Donegal County Council: 'Abysmal that there are just 19 women out of 91 candidates'

“Women should be able to take their place in society and public life the same as anybody else.”

The words of Susan McGonagle on the front page of the Donegal Democrat 45 years ago this week still strike a chord.

On June 7, 1979, Donegal went to the polls and McGonagle became the first woman elected to Donegal County Council.

The Ballybofey woman, running under the Independent Fianna Fáil banner, was elected on the tenth count, usurping her party colleague Charles O'Donnell to claim the final of the six places up for grabs in the Letterkenny area.

“At last! A woman on the Council”, the Donegal Democrat's front page screamed the following week.

As Donegal again gets ready to cast its vote on June 7, McGonagle winces at the hard fact of only ten women following her into the chamber at the County House in Lifford.

In the history of Donegal County Council, only 12 women have served as councillors – and only 11 have ever been elected.

“I'm disappointed and surprised at the numbers,” McGonagle tells Donegal Live. “I'd have thought 45 years ago that, by now, there would be a whole lot more.

“When I was elected, I did notice that women were massively discriminated against. That was the case in all walks of life in the 1970s.

“I wasn't really supposed to get elected to be honest. I was really only there to gather up votes and to transfer the votes. I got thick and decided that I wanted more votes.”

In the last local elections in 2019, four of the 37 councillors elected were female. Late last year, Fianna Fáil Councillor Noreen McGarvey died following an illness. Marie Therese Gallagher (Sinn Féin) stepped away in February and Rena Donaghey is not seeking reelection, bowing out after 30 years in local politics.

This year, for the first time, there is a female candidate in each of Donegal's electoral areas. However, just 19 of the 91, or 20.9 percent of the candidates on the ballot papers this Friday are female. 

“We have a really long, long way to go,” says Killybegs-based Independent Niamh Kennedy, the only woman on the current Council seeking re-election. It is abysmal that there are just 19 women out of 91 candidates.

Women who have been Donegal County Councillors

Susan McGonagle

An Independent Fianna Fáil candidate and a chemist's assistant in Ballybofey, she was elected in the Letterkenny area in 1979, but did not seek re-election in 1985.

Maureen Doohan

Elected as a Fine Gael Councillor in the Glenties area in 1985, she retained her seat in 1991. Has the distinction of being the first woman to be the Mayor of Donegal. She lost her seat in the 1999 election.

Mary Coughlan

Co-opted onto the Council in 1986 after the death of her father, Cathal, the Fianna Fáil representative topped the poll, easing in on the first count in the Donegal area in 1991. Retained her seat in 1999. Also served as Tánaiste and was Minister for Agriculture.

Anne O'Donnell

The Kilmacrennan woman was co-opted to fill the seat of her husband, Eddie, who was killed in a road traffic collision in Sligo in 1993. Stood in 1999 in the Milford area, but was not election. Her son John is a current councillor seeking re-election this week.

Cecilia Keaveney

Co-opted onto the Council after the death of her father, Paddy, in 1995, she topped the poll in the Inishowen area for Fianna Fáil in 1999. Also served as a TD and a Senator.

Rena Donaghey

Having been elected as a Buncrana Town Councillor in 1994, Donaghey was elected onto Donegal County Council in 1999. Retained her seat at every subsequent election and was the Mayor of Donegal from 2020-21.

Alice Bonner

First elected onto the three-seater Stranorlar area in 1999 and the Fianna Fáil Councillor topped the poll in 2004, elected on the first count. Did not stand for re-election in 2009.

Marion McDonald

A Fianna Fáil candidate, she won a seat in Inishowen in the 2004 election. Stood for election again in 2009, but was not re-elected.

Cora Harvey

The Sinn Féin candidate roared to the top of the poll in the Stranorlar area in 2009, soaring in on the first count with 2,226 votes. Did not stand for re-election in 2014.

Marie Therese Gallagher

In 2007, she was co-opted to replace Pearse Doherty in the Glenties area. following his election as a TD. The Sinn Féin Councillor retained the seat in the 2009 election and retained the seat in both 2014 and 2019.

Niamh Kennedy

The Killybegs-based Independent topped the poll in the Donegal area in 2014. Topped the poll again in 2019 and is the only one of the four women elected five years ago whose name will be on the ballot paper this week.

Noreen McGarvey

A long-time worker alongside Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher, she entered politics herself and was elected as a Fianna Fáil Councillor in the Glenties area in 2019. Sadly died in December following an illness.

