Mayo councillor to seek Seanad nomination after withdrawing name to contest General Election

Dara Calleary and Lisa Chambers will be the two Fianna Fáil candidates to run in the next General Election after south Mayo councillor Damien Ryan confirmed he has withdrawn his name ahead of Friday's selection convention.

Ballinrobe-based councillor Damien Ryan confirmed to The Mayo News that in the interest of 'party unity' he was withdrawing his name from the Fianna Fáil selection convention and instead will be seeking a party nomination to run in the next Seanad elections.

“I confirmed to party HQ yesterday evening [Tuesday] that I was withdrawing my name. The strategy will be to select two candidates with consideration to select a third. In the interest of not causing division at convention I have withdrawn my name,” he said.

The withdrawal of Cllr Ryan along with Westport-based councillor Brendan Mulroy from the contest means that sitting TD Dara Calleary and Senator Lisa Chambers will be the only candidates seeking a nomination at the party selection convention which is due to take place on Friday in the Ivy Tower Hotel in Castlebar.

Cllr Mulroy also confirmed yesterday evening that he will not be putting his name forward and like Cllr Ryan will be seeking a nomination to run in the next Seanad elections which will take place after the General Election.

Cllr Mulroy said he will be supporting Minister of State Calleary and Senator Chambers to win two seats for the party in the Mayo constituency and felt that 'it would not be in the party’s interest to split the vote by running a third candidate'.

Cllr Ryan said his reasons for seeking a Seanad nomination was because he feels that south Mayo has not been represented in the Oireachtas.

“I will be looking for a party nomination for the Seanad because I believe for far too long sout Mayo has been ignored and the best avenue to address that is to seek a Seanad nomination.

“The priority and the projects and the issues of concern in south Mayo have to be addressed by all candidates going forward in their election manifesto. There are things of significant importance which cannot be ignored in the next programme of government. The SDZ in Knock, the Ballinrobe by-pass, the Atlantic Economic Corridor and the Western Rail Corridor are things which are far too long on the agenda with minimum action,” he commented.