20-448: The Mary From Dungloe International Festival is a popular Irish music festival held annually, usually at the end of July in the small town of Dungloe , County Donegal . The festival is centred on a pageant to find out which contestant has the spirit of the festival, who is then crowned "Mary From Dungloe". The winner of the contest holds this title for a year and acts as an ambassador for the festival. Irish emigrant communities from around
40-422: A number of traditional events which are run every year as part of the festival. Here are just a few examples: The 2024 'Marys' for the festival were as follows: The Donegal Mary, Clare O’Donnell, was crowned the 2024 Mary from Dungloe at the crowning cabaret on 4 August. Below is a complete list of contest winners from 1968 to 2023. Glasgow Letterkenny Many Irish and international acts have performed at
60-406: A public body other than the department itself to be illegal. The commission also found that the blanket and indefinite retention of documents and information provided by people applying for a Public Services Card violate data protection law. The Data Protection Commission has given the department three weeks to stop all processing of personal data where a PSC is being issued solely for the purpose of
80-741: A significant Protestant minority, many of whom are Presbyterian . This is a result of the Plantation of Ulster in the seventeenth century. However, the town has a large Catholic majority. Dungloe is mentioned in FX series Sons of Anarchy as the source of the motorcycle club's weapons from the True IRA, a fictional representation of the Real IRA . The song Mary from Dungloe by Emmet Spiceland . Department of Social Protection The Department of Social Protection ( Irish : An Roinn Cosanta Sóisialta )
100-533: Is a department of the Government of Ireland , tasked with administering Ireland's social welfare system. It oversees the provision of income support and other social services. It is led by the Minister for Social Protection . The official headquarters and ministerial offices of the department are in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada , Store Street, Dublin. The departmental team consists of the following: In carrying out its mandate
120-613: Is a town on the west coast of County Donegal in Ulster , the northern province in Ireland. It is the main town in The Rosses and the largest in the Donegal Gaeltacht . Dungloe developed as a town in the middle of the 18th century, and now serves as the administrative and retail centre for the west of County Donegal, and in particular The Rosses, with the only mainland secondary school for
140-414: Is the headquarters of The Rosses ' indigenous supermarket chain, The Cope . The Dungloe Community Hospital campus also contains a hospital, mental health services and a day centre for the elderly. A visitor centre to Daniel O'Donnell was opened in 2012 in the town's former National Irish Bank building. The visitor centre closed in 2019. The town attracts tourists during July and August when
160-541: Is €25.1 billion. Prior the dissolution of FÁS in 2013, the department took over its employment support functions. Payments are generally divided into three groups: The department provides its services through a network of 126 Intreo Centres and Branch Offices throughout the State and, increasingly, through its Mywelfare.ie portal. Intreo Centres, launched in 2012, were a rebranding of the Social Welfare Offices around
180-572: The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway . However, the station was closed on 3 June 1940 as part of a process that saw the closure of all railways in the county. The company continued to provide coach services to the town via the Lough Swilly Bus Company in the aftermath of the closure of the railways, however this ended in April 2014. By the standards of a rural Gaeltacht area, Dungloe has
200-570: The State, updated to reflect the Department of Social Protection's new responsibilities when it brought in some 1,700 staff from FÁS and the HSE's Community Welfare Service. In August 2019, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) found the Department of Social Protection's processing of personal data during the issuing of Public Services Cards (PSC) for use in transactions between a person and
220-476: The annual Mary From Dungloe International Festival takes place. It was founded in the 1960s and it has attracted 'special guests' over the years including Daniel O'Donnell , Cliff Richard , Gay Byrne and Sharon Shannon . Dungloe Bay and its surrounding hills have also attracted tourists to Dungloe. There is also a festival dedicated to the socialist writer Peadar O'Donnell in Dungloe each autumn. A little to
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#1732851646632240-564: The area. There is a river at the bottom of the town and years ago the only crossing was over a grey granite slab lying in the riverbed, hence the Irish name of the town, An Clochán Liath , which means the grey stepping-stone . The bridge was built in 1782. The name An Clochán Liath was formerly anglicised as Cloghanlea . The name Dungloe or Dunglow is believed to come from the Irish Dún gCloiche . This name came into common English usage in
260-571: The department undertakes a variety of functions including: The department formulates appropriate social protection policies and administers and manages the delivery of statutory and non-statutory schemes and services. It is responsible for the delivery of a range of social insurance and social assistance schemes including provision for unemployment, illness, maternity, caring, widowhood, retirement and old age. Payments are made to nearly 950,000 people each week with over 1.5 million people directly benefiting from those payments. The budget allocation for 2021
280-512: The festival celebrated its 52nd anniversary, with Roisin Maher from New York becoming Mary From Dungloe 2019. Many communities around the world with links to County Donegal have their own local contests to pick their community's "Mary" who subsequently is nominated to travel to Dungloe to compete in the Mary From Dungloe contest. Irish communities who have entered contestants include: There are
300-477: The festival over the years. The traditional annual crowd puller, however, continues to be internationally renowned folk singer Daniel O'Donnell , who made his festival debut in 1985. The Mary From Dungloe contest final has been compered by a number of famous faces. Dungloe An Clochán Liath , known in English as Dungloe (sometimes misspelled as Dunglow ; / d ʌ n ˈ l oʊ / dun- LOH ),
320-456: The later years of the 18th century when the monthly fair, formerly held at Dún gCloiche (five miles north of the nascent town) was transferred to An Clochán Liath . In time the name of the fair and that of the town were subsumed. Today, An Clochán Liath is the only officially recognised name of the town. The Comprehensive Linguistic Survey of the Gaeltacht (revised) found that only 21.4% of
340-437: The north of the town is the site of the ancient church of Templecrone. The town is serviced by a regional Bus Éireann route and several TFI Local Link routes, as well as a number of private bus companies, both of which provide a link to national Bus Éireann routes through Donegal Town and Letterkenny , and to the north of the county and Derry also. In 1903, the town was linked, through Dungloe railway station , to
360-529: The population of the area spoke Irish on a daily basis. Despite being officially within the Gaeltacht , Irish is not the everyday language of the majority of residents. Just over one-fifth of the population are daily Irish speakers. Nevertheless, there are Irish-speaking areas outside the town and Irish is to be heard regularly in the town. Dungloe is home to the Dungloe District Court , which covers
380-625: The west and south-west areas of County Donegal . The local council offices are situated in the Public Services Centre on the Gweedore Road, including an Intreo centre , Citizens Information centre and Donegal County Council office. There is a Garda station, Donegal County Council office, and a fire station, located on the Main Street.. Also, there are several convenience stores, supermarkets, cafes, pubs and restaurants. The town
400-466: The world, as well as some Irish counties and towns, participate by nominating a young woman, endearingly titled a "Mary", to represent their community at the contest. The festival has grown in popularity over the years and now regularly attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the area. The festival is inspired by the song " Mary from Dungloe " as the Rose of Tralee festival is by " The Rose of Tralee ". In 2019,
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