Author name: oisinkelly

Polling stations are open for voting in the two referendums being held today. Irish citizens are being asked to vote on whether they want to abolish the Seanad, and whether to set up a new Court of Appeal. Polling stations across the country are open until 10 o’clock tonight. Polling booths will remain open until […]

Two Donegal women who went on stealing spree at Strabane’s Asda store have been warned they face prison if caught again. Erica Walsh (21) of Hall Demesne, Mountcharles and Siobhan Hearty (21) of Stragar, Killybegs both entered guilty pleas to theft when they appeared before Strabane Magistrates on Thursday. The duo were detained on August

Gardai are investigating after a lone male approached two children in the Inishowen area. The first incident happened on Monday afternoon at around 330pm in Bridgend, while the second incident happened in the evening at around 7pm in Buncrana. Gardai are asking parents to be on the lookout for single male occupant in a light

Donegal County Council is calling for additional resources to be allocated to the North Donegal Money Advice Budgeting Service. The North Donegal service has an average waiting time of 20 weeks, the longest in the country and five times the state average of four weeks. North Donegal MABS also has the highest number of people

A Donegal County Cllr has called for legislation to be brought in to prevent large numbers of camper vans from taking up prime parking locations around the county. Cllr Sean McEniff made the calls at this weeks Council meeting. He said these vans park in public carparks and leave “a bloody mess behind them”. The

Mary Harte, the wife of Senator Jimmy Harte, has put herself forward to run for the Labour party in next years local elections. She was one of three potential candidates who met with party representatives this week to discuss running next year. Along with Mary Harte, Donegal Constituency Council Chairman, Peter Cutliffe and Siobhan McLaughlin,

New figures show that 149 Donegal claimants were awarded a total of 3.1 million euro from the Injuries Board in the first six months of this year. The Injuries Board makes statutory personal injury awards in respect of motor, employer and public liability accidents. During the first six months of 2013 the total compensation awarded

A Consultant at Letterkenny General Hospital has claimed that the majority of Junior Doctors in the country are against strike action. The doctors are demanding an end to shifts of more than 24 hours and a guarantee that the 48-hour week will be in place at the end of next year. The Irish Medical Organisation,

A Donegal County Cllr in the Finn Valley area has hit out at Cllr  Frank McBrearty. Cllr McBrearty has said that residents of problematic housing estates should come together and take a legal case against the local authority. But Fianna Fail Cllr Patrick McGowan says the Council are doing everything they can to deal with

A Donegal County Councillor has said that residents of problematic housing estates should come together and take a legal case against the local authority. Cllr Frank McBrearty believes there are over 200 unfinished housing estates in Donegal who have maintenance problems that are not being dealt with. Many of the contractors who built these estates

Donegal County Council has backed a motion calling on the Government to classify Down Syndrome as a low Incidence disability. The issue was raised in the Council Chamber as members of the Donegal Down Syndrome group watched on – other councillors across the country will now be asked to put forward similar motions. There are

The Seanad has heard calls for the suspension of the granting of planning permissions for all wind farm developments until a new legislative framework to govern wind farm developments is introduced. The call was made by Senator Brian O’Domhnaill. The issues has been a controversial one, not least in County Donegal. where there is a

Tyrone woman Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid from Scotland could face a six-month investigation if their guilty pleas for drug smuggling are not accepted by prosecutors in Peru. The state’s lead prosecutor in the case made the comment after the pair appeared in court last night. He didn’t give details of the private hearing but

Having already conquered Everest, Letterkenny man Jason Black has reached new heights by reaching the summit of  Mont Blanc ”the highest mountain in Northern Europe” Having climbed the 4810 Metres Jason Black described the achievement as ‘amazing’. Jason made the journey with three fellow county men namely Clive and Keith Davidson and Francie Gallagher. You

Liam Adams has been found guilty of sexually abusing his daughter nearly 40 years ago. The 58-year-old, from Bernagh Drive in Belfast, had denied all 10 charges – three of rape, three of gross indecency and four of indecent assault. The offences were alleged to have occurred between March 1977 and March 1983 when his

A Donegal Labour Party Senator says he’s concerned by a new opinion poll which shows support for his party has collapsed. The Ipsos MRBI poll in today’s Irish Times says Labour support has fallen to just six per cent – the lowest level in over 25 years. Fine Gael leads the poll on 26 per

The Finance Minister is under pressure from his cabinet colleagues not to scrap the special rate of VAT for tourism. The special 9 per cent rate is due to expire at the end of this year – returning to the original rate of 13.5 per cent. Minister Michael Noonan says he’d like to keep the

A Donegal Labour Party Senator says he’s concerned by a new opinion poll which shows support for his party has collapsed. The Ipsos MRBI poll in today’s Irish Times says Labour support has fallen to just six per cent – the lowest level in over 25 years. Fine Gael leads the poll on 26 per

Donegal County Cllr Frank McBrearty has said that he left the Labour Party because of the broken promises they made to the people of the county. The Raphoe politician announced yesterday that he had resigned from the Labour Party over the weekend. Speaking today Cllr McBrearty said the party can no longer represent rural communities.

