Donegal County Council is inviting submissions to a review currently under way into the County Development Plan.

The period of public consultation for the review of the plan has been extended to allow for greater feedback and involvement – the closing date is now Friday, October 8 next, at 4.30pm.

A workshop has been arranged for the Carndonagh Public Service Centre from 7.30pm – 9.30pm on Tuesday, September 21 next to allow the public to become involved in the review.

People are being invited to come along to the event at which they will have the opportunity to see what the review entails, what it can mean to them and how they can have an effect on the outcome. There will be opportunities to simply listen and/or to have their say.  

The review process involves the re-examination of the current plan and its replacement with a new updated plan. 

The plan sets the framework for the spatial development of the county, for example where housing should develop, how our towns should grow, how design can be made suitable to its landscape, where industry should be focused, where social and community facilities should be focused and how our environment can be protected at all times. \It is an important document for the people of Donegal and, in reviewing the plan, Donegal County Council is seeking your input and ideas. 

The Council is currently encouraging groups, organisations and individuals to make submissions about how they think the development plan should shape the way in which the county develops.

To facilitate this, Issues Papers are available in public service centres, libraries and at www.donegalcoco.ie. These provide more detail in relation to what the plan is about and what some of the big issues are.  

Written submissions should be sent to: Mr Gerry Richards, Central Planning Unit, Donegal County Council, County House, Lifford, Co. Donegal or can be emailed to: cdp.review@donegalcoco.ie

Public urged to attend Carndonagh workshop

Donegal County Council is inviting submissions to a review currently under way into the County Development Plan.

The period of public consultation for the review of the plan has been extended to allow for greater feedback and involvement – the closing date is now Friday, October 8 next, at 4.30pm.

A workshop has been arranged for the Carndonagh Public Service Centre from 7.30pm – 9.30pm on Tuesday, September 21 next to allow the public to become involved in the review.

People are being invited to come along to the event at which they will have the opportunity to see what the review entails, what it can mean to them and how they can have an effect on the outcome. There will be opportunities to simply listen and/or to have their say.  

The review process involves the re-examination of the current plan and its replacement with a new updated plan. 

The plan sets the framework for the spatial development of the county, for example where housing should develop, how our towns should grow, how design can be made suitable to its landscape, where industry should be focused, where social and community facilities should be focused and how our environment can be protected at all times. \It is an important document for the people of Donegal and, in reviewing the plan, Donegal County Council is seeking your input and ideas. 

The Council is currently encouraging groups, organisations and individuals to make submissions about how they think the development plan should shape the way in which the county develops.

To facilitate this, Issues Papers are available in public service centres, libraries and at www.donegalcoco.ie. These provide more detail in relation to what the plan is about and what some of the big issues are.  

Written submissions should be sent to: Mr Gerry Richards, Central Planning Unit, Donegal County Council, County House, Lifford, Co. Donegal or can be emailed to: cdp.review@donegalcoco.ie

A talented Burnfoot girl is to compete in the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Cavan next month.

Fifteen-year-old Yasmin Lynch, from Elaghbeg picked up a string of accolades at the recent Donegal and Ulster Fleadhs, to bag her place in the piano accordion 15-18 age category at the renowned music festival taking place on Sunday, August 22 next.

It follows a number of other recent wins for the Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana pupil, who came first in the tin whistle and first in the piano accordion at the recent Carndonagh Feis.

She was also awarded the Credit Union Perpetual Cup for most promising traditional musician over 14. The young musician came second in last year’s All Ireland.

Inishowen urged to support protest rally against hospital cuts

The people of Inishowen have been urged to turn out in force at a march and rally taking place this weekend in protest at proposed cutbacks at Letterkenny General Hospital.

The demonstration, organised by the newly formed Save Donegal Health Services Campaign Group, will take place in Letterkenny this Saturday amid fears 125 staff, including nurses and care assistants, are to lose their jobs as a result of a reported eight million euro overspend at the hospital.

While some staff at the hospital have claimed they have been informed they are to lose their jobs, management has said “nothing is agreed as yet” although they conceded if “immediate action” was not taken to reduce costs there could be a requirement for “severe actions” to be taken later in the year.

Culdaff woman, Noelle Duddy of Cancer Care NorthWest CCC(NW), one of the groups involved in the protest campaign, said the demonstration was being held to “help defend our public hospital and community health services.”

