6th March 2026

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show on red fm. I couldn't even answer her because you know she wasn't wrong. The voice Of course. Be part of the conversation. The Neil Prentiva show with Elevate Credit Union Morning All. It's Friday, which makes it a free food Friday. Courtesy of ourselves in Grandon's Mason. And Sambrero in Sally Brook, the most delicious food will be delivered this lunchtime by Red Patrollers, so

If you're at work, indeed if you've never entered the Cash the uh Free Food Friday before, let this morning be the first time. Text us. Let us know who you are and where you're working to 0868. one oh four one oh six and I'll tell you more about uh Free Food Friday a little later on this morning. But paperwise today it has to do with a lot of it has to do of course with travelling uh here and there and all over the globe.

You might think I'm talking about uh Saint Patrick's Day, uh travelling by ministers and uh TDs and Senators. Well I am kind of, but the story that was broken yesterday by the mail of the twenty one state employees who are off to the Riviera. So these would be council officials. They're going to the Riviera um um and it's all paid for by uh They're paying for the government's pavilion at the event in Cannes, which is expected to cost in the region of

three hundred thousand euro. I don't know are we heading back to the days of uh the Galway tent or what have you but twenty one off to the Riviera and of course all roads lead to all over the world uh next week with regards to uh the forty one that are travelling for Saint Patrick's Day uh celebrations.

uh to the four corners of the globe. So um some are saying actually the independence today is leading with all roads lead to ruin. As in Mihoy Martin faces an impossible task in the White House visit. uh with a very volatile Donald Trump and all of the tensions and war in Iran. So um he had a kind of a nervy encounter last time. But this year the stakes are even higher.

Uh and I think what the independent are m are implying is that he needs to be very careful not to rock the boat. He's under pressure from the opposition at home. to call out what is the illegality of the conflict. Even yesterday I saw Helen McIntyre and saying that there is no uh United Nations um you know blessing with regards to or even permission

uh for um the war against Iran. Um but it's quite a it's kinda interesting when you talk about the pressure that he's under because I just want a little bit of audio for you that's uh that was uploaded last night from uh the doll, which is a very passionate Richard Boyd Barrett. um of um the um Solidarity Party people before profit and he's very, very angry about what's going on, particularly Mihal Martin's uh trip. uh to Washington. Next week it's disgusting.

It is such a betrayal of our tradition of neutrality, of anti imperialism, that we are going to get down and bend the knee to these bloodthirsty warmongers who are setting the world on fire. The failure of the government and the two ministers who spoke for the government today to condemn the attack by Israel and the United States.

on Iran is an absolute disgrace. An absolute disgrace. I mean the world is now paying a price for the bloodlust of the psychopaths that run Israel and the psychopaths that are the Trump administration, attacking Iran and setting the entire region on fire. and now precipitating economic consequences for literally everybody in the world. And the Irish Government cannot bring themselves to condemn that.

They can't bring themselves to condemn the slaughter of one hundred and sixty innocent schoolgirls, massacred by the Americans and the Israelis. In the last two hours, a twelve thousand seater football stadium in Tehran was destroyed. by the US Israeli attack, a football stadium. What has that got to do with bringing anything Other than death.

Richard Boyd Barrett in the doll yesterday. In other news then with regards to travelling, of course, have told you about uh for the first time ever, every single government minister will be out of the country.

uh across the St. Patrick's Day events. Fifteen cabinet ministers, twenty three junior ministers visiting over fifty different countries. Now eight of them eight ministers will be across the US. The Tonishta, the Tishuk, Ministers all due to travel as a say.

But they had to change some of their plans, according to the journal online this morning, because of restrictions for flights over the Middle East. In fact, some of them had to cancel visits to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Arab Emirates. But it's okay. They won't be cooling their heels at home. They're going to other countries instead. Some of them instead have decided to go to Chile and Argentina and places like that. But the Taoiseach will no longer have to slum it.

according to the journal online this morning, on a commercial flight because he's got the brand new multipurpose fifty three million Euro government jet, which interestingly actually will fly directly from Cork to Philadelphia next week. And then travel on to Washington where he meets uh Donald Trump in the White House.

So he'll be travelling in style. There are others incidentally who are travelling next week as well as a by the way because we got the Cheltenham Festival on, but the Sun is reporting online. I was telling you earlier in the week about this that they're organized they've organized all sorts of Cheltenham Festival holiday packages. which will offer the punter's son

free booze and food, the entire package for four hundred euro. So why would you be going to Cheltenham? It would cost you multiples of that, like a pint of Guinness's. They've reduced the price at Cheltenham but only down to eight sixty for stout.

And I suppose you'd pay only a fraction of that in the likes of Tenerife or the Costa Blanca or Lanza and places like that. And from what I'm hearing, correct me if I'm wrong, it would appear that the vast majority of those that are travelling on these Sheltenham festival holiday packages

are men. Um I could be open to correction on that one, incidentally. So a lot of people then are coming home and are getting home. The Arabian flights, as they call it in the star this morning, plane loads returning for the second night in a row, getting people back. People are still Somewhat um upset about the eight hundred euro cost to it. But the this morning the sun then in a double page spread in the inside pages asked

Is this the start of World War Three? And they break it down then with regards to the countries that are pro Iran? countries that are anti Iran and countries that are neutral. Um and then they talk also of the different countries, twelve in total, that have been attacked by Iran and are Foreign minister has completely changed his tune from last week where he was all talk about mediation, intervention, negotiations.

They don't want any of that now. They're saying, you know, whatever America gives, bring it on, even if it's ground troops. So many of the papers are dominated by that.

And this one is um, you know, it's very divisive as to what they're gonna do with the old prison up on the Ratmore Road because the Justice Minister seems to want to plow ahead because they need capacity and the entire prison service is operating Uh about twenty five percent above capacity now. So they need more spa more spaces because inmates are on mattresses and what have you. But I know certainly for sure that uh that uh Sinn Fein's Tommy Gould is very anti

reusing the old Cork prison, but the plan is to incorporate it into the new prison and that plan has not changed in any way, shape or form. Headlining the examiner says using the old prison to fix capacity. It's at an early stage. But it hasn't gone away. There's an interesting one then with regards to the High Court making the mail today. And the High Court has said

um that a sixteen year old girl who s was close to giving birth should receive a blood transfusion if she n if she needs it. You've probably guessed it. She's a Jehovah's Witness. And the girl who, like her parents, uh has said that she did not want a transfusion under any circumstances. So what's interesting about this is the judge has supported the wish of her doctors uh to be able to give a transfusion in the case of emergency, which would be against the girl's wishes.

Now she's sixteen years old, but not just her wishes she's pregnant, but also the wishes of her of her parents. So um all all one can hope. is that everything will be fine and it won't be needed because uh there's a bit of a legal battle going on in that one. There are many before the courts uh recently, um, as you can well imagine. But what I was very interested in this morning is the amount of stories making the papers with regards to uh

Drink driving uh is a very, very, very serious one of a taxi driver who was killed. This is in the star this morning. This taxi driver was killed in a collision two years ago. But he was eight times above the legal drink driving limit at the time. It's his inquests have told us that a fellow by the name of Aiden O'Brien, he was a forty nine year old, fatal injuries in a crash on the M four.

uh revealed yesterday that he was eight tim eight times above the drink driving limit. The examiner this morning also carries a story regarding the ex Cork City football manager who also faces a a drink driving charge on the front page. Um and Britney Spears makes a lot of the red tops then again. She's been arrested uh for allegations of driving under the influence as well. Um she was In tears apparently. She wept in jail after it. She was taken away in handcuffs and stuff like that.

Uh that is a very serious thing, don't get me wrong. I'm not taking you for that, but I can't help but feel sorry for Brittany Spears because her life has completely come off the rails, hasn't it? Despite of fame and money and adulation and everything. She's got all sorts of issues and problems. It would be lovely one stage. Uh that she would just get everything sorted and have a happy life because she comes across the case.

as being rather tormented to me. And there are other things then involving addiction. Um and I know we we spoke yesterday with with Primetime. about uh trialling young people and taking their smartphones off them. But the mail this morning says, listen, and and I and I said this on the air yesterday, what that wanted to come across as being

a bloody know it all. But it's not just children who are addicted to social media and to scrolling. All age groups are, adults. And even I have to watch myself. Um you know, otherwise you find, Oh my God, I lost an entire half hour doing absolutely nothing. But it's a familiar scene. Blank faces glued to smartphone screens, oblivious to the needs of their family and friends. Nothing around them is of any consequence to them because they're getting dopamine hit after dopamine hit.

Just scrolling and looking at absolute rubbish. So the parents themselves are hooked before you start giving grief to the children. The Independent this morning their lead story has to do with dodgy box and dodgy stick. because um less and less people are subscribing now to the likes of Sky. And they are instead using dodgy services instead. They figure that at this stage only about fifty seven percent

of the people they surveyed are paying traditional providers. Now that could be Sky or Version or whatever you like. But if you looked at three years ago, that figure was seven in ten. Now it's less than you know, it's nearly it's nearly half.

uh it continues to drop. So illegal dodgy box streaming services, they figure there's a dodgy box in four hund at least four hundred thousand homes across Ireland. Um And like what's very interesting is the guards have come out time after time and the Indo remind us this morning because they said they will not

um enforce the law against the individual dodgy box users in the home. They're not going to be knocking on your door asking to get in to see if you got a a stick or a dodgy box, but they'll go after and have gone after the distributors and the sellers of the service.

But when you look at maybe some of the reasons why and the cost of things, like if you have a Netflix subscription, that's twenty five Euro a month all day long, right? But even if you have, say, for instance, um uh a sky subscription I mean I I know our sky size skyscrapers is coming about Maybe one hundred and twenty euro a month. Like lads, that's thirteen, fourteen hundred euro a year.

That's a fair chunk of change. And what really annoyed me about them, of course, is that firstly you don't have any of the ITV services. You know, with regards to recording. There's limits then on the Sky Ireland that you don't have in Sky UK. If you were a Eurosport fan, they transferred over to TNT and that became a subscription on top of everything else.

So it's a big amount of money. Um and on top of everything else, then of course, uh they they they they keep adding additional prices, price increase after price increase. I I'm not for a moment saying uh that uh people should try and uh get pirate versions of of what they have. But it's not cheap for people. It really and truly isn't. Um and then there's a lot of other kind of screen related stories making in the papers today, either screens or or murals.

The screen of course has to do with Immortal Man that gets a four star review in the mail this morning. I mean you can take critics and reviewers with a pinch of salt if you like. But a four star review ain't bad for the new Pi Peaky Blinders film that goes on general release today. I doff my cap. This is peak viewing. Couple of puns for you there. And then from the screen to the Murials, there's a a fantastic painting of Roy. Do you know if if anybody just says the word Roy?

At this stage, anywhere in the world. We all know who we're talking about, don't we? It's obviously Keno. Um and this is a really good one because when your man was painting the Muriel yesterday, who walks up behind him except Roy? Except the Muriel painter has no idea that it's Roy. He's painting it for a a new burger joint called Fat Fills on Cook Street apparently. It's just a great story. Uh and all of a sudden then as he's painting away, this is Karski Roy.

uh who comes from the Netherlands, arrived on Leaside and was doing this huge portrait of the sporting legend when who I mean, think about it like I mean what are the chances of the man himself arrives coming along? And apparently he loves it. He gave it a major thumb thumbs up as well. And it's down on Cook Street, should you want to check it out for yourself. It's got this um um it's got this caption on the side of it, keen on a burger.

So it's kind of good marketing for the burger joint, and you know you would think that Keane would be livid over it. Uh maybe in another time he'd be saying paint it down like that. You didn't ask permission like, but he's up for it. Not a bother. A big smile on his face. Anyway, text 0868-104106. Get on to Brenderville. Text or WhatsApp Neil Neil. 0868-104-106. The Neil Print.

Stall the balls stall the balls stop everything uh turn off all the lights. Um I know the word is mural. I know that. Uh you don't have to text to correct me, but thank you all the same for picking up on it.

Murial I don't know if you're those of you that can remember way back in the early days of Corrie, Coronation Street, Hilda Ogden had a Murial up on one of the walls inside in the sitting room, the front room. I think it was a murial of loads of birds, so that's where I picked up on that word. But thank you so much. I know it's mural, whichever you want to call it. It's a beautiful job anyway downtown. Go check it out yourself.

on on Cook Street. Talking about beautiful jobs or far from view beautiful jobs, we're never too far from a cowboy uh masquerading as a handyman or a tradesperson. Fanola, good morning. Good morning, Neil. Thanks for the pick. So you are now one thousand nine hundred euro lighter for a job that was completely bags? Yeah. Okay, how did it happen? So I'd looked up on Facebook and I saw either hang a guy before that had done work in the house.

and he was too busy, never answered. So then I was looking up on Facebook, saw this guy and he'd mentioned different places and all the things he'd done and can do everything. So I messaged him and he came back and I said I wanted slide robes in my daughter's room and he said, Yeah, that's grand and he came back with pictures and I said I want them with glass and he gave me a price.

