The decision to end the annual Bloody Sunday march in Derry has been criticised by a relative of the of the victims. Tomorrow’s march, the 39th, will be the last.

Thirteen people died when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry in January 1972. A fourteenth died later.

A statement signed by the majority of the families said the march was no longer necessary after the Saville Report exonerated the dead and wounded.

However, Kate Nash, whose brother William was killed on Bloody Sunday, told the BBC she believes the move was “very premature”.

The Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny racked up losses of €3.7m in 2009, according to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office.

The 140-room, three-star hotel saw turnover fall just under a quarter between 2008 and 2009, but a squeeze on margins saw operating profits plunge almost 80% from €215,000 to €48,000. However, the losses were incurred as a result of a €3.6m writedown in the value of property investments between 2008 and 2009, though the hotel continued to trade profitably.

Accounts filed for the company showed the valuations for fixed assets, including investments, dropped from €16.9m to €12.8m.

Uncertainty over the Mount Errigal hotel’s access to bank loans and the impact of the current economic situation “casts significant doubt upon the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”, the company said in a note filed with the accounts.

Despite the uncertainty, the directors said in a statement to the Irish Independent that they have a reasonable expectation that the company has the resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

The directors were unavailable to comment on the details of the accounts.

Donegal South-West Deputy, Pearse Doherty has called on a five way economic debate with the finance spokespersons.

The Sinn Fein Finance Spokesperson has challenged the Finance spokespersons from the other parties to a live election debate on the economy.

Donegal South West Deputy Pearse Doherty says he is confident he can present Sinn Fein’s policies as a viable alternative.

He also says  he has full confidence in Gerry Adams in any party leaders debate.

The Sinn Fein leader has been accused of “economic ignorance” in the past by Fine Gael spokesperson, Leo Varadker.

Pearse Doherty says his party leader is already performing very strongly……

Hope is growing that at least 40 jobs can be maintained at Gallagher’s Bakery in Ardara, following further discussions between management at the company and the board of Údarás na Gaeltachta.

In a statement issued last evening after a board meeting in Galway, Udaras confirmed that talks will continue in the coming weeks to ensure that optimum results are achieved for the employees, the local community and the State.

Donegal Senator Brian O’Domhnaill, who’s also a member of  Údarás na Gaeltachta, says already three companies are interested in taking over the Donegal facility:

The North’s Minister for Regional Development has indicated his intention to issue a Ministerial Direction to pay a grant towards essential safety works at City of Derry Airport . No figure is being confirmed, but Mr Murphy is trying to secure £8.6 million.

Derry City Councillor Gerry Mac Lochlainn says without support from the Executive, the works would lead to an additional 1.5% on the district rate for Derry ratepayers. The works included runway and apron, resurfacing and improvements to navigation systems.

This afternoon, Assistant Town Clerk John Meehan confirmed the work has already been done, and the challenge is now to pay for it……….

A Donegal based businessman behind an investment scheme, in which dozens of people on both sides of the border fear they have lost millions of pounds, has been jailed for 18 months at the High Court in Belfast.

An order was issued for the immediate arrest of Francois de Dietrich, who has vanished. He was jailed for breaching a court order ordering him to give details of where investors’ money was held.

The French national has had his assets in Northern Ireland frozen by the Financial Services Authority, which  also ordered him to stop taking deposits into his scheme.

He denies fraudulent behaviour.

The Financial Services Authority began court action in Belfast last autumn, resulting in an injunction banning Mr de Detrich and his company ETIC Solutions from taking any more deposits.

The order also forced the businessman to freeze £6.8m in assets. The figure has subsequently been increased to £20.2m.

De Dietrich claimed there were big profits to be made by investing in liquidated stock.

Mr Justice Deeny issued a warrant for his immediate arrest this morning, saying he is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was a deliberate contempt on the part of de Dietrich, who is seeking to evade his obligation to obey an order of the court.

Dozens of people on both sides of the Irish border fear they may have lost millions of pounds in investments they made in liquidated stock through de Dietrich.

