Editing County Donegal (section)

==Government and politics==
===Local government===
[[Donegal County Council]] has been in existence since 1899 and has responsibility for local administration. It is headquartered at the [[County House, Lifford|County House]] in Lifford. Elections to the County Council take place every five years. Thirty-seven councillors are elected using the system of [[proportional representation]] by means of the [[single transferable vote]] (STV). The county is divided into the following [[local electoral area]]s: [[Buncrana]] (5 seats), [[Carndonagh]] (4), Donegal (6), [[Glenties]] (6), Letterkenny (7), Lifford–Stranorlar (6) and Milford (3).<ref>{{cite ISB |signedby=[[John Paul Phelan]], [[Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage|Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government]] |title=County of Donegal Local Electoral Areas Order 2018 |year=2018|type=si|num=613|access-date=7 October 2023 |date=19 December 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604223913/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/si/613/made/en/print |archive-date=4 June 2021 }}</ref>

Donegal County Council has three representatives on the [[Northern and Western Regional Assembly]].<ref name=si573 />

Council elections are held every 5 years, with the next election due to be held in June 2029. The [[2024 Donegal County Council election|2024 Donegal local election]] had a voter turnout of 54.7%. The highest turnout was at Milford (63.1%) and the lowest was at Letterkenny (51.4%).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/elections-2024/2024/0611/1454079-donegal-round-up/ |title=Elections 2024: Donegal County Council round-up  |date=11 June 2024 |publisher=RTÉ |accessdate=17 July 2024 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|+ Results of the [[2024 Donegal County Council election]]
|- 
!colspan=2|Party
!Seats
! {{abbr|FPv%|First preference votes percentage}}
! % Change since [[2019 Donegal County Council election|2019]]
! Seat Change since 2019
|-
| {{party name with color|Fianna Fáil}}
| style="text-align:right;"|10 || style="text-align:right;"| 22.8% || {{Decrease}} 6.6% || {{Decrease}} 2
|-
| {{party name with color|Sinn Féin}}
| style="text-align:right;"|10 || style="text-align:right;"| 21.9% || {{Increase}} 2.5% || {{nochange}}
|-
| {{party name with color|100% Redress}}
| style="text-align:right;"|4 || style="text-align:right;"| 9.7% || ''New'' || ''New''
|-
| {{party name with color|Fine Gael}}
| style="text-align:right;"|3 || style="text-align:right;"| 10.5% || {{Decrease}} 8.0% || {{Decrease}} 3
|-
| {{party name with color|Labour Party (Ireland)}}
| style="text-align:right;"|1 || style="text-align:right;"| 2.0% || {{Decrease}} 0.7% || {{nochange}}
|-
| {{party name with color|Independent politician (Ireland)}}
| style="text-align:right;"|9 || style="text-align:right;"| 28.5% || {{Increase}} 2.3% || {{Increase}} 1
|}

===Former districts===
Until 2014, there were town councils in Letterkenny, [[Bundoran]], Ballyshannon and Buncrana. The town councils were abolished in June 2014 when provisions of the [[Local Government Reform Act 2014]] was commenced<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/act/1/enacted/en/html |title=Local Government Reform Act 2014 |date= |website=Irish Statute Book |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105202738/https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/act/1/enacted/en/html |url-status=live }}</ref> and their functions were taken over by Donegal County Council.

===National elections===
The [[Dáil constituency]] of [[Donegal (Dáil constituency)|Donegal constituency]] (5 [[Teachta Dála|TDs]]) covers almost the entire county, with the exception of a small area in southern Donegal around Bundoran and Ballyshannon, which is part of the [[Sligo–Leitrim (Dáil constituency)|Sligo–Leitrim constituency]].<ref name=ea_2017>{{cite ISB |name=[[Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017]] |schedule=y |year=2017 |number=39 |access-date=4 October 2021 |archive-date=18 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205639/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2017/act/39/schedule/enacted/en/html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.constituency-commission.ie/docs/Constit-Rep-2012-Chap-1.pdf |title=Constituency Commission Report 2012 – Introduction and summary of recommendation |work=[[Constituency Commission]] |date=21 June 2012 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119112701/http://www.constituency-commission.ie/docs/Constit-Rep-2012-Chap-1.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Historically, the county was represented in the [[Parliament of Ireland]] through the [[Donegal Borough (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Donegal Borough]] constituency, which lasted from 1613 to 1800, when the Irish Parliament was abolished. Following the [[Acts of Union 1800|Act of Union]], the county was represented in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster]] through the [[Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)|Donegal]] constituency until 1885. Following this, the county was broken up into four separate constituencies – [[North Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)|North Donegal]], [[South Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)|South Donegal]], [[East Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)|East Donegal]] and [[West Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)|West Donegal]] – which persisted until independence. The [[Government of Ireland Act 1920 (Parliamentary and Dáil constituencies)|Government of Ireland Act 1920]] reformed the four constituencies into a single entity covering "the administrative county of Donegal". This was broken up into [[Donegal East (Dáil constituency)|Donegal East]] and [[Donegal West (Dáil constituency)|Donegal West]] from 1937 to 1977, and into [[Donegal North-East (Dáil constituency)|Donegal North-East]] and [[Donegal South-West (Dáil constituency)|Donegal South-West]] from 1981 to 2016.

