Author name: oisinkelly

Junior Minister Joe Mc Hugh says the commitments in the joint ministerial statement are absolute, and he and Minister Varadkar are committed to maintaining services at Letterkenny General Hospital……..

A Donegal TD says he’s concerned by a wave of new family home repossession cases lodged in the courts in Letterkenny in the first half of the year. Deputy Charlie Mc Conalogue says figures released to Fianna Fáil show there were 35 repossession orders granted in Donegal in the first months of the year, with

Democratic Unionist Party MP Jeffery Donaldson says he believes there are people in Sinn Féin who know who committed a murder in Belfast last week. The PSNI believes Provisional IRA members were involved in the murder of Kevin McGuigan, who was questioned by police over the murder of another prominent Republican, Gerrard “Jock” Davison. DUP

A banner has been dropped from the Iron Bridge in Buncrana this morning as part of an international movement in solidarity with those who want Irish Water scrapped. Banners have been dropped from bridges across Ireland, Britain and the US amongst other countries. It is ahead of a protest in Dublin tomorrow week with at

A joint statement has been issued by Donegal’s two biggest cancer campaign groups following yesterday’s meeting in Dubin. Meanwhile, Health Minister Leo Varadkar and Junior Minister Joe Mc Hugh have also issued a joint statement pledging their support to the process. Cooperating for Cancer Care North West and Donegal Action for Cancer Care acknoweledge that

The largest Allsop auction to date will take place over two days next month, with over 375 properties to go under the hammer at the RDS in Dublin. Thirty properties in Donegal are on offer – twenty-eight residential properties and two commercial properties. The lots on offer include twelve semi-detached houses in Chestnnut Grove Letterkenny

Donegal singer Daniel O’Donnell has been confirmed as a contestant in the next series of Strictly Come Dancing. He’s the eighth celebrity to be revealed for the new BBC series which begins next month. Speaking to Highland Radio News Daniel said he was excited by the challenge:  

The Health Minister and the Soalta Hospital Group have today given a commitment to strengthen symptomatic breast cancer services at Letterkenny General Hospital. The news was delivered at a meeting today attended by Donegal Action for Cancer Care and Co-operating for Cancer Care Northwest. The groups were told that Letterkenny General’s breast cancer services will

  It’s hoped that Donegal will see an increase in sail based tourism following the launch of a website to promote the “Cool Route” sailing project. The project involves the establishment and promotion of a sailing route for yachts, stretching from Cork to Donegal and Northern Ireland, and then on Western Scotland, the Faroe Islands

Three men have fallen from a crane close to Lisahally Docks on the outskirts of Derry. It happened on the Port Road at around 9:45 this morning, with the falling more than 15ft onto a boat. All three were brought to hospital, with the BBC reporting that one has back and neck injuries, a second

The Chair of the Donegal Marathon committee is calling on people to consider volunteering during the event on Sunday. Dessie Larkin says after the success of last year’s inaugural event, the challenge is to make this year’s event even better, and that will depend on the strength and quality of the volunteers who come forward.

Members of the Irish Central Border Area Network met with the Stormont Environment Minister Mark H Durkan last evening to discuss windfarms and windfarm development in the border region. These include the proposed controversial Carrickaduff windfarm in the Finn Valley. The meeting was requested by Donegal County Councillor Gary Doherty who now hopes that the

The inaugural Lughnasa International Friel Festival gets underway today and will celebrate the works of playwright Brian Friel. The festival will feature an extensive multi-arts and multi-disciplinary programme of talks, music and dance in both Donegal and Belfast over the next 10 days. A brand new production of Dancing at Lughnasa which is the centrepiece

A meeting takes place today in Dublin to discuss the status of breast cancer services in Letterkenny General Hospital, and how the service can best be progressed. It is a follow up to a meeting which took place earlier this year and will be attended by a number of local canpaign groups, health officials and

Despite it being widely expected that Charlie McConalogue and Pat the Cope Gallagher will stand for Fianna Fail in Donegal in the next election, the party’s PRO here says it is certainly not a fait accompli. Fianna Fáil Donegal will select its candidates to contest the next General Election in October – nominations must be

