The Neil Prendeville Show | Cork's RedFM

00:00 The voice of Cork. 00:00 Morning. 00:02 It's time to talk. How much of your son's life have you been in? I always have been advocating mushy peas and garden peas. Do as much cool stuff as possible. 00:12 The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM. The last 22 months has been an uphill battle. The voice of Cork. 00:19 Part of the conversation, the Neil Prent of a show with Elevate Credit Union. Morning all. Well, if you're listening to Breakfast with the Lads this morning, all sorts of issues with traffic. Some of them may have been cleared. There's a lot going on this morning. There's a building on fire on the South Main Street. A three-car pile-up on the Douglas Flyover heading west. Apparently an accident between a truck and a car on the South Ring by the Roadstown Park Hotel. All of this kind of stuff. Then you had stuff happening up around Cars Hill. Two different accidents near the slips. There was a crash crash. By Kearys and Mallow, all sorts of things happening. 00:50 Two different accidents at one stage coming off Cars Hill. It's rather complicated there at the moment, isn't it, with regards to, you know, lane closures and they're trying to widen the motorway to ring a skiddy and what have you. So go with care and caution and slow down and everybody tries to pay more attention. I don't know. We just hear more and more of it these days. I tell you one thing, though, if there's not a guard around anywhere in the country, it's understandable this morning because there's 5,000 of them in Dublin. Dublin's pretty much locked down now, according to the Independent this morning. 01:21 The armed unit are there as well. 5,000 guard. They are anticipating some kind of carry on and are on red alert for all sorts of possible issues and Who knows what that will be? But amongst other things, of course, Zelensky, President Zelensky, is in Dublin. He arrived yesterday at all sorts of meetings, different people, including the Taoiseach. And what's very interesting about this is the Mail this morning reporting that President Zelensky wants Ireland to send back any Ukrainian men to fight in the war. 01:56 Michael Martin has pushed back and he said he will not send any Ukrainian men home to fight in the war, even though Zelensky has told them we need them. 02:07 And he said that Ukrainian men who are living here should be returned to their homeland to fight the war. And he said it can't be the case that somebody is defending lives in a country and then others are not. He says it's not fair. 02:22 The headline says Ireland won't send Ukrainians home to fight, where the Taoiseach has said we don't envisage pursuing people in that context, which is no, we won't do it. In spite of the president asking for the abled body Ukrainian men, young men that are here in Ireland to be sent home to be part of the struggle. Meanwhile, although I don't know, I'd have to try to fact check this this morning where the Liberal was saying that Michal Martin gave Zelensky another 25 million of Irish taxpayers money for the Ukrainian energy fund. 02:54 I think that might be confusing other payments because I know that in total we've given north of 250 million in aid alone to Ukraine in the last 11 months. The first announcement was December of last year, 125 million. 03:11 25 million of that was for their energy infrastructure. And then we heard in July there was another 125 million, and that included another 25 million again for energy issues. The pushback here in Ireland has to do, of course, with our own energy issues with regards to people not being able to afford to turn the heating on. And if you have a thought on that, text 0868104106. So what will the agreement with regards to the public sector pay increases mean to people working in the public sector? Well, they're saying in The Sun this morning that it's Gardaí, nurses, teachers, people in the public sector on those kind of jobs will see about five grand more in their annual wages over the next three years. 03:51 So it's worth... Five grand, they're saying 10.75 over three years. But what's very interesting to me is while reading the story this morning, they are attempting because of the pay boost to help those that are paid the least. And then out of nowhere, I saw a paragraph saying a cleaner within the public sector could be earning less than 28,000 euro a year. 04:14 I mean, where's the conscience of a government or anybody that would pay somebody 28 grand in this day and age? Nobody could survive in that kind of money. So they'll get an 18.3% boost over the course of the deal. And then even at that, they'll be well short I mean, 28 grand. Don't you really think that no job actually should have a wage less than 35 grand? And then some even, but 28 grand. I don't get that. I really and truly don't. There's awful carry on in the courts. 04:44 And I'll come back to this a little later on. Small little story to tell you over the decades with regards to court reporting. or actually newspaper reading. And I'll tell you more about that later on. But I just don't think that we've ever been at a time when you see so much pain or hurt or anger or crime. You know that case of the lad who was stabbed down at the bus station and then ran up Merchant's Quay and into Dunn's Doors? That was before the courts yesterday. Now, this is a 17-year-old. One's a 17-year-old that's been charged. 05:16 Another is a 15-year-old. We can't name them, obviously, because of their age. But in the case of the 17-year-old who was charged, right, the Gardie objected to bail. 05:25 He's charged with assault causing harm. This is the stabbing of a teenager. I spoke to his mother on the air earlier this week of the lad who was stabbed. Teenager stabbed at the bus station and the Guardian objected to bail because they say that they fear for the safety of the public and they fear for the safety of the accused himself. Now you can read whatever you wish into the safety of the accused himself. 05:47 What does that mean? Could it mean reprisal? I don't know. But he was released on bail. And it's very interesting because the Gardie, up to senior detective Gardie involved in this, said, don't do this, judge, because we are objecting. So the case of the estate is that he was part of a group of three young males who chased the 17-year-old injured party, ultimately, and his friend into the Parnell Place bus station and assaulted the injured party and his friend. Now, the CCTV footage is excellent. Really good quality. 06:18 And you can see in the footage, the accused concealing a knife under his top, walks into the bus station, stabs the injured party multiple times, including into the head. Now, this person that was injured then fled the bus station, ran up Merchant's Key into Dunstores. Significant injuries, which are described in the court reports this morning. And I won't go into them because they're really horrific and, you know. Perhaps a little bit more than I should talk about with regards to those injuries. But they were bad, right? And some people who were on the air actually described the injuries to his stomach. 06:51 But the judge nonetheless decided, I'm giving him bail on strict conditions. And that's as much as I can tell you on that one until it's back in the court again. But it'll be a very interesting one to watch as it clips along through the court system. The other case, of course, is that... very busy in the Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. A fellow called Malcolm Kelly out of Cantor was in court and he got sentenced to seven years and seven months. Now forget about the seven months they were suspended. They got seven years. 07:22 A hammer is what he used to smash the door of a house. There's a couple and their two children were sleeping at the time But the man inside now has put his body weight against the front door to try to hold off three men who are trying to get in, right? This character, Kelly, anyway, had 100 previous convictions. Burglary, robbery, carrying a knife, assault causing harm, stuff like that. His defence said that he had serious substance abuses and what have you. And that was before the court yesterday on this attack on a home up in Mayfield. 07:52 But what's very alarming... 07:55 is a case that makes the red tops today of a man that they call a thug in the sun. His name is Shando Alpha. He's 27 years old. He's this thug who attacked teenage twins with a broken bottle because they rejected his advances. He got jail yesterday. Now, these girls, these twin girls repeatedly rejected this man before a man intervened to assist them. After this, Alpha, who is described in the court reports as a Somali national, produced a broken bottle. 08:29 He attacked the twin girls and he attacked the man who was trying to come to their aid. Deep cuts, stitches and staples, no fixed abode. A man who apparently had 20 previous convictions for offences including possession of weapons, handling stolen property and criminal damage. 08:48 This makes the papers this morning. Twin girls, bottle attack, jailed. Thug who slashed sisters in the Good Samaritan got four years and six months. And proper order too. And some would suggest that maybe it should have been a bit longer. But it raises the question with regards to the kindness of this country, with regards to people coming here and looking for a new life and behaving like that. But the anger doesn't stop there, actually, because you see... 09:13 It's getting younger and younger and issues regarding blades and knives and what have you have become a massive problem. And it started in the UK and we're seeing more and more on the courts now involving, in the case of this guy, Alpha, he had a broken bottle that he slashed people with knives time and time again. Just very quickly, the Telegraph supporting some kind of a fight between two girls and... 09:38 over a boyfriend led to murder, where you've got a teenage girl stabbed another girl to death during a fight over a boy. 09:47 They're aged 18 and 16. 09:50 So it's very worrying and it's very alarming. And then with regards to the vulnerability of young people... I know. I mean, there's kind of a common theme goes through all of these. But the Independent this morning is telling us something we already knew. No, we already know. This is grooming gangs. Now, grooming takes lots of different manners, fashions and types. The type of grooming they're talking about primarily are the hundreds of children in the care of the state who are being used by gangs to carry drugs and to act as lookouts involved in drug dealing and theft and things like that. 10:23 And Tusla are saying this figure is getting higher and higher. But is there anybody following the story of the 17-year-old girl in Tusla care who was being... This was before the courts on the 3rd of November of this month. I was reminded of it by a listener who texted me yesterday. I'll come back to the text a little later on. It wasn't actually a criminal court. It was the Dublin District Child Care Court. But there are details of a 17-year-old girl in Tusla care who was allegedly being sexually exploited by as many as 30 adult men. 10:59 We don't know the men. We don't know their backgrounds. We don't know where they were living or what their circumstances were. We just know that she had prepaid taxis taking her from her care placement to hotels and and to private residences, and it was for sex. And she was being given drugs, and she was being given alcohol in exchange. And it was an older woman who introduced her to these men. And the older woman who introduced her to all of these different 30 adult men was also benefiting from the arrangement. 11:31 Forgive me now at this hour of the morning, but this 17 year old girl in the care of Tusla contracted sexually transmitted infections and she recently had been assaulted by a man after refusing sex. Now, there's a wider question here as to how could a vulnerable 17 year old girl in state care repeatedly be collected by taxis and taken to men without the system itself preventing it? You see where I'm going with this? This is a 17-year-old girl being picked up by prepaid taxis from her care placement, taken to hotels and private residence to have sex with as many, not, I mean, clearly not at the same time, if you get me, this is over a period of time, 30 different adult men. 12:10 And other issues then involving young people involve maybe naivety, trusting too much, or maybe with the confidence of youth, they feel that they're never going to fall victim to a scam, but they do. And apparently, if you had thought it might have been an older generation that are getting caught by scammers, yes, they are, but not as much as, say, people between the age of... of 25 and 34. That's the biggest cohort that have been caught in different kind of scams and is continuing to increase. And they say that the ones that are most prominent these days are lottery scams, investment scams, romance scams and rental scams. 12:49 They seem to be the top four at the moment where the younger adults have been caught out more and more and more. And you talk about, you know, the changes of the decades and the changes in society. We know all about Russell Brand because he's been convicted now. There is a police investigation into David Walliams and so many women have come forward. How and ever that really must wait for a court of law to decide as to his innocence and guilt. But it certainly does seem to be alarming the amount of people who are saying things about David Walliams as to how he behaved over the decades. 13:20 But they say in the mail this morning that... 13:24 The 90s, which would be the noughties, that was the 90s into the noughties, but they look at different decades. You could look at the 60s and free love and what have you and the hippie culture and things like that. But the real decade of debauchery was the noughties, they're saying, as in from 2000 on. 13:42 where the likes of Russell Brand and those like him and celebrity cronies were at their very sleaziest in how they treated women as nothing more than disposable playthings. It's an interesting perspective that makes the Mail this morning with regards to the ongoing revelations, particularly so over the past couple of months. And then in other news for you this morning, I hear a lot with regards to those who are earning money and those who are not. Did you know that the workplace is now made up exactly 50% men, 50% women? But you don't see that in wage packets or in annual salaries, because if you break down the numbers without being overly complicated, if you ever wanted to get into the top 1% of earnings, you'd need to be earning 200,000 a year. 14:28 So those that earn 200,000 a year make up the top 1%. The average earnings now are 48,900. That's why I despair when I have a cleaner in the public sector making 28 grand a year. It's just absolutely appalling. But apparently the vast majority of those in that 1% are men. And it will take a long time to change because they hold almost three in the four top earning Irish jobs. You know, the Christie Ring statue, which was moved twice up in the airport. First, it was much closer and then it was put way, way back where you can hardly see it again. 