Could another Fitzgerald lead Fine Gael after Enda Kenny?

First things first: there is no vacancy at the top of the largest governing party.

However, that hasn't prevented a huge focus on the two young princes slugging it out (in the most gentlemanly of ways) to succeed Enda Kenny at some date in the future.

But some inside Fine Gael say they no longer buy the notion that the contest will be between Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney, or even that both men will end up in a leadership race.

When Frances Fitzgerald made the transition to Minister for Justice last May, the position in the Cabinet pecking order of the former social worker often described as the Taoiseach's right-hand woman changed radically.

Many contentious Justice issues are by no means resolved, but her ability to take the heat out of some thorny disputes within nine months has been welcomed by the rank and file as well as the party hierarchy.

Her obviously warm relationship with Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has helped in this regard.

She gets a lot of media coverage simply by virtue of being Minister for Justice, and is adept at turning it to her advantage, but is in the spotlight now because of her careful handling of the Children and Family Relationships Bill.

Fitzgerald was always regarded as an “ahead of the curve liberal”, which some in Fine Gael circles found disconcerting.

Years ago, when she was chair of the National Women’s Council, she might have been seen as a trail-blazer.

But in some backbenchers' assessment her views on social issues now simply chime with just about where mainstream Ireland is at the moment.

She has a helpful, friendly demeanour when interacting with less senior colleagues, and is a regular in the Dáil canteen. It may seem like an inconsequential thing, but this matters to backbenchers more used to ministers confining themselves to the members’ restaurant.

Her demeanour is in huge contrast to her predecessor Alan Shatter, whose intellectual heft was undeniable but political antennae found wanting when it mattered most.

A number of groups could perhaps be persuaded to hitch their wagon to her star.

A blunt political reality is that ambitious young people in the party might be fearful that a youthful leader could stay in place for many years, while selecting a more mature person lessons that potential dent to their ambition.

The decision not to appoint any women junior ministers left many female backbenchers feeling shocked and snubbed, so they may feel a leader of their own gender would treat them better (history has shown this is not always the case, however).

Meanwhile, Coveney has dirtied his bib in recent times. He has never been regarded as exciting as Varadkar but was considered a safe pair of hands.

Coveney's pronouncements on Greece angered Minister for Finance Michael Noonan. With his entertaining of a possible coalition with Fianna Fáil (the latter in an Irish Examiner interview), he may have temporarily removed his competitive advantage.

After Coveney apologised for his remarks about Fianna Fáil at a subsequent parliamentary party meeting, Fitzgerald robust response (during which she did not name the Minister for Agriculture) showed a steely side some colleagues had not seen before.

Her message - perhaps carried directly from the lips of the Taoiseach who was in Davos - was that anybody who was trying to rehabilitate Fianna Fáil wasn’t doing the Fine Gael party a service.

With Varadkar, colleagues say they never know what his next political intervention will be. His “shoot from the hip” quality is one many outside politics admire, but they wonder would it be a virtue in a leader.

He is universally regarded as one of the most intellectually nimble people in Cabinet, but his somewhat “‘take it or leave it” attitude to politics, having expressed a desire to leave politics after another 15 years, has left some potential supporters scratching their heads.