THE flight from Donegal to Dublin was delayed this morning after a fire in a hangar at Dublin airport.

The fight was due to land in the capital around 8.45am, but will now arrive just before 10am, said a Dublin airport spokeswoman.

DONEGAL WOMEN GO SO CLOSE:

A two point lead at half-time, a two point deficit when it really mattered, and the Donegal Ladies team were making their exit from the All-Ireland Championships at the quarter-final stages. 

Had they converted a handful of chances that came their way, they, and not Armagh, would now be preparing for a semi-final in sight of the one they all want to win.

But like the scoreline at the end in Clones, it’s all small margins and they still have the Ulster title locked up in the trophy cabinet to cheer them up from the despair felt when the clock ticked down to zero on Saturday.

Geraldine McLaughlin did make it into the starting line-up but was unable to reach the heights of previous performances after recovery from her injury.

Armagh put up a solid display and in the end, I believe, deserved to get through but nothing should take away from the efforts of their opponents, both in this game and in the matches that brought them to Ulster glory.

Surely, Davy McLaughlin has put himself in the frame for Manager of the Year. Not alone did his team claim that title they did it with style with a squad that does indeed boost individual stars but nevertheless plays as a team.

Coming soon – not this year sadly – to an All-Ireland Final near you.

TYRONE MAKE A POINT OR TWO:

And so that’s Kerry through to another All-Ireland Final as confidently predicted in most quarters. The only thing they didn’t tell us was what a quality semi-final we would witness.

“It’ll be an awful game, I think,” one fan, interviewed for R.T.E. radio outside Croke Park before the throw-in, forecast. With Tyrone putting the blockers on it, he added (a Kerryman obviously).

But this was no negative contest and the credit must equally go to Mickey Harte’s men for helping to make it a match for the purists even if the purists might not have revelled at all aspects of the game.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte.

A penalty awarded – justly – and a penalty not given – unjustly you’d have to say on a few viewings of the incident that brought Padraig McNulty crashing  to the ground – were the talking points from the Tyrone perspective on an afternoon when we found out that Donegal and Monaghan may not have it their own way in next year’s Ulster Championship.

As Joe Brolly pointed out before Maurice Deegan – he of the blinkered vision Tyrone folk and many a neutral would suggest – threw the ball in, the Red Hands have been living in Donegal’s shadow for the past five years. They may not be residing there for much longer.

Kerry finished the stronger and deservedly went through, at one stage holding possession for well over a minute as Tyrone chased those shadows under which they have also been living where the Kingdom is concerned.

Martin Carney, in the R.T.E. co-pilot seat, was quick to point out that if Donegal were playing that ‘keep the ball’ game, they would be labelled boring. “But when Kerry do it, it’s a masterclass,” he jibed.

And what about the lifting of that eight-week suspension? Justified or not? Regular early birds of this column – particularly early birds with eagle eyes – may have noticed a bizarre preview last week for the first semi-final which, not alone was actually meant for this week, but due to circumstances well within control had I not fallen victim to a sleep induced mix-up in the respective line-outs – and thanks to those who messaged me to point it out – was basically close to a sacking offence.

But thankfully the editor lifted the eight-week suspension allowing me to dive into this week’s preview which - and I’ve treble checked this - involves Mayo and Dublin.

And THAT curse. You know the one, imposed on Mayo back in 1951 when the then victorious All-Ireland winners passed through Foxford as part of the victory parade home but failed to acknowledge due respect to the funeral of a local personality.

The Dubs will start favourites in front of their home support and on the back of the sports pages but I have a funny feeling about this one.

Curses if I’m wrong.

CIAN HELPS DAD TO THE FINISHING LINE:

Well, was that the youngest participant to cross the finishing line after a full marathon? Had to be. And not alone that came home in second place.

Rosses A.C. runner, Ciaran McGonagle was on his way to that finishing line at the end of Sunday’s Donegal Marathon when on the home straight on the Aura track, he spotted his two year old son, Cian, standing with the family and friends on the sidelines and literally swept him off his feet to carry the delighted youngster the handful of metres to the end.

Ciaran (and Cian!) were behind this year’s Marathon winner, Paul Doyle, and in front of third placed Mark Walker after an event, drenched as it was for most of the way when the clouds opted to provide their own considerable water breaks, once again proved the equal of any other from an organisational viewpoint.

Ciaran McGonagle

I got talking to quite a few of the participants from both the full and half marathons and that was the underlying consensus from each of them with all of them promising to be back next year.

And that includes the first lady home in the full marathon, Margaret Carlin, who came all the way from her native Kerry to take part in the company of her husband, Anthony, who originally hails from Glenfin. Note: Anthony didn’t participate but was there at the finishing line to greet his spouse with a hero’s hug.

An impressive performance also from Natasha Adams who was second overall in the half-marathon.

