Securing a radiotherapy unit is by far the biggest issue, reports Chris Dooley, South East Correspondent
Waterford will have at least one new TD in the next Dáil, but the names representing the constituency may stay exactly the same.
With Fine Gael's Mr Austin Deasy stepping down after a colourful 29-year parliamentary career, his son John is expected to succeed him.
The other three sitting TDs - Fianna Fáil's Mr Martin Cullen and Mr Brendan Kenneally, and Labour's Brian O'Shea - are favoured to hold their seats, but the result is far from a foregone conclusion.
The Fianna Fáil pair, in particular, face a threat from their party colleague, Mr Ollie Wilkinson, who received 4,700 first-preference votes in 1997 (600 fewer than Mr Cullen) and is set to improve on that performance this time.
Mr Cullen and Mr Kenneally have the advantage of being based in Waterford city, where the concentration of votes is higher, but Mr Wilkinson will have a big rural vote in west Waterford and is said to be making strong inroads in the centre of the county.
Mr Cullen claims to have brought more than €300 million worth of projects to the constituency as Minister of State in charge of the Office of Public Works. As Mr O'Shea found out to his cost five years ago, however, voters are quicker to note perceived failures than successes.
The Government's refusal to commit to providing a radiotherapy unit for cancer patients at Waterford Regional Hospital is by far the biggest issue in the constituency, and Mr Cullen may end up carrying the can.
Mr O'Shea, who was Minister of State for Health going into the last election, saw his vote plummet from 11,000 to just over 5,000.
There was a big overall decline, of course, in Labour's vote, but other issues such as the TV deflectors row exacerbated the damage.
He held on to his seat, however, and has worked hard at consolidating his support base since. He has also been prominent in the radiotherapy campaign from an early stage, a factor which will stand him in good stead.
Mr O'Shea will be challenged for votes on the left by the Workers Party, which continues to have a strong presence in Waterford city, where it holds three of the 15 seats on the city council.
Its candidate, Mr John Halligan, has worked hard at raising his profile and says he is confident of taking back the seat held briefly for the party by Mr Paddy Gallagher in the 1980s.
Fine Gael's city-based candidate, Mr Maurice Cummins, is an experienced campaigner with a good track record in local government, but he is unlikely to finish ahead of Mr Deasy.
Mr Michael Flynn, a Tramore-based businessman running for the Progressive Democrats, entered the race late following the withdrawal of Oliver Clery. He will do well to match the performance of Ms Katharine Bulbulia, now the Tánaiste's programme manager, who received nearly 3,000 votes five years ago.
The Sinn Féin candidate, Mr David Cullinane, is competing directly with Mr Halligan for votes in city housing estates.
Mr Brendan McCann is again running for the Green Party while independent Tramore town councillor Mr Eddie Walsh has made radiotherapy the single issue of his campaign.
Prediction: FF 2, FG 1, Lab 1. No change.
1997: FF 35.79%; FG 24.55%; Lab 11.77%; WP 9.24%; PD 6.46%; GP 1.81%; SW 1.57%; NLP 0.33%; Others 8.48%.
Outgoing TDs: Martin Cullen and Brendan Kenneally (FF); Austin Deasy (FG); Brian O'Shea (Lab).