Banotti returns to the FG spiritual heartland

Preceded by a pipe band, yellow and pink balloons, papers hats, 10 TDs, and a vocal little band of young cheerleaders, Mary Banotti last night made an emotional return to her own and Fine Gael's spiritual heartland last night with an old style open-air rally in Bandon, west Cork. The only missing ingredient was John Bruton, who remained fog-bound, in Co Meath. Some 1,500 of the party faithful turned out in the evening drizzle to hear Ms Banotti, her sister and deputy party leader, Mrs Nora Owen, and their cousin, Ms Helen Collins-Hoare, invoke the name of their granduncle, Michael Collins, who set out from here on his last journey to Beal na Blath 75 years ago.

In the celebratory atmosphere, it seemed almost unmannerly to mention the difficulties of Fianna Fail's candidate. Earlier in the day, on a flying visit to Ballymaloe House, Ms Banotti would only repeat that "it was not helpful for a presidential candidate to be endorsed by one side or the other in Northern Ireland".

Had she any sympathy for Ms McAleese? "I know what election campaigns are like. I've been through four and you have to be tough and tenacious to survive them. . .I've had my own rough days recently and had some pretty nasty things written about me."

In Bandon, one senior party activist suggested that "the general feeling was that whilst it was important that the question be raised as to whether the Government would accept the Sinn Fein endorsement, John Bruton should have stayed quiet. He shouldn't have attacked in the way he did. . .What saved him maybe was when Bertie accused him of leaking the documents".

Jim O'Keeffe, on the other hand, said he felt Mr Bruton had "handled the situation correctly". He believed the leaking of the documents was "not just unpatriotic but treasonable" and he called on Bertie Ahern "to reinforce and intensify the Garda inquiry".

Asked how he viewed yesterday's reports, he replied that he had "yet to hear what McAleese had to say about those. People should know the full history of their candidates. It should be all up-front. The truth is I don't know enough about her. I don't know for example where she stands on Europe. I believed she has claimed to be a committed European and yet I'm pretty certain that she campaigned against the Single European Act".

Mrs Owen said is was "unreal to think that ordinary politics would not continue while the presidential campaign was going on. If something is raised, it's the job of John Bruton and others to raise these issues and it is right to point out that a President has to be able to reach out both communities. Each candidate has to be willing to have both their backgrounds and future actions scrutinised." [ QL]

Later, in her speech to the rally, Ms Banotti embarked on some bridge-building of her own by crediting Ireland's prosperity to "the practical steps taken by practical politicians - of all parties" and "most importantly", to looking outwards. "Do we go forward together with this new Ireland or do we return to the past," she asked. "Do we say with a clear voice that we are proud of what we have done or do we fearfully clutch on to what we used to be?"

Mr P.J. Sheehan TD reminded the gathering that every vote will count: "Apathy is our only fear. Remember the 1966 presidential election was missed by one vote in every polling booth."

Mrs Owen urged the audience to contact 10 of their friends to tell them about Mary Banotti: "And she won't thank me telling you this, but when you have elected her, you can then ring her up and invite yourselves to the Aras anytime, any day."