And then it was like a few weeks later he said he'd call and he'd take oh, he said he asked for measurements and then he said, I'll call and do the measurements. I want uh five hundred deposit. He priced the job first up, yeah? Yeah, he priced it and it was like

It was one thousand eight hundred and fifty for sleigh robes and then my daughter said, Can I have mirrors on them? And I said, Fine. So then he came back and it was to be more expensive and then He said, um oh it was two thousand one hundred and fifty and then I said downstairs in the sitting room on the alcoves I wanted um

Drawers down low and then shelvings up high. Yeah. And he came back then with a price of three thousand five hundred. He came and measured up and it's chipboard. It's chipboard. I d I didn't know what it was, so the whole thing was three thousand five hundred and He came to measure up and I my gut just didn't like him but I said

leave it for nola, even though I always go with my gut. So he measured up and he said, Yeah, I'll come back and he texts me, it was all a messenger and he messaged me and said, I need a five hundred deposit So he called back for that and wrote me a receipt and then he said, Oh, a week later to order the stuff I'll need a thousand, can you revolute me?

That receipt was it like what kind of is it just a handwritten thing? Oh just a handwritten receipt. Yeah, okay. And and just the name written on it and then just the handwritten five hundred deposit and then He said, Oh, I'll need you to revolute me a thousand for to get the product and I said, Okay, fine and I'll try to send it on and he goes, Oh no, send it on to my girlfriend So I was like, Okay, I saved the number, sent it on.

And then Something is screaming at you inside now at this stage. Surely be to God. Oh yeah, totally. And then I was like going, Oh God And um so that was fine. He was to come two weeks later and now we went from January and we're now like February. How much have you paid over at this stage? Fifteen hundred.

Fifteen hundred and he he was to arrive on a Friday and he never came and then he was to arrive on a Monday and it didn't happen and then it happened Tuesday and he arrived up and it was meant to be half nine, it was ten o'clock. He reversed in That was grand, he came out and next thing there was a flat pack IKEA in the back of his van. So he got it in Ikea.

Yeah? And I'm there going, Oh my God And I was like, Okay, give him the benefit of the doubt, say nothing So he and another guy with them, they came in They brought it all up, they put stuff downstairs and I had to clear all the daughter's room and you know now. Yeah, so it's clear it all and Mae'n fawr iawn, mae'n fawr iawn, mae'n fawr iawn, mae'n fawr iawn, mae'n fawr iawn, mae'n fawr iawn.

And I rang the neighbour across the road to see, just to keep an eye that my house wasn't going to be left with nothing in it. And he wasn't there. He he was away. He didn't answer, went automatically into his work phone. And I was like, Oh, hope for the best, I'll come home and he'll be there and everything was still there and I carried on. I went upstairs and I was like going there was like a double wardrobe on the left hand side corner and then there was like a double door.

Slade robe that didn't reach the ceiling. that didn't have any s the doors on it yet and it like was like half a foot between the wall and the It doesn't fit at all. There's a massive big gap above the top of it up to the ceiling. And on the and then and on the s on the right hand side of it then, there's easily o uh nearly a a one and a half foot gap between the end of the slide robe and the wall. Massive gap. Like that all that should like he

He didn't measure anything. He he just probably got something that kind of might do inside Nike. Yeah, and he ordered it and I said I'm sorry, like but you measured this up I said What's with the wardrobe? I didn't want wardrobe. It was to be a slide robe all the way across. He goes, Oh well that was the way it came and I'm like, What do you mean that's the way it came? I said, I didn't order that. I said, You know what? Take it down, give me my money back.

And he was like, No no no, we need another thing overboard and he was like oh I'll need um another five hundred to get that So that's four grand then he's looking for Yeah. And I was like going Like why this was all you knew the measurements, you knew what you had to put in. And did you do all of this in a one day? No, it was two days and then he came back and I I'm self employed and I had to go to work and

I said I wouldn't be around and he s I said my husband will be back to drop my son home and he said, What time will you be back? I said, Around one and I had a half an hour break so I literally tore home. He let him in, didn't realise my son was dropped back. I left him in and He carried on and then I came toural and not your lehman. I gotta I'm just myself sorted here. I got a read coming in there. Sorry, yeah, so go on. I came back at three ish and I went upstairs. And

I was like, What are you doing? Like they just constantly went out for frags in the van and I was like going, This is not what I paid for And he was like going, Yeah, yeah, but I'll sort it out. I'll I'll fix all the trimmings and by the same like if you give me another grand and I was like, Sorry, another grand I said, I'm not paying you anything.

Yeah, and I said, You're a cool boy and he goes, I've never been talked to like this in my life and I said, I'm sorry, like but I said, This is not what I ordered. That's a wardrobe, there's no shelving in it, there's no room to hang up anything.

Downstairs then he had these square things and uh He started he goes, Oh I'll put them in now and he spent about a half an hour downstairs and I was making the dinner and I was like going right, I let him bullshit away here, sorry for the language for a half an hour inside in the living room and I'll go back in and I was like going That socket needs to be moved and the alarm of the house needs to be moved.

And he went at the alarm and it went off and I was like going, Oh God and I couldn't turn it off, I get panicky with alarm so I went into my phone, I turned it off. He goes, I can't move that, we'll just raise it I said, I don't want it raised I said, Walk around it cut it out, I said you're meant to be the carpenter. So do you know all the photographs that you sent me and they're really, really bad, bad, bad shoddy worker, is st is that what he walked away from?

Yeah, and he said he'd come back on Thursday, he'd finish it all, he'd do all the trimmings and everything around and it'd be perfect and that I didn't give him a chance and he needs to finish it and that he does a great job. And you're gonna let him do that? No, because he's a cowboy and he's got he's in one thousand nine hundred of my money already and like now with anger my husband riffed out the wardrobe. They're out the side. It's like yeah.

No, he's not coming back. But I'm just warning people Look, if he says he's a handyman, like I got done for one nine and I thought I was a bright, self employed person that got caught rotten. But your got was telling ya. Oh my god told me I was like, give him the benefit of the doubt. Yeah. But I should've listened to my gut. Yeah. I I was like, for all you don't know him just

Yeah, listen to your cotton future. Like it's so b always bear in mind in cases like this, you know this guy was looking for three and a half grand for A crappy looking wardrobe with uh it really is crappy, like. You'd assemble it yourself to be honest with you. No shelves on it and a bit of a slide robe that isn't measured up from the top nor the sides. It's just a it's just a rubbish job.

Uh so all of that is cash. He doesn't return any tax or VAT on any of that. That is clear profit for him. Okay, he's gotta go and buy the stuff, right? But I'd say the stuff that he bought for you. So a total of three and a half grand cash is um You know, if he were doing things right and going through the proper channels like uh you know, that would be if he was ending up with three and a half grand, he should be charging something in the region of maybe about six grand, you know what I mean?

Yeah. But he doesn't have to do that because it's all pure profit. But I've said it before, and I have to say it again, people need to stay away from Facebook marketing. Full stop. Yeah. Maybe you just you just it's just it's rife with cowboys and people who are just not qualified.

And and unfortunately, for those that are legit up on it, I ha I apologize, but it's just too much of a gray every single time there's something on the air with characters like him, people have found them in Facebook Marketplace. Yeah, and I know and I I you know I was waiting. I kept ringing and ringing. I've been ringing the guy for two years.

And then the daughter's like, When's it happening? And then I just went on Facebook which I never do and I thought, Okay, this looks legit I even asked for references. I got a reference and he gave me a name and a number and I rang him. And he said, Oh yeah, yeah, I g I go to him all the time. He's he's great. Okay, okay. Well that's a pity you got a reference from somebody else because that's the way you should do things, unfortunately.

It's neighbors or friends or people who have had work done in the past. They're the kind of people that you should be reaching out to who've had really good work done, you know. And it's unfortunate because it gives everybody a bad name then. One of these cowboys writing handwritten receipts and charging cash for everything, you know?

Yeah. But we live in times where it's impossible to get tradespeople a lot of the time, so I can understand why you had to go for options and do something different. Um I mean you could let him just finish it and not pay him any more money. Well it's gone beyond it. It's just going to be ripped out and I was lucky enough to get a friend who I didn't realise was back working and he's going to sort it for me. Yeah. I mean listen, I feel fear and you should be very annoyed and very angry.

Uh that somebody would take advantage of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you could You could bring him to the small claims court if you want, but that would just be very, very messy. um, you know, I'd fin I hadn't finished the work, she wouldn't let me finish it, etcetera, etcetera, et cetera. You just better just put it down to experience, you know? Y yeah, yeah, totally. And the the way he's able to talk, I'd say He'd he'd talk his way out of it.

It's crazy. Well, you're entitled to talk to him like that when you look at the work that he did. No, I mean I've said it before and I've said it and I'll say it again, it's a very, very, very grey area, the whole Facebook marketplace. And anybody can advertise. I mean you wouldn't you wouldn't go on to Facebook marketplace looking for somebody to operate on you, would you? Or to conduct surgery on you. Do you know what I mean? You wouldn't go on to Facebook Marketplace for something that really

You can't stand over their credentials. I mean I could be up on Facebook Marketplace claiming to be able to do stuff and charging cash for it. And I'm pure useless. Do you know what I mean? But you don't'cause you just don't know who these people are. No, you don't. But I thought by looking for a reference that you know that that would do but obviously it didn't like No, in this case the reference you got from another trade.

Sorry to hear it, Fanula, but I do appreciate you coming on because it's a word of warning for others as well. Not just you but people as well. I want to let people know like And I appreciate that. Appreciate that. Take care. Thanks Fanula. I mean this is just one of many calls that we put to air. in the recent and not so recent fa past with regards to Facebook marketplace and

You know, sometimes people are desperate because it's very hard to get trades uh and so therefore they look for work done in in other areas. But you really are getting into the wild west in places like that where you're just

Hoping for the best, crossing your fingers and hoping that everything'll be okay. But I think a lot of the time you should go with your got really, you know, and if your got is screaming at you or there's something little voice in your head saying, Don't do it, this guy's a charlatan. It's easy for it's easy to say after the event though, isn't it?

Anyway, text O eight six eight one hundred four one oh six, pick up the phone on O eight one eight one oh six. You can also send voice notes and people do regularly. Of course you've probably seen the price of fuel now at the forecourt. You're probably renewing, of course, but you're probably ordering up the first time. Uh home heating oil, you're in for some hell of a shock, I can tell ya. Hi Neil. Um just want to come on here very quickly. Um just being to the N twenty Circle K Plaza in Malo.

um getting some fuel for the van and it was coming in at one eighty nine point nine. Um I asked the guy behind the counter when did the price increase? He told me it increased by eight cent yesterday. Four cents this morning and it's increasing again a further four cent again tomorrow morning. That is 16 cents in 48 hours.

Just wanna let people know, avoid if possible. It's ridiculous. As I said, it's one eighty nine point nine at the moment, you know. That's up to one ninety three point nine tomorrow. Um crazy. Okay. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Uh these are some of the examples of how we were at one seventy two and in that case has gone to one eighty nine in a matter of what? Forty eight hours. It'll go to two euro and maybe a little above it.

Get on to Prendaville. Text or WhatsApp Neil Now. 0868-104-106. The Neil Prenderville Show. But the uh social media ban for sixteen year olds and under with a listener in Australia who said a bad side effect of the ban for kids in Australia is that I now find it more difficult to keep in touch with my kids and how their day to day life is.

So it's not necessarily all good. Meanwhile somebody sent me a screen grab of their fourteen year old daughter's screen time from Sunday last. It's absolutely crazy. Their word, not mine. So the screen time for her fourteen year old daughter On Sunday alone was fourteen hours and twenty three minutes. Fourteen hours and twenty three minutes of fourteen year old spent on the screen last Sunday, of which eight hours and seventeen minutes was on TikTok.

And five hours and twenty nine minutes was on WhatsApp Messenger. I mean, think about that, a fourteen year old spending fourteen and a half hours in one day on screens Text zero eight six eight one hundred four one oh six with regards to the um charging people to come back um from warn torn situations, what about the cost of the flight the government pays? to remove immigrants out of Ireland. No problem there with paying for their free removal, yet they charge to return Irish residents

Stuck in a war zone. Yeah, and there's also uh a payment given on top of the uh actual flight. Another example, Neil, of nothing in Ireland, if you're Irish but We can take in illegal foreigners and house them, but when Irish citizens need help, they have to pay for themselves. Uh and there's a lot more then on that one. March twenty f m march fourth, twenty twenty six, the Irish government charging eight hundred euro per adult for a seat on a chartered flight from the Middle East.

uh to Dublin to help citizens return home. They describe it as a substantially reduced charge, Neil, compared to the total cost. Vulnerable passengers being prioritised. Am I only the only person to say this? What if you don't have the cash?

Others come in here and they're paid to be here and sometimes paid to leave. So not everybody's happy about that. Text O eight six eight one hundred four one oh six. Pick up the phone on O eight one eight one hundred four one oh six.

Um, you know, we were talking a lot about flags and then I think there was I think it was an i probably an AI generated image that was doing the rounds yesterday from out around the lock with all of these triclo colours flying on flagpoles, and that's probably what gave it away. that it was an AI generated uh image, but there are some tricolors back up in the area. Um interestingly, Seamus took a drive by there yesterday.

um and uh you know had a look at the different areas of the lock. So last week council removed a large number of tricolors as we know from lamp posts out in the lock and the they say they'll continue to do this. Cork City Council say that they remove flags like this routinely. Um Seamus was in the air yesterday on foot, uh because we have reports of flags being back up. But he found a handful of flags flying on poles.

