Miriam Lord: Taoiseach Micheál Martin was the driver and purchaser of the Jim Gavin presidency battle bus. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The first campaign coach of the presidential election burst unexpectedly on to the scene on Monday in a brief but forceful debut.
It didn’t belong to Fine Gael.
Heather Humphreys travelled to Belfast, but not by bus.
It didn’t belong to Independent candidate Catherine Connolly.
She went to Tallaght, but under her own steam.
For this was Fianna Fáil’s Embattled Bus, careering around the airwaves all morning until deputy leader Jack Chambers chucked its unsuitable candidate under the moving chassis before the wheels fell off and the engine blew up.
It still didn’t halt what turned into a daylong outing of ignominy for the stunned Soldiers of Destiny.
Fianna Fáil’s runner in the three-way race for the presidency sensational
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