Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he is willing to discuss the possibility that Fianna Fáil would not contest a Seanad byelection if Senator Jim Higgins (Fine Gael) resigned his seat to make way for a representative of the Irish emigrant community.
Senator Higgins, who is also an MEP, offered in 2004 to resign his seat in favour of a representative from an Irish community abroad.
He has said he has not done so to date because Fianna Fáil has refused to give a commitment not to contest the byelection.
The prospect of a compromise emerged last week when New York-based journalist Ray O'Hanlon put his name forward as a possible candidate to represent Irish emigrants in the Seanad.
Mr O'Hanlon's offer is expected to be raised in the Seanad this week, and it is believed there is an openness within the Government to the idea of such a representative in the Seanad.
Last night, the Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, Brian Hayes, welcomed the fact that a person had put their name forward, but said there was still no procedure in place to identify or select potential candidates from the emigrant community.
"The first principle we have to get is for Fianna Fáil to give us a guarantee they will not field a candidate. The Fine Gael seat will be given up when Fianna Fáil give a commitment."
He said Senator Higgins could give no commitment until Fianna Fáil did so, as the larger party had sufficient votes to win any byelection.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Taoiseach said that if Senator Higgins were to resign, Mr Ahern would "certainly be happy to discuss the issue with Fianna Fáil Senators".
Senator Higgins is one of six members of the Oireachtas who were elected to be MEPs in 2004, but who did not resign their Oireachtas seats. They include Liam Aylward and Eoin Ryan of Fianna Fáil, Gay Mitchell and Simon Coveney of Fine Gael and Independent Marian Harkin.
They have all continued to draw salaries of between €70,000 and €95,000 a year, not including expenses, from their Oireachtas seats, although they have limited attendance at Leinster House because of their EU commitments.
This dual-mandate system is ending at the next election. Ireland is the only pre-accession country to have such a system.