00:00
All right, lads, how often do you change your underpants? It's time to talk. I'm listening to you on the radio at this time of the morning since I'm at least two years old.
00:08
They blocked me from trying to get a refund. It's just appalling.
00:11
The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM. You couldn't make it all, lads. The voice of Cork. What does that like?
00:18
All right, so by that, we'll be part of the conversation in the Neil Prendival Show with Elevate Town Credit Union. Text 0868-104-106. Celebrations continue at a pace in County Mayo. They're pretty much working their way through the alphabet now of towns and villages with regards to the homecoming. It started in Castle Bar, then they were on to Ballyhornes, and then they're on to Ballina. I'd say they're going through every letter of the alphabet with every town and village. And why shouldn't they after a 75-year drought? Interestingly... Regardless of, you know, everything else going on, there's another kind of a drought that's continuing above there, and that is the drink.
00:53
While Brendan Behan wanted to drink Canada dry, Mayo fans are drinking the pubs dry. The boozers are running out of booze. Some thirst on you, lads. I suppose Sam thirst on you, lads, is the headline in the sun this morning. But pubs across Mayo have been drunk dry as the fans continue to hit the booze hard. celebrating the All-Ireland win. I saw a photograph up online of somebody who closed his shop and put a sign up on the winner saying, Call back Wednesday, lads. I'm in bits. Closed today. Now, The Sun this morning says that the revellers are rejoicing after the 75-year wait.
01:29
And the bars are battling to keep up with demand. One publican by the name of Mick Burns said there wasn't a pub in Castle Bar that didn't run out on Monday. By all accounts, they are restocking the pubs on a daily basis. And the workers in one of the red tops this morning, they were saying that workers are scrambling to find time to have a bit of dinner and get back behind the counter again. So the pubs were drunk dry, thrilled GAA fans and what have you, delirious, and painting the towns and villages red. They spoke to a lot of different publicans in the sun, and apparently the favourite drink in the county mayo, because of all of these celebrations that are going on at the moment, is Bulmer's cider.
02:08
For many of the players themselves, their sup of choice. One fella said that they were so busy, they just wanted to get their dinner in and get back behind the bar, and they're restocking on a daily basis. Call it back Wednesday in bits, said your man. But it's a great thing for them, isn't it? And listen, everybody's having a great time. Sore heads and sick heads, I suppose. But by God, 75 years of waiting. The celebrations will go on for some time to come. You know, we talk a lot about the state of our roads. Of course, we do because they're beyond appalling. And I gave you some stats earlier in the week with regards to claims against city council and county council for damage to axles.
02:44
to damage to suspensions, tyres, rims, alloys. This morning, the Echo has a deep dive into, and more ways than one a dive, countless trips on the South Mall in particular. Some elderly people seriously injuring themselves. And the Council's paid out now more than £2 million in public liability claims from June last year to the recent, I guess to June this year in a calendar year. And two-thirds of that £2 million was related to footpaths. Now, it's a lengthy article, but the average payout with regards to a claim for a fall or an injury per claimant for the footpaths is €26,200.
03:24
Now, that's very interesting because the pothole claims for cars and damage to wheels and whatever was averaging about €4,000 a claim.
03:33
but for a fall or a trip from a dodgy footpath, 26,200. Now, the inside pages then say that one person says, I work on the South Mall and I've seen countless people trip and fall over the uneven tiling and footpaths, some seriously. Just today, this worker on the Mall said, an older man tripped on an uneven footpath and split his eyebrow open and damaged his hand. And I'd say there's a fair amount of ambulance call-outs for the state of New York One payout actually was 31 grand and there was one for 15 grand.
04:05
So it can be quite extensive with the average coming in at around 22,000. You know, if that two million was spent properly rather than giving it out and people being hurt, we'd have a much better, safer roads and footpaths, wouldn't we? And then you look at the Department of Transport, because that makes the independent today. They have been inundated with complaints regarding e-scooters. For lots of different reasons. A lot of those complaining were saying that they were being used as getaway vehicles for drug dealing. A woman, an elderly woman, had both her legs broken after she was knocked down by an e-scooter.
04:38
This is serious stuff. So they're being ridden illegally. Footpaths.
04:44
Main traffic weaving in and out, not taking any notice of traffic lights. Children being brought to school up on the back of an e-scooter, whizzing through busy traffic. It goes on and on and on with examples. People saying whether or not the Gardaí could come into their local area to stop the local drug dealers doing the rounds on a scooter. The woman who broke her two legs, she was crashed into by a kid on an e-scooter on a footpath. There was other ones where, you know, adults carrying children on the back of e-scooters, neither of them wearing helmets. Absolutely bizarre.
05:14
And quite a number of them were from Cork, actually, and one or two were talking about the food delivery riders because they were just completely and utterly ignorant when it came to the rules of the road. And you know these modified fat-wheeled electric bikes? They can get up to 50 kilometres an hour. An absolute menace. They featured a lot in the complaints, but... You got to listen to this one. One parent got on to the Department of Transport. I don't know whether they wrote or emailed, but it's been released where one parent said their 14-year-old son owned an e-scooter capable of reaching 45 kilometres an hour.
05:47
He's 14. And he was already asking to upgrade to a higher speed e-scooter.
05:52
They actually exist, do they? E-scooters that can go faster than 45 kilometres. But anyway, now he's looking for he wants to upgrade to a higher speed one. They said a full face helmet bought as a condition of getting the scooter sits on the handlebar because the teenager is refusing to wear it. And in the letter, the parents pleaded with the Department of Transport, please, please, please do something about this before it's too late.
06:18
Mother of God, you're asking the Department of Transport to do something that you as a parent or two parents should be doing in the first place. Take the scooter off the 14 year old. Never mind about upgrading it to a faster one. He shouldn't be up on it. Well, it's your son. He shouldn't be up on it on the first place. And why would you ask someone else? to intervene in a parental issue with your own child. For God's sake, like, get a grip. Anyway, there are other stories then regarding, you know, movement, whether it's a pedestrian or whether it's a car or a truck or an e-scooter.
06:53
In this case, it's a van. So this woman... This is a Cork story, and it happened out of the Court of Appeal, actually, because she was awarded originally €170,000 after she was knocked down while trying to hold a parking spot. She's lost her appeal for more money now, and she was before the court looking for €1.75 million to compensate for loss of earnings because of the injury. So the story goes that the incident occurred on the main street in Carrick Tool back in 2020.
07:24
And she was stood in a parking space, which had just become available to hold it for her husband. who was just about to come around in a Jeep, and they were delivering stools to an apartment that they owned in Carraghtool. She was just minding the parking space for him when she was knocked down by a van. The van driver was trying to get into one of the shops on the street, and she was injured now, and she suffered considerable back pain. But she felt that £170,000 wasn't really representative. of her of her losses so she went and appealed that and was looking for 1.75 minutes she didn't get it she gave a fairly you know detailed appeal in fairness to her and one or two paragraphs said that in her appeal the judge said that she took issue with the way the trial was run and some alleged comments that was made by one of the judges and she said that she said in a written submission she was alleging that she was called a liar a colluder and a gold digger.
08:21
The appeal was ultimately dismissed. She was looking for, you know, a lot more than the 170 that she actually received and it was rejected for the 1.75 million. But there was another one before the courts then also. And this involved the emergency department of Crumland Hospital. And I saw this online on RTE overnight where a girl had to be taken to the emergency department because she got a cut above her eye, right? And And when the hospital doctor was closing the laceration or closing the cut, she was four years old at the time, the doctor accidentally glued her eyelids together.
08:53
I know, glued her eyelids together. So she's eight now, Saoirse Feeney, and she sued through her parents because she had to have her eye irrigated four separate times, trying six weeks of antibiotics afterwards, trying to get the eyes to open again. excessive glue was used as a result and it dripped down into her eye and it literally glued her left eye closed. Both eyelids, I should say. I think the cut was over one eye, but I mean, it's bizarre. So there's a payout for that then with regards to €15,000 for gluing the eyelids closed, dripping glue.
09:29
We all know what that's like. You ever got your hands on a bottle of the super glue, for instance? I mean, it can't be just me. You end up gluing all of your fingers together. Like no matter how careful I am, I'd be better off handling nuclear active waste, I'd say, safely, more safely. than I would one of those little douchey bottles of superglue. Don't get me started on that. Anyway, the papers then also today talk of a story that's been on the news, in the news, out of the news, in the news for the last 20 years. And these are these houses down in Copper Valley Heights in Glanmire.
10:01
With the Examiner reporting this morning, these three houses... Our local authority owns now and they've stood empty for almost two decades. People are living in the houses for 20 years around them, left and right of them, and they're happily getting on with these lives. And these three homes, unfinished, are just languishing there. Now, there's lots of different reasons. Firstly, they were taken over by Cork County Council, I guess.
10:25
Whoever had it ran out of money and they just sat there and then Cork County Council to go over. The boundaries changed and they became part of Cork City Council. But 19 and a half years later, they're saying that they have people going in now to finish them. I mean, that is absolutely insane. They've finally been handed over now to Cork City Council. And at this stage, I wonder, will the clock tick and tick and tick and tick before somebody gets a key for the front door? And, you know, clock's ticking. It could take you two weeks now to see your local GP. We are way behind the World Health Organization recommendation, which says that every place within the world needs to strive to have 100 GPs for every 100,000 people.
11:06
Now, in places around Ireland, you could have half that, 50 GPs for 100,000 people.
11:12
60 in other counties and what have you. I'm not quite sure what the Cork stat is, but when you go out into rural areas, it's appallingly low. And that's why the mail are saying that people are waiting two weeks now to see their doctors. It's absolutely, totally and utterly unacceptable. But there are many aspects to health in Ireland that's unacceptable. We know of all the sufferers with...
11:31
Friedrich's ataxia that are waiting. Why can't a decision be made quickly? Why does it take weeks and weeks and weeks of committees? So much so now that one girl that I spoke to on the air recently, Emily Felix, who's 28, she was 12 years old when she was diagnosed with Friedrich's ataxia. And bear in mind now that Skyclarus, that's made by Biogen, will extend the lives of people living with Friedrich's ataxia By 50%. They'll get longer lives. I mean, it's not curable. And we're all waiting to see if this will be covered under the drug scheme to allow the state to pay Biogen and let people get on with their lives.
12:07
But she's suing now. And she has now started an action against the HSE. suing over the alleged delays in making up their mind. She's gone to the High Court now to ask the High Court to direct the HSE to make the decision for the approval, the reimbursement and the funding.
12:28
And fair play to her, young woman who's really just moving on with her life as best she can, but also say, no, this weight is wrong. I'm going to the high court. I don't know whether or not this business regarding FIFA and their plans to sell the World Cup, quite literally, it's a headline in the English Times this morning, red card for FIFA's plan to sell the World Cup. Now, a lot of people are annoyed about this because football really belongs to the fans, doesn't it? Even Andy Burnham, PM in the UK, is saying football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands, stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.
13:03
But there is a plan now to sell 30% to form a new company within FIFA for the World Cup and sell 30% of it.
13:10
And it's interesting, you see Joshua Kushner, who's the brother of President Trump's son-in-law, Jared. He's one of the lead investors. So there's a bit of an aroma about this story, isn't there? With regarding Infantino and indeed Trump and the whole carry on within FIFA and the recent World Cup itself. What would it be like? The Coca-Cola World Cup? The McDonald's World Cup. I don't know. Maybe that's just the way the commercial world is going. Well, one topic that gets a lot of airtime here every time it comes up is neighbours.
13:42
And if you're lucky enough to have great neighbours left and right of you, that's a wonderful thing. But you know the term neighbours from hell, you know? Quite sure that there are many Netflix documentary series on that one. But the Telegraph this morning talks about this guitar player who's been arrested now in Japan after years of playing loud music because he gave his neighbors insomnia. A lot more than just insomnia, by all accounts. Not just a guitar, but he had, when the police raided his home, they found, was it something like 40 guitars, many of them electric guitars.
14:16
And he was causing an unmerciful racket. for the last seven years in a quiet residential part of Kyoto. So the authorities claim that he caused three of his neighbours aged from their 60s to their 80s to suffer sleep deprivation and depression. Another one developed tinnitus, a persistent ringing noise. But it just wasn't that. But he also had ghetto blasters and big speakers. And he would put the speakers out on the window and open all of the windows and blare them.
14:45
And it was between 2019 and 2026. He placed radios by the open window, playing 24 hours a day, played electric guitar from early morning until evening. Could you imagine living next to that lunatic? But anyway, there's a stop to his gallop now because he's been arrested. As to what happens next, I have no idea. But you know... You know, you talk about things in the home or neighbors that you have. There are other things actually that can be lethal. Do you know the kitchen sponges that we have? And we're all guilty of it, right? I'm included in this. I do change them.
15:16
But there was a report out this morning where one person who's very much involved in, you know, trying to control bacteria said that she changed. She was on Newstalk. She changes her sponge every single day, every day, every day. She says, you can buy a pack of five sponges for a euro, for God's sake. Why wouldn't you just one-use sponges? So we use the same cloth, don't we? We use the same sponge. We use the same towel. And in them, you could have E. coli, salmonella, and listeria. And this is, you know, it's bad enough in the home, but God Almighty, what's happening in commercial kitchens in this regard, kitchen surfaces?
