THE work load of TDs varies according to the size of the constituency, its distance from Dublin, and the intensity of the competition between the candidates.
Michael Ring narrowly won a seat for Fine Gael in Mayo in the last by election. He is fighting hard to retain this seat against stiff competition in a large constituency.
His diary for the Monday of the last week the Dail sat was as follows:
7.00: Up, breakfast, preparation for the office.
9.00: Constituency office for clinics.
1.00: Close doors of office, so that clinic can be concluded by 2.30 with those still inside. Lunch? "I don't ever eat on a Monday."
2.30: Home to deal with the post.
5.00: Urban council or county council meeting.
6.30-8.00: Funerals. "They would be people I know, or who worked for me. I never get blamed for the funerals I was at, I get blamed for the funerals I don't go to."
8.00: Community council meeting or party meeting.
11.30-12.00 Home to dictate letters for secretary to type up later. Sometime after midnight: Post letters.
"I don't even think about the Dail on a Monday. When I get to Dublin for the Dail on Tuesday there's another bucket of post waiting for me there."
An indication of the travelling involved, he said, is that between his return from Dublin on the Thursday night and Tuesday morning he drove 1,100 miles. His July 1995 car has 83,526 miles on the clock.