And actually got an opportunity to speak with some of the locals and the residents there at the same time. Actually I'm from Morocco and we have like Moroccan flags everywhere. And nobody is kind of like annoyed or anything. It's just like people are expression in there are kind of like uh feelings of sentiment. Yeah nationalism as long as it is healthy you know no no big deal but when it crosses the line to other things then things might be discussed. But I think it's

It's fair and square to have like Irish flags in Ireland so Okay. So it's not intimidating. No absolutely not. I love the Irish flag. Uh we're just asking you about the tricolors there. What do you make of them? Oh the flags. Yeah. I like it. There was quite a few taken down during the week. Oh really?

Because the council were saying that they didn't have uh permission to fly them and others are pla saying that it kinda intimidates foreign nationals that are coming into the area that it's intimidating. No, I like it. Because like it's Ireland like so we should be happy that the flags are off. What's wrong with you? Uh I would not provoke. If it was me I wouldn't hang out the flags. But on the other hand

It wouldn't be a major issue with me. Yeah. But I I know other countries uh fly their own flag all over the place. Like I find it. een festivite or zo, fijn. Maar als het een punt, een politiek punt, then I would be slower to raise the flag myself. I wouldn't do it.

Yeah I'm Irish, I'm proud of it, but I don't need to fly a flag in this. I don't see why there's any problem with putting them up. Well the council took down quite a lot of them last week, wasn't it? But why do they take them down then like? They're saying that there was no permission to have them fly. But what about the other flags that are up around the city?

Different from different countries, you know, the Palestine flags and all these things everywhere, so I don't feel they're doing any wrong. Yeah, like other countries I suppose, uh fly their national flag all the time. Yeah, yeah. I'm just taking for instance a

Since America you'd have them flying their flag at every door and there's a flag in school then as well. Yeah, of course. Like so what's wrong what's wrong with people around here putting up few of our Irish flags, not making any difference. It's not upsetting anyone, they're not in anyone's way in just

I don't see any problem really. I don't I suppose I'm a hundred percent Irish too, like Well no, I was actually talking to a guy from Morocco there and he loves the tricolor and he's no problem with it. Yeah, I there's flags all over town for everything now, so what difference is our own few flags here?

Are they entitled to fight them? I don't know. I mean is it a nationalistic thing or is it a racist thing? The jury's out I don't know who's putting him up, so I I I doubt it's Republican, that's all I say. Just ask.

about the tricolours flying on the flag poles. What do you make of them? I never took any notice of them to be honest with you. Because council took down quite a lot of flags off the poles saying that they didn't have permission to fly them. You're quite happy to have them here, are you? I am. I am. I am. I am. So what can you do?

What can you do is write. Um actually just updating again and still getting costs of of fuel coming in. There was a chat there sent a voice note talking about one hundred eighty nine in North Cork. Uh one hundred seventy nine is probably what you're gonna see in many garages now at this stage. But interestingly Timmy sent me a screen grab

uh from an Inver petrol station up in Mayfield that is still selling uh unleaded for one seventy four point nine. So not everybody is jumping on board uh with massive increases. So it's important to just uh have a good look around, particularly if you're getting a full

uh fill of petrol or diesel. As listening to your show this morning, wanted to give you my story. I can't go into too much detail as I'm nearing the end of my court proceedings with this man. But I posted on a Cork Facebook notice board looking for recommendations for a carpenter builder to construct a small outside dwelling for me. I received recommendations with one which stood out with good reviews and even had a website.

I contacted his previous customers prying to agree, prior to agreeing, and with the great reviews I was happy at that stage to go ahead. All was good with the build for the first few days. Then the excuses started coming in. Days Turned into weak Weeks turned into months with no show. There was a max of six days quoted for the full job.

I handed over eight thousand five hundred euro for materials and received nothing but a flimsy frame which was condemned by an engineer and it'd be taken down as an unsafe structure. Turns out he wasn't qualified in anything, and his reviews were by his buddies, friends, and mates. Even though I did my research for the

It showed you can't trust people on fa you cannot trust people on Facebook forums. I had waited over ten years to finally be able to afford to have my little outdoor garden space, but all I have now is nothing but debt. Eight and a half thousand euro debt and empty dreams. I know, before you say it, I won't get my money back, but if the court stops someone else getting scammed by him, it will be worth the fight.

Don't give'em my details, but I'll give it to you at the end of the email in case someone contacts you. Uh with the same name. But please pass on my emails to people if they're looking for it. It's possibly we may be able to help other people being stung by this guy. Yeah, I know the guy. Um and we've had th this individual

uh on air before we've reached out to try and contact him to get him try and respond to the different kind of works that he's doing. I mean feel free if you want to send me on any paperwork. To back I'm not d I'm not disputing what you're telling me, I'm I'm quite sure it's a hundred percent true and accurate.

Uh but what we need to be able to do is start naming these people and I'm happy to do that if I have evidence to back it up so that he doesn't find that he'll have his day in court, if you know what I'm saying. But again, we're back to Facebook and recommendations from different sites and what have you. I don't know. I mean I I mean I've said it in the past you need to get recommendations from people who've got work done in the past.

But don't don't believe the reviews. Don't believe the reviews for anything. I mean even on Amazon, don't believe the reviews. There are people who are paid by companies. They're actually paid to review products. uh online, say for instance on Amazon. Um and like you just gotta be so so wary. You know, don't believe anything. S sadly the world we live in now is just believe absolutely nothing these days.

Anyway, text O eight six eight one hundred four one oh six, pick up the phone on One Eight One O Four One. I mentioned the eight and a half hours that that child was on screens there. Fourteen and a half hours I should say, on screen times. Eight and a half of it was just on uh on TikTok alone.

So a fourteen year old, um, fourteen and a half hours on screens just on Sunday alone, here's a voice note. God forbid that these parents might actually take that fourteen year old out on a Sunday, like for a nice coffee or chicken wings or just spend some time with them so they don't have to spend that many hours on their phone.

Like you can't complain about the time a teenager is spending on their phone if you're not willing to spend time with them. Yeah, unsupervised is what you're saying. I mean this was a text that came in. I'd be happy to talk to the parent on air. Does he or she wish to come on, but a fourteen year old screen time for a Sunday of fourteen hours and twenty three minutes? It's bizarre, it's very, very worrying.

If that's the norm for a fourteen year old these days. Either way, pick up the phone, text O868-104-106. Get involved in the conversation. It's a free food Friday today, courtesy of yourselves and of course the good people at Grace. Sorry, Grandon's Mace and Sambrero in Sallybrook. They did a huge refurb down there and the whole store is completely transformed. So you got a Zambrero counter, which are Mexican inspired meals, you got the delicatess in there for food sake.

Lots of fresh food there, the assay bowls, the ice cream, the bravado coffee. So for you and your workmates, it'll feed up to fifteen of you. We got the most delicious quiche. I can say that'cause they sent me some to sample and we got loads of different rolls and wraps and sandwiches and pastry and all the rolls and wraps and sandwiches have lots of different assortment fillings. So it'll feed fifteen of you this lunchtime. Text who you are. And where you're working to Oid Six Eight 104106.

On ready. Femme conversation that matters. Just a couple of um uh updates for you. There is a vigil this Sunday at one o'clock. It's the Besborough Vigil and it happens at the gates of Bed Besborough. Remember if you were listening earlier in the week I was telling you that they're encouraging people to bring teddy bears, teddies and flowers and and candles. Uh ideally they would need nine hundred and twenty three uh teddies.

because it's the number of nine hundred and twenty three children who were born in Besborough that died. Uh and the majority um and those that are campaigning for the site to be left alone, say the majority of those children are likely to be buried on the grounds. Uh and there is a vigil this coming Sunday, one o'clock Sunday, at the gates of Besborough, should you like to go along in support. What they want is a remembrance park.

uh to honor uh those who were forgotten for so long uh and that it should be for the community and it would be the right thing to do. So that's the Bez Brevigio this coming Sunday, one o'clock, if you are going, bring a teddy. and each teddy will uh remember and commemorate uh each little baby uh that died.

As well as that then, you talk about babies. Are you aware of Evie May? Um Evie May's situation is critical uh and her husband uh pardon me, husband and wife couple would be Evie May's mum and dad, Jonathan Katrina got on to me to tell me about her. She was born in September. with a rare brain malformation. Um she's a twin brother, uh Kai, uh and she has a very rare condition that affects like one in a million babies. And the family are travelling with her

Cork, Dublin, Cork Dublin. Like five times a week, they're up and down. And they'd be doing that for many months to come. She unfortunately Evie suffered a a stroke after her last procedure. um and uh has been linked with Great Ormond Street now to see if um they can they can help in that regard. She's a beautiful little girl and there's a big fundraiser's going on at the moment to try and help uh the family with regards to the ongoing support.

for their little daughter and one of those fundraisers is tonight. um at uh the beer garden. It's at uh eight PM tonight. There'll be spot prizes, live music, a load of musicians are giving of their time tonight. If you head out on a Friday night and generally you're in that area, the beer garden at eight o'clock you'll be supporting a really great cause.

uh that fundraiser. And best of luck to the family on that one. Uh text zero eight six eight one oh four one oh six for all of the business. Mind you, here we go. I was telling you about the text uh I was I have a screenshot of a fourteen year old Screen time from last Sunday fourteen hours and twenty three minutes of which Uh six hours was on TikTok.

Five and a half hours was on WhatsApp Messenger and then there was other bitty stuff here and there. So it came in at fourteen hours twenty three minutes on screen on Sunday. Texter says it rained all day last Sunday. Matches. were called off. Sports in general were called off, left, right and center. It rained all day.

I have two teenagers. Uh I'd say they were on their screens all day. If you don't have money, what are you supposed to do in a case like that? They can't go out with friends, can't go for a walk. I tried to get them to read, but they socialize with their friends uh online, on their phones, or they're gaming online.

Well, I I don't know. I mean, far be it for me to tell you how to rear your children, like we we're all trying to do the best we can as we go along. But it's not as if it's acid rain. Uh you know, there th the rain isn't gonna poison them.

You know, they're not gonna come down with serious illnesses or what have you from getting out in the rain, but then again would I do it myself? I'm not a big fan of the rain to be honest with you. I wouldn't mind the cold, but not the rain. Could they read a book? Uh as a as an example? Could you sit down and have some f quality time? Could ya

Maybe you decide to hit the kitchen and come up with some um kick ass meal for dinner that they're part of? Could you all sit down and watch a family film or a movie or so? I don't know. I don't know. Just'cause it rains, should everything just come to an absolute standstill? Text O eight six eight one oh four one oh six. On the rogue builders that you talk about on the air from time to time, Neil, a lot of these young tradies have issues with gambling and cocaine.

You see it on the building sites. It's a major problem. Needs to be looked after, I suppose. Um that's why they're asking for money up front. Their needs need to be uh looked into, looked after, and they need the money up front as a consequence.

Yeah, it could well be that. I wouldn't want to trade'em I wouldn't want to tarnish all of the tradies, particularly the young ones, with the same brush. But uh you're telling me that it's a a problem with regards to gambling and they need money up front and really.

They'll promise any kind of work just to get the money, a lot of the time to gamble or indeed to pay down debt. Anyway, keep em coming. Text O eight six eight one hundred four one hundred six. Can I catch up uh with Crystal, who's home from Dubai eventually morning?

Good morning, how are you? I'm good. I'm what what flight did did you get one of the eight hundred Euro flights from the government or did you paddle your own canoe? Oh no Neil. See we were very lucky because um that was our original flight that we came out on yesterday. Yeah. So none of our flights were cancelled, so we were actually there for a week.

So we were kind of lucky enough that we got to You were one of the lucky ones. Not everybody was as lucky. So your return flight was yesterday anyway. Were you were you happy to get out and come home or what? Um you know, there was a mixed emotions really neat because like I was so happy to get to the airport. Once I got to the airport then I was kinda like really, really scared in the airport.

that kinda went away and then it what Why were you scared? Why? I don't know what it was. I don't know. It was it was like because we were out of the hotel and that was like safety, you know like we were I knew we were kinda safe there, I don't know what it was. It was just I know like an anxious feeling, you know. But we were grand like when we were getting on the plane, then I was like

I hope that we are safe on air now, like you know, that in that kind of thing. Okay, so you were worried about the flight itself and po the possibility of a missile hit. Thinking of a hundred and one things that could happen and I don't know. That's just the way I felt. How long is the flight?

The flight ended up being eight and a half hours because it had to go a different direction, like Yeah, not not over direct airspace, I know. Yeah and like okay, so you landed safely. Are you back in Cork now? We are, yeah. Okay, back home. Back home, thank God. I just I just feel so grateful to be home. Do you really?'Cause y like d you know, you were there for a week, um I think the first day Was the nicest and after that everything kicked off, wasn't it? Isn't that what you told him?

