The stunning downfall of Rep. Anthony Weiner has opened the strong possibility that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn may become the first Irish mayor in New York since Bill O'Dwyer ruled the city from 1946 to 1950.

That would be an incredible achievement for a woman and a lesbian to boot who has made no secret of her pride in her Irish roots.

Quinn and her father are extremely well known in the community, always attending numerous Irish events.

It's hard to remember a City Hall top official who is as much as ingrained into the Irish-American community as Quinn. If she is elected mayor it will roll back to the years when Irish candidates regularly occupied that top spot.

O'Dwyer was born in Mayo and was a brother of beloved Irish leader Paul O'Dwyer, who became City Council president from 1974 to 1977 and almost mayor himself during the Abe Beame mayoralty.

On one occasion Beame's helicopter failed and just regained altitude before it crashed. O'Dwyer would often remark that he was just 6 feet from becoming mayor of New York.

Quinn is a lot closer than that following what happened to Weiner on Monday (June 6) when he admitted to sexual indiscretions and essentially doomed his political future.

Weiner had been the front-runner in the race for City Hall, and with a $4 million war chest looked certain to be Quinn's main rival for the Democratic Party nomination.

Now Weiner has spectacularly crashed and burned, leaving the Irish-American as very much the front-runner. It is truly the reality that a week is a long time in politics.

Quinn is as tough as nails, not surprising given as her grandmother from Cork was one of the few steerage passengers to escape the Titanic. She often recounts how her grandmother ran while others kneeled and prayed.

Quinn has made a point of working with the Irish American community and is no INO (Irish in name only).

She is a driving force behind the $30 million project to create the new Irish Arts Center on the West Side and has supported dozens of other Irish projects in New York City.

The community recently held a fundraiser for her at the Fitzpatrick Hotel in Manhattan, a providential event given what subsequently happened to Weiner.

The Irish-American community would have been split, with Weiner's wife Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's closest aide. Abedin is often described as being like a second daughter to the Clintons.

The Clinton connection would have assured that many in the Irish American community would have stayed neutral in the race.

The fact that Quinn is also gay marks her as a unique figure in New York politics, a woman who would break so many barriers if elected.

The reality of New York politics is that 2013 is a very long way off and that much can happen between now and then. Remember in 2001 when Michael Bloomberg looked like a total no-hoper in a heavily Democratic city before defeating Mark Green in the last few days.

Christine Quinn will know she is looking at a very tough race whoever manages to run against her, but she would be a unique and historical figure if elected.