Fianna Fáil Senator Pat Moylan will today be elected cathaoirleach of the Seanad when the Upper House meets for the first time since the election.
Mr Moylan received the overwhelming support of Fianna Fáil Senators when they met yesterday in Leinster House to decide on its candidate.
Four of the group had declared their interest in the job of cathaoirleach, which carries with it a Minister of State salary and civilian driver. They were Senators Moylan from Offaly, Terry Leyden from Roscommon, Dublin-based Ann Ormonde and Wexford's Jim Walshe.
Senator Moylan, a close associate of Tánaiste Brian Cowen and the frontrunner for the position, received 15 votes, Senator Walshe five, Senator Leyden four and Senator Ormonde three. Senator Tony Kett was the only one of the party's 28 Senators absent from the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the vote was by secret ballot.
Senator Moylan will have the support of the two Green and the two PD Senators when he is proposed as cathaoirleach of the 60-member Seanad.
The leas-chathaoirleach position traditionally goes to the opposition and this will not be voted on until when the Seanad sits again at the end of the month.
"We have to go through formalities but I look forward to the challenge of the job," said Senator Moylan last night, pointing out that more than half of the Senators are new to the Upper House.
Mr Moylan was Fianna Fáil's chief whip in the last Seanad and is a popular figure.
He was first elected to the Seanad in 1997.