Donegal North-East was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas, from 1961 to 1977 and from 1981 to 2016. The constituency elected 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs). The method of election was proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Contents
History
The constituency was first created for the 1961 general election, taking in parts of the abolished Donegal East constituency. It lasted until 1977, when it was abolished and became part of a new Donegal constituency, and was then recreated for the 1981 general election. It was abolished at the 2016 general election, and again became part of the re-created Donegal constituency.
Boundaries
The constituency was located in the northern part of County Donegal. It encompassed the Letterkenny, Milford and Inishowen electoral areas of Donegal County Council.
The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009 defined the constituency as:
TDs
Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.
Elections
^ *: Outgoing TD
2007 general election
Jim McDaid resigned as a TD on 2 November 2010. A Fine Gael motion on 4 November 2010 to issue the writ of election to fill the vacancy was defeated by 72 votes to 76, opposed by the Fianna Fáil–Green Party government. The seat remained vacant until the dissolution of the 30th Dáil on 1 February 2011.
1996 by-election
Independent Fianna Fáil TD Neil Blaney died on 8 November 1995. A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 2 April 1996.
February 1982 general election
Unusually, all seats were filled on the first count. A further two counts were then held to give lower-placed candidates a chance to save their deposits.
1976 by-election
Fianna Fáil TD Liam Cunningham died on 29 February 1976. A by-election was held to fill the vacancy on 10 June 1976.