I watched much of the event from outside the Station House Hotel as the rain continued to attempt to put the athletes off their strides.

One question: How did some of them run with those plastic macs surely hindering their every move?

It’s beyond me. Just as, I don’t even have to suspect, every single one of them would have been had I decided to break the habit of a lifetime and enter.

Well done all those men and women. And not forgetting young Cian.

IRONMAN SEAN:

And a big well done, too, to Sean McFadden who was the second Irishman home in the Ironman Challenge in Copenhagen which was also staged on Sunday.

Winner of The Race in his home county earlier this year, the Letterkenny Triathlon Club member completed the course in nine hours, fifty-two minutes and thirty-nine seconds (sometimes better to spell these things out to give an idea of what’s involved including as it does, a 3.8k swim, a 180km cycle and a full marathon).

Pauric and Margaret Kelly also impressed with respective times of 11:22:12 and 11:45:28. while Damian McGoohan, also representing the Letterkenny club, clocked 11:49:03 in the event and Carrigart man, Denis Shields homed in a time of 12:03:53.

And they were probably all up at the crack of dawn the following day for a 10k run if I know these athlete types.

MARK MISSES OUT:

No doubt Jerry Kiernan will have been mounting a “I told you so” argument for Mark English’s failure to reach the 800 metres Final at the World Championships in Beijing.

The R.T.E. pundit hasn’t exactly been spraying the praise around where English is concerned and recently insisted that the Donegal athlete had made no progress over the past two years.

Mark English

A silver and bronze medal from major championships say different but it’s likely that Kiernan will have cast a jaundiced eye over the U.C.D. student’s performance in China.

“Sometimes you’re judged on whether you made it through each round, and it’s judged as a failure if you fail at the semi-final stage,” English declared after the race, almost as if he was directing his comments at one particular critic.

But while an injury earlier in the season hasn’t helped his cause he himself described his fifth place semi-final race – Bosnia’s Amel Tuka was ranked as one of the favourites for the gold in the event and his time of 1:44:84 equalled the Letterkenny man’s personal best at the distance – as a “good run.”

Meanwhile, he and Thomas Barr, who also didn’t make it out of the semi-finals in the 400 metres hurdles, will form half of the Irish relay team who will attempt to emerge from the heats of the 4x400 relay on Saturday.

But at this stage, it appears the Irish athletics team – Finn Valley’s Tori Pena missing out on qualifying for the pole vaulting Finals – will be returning from Beijing with no medals to check in at the airport.

Though at least they’ll be returning. Unlike R.T.E. – Jerry and all – who appear, along with T.V.3, to have decided that the World Athletics Championships wasn’t worth the bother of travelling in the first place.

COLEMAN “OUTSTANDING” (BUT WHAT’S HE LIKE AT GAELIC FOOTBALL?)

Martin Keown  knows a thing or two about defending as many an attacker will know to their frustration.

So you can take his views on the current batch of defenders in the English Premiership with much more than a pinch of salt, unlike some television pundits for whom it’s all sugar and no substance.

The former Gunners man was in the Match of the Day 2 studio in the company of Trevor Sinclair on Sunday night when the pair were running the eye over the Everton/Manchester City game.

Sinclair had already touched positively on the performance of Seamus Coleman when Keown – whose family links with Galway could have had him wearing the green shirt in the international arena – entered the discussion, describing the Killybegs man’s display as “outstanding”.

“I think he’s one of the top defenders in the game now,” the big ex-defender declared after Coleman had managed to keep the shackles – for much of the match at any rate – on City’s new signing, Raheem Sterling.

Meanwhile, our Seamie has indicated his intentions to return to his native parish after his career in England draws to a close and hopes to change codes and play for his local club, Killybegs. “I was a far better Gaelic player than I was a soccer player, but you are not going to make a career in Gaelic football. I hope I can go back and play it again,” he said this week.

Donegal’s All-Ireland hero from 1992 Manus Boyle – who scored the winning point for Killybegs against Kilcar in the Reserve Championship at the weekend at the age of 49 – will probably still be playing then.

WORLDS APART:

They say the biggest rivalry in sport can be found among your own and there’s nothing more bitter than a team-mate having a pop.

Britain’s Andy Vernon missed out on selection for the World Athletics Championships and while the country basked in the gold medal winning performance by Mo Farah in the 10,000 metres, not everybody British shared in the glowing tributes. Somalia born Farah has often pontificated on his passion for his adopted nation but, tweeted the aggrieved Vernon after his latest success:

“Great to hear you love to represent your country. Thank you for stopping me do the same.”

Ouch! And ouch again! Last year, Vernon had insisted that Farah did not deserve his European 10,000 metres gold because he was not European. Like I say, bitter.

There’s a part of me that understands how Vernon can hold such views.

And it’s not that long ago that the British media were quick to pounce on Jack Charlton’s policy of picking players for the Republic when their place of birth was outside the jurisdiction.

