Tanaiste Mary Harney is lucky it is tonight rather than last Saturday that she is addressing the League of Credit Unions. On Tuesday the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, met representatives of the institutions and reversed his earlier decision in relation to the taxation of credit union savings.
So high ran the feeling among savers and ordinary workers that she would have come in for a tirade of abuse. As it is, tonight, returning from the hustings in Limerick, she will have to explain McCreevy's ongoing plan to increase the tax yield from earnings from credit union savings in next year's Finance Bill.
The five-day drama has been a godsend to the Opposition. With Labour's Sean Ryan doing well in Dublin North and Fine Gael's Mary Jackman ahead in Limerick East, the jibe of "a rich man's government" is surfacing on every doorstep, if not from the canvassed, then the canvasser.
Polling day - March 11th - is Mary Harney's birthday. And what does she want as a present? The seat in Limerick, she says.