Green Party leadership:The Green Party will hold preliminary discussions about electing a new leader to replace Trevor Sargent in the coming days, though voting is unlikely to take place for some time.
Mr Sargent resigned as party leader on Wednesday night following the overwhelming vote by party delegates to support the leadership's recommendation that the party should go into power with Fianna Fáil.
Under the party's constitution, Mr Sargent's replacement will be chosen by single transferable vote, where voters place candidates in order of preference.
The situation will differ, however, if just two candidates put their names forward in the race, and the candidate who gets a simple majority will be victorious.
The term of office for the leader is usually five years, though Mr Sargent, who was last elected in 2003, would have had to go up for re-election within six months because a Dáil election had been held.
"In the case of the party leader resigning without completing a term, an election shall take place thereupon and the result be announced when the ballot is completed," the party's constitution states.
"The term thus started shall last until after the next general election in the Republic of Ireland, when a leadership election must again take place within six months after polling day," it goes on.
Last night, the party's deputy leader, newly-elected Carlow-Kilkenny TD Mary White said the party had "given no thought yet" to the election.
"Right now, we are recovering from the emotion of the massive endorsement given by the delegates, and from Trevor's decision to step down. It is a huge decision for us to be sitting on the Government benches. It is far too early to be thinking about this," said Ms White, who said she has not thought about running.
Newly-appointed Minister, Eamon Ryan has said that he "did not think" he would run for the leadership, while Dún Laoghaire TD Ciaran Cuffe was vague about his intentions. The timing of the election will be debated by the parliamentary party and national executive council in coming days, said party general secretary Dónall Geoghegan.
