In addition to the Local and European elections, voters will also be able to cast their ballots in the DáilDáil constituencies of Dublin West and Longford-Westmeath.

Dublin West

This will be the second by-election in the constituency during the term of this Dáil. Following Brian Lenihan’s death in 2011, the subsequent by-election held on the same day as the Presidential election, saw Patrick Nulty win the seat for Labour thus leaving Fianna Fáil without a single seat in the capital. Nulty left Labour and sat as an Independent but resigned earlier this year over inappropriate conduct through social media.

It is safe to say that Labour have no chance whatsoever of retaining the seat and their candidate Lorraine Mulligan will be hoping to get a much better share of the vote than they achieved in the debacle of last year’s Meath East by-election when their candidate got less than 5%. Joan Burton will be under pressure to ensure that a respectable vote is delivered in her own bailiwick.

The favourite to win the seat is Ruth Coppinger who polled well in the 2011 by-election and has the incentive of knowing that a victory would mean two Socialist Party TDs in the same constituency. Her mentor Joe Higgins is retiring at the next General Election so she will be intent on being the front runner to keep that seat.

Her main challenger is likely to be Dave McGuinness from Fianna Fáil who was runner up in 2011 with almost 22% and represents his party’s strategy to field young articulate candidates who are not associated with the economic disaster of recent years.

McGuinness is a Councillor from Mulhuddart, as is Coppinger, and it was suggested that he didn’t meet with the approval of the party elders in the Castleknock end of the constituency who preferred Anita Lenihan as their candidate. If the suggestions are true it would be imperative to put that to one side as without the resolve of the party faithful in Castleknock to come out in support the chance of McGuinness winning is considerably reduced.

Eamonn Coughlan has been selected to run for Fine Gael and if his recent media appearances are an indication of his political skills then he won’t be standing on a winner’s podium any time soon. Leo Varadkar, like Joan Burton, is tipped by many to be a future leader of their respective parties but whether he can convince his constituents to endorse Coughlan in sufficient numbers is a very moot point.

While Paul Donnelly is highly unlikely to win the seat he will be intent on increasing his 2011 level of support from 9% so that he can have a realistic shot of taking one of the four seats on offer at the next General Election. There has been a lot of attention on the mortgage campaigner David Hall who is running as an Independent and he has been endorsed by Lucinda Creighton among others. However word on the ground is that he has not made the sort of impact expected and is not in serious contention.

While Coppinger is favourite it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that transfers from Coughlan, Mulligan and Hall could push McGuinness close, however it may well be decided on the number of Sinn Fein transfers which are much more likely to favour Coppinger.

Longford-Westmeath

The by-election is as a result of the tragic death of the Fine Gael TD Nicky McFadden and there are echoes of the situation last year at the Meath East by-election when Helen McEntee succeeded her late father Shane to retain the seat for the party.

Nicky’s sister Gabrielle is the standard bearer for the party and it the favourite to win. Although it is Longford-Westmeath it really is a Westmeath by-election as all the genuine contenders are from that county and indeed more specifically Athlone. There is no doubt that as in the McEntee situation a sympathy vote will enhance Gabrielle’s chances but it is not a given for the Mayor of Athlone to triumph.

Aengus O’Rourke, son of Mary, is flying the flag for Fianna Fáil and cannot be discounted. A combination of his vote together with that of Paul Hogan of Sinn Féin and that of Kevin 'Boxer' Moran if transferred tightly could well put one of them in genuine contention.

Hogan is building for the next General Election and the vast majority of his 4,339 votes in 2011 came from Westmeath as did those of former Fianna Fáil man Moran who left the party to run as an Independent and got 6.5%.

Labour struggled to field a candidate and only got Denis Leonard at the last minute. Westmeath is home to Willie Penrose who has kept the red flag flying for many years and although he lost the party whip for opposing the closure of Army barracks he is likely to return to the fold soon and will be doing his utmost to ensure the young candidate is not humiliated.

The outcome may well hinge on the Longford vote as with no meaningful candidate from that county they will not be as engaged as normal. Indeed if the Local and European elections were not being held on the same day the turnout from Longford would likely be very low.

McFadden to win but she will not rest easy until the result is declared.