Derry Journal Review of the Year 2023: May - Hiro the dog acts as ‘midwoof’, Aircoach hits 30k fares, Seagate blow

The private bus and coach company said it had carried over 30,000 passengers on the 705X North West Service since its launch in January.

The landmark was reached following the acquisition of Airporter in October 2022.

There was bad news for motorists as car parking fees in all Derry & Strabane Council-owned paid for car parks rose by 20p an hour.

The significant rise in fees came into force in May after an agreement was made during the striking of the rates.

A report by the Auditor General Dorinnia Carville found childhood vaccination coverage had been declining for almost all diseases across the North and increasing numbers of children have not been vaccinated against harmful diseases.

She found that in the Western Trust coverage at 12 months against rotavirus – causing severe diarrhoea and vomiting – fell from 94.1% in 2015/16 to 91.8% in 2021/22.

Alarm as uptake of childhood vaccinations against harmful illness declines

The Department of Education (DOE) indicated they were considering ending their funding of an Irish language outreach scheme for English-speaking schools in Derry due to in extremely challenging budget allocation for 2023-24.

The Léargas scheme run by Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin teaches Irish to children in primary 5-7. The scheme employs two full-time teachers and a part-time management roll, who were to be made redundant by the cuts.

Over 1,600 Derry children affected by Irish language cuts

The McGavigan family said they were ‘ecstatic’ after their two-years-old sausage dog Hiro acted as a ‘midwoof’ and ‘helped’ to deliver a beautiful baby girl at home on Wednesday, May 10.

Toiréasa and Barry McGavigan’s third child was due to be born on Saturday, May 20, but doctors advised the couple that their baby girl could be born any day.

“I was upstairs in the bedroom trying to work through the contractions and Hiro, the dog, was on the other side of the closed stairgate. He just wouldn’t take his eyes off me and was crying and barking really loud as if he was asking for help,” said Toiréasa.

Derry dog acts as 'midwoof' as woman gives birth at home alone

Sources confirmed ‘116 redundancies’ were being proposed at Seagate as part of a global restructuring plan.

One source estimated the job losses would affect over 7 per cent of the factory’s workforce and will be across all sections.

‘116’ proposed Seagate job losses