Our General Election Candidate for Meath East

Dear Brian

Thank you for your letter in relation to Meath East, asking for my views on who should be the Labour Party Candidate for the next General Election. You have asked for responses by Friday 12th of January.

Firstly can I say that it was a tremendous honour to represent the people of Meath and the Labour Party in this constituency, initially as a Councillor, then as a Senator and finally as a TD. It was a wonderful experience and one that will provide me with hugely enjoyable memories for the remainder of my life.

It is now two years since the General Election. In that time I have had the opportunity to reflect on the type of representation required by the people of Meath, the needs of the local Party members, national party considerations and of course, my own wishes. I have concluded that all of these items would be best served if I step aside as the party candidate and allow another person to enter the fray and lead the fight for the Party.

I believe that it is essential that the Party runs a candidate in the General Election and I am heartened to know that there are a number of candidates who are keen to run for the Party.  I know that the local membership will provide all the support that they can and I am confident that a good candidate has an excellent chance of following in the footsteps of Jimmy Tully, Frank McLoughlin, Brian Fitzgerald and myself, winning a seat and representing the people of Meath in Dail Eireann.

We have talked in the past of how I am now focusing more on European issues, building on the role I had as Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee in the Oireachtas, and on my current role as Chairman of the International Affairs Unit of the Party. As you know, within 18 months we will hold elections to the European Parliament. Over the next while I will be considering how I can best serve the Party in this regard. No doubt we will have further discussions on this point. But of course rest assured that in addition to the European Parliament Elections, I will provide as much help as I can in Meath East, in terms of time, resources and knowledge, to ensure that our candidate is returned at the next General Election.

Finally, can I thank you and all of the HQ staff for the great support provided to us in Meath over the years. I've said it before but it is worth repeating: we were always happy with the effort and output from HQ at election times. Their work made our local campaigns much easier to run and more enjoyable to take part in.

Yours in Solidarity
Dominic

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