Over 1,000 members of Fine Gael will decide this evening who the party will put forward in the Sligo/Leitrim constituency ahead of the next General Election.
Eight candidates in total have put their names forward for the convention that takes place in the Clayton Hotel in Sligo.
1,122 delegates are eligible to vote in tonight’s convention in what will be one of the most closely watched party conventions ahead of the next election.
Former Fine Gael John Perry will attempt to make his political comeback, and he has insisted that his decision to mount a legal challenge against the party after he was not selected as Fine Gael candidate for the constituency at the 2016 general election was now “water under the bridge” and he said he believed people respected him “for standing firm” at the time.
He is one of eight candidates seeking the party nomination in a constituency where delegates and the national executive will be mindful of the furore after Mr Perry was not selected in 2015. He subsequently told the High Court that the convention was fundamentally flawed, unlawful and involved serious irregularities.
The other candidates are former TD Gerry Reynolds, Senator Frank Feighan and former Senator Michael Comiskey, Sligo County Cllrs Hubery Keeney and Sinead McGuire, Fine Gael constituency Chairman Noel Merrick and Fine Gael TD Tony McLoughlins parliamentary assistant, Blane Gaffney.
The convention gets underway tonight at 8pm in the Clayton Hotel in Sligo, the results should be known 11pm.
