Donegal (Dáil constituency)

Donegal
Dáil constituency
Location of Donegal within Ireland
Major settlements	Ballybofey Buncrana Letterkenny Lifford Stranorlar
Current constituency
Created	2016
Seats	5
TDs	Pearse Doherty (SF)   Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF)   Charlie McConalogue (FF)   Joe McHugh (Ind)   Thomas Pringle (Ind)
Local government area	County Donegal
Created from	Donegal North-East Donegal South-West
EP constituency	Midlands–North-West

Donegal is a parliamentary constituency which has been represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas, since the 2016 general election. The constituency elects 5 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

It covers County Donegal with the exception of nine southern electoral divisions which are part of the neighbouring Sligo–Leitrim constituency.

The constituency was created in 1921 by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 as a 6-seat constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and a two-seat constituency for the United Kingdom House of Commons at Westminster, taking in the whole of County Donegal in north-west Ireland, succeeding the former Westminster constituencies of East Donegal, North Donegal, South Donegal and West Donegal.^[1] At the 1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons, the six seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin, who treated it as part of the election to the Second Dáil. It was never used as a Westminster constituency; under s. 1(4) of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland".^[2] Therefore, no vote was held in County Dublin at the 1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

Under the Electoral Act 1923, the constituency's boundaries remained unchanged, and were defined as "the administrative county of Donegal". However, its representation was increased from 6 to 8 seats.^[3] It was abolished by the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935, with effect from the 1937 general election. It was replaced by two new constituencies: the 4-seat Donegal East and the 3-seat Donegal West.^[4]

A Donegal constituency was re-established as a 5-seat constituency under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974, and used at the 1977 general election only. It was defined as:^[5]

"The administrative county of Donegal, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Sligo–Leitrim."

The area of the county of Donegal within the Sligo–Leitrim constituency was:

"the district electoral divisions of:

Bundoran Rural, Carrickboy, Cavangarden, Cliff, in the former Rural District of Ballyshannon;

and the urban district of Bundoran."

The revived constituency was short-lived, as under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980, it was replaced by two new 3-seat constituencies, Donegal North-East and Donegal South-West.^[6]

In 2012 the Constituency Commission proposed that at the next general election, the constituencies of Donegal North-East and Donegal South-West should be replaced by a new constituency called Donegal.^[7] The report proposed changes to the constituencies of Ireland so as to reduce the total number of TDs from 166 to 158.^[8] The Donegal constituency was re-established by the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013, with effect from the 2016 general election.^[9]

The Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017 defines the constituency as:^[10]

"The county of Donegal, except the part thereof which is comprised in the constituency of Sligo–Leitrim."

The area of the county of Donegal within the Sligo–Leitrim constituency is:

"the electoral divisions of:

Ballintra, Ballyshannon Rural, Ballyshannon Urban, Bundoran Rural, Carrickboy, Cavangarden, Cliff, in the former Rural District of Ballyshannon;

Ballintra in the former Rural District of Donegal;

and Bundoran Urban"

The Constituency Review Report 2023 of the Electoral Commission recommended that no change be made at the next general election.^[11]

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

^ *: Outgoing TD

A by-election was held on 6 November 1980 to fill the vacancy caused by the death on 13 July 1980 of the Fianna Fáil TD Joseph Brennan. It was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Clement Coughlan, who died in a road accident in early 1983, triggering a by-election in the Donegal South-West constituency.

A by-election was held on 20 November 1924 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation on 1 August 1924 of the Cumann na nGaedheal TD Peter Ward. There were only two candidates, and the winner was the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Denis McCullough.

The 1923 general election to the 4th Dáil was the first in the Donegal constituency where the number of candidates exceeded the number of seats. Under the Electoral Act 1923, Donegal's representation had been increased from six to eight seats, and these were contested by no less than 19 candidates.

As at the 1921 general election, Sinn Féin stood one candidate for every seat (except for two Dublin constituencies); the Treaty had divided the party between 65 pro-treaty candidates, 57 anti-treaty and 1 nominally on both sides. Unlike the elections a year earlier, other parties stood in most constituencies forcing single transferable vote elections, with Sinn Féin losing 30 seats.

In Donegal, Sinn Féin's six outgoing TDs from the 2nd Dáil were elected unopposed, Socialist Republican, Jack White having withdrawn his candidacy.^[34] Two had opposed the treaty, and four supported it; they are listed here in alphabetical order

At the 1921 general election to the 2nd Dáil, no seats were contested in the 26 counties which became the Irish Free State. In Donegal, six Sinn Féin candidates were nominated for the constituency's eight seats. Major Robert L Moore, who had contested East Donegal in 1918, was selected as the Unionist candidate by 22 April 1921^[35] but was described on 15 May 1921 as 'having at the last moment withdrawn'.^[36][37] No ballot was needed, and all six candidates were elected unopposed after the close of nominations on 24 May 1921. The 6 TDs elected are listed here in alphabetical order:^[12]

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