Bacik recently turned down a Labour nomination for the next general election in Dun Laoghaire, where Eamon Gilmore is the party's sitting TD. Instead, she will seek to establish a national political career by getting elected as one of the three senators chosen by graduates of Trinity College.

She will not, however, be campaigning as a Labour party candidate. She said she was contesting as "an Independent candidate as I did in 1997 and 2002, with support from many different political perspectives."

She narrowly missed out on a seat on the Trinity Seanad panel in 2002.

Bacik has promised that, if successful in the Seanad elections, she will remain an Independent, despite her high-profile membership of the Labour party.

"If elected, I will not take any political party whip, in keeping with the traditional independence of Trinity senators, " Bacik said.

Her decision to sidestep party political activity will come as a blow to Labour, especially given Bacik's strong performance in the last European elections in Dublin where she polled 40,000 first preferences.

Party officials had hoped that a Bacik candidacy would have increased Labour's chance of a second seat in Dun Laoghaire and projected a younger image for the party in the next general election.

Having just started her Seanad campaign, Bacik is now encouraging TCD graduates to register to vote. In 2002, only 14,237 of the potential 38,488 voters actually returned their postal vote, a turnout of only 36%.

According to Bacik, part of the reason for the poor turnout was that the organisers of the election were using out-of-date addresses for graduates.

In 2002, David Norris, Mary Henry and Shane Ross were successfully elected on the TCD panel. The election to the 60-member Seanad must by law take place within 90 days of the dissolution of the Dail.