MS Mairin Quill TD, has been selected by the Progressive Democrats to contest the next general election in Cork North Central.
Ms Quill, chairwoman of the PDs parliamentary party, is also the party's spokeswoman on the environment, arts and culture. She has been returned at every general election since becoming a TD in 1987. A serving councillor on Cork Corporation, she was, chairwoman on the All Party Committee on Crime (1989-1992), when the party was in coalition.
At the selection convention, the party leader, Ms Mary Harney, said the first priority of the new government must be to find radical new ways to ensure a fair distribution of growth.
"One of the most disturbing features of the recent Budget, as confirmed by the assessment of the Conference of Religious of Ireland, is that all of the measures taken together actually succeeded in widening the gap between the haves and the have nots. This is not social justice. At a time of unprecedented economic growth, there are still over 300,000 people in Ireland who cannot find a real job. This Government's recent announcement that they were to abolish water charges for urban dwellers was clearly discriminatory against rural dwellers," Ms Harney said.