Heather Humphreys and Fine Gael might look back and consider they did not pitch their message where it mattered most. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Heather Humphreys is standing in the paddock of a farm in Slane, Co Meath, recalling a visit “to a lovely restaurant in Singapore to promote Irish duck”.
“The best duck in the world, in my view,” Humphreys tells a handful of bored reporters.
Over her shoulder, in the field behind her, one amorous bovine mounts another.
A rabble of Fine Gael farmers stand with Heather stickers on their lapels, ready to clap.
It feels like a Fine Gael event rather than a campaign one. Among supporters such as these, no votes will be lost, but no votes will be won either.
Elsewhere, a presidential campaign for the remaining 80 per cent of the electorate is taking place.
In the mire of its 1990 presidential election, where Fine Gael came last of three candidates including a Fianna Fáil tánaiste who was sacked mid-campaign, some in the party decried a campaign that sent Austin Currie out to “shake hands with Ireland”.
This time around, the Humphreys campaign against Independent rival Catherine Connolly seemed to focus on sending her out to shake hands with the roughly 20 per cent of Ireland that already votes for Fine Gael.
The narr
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