[4] With ten seats available, O'Donnell finished in third position – behind Ciaran Brogan and ahead of Ian McGarvey (both electoral veterans).

O'Donnell was one of three politicians secretly filmed for Standards in Public Office, which aired on RTÉ One straight after the Nine O'Clock News on 8 December 2015.

[2] O'Donnell met with the imaginary representative of the imaginary company, who secretly filmed him offering to find either an established wind farm or land that could be bought, and that he would assist in lobbying his fellow members of Donegal County Council to support wind farms, which RTÉ described as "extremely controversial in many rural areas".

"[2] In April 2018, the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) announced that O'Donnell would face an ethics hearing on 11 September as part of its response to the programme.

He appeared in court later that month on two counts of assaulting two men on 23 February 2015, one at a bus stop in Gortlee, Letterkenny, and the other at a kebab and pizza takeaway elsewhere in the town.

[12] The prosecution barrister said O'Donnell punched and kicked the man's face, fracturing his nasal bones and causing him to spend eight days in hospital and to require surgery.