Author name: oisinkelly

There’s been an increase of 300 in the number of places offered at Letterkenny Institute of Technology this year, with the majority of them representing first preference choices. LYIT President Paul Hannigan says it’s a reflection of the continued growth of the facility, which has campuses in Letterkenny and also in Killybegs. There’ll be open

A Donegal councillor has refused to condemn the defacement of English tourism signs in the Gaeltacht region in the county. Cllr Micheal Mac Giolla Easbuig encourages anyone who feels strongly enough about the Irish language to go out and take “direct action.” He doesn’t believe the defacement of the English language version of the signs

GSOC has received a total of 1,448 allegations of malpractice against the force so far this year, 28 of them in Donegal. According to details released under the Freedom of Information Act, only one has been upheld, but the majority are still open. Nearly 500 allegations relate to ‘abuse of authority’ or ‘neglect of duty.’

Letterkenny has been selected as one of six towns throughout the country to participate in the Irish Architecture’s community-led Reimagine project. The local project will focus on developing a pedestrian ‘cultural corridor’ linking existing cultural buildings in the town centre. The Irish Architecture Foundation has been working with Donegal County Council, the Donegal County Museum,

International experts are to investigate the Department of Education’s design and build programme, after a further 17 schools were identified as having structural defects. Letterkenny Educate Together is one of the schools which were cleared to open last year despite safety problems at 22 others also built by the contractor, Western Building Systems. However, more

The Restaurants Association of Ireland is claiming one in five restaurants will close if the reduced VAT rate for the hospitality sector isn’t restored. CEO Adrian Cummins says in the wake of a hard brexit, which now looks more likely, the problems already caused by the weakness of sterling will be further exacerbated. He says

Donegal County Council is being urged to reduce the Local Property Tax by 15%. Community activist, Cyril Brennan claims a reduction in LPT would result in a saving of between €15.50 – €62.50 per household, and that in turn would be worth €1.65 million to the local economy. He says given Donegal has one of

Almost 200 people attended a meeting in Strabane last night to discuss the future of Lifford Greyhound Stadium. Last week, the stadium’s owners, the Duffy family from Derry, announced the facility will close after this coming Saturday’s race meeting, citing a lack of support from the Irish Greyhound Board. The meeting saw the formation of

Revelations by a Donegal GP that a severe lack of sunshine in the North West is to blame for low levels of Vitamin D and a high volume of people suffering with osteoporosis has led to reiterated calls for the Government to halt plans to impose VAT on food supplements. A study carried out by

The Irish Cancer Society says it’s alarming to see the high levels of Vitamin D insufficiency in Donegal. Dr Martin Coyne is blaming the severe lack of sunshine in the north-west on the high numbers of people suffering with osteoporosis. The Irish Osteoporosis Society recommends people spend 15 minutes a day in the sunshine without

A Donegal Deputy has slammed the Government for abolishing the Rehabilitative Training Allowance. The allowance, worth €31.80 a week per student was granted to students with a disability who take up training programmes. The HSE claims the decision to scrap the allowance is not a cost saving exercise and that it will not negatively impact

Donegal County Council has deferred plans to close a road in the Oldtown area until November. The road, between Oldtown Bridge and Rockhill, was to have closed from next Monday to facilitate works by Irish Water. However, Cllr Donal Coyle says the closure has been put on hold…………..

Irish Water has told Highland Radio News that it has postponed site investigations in Lough Foyle because of concerns that the works might be obstructed. They say wastewater will be treated to a very high standard in a new treatment plant at Carnagarve, and then discharged 200 metres out into Lough Foyle where it will

Rescue services and local boat crews in West Donegal have been praised after 15 people who were swept out to sea off Magheroarty beach were rescued last evening. Malin Head Coastguard received a number of emergency calls earlier, reporting that a number of people had got into difficulty off the coast, and mobilised Rescue 118

Following PSNI reports of a shooting in the Thornlea area of Omagh last might, West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan says he is deeply concerned, and he’s called for anyone who has any information to come forward to the PSNI. The PSNI says the suspected perpetrators were on a black motorbike which was seen leaving the

The number of people in Donegal with a vitamin D deficiency is so high, that scientists initially thought there was a problem with their testing equipment. A Donegal GP who examined 10 thousand test results from Letterkenny University Lab found that 75 percent of samples had insufficient vitamin D levels. The Irish Times reports that

The Beef Plan Movement says it has no immediate plans for more protests in the dispute with meat factories. The group held lengthy talks with Meat Industry Ireland, farming organisations and government agencies in Kildare on Monday. They’re trying to resolve the row over the prices farmers are getting for their animals, which led to

The renaming of Bank Lane in Letterkenny to Kinnear Lane has been widely welcomed. Local Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh proposed to Donegal County Council in 2017, at the request of the Letterkenny History Group that the lane be renamed in honour of the late Reverend Dr John Kinnear. Dr Kinnear, born in 1823 in Co Tyrone