STORY OF THE WEEK: NOVEMBER 14, 1997 - 26 YEARS AGO Senator Donie Cassidy still has it!

Charlie Haughey once famously remarked that when he wanted to see what the plain people of Ireland were thinking he looked into the heart of PJ Mara. For me, a better barometer is Donie Cassidy, the fast talking, quick thinking senator from Castlepollard.

Cassidy is the quintessential Midlands man, the solid, soft accent, fearlessly on the side of the ordinary man, the perfect antidote to the Dublin 4 set who think they know what's going on. His elevation to Leader of Seanad Eireann testifies to the respect Cassidy now enjoys in Fianna Fail.

Donie former trumpeter and never afraid of self-publicity would have been unashamedly in the country and western wing of Fianna Fail. He would have worshipped at the shrine of Albert Reynolds and indeed often drove the former Taoiseach when Albert was on the Opposition benches.

He owns several hotels and is the successful manager of Foster and Allen. He also owns the National Waxworks Museum beside Dublin's Parnell Square.

During one Senate campaign Cassidy embarked on the exhausting tour in Ireland that all would-be senators must go through rooting out votes of councillors from Buncrana to Ballydehob.

There's a story told that Donie once took the waxworks figure of Eamon de Valera from the museum and placed it in the front seat of his car. “Shur the people down the country love to see the Long Fellow”, he allegedly remarked.