Should Letterkenny mark its 400th birthday next year?

A debate is intensifying over whether or not Letterkenny should declare next year its 400th birthday.
Records show that while there had been a settlement in the area for over a thousand years, the character of Letterkenny as a market town came from the granting of lands in the area during the Ulster plantation around 1611.
Fianna Fail Cllr Tadhg Culbert says this could provide the focus for a major celebration next year. However, Cllr Gerry Mc Monagle of Sinn Fein says what happened during the plantation should not be taken as the basis for a birthday party.