Could Mr Justice Richard Johnson's report on the revision of constituencies, published last week, be challenged in the courts? The possibility was discussed with varying degrees of optimism among the smaller parties in Leinster House this week.
The Constitution, they argue, requires proportionality in the legislature, but the creation of four new three-seat constituencies in Dublin - Mid-West, West, North-West and North-East - would seriously hinder the smaller parties in their fight for seats. Indeed, hard as it is to imagine, the redrawing of lines could remove some of our highest profile politicians from the Dail, among them party leaders Mary Harney and Proinsias De Rossa, as well as Pat Rabbitte, Austin Currie and Jim Mitchell.
The smaller parties agree on little, but this week the PDs, DL, Greens, and Independents were in unison in condemning the proposed changes. Speculation around Leinster House is that Mary Harney, Conor Lenihan, Austin Currie, Liam Lawlor and Joan Burton could all end up in three-seat MidWest; that Pat Rabbitte, Chris Flood, Brian Hayes and Eamon Walsh will stick with South West, reduced from five to four seats; that Marian McGennis may go to South Central and that Jim Mitchell could appear anywhere, since he's reluctant to fight his brother Gay in South Central into which his strongholds in Central have been moved. He may, of course, opt for Europe in June 1999, given that he nearly won a seat last time.
A general election is not exactly around the corner, but, given the precarious numbers in the Dail, politicians like to know where they should press the flesh. Over the next couple of months it's a question of waiting and watching their rivals.