party at the time and government at the time did think it was a 1910 scheme so if you had a total project cost of 300,000 you're going to have to find 30,000 we didn't like it didn't like it at all we felt it should be 100% but the reality was by the time the devil in the detail emerged as you called it we're into a 60-40 scheme where you're well over 100,000 we can't afford to be hoodwinked twice and we need this full scrutiny I mean obviously this you know this is seen a little bit like deja vu because the last time the stick to get the 9010 so-called 9010 scheme through was timing if we need legislation this could run on for four or five years this is this gets houses built immediately as it turns out what six houses have been repaired by that and yet here we are now again and out comes the excuse of time we can't delay this and we need to get through we need to push this through as is without the scrutiny like it is grand hog day yeah and we are born in time there's no doubt about that you know nobody knows that more than the homeowners but I can assure you at no point was time wasted on the back of the homeowners or the campaign every time that we're coming up against delays it's delays that are initiated in that we have got cabinet meetings pushed out consistently seven times we had a push on the cabinet meeting that was going to approve the enhanced scheme from the summer workings the summer working group so seven times we've so that's why you know we had the fourth of May was going to be D-Day for us here and now we've had several shots again it's going to be the 34th of May we're still not there we don't know if it'll pass or not all we do know is that if they would take on board the real issues that are common sense issues that are preventing homeowners from getting on with things we wouldn't be delayed but this concerted effort at every juncture that we meet to try and drag the last penny out of the homeowner in the hope that we'll roll over and say okay we've had enough well we're not going to do that it has to be right and we use the term right this time not right first time that was 90-10 but right this time is what we're going to insist on if that takes a couple extra weeks great so be it yeah but what if it doesn't what the question I was going to ask is the group and those they represent or it represents if Daryl Bryan come back to you says right we'll do the pre-legislative scrutiny but we're not going to get this passed before the summer recess it's going to be during the next sitting of the doll after the summer holidays the very generous summer holidays is that a price worth paying absolutely it's a way a price worth paying because the minister told us pre-Christmas that we would be at this stage January February and now we are 31st of May they're going to push it all the way through here that you're going to 31st of May they need two weeks then to publish it so middle of June they publish it that's the first time we see it that's the first time the dial or the rock just sees it and then you've got the they're going to try and shoe horn it in in a month so we need a week a week and a half to get a compressed version of PLS in there and there's three key parts to that and they can be done very quickly it's normally spread out over weeks but we've had a lot of contact this week with members and we know how this works now and we've got good detail on it there's three meetings the first one is with the department and the housing agency and this joint housing committee will entirely get them on that and cross-examine them on that the next meeting is SCSI and Engineers Ireland two major stakeholders they'll be cross-examined on it and then there'll be homeowners ourselves as reps and experts that we may wish to bring in with us which we'll absolutely do there's three meetings they take two hours a piece they're normally spread over weeks we can compress that into one day in Dublin a one-hat wonder we'll now get the three meetings done and that takes about a week to a week and a half for the recommendations to come back from that to be presented to the minister how could that not be a week and a half time well spent and I would love to see where there was a better week and a half spent between Christmas and now when this was meant to be but arguably in this whole process that could be the most important week and a half Councillor McDermott is joining us also you were also backing these calls Martin and I think I've got the question to Michael you're probably of the few too that this is required because of the trust issues that would be there understandably yeah yeah Greg morning Greg, good morning Michael yeah look I mean it's plain to see over the over the period of time that we've been involved in this that that the trust levels are very low between ourselves and the department too many times we've been let down by them too many times we've had false promises by them and I think that it's vitally important Greg vitally important to this scheme that we get a chance to see it to look at it and to work through it because the scheme that's there at the minute is not working and it's clear to see that it's not working and we need to make sure that the same mistakes that have been made in the 90-10 scheme are not made again in the new scheme I think that's why it's vital that it's stuck that but it's also vital that it's that this work is done and a timeline that doesn't and if possible doesn't run by the July deadline when the the government go and recess for the summer and hopefully that can happen and I think that you know if there's a wall there's a way and I think there certainly is a wall to do that and I think we have to make sure that the way to do it as public does and then how to happen The more this is resisted though the more it's going to build up that lack of trust because people are going to say well if there's nothing wrong here for us to see if there's nothing for us to see here well let's open it up and let's have a look and the more that that's resisted even when you have Michael there saying look if it means it goes past the summer recess obviously that's not what we want but if that's what it takes that this is scrutinised the way it should be you know and these are for the people that are living in these homes you know then it's going to make people sit up even longer well what's what's to hide here Absolutely it's important and I mean if there's there should be nothing to hide at this stage and Michael and his team and the Mike Action Group have you know been working day and night since last summer going through issues with the department officials and I don't think there's any part of the scheme that hasn't been discussed or dealt with in fine detail over the last year and you know ourselves and the council the members of the council and the Iraqis members here in the county and the minister and the minister will come look everybody has you know been working and trying to get their points and trying to get the points for the people across so there should be no reason that the department wouldn't want us to see it wouldn't want us to have an opinion on it and certainly wouldn't want us to give our opinion because we're the ones that's loving it every day of the week we're the ones that's dealing with it every day of the week and we're the ones that knows exactly the problems that we're facing with the scheme that we have so we're best placed Michael and his team's best placed and ourselves are best placed to look at it and say look this doesn't work or that won't work and I think the homeowners deserve that at this stage Yeah because of course the timeline to have the scrutiny here Michael and to get it through the summer it would be tight that's all based on the fact that there aren't significant issues identified and we don't go into another round of discussions and debate potential campaigns you know what I mean but then some might say well that's precisely why the government don't want this to be looked at so we're in a tricky situation Yeah well we're working we've at least one of not two meetings per week with John O'Connor who's the ex-CEO of the housing agency and he's the appointed homeowner liaison for the scheme here by Daryl Brain and we also have Daryl Brain special advisor Kevin Dillon both of them we took to Donegal and they saw for themselves and we have no doubt that it had an impact and we seem to be able to make things move a bit better particularly with the T-Shox visit and then we have the Talastria as well so you know we have got key players that have been up here and seen it firsthand and seen us believing for a lot of people we took like a Sharon Moss's house or Daryl McLaughlin's and Karen Dillon you know unless you're a heart of stone you couldn't go in there and not be moved by what they're seeing so I think that has helped but we the business meetings that we're having every week is about the list of issues that's on that crib sheet and that's well known at this stage based around the three pillars we haven't deviated in the slightest the first one's around 100% redress the second one is around the need for the 40 years state-back guarantee and the science to be respected that says you don't do it out of relief if the science says out of relief doesn't work right and then the third one is the excluded homes the likes of the holy homes the likes of some of the rental families the likes of partially built homes throughout the land here as well that were you know money sent from America as they say people working out there trying to build a home to come back to return to they may find that by the time they got the blockwork up in the riff on that the blocks were cracking so why would they finish it I just want to reference another I just want to reference another cohort of people too that those are renters stairs effectively in mica homes that would not perhaps be covered by this scheme and they themselves are facing the threat of homelessness and no housing stuck there for them to move into I don't know how big that number is but I'd imagine it's significant and there's an awful lot of people sitting there too in council owned property that don't know you know where they're going to end up or how that's process is going to work because they're not getting the information either so there's a lot of affected people affected by this Michael I'm not sure if you heard Leo for our car in this program when 100% was mentioned he says well not everyone's going to get 100% now I don't know if he was referencing those above the caps or or or not it wasn't 100% clear to me did you read anything into those comments any calls for concern or do you understand where he might have been coming from yeah well again this is where a lot of the devils in the detail you know we had SCSI rates SCSI are an independent body society of chartered surveyors Ireland an independent body but they were dictated to by the department as to what they could include and not include so for example that's where you got the 2007 regs coming in that's where you got the fact the fact that you couldn't have