FIANNA Fáil Councillor Brian Ó Domhnaill will not be a candidate in the forthcoming general election. In a statement issued last evening Cllr Ó Domhnaill ended weeks of speculation and pledged his total support to ensure that Minister Mary Coughlan and Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, are both re-elected to Dáil Éireann. There was speculation that he may have been considering running as an Independent candidate.

Cllr Ó Domhnaill announced his decision after a meeting with An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and said he now totally accepted that Fianna Fáil will run only two candidates in Donegal South West in the coming General Election.

"At a recent meeting with An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, which was both positive and productive, I was given absolute clarification of my position within the Fianna Fáil Party. I wish today to unequivocally state that I will be working in the best interests of Fianna Fáil in Donegal South West in Election 2007. I shall be playing my part to ensure Minister Mary Coughlan and Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, are both re-elected to Dáil Éireann," Cllr Ó Domhnaill said:

"Over the past few weeks, I have been inundated with messages of support from people throughout the constituency. I would like to thank all of them for their efforts up to now and for their continued support going forward. It is now time to focus on the Election - on retaining Fianna Fáil's two seats in the constituency and ensuring that Bertie Ahern is returned as Taoiseach.

"I can confirm that the Fianna Fáil Party is totally united and working hard on the ground in Donegal South West in order to bring about those objectives," Cllr Ó Domhnaill added.

The move comes almost three weeks after the Fianna Fail hierarchy ruled out the prospect of adding a third candidate in Donegal South West.