15:54
And then you've got to look at sinks and chopping boards and splashing and issues regarding raw chicken. So it is absolutely, you know, a haven for foodborne diseases outbreaking. If we don't cop on when it comes... I suppose really the rule of thumb is kitchen wipes, isn't it? You know, the disposables, the one-use wipes, you come in a pack and you're just constantly using those. They're not the cleanest things in the world, but, you know, they're probably better than the same sponge over and over again for days or...
16:22
weeks on end i suppose if we're to be honest about it but then you have to wonder how come we're all not falling dead we're all getting food poisoning like what's what's the story it was that bad we'd all be sick wouldn't we because i say loads of us don't change sponges maybe maybe if you do get in touch how often i was asking recently how often do you change your underpants but now i'm talking about how often you change the kitchens kitchen sponges and then there's not too far from the kitchen then is People won't like me saying this, but apparently the English Times this morning is saying that organic, free-range eggs are actually worse for the environment than they are if they're eggs from hens who are in battery conditions and cages now.
17:04
It's beyond cruel. I accept that. Restricting hens' movement and their natural behaviour. But they're saying that the organic free-range hens laying the organic free-range eggs roaming around outside are causing 60% more carbon emissions and they're poisoning the ecosystem and the water table. I only pass it on for what it's worth because I am a man actually who could not tell the difference. They say you can tell the difference in colour and taste between a free-range and a battery egg. I'm just as bad, incidentally, when it comes to free-range chickens. and non-free-range chickens.
17:36
I fail to see the difference in them, but maybe that's just me. And then when you're out and about eating and assuming that the kitchens are clean and all that, Aileen Quinlan in this morning's Echo loves dogs, but she doesn't want them in pubs and restaurants. She gave examples of it this morning in the Echo where she says, I was having dinner in a busy, friendly pub on Sunday evening recently. Large plates of food were being served as a middle-aged couple strolled in with two large hounds. walking past our table and down to the end of the bar.
18:07
Between the four of them, the middle-aged couple and the two large hounds, they took up two whole tables near the back of the pub. She says, I experienced an immediate surge of irritation, not at the animals, which were extremely well-behaved, laying quietly at the owner's feet. But she said, among other things, it forced customers to step around the animals on their way to the loo. The worry is, OK, firstly, she says it's unhygienic.
18:30
It looks unhygienic, it feels unhygienic and it smells unhygienic. But what if somebody stepped on one of the dogs, she says, and the dogs snapped at a passerby and bit a stumbling customer? What next? Who knows? But I have to say, to some extent, I'm not necessarily sold on dogs in pubs and restaurants, to be honest with you. I accept that would be acceptable to have somebody with a guide dog or, you know, a guide dog in that regard indoors. But And just not sold on it, to be honest with you. Maybe it's just me.
19:02
Never 100%. Actually, you could say the same about screaming toddlers and babies where parents don't intervene. But that's probably a story for another day. And then when you are eating, they say in the mail this morning, the way to do it is to eat like a French person. So this is geared towards women primarily because the woman who moved to France and got slim without trying... And she's saying, eat like a French woman and the weight will fall off. Like the French women never finish a dessert, they say. They always leave some of it on the plate.
19:33
An awful waste at big money.
19:35
They'll take two or three different bites of a tiramisu and they'll leave the rest of it.
19:40
They must have fierce willpower. But some of the other tips involve never eat unless you're sitting at a table, ditch the big supermarket shop, sexy up your salads for extra taste. That's one sexy-looking salad. Eat less, but eat better. And don't order another bottle after plates have been cleared. It's over. Go home. But the one, of course, that wrecks my head is where you see protein on every single thing. Protein. Some of these products are incredibly unhealthy, but because they cause some kind of protein content in them, they blazon the word protein in the biggest writing on the package, the wrapper, or the tub.
20:18
But they talk about the 30-30-30 rule. Ah.
20:22
I'm sick to death of protein stories, to be honest with you. 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of walking, followed by 30 minutes of low intensity movement.
20:33
All because you want to have a bit of an ice scrub. I suppose a lot of it is common sense at the end of the day. So there's your tip as you head across August. Eat like a French woman.
20:40
Get on to Prendiville now.
20:42
0818 104 106. The Neil Prendiville.
20:48
Andy Doody, everybody. Pick up the phone 0818 104 106. You can text 0868 104 106. And if you can't jump on air, you can send a voice note. Same text line, but on WhatsApp. 0868 104 106. You know the way to be scrolling through things when things pop up in your feed? I came across an interesting Vox from the BBC at the weekend. And it's one of these things, you know, if you have sons and daughters and they're growing up and going through the different stages of life, or you went through it yourself, obviously, you come to a point when your sons and daughters lives where they're all going to weddings and stags and the huge amount of cost involved in a hen.
21:21
It can be quite expensive. And then, of course, the wedding itself. We chatted recently at home, but how much do you typically give, you know, as a wedding present? It's cash now. Back in the day, of course, it was different. They got... quilts and oiter downs and table lamps and toasters and stuff like that. And then there was the BT wedding list that you went in and you bought something and they ticked it off the list. But now it's cash, it's money, it's moolah. I think the general rule of thumb is that you try and get the wedding paid for by the contributions from the guests, right? But anyway, enough of me.
21:52
So the BBC, I've got two different Voxes for you. This is interesting because this is the one that I heard on the BBC where they literally went out and about and asked how much to give at a wedding, right?
22:00
£100, £200. £40, £50.
22:03
I wouldn't give them money. How much money would you give as a wedding gift? It would depend how close of a friend they are. I'm a student right now, so maybe like 30 or 40. An appropriate amount would probably be anything above £100.
22:14
You've got to consider how much the expenditure of visiting and, you know, staying there. I mean, a wedding's about a grand dollar and by the time you count everything up, including your suit, your shoes and everything.
22:25
Sometimes you're going overseas for the Hindu. It's a multi-day event. It does accumulate. I would buy them a gift, something that reminds me of them. Do you feel like it's a bit awkward that people are asking for money at a wedding? Yeah, maybe. Times are hard, so maybe money. Everyone needs money, so why not?
22:41
I've never been to a wedding where we've had to give money as a gift. There's been a list. I think the blanket answer should be what you're willing to give and what you can afford. I don't think there should really be a pressured amount on how much someone should give.
22:53
That's quite interesting. It's quite short and to the point, but as low as 30 now, bear in mind that was a student, as low as 30. But the highest, certainly that piece of audio, was 100. Now, I think Irish weddings and contributions these days, 2026, would dwarf 100%.
23:08
So I was curious actually to make in comparison being a wedding gift because it can be expensive in many different ways. In that Vox said as a man going to a wedding it could cost you £1,000 to go with everything. The travel, the suit, the gift, the overnight, the drink, the hotel price, whatever the case may be. But so how much money should you give as a wedding gift? And that was a challenge that I said to Seamus on the streets of Cork to get your, if you don't mind me saying so, tuppence worth.
23:36
250? 300? 200 euro each.
23:39
250. 500. 200 euro. How much should you give at a wedding?
23:44
Oh dear god. Oh dear god. Depends on the relationship to the person. Probably like 200. 200, 150, 200. Yeah.
23:53
If it's a sister or something maybe dearer. I don't know. It depends. It's getting dearer and dearer now though. It's becoming unaffordable.
24:00
If they were getting married, they would expect people to give them at least 150 to 200. But I think per se is what you can afford, really.
24:09
Just being the one, I think I gave 250 euro.
24:12
But they were good, good friends.
24:14
Do you think it's a bit awkward asking for money at a wedding?
24:18
I don't think anyone ever asks. I think it's sort of like an implied thing, isn't it, really? I don't think I've ever been asked to give money, but it's just something you would do.
24:26
Some people come around and say, we'd like to have the value of a toaster or the value of a flat-screen TV. So that's our wish list. They have everything, so you have to revolute them the money. Obviously, you're not going to get a flat-screen TV for €100, but look, come on, €100 should cover it, you know.
24:43
Most people are covering the cost of a wedding, about 150 each or something, or a couple. I haven't been at a wedding now for a long time, but my daughter is getting married next year, so I think she's hoping for the cost to be covered by most of the people who are attending.
24:58
The price of everything is going up now, so I suppose the price of presents have to go up too. People don't ask for money anymore. I think some people will give and others won't.
25:08
You went to a wedding and you didn't give anything at all. OK, so this is extraordinary. The BBC Vox talks about 40 pounds and as high as 100 pounds. But from the streets of Cork, then, where we seem to be uber generous, here are the numbers that came out. 250. You can jump on if you want, guys. 250, 300, 200, 200, 250, 150 for each couple, which is 300. And one fellow said 500 euros.
25:36
I know I have to invite him to my second wedding whoever he is 500 that's massive yeah do you know we were just chatting here like in England it's very different isn't it like they don't have full on Irish weddings my sister was just at one and they were home at 8 o'clock eating pizza is that typical though
25:54
Yeah, it would be. And there'd be more function rooms and pubs.
25:57
So the Irish wedding is completely different. It's unique.
26:00
It kind of is. Like funerals. Yeah. Okay.
26:03
But do you hear your man saying that they would like the value of a toaster or a flat screen television?
26:10
I know, 10-year Rinaldi they're doing toasters for.
26:13
Like, how much do people spend on toasters? Came across a toaster for a Morphe Richards two-slice toaster for £29.99, right? Or is it that people who are getting married now want the Schmeg toaster, which will set you back £199?
26:30
Could you imagine that? £199 for a toaster?
26:33
They are top of the range, though. They're gorgeous, like... They're a toaster. I know, but you can get the kettle as well, all in for about 400, I'd say.
26:41
So they're kind of like a showpiece because the toast will be the same from a 29 euro toaster or a 200 euro toaster.
26:48
Well, you have to be careful what you're buying though. Like I got a little air fryer there the last day for my dad thinking, ah, this is lovely now, you know, he'll be able to put his bits and bobs into it. 29 euro inside Naldi. You wouldn't fit a few petty pot at the end of it.
27:01
They do the same with the equivalent to an Aldi version of the Nutribullet. You get like a half pint out of it. It's a tiny little thing.
27:10
I know, but the box is massive, so it's deceptive, obviously.
27:13
But I'm still back at somebody spending €200 on a toaster.
27:18
Come on.
27:18
I know it is. It is showy like, but it is. They are beautiful and they probably last forever. Like, you know, you can get cheap. And within a couple of months, the button isn't working or the things going on fire or like you pay for quality as well, I suppose. No.
27:33
Morphe Richards are a very good brand name. They've been around long time. Their toasters don't go on fire for £29.95. If you don't clean them out.
27:41
Well, no, but the lever. Like, I don't know how many times those levers stop working. It doesn't stay down. You have to stand there holding it down for two minutes.
27:49
How much are you supposed to give for a wedding, for God's sake?
27:54
So I was chatting to a younger person in the office and she said all her buddies now is 300 each, which is a lot, I think. Like I would have thought 250 is all right, but I don't know, maybe I'm a cheapskater, am I?
28:06
Why in the UK? OK, because it's not the same kind of wedding. That's why it's 30 or 40 or 50 or max 100.
28:11
Yeah, exactly. So they're not, it might be in a restaurant or something. So it's not like, you know.
28:15
So if you're going through the wedding season in your life, your late 20s or whatever, you could go to five or six weddings a year.
28:21
Yes, I had, I think, nine one year when I was in my 30s.
28:24
And then you've got the hen and the stag.
28:26
Yeah.
28:26
You prefer not to be invited, right?
28:28
No, I would. I want to go to weddings all the time. I love weddings. A lot of people don't, though. Some guy, John, just rang me there and he said, why would you want to go to a wedding anyway? They're going to be divorced within a year.
28:39
And he's probably right.
28:40
Do you know what the cost of a typical Irish wedding is?
28:42
It used to be 30 back in the day.
28:45
36,000 euro. And is it a case that you make it back on the gifts of cash?
28:51
a lot of the time I believe so you would with the cash yeah yeah wow it's an awful lot of money isn't it for a day 36 grand deposit on a house I mean you could do it for much cheaper as well a lot of people are eloping these days as well I noticed that to America and different places so just the two of them like so but this is the cost of an average so it could even be north of that crazy yeah I know I mean you know it is a great day but like it's ridiculous you can do it who's paying for it
29:17
Who's paying for Brenda Denny? Is it Mammy and Daddy?
29:20
People are known to keep lists, you know, of like who paid what. Oh yeah, I know a couple and they were up counting the cash that night.
29:27
Do you remember the woman who got married in Moores Hotel and they got a load of cash, big ball of it, and put her up in the room and went down to party, as you do, husband and wife, bride and groom, went back up and the money was stolen.
29:40
Yeah, that happened a lot earlier. Some guests there. Because I was literally there on the night paying photographers out of envelopes and paying anyone I could see.
29:49
All right, let's get to calls on that. Rose.
29:53
Good morning, Neil.
29:54
Thanks for holding. I know we're going to talk about money and cash in general, but I'm asking people, what is the amount, what is the max amount that you would spend or people should give for a wedding gift?
30:05
For a couple, absolutely, possibly 200. But if you're a single person that's been invited, I think 100 euro is very acceptable, you know, because it's so, so expensive. And incidentally, the last two weddings I got an invite to, I actually declined. You know, I personally don't like weddings. They're just too long a day for me. And, you know, it would be torturous for me to attend a wedding.
