Scéal Dún-na-nGall ar an Idirlíon / County Donegal on the Net News Vol.5 No.8 August 2004 Holiday In Donegal in 2004
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Scéal Dún-na-nGall ar an Idirlíon / County Donegal on the Net News Vol.5 No.8 August 2004 Holiday In Donegal in 2004 |
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Protests mount against 'Super Dump' at Meenabpoll Sinn Féin Councillor Pearse Doherty has called on the County Manager, Michael McCloone, to commence, as a matter of urgency, a public consultation process with all those who may be impacted upon by the proposed dump at Meenabpoll. Cllr. Doherty said. 'Following public meetings that I have held with locals in the area, it is clear that they have genuine concerns and fears in relation to this dump and that the initial information days held last year did not address these fears. The main concerns expressed to me by those from the Fintown, Glenswilly and Gartan area were the risk of pollution of the drinking water supply, pollution of fishing rivers, the inadequate access to the site, and the potential damage this will cause to tourism given its close proximity to Glenveagh National Park, Gartan, Lough Finn and Minaroy. However locals in the area do not want the dump anywhere near them under any circumstances and under the European 'Polluter Pays' Directive the landfill should be located close to Letterkenny where the polluters live and not in a highly scenic, historic and elevated spot in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht. Watch this space. Jobs for Gweedore There was a welcome reversal to the mass jobs losses in West Donegal of recent years with the news that a Scottish call centre company is to create 117 jobs at the Gweedore Business Park. The company will start recruiting immediately and the overall investment is expected to exceed €2.75m, with Údarás na Gaeltachta providing grants to the Scottish company. However the good news comes just a week after Unifi Textured Yarns in Letterkenny announced it is closing its factory there with the loss of 300 jobs in the coming Autumn. As far as the job creation agencies in Donegal are concerned it's a case of 'Two steps forward and three steps back...' An Mhuc Dhubh ag rith arís Beidh an Mhuc Dhubh Traein Bhaile na Finne ag rith Deardaoin agus Aoine ona 1-5úr agus ar an Domhnach ona 2-6úr. Mar tuilleadh eolais uait, scairt ar an uimhir 074 95 26280. 
Donegal ignored by Tourism Bodies So claim local businesses and tourism facilities in West Donegal who are annoyed that the area has been excluded from a new marketing campaign sponsored by the International Fund for Ireland. Promotional material entitled 'North Donegal Visitor Trail' details areas of interest from Inishowen to Kilmacrennan but the pamphlets have little information on North West Donegal. The tourist season is now a maximum of eight weeks from mid June to August and tourism figures for this season are well down, not just in Donegal, but all over the country with publicans citing the recently introduced No Smoking law as having significantly deminished the numbers of cross-border and European visitors; while the ongoing war in Iraq and the weakening Dollar have seen fewer Americans crossing the Atlantic to holiday in Ireland. Eamon O'Kane at Cavanacor Gallery Acclaimed Donegal artist Eamon O'Kane is having a major solo exhibition in Cavanacor Gallery, Ballindrait, Lifford from September 4th until the 20th of October. O'Kane has established an indisputable reputation over the past decade and this exhibition of paintings is entitled 'The Studio.' O'Kane's previous show - 'America' toured in Louisville, New York, Hanover, Zurich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Holland, Copenhagen, Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, Cork, and Belfast. 'The Studio' is a long anticipated follow up and is an inter-related series corresponding to 'The Studio in the Woods' and 'Ideal Studio' series' that have dominated the artist's practice for over a year. This particular series is made up of large-scale oil paintings on canvas depicting appropriated landscapes and interiors, incorporating architectural landmarks that have appealed to O'Kane over many years. References are made to Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Alto, Le Corbousier, Lacation Vassal and Elam and Bray. O'Kane has received a litany of accolades and awards. In 2002 he received the Imagine Belfast Panorama commission, with the permanent work housed in the Waterfront Hall. He has gained two awards from IONTAS, the Taylor Art Award from the RDS, Dublin, KPMG Award, Tony O'Malley Award for Painters and also bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council. He undertook a Fulbright Scholarship to New York in 1999 and is currently based at the Irish Museum of Modern Art undertaking the Artist's Work Programme. O'Kane lecturers full-time at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where he is Head of First Year Painting. His work is represented in many collections throughout the world and national collections include the OPW, Bank of Ireland, Microsoft, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, and Donegal County Council. For further information see Cavanacor Gallery.  