a detached garage boundary walls included that's them that dictated that you couldn't even get covered for carpets on your floor you were basically getting the shell of your house so there will be significant money to be spent now they may turn around say it's 100% but it's 100% only of what they deem the eligible costs so the other costs are real costs that are not included that's before you move into things like the cap at 420 which means that the larger homes are going to struggle and we need to see that reflected we have asked for no upper cap all along all we've asked for is if they're going to go down the road of a proper a properly evaluated SCSI number that takes into account all true costs and there's no need for an upper cap you're already cost-controlled to protect the state by the square foot rate that's what we have asked for and that's what we're still asking for so that's the type of stuff Greg that the spin can be 100% there's only 100% of a small portion of the real cost and not the real cost and that's before you take in the inflationary world that we're in right now and they dictated that they set an SCSI figure at the 28th of February 22 to last for the next 12 months so in this environment and that's the sort of stuff we're up against every day just someone messaging in here then off the back of your comments so if someone accesses this scheme and has their house rebuilt what about the likes of kitchen and bathrooms that's at their own expense it will be a square foot rate that'll cover all of that leave that built into the square foot with Greg so there's a PC some the lot tells what that is but there's a PC some there for kitchen and sound we're built into it all right that's what they'll like for Councillor McDermott obviously you remember if Fina fall and you have access to their offices ministers and what have you are you getting indications any indications that they will listen to the homeowners and go for pre-legislative scrutiny this seems to be coming down on party lines though there's some stuff being written that you know Sinn Fein are pulling the strings on this I'm sure Michael would reject that but I'm just concerned that when something starts getting out well that's what the opposition are saying and this is what the government saying that's never the twain shall meet what are you hearing from government reps on the possibility of PLS oh look I think the first thing Greg is that everybody wants to get this right we have to get it right we have an opportunity here to get it right and if that means that we have to have and which in my opinion I think it does mean that we have to have some type of scrutiny off the scheme so that we can see where it's going I'm sure the government are and do want this done and Neil Martin when he was here in the county made it very very clear that things weren't going fast enough that it wasn't moving quick enough that not enough houses were being remediated so he as we know went back and met some department officials in that following week and that was as Michael said earlier move things on quite quickly after that and I think the government you know are probably nervous as well of timelines and how long this could take if a pre-legislative scrutiny was to run on But you've covered all bases there I'm asking you again directly though do you think the government will listen to homeowners and go through this process? I think they'll have to Greg I think we have to do this I think that that's the position we're in we need the opportunity here to see this to work through it and to get this right for the homeowners so I think we'll have to Right Councillor Martin we're talking about as always thank you very much indeed and also to you Michael I appreciate your time this morning I really do Thanks Greg All right take care of yourself that is Michael Daugherty PRO of the Mike Action Group Councillor Martin McDermott there too The Ninetyl Noon Show is brought to you by Letter Kenny Credit Union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today At McGee's.ie you can create gallery quality art on canvas from your favourite photo direct from your phone laptop or PC simply upload your favourite picture and have it printed on canvas transformed into gallery quality art for as little as $44.95 click and collect or have it delivered to your door ready to hang big picks small prices at McGee's chemist Letter Kenny see McGee's.ie your specialty is quality tiles bathroom suites and wooden floors who is the best range of tiles in Donegal proper tiles the best wood flooring proper tiles the best bathroom suites proper proper tiles five-day bathroom refits proper tiles and who's been tampering with my questions that'd be me Crawford Tiles Castle Finn that'd be them<PHONE_NUMBER> a public interest message from Donegal County Council public consultation events will take place across the county during the month of May on development plans and local area plans currently being prepared by the council these drop-in events provide the opportunity for the public to comment and make submission on areas of interest and concern to then be considered during the preparation of the following plans review of the county Donegal development plan 2018 to 2024 Bunkrana and Bondoran local area plans a settlement framework plan for Balli Baufey's Trinaller and the proposed variation in respect of a wind energy policy framework for the county development plan 2018 to 2024 has varied full information on locations and dates can be found at donegaldevplan.ie and donegalcoco.ie Donegal County Council supporting communities businesses and the environment Highland radio weather updates with Ireland West Airport fancy a city break this summer? You can now fly twice weekly to beautiful Cologne and Germany every Sunday and Thursday with Ryanair Ireland West Airport you're flying All right a bit of a change in the weather today isn't it? Outbreaks of rain, mist and fog will clear it northwards through the morning the rest of day of the day will bring a mix of clad and sunny spells with scattered showers some of those showers will be heavy with the potential for localized thundery downpours however it will become dry in most parts by evening a humid day with top temperatures of 16 to 18 degrees celsius in moderate southeast winds veering southerly during the morning and increasingly increasing fresh locally right a call us a successive governments have had 10 years to sort out defective blocks if they were serious they would regulate the queries and the cement industry self-regulation is no regulation this scandal will repeat itself in 10 years time Celtic Tiger II another it's time for the Irish people to strive on for a better future it must be sorted there's a better future possible for us once we confront our difficult past okay right British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in Northern Ireland today he is visiting off the back of obviously an article he wrote for the Belfast Telegraph and other commentary one quick word with Minister Charlie McConnelog on this of course Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine what is your read of the language you're hearing at the moment and the chance of some progress in getting you know things working again in Northern Ireland Minister hey good morning Greg listen I think it's good first of all that the Prime Minister Johnson is visiting Northern Ireland this morning and will be meeting with all of the party leaders and I think his message as well to all the parties that they should enter the Executive and get the Executive back up and running is a good message and I hope in terms of the meetings he has today that we see some progress and that I'm not sure we will but I hope that we do because there's real challenges and difficulties in Northern Ireland in the same way and in people's everyday lives in the same way as there is right across the rest of the island and as important as a government in place to consider those it's just a point again to see his comments so in relation to the protocol that the British Government would consider a unilateral election in terms of changing it we have seen a lot of commentary like that from the British Government over the last couple of months do you take any encouragement from the fact though that he said that we should you know he would prefer to negotiate this first I mean is that not maybe opening the door a little bit yeah well there has been a lot of negotiation happening and there's been a lot of engagement and certainly the EU was obviously this negotiation is done by the EU with the UK and we've worked very closely with the EU as well in terms of trying to support protocol which actually would be as practical as it possibly can be understanding that there does have to be a protocol there to ensure that Northern Ireland has access to both the markets the British market as well as the EU market and that's something that in the long term and we're already seeing that's something that gives the Northern Ireland a competitive advantage that in no other part of the European continent actually has but it does require I mean at the end of the day the British Government did sign up to that protocol which we'd advocated very strongly for as an Irish Government they signed up to that as part of the Brexit Agreement it's an international agreement it was put in place to facilitate access to both to both markets we didn't want any obviously change to the we didn't want Brexit to happen but we've had to try and make it work as best possible for Northern Ireland in the way that's most positive for it and what we need now is more more engagement between the British Government with the EU but there needs to be a respect there as well and just once again making commentary that you would unilaterally change something which you agree to is not helpful to that and as the Taoiseach said yesterday what we need to see is a sincere and professional engagement from the British Government with the EU and certainly we'd be really supportive of that as the Irish Government working with the EU to try and ensure that we have a protocol which is as practical as possible and works well for Northern Ireland because of course I mean there's a lot on from our perspective obviously you know we want to see decision making taking taking place in Northern Ireland we don't want anything that would you know see us going backwards in terms of the peace process etc but from an EU perspective you know they're talking and concerned about all I've mentioned but also it's the integrity of the union itself as well so there's an awful lot at stake here for the EU and you know they're not going to they're not going to completely unravel this negotiated protocol well and this Mark Mark Estekovich who is the EU Commissioner or the EU Commission Brexit negotiator like he said clearly last week that unilateral election or by the British Government in relation to protocol would put the position of Northern Ireland or Northern Ireland's position in the single market at risk which is the reality and that's why the protocol is necessary