Fianna Fáil to run Athlone candidate in by-election

Fianna Fáil has issued a directive this afternoon that the candidate selected to contest the Longford/Westmeath by-election must be from the Athlone Local Electoral Area.
It is likely the by-election will be held on May 23 and the party will hold its selection convention tomorrow (Tuesday) evening in the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar at 8pm.
Nominations for the convention close at 1pm tomorrow and so far the only candidate from the Athlone area to declare an interest in contesting the by-election is Cllr Aengus O’Rourke. However, Cllr Frankie Keena has not ruled out contesting the convention.
He told the Westmeath Independent this afternoon that he had received a lot of phone calls from people on the issue and he had received huge support. Cllr Keena said it is something he would have a very strong interest in and he plans to weight it up and discuss it with his family before making a decision ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s deadline.