And I’m quite sure that sports followers in Somalia might also feel a tad frustrated watching one of their own climb on to the winners podium and declare his love for another.

But that’s the way of the world now and the only way the likes of Vernon – there are surely other athletes with similar viewpoints and not just in the British camp – can ease their personal frustrations is by letting their feet do the talking and proving their own value out on the track and leaving the tweets to the birds.

AND NEWS JUSTIN….

And how about another World Championship athlete with bitterness in his heart? Nothing to do in this case with not being allowed to represent his own country but instead living under the shadow of a past doping scandal or two.

Justin Gatlin will forever so be tainted but I have to say I thoroughly agree with his sentiments regarding the British media’s treatment of him before, during and after the 100 metres Final in Beijing.

As Usain Bolt celebrated his victory in traditional Bolt style, the B.B.C.’s Steve Cram declared: “He’s saved his title, he’s saved his reputation, he’s maybe even saved his sport.”

That was one of the kinder offerings with other British commentators and analysts both on radio and in print hailing Bolt’s win but more so voicing venom at the man who finished in the silver medal position but will seemingly never be finished when it comes to having his past dug up.

Gatlin and his agent hit out strongly at what they termed the “biased” outpourings against him and the continued characterisation that dogs his every step along the track. Will he ever get a break again from the sideline snipers?

The cheats have indeed shamed themselves and their sport but it somehow seems to me that some of them are never allowed forget while others are welcomed into television punditry studios and promotion of satellite coverage of, say, the English Premiership, with little, or no, barbed references to their own misdemeanours.

RED FRONT:

Well, weren’t the Old Trafford reds fortunate to have missed out on the services of Pedro? True, he scored on his Chelsea debut and was involved in their other two goals in the win over West Brom but, apart from knitting in neatly and causing constant problems coming in from the right wing, what else did he do?

No, United are better off without him as they continue their trawl for the player to fill Van Persie’s boots though they will surely be encouraged by the surprise availability of an internationally acclaimed front man this week.

But Harry Styles may want to go in another direction entirely.

A community alert has gone out to property owners after a surge in thefts in East Donegal.

The text message was issued asking all people in the Raphoe, Convoy, St.Johnston, Newtowncunningham and Manorcunningham areas to be on their guard.

It follows a spike in the theft of farm machinery and other items from sheds and outhouses.

The text said "There has recently been a number of thefts of farm machinery. Ensure all farm sheds/outhouses are locked and all property is secure and identifiable."

Garda Crime Prevention officer Paul Wallace has repeatedly advised people to mark and identify their property in the case that it is stolen.

Local Garda stations offer a free service to mark identify property in the event that it is stolen.

Some well-known Donegal food business owners pictured with members of staff at Donegal Local Enterprise Office at a photo shoot to highlight, that businesses in the county can now apply to join the Food Coast Network and to use the Donegal Food Coast Brand.

Businesses in Donegal associated with the food sector, will soon be able to demonstrate how they champion Donegal food by applying to use the Donegal Food Coast Brand and by joining the Food Coast network.

The initiative is the latest step in the roll-out of the Donegal Food Strategy and will allow businesses in Donegal to seek to obtain use of The Food Coast branding.

This, says Eve-Anne McCarron, Executive with The Food Coast – Donegal’s Good Food Initiative, will permit businesses to demonstrate that they are either a Donegal-based producer or a business sourcing produce from Donegal producers.

“When Donegal Local Enterprise Office launched The Food Coast – Donegal’s Good Food Initiative – the object was to support development, growth and raise awareness of Donegal’s food sector.

Now the initiative is on track to further raise awareness of food from within the county - through the launch of The Food Coast Brand - giving local enterprises an opportunity to clearly demonstrate that they champion Donegal food,” she said.

Eve-Anne explained that Businesses in Donegal, can now seek to obtain use of The Food Coast branding and she believes there is already a strong desire among those working in the food-sector in the county to highlight their pride in Donegal produce.

“The initiative aims to assist the food and drink producers and manufacturers of the region, the retailers supplying local produce and the hospitality outlets working with locally sourced ingredients.

By contacting Donegal Local Enterprise Office - Primary producers, Value Added Processors, Retailers, Restaurants and Food Service Businesses - can all now apply to use the Food Coast Brand and to join the Food Coast Network.”

Strict criteria will apply, but the Food Coast executive says she believes the new branding will be much-coveted among those working across the spectrum of the food sector in Donegal.

“In a short space of time, The Food Coast has become a central platform for establishing Donegal as a “Food County” – a place with a vibrant food culture and food economy.

Donegal Local Enterprise Office and Donegal County Council are keen to ensure that The Food Coast – Donegal’s Good Food Initiative – continues to create employment and contributes to sustaining the county’s local economy,” Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, Seamus Neely said.

