County Councillor Donal ‘Mandy’ Kelly has announced that he will not contest the Fianna Fáil convention this Thursday.
The Letterkenny representative said he felt he was “not at the moment in a strong enough position to make it through what is going to be a very tough convention”.
Senator Niall Blaney and Termon man Ben Harkin have also pulled out of the convention in recent days.
This leaves Minister Charlie McConalogue, Councillor Michael Naughton and former MEP Pat The Cope Gallagher as the names due to contest the vote, where one candidate will be chosen from Donegal South and another from Donegal North.
In a statement, Cllr Kelly said: “I want to wish each nominee that is standing in the convention the very best of luck and I can assure the successful candidates of my full support and I look forward to playing an important role in trying to secure two FF seats in Donegal Constituency.
“It’s very important to not only the Fianna Fáil party but also to myself that two strong candidates are elected in the upcoming General Election to help assist me to continuing to help, deliver, and support the people of Letterkenny Milford Municipal District and the people of Donegal to the very best of my ability.
“I feel very strongly that I owed it to my team and you, the people who came out and gave me that massive vote in the local election to allow my name to go forward for nomination.
“I want to thank each and every individual who had faith in me and nominated me to go forward for the forthcoming convention.
“I also want to thank each and every person that has supported me on this journey to date and I really look forward to continuing to work tirelessly for you the people to the best of my ability for the next 5 years as your County Councillor.
“As always, my phone is always on, so please don’t hesitate to contact me, and I’ll certainly do my best.”
The convention will be held this Thursday, September 12th in the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny at 6pm.
