WELCOME to the Moville Inishowen website

The MovilleInishowen website is a new website dedicated to all aspects of the town of Moville in North East Inishowen.

The MovilleInishowen website is for everyone - the local community, the business community and visitors and will be developed over the coming weeks. The site will feature:

• History of Moville
• Photos old and new
• Education - schools and local groups
• Community groups and support
• Business directory
• Getting to Moville
• Accommodation / Eating Out / Entertainment
• Shopping in Moville
• And much more.....

Article by Leo McCauley

Up until recently if you looked at old photographs of Moville or Moville Town Centre, people would have remarked that the old town hasn't changed much in half a century. This was what we heard for many years, up until, possibly 10/12 years ago.

Personally it is my opinion that this was very true until the decade of the 1990's. Moville had been going through a gradual decline for possibly twenty years prior to that, from the loss of the hordes of Scottish visitors in the summers to gradual decline to the fishing fleet and gradual decline in agriculture, and the troubles in the North had meant that we were very isolated, both from the North and the Dublin Government who had obviously forgotten that Inishowen even existed.

We didn't have an Inishowen TD for over thirty years. The electorate of Inishowen fought over one another to vote for people from off the Peninsula. It is my contention that probably 1990 was the lowest point in the upward cycle of Moville. Anyone who was around at that time will have known that we really couldn't have sunk much lower.

One of the turning points was when the E.S.B decided to close their office, and an action committee was formed and out of those roots came North East Inishowen Company which over the last 10/12 years have been fairly successful in regenerating the local area. Another significant development in my opinion happened around this time as well, was the holding of the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in Moville, which was in March 1990. A meeting was held in St. Eugene's Hall in early February 1990, with a view to having a parade less than six weeks later. Unbelievably, the Moville people rallied around and took the bait, and almost fifty vehicles paraded in the pageant that day, and out of the embers of that original St Patrick's Day Committee was formed Moville Cultural Promotions which has formed an integral part in the self-belief of the Moville area, in that the whole area gathered together to produce a shot in the arm for community spirit, and also for making the day itself the biggest day of the year in the annual calendar.

Moville Cultural Promotions has been there organising events and the nationally renowned Song Contest and its 7/8 years of existence was acknowledged by musicians and people who attended it as one of the most professionally organised in the country. This culminated in Moville being one of the voting Juries in the national song contest, this put Moville on the National map again.

Other significant events in the 90's was the location of a fifty bedroom hotel in the town, which was McNamara's Hotel, brought many people back to the town who had never been there before or hadn't been here for years. This stimulated the consciousness of people touring Ireland. Recently, another significant boast for Moville has been the cross border ferry, which brings a whole new range of visitors to the area.

All these things combined give the area that much needed boost and long may they continue, and long may the organisations involved keep working voluntarily towards achieving a common goal which is the generation of the local area for this generation and many generations to come.

If you would like to contribute to the site please send us your stories or photos to North East Inishowen Co, Bath Terrace Lane, Moville, enclosing a SAE if you would like any documents or photos returned. Alternatively you can email us at info@movilleinishowen.com or call into our offices between 9 am and 1 pm every day.