THE former Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry, said last night that he was quite comfortable with his decision to resign from Fine Gael and he was going to face up to the reality of the situation and plan for the future.
Mr Lowry was speaking in Thurles, where he met urban and county councillors from North Tipperary at a gathering convened to inform them of the sequence of events.
Mr Lowry said he had made determined efforts to ask the party to inform councillors in advance of any decision being made but this had not happened.
Asked if he had been told that his nomination would not be ratified if he was selected by Fine Gael in North Tipperary, he said he had a clear understanding with the Taoiseach in relation to the matter.
He said Mr Bruton had told him on February 5th that he would like matters resolved and that if they were not he would have difficulty in ratifying his nomination.
"I made determined efforts to resolve outstanding issues and will continue to, but there are circumstances outside my control."
He said he saw little opposition to his securing a nomination in North Tipperary. "I could go through and get a nomination from North Tipperary but I would be putting the party leader and national executive in a situation where they would have outright confrontation and I felt that would be damaging to the party and to myself."
Sources close to Mr Lowry have indicated that he is likely to stand as an independent candidate in the general election. Mr Lowry declined to comment on this and said merely that he would be considering his future.