Donegal Town secures €350,000 for New Enterprise Centre
by Margaret Gallagher

Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan T.D., has confirmed that €350,000 is to be sanctioned toward an Enterprise Centre for Donegal Town. This is positive news for the town, and, with the possibility of a site to be provided over at Playground area, it will enhance the development of the enterprise climate in the area.
The funding, announced today, is being provided through the Enterprise Ireland Community Enterprise Centre Scheme and comes as a welcome boost for the town.
A call for proposals under the scheme was made in January and Donegal Town Community Chamber submitted an application. Enterprise Centres are designed to provide a structured environment for high potential start-up companies, giving them the space and facilities they need to develop and grow.
Confirming the news, Minister Coughlan said: “This is very positive news for Donegal Town and the surrounding area. We all realise today that supporting the growth of homegrown business and enterprise must be one of our key priorities. Fostering local talent and giving every encouragement to local entrepreneurs is the best way of ensuring long-term job creation in Donegal. Infrastructure such as this is essential in that regard. It will provide incubation space and appropriate business infrastructure, together with a supportive environment for people with good ideas that will enable them to take that big step and start a business of their own.”
Mary continued “The announcement of this funding is also evidence of our continued work in improving Donegal Town’s infrastructure across the board. We have seen a lot of money announced for both the town and the wider south Donegal area over the past number of months. This is in no small part due to the work of the Inter-Departmental Group we established at Cabinet towards the end of last year. The Group has focused minds on the situation here in Donegal and I am delighted with the results so far as we have been able to fast-track projects across the board”.
Minister Coughlan concluded “Great credit is due to the support and work of the business community, the town’s Chamber and our local Councillor, Jonathan Kennedy, in seeing this project and application for funding succeed. A site has already been earmarked for the centre and I look forward to seeing the centre proceed to planning over the coming months.”

THE GENES OF A CHAMPION SPRING
FROM BALLINAKILLEW MOUNTAIN
Countdown winners grandparents “So proud”
of young Conor’s achievement.

On Friday the 26th May, 14 year old Conor Travers, was crowned the youngest ever winner of the Channel Four games show ‘Countdown’, displaying an extraordinary talent for mental arithmetic and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the contents of his dictionary, even if he didn’t know what some of the words meant. In the grand final, Conor beat 33 year-old Mathew Shore and amazed millions of Channel Four viewers, lifting the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy - and £4,000 worth of dictionaries.
During his remarkable run of wins, Conor averaged a daily score of 111 – most daily champions usually manage the low 90’s. His best score was 124, a record for the series. The presenters of the show Des Lynam and Carol Vorderman were amazed and quite often, when Conor would answer words like tzardoms, protamine, valorise, they couldn’t quite believe who or what was sitting in front of them – “Conor’s a Countdowner through and through” Vorderman said.
The young ‘Countdown’ champion received a lot of gifts and well wishes from the viewers of the popular quiz programme, with Channel Four reporting that ratings for the programme had risen immensely due to the ‘Conor Principle’.
Proud Grandparents Mary & Frank Travers

The champion, whose dad Martin hails from Laghey and mum Maureen from Longford, has one sister Aideen (4). The family live in Luton and regularly visit Donegal.
The cottage of his grandparents, Mary and Frank Travers, in Ballinakillew Mountain, is a shrine of newspapers and photographs of their grandson. Conor’s proud granny told me she had nine children – 6 boys and 3 girls – Anne( Pettigo), Gerard (Laghey), Christine (Frosses), Liam (Ardara), Carmel (America), Martin (Luton), Aideen (Luton), Stephen (Cork), and Noel (America) – and seventeen grandchildren. “Conor is a bright lad and loves coming to Ballinakillew. He visits during the summer and in the new year as well. He has no interest in the farming but enjoys a game of cricket and always wants us to play the Countdown board game with him. He is a very happy, easygoing lad who doesn’t like fuss – he enjoys a trip to Kees to get his favourite ice cream, the Brunch” his Granny told us
Conor never played with toys much but liked to read books and play board and computer games. Two years ago he showed a keen interest in the quiz game, Countdown.
Conor’s father Martin takes up the story “He never would miss the programme and if he wasn’t going to be home from school in time he would record it. The questions seemed to be easy for him and, after some time, he decided to enter his name - and did so online. We are all very happy for him but after the last show he was exhausted. We live in Luton and drive to Leeds for the show which takes us about two and a half hours. Conor had butterflies before the show - and for Maureen and myself it was nerve-racking, but we were delighted with the result. It was a great achievement of which we are all very proud.”
Martin played down the fact that his son is a celebrity over the nation - not easy when local and national papers, as well as radio and T.V., were leading with Conor’s story. The schoolboy champion is a pupil at Cardinal Newman High School in Luton. “It is mid-term break over here and Conor has not been back to school since he won, but the teachers and his friends are delighted for him.” Dad said.
And it was not only Conor who had butterflies! Back in Laghey that Friday, granny and granddad were joined at home by neighbours and friends to cheer their grandson on. “We were very excited and nervous for him but were confident he could do it – he is a clever young fellow” granddad said. “His father Martin was a clever lad as well and when he went to England he started up his own construction company which went from strength to strength. Of course, behind every successful man is a good woman - and that is Maureen who does all the bookkeeping.” Frank declared.
Last February there was a surprise party in O’Carolans of Laghey for granny Mary, and her twin sister, Peggy, and Conor was home for it. “He was like a star, with all the people coming up to him and asking for his autograph” Mary said.
Congratulations to the young Countdown champion from all here in Donegal and a big thank you to grandparents, Frank and Mary, for the courteous and friendly way they treated this reporter when I called to their home in Ballinakillow. While I was there, daughter Carmel rang from the US and Mary recounted to her the reactions to their grandson’s win “ Donegal Times is here with us now” she declared.
We may be seeing more of this young man in years to come as Conor was offered a job with Channel Four when he reaches the age of eighteen.

Mountcharles Pier
The Mountcharles Pier Action Group, in conjunction with local RNLI, has been informed that work will soon commence on the installation of concrete decking from the Boat Slip to the end of the Big Pier. A number of extra mooring rings will also be mounted on the side of the slip.
Additional work regarding more lighting and underground cabling etc. has been costed and submitted for consideration. A formal request has also been made to the Water Safety Section of Donegal County Council for a temporary lifeguard at the pier.
Blessing of the Boats and Raft Race takes place on Sunday 25th June
Paul O’Sullivan