14:59 That makes the echo today because Cork Airport have come out and they said that they have offered that if Cork City Council or the GAA wish to locate Christie Ring, they're open for it. 15:10 Now, they'd have to get a replacement maybe as a consequence to it. But Christie has been out there for 20 years, right? 15:16 And when back in the day he was put out there first, it was kind of closer to the airport in 1995. The great Bernard Allen was behind it at the time. Then they moved it to its current position a little further back. And there it sits. You'd almost miss it. But is it right that it should be where it is? Or do you think maybe it should be down outside Porky Cueve? Thoughts on that, please? Text 0868-104-106. And if you thought you hadn't enough tech in your life, you're of all of traffic jams these days. What would you fancy if you had a flying car? Because the Chinese have just launched a prototype and they figure that they'll be able to sell them by next summer. 15:51 The Chinese flying car. Why not? All the high-tech electric hybrid things are coming out in China anyway. But it's got like four massive propellers on it, a bit like drone propellers. It's the size. How big would this be? Well, the cockpit is about the size of a Fiat 500. But hold on, if you wanted one, obviously you'd have to have some kind of a license to be able to fly it. And it would knock you back €300,000. 16:16 But then again, there's some people would dash out to buy one of those. A bit like anybody who's mad for apps and tech and gadgets. I know we all have many people of the doorbell cameras now, but Amazon has launched a new version of the doorbell camera. It's an indoor drone that will allow you to monitor your home while you're away. But it will get into the places where cameras can't get because it literally is that. A drone that will fly and you can control it on a little laparoonie on your phone. And you can fly the little drone indoors from room to room, checking all sorts of things. 16:47 Are the lights on? Are the lights off? Is everything OK? Are the windows closed? Whatever the case may be. Is the immersion off? This little drone will do it. And it will only set you back €190. Meanwhile, there are now 12 apps available that you can download that will help you for Christmas alone. We're absolutely slaves to the apps, aren't we? As if we can't even think for ourselves. So this morning, the Red Tops talk about the dozen downloads that will help you to navigate through a mad Christmas. Please don't ask me to go through them. They're everything and anything that you'd ever need to do with presents or food or dates or whatever the case may be. 17:24 loading up on the apps. But there's an interesting confession made this morning in the mail just finally. Do you know how it's always really, really part of the tradition to let the kids in the smallies decorate the Christmas tree, right? Many houses have it as an annual thing where the kids are young enough to get involved in the excitement of putting the tree up, decorating, that's all very well. And the kids go off to bed then very happy that they did all the work with regards to the Christmas tree, except that Mammy and Daddy then rearrange everything, moving all the baubles to more prominent branches or evening things out. 17:59 imagine there's people listening to me right now who have done that and do that because the kids just go kind of like firing everything up there in any way shape or form and it looks like a bit of a dog's dinner well if it were i were doing it i can guarantee you one thing it would look like a mega dog's dinner Morning all, Texas 0868 104 106. The day has arrived, of course. The Garth Brooks tickets went on sale at 8 this morning. Is anybody having any success at all in scoring some tickets? 18:30 Of course, up on Ticketmaster, I'd say there's a major overload with regards to demand. I think there might have been one or two problems, actually, online with the tickets, but that could well be just the sheer volume. But if you've managed to get a few already for Friday the 18th or Saturday the 19th of June, do text and let us know. You'll be fierce, fierce excited because many people will go to all sorts of extremes to score a couple of tickets for Garth Brooks. If it isn't promising to name the baby born next May, Garth, if he's a boy, Brooke, if he's a girl, it's getting a tattoo. 19:05 And it's the case with Shirley Allen, who joins us in studio this morning. Morning. 19:10 Morning. 19:12 Sinead, I should say. My apologies. Sinead, my apologies. So, let me get your mic started here. So, in spite of my best efforts, right? 19:20 Yeah. We're also joined by Garrett O'Flynn from Creore Tattoo, based in Glanmar. Morning, Govna. Morning, how are you? I was trying to get you to change your name from Garrett to Garth for the morning, but you're not having it. 19:30 Just for the day, maybe. 19:33 There's something really kind of weird about that, like that the guy who's doing the tattoo is Garrett. 19:39 I know. I thought it was a joke first. Sorry. 19:43 I thought your proposition was a joke and I have to repeat myself again. Lads, I have done everything in my power to talk you out of this. 19:52 Yeah, you have. 19:53 I've had Seamus on you. I've had Viv on you. I've had Ema on you. 19:58 I've been on her. 20:00 You know I'll give you the tickets. You don't have to do this. 20:03 No, we'll go ahead with her. Okay. 20:06 So it's a tattoo of my face on the back of her leg. 20:10 God almighty. So amongst other things, this is funny, right? 20:14 Because when I was talking to you on the air, I had no idea how old you were. You wouldn't know with voices, right? No, I wouldn't. Was it Seamus that said, is it okay if I talk to your parents? 20:23 Talk to my parents. I was like, you don't need to. 20:28 I'm 35, so like, no need to at all. I think that my dad would be like, why is she getting people to ring us? 20:36 Okay, so, no, I mean, I'm not letting this go because did anyone say to you, don't do this, it's not worth it? 20:42 No, no. Do you have friends like? Yeah. Yeah. 20:48 Do you have brothers and sisters? Yeah, I have three brothers and sisters. 20:50 Did your mum not say? Girl. 20:52 No, she babes that for me. 20:56 You know, there's no more I can do to stop you. 20:58 No, nothing you can do, no. 21:01 I'll give you the ticket. 21:02 No, I'm getting the ticket. 21:03 Get a tattoo of Garth Brooks. 21:05 No, no, it has to be you, Neil. 21:08 Garrett, there's no more I can do, man. I'm just the artist here, you know. 21:13 I hold my hands up in defeat. Yeah. 21:16 I cannot stop this one. I'll do my best to make you look good, you know. Would you please make sure that it's really small? 21:21 I got you. 21:22 Yeah. And then, so, tickets are sorted, right? Friday the 18th of June. 21:28 And then on Saturday the 19th of June, you can get the tattoo done over. 21:32 Oh, I think about it. I might just keep it. 21:35 I'm going to charge more than the tickets anyway. 21:37 I know. 21:42 It was Ross from the Holy Cow was originally going to do it. How come things change? And thank you for coming in. I know you've got a busy day ahead. 21:49 I just woke up yesterday to a call or text message. Can I do this? And first thing in the morning, I agreed. And as the day went on, I was going, what have I agreed to do? 21:57 And then he met me and he was like, what did I do? 22:00 Ross has a bad flu, right? Yeah, he's a man flu. He's at home. It's not the man flu. It's a real flu. It's the man flu. 22:08 So Creore Tattoo, busy? Very busy, yeah, yeah. It's been an incredible year. It's one of my best years since I started. 22:16 I think I opened the first year of COVID, so 2020. And this year has just been insane. 22:22 Did you have to do an apprenticeship for that? 22:24 Yeah, I've done two apprenticeships in two different studios. 22:28 Yeah, so I started tattooing when I was 19. 22:32 And I've been tattooing 15 years. 22:33 Have you got any tattoos? Oh, my God. 22:36 Is that called a sleeve? 22:37 Yeah, yeah. 22:38 Is that the one, if you're more? I've lured, yeah. Where else are they? You'll have to buy me a drink first. 22:44 I'll have to chat you up first. 22:45 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not that easy. 22:50 Oh, man. So is it 50-50, men, women, age groups? Who's getting tattoos? 22:55 Oh, yeah, 50-50. And, like, I've had, recently enough, I actually had, like, 76-year-old. I've tattooed an 86-year-old. 23:04 It's everybody, you know. 23:07 I think it's kind of my studio, especially. I'm, like, the friendly neighborhood tattoo artist, you know. I have a lot of people coming in for whatever reasons, you know, getting tattoos of people. They mean a lot to people, you know. 23:18 I was going to ask you, what are the most popular types? 23:22 Is it names? 23:23 Is it flowers? Is it hearts? I do a lot of like black and grey realism. So it's a lot of portraits, a lot of stuff like that. All right. Greek historical, you know, there's kind of two reasons to get a tattoo for fashion or for memorial. Gotcha. I understand. 23:40 And has it ever, I mean, has it ever gone wrong? 23:44 Not yet anyway. It could potentially go wrong this morning. Sorry? It could potentially go wrong this morning. No, no, no. I had my coffee, I had my weed a bit, so I'm good to go. 23:59 You give me a big massive nose or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 24:03 You know, we make you look good now, Neil. 24:05 All right. A few too many wrinkles or something. 24:08 If you're going to do it, it might as well be a decent version. Yeah, it's going to be the best bad tattoo I'm going to do, you know. 24:14 I'm going to be proud of this one. 24:16 Man, I don't know. My heart rate. I just don't know. 24:19 There's no talking to this woman. She just wants to do it. It's her body. It's her decision. Off you go, Sinead. Get it done. 24:28 You have other tattoos, right? I do, yeah. 24:30 My left arm is covered. Yeah, my tie and my other arm. I'll be in good company. 24:37 Okay, we'll talk later on. Off you go. Get it done. They've got all the equipment out here, lads. 24:42 You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff that you have to move in a mobile tattoo parlour. That's for sure. Benches and lights and all sorts of gadgets. We'll check in a little later on with Sinead and indeed with Garrett. The tattoo, it's underway. 24:54 There's nothing I can do. 24:56 Believe me, I did everything and anything to make this woman change her mind. 24:59 Get on to Prenderville now. 0818 104 106. The Leopold. 25:07 All right, Anita, good morning. 25:08 Good morning. 25:10 Oh, we spoke last week. We played a Garth Brooks tune for your late ma'am, Nancy. Nancy, the beautiful name. 25:15 You did. And I was so delighted when I heard it. I didn't, not that I didn't trust it, carry out what you promised. I was absolutely blown away that you even remembered the names and everything. 25:27 Yeah, the dance. I just love that name. Nancy's a beautiful name. Many a gorgeous song written about Nancy's. 25:32 But tell me, do you get tickets this morning? Yes. 25:35 I did at three minutes past eight. 25:37 I'm so delighted for you. Oh, my God. I was thinking of you. Would it happen? And I was thinking of all the other people who are serious fans. 25:45 So no problem at all. I've been hiring a helicopter. I've been hiring a helicopter. 25:49 Okay, so the first time you saw him was in 1992. Isn't that right? 25:53 Yeah. So you're back again. 25:55 What, did you get two? Can you get four? How many can you get? 25:58 Well, you could have got four, but we got two. My daughter's going to go with me. 26:03 Great. 26:04 And it's in Cork, so how brilliant. 26:06 You have something marvellous to look forward to. And your man will be there with you, blowing kisses at Garth. 26:11 Oh, she will. She will. She sure will. 26:14 Oh, that's fantastic. 26:15 There's going to be nobody stand up in front of me this time when the dance is playing. 26:18 Yeah, yeah, yeah. He blew a kiss before, didn't he? 26:21 He did. He did. Yeah. I don't know. Will I be that close this time now? 26:27 He might recognise you. You'd never know. 26:29 He might. He might. Oh, I'm delighted for you. 26:32 That's great news. Well done. You're one of the lucky ones because there's other texts coming in where people are having problems trying to get tickets in the family area. Some other issues people are having for the seating. You had no problem at all. 26:45 We got ceasing, yeah. 26:46 Well done. 26:48 Viv actually here, the radio station, got our tickets within half an hour in the queue. So those that got in really early. 26:55 I think we might have had a bit of help from somebody above or something. 26:59 I'm telling you, Nancy was part of it and she'll be there with you at the gig. I'm delighted for you, Anita. 27:05 Yeah. Okay. 27:07 Well, stay in touch, all right? Look after yourself. I will. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. That's great. And I'm hoping other people are having lots of success as well. How and ever. Morning all. Could you ask your listeners if anyone's getting seating for Garth Brooks? Not sure if I'm missing something, but the option doesn't come up. Somebody else saying, could you ask maybe if there's problems with the seating areas for Garth Brooks? Or indeed, I've been trying to get tickets and I've gotten in several times looking for the family area. I said, I want to bring my eight-year-old granddaughter, but it says 14 years plus. 27:38 Is this correct? I don't know, but it sounds confusing to me. How would they even know? If you were like a 14-year-old, or I imagine there wouldn't be a problem bringing an eight-year-old granddaughter in the company of an adult to a gig like Garth Brooks. But there's others coming in on this as well. I got my tickets, Neil, this morning. No problem whatsoever. Yeehaw, says Steve. Yes, scored our tickets for Saturday in Porky Cueve. We got lucky. Well, you know, it just worked for you. And that's great. Great to hear. So keep it coming. Let me know. 28:09 Oh, there's another one. My son, Alex, had seven... 28:13 It says here 7 million ahead of him at 8am. Surely that's either 70,000 or 700,000, but not 7 million. But he still managed to get four tickets at half past eight. So delighted. And I hope that's the case for many, many different people as well. Do stay in touch. Let us know how you're getting on. Hopefully the system will hold up. and everybody will get sorted. Text 0868-104-106. We talk a lot about the state of the country, and rightly so, whether it has anything to do with our health or the cost of living or utility prices and fuel prices or housing or rental. 