Speaking to the Inish Times last night, she urged the people of Inishowen to attend in the same numbers as they did in May 2006, when 15,000 people took to the streets to successfully fight the removal of cancer care services.

She said: “We are asking people to come out again. The stakes are much higher this time. The proposed cuts Letterkenny hospital is being asked to make, through no fault of their own, are from central HSE and will have major ramifications on Letterkenny providing proper health care services.”

She added: “We cannot afford to stay silent and remain sitting on the fence regarding the future of our public health service. Sitting on the fence ensures the satus quo is preserved. A culture of silence must not be allowed to be developed.”

Ms. Duddy said there were concerns proposed cutbacks will include a reduction in the operating hours of the hospital’s mortuary.

She said: “We are concerned management in Letterkenny are having to consider taking drastic actions to save money that they are considering closing the mortuary on a Saturday.

“This begs the question – when a person dies what are their loved ones meant to do? Do we have to plan the deaths of our loved ones? CCC(NW) are of the opinion that these problems are central to the Government, Department of Finance, Department of Health, senior civil servants and senior HSE members who are much, much  removed from the frontline workers working in Letterkenny hospital.”

She concluded: “We implore people, please, please attend this public demonstration – it is a window of opportunity to halt these draconian cuts.”

Those attending Saturday’s rally are asked to meet at the Station Roundabout at 12.00 noon.

Culdaff rower Laura D’Urso claimed a gold medal for the peninsula at the Irish National Rowing Championships in Cork last week.

The City of Derry boating club rower, who finished fourth at last year’s World Junior Championships, cemented her reputation as one of the

country’s top rowers by leading her ‘Facebook Eight’ team home in the

Ladies Senior Eights category.

Despite being an established Junior international Laura’s success has

been as a ‘sculler’, rowing with an oar in each hand, rather than as a

sweep rower using a single oar, and the switch between the two

disciplines is notoriously difficult.

In addition to the challenge of learning a new technique, Laura was

also part of a crew that had only rowed together the evening before

the race. The crew, dubbed the ‘Facebook Eight’ were drawn from clubs

across Ireland and only entered the race on the spur of the moment.

They were pitted against a range of club and university crews that had

been training specifically for the race for up to nine months and

devoted hundreds of hours to perfecting their technique and fitness.

In a further personal challenge, Laura was also chosen to stroke the

boat, effectively setting the pace and rhythm for the whole crew and

leading from the front. Despite these odds, the crew went into the

race with a nothing to lose attitude, as she explained.

“We knew that some of the other crews had put in a huge amount of work

together for the race, but that can bring its own pressures. Whilst we

had all been training hard all year it was in different boats and

different crews, so nothing was expected from us. It was almost a

relief to go into such a big race with no pressure from outside,” she said.

 ‘I am told that this is the first Senior Eights medal that City of

Derry have won since 1969 so it makes you realise how prized they are,

I am just delighted to have won the race, and with such a great bunch

of friends who were just determined not to lose’.

At the same event Laura’s father, Gaetano, took Silver in the Veteran

Men’s Single Scull, completing a winning weekend for the D’Urso family

and City of Derry Boating Club.

A little bit of local history will be made tomorrow night when a traditional music concert taking place in Inishowen will be streamed online.

Frankie Gavin & Dé Dannan will take centre stage for the concert with a difference live from McGrory’s of Culdaff which will be able to be viewed all over the world for free on www.LiveTrad.com.

The event is the latest in a series of free webcasts which have been streamed on www.LiveTrad.com throughout the summer, with support from Discover Ireland. The website, which was launched on St. Patrick’s Day of this year, regularly broadcasts traditional Irish music concerts and sessions to thousands of viewers around the world.

The web session will begin at 9.00pm sharp (4.00pm EDT, 1.00pm PDT) and will bring the fiddle legend that is Frankie Gavin and his group to a new online audience. For those heading to the venue to the concert, doors open at 8.00pm and tickets are priced at 20 euro.

Since launching the new Dé Dannan at the World Fleadh in Castlebar last year, Frankie Gavin & Dé Dannan have been seen and heard all over the world, and earlier this year were invited to perform for US President Barack Obama.

The group, which also features Damien Mullane (accordion), Eric Cunningham (percussion, flutes and whistles), Mike Galvin (bouzouki and guitar) and Michelle Lally (vocals), are now connecting with an interactive online audience.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow night’s concert Frankie said the idea of playing an intimate set to a worldwide audience was “a great idea.”