Anyone seeking further information on the Food Coast Brand can contact Eve-Anne at eveanne.mccarron@leo.donegalcoco.ie or call 07491 60735

Stealing the show. Jake Bonner makes his way into the middle of the pictured to take the ball. Stephen Ferris was the special guest at Letterkenny Rugby Club after they won a grassroots competition in association with AEG Photo Cristeph/Brian McDaid

Stephen Ferris put the Letterkenny Rugby Team through training on his recent visit the club in association with AEG. Photos: Cristeph/Brian McDaid

Former Ireland and Ulster rugby star Stephen Ferris took time out of his busy schedule to help train the upcoming talent at Letterkenny Rugby Club.

Ferris 30, had to retire from Rugby Union prematurely after a series of injuries curtailed his promising career.

At the age of 28 he was forced to retire after being unable to shake off an ankle injury that blighted his career.

However, Ferris had stayed involved in the game he loves and regularly takes coaching seminars all over the country.

He was in Donegal this week to pass on all the knowledge and experience he earned during his glittering career to the upcoming stars at Letterkenny Rugby Club.

The funeral cortege of the late Marty Strain arrives at St Mura's Church in Fahan. Pic by Northwest Newspix.

The funeral has taken place of the latest young man killed on Donegal's roads.

A large crowd turned out to say a final farewell to young Inishowen teenager Marty Strain.

Popular lad Marty Strain who lost his life in a fatal road traffic accident in Burnfoot. (North West Newspix)

Marty, 19, from Brae Road, Burnfoot, was killed in the early hours of Sunday morning last when the car in which he was a passenger crashed at Tooban.

Two other people traveling in the car were also injured.

Hundreds of mourners were forced to stand outside St Mura's Church in Fahan, such was the high regard in which the popular young man was held.

Members of Burt GAA Club formed a guard of honour as Marty's remains were brought into the church.

Many of Marty's friends also formed a guard of honour for their tragic friend.

Members of Burt GAA Club form a guard of honour as their clubmate is carried into St Mura's Church. Pic by Northwest Newspix.

PICTURE SPECIAL: HOUSE WINE BAR AND TAP ROOM is one of the classiest establishments for a night out in Donegal.

HOUSE is ideal for those of you who want to kick back and relax after a tough week at work in a more chilled out environment than that of your normal bar or club.

With a selection of sensational wines to choose from HOUSE is the perfect location to unwind, converse and socialise with your friends.

Donegal Daily in conjunction with the management staff at HOUSE are teaming up to give away ONE lucky person pictured at HOUSE over the weekend the chance to win FREE wine and a CHEESEBOARD.

If you're circled in one of the pictures above then contact HOUSE WINE BAR AND TAP ROOM via Facebook NOW and claim you prize!!

Our NEW Membership Card's are here!!

Collect your card from HOUSE this week and take full advantage of our EXCLUSIVE discount!!

Haven't signed up yet??

Email us on housewinebarandtaproom@gmail.com

Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistri, located in Donegal Town, is housed in 4 prefabs and is in ‘urgent need of repair’ according to Independent TD for Donegal Thomas Pringle.

Deputy Thomas Pringle

Pringle was alerted by the Parent’s Association that no support had been received from the Department of Education on previous funding applications despite the poor condition of the school.

In a last-ditch effort, an application has since been made for a ‘devolved grant’ which would give the school access to funding for small-scale works where there is an urgent need of repair and renovation.

‘I am urging the Minister to consider Gaelscoil Máistri for this funding. There have been consistent health and safety concerns with the school building. Four freezing prefabs with poor insulation and single glaze windows are a great distraction to the children attending the school. They deserve better’ says Pringle.

‘What is frustrating is that planning permission has been granted to build a new 8 classroom school on a site which the Department already owns. It’s even fully serviced with water, sewerage and electricity facilities. But the school needs funding so it can progress to the construction stage as soon as possible’ continues Pringle.

‘I urge the Minister to consider Gaelscoil Máistri’s application for this vital funding and remind her of the Government’s commitment to support rural communities’ concludes Pringle.

ENTERTAINMENT: Your weekend now starts on a Thursday at the Millbridge Bar!

Management at the popular bar have decided to reward their loyal patrons by giving 50% off all food and drink in the Ivy restaurant EVERY Thursday night.

There is also a superb line-up of entertainment for the weekend at The Millbridge Bar.

• Friday night jukebox in the bar.
• Saturday night DJ Shaun T Friel is in the Millbridge Bar and he is sure to keep the place rocking!!
• On Sunday we have Kilmacrennan's very own trad band Ciorcal Iomlan playing in the snug from 6pm to 9 pm, always a lively evening.
• On Sunday we also have our special "Back to School Sunday carvery were all under 12's eat for free! So why not take them out one last time before school starts on us!!

