Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has been selected by Fianna Fáil to contest the next general election.
It follows the Fianna Fáil Donegal general election convention which was held in Letterkenny last evening (Thursday, September 13).
Minister McConalogue will be joined on the ticket by his party colleague and sitting Donegal TD Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher.
Charlie McConalogue, who is from Gleneely in the north of Inishowen, has been a TD for Donegal since 2011.
The 46-year-old has a degree in economics, politics and history from University College Dublin (UCD)
He was appointed as of Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in September 2020 and previously served as Minister of State with responsibility for Law Reform from July 2020 to September 2020.
After working in Fianna Fáil headquarters for a number of years, as well as working abroad in Australia, Minister McConalogue returned home to work on the family farm before being elected as a Donegal county councillor in 2009.
Commenting after last night’s selection convention, Minister McConalogue said that he is looking forward to contesting the general election in Donegal.
“It was great to see such a large turnout, and our aim is to deliver two seats in Donegal,” he said in a social media post.
All three ministers in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have now been selected to contest the general election.
Minister of State Martin Heydon will contest the election for Fine Gael in the Kildare South constituency.
The Green Party has selected Minister of State Pippa Hackett as a candidate in the Offaly constituency.
General election
The next Irish general election must be held no later than March 2025 to elect the 34th Dáil.
There has been much speculation that the current coalition government will call an early election following the delivery of Budget 2025.
However, Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has repeatedly insisted that the government will serve its full term.
Following a review of electoral boundaries, there will be 174 TDs following the next election, an increase of 14 seats from the current Dáil.
The number of constituencies will also increase from 39 to 43.
The 33rd Dáil must be dissolved by the president at the request of the Taoiseach no later than February 19, 2025.