This is a real quandary for SF. Mary Lou is already selected as the candidate for the Dublin constituency for the European Parliament elections. If, as expected, the DNC by-election to replace Tony Gregory is held on the same day, how can she credibly stand for both posts? If she sticks to the Euro ticket then who will SF run instead? Will that candidate be expected to stand aside again at the next General election? Doing that would likely expose Mary Lou to similar issues that hampered her last time out.

I'm sure the plan was to run and win the European election, setting her up nicely for a Dáil run next time, but then Gregory gave one last 'Up Yours' to the Provies. Impeccable timing as ever, Mr. Gregoory!

My own view is that there is almost certainly an SF seat in DNC in Gregory's absence but I couldn't see her winning it in a by-election. The Euro seat is winnable, so she should take that and worry about the complications caused by running someone else in the by-election at the next General Election (which will be before the end of the year anyway, in my opinion). Running her in both just threatens the Euro seat as an obvious charge would be that she is not taking the MEP role seriously. No-one else from SF can seriously challenge for the MEP seat. Maybe SF should not bother running anyone in the by-election. One plan might be to run whoever she names as an alternate in the Dublin seat, so that they could take over the MEP role and she could run for the next Dáil election. Could Nicky Kehoe be tempted out of retirement, or would this reek of stroke pulling?

The Politics Gods have dealt SF a shitty hand though, there's no denying that. What would you do if you were an SF strategist here?