It's emerged that Letterkenny University Hospital has spent €1.2 million outsourcing just 5.5% of its GP blood test workload from March 2024 to March 2025.

In contrast, internal estimates show that this same volume of testing could be processed in-house for just €105,000.

Meanwhile, other data shows that the the volume of blood tests processed at LUH has increased by 78% since 2019.

Donegal Sinn Fein Cllr Jack Murray has described the situation as a complete waste of public funds and that it's ultimately down to the HSE's failure to invest in additional laboratory space on site.

He also claims that it's a situation that the relevant authorities have known about for years yet have sat on their hands while unsustainable pressure is being put on both staff and equipment:

Wind Energy Ireland says planning decisions for new wind farms are slowing down again.

Just two applications have been approved in the second quarter of the year - while 31 projects are still waiting for a decision.

In recent times Concern has been expressed about the proximity of proposed wind farms to homes in Leitrim.

 The Save Dough Mountain and Leitrim Wind Aware groups protested outside the Dáil last year to highlight concern they have over the erection of large turbines.

They also claimed that guidelines regarding how close wind farms can be to rural homes also need to be reviewed.

 Justin Moran, Director of External Affairs with Wind Energy Ireland, says it's disappointing and frustrating to see the numbers of new wind farms fall back.

A Donegal TD has urged the Tánaiste to meet with the family of the late Private Sean Rooney as soon as possible

The mother of the Donegal solider has hit out at Simon Harris over comments he made after a Lebanese court convicted several men for offences related to her son's murder.

Pte Rooney (24), from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while serving in Lebanon when his UN peacekeeping convoy was attacked on December 14, 2022.

Natasha Rooney said that what happened in Lebanon last week was “not justice”. The defendant was not in court and has yet to be detained by authorities.

The Tánaiste has given a committment to meet the family of Private Rooney

Sinn Fein TD Padraig MacLochalainn says the meeting should take place sooner rather than later.

There's disappointment in Grange after what's been branded as wanton weekend vandalism.

On Sunday morning last, the local Tidy Towns group were met with two of their flower boxes upturned and wrecked.

It follows similar incidents in Sligo Town in recent weekend.

Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council and Fianna Fail Cllr Donal Gilroy says it's very disheartening for those who are responsible for making Grange look its best:

The Cathaoirleach of the Donegal MD has launched a scathing attack on RTE over its weekend coverage of the Ladies All Ireland Final.

The game between Meath and Dublin was broadcast on TG4 on Sunday.

However RTE didn't feature a preview of the event on its Six one news on Saturday evening.

Past President of the LGFA and Fianna Fail Cllr Michael Naughton says this is sharp contrast with RTE's coverage of the men all Ireland final the weekend before.

He believes that the move by RTE is disrespectable to the association:

At the age of 8, Australian woman Linda Kelly Lawless learned that the man raising her wasn’t her biological father. It wasn’t until decades later, through DNA testing, that she discovered the truth – her father was a Catholic priest.

Linda has gone on to help many people trace their family and to learn who they are, including the O’Boyle family locally.

Ms. Kelly-Lawless has been visiting Sligo in recent days and she, along with the Mayor of the Sligo Borough, Cllr Gino O’Boyle have been in conversation with our reporter Catherine Gaffney:

An urgent meeting is being sought with Uisce Eireann over the water supply in Bundoran.

It comes after the area was severely impacted by an outage yesterday, leaving hundreds of homes and businesses without water at the peak of the tourism season.

This is the latest in a string of bursts to the main pipeline serving the community.

Local Sinn Fein Cllr Michael McMahon says he will be pursuing utility to see what can be done to ensure work is done to prevent something like this from happening again:

In the North, a campaign movement to increase safety on the A5 says it remains confident the road upgrade will go ahead

It follows confirmation a High Court ruling against the current plans is to be appealed by Stormont's Infrastructure Minister.

Since 2006, there've been more than 50 deaths on the A5 - which links Derry with Aughnacloy in County Tyrone, and forms a significant part of the route from Derry to Dublin.

Brendan Hurl from the 'Enough is Enough' group says they aren't giving up hope:

It's emerged that The Yeats Country Hotel in Rosses Point has been officially sold.

The hotel went on the market late last year with a guide price of €7m.

It's understood that it's has been bought by a local consortium with plans to develop the hotel into a top tourist destination in County Sligo.

The ocean front hotel currently boasts 98 bedrooms and a leisure centre.

Fine Gael Cllr Thomas Walsh says the premises has huge potentiial for North West tourism and that this is an exicitng time for the region:

A North West member of Anotu has called on the Health Minister and HSE to recruit homecare workers directly.

Mary T Sweeney made the call after it emerged that a person remained in Sligo University Hospital for up to two years due to no home care packages or residential care being available for them.

Similar situation are believed to have impacted thirty one patients in Letterkenny and twenty nine in Sligo.

The data show five patients in Letterkenny stayed on for between four and six months with two patients in Sligo staying for the same time while one stayed for up to 12 months with an additional patient staying for up to 24 months.

Speaking to ocean FM Mary T Sweeney says the current situation is not fair on patients or Hospital staff