Irish Independent

Ex-minister who took FG to court seeks Dáil return

- Kevin Doyle

FORMER minister John Perry, who launched a High Court action when he was not added to the Fine Gael ticket ahead of the last election, is putting his hat back in the ring.

Mr Perry was added to the ticket for the Sligo-Leitrim constituen­cy ahead of the 2016 General Election following a five-day court battle.

He issued legal proceeding­s against the party when he missed out on securing a nomination following a selection convention.

Prior to his court action, he also lobbied to be added based on a commitment he said was given by then party leader Enda Kenny that no sitting TD would have to compete for a place on the ticket.

He received more than 4,000 first preference votes in 2016 but failed to feature in the final shakedown for seats in the fourseat constituen­cy.

However, he now hopes to run for the Dáil once more and, if selected, will look to fill the seat currently held by Fine Gael stalwart Tony McLoughlin, who has recently said he will be retiring.

Mr Perry confirmed to the Irish Independen­t that he has spent the past 10 days “meeting delegates” and will put his name forward at the selection convention on July 19.

Asked about his chances of securing a nomination, Mr Perry said he was “very much looking forward to the challenge”.

Nomination­s are due to close tomorrow, but other names being linked to a run include Cllr Sinéad Maguire, former TD Gerry Reynolds, former senators Michael Comiskey and Imelda Henry, current senator Frank Feighan and businessma­n Noel Merrick.

The case taken by Mr Perry is

Asked about his chances of securing a nomination, Mr Perry said he was “very much looking forward to the challenge”.

Nomination­s are due to close tomorrow, but other names being linked to a run include Cllr Sinéad Maguire, former TD Gerry Reynolds, former senators Michael Comiskey and Imelda Henry, current senator Frank Feighan and businessma­n Noel Merrick.

The case taken by Mr Perry is believed to have cost the party around €500,000 in legal bills and his addition to the ticket was considered an embarrassi­ng U-turn for the party.

 ??  ?? John Perry took legal action against his own party in 2016
John Perry took legal action against his own party in 2016

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