Competition for the Labour Party's election nomination in South Tipperary took a new turn today when party leader Mr Pat Rabbitte announced the recruitment of local councillor Ms Phil Prendergast.
The party is hoping to win back the Michael Ferris seat, which he held from 1989 until his sudden death in March 2000. Mr Rabbitte today presented Ms Prendergast today as his newest recruit to further this aim.
The midwife, who served as mayor of Clonmel last year, will now compete with Cllr Denis Landy, who is the leader of the Labour Group on South Tipperary County Council, for the party's nomination.
Cllr Prendergast left the local Workers Unemployed Action Group earlier this year after she clashed with the party's leader and sole TD, Seamus Healy.
Speaking outside the Dáil today, she claimed Mr Healy's national agenda differed from hers, although his opposition to a Fine Gael Dáil motion condemning the killers of Belfast man Robert McCartney is understood to have sparked her exit.
A strong poll performer in South Tipperary, she dramatically beat the Fianna Fáil candidate to finish runner-up in the 2001 by-election won by Tom Hayes of Fine Gael.
Cllr Landy said he was "pleased to have her [Ms Prendergast] in the party in south Tipperary." He insisted the pair would "work together" to win back the seat for Labour but also confirmed he would also seek the nomination himself.
Mr Rabbitte will be hoping that Cllr Prendergast can boost his 21 seats to form a government with Fine Gael after the next general election.
He said today that he was very confident the local Labour Party would "make the right decision" when it came to candidate selection but said he "would have thought there would only be one candidate".
Mr Rabbitte won backing at his party conference last month to enter into an electoral pact with Fine Gael.
However he suffered a setback this week when Dublin North TD Seán Ryan announced he was not seeking re-election.
