Author name: oisinkelly

Councillor Barry O’Neill has been selected to contest the Donegal South West bye-election for Fine Gael. He defeated fellow Councillor Martin Harley to secure the nomination. A packed Highland’s Hotel last night heard a rallying call from party leader Enda Kenny who expressed his confidence that the party will be successful in the bye-election for […]

Donegal South West Fine Gael Selection convention Before local issues were allowed dominate proceedings this evening in Glenties the Fine Gael leader faced questions on a number of issues. Not least on his own leadership role within the party given recent events and a poor poll showing , but also on the ongoing public row between

The man – thought to be in his late 20’s or early 30’s, and originally from Strabane, was discovered in an apartment in Mullingar this morning. Gardai found the man’s body when they were called to an apartment on Grove Street in Mullingar at around 7.30 this morning. Originally from Strabane the man had been

A US-based Irish priest, who is accused of raping a 15-year-old boy in Donegal, has just 48 hours left to fight his extradition to Ireland to face abuse charges. For the past 18 months 82 year-old Fr Francis Markey  has been fighting the attempts by the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring him back to

Community allotments could soon be a reality in Letterkenny after the local town council decided this afternoon to progress the issue at its next meeting. A group has been established locally to progress the issue, and it has identified lands opposite the council offices on Neil T Blaney Road as the best possible site. A

Gardai are investigating a robbery of a so called head shop in Donegal Town. The front door of the shop were smashed in an attack in the early of Sunday morning. Those responsible stole ‘legal highs’ with an estimated value of 7,000 euro. It is the second head shop in the country targetted over the

Buncrana Town Council has been told that the development of a Centre of Excellence for the arts in the town could be a major boost for the town, and would contribute significantly to the economy, as well as bringing tourists and enhancing Buncrana’s reputation nationally and internationally. Artlink has received 570,000 euro from government, and

Minister Mary Hanafin has signalled that By-Elections in Donegal and Dublin are unlikely to take place before the end of the year Meanwhile, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny will be in Glenties this evening for the party’s Donegal South West selection convention. Two candidates are seeking the nomination, County Councillors Martin Harley from Stranorlar and

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has said the bye-elections for  Donegal South West and Dublin South will not be held until at least the ‘back end’ of the year. The bye-elections are required following the resignation of former Fine Gael TD George Lee and the election of Donegal South West TD Pat The

Counsel for Colm Murphy, who is accused of conspiracy in relation to the 1998 Omagh bomb which killed 29 people and injured more than 300 has applied for a direction that his client should be acquitted. Michael O’Higgins SC, submitted to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that his client should be acquitted because of

SDLP Northlands councillor Mark H Durkan has said a third incident in as many days in the city shows the complete disregard dissidents have for the people of Derry. Mr Durkan labelled the latest -a controlled explosion on a suspicious van parked outside the courthouse at Bishop Street- as ‘sinister’. Mr Durkan said a number of homes

Interent search giant Google has added new high resolution satellite images covering parts of Ireland. Areas now covered include parts of east Cork, Kerry, Westmeath, Offaly, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Donegal, Roscommon and Mayo. Many provincial towns are now visible in high resolution for the first time, it is understood were taken recently.

Derry’s city centre manager has described a dissedent republican threat to picket shops and schools which work with the police as un-welcome, and not reflective of what the people of the city want. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement said yesterday it would write to those with dealings with the PSNI warning that if they did

Army bomb disposal experts have carried out a controlled explosion on a van in Derry, with nothing found. The van was parked outside the courthouse at Bishop Street in the city, the alert began at 4.30 this morning, with a number of people evacuated from their homes. They have since returned. The road between Bishop

Letterkenny Councillor Gerry Mc Monagle has repeated calls for extra road safety measures on the road from Blacks Bridge to Killylastin. Cllr Mc Monagle was speaking after being contacted by residents in the Chestnut Grove area after a car went off the road last night at around 8 o’clock. There were no injuries. The car