Yeah. Well the first day was all right. We kinda like chilled by the pool and whatever and then everything kinda went off. Then we got one day that the government said, Oh, it's okay, you can go out So we kinda like went to the sky pool. It was just literally across the way from our hotel.

But like that we had it paid for, they wouldn't give us a refund. Everyone else gave us a refund for all our other tours that we had. Yeah. But they just wouldn't give us a refund, so we were like, you know, we'll just go go in there for an hour and come out. Bad farm really, isn't it?

Yeah, it was, yeah, to be fair. But we went over there for an hour, got into the pool, but it just was it we just it was a weird feeling we had. I was like, lads, can we just t take a few photos now and just make the best of it and We head back to the hotel then.

Just hanging around the hotel. But y haven't like what I was saying to you last you were sleeping in the in the car park basement, so I'm sure you got back to your room at some stage, did you? Yeah, we slept there for three nights and then we s we went back up to the room. Okay. Can you get can you get a a refund on any of this? You know, I mean I didn't even I didn't even think of anything about it. I don't think so though, because it

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if we are. We had insurance and everything else, but I don't think... So if it's a war I don't think we you're allowed like, Yeah, be interesting. Well, we got ya there and we got ya home and we'd put you up in the hotel. Not our problem, the rest of it. Yeah. And and and since I spoke to you, m were you seeing any other missiles being intercepted or any other Uh drones or something.

Yeah, yeah, there was a few, all right. Yeah, there was a few. Like and there's a few people over there near that are good just they're getting on with their life. Like they're that's and that's good for them. That's like if they are able to go out and you're able to sit in restaurants and you're able to yeah sit in cafes, that's that's

That's okay for them, but like we were told by the Irish government to stay sheltered and that's exactly what we did. And then like you have like I was saying like some people I was saying to'em, like, lads, it's just like if we got a weather warning at home in Ireland, just that and we were told

Oh, you're not allowed to go out, it's thunder and lightning, storms, trees are falling, and w you're not gonna go out and heal and sit in a restaurant eating. Yeah. You know? It's the exact same feeling as what I had. I was like, We're safe here. Just say her. Yeah, and you stayed and you stayed pushed. I don't think you know what Neil, I just think I'm gonna stay in Ireland.

Because oh I don't know. Sometimes we don't sometimes we don't realise as a boss how lucky we are where we live, you know? Because uh We I mean we we had our own issues with our our northern brethren north of the border and what have you, but other than that, we live in a safe country, don't we? We are. We are and we're so safe and we're we like m and it's such a beautiful place as well.

Do you know, and it just let me realise that when I was down in the basement I was like, Why the hell did I put myself in this situation? You know, Neil, I was oblivious to where I was going. Like I didn't like that might sound weird now, but I was like But nothing nothing was happening when you went. No. It's not your fault. You can't tell the future. It's not your fault. Exactly. At least you're at least your home and I suppose

Yeah. And how you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever leave Cork again. I know, I know, and I just feel sorry for the people that are left there, because there's some people that aren't getting flights home, there's some Irish people sitting there, the Emirates are saying to them, oh your flight's not in five days, I was like lads, you need to go to the airport.

Like a girl that we were downstairs in the basement with she just went to the airport and was like, lad, I'm getting on that flight and like that very first flight that took off No, the very first one that came in from Emirates. Okay. That was not yesterday the Wednesday. Like there were seats left on that flight. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so like if people just need to go to the airport and hope for the best, you know, like wait around and hope for the best that they

Can fill the place. And do you think it's right for those that are stuck, um, you know being charged eight hundred euro to come home, I wonder? No, that's very unfair. Why do you say that? I just feel it is like like we're Irish citizens and it w

Like it's not about money, it's about just getting us home. And can the government not fund that? Mm. You know, that's the way we like it right, okay, eight hundred euro, that's okay. Anyone that's in this situation will pay the eight hundred euro to get home. That's but

for someone to say that to you, talk about money in a situation like that, like like you could have said that afterwards, like lads look we'll just get you on the flight, we'll get home safe and we'll talk about it then. True, true, true. You know? They could have put it in a different way like

Anyway, you're home, safe. Yeah, that's and uh you're amongst your own, which is a good thing. I know, I know, I'm so happy and my son was here and I just wanted to go home to him. Yeah, and now you are. Yeah. Okay. Listen, it was good to chat across the week. Thanks, Crystal. Take care. No. Bye bye now. Bye bye. People working in the Middle East, well, they're receiving a tax free salary. They shouldn't complain about paying for an airfare.

Uh well a lot of it is people who are tr I don't think it's necessarily although it could include people who are out there working and want to get out of it, um, but it really is people who have been out there unfortunately on a holiday or whatever the case may be, uh and they're kinda trapped there. It's not working there, okay. Uh didn't these all didn't all those unfortunate people pay for the return flights to the airlines already?

What the hell kind of greed is going on from our government? They are worse than fuel providers, jumping on the bandwagon, making a profit from the misfortunate circumstances of others. Well, I I accept your text and you're entitled to it, and you can call it disgraceful. But the government are saying that it's a knockdown price, it's a discounted price of what probably would have been twice or three times that.

And they're putting a value of eight hundred euro on it. Uh competing aga oh yeah, there's lots of others in different topics which I'll come back to throughout the course of the morning. But we'll come back after the break, text zero eight six eight, one oh four, one oh six.

Frienderville. Text or WhatsApp Neil. O eight six eight-one o four one oh six. On Red F M. Tex O eight six eight one oh four one oh six. Earlier in the week I spoke with a man called John O'Manney on Monday actually was telling us about his son Nathan from Cork who's on a second trip out and around

Um the at one stage the Straits of Ormuz that are very much in the news at the moment with all sorts of things having kicked off over the weekend. Actually I'm lucky enough to be able to get a call in to Nathan on board uh the big tanker ship that he's on at the moment. Nathan, good morning.

Good morning Neil. How are you keeping? I'm very well. It's good to talk to you following our chat with your dad earlier in the week. He said you're bearing up well. Just let's fill us in as to where you are right now. So Neil, at the moment now we're just off the coast of Raslafan Qatar, which is the biggest uh it's the gas export facility that Qatar have at the moment. So we're just at anchorage outside of that area.

So we're not really in the way of anything dangerous at the moment. We're a bit out of the way. Okay. So what have you got on board the tanker? Uh we're currently carrying liquid natural gas at the moment. How much? I mean give us an idea of the scale. Probably carrying just over about a hundred thousand uh meters cubes, cubic meters. Right, that's a massive tanker then, is it? Yeah, I'm out of...

Our understanding, or at least my understanding, is that everything has pretty much grown to a halt in that area and that there are thousands of ships. that are just literally stuck and on hold. What is the state of play? Um, as you much have said, everything's just kinda come to a halt at the moment. Uh I actually got confirmation from the captain on board the ship there's about three thousand two hundred ships currently stuck inside uh the Persian Gulf at the moment.

So it's uh there's a lot of uh people in the moment just kinda stuck here waiting. And is that just from the point of view of safety, I mean is it that was company policy for all of those diff different ships to stop or was that the the warning that was given, say, by by Iran?

Uh it it was more of a warning was the initial situation, but since that warning has come out, uh all the ships in the area, company policies and such with all the different ships, they've all decided just sit still, don't move, don't put yourselves in the way of danger. Just gonna sit there until this thing kinda blows over, hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. Have there been ships targeted though? I believe there has been two oil tankers in the area attacked. I believe one of them was a US oil tanker.

I wouldn't have the complete facts on that now any other so you'd have to double check that for me. But from what I know I think there's So let's say from where you are right now, what what can you see and what can you observe from the ship? So for me now I can see probably about fifty odd ships in our immediate area and then looking out I can see Raslafan.

Which is the port we had just come from. So I can see the coastline from where we are and then about fifty odd ships in the area as well. Okay. What about overhead? Shalom deal, I'm I'm thankful and I'm lucky now I haven't seen anything overhead.

as of uh as of now, I have yet to see anything which is to know, I'm thankful to God for that. Yeah. That I'm out of the way. I haven't seen anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a brilliant thing and hopefully it will stay that way. But how long are you actually kinda Do you know near that that's the question everyone's asking at the moment and the the honest answer I can give you is we don't know. No one knows at the moment. It it depends until they sort this whole thing out.

with what's going on in the Middle East at the moment, but until that's sorted out, everything has h come to a standstill, no one's moving, and that's just kind of the way things are at the moment. And if a ship were to move or if a tanker were to move, would the Iranian National Guard then target that ship? That was the initial threat that was um given by Iran, but no one really knows what the situation is at the moment'cause everyone kinda has just stopped. So no one's currently

going to move is the way things are going. No one's really going to risk moving with that much gas or oil on board these ships because if they're attacked or targeted, that is going to be a massivist issue. Oh my God, of course. Not not to mention loss of life on board, amongst other things. But obviously how many is on board with you with regards to crew?

Uh so on board my ship alone there's thirty nine people including myself. Right. Okay. But how are you coping with regards to water and and food supplies and and things like that? So Neil, we're lucky enough on board the ship that we have a fresh water generator so we can intake seawater and then purify it and we have fresh water then. So water's not a concern at the moment. Food wise we have enough food to last us for two months.

on board that's kind of standard the procedure. So we have enough food to last us for two months on board for everyone. Yeah. But we're not too stuck at the moment. But it is a concern going forward obviously. And it should be for a lot of ships in the area.

Like how are we going to get food? Um, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, they all import their food from other countries obviously. So, you know, the food has to be imported to them while they're under attack and then being transported over to us on the ship. And through that area of the Gulf, if you like, and through Harmuz.

There's about to what, tw twenty percent or so of the world's oil or or is it more oil and gas that goes through there? I'm I'm just wondering as to what impact it's having on supplies. Well, Neil, I believe Bahrain and Qatar have shut down all operations with regards to L and G. I couldn't tell you about oil. Uh that's not merely what we carry on board, but as terms to L and G as far as I'm aware, uh production has shut down. Yeah.

And it doesn't look as if that's going to change or improve any time soon, does it? From what I can see. No, doesn't at the moment. No, it doesn't really. Yeah. I did he I did hear of a massive tanker that turned off its tracker. when it got into the Straits and turned it back on again when it got through the other side in Abu Dhabi. That's kinda like a that's a a dangerous ploy I would have thought, isn't it?

I'd imagine so. I I actually haven't heard about that myself. But turning off your tracker isn't really No, I mean company policy, as you say, from the point of view of your company and many others, is to stop and sit tight. and wait it out. But, you know, there's all there's always the risk of targeted targeted attacks, you know, so hopefully that's that's not gonna happen. Is this your second trip, I believe, your dad was telling me?

Yeah, this is my second time away on board the vessel. So uh my first trip there was in uh the end of July last year and then I was home for the start of December. So I was on board for four months on my last ship. And I'm supposed to be on board for five months this time. I only joined two weeks ago.

So you know, I have another four and a half months here, so as I say, I have to get five months done. I'm kinda stuck here at the moment, so it's not it's not a great way to be, but it it's kinda working out in my favour. I wasn't going home any time soon. You're on some kind of an adventure that you never believed would happen. It's part of the marine engineering course in uh the Marine Marathon College in Ring of Skitty, I believe, is it?

Yes, yes. I'm doing marine electro tech, so I'm more of the electrical side uh as opposed to engineering, but yes, I would have been in the Marathon College in Orange Skitty. Yeah, and where was where is or where was the destination for your tanker? I joined the ship in Singapore. We were uh going to Qater to load gas and then we were heading back to China.

So China was originally the port we were supposed to be heading to, but that doesn't look to be the case anymore. Where will you end up, do you think, when you guys get an opportunity at whatever stage to keep moving? Do you know and your your guess is as good as mine at the moment, I imagine we could be still going to China afterwards, but you know what, no one really knows.

Considering what you're surrounded by and what you're stuck in the middle of, you seem extraordinarily calm about the whole thing, Nathan. J do know what Neil, I I I I I can only imagine what people are going through on land at the moment'cause it's devastating. I'm reading the news, constantly keeping up, but you know, as for my situation, we're we're fairly okay, we're taking a handy like

We're all in good spirits on board the ship and as I say, there's no point stressing about the situation'cause there's nothing I can do about it. So I can only take it day by day and just keeping good hope and keeping good spirits. Yeah. And that's the way I've been dealing with it for the last few days. And that's the best that's the only thing you can do, and I think that maybe family and friends will be relieved to hear that, right?

Ah, you know, they're texting me the whole time, you know, family in England and all all over Ireland now, they're texting me the whole time asking how I am day by day and stuff and you know, and they'll it's wrecking my head at this stage.

How do you pass I'm still I give How do you pass the time? Do you know Neil, we're still working on board at the moment'cause there's not much else to be doing. You're kinda sitting around and you're obviously you get in your own head at that stage, so we're not we're working the whole time, regular working hours. your evening then, you know, everyone's just kinda getting together, keeping a good hole.

And just having a laugh about the whole situation really, like not a great way to be laughing about it, but you know, I have to keep up the hope. I think you do. You have to keep the spirits up because you have no idea what could happen next and you don't want to be dwelling and pondering on that too long. On it, you know, I mean an an and a bit of humour and a bit of crack doesn't hurt the situation either.

