The decision of Minister of State for Education Síle de Valera to stay on as a junior minister despite her declaration that she will retire at the next election has caused irritation among Fianna Fáil colleagues.
Her announcement was made late on Thursday night, following contacts with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, her constituency colleagues and party officers in Co Clare.
Relations between Ms de Valera and her parliamentary party colleagues nose-dived during the summer after they faced strong constituency criticism about school bus routes, for which she has responsibility.
Emphasising that she intended to remain as a Minister of State for the next 18 months, Ms de Valera told The Irish Times that the Taoiseach had made it clear that he "was happy with my work in the department".
Once that was completed, she said, she intended to devote herself to finishing off a PhD and a political memoir.
Three candidates are expected to go before the selection convention on January 10th: Minister of State Tony Killeen, who lives in Corofin but has a constituency base around Ennis, Senator Timmy Dooley from Mountshannon in the east of the county and Senator Brendan Daly, who lives in Cooraclare, five miles from Kilrush.
Fine Gael have high hopes that the son of former Fine Gael minister of state Donal Carey will gain a seat for the party in the constituency, alongside Pat Breen TD. However, Independent TD James Breen will also run again.
Though the decision to end the Shannon stop-over may impact on Fianna Fáil's vote in and around Shannon, the party is confident that it can hold its existing seats, or perhaps even add one.
The decision by Mr Daly, a former minister for defence and the marine, to run again will give the party ticket a good geographical balance, unlike Fine Gael, whose two candidates are based less than five miles apart.
Mr Breen's vote could be threatened in the centre of the county by Mr Carey, though Mr Breen will be difficult to remove, politicians from all of the parties accept.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach is understood to be concerned about falling attendances at Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meetings in Leinster House, which are now below two dozen on some occasions. Leading figures from the world of business and elsewhere are now to be invited to speak at the meetings, starting with the chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, John Delaney.
