Mary Banotti at 58 is still in a hurry. She first approached her party leader John Bruton, then still Taoiseach, last Easter to say she was interested in becoming the Fine Gael candidate for the Presidency. Mary Robinson had signalled her intention to step down but few in Fine Gael believed Banotti would succeed.
Members of her Fine Gael party were aware of her ambitions but were staggered by her sheer determination to secure the nomination. With the leadership behind her, including her sister and deputy leader Nora Owen, she beat Avril Doyle by a handful of votes, maybe three.
With 6,000 miles of Irish roads already behind her since the campaign began on September 17th, the battle appears to be between her and Prof Mary McAleese (based on first-preference opinion poll rating) and the only serious mistake she has made to date was the decision not to place posters around the State. Though the images of her challengers dot the countryside, she insists that the move, for environmental reasons, was correct.
If she gets to see enough people, press enough flesh, avoid trouble, stay ahead of Adi Roche and attract enough transfers, she could baffle her detractors on October 30th.
At this stage of the campaign, the odds are against her, but this is her fifth election, and while she lost a by-election in Dublin Central, she won the other three - all to the European Parliament.
Mary Banotti says her life's experience and her "political wisdom" would be her greatest assets as first citizen. There were times when her life was no bed of roses.
The death of her father in 1949 was the "greatest catastrophe" to befall her and her family. It was a "very grim time in Ireland", but her mother, Kitty Collins O'Mahony, was a trained domestic science teacher and she managed to get a job in Cathal Brugha Street catering college, where great chefs like Darina Allen would later soak up her culinary discernment.
"My mother was immensely practical, a very serious woman, a passionate educator. I'm like her . . . I have a bit of both (my parents) in me." But her mother was not political because her experience in this field had been so "incredibly painful", it left her terrified. Her father had been imprisoned and she was the last member of the Collins family to meet her uncle, Michael, alive.
"She was a little girl of 10 and she met him the day he was shot. She met him in Clonakilty. He wanted to kiss her goodbye but she told him she was too big - she was 10 now and too big to be kissed," Banotti says.
His death at Beal na mBlath impacted hugely on Banotti's mother. In a short space of time, her house was burned down by the Black and Tans and she and her siblings were sent by boat to boarding school in Wicklow.
Mary Banotti seems to think that these early harsh experiences, instead of pulverising her mother, prepared her for the severe days ahead, when she was left a widow rearing six young children.
Her mother's alma mater, the beautiful Dominican Convent perched over Wicklow town, was to become her school too. "In those days nobody asked whether you were happy. But we were. We went to boarding school, all my sisters. "My mother had to go back to work. There wasn't any choice and we were lucky she was able to get work. She had to make huge sacrifices to send us but at least she knew we were being well-minded," she recalls.
Mary Banotti was the eldest child and, because of the age gap, her relationship with her sister, Nora Owen - the former justice minister and deputy leader of Fine Gael - never really began until years later when she came back from Italy, in deep distress. "I will always be grateful to Nora and Brian (her husband) for what they did for me."
She had left Ireland after her convent education but did not go to university because of the "tremendous struggle" her mother was having and she was more interested in a vocational profession like nursing, and in travel.
"My mother obviously recognised this is where I was coming from and accepted it. I never expected my mother to support me and she couldn't," she says.
While training in the London Hospital, she had a stall on the Portobello Road, selling antiques and bric-a-brac. Later, she worked as a nurse in Montreal before moving to the United States in 1962. She lived there for four "very exciting" years.
Living in New York, she went to drama school and became involved in the Civil Rights movement and the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations.
Then on to Africa, as part of a medical team working in Kenya. It was quite stable but she was concerned at the way health care was delivered and it put an end to her "black babies mentality".
There was no point in sending a brain-scanning machine when what they really needed was sterile needles. It was often handier for governments to unload surplus medical equipment than to look at problems. "I got there just as the advertising culture of plugging things like Coca-Cola and breast milk substitutes was hitting Africa hard. Just as tobacco marketing is happening now," she says.
