Author name: oisinkelly

Persons intending to go for a beach walk over Christmas are being urged to avoid the walkway at Lisfannon near Buncrana, which has become very dangerous as a result of erosion. At present, a popular stretch of the walkway has been blocked off by Donegal County Council as it is deemed to be dangerous. Town […]

There are almost 500 homes without power in Donegal at the moment (Tuesday 11.30), with almost 420 homes out in four clusters around Dungloe and Derrybeg and 60 homes affected in the Cullion area outside Letterkenny. Met Éireann says strong storm force southwesterly winds will remain this morning, causing hazardous driving conditions. Wintry showers will

All party political negotiations in Belfast have ended in stalemate. 7 hours of overnight talks failed to produce an agreement to deal with unresolved peace process issues in Northern Ireland. Intense discussions involving Stormont’s five Executive parties – to find consensus on disputes over flags, parades and the legacy of the Troubles – ended at

The CEO of Fáilte Ireland is welcoming news that the Gathering initiative has exceeded it’s revenue target, representing a 170 million euro boost to the Irish economy. The tourism initiative aimed to encourage members of the diaspora to come home for various gatherings brought in an extra 275 thousand visitors during 2013. Around 5000 gatherings

More details are emerging about a weekend incident in which an attempt was made to rob 75 year old woman in Donegal at the weekend. The incident happened in a remote area near Kerrykeel, it’s understood three men entered the woman’s home, but left empty handed. Garda Inspector Michael Harrison is leading the investigation, and

As the Haas talks continue, East Derry MLA John Dallat says the British goverrnment could make a major contribution to the process by confirming that the 300 DVA jobs in Coleraine will be maintained. Mr Dallat says at a meeting in Westminister at the end of last week, Transport Minister Robert Goodwill told an SDLP

High winds and lightening have caused widespread power outages and disruption to phone and broadband services. Met Eireann has issued a Yellow weather warning for today, with high winds affecting many parts of the country. An Orange alert for the entire country has been issued for Christmas Eve. The ESB says that electiricity service has

For the first time in over three decades, no night-club will be selling drink after midnight on Christmas night in Donegal. The news comes after a night-club in Bundoran cancelled its plans to open from midnight despite being the only club in the county to be granted a late licence. Paris night-club owner Conor McEniff,

Two teenagers who murdered a Donegal Man in a street attack in Glasgow have failed to have their convictions overturned. 21 year old Asif Rehman and 2o year old Adel Ishaq were jailed for a minimum of 16 years for the murder of 57-year-old William McKeeney in Pollokshields nearly two years ago. Mr McKeeney’s partner,

Shipquay Street and Shipquay Place in Derry have now been re-opened following a search of the area by police following a telephone bomb warning. Nothing was found but police would ask members of the public to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious. Those behind the alert have been criticised by local MLA Pat Ramsey. In

Shipquay Street and Shipquay Place in Derry have been closed by police following a telephone warning of a bomb. Police are conducting a search and have evacuated a number of premises. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and police would ask anyone noticing any suspicious objects to contact them immediately.

Gardaí are appealing for members of the public to assist them in connection to an assault and false imprisonment in a house close to the Donegal border in County Leitrim. The incident happened 10 days ago. On Wednesday the 11th of December at approximately 11.30pm a house in Duncarbery, Tullaghan, County Leitrim, was forcibly entered

Justice Minister Alan Shatter is to receive a letter claiming the Gaming Act needs revision. It follows controversy at Ballyshannon District Court over one-armed bandits and other games in public arcades. Judge Kevin Kilrane was told the arcades should shut when the town councils which grant licences for them become extinct next June. The judge

  Electricity and phone services are disrupted once again in Donegal with strong and sometimes gale force winds crossing the region. Eircom says crews are working to repair almost six thousand faults to phone and broadband services  – caused by the severe weather – Donegal is amongst the counties worst affected. In Kilcar, 244 customers

