More Independent candidates announced in Donegal

Many were waiting anxiously yesterday for news of whether Fianna Fáil’s Dessie Larkin would cut ties with the party and decide to run as an independent, and while that didn’t happen three new independent candidates did announce their intention to run.

On the last day for voters to register to vote, Highland Radio news this morning confirmed that two new candidates have emerged in Donegal North East – Letterkenny-based solicitor Dessie Shiels and Ramelton-based independent councillor, Ian McGarvey.

Councillor McGarvey who contested the 1982 general election for Fianna Fáil has also ran as an independent in the 2007 General Elections and has urged people to vote for him - even as a protest vote.

It will be the first foray into politics for 34 year old Mr. Shiels who will launch his campaign tomorrow night in Letterkenny.

Meanwhile as the fall-out of job-losses from Gallagher’s Bakery continues in the South West this week, it has emerged that the Chairman of Ardara Town Traders, Stephen McCahill, will also run as an independent candidate in Donegal South West.

Candidates have until 12 noon tomorrow to declare their intentions and hand in their nomination papers and while there has been no official comment as yet, today’s Donegaldaily.com is reporting that Dessie Larkin will not stand as an independent candidate in Donegal North East.

It will however, be tomorrow, before the final list of candidates in both constituencies will be known and even if a nomination paper is handed in tomorrow candidates may still withdraw their nominations up until 12 noon on Thursday.

Meanwhile anyone not on the register of electors is urged to make sure they do so today. To download an application form for the supplementary voting register, go to Donegal County Council Website http://www.donegalcoco.ie/council/electoralregister/ 

How big an influence will the internet be?

For the first time ever in Ireland the influence of new social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are being analysed in relation to a General Election campaign and while having a presence online will be no substitute for knocking on doors, it is interesting to see how – and if – Donegal candidates are paying attention to their online presence.

Thanks to the brilliant work on the site – candidate.ie – there are some statistics available already in relation to the Donegal candidates and their presence or otherwise on Twitter and Facebook  - but these are likely to change.

For instance in Donegal North East, independent candidate Betty Holmes is on both Facebook and Twitter, but her presence in the field has gone under the radar for the candidate.ie site as yet and, as such does not appear although I've no doubt it will soon.

Fianna Fail’s Charlie McConalogue and Fine Gael’s John Ryan are not listed either, but like Betty Holmes they too have a presence on Facebook.

Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty is among the most popular candidates in the country in terms of his Facebook friends numbers and is certainly way ahead of the rest of the Donegal candidates.

What it all means though is open to all kinds of debate. For instance Facebook friends is no indication of the number of votes a candidate might secure – after all the friends could be anywhere and not necessarily inside the boundaries of the constituency.

And what about Twitter? Certainly less popular in Ireland at present than Facebook, it is growing rapidly in popularity.

Not many of the local candidates are on Twitter for instance, although it was interesting to see a number of Tweets from Labour’s Jimmy Harte today on his campaign updates.

I’m hoping over the next few days to have a more in-depth look at the online presence of our various candidates and doing a more in-depth piece.

In the meantime have a look at this link for brilliant video post from the cutbacks2010 videos which would seem to indicate that not all prospective TDs think the internet is the way to go!

Posters, signs and other election stuff

Before the election had even been properly called, Green Party leader John Gormley was getting a dig in about posters and as the campaign kicked off across the country – posters were making the news everywhere. (Just goes to show you how dull the campaign has been so far!)

In Donegal it seemed as if many candidates were slow at getting their posters up – but perhaps that was to their advantage as gales ripped through the county on Thursday and Friday and many posters that had been placed on poles before then found their way into hedges and fields across the length and breadth of Donegal.

In both constituencies today (Saturday) postering teams were spotted out and about for different candidates who will be no doubt hoping there is no repeat of the storms we had at over the past few days until after polling day on 25^th February.

The Donegal People’s Press reported last week on a Lifford woman who had put up a sign in her house warning canvassers to stay away. During the week stories emerged of similar signs – some very funny ones too – appearing all over the country.

The photo that appeared on the front page of the Cork Independent last week is certainly one of the most famous at this stage – but there have been others.

