A young Donegal man has claimed at the Central Criminal Court that he had sex with a teenage girl who is accusing his friend of rape weeks before the alleged incident.

Under cross-examination from prosecuting counsel, the man denied that he had been called in “like the cavalry” to rescue his friend in a “cynical misuse of the courts”.

The 23-year-old accused man has pleaded not guilty to rape and defilement of the girl on a date in February 2008.

It was put to the man that he was kept on “standby” in case things “got bad” for the accused and had lied under oath about his relations with the teenage complainant.

The man denied these allegations, insisting that he got involved in the trial on the advice of a mutual friend after hearing the complainant’s evidence about her sexual history on local radio, because “it was the right thing to do”.

The young woman said in court that she had only one sexual partner before the alleged rape.

Another young man told Mr David Goldberg SC, defending, that he saw the complainant go upstairs with the previous witness to a bedroom in a house they shared a few weeks before the alleged rape.

The witness denied this story was an “invention” when it was put it to him that he had “just lied” to help out his “buddies” and the accused.

The trial has reached closing stages before Mr Justice George Birmingham and a jury of seven men and five women.

Sinn Fein is refuting in the strongest terms claims that the Republican Movement used Donegal as a “dumping ground” for sex offenders within its ranks.

The claim was made by a spokesperson for the Belfast Rape Crisis centre in yesterday’s ‘Donegal on Sunday’ newspaper.

Senator Pearse Doherty says these claims are part of a wider attempt to smear the party in Belfast, and has stressed he does not believe the Donegal paper to be part of that campaign.

He says the party is taking legal advice.

It’s emerged that Udaras na Gaeltachta sustained a net loss of 21 jobs in Donegal last year.

The figure is contained in the authority’s annual report, which has just been published.

A total of 204 new jobs were created in the Donegal Gaeltacht in 2009. When job losses are taken into account, overall employment declined by 225 jobs in comparison with the previous year.

The majority of job losses arose from the closure of Euro Iompu Teo on the Gaoth Dobhair Business Park, and also as a result of companies reducing their workforce in an effort to sustain their business.

The total employed full-time in Údarás assisted companies in the Donegal Gaeltacht was 2,250 at year end.

The experience in Udaras in Donegal reflected the national trend, with 710 new jobs created across the country, while 721 were lost.

It seems the governments involvement in the Greencastle Harbour Project is coming to an end.Concerns were raised earlier this month when the government said only 104,000 euro would be made available for the 35,000,000 euro project this year.

 It was confirmed at today’s council meeting that to date 8,000,000 euro has been spent on constructing a breakwater in the harbour. Of that Donegal County Council is liable for 900,000 – just 300,000 euro has been paid over to date.

 In a response to a question on the issue from Councillor Martin Farren, the council says that following meetings with the Department of Fisheries and Food, it is understood that the Department wishes to make the project safe, disengage from it and hand responsibility back to Donegal County Council.

There were heated exchanges in the council chamber this afternoon when the issue of the Stranorlar Leisure Centre was raised. Councillor Martin Harley raised the subject calling on the local authority to increase efforts to progress the project – however the ensuing debate soon turned to farce when a round of name calling erupted.

Commenting on the progress to date Councillor Frank McBrearty accused Fianna Fail of using the leisure centre as a political football. This brought an angry response from Councillor Patrick McGowen who accused Councillor McBrearty of not caring about anything except himself and his election to the Dail.

Councillor McGowen called Councillor McBrearty a ‘clown’, he later withdrew the comment however in the mean time Councillor McBrearty took issue with Mayor Byrne’s handling of the situation saying that he would ‘get him in the long grass’.

 The issue was closed when the county manager said he would deal with all the issues raised at a meeting with local councillors ahead of the capital budget meeting in March.

The line up for Wednesday Night’s Dr. Mc Kenna Cup Semi Finals was confirmed at the weekend following the last of the group games. Donegal were comfortable 1-13 to 0-05 winners against St. Mary’s. Colm Mc Fadden was top scorer in Ballybofey on Saturday evening with 7pts. John Joe Doherty’s side qualified for the semi’s as the best runners up and will play Down in the last four. The Mourne County finished as winners of Group C after their 1-15 to 1-13 win against Derry on Sunday. The Donegal Down game will be played at Brewster Park in Enniskillen.
Donegal Manager John Joe Doherty speaking with Tom Comack.
 

The other semi final sees  Tyrone taking on neighbours Fermanagh. Mickey Harte’s side beat Cavan on Saturday evening 2-17 to 1-4 to top Group B. Mark Donnelly scored both goals for Tyrone. Fermanagh beat Armagh on Sunday by 1-8 to 1-6 to top Group A with three wins from three matches. The Tyrone Fermanagh semi final will be played on Wednesday Night at Healy Park in Omagh.

The Labour Relations Commission has been asked to intervene in major industrial action due to get underway across the public sector today.

More than 300 thousand teachers, nurses and members of IMPACT and the Craft group of unions are staging a work-to-rule in protest at Government pay cuts in December’s Budget.

Meanwhile the IMPACT union says it is incensed by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan’s comments at the weekend when she refused to rule out further pay cuts.

Donegal spokesperson Ritchie Curruthers says the government is clearly playing hard ball and an escalation in strike action can be expected:

The SDLP are moving a motion in the assembly today calling the Executive to implement the Bain report recommendations of decentralising government jobs as a matter of urgency.

The motion will be moved by Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tommy Gallagher and Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey.

Mr Gallagher, the SDLP’s Western Development spokesperson,  says as well as seeking decentralised jobs, they will also be seeking more government contracts for businesses west of the Bann.

He says since 2007, only eight  businesses in his constituency were awarded government contracts, with far more contracts coming from the republic and while every MLA will fight their own corner, they will taken a clear regional view

Critical talks are being held in Belfast and London today to determine the future of the Northern Assembly.

At Stormont, the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will hold an urgent meeting with DUP leader Peter Robinson.

While the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach meet at Downing Street to try and break the deadlock over policing and justice.

The Leader of the SDLP Mark Durkan is welcoming the involvment of Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen:

The RNLI has released figures for 2009 which show there were 78 call outs in Donegal last year, with 69 people rescued.

The organisation is preparing for a major fundraising drive, and is emphasising the fact that it’s totally funded by members of the public.

On Saturday morning, Arranmore Lifeboat had its first call out of this year, when it brought an injured French trawler man ashore.

Donal Kavanagh has more details: