Author name: oisinkelly

The owner of the so-called ‘Bog Hotel’ in Frosses has said he will run as an Independent in the Donegal South-West bye-election. Patsy Brogan, who recently overcame a court challenge by Donegal County Council to close the premises on planning grounds, says he believes he will win the seat vacated by Fianna Fails Pat ‘The

Donegal Airport and the City of Derry Airport are to remain closed today until at least midnight. Flights at Belfast International and City Airports are to be grounded from 1 o’clock today until further notice. Dublin airport will be restricted from 11 o’clock until at least midnight tonight, and no flights will travel through the

Sinn Féin will place a motion before the Dáil this afternoon instructing the Ceann Comhairle to call the by-election for Donegal South West, to fill the seat made vacant by Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher in June of last year. It’s expected both Fine Gael and Labour will support the move. It will be the second

FIne Gael’s introducing legislation in the Dáil later aimed at forcing the last two TD’s to hand back their Ministerial pensions. The main opposition party says it would remove the pension entitlement from all serving members of the Oireachtas. But the Government says Fine Gael’s proposed bill is unconstitutional. All of Fine Gael’s TD’s and

A cousin of a 30-year-old woman who alleges she was raped in a house in Donegal three years ago said she warned the accused not to go near their bedrooms. On day three of the trial, the 28-year-old woman gave evidence at the Central Criminal Court that she noticed a “man wearing a navy striped

Representatives of wind farm developments in Donegal are set to mount a legal challenge to what they say are outrageous charges by local authorities for establishing windfarms in the country. A team of experts is set to take a test case in the courts in Co Donegal later this month, arguing that rates on wind

Plans to build a state-of-the-art data centre at Bridgend – which could generate hundreds of new high-tech jobs – are at a very advanced stage. It’s understood that plans to build a ‘tier four’ data centre at Bridgend, will be revealed within weeks. It will link up with the Project Kelvin telehouse in Derry to

Management at the ‘Keith Prowse’ call centre in Lisfannon, Buncrana are expected to release a statement tomorrow on speculation that a number of job losses are imminent. According to today’s ‘Inish Times’ up to 20 jobs could be lost. Keith Prowse is a ticketing call centre based in Lisfannon, handling ticket sales for a number

Funding haas been secured for an additional classroom at the Little Angels Special School, Letterkenny. Donegal North East Deputy Niall Blaney says he’s received confirmation of the allocation from Tanaiste and Education Minister Mary Coughlan. He says Department officials will be in touch with the school shortly to discuss how the project can be advanced.

The Donegal Live event showcasing the best of what Donegal has to offer as a holiday destination was launched in Dublin today. It will take place in Dublin on the 16th of this month. Donegal Live aims to make the county the number one choice for people choosing a “staycation” this year. The exhibition will

Final figures for 2009 show that the property tax introduced on holiday homes last year earned 30million euro more than first expected. The 200 euro levied on people with more than one property yielded in excess of 68 million euro. Donegal County Council was one of the top earners taking in just over 3 million

It has been confirmed that Irish Airspace will reopen this afternoon from 1pm. The Irish Aviation Authority had imposed restrictions because a dense plume of Icelandic volcanic ash travelling across the island. A number of flights were cancelled including those scheduled in and out of Donegal and City of Derry airports. However in the last

An appeal has been launched following the disappearance of skeletal remains at a quarry in West Donegal over the weekend. The remains were discovered following a search that was prompted by the discovery of other remains in sand that had originated from the quarry in Gweedore. The remains, thought to date back thousands of years,

National news papers continue to draw a link between Donegal Deputy James McDaid’s lack of attendance in the Dail and his refusal so far to give up his ministerial pension. A study by the Irish Independent today shows that Deputy McDaid had by far the worst Dail attendance record for 2009 despite being paid a

It has been predicted that a new Inishowen initiative could potentially save business millions of euro and boost job creation. Inishowen INC has launched the new Initiative which is unique to Ireland, they are calling on all business, farming and community groups to sign up to boost the peninsula’s buying power. According to the group

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has informed Irish-based airlines that it will be imposing restriction on all flights in and out of Ireland from 0700hrs local until 1300hrs  Tuesday, 4th May 2010. This is due to risk of ash ingestion in aircraft engines. Ireland falls within the predicted area of ash concentrations that exceed acceptable

It has been revealed today that the Education Department has spent more than €500,000 renting a building from an uncle of the Tanaiste and Education Minister Mary Coughlan. The Donegal Education Centre in Donegal town, one of only three such centres in the country that is being leased, has cost taxpayers €90,000 every year for

An online campaign has been launched calling on Donegal Deputy Dr James McDaid to give up his ministerial pension. The facebook campaing already has the support of almost 600 people. So far, neither Deputy McDaid or MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher, have opted to give up the ministerial pension. Both are said to be mulling

A Catholic family has told the BBC they are being forced to abandon their Derry home after a series of sectarian attacks. They said their house  near Drumahoe had been targeted in attacks stretching back over 13 years. At the weekend, a group of up to 20 youths threw four petrol bombs at their home

The introduction of a “clocking in” system in Leinster House is not encouraging our TDs to turn up for work. The Sunday Times reports that in the two weeks immediately after it was brought in, just 17 of the 166 TDs reported for work every day. However, Monday and Friday are non-sitting days. Former Defence

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has accused the government of ignoring the jobs crisis and failing the 435,000 people out of work. In a May Day statement, Congress General Secretary David Begg says the entire apparatus of Government seems ‘transfixed’ by the banking crisis. The annual May Day rally saw protestors march from Parnell

Aer Arann have shelved plans to operate new routes from City of Derry Airport. Earlier this year the airline announced it would begin flights from Derry to Manchester and Edinburgh from the 20th of May. However Aer Arran announced that the services were being suspended because demand for the routes had been very poor with

