East Donegal being edged out of cross-border collaborations

East Donegal was being edged out of cross-border collaborations even though it had more contact with Northern Ireland than any other part of Donegal.

Concerns about this were raised at the recent Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District meeting by its chairman, Cllr Patrick McGowan.

He said he felt their municipal district area was being edged out of the ongoing Donegal-Derry-Strabane collaborations while Letterkenny and Inishowen were being pushed through.

"I would like to see more of how this municipal district factors into all that stuff because it seems to me to be totally one-sided. It seems to be a Letterkenny-Inishowen-Derry project rather than it involving the rest of the county.

"Cllr Gary Doherty, Cllr Frank McBrearty Jnr and I have raised this at Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN) level but unfortunately we don't have a land border with it. We have been pointing out that the Lifford-Stranorlar MD should have more of a link with the Derry-Strabane region because that is where our land border is.

"It's becoming more and more evident we will not be included at all. There are very few projects under the Shared Island coming forward for us. We are caught between the ICBAN region which deals more with the south of the county and Fermanagh, Cavan-Monaghan and the north-west is primarily Letterkenny-Inishowen-Derry/Strabane and we are not being This is something we will have to raise with management.

Cllr McGowan said he had raised the issue with the council chief executive, John G McLaughlin some months ago.

"He sympathised with us and said he would look into it but I think we need a bit more, especially from some of the big projects such as the Shared Island project."

His call was supported by Cllr Gerry Crawford who said you could not find a more border-related municipal district than theirs.

"We need to push for whatever benefits we can get for this area. There are a couple of projects that come to mind. I know the economic development issue in Lifford at the site at Lifford Common has potential for development. I'm told it's moving along nicely and is the planning process with An Bord Pleanála and we have to await the outcome of that. It should certainly give an opportunity for employment in the Lifford area."