Michael Noonan won't forget Boyle, Co Roscommon, in a hurry, but his party looks good to hold its Mayo seats, writes Sean MacConnell
The people of Roscommon are probably the most politicised in Ireland and nowhere else do they enjoy the white heat of an election more than there.
Roscommon was the first constituency to elect Count Plunkett, the Sinn Féin candidate in 1918, to have given us Jack McQuillan in the 1960s, to humiliate Brian Lenihan in the 1970s and to return its independent hospital TD, Tom Fox, in the 1990s.
Internal party politics are far more bitter than the inter-party kind so it was not surprising yesterday that Roscommon should come up with a custard pie attack on Michael Noonan.
Apart from that, an old stalwart of the Fine Gael ranks was more than willing to impart his thoughts on the latest Fine Gael leader. Mr Noonan, he declared, was what he would term "Fine Gael-Lite", John Bruton was "Fine Gael-Heavy" and to continue the brewing comparison, Liam Cosgrave was "Triple XXX" and Garret FitzGerald was "Fine Gael-Medium Lite".
One way or another, he said, he was going to vote for Michael Noonan and his men to keep out the "Seán Dohertys and Terry Leydens" of this world.
Before he could continue to explain further the delicacies of Roscommon politics, Mr Noonan arrived on his bus and within seconds had walked into the custard pie. Even Mr Noonan admitted that it was a minor incident, but it was more revealing how the Fine Gael leader coped with the unscheduled event.
Even before the heavily hooded pie-thrower, who was being questioned by gardaí in Boyle last night, had made her escape, Mr Noonan was back on the bus and was changing his clothing to emerge some 15 minutes later in good humour.
It gave him a chance, he said, to show that he had a second suit; in the local chip shop, while he shared a bag of chips with the candidates and local children, he quipped: "Normally I eat my dessert after my chips."
The woman involved in the incident had been apprehended by one of the party supporters, Councillor Frank Feighin, but he let her go when she told him she was five months pregnant.
Mr Noonan was happy to have left the plains of Boyle behind him and in Castlebar, to put policies rather than pies on the agenda.
Following a meeting with senior staff at Castlebar General Hospital, Mr Noonan told a press conference that when he became Taoiseach, Castlebar would become a regional hospital to which he would appoint consultants.
On the road, he said, he had encountered nothing only incompetence in the running of the heath services during Fianna Fáil's period of plenty.
He also said that as Taoiseach, he would appoint specialists rather than spin doctors and ease the many burdens on the people of Mayo.
"These are not just election promises. They have been costed and are in our plans because they should be there," he said.
There was good news for Mr Noonan and his party in the local Western People newspaper yesterday which ran a poll showing that Fine Gael support had held rock solid and Fianna Fáil had slipped.
The MRBI poll showed that Michel Ring of Fine Gael should top the poll in the Mayo five-seater and the party would retain 50 per cent of consolidated candidate support, ensuring its three seats.
One of the interesting findings in the report was that Beverley Cooper-Flynn would have a fight on her hands with 7 per cent of the poll, only 1 per cent more than independent candidate, Dr Jerry Cowley.