VASECTOMY rights, internal party splits and a bitter family row - with such ingredients, Donegal North East presents an explosive recipe. Gone are the days when this three seater was one of the most predictable in the State.
The death of Neil Blaney has ended all that. Last year's closely fought by election to replace the Independent Fianna Fail (IFF) TD was a taste of things to come. His brother, Harry, failed to retain the seat and the Inishowen peninsula returned its first TD, Cecilia Keaveney, in some years.
Inishowen will want to keep its TD, a daughter of the late Paddy Keaveney, a former councillor and Blaneyite. But Harry Blaney is determined to fight back and of the two Fianna Fail sitting deputies, Dr Jim McDaid is regarded as the more vulnerable. The recent row over a vasectomy clinic in Letterkenny will have done Blaney no harm at all in the "family values" quarter.
Letterkenny is thriving, as reflected in a new library and arts centre. The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, has approved a £1.5 million grant for a new theatre. The Labour Party candidate, Senator Sean Maloney, is keen to make hay out of all this and the fact that support for the two main parties slipped in the by election.
The former SIPTU official and psychiatric nurse, who drew smiles in the Seanad with his quip that the vasectomy clinic's work should represent the only "cuts in Letterkenny hospital" this year, has charisma to match his wit. A constituency which was long ignored has done well out of the present coalition Government, he says.
Elected to Donegal County Council in 1991, Maloney contested both the 1992 general election and last year's by election, recording 3,791 first preference votes. He is targeting about 4,500 votes this time and has identified education - specifically the upgrading of the RTC - and unemployment as his main platforms.
The senator won't be expecting any transfer favours from Fianna Fail; Fianna Fail Labour enmity has a particularly personal slant in Donegal North East.
Bernard McGlinchey, the colourful Fianna Fail director of elections first persuaded Dr Jim McDaid to run. There is no love lost between McGlinchey and Maloney over the former's dispute with the Letterkenny RTC students' union in 1994.
McGlinchey believes his party will help to form the next government, given that Bertie Ahern is, in his view, "the Tony Blair of Irish politics".
Donegal divisions extend to Fine Gael. The two Fine Gael candidates - the sitting TD, Paddy Harte, and Cllr Jim Sheridan - are conducting independent campaigns. Harte's seat appears safe enough, though some say he has done little for his home town of Raphoe.
However, expenditure by the International Fund for Ireland in smaller Border towns and the sterling pound ratio have contributed to a certain "feel good factor" for his Government.
One of north Donegal's best known solicitors, Paudge Dorrian, indicated he might run as an independent Fine Gael candidate, which could affect the two nominees. Dorrian, who has a court reputation to match UTV's Kavanagh QC, was narrowly defeated at two selection conventions over the past 12 months.
He has been a member of the party since 1953. Law and order is one of his main platforms but with a human rights dimension. Garda abuse is out of hand in the county, he says, and the Public Order Act is being taken advantage of "right, left and centre".
He is also concerned with safety at sea, given that fishing is a major employer. He represented relatives of some of those who drowned when the Carrickatine sank in November 1995, and believes the official report into the accident should be released.
Sinn Fein's Pat Doherty is an unknown quantity. The party's vice president, he did well in West Tyrone in the British election, polled almost 3 per cent of the vote in the Donegal North East by election and will benefit from any peace initiative taken before June 6th.
Cllr Jim Devenney, who also ran during the by election for the Donegal Progressive Party, will draw in some of the "Protestant vote".
In the end, Keaveney is expected to hold her seat for Fianna Fail, as is Harte for Fine Gael. Expect a tussle for the third seat between McDaid, Blaney and Maloney, with McDaid holding on.
