County Donegal ( ; ) is a county in the Republic of Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is the northernmost county on the island of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small border with one county of the rest of the Republic; its nickname is "The Forgotten County".
The county, the fourth-largest, is named after the town of Donegal in the south, although Lifford is the county town. It has also been known as County Tyrconnell or Tirconaill (), after the historical territory on which, along with Inishowen, it was based. Its territory hosted one of the most powerful families of late Gaelic Ireland, the O'Donnells. Donegal County Council is the local council. The population was 167,084 at the 2022 census.
Donegal is home to a Gaeltacht community, notably including Gweedore, and contains centres of traditional cultural activity; it is the home county of Clannad and Enya. Mountains and cliffs feature, and the county has one of the longest coastlines on the island of Ireland.
Name County Donegal is named after the town of Donegal () in the south of the county.
It has also been known by the alternative name County Tyrconnell or Tirconaill (, which means 'Land of Conall'). This is in reference to the or Gaelic kingdom of (on which the county was based) and the earldom that succeeded it. Donegal County Council was officially known as Tirconaill County Council between 1920 and 1927, but the legality of the name change was dubious and the Irish Free State used both names for the county interchangeably. There was also considerable backlash in Inishowen, which was not within the historic territory of Tirconaill, with some proposing for it to be recognised as a separate county. At a County Council meeting in October 1927, it was unanimously agreed to retain the name Donegal, with the council's secretary declaring that the county had never been legally renamed to Tirconaill.
History
County Donegal was the home of the once-mighty Clann Dálaigh, whose best-known branch was the Clann Ó Domhnaill, better known in English as the O'Donnell dynasty. Until around 1600, the O'Donnells were one of Ireland's richest and most powerful native Irish ruling families. Within Ulster, only the Uí Néill (known in English as the O'Neills) of Tír Eoghain (Tirowen or modern Tyrone) were more powerful. The O'Donnells were Ulster's second most powerful clan or ruling family from the early 13th century through to the start of the 17th century. For several centuries, the O'Donnells ruled Tír Chonaill (Tyrconnell), a túath or Gaelic kingdom in west Ulster that covered almost all of modern County Donegal. The head of the O'Donnell family had the titles An Ó Domhnaill (meaning The O'Donnell in English) and Rí Thír Chonaill (meaning King of Tír Chonaill in English). Based at Donegal Castle in Dún na nGall (modern Donegal Town), the O'Donnell Kings of Tír Chonaill were traditionally inaugurated, from the 1460s onwards, at Doon Rock near Kilmacrennan. The O'Donnells' royal or chiefly power was finally ended in what was then the newly created County Donegal in September 1607, following the Flight of the Earls from Portnamurray, near Rathmullan. The modern County Arms of County Donegal (dating from the early 1970s) was influenced by the design of the old O'Donnell royal arms. The County Arms is the official coat of arms of both County Donegal and Donegal County Council.
The modern County Donegal was made a shire by order of the English Crown in 1585. The English authorities at Dublin Castle formed the new county by amalgamating the old Kingdom of Tír Chonaill with the old Lordship of Inishowen. Although detachments of the Royal Irish Army were stationed there, the Dublin authorities were unable to establish control over Tír Chonaill and Inishowen until after the Battle of Kinsale in 1602. Full control over the new County Donegall was only achieved after the Flight of the Earls in September 1607. It was the centre of O'Doherty's Rebellion of 1608, with the key Battle of Kilmacrennan taking place there. The county was one of those 'planted' during the Plantation of Ulster from around 1610 onwards. What became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610.
County Donegal was one of the worst-affected parts of Ulster during the Great Famine of the late 1840s in Ireland. Vast swathes of the county were devastated, with many areas becoming permanently depopulated. Vast numbers of County Donegal's people emigrated at this time, chiefly through Foyle Port.
During the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), Donegal played a strategic role due to its proximity to Northern Ireland, where anti-Treaty forces often sought refuge and resupplied. The county's rugged landscape, including areas like Dunlewey, provided ideal terrain for guerrilla operations and hiding arms caches. Local communities were divided in their loyalties, with some supporting anti-Treaty forces by offering shelter and supplies, while Free state forces carried out raids to suppress resistance.
The Ballymanus mine disaster occurred on 10 May 1943 on a beach at Ballymanus, County Donegal, when local villagers attempted to bring ashore an unexploded marine mine. Eighteen men and boys between the ages of 13 and 34 were killed in the explosion.