30:35
And what do you say by way of an excuse?
30:39
Oh, I just said, you know, respectfully, thank you so much for the invite. But, you know, I'm not in a position to go. And it was accepted and thanked for my honesty and the whole lot, you know. And that's just it, you know. But just me, back in the day, gifts were a huge, huge thing, you know.
31:02
And I personally, I would prefer, especially if I knew the person, to actually buy them a gift if I know them and something that they love.
31:10
Yeah, but people ended up then with about six sets of dinner plates or two canteens of cutlery and six or eight lampshades.
31:18
That's right. I'll tell you a funny story. I was given the job of bringing back multiple gifts for my sister back in the day and went back to Murray's on the Grand Parade, you know, with sheet sets and things like that. And the cashier said to me, you know, I'm sorry, I can't take this back. But I said, you know, my sister told me it was bought here. And next of all, she turned around the back and a sticker for Rochester was on us.
31:46
You could have just brought everything back to Rocha's stores because Rocha's stores took everything back, even everybody else's stuff. They were well known for that.
31:53
They were amazing. Yeah, they were fantastic.
31:56
And how were you getting on then trying to spend cash
32:00
Oh, well, my cash isn't good enough, you know, as I wrote in.
32:05
Just as I said to you, you know, I was last of the big spenders in Yisk here in Blackpool two days ago.
32:13
Is that how you pronounce it? I've been calling it Jisk. Have I been wrong for all these years?
32:17
Well, you know, you could be right and I could be wrong.
32:20
I'm probably wrong. I usually am. So can I ask you, how much did you spend in there?
32:24
Oh, €1.50. Two items reduced to €75 each.
32:30
75 cents.
32:31
What were they? Pardon me, 75 cents. They were just two little packs of napkins, you know, that had a motif on them. And I said, you know what, they'll come in handy, having the friends over for dinner, you know. And so proceeded. I knew I had a coin purse in my bag. And I said, that's great. Before I went to the chill, counted it all out. I had two 50 cent coins, a 20, a 10. I had two fives and I had five two cent coins, which made up 10 cent to be told, oh, I'm sorry, we don't accept those.
33:09
You know, and I said, I'm sorry, you know, but it's legal tender, it's money. And the lady at the counter said, oh, my manager said, we're not allowed to take this coin, just the five cent. And I looked behind her and you know what all the notices be behind the till. And I said, is there a sign up stating this? And she just shrugged her shoulders. And I said, OK. So I delved back into the purse, gave her two five cent coins to make up that 10 cent.
33:42
And I went on my way. And when I got home, I went, you know what? I wonder are other shops doing this? You know, I just thought it was very unfair.
33:52
They might as well just stop minting two cent coins. Just take them out of circulation if they're not being used or they're not accepted.
34:00
Yeah, exactly. You know, but the other thing that popped into my head was, you know, this rounding up of numbers to the five cents. But still in all, two two cent coins and one one cent coin still makes up five five cents.
34:16
Are there one cent coins in circulation? I probably should know that.
34:21
I'm telling you I've got a jar you know one of those big old Smirnoff bottles you know over the years I come in I empty out my packets put it in so I think I'll have to round it all up and bed bag it all up and bring it in there's no shop going to take that off did you leave the napkins behind then No, I actually bought them.
34:43
Oh, you gave her five cent coins.
34:45
I gave her two five cent coins to make up the ten that she wouldn't accept. You know, I'm just thinking, are they making these rules up themselves? Or is it laziness counting the till at the end of the night?
35:00
But sure, it's even worse than that, where you can go into establishments now who say no cash at all.
35:06
Yeah, and I actually walk away from places like that. I do not go into the barn anymore. Cortado down on the marina. I do not shop there anymore. No cash?
35:18
No, no cash. Yeah, card only.
35:20
Yeah, yeah. I remember talking to the barn about that item that, I don't know, it was a few years ago now. I think they had said something to do with security, not wanting to keep cash or money on the premises and things like that. Yeah, but I...
35:36
Sorry, go on.
35:37
I think that cash should be accepted everywhere. It's legal tender, you know. We need to be able to carry cash.
35:43
Absolutely. What I'm noticing in a lot of, let's say, convenience stores now, they've got their automated machine, but whatever you give, it's accepted. You know, it goes into the machine, the cashier feeds it into the machine, and the correct change comes out. I'm sure that that's a security thing. You know, God forbid, if they were robbed or that, you know.
36:07
No, I understand all of that. But as a customer, that's not really your concern, you know.
36:14
I suppose not, you know. But look, money is money. You know, I had 10 cents to spend and it wasn't accepted in that form, you know.
36:23
And shame on you for doing that. Let's see if other people have like-minded stories. Appreciate it, Rose. Thanks so much. Take care. Thanks, Nick. Cheers. Text 0868104106. Your thoughts on that and indeed on wedding gifts, the cash that you give, how much is acceptable and what would be the average? I mean, you look at the average cost of a wedding at 36,000 euro now. They break it down then, you know, because you're looking at the venue, which would include the catering and the drinks, say for about 140 guests. That's about 110 euro per head. I often wondered if you were to book...
36:55
Let's say if you wanted to book a hotel for a meal for a big party, say, I'm not saying the size of a wedding, but you didn't mention that it was a wedding, that it was something else. Say, for instance, that it was a birthday party, right? I imagine that you wouldn't be charged the same amount of money per person for the meal as you would for the wedding. I think those are the ones that get inflated, the wedding prices. So you're looking at maybe 15 and a half grand for that. You got the band and the DJ, three grand. The wedding dress, two and a half grand. The photography and videographers, when you add the two of them together, could be anywhere up to six to eight grand.
37:29
Flowers, $1,500. The rings, wedding rings, at least a couple of grand. All sorts of things like the groom suit, the wedding cake, the treats, the stationery, the bridesmaids, the decor, the gifts, the favors, the hair and the makeup, transport, accessories, groomsmen, fees, all sorts of stuff. Brings it right up to $36,000.
37:49
for an average Irish wedding of 140 guests at 110 per head for the food.
37:56
And that doesn't include a lot of ancillaries that they say you need to set aside another five grand for contingency, for unexpected expenses and things like that. So it's a lot of money. Text 0868 104 106.
38:19
Text 0868 104 106. People causing trouble on the 220 bus to Ballancolic, 8pm last night near Aldi. These two people wanted to get off even though there was no bus stop. They kicked off and ripped the plastic protection from around the driver. Imagine that, the screen area. The driver to slam on the brakes. Elderly passengers went flying onto the floor, including my partner who was injured, hurt his wrist and badly hurt his leg. What is this world coming to? Can't come on air, but I wonder if there are any other listeners on the buses, Craig. Well, unfortunately, that's just one of many what they deem to be anti-social behaviour on public buses.
38:55
Keep those coming. Text 0868 104 106. Meanwhile, the afterlife.
39:01
The day before my grandmother... This is from yesterday's program. People who were dead for a period of time and came back. Our stories related to that.
39:09
The day before my grandmother died, a stray dog turned up at my mother's house. She tried to shoo him away, but eventually she just let him in. My grandmother lived across the road. In the middle of the night, the dog barked to be let out. So she let the dog out. The next morning, she went across to my grandmother only to find that she had died. Might have been coincidence, but strange because she never saw the dog again. You don't know. You just don't know. You would be reading something into that. There's loads of research that have been done on near death as we all walk around producing psychedelic chemicals.
39:42
Have a look because people don't realize that loads of this is true. As we die, they call it spirit modules and molecules that we leave behind. Yeah, I mean, imagine, you know, the body might die, but your spirit or your, I suppose, your chemistry or your, I don't know, maybe the aspects of your life that could be deemed as being your soul. Listening to work today, a very interesting subject indeed. The 2010 movie with Matt Damon, directed by Clint Eastwood, is called Hereafter. Excellent film about the afterlife and well worth seeing.
40:16
Antoinette, seeing that light from yesterday's morning, I had goosebumps listening to her. And then with regards to Eilish, who says it's unbelievable that her daughter saw her dad like that. Yes, he did. And had a conversation with him in the afterlife where he told her to go back, that it wasn't her time. So keep those coming. Text 0868-104-106. Pick up the phone on 0818-104-106.
40:39
And bear in mind, we have those wonderful summer passes right across the summer to various tourist attractions to give away. And I want to say thank you to Vanessa, because we sent Vanessa and the family off to Leahy's Farm. And it's always lovely when people come back and say thank you. She's a small bit of a story attached to it. She said, I'm sitting here with a coffee in the play area and can only be described as a day for the memory books. And I just wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to you and the team for giving us the opportunity of this outing to Leahy's Farm. Lots of happy heads, tired legs, giggles and smiles.
41:11
It really was a day to be remembered. And only for you, we wouldn't have gotten the opportunity. And thank you as well, Vanessa. You did send me photographs of a lot of happy, happy faces. And I'm delighted that you had such a good day. They're the kind of passes that we're giving away. Summer attractions, wonderful tourist attractions across the county all summer long. So the best text, best email, or indeed the best...
41:34
Call On Air wins one of our family passes to lots of different experiences. So keep them coming. Text 0868 104 106. You can always text 0868 104 106 and we'll pick it up after 10.
41:50
Part of the conversation, the Neil Prendil for Show with Elevate Credit Union. And this week, we've teamed up with Deluxe Bathrooms and Tiling Solutions with a €400 voucher to be spent at their showrooms every single morning. Now, you can visit them at Deluxe Bathrooms and Tiling Solutions in Little Island. Check them out online. deluxebathrooms.ie so 400 euro for anything in the bathroom and you can spend it to your heart's content so every day you get an opportunity to identify who's singing in the shower they're always famous people and this is day three so I'll give it a couple of spins don't call just yet I'll open the phone lines just before midday today who's singing in the shower so have a listen to this one all you need is love love is all you need Now, to me, that's tougher.
42:41
But what do I know? So you need to identify. I think at this stage, we can say definitely male. But more than that, I cannot say. So I'll give another couple of spins. Who's singing in the shower? We'll open the phone lines before midday.
42:52
400 euro voucher for deluxe bathrooms and tiling solutions.
42:56
For all of the business, text 0868-104-106. Can I just mention an update? I'll go back to calls in a moment and voice notes. Yesterday, we spoke about the horrific smells done around the Blackrock, Mahan, Ballinure area. You can even smell it on the South Ring.
43:11
And that has to do, of course, with people complaining for a long time now regarding the obnoxious, noxious smells of sewage. So Ishka Aaron did come back and confirmed what we kind of had worked out anyway. They said that they're aware of the, as they say, intermittent odour. I think that's downplaying how people feel down there, to be honest with you. They say they've carried out a detailed investigation and they've had an assessment of the pumping stations and the wastewater networks and thereafter identifying the source of the odour. And it's coming from a thing called the Ballinour Header Chamber.
43:45
I imagine that is...
43:47
where they process the sewage waste and move it along.
43:51
So they've identified it as being there and their wastewater teams are progressing a program of works to address the issue. They know it's had an impact on local residents and they're committed to resolving the matter. And I hope that they are because it's been going on way too long.
44:07
And it shouldn't take intervention from the public or indeed this radio program to get onto them to tell them, get it done and get it done faster. So hopefully this will make a difference and that it was sorted out once and for all. OK, listen, I'm backed up with a lot of texts and emails and I bear in mind and thank everybody for getting in touch. But I'm going to plough through some more calls and get back to texts and emails in a moment. But just one or two voice notes. One was on weddings, right? Whether you go or don't go or how much you give as a gift. Have a listen.
44:34
Honestly, guys, I was just listening to you there doing weddings, right? And I was listening to Emma saying she loves it. God almighty, they're the most boring, longest day you can actually imagine. And the gift part of it, I don't know. I mean, the amount of money that's spent in weddings, as you said. Look, there's some people spend 100 grand by the time they've got cars and everything like that. And it is just ridiculous. They'd be driving a brand new Mac. They'd have half their, well, not half their mortgage, but quartered their mortgage paid. To be honest with you, I'd rather get a summons than a wedding invitation.
45:07
I won't play any more voice noise. I'll go straight to Sandra Looney, wedding planner and florist, to have and to hold. Morning, Sandra. What do you make of that chap? He'd rather get a summons than a wedding invitation.
45:18
Good morning, Neil. He's not alone in that, believe me. We hear that all the time from guests, particularly the male aspect of the couple getting a wedding invitation. They'd rather go to the dentist.
45:30
You're being very honest for somebody who's in the trade.
45:34
Oh, listen, I'm just telling it as it is. Look, weddings are a big deal. And like everything else, like everything in life at the minute, the cost of them has gone up. And that's both for the couple, but also for those who are attending the wedding. So it is an expensive weekend because a lot of the time it's a weekend or other than a day. So it does come with a big hefty kind of a price tag.
45:55
Well, the Vox that Seamus did from people on the streets of Cork said, nothing lower than 200 euro as a gift. And one fellow went as high as 500. There was lots of 250s and 300s. I suppose if I was to average out all of them, I'd say that the average gift of cash is about 250 euro per person.
46:15
Yeah, it was 300 per couple up until about a year ago, but that now has increased because everything else has increased. So it's now looking at roughly 200 euro per person. So a couple is averaging 400 euro and that's for a non-family kind of a gift.
46:34
If you're family, if you're a close friend, sometimes that does raise to 500 per couple.
