The party's influential constituency committee, which includes Brian Cowen and PJ Mara, is seeking CVs from election wannabes before putting them through their paces to decide who stands for Fianna Fail in several constituencies.

Party officials have already decided that interviews will be held with prospective candidates in Meath East and Dublin Mid-West. Fianna Fail has a single seat in each constituency, Mary Wallace and John Curran respectively.

As outgoing TDs, both Wallace and Curran have been automatically re-selected without a meeting of party members in their respective constituencies. Their running mates will now be chosen after interviews overseen by the constituency committee chaired by Cowen. "In these two cases we were dealing with completely new candidates who were not that wellknown to the organisation. So it was decided that the committee members would talk to the candidates to hear their stories and check them out, " one senior party source said.

The interview process was used for the Meath by-election last year when Tommy Reilly, the candidate selected by party delegates, withdrew from the contest not long before polling day. Following interviews, Shane Cassells emerged as the party's new by-election candidate. He was defeated in the election by Fine Gael's Shane McEntee.

Prior to the interviews for a place on a general election ticket, interested Fianna Fail candidates will have to submit a CV. Informed sources say the candidates will be asked to justify their selection, to outline their political history and involvement in community activities in the constituency.

All Fianna Fail candidates . . .selected by convention or interviewed by party HQ . . .have been warned that their position will not be formally ratified until close to election date. The results of ongoing opinion polling will ultimately determine whether candidates have made the grade.

Meanwhile, the results of a new poll in Dublin South-East looks set to see two failed local election candidates, Chris Andrews and Jim O'Callaghan, emerge as the Fianna Fail candidates to try to hold Eoin Ryan's seat in the constituency. Party sources say the convention, to be held on 2 February, is now unlikely to back local councillor Gary Keegan, who has run a high-profile campaign, or either Mary White or John Hanafin, two senators who have also expressed an interest in contesting.