Author name: oisinkelly

  A total of €1,715,000 has been announced by Transport Infrastructure Ireland for pavement strengthening on four projects in Donegal. Earlier this week €900,000 for resurfacing works on the Dual Carriageway was made available but other projects to benefit from the funding have also been announced. €215,000 has been granted for the N56 Knocknamona Scheme

  Police are appealing for information following an incident of criminal damage at a cemetery in the Lone Moor Road area of Derry. The incident occurred sometime between yesterday evening and this morning. It’s is believed that approximately 20 headstones and memorials have been damaged. Police say this will obviously cause distress to a number

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dail he does not know when the expert panel established to examine the Mica issue will report back. The panel was promised some months ago, and began its work in the past number of weeks. The issue was raised on the Order of Business in the Dail today by

  The new agriculture Minister Michael Creed has confirmed he will be looking into the issue of penalty points for fishermen with the hope of a resolution in the very near future. There have been numerous calls from opposition parties for the controversial legislation facilitating the current penalty points system on the fishing industry to

Taoiseach Enda Kenny says he fears a British withdrawl from the EU would see the re-establishment of customs posts along the border. Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers, who supports the ‘Leave’ campaign says she does not believe customs posts are inevitable. However, speaking in the Dail today, the Taoiseach said if Britian exits the EU, he

  Derry’s Pennyburn Recycling Centre has reopened after an investment of £1.5 million by Derry City and Strabane District Council. The state of the art new-look recycling centre was officially opened yesterday by Mayor Elisha McCallion. The extensive work carried out encourages the public to get more involved in recycling as the new site is

As the debate about Mica continues in the wake of last night’s Prime Time investigation, the Mica Action Group  says it will keep campaigning for a redress scheme. Eileen Doherty is Joint Secretary of the Mica Action Group in Donegal, she says their campaign for a redress scehemsimilar to the Pyrite scheme in Leinster will

Deputy Pearse Doherty has hit out at the latest HSE suspension of hospital recruitment which he says will severely impact on staffing levels at Letterkenny University Hospital. Deputy Doherty’s was speaking after a recent announcment by the HSE confirming that a pause on recruitment is in force until agreement is reached on a new workforce

A Donegal County Councillor has described as “shocking” the level of stress related sick leave within the HSE. Councillor Gerry Crawford has obtained figures which show that in the first three months of 2016,in the HSE West Region alone, 126 staff were referred to Occupational Health Services due to stress. The HSE says the referrals

Donegal County Councillors has agreed to introduce a register for members to sign when attending and leaving meetings. Councillor John O’Donnell brought the motion as he feels the public should know how many meetings councillors attend and if they do, for how long attend. Councillors have an 80% attendance rate at monthly meetings, but Councillor O’Donnell says

An Inishowen councillor is calling for a special meeting of Donegal County Council to discuss last night’s Prime Time investigation into the Mica issue in the county. In a letter to Chief Executive Seamus Neely and Caothaireleach Ciaran Brogan, Cllr Albert Doherty says there were issues of grave concern raised in the programme. Among the

The Council has committed to stream lining the funding system for community organisations such as tidy towns groups. It has been claimed that since town councils were abolished, it has become more complicated for community groups to access funding. Councilor Jack Murray raised the issue using the Buncrana Tidy Towns committee as an example, he

In Donegal last year, there were 1,896 births, a birth rate of 12.3. Both locally and nationally, there were slightly more boys than girls delivered. There were 1,140 deaths in Donegal last year, 612 of them males and 528 females. That’s a death rate of 7.4, slightly above the national average of 6.5. 16 deaths

Police in Derry are appealing for information following a hit and run collision on the Racecourse Road on Sunday morning last. At approximately, 9am there was a two vehicle rtc involving a car and a bicycle. The cyclist, a woman aged in her 40s, received injuries that required hospital treatment. The car involved was a

The Mayor of the Letterkenny Municipal District says the case for the Bonagee Link will be made to Transport Minister Shane Ross in the coming weeks, particularly in light of significant gridlock in the town centre last evening. Cllr Gerry Mc Monagle says once again, a bank holiday in Northern Ireland has led to a

The Western Trust has released its latest bi-monthly update on the new Radiotherapy Centre at Altnagelvin Hospital, saying the facility remains on track to treat patients in the late Autumn of this year. At present, all equipment has been installed, and is being commissioned and tested. The Trust says the Radiotherapy Team is working closely

The President of the Chamber of Commerce in Derry says the announcement this week of 70 job losses at Seagate in Derry points to the need for more infrastructural investment in the North West. Seagate announced the job losses yesterday at its base in Springtown, citing the need to respond to new demand levels. The

Mobile company Three has apologised for asking a customer to translate her name into English. Donegal woman Caoimhe Ní Cathail complained via Twitter that she was not able to register with the company’s website, because it said her surname was “not valid”. The company found itself at the centre of a twitter storm when a

Tonight’s RTE Prime Time programme includes an investigation into homes in Donegal built with defective blocks. The programme makers have been working closely with the MICA action group and affected homeowners over the last number of months. Councillor Albert Doherty has been one of those keeping the MICA blocks issue on the agenda at Donegal

People have been urged to attend a public meeting tonight over the Ambulance service in the Inishowen area to highlight the need for a 2nd ambulance in the area on a 24/7 basis. Currently there is just one ambulance serving the entire peninsula with claims that there have been significant delays in response times to

    Calls have been made on the Education Minister to speed up the planning and design stage of the Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí, Donegal Town. While Minister Richard Bruton has confirmed that the project can proceed to the design stage there are concerns that the construction stage wont begin until 2019 – 2021. Donegal

  It’s hoped work will begin on upgrading the water supplies in Churchill and Rathmullan by summer’s end. Irish Water has confirmed to Councillor James Pat McDaid that work should be competed by the end of the year. He says it’s welcome news:

A meeting of the Donegal County Council today heard claims that the EU’s habitats directive is “stifling the existence of the human race”. Councillor Paul Canning says everyday life is being affected because of Special Areas of Conservation. He’s to draft a submission to the commission which will include calls for no further areas to

The funeral is taking place in Drogheda of Donegal born Sister Ann Ward, a doctor in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, who was one of the pioneers of specialist surgical techniques to repair the damage caused by prolonged obstructed labour. She has received many international awards for her work, and has a hospital wing

A community food initiative in Inishowen is one of 13 in the country to be funded by safefood. Inishowen Development Partnership will receive up to €30,000 for a programme designed to help families adopt more of a healthy lifestyle by making healthy food more accessible. Community Development and Education Minister at Inishowen Development Partnership says

The Caithaorleach of Donegal County Council says while progress is being made in addressing traffic issues around Letterkenny, much more needs to be done, with the Bonagee Link still the main priority. Cllr Ciaran Brogan was speaking after €900,000 was confirmed for resurfacing works on the dual carriageway. Donegal County Council is also proceeding with

  A new funding programme to help children with disabilities attend pre-school education in Donegal will be in place this year. The programme will give children with disabilities access to additional supports which will enable them to fully participate in pre-school education. It is currently being assessed and will be in effect for this coming

A beach wheelchair will be available on Rathmullan beach from this weekend as a pilot scheme. The special wheelchair is being provided by Donegal County Council and the Loughs Agency and will cost in the region of €5,000. Initially it was thought the wheelchair would go to the Inishowen area, but Rathmullan has now been