46:39
So if you're a close friend, you grew up with them, went through life together and they're in their late 20s and you're still pals, and you take a partner with them, it's 500 euro? Yes. And who made the decision that things needed to go up? Who made that call?
46:55
I think it just has happened over time, Neil, to be honest, because if you look at everything else that's gone up, the cost of the wedding itself has gone up. So the couple now are looking to recoup the cost of that and their friends know that. So if you look for a small example, a wedding cake, the cost of a wedding cake has gone up and that's been driven up by the cost of chocolate and ingredients. So ingredients costs have gone up. So It filters out. People have weddings, they know what it costs to have the wedding, they go to a wedding so they know what's expected of them to bring as a gift. So, you know, all these young people, they kind of look after each other that way because it is very much a trend that's driven by the younger generation, to be honest.
47:36
But who made the call and at what stage was the call made that wedding cash should be what pays for the wedding? I mean, when you had lists and gifts, that was never the case. It was picked up by the couple or if they were lucky enough, maybe parents jumped in as well.
47:52
And you've hit the nail on the head there. It's changed dramatically. Weddings were a much different affair. You didn't have all the bells and whistles that you have now. You have the costs are going up all the time. Now, the one thing that I would say is that there's really good value out there for couples if they shop around, particularly with venues. So lots of venues now are seeing that there's an opportunity to offer more all-inclusive kind of packages for couples. So that's far more attractive for them where they can save money. But But then, you know, you've got a band, a photographer, a videographer, you've cars, you've dresses, you've rings, you've all that kind of stuff to pay for.
48:29
And the days of getting a toaster or an iron are long gone. And the days of mum and dad paying for the wedding are pretty much long gone too. So, you know, each couple... Why is that?
48:40
Are you saying that less and less parents are in a position to give a hefty contribution?
48:45
I think so, because we think about it, more and more kids are still living with their parents. So, you know, there is that kind of a quid pro quo, I suppose. We do see lots of parents who are fantastic and they do have their kids out. But it's certainly not to the same extent that we would have seen when they started, let's say, 10 years ago, 11, 12 years ago.
49:04
Well, it is the story then on the average report that came in saying the average cost of a wedding in Ireland is €36,000 and then they broke it down. They go into the venue and the cost per meal and the band and the DJ and the dresses and the photography, videography. Is that about right?
49:20
It is. It is. And to be honest, if you come out at that, you're doing very well.
49:25
For one day?
49:27
For one day, yeah. And that doesn't take into account a lot of the time of the day too.
49:33
and everything else that goes with that. And there's lots of different variables then as well. So, you know, as I mentioned, some venues have different packages. So you'd have an A, B and a C. There are packages for midweek versus Saturday weddings. There's you know, average numbers if you're having a wedding on the Friday and Saturday, you have to have a minimum for some hotels because they need to recoup their costs.
49:59
God help anybody that's invited to a midweek wedding. That is a complete nightmare, particularly if you're trying to hold down a couple of jobs.
50:05
Yeah. Correct, because you at least, and it would also depend on where it is. So, you know, you may need to travel up the night before or you may need to stay the night of the wedding, particularly if you're staying for day two.
50:18
So if you're going to a Wednesday or a Thursday wedding, then a lot of the time that's kind of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday shot from having to take annual leave.
50:27
OK, so we know the more lavish side of it then, but has there been any changes with regards to smaller weddings, more intimate, boutique-y things, low-key, rather than the big, lavish £30,000, £40,000 splash-out?
50:42
Absolutely. And that's what we're seeing quite a bit of. And it's a really lovely change. And because it is, as you mentioned, far more intimate and far more personal. So what we're seeing is a couple who are foregoing the big hotel. They are having a ceremony and the ceremony may have just a close family and friends. It may be 20 people, it may be 30 people. The ceremony happens at 2 o'clock. A lot of the time it's not necessarily a church anymore. It may be a venue or it could be a registry office.
51:12
And then the trend is to book a really nice restaurant. So, you know, spend a bit of money on a restaurant for 30 or 40 people. No band, there might be a DJ. Nice photographer, nice food.
51:25
And that is definitely a trend that we're seeing now. particularly in the last two to three years as the cost of everything has gone up. And people are saving to buy a house. That's the main reason people say to us, they're saying, look, we're not going to spend 40 grand on a wedding. We're trying to get a roof over our head or we just have one and therefore we can't afford to spend that kind of money on a wedding. And also we're much happier to just have the people we want at the wedding. And we just want something far more lucky and far more intimate.
51:54
Yeah, no, I had a friend who was at a wedding at the weekend. It was the most beautiful thing I've heard in a long, long time. It was a close friend of his and they're a very tight bunch of people. And the wedding was in the back garden and it was a barbecue and the weather was beautiful. And I thought, well done to that couple. What a wonderful thing to do to celebrate in your home. Wasn't it nice?
52:13
Absolutely. And they probably enjoyed it a lot more rather than the stress of, you know, all the vendors, everything that you need to remember on the day. It's far more enjoyable for couples and their families if they can kind of take a little bit more control of it and have something far more intimate that they're able to put their stamp on and enjoy.
52:31
Yeah. So we know now at this stage that the cost for the guest is, you say, could be 500 for a couple. It could be 250 to 300 for an individual. They also have to get to and from the venue. And if it's up the country, are we seeing more and more or less and less? I'm hearing more and more of weddings up the country and overseas. You'd hear of places like Spain or Italy or Sardinia. Is that becoming more commonplace? That's a huge financial headache for someone.
53:00
It's not becoming more commonplace. It was always there and it's still there. And there were people who will still want to do that. But there can be a misconception that it's way less expensive. It's still a cost. And, you know, you can shop around to get good value, again, depending on the day of the week, where you go. All that kind of stuff still is very pertinent when you go away.
53:20
People are shopping around in Ireland. So people will go up to Tipperary, you know, they'll go somewhere. They're going down to Kerry. Why? They're going... They're just shopping around for better value. And as I mentioned earlier, the...
53:36
The church weddings, we're seeing a drop-off in the number of church weddings now. So what people are shopping around for is a venue that can pretty much host everything for them. So they want somewhere that will have a nice ceremony, that they can have that either indoor or outdoor. They have the option for both. Somewhere where they can have their drinks, reception.
53:55
somewhere where they can have their meal and they can have their dancing so they go there and they don't leave so what they're shopping around is a place that can offer them the best deal for that okay all right because there might have some cash left at the end of it then yeah absolutely why what is the attraction to get sorry oh you might get married here or something or you might get go to a church wedding in spain for example what what's the reason for doing that
54:21
It's always been the weather and it's always been people who want to get married on the beach or they want a wedding outside. It's very difficult, as you know, to plan an outdoor wedding here in Ireland. Now, this year we've been haunted. It's almost been too hot. But it's very much down to the fact that some couples as well want to, and this is going to sound awful, they want to weed out some people who they know won't go. So people want to be able to invite people kind of with a sense of, you know, we know. Wouldn't they want to invite them?
54:52
They don't like them?
54:53
Listen, we have seen all kinds of everything in this industry over the years. So there's all kinds of rationale behind decisions couples make. But to be fair, most couples, it's either that the place holds a memory for them. They used to go there with kids or whatever. But lots of people do have a reason for going away.
55:12
No, I'm still back at the weed out the undesirables.
55:15
Move on, move on, move on.
55:18
People that you feel you're under pressure to invite. It might be extended family members, great aunts and great uncles. You know what I mean? Or cousins that you never see or whatever the case may be. So they're weeded out because they wouldn't travel or couldn't travel kind of a thing.
55:35
Correct. Yeah, correct. I know I'm going to get murdered for this. Yeah, but to be fair, most of the couples that go away, they go away because the place are going to mean something to them, as I say, and they want to create new memories there.
55:49
Oh, I'd love to be at the wedding where all of those, they decided to get married in Spain, and all the people that didn't want to go and went to Spain to avoid them accepted the invitation and went...
55:59
Yeah. Can you imagine? Get a right lens. I love it. I love it.
56:03
All right. Well, listen, you're very good to jump on, Sandra. Continued success. Appreciate it. Much obliged. You're very welcome. Sandra Looney, wedding planner and florist with To Have and To Hold. Check her out yourself if you're planning a big day. Back after the break, text 0868-104-106.
56:17
get on to prenderville text or whatsapp neil now 0868 104 106 the neil prenderville show on red fm amazing the things that take off on this program amongst other things yesterday afterlife experiences was one of them the other was the ingredients and the way to cook a shepherd's pie we had antoinette on yesterday as a qualified chef giving her version another chef has come back now with a different version And full details will be revealed a little later on. But you are right, Mick. He sends me a photograph of... And it's just so sad.
56:49
On the day yesterday, we had all of these EU ministers meeting downtown up in UCC. And literally, it seemed like hundreds and hundreds of members of Angarda Chakona and all sorts of vehicles... While all of that was happening, Mick says, isn't it sad, these two lads across from Leonardo's hotel, just 10 minutes ago, he says, they were there at 7 o'clock in the morning. To be honest, they looked like they've passed away. Meanwhile, there's plenty of security just a couple of hundred yards away up the road. How sad is our society that we look after the big boys in suits but don't seem to mind the rest?
57:21
It could be my son and it could be your son. Yes, indeed, and it is two individuals that are completely wrapped up in a sleeping bag.
57:28
absolutely horizontal, just under one of the trees, sleeping. And that, of course, is where they sleep at night. God knows how they spend the day. But you are right, 100% right, Mick. And it's sad to see for sure it is. And then with regards to how dangerous it can be out there, yesterday I was contacted by somebody who actually finished work at 11 o'clock on Monday night.
57:48
And either it was an assault that happened or somebody was knocked down at Dennehy's Cross. They were in the middle of the road. Now, the texture was quite descriptive as to what he or she saw. And it was harrowing to come across the injuries and the amount, I'm going to say, blood.
58:05
But she was asking, did you hear anything about her? I was actually in shock.
58:09
It was horrendous to come upon it. So we knew nothing about that. But you are right. There was an assault. And the Gardaí attended that scene following a report of assault at a premises in Bishopstown at 5 past 11 on Monday night. And a man aged in his 50s was brought to the CUH for treatment. Now, obviously, investigations are ongoing, but it literally happened just as you were coming home from work in and around 11 o'clock on Monday night. And that is very sad. Pick up the phone, text 0868104106. Voice notes, lad. And this, lads, this one is on coins, right?
58:40
You go to places now where they don't take any cash at all. It's only all cards and tap. But when some do, as you heard from Yisk in Blackpool, they're very, very touchy-feely about the brown stuff, the brown coins.
58:54
Morning, Neil. Team, I'll be sharing Watford. He lives more, actually, but...
59:02
As far as I know, the one and two cents were taken out of circulation good for years back. I get the odd one in my change sometimes, but that's why rounding came in, because if you're 25.44, say, you had spent, well, they'd say 25.45. And then if you said, oh, I have 25.29 is your bill, and they would say, okay, that's 29.30.
59:27
As in, that's what Roundy is all about, because they took them out of circulation years ago. Unless I'm totally deranged now, but that's what I think happened.
59:37
Have a good day, Eilish.
59:38
You too. Thanks, Eilish. You'll have to find out whether or not they stopped minting one cent and two cent pieces. Eilish believes so. Perhaps you might be able to clarify it yourselves. Listening, text 0868104106. And so to yesterday's conversation, I was talking amongst other things to lots of different people. One conversation was with Antoinette. She had a near-death experience when she was young at the beach. She was being taught to swim. Do you recall that conversation yesterday? It was very detailed and quite vivid. And she...
60:07
obviously drowned and eventually was resuscitated on the beach. But in between that, she had moved on to another level, to another plane. And she was talking about meeting her father who had passed away and him smiling and being close to her and going through this tunnel of white light. It was an extraordinary conversation and it prompted others then accordingly and texts and emails. And I was reading The Examiner yesterday And I came across Brianna Gallagher. She was 21 when her dad suddenly died from heart attack.
60:43
And for a young girl or anybody, it could be a partner or indeed it could be a young son or a young daughter, being without a parent, in our case a father, it can be devastating and a very important part of your life. So there's a lovely article in The Examiner about her journey thereafter. And she joins me by phone. Brianna, good morning.
61:00
Hi, Neil. How's it going?
61:01
I'm good. Thank you. And it would be devastating for somebody. And you make the point very well in the article. You're navigating life at that young age where you would like to turn to a dad or a man for a bit of guidance and direction and advice, right? And you were denied that. Talk us through the journey.
61:20
Well, I suppose, yeah, we were always close.
61:23
And he was just someone that always had my back. I was kind of considered daddy's little girl, you know, up until that point. So I had that, I had that real safety in it.
61:36
And yeah, he died suddenly on the 19th of December.
61:40
I was only myself and my man in the house. And, you know, that whole morning was so life changing. but really terrifying in the moment as well because I had to do a bit of CPR and obviously it was unsuccessful. I didn't have a clue what I was doing.
62:00
You were doing your best.
62:01
I was doing my best.
62:03
And so obviously at 21, right, I was a full-blown adult. I wasn't a child, but it still was a bad moment in time for me because I was going through a few pivotal decisions.
62:19
And I kind of felt I had made the wrong decision in my course in college. That was probably the big one for me. And so in the weeks and months leading up to it, I was kind of like, oh my God, I don't know. So I was at that point anyway. And then when he passed, everything just changed instantly.
