By Diarmaid Doherty
THE Taoiseach Simon Harris will be in Donegal today as the general election campaign swings firmly into gear.
He will visit Letterkenny later this afternoon and he’ll then stop off in Ballybofey and Stranorlar as part of a visit to the North West.
It comes just three days after the Dáil was dissolved on Friday and the General Election officially called for Friday, November 29.
Mr Harris has already visited a number of constituencies around the country over the past number of days and his trip to Donegal will be a timely boost to the election campaigns of his party candidates here, Senator Nikki Bradley and John McNulty.
There will be a walk-about of Letterkenny’s Main Street with the Fine Gael delegation starting out their canvass at Hatch’d Coffee Shop at Upper Main Street at 4.30pm.
The group hope to be in Ballybofey from 5.30pm and will begin a canvass of the Twin Towns from 5.30pm starting out at the Mace store on Pound Street.
It promises to be a busy day on the election trail with Minister Charlie McConalogue’s election team also planning a canvass of Letterkenny today.
He was in Milford on Saturday and visited the Glengad area of Inishowen yesterday.
His party colleague Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher has enjoyed a busy canvass in the South West of the county, Finn Valley and the south Donegal area.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Gallagher said the campaign has been going well.
“We have been getting a tremendous response, and one thing that we have taken advantage of over the weekend is the good weather,” he added.
Mr. Gallagher will once again face strong opposition in the south west part of the county from Independent Thomas Pringle who is seeking re-election and who has also been very active on the campaign trail.
Sinn Féin are also busy on the canvass with Padraig Mac Lochlainn concentrating on his local Inishowen area today while Pearse Doherty and newly confirmed candidate, Cllr Noel Jordan concentrating on the old Donegal South West constituency area.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald visited Donegal towards the end of October and it’s expected she will be back in the county as part of the party’s canvass efforts before November 29.
Meanwhile over the weekend, another new candidate was added to the list of those seeking election in Donegal.
People Before Profit announced that Carol Gallagher will seek a seat on behalf of the party in the Donegal constituency.
Ms Gallagher was recently a party candidate in the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections in West Tyrone and also contested the Derry City and Strabane District Council election last year in the Sperrin District.
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