Author name: oisinkelly

The Northern Ireland executive has failed to agree a plan to more than halve the number of Northern Ireland’s councils to 11. SDLP, Sinn Fein and Alliance ministers all voted for the 11 council model but the three DUP ministers voted against. The UUP ministers did not vote. Under the plan Strabane and Derry  Councils […]

It has been claimed that ongoing construction work at Letterkenny General Hospital is causing great distress to families during the removal of deceased loved ones. Councillor Mick Quinn says that he has personally attended removals from the hospital claiming the noise of work men chatting and heavy machinery is insensitive. He has met with hospital

The Mobuoy Road on the outskirts of Derry has been closed to traffic due to a fire at a waste recycling site. The fire was discovered shortly before 6am. Up to 60 fire fighters tackled a blaze at the same location in March. It is not yet clear the extent of today’s fire

At the outset of 1972, the security situation in Northern Ireland was fast spiralling out of control. The Troubles had broken out four years earlier when police in Derry clashed with civil rights protesters demanding an end to discriminatory housing and voting practices against Roman Catholics. Within 12 months British soldiers were deployed on to

The findings of the longest-running and most expensive public inquiry in British legal history are being published this afternoon The ‘Bloody Sunday’ inquiry by Lord Saville has been examining the deaths of 13 people in 1972 at a civil rights protest in Derry British soldiers claimed they’d come under attack. Richard Moore’s uncle was killed

Donegal County  Manager Michael McLoone has promised to respond to issues raised in an internal audit report into the hiring of consultants to advise on how best to reform council services. At yesterdays monthly meeting of the council members backed Mr Mc Loone, although a number did raise serious concerns, particularly on how money was

Enda Kenny’s preparing for a difficult morning with his Fine Gael frontbench today, with a majority of members expected to tell him they’ve lost confidence in his leadersip. At least 9 Richard Bruton supporters are expected to speak out today. Enda Kenny will then have to decide whether to sack them like Richard Bruton, or

All 29 members of Donegal County Council agreed unamiously today to call on the government to scrap VRT. The council where all in agreement that the tax was unfair and unjust, although there was some disagreement on what the alternatives were to the tax. There has been an ongoing campaign against VRT in Donegal recently,

A West Donegal councillor says more should be done to develop and promote Donegal’s prime landmarks with a view towards increasing visitor numbers . Speaking at the council’s reconvened monthly meeting in Lifford today, Councillor Seamus O’Domhnaill said more needs to be done to advertise natural assets such as Mount Errigal and Ards Forest Park.

A member of the Fine Gael frontbench has called on the party’s Deputy leader Richard Bruton to pull back from the brink of a challenge to Enda Kenny’s leadership. It’s reported today that he told Mr Kenny at the weekend that he no longer had confidence in him in the position. James Reilly said he’s

New figures from the gardai show that more people have been killed on the road so far this year in Donegal and Limerick than in any other counties. The figures also reveal that most Irish road deaths involve single-vehicle crashes in the early hours of the morning. Of the 90 fatalities since the start of

A Donegal book dealer has stumbled upon the first edition of a renowned 150-year-old history of Inishowen, ending a mammoth quarter-century quest. Inishowen, Its History, Traditions and Antiquities was written in the late 1860s by Michael Harkin, a local journalist operating under the pseudonym Maghtochair. Carndonagh book dealer Michael Herron (71) said he had all

The Sinn Fein Ard Comhairle (Cor-la) is meeting in Dublin this afternoon. Party leadership will discuss the reports into the banking crisis, the drop in confidence in Government and the upcoming report from the Saville Inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings. And Donegal Senator Pearse Doherty, says Donegal will feature prominemtly today.

The Gweebara Conservation Group and Donegal Alternative to Pylons say they will coordinate a major campaign of opposition against the ESB and Eirgrid when construction starts on a major power line in the county. Preliminary work is due to get under way on the line connecting Letterkenny and Gweedore via Binbane and Glenties later this

A British newspaper is claiming the Saville Report on Bloody Sunday will find that a number of the fatal shootings of civilians by British soldiers were unlawful. The paper says it’s been briefed by reliable sources, the Northern Ireland office is describing it as pure speculation. The report in today’s Guardian newspaper claims Lord Saville’s

It’s emerged that construction on a major 110 kv power line will begin in Donegal in the autumn, with 63 miles of pylons to be erected from Letterkenny to Gweedore via Binbane and Glenties. A previous application was turned down, but the revised plan was gioven the go ahead last year by An Bord Pleanala,

Both Deputy Dinny McGinley and Senator Brian O’Domhnaill has this evening stated in the strongest terms that neither have over claimed travel expenses to and from the Dail. Earlier today Senator Pearse Doherty called on both men to return any over payments if it were determined that they were received. It is reported today that

Yesterdays discovery of a pipe-bomb beside a childrens play-area in Strabane has been widely condemned. Army bomb experts made safe the device yesterday morning. Police said it was “reckless in the extreme” to abandon the device near the play area. And local Councillor Eugene McMennamin, says a young child could of been killed yesterday.

