Life went on for Kathy Sinnott in the midst of a tense recount as the Independent candidate fielded a call from her young son, who wanted to make sure he had a cheque to pay for his school tour.
The 51-year-old disability rights activist reassured her son that the money was paid and told him to do his homework before she hung up and continued to discuss the tedious recount process which has taken over her life since last Sunday.
The US-born mother of nine said she is confident she will take the fifth seat in Cork South Central, even though Fianna Fáil's John Dennehy scraped ahead of her in Monday's recount by a margin of just two votes.
Ms Sinnott's team requested a recount, which began at 10 a.m. night. Tyesterday and continued into the hroughout the recount, the candidate popped in and out of Cork City Hall to deliver bottles of water to her tired team of volunteers.
"You just keep going, really. My team are looking through all of the ballots and are being really meticulous about everything. I think we now know what to look out for in terms of invalid votes. So I will just have to see what happens," she said.
Ms Sinnott, who took the State to court for failing to provide an education for her autistic son, was declared elected in the early hours of last Sunday morning after she edged ahead by three votes.
However, Fianna Fáil managed to recover a small number of votes to reverse the decision following a lengthy adjudication process and recount on Monday.
The latest recount yesterday had a feeling of déjà vu about it, as the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and the Fianna Fáil team pored over election ballots looking for perforations and franking marks.
Sinnott's volunteers were assisted by tally experts from Labour, prompting speculation she may be asked to join the party.
However, Ms Sinnott ruled this out, adding that she hadn't got this far as an Independent to become a member of a party machine.
She said Fianna Fáil will have to take her seriously in light of her performance in the election.
Ms Sinnott added she would never have entered politics if the Government had treated marginalised people with more respect.