Author name: oisinkelly

A new cooperative venture between Letterkenny Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts is being launched at the LYIT Co-Lab facility this morning. That inititive involves a link up between Colab and a similar U-Mass initiative centered on medical devices in Lowell. This was first flagged during a Donegal County Council visit to Boston in

President Michael D Higgins will be in Buncrana tonight to present the 2014 Tip O’Neill Irish Diaspora Award, which recognises the achievements of the recipient and their commitment to Ireland and to Irish people living abroad. This year, the award is being presented to the President of the Massachusetts State, Senator Therese Murray, a nomination

Letterkenny Chamber is calling on the Government to extend the VAT rate for the tourism sector to other areas of business. The temporary 9% tax rate applied to the tourism sector has proved a huge success and has been credited with an 12% increase in tourist numbers to the country in the last quarter. Toni

The brother of a man murdered near Claudy 10 years ago has offered a reward of £50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in his death. News of the reward was announced ahead of the 10th anniversary of Mr Patrick Devine’s murder at his home near Claudy. The 51-year-old sheep

A Labour Senator has criticised the decision by Donegal GAA management to “splash out” on a five-day training session in Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh before the all-Ireland final. John Kelly says the team would have gotten a similar deal in Roscommon or Leitrim at a fraction of the price. The Senator says he is

  Garda Robbie Mc Callion Over 90 cyclists have arrived in Donegal as part of a Malin to Mizen journey in memory of two Gardaí killed in the line of duty here in Co Donegal. Former colleagues and friends of the late Gardai Robbie McCallion of Letterkenny Garda Station and Garda Gary McLoughlin who was

The long awaited Gweedore sewerage scheme has been put back by Irish Water, and will not go ahead in the next two years. Responding to queries today from Cllr Michael Colm Mc Giolla Easbuig, Irish Water acknowledged is listed on its Capital Investment Plan 2014-2016 and planning is already at an advanced stage. However, the

  The Vice Chairperson of Donegal County Council says it’s a proud time for Buncrana and Inishowen as final preparations are made for the presentation of the Tipp O’Neill Diaspora Award tomorrow. The 2014 Award will be presented to Senator Therese Murray, President of the Massachusetts State Senate, with the President of Ireland Michael D.Higgins

Stormont speaker William Hay has confirmed a member of staff has been suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation into possible fraud at his constituency office in Derry. William Hay said that last week he contacted the police to report the discovery of what appears to be fraud in his Foyle constituency office at

  A Councillor has come out in defence of the people of Strabane after a survey found they were ranked the fifth in the UK for the use of offensive language on Twitter. Councillor Patsy Kelly has called on those who carried out the survey to explain how they come to their conclusions. He says

A search took place last night off Bloody Foreland in West Donegal following the sighting of what was thought to be distress flares. A member of the pubic called emergency services having spotted three ‘flares’ at around 10 o’clock on Wednesday night. Lifeboats from Aranmmore and Bunbeg were involved in the search, along with the

Some of Donegal’s most notable buildings and landmarks are Lighting Up Gold this month as part of the 2nd annual Light It Up Gold campaign for the Childhood Cancer Foundation. The Irish campaign, launched recently by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke, is part of a wider international campaign originating in the USA, that

A Derry man has been jailed after admitting dissident republican-related charges including the possession of a bomb-making cook book. Kevin Barry Concannon, 41, from Beechwood Avenue, was sentenced to eight years with half to be spent in custody and half on licence. Concannon admitted having photographs of the headquarters of Merseyside Police in Liverpool. He

A cross party group of six local councillors are chipping in to pay the bill for an independent laboratory to carry out tests on water in the Churchill and Glenswilly area outside Letterkenny. Frustrated residents and businesses are fed up with the discoloured nature of their water, and many have concerns about whether it is

A Donegal Councillor is warning of the potential for increase crime in the county over the weekend of the All Ireland Final. Cllr Paul Canning urged people travelling to take measures to secure their property before they leave, particularly as the longer nights have, he says, already led to an increase in break-ins and burglaries

Detectives in Derry are investigating the report of an attempted hijacking in the Ballymagroarty area in the early hours of this morning. At around 2am, a male youth threatened a female taxi driver as she drove him in her taxi from Rockmills to Carleton Court via Abercorn Road. The taxi driver was asked to wait

The divide between the IFA and Hill and Commonage farmers is widening, with a spokesperson for the latter group stating they are now going in their own direction as the IFA has failed them. Yesterday the head of the IFA in Donegal rejected claims the association sold out hill and commonage farmers by agreeing to

