Donegal East (Dáil Éireann constituency)

Donegal East
Former Dáil Éireann Parliamentary constituency
1937–1961
Seats	3
County/City council	County Donegal

Donegal East was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1937 to 1961. The constituency elected 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known in English as TDs) to the Dáil, using the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

History

The constituency was created under the Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935, for the 1937 general election to Dáil Éireann.^[1] It succeeded the constituency of Donegal. It was abolished under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961, when it and Donegal West were replaced by the new constituencies of Donegal North East and Donegal South West.

Boundaries

It consisted of the administrative county of Donegal except the portion thereof which was comprised in the county constituency of Donegal West.^[1]

TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Donegal East 1937–1961[2]
Key to parties   CnaT = Clann na Talmhan ·   FF = Fianna Fáil ·   FG = Fine Gael ·   Ind = Independent
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
9th	1937[3]		James Myles (Ind)		Neal Blaney (FF)		Daniel McMenamin (FG)		John Friel (FF)
10th	1938[4]				Henry McDevitt (FF)
11th	1943[5]		William Sheldon (CnaT)		Neal Blaney (FF)
12th	1944[6]		William Sheldon (Ind)
13th	1948[7]
	1948 by-election[8]				Neil Blaney (FF)				Liam Cunningham (FF)
14th	1951[9]
15th	1954[10]
16th	1957[11]
17th	1961	Constituency abolished. See Donegal North East and Donegal South West

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

1957 general election

1957 general election: Donegal East[11]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neil Blaney	8,693	27.9	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cunningham	6,188	19.9	2
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	5,098	16.4	3
	Independent	William Sheldon	6,011	19.3	4
	Independent	Frank Morris	3,216	10.3
	Fine Gael	Patrick Doherty	1,914	6.2
Electorate: ?   Valid: 31,120   Quota: 6,225   Turnout:

1954 general election

1954 general election: Donegal East[10]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neil Blaney	8,538	25.9	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cunningham	5,359	16.3	2
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	6,330	19.2	3
	Independent	William Sheldon	5,762	17.5	4
	Fine Gael	James McEleney	3,755	11.4
	Fianna Fáil	Hugh McCauley	2,526	7.7
	Independent	John Nugent	700	2.1
Electorate: ?   Valid: 32,970   Quota: 6,595   Turnout:

1951 general election

1951 general election: Donegal East[9]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neil Blaney	10,325	30.0	1	1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	6,432	18.7	2
	Independent	William Sheldon	6,016	17.5	3
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cunningham	3,214	9.3	4
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	4,561	13.2
	Fine Gael	James McEleney	3,020	8.7
	Labour Party	John Nugent	868	2.5
Electorate: 45,742   Valid: 34,436   Quota: 6,888   Turnout:

1948 by-election

Following the death of Fianna Fáil TD Neal Blaney, a by-election was held on 7 December 1948. The seat was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Neil Blaney, son of the deceased TD.

1948 general election: Donegal East[8]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neil Blaney	19,570	55.5	1	1
	Fine Gael	Joseph McGinley	14,250	40.4
	Clann na Poblachta	James O'Donnell	1,425	4.0
Electorate: 48,184   Valid: 35,245   Quota: 17,623   Turnout: 73.2%

1948 general election

1948 general election: Donegal East[7]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	8,291	23.9	1	1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	5,733	16.5	2
	Independent	William Sheldon	5,820	16.8	3
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	5,153	14.8	4
	Fianna Fáil	James Doherty	3,756	10.8
	Clann na Poblachta	Seán McCool	3,217	9.3
	Fine Gael	John McLoughlin	1,912	5.5
	Clann na Poblachta	Hugh Diver	833	2.4
Electorate: ?   Valid: 34,715   Quota: 6,944   Turnout:

1944 general election

1944 general election: Donegal East[6]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	7,828	23.7	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	6,417	19.4	2
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	6,126	18.6	3
	Independent	William Sheldon	3,887	11.8	4
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel McGlinchey	3,974	12.0
	Independent	James Myles	2,904	8.8
	Fine Gael	James McCormack	1,876	5.7
Electorate: ?   Valid: 33,012   Quota: 6,603   Turnout:

1943 general election

1943 general election: Donegal East[5]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	7,576	22.0	1	1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	5,970	17.3	2	4
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	5,916	17.2	3	6
	Clann na Talmhan	William Sheldon	3,373	9.8	4	8
	Independent	James Myles	3,595	10.4
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel McGlinchey	2,637	7.7
	Independent	Seán McCool	1,961	5.7
	Labour Party	John McElhinney	1,907	5.5
	Independent	Manus Harkin	1,537	4.5
Electorate: 49,410   Valid: 34,472   Quota: 6,895   Turnout: 69.8%

1938 general election

1938 general election: Donegal East[4]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Independent	James Myles	7,846	20.9	1	1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	7,797	20.8	2	1
	Fianna Fáil	Henry McDevitt	7,293	19.5	3
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	6,526	17.4	4
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	6,368	17.0
	Labour Party	Patrick Lynch	1,642	4.4
Electorate: ?   Valid: 37,472   Quota: 7,495   Turnout:

1937 general election

1937 general election: Donegal East[3]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Independent	James Myles	8,090	22.4	1	1
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	7,876	21.8	2	1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	4,836	13.4	3
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	5,783	16.0	4
	Fianna Fáil	Henry McDevitt	5,093	14.1
	Fine Gael	John McLoughlin	4,398	12.2
Electorate: ?   Valid: 36,076   Quota: 7,216   Turnout:

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of historic Dáil Éireann constituencies
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act, 1935: First Schedule (Revised constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1935/en/act/pub/0005/sched1.html. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
2. ^ Walker, Brian M, ed (1992). Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–92. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0 901714 96 8. ISSN 0332-0286. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1937: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1937&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1938: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1938&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1943: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1943&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1944: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1944&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1948: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1948&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "By-election 1948: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1948B&cons=69&ref=48. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1951: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1951&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1954: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1954&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "General election 1957: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=1957&cons=69. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 

External links

• Oireachtas Members Database