Clonmany ‘in a good place’ to host 2029 World Sheep Shearing Championships

Clonmany is bidding to host the World Sheep Shearing Championships in 2029.

The Inishowen village received the backing of Donegal County Council to host the international event, which takes place every three years.

Cllr Martin Mc Dermott asked the council to issue a letter supporting Clonmany’s bid to host the championships.

“In 2026 it's in New Zealand,” said Cllr McDermott. “It’s coming back to Europe in 2029 and it will either go to Wales or to Ireland. 

“Clonmany is putting together a bid to represent Ireland and to bring the championships to Clonmany. It will happen during the August Bank Holiday in 2029 and will coincide with Clonmany Festival and the Clonmany Agricultural Show.

“It’s a great opportunity for Donegal and for Inishowen to be showcased. There will be 50 teams from all over the world that participate. The average intake of visitors is around 10,000 a day, so it will be something around the same as the Irish Open when it was here. It is televised all around the world but it will be a bit of a fight for us as an area to put ourselves on the right foot to deliver this project.

“We’re in a good place to deliver this project because we have delivered the Irish Open. The council have been on the forefront of that in relation to traffic management in particular at that time.

“We have a template there that we can use. There is a group that are putting this together. It has to be submitted by October 15 this year and it will be announced in early 2026 as to where the destination will be for 2029. It’s a great opportunity for the county and we’re looking for a support letter from Donegal County Council.

READ NEXT: Calls for extra Sligo trains for south Donegal fans travelling to All-Ireland Final

“It would be very important that the council are fully behind this. It gives it a lot of weight when it comes to making a decision for the World Sheep Shearing Championships and the team that will decide where it’s going so I would just ask that the council give us that letter of assurance to say that they will fully back this. If we do  this and put a good case together, I think there’s a great opportunity that this could be in Ballyliffin or Clonmany.”

Cllr Fionán Bradley seconded the motion. “The Clonmany Agricultural Show is well-established and might be one of the biggest and best in the whole country,” said Cllr Bradley. “They’re well capable of hosting big crowds with the Irish Open having been hosted in 2018.”

“We do recognise the value of this event and the opportunity that’s there certainly,” said Mr Richard Gibson, Director of Finance. “Council representatives have already met with the Clonmany Agricultural Show organisers, and the council is very happy to issue a letter of support to the Clonmany Agricultural Show on their endeavours to host this event.”

Cllr McDermott welcomed the response and praised the work of those involved in running the Clonmany Festival and Agricultural Show every year. 

“The work they do every year is phenomenal,” said Cllr McDermott. “That a small community like Clonmany could run such a large festival and agricultural show in the one week, where they have up to 200 to 300 locals helping out to run that - there’s not many areas you would get that type of local support.

READ NEXT: Call for Council to provide more in-house services, rather than outsourcing them

“It’s paramount we do everything we can to make sure that we help them - I think if this comes off it will be a great opportunity for Donegal and for Inishowen.”