Motorists in Donegal are being warned not to get behind the wheel on New Years morning if they are going out drinking tonight.

Gardai will be operating a number of checkpoints around the county tonight and tomorrow morning, and will be carrying out random breath tests.

New lower drink-driving limits are now in force – and those laws will be enforced this weekend.

And Inspector Michael Harrison, Head of the garda traffic division in Donegal, said drivers should be wary of the new drink-drive legislation…….

Fianna Fail County Cllr Liam Blaney has said it’s not as simple as just putting the budget through.

He says the 29 elected councillors do have a duty to pass the budget, but the people deserve to get the best value for money, and the current budget proposed doesn’t represent value for money.

Cllr Blaney says changes need to be made to the budget currently proposed if it is to passed…..

The Mayor of Donegal says Councillors have a responsibility to the people of the county to pass the council’s budget for next year.

The 29 elected representatives could not agree on how the council’s income would be spent next year when they met before Christmas.

Councillors meet again in early January and must agree the budget or face the government intervening and deciding how the local authorities resources are distributed.

Mayor Noel McBride is urging Council members to find a way to get the budget through:

The Mayor of Donegal has said that with another challenging year ahead, people must try and remains positive.

Councillor Noel McBride says Donegal faces serious challenges in the year ahead, but if people stick together we can get through them.

In wishing the people of Donegal a Happy New Year, the mayor said the people of the county are resilient:

Republican Action Against Drugs has rejected Sinn Fein claims that it was behind a fire at a GAA club in Derry on Wednesday.

The police yesterday ruled the fire as not suspicious but today changed their stance to suspected arson  – an internal investigation has been launched to look at the police handling of the situation.

Sinn Fein’s Raymond McCartney went as far as to suggest police were involved in a cover up of the actions of RAAD in the blaze which broke out at Sean Dolan’s in Creggan:

RAAD said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the fire and accused Sinn Fein of causing tension by creating stories and false accusations adding it will always claim any actions it carries out.

Plans for the development of St Eunan’s college in Letterkenny are in jeopardy following an objection lodged by a local residents association.

The plans include the demolishing  the 1979 annexe to the rear of the school and to demolish the existing gymnasium and to construct a new 900 pupil school building on three floors alongside and to the rear of the existing school building

The plans also include the construction of a new site entrance to the college road.

But aspects of the plans have been objected to by the Hawthorn Heights Residents Association.

The council had granted permission to the college for the development but the residents association has appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanala.

In a submission they expressed their shock that permission was granted for the development on a number of grounds.

The group has expressed concern that no report had been compiled to determine what impact the development would have on the remaining protected structure.

Other concerns include the over-development of what is described as a restricted area – the residents are concerned that the new building would have a detrimental impact on residential amenities and the value of their properties.

They also say the development would have an adverse visual and flooding impact.

The residents say their concerns have been exacerbated by both the applicant and architects and the approach they have adopted.

The association says that no meaningful consultation has taken place and that their concerns have been ignored, dismissed and undermined.

An Bord Pleanala is due to make a decision in the case by the end of April next year.

The police are now treating a fire which caused extensive damage to a GAA club in Derry as suspected arson just a day after saying it was not being treated as suspicious.

The blaze broke out at Sean Dolan’s in Creggan in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police initially said they believe it started accidentally but after reviewing CCTV footage last night, the investigation is re-open.

A spokesperson for the PSNI says a senior officer will review every action taken by police from the first call received about the fire, evidence taken, CCTV footage viewed and lines of inquiry followed up by the investigating officers.

Sinn Fein’s Raymond McCartney says the initial police reaction raises serious questions:

Despite final figures for the end of this year expected to show a significant increase in visitor numbers to Ireland, Donegal business are reporting no positive bounce.

There was a 10% increase in visitors from continental Europe, an 8% rise in numbers coming from North America, and a 5% rise in British tourists.

The number of overseas visitors increased by an overall 7 per cent this year, the first increase since 2007, which was a record year for the tourism industry.

While the 2011 figures indicated a turnaround for the industry, they followed several years of declining visitor numbers.

Dublin, Galway and Killarney are among areas that reported better returns than in 2010.

In contrast, businesses in many other parts of the Republic continued to struggle to remain viable, with some areas not seeing increased visitor numbers.

Donegal and the Northwest in general had seen no real improvement.

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation has said that while the number of visitors is increasing, people are coming for a shorter length of time.

The group added that while Dublin is successful in terms of attracting people for short city breaks, unless you have people for 10 days you can’t really include the northwest.

Hundreds turned out in Ballybofey last night to support a fundraising dinner held by the  family of a young woman who died from cancer days after giving birth.

34 year-old Melissa Hamilton died in September, eight days after giving birth to her third child, Grace.

She had only been told the previous month that she had breast cancer.

More than 500 people attended the event last night to raise money for the Hamilton family, which was held in the Villa Rose Hotel in Ballybofey.

Donations can be made to: The Melissa Hamilton Appeal Fund at Bank of Ireland, account number 93459581, sort code 90-47-12.

Detectives in Derry are appealing for information after a report of an aggravated burglary at residential premises in the Lower Galliagh Road area of the City on Wednesday night.

Sometime around 11.30pm, it was reported that two masked men entered a house in the area.

As a result, a man in the house at the time handed over a sum of cash to the men. The victim was treated in hospital for a cut to his finger following the incident.

Anyone who has any information or who saw anything suspicious in the area is asked to contact CID in Strand Road.