Debunked: No, there are not four mosques in Letterkenny

CLAIMS BY AN anti-immigration activist that Letterkenny is “getting a fourth mosque” are false.

There are plans to build a new mosque on the outskirts of Letterkenny, but there are not three mosques in the town already.

There are two spaces that function as mosques, though one of these was described as a “stop-gap measure” until the new mosque is built in pre-planning documents.

Nevertheless, the claim that this replacement for one of the two existing mosques is a “fourth mosque” has been spread in numerous social media posts by Niall McConnell since at least 2025.

Most recently, a video posted by McConnell shows him on a Letterkenny street asking passersby if they would sign a petition “to stop the fourth mosque in Letterkenny.”

“The fourth?” a man asks. “When was our first?”

“There’s one opposite the Sinn Féin office,” McConnell answers. “And there’s a couple of other ones lying about too.”

There is a mosque opposite an office for Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn. That is the Masjid Isa ibn Maryam on the High Road, a rented space by the Islamic Letterkenny Community in the old Donegal News building.

There is also the Donegal Islamic Community Centre on the Port Road.

However, there is no evidence of an existing third mosque. There appears to have once been another makeshift mosque run by the Islamic Letterkenny Community in a residential house, though that appears to have been inactive for years.

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There are also references to Friday prayers sometimes being held in former hospital chapel now run by a charity, or in local community centres, but these are not mosques and have other functions the rest of the time, such as a café.

McConnell has a history of fake claims about migrants, Arabs and this mosque in particular.

McConnell’s latest video about a “fourth mosque” has been viewed more than 86,000 times since being posted on 24 October.

The video ends with an appeal to buy GAA jerseys emblazoned with the logos of Siol na hÉireann, an anti-immigrant group led by McConnell. According to the group’s website, a jersey costs €69.99.

Síol na hÉireann is not a registered political party.

Planning permission was given in 2024 for a mosque to be built on a site in an industrial area of Lisnennan, on the outskirts of Letterkenny in Co Donegal.

In a pre-planning submission, the Letterkenny Islamic Association wrote: “The Muslim community in Letterkenny and Co Donegal has long needed a purpose-built
cultural centre that would accommodate the needs of the community.

“Over the years, the community has been able to make do by renting halls at the local Letterkenny Community Centre and The Vestry Hall for various functions including prayers, cultural events and festival celebrations.”

The note continues: “the Letterkenny Islamic Association has rented a premises on the High Road and whilst this has provided a stop-gap measure, it doesn’t satisfy all of the needs of the community.”

The planned Lisnennan mosque will be Letterkenny’s first purpose-built mosque. It will seemingly be its third mosque overall when it is completed.

However, it is implied that the Islamic Centre on the High Road, currently used by the same association that is building the mosque, is not intended to remain open, meaning that there will likely be two mosques in total. 

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