Eilisha Devlin delves into the archives to bring you the news and images from yesteryear.
March 20, 1976
Gaoth Dobhair school wins All-Ireland Debate Championship
Gaoth Dobhair Community School has won the All-Ireland Senior debating championship, supported by Gael Linn and an Allied Irish Banks. They emerged on top in the finals in Limerick. Members of the winning team were Anne McGinley (captain) , Nora Gallagher, Eileen O’ Donnell, and Bernadette Diver.
Congratulations go to the teacher in charge, Muiris O’ Fearradhaigh, who was himself a member of a Gaoth Dobhair team from Ard Scoil Mhuire that won this competition in the 1960s.
On that occasion Muiris took the special award as the best individual speaker.
Cloughaneely Community School team of Brenda Ni Bhaoill, Deaglan O Baoill, Cathal Maclomhair and Sinead Ni Dochartaigh (capt.) were runner-ups in the All-Ireland Junior Championships.
Liam Doherty and Madge Shiels at the Letterkenny No.1 Celtic Supporters Club.
Folk festival not mentioned in Discover Ireland brochure
“It is time that Donegal had a tourism organisation of its own, it would cater properly for tourist development in the county,” said Sally Blake, the Public Relations Officer for the Letterkenny International Folk Festival.
She pointed out another Bord Fáilte blunder in compiling the Discover Ireland Summer Holidays brochure for 1976 that wiped Letterkenny completely off the tourist map.
The town does not appear in any of the maps published in the well-printed colour brochure, of which it is believed 100,000 copies were printed.
This is the second such blunder of Bord Fáilte; the Festival had also been omitted from their International issued Calendar of Events.
Miss Blake said that the Festival organisers were particularly angry at the omission of their International Folk Festival which costs £12,000 to run from proper mention in the brochure. They found it extremely difficult to find any reason for this.
They were puzzled to find in the Discover Ireland Brochure under the heading “Aviation” reference to Letterkenny Festival Fly Ins on 26th to 29th August. (The Festival is 26th to 30th August). The members have been given no satisfactory answer from Bord Fáilte or from Eamonn Hoy, manager of the North-West Regional Tourism.
Donegal’s Part Time Waterkeepers to be withdrawn
The Fishery Protection system for Donegal rivers and lakes may soon reach the altogether totally farcical stage.
Angling interests, deeply concerned at the easy passage already given to poachers in some districts, have been sharply critical of the few mobile waterkeepers (aided by some part-time men) who have been allocated the difficult task of patrolling Donegal’s salmon rivers.
Many have already dismissed the mobile water-keeper system as ineffective. There are only eight full-time and eight part-time waterkeepers employed at present.
But now the Department of Fisheries has gone a step further and threatened, even if the Fishery Board does not agree, to wipe out all the part-time protection staff.
At a weekend meeting of the Letterkenny Fishing Board, members were shocked to hear from the Clerk-Inspector, Jim McCafferty, that the Fisheries Branch of the Department had threatened to sack all the part-time protection staff.
He said the threat had been issued by an Inspector of the Department, and members’ reaction was vigorous and immediate; “A bloody disgrace,” “a road to disaster,” “the end of any question of conservation of salmon stocks,” these were the sort of phrases members used to describe their reaction.
At least six of the eight part-time water-keepers would have to go, was the ultimatum from the Department. Joe Ginley – “we are only wasting our time here if that is the view of the Department.”
Going down…Paul Hegarty serves up some Christmas cheer in Aidy’s Bar, Lower Main Street, Letterkenny following the budget in 2009.
March 16, 2001
According to Chinese Proverb, Donegal Musicians are best
A band of three local well known musicians left Letterkenny this week to travel to the Chinese capital, Beijing as part of the worldwide celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day.
Emma Best, Ted Ponsonby and Shaun Sweeney, collectively known as Rudai Na Spat landed yesterday morning in Beijing.
They have been invited to perform in front of experts and Chinese dignitaries as part of St Patrick’s Day celebrations for the Irish Embassy tomorrow night.
The Celtic sounds of fiddles, guitars, accordions, banjos, pipes and flutes reverberating from Nellie’s Bar is a familiar one to regular patrons of the Letterkenny hostelry on a Thursday night as Rudai Na Spat and guests home their considerable musical skills.
This week’s 11,000 mile round trip to Beijing represents their first sojourn overseas and comes after the Irish Embassy made contact with Dolores Keane and asked her to put together a traditional band.
As a regular member of Dolores’ band for the past number of years Ted took up the challenge and together with another band member Fergus Fechily, they recruited Shaun Sweeney (accordion) and Emma Best (fiddle). “The night’s entertainment should start off quite formal but I would imagine that the shirts will come off and the Irish will come out in them after a while,” Ted quipped.
Councillors in US
Six councillors and three officials from Donegal jetted off to America earlier this week for the annual St.Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Donegal County Council has sent two councillors, including Chairman, Cllr Charlie Bennet to take part in parades in Philadelphia and New York.
The overall cost of these trips is in the region of £11,500 a figure which includes flights, accommodation and expenses.
Letterkenny Urban District Council has also sent a delegation including Chairperson Cllr Jean Crossan, and Cllrs Dessie Larkin and PJ Blake and one official, town engineer, Claire McGeever, to take part in the New York parade.
The overall cost of this trip is approximately £9,500.
Bundoran UDC has sent Chairman Cllr Tiernan Brady and Town Clerk, Joe McNulty to represent them in St. Louis while Buncrana UDC has decided against sending anyone Stateside for the second successive year.
A choir of angels singing their hearts out at the Drumoghill NS play. Photo: Evan Logan.
Massive office and retail development for Letterkenny
A £30 million pound office and retail site development is in the pipeline for a 9.5 acro site adjoining the new decentralised Council offices at Blaney Road, Letterkenny. The County Manager, Mr. Micheal McLoone confirmed this week that the multi million project could have huge commercial potential to generate jobs.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Eugene Moore, Commercial Director with Christopher Bennet & Son, confirmed that it was now a case of “full steam ahead” for the Letterkenny project. “In recent times, we have concentrated our efforts on preparing the plans for the Donegal Town site but now that they have been lodged with the Council we will concentrate our efforts on progressing the Letterkenny site,” Mr Moore said.
It is estimated that the project will provide up to 10,000 new jobs upon completion. Details of both these major developments were first outlined in the Derry People, Donegal News as far back as December 1998. At that time, the company stated that it was their intention to bring suitable high-tech electronic companies to occupy buildings on the remaining nine and a half acres in Letterkenny after developing the decentralized offices as part of his partnership agreement.
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