Author name: oisinkelly

Pupils have had their first assembly in the state of the art Colaiste Ailigh in Letterkenny today. As well as classrooms, the new school will include a library, outdoor teaching areas, a fitness centre, GAA and soccer pitches, basketball and tennis courts and a gymnasium that can also be used for school events. Students walked

Vital funding for the rebuild of the Free Derry museum has finally been secured. Organisers of the Museum of Free Derry had warned that the project could fall if the £1.2m grant from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board was not signed off. It has now been revealed that the cash was approved a fortnight ago,

A border poll campaign which has been launched in Strabane and Lifford has been branded nothing more that a “public relations exercise”. Only a narrow section of communities on either side of the border will get to have their say in the ‘United Ireland – You Decide’ poll. Residents of Strabane’s East Ward which runs

An Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for 16 turbine windfarm near Glenveigh National Park. Donegal County Council has granted permission in January for the development of the 500 foot high turbines in the townlands of Killymansy and Drumenan, Newmills. But the appeals board said that the proposed wind-farm would “seriously injure” the visual amenities

Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has played down the significance of the announcement by the Government that we are to exit the Bailout without a precautionary line of credit. It was announced yesterday evening that Ireland will not be asking for a second bailout. But Deputy Doherty, who is Sinn Feins Finance spokesman, says this is nothing

The finance minister says the decision not to take a second bailout means Ireland is getting its freedom back. Michael Noonan is this afternoon meeting his Eurozone counterparts to tell them Ireland won’t be asking for a financial backstop as it leaves the bailout. The minister says Ireland should make its exit now while economic

The Donegal GAA County Board has confirmed that gardai have launched a fraud investigation after almost 18,000 euro was taken in an internet scam. It’s understood that an official’s e-mail address was hacked, and an instruction was sent to a staff member to transfer 15,000 pounds sterling to a bank account in Reading in the

A Donegal Senator has hit out at the Government for failing to tackle youth unemployment in the Northwest. Currently there is 3,550 under 25 year olds on the live register in Co Donegal. On top of this, it’s also estimated that hundreds of people under 25 have left the county over the past couple of

Buncrana Town Council officials are being asked what proportion of unpaid parking tickets are being referred to the courts. This week’s meeting of the council was told that 55 cases of unlawful parking have been passed on to the council’s solicitors for prosecution between October 2nd and November 4th. When questioned by Cllr Joe Doherty,

The Mayor of Buncrana says the campaign to reinstate the Lough Swilly Ferry next year will be intensified, despite the fact that the previous operator has said he is no longer interested, and has sold the boat he used on the route. The ferry has operated each summer between Buncrana and Rathullan for a number

A new £73 million wing at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital will be completed in early 2017. The new wing will be constructed in parallel to the new £50m cross border Radiotherapy Unit. The new wing will incorporate six inpatient ward areas, a new main entrance to the hospital and relocation of car parking facilities. It’s understood

A Donegal County Cllr has hit out at his own local authority for exploiting the JobBridge scheme. Cllr Jack Murray also said that the JobBridge figures in Donegal County Council are higher than previously reported. Previously it was thought that Donegal County Council had taken on 67 people through the scheme, but it has been

Up to 60 jobs are going to be created with the opening of a new nightclub in Strabane. The new multi-million pound bar and nightclub venue is set to open its doors at the end of this month. Rubys Bar and Nightclub will have nine bars, a two-floor nightclub, a function area which will serve

A 21 year old man has been shot in both legs in a paramilitary style attack in Portrush. A masked gang entered a house in the Windsor Place area shortly before 11 o’clock last night and carried out the attack before escaping on foot. A 19-year-old woman and a baby boy who were also in

Letterkenny Town Council is seeking funds to complete the Joe Bonar Road linking Port Road and Neil T Blaney Road. The issue was raised by Cllr Ciaran Brogan, who said the council should go ahead and start the process. He’s also calling for progress on the road at the old Unifi site which has been

Donegal County Council is beginning legal action to secure payment of outstanding development contributions. The council  says its legal team will pursue developers and members of the public who haven’t paid. The Council has set up a dedicated unit to deal with cases where payments are still outstanding.   The full council statement reads as

Four Donegal teenagers are to honoured by Irish Water Safety after they saved their friends life earlier this year. In July 14-year-old Sarah Hill was out climbing a cliff near Creevey Pier with her four friends Patrick Cassidy, Oisin Kerr, Michael Hurst and Sean Heeney when she fell down a 14 ft drop. Her four

A second person is to be prosecuted for the manslaughter of a County Monaghan teenager who was attacked in Omagh. 19-year-old Jason McGovern was attacked twice after leaving a nightclub on 31 December and found dead hours later at a friend’s house. Six people have been charged over his death. Barry Whyte has more…………  

Letterkenny Town Council has been told that the provisions of the Local Government Bill as it pertains to rates will cost jobs in the town, and act as another nail in the coffin of the Main Street. Cllr Dessie Larkin told members that under the bill, the owners of vacant premises will be forced to

Traffic is getting back to normal in Letterkenny after a collision at the Dry Arch Roundabout last night. Three people were injured, one seriously, in the collision which involved a lorry and a car. None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening. The road was closed for a time, but  reopened to inbound

