Ocean FM News Reports

Frustration is said to be building in among north Leitrim families trying to get home help hours for their loved ones.   Latest figures show that home Support is provided to a total of 539 service users in County Leitrim.    There's also a rolling recruitment campaign ongoing in the area.   Local Independent Cllr Felim Gurn believes the HSE is not taking the issue seriously eno...

  The tender process for the construction of the Tubbercurry Primary Care Centre is expected to take place in the coming months.   The centre will be provided through the HSE Capital Plan and has is currently at design stage which is said to be nearing completion.   The facility has been deemed critical towards alleviating pressures at Sligo University Hospital and providing essenti...

Sligo U20 gaelic football manager Paul Henry gives his assessment of Wednesday evening's 1-16 to 0-10 loss to Roscommon in their opening game of this year's Connacht U20 championship.

A number of stations along the Sligo to Dublin train line will see accessibility improvements in the coming months. Work will commence in the summer on Boyle station, and an application has been filed for Dromod. It is part of an Irish Rail initiative to increase inclusivity for all passengers, while also partnering with the 'Elephant in the Room' campaign to promote awareness, and reduce stigma i...

Irish language and Gaeltacht groups are calling for increased funding in the north and south. It comes after Foras na Gaeilge announced funding cuts of over 817 thousand euro at the end of January. A protest was held outside Leinster House this lunchtime, urging the body to reverse the cuts, and calling for the Government to provide an additional 20 million euro, at least. Julian de Spáinn, Genera...

It’s emerged there was no physical assaults by prisoners on either fellow prisoners or staff at Loughan House in 2024. That is a reduction of one on 2023 figures. Official figures published by the Irish Prison Service, however, do show an overall 31 per cent rise in “prisoner-on-prisoner direct physical assaults” within the Irish prison system between 2023 and 2024. There are now 5,268 prisoners i...

Almost 60 patients at Sligo's pain clinic have been sent to private hospitals for procedures. It comes as recruitment to fill the two consultant post at the clinic is still ongoing - almost a year on from when the positions were initially vacated. Shortlisting for the consultant position in pain services is said to be taking place this week. Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Cllr Declan Bree s...

It's felt that an agreement to move the Donegal Education Centre to Letterkenny is not a done deal. ATU and the CEO of the Donegal Education and Training Board have signalled their support for the imminent move from Donegal Town to Letterkenny. While the business plan was made available earlier this week with several key elements of it redacted. Donegal TD Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher attended both pu...

A Sligo Leitrim Government TD has called into question the behaviour of some opposition members yesterday that have been accused of bullying the Ceann Comhairle.   The Dáil resumed earlier today after being suspended amid chaotic scenes yesterday.   Opposition leaders are meeting today to consider a motion of no confidence in the Ceann Comhairle.     More disruption is expected...

Fine Gael members in South Donegal will meet on Friday to decide who will fill the seat vacated by the appointment of Manus Boyle Seanad.   Friday’s convention will take place at 8 p.m. in the Bay View Hotel in Killybegs.   It now seems likely that just two candidates will contest the race to be elected on to the Local Authority.   Former Ballyshannon councillor, Barry Sweeny who mi...

Michael Boyle says he's hopeful of following in the footsteps of his family after he was chosen to contest the south Donegal Fine Gael co-option. Boyle's brother Manus was appointed the Seanad earlier this year, vacating the seat he won in June's local elections, while his father John is also a former sitting Councillor. He'll go up against a former Councillor in Barry Sweeny at Friday's conventio...

The Government is under pressure to clarify if its energy policies have changed. It comes a plan was approved in recent weeks to develop a State-led liquefied natural gas terminal, which would serve as the country's emergency gas reserve. The move has received major backlash, most notably among anti-fracking groups in Leitrim. The issue was raised in the Seanad this morning by Labour Senator Nessa...