In Africa, she met and married an Italian doctor, Giovanni Banotti. He was born in Eritrea and had not lived long in Italy, but they went to set up house in Rome. To this day, the city is to her "a feast to the senses".
The marriage was not happy and ended in 1970. At the time, she knew of no other couple whose marriage had collapsed. She was 30 and had an 18-month-old baby girl, Tania. Her only choice was to return to Ireland and her family. She expected some kind of social hostility but there was none, only neighbourly kindness.
"Ireland was just on the brink of change. I had lived in America in the Sixties and so many of the changes that were emerging in American society were beginning to impact on Ireland.
"Even though it was a very difficult time in my life, it was an enormously exciting time. Women were beginning to look at the condition of their lives in a whole lot of areas; the women's movement was very active at the time.
"I decided I'd get involved in perhaps the more practical aspects of the women's rights movement and that is how I got involved in setting up the refuge.
"While the consciousness-raising that was going on at the time was extremely interesting, it was not actually having an impact beyond that," she says.
It was her own experience of marital breakdown that brought her directly to establish the women's refuge at Harcourt Street in Dublin.
Conditions at the refuge were hardly luxurious; Dyno-Rod was permanently parked outside the front door but Mary Banotti and her helpers could not even get the house sorted out before women and children were knocking on the door, seeking safe shelter.
"The reason I think we need refuges is twofold. We need somewhere safe where women who are experiencing domestic violence can bring their children. But they also serve as a way in which people who feel totally powerless can know there is an option open to them other than to continue to endure," she says.
There is no evidence of a decrease in violence against women, she adds, and we need to be aware that "it is very often the secret side of Irish society. . . and we are a country with a great many secrets that have stayed behind closed doors for many years.
"You can't just assume that, because one generation has heard about it and has taken steps, that the next generations are not victims. I believe most strongly that it is an issue that has to be faced for both the men and the women involved. It is totally unacceptable for any man to believe that he can hit a woman," she says.
The President, Banotti believes, can bring issues such as this into the public perception without breaching constitutional parameters. The refuges, like the Hospice movement and what she terms Ireland's vast "voluntary network", could be boosted by the attention of the President.
"For far too long, the State relied on the voluntary contributions of men and women and families in relation to care of the physically and mentally handicapped," she says.
Stoutly rejecting any suggestion that she was a "clone of Mary Robinson", Mary Banotti declares that her life experience has been "radically different". She is far too well-bred and scrupulous to suggest Mary Robinson's background was a bit more privileged than her own but she points up the contrasts with alacrity. Mary Robinson, a lawyer; she, a nurse.
What would she do differently to her predecessor? She finds it "invidious to make a comparison". Talking about what she might do differently is, simply, "embarrassing". It is embarrassing because Mary Robinson did do an extraordinary job but the world has changed even in the last seven years.
For example, being a woman in pursuit of the Presidency is no longer an issue. The only thing she can say is that she would bring her "own characteristics" to bear on the office and would emphasise the issues in which she already has a record. "The environment. A cleaner Ireland and a much more pro-active role by Ireland in environmental issues," she says.
Was Mary Robinson a symptom of a changing Ireland or did she evoke change? The candidate turns to Shakespeare for help. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
Mary Robinson was a symbol but she also had a very strong record as a catalyst for change and the two came together in an ideal world at an ideal time, she says.
However, she sees herself also as a symbol of many of the changes that have taken place in Ireland. Contrary to popular belief, though separated from her husband for 25 years, she has only been divorced in the last three years.
Her husband got a divorce in Italy to marry his partner of many years. Her marriage breakdown and how she coped with it is the "story of my life and the story of my daughter's life".
