IT’S back! The biggest nighttime race in Ireland makes a welcome return to the streets of Enniskillen this Friday night. The Spooktacular, organised by Enniskillen Running Club, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and the committee is pulling out all the stops to make this the biggest and best event to date. After a […]
Council opposed to fracking but powerless to impose ban
THE Council has admitted that while it opposes fracking taking place in the county, it might be powerless to stop it. Following the UK Tory government’s lifting of the fracking ban in England, a number of adverts have been placed in newspapers in England and also the North of Ireland have appeared in classified sections […]
Florencecourt tree selected for Queen’s Grand Canopy
FLORENCE Court’s famous ‘Mother Yew’ tree, which is the origin of every Irish yew tree in the world, has been selected as one of 70 ancient trees from across the UK dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots recently visited the famous Fermanagh tree, which was selected as part […]
Joyce gets 10-year jail sentence for McDonagh murder
Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Major Investigation Team have acknowledged the sentence handed down today to 32-year-old Joseph Joyce for the murder of John Paul McDonagh in Enniskillen two years ago. Mr McDonagh, who was 18 years old, died from an injury to his leg, after a verbal exchange escalated to a […]
Man told by Court to forfeit more than £30,000
The PSNI have revealed that a man with addresses in both Fermanagh and Donegal has had funds worth more than £30,000 forfeited under the Account Freezing Order. It follows the first Account Freezing Order obtained by the Proceeds of Crime Act, which resulted in the forfeit of £7000 worth of funds Detective Chief Inspector Ian Wilson […]
Disappointment at narrow Council vote for Noah campaign
A MOTION to support the Noah Donohoe campaign was passed by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council last week, but the local politician who tabled the initial motion remains angry that it scraped through by only one vote. An initial motion by Independent Cllr Eamon Keenan backed the Donohoe family’s call for Chief Constable Simon Byrne to resign […]
‘Lives will be lost’ if SWAH service is cut
“RURAL lives matter.” That was the message from a meeting held at Fermanagh House last Thursday in response to the real and growing threat to emergency surgery services at the South West Acute Hospital. Organised at short notice after the Trust confirmed last week that poor staffing levels at the Enniskillen hospital meant the service […]
Cutting emergency surgery could harm entire community
CUTTING emergency surgery at the SWAH could not only have “a domino effect” on many other services at the hospital, but could also harm the entire Fermanagh community for years to come. That was yet another message from a meeting held at Fermanagh House last week, organised at the last minute in response to a […]
Consultants warn Trust ‘harm will come to patients’
THE WESTERN Trust has been warned by a concerned group of local consultants that women and babies could die here if the SWAH emergency surgery service is cut. In a jointly-signed letter seen and quoted on the front page of the Sunday Independent at the weekend, the group of obstetric and gynaecological consultants warned, “Harm will […]
Mass protest planned against SWAH cuts
WITH the axe hanging precariously over emergency surgery at SWAH – and potentially many more acute services and the entire status of the hospital as a consequence – a major public protest is being planned in Enniskillen in the coming weeks and the entire community is being urged to attend. Last week the Western Trust […]