28:48 Everything seems to be wrong or broken here because I hear the case histories and the stories on a daily basis. And it's quite interesting, the amount of tension now that's going into the European leaders that are in Dublin. And all of the talk and conversation, of course, is of international events these days, whether it's the war in Ukraine, whether it's issues regarding Palestine, whether it's American politics or whatever you have in yourself. But the eye is certainly off the ball when it comes to what's happening in our own country and the welfare of Irish people these days. 29:24 And you see that more than ever now with conversations between the Taoiseach and world leaders and European heads of state and Zelensky being in. Don't even talk to me about the amount of money and aid that goes overseas. That's for another day. While people languish on waiting lists. And then to give us more, I suppose, examples of how people really are suffering. This happened in the Dáil yesterday. This is Sinn Féin's Pierce Doherty. 29:52 Hi Simon. 29:54 Well, he doesn't actually sound like that. So unless... Have I been hacked? 30:01 I think I've been hacked. Let's see if I can fix that. No, it's a very serious piece of audio and I want you to hear it properly. I really and truly do. So let me see if I can sort that out and come back after the break. 30:18 Okay, I'm going to park that piece because we've got technical issues here at the moment. So as soon as that's sorted, we'll revert to it a little later on. Text already. Oh, this is interesting. Somebody just decided to try Ticketmaster to see if he could get tickets. He says, just went on Ticketmaster. I got two tickets in 20 seconds flat for the Saturday night gig. I didn't actually pay because I have no intention of going, but I could have if I wanted to. He just went all the way through it and then just didn't bother paying. Got tickets, Neil. Didn't even have to get a tattoo, says Morris. Delighted for you. Absolutely. 30:48 Oh, I see. Thank you. Texting with regards to more money for Ukraine and what have you. More money for Zelensky and his energy fund. And hundreds of thousands of people are in arrears with their energy bills in Ireland. Can anybody see... The comparisons, this is an absolute disgrace. Martin and Harris need to go sooner rather than later. Another person suggests Micheál Martin will get rid of the triple lock and he'll send Irish young men to fight in other people's wars. But he won't send fighting age men back to fight in their own country. Instead, he gives them more entitlement than the Irish taxpayer. 31:22 Kind of sums up the thoughts of a lot of people on that one. And then with regards to IPAS centres and people coming into the country from different parts of the world, you mentioned the court case involved. Yes, I did. And the text says, why wasn't the Somali national alpha deported back from where he came from rather than filling up prisons that are already packed capacity? And that's from earlier on this morning when I told you of this thug who attacked teenage twins and somebody who came to their aid with a broken bottle and slashed them up because the twins rejected his advancements. 31:59 He was jailed yesterday and he got four years, six months for it. He had 20 previous convictions for offenses, including possession of weapons, handling stolen property and criminal damage. Why was he in the country in the first place? What motivated him to want to come here in the first place? Clearly not to have a better life. OK, I think maybe I can try this again. I was talking about the inequity of society, really, and those that need help not getting it. We get example after example of that. Hopefully this will work. This is Pierce Doherty stood up in the door yesterday. 32:29 Hi, Simon. 32:31 I'm getting in touch regarding my only grandchild who's three and is nonverbal. 32:37 He's a beautiful, happy, funny boy. 32:40 My heart breaks for him as he cannot talk and gets so frustrated. 32:45 My daughter has him on a waiting list to be seen. 32:48 I feel he's been left behind. 32:51 I myself am not well. I'm on dialysis three times weekly. 32:56 And I'm sure a lot of problems boil down to money. 32:59 I will do a trade-off. 33:01 I will cease my treatment, saving the state a lot of money if my grandson can get speech therapy. 33:08 I know what my outcome will be, but I would give anything to hear his little voice. Please, Simon, treat this email seriously, as I'm 100% certain of my choices. I'm still young at 52, but at peace with my decision. With Honish, I've spoken to this man since, and I've told him to continue his treatment, and he gets that. But he's desperate. His love for his grandson is unmistakable, and his heart is broken. The lengths that this person was willing to go to The idea that he was trying to help the state provide speech and language therapy for his young grandson, he would do anything just to hear his little voice. 33:47 And he was willing to give up his own treatment, knowing that that would have an adverse impact on his own life, thinking that by saving the state a few pounds that his young grandson would get treatment. 34:01 But that's the desperation that families are in under there. There's hundreds of children that are waiting for speech and language therapy that are waiting more than two years. Two years. 700 children are waiting on speech and language therapy two years. So I'm asking you again. 34:17 What comfort are you going to give to the thousands of parents out there whose children are non-verbal, who know with the support of the state that they can actually speak and talk, but yet the system and your government is failing them over and over again? 34:31 I mean, isn't that absolutely appalling? It's just beyond sad when you hear something like that. It really and truly is a 52-year-old granddad who will do a trade-off with the state, come off dialysis because his kidneys aren't functioning. And you know what would happen if you stop dialysis. He's literally surrendering his life. because he would do anything to hear his little grandson's voice. I mean, it's so, so sad. Now, some might say it's political opportunism inside the door, but it's a real email. It's a real story. And it happened. And that's how desperate some people are with regards to trying to get medical intervention, as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of people who are awaiting appointments in hospitals and just can't see them. 35:11 And the amount of young children, the young and, of course, the very old, Not just exclusively those two cohorts, but those that are the most vulnerable, of course, are left wanting time after time after time. And time after time after time, of course, we find huge amounts of money. 35:27 And don't even talk about maybe questionable charities that have been found wanting in the past with regards to the monies that they've got or how they behave with it. But the amount of money that goes overseas, I mean... 35:38 Considering the want and the situation that we find ourselves as a country with regards to trying to keep families literally surviving these days and the vulnerable and the sick and the elderly and those that need intervention and small children, it's absolutely dreadful. And I'm quite sure that there are people listening to me now that have children on waiting lists, just like that emailer. And if you have, do share. You talk about the CUH, and we had some criticism yesterday, rightly so, of the system, but also a lot of support. 36:12 One of them was somebody that was going through cancer treatment diagnosed by breast check. I had the surgery last week. Amazing staff. The procedure ran like clockwork. I salute the staff in the surgical ward because they were incredible. So when you can get into the system, as opposed to that roadblock and that bottleneck through A&E, then things seem to... 36:31 take their course and work very well when professionals are allowed to do their job. As I work in the service, and my own opinion would be that the A&D is like Beirut. My niece is on a chair in the corridor. She's 20. She's been there since two o'clock. This is two o'clock on Tuesday afternoon with her appendix. Her bloods are through the roof. And now we were told at half past nine yesterday morning that you may have to go to the South Infirmary instead. Actually, there were spillover beds in the South Infirmary, I believe. Or was it the Mercy? It was one or the other. 37:02 I think it was the South Infirmary that had been taken away. So beds that were supposed to be used in other hospitals for... 37:09 obviously because there would be a spillover and too many people, you know, kind of like almost like sort of an emergency bed. They've been taken out. I was sent to the A&D last Thursday morning by my GP. I was triaged in about 10 minutes to getting there. And by 6 p.m. that evening, I was being operated on. I spent three days in a bed in the A&D afterwards. And to be honest, I had a good experience. However, I was waiting over a year for the neurosurgeon, says Steve. That's good. I'm glad to hear that. But what I don't understand is three days in a bed in the A&D after surgery? 37:42 That seems a bit strange to be in a bed in the A&E. You know, Neil, you talk about Spain. People in Spain are not allowed to object to building hospitals or extending hospitals or making multi-storey car parks. Not like the CUH, where there are objections constantly. My son lives in Spain. There are no queues there. Ireland's health system is like the Stone Age, full stop. I was in the CUH on the 6th of September to the 2nd of November. That is a long time. I was sent home twice by doctors, had to go back in twice because of bad decisions those doctors made. 38:16 The care and attention you should get in hospital is gone. It's very frightening when you're very sick and at their mercy. Sent home twice, of course, and clearly it would appear that you were sent home twice too soon. Generally, as a Cork person, what is actually going on in the CUH and the HSE? Who's telling the truth in all this saga? And then we hear of leaked tapes with meetings between bosses. My God, what a scary place to work. If you wanted to raise concerns of caregiving, of course, you're slapped down, like the CEO was, incidentally. 38:47 It beggars belief that this can happen. I can't see any staff members within the CUH raising their heads over concern, over fear, if that's the way that they treated the CEO. And there are literally loads and loads like that, time after time. Listening to your callers, and particularly that man who missed his child's first heartbeat, Because he couldn't get in because of the queues and the backlog of traffic. I hope his baby is healthy, and he is, thankfully. I went to everything by myself. That's the way it was back in the day, as in to the scans. 39:19 My dad told me when we were all born, he didn't even see the baby until the baby came home. Haven't times really changed, says Marie. If your baby is healthy, don't worry. That's all that matters. You get a picture of the scan anyway, don't you? Yes, you do. But times have changed now and couples want to be together for all different chapters of the pregnancy, including the first scan and seeing the first heartbeat. And that's the way it should be. OK, hopefully we'll sort out our problems. Come back after 10 phone wise. Text 0868 104 106. 39:55 Be part of the conversation. Text 0868104106. Pick up the phone on 0818104106. John Phillips, good morning. 40:02 Morning, Neil. How are you? 40:03 Did you hear that audio that I played there a while ago, Piers Doherty and the doll, talking about that 52-year-old granddad? 40:09 I did, yeah. 40:11 What do you think of it? 40:12 It's terribly upsetting. It's heartbreaking to hear it. But it shows, I suppose, the lengths that people are willing to go to to ensure autistic children get what they deserve and what they're entitled to. 40:28 Tell us your own situation. 40:31 My situation, my son Sebastian is six. 40:35 We are very lucky. He is in a classroom, an autism classroom, in the same primary school as his two sisters attend. 40:44 He's part of the community in our town because of that. 40:48 We got a private diagnosis for Sebastian when he was two. 40:54 to where he was diagnosed as autistic. He was non-verbal until the last six months. He would still be classified as non-verbal, but he has a lot of words coming. He can identify things. He's in a very, very good school place, but our biggest worry is that in our area, those places end at primary level. There isn't sufficient post-primary capacity for autistic people. 41:25 I'm hearing you. That's down East Corkway in and around the Greater Yaw area, is it? 41:30 Yes, exactly. 41:30 Yeah, okay. So you can see how beneficial it is for Sebastian, right, at a young age to get in and start the work and get the proper care and attention young. 41:41 When we started on our journey with Sebastian, he was 14 months going to see, we went to see a doctor through the public healthcare system. 41:49 Did that work for you, that system? No. No? 41:53 No, not in the slightest. 41:55 We've never received an official HSE diagnosis for Sebastian. We had to do everything privately. We received one tranche of OT through the public health care system, which he did very, very well in. And it really did. He has an affinity for numbers and it really helped begin that for him. 42:16 But that was pulled because we were moved from the public health care, the public health system into the CDNT. And while with the CDNT, we've received minimal treatment. 42:29 Seems to me that there's an awful lot of bureaucracy. and paper pushing and pen pushing goes on within this system. What we do know, say, for instance, because you've said it, is that you would have people and families facing round trips of 120 kilometres a day, travelling with their kids to places like, from way down in East Cork, further over to Dungarvan, or into Cork City, or as far afield as Carrignavar to get the education. 42:53 Yeah, exactly, Neil. Dungarvan would be as good as it gets. 42:57 Yeah, that would be as close. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 42:59 But unfortunately what happens there is dislocation from your community. 43:07 There was an OCTUS joint committee report done and actually one of the TDs who was on that was sitting behind Pierce Daugherty when he was speaking that day about the grandfather. 43:20 They found that the biggest trial for autistic students is the swap from primary to post-primary. 43:27 Yeah, okay. And is it a case, because my understanding was that they're cutting and reducing, in one case, seven places, which would have been available last year, down to what? Is it two? 43:40 So, for the 24-25 school year in our local post-primary, there was seven places in what's called the autism hub. Now, As you'd know from knowing autistic people, if you've met one autistic person, you've met one. They're all very different. There's a certain cohort of autistic children who no one will ever know are autistic. 