Author name: highlandnews

Two women claimed to have seen an an apparition of Saint Padre Pio, in Limerick City. The women were involved in organising an anniversary mass at St Saviour’s Church, last Friday for the saint. They claim to have seen a bright shape in a photograph that changed colour, and evolved into a figure of St

The Irish National Teachers Organisation have voted to accept a public sector pay deal. Last month the Government reached agreement with unions that would see public sector workers recieve a 6.5% pay increase over two years. The INTO, which is Irelands largest teaching union, say 80% of members who voted, were in favour of the

A Donegal Deputy says it appears the Department is willing to go along with what appears to be people capitalising on the housing of Ukrainian refugees. Concerns have been raised across the country over where those fleeing the war in Ukraine are being housed and the conditions of such properties. Deputy Thomas Pringle says such

  One of the last Town Councillors in Letterkenny has died. Jim Lynch spent over 30 years as a member of Letterkenny Town Council, and its predecessor, Letterkenny Urban District Council. He was a long time environmental campaigner, calling for measures such as a river walk along the River Swilly Jim Lynch was one of

Threatening Ireland with legal action over turf cutting is a “step in the wrong direction”, according to one independent TD. The European Commission said unless action is taken to half the cutting of peat within Special Areas of Conservation, the state could be brought before the European Court of Justice. It noted Ireland’s efforts so

A Donegal priest is urging Donegal County Council to outline, in a very clear and visible way, how money raised through the Local Property Tax is spent. This week, the council voted to retain LPT at current levels, a decision which has led to some debate. Supporters say the LPT has not increased, opponents say

The Housing Minister says the state is using every legal avenue available to go after those responsible for defective building blocks. The government introduced a 10% levy on concrete in Tuesday’s Budget to help fund the mica and pyrite remediation scheme. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar earlier this week said he’s frustrated there have been no prosecutions

A Donegal Deputy has sought assurances from the Education Minister that a contingency plan is in place to offset financial difficulties which may face schools next year. A large increase in direct funding for schools was announced in Budget 2023. Deputy Joe McHugh, himself a former Education Minister, says while the additional money is to

The government’s being accused of trying to turn people against Mica homeowners as opposition grows to the new levy on concrete products announced in the Budget to fund the Defective Blocks Redress Schemes. Campaigner Paddy Diver says while the state is determining how to raise money, there’s no urgency from government to help people who

A member of the Regional Health Forum West says the pandemic has played its part in Cashel na Cor not returning to full capacity. Day services at the centre in Buncrana is currently operating on a limited basis. The HSE has said recruitment of a manager for the facility has been challenging. Councillor Albert Doherty

The EU Commission has taken further legal action against Ireland for failing to halt the cutting of peat within Special Areas of Conservation. It’s calling on Ireland to stop the ongoing cutting of peat in areas designated to conserve raised bogs and blanket bogs under the EU Habitats Directive. The commission says peat and turf

The Tanaiste says he’s open to alternative solutions to the concrete levy. It’s after a number of government TDs criticised the measure, which was announced in the Budget earlier this week. The 10 percent levy on concrete blocks has yet to be legislated for, and Leo Varadkar said it was important they get it right.

Clashes between the Tanaiste and Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty have resumed just two weeks in to the new Dail term. Deputy Doherty told Leo Varadkar that lengthy waiting lists for children awaiting assessment by a disability team is worsening as 17,000 children await an appointment with 2,500 overdue an assessment of needs. He says children

  A Mountcharles GP says the GP card extension will be useful to some people but long waiting lists for referrals will continue to delays medical care. People who earn the median household income of €46,000 or less will be eligible for a free GP card under a new Budget measure. However, Dr Maria Moy

One in two children say they’ve experienced cyber bullying at least once. The survey by Barnardos also found almost one in five say online abuse impacted their ability to learn and feel safe at school. But the study, of 340 children ages 8 to 12 years old, found 60 per cent of children say they

A Donegal TD has pleaded with the Agriculture, food and Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue to stand up for his community and provide emergency supports for the fishing industry. Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn said he could not get his head around why the budget did not include an emergency financial aid package to address the fuel

Businesses across Donegal have begun receiving revised rate valuation packs from Donegal County Council this week, with one councillor saying he believes the vast majority of them are seeing their rates bill increase. Cllr Michael McClafferty says this is the first new valuation programme for 10 years, and coming at a time of increased pressure

Donegal students who had been contributing towards the development of a student centre at Maynooth University have been left outraged after the project was suddenly withdrawn. A €150 student levy was brought in seven years ago to build a student centre to be home to the Students’ Union and a hub for student activities. However,

Works are finally complete on a new main water supply in south Inishowen after outages plagued local residents for years. The final section of the new water main supplying Magherabeg and Inch Island has recently been completed by Irish Water. Issues with the water supply had been ongoing for years, and a petition had been

Bank of Ireland’s expected to be fined over 100 million euro today, over the tracker mortgage scandal. The fine set to be imposed by the Central Bank. The issue has so far cost Bank of Ireland almost 330 million euro since 2016 in refunds and compensation, legal fees and administrative expenses. Kathryn Hannon from asset

More students will leave Ireland for a better life elsewhere because they didn’t get the support they needed in the Budget. That’s according to the Union of Students in Ireland who say while the 1 thousand euro reduction in fees is welcome, students are left not knowing where they stand for the future. The USI