Fingal County Council chairman Mr Colm Boland, who last year refused to co-operate with a Fine Gael political donations inquiry, has been selected to contest the general election for the party in the Dublin North constituency.
Both he and former minister for justice, Mrs Nora Owen, easily defeated the only other contestant for the nomination, Mr Seβn Dolphin, before a convention attended by nearly 250 people yesterday.
Last year, an inquiry team set up by then Fine Gael Leader, Mr John Bruton, asked all party councillors to give details of any contributions they had ever received from property developers.
Cllr Boland and two others, Cllr Anne Devitt and Senator Liam Cosgrave, did not co-operate. Mr Boland argued that he could not do so because he was already co-operating with the Flood tribunal.
Following his selection by the convention yesterday, Cllr Boland roundly criticised Mr Bruton's conduct. "I am still waiting for an apology and I expect to get one," he said.
The selection convention's choice of Cllr Boland will, like that of every other general election candidate, have to be ratified later this year by the party leader, Mr Michael Noonan.
However, senior party sources believe Cllr Boland will emerge and be ratified, particularly since he has already signed the financial interests declaration now required of all candidates.
Besides requiring the candidates to be of good conduct, they must confirm they have no outstanding Revenue liabilities, nor be subject to an investigation by the taxman.
Disciplinary proceedings against Cllr Devitt were eventually dropped after she offered extra information to the inquiry, which was conducted by senior counsel, Mr James Nugent.
Her two bank accounts received £17,000 in over nine years. Only four of the lodgments were over £500, while only two were from builders, the Nugent Committee later reported.
Senator Cosgrave, it is predicted, should be selected tonight by the Fine Gael convention in D·n Laoghaire, along with Senator Helen Keogh.
