Author name: oisinkelly

It’s been claimed that some Donegal pensioners could see their rents increase by up to 50% if new government proposals are adopted. Inishowen Councillor Jack Murray says under new government proposals, there will be a state-wide minimum rent of €30 in three years time. This represents more than a 50% increase to Donegal pensioners who

The behaviour of some young people in Buncrana during the recent hot spell has been criticised by members of the local town council, but members have also praised the actions of young people who went on to the beach over the weekend and tidied it. Cllr Joe Doherty said there were hundreds of young people

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind a District Judge imposed an anonymity order on the case involving three men for non drugs related offences. District Judge Barney McElholm in the past has imposed anonymity orders on cases where people have been charged with drug related offences. He did so

A man from Buncrana has been sent to prison for five months for fracturing the eye socket of a man in an assault in Derry in 2010. 26-year-old Damian Hugh Hegarty of 52, Bearwood in Buncrana admitted the charge of unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily on a man on February 21 2010. The court was told

A Donegal man who was given the longest-ever jail sentence for illegal dumping in Britain two years ago has been sentenced to a further three years in jail for failing to hand over nearly £600,000 worth of illegally-acquired assets. 65 year old Hugh O’Donnell, who has lived in Britain for decades, was jailed in 2011

Strabane District Council are going to have foot a bill of thousands of pounds after the Meadows playing pitches were vandalised. Broken glass and litter was found scattered all over the pitches after the weekend. A deep clean will now have to take place which could cost thousands. And it’s not the first time this

Double killer John Gallagher has been ordered to stay away from his brother after a District Judge threw an application to vary his bail. 47-year-old Gallagher of Grange Wood, Strabane, had applied to have a bail condition that bars him from having any contact with his brother, Donal Gallagher, lifted. The rationale behind the application

Donegal TD Charlie Mc Conalogue has told the Dail that findings published by the Educational Research Centre this week highlight the importance of small rural schools, and should be borne in mind when policy decisions are being made. The Fianna Fáil’s Education Spokesperson was speaking ahead of the publication of a Value for Money review

The Action for A5 group is considering legal action against the Department for Regional Development in the North. The High Court blocked planning permission for the €400m project as a proper environmental assessment of the work was not carried out. The Department for Regional Development Minister, Danny Kennedy said his department would not challenge that

An Post has confirmed that Letterkenny will gets its new post office on Monday, July 1st when the office at Glencar opens its doors. The post office is situated beside Spar in the Glencar Shopping centre complex. An Post say that Department of Social Protection recipients who wish to transfer to the new office may

  The Bayview Hotel and leisure complex in Killybegs is to go to auction next month with a price tag of 400 thousand euro. It is one of forty commercial properties out of a total of 121 lots  which are set to go under the hammer at the next Allsop Space auction to be held

A Donegal Senator has claimed that St Mary’s National School has lost out on funding due to political opportunism on a national level. Brian O’Domhnaill was speaking following the government announcement of an investment package of €50 million last week, in which 18 primary schools and 10 post primary schools will be refurbished. He says

The Environment Minister Phil Hogan has indicated that towns such as Buncrana and Letterkenny which are losing Town Councils will have some local discretion to raise funds. Buncrana Clllr Nicholas Crossan was part of a national AMAI delegation which met Minister Hogan this week. He says the minister was not for turning on his plan

Letterkenny Town Councillors have committed to strongly oppose the scrapping of town councils. This week Councillors agreed to leave no stone unturned in trying to save the council and have not ruled out going down the legal route. Raising the issue Councillor Ciaran Brogan also expressed his disappointment that council staff and members have been

Cllr Peter Mc Laughlin is the new Mayor of Buncrana, ten years after his first term in the chair. Cllr Michelle Bradley will serve as his deputy. They were unanimously elected at the council’s AGM last evening, with Cllr Mc Laughlin saying the whole council has worked collectively over the past five years, and he

An Irish Examiner review of crime statistics since 2008 shows that the rate of reported crime in Donegal is the third lowest in the country. The statistics also show that while the county has recorded the biggest overall crime reduction in 2012 there has been increases in certain areas including robberies and sexual offences. The

Highland Radio has today appointed Shaun Doherty as Acting Managing Director. Mr Doherty has 23 years experience in Highland Radio serving on the Board of Directors and Management Team as well as hosting Ireland’s most popular local daily current affairs show, The Shaun Doherty Show. In a statement commenting on the appointment the Chairman of

The road safety campaign group PARC says the form used by gardai to record statistics on road collisions is badly outdated, and needs urgent reform. PARC founder Susan Grey says the CT68 form is used by the Road Safety Authority to record statistics andf by county councils to collate information on road conditions, but the

Donegal County Council is changing it’s main telephone number to 074 91 53900. Late last year, a new Customer Contact Centre was opened in the Milford Public Service Centre, and since then, the council has been gradually diverting calls to the new facility. From this month, all calls to the council’s Lifford headquarters and other

The Minister for State Alan Kelly has today launched a new 200km Cycle Route in Donegal. The route starts from Donegal Town and runs through towns and villages towards Burtonport, Milford on to Letterkenny and finishes in Newtowncunningham. Donegal County Council has developed the route with funding of almost half a million euro from the

Eircom says work is ongoing to provide fibre broadband to a number of smaller towns around Donegal over the next 18 months. While Eircom is only one of the countries broadband providers it is responsible for investing and upgrading the fibre network across Donegal and the country. Super fast fibre broadband was enabled in much

The Cost Plus Sofa sale which was scheduled to begin in Letterkenny today has been cancelled. The decision was taken by the company which said it had to do so due to circumstances beyond its control. The short notice decision this morning comes despite an extensive local media campaign. Highland Radio has spoken to a

A South Donegal man has reached a settlement with revenue for in excess 1.5 million euro. Ivan Diver , a retired employee fom Ballyshannon has the highest Donegal settlement with Revenue detailed in its latest Tax Defaulters list. Eamonn Duffy, a landlord in Donegal Town is listed as having reached a settlement for 230 thousand

Donegal County Council officials are examining how they can reduce the amount of cars that park on the counties beaches. Thousands of people and hundreds of cars packed on to Rossnowlagh on Sunday – with the incoming tide approaching, most cars tried to leave at the same time leading to traffic chaos. There was also

A Donegal man who tried to take a detective’s gun after being arrested at a republican commemoration parade has received a three year jail sentence. Pat Barry, a member of Republican Sinn Fein, was highly intoxicated at the annual Wolfe Tone memorial march to Bodenstown, Kildare. When stopped by a member of the Special Detective

The Energy minister’s appealing to homeowners struggling with their gas and electricity to install pre-pay meters. It follows an 82 per cent rise in gas disconnections last year, with electricity cut-offs up by one percent. Pat Rabbitte’s told the Dáil that not enough people have agreed to install pre-pay meters. However, Donegal North East Deputy

A total of 137 charges against 40 men and one woman of illegal fishing have been further adjourned at Dungloe District Court today. A number of the cases have been before the courts, ranging from the District to the Supreme, over the past four years. All of the cases involve allegations by Inland Fisheries of

Donegal County Council is to receive just over €3 million extra for works on the county’s regional and local roads network. The new grant, which will be primarily directed towards restoration works, follows a €19 million allocation in January. According to Donegal North East Deputy Joe Mc Hugh, the counil’s allocation is the third highest

Police in Foyle have issued a further appeal for information in relation to a hit and run incident in the Creggan Heights area on Friday, June 7th when a 7 year old girl was badly injured. Yesterday a 23 year-old local man appeared in court in connection with the incident. A 23-year-old  David Gerard McCloskey

A large crowd turned out in Letterkenny last evening to discuss HSE plans to close two specialist pre-schools in Donegal. The HSE says it will close St Agnes Specialist Pre-School in Donegal town next year, while it is feared that Ballaghderg Pre School in Letterkenny will cease operations some time in 2015. The Executive plans

The lack of northwest representatives on the new Hospital Board for the West could very well have a negative impact on healthcare services in Donegal. That’s according to Councillor Ciaran Brogan who says that all of those appointed to the board appear to be Galway based. It was announced last month that Letterkenny General and

Lisa Culbert has formally taken the seat vacated on Letterkenny Town council by the passing of her father Tadhg. Fianna Fail TD Charlie McConalogue was among those in attendance to see the 27 year-old take her seat last night. Councillor Lisa Culbert, who works as a Clerical Officer in the Outpatients Department in Letterkenny General

The man who died in yesterday’s two vehicle collision at Barnesmore Gap has been named locally as 75 year-old Coleman ‘Collie’ Tourish from Lifford. According to gardai, he died after a camper van and car collided on the N15  at Keadue at 3.45pm yesterday (Monday) afternoon. The female passenger in the car being driven by

A man, believed to be in his 70s, has died and three other people have been injured in a road traffic collision on the Donegal Town to Ballybofey Road. The crash, involving a car and a campervan, occurred on the N15  at Keadue at 3.45pm this (Monday) afternoon. The driver of the car a man

A 23-year-old Derry man has appeared in court charged with causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving. David Gerard McCloskey of 138 Creggan Heights in Derry appeared on five counts in relation to an incident on June 7. 23-year-old David Gerard McCloskey McCloskey was charged with causing injury by dangerous driving, failing to remain at

Hundreds of people are expected to turnout in Ballybofey tonight to welcome back European Middleweight boxing champion, Jason Quigley. The 22-year-old from the Finn Valley won gold on Saturday afternoon. Quigley’s home-coming celebrations will take place with an open bus tour around the Twin Towns this evening, following by a special function in the Finn

Highland Radio has with regret received the resignation of its manager Charlie Collins. Mr.Collins has made a valuable contribution to the station over its history. We wish to thank him and offer our best wishes to him in the future. An announcement on his replacement will be made soon. In a statement this afternoon Mr

A branch of the People Before Profit Alliance is being established in Donegal. Dun Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett will address a meeting at Jacksons Hotel in Ballybofey tonight. Her says there are a number of people in the county interested in becoming involved, and tonight’s meeting will be an attempt to harness what is

Gardai are investigating the discovery of what may be human remains on the beach at Magheragallon, Derrybeg. It is understood the remains were found at 2.30 yesterday afternoon. The scene has been examined, the remains have been removed for examination and the coroner has been notified.

The majority of carers in this country say other family members are their most important source of help. Recent Central Statistics Office figures show that there are currently 7, 433 Carers working in Donegal, a full 4% of the county’s population. Of those, 28% are providing unpaid care for 43 or more hours per week.

St Eunans College in Letterkenny will be granted funding for its prefabs to be replaced with permanent accomodation. The funding is part of the governments nationwide 15 million euro prefab replacement scheme. The college is the only school in the county to be included in the latest scheme. Donegal Senator Jimmy Harte has welcomed the

There was a major search on the beach at Rossknowlagh yesterday afternoon following two separate reports of missing children. Initially, a 6 year old boy was reported missing, and a major alert was called by Malin head Coastguard after it emerged he had last been seen near the water at 4 o’clock. Malin Head Coast

A 37-year-old man arrested in relation to the murder of Bogdan Michalkiawicz in Letterkenny has been released. The man was arrested last Thursday and detained at Letterkenny Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. The body of Mr Michalkiawicz was discovered at the Westside Apartment complex in Letterkenny on the