A HIGHLY practical ceasefire was put into operation by Albert Reynolds in the blistering heat in Longford Town. He had hoped to canvass outside the shopping centre immediately after lunch but the word came through that the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Ivan Yates, was up from Wexford and in the vicinity, so the Fianna Fail advance on the shopping centre was put off until the enemy had left town.
Once Albert got there the crowds gathered round him near the entrance where a stone plaque read: "Longford Centre, officially opened by An Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds, 22nd April 1994."
To many of those who gathered round him, Albert was still Taoiseach and their questions seemed based on the premise that if Fianna Fail returned to power a lot of that power would be in Albert's hands.
It seemed, not surprisingly, that everyone knew Albert and it seemed, equally unsurprisingly, that Albert knew everyone. "My mother was born in your parish, at the other end of the parish," he told one woman supporter. He could not come up with a similar remark, mind you, for Tripla Puri, who runs the Le Moride boutique nearby. Ms Puri came to Longford from the Punjab, where even Charlie Haughey has no family connection.
She was going to vote for Albert all the same and not only that she was going to call to the Fianna Fail headquarters to offer her services as an election worker. Mary Kett and Patrick McCrossan had come over from Birmingham to canvass so there was something of an international flavour surrounding Albert as he pressed the flesh. It was not that Longford's economy wasn't booming like that of the rest of the State, but a lot of people felt that Longford had got less out of the boom than most places. This was the point made by three young women who had qualified to vote for the first time. Albert pointed out that an advance factory had been lying idle for two and a half years and stressed the importance of learning skills and providing apprenticeships.
The young men of just turned voting age were less practical than the young women. The two lads who cornered Albert didn't seem quite as worried as the girls were about the jobs issue. For them the problem was of a different nature.
They looked the former Taoiseach in the eye and told him straight out: "Longford needs more night clubs". Albert appeared to take a mental note. The ballroom had, after all, been the night club's predecessor.
Crime, drugs and jobs came up time and time again as the party workers ushered voters towards the candidate like heaters flushing game from the undergrowth.
And the peace process, so indelibly associated with Albert in the area, came up frequently, especially from north Longford people who don't live all that far from the border. Fianna Fail, they were told, would do far better than the Rainbow but they would need time.
