FIANNA FÁIL FORMER junior minister Barry Andrews has been selected as the party’s candidate for the upcoming European elections in Dublin. 

In what was a high-profile race, Andrews beat competition from ex-ministers Mary Hanafin and Conor Lenihan and marriage equality campaigner Tiernan Brady to get the nomination.

Andrews was chosen by members voting at a convention held in Lansdowne Rugby Club yesterday.

The candidate will now run for one of the four Dublin MEP seats.

The Dublin constituency had three seats in the election five years ago but has now been awarded another seat after a reallocation of seats that came as a result of Brexit. None of the three seats are currently held by Fianna Fái.

Andrews is a former TD who served as a minister of state for children in Brian Cowen’s government. He also sat at cabinet during that time. He is from a strong Fianna Fáil family with his father David a former minister for foreign affairs. 

Having lost his seat in the 2011 general election, Andrews served as the CEO of aid charity GOAL and having resigned from that position he became director general of think-tank the Institute of International and European Affairs. 

Accepting the nomination yesterday, Andrews said it was a “crucial time for Europe and Ireland” and that the capital needed strong representation.

“Dublin has been without a Fianna Fáil voice in Brussels and Strasbourg for too long. It is clear from the level of engagement in this selection process, the membership of the party are determined to fix that and I am very excited at the prospect of working with them,” he said.

Party leader Micheál Martin made reference to the high-profile nature of the nomination race, saying that “four formidable advocates for our party have put a huge effort into this selection process”.