The latest Tax Defaulters list shows that 785 thousand euro has been paid to Revenue in Donegal over the last quarter. Robin Gillespie a retired agricultural contractor based in Killygordan settled with Revenue for 215 thousand euro for underdeclaration of Capital Gains Tax – 119 euro of that figures was interest and penalties. Sidney McDaid,

2,392 students across Donegal will receive their Junior Cert results today. The exam was sat by 1,163 girls in the county, with 1229 boys sitting the test. Nationally, 60,327 candidates across the country sat the exam this year. The majority of the students are collecting their results at schools, but they will be available online

Reports today suggest that following further DNA testing and analysis,  police in Mauritius have identified a number of suspects in their investigation into the death of Michaela McAreavey. The 28 year old Tyrone woman was murdered while on her honeymoon in 2011. Two men who had been working at her hotel at the time were acquitted

A child-porn convict’s case was told yesterday that reports for the defence were still awaited from a guidance counsellor despite sentencing being adjourned two months ago for preparation of the documents. Inspector David Kelly observed at Dungloe District Court: “This report has been awaited quite a while.” Neil McBride, 44, has admitted having 43 child

It’s reported that four new suspects have emerged in the investigation into the murder of Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius. The daughter of Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte was strangled on her honeymoon in January 2011. Her body was found in the bathroom of her hotel suite in the five star Legends resort by her husband

The IFA is rejecting claims it sold out hill and commonage farmers around the country by agreeing to the Department of Agriculture’s proposals for the new GLAS environmental scheme. Around 1,000 farmers attended a meeting in Letterkenny this week angry at new rules being imposed by the Department of Agriculture on the owners of commonage

The North’s health minister says he’ll engage in discussions on funding the Whiteoaks addiction treatment centre in Donegal. Speaking after raising the issue in the Assembly, Foyle MLA Maeve Mc Laughlin said given the ongoing debate on the need for a detox facility in the north west, it is unacceptable that there is a purpose-built

Dublin has been named the most dangerous county in Ireland for road users this year, with provisional figures for road traffic deaths released by gardai showing that there have been 16 fatalities in the city – an average of around 2 a month. Tipperary and Cork are the next deadliest, with 12 and 11 respectively.

Individuals and community groups are being asked to take part in a major clean-up of Donegal’s beaches later this month. Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean weekend will be taking place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September. Those who register will receive a Big Beach Clean kit which includes an information pack, bags, gloves,

A former Irish Army soldier from Donegal who bit part of a man’s nose off has been jailed for four and a half years. Barry Fitzgerald, whose address was given on court papers as Doire House, Drumnishear, Carrigans, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent on April 14, last year. Derry Crown Court

There are fears of another fish kill in the River Deele if action isn’t taken to stop an overflow from the main sewage system in Convoy. Inland Fisheries Ireland and Donegal County Council both investigated a fish kill in the river in July but its claimed that raw sewage is still running into the waterway.

The Can’t Pay Won’t Pay group is calling on householders in Donegal not to return the Application Packs currently being sent out by Irish Water to assess Water Charge levels. The group says this is the first step in building a boycott of the charges. They say this is a double taxation and predict a

A series of public commemoration events is taking place in Donegal over the next two weeks marking ther 100th anniversary of the First World War. The talks, which are part of the Peace 3 backed “Hands of History” project are being delivered by Steve Hunter of the Monreagh Heritage Centre. The first of the talks

Letterkenny has narrowly missed out on collecting the best Large Urban Award in this year’s Tidy Town’s competition. It was runner up to Kilkenny City which went on to be declared as Ireland’s Tidiest Town. Glenties received a Gold medal in its category and was also Highly Commended. There were silver medals for Raphoe and

Independent MEP Marian Harkin is organising a meeting in Brussels on the issue of new rules being imposed by the Department of Agriculture on the owners of commonage land in Donegal and other hill areas. Speaking following a meeting attended by around 1,000 hill farmers in Letterkenny at the weekend, the Midlands North West Independent

A 47 year old man from Tyrone is due in Basildon court in England later, charged after an Afghan immigrant was found dead in a shipping container in Essex. The body of Meet Singh Kapoor – aged 40 – was discovered at Tilbury Docks last month, along with 34 others who survived. Martin McGlinchley, from

There are calls for a crack down on anti-social behavior in Derry after a group of up to 50 youths gathered in the Shantallow area on Saturday night with a family car being burned out. There has been an ongoing problem of youths congregating in the area at weekends with locals residents expressing anger at