Author name: oisinkelly

A 27-year-old man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with firearm and explosive offences. Ryan O’Reilly of 35, Meadowbank Court in Derry faced a total of 9 charges relating to a find made in the city last December. He was charged with possessing two pistols, a sub machine gun and two magazines under suspicious […]

Gardai in Letterkenny are investigating after a newly married couples home was the target of an alleged arson attack over the weekend. Two vans and a garage were burnt at around 9 o clock on Saturday evening while the couple where at their OWN wedding reception. Gardai are treating the incident as arson, and they

Gardai are renewing their appeals for information into a robbery in the Feddyglass, Raphoe area on the 1st of July this year. Suzy Arthur was at home at Tullyrap just off the road from Letterkenny to Lifford with her sister Iza at 5 o’clock on that evening when three men broke into the house and

A letter bomb has been sent to the Public Prosecution Service office in Derry. The building on the city’s Limavady Road was evacuated at about 1230pm today. Police said the bomb was similar in make-up to two devices found in postal sorting offices in County Antrim on Friday. One was addressed to the chief constable,

In Derry a man has been charged with possession of hand grenades and firearms The 27 year-old – who was detained in Derry yesterday – is also accused of having a stun gun and CS gas spray. He’s due to appear before Derry Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

The Nynes Gala Service Station in Letterkenny has closed with the loss of up to 10 jobs. The service station in the Killyclug area has been open for a number of years and included a small cafe area and mini-supermarket. Local councillor Gerry McMonagle said it’s concerning news for the area:

Inishowen Sinn Féin councillor Jack Murray has commended the local community in Muff after a protest was staged in the village to demand a safe crossing in the village. The protest, which was organised by the local Sinn Féin cumann in conjunction with local residents, was staged on Saturday afternoon to highlight the danger of

Police in Derry have carried out a controlled explosion on a suspicious object in the Mimosa Court area of the Waterside. A security alert has been ongoing since the discovery of the object in the early hours of this morning. A number of homes in the area have been evacuated. The YMCA centre in Drumahoe

Frylite in Strabane is to create 19 new jobs in the town. The jobs announcement is part of 2 million worth of funding from Invest Northern Ireland. Frylite supplies, collects and recylces cooking oils for a range of food companies across Ireland, the UK and Europe. The company is one of Strabanes biggest employers. Frylite

Drivers are being urged to slow down this Bank Holiday weekend. There have been 13 more deaths on our roads compared to this time last year. 153 people have been killed in road traffic collisions to date. Gardai and the RSA are appealing to motorists to observe the speed limits. Interim CEO of the RSA

Winter time officially starts tonight. At 1am tonight, clocks, watches and all other time sensitive equipment should be put back one hour. This means that you will have an extra hour in bed tomorrow. Winter time runs until 30th March next year.

A man who was reported missing in the Ballybofey area last night has been located safe and well. Gardai had issued an appeal last night just before 8pm for a missing man who was in an agitated state. But it was confirmed this morning that the missing man was located late last night.  

Donegals Jason Quigley will be going for gold in the boxing world championships in Kazaksthan this morning. The 22-year-old will take on the home nations Zhanibek Alimkhanuly for the Middleweight World Title. The bout will be on RTE 1 and the BBC red button for 1050am onwards. The fight is also being shown live on

Up to 50 people turned out for a protest outside Donegal North East Deputy Joe McHughs constituency office this lunchtime. During the rally anti-austerity protesters handed a letter of resignation into the Fine Gael Deputies office. The protest organisers want Deputy McHugh to sign the letter and send it to Enda Kenny. But Deputy McHugh

Donegal County Council is dealing with an oil spill on the outskirts of Termon this afternoon which has caused a number of minor accidents. Gardai say the spillage is at its worst on a four kilometre stretch from Termon village out towards the viaduct on the Creeslough Road. Meanwhile, following heavy rain and some flooding

Sinn Fein is hosting a public meeting on the future of the Irish language in Gweedore tonight as part of a public consultation on the drafting of an alternative Gaeltacht Bill. Senator Trevor O’Clochartaigh has spent the past two days in the county talking to groups and organisations, and tonight’s meeting in An Crannog will

SIPTU says a Labour Court ruling on Home Helps’ contracts of employment effectively puts them on a par with other HSE employees, and curtails the threatened outsourcing of the service. The union is hosting two meetings for Home Helps in Donegal on Tuesday next to brief them on the ruling and outline what it means

A Donegal County Councillor has claimed the local authority is on the verge of collapse. It follows media reports of an alledged incident between two councillors during a recent workshop meeting. It is understood the incident has been brought to the attention of the County Manager and the Mayor who have been asked to fully

A West Tyrome MLA has raised concerns about the lack of development at the new Strabane Business Park. The Invest NI business Park, which is on a 40 acre site at the Melmount Road, opened in the New Year. In March Invest NI’s Chief Executive Alastair Hamilton said a number of businesses had expressed an

The Venue – Derry’s temporary City of Culture concert hall at Ebrington Square – is to be dismantled in the New Year. The move, announced by the Department of Social Development, follows a lack of private sector interest in its retention. Earlier this month, DSD minister Nelson McCausland revealed it takes around £6,000 per month

Protesters will call on Fine Gael Deputy Joe McHugh to resign from the party this afternoon. A rally, organised by Donegal Action Against Austerity, the Donegal Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes and Donegal People Before Profit, will be held outside the Donegal North East Deputies constituency office this lunchtime. During the rally anti-austerity protesters

Motorists are advised to take extreme care on the roads across the northwest this morning following heavy rain and flooding overnight. Met Eireann has a National Weather Warning in place – further heavy showers are expected throughout the day but will ease off this evening. It comes as Gardaí launch National Slowdown Day in an

