Health Minister Mary Harney will be launching a report at Letterkenny General Hospital this coming Monday afternoon.

And members of the public in Donegal are being urged to confront The Health Minister on any issues with the HSE in the county they may have.

County Councillor, Frank McBrearty, says the people of Donegal are second-class citizens when it comes to health.

He is demanding answers over the questionable future of the Lifford and Ballyshannon Community Hospitals:

The brothers of murdered Donegal teenager Henry Cunningham have strongly welcomed the announcement by the Irish Government of an annual human rights award named in memory of 16 year Henry.

The teenager was shot in 1973 when the van he was travelling in along with his brothers was fired on by a group of UVF gunmen.

The Henry Cunningham Human Rights Essay with an annual award of €500 will be available to any fourth year secondary student in the Inishowen peninsula.

Henry’s brother Rober says the inititiative is a fitting tribute:

In its latest update the City of Derry Airport says that flights to and from the Airport for today are subject to restrictions and are unlikely to operate due to the ash cloud which is continuing to cause severe disruption.

Passengers should contact their airlines directly to arrange alternative flights and/or refunds. Information is also available on the airports website HERE

At Donegal Airport, this morning’s flight to Dublin was cancelled – there are other flights still scheduled for later in the day but are subject to change.

Further information, which will be updated thoughout the day is available HERE

Dublin airport has re-opened this morning along with Cork and Shannon.

Flights will be allowed travel west from those airports, however east – and southbound journeys are still facing delays and cancellations.

Other links which may be helpful

Ryan Air – Aer Lingus and live flight information from Dublin Airport.

The HSE is to examine ways to cut down car usage and parking at Letterkenny General Hospital.

A major survey of staff will begin on Monday next, with results to be published in May.

They will then be used to formulate a travel plan for the hospital.

The HSE says the hospital is working with the National Transport Authority to develop a Travel Plan for staff of both Letterkenny General and St. Conal’s Hospitals to improve and increase staff’s travel options to work.

The Travel Plan, which will be developed from the information collected from the Travel Survey, will also help staff to reduce their carbon footprint and enhance both hospitals’ environmental reputations.  It is also hoped that it will help provide vital information regarding car parking at the two hospitals.

The survey will involve each member of staff completing a questionnaire to provide the hospitals and the Irish Transport Authority with information on their current journey to work and suggestions on how it could be improved.

The results of the Travel Survey will be published in early May, and a Travel Plan, with an agreed action plan, will then be developed for Letterkenny Hospitals, encompassing Letterkenny General Hospital and St. Conal’s Hospital.

A local councillor in Letterkenny says the agreement this week to hold celebrations next year to mark the town’s 400th anniversary could provide the impetus to resurrect the Letterkenny Festival.

The debate over the date of Letterkennny’s 400th anniversary has not been resolved, but it’s been decided that the handing over of the lands which led to the emergence of the market town will take place in 2011.

The nature of that celebration has yet to be decided, but it has been linked to a growing Facebook campaign to re-establish the festival.

Cllr Tadhg Culbert, who moved the anniversary idea, is a former director of the festival. He says its re-emergence would be a good thing:

Ireland’s skies will remain closed to commercial aircraft until at least tomorrow morning, as a volcano in Iceland continues to spew ash up to 11 kilometres into the atmosphere.

Flights at all of the country’s airports are affected, with tens of thousands of passengers forced to delay or cancel their journeys.

All commercial flights have been cancelled for the rest of today – with restrictions on air traffic remaining in place until 6am at the earliest.

Prevailing winds are expected to drag the plume of ash across Ireland later, leading to fears that the disruption to air travel could last days.

Within the past hour, Donegal Airport confirmed tonight’s Dublin Donegal flight has been cancelled, as has tomorrow morning’s Donegal Dublin service. Passengers are advised to contact Aer Arran directly.

Flights from City of Derry Airport are also severely affected – Stephen McNamara from Ryanair says they hope to resume services from Derry and other airports tomorrow – if possible

It’s been confirmed today that Monreagh National School bertween Newtowncunningham and Carrigans is to get a new building.

The news has been welcomed by Senator Cecilia Keavney, who says she met the then leader of the opposition Bertie Ahern in 1996 along with a number of local politicians and Board of Management members.

She says a number of problems have hampered progress, but they have now been addressed, and the work can go ahead..

Letterkenny Town Council is to look at the possibility of making free WiFi internet access available on the town’s main street.

It is hoped that the move would assist in attracting people to the area and will form part of a one million euro investment in improving the town centre.

The idea has been suggested by Councillor Dessie Larkin, he says it could have huge benefits.

City of Derry Airport have confirmed that flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled this morning.

Dublin Airport passengers face delays and many flights have been cancelled.

All flights in and out of Belfast City Airport have been cancelled while the vast majority have been halted at Belfast International Airport.

There’s massive disruption for air passengers this morning.

A cloud of ash caused by a volcano erupting in Iceland has brought havoc to flight schedules across Ireland, the UK and Europe.

An investigation will get under way today to establish the cause of a large gorse fire at Gortin Glen Forest in Co Tyrone.

Six fire appliances were called to the blaze at the forest park just outside Omagh last night.

Residents living near Gortin Glen were told to keep their windows and doors shut as changing winds were affecting the direction of the smoke.

A spokesperson from the Fire Service said the forest was closed off and drivers who were coming in the direction of Gortin were advised to take care and drive easily.

They also warned people visiting the area in the good weather to be careful they don’t start fires and issued a warning to anyone deliberlatley setting the gorse alight.