DONEGAL FIANNA Fáil TD Niall Blaney caused a major surprise last night by announcing he would not be contesting the general election.
His decision to stand down followed an earlier announcement yesterday by another prominent party TD, Noel O’Flynn, that he would not be seeking re-election.
The party leader, Micheál Martin, said he had asked Mr O’Flynn to consider not contesting his seat in the Cork North Central constituency, which he shares with Fianna Fáil Minister of State Billy Kelleher.
“He took that very generous decision, and I commend him for it. That enables us in Cork North Central to put the entire effort behind one candidate, junior Minister Billy Kelleher, who is a strong candidate and has a bright future ahead of him in Irish politics,” Mr Martin said.
Mr O’Flynn said it was the most difficult decision of his political career but he decided on Friday to withdraw from the election to try to ensure the party retained one seat in the constituency.
Mr O’Flynn called on either Mary Hanafin or Barry Andrews to leave the Dún Laoghaire constituency and stand in Dublin South in the interests of the party.
Last night Mr Blaney caused a major shock to local party activists when it emerged he would not be seeking to retain his seat in Donegal North East.
Mr Blaney did not turn up last night at the party’s selection convention in Letterkenny, after telling supporters he was not putting his name forward, for “personal reasons”.
It had been expected that Mr Blaney,Senator Cecelia Keaveney and Inishowen county councillor Charlie McConalogue would contest the election, but Senator Keaveney pulled out of the race on Saturday .
Cllr McConalogue was the only name put forward for selection before more than 300 delegates.
Commenting on Mr Blaney’s decision not to run, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said she was “slightly taken aback” by the news. “I was not advised on the way over to convention that Niall had decided to step down,” she said, adding that she was only told just before the convention started.