Election 2024Constituency Profile

Donegal constituency profile: Disaster zone for Fine Gael amid huge impact of defective blocks issue

All parties will be watching 100% Redress Party candidate Charles Ward closely

Donegal Constituency map
Election 2024: In the Donegal constituency Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn will be hoping the Sinn Féin tsunami of 2020 does not become an Independent tsunami
Jennifer Bray's picture
Jennifer Bray
Thu Nov 07 2024 - 12:09

Outgoing TDs: Pearse Doherty (SF), Joe McHugh (FG -retiring), Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Charlie McConalogue (FF) Thomas Pringle (Ind)

Who are the candidates in the Donegal constituency?: Deputy Pearse Doherty (SF), Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Deputy Charlie McConalogue (FF), Deputy Thomas Pringle (Ind), Senator Nikki Bradley (FG), Pat “The Cope” Gallagher (FF), Charles Ward (100% RP), Mary T Sweeney (Aon), John McNulty (FG), Niall McConnell (Ind), Kim McMenamin (TIP), Eamon McGee (IFP), Claudia Kennedy (FF), Carol Gallagher (PBP), Nuala Carr (GP), Kevin Sharkey (Ind),

Donegal has been a disaster zone for Fine Gael with no sitting TD since Joe McHugh resigned the whip, and he is due to retire. The party also failed to win a seat in four of the seven local electoral areas in June. The defective blocks issue has had a huge impact here, and so all parties will be watching 100% Redress Party candidate Charles Ward closely. In recent days, the 100 pc Redress Party has said that Mr Ward has its full backing as the general election candidate, after reports of in-fighting and differing opinions about election strategies. Taoiseach Simon Harris has added Nikki Bradley to the ticket. Bradley is a disability rights activist and was nominated to the Seanad by Harris in early July.

Bradley said she aimed to be a “strong voice for those living with disabilities”, while also promising to represent homeowners who have been affected by the ongoing defective block crisis in Donegal. The party is also running John McNulty, who manages the Donegal women’s GAA team.

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In Sinn Féin, the party seems to have dropped its hopes to bring home three candidates. The party took a whopping 45 per cent of the first-preference vote here in 2020. But after a bruising local and European election this summer, they are sticking with Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.

Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue and Independent Thomas Pringle were both elected on the ninth count on healthy numbers in 2020, and McConalogue has enjoyed a high profile as Minister for Agriculture. Pat “The Cope” Gallagher lost out previously for Fianna Fáil to that Sinn Féin tsunami. Will he reclaim the ground? Or will that Sinn Féin tsunami become an Independent tsunami in 2024? In this case, a transfer-friendly Thomas Pringle could fancy his chances, too.

Fianna Fáil will also run Bundoran woman Claudia Kennedy who ran unsuccessfully in the local elections, and her addition is said to have caused some tensions locally about vote management.

Possible outcome: Fine Gael (1), Sinn Féin (2), Fianna Fáil (1), 100% Redress Party (1)