Author name: oisinkelly

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

Gardai say they are treating as accidental the death of a man in South Donegal. The body of the local man in his 50s was discovered in a drain on a minor road in Ballintra at around 10 o’clock this morning. The dead man is thought be a farmer, originally from Scotland, who lives nearby

The CEO of the Simon Community in the North West says there is a need for a programme to provide more houses for people in need of permanent accomodation. Speaking on today’s Shaun Doherty Show, Claire Mc Tiernan said while there is a perception that housing is plentiful, people on rent supplement are having severe

An action taken by Adrienne McGlinchey, a key witness in the Morris Tribunal which investigated the activities of a number of Gardai in Donegal in the early 1990‘s, against The Garda Commissioner, Ireland and The Attorney General has been settled. In a statement, Ms Mc Glinchey says it has taken twenty two years, a major

The Chairperson of Donegal IFA has said he is not surprised at yesterday’s news there’s been a 300 per-cent rise in calls to a suicide prevention and bereavement organisation over the past six months. Financial worries and rural isolation are among some of the main issues being expressed to Console by distressed farmers. PJ McMonagle

The legacy of Michael Collins in the North West will be the focus of  night of history and heritage in Letterkenny this evening. The Michael Collins 22 Society is hosting the event, which is being chaired by Fine Gael General Secretary General Tom Curran at the Station House Hotel. Speakers include former SDLP Deputy Leader

MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher says that while there are no immediate concerns over the removal of support funding for Donegal Airport he is concerned new regulations could pave the way. Draft guidelines by the European Commission will change the rules that permit EU Member States through national, regional and local authorities to invest in

The Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has officially opened the new wastewater treatment complex in Letterkenny. There had been suggestions that a number of local public representatives would boycott his visit in protest at the scrapping of the local Town Council and the refusal by the Minister for a meeting to discuss it. However,

A new community alert system is being put in place in a number of town lands across Letterkenny in response to a spate of crime over recent weeks and months. It follows a well attended meeting earlier this week called by local man Noel Sweeney The initiative covers town lands stretching from the top of

The Chairman of the Labour Party in Donegal has confirmed to Highland Radio News that he has quit the party. Peter Cutliffe told Highland Radio last month that he was considering his position claiming he no longer felt the Labour party represented the people. He was also upset after it emerged Senator Jimmy Harte’s wife

Two men have been returned for trial to Derry Crown Court on charges linked to the death of police constable Philipa Reynolds in Derry on February this year. 26 year-old Shane Frane whose address was given as HM Maghaberry Prison and Conor Clarence, 24, whose address was given as 27, Bond’s Hill in Derry appeared

The case against a Derry man who was murdered in the city last month has been formally dismissed at Belfast Crown Court. 35-year-old Barry Joseph McCrory was due to have been sentenced for an attempted robbery just before Christmas 2011. Barry McCrory had claimed that his robbery bid on the Santander Bank in Derry was

As the fight to preserve almost 300 vehicle licensing jobs in Coleraine continues, a deputation from the NIPSA Trade Union is in London for a series of meetings today. They’re meeting with the Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, and also addressing the Northern Ireland Select Committee at Westminister. NIPSA Assistant Secretary Ryan McKinney is leading the

North West MEP Jim Higgins has added his voice to the growing clamour for an extension of the REPS scheme. 13,000 Irish farmers will exit REPS 4 this year, but cannot apply for the new AEOS scheme until 2015. It’s also been claimed that the new scheme is overly restrictive, with many applicants being refused.

The IFA says the drafting of new multi annual plans for the development of aquaculture are a “defining moment” for the sector and coastal economies and could have a huge benefit for Donegal Those views were expressed by the Association’s Aquaculture Executive Richie Flynn who yesterday addressed over 100 national government, European Commission and parliamentary

Judgement has been reserved in a High Court case taken by Donegal Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill seeking to halt an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission into alleged duplication of expenses claims. The Commission was due to begin a public session concerning the expenses matter, but that was postponed after Senator O Donhnaill

A Donegal man was amongst five people with alleged links to dissident Irish republicanism who have made a second private appearance in court charged with terrorism offences. Four of the accused were also charged with a plot to murder Johnny Adair and Samuel McCrory, former high-profile members of the loyalist UDA. The five are charged