A judge in the Tidy Towns competition once declared that "nobody cares about Letterkenny". This is a state of affairs which has changed considerably given that the town now finds itself representing Ireland for the second time in the European Entente Florale competition. Judges from 10 European countries will visit Letterkenny this summer to evaluate its overall appearance, in particular the flowers and shrubbery in public places.
The chairman of the Tidy Towns committee in Letterkenny, Mr Jim McCormick, says that since 1986, the town has been transformed with new ho tels, upmarket restaurants and pubs in addition to major improvements to footpaths, shop frontages and green spaces.
Last year also saw the opening of a new town park and civic theatre.
Not everybody might approve of some of the larger apartment complexes that have come with urban renewal schemes, but Mr McCormick says that results from the Tidy Town competition cannot be argued with.
Last year Letterkenny was runner-up in the category for towns with a population of more than 10,000, scoring 235 points out of a possible 300 and coming second only to Ennis.
"When we started in 1986, the town was an absolute disaster, it was filthy. At that time there were just four or five resident associations - now there are 46 and they are all very active," he says.
A town gardener employed by the urban district council works with 14 people taking part in a FAS scheme run by the Tidy Towns Committee in helping each group to improve its own district. A total of 40,000 shrubs are grown from seed every year and given out to the resident associations for planting.
Other community efforts to improve the environment have also been taking place, with one group planting 200 oak trees each year over the past 10 years at different locations around the town. The town park, with its herb garden, nature trail, playground and walled garden full of mature trees, has been a big success since it opened in May.
Mr McCormick says the emphasis is now on improving approach roads and a roundabout on the Derry road will be the location for a millennium sculpture to be commissioned shortly.
The last time Letterkenny was selected for the Entente Florale competition was in 1994 and Mr McCormick says much work has been ongoing since then, when it came fifth out of the 10 entrants representing different European countries. He expects the town to do significantly better on this occasion.
The transformation of Letterkenny brings a lot of spin-offs, according to Mr McCormick.
"Our first goal is to have a nice environment for everybody to live in. But Letterkenny is a gateway to the Donegal hills and is really a lovely town, and the fact that we keep it very well means that any visitor or industrialist who comes here will definitely like what they see," he adds.
If he could change one thing, it would be fast-food outlets and the problem of litter accumulating outside them in the early hours of the morning.
"The only litter we have comes from takeaways - we don't get litter during the day. I think there should be an extra 5p VAT on all takeaways and the money given to local authorities to pay for cleaning up," is his suggestion for combating the problem.