The Clare Fine Gael TD, Mr Donal Carey, failed to be picked for the party ticket at a selection convention in Ennis, Co Clare, early today.
In a surprise result, a packed meeting of 620 delegates selected Clare County Councillor, Mr Pat Breen, and Senator Madeline Taylor-Quinn to contest the next general election in the four-seater constituency.
Mr Carey, first elected to the Dail in 1982, said he accepted the people's wishes. "I have given, I think, 20 good years in the Dail. I thought I had more to give. Obviously you thought differently," he said. He pledged his support for the two candidates.
Earlier the party leader, Mr Michael Noonan, stressed the importance of Clare as a marginal constituency. "I am counting on the people of Clare to deliver two Fine Gael seats," he said.
At the last election, Senator Taylor-Quinn was beaten to the fourth seat by Mr Brendan Daly (FF) by 336 votes. She was elected to the Dail three times in the 1980s.
Senator Taylor-Quinn said she and her later father, Mr Frank Taylor, had together given 48 years of public service to Clare.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Breen said he was thrilled with the result.
