Author name: oisinkelly

Police in Derry are renewing their appeal for information following a serious assault in the city early yesterday morning. A 15-year-old girl was attacked by a man she didn’t know on Racecourse Road between the hours of 1.30 and 3am. The girl received medical treatment after the assault. The man has been described as being […]

  A man has died following a house fire in Derry. The fire in Upper Bennett Street was reported to police shortly after 8 o’clock this morning. The emergency services were called to the house but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He is believed to have been in his forties. Speaking to

A Donegal Councillor says with the controversial levy for foreign trucks coming into effect in Northern Ireland on Monday, the government here must do more to have hauliers from Donegal exempted. There have been suggestions that some roads, particularly the A5 might be excluded from the new levy, but as it stands, each Donegal truck

  Independent MEP Marian Harkin believes The Department of Agriculture is unnecessarily imposing conditions on the participation of hill and commonage farmers in the new EU supported GLAS Scheme. The claims come following a meeting she organised with senior European Commission officials and which was attended by farmers from Donegal, Galway, Mayo and Sligo. Speaking

  A Derry couple who admitted possessing and supplying drugs during the Radio 1 One Big Weekend last year have escaped prison after a judge said it would not be in the public interest to send them to imprison them. Declan Wade (29) of High Park and Paula Gillespie (25) of St Cecilia’s Walk both in Derry admitted

Donegal TDs have earned over 1 million euro collectively in expenses since the General Election. In total, expenses to TDs have cost 24.4 million euro since the last General Election. It works out at an average of 147 thousand euro per TD since March 2011. The Irish Independent is reporting this morning that just one

  Donegal County Council has passed a motion calling for water charges to be scrapped. With the exception of Cllr Bernard Mc Guinness who abstained, Fine Gael members supported the motion. Councillor Frank McBrearty Junior had sough the meeting, to call on the the government to scrap water charges and to prevent the privatisation of

Fine Gael’s whip on Donegal County Council has gone against party policy in supporting a council motion calling for water charges to be scrapped. Councillor Frank McBrearty Junior put forward the emergency motion on Friday evening calling on the government to scrap water charges and to prevent the privatisation of Irish Water. All Councillors who

A Donegal solicitor says measures by government to close some legal loops holes for cross border criminals do not go far enough. Buncrana Solicitor Ciaran MacLochlainn says the greatest thing that ever happened for criminals is the border. He says this was highlighted by a visiting judge who was shocked to learn that she could

A Midlands North West MEP is defending Gerry Adams’s handling of the controversy surrounding the alleged sexual and physical abuse of victims by members of the Republican movement. Matt Carthy’s comments follow a number of recent heated exchanges in the Dail on the alleged abuse. Gerry Adams has denied any cover up and he’s apologised

A 31 year-old Sligo man who fired shots at gardai in a 13 -hour standoff in Sligo last December, was jailed for seven years, at the circuit court yesterday. The court heard that Michael O’Connor reloaded his father’s legally held shotgun on 23 occasions in a garda operation that involved 110 officers. He pleaded guilty

Dissident Republicans have refused to withdraw threats against Council workers in Derry in the wake of a public rally yesterday.   In a statement released to the media from the ‘IRA’ they reiterated their intention to harm any workers whom they claim are ‘assisting Crown Forces’.   The statement states that anyone deemed to be

The Ceann Comhairle has adjourned the Dail until 2 o’clock next Tuesday. It follows a sit-in by Sinn Fein TDs during which the Dáil was suspended for 4 hours. During Leaders’ Questions, Deputy McDonald persisted in asking the Tánaiste Joan Burton about water charges – after the Ceann Comhairle asked her to resume her seat

Motorists are being warned to slow down as they make the journey home this evening. There’s widespread reports of flooding on many routes, with reports of flooding in Donegal Town, Letterkenny, Ballybofey, Buncrana, Carndonagh, Gaoth Dobhair and Pettigo. There are also reports of some flooding in Derry and Omagh. Met Eireann has issued yellow and

The Crime Prevention Officer in Donegal has promised to meet with members of the Asian community in Letterkenny amidst claims that they are being targeted by thieves looking for gold. One caller to the Shaun Doherty Show today told presenter Greg Hughes that it is known that many members of the community would wear a

