The tourism body responsible for marketing Ireland overseas has pledged to use the ‘correct’ name for the famous Errigal mountain in future promotions.
An eagle-eyed Donegal Daily reader this week spotted an ad on Tourism Ireland’s Italian X (née Twitter) page referring to the county’s highest mountain as ‘Mount Errigal.’
When we pointed out the error, a spokesperson for the tourism body said the ad (below) was created by an ‘influencer’ and they will repost the ad with the correct name.
The ‘offending’ ad on Tourism Ireland’s Italian Twitter account.
“It (the ad) was actually created by an influencer to celebrate Donegal recently being named the fourth-best region in the world to visit in 2024 by Lonely Planet,” the spokesperson said.
“Our plan is to ask the influencer to update the short video – with the correct name – and we can then re-share it, to remind our followers about some of the many great reasons to choose Donegal for a holiday.”
The spokesperson concluded by thanking our reader for their interest in the work of Tourism Ireland and how they promote Donegal around the world.
The official Placenames Database of Ireland (www.logainm.ie), maintained by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Dublin City University, gives ‘Errigal’ or ‘An Earagail’ as the formal name our popular landmark.
The controversy of the incorrect name of Donegal’s most iconic mountain has been raging for years.
Back in 2019, Loughanure man Patrick McCafferty successfully persuaded Wikipedia to use its proper title.
He contacted the world famous online encyclopedia to point out that the mountain’s official title is Errigal and not Mount Errigal as had been listed.
They took Mr McCafferty’s remarks on board and removed the ‘Mount’ misnomer.
The name Mount Errigal began to creep into use in the 1980s when a hotel in Letterkenny of the same name was built. It is now used regularly, and inaccurately, even on tourism sites. In 2016 the national tourist authority, Fáilte Ireland, apologised for using the term ‘Mount Errigal’ to market the peak in its Wild Atlantic Way North West guide.
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