Scéal Dún-na-nGall ar an Idirlíon / County Donegal on the Net News    Vol.4 No.6 February, 2003    Holiday In Donegal in 2003!

Donegal Exhibition in Galway An exhibition of paintings, textiles, ceramics and furniture from the Derek Hill Collection including work by the Tory Island painters is running at Galway Arts Centre from February 14th to March 22nd. This is the first exhibition of the Derek Hill Collection outside of Donegal. Prior to his death in 2000, Hill left his house and its celebrated contents to the Irish people and the property is now under the management of Dúchas - The National Heritage Service. To complement the exhibition, Galway Arts Centre are opening an additional gallery to present two Tory-themed works by Galway-based artists. A special exhibition of recent black and white studies of Tory and its people by Colm Hogan and an acclaimed hour-long documentary by Pat Collins entitled 'Oileán Thoraigh'. Killybegs artist Stephen McKenna is currently exhibiting at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin until March 29th, 2003. Lough Swilly Indigenous Fishermen form Alliance Three groups of local fishermen have formed the Swilly Alliance of Indigenous Fishermen (SAIF). SAIF seeks: a full assessment of the shellfish carrying capacity of Lough Swilly and River Swilly before any further licenses are issued; establishment of a wild mussel fishery in areas now earmarked for mussel aquaculture, with local fishermen given priority in the licencing process; existing one-year licences for oyster fishery extended to 10-year licences and shore-based manual oyster pickers to be recognised, licensed and regulated. For further information contact John Niven 048-71841578; Alex Carlin 074-48286; Kenny Brown 074-9360295 or Michael Hanlon 087-8035868. The Save The Swilly organisation has welcomed the fact that their petition has been accepted by the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament however the Irish Government's decision to grant a salmon-farming licence at Ballymastocker Bay near Portsalon is, they argue, short-sighted and potentially tragic for one of only two Blue Flag beaches in the area. Save The Swilly is urging anyone concerned about this development to appeal to the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board before the end of February. See Save The Swilly for further details. University Entrance low in Donegal Donegal has the lowest percentage of students at any of the State's universities according to the Irish Farmer's Journal which states that 1936 students sat the Leaving Cert in Donegal last year but only 298 of these went to university, making the number of students going to university from the County 15% compared with the national average of 29%. However the Letterkenny Institute of Technology has revealed that 49% of their graduates have obtained employment in Donegal which augurs wel