Mary Harney will have more on her mind than leading the Progressive Democrats when the next general election is called. She has opted to run in the new three-seat Dublin Mid-West constituency, which will see an intense battle for seats.
Fianna Fail is expected to choose Clondalkin-based councillor Mr John Curran, following the resignation of Lucan-based Mr Liam Lawlor TD from the party last June. Mr Lawlor, however, remains active in the constituency and may well decide to run as an Independent.
The Fine Gael ticket is expected to feature Lucan-based TD Mr Austin Currie, and Senator Therese Ridge, from Clondalkin. The Labour candidate is likely to be Lucan-based councillor Ms Joanna Tuffey.
The new constituency broadly covers the area west of the M50, between the Naas Road and the Liffey, excluding Quarryvale and Palmerstown, and including Saggart and Rathcoole.
Ms Harney, who will be the party's sole candidate, has chosen to move from Dublin South West, which has lost a seat in the constituency review to become a four-seater, because Mid-West contains her strongholds of Newcastle and Clondalkin.
Mr Colm Tyndall, a Clondalkin-based PD councillor, and her running mate in Dublin South West in the last election, says there will be no room for complacency, despite Ms Harney's national profile.
Ms Harney's constituency performance in the last general election reflected the party's declining national fortunes. The expectation that she would head the poll failed to be realised and she finished fourth in first preferences. Her vote fell below her 1992 level and was only slightly up on 1989, when she narrowly retained her seat.
However, Ms Harney will be contesting the next election as the outgoing Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, having used her Government clout to deliver to the new constituency and she is expected to secure a seat. Some of the private polls taken in recent months have shown her heading the poll.
Mr Curran polled nearly twice as many votes as the then Fianna Fail TD, Mr Lawlor, in the five-seat Clondalkin electoral area in last year's South Dublin County Council elections. Mr Lawlor failed to get elected, while Mr Curran came second to Fine Gael poll-topper, Senator Ridge, in first preferences.
Given her impressive performance in the local elections, Senator Ridge could pose a threat to Mr Currie's Dail seat. Mr Currie was first elected to the Dail in 1989, when he moved to the Republic from the North.
In the four-seat Dublin West in the last general election, Mr Currie increased his vote by 1,896 first preferences and took the final seat on the final count.
Ms Tuffy, a solicitor, who topped the poll in the four-seat Lucan electoral area in the local elections, confirmed that she will be seeking the Labour nomination.
Mr Paul Gogarty, of the Green Party, is expected to be his party's standard-bearer, while an Independent, Mr Derek Keating, may decide to run and capitalise on the anticipated national swing to non-party candidates.