No ruling was made on the issue of fraud, but Judge Deeney stated that the court has a reasonable apprehension that many people have been defrauded of large sums of money.

His solicitors say they will appeal the ruling.

Derry’s Paul McCloskey will not get the chance to fight WBA light-welterweight title holder Amir Khan after a break down in negotiations on Thursday.  It was reported this week that both parties had agreed in principal to fight on 16th April in Manchester’s MEN Arena. McCloskey’s promoter Barry Hearn said “The deals placed on the table were an insult to Paul, an undefeated fighter and a European champion”.

The major disagreements between the two camps appear to have been over the percentage share of ticket sales commission and pay-per-view revenue.Hearn added “We have a huge fight lined up for Paul at the King’s Hall in the spring and who knows, down the line he could face Amir as a world champion himself in a 50-50 split fight.”

An inquest into the murder of Republican double agent Denis Donaldson was further adjourned in Letterkenny  beyond an anticipated hearing date.

Coroner Denis McCauley had expected to fix a date for a full hearing but he said he was still unable to reach a decision on what kind of inquest to hold because of the arrival of late documents.

Another “pre-inquest” hearing has been fixed for May 5th before he can decide on a date for a full hearing.

It was the sixth adjournment of the inquiry into how Donaldson, 56, was murdered in his remote home at Classey, Cloghercor, near Glenties, Co. Donegal on April 4th 2006.

Garda Superintendent Michael Finan asked for a further adjournment because the criminal investigation was still active. He gave the coroner an assurance that he was not adopting delaying tactics.

The coroner told gardai and legal representatives of Donaldson’s family that he expected an exchange of documents before Christmas but he didn’t receive them until eight days ago.

He felt he needed more time to study them, and receive further submissions, before he could decide between fixing a “standard” hearing that would decide what killed Donaldson or a more extensive inquest under European law as sought by the family.

He said that even if the Supt had not asked for the adjournment they were nowhere near an inquest because he didn’t think he had enough information.

Donaldson, a senior Sinn Fein figure who headed his party’s support team at Stormont and who had been operating as a British spy for 20 years, was shot four times.

An inquest has heard how an elderly woman died after her head became trapped in a cot side in her hospital bed.

Sile Coyle, 85, of Ardsmore, Gortahork, died on her first night at Falcarragh Community Nursing Unit in August 2008.

Mrs Coyle, who family said was in good health, had gone into the hospital for a rest for a number of days.

Nurse Carmel O’Rourke, who had worked at the hospital since 1999, told Letterkenny Coroner’s Court that on August 14th, 2008, herself and another nurse were looking after 25 patients.

Another patient had died at 3.10am but nurse O’Rourke said that they continued to check on all patients.

The last time she checked on Sile Coyle was between 6.30am and 6.45am and that she seemed well and was lying on her back with two pillows on either side of her.

However when she went back in to check on Mrs Coyle at around 7.40am she noticed her head was stuck between the cot side and the bed’s head.

She tried to lift her up but could not and called for help from colleague Mary Boyle.

The Director of Nursing at Falcarragh Community Nursing Unit, Geraldine McClean, revealed a Serious Incident Review Team had been set up to examine ways of improving safety of cot sides.

All staff in Co Donegal are now trained in the use of cot sides and all cots are fitted with warning stickers while a similar programme is being rolled out across the country.

Fianna Fail is to hold its Donegal North East Selection Convention on Sunday night in Letterkenny.

Meanwhile, at an unofficial selection convention 300 Inishowen delegates unanimously selected Cllr Charlie Mc Conalogue as a candidate for the peninsula, after Sen Cecilia Keavney let it be known she did not want her name to go forward at the unofficial meeting.

This morning, Cllr Mc Conalogue welcomed the outcome of the meeting in Buncrana, saying it sends a strong message to party HQ that Inishowen demands a Fianna Fail candidate, and will not accept unilateral decisions by headquarters to ignore their wishes.

Party HQ will today decide whether to adopt a one or a two candidate strategy – Asked how he would react if Fianna Fail decides to go with a one candidate strategy, Cllr Mc Conalogue wouldn’t be drawn……