Author name: oisinkelly

The new Donegal Diaspora website will be officially launched later today. The website will provide an online platform for the Donegal community worldwide to communicate with the county and with each other. The website will have sections on the county’s cultural development as well as what is happening in terms on enterprise and education. The […]

Proposals have been tabled to the European Council to continue the Peace programme worth 150 million for the period 2014 to 2020. Donegal and other border counties have benefited significantly from the programme since the mid 90’s, a decision on its extension will be taken later this week. Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP has welcomed

A 22 year old man is due in court this morning after an unsuccesful burglary in Donegal. The would-be burglar was brought to hospital after being attacked by a homeowner in Glencar in Letterkenny. It’s reported the homeowner – who’s in his 50s – defended himself with a golf club. Gardai say the homeowner managed

Motorists are being advised to take extreme care on the roads this morning. Snow and ice are causing problems for drivers in many parts of the counry with particular caution advised on secondary routes. Further wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow are forecast in many areas throughout the morning. Stay tunes to Highland Radio

A Bundoran Town Cllr has said that he is hopeful that US Congress will pass new immigration legislation, which would be great news for the undocumented Irish. US President, Barack Obama is proposing to give the roughly 11 million U.S. illegal immigrants – thousands of them Irish – a pathway to citizenship. Cllr Mick McMahon

People across the Strabane District are being warned to be on “high alert” with regards to possible oil-theft in their homes. Last week a single mother of four had her oil tank drained of 500 litres at her Glenview Park home. And when the mother refilled her tank with another 100 litres of oil it

The Food Standards Agency in the North says no pork meat was found in halal products supplied by a Strabane company to Prisons in England and Wales. Mc Colgans says as soon as traces of pork was found in tests, products were withdrawn. Meanwhile, an Irish Muslim leader is warning the discovery of pork DNA

A new report has found that over a quarter of children in Ireland between the ages of 9 and 16 have been bullied – that’s higher than the EU average. The findings of the report were launched by the new Watch Your Space campaign – which coincides with Safer Internet Day tomorrow. The campaign is

There were 20,905 people on the Live Register in Donegal at the end of January, unchanged from December, and down 662 on January 2012. There were 960 people signing on the Live Register in Killybegs at the end of January, 25% down on the same period last year. Other falls were more modest, with 4,421

There a plans to set a unique world record in the Twin Towns on St Patrick’s Day. The Twin Towns Gathering Group’s hope to assemble the most number of Paddy’s and associated names i.e. Patrick, Patsy, Patricia etc. It is part of a day of events planned for the Twin Towns including a parade and

Met Eireann is predicting strong winds, rain and snow for the northwest over the next 36 hours. Gusts of over 102kph have already been recorded in Malin with a warning of more damaging gusts in the coming days. Almost four hundred homes and businesses in the Ballyshannon area have had their power knocked out this

Detectives are appealing for information following an aggravated burglary in the Wesley Street area of Derry last night, Sunday 3rd February. It was reported that sometime before 8pm two unknown males, one carrying a suspected firearm, forced their way into a house in the area and tied up the male resident and assaulted him. The

A second Irish company has been hit with another food scandal. Halal certified foods manufactured by Strabane based McColgan Quality Foods have been found to contain traces of pork DNA. Pork meat is one the foods forbidden under Islamic law. The British Food Standards Agency has called an urgent meeting of major retailers and suppliers

A County Donegal based priest has resigned from his parish due to claims he was physically and verbally abused by a small number of parishioners. 74 year-old Fr Bill McGeady, the curate in Glencolmcille informed parishioners by way of a letter yesterday. Copies of the letter were left for parishioners  after Sunday Mass – in

A Derry woman has been jailed for six years for stabbing another woman in the city in December 2011. 22-year-old Donna McKeefrey of 9, Barnewell Place in the city appeared at the local Crown Court yesterday. The court was told that on December 10 last the injured party called at a house where McKeefrey was.

A Donegal South West Deputy has said that the harsh unfair budget introduced by the Government came squarely from them, and not the Troika as they claim. Sinn Feins Pearse Doherty, along with other members of his party, met with representatives of the Troika yesterday. And he says that the Troika were clear that the

There are concerns that Derry will not be able to accommodate large crowds expected to converge on the city this Summer. Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be held in the city on the last weekend of May, while a three-day international peace forum is also to be held in the city that weekend. And the

With work on the Derry campus of the North West Regional Science Park due to start very shortly, plans are also progressing in Donegal for the local element of the plan. The new North West Regional Science Park will be a joint venture with Letterkenny Institute of Technology. Construction work on the Letterkenny campus of

It’s emerged that the North’s finance minister had concerns about a decision to relocate the agriculture department to a former army base in County Derry. An estimated 800 jobs will move from Belfast to the former Shackleton Army barracks in Ballykelly, despite a study showing Strabane to be the more economically deserving location. Last night,

The detective leading the Garda battle against crime in south Donegal told a court today that he believed a Chinese man resident for many years in Ireland was heavily involved in cannabis cultivation throughout the country. Det Sgt Barry Doyle was giving evidence following the discovery of €220,000 cannabis plants in early stages of cultivation

The Government says it delivered on 92 percent of the measures promised in the action plan for jobs 2012, but admits that plans to attract more foreign direct investment into the regions have not been realised. The target is the creation of 100,000 jobs by 2016, and a review published by the coalition today says

Gardaí are trying to establish if a property developer who was found wandering on the side of the road in Co Leitrim earlier this week was kidnapped and held north of the border. Kevin Michael McGeever was reported missing in Gort in Co. Galway last June. When found on Tuesday, the 68 year old was

Work on a new science park at Fort George on Derry’s riverfront is expected to get underway within weeks. The new North West Regional Science Park will be a joint venture with Letterkenny Institute of Technology. It’s understood that if the multi-million pound development achieves maximum occupancy by 2019, the project has the potential to

A Donegal South-West Deputy has called on the Environment Minister to extend the registration deadline for septic tanks. The deadline for registration is today and comes at a cost of 50 euro. But Sinn Fein Deputy Pearse Doherty says the deadline should be extended until the 31st March. He says he hasn’t registered, and won’t

The latest independently compiled listenership figures show that Highland Radio remains the most listened to local radio station in the country. The figures for 2012 show that of those that listen to any radio station during the week in this franchise area, 65% choose Highland Radio with the station enjoying a market share of 64.6%.

