There will not be a voting pact between Government parties in the upcoming Dublin Bay South by-election.

The by-election will be formally called today – with July 8th the likely polling date.

While the starting gun is only now being officially fired, heavy canvassing having taken place for weeks.

The three-week campaign will likely be dominated by housing in a constituency with very mixed living.

The city centre, working class apartment blocks and parts of the so-called silicon docks melt into the leafy suburbs of Donnybrook, Sandymount and Ballsbridge in the constituency.

Sources in the Government parties of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens have confirmed there won’t be any voting pact between them to try and secure the seat – with Cllrs Deirdre Conroy, James Geoghegan and Claire Byrne each trying to elbow the other out.

Sinn Féin will be hoping their surge in the polls will secure a second seat in the constituency for Lynn Boylan, with Labour hoping Ivana Bacik can buck their national trend to enter the Dáil.

Social Democrat Sarah Durcan, Brigid Purcell of Solidarity PBP, Mairéad Tóibín for Aontu and independents Peter Dooley and Mannix Flynn are also in the field.

Fine Gael and Sinn Féin are trying to present this as a battle between the two - but it's wide open for a short, sharp campaign to win it.