Buncrana businessman John McCarter has been officially crowned the 2024 Donegal Person of the Year.
A successful businessman over a number of decades, John is also the Chairperson of the Board of Fort Dunree – helping to lead its multi-million euro redevelopment and transformation into a highly successful tourist attraction.
On the announcement of the award back in February, John said that it came as a huge surprise, and it was a great honour as it is an award from his own people who he has worked with and lived with, and this makes it of special significance.
John McCarter and family
The event kicked off shortly after 8pm with MC for the night being Siobhan Shovlin. John was led into the room by President of the Donegal Association Elaine Caffrey. Moya Brennan, Former Donegal Person of the Year spoke to the crowd and mentioned the various events which she attended during the year as the current Donegal Person of the Year including the new Lifeboat Station on Arranmore Island and how she is honoured that she will always be a Donegal Person of the Year.
The event was well attended by other Former Persons of the Year including Noel Cunningham, Jason Black, Stephen Mc Cahill, Deirdre McGlone, John Carr and Bríd Rogers. The charity recipient for the raffle on the night was the Lough Swilly RNLI which is a charity very close to John’s heart. We would like to thank our generous sponsors for donating raffle prizes.
The Donegal Dublin Association was delighted to be joined by friends from Mary from Dungloe again this year including 2024 Dublin Mary Molly Part. The search is on for the 2025 Dublin Mary.
The Donegal Association in Dublin are celebrating 90 Years this year and it was extra special to be joined by Bríd Rogers who celebrated her 90th birthday recently.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Emma Blain who was in attendance had this to say: ‘I am delighted to attend the Donegal Person of the Year tonight and would like to send my congratulations to John McCarter on being awarded Donegal Person of the Year. Donegal is a place very close to my heart as my father is from there. Tonight celebrates everything that’s great about Donegal including its people, culture, history and beauty. It is my pleasure to be here and celebrate with Donegal and its Dublin Diaspora.’
Chairman of the Donegal Association thanked the team in the Bonnington and the audio visual team for ensuring the night ran so smoothly. He also thanked Sliabh Liag Distillers who have built an incredible distillery in Ardara for once again coming for our drinks reception. He also thanked the sponsors without whom it would be impossible to host the event. He spoke of the huge impact John has had on Donegal through business, RNLI as well the development of the Donegal economy and tourism sectors. He welcomed Moya Brennan to the Past Persons Club and wished John the best for the year ahead.
A fantastic video outlining John’s work and achievements was played on the night which was compiled by Ronan O’Donnell from Glenties (Dronan Media).
President of the Donegal Association, Elaine Caffrey told the crowd of how the original nomination for John McCarter came in from the Board of Fort Dunree and that campaign was spearheaded by Brian O’Reilly, Declan O’Carroll and the late David Magee. In a very tragic turn of events, David Magee passed on just two months ago. She extended the association’s deepest sympathies to David’s wife Monica, who was present on the night.
She spoke of how John took the message of peace and reconciliation from Belgium and France back to Ireland and used Fort Dunree as the facility to bring people together under various initiatives such as the Inishowen Friends of Messines, the Ulster Canada Initiative Committee, and the Laurentic Forum. Many of these were cross border and cross community projects some of which actually brought people across to the other side of the border who had never been before.
She talked about the various committees and boards he is or has been on and there is definitely a commonality, there is no “I” when he is talking about the achievements, it is aways “We”. ‘John recognises the importance of bringing groups together to look for the common goal, so that we can all derive some good out of the work being done, regardless of whether that is in lifesaving, on the enterprise boards and committees, or the historical and peace initiatives. He is also a fantastic communicator, and well known for his humility, kindness, and unwavering dedication to his community. I believe these are some of the key attributes to John’s personality that makes him the perfect keystone to keep a group focused, encouraged and engaged together, driving forward with that clear common goal in mind.
John joined the McCarter family business in the early 70s and it eventually went on to become one of the largest employers in the country as Fruit of the Loom. He was acutely aware of the responsibilities of employing a large number of people and became involved in many initiatives to drive further development in the local economy. In addition to being on local committees such as the Inishowen Development Partnership, and the Inishowen Destination Experience Development Plan, he was also Director of Donegal County Enterprise Board, Director of the Donegal County Enterprise Fund, Chairperson of the Donegal County Enterprise Assistance Loans and Regional President of IBEC North West and that is to name just a few.
He has been Chairperson of the Fort Dunree Military Museum Board since 1992 and has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of the Fort, transforming it into a significant cultural and historical site. They have recently secured a phenomenal 12 million euro in funding to begin a massive redevelopment which will elevate the Fort to a major national tourist attraction and will be a massive boost to the County.
But with all of these commitments, it turned out that John still somehow had some spare time, and he was approached in 2004 to join the RNLI, initially as the launching authority and soon became the Lifeboat Operations Manager. He is one of the few people to have served as both Chairperson of the Fundraising committee and the Lifeboat Operations Manager concurrently.’
John McCarter spoke of the amazing accolade it is and a huge honour for him to accept the award. He said there is something incredibly special about an award that comes from within the people you live, move and work with. He said that he has been blown away by the support and courtesy he has received locally since being announced as the Donegal Person of the Year. He said this is award is for the Peninsula of Inishowen. He said we are all part of a team who had to work together on the various projects together. He referred to the great ‘can do’ attitude in Donegal in working together. He spoke of helping people out when we can and this is how he has felt about life in general. He said he enjoys all the situations he has worked in for the good and development of the county. He said much of this is anchored in the family business set up by his late uncle Willie McCarter, a business which grew to employing around 3,000 people. The business gave him a basis to work in the community. He spoke of his involvement in the community including his involvement with the RNLI and Fort Dunree. He thanked his wife Breda and his family for their ongoing support with the many projects he has been involved with. He concluded by saying that he hopes he will do everyone proud as 2024 Donegal Person of the Year.
The formalities of the evening concluded with John giving the audience a treat to his party piece ‘Dear Old Donegal’ accompanied by Matt Mc Granaghan on fiddle. Hard to Beat Band entertained the crowd for the remainder of the night.
The Donegal Association wish John well for the year ahead and we look forward to joining him along the way.
Here are some great images from last night’s Gala ceremony, with credit to the Donegal Association Dublin on Facebook.
