Speculation about the future political career of Mayo deputy Beverley Cooper-Flynn was rife in her home constituency yesterday as people attempted to come to terms with the £2 million-plus legal bill handed down to her by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris.
While immediate party colleagues remained supportive, maintaining she would be retained as a ratified candidate for Mayo in the next election, rumblings of a possible replacement were growing in the absence of the TD from the local and national scene.
Ms Cooper-Flynn has taken refuge abroad on a golfing holiday in Portugal with her father. She left last weekend and is expected home this weekend.
She has not been available for comment since the ruling was handed down on Thursday and her continued absence is becoming a source of disquiet for the party locally, which has been left to keep the flag flying in her defence.
Mayo people of all political hues have generally reacted sympathetically to Ms Cooper-Flynn, with the majority stating it was unfair that all costs were loaded on her side.
There seems to be little doubt, however, that she would be able to meet the full costs of the case, whether through her own means or through her wealthy connections.
If she simply pays the fees and decides not to appeal the ruling, many local party colleagues believe she can then just pick up from where she left off and continue working as a local politician.
"We won't be ousting her from the party and she has been ratified as the Mayo candidate and there will be no going back on that unless we receive a directive telling us otherwise from the national executive," said one colleague yesterday.
"Beverley herself will probably address our next cumann meeting and will obviously issue a statement over the next few days to the local press and the national press, although she may not issue one to RTE," he said.
Fine Gael Mayo deputy Mr Jim Higgins yesterday questioned the role of Ms Cooper-Flynn and said the party must now give serious consideration to whether she can remain as a member of Fianna Fail.
Party colleague Senator Frank Chambers said the court ruling would be personally very hard to deal with in terms of the size of the money involved. He suggested the problem was a personal one for Ms Cooper-Flynn, rather than the party as a whole.