Who gained most from FF slump in Donegal?

While at first glance it could appear as if Sinn Féin benefitted most from the dramatic slump in support for Fianna Fáil in Donegal, the figures would indicate that all the other main parties in the county improved on their showing in 2007 and with Thomas Pringle taking a seat in Donegal SW, perhaps it was the independents who gained most of all.

Both Pearse Doherty in Donegal SW and Padraig MacLochlainn in Donegal NE came extremely close to taking a seat in the 2007 General Election and certainly the Fianna Fáil slump helped them as they both topped the poll and took seats for Sinn Féin.

But there were improvements for Fine Gael too despite what many considered was the risky strategy of running two candidates in Donegal North East.

In fact John Ryan polled remarkably well for Fine Gael with 4,657 first preferences and for a while was being suggested by some as an outside bet to take a second seat for FG in Donegal North East.

As it turned out the improved performance in terms of votes still brought Fine Gael just two seats – one in each constituency returning the two sitting TDs Dinny McGinley and Joe McHugh - but they will be more than happy with their showing.

Labour meanwhile are likely to be disappointed, despite making significant gains on their showing last time out.

While Frank McBrearty saw his vote slip back from his recent by-election outing, his total of first preferences was still higher than the 2007 performance of Seamus Rodgers who polled just 1,111 first preferences.

Jimmy Harte meanwhile was in the battle for a seat until the death in Donegal North East, but just couldn’t make up the ground against Fianna Fail’s Charlie McConalogue. Harte’s showing was way better than the performance of Siobhan McLaughlin in 07 for Labour, and indeed on his own showing at that time when he ran as an independent.

It is believed that Harte might have fared better had there not been so many independents in the field with the 1,876 votes garnered in particular by Letterkenny-based candidate Dessie Shiels believed to have scuppered his chances.

In Donegal SW however it was all about the independents as Thomas Pringle provided one of the biggest upsets of the entire election by unseating Mary Coughlan and taking the third seat.

The county councillor had declared after the recent by-election that judging on his showing there he felt he could take Mary Coughlan’s seat and he was proved right.

His remarkable 5,845 first preferences was more than the combined vote of the four independents who had contested the election in 2007 in both constituencies in Donegal.

Between them Jimmy Harte (then an independent), Ian McGarvey, Arthur McGuinness (all in Donegal NE) and John Doherty in Donegal SW took only 2,553 votes.

In contrast – helped greatly by Thomas Pringle’s massive first preferences - the eight independent candidates in Donegal between them this time took a whopping 13,675 first preferences, a signal perhaps of a protest vote against the government, but no doubt Labour at least will think, ironically allowing Fianna Fáil to nip in and take a seat after all.