Donegal island shelters neutral party on boat (7)
I believe the answer is:
gondola
'boat' is the definition.
(I know that gondola is a type of boat)
'donegal island shelters neutral party' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'neutral' could be 'n' (abbreviation in electronics) and 'n' is found in the answer.
'party' could be 'do' (do can informally mean a party) and 'do' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'on' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gondola that I've seen before include "Supermarket display unit" , "Compartment suspended from an airship" , "Venetian boat - airship car" , "Goon lad (anag.)" , "Venice craft" .)