Labour decision on election due tonight

With four candidates set to contest the Labour Party Laois/Offaly selection convention taking place in Portlaoise tonight (Friday), it looks like local party members have not accepted the party's decision to select a single candidate to run in the general election. Party members have been asked to avoid discussing the fall-out in the media this week in advance of the selection convention, at which angry scenes are expected due to the party's recent shock decision to put forward a sole nominee. Laois freelance journalist John Whelan is expected to be the only candidate selected to contest the general election for Labour in Laois/Offaly, despite both Tullamore Town Cllr Sean O'Brien and Laois Cllr Jim O'Brien declaring at the Laois/Offaly AGM in October that they both would go forward for selection. Last week, Cllr Sean O'Brien said he was “devastated†by the u-turn by his party but yesterday confirmed that his nomination had gone to head office this week. The other nominations are Birr man Liam Dumpleton who is a Midlands 103 journalist and Jim O'Brien from Laois who was the regional party organiser. Mr Whelan told the Offaly Independent yesterday (Thursday), that a letter was circulated by Labour Party HQ to all constituency members this week, confirming that the selection convention was going ahead and that one candidate will be selected. “The organising committee have decided on a single candidate and I am the single nominee,†he said. “I'd like to call on all members of the Laois/Offaly Labour Party to stay focused on the core objective - to replace this government with a Labour government.†He then said that the party had requested that all those involved were “asked to refrain from comments†until after tonight's selection convention. The selection convention takes place in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise at 8pm tonight. The first hour or so will be private when nominations will take place. When asked if there was any point in holding nominations when a candidate has been unofficially selected, Mr Whelan said that “there is a process to be followed, there are protocolsâ€. In response to the fall-out from the news last week that Labour intended to select John Whelan as a sole candidate, an emergency constituency council meeting was held in Tullamore last Saturday. An independent facilitator was engaged to conduct the business of the meeting to ensure a full and frank discussion occurred. Two representatives from Labour Party Headquarters outlined the procedure for selection of candidates and to take on board the views of the constituency membership.