John Gormley has never spoken to Michael McDowell about that fraught night five years ago when the Green TD finally beat the even greener PD to the last seat in Dublin South East by 27 votes.
He has met McDowell on several occasions, but the subject was never brought up. "That's men for you," says his wife, Penny, while out canvassing with him in Dublin yesterday.
Gormley smiles and says it is not a conversation he ever wants to have with the Attorney General. "It's going to be very tight this time, no exaggeration," he informs every resident of Canon Mooney Gardens in Ringsend, anxious to secure a clearer-cut victory in the rematch. "I really need your support."
The flats are just around the corner from the 42-year-old's home, so it's not too surprising that the response is encouraging. "The whole family is behind you," says one man. "You won't just be getting in by the skin of your teeth this time," says another woman. "You have much more support now."
Protected from the elements in a red windcheater, he climbs graffiti-covered stairways, talking to residents about everything from the state of the local playground to the corporation housing list. "This wouldn't be a strong area for Michael," he remarks. "Some people don't realise that Dublin 4 is a very diverse place."
Incineration is another burning issue in John Gormley's neck of the woods. At each doorstep he presses home his leaflet with a message that the dreaded incinerator proposed for the area will definitely get the go-ahead "if that other crowd get in again".
The memory of that night looms up again. "It's going to be tight, very tight. There is this other guy," he explains. "We'll have to kick him out, whoever he is," a young woman replies.
Feedback on the hustings has been "positive and pleasant", says Gormley, except for some unusual sabotaging of his posters in the Sandymount area.
"Someone is going around sticking a small green dot in the middle of my forehead and writing 'X-Files', " he says.