Charlie Flanagan appointed Director of Presidential Elections

Fine Gael has appointed local TD Charlie Flanagan as their National Director of Elections for the upcoming Presidential election campaign. Last Saturday the Fine Gael party chose Gay Mitchell as its Presidential candidate. Speaking after Deputy Flanagan's appointment last week Fine Gael General Secretary Tom Curran said he will be responsible for driving the strategy for the upcoming campaign and enlisting Fine Gael's grassroot support. After the announcement Deputy Flanagan said he was looking forward to the hard work. "We are going to campaign vigorously over the next few months and I am looking forward to engaging with the public and opening up a national debate around who our next President should be," he said. Deputy Flanagan will be joined by four regional Directors of Elections - Joe O'Reilly in Connaught/Ulster, Jerry Buttimer in Munster, Damian English in Leinster and Paschal Donohoe in Dublin.