Author name: oisinkelly

Ryan Dolan has reached the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Strabane man was one of 10 acts to qualify from last night’s semi-final. He’ll now perform to a TV audience of around 300 million people on Saturday night. Speaking on todays Shaun Doherty Show, Ryan said he really enjoyed last nights final: And […]

North West MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher says the early morning deal secured by Minister Simon Coveney at the EU Council of Fisheries Ministers meeting in Brussels is a mixed bag. Minister Coveney has secured a new mandate from EU Fisheries Ministers to enter final negotiations with the European Parliament on a reformed Common Fisheries

The Managing Director of Allstate in Northern Ireland has said that the company are not ruling out expanding their business premises in Strabane again. The insurance company announced yesterday that they would be creating 450 new jobs by 2016 in the North. Allstate employs almost 1000 people in the Northwest in Strabane and Derry. And

A Donegal Deputy and Senator have spoken in the houses of the Oireachtas on the issue of resource hours for children with Down Syndrome. 40% of children with Down Syndrome in the main stream school system are not allocated resource hours to assist in their education because Down Syndrome is not listed as a ‘complex

A court was told that a row between Inland Fisheries Ireland and 40 men and a woman over fishing rights on the Gweebarra River remains unresolved. Dungloe District Court heard the case against six of the people was part-heard but must go back before Judge Denis McLaughlin for completion. All cases involve a total of

A Donegal County Councillor has called for the Government immediately provide funding to repair the Lifford water supply. Residents in Clonleigh Park, Croghan Heights and the Beechwood and Castlefinn Road areas have contacted Highland Radio News complaining about the lack of clean drinking water. A mother in Clonleigh Park says her family couldn’t get showered

Both Derry and Strabane will benefit from an announcement by Allstate of a 450 ‘new jobs’ . The American insurance company currently employs 1,900 people at its premises at Orchard Rd Industrial Estate in Strabane as well as in Derry and Belfast. While it is not clear how many new jobs will be created in

A public meeting is to take place in Sion MIlls tonight to highlight concerns over the proposed development of a waste treatment plant at the old Herdmans Mill site. The old mill site was sold to Cork-based businessmen, Tim and Michael Cronin in November last year. At the time they said that they planned to

A Stormont document on the future of rail services has revealed an ambitious £1bn plan to link Derry to Sligo. A railway line from Derry to Sligo, going through Letterkenny and Donegal Town is listed as an option in the Department for Regional Development’s Future Railway Investment Consultation paper. A rail link between Derry and

A bench warrant for the arrest of a convicted rapist who went missing while out of jail on licence was sought at Dungloe District Court today(Tues) – although he is already back in the custody of the PSNI. Supt Michael Finan said Joseph McCabe, who had an address at a caravan park in nearby Burtonport,

The President of the INTO will address members of the Donegal branch this afternoon as the union ballots on industrial action in the event of Croke Park 2 being imposed without agreement. Brendan O’Sullivan will meet with members from the county at the Mill Park in Donegal Town this afternoon at 3.30. Meetings are also

Police and the family of 24 year old Tony Browne are becoming increasingly concerned for his welfare. Tony who is from the Derry area was last seen in the Carnhill area of the City in the early hours of this morning, Tuesday 14 May. Tony is described as being approximately 5’8″ tall, of medium build,

The PSNI and Gardai are investigating claims from a man that he was raped in Inishowen in the early hours of Sunday the 5th of May. The man in his 20’s was on a night out in Derry – he says he was offered a lift by a man who claimed to be a taxi

Sinn Fein’s Justice Spokesperson has questioned the Garda use of the Central Procurement Model after reports that a garda car was transported 45km on a flat bed lorry to have windscreen wipers replaced. In another instance, a Garda car was off the road in Donegal for a number of days because it had to be

Nearly a quarter of Irish households are now jobless according to a new report released today. The research from the National Economic and Social Council finds that most people in Ireland have suffered a loss of wealth or income since the economic crash in 2008. In 38 per cent of Irish households – expenditure now

A Donegal man assaulted a detective and tried to take his gun after being arrested at a republican commemoration parade in 2010, a court has heard. Pat Barry, a member of Republican Sinn Fein, was highly intoxicated at the annual Wolfe Tone memorial march to Bodenstown, Kildare. As he was about to be put in

 The first steps in establishing independent hospital trusts have been unveiled by the Health Minister. Six groupings have been announced – they are Dublin North East; Dublin Midlands; Dublin East; South/South West; West/North West and Midwest. Letterkenny General and the Sligo Regional will become part of the West/Northwest group along with University Hospital Galway; Merlin