I hear your dad tells me your dad tells me that you like your point to ginna or you like forgive me, I nearly said the G word. You like your point of beamish and you're a big fan of Kingfisher music, is that right?

I am all right now, Neil, I am. I I I tell you I'm missing the points at the moment. The bar's closed on board for good reason, but uh you know I haven't had a I I I've missed in the I've been missing the drop every once in a while now. What? There's a bar on board, it can't be that bad a job then. I yeah, but it's locked at the moment. So uh we're all gonna soften it out a bit near.

Alright, well you can live and dream of your point to beamish, get your headphones on and have a listen to uh a few Kingfisher tracks. Do you hear me? Yeah, I will look horse, man. I will look horse. All right. Well listen I might try and stay in touch with you if there's any update Nice guy. Thanks Nathan. Regardless. Thank you very much, Neil.

And that of course is for a lovely man, Nathan and all of his workmates who are out in the Straits of Hormuz at the moment and not going anywhere. Nathan O'Mahany and all of the Irish lads currently stationed. Uh at the Straits of Hormuz off the southern coast of Iran. He's a lovely guy, well reared young fella, and good luck to him. Stay safe.

Text oh eight six eight one oh four one oh six. It's a free food Friday, courtesy of yourselves and Grandon's mace and sombrero in Sally Brook. Update time actually I've got different food this morning. I've only just heard about it in the last twenty minutes because of the huge range of things. that are available to uh to buy and to enjoy at Mason Sambrero. They did a major refurbishment and they opened the new Sambrero Counter.

Which is your Mexican inspired meals made to order. And that's what we're gonna do this morning for fifteen of ya uh in the workplace. A selection of food from the Zambrero counter with nachos, burritos and burrito bowls for fifteen of ya. All right, so we're gonna put a little bit of spice into your life this lunchtime. So text who you are and where you are working to O eight six eight one oh four one oh six

So it's Mexican las, that's what's on for lunch. So good morning to everybody at Ryan Civil Engineering can sale, to the gang at Kilsar in Concrete, the new depot that's out in ovens, they're always hungry. The Bonsecurs Hospital Particularly out around Fernhurst House on the College Road, that would be uh the accounts and billing department. They said, uh looking forward to watching the Irish match and then the Cork match this weekend.

And a Free Food Friday win would kick off the weekend superbly. Countrywide drains and Dripsy, uh looking after drains and septic tanks and always hungry, particularly on a Friday. We listen to Red FM every day, including Sundays. Ego Hair Studio at Tick Knock and Cove, Pest Attack Out in the Lock. Boiler angels uh working around the city on this lovely, dry, sunny day. Happy Friday all to the staff of Lismore Heritage Center. All w are wake with the hunger. They're wake with the hunger.

Uh to Grandon's Mason Sambrero, please uh please send to Freestorm ABS in Churchfield. Um I think it's quite interesting when you get texts from Castle Jewellers. For Free Food Friday. Be a lovely way to start the weekend, say the mall. Everybody in a Marie Ireland on the Tremor Road, to Hurley, he's sent from Bishopstown, Lynn and all the gang working hard. House the herring can sale, we'd share with the customers.

uh to the uh component distributors on Tremor Road. That could well be the first time we're hearing from component distributors on the Tremor Road, so welcome on board. RT Autos at Blackstone Bridge, Kilsarin I did already, and Barry's coaches in the Glen.

They're always listening. There's Thomas Joyce, Column Wayne, Kira, and all of the gang would love to be fed. So keep those texts coming. Text who you are and where you are working, please, to O eight six eight one oh four one oh six and I'll do the next bunch of shout outs in about a half an hour's time.

All right, this one has really kicked off, right? So a parent I do not know whether it's uh mum or dad sent m a dad actually I'm being told now, sent me a uh screenshot Of his daughter's screen time from last Sunday. She's fourteen years old, she was fourteen hours and twenty three minutes on screens, eight and a half hours on TikTok on the

Five and a half hours on WhatsApp Messenger and another few smaller ones that add up to fourteen hours twenty three minutes. Now it's interesting because when I read all of that out somebody said it rained all day last Sunday.

Matches were called off, sports was called off. Uh wife teenagers as what are you supposed to do with them when it's raining? It's not as if we can just dig deep and have loads and loads of money to do this, that, and the other. If you don't have money, what are you supposed to do in a case like that? Um Then we'd a voice note her sending in a voice note saying, Well, you know You can get out!

And then the person came back again and said, Well, it rained all day. So the voice noter's back again, saying, Yes, it did rain last Sunday, Neil, and the wind was also shocking. But even that's not an excuse. Then he sent me a video then where he brought his kids last Sunday to Kuskinny to look at the waves crashing ashore.

Yeah, and it looks spectacular as long as you're not out in it inside in the car looking at it. It looks superb down at K Hoskinny. So after that then they went home. They made hot chocolate at home. uh to bring with us. If so. No money is not an excuse. We drank the hot cot hot chocolate watching the raves crash it crashing.

And the kids will mimic what their parents are doing. So be very interesting to see your parents' screen time on those days, because I'd reckon the parent, as in dad's screen time, was probably just as high as his daughter's. I don't know, maybe Dad wants to send me a screenshot of his screen time from last Sunday because he says, as in VoiceNoter says, device addiction isn't unique to teenagers or kids.

Um kids mimic parents. Let's be honest, devices are new babysitters, and a lot of parents just want a quiet life. So if the child has their head stuck in a phone for fourteen hours, then I believe that's fourteen hours that their parents just don't have to deal with them. So this one continues to grow legs. Let's see who blinks next on that one. Text oh eight six eight one oh four one oh six back after the break. eight one oh four one oh six. The Neil Prender. Show on Red FM.

At a fourteen year old's difficult age, they probably would protest about something like that. But what goes in in the home? What goes on in the homes then when it rains? When there wasn't smartphone technology and gaming? Well there were board games. Right? Or as in my case it was listening to music, any single moment I could get listening to music. And uh does anybody read a book anymore?

So there's just a few. Uh on the trades and things like that, yes indeed there is a major drug and gambling problem. I see it on sites, and it's not just the young fellas. Men in their forties and fifties are at it.

There should be drug testing mandatory on sites, believe me when I tell you that. So why are we talking about things like that? Well, we were talking about perhaps some of the younger tradies who actually have developed a serious problem with gambling and a lot of the time on their phone. So they're in need of money and then you could think that a portion of them are taking money up front in advance.

And others are bit t young people are pretending to be trades and but pretending to have qualifications that they don't, and that's why you get some of the cowboy jobs being done. A lot of the time they're chasing a gambling addition on top of everything else. So text zero eight six eight one hundred four one oh six. Fanula started this this morning. She'd nineteen hundred euro taken from her from her shoddy job, and I'm being kind to it in calling it a shoddy job shoddy job.

I mean I'm absolutely useless and it's the kind of job that I would have done um if I were to attempt to put up wardrobes or put up sliding doors, whatever you

She paid the money up front and it all started on Facebook Marketplace. Jim's a contractor himself and has been all of his life. Jim, good morning. So what's the story? Um obviously this prompted a call from you when you heard of cowboys and shoddy work. Yeah, so about full time putting up with it. I think this hits your show month after month and nothing has do has been done about it. Um like all our industry is unregulated.

Uh we have no licensing system and anybody can do anything within our our our trades and our our construction section. And that's at the demise of everybody that's good in there. There's a lot of good tradesmen here. But so when they're competing against guys that haven't a clue what they're doing. It just it just muddies the water. So how is somebody supposed to get somebody to do work in the home?

Well, we I put the proposal to the government now and they have it for the last I've seen been on for nearly twelve months, maybe two years. The proposal has gone up now on the sixteenth last month. Uh the apprentice review thing was on and they also put in the licensing

system that needs to be brought into uh into play in our industry. I understand all of that. Yeah helping apprenticeships and licensing. But what about those that will never ever be? They will be in the grey area. They're in the black economy. These are the cowboys. Well that's where the licensing system comes in and this is i in in most countries it's self-disclear. So somebody says to them when they're quoting for a job or uh they call to start the work, I need to see your license.

Yeah, so you you you have to get a government license to perform any construction work. on the no, it will be on those something like three or four thousand euros. You can't be stopping the guy cutting the grass or

Doing a smile smile job painting or something. Yeah, but a lot of the time the scams the scams are people have been caught for the fifteen hundred and the two gram fanula was nineteen hundred euro. I know I'm pushing back against you, but I think there will always be cowboys, won't there?

Well if the licensing system is in place, right? They can ask to see the license. Now the license would be regulated by the state. So what it means is if you have a problem with that particular contractor, they won they will lose their license. So you that's gonna take all the baddies out of the game. But people will still but but will that stop people then getting a cash deal f supposedly cheaper? I don't believe it's cheaper a lot of the time to be quite honest with you.

But you're paying them cash so they love that. They'll they'll never be registered because they will just never return tax. They'll never have a a VAT number or give anything to the revenue. It just won't change. Like there's no crime that you can hire someone and they don't they don't have to have any back up to what they're doing. But with the licensing system it would be regulated by the state. So if you go in and do work

without a licence, that's a crime. And right up to t people that'd be charging ten thousand, twenty thousand and cab can come in and take their vans, take their mm wealth out of the bank, they can take it all. So it just tidies up the industry. It's about having the you know, the bottle to get ahead and do this. But it kinda should be there. It it kinda is there already. Like if you're looking for somebody who's

And you want work done from any trade, let's just say in the case of maybe what Fanula had, which would have been a carpenter, right? Um then she'd only she should only hire a carpenter that has a VAT number and gives an official receipt, right? That stops it straight away. I shouldn't get a VAT number if you're selling plastic toys. That number is just your only ta your own tax number, but you've registered to pay that over twenty five or maybe just forty five thousand.

Anybody can get a So having a VAT number, yeah, it doesn't stop you being a common. And then you see with the vans there, you see, you know, fully insured and fully this you know well don't ask and doesn't know all the VATs. You check it out. There's loads of people out there right now that have had people. I see most most we've got to do. Is that a red flag? Yeah, yeah. No, I cause uh'cause I'd I'd love to know,'cause by and large the the vans are blank. They don't have anything on them at all.

Yeah, this listen the boys are up at the top of the Google search, the first ten companies you see, and they're all the same. They're usually roofing though, aren't they? Roofing, guttering and time academy.

Well look the the the the bottom line is the licensing laws need to come in. Um I've put everything on the desk of the government, it's not as if they even have to think about it, it's all printed off'em. Yeah. I have a lot of work put into it. Uh So once it comes in it'll it'll stop this, it'll certainly make it better and make it easier for guys.

To walk as well, you know. Step in the right direction. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you for that. Thanks, Jim. Take care. Uh on Saint Patrick's Day, and of course they're heading off in their jollies, there'd be nobody left in the country at all from the point of view of uh government ministers. uh and junior ministers. The government's exited for St Patrick's Festival, our TDs and senators love their country so much that they decide to leave it to celebrate how much they like being Irish.

Isn't it fine for some? Uh I'm at work, so can't take a call, paying for that crowd to be able to jet away. That shar wouldn't know the cost of living crisis if it hit them in the face, says Ray. Morning, Neil. So all of the ministers get to fly all over the world, paid for by our taxes. This is the first time this has ever happened, ladies and gentlemen, that every single one of them was out of the country.

Uh so back to the text. So that's our tax dime. Yet they're charging vulnerable people to fly home from conflict areas in the Middle East. Our government couldn't put one foot in front of the other. I do agree though with Mihal Martin going over Donald Trump is frightening, but it's a case of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. American companies employ a huge number of people in Ireland and bring in massive revenue for us.

Um I'm driving, can't come in, just pulled in to send the text. Okay, so he still has to go uh to Washington, to the Oval Office and bring the bowlers hammer because you need to keep your enemies close. Mihal Martin is a disgrace to this country. He's only interested in travelling to the White House in the new jet.

for attention, thinking he's important while people queuing up in food banks can't heat their home. A neighbour of mine asked me for one euro yesterday for her child for school. The girl was actually crying, asking me for a euro. You know, I mean it's just appallingly sad when you hear stories like that. Give'em common, text oh eight six eight one oh four one oh six. Back to the phone lines because a busy Friday again this week. Helen, good morning.

Hi Emil, how are you? Okay, so you can be scammed in many different ways, not just by a dodgy cowboy coming to do some work, but also at the end of your phone. What happened? Yeah, it was actually we still have the landline and like very seldom my my landline would ring so I know when it rings it's a scam. So um I got a phone call yesterday from this guy, he was with Chinese accent.

And I can't think now what he said his name was, but just say for reference to just say he said his name was Michael. And he said, Hi, I'm from uh is this Helen? And I said it is, yeah. He said, um I'm running here from the visa office above in Dublin and I knew straight away it was a game. If he's offers above and double. Yeah, so a Chinese accent like that.

Yeah, but like I think he used the name Michael, like but Michael is a very um Irish name for Chinese men. I betcha I bet you we'll find a m uh a Chinese person with the name Michael. Go on anyway. Text door at six eight one oh four one oh six. So Michael anyway from the M from the the visa office. So he said to me he said there was two transactions made out of your account this morning. And did you make any transactions this morning? And I said, No, I didn't.