Live premiership matches shown ALL weekend.
3 pints for €10 (Mon-Fri)

Loyalty cards also available offering 10% off all good and drink
Steak nite special on Tuesday's

Keep an eye out on our Facebook page and donegal daily for our Christmas party nights specials

For any more info check out our Facebook book or contact us on 074 91 39800.

Pictured in the photograph are some of the Faculty members of the 2nd Breast Cancer Multidisciplinary Course held in Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. From left to right: Geraldine MacGregor, Kevin Barry, Hajnalka Gyorffy, Jiri Vyskocil, Fiona MacNeill, John Kennedy, Kristjan Asgeirsson, Isobel Rubio, Katherine McGowan, Reem Salman and Michael Sugrue.

The Breast Centre North West, based at Letterkenny General Hospital and the Donegal Clinical Research Academy recently organised an international Breast Cancer multidisciplinary course which took place at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.

This course was unique as it brought together all the disciplines involved in breast cancer care for a one day event. Presented at the meeting was a combination of the latest evidence in breast cancer care and case scenario discussions. Attendees were updated on some of the latest developments in breast cancer care.

Commenting, Geraldine MacGregor, Breast Nurse Specialist at Letterkenny Hospital said “This is the second year we held this course, which is unique internationally and has received excellent reviews from attendees.

"I am pleased that Letterkenny could bring four international world leaders in breast cancer care to Ireland to complement the excellent National Faculty of twenty consultants in surgery, radiology, oncology, pathology, radiation oncology nursing and allied health.

"The international leaders included Mr Asgeirsson from Iceland, Professor Degnim from the Mayo Clinic United States, Ms MacNeill from The Royal Marsden, London and Dr Rubio from Barcelona in Spain”.

Breast Surgeon in Letterkenny General Hospital, Mr Michael Sugrue noted that the day was highly successful and rated by the attendees as one of the best breast cancer courses that they had attended.

ROAD safety chiefs have made a plea today to motorists ahead of the rush back to school this week.

Donegal County Council and the Donegal Road Safety Working Group seek to remind all motorists to put child safety first when driving during the school morning and afternoon rush hour, and remind people that Road Safety is everyone’s responsibility.

“The first week of school is always a very busy time on our roads and I would encourage all road users to be mindful that children will again be back making this daily journey,” Brian O’Donnell, Road Safety Officer said.

He added: “Children will be walking, cycling, travelling on buses and being dropped off and picked up in cars, so motorists need to be alert to their safety and exercise extreme caution. We also need to be aware that there will be large numbers of children attending school for the first time”.

“Let’s ensure this is a positive experience for them by slowing down and taking extra care whenever we are travelling near or past a school. Slowing down around schools is vitally important no matter how much of a rush you may be in. All road users must obey speed limits, be patient, and make sure they park safely and legally when dropping off and collecting their children, and motorists are also asked to be extra careful when overtaking parked school buses,” he said.

The school warden service caters for a large number of children attending schools in the county on a daily basis during school terms and is delivered at a number of schools throughout the county. The wardens are identifiable by the high visibility uniforms worn, and the STOP sign used to stop traffic. The school wardens, like Gardaí, have the legal power to stop traffic and all wardens are attempting to ensure that children get to and from school safely. In order to carry out their duties effectively they require the co-operation of all road users.

Parents and guardians are being asked to make a real effort to demonstrate good road safety behaviour at all times as your child learns from your example. If your child walks or cycles to school, you are advised to take them on the route in advance and make sure they know where they are going. If they travel by car or bus, make sure they know how important it is to keep their seatbelt on at all times and remain seated until the vehicle is parked safely at the drop off point.

Parents should be made aware of the need for appropriate and considerate parking in as many ways as possible. Information should be on the school’s website, in the school’s information book and in communications with new parents.

The message is clear – make smart choices about how you use the roads: never ever drink or drug drive, strictly keep to the speed limits and slow down, make sure you and your passengers are wearing seatbelts before you set off on a journey, no matter how short and never use your mobile phone for any purpose while driving.

Children learn about Road Safety by watching others. Make sure you always set a good example, said the Road Safety Officer.

“I would also ask schools and teachers to help make road safety a priority once more by making it a key part of their lesson plans. We would ask teachers to consider including a road safety lesson from the RSA’s Road Safety resources in their classes. A Road Safety Education Officer is available to travel to your school and deliver effective programmes to everyone, which tackle all elements of road safety. The Officer will highlight the importance of understanding road safety through a series of interactive resources tailored in an age appropriate way”.

This service is free of charge.

“The saying is true: ‘Our children are our future’ and we all need to educate them about road safety,” he added.

Copies of the resources or the service of the Road Safety Education Officer can be obtained by contacting the Road Safety Authority directly or Donegal County Council’s Road Safety Section, who will gladly assist with the request.

A Donegal IT company is set to take on new workers after it pulled off a major coup with the world's biggest online auction company eBay.

Donegal company 3D Issue puled off a major coup with eBay.

