St. Michael’s put an end to Naomh Conaill’s hopes of an unprecedented 4 in a row in the 2009 Championship final on Sunday in Sean MacCumhaill Park Ballybofey.

The boys from the Creeslough/Dunfanaghy area put in a great team effort and were worthy winners on a final score of 0-13 to 0-06. They had great performances on the day from the two McLaughlin’s, Daniel and Raymond who scored ten points between them. Glenties looked tired after a good run in Ulster Club Championship. St.Michael’s were boosted with the return of midfielder Martin McElhinney who spoke with Charlie Collins after the game.
 

Donegal and Termon man Michael Boyle was part of the DCU team that won the Sigerson Cup final at Leixlip on Saturday. On Friday Night the Dublin College beat Maynooth to take their place in the decider. Boyle was in nets for the Dublin students that saw off the challenge of UCC in the Final. The final score on the day was DCU 1-11 UCC 0-10.
 

The North’s Environment Minister Edwin Poots  is to grant planning approval for the development of an 11.5 hectre Business Park in Strabane

The move is being seen as the removal of the last major obstacle in the way of delivering the much needed economic development project for the District.

The lack of industrial zoned land in Strabane has been seen as a long term barrier to the economic regeneration and development in the area.

Welcoming the announcement MP for the area Pat Doherty said  that in recent years economic investment, both inward and indigenous has been lost to the District because of the lack of industrial land.

He says news that Planning Approval has now been granted for the two application submitted by Invest NI last August removes the last major obstacle in the way of  acquisition of the 11.5 hectre site and the development of this site for business start ups, business expansions and inward investment.

The family of a man found shot dead outside Derry on Wednesday night have issued a statement denying that he was an informer or drug dealer.

31-year-old Kieran Doherty, was found naked and bound on the Braehead Road near the Irish border.

On Friday, his family said that he had been the subject of “continuous harassment” by MI5.

The Real IRA has admitted responsibility for killing Mr Doherty who, it said, was one of its members.

Derry journalist, Eamon Mc Cann, spoke on behalf of the Doherty family.

Heavy snow fall left roads in a number of areas of Donegal in a treacherous condition on Friday night.

Hundreds of motorists were stuck in the Meenaroy area when snow left the road, for a time, impassible. At one stage dozens of vehicle were gridlocked as the road conditions worsened,

There were also major delays for motoritst travelling on the Ballybofey to Donegal Town road. McGroary’s Bray became so slippy that traffic came to a standstill.

Further snow showers are expected overnight and early Saturday morning, this is expected to further complicate road conditions in the areas highlighted.

The owner of a Donegal company who says that he could create at least 150 jobs if given support has called on Deputies Niall Blaney and Joe McHugh to stop bickering and work together for the county.

This week Deputy McHugh said that with a few simple calls the Tanaiste could create 300 jobs in Donegal, this was rubbished by Deputy Blaney who questioned how serious Deputy McHugh was about the issue.

Today Micky McCormack of McCormick Transport says that at least 150 jobs could be created if for fishermen were given simple retraining by the government.

He wants the Deputies to put politics aside on the issue:
 

Donegal Senator Cecilia Keavney says pressure must be kept on the garda authorities to ensure that a new permanent garda station is developed in Carndonagh sooner rather than later. She’s due to meet again with Commissioner Fachtna Murphy inm the coming days to discuss the issue.

The station had been prioritised to facilitate a 24 hour station, but was downgraded when a proposed deal on a greenfield site fell through.

Instead, €175,000 is being spent on a temporary pre-fab, which Senator Keavney believes is a waste of money, because for a little more, a permanent site could be bought or rented.

The 21st Colmcille Winter School gets underway tonight, considering the theme of the role of small enterprises in helping economic recovery and overcoming the recession.

Speakers include Enterprise Ireland CEO Frank Ryan and ISME Chief Executive Mark Fielding, as well as the CEO of Letterkenny Chamber and representitives of some of the main banks.

School organiser Martin Egan says smaller enterprises are often overlooked.

It has been confirmed that the BreastCheck service has extended it service in Donegal.

Women from areas including Ardara, Fintown, Glencolmcille, Glenties, Kilcar and Killybegs will be invited for screening at the BreastCheck mobile digital screening unit in Donegal Town.

The Donegal Action for Cancer Care group is meeting with officials in March to try and get a time line for the when the service will now be delivered for the rest of the county.

Spokesperson Betty Holmes says today’s news is a big step in the right direction:

The BreastCheck information line on Freephone  is 1800 45 45 55 or you can visit the website by clicking  here

An audit of Donegal County Council’s 2008 Financial Statement has raised a number of issues, particularly in relation to the employment of consultants and the low level of water charges collected.

In their report on 2008, the auditors note that questions raised the previous year about consultants employed to advise the council on transforming the service revealed that proper tendering procedures were not used.

In his response, County Manager Michael Mc Loone says he entered into an arrangement with a Corporate Management Specialist to implement a research programme aimed at resolving staff issues which predatede his appointment as County Manager, and also pave the way for decentralisation, and the implementation of the Better Local Government programme.

He says the work done as a result of the collaboration has led to significant savings, as well as vastly improving industrial relations on the council. Addressing the issue of tendering in a detailed and lengthy response, he says the specific expertise he required was not available elsewhere, so tendering was not an option.

On the issue of the 32% Commercial Water yield, Mr Mc Loone says the number of commercial customers in 2008 was 10,000, almost double the 2006 figure. He says since then, new debt management systems have been put in place which will see the yield increase signfificantly.