Author name: oisinkelly

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The road safety campaign group PARC says the form used by gardai to record statistics on road collisions is badly outdated, and needs urgent reform.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 

North West MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher has today welcomed the news that five beds will be re-opened in Dungloe Community Hospital in the coming weeks. Mr Gallagher stated he is confident that by mid July, 30 beds will be up and running. The North West MEP along with cllrs Mary Therese Gallagher and David

Appeals by two republicans found liable for the Omagh bomb atrocity will be heard in November, it has emerged. Senior judges have set aside one week for the challenges by Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly. Earlier this year the pair were held responsible for the Real IRA massacre following a civil retrial at the High

Not enough is being done to assist people living in council houses in Donegal to purchase the properties out right. That is according to Councillor Ciaran Brogan who wants the local authority to review its housing loan policy to make it easier for people to buy their own homes. The council currently has a considerably

It is hoped that Donegal County Council will get a significant portion of the government’s new 50 million euro fund to repair road surfaces. The money has been announced for repairs and restoration of 600km of regional and local roads. The funding will be awarded based on the length of road in each county with

One of the highlight events of Derry’s UK City of Culture celebrations is currently taking place with “The Return of Colmcille”. The large-scale outdoor event has been scripted by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the author of the Olympic opening ceremony. Last night, a curragh which left Iona last month arrived in Derry, starting the two day

Water restrictions in the Stranorlar Electoral Area will be eased tonight (Friday) with only areas supplied from the Tievebrack Reservoir – above Castlefin/Castlederg Road affected. Supply will be switched off during the off peak period 10.00pm to 7.00am. Water supply in other areas will continue to operate as normal. The council says these restrictions are

A fire crew from Dungloe together with locals have brought a gorse fire under control in the Ranafast area this afternoon. The fire burned to within yards of several houses in the Carraig a’Choill area of Ranafast. Local people assisted the fire crew bringing the blaze under control. The current dry spell has left vegetation

Paddy Crerand is being honoured at a civic reception in the County House Lifford today. The honour is in recognition of his sporting achievements over the years with teams like Celtic and Manchester United, as well as his long career in radio and television broadcasting. Pat Crerand mother was Sarah ‘Tim’ Boyle from Gweedore where

Facebook has agreed to work directly with Irish schools to tackle cyber-bullying. The agreement was brokered at a meeting between the social network and the Department of Education yesterday after a recent meeting due to be attended by a school principals’ body was cancelled. Facebook has been under growing pressure after a number of incidents

The Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat was called to help two young swimmers believed to be in trouble at Main Beach, Bundoran last evening. The alarm was raised by one of the lifeboat crew who happened to be at the beach and called the Coast Guard at Malin Head who immediately tasked the lifeboat. Six minutes later

There was a mixed response from Donegal County Councillors to calls for the local authority to back the retention of Letterkenny Institute of Technology’s Tourism  Campus in Killybegs. The issue has been raised by Councillor John Campbell who says the retention of the campus is crucial to the town – its future is in the

Emergency services have attended the scene of a three car road traffic collision close to Laghey. Two people have been taken to hospital  – their injuries are described by gardai as not serious. The road was closed for a time but has now re-opened.