General Election: Pádraig Mac Lochlainn elected on second count in Donegal

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn retained his Dáil seat, the Sinn Fein deputy taking the second seat in the Donegal constituency.

November had become December when returning officer Geraldine O’Connor confirmed the election of the Buncrana man. 

Mac Lochlainn took 12.71% of the first preferences cast, a total of 9,879 votes, and he benefitted from a significant swathe of transfers from the poll topper Pearse Doherty.

Mac Lochlainn took 3,297 transfers from his party colleague - passing the 12,959 quota - and the pair claimed the first two positions in the five-seater constituency. 

While his vote was down by a little under 4,000 from 2020, Mac Lochlainn was the second candidate elected at around 1.45am in the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny.

“I am one happy man,” Mac Lochlainn told Donegal Live. 

“It is an unbelievable privilege. I have won and lost elections and more than anyone I appreciate what this means. People do say it is humbling and I really mean it. I think of all the faces, all the people I have helped and spoken with. I have worked hard and hoped that it was enough.

“I have a huge responsibility now. A huge amount of people have put their trust in me and Pearse. We must redouble our efforts.”

This year, Sinn Fein ran three candidates and Mac Lochlainn admitted to being somewhat apprehensive. In 2016, Sinn Fein also ran three candidates and Mac Lochlainn was edged out of his seat before returning four years ago when usurping Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher.

He said: “We were criticised in 2020 for not running enough candidates. We had such a strong vote in 2020 in Donegal so you could understand the call for us to add another candidate. You’re always a wee bit apprehensive because we’ll always be haunted by what happened in 2016.”

Sinn Fein took 42% of the vote in the Donegal constituency - hailed as a “massive vote” by Mac Lochlainn.

He said: “I thought we might have been under pressure from the 100% Redress party, which is a hugely emotive issue.

"People have looked and seen that the only way for full 100% Redress is with a Sinn Fein-led government. This is a multi-billion scheme and one TD won’t achieve that.

"It will take the Sinn Fein-led government. That is the big issue in north Donegal, but right across Donegal it is a phenomenal result for Sinn Fein. 

“It’s huge. We took 45% in 2020 which was huge and we have taken 42% now. It’s a massive mandate.

Read next: General Election: Three eliminated in first Sligo Leitrim / south Donegal count

“If you take north Donegal in the face of a massive issue, we held a massive vote. That is testament to the hard work of our councillors and our party people in those areas.”