Author name: oisinkelly

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.

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