An attack on a Derry taxi driver during a fare run last week has been condemned. The incident occurred on Monday November 4 but has only come to light. The taxi driver was physically attacked when taking a fare from a casino in Bridgend, Donegal to Strabane. When the driver requested the fare, one of

An appeal by two men held liable for the 1998 Omagh bombing will go ahead on the 25th of this month after they failed in a bid to have the hearings put back. Lawyers for Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were seeking an adjournment over concerns about the availability of trial transcripts. However, judges due

A post mortem examination has taken place on the body of a man who died last night in Rathmullan. He’s been named locally as Dan Gallagher of Killycoleman, Rathmullan. He was 85. Gardai say they were called to the Rathmullan Pier at around 10.55 last night, and are investigating the circumstances of Mr Gallagher’s death,

Ambitious plans to redevlop and regenerate Omagh Town Centre could see the creation of hundreds of jobs. Inn House Ltd have applied for planning permission to renovate The Rues and Ostlers Bar into a new 27-bedroom hotel. The company also has plans in place for a new nightclub and ballroom on Main Street, along with

A Donegal Department Stores website has been voted as one of the best e-commerce websites in the country. The team behind the McElhinnenys website, which was launched in 2012, collected their award in Galway over the weekend. The store has been in Ballybofey for 42 years and employs almost 200 people. Store Manager, Roisin Woods

An Independent Donegal Councillor says there needs to be a campaign for the reinstatement of Special Instance Funding and Local Improvement Schemes. Cllr John Campbell was speaking after planning notices appeared in the press regarding Fintra Bridge, a project prioritised by the Donegal Electoral Area Committee. He says this is a project which the council

Letterkenny Town Council is to ask that a proportion of money recovered through the Criminal Assets Bureau be set aside for a crime prevention fund. Proposing the move, Cllr Gerry Mc Monagle said through the Community Safety Partnership in Derry, money is available for the purchase of security equipment, the erection of lights and other

An East Derry MP has hit out at James McClean, and accused him of being proud of not wearing a poppy. On Saturday night Boyzone appeared on ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, a number of the bands members didnt wear poppies, and Derry born footballer McClean then tweeted calling them ‘legends’. It’s not the first time

The Chief Superintendent of the Donegal Garda Division says she believes a comprehensive policing service will be delivered in West Donegal, despite the scrapping of the Glenties Garda District. From today, the district has been split into two, with the area south of Gweebara Bridge amalgamated in the Ballyshannon District and the area North of

An investigation has been launched after the death of a man in Garda custody in Inishowen. It is understood the man died in custody at Buncrana Garda Station in the early hours of this morning. A post mortem will be carried out later today. No details of the man’s age or address have been released.

The President of the Lettekenny Chamber says more businesses in the town need to get involved in supporting its efforts. John Watson was speaking at the weekends Letterkenny Business Awards. In a generally positive address to those in attendance, Mr Watson did point out concerns over the scrapping of Letterkenny Town Council and the need

Two young men have been killed in a car crash in County Fermanagh on the border with Donegal. The men have been named locally as 18 year-old Sean Martin from Pettigo and hist friend 22 year-old John Irwin from Castlederg There were n a car that crashed on the Pettigo Road, Kesh, just after 4

Rents in Donegal have fallen again in contrast to an almost five percent increase across the country over the course of the last year. The latest report from property website Daft-dot-ie shows the national average rent has gone up 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013, when compared with the same period last year.

The Garda Ombudsman has launched an investigation into a dig for the body of missing schoolgirl Mary Boyle. Earlier this year the Sunday World along with a scanning company, carried out a geographic survey of land at Cashelard near Ballyshannon, and identified a number of anomalies consistent with a grave. Acting on the information, Gardai

A Buncrana Town councillor has accused the government of ‘shifting the blame’ for the property tax on to revenue. Last week the revenue commissioner, Josephine Feehily, stood over the decision to deduct debit and credit card payments this month for next years property tax, on the basis that there are significant risks involved in retaining

District Judge Barney McElholm told a man that he had ‘absolutely no sympathy for him’ as he jailed him for what he described as a ‘disgraceful’ domestic assault. Niall O’Hara (31) of 2, Elmwood Terace in Derry admitted assaulting his partner, her sister, making threats to kill and causing criminal damage on April 20. The

  Positivity about the future was the theme of the Letterkenny business awards which took place last night. The brightest and best from the business world in Letterkenny gathered in the Radisson Blu for the chambers annual awards ceremony. The winner of the business person of the year award was Alfie Green of Greens shoes,

A man who died in a road crash in Co Donegal yesterday has been named as 63-year-old Christy Lipsett from Cashel in Rossnowlagh. Mr Lipsett died when the tractor he was driving was involved in a collision with a car on the N15 at Ballintra yesterday morning. The driver of the car was not injured.

The Minister of the Environment has announced the commencement of the €13m Gweedore sewerage scheme. The long anticipated works will go to tender at the beginning of next year. Over the years the lack of progress on the scheme had been a major issue of concern with residents in the area. Minister Hogan exclusively made

12fitz~1 The Children’s Minister has welcomed a drop in the use of the controversial website ask dot fm. A survey by the Irish anti-bullying service Bully4u showed that of the 40 per cent of nine to 12-year-olds that had used the site, only 8 per cent were still using it. The website came in for