MR GEORGE JONES, the Greystones-based county councillor, has been added to the Fine Gael ticket in Wicklow by the party's national executive as part of a three-candidate strategy.
He joins Mr Billy Timmins, son of retiring Fine Gael TD Mr Godfrey Timmins, and Mr Tom Honan, an Arklow-based county councillor, the party's candidate in the 1995 by-election. They were chosen at a selection convention in Aughrim early today.
As the convention got underway, delegates were told by the party's national director of elections, Mr Mark FitzGerald, that they were to chose two candidates and that Mr Jones would be added to the ticket. This was decided by the party's national executive yesterday.
Mr Jones left the party in 1992 following the imposition of Senator Shane Ross as a general election candidate.
Mr FitzGerald told delegates that if the reconciliation with Mr Jones was to have any reality he would have to be on the ticket. "It is a political decision by the Taoiseach to bring about reconciliation in Wicklow," he said.
The surprise move clearly disappointed some delegates, most notably those supporting the journalist and broadcaster, Ms Ruth Buchanan, wife of Senator Ross, who was approached by the party to run in recent weeks.