Donegal Senator Brian O’Domhnaill has repaid the Oireachtas just under 3,500 for wrongly claimed expenses. The Senator is already being investigated by the Standards in Public Office Commission for alleged duplication of expenses claims. The repaid expenses are a separate matter. A total of five members of the Oireachtas repaid €4,992 in claims after the

An RTE Primetime documentary “No Country for Old Men” last night highlighted the problem of rural isolation in Donegal. Miriam O Callaghan visted the county as part of the documentary. She visited 80-year-old Packie Jim from the mountain in Lettercarn. He’s lived in the house he was born in 80 years ago and remarkably, he

The Dungloe and Glenties sewerage schemes are to be signed off today and work will begin in January. The long awaited work involves the provision of new wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations and sewers in Dungloe & Glenties. It is expected that work will now be able to begin in the New Year and will

A 54-year-old Derry man has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month after he admitted sexually abusing his cousin beginning when she was aged six. Frankie McFadden of Moyola Drive in Derry appeared at the local Crown Court where he faced a total of 12 charges that occurred between 1975 and 1979.

Letterkenny Town Council has unanimously passed its budget for 2014, with projected expenditure of 7.85 million euro and a freeze in the commercial rate. Manager Seamus Neeley told members the budget addresses many of the pressing issues identified in motions over the past number of months. And he pledged that money spent on promotion and

An investigation’s underway after the ceiling collapsed at a theatre in London’s West End, during a packed performance. 76 people were injured, 7 seriously. The owner of the Apollo theatre’s calling the incident ‘shocking and upsetting.’ Conor Mc Keown from Derry was in the audience last night when the roof collapsed….

As thousands take to the roads for Christmas today – the Road Safety Authority is warning motorists to take extra care with more bad weather expected. Met Éireann has issued a Status Orange warning – with gales of up to 120 kilometres per hour due to affect exposed areas. The high winds and heavy rain

The partner of Marie Fleming, who lost her battle with Multiple Sclerosis this morning, says she died in his arms. Tom Curran told the family solicitor that “she died at home, as she always wanted to do.” Ms Fleming failed in her landmark right-to-die case earlier this year. The 59 year old Lifford native had

Detectives in Foyle are appealing for information after a man was robbed in his home in the Stradowen Drive area on Wednesday. It is believed that two males, one armed with a knife, entered the house around 11pm and made off in the owner’s red Peugeot 306. The car was seen in the Craigavon Bridge/Limavady

Letterkenny and Buncrana Town Councils meet this evening to adopt their respective Budgets for 2014. It is the last Budgets the councils will pass before they are scrapped. The Letterkenny budget sees no increase in business rates or rents and is seen as a positive budget with money set aside for a number of key

A 33-year-old Strabane man has appeared in court charged with murdering his former girlfriend and her friend in an east Belfast flat last week. The bodies of 40-year-old Caron Smyth, and 42-year-old Finbarr McGrillen, were found by police called to investigate a suspected burglary in Ravenhill Court. Shaun Patrick Joseph Hegarty, who is originally from

A Milford resident has been sent for trial today on €104,000 drugs charges. Gerard O’Connor, a 32-year-old declared Muslim, was returned for trial at Sligo Circuit on January 28. O’Connor, originally from Bellews Bridge Road, Dundalk, is charged with possessing cannabis resin estimated to be worth €80,000 for sale in a car on September 9

Calls have been made for Malin Head to be made the starting point for the Wild Atlantic Way. The tourism initative stretchs from the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal to Kinsale, Co Cork and it is billed as “the road trip of a lifetime”. The Wild Atlantic Way project received €8 million in funding in

Donegal County Council will have to meet again in the new year in an effort to agree a revenue budget for 2014. Management from the local authority presented their draft budget proposals for 2014 to Cllrs yesterday, but little to no progress was made. The Fine Gael and Labour groupings on Donegal County Council have

Donegal bore the brunt last night as high winds and torrential rain lashed the country. Winds reached up to 150 kmph, and at one stage almost 10,000 homes were without power in the county. There are under 100 power outages in Donegal this evening (2pm)  mostly in the west and north of the county. The

