Author name: oisinkelly

Donegal South West Deputy Thomas Pringle has hit out at the Local Government Management Agency after it emerged that over €7 million euro collected through the household charge has been used to finance the agency this year Deputy Pringle says the fact that such a large proportion of the intake from the Household Charge is […]

A 41-year-old man who accidentally knocked down and killed his neighbour in a road traffic accident in Derry last year has escaped prison. Laurence Michael Conaghan from Lisfannon Park, was given a six month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for two years. He was told by Judge Piers Grant at

A Derry man who was shot by the vigilante group Republic Action Against Drugs, has been refused compensation for his injuries. In what is thought to be a case of mistaken identity, 45-year-old Paul Ward was shot twice in the stomach and still has a bullet lodged in his back since the shooting three years

A 20-year-old Derry man walked free from Coleraine Courthouse today after charges he faced in connection with the murder of pizza delivery man Emmet Shiels in Derry in June 2008 were not proceeded with. Thaddeus McAllister originally from Cable Street in the Bogside area but now with an address in London had been due to

As the Tidy Towns Award results announced yesterday are assessed around the country, a collaboration in Buncrana involving the local Town Council, Tidy Towns Committee and the Buncrana / West Inishowen Historical Society is celebrating a major accolade. The Buncrana Lighthouse Restoration Project won the Heritage Award. The eight metre tall lighthouse was first established

Highland Radio has seen internal HSE correspondents which suggests a proposed reduction in the number of locum consultants will ‘collapse frontline services’ at Letterkenny General Hospital. The contents of the document, which was provided to ‘The Shaun Doherty Show’ has been independently confirmed by senior staff at the hospital. It suggests there are proposals to

Udaras Na Gaeltachta has released annual report for 2011 which shows a slow down in the rate of job losses. While 734 jobs were created last year – there was a net loss of 104 jobs overall. 134 jobs were lost in Uduras supported companies in Donegal between 2010 and 2011. The report shows that

Letterkenny Town Council has been told that if implemented, cutbacks at the Letterkenny hospital will mark the beginning of the end for a number of services. The claim was made by Cllr Gerry Mc Monagle, as the council unanimously backed his motion seeking an immediate meeting with Minister James Reilly to lobby for more resources.

A Foyle MP is calling on the Treasury to consider reducing the rate of VAT for some tourism-related services in Derry. Mark Durkan says it would be especially important for the city in the run up to the City of Culture year. He says such a move would stimulate business and create jobs, as well

Around 50 people have  taken part in a candlelight vigil outside Letterkenny General Hospital last night to mark the closure yesterday of the Gynae ward, and the transfer of the six specialist gynaecology beds to Surgical 2. The vigil was led by Linda Cullen, who also organised last Saturday’s rally in the town centre. She

New regulations have been enacted today extending the Smoky Coal Ban to Letterkenny. In a statement this afternoon, Environment Minister Phil Hogan confirmed that seven new towns, including Letterkenny, will be included in the ban with effect from May of next year. Letterkenny’s addition is automatic, on the basis that data published recently from Census

The first of a series of community meetings to discuss The Gathering 2013 will take place this evening in Letterkenny. The purpose of these meetings is to give people an opportunity to learn what the Gathering Ireland 2013 is all about and put forward their ideas for events they would like to be involved in.

A man is seriously ill in hospital after a blaze at a house in Plumbridge, County Tyrone. The fire broke out at about 11:30 yesterday morning at the bungalow on the Tullagherin Road. The 40-year-old man sustained severe burns to the right side of his body. He was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital but later transferred

Letterkeny has retained its gold medal in the 2012 SuperValu TidyTowns Award competition, and has been named the tidiest town in the North West region, as well as in County Donegal. With 310 points, the town was two points behind national winner Abbeyshrule in County Longford, and one point behuind Category winners Westport in County

Sinn Féin’s Housing spokesperson in Derry says legislation is needed to tackle the present social housing crisis in the city. Councillor Tony Hassan says there are 70 houses coming on stream in Derry’s Buncrana Road shortly, with around 1000 applicants looking for them. He says an examination of the figures shows that the number of

Google has announced an inaugural Google Ireland eCounties Awards which ranks Donegal last. Google looked at Ireland’s 26 counties and ranked each in terms of their AdWords customer growth coupled with the number of local businesses which embraced the Getting Irish Business Online initiative over the last year. Google say they expected Dublin to be