“You see it often where women are just used as sweepers. Rena would have seen that 30 years ago and we still see it now. Women need to be given more support and confidence.

“Women are huge advocates for areas and for the needs of their communities. A lot of women start out that way, but when it comes to actual politics maybe they are afraid of the level of scrutiny now.”

Donaghey was first elected in 1994, then to the now-defunct Buncrana Town Council. In 1999, Donaghey and Cecilia Keaveney, both Fianna Fáil, were elected to Donegal County Council.

Cecilia Keaveney who later served as a TD and a Senator

“I find that in community groups the percentage can be up to 90 for women, but that isn't replicated in politics, which means that they're not there for policy-making,” Donaghey says.

“The Cumanns and the Comhairle Ceantairs are predominantly male and I think that can be off-putting for women.”

“Only a small, a very small fraction of the 19 standing this week will be elected. We aren't going to have any great shakes with 19 candidates.”

Kennedy has topped the poll twice – and feels her independent standing has been a real strength.

“As a woman, I think that unless you go in as an Independent, there aren't many opportunities to put your name forward,” she says.

“I think that is why you see more independent women. Sinn Féin have a substantial number of women running (9), but they're put in close to well-established males. If they were really – and I mean really – serious, they'd put them into areas where they aren't populated.

“Sometimes it can feel like a token gesture. When I was running first, I was asked if I would run for a party. I thought about it, but said: 'No. I'm a community activist and I didn't want to be held back by a party.

“I went, pre-2014, to a conference in Letterkenny about women in politics. There were a large number of parties at it and they were scanning around for potentials really. Honestly, if I had gone with them I believe I still wouldn't have been elected.” 

On Kennedy's first day in the County House, the gender imbalance hit home when she enquired as to the location of the ladies' toilets.

“The ladies was actually upstairs, away from the chamber,” she reflected last year.

McGonagle, a sister of Patsy, the former Irish athletics team manager, could relate.

“There was no ladies' toilet when I was elected,” she says. “There was a men's toilet with a speaker and all in it so they could hear what was going on.

“I had to go right up to the manager's office, which was quite a distance away in the building.

“I actually made a request to a solicitor, basically asking if this was fair because things were getting moved purposely on agendas. It all came back to say that, no it wasn't right. After that, every time I went out to the toilet the meeting was suspended. At times, I used to take ages on purpose.”

Donaghey is one of only three women to have served as the Mayor of Donegal, following on from Maureen Doohan and Cora Harvey.

The rise of social media has been a huge issue for politicians.

“The online abuse is really off-putting for people,” Kennedy says. “No matter what the top, someone can always put something up that could take the good out of it.”

McGonagle saw an ugly side to life in the Council.

“A couple of times, male councillors even threatened to hit me,” she says. “Funny, they never would have threatened to hit each other.

“To tell the truth, I don't think they knew how to treat me. Some of the younger ones would attack me and try to intimidate me.

“It was tough. Meetings went on for a long time and they could be rough enough.”

While Donaghey has avoided any personal incidents herself, she was on the phone to party colleague Marion McDonald when she was attacked by an intruder in her Moville home in July 2006.

McDonald had two large pieces of glass pushed to her throat by a hooded man who ordered her not to support a plan to build a sewage treatment plant near the town. No-one has ever been brought to justice for the incident.

“For most of my time as a councillor, I was a woman on my own,” Donaghey says. “To be honest, it was neither a negative nor a positive for me. I was always treated well myself and I got on very well with the fellow councillors.”

As she gets ready to pull the curtain down, Donaghey hastily adds of the imbalance: “It's totally disappointing. It has to change. It really has to change.”

The work of Michelle Maher, the programme manager with See Her Elected (SHE), a rural strategy to address the under-representation of women in politics in rural Ireland, has been highlighted as a real positive.

However, there is much to be done.

“If you even look at the top table of Donegal County Council, there is not one female director,” Kennedy points out. “That needs to be considered.

“See Her Elected is a fantastic organisation and they are a great help to female councillors.”

She believes the resignation of Gallagher in the Glenties area and the co-option of Brian Carr represented a “missed chance for a female to get in there”.

Two women who began political life in the chamber in Lifford have gone on to Dáil Éireann.

Keaveney served as a TD from 1996-2007 having been co-opted onto the Council in 1995 following the death of her father, Paddy, while Mary Coughlan served as Tánaiste between 2008-11 and was also Minister for Agriculture.

“In five years' time, it would be great if we could get a 50-50 split,” Kennedy adds.

“That just won't happen unless we get change – dramatic change.”