Striking new murals launched at historic car park in Letterkenny

Six striking murals have officially been unveiled at a special launch ceremony organised by the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group.

The murals, painted by Kevin Gallagher jnr., and Kevin Gallagher snr., are located in the Hugh Duffy Car Park, located near St. Eunan’s Cathedral.

The murals show places of worship (St Eunan’s Cathedral and the Conwal Parish Church), education (St Eunan’s College) and business (the old Letterkenny Mart), key themes in the development of the town.

There is also a mural of Hugh Duffy, the late teacher who passed away in December 2014 aged 85 years old, and who lived in nearby College Row. A native of Galway he came to work in St. Eunan’s College where he taught Latin and History.  He took a great interest in the ongoing development of Letterkenny and played an active part in keeping the old mart site in Council ownership.

The “Old Mart Car Park” as it was known officially became the Hugh Duffy Car Park at a ceremony in April 2019.

The other mural is of Finbar Staunton, who hailed from Cork, and who was instrumental in fostering the development of hurling in Letterkenny.

Appropriately, a number of St Eunan’s hurlers and management were in attendance.

The official launch of the murals saw the ceremonial ribbon being cut by Charlie Grant of the local Tidy Towns committee and Johnny Joe McCollum of the heritage group.

There was a good turnout for the event with Mayor Jimmy Kavanagh and a number of local public representatives in attendance.

Jarlath Duffy, a son of the late Hugh Duffy, spoke on behalf of his family and congratulated all involved.

Among the other speakers were Martin Mullen, a son of the former mart owner, former councillor and community residents association representative Tom Crossan, and Fr. Kevin Gillespie while the MC was Brian Walsh of the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group.

Thanks were extended to the councillors, the council and all involved in making the murals possible.