Author name: oisinkelly

  New Covid-19 safety checks are to take place at schools, however the findings won’t be published. A plan to monitor compliance with health rules has been agreed between the Department of Education’s inspectorate and the Health and Safety Authority. The Irish Times reports the results will be shared with school leaders but not parents

  Ibec’s calling on government to provide an extra six billion euro for businesses in October’s budget. It says as current supports are gradually withdrawn, new measures will be needed to help the economy recover in 2021. Roughly 20 billion euro has been made available to businesses by government this year. Ibec says the new

    Dubliner’s are being asked to stay within their own county and limit social contacts from today as part of new measures aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus. The capital’s on level two of the new five-tier alert system with the rest of the country, but is under additional restrictions due to higher

  Donegal County Council and the Donegal Local Community Development Committee after inviting applications under the Community Enhancement Programme for Community Centres and Community Buildings. The closing date for applications is 3pm on Thursday October 1st. €5 million in funding is being made available for the Community Enhancement Programme for Community Centres and Community Buildings

  Volunteers from Lough Swilly RNLI have been praised after bringing a broken down boat with five people on board to safety. The alarm was raised shortly after 11am yesterday morning with the Irish Coast Guard tasking the RNLI to a cruiser four nautical miles off Fanad head. It’s understood that the boat suffered mechanical

It’s after the entire cabinet has been told to restrict their movements pending a COVID test for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. Donnelly began feeling unwell this afternoon following this morning’s cabinet meeting and his colleagues will work from home until the result of a test. Earlier this evening Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail said the

Three more deaths from Covid-19 have been confirmed as well as 357 new cases. The total number of positive cases in Ireland now stands at 31,549. While, the death toll associated with the disease is 1,787. Of today’s cases, 60 are community transmission, while 38 percent are associated with outbreaks or contacts. 218 of the

Cabinet ministers are to restrict their movements and the Dail have been suspended after the Health Minister began to feel unwell earlier today. Stephen Donnelly is to contact his GP to begin the process of being tested. The Ceann Comhairle announced that the Dail will be adjourned until next Tuesday.

A 49 year old man has been questioned by Police in connection with an investigation into a video which appears to show a young girl driving a truck down the M1 in Co Tyrone. He was arrested in connection with a number of offences including aiding and abetting driving while disqualified by reason of age,

Donegal Airport has been named the most scenic airport in the world for the third year. The airport tipped airports across the world to the post in Private Fly’s annual poll. One voter described it as ‘the most wonderful scenery in the world…’

The 2021 Census is being postponed until the following year. It will take place on April 3rd 2022 instead. The CSO says the decision was taken to ensure the safety of the general public and field staff and to deliver a census that achieves the highest possible response rate.

79 new cases of Covid 19 have been reported in the north. There has been one new coronavirus related death. It brings the death toll to 571 in Northern Ireland. The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic now stands at 8,502.

  The entire country has been placed onto level two restrictions under a new government plan. It means the current restrictions will be in place for another three weeks. However, further measures are being introduced in Dublin. Spectator sport is returning under the plan being announced at the moment with some small theatre and musical

  Over €1.6 million has been allocated to refurbish social housing units in Donegal. The money will go towards upgrading over 100 housing units right across the county, allowing Donegal County Council to re-let them to individuals and families, struggling with homelessness or on the social housing list. It’s part of a nationwide stimulus programme

  Gardai have issued a warning over distraction burglaries after a woman was targeted in Letterkenny. The incident happened on Thursday afternoon at a house in the Gortlee area of the town. A white van and 3 males pulled up at the lady’s house between 3.30pm and 4pm last Thursday. One of the males requested

    A quantity of school computer equipment has been stolen from a property in Buncrana. An investigation is continuing into the burglary which happened on Crana road between Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd of August. The matter was only recently discovered and reported to Gardaí. A building on Crana Road that is

  A large quantity of gold jewellery has been stolen from a house in Raphoe. The burglary happened on Wednesday last between 1pm and 8.15pm at a house on Guesthouse End Street with entry gained by forcing the back door open. A quantity of jewellery was stolen from a jewellery box in one of the

  A lorry driver is wanted in connection with a crash in St. Johnston last week. The incident happened at Magheracloy on Thursday evening at 4.45pm. A collision occurred between a lorry and a garden fence and the lorry continued on its journey afterwards without stopping. A significant amount of damage was caused to the

  A plaque commemorating Jason Black’s expedition to the top of Everest has been removed from its standing place at the foot of Errigal Mountain. The plaque was erected by Donegal County Council to mark his successful conquest of Everest in May of 2013. Jason was the first Donegal person to summit Mt Everest and

  The new roadmap for living alongside Covid-19 will be published this morning. It will contain a system whereby different counties will have different restrictions based on the prevalence of the virus locally. The new system will have five levels – with level one being the lightest and level five being the most restrictive and

  The number of people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Donegal continues to fall. The number receiving the payment nationally, is down 64% this week. 6,016 people in Donegal will receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment today, down from 6,500 last week and down 73% from May 5th. In the past week, 9,974

    Police have renewed an appeal for information regarding an arson attack in Clady last month. The incident happened on the Urney Road in the early hours of Saturday August 15th. The incident occurred at around 4am at a home which was under construction, causing extensive damage to the property. Enquiries are continuing and

12 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Donegal. A total of 208 new cases have been reported across the country and no new deaths. To date, there have been 1,784 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland and 31,192 cases of the virus.

Planning permission has been granted in the North for a north south electricity interconnector. The cross-border project will reduce costs to electricity consumers and improve the security of the power supply across the island of Ireland. A 140 kilometre long overhead line will link counties Meath and Tyrone and, when completed, will increase the efficiency

The self-isolation period for people with Covid-19 has reduced from 14 days to 10. Guidance from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre says the full two weeks would be necessary if symptoms are still present. For those who have been identified as a close contact of a confirmed case the quarantine period remains 14 days.

A man has appeared in court in Donegal today after being charged in connection with a number of driving offences including drink driving. Gardai on patrol in Sligo last night were first alerted by members of the public to the car driving with just 3 tyres. The vehicle was subsequently stopped and the driver arrested

Two more people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland. The death toll has now risen to 570. 109 new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, with the total number of positive tests now standing at 8,423.

A Donegal restaurant remains closed this week after 9 staff members tested positive for Covid-19. Burrito Loco in Letterkenny closed on Thursday last after being made aware that a positive case of the virus was connected to them. In a statement published on social media, Burrito Loco says they immediately enacted their Covid plan and

  Derry City and Strabane District Council has confirmed that its cemetery opening hours will be returning to normal times from this weekend. The announcement comes following the temporary morning closures at Council cemeteries for several months during the COVID19 pandemic. Derry City and Strabane District Council is now in a position to reopen its

Around 6,000 chickens have been killed in a large fire in Co Tyrone. The blaze took place at a farm shed in Dungannon shortly after 10pm last night. Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Services says it is believed to have started accidentally.

  Students in high achieving schools appear to have lost out the most during the Leaving Cert standardisation process. Students have been able to view the estimated mark their teachers awarded them, as well as their final grade since this morning. Anyone unhappy with the mark they were awarded can appeal the decision to the