Author name: oisinkelly

  The PSNI are able to force people to return to their homes in Northern Ireland from today. New stay-at-home laws took effect at midnight – and people can only leave their houses for medical or food needs, exercise and essential work. Gatherings are now capped at six people, compared to 15 previously. Derry GP

  Drivers are being warned about black ice on the roads this morning, after temperatures dropped to minus-four in places overnight. A status yellow low temperature and ice alert is in place throughout the country, until 11 o’clock this morning. Met Éireann says ice has formed on untreated surfaces while a number of snow showers

  Unions say schools need time to plan for a return to opening, as Government’s made a u-turn on bringing Leaving Cert students back to school for three days a week. They will instead be taught remotely until the end of this month. The Government changed its mind after pressure from the teaching unions the

  An emergency meeting is taking place today, as the country’s nurses say they can no longer provide a safe service. The INMO says hospital staffing is in ‘freefall’, with over 3,500 nurses out of work due to Covid-19. It comes as a record 1,043 patients were in hospital at 2pm yesterday with the virus.

  A West Donegal Councillor has hit out after the latest in a string of fly tipping incidents was discovered dumped in the Annagry area. Hundreds of beer cans were found dumped along the roadside in the Mullaghderg area. This follows a number of recent episodes of illegal dumping in West Donegal. The discovery has

Fine Gael MEP Colm Markey says the Scottish patrol boat that recently blocked a Donegal fishing vessel from entering waters around Rockall, had no right to do so. The skipper of the Northern Celt was told on Monday they couldn’t fish within twelve nautical miles of the North Atlantic outcrop because of the recent EU-UK

Over 15,000 people across the country have been vaccinated against Covid 19 so far. The HSE says its target is to administer 35,000 doses by the end of this week. Its CEO Paul Reid says an agreement to use private hospitals is being finalised and that he expects all of them to sign up urgently.

MEPs in the European Parliament are scrutinising the EU-UK trade deal that was brokered on Christmas eve. They have to ratify the agreement for it to be fully implemented. But so far no date has been confirmed for a European Parliament vote on it. Midlands North-West MEP, Chris MacManus says the EU will have to

  Leaving Cert students locally have expressed both frustration and confusion over the plans by Government to return to school on Monday. Pupils are said to be deeply concerned over potentially being exposed to the virus when schools reopen and infecting elderly of vulnerable family members. Local students Evan believes that there is an appetite

  The Government is defending Ireland’s rollout of the Covid 19 vaccine. Between 35 to 40 thousand Pfizer vaccines will be administered here by the end of this week. Denmark has already vaccinated more than 45 thousand people, leading to criticisms that Ireland is moving at a much slower rate. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar says we

  The General Manager of Letterkenny University Hospital says the hospital is feeling the pressures of Covid-19 and other emergency admissions. It comes are latest figures show that there are currently 51 patients with the virus being treated on site at the hospital, four of them in intensive care. It’s an increase of ten on

  Donegal was hardest hit last year by cattle thefts from farms. Figures show that 26 cattle were stolen from farms in the county in 2020 over 1,000 reported stolen nationwide. There were also a significant number of trailers stolen and many instances, taken across the border. News Correspondent with the Irish Farmers Journal Hannah

  The Teachers Union of Ireland says it will not be safe to reopen schools for leaving cert students next week. They will have classes three days a week – but there will be no school for other students for the rest of January. The Higher Education Minister has this morning defending the decision which

  Black ice could be a major issue this morning, according to the Road Safety Authority. Temperatures dropped to minus 4 in parts overnight, with two status yellow weather warnings for ice and snow in place. Met Eireann says the conditions will lead to treacherous conditions in some areas. Michael Rowland from the RSA says

  The Vice President of the Garda Representative Association says Gardai must be prioritised in the Covid-19 vaccine roll out. It’s understood that there a number of outbreaks of the virus among the force in the North West. There’s similar calls north of the border by the Chair of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland

  Garda Covid-19 checkpoints will be in place across the country from this morning. They will be set up on national routes, but not on motorways, and will be supported by random local mobile checkpoints. Additional gardaí are being deployed to the front line and high visibility patrols of public amenities and parks will be

  The Teachers Union of Ireland says it will not be safe to reopen schools for leaving cert students next week. Most schools are to remain closed for the rest of January, but leaving cert students will resume classes for three days a week from Monday. Education for special needs children will also recommence that

  Donegal Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn has described proposals to limit Dail sittings to one day a week for January as totally unacceptable. The proposal, by the Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, aimed at tackling rising infection rates, will come before the business committee today. If approved, sittings would be held on a Wednesday in Dublin’s

New restrictions have been unveiled by the Government to contain the spread of Covid 19 and will remain in place until at least the end of January. All schools are to remain closed, with an exception for leaving cert students, who will attend classes three days a week. Special education should remain open with protections

The North’s Education Minister has confirmed that all GCSE and A Level exams due to take place this year have been cancelled. Some exams were to get underway as early as next week. Peter Weir made the announcement at Stormont this afternoon – where he has also been outlining the details of school closures. All

A school principal in Inishowen believes the surge in Covid-19 cases numbers is down to some people ‘playing chicken’ with the virus. Diarmuid Walsh who is Principal of St. Mary’s NS in Malin says while they are somewhat better prepared for online teaching it will be undoubtedly challenging for both parents and teachers in the

Two separate weather warnings for snow and low temperatures have been issued for the entire country. From 8 o’clock tonight a low temperature/ice warning will come in to effect for all 26 counties, with temperatures set to dip to lows of minus four. A status yellow snow and ice alert will also kick in at

  The Marine Minister says it’s still unclear how the situation will be resolved as it relates to Inishowen fishermen now having to travel to Killybegs to land their catch. Previously, the Irish fishermen with Coleraine registered boats were able to dock at nearby Greencastle but as a result of Brexit, they are prevented from

A Donegal woman whose son was killed in a crash involving a disqualified driver says new plans by the RSA to name and shame motorists won’t go far enough. Under the plans announced yesterday, motorists who are banned for drink-driving, dangerous driving and other serious road traffic offences by the courts will have their personal

  A woman has been waiting a year to get a tumour removed at Letterkenny University Hospital. Lynette’s situation has been described as ‘urgent’ yet a number of planned operations throughout 2020 have been cancelled. Letterkenny University Hospital, like all hospitals nationwide has cancelled the majority of surgeries for the next couple of weeks due