2019 Donegal County Council election

An election to all 37 seats on Donegal County Council took place on 24 May 2019 as part of the 2019 Irish local elections. County Donegal was divided into 7 local electoral areas to elect councillors for a five-year term of office on the electoral system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

Boundary changes

Following a recommendation of the 2018 Boundary Committee, the boundaries of the LEAs were altered from which had been used at the 2014 elections. Its terms of reference required no change in the total number of councillors but set a lower maximum LEA size of seven councillors, whereas Donegal in 2015 had LEAs of 10 and 9 seats. Other changes were necessitated by population shifts revealed by the 2016 census.

Overview

Fianna Fáil gained an additional seat to reach 12 and also saw a slight increase in their vote share. Anthony Molloy – who captained the Donegal GAA team to the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – won a seat for the party, as did rally driver Manus Kelly. However, Seamus O Domhnaill – Fianna Fáil's outgoing Cathaoirleach – was a notable casualty, as was former Senator Enda Bonner.
Unlike other performances around the State, Sinn Féin actually gained a seat in Donegal; increasing their numbers by 1 to 10 seats while seeing a slight reduction in vote share. Fine Gael retained 6 seats overall, while Independents saw a reduction of 2 seats. One Independent elected was John O'Donnell, who attracted controversy following an RTÉ Investigates programme into Irish councillors.