Kells Fine Gael convention row

SITTING councillors John Farrelly and Eugene Cassidy were nominated to contest next June"s county council elections while at least one further candidate is expected to be added to the list, following last Thursday"s Fine Gael convention in Kells. But a head office directive, which resulted in town councilor Ollie Sweeney"s name not being admitted drew criticism from him this week. 'I was aware there was manipulation (before the convention) but I was not aware of the requirement that only one candidate could be chosen from the major population centres,' said the Hurdlestown resident. He had been in touch with Party head office and he said that had he known about that requirement he 'could have canvassed against that'. About 200 people attended the meeting with Deputy Bernard Durkan (Kildare North) chairing. He urged members to not merely retain their existing seats but to recover seats previously held by the Party on Kells town council. The biggest surprise of the night was the refusal of former councillor Gerry Gibney of Oldcastle to allow his name to go forward. A Carnaross lady was also put forward but this was rejected by the top table, as she is currently out of the country. FG is believed to be considering running candidates either from Oldcastle or Athboy, given the tougher challenge for just five, instead of six seats in the Kells electoral area. Among the attendance were the Party"s three town council candidates Séamus Grimes, Sarah Reilly and John Callaghan.