Ocean FM News Reports

Last Thursday saw celebrations for volunteers in Sligo take place in the Sligo Southern Hotel. It was ahead of International Volunteers Day which was on Friday. Jack Duignan has this report:

A Donegal Councillor and Hotel manager says the new tourism plan announced by the government has failed to address some of the big challenges facing the industry at present such as increased wages and the labour shortage in the sector   The Government want to increase the number of tourists visiting Ireland by one million per year for the next five years.   The new plan has a focus on tu...

Sligo Tennis Club will celebrate it's 40th birthday with a special event in the Radisson Hotel on Friday, January 2nd, 2026. The club is also preparing to re-brand itself as 'Sligo Racquet Club' in the New Year. Club Vice-President Tomás Kelly and squash captain Siobhan Parker spoke to Ocean FM Sport's Austin O'Callaghan about their Celebration Dinner Dance plans.

There will be no free Christmas parking in Sligo this year, despite the scheme being introduced in other local authority car parks nationwide.     The initiative aimed at boosting footfall and offering a goodwill gesture to shoppers had previously operated in Sligo in 2022, but it led to significant difficulties.     Local representatives say the move played an important role i...

The Justice Minister has committed to looking at the possibility of fast tracking a new Garda station for Sligo.   Despite a suitable site purchased by the OPW some years ago, the plans have faced several delays.   A new Divisional Headquarters for Sligo has been agreed in principle by An Garda Siochana and the Department of Justice with a business case being considered.   The curre...

Ocean FM's Seán McLoughlin joins Austin O'Callaghan in studio on Sunday to discuss this year's PDC World Darts Championship, which begins on Thursday Evening, the 16th of December.

Sligo National School class awarded county winners in art competition

Donegal TD criticises government over amendment bill

Local Senator disappointed at lack of funding towards school

Welfare station available to ATU students in Sligo on Wednesday

Calls made for an extra Dublin to Sligo Irish Rail service

Local TD questions replacement funding for CAP Scheme

A Collooney based vet is urging farmers that may have recently purchased livestock in Northern Ireland to be vigilant that their animals are not displaying any symptoms associated with the Bluetongue disease. A suspected outbreak was recently discovered in two cows on a holding near Bangor, Co Down. Officials in Stormont's Agriculture Department are understood to be liaising with colleagues in the...

A former North West TD is warning new candidates contesting elections that they will be dependent on posters and as a result will face significant expenses.   The comments from the former Donegal Independent, Thomas Pringle come as a recent investigation which found it costs on average, over €20,000 to run a successful election campaign..   The Journal Investigates Report claims that lea...

Sligo Volunteer Centre hosted an event at the Sligo Southern Hotel yesterday in honour of the county's volunteers. The celebrations were part of many being hosted around the world to mark International Volunteer Day. The event looked ahead to next year, which the UN has designated as the International Year of Volunteers. Celine Kilcoyne, founder of the Pen Pal Initiative, was one of the volunteers...

It's been claimed that residents are being continuously terrorised in the Ballytivnan area of Sligo.     Anti-social behaviour is said to be an ongoing problem, with fireworks being set off daily in the area.     Some people living there are said to be losing their sense of security as a result.     Deputy Major of Sligo Borough Cllr Arthur Gibbons says it's a major c...

Ocean FM Sport meets the Davey family from Ballinafad in county Sligo who are big into the sport of drift racing or 'drifting'. 16-year-old Jake Davey recently won the National Pro 2 Drift Championship. Jake, his elder brother Dean (19) and dad Nicky spoke to Austin O'Callaghan about drift racing's growing popularity in Ireland.

A new €1 million Collaboration and Innovation Fund has been launched to support adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs. The scheme will back projects across local communities, with a special focus this year on family and financial literacy. Hundreds of groups have already benefited from similar supports in recent years, helping people with everything from filling in forms...

A Labour Party Councillor in Sligo has called for young vulnerable trans people to be afforded compassionate, and timely healthcare. Cllr Ann Higgins says gender affirming care should be provided in primary care settings with a focus on GP-led care. The party tabled a motion in the Dáil yesterday calling for the enactment of a new National Clinical Programme for trans healthcare in Ireland, with i...

There are renewed calls on the Government to make improvements on preparing for weather events and dealing with the aftermath. It's thought that a solution needs to be found which would allow the ESB timely access to repair power lines and maintain required corridor widths in forestry plantations. It has been further requested that the ESB be allowed access to lands in cases where landowners canno...

A Donegal Senator has requested that the Justice Minister visits the closed Donegal Courthouse. The courthouse has remained closed since October when it was shut due to safety concerns. Fine Gael's Manus Boyle has raised the issue recently in the Seanad. Senator Boyle outlined what he will say to the Minister when he visits the county:

  An  invitation has been issued to Garda Commissioner to visit and see first-hand the conditions that Gardaí are working under at Sligo Garda Station.   The invitation was issued in the Dáil by Sligo Leitrim Deputy Eamon Scanlon who also wants Justin Kelly to address the shortage of service officers in the North West as a matter of urgency.     The Fianna Fáil TD also rai...

Donegal County Council's budget meeting has resumed after being adjourned again this morning over controversy surrounding an expected decision on commercial rates. The executive currently has a recommendation on the table to increase commercial rates by 5%. The last increase to commercial rates in Donegal was in 2018. While there were proposals to increase them over the last few years, each was ul...

Gardai are stepping up their efforts to reduce retail crime in the North West in the run up to Christmas.   It's part of Operation Tairge which is the Garda Siochana's national initiative aimed at combating retail crime.   It comes as retail crime will largely trend upwards over the festive period.   Chairman of Sligo BID Finbarr Filan says that crime in Sligo largely mirrors the na...

The Government has been accused of abandoning working families in Donegal. There's said to be a big cohort in the county who can't afford a mortgage but also don't qualify for social housing. This week, the Government announced a suite of new measures which aims to speed up the delivery of housing and infrastructure. But speaking in the Dail as part of statements on the Governments housing plan la...