Whelan welcomed back into fold on Ard Fheis weekend

In the same week Fine Gael delegates and public representatives from Westmeath descended on Dublin"s CityWest Hotel for the party"s 75th Ard Fheis.Mullingar town councillor Pat Whelan found himself back on the party"s local election ticket - just three months after he announced his retirement from politics.Cllr. Whelan said this week that he was 'delighted and humbled' to be chosen as Fine Gael"s fourth town council candidate, and named 2004 candidate Declan Dunne as his chief election agent.'I want to thanks my supporters in the local branch and in particular the Chairman of the National Executive, Mr. John Delamere for his support and encouragement since I joined the party,' Cllr. Whelan said, paying tribute to his colleague, Cllr. Ruth Illingworth, and Graham Temple, who recently stood down as the fourth FG candidate.A former member of the Progressive Democrats, Cllr. Whelan was elected to Mullingar Town Council in 2004.In January of this year - months after announcing his intention to seek a county council seat in Mullingar East - he announced that that he would step down from the Town Council and retire from politics, to concentrate on his accountancy practice.But this announcement was followed by a u-turn in mid-February, when Cllr. Whelan announced that he would seek re-election; he was then added to the Fine Gael ticket last week.Although welcoming Cllr. Whelan"s full return to the political fold, his party colleague, Cllr. Pat McLoughlin, voiced concerns about the party"s decision to run a fourth candidate.'When Graham Temple stepped aside, we had a strong team of Cllr. Ruth Illingworth, Peter Burke and Pat Higgins, and I was of the opinion that everything had been finalised,' Cllr. McLoughlin said.'While I welcome Cllr. Whelan"s decision to stay on board, it has to be said that we had three good candidates already focused on their campaign. It just seems unfortunate that it didn"t remain that way.'The Whelan saga is one of two pre-election complications to hit the Fine Gael party in Mullingar in recent months.In January, Fine Gael headquarters had to take immediate steps to intervene, after Cllr. Fintan Cooney was left unselected after FG"s Mullingar West convention due to what was described as 'voting confusion' arising from a party HQ directive.At last weekend"s Ard Fheis in Dublin, members of Longford-Westmeath Fine Gael gathered for the party"s annual meeting of minds, with Westmeath"s Senator Nicky McFadden among the leading local speakers.The ard fheis was officially opened by Milltownpass man John Delamere, Chairman of FG"s National Executive, who was re-elected to the party"s governing body with 148 votes against a quota of 105. Mr. Delamere will now wait until the first meeting of the new National Executive to see if he will retain the chair, a post he has held since 2004.The party"s new candidates in Westmeath had a chance to acclimatise themselves to the political scene as they debated on a number of motions.The centrepoint of the ard fheis, which was attended by 4,000 people, was Saturday evening"s address by party leader, Enda Kenny.