Cultures clash but the sisters jell

Mary Banotti started her question-and-answer session among the women of Ballymun with a note of apology about the large media presence. "Now girls, don't be frightened by the mikes," she said. "Don't worry," a spokeswoman assured her. "They're all used to karaoke machines." On yesterday's performance, Ms Banotti is no stranger to them either. Having mentioned early on that she was "a parent without a partner", she took her cue from another riposte ("There's plenty of them around here!") and delivered a word-perfect performance which, with a backing track, would have sounded like Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.

On the face of it, Ballymun and a Fine Gael presidential campaign are a clash of cultures. But Ms Banotti's way had been smoothed somewhat by Marie-Louise O'Donnell, broadcaster and lecturer, who knew many of the women. So the Fine Gael candidate climbed the bare stairs of a tower block on Sillogue Road, like a woman who dropped in to the resource centre every day.

When she crossed to the more plush environs of the Ballymun Partnership offices, she was well into her stride. And the assembled women, presided over by Ms O'Donnell, were a sympathetic audience, with a tendency towards questions beginning: "When you're elected President . . ."

One wanted to know if there would be invitations to the Aras for community groups (hint, hint). Nobody had to even mention Mary Robinson, but the Fine Gael candidate slid her foot into the glass slipper and found it a perfect fit. Yes, she said, the Aras was a much more open place these days and that would not be changing.

A more radical question concerned the difficulty of getting small families in big houses to move out in favour of larger families. Ms Banotti, hoping to move into a larger house herself next month, had to be careful but agreed planners should provide bigger homes for young families.

The sisterly love-in ended with 16-year-old Tammy McDaid, encouraged by Ms O'Donnell, reciting a poem. But just to show it wasn't an exclusion zone for men, an even younger Stephen Mooney waited outside to perform a Michael Jackson dance routine, with Ms O'Donnell yet again providing the cue.

Dismissing suspicions that she had choreographed the entire reception, Ms O'Donnell conceded that Ballymun was not a hotbed of Fine Gael support, "but there's a new race of women here who know what they want. They're looking for a president who has some kind of understanding of their experience, and Mary Banotti spans their lives."

This last comment hinted that Fine Gael was muscling in on the bridge-building business, so far cornered by the Fianna Fail/PD candidate. The suspicion was strengthened, inadvertently, when Ms Banotti visited the partnership's employment training project.

"This is European money at work," said the proud MEP, beaming like a woman who had a purseful of the stuff herself. And when her guide showed her the Microsoft training facility, with the comment, "We're making a bridge between the community and the computer industry," you could almost hear Ms Banotti's thoughts: Eat your heart out, Mary McAleese.