General Election: John McNulty happy to help Fine Gael rebuild after losing seat

Fine Gael general election candidate John McNulty says the party needs to take “small steps” to rebuild in the county after failing to hold onto its seat in the Donegal constituency, leaving it without a Donegal-based TD for the first time in its history.

The result made for “a hard day” for both himself and the party, the Kilcar man said.

The first-time candidate took 3,247 first preferences which put him in ninth place and out of contention for one of the five seats. He was eliminated on the 12th count on Sunday evening with a total of 3,434 votes.

With his running mate Nikki Bradley taking 3,658 first preferences, the party has lost the seat vacated by former TD and government minister Joe McHugh, who announced in May 2022 that he would not be standing.

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With 9% of first preferences, the party’s share of the vote has dropped by almost 5% compared to the 2020 general election. 

“I am naturally disappointed. You are always  in it to try and win a seat, that was the ultimate aim,” he said.

“It didn't happen but you have to accept that that’s the vote of the Donegal people and the electorate and no matter how disappointed you are, you have to accept that and that is democracy.”

A short campaign didn’t help, he added. “From the 26th of August when you were selected, it didn’t give you a lot of time as a new candidate to maybe cover the bases. But I worked very, very hard and I had a great team behind me. A lot of those people were re-engerised and I felt that - and we had good momentum within ourselves and we knocked on a lot of doors. But sometimes it doesn't happen for you and you just have to accept that.”

A former development officer with the party in the constituency, he said Fine Gael needs to take “small steps” to rebuild in Donegal.

“We have got to listen to people across the board in Donegal who want to become part of the Fine Gael party again. And we have to take small steps and just start to grow it bit by bit, maybe just with our organisation to make sure our branches and our structures can become stronger."

He said he would like to help to rebuild the party in Donegal, adding that the loss of a Fine Gael seat is a blow to the county.

“A Fine Gael voice from Donegal would have been a big help to the county in terms of having that person in government and being able to speak for the people in Donegal and deliver on the issues that I was talking about myself.”