so it is I mean it's not very responsible by the British Government to do this you know right throughout the Brexit campaigning and through the Brexit negotiation process I don't believe full consideration or recognition was given to what Brexit meant for the challenge that was there in Northern Ireland it was always something that all of the Irish political parties were very focused on and it was the reason for that protocol being put in place by in the first instance so we obviously have to make it work now and but that requires both the British Government and the EU are working together responsibly to do that and listen I hope I hope we see that that engagement happen over the next few weeks all right just very finally just to get your views on the record on this programme we've been speaking this morning about my defective block campaigners they want pre-legislative scrutiny of this bill that we've heard the government's keen to pass through the summer do you back them in those calls Minister do you think it would be useful to have this scrutinised we could probably do in a week a week and a half and still get things sorted before the summer or if it takes till the next term of the dull it seems the campaigners are prepared to wait that long as long as we have this the pre-legislative scrutiny what's your view well I think what we do we need to get it right and we need to have a scheme that works and there's been there needs to be and there has been a lot of engagement with the Mike action group and I met with them last week again as well and there is a real determination by the government to actually put and put and place the scheme to have the new scheme in place as quickly as possible that requires the legislation to be passed through the Dáil and Shannon but it also then requires after that the new scheme actually to come in by regulation after that I think the one thing we can all agree on Greg is that we want it to work we want it to circle one as well it's the number one issue for me it's the number one issue for all politicians just to try and get a definitive answer though do you believe there should be pre-legislative scrutiny of this I think there has been massive scrutiny of it already and I think what we need to try and find a way is to actually get a scheme and legislation why would you resist it then though minister just briefly excuse me why would you resist the call for PSL or PLS because I think if we can if we can actually get a situation where we have legislation which people are supportive of and which actually delivers for homeowners and to do that in the quickest way possible that's what that's what would best serve homeowners and best serve getting houses fixed as quickly as possible in the county and I think that needs to be that needs to be the approach we take to actually working this through over the next while but the key thing and my key objective is to make sure it's right make sure that the legislation is right make sure that the scheme comes after that is right and make sure that it's done on the best timeframe possible okay and I think if we work together we can achieve that minister mcconnellog thank you very much for touching on both issues with us I appreciate it greatly we'll be back with more on the 9 till noon show after the news at 10 with donal covenant good morning it's 10 o'clock Donald Kavanaugh at the news desk the chair of the negal county councils micah redress committee says he believes the government will have no choice but to submit any future bill on micah redress to pre-legislatives of strutiny councillor martin mcdermott was speaking this morning as the mica action group restated its belief that such a move is an absolute necessity last week thysioc mehold martin told that all such a move could delay payments by a further six months that was a point echoed by the housing minister however the PRO of micah action group michael doherty told greg on this morning's 9 till noon show that there doesn't have to be anything like that length of a delay he believes given the numbers involved there is no other option this is a 2.2 billion euro scheme and it's likely to double we know that 2.2 was based on what they had learned out of donal golem mail but we also had four other counties down the western seaboard we've engineered Ireland coming back now to tell us that there's six other counties by the time we're finished we don't know what counties will be left behind a scheme of this size which we're told by the minister that's the biggest in the world how could we possibly not ask for that to be given the full rigors of appropriate scrutiny Boris Johnson is travelling to Belfast today in a bid to persuade the DUP to enter a power-sharing government again the British Prime Minister will hold talks with party leaders as concerns grow over the political deadlock at Stormont in advance of the visit he's written in Belfast Telegraph suggesting that the EU and UK can find a way forward on the Northern Ireland protocol without the need for overriding changes however Agriculture Minister Charlie McConaughe says while the visit is welcome there is still the possibility that the British government will make a solo move I think it's really important that we see a sense of urgency and leadership from the British government and from Prime Minister Johnson and his cabinet but certainly it's really disappointing again to see Prime Minister Johnson refer to unilateral action in relation to the protocol because we have seen many comments similar to this over the last number of weeks and months and indeed the engagement between the British government and the European Union from the British government side has left a lot to be desired Ukrainian families are being given help in securing school places for their children the Department of Education says Realth is supporting schools to meet their needs as they emerge it's confirmed 5,843 Ukrainian pupils are currently enrolled in education across the country of those 259 are in Donegal 176 of them in primary schools and 83 in post primary Labour's education spokesperson Eidol Norirdan says there are some issues but good work is being done I hear of a lot of dislocation happening of families who have gotten used to one school and then have been told a very short notice that they're moving to a different part of the country the overall coordination of this I think needs to be improved but in such a short space of time I think it does show again the fantastic work that those go on in individual schools in our primary and second level sector Staying in the education sector in this year's leaving cert students may have to wait longer to get their results The Irish Times is reporting the exam results won't be issued as usual in mid-August because of a deferred second sitting of tests for students who may be impacted by Covid to ensure a government pledge that this year's results are no lower than last year's can be achieved however third level institutions are said to be concerned it could mean a later start to the offering of college places and by extension a later start to their academic year Policing County Derry are appealing for information following a three vehicle crash in the main street area of Feeney just after nine last night four people were taken to hospital for treatment of their injuries two men remain in a serious condition the road has since reopened police urging anyone who is in the area at the time and witness the collision or may have dashcam footage to make contact and National Volunteering Week gets underway today it continues until next Saturday the week will see events take place across the county and the country including special events honouring those who volunteered in response to the Covid-19 John Curran is manager of the Donegal Volunteer Centre we have an event this coming Thursday night with Donegal County Council and being led out by Donegal County Council where we're taking volunteers that have been nominated by community groups to an event in Jackson's Hotel just to say thank you to acknowledge they're working in a very small way there was many many thousands of hours put in by volunteers probably hundreds of thousands of hours put in by volunteers over the Covid period and it's just a small way for us to say thank you and to recognise those volunteers What a forecast outbreaks of rain, mist and fog clearing northwards through the morning the rest of the day would bring us a mix of cloud and sunny spells scattered showers some heavy with a potential for some localized thundery downpours it would become dry in most parts by evening and stay humid with top temperatures of 16 to 18 degrees celsius in moderate south east winds it would become briefly drier with clear spells early tonight but quickly turn cloudier with outbreaks of rain spreading northwards over the entire region blustery as the rain spreads with fresher strong and gusty southeasterly winds developing staying mild though top temperatures tonight 10 to 12 degrees celsius tomorrow Tuesday brighter sunny spells put showers or longer spells of rain as well with a risk of some thundery downpours once again that's howland radio news we're back with news again at 11 o'clock until then from the news team good morning The year which you notices for this Monday morning the 16th of May the death has occurred of Patrick Grant 5 Cluncourt Park, Bunkranna late of Middle Illy's Bally McGann, Bunkranna his remains will repose at his home from 2 o'clock this afternoon funeral from there on Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock for 11 o'clock Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church Cock Hill followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery family time please from 11 p.m to 10 a.m and on the morning of the funeral funeral mass can be viewed on churchservices.tv The death has occurred of Sadie McCain Ney Patton 25 Ligford Road, Strabam Sadie's remains will repose at her late home from 3 o'clock this afternoon funeral from there on Wednesday morning at quarter past nine for Requiem Mass at 10 o'clock in St Eugene's Church Glenock with interment afterwards in Glenock Cemetery family time please from 10 30 p.m to 10 30 a.m family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to Ward 26 Outlaw Coven Hospital care of any family member or Charles Lynch funeral director The death has taken place of Harry Kerr 11 Glenneven Clonbeg Bunkranna formerly of Coatbridge Scotland remains reposing at his residence cremation will take place on Wednesday at 1 o'clock in Lakelands Crematorium Coven family flowers only please donations if desired to Ash Animal Rescue The death has taken place of Annie Breen Middle Door Bunbeg her remains will repose at Rorty's funeral home Derry Begg today from 3 p.m to quarter to 7 removal to St Mary's Church Derry Begg for 7 o'clock this evening reposing overnight funeral mass there tomorrow morning at 11 within interment afterwards in Mahara Gallon Cemetery funeral mass can be viewed live on the Kieran Rorty funeral director Facebook page and the Chockpubble World Webcam The death has taken place of Mickey