New Site for County Donegal

Launch of Donegal Diaspora Website

The Mayor of Donegal Cllr Frank McBrearty Jnr today launched the www.donegaldiaspora.ie website in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny. 

This new state of the art website is the calling card for everyone with a connection to or an interest in Donegal and will play a central role in the development of the Donegal Diaspora project being led by Donegal County Council.

County Manager, Mr. Seamus Neely stated that “Donegal has many long standing global connections and for the last number of years Donegal County Council has developed strong relationships with many of the Donegal diaspora in various parts of the world through a range of unique and innovative initiatives.  This website will provide an online platform for the Donegal community worldwide to communicate with the county and with each other.”

He added that “Donegal County Council has a strong track record of working in partnership with a range of groups and organisations at local, national and international level.  The value of working together, of creating networks and synergies allows us to avail of innovative and creative opportunities to support the social, cultural and economic development of the county and will continue to be a key priority for the Council and the Donegal Diaspora project is a core part of this work”. 

The development of this new website has been done in a collaborative way with various people and organisations sharing ideas, images, information and articles that relate to Donegal and which are of interest to those who are living overseas or in other parts of the country. 

Donegal is most famous for our people and a lot of work has been done on gathering information on Donegal people who have been successful in their chosen field and who are still proud of their Donegal connections.  People such as Mary Robinson, Sir Gerry Robinson, Brian Friel, Paul McGinley and Shay Given are among a few of the many Donegal people profiled on the site.

This website also showcases Donegal as a creative place, as a place of learning, a place to visit, to be active and to invest in.  There is something for everyone who has an interest in or a connection to Donegal and this website will be the first port of call for many people who are interested in exploring their Donegal connections and is designed to encourage people to come back for more.  The Donegal Diaspora Facebook page has also been very popular and will be an important tool in encouraging people to engage with the Diaspora project.

In launching this website the Mayor of Donegal Cllr. Frank McBrearty acknowledges the importance of this type of engagement with the diaspora saying that “Donegal County Council has been to the fore in reaching out to the global Donegal community and this initiative is about using new ways to do this.  It is about using all our resources to create opportunities to stay connected, to build new relationships and to strengthen existing ones.  Donegal is a special place for many people and research has shown that a personal connection to a place can often be a key deciding factor in an investment opportunity”.

The Mayor is also urging everyone in the county to support this initiative saying “I would ask everyone to tell their friends and family overseas or in other parts of the country about www.donegaldiaspora.ie, to encourage them to visit the website and to share the link as widely as possible.  We hear everyday about the power of social media, so lets do this for Donegal and connect with everyone who has an interest in the county”.

Further info contact Sally Murphy: info@donegaldiaspora.ie

Also I will remind you that once a month I have The Ireland Report direct from Donegal with Patricia Sharkey.  Patricia has brought us the report since May 2002 and our audience just loves her.  She represents Donegal well.