Author name: oisinkelly

A Donegal County Councillor has slammed Customs and Excise for operating a checkpoint in Burnfoot this morning delaying traffice by up to 40 minutes. Councillor Padraig McLoughlinn says the checkpoint was nonsensical and counter productive. He says the majority of those stuck in the resulting tailbacks were law abiding and those that who weren’t could […]

A former RTE boss accused by a work colleague of sending her sex texts is at the centre of similar probes in which gardai traced messages on mobile phones linked to the Omagh bomb and Rachel O’Reilly murder inquiries. 67 year old  Fred Coll, who was the first Donegal regional manager of Raidio Na Gaeltachta,

The HSE is advising patients and clients that they may experience difficulty in making contact with HSE services due to continued industrial action this week. IMPACT has confirmed that action will take place in the HSE West area from 9am until 1pm today. IMPACT has agreed to grant derogations for switchboards and for all direct

There are fears that a 25 million euro investment for Burtonport could be lost if cash strapped Donegal County Council could not come up with 130 thousand euro. That money would be used to secure an foreshore licence which local Councillor David Alcorn says would see plans for a major hotel, leisure and housing development

Donegal Airport is to receive €2.46 million grant aid for funding in respect of an Instrument Landing System and for reconfiguration and overlay of the runway. Announcing the grant, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said it’s necessary to improve safety, and represents 90% of the cost of the works, with the balance being paid by the

Just one dangerous pothole out of 25 reported in Donegal to a new online road damage watchdog have been repaired since January’s winter freeze. Independent website potholes.ie has claimed that despite the weather improving drastically in recent days, Ireland’s rural roads are still badly damaged as a result of the winter freeze. The website claims 

A 24-year-old man has been shot in the leg Derry. The police have confirmed that around 10 o’clock last night three masked men forced their way into a house at Cable Street in the Bogside area. One went to an upstairs bedroom and fired a number of shots, none of which hit the man. A

The Oireachtas Transport Committee has agreed to meet the families of three young women who died in road crashes allegedly linked to road works which were improperly marked. The committee had initially refused to meet the families, including the parents of Donegal woman Sinead Mc Daid, but has today reversed that decision. North West MEP

A 66-year-old man who was extradited from Donegal has been  ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register after he pleaded guilt to 25 charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against his daughter and his niece when he appeared at Derry Crown Court. The man who cannot be named or legal reasons was extradited last December and

Lettekenny Town Council has committed to providing community allotments next year. The issue has been raised on numerous occasion at Letterkenny Town Council in recent years and last evening councillors agreed that every effort would be made to provide the allotments. A motion on the issue was moved by Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh, he says yesterday’s

Donegal County Councilors have agreed that a name and shame policy and stiffer fines are the only way to tackle the issue of littering and illegal dumping. The issue was raised by Councilor Patrick McGowen with claims that the littering problem in Donegal has never been worsed. He says the level of anger amongst elected

Foyle Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney has been selected as the vice-chair of the new Assembly justice committee. Mr McCartney was chosen following a vote to elect Alliance Party leader David Ford as the North’s new justice minister yesterday afternoon. He becomes the first locally elected politician to hold the office for 38 years. The

A Donegal man has been jailed for five and a half years for anally raping a 15-year-old girl two years ago. The 23-year-old accused was also convicted of having sex with the teenager on the same occasion in February 2008. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a rape charge at his Central Criminal

The death of a Derry teenager after he jumped into a swollen river while fleeing police has left a deep scar running through his young friends and community, mourners at his funeral were told yesterday. 15-year-old Kyle Bonnes was laid to rest yesterday when many of his friends gathered for the funeral service wearing Rangers

A 25-year-old man is to stand trial at Derry Crown Court charged with breaching two interim risk of sexual harm orders. Paul James Lomas, from Ballycolman Estate in Strabane, is alleged to have committed the offences on 29 May 2009. He is accused of associating with people under the age of 18 without the approval

A family from Donegal who lost their daughter in a car crash in 2001, have been refused a meeting with the Oireachtas Committee. Sinead McDaid’s family claims the crash would not have happened if council workers, who tarred and chipped the road earlier that day, had followed safety procedures. Donegal County Council refutes that claim.

