Author name: highlandnews

Over 200 local councillors from all over the country are arriving in Inishowen for the Association of Irish Regions’ annual training seminar. The event takes place tomorrow and Thursday in the Inishowen Gateway Hotel, bringing together members of the Northern and Western, Southern, and Eastern and Midland Regional Assemblies. Local Councillor Jack Murray is Donegal

There will be no cuts to SNAs in the next school year. An extra €19 million has been agreed to fund SNAs after a meeting with Government leaders and senior ministers last night. It follows a public backlash to planned SNA cuts in almost 200 schools around the country. Donegal Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher

The new Chair of the Irish Hotels Federation branch in Donegal has said the sector is facing significant challenges across the county. Carolynn Murray, Director and General Manager of the Shandon Hotel, is attending the federation’s Annual Conference in Killarney, which continues today. She said the rising cost of doing business is a key issue

The North’s Economy Minister has indicated she does not believe regional balance needs to be legislated for, but she is open to persuasion. Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin told the Assembly this afternoon she has received the first copy of a bill she is putting before the Assembly calling for regional balance to be made a

A new project aimed at making donating blood easier for those with anxiety around needles is being unveiled today. Mixed-reality technology will allow for distraction while donating blood and is being unveiled by Abbott in Sligo in collaboration with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. It is hoped that this project will eventually be used on

Fórsa trade union has called on the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, to confirm that all existing SNA posts in mainstream schools will be retained and protected from any cuts. The union says it believes that more than a thousand reviews of SNA staffing numbers have already been conducted by the NCSE, and

A Donegal based archaeologist says the National Monuments Service will be back in Donegal next month to examine what appears to be the wreckage of a ship that’s been exposed by sand displacement at Ballymastocker Bay. There’s speculation it may be the wreckage of the Saldanha which sunk in 1811. On today’s Greg Hughes Show,

A Donegal Deputy has called on the Government to put families at the centre of housing policy. Deputy Charles Ward was speaking in the Dáil earlier this week, where he highlighted the homes that remain unsafe and unsellable, due to “Government inaction”. He also stressed that investor activity, which is often portrayed as a solution,

Donegal County Council is set to launch Seachtain na Gaeilge next week. This is due to take place at Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí, Donegal Town, on Thursday next at 11.00am. Seachtain na Gaeilge will take place internationally from 1-17 March. Cllr Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig will be at the launch and says Seachtain na

The President of the Letterkenny Chamber is coming to the end of his term, with a new President set to be elected on 3rd March. The work of the Letterkenny Chamber is to support different initiatives such as the ShopLK programme. Reflecting on his year, Jimmy Stafford says it was a great success:

A project to protect Wader birds on Tory Island has called for engagement from the local community to help complete capital actions. The Breeding Waders EIP project aims to secure the remaining populations of Ireland’s Waders through targeted landscape management and informed policy development. A wider national initiative is in receipt of €25m co-funded by

A man has been jailed for 20 years for the sexual abuse of his five children over two decades. 70-year-old Noel Farrell of Rathedmond Estate, Sligo, Co. Sligo pleaded guilty to a number of counts of sexual abuse against his four daughters and one son at various addresses. Sentencing him today at the Central Criminal

Members of the National Ambulance Service are to ballot for industrial action. SIPTU members aren’t happy with salary scales given how much practitioners roles have changed in the last 15 years. Medics are calling on the HSE not to force in additional workplace demands without addressing concerns of members. SIPTU Ambulance Sector Organiser, John McCamley

There’s been major confusion over the number of beds at a new hospital in Galway. The development in Merlin Park was previously described by the Government and HSE as a “200 bed” hospital. However, the HSE has now clarified that the new centre is an elective day hospital, and no overnight beds were ever planned.

The Dail has been told that a previous government-backed decision not to fund flood alleviation works in Burnfoot has left eight people still out of their council homes since the floods of 2017, probably never to return. During statements on flooding in Leinster House, Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn acknowledged that during his first tenure in

Just over a million euro is being invested in four tourism projects in Donegal ; Oakfield Park in Raphoe, Wild Ireland in Burnfoot, Inishowen Maritime Museum in Greencastle and The Workhouse, Dunfanaghy. It’s part of a wider cross border funding package announced today under the Shared Island Initiative, that will see a total of €2.7

Planning approval has been granted to Uisce Éireann to carry out what have been described as much-needed upgrade works on the wastewater treatment plant in Fahan. The existing plant will be upgraded to convert it into a wastewater pumping station, with the construction of a 6.2 kilometre stretch of wastewater main connecting the proposed new Fahan

The Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council is welcoming the announcement that technology manufacturer Vertiv is to create 200 jobs in the North West over the next six months. The company has two plants in Donegal, one in Letterkenny, the other in Burnfoot, as well as a base at Campsie in Derry. Cllr Paul Canning says