In September 2007, a delegation from the O’Dubhda Clan joined the national commemoration at Rathmullan on the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls — the 1607 departure that ended the old Gaelic order and, for a time, the independent chieftainships it contained.

What Was Being Remembered

On the night of 4 September 1607, Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, and Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, sailed from Rathmullan on Lough Swilly with their families and a small retinue. They never reached Spain. Their ship was driven by storms into France, and they made their way from there to Rome. The Flight emptied Ulster of its Gaelic leadership and cleared the way for the Ulster Plantation. For the O’Dubhda, whose chiefs had been inaugurated by the O’Caomháin only a generation earlier at Cahirmore, the Flight marked the close of the world in which such ceremonies were politically meaningful.

The Commemoration

Rathmullan & District Local History Society, with Donegal County Council, organised a weekend of lectures, walks and a formal ceremony on the quay. The O’Dubhda Clan sent a party including Taoiseach Edward P. O’Dowd, Taoiseach Emeritus Thomas J Dowds, and the Ollamh, Conor MacHale. A wreath was laid at the memorial overlooking the lough from which the earls departed.