Author name: oisinkelly

A 39-year-old man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court today  charged in connection with the shooting dead of an RUC constable in 1993. Christopher O’Kane of 107 Kular Court in Derry faced a total of five charges. He was charged with assisting offenders in the killing of Constable Michael Ferguson between January 23 and 25 […]

Letterkenny General Hospital has been rated as “very good” in the latest performance index published by the HSE. The statistics, relating to July of this year, give the hospital a very good rating in areas of access and integration, but only an average rating in the area of resources. The hospital’s spending was singled out

Concerns about the level of garda presence along the Donegal – Derry border will be highlighted at a public meeting tonight. Fianna Fail are hosting the meeting in the Columban Hall in Newtowncunningham. Cllr Paul Canning, one of the meeting’s organisers says it’s important that they gather information from the Public about to their concerns,

The dramatic fall in house construction may be bottoming out. That’s according to the authors of the National Housing Construction Index. The index shows the number of projects that started construction is 10 per cent down on the same period last year – but that’s an improvement on the start of the year when they

Major reform plans for local government are set to come before cabinet tomorrow. It emerged last week that a radical overhaul of the system was on the cards, with many Town Councils around the country facing abolition or merger. It’s expected the plan could save more than 70 million euro, but town councillors in Donegal

A Derry Councillor is calling for a complete ban on the sale of fireworks in Northern Ireland over the counter. Shantallow representative Tony Hassan says there’s been a high number of complaints about the misuse of fireworks and associated products in the city. The Sinn Fein councillor says the law must be changed and is

A Derry councillor is calling for an urgent revamp around the junction of the Letterkenny Road, Lone Moor Road and Foyle Road. Cllr Patricia Logue says the work should be done in advance of Derry’s year as UK City of Culture, and needn’t cost a lot of money. She says with thousands of people expected

A Donegal dentist has warned that the country will face severe problems in the future because the public dental service is unable to treat vast majority of young teenagers due to shortage of resources. Dr Padraig Halvey, who is based in Letterkenny, has been elected as the new leader of the public service dentist group

The inaugural meeting of the North South Inter-Parliamentary Association has taken place at Leinster House, with MPs, MLA, TDs and Senators from all parties discussing matters of mutual interest. Tioday’s iomaugural concentrated on child protection and infrastrucure. Donegal North East Deputy Joe Mc Hugh says these are important issues in themselves, but today’s meeting was

The Bishop of Raphoe has welcomed the publication of a HSE audit of child protection guidelines which was critical of the diocese in some respects. The review, commissioned in 2006,  examined how the church handled abuse allegations up to November of last year. Speaking on the Shaun Doherty Show today, Bishop Boyce said there were

A West Tyrone MP has said that Ballykelly was the viable option for 800 civil service jobs. It was announced in September this year that the Department of Agrilculture in the North would be moving from Belfast to Ballykelly. The new offices are to be based at the site of the former Shackleton Army Barrakcs.

A Donegal County Cllr has said that letters being issued trying to convince people to pay the household charge are a total waste of money. The County Council are spending almost 14,000 euro alone on stamps for the 30,000 letters. And Cllr Murray believes the letters will have little impact in convincing people to pay

Donegal County Council has written to more than 30,000 households throughout the County urging them to pay the Household Charge. The council says the letters were sent on foot of data received from the Property Registration Authority database. As a result, some letters may be received in error. If that happens, people are asked to

Two murder accused have blamed each other for beating a Donegal labourer to death in a Glasgow street. William McKenney, originally from Malin Head, died in the Victoria Hospital in Glasgow after being assaulted in the city’s south side this year. Asif Rehman and Adel Ishaq are on trial charged with murdering Mr McKeeney in

A public meeting is to take place tomorrow to discuss anti-social behavior in the Keadue, Belcruit and Kincasslagh area. There have been two meetings involving gardai, the HSE and local community groups, with spokesperson Michael Mc Giolleaspaig saying that it is now time for the public to be brought into the discussion. He says those responsible are

Buncrana Town Council are to write a letter in support of Malin Head Coastguard Station to the government. The Fisher report published earlier this year suggested that Malin Head and Valentia Coastguard stations be closed and the service centralised to Dublin. The report, released in July this year, has cast serious doubt over the future

