Three sitting Fianna Fáil TDs will be selected tonight to contest three-seat Cork North West in the next general election, while Fine Gael yesterday picked a sitting TD and former TD to contest what is tipped to be one of the most closely fought constituencies in the country.
Fianna Fáil currently holds two of the three seats in the constituency through sitting deputies Donal Moynihan and Michael Moynihan (not related), but tonight they will be joined in the constituency by Minister of State at the Department of the Environment Batt O'Keeffe.
Mr O'Keeffe is transferring to Cork North West from Cork South Central, which he represented for over 15 years, after the 2004 Constituencies Commission recommended that his home base of Ballincollig be transferred in to Cork North West.
Yesterday, Fine Gael selected sitting TD Gerard Murphy from Newmarket and former TD Michael Creed from Macroom - who lost his seat in the 2002 general election when Mr Murphy was first elected - to be the party's standard bearers in the next general election.
Mr Murphy and Mr Creed were both selected without a vote after Ballincollig-based Cllr Derry Canty announced that he would not be seeking a nomination for the Dáil election but would instead be running in the next Seanad elections.
The withdrawal of Mr Canty follows an announcement last autumn by party colleague Cllr Patrick Buckley, from Banteer in north Cork, that he would not be seeking a nomination, leaving Fine Gael free to go with its preferred two-candidate strategy.
Fine Gael held two seats in the constituency for almost 20 years, initially through Michael Creed's father, Donal, and Frank Crowley, and then Michael Creed and Frank Crowley; but Fianna Fáil won two seats through the Moynihans in 1997.
Despite winning two seats in both 1997 and 2002, the Moynihans haven't always enjoyed a harmonious relationship, with their supporters clashing over canvassing territory in 2002. The arrival of Mr O'Keeffe in to the constituency has the potential to cause further division.
However, to avoid any hiccups during tonight's selection convention in Millstreet, Fianna Fáil's national constituencies committee has directed that there should be three district conventions, "to ensure a geographical spread of Fianna Fáil candidates".
Up to 400 delegates could attend but with only one candidate nominated for each convention, the selections won't have to go to a vote and organisers were last night opting not to speculate on how many will turn up.
The first district convention will see party members from Boherbue, Kanturk, Millstreet and Charleville in the northern half of the constituency nominate sitting TD Michael Moynihan, from Kiskeam, near Newmarket.
The second district convention will see delegates from Macroom, Coachford, Kilmichael and other parts of the west and southern end of the constituency nominate sitting TD Donal Moynihan, from Ballymakeera, near Macroom.
The third district convention will see delegates from the Ballincollig and Ballinora areas, who have been added to the constituency since the last election, nominate Mr O'Keeffe who, although a native of Cullen, near Millstreet, has a large base in Ballincollig.