Letterkenny-based 3D Issue created an internal communications systems for eBay's thousands of employees.

It came after eBay recently officially separated from PayPal.

The technical giant's marketing team wanted to create a digital magazine, a native mobile app and an online web portal dedicated to the first day of their independence.

And of all the technology companies across the globe which tried to find one solution, the Donegal company was the only one which could answer all the questions.

The CEO of 3D Issue, Paul McNulty from Hawthorn Heights in the Cathedral Town, paid tribute to his workers.

While the company has now grown to 25 employees, Paul is confident that can grow to 40 employees in the near future.

“We have fantastic engineers in-house that put in a lot of overtime to get this project over the line. The credit is theirs.”

And he addd “The best thing is that eBay were so delighted with the technology that they have decided to make it a part of the internal marketing workflow.”

Sara Luker of eBay praised the work of the Donegal company.

“I couldn’t recommend the 3D Issue team more highly. They quickly felt like an extension of my team and worked to very tight deadlines to pull off a site, ezine and app for us. I was so impressed I’m now working with them to continue using their products as a regular channel.”

Now the buzz around the eBay initiative has attracted a number of other fortune 500 companies who are also looking to source mobile solutions for their internal communications.

3D Issue continues to innovate and will shortly be launching a new mobile apps platform that allows companies to create their own news-stands where they can run hundreds or thousands of apps within a single native app environment.

Paul said one of the most rewarding aspects about the growth of his company is that it manages to remain local.

"The greatest joy in developing software is seeing your ideas come to life and be validated in the market by top tier clients such as eBay. And that’s what we love doing; looking at the market and trying to conceptualise improvements and new products that will assist our clients in being more productive.

"And best of all, we are doing it all from our offices in Letterkenny. With 99% of our customers overseas, it goes to show that it doesn’t really matter where you are located if you have a good product. Our biggest obstacle is actually recruiting. Currently, we are at 25 people, but we are rapidly expanding and hope to grow our development team significantly over the next 18 months to bring our headcount to 40."

Although most outside of the technology industry will be baffled by what 3D Issue pulled off, Paul explained what his company did for 3D Issue.

‘We had the 3 platforms they needed. We have a digital magazine platform, a content aggregation hub that can pull content from any online source and a ‘build your own mobile news app’ platform.

"The tricky part, however, was the fact they wanted all of their employees to be able to share content on their personal facebook, twitter and Instagram pages. They gave each employee a special hashtag for identifying that the content was in reference to the campaign and they wanted our platform to be able to pull that content from everyone of their 15,000 employees social sites.

"We had to develop an algorithm that could find every reference to that launch, validate that they were an employee and then extract that image, article or video and push that content instantly into their social magazine, hub and app.

"Standard apps are very linear and matched to a particular content channel. Large organisations have multiple content channels and need mobile platforms that allow their readers to specify their requirements and load the app content that matters to them. That’s the problem we are addressing next."

DONEGAL teacher John Ruddy has the biggest classroom of kids on the planet - all three million of them.

For John's online history lessons have gone global on social media channel YouTube.

And so far his potted histories of the world and lessons on geography are going down a treat across the world.

He's even done a guide to the Wild Atlantic Way.

The energy-creating generator in Alaska. Similar machines could soon be deployed in Donegal

AN Letterkenny-based renewable energy company is set to explore Donegal's 700-mile long shoreline in the hunt for the key to our energy problems, Donegal Daily can reveal.

American-owned Ocean Renewable Power Company is hoping new technologies can harness the power of the Atlantic and turn it into cheap energy for the country.

Research stages could follow with prototypes and create much-needed jobs locally.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is funding the research to identify feasible tidal energy sites in the coastal waters of County Donegal.

Based in Maine, ORPC is an in-river, tidal and deep-water ocean current power generation systems and projects developer.

ORPC established its Ireland division at LYIT in Letterkenny in May.

ORPC Ireland says it will conduct a feasibility assessment during which time the company will “review existing resource data, evaluate grid accessibility, identify existing marine users and sensitive environmental areas, assess supply chain viability, and conduct community engagement activities.”

Brian Motherway, SEAI’s chief operating officer said: “SEAI is committed to facilitating the development of new technologies and projects that will harness Ireland’s rich ocean energy resource.

“County Donegal has been identified as a region of high potential for tidal energy in Ireland’s Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan. We are delighted to support ORPC Ireland in conducting this feasibility study in partnership with Donegal County Council to identify development opportunities and form a critical first step in realizing this potential.”

If conditions warrant, ORPC Ireland could continue the County Donegal project in phases similar to its parent company’s program in Alaska.

ORPC is based in Maine and according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in July, ORPC successfully deployed its RivGen hydrokinetic energy device in the Kvichak River at Igiugig village in Alaska.

The RivGen device consists of a turbine generator unit supported by a chassis incorporating a pontoon support structure that acts as a foundation when the device is deployed on the riverbed and provides its self-deployment and retrieval capabilities.