Tania works with the United Nations in the Gaza Strip, helping to co-ordinate the aid coming in to set up the Palestinian state. She misses her daughter badly but "you couldn't pay for the sort of experience she is having that will benefit her for the rest of her life".
The role of the President will be different by virtue of the fact that it will have a different incumbent. But she doubts if it will be expanded in constitutional terms apart, perhaps, from "opening up" the nomination procedure.
She strongly feels that this election campaign has highlighted the inadequacies of the present structure and advocates that anyone who can get 20,000 authenticated signatures should be allowed a nomination.
Asked who will be the Bride Rosney of her administration, she says she has not yet decided, but there are "several people" helping in her campaign who are clearly candidates.
Her sole absolute power as President would rest in her authority to refuse to grant a Taoiseach a dissolution of the Dail; but, she says, any such decision could only be based on the prevailing circumstances of the time. Would she always accept government advice on other matters?
"I would always take government advice on other matters. So far, I would not be aware of any situation where any serious differences might occur. But, like any President, I would have to ultimately rely on my own experience, judgment and I hope, practical wisdom," Banotti says.
On her other potential power - referring Bills to the Supreme Court to test their constitutionality - she says that her judgment would rest on whether there were any serious reasons to believe the legislation was unconstitutional. Concern about the soundness of a Bill would, in all likelihood, have emerged in the Dail debate or among people outside the House.
"You would, of course, accept the advice of the Council of State, but in the end it is your own judgment," she says. She would draw on legal advice "where needed".
It is well over two weeks to polling day but not too early for her to consider her seven nominations to the Council of State. It would be "representative" of many areas of Irish life. Beyond that, she gives little away.
Has she been buying candles for the window at the Aras? Symbolic gestures have "great potency" for the Irish public. Each President must decide on their own symbol.
"The context of symbols is extremely important as well and I don't think I am ready to make a public statement about that yet," she adds.
She is cautious about her future plans. Everything depends on context and circumstances. Asked if she would use the facility to address the Dail or the nation, she says it would be a great privilege indeed - "in times of national crisis there might be an occasion" - but it is theoretical at the moment.
If elected, she would like to travel as widely as is practicable in Ireland. After all, she would be President of Ireland and her people should know her.
"One of my campaign commitments is to continue to work on our relationship with our nearest neighbour. Millions of our people live in Britain.
"As relationships improve between our countries and as the peace process - I pray - continues to progress, I would hope it would be possible for the Queen to visit Ireland just as Prince Charles has done already," she says.
As President, if the atmosphere was right, she would be "delighted" to host a visit by Queen Elizabeth. The circumstances are "moving that way", but there is still a bit to go before such a visit would be appropriate.
Meanwhile, would she sign an Abortion Bill into law?
"If I felt there was anything unconstitutional in a Bill like that, I would have no hesitation in having it sent, obviously with the advice of the Council of State, to the Supreme Court to ensure it was constitutional. If a Bill has passed the Houses of the Oireachtas and is constitutional, I would of course sign it into law," she says.
Where does she stand on abortion generally, on the so-called right-to-choose issue? She would resent the notion, but she immediately borrows one of Prof Mary McAleese's campaign themes - a strong disdain for labelling.
"I reject all labels because I think they are counter-productive. Where women have made choices, I have no doubt they have been at the deepest personal level and with considerable trauma to themselves. The use of labels ignores the enormous complexities of these issues," she says.
Personally, does she think abortion should be available in Ireland?
"As President, my personal views on this matter are personal," she says.
"Are they going to remain personal?"
"Yes," she says, emphatically.
Mary Banotti sees herself as a feminist. She believes "totally" that all opportunities should be open to both genders. She has no problem in women being as ambitious as men in playing an equal full role in all areas of life - political, business and professional.
Women, she believes, should be ordained in the Catholic Church. Some of the most dynamic contributions to the church and religious life have come from the many highly-motivated women.
Is she religious?
"I think I am a spiritual woman. . ." she replies.