The north coast of Donegal is currently “teeming” with a record number of basking sharks, according to marine researchers.

More than 100 of the world’s second largest fish were tagged by the Irish Basking Shark Study Group off Dunaff and Malin Head within the past week.

This compares with 106 tagged during the entire season last year.

Malin Head was identified by the Irish Basking Shark Study Group last year as one of the top European “hotspots” for the sharks.

However, the numbers counted over a four-day period within the last week exceeded the group’s expectations. The group also believes that reported sightings of breaching whales off this coast may in fact be basking sharks.

The basking shark is not protected under Irish legislation through the Wildlife Act, although there is an EU moratorium on catching or landing the fish as a by-catch. It’s protected in Britain, and there are plans to extend this legislation to Northern Irish waters.

It’s believed that the sharks are active during winter and do not hibernate, as previously thought.

One shark tagged in the Isle of Man in 2007 and traced to Newfoundland, had travelled almost 10,000km in 82 days.

Sightings of basking sharks off Sligo, Mayo, Cork and Waterford have also been made in the last few days according to the group.”

North West MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher says the go ahead has been given for the long awaited Glenties Primary Health Centre to go to tender, with construction to begin later this year.

The facility has been on the agenda since Mr Gallagher was a Junior MInister in the Department of Health, and last week, Senator Brian O’Domhnaill told the Seanad that there was anger and frustration in Glenties at the lack of progress.

However, Pat The Cope Gallagher says the €1.6 million project can now go ahead.

Health Minister Mary Harney has indicated she would consider the development of a new communuity hospital in Lifford, possibly as part of a Public Private Partnership.

Senator Brian O’Domhnaill says he spoke to Ms Harney in the wake of Sunday’s march in Lifford, and they plan to meet again in the coming days.

He says the most important thing now is that the HSE does nothing to affect or stop servicves in Lifford, until the possibility of a new unit is fully explored.

Senator O’Domhnaill believes this is an achievable goal.

A 65-year-old man who was extradited from County Donegal was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life after he pleaded guilty to 25 sexual abuse charges and two counts of assault.

He also admitted assaulting his ex-wife on two different occasions.

The man who cannot be named for legal reasons appeared at Derry Crown Court where he admitted 19 charges of indecent assault and six charges of gross indecency against his daughter and niece which took place between 1970 and 1981.

He also admitted he had also physically abused his wife, burning her on the back with a cigarette and throwing her down the stairs.

The court heard the assaults on his daughter began in the summer of 1978 when she was aged 12 an continued until she was aged 15.

They began when the girl’s mother got a job that entailed her working nights.

The assaults took various forms and Ms Jackie Orr QC for the Crown said they were a ‘regular and ongoing occurrence.’

The injured party told police that after they occurred she  felt ‘really horrible and shivered with fear and cold.’

The court heard that after each occurrence the man would apologise and say it would not happen again.

The assaults on his niece began when the girl was aged around 5 and continued until she was aged about 11. It was said that these assaults occurred when both parties were fully clothed.

Judge Des Marrinan said that the man had deprived his child and his niece of their innocent childhood.

Two young men have died in a crash in the Fanad peninsula.

One of the men has been been named locally as 18 year old PJ Crerand from Kilmacrennan Road, Milford – he was a front seat passenger of one of the vehicle involved in the collision.

The driver of that car, a 19 year-old male was injured, is being treated at Letterkenny General Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

The second man who died was the driver of the other vehicle, he is aged 25 and from the local area.

The crash occurred shortly before 8 o’clock last evening at lea beg on the Fanad side of the Harry Blaney Bridge  – The scene is currently closed to traffic for technical examination.

Superintendent Eugene McGovern is leading the investigation and has made this appeal for witnesses:

Police have seized 20 bags of suspected mephedrone during a drugs operation.

The bags of white powder were recovered during a search by police officers in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, on Friday, but details have just been released by the PSNI.

The seizure is believed to be the first of its kind in the North West and comes just weeks after a new law was passed to make the possession and the taking of mephedrone a criminal offence.

Six properties were searched and the bags of white powder were found in two of the properties. No arrests were made but police said they are continuing to make enquiries.

Area Commander Chief Inspector Andy Lemon said the seizure, coupled with the recovery of 40 cannabis plants last week in Artigarvan, demonstrated that police had the capability to tackle the drugs problem that currently exsists in the Strabane District area.

After thousands turned out for a protest against the possible closure of Lifford Hospital on Sunday, calls are now being made for a national demonstration.

The organiser of the “Save Wexford Hospital” protest wants all the hospital campaigns to come together, to organise a mass demonstration in Dublin.

Closures of Community Hospitals throughout the country are expected, although nothing has been confirmed by the HSE as of yet.

Organiser of the Save Wexford Hospital protest, Seamus O Brien, says all the groups should unite and march on Leinster House

The decision proposed change to the Letterkenny and Environs Plan allowing for a new bridge over the Swilly at Oldtown has been deferred.

A Letterkenny Town Council meeting to endorse the proposal was adjourned today, when it emerged the changes could lead to the demolition of a house, and seriously impact on two other properties.

The Eastern Inner Relief Road proposal, which would involve a new road between the Aura Leisure Centre and Charles Kelly’s has been on the agenda for several years, with the initial plans including a diversion of the River Swilly.

That element of the plan has long been shelved, and when members were asked today to approve the latest version of the plan, they adjourned the meeting so that people who may be affected by the changes can be consulted.

Cllr Tom Crossan was one of those seeking the adjournment – He says he has serious concerns about the proposed new route:

An Inishowen councillor is to raise the issue of restricting the use of jet-skis on all Donegal beaches after a girl was injured in an accident involving one of the vehicles on Sunday.

The girl, thought to be in her early teens, was injured when she was thrown from a jet ski on to rocks at Glenburney Beach, which is located between Moville and Greencastle.

There are restrictions on the use of jet-skis on a number of the county’s main beaches but Councillor Martin Farren says it is time those restrictions were extended across the county’s coast line:

Fine Gael has claimed that government is running scared of holding the Uduras Na Gaeltachta elections for fear that they will lose their representation on the board.

The elections were due to take place in April but the government says they will not take place this year because it wanted to finalise a new 20-year strategy for the Irish language before electing a new board.

Donegal board member Gráinne Mhic Géidigh of Sinn Fein says the new strategy is of vital importance to the Gaeltacht as the use of the Irish language is in threat of extinction.

However she agrees the elections should have taken place in April: