FORMER FINE GAEL MEP Avril Doyle is reportedly considering seeking Fine Gael’s nomination for the presidential elections.

RTÉ reports that Doyle, who was an MEP for Ireland East and Leinster for ten years until 2009 and who was previously a TD for Wexford, has contacted party backbenchers to check what support she would have if she declared her intention to run.

Doyle was not available for comment this afternoon.

The Fine Gael party already has three candidates to choose from. Current MEPs Gay Mitchell and Mairead McGuinness have already declared their interest in the nomination, as has former European Parliament president Pat Cox.

The government party recently accepted Cox’s application to join the party. Cox  In a recent poll conducted by TheJournal.ie, Cox was voted the most popular of the three declared Fine Gael candidates, however he has said that he faces an uphill struggle in winning the nomination.

Confirming his intention to run earlier this month, Mitchell said that if elected president, he would promote “unity in diversity, but not a diversity that includes only the politically correct.” That unity would, he said, include “those with an Irish, Irish and British, and Irish and European identity”.

Read TheJournal.ie’s full coverage of the Race for the Áras >