From the archive: Piratical gyr-falcon outstays Tory welcome - January 1993

A rare gyr-falcon which generated considerable excitement when it arrived on Tory around Christmas, may well have outstayed its welcome following a series of swoops on poultry flocks on the island.

The falcon was first observed by Fr. Niall O’Neill who has compiled a list of wild bird movements on Tory in recent years. However, since its arrival on the island, the rare bird has made off with at least 12 chickens.

It is understood that Fr. O’Neill’s sighting of the rare bird, a native of Greenland and Canada, is the first sighting of a gyr-falcon on the west coast for almost ten years.

Donegal tops IDA jobs league

Donegal has once again emerged as Ireland’s best performing county in respect of the number of new manufacturing jobs created in the region in the last year, according to the IDA’s annual report.

The report, which shows that an additional 673 IDA first time jobs were created in Donegal last year, 450 of which were in the manufacturing area, also suggests that the increases are all more creditable when it is considered that they came in spite of difficult international trading conditions.

The increase is in stark contrast with five other regions, which show a decrease in the number of jobs created.

McCarter is new IFI chief

1993 got off on the best possible footing for the North-West’s largest employer, McCarter’s- Fruit of the Loom chief, William McCarter, who was at the weekend appointed chairman of the International Fund for Ireland. Along with six other Northern Irish people appointed to the IFI board, Mr. McCarter, will hold the position for three years. In announcing the appointments, the British and Irish governments expressed their very warm appreciation for the exceptional services given by the outgoing chairman, Mr. John B. McGuckian, and the other Board members whose term of office had just ended.