Author name: oisinkelly

A number of Ulster Bank branches in the North West are opening today and tomorrow in an effort to help customers affected by a technical problem at the company. It’s prevented the automatic payment of salary and social welfare cheques to more than 100-thousand people in recent days. The Ulster Bank branch in Letterkenny will […]

The woman being questioned by Gardai in connection with the death Seamus Doherty in Churchill last weekend has been released from custody. The woman in her 50’s was one of two people arrested as part of the murder investigation -she has been released without charge. The second, a man in his 40’s, was earlier released.

Corravaddy/Mongorry Forest on the outskirts of Letterkenny is to be included in a 10-year national strategy for developing off-road cycling, which will be published this afternoon by Coillte. Corravaddy/Mongorry Forest is one of 11 national sites for new off-road cycling centres that are included in the strategy. Mountain biking has become a mainstream recreational and

Ulster Bank has apologised unreservedly for its current technical problems which have stopped customers accessing their funds. The company says a software glitch meant automatic salary and social welfare payments were not processed – and it’s now working to clear the backlog. It’s estimated that at least 100-thousand customers have been affected. Social Protection Minister

Music legend Daniel O’Donnell is to receive Donegal’s highest honour today – he’s getting the freedom of the county. He’s being honoured for his contribution to music at local, national and international level, and for being a great ambassador for the county. The county mayor is holding a civic reception in Daniel’s honour this afternoon.

Labour Cllr Frank McBreaty looks set to be elected as the next Mayor of Donegal. A number of Independent Cllrs have indicated that they will stick to an inter party pact which is in place. Earlier this week Fianna Fail indicated that it will nominate Cllr Rena Donaghey for the post which will force a

A pipe bomb has been found during a security alert on the same night as the Peace One Day concert in Derry. The device was found at Rossdowney Road, not far from Ebrington Square in the Waterside where thousands were watching the concert. A number of homes were evacuated during a security alert, however, the

A Priest accused of indecently assaulting a teenage girl told police he was “horrified” and “shocked” by the allegations. Fr Eugene Boland, of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992. The offences are alleged to have occurred while the teenager

A 64-year-old man is recovering in hospital after he and his wife were attacked by youths outside their home in Derry on Wednesday night. One of the victims said other youths cheered as the couple were assaulted outside their house on the Racecourse Road. Jack Doherty has three cracked ribs, plus arm, head, and back

The SIPTU Trade Union says it wishes to engage with Abbott to reduce the 29 redundancies announced at its Finisklin plant in Co. Sligo. Management at the company – which employs around 400 people – informed staff yesterday that it is seeking the voluntary redundancies. Abbott says no other sites in Sligo, or in Ireland,

Over 100 thousand people did not receive their salaries and social welfare payments today as a result of a glitch at Ulster Bank. HSE staff who receive their wages weekly or fortnightly were affected as the HSE uses Ulster bank to pay its workers. Earlier the bank said it expected the systems failure to be

Irish has been put on a list of endangered languages. It comes as an on-line resource to record and access smaller dialects goes live today. The Endangered Languages Project enables users to find comprehensive and up-to-date information about more than 3-thousand languages. Users can access data, audio, text and video samples through the Google-powered scheme.

Two Donegal politicians have taken opposing views on whether the changes to the constituency boundaries will benefit the county. Letterkenny based Senator Jimmy Harte has been advocating the single five seater model for Donegal since the review began, saying it makes more sense to unite the county as much as possible. He believes he has

Two people have been arrested by Gardai investigating the murder of a man in his 60’s in Churchill. The body of 67 year old Seamus Doherty was found at a house at Drumacnoo in the early hours of Sunday morning last. A post mortem showed he died in suspicious circumstances. Investigating officers last night arrested

The Constituency Commission has recommended that Donegal North East and South West should merge into one constituency with the number of Tds reduced from 6 to 5. The number of constituencies around the country will be reduced from 43 to 40 – as well as a number of of other wide ranging changes to boundaries.

