Sinn Féin to run Limerick candidate in the European election
SINN FÉIN is to run a Limerick-based candidate in next summer's European parliament elections.
Voters in Ireland go to the polls on Friday, June 7 to elect members to the chambers in Strasbourg and Brussels.
Limerick is part of the Ireland South constituency, an sprawling area which contains all the Munster counties, alongside Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow.
This weekend, Castleconnell Senator Paul Gavan will be formally selected to run in the constituency for Sinn Féin, who will be hopeful of regaining the seat in Europe it lost in 2019 following the defeat of Liadh Ní Riada.
The party is adopting a two candidate strategy for the five-seater constituency, with Mr Gavan set to represent the Limerick, Clare and Cork side of the constituency.
His nomination in Newcastle West this Saturday will be uncontested.
Born in London, Mr Gavan has lived in Limerick for 40 years since 1983, save for a six-year break when he went to London in the wake of the recession.
Living in Castleconnell, he was a union organiser for Siptu until he was elected to Seanad Eireann in 2016.
He retained his seat in the election of 2020 which took place against the backdrop of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A second candidate from elsewhere in the constituency will be added in the new year.
It's the first time one of the major parties has selected a Limerick candidate for the constituency since 2004 when former minister, Fianna Fail's Gerry Collins lost out in his re-election bid.
Prior to that, in the old Munster constituency, Limerick had two representatives in Brussels in the 1990s in the shape of Mr Collins and former European Parliament president Pat Cox who was raised in the city.