Devotion, ovations for McAleese

Another day, another town (or three or four). The assembly in the hall of the local Institute of Technology in Athlone probably broke every fire regulation. There wasn't an inch in the aisles or at the back when Mary McAleese rose to speak.

They listened in perfect silence, applauded when she promised that an appointee to the Council of State would "be one of your peer group" and gave her a prolonged standing ovation.

She left for Tullamore, where in the aptly named Bridge Shopping Centre, the waiting crowd was so dense that a solid phalanx of Fianna Fail men failed to stanch the press of well-wishers. Later, in the Bridge House, she was introduced by Brian Cowan, who complimented her on how she handled recent difficulties.

Earlier, she explained to the media she had "the deepest sympathy and understanding" for what the hepatitis C women were undergoing because, she said, "as it happens, I am one of those women - in this sense, that I was one of the catchment group, the cohort that got Anti-D during the period that was at risk so I know the worry that I underwent when I had to get the blood-tested, and the awful sense of let-down because you trust implicitly in the professionalism of everybody around you".

Was there any situation where she would have to resign as President, asked a radio journalist, who gave as an example the letter she had written to the Irish Press in 1992 - with Drs Patricia Casey and Cornelius O'Leary - criticising the Supreme Court's judgment in the X case. Would that cause problems?

"Not in the least," she said. When a President takes the oath, she is "honour-bound to respect" the fact that she had no power to change legislation, no power to change the Constitution.