Author name: oisinkelly

Almost 6,000 HSE staff are absent from work due to Covid-19. The Executive says it’s a big concern for the health service, and they haven’t seen this level of absence since late January. Chief executive Paul Reid has said it’s obvious people are responding to new restrictions on working from home and advice to cut

Donegal County Council has passed its Draft Budget for 2022 by 33 votes to two. Independent councillors Frank Mc Brearty Junior and Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig were the only two to vote against. Meanwhile, Chief Executive John McLaughlin has said claims made by Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig in the course of his submission to

The European Medicines Agency has approved a Covid vaccine for 5 to 11 year olds. It’s given the green light for children that age to get a reduced dose of the Pfizer jab. The National Immunisation Advisory Committee here will now decide whether to adopt the EMA’s advice. That news comes as NPHET are today

    A Donegal Deputy has accused the Government over what he terms the lack of forward planning for the health system as we head into another winter in the midst of a fourth surge of Covid-19. It comes as issues with booking a PCR test continues in some parts of the country. Speaking in

  Derry City and Strabane District Council is being urged to back calls for a new inquiry into the disappearance of Arlene Arkinson. The 15 year old schoolgirl went missing after a disco in Bundoran in 1994 – her body has never been found. An inquest into Arlene’s disappearance recently concluded that she was abducted

  The Social Protection Minister says there are no plans to re-open the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. Heather Humphreys says the number of people on the live register has actually fallen in the last week. That’s despite the hospitality sector reporting a big drop off in business since the midnight curfew was introduced. Minister Heather Humphreys

  The hunt is on to recruit over 200 enumerators in Donegal for Census 2022. They’re needed to work for 10 weeks next year delivering and collecting around 2.2 million forms from every home in the country. Enumerators can earn € 3,200 working part time, visiting around 450 homes each. The Census will be held

Holiday home owners affected by Mica are being urged to come forward with their stories. Campaigners are hopeful the proposals for the long awaited Mica Redress Scheme will finally be ready by next Tuesday following several delays. The proposals are due to be brought before Cabinet on November 30th following weeks of negotiations however; it’s

  The number of first-time home buyers under the age of 30 has more than halved in the last 16 years. It has gone from a 60 percent market share in 2004, to 24 percent this year, according to a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation. It comes as the Central Bank will

  The Dail has heard that over 340 children died in infancy or early childhood in the Stranorlar County Home. Formerly the local workhouse, the home admitted 1,646 unmarried mothers between 1922 and 1964. The stark figures were highlighted this week as part of calls for the Mother and Baby Home redress scheme to include

Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton has been told that more details will emerge about the deaths of two men in waters close to Port Ronan, Malin head in July 2018. The comment was made by Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn during a debate on the Marine Casualties Amendment Bill. The bill is being amended to take into

  Germany’s new ruling coalition has made protecting the Good Friday Agreement part of its programme for government. Olaf Scholz’s new “Traffic Light” coalition agreed a deal yesterday — bringing the curtain down on a decade and a half with Angela Merkel in power. The document says “non-compliance” with the “agreed standards and procedures” of

Taoiseach Michael Martin says he will not seek to interfere in a garda investigation after he was urged to guarantee the immediate publication of the Brandon Report into the alleged sexual abuse of residents Ard Greine Court and the Sean O’Hare Unit in Stranorlar. The issue was raised in the Dail this afternoon by Sinn

The Housing Minister says work on the Mica redress scheme is almost finished – and he hopes to bring it to cabinet next week. Ministers were due to consider proposals yesterday for compensating homeowners affected by the defective blocks. But it was delayed again as the government finalises the details. Darragh O’Brien says that work

  Officials from the Department of Education are to meet with Donegal ETB over concerns relating to children affected by the Mica issue. The issue was raised in the Dail last night by Donegal Deputy Thomas Pringle, who says children are living under severe pressure and schools needs to be able to respond to their

  A leading professor believes that air pollution in Letterkenny is so bad that he is advising people not to exercise outside in the latter half of the evening. Last week, air quality sensors found that Letterkenny was one of a number of towns that the most particulate matter in the air. It’s been claimed

  The need for a review of the current ambulance service model is back under the spotlight. It’s been revealed that in the Finn Valley area while there is just 1 ambulance crew available, no night time cover is provided Monday to Thursday. Donegal Town, Ballyshannon and Killybegs only have one crew available also, there

  A victim of the Mica scandal in Donegal has been told by the ESB that be must leave his premises due to impact of the crumbling block issue on his property. Micheal Shovlin lives in a two bed apartment in the county and noticed cracks back in 2009. Subsequent testing confirmed Mica, Pyrite and

  Antigen testing will be introduced in schools on Monday, the Education Minister has confirmed. Normal Foley says it’ll be operational from the 29th, and guidance will be made available to schools and parents this week. Meanwhile unions and the department are meeting to discuss student teachers being recruited to primary schools to deal with

  Andrew McGinley, who was dropped from RTÉ’s Late Late Show line-up, says he would never set out to intentionally upset anyone. The Donegal man was due to announce plans for a fundraising concert in his children’s memory. They were killed by their mother at their home in Newcastle in Dublin when she was suffering

  There’s pressure on authorities in Northern Ireland to sanction a fresh inquest into the death of Michael Leonard. The Donegal man was shot dead by the RUC almost 50 years ago, after a car chase close to the Fermanagh and Donegal border between Pettigo and Belleek on May 17, 1973. At the time police

  Boosters for the over 50s won’t start to be administered until the end of year. The HSE says boosters for the medically vulnerable will be completed first. Boosters for the over 50s were given the green light over a week ago. Head of the HSE’s vaccination and test and trace programmes, Damien McCallion, says