Banotti undaunted as lights dim and balloon bursts

Halfway through her final press conference, the lights started to go out on Mary Banotti. Someone had leaned on the dimmer switch, casting the room and the candidate into temporary darkness. Brightness was restored at the flick of a switch. But, with news filtering through of the questioning by gardai of a Fine Gael activist in relation to the leaked Department of Foreign Affairs memos, Ms Banotti's election prospects may be entering a twilight that cannot be reversed.

The candidate arrived late for the press conference; nothing unusual about that in this campaign. However, it was clear something was up when she plunged immediately into the prepared script, without formalities or her customary polite welcome for the journalists gathered.

For once, the Cheshire-cat grin of her campaign manager, Phil Hogan, was absent, as Ms Banotti tripped over the early lines of her speech.

The latest opinion poll, which showed Fianna Fail's Prof Mary McAleese widening her lead over the Fine Gael candidate, was bad enough.

Now there was the prospect of Fine Gael being implicated directly in the controversy over the leaked memos. Any chance of a last-minute, rearguard action to make up the deficit on Prof McAleese would be severely impaired.

But Ms Banotti hasn't survived 13 years in politics by being faint-hearted. "Stand firm. Hold your ground. Convince your neighbour," she appealed. "We must not roll back the tide on Europe. We must not roll back on the tolerant, pluralist society we have come to enjoy as we have looked outwards to the world."

News of the arrest had just reached her: "I will continue to condemn, totally and absolutely, as I have, these disgraceful leaks. The gardai are investigating them, and that is as it should be," she told us.

Pressed on whether she had satisfied herself that no member of Fine Gael was involved in the leaks, she said she had, "in so far as it was possible". However, it was not possible to give a categoric assurance on this.

Is it all a lost cause, one journalist asked? "Not at all," she replied. "The polls do not reflect what I have been finding on my trips around the country." Pens scribbled and a silence fell on the room.

But what would she say to sway voters at the last minute? "If you decide to change your vote to me you will have a positive President that is modern and outward-looking. I am totally familiar with representing a vast number of people."

From the very outset of the campaign, she told us, she has avoided "colourful phrases, slogans and cliches".

"This is because the things that really matter - getting things done, making changes through politics - are practical matters. We build our dreams on the hard realities of life - not the other way around."

With that, the press conference ended, but not before Ms Banotti recovered her usual politeness and thanked the press corps for their "courtesy and professionalism" during the campaign.

There followed a brief canvass in the bright sunshine on Grafton Street. Supporters tried to drum up some atmosphere - "Marrrry! Two fine girls for you here. Marrrry! A nice woman." - but the mood was subdued.

One man wanted to know her views on the death penalty - she is "adamantly" against. But when a child burst one of her balloons it was time to go and prepare for the Prime Time debate.

It was only then that The Irish Times thought of the question it wanted to put to the candidate - what ever happened to Nana Mouskouri?