Author name: oisinkelly

  Daniel O’Donnell says gardai gave him a letter to allow him to travel to nursing homes around Donegal to entertain residents. Cocooners in community hospitals across the county have been treated to surprise concerts in their gardens during the lockdown. Daniel says the idea came to him one day:

  Almost 200 thousand euro has been allocated to construct a long-awaited slipway at Leenon Pier in Urris, Clonmany. The funding has been sanctioned under the Department of the Marine with Donegal County Council providing match funding of 25%. There has been on-going concern among local fishermen that they are currently unable to tie up

  Beaches across Donegal have scored well in the latest EPA report with most of the bathing waters in the county either ranked as excellent or good. Lisfannon beach has been upgraded from sufficient to good in the latest report while Portarthur in Derrybeg has seen a slight decline in water quality, going from good

  A Donegal TD is calling for a change in the process SUSI grants are assessed this year. Due to a major change in financial circumstances for many, it’s thought that applicants should be assessed on their income this year. The normal procedure does not allow this year to be taken into consideration until last

The chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland is expected to say the failure of the so-called surge to materialise was among the reasons patients were discharged to homes from hospital without testing for Covid-19. Tadhg Daly is among those who will face a grilling from the Covid-19 Committee today in the wake of the devastating

  St Columba’s National School has been given the go ahead to proceed with a special new autism unit. The school’s Board of Management has been meeting to discuss how it will proceed, with up to five pupils from the area in need of such a facility from this coming September. Local Councillor Michael Mc

  The MP for West Tyrone is seeking an urgent meeting with Stormont Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon to discuss the A5. It’s after the minister indicated that construction on the upgrade of the route, which was to have begun this year, A5 will not start until next Spring because of a £242m shortfall in funding.

    A Donegal TD is calling for an immediate review into the fleet tie-up scheme and supports to be delivered to the fishing sector. The voluntary fleet tie-up scheme, announced some weeks ago by the Minister, has been widely rejected by stakeholders in the fishing industry and has been described by some as not

  Work has officially begun on the long-awaited extension at Glenswilly National School. Contractors are on site today to start redeveloping the school and building five new classrooms. The extension was given the green light in September last year and will also include a new general purpose room and three special education rooms and other

  A Donegal dentist has hit out at both the HSE and the Government for failing to supply PPE equipment to them. Despite efforts to effectively be in a position to get back up and running, on-going delays has resulted in High Road Dental in Letterkenny securing PPE equipment from suppliers in Derry instead. Adrian

  Serious concern has been raised over a reported influx of people to beaches around the county over the weekend. Despite a decision taken by Donegal County Council to effectively close beaches to the public at the end of March; large crowds reportedly flocked to a number of beaches yesterday. There are further claims that

  Plans for the development of the green area at the Bernard McGlinchey Town Park in Letterkenny are due before Donegal County Council today. If given the green light, the plans include the development of an Urban Adventures Sports Project which will include an all-weather play area and an outdoor covered stage with tiered seating

  Glenveagh National Park is set to receive the first two electric buses in Ireland. A contract has been signed with commercial vehicle distributor Harris Group to supply two electric buses to the popular amenity. The project is co-funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Failte Ireland and the Department of Rural

The Irish Hairdressers Federation wants hairdressers to be able come back to work earlier than planned. It’s recommending the Government open salons on June 29th, instead of phase four when they’re due to open on July 20th. The organisation represents over 400 salon owners across the country, which employ over 5,00 stylists. Irish Hairdressers Federation

  Tenders are now being sought for new leisure centre in Buncrana. The previous facility has been closed for a number of years, but a project to refurbish and reopen the centre has been ongoing for some time. At a recent Inishowen Municipal District meeting, councillors were breifed on the progress of the Leisure Centre.

The joint leaders of Northern Ireland’s devolved government say their response to Covid-19 is proof unionists and nationalists can work together. After three years of deadlock, Sinn Féin and the DUP started collaborating again in January. It meant the administration at Stormont was only 10 weeks old when they found themselves dealing with the pandemic.

Reducing our social distancing rule from two metres to one could see the rate of transmission quadruple, according to a leading health expert. Some minister raised the issue at Cabinet on Friday and it’s expected to be brought up again when they meet the Chief Medical Officer next week. The World Health Organisation says one

Four major projects have been announced for Donegal under the Leader programme, including key tourism developments in Dunlewey and Arranmore Island. Donal Kavanagh has more:

The time travellers spend self-isolating here should be based on the country they came from, according to a health expert. New rules means it’s now an offence for people arriving here not to fill in a form detailing where they’ll spend two weeks self-isolating. Meanwhile the Chief Medical Officer says discussions are still ongoing about

It’s expected parents and children could have some Covid-19 restrictions lifted in June, months earlier than planned. Government departments are working with The National Public Health Emergency Team to try ease measures for under-18s from June 8th, when Phase 2 of the reopening of the country is due to happen. Over 24,500 people have now

Businesses in Donegal are being urged to apply for the Restart Grant for Small Businesses scheme. The scheme, which has no opened for applications, is being administered through local authorities. There is a link to the form on the Donegal County Council website. Councillor Michael McBride is hopeful a large number of firms in the

The Donegal animal rescue group ‘Animals In Need’ is calling for more people to come forward as animal fosterers after three kittens were found this week dumped down a drain in Falcarragh. The group says the kittens were found in a plastic bag, and by chance, a local woman heard them crying in the drain

11 more deaths have been reported related to Covid-19. The death toll in the Republic is now 1,592. 115 new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, with the total now at 24,506. The number of confirmed cases in Donegal has been revised downwards by one, with the official figures now standing at

Irish soldiers on peacekeeping duty in Lebanon will be allowed to return home next month. They had been due to fly home in the middle of May before the UN suspended the rotation of troops due to the Coronavirus. The members of the Defence Forces have been there for more than six months. Defence Minister

Brexit is back as a risk that the country needs to plan for, according to the Finance Minister. Pascal Donohoe says it will have to be considered in day to day planning. He says it’ll add to the challenges faced by Irish companies this year. Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Minister