McGinley Derry Hereff Creasler house private please to family only remains arriving at St Michael's Church Creasler this evening at 7 o'clock to repose overnight funeral mass there tomorrow morning at 11 followed by burial in Doe Cemetery mass can be viewed live on mcmedia.tv family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to pro-life care of Annie family member or James Harkin funeral director the death has taken place of Ellen Nora Nelly Coyle 86 Melmount Road, St Robam her remains are reposing at her home funeral from there this evening at 7 o'clock to St Mary's Church Melmount requiem mass tomorrow morning at 10 within interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery requiem mass can be viewed live on melmount parish.com the death has occurred of Philomena Burke Morris Inch Island removal from her residence this morning at quarter past 10 to our Lady of Lure Church Inch for requiem mass at 11 o'clock followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery family flowers only please donations in lieu of desired to ICU letter Kenny University Hospital care of Annie family member or Murphy funeral directors and the death has taken place of Brydie Edgeson Park Cottage Muff Brydie's funeral mass will take place this morning at 11 o'clock in Sacred Heart Church Muff followed by burial in the adjoining graveyard funeral mass can be viewed live on sacredheartchurch.com for more details including any family health guidelines for wakes and funerals please go to highlandradio.com with all the stories that matter across the Northwest it's Greg Hughes on the 90 noon show on Highland Radio okay you're very welcome back to the program just enough from the court service here by the way the jury called for letter Kenny circuit court tomorrow Tuesday is now not required to attend but they are requested to attend on Wednesday the 18th of May at 10 15 a.m. another caller says so forgive my ignorance but why are the mica house micro action group looking to get kitchens and bathrooms covered by the grant scheme as I wasn't aware that these materials suffered from mica these things can along with the windows and doors they're 100% reusable can you explain well I mean are they definitely 100% usable in terms of your windows and what have you you'd be putting them into a home and those windows could be you know subject to older regulations I would say it'd be quite difficult to take out your tiling and some of the bathroom and kitchen where without damaging it and it's getting into that new space let's not forget they're having to demolish their houses through no fault of their own it's not their fault separately I'm going on holidays the first week in June but I applied for the passports in early April still no sign of them is anyone else having an issue well everyone's having an issue it depends on what type of passport it is some people are getting online renewals back really really quickly if it's children's passports first time passports there are delays but fingers crossed you might get them but it's mid June you might be as well seeing if a local representative could at least get a potential issue date for you so you could know whether to try and pursue it further but I was waiting much longer than that for one I'm not going to lie to you it's a little bit complicated but I was waiting longer than two months Greg am I the only one who gets angry at the attitude of the people complaining about the Catholic ethos in schools they all want to use the facilities which the Catholic church has paid for but want to use them on their own terms if you don't want a Catholic ethos school don't sign your children up for it there are other options believes the caller and of course schools these schools are well supported by the state as well of course and one from Terence before we take a quick break hi Greg only want to make a point in relation to the refugee crisis in Ukraine why isn't the irish government putting the same effort into the syrian refugees crisis as why can't the red cross help them poor refugees at Calais I know and understand they can't be everywhere however I personally think this is very unfair to these other refugees that are also suffering too and why are these refugees being treated differently that's all thanks best regards Terence thanks for that Terence it is the elephant in the room and maybe you can draw your own conclusion as to why there is so much assistance being given to Ukrainian refugees but not syrian refugees a lot of people uncomfortable with that scenario as you've outlined there is no answer that I have to offer right good luck if you're playing the bingo today stay with us more coming up after these it's time for mcbi bingo on highland radio it's monday the 16th of may you're playing on the green sheet the reference number is s16 it's game number 20 the numbers are 76 65 64 55 7 39 4 27 54 and finally 74 phone your claim to 9104833 before 8 tonight leaving your name contact number and the name of the shop where you purchased your book and we'll call you back the next working day get all your ncbi bingo information at highlandvideo.com the 90 noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie is your water safe to drink if your water tastes unpleasant or has a foul smell it may be a sign that something is in your water brothers tech dunigol provide a complete private well water treatment service using the best water treatment equipment to meet your 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words like unmarried inheritance and substantial tax bill enter the equation you never need proper estate planning until you do that's why the experience team at McElhenney and Associates are here to help find us online or call<PHONE_NUMBER> McElhenney and Associates solicitors Stranawler okay i'm really pleased to welcome into studio Declan Nee who is recently retired paramedic from the national ambulance service good morning to you thank you so much for calling in and having a chat Declan thank you Greg good morning um obviously there's been a lot of you know coverage and lovely outpouring of goodwill towards you since you've made the decision and since it's come to pass has that made it more difficult or has that made it a bit easier for you or what it's actually humbled me and the pictures there that came out on the Donegal daily was the friday my last working day and i didn't expect anything because given pandemic we haven't had any chances to have any kind of get-togethers but all of a sudden i was up at the base after doing a call and there was a gathering of staff both those on duty those that were off duty and actually some retired guys came in as well and i really was very humbled i think that the guys shed it here for a while because it did take me back but no i definitely it was time as i say my body has told me it's time and away and my age has also said it's time as well and the the role of the the paramedic and the ambulance service has changed over the years that it's it's become more challenging as well so i felt yeah it's a good time to be able to go all right so you and we'll talk more about those changes 34 years ago what drew you to the ambulance service and what what did you train for what what did you think you were signing up for i suppose it was it was a case of caring for people was my first kind of thought that it was something i was interested in and then the health care setting was another way when i got to attend the ambulance course in those days it was a six-week course which was some of the first changes which now it's a three-year course so the six weeks was very basic it was an ambulance aid certificate where we're given and we had three days placement in Dublin hospitals the training was in St Mary's hospital in Dublin Phoenix Park and then you come back you're basically then on relief panel and in those days the relief system wasn't like it is now you're basically called as needed and in those days you might get a shift every week every few weeks every month you might have gaps in between it was basically in 1990 and was that because we were so well staffed or was it because we didn't do as much work as we do now the demand is supposed wasn't there plus the staffing levels yeah were okay and they were able to cover from within their own remit like themselves like the permanent staff were able to cover shifts as well so we were basically brought on just to cover the shortfall but at that time it wasn't as needed as it is today so it was 1991 probably when I got my first big break then and I started then working between Balai Shannon and letter Kenny and I started getting more more shifts more long-term shifts like I spent two summers in Balai Shannon and then back to letter Kenny and from then then 95 was my when I got my permanent appointment to letter Kenny I've been there since and what was your role in the early stages of your career I was basically we used to drive the ambulance and offer ambulance aid support we would have had a nurse in the out stations the letter Kenny and Slaigo stations were known as the bulk stations there were the first to introduce two person crewing which meant like your two ambulance aid staff and the nurses were only used to support transfers to external hospitals so my first years in Balai Shannon and yes I would have an ambulance nurse on with me but then when I made my move to letter Kenny I was two person crewing and you had you changed roles you drove some days you attended in the back other days or you swapped around depending on calls but I mean obviously you talked about and it's different now the short leading time in term of training was it difficult to get used to it because you see everything and you know I don't think it's something you ever would get used to speaking from other people that have worked you know emergency responders but I can imagine though you know it took a while to sort of write okay this is what I've signed up for here because some of this is really really quite difficult absolutely like there's always the tendency that when you when you report for duty you're kind of your head is starting to turn over of what's going to happen today what's expected the worst is going to happen and then maybe when the worst does happen you kind of with the training you work through it and then afterwards you sit down and maybe have a chat with your colleagues and you go back onto that but you know it was a learning curve sometimes a steep learning curve which was good in one way but then that's when the training would have kicked in like that's when the training you felt yeah and it also made you kind of maybe encourage you to kind of be later on to think well what else could I could have maybe learned from this and what else could we develop and that's when other training started to come on and that's but by but we were up skilled and like that's why we we ended up being those of us that trained in the basic course eventually ended up in ENTs paramedics if you wanted to go on to be an advanced paramedic which is one of the new titles today which many of my younger colleagues which I've seen