The last generation of Donegal women to travel to the industrialised city of Glasgow in search of work in the late 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s is the subject matter of the documentary ‘Saol Úr In Albain’. 50 years on from this social phenomenon, the programme explores how migratory labour shaped the lives of these remarkable women and the wider Donegal community.
A new life in Scotland was something that young people came to expect while growing up in Donegal and for many, it was a necessary step to ensure family survival in the barren hinterland of the northwest Gaeltachts of the Rosses, Cloughaneely and Gweedore. The hiring fairs of Letterkenny and Strabane, migratory labour to Scotland or emigration to America were for the most part the only choices available to young Donegal men and women at the time.
This documentary looks at this shared experience through the eyes of some the women.
In ‘Saol Úr In Albain’, Bridget McGee, Nan Smullen, Nancy Gallagher, Mary McGinley, Maighréad Bn Úi Ghallchóir, Rose McGeady, Margaret Coyle, Maire Rua Gallagher, Annie Greene and Margaret O’Malley take us on the nostalgic journey of their lives. In the industrialised era of the 1940’s and 50’s these teenage girls from Donegal travelled ‘over by’ to Glasgow to find work in domestic service, on Glasgow’s trams or buses and in factories. Each story is an individual experience, but collectively they retell of a bygone era in Donegal history and it’s second home of Glasgow.
‘Saol Úr In Albain’ is a celebration of what was once Donegal’s biggest export - its people. Sheila Friel, the programme’s producer and Donegal native felt that it was important to tell the story of these exceptional women; “So many women left their homes and families at such a young age to find work; some of them returned to Donegal when they got married but others never returned home. We all have relatives who experienced such hardship and this programme will have a relevant resonance for all Irish people. It’s a tale of hardship and emigration but what I found most important while talking to the women involved in this programme was that their stories, above all else, are tales of the strength and humour of the Irish abroad.”