Today Fine Gael launched its campaign to promote its jobs plan for the country. I went along as I thought it was a public meeting. Turned out it was a press conference/press launch. I’d never actually been to one so I stuck around as it was quite interesting.

The venue was the Morrison Hotel in town and I had grabbed a Dublinbike and peddled in. Arrived in to the room out of breath. The room itself was set up with Enda Kenny, Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar at the top table, with two flat screens behind them and a podium to their left facing the room. From there the FG press guy directed the proceedings, introducing Enda & co to speak and then fielding the Q&A from the press.

There were banners up and other FG paraphernalia in the room, and a number of advisors were floating around the back watching on, nodding, smiling, taking mental notes. The three doing the talking certainly knew their stuff and the accompanying literature and video were very professional. I watched the journos and pol corrs to see how they were taking it in. Cameramen flashed around the room, looking for that one angle.

It wasn’t quite The West Wing – I mean this wasn’t the launch of a General Election campaign or a press conference arranged in response to some crisis say, so it lacked a buzz or an energy perhaps that you would expect on such occasion. And yet the team seemed fired up and ready to get in to it. There might even have been some frustration there behind it all. A team looking to do battle but with no one willing to face them? Maybe.

The Q&A was tough enough, as it should be, but Enda et al. handled it very well. It was interesting to see the different relationship that each had with the press, the way they spoke to them, how they handled themselves.

What came across, to me, is that these three people are on top of their briefs. Which is of course how it should be, but which I would say is all too rare in Irish politics. And perhaps even somewhat exceptional for an opposition party in a modern democracy, lacking as it does the civil service expertise, infrastructure and back-up to do the heavy lifting for them.

It finished and people then mingled around the room, some journos following up on their questions directly in one-on-ones, then a few team shots for the papers. I caught up with a couple of FG staff I hadn’t seen in awhile and then took off, wondering how I would perform in such a situation, with a gaggle of press lobbing grenades at me, putting me to the test. It’s not easy. And you have to respect these guys for doing it every day.