The Donegal County Council’s finances have been described as in crisis with fears that many major projects in the county will not be proceeding due to a lack of funds. Councillors today agreed the council’s Capital Programme for the next three years, however concern has been expressed that the council is to add to its

The Council has unanimously backed calls for the HSE to clearly outline the future of the Lifford and Ballyshannon Community Hospitals with concern that a decision has already been made to close them. Their futures have been the subject of much speculation of late with the HSE saying that talk of closures are premature and

It has been confirmed that the Polish president has been killed in a plane crash. Lech Kaczynski and his wife were on board the Smolensk bound flight in western Russia, from Warsaw. It’s understood none of the 96 passengers survived. A special mass for the victims of the Aircrash disaster is being held in the

The Donegal Travellers Project has expressed its concern at the low level of funding provided by government for traveller accomodation. The Government has confirmed almost 17 million euro for Donegal under the Social Housing Investment Programme for 2010. However of that, only 70 thousand euro has been allocated for Traveller accomodation. Siobhan McLoughlin of the

The Donegal Live Tourism Project will be officially launched in Letterkenny this coming Monday with the aim of significantly boosted the number of visitors to Donegal this summer. One of the key events of the project will be a full Donegal awareness day in Templebar Bar, Dublin on May !6th highlighting all aspects of the

There has been a small drop in the number of people signing on the Live Register in Donegal during March According to the CSO the Jobless figure still stands in excess of 21,000 county-wide. The figures show that last month there was 21,074 people on the live register, that is drop of 84 on Febuary

Strabane District Council is to place throw lines at The Weir in Sion Mills, the place where Sion Mills chef, Dale Alexander drowned almost a year ago. At an inquest into the 21-year-olds death on Wednesday, Coroner John Lecky called for an investigation into life belt provision along the river. Information panels warning of dangers

Buncrana Town Councillors have been split on what is the best way to deal with traffic congestion at Westbrook Junction in the Town. Following the development of in excess of 200 homes in the area there has been an ongoing issue with congestion at the junction particularly as children travel to and from school. Yesterday

The Minister for Housing Michael Finneran has confirmed funding of almost €17 million to Donegal under the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) for 2010. The money will be used for the provision of local authority housing, capital loans and improvemnts and extension to the county’s current local authorty house stock. 11.6 million euro will be

The Derry schoolboy who drowned while fleeing from police on Wednesday had been in court that morning. 15-year-old Kyle Bonnes was running away from police when he entered the River Faughan near Drumahoe. Despite attempts to rescue him, he was unconscious when he was pulled from the water and died a short time later. On

A coroner has called on authorities on both sides of the border to review roads signs on a dangerous road on the outskirts of Derry where a 29 year-old Donegal man was killed almost three years ago. Gavin McGinty, from Drumkeen who was killed when his Renault Clio car collided with a van emerging from

Donegal sheep farmers have welcomed the annoucement that €54 million in unused EU funding will be allocated to the sector over the next 3 years. Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said the scheme would help to stop the decline in flock numbers and reduce income pressures on farmers as well as the number of producers

A public nursing home with 41 elderly residents and 20 duty staff has been branded a fire hazard reports The Irish Independent. According to today’s Irish Independent, a HIQA report found that Dungloe Community Hospital failed to provide the necessary levels of safety to protect residents and staff. Safety concerns at the nursing home, which

The Police Ombudsman’s Office has appealed for witnesses to the drowning of a teenager in the River Faughan in Derry to come forward. 15-year-old Kyle Bonnes from Tullyally, died after being pulled from the river on Wednesday. The incident happened in the Drumahoe area just after 5 o clock. The boy was running from police