Double killer John Gallagher has been sent to prison after being convicted of harassing his sister.   Gallagher faced a single charge of conducting a course of harassment against his sister, Helena Miller, on dates between December 31 2012 and March 26 this year. The charge related to an incident out Strabane’s Supervalu store on

A West Tyrone MLA has said that he fears that the A5 project has been put on the long finger. It was announced this week that the money allocated for the A5 road between Derry and Aughnacloy has been reallocated to fund a new Childrens Hospital for N Ireland in Belfast. Money has also been

Contract documents for the Dungloe and Glenties sewage schemes are expected to be signed in the next fortnight. Cllr Marie Therese Gallagher says she’s been told today that documents for these schemes have been finalised between the Council and contractor Coffey Water, and a date will now be chosen on which to sign the contract

A Derry man told police that he was in breach of his bail because he had been abducted by masked men and held for three days and questioned about interfering with children. 37-year-old Barry Crossan of 4, Hawthorn Way in Derry had been released on High Court bail after being charged with burgling a chemist

Inishowen Councillor Jack Murray has welcomed the successful passing of his emergency motion which aims to resolve the ongoing odour problems in Pairc an Grianan, Burnfoot. Locals say the odour arising from the council’s treatment works in Burnfoot has become a constant annoyance. Many families have reported that their children have become sick as a

An Bord Pleanala has granted permission for the extension of the Corkermore Wind Farm. The permission allows for the contraction of 4 extra turbines on the site in the south of the county and upholds an early Donegal County Council decision. The site of the windfarm is in the south of the county 9 kilometres

The Government’s Tellus Border Project has announced results of its comprehensive geological survey of the Border area which found gold in Donegal. Gold was found in Glencolumbkille, several areas of the Inishowen peninsula and in Termon. Minister For Natural Resources Mr Fergus O’Dowd says the gold map will add to economic investments already being made

It’s being claimed that a number of key roads projects in Donegal may be stalled following the ending of a funding scheme. The EU Co-financed scheme has been used to support several road improvement projects in Donegal, but Fianna Fail say an examination of the recent Budget small print shows that the scheme is being

364 local authority houses in Donegal are in Mortgage arrears. Those figures were contained in a Department of Environment response to a Parliamentary Question from the Labour TD Kevin Humphries. They show a third of the 20,000 mortgage holders on the housing loan books of local authorities nationwide are in arrears The figures are based

A newspaper article written last March about patients on the Good and New Ambulance bringing cancer patients from Donegal to Galway has gone viral online, picking up over 20,000 hits since last week and sparking a new wave of interest. Eamon Mc Devitt of Good and New in Letterkenny says they have no idea what

Representatives of 28 walled towns from all over Europe are in Derry for the next four days to take part in a symposium on the economic and cultural value of heritage. The European Walled Towns Association was last in Derry in August 1993, when its visit was used  to accelerate the reopening of the walks

The European Parliament has approved draft rules to help fishermen to comply with new Common Fisheries Policy requirements. They approved a six point five billion euro aid package that will help fishermen to comply with the discard ban. The funding can go towards buying more selective fishing gear and to improve safety and working conditions,

The Department of Social Protection has confirmed that it is sending letters to jobseekers with offers of work in Canada. However, they say the letters are “for information” only, and that there is no obligation on recipients to apply for the vacancy. Hundreds of letters offering work in Canada have been sent – with others

Work has begun to clear and prepare the former Army base at Lisanelly in Omagh, into a shared education campus. Phase one will see the construction of a new school for Arvalee Special School and a resource centre. Six schools, catering for 3,700 pupils will eventually be built and based on the site. West Tyrone

Anyone with concerns about proposed large-scale wind farms is being asked to contact the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. It’s launched a public consultation on the Renewable Energy Export Policy, with people being given a month to write in with their concerns and comments. In January, the Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte signed an

A 48-year-old man has been taken to hospital after he was assaulted by two masked men last night in Strabane. Police are appealing for information, saying they received a report after 11pm that two masked men entered a house in Springhill Park with two batons. In recent week’s windows at the man’s home have been

Donegal County Council says as well as posing a danger to people and property, illegal bonfires also cost money and use up valuable resources. This week, the council is cracking down on bonfire preparation, saying it is monitoring a number of businesses and pointing out that it is an offence for householders or businesses to

Donegal Senator Brian O’Domhnaill has accused the government of ‘Tory style’ sabre rattling after the Taoiseach said he is declaring war on Social Welfare fraud. Senator O’Domhnaill says this is typical of what he calls the spin over substance approach of this Government, with plenty of talk, but no new policy initiatives and no new

A number of houses have been evacuated in Derry due to a security alert. Charlotte Street, in the Bogside area, remains closed after a suspicious object was thrown at a police vehicle last night. Barrack Street and the Lecky flyover which were earlier closed off have now reopened. There has been strong condemnation of the

The Department of Social Development in the North has allocated more than £2m to Strabane’s pedestrian bridge project. The bridge over the River Mourne will link the Head of the Town with the Ballycolman, with an expected completion date of early in 2015. The project was said to be in tatters in November 2011 after

It has been claimed that an invasion of Jellyfish has killed off thousands of farmed salmon off the Irish coasts, causing significant losses to Donegal company Marine Harvest. It is reported that the invasion caused the loss of as much as 40 per cent of the stock at Co Mayo aquaculture farm, located off Clare

A Donegal North East Deputy is allaying fears that the A5 project may be abandoned. It was announced this week that the money allocated for the A5 road between Derry and Aughnacloy has been reallocated to fund a new Children’s Hospital for Northern Ireland in Belfast. Money has also been sidelined to fund road projects