Author name: oisinkelly

The Government is investing 1.3 million Euro into 29 festivals across the country, three of them in Donegal. 40,000 euro has been allocated to the Earagail Arts Festival and 20,000 to the Rory Gallagher Festival in Ballyshannon. A sponsorship deal has also been agreed with Sea Sessions in Bundoran. Junior Tourism Minister Michael Ring says

Derry’s new Bishop is being officially inaugurated today. Bishop Donal McKeown was previously the Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor. The Mass of Installation for Bishop McKeown is taking place at the Cathedral of St Eugene in Derry at 3 o’clock this afternoon.  

The Taoiseach has welcomed Martin McGuinness’ decision to accept an invitation to dine with Queen Elizabeth this week, at a state dinner in honour of President Michael D Higgins. President Higgins begins an historic four day visit to the UK on Tuesday. The North’s Deputy First Minister and former IRA leader Martin McGuinness snubbed a

Detectives in Derry are appealing for information following a vehicle hijacking that occurred in the early hours of Sunday 6 April in the Strand Road area.  At approximately 2.50am, police received the report that two men and a woman, all aged 19, were sitting in a parked red Volkswagen Golf when a white Seat Ibiza

Work on preventing future flooding at Letterkenny General Hospital can begin after the council approved planning permission for the construction of a culvert. The hospital was devasted by flash flodding last year which left much of the hospital services affected with repair costs in the tens of millions. The new culvert will divert any future

Derry will get a jobs boost when the Nando’s chain of restaurants opens in Derry next week creating 33 jobs. The figures were given at a licensing application at Derry Crown Court when the chain applied for a licence to sell alcohol at their premises in Derry’s Richmond Centre. The new shop is the third

Doctors from Donegal will meet this Monday to protest at what they say is the crisis taking place in general practice. The meeting with Donegals TD’s and Senators will take place in the Abbey Hotel in Donegal town on Monday evening. The meeting is the fifth in a series of meetings organised by doctors across

Northern Ireland man has been returned for trial to the circuit court on charges of having drugs for sale and supply to the value of E115,000. Paul McConville, of Cranny Terrace, Bleary, Craigavon, county Armagh is charged with two counts of possession of €115,000 worth of Methylone, in a rented house in Bunhovil, Bundoran, Co.

The council has been called on to address the problem of illegal dumping in Ardravan in Buncrana. Local Councillor Ciaran McLaughlin says bags of rubbish are being dumped at a derelict property in Milltown which he says is creating a safety hazard. The council do not own the property and it has yet to be

There has been outrage in Strabane after a 12-year-old girl fell and cut her hand on a syringe. The incident happened yesterday afternoon as the girl walked home from school, she tripped and fell on a footpath near the primary school she attends. The young girl, who cut her hand, had to then be taken

Gardai have confirmed that one person was seriously injured following a road traffic accident this morning on the Lifford – Letterkenny Road. The accident took place near Tully’s Tyres. The crash involved a van and a lorry. It is understood that the driver of the van was seriously injured and has since been taken to

It’s been confirmed that the Carrigart Vintage Show will go ahead this Summer. There had been speculation that the event may not go ahead this year, but the North West Donegal Vintage Club, which runs the event, has confirmed that the event will take place over the weekend of July 12th and 13th. The Carrigart

Work on a new pedestrian bridge in Strabane is to commence this summer. The new bridge, which will link the Ballycolman and the Head of the Town areas, is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2015. The project was said to be in tatters in November 2011 after Strabane Council failed to appoint

Donegal Deputy Charlie McConalogue has demanded a progress report on the implementation of the National Broadband Plan and the Rural Broadband Scheme in Donegal. According to the Fianna Fáil TD, there is little evidence on the ground of any significant progress with these schemes and large areas of Donegal remain without access to a quality

Fifty jobs at Fivemiletown Creamery in County Tyrone could be lost after shareholders decided to sell it to an Irish company. After negotiations that ran into the early hours of this morning, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland agreed to buy the milk supply and Fivemiletown cheeses. This effectively ends processing in the town. The sale of Fivemiletown

Donegal County Council forked out almost 8,000 euro to send the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and a Council official to America for St Patricks Day. Flights for the trip cost €2,288, accommodation cost €3,396, travel cost €1,588 and €658 was spent on presentation items. A breakdown of the costs of sending delegations from Letterkenny and Buncrana

An internal review of how the Health Board and subsequently the Health Service Executive responded to the case of Michael Ferry, has found that the initial response did not comply with the Children First guidelines. The 58-year-old of Carrick Boyle, Gweedore was convicted in 2002 of indecently assaulting a boy at a former school he

Donegal County Council officials are to liaise with gardai to come up with emergency protocols in the event of key roads being closed. The issue was raised by Cllr Paul Canning in the wake of a collision two weeks ago today which has left a man in his 20s from Lifford criticially ill in hospital.

The government has announced that the Malin Head Coastguard Station is to receive over 300,000 euro for upgraded IT and communications equipment as part of a service wide investment of a million euro. Plans have also been announced to recruit two more staff members, and establish a panel to fill vacancies. Martin Mc Dermott has

A local election candidate in Strabane has said a number of posters targeting the PSNI must be taken down immediately. Posters stating ‘PSNI – People should not inform’ have appeared in the Castlederg, Aghyaran and Clady areas. The posters have been erected in recent weeks targeting those who wish to provide the PSNI with information

The Dáil’s voted confidence in Alan Shatter. Last night TDs voted by 95 to 51 to support the Justice Minister. Alongside Ministers, backbenchers from both Fine Gael and Labour lined up to support him, in speeches of just one minute each to get the maxiumum numbers to express confidence. But Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson Niall

The Mayor of Letterkenny Cllr Pascal Blake has confirmed he will contest the local elections in May as an independent candidate. Cllr Blake was coopted onto Letterkenny Town Council in 2011 when Senator Jimmy Harte was elected to the Seanad, and has served as an independent member since, taking the chair at last year’s AGM.