One of Letterkenny’s biggest builders’ suppliers has closed and transferred all its business to its Derry branch. Mc Mahons of Ballyraine closed its doors on Thursday last. In a letter to customers, Mc Mahons say it is with considerable regret that due to the continuing deterioration in the construction sector. they are left with no

A survey of over 500 farmers across the country has highlighted serious concerns on rural security, with 54% of respondents dissatisfied with the efforts of the Justice Minister to protect rural communities. The survey by the IFA  highlighted shows that 11% of farm families, which is the equivalent of 13,000 households, have been victims of

More needs to be done to tackle the stigma which still surrounds mental health problems in this country. That’s the call from health professionals this morning – on World Suicide Awareness Day. New research from  St. Patrick’s University Hospital in Dublin has found that over a fifth of people believe that those suffering from a

A former Council official has launched a high Court challenge aimed at overturning a finding by the Minister for the Environment’s that there was no evidence of planning irregularities in Co Donegal. The action has been taken by consultant planner Gerard Convie. Mr Convie wants the court to overturn the Minister’s finding that there was

Between 300 and 400 people turned out on the streets of Letterkenny on Saturday for a march in protest at the closure of the gynaecology ward at Letterkenny General Hospital. Hundreds of people carrying placards called on the Health Minister James Reilly to reverse the HSE’s decision. The gynae unit will close today (Monday) with

The Minister for Justice needs to toughen up the fight to ensure that rural crime is reduced so that people living rural communities feel safer. That’s according to the Irish Farmers Association which is calling on Alan Shatter to increase Garda presence in rural areas. It comes as a new IFA survey shows that 54

A petrol bomb and other missiles were thrown at police as they dealt with a hoax security alert in Derry. Officers were called to the Aileach Road on Saturday afternoon following the discovery of a suspicious object. A controlled explosion was carried out and the alert was declared to be a hoax. The security forces

The biggest mistake ever by an Irish government was recalled by the first man ever to receive the Tip O’Neill Diaspora Award. Publisher Niall O’Dowd said a government decision blocked Irish people from access to the US “in perpetuity.” O’Dowd recalled at the award ceremony in Buncrana, how O’Neill, one of the most influential Irish-American

Irish sprinter Jason Smyth completed a superb sprint double at the Paralympic Games by winning the 200m T13 event in a new world record time last night. Starting in lane five, the Eglinton athlete, who has less than 10% vision, led throughout and recorded a time of 21.05 seconds. He had won the 100m event

A residential home in Derry at the centre of abuse allegations was below minimum standard for staff training, according to an inspection last year. The The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority inspected Ralph’s Close residential home for vulnerable people in Gransha Park in April 2011. It found that “few staff had completed training in the

Hundreds are expected to take part in a march later today in protest at changes to Gynecological services at Letterkenny General Hospital. Only yesterday it was confirmed that the controversial transfer of gynae services will take place on Monday. Six specialist beds are being moved from the present Gynae ward to Surgical 2, two floors above, but

A meeting has taken place between concerned local people and a number of agencies to address ‘widespread’ anti-social behaviour in the Kincasslagh, Keadue and Belcruit area of the Rosses Locals, the gardai and Donegal Youth Service were amongst those that attended the meeting. The meeting heard of the fears of families and older people living

A Donegal chef was told by a judge that he was very lucky he was not going to jail for selling drugs to pay off a fine. Eugene Gallagher, who is 24 and of Ernedale Heights, Ballyshannon admitted possession of €3,986 worth of cannabis for sale when he appeared in court. Ballyshannon District Court heard

Business and residential customers of Electric Ireland are to see a significant increase in their bills. The energy firm’s announced a price hike of almost 6% from October 1st for its domestic electricity customers. An incease to comercial customers is expected to follow. Electric Ireland estimates its electricity price hike will add 1.22 per week

It’s been confirmed that the controversial transfer of gynaecological services at Letterkenny General Hospital will take place on Monday, with six specialist beds being moved from the present Gynae ward to Surgical 2, two floors above. Tomorrow, a large attendance is expected at a march and rally from LYIT to the Town’s Square calling for

As plans to move into the new bloc at Letterkenny General Hospital enter ther final phase, unions at the hospital say their cooperation is being given on an interim basis, and they will be monitoring the situation. Impact, Siptu and the INMO say they believe that more staff and resources are needed to run the

A Stranorlar area councillor has described figures released by the CSO, which reveal the number of vacant residential units in Donegal, as ‘shocking’. The figures published by the CSO in the ‘Roof Over Our Heads’ report show that there are over 13,360 residential units lying vacant in the county. This does not include people who

