The Sinn Fein Dail candidate in Sligo/Leitrim, Mr Sean MacManus, has said his party expects to win a seat in the constituency at the next election.
After completing his term as Mayor of Sligo this week, a position that gained him a high profile, Mr MacManus said his attention would now focus on the general election.
At the last local elections Sinn Fein won three of the 12 seats on Sligo Corporation. "Since then I have always thought we had a possibility of getting a seat," he said.
The strong performance of Sinn Fein in the elections in the North, the trend emerging nationally of more young people turning to the party, and the No vote in the Nice referendum would all help him, he believed.
But he is careful not to overstate the growth of the party and points out that elections North and South are very different.
Nowhere was the strength of Sinn Fein more evident in the recent Westminster election than at the count centre in Omagh, where the party won in each of the three constituencies. In these Border constituencies, adjoining Sligo/Leitrim, the party appears unstoppable. In his victory speech, Mr Pat Doherty rejected media labelling of the Sinn Fein "machine" west of the Bann. But it didn't seem an entirely inaccurate description for the droves of young people, the vast majority of them male, milling around the hall, bringing back figures from the count to colleagues on computers inputting the result from every set of boxes opened.
The commitment was striking, particularly from a Southern perspective, where all parties are battling with voter apathy.
Mr MacManus accepts that the strategy adopted in the North will not transfer easily to Sligo/Leitrim. Apart from the different electoral system, in the North the party has just to concentrate mainly on taking nationalist votes from the SDLP. In the South, there is a whole array of opponents.
The number of candidates chasing the four-seater Sligo/Leitrim constituency is one of the main factors working against Mr MacManus. If he had only to compete with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, his chances would be better. But he is up against a strong Labour candidate, Mr Declan Bree, and an Independent, Ms Marian Harkin.
With the retirement of sitting TD Mr Matty Brennan, Fianna Fail will be hoping Councillors Eamon Scanlon and Dr Jimmy Devins will make enough of an impression along with Mr John Ellis to retain two seats. There have been reports locally of the two Sligo candidates fighting for territory.
The two sitting Fine Gael TDs Mr Gerry Reynolds and Mr John Perry, are also running, but Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will have a battle to retain their two seats each.
Mr MacManus believes he can come in ahead of Mr Bree. Last time round he came in well behind, on 3,200 votes against Mr Bree's 4,900. In the European election in June 1999 in Connacht-Ulster, Ms Harkin secured 47,000 first preferences as opposed to Mr MacManus's 20,000.
If there is a swing against the big parties, many voters might find it easier to turn to Ms Harkin than Mr MacManus. He says he believes attitudes to Sinn Fein have changed, and the ending of the "armed campaign" is a factor in this.
"It's hard to put your finger on it, but there is a greater willingness to listen to what you are saying now," he said. The ending of Section 31 banning Sinn Fein from the airwaves also made a big difference, he added.
"Before, people thought we were only concerned with the North. But now they know we have a whole range of policies," he said.
Mr McManus is a long standing member of the party's ardchomhairle and is said to be close to Mr Gerry Adams. His son, Joe, was shot dead in 1992 while participating in an IRA attack on a part-time UDR man in Fermanagh.
In Sligo/Leitrim the emphasis is particularly on social and economic policies and the party is doing best in working class areas. "I am told by young people that it is `hip' to be a Sinn Fein supporter now. At a function we had in Mohill recently, of about 400 people, 80 per cent of them were under 25," he said. "Young people are coming to us, rather than us going to them."
Mr McManus believes his term as mayor has helped make the party more mainstream in Sligo. The mayoral pact between Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail has been strongly criticised by Mr Bree, who has also accused Sinn Fein of doing a U-turn by accepting service charges.
With the continuation of the pact, Mr MacManus's son, Chris, is now deputy mayor to Mr Jude Devins of Fianna Fail. Mr Chris MacManus is working full-time in politics while his father says he may have to give up his work as a joiner to concentrate on the election.