62:39
And I suppose looking back, and I say this with compassion for myself, I really did do everything wrong.
62:47
I needed...
62:49
support I should have gone to bereavement counselling I should have opened up more you know I just didn't know what to do with the grief and so I ended up with I think a lot of people be just carrying on not talking about it keeping going but like I suppose my personality and where I was in my life and um maybe the immaturity, I just made a lot of bad decisions. And it felt like I was paralyzed.
63:14
You see, this is not supposed to happen. This is 2003. Your dad was only 57. You know, he should have had another 35 or 40 years on the clock. Just move around a small bit there, Brianna, see if I can improve this phone line. Oh, sorry. Okay. So you were paralyzed. You lost your confidence. You spun out, I think is the word you use. What do you mean by spun out?
63:38
I probably internally spun out. Is the line okay? I'm sitting in the car here.
63:43
That's a little bit better. Go ahead, yeah. More grand.
63:45
Okay. Yeah, I suppose internally I spun out because I knew that I wanted to feel better. I knew that I could feel better, but I didn't know what... I didn't know how to get back to myself.
63:59
I really did not know how to get back to myself.
64:01
And did somebody recommend to you then, 10 years on, to visit a medium?
64:06
Yes. Yes.
64:08
Yes, that's what happened. So so within those 10 years, right, I totally accepted that he was gone. I, you know, wasn't I wasn't particularly grieving at that stage. I had moved on and I had made better life choices and I was happier with where I was. You know, I was I was I was definitely back on the right track.
64:32
when my friend Susan recommended that I go to Moya, who works out a dervish on the cold tea. Now, I didn't have a clue what a medium was back then. I didn't have the language. I kind of thought that she was a fortune teller. You know, they were the words that I remember feeling.
64:52
And so I went in, and Moya is really calm. She just has the most serene energy about her. And I sat down opposite her and she was kind of looking over my shoulder and talking, you know, in this really soft, gentle tone. And like I said to the airdrop and the examiner, you know, the first few minutes, nothing was really landing. I was just listening away.
65:15
And then a couple of minutes in, she said, there's a man with me.
65:20
And I kind of felt it in my body anyway. I was like, oh, you know, I felt something. And she said, he's 57.
65:28
her heart.
65:30
Did you say he was clutching his heart?
65:33
Yes, she was clutching her heart.
65:36
She was like heart, that's what she was saying, like heart, heart. And then she started describing what he looked like.
65:45
So she said, he's dark hair, average height, and then she started pointing towards her forearms and she said like, tans, you know, and it's all very gently, you know, like tan, tan, tan. And that's when I thought, oh yeah, he did have tan forearms, you know, because he was a golfer, you know, he had the golfer's tan.
66:04
And then she burst out laughing, this big burst of laughter. And she said, good looking. He said, good looking. Like, is that something that he would say? And I was like, oh my God, yes, it was something that he would say 100%.
66:21
But it wasn't that that got me, right?
66:25
Like, when I look back on everything, right, it was that moment. But it wasn't what she said. It was the way she laughed.
66:33
Because for the previous 10, 12 minutes, however long it was, and I do have it recorded on my iPhone. I have that session recorded. I...
66:42
It was just so serene. It was so gentle. And then all of a sudden, this burst of laughter, it was completely at odds with how her energy was. And like you can tell when someone has responded to something or if it's a fake laugh, you know. So anyway, it was a combination of both.
66:58
And so basically for the next, for the rest of the session, me, Moya and my dad, like all talked about everything that had happened in the previous two weeks leading off to that appointment.
67:13
How was your dad involved in that part of the conversation?
67:18
So what Maya says, and I've experienced this myself as well. I don't want to jump ahead, but I have also done this a couple of times. But like Maya was explaining to me that she is the medium. She is the conduit. My dad's spirit and his energy was with me. Like he wasn't in Dervish. He is with me. And when Maya is there and she has the capacity... to be able to channel his energy and communicate through what he wants to say to me.
67:51
Okay. And what was that?
67:53
Well, do you know what? The message, the overriding message was to calm down.
68:00
Because even though, right, I was over all of the stuff that had happened with my dad. Something else had happened two weeks before the appointment. And It was just bothering me a little bit. I thought they were completely unrelated. I did not expect these to be coming up in the session at all. Like, I mean, I was not for six. But things that I had been thinking, things that nobody else knew had happened. Like, we weren't going back over anything. It was all about the last two weeks.
68:31
And he knew. And he was aware. And he was conversing with you about that.
68:35
Yes.
68:36
That's bizarre, isn't it?
68:38
Well...
68:39
Well, I mean, it's funny because so since then, like that's 13 years ago now, like I went out and I sat outside Dervish and it was actually a heat wave as well that summer. I remember just being melting outside and everyone walking past and I was in shock. I was just shocked sitting on the concrete block thinking, I just communicated with my dad. Like I didn't talk to him.
69:04
What was his message to you?
69:07
His message to me was to calm down and to stop overthinking and to just relax. Everything is okay. It's the exact same thing he would have said to me if he was standing in front of me. You know, body and blood. And I did. That's what I needed to hear. I needed to hear, will you just calm down? It's fine. It's not a catastrophe. It's fine.
69:29
And could I ask, did you say anything to him?
69:33
Oh, yeah, it was like an open conversation. I mean, it was through Maya at that stage.
69:37
You know, I understand that part of you. You've explained that very well. But, I mean, you spoke back in the sense that you had something to say to him.
69:46
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did. I did.
69:51
I mean, it just felt very normal. It just felt very normal. It felt like the three of us were having a conversation, even though me and my dad, even though I couldn't hear what he was saying.
70:00
It felt like the three of us were having a conversation.
70:03
Like, I'm just curious as to what that would be.
70:06
Maybe typically, if it were me, I would say that I miss you or I wish you were here or, you know, thank you. Thank you for being my dad or my mother. And, you know, I didn't appreciate you as much when you were alive as that kind of conversation.
70:20
Not really, actually. I've had those conversations since.
70:24
And maybe there was a little bit of that, but no, it was actually more to do with everything that had happened in my life. In your life. In that fortnight.
70:34
Yeah, yeah.
70:36
You know, it just sort of, it just sort of, it just went there.
70:40
And have you had subsequent conversations?
70:43
All the time.
70:45
All the time. So like, so that's, it changed everything for me. And I suppose I've, heard and met and know people who go to medium sessions who have had similar experiences and kind of go away and you know get on with their own life but that wasn't what happened to me like I couldn't believe what had happened it just it was like well this changes everything this changes life it changes death it changes so much bigger than me and my dad like this changes absolutely everything and so I just went with it I said well if if I could communicate through Moya, like, can I communicate myself to him?
71:24
And I suppose I just started talking, really, you know, I just started kind of talking to him and asking for signs and asking for help, but also just having a bit of a laugh and, like, just treating as if it was continuation. That's a word that I like to use for death. I believe it's a transition into another state, into another form, and that there is continuation. even though it's very different. The physical form isn't here.
71:50
And that's very true. The calls yesterday were also saying that. I was saying, how did it make you feel different? And the words were like, it's very comforting to know that this isn't the end. And, you know, you say to somebody, do you believe now because of what you've gone through that there will be a stage when you pass that you will be reunited with those that you love? And all of them who went through experiences like your near death or people who passed away and came back again, They said, yes, it's very comforting to know that I will meet my loved ones again because I now have proof of it.
72:19
Yes, but I also think it changes how we live here. It's changed how I live here because the more I lean in, so obviously there's my dad. I believe that I have a continuing relationship with my dad in spirit.
72:32
But I think there's more out there that I don't know. And I don't speak factually to things that I haven't really experienced. But I do believe that. I do think that there's more out there. I don't know whether I'm able to access my own spirit, my own soul. I believe that's what we're meant to do. But there's guidance from the spirit world to us here. And they want us to be thriving. They want us to live our best life. And there's different rules to the spirit world.
73:03
And those kind of rules are about leading with love, not giving in to the fears, not being paralyzed by the fears. You have to be brave. You have to lead with love. You have to do the things that bring you joy. It sounds... trite sometimes. You know, it can be confronting to hear those things. But it's true.
73:26
It's true. I really have lived this so deeply for the last 13 years. And then the other thing is, right, people tell me their stories.
73:37
It's so increased. Even emails that came in last night after the examiner. But someone came up to me recently after a gig, actually, in court. And she was just kind of acting funny at the start. But then she told me a story that had happened to her a few months ago with her dad.
73:59
And it was amazing.
74:02
And you could see, you can tell when someone has been credible and believable and when they're not, I think anyway.
74:07
It's just that somewhere, did she tell you about that story?
74:10
She told me, now I can't tell you the details.
74:13
No, it's just, I was curious, was it a medium visit?
74:16
No. Okay. All right. You don't have to tell me. It's just that the area regarding mediums is a very gray area because I equally talk to a lot of people who say that it's just a scam and that it doesn't work or it didn't work for me or I went to loads of them and some were good and some were useless.
74:32
Well, I would agree with that. I would agree with that for sure. So that person who came up to me, it was actually something that happened the night that a loved one passed away.
74:46
And she was involved in it. I know that's really cryptic. I don't mean to say that. But my point in all this, she kept saying, it's crazy. Like, it's insane. It's crazy. And I said, you know what? I am becoming an advocate of the language that we use around this. There's such fear about talking about it. I had it. I don't want to be thought of as crazy. I don't want to be thought of as illogical. I am not an illogical person. It's not a spectrum.
75:14
It's one or the other. You have evidence, of course, and that was a great experience for you. The problem with some people is they say that the mediums just make it up and it's nothing more than clever guessing. But in your case, this was not the case.
75:29
this is not the case but also Neil so for the last 13 years now I haven't been flat out going to mediums or anything I've maybe been to maybe seven seven eight sessions in those 13 years maybe even slightly less I have them all recorded but same medium no no okay and how did you find all of the others any good Yes, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. Actually, Chrissy Mulderhill, she's another lady. The lady that Moya, she is on my podcast, like, That was a full circle moment, as I say.
76:07
So I end up interviewing her. She's amazing. Like, listen to that episode. I'm not trying to plug the podcast. I'm trying to plug Moya.
76:13
Because you're now talking with people in the podcast and talking with mediums in the podcast and hearing their stories. No, I would recommend people to go and listen and check it out.
76:23
That one with Moya was amazing. But, I mean, I also... I went to a medium development circle in May, only a couple of months ago. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was introduced to it by one of my guests, Ciara, and I went along to it. And I have never, okay, I've seen a couple of things, nothing hectic. I would not consider myself clairvoyant. That's to be able to see spirit.
76:47
I wouldn't have considered myself that at all. And so I went in. We start the exercise where you kind of invite spirits in. It's a really safe environment. You blend your energy. And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing here. But then I was reading for someone. So someone was sitting opposite me.
77:03
I called a spirit in. And I could see. I could see a man.
77:08
Like, this is me. I'm not out here practicing as a medium. I'm not trying to say that I'm this or that.
77:12
What do you see when you see a man? Is it kind of a light and hazy image? What is that?
77:18
So it happened twice, two different weeks. The first time there was...
77:23
floor lamp over the other side of the room and the girl who was facilitating the circle she said to me just look into the light I don't know she said look into the light that can help because I was new I'd never done it before so I looked into the light anyway and she was like just think you know trust yourself trust yourself see what comes to and then she said is it a man or a woman or a child and straight away I said man than like definitely man. I could I just knew it was a man approaching and then as soon as the word was out of my mouth I saw an outline of a man and he had really square shoulders like exaggerated shoulders and I remember reading somewhere that when spirit shows itself sometimes they can exaggerate a body part so that the medium will say it and then the person who knows them you know recognizes it.
78:14
So I I was only speaking in one word. I wasn't even like formulating full sentences. But I was like, man, he's got like really square shoulders. And the lady started laughing. She was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I think I know who you're talking about. And then for the next few minutes, it didn't last long. For the next few minutes, it was a mixture of me seeing images and seeing words.
78:41
And again, the girl who was running the circle, she just kept saying, just trust yourself, just say it. And so I would say it, and it was correct. And then I could feel him pull away. I'm kind of doing this with my hands.
78:52
But before that, did he talk?
78:54
Yeah. No, no, no talking.
78:57
So what's the point? Did she say who he was?
79:02
A friend.
79:03
Okay. And what would have been the point? If a spirit comes and shows, why bother if you're not going to say something?
79:12
Well, maybe it's me who can't hear.
79:17
Like, I, yeah, like the auditory facilities, faculties maybe, sorry, is probably a better term. I don't think that's as common as clairvoyance of being able to see something.
79:31
Okay.
79:32
And when people used to say to me before, like, because I would ask, like, what do you see? Like, how does it come through? Like, how does it happen? You know, because this is, I would be fascinated. And then now it's me saying it, like, it's really hard to describe. It's not a daydream, but it's not, it's, it's not as aging, but it's not clear as if, like, I'm looking out here at a gate. Yeah, I know. But I knew it was a man. But the second time, I only went to two of those circles. The second time, it was a man again, different person, different lady.
