Senator Mary O'Rourke (67) has declared she wants to run for the Dáil one more time and she intends to seek a Fianna Fáil nomination in the next general election.
A battle is anticipated in the party for the nomination from the Athlone area to stand in the new Longford-Westmeath constituency.
Cllr Kevin Moran last year signalled his desire to stand.
Rising tensions have led to the Athlone comhairle ceanntair agm being postponed because three local cumainn are not registered with party headquarters.
Party sources say the Moran and O'Rourke camps are setting out their stalls in advance of the next general election.
The reconvened comhairle ceanntair agm is now scheduled to take place on May 10th.
The three cumainn - Castledaly, Custume and Battery Heights - are expected to be registered by then.
At least two of these are thought to be supporting Mr Moran.
In what is thought to be a direct reference to Fianna Fáil TD Donie Cassidy, who took her seat in the 2002 general election, Ms O'Rourke told Midlands Gold radio yesterday that she received regular appeals for representation for people from the Mullingar and Castlepollard areas.
Mr Cassidy's power base is in the Mullingar and Castlepollard areas.
"The people need representing. I plan to go forward to convention. You have to take your chance," Ms O'Rourke told the Athlone Voice newspaper this week.
Her declaration comes just a week after Cllr Egbert Moran called on her to declare whether she intended to run or not.
Mr Moran said the party needed to know her intentions so it could plan for the next general election.