And he said one was for two hundred and fifty euro. and the other one was for one thousand two hundred and fifty euro and I goes, Oh my God He says he goes, uh, Oh no, it's okay, it it's okay, we can deal with this and I said, Oh fine, okay. So he said, um The first transaction he said was for a phone that you purchased on ebay.

So he said, Uh, did you make this purchase? And I said, I did I did, yeah. Oh yeah, I said I forgot, yeah, I purchased the phone there this morning and I swear to God, Neil, he just turned around and he said, Go FS तेड़ी Yeah. But like that this is it, like he didn't even give me a chance to retaliate, like he just go F yourself.

Oh my god. Wouldn't you love to string them along? If you didn't have much to do for ten or fifteen minutes, just to string them. Well, I did have another lady. There was another lady, like she was a foreign lady, again rang me ages ago and she was telling me that I had a virus on my laptop. And I said, uh she said, Have you got a laptop? And I said, Yeah, I have five of'em She said, uh, Oh yeah, you have a virus on your laptop. Oh my god, I said it is sick.

She says, No, no, no, you don't understand woman She says, Your laptop is your your laptop it's the viruses on your line and I said, Oh on my clothes line? And she kept on saying, no, no, no, it's on your laptop, on your laptop, woman, you don't understand you have a virus. And I was, oh my God, it's contagious. Did she give off on you? E eventually she got so mad anyway, I just did turn on and say

Geez, are you you're very great at trying to scam people, aren't you? And shoot them up the phone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I'm delighted that you're so savvy that you kinda have um a bit of a laugh at their expense. But the sad thing is There is hundreds of millions of euro being lost around the world and there are many, many millions being lost annually in Ireland from people who are caught. They get the shock you see. They they they're

They they react in shock. Oh my God, and you're gonna help me? Yes, what do you need me to do? And they fall for it sometimes. Yeah. But see the thing is like when I know it's a scam scene because of the the landlines are basically out of date really. Like we still have ours through um our bordendum or ever. So the minute that rings I know it's a scam because my landline never rings. You gotta wonder what so where did they get your landline and get your name?

Oh no, they got my they had my name, my address, my landline. They had a whole lot. Yeah, and all they want is your bank details and your PIN code. Yeah. Yeah. I should have just ordered a Chinese like me probably would have hung up faster. All right. Stay sharp anyway. Stay sharp. Um thank you. Somebody uh this um is a these are the old style ones which are still doing the rounds. Um this is a fella who claims to be Mr Francois Pinault. The real Francois Pineau and the family are Billionaires.

They're art collectors and they have loads of different companies all over the world. But this person um uh is uh doing the rounds Uh, wondering if you would be interested in him making a donation to you. Emer got this. I think you d I think you um did you respond to him? Not yet, no, but I don't know what you're saying. I've uh he slid into my DMs twice now.

Um and I just googled him as you do when someone's showing interest. He's worth thirty five billion. Billion. He is the founder of uh the luxury group. Caring is it? Gucci San Loren. Yeah, so I am absolutely gonna respond to him. He's he's gonna give me some money, I think. Hello there. Red flag straight away. I got your email from a web journal, whatever that is. Is it okay for me to discuss a donation I would love to offer you?

Thank you. I await your prompt response. Yeah, absolutely. I just have to tell my current husband that I'll be getting a new husband first and then I'll be getting back to the book. No, no, no. He he doesn't wanna he doesn't want to run away with you. He just wants to give you only will. He will have he will by the time I'm finish with him you'll have fleeced him with everything.

Be interesting to respond to this individual to see what happens next, yeah? I hope I'm safe to do that though. I think you probably are if you're just emailing, you know. It's just you responding to an email. So far. Anyway, he sent me a picture of himself and everything.

He's a bit old for you. No disrespect. Sugar Daddy. There's a name for that, isn't there? Respond respond then and let's let's uh how see how this adventure takes off. Text oh eight six eight one oh four one oh six back after eleven. Femme conversation that matters.

Yes, indeed. If you have time on your hands at all, you know, and you're having maybe a a bit of a uh a lazy moment and you can spare it, um, try and string along the scammers for a period of time. I don't know, it'll make you feel a lot better yourself.

uh and it'll just annoy them. Um so if it's at all possible, uh just uh you know obviously there unfortunately are people who do get scammed and they don't realise they've been scammed until it's too late. But for those of you that caught onto it Um I see a text coming in here from somebody saying exactly that. Uh I wind up the scammers. I had one fella asking to check my air comp connection and things like that. I wonder if you'd like to come on air. If not we can come back to those texts.

It's a Free Food Friday, um courtesy of ourselves in Grandon's Mace and Sambrero in Sally Brook, and we're turning to Mexican today. This'll feed at least fifteen of you in the workplace. It's a selection of food from Sambrero. We got the nachos to start you off and the burritos and the burrito bowls. Lots of it.

As a new Zambrero Counter serving fresh Mexican inspired meals made to offer made to order down at Grandes Mace and Zambrero. So text who you are and where you're working to zero eight six eight one hundred four one oh six. We'll do the nuts next bunch of shout outs in about fifteen minutes time. We got voice notes as well, galore, and if you can't jump on the air you can send a voice note. It's the same text line but on WhatsApp O eight six eight one oh four one oh six.

This is Eilish on flights home from the Middle East. Morning, Neil and Team Eilish here can't come on, but um I believe um the English are f they're um evacuating their people from the war zones. And apparently it's four hundred euro but if you can't afford it that's fine. So it's optional if they want to pay it to get home. But if someone just doesn't have it, that's fine too.

Have yourself a good weekend, Alice. Thanks for always listening. Text O eight six eight one oh four one oh six pick up the phone on O eight one eight.

one oh four, one hundred six and a with lot of different topics going on at any particular time. Gina, good morning. Hi Neil, how are you? Okay, we look at potential in our beautiful city and h it was inside in town yesterday, that's what I'm keen to talk to you, because we're missing huge opportunities. It was around the North Main Street. I went from there to Castle Street and down onto Patrick Street. It wasn't a great day, it was a glum, dreary day, but boy, those streets are tired.

They really and truly they need TLC. I parked in the North Main Street um uh car park, you know, the empty shopping m have you been in there in that empty shopping mall? Oh my god, it is just so run down. So desolate and empty. But the areas themselves just need love. They need care. They need attention. Some somebody needs to sort this out. I mean if you there isn't a housing shortage, there's not an accommodation shortage. Um there's um

There's kind of a lack of will. That's what the shortage is. Everybody could be living in the city on all of these floors of buildings all around the city center. I mean I I know it's a beautiful story painting a mural on Cook Street, but look at the streets inside in the city. That's why they need murals. They're absolutely decrepit. I totally agree. You know, and and give me give me another example of potential if you wouldn't mind.

No, I'll tell you now, I just go to Tremore Sally a lot and it's just a beautiful place and basically um the last few months they actually have a deli there, it's called the Deli Queen. Okay, this is in the Tremore Valley Park. Yes. Yes. Off the King's Hale round about but there's many ways you can go to it. You can attend it from, say, quite the King's School way. Douglas, fillet's by Tesco, does uh lay me there and off range.

And um I got told that they're supposed to be making a footbridge by the park and ride, which is great. Okay. Okay.'Cause the only way you can get in that way is from the link by a car. Which I use all the time to get over there. But my point is that it's so big and it's a shame it's going to waste a few. How is it going to waste though? Now there's walk areas and stuff, but I'm saying like a lot more can be done for to it. Like Los two masses football pitches which could be used for like say

keep kids off the streets even on a big screen for like say a drive in movie or even like what they do in Fitzgerald's in the Fitzgerald's Park in the summer. I like to bring their blankets, sit down. and have a big screen and kids can watch movies. Do you know what I mean? I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Like people walk their dogs, even have a small place, say, for dog groomers or

Um a dog play area white people want to walk around that area. Okay, so you believe it isn't used to its full potential then? They could use it for music events, something to attract teenagers there in a controlled environment. We have to park and ride. There's parking there. Do you know what I mean? Like I know concerts lately are going on in Virgin Virgin Media Park, but this place is way bigger.

Do you know what I'm saying? No, I mean we need that kind of thinking, you know. We really need to do a lot of money. Bring a lot of money to people and stuff, do you know? Yeah, yeah. Having said just in general, if that doesn't go ahead, maybe even like um hot tops and saunas there because a lot of people jog and go walking there. Do you know it'll just be ideal for more things that people can do or even like

An indoor safe babbeting or tennis thing. Everything you mention is a great idea considering the size of the place. Hot tubs, saunas, tennis courts, absolutely all day long. And people will use them. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you been down around the marina, I'm curious. Have you been down?

I have and a new place there. I don't know what it's called, but my daughter goes there, just kinda by the roundabout. They have hot tubs there in saunas and she said it's a main thing. And that's kind of all the go on I mean when you go to beaches you see sonnets and stuff. Even something like that in more phalli, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's certain all of those ideas to work. Something at evening time.

I find that a lot of people in their twenties have nothing to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of that all of that would do. I find like when they go abroad there's cafes even open'til midnight and cinemas are open later, even shop'em all. Even if they kept the shopping malls open till maybe nine every night.

might keep more kids off the streets'cause they have places to go. Do you know what I'm saying? I do, I do. It's a big area, it's a huge open space. Uh and uh texty her says that they find the Tramore Valley Park very clinical. It's a huge open space with very little planting, just huge fields and footpaths, but it could be fabulous if they filled it out. Now, I'm not for a moment suggesting that they feckin' pave it with concrete, you know what I mean? But there's lots of potential as you say.

Definitely, definitely. I think something definitely should be done, even if people just even have another deli or... I don't know, even a small gym or something. Yeah, you gave a lot of examples this morning. Thank you, Gina. You should be in planning. You should be in the planning department at Cork City Hall. I will. Apply for the job. Take care. Thanks for that. Free Food Friday, courtesy of Selves and everybody at Mace.

in Sally Brook and Zambrero to everybody at B2B Signs, to the team at Seabox Group. And the energy servicing solutions down in Glanmeyer always listening, Mark and all of the team. Everybody working with Bam on Horgens Key, starving for lunch, those apartment blocks are just flying up. Great work being done there. Um everybody at C F M E, the group in Ballincolic, a young business. They're just set up and sent into their new offices in Balloncolic.

on this beautiful Friday. So well done. May you thrive at the CFME Group in Ballancolic. The Mercy Hospital catering department, we're always catering for everybody and we'd love someone to look after us instead today. Ravenscorp Mental Health Center at St. Fimbars would love food. to fuel all our mental health professionals, including Christina. Uh Cargal car Carig uh hang on Carrigleon, to give it its correct term. Day services in Carigaline.

I think that may be the first week that you've been on board for Free Food Friday, so welcome along. Wise Guys Barbers, love the show. Everybody at Rathbury and Glenview Stud and Castle Lions always listening. Coloster Cruise 3 would love the treat to end the week. Love the treat to end the week for Aramex Cork. the global logistics company in Carrigtoul, um and everybody at Elite Waxing Imbalancolic. They're huge Zambrero fans anyway, says Lily.

And for everybody working at O'Leary's garage in Mallow, Free Food Friday would be nice, wouldn't it though? So text who you are and where you're working to 0868-104-106. We'll do another bunch of shout outs. in about fifteen or twenty minutes time. Lots of different topics we'll pick up on them, but I do I I want to get this on the air before the weekend if you don't mind,'cause it's related to last weekend. Saturday night out in a pub in East Cork and spiked. More on that after the break.

The Neil Prend Show on Red FM. This is a pub in East Cork, and to be honest, I can't remember if I even made it to the smoking area. All I remember was being on the floor. And luckily the bouncer came to me very quickly and asked who could he call for help to I tried as best I could to tell him my husband was inside at the bar.

And he went and he got him for me. I remember walking to the taxi base and getting into a taxi with my husband and making it home. Once I got home I collapsed again and smashed my face off the floor. I now have a lovely black eye and a very swollen nose and bossed lips. Following this I started convulsing and shaking, and I was unable to move. My husband and my dad got me to the CUH and yup, you guessed it, spiked.

They told me in the COH that they don't really check for the substances you're spiked with. I can't understand why, but nonetheless, they did bloods, urines, and confirmed that I was indeed spiked. I was with my family. I don't ever recall leaving my drink alone, but it's just a swift move of the hand to drop in the substance. and with how crowded the pub was, I will never know who

I don't recall getting pinpricked with a needle and I have no needle marks on my body. The lovely doctor I was dealing with in the COH told me a lot of the time these perpetrators wait for you to uh drop. Come to your aid and whisk you off if you're unattended or alone, to do the inevitable to you. He sees this every week, he told me in the CU H, I was so so lucky that the first person that came to my aid was the bouncer, and not whoever was trying to hurt me.

It's unfathomable that to me that people will target somebody who is out with their family on a social evening. I suppose we're easy targets because we automatically have our guard down, as your with your safe people. I'm so surprised that this happened to me and to be honest, you hear of it happening so often, you never think it's going to be you. Until it is And then it's all the difference.