80:03
And it was a man again. I can still see this guy, right? I could see his face. I can see his blue eyes. I could see his hair. Like, he was kind of turning around, right? I'm kind of doing it there. And I said to her, I said, is he kind of fluffy? like he's kind of smiling and she's like oh yeah yeah yeah he is like i could feel that energy i could feel myself blushing do you know but it was playful it was laughing and so that was a really nice that was a really nice thing that i was probably a bit more confident in seeing what i was seeing and seeing what i was feeling and so the girl said to me um she said okay you're doing good you know try and tap in and and and find out do you know how he passed So I said, okay, go, like, wow, okay, let's do it.
80:44
So I was just sitting there and all of a sudden my neck got really sore and I felt myself, and I was speaking out loud, I was like, my neck is sore. And I started, like, doing this kind of jolicy movement, like, with my upper body. I said, I just want to do this movement, you know. And then afterwards, now I won't say who he was to her, but she said he passed away in a car accident. I said, as soon as I saw you do that, And she was like, yeah, I knew that you were, I knew that you were, you were doing it. And I feel, I have no training.
81:15
There's obviously an openness. There's obviously a connection there, of course. But I mean, I had no training. I walked into both of those rooms.
81:22
I won't keep it, but you want to be careful that you don't get, because there would be evil spirits too, right?
81:27
I can't, that's not where I work. It's just not where I work at all.
81:31
But you may not, you may not know it, but you could invite them.
81:34
Of course, but there's protective things that I do and that people support me with. Not even on those cases, you know, when I was in those readings, but just every day I would have a protective thing.
81:50
ritual yeah yeah okay what an amazing journey so you're sharing these stories on a regular basis on the podcast Naturally High isn't that the case you're talking to yeah I'm just going to see where it goes there's a few creative stuff I want to like projects that I want to do also under the umbrella of Naturally High and I want to talk to people I want to hear their stories I want to help them to speak up and also yeah help people to kind of reduce fears or have had a connection Yeah, yeah.
82:21
Good luck with that, Brianna. Much obliged to you. Thanks for jumping on this morning. I do appreciate it. Take care, take care. Isn't it amazing? Some wonderful sense of comfort, I suppose, and security for people who have experiences like that. Brianna's podcast is called Naturally High. You can check it out for yourself.
82:37
Text 0868 104 106. Pick up the phone on 0818 104 106. We'll catch up on texts after the break.
82:44
Get on to Prenderville.
82:46
Text or WhatsApp Neil now. 0868 104 106.
82:50
The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM.
82:54
Yes, indeed. Alicia is absolutely right on her voice note. We no longer mint one and two cent coins for general circulation. The central bank stopped. It stopped when rounding came in in 2015. You know, where you round up or round down to the closest bigger number. They're still in circulation, but they're not being minted. And ultimately, there will come a time where they won't be used anymore because of rounding. But there's still legal tender, but obviously people are having issues with, you know, certainly going in with a large number of one and two cent coins and being refused. So thank you to everybody who got involved in that.
83:25
Don't still give you as many one cent coins as they can in your change.
83:30
One and two cent coins were taken out years ago. That's why rounding was there. Well, they're not taken out. They're still in circulation. Lower and lower amounts of them, but not being minted anymore. Went to my local post office to change bags of coins, but they wouldn't take the bag of five cent coins. No brown coins, they said. They said, go to the bank and see if they take them. I was gobsmacked. Oh, my God. What is this country coming to? I still have them, by the way. Well, if you want to get rid of them, go to the bank. They will take them. Lots on weddings, right? And the cost of. My neighbour, who's a chauffeur, used to say that some brides and grooms spent longer standing for wedding photographs than their marriages actually lasted.
84:07
Not the marriage ceremony, but the marriage itself was shorter than the photographs.
84:12
My son got married two weeks ago in a pub in our local village in the beer garden. We got catering in and had an amazing day. Terrific food. We danced from 5pm till 1 in the morning. It was absolutely fabulous day. 80 guests. We set it up ourselves and decorated everything ourselves. Now that sounds absolutely ideal to me. And I bet you you got great wedding as well. Great weather, I should say. Listening to your wedding discussions this morning, I have to say our experience was completely different. We got married two years ago and our wedding cost around €55,000.
84:44
That's the upper end of the scale, lads, €55,000. Anyway, that wasn't in a five-star hotel and it didn't include a honeymoon. It was a very standard Irish wedding. You have to take into consideration the cost of a band, DJ, flowers, etc. The idea that the money you receive in cards pays for the wedding is not true, Neil. At least not in our experience. We certainly didn't get anywhere near enough back to cover the cost. And not everyone even gives a card or a cash gift. I think saying weddings cost around £30,000 and that the cards pay for everything gives people an unrealistic expectation of what weddings actually cost these days.
85:21
Now, that's an extraordinary amount of money, if you don't mind me saying so. 55,000 euro. I'm curious that you think that every single penny was well spent and the day was worth 55,000. It must have been an incredible wedding, but the cash didn't cover it. So you were out of pocket a lot, really. I'm just curious, you know.
85:39
For €55,000, it must have been one extraordinary wedding. It didn't include the honeymoon and it wasn't a five-star hotel.
85:51
Did you say that there was how many people there? I don't think you actually said in the text how many people were at it, but it's an enormous amount of money. But thank you for that. Text 0868 104 106. Pick up the phone on 0818 104 106. You talk of mediums. As far as I'm concerned, it's mumbo jumbo. That's like saying the likes of Keith Barry can actually read minds. The medium is just very in tune to emotional intelligence and they pick up on physical cues. Having said that, if it works and gives a person comfort, drive on.
86:22
As in, I suppose it's none of anybody else's business. Eat like the French, you said, and you'll stay slim. There's no way I'll be leaving some of my dessert. They're all miserable and they smoked loads of fags.
86:34
The French, that is. So keep them coming. Text 0868 104 106. And...
86:40
There is a lethal thing inside in all of our kitchens and that is the kitchen sponges. I mentioned that earlier on this morning with E. coli, salmonella and listeria possible. It's a wonder we're not all dead. I work in a hotel kitchen where one of the people on wash up was regularly seen wiping under her arms with the tea towel she used and she kept it on her shoulder.
87:00
Oh, I did not need to know that. As regards to dogs in restaurants, I love dogs, but really, it's gone way too far. I was recently in a restaurant where a person came in with a dog as big as a calf. No joke. And it was there, slobbering next to others and eating their dinner. Guide dogs, I understand, but come on. In this day and age, it's gone way too far. Geetman Cumming, text 0868104106, back after 11.
87:30
The part of the conversation, the Neil Prentival Show with Elevate Credit Union. Your chance every day to scoop a €400 voucher to spend at Deluxe Bathrooms and Tiling Solutions. They're down in Little Island. You can visit the showroom or you can check them out online, deluxebathrooms.ie. So with that €400, okay, vanity units, freestanding baths, showers, mirrors, tiles, do a major refresh in the bathroom for that now. A €400 voucher every single day. And you've got to identify who's singing in the shower.
88:00
Don't call just yet. I'll open the phone lines just before midday. See if you can identify this chap.
88:07
All you need is love Love is all you need
88:13
All right. Oh, I can tell you something. Talking about singing, tomorrow night at the Beamish Room at The Merchant on the South Mall, there's a George Michael tribute act. His name is Eamon Magner and he is a class act. He delivers a great show. He just looks the part. He sounds the part. The instrumentation is terrific. The singing is great. Now, tickets are available on Eventbrite. So he's in the Beamish Room at The Merchant. They put on an awful lot of live gigs. That pub is absolutely flying, both indoors and outdoors, and I'm delighted for them.
88:43
It's a great spot. So tomorrow, from 8 to 10 p.m., George Michael Tribute Live. I know there are a lot of George Michael fans on Leaside. Unfortunately, the real McCoy has passed away, but the Tribute Act is just absolutely magic. So George Michael, live tribute act to the Beamish Room, the merchant tomorrow night from eight o'clock. Tickets at Eventbrite. It'd be a good night out and a good way to start the bank holiday weekend. Now, in other news, over the past 24 hours, I've had a lot of people texting with regards to the Silver Key.
89:16
And of course, one of Cork's bigger popular pubs for many, many, many decades. But there is an update with regards to the Silver Key in Ballinlock. While it remains open for business, It's gone into receivership. So a lot of people who have been communicating all sorts of different stories have kind of got some parts of it right and others inaccurately. But I see the examiner this morning saying that it's gone into receivership. It's open for business at this stage. It's been trading for decades under the ownership of the Campion family.
89:47
They also have the Italian restaurant there, Il Primo. I have to say one thing about the Silver Key. The food there has always been great down through the years. And Il Primo, supposedly a great restaurant. But there's been a charge from AIB.
90:02
where there was finances involved and then that charge went from AIB to a company called Everyday Finance in Galway and there was a filing then for receivership for the pub on Churchyard Lane. The examiner this morning says is renowned as a favourite for sports fans and next to Conn and down around Porky Ring and all the way down around the beautiful area that would be that part of Ballon Lockdown into Ballon Temple and what have you. So receivers have been appointed at this stage. Now, the trading environment for publicans in Cork is difficult at this time and there'll be concerns now about the future as to what happens with the Silver Key.
90:40
But for now, it's gone into receivership But right now, it remains open for business during this stage of the process. A lot of security turned up there yesterday morning and people in suits, apparently, by all accounts, and everything changed yesterday morning. We'll have to see what happens. That's as much as I know. I pass it on. You are now aware of it as much as I am. Text 0868 104 106. On wedding gifts, I would be embarrassed if couples gave us €300 for a wedding gift. The married couple should be sending thank you cards to the idiots who give out €300 or €400 or €500 cash.
91:17
And I'm a wedding planner, Susanna. You feel that it's way too high. It should be the other way around. It should be an event or a wedding that you're invited to because you're a friend.
91:29
You talk about 36,000 euro. Our wedding was just short of 70,000 euro.
91:35
It was a fairly average wedding. The hotel alone cost 36,000. Don't give up my details, which is unfortunate because I would give you a kidney of mine to come on the air to tell me how you managed to spend 70,000 euro at your wedding. 200 euro is acceptable per couple, I believe. You're paying for the meal with a little extra, depending on the hotel, when you give 200 euro. If it was a brother or a sister... Family is different. Then it could be as high as €500 or €600. Neil, hotels are a rip-off for weddings.
92:09
All you get is carvery food at an exorbitant price. I often wonder if you went in and booked an event similar to a small wedding, like 50, 60 people, and said you wanted it for a birthday party or an anniversary or a christening. I bet you it would be nowhere near the food prices that you'd pay for a wedding. There's a huge reality check here for all fathers of daughters. When the Debs comes along, then the 21st birthdays, graduations, celebrations, engagement parties, and finally the wedding, the father thinks exasperately, at least it's all over now.
92:41
But alas, it's never going to end.
92:44
You just make it sound so depressing. Yet despite this reality, no one will dare talk about it as usual. What? Talk about what? The cost of children or the cost of rearing a daughter? Text 0868 104 106.
93:04
All righty. There are some lovely people out there. Neil, I just wanted to text you because you were talking about people falling this morning at the state of the footpaths. I certainly was in major payouts by city council because of it, the injuries to people. Anyway, I was walking up from the church in Mayfield. I saw a man jump out of his work truck, Lou.ie, the portable Lou hire company written on the back of the truck. At first, I didn't know what was happening when he jumped out of the truck, but there was a lady on the ground. He picked her up, made sure she was OK, and then brought her across the road to the hairdressers by Chestnut Muse.
93:36
I would just like people to know that we still have some lovely people around, and I hope the woman is OK. Can't come on air, but maybe you'll read out the message. Well done to whoever that man was working for a portable loo hire company called loo.ie. You did the right thing. And fair play to you. Then with regards to weddings, we only had seven at our wedding and came back from our honeymoon and paid off 25 grand off our mortgage. We're mortgage free at 50. So we saved for the big wedding, but changed our minds. We had a lovely day. That was 11 years ago, still married and still happy.
94:07
Somebody said this morning that the wedding photographs these days can last longer than the marriage itself. But that's amazing. You had saved and saved and saved, then decided not to splurge it on a wedding. Seven of you, nice little honeymoon and a load of money to come back to put a deposit on a house. We ran away to Barbados, got married in the cathedral there. It was beautiful. We got our licence the day after we arrived and paid two members of the church staff 50 euro each to act as a witness. We booked a photographer and went to the beach afterwards. We collected our wedding certificate five days later.
94:38
A lovely story. My friend got married in Rome two days before me. We had built a house, meant putting a kitchen in or paying for a home wedding that we had no interest in.
94:48
So, you know, people do think differently when it comes to weddings. And just one or two, just one more. I hate big, expensive weddings. Ten years ago, we walked to our local church and then walked from there to our village hall, which we lavishly decorated ourselves. It looked just as good as any hotel. We provided a pig on a spit... hot and cold buffet, dessert table, an ice cream van, a band, a DJ, bring your own booze and kids entertainment. Everyone loved the day. It cost less for our guests too.
95:19
We had 200 people at the wedding and it cost 8,000 euro. Some people gave 20 euros a gift, some gave 200. We were delighted that each person attended and celebrated with us. Doesn't that also sound absolutely ideal? People thinking differently these days. Keep those coming. Text 0868 104 106. Now!