through the years and to see them develop is unbelievable and I often think as I said to them on Friday with that if ever I feel my me or my family need anybody I would be quite happy to see some of them coming to my door because the skills that they carry are unbelievable nowadays to some extent are they the unsung heroes does the ambulance service those working within get the the credit they deserve because they're you know often they're the first arrivals and you know maybe stabilizing a patient or whatever it might be you know do you think they get as much credit as they deserve for what they do I think eventually when the whole event settles down a lot of people are very thankful yeah you can understand in the middle of a crisis situation people it's all a bit timing it's all a bit I want my relatives have looked after the person themselves I want to be looked after on you get the thank you notes you get the thank you cards and and it's nice it really is nice to get that even like I must say on the Facebook messages that I got on the day of retirement there was a couple from from former patients and actually one very special one from the mother of a child who unfortunately passed because it was kind of ongoing illnesses at a different time but we were dealt with that family a few times and the mother sent a lovely note in to say thank you for the years that we did look after the child and even though it wasn't like a good outcome eventually for them but it's nice to get things like that yeah and you end up then being a real part of someone's life or a story maybe even that you don't realize it until you receive a message like that no no and it's strange enough in that particular incident and I ended up singing at the the Child's Funeral which really kind of start to finish kind of thing it was a strange kind of story in one way for me yeah yeah and is it learned sort of how I mean you don't want to carry you know what you see or what you have to do with you know maybe home or through your life or whatever is that something that that you learn with through the job and what kind of supports are there now to support you know people working with the ambulance service and how has that changed over the years I wonder yeah there is a system now in place the formal system within work is called peer support which and actually I was one of the people that was part of that group and it's a we're trained up to support our colleagues so that there's as any trauma calls any particular calls that are difficult the controls system will notify us and then we can contact the particular crew and just sit down sometimes either over the phone or go in on a face-to-face and just sit with them for a while and allow them to go over the call or just go over any feelings about it or maybe it's just something's initial maybe phone phone contact and say look you know let us sit with you for a few days and then give us a call in a week's time and see how you are and then the system isn't such now that we can actually formally then send them on for actually more professional there is but the conversation starts early so you try and avoid anything building up or yeah yeah you get the chat going already and then you can decide from there if yeah there's other directions in the early days it was basically left to ourselves to just go have a cup of tea have a chat yeah with our colleagues or maybe sometimes that's not a good thing it's nice to have that extra voice or extra somebody to listen yeah and that was an awful lot for you to take on though too because obviously they're going to be speaking to you firstly you're dealing with with the and there's a lot of positive in there don't get me wrong I hope it doesn't sound like I'm focused on this end of it so but I just I recognize how tough a job it can be you know and there's other people like you know there's even even priests you know what I mean often people don't consider what they have to go through and what they witness and I've asked the same questions of of them but you took on an awful lot because you were dealing obviously with work and everything like that there but also then being there for your colleagues for those types of conversations that you talk of must be just in your nature yeah I suppose some people would say I'm a quiet but I'm a good listener yeah and I suppose yeah that lent me to the whole thing because I remember like going for the interview for the peer support work and yeah it was one of the things I suppose I was able to sell well and actually the interviewers were able to say to me afterwards to say you do come across like so that that helped yeah yeah I'm inclined not to speak too much I listen more and then you use the the two years one mouth ratio was it yes I could probably take a lesson there myself but it talks to me about the highlights of your career like because as I say I've maybe focused a little bit on on the tough part of the job and it's all tough but what's lovely about no that there is like it's the and speaking to Caroline earlier on there's a roller coaster of things and there is a downside as we've kind of spoken to and yeah they set with us and people often say do you ever kind of harden to it I said no the day that I would harden to it is the day that I need to leave the job and but no the the upside is to say there's some there's some lovely stories there's some what we call I'm not saying black humor but there is sometimes black humor oh I know all about it I know all about it myself I've been through one of those and experiences like the for example there was the there was the call where we we got a call for a gentleman in his 70s who was supposed to have fallen hit his head there was a lot of blood loss so the call kind of came in as a very urgent and this was in the south of the county and it was in Balai Shannon at the time so myself and my ambulance nurse we headed off at speed blue lights everything going arrived at this country cottage and normally when you arrive at a scene there's normally people there's a lot more than a lot but the place was very quiet very quiet and so knocked on the door and the lady came out and we kind of said is everything okay? I said yeah I think it's not too bad so I said god what about your husband? is your husband okay? oh yeah he's fine he said oh you're here to take him to hospital I said yeah yeah what about his head? and I'm like oh yeah we managed to put a bandage on that and we stopped and I said where is he now? oh he's upstairs putting on his Sunday suit because he didn't want to go to hospital unless he was dressed properly so like we had to like there's an element of that one of the things in there just too that sometimes when you get a call the description that you get is so different to when you actually get there and this was definitely one of those moments and uh but that must be why I think many of us I'm sure it was a joke but your parents would say that you know you'd have to make sure you change your underwear in case anything happened to your children yeah yeah I thought that was alvaneer and I presume it's a little bit tongue in cheek but you can see where the mindset comes from well I always say I often listen to Brandon Grace's story the one he tells about where his mother he was going out for a night out and the mother said make sure you have clean underpants on and uh the uh the Brandon looked at her and said mammy he says what do you mean he said well I don't want you ending up in hospital and then the nurses and doctors taking down your trousers and find you dirty underpants on and he says mammy if I'm crossing the road and I see a red bus coming towards me the last thing I'll have is clean underpants exactly of course so then on the upside that there was my first defib actually which is the be able to use them the defib litter to start somebody's heart and we actually at the time only introduced the defibrillators because it weren't on the ambulance when I started the job and we had just done the course and we had introduced defibrillators to their Kenny we had got a call for a gentleman in his early fifties who had chest discomfort and when we got him he was okay at the time stabilized but about 10-15 minutes out from their Kenny he arrested on us the great thing about the training just kicked in it was like one of those moments when you Kenny said wonder will this work when things go but everything just seemed to go like clockwork first shock and he was back with us and it was great to be able to go in the next day to coronary care to sit down and chat to him and have a just be able to talk to him and be able to see that for the work that we've done for the equipment that we now have on board worked maybe that's the answer but what do you think over the three decades plus has been the changes that have saved most lives you know in terms of of our response to emergencies want to say ours I mean to likes of yours and your colleagues the it's what the defibrillator is one of the things and also now that it's also it's allows us to actually to be able to analyze 12 lead ECGs which now is able to say that if anybody is having a heart attack that needs the treatment now we have the ability to be able to take them to the PCI in Derry and that's a big plus there's also other the access to say that the 118 helicopter and we also have our HSE and air core helicopter that's based on that loan and even these things are available plus the community first responders like sometimes they're the unsung heroes too that they're available to go out to certain calls and then the volunteers too at different times like there's so much happening now and developed and it's the Irish Heart Foundation of this thing called chain of survival which is every link is important the first person that's there the next and so on and I feel like there's a chain of care now as well from the point of view in the ambulance service as part of that so we'll be go to take over from whoever started the process and then be able to move them into the next level of care but there's so much like the equipment as I say the D-Fub there's medication which has been given to us I say our advanced paramedics now where we used to only have oxygen and antinox on our ambulance at the start we now like the MTs carry 12 to 14 medications I can do stuff that normally happened hospital an hour later are you're able to yeah on GPs to start the process paramedics now 24 advanced paramedics or something like 40 48 medications that can really help to have somebody stabilized and getting better in some way before they get to the ED have you delivered many babies yes there's a lot of columns that's what the thing I always kind of say mommy has done it all we're there to assist the process and I think the one that actually was just recently actually Christmas week it was a it was a lovely one and that we got a call to attend and mother was just imminent the birth was imminent but actually a crew that was off duty was just on its way past the particular house so they were asked to go as first responders so they were there and we arrived in the door