Author name: oisinkelly

77 jobs are being created in Derry with the transformation of two historic buildings into hotels. Work has already begun at the former Northern Counties Club at Bishop Street at and a former bank building in Shipquay Street. The schemes are expected to give the local hospitality industry a significant jobs boost. The building in […]

A Donegal County Councillor is calling into the question the local authority’s decision to sell off property at half it’s market value. The council executive recommended the derelict property in south Donegal be sold for 16 thousand Euro, despite it being individually valued at 30 thousand Euro. Councillor Dessie Sheils has taken issue with this

A Donegal Deputy has claimed that Donegal County Council has breached the Gateway Scheme Deputy Thomas Pringle says he has been made aware that a number of people were employed under the scheme to carry out roadworks in the Stranorlar area. The Gateway programme is similar to jobbridge where people get an extra €50 on

Irish Water’s offer to each councillor for a ten minute meeting in Lifford today has been described as an insult. Fianna Fail, government parties and some independents met with the company but Sinn Fein and a number of independents did not. Irish Water would noly meet with Cllrs individually in private, and wouldn’t hold a

Independent Donegal Co Cllr John O’Donnell has confirmed that he intends to run in the next General Election. The 33-year-old Kilmacrennan man said he believes there is a massive opening for a ‘strong, independent voice in the county’. Cllr O’Donnel also confirmed that he has met with Shane Ross before Christmas, but he has not

Xtra-vision is closing two stores in Derry and Strabane with the loss of 10 jobs. The company’s store in Strabane will close this week while their store at Lisnagelvin shopping centre in Derry will follow suit on the 2 February. Xtra-vision closed a number of stores last year after going into receivership. Strabane Cllr Patsy

Sinn Fein have confirmed that they will not meet with Irish Water representatives in Lifford today. The party had requested that Irish Water meet them as a grouping in the County House today, but Irish Water said they’d only meet with Cllrs individually. Cllr Mick Quinn has claimed that the offer of ten minute meetings

A wintry blast is to bring snow showers, hail and ice later this week. A cold front is expected to sweep across the country on Wednesday. Met Eireann has forecast several centimetres of snow in places, with the west and north worst affected. Temperatures will drop to as low as minus 4 on Wednesday evening,

Údarás na Gaeltachta has reported an increase in job creation and job losses in the Donegal Gaeltacth in 2014. There were 280 jobs created, while there were 214 jobs lost. The details are contained the the boards 2014 end of year review. Udaras reports that there was a 30% increase in the number of jobs

The Norths Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said that a united Ireland is “inevitable”. The Sinn Féin MLA was speaking at his party’s AGM in Omagh, Co Tyrone on Saturday. He also praised Peter Robinson’s leadership over the Stormont House Agreement. Mr McGuinness said: “Sinn Féin has emerged from the recent negotiations in a

The Red C poll in The Sunday Business Post sees both Fine Gael and Labour gaining 3 points in the last month. Over 1,000 voters were polled between Monday and Wednesday of this week. It’s the first poll since Health Minister, Leo Varadkar came out as gay last week. Red C says Fine Gael would take

A nurse who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone has made a complete recovery and been discharged from hospital. Pauline Cafferkey, who has family in Dungloe, is now free of the virus after more than three weeks in hospital, where she was critically ill for a time. She said she is “happy to be

A protest is to be held outside Donegal County Council’s office in Lifford on Monday when councillors are to meet with representatives of Irish Water. The public are invited to join the protest picket outside the Council offices at 10am on Monday. Cant Pay Wont Pay are also inviting other councillors to join the protest

The Derry/Strabane Super Council have requested the release of freedom of information regarding the relocation of the Department of Agriculture Headquaters. In July last year the Northern Ireland Executive gave its approval for the Department of Agriculture headquarters to move to Ballykelly. The confirmation of the relocation if the 700 jobs came despite the fact

A new survey has found that 55% of Donegal businesses intend on employing more staff in 2015. The report from accountant online dot.ie also found that 80% of businesses in the county saw an increase in trade last Christmas with almost 30% seeing an increase of over 20% on 2013. The strenght of the sterling was seen as

House prices in Co Donegal have risen for the first time since the property crash. The report on 64 local property markets across the country and published in today’s Irish Independent shows growth in the market in nearly every part of the country. House prices rose by 3% in Co Donegal. Residential Property Editor at

The family of Shaun Duffy, murdered in west Donegal 10 years ago, are calling on the investigation to be handed over to cold case gardai in Dublin. In January 2005,36-year-old Mr Duffy was found dead at his home at Meenacross near Dungloe. An inquest was told he died during a vviolent struggle where he suffered

Hospitals have a lot of ‘catch up’ to do because of the number of in patient appointments that have been cancelled this month to help alleviate overcrowding in Emergency Departments. The Health Minister has promised to reduce waiting times to 15 months by the end of the year. However he admits that large numbers of

A cabinet minister is playing down fears that Irish Water could fail a vital EU test. A draft report from the European Commission says the new regime of water charges means Irish Water’s borrowing could be included in the national debt. If that’s the case, the government may be forced into an embarrassing mini-budget later

The Western Development Commission has published figures today showing that in 2013, under 15% of all employees in Donegal were in jobs assisted by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland or Udaras na Gaeltachta. Nationally there were ten counties with lower shares. The report on Assisted Employment shows some growth between 2010 and 2013, but the number

The Department of the Environment says appointments to the Western Development Commission will, in future, be handled by the Public Appointments Service. It follows criticism in the Dail this week from Donegal North East Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn, who said that several members of the current board were members of Fine Gael and Labour, some

The Stormont Environment Minister Mark H. Durkan says he is confident that the Western Trust will not proceed with the proposed withdrawal of respite services at the Cottages in Derry. He says he and other Foyle MLAs have had a series of meetings with Health Minister Jim Wells, as well as discussions last week with

Families of those who were murdered on Bloody Sunday are to meet with the investigating police today. The murder investigation into the incident, which occurred at Derry’s Bogside on 30 January 1972, is to reopen this month. The PSNI confirmed earlier this month that a team of 12 detectives would be assigned to the senior