Development works are being sought to address the repeating foul odour impacting residents in Ballymote. Uisce Eireann are being called upon to act swiftly, and to investigate the issue in the Wolfe Tone Street area. It’s understood that the problem has persisted over a number of years without a suitable solution to be found, with people resorting to opening all windows in an affected building. Lo...

34 children are currently on a waiting list for Child and Adolescent Mental Health service in south county Donegal.   Figures published by the HSE as part of this month's meeting of the regional health forum west show that they are some of the almost 130 young people are on CAMHS waiting lists in the county.   The Government has previously been called on to regulate and reform the servic...

A working group has been set up to progress the purchase of a cancer bus between Sligo and Galway.   The current bus is currently without a toilet which has leaves passengers with no option but to ask the driver to stop at service stations along the route.   However, the group which involves relevant charitable organisations along with representatives from Sligo University Hospital will...

Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal all showed strong increases in housing prices over the first three months of 2025, when compared to last year. According to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report for Q1, Leitrim showed the highest rise of 12% over the last 12 months, with an average home price of €204,000. Sligo rose by 11%, with an average price of a home at €221,000. While Donegal increased by 8%, with...

The Dáil descended into chaos once again following its resumption this afternoon. Opposition TDs have spoken of their disproval of Government proposals to allocate new speaking times for regional Independents and backbenchers. Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy outlined she dedicated close to 20 hours to the speaking rights issue and has now “reached an impasse”: Donegal TD Pearse Doherty stood in prot...

There were positive discussions during Tuesday morning’s meeting of a delegation from Leitrim County Council and the forestry minister.   A delegation from the local authority travelled to Leinster House to discuss the fall out over recent storms with Michael Healy Rae.   The county bore the brunt of the adverse weather conditions with power outages one of the biggest bones of contention...

Post-primary schools in the north west are among the 65% which employed unqualified teachers last year. Figures from the Department of Education, obtained by TG4, show over 4 thousand 600 unqualified people held these positions for the academic year 2023/2024. While 98% of primary schools nationally employed unqualified teachers over the same period. The figures will form the focus of a special on...

A Donegal TD is predicting that the government’s decision to renege on an agreement in relation to speaking rights in Leinster house could lead to more difficult time ahead in the Dáil.   The row over speaking time in the Dáil is set to come to a head this afternoon.     The opposition has vowed to resist a Government proposal to allocate new speaking times for the Regional Independ...

There was huge support shown for an expanded train timetable for Sligo. As highlighted yesterday, an issue was to be raised at the latest Ballymote-Tubbercurry Municipal District meeting, that called for an increased frequency of trains. As it stands, no train arrives from Longford into Sligo before 9am, and it’s thought this severely limits working and education opportunities for people. It’s hop...

A Donegal Councillor has expressed his concern over the latest business plan to be published for the Donegal Education Centre.   Cllr Jimmy Brogan says correspondence he has received from the Atlantic Technology University is at odds with what is claimed in the report when it comes to the centre being moved from Donegal Town to Letterkenny.   The Independent Councillor says teachers at t...

A further enquiry is to be made for a meeting between department ministers and Sligo elected representatives over the N17.   A proposal for a meeting to be held in Dáil Éireann was issued earlier this year, but a demanding schedule prevented department ministers from setting a date for discussions.   Sligo Cllrs along with Sligo-Leitrim TDs have been invited to the meeting, with an invit...

A delegation from Leitrim County Council is to meet with the forestry minister to discuss the fall out over recent storms this morning.   The county bore the brunt of the adverse weather conditions with power outages one of the biggest bones of contention in recent years.   A number of elected representatives locally have voiced their dissatisfaction with the performance of Minister Mich...

Discussions and debates are continuing locally in relation to the government's response to recent adverse weather conditions. Some families went more than 3 weeks in north Leitrim with intermittent outages affecting the area Manorhamilton Independent Councillor Felim Gurn says falling and overhanging trees are continuing to impact the area. He feels lessons need to be learned adding that the commu...