and baby was just arrived at that stage then another crew come because there's always seen that you've got baby to care for and you've also got mom to care for so that's why there's two crews sent so at one stage when everything was settled I laughed I looked around and said there's six of us standing there six like paramedics and advanced paramedics and I said I said to mom like it was sitting there quite happy and dad I said it's a Christmas week I said this is a bit like a nativity show here so I'm wondering who's going to play the shepherds and who's going to play the wise man I said we've got a we've got a ready made oh yeah the newborn's there already we just need the rest of the rest of the crew obviously you and your colleagues are in the business of caring for people saving lives that's what you do and that's what you get into it for and that's why you continued with training and upskilling yourself I just wonder and I don't want to be negative Declan but I just wonder especially as you can't really speak out whilst you're in the job and maybe you choose not to now I respect that when the system is set up so that you can't do your job as effectively as you'd want to be maybe it is the the way we locate our ambulances and the way they're dispatched right across the region it could be from Kinlock it could be from Kilibags wherever it might be but also to when you're standing there still providing care of course at a hospital and you know you just want to be back out and on the road again but the system is such that you're delayed there before you can hand off your patient to the hospital and get back ready for a call has that changed much over the years and how big a cause of frustration is it if you want to talk about it I support generally I talk because I know it's probably up for discussion and other avenues and other levels of above way above as I say used to be my pay grade but I know yet the frustration would probably be and that that we're this thing has been stuck at ED sometimes but it's also part of a bigger picture and it's not just like we have the care of the patient that we have in front of us there's an element sometimes that when we are at ED I often say to the patients as I say that you're not being rushed in which is maybe a good sign if you've been rushed in means you're sicker than expected because always ED will take in if you're sick and need immediate attention you will be brought straight in the waiting thing as I say is part of a bigger picture and yes we are frustrated as much as the ED staff are frustrated but I think it's also part of a maybe it's a tackling thing of who calls for an ambulance sometimes there's something like that sometimes that who requests the ambulance and do people need to come in by ambulance sometimes or maybe it could be other ways of being brought to hospital or maybe being seen in the community and maybe that's where we're at probably I think you're probably more a fearful nation now you know because everything we're between every time you open a newspaper are we trying to avoid as much on this program but you're you have the the living daylight scared out if you even down to how much latitude you might give your children to go for a walk or whatever and I just wonder if we're conditioned to be really much more fearful to make a decision and to stand by it than 34 years ago yeah and that we just go right air in the side of caution and that could be Niodot could feel like that too GPs could feel like that too no one wants to catch a case you know what I mean I just wonder if that's something we're gonna have to factor into the future because I can't see us all changing at this point unfortunately yeah because let's say originally when I started the job that like there were certain locations in in Donegal that even at nighttime people they wouldn't call a doctor or an ambulance because they didn't want to disturb anybody they would actually wait till the morning unless it was very very serious but as you say rightly now if it could calls can come in for everything and some of the things we feel sometimes are so minuscule and the things that don't need our exact attention um I suppose that there's an element that if somebody is mobile like somebody hurts a hand or a finger injury that you know if there's if there's cars at the house and provided it's not there's no blood loss or no and the person is still conscious and still comfortable that they could simply be brought in with family support maybe by car in that scenario just out of interest would you could you find yourself dependent on other circumstances waiting you can't just hand them off into the ED go on walking through the doors there that could they could be one of the people arguably sitting in an ambulance waiting to be admitted sometimes but the there's a triage system which is now actually being maybe more updated which I find a lot of so that could get them out of the ambulance okay it gets all right yeah yeah yeah you talked about your love of music your love of sport you've been coaching basketball and what have you you talked about that and I'm sure it was a huge honor to be invited by the family to sing at that funeral how important was those interests outside of your job and keep you on the straight and narrow yeah a big time at like with Donal here I was involved with the letter Kenny Music Society and also the letter Kenny Music Drama Group in different shows and it was a great it was a great outlet and but it was frustrating and sometimes too as I say I always had a very understanding director because I'd be saying I can't get to rehearsal that night because I'm on and then there was the very incident that we were doing cashlenor the local production here and I had managed to get all my chefs covered for the week of the show but one particular one I couldn't so I was only eight to five it was and I thought five o'clock will be finished plenty of time we get down to the theater get sorted out we got a call a late call and I was out at I was out at this call and I laughed at the time because we were just I kept a look on my watch and my colleague knew that what the story was so it kind of so there was a doctor at the call as well and the doctor kept kind of dragging on the process patient was being looked after patient was okay everything was okay and I kind of but by best out of edge and the doctor out of the ambulance and we got we got and eventually got down to theater just my nick of time to get on the show after downwards and the bar afterwards who did a walk and to the doctor she says I was wondering why you were pushing me out so much she says no I know she said but no at the grid I'd let the sport the basketball like it's always been dealing with the young ones but again you're with shift work it's a very can your balance tonight all the time whether or not as somebody said to me now there's plenty of time now to go back to all that I'll have to see well you know you've a long career done with a long career done but I mean you're still young what do you hope to do with your time well one of the first things is to say my body was telling me it was time to go because my hip has been playing up and I need that to get attended to first and when that's done then it'll give me a chance to sit and think I don't know to do other things maybe somewhere somebody said what that's a lot of the questions something's what are you going to do I says retire which means I'm going to retire just sit back and take in the thing I suppose the great thing about it now you won't have to look up a shift pattern to see we'll kind of go to that that takes getting used to though too because even though we go I can't wait until this is over you do find yourself you know it is part of your life so you've a bit of getting used to that yeah yeah we have a daughter in England so and I'm family in England so maybe a chance to maybe catch up with them more often I have a son now who's hopefully making moves into the music industry and so when we see him settled in that then it'll give a chance for myself and my wife then to start our bucket list and be catch up on all the things we said it's exciting times absolutely and I must say please go on I'm looking forward to a lot of it yeah yeah and I'm sure too you know you're not disappearing off the face of the earth those friendships that form throughout your career and all they still hold and I'm sure you're still there yeah as I said we've been for a couple of years so often just to catch up with them here but the the different stories just hear the things that moved on or not moved on as the case may be yeah exactly and more acting more stage stuff I don't know I said what is it James Bond said never say never yeah yeah it'll be a great opportunity now because at least then I won't be kind of running from pillar to post I can say right there's rehearsal and go and enjoy it and then I wonder how you'll live without the chaos though I'm quite good at as I often say sitting on my bum and relaxing you can chill out catching up all the sport maybe watching the and don't go all in and unfortunately my team leads I'm kind of on the age of well that's a rollercoaster in and of itself definitely rollercoaster I might need a defib by the end of the week if things don't go the other color you don't have to use the one anyway yeah indeed but I suppose mid-table it'd be boring you know I mean you want that but you're excited I know so I know yeah absolutely it's there to persecute us okay and it's like everything too the type of job that you do you can't do it without a really supportive family too they have to share you absolutely isn't it that's kind of the the nature of the job isn't it with holidays or you know nights out or functions or you know what I mean yeah there's a lot of people have to make sacrifices as well with you and initially at the start when we started you see we used to be on call as well at nighttime and it was before mobiles so you had the house phone so when the phone went the middle of the night everybody was awakened so you had that as well and but now yeah you were balancing like maybe missed things for the youngsters like things that they were going to you and they maybe you're ranging to say right I will I'm finished at seven supposed to be finished at seven right Kathy we'll we'll go to the cinema maybe day to talk hello I'm on my way out to such and such I'll now be back to so cancel that Eric how's well they have they made a big difference to your job yeah because we've the advantage just the kind of sat-nav system which is added into it and it helps to get to houses easier like because in the olden days you'd be told at night time okay turned down this lane it'll be the the house with the light on and you'd have someone probably standing outside at a a crossroads waving saying it's that way car comes down but the other thing about the night time was you'd be told it's the household light on no sooner they turned down every house had the light on you had to pick but no the the advancements of that yeah the whole thing of the sat-navs and the modern