Author name: oisinkelly

 The victim of a diving tragedy off the coast of Donegal was named today(Sun) as Rev Dr Stewart Jones of Donemana Presbyterian Church near Strabane, Co. Tyrone. The 57-year-old father of three died at Sligo General Hospital on Saturday night after he was airlifted from the scene of the tragedy. A 24-year-old man from Derry

A man in his 50s and thought to be from Derry has died having gotten into difficulty whilst diving off the Donegal coast. On Saturday afternoon the Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat was launched on  to a report of divers in difficulty off St John’s Point near the lighthouse. Within six minutes of being paged by Malin Head

A Derry Councillor has said the burning of election posters on loyalist bonfires is a hate crime. Paul Flemming was speaking after election posters of Sinn Féin Councillors from Derry appeared on a loyalist bonfire at Lanark way in Belfast. A poster of my party Patricia Logue has also been placed on a bonfire in

A Donegal Deputy has described yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle as the equivalent of moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. Enda Kenny’s replaced a third of the Cabinet and brought a first-time TD straight into Government. He said the Cabinet reshuffle is about showing people they can get on with their lives without keeping their heads

It’s claimed that a fire started deliberately in the Ballycolman Estate in Strabane last night could have killed. A wheelie Bin was set alight next to an empty property in the area – a neighbour was alerted to the fire by a barking dog and the fire service was called. Local Councillor Patsy Kelly says

The Taoiseach says the Cabinet reshuffle is about showing people they can get on with their lives without keeping their heads down and just surviving. Enda Kenny’s replaced a third of the Cabinet and brought a first-time TD straight into Government. Tánaiste Joan Burton says they will work with head and heart to deliver the

The government is being accused of moving to privatise seaweed cutting along the west coast including Donegal. Arramara Teoranta was a state-owned body which was founded in 1947 to utilise the large resource of seaweed available, it has now been sold to a private Canadian company. The company, along with another in Donegal has applied

A woman who died in a car-crash outside Ballyshannnon, Co. Donegal, has been named as former Post Office worker Charlotte Naylor. The widow, born on New Year’s Day 72 years ago, died when the car she was driving collided with a ditch. The tragedy happened on a narrow country road leading to her home at

Sinn Fein Councillor Ruari McHugh has been accused of using the ‘Dergfest’ for his ‘own needs’ with his claims that flags and parades will put people off attending it also rejected. The festival runs from Friday 1st to Sunday the 3rd of August in Castlederg and will be headlined by former Westlife star Shane Filan.

A Sinn Fein TD is backing calls from a former senior planner in Donegal for a further investigation into claims of alleged planning irregularities in County Donegal. Gerard Convie has a dossier of 20 sample cases which show alleged improprieties. In the High Court, Mr Convie previously successfully challenged the findings of a report on

More than 200 local authority staff are earning over €100,000. Environment Minister Phil Hogan has confirmed that there are 216 local authority staff earning a salary of more than €100,000. Donegal County Council chief executive, Seamus Neely earns a salary of €133,072.

A woman in her early 70s has died in a car crash in Co Donegal. The woman, who was travelling alone in the car, died after her car hit a ditch in Cloghore, near Ballyshannon, at about 10.20pm last night. She was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was removed to Sligo General

Garth Brooks says if the Taoiseach wants to talk to him, he would crawl, swim, or fly over this weekend, sit in front of him, or drop on his knees and beg, to try and get go ahead for 5 concerts. In a live press conference , the singer said he doesn’t have a clue

A Donegal priest who advised his parishioners they should not practice yoga has been invited to take a class himself to see the benefits of it. In his weekly Gaoth Dobhair parish newsletter Fr O’Baoill described yoga and other disciplines such as tai chi and Reiki as contemptible. However Sean O Tuathalain, who runs the

A Donegal Deputy says that Orthodontic waiting lists at Letterkenny General Hospital remain unacceptable. Latest figures show 177 people, the majority of whom are children, have been waiting more than a year to see a consultant. Across the HSE West region, there are almost 5,000 people on a waiting list for an orthodontic appointment, almost

A Castlederg Sinn Fein Cllr has said the number of Loyalist parades in the town could put people off coming to the area. There have been two loyalist parades in Castlderg this week with a further five to take place between now and July 14th. Cllr Ruiari McHugh also branded the amount of unionist and

A Donegal priest has warned his parishioners against taking part in yoga, describing it as “unsavoury”.Fr Padraig O’Baoill, a parish priest in Gweedore, issued the warning in a parish newsletter.The weekend bulletin stated Catholic parishioners should not “endanger” their souls by practicing yoga, tai chi or reiki.Fr O’Baoill, who is currently visiting the Catholic pilgrimage

A man who lost his son in the 1998 Omagh bomb has called for sanctions against those who designed the “on the runs” scheme. Under the On the Runs scheme, letters were sent to about 200 republicans telling them they were not wanted by the police. The scheme became the focus of controversy after the

Two pilot whales that a local man in Falcarragh tried to rescue yesterday have beached again. Earlier this week, a pod of thirteen whales stranded on Balliness beach, the majority of those have died and have been buried. A local man went to the beach in the early hours yesterday morning and refloated two of

Talks are taking place today between Dublin City Manager, the city’s Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive of the Labour Relations Commission in a last ditch effort to salvage all five Garth Brooks’ Croke Park concerts. It comes after the Taoiseach intervened last night and urged all key players to come up with a solution

The Western Health and Social Care Trust has marked the beginning of construction work on the Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin Hospital with staff and key stakeholders. An event was held on the site last evening. The contractor is currently preparing the site to enable the start of construction later this month. The new £50+million Radiotherapy

Police have defended their handling of a suspicious vehicle on Monday which caused significant disruption to residents in the Ballycolman Estate area of Strabane. Around 30 families had to leave their homes as police examined the car which had been abondened in the area for a number of days. Some residents have claimed the police

A car which was the subject of an appeal on Highland Radio has been intercepted by gardai in Castlefin. A caller to the Shaun Doherty Show told how a number of men had approached his house – they were said to be driving a silver Northern Registered Mercedes. They made off in the vehicle when

The Fire Service has said a fire at a bookmakers in Derry was started deliberately in the early hours of this morning. The fire broke out in the roof of Ladbrokes in Central Drive, Creggan at around 4am. Three fire appliances were used and a section of the roof has been removed. Northern Ireland Fire

Two of the thirteen beached whales in Falcarragh have been brought back from the dead and refloated. It was thought that all the remaining beached whales would have died last night and would be buried this morning. But one local man and a group of friends went to Baliness beach in the early hours of

A brother of former Irish presidential candidate and Eurovision song contest winner Dana Scallon has appeared in court in England accused of sexually abusing two young girls. 60-year-old John Brown is accused of indecently assaulting two girls under the age of 16 in the 1970s. He was charged last May after the two women, now

Ticketmaster will reveal later how those with tickets to Garth Brooks at Croke Park can get their money back. It’s after the country singer announced yesterday that he’s cancelling all five of his Irish concerts – due to take place in two weeks’ time – following Dublin City Council’s decision to only grant a licence

Donegal County Council has been granted 414 thousand euro to bring back into use 59 units of local authority housing. The funding is part of a year-long campaign from the Minister for Housing and Planning that will see €30m invested across the country with nearly 2,000 vacant houses returned to beneficial use. Its hoped that