Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s younger brother Barry has been selected to stand for Fianna Fáil in the Laois-Offaly constituency in the general election.
Barry Cowen, an Offaly county councillor, put himself forward at Fianna Fáil’s Laois-Offaly selection convention in Tullamore tonight following the announcement that his brother was calling time on his 27-year political career.
He is to run along with sitting TDs John Moloney and Seán Fleming, who are both from Co Laois.
Cllr Cowen said he believed he would be able to “connect and engage with the public". He hoped he could prove the 750 delegates who attended the selection convention right.
Cllr John Foley, who had hoped to run for the party in Co Offaly, said he would contest the election as an Independent candidate following his exclusion from the ticket.
Cllr Foley missed out on a seat in the 2007 general election by 400 votes. He claimed the Edenderry area had never been without an election candidate in any general election.
He said he had given Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin a deadline of 5pm to contact him in relation to running a second candidate in Offaly. When the deadline elapsed this evening he held a press conference announcing his decision.