Fine Gael councillor Jimmy Harte was considering his political future yesterday after it emerged that the party is to run just one candidate in Donegal North East in the next general election.
Speaking from Dublin yesterday afternoon, Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran said the party's executive council had issued a directive confirming the selection of a sole candidate at Fine Gael's general election selection convention in Letterkenny on Sunday.
Mr Curran added that the situation regarding running a second candidate was being kept under review.
The names of Senator Joe McHugh and sitting county councillor Jimmy Harte will go before Fine Gael delegates at the party's selection convention on Sunday evening.
Well-placed party sources have indicated that Senator McHugh will emerge as the name on the party ticket.
Mr Harte's father, Paddy, was a member of the Dáil for 36 years, but lost his seat following the 1997 general election.
Fine Gael is looking to win a seat in Donegal North East for the first time in 10 years.
Mr Harte has been Fine Gael's only representative on Letterkenny Town Council since 1994. He succeeded his father as a member of Donegal County Council in 1999.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Harte declined to comment only to confirm that he had been made aware of the directive on candidate numbers.
Speaking to the Donegal News last week, Senator McHugh said he was confident he would be the party's sole candidate, claiming to have the support of 17 of the 18 branches in the constituency for a single-candidate strategy.
"My job is to win back the Fine Gael seat in Donegal North East. We've had enough in-fighting within the party to last a lifetime, and it's time to proceed with the best strategy for the party," Senator McHugh said.
Sunday's convention, which gets under way at 5pm in a Letterkenny hotel, will be chaired by the party's environment, heritage and local government frontbench spokesman Fergus O'Dowd TD.