Author name: highlandnews

A Ballybofey Councillor says it is essential business rates are not increased in this year’s budget which is due to be set tomorrow. Cllr Martin Harley says the next two years are going to be extremely difficult for businesses due to current rising cost of energy and bills coupled with the impact of the pandemic.

Calls have been made for a full time permanent litter warden to be appointed to cover the Lifford and Stranorlar MD. A litter warden has been working in the area for the past three years, however, his contract is due for renewal and there are concerns that if it is not renewed, the post will

Close on 6,000 HSE staff are currently absent from work. New figures obtained by Aontú show that just over five per cent of staff ranging from midwives, to doctors to dentists are not showing up for work. Stress and working conditions are being cited as the main reasons for the high level of absenteeism. Aontú

A Donegal Minister says he is confident of a good outcome for the future of Carndonagh Garda Station. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Donegal T.D., Charlie McConalogue, recently invited Minister of State for Law Reform, James Browne T.D., to Donegal to meet with Gardaí in Carndonagh to discuss policing in Inishowen and the plans

A Donegal Senator has welcomed Cabinet approval for the Gambling Regulation bill which will regulate gambling in Ireland as a positive step forward. This is the first time major regulation of gambling has been legislated for in Ireland and will establish the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. The regulator will have the authority to implement

Inishowen’s second ambulance base is set to be opened in Buncrana. The service in Buncrana will initially be a 12-hour service, seven days a week and based at the old health centre on the McCarter Road, Buncrana. The National Ambulance Service have advised that they are finalising plans to carry out the necessary adaptation works

The GP practice in Dunkineely is set to close. Patients have been told that from Monday there is to be no GP service in the area. Instead, people will have to travel to Glenties to attend appointments with their GP. Speaking to Highland Radio news, Cllr Noel Jordan said the people of Dunkineely have heard

Sarah Jessica Parker has been photographed wearing an Irish design on the set of her upcoming series. The actress, who stars in “And Just Like That”, recently bought the stylish tweed overcoat from Donegal brand Triona Designs, who say orders for the coat are now coming in from all over the world. It’s not the

The PSNI has confirmed that the ongoing security alert in the Mount Carmel Heights area of Strabane today follows what appears to have been a targeted attack on police shortly before 11pm last night. Investigations are at an early stage, but police say an improvised explosive device caused damage to a police vehicle, and the

The Junior Minister for European Affairs says Irish-UK relations have “much improved”, ahead of Brexit talks in Brussels. A meeting of EU officials are expected to signal to the UK government that long-running issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol need to be resolved with urgency. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he’s open to cooperating

A Donegal Senator says he doesn’t believe expelling the Russian ambassador would be the right thing to do after over 50 Irish politicians were banned from entering Russia this week. Senator Niall Blaney told Greg Hughes on today’s Nine til Noon Show that a retaliatory expulsion of the Irish ambassador in Moscow would leave Irish

A west Donegal councillor fears there will be a serious accident in Loughanure unless safety measures are put in place to slow down traffic. Cllr Micheal Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig has called for traffic calming measures to be installed on the Main Street as traffic continue to travel through the village at high speeds. Cllr

It’s been claimed refugees being housed in Donegal have effectively been locked out of accessing GP care. The Dail was told this week that no PPS numbers were supplied to refugees living in a number of areas of the county, which means they cannot register with a GP and instead are being forced to access

A North Inishowen Councillor is calling on Eirtricity to deploy more staff to the peninsula in order to repair street lights. Under an agreement with Donegal County Council, the company has pledged that street lights which are out of order will be fixed within 10 days of the fault being reported. However, Cllr Farren says

Gardai have confirmed they have now concluded their Forensic Examination of the scene of the fatal explosion in Creeslough, allowing the road to reopen.The overall investigation into the cause of this occurrence is ongoing. With effect from 12:30pm today, all road traffic diversions previously in place around the scene have now been removed. Gardai have

A solicitor says a Court of Appeal hearing which upheld a €2 million award to a West Donegal couple has created a very important legal precedent in terms of the use of expert witnesses in personal injury cases. In 2020, Patrick and Anita Duffy were awarded the money in the High Court after successfully claiming

The North West President of St Vincent de Paul has raised concerns over the nourishment of children as families continue to struggle with the cost of living crisis. The organisation has warned that the current crisis is worse than the last recession. Rosa Glackin says people are facing immense pressure over how they are going

A Donegal Deputy has warned that the EU must recognise the big oil and energy companies’ role in energy and economic crisis. Deputy Thomas Pringle, said the European Council’s focus on Russia’s responsibility for the energy and economic crisis is ignoring the role of big oil and energy companies. He says prices were significantly increasing

The failure to build council houses in Donegal over the past number of years is the root cause of the accommodation crisis that is now hitting the county. That’s according to Donegal Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn who says the government must immediately agree a comprehensive and large scale building programme to improve the county’s social housing