Mountain View Cottage, Derrylougháin , Gweebarra Available 28th August 2004 Sydney Famine Commemoration The Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee cordially invites you to the 5th Annual Commemoration Ceremony at the Irish Famine Monument, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, Australia on Sunday, 29th. August 2004 at 12 .30pm. Wreaths will be laid and an oration delivered by The Hon. Susan Ryan AOH (former Minister of Education & Youth Affairs). The cermony will be followed by music & song, soda bread & Guinness, Barry's tea & hot whiskey. Seating is provided for the elderly. Phone Tom Power on 94174193 or Marie Tunks on 94053959. New Editor for the Democrat Michel Daly from Ballyshannon has been appointed the new Editor in Chief of the Donegal Democrat, County Donegal's longest running offline newspaper. Michael Daly replaces the much admired Fiddler, Martin McGinley, who has gone on to create his own PR business. The new Editor firmly nailed his liberal colours to the mast in his inaugural editorial wherein he criticised the newly elected County Councillors for the charade they indulged in by excluding Sinn Féin Councillors from the various council bodies and committees. He said that the alliance of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independent Fianna Fáil to exclude Sinn Féin was a sham of democracy. |
 North South head by Mary McGinty from the exhibition Cloch ar Chloch /Stone on Stone at the Screig Gallery, Fintown August 14 - 27 Lunasa, 2004. Cloch ar Chloch / Stone on Stone Recent Works by Celine McGlynn and Mary McGinty will be on exhibition August 14th-28th at the Screig Gallery, Fintown, Donegal. The Gallery is the highest in Ireland situated, as it is, at 700ft above sea level. The Gallery is named for the mountain opposite which literally translates as 'scraggy rocks' so it's no surprise that the Gallery's forthcoming exhibition, featuring the work of painter Celine McGlynn and sculptor Mary McGinty, is entitled 'Cloch ar Chloch - Stone on Stone'. Stone is pervasive in Donegal. Indeed we have some of the oldest rocks in the world around our Donegal coast. Our ancestors made their mark in stone, in megalithic tombs, dolmens and crannogs. Our traditional houses were built stone on stone and the modern day obsession for everything clad in stone is apparent all around us. We, in Donegal, love stone. You have to love it to live here, really love it and we do. In modern parlance we think 'it rocks'. Sculptor Mary McGinty lives and works in Arlands, Burtonport. She trained in London and has exhibited in Ireland, France, Italy and Scotland. Mary received commissions to create large public sculptures in Counties Mayo, Laois and Dublin as well as in Scotland and in France. Mary has now turned to working smaller pieces in Donegal pink granite and limestone, figures which are exquisitely executed, following the natural rhythm of the stone. Celine mcGlynn lives and works in Stranorlar. She has been painting for ten years and is largely self-taught. Her first major exhibition was at the Screig Gallery in August, 2003 when all of her works sold on the opening night. Celine's oil paintings feature the rocks that dominate the Donegal environment and her studies of the Beltany Stone Circle are powerful representations. The exhibition opens at 6.00pm on Saturday, August 14th and runs until August 27th. Ardara Show Entries for this year's Ardara Show to be held on Saturday August 14th total nearly 1,500 with good support in the 60 livestock and 120 marquee classes. The Ardara Show is one of the foremost annual events of its kind in Co. Donegal where this traditional fair had been in existance for several hundred years. Atlantis Exposed A new book investigating the myth of Atlantis says that the mythical land was actually the island of Ireland. The claim is made by geologist Ulf Erlingsson in his book 'Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land'. Erlingsson bases his evidence on Plato's desription of Atlantis which, according to Erlingsson, matches Ireland perfectly. Statistically, the scientist claims, the probability is over 99.98% that Plato was describing Ireland. "Just like Atlantis, Ireland is 300 miles long, 200 miles wide, and widest over the middle. They both feature a central plain that is open to the sea, but fringed by mountains. No other island on earth even comes close to this description." "What has led most students astray is that Atlantis sank in the sea", says Dr Erlingsson. "It is an 'Atlantic myth' all right - but a myth from and, not about, Atlantis. In Dr Erlingsson's book, the Atlantean capital can be connected with Tara, the legendary seat of the high kings of Ireland. Erlingsson says the temples of Poseidon match up well with the so-called passage tombs of Newgrange and Knowth, in the Boyne valley. They are the oldest roofed buildings anywhere in the world.  Tree by Celine McGlynn from the exhibition Cloch ar Chloch /Stone on Stone at the Screig Gallery, Fintown August 14 - 27 Lunasa, 2004. From Quebec to Here... A wooden model ship, nine inches long and three inches wide, which put to sea near the town of Sept Iles, in Quebec, Canada on the 4th of July 2003 has been found by a Malin Head man, William Doherty, who found the model boat while out for a stroll on a beach near his home. Inscribed on the craft's stern were contact details by which William was able to find out the origin of the boat. The vessel was launched from Sept Iles, on the western shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence, during the Quebec Maritime Festival last year. Simon Cadeaux, Quebec Maritime Festival co-ordinator, said it was unusual for a ship to turn up in Ireland. Of the three thousand five hundred vessels that were put to sea last July, only around ten have been found on this side of the Atlantic. 
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