THE PROGRESSIVE Democrat Senator Fiona O’Malley has given party colleagues a guarantee that she will contest the Dublin South byelection for the party.
The byelection, which could be up to a year away, has been caused by the death of the former Cabinet minister Séamus Brennan.
Senator O’Malley’s commitment was given at a meeting of the Progressive Democrats’ national executive on Thursday night, a number of party sources have said.
The national executive was not supposed to meet until next week, but it was advanced because the party’s membership in Galway did not want to travel during the city’s popular Ballybrit race week.
The tone of the meeting was described as positive last night, although considerable doubt now surrounds the future existence of the party.
A special meeting of the party’s larger general council will be held in late September before the return of the Oireachtas.