The Donegal Progressive Party was a minor political party in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. The party drew its support mostly from the unionist and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

community in eastern

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

. It was opposed to a

united Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...

. At the 1973 general election, the party's leader advised Protestants to vote for

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

, as it had "the most stable policy" on the border question. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, the party held a single seat on

Donegal County Council Donegal County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Dhún na nGall) is the authority responsible for local government in County Donegal, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hou ...

, but it lost this at the 1999 local elections. Jim Devenney, a butcher and member of the East Donegal Ulster Scots Association and the former deputy chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency, was the party's final representative, also contested Donegal North-East at the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

general elections, and stood in Letterkenny again in 2004.Jim Devenney
, ElectionsIreland.org The party was removed from the Register of Political Parties in November 2009.

References

Unionism in Ireland Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland Political parties disestablished in 2009 Politics of County Donegal 2009 disestablishments in Ireland {{Republic-of-Ireland-party-stub