A coroner has called for an investigation into life belt provision along the River Mourne, following the death of a young Sion Mills man last year. Coroner John Lecky made the call during an inquest into the death of 21 year-old Dale Alexander  at The Weir, Sion Mills on June 1 2009. His parents Malcolm

Donegal have captured the Ulster U-21 football Championship. They defeated Cavan this evening by 2-08 to 0-7 Donegal won the provincial title for the seventh time on Wednesday Night after their seven point win over Cavan at Brewster Park in Enniskillen. Man of the match was Glenswilly’s Michael Murphy who contributed 1-5. Dermott Molloy scored

A car salesman under arrest by detectives probing a threat to gardai with a firearm as they broke up a row outside a rural pub has been put on bail of €25,000. John Moran appeared at Donegal District Court today charged with possession of a gun and ammunition at Gleneely, near Carndonagh on Monday. He

The Royal College of Surgeons has expressed concern for patient safety at Letterkenny General Hospital’s Emergency Department if measure aren’t taken to address staffing levels. The Hospital is one of a number around the country which has a shortage of Non Consultant Hospital Doctors which the RCSI says is stretching resources and hindering the safe

Latest figures from property website daft.ie indicate that the d The average asking price in Donegal in the first three months of 2010 was €199,000, a fall of €70,000 from the peak in 2007, but largely unchanged compared to the first three months of 2009. Commenting on the latest figures, Ronan Lyons economist with Daft.ie,

Relatives of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday have said they are disappointed in the delay of the publication of the Saville Report Yesterday, the Northern Ireland Office said it would not be given to parliament until after the election. A spokesperson said that the decision had been taken because of the impending dissolution

A DUP MLA wants dissident republican rallies banned after a sinister warning was issued at an Easter Monday commemoration in Derry. Representatives from various republican groups were among the hundreds of people who gathered at Derry City Cemetery to mark the 94th anniversary of the Easter Rising. They heard a representative from the Real IRA

The Minister for Education’s been met with stoney silence at the TUI annual congress in Ennis. Only a handful of delegates left the hall when Mary Coughlan took to her feet. The Minister offered an olive branch by announcing a review of the moratorium on recruitment of middle management, to relieve pressure from retirements. But

A cannon linked to a fortune in gold has been unveiled as a tourist attraction at Downings Pier more than 90 years after it sank to the seabed 39 metres down in the mouth of Lough Swilly. The 7m-long gun weighing more than seven tons was lifted on to the pier at Downings 2½ years

A member of the Real IRA yesterday hinted at an upsurge in the republican paramilitary group’s campaign of violence. Dressed in a paramilitary uniform and wearing a scarf and black beret as well as sunglasses to conceal his identity, the Real IRA man emerged from a crowd of several hundred people during a 32-County Sovereignty

An investigation is under way after gardaí were threatened with a firearm as they broke up a row outside a rural pub in Co Donegal in the early hours of yesterday. The incident happened in Gleneely, a village about five kilometres from Carndonagh, following an altercation between several locals and a number of people from

Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 have welcomed a decision by the Parliamentary authorities to allow two members from each family to read the report of the Saville inquiry before the findings are published. They say they are relieved there has been a change of heart after pressure from them

A nurse received a suspended prison sentence when she admitted stealing tablets from a patient at a sitting of Derry Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Cheryl Brolly (54) originally from Scotland but with an address in Heather Park, Buncrana admitted three counts of shoplifting, stealing the tablets and obstructing police. The court heard that on three

Gardai are hoping their Easter weekend warning road safety warning will significantly reduce the high level of drink driving and speeding offences detected at the same time last year. The Head of the Donegal Traffic Corp, Inspector Michael Harrison, says that looking at figures for last Easter the message so far is not getting though.

Donegal County Council has again been hit by severe weather in east Inishowen, which has affected the public water supply. The storm on Tuesday night knocked out power supply to that area including the water treatment plant at Redcastle. The Council moved a generator into the Redcastle Plant yesterday and powered up the works and