95:39
I couldn't tell you the amount of people that picked up on a recent conversation on the programme. I spoke to Tracy. She featured on a podcast called The Dating Orange. Do you recall that conversation? She matched up with a guy on Tinder who faked his father's death, amongst other things, to get out of a date with Tracy. There was a lot more to the story, but it just goes to show how crazy it can be sometimes. So we got in touch with The Dating Orange, because that was the podcast, who's heard some incredible dating stories over the years. Now, interestingly, and I love this feature of the Dating Orange, she herself is anonymous.
96:14
She's on our podcast. She covers her head with the gigantic orange in the videos. Believe me, you get used to it after a little while, that's for sure. So I'm having a conversation now and conversing with the Dating Orange. Dating Orange, good morning.
96:31
Good morning, Neil. How are you?
96:34
The weird things that I get up to. So, oh, incidentally, you're getting married yourself, I think, soon, a little birdie tells me.
96:41
I am indeed, yeah. Next year, 2027 bride. OK, big wedding?
96:46
It will be a big wedding, yeah. I currently have 192 on the list. And climbing?
96:51
I'm trying to get it down, trying to go down the other way. It was 203 at one stage.
96:56
OK. Do you have any thoughts in one of our conversations this morning as to how much should be given as a cash gift?
97:04
Yeah, look, I'm actually doing it like a wedding series on TikTok at the moment where I'm showing people the wedding venues that I'm viewing. And people kept replying in the comments saying, oh, my God, the price of this and the price of that and weddings are going crazy. And like they are, I know. But I made a video saying that I had a rough idea of how expensive weddings had gone, because to me, kind of, I don't know, I thought a societal rule was that. Instead of now giving 100 euro to cover your dinner, people were now giving 150. And that's what I thought people were doing. I was given 150 for the last few years. 300, say, for a couple.
97:36
Yeah.
97:37
And more for family or close friends.
97:39
And yeah, people reared up on that anyway. They were not happy kind of saying things like, you know, why should people have to cover their meal at all? You're the one that's inviting them to be there. The expectation the brides and grooms have is crazy. They just want a free wedding, this kind of stuff. So I was a bit shocked at that now.
97:55
Be even more shocked if you heard that 150 is on the low side these days by all accounts. But anyway, how did you meet, do you mind me asking?
98:04
Oh, hilarious. Yeah. So I have that TikTok and Instagram page. So it's just the Dating Orange. I have it going now about four years or more maybe. And people write to me all the time, men and women. I chat away to them in the messages. They just tell me about how they're getting on or they'd be replying to another story that I put up saying that's mad. Anyway, I got in a big conversation with one fella and...
98:26
on third conversation, then found out that he just lived down the road. And sure, we said, we go for a drink.
98:33
That was it. Yeah, and off you go. Listen to me. We were chatting early in the week about a particular episode, but I'm mad keen about the guy who was going around pretending to be an Aer Lingus pilot captain. That was Darvilla's story, wasn't it?
98:50
Darvilla, yeah. It was a mad one. So, I, that's now like a podcast episode. It had to be made into a podcast because TikTok, you know, short form was just not doing it justice. But basically, October 2023, I was on Tinder and I came across this fella and I won't give a surname or anything, but his Tinder profile had his head photoshopped onto an Aer Lingus pilot's body. And I thought, obviously, this was hilarious and it was so outrageous. So I screenshotted it and kind of blurred out his eyes in the picture because I didn't know what was going on with him, just to give him a bit of censoring, you know.
99:22
And I made a TikTok about it and that ended up taking off. And in the picture, the pilot is wearing a lanyard with his ID. And when you zoom in on the lanyard, you can see that it's blurry. But it's a totally different man in that picture than the man who has just photoshopped his head onto the body.
99:37
And it was just a funny post, you know.
99:38
You weren't able to tell that it was somebody else's head, were you? Or was it that obvious?
99:42
You could. It was. It was definitely a different head altogether.
99:46
This fellow is just lying through his teeth. You know, he's trying to dupe women to obviously...
99:53
get them to do stuff with him and he thinks that in order to do that if he's a pilot he has the best chance of duping them a pilot's a good catch is that a real glamorous job a high flyer lots of money kind of thing must be yeah like what was he going to do if he actually started seeing somebody and she realised that he was in fact you know flying no planes at all like what happened next what happened next So then I started getting emails then from him. He was emailing TikTok's legal team and me cc'd trying to get the video taken down, saying it's somebody pretending to be him and he has not stuck his head onto somebody else's body at all.
100:30
And once I put that up, then a follower of the page, Dervila, wrote to me saying that she couldn't believe that he was still at it. She had been talking to him on Tinder a year prior, so in 2022.
100:40
And like, listen to what she's experienced now. He said he worked for Emirates and she has friends who work for Emirates and none of them have ever come across this fella. He was sending her Snapchat of him building his house and one Snapchat had a baby in it and he said it was his nephew. Now that's important for later. And he was quite pushy about meeting up and he was saying like, let's meet up for a rumble. And she was like, no, sorry, I'm not that way inclined.
101:01
And then he said, OK, no, like, let's not go for a rumble. We'll go for a coffee. And he said, I meant to be working. He said, she said, I meant to be working nights or whatever. And he said, I can swap my flights around and I'll get back earlier to see you. And then Durbala was like, that's a red flag. You don't be swapping your flights around.
101:19
Where was he saying, did he tell her where he was flying to and from the destinations and things?
101:24
There was, yeah. So at some stage he was saying that he was doing a Chicago flight and then he was saying he was in Paris and Dervil said you only do European or transatlantic, like you don't mix them.
101:34
And then he also mentioned some other red flags that she knew like this is not right. He mentioned going back while the flight was up in the air and going back to the back cabin to talk to cabin crew during the flight. And he also snapchatted her a picture of the wing of the plane whilst it was in flight, saying that he just sat down for a break. It's like, you, the captain of the plane, just walked halfway down the plane and sat beside some randomer and took a picture.
102:01
When has that ever happened? Why would he think that was okay?
102:06
She picked up early on the red flags, but like, was she kind of playing along or what?
102:12
No, after this, she kind of collected all the information then and she asked for his name. He gave her the full name of a real Aer Lingus pilot. And so she searched that name. Obviously, something did come up, but it wasn't his face. And then she reversed the image, searched his pictures. She got his LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, got his real name, found his planning permission and also found his poor wife. Oh, he had only just gotten married to. Oh, my God.
102:35
Just married, newborn baby.
102:38
Just married, yeah, a month before.
102:41
The baby in the picture was his picture all along.
102:44
It was his baby, yeah. And they had more after that. Then anyway, they had more children. So he's horrible. She blocked him on everything and she was happy, thinking that he was never going to do that again. But a few weeks later then, she gets a message on her Facebook from his wife, texting, saying, Hi, why are you blocked on my Facebook?
103:00
How could that happen? How could that happen? How could the wife get on to her?
103:05
He had blocked Durvala. off his wife's phone for fear that Derville was going to reach out to the wife. So he tried to get ahead of it. Instead, the wife was suspicious and she went into her block list on her phone and saw that Derville was in there.
103:20
Didn't understand why. What happened when she contacted Derville?
103:25
She was just understanding. She was like, thanks so much for telling me. It's all very suspicious. I knew he was up to something like, thanks very much. And that was it. And Derville had nothing else to do with her then.
103:34
Why do...
103:37
I mean, people will say that all I talk about is men and, you know, in topics like this or in examples or stories like that. Clearly, there are women, you know, making up these ridiculous stories about the lives that they don't live. But why do people do it?
103:56
Some people just do it for attention. Some people never intend on meeting up. This fellow in particular, he's using his own face and he's just trying to have another life in order to get more women.
104:06
Like he is just trying to meet up. Oh, he does.
104:08
I just thought some of them do it for kicks, for a pastime, just to wind people up or a hobby. They're just bored or lonely. I don't know what it is. But others actually do want to meet.
104:22
Yeah, some people like him, he obviously wants to meet, like he was meeting up with women and he was just using this whole pilot thing. Like he wasn't like a full catfish, he was half catfishing, you know, by just choosing an occupation that he thought would lure women in. But yeah, a lot of other people will just do it just to get kicks or just to talk to people that they would never usually get the opportunity to talk to by pretending to be somebody totally different.
104:46
Yeah, yeah. So even though...
104:50
He was caught and he was a liar and he was making it up and he was putting his head. What did the other pilot make of it? Is he aware of this? The real pilot?
104:57
That's so funny. Yeah. He emailed me a few months ago saying him and his wife were getting a great laugh out of it. He sent me the real picture. So with not the photoshopped head on it. And I asked him, actually, can I put up an update to this? And he was like, oh, I'd rather not. You know, he's like, he just doesn't want... you know, more drama to the whole thing. But he said, if there is, if there is another update to this, you can feel free to let people know that I was in touch. So yeah, he was in touch. And he said, the other pilot that he was in the picture with had put it up on his Instagram.
105:30
I think his Instagram was public. So he had put up a picture to say, oh, like me and my pal are doing this flight together after X amount of years after not seeing each other. And that's how your man, the catfish, got his hands on the photo.
105:42
Oh my God. I see you come across some insane stories, do you?
105:47
There is. There is a lot of mental ones, all right, yeah.
105:50
And there's been a lot over the few years. But it's very unfair on people who are genuinely looking for a partner, isn't it, to be taken advantage like that?
105:59
It is heartbreaking. And I just did a recent podcast episode on a catfish there where a lot of women were duped. One woman was talking to him for... you know, months and months and months and said that afterwards she actually had PTSD from it. You know, obviously huge trust issues, self-esteem, confidence, all gone because you're talking to somebody who didn't exist. You know, you're just thinking that you're... That's kind of ghosting, is it?
106:26
No, ghosting is when you're talking to somebody and they just disappear off the face of the planet and you're...
106:31
can't talk to them anymore. They just don't want anything to do with you. Cash fishing is when they pretend to be somebody else.
106:36
Yeah. I think both of them are a violation, though, to innocent people, you know, looking for the best.
106:41
Oh, they are, 100%. Yeah, there's a lot of disrespect in dating in general and modern dating. Like, people think, oh, the grass is always greener. And, you know, you could be on a date with somebody and you think they're great, but on the bus home, then you're... flat out on Tinder looking for other people, you know, you don't really appreciate, I suppose, or give the time that's deserved to the people that's in front of you.
107:00
What a horror thing to do. There's a fella who, fellas are mistreated by women and vice versa, I get that, but I saw a video last night of a guy who had a kind of a baby reindeer story of a girl that was stalking him. I'm trying to find out whether it's a real story or not. It's a Cork story where everywhere he would go, she would go.
107:19
His friends as well were being approached by her. It's the real baby reindeer, but hearing in Cork. Yes, Gary. Would you say that that's more commonplace than we'd know?
107:28
About women stalking men? Both, you know, both ways, you know, actually, just, well, not so much that, but being absolute infatuation with them, even though they don't know them.
107:38
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I'd say, yeah, there's a lot of people, a lot of people won't admit it either, but just that they, I suppose they get something in their head about this is how good life could be with you, you know, and they're just desperately chasing it or thinking, you know, we could be so good together. But yeah, like, there's a few mad people out there, all right. It can be very tough in the dating world.
107:58
That is sad. We might get a chance to update again sometime in the future. Thanks for catching up this morning, though, Dating Orange. Look after yourself. If I don't see you this side of the wedding, best of luck with it. Thanks so much. Bye. Bye. Text 0868 104 106. Pick up the phone on 0818 104 106. We'll come back after the break.
108:18
Red FM. Conversation that matters.
108:41
I knew I wasn't imagining it, so I got a friend to ring him on a private number and pretend he was from the DPD courier delivery company and that they had a delivery for him. The guy answered and said he was away so the parcel could be left in the shed. My friend casually said, no problem. Are you gone away anywhere nice? He says, yeah, I'm in Valencia in Spain for a few days.
109:04
Neil, that's where his ex lived. I knew he was up to something. Of course, he had said that he was at home all of the time. The dial tone sounded different.
109:13
And so the private investigator that some women can be like kicked into gear and solved it. I used to work in a bank. God forgive me. I used to check the fella I was seeing's bank account from time to time.
109:26
I used to check the fella I was seeing bank account from time to time. One day he swore blind he was down at his mother's in West Cork. He'd been acting really distant and I just knew he was lying. I checked his account and there it was. He used an ATM in Krakow in Poland. Caught rotten.
109:46
What would happen, though, if you're working in a bank and you're checking on people's bank accounts like that and you were caught rotten doing it? I wonder how commonplace was that? Dating a guy and checking on his bank account from time to time to see what he was up to because you could track his purchases. Boy, it gets deeper and deeper around here, doesn't it? Keep them coming anyway. Text 0868 104 106. On e-scooters, this is as true as both my parents are dead. My sister was driving two years ago in County Tipperary. This is two years ago before it went actually demented.
110:18
I was in the car with my sister at the time. She had to pass a guy at 80 kilometres an hour. He was doing 70 kilometres on a stand-up scooter. No helmet, no high-vis vest. If he hit an obstacle on the road, he was a dead man. And that was two years ago, travelling that fast. So you can get them. So the kid who has one that's 45 kilometre max speed and he's hassling his parents for a faster one, he's obviously looking for something like that, an e-scooter that can travel at 70 kilometres an hour.
110:48
On wedding gifts, this has really taken off. Enough to cover the cost of your dinner and wine. $200 to $250 per couple, full stop. Do not give any more. Keith says, concerning wedding gifts and giving cash, I'd actually fake my own death rather than give €500 as a gift. Fake my own death, he says. Aussie Pete, good morning. How are we doing? I'm good. And the clock is ticking down to your wedding next month, is it?
