Just weeks after two serious incidents involving Donegal referees, the GAA in the county is under the spotlight once more after a referee had to be protected at the end of a league game in Fanad on Saturday.

Kieran McShea was subjected to alleged verbal abuse at the end of the Division Two game between Fanad Gaels and Glenfin and his report could mean lengthy suspensions for Glenfin players.

Highland Radios GAA Correspondent, Tom Comack, says from what he’s been told, this incident could of been a lot worse:

20 jobs are to go at BWG Foods in Ballyshannon.

The company has annouced that it will cease trading from October 1st.

In recent times Donegal Parian China, James Likely, C&C, Donegal Rubber Company and Hospira have all closed in the same area.

Donegal South West Deputy, Dinny McGinley, says it’s another body blow for Donegal:

Unions will attempt to minimise health service job losses at key talks today after management outlined plans for 300 full-time job cuts.

Today is the deadline for negotiations at the Labour Relations Commission that continued at local level up to yesterday, as the Health Service Executive West tries to avoid a €90m budget overrun.

The health employer told unions at talks over the past few weeks that it wants to axe 300 ‘whole-time equivalents’ or achieve equal savings.

SIPTU’s Northwest spokesperson Martin O’Rourke says that cost cutting alone will not be enough to address the budget over run:

Fr Chesney

The retired leader of the Catholic Church in Derry has said he still does not know if Fr James Chesney was a member of the IRA or if the cleric took part in the Claudy bombing 38 years ago.

Bishop Edward Daly cast doubt on last week’s report of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, which, he says aired suspicions about the Derry priest that were based solely on intelligence reports.

In a statement Bishop Daly criticised the media for presuming that Fr Chesney was guilty of the Claudy bombing in which nine people were killed and that he was active in the IRA  without coming up with concrete evidence.

He said everyone takes the same unquestioning line and competes to write the most lurid headline and that t he once sacrosanct presumption of innocence has been dispensed with and replaced with a presumption of guilt.

Bishop Daly said he was not at all convinced that Fr Chesney was involved in the Claudy bombings.

Bishop Daly also defended the late Cardinal William Conway who acceded to a joint approach from the British government and the RUC and moved Fr Chesney to a parish in north Donegal.

In particular, Bishop Daly said it was strange that a Northern Ireland Office note of December 6, 1972, attributed to Cardinal Conway an uncorroborated description of Fr Chesney as being a very bad man.

Donegal’s Deputy Mayor has described as embarrassing concerns expressed by An Taisce over the council’s handling of the Moville/ Greencastle Sewage scheme.

The National Trust for Ireland raised serious concerns with the environmental protection agency on how the council assessed how Lough Foyle and local beaches would be impacted by the scheme.

Councillor Padraig MacLoughlainn says the revelation is an embarrassing spotlight on the council’s failure with the scheme.

He says this underlines calls for the scheme in its current form to be scrapped:

Senator Cecilia Keaveney has raised the issue of poor television reception in the Inishowen area, with the responsible bodies on both sides of the border, calling for better communication and cooperation.

The Senator says that many people on the peninsula have always had a problem receiving Irish channels and says more recently those wishing to watch UTV or the BBC are being met with snowy pictures.

She says that something needs to be done and has questioned if the poor reception is a by product of the digital switch over.

A 32-year-old man has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged in connection with a break in at the home of the Bishop of Derry Dr. Seamus Hegarty.

Declan Devine of Bloomfield Park in Derry was charged with breaking into the Bishop’s house in the Buncrana Road in Derry on August 27.

The court was told that the thief stole the Bishop’s ring, his rosary beads, credit cards, his wallet, a holdall, and items of alcohol.

The court also heard that Dr. Hegarty woke up to see the man standing at his bedroom door.

The Bishop thought the man had a weapon and when the intruder asked for a way out he showed him one.

The Bishop stressed in his statement how upset and frightened he had been by the ordeal.

The defendant was released on his own bail of £400, he was ordered to observe a curfew, wear an electronic tag and not to enter the Buncrana Road and have no contact with the injured party.

He will appear again on September 23.

Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright has announced she will not be contesting the next general election.

The Laois Offaly deputy – who was first elected to the Dail in 2002 – says she has taken the decision because her personal circumstances have changed.

The 36 year old was one of the Fine Gael frontbenchers behind the failed leadership heave against Enda Kenny in June.

However she’s rejecting it had anything to do with her decision:

This week will see new measures announced to clamp down on risky behaviour on the country’s roads.

The Road Safety Authority is preparing to unveil a reform of driver training and licensing.

It will see misbehaving learner drivers face new sanctions in court, including the imposition of a monitored ‘speed limiter’, which are already used on trucks and buses here.

The Donegal Road Safety Officer, Eamon Brown has welcomed the news which he says underlines the education and enforcement approach to reducing collisions on the road:

In excess of 30 thousand people attended the Taste of Donegal food festival at the weekend with organisers claiming that such events are an ideal way of promoting the county.

The festival featured stalls and stands from the county’s most popular eateries but also gave small independent providers an oppurtunity to showcase their products.

Donegal Town Mayor Paul Keeney says it was a prefect example of what Donegal has to offer: