On the campaign trail: Fleet of foot Micheál leaves opponents trailing in his wake

There’s a reason why everyone around Micheál Martin looks exhausted these days. He walks so fast during his canvassing, they have to run to keep up.

With Fine Gael trailing in Fianna Fáil’s wake in most polls, the party leader has every reason to have an extra pep in his step.

As part of a whirlwind tour of constituencies, he hit the picturesque seaside town of Youghal to lend a bit of high profile support for his 22-year-old Cork East constituency candidate, James O’Connor. Having accompanied Leo Varadkar in Fermoy at the start of the campaign, this reporter could see Mr Martin was getting a much warmer reception from locals.

The two stuck together as the older, more confident pro showed the young contender the fine art of speed-canvassing. Take their brief visit to the Roma Grill on Main St as an example.

Up until then during their lunchtime canvass, the two men — especially Micheál — had been very well received, with people stopping and waiting patiently to shake his hand. Indeed, many seemed to have some association or another with the party leader.

But as quickly as he marched into the Italian fish and chip restaurant followed by his fresh-faced understudy, Micheál had all but turned on his heels and was heading out the door.

Why? A customer started shouting at him by the time he had reached the counter that there were ‘no chips here’. Micheál had obviously spotted trouble quickly.

But as he made his exit, his understudy was still saying hello to the man, momentarily oblivious to the danger of someone about to seize their one chance to abuse a party leader.

The penny eventually dropped and James bade his own hasty retreat, as the man shouted “get out you prick” at the party leader.

Visibly annoyed at the abuse, Micheál stood in the doorway momentarily and glared back at him before making good his escape, following closely by James, who hadn’t even had time to stop smiling.

After they left, Micheál leaned into his candidate and joked to him as they bounded back up the Main St — “He must have been a shinner.” Mind you, even if he met the manager, it would have been a wasted trip.

It turns out the manager — who told this reporter it was unfortunate a customer had been rude to Micheál — is not registered to vote.

Mr Martin would later again show more deft with a speed-walk past two premises he probably might not have wanted to be photographed passing.

Party leader and candidate kept up a quick pace in the Cork East constituency town.

But he need not have worried as he speed-walked his way past Berties Bar on the Main St.

A large ExpressWay coach trundled past, conveniently blocking most of the view of the pub as he walked past it and Aherne’s Townhouse and Seafood Bar further up the street from assembled journalists and photographers.

And then in a flash, he was in a car and off to Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, where James is a past pupil.

In his speech, he urged the pupils to believe in themselves.

“Have self confidence and self belief in your ability to achieve a lot in your lives and your community, your town and your county,” he told them.

Believe in yourselves and believe in your ability.

Not short of confidence and self belief himself these days, he was quick off the mark with his answer to the question about whether or not he felt his time had come to be Taoiseach.

Yes, he replied, adding:

I believe it has but it is a matter for the people.

And then he was off for another flash canvas in nearby Midleton, with young James quickly picking up his step behind him.