At public functions, politicians constantly worry about being asked to do something which might make them look foolish . . . posing for photographs with an animal, pulling a pint behind a bar or simply falling over on television.
So it was that singer-songwriter Tommy Sands urged everyone in the Glencree Reconciliation Centre yesterday morning to sing along to the chorus of his song, The Music of Healing. His entreaty was aimed particularly, he said, at the distinguished guests Mo Mowlam, the Northern Secretary, and Liz O'Donnell, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Ms O'Donnell's face formed a fixed smile of pearly teeth as Mr Sands spoke the words of the cho rus and then signalled everyone to join in. However, Dr Mowlam, who was sitting beside her and had listened carefully to the words, sang along enthusiastically.
For the final chorus, Dr Mow lam sang just as enthusiastically, as if she had known the words all her life. This time Ms O'Donnell's lips appeared to move.
"When we were listening to the music," Dr Mowlam later told the gathering, "we both shared the fact that neither of us can sing."
Political analysts interpreted the incident as showing three key facts about Dr Mowlam. She will attempt things she believes to be impossible, she understates her own abilities and she is a quick learner. However, Ms O'Donnell appears unlikely to take risks.
At yesterday's function at Glencree, Dr Mowlam charmed all around her as she has done for most of her two-day visit to the Republic. Starting with the most enthusiastic Gay Byrne endorsement possible on Thursday morning ("you're a lovely, lovely woman"), Dr Mowlam fulfilled a packed schedule of meetings with politicians and journalists.
Unknown to her, as she was being a lovely woman on the Gay Byrne Show on Thursday, she was also repairing potholes in Wicklow. Yesterday morning a brand new approach road to the Glencree Reconciliation Centre was available for the cars to glide smoothly over, replacing the potholed track which served for many years.
It had been repaired the previous day with money from Wicklow County Council's special fund for events related to the bicentenary of the 1798 rebellion.
This imaginative use of funds was explained effortlessly by a council spokeswoman. She explained, with perhaps a hint of pride, that while the Boys of Wexford were dealt with rather quickly in 1798, the rebels in Wicklow were five years on the run before being tracked down.
They were ultimately tracked down through use of a new military road, which was built by workers who lodged in what is now the Glencree Reconciliation Centre.
Dr Mowlam noted that "this building is being used for a different function than when the Brits were here". In an unscripted ad dress, she managed to raise a few laughs, make serious points about the talks and explain how the work of organisations like Glencree had to succeed if any deal emerging from the talks was to work.
Mr Pat Vance, Wicklow County Council chairman, made the closing speech, saying he was particularly pleased about the work on the road. He told her he hoped it was the first of many visits by Dr Mowlam to Co Wicklow, "and if she doesn't mind we'll move it around the county each time".