44:01 Okay, but the seven places are being reduced to what? 44:04 So there were seven places on offer in 2024, 2025. There was one place on offer last year, which was extended out to seven when another class was made available by the department. 44:17 There was 10 applicants for those seven places. 44:21 What happens to those that can't get a place? Are they the ones then that go to 120 kilometres? 44:25 They will either go to another school, they will either start their journey and start travelling to the likes of Dungarvan or Carrick-Navar where they'll be facing travel times of up to and over three hours daily. Or they may seek to be put on a reduced timetable as much as they can and be supported on a reduced timetable or some end up in home tuition. 44:48 And does everyone then who can't get a place get automatic home tuition? 44:54 Not always. 44:55 So are there those still get nothing? 44:58 There's plenty get nothing. 44:59 Plenty get nothing. 45:01 I know students, and I'm not just talking about all areas when I say plenty get nothing, I'm talking about across the country. I know of students who were supposed to be starting special school places in September and are still sitting at home that the place hasn't been made fully available. 45:13 Okay, so those... 45:15 Cases that we're talking about are part of the over 1 million patients who are on some form or another of a hospital waiting list at the end of September of this year. The figure is 1,040,698. And it went past a million on waiting lists in May. Like, this is just appalling mismanagement. 45:40 Well, I suppose I can... 45:42 Talk mainly about what we found. I'm part of a group called Bridging the Gap in Yall and we have for two years been seeking extra post-primary places with the support levels our children get at primary levels. 45:54 But is this about money or is it about lack of staff or is it about lack of physical buildings? 46:00 I don't think it's about... Money, Neil, because if you look at the figures for special education in Cork in 2023, 2024, there was 15 million euros spent on taxis for special needs children to and from school. How much? That's not including the escorts. 15 million. 46:17 Per annum. 46:19 Per annum. 46:21 Now, the problem is a lot of the spending is crisis spending. 46:26 And we all know the phrase, a stitch in time saves nine. And when you're crisis spending and when there's a lack of planning, last year was the first year of the parents notified. where the parents put in that their child will be seeking a place in post-primary. Up to last, it just wasn't as organised. But the problem is you can't staff a special class if you are finding out in October what the needs are for the following September in an area. 46:52 Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I know it's this chaos. 46:55 And it's not down to the school itself. 46:58 Last year, there was a circular brought out by the government that said schools with more than four autism classrooms at post-primary level would not be receiving any more classrooms until other schools were brought up to that level. 47:09 OK, so and the option then is they can have home tuition or they can, we'll give them a taxi to go 120 kilometres a day. 100%. 47:16 Hold on there a second because I want to see if I can get... Emma, are you there? 47:22 Emma? 47:23 Hi, good morning. 47:24 I know you're up the walls. Thanks for taking the call. Did you hear the Pierce Doherty piece there that I played earlier this morning? I did. Okay, what do you make of it? 47:31 It's soul-destroying. 47:33 It's soul-destroying, but I absolutely get it. If I could, you know, give a liver or a kidney or whatever, I absolutely would. And I suppose our situation is challenging in the sense that I have my little boy, Alfie, and we're really lucky in so many ways to He is in an ASD class in a mainstream school here in Carrigaline and it's been the making of him. It really has. And they've been fantastic. Primary. Throughout his primary school journey. Yeah. We're now looking at secondary schools. So I don't know if you're familiar with Carrigaline, but I suppose the natural progression for us here in Carrigaline is that you would go to the local secondary school. 48:09 You know, since we went there, myself and my husband are Carrigaline people, we went there. My eldest son is in the school in sixth year at the moment. And it was only natural that Alfie would would look to go to the community school. 48:20 That's the way it always was traditionally down through the day. Absolutely. 48:23 You went to the local school. 48:25 For sure. And I suppose Alfie is showing a huge interest. We went to the open nights. He's excited by the music room. You know, he's telling we're less than, you know, 500 metres, I suppose, really less than a kilometre from the school. And he's saying, you know, Mum, I can't wait till I can walk home from school. And, you know, will you teach me how to make a sandwich so that when I come in from school in the evenings, I'll be able to make a sandwich myself? 48:48 Well, 48:48 You know, all those massive things that are detrimental to his independent living into the future. 48:54 You want to teach him to fend. 48:56 100%, absolutely, because we're not going to be here forever, but we need to teach him those skills. In addition to the reading and the writing and the academics, it's a holistic approach that we kind of take to things, you know. But I suppose where we're at now is, unfortunately, the demand for places. This year, there were four places for incoming firsters. 49:17 So how it goes is... Four ASD places for how many applicants? 49:22 In total, on the letter I got, there were 31 applicants. 49:25 And how did they choose? 49:27 They choose then, they break it down into, I suppose, pecking order, right? So if you have a brother or sister in the school, which we have, you'd be up the ranks. If you come from, if parents went there, you'd be up the ranks. If you came from a feeder school, if you're living in the area. So as you can imagine, we ticked all of those boxes. We spoke to the school, they kind of said, yes, you're local, we know you, you know, yeah, you'd be quite high up the ranks. So I said, great. So we were quietly optimistic, you know, that we were ticking the boxes. But unfortunately, so did six other families. 49:59 So what happens then is all six names go into a hat. The board of management do a draw. The first four out get a place and the other two are told, jog on. Unfortunately, there's no room in the inn. How do you know? 50:10 How do you know? I'm not in any way being disparaging or raising any doubts, but how do you know that there is a draw? 50:19 You have to take their word for it. They give you a time and a date and they tell you that, you know, three or four of the boards of management were present and this is how it's done. 50:28 So it's legit then? 50:30 Well, I have to assume that it is legit. I have to take their word. I can't prove otherwise. Do you know what you mean? So, to be fair to them, you know. So, again, what happens then is, I suppose, some kids will nearly go into a mainstream class then and they'll nearly kind of wait it out for a place to become available in later years, if you follow me. 50:53 Is that what Alfie will do now? Are you going to a regular first year? 50:56 Unfortunately, I've been told by, I suppose, his team in his primary school and talking to his own team, they're saying not a chance. He wouldn't manage, you know, academically wise anyway. 51:09 What are your options? 51:11 My options, I think, are if the CINO, so the special education needs officer, can find him a place somewhere. 51:20 he could be bussed off out of his community somewhere, who knows where. They're telling me it could be late January before I'll know. 51:29 If I choose not to accept that place, I'm faced then with doing 20 hours of homeschooling where they'll bring somebody in to homeschooling. 51:36 Which would you prefer? Clearly you would prefer first year class a place at a desk. 51:41 Oh, 100%. And the school have pretty much told me, like, if you choose, they cannot refuse him a place in mainstream because that's their policy. Yeah. If you choose to send him to mainstream, there will be no supports for him if he gets upset or overwhelmed. And as you can imagine, his natural gut reaction when something is difficult or hard, he recoils. Get me out of here. I'm not going. It's too hard for me. He backs off. You will be told to come and collect him. 52:09 So I could drop him at 20 to 9 and be collecting him at 10 past. Do you know what I mean? 52:13 You could. 52:13 You know, I have no idea. 52:15 That's an awful worry, isn't it? Not knowing what 2027 holds. Like you've got families in y'all who are doing round trips 150 kilometres a day to the likes of Cork City and even as far afield as, no disrespect intended, to Carragh Navarre. 52:31 Yeah, it's bonkers. Like when I look at, and I suppose my issue here is absolutely I need to advocate for my son, but I suppose when I look at our community here in Cargill, I need to fact check some of my figures here, but I'm not too far off in them, right? So the last census said we had 22,500 people living in our community, right? We have two and a half students going to school. we have let's say six primary schools as such right and when we look at the the numbers of kids there i think there's 13 for instance special classes attached to those primary schools, if you follow me, right? 53:08 When we look at a second level, then we look at, okay, Edmund Rice would be one and Carrigaline Community School would be our main two. We would rule out, I suppose, the Gwail Kalashda, because a lot of autistic children wouldn't have the language skills to go into a Gwail Kalashda, if you get me, so I'm discounting that. So it comes down then to eight classes. 53:30 So if you can imagine all of those kids and age classes bearing in mind now, right? That means that there's only six per class. So that's 48 children. 53:41 from first year to sixth year have places. 53:44 I despair. I really do. I really do. You can see how that grandfather despairs at the age of 52. Well, he says, if it's about money, I'll come off dialysis if you will then give my grandson a place so I can hear his voice. 53:56 Absolutely. And, you know, we would give absolutely anything that Alfie would go to our local school. And I suppose, look, We are kind of, I suppose I am going to work with some of the local counsellors here and some of the other parents, I suppose, that are coming behind me that will face this challenge where there isn't enough spaces. Like the department has to open more of these classes. These children have to be supported. They said in their budget, there's 2,500, sorry, 1,250 places in the budget opening in 2027. 54:30 Where are they? Because they're not coming to Cork, South Central. 54:33 Well, if they were opening in 2027, the parents would know about it now. 54:37 Absolutely. Like we looked, and I didn't just look at Carragalline, for instance, you know, like I looked at, there are no places available in Douglas Community School. There is one place in, there was no places in Crosshaven. There was one place in St. Francis, Francis College in Roethystown. There was, where else did I look? I think there were four in Nagel. Like, so if you look even at the people out of Carragalline that haven't got spaces looking far and wide, it just isn't enough. Yeah, OK. You know, and to cop out and say, oh, we haven't the building space or we haven't the resources. 55:14 We kind of need to get creative a little bit. I think that's a cop out. You can build a McDonald's or an Aldi in 16 weeks. Why can't we, you know, get these extensions done for the buildings or, you know, mobilise and do pre-files until those buildings are done? 55:29 But you can also project population growth, right? And the needs of the community in five years' time and in 10 years' time. I know there are... There has been growth and there's been 786,000 more people, say, from 10 years ago living in the country and over about five and a half million. But they know that way in advance that the number is going to increase. And the amount of kids on the spectrum gets higher and higher and higher than, say, 10 or 20 years ago. 55:53 Could I just, before I let you go, could I ask you, do you, any idea why? 56:00 I think they just haven't evolved and grown in line with the population. 56:06 You know, I think it's... No, but I'm curious as to why... Is it because it's being picked up more, kids on the spectrum? 56:13 Oh, why are kids... Yeah. 56:16 I think we're becoming more aware. We're learning about it. I think I'm showing my age now a little bit. But, you know, back when I was in school, I suppose a child might be... Oh, they're bold. Or they're acting out. Or they're not interested. Or their ADHD was thrown around. But now I think we're more in tune to people, I suppose, and the needs... that they have, you know, and that it's not a one-size-fits-all. 56:39 No, no. And to bring everybody on. Try and bring everybody on to their, you know, as in... 56:45 Absolutely. 56:46 ...to their best... 56:48 it and life isn't linear you know not everybody goes from a to b all of the time there are you know zigzags and jagged you know and everybody has times in their life that they'll need maybe support or they'll struggle with something health or mental health or whatever it'll be unfortunately for i suppose you know autistic or neurodivergent people um you know it's it we're aware of it the supports are there we know they're there But yet we can't get access to them. So it's like a carrot on a stick, nearly teasing you. 57:18 Well, they're not necessarily there because they are there for some, but there's not enough for all. 57:22 Yeah, absolutely. And again, the system isn't mobilising and growing at a rate that it needs. The systems that they're using are archaic. and they're not progressive enough, you know. 57:33 OK, well, listen, let me get some more calls on, but do stay in touch and let me know how things work out for 2027 and first year. Thanks, Emma. Take care. Text 0868 104 106. It's a disgrace what's happening to kids with autism. No school places for them. Families are on their hands and knees over this. The forgotten children, I call them, says Kay. What the hell are parents supposed to do? Somebody please tell me. Another person is curious as to, can someone please explain to me why special need kids get taxis to school? Is it not the responsibility of parents to get their kids to school? My neighbour has a child picked up every day for school in a taxi. 58:06 She doesn't work. The car is sitting outside her front door. I really just don't get it. My son has cerebral palsy. I didn't rely on anyone but myself and my husband to get him to and from school. I asked the question, why can't others do likewise? Text 0868 104 106. 58:22 The Neil Prenderville Show on RedFM. 58:28 conversation that matters. 