Fine Gael has selected a sitting MEP, Mr Alan Gillis, and Ms Avril Doyle, a senator, to contest the European elections.
Addressing the selection convention in the Keadeen Hotel, Co Kildare, yesterday, Mr Gillis said the party came within 1 per cent of a second seat in Leinster in 1994, and he asked delegates to "go the extra mile" this time.
Ms Doyle quoted the Redmondite MP, Thomas Kettle, who said: "My only advice to Ireland is to realise that if she is to become more genuinely Irish, she must become more European".
The party leader, Mr John Bruton, said Ireland must take responsibility for the future of Europe.
