The Hospira closure is a blow to Fianna Fáil's chances of retaining two seats, as the standard-bearer for Sinn Féin strengthens his position in Donegal South West, writes Michael O'Regan, Parliamentary Reporter.
There was a time when Donegal South West was the most predictable constituency in the country, with a guarantee of two Fianna Fáil seats and one Fine Gael seat.
That changed in 1997 when Independent and anti-MMDS campaigner Tom Gildea unexpectedly took one of the Fianna Fáil seats. Party headquarters left nothing to chance in the 2002 election.
Dungloe-based Pat "The Cope" Gallagher was persuaded to return from the European Parliament and stand for his old seat. Mr Gildea bowed to the inevitable and Mr Gallagher joined fellow party TD Mary Coughlan from Inver in Leinster House. Dinny McGinley from Bunbeg held his Fine Gael seat.
Ms Coughlan is Minister for Agriculture, while Mr Gallagher is Minister of State for the Marine, a heavy ministerial presence in a three-seater.
But Fianna Fáil's plans to consolidate its two-seat base have come unstuck in the face of a strong challenge from Sinn Féin's Glenties-based Pearse Doherty, at a time when the local economy has been badly hit by a succession of job
losses.
Local sources believe that Mr McGinley's seat is safe and that the second Fianna Fáil seat is the one most vulnerable to Mr Doherty's challenge.
"There is no doubt that Fianna Fáil could be in trouble, not only from Sinn Féin, but from some Independent who might come out of the woodwork and catch the public mood," said Glenties-based auctioneer and former Fianna Fáil councillor Francis Brennan.
Mr Brennan, son of the late Joe Brennan, a minister under Seán Lemass and Jack Lynch, who represented the area for years, said there had already been a promise of alternative jobs. "But if they are there, why are they not up and running?" he asked.
In the last general election, Fianna Fáil secured 42.09 per cent of the vote, up on its 1997 figure of 38.04 per cent, while the Fine Gael vote increased from 22.97 per cent to 25.42 per cent.
Sinn Féin, which did not field a candidate in 1997, secured 10.75 per cent of the vote. The Sinn Féin standard-bearer, Mr Doherty secured 2,696 first preferences and has since heightened his profile with a strong performance in the European and local elections.
He came second to Marian Harkin in first preferences in the North-West European constituency, and was about 6,500 votes short of taking the third seat.
He won a county council seat in the Glenties electoral area, although he was outpolled by Fianna Fáil's Brian Ó Dómhnaill. Young, articulate and able, he personifies a new breed of Sinn Féin candidate.
Fianna Fáil may bank on the profile and experience of its two TDs to save the two seats. Ms Coughlan, whose uncle and father represented the constituency, was first elected to the Dáil in 1987. Mr Gallagher was first elected in 1981 and was equally successful in every election he contested.
Will it be enough though to stop Mr Doherty in a Border constituency, particularly in the aftermath of the IRA statement embracing democracy?