Communications with HSE services in Donegal are likely to be affected today as a result of continued industrial action this week.

IMPACT has confirmed that telephones will not be answered in the HSE West area from 9am until 1pm today.

The union has agreed to grant a derogation for switchboards, and for direct line emergency services such as Emergency Departments. Meanwhile, calls related to a number of critical services will be screened on an hourly basis.

A 31-year-old forger claimed to be dead after swindling her lover and banks in Donegal out of €26,800.

Leading up to her escape from her fiancé before he ran out of cash Diane Connelly first pretended her father died in a plane crash between the US and Canada.

Step two meant she told her fiancé Danny Walsh that she was going to Edinburgh to have a check for cancer but when staying overnight in Derry she then informed him she had heard her father’s body was found and she was flying to Canada to identify the body.

A few weeks after that she pretended she was a step-sister in Canada phoning a priest in Dungloe to inform Mr Walsh at his home that Diane Connelly had died.

She followed up with a series of names of friends to send messages to Mr Walsh in an effort to prove she had died. They included some jewellery and her favourite CDs.

Donegal Circuit Court last evening (Mon) heard a litany of 20 offences that added up to €26,800 in thefts from Mr Walsh by forging cheques in his name with the Bank of Ireland and AIB in Dungloe and Falcarragh, Co. Donegal.

The court heard Connelly was living in Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, when she met Mr Walsh in January 2008 and they moved in together in Sheskinarone, Dungloe, in April 2008 and became engaged in June.

Detective John Gallagher told the court that Danny Walsh contacted him in January 2009 to complain about missing moneys from his banks.

As a result of his investigations he discovered that Connelly didn’t go to Edinburgh or Canada. Instead, she was picked up on CCTV cameras in Dublin as she made withdrawals.

She was captured in a blue car in Co. Wicklow. Since then €41,000 worth of frauds in Kerry and Cork dating  back to 2005 came to light and she was currently serving three years.

The detective said Connelly – who also used the name McDonald and who at one time had a UK passport claiming she was 49 – knew Mr Walsh’s funds were being exhausted and she wanted to extract herself from the situation so he wouldn’t follow her.

He added that Mr Walsh refused to come to court as he had suffered considerable embarrassment and couldn’t understand how he didn’t see what was happening.

He also couldn’t forgive Connelly for claiming she was dead and his mother spent a week in hospital as a result with shock.

Judge John O’Hagan  said Connelly was a confidence trickster who hoodwinked Mr Walsh up to his ears.

He jailed Connelly for three years.

A Fianna Fail Councillor in Donegal says he believes the Community Hospital in Lifford is being subjected to the death of a thousand cuts.

There’s been speculation about the future of Lifford Hospital for some time, and Cllr Gerry Crawford says he now believes the HSE plans to close the facility.

He’s written to the HSE seeking meetings with local representatives and medical staff toclarify the ling term plans for the Lifford area.

Cllr Crawford says because a number of staff are unavailable for work, the number of patients has been cut to 30, and he’s asking why a derogation has not been sought.

The IFA President John Bryan is urging Donegal farmers to put pressure on government TDs to ensure a proper replacement is provided for the REPS scheme.

Speaking during his first official visit to the county last night, John Bryan told the Donegal IFA AGM that money was set aside in last year’s budget, but the department seems to be rowing back on the promises that were made,.

He says this must not be allowed happen:

The BMW Regional Assembly says a plan to put regional airports at the centre of tourism development is necessary.

The assembly has recently completed a detailed study on the economic impact of the regional airports in Donegal, Galway, Knock and Sligo.

It finds they contribute to the regional economy in a number of ways, including promoting business investment and provisding access to tourism markets.

According to the report,  the regional airports were responsible for the creation of 378 jobs across the region in 2008, while inbound visitors spent over 90 million euro.

The Assembly’s Assistant Director Ciaran Moylan says the airports are an important resource.

Gardai in Letterkenny say the telephone system at the station has broken down, and there is currently only one line operational on ther switchboard. Calls are being answered, but ling delays are being experienced, and anyone with an emergency is being advised to ring 999.

A lawyer for a man accused of sex with a schoolgirl when she was 12 and 13 today (Mon) complained about public concern at the trial delay.

Peter Nolan said his client – one of five accused of a series of sex offences against the girl – is ready for his trial for offences committed in 2003.

One man from Ballyshannon was jailed last June, 34-year-old former Army private Kenneth McDonald, a father of three, on four counts of sex assaults on the girl in the South Donegal area.

Defence lawyers won a right for all trials to be heard separately.

But Judge John O’Hagan said today at Donegal Circuit Court that each trial could take three or four days and he would have to further adjourn them.

But Mr Nolan said with the likelihood of a prison sentence hanging over his client he was anxious for the trial to go ahead.

Mr Nolan added that the public were having concerns over the delay since one trial had already been completed.

But the judge said the court rises at the end of this week and he wasn’t prepared to sit on Saturday or Sunday.

He adjourned all cases to the next sitting in June and said he was indicating to the State and the Court Services that the trials should be held as soon as possible.

The girl is now 19.

The defendants, now aged from 24 to 34, are accused of a series of sexual assaults on her in South Donegal between July 1^st and November 30^th, 2003.

A crucial meeting of the IFA takes place in Letterkenny this evening during which the controversial REPS scheme will be discussed.

John Bryan will be the special guest at the meeting in his first visit to the county since his election as President of the Irish Farmers Association.

William Monagle is chair of the Donegal Branch of the IFA – he says all farmers should try and attend this evening’s AGM:

A Strabane Councillor has described a recent increase in anti social behaviour in and around Castlederg as unacceptable.

Derg based Councillor Derek Hussey says that recently there has been a major increase in attacks on businesses premises with windows being smashed and other damaged caused.

In some cases the same businesses have been targetted on more than one occasion.

Councillor Hussey wants anyone with information to contact police:

A daylight attack on a 67 year-old women in Strabane at the weekend has been described as shocking and sickening.

The woman was attacked in the Melmount Road area of the town on Saturday afternoon by a young teen male who then attempted to steel her bag.

He ran off when others intervened. The woman was treated in hospital for shock and facial injuries.

Councillor Brian Mc Mahon says theses attacks are rare in Strabane and that Saturday’s events were a worrying development: