It began as a grand gesture to let the people know that rural regions would be neglected no longer, but thanks to angry beef farmers and hardened campaigners, this was no triumphant trip into the west for the Government. Dillon House in Ballaghaderreen was surrounded from early morning by a ring of security barriers and some 200 farmers determined to make their views heard. Extra gardai had been drafted in and a Garda helicopter hovered overhead.
"What is this all costing? It's nothing but a PR exercise," said one disgusted farmer. ICMSA placards held aloft read: "Taoiseach, welcome home from Africa, did you hear there's a beef crisis?" and "Wake up, Joe".
The farmers weren't the only ones to avail of the opportunity offered by the horde of press photographers and camera crews.
Ms Emir Holohan Doyle, the current Miss Ireland and from Ballaghaderreen, joined a local group protesting over a proposed dump. Another group was demanding action to deal with flooding in the Shannon basin.
But the farmers were the ones getting the attention. A delegation of "former" IFA county chairmen went in to Dillon House for a meeting with the Government and returned to say there had been "a frank exchange of views".
By lunchtime the atmosphere was building as farmers knew the ministers would have to emerge to face the crowd as they walked the short distance to St Nathy's College for a series of afternoon meetings.
There was heckling and shouting as Jim McDaid was the first to appear, followed by Mary O'Rourke, smiling and waving and apparently oblivious to the displays of anger. "Where's Walsh?" the farmers shouted as the heckling got louder.
And then, in a classic tactical move, the Taoiseach decided there was no point coming out and scurrying away. Bertie headed straight into the crowd, smiling, with his hand outstretched, determined to make this look like a welcome one way or another.
The tactic worked to a point - only the angriest of farmers continued to shout, asking what he was going to do about the beef "cartel". The Agriculture Minister, Joe Walsh, had by this point made his getaway, back to Dublin for talks with farm leaders.
So had the protests marred the Government's first meeting of the millennium in Ballaghaderreen? "Not at all," said Bertie, who told the inquiring journalists this was the great thing about a democratic system, that people had the right to protest.
Safely indoors again, the ordeal was not yet over for the Government ministers. At "consultation fora" on the different sectors, the ministers enthusiastically spoke to representatives of local councils and various interest groups of the millions and billions that were to be spent.
But campaigners who have spent years, if not decades, arguing for balanced regional development were adopting a wait-and-see approach.
Tourism Minister Dr McDaid spoke without a hint of irony of the need to provide a "warm, welcoming atmosphere".
A Macra na Feirme spokesman retorted that with farmers having to take on second jobs to make a living, they didn't have time to talk to tourists anymore.