58:29 The Neil Prentival Show. Good morning all. Pick up the phone. Get involved in our different conversations. 0818 104 106, which is exactly what Anne Corbett is doing. Anne, good morning. 58:39 Good morning, Neil. How are you today? 58:40 I'm good, my dearest. 58:41 I hope you're all keeping well now. 58:47 Well, listen, when you give my regards, I often think of Moses and pass on my best. 58:51 Oh, Martin, he's so good to me, Neil. So good to me. 58:54 He's a keeper. He's a keeper. But listen to me. 58:56 Oh, definitely. No one is getting him. Only me. 59:01 Tess was on the air yesterday up in Tipperary and she was talking about a lot of different things, right? She was talking about that. She said that the country has gone down the sewer. There's no discipline anymore. The nuns were great. They kept everybody on track, put manners on people, taught them learning, kept them grounded. And everything else, including on Garda Shakana, have just kind of, let me put it this way, she says, left a lot to be desired. Now, you wanted to pick up on the aspect of her praising the nuns. 59:31 Was that it? 59:32 Neil, I'm telling you, I got to shake. She brought back so many bad memories of the nuns I had in school. 59:39 Yeah. 59:40 And if I was with that woman next to her, now I'm not a violent person, but I would have given her a clatter. 59:45 Oh, dear me. 59:46 I got such a flashback of the days in the convent where I was schooled. Like what? I would go to my grave. 59:55 Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I would never ask a woman her age unless you want to divulge it yourself. I'm 74, Neil. Okay, so we're going... 60:03 I'm a happy twin to my sister, Greta. And I'd be 75 in the new year. All right. So we're going back 60 years, Neil. 60:10 You're going back 60 years at least, yeah, if you include primary school. 60:14 60 years because I left school early. But Neil, when I was inside in school, I had an eldest sister. There was 10 of us in the family. No, we were poor Neil, but we had everything. We had plenty of love, plenty of clothes that came from our uncles in America. We were well loved and taken care of by one of her parents. 60:34 Yeah. 60:35 I was in school one day, and my eldest sister was up in another classroom. 60:40 And her nun called, sent down for me to come up to see her. 60:44 And I went up and I saw the nun, and she says, Your sister, Eileen, Never did her homework last night. No, I was only 12 now, Neil. 60:55 And I said, she said, the nun said, was she out for boys? 60:59 I said, no, our parents only was out at night time. Well, I saw the hand raising, Neil. 61:06 Her ring caught me, my lip. 61:11 And all I remember was blood pouring down. I looked at her, at the nun. I was crying, Neil. Crying. 60 years ago, crying. And the nun was white. 61:22 And she got a girl in the classroom to bring me across the road to the north infirmary. And I have a lovely little lump on my lip. 61:31 I got nine stitches. 61:33 Have you got that scar to this day? 61:35 I have it to this day. And that woman brought it all back to me. Yeah, yeah. And my mother couldn't go down to that convent because she worked for the convent, cleaning the convent for the nuns. 61:50 And I just go down and help her. 61:53 And then I just empty all the bins out of the nun's bedroom. 61:57 And just one week go by when I see an empty box of toxins in the bins. 62:03 And I was saying, oh my God, what I would do to give one. But then when it was time then for my makeup to go on, of course, I tried on my lipstick when I got the fright in my life. I had to go over the lump. 62:20 I'm trying to make it even. Even to this day, Neil, I'm still looking at it. But then the nun, at that time when I was 12, I had the nun. And every morning for the whole term, now I was with my twin sister Greta. We were all together and we still are together, thank God. But that nun used to get me to wash all the nuns' tablecloth every morning inside the kitchen. 62:48 When you should be in class? 62:50 And I should be in class, Neil. 62:52 But in the end, I tell you what happened in the end, I got the best of all them in the end when I came older. And I used to wash them every morning. And she'd come in and check on me that I had all the teeth hanging up. 63:04 Did they feel that you weren't, as the fella says, good enough for class or smart enough? 63:09 No, Neil, I was poor. 63:11 You were poor. 63:12 That's what happened. 63:13 Yeah, but you might have been poor from the point of view of material things, but that kind of behaviour that you had in school, you wouldn't have had any of that at home. You'd have a loving home. 63:23 Oh, I'd have a lovely home. And you know, my father, he was the best father in the world. He was a very educated man. And every night, the five eldest girls, because there were ten of us in the family, Neil, the five eldest girls would sit down around the table. We'd all have a buy-off, And he taught us every night for one hour. 63:44 Amazing, man. 63:45 How to hold a viral and how to write your letters. 63:49 Well, you're not getting that learning in school at all, no? 63:52 No, I wasn't taught that in school because I was just skimmy. 63:57 Where did you go to school? 64:00 And after that happened, and you've had to live with that scar all your life, did you tell your parents that she hit you? 64:08 I did tell my parents, but my mother worked in the convent with Neil. And what could she do? 64:15 Did you see any of the nuns hurting other children, physically or psychologically? 64:19 I did, more certainly. But like, I did Neil, I beg your pardon. I did Neil. But since they never do to the favourite girls, they had their favourites who had money. 64:34 And like the poor of us, and the class were getting all that. 64:38 Yeah. 64:39 And you know, Nina, if you ask me to spell my surname, at the time, it was Hotsford. 64:45 And she'd say, spell it, like, pronounce your second name. I'd say, H-O-S-F-O-R-T, Hotsford. And then one time, I'd be doing a spelling test, and me, I never forget it as long as I go to the grave with me. I got the data wrong. 65:02 Well, you know, I can't spell the data without And I have to say two letters at a time because she came down behind my back. 65:13 And she said, spell it right now. And every time, the first letter said T, I got a thump in the back. T-O, another thump. 65:21 Oh, my God. 65:22 And each time then, I can only spell for days only. P-O-T-I-T-O-E-S. 65:28 because they were the thumbs I was getting in the back of me. 65:32 Yeah, it was cruelty, it really was, to small children. 65:35 You have no... I know I have a lovely aunt and none in America I had. 65:40 And she was lovely. I'm very good. 65:43 Was anything known about the mother and baby homes back then or the orphanages or the Magdalene laundries? 65:49 No. Do you know what's so neat? I used to go down to the laundry in... 65:55 Down facing them on school. 65:57 Peacock Lane, yeah. 65:58 Peacock Lane. 66:00 I never knew them girls in their need. I never knew it. Because if I did, I would have gone in over the walls and dragged them out of it. 66:09 That's the way I speak today. 66:11 Some were saying in the past that the nuns really had to do the work of a lot of parents if they had very big families from the point of view of discipline and manners and learning and grounding and things. 66:23 No one died, because I got a prize one time for being the quietest in the class. 66:28 So, like, it was the poor people they were down on, definitely, because I used to be scrubbing the floor in the kitchen and helping me, remember, of course, Neil? Yeah. And they'd look down at Neil when I'd think of it. 66:45 And then I had to leave school at 13, of course, to work. We were delighted at being home. money to a pair of my mam she was a grey woman and I started off hairdressing and I was there for six months at 13 and a half and they didn't pay very well so I had to go into a garment past factory to come back now with this wethouse and they had more money they were the jobs they were the jobs yeah who should get a job anytime were there ever were there ever kind nuns There was one kind I would never forget in all my life. 67:21 She taught us cooking. 67:24 And twice a year, the gas company had a competition for the best apple cart made. 67:30 And her name was Mother Baptist. She was wonderful to us. 67:34 And you see to say to the twins, she's called us twins. Twins, I know you can cook and win it. 67:41 She gave encouragement. 67:43 together Colin because you'll get 10 Bob in need yeah but it was also showing a bit of kindness and love and encouragement it's what kids want oh she was absolutely wonderful and the first year we did it need I won it well done give you a good boost to your confidence and I was so proud you would have been proud yeah and I brought home 10 shillings to my mother and the second year my twin sister won it so we were so proud was 10 shillings a lot then to a family of 8 kids Ten kids, Neil. 68:14 Ten kids? Crikey, sorry, ten. 68:16 Yeah, but we had a wonderful family, like a wonderful, wonderful family. Plenty of love. 68:22 What did your dad do for a living? Because your man was probably at home. 68:25 No, my dad was, you know, my dad's worst of fame was he went to the man's school. 68:32 Yeah. 68:33 And he was well-educated, Neil. 68:35 Yeah. 68:36 And there was a writing competition in the school. He was with Jack Lynch. 68:40 And there was a writing competition in the whole school. And my dad won that. 68:45 But how did he afford to rear 10 kids and put food on the table and clothes on the back? 68:49 Well, I tell you what now. He worked in the butter factory down by the Mercy Hospital. 68:54 Yeah. 68:55 They used to send unsalted butter out to Africa. Wow. Before that, he used to make mattresses. 69:03 And was there always enough, even with 10 kids? 69:06 There was always enough because we had wonderful uncles and aunts in America. 69:11 Yeah, send clothes. 69:12 I used to send down beautiful clothes. 69:14 I remember the packages from America, yeah. 69:17 Yeah, they were wonderful. And my aunt and Sissy, she was Sister Mary Fintan, she was teaching in Massachusetts. She used to teach all the film style children. She used to send us on money, Neil. 69:31 But you know, with regards to their lovely stories, actually, looking back at your childhood, the nicer aspects of it. But when you look at the times back then, the 50s or the 60s, right, years ago, families would be very proud if they had a priest in the family and maybe the oldest got the farm or some got a job in the civil service. But sometimes it was one of the daughters became a nun and it was deemed to be a vocation. But I don't believe there were vocations. 69:56 I think a lot of the nuns were... 69:58 Yeah, so therefore there was a lot of frustration then that was taken out on the pupils. Do you know what I mean? 70:03 And that's where I got that. No, no. Because some of the nuns, especially, you know, in the rural areas, were made to go into the convent night because I was talking to one nun one day and she says, Anya, she called me, Anya, I don't want to be a nun. 70:18 And I looked at her and she was a beautiful little girl and I was on my knees scrubbing the floor. But then night I became a widow very young. 70:26 I had three wonderful children. Now, you know, my son died eight days ago. He was a copper in the army. He died in his sleep suddenly. 70:35 Oh, tragedy. 70:36 He did. He died in his sleep. But he's with his father because I became a widow very young, Neil. 70:40 Yeah. 70:42 And then when I became a widow, I said, Anne, you're all gone from home now. You're on your own. I wasn't with him at the course of the time. I went back to night school night. 70:51 Yeah. 70:53 And then I went back I did my inter-cert, which was now the junior cert. 70:58 And I got certified in my life because I was after going through three currencies since, like, the last time I was in school. 71:06 And I sat down, Neil. 71:09 And he had it come up in the board. No, he was very good. 71:13 So there's something in it until the very end. And I was stupified. 71:18 Stupified. Did you pass your exams? I passed. I passed. 71:23 I was on the echo because the same day my granddaughter was doing her. 71:27 Well done. Well done. Well done for having the courage. Well done for having the courage and the resilience to keep going. 71:33 I always had that courage because I loved history, Neil. 71:36 Yeah. 71:37 I just loved history of the world. 71:39 And was there anything that you loved in school or were you just in fear all of the time regardless of the subject? 71:45 I loved history. History was my favourite and I loved history. I loved to learn about other countries. 71:53 But I was in fear of the nuns. And then when I had to do my inter-cert, as Noah's called, do inter-cert, I went back and did my leave-cert. 72:01 Well done. 72:03 And did you press that as well? 72:05 I did. 72:07 How old were you when you pastured? I was 59. 72:10 I don't know. 72:15 Me, I looked up at my father and I said, Dad, I did it. 72:20 Well done. 72:21 I did it for you, Dad, because he settles down every night to me. 72:26 What a beautiful story. And how to write. And I have, now we all have, my sisters and brothers, have beautiful handwriting. Because every night, when we were at school, my dad used to teach us. 72:40 He learned your lessons and your letters. 72:42 Wasn't I so blessed to have a dad like that? 72:44 You are, yeah. And it's great to look back. It's great to look back fondly at a happy childhood in the home. Not so much in the schools. And just ask me, did you ever meet any of the nuns when you grew up or anything or said anything? 72:56 Well, I tell you what now, Neil, I was nearly arrested, I say. I got on the bus to go home up to my mother in Gron. And there was a sister that dumped me in the back. She sat down next to me. 73:10 She says, hello. 73:12 When Neil, I didn't answer, I'll be quite honest now, and I'm not that kind of a person because I love meeting people. 73:20 My hand was up to a veil, Neil, just to tear it off or hide. I had a veil in all cloth in my hand. 73:30 And I passed St Mary's church and something happened and I took my hand away. 73:36 My God, how did she react to that? 73:41 She just looked at me. She didn't remember me, Neil. 73:46 But by God, I remember her. 73:49 I mean, if you put your hands upon her, it's a form of assault, isn't it? 73:53 Yeah, and in the bleeding of my lip. 73:56 Did she ask you why? 73:57 She did not. 74:00 She just had an awful face, not the same face that I'd seen all through my school days. 74:07 That woman then said, the nuns are very good. Well, Neil, I went back to that classroom. I could see her raising her hand and get me in the face and my lips. And I got so mad. I was down with her receptor and I'm sure she thought I was a mad woman. 