Letterkenny's Cathedral Quarter: Review of 2025 - part two July to December
The Cathedral Quarter in Letterkenny is a community-led urban regeneration project focused on revitalising the historic Church Lane area
July: The main focus of our Cathedral Quarter is to bring the historic buildings back into use and we were delighted that No. 5 Church Lane changed ownership. Work began on the building at the end of July. Our project demonstrates that dereliction can be reversed but unfortunately, support for our group from the government is minimal.
Like the rest of the county, we were enthralled by the endeavours of Jim McGuinness’s charges as they reached the All-Ireland Final. The Donegal Senior team brought excitement. Unfortunately, Kerry proved too cute, and David Clifford was unplayable. There is always next year as we look forward to the summer of 2026.
August: In October, we celebrated our tenth Literary Festival and is our flagship cultural event. While the festival came about because of the area’s link with literary figures Jane Austen and Brendan Behan, it is also about promoting local talent. So we were delighted to be approached by Lee Sheridan from Luain Press about the idea of bringing one of his writers’ work to life. Killygordan writer Niall Gallen had written the play 'Meenuiscebán' – a play set in rural Donegal in the 1980s but had never been produced. We approached Highland Radio with putting on the play as the opening event of the Literary Festival under the stewardship of Joe Dowling of Elusive Theatre. Thankfully, they agreed and we held auditions for the play in the Community Centre before selecting a cast.
The most important week in our calendar is always Heritage Week, as we promote the rich history and heritage of the area. Our main event for this year was a Traditional Skills Day, the first time that we ever hosted such an event, taking place in the back yard between No. 1 and No. 3 Church Lane. Blacksmith Charlie Gallagher and Woodturner Brian Laverty demonstrated their skills. Both Brian and Charlie took questions from an interested audience and some tried their hand at blacksmithing and woodturning. The event demonstrated that there is certainly an appetite among the public for Traditional Skills. Moving forward, we certainly hope to be hosting more events of this type with a wider array of Traditional Skills.
September: September is traditionally a very busy month in the Cathedral Quarter as we host Culture Night as well as preparing for our flagship event – the Literary Festival coming up in October. One of the local Multi-national companies based in Letterkenny hosts a Corporate Responsibility Day during this month, helping to clean up the area. But this year was even busier as the Travel Blogger Exchange (TBEX) held their European Conference at the ATU Donegal and we hosted a small group of visitors from Rudolstadt in Germany who are twinned with the Letterkenny Milford Municipal District. Plus we got out an invitation to the different candidates who were contesting the Irish Presidential election to visit the Cathedral Quarter during the campaign.
Earlier in the year, we received a visit from the organisers of the TBEX conference and as a result, the Elusive Theatre decided to put on the Cathedral Quarter Experience as an extra event during their stay in Letterkenny. This was done in association with Letterkenny CDP. The evening was a great success and since the conference, the Cathedral Quarter and the experience were mentioned in a number of online posts from various bloggers.
This cleanliness certainly impresses visitors, including a small group from Rudolstadt whom I showed around and informed about the project. Another visitor that we had this month was Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, who went on to win the Presidential Election. We informed the independent candidate of our candidates, but also how the State Agencies and Government Departments are putting obstacles in the way of our development.
October: The flagship event of our cultural programme is the Literary Festival, and this year, we celebrated a milestone, our tenth anniversary. Prior to the Festival beginning, the ‘Quills and the Quarter’ podcast with Philip O’Kennedy returned and Philip he was joined by co-hosts Denise Blake and Phil Dalton where they interviewed participants from previous festivals along with those taking part this time round.
The weekend itself was a fantastic success and my lasting memory will be that when a particular event was finished, everyone was in conversation with each other and not a phone in sight. A real connection took place. The festival was a pattern with the Cultural Evening in the Library, Chamber Music Concert in the Conwal Parish Church, Master Class and workshops are regular features of the Festival. Jane Austen and Brendan Behan, unlikely bedfellows, are central tenets of our Literary Extravaganza and we were delighted to welcome back Dr Sophia Hillan in conversation with Roy Greenslade for our main Jane Austen event, while film director and playwright Peter Sheridan facilitated our Brendan Behan event.
During the Literary Festival, I, along with other founding Cathedral Quarter committee member Paddy Friel, met with officials from the Donegal Council’s Regeneration Section and consultants The Paul Hogarth Company as plans for the Creative Hub and Cathedral Quarter Park were unveiled at a Consultation Day held in the Himalayan Café. During the days, officials met with members of the Letterkenny Milford Municipal District and those from the Creative Industry before opening the display to members of the public.
November: After the euphoria of the Literary Festival, November is traditionally a quieter time as we start to prepare for the year-end. But in the background, there is still a lot of administrative work to complete as funding from the local authority as to be drawn down. It is the less glamorous aspect of the project that is quite time-consuming but still has to be done.
At the start of the month, Oleh finished up his TUS scheme with DLDC, which was organised through ourselves and Letterkenny Tidy Towns. Regular visitors to the area would be aware of Oleh’s presence, and his contribution has been enormous in helping to keep the Town Centre tidy and clean. In an ideal world, we would employ someone as a caretaker. This month, I also completed a Level Two Tour-Guiding Course in North West Regional College in Derry as if we were to get greater support to promote the Cathedral Quarter Jaunt, it could act as a much-needed source of income.
We were delighted that Church Street Cycles was selected as the cover for the Letterkenny & District Christmas annual by the editor, Kieran Kelly. I wrote three articles for the annual about the Drogheda Festival of Ideas, Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter’s St Patrick’s Day trip to Pennsylvania and the tenth anniversary of our Literary Festival. Copies of the 44th edition of the annual is available in local shops.
December: It is very satisfying to know that our Literary Festival is starting to be held in high regard by writers. I was delighted to meet up with author Frank Shouldice at the start of the month and show him around the area. Frank was a guest of the Donegal Book Club. Frank's novel 'Beneath the Cedar Tree' is currently on sale in Bookmark.
Unfortunately, storms are more of a regular feature of Irish weather, and like last year, we had put our Christmas decorations up only for us to take them back down because of a weather warning. Thankfully, there was no damage. We would love to have more decorations but we only have limited resources.
As regular readers of this column know, a central tenet is the reuse of the historic buildings on Church Lane and we were thrilled to see that work had commenced on the inside of No. 7 Church Lane, eventually bringing the building back into use. The issue of sustainability is not just confined to property; we want to encourage the concept of re-use and recycling. Herra from the Himalayan Café donated a number of old chairs to our organisation and these were sanded down and painted by Letterkenny’s Men's Shed, now ready for re-use.
The twelfth Letterkenny Carol Trail took place last Friday before Christmas in conjunction with Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, Letterkenny CDP and the respective churches. It was a great night for the community in Letterkenny, where we reflected on the true meaning of Christmas.