David, uh, your, your party, of course, Fine Gael, and one of the parties in government, uh, what do you make of what Tommy's had to say? The major issue here hasn't been GDPR data protection requirements that some felt were unnecessarily restricting the ability, uh, to roll out CCTV and protect communities, but rather it's, uh, uh, not enough funding and maybe just a, a lack of, uh, uh, get-go from the government to, uh, properly address this issue.

Yeah.

Well, look, I suppose w- w- th-there's no point pretending that, that resources from An Garda Síochána and that more funding to the county wouldn't be welcome, a-and we would all support, uh, greater funding for, for CCTV around the county and around the country.

But there, there is no doubt that code of practice and GDPR have been a stumbling block, and I suppose it's the first time I've heard on a, on a radio interview that there's no GDPR issues with the rollout of CCTV cameras.

We-we've been, we've been hearing that for, for a number of years in relation to the rollout of CCTV cameras.

And I suppose I-I-I had a motion down, I'm also on the Community Safety Partnership with Tommy, I had a motion down in the, the Shannon Municipal District not so long ago in relation to, uh, a scheme that I came across in Roscommon, in Ballyhaunis, which was done through the town team.

It cost, like, €40,000 for the town, which in, in, in the scheme of things is relatively small money funded, uh, through the Department of Justice, where 26 cameras were erected in 15 locations.

Um, do, do you think cameras will be the most effective deterrent? Or like I'm talking there with Tommy, uh, is it all well and good having a, a camera in a, in a, a litter black spot, but if, if nothing comes of it, is it a bit pointless?

It's positive to see some of the cleanup works happening this week by one of the Queelty contractors.

They came back to me last week.

They were looking into the issue, but I suppose in fairness to them, they've acted fairly quickly and they have committed not only to doing the cleanup works, which they started from what I could see yesterday, but they also committed to erect signage to try and help and deter future incidents of illegal dumping in the area, which is positive.

And I suppose since this story blew up last week, I've gotten a number of contacts from other members of the public with different areas around the Mahon Woods, which have become susceptible to illegal dumping, which I've also put forward to Queelche.

But one of the interesting aspects to the response was their point that in recent years, Queelche has spent more than 2 million euros nationally on the cleanup operations and the disposal of illegal dump waste from their forests.

So I suppose it just shows the level of illegal dumping that's happening in our forest network around the country.

And GDPR often gets in the way, but I'm sure you'd probably be happy to waive a bit of GDPR if it resulted in less legal dumping.

Absolutely.

it's a very disappointing thing to come across and it's something that was brought to my attention and I suppose I've been aware of the location as being a potential kind of regular enough spot for illegal dumping but I have to be honest I was quite shocked when I actually pulled in and looked in over the hedge to see the level of illegal dumping that has been taking place and I suppose the really frustrating part for me and for the locals here is it's on what's known locally as the long sweep we've two sweeps a short sweep and a long sweep that It's a very regular walking area and it's a lovely area right in the middle of Mahon Forest, just up the road there from the Hill Forest car park or the Hill Fort car park.

So it's a very popular walking route for all of the local people and it's the level of dumping, I suppose, is what surprised me.

But the really frustrating part is that the majority of it is something that can be easily recycled.

It was bottles, it was cans, but there was at least 10 or 15 bags of what looked to be residential rubbish.

And also I saw chargers for what looked like laptops closed.

I mean, just really, really blatant illegal dumping in the middle of a Queen's Forest.

But it always comes back to, do you need CCTV in the area? Or is it stronger penalties? Or what do you think can actually curb this?

Yeah, look, I suppose, as you know, Derek, we've been looking for CCTV to be rolled out in a number of areas around the Shannon Municipal District for some time.

This is, as you say, it's an ongoing issue that really should have been solved many years ago.

And it's something that my predecessor, Councillor Pat McMahon, had put an awful lot of pressure on and got to the point where he got a commitment from a government minister for funding.

And I suppose for that not to have happened, obviously, is hugely frustrating.

And I've taken on the mantle since elected to try and continue to raise the issue.

It's not specifically a Newmarket and Fergus issue.

It really is an issue for regional public transport.

[dramatic music] [audience clapping] Let's just start by looking at some great photographs.

This is an icon of National Geographic, an Afghan refugee taken by Steve McCurry.

But the Harvard Lampoon is about to come out with a parody of National Geographic, and I shudder to think what they are gonna do to this photograph.

Oh, the wrath of Photoshop.

This is a jet landing at San Francisco by Bruce Dale.

Uh, he mounted a camera on the tail.

[laughs]

Um, and lost interest with him and went back to what she does best.

Um, Ben Aitchison, a, a genuine man of the match performance.

Yeah.

Uh, it, it funnily enough, we, we went to Lord's, and he produced a s- he scored a century and five wickets in an innings, which is the first time that had been performed by a Derbyshire player at Lord's.

And we'd not beaten Middlesex at Lord's for 24 years.

And, um, one of the other long-standing, uh, failures, if you like, was to beat, uh, Lancashire.

We'd not beaten them anywhere since 1997 in the championship.

So, um, there we go.

But what, what, tell me what the, what the, the feeling is like at Derbyshire at the moment.

This is an issue that's been plaguing the rail network between Ennis and Limerick for many, many years.

We know there's been significant outages 2014, 2050, 2020, and again then in 2024.

And I suppose it's very frustrating from our perspective because Clare County Council obviously are not the lead agency in relation to delivering the project.

And there has been a solution identified that would involve essentially channeling some of the excess water from Ballycar lock through lock gashing out ultimately into the estuary.

And as you say, valid at about 16 or 17 million, depending on the contractor.

But it's important, I suppose, at a local level that we continue to keep this on the agenda as much as possible.

Have you been talking to neighbours today, I suppose, to local residents? What have they been saying?

I have.

And look, they've been saying what you'd expect to say, which is that it's been a traumatic event and a very scary experience.

And it's something that they're certainly worried having seen the tensions escalate to that level.

And yesterday I wrote again to the Chief Superintendent and to the Superintendent of Garda Síochána looking for additional resources and I highlighted the need in a recent submission to the Garda Service Delivery Plan, looking for regular patrols and for increased visibility in the area.

And I think issues and incidents like this reinforce the need which we have called for and I've called for on a number of occasions, which is for CCTV in our community, but in most of our towns and villages around the county, we need to start seeing deterrence being put in place to deter those who partake in such criminal activity.

And I think a CCTV rollout would be a really practical measure.

Do you know, are they confident that they can get to the bottom of this situation and offer reassurances to the community of Newmarket and Fergus that you're in a safe area and this won't happen again?

paintings.

And a guy named Tony Altman walked in one day.

He had a gallery down the street.

And he walked in.

He said, David, I can sell these paintings.

I mean, that was the first words out of his mouth.

He said, hello, I'm Tony Altman.

another rare group

Yeah, you were in high cotton.

I mean, this was big time, and we went to their studios and worked with them, and they...

Uh, Bernie told me one time at the end of the, the...

It was, this thing lasted mo- some of the summer.

I can't remember how long it really was.

But he said, not just to me, to a group of us, uh, although I took it personally.

He said, "You know..." He may even said, "David," but I don't think he did.

Yeah.