Right candidate, right constituency, right time for Bacik

Taking 30% of the vote, Ms Bacik proved that a strong personal brand and a connection with the local voter could overcome anaemic national opinion polling.

The 14-year senator put her victory down to her "positive, energetic campaign", but in reality it comes down to a simple confluence of right candidate, right constituency, right time.

The constituency of Dublin Bay South should be a Labour heartland, but that does not make the reality of Ivana Bacik's win less impressive.

Mixing working and middle classes, historically liberal, and with a recent history of two big-name TDs in Ruairi Quinn and Kevin Humphreys, it would not have been surprising to see the party outpoll its low national base across the constituency.