Donegal Oireachtas members are to put forward a special case to the Environment Minister that Letterkenny Town Council should be saved. Members of the town council met with Deputies Joe McHugh, Charlie McConalogue and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn last night, along with Senators Brian O Domhnaill and Jimmy Harte. A number of local business representatives where also present.

A Donegal County Cllr has said the situation with house break-ins in the county is now at crisis level. In the past fortnight there has been a number of break-ins in the Letterkenny area, with an 80-year-old woman being beaten when her home was broken into over the weekend. And as well as this, over

Staff from Donegal County Councils Water and Environment Service are going to meet with the residents of a housing estate in Lifford. Residents of Hazelwood Drive have been plagued by a stream of foul smelling sewage for over four years now. There is also a stench which hangs in the air in the estate. Cllr

Gardai in Letterkenny are repeating their appeal for information about a man who beat and robbed a pensioner in her home at the weekend. The incident happened in the Glencar area at around twenty past five on Saturday morning. The 80 year old woman received minor injuries and has been discharged from Letterkenny General Hospital

The Mayor of Donegal will be part of a delegation from the county on a trip to Boston next month. Mayor Ian McGarvey will be joined by County Manager Seamus Neely, the Councils Director of Community, Culture and Planning, Michael Heany and the Chairman of the Local Development Board, Cllr Dessie Larkin on the trip.

The number of people getting married is on the decline. The CSO says 19,855 marriages were registered in 2011, down 3.6 per cent from 2010 when 20,594 couples married. There were 536 civil partnerships registered, eight of them in Donegal. Meanwhile, there were over 900 marriages in Donegal in 2011 There were a total of

The Mayor of Donegal has confirmed to members of the Council this morning that Cllr Frank McBrearty has left the Labour Party. Cllr McBrearty informed the party at the weekend that he was no longer a memberHe was elected to Donegal County Council on the Labour Party ticket in 2009. On a number of occasions

Three men have been arrested and questioned following a robbery in Carndonagh. Yesterday afternoon at around 2 o’clock, three men entered a house at The Mullins which was occupied by two young women. The men, two in their late teens and one in his early twenties, tied up the two women and threatened them. They

The North’s Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill says she will attempt to block any plans to use “fracking” on land owned by her department The Australian mining company Tambornan has been granted a licence to explore for gas in Fermanagh and Leitrim, with the licence covering substantial tracts of forestry land owned by the Department of

A Donegal County Councillor plans to quiz County Manager Seamus Neeley on what he knows about the Environment Minister’s long term plans for local government funding. Cllr Patrick Mc Gowan, a member of the National Executive of the Association of County and City Councillors says that Phil Hogan has not discussed his plans with them,

 A member of Donegal Action Against Austerity has hit out at Central Bank Governor Patrick Honahan, who said this week he would not be listening to the rest of the Anglo Tapes, and did not believe they provide any new evidence. Philip Mc Fadden was one of a number of DAAA members who made a

Residents of a Lifford housing estate, which has been plagued by overflowing sewerage, are demanding that the issue be fixed once and for all. A stream of foul smelling sewage water has plagued residents of Hazlewood Drive for over four years now. And the problem has become so bad over the past fortnight that children can no

The Mayor of Derry says he is hopeful that the new Radiotherapy Unit for the North West will be up and running at Altnagelvin Hospital in 2016. Mayor Martin Reilly visited the hospital yesterday as part of a series of engagements for the Macmillan Trust, his chosen charity for his term of office, and received

The court was shown CCTV footage of the incident which occurred outside a city centre bar. Defence counsel Mr. Stephen Chapman said that there was a degree of provocation to the incident and claimed that the injured party had been shouting at Patterson about his profession. Mr. Chapman acknowledged that it was never acceptable to

The chairman of Donegal Woodland Owners Society has voiced his concerns over the growing problems the country faces due to climate change. Speaking after the release of the IPCC report on climate change today, John Jackson stated that the countries forestry has a huge part to play in mitigating its effects. He criticised the governments

The solicitor for the family of murdered Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson has voiced disappointment that the inquest into his death has been adjourned again. The 56 year old was shot dead more than seven years ago by gunmen in a rural cottage near Glenties . The Real IRA claimed it was responsible. The former

A Donegal County Cllr has said that emergency funding must be made available by the Government, to solve the sewerage problem in a Lifford housing estate. A stream of foul smelling sewage water has plagued residents of Hazlewood Drive for over four years now. And the problem has become so bad over the past fortnight

A former estate agent who operated a 1.6 million euro “Ponzi”scheme has lost an appeal against his six year jail sentence. Eamonn Kelly of Decies Road, Ballyfermot, duped 25 investors from Dublin, Wexford and Donegal including some who were effectively left in penury after they trusted him with large redundancy payments. Described as a self

James Vincent McMorrow will be playing in Letterkenny this evening as part of the countrywide Arthurs Day celebrations. As part of the Arthur’s Day celebrations a host of Irish and international acts will be playing secret gigs around the country. The Singer/Songwriter from Dublin will play in the Cavern at 7 o clock this evening.