Author name: oisinkelly

Town councillors in Donegal will be awaiting news from tomorrows cabinet meeting, the last before the summer break. Proposals to abolish a number of town councils will be discussed during the meeting, although it will be the autumn at the earliest before anything can be done. Last year, Minister Phil Hogan indicated that smaller councils […]

Dozens of confidential documents have been found lying in the streets of Derry. They are from the charity, Lifeline, which supports people in distress and mostly log telephone calls. The charity is based at the Embassy Building in the city. The BBC is reporting it has seen one of the documents, which appears to identify

A 31 yr-old man was shot in the legs in Derry last night. At around 10.50pm, Police received a report of a man shot outside a house in the Kildrum Gardens area. Police are appealing to anyone who may have been in the area at the time last night to contact them at Strand Road.

The Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore says he feared for the financial survival of the state during his first few months of Government. He made the comments last night in his opening address to the MacGill Summer School in Glenties. Delivering the John Hume lecture, he said that while the country still has challenges to face, the

The Donegal Senior football team will be arriving in Donegal Town with the Anglo-Celt Cup tonight between 8.45 and 9 o’clock. Large crowds are expected to welcome home the first Donegal team to ever win back to back Ulster titles.  

The Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore will this evening deliver the 12th annual John Hume Lecture on the opening night of the MacGill Summer school in Glenties. Over the course of the next week, discussions will take place on the report in to the deaths of 196 young people in state care, corruption in public life and

Police in Derry have come under attack for a third night. Petrol bombs and missiles were thrown as they responded to reports of youths burning bins and blocking the road in the Moss Park area. Two men were arrested after disturbances in the city on Friday night. Local Councillor Elisha McCallion has made an appeal

FAI Chief Executive John Delaney has confirmed that he will take a 10 per cent pay cut to his annual salary. Delaney confirmed to delegates at the Association’s AGM in Letterkenny’s Mount Errigal Hotel this afternoon that his salary will drop from €400,000 to €360,000. Last year, Delaney took a 7.2 per cent drop from

The Governments north and south have been urged to agree a funding package which would see the Lough Foyle service linking Greencastle and Magilligan operate all year round. The SDLP pressed on the Irish Government the importance of the service during a meeting with senior officials this week. As it stands, the service runs only

A fire at an electricity substation in Derry was started deliberately. The blaze was reported at about 6.45 on Friday evening at the substation on the Ferndale Road in the Galliagh area . The fire  caused power cuts for up to 3,000 homes – 150 homes are still without power. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue

Plans to develop identical walled gardens in the White House and Castlefinn have moved a step closer this week with confirmation of a grant of €180,000 for the Castlefinn Partnership Initiative Limited. The partnership has been working with gardener Diarmuid Gavin for a number of years, and during a visit to the Northwest Garden Show

There’s to be a judicial enquiry in Mauritius to examine the Michaela McAreavey murder case, to determine what actions can be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice. A new police team is also to be appointed to re-investigate the murder of the 27 year old teacher from Co. Tyrone on the island last January.

There’s been a single vehicle collision close to the Carndonagh turn off at Quigley’s Point on the Muff to Moville Road. It happened shortly after 4 o’clock this afternoon. One man has been injured and brought to Letterkenny General Hospital. The road remains closed, local diversions are in place.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says neither the Government not the Irish Aviation Authority will be able to compensate the 80 student pilots who were left stranded in Florida earlier this month, after their training was suspended. The students from the Pilot Training College in Waterford had paid up to 80,000 euro for their course at

Police in Derry have written to Derry City Council’s Chief Executive explaining the reason for their raid on the home of Sinn Fein mayor Kevin Campbell last Thursday evening. They said that they searched his house in response to suspected RAAD activity in the Creggan area, and insist that two males were seen running in

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has described the passing of the Gaeltacht Bill as an historic day for the Irish language. The Bill was passed despite all opposition TD’s walking out of the Dail. Dinny McGinely said it was the first major piece of legislation regarding the Gaeltacht in over 50 years.

The Environment Minister is being accused of using “bully boy” tactics in a bid to get more people to pay the Household Charge. Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty says Phil Hogan has announced he is going to withhold millions of euros from Local Councils. The Donegal South West Deputy says this will have a

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has met with representatives of the Omagh Support and Self-help Group. The group presented the minister with a document outlining their case for a cross border enquiry into events leading up to the Omagh bombing in 1998. Mr Shatter promised that both he and the gardai would carefully consider the document. Spokeperson for

The go-ahead for a shops development which will create 1,000 construction jobs with a further 1,800 permanent positions to follow upon completion is just weeks away in Derry. Planning permission is thought to be imminent for the £200m complex at Crescent Link retail park in the Waterside area of the city. The £7m development includes

A 51-year-old man who defrauded seven people of a total of €177,000 they invested with him has been jailed for five years. After a five day trial last December, Thomas Elvin of Meencargagh, Ballybofey was convicted last year on 26 charges of acting as an investment business firm without authorization and deceiving clients of money.

The road between Moville and Grencastle has reopened to traffic this evening. It was closed this morning following a fatal collision in which 25 year old Shane Mc Monagle from Ballinally, Moville lost his life.  

Police in Derry are appealing for information following an arson attack on two vehicles in the bogside area during the early hours of this morning, Thursday 19th July. At around 4.20am Police and fire crews were called to reports of a white van on fire at Meenan Square and another white ‘pizza’ van on fire

Opposition TDs who earlier walked out of the Dáil during a row with the Government over the Gaelteacht Bill, say they wanted to make it clear that their opinions weren’t heard. They object to the Bill, which changes the funding structure for employment schemes in Gaelteacht areas, and gives the Minister the power to appoint

The has been a 400% increase in online enquiries for Donegal which is being attributed to holiday goers seeking an alternative to London. According to Hotels.com there has been a surge in UK travellers looking up destinations in Ireland in the last fortnight indicating as many are planning a break away here during the Olympics.

