Author name: highlandnews

The Department of Transport does not know the exact number of electric vehicle chargers in Ireland. It’s been revealed – in response to a parliamentary question – that there are over 2,000 public charging points in the State, but that the government doesn’t have a full record as they’re owned by private operators. The government

A leading professor says some people in Ireland will inevitably get sick from the new Covid strain. Eris – a more transmissible form of the Omicron variant – was confirmed here earlier this week Health experts have downplayed the risks, given the high levels of vaccination. However, hospitalisations have climbed in recent weeks, with 400

Ireland’s cosmetic filler business is “totally out of control”. The public must take care when receiving aesthetic medial treatments, that’s according to Dr. Patrick Treacy, advisor to the Irish branch of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine. Dr. Treacy says many of the qualifications technicians travel abroad for, do not give enough training to keep

Industrial action has taken a step up this weekend for retained fire services. They have ‘gone dark’ since 8 o’clock this morning, providing no internal communications other than life-saving information. Around 2,000 retained firefighters are campaigning for better pay and conditions. SIPTU Division Organiser, Karan O’Loughlin, says they will only respond to emergencies:

AIB is to send ‘corrected payment details’ to customers it claims have underpaid their mortgages. The bank says they don’t need to take any action and in the meantime there’s no change to their monthly repayments. Some customers whose tracker mortgages moved from Ulster Bank to AIB were told they would face bill increases from

The concept of free GP care is a good one and will lead to better outcomes. That’s the view of Stranorlar GP Dr Denis McCauley, as six and seven-year-olds are now eligible for free GP care. However, he believes this and the planned roll out of the Doctor Visit card will make it more difficult

Heritage Week kicks off in Donegal this week. This year’s theme is ‘Living Heritage’ and there are over 90 events planned in the County between now and Sunday August 20th. The full programme of events is available on heritageweek.ie. Joseph Gallagher, Donegal Heritage Officer says the week is an opportunity to raise awareness also of

E-scooters do not belong in parks or on footpaths, that’s the opinion of Cllr. Jimmy Kavanagh. The Letterkenny councillor is making the statement in response to a collision that occurred between a pedestrian and a scooter, in which the pedestrian was left injured. There has been an increase of reports of near misses in the

Cocaine has been a long standing issue in Donegal. That’s according to Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council Martin Harley. Cllr. Harley owns a pub in Ballybofey. He says that while many believe it is only a problem for big towns and cities, this is simply not true:

The decision to give victims of domestic abuse five days of paid leave without having to explain their absence is not gender specific. The law also includes men who are victims of domestic violence. John Kilgarriff, counsellor with the National Male Advice line joined Donal Kavanagh on this morning’s Nine til’ Noon Show. He says

A Donegal doctor says the Government’s expansion of GP cards to children aged six and seven is ‘worrying’. It comes as parents can register their kids for the visit cards from today. It was announced in Budget 2023 but was delayed by opposition from GPs, saying they would be unable to cope with the additional

Almost 80 thousand children across the country aged 6 and 7 will be able to gain access to free GP visits from today. Parents can register their kids for the visit cards on the HSE website. While doctor visits will be completely free of charge, medicines will still have to be paid for. Its the

There’s light at the end of the tunnel for some Letterkenny residents who have been plagued by water outages. Uisce Eireann has confirmed that a plan to resolve supply issues in the Bomany, Newmills, Tullygay and Conwal areas is now underway. Works on the construction of an investigative hydraulic model for Letterkenny has now concluded,

During a trip to Australia, Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has told that he is committed to ensuring Ireland is a place of opportunity for those who choose to return home. Deputy Doherty says it has become all the too common for people to leave Donegal and seek more prosperous lands. He says although Ireland and

Dissident republicans claim they have access to PSNI information which was the subject of a data breach. The Chief Constable has held what he describes as a constructive yet challenging meeting with the North’s Policing Board. Sensitive material was accidentally published online and, in another incident, a laptop was stolen from a car. Chief Constable

The availability of rental properties nationwide remains extremely limited. On August 1st, there were fewer than 1,200 homes available to rent across the country. The latest report by Daft.ie shows rents in Donegal are up over 22% when compared to the second quarter of this year to €1,077 which is 122% above its lowest point.

A union representing primary teachers says the Government should increase spending rather than relying on voluntary contributions from parents. The INTO trade union says capitation grants paid by the State to schools should be increased. It has emerged that parents, across primary and secondary schools, paid 28 million euro in voluntary contributions during the 2020-2021

More people planning to go to college are deferring, in hopes to save for another year in order to be able to afford it. St Vincent de Paul say they are seeing a rise in Donegal families availing of their Education and Training Bursary Fund in order to cope with the financial strain of the

Concerns are rising regarding the availability of housing for college students in Letterkenny as the academic year approaches. Barry Breslin, President of ATU Letterkenny SU, says the Student Union has gone to new efforts in order to find accommodation. He says the ‘Rent-a-room’ scheme can be a great option for students and locals with a

SIPTU says “the silence from Government” has forced firefighters to escalate their strike. On-call members of the fire service first started industrial action on June 6th in a dispute over the low level of pay and restrictive conditions of the job. In an escalation of that strike, all retained fire stations will “go dark” from

Support for a Donegal Minister has fallen while an overwhelming number of farmers say they would vote for a new farmers’ political party if one was formed. A survey by the Irish Farmers Journal shows 72% of farmers would give their first preference vote to a farmers’ party. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s ratings among