Sunday was a night of surprises and rumour following last night’s Fianna Fáil selection convention in Letterkenny and of course the speculation factory will kick into overdrive today as the fall-out of last night’s events take hold.
There can be no doubt that Niall Blaney’s decision not to contest the election took most by surprise. Deputy Blaney did not attend the convention and reports on today’s Donegaldaily.com say long-time supporter Donal Coyle read a short statement to the meeting to say that he would not seek a nomination ‘for personal reasons’ and wished success to the Fianna Fáil candidate(s) selected.
It has been suggested however that Deputy Blaney had already been spotted canvassing in Letterkenny last week and if that is the case, something it would seem, has led to a sudden change of heart.
His decision led the way for Charlie McConalogue to be selected as the party’s sole candidate for Fianna Fáil in Donegal North East, but it’s already thought that a second candidate will be added to the ticket and speculation is mounting on who that might be.
Letterkenny based councillor Dessie Larkin has already declared an interest in seeking the nomination according to reports on Highland Radio this morning, but Liam Blaney – Niall’s brother may also be in the running.
A tweet from Sunday’s night’s convention suggested there was a huge cheer from those in attendance when Pat the Cope Gallagher said “he would bet this was not the last we’d see of the Blaneys” – but it remains unclear as yet whether Liam Blaney wants to seek a nomination.
Meanwhile the dust had barely settled on the news that Niall Blaney would not seek a nomination, when the rumour mill went into overdrive suggesting that Tánaiste Mary Coughlan - who had already been selected as a Fianna Fáil candidate for Donegal South-West - may not now contest the election after all.
Twitter, Facebook and text messaging services flew into overdrive into the early hours to that effect leading to a statement this morning from An Tánaiste in which she ‘rubbished’ the suggestions.
Amidst all that Senator Cecilia Keaveney has indicated that she might not seek a return to the Seanad, adding that she remains a member of Fianna Fáil and might seek a return to the Dáil in the future.
And they used to say politics in Donegal was predictable…
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