communications and that it's things are are we good as motorists and getting out of your way most of the time to be fair there's sometimes you can't with country roads you know you have to understand and then you can't force your way through it and people panic you know you think there's an element of panic like I think maybe this is part of the driving course that to learn to keep checking your mirrors do the right things something will slow down whereas actually it's better just to keep going until there's a better place to power to get past but most to be fair most of the time they're very good yeah yeah those ambulance too are they difficult to drive because they're really just converted vans there's a lot of weight and I don't think they're quite as powerful as we might think they are they with the weight there's since they put on the the lifts now for the stretchers and things like that they've added more weight is right but no there's good enough power like I was always seen as the one of the slow drivers of the whole gang we had plenty of rally drivers that came in and we literally do have some rally drivers believe it or not and but as I say I always tell them I said I'll drive fast when we need to drive fast exactly and you just you have to be careful because I say you've always got the person in the back you've got your colleagues you've got road users you've got to take everybody into account yeah for sure listen Declan it's been lovely speaking to you anything you want to say just before we wrap up just I wanted to say actually a special thank you to I got a lot of thank yous on the Facebook page when the thing went up on from Donegal Daily and I just want to say I was humbled by it and I want to thank my colleagues for the gathering that they had that day but my colleagues who supported me all through the years I'd like to thank our training officers actually could sometimes with the older members of staff you had to maybe get them next through maybe leeway to to get through some of the stuff that's coming on board now and even the staff in the hospital because a lot of times there's words of encouragement which we pass to each other and from them and and it's it's it's been a special special place to be and special and I often think sometimes too I often think of the people that maybe passed in our care or maybe when we attended and often think of the families that we often we often that sits with us like and we often will look at and say is there things we could have done better and when we've looked at yeah we've done everything and that's that's all we could ask and just to finally maybe say a big thank you to Kathy my wife and to my two children Ashlyn and Oshin and to all the family so all right left I hope you really enjoy your retirement Declan and make the absolute most for them sure you will and thanks so much for calling in and having the chat I really appreciate it okay that was Declan Knee there from letter Kenny began working in the ambulance service an ambulance driver in 1998 and yesterday was your last day last night I midnight last night so you were on shift last yesterday as well no no I finished actually two weeks ago my the Friday of that picture was my last official day but I had leave brilliant excellent okay so it was officially yesterday yes all right Declan thanks so very much indeed we'll be back with more on the program after this break The Ninetal Noon Show with letter Kenny Credit Union now offering myCU current account and debit master card bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union Mom we're starving can we have Chris like clockwork just as they're in from school when did this become an everyday thing please sure it's only a little trade no you're sticking to the new plan guys remember what we agreed no junk on weekdays you can have cheese and crackers yogurt or toast at 3 p.m on Tuesday Joanne started with healthier snacks let's go easy on the treats start with smaller ones as often to keep your family healthy find more ways to start at megastart.ie brought to you by Safe Food the HSE and Healthy Ireland have great news for everyone who's looking for a good night's sleep ResTechs beds are looking forward to welcoming you to their brand new showroom at mountaintop letter Kenny it's one of the biggest and best bed and mattress showrooms in the northwest and has fantastic open and offers now in store ResTechs is the most trusted name in beds and mattresses in the northwest why don't you call in and get the bed of your dreams at ResTechs bed mountaintop letter Kenny ATV training other courses offered include first aid responder manual handling and building safety to name but a few for a full list of training courses and availability contact Northwest Forestry Services Ballet Buffet on 07491 32033 packed weekend of club action to review also joining me on Monday to give their highly regarded opinions its sports editor with the Donegal Democrat Alan Foley and former dairy sharpshooter Paddy Bradley all this just after 7pm news just Monday on Highland Media and podcasted on Highland Media.com the DL debate with sister Sarah's letter Kenny serving food you'll love till 9pm daily in Sarah's kitchen and Brendan will be joining us after 11 to talk about that podcast reflecting on the weekend's GE action and casting an eye forward as well I'm delighted to welcome on to the program now Claus Hebor who is MA an Ireland expert senior gymnasts and folk dancing group from Denmark are touring Ireland and you don't get much for free these days there's a free show coming up this week in letter Kenny Claus good morning to you good morning nice to meet you nice to meet you too right tell us about this traveling dance group Claus please it's a it's a little special group normally I've just been normal tourist business people too to Ireland but this is a gymnastic group senior gymnastic group the Augusta 18 years old wow and they asked me if I could arrange some shows in Ireland and after traveling Ireland so many years I have so many friends all over Ireland who has helped me put these four shows together so I hope we can give them great experience and they can really see the Irish hospitality which I have made so often okay so the note for your diary letter Kenny Wednesday 8 Wednesday this Wednesday coming the 18th 11 a.m at the oral leisure centre and also the following day in Derry 12 30 at Ebrington Square in front of the walled city brewery so talk to me about how big this dance group is and what people can look forward seeing Claus the group is 37 seniors and I mentioned up to 18 years old and you know in Denmark we have this tradition to do gymnastics to music so it's kind of a mix of of exercises combined with folk dancing and you know of course the purpose is to keep people's seniors fit and healthy as long as possible but also to build this community so they have something in common and have fun and then it's very much a Danish thing I think I don't think we have much of that in in Ireland you have some other things where you where you meet and see each other for example at the pops and then that that's that thing we don't have in Denmark at all you know when you meet people in Denmark you go into a club and meet people there so it's also a social thing for them yeah but it's activity based it's activity based we have to keep the seniors fit so as long as possible yes of course and is it unusual for for for older people in Denmark to be involved in the likes of gymnastics and folk dancing no it's very common because you know I think Danes are very conscious about keeping fit as long as possible and and especially the gymnastic and the folk dancing it's very good for seniors you know it's not so popular by the younger people but for seniors it's a big thing to do same and of course too this is very of Denmark we will get to experience presumably the you know the the sounds and a bit of the culture of your country definitely you hear some Danish folk music and also see some folk dances which you probably have never seen you know probably the last time there was some dance in in Donegal was probably a thousand years ago and I don't think they were dancing that much at that time and who do you think the audience might be because it's free and it's in a beautiful setting in the Aura Leisure Centre it lends itself very well to this type of a performance do you think it will be an older generation who will sort of see inspiration or right across the board all ages I really hope that there'll be all ages coming there that you know the children will grab their seniors and bring them along so they can see and get inspired also to become active and and and I know that you know in Denmark things are very divided into age you know the young people don't go to see the the older ones and the opposite but I think here in Aura Leisure you don't have these age things you know young people also you don't you also talk to young people at the pop young people also listen to the older musicians so so really hope it will be a mix of young old seniors whoever has an interest to together you know three quarters of some nice music and see some active seniors and and have a good chat with some friends yeah and I mean I think it's a lovely thing too not least obviously coming to Ireland but this group or or previous incarnations of this group it's not unusual for them to travel they've been all over the world and much of it they've been all over the world they've been in in Argentina, Canada, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Scotland so it's basically all over the world and now they want to go to Ireland probably because I chose them about the hospitality and the beautiful scenery of Ireland and especially in Donegal so and I had some good friends up in in in later Kenya uh Joe Gibson who has helped me put this together so I'm hoping big thanks for for all he has done for for this group yeah and and this is a complete aside but it's all the D's they're from Denmark and they're performing in Donegal, Derry, Dublin and Drata, is that a coincidence? There are some cities where I have some good connections okay all the D's as I say all the D's you know it's difficult to find a show in Limerick if you don't know anybody of course of course it is right so the show is this Wednesday it's at 11 a.m at the Aura Leisure Center and people can just walk up can they uh Klaus? Yes they just walk up pop up and there'll probably also be some coffee and tea and uh you know so we can make a nice little show for for people and an opportunity to meet some yeah and maybe inspire an Irish version of this it sounds great I love it I really do Klaus I appreciate you coming on the program and sharing that with us and the very best of luck with this mini tour the show's only about 45 minutes but presumably no one's going to be kicked out straight away there's an opportunity to chat and and and what have you as well Klaus? No there'll be plenty of time for chatting afterwards so people can come in and have a good couple of hours and uh I really hope that a lot of you know letter candy people would pop in and