Fine Gael sources have confirmed to Ocean FM that they face an uphill battle to retain a seat in Sligo-Leitrim.
A Party Spokesperson has laid the blame on the long drawn out selection process where both Gerry Reynolds and Cllr Sinead Maguire the original candidates selected both withdrew their names from the ticket.
Party Sources claim their chances were further impacted by the fact Cllr Thomas Walsh was a first-time candidate and was not well known outside of Sligo. The party’s other candidate, Senator Frank Feighan, was operating from the smallest part of the constituency as regards potential votes.
Party officials felt their best chance of retaining a seat was if the Sligo based candidate stayed above the ‘Leitrim’ candidate, however all the indications are that this is not likely to happen with Frank Feighan performing stronger than Thomas Walsh in the exit poll.
The party are still waiting to see what the tally figures from the Leitrim and Roscommon boxes will produce, but as thing stand, the presence of Marian Harkin in the race for possibly the last seat in the four-seat constituency leaves them with a major battle to return a TD to the next Dáil.
View the latest tally figures here.
