Profile: Pearse Doherty (SF)
Donegal: Second TD elected of five
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty (38) had a great election campaign and was effective in disrupting what should have been an unambiguous success for Fine Gael on its pledge to abolish of the universal social charge. His grasp of the finance brief was highlighted by his party leader’s stumbles on financial matters. The effect has been to make him look an ever likelier contender for the leadership when Gerry Adams decides to stand down. He also performed well on the Public Account Committee’s banking inquiry, whose report he did not sign off on. His campaigning zeal was in evidence from the outset when his party took a High Court action over the delay in holding a byelection in Donegal South-West which eventually went ahead in 2010 because of his case, and which he won.