A festival aimed at improving cross-border relations between the communities of Lifford in Co. Donegal and Strabane in Co. Tyrone gets underway today. Organisers of the inaugural ‘Riverine Autumn School’ are hoping to bring people together through drama and sporting events. Mayor of Donegal, Councillor Frank McBrearty says the project has the potential to grow

A Donegal TD says Education Minister Ruairí Quinn is refusing to recognise the impact of cuts to guidance counselors in schools across the country. Schools no longer get a special allocation, and must fund guidance services from their standard teaching allocation. When the TUI president was in Donegal this week, he identified this as one of the

A second Omagh man has appeared in court in relation to an alleged kidnapping plot during which a 100,000 euro ransom was paid after threats were made to kill the victim. Matthew McLean, 22, of Glen Park Road, in Omagh, appeared before Strabane Magistrates’ Court. He was charged with kidnapping, blackmail, and false imprisonment. The

Commercial fracking is to remain banned in Ireland for at least another 15 months. The Government’s decided that another study on possible side effects from the process is needed before issuing any licences in Ireland, and further European studies could mean no fracking here for a decade. North West counties includfing Fermanagh, Leitrim and possibly

The Catholic Church dioceses of Meath, Raphoe and Ossory have been criticised in an audit of child protection guidelines. The review – carried out by the Health Service Executive – examined how the church is handling cases of abuse allegations up to November of last year. It found that while all dioceses have made improvements

Sinn Fein says the Government’s ambitions for the country are limited to Troika-led retrenchment. The party has launched its jobs plan – which claims that 156 thousand jobs can be created through a 13 billion euro investment. It says the plan is fully costed – and can be funded through the National Pension Reserve Fund,

Gardai have confirmed that cannabis plants uncovered in a cultivation factory outside Malin yesterday morning are worth in excess of 1 million euro. The haul was discovered yesterday in a commercial unit. A third man has been arrested in relation with the find. Two men were also arrested at the scene yesterday morning. The three

A leaked memo has revealed that Strabane topped a table of suitable locations for 800 Civil Service jobs, but still lost out to Ballykelly. A document shows that 23 areas were shortlisted as potential locations for the Department of Agriculture headquarters. Officials then used nine points of critieria, including availability of jobs, employment deprivation, earnings

Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch is denying that it took 48 minutes to get an ambulance to an injured jogger in Letterkenny last week. The issue was raised in the Seanad by Senator Jimmy Harte, who said the injured person was left lying on the road while waiting for an ambulance to come from Carndonagh,

There are calls for the current CCTV system in Letterkenny to be upgraded and extended. Councillor Tadge Culbert, who made the call, says with dwindling numbers of Gardai on the streets of Letterkenny an improved CCTV system is required to help preventing crime or finding those responsible for it. He says the system needs to

The PSNI has issued a warning about bogus banknotes after several reports of counterfeit ten and twenty pound notes being used in Derry, Limavady, Strabane and Castlederg over the last few weeks. Three people were arrested and released this week as part of an ongoing investigation. On Monday of this week, police received a report

A Buncrana Town Cllr has said that it will be a huge blow to the town if as expected, town councils are to be scrapped. The Minister for the Environment is expected to formally confirm in the near future that Donegal’s four town councils, as well as those around the country, are to be phased

A 22-year-old man is due to appear in court charged in connection with a kidnapping. He will appear at Strabane Magistrates Court on Thursday. The man also faces charges of false imprisonment and blackmail. Two men appeared in court in Dungannon on yesterday in connection with the kidnapping of a cattle dealer, who was held

The first ever clinic to offer abortions on the island of Ireland will open in one weeks’ time. Marie Stopes International is setting up a centre on Great Victoria Street in Belfast, which will be open to women over the age of 16, including those who travel from the Republic. Women who attend will have

Fishermen in Donegal could find restrictions eased after changes to Technical Conservation Measures proposed by North West MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher were unanimously accepted by the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee today. He says he wants to remove and amend outdated and unworkable fishing constraints such as area and gear restrictions, which date back to

Sinn Fein is accusing Fianna Fail of dishonesty over the party’s new campaign to oppose the property tax. Fianna Fail has set up a website – wrong-tax-wrong-time-dot-i-e – urging people to sign a petition against the levy, which is to be introduced next year. It was launched today by party leader Michael Martin, who admits

A Donegal North East Deputy has expressed his dissapointment at the Governments decision to reject proposals to provide extra protection to frontline emergency workers. Last week Fianna Fail said they wanted individuals found guilty of assaulting gardaí, A-and-E staff and members of the fire service to be jailed for five years. They also said they

