Dapper Daingean gets facelift

Daingean is looking fantastic after a weekend of painting last weekend that saw people just turn up, pitch in and help out according to Gillian Barratt. The painting project is a high point in the small town's community efforts but Ms Barratt, who is secretary of the local development association, said there's lots more to come for Daingean this year. "It went fantastic," Ms Barratt said of last weekend. While many houses were painted, she said the graffiti project with local children co-ordinated by Adrian McLoughlin that led to a barnyard scene being painted on Byrne's garage in the middle of the town's main street made "a huge difference". The work, which was captured by RTE film crews as part of the station's "Dirty Old Towns" series, took the full of the weekend to carry out. Everyone came up trumps Gillian said, with approximately 300 people pitching in over the course of the weekend including 60 children from the local youth club. Further goodwill from local businesses saw paint, equipment and flowering bulbs donated or sold at substantial discount. With so much happening, Ms Barratt said locals are now walking around taking everything in. "It's brightened up the town no end," she said. "It's like a different place." The fruits of Daingean's labour will be shown on RTE's "Dirty Old Towns" next week, on April 4. Ms Barratt also encouraged everyone to keep up to date with Daingean Development on Facebook to see what has yet to come.