The Labour Party has selected barrister Mr Peter Ward to contest the Meath constituency in the next general election following the dramatic lastminute withdrawal of former attorney general Mr John Rogers from the contest.
Mr Rogers announced his withdrawal on the floor of the convention in Navan last night as 24 delegates from around the county prepared to vote.
Several constituency sources were predicting a wafer-thin victory for Mr Ward before the convention began. Others, however, predicted the vote would be a tie.
Mr Rogers told surprised delegates that his belief that a pre-Christmas election was now on the cards had forced his decision to withdraw. In such circumstances, he was so committed to legal cases that he would not be available to run. "I could not be in two places at one time. It would be impossible."
Accepting the nomination, Mr Ward said that in the next election campaign the party "must ensure it is seen to have maintained its integrity throughout the inquiries. We are different. We are not in the pockets of big business and speculators."
Mr Ward (38) was brought up in Navan. A former law lecturer, he has been active in the Labour Lawyers group for 10 years. He was a prominent member of the successful 1995 pro-divorce campaign. He is seen as being closer to the current Labour leadership than Mr Rogers, a former adviser to Mr Spring as well as attorney general for a period in the 1980s.
While Labour has regularly held a seat in the five-seat Meath constituency, the party was thrown into disarray following the 1998 resignation of its former deputy, Mr Brian Fitzgerald, in protest at the merger with Democratic Left.
Mr Fitzgerald, who has significant local following and a independent political organisation, intends to contest the next election.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, last night paid tribute to Mr Rogers for the manner in which he withdrew, and to Meath councillor Mr Tommy Grimes who was initially nominated but withdrew some time ago.
He said many people believed the Taoiseach had left it too late to call the election. Labour "will confront them at every turn with the reality of four wasted years".
Mr Quinn also called on the Catholic Church to drop its resistance to integrated education after this week's sectarian confrontations outside the Holy Cross School in north Belfast.
He said changed circumstances and the renewed tribal bitterness in the North should force a Catholic rethink.
In his address to delegates last night, Mr Quinn called on the Catholic Church to "revisit the area of integrated education" in the wake of the sectarian conflict in Ardoyne.
"Every effort should be made to try and ensure that they don't grow up with the same ingrained sectarianism as many of their parents," he said.
The Catholic Church has traditionally resisted integrated education, seeing denominational education as the best model for Catholic pupils.
"I do not see why the children of Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, should not be educated together. But it will not happen without the active support of both churches.
"And I have to say that some credit is due to Martin McGuinness for his support for integrated education as Minister for Education."