Welcome to Dublin for a special edition of Red Lines that's devoted to an issue which is just starting to push its way into the forefront of people's minds here.

There's still a bit of time to go before any big decisions need to be taken and the big reveal itself won't happen until mid-November.

But the debate around the issue is definitely starting to heat up.

I'm talking, of course, about the Irish presidential

election. Michael D. Higgins, term of office, ends in just about six months' time, and in this

edition of Red Lines, we'll assess the current incumbents' time in office. We'll consider how

the role of the president has changed through the years, and we'll look ahead to who the front

runners are likely to be to take over

in the Aris later this year.

And with me to do that,

dear Midferiter, Professor of Modern Irish History

at University College Dublin,

Mary Regan, newly appointed

political editor of the Irish Independent

and Sunday Independent,

and Gavin Riley, political correspondent

at Virgin Media News.

Welcome to all of you. Thanks for making time to join the conversation.

First things first, we don't have any candidates.

We don't have very many people at all who've said they might even be interested in this job.

And some people might find this hard to believe, Gavin.

We don't actually have a date for the election yet. No officially not and won't get too much into the weeds of when exactly could be

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