Regina pips Josepha as FG nominee for Euro poll
FINE Gael senator Regina Doherty has ‘surprised’ many in her parliamentary party by securing the nomination to represent the party at June’s European Elections.
The other candidates in the contest were Senator Barry Ward and junior minister Josepha Madigan, who was widely expected among party colleagues to secure the nomination. Speaking moments after the result yesterday, Ms Doherty said: ‘People thought this race was over before it began, a bit like the hare and the tortoise.’
Ms Doherty served as Minister for Social Protection in the last Government but lost her Dáil seat in Meath East in the 2020 general election.
She was subsequently appointed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to the Upper House, and became Leader of the Seanad.
‘People thought the race was over before it began’
In September 2020, Ms Doherty announced that she was moving constituency to Dublin Fingal, which she did at the request of her party leader, Mr Varadkar.
She will contest the seat being vacated by her party colleague Frances Fitzgerald, who is retiring from European politics.
Mr Varadkar paid tribute to Ms Fitzgerald, who he said ‘ran one of the most successful mentoring programmes in Leinster House’, with graduates including himself, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris and sitting TD for Dublin Mid-West Emer Higgins.
Fine Gael’s European director of elections, Minister Simon Coveney, who chaired the convention, described Ms Doherty as a person of ‘such integrity and ability’ who would stand up for ‘the right thing on the global stage like our position on Russia’s war in Ukraine’.
He added: ‘The last five years have shown how vital Fine Gael’s MEPs have been on the European stage protecting our national interest.’