FERMANAGH home owners on a soon-to-end fixed rate mortgage can expect a significant increase in repayments, a local broker has warned. Enniskillen-based mortgage broker, Vincent Donegan, said anyone coming off a fixed rate would see a big change, with many due to see their interest rates rise by around 3.5 per cent. With regard new […]
PODCAST: Dark Days – Fear and murder in 1972
Michael Naan, Andrew Murray and Robin Bell were murdered in the Newtownbutler area in late October 1972. 50 years later, a special podcast examines the impact of those killings on a small, rural community… and speaks to relatives still grieving their loved ones.
Questions remain despite convictions
WHILE two soldiers were eventually convicted and jailed for the murders of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray, for the families left behind many questions remain as to how and why their loved ones met such a horrific death. For James Naan, 50 years on, he still struggles to come to terms with what happened to […]
Old Enniskillen Technical College site up for sale
KNOWN to many locally as ‘the Tech’, the site of the former Fairview South West College campus in Enniskillen has been officially put up for sale by leading property agents, Lisney. The former college site has been vacant since July 2021, following the final relocation to the new South West College Erne Campus on Cornagrade Road, Enniskillen. […]
SWAH surgery future in the balance
GENERAL surgery will continue at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) but the Western Trust have warned that consultant surgeons need to be recruited in order to safeguard the long-term future of the service. Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that the SWAH would lose all emergency surgery facilities with the nightmare scenario of patients […]
Students praised for achieving in the face of adversity
ERNE Integrated College Principal, Jimmy Jackson-Ware, has commended both students and staff for achieving in the face of adversity. The principal was speaking at the College’s “Celebration of Student Achievement” – the first they have been able to stage since 2019. Like many schools, Erne Integrated College had to adapt and adjust in order to deliver […]
How your old glasses can help poor in the Philippines
DON’T throw away those old glasses – you could be helping someone regain their sight in the Philippines. Freddy Parkinson of charity organisation Fermanagh Clothing Aid Helping Hands will take them frames, lenses and all. “We shipped 100,000 items of clothes and shoes out in the last two years, but glasses are one of the most valuable […]
‘God bless America and God save Ireland’
IN OCTOBER 1972 a young priest from Kinawley arrived in the US for what he thought would be three years, optimistic that when he returned The Troubles would be over. Fifty years on, Fr Sean McManus remains in the States, where he has established himself as a powerful political influence, mixing with some of the […]
Fears of Covid and flu ‘twindemic’ rise
COVID is on the rise again in the North. The latest Office for National Statistics figures last week revealed Covid is infecting one in 40 in Northern Ireland, compared to one in 80 previously. Chief scientific advisor Professor Ian Young has warned of a new Covid wave on the horizon and a rise in cases. Professor Young expected the increased […]
Police thought McGuinness was having a panic attack
ENGLISH police believed Fermanagh-based gangster Cyril ‘Dublin Jimmy’ McGuinness was having a panic attack when he became distressed during a raid on his Derbyshire home, the inquest into his death has heard. McGuinness suffered a heart attack in November 2019 in Buxton, while in handcuffs as police searched his home as part of the investigation into the […]