Ocean FM News Reports

A major clean-up operation is continuing following severe flooding in Killybegs.   Hundreds of homes and businesses suffered severe damage when Storm Bert passed over the south west Donegal village in the early hours of Saturday morning.   ESB crews are working to restore power to the over a thousand customers who are still affected by power outages.   Gavin Doherty, owner of The Fl...

Some knock-on delays could impact rail passengers on the Sligo to Dublin Connolly rail line.   Passengers travelling on Irish Rail's 06:40 service from Sligo to Dublin Connolly were hit with significant delays on Saturday morning.   Due to severe overnight flooding, the train was unable to depart the north Roscommon station's platform one.   However, after works were carried out by...

Homes and businesses in Killybegs are counting the costs following overnight wind and rain from Storm Bert. The Bridge Street area in particular was struck with crews carrying out works throughout the night to reduce the impact of the floods and assist locals. General Election candidate, Fianna Fáil's Pat "The Cope" Gallagher has been in contact with party leader, outgoing Tánaiste Micheál Martin....

Claims have been made at today's Sligo County Council Budget meeting that Strandhill is being unfairly discriminated against in terms of funding. Fine Gael councillor, Fergal Nealon, made the point that Strandhill got no money out of the one-off Christmas fund as it was spent in the town, where as other MDs were able to avail of the funding. Councillor Nealon also claimed that there was financial...

Donegal County Council have been named as Local Authority of the Year. The Excellence in Local Government awards, hosted by Chambers Ireland, were held in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Dublin last night. Donegal also picked up two other awards in the Supporting Sustainable Communities and Health and Wellbeing categories.

There are claims that the Government may have been misled over planning regulations at Benbulben Court in Sligo. Hundreds of international protection applicants are now living in the complex, a move which heightened the ongoing student accommodation crisis in the town as the building traditionally catered to students. Now, management at Benbulben Court claim that planning was never submitted to us...

The HSE West and North West region had the highest percentage of its population availing of a medical card in 2022, according to data released by the CSO. The region covers Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Roscommon, Mayo, and Galway. As of April 2022, the region had a population of almost 760,000, 34% of which had a medical card and 11% had a GP visit card. Outgoing Independent TD and General election ca...

Sligo County Councillors are meeting this afternoon to finalise the budget for the upcoming year. It's expected that a decision will be taken to increase commercial rates by 5%. A similar move was made by Leitrim County Councillors in recent weeks, which caused some controversy among local businesses. Today will also outline what the Council in Sligo expects to spend and receive within each servic...

There are renewed calls for some local roads around County Sligo to be designated regional road status. The potential move would ultimately provide for more Government investment for upgrade works. It's thought that there are many routes across the County which are no longer able to cope with the amount of traffic travelling on them. This is said to be leading to a rise in crashes in some cases. L...

Dromore West’s Keelan Kilrehill on his national cross country title gold medal run in Irvinestown last Sunday. Tis the season for Coolera/Strandhill GAA/LGFA... The men’s gaelic football team are getting ready for a first every Connacht senior club final on Sunday week. The women are packing tonight for a flight out to the Netherlands ahead of Saturday’s All-Ireland club quarter-final against Pari...

Disappointment has been expressed after a number of street lights between Collooney and Ballisodare remain out of order. Substantial works were carried out between the two villages of late through the Active Travel Scheme, in order to make the route more accessible for pedestrians. However, a number of street lights still aren't working along the stretch of road in question, with members of the pu...

Concern is growing over proposals to move the Donegal Education Centre out of Donegal Town and up to Letterkenny. The education centre has been located in Donegal Town for the last 27 years, and it's felt that the proposals to relocate have come out of the blue. It's understood that the decision to move was an in-house decision made by management of the centre. Speaking to Ocean FM News, Mayor of...

Concern is said to be growing among residents in Ballyshannon over whats been described as a dangerous corner along the N15. It follows a crash near an area known locally as Parkhill this week - the latest in a string of crashes at this particular corner. Local Sinn Fein Cllr Michael McMahon says Transport Infrastructure Ireland must initiate an immediate investigation with a view towards implemen...