Effects of partition
The partition of Ireland in the early 1920s severely affected County Donegal. Partition cut the county off, economically and administratively, from Derry, which had acted for centuries as the county's main port, transport hub, and financial centre. Derry, together with west Tyrone, was henceforward in a new, different jurisdiction which remained within the United Kingdom, officially called Northern Ireland. Partition also meant that County Donegal was now almost entirely cut off from the rest of the jurisdiction in which it now found itself, the new dominion called the Irish Free State (later called Ireland from 1937). The county is physically connected to the rest of the Republic of Ireland by an internal border of only a few kilometres. The existence of a border cutting County Donegal off from its natural hinterlands in Derry City and West Tyrone greatly exacerbated the economic difficulties of the county after partition. The county's economy is particularly susceptible, like that of Derry City, to the currency fluctuations of the euro against sterling.
Added to all this, in the late 20th century, County Donegal was adversely affected by The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The county suffered several bombings and assassinations. In June 1987, Constable Samuel McClean, a Donegal man who was a serving member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), was shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA) at his family home near Drumkeen. In May 1991, the prominent Sinn Féin politician Councillor Eddie Fullerton was assassinated by the Provisional IRA's opponent, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), at his home in Buncrana. This added further to the economic and social difficulties of the county, although the greater economic and administrative integration with Northern Ireland following the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 has been of benefit to the county.
Donegal has been labelled the "forgotten county" by its own politicians, owing to the perception that it is ignored by the government, even in times of crisis.
Geography and subdivisions
Located in the northwest corner of Ireland, Donegal is the island's northernmost county. In terms of size and area, it is the largest county in Ulster and the fourth-largest county in all of Ireland. Uniquely, County Donegal shares a small border with only one other county in the Republic of Ireland – County Leitrim. The vast majority of its land border (93%) is shared with three counties of Northern Ireland: County Tyrone, County Londonderry, and County Fermanagh. This geographic isolation from the rest of the Republic has led to Donegal people maintaining a distinct cultural identity and has been used to market the county with the slogan "Up here it's different".Ireland Northwest . While Lifford is the county town, Letterkenny is by far the largest town in the county with a population of just under 20,000. Letterkenny and the nearby city of Derry form the main economic axis in the northwest of Ireland. Indeed, what became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610.Brian Lac[e]y (Editor), Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, p. 1. Donegal County Council, Lifford, 1983. It is part of the Northern and Western Region (a NUTS 2 European statistical Region), within which it is part of the Border strategic planning area.
Baronies and townlands
There are eight historic baronies in the county.Placenames Database of Ireland – Baronies. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they ceased to have any administrative function following the Local Government Act 1898, and any changes to county boundaries after the mid-19th century are not reflected in their extent. The last boundary change of a barony in Donegal was in 1851, when the barony of Inishowen was divided into Inishowen East and Inishowen West. The barony of Kilmacrennan covers a large portion of northwest Donegal and is the largest in the county. With an area of , Kilmacrennan is also the largest barony in Ireland, being roughly equal in size to County Monaghan. The smallest barony is Inishowen West, at . + Historic baronies of County Donegal Barony Irish name Area(acres) Banagh Báinigh 179,090 Boylagh Baollaigh 157,429 Inishowen East Inis Eoghain Thoir 124,325 Inishowen West Inis Eoghain Thiar 77,149 Kilmacrennan Cill Mhic Réanáin 312,410 Raphoe North Ráth Bhoth Thuaidh 80,388 Raphoe South Ráth Bhoth Theas 141,308 Tirhugh Tír Aodha 128,602
Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland. There are 2,787 townlands in Donegal and an additional 47 historic town boundaries. These town boundaries are registered as their own townlands and are much larger than rural townlands. The smallest rural townlands in Donegal are just 1 acre in size, most of which are either lough islands or offshore islets (Corragh Island, Bishop's Island, Juniper Island, O'Donnell's Island, etc.). The largest rural townland in Donegal is 6,053 acres (Tawnawully Mountains). The average size of a townland in the county (excluding towns) is 438 acres.
Informal districts
The county may be informally divided into a number of traditional districts. There are two Gaeltacht districts in the west: The Rosses (), centred on the town of Dungloe (), and Gweedore (). Another Gaeltacht district is located in the north-west: Cloughaneely (), centred on the town of Falcarragh (). The most northerly part of the island of Ireland is the location for three peninsulas: Inishowen, Fanad, and Rosguill. The main population centre of Inishowen, Ireland's largest peninsula, is Buncrana. In the east of the county lies the Finn Valley (centred on Ballybofey) and The Laggan district (not to be confused with the Lagan Valley in the south of County Antrim), which is centred on the town of Raphoe.
Geography