A Donegal woman has called for so called ‘headshops’ to be banned claiming that products sold legally in such shops contributed to her brother’s death. Kathleen today described how her brother changed into an angry, selfish and self absorbed person after he gave up drink and started buying legal high’s from a head shop. A

Hardline republicans in Derry are planning to send letters to shops and businesses in the city urging them not to serve members of the PSNI. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has told the ‘Derry Journal’ it has drawn up a list of businesses and a number of schools in the city who deal with the

Buncrana District Council has pledged to support a new organisation aimed at preventing suicide in any way it can. BCCS, Buncrana Community Combatting Suicide made a presentation to members at their meeting this week. At the core of the presentation was an emotional talk from Janice Doherty, whose daughter Rachel took her own life 15

Donegal South West Deputy Dinny Mc Ginley has been told that money is to be invested in improving walkways and the restaurant at Glenveagh National Park this year. He was also told by Environment Minister John Gormley that Future investment will be considered in the context of a Management Plan for the park, with a

Buncrana Town Council has been told that legal action will be taken against people who have failed to pay parking fines in the town. There were 713 outstanding parking fines in Buncrana at the end of 2008, 500 of them relating to cars from Northern Ireland. The council was told that shortly, it will be

A judge who wanted to “send out a strong message” jailed a young man for one year yesterday for dangerous driving causing the deaths of a mother and daughter in Donegal in 2008. 21 year old Sean Goldrick of Dunlewey pleaded guilty at Letterkenny Circuit Court to causing the deaths of 45 year old Martina

Buncrana Town Council has been told that a solution is available to ease the problems that have plagued the Lough Swilly Lifeboat in recent years. A deputation from the RNLI told members this week that with an investment of up to 70,000 euro a year, shared by the town and county councils, and the RNLI,

The latest TNS/MRBI radio listnership figures have shown that Highland Radio continues to be the most listened to local radio station in the country. The figures, which cover the whole of 2009, show that Highland Radio’s listnership increased on weekdays and at weekends. During the week, of those that listen to radio, 68% tune into

A 43-year-old Nigerian man has been returned for trial to Derry Crown Court on child abduction charges. Victor Ibeyo with an address at Riverview, Letterkenny appeared at a Preliminary Enquiry at Derry Magistrate’s Court today . He was charged with on a date unknown between May 14 2009 and May 17 2009 abducting a female

Buncrana Town Council has been told that crucial repairs to Cockhill Bridge have been delayed for up to two months. Repairs were to have started last month but had to be postponed because the of severe weather over the new year has badly damaged the selected diversion route. More details in this report sent from

A Donegal property developer has pleaded guilty to a charge in connection with the death of a woman in an accident at a Letterkenny hotel in 2006. Hughie McGee of Dunree Construction pleaded guilty at letterkenny Circuit Court yesterday of failing to ensure that Mona Duffy was safe from risk at or around Gallagher’s Hotel,

The campaign group Alternative to Pylons is claiming that the government is planning to make Donegal a net exporter of electricity. The group believes that a 110 kilovolt line planned for the county is intended to take power out ather than stimulate investment by bringing it in. This week the Council was told that wind

Two PSNI officers who were called to the home of a missing person in Derry have been disciplined after failing to locate the man’s decomposing body inside the property. In September 2008, a lady reported to the PSNI that she had not seen her neighbour for over a week, PSNI officers visited the premises twice

The decision of George Lee to resign his Dail seat and leave Fine Gael may further delay the long awaited by election in Donegal. A by election will also be required in Dublin South, and it’s now believed the government will now abandon plans for an early summer poll in Donegal South West, and run

There are calls for more serious sentences to be introduced for attacking emergency services in the north after details emerged today of another attack on a paramedic in Derry who was attending a call out. The attack took place while the paramedic was attending the scheme of an accident at the junction of Rock Road

Deputy Niall Blaney, a member of the Oireachtas Committee on health has warned of longer hospital waiting lists and more pressure on emergency departments  if GP training places are not expanded. Under the HSE’s Primary Care Strategy it is envisaged that local community care health facilities would meet up to 95% of patients needs thus

