Author name: oisinkelly

The incidence of cancer is on the rise in the North according to a report published by The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry. Despite the increase, the report also shows a rise in cancer survival rates since 1993. From 1993-2012 cases of female-breast cancer increased by 1.1% per year, male-malignant melanomas rose by 2.7% and female-melanoma […]

Three police officers in Derry have been disciplined for arresting a couple on their wedding day, after wrongly suspecting they were involved in a sham marriage. The Police Ombudsman had ruled that Neil McElwee from Strabane and his then pregnant Chinese fiance Yanan Sun, had been unlawfully arrested and detained by the police. The police

Northwest MEP Marian Harkin says she’s afraid events connected with the euro crisis are spiralling out of control. Ms Harkin was speaking in Strasbourg where MEPs are this week holding their plenary session. She says the Spanish banking bailout hasn’t quelled market unrest about the state of Spain’s economy – and that it looks very

Books of evidence have been served on two men accused of assault causing harm to Senator Brian O’Domhnaill. Garda Dermot Gallen told Dungloe District Court today that the books were served this morning.. One defendant lives in New York, the other outside London, but both were in court for the brief hearing. Jim Sharkey, 43,

The Chair of the VEC in Donegal says the online system for processing student grants has the potential to make life easier for students, VECs and councils. The system – known as SUSI- aims to help students submit their applications and speed up the process so that they have access to funds when the college

West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty has said while he and three others are giving up their Assembly seats to concentrate on representing their constituents at Westminister, they will never take an oath of allegience and enter parliament. As a result of their non-attendence, none of the Sinn Fein MPs are paid, but they do receive

Sinn Fein Cllr Kevin Campbell is the new Mayor of Derry, with Donegal born Ulster Unionist Cllr. Mary Hamilton elected as his deputy. It’ll be Cllr Hamilton’s third term as Deputy Mayor. There was a moment of tension when the new Deputy Mayor seemed to refuse to allow Cllr Campbell put the chain of office

A judge severely criticised a young woman yesterday and fined her €1,000 after she falsely claimed she was raped while using her phone. Sinead Morrow, who was 19 at the time, was a willing participant in sex, Donegal District Court was told. But when her 35-year-old bed-partner committed an act she didn’t like, she reported

A controversial decision to grant planning permission to Tesco for a filling station and second exit out of Letterkenny Shopping Centre was raised a number of times at a Letterkenny Town Council meeting last night, particularly by Cllr Jim Lynch. Cllr Lynch questioned the planner at the meeting on a number of occasions, at one

The prosecution team is likely to wrap up its case today at the trial of two men accused of murdering Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius. Yesterday, one of the accused – hotel worker Sandip Moneea – told the trial that he called for a doctor when the 27-year-old’s body was discovered in her hotel room in

Officials in the Department of Defence are due in Donegal today to discuss signing off on the transfer of Rockhill House and Lifford Army Barracks to the ownership of Donegal County Council. The issue was discussed at last night’s meeting of Letterkenny Town Council, where questions were raised by Cllrs Dessie Larkin and Jimmy Kavanagh.

Met Eireann, has received reports from three people of a tornado in Donegal. It happened over Sliabh Sneacht in Inishowen at 1130 this morning. There has been heavy and intense thundery showers in the area since the tornado was spotted. The Met Office said the radar was showing heavy echoes. Met Eireann said tornadoes were

A public meeting is taking place in Letterkenny tonight to discuss the threat of removal of funding for childcare support services in Donegal. A number of public representatives are expected to attend the meeting, which is being organised in the Clanree Hotel at 7 o’clock by the Donegal Childcare Providers’ Network. Spokesperson Patricia Fitzpatrick is

A 21-year-old man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on 16-year-old Philip Convery at Mayogall Road, Knockcloghrim on June 5. The accused, Michael Mongan of 97, White Rise in Dunmurray faced a total of seven charges. Mongan was accused of attempted robbery of £10,000 on June 5, GBH with

Martin McGuinness says he’s quitting as a Member of Parliament in London to concentrate on his role as Deputy First Minister in Stormont. And Sinn Fein says four of its MLA’s will leave the Assembly, so they can focus on their jobs in Westminster. It’s part of the party’s commitment to end so-called double jobbing

There’s upset within Church of Ireland community in Lifford and surrounding areas following a serious vandalism attack at the Clonleigh Parish Church in Lifford. The incident took place last Wednesday, and was discovered on Friday. There’s been widespread condemnation of the attack on the church, the third in six weeks. On today’s Shaun Doherty Show,

The Road Safety Group PARC is calling for more specific figures after statistics released by the government this month showed that on average, three unaccompanied learner drivers are involved in serious road crashes every month. These are defined as crashes involving death or very serious injury. The statistics were compiled by the Department of Justice

Donegal County Council has confirmed that 29,013 properties have so far been registered with the Local Government Management Agency to pay the Household Charge and that a further 317 are awaiting to be updated to the system. This equates to some 45% of households liable to register in Donegal, according to the council’s own estimates.