There have been calls for any excess  Dail travel expenses paid to Deputy Dinny McGinley and Senator Brian O’Domhnaill to be returned to the exchequer if it is found they were over paid. Both Deputy McGinley and Senator O’Domhnaill claim expenses to and from Dublin via Sligo, each claim that they do so so as

A schoolgirl, who’s sitting her Junior Cert this week, has opted to have a man guilty of stalking her named, he was also jailed for 18 months today. Anthony Kearns, a 49-year-old former garden business owner, admitted a series of sex offences against the girl between the ages of 12 and 14. Donegal Circuit Court

A suspect device found close to a school at Moss Park in the Shantallow area of Derry has been declared a hoax. The device was found by a member of the public shortly before 8am this morning. The area was cordoned off while an Army bomb disposal team examined the device and carried out a

Plans for the new Glenties & Dungloe Sewerage Schemes have progressed with news that the government expected to shortly deliver a positive verdict on council’s pre tender documents. This would allow the local authority to put the contract out to tender. The schemes are estimated to cost in the region of 7 million euro and

Residents in Derry have said their lives are being “made a misery” by gangs of young people. They said up to 100 youths gathered in Lowry’s Lane Park on the cityside over the weekend until the early hours of the morning. Police said they visited the area on Friday and Saturday night to speak to

North West MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher is urging Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to consider deferring the introduction of proposed changes to the lending abilities of Credit Unions. At present, the Creduit Union must have 20% of it’s debts in reserve, but the new Central Bank Reform Bill includes a clause which would oblige the

Three men today  pleaded guilty to sex assaults on a schoolgirl when she was 12 and 13 The men were immediately placed on the register of sex offenders by Judge Gerard Griffin at Donegal Circuit Court. Paul Gilmore(30), unemployed, admitted three offences in July, September and November in 2003 on a beach and a town

Three  weekly papers owned by the same company closed yesterday The Sligo, Meath and Cavan Posts, owned by Letterkenny-based River Media, were shut in succession to earlier closures of the Leitrim Post, Wicklow News , and Monaghan Post . Another paper in the Finn Valley area of Ballybofey and Stranorlar has been merged with the

A security alert is underway in Strabane following the discovery of a suspicious device in the town. The device, believed to be a pipe bomb, was found on Carlton Drive in Melmount Road area of town. It was discovered in a parking bay close to a children’s play area shortly after 10am.

Just over 4,300 students are sitting the Leaving and Junior Certificate Examinations at schools across Donegal today, with female studnetss outnumbering males in both exams. 2,116 Donegal students are sitting the Leaving Certificate exam today, 1,126 of them female and 990 male. A further 134 students are sitting the Leaving Cert  Applied exam in the

A councillor has said he is outraged that planning process for telecomuniction masts has not been made more transparent despite the issue being raised nine months ago. At last Septembers monthly meeting of the council Councillor Mick Quinn had a motion passed calling on the council to amend the county development plan in relation to

A man accused of sex with a 13-year-old schoolgirl is to marry this week. Donegal Circuit Court was told today(Tues), when five men were listed for trial on sex charges against the girl when she was 12 and 13, that the man’s wedding this Saturday had been arranged for a year. The detail was revealed

Two men have been jailed for 14-and-a-half years for the killing of Derry businessman 51-year Paul Houston. 20-year-old Diego Dias and 28-year-old Jones Sousa dos Santos both from Brazil, were convicted of the manslaughter of Mr Houston on yesterday. Paul Houston was on holiday in the Algarve with his wife Celine. He was alone when

Prison officer’s teenage son Joseph Myers today  admitted attempting to rob a bank with a hatchet. Joseph Myers, 19, also pleaded guilty to intimidation with a hatchet capable of inflicting serious injury at the Bank of Ireland, Ballyshannon, on the same date last July 22nd. Myers, with addresses in Ballinasloe and at Tuam Rd, Galway,

Two men, thought to be from Derry are in garda custody after a taxi driver was hijacked at gunpoint in Dublin. The men bundled the driver into the boot of his car in Smithfield just after midday. They then drove to nearby Stoneybatter and lay in wait for a cash in transit delivery to a

Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore says he believes he can become the next Taoiseach. Speaking during a visit to Donegal today, Mr Gilmore said he believes the next General Election will see the three main parties contest it on an equal basis, and Labour will be out to win. Speaking to Highland Radio News, the Labour

The new mayor of Derry Cllr Colm Eastwood has called for the families of the Bloody Sunday victims to be given space when the Saville Enquiry’s report is published next week. Cllr Eastwood made his comments after his election was confirmed in the Guildhall last night. Referring to next week’s publication of the Saville report,

Sinn Fein says 30% of Donegal’s labour force is now out of work. In a statement, Cllr Padraig Mac Lochlain says when the latest live register figures are compared to County Development Board figures which show the Labour Force in Donegal as being just over 65,000. Last week, his party colleague Senator Pearse Doherty presented

Donegal’s landscape will be transformed by the construction of more than 50 windfarms over the coming years, new figures reveal. The current number of 117 windfarms across the Republic will rapidly increase over the coming decade to 361 as the Irish government races to meet EU targets which oblige it to produce 40% of all

Donegal South West Deputy Dinny Mc Ginley and Senator Brian O’Domhnaill have been answering claims that they have been overclaioming travel expenses. According to today’s Donegal News, both Deputy Mc Ginley and Senator O’Donal live 290 kilometres from Leinster House. However, both are claiming expenses in Band 11, which covers distances of between 330 and

An SDLP deputation has met with senior PSNI officers, including Derry Commander Chris Yates to discuss last week’s attack in the Slievemore Park area of the city. It comes after police refused to respond when called by a couple whose house was entered twice by armed men who threatened to shoot a man, The couple

A 38-year-old man arrested in Cookstown, County Tyrone last week has been charged with terrorism offences. The man is facing a number of firearm and terrorism offences believed to be linked to a republican show of strength before the funeral of Dissident Republican John Brady in Strabane last October.

Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey has condemned the petrol bombing of two homes in the West End Park area on Friday night. The SDLP representitive described it as a terrible attack on a residential area. He said it’s a matter of luck that this and other recent attacks have not caused death. Meanwhile, Mr Ramsey has