BERTIE AHERN, regarded as a traditional Dubliner, revealed his farming credentials when he took the Fianna Fail campaign to the heartland of rural Ireland yesterday.
He told voters in Longford/Roscommon, where the candidates include the man he succeeded as party leader, and almost as Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, that most Dubliners were only one generation away from farming.
"I, however, am a Dubliner who was born on the farm. My father was the farm manager at All Hallowes College in Dublin. I understand and respect farming as a way of life."
Mr Ahern showed that he is as much at ease with rural voters as he is with his fellow Dubs on Hill 16 on a big day in Croke Park. The only obstacle in his whistlestop tour of key towns and villages in Roscommon, where the party hopes to gain an extra seat, was a continuous downpour, but this failed to dampen his spirits or erase an ever ready smile.
"Fianna Fail will ensure continuous sunshine in power", said one drenched but optimistic party activist. However, Mr Ahern was slow to endorse the promise, as he emphasised that, irrespective of the issue, his party would not engage in auction politics.
The rain was relentless when the Fianna Fail leader arrived by car - a trip by helicopter having been foiled by the weather - at The Square in Boyle, the starting point for a long day. "I think", said Mr Sean Doherty, the sitting TD, looking skywards and observing the faithful few who had come to meet Mr Ahern, "it will be a case of a quick hallo and no more."
Boyle is Mr Doherty's strong hold and he arrived in style with three busloads of supporters. Photographs of a young Mr Doherty adorned the vehicles. Mr Terry Leyden, a former TD and Minister of State, arrived in a large black car which had a decidedly ministerial look about it, while the third Fianna Fail candidate, Senator Michael Finneran, joined the group later with more modest transport.
Brief speeches to the drenched onlookers were followed by a quick hallo to party workers in Frenchpark. It was then on to meet Massgoers in Ballaghadereen once the home base of James Dillon, the legendary Fine Gael orator. There was no oratory from Mr Ahern, but plenty of handshakes and reassuring words.
One veteran party supporter urged him to resurrect the Irish Press group of newspapers if he was returned to government. "I still have the last issue of the Sunday Press. It is a great loss to us. It was Dev's paper, as you know." Mr Ahern smiled in approval, but there was no commitment to use Fianna Fail funds to get the printing presses rolling again in Burgh Quay.
The bells rang out for Mass and it was time for the cavalcade, lights flashing and horns blaring, to speed on towards Castlerea. As it did, the stark reality of rural depopulation was illustrated by the handful of houses to be seen on large tracts of land. There was a brief stop at the village of Loughglynn to speak to the party workers taking up the Fianna Fail national collection.
More handshakes with Massgoers in Castlerea, as the down pour continued remorselessly. But there were no after Mass speeches, which would have been the norm even up to a few years ago. They are a thing of the past", Mr Doherty told journalists. "Campaigning is now done on television and radio and by pressing the flesh."
On to Roscommon town to press more flesh and hold a press conference, after a brief and unscheduled stop at T.F. Garvey's pub in Ballintubber, where Mr Ahern, who is viewing alcohol for the course of the campaign with the kind of disdain reserved for the Rainbow's manifesto, was persuaded by locals to sip a pint.
Mr Reynolds joined the entourage in Roscommon town, posing for photographs with Mr Ahern and the candidates. Here the schedule also included a visit to Roscommon County Hospital, where a poster on the roadway seeking votes for the Independent, Mr Tom Foxe, was a stark reminder to the party of how he had won a Dail seat at its expense on the hospital issue. The simultaneous arrival of several cars in the hospital car park almost led to a multiple pileup, which could have meant a busy afternoon for the acting matron, Mrs Mary Cashin, and her staff.
The hospital, Mr Ahern was reminded, is still a major local issue.
Mr Reynolds holds a safe seat, and it is in Roscommon, where Mr Ahern focused much of his energy, that the party is on less sure ground. "Hold the transfers tightly together", Mr Ahern advised when he addressed the rainsodden candidates and canvassers in Boyle. Some hope in a county where each candidate has his personal fiefdom and where the party infighting is legendary.
But the party's bandwagon, divided as it might be, could yield a third seat, with Mr Foxe seen as vulnerable. If this happens, Mr Ahern's drenching will not have been in vain.
