Author name: highlandnews

A Donegal Irish dancer says he is not surprised by the results fixing allegations as this has been going on for years. Judges in Irish dancing have been accused of fixing the results of competitions. The allegations have been made within the C-L-R-G body, with one dancing teacher reportedly offering sexual favours for higher scores. […]

Work on the long awaited A5 road is set to get underway late next year. Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd has confirmed that the A5 Western Transport Corridor Scheme will get underway late next year – starting from Derry to Strabane – with the view of completing it by 2028. The A5 upgrade, which was announced

Progress on the masterplan for Milford has been welcomed as a positive first step towards the future of the town. Last year, €100,000 was provided for a plan to tackle dereliction and revitalise the town centre, with the lead to be taken by Donegal County Council. The first meeting to progress the Town Centre First

Food supply and security across the world is at risk unless measures are taken to reduce the price of fertilisers. The issue is set to go before the European Parliament today as farmers across the continent have seen costs jump threefold since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The European Commission is being called

Almost 110-thousand hospital appointments have been cancelled this year. According to Freedom of Information figures, it includes nearly 14-thousand at the Mater Hospital in Dublin. The HSE says there are many reasons why hospitals cancel appointments, such as a Covid surge, or a lack of beds. Donegal GP Ciarán Ó Fearraigh says the health service

Talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol and other Brexit related issues are set to get underway today. Negotiators from the EU and UK are expected to meet for the first time since February for technical talks. It comes after a thawing of relations between Ireland and Britain with Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney set to

A Donegal Deputy says the county is ‘at the heart’ of his call for free, accessible public transport. Deputy Thomas Pringle brought a motion before the Dail this week which he called ‘a social justice policy’, highlighting the lack of public transport in rural parts of the country. The Dail was told that people in

The Taoiseach has committed to raise the ongoing delays in the delivery of a new building for Scoil Íosagain in Buncrana with the Education Minister. It’s emerged that the planning permission for the development has now expired which will result in further set backs in terms of time and cost. The school is the largest

The Government needs to petition the European Commission to relax State-aid rules to help regional airports like Donegal and Knock to develop and expand. That’s the call from Midlands North West MEP Chris MacManus. He was speaking in the European Parliament where MEPs are voting this week on whether to keep some pandemic-era exceptions for

An emergency medical consultant at Altnegelvin Hospital says the Emergency Department is in dire straits. Yesterday, 110 people were in the ED with 45 awaiting admission while 4 ambulances were backed up awaiting to offload patients. In a social media post, Emergency Medical Consultant, Sandy Nelson appealed to people to do anything to help ease

The HSE has confirmed it’s investigating three confirmed cases of bacterial meningitis – two of which were fatal. One more report is not confirmed, but has been classed as a ‘possible’ case of the disease. Three of the patients are young adults and the other is a child under 10 years old – all are

A Donegal woman was forced to wait 17 hours on a flight home from her holiday due to ongoing issues at Ryanair. Lynn McDevitt explained her flight home from Malaga to Dublin on Monday with Ryanair was delayed by 17 hours. Her flight was booked for 7.30am but due to staff shortages and an ongoing

The final cost of the new National Children’s Hospital may not be known for years, according to the head of its development board. The majority of the 1.4 billion euro budget has already been spent and the final cost is expected to go beyond that. The project is running 17 months behind its original schedule

A defective blocks homeowner who says it looks like her house is built with gravel and dust has appealed for the Council to speed up the scheme application process. Sharon from Inishowen says the bricks at her back door are crumbling, plaster is coming off the walls and every room has mold. Her son spent

A 23-year-old from County Meath has been killed on the front-line in Ukraine. Rory Mason enlisted in the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine at the outset of the war last March. The Mason family learnt of his death in Kharkiv last Wednesday from the Department of Foreign Affairs, and are currently in the

Vandalism at the new greenway in Muff has been branded as ‘an act of mindless wanton destruction.’ Eight bilingual signposts, which described the species of plants and trees planted along the route, were pulled from the ground and left damaged. The incident is believed to have occurred on Sunday night. The signposts had been put

A Donegal Deputy has hit out at the government for failing to hold anyone responsible for the concrete blocks scandal as he raised issued surrounding banks and quarries. Speaking in the Dail last night during a motion calling for the ten percent concrete levy to be scrapped, Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn says many quarries are

A Donegal Deputy says he has been inundated with calls from people who are close to the income threshold for social housing who are concerned they are going to be kicked off the list. Deputy Thomas Pringle raised the issue in the Dail during a debate about the Housing for All plan which he claims

The Government has been accused of raising the cost of building new homes. Sinn Féin has called for the new concrete block levy introduced in the budget to be scrapped. Leader Mary Lou McDonald says the real cost of the levy is just going to be passed on to people who are struggling to buy

More than 33,000 people living in Donegal continue to regularly flush wipes and other sanitary items down the toilet despite warnings. A recent survey as part of the Irish Water and Clean Coasts ‘Think Before You Flush’ campaign has revealed that those aged under 35 are twice as likely to dispose of ‘flushable’ wipes down

Anti-social behaviour orders go hand in hand with increased community policing, according to the Justice Minister. She’s asked the Garda Commissioner to examine their effectiveness and how to improve the use of orders. The crackdown is in light of recent antisocial instances, including the car ramming incident in Cherry Orchard in Dublin last month. Brendan

The Agriculture Minister says he hopes Micheál Martin will keep him in the job after December’s planned reshuffle. Cabinet this morning approved an almost 10 billion euro package of payments to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy. While at the weekend Micheál Martin guaranteed Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien he’ll be kept in the job post

The Taoiseach has accused Sinn Fein of contradicting their stance on the concrete products levy. The party will this evening bring forward a motion calling for the levy to be scrapped. Micheal Martin however, says while Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty last week welcomed the 10% levy which will generate €80m annually towards the Mica and

Foyle Foodbank is anticipating one of its worst winters in years due to the cost of living crisis. The foodbank helped 15,606 people during 2021 through Covid food supports and so far this year, have helped over 5,000 people. That’s increased when compared to pre-pandemic figures. To cope with the demand, the service is providing

The Donegal Travellers Project has received a three year funding package to tackle education disadvantage. It is just one of four projects in Ireland to receive a share of the €1.25m Equity in Education Fund from Rethink Ireland. The aim of the funding is to enhance access to education for your people experiencing educational disadvantage

Inadequate remuneration and the continuing staff crisis across the Irish defence forces are set to dominate the agenda of the PDFORRA conference. The three day conference is being held in Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey over the next three days with issues such as working conditions, recruitment and retention of members within the force are set

The Stormont Executive should be back up and running immediately, according to the Taoiseach. It follows similar comments from British prime minister Liz Truss yesterday. The Stormont elections were held in May, but the DUP is refusing to allow the assembly to function, due to the Northern Ireland protocol. UK and EU officials are due

The Health Minister says he expects this winter to be difficult, given the perfect storm of flu and Covid. It comes as the number of patients with the virus has increased, with 409 people being treated in acute hospitals. Stephen Donnelly says the most important thing people can do to help hospitals, is get vaccinated………….