Fine Gael selection convention for Cavan Monaghan this evening

As Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald tendered her resignation from Government Cabinet at lunchtime today (Tuesday) thus avoiding a snap election, locally Fine Gael members were preparing to host their selection convention to declare their party candidates for the next general election.

Organised for the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan when it looked like the government may fall, at time of going to print, indications were the selection process would go ahead.
This was also despite concerns that the Constituency Commission’s recommendations to reunite the Cavan-Monaghan constituency as a five-seater to conform with population increases had not, as yet, been implemented.
Along with Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys standing for re-election and Senator Joe O’Reilly seeking to regain his seat, others up for selection include former county councillor Sean McKiernan and Virginia-based auctioneer Fintan Cahill.
Former Cathaoirleach, Mr McKiernan lost his seat on the Council in 2014; while Mr Cahill last put his name forward as a candidate to represent the party during the 2009 local election but was unsuccessful.
The avoidance of going to the polls emerged on Tuesday after the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil confidence and supply agreement was mended. It had started to unravel over an email Minister Fitzgerald, then Minister for Justice, received in May 2015. That concerned the strategy to be pursued by the legal team for then Garda Commissioner, Noirin O’Sullivan against whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins inquiry. Ms Fitzgerald said she did not recall reading the email detailing the controversial legal strategy being taken against the Mountnugent-native.
At the launch of a Vodafone/Siro broadband initiative at Cavan Innovation and Technology Centre last week, Minister Heather Humphreys rejected claims against the Deputy Fitzgerald. ““She has acted appropriately, she acted correctly. What we are looking at here is an email sent two and a half years ago. It very clearly stated in that [email] she could not legally act upon it.”
However, she stated were an election to take place then her party were ready for the contest.
Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin’s move to push for ‘No Confidence’ in Deputy Fitzgerald came after Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence last Thursday.
But despite the impasse being broken between the two main parties, Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth described the mood around Leinster House as “very sombre”, adding: “It’s certainly not a triumphant one.”
She expressed satisfaction that “common sense” had prevailed on the matter, stating: “[Deputy Fitzgerald] couldn’t have continued in the position she was in with the discrepancies that were hanging over her and her department.”
Fellow party member and constituency colleague Brendan Smith, meanwhile, was anxious to move on from what was a difficult few weeks.
Speaking from the House of Commons in London where he was meeting with British MPs regarding Brexit, he said: “The political system, both government and opposition, must be entirely focused on dealing with the pressing issues of the day.
“There are huge and urgent issues facing us, housing, homelessness, health, jobs, mortgage issues and crime. Also Brexit poses very serious problems for our country, both North and South.”
Meanwhile, west Cavan Fianna Fáil councillor John Paul Feeley has said that speculation of a general election in the early part of 2018 makes the implementation of the recommendations of the Constituencies Commission to reunite County Cavan all the more urgent as far as people in West Cavan are concerned.