Donegal, the Inishowen Peninsula, Carndonagh – the Donegal of My Childhood
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Donegal, the Inishowen Peninsula, Carndonagh – the Donegal of my childhood. I may have been born and raised a Bourke from Ballina in Co. Mayo but I was always acutely aware that I was also an O’Donnell from Carndonagh. And I was, and am, a proud member of the O’Donnell clan. I treasure the wonderful weeks we spent as a family in Donegal every summer – when my mother, four brothers and myself decamped en masse to my grandparents’ home and my father commuted on the weekends. And the sun always shone on all those summer days! Even in my younger days I was aware that there was a sense of isolation in Donegal – an isolation that was very welcome for holidaymakers but very difficult for the people for whom Donegal is home, and the isolation was particularly keen in terms of transport and economy. But I believe these difficulties have led to Donegal and its people, in whatever part of the world they are living, benefitting from a very strong sense of cultural identity. The richness of the language, music, literature and indeed all cultural manifestations runs deep and benefits all on the island of Ireland. It has been interesting to see the contributions to our culture – for example by the work of the painters of Tory Island – where the influence of isolation is so clear but in a very positive sense. Over the years “my Donegal” has extended to include such different aspects as the Glenvagh National Park, the fishing community in Killybegs, the Iron Age fortress Grianan an Aileach, the contemporary architectural gem of Liam McCormick’s Burt Church, the Rosses, Dunlewy overlooked by the Errigal Mountains - I could go on and on. But I will summarise by saying that Donegal, Dun na nGall or the Fort of the Foreigner is a place where I never feel like a foreigner and where everyone is made to feel at home. .