He added: “It’s a terrific way of getting the music out there to your audience. There are only so many gigs we can play in any given year, so having the gigs streamed on the web means you reach many more people than can turn up for the concerts.”

Inishowen’s most dedicated cycling duo have returned safe and sound from a mammoth charity trip from Malin to Mizen Head and back again – and said they’d do it all again.

Carl McLaughlin from Muff and Pat McLaughlin from Buncrana embarked on their mission for the Donegal and Foyle Hospices on June 11, arriving back in Malin Head bang on their intended time of 3.30pm on Sunday, June 20 last.

They clocked over 800 miles on their journey, which was in aid of the Donegal Hospice on the way down and Foyle Hospice on the way up, in memory of the late Kevin Downey.

They were joined on the way down by Dungiven man Greg McLaughlin and on the way back home by a contingent of local cyclists, including their wives Sandra and Eileen, who completed a previously arranged Mizen to Malin Head cycle for the Foyle Hospice.

Speaking to the Inish Times, a modest Carl said the mammoth feat “all went well” despite an unfortunate incident where his fellow cyclist Pat was knocked off his bike.

He said: “It all went great and we found it was grand – we enjoyed it.

The weather was fairly bad on the way down, the winds were quite strong but it was very good on the way home again, where we had an average speed of 17 and 18 and a half.

“The only setback we had was when Pat was knocked off his bike in Killarney. A minibus had moved forward at a green light but decided for some reason to stop dead in the road. I hit the back of it and Pat went over the top of me. But, thank God, despite the fact at first we thought his shoulder might have been broken, he was fine apart from being a bit shaken and a few cuts and bruises. He got back on the bike and we went on our way again.

“The toughest part of the whole trip was probably when we were going into Ennis on the Sunday, the winds were that strong we dropped from around 20 – 25 miles an hour to ten. Then you had the Cork and Kerry mountains. It was fairly tough but you also had a lot more cyclists on the route so you had to hold back a bit.”

The duo met a number of other cyclists on the road, including another two men who were cycling from Malin to Mizen Head.

“They didn’t know we were doing it,” explained Carl.

“They were trying to do it in three days and as we were going up to them they said ‘Be easy on us boys, we’ve about 240 miles to go yet,’ to which we said ‘aye and we’ve about 640!’ They were amazed.”

Describing the trip as “good craic” Carl quipped there was “Guinness every night – we joked that’s what kept us going.”

“It really gave us another boost when we met up with the Foyle Hospice group, which included our wives who also got on great. We also met up with a well-known face Bill Doherty from the Undertones so it was all very enjoyable. We actually were going better every day and the last day was our quickest. We weren’t tired at all when we came back thank God, we even had a gathering in the Harbour that night.”

The proceeds of the expedition are still being counted but the Foyle Hospice Mizen to Malin Head Challenge raised an exceptional 35,000 euro.

Carl insists he’d “do it all again” and the two men aren’t resting on their laurels as they competed in the tough Inishowen 100 Challenge since their return.

They would like to thank Willie Doherty, who drove the van, everyone who sponsored them, Greg McLaughlin, who accompanied them on their cycle to Mizen Head and their main sponsors McLaughlin Motor Factors, Supervalu, Buncrana , Supervalu, Carndonagh and Pat the Baker.

Quigley’s Point-based Fine Gael County Councillor “Black” Mickey Doherty is the new chairperson of the Inishowen Electoral Area Committee.

Cllr Doherty took over the reign from outgoing party colleague Councillor Bernard McGuinness. Cllr Doherty was proposed by FG’s Cllr John Ryan and seconded by Sinn Fein Cllr Padraig MacLochlainn and received the unanimous backing of the rest of the councillors.

Speaking as he took the chair, Cllr Doherty said as he had only been elected a councillor for a year, the position was not expected nor had he looked for it.

He said: “Inishowen is a bigger issue to me than politics. I compliment the members and staff for the united approach in most matters. Our togetherness is definitely our strength.”

Cllr Doherty added he was “very privileged” to be elected chairperson and looked forward to “continuing the good working relationship” between members and staff.

Tributes were paid to outgoing chairperson Bernard McGuinness with Cllr MacLochlainn thanking him for his “courtesy” throughout the past year.

