Author name: oisinkelly

The North’s Environment Minister Mark H.Durkan has extended an archaeological dig on Derry’s Bishop Street for at least a further fortnight. Local Councillor John Boyle is welcoming the decision, saying the Queens University led team is now uncovering important artefacts which will prove that there was human habitation on the Hill of Derry as far […]

North West MEP Marian Harkin is calling for tighter national regulations to govern the development of windfarms. Ms Harkin says a national discussion is needed, along with an independent assessment of the balance of individual, community and national interests in the matter of wind farms before any planning applications are considered for large scale wind

The Finance Committee of the Stormont Assembly is today discussing a Sinn Fein proposal to seek the devolution of vehicle licensing powers from Swansea to the assembly, guaranteeing over 300 jobs in Coleraine and across Northern Ireland. It follows a debate in the assembly on Tuesday night at which all parties agreed to work together

Hopes of shorter jail term for Tyrone woman Michaela McCollum and her Scottish colleague Melissa Reid are waning. They’ve been told that prosecutors in Peru will not accept their guilty pleas on drugs charges. The 20 year olds have admitted trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country in their luggage. But prosecutors want a

The Irish Cancer Society has confirmed it is to extend its Care to Drive service in Donegal to include transporting patients to and from Galway for radiotherapy treatment. At present, the Good and New charity is the only one providing the Galway service in the county. The Irish Cancer Societies Care to Drive service will

A Letterkenny Town Councillir has questioned the latest CSO statistics which show a significant fall in crime in Donegal. According to the figures released earlier this week, burglaries, public order offences, assaults, cases of drink driving and damage to property and the environment were all down. Cllr Gerry McMonagle said it’s easy for Government politicians

Donegal will form part of the largest constituency in the county in next years European elections. The Midlands Northwest constituency will include 16 counties with four seats. It will be made up of Donegal, Cavan, Galway, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Rosscommon, Sligo and Westmeath. Sitting Northwest MEP, Pat the Cope Gallagher

A man who died on Wednesday afternoon after collapsing  in the Derryveagh mountains has been named as seventy year old Pat (Hannah) Boyle. It’s thought the man may have suffered from a heart attack while gathering sheep in the mountains between Dunlewey and Falcarragh. The emergency services were called, and paramedics from the Sligo based

A Letterkenny Town Cllr has called for more Gardai to be deployed in the town after a spate of break-ins this week. Thieves broke into a number of homes in the Lisnennan Court area earlier this week. It’s understood made then made their getaway in a stolen car. The break-ins come just a week after

The body of 18-year-old Conor Boyle has finally been released to the family. The Loughanure teenager will be buried this Sunday. Conor Boyles body is due to be transferred to the family home at Loughanure this Friday, leaving Mc Glynn’s funeral home in Dungloe at noon. The house is on the link road from the

A Donegal North East Deputy has said as of yet there is no indication whether or not Greencastle Post Office will close. Deputy Joe McHugh and a number of local representatives met with An Post officials today to discuss the future of the facility. There have been fears raised locally in recent weeks that the

The founder of the Foyle Hospice in Derry has been awarded the freedom of the city. Derry City Council agreed to honour Dr Tom McGinley at a special council meeting yesterday. The last time time the honour was awarded was to the Nobel Laureate John Hume in 2000. A civic reception for Dr McGinley will

The Irish Cancer Society has confirmed it is to extend its Care to Drive service in Donegal to include transporting patients to and from Galway for radiotherapy treatment. At present, the Good and New charity is the only one providing that service in the county, while the irish Cancer Society has been concentrating on transporting

The SDLP in Strabane is again accusing Sinn Fein of not doing enough to bring 800 Department of Agriculture jobs to the town. It was announced last September that 800 civil service jobs would be moving from Belfast to Ballykelly, even though a leaked memo revealed that Strabane actually topped a table of suitable locations

The importance of the Donegal Mountain Rescue Team was highlighted last night when the team was  involved in a  search and rescue mission on Muckish, just hours after appealing for new volunteers The alarm was raised by family members after a party of three, two adult males and a fifteen year old boy failed to

A Donegal North East Deputy has told the Dail that Greencastle Post Office must be saved, especially as more and more tourists descend on North Donegal. It’s understood that An Post plans to close the Greencastle facility in the coming weeks. Speaking in the Dail last evening, Deputy Joe McHugh said that the seaside resort

Tyrone woman Michaela McCollum and Scottish woman Melissa Reid are due to be sentenced next Tuesday for their part in attempting to smuggle cocaine out of Peru. Both women, aged 20, pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking offence last night. They were arrested at Lima airport last month with more than 11 kilos of cocaine

The Taoiseach says the Justice Minister has still not concluded whether or not there should be an inquiry into the Omagh bomb. Last week the Northern Ireland secretary refused a cross border inquiry into the atrocity. Speaking on Monday, Theresa Villiers said she didn’t think a cross border judicial inquiry would bring any new information

A Donegal Senator has welcomed the substantial decrease in crime in the Donegal Garda Division CSO figures released yesterday show that in the second quarter of 2013 crime has dropped substanially in the county. Burglaries, public order offences, assaults, cases of drink driving and damage to property and the environment were all down. But sexual

New traffic lights outside Letterkenny  Institute of Technology have finally been switched on permanently today. Motorists who may be driving along the Port Road when coming home from work this evening are being advised to drive with care.