Donegal County Council is to establish a working group to decide what form a new council chamber should take. The council will have an extra eight members after May to reflect the abolition of town councils, bringing its membership to 37, and making the cuirrent chamber too small. An interim solution has been agreed which

Roaming charges on calls, text and mobile data could become a thing of the past. The European Parliament is today expected to vote in favour of ending roaming charges across the EU, by December 2015. North West MEP Jim Higgins says the European Commission is also targeting poor quality broadband…..

Police say a man has been robbed at knifepoint in Derry. The incident occurred on Limewood Street at around 7.10pm last (Tuesday) evening. A small sum of cash was stolen in the robbery. Two male attackers were involved.  One was wearing a blue light blue hooded top and the other a navy body warmer top

There has been a call for the GAA to reveal how the funding from a broadcasting deal with Sky will be distributed. It was announced yesterday that a 3-year agreement has been put in place that will see a number of championship matches available only to their subscribers. The GAA President Liam O’Neill says the

The NowDOC service has withdrawn controversial new operating procedures which would have seen doctors only attending emergencies when called by the ambulance service and not the public. In a statement today, the HSE says NowDOC and the National Ambulance service are currently agreeing future arrangements for contact between the services, and in the meantime, services

Donegal County Council has confirmed this morning that in the interim period between the EPA drafting its mid year report and its publication today, the septic tank inspection programme has begun in the county and approximately 10% of inspections have now been completed. This morning, EPA figures to the end of February showed that Donegal

Donegal’s opposition deputies have united in the Dail to call on the Health Minister to assign a clinical paediatric diabetes nurse to Letterkenny General Hospital. The Hospital’s manager recently stated that there will be no reduction in the service provision for children with diabetes suggesting services will in fact improve. This has been rejected by

Up to 120 jobs are to created in Killybegs with plans to invest 35 million euro to develop the world’s largest bio-marine ingredients facility in the port. The Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has joined forces with Norwegian partner Biomarine Science Technology to develop the facility. One of the key species to be used in the plant

Donegal County Council is to provide more support for rate payers, with the new Local Enterprise Offices in each electoral offering advice and help. During a lengthy discussion on the challenges facing small businesses this week, the council was told that when a new business starts up, very quickly Revenue and the council are in

There will be no driving tests this afternoon. Testers are going on strike from 2pm in a dispute over out-sourcing. The IMPACT union is accusing the Road Safety Authority (RSA) of planning to breach a Labour Court ruling which set out a process for the recruitment of reserve testers. Assistant General-Secretary Denis Rohan says provisional

The Transport Minister has warned that he cannot allow Aer Lingus and the DAA to take a major financial hit in their pensions dispute. Leo Varadkar says the government stake in the airports and Aer Lingus would be devalued, meaning a hit for the taxpayer, if they carry the burden of bringing a gap in

The head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) says he believes the HSE will face “challenging” cutbacks in the next Budget. Tony O’Brien says the departure of the Troika does not mean that ‘happy days’ have returned as the health service undergoes a major restructuring. He was speaking at a conference on the future of

The National Union of Journalists is to seek a meeting with the purchaser of the 14 Irish titles owned by UK group Johnston Press. Johnston Press media group has sold its fourteen regional newspaper titles, including the Donegal Democrat to Iconic Newspapers Limited, a company run by British advertising executive Malcolm Denmark. NUJ President Barry

The case against Shaun Kelly has been adjourned again. Mr Kelly is accused of causing the deaths of eight people in a car crash outside Clonmany in Inishowen in July 2012. Counsel for the state Ms Patricia McLaughlin told the court that they were still waiting for a psychological report to be prepared on the

Fears have been raised regarding the future of Dungloe library. Donegal County Council have confirmed that Dungloe library will no longer open late on Wednesday evenings or open on Saturdays. Currently there is only one member of staff working in the facility, and the council cannot hire anyone else because of the recruitment embargo. Local

A senior HSE orthodontist has admitted that the service is in crisis in Donegal. The comment is contained in a circular obtained by Cllr Dessie Larkin in which Sligo based Consultant Gerard Rahilly points out there are just seven assessment days a year in Letterkenny and one orthodontist in situ. The circular also notes that

There has been another security alert in Strabane this morning, the second in the past 24 hours in the town. A viable pipe bomb type device was recovered following an alert in the Townsend Street area. The object, which was discovered shortly after 1am in an area known locally as the Back Row, has now

It’s emerged that an inventory of tapes from Garda station recordings around the country shows the lowest number was found in Donegal. The Irish Times says the internal research was compiled in February, and is in two parts. The first relates to dictaphone recordings made before 2008, and lists the number of tapes stored from

The NowDoc service is to be scaled back, with doctors no longer travelling outside of their bases to respond to emergency calls from the public. Highland Radio News has learned that new operating procedures have been implemented which mean that from now on, in the case of an emergency call, it will be referred to

A European Parliament committee has asked the Irish Government to clarify why a Donegal family’s ‘Lost at Sea’ case was not treated with more equity and fairness. MEP Jim Higgins, who brought the Byrne family to Brussels confirmed this morning that in an official letter to the Minister Simon Coveney, the Committee on Petitions has formally

Another attempt is to be made to have the recruitment ban imposed on local authorities lifted. In what was his final motion to Donegal County Council, outgoing Cllr David Alcorn urged the council to seek the lifting of the embargo. It was agtain noted that there are now just over 803 people working for the