Sligo's Blaine Gaffney has withdrawn his name this morning as a possible Fine Gael candidate in the next general election in Sligo-Leitrim.
Mr Gaffney, who stood in the local elections earlier this year, forwarded his name 12 weeks ago for consideration by Fine Gael Headquarters.
In a statement to Ocean FM news, Mr Gaffney said that with no set plan or timeline in place for a decision on the selection of candidates, he had taken the difficult decision to withdraw his name from the process.
He says he believed there was not enough time available to prepare and formulate a modern General Election campaign.
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So far, Fine Gael have only selected Senator Frank Feighan as a constituency candidate.
