FIANNA FÁIL town councillors have received a letter from Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey asking them to provide party headquarters with reasons why they should be nominated to run again in next year's local elections.
The letter, which has annoyed some councillors, also strongly advocated that more women and young people should be selected as party candidates in the elections scheduled for next June.
Mr Dempsey has been appointed by Taoiseach Brian Cowen as the chairman of a special party commission to oversee the implementation of a new strategy for the elections.
This is the first time the party has created such a position for town and borough council elections.
In his letter to sitting councillors and units of the organisation around the country, Mr Dempsey expressed concern about the party's level of representation on town councils.
The letter says Fianna Fáil is "under-represented", with only 32 per cent of town councillors nationally. It also raises questions about gender imbalance among Fianna Fáil councillors at town council level, which it says needs to be addressed.
One Fianna Fáil town councillor who declined to be identified expressed unease at the gender recommendation, which he said could lead to women being elected, not on merit, but purely to correct the imbalance.
According to the letter, "town councils provide good opportunities for young candidates to gain experience" and it encourages party members to seek out potential young candidates.
The correspondence, which also contains nomination forms for the coming local elections, asks members to seek out and recruit local community activists.
In a move that may upset some long-standing town councillors, the Minister asks councillors and potential candidates to outline why they should be nominated.
Mr Dempsey wrote to each member and unit in town council areas over the last two weeks looking for submissions to the commission and candidate nominations by September 19th.