Róise Collins delves into the archives to bring you the news and images from yesteryear
June 5, 1976
ALL-OUT DRIVE FOR VOTES IN NORTH EAST DONEGAL
As the weekend approaches and polling day is but a shortening few days away, excitement is spreading in the Donegal North East bye-election to fill the vacant Dáil seat caused by the sudden death of Fianna Fáil’s Liam Cunningham.
The various groups have been busy canvasing from door to door, addressing public meetings, issuing thousands of pieces of literature, blaring through towns and villages, appeals to vote number one for their specially chosen one.
Top national personalities of the political world have been streaming towards Donegal. Here, the voters are important. For another few days they may glory in the special attention that is being lavished on them.
Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, TDs, Senators and party officials have been battling to win the favour of the electors from Malin Head to Bloody Foreland. But they have found it a struggle at the start to awaken interest in an apathetic electorate.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, TD meeting Margaret Blaney in Letterkenny.
COALITION ACHIEVEMENTS LAUDED BY FITZGERALD AT LETTERKENNY
SPEAKING of Fine Gael’s 14-point programme, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Garrett Fitzgerald, speaking outside St Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny on Sunday in support of the Fine Gael bye-election candidate, Mr Joachim Loughrey, said it was striking to see how much they had achieved in the world economic situation.
They had practically removed all the health and housing charges from local rates; if they had not done so, the rate in Donegal would have been £4 higher. They had also removed VAT from food, clothes and fuel.
“We reduced the qualifying age for old age pensions to 67, though Fianna Fáil during their 16 years in office never took a year from it. In addition to that, we have doubled the pension from £5.15 a week to £10.25 a week, which is a considerable achievement.
“We promised we would build 25,000 houses a year; that promise has been over fulfilled; we succeeded in building 26,000 houses a year.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the government in the Republic had more respect, trust and confidence of the two sections of the community in Northern Ireland than any previous one.
NORTH WEST DEVELOPMENT BOARD PROPOSED AT COUNTY COUNCIL
THE setting up of a North Western Development Board, to embrace the counties of Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Sligo and Tyrone, to deal with the social and economic development of this region as a whole, and to resolve the many problems inherent in agriculture, industry and tourism was the proposal put forward by Mr Sean McEniff at a meeting of Donegal County Council.
During the course of an eloquent presentation of his proposals Mr McEniff had high hopes that such a Board would be financed directly from the E.E.C, pointing out that the problems of the north west could not be solved in Ireland by the national governments in Dublin or Westminster.
The Chairman, who visited Brussels recently, where he met the Commissioner for Regional Development, Mr Thomson in connection with the Derry/Donegal survey, was congratulated and complimented by his council colleagues for the “best ever proposal placed before the council.”
Sabrina, Gillian and Fiona Barnett at the Raphoe Mart Christmas Cracker Show and Sale. Photo Clive Wasson
June 8, 2001
MAJOR BOOST ON WAY FOR LETTERKENNY
LETTERKENNY is in line for a major jobs boost in the coming weeks, it emerged yesterday (Thursday).
Well-placed sources have confirmed that several hundred new jobs are to be created at the Pramerica Systems Ireland software development company at Windyhall on the outskirts of the town.
An official announcement is expected from the company and the government in the next six to eight weeks.
The number of new jobs is expected to be in the region of 300.
Pramerica plans to take possession of a new 20,000sq building adjacent to its existing premises to facilitate the expansion.
The company currently employs 150 people at its Letterkenny facility.
Recruitment is already underway for the new jobs. The new positions will be a mixture of high tech and administrative posts. Pramerica Systems Ireland is a subsidiary of the American based insurance giant Prudential Insurance.
Charlie Mulgrew, Fermanagh manager in 2009
LOW TURN-OUT BUT ‘NICE’ CLIFFHANGER PREDICTED
COUNTING will begin this morning (Friday) of the votes cast yesterday for the three referendums. Ballot boxes will be opened at Letterkenny Community Centre and St John Bosco Centre, Donegal Town at 9am with a first result expected by mid-afternoon.
The lacklustre campaign in the past few weeks was evident yesterday morning with a turnout of less than five per cent in many parts of the county by lunchtime. This was in line with the national average turnout.
Apathy and a lack of knowledge of the Nice Treaty were being blamed for the low poll.
In a random survey at five polling booths at noon the turnout varied from 2.5 to 6 per cent.
At the Trinity Hall in Letterkenny where there are two booths no votes were cast at all for the first hour but by noon 45 of the 739 electorate (6 per cent) had cast their votes in one booth with less than 5 per cent in the other.
‘God’ discusses his plans to put a son on earth at the Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál school play.
UNIFI BOSS CONDEMNS ‘SENSATIONALIST’ NEWSPAPER REPORTS
DETAILS of Labour Court recommendations, which will involve some further reductions in employee numbers, have been outlined to workers at the UNIFI Textured Yarns plant in Letterkenny.
It follows concerns raised by employees last week that the
company had plans to shed 14 jobs at the plant which has already seen 70 redundancies in the past four months.
Yesterday SIPTU Branch Secretary Mr Sean Reilly confirmed
that negotiations between the
union and management at UNIFI had reached an amicable conclusion.
However, in an internal memo to all employees posted on the notice board on Friday last the President of UNIFI Europe Mr Fintan McGrath referred to what he termed ‘one sided’ and ‘sensationalist’ newspaper reports.
Claiming that ‘one or more’ people within the plant were intent on interfering with due process to further their own particular objectives, Mr McGrath suggested that the articles were misleading and potentially damaging to both the company and all its employees.
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