THE collateral political damage inflicted by the closure of the Packard plant in Tallaght is expected to be borne most acutely by Mr Pat Rabbitte, the Minister of State for Enterprise and Employment and Democratic Left TD for the area.
The position of the second Labour Party TD, Mr Eamon Walsh, in the Dublin South West constituency was deemed to be precarious even before the closure. Labour was not going to secure two seats in the next general election anyway.
Dublin South West is also represented by Mr Mervyn Taylor, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform. But he appears not to have been blamed for the loss of the plant.
Come the next general election, however, Fianna Fail will not be slow in reminding the electorate that it was under a Labour/Democratic Left government that Packard Electric closed its doors. Fine Gael has no TD in the constituency.
Although it is generally believed that no government, including this one, could have persuaded a multinational like General Motors to change its mind, Mr Rabbitte has been so centrally identified with the crisis that the electorate may take its frustrations out on him.
Perhaps it was also unfortunate for him that the senior Minister in his Department, Mr Richard Bruton, was in Korea when the closure was announced.
Mr Rabbitte was left alone to face the music in the Dail yesterday afternoon as the opposition tabled special notice questions demanding to know what Government plans were in hand for a replacement industry.
Perceived as he is in the constituency as a high profile Minister, Mr Rabbitte will have to pull off some major investment for his constituency if he is even remotely to neutralise the drastic effect of this closure.
Yesterday he indicated to the Dail that the "civilianisation" of Baldonnel aerodrome would be a desirable goal as a means of injecting industrial life into the area.
Packard workers realise that the Government could hardly have prevented closure in the long run. But, according to political activists in Tallaght, "there is also a general perception in the wider community that not enough is being done economically for the area and the Government will carry the can"
Mr Walsh believes his seat will not be affected by the closure. He might suffer if there was evidence that the Government had dragged its feet, he says.
"But every avenue was used. It did not succeed. We do not have influence over multinationals. It will not have repercussions on my seat.
"If I work as hard as possible on the around ... I do not think I would be singled on?," he added.
However, the electorate in Dublin South West is likely to remember April 29th for a very long time.