Fáilte Ireland says its commitment to Donegal is absolute, and the Wild Atlantic Way, is a game changer for tourism in the county. Yesterday, Failte Ireland was criticised by Cllr Martin Mc Dermott for not providing funding for basic facilities at Malin Head. Today Failte Ireland says it is committed to enhancing the visitor experience,

It’s hoped that a mosaic marking the Cathedral Quarter in Letterkenny can be unveiled on Culture Night, Friday September 25th, but for that to happen, the Cathedral Quarter committee says it needs more money to pay for the project. In recent months, new tourist maps of Letterkenny have the Cathedral Quarter marked on them, and

Eircom has now been given the go-ahead to carry out works to make fibre broadband readily available. Protracted negotiations between the telecom providers and COMREG has stalled the roll out of the service high speed broadband to customers in Donegal’s town centres. But now an agreement has been reached allowing Eircom make fibre broadband more

As students continue to consider their options after the first round of CAO offers this week, Letterkenny Institute of Technology is holding an Open Day on both of its campuses today, with an emphasis on helping people who may not have received an offer. One option for people is the list of Available Places on

Lawyers for a bricklayer accused of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing have been given a month to decide whether to seek the cross-examination of witnesses in a preliminary hearing. 44 year old Seamus Daly is on remand in Maghabbery Prison in Northern Ireland charged with the 1998 Real IRA attack. Daly, with an

Road Safety Group PARC says it would strongly oppose the introduction of driver training courses instead of penalty points for those caught speeding for the first time. Under proposals being developed by the Road Safety Authority, drivers caught breaking speed limits for the first time may be ordered to undertake intensive training instead of receiving

Fianna Fail’s selection convention will be held in the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny on Sunday 4th October at 3pm. Nomination papers will be sent out to all voting members on Tuesday 25th August and the process will close on Friday 4th September. Over 1,000 members of the party in Donegal will select candidates using the One

Donegal drivers are being reminded that they must stop for School Traffic Wardens when school starts at the end of the month. The warning comes after wardens expressed concerns that they are often on the receiving end of motorists’ frustrations. Drivers who do not stop for lollipop men and women could face four penalty points

“We have lost a dear friend who touched so many lives and has left a great legacy” The Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) has paid tribute to its former chairman, Martin Howley whose untimely passing has left the fishing industry in mourning. Martin has been a Board member of the KFO since it was formed in

The Registrar at Letterkenny Institute of Technology says there is no question of the college artificially boosting points requirements for courses by imposing specialist criteria. On the contrary, Billy Bennett says the philosophy at LYIT is to maximise the number of students, with 2000 first round CAO offers issued yesterday. Speaking to John Breslin on

A Donegal Councillor is calling for a review of staffing at the call centre in Milford which handles all calls to the council. Cllr Michael Colm Mac Giolla Easbuig says people are left waiting long periods for their call to be answered, and in many cases, people are hanging up rather than waiting for a

Failte Ireland is being accused of failing to support basic improvements at Malin Head, to the extent that one local councillor is now expressing fear that the area’s status as a prime tourism focus could be lost. Cllr Martin Mc Dermott says permission has been granted for basic facilities and improvements by Donegal County Council,

There is good news for Community Sports Club in County Donegal as they can now apply to have areas of their premises exempt from rates. Under the new partial exemption, Community Sports Clubs registered under the Registration of Clubs Act 1904 will not be liable for commercial rates on some buildings, or parts of buildings.

A new survey shows a continued improvement in the fortunes of the Irish hotel sector in the Northwest and across the country. Hotels in the Western Seaboard area which includes hotels from Donegal enjoyed occupancy rates of 65.2% in 2014, up from 63.9% on the previous year. The average room rate in 2014 was €67.50

A 22-year-old man has appeared in court accused of pointing an imitation firearm at his ex-girlfriend’s head. Dylan Glen Smith, whose address was given as Methodist Mission, is charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. The charge relates to an alleged incident in the Creggan area of the city