Author name: oisinkelly

The Irish Defence Forces are facing a mass exodus of serving members, as well as an increase in the number of recruits leaving during the training process. 338 members of the Defence Forces have left in the first seven months of this year alone, along with 86 recruits. Shortages were highlighted recently when soldiers from

The Government expects to submit its strategic plan for CAP on time by January 1st. Political agreement at EU level was reached in June on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. The new deal aims to support the transition towards more sustainable agriculture, while there will also be support for young farmers and smaller

1,748 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the North in the last 24 hours. There have also been another seven additional Covid-related deaths reported by the North’s Department of Health today. There are now 461 patients being treated for the disease in hospitals in Northern Ireland, with 45 in ICU. These figures come as

Gardai have renewed their appeal for information about a fire at Drumherrive between Ramelton and Rathmullan a week ago tonight. It’s believed the fire was started maliciously. The property at Drumherrive was extensively damaged by the blaze. Garda Grainne Doherty is urging anyone who can help with the investigation to come forward……

A Glenties MD Councillor is calling for more action to be taken against people who dump their household rubbish illegally. For the second time in a number of weeks, Cllr Michael McClafferty says rubbish has been dumped near a reservoir serving Falcarragh and Dunfanaghy, while a skip outside a local graveyard has now been removed

A Donegal Councillor has teamed up with a firm of solicitors to take action against Irish Water in relation to leaks in copper pipes at up to 800 homes around Gortahork. Cllr Michael Cholm Mac GiollaEasbuig says in the absence of a resolution in his discussions with the utility, they intend to proceed with a

Gardai are welcoming the latest drug seizure in the county under Operation Tara, a national initiative announced last year by Commissioner Drew Harris. The seizure was made on Thursday night last after Gardai last week stopped a vehicle which had been observed driving on the Letterkenny to Derry Road. Garda Grainne Doherty has been outlining the

A former Fine Gael Senator who is currently based Fahan says the extent of slurry pollution in Lough Swilly is only now becoming evident. On today’s Nine til Noon Show, Catherine Noone told Greg Hughes she does not believe the incident reported in the Swilly at the weekend was an isolated one, and such pollution

The HSE says no walk-in testing will take place at the Letterkenny Testing Centre today, and only those with appointments should arrive at the centre. Anyone who wishes to schedule a Covid 19 test can do so at hse.ie Judith McGlynn is Test Centre Co-Ordinator in Letterkenny and at the Cleary Centre in Donegal Town.

An immunologist says it’s not surprising that up to 12,000 children are restricting their movements because they’re deemed a close contact of someone with Covid 19. Around 700 primary schools and 500 secondary schools have reported a covid case. On average, there are 15 close contacts of someone in primary school and four in secondary.

  A consultant in infectious diseases says the number of Covid patients in hospital could continue to rise, despite falling case numbers. Yesterday, the Department of Health confirmed 1,144 further cases of the virus, down 36 on the day before. There are 384 Covid patients in hospital this morning, an increase of 18 in 24

The Heritage Council is urging people in Donegal to nominate a ‘Heritage Hero’, with awards being made in every county, as well as nationally. Heritage Ireland spokesperson Ian Doyle says they want to honour people and groups who have made a significant contribution to maintaining and promoting Irish heritage. He says there were 57 National

The Eurodesk project which provides information to young people is seeking to expand its service, with more ambassadors being sought. The initiative is managed locally through the Donegal Youth Service, and on today’s Nine til Noon Show, youth information officer Katarzyna Kurzeja outlined what is involved……..

A Donegal TD is urging the government and the HSE to end what he termed the “funding discrimination” against Letterkenny University Hospital. Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn was speaking after publishing data that he has received following a range of parliamentary questions to the Minister for Health in the past few weeks. He says that data clearly

An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has once again come under intense criticism from opposition, after he was spotted attending a festival in London at the weekend – after reportedly telling representatives from the live events sector days earlier that the UK’s re-opening plan was “definitely” not the one to follow. His attendance at the Mighty Hoopla

The issue of illegal slurry dumping has been raised, following an incident in Inishowen at the weekend. Local Cllr Terry Crossan says that a constituent contacted him after he noticed that there was what appeared to be slurry dumped into Inch Lake at Farland Bank. Cllr Crossan has posted the videos he received to social

The Chair of the Friends of Lifford Hospital has said that the findings of a recent damning HIQA report regarding Lifford Community Hospital did not surprise him. Lifford Hospital was found to be in a state of disrepair in the HIQA report, with a number of areas found to be non-compliant with HIQA standards. Mould

Organised indoor gatherings can resume with 60 per cent capacity today – and the cap on outdoor events rises to 75 per cent. All adults must be fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid, to reach those attendances. Many other restrictions also ease today, with live music allowed indoors at weddings and in bars. Government

  A local councillor has called on Bus Eireann to make their services more friendly to those who have limited internet access, or are not technically literate. Letterkenny Cllr Ian McGarvey is the oldest elected politician on the island of Ireland, and he is calling on the bus company to provide alternative ways of contacting

Pat Hume, the wife of the late SDLP leader John Hume, will be laid to rest in Derry later today. Her funeral mass will be celebrated at St Eugene’s Cathedral at 11 o’clock this morning. It will be closed to the public, but can be watched online. Former Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchell McLaughlin says