74:27 That's all. 74:28 That's all. No, I got so mad, Neil. 74:30 That's all. 74:31 There was some, like one nun was very, very good for her. 74:36 Everyone has a story to share and there are more sides to a story than just one. 74:43 You know, Tess might be talking about how wonderful the nuns were. Unfortunately, not everybody saw it that way. Listen, there's been a massive decline in the priesthood. There's been a drop off in mass. 74:55 I know. There's been a drop off in trust. There's been many scandals. 74:59 Yeah, but the nuns have dropped way down. In the 60s, there was about 14,000 nuns. It's below 4,000 now. Would you believe that the average age of a nun in Ireland now is 80? 75:10 I would believe it, Neil. I would believe it. 75:13 There you have it. 75:14 What happened is not just me, Neil. 75:20 you'll probably get called now with other people ringing in. 75:22 Well, if anybody wants to jump on the air, they can text away to their heart's content 0868 104 106. At least there are a lot more opportunities for women now with regards to a career or a vocation. 75:34 Oh my God, I was blessed that I was able to go back to night school. 75:37 Yeah, but you know what I mean? Rather than back in the day when you know, people saw no option but to become a nun and go to a nunnery. So it's different now. 75:47 Like I said, yeah, I spoke to one nunnery, particularly when I was washing out the floor, and she said, oh, yeah, I don't want to be in here. I was put in here. 75:55 Yeah, yeah. 75:56 And she was doing all the cooking than me for the nuns. There were some kind of nuns. When I was only 12, Neil. 76:02 You grow up very fast. You grow up very fast. 76:04 But I understand, like, yeah, but, like, that's how wonderful tried to, but, like, in the end, I got my education, Neil. 76:11 You didn't give up and congratulations for being resilient and getting it done. 76:15 Thank you so much. That means so much. 76:18 And thanks for listening as well, Anne. Much obliged to you. Do stay in touch, all right? 76:22 I would never miss your show, Anne. 76:24 You're very good. 76:25 Never, never. 76:26 Regards to Jim. 76:27 And thank you so much for listening to me and God bless and have a good day. 76:30 You too. Bye, Anne. 76:31 God bless, Neil. God bless. 76:42 Breaking news for you right now. Manchester United have sacked the coach, Michael Carrick. It's interesting you look at Manchester United these days where they languish in the relegation zone. Who would have ever thought Man United sacked Carrick with club resignation because they need to find a new future and a new way forward. So that's breaking news this morning on Sky. Incidentally, a very busy morning for the Fire Brigade this morning with three different units of the Fire Brigade responding to... A couple of incidents. One was on Tucky Street and the other one was on Alfred Street. The one on Tucky Street happened to be the Park Bar on Tucky Street half past seven this morning. 77:18 Well-known city bar in the early hours of the morning on Tucky Street. Publican Benny McCabe, who owns the premises, confirmed the fire at the Park Bar. He said the damage would be assessed. 77:27 And then at the same time, then the fire brigade were out attending a fire at an apartment complex in Alfred Street, located on the roof of the building. Residents tackled it, did their best to tackle it, and the firefighters arrived to do the full job. 77:41 Added to that, of course, all sorts of chaos on the roads this morning. Unbelievable. amount of traffic and problems with crashes. And I won't even go there because I'll only go off on one if I do with regards to the amount of stuff you see these days on the road. No problem. Two standing tickets for Garth on Saturday night. Woohoo. Got tickets standing and seated. No problem, says Zara. None of the core concerts are sold out yet. So there's still tickets available. Tell everybody. Somebody's suggesting to ask the question, what do you think about the prices going up for the gigs? 135 euro seems very expensive. 78:12 Now, it's interesting because that would be for a pit and a general standing ticket at 136. And the seated tickets are priced at 156. Service charge, of course, is added to that by Ticketmaster. Some people suggesting that they're very expensive. When you compare them to the 2022 concert... 78:31 the different prices stand out because the standing tickets back then were €65. 78:36 Now they're €136. And the seated ticket back then, just in 2022, was €81 and it's €156 now. So it does seem like a huge climb. But there is a caveat to that. The concert prices in 2022 were held at the same rates that fans would have paid for the cancelled Krog Park show in 2024. 78:58 What I'm saying is the 22 concert was at the 2014 concert prices. But I suppose some people might make a legitimate argument that it's a lot of money to pay, €156 to go to any gig. But these are the times that we live at. Got three tickets for Cork on Saturday. No queuing. 8, 9am, no problem. Just went in again for another look and there's still no problem purchasing even more. Thanks be to God. It's very calm and that hopefully everybody will be looked after. I think it's the fact that there are so many gigs around the country, right? 79:29 My son got two tickets for himself and his girlfriend. It took 30 seconds, says Miriam. Isn't tech a wonderful thing when it works properly, don't you know? We'll have more calls, texts and emails after the break. If you have any thoughts, particularly on Anne's story regarding nuns and school, get in touch. Just a fast one. I'm 76 years old and I was just like your caller, Anne. I had the biggest fear of the nuns. If you came from a big family, they targeted you. I came out of school illiterate. One nun had a big stick and she would lash me. 80:00 for no reason whatsoever. I had no confidence going through my life. I shake from head to toe when I'm asked to fill out a form. Can't come on air, but feel free to share. I feel so sorry for you. Not in a patronizing kind of way, but it's all about the starting life, isn't it? And to be honest with you, it's all about a good education too. That's the grounding you'll get and a good home life. Back after 11, text 0868 104 106. 80:30 Be part of the conversation. The Neil Prendival Show with Elevate Credit Union. Just a little bit of housekeeping for you. It's today that we see the start of the Cork Film Festival and it runs for 10 days. 80:42 Every single day, every single night. Your chance to get along to all the different screenings. 200 different films, major Irish and international titles. Lots more details and tickets and directions from the CorkFilmFest.org website. But we have double passes every day this week to give away. And it being Thursday, it's a family pass for The Cat in the Hat, which is showing at the Arc Cinema on the 21st of the month. A wonderful, whimsical, traditional Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat, the big screen. So a family pass for that to give away just before midday. 81:13 And tomorrow we're counting down two pairs of tickets for Chris Kent Goes Offline. that's one that you want to see. And that's in the Everyman on the 19th. So that's on tomorrow's show. So stand by for those tickets today and indeed tomorrow. And can I just give you a little bit of advance notice? On Sunday, there's a fantastic event happening in the Talbot Hotel, the former Oriel Hotel in Ballancolig. A buddy of mine, Kevin, who is a model railway driver, You have no idea to the lengths that he's gone to. 81:43 I think I might have shared videos in the past on my Instagram page of his fantastic track layouts. I mean, the detail and the size of it is unbelievable. And he's part of the Model Railway exhibition. What a day Sunday would be if you're into your model trains and things like that, or models in general, the villages, the trains, the tracks. Everything and anything you can think about. It's a massive exhibition on this Sunday. It starts at 10 in the morning, runs till 5 o'clock. Pencil this in for something for Sunday that you or the family would love. It's Sunday the 15th. 82:14 Adults are a fiver. Family passes of €15. The Talbot Hotel in Ballancolic. It's going to be an incredible day because there's exhibitors exhibiting all of the working layouts. 82:24 from all over the country, this Sunday. All right? And you'll love it from all ages. And you know what? Some extent it brings out the child in adults and grown-ups as well. So the Model Railway Exhibition, this coming Sunday, kicks off at 10 in the morning, runs all day at the Talbot Hotel in Balancholic. You will love it. The quality and the detail will be absolutely terrific. 82:46 Oh, morning. I see another £25 million then for Zelensky's energy fund. 82:50 Every time he comes here, he goes home with a huge bag of money. Meanwhile, nothing for the Irish, leaving pensioners and families here freezing in the wintertime. They have turned their backs on the Irish people. And by God, I hope someday come soon when we can pay them back. Love the show, says John. Thank you for that. Keep them coming. Lots more texts on different topics. We spoke about bomb scares yesterday and what they... The teachers now are looking for protocols in the event of more bomb scares. Of course, the one this week and yesterday was just a hoax and it's easy, of course, to call in a hoax. 83:22 Desi says, I grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and apart from the loyalist treating a primary school in New Lodge, Belfast, I don't ever remember a bomb scare in a school in 35 years of conflict where children were kept out of the conflict. And we had some of the most vicious terrorists in the world in the North at the time, but not schools. These bomb scares in schools to little children is a new low for society. It's out of order in so many different ways. I'm absolutely terrified by these bomb threats. I think they keep sending them until it actually happens. 83:53 God forbid. I'm always scared until my kids are back home with me and it starts all over again the next day. I have anxiety issues now and I don't know what to do about it. That is so sad to hear, to be living in fear and stress and anxiety. I'm just thinking there seems to be a lot of bomb threats to schools at the moment. I'm starting to think maybe it's just some of the students who don't have homework done or a test coming up and they're looking for a day off. I know that's somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but you really don't know where these threats are coming from in the first place. I'm wondering, could you touch on the court case that got swallowed up with the bomb threat in the media outlets this week? 84:29 The same day last week, in particular, when a 17-year-old girl in Tusla care was being picked up in a paid taxi to be brought to at least 30 different men for sex in return for drugs and alcohol. Thank you for that text. I saw it earlier on this morning. So I covered that earlier in the programme in quite some detail, and I hope you heard it. 84:49 And then there's some lovely texts coming in because, you know, you have the critical and also you have the praise when it comes to Angarda Shecona. It's great to hear some nice positive stories for a change. Some people are very harsh on the guards and that's just not fair. So we have a lot of other texts to plough through between now and quitting time today and again tomorrow. Do you recall recently, the way you'd be going through stuff as you do, it wasn't me actually, it was my wife Paula was going through stuff at home there recently and she came across a Christmas card from her late dad. It was sent to her late dad, the great Ned Lenehan. 85:22 And I gave a shout out to see if any of the family members were still with us or in Cork, right? Because it was a beautiful Christmas card. I mean, it was like more of a booklet, really, that was sent out. And I'm quite sure for a long time it was done, where little booklets of Christmas greetings, Banach Dei in Ollogh, City Hall Cork, Christmas 1966, was sent out by the then sitting Lord Mayor Sean Casey. He was a Labour Party politician and a trade union official and a three-time Lord Mayor at the time. 85:53 So it has the Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Cork, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There would also be TDs. The TDs were the Lord Mayors back in the day. Sending you sincere Christmas greetings and wishing you the blessings of God for the new year. And a black and white photograph of the family all sitting down. The Casey family themselves. And I wonder, was there anything at all that we could do to see if there were any Casey family members listening to this here program? And who pops up only? Siobhan Casey. Siobhan, good morning. 86:23 Good morning, Neil. How are you? 86:24 It's just lovely to hear your voice, considering I was looking at the black and white photograph of the family from 1966. Have you got one of these? 86:35 As far as I know, my brother, my older brother has one all right, but I remember seeing it at some stage. 86:41 Which one are you? 86:44 I am the fifth from the top and fourth from the bottom. I'm in the middle. 86:50 Oh, you're between your mum and dad's lap then? 86:54 Yes, as far as I know, yes. 86:55 Are you in one of the collardy Christmassy jumpers? 86:59 Oh, we all had those. We had to take out our Christmas clothes for that photograph and they were taken off us and put away for Christmas then. 87:07 Okay, so left and right of you. Are those two girls, sisters of yours, twins? 87:12 They're twins, Queelan and Reenock. 87:15 Okay, okay. How is everybody? 87:19 Everybody is fine, thank God. We're all alive and well. Seven of us are living in Cork and one is living in Manchester. 87:27 Okay, okay. Because I then did a little look into your dad's life and your mam's life. He was born in 1922, elected to the Dáil in 54, lived out in Douglas, I think around about Ard Fallon in Douglas, but died a number of months after that photograph was taken at the age of 44. 87:48 44, yeah, he died on the 29th of April 1967. Now I have a photograph in my living room with President Kennedy and my father because he greeted President Kennedy to Cork. He was Lord Mayor at the time. 88:05 And since that photograph was taken, President Kennedy had died five months later and four years later my father died. 88:16 Do you mind me asking, had your dad been sick for a while? 88:20 No, he wasn't sick at all. It was very sudden. He had an aneurysm. 88:26 Literally, literally, as they say, dropped dead. 88:29 Literally, yeah. I remember going to bed one night and the following morning, my mother said, your father died last night. 88:40 I'd say it was two weeks before my Holy Communion. 88:48 Isn't that amazing? Yeah. Four months earlier, photograph, happy, happy family in the photographic portrait at Christmas time and dead by April. 88:57 That's right. 88:59 Eight children under 16. 