Each TGU has a capacity of up to 25 kW in a current flowing 2.25 m/sec and 95 kW in a 3.5 m/sec current.

Since its deployment, more than 1.5 million adult sockeye salmon have migrated past the turbine area, estimates the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The first day of turbine operations happened to be the second largest escapement day of the salmon season, where 600,000 fish were not captured by fisheries and, in turn, migrated past the turbine to return to their freshwater habitat to spawn.

Downstream cameras show fish able to swim freely after passing through the turbine area and ORPC said there has been no observed evidence of fish injury or mortality to date.

The 1920s milk bottle....it's still in a ditch near Dunree

AN intact piece of North West history has been found in a Donegal ditch.

A 90-year-old milk bottle had been left among the reeds near Dunree in Inishowen sometime in the 1920s. And it was still there.

And when photographer Scott McClintock stumbled upon it, he was amazed it had survived the test of time.

"I trekked up the side of a mountain somewhere in Dunree to get a few shots of the beautiful surroundings," said Scott.

"On my travels towards the top I stumbled across an old glass milk bottle that had been sat upright in amongst the reeds.

"It caught my eye and it looked interesting enough to make me want to get down and read the print.

"It was at that point that I noticed it came from Derry and it belonged to a company or farm called "The Old City Dairy Ltd" and it looked quite old, but it was still intact.

Scott discovered this particular bottle had a 3 year run under the name "The Old City Dairy Ltd" before becoming "City Dairy".

It had a run from 1922-1925. City Dairy ran from 1925-1977 (52 years).

On the face, in brown lettering is "Cream Lined Milk", below that in a band is "The Old City Dairy Ltd", fresh cream daily, telephone no.264357/8 Derry. 

Embossed on the neck is 1 pint - 568ml, on the bottom is 568ml 15mm - 1312-23 with 7 dots around it.

But Scott didn't take the bottle home.

"I have noticed that people collect and sell these bottles as they are quite rare, but at the time I just left it in its original location as it made me wonder how long it has been sitting there before I seen it," added Scott.

The lads who took part in last year's event.

They've got their spoke in again!

As part of the Tadgh Culbert Annual An Post Letterkenny’s charity fundraising campaign the An Post lads have again combined fundraising with fitness and are taking to their bikes for the 7th year in a row.

The lads will cycle from Dungloe to Letterkenny via Errigal Mountain Road on the 19th September.

The late Tadgh Culbert (left) at one of the previous cycles.

The team will take to their bikes to complete this annual charity cycle for The Donegal Hospice in memory of their friend and work colleague who sadly passed from cancer not long ago.

To date the charity cycle organised by the local An Post Letterkenny lads have raised over an amazing €55,000 for The Donegal Hospice.

Martin McGinley, one of the organisers says “We are excited to be organising and associated with this very worthy event again this year. Training is progressing well, new members are joining our team and we are “good to go” next month. We invite all our friends, family and colleagues from other clubs who would like to “join us” on the road from Dungloe to Letterkenny, and it promises to be another really enjoyable spin out and all for a great cause”.

Loading and registration will take place at O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny from 8am &and dispatch to Dungloe will be at 9.00am sharp. Cycle leaving Dungloe at 10.30am approx. returning to O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny, where refreshments will be served.

Paul Crampsie, charity event organiser said "The cycle again this year will be a “controlled cycle” and we are delighted with the support that we get from our safety marshalls and event helpers every year”, we appreciate all the support from everyone and especially all who take part and our sponsors, we are asking for a donation of only €20 and the cycle is open to everyone, all levels of cyclists are welcome, so feel free join us.”

If you would like to join the An Post lads this year on September 19th, call Paul Crampsie on (086 6850503) or Martin McGinley on (085 7788722) and they would be delighted to give you all the details you will need.

You can also follow the Charity Cycle on Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/AnPostLetterkennyCharityCycle

One of the previous cheque presentations from the cyclists.

A Donegal county councillor has lived up to his promise and refused to take one cent in expenses.

County councillor Dessie Shiels.

Details of payments released by the County Council for 2014 show that Independent Cllr Dessie Shiels has not accepted either the representational or the monthly allowance, which he is entitled to receive from the Local Authority.

And the Letterkenny based Cllr didn’t submit any expenses claims for subsistence/travel, foreign travel, broadband or mobile phone usage since being elected to the Council for the first time in June 2014. A total of €777,000 was paid to the 37 sitting Cllrs.

The Tirconail Tribune reveals today that the highest payment was €42,730 to the Independent Cllr John Campbell. However, €17,500 of that figure was for the position of Cathaoirleach which Cllr Campbell held for the last six months of 2014.

Another Independent Cllr Ian McGarvey was the second on the list receiving €38,810 but again €14,800 of that figure was for January to June of last year when he was Cathaoirleach of the Council.

