If or when Dana declares herself for Europe, she should stand in all four constituencies rather than confine herself to Connacht-Ulster. That is the advice of retiring Fianna Fail MEP Mark Killilea, who knows a thing or two about elections, lost and won.
"If you are going to throw away your deposit, why not do it in style?" he quips.
The singer and former Eurovision winner, who is expected to confirm her intention to stand for the European elections in June any day now, may have collected 41,000 votes in the region during the 1997 presidential poll, but that doesn't impress Mr Killilea. "Sean Doherty recorded 48,000 votes in 1989. and he still didn't get in."
"Markeen", as the Tuam MEP and former farmer and auctioneer is affectionately known, has already thrown his weight behind his proposed successor, junior minister Noel Treacy. Fianna Fail hasn't the slightest worry about Dana or any other candidate on June 11th, he indicated last week in the Bridge Bar, Tuam.
He looks as fresh as ever, but he says he is exhausted after a hectic week in Strasbourg dominated by one theme - the speech by the Commission's new president, Romano Prodi, on reform and the future. "And we've already made it," he says of Ireland's economic position in relation to some of Mr Prodi's targets.
He is confident his party will hold on to its two seats in Connacht-Ulster, even though the battle is expected to be enlivened by the declared candidature of former Council for the West spokeswoman, Ms Marian Harkin. "What is she going to do for her people in Europe? That is the question she will be asked. Yes, she made her name fighting for Objective 1 status, but we have that now." Dubbed the man with "the most photogenic face in Irish politics", Mr Killilea acknowledges that the forthcoming election would have been the easiest one he had contested - had he cared to do so.
"No, I made up my mind four years ago to step down, and I have had the luxury of preparing for that. I am burnt out. Not many politicians get the opportunity to plan for retirement, most of them just get a shock when they get thrown out." He knows all about election failures. Son of a former Galway TD and senator, Mr Killilea served as foreman secretary for the Beetgrowers' Association in Tuam, and succeeded his father on the Seanad's labour panel in 1969. The following year he was elected to Galway County Council. He failed to win a Dail seat in the old constituency of Galway North-East in 1973, but succeeded in the redrawn constituency of Galway East in 1977.
Two years later, he was appointed a junior minister, by Charles Haughey, in Posts and Telegraphs. In 1981, he had to change to Galway West, but lost the seat in 1982. He served in the Seanad from 1982 to 1987, and abandoned his campaign for re-election in 1987 when he replaced Mr Ray MacSharry as MEP for Connacht-Ulster, following the latter's appointment as minister for finance.
Some 12 years later, he is a committed European integrationist who believes the Irish electorate does not quite appreciate how much it has benefited from EU membership. "Where would this little country of ours be otherwise?" he says. Certainly, Irish foreign policy - or the lack of it - and the proposed membership of the NATO-led Partnership for Peace grouping may now become a very live issue. "But it can be easily handled,["] he says. "We have an Army that has guns without bullets - the best peacekeepers in the world, along with the Swedes."
He believes the European Parliament's recent initiative in tackling corruption and sacking the Commission will stand to its credit. "Mind you, I don't agree with parliament having the power to sack a whole commission. We should have the right to dismiss the president only." Mr Killilea is a member of the College of Quaestors, the parliamentary body which supervises payments to MEPs. As such, his workload has been very heavy in the last few weeks, he says. "We now have a revised and very transparent system, which we can stand over.
"It used to rile me when people would make jokes about lining our pockets in Europe. Now I just let it pass and walk off." The personal sacrifices are very great, he emphasises. He is father of eight children. "But I am away from home 47 weeks a year." Looking at his time in Europe, he believes the standard of education and training now evident here is one of the great achievements with which he and others can be associated.
"Thankfully, that ethos of `serving time', which was the oldest form of cheap labour ever invented, is now gone and we have proper qualifications. It is about time that we were brave enough to recognise FAS and CERT training as worthy of third-level certification."
He also believes the recent CAP reform package represents "one of the finest pieces of policy-making" that he has witnessed. He blames "poor communications" and a Department of Agriculture which is "afraid of the Irish Farmers' Association" for "misinformation" disseminated about its impact.
Loyalty is important to Mr Killilea - whether it be to former commissioner Mr MacSharry, or to his party leaders during a 30-year career in politics. He will speak only well of his former boss, Mr Haughey. "To think that we used to think he was a millionaire - and yet he was broke and needed a bail-out. It shocked me when I found that out." He singles out Albert Reynolds for particular praise - "he was a superb minister for finance when I was junior minister to him in Posts and Telegraphs".
Tuam, his home town, is now thriving on the back of Galway city's success, having "risen from the ashes of the sugar factory closure". He looks forward to being able to spend more time there, and with his family out in Caherhugh, where, he says, his wife Anne has been "father and mother" in his absence. His one unfulfilled ambition is to see the development of a Sligo-Rosslare corridor and the upgrading of Rosslare harbour into the national port.
"With this Objective 1 money over the next six years, and another six in transition after that, we have 12 years to get it right. The west needs to be able to reach the European market."
He says he has no immediate retirement plans. A holiday? "We have our first wedding among the eight at the end of August."
What he is really looking forward to is the freedom to stop and talk on the street, without rushing away. "Mind you, anyone I know who is retired says they have never been busier." He is already counting the time down to the hours until his last attendance at the parliament in July. "At 11.10 a.m. on July 20th. That's when I'll wag my tail out the door."
