Author name: highlandnews

After a lengthy discussion, Donegal County Council has agreed that lands to the south of the River Swilly should be zoned as Strategic Residential Reserve in the new Letterkenny Development Plan. Some members wanted that changed to full residential zoning, but others argued that the lack of infrastructure in that area means it could not […]

We need to get to grips with the fallout of the defective concrete block issue very very fast. That’s what Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty told Finance Minister Michael McGrath when calling on him to impress on the banks the need for support for affected homeowners. Deputy Doherty says many of those affected are being forced

A report launched by Regional Skills North West and Cyber Ireland says the North-West region is a prime location for cybersecurity investment. It is forecasted that the number of cybersecurity jobs in the region will quadruple by the year 2030. Tim Kelly, Strategic Head of TCS Threat Management Centres in UK, Ireland & Europe says

The Northern Ireland Secretary says setting a deadline for restoring power-sharing at Stormont would be “deadly”. The North has now been without a working devolved Government for 15 months. Speaking in the British Parliament, Chris Heaton Harris says there’s absolutely no point in deadlines:

The Government is being told it can’t take action on grocery prices until it finds out where in the food chain the big profits are being made. The Department of Enterprise is holding talks with supermarkets today, to look at how to tackle food inflation. The Government has the power to enforce price caps, but

Ireland’s EU Commissioner this morning referred to her farming husband as an example of how she’s in touch with the challenges farmers face today. Mairead McGuinness was speaking in the European Parliament during a debate on the issues farmers are dealing with including adapting to greener farming practices and ensuring food security in Europe. Commissioner

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association have raised concerns of patient health around the North-West due to long wait times. Over 131,000 people are on a waiting list at hospitals within the Saolta University Health Care Group which includes Letterkenny University Hospital. General Secretary of the IHCA, Martin Varley, says long wait times is evident due

A Donegal Deputy is questioning the Minister of Education if she is aware of what he has deemed a ‘financial crisis’ at Sessiaghoneill National School, Ballybofey. The school enrolled around 150 pupils in September, and then took in an additional 52 students in October who are Ukrainian refugees or from asylum seeker families. Despite repeated

Recent flooding in Dunfanaghy has led to calls for the construction of a sea wall to protect local businesses. Cllr John Sheamais O’Fearraigh told a meeting of Glenties Municipal District that high tides and increased rainfall have increased the flood risk substantially, and all indications are that the situation will get worse. He wants to

The mental health of residents in the Letterkenny Milford Municipal District is said to being affected due to repeated water outages. Cathaoirleach of the Letterkenny Milford Municipal District, Councillor Donal Mandy Kelly says frustrations are growing and residents are at their wits end. One resident in the Bomnay area has recorded 84 outages since September.

A white Nissan March, registration 131 D 40249 was stolen Mc Neely Villas, Letterkenny on Tuesday night last at approximately 11pm. It’s believed 2-3 males were involved. Shortly after 4.30am on Wednesday the car was involved in an incident at the Diamond in Raphoe Town in which it was deliberately driven into payment kiosk at

A special meeting of the Retail Forum will take place tomorrow in light of claims that major retailers are engaged in price gouging, particularly in terms of food and groceries. Junior Minister Neale Richmond has responsibility for retail. On today’s Nine til Noon Show, he told Greg Hughes inflation is now falling, but prices continue

The Cathaoirleach of the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal district is welcoming the taking in charge of five private residential estates. The general public can now call the county council directly in regarding matters like roads and public lighting relating to Allan Park in Stranorlar, Sessiagh Park in Castlefin, Beechwood Park in Convoy, Lawndale in Ballybofey and Flaxfields

Affordable housing schemes have not been progressing in Donegal due to the county not being recognised by government as an area that that requires such. Speaking yesterday in the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District meeting Cllr. Gary Doherty says as costs to build homes rise, the people of Donegal needs the government to step as soon as

A protest by defective concrete block home-owners is to be staged tonight outside The Letterkenny Community centre where a Fianna Fail community meeting is due to take place at 8pm. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue will be in attendance as well as Senator Niall Blaney. Lisa Hone, Chairperson of the Mica

Age Action Ireland claims people are being “digitally excluded” from the GAA. It has criticised the sporting organisation’s deal with streaming platform ‘GAA Go’. The online service has streamed several high-profile matches to date – which haven’t been available on TV. Nat O’Connor from the group says we are moving in a digital direction, but

The Tourism Industry Confederation says it’s hugely concerned about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the sector this year. A memo went to a Cabinet sub-committee last week estimating the sector will lose more than a billion euro in 2023. This is largely due to more than a third of hotel beds outside

  The Director of Seismic Networks at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies says they’ve already received a record number of reports of the magnitude 2.5 earthquake recorded in Donegal in the early hours of Saturday morning. The Irish National Seismic Network  says the qwuake was felt all around the county and further afield, but

The Irish Deer Commission says it’s concerned decisions around deer culling will be made by the public, and not experts. It’s after a major consultation process found over 80 per cent of people believe the national deer herd is damaging biodiversity. 86 per cent of respondents told the Deer Management Strategy Group the culling of

Social Justice Ireland says the significant financial resources available to the government must be used to improve the living standards for everyone in society. The organisation claims Ireland’s ‘social contract’ is broken, despite the government having the capacity to deliver a new one. It says Ireland has experienced record growth since the pandemic, yet our

The delay in appointing a project design team to construct a purpose Model 4 hospital in Galway for cancer treatment in the West and North West is costing lives. That’s the view of Saolta Cancer Network Director Pofessor Michael Kerin, who says such a centre was promised under the National Development Plan for 2021 to

Donegal County Council’s Fisheries Committee has been told that not enough young people are entering the sector, and if action isn’t taken to incentivise people to take to the water, then we may find ourselves overseeing the demise of the fishing sector. That was the warning delivered by Arranmore based Inshore Fisheries representative Jerry Early.