15 members of the current Local Authority were only elected in June 2014 so their payments figures only related to the final seven months of the year. Apart from the Chairspersons and the Vice-Chairs the largest payment was made to Fine Gael Cllr Terence Slowey who got €26,434 which included the €16,565 representational fee, €9126 (monthly payment) an allowance of €3091 for 2013/14, €383 (broadband) and €359 (mobile phone). Second and third on the list were Fianna Fail Cllrs Sean McEniff and Seamus O’Domhnaill. Cllr McEniff’s payment was €26,133 made up of €16,656 (representational payment), €8379 (monthly allowance), €828 (travel & subsistence) and €359 (broadband). Cllr O’Domhnaill received €25,880 for 2014 made up of €16,656 (representational payment), €8921 (monthly allowance) and €394 (travel & subsistence).

The lowest payment for the full 12 months of last year went to Fianna Fail Cllr Gerry Crawford €21821 made up of €16,565 (representational payment) and €5256 (monthly allowance). Next lowest were two Sinn Fein Cllrs Gary Doherty €21893 made up of €16,565 (representational payment) and €5328 (monthly allowance) and Mick Quinn at €22,288 consisting of €16,565 (representational payment) and €5723 (monthly allowance).

The bottom five was completed by two Fianna Fail Cllrs Paul Canning (€22,526) €16,565 (representational payment) and €5790 (monthly allowance) €170 for (travel/subsistence). Cllr Brogan’s payment of €22,530 for last year was made up of €16,565 (representational payment) and €5965 (monthly allowance).

The figures for the representational allowances (salaries) do not include deductions for PRSI and tax liabilities.

WE all know how good Kinnegar Craft Beers are - now the rest of the country can try a tipple at the Irish Craft Beer Festival in Dublin today.

The festival at the RDS is in its fifth year - and runs until Saturday.

And Rathmullan-based Kinnegar is among the 50 beer-makers invited to show off.

The craft beer and cider industry in Ireland has witnessed explosive growth over the past 12 months – reflecting this aptly, this festival has witnessed 400% growth in both brewers and attendees since its conception in 2011.

Having attracted over 12,000 visitors last year, the organisers are once again predicting a record turn-out of punters to reflect the record number of breweries and cider makers signed up to date.

This year’s line-up consists of over 50 breweries and cider makers – totalling an astounding number of over 200 Irish produced beverages on offer to attendees.

In comparison to last year’s 40 producers, this year has seen an increase of over 25% in the number of breweries attending, a reflection of the massive growth of this local Irish market sector.

Also launching at the festival will be the Irish Craft Beer Economic Impact Report by leading Economist Bernard Feeney.

This year’s festival promises to bring visitors an experience that is unrivalled throughout the country.

It is the pinnacle of the year within the Irish craft beer and cider industries.

For three days, each supplier sets up its own space within the venue and chats with consumers, enjoying discussions about the intricacies of each unique combination of flavours making every individual product stand out from the next.

A well-known rally enthusiast from Letterkenny has had two cars stolen during a 'creeper burglary' at his home.

Two cars, an Opel Insignia and a Type R Honda Civic, were stolen form outside of the home of Marty McBrearty at Iona Road.

There was also a lot of rallying equipment inside the cars including a helmet, a navigation bag and other items.

Mr McBrearty said Gardai are currently at his house.

It is understood the thieves managed to get into the house and stole the keys to the cars before driving them away.
Nothing else in the house was taken.

The victim said Gardai have told him the cars may have ben stolen to order.

He said he heard nothing in his house overnight and only noticed the cars were missing when he awoke this morning.

The c ars have a combined value of almost €20,000.

The black Insignia has a registration number 11-DL-3300 and the Type R Honda Civic has a registration number 07-DL-11632.

Gardai in Letterkenny are appealing for anybody who may have noticed anybody acting suspiciously to contact them.

FEATURES: Popular Bundoran-based fire fighter Martin Granaghan has retired after more than three decades in the Donegal Fire Service.

A special function to acknowledge Martin’s contribution was held in the former Bundoran Town Council offices recently and attended by Martin’s wife, Kathleen, sons Tony and Damien, grandson Reese and friend Peter Gilmartin along with former colleagues from Bundoran Fire Brigade and officials from Donegal County Council.

Sadly Martin was unable to be present.

Speaking at the occasion Director of Finance, I.S, and Emergency Services, Garry Martin, Acting Chief Fire Officer, Joseph McTaggart, Senior Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Shaun Campbell and Station Officer, Michael Goodwin all praised Martin’s dedication to duty, his professionalism, his abilities and his loyalty to his colleagues.

They recalled Martin’s career in the service which began in 1980 and how he was never found wanting when it came to doing his best no matter what the demands were.

A presentation of a statuette and a certificate was made to the Granaghan family who returned thanks to all concerned for the kind words and recognition of Martin’s career.