Eilisha Devlin delves into the archives to bring you the news and images from yesteryear
May 1, 1976
COST OF BUNCRANA OIL TERMINAL NOW MORE THAN DOUBLED
The year’s delay in obtaining planning permission for the oil terminal at Buncrana has resulted in the original price being more than doubled.
The cost of the project was originally estimated at £750,000 but now, after the failure of Donegal County Council to grant planning permission, thereby causing a delay of a year until the Minister for Local Government recently gave it sanction, the cost is being estimated as being between one and a half and two million pounds.
This was stated by Mr A McLaughlin of Buncrana Traders, the company behind the project in an interview with the Derry People and Donegal News.
However, Mr McLaughlin said they were pleased to be able to go ahead now, although it would have been much easier had they received planning permission when they first sought it. Now that the company can go ahead with its building programme, Mr McLaughlin is optimistic about the future, not only for his company, but for the area in general.
When the work is completed the tanks at Buncrana should be able to store 9,000 tons of oil which is over 4,00,00 gallons. The main aim of providing large tanks is to cater for the demand of such facilities should oil be discovered.
DONEGAL FEARS ANOTHER DROUGHT THIS SUMMER
Fears that Donegal could run into an even worse drought situation than last year have led to Donegal County Council making emergency arrangements that would minimise the hardship and problems raised for many households in securing an adequate supply of water.
The past few weeks of dry weather have given rise to predictions that it will be another long, dry and sunny summer, similar to 1975. This delights most people but also creates many problems, not merely for the farmers.
Around every 150 years, it seems that a drought situation arises, and the pattern has arisen now in some other parts of the world, cutting down on crops and posing serious problems for people and livestock. Donegal is considered better than most other parts of this country with a heavier rainfall, but the Council officials hope that people will be more aware of the problems of providing a proper water supply this year and will do all possible to conserve it.
Donegal County Secretary, Mr. Tom O’Reilly told the Derry People and Donegal News that they already found themselves in a drought situation for most of April and if the fine weather continued to the end of May the situation could become critical.
He said Council officials were keeping a sharp watch on water levels and if a serious situation did come about they would immediately introduce emergency measures.
Frankie Ferry, Patrick Green and Gary McGettigan, Junior Infants, Scoil N. Fiachra, Illistrin, display their Letterkenny Tidy Towns Schools’ Award.
COUNCILLORS CONDEMN ‘LOP-SIDED’ LETTERKENNY DEVELOPMENT
The ever increasing clamor for housing in the Letterkenny area is already a matter of deep concern at local level, and all attempts to find a solution seem to run into the proverbial brick wall.
The need for all types of accommodation in the town has doubled if not tripled in the past few years yet there is no comparable growth rate in the number of outlets available.
The stalemate situation in the approval of housing applications, which will last, according to the Co. Manager, Mr JD Williams, to the 1980s, has frustrated the attempts of the many people to build their own homes.
The private sector is not the only one to feel the pinch; Letterkenny Urban Council is estimated to have almost 200 applicants for Local Authority houses but there is no hope of satisfying even a minority of these in the immediate future.
The only ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull horizon is that the Department of Local Government may approve a Council scheme for 52 storied dwellings and 31 private sites. However there would seem to be some divergence of opinion on the Council decision to locate this new scheme in the Ballyboe/ Glencar area.
In the past few months a number of Councillors have spoken on the lop-sided development of one side of the town. It has been pointed out that the Ballyboe/Glencar and the Ballyraine/Gortlee areas have been the recipients of large scale building projects while the Leck side of the Swilly has been completely overlooked.
The statistics behind the arguments would seem to give them a very strong foundation.
Betty Holmes, DACC, Monika Koverova, Tracey Marray, Cafe Blend presenting Dr Michael Sugrue with a cheque for €1,000 for the Breast Care Development Fund in 2009. Photo: Donna McBride.
May 4, 2001
DONEGAL HAD THE THIRD HIGHEST NUMBER OF NON-RESIDENT ACCOUNTS
Donegal has the third highest number of non-resident bank accounts by county with £262 million held on deposit here for non-residents according to a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General yesterday (Thursday).
The value of non-resident bank accounts in the county is second only to Dublin and Cork.
The revelations of the million or so of pounds held in the non-resident accounts in Donegal’s banks came as the Revenue Commissioners gave tax evaders six months to pay up on hidden deposits or face the full rigour of the law.
People who pay tax on bogus non-resident accounts before November 15 will have to pay penalties but they will not be prosecuted or named and shamed. After November the Revenue plan to mount a massive trawl of 37 financial institutions to identify bogus accounts.
While the Revenue Commissioners declined to identify what they described as the ‘tell tale’ signs that pinpoint bogus non-resident accounts, a number of these indicators were identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General in 1999.
These include accounts where the contact address is in Ireland as opposed to abroad, the use of a PO Box or “care of” address.
The Revenue will also look at non-resident accounts that have a ‘hold mail’ instruction to the bank. They will also examine the transaction profile of the account to see how much money went in and out and when this happened.
In 1998 there were 302,000 non-resident accounts in Ireland holding £3.3 billion.
At that time £703 million was held in non-resident accounts in the border region.
ENJOYING A LATE MOVIE SHOW
Last Wednesday was a special day for several pensioners who attended the cinema for the first time in their lives.
Uncomfortable wooden seats and courting couples in the back row were just a few of the memories which came flooding back to pensioners arriving at Letterkenny Cinema complex on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a time when thousands traveled from near and far to watch the latest release on the big screen – a time when it cost four pence to watch a film on wooden seats or nine pence for a soft seat!
The days of Clark Gable and Spencer Tracey, Betty Davis and Katherine Hepburn.
For six pensioners attending the Glenties Day Centre however, Wednesday represented the first time they had ever been to the cinema. Maggie Bonner from Dry Arch, Glenties and Paddy Gildea from the Station Road area of the town aged 93 years and 88 years respectively were joined by Tessie Melly (Glen Road), Winnie McKelvey (Fintown), Mary Byrne (Maas) and John Haughey (Dr McCloskey Crescent) as the cinema novices.
There was great excitement as they made their way towards their seats to watch a matinee showing of the comedy ‘Waking Ned’ which had been organised for pensioners attending Day Centres in Downings, Newtowncunningham, Glenties and St Joseph’s, Stranorlar as part of the Bealtaine Festival for Older People.
Complete with the obligatory popcorn and soft drink, Maggie was eagerly looking forward to watching actors Ian Bannen and David Kelly in action on the silver screen.
A scene from a nativity play at Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Letterkenny.
£10 MILLION BOOST FOR LETTERKENY RETAIL SECTOR
A £10 million extension to the Letterkenny Shopping Centre is to get the go ahead within the next fortnight, according to informed sources.
The new development will provide a further 47,000 sq ft of retail space at the Port Road centre and create in excess of 100 new jobs.
An official decision on the planning application from the local authority is not due until May 26 but well placed sources yesterday said the development is set to get the go ahead subject to some planning conditions relating to traffic management and development charges.
The decision will clear the way for the construction of 18 new retail units and a major new store for the Tesco supermarket bringing the total number of stores in the centre to 43.
The development will also see the introduction of a new anchor tenant to the centre along with a further extension planned for the Pennys store in the near future. Over 300 people are currently employed in a full time or part time capacity in the centre.
The extension will take approximately a year to complete and the centre will remain open during the construction works.
A planning application was lodged by the developers Max Developments from Harcourt House, Dublin, on September 24 last.
The development company is owned by Mr Pat Doherty, the well known property developer from Buncrana.
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