There are 17 candidates contesting the Trinity College Seanad by-election with polls closing at the end of March.
The vacancy has arisen due to Labour's Ivana Bacik election to the Dáil last Summer.
The university senators tend to be some of the most high-profile and outspoken members of the Upper House, so much intrigue hangs on the election. And the Seanad has celebrated its centenary this week launching a programme of events for the rest of the year.
However, despite repeated calls over many years to reform the narrow franchise for these seats, no change has been made. That means that only Trinity graduates and foundation scholars are eligible to vote.
The electorate is estimated at just under 68,000, although fewer than one in five of those eligible to cast a vote actually do.
The contenders include former Dublin Lord Mayor and Green Party councillor Hazel Chu, former MEP Patricia McKenna, former international rugby player Hugo MacNeill and defence analyst Tom Clonan.
So who could take the seat in the Upper House joining fellow TCD Senators David Norris and Lynn Ruane?
Name recognition is a major factor in this franchise dominated by independent thinkers. Long-running Trinity Senators of the past include Mary Robinson, Shane Ross and Mary Henry.
Former Irish rugby international and Goldman Sachs director Hugo MacNeill is hoping he can make the breakthrough this time, having come fourth in the three-seat constituency in the 2020 election. He is chairman of the British-Irish Association and also works with Trinity’s Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
Dr Tom Clonan is a defence analyst and former army officer who exposed sexual harassment within the Defence Forces two decades ago.He has also advocated for disability rights. This is his third run for the Seanad.
One element of intrigue in the race is the number of Green or former Green politicians seeking election.
Councillor Hazel Chu is again seeking a position in the Oireachtas. However, unlike last year's ill-fated Seanad run against the wishes of many in her party, this time her decision to run as an independent has not caused internal issues.
Ms Chu had a very high-profile list of nominators, including director Lenny Abrahamson and activist Rory O’Neill.
It remains to be seen whether this could be the run that propels her into Leinster House.
Also on the ticket is former Green Party MEP and barrister Patricia McKenna, who is running as an independent. She quit the party in 2009 calling her colleagues "hypocrites".
In addition, former Green councillor and assistant professor Sadhbh O’Neill is also seeking the seat. Her political career kicked off when she was elected to Dublin City Council while in the US on a J1 student visa. She is no longer a member of the party and she says that if she is elected, she would hold the Government to account on its emissions pledges.
There is a fourth Green contender in psychologist Paula Roseingrave. She ran for the party in Wexford in the 2020 general election, polling 2.7% of the vote.
Ivana Bacik is backing Ursula Quill, a PhD candidate at Trinity who has also worked as her assistant at Leinster House.
Ms Quill is positioning herself as a successor to the new TD. She also has a list of well-known nominators, including former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness, Mary Henry and former director of the Abbey Theatre Fiach Mac Conghail.
Her backers are hoping she can be carried into the Upper House as a surrogate candidate for Ms Bacik.
Another politician in the mix is Social Democrats candidate Catherine Stocker. She was elected to Dublin City Council in 2019 for the Clontarf local electoral area. She is also running as an independent.
Other well-known names include psychologist Maureen Gaffney and former diplomat Dr Ray Bassett.
Gisele Scanlon is a writer and the current President of Trinity Graduate Students’ Union.
The other candidates are Ali O’Shea, director of AFA Consulting; Eoin Barry, social worker and family therapist; Aubrey McCarthy, founder of Tiglin and Entrepreneur; Michael McDermott, PHD Student; Ryan Alberto Ó Giobúin, PHD researcher; Ade Oluborode, barrister.
Polling runs from 25 February to 30 March. Some insiders believe that Hugo MacNeill could top the poll, but would then be in the hunt for transfers to get over the line.