I wasn't dressed provocatively. Uh that not that that matters anyway. I'm not a young one. I'm in my thirties. Well, I think that's still young. Very young, and I was sitting with my family. It still happened though, so please, please be careful and be conscious that this is happening in our local bars. So I passed that on for what it's worth. There was a particular pub uh down in East Cork.

um and to give them uh respect that they deserve. I'm not not naming the pub because I don't know what pubs can do um to get a handle on these kind of things if it's a busy Saturday night, apart from people being very aware Just one point. You said they told me in the CU H that they don't really check for the substance you're spiked with, and I can't understand why. I was talking to medics there on the air over the years.

Um and my understanding of it is they wouldn't know what to look for. Um they will find something if they know what they're looking for, but if they don't know what it is Um rufies could be an example or hypnology. It could be any kind of a tablet. I mean you could have got an ecstasy tablet in your drink. It could be anything. It could be any kind of pharmaceutical product. Um but unless they know what they're looking for, they can't find it.

Um that seems to me to be the reason why they say, you know, we we can't actually tell you what you were spiked with. 'Cause they need to know in advance. Um I've I've heard as well that spiking can take all sorts of different manners and it can also include people putting an extra shot into your drink or and unfortunately

I I hate mentioning this. I'm not saying this was the case with regards to um the the bar that you were in, but sometimes it can be a staff member behind the bar. There were lots of different reasons why it could happen.

Um but it's just you know, you are right, you hear about it happening and then it happens to you and it's a warning to all. And I suppose the real warning is never to leave a drink unattended, you know, never to walk away from it. Or it's sad to have to say that in the society we live in now these days, but you can never be

Too careful. Anyway, back to the phone lines. We go, Brian, good morning. Okay, so just I think you're picking up on my point, uh parked up in the North Main Street car park. Would that be the what what one is that called? Is it the Kyle is it the Kyle Street car park? I'm not quite sure. It's the one that's part part of the old North Main Street. Shopping Mal, which is now completely derelict.

Which is kinda sad and eerie. Um and then I walk down the North Main Street and I'm not being disrespectful to the existing businesses on the North Main Street or on Castle Street or on the Cole Kay and areas like that. But boy, it looks tired and d and uh and jaded and in need of intervention, you know? It really does. Wasn't helped by the weather incidentally. Your thoughts?

Well, you know Father Matthew Cay? Yeah. From Parliament Bridge to the Holy Trinity. Yeah. There's seven buildings there, and they've been idle. Some of them have been idle for over 20 years. And the council at the moment are do up the road and putting in new footpaths and uh putting in a new road there. Yeah, there's a new boardwalk going in there. Yeah, but when it's finished you'll have seven buildings from Parliament Bridge to to to to Holy Trinity.

Why aren't the council doing something about them? But what about a new grand road and a boardwalk you say? And seven Del Lake buildings. W one the only if I'm trying to be optimistic about that, one would think that when that area is finished and there's a new boardwalk and it's all resurfaced and it's beautiful and you can walk all the way along the keys Well, people have known about the council doing this work for the last five or six years, like it's been on the plan.

And none of the buildings are have been renovated or anything. But you walk okay, so walk around the corner from that and go down Father Matthew Street, right, which is uh destroyed by tagging. Come out onto the South Mall where you have entire blocks. blocks of buildings that are vacant. There are entire blocks of the mall that have nothing going on in them. You walk up any one of the side streets, um and no disrespect to many of the businesses that are there, but there's a lot of empty units.

Um there go on to Patrick Street then, full of vape shops and phone shops. Go up around Castle Street. Oh my god almighty, its former glory days are well behind it, I have to say. Go up around the North Main Street, go down to the Colcay. Another example of a street that is far from its former great times. It's just sad. But uh why don't the council like I mean the the government should be giving the council monies to put CPOs on these things, you know what I mean? I mean Bell and Matthew Key.

Surely they could get some kind of uh entrepreneur in there and put apartments there or shops or a hotel or whatever in there, like you know. We don't have an accommodation shortage, certainly not in the city. There are Endless opportunities for flats and apartments to be built and renovated and set up all over the tops of shops, all over the first floor. Yeah. The ground floor. I mean we we we have housing shop. Why don't the council go along and buy these places? And put a pattern's intro.

You go down Carey's Lane, right? Or you go down French Church Street. There are massive empty buildings on both of those lanes that are unoccupied, would have fifteen, twenty, thirty apartments in them if somebody just got their finger out. Yeah, I mean, that's where the coaches should have somebody actively looking at these things and doing stuff about them.

I sure like the the people who l like or Callahan's properties or somebody like that. If the the council could come up with some kind of a deal to put'em let'em go in there and um The city the city could be full the city right now could be full of people living in the city, rearing families in the city, young people renting in the city, part of the city culture.

And all of these floors above the ground floor that could be apartments and flats. If you name any one street and I can guarantee ya that the vast majority of the above the floor are vacant. Doing nothing. Just sitting there. I I mean all you have to do is also walk around the c the the the city, north side or the south side, and you see houses and apartments boarded up, one by the council.

Why aren't we doing something with these? I mean, the government are telling us there's no shard to do money. If there's no shard to do money, why aren't they doing these things? I say it again. There there aren't shortages. There's lots of potential there, but they don't have the will or the foresight or the cop on. I don't know what it is.

to look at what we have. They should be saying Oh my God, look at look at the potential we have here. Let's do something about it. But they don't. They just don't. Yeah, they don't. I mean they they they be talking about these things for years, but there's actually nobody like with a bit of foresight and say, right เราต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้องต้อง

to to go in and do these things. I mean All the houses that are vacant on the north side and the south side, they'd been idled for years. And yet nobody is doing anything about'em. No no disrespect to no disrespect now, but Castle Street had a big former retailer there that had uh was in the clothing business for decades and decades and decades.

And they they sadly closed. Have you had a look at the building that's left behind and the state of it? Oh my god. I did, yeah. I go down the Not M Speak nearly every day, like and it it it it's just like it's just appalling. And I would encourage anybody that's in the city next.

Don't be looking at the ground. Don't be looking at ground level. Look up all around you. Just look up and see the potential that's there that's wasted. Would you agree with that, Brian? I would, yeah. I mean w we we we have ten T Ds in the city. What are they doing in the doors to to make sure that our city looks good and proper?

I wonder when was the last time that Miho Martin put on a beanie hat and uh went for a walk around the city streets. No I'm serious I'm not making a laugh and I'm not having a go at him. But I'd be curious to know when he actually last took a good walk around the city centre. And he drives home again. He doesn't see anybody. Nobody drives him around.

You're right there. You're right there. You're right there. Out of touch. Outta touch. All right. Okay. But I mean he's not the only T D. I mean we have ten of'em in the city, you know? And they're doing nothing. Detached, yeah.

Thanks, Brian, appreciate it. Text zero eight six eight one oh four one oh six. Pick up the phone on O eight one eight one oh four one oh six. You know we're talking about the screen time of that child earlier on this morning, fourteen and a half hours for a fourteen year old, right?

And somebody and there was a lot of pushback earlier back and forth saying, Oh, it was raining all day Sunday, the wind was howling, kids and couldn't get out, couldn't I mean, y from the point of view of a parent, I suppose, you've got to come up with options to try and encourage them to do other things besides spend their whole day um or fourteen hours on a Sunday uh on screen. His parents across Cork are frazzled.

uh for the past few days, trying to get the kids ready for lots of different things, including you know, that World Book Day I was talking about yesterday, kids in the schools and an opportunity to to go as one of their favorite book characters.

Seems as if most of them went out as a a soccer player apparently. Maybe that might count, your favorite soccer player. But you've got to wonder are they reading books at all? But parents were saying this is more pressure on parents. This is like Halloween part two because you gotta get'em costumed up Uh and then I saw uh Councillor Sinead Shepherd down East Along turn her three boys out.

in the best of it. Mr. Bean, uh, Lord of the Rings and things like that. Viv here as his son actually that went out this morning to school as Michael Collins. Sinead, he went out as Michael Collins, not the T D but the Patriot. with the full uniform, the hat and the gun. What do you think of that one?

I absolutely love that. Listen It wasn't a real gun. No, I know listen, God forbid, but look, I have to say, anybody that makes any little bit of effort for something like this, I think it's brilliant. And you know, like I know now that some people are saying it's more pressure. But anything that's a different day for kids at school should be celebrated and anything that anyway at all

clicks into their imagination, I think is just magic. I love the world display. You put the whole of East Cork to shame with your two though. Mr Bean and Lord of the Rings, they look absolutely incredible. But you know, in all fairness now I have to say, so firstly I do love it and my kids love it, which is like I suppose I've instilled that in them. But it was all like it was of no expense, like The mister Bean he wore my jacket, his school shirt, a school panther.

um his own boots. We got the vintage suitcase off his great grandma. We borrowed the uh teddy bear my friend had the actual Mr. Bean teddy bear And then the Lord of the Rings um was a grey um curtain that I cut up and made a rope. Grey curtain. So like there wasn't actually huge expense. What about the beard? Oh, the beard, yeah. I had that. Now look, I have access to a lot of accessories'cause obviously with my dance school we have like a plethora of

I think you ro I think you robbed it all when we did Panto years ago together. Yeah, exactly. I robbed it from the everyman. But you know, I actually yeah, I did die. I did die that week at like half twelve um on Wednesday night, but Do you know the school that my boys go to, they really embrace World Book Day. All the teachers get dressed up. They bring what I think is beautiful. It's not just about getting dressed up as your character.

they bring the older kids into the younger kids classes and all the different classes mix and read books to each other. Okay. So, you know, like that emphasis wouldn't be put on the day if we didn't have World Book Day. And my boy who's in fourth class came home so excited because he got to go into junior infants yesterday in Bunskulling Cove and read six kids. a book of their choice and he loved doing that. So

You know, it wasn't re okay, Dave, excitement about the costume. But you know, as you said a while ago, Neil, we now live in a world where kids are glued on front of screens, where it's PlayStation, where it's all nearly online world. and you have a day of pure magic where they get dressed up as a character and they go into school and they read each other books. What are they reading books though? They say that book reading is at an all time low. I can understand.

why it wouldn't be thriving like it was for the obvious reasons of smartphones and tech and what have you. Um but like did the kid did all of the kids who dressed up bring a book with them? Well, I don't know, but like my kids are are reading books. Now, my seven year old that went as Gandalf and Lord of the Rings, he isn't reading Lord of the Rings but like he watched Lord of the Rings and loved it and wanted to go as that character but

previously like on you know, I've posted many times on my Instagram pictures of o of World Book Days through the years, we've always gone as Rodal characters of books that they've read. And like they came home and they all got a voucher from on post yesterday for one fifty.

and like they're saying, Oh like can we buy a new book out of this So, you know, maybe they're not all doing it but you know what? A percentage are it's and it's pushing the agenda of reading books within school yesterday and also It's getting the conversation going about books. I know, but it was also pushing it was also s it was also pushing the buttons of parents who said they have enough to be doing than having all of this.

Yes something is going on in the school every bloody week and they don't have the time or the patience for it, you know? Look, we're all busy and I you know, d everybody's opinion of course has to be taken regard of and I get that. Look, I'm I'm a busy mum running my own business with three boys and I know it's you know, there's a lot going on. But thank you.

the schools do say, look, you can go in as a soccer player, you can go in your pajamas, you can go in in your own clothes. If there's no pressure, you can do what you want to do. And like some of the like my eldest boy, um was in sixth class and he went in in a new tracksuit that he bought out of his confirmation money. And that's what he wanted to do.

I was delighted for him to go in and he brought in the book he's reading at the minute. He brought that book into school yesterday and was allowed to have time to read that so he just brought his book in and he was happy to do that. I just think yeah, I just think um In the world we live in today, like there's no harm in just introducing a little bit of magic to our kids on World Book Day. Yeah, fair play. A little bit of magic in your life today. Happy birthday. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm um

delighted. I was I'm not gonna say my age. I'm at the age now where I'm like, Do I wanna celebrate my birthday? But I'm also just feel you know, I was saying this to someone this morning, they were like happy partition every thing Do you know, I'm at the age where I say to myself, Now Well, like so blessed to get another year around the sun, you know, and healthy and happy. So yeah, celebrating it today. Yeah, yeah.

Um I I I I agree one hundred percent with that and the photographs of your two lads are fantastic. But I have to say my attention was actually drawn to your divine tiling in the hallway. It's absolutely glorious. Do you know those old style hallways with the beautiful mosaics? Aren't they just gorgeous? Oh thank you. Do you know what? I was kinda lucky enough nearly twelve years ago now to buy a vr an old period home um in clothes and I've spent the last kind of

ten years'cause you know the these things take time, kind of restoring it. And I'm nearly finished now, but yeah, it's a log of the workmanship in those old homes from back in the day, whether they're Victorian or Edwardian or, you know what The the the the the craftsmanship was just off the charts, wasn't it? The attention to detail it's just really special and you know, trying to keep all those features because you kinda just I feel that, you know,

restoring them and keeping them to the best you can. It's almost like a gift you're going to hand over like in decades. It's just it's sad in one way to see how beautiful it was and then You wonder like I came across people there recently, I don't know if it on the air or what, but they had the most glorious

mosaic hallway that they never knew about when they bought the house'cause it was covered in timber flooring. It's only when they took it up for whatever reason they realized they had this gem beneath the wooden floors, you know? We are in an awful rush, aren't we, sometimes? Yeah, we are to just cover things up and just to kind of make things more modern. But look I suppose I bought an old house because I love that type of thing. I love restoring old things. But I will say

It's a labour of love. I mean there is something nice about going into a house and it all being done and brand new and warm. My house will always have old walls and drafts. You get used to it, I suppose. All right, well happy birthday today and have a great weekend. Take care, Sinead. All the best, all the best. So Free Food Friday, amongst other things, some more shout outs for the Pediatrics Pediatric Secretaries and the COH. We listen every day.

