THE Government appears to have successfully defused the threat of rural water candidates, with the £7.3 million grants package announced last week. But the fallout from the controversy, and the continuing campaign for licences for TV deflector groups, may yet have a big impact on the election battles in western constituencies.
The genie of rural discontent, once released from its bottle, will not easily be recaptured. The increasing nervousness of Fine Gael TDs about the issue - not all of them backbenchers - was betrayed by Mr Jim Higgins's outburst on RTE radio on Saturday when he questioned the political motivation of some water campaigners.
"The movement, as often happens, has been hijacked by some political hitchhikers who love to see a bandwagon going down the road," he said.
"I'm talking about a number of politicos in this county who have jumped on previous bandwagons and are jumping on one now."
It was an apparent reference to Dr Jerry Cowley, treasurer of the National Federation of Group Water Schemes. He stood as an independent candidate in the 1994 Mayo by election, and was eliminated after the first count with 383 votes.
At the time Dr Cowley, a GP in the county, was closely involved in a campaign for an orthopaedic bed unit for Castlebar General Hospital.
More worrying for Fine Gael, however, is the likelihood now that the federation will stop short of fielding candidates and instead rate the performance of each party on the issue by taking out advertisements in local newspapers in selected constituencies.
The federation has invited all the parties, Government and opposition, to outline their positions before the election. So far Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats are the only parties which have made a formal response, although there have been some informal contacts with Democratic Left.
A delegation from the federation met the Fianna Fail environment spokesman, Mr Noel Dempsey, in Dublin on Thursday. The delegation was impressed with Mr Dempsey's willingness to discuss the details of what is an extremely complicated issue, considering the huge differences between individual group schemes.
It will contrast his response with a letter from Fine Gael on Friday, saying the party's position was as outlined by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin.
Party handlers, apparently, see no difficulty in allowing a Labour Party TD enunciate Fine Gael policies. This may have more to do with the debacle over a previous Fine Gael letter than anything else.
Representatives of individual county federations will meet later today to formulate a considered response to Mr Howlin's package, before a meeting with the Minister later in the week.
Although broadly satisfied with the financial aspects of the plan, federation members are particularly concerned about Mr Howlin's declared intention to devolve administration of the grants to local authorities.
Their chief concern is that the payment of grants will become a political football between local councillors.
A councillor from one parish might be tempted to take a swipe at the allocation to a group scheme in the next parish, depending on local political considerations. It would give parish pump politics a whole new meaning.
Other concerns about the needs of a small number of schemes in exceptionally difficult terrain may be more easily overcome. But the damage already suffered by Government parties may take a little longer to repair.
Meanwhile, television deflector campaigners in Donegal, Mayo and Galway have switched their systems on again, restoring British channels to thousands of viewers in a move designed to increase political pressure.
According to a spokesman for the Mayo deflector groups, Mr Jim Gibbons, the deflectors will be switched off again the minute the election campaign is formally announced - unless the Government gives in before.
He says there is some evidence of movement on the issue, giving as an example a meeting in Claremorris on Friday attended by the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Mr Kenny.
The Minister caused surprise at a similar meeting in Westport last week, when he spoke of improved family communication as a result of televisions being switched off. He was more careful of his language in Claremorris. "He was a lot less negative than he was in Westport," according to Mr Gibbons.
The latest move in the on again, off again campaign will allow deflector groups to hold fire until it is most needed, he says. "People have been without it for three weeks. Now they are getting it back and they will be twice as anxious to hold on to it.
The deflector groups from Donegal to Cork have formed themselves into a national association and a £20 per head levy is being raised from each affected household.
The money will be used to fight the legal battles of individual groups, beginning on April 7th when a group in Waterford enters the High Court. "Their case is our case," says Mr Gibbons.