Having long described itself as the forgotten part of the forgotten county, the Inishowen peninsula will step into the spotlight on February 26 when votes for the Donegal North East constituency are counted.
And that’s because the votes cast in the peninsula are set to have a huge bearing on which of the 11 candidates in Donegal NE will finally take the three seats.
Five of the eleven candidates are based in the Inishowen electoral area – Charlie McConalogue (FF), Padraig MacLochlainn (SF), John Ryan (FG), Ryan Stewart (Ind) and Betty Holmes (Ind) and with their boxes the first to be opened on count day, they will give the earliest indications of how things are going in the constituency.
With so many candidates in the field from the peninsula, it will be extremely interesting to watch the voting patterns and determine how they might affect the final outcome.
There can be no doubt that the people of Inishowen feel they should have a TD with none of the three outgoing TDs coming from the peninsula.
After all that’s why Fianna Fáil members in Inishowen had held an ‘unofficial’ convention to select Charlie McConalogue as their candidate. Even they could not have predicted the events that followed in relation to Niall Blaney’s withdrawal, but the upshot of it all has seen Cllr McConalogue as Fianna Fáil’s sole candidate.
But the Fine Gael members in the peninsula wanted their man in the field too. So they pressed to have John Ryan added to the ticket after Joe McHugh had initially been selected as the sole candidate.
Of the five Inishowen candidates it is widely-believed that Padraig MacLochlainn of Sinn Féin and Charlie McConalogue are the two most likely to be in the shake-up when it comes to filling the seats – but that’s not to say the other candidates won’t have a bearing.
John Ryan’s arrival in the field for instance could be hugely significant for Joe McHugh the only sitting TD in the constituency who is seeking re-election. McHugh swept to victory and topped the poll in 2007 – but that was as the sole Fine Gael candidate – and the votes garnered by Councillor Ryan this time will certainly shake things up for Fine Gael.
For many Sinn Féin’s Padraig MacLochlainn is favourite to win a seat and he is sure to poll very strongly in Inishowen. But he did so last time out and despite battling to the bitter end he was finally pipped at the post by Niall Blaney of Fianna Fáil for the last seat. Whether Dara Blaney’s late entry to the field will have any impact on Padraig MacLochlainn’s showing outside Inishowen remains to be seen.
Charlie McConalogue’s campaign got off the ground amidst uncertainty and disillusionment from within the Fianna Fáil ranks in Donegal North East – and that’s before he started knocking on doors with a public hugely angry with the outgoing government. Popular in Inishowen, people will watch with interest to see if he can secure enough first preferences there to help haul him over the line.
Ryan Stewart’s first foray into politics may well not be his last and even if he does not succeed in winning a Dáil seat don't be surprised to see his name again when the next local elections roll around.
His votes and those of fellow independent Betty Holmes will play their part in deciding where the three seats finally go – and a future blog post will focus on the importance of transfers in both constituencies.
But before the transfers even begin there can be no doubt that the battlefield of Inishowen will play a vital role in deciding who will fill the seats for Donegal North East – the question up there will be... can the peninsula get a TD – or perhaps even two this time!