89:01 OK, OK. So how how did your mum cope at that stage then? 89:09 I would have presumed it was very difficult for her, to be honest. Josephine, your mother, Josephine. Josephine, yeah. And as far as I know, there was no widow's pension at the time. 89:19 No, there would have been little help. 89:22 Very little help, yeah. Very little help. But she did a great job, thank God. And we all survived. 89:29 It had to have been tough, though, because down a wage, rearing eight small children. 89:38 Exactly, exactly. It must have been very difficult. 89:42 But I suppose it was bred into us to get out there and get working and we all did and survived. 89:51 Without a doubt. Now your man passed away in 2008. 2008, yeah. 89:56 So that's a long time widowed, wasn't it? 90:00 It was a long time, it was indeed, yeah. 90:05 How old was she when she passed away? 90:08 She was 76, as far as I know. 90:12 So I imagine that these little booklety brochure Christmas gifts were, or should I say cards, were sent out every single year by City Hall, would you? 90:25 As far as I know, they were, yeah. It was just a thing that the Lord Mayor did. 90:31 Would it have been to... 90:33 party supporters or to everybody in the city? 90:35 I would imagine I'd imagine it would have been party supporters. I wouldn't be sure about that. 90:41 So I have no idea why Ned Lennon would have got a greeting from a Labour politician with him in a Fianna Fáil background. Do you know what I mean? 90:51 Wasn't it very good that you kept it all this length of time? 90:53 It's just amazing the things that you find, you know. So when my wife showed it to me, I said, that's an amazing story. You know, that these kind of cards went out. When I Googled then and found that your dad passed away four months after it, a sitting TD, the Lord Mayor and a local counsellor. And I saw the fact that there were eight children. I thought, my God, that must have been very, firstly tragic and sad, but very hard on a young mum rearing eight kids like that. 91:21 Oh my goodness, it must have been unbelievable. 91:23 Yeah, yeah. Did you go on then? Go on, were you going to say something about your mum? 91:29 She was a strong woman, really, a very strong woman. And she brought us up, all very strong people. We have two psychotherapists in the family. We have one counsellor for the HSC, a secondary school teacher, a nurse, a chef, a Montessori teacher and an SNA. 91:48 Your dad would be so proud. 91:51 Yes, I would imagine he would be. 91:53 And your mam too. 91:54 Yes. Did anyone go into politics, I wonder, Siobhan? 92:00 No, my eldest brother just dabbled in it for a little while, but it wasn't his thing. And none of the rest of us did. 92:10 Yeah, he found when he got into it that it wasn't for him for probably a lot of different reasons. It's not easy being on people's beck and call. But your dad obviously loved it. 92:20 Oh, I'd say absolutely loved it. He was a fluent Irish speaker, and his speech in the City Hall, when President Kennedy came, he gave it in Irish. 92:30 Go away, what an amazing man. 92:31 We actually have that speech, yeah. 92:33 Do you ever get together, all of you, the eight kids? 92:37 Yes, we do, on a regular basis. 92:41 The only one, Reenock, one of the twins, is in Manchester, but the rest of us are in Glamwire, Clannock Hilty, Timalee, Black Rock. We're all fairly near each other, so we always make an effort to get together. 92:56 And was that photograph taken in the front room? 93:00 In the front room of Kilcolman Lawn on the South Douglas Road. 93:04 It's a good room, like. 93:06 The good room that you weren't allowed into very often. 93:10 I just, no, I let you go, but I was just thinking that it would be a wonderful thing if all eight of you were ever together, that you could get a photograph with the sitting Lord Mayor in the Lord Mayor's chamber. Wouldn't that make a beautiful portrait? 93:25 Oh, yes. In fact, I was never in there and I would actually love to go in there. 93:30 Would you mind if we put in a call to see if it was possible at a time when all eight of you were back in Cork together? 93:40 Yep, that would be perfect and it would be easy enough to organise. 93:43 I think so. I think so. I mean, let's see if we can do that because it would be, you know, it's part of history. 93:48 You know, the Lord Mayor who died in office, he was 44 years old. 93:52 He was the Lord Mayor that welcomed John F. Kennedy. He did much of his business, Oskuelga. Wonderful, wonderful man. And to honour a mother who was widowed so young and raised eight beautiful children to adulthood. I think it's a lovely story. 94:06 Thank you very much, Neil. That is lovely for you to say. All right. 94:09 Be back in touch with you, Siobhan. It's great to catch up with you. Thanks so much for taking the call. See if we can make it happen. 94:15 Thanks very much, Neil. Bye now. 94:17 Take care. Take care. So we're talking to Anne earlier on who had, there was 10 in the family. She had nine brothers and sisters. She had a twin sister herself. That's the Casey family who had eight. Be interesting to see if we could find Cork's biggest family. 94:32 That would be an interesting thing and I bet you'd need to go back in the day to find it, I'd say. You wouldn't find anybody now having... 94:39 Some people might disagree with me. 94:42 Six, seven, eight kids. Perhaps it is still happening. But let's see if we can find Cork's biggest family. Text 0868104106. We'll come up with a nice prize for it, I'm sure. Maybe, I don't know. 94:54 Come up with lunch for the entire family if you can put them together. But anyway, have a think about that. Cork's biggest family. 94:59 Text 0868104106. 95:01 Get on to Prenderville. 95:03 Text or WhatsApp Neil now. 0868-104-106. The Neil Prenderville Show. 95:11 Listen to Anne's story, Neil. There are kind nuns as well. I went to St. Vincent's School Primary, same school, and one nun, Sister Patricia, was very good to me, gave me my Holy Communion dress, gave me food, gave me toys for Christmas. I realized I was lucky, but all through my life, the nuns and priests were very kind to me and my family. I suffered with addiction a lot of my life, and a very famous nun helped me get clean and sober. Sister Joan O'Leary is her name. I'm clean and sober today because of the kindness she showed me. We still keep in touch today. 95:42 Aren't you very, very lucky to have met kindness like that in your life? It doesn't take, however, unfortunately, for those that didn't. But I'm delighted for you. I really and truly am. Keep them coming. Text 0868-104-106. With regards to the state of the country and those that need help the most, I remember being in a predicament like your callers earlier on who children are on the spectrum with my son last year. It's awful. Praying this lady gets the school that she wants. Cases of a family member in this situation at the moment with their child looking for a secondary school place. 96:14 It's looking impossible. We as a family are just demented over the whole situation. Hasn't it become so unfair? You better believe it, Kay. Families affected need to organise a protest. No one is listening to them. It's hard enough without fighting and losing battle for a school place, says Kay. Fighting for a school place. Whoever thought we'd come to that, huh? About taxis to school. A large number of children with special needs cannot be facilitated in their local school like all the other children in the community who get into their usual schools or get the usual school buses. 96:46 The school places offered are far from home. My son is 25 kilometres from school. That would be a 100 kilometre daily car journey for me. Bus errands are supposed to offer transport, but as schools are so far away and children are coming from all directions, they subcontracted to taxi companies as well. I didn't choose to place my son in that school. It was his only option. The taxi service is the least that they should offer to parents. Then that's somebody pushing back as a parent and people asking questions this morning. 97:18 Why don't parents drive their kids? Why should the state provide taxis for them? In relation to the classes for autism for secondary school, 2027, we applied for nine schools for our son. We were unsuccessful in all. We're being told to put him into mainstream in the hope that he might get support. It's not good enough. Massive worry for us as his parents. Our children deserve an education in a setting that's suitable for them. There are so many autism places in primary with little or none in secondary, resulting in zero places for our children to go after primary ends. 97:53 Something has to be done. I, as a parent, like many others, are demented and at my wit's end. And there's many more like that, let me tell you, which I'll come back to. Get involved in all the different topics of conversation. Text 0868-104-106. Let me get back to the phone lines, if you don't mind. Eileen Murphy, good morning. 98:13 Good morning. How are you? 98:14 Are you the woman that's going around the place collecting bottles and cans all over wherever you can find them, turning them into cash and going to the automatic machines in Lidl and Aldi? 98:26 I am indeed, yes. My husband and myself. 98:30 Yourself and Mario? 98:32 Yes. Right. I like your husband's name. Was his mammy or daddy Italian? 98:36 No. 98:40 He was born in the Marion, he's Jeremiah Marion and he was born in the Marion year so thus he was short to marry up. Now a lot of people thought he was Italian but he's certainly not Italian with a Murphy following it. 98:53 Is he any good at a spag ball like? 98:58 I wouldn't say yes or no, no, not for that one. 99:02 Okay, so he was born in 1954, the Marian year. So instead of calling him Marian or Mary, they called him Mario. 99:11 Yes. That's fantastic. So what kind of tricks do yourself and Mario get up to? 99:17 We just like helping out where we can. We have 13 grandchildren and we love helping out in the best possible way we can with those. We collect some of them from school some of the days. 99:30 And our daughter Nora is living in Kildare. I was a Kildare woman myself and she's very involved in the school there. She's in the Parents Association and she got up and running with the collecting the cans and so on in the return. So we told her we'd give her a helping hand and we took her from there. We have a business premises in Mitchellstown who wish to remain anonymous, who are very kind to us and gives us their collection each week. 100:00 I hear that you were going to a lot of ga matches and you were noticing all of the cans that were being left behind. 100:06 I was and I said, yes, I do. I go to a lot of ga matches. I love the ga, particularly the hurling. 100:14 And I noticed that there'd be a lot of cans and bottles left around the place. And I said, it's an awful pity. I felt a couple of times if I had a few big bags with me, I'd go along between the seats and collect them. 100:28 How much money are you making? 100:31 Sorry? How much money are you making? 100:34 Well, last year now, the school between Nora and probably a few others and ourselves, they've collected in excess of 4,000. Plus, we got an award then. We went to Croke Park and we got an award. 4,000. And we got another 1,000 there. So, it has gone towards... 4,000 in plastic bottles and cans. 4,000 plus the award. 100:58 Yes. So, were you at the annual return awards... 101:02 I was, yes. And that helps young people see the benefits of the deposit return scheme and get us all recycling and stuff like that. And you... It does. Okay. Okay. All right. Hold on there. And let me just open another phone line here because I want to say, buongiorno, Mario. 101:18 Good morning, Liam. How are you, my? You got caught this morning, did you, with my name? I thought your mammy and your daddy were Italian, you see. 101:29 A lot of people think that, Liam. 101:32 And do you do any bit of Italian cooking to back up your Christian name, Mario? 101:38 No, I do, but I'm not a bad old cook. I rather the best things have it. 101:43 LAUGHTER 101:45 I'll tell you the truth Are you handy out collecting the bottles and cans you are? 101:51 Oh dear Liam be honest I'm not too late because I'm retired from work and we want to put something back into society I heard you were working in a nursing home but were forced to retire early I know you went through a triple bypass and fair play to you but you had a lot of time on your hands you were feeling a bit bored were you? 102:13 You should get the rest of them up in Mayo to send you down their bottles and cans. 102:29 Oh, gee, it's very hard, Luke. Half the cans, they don't even know where they are after the other island. 102:38 And you know when you go into the Lidl and the Aldi, would you have lots and lots of big black bags? 102:45 I would. The one thing about it, Liam, I get black bags down, they'd be fairly full, like maybe 50 or 60 euro a week, like. That's two and a half thousand a month or a year. You know, but... 103:01 you have to recycle them. You can bring them home, so you have to recycle the black bags. 103:07 You know? So, what if I got caught behind you in the queue? How long would I be waiting for my turn? 103:14 Well, if I had four or five bags, which I, as a matter of fact, I had four I had yesterday, but you could be waiting. You could be waiting up to an hour. 103:26 In the machine, some of the machines, then they don't work. 103:30 Like, there's two in each of them, but one might be broke, and then you have to go in and get this broke to sort it out. You know what? A lot of people have no patience. 103:43 Would they give out to you sometimes, like? 103:45 Oh, just as I want. No, I want to give out to you. And I have to look after me. You wouldn't take it, like? 103:54 There's no way I'd wait an hour behind you, Mario. I'd jog on. Oh, you'll make hay at Christmas time, huh? 104:17 There was one particular year there, which about nearly two years ago I had about eight or nine bags of them So you can picture going into Lidl and people looking at you with eight or nine bags of cans. And they might have two small little shopping bags. 104:32 Do you know something? Jump in if you want, Eileen. If you went into Lidl, right, at Christmas, and you had eight or nine bags full of Heineken cans or Guinness cans, do you know what I mean? People would think that Mario's hit the drink big time. 104:51 Well, I told them... 104:54 I've had big house parties. 104:57 Yeah. 104:59 I never disclosed my source of the cans and bottles. 105:05 What do you recycle most? Is it kind of soft drinks or beer or water bottles? What is it? 105:12 Water bottles... 105:15 My Wadi bottles, soft drinks, and I suppose there'd be a mix, and there'd be Cydona, and there could be odd guns of Guinness. That would be kind of the run of it. 105:27 Do you ever think that people are looking at you think it's all your own stuff? 105:32 They would, of course, Liam. