O’Keeffe misses Fianna Fáil nomination to Seanad

Former North Cork TD Kevin O’Keeffe has missed out on a Seanad nomination in a strongly contested party vote this week.

The election was held on Monday evening and the parliamentary party selected Senator Gerry Horkan to be its candidate in one of the two upcoming Seanad by-elections.

Mr Horkan will contest a seat on the Industrial and Commercial Panel following the resignation of a Sinn Féin senator in 2020.

Sinn Fein’s Elisha McCallion resigned her Seanad seat after it emerged three Sinn Féin party offices incorrectly received payments from a Covid-19 grant scheme.

12 candidates contested the Fianna Fáil nomination. It is understood that 57 members of the parliamentary party, out of a possible 58, cast their ballots and Mr Horkan was deemed to be the successful candidate.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have agreed to a joint candidate strategy in the by-elections, with Fianna Fáil set not to stand a candidate against Fine Gael’s nominee Maria Byrne in the Agricultural Panel.

Gerry Horkan, a former councillor, was the Fianna Fáil spokesman on finance in the Seanad between 2016 and 2020. He lost out to Fine Gael’s Michael Carrigy at the last election on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

The seat on the Agricultural panel arose following the resignation last year of Fine Gael Senator Michael D’Arcy who left to take up a position as Chief Executive with the Irish Association of Investment Managers.