Poor old Keir Starmer might not agree, but as far as this writer is concerned you can’t beat a good byelection. A tightly focused contest, a manageable field of candidates, confined geography – and the eyes of the political world upon it. Throw in a bit of good weather for canvassing and it’s a political correspondent’s ideal holiday.

Take a rattle through byelections of the last 40 years and you’ll see the start of more than a few significant political careers as well as a turning points that signified substantial shifts in politics.

In the last half century, the Dáil careers of Enda Kenny, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Brian Cowen, Michael Ring, Brian Lenihan jnr, Simon Coveney, Pearse Doherty, Helen McEntee, Paul Murphy and Ivana Bacik were all started at byelections.

Sure, many of them were replacing their dads. And a fair few duds were elected, too. But winning a byelection is a big start for anyone.

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The significance of byelections sometimes goes beyond their own constituency. Back in 1979, it was the loss of two byelections that pushed Jack Lynch’s leadership of Fianna Fáil over the edge, ushering in the era of Charles Haughey’s imperium. That would have enduring........

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