I have been doing extensive genealogical work lately, and my ancestors hail from County Donegal. The most important thing I learned about Donegal is that it is remote. There is, in fact, no big urban city in Donegal; in fact there's hardly a medium urban city there. The airport, while voted "most scenic", only serves puddle-jumpers from Dublin and Glasgow. There are several young Country & Western artists who hail from Donegal.

But Donegal is, essentially, 100% Hicktown. It's a rural lifestyle and you raise cows or you farm or you cut peat bogs or something. There is definitely a tourist industry, focused on the quaint back country and the scenic views along the coast. And there are plenty of islands off the coast of Donegal just like the ones mentioned in the article (which are closer to Galway). So don't expect to purchase an island home and get a cushy 1st world experience. You'll be firmly in the backwater and you're lucky if you get modern services like high-speed Internet.

I am sure that some sort of digital nomad will happily colonize this sort of place, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Note that one of the stipulations for the $90K grant is that you refurbish a dilapidated "beautiful" home, and live in it too.