Meanwhile we can expect more posters across the county in the next week, more statements in the local papers and more politics on the tv and radio. You won't be able to avoid it - so you might as well dive in and follow what's going on as well as you can.

You never know, we might even get a chance to spot this poster/flyer from Independent Candidate Ann Sweeney from Donegal SW, which I happened to spot on the Irish Election Literature blog (you’ll get a link on the page ‘interesting election sites’)

Harte to benefit as FF go for one?

Letterkenny has only one declared candidate for the forthcoming election following the decision by Fianna Fáil to run Charlie McConalogue as their sole candidate in the constituency.

Charlie McConalogue (FF)

Labour's Jimmy Harte is now Letterkenny's sole candidate and will be hoping for a positive bounce from the fact that local Fianna Fáil councillor Dessie Larkin has not been given the nod to run in Donegal North East.

Jimmy Harte (Labour)

Dessie Larkin (FF)

The former Fine Gael councillor left the party following their decision to run just one candidate in the last General Election and ran as an independent. He switched to the Labour Party last year and has been canvassing strongly in the Cathedral Town and in other areas of Donegal North-East since before Christmas.

McConalogue ahead in NE Poll

Inishowen based Fianna Fail candidate was leading the way in an online poll on the Inishowennews.com website this morning - but that was at the very early stages  (around 9.30 am) and as word spreads about the poll it will be interesting to see if he can sustain that early lead.

The poll was only posted on the site today and Linda McGrory from Inishowennews.com has confirmed this morning that it will stay on the news site until election day on February 25th.

With so many Inishowen candidates in the field in Donegal North East, there is sure to be a big interest in the election in the peninsula this time around and while they will not want to read too much into online poll results, it is likely the candidates will still try to keep tabs on the results.

Indeed, Labour Party Candidate, Jimmy Harte, has already through his Facebook page urged supporters to go online and vote for him.

Second Candidates The Big News

On the day when the 30^th Dáil was finally dissolved and the election day set for February 25^th there were plenty of goings on in both Donegal constituencies, but once again Donegal North-East was where the bulk of the action was taking place.

The day started of course with the fall-out of last weekend’s Fianna Fáil convention still hanging in the air, but it was widely expected that, by evening, Letterkenny-based councillor Dessie Larkin would be added to the ticket.

That, it would seem, is still the expectation, but it will be tomorrow now before it is confirmed and councillor Larkin was dismissing suggestions today that the party had approached a non-elected person to possibly run as a second candidate.

Second candidates seemed to the main theme of the day with Fine Gael also in the news regarding a second candidate in Donegal North-East.

Joe McHugh had already been selected as the party’s sole candidate in Donegal North East, but Inishowen party members were keen to have John Ryan added to the ticket and according to Donegaldaily.com tonight he has now been selected as a second Fine Gael candidate in Donegal North East.

If that is the case (if you can find confirmation of it on Fine Gael’s horrendous new website then great for you) then Inishowen will be one hell of a battlefield for the coming election with Padraig McLochlainn, Charlie McConalogue, Ryan Stewart and John Ryan all slugging it out for votes there.

Throw into the mix independent candidate Betty Holmes from Newtown on the fringe of the peninsula but in the Inishowen electoral area and the fate of the three North East seats could well lie in how the votes in Inishowen go.

In the South West meanwhile the Green Party have indicated that they will run a candidate again although there has been no indication yet as to who that person might be.

The storm clouds hanging over the Labour Party are probably still lingering with the Donegal on Sunday reporting at the weekend that some members had stormed out of their ‘clear the air’ meeting last week, but in public at least things seem to have calmed down.

Of course the gloves really don’t come off until the race gets under way in earnest – and that has happened now we have a date for the contest and the Dáil is dissolved.

The race is well and truly on – but expect a few twists and turns yet before the six Donegal winners get past the post.

Green Party to run in Donegal SW

The Green Party are set to run a candidate in Donegal South West, according to reports this afternoon.

The news has emerged via a tweet from the Ocean FM newsroom who say they have not received any confirmation as to who the candidate might be.

The party has no real base in the county but has made a number of attempts in the past to take a seat in Donegal local and Dáil elections.

More on the rest of today's Donegal election news later this evening.