The counting of votes in the Seanad election begins today and the overall result will be known on Friday evening. However, the full line-up in the new assembly will not be known until Mr Bertie Ahern declares his "Taoiseach's Eleven" in a few weeks.
The identity of the six university senators, elected by graduates of the National University and the University of Dublin, should be known this evening.
Voting in the Seanad election is conducted by postal ballot and the count opens at three centres - Leinster House, the College of Surgeons and Trinity College - at 11 a.m.
While the count for the six university seats is relatively rapid, calculating the votes for the 43 seats on five panels, Cultural, Agricultural, Labour, Industrial & Commercial and Administrative, takes much longer. The electorate of 990 councillors, TDs and senators votes on five individual ballot papers - one for each panel - and these must be separated before the count begins.
The Cultural panel count takes place today, with 19 candidates seeking five seats and a quota of about 163. The results should be known tonight. The Agricultural panel count begins tomorrow morning. The Administrative panel count should conclude by lunchtime on Friday.
The Taoiseach's nominees must be named before the new Seanad meets, but no date has been set for the first sitting of the Upper House. In their arrangement for Government, the Progressive Democrats agreed not to contest the Seanad elections and, in return for four seats among the Taoiseach's Eleven, to support Fianna Fail candidates.
Mr Ahern is strongly expected to include a figure from Northern Ireland in his nominations.