FIANNA FÁIL HAS confirmed that former minister Conor Lenihan has failed to win sufficient support to contest the party’s internal selection convention in Roscommon-Galway.
But Lenihan, a former TD for Dublin South-West, this evening said he thought he had been nominated having spoken to people on the ground in the constituency yesterday.
When contacted by TheJournal.ie, Lenihan was unaware that he was not among the ten nominees for the forthcoming Fianna Fáil selection convention.
“I was of the view that I had been nominated,” he told this website.
However, a party spokesperson confirmed that the former junior minister was not among the ten nominees which includes five councillors and four party activists and members.
A nominee requires the support of five members or one cumann (local organisation).
Asked if he was disappointed, Lenihan said he was not.
“I put myself forward, I never said I was forcing myself on the constituency,” he insisted.
If people had wanted me I would be willing to stand but if there is no consensus I am not worried one way or the other. It’s not a big issue for me.
Lenihan was a TD in Dublin South-West for 14 years prior to losing his seat in the 2011 general election. He has strong family ties to Roscommon where his father Brian was a TD in the 1960s.
He said in August he had been approached by “very senior figures” about the possibility of running in the Roscommon-Galway constituency at the next general election.
“For me to become a candidate in Roscommon it would require a lot of local political support from members and senior figures. So I am gauging that at the moment to see if support is there,” he said at the time.
He is currently based out of Moscow where he has worked for the Skolkovo Foundation. He also sits on the borad of San Leon Energy.
Among the Fianna Fáil nominees are councillors Orla Leyden, the daughter of senator Terry Leyden, and Rachel Doherty, the daughter of the late former justice minister Sean Doherty.
Councillor Ivan Connaughton, who failed to win a Dáil seat in the Roscommon-South Leitrim by-election last year, is also among those hoping to win the nomination.
There is no date for the convention as yet and the party’s national constituencies committee has yet to decide on what strategy Fianna Fáil should pursue.
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