Author name: oisinkelly

Department of Agriculture inspections are designating some marginal land as ineligible. Midland North West MEP Marian Harkin says this is being done in some areas without properly defined standards, and with no regard to the flexibility which is built into the EU legislation. She says as a result of destocking in the 1990s, many farmers

Galway based patient advocvate Neil Johnson has been appointed Chairperson of the Patient Council for Saolta University Health Care Group. The Vice Chair will be Jean Kelly, Saolta’s Group Director of Nursing and Midwifery. Saolta says the council will play an important role in ensuring that patients’ views are represented. Saolta says the aim of

Patrick McNally is Donegal’s richest person – with a fortune of over 405 million euro. That’s according to the Sunday Independent’s Rich List which is published this morning. Indian industrialist Pallonji Mistry is Ireland’s richest person – with a fortune of almost 15 billion euro. The Sunday Independent’s Business Editor Nick Webb explains Patrick McNally’s

  The HSE is being asked to publish figures relating to heart attack deaths in a number of small hospitals. According to the Sunday Business Post, the combined death rate at Roscommon County Hospital, Bantry General and South Infirmary Victoria in Cork, Ennis Hospital, St John’s in Limerick and St Michael’s in Dublin was 12.2

Two wind warnings are in place across the country until 9pm tonight. A status orange alert is in place in counties Donegal, Galway and Mayo, which may see gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour sweeping along exposed coasts and hills. Meanwhile, a status yellow alert was also issued for counties Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow,

A former Russian Special Forces solider who said he was suffering flashbacks when he wrestled a teenage girl to the ground and sexually assaulted her at Dublin Airport has avoided jail. The 51 year-old Lithuanian man told gardaí he was having flashbacks to his time with the Russian military in Siberia and believed he was

The Sinn Féin party will adopt a position on abortion at their Ard Fheis in Derry today. Last night the party voted not to go into any coalition led by Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil after the general election. Political correspondent, Páraic Gallagher reports from the conference at the Millenium Forum…………..  

The Sinn Féin president has played down reports that the party’s American donors have raised concerns about its tax policies. It was reported today that Irish-American businesses are concerned at the party’s policies on taxes and government spending. But party leader Gerry Adams says he holds similar meetings with groups of all sorts. Arriving at

The young Derry woman who died after collapsing after a volcano trek in Indonesia has donated nine organs. Lisa Orsi had been on life support since she suffered extreme altitude sickness last month. The 22-year-old, who had been working as a physiotherapist in Singapore, was pronounced dead early this morning following extensive transplant surgery. Her

Government grants of over half a million euro have been announced for two seafood processing companies in Killybegs as part of a 2.7 million euro national initiative. Killybegs Seafoods Frozen Ltd have been approved for a grant of 500,000 euro, while Island Seafoods Ltd. have been approved for a grant of 17,550 euro. This will

The North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness says there’s been major progress on the A5 upgrade, with Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy confirming that draft orders for the A5 will be published within weeks. The update came at a meeting of the Executive Subgroup on Regional Opportunities, which was also told that the A6 between

A Donegal Deputy has called on the government to set a date for a referendum on whether emigrants should have the right to vote. Two years ago the Constitutional Convention recommended giving emigrants the right to vote in Ireland’s presidential elections. Earlier this week the Minister for Emigrant Affairs, Jimmy Deenihan sais the Government needs

It’s being claimed that people in Strabane are being put at risk by a lack of Out of Hours GP cover. SDLP West Tyrone, Westminster candidate, Daniel McCrossan says a woman’s life was put it risk over the weekend because a doctor wasn’t available. The woman tried to get an out of hours GP on

Met Eireann has issued two wind warnings for tomorrow morning. The weather forecasters advising of very windy conditions, across Donegal with gusts ranging from 110-to-130 kilometres per hour. The warnings are expected to come into place from 6 o’clock tomorrow morning until Saturday evening.

Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has rubbished suggestions from Fianna Fail that political parties in the North need to be more transparent with their funding. The calls came after it emerged that Sinn Féin had raised over 12 million dollars in the last 20 years through donations in the United States. Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Niall

A former Letterkenny Mayor is in a state of shock today after a fire at his home. Former Cllr Victor Fishers house was significantly damaged last night. Three fire appliances were called to the house in Kiltoy at around 6pm yesterday. The former Town Cllr and his wife were uninjured. The fire started when a stove

The appointment of a design team to draw up plans for a new community hospital in Ballyshannon has been welcomed in the area, with local councillor Barry O’Neill calling it a ‘significant’ development. The 13 million euro facility, on the site of the Shiel Hospital, will see the Shiel Hospital and the Rock Nursing Home merge

It’s emerged that there are 19 finfish farms operating without licences across the country. The details were supplied in a Dail response to Fianna Fail’s Agriculture and Food spokesperson Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív. He says it is completely unacceptable that the Minister’s department has dealt with only two applications out of the 21 submitted since