Author name: oisinkelly

The majority of Donegal County Councillors have voted in favour of a material contravention of the county development plan to facilitate the construction of a wind-farm close to Donegal Town. However in a recorded vote the motion failed as it didn’t get the 21 votes required to be carried. Eco Wind Power is seeking to […]

The doors of 80 Ulster Bank branches will stay open until 7 o’clock every day until Friday to deal with the payments backlog following last week’s system failure. Officials from the Central Bank met with management at Ulster Bank yesterday to put pressure on them to resolve the issue. The technical glitch – which was

The new Mayor of Donegal says he believes his profile nationally and internationally will help him to promote Donegal and build on the work of his predecessors. Cllr Frank Mc Brearty was elected Mayor of Donegal last evening in a two way contest with Fianna Fail Cllr Rena Donaghy, becoming the first Labour politician to

All the evidence has now been heard at the trial of Fr. Eugene Boland in Derry. The Moville born priest of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl between June 1990 and June 1992. The offences are alleged to have occurred while the teenager volunteered at a Parochial

Fianna Fail has claimed that 32% of the voting public have been excluded after a power sharing pact saw Frank McBrearty elected Mayor in Lifford on Monday. Fianna Fail nominated Councillor Rena Donaghey for the position but Labour, Sinn Fein and the Independents stuck to an agreement which saw the Inishowen representative defeated by 17

Gardai are investigating an incident at a party in Annagry early this morning, during which a 19 year old man sustained serious injuries. The man, believed to be from the Gweedore area, is seriously ill with head injuries in the ICU at Letterkenny General Hospital. Gardai cordoned off the scene of the incident today and

On the closing day of the trial of Fr. Eugene Boland the jury heard from several character witnesses for the priest. The Moville born priest of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl between June 1990 and June 1992. The offences are alleged to have occurred while the

As expected, Frank McBrearty Junior has been elected the Mayor of Donegal. His party colleague, Councillor Martin Farren was elected Deputy Mayor. They replace Councilor Noel McBride  and Councillor Barry O’Neill respectively. Fianna Fail proposed Councillor Rena Donaghey as Mayor but a power sharing pact between Labour, Fine Gael,Sinn Fein and Independents held with Councillor

The widower of Michaela McAreavey was heard to mutter the word “lies” today as  a lawyer for one of the men on trial for her murder opened the case for the defence. The trial of two local hotel workers – Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandip Moneea – is now in its sixth week. They’re accused of

Donegal County Council will not be releasing the full details of a 90 thousand euro evaluation of the Whole System of Work to either the public or councillors who sanction the spend. The WSW has cost the Donegal public almost 3.5 million euro to date but has yet to be used. It is a system which is claimed

Donegal County Council has written off 3.4 million euro in rates due last year deeming the money irrecoverable. Figures released by the council show that of the almost 21 million euro in rates demanded off businesses last year just 15 million euro has been collected. 22% of businesses have entered a payment plan with the

Two teenagers have been arrested in Derry in connection with an assault on a couple aged in their 60’s on Greenhaw Avenue on Wednesday last. A 19 yr-old and a juvenile have been charged with GBH, common assault and possession of an offensive weapon. They were arrested last night, and are due to appear at

Donegal County Council is considering spending more money testing  the Whole System of Work. The controversial  system has cost the county almost 3.5 million euro to date and has been in development for 17 years – it aims to set out a way of working to make the Council run more efficiently and cost effectively.

Raphoe based Cllr Frank Mc Brearty will be Mayor of Donegal after the County Council’s AGM this afternoon. All five independent members have confirmed they will be honouring the pact agreed in 2010 and supporting Cllr Mc Brearty’s candidacy, despite a concerted Fianna Fail campaign. Raphoe based Cllr Frank Mc Brearty will be Mayor of

The people of Westport, Co Mayo, are celebrating this morning – after the town was named the best place to live in Ireland. The competition – run by The Irish Times – pitted the town against Cork City, Rathmines in Dublin, Ardara in Donegal as well as Killarney. But the panel were won over by

Opening hours at 80 Ulster Bank branches will be extended until 6pm today, in a bid to get through a backlog of transactions caused by a technical malfunction. The glitch in the bank’s IT system emerged last week and is said to have affected payment services for over 100-thousand customers. Ulster Bank has assured customers

Farmers are calling on the Agriculture Minister to secure a 50 per cent advance in the Single Farm Payment from the European Union. It comes as the recent heavy rainfall is causing havoc for farmers – with two thirds of silage crop yet to be harvested. The Irish Farmers’ Association says cash flow will become

Donegal North East Deputy Charlie Mc Conalogue says education policy can be the key to Fianna Fail’s re-emergence as a political party. Deputy Mc Conalogue was speaking after a weekend conference which reaffirmed the importance of ecucation to future economic recovery, and called for more investment to protect small schools and ensure that support services

The manager of Letterkenny General Hospital has paid tribute to staff following their response to a bus crash yesterday which saw 51 people brought to the Emergency Department. The bus, which was carrying 49 elderly passengers on a day trip, was in collision with a car at Castleogary near Killybegs at 4.30 last evening. A

Three people were treated at Letterkenny General Hospital overnight following an bus crash at Castleogary near Killybegs at 4.30 last evening. The bus was in collision with a car, and a total of 52 people were brought to the hospital. Two of them were in the car, the rest were in the bus, including 49

Over 40 people, most of them elderly, have been brought to Letterkenny General Hospital following a collision involving a bus and a car in South Donegal this afternoon. The collision happened at 4.30 at Castleogry, Killybegs. There were almost 50 people on the bus, believed to be from Donegal and on a day trip. There

A priest accused of indecently assaulting a teenage girl told a jury that he had never behaved in a ‘suggestive or inappropriate manner’ towards the girl. Fr Eugene Boland, of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indencently assaulting a 14-year-old girl between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992. The offences are

Representatives from the US embassy in Dublin will be in Donegal next month to provide consular services to American citizens living in the north west. The outreach services will be offered from the Donegal Town Library on July 5th. As it is a presidential election year in the US, information to assist with voting Absentee

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