John Perry ruled out of running for Fine Gael in general election

Fine Gael TD John Perry now looks very unlikely to run for the party in the general election after the executive council ruled out adding him to the ticket.

At a parliamentary meeting last night, Mr Perry was told he would not be added to the list of candidates being put forward in Sligo/Leitrim.

The former junior minister expressed his disappointment at the decision, telling party members that the selection process was “flawed”.

He has previously said he was effectively blocked from being a candidate as 50 of his supporters were not able to vote because of a party fees administrative error — Fine Gael says they had not paid on time.

Sitting TD Tony McLoughlin and Gerry Reynolds were selected at the convention.

Last week he asked the party to automatically add him to the ticket. However, last night sources said this will now not happen.

Mr Perry maintained that as a result of a directive from party headquarters, Sligo was limited to one Fine Gael candidate for the coming general election. This is despite the fact that Sligo had delivered two Fine Gael seats in the last election.

He argued that a three-candidate strategy is the better option to ensure that Fine Gael win two seats in the next election. But it is understood this was also ruled out as an option by party members last night.

In a statement after the meeting, Mr Perry said he still has “every confidence that his name will be added to the ticket”. He said he then made “a strong appeal” to the Oireachtas members for loyalty.

In urging members to back him he said: “Whether good times or bad times, we travelled the journey together, we had our differences at times, but when the chips were down, it was loyalty to the party and to each other that prevailed.”