The man killed in a car crash on the Moville to Greencastle road this morning has been named locally as 25 year-old Shane McMonagle of Ballinally, Moville. The single vehicle crash happened three miles outside Moville in the early hours – Gardai were notified of the crash shortly before 4.30am. The crash occurred on a

A Donegal man has been jailed for five years for dangerous driving causing the death of a school teacher in Milford last year. Damien McGeehan with an address at New Cottage, Loughanure, pleaded guilty when he appeared in court this week. Marie O’Donnell was killed when McGeehan crossed to the wrong side of the road

The SDLP has made representation in Dublin for the retention of the Malin Coast Guard Station with a Derry representative now positive that the station will be retained. A report published earlier this month by Fisher Consultants on the marine emergency response regimes proposed that Malin be closed. Under the proposals presented to government, Dublin

Gaeltacht Minsiter Dinny McGinley has denied having any involvement in the issuing of a letter to a Glenveagh National Park gardener which threatened him with dismissal. The threat to Mr Donal O Cnaimhsi came in a letter from his employers, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Mr O’Cnaimshi is a long standing member

Police in Derry are appealing for information following an arson attack on two vehicles in the bogside area during the early hours of this morning. At around 4.20am Police and fire crews were called to reports of a white van on fire at Meenan Square and another white ‘pizza’ van on fire at Lisfannon Park.

A man has died following a road crash on the Greencastle to Moville road. Buncrana Gardai are investigating the accident, which occurred when the victim’s car left the road just before 430am. He has been removed to Letterkenny General Hospital. The road has been closed pending completion of an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators.

Anyone wondering why there were tailbacks from the Dry Arch Roundabout to the Port Bridge yesterday, a local petrol station was giving out half price petrol. The Dry Arch Excol Filling Station in Bonagee, opposite the Clanree Hotel sold off its petrol and diesel for half price before it closed its doors yesterday. Excol Service

Donegal South west Deputy Thomas Pringle has called on the Government to end what he termed its attack on the vulnerable in the next budget. Rather than making cuts to public services which so many people rely on, Deputy Pringle told the Dail that the government should instead be increasing the tax take at a

Police are becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of 23 year old Kelly Ann O’Kane from the Waterside area. Kelly Ann was last seen in the Lisnagelvin Shopping Centre in the Waterside at approximately 11.00am this morning, Wednesday 18th July. She is described as being 5′ 5″ tall, slim build with dark blonde bob length

The appeal by Donegal TD Thomas Pringle against the High Court’s dismissal of his case against the recent EU Fiascal Treaty will be heard by the Supreme Court next Monday. The seven judges will decide whether Ms Justice Mary Laffoy was right to find Ireland’s participation in the ESM did not impinge on its fiscal,

It’s been revealed that almost 2,500 people have applied for fourteen positions at DFS in Derry. Figures released today show that a total of 5,875 are currently receiving unemployment related benefits in the city. This leaves argubly one out of two people who are unemployed in Derry applying for the positions at DFS. Foyle MLA

Significant progress is being made in relation to robberies and burglaries in the Newtowncunningham / Cariggans areas and  Gardai are working very closely with the PSNI as part of their investigations. That is according to Chief Superintendent Jim Sheridan who, earlier on ‘The Shaun Doherty Show’, stated that property has been recovered in the north

A Sinn Fein proposal to cap interest rates charged by moneylenders at 40 per cent has been rejected by the Government. Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty introduced the Consumer Credit Bill stating It was incredible there is no cap on the rates moneylenders licensed in this State can charge. The Donegal South West TD

There are renewed calls for for mobile phone providers on the island of Ireland to introduce a single tariff for customers and stamp out roaming charges. A recent Ofcom report estimated that roaming charges cost customers along the border an additional £300 a year in Northern Ireland with similar costs incurred in the Republic. SDLP

Donegal South West Deputy Dinny McGinley is welcoming plans to develop two primary care centres in Donegal. Two primary care centres have been ‘earmarked’ for Dungloe and Donegal Town but no specific funding for those projects has been announced. Deputy McGinley says the projects will provide vital employment in these areas..

Opposition politicians to the Government in Donegal are hitting out at the €2 billion stimulus package – announced yesterday afternoon. A number of local politicians have stated that Donegal has been forgot about once again. While Senator Jimmy Harte has welcomed the package, which has earmarked funds for a new courthouse in Lettekenny and for

The Prime Minister of Mauritius has told the Irish Independent, that he knows who leaked the photographs of Michaela McAreavey’s dead body to a newspaper. In an interview published in today’s paper, Navin Ramglooam says the source of the pictures did NOT come from within the police force itself, but from someone else close to

A Donegal Senator has told the Seanad that it doesn’t make sense to cut the subsidised bus service which brings people to hospitals in Dublin for out patient appointments. It was annouced last week by the Government that the service was being withdrew because not enough people use it. Speaking on behalf of the Health Minister in

As was revealed on Highland Radio News at lunchtime, funding for a new courthouse for Letterkenny has been included as part of a government stimulus package. The 2.25  billion euro plan will see a number of infrastructural projects going ahead, including roads, schools and health centres. Two primary care centres have been ‘earmarked’ for Dungloe