He said: “You’re here 31 years and your experience certainly showed over the past year.”

Councillor McGuinness, in turn, thanked the councillors for their “co-operation and assistance in the past year.”

He also paid tribute to outgoing County Manager Michael McLoone  and wished the new County Manager Seamus Neely well, saying he had a “very difficult job in a very difficult economic time.”

Inishowen Youth & Schoolboys Academy fielded teams in the Foyle Cup at under 11, 12, 14 and 16 levels last week and it was overall another excellent weeks work for the academy .THREE teams qualified for the Foyle cup proper for the very first time with the under 11s finishing 6^th, under 15s finishing 8^th put pride of place goes to the under 14s who made the semi finals and ended 4^th from thirty two teams. In addition the under 12s & 16s both made the rosebowl finals with the 12s winning theirs but Stephen Cutliffe’s side losing out in a sudden death penalty shootout.

Busanna Feda O Donaill Intermediate Football Championship

Urris                  0-08

MacCumhaill’s   2-10

By Johnny Craig

Sports Editor

Urris’ passage to the second round of the Intermediate Championship

will be determined by a play-off after MacCumhaills atoned for the

Inishowen side’s win at Ballybofey with a comfortable victory in

Clonmany on Saturday evening.

John Friel’s side’s win at Donegal HQ earlier in the month raised a few

eyebrows, against a side who had aspirations of playing in this year’s

Donegal Senior Championship. But in the return leg they were outplayed

for long periods and will need a major improvement if they are to

advance in the play-off.

Urris began the game in determined fashion with Ciaran Friel clipping

the left post with a well struck shot and Peter Devlin forcing a full stretch save from Chris Patton in the Ballybofey goal.

MacCumhaill’s settled and hit the front with scores from play by

Darren O’Leary and Benny McLaughlin but Urris were more than a match

for them in the opening 15 minutes and deservedly equalised with

scores from Donal Kelly and Alan Friel.

That was to be as good as it got for the Inish side however as

MacCumhaill’s hit a purple patch shortly afterwards to put clear water

between the sides.

Following a well taken score from O’Leary on the left they hit the

first of their two goals on 17 minutes when a deep ball in by Bernard

McGeehan found the unmarked O’Leary who turned and drilled the ball

high to the roof of the net.

MacCumhaill’s ruthlessly attacked in the run up to the interval with

O’Leary again splitting the posts and Benny McLaughlin adding another

brace.

Significantly the Ballybofey side registered only one wide in the

first half while Urris had four and although they sent over two late

points from Donal and Eddie Kelly, MacCumhaill’s went in at halftime

in the driving seat with a five point advantage.

Urris started the second half well but failed to turn their possession

into scores and they were punished for that when the visitors

stretched their lead to seven points with scores from McGeehan and

another from Benny McLaughlin.

The hosts were beginning to build good phases of possession and,

although they pulled scores back through the in-form Peter Devlin and

an Eddie Kelly free, too often sloppy passing gave MacCumhaill’s the

initiative to attack on the break.

With ten minutes remaining McGeehan capitalised on indecision in the

in the Urris defense to claim a loose ball and drill it to the net to

put the result beyond doubt.

With seven minutes remaining Urris came a whisker away from closing

the gap when towering midfielder Liam Diver’s fisted effort from a

deep ball in by Mickey Grant stubbed the left post.

As the game drew to a close Shaun McGeoghan sent over a booming longrange score while Eddie Kelly and Mark McLaughlin hit consolation

scores for Urris to reduce their winning margin to eight points.

URRIS: Johnny Noone, Sean Doherty, Martin Kelly, Mickey Grant, Sean

McDaid, Phil Pat Doherty, Damien Harkin, Eddie Kelly, Liam Diver, Mark

McLaughlin, Peter Devlin, Alan Friel, Darragh Doherty, Donal Kelly,

Ciaran Friel. SUBS: Paddy Doherty for M Kelly, Adrian Doherty for C Friel

MACCUMHAILLS: Chris Patton, Mick Connolly, Shane McNulty, Garvan

Mulligan, Gary Dunnion, Joe Dunnion, Pat McNulty, Shaun McGeoghan,

Maurice Lafferty, Packie Gallon, Bernard McGeehan, Chris McDaid, Benny McLaughlin, Darren O’Leary, Paddy Kelly

REFEREE: Sean McLaughlin