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. I know it doesn't bother you, but I'm just curious. People say, what in the name of God are they putting into themselves in the Murphy household these days? 105:52 So you figure it's about 4,000, which means like you must have had to recycle, I don't know, 15,000, 20,000 bottles or cans so far. Did you ever put a number on it? 106:06 I haven't ever put a number, but it kind of averages around the 40, 50 euro a week. 106:13 And at Christmas time, when we had a big collection, I think we went to about 125 or 130. 106:18 And you're going to keep driving on? 106:22 Oh, yes. We look at it as occupational therapy. 106:28 Because while we're putting in the cans then, we meet other people as well. But do you go through... It's a social activity now. 106:36 But do you go through bins? 106:40 Oh, no, no, no. 106:40 No, Liam. 106:41 No, no. 106:42 No. 106:43 If I'm walking by and I see some cans on the street, I'd pick them up all right. But I wouldn't go... 106:48 But they must be fierce litter loads up around North Cork, are they? 106:53 It might be. 106:55 I wouldn't go searching in bins now or anything like that. But if I was out walking, which I do quite a bit as well, and if I saw cans, if I had a small bag with me, I'd throw the two or three of them into the bag. And they'd build up as well with the ones I collect from the business premise. 107:10 Well done. And is it the case then that the return scheme gives the money back to local communities? Yes. 107:18 Well, Liam, I don't know... As I said, we get the cash back from the shop and I take it in and I give it to my daughter who contributes it into the school. 107:27 Oh, into the school. 107:27 When she's involved with the parents' association in the school. Now, they had... They have once or twice contributed to one or two local charities as well. They contributed there to a fundraiser. They put some of the money towards a fundraiser that was being held for a local lady with suffering from motor neurone. 107:49 And I think they did another one as well. And I can't remember exactly what the charity was. 107:55 Four grand into your own local community and the return scheme then, of course. 108:00 To the school. 108:00 Yeah, it's fantastic. The return scheme then benefits others. It's fantastic. 108:04 It just goes to show what's out there. And, you know, as I often say, three plastic bags and I come home with 45 euro out of three plastic bags. Yeah. 108:14 There's time and effort in that though. There's time and effort but you're both willing to do it. Mario, which one of you are better? Do you compete against each other? 108:23 Especially putting the cans into dull machines. 108:29 She often tells me I'm going too fast and then don't let she in the stock and I used to take out the can. 108:37 Didn't I tell you you were going too fast? But didn't she leave me and said they're about to school? Like, they built a log cabin outside now in the presentation of the primary in Kindallery for kids that are, you know, and that's right. 108:55 Did they build a log cabin on the cans and bottles that you recycled? 109:02 Phone problems this morning, I think. Are either of you there? Mario, que pasa? 109:10 Eileen? 109:12 Yes? Oh, you're there. Poor old Mario's gone. What was he saying? That the proceeds of the money that you gathered from the returns went to build a log cabin for kids? 109:21 Well, no, I don't think it went to build a log cabin, but it went to help to fit it out. 109:27 How bad. How bad. Yes. 109:30 Long may people discard their bottles and cans when Mario and Eileen are in the parish, huh? 109:37 That's quite true. That's quite true. But we're actually living in Mitchellstown. 109:43 But I just noticed now, are you back again there, Mario? 109:47 I am, yes. No, I just wanted to say good luck. You were saying something there about a log cabin. 109:51 Yeah, they've built an extension in their school until they're allowed to have it. And now it's super. And it's for the intellectual kids. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's super. Like, and the money you've got... 110:07 Anything that is important in the community, they'll help out. 110:11 I think that the return scheme should give you guys your own machine. Do you know what I mean? Or else a machine. I hear tell that on the Bandon Road here in Cork, in the Duns, which we call the Posh Duns, there are some machines where you can put the entire bag in at once. That'd be good, wouldn't it? 110:28 That is true. And we have none down here. And there's another one above in Carragalline. 110:34 that you entered a whole lot of the bags in, in one go, and you're out of it in a couple of minutes. That's what you guys need, right? 110:41 It is, yeah, be honest. 110:43 Okay, so we've worked out, just before I let you go, if you made 15 cent on every bottle or can, or whatever the case may be, and you've raised over 4,000, that means that you have returned and recycled 26,677 bottles or cans. What do you think of that? Not too bad. 111:02 Not too bad. Not too bad at all. Not too shabby. 111:05 No. 111:06 No, no, no. You'll be proud of it, Lee. 111:09 Absolutely. And so you should be. It's a respectable number. It's a respectable number. 50,000 is on the phone. 50,000 is calling. What do you think? Oh, gee. 111:22 We will. We'll get there. All right. Keep it going. Keep it going, both of you. Well done and congratulations on your achievement. It's a great story. Mind yourselves. Take care. 111:32 Thanks a million. 111:33 Arrivederci, Mario. 111:36 Bye-bye. Bye-bye, Eileen. Take care, take care, take care. God bless. Text 0868 104 106. 111:41 Back after the break. 111:54 phone lines now because I've run out of time otherwise we've got the Cork Film Festival tickets to give away right across the week we're opening the phone lines now 0818 104 106 we've got family pass for The Cat in the Hat which is playing at the Ark Cinema on November 21st the film festival starts today and runs for the next 10 days it's the 71st film festival on Leeside and it's thriving so get dialing 0818 104 106 family pass for The Cat in the Hat Pamela you're a mad yoke do you know that you're just mad as a hatter 112:24 Ah, don't be giving me that name. Although that's there already, so I'm not worried that you're saying it. 112:28 Here's the reason I say it. So tell me the tickets that you managed to snaffle this morning. 112:33 We got this morning, we got the Friday night for seven of us in the pit. And for Saturday night, we've eight of us in the pit on the Saturday night as well. 112:44 And I'm trying to get Limerick at the moment. I'm just trying to sort out who's coming with me. So I'm going to go to Limerick. I'd like to see him starting off his Munster concert, which is starting in Limerick. Yeah. 112:55 What about Kilkenny then? Will you move to Kilkenny? 113:00 No, I've been, okay, so in 1994 I saw him in The Point, in 1997 I saw him in Croke Park, 2022 I went to three of the concerts in Dublin in September, the 19th, 11th and the 16th, and hopefully 2027, if God is good to us, I'll see him on the Friday night and the Saturday night, and I am pushing to get myself to, um, Limerick for the Friday night, for the first night of his Munster County. 113:27 You might square Limerick as well on the 11th of June, and then you might have a look at Kilkenny, and after that you might go to Galway, and then you never know, you might travel all the way to Belfast. 113:34 If the last one comes up for me now Saturday night, I'll travel all the way to America, which was to a road fair at the moment as well, Neil. I absolutely love him. I've been following him since the 90s, when the people, you know, a lot of people wouldn't have known about him. He kind of... started coming around then the 97th and unfortunately when he concerted his concerts there early in 2020. 113:55 I know, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 113:59 I could tell you some great stories. I got a poster for the 2022 concert. I got a poster made in Turkey. It was like five foot long and it was huge. And on it, I had myself and I had a picture of him on stage from some picture I screen shot from America. And I had up over it, up from Cork to see you rock. Pamela loves you, right? So this poster now was a nightmare to carry and to get through. So I had to get into Cork Park and I had said that she wouldn't be allowed bringing bags, et cetera, et cetera. 114:29 So I hid the poster. down the leg of a combat pants that I wore or jeans, something. And I brought in crutches to pretend that I was on crutches. And when we got in with the poster, I put the crutches, I tied the poster to the crutches and we held it up for the night. It was always great for three nights. Did he see it? He did. So the last night that I saw him was, no, the second last night I saw him on the 11th of September. I had my sister and my friend Regina with me and we got it in again. This time I didn't bring the crutches and I put it up and he saw it and he came right off to us and he done the heart shape back and he pointed to us to say, love you back. 115:05 Because I had on it, Pamela loves you, girl. We have that on video. I sent it in to your... Your heart must have been bursting in your chest. 115:16 talking about chests without wanting to get overly personal a little birdie tells me that the t-shirt that you got from the 1994 concert still fits 115:25 1997, it still fits. My God. People say to me, are you delighted you kept it? I'm just delighted it still fits. Isn't that amazing? 115:32 I mean, few of us could say that, like, from something that we were wearing in the 90s that still fits today. 115:38 Yeah, and let me tell you, everybody at the weekend, I know they can hear me on, the thing will be checking me out at the weekend to see if I'm telling lies, but no, I'm not. It still fits because I sent you a picture of that too. And speaking of clothes. You didn't stretch it, no? No. 115:50 No, no, excuse me. 115:54 Speaking of clothes now, in Garbrook's days, he was the only man that could wear a Wrangler's jeans like he wore omelette. 116:00 Ah, he's a cool dude. He is a cool dude. 116:02 Oh my God, he was fabulous. 116:03 Go on, go on. Listen, go on. I have a small little bit of business to do here. 116:06 I have a small bit of business to ask you if anybody has a bit of Pulver Lake in promotions, just to try and get me to meet him. Even just shake his hand, it would be my dream come true. 116:16 The meet and greet, is it? 116:17 A meet and greet. Oh my God, I'd faint. 116:21 Good luck and well so, Pamela. I hope I talk to you again in the coming weeks or months. You never know. But last bit of business, all right? 116:29 Sinead, Sinead, Sinead. 116:32 Back in studio with Garrett, of course, the man from Cree or Tattoo. How's it going? 116:39 We're finished. 116:39 We're done and dusted. 116:40 Do you know something? For some reason, I'm really nervous about this. 116:43 Why? 116:44 I don't know. My heart is, my chest is pounding. 116:47 Just pull up that little microphone there a little bit. 116:52 Can I... Can I... Did you bring it with you? 116:54 Did I bring it with me? 116:55 Yeah. 116:55 My leg? 116:56 Yeah. 116:57 Can I see it? Okay. Will I come round you? 117:00 Throw it up in the old desk there. 117:09 Are you widening me up? 117:10 You have your cowboy hat and all on you. 117:12 With a Stetson? 117:13 Yeah. 117:14 I do look like a badass cowboy, don't I? 117:18 I love it. 117:19 Thanks be to God, it kind of doesn't have a name or a reference to who the person is. They might think it's the real... We're going to do that though. 117:32 That's actually quite, that's actually superb. 117:34 I love it. 117:35 For an ugly guy like me. You've really captured my masculinity. I have indeed, yeah. You look two or four years younger anyway, I think. 117:47 Like, how do you feel? I mean, I don't want to burst your bubble up, but how do you feel about the fact that if you'd got online at nine o'clock, eight o'clock this morning, you'd have got tickets anyway? 117:55 Yeah, but I would have had to pay for them. 117:59 I got a relaxed morning. 118:02 Have you had anything on the other leg? 118:03 On my teeth. 118:05 Which? 118:06 On my teeth. 118:06 Okay, so... 118:08 I mean, you're not finished with tattoos. Are you going to do more? 118:10 Oh, absolutely. More you. 118:12 She doesn't even want the Garth Brooks tickets. 118:16 Whose idea? 118:18 Whose idea was it to put the Stetson on me? 118:22 It was actually Ross's. 118:23 Was it? Yeah, it was Ross's. It was his plan all along? 118:25 Yeah, it was Ross's. 118:26 Okay. Do you like it? 118:27 I love it. Are you happy with it? I'm genuinely delighted with it. 118:30 I love it. 118:31 I can't wait for me and you to go and see Garth Brooks's. 118:35 I will be in your life forever now. 118:37 I know. Like forever. Forever and ever. 118:40 That's weird, isn't it? 118:46 Oh, my God. 118:47 The things people will do. In spite of my best efforts to convince you not to, you're delighted with the result. 118:53 I'm delighted with it. 118:54 He's good, isn't he? 118:55 He's unbelievable, yeah. 118:57 Well done, man. Thank you very much. Well done. That's going to be one of the more weird requests. Let's see in the future. I suppose I would be surprised. 119:05 We had a good morning, though, didn't we? We had a good morning. At least the coffee was good. Well, I don't know. I don't know who made that second cup. That was... 119:13 She's clearly had too much caffeine anyway. 119:15 I don't drink tea or coffee. What? I don't drink tea or coffee. 119:18 You're just naturally this way. 119:22 Okay, well, what do they say? Wear it well. 119:25 Wear it well. Well wear it. 119:28 It's someone like you should get a meet and greet with Garth Brooks. Oh my God, yeah. Absolutely. Aiken knows about this because I bumped into Peter Aiken in the corridor here. Really? Mightn't be a far stretch to say, listen, this girl's got to meet the guy. I have to. Considering the legs she's got there. 119:44 Well, listen, let's see if we can make that miracle happen. I don't know, but I would love to be able to come back and say, it's on. 119:49 Okay. 119:50 Neil, do you have to work your heart? 119:52 Do you get another tattoo? Oh. 119:55 I feel awfully responsible and I don't know why because you're delighted. 119:59 I'm delighted though. I love it. Okay, well there. 120:08 Well, has the dream come true for you then? I'm delighted to be part of it. 120:13 Welcome to my life and I'm welcome to your body. 120:16 No, see now you're stuck with me. Isn't it me stuck with you? 120:20 The old Lionel Richie song is stuck on you. 120:24 All right, girl. We'll stay in touch, all right? Okay. Don't change. 120:27 You're a ball of laughs and you're a great person full of fun. Well done. Can I also say, Gareth, thank you at last minute notice coming in and helping out Ross. 120:36 I hope you enjoyed it. We actually had a great morning, in fairness. 120:38 We had a great laugh. 120:41 I can imagine. 120:41 It's good there's soundproofing around the place. 120:45 She is a barrel of laughs, isn't she? 120:47 Yeehaw! Give us a yeehaw! Yeehaw! 120:51 Good luck. Thanks, Gareth, for jumping in. And Sinead, thanks for the fun. It's been absolutely great.