BBC Radio 1’s One Big Weekend will return to Derry on 24 to 26 May. The annual free music event was held there in 2004, but will visit the city again as it celebrates its status as UK City Of Culture for 2013. It will be located in the city centre at the Ebrington site

A Derry man has been spared from going to prison because he has a ‘promising career’ as a footballer. 21-year-old Sean McCarron has just signed a contract with League of Ireland side Finn Harps. Sean McCarron of 8, Moore Street was sentenced to 180 hours community service in March last year for assaulting a man

More homes have been affected by power cuts as strong winds continue to affect Donegal. 2,155 customers are now without power in Donegal Town, 52 in Derrybeg, 34 in Carndonagh, 19 in Fanad and 10 close to Leitermacaward. Another 12 customers are affected in Glenties by a planned outage for maintainance purposes. Fanad supplies should

More homes have been affected by power cuts as strong winds continue to affect Donegal. 2,155 customers are now without power in Donegal Town after problems were reported within the past half hour. Meanwhile, 19 customers are without power in Fanad and 10 customers have lost supplies close to Leitermacaward, while another 12 customers are

The fire service is still at  Rosses Community School in Dungloe after a chemical spill in a laboratory. The move was taken as a precaution after what the fire service described as small quantities of lithium and potassium were spilled. On this morning’s Shaun Doherty Show, Acting Chief Fire Officer Joe Mc Taggart told Greg

The Social Protection Minister says modern policing methods are being used to tackle the issue of robberies in rural Ireland. Joan Burton was quizzed in the Dáil this morning as 95 garda stations across the country close their doors for the final time today. Five of them are in Donegal – Annagry, Brockagh, Churchill, Glencolmcille

110 homes and businesses are without power in the Stranorlar area this morning due to a fault. Power was lost shortly after 5am this morning. ESB says crews are working to resolve the problem. And 113 customers are without power in the Malin area – the fault was reported just after 7am. The ESB says

Students have been evacuated from the Rosses Community School in Dungloe. The move was taken as a precaution due to what has been described locally as a chemical spill. The fire service is at the scene. The school has 400 students, many of which were sitting their mock exams this morning.

Motorists in the region are being urged to be careful this morning, with debris on many roads following overnight winds. A pole which came down near Redcastle has been cleared, a fallen tree is still causing problems at Leck, Letterkenny.   The Harry Blaney Bridge is closed, but the Foyle Bridge in Derry is now

Donegal North East Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn has been elected Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, one of the new committees established by the [resent government. He replaces his Sinn Fein colleague Peadar Tobin. Speaking after his election, Deputy Mac Lochlainn said he expects the Committee will continue working

A new investigation has been launched into allegations that PSNI officers may have contributed to the death of republican informer Denis Donaldson. The Police Ombudsman has overturned a previous decision by his office to close the investigation and declare there was no misconduct by officers. The former senior Sinn Fein official was shot dead almost

A 21-year-old man has appeared in court in Dungannon charged with the manslaughter of County Monaghan teenager Jason McGovern. 19-year-old Mr McGovern was attacked twice in Omagh. He was found dead hours later at a friend’s house on New Year’s Eve. A police officer said he believed he could connect Mark Donnelly, of Greencastle Road,

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has mounted a robust defence of the government’s economic policy in the Dail, saying that in the two years since taking office, the government has had to address the legacy of thousands of job losses in previous years, many of them in Donegal. He was responding to Donegal South West Deputy Pearse

Figures published by the Road Safety Authority show the Donegal is one of the best performing counties in the country when it comes to reducing road deaths, with a 70% fall between 2007 and 2012. Over the five years, Leitrim, Laois, Kildare, Monaghan and Clare showed the biggest reduction in road deaths. Cavan was the

A man who was found with serious injuries at the bottom of stairs at an apartment in Dungloe in the early hours of Monday morning has died. The man, understood to be in his late sixties, was found around 1.30am on Monday morning at an apartment at the rear of a building on Dungloe’s Main

A Finn Valley Councillor says he is going to go above Donegal County Council in an effort to get more of Donegal’s regional and local road funding spent in his area. As it stands, Donegal’s allocation is spent upgrading and repairing local and regional roads based on mileage. Councillor Patrick McGowan claims this means that

Donegal County Council is seeking to form a committee with Monaghan County Council as part of plans to increase pressure on the Government to progress the A5 upgrade. Other affected councils on the route will also be invited to join with the cross party support from Senators, TDs and politicians in the north also being

Donegal County Council has admitted it breached the Official Languages Act when it sent reminder letters to residents of the Gaeltacht in English. The controversy was sparked last year when a number of Gaeltacht residents received reminders for the Household Charge, but not in Irish. The Council says it will not be challenging the findings

Police have said they are treating an incident in County Tyrone on Friday night as the attempted murder of a police officer. A pipe bomb was found close to the officer’s home in the Coolnagard area of Omagh on Saturday afternoon. It followed an incident on Friday night when an off-duty police officer fired a