The IMPACT trade union has stressed that a decision for council phones in Lifford to go unanswered  today is not as a result of ongoing union action but a decision taken management. People calling the council offices are being told, by way of recorded message, that the phones are not being answered as a direct

Compensation of 5.17 million euro was awarded to personal injury claimants in Donegal last year. According to preliminary year-end data from InjuriesBoard.ie. this a drop from the 2008 figure of 6.12 million euro. In total 223 awards were made by the board to claimants in Donegal last year a drop of 5 on the previous

Around 50 commuters were left stranded in the North today after the train broke down en route from Belfast to Derry. They were stuck in carriages for more than two hours when the mechanical failure occurred near Ballymoney. The engine breakdown also caused the onboard heating system to close down, leaving passengers to brave cold

It is reported that Gardai are now satisfied that a faction of the Real IRA was behind the murder of former Sinn Fein administrator-turned-spy Denis Donaldson in Glenties. Officers believe that he was shot dead by Derry-based Real IRA dissidents in a bid to create problems for the mainstream Provisional republican movement, which was initially

Strabane District Council has voted to increase its district rate by 4.35%. In real terms this means that householders paying rates on a house valued at £100,000 can expect to pay an additional £14.62 on next year’s rates bill. Deciding its budget the council decided to dedicating half a million pounds to capital development in

Donegal County Council is being urged to organise its own local emergency call centre next Christmas. A review of how the council handled the big freeze recently is continuing, but Cllr David Alcorn says the issue of problems with the call centre used over last Christmas and New Year needs to be addressed immediately. He

Donegal Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill has met with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to seek funding for the Donegal Airport  Road. The R259 is seen as an important road, both as an access route to the airport and a link road in the Lower Rosses, and Donegal County Council has included it in its propriety list

The government and Donegal County Council could be on a legal collision course after it emerged that work on the Greencastle Harbour Project will cease before the month’s end. Notice will be served to staff employed on the project from next week and now questions are being asked as to who is liable for the

Some of Donegal’s most scenic areas could be the home of wind farms if proposals to make Donegal the wind energy capital of Ireland come to pass. Donegal County Council has heard two motions calling for the county development plan to be changed to allow wind farm development on land designated as being a especially

The Community Workers Cooperative in Letterkenny is welcoming the signing of the agreement at Hillsborough last week, saying it paves the way for a major breakthrough in cross border community relations. While the focus has been on policing and justice, the agreement also contains a commitment to revisit outstanding issues from previous agreements. This includes

Councillors in Donegal are finding their meetings are being restricted as a result of the public service work to rule. Donegal County Council’s meetings are having to end early, and Letterkenny Town Council’s monthly meeting was adjourned last night. This because the usual support services from staff were not available as the meeting was being

Meanwhile Donegal County Council is awaiting further details on contentious plans for a wind farm near Glenties comprising of up to 35 turbines before deciding if the project can go ahead. In total, 63 objections have been made against the proposed development, mainly on the grounds of its scale, visual impact, noise and other risks.

Deputy Niall Blaney has been responding to the slating he has received since commenting on the lost at sea scheme in the Dail, stating he stands by everything he said. The Byrne family from Donegal were furious when Deputy Blaney said they had been mislead by MEP Jim Higgin’s in thinking they could qualify for

Siptu is playing down talk of a major job loss announcement from Letterkenny based company Medisize. Late last year the company said it was seeking to cut its payroll – with reports up to 25 jobs losses being sought. The company sid a restructuring programme will be necessary to improve competitiveness and help secure the

The Sinn Fein President says the latest threat to his life is not going to deter him from doing what he has been elected to do. Last night the PSNI informed Gerry Adams that the threat level against him was ‘very high’. Sinn Fein says the threats are being taken very seriously but will not

The Greencastle Harbour Users’ Committee is to ramp-up its campaign to have a government decision to abandon the harbour’s development reversed. A series of meetings with politicians have been held over the last number of days in reaction to the news that the government is withdrawing from the multi million euro project because of budget