Fine Gael chooses Duncan over Arthur for place on local election ticket

Fine Gael has opted not to add sitting councillor Colm Arthur to the line-up representing the party in the Mullingar Kilbeggan constituency in the forthcoming local elections.
On Saturday, the party instead named anti-windfarm campaigner Andy Duncan as its third candidate, to join former councillor Michael Newman, and Chris Murtagh on the ticket.
The decision of the party to opt for Andy Duncan, as opposed to Cllr Arthur comes in the wake of the failure of Fine Gael local branch representatives to vote for Cllr Arthur at the party’s selection convention, held in November.
The widely held view is that Cllr Arthur’s stance in favour of the windfarms proposed for this area, and his position with regard to the Dunbia abattoir mooted for Kilbeggan, were significant factors which went against him at the convention.