General Election: Disaster for Fine Gael in Donegal as party to lose its TD

Fine Gael will not have a TD in the Donegal constituency for the first time on a disastrous day for the party in the county.

Fine Gael stood John McNulty and Senator Nikki Bradley in an attempt to retain the seat won by Joe McHugh in 2020, but there will be much soul-searching after their respective bids fell short.

McHugh was elected on the ninth count in 2020 having polled 7,621 first preference votes.

Tally figures from the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny, where the counting of votes is underway, show that Bradley earned 3,680 votes with McNulty on 3,365.

Their figures combined are lower than McHugh’s votes in the last election - when Fine Gael also stood Councillor Martin Harley, who claimed 3,056 votes.

Former Minister for Education Joe McHugh announced in 2022 that he wasn’t going to seek re-election.

McHugh resigned the party whip later in 2022 after voting against a defective blocks bill in the Dail.

In 2020, Fine Gael took 14 per cent of the votes cast with that figure falling to just over nine per cent this time.

In 1937, Daniel McMenamin was elected in Donegal East and Michael Og McFadden in Donegal West. Ever since, Fine Gael has elected a TD in the various forms the constituency has taken.

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McMenamin and McFadden were previously members of Cumann Na nGaedheal and were elected in 1933, after which that party merged with others to form Fine Gael.

Cumann Na nGaedheal elected three TDs in Donegal in 1927 - Eugene Doherty, Hugh Law, Michael Og McFadden - and four in 1923 - Doherty, Peter Ward, Patrick McFadden and Patrick McGoldrick.