Thousands of homes are without power in Donegal this evening as high winds batter the Northwest. Over five thousand homes are currently without power in the county, with more outages inevitable as the bad weather continues throughout the night. There are currently 5750 homes without power in the county. ESB have restored a number of

The North’s Environment Minister has published an independent report into the illegal dump found in Campsie earlier this year. Mark H.Durkan has promised fundamental change in how waste is managed in Northern Ireland. An estimated total of 516,000 tonnes was discovered at the site. In June of this year, the then Environment Minister Alex Attwood,

Derry City Council has agreed to progress with a 2.7 million pounds programme to regenerate the Brandywell Sports Stadium. As part of the plan, the greyhound track will move to a new proposed location around the Showgrounds pitch, and the existing grass playing pitch will be replaced with a synthetic surface. Four new changing rooms

The Minister for Health is being asked to examine why a number of parents of boys who suffer from a rare muscular disorder bring their sons to a centre in Newcastle for treatment ratrher than the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin. Deputy Joe Mc Hugh says a number of boys in Donegal have Duchenne Muscular

The December Council of Fisheries Ministers Meeting has concluded in Brussels, with agreement on quotas for the coming year. Killybegs Fishermens Organisation CEO Sean O’Donaghue was in Brussels for the negotiatons – He says the outcome was a mixed bag for the Irish fisheries sector………… However, Independent Donegal South West Deputy Thomas Pringle says the

The full extent of job cuts at Donegal County Council over the past 5 years was revealed day. At todays annual budget meeting for the year ahead the county manager outlined the staffing cuts at the local authority and the impact they may have on council services since 2008. In 2008, Donegal County Council employed

With severe winds expected in Donegal this evening and overnight, Met Eireann has upgraded its weather warning affecting the Northwest from Orange to Red. Driving conditions in many areas are complicated by surfice water and fallen debris. There are currently no reported ESB outages in the county. In County Westmeath, a 23 year-old woman has

Deputy Charlie Mc Conolouge has been told that the Department of Education will not change the rules that exclude schools who started book rental schemes from availing of a new government scheme. Deputy McConologue told Highland Radio News last week that schools who started book rental schemes themselves are now being punished by the Government

A four year old boy is in a stable condition in hospital after he was struck by a car at the Fort Lynne Retail Park in Letterkenny at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Gardai say the boy sustained leg injuries which are not life threatening.

The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority has welcomed the decision at Letterkenny District Court to impose a monetary bond on the operators of a fishing boat over an alleged illegal catch landed at Greencaste. The bond of €136,878 was imposed on the operators of the fishing vessel Saltees Quest, owned by the O’Flaherty Brothers of Kilmore

Donegal County Council meets in Lifford today to discuss its budget for 2014, with officials proposing a rates freeze while businesses argue for a reduction. Today’s meeting comes as the Dail discusses legislation to formally establish Irish Water, which is due to take over the council’s responsibility for water services from January 1st. County Manager

Met Eireann has issued an Orange weather warning for Donegal. The forecasters warn of South to southwest winds increasing 60 to 80 km/h and gust 100 to 120 km/h for later Wednesday afternoon and evening, in exposed coastal areas of Connacht and Donegal. The warning also covers the counties of Sligo, Leitrim, Galway and Mayo

The father of a Lifford man who drowned after escaping from police custody in Strabane in May 2011 has said he plans to take action against the PSNI. A Police Ombudsman investigation last week found failings on behalf of the PSNI. David Colhoun’s remains were discovered in the River Finn last February, 10 months after

Tyrone woman Michaella McCollum and her Scottish friend Melissa Reid have been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison by a court in Peru after pleading guilty to drug smuggling charges. The pair were arrested last August after cocaine was found in their luggage as they tried to board a flight at Lima

Donegal County Council has appealed for the public to be vigilant following further reports of bogus collectors The local authority says it has received further reports of bogus collectors in the Letterkenny Electoral area purporting to be from the Council. In a statement the council said a man and woman called to the home of