Police in Derry says they are investigating two separate petrol bomb attacks in the city Two houses and a business premises have been attacked Police say a crowd of up to 20 youths were present when four petrol bombs were thrown at homes in Conway Park at 11 o’clock last night. Around the same time,

The HSE has acknowledged that Donegal could lose out in a re-organisation of out of hours GP services, but is stressing that no decisions have been taken. There are two centres fielding calls in the Western region, one in Galway, the other in Letterkenny. It’s understood the review recommends closing of one of them, and

The government is being urged to rethink its carbon taxes which come into effect tomorrow morning, the First of May. Donegal North East TD Joe McHugh is particularly anxious that the tax on farm diesel be dropped. He says the tax is being introduced at the beginning of the summer, when farm machinery is busiest,

Senator Cecilia Keavney is calling on the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and other agencies to come to Inishowen and meet with local represenitives and the business community. She says she wrote to the IDA asking for an update on what efforts are being made to promote Foreign Direct Investment in Inishowen, and was offered a briefing

A number of houses were evacuated as a result of a bomb scare in Derry’s Abercorn Place last night. A controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious object which was then removed for examination. The alert was declared a hoax shortly afterwards, and residents were allowed return to their homes shortly before 1 o’clock

It’s reported this morning that jobs could be lost at the NowDoc base in Letterkenny on foot of a HSE review of out of hours services. There are two centres fielding calls in the Western region, one in Galway, the other in Letterkenny. This morning’s Donegal News reports that the review recommends the closure of

A Donegal man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of raping a woman who was too sick to resist after a party in the county. The man pleaded not guilty to raping and sexually assaulting the thirty-year-old woman in a house in Donegal on May 20, 2007. The woman gave evidence

The Garda Commissioner will meet with the leadership of the Garda Representative Association later over the controversial speech distributed at its annual conference. In it, outgoing President, Donegal based Garda Michael O’Boyce accused the Government of being corrupted by years of power. The Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has now demanded an apology for the Irish

A section of the N13 Letterkenny to Derry Road which was closed for much of Thursday has reopened. Gardai closed the stretch after a fire at a garage close to Newtowncunningham on Wednesday night. The fire has since been put out, but gas cylinders which had caught fire had to be kept cool by the

It’s emerged that a human skull found in Donegal this week was ancient, and has been dated to pre-Christian times, possibly the bronze era. The skull was found along with its teeth in a lorry-load of sand delivered to Naomh Brid football ground between Laghey and Ballintra from a quarry in Gweedore. It was rushed

A 20-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after being assaulted in the Sylvan Park area of Letterkenny. It’s understood the 20-year-old was at a house party in the early hours of this morning, and there was an argument at the party before the assault happened. The 20-year-old victim from Rathmullan was found

Gardai in Donegal want drivers themselves to report any wreckless driving they may see over the Bank Holiday Weekend. Gardai are deploying more resources to monitor the counties roads over the long weekend. Six people have died on Donegals roads so far this year, that’s 15% of the road deaths in Ireland. Traffic Inspector for

The possibility of a ‘Letterkenny Town Festival’ was discussed at a public meeting in The Ramada Hotel last night. A group called “Revive the Letterkenny Town Festival” has been active on Facebook in recent weeks, with over 1,300 members. Letterkenny Chamber CEO says it’s time to bring the plans to the festival to the next

SDLP MLA John Dallat has resigned his seat on Coleraine Borough Council after 33 years. He’s been replaced by Cllr Roisin Loftus, and says he will now concentrate his energies on serving the East Derry constituency in Stormont. Mr Dallat says he would have preferred to have ended the dual mandate sooner, but held on

A section of the N13 Letterkenny to Derry Road remains closed by gardai this morning after a fire at a garage close to Newtowncunningham last night. The fire has since been put out, but gas cylinders which had caught fire are now being kept cool by the fire service. The road remain closed until 7

A road crossing has been put in place at the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny, but persons are being warned it is not a fully lit pedestrian crossing, and care is needed when using it. Cllr Dessie Larkin is hopeful that more work can be done at the crossing in the future, but he says,

Plans should be set in place for the extension of rail services in Donegal and the North West immediatley. Speaking on a debate on Transport in the Seanad last night, Senator Pearse Doherty, called on the Minister of Transport to make the creation of rail services in Donegal a priority. He says all parties, cross-border,

The average waiting time for operations has fallen to its lowest level ever. According to the National Treatment Purchase Fund , patients booked for surgical or medical procedures are now on lists for an average two and a half months. And the numbers waiting longer than a year plummeted from more than 4,000 two years

A section of the N13 Letterkenny to Derry Road has been closed by gardai as the fire service tackles a fire at a storage facility close to Newcunningham. Traffic is being diverted through Newtowncunningham village as efforts continue to put out the fire. Gardai are stressing there is no risk to life,  and no injuries

Gardai have confirmed this afternoon that an investigation is underway following the discovery of a skeletal remains at Ballintra in South Donegal. It is understood the discovery was made early this morning in sand that had been taken there for the development of a football pitch. The sand originated at a quarry in the Carrick

Pressure is mounting on Donegal North East TD Dr James McDaid and NorthWest MEP Pat “the Cope” Gallagher to give up their ministerial pensions. Just three TD’s and two MEPs haven’t given up their pension, after an avalanche of announcements, sparked by the decision from EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn on Monday. Dr McDaid is

Donegal North East TD Dr James Mc Daid says he will not give up his pension in order to open up a debate on how TDs are paid. He says cutting the income of Oireachtas members on foot of what he termed a media led witch hunt would open the possibility of politics once again