Letterkenny - City of Ireland

Letterkenny is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. It is located on the River Swilly. Despite its size, Letterkenny is not the County Town of County Donegal. This function is fulfilled by Lifford, a small town to the east. Letterkenny dominates the economy of County Donegal, Ulster's largest county.The town is considered to be one of the fastest growing towns in all of Ireland. Letterkenny and the nearby City of Derry form the major economic core of North-West Ireland.

Letterkenny began as a market town in the 17th century and was the first crossing point of the River Swilly. In the recent past the population of Letterkenny consisted of cattle and sheep grazing on what were then untilled hillside - when Conwall was the ecclesiastical and seaport centre. The waters of the Atlantic had not yet retreated from the basin of the Swilly whose estuary at that time extended up almost as far as New Mills - proof of this may be found in those alluvial flat-lands between Oldtown and Port Road.

The honour of formally launching the town fell to Sir George Marbury who married Patrick Crawford's widow - Crawford having died suddenly while on a return visit to his native Scotland. Initially there were possibly fifty simple habitations sited where the Oldtown is situated today.

The main streets, though now suffering traffic congestion, were simple pony tracks used by the hill farmers to come to the markets. The markets - started by Patrick Crawford with only a few animals - grew into much busier mart days of the recent past which are sadly not present today.

The Letterkenny Institute of Technology , which is situated east of the town centre on the Port Road, is a centre for engineering, information technology, materials science, design, business and nursing humanities. The institute has a student population of 3000.

St Eunan's College is a major secondary education centre in Letterkenny. Situated just north-west of the town centre, it was built in 1906.

Primary and secondary education in the town is organised similarly to the rest of Ireland. There are 5 primary schools in Letterkenny, including Scoil Colmcille and Woodland School, while there are 4 secondary schools.

Coláiste Ailigh is one of the "gaelscoileanna" in Letterkenny. It is a secondary school specifically designed for education through the Irish language. It was opened in 2000.

The Loreto Convent Secondary School, adjacent to St Eunan's Cathedral, is over 150 years old.