FF ratifies Tipperary councillor's candidacy

A Fianna Fáil councillor in Tipperary, who had threatened to take the party to the High Court for its failure to ratify his candidacy for the general election, has now been ratified.

A spokesman at Fianna Fáil headquarters said yesterday that Mattie McGrath was ratified "at the weekend" for the constituency of Tipperary South. He had been Fianna Fáil's only candidate selected by a convention who had not been confirmed.

Fianna Fáil said the delay was caused by its request that Mr McGrath "explain the circumstances" which led to his appearance at Clonmel District Court in February on public order offences.

Mr McGrath (49), along with six co-defendants, was charged following an incident in his home village of Newcastle near Clonmel in August last year and will appear again in court on May 8th.

He claims he is "totally innocent" and is looking forward to clearing his "good name".

Mr McGrath, a member of Tipperary County Council, headed the poll at Fianna Fáil's selection convention ahead of Senator Martin Mansergh and another councillor, Siobhán Ambrose.

All three will now contest the three-seat constituency for Fianna Fáil, where the party's sitting TD, Noel Davern, is retiring. The other incumbents, Tom Hayes (Fine Gael) and Séamus Healy (Ind), are seeking re-election.

Mr McGrath told The Irish Timeshe was "delighted" by the decision which "should have come a lot sooner".

He has accused "elements in Fianna Fáil" in south Tipperary of seeking to undermine his candidacy and has complained to gardaí in Clonmel and Cahir about a "sustained campaign of intimidation" against him.

The controversy has created bitter divisions within the local Fianna Fáil organisation.

Party colleague and former Clonmel mayor, Niall Dennehy, said: "Dublin has done a U-turn in light of local polls which show his support is more than double that for the other two Fianna Fáil candidates combined."

Mr McGrath who represents the county council's Cahir electoral area, won the highest vote in Co Tipperary and was Fianna Fáil's only poll topper in Tipperary in the 2004 local elections.