Fianna Fáil's campaign will be headed - as in the last two general elections - by PJ Mara (PICTURED), although he has not yet been formally confirmed as the party's director of elections.

Mara is an important member of Fianna Fáil's constituencies committee which gives him a deep knowledge of the party organisaton. His long political experience will be relied upon by general secretary Sean Dorgan, who is facing into his first general election campaign. Fianna Fáil's media strategy will be overseen by press officers Mandy Johnson and Olivia Buckley while, as in previous campaigns, former party employees will have a behind-the-scenes role.

Fine Gael faces into the forthcoming election with as strong a team of advisers as has ever been employed by the party.

Enda Kenny's press adviser Ciaran Conlon will oversee the media campaign. The former Kildare footballer will work alongside chef de cabinet Gerry Naughton, who has over 20 years in civil service experience on his CV. Political and organisational support will come from the party's general secretary Tom Curran and Dublin organiser Terry Murphy. The task of pulling the entire Fine Gael operation together will fall to former Rehab boss Frank Flannery, who has been appointed director of elections. A seasoned election campaigner, Flannery has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the various constituencies and will direct the campaign from Dublin.

Labour's campaign will be led by the party's general secretary Mike Allen, chef de cabinet Adrian Langan and longtime press officer Tony Heffernan.

Veteran party activist James Wrynne will fill the director of elections role. A lecturer in the Dublin Institute of Technology, he was a programme manager for Niamh Breathnach from 1992 to 1997.