A man has been charged in connection with a hijacking in Dublin of a car carrying a Donegal woman and her 10-year-old son. 37 year-old Bernadette Moran was stopped at traffic lights in Dublin following the All-Ireland senior football championship quarter-final between Donegal and Kerry in Croke Park on August 5th. Her husband Kevin Moran

The Western Trust in the North has confirmed a number of staff have been suspended after a police investigation was launched into allegations of abuse at a home for vulnerable adults in Derry. There have been a number of claims of mistreatment at Ralph’s Close in Gransha. The trust says the allegations are of a

Some of Ireland’s newest emigrants to Australia are struggling with exploitation and financial difficulties. 30-thousand young people moved to Australia last year, and and while most of them are reporting successes, some are experiencing difficulties. Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty is currently in Australia, where he’s meeting with Irish emigrants in four cities this week.

Management at Letterkenny General Hospital have confirmed that that the new emergency department and medical ward will open next week. Services will start to move into the new building on Thursday the 13th of September. A number of project teams have been working tirelessly over the past 6 months to prepare the new unit for

Letterkenny General Hospital and the St Conal’s Hospital Campus are to become completley smoke free from next week onwards. From Thursday 13th September, no-one who enters the gates of the hospital will be allowed to smoke. The HSE has set a target of introducing the tobacco free campus policy to all hospitals around the country

A Donegal Senator has said that it is disgraceful that the Government is standing by cuts to home care packages and home help hours for patients with severe disabilities. Yesterday, the HSE chief Tony O’Brien issued a letter confirming the reversal of cuts to personal care assistants. But Senator Ó Domhnaill says the partial climb-down announced

The future of a Strabane residential care home is in doubt once again after the Health Board unveiled plans to cut its residential care facilities in the North by half. There was a huge outcry when Greenfield Home was threatened with closure four years ago, but it was eventually announced in March 2009 that the

With confusion and uncertainty surround the future of the Gynae services, 10 key questions have been put to John Hayes the Area Manager for the north west.  Below are his answers.   Q1.              Will there be a Gynae Service at Letterkenny Hospital?  A1.              Yes. It is proposed to move the Gynae inpatient beds from their

There has been a small month on month fall in the number signing on in Donegal but the live register still shows 22,229 people in receipt of social welfare in the county. There was also a fall in those signing on last month compared to August of 2011 but community groups attribute that to emigration

A revised planning application for a major development on the old Fruit of the Loom site in Buncrana is before An Bord Pleanala. The appeal is based on the Council awarding Jansu Development Limited  permission for a mixed use development made up of commercial units, apartments, parking spaces and 4 ESB stations. The plans would

A judge expressed concern yesterday over head scars on two young women after they were accused of fighting and causing harm to each other in Donegal Town. Judge Kevin Kilrane was looking at photographs of Shaniene Bushe and Sarah Timoney when he commented about cuts which required six stitches in one and five in the

Charges against four people including former hunger striker Marian Price in relation to a dissident march in Derry on April 25 last year have been re-instated by the Public Prosecution Service They are due to appear at a preliminary enquiry at Derry Magistrate’s Court on September 27. The four face charges in connection with managing

Jim McGuinness has acknowledged that his opposite number James Horan has every right to exploit the discussion over the venue for any potential Donegal homecoming after the All-Ireland football final. The Donegal manager described the attempt to influence the venue for a homecoming by the Letterkenny Chamber as “disrespectful” McGuinness said it is something that

A man in his mid twenties has been transferred to hospital in Dublin having suffered injuries in Letterkenny this morning. The man suffered head and spinal injuries. Gardai believe his injuries were as a result of a fall and do not suspect he was the victim of an assault. It is understood that a dispute

Derry’s urban regeneration company Ilex looks set to lose responsibility for one of its two flagship projects in the city. The Department for Social Development has confirmed that it is now considering taking over the project management role for the Fort George former Army base site. The announcement is a blow for Ilex, set up

One of two men who were cleared of the murder of Michaela McAreavey says it was obvious from the start that he had no hand in her murder. The 27 year old was found dead while on honeymoon in Mauritius in January 2011. In July, Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandip Moneea were acquitted over the death

Opposition parties are accusing the Government of chaotic management of the health service – after Health Minister James Reilly last night announced a climbdown on some of the cuts targeted at people with disabilities. After a lengthy cabinet meeting yesterday, Minister Reilly said he would order the HSE not to cut the hours of personal