The High Sheriff of
County Fermanagh
Profile
David Donaldson MBE
David Donaldson MBE, is an entrepreneur living in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. He is married to Edith, together they have three children and have recently become grandparents for the first time.
David’s business LE Graphics was established 30 years ago and designs and manufactures signage, branded uniform and a wide range of other products and counts amongst it’s many customers The National Trust, Local Councils, Historic Royal Palaces and many public and private organisations. In addition to running his own business, David also served as an on-call Crew Commander with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service for 18 years.
David was the 2024 winner of the Federation of Small Businesses Community Award for Northern Ireland and was also named as Maker and Creator Entrepreneur of the year at the 2024 Great British Entrepreneur Awards in London.
He has been involved in charity fundraising for over thirty years and has taken part in 11 overseas adventure challenges in support of Northern Ireland based Action Cancer.
His most recent adventure was a 2350km motorbike challenge through Nepal and Tibet to Mt Everest's North Face Base Camp, this raised £29K for the charity. He is currently planning a challenge in Kenya for October 2025 to raise funds for Action Cancer and Crohn’s and Colitis UK. He will be accompanied by, and giving support to his youngest daughter Lisa who has recently had life changing surgery as a result of Crohn’s Disease.
During the Covid 19 pandemic David turned the resources of his business over entirely to the free manufacture of face shields for use in Theatres and ICU at a local acute hospital and was also responsible for organising a wide spread campaign raising funds to purchase and donate large amounts of PPE to local hospitals, care homes and community care workers.
He was appointed a MBE for services to Charity and the Community in Northern Ireland in the late Queen Elizabeth’s 2022 New Year Honours list and was invested at Windsor Castle in January 2023 by HM King Charles III.
He has been appointed as High Sheriff for 2025 for the County of Fermanagh.
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County Fermanagh
Fermanagh is one of 32 Counties of Ireland, one of nine counties in Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. Fermanagh spans an area of 1,851 square kms (715 square miles), accounting for 13.2% of the landmass of Northern Ireland. Nearly a third of the county is covered by lakes and waterways, including Upper and Lower Lough Erne and the River Erne. Forests cover 14% of the landmass (42,000 hectares). It is the only county in Northern Ireland that does not border Lough Neagh. Enniskillen is the largest County Town and an Island Town.
The county has three prominent upland areas:
- the expansive West Fermanagh Scarplans to the southwest of Lough Erne, which rise to about 350m,
- the Slieve Beagh hills, situated to the east on the Monaghan border, and
- the Cuilcagh mountain range, located along Fermanagh's southern border, which contains Cuilcagh, the county's highest point, at 665m.
The county borders: County Tyrone, County Monaghan, Co Cavan, Co Leitrim and Co Donegal and is by far the least populous of Northern Ireland's six counties, with just over one-third the population of Tyrone. It is approximately 120 km (75 miles) from Belfast and 160 km (99 miles) from Dublin.
The National Trust manages three sites of historic and natural beauty in the county: Crom Castle, Florence Court and Castle Coole. The oldest sediments in the county are found north of Lough Erne. These so-called red beds were formed approximately 550 million years ago. Extensive sandstone can be found in the eastern part of the county, laid down during the Devonian period, 400 million years ago. Much of the rest of the county's sediments are shale and limestone dating from the Carboniferous period354 to 298 million years ago. These softer sediments have produced extensive cave systems such as the Shannon Caves, the Marble Arch Caves and the Caves of the Tullybrack and Belmore Hills. The carboniferous shale exists in several counties of northwest Ireland, an area known colloquially as the Lough Allen basin.
For more information on Co Fermanagh
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News
Past High Sheriffs
2020 - Present
- 2024 - Norman Joseph Coalter of Enniskillen
- 2023 - Noelle Mary McAlinden of Enniskillen
- 2022 - Patrick O'Doherty of Enniskillen
- 2021 - Catherine Irwin of Enniskillen
- 2020 - Breda Ann McGrenaghan of Tempo
2010 - 2019
- 2019 - Mary Kathleen Doherty of Enniskillen
- 2018 - John Patrick Maguire of Lisnarick
- 2017 - Selwyn Johnston of Enniskillen
- 2016 - Roisin Smith of Enniskillen
- 2015 - Hope Kerr of Enniskillen
- 2014 - Henry Robinson of Ballinamallard
- 2013 - Roisin McManus of Enniskillen
- 2012 - Joanna McVey of Enniskillen
- 2011 - Terence Blakely McCartney
- 2010 - Kenneth Samuel Fisher of Ballinamallard
2000 - 2009
- 2009 - Helen Lanigan Wood of Enniskillen
- 2008 - Jonathan Appleby Styles of Enniskillen
- 2007 - Rosemary Ann Elizabeth Forde of Enniskillen
- 2006 - Susan Christine Hogg of Enniskillen
- 2005 - Archie Birrell of Maguiresbridge
- 2004 - William Thomas David McMullen of Lisnaskea
- 2003 - Avril Mary Kee, Aldervale of Enniskillen
- 2002 - Heny Frances Keys of Irvinestown
- 2001 - Elizabeth G. McM. Thompson of Irvinestown
- 2000 - John Lendrum Dickey of Irvinestown
Please note, this is not a definitive list of past High Sheriffs as the information has been gathered from various sources which have not all been verified at this time.
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