Category: Old Donegal

 

The Letterkenny and Derry Chambers of Commerce say 2022 will be a crucial year for the North West City Region.

Chambers on both sides of the border have met to discuss their shared priorities for the North West over the course of the coming year.

The meeting comes as the Chambers submit their joint response to the All Island Strategic Rail Review, where they call for wholesale rail reform to strengthen the North West’s connectivity with the island’s other economic hubs and with Brexit Protocol negotiations ongoing, both Chambers expressed their desire for the protection of the North West’s unfettered access to UK, Ireland, and EU markets.

Over the past year, the Chambers have also collaborated on a Masters in Research Programme examining cross border clusters, with a particular focus on the FinTech sector.

Kristine Reynolds, Letterkenny Chamber President, says they are looking forward to working together to tackle the key issues facing our local economy.

She believed that both Stormont and Dublin must work to address the regional imbalance in transport infrastructure as part of a properly funded investment programme to bolster our region.

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The Public Expenditure Minister says it would be “incredibly difficult where to draw the line” if the pandemic bonus is extended beyond frontline healthcare workers.

There’s been criticism that the likes of pharmacists, GP’s, retail workers and others who worked during the pandemic won’t be receiving the 1000 euro bonus which will be paid to key health care staff.

Michael McGrath says the cost of the scheme would “spiral” if the likes of GPs, pharmacists and retail workers were eligible for the 1 thousand euro payment.

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A 24 hour work stoppage by Fórsa members at the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority continues to affect operations at Killybegs harbour this morning.

Union members commenced a 24 hour work stoppage at midnight in response to what Fórsa says is a decision by SFPA management to implement and impose 47 recommendations from an independent review of SFPA without the input of the staff representatives. The matters were subsequently referred to the Labour Court.

A 48-hour work stoppage is planned from midnight next Tuesday.

Ian McDonnell is Assistant General Secretary for Fórsa Trade Union:

https://highlandradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/mcdonnellweb.mp3

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The Dail has heard calls for a debate on the publication of the Brandon report.

The report, involves over 100 cases of abuse perpetrated on intellectually disabled adults in Ard Greine and the Sean O’Hare Unit in Stranorlar.

On Monday Attorney General, Paul Gallagher advised against the full publication of the report due to the potential of prejudicing any HR disciplinary actions.

Donegal Deputy Thomas Pringle told the Dail however, that it’s vital that the report is published:

https://highlandradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pringlemartin.mp3

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A 31 year old Slovakian man has been charged with the murder of Ashling Murphy.

Jozef Puska of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co. Offaly appeared before a special sitting of Tullamore District Court last night.

Kacey O’Riordan reports from Tullamore:

Shortly after 8pm last night, Jozef Puska was brought before Judge Catherine Staines.

He’s charged with murdering 23 year old offaly school teacher Ashling Murphy.

The Slovakian native appeared in court in a matching grey tracksuit and was provided with an interpreter.

The court heard when charged at Tullamore Garda Station earlier in the evening and asked if he wanted to make a reply, he said no.

His solicitor applied for free legal aid and the court was told he receives 200 euro disability allowance per week.

He also applied for a interpreter going forward for all hearings and consultations.

Judge Staines granted both requests before remanding the accused in custody to appear again at Cloverhill District Court on January 26th

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The National Public Health Emergency Team will meet today to discuss easing restrictions over the next few weeks.

Health officials will make recommendations to Government ahead of a Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told a meeting of his Parliamentary Party last night the country is now well beyond the peak of the Omicron wave and things weren’t as bad as had been feared.

He said he plans to make an announcement tomorrow on restrictions for the short and medium term.

While politicians are not under any illusions the pandemic is over, they are beginning to think the worst may be behind – at least until a new variant emerges.

With that in mind they expect a quick unwinding of restrictions over the next few weeks, with hopes almost all measures will be gone before the bumper four day St Patrick’s weekend.

However, NPHET has still to have its say.

Health officials will meet to set out what measures they believe can be eased, and the pace at which it should be done.

It’s expected they will give a cautious go ahead to re-opening, with full details of the plan to be sent to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tonight.

SD

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A clinical display by India saw the overwhelming favourites defeat a young Ireland Under-19s Men’s team at the ICC Under-19s Men’s Cricket World Cup yesterday.

With an innings of 307, India would prevail by 174 runs in Trinidad.

St Johnstons Scott McBeth  hit 32 runs as Ireland were all out for 133.

Macbeth’s powered late runs came from 40 balls that included three fours and two eye-catching sixes.

Ireland’s last Group Stage match is back at the same venue on Friday against South Africa in a winner-takes-all match where the victorious side will advance to the Super 8 stage, and the defeated side will go into the Plate draw.

Ireland Captain Tim Tector said:

“You have to give credit to India – they came out with the bat and put pressure on us straight away. We didn’t bowl well up front, but in the middle period we dragged them back pretty well, so they were a few positives we can take – but full credit to India today.

“After the start they had, we were pretty happy to restrict them to 300 – the wicket was pretty good, there wasn’t a huge amount of movement on it, and with the outfield you could get a lot of value for your shots. It was always going to be a challenge for us, but we were going to give it our best shot – unfortunately it didn’t come off for us.

“They then got a few early wickets which put us on the back foot – I thought we could have been a bit more proactive looking for those quick runs in the ring, while waiting for the bad ball, but credit to India – they didn’t give us much width or many bad balls.

“It was great to get a game here today, we play South Africa here on Friday which is now just a straight shoot-out for the Super 8s, we’ll go away and prepare then be ready for Friday.”

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Donegal were minutes away from winning a first Conor McGurk Cup but Down  rallied late to snatch a one point victory 1-22 (25) to 2-18 (24) at The Dub Arena in Belfast.

With the League start  just around the corner, Donegal played their best hurling of the competition and Davin Flynn  starred scoring the two goals.

Down were reduced to 14 men in the first half when Caolan Taggart got his marching orders.

Donegal capitalised to lead through  Flynn’s first goal of the evening and would go into the break level at 12 apiece.

With Down not finding their range in the third quarter, Donegal would hit six unanswered points to take a grip of the tie.

By the second half water break Donegal lead by five points 1-16 to 0-14.

When play resumed Davin Flynn would again step up with another goal to put seven points between the sides.

14 men Down chipped away at Donegal’s advantage and recieved a huge boost with a Paul Sheehan goal.

The Mourne men scored 1-8 in the final quarter and the winning point came right at the death with a free from Man of the Match Sheehan.

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12,138 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed this evening.

6,843 positive PCR tests have been reported along with 5,295 positive antigen tests registered through the HSE portal.

52 Covid related deaths have been reported over the past week.

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The Justice Minister has said a new bill to create new criminal offences around stalking will be published by Easter.

Helen McEntee told the Dáil it will update the law to include offences around impersonating someone and bringing all modern forms of communication under stalking laws.

The Dáil has been hearing statements on violence against women this evening with many female TDs telling their personal stories.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said she will lead a change in attitudes towards women:

https://highlandradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/mcentee18.mp3

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