Mullingar councillor Pat Whelan, who resigned from the town council last month in the hope of having his eldest son Graham (19 ) co-opted into his place, has now changed his mind but still looks unlikely to stand in the elections in June.
At a special meeting of the local Fine Gael branch in the Mullingar Park Hotel last Sunday (February 15 ), all the four party-mandated candidates for the town council were ratified and it was deemed “unlikely” that central council would nominate a fifth.
The four selected are: Peter Burke, Ruth Illingworth, Graham Temple and Pat Higgins.
Cllr Whelan, a local financial advisor, did not attend this meeting.
When he decided to step down, Cllr Whelan tendered his resignation to both the council and his party.
This was accepted by his party who went ahead with its selection process for the June hustings.
The confusion about his present position lies in the fact that his resignation has not officially been ratified by the town council as he retracted it before the next meeting where it would have been formally accepted.
This means Cllr Whelan will continue standing as a town councillor until June 5 but unless he decides to continue as an independent candidate, it is not likely his political career will continue beyond this.
