Donegal East (Dáil constituency)

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 4 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) to the Dáil, using the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

Donegal East
Former Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Constituency
Former constituency
Created	1937
Abolished	1961
Seats	4
County/City council	County Donegal

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]		John Friel (FF)		Neal Blaney (FF)		James Myles (Ind)		Daniel McMenamin (FG)
10th	1938[4]				Henry McDevitt (FF)
11th	1943[5]				Neal Blaney (FF)		William Sheldon (CnaT)
12th	1944[6]						William Sheldon (Ind)
13th	1948[7]
	1948 by-election[8]		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
	Independent	William Sheldon	6,011	19.3	4
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	5,098	16.4	3
	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
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	6,330	19.2	3
	Independent	William Sheldon	5,762	17.5	4
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cunningham	5,359	16.3	2
	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[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Fianna Fáil	Neil T. Blaney	30.0	10,325
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	18.7	6,432	6,527	6,934
	Independent	William A. W. Sheldon	17.5	6,016	6,035	6,087	7,084
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	13.2	4,561	5,211	5,280	5,425
	Fianna Fáil	Liam Cunningham	9.3	3,214	5,845	5,947	6,009
	Fine Gael	John McEleney	8.7	3,020	3,035	3,123
	Labour	John Joseph Nugent	2.5	868	895
Electorate: 45,742   Valid: 34,436   Quota: 6,888   Turnout: 75.28%

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[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Fianna Fáil	Neil T. Blaney	55.5	19,570
	Fine Gael	Joseph P. McGinley	40.4	14,250
	Clann na Poblachta	James O'Donnell	4.0	1,435
Electorate: 48,204   Valid: 35,255   Quota: 17,628   Turnout: 73.14%

1948 general election

1948 general election: Donegal East[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Fianna Fáil	Neal Blaney	23.9	8,291
	Independent	William A. W. Sheldon	16.8	5,820	5,832	5,838	5,908	6,181	6,515
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	16.5	5,733	5,785	5,807	7,521
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	14.8	5,153	5,439	5,483	5,518	5,559	5,781
	Fianna Fáil	James N. Doherty	10.8	3,756	4,654	4,762	4,774	4,789	5,012
	Clann na Poblachta	Seán McCool	9.3	3,217	3,242	3,923	3,974	4,222
	Fine Gael	John McLoughlin	5.5	1,912	1,918	1,932
	Clann na Poblachta	Hugh Diver	2.4	833	901
Electorate: 48,184   Valid: 34,715   Quota: 6,944   Turnout: 72.05%

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
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel McGlinchey	3,974	12.0
	Independent	William Sheldon	3,887	11.8	4
	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
	Independent	James Myles	3,595	10.4
	Clann na Talmhan	William Sheldon	3,373	9.8	4	8
	Fianna Fáil	Daniel McGlinchey	2,637	7.7
	Independent	Seán McCool	1,961	5.7
	Labour	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	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
	Fianna Fáil	John Friel	5,783	16.0	4
	Fianna Fáil	Henry McDevitt	5,093	14.1
	Fine Gael	Daniel McMenamin	4,836	13.4	3
	Fine Gael	John McLoughlin	4,398	12.2
Electorate: ?   Valid: 36,076   Quota: 7,216   Turnout:

See also

• Dáil constituencies
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• Historic Dáil constituencies
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. "Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act, 1935: First Schedule (Revised constituencies)". Irish Statute Book database. 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. "General election 1937: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
4. "General election 1938: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
5. "General election 1943: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
6. "General election 1944: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
7. "General election 1948: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
8. "By-election 1948: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
9. "General election 1951: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
10. "General election 1954: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
11. "General election 1957: Donegal East". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
12. Gallagher, Michael (2009). Irish Elections 1948–77: Results and Analysis Sources for the Study of Irish Politics 2. Routledge. ISBN 9781138973343.

External links

• Oireachtas Members Database