Two weeks to go to the byelections in Galway and Dublin and the campaigns are in full flight.

Posters adorn the two constituencies while the crowded fields of candidates – there are 17 in Galway and 14 in Dublin – jostle for space on the lamp-posts and for media and online attention.

As predicted, the Government parties are in the business of managing expectations – “Governments don’t win byelections”, etc – though Seán Kyne’s strong showing in The Irish Times/TG4 poll published on Thursday evening will give Fine Gael a new hope. Now, it’s a long way from Kyne’s 17 per cent to the 50 per cent he needs to get elected. But he’s in the game.

The prospect of a Fianna Fáil flop – just as the party prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday – is strong and could mean that they can get the grumbling going about the leadership early at the ardfheis next weekend. Would be sort of fitting, I suppose.

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Do you know how many byelections Bertie Ahern won as leader, one expectation-managing Fianna Fáiler asked me this week. How many? “Zero out of eight.” True, but he won two as party leader........

© The Irish Times