Political Reporter
A surprise by-election has livened up the political scene. The contest in Dublin Bay South has all the ingredients for a fascinating competition – internal party turmoil, big personalities and the possibility of a female-dominated ballot paper.
Sinn Féin has already signalled it will seek to make this a referendum on the Government s performance on housing, others see the vote as a test of the handling of the pandemic.
But it could be neither of those things as by-elections can be completely unique competitions with their own dynamic.
This will also be the first opportunity to see how to run a vote in the time of Covid with the possibility of the vote taking place over two days.