Progress is being made on the new community hospital due to open outside Letterkenny in just over a year's time. The sod was turned on the site a year ago, and the hospital is on track to open in the first quarter of 2026. Among the amenities at the new facility will be 110 beds for long and short stay care, a new nursing unit and rehabilitation for dementia care. The project is being run at a cos...

The Tánaiste says he doesn't agree with statements made by two Fianna Fáil election candidates in relation to immigration. Sligo-Leitrim's Edel McSharry labelled the Government’s handling of the migration crisis as ‘reckless’, while Longford-Westmeath candidate, Dympna Cunniffe’s TikTok account was highly critical of plans to accommodate asylum seekers in Athlone. Ms. Cunniffe has since told the I...

There are urgent calls for increased resources to be pumped into the Irish Defence Forces at Finner Camp in Ballyshannon and elsewhere. It follows ongoing concern that Gardai in the North West are not sufficiently equipped to deal with what's been described as an increase in incidents of unrest. Independent Ireland Sligo Leitrim General Election Candidate and Cllr Michael Clarke believes that the...

Questions are being asked over whether some routes around County Sligo were adequately gritted overnight.   If follows claims locally that some roads were in a treacherous condition this morning, despite a yellow alert for ice and snow being in place for the region.   Meanwhile a further cold temperature/ice warning for the North West is coming into effect at 8pm this evening.   Fin...

The knock-on effects of the housing crisis are being felt right across the north west region. 250 new jobs were announced for Leitrim last week, with Freudenberg Medical set expand their operations in Carrick-on-Shannon. Despite this, Sinn Féin General Election candidate in Sligo-Leitrim, Martin Kenny has expressed concerns over the lack of available accommodation. He says, this in turn has result...

Fianna Fáil Councillor and General Election candidate in Sligo Leitrim, has hit out at the previous Government's handling of the immigration crisis. This is despite Fianna Fáil being in power when initial policies and regulations were introduced. It's an issue that has been to the fore in Sligo of late, as two buildings previously used to house third-level students were repurposed to provide homes...

It's thought that a move to erect white crosses along the N17 in south Sligo is a plea for action for upgrade works to take place. The route has long been flagged as having numerous accident blackspots. The crosses are dotted along the route, near sites were people have previously lost their lives in road traffic collisions. It's not yet known who exactly is responsible for the move, but it does f...

Calls are being made for road safety measures to implemented in Bruckless. It follows a road traffic accident last Saturday, which saw a woman in her 70s taken to hospital with serious injuries. It's widely felt that traffic calming measures, such as a pedestrian crossing and traffic lights, would go a long way to preventing such accidents. Speaking to Ocean FM News, Fine Gael councillor Manus Boy...

There’s renewed concern over the notorious derelict mill apartment complex in Ballisodare. The premises, comprising 70 apartments, is said to have become an eyesore in the village, having been lying idle since 2009 and built at a cost of 12 million euro. Now it’s understood that a southern boundary fence has fallen, leaving the building accessible to the public. Sinn Fein Cllr Thomas Healy says a...

Outgoing Taoiseach Simon Harris visited The Showgrounds, home of Sligo Rovers, last evening on a brief stop on his election campaign. Mr Harris met members of the club, just weeks after the Government grant of €16.4m for the redevelopment of the ground. Rovers were among the biggest recipients from the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund, just after Bohemians, who received just shy of €25m for...

Second level ASTI members in the north west were among the almost thirty thousand nationally that took to the picket line earlier today. The reason behind the strike is due to the redevelopment of the leaving cycle programme, which is set to be introduced in September of next year. The redevelopment of the Leaving Cycle has been met with mixed reviews, with one criticism levelled, it's "one size f...

Aontú candidate, Mary T Sweeney, branded the comments as a disgrace, and said that the Apple Tax money should be allocated to rectify the crisis.