Only one of five candidates selected to run for Fianna Fáil in next year's local election attended the selection convention in Castlebar, Co Mayo, on Sunday. Only 20 people attended the meeting which was chaired by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív.
Despite the poor turnout, Mr Ó Cuív was adamant the result stood. "There was no need for a vote on Sunday. I had five names officially nominated by their respective cumanns in front of me, and there are five places on the party ticket for the six-seater constituency of Castlebar, and so the five nominees were accepted and their names now go to Dublin for ratification."
He said it was unusual that so few turned up for a convention. "Only one of the five nominees was actually present, new candidate Iarla Duffy. . . " said the Minister.
The chairman of Castlebar Comhairle Ceantair, sitting councillor and one of the nominees, Mr Al McDonnell, said yesterday that "as a candidate I was not officially notified of the convention. On August 28th last, it was unanimously agreed that the date of September 14th for a selection convention was too soon. We asked headquarters to defer it until November or December, and we heard no more until last Friday, when some cumann were informed."
The other candidates nominated though not present, Mr Aidan Crowley, Mr Sean Bourke and Mr George O'Malley, gave similar explanations yesterday. "It's a clear case of Dublin trying to push around the local party members, and we won't have it," said Mr O'Malley.
"Dublin got a clear indication of the local view but chose to ignore it".