A chara, - May I congratulate Alexander Reid on his letter (January 4th) about employment in Donegal. We have for years been at pains to enlighten visitors to our shops who have been dissuaded at tourist information offices from visiting the "wilds of Donegal" by such comments as "It takes five or six hours to get there and the roads are dreadful." As Mr Reid pointed out, Donegal is much nearer to Dublin than Kerry or West Cork, with the finest coastal and inland mountain scenery in Ireland.
Donegal tweed, handknits and hand-embroidered linen were the very first quality exports from our newly established State in 1922 and companies such as Magee of Donegal, Molloys of Ardara, Gaeltarra Eireann of Kilcar and Donegal Carpets of Killybegs have been exporting to all parts of the world for over a century.
There is a long tradition in these skills as there is in fishing and fish processing - Killybegs has been Ireland's premier fishing port for the past 50 years, with more fish landed and processed than all the other ports in Ireland combined. Neither the road network nor its so called "isolation" have halted its progress. Donegal has an abundance of highly intelligent, skilful and adaptable young people - equal to any in Ireland.
It is high time Donegal politicians, public representatives and industrialists trumpeted this message to the relevant agencies at home and abroad and ensured that Donegal gets its just desserts. - Is mise,
Eanna Mac Cuinneagan,
Cathach Books, Duke Street, Dublin 2.