After seven years of bridge-building, the engineering firm of Mary McAleese & Co shows no signs of slowing down.
Flanked yesterday by her husband Martin - a dentist whose own bridge-work has been widely admired - the nation's first citizen returned yet again to the theme of construction, via a quote from the Northern poet John Hewitt.
"We build to fill the centuries' arrears," she said, hinting at cost overruns even as she submitted her tender for another presidential contract.
The announcement of her candidacy was rich in symbolism, thanks to its introduction by her eight-months-pregnant special adviser Eileen Gleeson. Both women will be full-term next month - an auspicious coincidence.
But there the comparisons end. For now at least, only one of them is applying for another term, and she's not the one who can expect Labour support in the near future.
Mrs McAleese's time in the Áras has seen remarkable changes in Ireland. Before it began, if you were told that someone called Robinson would address a meeting of the Small Firms Association in Dublin, you'd have guessed Mary rather than Peter.
But the process is far from finished. And as she promised yesterday that "the most inclusive Ireland is yet to come", the President was herself a shining example of what we can expect during another seven years of her spiritual version of the National Development Plan.
In 1997, she ran as a Government candidate. Now, like Beverley Flynn in a parallel universe, she has emerged as an independent, with the blessing of Fianna Fáil, the PDs, Fine Gael (apparently), Sinn Féin (maybe) and most non-party TDs.
No wonder she was looking forward to an election. Asked if the prospect of Éamon Ryan's candidacy would add "spice" to the campaign, President McAleese conceded that "men do add spice to life". Then, in a tone that bordered on the matronising, she agreed that the electorate might welcome a male candidate: "Please God that option will be there for them."
She wasn't the only one at a packed press conference who was praying for such an outcome.
The touchy-feely nature of presidential elections can be hard on journalists, and the unspoken dread of many of us is that a McAleese versus Dana campaign might boil down to the question of which of them wants to embrace us the most. When the President admitted yesterday that her campaign team would be "feeling our way a bit", this seemed to confirm our worst fears.
In fact, she was referring to the lack of recent precedent for an incumbent seeking re-election - a situation not encountered since another Éamon (de Valera) nearly lost the Áras in 1966. She would be playing a "dual role" as President and campaigner and there would be "tensions" when certain issues arose during debates with the other candidates.
"I might have to say 'talk there among yourselves'," she said. And right enough, given the extent of her personal rainbow coalition, talking among themselves may be just what her opponents are reduced to.
