Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is being lobbied intensively as he prepares for next week's announcement of his 11 Seanad nominees.
Mr Ahern will be allocating two places each to the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats, leaving him with seven other nominees.
It is expected that Dr Maurice Hayes, former Northern Ireland ombudsman, will be reappointed. This will leave six places for defeated and aspiring Fianna Fáil TDs. Mr Ahern will have to pay particular attention to Leitrim, which is now without representation in the Dáil and Seanad, following the surprise defeat of Drumshambo-based Senator Paschal Mooney.
Mr Mooney, a high-profile senator with a background of community involvement in Leitrim, has made no secret of his intention to continue in politics.
He will be in the running for a nomination, as will defeated Fenagh-based Roscommon South Leitrim TD John Ellis.
Another contender could be Drumsna-based Sinéad Guckian, who represents the Carrick-on-Shannon electoral area on Leitrim County Council.
Mr Ahern might opt to appoint Roscommon county councillor, Rachel Doherty, who is based in Cootehall, Boyle, to mark local Fine Gael TD, Frank Feighan, who turned in a very strong performance and gained a seat against predictions in the general election. Ms Doherty is a daughter of former minister and TD, the late Seán Doherty.
Two defeated TDs, Waterford's Ollie Wilkinson and Galway East's Joe Callanan, both of whom failed to get elected to the Seanad, will be citing precedent in making their claims for nominations.
Last time, Mr Ahern nominated Brendan Kenneally, who took Mr Wilkinson's seat, and Michael Kitt, who replaced Mr Callanan in the Dáil and is now Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Following his Seanad defeat, Mr Wilkinson made it clear that he would be lobbying Mr Ahern for a nomination, and Mr Callanan is expected to do the same.
Another defeated TD with a strong claim to a nomination is Dublin North East's Martin Brady, who also failed to get elected to the Seanad.
Mr Brady lost his seat to Fine Gael's Terence Flanagan, and with the sitting FF TD, Dr Michael Woods, expected to retire at the next election, he would be an obvious choice for a general election ticket.
Another defeated north Dublin TD in the running is Ivor Callely, who lost out in the new Dublin North Central three-seater.
He too failed to get elected to the Seanad, but it is thought that he could face competition from Cllr Deirdre Heney.
She was a candidate in the constituency in 2002, when it was a four-seater, polling 5,533 first preferences.
Others in the running could be Maria Corrigan, a general election candidate in Dublin South, and Jim O'Callaghan who was unsuccessful in Dublin South East.
Meanwhile, speculation about the two Green Party nominees centres on Dan Boyle, who lost his Cork South Central seat and is considered a certainty, and Deirdre de Burca, the party's unsuccessful general election candidate in Wicklow.
Defeated Dún Laoghaire PD TD Fiona O'Malley is considered a front-runner for one of her party's nominations.
The second seat could well go to Ciaran Cannon, who lost out in Galway East after polling 3,321 first preferences.
Given that Noel Grealish, one of the two PDs elected to the Dáil, represents Galway West, the county is seen as a remaining PDs stronghold in the wake of the party's poor general election performance. A PDs spokesman said yesterday that 17 people had indicated their interest in being appointed to the Seanad.
An advisory group will consider the candidates on the basis of their ability to win a Dáil seat at the next election and will make a recommendation to party leader, Mary Harney, over the weekend.
A total of 49 Senators have been elected from the vocational and university panels, and Mr Ahern's 11 will complete the complement of 60 and provide the Government parties with 33 Senators and a comfortable working majority.
