Whatever happens between now and Thursday, when the nominations close, Eamon Gilmore is home and hosed as the next leader of the Labour Party. The only question is whether he will be unchallenged. Most senior figures in the party are of the view that there won't be a contest and that the Dun Laoghaire deputy will be formally ratified as party leader next Thursday afternoon.

The only potential challenger at this point is Dublin North East deputy Tommy Broughan, who would be seen as a stalwart of the left of the party. But most observers believe he is unlikely to run.

"Tommy is no fool. He won't run if he thinks he's going to get a derisory vote. He won't be a sacrificial lamb for others in the party, " one wellplaced source said.

While the absence of a leadership contest denies the party the potential of four weeks in the public spotlight, the feeling within Labour is that this will be more than compensated by the merits of having a unanimously endorsed leader in place and ready to hit the ground running when the Dail resumes.

Gilmore can expect to tap into a fair reservoir of goodwill when he takes over. "He is genuinely popular. He is not confrontational and he will be very conscious of the staff in the party. He's also very intelligent and good with people, " one senior source said.

But, as with any new leader, it will take time to assess whether or not he has the necessary qualities to succeed in the new role. Not as colourful as his predecessor, the more serious Gilmore has what one close observer described as something of the "school prefect" about him. "That does need to be addressed, but then again how do you address it? You have to be careful not to repeat the mistake that Fine Gael made with Michael Noonan when he changed and became more regal and ended up being somebody he wasn't, " one source said.

Although the decline in his personal vote in Dun Laoghaire has not gone unnoticed, party figures are adamant Gilmore will not lack the energy so crucial for the rebuilding job that lies ahead of him. And there is also a fair degree of confidence that he can grow into the leadership role.

But that's for the future.

The more pressing concern for the party is who will be standing alongside him on the leader's platform. Unlike the leadership race, the contest to become deputy leader of the party is shaping up to be genuinely competitive.

About the only thing that can be said with any degree of certainty is that the deputy leader will be a woman.

Whether it will be Jan O'Sullivan or Joan Burton is still in doubt. While newcomer Ciaran Lynch's name has been linked with challenging, the view in the party is that, while his day may well come, it is too soon for him to be coveting such a senior position in the party.

The worst-kept secret in Labour circles was revealed yesterday when acting leader Liz McManus announced that she would not contest the party's leadership elections.

As of now, most attention is on O'Sullivan and Burton, with the Limerick East deputy regarded as the slight favourite.

O'Sullivan is popular in the party and has the backing of some heavy hitters including Willie Penrose and Emmet Stagg who, like O'Sullivan, would have been part of the group that backed Pat Rabbitte for the leadership five years ago. McManus yesterday pledged her support to the Eamon Gilmore/Jan O'Sullivan ticket.

Her Limerick base might also be seen as an advantage over Burton. Given that the new party leader will, like Burton, be from Dublin, there might be an attraction to the regional balance a DublinLimerick ticket would bring.

Against that, O'Sullivan does not have a particularly high profile nationally and hasn't had the kind of impact in her role as education spokeswoman that Burton has had in the finance portfolio. The fact that she is not 'old Labour' . . . she was part of Jim Kemmy's Democratic Socialist Party which merged with Labour in 1991 . . . is not expected to be a major factor in how the votes are cast.

Burton, meanwhile, is highly respected within the party for the job she has done opposing Brian Cowen and as somebody whose "heart is in the right place" when it comes to the Labour party, as well as for holding her seat against the odds in Dublin West in the last general election.

However while Burton has a strong and positive media profile, some figures were this weekend questioning whether . . . given she could not get the support to get her leadership campaign off the ground . . . she would be able to generate the necessary backing from the same electorate to land her the deputy job.

But the common view is that it's going to very tight.

"It's very hard to call it. I think Jan does have the slight edge at the moment, " was the virtually unanimous verdict from those Labour figures contacted in recent days.

Not surprisingly, there is considerably less unanimity as to which of the deputy leadership candidates would make the best political partner for Gilmore. But either way, there is no talk about 'dream teams' or anything like that.

There is a realisation that regardless of who wins the deputy race, Gilmore will ultimately stand or fall on how he performs in the top job. While his smooth accession to the top job is something of a dream start, nobody in the party is in any doubt that much greater challenges lie ahead.