say say hello and clap at the seniors that they are yeah what else would you bring on a Wednesday morning it sounds lovely all right brilliant stuff Klaus thanks for joining us thank you bye bye see you at the at the show okay see you soon that is Klaus there uh Klaus He Boer and uh the uh Denmark senior Jim Naster is it's 37 active seniors as old as 80 uh who in previous years have been traveling all over the place as we heard Argentina, Argentina, Canada, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Scotland several other countries too uh it's a combination of a culture tour and shows in towns and cities so they're very experienced and it's a combination of physical exercises, dance, balance and rhythm which can be an inspiration to other seniors to get active as well as a message to all other ages that it is never too late so that is this Wednesday morning at 11 a.m at Aurel Leisure Centre shows about 45 minutes but there'll be some tea and refreshments there an opportunity to have a chat and mix and mingle and maybe talk to some of the performers as well uh hopefully we there's a huge turnout wouldn't it be lovely uh considering they've traveled all the way from Denmark and it is uh completely free all right something really different there oh eight six sixty twenty five thousand give us a whatsapp or a text to that number if you wish the nine till noon show with letterkenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letterkenny credit union 9102127 fly with Loganair from city of dairy to Edinburgh and immerse yourself in the live shows at street food of the fringe festival this summer with discounts for children aged 11 and under book now at loganair.co.uk 15 kilo luggage allowance as standard they say you should have your second 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works for me get a career in tourism that works for you visit tourism careers dot ie brought to you by falcha ireland highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport fancy a city break this summer you can now fly twice weekly to beautiful cologne in germany every sunday and thursday with ryan air ireland west airport you're flying okay so the rest of the day will bring a mix of cloud and sunny spurs with scattered showers some of the showers will be heavy with the potential for localized thundery downpours however it'll become dry in most parts by evening a humid day with top temperatures of 16 to 18 in moderate southeast winds veering get subtly during the morning and increasing fresh locally best wishes to deklin on his retirement ambulance crews are the unsung heroes of the health service another good luck for the future deklin from daniel donnell nephew of peg old donnell national school teacher in letterkenny dorine says such a great man in the community he's singing his love of basketball and his gentle manner with people through his work wishing him and his family best wishes as he retires okay and more of those coming in best wishes to deklin enjoy retirement from the family and convoy um and best wishes to deklin his retirement always a gentleman to work with on stage leslie long cashon or there and you heard deklin reference that all right uh it is the nine till noon show here in highland where we have monday matters coming up for you between 11 and 12 we'll be talking sport with brendan much more as well stay with us at 11 o'clock though let's break for the news and it's good morning once again to donnell kafner thank you great good morning the chair of donnie gulcandy council's mica redress committee says he believes the government will have no choice but to subject any future bill on mica redress to pre-legislative scrutiny councillor mark mcdonald was speaking on today's nine till noon show as the mica action group restated its belief that it's absolutely necessary last week t-shirt michael martin told that all such move could delay payments by a further six months a point echoed by the housing minister however the mica action groups michael daherty believes it can happen much more quickly than that he says given the figures involved there's no other option as the british prime minister travels to northern ireland for talks on restoring power sharing stormans shin fein leader says they have no desire for a pep talk from him boris johnson's visit comes amid souring tensions with the e u with reports westminster may still formally take action on the post brakes of protocol tomorrow michelle anneal met the teacher can double in this morning ahead of her meeting with the uk leader later today meanwhile boris johnson says he's dropping plans for an amnesty for prosecutions during the troubles writing in the belfast telegraph today boris johnson said he'd introduce measures in the house of commons this week to deal with legacy issues but promised there'd be no blanket amnesty after he listened to people's concerns he says the new measures will be different from those announced last year ukrainian families are being given help in securing school places for their children the department of education says reilt is supporting schools to meet their needs as they emerge it's confirmed just over 5800 ukrainian pupils are currently enrolled in schools across the country of those 259 are in dunigol 176 of them in primary schools and 83 in post primary schools this year's leaving start students meanwhile may have to wait a little longer to get their results the erish times is reporting the exam results won't be issued as usual in mid august because of the deferred second sitting of tests for students who may be impacted by covid third level institutions are said to be concerned that could mean a later start to the offering of college places and their academic year and policing county derriere appealing for information following a three vehicle crash on the main street in fini just after nine last night four people brought to hospital for treatment two men remain in a serious condition the road was closed overnight for a time but has now reopened and we're back with news again at 12 noon all right donal thank you very much the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mycu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features delivered with the same local trustworthy service of your credit union by choosing dunigol creamery smoke you're supporting over 200 dairy farming families across dunigol in doing what they do best producing delicious fresh milk every day for over 100 years dunigol creamery smoke has been brought to you dilly from our dairy at crossroads killy gordon the longest established creamery in the region support local farms local families and local jobs by choosing dunigol creamery's milk harry jack's diner straban american style diner ice cream parlor and takeaway opening soon at market square straban for the real diner experience it will have to be harry jack's mcdades bathroom plumbing and tiles serving the northwest for over 40 years explore our showroom with more than 40 displays choose from an array of shower doors shower trays baths and bathroom accessories speak with an expert about tile selection and wall paneling we also stock an array of plumbing heating and stove spare parts as well as a great selection of kitchen mixers and radiators at our trade counter our stove department is also available for you to choose a style that suits your needs and complements your home mcdades bathroom plumbing tiles bunkrana we're here for you hi folks pomegranate here inviting you to join us this monday night for another edition of the monday night sessions on the show this week we welcome local band expedition but also be joined by a singer and fundraiser remelton native martin or we've also got some brand new music from around the country so it's the monday night sessions this monday night between 8 p.m and 10 p.m right here on highland video sunday april third was census night and our enumerators have now finished collecting census forms every form must be returned so if your form hasn't been collected please free post it now to the address on the front of your form visit census dot ie to find out more be counted okay don't go anywhere brandon it was a way again he comes in late and then just as you're about to introduce him he's on his way uh come here good taffion you're a busy man i know that by the way i'm only messing it's gonna be a busy deal to wait a lot to look back on and plenty to look forward on obviously there's going to be a big focus on the on the club scene i'll ask you about that but obviously as well an awful lot of people will have seen dairy yesterday see where they're at see where they're going it's going to be a cracker against donnie gall in a couple of weeks time and i wouldn't like to be picking who's going to win that one yeah and going into yesteryear's game where it was hard to pick who would want that because it was a bit of an asterisk beside that throne performance because throne of the man sent off and things went against them and we were like monon will have learned from it but yesterday dairy again showed their absolute class and a lot of people were saying which which would donnie gall prefer and at the start of the week i was thinking i'm not sure i'm not sure but it's a week but i was thinking dairy are obviously the more dangerous team you have to beat the best down the way up yeah you know there's been no monon and we don't know dairy that well and you know they're hungry and they're looking at if they want if they beat us let's say they do you that's what we don't you'll have beaten your own monon and donnie gall they want an oyster which would be a phenomenal achievement so you have to say very played them and the game they're going into a massive lead in the game it's something donnie gall can't allow yeah interesting to see if we can if we can but if if dairy don't get that goal advantage on us and don't get our honest that you know maybe that's why the experience of donnie gall could count in the second half as long as we're not chasing the lead because as we see we dairy the more they sit in then it's it's it's hard what do you put their resurgence if you can call it that down to uh because you know i think they've contested only a couple of oyster finals uh both against donnie gall i believe one defeat one win but it's a it's a long time since they would have lifted also we kind of a spoiled i think by the fact that we almost expect i don't know perhaps we shouldn't but what what has changed in dairy yeah 2008 was the last time we were going firstly i was on the pitch when it happened but i i don't like it out of their memories i'll just i'll avoid that but you you you see a certain counties have the pedigree and have the ingredients to do it and dairy have it they drop right down to division four there is a thing that dairy's been talked about a lot about club and county now the county seems to need the team to be doing well they get behind it it's not getting done at all now of course the better is doing the more but there's always a certain level of support and donnie gall regardless dairy doesn't seem to have that they seem to be turned of