Tremors from a serious earthquake in Pakistan have been recorded here in Ireland. Irish Seismometers in Donegal recorded the quake – one of the strongest to occur in the world this year. The earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude struck at 12.29 today in a remote area of Western Pakistan. There are warnings that the quake’s likely

The Donegal Mountain Rescue Team are seeeking new volunteers to join their emergency response team. Donegal Mountain Rescue Team are a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year voluntary emergency response team providing emergency search and rescue response throughout the entire county. Due to the significant increase in the number of callouts experienced in

A man who pleaded guilty to breaking into three Catholic churches and into seven houses last year has been jailed for almost three years at Derry Crown Court. 21-year-old Bernard Cooke, from Lettershandoney Avenue in Derry committed the ten offences in October, November and December 2012. He was already on court bail at the time.

The campaign to retain the town council structure will step up a gear next Monday when Letterkenny Town Council meeting with Donegal’s Oireachtas members to make its case for its survival. Members have been seeking such a meeting for some time, with just nine months to go before next year’s local elections. Mayor Cllr Pascal

The RNLI is reporting a 40% rise in lifeboat launches in Donegal in June, July and August, broadly reflecting the national rise of 43%. There were 35 launches in Donegal this summer compared to 25 in 2012. Once again, the busiest lifeboat station in the county was Lough Swilly, with 16 launches in June, July

The two women arrested in Peru trying to board a flight to Spain with 11 kgs of cocaine in their luggage are expected to attend a court hearing today. Twenty-year-old Michaella McCollum from Tyrone and 19-year-old Melissa Reid from Scotland claim they were coerced into transporting the drugs by an armed gang. The prosecutor handling

Leading Derry dissident republican Gary Donnelly has had a charge of assaulting a police officer during last year’s Olympic torch visit to the city dismissed today at the local Magistrate’s Court. The incident was said to have occurred during protests by dissident republican supporters which resulted in the flame having to make a short detour

Highland Radio have officially presented their application for the local licence in North Donegal to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Highland Radio currently boasts the biggest listenership of all of Ireland’s local radio stations. Their application has the backing of some of the biggest personalities in Donegal, with the likes of Daniel O’Donnell, Sir Gerry

Some of Donegal’s most loved sons and daughters have given their backing to Donegal Highland Radio Limited application for another 10 years of local broadcasting made today to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). Musicians Daniel O’Donnell and Moya Brennan, playwright and author Brian Friel and entrepreneur Sir Gerry Robinson are just some of the leading

The Northern Secretary says she refused a cross border judicial inquiry into the Omagh Bombing because it wouldn’t provide the families with new information. Teresa Villiers is in Dublin today to meet with the Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore at Iveagh House this afternoon. She says she looked very carefully at holding a new public inquiry into

A drunk driver who caused a head-on crash in County Monaghan – killing two of his friends and a pregnant woman originally from Fanad has been given 2 months to show why he should remain out of jail. Kevin McArdle from Longfield in Carrickmacross was 3 and a half times over the legal alcohol limit

The Pan Celtic Festival will take place in Derry for the next two years. At a thank you event for Fleadh volunteers in the city at the weekend, it was confirmed that the Pan Celtic Festival which was recently hosted in Letterkenny, will be held in Derry over the Easter period in 2014 and 2015.

A Falcarragh councillor is calling for a community response to the latest spate of aggravated burglaries in Donegal, the latest of them last Thursday night in Falcarragh. Speaking to Greg Hughes on today’s Shaun Doherty Show, Cllr Seamus O’Domahnaill said while many scrap dealerships and cash for gold shops self regulate and ensure that their

An Inishowen Councillor is hitting out at the government for scaling back on the number of Community Welfare Offices in the county after another wave of closures was confirmed. The service, which coordinates emergency and supplementary allowances for people in need, was previously administered by the HSE, but is now under the control of the

A case in which former Bundoran traffic warden Patricia McCafferty is accused of harassing her successor Eddie Duffy will be heard at Donegal District Court on October 14. When the case was called at the court this morning(Mon) Judge Kevin Kilrane, who will not be the trial judge, told Ms McCafferty it is being adjourned

A Derry councillor claims concerns over the planned gasification recycling plant in Maydown are misplaced, and people should look into the  process and what it entails. There’s been an active campaign against the proposal in Derry, with similar concerns have been raised by Donegal County Council, as the proposed development will be located across Lough

The chairman of the Labour Party in Donegal has pledged his support to the Irish National Teachers Organisation and its upcoming meeting on protecting class sizes. The INTO will meet in the Clanree in Letterkenny tomorrow evening, to address concerns over expected increases to class sizes as a result of next months budget. The meeting

Gardai have made a new appeal for information following an aggravated burglary on the home of a man in his 70s in Falcarragh. The incident occurred on Thursday night at around 11pm.  Four culprits entered a house before escaping with a quantity of cash,a single barrel shotgun and box of cartridges and a mobile phone. Gardaí are

Ireland West Airport is stepping up its promotion campaign in Donegal following confirmation of a new Birmingham service from next month. During a visit to Ireland West Airport in Knock last evening, Junior Tourism Minister Michael Ring announced that Flybe will be starting the new service from the end of next month, with the flights

The Canadian Ambassador to Ireland is in Buncrana today for the conclusion of the Tip O’Neill Weekend. Last night, the Tip O’Neill Diaspora Award was given to former Montana Governer Brian Schweitzer, and today, Ambassador Loyola Hearne will present bursaries in honour of Tip O’Neill to National Schools in the area, while Tip O’Neill’s children,

Donegal County Council has defended its use of the Solis Lough Eske Hotel outside Donegal Town for the Malin Waters conference which took place on Wednesday of this week. A number of questions were raised about the conference by a delegate in today’s Donegal News, including the suitability of the venue. However, Donegal County Council

A Derry based Church of Ireland Minister has been appointed as the country’s first ever female Bishop. Reverend Pat Storey succeeds Reverend Dr. Richard Clarke as the Bishop of Meath and Kildare. The 53 year-old is married to Rev. Earl Storey and has two children. She has served as the rector of St Augustine’s Parish