Donegal North East Deputy Charlie Mc Conalogue says the government must quickly implement the findings of the report from the independent review group on the deaths of children in State care. Deputy Mc Conalogue, the Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Children says it’s imperative that resources and proper management structures be put in place to ensure

Independent Councillors will determine who will be the next Mayor of Donegal after Sinn Fein said they will stick to a pact which would see Councillor Frank McBrearty take the top post. Fianna Fail has indicated that it will nominate Councillor Rena Donaghey for the post which will force a vote when the council meets

It is hoped the Derry trial of a  Catholic priest, from Moville,  accused of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl will resume this morning. Proceedings were adjourned yesterday when Judge Stephen Fowler became ill while hearing legal arguments in the absence of the jury. His place on the bench was taken by Judge Piers Grant –

The Justice Minister has failed to give assurances that Glenties Garda Station will not be downgarded from District status or even closed. Senator Brian O Domnhaill raised the issue in the Seanad last night after speculation on the future of the District station intensified in the past few days. The Fianna Fail Senator told the

Fianna Fail in Donegal has confirmed that the party will be proposing Cllr Rena Donaghey for the position of Mayor of the county next Mondays AGM of the council. It had been speculated in recent weeks that controversial Labour councillor Frank McBrearty would get the top post, succeeding Fine Gael’s Noel McBride. In order to

TDs are waiting with bated breath for the publication of a report from the Constituency Commission – which is expected to recommend reducing the number of TDs by 8. The Commission has been examining the political landscape of the country – and will also recommend the redrawing of boundaries in many areas. It is widely

Sinn Fein’s Private Members Motion – calling on the Government to scrap the household charge – was last night defeated in the Dáil. The Bill was rejected by 76 votes to 48. 42 per cent of homeowners have yet to pay the 100 euro charge, which was introduced at the start of this year, to

The Deputy Mayor of Derry says she was shocked and disturbed to find this week that her family grave in Donegal has been vandalised. Cllr Mary Hamilton is a native of Lifford, and this week she discovered that her family grave at Clonleigh Parish Church had been attacked. The church has been in the news

IFA President John Bryan has met with Minister Simon Coveney, a day after meeting with farmers in Donegal. Mr Bryan says one of the key issues that came up in his discussions with farmers in the county was the need for a new environmental scheme to replace REPS 3, following the suspension this year of

Buncrana has been chosen as one of 44 pilot areas in which the process of divesting patronage of schools in 44 areas of the country is to get underway. The Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has announced that ads will be placed by the end of June in these areas – inviting submissions of interest for

Gardai in Donegal have launched a murder inquiry following the death of a 67 year old man at Churchill on Sunday night. Emergency services and Gardai were called to a house at Drumacnoo, Churchill at around 1.50 am where the body of Seamus Doherty was discovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene.  A post

Donegal Sinn Fein Deputy Pearse Doherty says that he’ll pay back any money he owes if he has broken Oireachtas rules on expenses. It follows claims in today’s Irish Independent, that Pearse Doherty diverted unspent expenses towards hiring part-time workers for the party. But rules introduced 2 years ago state that any such money must

It is being claimed today the Sinn Fein TDs are breaking Oireachtas rules by paying activists out of cash claimed for travel expenses. Prominent frontbenchers have revealed that part of their expenses claims were diverted to pay additional staff. According today’s Irish Independent, unspent travel expenses are supposed to be returned to the Oireachtas under

Highland Radio understands that further investigations are being carried out by gardai to determine the exact cause of the death of a man from Churchill who died at the weekend. Seamus Doherty of the Rock, Curchill was found dead on Sunday. It had been initially suspected that the man had died of natural causes –

Donegal South West TD Pearse Doherty has described the increased waiting times for Social Welfare payments as disgraceful. Deputy Doherty says that since the FG Lab government came into office waiting times have rocketed. The waiting time for the majority of claims has increased while the waiting time for just four payments has decreased. Figures

The IFA is calling on the government to speed up the issuing of aquaculture licences, saying there are job and investment opportunities being lost. Speaking during a visit to Donegal this week, IFA President John Bryan said there are almost 600 licence applications to be processed. During a visit to fish and shellfish farming facilities

Donegal North East Deputy Charlie McConalogue will address a major Fianna Fail national conference on education policy this weekend. Fianna Fáil members, TDs, Senators, Councillors and education experts from across the country will attend the event at in Salthill on Saturday. The conference, entitled Developing a Policy Agenda, will focus on tackling mental health issues

