Category: Old Donegal

Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh is backing calls for the scrapping of the sliding scale saying it doesn’t make sense.

On today’s Nine til Noon he says there appear to have been a number of 11th hour changes made in the days leading to yesterday’s announcement.

Deputy McHugh has said he will consider his position within Fine Gael if an acceptable scheme is not achieved, but at this point, he believes the outstanding issues can be addressed.

At the core of that, he says, is the sliding scale………

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It is the season of sending early, according to An Post.

The service is advising customers to get their Christmas cards and gifts in the post box by December 9th for overseas destinations outside Europe.

The cut off date for EU locations is December 13th for parcels and the 18th for cards.

An Post has also launched its Christmas stamp collection that includes 6 brightly coloured festive greetings.

 

The Taoiseach has accused Sinn Féin of making up figures when it comes to mica redress and feigned outrage over the scheme.

Pearse Doherty has said the new Government proposals don’t amount to 100 per cent redress for the families affected.

Micheál Martin says the drop in the per square foot payment rate after the first 1,000 feet takes into account economies of scale.

But Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty says that’s not what homeowners are being quoted:

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New car registrations in Donegal have increased almost 15%.

According to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, the number of new cars registered in the county last month was 2,399, up from 2,094 during the same period the previous year.

Nationally, November new car registrations are up 24%.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General says; “New car registrations for November were ahead of last year for both the month and year to date, although new car sales continue to remain behind pre-COVID levels.”

A Donegal pensioner, who is accused of sexually assaulting a schoolboy has changed his initial guilty plea to one of not guilty.

76 year old, Patrick Curran of Sheshkin Beg, Derrybeg, originally pleaded guilty to a charge of alledgedly sexually assaulting Bernard O’Hehir who resides in County Cork and has waived his right to anonymity on dates unknown between October 1st 1993 and June 1st 1994 at St John’s National School, Sligo.

The defendant’s barrister, Colm Smyth SC along with Keith O’Grady JC instructed by Cormac Hartnett, solicitor told the court that the defendant wished to change his plea from guilty to not guilty.

Judge Francis Comerford ruled that previous reporting restrictions could be lifted and that both defendant and his alleged victim could be named because of the alleged victim’s wish to give up his right to anonymity.

State Prosecutor Leo Mulrooney, instructed by Sligo State Solicitor, Elisha McHugh told the court that the defendant had pleaded guilty to the charge on one count on the indictment at the circuit court on June 15.

The judge told Patrick Curran, who was standing at the back of the court, that this was a very “solemn matter” just as a guilty plea was a solemn matter too.

The judge said the defendant needed legal grounds to back his application.

Judge Comerford said his solicitor could not now act for him.

“Well, I will have to get another legal team,” said the defendant.

“I have great confidence in my solicitor but not in my barristers,” he added.

His defence solicitor Cormac Hartnett said he could not continue to represent the defendant in the circumstances.

Judge Comerford said he was allowing Mr Hartnett to come off record.

State Prosecutor Leo Mulrooney said they would reluctantly accede to the request.

He added that the defendant’s reasons for changing his plea should be contained in an affidavit which should be in court by December 20th and the case could be listed for mention on January 11th.

Judge Comerford told the defendant that the pressure was on him to have the legal affidavit in court by December 20th and if “you don’t have it, it will sit heavily with you.”

The court was told that the affidavit must be filed with the Sligo State Solicitor Elisha McHugh and with the Sligo court office by that date.

The defendant was remanded on continuing bail until January 11th.

Mica is once again the hot topic of heated exchanges in the Dail this afternoon.

The fallout of the inclusion of the ‘sliding scale’ element of the revised Mica Redress Scheme was brought before the Taoiseach by Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty.

Micheal Martin further repeated Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s stance that the square foot cap will be revised in the coming months.

However, during sometimes fiery exchanges, Deputy Pearse Doherty told the Taoiseach the reaction of homeowners tells the real story…………

 

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The unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in November, including those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

According to figures from the CSO, that’s down from 7.9% in October.

In November last year the figure was over 20%.

People were unable to book a Covid-19 PCR test for a time earlier due to a technical problem with the HSE’s website.

The health service says the issue affected its book a test portal.

However it says the glitch has since been resolved and the system’s now operating normally.

It’s advising anyone who received confirmation of an appointment this morning not to rebook a test.

 

The first case of the Omicron covid variant has been identified in Ireland.

Health officials say eight samples were sent for testing, and ONE case of the strain has been confirmed.

The case is linked to travel to a country in southern Africa and was identified from a sample taken within the last week.

The National Public Health Emergency Team says while only one Omicron case has been detected so far, there may be more cases here which have not been discovered yet.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed the news in the Dail;

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On this week’s Business Matters, Ciaran O’Donnell speaks to Mary Forde who has been running the Donegal DPD Depot with her husband, Gerard, since 2005, having taken over the business from her uncle, Charlie McDaid.

It’s been a hectic 21 months at Depot 36 in Letterkenny which increased its drivers from 18 to 34 following the onset of the pandemic last year.

And for the latest Backing Business segment, Ciaran is joined by the Head of the Faculty of Business at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Michael Margey.

Listen back here:

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