REDEFINING BOUNDARIES:Securing two seats in a five-seater would mean Donegal becoming the jewel in Sinn Féin's electoral crown after the next election
THERE IS a cross-party consensus that Sinn Féin will win two seats in the new Donegal five-seat constituency. That would see Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, from the current Donegal North East, and Pearse Doherty, Donegal South West, returning to the Dáil after the next general election.
Both have a formidable electoral base and, cumulatively, took 57.44 per cent of the vote in the last general election.
Buncrana-based Mac Lochlainn topped the poll with 9,278 first preferences, while Doherty, from Derrybeg, romped home with 14,262 first preferences.
Securing two seats in a five-seater would mean Donegal becoming the jewel in Sinn Féin’s electoral crown after the next election.
“Right now the two are unstoppable,’’ said a local source. “They have eaten into the Fianna Fáil vote and it remains to be seen how much of it will go back to the party next time.’’
Fianna Fáil can expect to secure at least one seat and will launch an all-out fight for the second in a county that was once a party stronghold.
Current Fianna Fáil Donegal North East TD Charlie McConalogue, from Caherdonagh, is likely to be joined on the ticket by Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill, from Falcarragh, who had been methodically attempting to carve a Dáil seat for himself in Donegal South West for some years.
McConalogue did well to take the third seat in Donegal North East last time, having been drafted in at short notice following the unexpected retirement from politics of outgoing TD Niall Blaney.
A farmer and member of Donegal County Council at the time, McConalogue was no stranger to the cut and thrust of politics, having worked as a political organiser for the party in Leinster before returning to his native county.
The Fianna Fáil organisation was split locally at the time following the healing of the long-running rift with the local Blaney organisation, which was organised by party headquarters.
McConalogue has since established himself in Donegal North East and is a solid Dáil performer.
The rivalry over the years between Ó Domhnaill, former TD and tánaiste Mary Coughlan, who lost her seat in the last general election, and Pat “The Cope’’ Gallagher, a former junior minister and now an MEP, is the stuff of local political legend. With Coughlan unlikely to run again, and Gallagher in Europe, Ó Domhnaill will put up a strong battle for a seat.
There is ongoing speculation about the intentions of the once-powerful Blaney dynasty, a force in local and national politics from 1927 until the last general election.
In that last election Dara Blaney, son of the late Neil Blaney, secured 1,228 first preferences when he ran as an Independent in Donegal North East.
The name remains prominent in local politics, with Harry Blaney’s son, Liam, a member of Donegal County Council, representing the Letterkenny electoral area.
Asked if he would seek a Dáil nomination, he replied: “Nobody knows what will happen between now and the next general election. For the time being I have no Dáil ambitions.’’
The make-up of the Fine Gael ticket will be influenced by the intentions of Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley, from Bunbeg, a formidable survivor in Donegal South West since he was first elected to the Dáil in 1982.
He had decided to retire in 2007 until party headquarters persuaded him to run again.
Donegal North East Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh was first elected to the Dáil in 2007, having spent the previous five years in the Seanad.
With a pivotal Letterkenny base, he polled 7,330 first preferences before taking the second seat in the last election.
Despite the undoubted strength and profile of the two sitting Fine Gael TDs, the party could come under pressure to hold two seats, given that Donegal South West Independent Thomas Pringle will not be easily dislodged.
Labour’s Senator Jimmy Harte, son of former long-serving Fine Gael TD Paddy Harte, is expected to be his party’s candidate. Although he increased the party’s vote in Donegal North East the last time he will face an uphill struggle in a county that is not natural Labour territory.
SITTING TDS
Donegal North East:
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, SF; Joe McHugh, FG, Charlie McConalogue, FF.
Donegal South West:
Pearse Doherty, SF, Dinny McGinley, FG, Thomas Pringle, Ind.
