Four Senators have confirmed their intention to stand as candidates for cathaoirleach of the Seanad in next week's election.
Fianna Fáil as the majority party will decide the cathaoirleach and its 28 Senators will meet on Wednesday at 5pm before Thursday's first sitting of the new Seanad.
Senators Pat Moylan from Offaly, Terry Leyden from Roscommon, Dublin-based Ann Ormonde and Wexford's Jim Walshe have confirmed their interest in the coveted position.
Westmeath Senator Camillus Glynn said: "I haven't my mind fully made up. I'm still considering it," he said about entering the race. He is currently abroad. "I'm back at the weekend and will decide then."
Senator Moylan, a close associate of the Tánaiste Brian Cowen, is regarded as the frontrunner, although a Fianna Fáil source said that "when you're dealing with a small number of voters and close colleagues you don't always get a true picture from the canvass".
Ten years in the Seanad, Mr Moylan was a popular chief whip for the past five years and was regarded as very fair.
A former county council chairman and Offaly hurler, his GAA involvement should also help him.
Mr Leyden has been in politics for 30 years, having been first elected to the Dáil in 1977 and his experience as a three-times minister of state is seen as an advantage.
He is one of the few senators who succeeded in getting his own legislation passed, introducing a Private Members' Bill on wills and inheritance.
Ms Ormonde has served in the Seanad for 15 years. She has run twice for the position of cathaoirleach and both times lost by just one vote. If elected she would be the second female cathaoirleach of the Seanad.
From a well known Waterford Fianna Fáil family, she has contested general elections in the Dublin South constituency, and this time around secured the third Seanad seat for the party on the cultural and education panel against the odds.
Mr Walsh, who started in politics on Wexford County Council, is a former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association.
A late entrant to the race, he is regarded as a very astute politician. He held the justice portfolio in the last Seanad when there was a large amount of legislation and he was viewed as a skilled performer.