A Donegal County Councillor has warned that the county’s water piping network will fall to pieces when the work of installing water metres begins in earnest. Councillor Patrick McGowan was speaking in the case of Siobhan Kelly  – Ms Kelly says that her family have regularly been left without drinking water over the past six

A Strabane man has been cleared of allowing his basement to be used by paramilitaries. James McGettigan, was found not guilty of providing property for terrorism. The case was brought after photographs showing five masked and armed men apparently holding a bound and hooded drug dealer hostage appeared in the Strabane Chronicle. The article also

The North’s First and Deputy First Ministers have reaffirmed a commitment to building the A5 and the assurance that money allocated for the project will be retained in the North West. The commitments were issued by the Deputy First Minister during a cross party, cross border meeting on the A5 today in Stormont. The A5

A Lifford woman has hit out at Donegal County Council for her continued poor water supply. Siobhan Kelly says that her family have regularly been left without a drinking water over the past six years. She says at least once a month her water supply turns a orangey brown colour. And speaking on todays Shaun Doherty Show,

 One of Northern Ireland’s most wanted criminals, who had reportedly been living in a caravan in West Donegal,  has appeared in the High Court following his arrest on an extradition warrant. 18 year old Casey Morgan has been remanded to St Patrick’s Institution overnight. The PSNI describe Casey Morgan as ‘a high-risk violent offender’. When

A man’s been arrested in Derry in relation to suspected dissident republican activity. Police says detectives from the Serious Crime Branch investigating dissident republican terrorist activity arrested the 43 year in the city this morning. He has been taken to Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning.

The Labour Relations Commission has intervened in the Bus Eireann dispute. The NBRU, SIPTU and the company have agreed to attend talks this evening. Tens of thousands of passengers have had their travel plans disrupted today – on day two of the action. Around 95 per cent of Bus Eireann services not operating. The LRC’s

A public meeting has been called in response to the HSE’s decision to close 10 respite beds in Dungloe Community Hopital. Last week, the HSE said there had been an increase in long term sick leave, staff retirements and planned maternity leave, and because of the recruitment embargo, they have to temporarily reduce the number

A body recovered from the river Foyle on Thursday has been identified as that of missing teenager Kieran McKeon. The 18-year-old went missing on the 14th of March after arriving in Derry from Dublin with his friend, 21-year-old Alexandra O’Brien. Her body was recovered from the river Foyle the following day. Search and rescue services

Donegal South-West TD Dinny McGinley has welcomed the granting of €450,00 towards Donegal Airport. The funding is part of the CAPEX scheme for safety and security projects at regional airports. Earlier this year some €151,000 was provided towards Navigation Charts and Hold Baggage X-Ray equipment. The grant will 90% fund an extension to the security

  Politicians from Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Monaghan are meeting with the North’s First and Deputy First MInisters this morning to discuss the future of the A5. MPs, MLAs, TDs and Senators will make the case for future funding to be guaranteed once the legal hurdles which have delayed work on the project have been

Fishing industry representatives says a Fisheries Council meeting on Monday and Tuesday of next week will be crucial for the future of the industry here. Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation CEO Sean O’Donaghue says there are a number of key issues which Minister Simon Coveney must address. Mr O’Donaghue, who will attend the talks in Brussels, says as President of the Council, Simon

A man has been convicted of sexually abusing his foster mother’s nephew in Co. Donegal in the 1960s and 70s. The 63-year-old had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 35 charges of indecent assault of the boy on dates between 1966 and June 1974. He was six years older than the victim.

  The Minister for Health Dr James Reilly was this afternoon greeted with silence when he arrived to make his speech to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation conference Letterkenny. The Minister was addressing the conference on its final day. There was a small amount of heckling during his speech, but delegates clapped when the

Five people, two of them children, have been rescued from a stricken boat in Donegal Bay. The boat lost power a mile off Muckross Head, and began drifting. Malin Head Coastguard Station was called, and a rescue operation began. Coastguard spokesperson Ian Scott has been outlining what happened…..

Two men who videoed an attempted Garda search of them on a mobile phone were given suspended jail sentences today. John Deegan and Sean Fitzgerald had put the video on YouTube, called it Gardathugs, and claimed it showed harassment and intimidation by gardai at the Market Yard, Ballyshannon. It was viewed by Judge Kevin Kilrane

Investigators believe that the disposal of  septic tank waste  may have been responsible for the death of three dozens swans in west Donegal in recent days. 32 swans were found dead at the weekend at the New Lake in Dunganaghy, three more were found thirty miles away in a lake in mullaghduff yesterday. Water samples

Sinn Fein’s Justice spokesperson says that despite 60 million euro being spent on the Morris Tribunal recommendations arising from it have still not been implemented. Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was critical of gardai in its investigation into alleged collusion between members of the force and a convicted drug dealer. One assertion in the investigation is