When the Beatles organised a Magical Mystery Tour in 1967, it was slated by movie critics, but at least the destination was secret. Yesterday morning, when Mary's Magical Mystery Tour rolled out of Dublin, there was no mystery, just admiration for the brass neck of any party launching its political campaign in a village called Prosperous.
When the whisper came that we were off to the affluent-sounding Co Kildare village (by people-carrier as opposed to psychedelic bus), it had us pondering what other places the PDs might have considered. A launch in Moneystown, Co Wicklow (it's the economy, nitwit), could have worked, and surely there was some debate in party HQ about Ready-penny in Co Kilkenny, another appropriate location to press home the PDs' election promise of continued economic success.
After a little investigation, we discovered another reason why the PDs may have felt some affinity with the town - founded in 1780, it wasn't long before Prosperous had fallen into decline and was being written off as "little more than a heap of ruins".
These days, though, it is more deserving of its name. Locals replied in the affirmative when asked whether Prosperous was prosperous. "It is now," said local Rita Wall. "There have been a lot of changes, we have a tennis court and pitch and putt."
The Prosperous Democrats were in fighting form when Mary Harney arrived at the Oak Partnership, a drama school run by her husband Brian Geoghegan's FÁS organisation, to be greeted by schoolchildren and the two Kildare PD candidates, John Dardis and Kate Walsh. Inside, Liz O'Donnell, Tom Parlon and Fiona O'Malley took their places on the small stage beside their leader, who told the assembled schoolchildren that they were there because "Ireland is Prosperous and Prosperous is Ireland".
Later, the crowd adjourned to Dowlings pub across the road, a hostelry famous for being the place where Christy Moore came to prominence. It is also a venue fondly remembered by the Tánaiste, who used to shake her stuff on Dowlings' dancefloor in her youth.