111:16
Yeah, 24th August we're getting married.
111:19
Okay, so tell me about what's happening with regards to where you're getting married. Have you estimated a final cost?
111:29
I've got the final cost sorted. We're all done with it pretty much.
111:33
It's about $8,200 or so.
111:37
Oh my God, you're getting great value for that though. For an eight grand wedding when the average is over $36,000. How come?
111:46
we're just doing a small thing, you know, like it's just like me, her and her parents to start with and then a small celebration at the end. Obviously none of my parents, like none of my family can get over here.
111:58
They can't make it from Australia for the wedding, no?
112:01
No, like my dad and my younger brother are the only ones who have left. My mother passed away a couple of years ago and he's just moved into a house.
112:12
So like it's, It's a very, very hard time, and he applied for the mortgage, and so they can't make it.
112:18
Oh, come here.
112:20
It would cost more than your wedding to get a return from Australia sometimes, wouldn't it?
112:25
Oh, yeah. He said he'd just said money, and he's down because he'd like to be here for him and my mother.
112:35
So did you decide to stay small and keep a budget on it, yeah? Yeah.
112:41
We decided to stay small purely for the fact it's like we do a big celebration with everyone when we can kind of get together, but we wanted to do the wedding thing now before prices went really crazy with everything. So we've been planning it for the four years, the four or the five years we've been together, and we just decided, you know, with everything the way it's going, we should just kind of do something small and get it out of the way. Like, we knew we wanted to marry each other, so we just... Get it out of the way.
113:16
Get the marriage out of the way.
113:19
Like, you know, like a nice little chap. We're basically married as it is.
113:24
So we just want to, you know, get the actual, like, you know, wedding part of it done, name change and, like, everything. But... Like, it's the necessary things that always get you. Like, when we were planning it, I paid for it all myself kind of thing.
113:44
And you don't expect, like, the rings themselves cost $1,000 together.
113:51
You had forgotten that there was a cost for the wedding rings, man?
113:55
That's kind of like the start. That's the starting point.
114:00
When I was planning it originally, like, we had a look at rings, and I was like, oh, you know, a couple of hundred for that. But then she comes up with, like, these really nice designer rings.
114:10
Careful. Careful. You don't want to walk into quicksand. Oh, yeah.
114:16
Oh, yeah. Yeah, like, she had a theme in mind. I was thinking gold bands, and she's got, like, a little ring with, like, a flower design on her and she's like, oh, look at this pretty moss ring made of titanium so you can't break it.
114:33
Oh, you've got to have an unbreakable wedding ring. You've got to have an unbreakable wedding ring. Can I ask you, what's typical in Australia then? Are the weddings big? Do they go on all day? Are they like two-day events? Do people give cash for gifts? What's it like there?
114:50
It's definitely not As long an event as it is here, it's the one day and you all go and you have the wedding ceremony and then you go and do a little after-party kind of thing, but it's costly. My uncle married an Irish woman from Longford and I think they probably spent close to the equivalent of $70,000, $80,000 on theirs.
115:17
In Australia? Yeah.
115:19
Oh, yeah. Do they have the big weddings like we do that could be 150? I mean, you go into the country, you could have 250 at a wedding, that kind of way.
115:29
Oh, yeah. I don't think it's quite as big an event. You kind of just try and keep it. But I think there was probably for 70,000, 80,000, they had maybe...
115:44
50, 60 people there. Oh, my God.
115:46
That must have been five-star all the way. It's a huge amount of money, though, isn't it?
115:50
Oh, yeah. Massive. Like, when we were playing, she turns to me and she said, like, I don't want anything big like that. I just want, you know, I want it to be, like, a little intimate affair with family.
116:02
Okay. And it'll be great. It'll be great. It'll be a great day. And tell me this. Did you mention name changes in your conversation there?
116:11
Yeah. Like, she...
116:13
when we first started talking and planning, she'd always like wanted to, wanted to take my last name. So she like, Oh, you know, I want, I want to do the actual ceremony thing.
116:23
I come from a family where my mother was very much the, oh, you have to get married. And my dad was like, it's just a piece of paper in the end, really.
116:31
Yeah, yeah. I'm just curious, how many brides, or does it ever happen with a groom that they change their name to their partner's name anymore? It's not as common now for, say, for instance, typically the bride to take the groom's name. Sure it's not.
116:51
It's definitely not as commonplace at home in Australia. Like I said to her, if she didn't want to take my name, she didn't have to. She wanted to do it like, Yeah, yeah.
117:03
It's a matter of choice. I mean, it's a choice to do it or a choice not to do it.
117:07
My aunt kept her last name. She kind of hyphenated hers in my uncle's name.
117:13
I wonder what the percentage is. An interesting piece of information. How many people now change their names? And I would imagine if they did, it probably would be more brides changing their names than grooms. But it would be good to know what kind of numbers now stick with their own name and say, well, I was born with this. It's my name. I'm not changing for anyone. I might love you, but I'm not changing my name.
117:36
Yeah. I mean, I'd even said that I'd change my name if she liked her name, but I think she wanted to do the whole traditional thing.
117:44
Yeah. Good for her. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's her choice. Yeah.
117:48
Yeah. But while I got you, I do want to give a shout out to the dress place that she went to down there in Cork.
117:54
Because they were brilliant, were they really?
117:56
Is it a white wedding then?
117:59
Oh, yeah. She wanted to do the whole thing, which is why I kind of, like, even though we're doing it small, I would have spent more. Like, it's the experience.
118:07
Okay. And what's your bride-to-be's name?
118:11
Stephanie.
118:12
So where did Stephanie get the dress? We'll give them a shout-out.
118:16
She just went down to the Vales near the...
118:20
Blarney Business Park there.
118:21
I know it. I see the big sign for it. So she said yes to the dress at the vows at Blarney Business Park. Well, well done. Okay.
118:28
I was, I was at work and I just said, go down with your mum and I sent her and they did the whole, like the whole big hour affair asking her all the questions, like gave her all the dresses and, and gave her all the options and like, made her feel extremely special.
118:45
I'm delighted.
118:47
Give a shout out to him anyway.
118:48
Well done and best of luck to you Ozzy Pete and to your bride-to-be Stephanie. Have a wonderful day alright?
118:54
Thank you very much.
118:55
Mind yourself. Text 0868 104 106. Pick up the phone on 0818 104 106. Some sad news to report just coming in as we speak in the last few minutes. This happened overnight. Glenn Hansard has died at the age of 56. He passed away. Unfortunately, I have to tell you, it was a crash in the early hours of this morning. Wonderful, wonderful man. Frontman of the frames since the 1990s. Actually won a BAFTA for The Commitments and also for Once. And we all know about Once, don't we? The romantic musical that he earned Hansard an Oscar for, the song Falling Slowly.
119:30
Married his wife, Moira, and the couple were parents to a boy, Christy, in 2022. And he said that being a parent, he said, is a complete perspective shift, but that he was loving it. Isn't it awfully sad when you hear words like that and a life ended so young? He was just a lovely, lovely man. And I had a great interview with him on. He's just a really likable guy. He was on with me in 2023 because the Frames were playing live at the Marquis that summer. And he was just so lovely and so unassuming and so humble.
120:01
And I'm really saddened this morning to hear that Glenn Hansard has died. Falling slowly, of course, was Glenn Hansard and Marketa Urglova from the film Once, and it won the Oscar.
120:13
And he leaves this as part of his tribute to his life on Earth.
120:17
Very, very sad.
120:27
Glenn Hansard and his death has just been announced from overnight. Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press. Now, good morning.
120:35
Good morning, Neil. Oh, my God. Hard to believe, isn't it? Particularly when you hear a song as powerful as that. What a talent. What a loss.
120:43
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, Neil, it's absolutely impossible to compute.
120:47
You know, Glenn was an extraordinary character, an absolutely brilliant, totally committed musician who gave everything to his work as an artist. He loved Ireland. He loved Dublin. He was a great friend of Hot Press.
121:06
You know, the first time we spotted Glenn Hansford, we knew that there was a unique experience. talent there and uh he showed that again and again over the years in different guises um whether it was in the commitments or in in in in the frames when the band really started to make an impact and on through the swell season in era when he won the oscar uh with marquette air glova uh for falling slowly um you know, every time we asked Glenn to do something, he was up for it.
121:42
He was first on board when we were working on our Glenn Morrison 75th anniversary celebration and Glenn delivered a fantastic performance of Astral Weeks for that.
121:55
Doesn't surprise me.
121:57
He was again immediately, I called him about doing the Hot Press 50th anniversary show in Three Arena at the start of the year, kicking off our 50th anniversary celebrations, Splendid Media said, yes, great, I'm in. We make it a fantastic night. It's going to be absolutely brilliant.
122:16
And he decided the frames was the vehicle for that. And that made a lot of sense because they were a real hot press band from you in every single way. We loved Glenn.
122:30
Revelate falling slowly. What happens when the heart just stops? So many of them pavement tune. It seems like he was never happier than being a husband and a dad, right?
122:40
Well, he was a natural born troubadour who loved being out on the road, but he also then came into his second life when he had his first child. And being in a relationship in the way he was in the last few years meant so much to him.
123:01
You know, he was, to me, he is, always will be, one of the most extraordinarily outstanding musicians that Ireland has produced. I mean, an enormously intense person who always gave his all to every single aspect of what he did as a musician and as a person.
123:25
You know, he had his kid with him at the three arena show and he was so protective and so, you know, loving and it meant so much to him to have that sort of family element there on the night too.
123:43
You know, it's just, it's really, really impossible to compute, Neil. It's just Bradford.
123:47
Okay. And our thoughts are with his extended family, his wife and child. Now, thank you for that lovely, lovely, kind tribute. I do appreciate it this morning. Difficult time for you and all of his friends. That's Neil Stokes, editor of Hot Press. May he rest in peace. I'm going to leave the last words to Glenn Hansard. He was on air with me back in 2023. We had a lovely conversation, lengthy conversation, covered a lot of ground, played a few tunes, had a good laugh. He just struck me as, you know, one of the ones that stand out. Just, my God, what a lovely, lovely man. Life can be very cruel.
124:17
It's just as small as the snippet of my conversation with Glenn back then.
124:21
There's something about when you write a sign, you go, I don't know. I remember when the frames were all fake. I remember thinking, God, is this any good? you know, like, is he such a terrible saccharine song, or is it actually... Ah, you're overly critical.
124:33
You live in an overanalyzed world. I think it's a good lesson for life, though, actually, isn't it? What's that? The whole idea, like, of constantly testing yourself and constantly living outside that comfort zone you describe.
124:45
Yeah, I guess so. I guess so. And that, you know, and certainly, I've, you know, whatever I've known before, everything has been wiped clean with the birth of Christmas, because now everything's slightly out of the comfort zone. I mean, am I literally... My friend Eddie said to me, you know, you're wearing your heart on the outside now. And it's so true because the level of anxiety and just trying to keep this little boy happy and alive.
125:09
Well done, man. Well done. It's not a bad journey for a kid at 13 teaching himself to play the guitar, I can tell you. Well done. You're sound. You sound like a sound guy. Your music is sound.
125:20
I love Cork. Cork was kind of the first place outside of Dublin that took us seriously. I remember when the frames were We were schlepping up and down England. We were schlepping up and down Ireland. And we were doing all of it. Back then, it was like Horns and Tralee. And you were always on before the DJs. You were kind of the support act of the DJ. And different times, you know, it was fine. It was great. But I remember when we played Cork, there was a sense that the audience were like, no, you guys are real band-like.
125:45
Yeah.
125:46
I love the Cork accent.
125:47
Well done.
125:50
He's just such a lovely guy. It's just so sad, isn't it? It really and truly is. Glenn Hansard tragically passing away overnight at the age of 56. And our thoughts are with his family, his wife and his son and everybody that knew him. I didn't know him, but that interview always kind of stood out with me as being one of the more natural conversations you have with somebody.
126:10
And, you know, there can be tortured souls in the music business, but he was one honest guy. And I'm absolutely heartbroken, broken like many others, that he's passed away so tragically. May he rest in peace. Back after the break.
126:24
On Red FM. Conversation that matters.
126:28
You're part of the conversation. Text 0868104106 and lines to stay open. I want to open the phone lines now. 0818104106 for a €400 voucher for Deluxe Bathrooms and Tiling Solutions. You can visit them at their showrooms in Little Island or check them out online, deluxebathrooms.ie. So a €400 voucher. I asked you to identify who's singing in the shower. Lines are open now. 0818104106. Have a listen.
126:53
Love is love
126:58
400 euro voucher writing on that one. Get on the phone. 0818 104 106. We have the wonderful tourist attraction locations all over our wonderful county. Hundreds and hundreds of places. And we've got lots of tourist attraction vouchers to give away over the summer. I was dealing with Monkey Maze yesterday and again today. Monkey Maze. Massive indoor activity down in Glanmire. You will absolutely love it down there. But I have to tell you, I got an email and attachments sent in to me overnight. saying, my kids are kindly asking for the Monkey Maze entries. Now, they are listening all of the time at home, particularly across the summer.
127:31
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128:08
Have a good day. I'll see you tomorrow.
128:10
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