Fine Gael leader remains convinced that the wider issue of ' standards' will not go away Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is just five months away from the biggest challenge of his political life - one that will decide his destiny, writes Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent.
Standing in his sunlit Leinster House office with a mobile telephone to his ear, Enda Kenny talked to a constituent whose passport had gone missing days before a holiday.
Like other TDs, Kenny will not ignore local issues - with the say of the voters being so near and the winning of three Fine Gael seats in his Mayo home patch being so vital to his cause.
"We are at the top of the last bend for the election," says Kenny, who has a habit of using racing slang in his speech, as he sat down, gesturing animatedly as he did so.
Just a few months ago, Fine Gael and Labour's joint star looked so much brighter before the controversy about Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's finances erupted in September and then rebounded to his favour.
Since then, the FG/Labour coalition option has stumbled, despite the fact, as FG never ceases to remind all who will listen, that it is at 20-year poll highs - though this on its own will not be enough to propel it into power.
"We have only 25 weeks left in this. Our candidates are not on the ballot paper to fill space. They're there to win," he told The Irish Times.
Though his Dáil performance has improved considerably, Kenny now believes that the Dáil is not the forum that will provide the breakthrough - if only because there are only nine weeks of parliamentary life left.
The Frank Luntz/RTÉ Week in Politics focus group, with its positive and negative findings for FG, has impacted on Kenny, even if only to reinforce messages received in FG's own research.
"There are lessons there in that you have to find outside opportunities where you can express your vision for the country and the kind of Ireland you would like to build," he said.
Kenny scored significantly when he voiced parents' concerns about the statutory rape controversy in May, and, later, in the debate about the age of consent.
"I got a very strong reaction, really to the statutory rape case, and, I must say, the age of consent. I really do believe that hundreds of thousands of people out there empathise with that in terms of the shrinking space that is childhood and the requirement that there be space for young people to grow up," he said.
Issues outside of the economy and taxes, where the Government is strong, could yet swing voters' affections, he believed: "It could be an issue that becomes an inferno six weeks out, and something like the age of consent.
"I know that we tapped into a real vein here, into people's views about their children and about where we're headed as a country, that they have been looking for somebody to stand up and say this and articulate this in terms of values and standards and respect and communities."
His success in both areas points up his failures in others to land blows on the Government: "Well, I suppose, you speak from the point of view of being a politician and a father of a young family, but also it is not easy to have the same sense of outrage and passion about economics, or whatever else." While voters ignored, or disagreed with his argument that the Taoiseach's past financial conduct was an issue, he remains convinced that the wider issue of "standards" will not go away, particularly after the Moriarty tribunal's findings on Mr Ahern's predecessor, Charles J Haughey.
"I really do feel it is time to move away from that culture. The next election gives the people the opportunity to change that. [ Moriarty] epitomised that sense of corruption, that sense of self-advancement and that abuse of public and private money."
"[ My] people understand from the very beginning that if they step outside the line that it won't take long to sort that out because they will know in advance that it will not be tolerated."
Asked if he believed Ahern on the payments issue, Kenny halts just for a second: "I find it very difficult to believe that the minister for finance of the day had no bank account, had money in a box and was in the business, as he said himself, of getting help from friends.
"If this happened in a GAA club the treasurer would be fired. He was a professional man, a professional accountant who didn't ask questions.
"But maybe it was because, as Moriarty pointed out, that Charles Haughey ruled by domination and fear. Well, it is obvious that he didn't ask questions that he should have asked," he said.
While no one faults Kenny's work rate, there are complaints within FG that some of his leading frontbenchers are not taking their share of the burden with equal vigour.
"I have had to call in some of them and tell them that, and have done that. Fine Gael lost 23 seats the last time, including some very experienced people. They are under no illusions about the job they hold down.
"In fact, at a public meeting one evening an individual got up, and said, 'Well now, if you are returned to government, are you going to appoint our TD here to the cabinet?' I said, 'My response to that is that that TD has no chance, no chance unless a second seat is returned,' he declared. What was the response to that, he was asked. "Silence. Followed by, 'That's the way to tell 'em'." Kenny, clearly, is still very pleased with his reply.