EU Commissioner, Mairead McGuinness has confirmed that she will not be a candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections next June.
"I am aware of the intense speculation about my intentions. I have over recent months said publicly that I will not contest the European Parliament elections. My position has not changed and will not change," she told RTÉ News.
There had been speculation in Fine Gael that the EU Commissioner might consider returning to run in the expanded Midlands-North West constituency where she won almost 23% of the first preference vote in 2019.
However, Mairead McGuinness said this evening that she has one more year to serve as EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union and this is her "absolute focus for the next twelve months".
She also expressed a willingness to serve as Commissioner beyond next summer, but said she fully respected that this is a decision to be made by Government.
There is a view politically that the next EU Commissioner is likely to be a Fianna Fáil politician.
Before joining the European Commission in October 2020, Mairead McGuinness was First Vice-President of the European Parliament. She served as an MEP representing Ireland for 16 years from 2004, and was a Vice-President of the Parliament from 2014.
Extra seat in Midlands-North West Constituency
There will be an extra seat in the Midlands-North West Constituency in next June's European Parliament Elections following the recommendation of An Coimisiún Toghcháin.
The number of seats in the constituency will increase from four to five after the counties of Laois and Offaly are transferred from South to Midland-North-West.
The total number of MEPs increases from 13 to 14 under the changes which follow a European Council decision last September to allocate an extra MEP to Ireland.
The recommendations come after a month-long public consultation with submissions received from political parties, elected representatives and interested individuals.
The change meets the statutory requirements that there should be reasonable equality of representation between constituencies.
Supreme Court Judge Justice Marie Baker, who is chair of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, said: "Our recommendation is to allocate this additional seat to the Midlands-North West constituency, making it a five-seater and bringing in the counties of Offaly and Laois into that constituency from the South. The Dublin constituency remains unchanged.
Political parties are set to have all their candidates selected for the European Parliament elections by January.
It is expected that Sinn Féin will run two candidates in each constituency.
There is strong speculation in Fianna Fáil that Laois-Offaly TD Barry Cowen will seek to become a candidate in the expanded Midlands-North West constituency.
Already, Senators Lisa Chambers and Niall Blaney have expressed an interest in running in these elections.
