FINE GAEL intends running Denis Naughten, the 24-year-old son of the late Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Liam Naughten, who was killed in a car-crash two weeks ago, in the by-election which is now expected to be held in the last week in January.
The leader of the Seanad, FG's Maurice Manning, will move the by-election writ in two weeks' time.
Unlike normal Seanad elections, where county councillors also have the franchise, voting in by-elections is confined to members of both Houses of the Oireachtas, a total of 225 TDs and Senators. The quota will he 113, and as the three-party Coalition Government has 113 members, it is anticipated that Denis Naughten will have little difficulty taking his father's seat - particularly since no slippage in the vote is expected and some independents will support him.
The last two vacancies in the current Seanad were filled by Brian Hayes, a Taoiseach's nominee, and through ejection, by Northerner Sam McAughtry.
For the last by-election, Fianna Fail ran former SDLP MP Paddy O'Hanlon, but despite PD support, he failed. The Opposition is expected to find an agreed candidate on this occasion too, but young Naughten, currently finishing his MA in food science at UCC, will he hard, if not impossible, to beat.