Author name: oisinkelly

  The local authorities revenue budget for 2016 has been passed without a vote. Donegal County Council will spend almost €133 milion in 2016, almost €1.6 million more than last year. The biggest single area of expenditure will be payroll and staff costs of over €52 million, 39% of the total. A further €9 million […]

  There has been a road traffic crash on the main Letterknny – Derry road. Emergency services are currently at a crash involving two cars which happened just a short time ago. The extent of injuries is not known but no injuries are thought to be serious. The road remains open but motorists are being

Councillors are currently debating the local authorities revenue budget for 2016. Donegal County Council will spend almost €133 milion in 2016, almost €1.6 million more than last year. The biggest single area of expenditure will be payroll and staff costs of over €52 million, 39% of the total. A further €9 million will be spent

  There are 23 people awaiting a bed at Letterkenny General Hospital today, one of the highest in the country.  Sixteen patients are on trolleys while there are seven on wards according to today’s INMO figures. It was announced earlier this month that 10 additional beds are to be provided at the hospital to help

  Ten thousand people are still without power this lunchtime, after Storm Barney swept across the country. Nearly 150 homes in Donegal  are without power  – 99 in the Rossgeir area and 50 in Donegal Town. It’s expected power will be restored in both areas at approximately 6pm this evening. It’s believed the power outages

  Searches for the missing Derry man John Concannon are to continue. Last night police visited the Lenamore Road area outside Derry, where the last confirmed sighting of the 71-year-old pensioner was noted. He is believed to have travelled by bus to the area. Vehicles were stopped to ascertain whether anyone who had been the

The Government is to spend 2.5 million euro on a new North West Gateway Initiative, with the money being matched by the British government The Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan made the announcement in Derry today, saying it will help release the economic potential of Derry and Donegal. Junior Minister Joe Mc Hugh says the

The Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten have issued a joint statement expressing deep disappointment at the failure of the Stormont talks to reach agreement today on legacy issues and truth recovery. The sticking point is the British Government’s insistence that it must be able to redact or censor reports from the proposed

A Donegal County Councillor has claimed 45% of the treated water supply in Donegal is being lost to leaks, and Irish Water will end up charging consumers an 80% premium for water supplied. According to Councillor Dessie Shiels, a recent Local and Economic Community Plan released to County Councillors has revealed that between 2008 and

Concerns have been raised as to when a school in Donegal Town will receive funding under the Capital Grant programme 2016-202. Yesterday, it was announced by the education minister that 12 schools in the county are to be included in the programme. However, it has been claimed Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí which is in temporary

A special sitting of the Assembly will be take place at Stormont to pave the way for Westminster to legislate for welfare reform in Northern Ireland. It follows a new agreement between the DUP and Sinn Féin yesterday, which also allows for the North’s Corporation Tax rate to be lowered to match the 12.5% rate

Donegal County Council meets in special session today to discuss its draft revenue budget for 2016. The council will spend almost €133 milion in 2016, almost €1.6 million more than last year. The biggest single area of expenditure will be payroll and staff costs of over €52 million, 39% of the total. A further €9

  A deal has been signed in regards to the A5. £50 million has been committed and now a further £25 million has been added to get the first part of the A5 from Derry to Strabane completed. This is equivalent to 110 million euro from the Irish Government to begin the first phase. Minister

  Motorists are being advised to exercise extreme caution this evening as more rain continues to fall across the North West. There have been reports that some roads in the Ramelton area have been flooded but are believed to be passable. Motorists are being asked to drive with care particularly as nightfall beckons and when

  The search for missing Derry man John Concannon is continuing today. Mr Concannon has been missing now for almost a week. Detectives say the last confirmed sighting they have is of Mr Concannon at Lenamore Road. He is five feet six inches in height and was wearing a black and grey beanie hat, a

Harvey’s Point Hotel at Lough Eske became the site of one of Ireland’s first same sex marriages, when Wayne Gough and DJ O’Hanlon married at 9.30 this morning. The couple, who live in the village of Lordship, near Carlingford in County Louth, had a simple wedding before registrar Siobhan Duffy-Browne.The couple were married at the

PSNI detectives have given a commitment not to arrest any more former soldiers over the Bloody Sunday killings until a legal bid to stop the murder investigation has been heard. Seven ex-soldiers have applied for a judicial review of the latest legacy investigation, with their lawyers claiming the new investigation is politically motivated. Last week,

  Twelve schools in Donegal have been included in the latest six year School Building Programme announced last evening by the Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan. The programme will run from  2016 to 2021, with Minister O’Sullivan saying it is designed to meet the accommodation requirements of the growing school going population across the country. Among

Donegal County Council says it is aware of the sale of the Foyle Ferry Company’s vessel to a company in Carlingford, meaning the company will not be seeking to renew its licence in March. Ferry operator Jim Mc Clenaghan has confirmed he is retiring, leaving Donegal County Council seeking a new operator between now and

  Rents have gone up again – this time by over three per cent – making it the largest quarterly increase since the peak in 2007. In Donegal, the average increase over the same period was 6%. The average advertised rent is now €525, still significantly lower than the national average of €964. Supply is

Council tenants in Donegal will be able to buy their homes with a significant discount under a new Government scheme. Up to 130,000 people with incomes less than 20 thousand euro a year will get 60% off the market price of their home while those earning up to 30 thousand will get half off the

  A man charged with the sectarian murder of Derry man Paul McCauley has had his bail conditions relaxed at today’s sitting of Derry Magistrate’s Court. Piper John McClements (25) with an address in The Fountain in Derry has been on bail since he was first charged with Paul McCauley’s murder. At today’s sitting the

The Manager of the Radiotherapy Unit which is due to come on stream at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry next year says they are already working on cross border protocols to ensure a seamless transfer of patients to the centre when it opens in around 12 months time. Una Cardin was speaking ahead of a series

Gardai are appealing for information about the movements of two cars involved in a fatal head on collision close to Newtowncunningham on Friday afternoon last. The two who died have been named locally as Kevin Mc Clintock from Derry and Orla O’Reilly, who lived in Muff and was a youth worker at the Loft in

The sentence handed down to a Donegal man responsible for the worst fatal collision in the history of the State has been found to be “unduly lenient”. Shaun Kelly of Hill Road in Ballymagan was jailed for two years last December for dangerous driving causing the deaths of eight people’This tragedy unfolded after Shaun Kelly

The government’s been criticised over the spiraling costs of employing agency staff at Letterkenny General Hospital. Deputy Pearse Doherty says between 2011 and the end of last year, the amount of money spent on agency staff at the hospital had more than doubled. He says the public service recruitment embargo has created a situation where

There was success for three North West entrants in the IPB “Pride of Place” awards at the weekend, coordinated by Cooperation Ireland. The Council Community Engagement Award was won by Derry and Strabane District Council. The Strabane Community Project took a runner up award in the Age Friendly Community Initiative category, while Coiste Pobail Ghort

A Donegal man who killed eight people in a car crash five years ago will find out today if he’ll have to serve more time in prison. Shaun Kelly of Hill Road in Ballymagan was jailed for two years for what was described as the worst fatal collision in the history of the State. Shaun