Updated 10.05am
THE FORMER LABOUR Party chairman and Galway East TD Colm Keaveney is joining Fianna Fail today.
The move comes ahead of next year’s European elections where Keaveney had been tipped to run as an independent candidate in Midlands North West.
But TheJournal.ie understands he will NOT run for Europe.
A Fianna Fáil spokesperson confirmed that Keaveney has applied to join the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party and that his application will be discussed at a meeting of the PP at 12pm in Leinster House.
Keaveney could not be contacted for comment this morning but tweeted in Latin that ‘fortune favours the brave’:
Keaveney has applied to take the Fianna Fáil whip following two to three weeks of discussions and once his application is approved today he is expected to hold a press conference at 1.30pm.
A source said that Keaveney has found that he is in "broad agreement" with the party over many issues in recent months.
"The party culture seems to be a very good one," the source said, adding that there was a lot of "good work" being done by Micheál Martin in reforming the party and introducing one member-one vote.
Keaveney lost the Labour whip in December 2012 after voting against social welfare cuts.
He then resigned from the party altogether last summer after months of tension caused by his continuing role as party chairman despite no longer being a member of its parliamentary ranks.
Keaveney was praised by Fianna Fáil as recently as October when the party's health spokesperson Billy Kelleher described him as "a fine deputy" in the Dáil chamber during a row over attempts by Labour to remove him from an Oireachtas committee.
First published 9.32am
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