An Offaly TD has been selected as Fianna Fáil's candidate to contest the European elections in the Midlands North West Consistency. Barry Cowen, brother of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen, came out ahead in a selection convention in Mullingar last night. Senator Niall Blaney, Senator Lisa Chambers and Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher were in the running to be nominated for the seat, with Deputy Cowen winning by less than 100 votes. The Midlands North West Consistency is to add a further seat in the Junes elections following the decision of the electoral commission last year.
Speaking after his nomination, Deputy Cowen stated that he was now working towards regaining a seat for Fianna Fail in the constituency. The four constituency seats are currently held by Fine Gael's Colm Markey and Maria Walsh, Sinn Fein's Chris MacManus and Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.
Barry Cowen briefly served as Minister of Agriculture following the formation of Government in 2020, however he was removed from the position
over two weeks later for refusing to make a second Dáil statement relating to his 2016 drink-driving ban. It's expected the party will add another candidate to the ticket in the coming months before June's election.
