Two major political think-ins will get underway later today.
Labour will hold a two-day meeting in Wexford, to make last-minute plans for the next Dáil term, while Fianna Fáil will hold a parliamentary party meeting in Roscommon.
There are many common threads to the meetings that Fianna Fail and Labour will be holding today and tomorrow.
Both parties will feel a little anxious at their performance in opinion polls - with Fianna Fáil regularly polling behind Sinn Féin, and Labour not seeming to reap many gains from its change of leadership.
And both parties will know that unless they start making inroads now, the next election will come into view too quickly to start making up lost ground.
The first place to start will be planning for the two Dáil by-elections coming in the next few weeks - and for the other by-election that will follow Phil Hogan’s appointment as EU Commissioner.
But for Labour there’s also the issue of the Budget - and that will be the major talking point for its two-day meeting in Wexford.
With the prospect of an end to austerity, Labour will discuss how best to work with Fine Gael to pass the benefits to the public - and how it might itself reap the rewards.
