THE press officer at the Department of Social Welfare, Ms Mairead Foley, has confirmed that she will seek a nomination to be the Progressive Democrats candidate in the Dublin North East constituency in the forthcoming general election.
The leader of the party, Ms Mary Harney, paid tribute to the "gentlemanly" approach adopted by the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, who, she said, was losing his departmental press officer to a rival party.
Ms Foley told Mr De Rossa some time ago that she was considering Ms Harney's offer to stand as a PD candidate.
Her nomination is strongly supported by the party leadership and the party's constituency officer board. There has been some opposition within the party, however, and the correspondence secretary of the constituency organisation has resigned her post.
While the selection convention is still some weeks away, Ms Foley appeared at a press conference in Dublin yesterday with Ms Harney and the former leader, Mr Des O'Malley, to publicise her candidacy.
Ms Foley (38) - a career public servant - has resigned her Civil Service job as she is required to do before contesting an election.
She said yesterday that it had been a difficult decision. Ms Harney said Ms Foley was "the first civil servant to leave her job in these circumstances. It is a measure of her calibre that she took this big step - she is unemployed until elected to the Dail.
The four-seat Dublin North East constituency elected two Fianna Fail and two Labour TDs in the last election.
Ms Harney said yesterday that party research showed the PDs support in north Dublin standing at over 10 per cent, and that she was confident the party would take a seat in the constituency.
Ms Foley previously established and ran the public relations office in the Department of Tourism and Trade.