The Labour Party will move the writ for the Dublin South Central by-election in the Dail later today. The vacancy was caused by the death earlier this year of the Labour TD Mr Pat Upton. His sister, Dr Mary Upton, has already been selected by Labour to contest the by-election.
Other candidates to contest the by-election include Mr Michael Mulcahy of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael's Ms Catherine Byrne, Mr Aengus O Snodaigh of Sinn Fein, Mr John Goodwillie of the Green Party and Mr Shay Kelly of the Workers' Party.
Dublin South Central is a four-seat constituency. In the 1997 general election, Fianna Fail won two seats with Fine Gael and Labour each taking one seat. The contest must take place not earlier than 17 days or not later than 25 days (excluding Sundays and public holidays) from the moving of the writ.