Several Donegal politicians in running for Seanad election

Several Donegal politicians are among those in the running for election to the Seanad.

Current Senators Niall Blaney, Eileen Flynn and Robbie Gallagher are bidding for re-election.

Donegal County Councillors Jimmy Kavanagh and Michael Naughton have been nominated, while Dublin-based Councillor Danny Byrne and recent General Election candidate John McNulty are also among the nominees.

There are five vocational panels with polling set to close on January 30.

Fianna Fail’s Blaney and Fine Gael’s McNulty are vying for seats on the agricultural panel.

Gallagher, who hails from Termon and resides in Monaghan, is nominated for the labour panel, as is Letterkenny-based Councillor Kavanagh.

Fine Gael Councillor Kavanagh received a nomination from the Taoiseach, Simon Harris, who called his home on a pre-General Election campaign visit to Donegal. 

“I am entering the campaign very late in the day, and with the weather not helping it will be very difficult to personally visit all the councillors, senators and TD’s around the country, but I’ll do my best to run a good campaign and will try to get to everyone by some means,” Kavanagh said.

Flynn, who lives in Ardara, is nominated for the administrative panel.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Naughton, who topped the poll in the Donegal area in the local elections last summer, had hoped to run in the General Election, but has now been nominated for the industrial and commercial panel

Naughton, who manages the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny, has been put forward by the Irish Hotel Federation.

Fine Gael Councillor Byrne, a property consultant who hails from Bruckless and now lives in Dublin, is also among the nominees for the industrial and commercial panel.

In 2020, Blaney, a former TD, was elected to the Seanad, on the agricultural panel, for which he is again a candidate with McNulty, the Kilcar businessman who was a Fine Gael candidate in the recent General Election.

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The electorate for the 43 Seanad seats on the five panels is made up of TDs, outgoing Senators and 949 councillors around the country.