Ardara in Donegal and Derry City are both included in a longlist for the Irish Times ‘Best Place to Live’ award. A total of 25 towns in 16 counties are included on the list which was published this morning.

A 21-year-old man has been charged in relation to an armed robbery near Magherafelt in which a schoolboy was badly beaten. The man was arrested in Belfast on Saturday. Another man, aged 28, arrested in England on Friday, is still in custody. Philip Convery was beaten during an attempted robbery at his grandmother’s house on

A new report has highlighted the high level of vacant property in Donegal and concludes that Ireland has so many empty houses that it would take up to 43 years to fill them all. Deutsche Bank figures suggest that there are 289,451 empty houses in Ireland, including almost 60,000 vacant holiday homes. A new report

A Group of Donegal fans are amongst an estimatated 100 Irish soccer fans who were left without accommodation in Poland last night after they were refused entry to the campsite they had booked and paid for. Some Irish fans have been left forced to find alternative accommodation after a campsite in Poznan closed The company

A new report has highlighted the high level of vacan property in Donegal and concludes  that Ireland has so many empty houses that it would take up to 43 years to fill them all. Deutsche Bank figures suggest that there are 289,451 empty houses in Ireland, including almost 60,000 vacant holiday homes. This represents a

Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes says Europe could be getting to the end of the financial crisis. It follows yesterday’s 100 billion euro Spanish bailout making it the fourth EU country to seek financial aid. There’s now growing calls for Ireland to renegotiate it’s deal with the Troika. But Minister Hayes says the Government want

Three units of the fire service brought a blaze at an apartment block at main street Dungloe under control last night (Saturday). The fire broke out on the town’s main street on the second floor of the three storey building causing extensive internal damage. The building is located adjacent to several commercial properties in the

Almost half a million euro has been allocated for pavement improvement works on the N56 near Gweedore. The money, which is additional to the grants announced earlier this year, follows a Swedish led road research project. Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has confirmed the additional allocation of E450,000 by the N.R.A. will facilitate 2km of the

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is being warned that if he does not act to protect farm incomes in Donegal and other disadvantaged areas, many farm families will be forced off the land. North West MEP Marian Harkin was speaking after figures published this week show that farm payments to Donegal fell by over 10 million

A defamation action by developer Michael O’Flynn against Fine Gael Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton over comments she made in Donegal may get a High Court hearing late this year. The proceedings by the Cork developer and Fine Gael donor were initiated in late July 2010, just days after Ms Creighton gave

The PSNI have announced a new strategy to deal with papamilitary style attacks folllowing an upsurge in incidents involving dissidents such as RAAD, particularly in the North West. Assistant Constrbale Drew Harris today said there is a renewed determination to help communities take these attacks and attackers off their streets and reduce the harm caused.

North West MEP Marian Harkin says special measures must be taken to address discrepancies between payments to farmers in Donegal compared to other areas of the country. Figures published by the Department of Agriculture show that since 2008, payments per farmer in Donegal has reduced by an average of €1,186 resulting in a total loss

A man’s been arrested in connection with an attempted armed robbery in Magherafelt on Tuesday night last last in which a 16 year old youth sustained very serious injuries. Police have confirmed the suspect was arrested this afternoon in England, and is being brought back to Northern Ireland to be questioned by PSNI detectives. The

Sinn Fein have said they would have no problem if Labour Cllr Frank McBrearty was elected as the next Mayor Donegal. It’s reported in todays Donegal News that Fianna Fail believe Cllr McBrearty does not merit the top job in the County. But in order to block the Labour Cllr becoming Mayor it would require

Prosecutors in the Michaela McAreavey murder trial will not recall her husband to the witness stand. A prosecution lawyer had said John McAreavey had “mixed up” some of the dates in his evidence on Wednesday. Following an objection from the defence, he will not have to return to court to give a clarification. 30-year-old Avinash

Donegal North East Deputy Joe Mc Hugh has played down the ‘No’ vote in last weeks EU Stability Treaty Referendum in Donegal, where both constituencies returned ‘No’ majorities. Speaking during the Dail debate on the establishment of the EMS last evening, Deputy Mc Hugh said he believes people made a point locally, while happy to

Donegal South-West Deputy Thomas Pringle has indicated that he will support a motion of censure against Mick Wallace if it arises. The Committee on Procedures and Privileges has been asked to determine if any Oireachtas rules were broken, after it emerged Mick Wallace’s construction firm made a 2.1 million euro settlement with Revenue. The Independent

A 22 year old Dungiven man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with causing death by dangerous driving last December. Kevin Michael Brolly of 56, Rannyglass was charged with causing the death of a woman by dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol, and failing to stop for police plus a series of other driving

There have been calls for a jobs task force to be established in the East Derry area after it emerged that the remaining 19 jobs are likely to be lost at Spanboard in Coleraine. The company says it’s consulting with the workforce, with local MLA John Dallat saying from his contact with the company and

There are fears that 19 jobs are to go at Spanboard in Coleraine, after the chipboard manufacturer announced it’s consulting with workers. Local MLA John Dallat says it’s just over three years since 90 employees got their P45s and now the gates are likely to close on the remaining few. He says Coleraine and the