Twin Towns report branded as ‘unfair’ and ‘totally wrong’

Councillors at the most recent Lifford-Stranorlar MD meeting clapped back at a ‘totally wrong’ Irish Times article.

Last month's newspaper report published by The Irish Times about derelict housing in the Twin Towns area focused on the fact that the number of vacant commercial properties are more than double the national average.

Cllr Martin Harley acknowledged the article, saying “ we got bad publicity from an article in The Irish Times, and I think it was totally wrong.

“We have so much to offer, any town in Donegal would give their right arm to have the Drumboe Woods in the centre of the town… we have it all.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Gary Doherty also felt the article only showed the negative side of the towns, but feels as though there's a reason for it.

“I also felt it gave the completely wrong impression of Ballybofey and Stranorlar,” he said, “the towns are thriving and vibrant… we all know they’re great towns.

“At the same time, there are reasons why these negative headlines keep coming up. I very much welcome that we’ve now got 96 vacant or derelict properties recognised.

“The focus now needs to be on how many of those we are actively progressing towards getting them back into use.”

Adding to this, Cllr Frank McBearty said, “All towns and villages have an issue with derelict buildings, so maybe the government should look at bringing in a regeneration project for those types of properties.

“The Irish Times didn’t highlight what the Twin Towns has to offer… we have the golf club, the Finn Valley centre with international star athletes… you’ve got everything that hasn’t been highlighted in the article… I think it’s very unfair.”

Cllr Patrick McGowan said the journalist who wrote the article contacted him around 2 days beforehand.

“I asked that they would meet the Chamber of Commerce group, and other groups like that,” he said, “that was arranged, but the story had already been in the town that morning.”

“There was a lot of misinformation, and some mistakes in the report. But, at the end of the day, there are problems in the area. All we can do is use this to get the town regenerated.”