GARBHÁN Downey is to stand for election to Seanad Éireann to highlight the need for an independent university in the north west.
The publisher and former newspaper editor in his native Derry is one of 19 candidates contesting three National University of Ireland (NUI) seats.
He is the only Northern Ireland candidate in the election, which will be decided by NUI graduates.
Mr Downey, a former Irish News journalist, said the Derry University Group believes from its work so far that there is an appetite in Dublin for the establishment of a cross-border university in the north west.
“It is time to end the north west’s 60-year wait for an independent university which will stimulate economic recovery and deliver equality in the border regions,” he said.
Voting papers for the NUI Senate seats will be issued to graduates by post from Friday, to be returned by the end of March.
The upper house of the Oireachtas has 60 members - 11 of which are nominated by the taoiseach, 43 elected by a combination of TDs, outgoing senators and councillors, and the remaining six chosen by NUI and University of Dublin graduates.
