Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton has revealed she is "considering her options" and may not stand in the next general election.

In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, the Dublin South-East TD said she was undecided about whether to recontest her seat.

Creighton has found herself out in the cold following a series of spats with party leader Enda Kenny and is unlikely to be awarded any position in a coalition government.

"I haven't even decided if I'm standing in the next election. It just hasn't arisen yet. I don't know when the election is going to be."

When asked if she would consider not standing, the high-profile Fine Gael TD said: "I'll always consider all options. I'll make the decision when the Fine Gael national executive makes its decision about when they want to select candidates. Then I'll make my decision."

She then indicated the pressures of politics would influence her decision, three years after she was elected for the first time. "It's a really demanding, really tough job. You make a huge number of sacrifices to do it. You're also very honoured to do it, but you make a lot of sacrifices... I feel I've a lot of reflecting to do before I would stand in another election."

She said she was "certainly not going to be one of those people" who "keep fighting election after election". Creighton's revelation will almost certainly cause surprise within Fine Gael, as it is the first time she has ever indicated she might not contest her seat.

Creighton criticised the Dáil pairings debacle last week. She said it was "a bit of a PR mess" and also criticised how decisions were reached within Fine Gael, saying that there wasn't adequate consultation with members of the parliamentary party.

"I suppose we have paid staff in Leinster House and in party headquarters and they're very good people, and very hard-working and very committed," she said, "but they're not out knocking on doors, and they're not necessarily always going to be completely in tune with public sentiment. That's what we deal with every day because we hold clinics, we knock on doors. But yet, you often find that they're the ones who make the decisions. And, yeah, I have a problem with that."