"THE DRINK is free; I only charge for water," PD leader Mary Harney told customers at Kilgarriff's pub in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, where she filled two pints of stout during a visit to the West on Monday.
She had relations in the area, she said, but didn't intend "doing a Charlie Haughey". At the local garden of remembrance she cast a cold eye at the ancient headstones and wondered whether they might be an omen.
In a town where PD supporters are as plentiful as pot bellied pigs, she was introduced, to cheers by an FF supporter, as "the next Tanaiste". But in response to queries as to who PD supporters should vote for when there was no PD candidate, she answered merely "the Opposition".
"FF?" pushed a reporter. "The Opposition," she repeated, not daring to speak the name.
Ms Harney, who was with local PD candidate, Mae Sexton, described the proposed site of a waste recycling plant, as "a good project in the wrong place". Presented with a painting by local artist Seamus Coleman, marking her commitment to the environment, she quipped "it's abuse politicians usually get." It depicts the nearby Lung River which has suffered two major fish kills in recent years.