Harry Blaney has a dream. That dream is to have a 500-metre bridge built across Mulroy Bay in Co Donegal, linking the Fanad and Rosguill peninsulas. It would cost just under £8 million to construct. The Government, according to the Independent TD, has agreed to pay for it.
The bridge is just one of the many projects contained in a document signed by the Taoiseach following the 1997 general election which guarantees Mr Blaney's support for the Government. But it is clear that it is the most special to him.
"This would be more than close to my heart . . . In the parish of Fanad where I'm from there are more than 3,500 people and it would affect a lot more than that," says Mr Blaney of the bridge, which would begin on one side in his home parish of Fanad.
While that area of north-east Donegal is particularly beautiful, he says, it is not reaching anywhere near its tourism potential. This bridge, if built, would make it far easier to discover the region.
"They [the Government] are committed to it. It's down in the agreement, one of the biggest things apart from the roads - as long as nothing happens in the meantime," he says, referring to the threat of a general election. An election could jeopardise the project, which has just been the subject of a feasibility study.
It has been known for a long time that Harry Blaney had an agreement with the Government in return for his support. However, up to now he and Bertie Ahern have refused to say what it contains. ail submissions".
Donegal, he says, had never got its fair share of the national cake in relation to resources for roads, water, sewerage or housing - the issues on which he sought and received commitments.
"We are getting a hell of a lot more money now but I still don't know if we are getting our fair share in percentage terms compared to the rest of the country."
He explains that his submission to the Taoiseach was based on a document drawn up in the summer of 1997, at his request, by Donegal County Council showing the areas of need in the county. "I gave it to the Taoiseach and Noel Dempsey at a meeting in St Luke's [Mr Ahern's constituency office] after the general election. I remember there was nothing we asked for that they didn't say was OK and I remember thinking that was a bit worrying," he says, smiling at the memory.
Three years later he has asked the county council to draw up another document to gauge how much of the work, as agreed, has been carried out.
There is regular communication between Mr Blaney and the other three Government Independents - Mildred Fox, Thomas Gildea and Jackie Healy-Rae - when the Dail is in session, he says. Each Tuesday there is a group meeting with the Government Chief Whip, Seamus Brennan.
"It is a meeting with standing orders and we discuss what is likely to come up. If we are not satisfied with what is happening we can request a meeting with the relevant Minister.
"It came out recently that Thomas Gildea and myself said nothing last year in the [Dail] chamber, but we are in the unique situation of having access to the chief whip every Tuesday. Anything that is coming up, we have an input into it at that level. There have been many bits of legislation that we have changed - mostly things covering agriculture like hill sheep farming and EU grants."
The civil servant who is the liaison officer between the four and the Government does a very good job in making contact quickly with Ministers, according to Mr Blaney, and is sometimes able to sort issues out overnight.
Mr Blaney says: "It gives us the power to make some changes now and again on things that we feel very strongly about."
Mr Blaney has only voted against the Government once. That was on the issue of approving Irish participation in the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace. "I felt very strongly about that and would have put it the full distance even if Fine Gael had not been supporting it."
He denies reports that the four had meetings with the Taoiseach prior to the Dail recess to renegotiate the conditions of their support. "There is nothing to that story. I missed that meeting but the others would have said it to me. Just to make sure, I checked it and was assured that there was no discussion at all."
On the subject of abortion, he says that he now accepts there will not be a referendum on the matter by the end of this year. He, Mildred Fox and Thomas Gildea are strongly anti-abortion and have been pushing for a referendum.
"As far as I am concerned, if they [the Government] come out and say we are not having a referendum, I would not be voting for them. It would be like this - if something came up that I wasn't too worried about, or it was not in my own interest, I would vote the other way. We were trying to have the referendum before the end of the year; it is unlikely now but we will have one for the spring."
He is annoyed at recent remarks made by the chairman of the All-party Committee on the Constitution, Mr Brian Lenihan TD, who said in a newspaper interview that the committee appeared to have reached a consensus against an absolute ban on abortion.
"Why Brian Lenihan would come out and say what he did I don't understand. The Taoiseach told me in a meeting two weeks before the end of the Dail session that he was committed to it. It's in my document and says `a properly-worded referendum'. That document is signed by both of us.
"My position is the same as that of the pro-life people. The life of the mother and child is equally important. If medication is given to the mother for anything in relation to her health they would not be against that, even if that meant the life of the child was terminated. But that would not be abortion as we know it.
"I'm sure that with all the legal expertise available to the Government, they will be able to put that to the people in a referendum. The last time people voted for what they thought was the best of two wrongs. If they come along now and say that there is something more left for them to do they won't get away with any undue delay."
Mr Blaney's Independent Fianna Fail party was formed as a breakaway group in 1970 by his brother Neil. It is clear in conversation that he felt a strong sense of duty to stand for election following the death of Neil in 1994. However, at 74 years of age, after more than four decades involved in politics, he now feels he has done his time. He is the oldest TD in the 28th Dail.
If the Government goes to a full term he will not be standing at the next general election. However, if matters go awry before that he is unsure what will happen and says he will be guided by the wishes of his party.
"If it comes pretty soon I'll probably have to run. I would leave it up to the organisation to see what they thought - whether it is better for someone else to go or me. But if it goes to full term I will definitely not be going.
"The workload is desperate. All four of us are dealing with people from all over the country. . . . I would like it if there was somebody else and there will be, you can be sure."
Mr Blaney believes it would take a lot for any of the Independents to vote against the Government.
"I don't think anyone will be pulling the plug easily. Nobody wants an election. I certainly don't want one while the tribunals are ongoing. There would be a danger that people would be putting themselves up for election who would be very much involved in all that is being investigated.