Gardai have uncovered what’s being described as a ‘large scale’ cannabis cultivation factory on the outskirts of Malin Town this morning. Gardai are still at the scene and are assessing the scale of the discovery, which Superintendent Kevin English says is highly significant. Speaking on today’s Shaun Doherty Show a short time ago, he confirmed

Gardai have uncovered what’s being described as a ‘large scale’ drug cultivation factory on the outskirts of Malin Town this morning. Gardai are still at the scene and are assessing the scale of the discovery, which one senior officer has indicated is highly significant. To people, believed to be foreign nationals, have been arrested at

The cousin of one of the men accused of kicking a 57-year-old Donegal man to death in a racially aggravated murder has said he admitted being involved in the killing. Adel Ishaq and Asif Rehman deny killing William McKeeney, who died after the being attacked in a street in Glasgow’s Pollokshields area in January this

A briefing at Letterkenny General Hospital has been told that the new Radiotherapy Unit planned for Altnagelvin Hospital is a unique cross border venture, which will provide access to radiotherapy services to over a half a million people living on both sides of the border. Dr Mary Hynes, Network Manager South and West for the

The President of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland says over 20 careers guidance and counselling jobs have been lost in Donegal, and that will have ramifications into the future. Gerard Craughwell was speaking after spending a day in Donegal attending training courses and speaking to TUI representatives and members in the county. He said while the president

The SIPTU national campaign to defend Home Help services comes to Donegal today with a meeting in Letterkenny this afternoon and one in Ballybofey tonight. Local SIPTU Organiser Declan Ferry says since the beginning of our Home Helps campaign, two months ago, SIPTU has held over 70 meetings throughout the country, and the attendance at

A Letterkenny Town Councillor says more people will end up sleeping on the streets if more council houses are not made available. This weeks town council meeting was told that Donegal County Council will build just three new council houses over the next three years. Raising the issue, Councillor Tadge Culbert says the demand for

Plans to begin “fracking” in areas of the North West will be debated in a Dail Committee today. Hydraulic Fracturing – also known as “fracking” – is a type of gas exploration that’s been criticised for it’s damaging effects on the environment and surrounding areas. But supporters say it can create sustainable energy in rural

The widow of a Co. Sligo man who was gunned down in 1999 has been awarded nearly three quarters of a million euros in a long legal battle against the men responsible for his murder, one of whom was based in Ballyshannon. 58 year old Margaret Madden, owner of a B&B at Lough Gara House

Gardai in Lifford are investigating an alleged extortion at a betting shop in the town yesterday. Gardai are stressing that no robbery or burglary took place. The bookies shop, Toots Takes All, which is situated on Butcher Street in Lifford, recieved a call yesterday afternoon. The man on the phone demanded that a member of

A march and rally in support of the Donegal Home Help Service will take place in Letterkenny on Friday week next, the 19th of October. At 1 o’clock, the march will proceed from St Conal’s Hospital to Market Square where speeches will be made and a soup kitchen set up. The trade unions IMPACT and

The Health Service Executive is urging everyone over 65, pregnant woman, people with chronic illnesses and healthcare workers to get vaccinated against influenza. Over 56% of people over 65 with a medical card were immunised against flu in 2011, down from 60% the year before and significantly below the World Health Organisation’s target of 75%.

A forensic pathologist told a race murder trial that a Donegal man who was allegedly kicked and stamped to death suffered injuries normally associated with a car crash. Dr Julie McAdam said she had never come across the type of severe trauma that killed 57-year-old William McKeeney, originally from Malin Head, from massive internal bleeding.

It’s reported that proposals to double the penalty points for drivers using mobile phones while driving have got the green light. The Irish Independent says the government’s accepted the recommendations from an all-party transport committee. Transport Minister Varadkar says the culture needs to be changed so that talking on a handheld mobile while driving becomes

With confirmation expected this week that town councils are to be scrapped, the Mayor of Letterkenny is predicting funding for the town to drop by as much as 60%. The Minister for the Environment is expected to formally confirm this week that Donegal’s three town councils, as well as those around the country, are to

Owners of property in Letterenny,which is vacant and falling in to disrepair, are being warned the Derelict Property Act will be used if the property isn’t brought up to standard. Councillor Gerry McMonagle raised the issue with Letterkenny Town council following a recent fire at a vacant property in the Long Lane area. He says