As party conventions over the coming months select candidates for the next election, party officials will be looking over their shoulders at possible entries from left field, notably Independents.
One constituency where this will arise is Roscommon-Longford, where former Fianna Fail councillor Tom Crosby will be running as an Independent following his highly publicised breach with Fianna Fail over a year ago.
This followed a row with former justice minister and local TD, Sean Doherty, in 1998, which ended with Mr Crosby being convicted of assaulting the former minister. The row arose from a Fianna Fail meeting in a private house in his local village from which he had been excluded. Unrepentant, he refused to pay the £500 fine to Mr Doherty and paid it to the court poor-box instead.
However, he went on to run as an Independent candidate in the subsequent local elections, where he topped the poll in Strokestown, recording the highest ever vote in this area in a local election. He went on to be elected chairman of Roscommon County Council with the support of Fine Gael, the single PD councillor and another Independent. He is now poised to fight for a Dail seat.
"There is public anger with the arrogance of the major parties and the type of corruption now emerging," he said. "The public are beginning to believe something has to be done. I would be seen as outspoken. The public elect you to be non-aligned. I have experience of the whip and I know you end up as a yes-person."
There are local issues that he feels he is well-placed to fight for. "Roscommon has not benefited from decentralisation. Both Roscommon and Longford have lost out in employment terms.
"The hospital is still an issue: even though there is no fear of it closing, it needs considerable investment. The casualty unit needs upgrading, and so do a number of the wards. The major problem now is that there is no proper scanning unit."
The hospital issue is a reminder that the threat to close Roscommon Hospital resulted in an Independent, pro-hospital candidate, Tom Fox, serving two Dail terms, so there is a tradition of support for Independents in this county.
However, some locals say Mr Crosby's base, around Tarmonbarry and Strokestown, is too narrow to bring him a Dail seat in this double-county constituency. He disputes this, pointing out that he served as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Longford town, just a few miles over the Shannon from his pub in Tarmonbarry.