Niall Andrews (MEP, Fianna Fail)
The 1989 Euro poll-topper in Dublin, Niall Andrews has never lost an election since he became a TD in the Fianna Fail landslide of 1977. His Dail career was soon overtaken by his departure to Strasbourg in 1984, but a talent for publicity, good and bad, has kept him in the news. Brother of David, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mary Banotti (MEP, Fine Gael)
Now 15 years in the European Parliament, the one-time nurse has established impressive liberal credentials during her three terms in Strasbourg. Fine Gael's Presidential candidate in 1997, after heavyweights like Garret FitzGerald and Peter Barry declined to run, her respectable performance restored the party's pride after the 1990 disappointment. Favoured to top the poll this time.
Ben Briscoe (TD, Fianna Fail)
The "junior" member of the party ticket, he was a surprise loser in the selection convention in 1994 when beaten by John Stafford. A member of Ireland's tiny but politically well-represented Jewish community, he is also pure Fianna Fail - his father Robert was a founder member and a TD from 1927. Ben followed him into the Dail in 1973.
John Burns (Natural Law Party)
Aged 43, he is leader of the Irish NLP and a teacher of transcendental meditation for over 20 years. He was also a candidate in 1994 and contested Dublin North East in the general election. His primary focus in recent years has been the promotion of Natural Law programmes like yogic flying "as a means of creating peace and reducing incoherence and crime in society".
Gerard Casey (Christian Solidarity)
President of the Christian Solidarity Party and a doctor of philosophy in University College Dublin. A prominent campaigner for "family values, real education and pro-life issues", he is also firmly opposed to Irish membership of Partnership for Peace, arguing that Irish neutrality should be used positively on the world stage.
Sean Crowe (Sinn Fein)
One of his party's top three vote-getters in the 1997 general election. Based in Tallaght, he is a community activist who has been active in the anti-drug and water rates campaigns. He was head of the Sinn Fein delegation at the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation and is currently a member of the party's talks team
Proinsias De Rossa (Labour)
In the IRA as a teenager, he has been a member in turn of Sinn Fein, Official Sinn Fein, Sinn Fein the Workers' Party, the Workers' Party, Democratic Left (with which he was minister for social welfare in the Rainbow Coalition) and now Labour. An undertaking that he would not defend his Dail seat in Dublin North West was part of the merger deal.
Adam Goodwin (Non-Party)
A 26-year-old, he describes himself as a "Feel-Good Independent" candidate who believes young people should have a say in how Europe is run. Sponsored by Lee Jeans, he is running on a manifesto which, among other things, urges voters to "smile at someone you don't know" and "rest when tired".
Ciaran Goulding (Non-Party)
From Lusk in north County Dublin, he is a 43-year-old father of four and grandfather of one, who was a taxi-driver before developing multiple sclerosis. Now a voluntary worker and activist on behalf of the disabled, he is also campaigning for a better deal for carers.
Joe Higgins (TD, Socialist Party)
Expelled from Labour in 1989 because of his support for the Militant Tendency, he won a Dail seat in Dublin West in 1997 after coming within 250 votes of winning the 1996 by-election in the same constituency. Born in Kerry, he calls himself "a democratic socialist in the tradition of Connolly". He is a former English teacher.
Patricia McKenna (MEP, Greens)
The surprise poll-topper in 1994, she is now synonymous with the "McKenna Judgment", the 1995 Supreme Court ruling that State funds cannot be spent to promote only one side of a referendum proposal. The challenge has had consequences well beyond its initial motivation. But a penchant for irritating the Government (her strong Fianna Fail background in Monaghan notwithstanding) will lose her no support in her core constituency.
Bernie Malone (Labour)
One of the best-known candidates in the field, thanks partly to her notorious battle with Orla Guerin in the last European elections, Bernie Malone became an MEP as third substitute for Barry Desmond when he joined the European Court of Auditors in 1993. Born in Clontarf, she has at least one other thing in common with fellow MEP Mary Banotti: a family connection with Michael Collins (her mother was a cousin of Kitty Kiernan). A solicitor before full-time politics.
Jim Mitchell (TD, Fine Gael)
Lost out in 1994, despite winning almost 6,000 first preferences more than Bernie Malone, with whom he duelled for the last seat until Pat Rabbitte's transfers went 2:1 in favour of the Labour candidate. Called his party leader John Bruton "charismatically challenged" in 1994, but they appear to have mended fences. Currently chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, he revels in the role of grilling senior public servants.
Party share of first-preference vote in 1994:
Fine Gael, 23.82; Fianna Fail, 20.85; Greens, 14.54; Labour, 14.07; Democratic Left, 8.69; Workers' Party, 5.70; Progressive Democrats, 2.96; Sinn Fein, 2.95; Others, 6.44. Electorate in 1994: 755,486.