<gallery class="center" caption="Donegal's current representatives ([[2024 Irish general election|2024 General Election]])">

File:Pearse Doherty, August 2024 (cropped).jpg|[[Pearse Doherty]], <br /> ''[[Sinn Féin]]''
File:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn 2020.jpg|[[Pádraig Mac Lochlainn]], <br /> ''[[Sinn Féin]]''
File:Charles Ward 2024 (cropped).jpg|[[Charles Ward (Irish politician)|Charles Ward]], <br /> ''[[100% Redress]]''
File:Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP 1.jpg|[[Pat "the Cope" Gallagher]], <br /> ''[[Fianna Fáil]]''
File:Charlie McConalogue 2024 (cropped).jpg|[[Charlie McConalogue]], <br /> ''[[Fianna Fáil]]''
</gallery>

===Referendums===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:1em; font-size:95%;"
|+ Donegal vote|Outlier Votes in Referendums
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Proposal
! Donegal Result
! National Result
|-
| |[[Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958|3 (1958)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|61.2% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''51.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968|3 (1968)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|51.4% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''60.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968|4 (1968)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|51.2% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''60.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|13 (1992)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|60.1% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''62.4%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|14 (1992)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|58.4% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''59.9%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|15 (1995)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|59.3% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''50.3%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|25 (2002)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|68.8% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''50.4%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|28 (2009)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|50.8% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''67.1%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|30 (2012)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|55.3% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''60.4%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|31 (2012)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|58.0% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''58.0%''' ''Yes''
|- 
| |[[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|36 (2018)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|51.9% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''66.4%''' ''Yes''
|}
Donegal voters have a reputation nationally for being "conservative and contrarian", and have often voted against amendments to the [[Irish constitution]] which received broad support in the rest of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/donegal-says-yes-2101162-May2015/ |title=Even Donegal voted YES in the marriage referendum |work=[[TheJournal.ie]] |date=23 May 2015 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213343/https://www.thejournal.ie/donegal-says-yes-2101162-May2015/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, voters in the county have also supported several referendums which were not enacted. The trend first emerged in 1958, when voters in Donegal overwhelmingly voted to alter the [[electoral system]] from [[proportional representation]] to [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] in a referendum which was defeated nationally.

In 1968, voters in the county backed two separate bills which were also widely rejected nationwide. The first vote was to allow rural constituencies to elect a disproportionate number of [[Teachta Dála|TDs]]. Thirty-four constituencies voted against the amendment and four voted in favour, two of which were [[Donegal North-East (Dáil constituency)|Donegal North-East]] and [[Donegal South-West (Dáil constituency)|Donegal South-West]]. In the second vote, both Donegal constituencies again voted for the introduction of a [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] system, which was rejected.
[[File:Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill, 2009 map (results by constituency).png|150px|left|thumbnail|Second referendum on the [[Treaty of Lisbon]]]]
The [[Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|23rd Amendment]] permitting the State to join the [[International Criminal Court]] in 2001 received the lowest support in Donegal, with just 55.8% of voters backing the proposal, compared with 64.2% nationally. Donegal is the only county to have voted against the [[Treaty of Lisbon]] twice, in 2008 and 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/donegal-got-no-lisbon-opt-out-1216918 |title=Donegal got no Lisbon opt-out |date=26 July 2016 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215321/https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/donegal-got-no-lisbon-opt-out-1216918 |url-status=live}}</ref> Voters in the county also rejected both the Fiscal Treaty and the referendum on [[Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|children's rights and state care]] in 2012.

On the issue of [[abortion]] and [[right to life]] vs [[Abortion-rights movements|pro-choice]], Donegal has consistently been the most conservative county in Ireland. In 1992, two referendums on the issue were held. The first was an amendment which specified that the State could not limit the freedom of travel of women seeking abortions abroad. The second specified that the distribution of information about abortion services available in other countries was not unlawful. In contrast to the rest of Ireland, Donegal voted decisively against these amendments.

The [[Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|twenty-fifth]] amendment in 2002 to tighten the ban on abortion in Ireland received the most support in Donegal. Nationally, 50.42% of voters voted against the amendment, whereas 68.8% of voters in Donegal voted in favour of it. In May 2018, Donegal was the [[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|only county]] in Ireland to vote against the repeal of the [[Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Eighth Amendment of the Constitution]] which had acknowledged the right to life of the unborn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/life-is-precious-donegal-quietly-defiant-after-voting-no-in-referendum |title='Life is precious': Donegal quietly defiant after voting no in referendum |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 May 2018 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213502/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/life-is-precious-donegal-quietly-defiant-after-voting-no-in-referendum |url-status=live}}</ref> In October 2018, 48.5% of voters in Donegal voted against [[Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|repealing the offence]] of publishing or uttering [[blasphemous]] matter, the highest of any county and significantly above the national total of 35.15%.

In the [[2024 Irish constitutional referendums|2024 constitutional referendums]], Donegal had the highest votes for "no" in the country where 80% voted "no" to family and 84% voted "no" to care.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-09 |title=Irish referendums: Voters reject changes to family and care definition |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68484651.amp |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=BBC News |language=en-gb}}</ref>

===European elections===
The county is in the [[Midlands–North-West (European Parliament constituency)|Midlands–North-West]] constituency (5 seats) for elections to the [[European Parliament]]. Two candidates from Donegal contested the [[2024 European Parliament election in Ireland]]. They were [[Peter Casey]] and Senator [[Niall Blaney]].{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}