The HSE has confirmed that there were approximately 180 children’s details on the Speech abnd Language Therapy Service laptop stolen from the boot of a car last week. The register has the details of the children listed by service location, care group, their name, address and contact phone number. Responding to queries from Highland Radio

    Inishowen Cllr Albert Doherty has condemned a burglary at the newly opened Centra store in Muff village this week, saying the break in was in sharp contrast to the entrepreneurial spirit of the brothers who recently opened the store, creating 20 full and part time jobs. Cllr Doherty praised the quick response by

Organisers of protests against water charges in Lifford have criticised graffiti that has appeared in the town. The graffiti is aimed at the local Topaz garage, and it reads ‘Topaz equals Irish Water’. It appears on a wall close to Dalys Topaz Garage in Lifford. One of the six women who organised a massive protest

      A Donegal County Cllr has claimed that council housing tenants details will be handed over to Irish Water by the Council. Irish Water has requested names and addresses of tenants, but to date Donegal County Council has not passed that information on. But it’s being claimed that the council will be compelled

  It’s emerged that a laptop containing children’s details has been stolen from the boot of a car of a staff member attached to the HSE’s Speech and Language Therapy Service in Donegal. Gardai are investigating the theft, which took place outside the county. This week, a number of parents and guardians whose children attend

The head of the Garda Inspectorate says it’s time for the culture of “who you know” inside the Gardai to change, but it won’t happen overnight. Robert Olson was speaking after the publication of a report into the force yesterday, which found massive failings in how crimes are recorded and classified. It ran to over

Can’t Pay Won’t Pay are to lobby a special meeting of Donegal County Council this Friday afternoon. The meeting is being held after Cllr Frank McBrearty put down a motion calling on Donegal County Council to abolish water charges. The special council sitting takes place at 2pm on Friday. Cant Pay Wont Pay spokesperson, Francis

A Donegal County Councillor has expressed his disappointment after his calls for free parking in Letterkenny in the run up to Christmas were turned down. Cllr John O Donnell had put forward a motion at yesterdays Municipal District meeting calling for two weeks free parking before Christmas. The motion wasn’t seconded as Cllrs argued that

The Mayor of Derry has called for threats against against a number of council employees to be lifted immediately. A threat by dissident republicans has been issued against Derry City Council’s Community Safety Wardens. Council has said that it is taking the threats ‘very seriously’ and has taken the ‘necessary steps to ensure the safety

12 people who have been arrested by police investigating ‘violent dissident republican’ activity in the North. The men – aged between 36 and 75 – were picked up at a house in Newry. One of the chief suspects in the Real IRA bombing in Omagh was arrested this morning in a major security operation against

Pic from Cllr Gary Doherty’s Facebook page   There were more protests against Irish Water meter installers in Donegal today, this time at Dromore Park in Killygordon. Cllr Gary Doherty says they secured agreement that no work would be done outside houses where people did not want the meters. Gardai were at the scene, but

Strabane District Council is backing the campaign for the retention of Palliative Care in Ward 5 at Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh. At present, a plan to end the service has been ‘paused’, with councillors and campaigners saying it makes no sense to end the service when palliative care will be included in the ‘new

  The families of the victims of Bloody Sunday have launched a new legal bid to re-open the investigation into their deaths. They’re seeking a judicial review, trying to overturn the decision by the PSNI Chief Constable to close the official police inquiry. 13 people were killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British Army

A community text alert system in Glenties has been hailed a huge success since it was launched in March. Members of the community came together eight months ago to set up a Text Alert scheme. Since then, 15 community text alerts have been issued to 279 people, all of whom send on the same text

A Co Donegal man in his 30s has been charged in relation to a drug seizure in Co Monaghan over the weekend. Damien Alcorn, from Drumboden, Kilmacrennan is charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act with possessing cocaine for the purpose of sale or supply. The 33-year-old was arrested in Co Monaghan on Saturday evening. He

It has been confirmed that a body found in a river in Carrowreagh, Bridgend yesterday is that of missing Derryman Stephen McCloskey. His death is not being treated as suspicious. This evening a Garda spokesman said that as a result of a post mortem they were no longer treating his death as suspicious. Mr McCloskey disappeared

A 40-year-old man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with the rape of a 15-year-old boy. Michael Doherty of 64, Ballyarnett Village in Derry was charged with the offence that was said to have occurred on November 8. A police officer connected Doherty to the charge and opposed bail. reports The court was told