Helen: a name that resonates with a colourful history. It was Helen of Troy who unexpectedly left her husband Menelaus, King of Sparta, and eloped with Paris.
No doubt the seven remaining Progressive Democrats will be returning to their copies of Greek Myths and Legends this weekend, to find out what happened next.
Well, what did happen? Uproar. And bloody, bitter war: the new union of Helen and Paris provoked the famous siege and subsequent destruction of Troy.
The PDs will be fervently hoping that Helen Keogh's abrupt departure this week to rival suitor, Fine Gael, does not signal the surrender of hard-won PD terrain.
Ms Keogh declared that she was leaving the PDs because they lacked "hunger and energy". John Minihan, chairman of the PDs, said on Morning Ireland the day after Ms Keogh's announcement she had "behaved promiscuously" in a strongly-worded reference to her transfer of allegiance from one party to another.
"I think we're better off without her," he said, with the peevishness of one who has been scorned. "Hunger and energy - does she expect to find that in Fine Gael?" he asked rhetorically.
Convent-educated by Loreto nuns in Rathfarnham, Helen Keogh got a BA in English and Economics from UCD in 1972 and a H.Dip the following year. Married to Cork-born Patrick Hayes, they have two children - Rachel (21), and Aoife (18). In 1977, she took a Diploma in Career Guidance, and taught from 1977 to 1981 in St Dominic's High School, Sutton.
She was subsequently president of the Women's Political Association, and a founder member of the PDs in 1985. In 1992, she won a seat in Dun Laoghaire in the general election, but lost it in 1997.
The same year, she was appointed as a Taoiseach's nominee to the Seanad, an appointment which is now a source of contention between herself and her former leader, Mary Harney. Ms Keogh will be 50 next year, a landmark birthday for any citizen, and usually a time for assessing life achievements to date.
In 1987, she returned a partially-completed questionnaire sent out by the librarian of this newspaper to all those in active politics at the time.
Did you win honours in any sports? Give details of involvement in theatre, art, or literature. Mention personalities or events that may have influenced you. All these questions were left unanswered.
What will you be saying to your constituents about the economy and how it can possibly be improved? (This was 1987, remember, a time of recession.) "Will point out necessity for incentive both to work and invest in the economy. Investment money is available if right climate is created - we can do it!"
What motivated you towards politics? "Involvement in Women's Political Association. Desire for change in politics - looking to more active participation by Irish people in politics to make it happen."
Much has changed in Irish politics, and in Ireland, since she filled out that form with blue Biro in neat block capitals, 13 years ago. Even the form itself is like a relic from another era: it is impossible to think that sending out such a questionnaire today would get a personal hand-written response of this nature.
Press officers, spin doctors, and technology have all played a part in removing politicians from the accessible front-line position they used to occupy, both with their constituents and with the media.
Was the controversial nomination of former judge Hugh O'Flaherty to a senior EU post indeed "the last cut for me" as Ms Keogh said on Morning Ireland, or a convenient camouflage to mask her desire to change political allegiance? As recently as May 29th, Ms Keogh was reported as denying that she was in talks with Fine Gael, and that she was assuming she would be a candidate for the PDs in the next general election.
However, she was not going to be the only candidate interested in the Dun Laoghaire constituency. Fiona O'Malley, daughter of former PD leader, Des O'Malley, is also seeking candidacy in the same area, and it was known that Helen Keogh was unhappy about this potential competition.
Ireland may well have changed a lot, but political dynasties still carry considerable weight in this country.
When John Bruton was interviewed by this newspaper on June 6th, he would not comment on whether Ms Keogh would be running for Fine Gael in the next election. "It's a matter for Helen Keogh what arrangements she makes," he said. "I have great admiration for her."
The admiration seems to be mutual. "I'm confident that John Bruton will be an excellent Taoiseach, and I look forward to that," Keogh declared on Morning Ireland. She did not seem to have the same regard for her erstwhile PD leader, Mary Harney. While prefacing her remarks with the comment that she did not want to get into personal issues, she went on to say that perhaps Ms Harney as leader does a good job at the expense of the PDs as a party - an observation that, if she was listening, surely must had the effect of rendering indigestible the Harney breakfast.
Unsurprisingly, Ms Harney has been vocal about her wish to see Ms Keogh resign her Seanad seat, maintaining that it would be the "honourable" thing to do. She could hardly wish otherwise, since Ms Keogh has said that she will, if necessary, use her Seanad vote to oppose Government policy.
Translated by the punter, this as-yet hypothetical practice is known as not just biting the hand that has fed you, but attempting to gnaw said hand off.
Indeed, belligerent language has been flying like arrows since Ms Keogh's defection. Was she securing her own political future by going to Fine Gael and to a constituency where there are two outgoing TDs, Monica Barnes and Sean Barrett, she was asked on radio? "Anyone who knows me knows that I'm never afraid of a fight," she said. "Running for office is always a battle. The battle is to get out there and win a seat." Clearly, Helen has declared war. The PDs would do well to keep an eye on all incoming gifts from now on. Particularly large wooden horses.