Good day, we'd love to win today on this beautiful sunny Friday to set us up good and full for the weekend. Uh to the gym managers at the Mayfield Sports Complex opened just over fifty years. Um we keep the North Side fit and healthy and we're keeping the children of the North Side and beyond swimming with lessons every day, all day.

Uh and good morning to everybody at Mayfield Sports Complex. To all of the gang, the pediatric secondaries and the C O H they love Zambrero anyway, ray of sunshine, a Canavie for the wonderful staff, to everybody O'Reg and Tarmac and Quarry and uh Coachford.

to the uh to Leighton Dental in Carigalyan. Morning to you all. Uh we'd love the grub up to the Ballyfalan area where Gubin's construction. We're working hard. Hopefully this week will be our lucky week. To Mallow Hospital Maintenance Section. Doing great work on the deserved treat today.

to everybody at Thalgo Beauty on the Torrey Top Road. We chair it with our loyal customers and finally for now for cock tiles of wooden floors on the Kinsale Road, I'll do my best to get another bunch of shot it's if I can this side of midday. So if you want a final chance not to text who you are

And where you're working to O eight six eight one oh four one oh six. We have Zambrero. It's Mexican this morning with nachos, burritos and burrito bowls. It'll feed up to fifteen of you from Grandes Mason Zambrero in Sally Brooks. So get that text in.

ASAP. You just reminded me back in the day there were s I mean I I don't mind to sound Aegist or anything, but the only books that I can relate to Okay, I can you know, my kids' ones, all of the Rawl Dal stuff and Harry Potter and things. But way back along, up popped on the screen Huckleberry Finn. Remember those books, the old Mark Twain ones, or the old Enid Blyton books, or even the comics of yesteryear or kids reading comics anymore. Talk to me.

No. My w we always read to our kids, myself my late husband Neil, we always read to Sarah and Liam at bedtime. They read to their kids. He loves it. So he actually went yesterday dressed up into the Gail's school at Huckleberry Finn. He reads it every night and I read a bit to him if he stays here and his mum would read to him. We love reading books and I love to see a child with a book. But um no, he's loving it and it brings me back

To Huckleberry Finn. I think there used to be a series on the television. There was Huckleberry Finn. Yeah, there was. Maybe different generations read before them, you know what I mean? Yes. And being a member of a library is very, very good as well, I think, and encourages the kids Yeah, you got your Harry Potters and your Supermans and, you know, Paddington and Matilda and the BFG and all these kind of things. But there's a whole world out there, you know? They're really interesting.

The big GF is it? The the b chill one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, we always read, but it's lovely to see a child with a book and he's loving the book. And that book now will lead him on to another book and on and on it will go. So just that I say that me well said, well said. Fair play to you. Thanks, Annette. Have a great weekend. Take care of yourself. Bye. Philip Phillips and two photographs. One

Of his son and one of his daughter My kids go to the same school as Sineades, and they love dressing up. If any parent is complaining about taking a Wednesday evening out of their week, or an hour before school of a Thursday morning, then they're probably the same parents with kids who have fourteen hours of screen time. By the way, this was all my wife's work, I take zero credit for it.

it says Philip, and both of them are uh I think both are actually well certainly I think they might well be both uh roll dial books. One is The Billionaire Boy, so you have a lad literally Head to toe, covered in fifty euro notes, tenors and fivers. If they're if they're if they're real. Oh that's a David Wally book Wall uh Wallum's book. So

I don't know if they're if they're real he wouldn't have even made it to school, so I'm sure I'm assuming that they're counterfeit. And then of course the little girl has got uh is that a Williams book as well? Oh Pippy Longstocking is the one it is. Do you remember that from the nineteen seventies?

That's great. I think it's a wonderful thing that kids are nostalgic as well to read and to engage in the books of yesteryear and then dress up in school for them. And you know what? It's a bit of fun, if you can find the time for it, why not? Text oh eight six eight one oh four one oh six, back after the break.

Conversation that matters. All right. Um actually talking about spiking morning, just listening to your conversation this morning, the email. Regarding spiking, my daughter's friend's drink was also spiked in Middleton last year in a pub in Middleton. That's interesting because the email that I read out actually was also a Middleton pub and I I'm not in any way being critical of the pubs on a busy Saturday night. What are you gonna do?

um except put up signs and tell people to be alert. I see on online though and on Amazon you can get these little they're like circles of rubber or silicone and they literally just um they kind of seal over the top of your drink. And there might even be a hole in it for a straw or something, and that's the way you drink. Isn't it awfully sad that you have to drink your tea?

alcoholic beverage if we're out uh through a straw because the top of it is completely covered by some sort of a a rubber or a silicone seal. But they're the these are the times that we live in. Oh I see you're going after sky now, Neil. No I'm not. And I'm not just talking about the cost of things.

Um Aiden says you're going after Sky. They provide excellent service. Yes, they are pricey, but if you were to pay for the matches individually or go to these matches in person, it would cost a small fortune. You could also get Now T V. They do deals. Prime is six ninety nine a month.

Yeah, there's not a whole lot on Prime though, is there? Uh it's not the it's not the greatest from the point of view of selection and stuff I think. Anyway, you seem to just go after the providers all of the time. If people aren't paying for the service, that probably adds to the sky cost.

You mentioned deals. Sports now on T V is twenty seven euro a month for all the channels for a year. It's worth looking around. No, I'm not going after anybody. I was just giving an example that in my case the Sky Bill is about one hundred and twenty euro a month. I watch an awful lot of tennis. It was usually on the Eurosport channel. I'm just giving a personal example. And then of course Eurosport had taken over by

uh T N T and it's become a subscriber service now. So if you want to continue you have to pay extra. I mean that's one of the B's in the bonnet I would have, but I'm just saying that it adds up to a lot of money. If you're paying, say for instance, uh a hundred euro a month uh for sky, then it comes in at like twelve hundred euro a year. You know what I mean? I'm just suggesting that maybe that's why some people are saying I can't do this anymore. I just can't do this anymore.

And then there's lots then with regards to occupying the time of children. And many people talk about it being very much weather related. And I get that, I understand that. But back in the day we also had the same kind of weather. But people used to know how to diversify and do different things. I mean arts and crafts is it a big thing anymore? Is getting out in the garden even if it's raining and just using your imagination?

But you know I talk about arts and crafts, there was a great story um from earlier in the week. An artist by the name of Roy Valk, uh from the Netherlands, was over here and he was painting I'm not gonna say it anymore, I'm gonna get it right, a mural Downtown. There's a new burger business about to open in the city down in Cook Street. It's called um it's called Fat Fills.

And he was asked to paint the big massive mural. You never know who locked along as he was painting it. We'll find out. Uh Roy, good morning. Wha what what day was this? Uh Wednesday, Wednesday. I started painting on Monday and Wednesday I was about to finish the portrait and then So Fat Phil's asked you to do this, is it as a kind of marketing and advertising for when they open the the restaurant? Is that the case?

No not really. They asked me to paint the interior and I saw there was like a really ugly empty wall next to the burger place. So I decided to paint a portrait there. And who came up with the idea that it should be the one and only Roy Keene? Uh I did because my name is Roy and Roy Keen is from Cork of course, so I thought it would be nice to paint Someone with the same name. All right. You you didn't come over from the Netherlands, are you or did you? Or are you living here or what?

No, no. I came over, I paint all the Fat Phil restaurants on the inside. I love it. Okay. So yeah. I hear they do a kick ash smash burger. Have you had one of them? Yeah, I I had. They are lovely. Okay. All right. So talk to me about Kino then. You did a head and shoulders and you're working away on it. It's incidentally, it's fabulous work. Well done. What happened as you were just doing the final touches? Well I at the moment I was just gonna take a picture for my stop motion video.

Uh, because I saw a big group of people who coming towards the wall, I thought it would be nice to capture if they walk by and have a look. and then they stopped right next to me so basically i was looking through my camera lens and telling like please move on And then Roy told me you don't even recognise me and started laughing. It was Roy Keane himself. So it was a funny, funny moment. You must have got a s you must have got a shock though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a r big surprise him showing up and giving me all the compliments. He loved the portrait and Later later on came back to yeah. Yeah, there's five million people on the island. There's about eight billion people on the planet, right? And you're putting the final touches to a Roy Keane painting. And he walks past and walks up to Exactly. What are the chances of that? Really small, rats. So what happened after he said, You don't even recognise me, like?

Well, of course like a lot of people gathered, so everybody was laughing and Uh we had a quick chat about the portrayed. But then he had to continue'cause he had a meeting and he said, I'll come back later to take a picture together. And did he? So yeah, he he came back like half an hour later. And I have the picture in front of me. Yeah. Ye wa wa you didn't recognize him'cause he's shaved, doesn't he?

Exactly. In in my picture he had a had a nice beard and he told me, Am I that grey looking at the at the portrait that I painted? I said, Well, we both are not getting any any younger, right? Was he complimentary about how you captured him? Yeah, he was. Yeah, he said it's a really stunning portrait you done. Course you would hardly recognize him in the photograph because he's um he's got rid of the beard and everything and he's he's just

Shaved. It's not the normal image. Yeah. Yeah. And and he looks a a lot younger without the beard, to be honest. Do you think beard do you think beards age people, I wonder, Roy? Well, not always, but ink I mean, I have a grey grey beard myself, so yeah. It makes me look older probably. And he he came back and he said he'd come back and he did come back and he posed for a photograph. The caption says keen on a burger. Do you know, I wonder now if Fat Fills will give him um uh a pass for life.

Do you know what I mean? Uh no idea. You should ask the owner. Because I know I know years ago um Abra Kebabra gave him um uh unlimited kebabs for life. And gave him back he got he got a gold card from them back in the day'cause his favourite food apparently then was kebabs. Maybe they might do the same, give'em a gold card for fat fills. You'd never know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They might do. I mean, they're opening a few more in Ireland, so

Have you done other have you done other kind of murals like that? And if so where? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh they started in Holland and they had two in London and this is the second one here in Ireland. Have you put any other famous people on the murals? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. At the moment I sketched sketched up uh Tyler the creator and uh what's the name of the other guy, Ian Chatten? Something like this. They're Greek to me. But none of them walked up as you were painting them, I'm sure.

No, no, no, no, they didn't. All right. It's a fabulous beat of work. You're a very talented man, Roy. And a very talented man with the same name as Roy Keane. What a what an opportunity. How are the chances of that happening? Anyway, listen, it's finished near there now and for all to see on Cook Street. Great work, my friend. Well done. Thanks a lot.

Take care. Thanks for calling. And it's getting great coverage at the moment. Um that sh picture has been shared all over the world at this stage. Painting the legend and then he shows up himself. What are the chances? Text O868-104-106. Free Food Friday winners next. The Neil Prendaval Show. FM conversation.

So it continues, lads. Diesel one ninety four point nine at the top garage by the Elysian. Oh my god, it's worse than that. Bale Nabla, there's a circle K down there, two euro and two cents. So it's two hundred two point eight. We've passed the two euro mark, lads. You should get a campaign going, Neil. If you can't afford the petrol station uh then just buy nothing but petrol.

They make their money off overcharge basic items, hit it where it's hurt, just get the petrol buy absolutely nothing else. We're getting reams of those, but that's alarming we've passed the two euro mark.

Uh and many more will go to two zero two before you know it. Gotta love you and leave ya for the weekend. We do. Food Friday with Grandins Mason Sambrero. Sally Brooks. Mexican this long. Whoever wins Free Food Friday and where Alright. Texting for an age.

Good morning Neil, how are you? Good morning all. Who's with you? There's a big bunch of you. Who are they? There is, there's myself, there's Kim, there's Elnar, there's Valerie, there's Bernice. We're all here this morning. There's Donna. There's Irene. How do you pronounce? Moira as well. Okay. What is it you do at Thalgo? Is it all like hair and makeup and waxing and mm most sorts of stuff? All waxing, all the pretty and the unpretty.

Well you make the unpretty pretty by the time you're finished, I'm sure. Exactly, yeah. Are you hungry? Are you hungry? Yeah. Fancy some burritos and burrito. You're starving. Alright. Well I'm gonna get you sorted, all right. Red patrollers are uh stocking up with food from Grandon's Mace and Sambrero in Sally Brook. Uh you enjoy it this lunchtime and have a great weekend. Lunch is on the way, Rachel.

Oh, thanks for the shout out as well girls. Take care. Have a great day. Have a great weekend. Enjoy lunch. Kira Revens is here from midday. She wants to know your six nation plans. You got 200 euro Tesco vouchers and tickers for our tickets, I should say. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the sunshine.