Around 50 Independent county councillors attended a meeting in Athlone this afternoon to discuss electing non-party Senators to the vocational panels in the Seanad election election for the first time.
The meeting, which was organised by Indpendent MEP Marian Harkin, was warned by former Independent TD Paudge Connolly that councillors who had defected from political parties tend to vote for that party's candidates rather than for Independent candidates.
Nominations for the vocational panels in the Seanad elections close on Friday next.