An appeal has been launched following the vicious killing of a dog in St Johston at the weekend. Two and a half year-old German Shepherd ‘Rex’  was found dead last Saturday morning – the dog had been stabbed five times and had its throat cut. A reward in excess of 500 euro is being offered

A function is taking place in London this evening to reach out to business people in the UK with links to the West and North West. Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte will be the guest speaker at the networking event, the second under the Re:Connect programme launched by the Taoiseach at the Irish Embassy in London

Donegal County Council says that it will, in the coming weeks, progress a number of options to ensure that all those who should have paid the second home charge, have paid the charge. Anyone who has yet to pay the charge since its introduction in 2009  currently owes €2,160. This amounts to €800 in charges

Daniel O’Donnell is going to be awarded the freedom of County Donegal at a reception this friday. It’s in recognition of his contribution to music at local, national and international level and his role promoting his native county. The singer will become the fifth recipient of a badge and pin set that’s been specially commissioned

A community meeting is being held in Lifford this Thursday evening in response to the third time attack in recent weeks on Clonleigh Parish Church. Thousands of euro worth of damage was caused in the attack on the Parish Church last Friday. Those responsible kicked in the front door of the church, smashed pictures of

The coastguard is undertaking a major training exercise this evening in the sea off Buncrana. The exercise will involve a mock fire on the Lough Swilly Ferry and a likely mass rescue that would result. The coast guard helicopter, the Greencastle Coastguard Team and the Lough Swilly Lifeboat will all be involved in the exercise

A man has been arrested in Derry by police following yesterday’s robbery of the post office in Bridgend. A cross border manhunt was launched after the post office was the target of robbers for a second time in a year. Staff where threatened and a small sum of cash was taken in the incident which

The body of a man has been recovered from the sea close to Derrybeg. The discovery was made last night off Magheragallon pier. The dead man is thought to be in his late 50s or early 60s. There are no further details at present.

The jury in the trial of two men accused of the murder of Michaela McAreavey will today visit the hotel in Mauritius where she was killed. The nine jurors will be accompanied by the judge and the defence and prosecution lawyers. The six men and three women jury will be shown the room at the

There has been another raid at a post office in Inishowen. Gardai says a number of men entered the Post Office at Bridgend shortly after 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon – they threatened staff and made off with an undisclosed sum of cash. The robbery comes as Sinn Fein claims that cutbacks to Garda resources are

A small element of young people in Strabane have been blamed for setting fire to a disused factory premises in the Ballycolman Industrial Estate. The fire was reported to the emergency services shortly after 4.30pm last evening. 8 fire-fighting appliances tackled the blaze for a number of hours last evening- no-one was injured when the

A legal action challenging the constitutionality of the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism is due to start in the High Court today. It’s being brought by Independent Donegal South West TD Thomas Pringle. The hearing is expected to last between 5 and 7 days and may involve points of law being referred to the

A man seriously injured in a crash in Stranorlar at the weekend has died. The single vehicle collision occurred at around twenty to ten on Saturday night on the Drumkeen to Stranorlar road. 34 year-old Stephen McElwaine from Convoy was seriously injured when the van he was a passenger in,  overturned. He died today at

The trial has begun in Derry of a parish priest charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. Fr Eugene Boland, 66, and originally from Moville, denies five charges of indecently assaulting the girl from June 1990 to June 1992. He is alleged to have committed the offences in a parochial house in Derry’s Galliagh area

Defence lawyers in the trial of two men accused of murdering Michaela McAreavey won’t press the issue of CCTV footage of a couple arguing. Prosecution and police disputed that the footage was of the McAreaveys, saying it was a German couple also staying at the Legends Hotel. The German couple came forward in recent days

Ardara has been named the best village in Ireland in which to live by the Irish Times. The paper is sponsoring the Best Place to Live in Ireland awards, and this morning named five category winners. The overall winner will be announced next Monday. Ardara was named best village because, the judges noted, Ardara makes

Sinn Fein in Donegal say government figures on emigration are incomplete, and need to be improved. Donegal North East Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn has tabled a number of Dail questions on the issue, to be told that estimated figures are published once a year by the CSO, and there is no way of providing a